SN WIP: Homophobic - Part Nine

[out_there]

Okay, this feels a little uneven, but… better to post it and move on to the next bit, I think. Give me a yell if there's anything in particular that strikes you as wrong or contradictory.

Edited: To fix the foods. *g* (Thanks mecurtin and phoebesmum!)

As before, previous part here



***

The noon rundown ended up being postponed until two, and apparently Eliot and Dave had decided to put on an unofficial farewell party. Somehow, they'd managed to spread the word around, buy snacks, contact the people who were leaving and get Isaac to agree to it, all within half an hour. It defied the laws of time and space.

Casey almost fell asleep and ended up sneaking into the conference room at ten minutes past twelve. He snuck in behind a group of West Coast Update technical people and caught the end of Isaac's speech. Isaac wished them a successful trip and a safe return, somehow using space travel metaphors and basketball allegories.

The party quickly shrunk into different groups of people talking. Casey weaved between the make-up women and the camera guys, and started munching on few chocolate cookies from the table. Casey wasn't in a particularly talkative mood and food tables were always a haven for the unsocial.

Looking over the crowd, Casey could see that Dan had already been cornered by Peter. After one enthusiastic conversation at last years Christmas part, Peter had decided that he and Dan shared some kind of golfing brotherhood; the spirit of the green, maybe.

It was just a pity that Dan didn't agree with that idea.

Any integrated gathering seemed to include Peter discussing his current handicap and Dan sending desperate 'save me' glances to anyone walking by. Normally, Casey would ease Dan out of the conversation – frequently using the handy excuse of Dana or Isaac needing to talk to both of them – but today, Casey studiously turned in the opposite direction and grabbed another handful of chips.

He spun around at a tap on his shoulder.

Kim was standing there, smiling sweetly at him. "Can you pass me one of the little cheesecakes?"

"How come?"

"Because I can't reach over the other side of the table." Kim frowned, managing to look both pretty and hazardous for his health. "And Eliot won't pass them to me." Eliot grinned from the other side of the table.

Casey leaned over to pass her the plate and instead of picking one or two, she took the whole platter.

"Thanks," she said easily, already heading away from the table. Casey blinked and then followed her to where Natalie and Dana were talking about rundowns and technical jargon.

Natalie was bobbing her head and talking enthusiastically, but stopped when she saw him. "I need to talk to you."

"You do?"

Natalie nodded. "Yes."

"Aren't we talking right now?" Casey asked, bemused.

Natalie stared at him firmly. "We'll talk later," she said, and then turned back to Dana. "You really think the heat could interfere with the VTR timing?"

Casey shrugged and let it go. He left Natalie and Dana to talk now, and drifted amongst the party. He found it fairly easy to walk from group to group, to stand at the back and pretend to listen to the conversation while he watched the clock count down the long, boring minutes. He kept catching himself looking for Dan.

Dan would be talking, frequently the centre of some group, smiling widely and gesturing with his hands. Casey found he could almost guess which sport Dan was talking about by watching those long fingers draw football fields in the air. He was still staring at Dan's hands when Isaac's voice interrupted his subtle voyeurism.

"Are you trying to avoid the party?" Isaac asked warmly.

"What?"

"You've been here half an hour and you've barely talked to anyone," Isaac chided gently, sipping his coffee.

Casey tried not to grimace. He'd been far less than social today. "You were watching?"

"I like to keep an eye on my boys," Isaac replied and Casey felt that familiar warm thrill of this man considering him almost-family. There were a lot of days when he felt closer to Isaac than his own father. There were few days when Isaac felt dearer, too. He wondered if Isaac knew how important he was to him, to Dana, to Dan; possibly to everyone who worked underneath him.

Isaac grinned wryly. "If I don't, I always seem to end up with the network breathing down my neck."

Casey snorted. "'Always' is an exaggeration." He looked up to see Chris and Will laughing with Dan. From the imaginary shot Dan threw, they were probably talking about basketball.

"Frequently, then," Isaac amended. Casey turned to see Isaac watching him closely. "Are you and Daniel fighting?"

That was a question that totally broadsided Casey. "Huh?"

"Casey?"

He blinked, trying to get his thoughts in order. He wasn't sure what they were doing, but he was pretty sure they weren't fighting. "No. We're not fighting."

"Then what's going on?"

Casey looked at Isaac, at his dark skin and grey hair, at the wrinkles around his eyes, clearly caused by years of worry, happiness and compassion. Then Casey lied through his teeth. "Nothing's going on, Isaac."

Isaac's lips flattened into an unimpressed line. "Either you think I'm an idiot – and you know I'm not – or you haven't noticed that you and Dan have been acting strangely for a while now." Isaac's tone was mild but he was unmistakably serious. "Not even you're that oblivious."

Casey opened his mouth to deny it, but Isaac silenced him with a look. "Dealing with Daniel can be difficult at times, but you're not always a ray of sunshine either."

Casey had a sudden flash of his mother when he got caught skipping class in high school. She had called him by his full and used that same tone of disappointed reasoning. "I know that, Isaac. We're not fighting, we're just... dealing with things."

Isaac didn't look away from him. "If it's something serious, I want to know."

"It's personal." Last defence of the cornered man: claim to be embarrassed.

"The personal has a way of becoming the professional around here." Isaac paused, looking over at Dan. "If there's a chance of another Draft Day explosion, I want to know about it."

Casey blinked in surprise. "There's no chance of that, Isaac."

"If I'd asked you before Draft Day, you would have said the same thing," Isaac said with a small knowing smile, and Casey had to agree. Isaac paused and then continued, "I'm not going to pry. Lord knows I already know far more about my staff's personal lives than I need to. But, if it's serious, if it's going to affect the show, I expect you to tell me."

Casey nodded. "Yes, sir."

***

The party ended with more hugs, and Natalie and Jeremy promising to call and email at least once a day. Possibly twice. According to Dana, seven or eight times would be best.

When Natalie pulled out of a teary hug with Dana, she spotted him. "Walk me to the elevator," she said, in a surprisingly good imitation of Dana's ordering tone.

"Me?" Casey asked and Natalie nodded. "Why me?"

"Because I need to talk with you," Natalie said obviously. Jeremy was talking to Dan on the other side of the room, and just shrugged when he caught Casey's look. Casey shrugged back and followed Natalie to the elevator doors.

"I'm going to be gone." Natalie leaned forward, and Casey found himself ducking down to be closer to her level. "I'll be gone," she repeated in a hushed tone of voice.

"So will Jeremy," Casey said and Natalie lightly slapped his shoulder.

Natalie stared at him. "I'll be gone and Dana will be working with Sally."

"Uh-oh."

"You see my point?"

Casey swallowed. "We're going to have trouble."

"Yes, you are."

"Is it too late for you to cancel?" Casey wondered aloud, panicking at the thought of two weeks of the Professional Women's Grudge Match.

Natalie glared at him. "Are you serious?"

"No," he assured her urgently. "You're going. Dana will be miserable. I already got the Cliff notes on that. I just didn't think I'd be miserable, too."

"That's why I'm warning you."

He sighed. "You realise I'm going to be stuck in the middle?"

Natalie didn't seem very sympathetic. "You should have thought of that before you slept with Sally."

Casey boggled at her. "I should have foreseen that sleeping with Sally would end up sucking the fun out of the 2000 Olympics?"

"You should have known it would cause complications." Natalie frowned at him and then shook her head. "But you're a guy. You're automatically an idiot where sex is concerned."

Casey scowled at the silver elevator doors and considered denying that. Then he saw the determined look on Natalie's face and thought better of it. "You just wanted to warn me?"

"I'm just saying I'm going to gone for two weeks. Dana needs someone to talk to."

"She does?"

Natalie took deep breath and pushed back an errant strand of dark hair. "How much time do you spend talking to Jeremy and Isaac when Dan's got the day off?"

Casey shrugged. "I spend time talking to Dana too."

"Exactly. And Dana's going to lose her best friend for two weeks."

Casey blinked at Natalie's bright, helpful smile. He wasn't sure if he liked the direction this conversation was heading. "So she's going to need people to talk to?"

She patted his shoulder in a very patronising way. "I knew you'd get it eventually."

"So everyone's been warned to indulge Dana's talkative nature?"

"Most people don't need to be warned. You're special," Natalie said with a sharp smile.

Casey had a sinking feeling that he might need to remind Natalie about his agreement with Dana. No dating. Just because she was going to be in Sydney, didn't mean he and Dana would change their minds. "Special?"

Natalie smirked. "As in 'special needs'."

Casey grinned sharply, secretly relieved that Natalie just seemed concerned about Dana. "I walked right into that one."

"Yes, you did." Natalie rocked back on her feet and smiled hopefully at him. "So, I'm going to be gone…?"

"And I'm going to be spending more time talking to Dana," Casey repeated dutifully.

"Good boy," Natalie said and Casey fought the urge to bark at her.

***

"Hey," Casey said as he walked into Dana's office.

"You know the rundown's at two?" Dana asked, dabbing at her mascara with a tissue.

"Yeah." He watched her check her make up in a small, hand held mirror. She widened her eyes, blinking at her reflection, and then put the mirror away.

Then Dana looked up at him. "Were you planning on just standing there?"

"Pretty much."

"You can't just stand there, Casey."

"Why not?"

"Why…? Because you can't," Dana said with a faintly amused smile.

Casey grinned. "Why?"

"Because I said so."

"Why?"

"Because you have a script to write." Dana's lips twitched.

"Why-"

Dana held up a hand to stop him and let out a few almost sniggers. "And don't ask me why."

Casey stood there for a few moments. "Rundown isn't until two," he pointed out brattishly.

"And you don't do any work before the first rundown?"

Casey smirked. "Not if I can help it."

"Let's leave aside the fact that that's blatantly untrue." Dana shook her head. "Why are you in here?"

Shrugging, Casey said, "Orders from Natalie." Dana raised an eyebrow, so he explained, "Apparently, I'm the understudy."

"The understudy?"

He nodded. "For the role of friend. If something happens to the main friend, I step up as back up."

"Step up as back up?" Dana repeated, in a teasing tone.

"Are you going to accept my gesture of friendship or mock my phrasing?"

Dana laughed. "I'm multi-skilled. I can do both."

"Very funny."

"I'm a funny woman."

"I've always said there was something funny about you," Casey said dryly.

Dana rolled her eyes. "Go to your office and do some prep work for the rundown."

Casey sighed melodramatically. He'd been having fun playing truant. "Fine."

"Oh, and Casey…?" Dana asked as he got to the door.

He turned around. "Yeah?"

Dana smiled brightly. "Thanks."

"Anytime, Dana."

***

Casey dawdled back to the office. When he saw it was empty, he sat down at the table and started looking through today's scores. Dan walked in a few minutes later.

"Here you are." Dan sounded surprised.

"Here I am," Casey replied, not looking up.

"Did you know it's one-thirty?"

Casey looked up at the wall clock and stared at it intently. "Well, the small hand's between the one and the two, and the big hand's pointing to the six, so... Yeah, it is one-thirty."

Dan sniggered. "Are you still learning to tie your shoes as well?"

Casey sat up, pushing his shoulders back straight. "My Mommy does that for me."

"That does explain your fashion sense," Dan teased. Casey just rolled his eyes. "Still, it's one-thirty."

"So?"

"So, it's one-thirty and this is the first time I've talked to you today."

Casey looked down at the scores. "I've been busy."

Dan snorted. "You've done nothing."

"I've been busy doing nothing," Casey replied without looking up.

"Casey, we need to talk."

Casey kept circling scores and underlying team names. "You know, that phrase doesn't inspire confidence in any man." He looked up at the sound of Dan closing the office door.

"Regardless of that…" Dan pulled a chair out and turned it around, straddling it backwards and leaning his arms on the back of the chair. "We need to talk."

Casey bit at the inside of his cheek. "You think?"

Dan looked out the window. "I'm pretty sure, yeah."

Casey sighed and put his pen down on the table top. "Okay."

"Okay," Dan repeated slowly.

There was a moment of silence. Casey crossed his arms for warmth. "So talk."

"Okay," Dan muttered and nodded to himself. Then he looked up at Casey. "We need to talk about last night."

That phrase shouldn't have made Casey's heart beat a bit faster. It shouldn't have made him twitchy and uncertain… but it did. Casey didn't trust his voice, so he just nodded.

Dan looked him straight in the eye, his face serious. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

His heart skipped a hopeful beat. "Sorry?" Casey repeated, his voice just a little chocked.

"Yeah, I…" Dan trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I shouldn't have let it get out of hand, Casey. I know better than that."

Casey swallowed as he heart stuttered back into a steady rhythm. "You do?"

"Yeah…" Dan's lips twisted into an uncomfortable grimace. "Casey, I know you when you're drunk. I know how far you'll go for the sake of a bet. I shouldn't have let you goad me. And I shouldn't have let it keep going."

"Because I'll do anything on a dare?" Casey asked with a trace of bitterness.

"You once spent an hour quacking like a duck because Dana bet you twenty bucks that you couldn't do it." Dan snorted.

Casey couldn't remember that. "Really?"

Dan nodded. "Your drunken pride knows no bounds," Dan said with a grin and then added, "Or knows no shame. One of the two."

"Ah." Casey leaned over his crossed arms a little more, suddenly cold in the air conditioning. "So if I did it for a bet, why did you do it?"

Dan flushed slightly, looking away. "Casey…"

"No, really, Dan," Casey said, sounding far angrier than he felt. "Why did *you* do it?"

"I'm not saying I'm proud of it, I just…" Dan trailed off, shrugging. "Come on, you slept with Sally. You know how it goes."

Casey felt his jaw tense. "Remind me."

"You can't have the person you want, so… you know." Casey remained silent, forcing Dan to continue. "If you can't have the one you love, love the one you're with?"

Casey was sure it was just stung pride that made his stomach drop to his toes. Wounded pride and…

Nope, just wounded pride.

He glared at Dan's hands, wrapped tightly around the back of the chair. "So I was just a replacement for…?"

"Michael," Dan admitted in a small voice. He sighed and then glanced up. "Hey, I'm not saying it's a nice thing to do, but it's something that happens. I didn't mean to do it, and I did stop as soon as I realised, but… yeah, I should have known better. I shouldn't have let it get out of hand."

Casey braced his elbows on the table, resting his head in his hands. He stared at the day's scores and breathed deeply, thinking about the situation; thinking about the taste of Dan's skin and the warmth of Dan's fingers, the strength of Dan's thighs beneath his hands. Then he thought of all the reasons why Dan's confession should have made this easy. "Okay."

"Okay?" Dan repeated uncertainly.

Casey forced himself to smile. "It happens, right? Just two drunk, confused people. It happens." Dan nodded once, but didn't interrupt. "You realised and you stopped us before anything really… happened."

"I am sorry, Case." Dan looked wretched, the regret obvious in his eyes. There was part of Casey that wanted to make him suffer. Not for any particular reason, just because he wanted to.

Of course, there was a bigger part of him that hated to watch Danny suffer. "It's really nothing. And a drunk kiss doesn't count anyway, right?"

Dan's answering smile seemed a little tight. "So no big deal."

"No harm, no foul."

Dan nodded slightly. "And we're… okay?"

"No harm, no foul," Casey repeated. "We're fine."

Dan sighed and his shoulders slumped in relief. "Good." Dan stood up and turned the chair the right way around.

Casey looked down at his watch, just to look away from Dan's genuine grin. "Hey, it's one thirty-five."

Dan's brows rose. "And?"

"I needed to see Dana about something before the rundown."

Dan snorted, well aware that if Dana said she needed to see him, she meant it. "Better hop to it."

"Yeah," Casey said confidently, and then fled the office.

***

"You're back," Dana announced drolly as he walked into her office.

"I'm back."

"Any particular reason?" she asked.

Casey shook his head and thought of all the ways he couldn't tell her why he was hiding out of Dan's sight. "No."

"You're just procrastinating?"

"Yeah."

Dana's expression was a combination of amused, confused and just a little annoyed. "Did you want to talk about something?"

"Not really," Casey replied, sitting down on her couch. "Did you?"

"Not really."

"Okay, then." Casey shrugged and then settled onto the couch.

After a moment, Dana asked, "Is this how you're going to act for the entire two weeks Natalie is away?"

"I'm considering it."

"You're just going to randomly walk in on me instead of writing your script?"

Casey smiled at the thought. "Do you have any objections?"

"I have several, but would any of them make you change your mind?"

"It depends."

Dana narrowed her eyes. "On what?"

"Do *you* think any of them would change my mind?"

"Do any of them involve money, fame or beautiful women?" Dana asked rhetorically, tapping her pen on against her page. "No, they don't."

Casey grinned. "Then we should probably just assume this is how the Olympics are going to be."

Dana sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. "You realise I could pay for somebody to kill you in your sleep, right?"

Casey snorted. "How?"

"I earn plenty, mister, and Jeremy has connections."

"The nerd mafia?" Casey stretched back on Dana's couch. "I'll keep an eye out for anyone wearing a pocket protector."

Dana laughed. "That is such a stereotype, Casey."

Casey blinked, thinking about that. "I guess I should actually be scared of anyone who understands computers."

"You're already scared of anyone who understands computers."

"Good point."

***