An Understanding
A/N: I've been reading otherhawk's Ocean's Eleven stuff (which is really amazing!) and I got inspired. I wrote this in...five minutes, so be gentle. (If you notice a grammar/spelling mistake, please let me know!) But yeah. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me...yadda yadda yadda.
Pairings: Tess/Danny, subtle Danny/Rusty, Rusty/Isobel
Tess had learned many things since the moment she met Daniel Ocean. She had learned the trivial (such as he hated folding laundry) to the monumental (that, well, Danny was a thief). But there was one thing she had learned fairly early on, and it was something that had only solidified over the years.
And that was Danny and Rusty. Tess had first met Rusty when he had shown up on one of her and Danny's "dates" (they hadn't been "officially" dating yet). He had swept in through the diner door and slid right into the booth next to Danny. Tess was stunned, to say the least, especially by the way the two acted around each other. They always kept tabs on one another, either by watching or touching or even their body postures. They sat close to each other, with Rusty's arm over the back of the booth and Danny angling himself to sit closer.
Rusty had been funny and charming, and Tess had loved him immediately. Later, after Rusty had left, Danny had tried to explain it, explain how important Rusty was to him.
"I...well...we..." Tess just smiled.
"I get it Danny. I understand." Danny had sighed in relief, and thanked her. She would get that thank you a lot, for understanding when Danny had to run off, with a single word (Rusty) being the only explanation. Tess understood—they had a bond, something special. And she also understood that she could never intrude on that bond, and could never truly understand it. And it was fine by her.
Later, when she and Isobel were watching the men play some poker, Isobel had turned to her and asked her if it had ever bothered her, the DannyandRusty thing.
Tess smiled. "Never."
"Haven't you ever thought...that maybe...they're more than...friends?"
"Of course they are. They've never been 'just friends'. I don't have a word for it—I don't think there is one, but they're...They belong to each other. We can see some parts of them, the parts they want us to see, but really? They see each other wholly and that's a special bond. It's something that no one can ever touch."
Isobel had turned away then, and Tess had watched her carefully. It was obvious that the whole subject bothered her, and inwardly, Tess sighed. Isobel was never really going to get it, and it was a shame. It would probably be the downfall of her relationship with Rusty. Tess had always known, since the first time she had seen Danny and Rusty together, that they came as a package pair. You had to accept them together, or not at all. That had been the realization that she had come to over the years.
It was an...understanding, of sorts, on her part. And while she knew that Danny did love her, she knew that a part of him would always belong to Rusty. Tess smiled. And she was perfectly okay with that.