Earplugs

Disclaimer: Not Mine. Glad that's sorted.

Takes place post-engagement, pre-season 5 finale.

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'So it's all sorted. Rusty, you're picking Emily and Ricky up from the airport at 1500, and bringing them back here, before we meet you at Carlucci's at 1800?'

'Yep,' Rusty said, practically inhaling the rest of his cereal. 'Hobbs has given me a half day today, as she has one, so I'll grab some lunch then go to the airport.'

'Wonderful,' Sharon gave him a smile. 'Oh, I can't wait to see Ricky and Emily again. And to spend Christmas together as a full family, it's going to be amazing.'

She was so happy, Rusty could tell even without her needing to say it. It would be the first Christmas as an official extended family. Andy had even persuaded both of his kids to come over in the evening, as other familial obligations prevented them from spending the whole day. But he had put his foot down and insisted they come for at least part of it, and it was a mark of how far he had come in his relationships with them that they had been planning it anyway. He had been thrilled. And Sharon had been thrilled for him.

'We have to go,' Andy interjected at this point, pulling Sharon to the door. 'See you tonight Rusty. Call us if they're delayed for any reason.'

'Sure,' Rusty said. 'And you have no excuse to be late either. Chief Howard already gave you the time off.'

'How do you know?' Sharon asked, pausing in the act of zipping up her boots and peering quizzically over her glasses.

'He told me,' Rusty replied. 'Something about wanting to ensure the two workaholics actually used their time off.'

'Fritz has some explaining to do,' Andy muttered, and Rusty snorted before departing for his room.

He heard the front door slam and heaved a sigh of relief. He had work to do before his siblings arrived and not much time. He grabbed his work bag and put in a few items before extracting a package from the back of his wardrobe and placing it carefully inside his bag. He set up two camp beds and the extra fluffy sleeping bags Sharon had purchased in his room, before looking round to check it was immaculate. Satisfied, he departed for his car and drove to work.

As it was the last day before the holidays, the district attorney's office was not keen on working too hard. Rusty was mainly archiving, and planning work for the week Hobbs returned as she made calls and typed reports for her caseload. She explained to Rusty how, although the courts did no business for a few days around the Christmas period, each caseload must be at a satisfactory pause point otherwise she could not go home. Rusty listened attentively, made a few notes, brought her coffee a couple of times when he could see she was flagging, earning a grateful smile and continued shelving the paused caseloads.

At 1330 the DDA stopped and looked at the clock. 'There,' she said. 'Finished. Just in time for lunch and enough time to call it a half-day. Since you have been so helpful and I owe you anyway, how about I take you to lunch at the deli cafe opposite?'

'Great,' Rusty said. 'Er, I mean thank you. I have to be at the airport at three though, will that be a problem?'

'Not at all, since you're cheaper than a taxi, if you don't mind,' Hobbs said, pulling out a travel bag Rusty had assumed held a change of clothes and a laptop, it was so small. 'I need to be at the airport myself, so I'll buy lunch and it should cover my share of your petrol money.'

It was one of the reasons that Rusty liked Hobbs, and the reason he knew Sharon liked her too; she didn't mess around. 'I knew there had to be a catch.'

'Art of the deal, Mr Beck,' Hobbs said to him as they made their way to the car. 'Art of the deal.'

The deli cafe made excellent food, and Hobbs and Rusty thoroughly enjoyed the huge sandwiches and accompanying salads they were served. Even Rusty was full. 'Wow,' he said, finishing his food first and pushing the plate away. 'That was filling. I gotta go to Carlucci's tonight as well.'

'So have a small meal tonight,' Hobbs said around a mouthful of pastrami.

'Carlucci's,' Rusty pointed out. 'The best pasta in Los Angeles. Full plate. I can get it boxed afterwards.'

'Why do that though? Just pay for a smaller plate.'

'Because,' Rusty looked sheepish in front of his boss, 'because I was taught never to leave food in case more wouldn't come for a while.'

Hobbs looked at him sternly. 'Sharon Beck has a lot to answer for,' was all she said.

Embarrassed, Rusty shrugged and diverted the conversation away. They were a little late leaving, and he had to do some risky driving which almost ended with a ticket but for the camera being broken. Andrea jumped out of the car the second he pulled into the car park. 'Thanks, Rusty,' she said breathlessly. 'I have to run but I'll see you at the office when I get back. Have a good Christmas!' And she took off in a surprisingly quick sprint for someone wearing heels that high.

Rusty grabbed his bag at a more leisurely pace, moved the passenger seat back to accommodate Ricky, and headed inside. He saw Andrea checking in, and waved goodbye as she went through the gate. The arrivals board was updating, so he waited to confirm before heading to the gate for Ricky's flight.

His brother arrived precisely on time and enveloped his younger sibling in a bear hug. 'Little bro, how are you?' he said with a giant smile reminiscent of his father's. 'Where's Emily?'

'Her flight's delayed,' Rusty said as he was released. 'She should be here in about twenty minutes though, so I figured I would find you first and we'd head over to collect Emily together.'

'Cool,' Ricky said as he picked up his bag. 'Which gate?'

'Three,' Rusty said as they started walking. 'You need me to carry anything?'

'Nah, I'm good.'

They didn't have to wait long. As Rusty predicted, Emily wasn't more than another twenty minutes. And her first words to her siblings were not greetings, but more like, 'I would KILL for a cup of coffee!'

'And hello to you too,' Ricky said, as he hugged his sister. He was more of a tactile person than either Rusty or Emily. 'Is that way to greet us?'

'I know, but the flight was terrible,' Emily grumbled. 'The hot water wasn't working, and all they were offering was alcohol and water. To top it off, they'd forgotten the snack food, and I hadn't paid for a meal. That doesn't matter so much, but I need my coffee.'

'There's a fairly decent cafe around the corner from the airport,' Rusty volunteered. I need to talk to you about some stuff before we go back to the condo anyway, just in case Mom and Andy are home early. We can get coffee and have a discussion.'

'Sounds good,' Emily cheered, but Ricky shot a curious look at Rusty as they headed to the car. They drove to the cafe, ordered and sat down. Emily drank her first sip while it was still scalding hot, oblivious to Ricky's incredulous and slightly impressed face, before she settled down and turned to her brother.

'So what do you need to talk to us about? I hope it's not serious.'

'Not at all,' Rusty said, 'but you don't want me to tell you when we get home. I have some early Christmas gifts.' He pulled out the brown paper bag he had stashed in his bag this morning like he was doing a cliché drug deal. 'These are for you.'

Emily and Ricky looked at each other, then accepted the bag. They pulled out a pair of earplugs each. 'Why would we need these?' Ricky wondered out loud. Then, 'Oh God, no.'

He was rewarded with a half-smile, half-grimace from his younger brother. No wonder Rusty hadn't waited 'til they got back to do this. 'Jesus, Rusty, really?'

'I don't understand,' Emily said. Rusty and Ricky slowly turned to face her. 'Why -?' Then she got it too. 'Oh man, are you serious?'

'It's not too bad,' Rusty hastened to reassure them. 'It's just occasionally. You might hear Mom giggling – yes she does that now – or the bed creaking, which are good indicators that something's about to happen. I've never given myself the opportunity to hear more. But the condo's not renowned for its soundproofing, you know?'

'Is this why you were insistent that I don't sleep on the couch?' Ricky asked, and Rusty nodded. 'Trust me, you don't want to be in there. Even the three of us crammed into my room is better than the acoustics of the lounge. I speak from experience.'

'What about Gus?' Emily asked. 'Will he be joining us for Christmas?'

'He can't,' Rusty said sadly. 'He's rushed off his feet at Christmas, and he's taking a few extra shifts to help him win a promotion. We won't see him at all.'

'Has the sound thing been this bad for a while?' Emily asked, quickly diverting the subject back to their Mom. She hadn't been back to LA recently.

'Well it wasn't when I came to stay after they got engaged,' Ricky pointed out. 'But Andy was still getting over his heart attack then.'

'Well, they're making up for it now,' Rusty helpfully, a shit-eating grin quickly returning to his face. 'But Mom would be so mortified if she knew we knew, and I knew you guys would need some time to process it, so that's why we're discussing it here, instead of when we arrived.'

'Sounds like they've been doing it every night,' Emily observed.

Rusty looked pained. 'They have when they're both home.'

Ricky whistled. 'Andy's got stamina.'

'I try not to listen,' Rusty said. 'Mom should have her privacy, but I don't like my music on all night. These ear plugs are a good compromise, and they're comfortable.'

'Well we definitely don't want to hear it either,' Emily said decisively. She put the earplugs in her bag, nestled in a secure compartment, and Ricky did the same. 'I mean, I'm glad Mom's happy, but no one needs that.'

'Nope,' Rusty said. 'Let's finish our drinks, and we'll go home and get ready for tonight. I don't want to catch traffic and show up late, or Mom might murder us.'

Emily drained her drink immediately and sighed. 'That's so much better. I needed that.'

'I should think you did, steel-mouth,' Ricky teased, still nursing half a cup. 'I'll get this to go.' He headed up to the counter and returned with a take-out cup. 'You finished Rusty? Good, shall we?'

They had a pleasant evening at Carlucci's. Nicole had managed to duck out of an awkward situation (her husband was taking the children to see his late wife's family) and joined them for dinner, to Andy's visible pleasure. Nicole got along extremely well with the Raydor siblings and to Sharon and Andy's surprise, seemed to know a lot about their lives. Everyone present decided not to mention the sibling group chat.

It seemed that Sharon and Andy had temporarily decided to call a halt to their bedroom activities while Ricky and Emily were over, as there was no sound that night and everyone slept soundly. Andy was out the following night, as a person he was monitoring in AA was having a crisis, requiring his presence. He turned up the following morning, heavy-eyed but successful; his mentee had not relapsed. Rusty was beginning to think the earplugs might not be needed after all when Sharon received a call.

'Raydor.' She listened for a moment. 'No, no, I completely understand. Murder waits for no one!' She ended the call and turned to Andy, who groaned. 'No, no, no, we were promised this time off!'

'I know,' Sharon sighed, 'but Provenza seemed hopeful it won't take more than a day to sort. And we've completed our Christmas gift shopping. Rusty,' she turned to him as she began gathering her things, 'you know where the list is. Get what you can done, and don't worry about the rest. I'm sorry guys,' she said to Ricky and Emily, 'we'll be as quick as we can.' They headed out the door, and the three looked at each other.

'List?' Emily said.

'Mom predicted this and planned ahead,' Rusty explained as he pulled a piece of paper from a kitchen drawer. 'It's a to-do list for each day leading up to Christmas. So today we were going to pick up last minute Christmas stuff, and she suggested we still go, and has a list of stuff she wants us to buy.'

'Okay then,' Ricky said. 'Let's go shopping.'

Sharon and Andy did not return that day. Rusty got a call from Andy saying that events had taken a twist, and they would be at the office all night. He sounded tired, and let slip that they would be sleeping in shifts all night. Rusty sympathised and reassured Andy that they were taking care of everything. He was thanked, and Andy rang off.

Rusty cooked dinner while Emily and Ricky decorated the house. He still felt strange doing it anyway, so the food was a perfect distraction. They ate, then put on a movie. Emily decided to take the sofa that night, claiming she needed some space for a bit, and this was the perfect opportunity. Ricky and Rusty had no such issues, or any space left to claim if they had, and went into the room they shared.

The next day continued like the previous one. The condo was made ready for Christmas, Rusty messaged Gus a few times, and Emily spent a suspicious amount of time talking on her phone in secret, for which Ricky and Rusty teased her mercilessly. Mid-afternoon, Sharon called to say they hoped to wrap up the case by late evening, so they may see them tonight.

It was about midnight when Sharon and Andy eventually got home. Although the trio were in bed, they weren't asleep. There were the muffled sounds of dropping of keys and the click of the bathroom door before all three clearly heard their soon-to-be stepfather push their mother against the wall and her muttered phrase of 'Fuck, Andy.' In the semi-darkness, Rusty silently pointed to his ears and he, Emily, and Ricky reached for their earplugs.

Rusty was right, Emily thought as she pushed the earplugs in and put the duvet over her head. Mom would be horrified if she knew we could hear them, and actually, the earplugs were surprisingly comfy. It was not unlike stuffing your ear with a marshmallow. And that was something she could attest to, thanks to a childish escapade.

Rusty, more used to his surroundings, the bed and this situation than anyone else, drifted off to sleep fairly quickly. He didn't snore; not that Emily would have heard him anyway. He'd once admitted to his Raydor sister that he'd trained himself out of making sound when he slept, in order to minimise anyone locating him. It had made Emily cry a lot when she'd thought about it later.

Ricky stayed awake, a natural restlessness built in from years of broken, interrupted sleep as a child when Sharon had had to take a case in the middle of the night and drop them with a friend. He couldn't hear a thing, but his mind ran along the same lines as his sister's. Rusty had been very thoughtful towards his mom and her partner. He could have revealed everything and humiliated them, but instead he'd sourced ways to deal with it and prepare his adopted siblings as well. Then he fell asleep, suddenly tired.

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Reviews please! Will add another chapter soon.