Author's note: Sadly, I came late to the Dan/Casey parade (they had to wait until my horizons were expanded). This is the result of some of the first inklings -- mildly slashy implications ahead.

Rating: PG

Distribution: Please, just ask me first.

Spoilers: None, though there is a reference to Thespis and the Apology

Disclaimer: If these guys were mine, don't you think they'd still be on the air?

Thank You
by Gatekeeper

"Hi, my name is Maggie and I'll be your .... Casey McCall? Is ... is it really you?"

Casey looked wearily up at the increasingly excited waitress. This was his last stop after a long, extremely tiring night -- so many technical problems had reared their ugly little heads that everyone was sure Thespis had made a second appearance. Much worse, it had been a long, extremely tiring night without Danny -- bad Chinese food from the day before had taken him out for the night. Even the temporary loss, he was forced to admit, was making him irritable.

Still, none of that was this woman's fault. Besides, it was fans like her who kept there being the hope of a better day tomorrow .... He pasted on his best camera smile. "Yeah, it's really me. Do you watch the show?"

"Do I watch the show?" she responded incredulously, as if he'd asked whether she enjoyed breathing on a regular basis. She blinked, and Casey noticed a sudden wetness in her eyes. "I hate to ask this, but can ... can I hug you?"

Well, she didn't look like a stalker fan .... Casey sighed, nodding, and an instant later she had her arms wrapped around him. "Thank you so much," she whispered in his ear before pulling away.

"What? For the hug?" He tried a variant on the camera smile, hoping the rakish edge still held after the kind of day he'd had. "Always happy to help a fan."

Maggie, however, was too busy wiping her eyes to notice. "You guys saved my baby brother from making a terrible mistake -- you have no idea how much that means to me and my folks."

Casey's expression softened. That apology Danny had made to Sam on the air had rippled a lot farther than the CSC executives ever could have imagined -- they were still getting letters and phone calls from people who had changed their lives because of it. Danny's eyes would get suspiciously wet each and every time. "I'll tell Dan."

"Thank you." She sniffed. "He would have never left that bastard if it hadn't been for you two."

Casey's eyes widened in confusion. "Bastard?"

"Yeah." The tears in her voice had made their way onto her cheeks by this point. "Billy had just come out, and he was ... so confused. He was dating this terrible, terrible man, who was just ripping his heart into little tiny pieces and ..." She caught back a sob. "And just wanted to to ...totally destroy him. We all tried so hard to help him, but he didn't think he was worth any better."

Her voice was thick. "Until one night, when the two of us were watching the show together. Billy just adores you guys – he's the one that got me started on Sports Night. That night, though, it ... it was just bad. He told me things ...."

Her throat caught again, and Casey found himself covering her hand with his own in comfort. Without meaning to, he was hypnotized. Where was this going ....

"And I just ... I just got so mad. You guys had just come back on, and I made him watch you for a second. I know you guys have to be happy for the camera, but there's just ... there's just something there, and the few times when there's not you can always tell. But when it is ...." Her smile flashed for a second, almost shocking against the tears. "It's a beautiful thing. And ... I wanted him to see that, you know? See how it should be."

Her face fell again, but her voice was fierce. "And I looked him straight in the eye and I said, ‘That's how good it can be. And until you can find that, until you can find what you see right there, don't you dare settle for anything less.' Billy started crying, and he broke up with the bastard the next day."

The waitress stepped back, wiping her eyes and blinking as if she suddenly realized where she was. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," she said quickly, taking a deep breath as she made another dash at her cheeks. "I can't believe I just leaked all over you like that. You came in here for something to eat, not deal with a crazy woman. Coffee, tea, anything you want to drink – I'm buying. Just tell me how you want it."

"Coffee." Casey's throat was so tight he was surprised he could still speak. "Two sugars."

"Coming right up." She smiled again. "I'm really, really sorry for all that. I just ... I just wanted you to know."

His voice was a whisper. "Thank you."

After she left Casey just sat there, staring down at his hands. That's how good it can be ....

Maybe he had one more place to go tonight, after all.