Here's another added scene for 5x14, connected to the last scene of my previous chapter. Had an idea about something like this last week already, but didn't know what would happen in 5x15, but now that I do know, I finally scribbled down a little something for you.

Don't know how believable this is, but you know what I say: I only wish for something along these lines to happen! :)

She was up early, long before her alarm went off. Not surprising really. She had gone to bed much earlier than usually the previous night. She was in the kitchen now, in the middle of pouring herself a cup of coffee when she heard him opening the door. Usually, the sound of the bathroom door opening would follow a moment later, however, this time what followed was the sound of his footsteps as he padded down the hallway towards her.

She may have been up early, but she was certainly not the first one to wake up.

She had her back turned to him when she heard him come to a stop.

"Oh," he was clearly surprised to see her up and about already, "morning, mom," he said.

She turned around, carefully taking a sip of her procured coffee. She smiled behind her mug and offered a cheerful, "Morning, Rusty. Coffee's fresh."

She was rather curious about what had happened last night. But, deciding not to prod just yet, she watched him round the counter, without really looking at her, to get himself a cup of coffee as well. He was fidgety, a sure tell that he would speak up on his own once he knew what to say.

Only when he found himself a cup, did his eyes finally land on her and he suddenly let out a muffled gasp. "That looks awful, mom!" he said, shocked, forgetting the cup and putting it down on the counter to give her face a concerned once over. "Does it hurt?" he asked.

She let her eyes do a slow roll before she could stop herself. "Don't worry, Rusty, it's nothing," she told him, turning around to take a seat at the head of the dining table.

Rusty shook his head, but took his cup again to fill it up with coffee while sarcastically repeating, "It's nothing."

She offered him an indulging smile. He had been busy with Andrea and so preoccupied with Gus after work yesterday that he hadn't gotten around to properly panic about her unfortunate injury. She would let him get it out of his system now.

He turned on his heel to glare at her. "A guy punched you in the face, mom. That bruise," he waved the hand not holding his cup at her, "is not nothing!"

He was right. It did hurt a little. It was a dull, annoying, occasional throb of pain actually. And it looked a lot worse than it did yesterday. "It'll pass, don't worry about it," she assured him before, on a much softer note, adding, "I'm sorry you had to see it happen though."

Rusty, having finally filled his cup with coffee, walked over and took a seat to her right. "Sorry?" he repeated in disbelief. "I'm not," he told her rather confidently, taking a sip of his coffee now.

She narrowed her eyes at him briefly. That was a surprise. "How come?" she sounded as puzzled as she felt.

"I realized what a badass you are, mom," he told her, grinning.

She snorted unexpectedly. Her coffee dangerously sloshed around her cup, but thankfully did not spill over the rim. "Badass, huh?" she repeated amused, putting her coffee down on the table.

He gave her a wide-eyed look. "You totally provoked him on purpose and then took his punch like a pro!" he exclaimed. "So yeah, badass," he confirmed with a resolute nod of his head.

"I am a pro," she told him, quirking an amused eyebrow at him, barely containing the grin that was threatening to explode on her face.

He gave her humor a bland look. "I saw you kick in a door, heard you shoot your weapon," he told her, a hint of impatience to his words. "But this, I mean, don't get me wrong, I wish you weren't hurt," he eyed her bruise with a painful grimace. "But this you only did to get to hold him a while longer. Wow." His last word was laced with pure awe.

It was no use fighting it. She finally let the grin spread over her features, although she still shook her head at him. It was not often that he showed this openly how impressed he was by something. "Well," she shrugged, "to be honest, I did not exactly expect him to punch me," she admitted.

He considered her for a moment. "Yeah," he said, when he realized what she meant, "you only needed him to become aggressive with you, right? To try to push you or slap you maybe? So you could charge him with," he paused and frowned a little, "what do you call it," he waved a hand through the air, "assault on a police officer?"

"Yes," she confirmed, nodding.

"You scared me there for a moment though," he told her, suddenly looking more serious and less excited.

She smiled a bit ruefully. "Not just you," she told him.

Rusty looked in front of him, in the direction of her bedroom. "I doubt the Lieutenant was too happy about it either," he said. "He looked ready to beat the crap out of that guy."

She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God he didn't."

And just like that his face fell, whatever lightheartedness there was to their conversation evaporating with the thoughts that crossed his mind. "He'd do anything for you, wouldn't he?" he asked softly, even though he was giving her a rather sharp look.

The smile that graced her lips came on its own volition and she nodded in the affirmative. "He might even be more protective of me than I'd want him to be," she said, surprising herself a bit with the sudden admission.

He dropped his gaze onto the coffee cup between his hands and, in response, only let out a contemplative, "Huh."

With that he fell silent. She took a sip of her coffee and was just about to finally simply ask what happened last night, when he spoke again.

"Gus asked me to move in with him."

He sounded rather dejected, whereas she suddenly felt immensely proud of him. She wasn't sure he was ready to really move out yet. Truth be told, she wasn't sure she was ready for that, but the fact that something so normal, so wonderful could happen to him after everything he had gone through warmed her heart and made it swell up with pride at his accomplishment.

"He did?" she asked, her voice raising ever so slightly in pitch. The painful alarm bells with the name Phillip Stroh written all over them, she chose to ignore for the time being. She would think about and decide on that later.

"Mhm," he confirmed, busying himself with another sip of his coffee.

"And?" she gently prodded.

He sighed and looked at her. "I asked him to let me think about it."

She smiled. That was a reasonable demand. "Mhm, and do you want to move in with him?" she finally asked.

When he swallowed before answering, she knew there was more to the answer he was about to give her. "No, not right now," he said.

"Well," she said, getting to her feet, "you'll have to tell Gus that."

She ignored the temporarily shocked look he shot her and, carrying her half-empty cup of coffee, walked into the kitchen.

"What if he breaks up with me though?" he asked her as she leaned against the bar counter to look at him.

"What if he doesn't?" she asked in reply, raising an eyebrow at him.

He sighed and looked away again. He was just about to say something, when they heard her bedroom door open, Andy's steps soon following. Sharon gave Rusty a surprised look, when he promptly closed his mouth. He had had no qualms about discussing Gus in front of Andy the other night so this was unusual. Rusty noticed her, but just shrugged her off and kept quiet. She supposed he just didn't want to go over it all again.

"Morning," Andy said, when he saw them, drawing her attention to him.

His step faltered for a brief second, clearly picking up on either Sharon's slight confusion or Rusty's glum mood, probably both, but still he walked toward the counter to peck her on the lips.

She smiled. "Morning."

He raised an eyebrow and threw Rusty a look. "You alright?"

Rusty just groaned in response before finally looking up at him and saying, "Good morning."

With that Rusty dropped his eyes onto his coffee cup again, so Andy gave Sharon a questioning look.

She briefly closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. She knew he got the message, when he just shrugged and walked past her to help himself to a glass of water.

Rusty however got to his feet and made his way back to his room, his coffee in hand, before Andy could even locate an empty glass. He needed to get ready for work was his excuse.

"Bad sign then," Andy said once they heard Rusty's door close with a slightly louder click than usually. He had filled his glass with water in the meantime and had now turned around, leaning against the sink, to give Sharon's back a look, her eyes still on the spot she last saw Rusty in.

She sighed, effectively confirming his words. "I think he's done talking about it for now though," she said, turning around to face him, her coffee now forgotten on the counter behind her.

"I noticed," Andy mumbled, shooting a look in the direction of Rusty's room.

"I'm sure they'll figure it out," she said, waving it off, even though she was more hoping for it than she was sure of it.

He tilted his head a bit to regard her, clearly considering what to say for a moment. "You're up early," he finally told her.

She smiled, appreciating his change of topic. "As are you," she pointed out, because really, unless a case interrupted, they usually had another half hour of sleep ahead of them before their alarm clocks would go off.

He smiled crookedly. "I got lonely," he said, shrugging.

She chuckled and took the two steps separating them, then lifted on her toes to give him a proper good morning kiss. When she pulled back, she raised an eyebrow. "Better now?" she asked.

He grinned but shook his head.

"Really?" she asked, genuinely surprised.

His grin was replaced by a softer look as he lifted a hand to her face to run his fingers over her bruised cheek. "How's that treating you?" he asked in concern.

She suppressed an eye roll. "To tell you the truth, it's more annoying than painful."

He briefly narrowed his eyes at her, as if weighing her words. "It looks awful though," he told her, frowning slightly, too.

This time she did roll her eyes. "I hope make-up will cover it up," she said jokingly.

He didn't laugh. Instead he asked, seriously, "You're not downplaying it, are you?"

She shook her head. "No, Andy," she said softly. She worried about him all the time, of course, he'd worry about her as well. "It's really not that painful, I promise."

She hadn't even noticed just how tense he had been until she saw his shoulders visibly relax and slacken. But before she could comment on it, he joined their lips again.

"Much better now," he said, smiling when he pulled back.

In response, she laughed.

I love Rusty, and I really liked his progress in episode 5x15 (I enjoyed the entire episode really) and I'm all for the mothership and Gusty feels, however, I was a little bugged that once again we had Rusty interrupt Shandy, while he got a solo Gusty scene, so it's not a coincidence that I had Andy interrupt him here. Letting off some steam in the form of a private, fictional vengeance, I guess. XD

Anyways, I hope you had fun reading this. :)