| Subject: 5. Enrique de Espaņa |
Author:
shrift
| [ Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 15:09:20 06/08/03 Sun
In reply to:
shrift
's message, "Five Things That Never Happened" on 14:40:17 06/08/03 Sun
***
5. Enrique de Espaņa
Natalie leans into their office on her tiptoes, balancing herself on the door handle. "Dan?"
Danny looks up from the laptop and takes the pencil out of his mouth. "Yes, oh Natalie?"
"What's Casey doing?" she asks.
Casey glances up from the floor where he's prowling around his desk on all fours. "I'm right here, you know."
Danny keeps typing. "His computer has been possessed."
Natalie raises her eyebrows. "His computer has been possessed by the spirit of Fido?"
"Woof," Danny says. Casey growls at them both and crawls around his desk, painfully knocking his elbow against his ergonomic chair.
"Is Eli gonna be here this afternoon?" Natalie says.
Danny nods. "Bobbi said she'd be bringing him by any minute now."
Natalie smiles. "Cool!" She turns and heads back toward Dana's office, her dark hair bouncing on her shoulders.
"So," Casey says, poking his head up from under his desk where he's been cursing the hell spawn of all network lines. The cruel mockery of his computer is nothing compared to this new development. "We're getting a visit from Bobbi Bernstein."
"Casey..." Danny warns.
"Make no mistake," Casey says, sitting in the office chair and clasping his hands over his stomach. "I'm eager to see young Enrique."
Danny eyes him warily. "As you should be. He's as devilishly handsome and charming as his father."
Casey snorts, but doesn't argue. Eli is a good-looking little kid. "I merely think that --"
"Here we go," Danny says under his breath.
"As I was saying," Casey says, pausing significantly and waiting for Danny to interrupt again. "I think a little warning would have been prudent, Danny."
"Okay. Casey, I thought I should warn you that Bobbi Bernstein is coming by the office today."
"Too little, too late, my friend," Casey says.
Danny tosses his pencil onto the table. "What do you want from me?"
Casey looks at him for a moment and then shakes his head. "Nothing. Never mind."
"What, Casey?"
"It's nothing."
Danny peers at him suspiciously. Eli uses the exact same expression, and it makes him look so unbearably cute that grandmothers have been known to walk up to him on the street and pinch his cheeks.
It's exactly the kind of adorable look that makes it impossible for Casey to tell Danny that he'd like a little more time to prepare for damage control in the wake of Bobbi.
"Knock, knock."
Casey and Danny both turn to the door. A small figure flies toward Danny, yelling, "Daddy!" as he launches himself into Danny's lap. Danny braces himself and catches Eli with a grunt, pulling him close for a hug and a noogie that leaves Eli giggling.
Bobbie stands in the doorway, unsmiling and holding Eli's backpack. "Dan," she says.
"Bobbi," he says. Eli slides out of Danny's lap as he stands them both up. "Hey, kiddo. Why don't you go say hi to your Uncle Casey while I talk to your mom?"
Casey takes Eli's hand and nods to Bobbi as he passes her in the doorway. While she isn't particularly cold, she isn't particularly welcoming when she nods back.
Casey scoops up Eli and groans. "You're almost too heavy for this, Enrique. What are you, ten feet tall now?"
"Nooo," Eli says scornfully, rolling his big brown eyes. "Uncle Casey?"
"Yeah, kiddo?"
"Why does mommy make a face when you call me Enrique?"
Casey looks down at him. "What kind of face?"
"Like this," Eli says, and screws his face up like he's drinking sugar-free lemonade.
It's mildly hysterical, but Casey covers his laugh with a fake cough.
"Aha." Casey hitches Eli on his hip and dares to be honest. "Well, I suspect your mom thinks I'm making fun of her."
Eli tugs at Casey's collar. "Are you?"
Maybe a little, Casey thinks.
"Nope," he says instead. "I just like saying Enrique." Casey puts a thick trill on the 'r' and tips Eli upside down. Eli's laughter is loud and infectious, and a moment later the horde descends. Dana, Natalie, and Kim sweep Eli into their tidal wave toward Isaac's office, Jeremy and Elliot trailing behind them looking bemused. Whenever Eli visits the office, he becomes the official show mascot.
Casey looks over his shoulder at his office. Bobbi's talking, gesturing with one arm. Danny has propped himself against the computer desk, arms tightly folded and his eyes cast down. One drunken night at the Hotel de Espaņa had produced the greatest little kid in the world, and inextricably tied the two of them together for the rest of their lives. Funny thing is, Casey figures that Danny and Bobbi might actually like each other well enough if either of them had never made that trip to Spain.
Eli's sprawled on the floor next to Jeremy when Casey walks into Isaac's office. Isaac and Natalie look baffled by the complex erector set that Eli and Jeremy are assembling on the carpet. Dana hovers over them and slants Casey looks that nearly make him hear her biological clock ticking the time away.
When Bobbi appears in the doorway to say good-bye to Eli, Casey takes the opportunity to flee. After watching Bobbi and Danny battle back and forth over Eli the past few years, he's been glad that he and Lisa decided not to have kids long before they got divorced a year ago. Casey doesn't have any particularly strong urge to get re-married and reproduce anytime soon, and besides, he'll always have Eli around to spoil.
Casey finds Danny slumping on their office couch and rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Hey," Casey says, sitting down beside him.
"Hey."
Casey slings his arm around Danny's shoulders. "So. What'd you do wrong this time?"
"Usual," Danny says, and leans his head back on Casey's arm.
"Ah," Casey nods. Danny's warm all along his left side. "Your reckless seduction derailed her career."
"Oh, I'm a regular Lothario," Danny says, turning to look at Casey. He doesn't look as upset as usual, but Casey isn't taking any chances.
"Damn you for being fertile, Daniel, damn you."
"Shut up," Danny chuckles and nudges Casey's side with his elbow.
Casey tugs him closer for a moment, palming Danny's neck and shaking him a little. "You have robust sperm, Dan."
Danny stares at him like he's just quoted Vogon poetry. "Please don't ever use those words in a sentence together again."
Danny puts his head back on Casey's arm and they sit there for a while, the silence as comfortable as a pair of old sweats.
"Why do I get the feeling there's more?" Casey asks finally.
Danny sighs. "Her family's hassling her again about finding a nice Jewish boy and settling down."
"You're a nice Jewish boy," Casey says without thinking. And then he panics. Just for a moment. Because Bobbi Bernstein did turn into quite the babe. "You aren't going to --"
"What?" Danny asks. He recoils a little when he sees Casey's expression. "No!"
"Allow me to seek clarification," Casey says, pinning Danny's shoulders against the couch. "You, Dan Rydell, being of sound mind and body, will not propose to Bobbi Bernstein in some misguided attempt to do the right thing?"
"No, Casey."
Casey carefully maintains eye contact. "Because that ship has sailed, my friend."
"Hearing you loud and clear," Danny says.
"That ship left the dock many, many years ago, Daniel."
Danny stares at him wonderingly. "You are such a freak, Casey."
"Let he who is without a certain amount of freakishness cast the first stone," Casey says, relaxing his death grip on Danny's shoulders. He has plans for Danny, and those plans don't include a Mrs. Dan Rydell.
Maybe he should find an opportune moment to take Bobbi aside and tell her that she should be grateful that her parents still talk to her. Danny hasn't heard from his since the day the paternity test came back positive.
"Someone get this young man out of my hair," Isaac says from the doorway. Eli drops Isaac's hand and charges across the room, diving into a Superman pose across his and Danny's laps. Danny mercilessly tickles Eli while Casey tries to recover from a brutal sneaker-kick to the ribs. Eli eventually slides off their legs and collapses onto the carpet, breathlessly curling into a ball to protect his stomach.
"I don't know where they get the energy," Isaac says, shaking his head.
"I do. Refined sugar," Danny says, eyeing Isaac. "The kind you keep in your desk drawer for when Eli's here."
Isaac grins unrepentantly. "That's the benefit of being a grandparent, Daniel. I get to spoil them and then send them home."
"You, sir," Danny says, "are pure, unadulterated evil."
"Oh, I'm fully aware of that." Still grinning, Isaac gives them a little wave and leaves the office.
Eli sits up and wraps his arms around Danny's calf. "Daddy!"
"Yes, my son?" Danny says patiently, dropping his chin to his chest.
"I wanna go to the zoo!" Eli says, tugging on Danny's leg.
Danny raises an eyebrow. "What's the magic word?"
Eli furrows his brow. "Um. I wanna go to the zoo, alohamora?"
"That's close enough," Danny says. "Where'd mommy leave your bag?"
Eli runs over to the door, picks up his backpack, and runs back, his dark hair sticking up in tufts. He has a smudge of chocolate next to his mouth. "Daddy?" Eli asks, kicking at Danny's feet.
Danny leans forward and finger-combs Eli's hair. "Yes, running boy?"
"Can Uncle Casey come with us?"
Danny leaves one hand resting on his squirming son's head and looks over at Casey, his eyebrows raised. "What do you say, Uncle Casey?"
"Well..." Casey hedges.
"C'mon, Case," Danny says, squeezing Casey's knee and sliding his hand up Casey's thigh. Just high enough to erase any of Casey's intentions about being a good employee.
One of them really should stay behind to write the script, but Casey figures that using Eli as an excuse might get them out of hot water with Dana and Natalie. They'll just have to write really fast when they get back from making faces at the chimpanzees.
"I'd love to," Casey says. Danny smiles at him, the skin crinkling a little around his eyes. He squeezes Casey's thigh.
Oh, yeah. Casey definitely has plans for Dan Rydell.
the end
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
] |
|
Feedback: 