The Ocean's Job

Disclaimer: I do not own Oceans 11 or 12 or the Italian Job or any characters or plot lines relating to them.

Kuriei137, Lali-chan, and whoever the other two were thank you for the feedback. you brought me to and average of 2 reviews per chapter, which I'm very happy about.

Danny walked into the emergency room and saw John and Stella sitting on a couple of the plastic chairs in the corner. John tried to smile at him as he walked over, but Stella was just sitting, staring at the full cup of what looked like coffee in her hand.

"How is he?" Danny asked John quietly taking the seat next to him.

John just shrugged "They're not sure," he began, his eyes dark and tired "they aren't out of surgery yet, the bullet curved so it is only the far right side of his brain that was harmed, the doctors say if he makes it through surgery he has a good chance of waking up, but they don't know all the effects it's had until he does."

Danny nodded mutely, even though Saul had insisted it wasn't his fault he still couldn't shake off the guilt he felt for what was happening. Realising he had to something he stood up, "I should call the others," he decided "they'll want to know how everything is."

Stella looked up suddenly giving a questioning look to her father, "Has anyone called his grandfather?" she asked "He'd want to know."

Danny looked at Stella surprised, "He has a grandfather?" Stella nodded her gaze once again going blank as she looked back into her cup. "Why wasn't he at the funeral?"

"He was" she answered without looking up, "you just didn't see him."

Danny looked from the girl to her father in confusion. John just looked back at Danny, obviously not intending to give him a clear answer. Realising that he wasn't going to get an answer out of either of them Danny walked a short distance away to call Rusty, telling him what little he knew of the kid's condition.

When he got back Stella was sitting by herself, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed the cup she had been holding no longer in sight. "Who was he talking about?" Danny asked standing in front of her.

Stella looked back at him with confused eyes, "Excuse me?"

"When Linus said 'she wasn't dead', who was he talking about?" He repeated more slowly watching Stella's eyes carefully as he tried to gauge her reaction.

Stella gave away nothing though and just shook her head, "I don't know."

Danny would have rolled his eyes in exasperation if he didn't think it so below him. Instead he just slid into the chair next to the girl, still watching her closely. "Yes you do, I saw the look on your face when he said it." Stella looked down at her hands, rubbing them together. "He wasn't talking about his parents was he?"

"No, somewhere inside him it was beginning to become real to him that they were gone," she stopped talking, but Danny's silence egged her on. "I think this whole thing with Benedict and then Steve reminded both of us about something that happened a long time ago, and when he said that I thought of it again." She stopped suddenly and Danny was afraid she was going to start crying. "But that can't be what he meant, they're dead." She finished with such confidence that Danny believed that she truly believed it.

At that point John came back and sat down. No body said anything, but Danny couldn't help feeling that either Stella was leaving something out, or she was wrong.

The silence in the room felt deafening. Everyone was seated around, most of them nursing a drink in their hands. Most of them had flights home in the next few hours, and whilst John insisted they leave and that he'd call everyone, no one could find it in themselves to move. Danny had gone to the hospital an hour ago to check in with John and Stella, but last time he'd called Linus was still in surgery.

They all looked up as Rusty's phone rang, but lost interest again after realising it was just one of his B-list actor friends.

"This is ridiculous." Reuben announced as Rusty hung up, "We should leave we're not doing anything sitting here."

"He could die," Virgil argued though glad that someone had finally broken the silence over them.

"He could die if we stay." Reuben answered him calmly, seeing the incredulous faces looking at him he continued. "I'll be the first to say I am not very fond of the kid," Turk let out a small bark of laughter, "however," Reuben continued unfazed "Sitting here is not doing anyone any good, and I for one have some important things to do at home."

"Reuben's right." Charlie cut in before anyone could say anything, "Linus wouldn't want you all to put your lives on hold. John did say that you may as well leave. The bullet missed the main parts of the brain, and they have one of the best surgeons in Italy working on him, I'm sure he'll be fine. Anyway even after surgery he could still be out for a few days, Linus would probably rather you leave, he would feel guilty for keeping you all here."

"He will," Saul corrected watching Charlie, "you said 'he would feel guilty', the kid is not dead, he will feel guilty if he keeps us all here. And I happen to agree with you, by all staying we're not doing anything but we are increasing the chances that we will get caught."

There were a few weak protests but eventually, with promises that someone would call them with information, everyone had gone in their separate directions leaving only Charlie and Rusty sitting on either side of the dinning table.

"How long have you been seeing Stella?" Rusty asked suddenly breaking the silence. He laughed when he saw the surprised look on Charlie's face, "You have a lot to learn if you think you can keep secrets here kid."

"Do you like calling people that?" Charlie asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Calling people what?"

"Kid, I heard you call Linus that before and just now you said it to me," Rusty didn't answer. "You know I'm older than Linus and Stella, I wouldn't be much younger than you." Rusty just shrugged slightly, Charlie noticed the movement "Unless it's not about how old people are, do you think I'm too new?"

"You were running your own job, I now you're not that new."

"But Linus is." He dug.

Rusty, never a fan of having a conversation turned on him refused to answer, "You never answered my question, how long have you two been together?"

"About 18 months," the younger man relented, "And he's not as green as he acts."

Rusty walked over to the bar, showing no sign that he heard what Charlie was saying and clearly done with the conversation.

Charlie was about to continue his interrogation when his phone rang and he answered it to find his hysterical fiancé on the other end.

Danny looked across the breakfast table at Tess. It had been 3 months since L.A. and still things hadn't gone back to normal. He had been in the waiting room with John and Stella when the kid's doctor had come out to speak with them. He said that Linus had come through the surgery well and was still under sedation which they hoped would end the next day so they could get a proper view on how he was.

The next day came and went but Linus did not stir. John had insisted that Danny, Rusty and Charlie go home.

Tess had been so relieved to see him, she saw him coming and met him at the door, only noticing after a few minutes his pale complexion. She had been really upset after hearing what had happened. Tess had always liked Linus, more so then the other guys. Danny thought it was the innocence, unlike a lot of the others Linus was able to hold up a good conversation without talking about work, a feat which even to this day Danny found he sometimes had some trouble with.

The phone rang and both heads shot up. John had promised to call them today. Exactly 3 months ago, I week after the shooting, the doctors had declared that Linus was in a coma, and whilst he was breathing for himself, and many of his organs seemed to be working they were unsure if he would ever wake up. Before Danny had arrived in Chicago for Bobby and Annie's funeral the lawyer had Linus write up a quick will. John had told Danny that the Caldwells had left some money to Stella and everything else went to Linus. Linus had left everything to Stella, including any decisions about what to do if something should happen to him.

Today, the official waiting period for coma patients ended and Stella had to decide whether to pull the plug. After a quick reassuring smile from Tess, Danny lifted the phone to his ear.

"Danny?" John asked through the ear piece.

"Yes, what's happening?"

"The doctors want to take him off," John told him "all his organs are still working, and he's not brain dead, but they don't think he has much chance of ever coming back."

"You're taking him off." Danny could almost feel his heart drop, the feeling of guilty still as strong as it had been that day in the hospital. Tears welled in Tess' eyes, but she wiped them clear before they could fall.

"No. Stella and his Grandfather wouldn't allow it." John reassured him quickly, "Linus will be moved to a smaller hospital, whilst the chances of him waking up again are small Stella is adamant that he can. They want to talk to her again in two years, they say if he's still out then only a miracle will bring him back."

"Alright," Danny nodded slowly "Thank you, I'll call Rusty, and Saul, they'll want to know"

"Great," John stopped "You know that none of this is your fault don't you. Linus has never been peer pressured into anything in his life. This isn't any of your faults."

"Thank you for calling." After a quick goodbye Danny hung up the phone. "They aren't going to unplug him." He assured his wife, but it did nothing to stop to tears which were now freely making their way down her face.

"He still has a chance?" She asked quietly.

Danny did not answer her he knew life had too get back to normal. They had all been waiting for news for too long, and who knew how much longer they would be waiting. Most of the others had moved on, they hadn't forgotten or anything, they just managed to not dwell on it as much. The Malloys had opened another branch of their garage. Reuben was looking into opening a new casino. Saul had gone back to his comfortable retirement with Gloria, who as far as Danny knew, still didn't know about Saul's past. Yen had gotten back into the circus and was now part of Cirque Du Soleil. Livingston bought a house in Detroit and was working with the police, or FBI or something of the sort. Basher had done a few small jobs with random crews across the country. Frank had continued with his chain of manicure and pedicure salons including opening a few in some of Rusty's hotels, which he stubbornly refused to sell, no matter how many times he was told they'd do better without him. Even John and his team had managed to gain some sort of normalcy. Lyle entered some 'WIRED' competition, Left-Ear moved off to Spain to do something with shoes, and Rob was in jail again for setting another 'longest police chase' record. John was spending time in Chicago wanting to spend time with Stella. Charlie hadn't run another job, but he and Stella announced their engagement, and were holding off the wedding for a while in the hopes that Linus would be there.

Realising that just sitting at home with Tess wasn't helping him, Danny wondered if he could get some of the guys together for a job. It would have to be small, if too many of the guys were there the silence that should have been filled with Linus' incessant questions would be too obvious. Or he could call Rusty and they'd find some new guys. Hadn't he read something in the paper about an art collection being moved a week or two ago? Knowing that Tess kept all the old papers in a neat pile in the back storage of the house he went looking for his article.

The End

Authors Note:

REVIEW!!!!

Please tell me what you think.

Wow that took a while, can't believe it's over. Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, in my defence schools been crazy and my laptop died (however they both happened in the last month so it's not much defence)

I have not decided whether or not to write a sequel yet. I have ideas but if I do I want to have it Written before I start posting so I don't have huge gaps between posts like I did in this one.