Chapter Three

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree

Part One

The large aviator sunglasses not only shielded her eyes from the sun, but from Rusty's view. He strutted down the corridor with his big bag over one shoulder and a cup of coffee in his hand. That was Rusty to a "T". If he didn't have coffee, it was probably some sort of food. That man always has something in his mouth, Lily thought to herself as she leaned against the wall. Her arms were crossed, and her feet crossed at the ankles. To anyone else, it seemed like the perfect nonchalance position. To Lily, it was a cover up. She was silently screaming inside. But only inside. The inside didn't matter for now.

As he got closer, she noticed that he still had that certain rhythm in his step. She always kidded him that it seemed like he had his own theme music he was walking to. He would laugh and change the subject. Now, it just seemed like his walk was filled with arrogance. Especially with his perfectly tailored suit hanging just the right way off of him. "What an ass," she found herself saying out loud, even though it was meant to be kept private.

"Excuse me?" he asked, tilting his own sunglasses down in an attempt to look over the top of the rims.

"I said… oh, who gives a shit…" she shrugged, pointing him towards the direction where she was parked while simultaneously walking in that direction. Virgil was supposed to be picking him up, but had gotten lost somewhere in the city. Just her luck.

"Still ever the lady, I see."

She stopped in her tracks, and pivoted to confront him. When she turned, she saw that he had a smirk on his face that was just waiting for a comeback. Lily wouldn't give him the satisfaction. "I'm too tired to fight with you right now, Rusty. Can we just go, please? We have to go find Virgil – God knows where he is – then we have to come back here to meet Saul, and then we need to wait for Frank whose plane doesn't land until two hours later. Jesus, you guys can con people like Terry Benedict and Willy Bank, but you can't even coordinate a flight schedule so you could arrive at about the same time…" Lily took off her sunglasses and rubbed her eyes, a migraine setting in an acute spot between her eyebrows and the bridge of her nose. "Today is just going to be a really long day, and I'd rather not spend it fighting with you." She made the mistake of looking at him without the aviators, and he was abruptly plunged into her world of physical and mental fatigue.

The smirk vanished, and he saw how wiped out she really was.

"Are you okay?" he asked, hoisting his bag a little higher to make it look like the strain on his face was from its weight and not the shock. Her eyes, usually full of so much emotion, held nothing. When she looked at him, it was more of a blank stare. Like she was looking past him, instead of at him. The color was fading, a foggy gray swirling around empty, black pools. There was no emotion, no thought. She blinked, covered her eyes back up, and ran a shaking hand threw her hair.

"I'm fine. I just haven't slept well in the past couple days, is all. I've been trying like hell to figure out every last detail of this job for you guys so you would be informed for when Dad comes tomorrow, but the fucking thing just keeps being a bitch."

He had forgotten how she used to cuss when she was irritated, and it amused him now just as it had amused him then. Not that he was laughing at her pain, it was just that she was a small girl. To see, and hear, such vulgar words come out of her mouth was shocking at first. Then, it was just funny.

Rusty nodded, trying to express that he felt her pain. "Danny's not here?"

"No, he called me this morning. Tess and Izzy were supposed to come, but Isadora got sick and he's stuck in "Father" mode right now," she sighed, leaning back against a wall. "You know, I came to a realization last night. No matter how hard I try, I'm not my dad. I tell him that everyday." Rusty knew when to talk and when to listen. This was the latter, so he cocked his head in an inquisitory manner. "He doesn't expect me to be just like him… but he wants me to be… but I'm not him. Or you, for that matter." She was looking at her shoes, shuffling her feet in an uncomfortable manner. "Why am I telling you? You don't care…"

"Hey! I care!"

She frowned at him, taking her turn to look over the top of her sunglasses. Only her glare cast a more eerie look. "You used to care, Rusty. It's different now."

"Lily, I may be scum to you, but I'm still a human. And, as a human, I tend to care. Especially when you look like death."

"I'm going to chose to ignore that last part," she sighed, continuing her walk to the car as he followed at her heels. Truthfully, his comment made her feel a little better. And technically, she did look like death. "Rusty Ryan, human scum…" she said to herself, but loud enough so he could hear, "It has a certain ring to it. Maybe you should get business cards made."