Great conmen work alone.

In general, Bobby Caldwell was not a preachy sort. He did not give out advice on life, and he rarely took it from other people. His schtick was that the only time he would give out advice would be when he was either:

a) Behind bars for the rest of his life and in dire need of feeling like he could do anything to influence the outcome or

b) If Molly ever pressured him to give out the hormones talk to Linus. You know, birds and the bees.

Since neither was bound to happen anytime soon (We get old, but people like us, they never change) and Bobby was not eager to impart life lessons on Linus (in all actuality, it made him feel old) he decided to have rules. Rules he could live with.

Yes, teaching life rules was different from giving advice about life. Really.


"A barbecue, to celebrate the successful heist of Ocean's 11. Hosted by the lovely Molly Caldwell."

"Are we-"

"It would be rude not to."

"We haven't-"

"Molly-"

"Yeah."

And so, the vote was unanimous. Danny and Rusty were officially going to the Caldwell barbeque.


"Now, Linus, there's only one rule in this household, and you know that." Bobby arched his eyebrow at his son.

"Yeah, yeah. Great conmen work alone. I know." All of a sudden a thought came to the dark haired young man. "Hey dad?"

"Mhhmm?"

"What about Danny and Rusty?"

The aforementioned men perked up a bit from their advantageous spot several feet to the left of the Caldwells. Honestly, Rusty had just positioned himself there so he could hear what Bobby had to say on the matter of the heist and what he critiscized Linus on and what he praised him for. Danny just drifted over-it was kind of like magnetism. Where one was, you expected the other to be perfectly aligned.


Danny started "Should we be-?"

"Well, they're talking about us, so what can it hurt?"

"Fine."

Bobby Caldwell looked up from the peice of meat currently occupying precious real estate on his dixie plate and drifted away from his contemplations of wether slaw would fit onto the plate without soaking through or falling off at an inoppertune moment. "What about them?"

"Well, they work together, don't they? And they're great, but they're even more so when they're together...which they are, all the time! How do you figure that?"

Bobby evaded the question. "Not all the time-I mean, it's not like they sleep together or anything."


Rusty glanced over his shoulder and threw Danny an amused grin. Danny sighed.

"Can we-"

"No."

Rusty pouted.

"No." This time he was a little less sure.

Rusty licked his lips and gave Danny the saddest look he could muster up. Being a conman, it was quite good. He also expressed through his eyes that he would kick Danny out of his room and his bed.

"You woudn't. You know how I am with the nightmares and all."

"No bluff."

"...oh fine. But there will be no leniency for blanket hogging. None I tell you."

Rusty just shot him a quick grin. Then called out to Bobby "Well, Bobby, you are mistaken on that count."

Bobby scrunched up his nose. "No."

"Yep!"

"Damn straight they sleep in the same 'otel bed-no on' else will take either of 'em!" Basher called out from his end of the Caldwell yard.

Danny actually looked slightly embarrassed at this peice of information.

Molly joined in the conversation. "Why?"

Reuben shudders for a second. " Danny, you know I have the utmost respect for you, but believe me, I am never going to share a hotel bed with you ever again." Now adressing himself to Molly, he scrunched up his face. "Lets put it this way-Danny lets his hands wander. And he moves around like he's trying to dance to La Vida Loca in his goddamn sleep! I haven't the foggiest how the fuck Rusty manages to lay next him."

"Ahh. Well, thank you for the mental image Reuben." Molly looked like she was mildly scarred. She was also having trouble meeting Danny's eyes for some reason.

"Hey! Rus' doesn't mind sleeping with me!"

Seconds after this statement flew out of his mouth unbidden he realized just how wrong it sounded. "I mean-" he started to try fix it, but Basher just steamrollered over him. "You think that's bad? Try sleepin' next to Rusty!"

This time Virgil popped the question. "What the hell's wrong with Rusty?"

"He, as Reuben so nicely put it, talks in his goddamn sleep. He talks."

Linus piped up. "What's so bad about that?"

"What's so bad? What's so bad is that he slings his 'arms over your waist and starts breathin' into your neck and mumbling Danny's name and other...stuff!"

It was Rusty's turn to look embarrassed. However, Danny took control of the situation nicely.

"Since when did this become a rehash of our sleeping habits?" "We are really not that bad, you know!" The last part was tacked on indignantly by Rusty and was followed by a chorus of replies.

"So you think!"

"Not that bad for eachother!"

"Linus, consider yourself lucky!"

"Wow, well that was a little too much information!"

Danny just sighed and mumbled to no one in particular, "It's not La Vida Loca, anyway, goddammit!"

"I know." was all he got in reply and his face finally creased into a small smile.

A/N Awww I like this one...hope you do too...and I hope you don't mind the typos. Leave a review, tell me what you think!