SN WIP - Cacophony

[out_there]

Cacophony

One of the things Dan loves about Casey is his lack of co-ordination. It's an odd thing to find endearing, but it's true. For a guy who voluntarily did gymnastics for years, Casey's a clutz. Every time he leaves the office, there's a cacophony of noise as Casey bumps into things or closes doors and drawers with a little too much force.

Maybe clutz is a bit harsh. It's not that Casey has no grace. Rather, it's just that Casey gets distracted. He walks across the studio, reading a report, and trips over his own feet. He gets caught up in a debate and walks into someone's desk. It's not even restricted to when Casey's standing.

Dan's watched Casey write his script and reach over for his cup of coffee, without looking up. Casey absent-mindedly knocks the cup over and then suddenly panics, grabbing at papers and standing up so fast his chair clatters to the floor. Then, there's Casey's mad dash for their box of tissues and his sheepish expression as he mops up the mess.

In a way, it's kind of sad, almost pathetic that a grown man can do this every few weeks and still forget to look when he reaches. Of course, it's also really damn funny.

Dan's always had an appreciation of slapstick humour. He remembers watching Charlie Chaplin and the Three Stooges as a kid, laughing with David and Sam, while their sister just rolled her eyes and muttered, "Boys!" As if your sense of humour was predetermined by your gender.

Judging by the laughter in the conference room over Casey's latest display of clumsiness, it's pretty clear that isn't true. Kim's laughing just as loudly as Dave, and Natalie and Jeremy are both snickering as they try to look sympathetic.

Casey latest disaster was caused by his watch being ten minutes slow. Realising he was late for the meeting, he came dashing through the door, but obviously miscalculated the width of the doorway. He banged his shoulder against the wall with a force that made the glass walls shudder, and made Dan thankful the glass in here was so thick. Of course, that sudden stop in momentum made Casey stumble and fall to his knees, somehow managing to head butt Dana as he did so, making them both yelp in pain. Sometimes, Dan thinks, Casey is a walking catastrophe.

Dan's laughing too hard to speak, but Jeremy gets his sniggers under control quickly. "Are you alright, Casey?" Casey just groans and nods his head, kneeling on the floor.

"Dana?" Natalie asks through her giggles.

"No, I'm not," Dana grins out and when she looks up, there are tears in her eyes. Rubbing the back of her head, Dana grimaces. "That really hurt, Casey."

"Come on." Natalie takes Dana by the arm and helps her to stand. "I'll get you some ice. Rundown's postponed for an hour," she announces to the amused crowd. "Jeremy, find some ice for Casey."

"Thanks," Casey says, touching his forehead gingerly. While Jeremy goes in search of ice, Dan walks Casey back to this office.

"You okay?" Dan asks as Casey sprawls on their couch.

Casey glares at him. "I'm in pain."

"Well, if you walk into a wall and then head butt your boss, you probably will be." Dan grins and pulls the armchair close to the couch. "Are you going to be okay?"

Casey scrunches his eyes and nods. "I'll be fine. But right now…?"

"Lots of pain?" Dan suggests.

"Big headache." Casey grimaces and closes his eyes.

Dan looks over at Casey's handwritten notes. "Your script finished?"

Casey shakes his head, and then stops with a groan. "Most of it."

"Do you want me to finish it?" Dan looks over it, spotting the missing features.

Casey sighs wearily. "Nah. I'll do it later."

"Sure," Dan says, and sits at the desk to work on his own script.

"But if this headache hasn't lifted in an hour, I'll take you up on that offer." Casey throws his legs over the end of the couch and lies down with an arm drawn over his eyes.

Dan takes that as his cue to go and review the tapes.

He takes the tapes from his desk, but when he gets to the editing room, Jeremy and Natalie are sitting on the couch. "Am I disturbing something?" he asks, popping his head around the doorway.

Jeremy shakes his head. "Not really."

Dan waves the tapes around and explains. "Just wanted to check the Dodgers game."

"Come on in," Natalie says, with a quick nod of her head. "I can't believe Casey's such a clutz."

Dan rolls his eyes. "He's not a clutz."

"Did you see that incredible display of clumsiness? Oh, wait," Natalie pauses dramatically, "I know you did. I heard you laughing."

"I'm not denying that he can be clumsy. I'm just saying that it's not an all-the-time thing." Dan shrugs and wonders how he got conned into defending Casey. Casey would say it's simply a case of 'no one hits my little brother but me'. Dan thinks it's probably just embarrassment by association. "He gets distracted."

Jeremy snorts. "That implies that there are times when he's graceful. I don't think I've witnessed that."

Natalie's mockery is far more direct. "When is Casey not clumsy?"

Dan lets out a long sigh as he thinks about it. "He plays squash."

Jeremy smirks. "That doesn't make him graceful."

"Yeah. Jeremy plays tennis, so that doesn't prove anything," Natalie crows, and then sees her boyfriend's frown. "Sorry, honey, but you're not graceful. You're sweet, and cute, and really smart, but not graceful." She smiles hopefully at him and he nods, resignedly. That's the best apology he's going to get.

"Casey's good at squash." Dan isn't willing to give up his point yet.

Natalie shrugs and shakes her head. "How would you know, Dan? You don't play squash."

Dan feels obliged to defend Casey's honour, such as it is. "I don't play squash, because if I played, I'd have to play Casey. I like to stick to games that I, well, have a chance of winning."

Jeremy's eyebrows rise skeptically. "He's good?"

"He's really good, which is why I gave up trying to play." It's true, too. Casey on the squash courts is totally different from Casey tripping over his own feet. Instead of worrying about witty comments or making sense of three different things at once, Casey completely focuses on that tiny little ball and the racquet in his hands. Long limbs that sometimes seem lanky, just seem long on the court. It's not a matter of height. The height difference between them is barely two inches. It's all about… stretch. Casey stretches for the ball, his legs straining that extra inch and his arm pulling back just far enough to thump the ball. "It's embarrassing to be so totally thrashed every single time."

Natalie sighs. "Okay, so he has moments of not being a total clutz."

"It makes sense. Otherwise, how would he work in live television?" Jeremy asks mildly with an amused gleam in his eyes.

Dan grins. "Good point." Natalie glares at Jeremy, and Dan can see that any minute now, those two are going to start fighting or making out. "And on that note, I'm going to go and make sure he hasn't tripped over anyone else."

He passes Kim on his way back to their office. With one hand on her hip, she rolls her eyes and says, "What a baby."

"Casey giving you trouble?"

"Nothing I can't handle," she replies with a smirk, sitting down at her desk.

Dan chuckles. There's very little Kim can't handle. "I'll deal with him." Walking into their office, he's glad to see that Casey is sitting up, typing on the laptop. It's resting on Casey's lap on the couch, but it's a vast improvement from the dying swan act. "I hear you're giving our mock-secretary a hard time."

Casey shrugs. "She said I was clumsy."

Dan shoots Casey a disbelieving stare. "You are clumsy."

"I can be graceful," Casey whines.

"When?" Dan flops into the armchair and Casey stares at him in annoyance.

"When I'm… being graceful," Casey finishes lamely.

Dan sniggers. "Sure, Casey. And, back to the real world, how much of that script have you done?"

"Just missing the Knicks," Casey replies distractedly, and then glares at Dan. "I can be graceful."

"When? I just want a little proof."

Casey turns back to the stats in front of him, and starts typing. "I can dance."

Dan stretches his neck to the side, thinking. "Not really."

Casey sits up tall, squinting at Dan. "Yes, I can."

Dan looks at his finished script, and says distractedly, "I've seen you. You're not terrible, but you're not great, Casey. You've got that whole uptight white guy vibe."

Casey scowls. "That's not true."

"Yeah, it is." Dan sits down, and looks over his own script. He's got time to check the tapes later. "You're no John Travolta."

Casey rolls his eyes and huffs. "Not disco dancing. I can ballroom dance."

That's more interesting than reading over familiar jokes. "Really?"

Casey nods and tilts his head to the side, counting out on his fingers. "I can waltz, I can tango. I have a mean Foxtrot. And," he adds, with a pleased expression, "My Quickstep has been considered impressive."

Dan chortled. "And amusing, when you refer to it as your Quickstep."

"You've seen me dance," Casey says, scowling at Dan.

Dan snorts. "When? How many places do we go together that involve ballroom dancing?"

Casey stares at him as if it's obvious. "My wedding reception?"

Dan thinks about it. He remembers more about the actual wedding than the reception. "Was that before or after the speeches that ate a year of my life?"

"After."

"In that case, I think I missed it."

"How did you miss it?"

"I spent most of my time out the back, necking with one of the bridesmaids. Dan grins at the memory and Casey just rolls his eyes.

"I can dance."

"Sure you can, Casey."

"I can prove it. Come on," Casey declares and strides out of their office. Dan follows him with a sense of horrified fascination. "Can anyone here ballroom dance?"

There's a lot of shaking heads, but Chris raises his hand. "I can."

"Okay, let me specify," Casey says, waving Chris's hand down. "Can any of the women here ballroom dance? Kim? Natalie?" The both shake their heads and Casey turns on Dana. "Dana?"

"Yeah," Dana admits with an uncomfortable shrug.

"You learned for a debutant ball, didn't you?" Casey asks mockingly.

Dana's mouth is stuck halfway between a smile and a sneer. "So?"

From Casey's expression, Dan cringes and knows Casey's about to say something sarcastic. Instead, Casey shakes his head and says something else. "Dance with me."

"What?"

"Dance with me. I'm proving to Dan that I can dance."

Dana raises her shapely brows and stares at Casey. "Why?"

Natalie snickers. "Are you trying to convince him to go to prom with you?"

"I'm trying to let him down lightly. I'm already going with one of the cheerleaders," Dan shoots back at her.

Casey rolls his eyes. "I'm trying to prove that I'm graceful. I have grace. And, I can ballroom dance."

"You don't have grace," Dana points out with a sharp smile.

Casey raises his arms wide. "I do have grace."

"You don't have grace, Casey, and I have a bump on the back of my head to prove it."

"Fine," Casey huffs and walks back to their office.

"You don't have grace!" Dana calls out after them as Casey closes their door behind them.

All in all, Dan had been thoroughly amused by the exchange, but by final rundown, he's wishing that Dana had just danced with Casey.

Casey had finished his script, stopping every twenty minutes to try to argue that he was graceful. By five minutes to air, Dan gave up. "Fine, Casey. You are graceful. You have grace. You are grace personified"

Casey glares at him. "You're just saying that."

"No, I'm not," Dan says, plastering on his most encouraging smile. Usually, it works on Casey.

"You're just saying that to get me to shut up."

"Will it work?"

"No," Casey replies curtly, but doesn't mention it until the next C-break. "I am graceful."

Dan thinks about replying and realises there's no point. Instead, he just lets his head fall against their desk. Luckily, Dana replies for him. "No, you're not. You have no grace and no co-ordination. Now give it a rest, Casey."

"I have co-ordination," Casey states, staring at the monitor. "I can juggle."

"Juggle?" Natalie asks, and Dan wishes she hadn't.

Casey grins. "Bring me a couple of balls and I'll show you."

"We're a sports show, Casey. We don't have balls," Dana announces over the PA. Half of the studio starts sniggering, and she amends, "Lying around! We don't have sporting balls just lying around."

Dan's still laughing when Jeremy pipes up. "Would tennis balls do? I have some in my drawer."

Casey nods. "They'd be fine."

The next C-break, Jeremy comes out with four tennis balls in his arms.

"I thought they came three to a packet?" Dan asks as Jeremy dumps them on the anchor desk.

Jeremy shrugs. "I had a spare."

"Okay," Casey says slowly as he stands up with a ball in each hand. "I haven't done this for a while, so I might be a little rusty."

Dan smirks. "You're proving your grace and warning us you might be rusty?" Casey shoots him an annoyed glare and starts juggling with his right hand. "Throwing a ball up and down? I can do that, Casey."

"Be quiet, Dan," Jeremy says, watching as Casey throws the ball from his left hand into his right, keeps the one-handed rhythm with two balls. Keeping his right hand moving, Casey glances down and picks up the other two balls with his left. He throws one over to his right and the rhythm changes slightly to incorporate the third ball.

"Okay, I can't do that," Dan concedes as he watches Casey right hand juggle three balls, and seamlessly turn into two-handed juggling with all four balls.

Casey smiles, but keeps watching his hands. "The hard part is starting and stopping. Once you've got them going, it's easy." Dan watches the circle of balls get higher and faster, then wider, and the pattern shifts to a sideways figure eight.

"Thirty seconds to air-time," Chris announces and Casey slows the rhythm and then stops, catching two balls in each hand. As Jeremy grabs the balls and dashes back to the control room, Casey smooths his jacket and sits down.

"That was really cool." He knows that Casey can hear just how impressed he is.

Casey grins smugly. "I have grace?"

Laughing, Dan nods. "I will be the first to admit, that under certain circumstances, you are a very graceful and co-ordinated man." It's not much of an acknowledgement, but it makes Casey beam as the cameras come alive. Most of the broadcast goes smoothly, but there's forty-five seconds that need to be filled in the thirties, and Jeremy comes up with a quick fill for Dan.

"In Dancesport news, the America Star Ball concluded today, and we'd like to congratulate John Doe and Jane Doe, who won thanks to their fast spins and graceful turns. Or so I've been told. I don't actually know how to ballroom dance, so I wouldn't know. But Casey is well-known for his impressive Quickstep and has assured me that their turns were, in fact, very graceful."

Casey shuffles his script, staring down at the desk and grinning widely. It's the way Casey grins when he's really pleased about something, all white square teeth and apple cheeks. It's sweet, but it makes Casey look goofy as hell. Some day, Dan needs to point out to Casey that ducking his head really doesn't hide that grin from the cameras. Casey still looks goofy and pleased, it just makes him look oddly shy as well. Endearing as it is, it's probably not the image that Casey's trying to portray. That's the reason Dan hasn't pointed it out yet. If he did, Casey would probably stop doing it.

They almost get to the end of the show without any more adlibbing, but in the last C-break Dana groans over the PA. "Guys, we're forty short in the end credits. Stretch it for a bit."

"Sure, Dana," Casey says, grabbing his pen and scribbling a few extra lines on the back of his script. Wheeling his chair closer to Dan, he slides the page across the desk. Reading it, Dan grins and nods as Casey returns his chair to the proper broadcasting position.

Casey smiles at camera two. "Thank you, Kelly." On the screen, Kelly Kirkpatrick nods. "And that's it for tonight's show. I'm Casey McCall, with Dan Rydell, and you've been watching Sports Night on CSC. Before you go, we'd just like to remind you that I've got rhythm."

"And I've got music," Dan adds dryly. "Well, actually..." He pauses for a second and looks at Casey.

Casey turns to him, and the slightly concerned look on Casey's face is priceless. The perfect alley-oop pass. After a silent second, Casey swallows and turns back to the screen. "Actually, we don't."

Dan grins and follows with, "But we do have the highlights from the Dodgers game, the latest rumours about the upcoming draft picks and an interview with the newest addition to the Mets, so we'll see you tomorrow night."

As the camera lights blink out, Dan pulls off his mike and heads into the control room. Casey's only a few steps behind. Pushing the door open, they're met by Dana's shocked giggles. "Rhythm and music? We're a sports show and you guys are promoting your vaudeville act?"

Casey grins. "You enjoy a good musical, Dana. We thought you'd appreciate it."

"I'm sure Isaac enjoyed it," Dan says as Isaac walks into the control room.

Isaac responds by singing. "I've got my girl, who could ask for anything more?"

"Knew you'd get the reference, Isaac."

"It's Gershwin. Of course I'd get the reference." Isaac rolls his eyes, but Dan hears the smile in his voice.

They were just a few throw-away lines, a minute or so of filler, and Dan didn't think about it again until he was opening his fan mail a week later. He had to read over the letter twice just to be sure he read it right.

Casey looks up, his square forehead furrowed. "What are you sniggering about?"

"I have... interesting fans."

Casey laughs. "I've read some of your fan mail. Interesting is an understatement."

"Are you insulting my fan base?" Dan asks, sitting up.

"I'm commending them for their lack of shame."

Dan snorts. "They may be shameless, but they're organised. They do maintain a fairly impressive web site."

"Let's not start that again." Casey flops onto the couch.

"Start what?"

"Start gloating over your fanclub. There's a reason why Dana banned you from that site."

"She said my head would swell so much I couldn't get through a doorway. I don't think she was being literal."

Casey tilts his head and squints at Dan. "I'm not so sure about that. I mean, your head is pretty big to start with. It's probably a genuine concern."

Dan grabs the object closest to hand, a golf ball sitting on the desk, and throws it at Casey. Casey ducks to the side and the ball is lost in the no man's land behind the couch.

Casey smirks. "Nice aim."

"Screw you," he replies affectionately, and sits down at the desk and starts to type.

"What are you doing?" Casey asks, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I'm logging on to my website," Dan replies as he enters the URL and tries to remember what his password was. When he'd first received mail from the Dan Rydell Fanclub, he'd been surprised and just a little worried. But they'd been polite and organised, and when the website went online, they'd sent him a very cordial letter describing the site and asking for his approval.

Admittedly, that had led to several weeks of crowing about the fact that he had a website, and a lot of hours of watching the message board with a great deal of amusement. And frequently posting. In fact, he'd been in the middle of answering one of the world's oldest questions (vanilla or chocolate) when Dana had come in and banned him from the site.

He'd whined about it, but Dana had been firm. Apparently, while Dan was spending hours talking to people via a computer screen, Casey had been spending hours driving everyone else crazy. Dana declared that they couldn't go on like this with her, Natalie and Jeremy ducking for cover every time Casey wandered around bored. That Casey needed to go back to driving Dan crazy so that everybody else could do their job. It was for the good of the show.

So, Dan had posted nicely to the site, had been charming and thanked them for their work, and told them Casey was driving everyone nuts with Dan's sparkling conversation. In reality, the supposed banning had nothing to do with the size of Dan's head, regardless of what Casey says.

"Oh, no," Casey says and stops Dan typing by physically mashing Dan's fingertips against the keyboard. laksdjfoiwe appears on the screen. "Dana made me promise to make sure you didn't go on there again."

"She made you promise?" Dan looks at Casey in pure disbelief. "Casey, the amount that you know about the Internet could fit inside a thimble."

Casey frowns at him. "Hey..."

"Okay, a large thimble, but still. How were you going to stop me logging on?" Dan assumes it doesn't rely on Casey spending all of his time with his hands holding Dan's against the keyboard. It'll make it hard to write their scripts.

Casey grins hopefully. "By keeping you distracted?" Dan snorts. "It seemed like a good plan at the time."

"And we know all about your remarkable planning abilities," Dan says sarcastically and Casey pulls his hands back. However, he keeps looking over Dan's shoulder. Dan sighs. "Did Dana say why you had to play Net Nanny?"

Casey almost winces. "Not really." That sounds more like a question than a statement.

Dan spins his chair around to fully face Casey. "What did she say?"

"Just... okay, you have a history, Dan. You have a bad history with interviews, and saying things that shouldn't be said."

"And Dana told you to look over my should and make sure I didn't type anything too defamatory?"

"She just... wanted me to keep an eye on you," Casey says, holding his hands up placatingly.

"I don't need to be censored," Dan says coldly. "I'm not going to embarrass you and Dana if I'm left along for five minutes."

"I didn't say you would, Dan." Casey sighs. "I just -"

Dan forces his voice to be civil. "Did the entire office get together to discuss how I should be watched at all times?"

"No." Casey shakes his head. "It wasn't like that. Dana wasn't trying to embarrass you. She just took me aside and said I should be spending a little more time with you," Casey says, watching him closely.

"She just... she only asked your?" That doesn't sound right. If Dana had a concern, the first port of call is usually Natalie, not Casey.

"Just me. She was just worried that you'd say something that you'd regret later, and we wouldn't be able to help." Casey smiles gently.

Dan feels his own smile start to form. "And the best way for you to be a good friend was to keep me distracted for the site?"

Casey nods in relief. "Yeah."

Dan has to concentrate on not laughing. There are times when he doesn't give Dana enough credit. Casey may have been driving everyone crazy, but she'd pulled the trump card. It's far easier to get Casey to focus on being a good friend to someone than to make him see how he's annoying everyone around him.

Casey looks at him, his eyes shadowed with concern. "Danny? Are we alright?"

"We're fine," Dan says and manages to compose a straight face while he thinks of a way to explain his lack of outrage. "It's a matter of motivation. You weren't doing it because you didn't trust me. You did it because you care. Totally different things."

Casey nods happily and Jeremy sticks his head around the door. "Did you guys forget we usually have a rundown meeting now?"

"Actually," Dan says, looking up at the clock, "Yeah."

Jeremy glares at him, but the effect is undermined by his amused grin. "Just so you know, the rest of us haven't."

"In that case, we should probably go." Casey stand up and Dan gathers his script notes.

"Probably," Dan agrees, following them to the conference room.

The rundown meeting went as all rundown meetings go: slightly disorganised, kind of random and surprisingly efficient by the end. They planned the twenties and thirties, left room in the forties for the basketball results and were almost finished when Dan asked, "Can I thank my fans on air?"

Dana spears him with a sharp look. "What for?"

"Good taste?"

"No," Dana says firmly, her brows lowered behind the light blonde fringe.

"They sent me a present. I was taught to say thank you when I receive a gift." Dan grins and leans back in his chair.

"First of all, I've seen you your birthday. You don't thank people so much as shamelessly beg for more."

Casey barks out a surprised laugh, and Dan glares at him. "You're not any better, Casey."

Casey looks wounded. "I accept gifts very graciously."

"You brag," Natalie states with a toss of her dark hair.

Casey almost pouts. "No, I don't."

"You do." Natalie nods as if agreeing with herself. "What did you get for you last birthday?"

Casey smiles. It's the smile that Dan secretly thinks of as Casey's proud dad smile because it's the way he always smiles at Charlie. "Last year, Charlie gave me a Paul Simon CD, Dan gave me -"

Dana holds up a hand. "Don't recite the list."

"The list?" Casey looks confused.

Dana frowns and clears her throat. "The list of every present you received."

"I don't have a list."

"You do. Every year you walk around reciting the list of presents you received, and show off about how much people gave you. You brag."

"I don't brag."

"You keep a list," Dana points out.

"I like to remember to thank people." Casey leans forward in his chair. "I was told it's the polite thing to do."

"It's not the list itself that makes it bragging," Natalie chimes in. "It's the way you keep reciting it to people."

"I don't recite -"

"Jeremy, what does Casey say every time he gets another gift?" Dana asks sweetly, but Jeremy just shakes his head, holding his hands up in supplication. She huffs. "Fine. Natalie?"

Natalie lowers her voice, far deeper than Casey's actually is. "Hey, look, Gerald just got me a penguin. Isn't it great? And, Charlie got me a CD, and Dan got me Mets tickets, and my Mom got me socks." There's a light sniggering in the conference room as everyone recognises Natalie's surprisingly accurate imitation. The person not laughing is Casey. Natalie shakes the hair out of her eyes and continues in a more normal tone of voice. "Every time you get a new present, you have to tell us all the other ones you've got."

"That argument is full of logical fallacies." Casey shakes his head. "Firstly, I don't know anyone called Gerald. Secondly, why would I want a penguin?"

"You're a strange man," Dana says with a grin. "We've given up on trying to understand you."

Casey waves away her comment. "Thirdly, Dan would never give me Mets tickets."

"You wouldn't?" Natalie asks, turning to Dan in surprise.

"Nope." Dan shakes his head. "Wouldn't waste my money on a team I don't support."

"Really?"

"It's a long-standing agreement between Casey and I. I won't buy him Mets tickets, he won't buy me Orioles tickets."

Jeremy's brows draw together above the dark frames of his glasses. "Why?"

"Because Dan is a frugal man cursed with bad taste," Casey replies smugly. Dan considers denying it, and then realises it's not worth the effort.

Dana sighs. "Finished, Casey?"

"No." Casey holds up a hand decisively. "My mother doesn't buy me socks. She doesn't buy my clothes for me."

"She bought you a shirt," Kim points out helpfully.

"And slippers," Elliot adds.

"And that red sweater," Natalie offers.

"Okay, yes, she gives me clothes, but she doesn't give me underwear," Casey says, sending his arm sailing through the air in a wide arc. "She doesn't buy my socks!"

"No. Those stylish argyle babies are all pick out by Casey himself," Dan says snidely.

Dana snickered. "Okay, you mom doesn't your socks, but that doesn't change the fact that you brag."

"I don't brag!"

"From now on, your nickname is Sir Bragsalot," Dana announces with a grin and then pushes a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Looking at the rundown, she says, "So, we still need the training updates for the fifties, and that's all. So, this meeting's finished." Dana stands up and starts gathering her notes.

Dan raises his hand. "Dana?"

"Are you in the third grad, Dan?"

He blinks at Dana. "No."

"Do I look like your third grade teacher? If not, take you hand down."

Pulling his hand down, Dan takes a long look at Dana. "There is a certain resemblance to my fifth grade teacher."

Dana raises an eyebrow. "Really?" she asks coldly.

Dan nods. "Yeah. I had a huge crush on her. I still say she was far too glamorous for a teacher." Charm doesn't always work on Dana, but when it does, she smiles so sweetly it's hard to believe just how professionally intimidating she can be.

"Okay," Dana says, and her bright smile makes her look ten years younger. "What did you want?"

"I want to thank my fans on air."

Dana sighs and sits back down. "Why?"

"They're teaching me to dance." Dan grins smugly.

"All of them?" Jeremy asks with a confused frown and Natalie laughs.

"No. But it's a group effort."

"Group effort?" Jeremy looks at Dan and then pushes up his glasses. "How?"

"They contributed funds and bought me dancing lessons."

"You could probably use them," Natalie says with a smirk.

Dan rolls his eyes. "Ballroom dancing lessons."

"Well, you could definitely use those," Dana says sincerely.

"How often do you ballroom dance?" Jeremy asks in surprise.

"I..." Dana frowns. "Okay, I don't ballroom dance often. But... It's highly romantic if you're with a guy who does."

Natalie looks thoughtful. "Have you ever dated someone who can?"

"Well, Gordon could dance... but not well," Dana says slowly. "So... not really."

"But you still think Dan should learn?" Casey asks, smirking at Dan.

"It's highly romantic."

"So can I thank them?" Dan asks hopefully.

Dana nods, standing up. "Do it in the fifties. You can work it into your sign off."

"Cool," Dan says, and watches the rest of the staff follow Dana out. Pretty soon, it's just him and Casey sitting at the table.

"That means we'll have to rewrite the farewell," Casey says after a minute of silence.

Dan rolls his eyes. "Consider it a chance to improve and rise above the flaws of the earlier version."

Casey shrugs and stands up. "I rather liked the earlier version."


So, what do you think? Does it need the asterisks? Should it be in past tense? Does it need some actual, y'know, plot? *sniggers*