SN: Homophobic WIP - Part Fourteen

[out_there]

Previous bits here.



***

The next morning, Casey woke up at ten to three with his boxers dried to his skin. Despite the utter grossness of that sensation, he felt good. Not hyped up on the Olympics, not trying to work out what he should watch first, but… good. Happy.

Standing under the hot spray of water from his shower, he couldn't shake the feeling that it was going to be a good day. The sky was bright blue (although the wind was icy), he'd had a decent nine hours sleep, and there was a week and a half of the 2000 Olympics to go. It felt like everything was right with the world.

The good mood lasted all the way into the studio, and he was whistling tunelessly by the time he walked into the conference room. Dan took one look at him and grumbled, "All morning people should be lined up and shot."

"Technically?" Casey smiled brightly at Dan. "It's mid-afternoon."

"All afternoon people, then," Dan muttered and then yawned loudly.

"Okay, people,." Dana annouced as she walked through the door with Kim in tow. "Let's get this show on the road."

***

"I have come to a conclusion," Dan said after the rundown. Then he yawned so widely his jaw cracked.

"Did it hurt?"

"The yawn?" Dan asked in confusion.

Casey grinned and followed Dan back to their office. "Coming to the conclusion."

Dan rolled his eyes. "Just because it hurts when you think, Casey, doesn't mean the rest of us suffer that condition."

Casey laughed and held their office door open for Dan. "Okay. What's your bright idea?"

"Naptime."

"Naptime?" Casey asked, leaning back against the edge of the desk.

Dan nodded. "I am instituting an official naptime."

"Did you turn three and I didn't notice?"

"Casey, I'm serious about this."

"You're a man in his late twenties who just used the phrase 'naptime' as a serious suggestion." Casey gave Dan a long look. "There's a limit to how *serious* I can be about this."

"We have a four o'clock rundown, right?"

Casey nodded. "Four to five, roughly speaking."

"The next rundown is eight to nine, and then ten to ten-thirty. With me so far?" Dan asked patronizingly as he sat down on the couch. "How much writing do we get done between each rundown?"

"Theoretically, we get the script written by the eight rundown, and just make adjustments after that."

Dan stretched his arms along the back of the couch and Casey absently noticed the curve of Dan's forearms. "How much writing do we actually get done before eight?"

Biting his lip, Casey thought about it. "Um. Maybe half?" The other half was written between nine and ten. As much as Dan joked about it, they were both night-owls. Ideas and words came faster after sunset. Jokes were sharper if they'd been awake for at least six hours before writing them.

"Exactly," Dan said fervently. "Most of our scripts are written in two hours. So I think the three hours between the five and eight rundowns could be sacrificed to a better cause. *Without* any great loss in the quality of our writing."

Casey breathed in deeply, wondering if he was going to regret this conversation. "A better cause?"

Dan grinned. "Naptime."

"You're suggesting that instead of spending our afternoons pretending to write, we spend them sleeping?" Casey asked and Dan nodded enthusiastically. "That includes my lunch-break. I think I'd rather spend that time eating."

"I'm not saying you have to sleep."

"No?"

"No. You don't have to, but I do." Dan tilted his head, giving Casey a quick glimpse of long neck. "I'm instituting naptime. From now on, if anyone needs me between five and eight, I'm going to be asleep on our couch."

"Is this because of last night?" Casey flicked through the score reports sitting on his desk. "It wasn't that big a deal, Danny." When he glanced up, Dan was frowning.

"Casey, I introduced West Coast Update as Sports Night. If you hadn't been thinking on your feet, I wouldn't have even noticed. As it is, I don't think Sally's too pleased."

"She thought it was an intentional plug." Casey grimaced as he remembered Sally's chilly displeasure. "Think of Sally…"

Dan raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Have you noticed the West Coast Update scripts haven't been as bad as they usually are?"

"They haven't been as cringe-worthy as I expected," Dan said slowly, watching Casey. "In fact, they've been a *lot* better than I expected. Why do you ask?"

Casey shrugged. "Wondered if I was the only one that noticed."

"It's not just you." Dan reached over for his bag, speaking as he pulled something out. "The scripts have actually been good. But don't tell Sally I said that."

Casey blinked as Dan pulled a pillow out of the gym bag. "A pillow?"

"Naptime, Casey." Fluffing the pillow back into shape, Dan placed it over one of the armrests and then toed off his shoes. Lying down, he pulled the blanket over his shoulders. "My alarm's set to go off at eight, so I'll see you at rundown."

Casey stared at the Mary Poppins bag. Next Dan would pull out a full sized umbrella. "You have an alarm in there?"

"I came prepared," Dan said and closed his eyes.

"Hard to believe you were never a Boy Scout."

***

Twenty minutes later, Dan was fast asleep and Casey had decided to give up. It wasn't that Dan's snores were disturbing, it was that he kept getting halfway through a sentence and then lose it. He kept finding himself staring at Danny, at the slack lines of his lips, at his fingers curled up against the pillows. So far, he'd wasted twenty minutes and had only two sentences to show for it.

Quietly, he got up from the desk, grabbed his wallet, and gently closed the door behind him. Kim raised an eyebrow at him as he passed. "Danny's sleeping," Casey said in way of explanation. "Wake him and die."

"He's easier to handle when he's asleep." Kim said with a grin. "But I'll let the others know."

"Thanks."

"Where are you going?"

Casey pointed down the corridor. "Dana's office."

"Oh," Kim said quietly, and Casey decided he was better off not knowing the reason for her thoughtful response. Shaking his head, he made his way down the Executive Producer's office. The door was slightly ajar.

"Dana?" he asked, as he pushed the door open.

Dana nodded curtly, her lips tightened into an unimpressed frown. "Just the person I wanted to see."

Casey stepped inside, not liking the sound of that. "Yeah?"

"Close the door behind you." Casey did and Dana continued, "I just had a very interesting conversation with Isaac. Do you know why?"

Casey had a sinking feeling that he did know why. He sat down on the couch and wondered how big a deal this was going to be. "Because Isaac's a very interesting man?"

"No." Dana's frown tightened. "Because he got an interesting phone call from Sally this morning."

"Ah."

Dana picked up her remote and walked towards him. "Casey, this was last night's West Coast Update." She flicked on the TV, and the image of Dan in his suit and tie from last night appeared. Dan was grinning easily in the still shot, and Casey knew which moment Dana was about to play. It was last night's introduction.

When Dana hit the play button, Dan started talking. "This is Dan Rydell, alongside Casey McCall, and you're watching Sports Night on QVN."

Beside him, Casey spoke up. "Or you would have been, if you'd tuned in three hours ago. Since you didn't, you're watching West Coast Update on QVN. You only have yourselves to blame."

Dana stopped the tape and turned the TV off. "You see my point?"

Casey sighed and slouched into the couch. "Sally spoke to me about it last night."

Dana cleared her throat, watching him closely. "I know the pair of you can be idiots when it comes to getting a laugh, but don't. Okay? Just don't."

"Dana…"

Dana tapped one heeled toe, and stared down at him. "This is a stressful time and everyone is working as hard as they can to make QVN the team that CSC never was. This is not the time to stir up old show rivalries. Especially not when our associate producer and their presenters are on the other side of the world. Do *not* make this difficult on everyone around you. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Dana."

"Isaac spent half an hour on the phone with Sally this morning. I spent half an hour in a meeting with him. Then, we spent another half hour on a conference call convincing her that you two weren't being spiteful, you were just *stupid*."

Casey shifted on the couch uncomfortably, watching Dana's jaw clench. "Dana, we didn't think it would be this big a deal."

"It *is*, Casey. So far, we haven't heard from the Network Execs, but if we do, if *this* becomes the reason we get saddled with another network breathing down our necks, you and Dan are not going to be popular around here."

"It was just a joke." Casey could have denied it, could have said that it was accidental. But if he said that Dan was just tired, it would cause far more worry. There might even be suggestions of getting a replacement for the West Coast Update shows, and that... didn't bear thinking about. If they were going to be tired and overworked, Casey wanted to be tired and overworked beside Dan.

Besides, if he hadn't added that last bit of sarcasm, it wouldn't have been a problem. "It's a joke, Dana. It's the same intro, and I thought it would be funny. It wasn't meant to be a slight against West Coast Update, it wasn't meant to be a slight against Sally. I did try to tell her that."

Dana sighed and her shoulders relaxed. "Because you two aren't spiteful?"

"Just a little stupid."

"But seriously, Casey," Dana said, holding his gaze, "don't do those jokes. Don't compare Sports Night and West Coast Update. It will set people off and this will turn into a battleground for the next week."

"I'm sorry," Casey said, genuinely wishing he hadn't added that last barb. He was also a little flattered that he'd improvised and everyone seemed certain it was pre-written. "I won't do it again."

"Good." Dana dropped the remotes back on her desk. "Do you want to talk to Dan about this, or should I?"

"I'll tell him," Casey said quickly.

"Fine. Just…"

"No more jokes about the shows."

"Yeah."

"But we can still joke about Eric the Eel as much as we like?" Casey grinned, expecting Dana to smile, but her face twisted into an uncertain frown. "Right?"

"Sure," she said unconvincingly.

"Is there a reason we can't joke about Eric the Eel?" Dana bobbed her head and half-shrugged. Casey watched her carefully. "What's wrong?"

"Do you think the people in Graphics could be psychic?" Casey barked out a surprised laugh. She frowned. "Casey, I'm serious."

"So far today, people have been serious about naptimes and possible psychics in other departments. This is not a normal working environment."

Leaning back on her desk, Dana grinned. "Never claimed it was."

"I think I was promised a normal working environment in the fine print of my contract."

Chuckling, Dana replied, "I don't think you've ever read the fine print of your contract."

Casey shrugged and then nodded. "Why would Graphics be psychic?"

"Eric the Eel. Eddie the Eel," Dana said, with a fast wave of her hand. "There are big similarities there, Casey."

"There are times when I worry about you."

"But do you think they're psychic?"

Laughing, Casey shook his head. "No."

"Really?" Dana asked hopefully.

"It's just a coincidence," Casey said firmly. "Now get your jacket. I'm taking you out for lunch."

Dana's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"As a thank-you," Casey said, getting her jacket. He held it out for her to put on.

"For…?"

"For checking over Sally's scripts," Casey said with a smile. "You've been checking them before you go home at night, haven't you?" As Dana was still starting each day at midday, she was out of the office before they went on-air for West Coast Update. It explained why West Coast Update seemed so easy, so well put together.

Dana looked pleased and surprised. "How did you know?"

"They're too good to have been Sally's."

Dana's smile was quickly dampened. "You know what I said about show rivalry?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't repeat that outside of this office," Dana said firmly, and then beamed at him. "But I'm glad you noticed."

"Come on. Bacon carbonara on me."

"But what if I want the lobster?"

"They weren't *that* good," Casey replied with a grin and Dana laughed.

***