serendipity - rusty ryan x oc

a hell of a lot more complicated

Rusty, Linus, and Lulee watch as Saul and the Malloy twins walk by, being all dressed up. Lulee's never seen the twins dress up that much so she watches them as they pass.

"Okay, tell me about Benedict," Rusty says once the three walk by. Lulee turns from the twins to Rusty, whose tattoo that she loves, is seen clearly from sitting next to him. She looks at it for a moment then up to Linus, who is sitting on the other side of Rusty.

"That guy's a machine," Linus says. "He arrives at the Bellagio every day at 2 pm, same car, same driver. He remembers every valet's name on the way in. Not bad for a guy worth three quarters of a billion. Offices are upstairs. He works hard, hits the lobby floor at 7 on the nose. Spends three minutes on the floor with his casino manager."

"What do they talk about?" Rusty asks. The three get up and walk to where Benedict will be showing up in a minute or so.

"All business. Benedict likes to know what's going on in his casinos, likes to be in control. There's rarely an incident he doesn't know about or handle personally. Spends a few minutes glad handing the high rollers. He's fluent in Spanish, German, and Italian, and he's taking Japanese lessons. He's gettin pretty good at it. He's out by 7:30 when an assistant hands him a black portfolio. Contents: the day's take and new security codes. Then he heads to the restaurant." Lulee sees Benedict walk towards them when Linus said he would. "Like I said, a machine."

"That portfolio contains the codes to all the cage doors?" Rusty asks. Linus hums.

"And two minutes after they've been changed, he's got 'em in his hand," Linus says. "I tell you, you guys really can pick 'em. This guy is as smart as he is ruthless. The last guy they caught cheating in here, he not only sent him up for ten years, but he had the bank seize his house, and then he bankrupted-"

"His brother in law's tractor dealership," the three say at the same time.

"I heard," Rusty says.

"He doesn't just take out your knees. The guy goes after your livelihood and the livelihood of anybody you ever met," Linus states. Lulee nods while smoothing her dress.

"You scared?" Rusty asks.

"You suicidal?" Linus retortes as Rusty takes a bite of his shrimp.

"Always," Lulee says, making the two men turn to her. "I'm kidding, only in the mornings."

"Now what?" Rusty asks.

"Now comes a girl," Linus turns to a staircase. "She comes down after him if they're in a snit."

"Where's she come from?" Rusty asks.

"Museum up there. She's a curator," Linus answers. "Oh, here she is. This is just the best part of my day." Lulee's jaw drops slightly when she sees the lady. She turns to Rusty, who has a similar reaction. Rusty takes hold of Lulee's waist and turns them around so they are facing away from the lady. "I still don't know if we can use her yet. Actually, I haven't even caught her name." Rusty turns back around, looking at the lady walking away as Lulee does the same, both of their jaws slightly clenched.

"Tess," Lulee says, staring at her as Rusty looks down, squeezing the side of Lulee.

"Huh?" Linus asks. Both Rusty and Lulee turn around to face Linus.

"Her name is Tess," Lulee says to Linus as she notices Rusty's tie is off center so she fixes it. "And she just made things a hell of a lot more complicated." She turns to Linus and fixes his collar as it's poking up. Rusty holds her waist tighter after that. She turns to him and sees his jaw clenched, more than before. "Go follow her, get whatever information you can." Lulee tells Linus, who nods. "Be safe." He nods again and walks off. Lulee turns to Rusty once Linus leaves. "Do you think he knows?"

"Of course he knows," Rusty says, angry. "He's probably doing this because of her." Lulee nods.

"Yeah," She sighs, looking down. When she looks back up, she sees Rusty looking after Tess. "Hey, calm down." She takes his face in her hands, making him look at her. "We'll just talk to him when we get back." Rusty's tongue pokes the side of his cheek and nods. Lulee removes her hands from his face and grabs his left hand, tracing his tattoos. Rusty starts to calm down and he puts his hands on her waist, pulling her into him and giving her a kiss on her forehead. "If you got a single piece of shrimp on my dress, I will make sure you can never have sex again." Rusty lets out a low chuckle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We have to talk," Rusty says to Danny as he and Lulee walk up to him.

"Okay," Danny says.

"Now," Rusty says. Danny gives Lulee a look as Rusty walks off. Lulee just follows Rusty and Danny follows her. "Tell me this is not about her, or I- we are walking." Rusty says once Danny catches up to him and Lulee. "We are walking off this job right now."

"Woah, don't speak for me," Lulee says to Rusty.

"I don't need you doing this job and her possibly ruining it all and putting you in danger," Rusty says to Lulee.

"I know how to handle myself, Rust."

"Who?" Danny cuts in.

"Tess. Terry Benedict. Tell me this is not about screwing the guy that's screwing your wife," Rusty says as the three make it out of the warehouse and stop walking.

"Ex-wife," Danny clarifies.

"Tell me."

"It's not about that," Danny says, trying to walk back inside but stops when he knows his two friends don't buy it. "It's not entirely about that." Rusty turns away from Danny, upset. "Russ, do you remember when the three of us first got into this business? We said we were gonna play the game like-"

"We had nothing to lose," they all say together.

"Well, I lost something," Danny says. "I lost someone. That's why I'm here." Rusty exhales then rubs his hand over his chin, something he does when thinking.

"Okay, here's the problem," Rusty turns to face Danny. "Now we're stealing two things. And when push comes to shove, if you can't have both, which are you gonna choose? And remember, Tess does not split 12 ways." Rusty motions to everyone in the warehouse.

"If everything goes to plan, then I won't be the one that has to make that choice," Danny says. "Besides, I should be asking you that same exact question." Lulee raises her eyebrows at that. Rusty just gives Danny a look. "How'd she look?" Danny turns to Lulee, who isn't nearly as mad as Rusty

"She looked good," Lulee nods as Rusty crosses his arms. She starts mentally preparing for the rant Rusty will tell her later that night.