Sports Night Fic: One for the Money; Part Two
Casey took a deep breath as he watched them walk into the bank, Charlie holding Danny’s hand like he sometimes did when he forgot that he was ten.
It would be okay. He was glad, really, that Charlie was in the tiny club of people who knew. Just three, counting Charlie.
Casey felt a fluttering of guilt when he thought of how upset Danny had looked when Charlie dropped his little bombshell. He knew Danny didn’t mind the idea of Charlie knowing - hell, he’d lobbied for it. No, it was Casey’s reaction that Danny was worried about. Clearly, he’d overplayed the need for secrecy.
Isaac knew, because Dan had stubbornly insisted that he could keep it from his family and he could keep it from his friends, but he couldn’t keep anything from Isaac. Lisa knew, because Casey feared telling her less than he feared her finding out on her own. She’d gotten him to agree not to tell Charlie, and he hadn’t wanted to tell anyone else.
Dan hadn’t understood why Casey didn’t want to tell anybody, not really. They had high profile jobs, true, but there were other same-sex couples in sports, both on the field and in front of the camera. It was an open secret that people were willing to ignore, as long as you were discreet. "I don’t want to send out a press release, Casey, but our friends aren’t going to tell anyone."
Casey knew he was right, in theory. But in practice, he hated the thought of telling them, the sheer awkwardness of announcing it and facing their inevitable shock. The thought of Dana’s wide eyes and Natalie’s snorts of disbelief seemed unbearable. There was no way he was telling Danny that, so he’d said things like you can’t be too careful and not yet. Dan didn’t look convinced, and finally Casey had snapped, "You’re happy enough not to tell your parents. Why is that so different?"
He’d been sorry the minute the words were out of his mouth. Unfair, so unfair of him to pretend not to understand Dan’s reluctance on that front. Dan had gone perfectly still for a moment, and then shrugged and said quietly, "It’s different, Casey, because we can trust our friends. Never mind, it doesn’t matter. We don’t have to tell anyone."
That wasn’t the way Casey had intended to win his point, and he really was sorry about that, but not sorry that Dan had given in. So he’d apologized for the meanness, with soft words and soft kisses, but readily accepted Dan’s offer of silence. He’d only expected a short reprieve, but in six months, Dan had never brought it up again.
Danny had actually proven to be much more skilled at subterfuge than Casey was, skillfully deflecting Natalie’s near-constant prying into their love lives with funny stories and long-winded explanations that never included any actual lies.
It wasn’t like Danny to let something go that easily, but he’d been so relieved that he ignored the way Dan would sometimes get pensive after Natalie tried to fix him up, and the sharp glances he sometimes felt Isaac was giving him. But now he wondered, with a sick feeling, just how afraid Dan had been of slipping up. Did he think that it was a secret relationship, or no relationship at all?
He was such an idiot. He, of all people, knew how hard it was for Dan to believe that he deserved to be loved, respected, treated well. He’d been so furious with Rebecca for the second-rate treatment she’d given Danny, and here he’d done the same damn thing, to spare himself some momentary embarrassment.
He’d make it up to Danny, starting this very weekend. They’d still go hiking and fishing with Charlie, as planned, but Casey suspected that the conversations weren’t going to center around their catch of the day.
The thought of spending two days explaining his love life to his son and his inane insecurities to his boyfriend should have filled him with dismay, but Casey felt oddly upbeat.
He glanced at his watch and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Either Danny was on a flirting rampage, or the bank was busier than the sparsely populated parking lot would indicate. He thought about going in to hurry things along, but decided that a show of impatience wasn’t the best way to start making things up to Danny.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Dan felt shaky and relieved and more than a little embarrassed as he grabbed Charlie and headed into the bank, not daring to look at Casey. That had certainly been a surprise. Both Charlie knowing, and Casey not freaking out.
Charlie knew, and Casey didn’t freak out, didn’t look mad or disappointed or ashamed. Charlie knew, and Casey had smiled, and said it was okay, and maybe that meant, just maybe . . .
Dan desperately wanted to pursue that train of thought, but Kyra’s window was open and she was already waving a greeting, so he stepped up with a grin.
He was still introducing Charlie when a sudden ruckus interrupted him. Three men came from the back area, where the safety deposit boxes were. Dan recognized the bank manager, and the guy to the right of him seemed to be a security guard, and the guy to the left, in his denim jacket and baseball cap, just looked like a customer. The security guard and the customer were shouting, waving their arms around. It took him a minute to realize what they were saying.
"Get down! Everybody against the wall or we’ll shoot."
Guns. Waving their guns around, sawed-off shotguns that must have been hidden in the jacket that it was too warm to be wearing.
Charlie stood frozen, mouth gaping in surprise. Danny grabbed him and steered him toward the wall, gently pushing him to the floor. He sat just ahead of him, wanting to create a barrier between Charlie and the robbers. He dared a quick glance at the other customers; no other kids, that was good.
The man in the jacket started barking orders at the staff, and the other one, who wasn’t a security guard after all, strode over to the seated customers.
"Cell phones! I want to see a cell phone for every person here, and no bullshit about not having one. Throw them here. Everybody stay quiet." He gestured with the shotgun, and a pile of cell phones quickly clattered to the floor.
Danny tossed his just as quickly as anybody else, so he was completely unprepared when the butt of the shotgun smashed into the side of his head.
"Not in front of the wall, against the wall. Move it. Next one’s a bullet."
And he wanted to comply, he really did, even though it hurt to move, but he felt dizzy and very unsure of where the wall had gone to. His blurry vision was really no help at all, and he didn’t see the sharp kick to his ribs coming. "Wall’s that way, moron."
Which was good to know, but now his side was on fire with pain, and he couldn’t suck in a breath and he sure couldn’t move. Luckily the man to the left of him grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him backwards.
Danny tried to thank him, he really did, but the roaring in his ears was so loud that he couldn't hear himself talking, and the lights dancing in front of his eyes were so bright that he was glad when everything went dark.