Flip by InSilva

Disclaimer: I didn't create any O11 characters.

Summary: Sharing dark times is part of the whole DannyandRusty deal. Just that not everybody signed up to that deal. Warnings for violence and death. One-shot.

A/N: this has been around for a while. Think it was 23 December 2008. Never let it be said I don't know how to be seasonally inappropriate. Thought I'd post it now. No real reason why now, Maia. Just sometimes the posting comes after the sharing and sometimes the timedistance is greater than others.

There was love, there was forgiveness, there was neverblame. But there was also pain and fear and all he felt was the failure.

Earlier...

It wasn't like it was planned. It wasn't as if they'd shared Christmas together and said what a great idea it would be to go away on vacation in the New Year. And it wasn't even anything remotely connected to insecurities or jealousies or need. Tess had never been to Milan. And at the same time that Danny had discovered this fact, Rusty had called Danny and the boredom had leaked over the phone and suddenly there was a weekend away for three.

"You are not to pull any jobs," Tess warned fiercely as they stood at the airport gate waiting for takeoff.

Rusty had grinned and Danny had smirked and Tess had shaken her head at the pair of them and then looked at Danny with worry and Danny had not had the heart to keep up any pretence.

"No jobs, Tess. I promise. Just sun and blue skies."

"And shopping," she said in a small voice.

"And gelati," Rusty reminded him.

"And whatever," Danny promised. "Let's just enjoy ourselves."

They had. There had been coffee and cakes and gelati and shopping and a trip up to the lakes and all had been well and wonderful. And now, they were falling back through the doors of the five star high rise hotel and up in the lifts and back to the two rooms opposite each other.

"La Scala," Danny said to Tess as the three of them walked down the corridor.

She looked at him uncomprehendingly and then her eyes widened.

"You've got tickets?" she gasped.

"Yeah. La Traviata."

"Oh!" she threw her arms around him and totally missed the conversation going on behind her back.

Just the two tickets, right?

You seriously think I'm going to take you along to heckle?

Just checking.

And Tess sighed with happiness and hugged Danny fiercely again and her coat sleeve caught an ornamental jug on a small table.

Danny's arms were full of Tess and Rusty was just the wrong side of them to do anything about it. The three of them watched it fall and break and there was silence.

"No!" Tess was horrified. "Oh, Danny! Is it valuable?"

Rusty picked up the three large pieces of jug. "It's not valuable, Tess."

"Are you sure?" she asked and Danny and Rusty exchanged amused glances.

"I'm sure, Tess," he said neutrally and before she could feel embarrassed, he went on, "Tell you what. It's a clean break. I'll sort it out while you're at the opera. Make it like new."

"Thank you." Heartfelt.

Your evening sounds such fun.

Funny, that's what I was thinking about yours.

As Tess and Danny descended in the elevator, the breakage was still on her mind.

"Where's Rusty going to find a shop open that sells glue?"

Danny kissed her forehead. "I don't think he'll be buying glue."

"He's going to break in to a shop and steal it?"

"I don't think he'll be doing that either," Danny kissed her again. "C'mon. Let's go and be cultured."

The rooms were generous in size with closet space aplenty and marble bathrooms and enormous beds and comfy chairs. There was never any point in half-measures when there was never any point in half-measures.

Rusty sat on the bed and stared at the plasma and flicked the channel over again as he took another mouthful of steak. Pasta had been the obvious choice but he had been feeling contrary. Mmm. Seasoning. He added salt and black pepper and went back to trying to work out the relationships between the families in "Un posto al sole". It had to be easier than following the soccer.

The glue had been acquired from a receptionist and where she had acquired it from, Rusty was unsure. He'd kissed her hand as she'd passed it over and she had trembled. Literally trembled.

He was still thinking about that and smiling as he repaired the jug. He left it setting and turned his attention to the zabaglione. He should have gone for the tiramisu. He knew he should have. He sighed then brightened. Because there was never any law against two desserts.

It was gone midnight by the time Danny and Tess returned, and Rusty heard the giggling long before the knock on his door.

"Oh, Rusty, it was amazing!" Tess's eyes were shining as he opened the door and he smiled at her pleasure and at Danny's delight in it.

Tess dropped her purse on the chair where Rusty's jacket was hanging and Danny's jacket followed, draped on top and they hung together as Rusty grinned at them.

"Miss us?" Danny asked.

"Did you miss me?"

"Only when there was a scenery malfunction."

Needed to share the moment?

Always.

"You fixed the jug!" Tess said delightedly, spotting it.

"Yeah. But best leave it till morning," he warned as she went to pick it up. "Still drying."

"Thank you," she beamed and he waved her thanks away.

"You want a nightcap?" Rusty opened up the minibar and then swore mildly.

"Only two bottles of whisky," Danny realised. "I'll go grab one from ours."

He walked out of the door and Rusty gave Tess his last smile of contentment and she sat on the edge of the bed radiating happiness for the last time.

There was an inarticulate shout from outside, from far away and Danny was back through the door and throwing the locks and something was wrong, something was hideously wrong because Danny was pale and his eyes were…

Rusty shot forward and Tess got to her feet and Danny reached out and took both their arms and walked with them into the centre of the room even as the noises in the corridor grew louder.

"Hussain's men," he said to Rusty and Rusty's face went the colour of Danny's.

We could-

Rusty was turning and looking at the windows that Danny already knew wouldn't open because of the air conditioning system.

We could-

And there was only the one exit, only the door Danny had come through but they could try, they had to try-

Danny squeezed his arm.

We can't.

And Rusty realised why and his face went even paler.

Promise me, Rusty. Promise me.

"Let it be me," he said, low and urgently.

"They made me already," Danny fired back. There's no time. Promise me.

And Danny's eyes were on his, intense and demanding and asking for the world and Rusty's face screwed up with anguish and he forced it off his face and contained it within his eyes and with an unsteady intake of breath, he nodded.

Immediately, Danny turned to Tess.

"Tess, I love you and I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry and there's no time, there's no time for anything but you have to promise me you will do what Rusty says."

She looked at him with no understanding but she could hear the serious and the fear and she nodded without knowing what she was promising and he kissed her briefly and passionately. Then he was back to Rusty and there was so much to say and no time at all because now the noises were right outside the door. And all he had time to do as he propelled them back towards the closet with the louvre doors, as he opened the door and pushed Tess inside first, was to grab Rusty and kiss him fiercely and finally and just for a moment.

"Wedding ring," Rusty said when they broke and Danny yanked it free and thrust it on Rusty's finger.

Then he shut the closet door and span on his heel even as the door to the room flew open and the end of the world arrived.

Frightened and clueless and cowed into silence by a finger on her lips and dragged down to the floor of the closet, sitting beneath the handful of suits and shirts and fighting the urge to scream that was running through her for no reason and every reason. Her eyes were trying to see through the restricted view of the doors and all she could see with complete clarity was Rusty's face beside her, rays of light illuminating it and the stillness and the unblinking and the tangible terror just made the scream that bit closer to being realised.

Hussain was an urbane man whose demeanour spoke of a marriage of cultures, old and new. The demeanour of his three bodyguards, on the other hand, had nothing to do with culture and everything to do with a distinct lack of civilisation.

"Well, well. What a very great pleasure to run into you, sir. A very great pleasure indeed."

Danny smiled at him. "Very Sidney Greenstreet."

There was a quizzical look.

"Is that supposed to be funny? Is that a reference to my girth? Because a man could be offended, sir."

"No offence intended," Danny assured him. "I just liked the delivery."

Hussain nodded thoughtfully. "I am glad seeing me again finds you light of spirits and jocular. The last time we met, you left me in quite the reverse state, you know. You and your fair haired partner."

Danny let anger flood his face.

"He set me up, didn't he? He told you where to find me. Bastard."

Hussain's eyes narrowed. "Are you no longer friends?"

"He dropped off my Christmas card list when he double-crossed me," Danny replied harshly. "Not that it was much loss. I was always the brains of the outfit. He was more of a sheep. Believe me, if it had been left up to him, you'd still have your emeralds."

There was a pause as Hussain considered the information. And then he gave a hearty laugh and shrugged.

"It's immaterial, my little thief. Because he is not here and you are. And there is castigation to be had."

He produced a fat Havana and a cigar cutter and neatly trimmed the end off before lighting it. He strolled in front of Danny and blew a cloud of cigar smoke into his face.

"I have a plane to catch in an hour. How do you think I should spend the time till then?"

Danny stared at him. "I feel I should point out it's a no smoking room."

Hussain's eyes widened in apology. "I prostrate myself."

Fingers were clicked and Danny's arms were restrained.

"Please forgive me, my little thief." He stubbed the cigar out on Danny's cheek and with difficulty, Danny controlled the reaction. Hussain smiled pleasantly. "I did not mean to offend either."

Hussain. Hussain and three heavies. Hussain and three heavies and Danny. His stomach knotted. And the time limit did nothing to take the taste of fear and adrenaline away. It only took a second to kill. And time under torture lost meaning.

He closed his eyes. He should have been out there in the room with him, shoulder to shoulder. He should have been stood alongside him. Together. Together in all things, in all ways, always. Because sharing helped. Sharing was good. It got them through the pain. It wasn't going to be. It wasn't going to be. And he opened his eyes again and turned his head to see how the reason it wasn't going to be was holding up.

She was wide-eyed and terrified and that was to be expected. She was following the conversation outside and piecing together the story and at least she was doing as he asked, as Danny had asked her to do. And at least at the moment, it was all about the talk, it wasn't about the pain. But it was going to be.

He saw Hussain blow smoke at Danny and he gave a grim little half-smile at the no smoking line and then he saw where things were headed and he moved closer to Tess and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his hand to her mouth and putting his lips to her ear.

"Tess, it's not going to be pretty. Close your eyes for me, please."

For a second he thought she wasn't going to obey. And then she screwed them shut and he held her and he watched as the cigar left a little burn on Danny's cheek and he saw the no reaction from Danny and his fingers tightened on Tess and he gritted his teeth in anticipation.

"I have to say I am not prepared in the slightest for any entertainment. Not in the slightest." Hussain sounded disappointed. "I have nothing to hand and I will need to improvise. I am good at improvisation, though. Very good."

He waved a hand at the man standing by the door.

"For instance, Jerome here was on duty the night you relieved me of my gems. And when I found out the next day, I was so very furious. With you, with Jerome, with everything. I went a little crazy and that's really not good for my health. My doctor says to be calmer, take things easy. Recommends gardening. That's what I was doing when I found out. Open your mouth, Jerome."

Danny found himself staring at a man with half a tongue.

"Garden shears," Hussain explained. "What can I say? I was very cross."

It had been Jerome who had spotted him outside. Jerome who had let out an almighty roar. And really, Danny could understand that Jerome was never going to forget the face of one of the men who had been the reason he would never talk properly again.

There was an inappropriate peal of laughter from the corridor outside and Hussain pulled a face.

"I have to consider the neighbours. Let's find some music to listen to."

He switched on the radio and scanned the stations until he found a classical piece. He turned up the volume slightly until it provided background interference.

"Ah, Nibelungen," Hussain said fondly. "Let us just hear this section before we begin."

The music played.

She opened her eyes at the sound of Wagner and stared up at Rusty.

"They're going to hurt him," she breathed.

"Yes," he replied because there was no way to hide it.

"Stop them," she mouthed. "Oh, please, Rusty, stop them. Help him."

"I can't."

There was a pause and then she pulled back away from him angrily.

"You're a coward!" she accused and even though her voice was not loud, the words jumped through the air at him.

He did not blink and he did not hesitate. "Yes. Yes, I am."

There was another pause and then an exhalation of breath and realisation and when she spoke again, it was barely audible.

"No, you're not. It's me. It's me, isn't it? Danny made you promise to look after me. If I wasn't here, you'd be out there."

And he could say nothing because after all, it was true.

She laid a hand on his arm and there was pleading in her eyes and in the whisper.

"Please, Rusty. Please help him. Pretend that I'm not here. Do something."

"Not going to happen, Tess. You are here and in any case, what could I do? Our phones are over there on that chair. I have no gun. And I am never going to be able to overpower any of the muscle. We sit tight."

He reached up and removed one of his jackets, careful not to let the coathanger make a noise.

"Here," he said in her ear, "put this over your face when I tell you to and put your hands over your ears. In the meantime, don't look at the room. Look at me. You can't make a noise, Tess, not a sob nor a whimper nor a sigh because they will hear it. You can't be sick because they will smell it. You can't move. You stay invisible."

He draped the jacket over her knees and turned back to the room.

The passage drew to a close and Hussain sighed regretfully and checked his watch and smiled at Danny.

"He was a genius. Power and majesty and brilliance and death and inevitability."

"All that from that? Wonder he had time to score "Apocalypse Now"."

Hussain chuckled and then placed a finger on Danny's lips.

"You really do have a problem, my little thief, with the words that fall out of you. Mischief. Such mischief. You know what they did to the Norse god Loki to stop that?"

He did. He did. Danny didn't, he was almost sure, but he did. And his heart beat faster and faster.

"I just know you're going to tell me."

"They stitched his mouth up. Tight."

There was nothing to say. Nothing to say. Just the imagination to switch off and that was never going to happen.

"But I don't happen to have brought any cord and needle with me." Hussain sounded regretful. "But there is this…"

No. No. Fuck, no. Not… No.

"What is it?" Tess's eyes were on him. She was doing what he said.

Danny saw what Hussain was holding and he had time only to let out a shaky breath before he was forced to his knees and his head was held tightly and his jaw was prised open as Hussain applied the superglue liberally to his lips. Then his mouth was clamped shut and he had the sense to keep his tongue well out of the way as the instant bonding of skin to skin took place.

"What…Rusty…" Tess's voice was a notch higher and he realised he needed to tell her, to talk to her, because otherwise, she would stop doing as he said and start doing her own thing.

He crouched back down and put his hand over her mouth and looked her in the eyes.

"It's not permanent, Tess. They've…they've used glue on his mouth…" The glue that's here because I brought it here… "There are chemicals that can dissolve it. Wash it away."

He saw the pain in her eyes and he pressed his hand more tightly over her lips.

"Keep quiet, Tess. You must keep quiet."

She nodded eventually and even when the tears started, they were silent tears.

Wagner played on.

"Now we've stopped up your words, we must see about punishment. Something fitting. I'm in the mood for a little exercise myself. My doctor told me that was therapeutic too."

Danny was pulled upright. The unnatural closing of his mouth was making the adrenaline flood through him. He swallowed and his breathing grew shallower. There were no more words to say. The time for quips had passed. All he could do was think the comebacks.

"In my country, we believe in very direct and physical retribution," Hussain was saying and Danny would take the claim a shade more seriously if he didn't know for a fact that Hussain was born in Washington and educated at Harvard. "I feel I should share this aspect of my culture with you."

His fingers were around Danny's waist and undoing his belt and Danny's eyebrows were raised in spite of himself.

Hussain chuckled. "Nothing so crude, sir."

He pulled the belt free and Danny felt the hands holding him shift their grip till his arms were forced out in front of him. Hussain loosened Danny's tie and used it to bind his wrists together.

"Nice and tightly," Hussain praised himself. "Very good."

The belt was threaded through the material and then Hussain pointed at the closet and Danny's heart sank. It was all going to be over. Rusty and Tess would be discovered and Hussain would savour the realisation that Danny had been lying through his teeth.

It wasn't about the closet.

There was a metal bar above the closet for suits to hang. And two of Hussain's men strung him up by the wrists even as Jerome handed Hussain his own studded belt without being asked. He felt his shirt ripped open and his back exposed and… Rusty… and Rusty was there.

"Tess. Hide."

She burrowed under the jacket and she pressed her hands to her ears and he stood up, feeling the ache in the muscles he hadn't been using and he stood the other side of the door, facing Danny, looking at Danny's face, looking him straight in the eyes. And even though Danny couldn't see him, even though Danny couldn't say a word, Danny could sense him and Danny could hear him.

"I'm here," he whispered, hidden by the music and he saw the relief in Danny's eyes. "I'm with you. I'm staying with you. Tess isn't watching. I'm keeping her safe. I'm with you. You're not on your own. You're never on your own."

Neither of them needed to watch Hussain to know what was coming.

"I'm here," he whispered as the first lash bit.

The studs tore in to his flesh. And the lashes were relentless. He lost count. He clenched his teeth together and he tried so hard not to make a sound but the moan built in his throat and it emerged, distorted by the fact that he couldn't open his mouth. He tried to keep the pain out of his face for Rusty's sake but it was impossible.

But Rusty was there. Tess was safe and Rusty was there.

"You're OK, Danny, you're OK. We're gonna get through this. This is only a whipping. It's all about the clock. And he likes talking. He loves talking. He's going to use up time with the words and that's good, that's always good, we like it when they talk, when they're busy talking, they can't be busy hurting. It's good that he's a talker. You're doing fine, Danny, you're doing fine. I'm here. You're not on your own. You're never on your own. I'm here."

The lashes stopped eventually. When Danny was hanging from his bonds and there was no stifling the moans and there was no hiding the pain and the blood was running down his back and his head was lolling on his shoulders.

Hussain walked forward and semi-conscious as he was, Danny felt Rusty take a step back and toward Tess and he loved him for it. Hussain's hand was wrapped in Danny's hair.

"Well, that's warmed me up nicely, my little thief. I feel very much exercised. But I'm sorry to see that you are nearly passing out on me. I must remedy that."

As Hussain disappeared out of sight behind Danny, Rusty ghosted forward again. He had glanced at Tess who was still doing her best to block out sound and vision although the way she was shaking suggested that she had been less than successful.

Now he was back with Danny.

"You're doing great, Danny, just great. It's nothing we can't deal with and your mouth we can sort. You're doing fine and I'm here, I'm here with you-"

He was cut off as Danny's body arched in agony and the noise that he was trying to make sounded like an unedited scream of rawness. Tears were running down Danny's cheeks and Rusty's eyes were wild because he couldn't see, he couldn't see and he didn't understand.

And then Hussain came back into view, dusting off his fingers and dropping an empty salt pot to the floor.

The salt pot that…

"Rise and shine, sir," he encouraged. "There is more to do and time is of the essence."

Jerome loomed large, steak knife in hand and sawed his way through the leather. Danny collapsed to the ground and Rusty could see his back, flayed and bloody and the shredded skin and he pushed his fist into his mouth to bury the scream.

Somewhere, the Ride of the Valkyries was taking place.

Hussain tipped him over with his shoe and Danny stared up at his tormentor and could not keep the suffering from his face.

"Very good," Hussain approved. "I see the lesson from the old country can still produce results."

He prepared another cigar and blew smoke rings down at Danny.

"You used your clever mouth and your clever fingers to take away what was mine. I am so happy I have the opportunity to reverse that."

He looked up at his men.

"Bathroom."

Now it was worse. Now Danny wasn't there and he couldn't see and he couldn't help and he hated the thought of the bathroom because surely they would be forcing Danny's head under water and he wouldn't be able to gasp a breath before they were doing it again and…

His eyes shot to the door but Jerome was still standing sentinel. No hope of smuggling Tess out. No hope of intervening. No hope.

He turned back to Tess and pulled the jacket away and wrapped his arms round her and held her tightly and kissed her wet cheek and whispered words of comfort in her ear in spite of what he was thinking, in spite of the scream he couldn't voice. He felt her cling to him and the shaking starting and he stayed strong for Tess, for Danny, even though he wanted to shake himself.

She'd heard the sound of pain even though her hands had been pressed as hard as they could be over her ears. The sound of Danny in pain. The sound of Danny helpless and hurting. The sound she could do nothing about.

And when Rusty held her, her fingers dug into his arms and she heard him saying words to reassure and she shook because the reassurance wasn't even close to reassuring.

"What did they do to him?" she whispered and he swallowed hard.

"They whipped him, Tess," and the words were broken. "His back's a mess. But it'll heal. It'll heal."

He registered the bathroom and he guessed he was going to be going swimming. Focus, he told himself. Focus. Because back in the other room there was Tess and there was Rusty and Rusty would be with him. Rusty was here.

Smoke was blown in his face once more and he was vaguely aware that the bath was not being run and that instead, he was sat beside the toilet bowl.

They gonna flush your head?

He heard the amusement and it sustained him. Even when there was more smoke. Even when hands were holding him. Even when Hussain crouched down beside him and held his still bound wrists and grinned at him.

And then it happened. Danny's voice. Danny's scream. And without thinking, he thrust his fingers into Tess's mouth and told her to bite down hard and he told her to close her eyes and cover her ears and all the time, his own scream was resonating through him. Because what could have happened that Danny had ripped open his mouth to make that noise. And the noise itself. And worse, worse…

"Please. No…"

Danny. Hopeless. Begging. In a way he had never heard him beg (apart from…) and never thought he would. Not for himself. Never for himself.

And then the scream again. And again. And again. And he was going out of his mind.

Danny…Danny…

The screaming died down into a whimper and there was the sound of a toilet being flushed and the whimper grew into a full blown sob and then they dragged Danny back into the room.

Danny's mouth was split and torn and bleeding and absolutely not what Rusty was looking at. He was looking at two hands that no longer had fingers or thumbs. He was looking at the ten bloody stumps. He was looking at irreparable ruin. For a moment, he thought he might faint. For a moment, he thought he might die.

The vomit filled his mouth in a sudden rush and he clamped his jaws together and forced himself to swallow.

He sat in a haze, holding Tess, pulling his fingers from her mouth, burying her face into his chest, stopping her seeing, watching Hussain cleaning his cigar cutter and for a moment, he felt the rage of the beserker fill him and then Tess trembled again under his hands and he remembered his promise.

"So, my little thief. You will not be so quick, I think, to spin a web of words or to stick your hands into another's possessions."

Hussain checked his watch again.

"Time to go."

They dropped Danny on the floor like a garbage sack and followed Hussain out of the door. Rusty was standing now, ready to push the door open, ready to rush out, ready to get across to Danny as quickly as he could.

Jerome hung back. He was the only one left in the room. He circled Danny and he smiled and reached down and with the steak knife - the steak knife -he was still holding and sliced Danny's throat. Then he gave a hiss of pleasure and dropped the knife and left.

Danny's eyes were wide and his palms were trying to push the flaps of skin back together and his mouth was opening and closing and there was nothing coming out and it was seconds of agony until the door shut behind Jerome.

Then Rusty burst out of the closet and he sprinted to Danny and he held him in his arms.

"I'm here, I'm here," he whispered even as the blood flooded everywhere and it had to be the carotid and the blood was slicking everything and he couldn't stop it, he couldn't stop it. But there was Tess and Tess could get to a phone and she could call-

Tess's scream was earsplitting and even as it left her mouth, even as he saw the fear in Danny's eyes, he knew that he had failed. Failed Danny. Failed them. Failed himself.

Because the door was opening again and Hussain and his men were there and they were looking at Tess, dropped down to her knees beside Danny and they were looking at him, clutching Danny with desperation.

Hussain nudged the steak knife with his foot.

"Jerome, Jerome…" he sighed with mock-reproof.

Jerome looked unrepentant.

"So, my little blond thief," Hussain beamed. "And who is this? Your good lady?"

"She's not…" Rusty said quickly and then stopped because she was. She was Danny's and that made her his. And the blood was flowing over his hands and Danny's lifeforce was draining out over his fingers and the pain of what was to come in Danny's eyes was the last thing of Danny he would see.

And then Danny was gone and his face crumpled and he bent down over him and rained kisses and tears and apologies down against the warm skin.

Jerome reached down and grabbed his left hand and the wedding band was prominent, drenched in red but visible.

"Your good lady wife," Hussain nodded. "I must catch a later plane."

And failure that he would never forgive screamed through him.