"Oh, God, no!" Mike dropped the envelope and buried his face in his hands. Gus rubbed his back as he took it all in.

"Before you ask, it's ovarian. She didn't want you to know because she knew how worried you would get. When she heard you got the COS position, she didn't want anything to spoil it for you. It was in remission until the very last days of June, and we were hoping that it was gone for good, but now even the most radical of treatments don't seem to have any effect on it."

"Isn't there anything we can do for her?"

"Mike, I've been personally overseeing her chemo and she's not responding well."

Gus felt pretty bad at that moment, like she'd just hit Mike with a 2x4 and he wasn't going to come out of the daze too soon. She decided to wait a little and take stock of the situation until he indicated that he was able to handle the bad and good news.

She herself had other problems to worry about, like that fact that she was going to have to chew out Roman Brady for abandoning his mission in Europe because The Brat had been shot at. ISA agents just didn't do that. He should have been more careful about keeping an eye on the company Sami was keeping before he left Salem!

And how about letting that Reed girl play tag-a-long? Gus had nothing against Billie, of course, but she'd worked with agents who had only two months training and were much better equipped than the youngster was. And now that she knew that her darling niece was married to Billie's brother... Oh Lord this was going to be rough.

And then there was the problem of the Reed kids' mother, Kate Roberts. Should she or should she not let Kate know that her sister Juliana was coming to Salem? Sticky mess to be involved in, especially when Juliana was engaged to Gus' own ex-husband, Trevor Maxwell.

Well, at least I get to see Claire, she thought. I miss my baby girl, but god, she's not a baby anymore. She's almost eleven years old!

Gus found her thoughts straying to another little girl, a little girl who would be almost nineteen right now...

"Gus?"

Gus snapped out of her reverie immediately and found Mike looking at her.

"Let's have the bad news."

"Are you sure you're up to it?"

"I'll give it a shot."

"First the good news, because the bad relates directly to it."

"Okay."

Gus retrieved the envelope from where Mike had dropped it.

"These are documents granting you full custody of Jeremy. Robin's sister, Miriam, is trying to contest them."

Miriam Jacobs. Mike wanted to be anywhere but here, listening to Gus telling him that.

Mike groaned and put his head in his hands again.

"Gus, how do you find these things out?"

"Eli Jacobs and I have been in contact and he's agreed for you to have sole custody of Jeremy, even though you know how he feels about your being Roman Catholic. Seems that Eli's mellowed over the years, but then again, he's not doing too well himself. He's of the opinion that anyone will be better than Miriam."

Mike didn't say anything, but Gus knew that he was feeling equal parts of joy, sadness, grief and anger. He would finally get to see Jeremy on a regular basis, maybe even have his son live with him. Gus saw the sadness that was consuming Mike because he felt like he couldn't be there for Robin while she was going through this terrible ordeal, that things had ended so badly over in the Middle East.

The grief was directed at the fact that she was almost certainly dying, and that he hadn't spent more time with her. And the anger. Gus knew that was all saved up for Miriam, Robin's younger sister who had tried so desperately to get Mike's attention, and when she failed, she set him up in a situation that forced him to leave Israel with Robin and Eli thinking the worst of him.

Mike was now pulling what Gus referred to as "Vintage Horton" -- that was, locking down his emotions and letting them stew while he went slowly insane.

"Mike," Gus said gently, rubbing his back like she used to whenever he was going through an especially trying moment in his life. "I know this is hard for you, but please, if you can't talk to me, find someone who you can talk to. Don't go this alone. Promise me."

The only answer she had was Mike taking her other hand and squeezing it gently.

"Okay," she said, "I have to go now. I'll see you at the wedding." She got up and placed the envelope in front of him, then walked towards the door.

"Gus?"

She turned around at the sound of his voice. "Yes?"

"Thank you. For everything."

"You're welcome," she said, and closed the door behind her.

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