They Say What They Say

Title: Hymn of Doubts
Author: Laylee
Fandom: Sports Night
Pairing: Pre-show, Dan/Casey friendship.
Summary: Something's bothering Casey but it's not like he's talking about it or anything.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Does not belong to me.
Note: This is a sequel to Comfort Food, the ficlet I wrote a while back, and picks up where that one left of. I'm not sure about the title, but it's the best my sleep-deprived mind could come up with. Many hugs to phoebesmum for the speedy beta and for fixing my tense.




They take Casey's car to the one diner where Dan is sure he won't run into anyone he knows. Not an easy thing to do in a town the size of Hanover. But Casey is unlikely to open up about what's bugging him if they are being constantly interrupted by people who want to borrow Dan's class notes or shoot the shit in general.

The diner is one of those dingy holes in the wall that hasn’t seen a fresh coat of paint in twenty years. But they make great burgers and their fries are okay and Dan has a thing for the cherry pie that always sits under a glass dome on the counter.

They slide into a booth toward the back, accepting menus from the waitress who descends upon them as soon as they sink into the worn vinyl seats. She reels off the specials and then stands with pen poised over pad and waits to take their orders.

"Cheeseburger, fries, chocolate milkshake," Casey orders, with barely a glance at the menu. Dan asks for the same and adds a slice of cherry pie.

"Ice cream?" the waitress asks as she scribbles out the order.

"Two scoops," Dan says and hands her back the menu.

Casey raises an eyebrow at him but Dan quells him with a look. He doesn't need to justify his sweet tooth to anyone.

The food arrives quickly and they both dive in. Dan is starving and Casey doesn't seem far behind in the hunger stakes. While they eat, they talk. About sports and what’s happening in the world; about the new producer on Casey's show and how much better the old one was; about Dan's exams and his plans to go to Europe for a few weeks during the summer break.

"Oh, man, you have got to go to Spain," Casey exclaims when Dan says he’s not sure about travelling that far south. "Madrid is so much fun and you have not lived until you've seen Sagrada Familia."

Dan chuckles at Casey's enthusiasm for things Spanish and says he'll think about it. He doesn't say a word when Casey gently deflects his attempt to find out why he's really there and returns to the safer subject of baseball.

They finish their burgers and Dan eats half of Casey's fries on top of his own. To make up for that he shares his pie and they both leave most of their milkshakes because they were more shake than milk and the chocolate tastes a little off.

Casey picks up the check, then they wander onto the street and keep walking. There isn't much to see, with few people around and hardly any traffic, but they keep going anyway, looking in shop windows and not saying much of anything at all. After a while they come to a news stand and Casey stops to buy the latest Sports Illustrated and The New Yorker. Dan buys Rolling Stone and the local paper.

"You really read that?" Casey asks as Dan tucks the paper under his arm.

"It's interesting." He gestures at Casey's New Yorker. "You read that?"

"It's interesting," Casey parrots with a grin. Dan swats him with his newspaper and they continue on their way..

By the time they've done a complete circuit of the main street and arrived back at Casey's car, Dan is shocked to see that it is nearly three o'clock. Practically the whole afternoon gone and barely a thing to show for it, he reflects bitterly. At least if he'd stayed at the dorm he could have pretended to study instead of fruitlessly trying to get Casey to talk about whatever’s bothering him.

"I've so got to get back, man," Dan says at the same time Casey pulls his keys from his pocket.

Casey looks at him, a vaguely startled expression on his face. Like he's forgotten Dan was there. "Um, yeah, sure."

Dan begins to ask if he's okay, thinks better of it, and gets into the car without a word.

They drive back to the campus in near silence, the quiet hum of a baseball game on the radio the only thing to break the quiet. Casey pulls to a halt in front of Dan's dorm, but instead of just stopping long enough for Dan to get out, Casey kills the engine and sits there with his hands clutching the steering wheel hard for several long minutes.

"Casey?"

Finally Casey says, "Lisa's pregnant."

Dan pauses, his mouth opening and closing a couple of times. He has no idea what to say.

"That's … wow, that's great," he manages.

Casey snorts, his shoulders shaking a little. "I guess."

Dan looks at him uncertainly. "This is a good thing, isn't it?"

"It is," Casey agrees, and takes a deep, shaky breath. "It's just a little unplanned."

And therein lies the problem, Dan realises. Casey's not the sort of guy to let things go unplanned. He likes to keep a firm control on both his own life and, as far as he's able, what goes on around him. And Lisa's almost as bad. He can't imagine this being any more welcome than a pimple on prom night, not when she's invested so much time and effort into her career and Casey's.

"When is it due?"

"Beginning of October," Casey replies, then adds quickly, "we're having it," in a way that suggests other options had been considered.

Casey looks at him and Dan can see the terror and uncertainty in his eyes. Casey is so not ready for this. But what can Dan do to help? He's a twenty one year old college student with his own considerable monkey on his back. What does he know about the fear of impending, unplanned parenthood?

He drops his gaze, looks at his hands resting in his lap. "Casey, I …"

"Dan, I know," Casey says softly. "It's a hell of a thing to drop on you like that."

Dan winces a little, because, yeah, it is, but it also kind of comes with the territory, and it's not like he hasn't done the same to Casey.

He reaches out to gently swat Casey's knee. "Casey, you know you can talk to me."

Casey offers him a ghost of a smile. "Yeah, I know."

"But only if I'm not, like, busy sleeping or something."

It's Casey's turn to swat him on the knee and this time he smiles for real. "Haven't you got to go study for finals or something?"

Dan flips his hand nonchalantly. "Finals schminals."

"Go," Casey orders and doesn't say a word when Dan leans across to give him a hard, one-armed hug.

"I'll see ya, man," Dan says and gets out of the car.

"You will," Casey replies and he grinds the gears only a little as he zooms away.


FIN