Chapter Three

Telling Her

Rusty kissed his wife on the forehead, then pushed himself out of the bed to answer the door. Lily had fallen asleep under his arm, so he wrapped her up in blankets before he got up, then threw on his pants on his way to the door. They had somehow gotten tossed all the way across the room, into the little living area – also decked out in red and gold – where a few couches and a television were set up. Rusty smiled, shaking his head. Reuben's guest room was nicer than a hotel room.

He turned the handle with one hand, the other brushing through his already mussed hair.

Danny was standing on the other end, just like Rusty had suspected. His hands were shoved into his pockets, his chin resting on his chest as he looked at Rusty through his brows. It was evident there was a smirk on his face. "You two coming to the meeting or what?"

"What time is it?" Rusty yawned, craning his neck around for a clock.

"It's seven in the morning."

Amazed so much time had past during their lovemaking, Rusty tried to hide it best he could. "Fuck that jetlag, man. Lily's still asleep. Want me to wake her?"

Danny shook his head, waving it off. "It can wait. I have a feeling the less irritable she is, the less likely we're in for a fight today."

"She agreed to go through with this," Rusty informed, stepped into the room falling back into one of the couches and letting himself sink into the cushions. As relaxed as sex always made him feel the next day, right afterwards was always filled with tight muscles and built up, unrelieved tension.

Danny walked in, rubbernecking his way into the room to judge if he presence was acceptable or not. "Oh, she did, did she?"

"Danny, Lily's not stupid, okay? She has her doubts, but I did too when Reuben first approached me. She was just protecting all her bases… all our bases."

"Yeah, well all my bases are unprotected at the moment."

"You should really tell her about it, Danny. She's your daughter."

"Exactly. My first-born, very, very emotional daughter likes to hit and throw things."

"She's going to find out eventually."

Danny tilted his head back, sighing towards the ceiling. "Hopefully, I'll be somewhere safe with no sharp instruments when that happens."

"You're going to have to tell her, Danny. Just get it over with."

"Are you going to hold her back?"

Rusty rolled his head on his neck. "If we're all meeting downstairs, it's going to come out. You want her to get mad at you here, in private with just me, you, and her? Or do you want her to go ape shit in front of everyone?"

Danny paused, bringing a finger to his chin like he was in serious thought. "Are you going to hold her back?"

"Come on, Danny."

"More people, more witnesses…"

"The more people, the more she might hate you."

Rusty heard the slightest hint of a movement coming from the bedroom, and he motioned for Danny to wait a second while he went to check it out. Seconds later, he came back with Lily in tow, wearing her usual sleepwear of a tank top and a pair of Rusty's boxers. "Tell her, Daniel," Rusty said when he reentered the room.

"Tell me what?" Lily followed up, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"To get your ass moving. The rest of the guys are waiting in the kitchen."

Rusty shot Danny a look, shaking his head in disapproval. Lily watched, confused. "Sometimes, I feel like I'm walking in on something with you two."

Danny looked his daughter up and down, then shifted his gaze to Rusty. "Same, here, pumpkin. Same here."

Danny watched as Rusty led Lily into the kitchen by her hand, pulling out a chair for her at the end of the large, oak table and standing protectively behind her. Rusty was shooting daggers with his gaze, pausing only to lean down and whisper something into his wife's ear, and then starting with his disapproving looks again. Tess was closer to him, seated to his left, giving him the same looks.

He stood, pacing in front of all of them making it look like he was thinking about where to start. Saul was next to Tess, a friendly hand on her shoulder. Frank was next to him, with Virgil and Turk next to him. Lining the table across from Tess was Basher, Yen, Livingston, Frank, and Linus. Reuben was somewhere in the kitchen behind him, preparing a morning cocktail to go along with his Cuban.

"Welcome back, gentlemen," Danny started, smiling and clasping his hands together. "And ladies," he added, addressing Lily and Tess. "As Rusty's probably informed you already, we have a little project we're working on. You should have also been informed what this little project is about. Reuben?"

Reuben inhaled on his cigar, let it ruminate in his mouth before exhaling. "What? I already told ya, we're going to Fantasy Island to make some big cash off some whales who I don't particularly know and/or like."

Lily inched forward in her chair. "You don't particularly know these people? Then how'd you get an invite?"

Danny's chin fell to his chest, his eyes and his shoulders falling downward. He hadn't wanted that question to come out so soon. Reuben's gaze darted to Danny. "You didn't tell her."

Lily bit on her lower lip, a growl forming deep in her throat. As her hands formed into fists on the table, she threw herself backwards in the chair. Rusty's hands were instantly on her shoulders, both supporting her and holding her back. "Tell me what?" she asked. "All fucking day yesterday and this morning I hear you and Rusty whispering about telling me. So tell me!"

"Lil," Danny paused. He had told Rusty that he had wanted to tell her in front of everyone, but he had really hoped it wasn't going to come up. Now that it had, he wanted to go back to Rusty had suggested before. Tell her alone. To save himself the embarrassment, to save her large amounts of hatred. Well, the latter was something he was hopeful for again. He knew she was going to hate him for a while, but… well, he once thought it might have been worth it. Now, watching her staring at him with the intensity of a raging bull, he wasn't so sure.

He just couldn't bear the heartache he knew he was about to inflict.

He looked to Reuben, who he knew she wouldn't get mad at. Maybe he could soften the blow. Reuben locked eyes with him, and Danny jerked his head towards Lily.

"Darling," Reuben started, his voice low and clearly upset, "it was your mother who called me."

Danny flinched then. He half expected Lily to leap across the table and attack him like a wild jaguar. Then again, he also half expected her to pull a chainsaw from underneath the table and chop him up into little pieces and feed him to the goldfish in Reuben's garden pond, so maybe his view of his daughter was a little skewed by the emotions connected to both of them by the word "mother".

"My mother?" Danny flinched again, but was surprised seconds later when he realized her words were calm. Somber, even.

"She called me and invited me. She is a guest there, herself," Reuben explained.

"So she was this friend of a friend of yours." Reuben nodded. "A so your friend would be my father. But that's funny to me, because my father hadn't said anything about being friends with my mother. That would imply talking to her and…." She almost laughed as she trailed off. "She's the reliable source?"

Reuben shrugged. "Reliable as any one of us could be, darling."

At that, she did laugh. Shaking her head and smiling, Lily pushed herself out from the table and stood. Rusty's hands slid from her shoulders down her arms until they fell back to his sides, unsure of what to do. Lily pushed her palms into the air, palms out. "Excuse me," she muttered, turning and heading out of the kitchen.

Rusty puffed out his cheeks and blew out all the air he was holding there, letting his head fall back on his shoulders. Instinctively, he turned to follow her, but noticed that no one else was. He turned his head to survey the rest of the room, seeing the stares of confusion on all the others except for Danny and Reuben. He locked eyes with Danny, pointing to him. "You're coming with me."

Danny looked around the rest of the room. "I don't wan…"

"Danny."

"But what about the meeting?"

"Danny!" he demanded again. "See, I foresaw this little incident. That's why I called ahead and explained everything, down to every last detail, to Linus." He turned to Linus, who sat up a little straighter when he heard his name. "You want a bigger part in things, kid? Run the meeting."

Linus smiled, then fought it – unsure of what was appropriate in the situation. He opened his mouth to ask Rusty a question, but Rusty was already ushering Danny out of the kitchen in a hurry.

The rest of them turned back to Reuben, who puffed away on his cigar. "What? So she has mommy issues. Who doesn't?"