Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Ocean's 11. Initially typed "I know nothing to do with Ocean's 11" there. Huh.

A/N: Not what I meant to write tonight. Got distracted by plot bunny that skipped merrily across the road, and I followed it and fell down a deep dark hole and there was cake.

They stopped after barely two hours in a little town that seemed to Danny to have no particular distinguishing features.

He gave Rusty an enquiring look. "What, you too old to keep driving these days?"

"Thought you might be getting traumatised by this much fresh air and freedom," Rusty grinned at him. "Figured we should stop for lunch. Now that we've lost our groupies."

Danny nodded and let the lie go, momentarily anyway. "If they saw you eat, they'd probably have left anyway."

Tess rolled her eyes and daintily stepped out of the car and Danny smiled and fell in love for the three hundredth time that day. "Where are we going?" she asked them.

"There's a nice little place round the corner," Rusty told her, and Danny blinked. Not a random stop, then.

Tess looked suspicious. "Do they serve your kind of food or mine?"

"Compromise," Rusty promised. "Danny's."

Seemed reasonable to Danny. But he could be selfish that way.

They started to walk, and Rusty suddenly stopped. "Oh! You have to go to the bank, right?"

No. He didn't. He really didn't. Not until he had some new ID sorted out. And Rusty knew that. He nodded. "Good point. I'll meet you there?"

"Sure," Rusty agreed, and he hung back while Tess kissed Danny.

"See you in a few minutes," he promised her.

"You'd better," she murmured.

He gave Rusty a look that hopefully screamed 'Where am I going, and why?' and they took a step away and Rusty acted like he was handing over Danny's bank cards.

"There's a jewellers round the corner," Rusty whispered to him. "It's good. Really good."

Danny shot him a look. "If you think I'm going - "

" - no," Rusty interrupted, impatiently. "But I thought that maybe you might want to actually buy Tess an engagement ring?"

Oh. He hesitated. "She's wearing her wedding ring."

"Uh huh," Rusty agreed, rolling his eyes.

Danny chewed on his lip for a bit. "I mean, we're already married."

Rusty sighed. "No. You're not. Buy the girl a ring." His eyes narrowed. "You were planning on proposing, weren't you?"

After last time? He'd really been planning on just assuming, and letting charm and self confidence somehow carry them to the altar.

Rusty glared at him. "If you think I'm going to hit Fort Knox, or somewhere, in order for you to get her back again . . . "

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Fort Knox?"

"Or somewhere," Rusty shrugged dismissively. "Buy the girl a ring."

He sighed and conceded. Rusty was probably right. He started to walk away then stopped, and thought and came back. "Uh . . ."

Rusty handed over a chequebook with a smirk.

Danny looked down at it. "You haven't changed your signature in the past few months, have you?"

"No." Rusty shook his head.

"Good," Danny smiled. "Because I'd hate to be arrested for illegally being you."

"It's always illegal to be me," Rusty claimed, and Danny grinned and let that one go.

*

Five days, three cities, and now they were in Tulsa for no easily understandable reason, and the ring was still in Danny's pocket.

Tess had gone shopping, for reasons that were also past understanding, and Danny and Rusty were sitting in the hotel bar, staring dead ahead of them and thinking deep thoughts.

"I want it to be perfect," Danny mused aloud. "I want it to be magical and wonderful and everything she'd want. I want . . .I want it to be perfect."

"And you're scared," Rusty commented.

"And I'm scared," Danny agreed.

There was a long silence. Drinks arrived. They drank them.

"I could ask her," Rusty said, at last.

After a moment, Danny turned his head and stared.

Rusty caught him looking and shrugged. "For you, I mean."

"No," Danny said, definitely. "We're not doing that."

"Okay," Rusty agreed, and he stared into his glass.

Danny sighed. "Suppose she says no?"

"She's wearing your wedding ring," Rusty pointed out.

"Exactly!" Danny happily leapt on this new argument. "She's wearing my wedding ring. I shouldn't have to propose again. You know how difficult it was to get it perfect last time?" He caught himself. "You know how difficult it was to get it perfect last time. At this point, I think we can assume that me and Tess are going to get married. So why should I have to ask? Maybe she should ask."

Rusty was staring at him. "Am I going to have to lock the two of you in a room again?"

He certainly hoped not. That had effortlessly earned a place on his list of 'Things it had been excruciatingly difficult to explain to Tess'. "Did it work last time?"

"No," Rusty admitted, reluctantly.

"Then let's assume not," Danny suggested.

There was another long silence. Predictably, Rusty voiced the thought. "You need to ask her."

"Since when are you conventional?" Danny demanded with a sigh.

"Since you spent three months trying to propose last time," Rusty shot back. "She deserves you asking. She deserves romance."

She did. She deserved everything and more. But if he conceded that, he was lost. He went on the attack instead. "Why should I listen to you? Have you even had a relationship in the last four years? One that lasted more than a weekend, I mean."

"Yeah." Rusty didn't look at him.

"You see?" Danny was triumphant. Then he frowned. ". . . wait, what?"

Rusty continued to ignore him."You need to ask her to marry you."

Danny waved a hand impatiently. "We've moved on from that."

"Tess hasn't," Rusty pointed out, entirely accurately.

But there were other matters that were equally pressing. "You were in a relationship?"

Rusty sighed. "Yes, Danny, yes I was."

"What happened?" he asked quietly, after a second. It wasn't that he'd never imagined that Rusty might have. It was just that there'd been something important in Rusty's life, and he hadn't known.

There was another sigh, and Rusty looked up at him, open and unguarded, and he silently told a story of loss and love, of regret and resignation. And Danny saw and understood, and for a brief moment his hand was on Rusty's and they were together. But there was something else, and he read the flicker of embarrassment and grinned.

"Please tell me you didn't jump out the bathroom window again."

"I didn't jump out the bathroom window again," Rusty parroted, with a wry smile.

Danny shook his head in mock severity. "There are other ways of solving your problems."

"Not always," Rusty's smile had faded and his eyes were far away and with a glance, Danny asked if he wanted to talk about it, and accepted the quick shake of the head.

"You remember when you did that to Karl?" he offered instead. "And he came round three hours later and I had to tell him - "

Rusty rolled his eyes. " - like you wouldn't have ran away the moment he pulled out - "

" - oh, I would have been gone long before that," Danny said, dryly. Not that there'd been anything wrong with Karl. But eight foot tall Tina Turner fans really weren't his thing. Even without the unexpected and ill-timed revelations. "Your love life is a soap opera."

"Excuse me?" Rusty looked indignant. "Who's the one marrying his ex-wife?"

Danny laughed. More drinks arrived. They drank them.

"You were in a relationship," Danny said, wonderingly, after a long time.

Rusty smiled. "Ask Tess to marry you."

*

He'd taken her out to dinner. The lights had been low. The food had been delicious. There had been wine. There had been candles. There had been soft voices and gentle kisses. There had even, God help him, been a itinerant violinist, who took requests. There had been no shortage of cliché, but it had all been done well, and Tess had loved it.

Which had made the lack of proposal particularly difficult to explain to Rusty over breakfast the next morning.

"Ah," Rusty said sagely. "You bottled it."

"I did not!" he hissed defensively. "I just felt that I needed more time. The words weren't there. It wouldn't have been perfect."

Rusty grinned. "You've been - "

" - practising? Of course I've been practising."

"In the mirror?" Rusty grinned some more.

"Yes," he admitted.

Rusty nodded, thoughtfully. "So,in fact, you've now proposed to yourself?"

Danny glared. "Well, I would have practised on you but I was afraid you might say yes."

"Not a chance," Rusty shook his head decisively. "You're far too high maintenance for me."

"I'm high maintenance?" Danny demanded, eyes wide.

Rusty leaned forwards and looked at him seriously. "What were you going to say?"

"Last night?" Danny asked, stalling for time.

"Yes. What were you going to say?"

"The usual stuff," he shrugged. Rusty continued to look at him, and he gave up and went on in a softer voice. "I was going to tell her how much I loved her. I was going to tell her how happy she makes me. I was going to tell her how every time I see her I fall in love with her all over again. I was going to tell her that when she smiles I lose all track of time. I was going to tell her that when she cries, I want to take on the world, slay dragons – or Benedict – do anything to make her happy again. I was going to tell her everything."

He'd gotten a little carried away there. But there was a prickling at the back of his neck.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, put his hand inside his jacket pocket, and swept out of his seat, got down on one knee, looked up at Tess and proffered the ring.

"I love you so much," he told her. "Please marry me."

"Yes, oh, Danny, yes." There were tears in her eyes.

A smattering of applause ran through the restaurant.

He grinned, so happy, so relieved, that he thought he'd never get past it, and he took her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly.

And he didn't have to turn round to notice the quiet withdrawal. "Stay where you are," he said sternly.

"Please, Rusty," Tess added.

He was still sitting there when they took their seats. "Congratulations," he grinned.

"Thank you," Danny said sincerely and he almost laughed at the look of surprise from Tess and the look of amused resignation from Rusty. "What, you think I don't recognise a set up when I see one?"

"You were taking your time," Tess murmured.

"More than a little," Rusty agreed. He suddenly looked thoughtful. "Damn, this means I'm going to have to think up a whole new speech of nice things to say about you, doesn't it?"

He let the awkward show on his face and watched the momentary frown play across Rusty's. "I was thinking of asking Frank," he explained, apologetically.

Tess glared at him and leaned across the table. "Rusty, would you please be Danny's best man?" she asked, sweetly.

"Hey!" Danny objected. "I don't think you're allowed to do that."

"I'd be honoured," Rusty told Tess.

"And I don't think you're allowed to do that, either." He considered pouting, but decided against it. He'd need to be able to stop grinning first, and that just wasn't happening.

Tess smiled gently at him. "Last time you took two weeks to actually ask him," she pointed out.

Rusty looked amused.

Danny wasn't. "These things take time," he explained. It hadn't been that he'd been afraid Rusty would say no. After all, everyone knew that there'd never been anyone else. "I just wanted it to be - "

" - perfect," Tess and Rusty chorused.

Danny stopped and shook his head. He looked at them for a long moment. Tess, wearing his rings, looking at him with love, eyes sparkling. Rusty, so happy for him, relaxed and free and wearing a smile that could light up the world. And what could Danny do but let his feelings show on his face? He smiled. "What's wrong with finding perfection?"