SN WIP: Homophobic - Part Seventeen
Jul. 27th, 2004 07:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
out_thereHey, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
celli. I meant to write more, but I'm totally brain-dead. I can't remember what the next scene *is*, let alone what was supposed to happen. Considering the number of typos I fixed, this section could be a little rougher than others, but at least it's done.
Anyway, as always, previous bits here. (Do you realise this has literally been 'being written' for three *months*? Yeesh.)
***
"Last day of the Olympics," Dan said slowly. "Have you ever heard five better words?"
Casey paused, thinking. "Five minutes to air?"
"That's four words," Dan replied quickly.
"Not in every language," Casey pointed out as he sat down at the anchor desk.
"Let's stick to English, shall we?" Dan leaned on the desk, tapping his fingers on the wooden finish. "Best five word phrase is 'last day of the Olympics.'"
"Best three word phrase?"
"Hmmm... It's not yours?" Dan asked with a grin.
Casey stared at his partner. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"Remember back in Dallas, and there was that crash in the car park? One of the worst moments in my life was when they said it looked like the black Mercedes was totaled." Dan paused and then smiled. "Then Steffi said, 'It's not yours.' Those are three good words to hear."
Casey laughed and shook his head. "Do you have favorite two and one word phrases as well?"
"Of course. 'It's free,' obviously." Dan smiled. "And 'safe.' That can be a life-changing phrase."
"I really shouldn't have asked."
"But you did."
Casey rolled his eyes. "Thanks for pointing that out. Since I said that a minute ago, obviously I wouldn't have remembered on my own."
Dan laughed as he sat down in his seat. "I like to help the elderly."
Casey sighed and turned to the camera. "If it's fine with you, I'm going to spend the next thirty seconds imagining beating you up for that comment."
Out of the corner of his eye, Casey watched Dan fiddle with his tie. "I bet that's not what you're imagining."
"No?"
"No." Dan shook his head confidently. "I think you're imagining the same thing I am."
"Which is?"
"An entire week of sleeping."
Casey turned and gave Dan a flat glare. "Not all of us are off tomorrow."
Dan smiled the cheesiest grin Casey had ever seen. It would have been right at home on a second-hand car salesman. "Yeah, I forgot."
"You still owe me for that," Casey muttered, trying hard not to be amused by Dan's obvious good mood.
"I know. And when you figure out what you want, I shall be at your command," Dan said warmly, "but until then, I'm going to enjoy a week of sleep."
"Are you still growing the goatee?"
"Since I plan to be asleep, I don't think I'll be using a razor."
Casey sniggered. "You're growing a goatee by default?"
"Something like that," Dan said and then turned to the cameras. "We'll have all those stories and more. You're watching West Coast Update with Dan Rydell, alongside Casey McCall..."
***
Casey stood up from the bar stool, and tried not to feel sorry for himself. Everyone at Anthony's was having a good time. Most of them were having a good time because they didn't have to be in at the studio tomorrow morning. Casey did.
"You're going?" Dan asked around his glass of beer.
"It's five-thirty. I need to sleep."
"We need to talk." Dan stood up and Casey noticed the slight sway. "Before you go to bed, we need to talk."
"It can't wait until tomorrow?" Casey asked, letting Dan lead him to a table.
Dan collapsed into the seat with an 'oomph' sound. "Natalie's back tomorrow."
Casey dragged another seat to the table and sat down. "And Natalie will stop you talking? Really, if Natalie had that power, she'd be much better paid."
"It's self-preservation," Dan said with a sharp nod. "I need to know what you're going to tell her so I don't get in trouble for not sharing."
"Self-preservation?" Casey frowned into his empty glass. For some reason, he'd brought it over to the table with them. "I though the sharing thing only applied to me and Dana. Or stuff about me and Dana, at least."
"It does." Dan shot him a meaningful look.
For the life of him, Casey had no idea what Dan was talking about. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Over the last two weeks, you've been spending time alone with Dana in her office--"
"She's our producer."
"You've taken her out for lunch, just the two of you, at least eight times--"
"You were napping," Casey pointed out. "I didn't want to eat alone."
"And Eliot saw you holding hands," Dan finished, taking another sip of his beer. "Natalie's going to find this stuff out, possibly straight from the source."
"Dana?" Casey scoffed, knowing full well there wasn't anything for Dana to tell Natalie.
"Exactly. I need to know what's going on." Dan watched him with alcohol bright eyes, but the concern was clear. That expression stopped Casey from telling Dan he has no idea what he's talking about. "I mean, the Olympics were a big thing and I knew it was going on, but I didn't want to push. Not when everyone's struggling to keep everything together."
"You knew *what* was going on?"
"You and Dana."
"There is no me and Dana," Casey said firmly. "As you *know*, we're friends. We're not dating."
"Sure, and pigs will go flying by that window any time now."
"I'm not dating Dana. I'm not interested in dating Dana."
"Casey, Casey, Casey." Dan shook his head, taking another sip. "I've noticed, okay?"
Casey swallowed but his tone still came out too defensive. "You've noticed what?"
"You. The last two weeks." Dan shrugged. "With this type of stuff, you're usually a cat on a hot tin roof."
"What?"
"You don't stress out so much as get... really enthusiastic about stuff. It's the type of manic cheer people show before pulling out an Uzi and mowing down all their coworkers."
Casey raised an eyebrow. Just because he didn't make everyone around him suffer when he had extra work, didn't mean he was about to go postal. "Really?"
"The last two weeks?" Dan asked, spreading his hands in the air. "You haven't done that. You haven't been uptight, you haven't been cheering everything and anything. In fact, you haven't shown any of the typical McCall signs of stress."
"Which means that I'm dating Dana?" Casey found himself thinking this was ridiculous.
"You've been..." Dan trailed off, watching Casey closely. "Content, almost."
"So, because I've been dealing with a stressful time in a mature and responsible way, without killing off everyone I work with...? This is ridiculous, Danny," Casey spat out. He stood up, leaving his glass on the table. "I've got a show to do tomorrow, so I'm going to bed."
Dan reached out and snagged his wrist. "I'm just saying that something's going on. Maybe you're not 'dating' Dana, but you have been spending a lot of time around her. And you have been happier lately, Casey. I'm just saying..."
"What?"
Dan tilted his head to the side, watching Casey. "If you're not dating her, maybe you should be thinking about it."
"We have an arrangement."
"It's an arrangement, not a suicide pact. I'm sure she'd--"
"I don't want to date her," Casey interrupted.
"Whatever. But something's been going on lately to make you happy, and I'm telling you, you should be going after it. You're a good guy, Case. You should be happy." Dan let go of his wrist and Casey took a step away from the table. "Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's not Dana, but whatever it is, you should figure it out and go for it."
"You don't have a clue what you're talking about," Casey said, as civilly as he could manage. "Night, Danny."
"Night."
***
Casey got a night of restless sleep, spending most of his time not thinking about Dan's comments. Not thinking about Dan; about his warm hand on Casey's wrist, about the gentle smile that said he was genuinely concerned about Casey. Of course, not thinking about Dan soon turned to not thinking about how Dan had looked, eyes sparkling and happy, color high in his cheeks, collar unbuttoned and loose as he drank. Casey figured it was the last day of the Olympics, so it didn't mean anything if he indulged one last time.
He dragged himself to work, almost forgetting that the midday rundown was scheduled at midday again. At least he wasn't the worst looking of the group. Jeremy had his head down on the table and when he looked up, he was pale with violet circles under his eyes.
Casey was taken aback when he saw him. "Are you okay, Jeremy? You look ill."
"Jet-lag," Jeremy muttered and put his head down on the table again.
"Apparently," Natalie added helpfully, "Jeremy's not a great traveler." Natalie, Casey noticed, apparently was a good traveler. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, she'd come back from Sydney with a tan, a few new outfits, and far too many great tales of the Olympics. It made Casey tired just looking at her.
"Casey, you're going to sort out the twenties?" Dana asked, making notes on her rundown sheet.
Casey nodded. "Shouldn't be too hard."
"Good. And Rick will be in at three to replace Dan." Dana looked around the room, and shot Natalie a pleased grin. Even Casey had to admit it was nice to have everything back to normal. "So, that's it. I'll see everyone at eight."
***
Casey stood up from the anchor desk and pulled off his mike. He nodded to Rick. "Good show." It had been. Rick didn't quite having Danny's flair for being on-camera, but he did have a definite skill in wording a clever metaphor. Casey had to respect a talent like that.
"Good show," Eliot said as he walked over. Then he and Rick continued their discussion on one of the stranger topics to be discussed in the studio, fly fishing. Shaking his head, Casey headed back to the office.
He pulled off his jacket and switched on the TV, flicking through stations. He was about to give it up as a lost cause when Dana stepped into their office. "What are you watching?"
Casey switched off the TV. "Nothing interesting."
"Casey?"
"Yeah?"
"You do remember you're not hosting West Coast Update tonight?"
Casey sighed and let his head drop against the top of the couch. "No. I totally forgot."
"I thought you might."
Casey stood up and decided to bring the suit back to wardrobe tomorrow. "Thanks."
"You know," Dana said, crossing her arms and leaning back against the glass wall, "Isaac mentioned that you asked for Dan's time off."
"Anything to get some time away from Danny," Casey joked as he pulled on his jacket.
Dana snorted. "How come you didn't just tell him?"
"And give up the chance to have him owe me one?" Making sure his keys and wallet were in his pocket, Casey added, "If anyone understood the fun of psyching Danny out, I'd thought it'd be you."
Dana grinned briefly. "Queen of the head-games, baby."
"I know."
"So, you gonna tell him?"
"Nah." Casey smiled at her. "I might need that favor some day."
***
When Casey got home, the light on his machine was blinking an angry red. There was one message, which turned out to be from Dan.
"Hey, Casey, it's me. I was going to call you when you got home, but I got too tired. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure we were cool. I've been thinking about the Dana thing, and maybe you're right. You haven't been talking enough about Dana for it to her, so maybe it's got nothing to do with the fact that you've been spending hours alone together. Maybe it's something totally unrelated. Maybe it's doing the extra hour of television coverage. I'd suggest it's working with Sally, but I really don't think that's it. But you've been happier lately, you really can't deny it. So... yeah. If you want to talk, give me a call during the daytime. If not, we'll catch when we catch up."
Casey wasn't sure whether he wanted to erase the message or grab the phone and call Dan now. In the end, he just replayed it a couple times, and went to bed feeling very unsettled.
His dreams were fractured and senseless; glimpses of Dana and Charlie, Sally and Lisa. He woke up more tired than before he went to sleep and took cold comfort in the thought that at least he wasn't dreaming of Dan anymore.
***
celli. I meant to write more, but I'm totally brain-dead. I can't remember what the next scene *is*, let alone what was supposed to happen. Considering the number of typos I fixed, this section could be a little rougher than others, but at least it's done.Anyway, as always, previous bits here. (Do you realise this has literally been 'being written' for three *months*? Yeesh.)
***
"Last day of the Olympics," Dan said slowly. "Have you ever heard five better words?"
Casey paused, thinking. "Five minutes to air?"
"That's four words," Dan replied quickly.
"Not in every language," Casey pointed out as he sat down at the anchor desk.
"Let's stick to English, shall we?" Dan leaned on the desk, tapping his fingers on the wooden finish. "Best five word phrase is 'last day of the Olympics.'"
"Best three word phrase?"
"Hmmm... It's not yours?" Dan asked with a grin.
Casey stared at his partner. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"Remember back in Dallas, and there was that crash in the car park? One of the worst moments in my life was when they said it looked like the black Mercedes was totaled." Dan paused and then smiled. "Then Steffi said, 'It's not yours.' Those are three good words to hear."
Casey laughed and shook his head. "Do you have favorite two and one word phrases as well?"
"Of course. 'It's free,' obviously." Dan smiled. "And 'safe.' That can be a life-changing phrase."
"I really shouldn't have asked."
"But you did."
Casey rolled his eyes. "Thanks for pointing that out. Since I said that a minute ago, obviously I wouldn't have remembered on my own."
Dan laughed as he sat down in his seat. "I like to help the elderly."
Casey sighed and turned to the camera. "If it's fine with you, I'm going to spend the next thirty seconds imagining beating you up for that comment."
Out of the corner of his eye, Casey watched Dan fiddle with his tie. "I bet that's not what you're imagining."
"No?"
"No." Dan shook his head confidently. "I think you're imagining the same thing I am."
"Which is?"
"An entire week of sleeping."
Casey turned and gave Dan a flat glare. "Not all of us are off tomorrow."
Dan smiled the cheesiest grin Casey had ever seen. It would have been right at home on a second-hand car salesman. "Yeah, I forgot."
"You still owe me for that," Casey muttered, trying hard not to be amused by Dan's obvious good mood.
"I know. And when you figure out what you want, I shall be at your command," Dan said warmly, "but until then, I'm going to enjoy a week of sleep."
"Are you still growing the goatee?"
"Since I plan to be asleep, I don't think I'll be using a razor."
Casey sniggered. "You're growing a goatee by default?"
"Something like that," Dan said and then turned to the cameras. "We'll have all those stories and more. You're watching West Coast Update with Dan Rydell, alongside Casey McCall..."
***
Casey stood up from the bar stool, and tried not to feel sorry for himself. Everyone at Anthony's was having a good time. Most of them were having a good time because they didn't have to be in at the studio tomorrow morning. Casey did.
"You're going?" Dan asked around his glass of beer.
"It's five-thirty. I need to sleep."
"We need to talk." Dan stood up and Casey noticed the slight sway. "Before you go to bed, we need to talk."
"It can't wait until tomorrow?" Casey asked, letting Dan lead him to a table.
Dan collapsed into the seat with an 'oomph' sound. "Natalie's back tomorrow."
Casey dragged another seat to the table and sat down. "And Natalie will stop you talking? Really, if Natalie had that power, she'd be much better paid."
"It's self-preservation," Dan said with a sharp nod. "I need to know what you're going to tell her so I don't get in trouble for not sharing."
"Self-preservation?" Casey frowned into his empty glass. For some reason, he'd brought it over to the table with them. "I though the sharing thing only applied to me and Dana. Or stuff about me and Dana, at least."
"It does." Dan shot him a meaningful look.
For the life of him, Casey had no idea what Dan was talking about. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Over the last two weeks, you've been spending time alone with Dana in her office--"
"She's our producer."
"You've taken her out for lunch, just the two of you, at least eight times--"
"You were napping," Casey pointed out. "I didn't want to eat alone."
"And Eliot saw you holding hands," Dan finished, taking another sip of his beer. "Natalie's going to find this stuff out, possibly straight from the source."
"Dana?" Casey scoffed, knowing full well there wasn't anything for Dana to tell Natalie.
"Exactly. I need to know what's going on." Dan watched him with alcohol bright eyes, but the concern was clear. That expression stopped Casey from telling Dan he has no idea what he's talking about. "I mean, the Olympics were a big thing and I knew it was going on, but I didn't want to push. Not when everyone's struggling to keep everything together."
"You knew *what* was going on?"
"You and Dana."
"There is no me and Dana," Casey said firmly. "As you *know*, we're friends. We're not dating."
"Sure, and pigs will go flying by that window any time now."
"I'm not dating Dana. I'm not interested in dating Dana."
"Casey, Casey, Casey." Dan shook his head, taking another sip. "I've noticed, okay?"
Casey swallowed but his tone still came out too defensive. "You've noticed what?"
"You. The last two weeks." Dan shrugged. "With this type of stuff, you're usually a cat on a hot tin roof."
"What?"
"You don't stress out so much as get... really enthusiastic about stuff. It's the type of manic cheer people show before pulling out an Uzi and mowing down all their coworkers."
Casey raised an eyebrow. Just because he didn't make everyone around him suffer when he had extra work, didn't mean he was about to go postal. "Really?"
"The last two weeks?" Dan asked, spreading his hands in the air. "You haven't done that. You haven't been uptight, you haven't been cheering everything and anything. In fact, you haven't shown any of the typical McCall signs of stress."
"Which means that I'm dating Dana?" Casey found himself thinking this was ridiculous.
"You've been..." Dan trailed off, watching Casey closely. "Content, almost."
"So, because I've been dealing with a stressful time in a mature and responsible way, without killing off everyone I work with...? This is ridiculous, Danny," Casey spat out. He stood up, leaving his glass on the table. "I've got a show to do tomorrow, so I'm going to bed."
Dan reached out and snagged his wrist. "I'm just saying that something's going on. Maybe you're not 'dating' Dana, but you have been spending a lot of time around her. And you have been happier lately, Casey. I'm just saying..."
"What?"
Dan tilted his head to the side, watching Casey. "If you're not dating her, maybe you should be thinking about it."
"We have an arrangement."
"It's an arrangement, not a suicide pact. I'm sure she'd--"
"I don't want to date her," Casey interrupted.
"Whatever. But something's been going on lately to make you happy, and I'm telling you, you should be going after it. You're a good guy, Case. You should be happy." Dan let go of his wrist and Casey took a step away from the table. "Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's not Dana, but whatever it is, you should figure it out and go for it."
"You don't have a clue what you're talking about," Casey said, as civilly as he could manage. "Night, Danny."
"Night."
***
Casey got a night of restless sleep, spending most of his time not thinking about Dan's comments. Not thinking about Dan; about his warm hand on Casey's wrist, about the gentle smile that said he was genuinely concerned about Casey. Of course, not thinking about Dan soon turned to not thinking about how Dan had looked, eyes sparkling and happy, color high in his cheeks, collar unbuttoned and loose as he drank. Casey figured it was the last day of the Olympics, so it didn't mean anything if he indulged one last time.
He dragged himself to work, almost forgetting that the midday rundown was scheduled at midday again. At least he wasn't the worst looking of the group. Jeremy had his head down on the table and when he looked up, he was pale with violet circles under his eyes.
Casey was taken aback when he saw him. "Are you okay, Jeremy? You look ill."
"Jet-lag," Jeremy muttered and put his head down on the table again.
"Apparently," Natalie added helpfully, "Jeremy's not a great traveler." Natalie, Casey noticed, apparently was a good traveler. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, she'd come back from Sydney with a tan, a few new outfits, and far too many great tales of the Olympics. It made Casey tired just looking at her.
"Casey, you're going to sort out the twenties?" Dana asked, making notes on her rundown sheet.
Casey nodded. "Shouldn't be too hard."
"Good. And Rick will be in at three to replace Dan." Dana looked around the room, and shot Natalie a pleased grin. Even Casey had to admit it was nice to have everything back to normal. "So, that's it. I'll see everyone at eight."
***
Casey stood up from the anchor desk and pulled off his mike. He nodded to Rick. "Good show." It had been. Rick didn't quite having Danny's flair for being on-camera, but he did have a definite skill in wording a clever metaphor. Casey had to respect a talent like that.
"Good show," Eliot said as he walked over. Then he and Rick continued their discussion on one of the stranger topics to be discussed in the studio, fly fishing. Shaking his head, Casey headed back to the office.
He pulled off his jacket and switched on the TV, flicking through stations. He was about to give it up as a lost cause when Dana stepped into their office. "What are you watching?"
Casey switched off the TV. "Nothing interesting."
"Casey?"
"Yeah?"
"You do remember you're not hosting West Coast Update tonight?"
Casey sighed and let his head drop against the top of the couch. "No. I totally forgot."
"I thought you might."
Casey stood up and decided to bring the suit back to wardrobe tomorrow. "Thanks."
"You know," Dana said, crossing her arms and leaning back against the glass wall, "Isaac mentioned that you asked for Dan's time off."
"Anything to get some time away from Danny," Casey joked as he pulled on his jacket.
Dana snorted. "How come you didn't just tell him?"
"And give up the chance to have him owe me one?" Making sure his keys and wallet were in his pocket, Casey added, "If anyone understood the fun of psyching Danny out, I'd thought it'd be you."
Dana grinned briefly. "Queen of the head-games, baby."
"I know."
"So, you gonna tell him?"
"Nah." Casey smiled at her. "I might need that favor some day."
***
When Casey got home, the light on his machine was blinking an angry red. There was one message, which turned out to be from Dan.
"Hey, Casey, it's me. I was going to call you when you got home, but I got too tired. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure we were cool. I've been thinking about the Dana thing, and maybe you're right. You haven't been talking enough about Dana for it to her, so maybe it's got nothing to do with the fact that you've been spending hours alone together. Maybe it's something totally unrelated. Maybe it's doing the extra hour of television coverage. I'd suggest it's working with Sally, but I really don't think that's it. But you've been happier lately, you really can't deny it. So... yeah. If you want to talk, give me a call during the daytime. If not, we'll catch when we catch up."
Casey wasn't sure whether he wanted to erase the message or grab the phone and call Dan now. In the end, he just replayed it a couple times, and went to bed feeling very unsettled.
His dreams were fractured and senseless; glimpses of Dana and Charlie, Sally and Lisa. He woke up more tired than before he went to sleep and took cold comfort in the thought that at least he wasn't dreaming of Dan anymore.
***
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-07-27 05:32 am (UTC)Hee!
took cold comfort in the thought that at least he wasn't dreaming of Dan anymore.
Aww, poor Casey. *hugs him*
Also, yay and thank you for the water polo references in part 15 *g*. I really enjoyed the comment about Danny(?)'s supposed bias.
Still loving this story as much as when it started. But... *whispers* they are going to get together at some point, aren't they? There's only so much Casey angsting I think I can stand...
no subject
Date: 2004-07-27 01:39 pm (UTC)Although there's only a tiny reference, it took a lot of research. You'd be surprised how long I spent pouring over Olympics schedules, etc. I mean, I even wrote out my own little timeline. (BTW, thank you so much for the links and extra help. *Greatly* appreciated!)
Still loving this story as much as when it started. But... *whispers* they are going to get together at some point, aren't they? There's only so much Casey angsting I think I can stand...
They will get together. I Have A Plan. At least I know where it's heading now, I just need to figure out how to write the couple of scenes between Now and The End.
no subject
Date: 2004-07-27 07:19 am (UTC)I love how the pieces are coming together. Go Team Go!
no subject
Date: 2004-07-27 01:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-27 10:35 am (UTC)*then wanders off to BEAT CASEY TO DEATH with it*
no subject
Date: 2004-07-27 01:26 pm (UTC)Um, give the boys a stay of execution, 'kay? I promise there shall be two people sex coming up within a few (of the fic's) days.