Mel sat across from Lindsay, not sure what to say to her. After a few minutes, she got up and left, closing herself in her office, not wanting to start a fight. It took until dinner time before Mel’s first instinct wasn’t to pack her clothes and leave. Mel wasn’t going to let Nancy win though, and while it hurt to hear that Lindsay slept with someone else, Mel didn’t approach it the way she normally would have. Mel didn’t want this to turn into a huge fight the way it usually would and knew she needed time to get over the hurt she felt about what Lindsay had done, the same way Lindsay got over what Mel did years ago. Mel knew half of Lindsay’s problems stemmed from never feeling like she did anything right by her family, but it was time for Lindsay to figure out that it couldn’t rule her life.

“Were we invited to the dinner tonight?” Lindsay asked when Mel still hadn’t said anything to her when she came into the kitchen hours later.

“Is that really what you're worried about? The fact that Brian is having a dinner that you weren’t invited to?” Mel asked.

“It feels like lately, I’m the one being kept out of everything,” Lindsay told her.

“For good reason; they don’t need you making it harder for them to have privacy. You do things without thinking, then act like you can’t understand why Brian isn’t inviting you everywhere with him.” Mel told her.

“What I did with Sam only hurt us,” Lindsay told her.

“It did. I won’t lie to you and tell you it didn’t hurt me. I’m trying to remember you dealt with the same thing when I did it. That’s the reason I’m not yelling and leaving you right now. I guess what I’m trying to figure out is would you have told me if I hadn’t overheard it, and if you would have helped your mother just to avoid having to admit what you did.” Mel told her.

“Why would it matter? Since there was no chance of my mother getting what she wanted.” Lindsay asked her.

“Were you just going to wait for her to tell me?” Mel asked. “Because trust me, if that was the plan, then there isn’t any hope for us to stay together,” Mel told her.

“You don’t make it easy for me to tell you anything, because no matter what it is, somehow I’m the one who is always wrong,” Lindsay told her.

“We aren’t going to play ‘Lindsay the victim’ on this one. You slept with Sam. That’s a fact. You ran off to your mother’s house because you were hurt over how Corey wanted to handle Gus. You were the one who came home and didn’t say a word about what your mother and sister did. Also facts. And those things I needed to know about because they affect my clients.” Mel told her.

“Which is all that’s important to you- what affects Brian. Brian gets pissed and you end up making me sign an NDA when I didn’t even know you worked for him. Everyone is acting like I’m the one who did something wrong this time, when Justin was the one who let some crazy person near our son. Our plans to have a baby get shoved aside because once again work gets in the way. ” Lindsay told her, getting upset.

“It’s not going to work,” Mel told her.

“What?” Lindsay asked.

“Avoiding the question. Were you going to tell me?” Mel asked again.

“It was one time and meant nothing. I wasn’t going to see him again, so I didn’t see the point in hurting you!” Lindsay yelled as the doorbell rang. Lindsay was pissed when she opened the door to Brian and Corey standing there when it was obvious they had heard the yelling. Lindsay let them in, hoping that Brian could help her with Mel. Corey’s phone rang, so he stayed in the living room to answer it, while Brian followed Lindsay, only planning on offering to take Gus until they worked out everything.

 “Do you need Justin and me to keep Gus?” Brian asked.

“It might be good for tonight at least. I think we both have a lot we need to talk about.” Mel told him.

“I don’t want Gus here if you two are going to fight,” Brian told them.

“What do you mean you don't want Gus here? I'm his mother,” Lindsay said, getting upset.

“Exactly what I said, Gus doesn’t need to be here if you two have problems,” Brian repeated.

“But he can be with you, and you don't think it's an issue that Justin has a crazy person stalking him? The same person who talked to our son while Justin was watching him?” Lindsay asked, raising her voice.

“Lindsay,” Mel said, trying to get her to stop.

“Now you're concerned about Gus. Yet you left him all day with his bodyguard? You do get that Bruce isn't here to babysit for you, but then, from what it sounds like, you're constantly using everyone to watch Gus for you.” Brian told her, pissed when all he came here for was to offer them time to work out their problems.

“You were the one who wanted Gus to spend time with Justin. Don't try to act like I did anything wrong, when I'm not the one who put Gus in danger the way Justin did.” Lindsay told him. 

“Justin didn’t know there was anything to worry about,” Mel told her, wondering what Lindsay was thinking leaving Gus with the bodyguard. 

“So he gets a pass, while I get treated like I did something wrong. I’m getting tired of having to pay for one stupid mistake, while you act like what happened while Justin watched Gus wasn’t his fault.” Lindsay told them.

“One stupid mistake? Why don’t we talk about that one little mistake, which was all about you wanting Mommy to be proud that Lindsay got knocked up by someone famous? Let’s not forget what happened and what Gus will one day be able to read about because Gus’s mother needed to feel important. Something that meant Gus couldn’t do normal things with you because I don’t want Gus’ life documented, and the reason Justin ending up being the only one who could take Gus to do things all kids can do, because thanks to you the press is hounding him. Yes, I’m angry about what happened to Gus, but unlike you, Justin wasn’t using Gus to get attention, from anyone. Justin avoided using me to feel important to people I couldn’t give two shits about, yet you used me for people who have never given two shits about you. I only came here because I know what it’s like for a kid to have to listen to their parents fight, and wanted to spare Gus from dealing with it, while giving you and Mel space to deal with anything you need to in order to work this out with each other.” Brian told her.

“And I don’t feel Gus should be around you and Justin right now. Which is something that should mean more, since I’m his mother, not Justin!” Lindsay told him, upset.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Brian asked.

“I’m talking about the fact that Justin can do anything he wants with Gus, while I’m being told what I can and can’t do with my child. I’m tired of everyone acting like he can’t do anything wrong while I'm to blame for everything. Everything revolves around what you want, and our plans get put on hold because once again your life ends up being gossip.” Lindsay told him. 

“Our plans are on hold now because I don’t feel adding another child would be a good idea right now. Me changing my mind had nothing to do with Brian.” Mel told her.

“Bullshit. You were willing until the secret marriage came out. Which doesn’t affect us, yet somehow ended up becoming a problem for us.” Lindsay told her.

“The real problem was the fact that you wanted another child while you spend so little time being the mother you’re yelling at Brian about!” Mel yelled the truth.

“What are you talking about?” Lindsay asked.

“Since Brian introduced us to Justin, you constantly found any reason that you could for Justin to babysit Gus. You acted like he was our nanny to abuse, and Justin let us do it because he loves our son and wanted to spend time with him. Only we were talking about a child that wouldn’t have Justin to take care of him the way Gus does. So maybe my reasons did have something to do with Justin and Brian, but only because we promised Brian that Gus would be our priority. Yet every time we turn around Justin was the one who was taking care of him.” Mel told her.

“Justin loves having Gus,” Brian told Mel.

“I know he does, but that didn’t make it right to call him instead of including Gus in the things we were doing. Gus could have come with us to the appointments, and we could have made plans that included Gus. Instead, Justin ended up with Gus while we were acting like we didn’t have a child.” Mel told him.

“You make it sound like we were dumping Gus off all the time. Justin never complained about it.” Lindsay told her.

“He never would, but can we get back to the only reason I stopped by, which wasn’t to fight with you,” Brian told her.

“I think it would be good for Gus to stay with Brian and Justin, until you and I can talk about what we’ve both been avoiding. How you sleeping with Sam affects the two of us. Which we’ll continue to avoid if Gus is here.” Mel told Lindsay.

“So there’s nothing wrong with Gus being with them when you want it?” Lindsay asked, even when it was better for Gus to be away from them right now.

“Sorry to butt in here, but we need to talk about Lindsay’s family right now,” Corey told them, not giving a shit if they wanted to fight.

“I didn’t plan to help my mother, no matter what she did. So there’s nothing to talk about!” Lindsay demanded.

“Unfortunately there is, and it involves Michael Novotny too,” Corey told them.

“My mother wouldn’t have anything to do with Michael,” Lindsay told him.

“Yet she did, along with Collier, Justin’s stalker,” Corey told her.

“I didn’t know about it,” Lindsay said as if they were blaming her.

“No one said you did,” Brian told her, rolling his eyes.

“What would being around Nancy and Lynnette do for either of them? Michael knows Brian can’t stand them.” Mel told Corey.

“The combination of Michael and Collier is more disturbing,” Lindsay told her.

“Not if they think they have a common goal. Which tells you how delusional they both are. The only problem is, unlike Michael, Collier would be more careful about crossing lines. We need to know what the two of them think this will accomplish for them.” Corey told them.

“Mel and I could find out. My mother would think I was doing what she wanted, only she’ll start demanding I get her an introduction to the Taylors.” Lindsay told him.

“You’ll have an excuse why you can’t since all of us will be attending another event out of town,” Brian told her.

“While you do that, Lindsay and I will deal with mommy dearest and figuring out where we go from here.” Mel pointedly said.