Polly completely ignored the sharp look she got from the blond as she threw her arms around Gus from behind and kissed his cheek. She had spied him across the crowded room and noticed the blond that was all over his like a rash so decided to have a little fun with her brother. Gus grabbed her hands and held them there. "Hey."

"Surprise."

"What are you doing here?" Gus asked a little hysterically. He wasn't expecting Polly to turn up at the same bar they were at because they rarely went out at the moment, it was just too hard with Lola and weekends were precious for them to spend time together as a family. Tonight though Sam had farewell drinks for a colleague from work and it was just coincidence that it was at the same bar Gus was at.

Polly thrust her hand at the blond once she had let Gus go. "Hi, I'm Polly." She gushed, still with her arms around Gus which was obviously annoying his companion judging by the sour look on her face.

Gus wasn't prepared for this, he had been seeing Jazmine for only a couple of weeks and while it was hot and heavy and she was very pretty he was just enjoying the between the sheets action and having some fun. Getting serious was the furthest thing from his mind and precisely why he had no intention of introducing her to his family. Polly suddenly turning up threw a spanner in the works.

"Hi." She hissed slightly and Polly noticed a little curl of her lip, Gus did also and he turned away slightly to hide his smile. He knew what was coming. "I'm Jazmine, with a Zee."

Polly did her best not to laugh and Gus rolled his eyes, it was annoying as all fuck and Polly was going to have a field day. "Nice to meet you Jazmine." Emphasising the Z. "Gus can you buy me a drink please…." Polly begged as she pulled up a stool next to Jazmine and she could feel the waves of anger peeling off the poor girl.

Jazmine leant over and ran her hand up Gus's leg. "I'll have another Margarita sweetheart." Polly saw the slight twitch on Gus's face.

"You better get a drink for Sam too." Polly added playfully before turning to the girl. "So, how do you know Gus?"

"We met a few weeks ago, he's such a sweetheart." The hand hadn't left Gus's leg and Polly did smile a little at the fake nails that perfectly matched her overdone make-up and very ample cleavage that was barely held in by her dress. You could barely call it a dress, it was short and tight and very shiny. Gus was such a sucker for a pretty face and hot body. He focussed on looks and ignored the rest lately and he seemed reluctant to change any time soon. Since he had split up with Olivia Gus had been pretty wild, he was definitely living up to his manslut reputation much to his family's frustration. Olivia had reined him in a little, she just got a bit too needy and Gus had baulked and ran. "How do you know him?"

"Oh, he's my brother." Polly put her out of her misery as she took the glass of wine from Gus.

"Gus never told me he had a sister." The look of relief on her face was amusing and Polly struggled not to laugh.

"Well that's no surprise. Gus is embarrassed by us, aren't you Angus?"

"Yes I am." Gus ran his hand over Jazmine's claw like fingers as it stayed on his leg, slowly working it's way higher and higher.

"Who's Angus?" So she was pretty and dumb. Polly couldn't wait until her Dad caught whiff of this one.

"Ah, that's me. Gus is short for Angus." He flipped Polly a hard look when she started to laugh and Polly took a mouthful of wine as Gus changed the subject. "Where is the Zookeeper?"

"Just over there." She waved her hand in Sam's general direction. "I am sure he'll work his way over this way soon. He's a little excited about being out."

"Well you never let him loose."

"True. If I am stuck at home with the little zookeeper, he can bloody well stay with me."

Jazmine looked a little bemused "Why do you call him a zookeeper?"

"My husband works at the Zoo, he's a zookeeper and a bit of a celebrity in the animal kingdom or at least he likes to think so." She spoke slowly so that Barbie could understand and that annoyed Gus a little. Polly was always a bitch to his girlfriends in the beginning, she loved to test them out.

Sam eventually made his way over to join his wife and was happy to see Gus, like he always was when alcohol was involved. His eyes just widened and he shot Polly a bemused look when Jazmine introduced herself, with a Zee.

Polly struggled to like Jazmine, she was a bit bland and she wasn't sure if she was playing dumb or just acting a little helpless to try and impress Gus. She was a bit annoyed when she was left talking to her while Gus wandered off with Sam to meet some of his work mates. All she wanted to talk about was Gus and that got boring for Polly pretty quickly. When Polly asked her what she did, to try and change the subject it turns out she worked in a café. Gus was dating the woman who made his coffee and she wasn't working there and putting herself through college or Uni, that was it for her. Not that Polly was a snob, not by any stretch of the imagination but Gus was going to get bored very quickly, a warm body only kept him amused for so long and her Dad would eat her alive.

Polly made a mental note to ask Gus if she always introduced herself the same way, because if she did she wanted to make sure she was around when her parents met Jazmine, with a zee.

Her annoyance went way off the charts when Jazmine leant in and whispered after probably two or three cocktails too many. "Your husband is hot, like seriously how do you keep the women away?" She giggled. "Please tell me he goes all animal instinct in the sack? Like does he pretend to be a lion sometimes?"

"Yes I like him." Polly reached for her glass of water and ignored the rest. Jazmine with a zee needed to fuck right off.

"Sorry." She muttered when Polly glared at her. "I get a bit silly when I drink. Just having some fun, you should try it." She picked up her shot and knocked it back. "I hope you're not the at home in bed, flat on your back with the lights off type. A man like that.." she nodded towards Sam "…seems like he likes it a little wild."

Polly swallowed her bitchy reply and it felt like razor blades and her voice was dripping with sweetness while her insides boiled. "We have a toddler at home, one of us needs to be up early." Jazmine had already had a go at Polly for not drinking and ignored Polly when she declined another drink and ordered her a shot, which remained untouched on the bar.

"Fuck, that sounds like torture." Polly wasn't quite as drunk as this woman and she found her completely unfunny. Drunk or not Polly was pissed.

Her husband was well and truly on his way when he finally returned with Gus following closely behind. Polly was not driving but the last thing they needed was both of them to be hung-over in the morning and having to deal with a very demanding eighteen month old. Lola wouldn't care if they were feeling dodgy; she hit the ground running every day.

"It can be, she keeps us on our toes. Sam will regret this tomorrow." Polly rubbed his leg and he dragged his eyes away from the TV he had suddenly discovered and leant into his wife. "Won't you Baby?"

"What's that?"

"Regret this." She tapped his beer.

"Already am. Am I going to get lucky?"

"You'll be lucky if I don't leave you here."

"I'll look after him. I promise. We'll have some real fun." Jazmine looked a little too keen and even Sam wasn't so drunk that he missed her flirting, nor did he miss Polly's annoyance. He just laughed a little uncomfortably, rubbed Polly's back sweetly and went back to watching the TV before he said something un-gentlemanly.

When she left to use the Ladies room Sam turned his focus back to Polly and shuddered. "She was hitting on me wasn't she?"

"She thinks you are hot and hopes that I let you get a little primal, she'd be disappointed if I was a missionary girl."

"Baby, you are so far from missionary I can't keep up." Sam was never disappointed when Polly got her freak on, because he always benificary. "You think I am hot too."

"Yes, but I am not dating my brother."

"Fuck I hope not or this just got weird and uncomfortable." Sam grimaced and laughed a little too loud. He was clearly one drink away from disaster and Polly was keen to get him out of there otherwise Gus would have him doing shots until god knows what hour and Polly would have to deal with Lola and the child that Sam became when he was hung-over and she certainly wasn't leaving him here with the man-eater either.

"You know what I mean. Don't be feral." She looked at her phone. "Anyway are you ready? We need to let the babysitter go."

"Sure."

"Or I could leave you here and you can continue to be hit on by my brother's slightly neurotic new bit."

"No thank you. Fuck that." He jumped off his stool. "I can hit on you though."

"Just what I want." When Sam grabbed her around the waist Polly did little to stop him as he kissed her just as Jazmine came back from the bathroom. "You think you are smooth." Polly pushed him away playfully and hugged Gus, who was in a worse state than Sam.

"See you for dinner. Lola loves her Sunday nights with Uncle Bus; don't disappoint her. I told her that she had to stay at home tonight if she wanted to see you tomorrow."

"Sure." He muttered. Trust Polly to mention that because he knew Jazmine would be all over him now. This was why he didn't talk about his family too soon. Girls wanted to meet them and he already knew that his family would eat Jazmine alive.

Surprisingly Jazmine hugged Polly and then grabbed Sam and tried to hug him too, a little too closely for Polly's liking. She pulled on Sam's arm and he did at least look grateful that Polly had rescued him from her highly manicured clutches.

"What the fuck was that?" Sam sneered as soon as they got outside. "Seriously, what is Gus thinking?"

"I am not sure he is. You know Gus, he thinks with his dick most days."

"She must go off like a frog in a sock." He grabbed Polly around the waist while they waited for their Uber, sliding a hand down over her butt and pulling her flush against his body. "Bit like you actually. I'd like to put my frog in your sock right now."

"I bet you would." She pushed him away as the car pulled up. "Can you please stop? Be an adult not a slut."

"Ha, you love me slutty."

"Not when you are a slurry. You are drunk, it's not a turn on."

"I reckon Jazmine loves Gus a little slurry slutty." Sam actually laughed at his own joke, which amused Polly no end. He could be a funny drunk sometimes.

She laughed and grabbed Sam's face. "Shut up and maybe I will let you get your frog out at home, but…." She held her hand over his mouth when he went to speak. "…not another word."

"Bus, Bus, Bus." Lola literally squealed. She didn't have a lot of words but that one came through loud and clear and she bolted into the house and demanded to be picked up by her Uncle. She had already done the rounds of Pops and Mimi and got all the attention she desired.

Gus scooped her up and swung her high in the air, almost throwing her up against the ceiling and catching her in time to give her a big kiss. "Lola Bear. You are getting bigger every week. What do they feed you?" He hadn't seen her for a few weeks as he had been working the past few Sundays. She did answer him, he just had no idea what she said and Gus just laughed as he blew a raspberry on her neck and Lola giggled.

"Can't she talk?" Jazmine wasn't off to a good start.

"She's learning." Fortunately nobody else heard her, Lola had been listening for the door to open and taken off to greet her Uncle Bus while everyone else stayed outside knowing Gus would bring her back through with him and not particularly quietly either, they heard her laughing. Nonetheless Gus wasn't overly impressed with Jazmine. "She can say the main thing, my name, although she calls me Bus."

"Oh I guess that's cute."

He didn't want to bring her along but she had nagged him about coming and her pouting was annoying and he wasn't getting what he wanted until he agreed that she could come to dinner. He was pretty sure that Polly was less than impressed last night but he hadn't talked to her all day and by the look on her face when they came out told him a lot. She was unimpressed.

"Mommy, Bus here." Lola charged out ahead of him.

Kim and Adam were surprised to say the least when Gus introduced them to Jazmine. As far as they knew Gus wasn't seeing anyone serious, he seemed more content with a string of one-night stands. At least she didn't drop the 'with a zee' and that disappointed Polly a little, she wanted to see her Dad's reaction.

"Hi Jazmine, it's nice to see you again." Even Sam smiled at how formal she sounded, Polly hadn't held back this morning and Sam was a little taken aback. Sure, he was feeling a little worse for wear but Polly didn't care as she paid out big time. How dare she try and hit on her husband? And Gus was right there! Her opinion had certainly deteriorated overnight. "Can I get you a drink?"

Polly disappeared inside to grab another bottle of wine and a glass and Kim followed her. "So?" her mother didn't need to say much else.

"We met her last night when we went out and bumped into Gus." Polly shrugged. It was up to her mother to make up her own mind, it wasn't Polly's place to put any preconceived ideas into her head.

"And?"

"She seems nice enough." She lied smoothly. "You know Gus, hot body not much between the ears."

"Every week I hope he meets someone nice, every week I am disappointed." Kim lamented. She asked Polly to grab the salad stuff from the fridge. Polly offered to make the salad and told her mother she should go back out and play nice and save poor Lola from 'Jazmine with a zee.' Polly also slipped in the fact that she was probably wanted to go make sure she wasn't trying to hook up with her Dad at this very moment.

Kim looked at her strangely and Polly just shrugged and started to rinse the lettuce. "It will seem strange that we are both in here."

Kim pushed a smile onto her face when she went back outside. Lola was holding her Pops attention, probably a little too intently, basically Adam was trying to ignore the dumb blond that Gus had bought home while Jazmine was virtually sitting on Gus's lap and Sam was as far away as possible. "Mimi…" Lola clapped her hands and climbed into Kim's lap as soon as she sat down "…drink?"

"Oh how cute is she, does she want a wine." Jazmine held out her glass towards Lola and laughed as Lola cowered away from her. She was at the peak of separation anxiety and wary of anyone new and this person scared her. To say Sam was impressed with the wine comment would be an understatement and he was even less impressed when she thrust her hand out at Lola again and giggled as she almost fell off Mimi's lap trying to get away from her. He shot Gus a filthy look and he knew it, he was kind of glad that Polly was inside because she would have said something and he was surprised that Kim and Adam held their tongues.

Sam jumped up and held out his hands for Lola and she was more than happy to be in her Dad's safe arms away from Jazmine. "Come on Chicken, let's go find you a drink and see what Mom's doing."

"What? I was joking." Jazmine looked a Gus who looked pissed off and Adam and Kim said nothing. "I know not to give a baby wine."

"Good to know." Adam spat out under his breath, which Gus heard but chose to ignore but it got Gus's back up for some reason.

"So you are a cop too?" Jazmine battled on and she seemed smart enough to realise that she had some ground to make up as she turned to Gus's Mom. "Who does Gus take after? He's obviously handsome like his Dad." She just couldn't stop herself and Kim was starting to see what Polly was on about when she smiled at Adam.

"Both of us I guess. He's got a little bit of asshole from me and a little bit of bitch from his mother." It was pretty clear that Adam did not like this girl one iota. He'd had plenty of ditsy blonds in his day, but it was about time Gus grew up and this girl wasn't going to be the one to do it.

"Ruzek genes run strong in this family. Even Lola has that Ruzek attitude." Gus was doing his best to keep the conversation running but it was hard work. This was precisely why he didn't want to bring her, she was just some fun for him and he knew his family weren't going to like her.

Polly was surprised when Sam stormed in to the kitchen with Lola. "What's up?" Lola held out her arms for her mother and she wiped her hands on the towel and took her.

"Jazmine is seriously dumb as a box of hair."

"Sam, that's a little harsh."

"I think it's generous." He yanked open the fridge and grabbed the jug of water to fill Lola's cup. "What would you know, you've been hiding in here?" Peering at the salad she was making. "I mean you never put that much effort into salad."

"I want it to be perfect for Gus's guest."

Sam laughed and leant in and whispered in her ear so Lola couldn't hear. "Fucking bullshit." He scooped Lola out of her arms and disappeared back outside with her drink. Yes, he was going to use his daughter as a human shield.

It went from bad to worse. Lola managed to spill her water down Jazmine's leg and she leapt up so suddenly it stunned Lola and made her cry. Dinner was painful with Jazmine just sitting down at the table and being waited on hand and foot and did not even lift a finger to help clear the table. She didn't move a muscle although she did manage to try and flirt with Sam, asking Polly if she found him hotter now that he was a father because she found men with kids a bit of a turn on and then giggled insipidly. Not even Adam was safe when she told him that she'd never been lucky enough to be pulled over by a good looking cop while she smiled at Adam. "You ever hooked up with someone you pulled over?"

"No." He couldn't even be bothered with a smart-ass reply.

"Just spit it out Pol." Gus followed her through to the kitchen with some plates once dinner was over.

"Not sure I have too." She dropped the salad bowl on the bench. "But if she tries to hit on my husband again I will snot her."

"It's your fault she's here."

"My fault? How? I am not screwing her."

"And that's all it was until you mentioned the dinner last night. What was I supposed to say?"

"Try No Gus. It's not that hard."

"Give it a rest." Gus was annoyed. He knew this would happen and if it wasn't his sister giving him a gob full it was going to be his mother. If he was lucky he'd avoid a lecture from his Dad. "I put up with Austin being a dick for two years, you can't even sit through one dinner."

"Do whatever you want Angus, but she can stay away from Sam."

"What, are you worried that Sam will like it?"

"Fuck you." She slammed the dishwasher drawer shut and stormed out of the kitchen and told Sam they were leaving. Lola was well and truly ready to go home as she was curled up on her Dad's lap. Polly had to try not to be narky at Sam, it wasn't his fault and he had not shown one skerrick of interest in Jazmine but she was shitty at Gus and that meant that Sam would cop some of it.

"So you and Gus?" he hadn't said a word until they were safely in the car.

"Nothing."

"Sure." He shrugged. "Yet you are pissed at me it seems."

"I am not pissed at you." Sam just drove in silence. He knew the best way to deal with Polly is let her stew on it until she was ready to talk. Occasionally he'd only let her go so long before he'd pull her up but she needed time. Jumping in feet first when they were scrapping was suicide.

Sam put Lola to bed while Polly jumped in the shower and she was just finishing up when he came in and took a shower himself. Polly leant on the vanity and cleaned her teeth as she watched Sam. "Jazmine?"

"What about her?"

"She was hitting on you, that's twice." And there it was, the reason she was shitty. She was jealous.

"So what? She's bat shit crazy." Sam turned off the taps and grabbed his towel. "Pol Sweetheart if anything it made my dick retreat back inside my body."

"Yeah?"

"Oh god yes." He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her flush against his body. "If you try hard enough I am sure it will come out of its hidey hole…" he dropped his towel "…just for you. It likes you."

"She is fucking nuts isn't she?" Polly lifted her arms over her head as Sam tugged her tank top over her head.

"So don't care right now." Sam picked her up so that her legs could wrap around his waist as he carried her back to the bed and Polly insisted on being on top. She so wasn't the flat on your back type.

Adam watched Kim cleaning her teeth. When she was pissed she went at them like a rabid dog and right now she was almost frothing at the mouth. It was amusing and he knew precisely what had got her so riled up and waiting for Kim to spit it out was like waiting for a volcano to erupt. It was spewing smoke all evening but that lava was close to the top.

"Well?" Adam was already in bed when Polly flicked off the bathroom light.

"I don't want to talk about it." She pulled back the sheets and was slightly amused to find Adam naked. "Put some clothes on. I don't want your pubes all over my clean sheets."

"I hate it when Gus pisses you off."

"Are you going to put something on?" Kim glared at him when he just settled back against his pillow.

"No."

"Fine." She flicked off the light and Adam just sat there and waited. "What the hell is he thinking?" And there it was, the volcano erupted. "I mean seriously Adam, you need to talk to him. She was disgusting. Polly was seriously pissed off; did you see her? That nightmare was flirting with Sam, who just looked angry, she was hitting on you and if she could have climbed into Gus's lap I am sure she would have and probably doesn't know what underwear is. Did you see her top? Of course you did, everyone did, probably saw her nipples too." He was glad it was dark because Kim would have slapped him if she saw his smirk. He loved her rants, well when she wasn't ranting at him that was. "And if she makes one more joke about giving my baby wine I will throw a set of cuffs on her. Are you going to say something or just sit there and smirk?" She hadn't even looked at him but of course she knew what he'd be doing.

"I think you've said it all."

"And?"

"Hopefully she won't last long, he'll get bored. He's just being young and stupid."

"He's not young anymore, for fucks sake he's almost thirty. He needs to grow up and stop being a slut." Adam agreed to talk to him but only if Kim stopped ranting right now and he worked hard but got her to forget all about their son's latest disaster and to stop worrying about messing up the sheets.

Adam tried to talk to Gus but he blew him off, she was a bit of fun, he wasn't serious and people needed to back off.

For that reason Gus dug his heels in a little. He was sick of his family butting in and giving their opinions on his love life. Ever since he broke up with Olivia they had been on his back. His mother couldn't believe that he dumped her not long after Charlotte was born and told his mother that Olivia wanted kids and he wasn't ready. It was a piss poor excuse and Kim told him as much.

Weeks later he was still seeing Jazmine and they just had to suck it up.