I think some fanfiction had them discuss the house with Andy there. But the way Rusty phrased his issue to Andy and the way he spoke about home with Buzz had me thinking that Rusty would only really discuss it in a private one-on-one convo with Sharon. I don't think that will change, whether he grows more chummy with Andy or not. Ultimately, Sharon is his go to person, no matter how many sounding boards he turns to until getting to her. Only once he reaches her, is his mind really set.

Rusty held the door to the condo open for her. She slipped inside past him to place her coat and purse on the coat rack in front of her. He entered as well, kicked off his shoes and proceeded to flop down on the couch in their living room.

Sharon headed for the kitchen.

"Would you like some coffee?" she asked him, already busy with putting on some water and looking for mugs.

"Yeah, sure." He reached for the remote and turned on the TV.

Andy had just dropped them off after their not so successful visit with the realtor. Since Sharon wanted to talk to Rusty, he gave them some space and headed home. He would be coming over for dinner later though.

After they wrapped up their case, Andy came knocking on her office door. She told him to come in and one look at him had her recognize that something was up. As he was walking up to the chairs in front of her desk, he was rubbing his chin with his right hand. It was a dead give away as to his state of mind.

She offered him a smile, but raised an eyebrow in question.

He looked around her office, even though they were alone and both doors were closed, blinds drawn as well. "Erm," he started, "I had an interesting talk with Rusty."

"About his mother?" she tensed up in her chair, the smile disappearing from her face.

"Oh, no, not about that." He pulled out the chair in front of him and sat down. "I thought you told him us deciding to look for a house wasn't his, what did you call it, 30 days' notice?" He looked uncomfortable, as if he'd rather deal with Sharon Beck than with what he was about to.

"What do you mean?" she frowned. "Of course it wasn't. And yes, I told him."

"Well," he adjusted in his chair, a hand moving to rub the back of his head, "he asked me if I thought he was in the way of us moving in together."

Surprise replaced her frown. Her eyes widened for just a moment, then her shoulders loosened up. "So what did you tell him?" Despite her posture, her voice indicated Rusty's question bothered her more than she was willing to let on.

"First, I hinted you might be," he flashed her a smile, humor should help to put her unspoken worry at ease, he hoped, and made a show of carefully choosing his next word, "displeased, if you thought I wanted to get rid of him." Her lips curved into a small smile for a second. "And then I offered to check out this house together, to see if it was a good fit for us. For all three of us."

"Okay," she started, a deliberate pace in her utterance, but he cut in, his right hand coming on top of the desk in front of him, as he moved closer to lean on it, his right shoulder moving slightly up as well. "You know I'm not trying to get rid of him, right?" His head moved in a firm nod and he pinned her with a determined look. Something bothered her, and he worried the same thought that crossed Rusty's mind had crossed her's.

"Of course I do." her voice raised slightly, in what he would never dare call defensiveness. He settled for emphasis instead. "It's not that." She turned in her chair and, tensing up a bit, waited a beat, looking at him before continuing. "I'm just surprised he would even think that. I really thought he was just uncomfortable with the idea of having you around all the time." She waved a hand in the air. "You know how he is."

He huffed and nodded, falling back in his chair, his hand sliding down the desk to cover his knee. "Yeah. I mean you're legally his mother now. Why would he worry about that? I couldn't get rid of him now, even if I wanted to." He shrugged. "Besides, he's family."

He hoped it would assure her, perhaps even elicit another smile from her, but she looked away from him, that far away look of hers gracing her face. "Yes, why would he worry about that?" she asked, herself more than him.

"So," he knew better than to ask what was on her mind. She'd talk to Rusty about it first, so he moved to the next matter at hand. "How about I get hold of the realtor and we go see that house tomorrow then?"

She turned her head to look at him again. "Yes, just let me know when. Will you pick us up?"

"Yeah, sure."

So now, having seen the house, she decided to take the opportunity to get to the bottom of Rusty's worries. Carrying two mugs filled with coffee she walked back into the living room, and folded herself into the orange chair next to the couch. The look she gave Rusty as she passed him a mug told him she had something on her mind. He reached for the remote to mute the TV before she even started talking.

"Andy mentioned you two talked yesterday." It was so like her to just cut to the chase, he thought.

"Yeah," he shifted on the couch, turning to face her fully. She took it as a sign that he wanted to talk about it, or was at least tolerating her need to.

"You do know that the two of us are a packaged deal for Andy?" She smiled at Rusty remembering the first time Andy referred to them as that.

He shifted again, this time looking down at his mug, a thumb following the edge of it. "I do," he paused, took a quick, maybe even exasperated breath and looked at her again. "I guess, I just wanted to, uh..." He didn't finish the sentence, he didn't really know what he wanted.

"You wanted to...?" She trailed off, her voice rising in pitch slightly. Of course she wouldn't try to finish the sentence for him. He'd have to find the words himself.

"Look, this is home." he waved his hands around the living room. "I just don't want to have to move into a place with him," he made a face, "if he will only put up with me because of you."

"Oh, Rusty," she said on a sigh. She put her coffee down on the table and turned in her chair. She slanted a look at him to make sure he was paying attention. "You're family." she said simply, in that calm, smooth voice of hers. "I may be your family legally, but the team is family, too. And that goes for Andy as well."

Rusty remained quiet, obviously still not convinced. "Look," she shook her head, making sure the movement threw her hair back so her face was fully visible to him before she went on. "Buying a new house does not mean we're changing homes." He looked baffled at that now, but she ignored him and pressed on. "It means we will just make more room for it." She paused for emphasis, but also to take a breath to help steady her voice, which she worried might waver. "Home isn't just this condo, Rusty. You are my home, too." He narrowed her eyes at her. She said it with such a happy nonchalance, but it did little to convince him. "And Emily and Ricky are, too. Family makes this place home, Rusty." He relaxed, and his eyebrows hopped up and down as he mulled that statement over. What Buzz had said made more sense now, too. "And I hope," she took another breath, a deeper one this time, "that you can make room for Andy in that home, too." She didn't need his approval, it was her business after all. But she could hope for his support. Well, approval, too, if she was being perfectly honest with herself. She really did not need it, but she wanted it, she realized.

He nodded, more to himself than her. She gave him a moment to collect his thoughts. "Did you?" he finally asked. "Make room for him, I mean?"

"Yes." She answered without hesitation, her voice steady in its conviction.

"Okay." He nodded again. Again more to himself than her. "I can live with that." He nodded some more.

She let go of a breath she was hardly aware of holding in and slumped into her chair. As much as it was imaginable for Sharon Raydor to slump at all. "Okay," she echoed his words.

"I guess we really do need another bathroom." He cocked his head, apparently lost in thought, but a mischievous air about him. "I can handle the amount of time you spend in the bathroom, but I barely survived his last year." He couldn't contain his smile now as he looked at her. "I can only hold it in for so long, you know."

And she laughed. No, she snort-laughed and he joined her in her laughter. When she sobered, she had to make sure and asked, "So, you're okay?" she waved a hand behind her, as if pointing to Andy, who by now was well on his way home. "With us, the three of us, moving in together?"

He took a long, deep breath and let his head bob up and down once more. "Yeah," he leaned on the back of the couch and reached for the remote again. "I'll survive."

She got up to open the door, a smile on her face. She knew who it was. Punctual as ever. 6 pm. Right on the dot. "Hi," she said once she opened the door.

"Hi," he smiled as well, take out bags dangling from his hands, and leaned down to drop a kiss on her smile.

She moved to the side to let him inside. "So?" There was no need to voice his entire question.

"He's in his room, he'll be joining us for dinner." She closed the door and followed him to the dining table. "Gus is working," she added as an afterthought and turned to her kitchen to grab some utensils.

As if on cue, Rusty showed up. "Oh, I didn't hear the door." He stopped near the end of the couch. "Hi, Lieuten-," Sharon shot him a look from where she was standing behind Andy. "Andy," he corrected. They were still working on the whole first name thing. It was just weird, addressing him as Lieutenant at work and Sharon wanting him to address him as Andy outside of it.

"Hey," Andy was taking the boxes out of the bags he had deposited on the table. "I got Thai for Sharon and burgers for the two of us." He made a face as if waiting for Sharon to voice her disapproval. When none came, Rusty chuckled.

"Nice." Rusty approached the table and took a seat.

Andy slanted an incredulous 'this is actually going well' look at Sharon, who, not as inconspicuously as she would have liked, was listening to them intently, utensils for her Thai food ready for a while now. When they met each other's gazes, she smiled and nodded, just barely.

More than halfway through dinner, during a lull in the conversation, Rusty said, "So, toxic mold?"

Andy, who had been busy gazing at Sharon, who was in turn busy dabbing a napkin at the corner of her mouth, a mischievous glint in her eyes, broke out of his reverie and shot a look at Rusty.

"Yeah, yeah," he shook his head. "Not the best choice for a new place." He shot a look at Sharon, who was now openly smiling at him. "Trust me, I know."

Rusty laughed. It had merely been an attempt to broach the subject he was sure both Andy and Sharon avoided all evening on purpose. He thought maybe it was time for him to extend an olive branch of his own now. "I'm sure you do." He threw his mother an amused look, who had what he privately called a poker face in place. He cleared his throat before continuing. He had finished his burger and was picking at the leftover fries now. "I wanted to ask you if," he cleared his throat again and took a breath. Andy looked at him with an amused, almost-smile. Did Rusty know he picked that habit up from his adoptive mother? "when you pick a house," he waved his hand, stalling, "you would let me decide on one thing?" He looked between the two as they shared a look. One of those looks, he thought, and mentally groaned.

It was Sharon who spoke up after her brief moment of quiet deliberation with Andy. "Well, that depends on the thing." She arched an eyebrow at him. She was holding back a smile, too.

He fidgeted in his seat, his gaze following the fries he was still toying with. "I know, I'll move out eventually," he started, "but would it be okay if I got to choose how we decorate my room?" He looked up at Sharon and added in a hurried voice, "I've never really been able to. Not with my other mom, and well, here the room was basically all done. I mean, I did add posters and-"

Sharon's face broke into a wide, albeit pensive smile and she put her hand on top of his fidgeting ones to get his attention as she interrupted him. Rusty was almost all grown up, attending college, but for a moment she again saw that angry, scared, distrustful boy she met almost 5 years ago. For all his bluster and usual confidence, his fears resurfaced every now and then, even after all he's accomplished in the meantime. "Of course, don't worry about it. Yes, you can have a say in how to decorate your new room."

He was gearing up for further arguments before her words registered in his mind and he relaxed into his seat, loosening his shoulders he didn't realize had stiffened up so much. "Oh, okay, that's," he took a breath and looked at the both of them, "that's great."

"We will have to settle on a budget though." The words left Andy's mouth and Rusty looked at him, a shocked expression on his face.

"What? We will!" Andy said defensively, shoulders shrugging and his brow furrowing, surprised by Rusty's reaction, who pulled himself together rather quickly though. "Oh, no, it's okay, yeah, of course, it's just that," Rusty threw a glance at Sharon who seemed as surprised as Andy, although was much more subtle about showing it, "I'd have expected her to insist on that."

Andy barked a laugh at him. "Her is sitting right next to you." she gave him a pointed a look, although she couldn't contain her own smile. "And I agree with Andy, budget will have to be discussed."

Rusty rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know." He gave up on his fries. "So, may I be excused? I was planning on working on my next Identity post before turning in." He started getting up and by the time Sharon got to finish her "Of course, go ahead," he was already passing by her living room couch, mumbling a barely decipherable "Thanks."

"Hmm," Andy sighed, leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap, "that's progress."

Sharon returned her gaze from the spot Rusty had just abandoned and directed it at Andy. A smile was playing at her lips and her eyes crinkled with what could only be classified as joy. "Yes, it certainly is."

Andy got up and started clearing the table. "I guess dinner's over, too."

"Yes, thank you." She stood up to help. It was a thank you for much more than dinner, he knew.

"My pleasure," he replied, a crooked grin playing at his own lips.

So, what do you think? A plausible scene (or scenes)?

And this last bit I see as a way of Rusty letting Andy in on his reservations (in a roundabout way) and making a conscious effort to show he is no longer that wary of Shandy's plans. They're not exploring it that much on the show, so I wanted to see how I could explore it myself then.

I know I've been focusing a lot on Rusty in these (I think I won't always, we'll see), but he's been given so much on screen time in those first episodes of the season, with so little real insight into why he's acting the way he is, that I just had to let my imagination run wild to try to give those whys a because or two.