SN WIP: Danny in therapy fic - Part 2

[out_there]

Okay, why is it I only write these days when I'm supposed to be doing an assignment? Okay, last section is here.

***

"You know," Dan said as he walked through Abby's door, "it's kind of comforting to be here on a Tuesday afternoon again."

Abby gave him a warm smile. "Good afternoon, Dan."

"I have my manhood back." Dan stood in the middle of the room and stretched his arms above his head. "I have reclaimed my manhood."

Abby looked confused. "Last week's visit went well?"

"No, no, no, no. My manhood has nothing to do with my family." Dan paused for a moment, grimacing. "And boy did that sound wrong."

Abby laughed. "How was the visit?"

"Full of the regular Rydell fun," Dan said dismissively. "Alternatively awkward, heartfelt and uncomfortable. But on the good side, Mom baked cookies."

Abby's eyes narrowed, watching him calmly. "It was bad?"

"Not really." Dan shrugged. "Besides, there were cookies. You can't underestimate the importance of home-baked cookies. I should bring you some."

"Are you okay, Dan? You seem," Abby paused, tilting her head, "a little edgy."

Dan grinned and bounced on his heels a couple times. "I'm excited."

"Because of cookies?"

"I have cookies and I have my manhood back." Dan spread his arms wide. "What more can any man ask for?"

Abby raised an eyebrow. "I could think of a few things."

Dan laughed, and sat down. He stretched his arms along the back of the couch, and said, "I don't think you understand how important this is. Natalie has had my manhood for too long, and eventually, using cunning and a small amount of deception, I have won my manhood back."

"Okay, I give in," Abby said with a long suffering sigh.

"Huh?"

"What are you talking about?"

Dan leaned forward, pressing his palms flat against the coffee table. "I am talking about the 'Celebrities' game we played on Friday night. I got serious about it, and I won."

"You won?"

"Well, my team won," Dan amended, "but it was because of my sneaky plan that we won."

Abby shook her head quickly. "I'd have thought that a group of sports fan would care more about good sportsmanship."

Dan snorted. "There's the winners and the losers, Abby, and desperate times call for desperate measures."

"So you cheated?"

"I didn't cheat so much as..." Dan said, bobbing his head from side to side, "sabotage."

"How?"

"I conned Natalie into taking the worse player in the office."

***

Natalie grinned sharply, brandishing the coin like a weapon of mass destruction. "You know you're going to lose, right?"

"Not this time." Dan shook his head. "This is the day when I reclaim my manhood."

"I don't think so."

"It will be."

"I think," Natalie paused, looking around the empty conference room, "this is the day when you carry me around the office on your shoulders. Much like the last time we played. And the time before that."

"Not this time."

"And the time before that," Natalie continued with a grin.

"This time, you're going down."

Natalie snorted. "Just flip the coin, Rydell."

Rolling his eyes, Dan took the quarter out of Natalie's hand. "How come I always flip?"

"Because that's the consolation awarded to the loser," Natalie explained slowly, clearly enjoying herself. "And you always lose."

"Then next time," Dan replied, tossing the coin in the air and catching it on the back of one hand, "you'll be the one flipping, Hurley." He carefully covered the coin with his other hand.

"Those are big words from a big loser."

"Call it."

Natalie grinned widely. "Heads." When Dan pulled back his hand, he saw the metallic face looking up at him. "I take Dave."

Dan blinked, surprised that she'd made such an obvious mistake. "Then I'm taking Jeremy."

"You can't have him."

"I just claimed him."

Natalie frowned. "You *can't* have him."

"Why not?"

"Because he was my boyfriend."

Dan rolled his eyes. "He's now your ex."

"But we could be getting back together," Natalie said firmly, pushing dark hair out of her eyes. "So he can't be playing against me. He can't."

"You can't have Dave and Jeremy."

Natalie sighed. "Fine. I'll swap you. Happy?"

"Okay." Dan nodded, and wrote down the start of the teams on his pad of paper.

"You'll still lose," Natalie said decisively. "Anyway, I'll take Dan--"

Dan waved his finger at her. "Uh-uh!"

"What?"

"You just swapped me. You can't swap and then have another turn." Natalie opened her mouth to reply, but stopped herself. Dan continued, "It's my turn."

"Fine." Natalie rested a hand against her hip. "You'll just pick Casey, anyway."

Dan grinned. "I choose Dana." He added Dana's name to his list.

Natalie glared at him. "You can't have Dana."

"I just picked her."

"I don't care. You can't have her."

Laughing, Dan sat down on the conference table and swung his legs. "Why not?"

"This game was originally me and Dana against you and Casey. You can't change it now."

"I picked Dana."

"She should be on *my* team," Natalie replied, pointing at herself.

"Are you going to give me Jeremy?"

"You can't have Dave and Jeremy. You said yourself that was unfair."

"Then, there's no one on your team I want to swap with." Dan leaned his arms back against the glass tabletop, grinning smugly at Natalie. "Dana's on my team tonight."

"You fight dirty, Rydell." Natalie scowled at the team listing for a long moment, and then looked up with a savage glint in her eye. "But if you take Dana, I take Casey."

"Okay. I dibs Isaac."

***

"You got Natalie to take Casey?" Abby asked.

Dan beamed. "Uh-huh. It was a stroke of genius."

"How come?"

"Because Casey sucks at 'Celebrities'. He doesn't mean to, but that man has an astounding lack of talent for the game." Dan shifted back on the couch. "The guy thought Veronica was in the Monkeys."

"Veronica?" Abby's brows jumped up. "As in the Archie comics?"

"Exactly." Dan winced. "He doesn't mean to, but... He does tend to sabotage our score."

"So you got him on Natalie's team?"

"Stroke of genius!" Dan boasted proudly.

"What did Casey have to say about it?"

Dan felt his smile droop. "Casey took a bit of convincing. For a guy who follows Napoleon, he doesn't always trust other people's plans."

***

Dan walked into their office and found Casey sitting at the table, flipping through the Times' sports section. Dragging another chair over, he sat beside Casey and stared at him hopefully. "Casey?"

Casey looked up, and immediately sounded suspicious. "Yeah?"

"I have a favor to ask of you."

"What type of favor?" Casey asked carefully.

"An important favor. A vital favor." Dan smiled warmly at him. "A favor that would mean a lot to me."

"Is it going to be embarrassing?"

"Possibly."

"Then why would I do it?"

"Because I am asking you as your best friend. I am forsaking all pride and begging you to help me."

Casey snorted and folded the newspaper up. "I don't think so, Danny."

Dan let his head drop to the table. "You have to help me beat Natalie. You have to, Casey."

"I always try to help you."

"She has my manhood."

"In her little Prada bag," Casey added.

"So I have to beat her."

Casey nodded. "I completely agree."

"So you'll help me? You'll do this favor?"

"What's the favor, Danny?" Casey asked uncertainly. It was a positive sign.

"I need you to sabotage Natalie's team."

"That sounds like the kind of favor that will result in me not wearing pants."

"Possibly," Dan admitted. "But if you end up pantsless, I promise I will go without pants, for the sake of solidarity."

Casey watched him carefully. "For the sake of solidarity?"

"Or, if possible, I will lend you my pants. I will give you my pants and I will go pantsless. That is how important this favor is to me."

"Stop saying pantsless." Casey sighed. "What precisely do I have to do?"

Dan grinned. "That's the beauty of it. You just have to play at your usual terrible standard."

"And that'll sabotage Natalie's team?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

Dan took a deep breath. "You'll be on Natalie's team."

Casey raised an eyebrow at him. Dan tried not to squirm. After a short silence, Casey said, "You didn't pick me?"

"It's part of my cunning ploy."

"I've been your best friend for ten years, and you didn't pick me?"

"Well, no." Casey started to scowl, so Dan quickly explained, "I was going to, but Natalie picked you first."

"She won the coin toss?"

Dan nodded. "Yeah."

"She picked me first?" Casey asked doubtfully.

"No. She picked Dave."

"And you picked...?"

"Jeremy." Dan shrugged apologetically. "And if I'd got to keep Jeremy, I would have picked you next."

"Why didn't you?"

"Natalie claimed that she might get back together with Jeremy someday, so he had to be on her team. She swapped me Dave."

Casey snorted loudly. "Then what happened?"

"I got to pick, and I picked Dana."

"Dana?"

"Yeah."

"The woman who can't translate basic Spanish?"

"Yeah."

"You picked *Dana* over me?" Casey asked, standing up.

Dan winced and followed Casey over to the desk. "I was trying to psych Natalie out."

"Did it work?"

"She was pretty flustered," Dan assured him. "So, you know, it possibly worked."

Casey frowned. "And you think breaking Dana and Natalie up will allow you to win?"

"I'd really like to win, Casey. I really, really want to."

"And in order to win, you didn't pick me," Casey said peevishly.

"I thought you could take down the establishment from the inside!"

"Man, did you back the wrong horse," Casey muttered as he sat down at the desk.

"You're not going to help?"

"No, I'm not." Casey glared up at him. "In fact, I'm going to go out of my way to make sure Natalie wins. Just so she can keep your manhood stuffed in her pink Prada purse."

Dan perched on the edge of the desk. "Look, Casey, it's not--"

"Go away." Casey shooed him with both hands.

Dan blinked at him. "What?"

Casey pointed at the couch. "There is an entire half of the office that you can use to write your script. This half of the office is reserved for Natalie's teammates only."

***

"He really didn't take it too well," Abby summarized.

"He really didn't," Dan agreed. "But he played his heart out, and managed to embarrass a different team, so in the end, it all worked out. He played earnestly, I still won my manhood back, and he was over it by Monday."

"He held a grudge over the weekend?"

Dan laughed. "Oh, yeah. Regardless of his other failings, Casey has a real skill at holding grudges. When he puts some effort into it, he can stay mad for a long time."

Abby raised an eyebrow. "Did he forgive you later?"

"Yeah." Dan nodded "Not until Sunday, though. Which was when my foresight saved our dignity."

***

Casey looked down sheepishly, which was a big improvement on the frosty frown he'd had glued to his face yesterday. Then again, it was somewhat hard to be impersonal when standing around in a shirt, tie, jacket and boxers. "This could be my fault."

Dan looked up, struggling to contain his grin. "Really?"

Casey grimaced and nodded. "I might have mentioned your plan to Natalie."

"But you didn't go along with the plan," Dan pointed out as he lifted his gym bag on to the table. "Why did you tell her?"

"I was complaining about being picked last. It just kind of... slipped out."

"Casey, Casey, Casey," Dan said, shaking his head. "There are some things you just shouldn't tell a woman. Telling her that a friend tried to convince you to dupe her but you didn't go along with it? Never a good confession to make."

"Apparently not." Casey sighed and crossed his arms, feeling defensive at being only half-dressed. Or possibly just feeling cold in the air-conditioning. "So, yeah. Sorry about having to do the show tonight without pants. And for being so petty about it all yesterday."

"Ah, and there's the magic word," Dan said, pulling his gym bag open.

"What?"

"Sorry." Dan pulled two pairs of sweatpants out of the bag, and handed one pair to Casey. "They should fit."

Casey grinned, holding the material tight in his hands. "You brought me pants?"

"I was waiting for Natalie to retaliate. It had to come sooner or later." Dan grinned, and toed his shoes off. "This time, I wanted to be prepared."

***

Abby laughed. "I'm happy to say that I've never had a colleague steal my pants in retaliation."

"You don't know what you're missing," Dan said with a chuckle. "It brings a certain sense of freedom."

"I'll take your word for it. So," Abby tapped her pen against her desk, "are you going to tell me about the cookies, too?"

Dan spread his hands in a shrug. "What's to tell? My mom bakes great cookies."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Chocolate chip cookies that are simply divine. And peanut butter cookies that melt in your mouth, Abby." Dan closed his eyes, remembering the scent of freshly baked cookies. "I'm not kidding. These are the best you will ever taste."

"So she cooked when you went back home?"

"Everyone relaxes on the Sabbath, but my mom bakes cookies."

"The Sabbath? As in Saturday?"

Dan nodded. "Yeah. She's always done it early in the day, and all afternoon, all you can smell is chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies."

Abby smiled. "She made cookies for you on Saturday?"

"Yeah. It was just like being a kid again. Walking into the kitchen and just smelling it." Dan grinned. "I'll bring some in, and you'll see I'm not exaggerating."

"Didn't you say you were going to see your family Tuesday?"

"I left Monday night," Dan said, wary of the change of conversation. "Came back Tuesday afternoon."

"But your mom cooked for you on Saturday?"

Dan blinked, trying to backtrack. "She didn't cook for me, she just cooks on Saturdays."

"But she cooked, and you were there, right?"

"No. I--" It was only a slight pause, but Dan was sure Abby heard it. "I didn't have this Saturday off. I was working."

Abby blinked. "What about last Saturday? You had that off."

"Yeah, I did." Dan carefully didn't cross his arms. He tried not to tense up, but he could feel his back going stiff.

"Did you see your family?"

"No, I didn't."

"Did you see your family?"

"I told you last week, Abby. I just did some packing. Cleaned the house a little."

"Did you see them?"

"I--" Dan closed his mouth, uncertain of what to say. "So what if I did? They're my family. It's not a big deal."

Abby nodded slightly. "It isn't."

Dan shrugged. "So why--"

"The big deal is that you purposely lied to me."

"I can see my family whenever I want, Abby. I don't have to okay it with you." Dan carefully unclenched his hand.

"I never said you did," Abby replied calmly. "I just don't see why you felt the need to lie to me about it."

"I'm allowed to have my privacy," Dan muttered.

"Dan?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you tell Casey? Or anyone else?"

"They don't need to know, Abby."

"But why do you need to hide it?"

"I'm not hiding it," Dan replied brusquely. "I'm just not advertising it."

"You're going out of your way to lie about it."

"So?"

"You're hiding it," Abby said evenly. "Your friends wouldn't think any worse of you because you don't get on with your family."

"I never said they would," Dan shot back.

"So why not tell them?"

"They don't need to know."

Abby was quiet for a long moment, and then she leaned back in her seat. "They already know you don't get on so well with your family, right?"

Dan snorted. "It's not like I've taken out a billboard sign saying 'dysfunctional son here'."

"But Casey knows, at least?"

"Yeah," Dan acknowledged with a shrug, "Casey knows."

Abbey paused for a moment, watching him in that way she had, watching as if she could see the cracks start to form. "Then why not tell him that you're visiting family? When he asked you to play catch with him and Charlie, why not mention it?"

"Because he doesn't need to know--" Dan stopped. He stared at the carpet, concentrating on working his jaw in a circle, feeling the tension in his cheeks.

"What doesn't he need to know?" Abby asked firmly. Dan kept his eyes locked on the brownish carpet. "It's not that you don't get on with your family, because he already knows that. So what's the complication?"

He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath through his nose. When he opened them, he still couldn't quite face Abby. "It's not important."

"Whatever it is, it's important to you."

Dan huffed and started shaking his head. "It's-- Abby. It's not. Really-- It's not."

"What is it?"

Licking his lips, Dan briefly wondered why he'd shown up today. If he was with Casey, he never would have had to talk about this stuff; Casey never pushed this hard.

"Danny?"

"My dad--" His throat closed up and Dan swallowed and started again. "He isn't well."

"He's sick?" She sounded concerned, but he didn't trust himself to look up. Instead, he just nodded. "Is it serious?"

He nodded again. "Yeah."

"And are you okay?"

"That's a really loaded question, Abby."

"Fair enough," she said with a small, sympathetic smile. "But are you going to be okay? Do you want to make another appointment this week?"

Dan shook his head. "I'll be fine." His voice sounded far too brittle.

"Danny?"

"I'll be fine," he repeated and this time it sounded believable. His watch said it was time to go, so he stood up. He'd never been happier to leave a therapy session. "I'll see you next week, okay? And if I need you, I know how to pick up a telephone and make an appointment."

Abby nodded. "Don't take this the wrong way, Danny, but I'll be expecting that call."

Dan shrugged and walked out the door.

***

Um, no, I'm not too sure what Danny's dad has, but whatever it turns out to be (after I've done some research) should result in hospitalisation in a week's time.

Comments

[celli]

oooooooh. You're going to take Danny apart, aren't you? Is it bad I'm looking forward to it?

[out-there.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Not at all. Danny gives good angst.

I don't think I'll take Danny all the way apart (that would require too much effort and skill) but I'd like to play with his relationship with his father and with Casey.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

And I'm tempted to drag you onto AIM, except for the fact that it's past midnight in Celli-land, and I have to leave the house in half an hour. *frowns*

[celli]

gah! *headdesk* I knew I was forgetting something. I knew it.

I'm going to have to start scheduling our chats into my datebook.

<--pathetic

[out-there.livejournal.com]

*pets you* It's okay. Not your fault.

But I'll be around today if you have time.

[dzurlady.livejournal.com]

Um, no, I'm not too sure what Danny's dad has, but whatever it turns out to be (after I've done some research) should result in hospitalisation in a week's time.

What a diagnosis! :) Imagine going to the doctor - "Well, I don't know what you've got, but you'll be in hospital in a week."
"Wha? How do you know?"
"I got the author's memo."

I love this fic - Abby is so cool.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

What a diagnosis! :) Imagine going to the doctor - "Well, I don't know what you've got, but you'll be in hospital in a week."
"Wha? How do you know?"
"I got the author's memo."

*cracks up completely*

Okay, I'm not much of a medical type, but really, by Dan's next weekly appointment, I want Jay Rydell to take a turn for the worse. I want him to definitely be hospitalised by the week following that (because I have the 'Casey comes to the hospital to comfort Dan' scene already started.).

See, I was originally thinking some kind of heart-related thing, say a minor heart attack followed by a major one, but... at the moment, I just don't know enough about it to be able to be certain. Maybe something else sudden would work better... *shrugs*

I love this fic - Abby is so cool.

Abby does, indeed, rock.

local color

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

flipping through the Times' sports section

The NY Times' sports section is to laugh. It has no manhood. It wears white socks with sandals. It thinks Ivy League football is really really important. Sometimes it isn't even a separate section. It's possible, though, that it includes coverage of some sport like college gymnastics that you won't see in the NY Post (terrible asswipe paper, big sports section) or Daily News (better than the Post for news, but I'm not sure it's as good for sports).

Re: local color

[out-there.livejournal.com]

See? This is the information that you need a native to provide. *hugs you*

It wears white socks with sandals.

*giggles muchly* So, obviously, that's why Casey was only flicking through it, and didn't stop to read any of it.

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

My brother was recently in hospital with peritonitis resulting from ongoing diverticulitis. He's about Danny's father's age. (Which is embarrassing.) Any good? Other than that, I can only think of cancer. I reckon a heart attack's as good as anything.

... this singularly callous post brought to you by the "It's okay, she's a writer!" long-distance cheering section of Thornton Heath.

Nicely observed and realistic woobie-Danny - looking forward to the next instalment.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

I reckon a heart attack's as good as anything.

That's what I actually went for. I did a little research last night, and then wrote a section of Danny explaining it to Casey, to get it straight in my head. (why did I go for heart attack? Because it gave me a chance to give Dan's dad angina. *sniggers like a 12 year old*)

[snoopypez.livejournal.com]

Ack! It was so nice and light with the regaining of manhood! :P And then -- boom.

Of course, I desperately want Danny to bring me some of his mom's cookies now.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

I don't think Danny shares too well. But I bet he brings extra cookies back for Charlie and Casey.