Gus found her sitting on the balcony with a glass of bourbon in her hand. That was enough of a red flag. And then she looked at him and the puffy red face propelled him across the small balcony as she dissolved into a puddle of tears. "Babe, what's wrong? What happened?"

This meant one thing, and only one thing. It wasn't hard to jump to the conclusion that this had something to do with her 'mother'. They hadn't heard from her in almost three months and that wasn't a bad thing because Rhiannon put it behind her and they got on with living. Something had to bring her crashing down though and he was pretty sure he knew what it was.

She had found them a place to live, not far from where Gus already lived. It was two bedrooms, hard ward floors, a small balcony overlooking a park where they often took Lola and while the living area was a little small, they both loved the kitchen. Choosing between his furniture and hers had been entertaining to say the least and Rhiannon won most of the arguments. They loved living together; it was easy. The ups and downs were still there but they enjoyed being together and worked on the rest.

"I got a phone call today, from my half brother."

"Really?"

"He just found out about me and told me to back off."

"Back off from what?"

"From threatening his family, that I wouldn't win. That I am not getting any money from them."

"This makes no sense." Gus was confused. Rhiannon hadn't ever mentioned anything about money; she didn't want money. This was never about that, not for her and as far as he was aware Margaret or Louise or whatever the fuck her name had never bought money into it. For Rhiannon it was always just about being with her mother and trying to understand why she left. He also knew that she hadn't made any attempt at contact since all the shit went down.

"Why can't they leave me alone? What did I do to them?" She swallowed the rest of her bourbon and held out her glass for another. Gus reached for the bottle that she had left on the table and topped up her glass. He took it from her hand and took a mouthful himself. "I didn't ask for any of this."

"No, no you didn't. Let me check it out."

"I don't know Gus, I just want this to go away."

"Me too."

His heart was in this throat when she looked at him and begged him to make this go away. He made her promise just to let him handle it and not ask questions. It was a little confronting for her and her mind spun off in different directions. She had a fair idea of when went on, not necessarily with Gus and being on Patrol but she knew enough about what his Dad did and had done in the past to understand that the less she knew the better. "Don't do anything illegal Gus, please."

"I am not. I'll just make some calls, do some digging and find out what the deal is. That's all." Gus tried to reassure her but all the assurance she needed was that he was here and they had a bottle of bourbon. He wasn't sure it was a smart move but it was Rhiannon's choice and he just made sure she didn't get completely wasted and helped her into bed before it got too ugly.

She didn't actually bound out of bed the next day but by the time lunchtime rolled around Rhiannon was feeling better and she needed to get out of the house and have some fun. She wanted to go Ice-skating and it wasn't Gus's first choice of activities but he went anyway and spent a far portion of the afternoon on his ass. Rhiannon was a serious ice-skater; he gave up Ice Hockey because he lacked any real sense of co-ordination when he was barely in double figures. Adam had been gutted when Kim finally made him admit that Gus wasn't going to the NHL. They had a lot of laughs, mainly at his expense and then a raucous dinner at a hole in the wall pub not far from home and then spent the night 'fucking like rabbits.'

It was needed, because in the next few days reality hit them when Gus called in a favour. She knew as soon as he walked through the door and looked anxious that he'd got the news she never wanted.

"Just tell me."

"There is nothing to tell. They are not rich; there is no money. I have no idea what it's about."

Rhiannon threw up her hands; she may as well hear what he had to say because he had something to add. "So, what?"

"My opinion?" Rhiannon nodded and he continued, not that he treaded carefully and she didn't expect him to either, that was not who Gus was. "He somehow found out about you and confronted his mother and she had to cover her tracks. So she made up some cock and bull story that you were trying to extort money from the family. It was never about you, she wanted something from you and didn't get the chance to get it so now she just wants you to go away."

"This is all so fucked." Rhiannon had accepted the fact that her mother didn't have one single maternal feeling for her.

"Yep, pretty much. What do you want to do?"

She tilted her head to the side and smiled a sweet little smile. "Sex I think."

Gus laughed. "Right." He welcomed her climbing into his lap. They clawed at each other's clothes, tossing them aside and Gus eased himself back and enjoyed the show. He loved the way her eyes closed when she lowered herself onto him, the way she sucked on her bottom lip when he rocked her hips with his fingers digging into her waist and that sweet little smile when they were done.

It wasn't until they were dressed that Rhiannon bought it up again. "What do you think I should do?"

"Not my place."

"I know that, but I care about what you think." He had an opinion, he always did. Right now he was just too satisfied with the past hours activities to care. "You can't pick and choose when to give your opinion. That's not how this works."

"Okay. I think you should let it go."

"Why?"

"Because, for the same reason I've always had. I don't want you to get hurt. I don't give a flying fuck about anyone else, I don't give a flying fuck what she told her family or what they think. I couldn't give a fat rat's clacker about this woman who just happened to give birth to you. I don't want you to get hurt. That's all."

"It's not that easy though is it?"

"No, no it's not. I wish it was." He rubbed her upper arms and kissed her forehead, letting his lips linger for a few seconds. "What do you want to do now?"

"Forget it ever happened." Rhiannon straightened herself up, got a steely look in her eye and told him in no uncertain terms where she was at. "She was an egg donor and an incubator, she's not a mother, she's not my mother."

"You rock."

"I want to tell her that, to her face. Can you come with me?"

"Do you really want to do that? Like honestly, what is it going to achieve? What do you want to achieve?"

"I want to look her in the eye and tell her that she is nothing more than a cold heartless bitch. That she will get nothing from me ever and that as far as I am concerned my 'mother' died when I was six years old." Rhiannon had a very determined look on her face. "I need to be bitter and vindictive and then we can come back here and forget about the whole fucking nightmare and get one with whatever we've got going on here."

"Firstly, I hope we've got a lot going on for a long time. Secondly…" Gus needed to tread carefully, not something he was used to doing. "…I am not sure you need to be bitter and vindictive, that's not you. That's not what is either your nature or your heart."

"Why should she get away with it? Why does she get to hurt me again and again and just walk away and pretend I don't even exist?"

"I get that, I really do but just think about it please." It didn't seem rational or in her nature to deliberately hurt people. He did understand that Rhiannon was hurting and felt that it wasn't fair, and it wasn't but he really didn't think she'd feel good about causing problems with her mother and her family, not in the long run.

"What do you think I am doing? It's all I have done."

"I know. Can I ask that you sleep on it, just a couple of days? Let the sting come out of it." Rhiannon reluctantly agreed. It's what Gus did; he bought her back from the edge. Although he had to admit he'd love to see her go postal on this woman. It would be epic and no doubt very hot.

Rhiannon didn't relent. She had to do it; she needed the closure. Everyone tried to talk her out of it, her father, Gus, Polly and Adam but she dug her heels in. When they realised that she wasn't going to back down the only thing Gus insisted was that he would go with her.

"Can we not talk about it for a while?" They had just settled into their seats on the plane. "I need a break." Rhiannon just wanted to put her headphones on and shut out everything for a few hours. She had barely slept all night and they had been up early to catch the flight to Raleigh. It had been all she had thought about for days and now it just needed to be over.

"You can't be here." Margaret snarled at her once she got over the shock of seeing Rhiannon on her doorstep. She stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

"Why not?"

"This is my home. My family." She was obviously trying to keep her voice low so as not to disturb the people inside.

"Yet you turned up at my house, you didn't know if I had a family. You didn't care."

"You don't."

That got Rhiannon's back up and Gus could see her grow just a little. He was bloody impressed by her. "I did, I have Gus. You didn't give a damn about that, just like I don't give a damn about your family."

"What do you want?"

"To tell you that whatever game you are playing is done. I don't have a mother, you may as well be dead. I don't care what your reason was, I don't care if your family needs something from me, they aren't getting it. Keep your family away from me."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Your son rang me and threatened me told me to stay away and that I wasn't going to get any money. So I guess he found out and you had to lie to him too. You are a lying conniving bitch, get out of my life." Rhiannon was barely in control. She looked like she was about to pop a gasket.

Suddenly the door opened and she came face to face with a girl who bore a striking resemblance to her. "You okay Mom?" She held a baby on her hip and Gus rested his hand on Rhiannon's back as she staggered at little.

"Yes, sweetie. They were leaving, they have the wrong address."

"Actually, Mother." Rhiannon snarled. "We don't have the wrong address but you messed with the wrong person. Stay away from me, stay out of my life and if you contact me again, or your family does I will have you arrested."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" The girl they assumed was Rachel gasped.

"Doesn't matter. I am nobody to you…" She turned to face her 'mother.' "And you Margaret, I am nobody to you either. You were an egg donor and an incubator and nothing more. Leave me the fuck alone."

"Why is she calling you Margaret?" It appeared that while her son may have none about Rhiannon, her daughter did not.

"Because that was her name before she up and left me when I was six years old with my father, but I guess she never told you that. Perhaps you might want to sit and have a chat with your mother. What she tells you is her business, but don't come near me again. You understand."

"You want to get her out of her before I call the cops?" Margaret spat at Gus, who had stood quietly just waiting to catch Rhiannon if she fell.

"Call them, I'll talk to them." He stood between Margaret and Rhiannon. "I dare you. We are done, okay? Completely done. Don't contact Rhiannon again, don't hang out outside her apartment, call her, have your family call her, harass her and even talk about her. You are done. I may not have any jurisdiction here but the badge is mightier than you think." He led Rhiannon back to the car and by the time they got back to the car Margaret had gone back inside and closed the door.

She was catatonic as he drove back to the hotel and hadn't said a word or even shed a tear.

"Okay." Gus got her inside. "Talk to me. Please."

"It's okay Gus. It's okay. I am fine." Rhiannon stood at the window and looked out over the unknown city below her. She could get lost out there, perhaps she already was.

"Bullshit, you aren't fine and that's okay. It's okay to not be fine."

"I know that, but really Gus, it's fine." She didn't even turn to look at him. "I came to do what I did, it's over now. I might take a shower." Gus reached for her hand as she tried to get past and the briefest look of agony in her eyes almost floored him.

But he knew what she needed right now. "I love you, you know."

"I do and I am grateful that I have you here with me right now." She stopped when she got to the door to the bathroom but didn't look back. "Are you going to stay?" She wasn't just asking about now, she was asking about next week, month, year.

"Yes."

He sat and waited on the bed, something he didn't do well. He wanted to be in there with her but giving her some space was one thing he was trying to learn. Trying not to be a Ruzek was a challenge, serve and protect was what he had been born to do and right now he was sitting on his hands while the one person he wanted to protect more than anything was falling apart.

Knowing that she kept the bed, any bed as a safe haven Gus was surprised when she came out and sat on the small couch by the window. He knew, in an instant that she was asking for his help, his shelter, his safety and he leapt up and the moment he touched her she crumbled.

"Oh Baby." He whispered against her hair as she buried her head into his chest and sobbed, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt and he could feel her agony. They stayed there for god knows how long; the room had started to darken a little as the evening approached but Gus wasn't going to move until she did.

She moved when his stomach grumbled. "You're hungry?" She sat up a little and wiped her face.

"A little yes but doesn't matter."

"I feel like going for a walk. Perhaps we can get some dinner?"

"If that's what you want."

"I need some fresh air and I need to feed you."

"Not until you kiss me." Their kiss was slow and deep and completely loving and perfect for that moment.

Rhiannon did her best to push through. She laughed and smiled as Gus filled lin al the silences with typical Ruzek nonsense but the hurt she was feeling was obvious. As they walked hand in hand back to the hotel Gus leant in and whispered. "I believe in you."

"I am ready to go home."

"I am ready to take you home." Gus squeezed her hand and didn't say anything until they were back in the room.

"Okay, you've had time to process this, I've let you go but I want to know now how you feel?"

"Hurt, lost, disappointed. I am not sure what I was expecting. I think maybe I thought she'd be a little less cold. I thought she might apologise or at least show some emotion. I am worried that I will turn out like that, you know, it's in my DNA."

"DNA means nothing, I don't believe for a second that you have it in you to be so cold and heartless because I think I know your heart now or I like to think I am starting to."

"What if I am though Gus? What if I don't think I can love my own child? What if I decide not to have a baby?" It was agony and he hated that this woman had made her doubt her own heart.

"Sweetheart. Don't do this, not right now. It's pretty raw but when I told you I believed in you I meant it. I do believe in you, I see you with Lola and I know you love her. I know you fell in love with her the moment you met her and I know that you will fall in love with your own baby from the moment you know they are there."

"What if I don't?"

"Right now, this is not the time to make any decisions like that or about that."

"But Gus, you want children, I know you do and if I can't give you that perhaps we need to be honest and walk away." She was pacing around the small room like a caged animal while Gus sat down and tried to not stress her out by coming at her. Eventually she would stop.

"Do you want me to walk away?"

"No, of course not but…"

"No buts Sweetheart. I am not going anywhere and we will figure out our future together, but not right now."

"I don't deserve you."

"You deserve better." That made her stop.

"I couldn't have made it this far without you. Don't say that."

"Okay, how about you come here then." He held out his hand and pulled her over until she was standing in front of him. "You have no idea how much I needed you too. I needed someone to straighten me up, to believe in me and to love me for who I am. I am so glad I found you and I don't regret one second of time I have spent with you. I wish things had been easier for you but they aren't and I am glad I could be the one you leant on."

Rhiannon cocked her head to the side and smiled a little. "Can I lean on you now?"

This wasn't about sex right now; that would come later. This was just about knowing that you had someone to rest your weary body on when you were tired.

Rhiannon had found her home, she found her family and her strength. She had found Angus.

And for Angus, he kissed the top of her head softly. "You're my one in a million."

Well that's it for Angus for now. I am sure he will be back sooner or later. Next up, a Ruzek Hollister Family Calamity