~ Good Fences ~
by Shea K.

Disclaimer: Welcome to another original story by this lunatic. It is the sequel to Please Baby, which you will need to read to understand what's going on here. The story is mine and the characters are mine. Please do not use them without my permission.

General warning: This story involves a sexual relationship between two women. If you don't like it, don't read it. Simple as that.

Find yourself wanting to see more from this lunatic? Probably not, I know. But, if you are, then you can find more of my insanity here for fanfics: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/932292/ and for more original work here: http://www.fictionpress.com/u/576301/

You can also find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/SL-Kassidy/482097488469386

Contact the lunatic at: starving.lunatic@gmail.com and lemme know what you think of the story. Thanks and enjoy.

7: Happy memories

Jayce and Gus decided to let Octavia play the hostess, as she loved to meet and greet people. So, whenever the doorbell rang, Gus checked to see who it was and opened the door before her daughter took it from there. Of course, everyone who was at the door thought it was beyond adorable.

"Hi, Miss Addy and Miss Daisy!" Octavia greeted two blond women with a massive grin as Gus opened the door.

"Hi, sweetie. You're getting so big," the taller of the blonds commented. She was holding a gift-wrapped box, which Gus expected. So far, anyone that showed up had a gift with them.

"I'm Papa's big girl," Octavia boasted, pointing to herself with her thumb.

"You certainly are," the smaller blond replied, rubbing the top of the child's head.

"I know. I'm s'pposed to tell you everybody in the backyard and living room," Octavia reported, pointing behind her so they knew what direction to go in.

The two women nodded and made their way through the house. All afternoon friends of Gus and Jayce had been filtering into the house. Jayce was busy with preparing food and tending the grill whenever one of their friends could not do it. Gus was ordered to stay five feet away from the fire at all times.

"Papa, I'm gonna go play, 'kay?" Octavia announced out of the blue and ran off.

Gus chuckled, but did not comment as the doorbell rang again. She grinned when half of her new "crew" stepped into the house.

"Hey, guys! Glad you made it!" Gus said to Glenn and Ryan.

"Hey, what's up? We brought the wives and Glenn brought his kids if that's okay," Ryan explained, motioning to the group with him.

"Totally fine. There's plenty of those around here," Gus informed them, ushering them inside.

"That's good. Means I don't have to entire them," Glenn remarked. "Gus, this is my wife, Stephanie," he introduced the pair.

"Nice to meet you," Gus said with a smile and reached out to shake the blond woman's hand.

"Nice to meet you, too. We've already heard that you've been adopted by their crew. Now, we're hoping as a woman, you'll be the voice of reason," Stephanie remarked with a pleasant smile.

Gus laughed. "Hate to disappoint, but my wife continues to tell me that I'm like having a third child around here."

"That is a pity," Ryan's wife commented and Gus turned her attention to her. "Hi, I'm Amelia. You'll more than likely get to know me through a lot of yelling if you're anything like Ryan, Glenn, and Trevor."

Gus laughed again. "You can always join forces with Jayce. She'll definitely love having someone back her up when she tells me I'm an idiot. Now, most of the people are in the back, but my nosier friends are undoubtedly snooping. I'd introduce you to my wife, but Jayce is really running this show and is way busy."

"Okay, wait a second, now you're telling me you got your wife to handle the barbeque? You are totally a witch!" Ryan teased.

"Poof, what do you need?" Gus joked.

"That's the genie, not the witch," Glenn remarked.

Gus nodded and laughed. The fellows, their wives, and Glenn's children made their way to the back of the house. Gus watched them, figuring that she would meet up with them a little later and introduce them to her other friends if necessary. But, looking at the way Ryan was whooping it up several ladies who had beers in hand already, she doubted that she would have to do any introductions at all.

"I don't think he'll have a problem fitting in," Gus commented to herself, glancing outside over to her next-door neighbor's house. Trevor, Travis, and Helena had yet to arrive.

Gus was not sure if they were going to show up or not. She certainly hoped they did. Trevor seemed to think that his wife just needed to adjust to the idea of living next to lesbians and not that she had any real problem with homosexuals. She wanted that to be true because they planned to be there the rest of their lives and they were friends with Trevor anyway.

Deciding not to let the idea of Trevor not showing up bother her, Gus turned her attention to her other guests. She smiled and waved whenever someone caught her eye. Marching out into the backyard, she took in the masses. There were children by the fence, throwing around a dodge ball. Gus was happy to see that Glenn's kids were right in the thick of things, playing around with children around their ages.

"Hey, Jay, how's the grill going?" Gus asked, coming up behind her wife, who was working the grill, flipping over some burgers on one end and then putting her special sauce on some chicken.

"It's going fine. I think I'm going to get Barry to take over, though. She keeps hovering, checking to see if I'm doing it right," Jayce commented with a smile, nodding toward their friend, who was standing a couple of feet away.

"I'm not hovering," the thick woman huffed, easily hearing Jayce.

"Yes, you are," Jayce replied. "Here, you can take over, Barry."

Jayce stepped away from the grill and Barry grinned as she took over. Wrapping her arms around Gus, Jayce led her spouse away from the food and through the large gathering. Gus returned the embrace, putting her arm around Jayce's waist.

"Have your new friends shown up?" Jayce asked curiously. She scanned around, trying to spot unfamiliar faces.

"Oh, yeah. They showed up a few minutes ago. I'll introduce you as soon as I spot them again," Gus replied.

"And they didn't have a problem with being surrounded by so much family?"

"Not that I could tell. They're really good guys. Hell, Ryan might end up going off to a bar with some of the family tonight," Gus commented with a slight smirk.

Jayce nodded. "Has Trevor showed up yet?"

"No. I'm not sure if he is or not. I don't think Helena is very fond of us," Gus commented.

"I'm sure she's not, but that doesn't stop Trevor from coming over any other time."

Gus could not argue that and did not try. Instead, she scanned the area for her new friends and found them talking to old friends of hers. Gently, she pulled Jayce toward the discussion. When they showed up, it seemed that they had just missed an amusing joke.

"Gus, what's up? We were just admiring your house," a tall, dark-skin woman, Aisha, stated and her significant other nodded in agreement.

"We were also admiring your neighbors," an olive-toned, ebony-haired male, Rico, added with a blatant leer at Ryan.

"This neighbor is taken," Ryan's wife remarked with a smile, possessively putting her arms around her husband.

"The good ones always are," Rico sighed dramatically, fanning himself as if to stop tears from flowing.

"That explains why you're still single," Gus teased Rico.

"You need to explain that to Daquan," Rico retorted.

"Yeah, right after I explain to him that you're hitting on my married, straight neighbors," Gus replied, smiling.

"This girl is vicious, isn't she? How can you be friends with her?" Rico asked Ryan and Glenn.

"She shows up with beer and has kick-ass cookouts, so what's not to like?" Glenn remarked with a smile.

"The fact that she's a smartass?" Rico commented with a smile of his own.

"Ha, ha, ha. Rico, you're not going to get my new friends against me. They're cool, unlike you," Gus said, patting her new friends on the shoulders.

"You're cool until they find another beer supply," Rico playfully snapped.

"Nah, she's already an official part of the crew, even without the beer," Glenn declared.

"See, I'm official. I don't need you clowns anymore!" Gus laughed.

"Don't worry. They'll wise up and release you back into the wild," Rico snickered.

Gus chuckled and then decided to get to the reason that she came over in the first place. Putting her arm around Jayce's waist, she introduced her new friends and their spouses to her wife. Jayce smiled at each person and politely shook their hands.

"Thanks for befriending my big baby," Jayce remarked, rubbing Gus' stomach.

"Speaking of baby, we heard you have an absolutely adorable pair. Care to show them off?" Amelia inquired.

Jayce's smile was so bright that it could have been used to signal outer space. "Our little princess is running around with her friends and Gus-Gus is hanging out with his aunt, but I would love to show them off," she boasted.

"I'll go get my clone and you get to know my new adopted clan," Gus remarked, strolling away before Jayce could answer.

"Thanks for watching out for Gus. She doesn't make friends as easily as she should," Jayce commented. Of course, she felt like Gus did not make as many friends as she should because Gus always stuck so close to her.

"No problem. We're all real friendly and we like her," Ryan stated with a grin and then realized how that sounded. He glanced at his wife, who was only smiling at him, and he decided to clean up his proclamation. "In a totally platonic, not-thinking-of-her-in-appropriately way!"

"That's good. You don't have the right equipment to keep her happy," Jayce teased, earning some light laughter.

"What? I got fingers and a tongue," Ryan remarked with a lewd grin. Amelia wasted no time slapping him in the back of the head. "Ow!"

"Learn to stop while you're ahead," Amelia scolded her husband.

"So, how are you liking the neighborhood so far?" Stephanie asked Jayce with a small smile. She tucked a long strand of blond hair behind her ear.

"I'm enjoying it very much. I think I'll like it more when my family doesn't seem like an exhibit to our neighbors," Jayce answered honestly.

"That might take a while. It's pretty boring around here and you guys did just throw this huge, gay soiree. So, we'll be talking about this for the next year or so," Ryan quipped with a big grin.

"Unless, of course, someone catches Brandon's mistress running through another backyard in only a sheet," Amelia comment dryly, rolling dark brown eyes.

"No, this is probably better than that. I mean, this is the first lesbian couple in the neighborhood and this is a big gathering. Brandon's mistress falls out of his house a few times a year," Ryan pointed out with a chuckle.

"Sounds like this is an interesting place to live. Perhaps, Daquan could be convinced to move out here. He and I could take the heat off of you and Gus. After all, we are flamboyant gay men. That automatically makes us more interesting than two average lesbians," Rico said, smirking.

"I don't think the neighborhood is quite ready for you yet," Stephanie teased Rico.

Jayce smiled when Rico laughed the comment off. It was good to see their new friends getting along with their old friends. There were a few more laughs shared before Gus returned with Gus-Gus in her arms and Jannie by her side. She quickly introduced her sister to the small crowd and all attention went to Gus-Gus.

"Oh, he is so cute!" Amelia and Stephanie cooed simultaneously.

"We only make 'em cute," Gus bragged before cooing at her son. Gus-Gus gave his mother a toothless grin in return.

"What's his name?" Amelia inquired.

"Augustus, but we mostly call him Gus-Gus," Jayce answered.

"How old is he?" Stephanie asked.

"Seven months now. He doesn't know it, but come the year mark, I'm making him get a job or he has to get out," Gus joked.

"Please, the way they treat him, he'll be living at home until he's forty," Jannie chimed in.

"He's my baby and I'll spoil him as I please," Jayce stated with a proud smile.

"Yeah, until I give him the boot," Gus remarked. She then kissed the baby's cheek. From the light in her eyes, they all knew that Jannie was probably right. Augustus obviously had Gus wrapped around his little, pudgy finger.

"Do you mind if I hold him?" Amelia inquired.

"No problem. Just be careful because he drools at the strangest times," Gus cautioned her guest, passing the baby to the other woman.

Amelia cooed over Gus-Gus, who reveled in the attention if the happy smile he was wearing meant anything. Stephanie joined in fussing over the baby, touting how cute he was. Ryan and Glenn laughed over their wives behavior and also the obvious pride beaming from Gus and Jayce as they relayed tales of their little boy. Things continued on when Octavia wandered over, leaning against Gus.

"Hey, princess, what's up?" Gus asked, petting the child's head.

Octavia put her arms up as a response. Gus chuckled softly and bent down, picking her daughter up. Octavia rested her head against her papa's shoulder and smiled at the group of adults.

"I'm Octavia. Are you my Mommy and Papa's friends?" the child asked, earning several smiles and laughs.

"How can one family be this cute?" Ryan joked.

Glenn shook his head. "No idea," he replied before turning his attention to the little girl. "Yes, we're your parents' friends. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too!" Octavia grinned before turning her attention to her mother. "Mommy, I thought you said that Travie was gonna come. How come he's not here?" she inquired with a pout.

"He should be here, princess. You just have to give him time. You know how long it takes parents to get ready," Jayce answered in a gentle tone with a matching smile.

Octavia nodded, earning some more laughs. Things would have continued on in that manner if Gus had not noticed the newest arrivals to the party as they set foot in the backyard.

"Hey, Octie, I think your pal might've heard your plight," Gus said, pointing over to the sliding doors that lead into the house. Octavia turned to see what her papa was talking about.

"Travie! Good, he can meet my other friends!" Octavia cheered, pushing out of her papa's arms. Gus carefully put her daughter down before Octavia ended up hurting herself. The child took off toward Travis and his parents.

"I get the feeling that she and Travis are best friends," Glenn commented.

"Either that or she's a stalker already," Gus joked. "Excuse us while we go greet our good neighbors," she said, putting her arm around Jayce and leading her over Trevor and Helena. She knew that Jannie would take care of Gus-Gus while the ladies continued to fawn over him.

"Trevor, Helena, we're so happy that you could make it," Jayce said with a bright smile.

"We wouldn't miss it," Trevor declared with a grin.

"Mommy, Papa, I'm gonna take Travie to meet everyone, okay!" Octavia asked, but she did not stick around for a response. She pulled Travis away from his parents, even though he resisted somewhat. Still, he never turned around or forced her to stop.

Trevor laughed. "I swear I'm going to have to take that boy shopping for an engagement ring before his tenth birthday," he remarked.

"You never know, Octavia might ask her papa to take her shopping for a ring," Jayce pointed out with a playful smile.

"I would not be surprised by that," Trevor admitted with a pleasant smile. "So, how about introducing us around? There's so many people here I almost thought we were at the wrong place," he guffawed.

"It has to seem strange for us to have so many people over when in all of the time you've known us we haven't had a single friend here," Jayce said.

"It's a little weird, but I figured people as cool as you two would have dozens of friends," Trevor replied honestly.

"We'll introduce you guys and then Helena can work the room, if you want anyway," Gus offered.

Helena did not verbally respond. There was a slight shrug and then she squared her shoulders, almost as if she were getting ready for battle. Gus and Jayce could understand that, so they wasted no time introducing their new friends to their other acquaintances. Once they felt like they had done enough, Gus and Jayce stepped away, leaving Trevor and Helena to fend for themselves.

"I'm really surprised that Helena showed up," Jayce admitted once she was certain that they were good distance from their neighbors.

"I told Trevor we had a lot of friends that she could use to network and that seemed like good motivation. She's really into her job, so I figured helping her out on that front might get her to stop looking at us like we were the most disgusting thing that she's ever seen," Gus replied.

Jayce nodded and the couple broke apart to go entertain themselves. They kept an eye on Trevor and Helena for a while, surprised that the couple eventually drifted apart just as they had. Helena did not seem to have any problem conversing with all of the lesbian couples and gay couples at the gathering.

"Is it just us that she has a problem with?" Jayce wondered, considering Helena's attitude. She did not have a chance to think too much of it, distracted by other guests and other items that needed her attention.

Gus wondered the same thing, but found that she could get an answer. She ended up standing next to Trevor as she was going to get a drink. He grinned at her.

"Killer barbeque, Gus. This food is ridiculous and you have so much of it. I didn't think there would be so many people," Trevor commented, eating off of a plate that was stocked with chicken, corn on the cob, and two hotdogs.

"Honestly, I didn't think there'd be this many people either. But, apparently we've got more friends than we know what to do with. Or they have more friends than they know what to do with because some of them did just drag others along for the free food. It's a good thing we did go overboard on the food. What took you so long getting here, anyway?" Gus asked.

"Helena. At first, I convinced her to throw on a pair of jeans and t-shirt and move on with her life since I knew this was just going to be a friendly barbeque, right. Well, we were all ready to go when she happened to glance out of the window and saw just how many people you had in your backyard. She then started interrogating me about what you do for a living and everything. I told her as much as I could and then she started asking about Jayce's job. I probably should've kept my big mouth shut."

Gus nodded. "She started to think that we had some big-wigs over here, huh?"

"Well, she didn't think of it as the 'little lesbian barbeque' anymore, I can tell you that. Poor Travis was about to burst into tears when she threw on her game face and went to change … four times. He just wanted to come over and play."

"You should've told her it's not that serious."

"I tried! You can't reason with that woman when it comes to possible clients. I felt underdressed just walking next to her," he remarked. "Standing next to you, though, I feel like I could attend the Oscars."

Gus snorted and punched him in the shoulder. He laughed while Gus' gaze wandered over to Helena, who was dressed in what was essentially business-casual. She had on a brown pencil skirt and a tan v-neck shirt. Gus was surprised when she noticed the woman was even wearing heels. She turned her attention back to Trevor.

"I feel undressed now and I not only live here, but threw the damn barbeque!" Gus chuckled.

"I was going to tease her about every woman at the party hitting on her, but she didn't seem to care about that much," Trevor commented.

"I noticed she didn't seem at all bothered by all of the lesbians. I thought it was a bit weird since she still seems to have a problem with me and Jayce."

It was Trevor's turn to nod. "I noticed that too. I don't think it's the fact that you guys are a lesbian couple that bother her."

Gus scratched her eyebrow with her pinkie. "Then what is it? We haven't spoken enough for her to just hate us personally."

"Hell if I know what it is. Whenever I spoke to her about it, she made it seem like her problem was with you guys being gay. Now, that was obviously a front." He looked over at his wife again and she was merrily conversing with a lesbian couple.

"Maybe on a business level she's able to deal?" Gus offered.

He shook his head. "I really don't think it's just that. I mean, if it was, she would act somewhat fake toward everyone she's interacting with. She's not acting that way. I've seen her in business-mode with people she doesn't like, but is forced to be around. It's not like this. She doesn't have a problem with your friends or their sexual preferences. She's not uncomfortable at all."

"So, it is me and Jayce she had a problem with, personally?"

"It seems so. I just don't get why."

Gus shrugged. "Ah well. For some reason, I feel better about that than I do when I thought she hated us because we're lesbians."

He arched an eyebrow. "Really? You'd rather someone hate you personally than just because you're gay?"

"I feel like the personal one I can probably fix someone, show them that I'm not as horrible as they think or whatever. I can't fix her hating us because we're gay."

"I guess that makes sense." There was a moment of silence between them before a teasing glint appeared in Trevor's eyes. "So, how is that you throw a barbeque and you're not the one working the grill? Won't they revoke your butch lesbian license?" he joked.

Gus laughed. "I'd rather that than to go to jail for massive food poisoning. I'm sure that would fall under all kinds of assault charges. Maybe even attempted murder. I can't be trusted next to anything that involves fire and food. Had you arrived earlier, you would've seen Jayce running the grill."

"Oh, making the femme work the grill? That has to be an double butch offense!"

"Who's been lying to you and telling you I'm butch, anyway? I might be the Papa around here, but I think that's where things end with me being butch."

Trevor nodded. "Honestly, I thought that was how lesbian relationships were broken down, anyway. One of you has to be the guy."

"Oh, man. Let me educate you tonight, my friend. I think you'll enjoy finding out just how wrong you are."

He actually smiled at that. Gus liked how open-minded Trevor was, even with his extremely limited knowledge on same-sex couples and relationships. She picked up Ryan and Glenn, figuring they might be open to a little education too. The group had plenty of fun together, joined by some of Gus' other friends. In the end, it was a good night, even though there were a couple of bumps in the road.


Octavia was knocked out against her papa, who was smiling broadly. Gus rubbed Octavia's back to help keep her asleep while she cleaned the grill with her free hand. Jayce was nearby cleaning up any plates or cups that did not make it into the garbage.

"Tonight was a good night," Gus commented with a smile.

"Any night where Octavia falls asleep without begging for a story is a good night to you," Jayce pointed out.

Gus chuckled. "That is always a good night. Those kids all wore themselves out. Everybody had to carry their midgets out of here."

"Then it was a good day," Jayce agreed. "Although I wish our friends were more accurate when they go to throw things in the garbage. It would be nice if they could hit the garbage at least twenty percent of the time."

"They're too busy admiring the house and marveling over how big the kids have gotten in less than a month," Gus replied with a laugh.

"At least we got this out of the way. I'm so ready to go back to having this place to ourselves."

"You're right about that. I guess I can forgive Jannie for this then."

"Of course you can. You can then go back to being angry with her over her choice in girlfriends," Jayce remarked with a teasing smile.

"Oh, god!" Gus groaned. "I couldn't hate that girl anymore if I tried! Did you see how she was looking at Octie just because Jannie was talking to her?"

"I think that upset you more than the fact that one of our neighbors actually called the police on us," Jayce said.

Gus let out another groan. The highlight of the evening was the arrival of the police; it happened more than once that night. The first time, a neighbor had made a call about a "rambunctious bacchanal" in their backyard. Of course, once the uniformed officers looked around, they realized it was an average barbeque … except there seemed to be a lot more women than they expected. Gus had to keep from laughing when the duo tried to hit on several of her friends before they made their exit.

"I guess it could've been worse. Someone could've called and said we were hosting a gay orgy," Gus remarked.

"Someone did. I answered the door solo when the police arrived a second time," Jayce informed her wife.

Gus had to turn around and face her spouse on that note. "You're kidding, right?"

"I kid you not. The officers were not amused when they saw we were having a plain barbeque with a suspicious amount of women in attendance."

"I had no idea there was a limit to how many women you could have at a barbeque."

"Yes, well, the second set of officers seemed to think something was going on." Dark eyes rolled as Jayce snorted.

"Why didn't you come get me? I would've thrown them out on their asses," Gus declared.

"I know you would have, baby, but I can handle things too. A lot more diplomatically, too. I didn't want you to get into any trouble or for the police to think we were a bunch of smart-asses and give them an excuse to harass us over any little call our neighbors might make."

"That sucks. The first two guys were cool. I gave them some food and a few sodas and they were all smiles when they left. Even told us to have a good night."

Jayce sighed. "Well, the second pair wasn't that cool. In fact, they looked like something smelled bad the whole time they were here."

"You know what, screw them! Tonight was great and I'm not going to let some asshole cops change that," Gus declared and then Octavia squirmed in her arms. She made a face and mouthed an apology when she noticed Jayce was glaring at her.

"It was a good night. Now, how about you go put the princess to bed. I'll get lil Caesar into bed," Jayce said.

Gus nodded and hurried off, figuring they would finish cleaning in the morning. She changed Octavia into pajamas without waking her up; it took an abundance of practice and patience to achieve such a feat. Octavia whimpered and moaned, but she did not wake up.

"Have a good sleep, sweetheart," Gus whispered, leaning down to kiss her daughter's forehead.

"Is she still asleep?" Jayce asked from the doorway.

"Knocked out cold. And our emperor?" Gus countered as her wife stepped over to her.

"Just as knocked out."

Gus nodded and went to say her goodnights to Augustus while Jayce said her own to Octavia. They met up again in their bedroom and got ready for bed. Once they were resting comfortably in their bed, they turned to each other.

"This was a really good idea. Should we do it again on the 4th of July or Labor Day?" Gus asked.

"I'd like that, love. We could make it an annual thing?"

"Sounds like a plan," Gus agreed, wrapping her arms around her wife and holding her close. It would make their home even better if they built some traditions with their friends.


Jayce and Trevor were sitting on his front porch while their children were playing around on the front lawn. Gus-Gus was safe in a playpen, trying to figure out how he could get out. Climbing seemed to be his only plan and it was not successful for the umpteenth time that he tried it. Jayce shook her head, even though it was nice to see her baby boy trying to stand up.

"So, that was a great barbeque you guys threw. Travis talked about his new friends the whole night and then the whole morning until you guys came over," Trevor reported with a smile.

"I'm so glad he had a good time. Did you and Helena enjoy yourselves too?" Jayce inquired.

"I loved it. Helena loved it, too, but for different reasons. I think she gave all of your friends her card and actually picked up a few clients."

"Gus'll know more about that. I'll ask her when she comes back in."

"Ask her about how she gave me and my crew a crash course on lesbians that night. We had a ball asking just about every question we could think of. Your friends probably think we're complete idiots and Gus is our sovereign leader." He chuckled.

"Our friends were probably more than happy to answer any question you had, even if you were purposely being ignorant."

"And we were about half the time. Gus encouraged it," he grinned.

"Of course she did." Dark eyes rolled.

"Okay, before I get her into anymore trouble, lemme throw out the olive branch really quick. I got tickets to the auto show next week. You and yours want to come?" he offered.

"What about your other friends?"

"Glenn has his own tickets and Ryan will be otherwise occupied. He actually gave me his ticket for Gus. The other one, for you, is from Helena. She hates cars."

Jayce nodded. "Well, so do I, so I think you'll have to hang out with Gus again. Gus is all about cars."

Trevor laughed. "Oh, you're punishing me so much by making me go enjoy cars with Gus! Why are you doing this to me?" He clutched his chest and pretended to gag. Jayce laughed and shoved him.

"You're so silly. It'll give me more time with the kids."

"Well, Gus might want to take your little princess there. I'm bringing Travis. The little guy loves cars."

"Octavia will definitely go if her friend is going. Besides, she likes cars too. She likes just about anything that her papa likes."

Trevor laughed, even though that did not surprise him. He had never met a child so interested in her own parents, so admiring of her own parents. He thought it was cute and he knew that her parents thought the same, which was why he was certain Gus would take the child with them to go to the auto show.


"Oh, look at that car!" Octavia pulled her papa to go look at another car. Gus laughed and allowed herself to be yanked away by her child. Trevor and Travis were right behind them.

"I didn't think she was that into cars," Trevor commented, walking beside Gus.

"You should've seen when I had this roadster. She was only two, but I swear she was always trying to jump into the driver's seat."

"You had a roadster?"

"I sold it when Jayce was pregnant with Gus-Gus. Jayce always went on and on about how impractical it was to have the roadster because we had a growing family and it only fit two people. I already had the SUV, which was being used a lot more than the roadster already. So, I sold it."

Trevor nodded. "You miss it?"

"Not really. It was a toy that I had outgrown."

Trevor smiled and nodded again, understanding her. They got to the car that Octavia wanted to see and Gus quickly put the child behind the wheel. Travis jumped in to ride shotgun and their parents took pictures, which was what they had been doing all day. Of course, several cars caught their eyes, too, but they did not sit behind the wheels of any of them. They did not want to tempt themselves.

"Let's go sit them in that one next," Trevor suggested, pointing to a sleek convertible.

"Okay, we'll let Travis drive that one," Gus agreed.

They did as they said they would. Travis grinned as he sat behind the wheel of the car. Octavia cheered him on. Travis acted like he was in a racecar, going so far as to make his own sound effects. Octavia only cheered louder.

"Oh, Papa! Sit here and let Travie drive you!" Octavia suggested, sliding out of her seat.

Gus was not able to deny her child, so she eased into the passenger seat and let Travis "drive" her. Trevor laughed while Octavia cheered more. He made sure to snap several pictures of his son "driving" his neighbor.

"You're a really good driver," Gus told the little boy.

Travis grinned brightly at the compliment. "I watch Mom do it all the time!" he boasted. "My mom drives because Dad yells bad words at people."

Gus could not help chuckling at that one. Travis proceeded to explain to her what all of the buttons in the car did; of course, he only truly knew what buttons were for the radio. Everything else he made up, but she went along with it and he seemed very happy with that. He talked to her the whole time they were in the car together.

"He's not the shy kid he once was," Gus commented as she climbed out of the car.

Trevor smiled and nodded. He was obviously proud of his son opening up. "So, where did you take Miss Gus?" Trevor asked Travis as the boy hopped out of the driver's seat and into his father's waiting arms.

"I drove her to Paris!" Travis announced proudly with his little chest puffed out.

"He even bought me dinner while we were there. He sure knows how to treat a lady," Gus remarked with a smile.

"Wait until he find out how much it costs to drive to Paris," Trevor quipped with a smile of his own.

Gus smirked and they moved onto the next car. That time Octavia was able to drive Trevor to Mars. Gus hoped that if Octavia ever did want to make that trip, it would be on the government and she did not have to start saving now. She also took plenty of pictures.

"This was a good day," Gus commented as the group left the auto show. She was carrying Octavia and Trevor was carrying Travis. The kids were not asleep, but they were exhausted and in need of lunch.

"It was really good. I can't wait to show Helena all of the pictures. I bet she'll come next time when she sees how much Travis enjoyed himself." Trevor turned his attention to his son. "Right, kiddo?"

"I want Mom to come next time … and Miss Jayce," Travis replied with a yawn. He rubbed his eye with his small fist.

"Yeah, Mommy should come and Gus-Gus," Octavia agreed. Her eyes were drooping and her papa was not too sure Octavia would last long enough for lunch.

"We can make it a real family trip. Or maybe make some place their moms want to be as a family trip," Gus remarked.

"That sounds good. We should throw that around," Trevor agreed.

It sounded like a good plan. What sounded like an even better plan was getting lunch into their kids before they began complaining. Once lunch was had, they went home. The children slept on the way, but woke up as soon as the car stopped.

"Mommy, we had fun!" Octavia shouted as she charged into the house.

"I'm sure you did," Jayce said, stepping out of the living room. Octavia jumped into her arms and they embraced tightly.

"We took lots of pictures! Show Mommy the pictures, Papa!"

Gus smiled and produced her camera. They all sat down and Gus handed over the camera before picking up Gus-Gus. She cooed at the baby before shifting him, so he would be able to see the pictures too. Octavia happily talked them through all of the pictures. Gus only chimed in when Octavia got too excited and could not properly explain what was going on.

"Mommy, will you come next time?" Octavia inquired with a bright smile once the pictures were done.

Jayce smiled too. "Of course, princess. I didn't know you'd have so much fun. I would love to come next time and see you drive in all of the big cars."

"Great! Travie is gonna see if his mommy'll come too!"

Jayce kept smiling, but she glanced at her spouse. Gus shrugged and saved the conversation by asking Octavia which car was her favorite. The child was easily distracted and ran into a long, dissertation about her favorite cars from the show. Gus smiled at her wife, who sighed in relief. But, the day was saved.


8: From all sides

"Do you think we should get a basketball hoop in the driveway?" Gus asked while scratching her eyebrow with her pinkie. It seemed out of the blue to her spouse, who was curled up with her on the couch.

Jayce smiled and wrapped Gus' arm around her waist. "Why would we need one?" she countered.

"I dunno. I might want to teach the kids how to shoot hoops and stuff like that," Gus answered with a shrug. "You know, quality papa time."

"And this has nothing to do with the fact that Glenn just bought a hoop for his driveway a few days ago?"

Gus blinked. "What? How do you know that?"

Clicking her tongue, Jayce shook her head to her wife's disbelief. "Don't you know that any time a group of husbands become friends, their wives also become friends if only to keep track of them?" she teased.

"Is that true? You keep up with Amelia and Stephanie?"

"We've spoken a couple of times, yes. We're not the Three Musketeers or anything, but we do like to talk to each other. Amelia and I were warned by Stephanie that you and Ryan were coveting Glenn's hoop. You don't need one."

"Of course we do! What if Octavia or Gus-Gus wants to play basketball?" Gus pointed out.

"You can walk them up the street to the small park with a court."

"What? That court could be taken!"

"Baby, there are several courts. What if they decide they want to play soccer? Will we have to put in a soccer field?"

"No, but we could set up a goal in the back. Same thing is they wanted to play football. Come on! Please!" Gus threw on her most adorably pathetic grin, knowing it would get her wife to cave almost immediately.

"How about we talk about this when Octie shows an interest in basketball or Gus-Gus isn't the same size as a basketball?" Jayce proposed.

"No, c'mon!" Gus pretended to whine. She embraced Jayce tightly, pulling the smaller woman to her body. She then whimpered in Jayce's ear, sounding like a wounded puppy.

"I'm not okaying this, sweetheart, so cut it out."

"What? C'mon my little Jay bird. I'll put in a good word for you and our kids will think you're the cool parent," Gus remarked, kissing her spouse's cheek.

"Hey! I am a cool parent! I'm the one that makes them treats and Octie loves helping me in the kitchen!"

"I bring home video games, though."

Jayce turned to better face her spouse. "Do you really think they'll think I'm not cool?" she asked with a pout. And just like that, the tables were turned on Gus.

"Aw, baby, you know I'm teasing. You are cool and our babies adore you. Octie thinks you make light, you know that?"

The shorter woman snorted and laughed. "You're lying."

"I swear! She thinks that you make light. I mean, all light too. Inside light and the freaking sun. She thinks you have power over the sun."

Jayce still looked skeptical. "How do you know that?"

"One day, I went to wake her up for breakfast and it was a cloudy day. I think it rained the whole night and into the morning. But, anyway, she looked around and told me to go away. She said, 'Papa, you didn't do it right. Let Mommy wake me up, so she can make the sky light up.' I swear to you, she said that. She thinks that the sun comes out because you wake her up."

Jayce smiled and Gus took the opportunity to kiss Jayce. They then turned their attention back to the movie they were watching. They were having quality time since their children were asleep. Before the movie ended, Jayce was soundly sleeping against her spouse. Gus was far from tired and busied herself by running her fingers through Jayce's hair. The phone ringing distracted her from the task briefly.

Gus grabbed the phone, not wanting it to ring again because she did not want to wake up Jayce. She checked the caller ID and her brow wrinkled. She did not recognize the number.

"Hello?" Gus answered, using her free hand to pet her wife.

"Is this the bitch?" the familiar, detestable voice of her mother-in-law replied.

"Marion, it's been a while. How's the restraining order treating you?" Gus mocked the woman with a level of satisfaction in her voice.

"You filthy fucking whore! You might have charmed a judge and lied to my son, but I will get my granddaughter back!"

"Blah, blah, blah. Stop calling my fucking house. You bother my family again and-" Gus was cut off.

"Don't you threaten me!"

Gus remained calm. "You know it's not a threat, Marion. This is my family. Octavia is my daughter with Jay. You know that. You want to keep testing me, bring it on. I'll fucking bury you again."

"I know you're molesting her! I know it! I'll prove it!"

Gus ended the call, not bothering to listen to Marion's bullshit anymore. Making a mental note to get the number that Marion called from blocked, she turned her complete attention back to Jayce. She embraced her wife, holding her dearly.

"What life must have been like with that crazy woman," Gus sighed. She hated imagining what her spouse's life was like when she lived with Marion Newton. The woman seemed to have a special sort of contempt for her daughter. It was rather unhealthy from what Gus could tell.

Marion's life seemed to be all about making Jayce's life hell. It had been a rather difficult task for the past few years and Gus was going to make sure it remained difficult. So, one of her hobbies was about driving Marion crazy by not letting her get close to Jayce. She decided that she was going kick it up a notch and cause some trouble for Marion, if only to keep her too occupied to bother Jayce.

"Hey, love," Gus whispered into her wife's ear.

"Hmm …?" Jayce replied, obviously incoherent.

"Baby, wake up. Let's go get in the bed."

"Bed?" was the mumbled echo.

"Yeah, the bed. We're on the couch right now. The kids obviously wore you out today, so let's go get in the bed."

Jayce nodded and they made their way to their bedroom. Gus sat up for a little, thinking about Marion. Aside from pushing back a little on Marion, she was going to have to find out what the woman was up to and put an end to it before it got out of hand. She was not going to let her wife or children be traumatized by that crazy lady anymore.

"That bitch is out of her mind if she thinks I'm going to let her mess up the best thing to ever happen to all of us," Gus murmured and reached over to her nightstand. She had a notepad and a pen there and began to plan out what she needed to do.


Jayce was sitting outside with her laptop, supposedly working. It was obvious work was her last priority. She was watching Octavia ride her tricycle and keeping an eye on Augustus, who was on the porch with her.

"Hi!" Octavia called out to the couple that jogged by the house everyday.

"Hello, Octavia," the woman smiled and waved. She then turned and looked at the baby on the porch. "Hey, Gus-Gus," she added, waving at the infant too. The little boy grinned, but it was hard to tell if it was at her or at the world in general.

Jayce smiled and waved at the couple, who did the same before going on their way. While the couple did not seem to approve of her relationship with Gus, they were friendly to the children and respectful to Gus and Jayce. Jayce assumed the tolerance was due to the fact that Octavia was so friendly toward the couple whenever they jogged by. After the initial meeting, Octavia greeted the pair and offered them just about anything that came to mind to get them to talk with her. She did that with any familiar face that went by the house.

"I'd worry about her always talking to strangers if only she didn't do with such a bright smile," Jayce joked with herself. Of course, Octavia actually never spoke to strangers. She recognized the people that went by the house and only talked to the ones that had introduced themselves to her mommy or her papa.

It was an average, uneventful day for the family. Gus showed up after work and Octavia leaped into her arms. They exchanged a tight hug before Gus turned her attention to her spouse, who was carrying the baby.

"I was thinking, how about a family night out?" Gus proposed out of the blue.

"Oh, I wanna go to Playtime America!" Octavia announced.

Both parents smiled. "I figured as much, Octie," Gus said, rubbing the child's head. Her eyes then went to her wife.

"Sounds like a great idea. I haven't cooked anything yet," Jayce replied.

"Good. Everybody pile in and we'll get going," Gus proclaimed with another smile.

"Hey, can we see if Travie wants to come?" Octavia requested.

"Hey, princess, how about we do this one as a family and then the next time we go, you can invite Travis, okay?" Jayce suggested.

Octavia pouted until Gus rubbed the top of her head and picked her up. Gus put Octavia in her seat while Jayce strapped the baby in his own seat. Gus was ready to go, but Jayce had to run into the house for Gus-Gus' diaper bag. Gus took that opportunity to talk to Octavia to get her to stop pouting.

"Hey, we'll definitely take Travis next time, but right now we should have fun as a family. We'll have fun as a family. You can play with me and Mommy and even Gus-Gus," the businesswoman said in a very gentle tone.

"I guess …" the child replied grumpily.

"Hey," Gus whispered. "Look at me, princess." Big, dark eyes met her light hazel ones. "Sometimes, it's just going to be us. It's to help make sure we stay as close as we are. You like how we are, right?"

The child nodded. "Uh-huh."

"And you don't want us to break up, right?"

Octavia looked horrified by the very idea. "Never!"

Gus smiled. "It's never going to happen, but this is to make sure it doesn't. okay?"

Octavia nodded again and Gus continued to smile. Jayce was back in after that talk and the family was off. They all had fun together, but Octavia did not forget that her mothers agreed that next time her friend could join them.

Sure enough, the next time that they went out to the kiddie arcade known as "Playtime America" Octavia made sure her friend was with them. Trevor went along since it was the middle of the afternoon and he did not have anything better to do; besides, he thought it would be fun to play around in an arcade with the kids. The next time Jayce and Gus offered to take Travis for an afternoon, though Trevor let it be known that he would spend the afternoon working. The ladies had no problem with that.


"Hey, Jayce, do you mind watching my boy for a couple of hours while I get some writing done?" Trevor requested as he and his son marched across their front yard. Jayce and her two children were in their front yard again.

"You know I have no problem with that. You sure you just need a couple of hours?" Jayce countered.

"Yeah, that should be enough time. If not, I'll ring your cell, okay?"

"Sounds good. Hey, buddy, you'll keep my daughter out of trouble?" Jayce asked, smiling at Travis.

"I'll try," he answered with a serious nod. The expression on his face was completely serious, too.

The parents laughed, both knowing that Octavia would get him into trouble if nothing else. Travis went right to Octavia, who was playing with plastic food and cups. Apparently, she was fixing lunch for her other toys, who were not allowed outside. Travis went with it and helped prepare the pretend meal.

Jayce remained on the porch, mostly watching Gus-Gus as he continuously tried to make his way down the stairs. She liked that he was becoming more mobile, instead of crying to be picked up like he used to, but she wished that he were not also becoming so fascinated with stairs. Every now and then, she glanced up because the older children greeted some passerby, but it was nothing serious.

"Hey, look, my mom's home!" Travis declared with a happy grin, pointing to his house's driveway. His mother's car settled into the space. Travis watched her get out and waved like a madman to her. Octavia just copied his actions.

Travis' face lit up as his mother walked over to them. Helena leaned down and Travis leaped into her arms. She kissed her son's cheek. She then ruffled his hair, earning a giggle from him.

"What're you doing home so early, Mom?" Travis asked, unable to keep the grin from his face.

"I came home to have lunch with you and your father," Helena answered.

"Really?" His eyes were shining with such delight that even Octavia could see it.

"Yes, so, come on. Let's go eat lunch." Helena offered her son her hand, which he immediately took.

"I'll come back later, Octie. I'm gonna have lunch with my mom," Travis informed his friend, as if she were not standing there to witness the whole exchange.

"Okay. Have fun!" Octavia waved before rushing over to her own mother. "Can we have lunch? Is Papa gonna come and have lunch with us?"

Jayce checked her watch. "I don't think Papa is going to come home today. But, she was here yesterday. We spoke about how Papa can't always come home."

Octavia sighed dramatically as only a child can. "I know, but I like when Papa comes home early."

"I do too. But, Papa has her business to run. She'll be home her regular time today."

Octavia pouted, but she understood. Her mommy had discussed why her papa could not always be home several times before. It was just that she liked it when her papa was around and their family was whole.

When lunch was over and Octavia had had her nap, she, her mother, and brother returned outside. Travis and Trevor were over less than five minutes later. Jayce glanced at the neighbor's driveway as they approached and noticed that Helena's car was gone. Travis wasted no time telling Octavia how great it was that his mother had had lunch with them. He was talking a mile-a-minute and gesturing wildly with his hands. Octavia seemed to be keeping up with him, even though that was the first time that Travis showed such enthusiasm.

"He certainly was happy with Helena's surprise," Jayce noted, nodding toward Travis.

Trevor nodded. "He was smiling so big when they came in, I thought he was going to split his face open."

"I suppose Helena doesn't do things like that often?" Jayce guessed. After being their neighbor for over two months, she had never seen Helena come home early and she spent much of her day outside with her children.

Trevor shook his head. "This was the first time that she ever did anything like that. Weirdly enough, I think it was because last night I was telling her how crazy Octie gets when Gus comes in early. Travis always says that he thinks Octavia is going to explode from the way she gets and I agree with him."

"Gus loves it," Jayce said.

"I'm sure she does. But, like I said, I was telling Helena about it because I thought it was funny how yesterday Octavia tackled Gus to the ground, as if she hadn't seen Gus in years. And the face that Travis made when he witnessed it, god, I thought I would never stop laughing."

Jayce chuckled a bit, thinking about yesterday. "You were rolling around in the grass like it was the funniest thing you ever saw."

"Travis' jaw was literally on the ground and his eyes rolled down the street. I was too done after seeing that. I mean, how could I not laugh? Plus, the noise Gus made when Octavia hit her. I thought Octie killed a moose!"

Jayce chuckled even more. "I thought that's what happened! That's why I ran out here!"

Trevor laughed before turning his attention back to their little ones to make sure they were all right. "I hope our neighbors are coming around to you guys. You're a completely normal family, you know? I think they would see that if they spoke with you a little."

"Good to know," she commented with a little sarcasm. "I think everybody sort of likes Octie. She waves and says hi to everyone, so it's not like they don't know about us. They smile and talk back to her. They wave at me and Gus, depending on who's out here. I'm not sure what they think of us, though, because they barely glance at me when they do wave. I think they still stare at Gus like something's wrong with her. Thankfully, they don't do that with me."

Trevor nodded. "I think our neighbors view you more as the normal one based on traditional roles. Gus steps further out of the role than you do, despite the lesbian thing. Gus is the one that goes to work every morning, being the breadwinner and getting called papa. At least Octie calls you 'mommy' and everything."

Jayce thought on it and silently admitted that it somewhat made sense. If their neighbors had never been exposed to same-sex relationships, they probably held a lot of preconceived notions, such as the incorrect idea that Gus was the "guy" of their relationship. That would make Gus the strangest one of their little family to the rest of the world. Before Jayce could think on it further, the children ran up to her and Trevor.

"Can we go to the park?" Octavia asked with Travis nodding.

"Can we? Can we?" the boy asked in his small voice.

Trevor and Jayce turned to each other. They shrugged and that answer was good enough. The children cheered while Jayce went inside to get Gus-Gus' stroller and diaper bag. They were walking to the park in less than ten minutes of the spontaneous entreaty.

Jayce and Trevor sat down while Octavia and Travis bolted off for the playground equipment. Jayce pulled Gus-Gus out of the stroller and sat him on her lap, so that he could enjoy the fresh air too. He gave her a grin, showing off new teeth.

"Can't wait until you get bigger so you can play with your sister?" Jayce asked the baby. He glanced off, as if saying that he did not care for the idea of getting bigger.

"I think if he could, he would stay that size forever," Trevor commented.

"A lot of the time, I feel that way. He refuses almost every developmental milestone we've been waiting for. I still can't get him to take food if a nipple isn't involved."

The use of the word "nipple" caused Trevor to crack up laughing. Jayce smiled and shook her head, amused by his behavior. She turned her attention back to the kids and saw them trying to work the see-saw. They could not get the plank to go very high and they appeared pathetically baffled by their inability to push each other up.

"I think I'll go help them, so I can stop snickering like a teenager," Trevor remarked, pointing to the kids.

Jayce nodded and laughed as her friend hurried off. Watching Trevor move Travis to share a seat with Octavia, she smiled when he then sat where Travis had been. After watching Trevor propel the kids up in the air a couple of times, she looked down at Gus-Gus to give him some desired attention. He grinned as soon as her eyes landed on him.

"Hey, who's my favorite little boy? Who's my favorite little boy?" Jayce cooed to the baby, earning more smiles and laughs from him.

Gus-Gus just ate up all of the attention and Jayce was all about him until she happened to over hear some of the local gossip. A couple of women walked by her and loudly commented in her direction about "some women are just so slutty, they'll give it up to anybody, be the guy married or another woman." Jayce choice to ignore the talk, but it was the first of plenty.

Jayce paid attention to her baby giggling and that was good enough for her. Murmurs continued on and she continued to hear about how she was a horrible person for sleeping with Gus and for sleeping with Trevor. She did not understand why people would say such things, except that they were probably bored or somehow dissatisfied with their own lives.

"Still, I wish they would leave me out of their misery," Jayce grumbled, but she did not dwell on it long. She knew that people could be hurtful and she had learned to ignore it for the most part.

Gus-Gus blew bubbles with his spit as his mother entertained him with silly faces. Soon the bubbles became sounds and he was laughing wildly. His mother figured he just told himself a great joke. Jayce was very happy with that and Trevor joined in laughing as he flopped down on the bench. Travis and Octavia had moved onto the slides.

"It sounds like he's trying to talk," Trevor noted, speaking about Gus-Gus.

"I'm sure he is, but I don't think he's trying very hard because he knows talking is a step toward growing up. He's well behind in his development as far as language goes. Once last month, he said something that sounded very much like 'ma,' but then he never said it again. Then, he had Gus all hyped up when he said something that sounded like 'da,' but it turned out that he just burped."

Trevor could not help laughing again. "He's got you two on a line and he knows that. He'll do everything at his own pace."

"I know he will. Octavia was also slow to develop. I thought it was due to the circumstances of her birth, but it might just be in our genes. Unfortunately, I can't be sure."

"He'll be fine. Travis didn't say something that could be mistaken for a word until he was one."

Jayce smiled and nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem. Now, what do you say we go get some ice cream before I burst into flames?" he suggested as he fanned him.

She laughed and nodded again. They gathered their children and then made their way to the ice cream truck that was parked right outside of the park. As they waited on line, people around them began muttering about Jayce and Trevor. The friends did not say anything, but they did glance at each other, as if making sure everything was all right. A shrug seemed to signal that everything was fine. They could not do anything about all of the gossip, so they would just enjoy their lives. Making things easier was the fact that their children did not comprehend what was being said.

"Time to go home," Jayce announced after they had finished their ice cream.

"Papa's gonna be home now?" Octavia asked.

"She should be home," Jayce answered after checking her watch.

"Mom should be home too, right, Dad?" Travis inquired.

Trevor checked his watch. "Probably. She's probably wondering where we are too, so let's get going."

The group walked off, returning home. As predicted, Gus and Helena were waiting. Farewells were said and the group split in two. Jayce and her children went into the house.

"Papa, where are you? I wanna tell you about the park!" Octavia announced and she ran off to locate Gus.

Jayce laughed as Octavia found Gus and proceeded to talk her ear off. Jayce knew that Gus loved every minute of it. Octavia stuck close to Gus until Gus left to play poker with her friends. Octavia pouted as soon as the door closed.

"Does Papa have to see her friends every week by herself?" Octavia whined, running over to her mommy.

"Papa likes her friends and she deserves a chance to see them on her own. You want Papa to have friends, right?" Jayce asked, leaning down to pick her daughter up. Gus-Gus was happy in his chair, biting on one of his toys as the chair swung slowly.

"Yeah."

"Okay, well, let Papa play with her friends. It's only one day. Any other time when she sees her friends, Travis is around to keep you company."

Octavia nodded. "I guess …"

"Come on, we'll watch a movie and Papa will be back before you know it."


"What kind of hands are these?" Gus groaned as she tossed her cards down, folding yet again.

"What are you complaining about? When you do get a good hand you wipe the floor with us. I do believe that is a big stack of dollars in front of you," Ryan pointed out.

"It's not fun having to fold ten hands before a good one comes along. I want to be able to play with the big boys," Gus complained.

"Rumors about town do have you playing with the big boys. The three at this table to be more precise," Luis commented under his breath.

Gus had learned to ignore Luis over the days that she was forced to interact with him if she was doing a group activity with her friends. But, that was not one of his blatant put-downs. She looked at Trevor, Ryan, and then Glenn, hoping one of them would explain.

"According to the neighborhood gossip, whenever you're hanging out with one or more of us, it's to have all sorts of deviant, mind-blowing sex," Glenn informed her while shifting his cards.

"Damn it, is this neighbor really that boring that everyone has to be doing everyone or there is no entertainment in life?" Gus huffed. She imagined that the neighborhood gossip might have hurt or even ended some marriages if it went on for so long.

"I'm assuming, yes, since Trevor has been doing everyone since he moved in like five years ago," Ryan replied. "Thankfully after the first year, most of the guys realized it was all bullshit."

"Yeah, that first year, I had a lot of people that wanted to beat me up. It was not fun," Trevor concurred.

"We have to find someone to get the whole neighborhood free cable then," Gus remarked, earning laughs from the three guys that liked her.

"Speaking of cable, tomorrow, everyone has to be here. We're watching the game on my TV," Trevor announced.

"What? I thought we all already agreed to Ryan's house. No kids jumping on us," Glenn pointed out.

"That was way before we found out just how good the teams were. Do you really want to watch those two go at it on Ryan's little wimpy, no surround-sound-not-even-HD TV?" Trevor teased.

"Dude, my TV is HD!" Ryan huffed.

"It is wimpy, though, compared to Trevor's TV," Gus pointed out.

"Wimpy to the point that if your TVs were kids, Trevor's TV would beat your TV up on a daily basis and have it running home crying," Glenn added in.

Ryan groaned. "Ah, you guys totally suck! But, we'll see how you like the game with Travis rolling around acting like he's part of the damn game and Octie undoubtedly calling the commentary."

"Hey, not my fault my kid follows sports," Gus argued.

"What she said," Trevor agreed.

"Hmmm … that doesn't sound right. As parents, it would totally be your faults, especially since you're the dads," Glenn remarked with a taunting smile. "The dads that the children mimic no matter what you do."

The pair laughed and conceded that he had a point. As the poker game began wrapping up, the usual footsteps of Helena could be heard on the basement stairs. She appeared just as they were folding up the card table. She did not say anything, but watched them intently until they began making their way out of the house. She was the one that closed the door on them when they were finally out, but Gus knew that Helena was actually just closing the door on her.

Gus did not think anything of it and returned home. Octavia tackled her as soon as she hit the door. The little girl was clearly ready for bed, in her pajamas and her breath smelling minty fresh. Gus picked her up and began carrying her up to her room.

"Papa, read me the story with giant, okay?" Octavia requested.

Gus smiled and jumped right into the story. She found it hard to care about Helena's attitude toward her when she had a loving family to come home to. She found it hard to care about a lot of the crap that went on outside of the house when she had a beautiful, loving family to come home to.


"Are you sure it's okay to take Octie over while you're hanging with the guys?" Jayce asked, holding Gus-Gus on her hip. Her spouse and their daughter were already at the door, poised to leave for their afternoon of sports and hanging out.

"It'll be fine. Travis is gonna be there, after all," Gus replied. "Jay, it's not like we're gonna be handing them beers of anything," she added with a laugh.

"You better not!" Jayce chuckled.

"Have some quiet time with Lil Caesar while Octie and I scream at a TV somewhere else and get nacho crumbles all over the floor," Gus quipped with a smile.

"You better not go over there and act like that! You can only do that in the house where no one knows how embarrassing you truly are!"

Gus just grinned and ran out of the house with their daughter in her arms. Jayce laughed at the antics, but did not pursue Gus, even though she was only going next door. She figured it would be nice to spend some time with her son while Gus bonded with Octavia.

"It's just you and me today, big boy. Now, what should we do?" Jayce asked with a smile on her face.

Gus-Gus was not hard to please. Jayce fed him, let him swing in his chair a little, and then laid him down in the living room on a blanket with his favorite toys. He crawled around while she watched a backlog of her favorite TV show, which had been collecting up on the DVR.

Time flew by with just the sound of the TV and Augustus' babbling. Every now and then, Jayce had to pause the TV and focus on her son because he was looking at her and making sounds. She was hoping that one of the sounds would eventually transform into a word. Instead, he did something else unexpected.

Gus-Gus crawled over to the couch and grabbed onto the edges. Jayce watched him carefully, in case he fell as he often did when attempting to pull himself up. She had learned not encourage him or he would get excited and let go. So, she quietly watched as he strained to get his little butt off of the floor. He stood on wobbly, chubby legs and grinned.

"Oh, my god! You finally did it! You stood up!" Jayce quickly scooped the baby up. "You were a little late on that, but you finally did it! Way to go, little man!"

Being an attention-loving child just like his sister, Gus-Gus laughed loudly as his mother praised him. Jayce showered his face with kisses and then was distracted by the phone ringing. She hoped that it was Gus, so she could share the good news. She answered the phone without seeing who was calling.

"Hello," Jayce said in an almost sing-song voice.

"Where is my granddaughter? If you two have done anything to her!" Marion screamed into the phone.

"Mom!" Jayce gasped. "Stop calling here, Mom! We're a normal loving family!"

"Loving as in molesting! You filthy fucking whore!"

"We're not! Just leave me alone, Mom! Leave me alone!" Tears welled up in Jayce's eyes.

"I will never leave you alone, not until I have my granddaughter back and you're in prison like you belong! Although knowing how sick you are, you'd probably like prison!" Marion took a deep breath. "I know what you're doing! I have evidence and witnesses and no judge in his right mind would ever let you near a child again, so just give me my granddaughter, you sick, twisted bitch! And you can tell that fucking whore you live with that nothing she does will be enough to stop me! I'm not fucking around and I don't care what she keeps trying to put in my way! I'll run through those, run through her, and especially run through you, you little bitch, to get my granddaughter back!"

Jayce, having been trained by the woman on the phone for over the first half of her life, just stayed on the phone. She took the abuse, the hate, and venom, sobbing with her baby boy on her hip.


Gus stood up, holding in a yawn and holding onto her knocked out daughter. Travis was sleeping on the floor. The game had ended hours ago, but they turned to a classics sports channel afterwards and basically made a day of it. There were plenty of snacks that sustained them through the evening and they talked about everything that came to mind, so there was never a dull moment. The group had stayed together up until a few minutes ago. Gus was the last one to leave. Unfortunately, she did not make it out of the door before trouble started.

The door opened and Helena walked in. She immediately noticed the guest and sneered at Gus. Her eyes then shot to her husband.

"Trevor, we need to talk. Now," Helena ordered, marching off deeper into the house.

Knowing those were the worst words in any language, Trevor looked to Gus for help. Gus shrugged; she did not have the answer for him. Sighing, Trevor marched off and went to "talk" with Helena. Gus decided to slip out before she heard anything too personal. She was not fast enough, though. The arguing started before she even made it to the front door.

"What the hell is she doing here at this time of night?" Helena demanded to know with a venomous hiss.

"We were all hanging out. The guys just left like ten minutes ago."

"That's pretty goddamn convenient!"

"What is the problem? I have friends over all of the time!"

"Ryan, Glenn, and that jerk-ass Luis are friends. She is not a friend!"

"Helena, seriously, what is the problem? She is my friend, no matter what you might think."

"Oh, so now I don't count!"

"Of course you count! But, you're making something out of nothing. Where is this even coming from? Is it because Gus is gay? Or because she's like the guy of a lesbian relationship?"

Gus decided to leave on that note. She did not understand why Trevor insisted that she was the "guy" after she and Jayce had explained to him that there was no "guy" in the relationship. Entering her home, she expected to find her wife curled up on the sofa with ice cream and her favorite, extremely corny, television show. Instead, she found Jayce curled up on the sofa, weeping, and clutching their baby boy to her chest as if that was the only way for them to survive. Gus-Gus was crying, too.

"Baby, what's wrong? What happened?" Gus inquired, drawing attention to herself.

Jayce turned and was on Gus in a flash, holding her wife and both of their children. Gus sighed, knowing exactly what was wrong. She pulled away just a little.

"Jay bird, everything is going to be fine. You know that. Now, I'm going to go put Octie to bed before she wakes up. I'll come back and we'll calm down our little emperor and then I'll definitely talk you down from that ledge. Just don't jump first. Think of the kids," Gus said in a low and calm tone.

Jayce nodded, but did not stop crying. She was glad that Gus went to take care of Octavia first. It gave her a chance to try to calm herself down. She began bouncing Gus-Gus in her arms, hoping that the slight movement would make them both feel better. It only worked for her.

"Here, give me this guy," Gus said gently as she returned, plucking the fussy child from Jayce's arms. She cooed at him and rocked him somewhat. He cuddled into her chest and she put one arm around Jayce. "Let's go back to the couch, okay?"

Jayce only nodded and allowed Gus to lead her back to the sofa. They sat quietly as Gus managed to calm down Gus-Gus. She passed him along after he left a wet spot on her shirt, looking for his bedtime meal apparently. Gus busied herself by pulling Jayce close to her while Jayce fed their child. Soon, he was asleep in her arms and she was relaxed against Gus.

"Baby, you can't let your mom get you this worked up. Hang up in her whenever she calls," Gus instructed her wife in a low voice.

"I know I should've, but she caught me by surprise and old habits just kicked in. Love, she said she had evidence on us. What do you think she meant?" Jayce asked, cuddling closer.

"She's bullshitting us, Jay bird. She's pissed because I put in a complaint about her harassing us over the phone. I promise it's nothing more than a bluff since we actually do have things to use against her. Years of erratic behavior toward you, ignoring several restraining orders, lying to police and judges, and let's not forget when she was trying to bribe people to testify for her. Jayce, look at me," Gus ordered and her wife did so without thinking. Dark eyes locked onto hazel ones. "Your mom can't hurt us, not even you, so stop listening to her."

Jayce sniffled and nodded. "I'm trying, baby. I'm really trying."

"How long were you on the couch before I came in?"

"Only a couple of minutes."

"That's still too long. Next time, please, just hang up."

"I will."

"Hang up any and every time she calls," Gus ordered. She wondered what more she would have to do to get Marion out of their lives. She had already moved her family, changed their number, blocked Marion's number, got all sorts of restraining orders, and even called in some favors to jam up Marion's everyday life, but the woman just kept coming. It was like she was obsessed with Jayce or Octavia … or both of them.

There was some silence for a while. Gus kissed the side of her wife's head when all seemed completely calm. Jayce turned her head and returned the show of affection with a kiss of her own.

"So, what else did you do today?" the businesswoman asked curiously.

"Watched my show and your son did the most amazing thing today!" Jayce beamed. She then went on to tell how Gus-Gus lifted himself up and how he stood up for a couple of seconds. Gus showed just as much excitement as she did by the feat and they hoped that there were some words in the boy's immediate future.


9: How cookies saved the world

Gus was sitting on the front porch, throwing a Frisbee to Octavia. The child had almost no ability to catch, but she loved the game. Octavia enjoyed running after the disc and trying to throw it back, which she was better at then catching it. Most of the time, she still had to walk the Frisbee back to her papa, though.

Gus hoped that as the child got older, she developed into a better athlete because Octavia was going to want to play a sport in school. She just knew that. And she would encourage it because it would get Octavia to burn off some of her energy.

"Gus-Gus, you should play something too. Your aunt, Jannie, she ran track while I played softball in high school. I would love to teach you and your sister all about it," Gus said to her son, who was sleeping on her lap. The heat of the day seemed to have zapped him of all of his energy.

Gus-Gus had his mouth wide open and his tiny fists tucked underneath his chin. Minutes ago, Jayce had commented that he looked like his Papa when she was knocked out. Gus had only glanced at her wife, who then went inside to get some work done.

After throwing the Frisbee again, Gus was not surprised that Travis caught it as he charged over from his own yard. Trevor followed behind the boy and sat down next to Gus. Travis returned the Frisbee, only for Gus to throw it again. Travis and Octavia ran after the disc.

"I'm shocked you're still allowed to play with us," Gus commented.

"I guess you heard last night," Trevor sighed.

"Only the start of it."

"Oh, it got better as time went on. I found out what her problem was, though."

"Oh? She hates us, right?" Gus remarked, making a mocking face of shocked discovery.

Trevor chuckled. "It's not that she hates you. At first, she was a little worried about having a lesbian couple right next door. She actually asked me how we were going to explain you to Travis as he got older." Trevor rolled his eyes and Gus did the same. "Anyway, as it kept going, I found out that lately that's actually just the excuse she's working with. The truth, my friend, is much stranger. Apparently, I hang out with both of you too much for her liking. She's been hearing all of the stupid rumors."

Gus made an odd noise in the back of her throat. "Did you remind her that we're totally lesbians? I like to think that I'm married to a woman would sort of assure that neither of us are thinking about you in that way," she pointed out.

Trevor nodded. "I don't think she like believes a woman could be totally gay or something. So, no, she doesn't have a problem with you being gay. She had a problem with the idea going around that you're either sleeping with me or trying to sleep with me. And when I say 'you,' I mean you and Jayce. I couldn't convince her that I just had a lot in common with both of you and you're good friends."

"She thinks you're having an affair then?"

He shook his head. "No, not really. I mean, she knows I would never do that. She thinks you two are trying to sleep with me and that's why there are all of those rumors. It doesn't help that I hang out with both of you."

"So, how are you going to fix it?" she asked curiously, giving him a sidelong look of concern. Even though it was not her fault, she did not like the idea of being the reason her neighbors were bickering.

"I dunno. Any ideas?"

Gus shifted the sleeping child in her arms and scratched her eyebrow with her pinkie. "I think that she needs to get to know us. Both of us as a unit. For her, she tends to see us alone instead of as a couple, so in her mind we're separated as two individuals instead of one couple. I think if she sees us as a couple more, she'll see that we're actual lesbians and not faking just to get into your pants."

"Do you really want to do that?" he inquired in disbelief. "I mean, that would require a tense, uncomfortable situation involving you having to be around someone not very fond of you or your wife."

"I'm aware and we've done it before and survived. I think it would help. For Helena, we're two women around her husband very often. In her head, we're not a couple."

Trevor shrugged. "I guess. Well, how about we get you guys over for dinner? I'll tell Helena. I cook, so she shouldn't have a problem with it happening tonight beyond the fact that you two are going to be there."

"Yeah, but like I said, she gets to see us as a couple. That way, she'll eventually figure out that you're a friend and definitely not a potential fuck buddy because you definitely don't have the right equipment pal."

Trevor laughed and then stuck his tongue out at Gus. "Hey, I just realized that's one of the right parts," he joked.

She groaned. "Oh, god, Ryan said something just as stupid before."

"Great minds think alike!"

She rolled her eyes and then turned her attention back to the kids. The Frisbee was never returned to her, not that she minded. Travis did not seem to mind Octavia's catching ability and they ran around the yard giggling, having a ball as usual.

"I heard the laughter and needed a break," Jayce announced as she joined the pair on the porch. She sat down next to her spouse and immediately cuddled into her body.

"Yeah, we're going to have to take those two to pick out drapes one day," Gus remarked, nodding toward Travis and Octavia.

"And pay for the wedding," Trevor added in.

"I've already explained to her, it's college or wedding. If she blows off college for Travis, you'll never find the body," Gus replied.

"That doesn't seem fair. Have you told Gus-Gus the same thing?"

"Gus-Gus is getting a job the second he walks across the living room. And you know that don't you, buddy?" Gus put her finger in the baby's face, but he was still totally knocked out.

"This is exactly how Gus looks when she falls asleep on the couch. Her mouth is almost always hanging out. She even balls her hands up like this," Jayce said, wiggling one of the baby's fists.

"You just going to try to totally embarrass me in front of my man-friend, huh?" Gus said in a dry tone.

"I thought you did that on your own when you went along with their wacky ideas," Jayce retorted with a teasing smile.

"I feel like you two are way too comfortable around me," Trevor remarked with a smile. "Speaking of comfortable, Jayce, you guys are coming to dinner tonight to try to get Helena more comfortable with the two of you."

"Sounds good. I'll bring dessert," Jayce replied.

"You don't have to and that was way too easy," he said and then he turned to Gus. "I'm starting to believe you are a witch. She cooks, she cleans, she bears your children and names them after you, goes along with all of your crazy ideas, and offers to bring dessert to something that will undoubtedly be uncomfortable." He then turned back to Jayce. "You really don't have to bring dessert."

"I know I don't, but I want to."

"You won't be able to talk her out of it, so just accept that she's bringing dessert and let's move on," Gus said. Trevor decided not to put up a fight, but he did continue to insist that Gus was a witch.


"Did Helena agree to this? I mean, won't we just be making things worse if we just show up at her house and she doesn't know or doesn't want us here?" Jayce inquired, obviously having second thoughts about their dinner plans. She was holding a cake while Gus was in charge of the children.

Gus laughed. "I think it's already bad and she probably already screamed Trevor's head off about it."

"Or will," Jayce added.

Gus shrugged and rang the bell. The door opened to revel an exhausted looking Trevor. Gus gave Jayce a look that said "I toldja so." Jayce ignored her wife and smiled at their host.

"Hi," Jayce greeted the neighbor for the whole family.

"Please, come in," Trevor said, motioning for them to step inside.

The family wasted no time entering. Octavia, having been to the house several times, broke away from her mothers and went in search of her best friend. The adults did not stop her.

"Dinner's pretty much ready. What's this you got here?" Trevor asked, nodding toward the cake.

"My specialty," Jayce replied with a smile.

"If Helena still hates us after this, there's no way for us to ever be friends," Gus declared with a proud grin.

Trevor was not sure how to dispute that, but did not have to anyway since the aforementioned woman stepped in. A frown adorned her face and she glared at their guests. Trevor sighed and rolled his eyes, deciding to show Jayce and Gus to the table. Everyone went and sat down for dinner.

"This looks really good," Jayce commented, staring down at her plate.

"It should taste how it looks, but then again, someone might have slipped arsenic into the potatoes when we weren't looking," Trevor remarked with an amused laugh.

"How funny," Helena sneered.

And things did not get much better. Helena snapped at almost every comment directed toward her, even when Gus was talking about how happy her friends were with Helena's services. Gus gave up eventually. Jayce tried just about every subject that she could think of to get Helena talking, including their children. Nothing worked.

"Time for dessert, courtesy of Jayce," Trevor announced, getting up from the table.

"Cake!" Octavia howled, knowing exactly what they were having.

"You made cake, Miss Jayce?" Travis asked with a grin.

"Yup," Jayce nodded. Travis had had a few of her confections since her daughter befriended him and he was hooked just like the rest of her family.

Travis turned excited eyes to his mother. "Miss Jayce makes the best cakes, Mom! They're almost as good as your pies!"

That statement got the attention of both Jayce and Gus. They turned to the sneering woman, who was still frowning. Jayce decided to give things one more try since they had something in common.

"You bake?" Jayce asked. She already knew the answer to that thanks to Travis, but she figured it could be a good way to start a conversation.

Helena did not answer and Trevor returned with slices of cake for everyone. The children and Gus immediately dug into the chocolate cake. Trevor started in on his cake just as soon as he finished serving everyone. They all made noises that bordered on obscene as they ate the dessert; the faces they made were no better. Helena stared down at her dessert with suspicion.

"You think you can win my husband over with chocolate cake?" Helena hissed as she glared at Jayce.

Jayce's brow wrinkled. "Why would I want your husband?" Glancing at the kids, she made sure they were engrossed in their food before continuing with Helena. "I am happily married to Gus. Extremely happy. I don't understand why you don't get that."

"Because for someone that claims to be so happy, you spend a lot of time with my husband."

"Because our children happen to be best friends and we work from home. I don't think we should be having this conversation right now, though, since the children are at the table. But, we do need to talk."

Of course, that was an understatement. But, after the dessert was done for everyone except Helena, the children were sent off to play in Travis' room. The adults went to the living room and sat. Helena and Trevor parked themselves on the loveseat while Gus and Jayce took the couch. Gus-Gus, who would not have understood what was happening anyway, was half-asleep in Gus' arms and busying himself with chewing on her shirt.

"Look, Helena, we know why you have such a problem with us. I don't know what we can tell you to assure you that nothing is going on between us and your husband," Gus said.

"I trust my husband. I know Trevor will do his best to remain faithful, but I don't like you two throwing yourselves at him," Helena stated, throwing her hand out to motion to them.

"You don't seem to understand that we're not attracted to your husband at all," Jayce said.

"Ouch, careful of my ego," Trevor quipped, grabbing at his chest.

"Helena, Jayce and I are quite happy with each other and very much lesbian. Honest. I think that if you get to know us better, you'd see that we're not trying to do anything with Trevor. We're just hanging out. He's cool and friendly and we're new to the neighborhood. He's been great to us, but only as a friend," Gus insisted.

"Then why all of the rumors?" Helena demanded.

"There are always rumors, Helena! You know that! Every time I start hanging out with someone there are rumors!" Trevor pointed out.

"Doesn't it count at all that we're married lesbians?" Gus asked. Her voice was laced with disbelief as she motioned between herself and her wife. She could not believe that she was sitting there with a grown woman having to explain why she, a married lesbian, was not sleeping with and would never be with a man.

"Oh, please! Anybody could call themselves a lesbian and still sleep with men," Helena snapped. "Saying your gay nowadays is like saying you're a vegetarian. It's hip and cool."

"Uh …" Jayce wanted to inquire about that nonsense analogy, but her spouse spoke up first.

"Okay, you know what, I'm not going to sit here and prove that I'm not fucking your husband. I want to like you and be your friend because Trevor is cool and our kids like each other, but this is bullshit. I have my own crap to worry about," Gus declared.

"Gus, this was your idea!" Trevor pointed out.

"Yeah, it was, but I thought she could be reasoned with. But, this is crazy. She's trying to say we're either lying about being lesbians or we're bisexual and will just fuck anyone that wanders into our lives. If that was the case, I'd have to worry about when the mailman is at the door everyday with Jayce and I don't. I don't worry about Jayce being with Trevor everyday and crap like that. I trust her and at this point I trust him. I like to think that she's the same way. Helena, I'm going to put it to you like this: we're going to be neighbors a really long time unless you plan on moving. Our kids are going to be friends for a very long time, even if you do move. We're stuck with each other. So, you can either make the most of it like the three of us have or you can drive yourself batty like you have since we moved in with being hateful and suspicious. Take your pick," Gus announced.

"You think you can just waltz in my house and give me an ultimatum? Things don't work like that. So, you can leave," Helena ordered.

"No problem," Gus replied.

"Gus," Jayce said, glancing over at Trevor.

"Look, sometimes, you just have to go to the edge, jump, and see what happens. You might fall flat on your face or you might make it to the other side. You just have to wait and see," Gus said before marching off to retrieve their daughter. Trevor then walked them to the door.

"I'm sorry about Helena," Trevor apologized.

"I'm sorry for causing trouble. I think she needs the push, though," Gus said.

"I'm not sure. She's not the type that likes pushing," Trevor sighed.

Gus shrugged and hoped for the best. Jayce did the same and they returned home. Gus expected a scolding that did not come. Instead, they put the children to bed and curled up on the couch to unwind like always.

"How come you're not yelling at me?" Gus inquired curiously. "I mean, this was all my bright idea and then I get Helena all riled up by getting defensive and acting like she's got to change or else. Usually, you'd be all on my case by now."

"I think you did the right thing. I think Helena needed to be painted into some kind of corner," Jayce answered. "I just wish we didn't leave Trevor to the mess."

"I think he'll handle it, though. Trevor is laidback and everything, but when the heat is on, he knows how to handle himself. Plus, he's been dealing with Helena for a long time. I really think he's got this one."

Jayce nodded and figured that Gus was right. They were just going to have to wait and see. So, they put that out of their minds for the moment and let the night be all about them.


Jayce was busy with breakfast while Gus was occupying the children. Gus-Gus had his papa and sister shell-shocked with his new pulling himself up trick. The way they were "ohh-ing," Jayce would have thought Gus-Gus was pulling rabbits out of his hat. The doorbell rang and Octavia sprang up.

"I'll get it, Papa!" the child declared, rushing for the door.

Gus did not say anything, but positioned herself in the living room to see the front door and keep an eye on the baby. Octavia answered the door as she was supposed, first by inquiring who was there, and then by struggling to turn the doorknob. It took her a few seconds, but she managed to get the door open and revealed Helena.

"Hi, Miss Helena!" Octavia grinned.

"Hello, Octie. Are your moms here?" Helena asked in a friendly tone.

"Papa's in the living room playing and Mommy's making pancakes," Octavia replied.

"Oh. Do you suppose you could get them for me?" Helena requested.

"You could just come in," Gus called.

"Papa says you could come in," Octavia said, as if Helena missed it.

Helena nodded and took a deep breath before crossing the threshold into the house. Octavia shut the door behind her and returned to the living room. Helena slowly followed the child while taking in what she could see in the foyer.

"Octie, go get your mom and then I need you to just go play in your room for a little while, okay?" Gus requested.

Octavia nodded. "Okay, Papa!"

Octavia was gone in a flash and Gus turned her attention to their guest. She motioned to the sofa, silently telling Helena to sit. Her neighbor quickly took a seat and Gus-Gus began making his way toward her, walking by gripping the edge of the sofa. Jayce stepped in and watched for a moment until the baby gave up. He flopped down to the floor.

"Helena, this is quite a surprise," Jayce said with a smile.

"Is it?" Helena huffed.

"Considering this is the first time you've ever been to our doorstep, let alone in the house, yes," Gus replied.

"What can we do for you?" Jayce asked politely. She cut her wife a glare that said Gus better also be polite.

"Last night, after you left, I'm sure you guessed that Trevor and I had a long discussion about his association with you," Helena began.

"Yeah, we did guess that. What did you decide?" Gus inquired.

"It wasn't that sort of discussion. Trevor wasn't willing to bend on the idea of staying away from you two or even compromising on his friends, which I can respect. If I start picking his friends, it's not fair to him, even if the friendship bothers me," Helena sighed. She shook her head and appeared lost briefly.

"Then what brings you here if not to tell us to stay away from him?" Jayce asked.

Helena sighed again and glanced back and forth between the couple with a troubled look in her eyes. "I'm not entirely sure, aside from your little speech anyway. It made sense, unfortunately. A lot of sense. Our kids are best friends. Believe it or not, I know your little girl pretty well and I know she's good for Travis. She gets him to open up and makes him smile so much. I don't want to do anything to ruin their friendship. I spent last night arguing with Trevor, but also I spent a majority of the night listening to him."

"What did he say?" Jayce asked, sitting down next to their guest.

"Well, of course, he said a lot. That in itself is a huge clue to me that I was wrong. Trevor is not the type of man to bark and lecture without cause. In all of our years together I can think of a handful of times that he's been this way. When he wasn't telling me how crazy I was for thinking that you two were trying to sleep with him, he was telling me about your relationship. He also told me about your theory, Gus, as to why I am bothered by you two."

"What do you think?" Gus asked.

"On some level, you might be right. I actually don't think of you as a couple. I think of you as two women who spend an awful lot of time with my husband. Looking around your home, it's easier to picture you as a couple, especially the pictures of you together and with Octie. Even in my head, knowing Octavia the way I do, I still can't picture you two as a couple. I actually don't think of you as Octavia's parent at all, Gus," Helena admitted.

"Really? Why?" Gus inquired, having to fight off screaming, "But, I'm the papa!" Jayce reached out for her and held her hand, knowing just how much it hurt for Gus to hear that someone did not recognize her as Octavia's parent. Gus squeezed the caramel hand gripping hers and Jayce squeezed back.

"I guess because she seems to think of you as her father. I know that you can't be her father and therefore I have decided that you can't be her parent if you're not the one she thinks you are. Last night let me know that I really don't know you two at all and I don't want to be unfair to my family by having a bias against you. Trevor assures me that I would like you if I gave you a chance."

"So, would you like to give us a chance?" Jayce asked with a small smile.

"I am willing to try. I don't plan to move and you don't plan to move, so we're stuck with each other. Trevor proposed that we keep trying the dinner plan until we all figure out that we either can't stand each other or we all get along and I'm willing to try," Helena answered with a solid nod.

"This is quite a turnaround from last night," Gus felt the need to say.

"Yes, well, Trevor hadn't made his opinion on the matter as clear as he did until after you left. Look, I'm used to the rumors with Trevor and I know how friendly and loveable he is. The thing is … I'm not so friendly and loveable and sometimes … I worry …" Helena confessed.

"You don't have to worry about us, Helena. I swear to you, we're two happily married lesbians. Trevor is perfectly safe with us," Gus declared.

"Trevor said the same thing last night," Helena said with a chuckle.

"When you hang out with us, you'll see. Just give us a chance. You might like us," Jayce proclaimed, smiling.

Helena nodded. "I'm going to. You already have both my guys. I might as well as see what the hype is all about."

"Good. So, we'll do dinner again. How about you guys come here tonight? I'll cook and you can bring one of your famous pies. Travis loves telling me about your baking skills whenever he has something from me," Jayce said.

"All right. I'll tell Trevor," Helena decided and shook hands with Jayce and Gus.


"Can we watch TV?" Travis requested after dinner was over. He and his family were sharing the table with Octavia and her family.

"You know where it is. Just don't try jamming two dvds into the player again," Gus replied, pointing her thumb toward the living room.

"Transformers!" Travis cheered, hopping down from his cheer.

"No! Toy Story!" Octavia objected, following her friend.

"He's so comfortable here," Helena noted.

"He's here as often as Octie is at your house," Jayce reminded her.

Helena nodded. They could all tell that she was overwhelmed with everything, but she was definitely trying. Engaging her in conversation that night had been far easier than before. Still, she seemed drawn into herself and Jayce and Gus were trying to figure out how to bring her out. Gus then thought of something.

"You know, Helena, that apple pie was freaking delicious. I liked the spices in it. Do you think you could give the recipe to Jayce? I can beg her for some whenever I do something good," Gus remarked with a grin.

"I don't know. I can't just give away my baking secrets like that," Helena replied.

"We could always do a trade. My death by chocolate cake tends to be a big hit," Jayce said, understanding what her spouse was doing. She would also enjoy swapping baking recipes.

"Is that the cake you made last night?" Helena asked.

"Yes, it was. I know Travis loves it," Jayce answered.

"I know he does. He already ate half of it. Or at least that's how Trevor tells it," Helena commented, giving her husband a suspicious glance. "I guess we could trade. I've always wanted to learn how to make more cakes."

"Great! I've always wanted to learn how to make more pies."

Trevor smiled and nodded. Gus had a feeling that they had just gotten their feet in the door of getting on Helena's good side. Still, there was a long way to go.

Conversation was attempted again while the children were in the living room. Gus-Gus proved to be a good topic of conversation. He was in a "talkative" mood, making a lot of sounds as he was passed around between the adults.

"Has he spoken any real words yet?" Helena asked.

"No, probably because his papa keeps threatening that he'll have to get a job when he starts walking and talking," Jayce replied.

"It's true. I'm kicking him out as soon as I can," Gus remarked.

"You're always going on about that, but never mention throwing out Octie. What do you have against the little guy?" Trevor asked.

"Aside from the fact that he hogs some of my favorite toys?" Gus dared to motion to her wife's cleavage. Jayce instantly slapped her spouse's hands down.

Trevor laughed. "Way too much information there, Gus. Besides, I think his food trumps your toys."

"That's why he's got to go," Gus proclaimed with a smirk.

"Well, Gus-Gus, once she throws you out, you're always welcomed at my place. Travis wants a little brother anyway," Trevor informed the baby, who did not seem to care. Augustus was focused on the parent that was planning to throw him out. Gus was making a funny face at her son.

"Have you considered having another baby?" Jayce asked, glancing between Trevor and Helena.

"It's been considered. I think we should be able to try in another year. I need to solidify my position at work," Helena said.

"You guys actually helped her do that. When she brought in your friends as new clients, she got promoted," Trevor told his friends, who smiled.

"That's great. Maybe you could add me to the list," Gus said.

The offer intrigued Helena and she turned to look directly at Gus. "Really?"

"Yeah. I think I should pick up on advertising a little more. The company is expanding and we shouldn't have to be our own marketing team anymore. I know I'm just a small company, but it might work out," Gus said.

"Little company? You are sickeningly modest," Helena commented.

"You really have been speaking with our friends," Jayce quipped, laughing.

"Well, anyway, do you think you're comfortable with taking me on?" Gus inquired.

"I think we should wait. If I took you on, I would want to handle your company personally to make sure everything is all right. After all, I can't risk your company getting screwed up, you losing your money, and then Octie needing to move away," Helena remarked.

Gus chuckled. It was farfetched and a little troubling. She had hoped that Helena would take her up on her offer and that would show her that they were not really at odds anymore. She guessed it would take more time.


The Tucker family and their neighbors were spending time together again. Octavia and Travis were running around in the backyard while their moms were discussing gardening. Gus and Trevor were busying themselves looking at cars on Jayce's laptop.

"Now, I would love to drive this thing here," Trevor said, pointing to a roadster on the screen.

"Yeah. You see that, Gus-Gus?" Gus asked the child in her arms. He cooed, but nothing more. "Listen to me, Gus-Gus, if you don't get into cars, you're going to end up spending your life discussing boring things like gardening with your mom."

"I heard that!" Jayce snorted from her seat on the patio.

"Good, stop being boring then! Who spends a Saturday talking about flowers?" Gus snorted.

"At least we'll actually be planting," Jayce retorted.

"You two are spending your time looking at cars that you'll never drive," Helena added in.

"Uh-oh," Gus realized something dangerous. Looking over at Trevor, he realized it too.

"The wives are going to double team us as soon as they're proper friends," Trevor whispered.

"We're totally screwed," Gus agreed.

"We have to do as many stupid things as possible before it's too late and they actually start spending real time together," Trevor decided and Gus nodded in agreement.

It did not bother them much that their wives seemed to be on the path of friendship. Trevor would like it if Helena made a friend. She did not have many thanks to her work schedule and many of her coworkers did not think that she was the type of person to hang out with. Helena's few friends were holdovers from college.

"I don't think you should plant all around the fence like you were going to do," Helena advised Jayce.

"No? That's how I had my garden at my old house. Well, that yard was much smaller," Jayce replied.

"That is actually one reason, but the main reason is that the kids are going to be running around back here. Look at them now and imagine if you had the whole fence line planted."

Jayce nodded and gazed out into the yard. Octavia and Travis were playing, just running around really. They were going just about everywhere in the yard they could. If she did have flowers planted all along the fence, the kids would have trampled all of them.

"I suppose I should just map out a small spot," Jayce conceded.

"That's what I'm going to do next year since I know to expect Octiie over more often. I have more flowers than that this year, but I didn't know my son would befriend the Tasmanian Devil," Helena remarked with a teasing smile.

"She does have a lot of energy, but that's a good thing."

"She a very sweet girl. I have to say, you two are doing a good job with her."

Jayce smiled. "You mean despite being gay?"

"Despite nothing. I think you're just doing a good."

"Sorry. I get defensive about that. Sometimes people seem to think that Gus and I should fail as parents just for being gay."

"While I have not had too much interaction with gay people, especially outside of work, it never occurred to me that you'd be judged as parents just for being gay."

Jayce could not help smiling. "Oh, you're just like Trevor. Don't worry. We'll teach you all we know of gay people."

Helena actually laughed, which caused Jayce to smile more. Trevor and Gus glanced up at the sound. They smiled when they noticed Helena laughing. Another good sign.

"So, we were thinking about buying a couple of motorcycles," Gus threw out there, knowing just how both of their wives would react.

"Oh, were you thinking about buying a new family while you were at it?" Jayce inquired.

"It's just a motorcycle," Trevor argued.

"Oh, yeah, and the minute you get hurt, it's just a trip to the emergency room and it's just your son being totally traumatized," Helena chimed in.

Gus and Trevor looked at each other and shrugged. They then turned their attention back to the computer in front of them. They were pleased that everything was running smooth, but they were definitely going to miss out on a lot of fun and get into a lot of trouble when Helena decided that she liked Jayce.


Gus knocked on the door of her neighbor's house. She was holding a basketball in one hand and her daughter's hand in another. The door opened to reveal Helena.

"Hey, Octie and I are here to pick up Trevor and Travis to kick their butts at some hoops," Gus informed her neighbor.

"They'll be down in a second. I made Trevor go get his mouth guard. The last time he played with you, I remember he came back with a bloody mouth," Helena commented.

"Hey, I didn't make him put his head on my elbow!" Gus argued with a grin.

"Is that what they call 'elbowing' nowadays? He put his head io your elbow? You do realize he comes home less hurt when he hangs out with Ryan than with you?"

"No way! Ryan nearly killed us both last week, claiming to be teaching us how to play hockey. I honestly think it was an excuse to beat us with sticks for an hour."

Helena rolled her eyes. "I swear, you're all oversized children. How long do you think you'll be gone?"

"I dunno. Probably about an hour or so. After a while, your guys start whining about girls beating them," Gus teased.

Helena chuckled. "I'm sure you cheat," she retorted. "I think I'll go see Jayce then. She was telling me about her peach cobbler, which I've been dying to learn to make."

"Oh, cobbler!" Octavia grinned.

"Yes, and I want to learn to make it without four drooling mouths begging to know when it'll be done," Helena said.

Gus threw up her hands on that one. At that moment, Trevor and Travis barreled down the stairs and out the front door. Goodbyes were said to Helena and the group was on its way to the park. Gus turned to Trevor and smiled.

"I think it's safe to say everything is working out fine. Making it even better, we'll probably have peach cobbler waiting for us when we get back," Gus announced.

"Sweet," Trevor declared with a wide grin. "I knew she'd like you guys if she gave you a chance. Thank god she can be reasoned with … and bought off with lots of sugary treats. Good thing Jayce can cook because if it was just you, we'd have been screwed."

Gus had to laugh. "Never under estimate the power of baked goods."

"Oh, no, I'm sure cookies have saved the world on more than one occasion," Trevor remarked. They certainly saved and started a friendship.


10: United Front

The phone ringing caused Gus to groan miserably. Rolling over, she reached for the annoying device while trying to remain asleep. Unfortunately, once she had the phone, she knew that she needed to answer it, so staying asleep was not an option.

"Hello?" Gus yawned.

"Is this the bitch?"

Gus immediately hung up, not wanting to deal with Marion and her crazy obsession anymore. Turning onto her side, she spooned Jayce. Jayce wiggled against her.

"Who was it?" Jayce asked.

"Wrong number," Gus mumbled and let sleep overtake her again.

The phone rang a couple more times and Gus answered again, hanging up each time. Marion Newton needed mental help, she was certain of that. Obsession did not seem to describe what was wrong with her now. Gus had already blocked the numbers that she knew were Marion's, but now the woman seemed to be calling from pay phones or friends' phones. Gus was going to go to the police to have it documented … again. She had already filed complaints about Marion and taken out orders of protection. The woman was not even supposed to contact them anymore in any sort of way. She kept a folder on Marion and she was starting think that she was going to have to rent out a storage unit if the woman kept on being as crazy as she was. Jail time was starting to look like a real option, too.

The Tucker household went through their normal weekday routine. Gus stepped out of the house ready for work, hugging and kissing each of her family members farewell. She held onto Jayce a little longer than usual.

"Baby, you okay?" Jayce asked in a quiet tone with concern in her voice.

"Promise me if your mother calls, you'll just hang up," Gus implored.

"Gus?"

"Promise me!" Gus begged.

"I promise if she calls, I'll just hang up and I'll call you if I need to," Jayce vowed.

Gus breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Jay."

The couple released each other and Gus kissed her wife once more before she walked to her car. Before she got in, a neighbor who often jogged by their house in the morning came by. He waved to them both as usual and they waved back. But, then, he paused, which was odd. It seemed like he was going to say something, but he decided to keep on going. Gus looked at Jayce, who did the same to her wife. Gus shrugged and got into her car.

Jayce returned inside of the house. She put the baby down into his chair and then went to fetch her laptop. She started working while Octavia watched morning cartoons. Everything was quiet and normal and then the phone rang.

Jayce almost gasped, but managed to hold it in. Her heartbeat sped up, though, and there was nothing that she could do about that. She answered the phone quickly because she knew that if she did not, Octavia would go for it. The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to accidentally be cursed out by her very irrational mother.

"Hello?" Jayce said, voice cracking through that one word.

"Who the fuck are you to hang up on me!"

Jayce quickly disconnected the call. Taking a deep breath, she composed herself and placed the phone down. She was about to go back to work, but Octavia had questions.

"Was that Papa, Mommy? If Papa calls, I wanna talk. Papa promised to take me to work and I wanna know when," Octavia explained.

"Oh, princess, your papa said she would take you to work next week. That's a long time from now," Jayce pointed out. She wished that Gus would stop making future plans with Octavia beyond the child's comprehension. Octavia did not know when "next week" was. She just knew it was a long time from now.

"No, Papa said it was soon. Really soon," Octavia replied with an anxious look in her eyes.

Jayce groaned and palmed her face. She was going whack Gus when she saw her spouse, especially since she suspected Gus got Octavia riled up on purpose. If Octavia were keyed up about something, it would distract Jayce from being overwhelmed if, say, her mother should call.

"It's soon in adult time," Jayce explained, which Octavia accepted.

"Adult time weird," the child commented with a pout.

"Yes, I know it is, but you'll understand it better when you get older."

Octavia nodded and then turned her attention back to the television. Jayce went back to work and then the phone rang again. Jayce's blood ran cold as she answered and then quickly hung up again. Taking a few deep breaths to keep calm, she silently prayed that her morning was not shaping up as it seemed it was.


Jayce and the children entered the house after a spontaneous trip to the park; Octavia had insisted on it and it was a good way for Jayce to escape the constant ringing of the house phone. Lunch was made for Octavia and then she was down for the count, needing her afternoon nap. Jayce then fed Gus-Gus and put him down for his nap, too. Once she was certain both of the children were asleep, she was grabbed the phone and dialed.

"Hey, sweetheart, how's your day going?" Gus asked, answering Jayce's call.

"Baby, she keeps calling and I keep hanging up, but she keeps calling!" Jayce sniffled, doing her best to hold in tears, but it was so difficult.

"Jay, calm down. If it gets really bad, just call the police. She shouldn't be calling us in the first place. Okay?"

"I know, I know. It's still so frustrating! The courts already told her to leave us alone and she keeps on going. I really don't want to be the one to send my mother to jail or something. And, why the hell is she calling so much now? Why today?" Jayce begged.

"I don't know, baby. Ignore her. I'll handle it," Gus promised in a gentle tone.

"I know you will, but it's just so annoying. Why can't she just leave us alone?"

"Because she's out of her mind. I think losing to two lesbians, especially you, has driven her over the edge. For your whole life, she was able to control you and torment you and then you finally broke free and took Octie with you. I really think that drove her insane."

Jayce nodded. "Not to mention, her precious son practically sold us Octie."

"There is that."

"Although I like to think that Q was having a lucid moment and realized what was best for her."

"I'm sure that was the case, but, of course, your mother doesn't see it that way. Don't let her get to you, sweetheart."

"I'm trying. I'm really trying. It's just the sound of her voice and her shrieks remind me of when I was younger and I just want to crawl into a ball sometimes, as if that'll make her go away," Jayce explained with a whimper.

"Do you want me to call Trevor and tell him to come sit with you? Octie would like Travis' company I bet," Gus proposed.

"No. I don't want to have to explain to him why I need a babysitter … not that I need a babysitter at all! I can handle it," Jayce asserted.

"Baby, there is no shame in being shaken up by your mother. She's tormented you for your entire life. She's pretty much your equivalent to the boogie-man, except she's real. The monster in your closet is very, very real. It's understandable that she still has the ability to make you uncomfortable, even though you logically know she can't do anything to you."

Jayce sighed and tucked her feet underneath her. "I hate this feeling. I hate her butting in. Sometimes I feel like … I feel like … I hate her …" she admitted and it was a tough thing to say, but she truly felt like she hated her own mother. How horrible is that! I would die if Octie or Gus-Gus grew up and hated me!

"Marion has done nothing in this life to gain your trust or your love, but everything in her power to gain your contempt. Don't feel guilty about it. Use it to push her further out of your life."

"I know I should …" Jayce whimpered.

"It'll do you some good. If you finally let go, she won't have this power to make you crazy."

"I know, I know. I really do."

Gus sighed. "Baby, I need to go."

"Oh, right. Go create, sweetheart. Love you."

"Love you too."

The call was disconnected and it was Jayce's turn to sigh. She put the phone down and curled into herself. Lost in her thoughts on what to do with her mother, she was surprised when familiar, strong arms wrapped around her.

"Gus? When did you come in?" Jayce asked, wondering if she had daydreamed through hours in the day. Glancing over at the baby and seeing that he was still asleep, only confused her further.

"I just did. When I hung up with you, I left work and came home. You sounded like you needed somebody," Gus explained with a small smile.

"I always need you."

Gus smiled even more. "I always need you too. I want you to know I also reported your mother yet again, so this is just something else that will make sure she can never have our little princess. Okay?"

Jayce nodded because reporting her mother was the right thing to do. Of course, she did not have the courage to do it, but Gus was there and always took care of things. She gave her wife a very sweet, compassionate smile as she recalled that Gus always handled things that she found too difficult.

"I know she'll never get her. She's already done so much that no one in their right mind would give Octavia to her, but I think it's like you said. For me, Marion Newton is a living, breathing boogieman. I need to get over her. I need to stop being afraid of her. Nothing she can do can touch me. She might as well be as fictional as the boogieman," Jayce declared.

Gus nodded. "This is quite true. I think you should look at her like that. I also think that we should start calling her by name."

"By name?"

"It rings false when we call her your mother. Nothing that woman has ever done toward you has been motherly. Marion has been a bitch to you for your whole life. From now on, her name is Marion if she is to be addressed at all. Although, you might want to try what I call her when you're not around."

Jayce smirked slightly. "Do I even want to know?"

"When I'm just pissed, I call her 'the bitch.' How original I know. But, most of the time I just refer to her as 'cujo.' Wanna try that? Wanna try calling Marion 'cujo'?" Gus asked, rocking her wife slightly.

Jayce laughed. "I can't believe you."

"I swear to you, I do. You could call my office right now. They'll tell you how I was complaining that Cujo called this morning and wrecked my sleep. They think our neighborhood is full of rabid dogs with cell phones or something."

Jayce laughed again and moved until she was comfortably pressed against her spouse. She then settled against Gus. The couple sighed together.

"You're going to stay for the rest of the day?" Jayce asked.

"Do you want me to?" Gus countered.

"Of course, I want you to. If I could, I'd never let you leave the house. But, for the matter at hand, I think you could go back to work. I've been handling it better than I have in the past. I wasn't even crying when you came in," the dark-eyed woman remarked with a smile.

"You are right about that, precious. You certainly weren't crying, which is a good thing. I'll stay until the kids get up. How's that?"

"Perfect."


Jayce stepped outside with the kids. Octavia leaped off of the porch, wanting to ride her tricycle. Jayce looked over to the house next door, expecting to see Trevor and Travis come out. Travis was the only one, though. He charged over to their yard, waving at Jayce. He then went to Octavia and they proceeded to do what they do.

Jayce glanced over at the house again, wondering where Trevor was. He did not come out, so she focused back on the children. Octavia and Travis were on the sidewalk with the tricycle. Gus-Gus was busying himself by standing up and trying to walk. He mostly just fell back onto Jayce.

"You are just going to hurt yourself, Lil Caesar. Your papa would be very upset if she came home and found you with a scar," Jayce commented.

Gus-Gus' response was to blow a raspberry at his mother. She laughed, which seemed to spur him on. He rambled in his own way, sans words of course. Jayce pretended to admonish him for not being able to say something that at least resembled the English language.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jayce noticed someone step out of Trevor's home, but it was not Trevor. A regular looking fellow in a blue bowling shirt exited the house, followed by Trevor. The guy glanced over at them as he walked to him car. Trevor was frowning and shaking his head. He stood on the sidewalk until the car pulled off. He then made his way to Jayce's house.

"Something wrong?" Jayce asked because Trevor's expression was still tense.

"Something is wrong and weird. That guy knocked on the door like right before we were going to come over and he started asking a bunch of questions about you, Gus, and the kids," Trevor answered in a baffled tone.

"What? Me, Gus, and the kids?" Jayce's eyebrows curled up and her eyes begged for more information.

"Like I said, it was weird. He claimed he was like your cousin or something and he wanted to surprise you with something, so he was asking all of these questions. I didn't like it. I didn't tell him anything, but it was still creepy."

Jayce nodded. "Maybe I should call the police. I mean, I've never seen that guy in my entire life, so he's not related to me in the slightest. Something is going on here."

"I assumed as much. I didn't know what to do, though. Like I said, it was weird."

"Yeah, so you keep saying. What did he ask you?"

"He wanted to know if Gus worked a lot and wasn't home often, if she could afford to take care of all of you, if the kids were ever cared for right or left alone a lot, and stuff that just didn't seem really relevant to any surprise he could have been planning. It was a lot of prying if you ask me and I didn't want any parts of it. I only gossip with other housewives, thank you very much," Trevor remarked.

Jayce laughed. "I'm nervous now. Why the hell is this guy interested in me and my family? Why is he questioning you about us?"

"I dunno. Like I said, he claimed he was trying to surprise you. You're not in any kind of trouble, right?" Trevor asked with concern.

"None I can think of. I don't know what's going on."

"If something is going on, just me know what I can do to help."

"I will let you know if you can help, but right now, I don't know what's going on," she pointed out again. She was not sure what to think of some stranger asking around about her and her family to her neighbor. It did cause a quiver in her gut, though.


Gus pulled into the driveway and was ambushed by Octavia and Travis, both wanting to greet her. She smiled and they gave her hugs. She lifted them up while making her way to the front porch where Jayce was trying to get Gus-Gus to say "mama" from what the businesswoman could tell.

"How long have you been holding him inches from your face and just saying 'mama' over and over again?" Gus asked curiously.

"It feels like years! He just keeps looking at me like I'm an idiot. I feel like in his head he's going, 'who is this mama you speak of?' I don't think he's ever going to say anything," Jayce sighed.

"It's just our luck that he's been speaking this whole time, but it's probably Italian," Gus joked. "Where's your friend?"

"Trevor went to do some work, so it's just been me and the little bits for an hour. I figured we'd stay out here until you got home. It's been getting a little chilly," Jayce said.

Gus nodded in agreement and carried the children inside while Jayce followed behind her. Travis and Octavia were deposited on the couch and cartoons were put on the television. Jayce put Gus-Gus down, hoping that he would practice on trying to walk again. If he would not talk, walking would be greatly celebrated.

"Gus, can I speak with you in the kitchen?" Jayce requested.

"Sure. Something up, sweetheart?" Gus asked, following her wife into the kitchen.

"Gus, Trevor said some guy pretending to be my cousin was asking about us and our family. It's been bugging me all day. I don't get why someone would do something like that, but then I thought about how my …" Jayce trailed off and grunted before correcting herself. "Marion has been calling nonstop. She was screaming about having evidence on us before."

Gus nodded. "You think she's taking a little fishing expedition to find stuff on us."

"Yes."

Gus waved it off. "She can dig all she wants, but what's she going to find? That we're two of the most boring people on Earth? So boring that our own son doesn't even want to talk to us?"

A chuckle escaped Jayce. "He doesn't want to talk because you're going to kick him. But, seriously, what if she does get something?"

"What can she possibly get, baby? Do either of us molest our children?"

"No!"

"Then her quest is over right there since she's so obsessed with us touching them. But, even if it wasn't that, what else could she get us on? Neglect? If our kids got anymore spoiled, Octie would have a freaking driver to bring her from the living room to her bedroom. Abuse? We're too chicken to even follow through with time-outs sometime. Remember that one time we tried to send Octavia to bed with no dessert? I haven't felt that guilty since I got you fired!" Gus threw her hands up.

There were more giggles. "Thankfully Octie isn't bad. If Gus-Gus is a trouble-maker, you are going to have to sharpen your papa discipline skills."

Gus smiled. "Don't worry. I'll have it under control. I'm kicking him out, anyway."

"You're so awful."

"I know. Do you feel better?"

"I do. I am just nervous about Marion having someone asking around about us, especially our neighbors. God, Gus, this neighborhood could get our kids taken away!" Jayce realized and she started hyperventilating.

Gus acted quickly, taking the smaller woman into her arms. She slowly massaged the small of Jayce's back, which helped her calm down. She whispered loving, soothing words to her shaken spouse.

"We shouldn't have moved! The old neighborhood, everyone loved us and would've chased this guy away with pitchforks!" Jayce muttered.

"Baby, calm down. Nothing is going to happen. Just calm down. Remember, you're not giving Cujo power over you anymore. You freaking out means she has control," Gus reminded her spouse.

"Right, right." Jayce took several deep breaths and settled against Gus' firm form.

"We're going to be fine. She hasn't been able to touch us and she won't be able to touch us. I'm going to get on the phone with our lawyer right now and stop anything that Marion might even think she's going to do, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. Now, let me go hang out with my kids. I bet I could get Gus-Gus to say 'papa' before you get him to say 'mama,'" Gus teased.

"No, you can't. He likes me more. I'm not planning to throw him out and I'm the one with the milk!" Jayce remarked.

Gus made a face at her spouse before slipping out of the kitchen and going upstairs. She returned downstairs showered and changed. Wasting no time, she joined the kids in the living room and scooped her baby boy up into her arms. Gus-Gus cuddled into as he often did.

"So, guys, what're we watching?" Gus asked and then she made a face at the baby, earning a giggle from him.

"Ninja Cats and Samurai Rabbits," Travis answered, not turning from the TV.

"That's the show with all of the crazy lights and karate?" Gus recalled.

"Yup," Octavia replied.

"Me and Gus-Gus are going to go read Horton Hears a Who. Call me when this is over," Gus said.

"Wait! We like Horton too!" Octavia reminded her papa, pointing to herself and Travis.

"A lot!" the boy added.

Gus chuckled; Horton got them away from the television every time. Octavia and Travis grabbed the books and she started the story. Whenever she got to words that they knew, she let them take over. They were distracted when the bell rang. Jayce stepped out of the kitchen to get the door. Helena was there.

"I hear you're hoarding my son over here," Helena remarked.

"Miss Gus is reading Horton to us, Mom," Travis informed his mother, leaning back in the living room in order to see his mother.

"Oh, that is nice," Helena muttered, sounding a little surprised. "Speaking of Gus, I need to speak to you and Jayce for a moment."

The couple exchanged a look. "I didn't do it!" Gus declared with a grin.

Helena shook her head. "Seriously, I need to speak with you both for a moment."

Gus turned her attention back to the kids. "Octie, you and Travis watch your brother for a while and try to read as much of the book to him as you can."

Octavia nodded while Travis was in awe that they were being given such responsibility as Gus put the baby down. She then climbed to her feet and the three women stepped into the kitchen. Gus stood close to Jayce and held onto her hand, having a feeling that Helena was not the bearer of good news.

"Today, while I was at my office a man came into see me and started asking about the two of you. He wanted to know about your family and what kind of people you were. I thought that was odd in and of itself and then when I told Trevor, he said the same thing happened to him. What's going on?" Helena inquired.

Jayce pressed herself closer to Gus while the businesswoman groaned. "A woman that won't quit is what's going on."

"What do you mean?" Helena asked. "Whatever mess you two might be involved in, I can't afford to have it following me to work or harassing my husband at home."

Gus waved her off, understanding Helena's somewhat bitchy attitude. "Agreed. It will be handled ASAP. I assure you we're not involved anything that could be harmful to you or your family."

"Then what the hell is going on?" Helena demanded.

"It's my fault," Jayce said.

"It is not your fault! You don't have any control over Marion being completely insane," Gus pointed out.

"Who is Marion?" Helena asked.

"Octavia's grandmother. She wasn't particularly happy that Octavia ended up with us. She's been harassing us ever since. She's actually been torturing Jayce for her entire life," Gus replied.

Helena nodded and rubbed her chin in thought. "That explains his odd interest in how you two were as parents. He seemed to want to know how you abuse Octie, not if you do it."

"Bastard," Gus growled. "You know what, I'm ending this right now," she proclaimed, pulling out her cell phone. She released Jayce and marched off deeper into the house.

"Jayce, if there's anything I can do to help, please, just tell me. I know we got off on the wrong foot, but a blind man would be able to see that you two are great parents and I don't want Octie to be hurt," Helena said.

"I don't know if there's anything you can do right now. My moth-Marion-is just fishing for things now. She doesn't have anything to use against us, so she's trying to find stuff," Jayce explained. "She might resort to making things up or paying people to make things up. She's done it before."

"Your own mother?" Helena asked, obviously catching Jayce's slip.

"She never loved me and it only got worse when I came out as a lesbian. She's made it her life's mission to destroy me," Jayce sighed.

"Seriously, Jayce, you need help, you ask us. I'm not going to have my son's best friend taken away from very outstanding parents," Helena vowed.

"Thank you for that."

"I mean it," Helena said. "Trevor too. He told me to restate what he told you this afternoon. I believe he told me to say that he has your back. He even volunteered to put feelers out through the neighborhood to find out if this guy talked to anyone else and what they might have said if he did."

Jayce smiled, happy that there were people rallying around them. She was going to be in for a bigger shock later on. A few days after the questions started for Trevor and Helena, other neighbors approached Jayce, saying a man was questioning them about the Tuckers. Jayce was surprised that even though many of her neighbors did not agree with her lifestyle, they refused to badmouth her as a mother to some outsider. They also refused to badmouth Gus. Some of them even called the police. Jayce could not believe it. Apparently, the neighbors were not the hurtful as she had assumed them to be.


Jayce was cuddled on the couch with Gus after a particularly stressful week. Gus massaged her back all the way down to her calf. She had almost offered to mix Jayce a drink to get her to relax, but Jayce was still breastfeeding … and might never stop if Gus-Gus had his way.

"I thought for sure this neighborhood would jump at the chance to crucify us," Jayce muttered.

"I thought so too, but I think I should have known better. I mean, any neighborhood that has Trevor, Glenn, and Ryan in it can't be all bad. Besides, even if they did lie, they wouldn't be able to lie in court," Gus pointed out.

"This is true. Speaking of court, will this make it to a courtroom?"

"No, but that bitch might. I had recordings of her calling from when I answered the phone and those went on her record. At this point, our lawyer is trying to make it so if that woman so much as breathes in our direction she'll go to jail. She thought she was being slick with this phone call bullshit, but that stops now. We're pushing for some jail time and she's up to ears in fines and misdemeanors."

"Jail time?" Jayce echoed in disbelief. "Marion might actually go to jail?"

"Yeah, it's possible. Of course, it wouldn't be too long. She's definitely going to be tied up in court for a while."

Jayce nodded. "And the guy asking around about us?"

"We can't do much about the guy she hired unless he starts trying to talk to us and bother us, then we can get him for harassment and stalking, which our neighbors are also looking to do on my suggestion. They don't want any trouble and they don't like this guy lurking around."

"So, you really do have this under control," Jayce said with a smile, leaning over to give her spouse a small kiss.

"I'm going to take care of my family, baby. I'm sorry I let this get this out of control. I thought threatening her and keeping tabs was enough, but obviously not. Never again. From now on, the second you tell me you think that bitch is doing something to you or calling the house, or just anything, I'm on it and she's in jail. I'm never letting it get to this point again."

Jayce smiled. It was not really at "a point" and Gus was already on it. It was phone calls, threats, and a PI asking about them, but Gus was determined to make them go away. And she knew that Gus would. Gus would do everything in her power to keep them safe.

"I love you," Jay whispered before leaning in for a proper kiss.

"I love you too," Gus replied as they broke for air.

"I know."

Gus smiled before going in for another kiss. After speaking with their lawyer, she knew that Marion Newton had nothing to stand on and nothing to bring to court without tempting the judge to her in jail. And now, Marion had to deal with her own problems rather than creating new ones for Jayce and their family. Gus doubted that it would teach Marion a lesson, but it would keep her occupied for a while.

Gus needed to stay on top of things, though to make sure that her wife had peace of mind. Jayce being able to live a happy life with her and their children was one of the most important jobs that Gus had and she took it very seriously. So, never again would she allow Marion a chance to cause as much as a hiccup in Jayce's life. Never again.

"How about we take this upstairs and I show you how much I love you?" Jayce proposed.

"I thought you'd never ask," Gus grinned. The couple disappeared upstairs. They checked on their sleeping children before ending up in their own bedroom. For a moment, they both just appreciated the present and thought on the bright future ahead of them before focusing on how much they loved each other.



I hope you guys enjoyed the story. Thanks for reading. I'm returning to my padded cell. Hopefully, you'll be back for another story.

Shea K's Scrolls
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