It was nearly two o'clock in the morning, Danny vaguely realised as he banged on Rusty's door. And if he wasn't quite so busy being angry he might have felt guilty, or embarrassed at the very least. But there was no chance that this could wait till morning. This he had to hear about now.
Just as he was about to try hammering again, Yen threw the door open with an impressive string of expletives.
"Uh, I was looking for Rusty." Danny said, caught entirely off guard.
"He's in here." Turk yelled, unseen from inside the room.
Virgil's voice immediately leapt in. "Don't say that, you should have asked if he wanted to – "
" – What am I, his secretary?" Turk demanded.
"Well, you have the legs for it, sweetheart." Virgil again.
"At least I don't know shorthand, honey." And Turk. Didn't anyone in this outfit ever sleep?
"Guys." And that was Rusty's voice. Danny had been beginning to wonder.
Yen glared at Danny again, then over his shoulder, presumably at the Malloys and stepped aside and let Danny into the room.
The first thing that Danny saw was what looked like every single champagne glass in the hotel, lying on a broken pile on the floor and Turk and Virgil industriously clearing them up. Rusty was lying back on the sofa, his hand wrapped in a bloodstained towel.
Okay. Maybe the argument could wait, just a little.
"What happened?" he asked, looking from one to the other.
"Well, Yen was going to show me this magic trick." Turk began.
Predictably Virgil immediately interrupted. "Except he got it wrong and knocked everything over."
"Only because you said that I was doing it wrong."
"You were doing it wrong."
"And Rusty was standing in the wrong place and got cut." Danny resisted the urge to close his eyes and bang his head against the nearest wall.
Instead he frowned innocently. "Why were you doing it in his room in the first place?"
The twins looked blank. Rusty shrugged. "Actually, I was wondering that myself." Danny casually searched his face, but there was no sign of guilt or even the slightest hint of discomfort. Natural born liar.
And that was enough. In fact that was several stages more than enough. He stared pointedly at Rusty. "We need to talk."
"Okay." Rusty said, calmly and as if he had no idea what was coming.
Danny heard the others shifting uncomfortably behind him. "You should go." he said, without turning round.
The Malloys' relief was obvious and immediate. "Great, I've got to wash the dog – "
" – bury the cat."
Danny did his best not to react, but he saw Rusty's lips twitching ever so slightly.
The twins practically ran out the door, but Yen lingered and threw an urgent question at Rusty.
"Shouldn't think so. Don't worry about it." Rusty smiled reassuringly.
Yen nodded then stared at Danny for a long moment before saying something in a low tone of voice that, even though he didn't understand, Danny recognised as a threat. Then he left, shutting the door gently behind him.
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Winning friends and influencing people?"
Rusty smiled. "Turns out my charms are as good as ever."
First point to Rusty and Danny managed to avoid wincing. On the outside, anyway. He stared at Rusty's hand. "So how was your evening?" he asked pointedly. It wasn't the argument that he'd come in, intending to have, but they had to start somewhere.
"It was an accident, Danny." Rusty said, wearily and Danny wondered how Rusty could expect him to believe that for a minute.
"Because you've always been so clumsy." he said, sarcastically.
"What do you want, Danny?" Rusty asked with just a touch of deflective anger in his voice.
"I saw Tess tonight."
Rusty closed his eyes and leaned back on the sofa. "Shit."
"No kidding." he agreed bitterly. "How could you do that?"
"It was really easy, actually." Rusty sighed. "Look, if Tess is in town – "
Danny interrupted. " – Of course it isn't a coincidence. And yeah, I shouldn't have gone to see her – "
" – You're handing Carson ammunition." Rusty went on." And I don't know about you but – "
" – but I'm glad I did because – "
" – I think he has enough already."
" – there are some things that I have a right to know."
They stared at each other for a long moment.
Rusty moved the towel off his hand and grimaced.
"Do you need the Emergency Room?" Danny asked calmly.
"Probably." Rusty admitted quietly. "But I'm going to wait until the morning."
In the morning he'd be able to go to Reuben's doctor and get done whatever needed to be done. Danny could understand the temptation of not heading over to the hospital on Vegas on a Friday night. With a sigh he walked over and looked down. His eyes widened. Rusty's hand looked like it had been ripped open. Beneath the blood he could see flesh laid bare. He swallowed hard and tried not to think about what it said that Rusty was able to do that to himself.
"It was an accident, Danny." Rusty promised him, and Danny wondered how in the world he was expected to believe that. "Ask Turk and Virgil. Or Yen. They all saw."
Yeah. Three of the people who Rusty had a hope in hell of convincing that was the case. "I'm surprised you didn't get Linus to be a witness too."
"He already thinks I'm clumsy." Rusty grinned but it was nowhere near reaching his eyes and Danny could see the pain and the misery. Simple fact was, somewhere along the way, Rusty had got too lost for him to ever be able to find his way back.
And suddenly Danny felt exhausted and he had no idea whether to laugh or cry at the very idea of Rusty – the most graceful human being he'd ever known – ever being clumsy. "Sometimes he's not so observant. I could talk to him."
"Don't." Rusty said quickly. "I'd rather he believed that than he thought what you're thinking."
"Because it was an accident?" Danny asked slowly.
"Yeah." Rusty said simply. There was a pause. "Tess told you everything?"
"God, I hope so." he said, too tired now, too defeated to even try to fight. "You and her set everything up between you."
"Wasn't quite like that." Rusty protested. "But yes."
"She asked and you said yes." Danny said bluntly.
Rusty shrugged. "She didn't exactly ask. And I – "
" – Would have done it anyway." Danny sighed. "I know."
"So you shouldn't blame her." And Danny wondered in what possible universe that was the point?
"She told me about the baby thing too. She – "
" – played me like a ten dollar whore." They both winced at the simile and Rusty cleared his throat. "Think your wife is in the wrong profession. She'd have made a great con artist."
Danny's eyes narrowed and he could feel the cold fury rising again. "You think this is funny?"
"Maybe a little." Rusty shrugged. "If your tastes run to irony."
"You betrayed me." Danny said very, very quietly. "You and Tess together. Don't even pretend that you didn't know what you were doing. Did you think it wouldn't hurt me?"
Rusty stood up and faced him. "You're the one who left."
"I wasn't going to watch you destroy yourself." He couldn't have. Not for him.
"I understand." And Rusty's voice was quiet, but Danny suddenly realised for the first time that he didn't understand. Not really. Not anymore.
"I hate you." he said softly, turning away and ignoring the stinging in his eyes.
There was a long silence. "No. You don't." And the sheer, naked astonishment in Rusty's voice was agony.
Danny waited for a long, long moment, his heart cold in his chest, desperately trying to convince himself that he could be cruel to be kind. But he couldn't leave it that way. "Never have, never will." he agreed turning back round and Rusty was staring at him and that too was painful.
"I never meant to make your life harder." Rusty said, after a pause. "I should have said no, when Frank called."
"Then me and the others would have wound up in prison." Danny pointed out, knowing that Rusty never could have. And that was the problem right there. He collapsed onto the sofa, and after a moment Rusty joined him.
"You would have thought of something." Rusty said, dismissively, and Danny had to make him see that at least.
"No. I wouldn't." he said levelly, truthfully and emphatically. "We would all have gone to prison. This wouldn't work without you. You saved us. And I know that you don't need to be here."
Rusty looked startled. "I couldn't – "
" – I know." Danny smiled, ever so slightly. "I just wish you could."
Rusty shook his head uncertainly and said nothing.
Danny sighed. "If you weren't here we'd never be able to get the Benedict job done. Let alone fix Carson to . . . " He trailed off. Because Rusty had winced. And maybe no-one else would have noticed, but no matter how much emptiness there was between them, Danny wasn't just anyone. "Carson?" he asked carefully.
"Tonight." Rusty admitted.
"And you didn't call?" Danny demanded.
"Nothing that couldn't keep. He bought it." But Rusty wouldn't meet his eyes.
He bought it. And Rusty had wound up bleeding. "Bad?"
Rusty smiled and apparently unconsciously flexed his fingers. "He likes the sound of his own voice, doesn't he?"
"If it's that bad - " Danny began.
" – I can handle it." Rusty protested. "He's just talk. I've dealt with worse."
Yeah. Danny knew he had. But Carson was good at talking, and if he was getting that close, scouring too many nerves raw . . . four years ago, Danny knew exactly what Rusty could take and would have stepped in long before they were anywhere near that point. And even now he could hear the lie in Rusty's voice. "Rus' . . . "
"This changes nothing." Rusty said in a voice made of steel. "I'm not sorry. You don't forgive me. And after this job is done we never see each other again."
Danny stared at him for a long moment and Rusty matched him look for look. "Fine." Danny said finally and felt a little like dying.
"Good." Rusty said, and reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cigarettes.
It took far too much damned effort for Danny to keep his face neutral. "So, Carson bought it?" he asked instead.
Rusty nodded. "Hook line and sinker. We're on."
Somehow that made a lousy silver lining. He cleared his throat. "Does Saul know about . . . ?" he nodded at Rusty's hand.
"Not yet." And Danny could hear the unspoken request. Yeah. He wouldn't wake Saul up. After all, at this point he'd be just as pissed now as in the morning.
"First aid kit?" he asked instead.
Rusty shrugged. "Livingston's – "
" – I'll go and get it." Danny promised.
If he wasn't allowed to care, he could still do what he could. And hopefully that involved sneaking in and out of the room without waking Livingston. And it involved wrapping Rusty's hand up, getting rid of every single piece of sharp glass from the floor, sitting up with him all night and dragging him to the doctor in the morning. Everything in his power. Except caring.
I know, I know. Short chapter. But that's where the break was, so sue me. Actually, please don't.