Moving On

Dana and Casey were sitting in their office. Since they had found out that the network was not going to be dropped, they were finding it easier to concentrate. Actually, Casey was finding it easier to concentrate, Dan however was still distracted by all things Rebecca.

"I went out with Rebecca last night."

"Good for you Danny."

"Yep, me and Rebecca. Steve Sisco's ex-wife. Out on a date."

"That's really great Dan."

"Do you know who I saw last night?"

"Let me guess, Rebecca?"

"No, well yes, but that's not who I meant."

"Who then?"

"Dana."

"Danny, we see Dana every day."

"But we don't see her on a date every day."

"A date?"

"Yes."

"Dana was on a date."

"Yes."

"With a guy."

"Yes."

Casey went back to working on his script. Dan could tell that Casey wanted to know more about Dana's date, but he didn't want to ask. He knew that Casey would crack eventually and want to know all the details, it's just a matter of time.

Dana was sitting behind her desk reviewing her notes from the rundown. It had been almost half and hour and she was still stuck on the same segment. The entire day had been like this. No matter what she did, Dana could not stop thinking about the night before. She had started dating Kevin a couple of weeks ago. At first, she wasn't all that interested in a relationship. Part of her was still holding out hope that things would work out with Casey. However, the more she saw Kevin, the more time she wanted to spend with him. Kevin was the only one who could make her forget about the problems with the network long enough to enjoy herself. He made her feel special. It had been a while since someone made her feel this way.

"Earth to Dana!"

"Oh, sorry Natalie. What do you need?"

"Why are you so distracted today?"

"No reason."

"You saw Kevin again last night didn't you?"

A smile curled across Dana's lips. She couldn't help it. Just the sound of Kevin's name made her blush.

"I'll take that as a yes. where did you guys go?"

"Just dinner at Tony Anthony's."

"That's it?"

"Yes Nat."

"Nothing special afterwards?"

"Kevin had an eight o'clock meeting this morning."

"Bummer."

"Yeah, well it's hard with the hours I work. He's really understanding about it though."

"So when are you seeing him again?"

"Probably not until next week. He's leaving tonight for a conference in Chicago this weekend."

"Bummer times two."

"Yeah but he promised to make it up to me when he comes home."

"Oooh. I expect to hear all the details."

"You'll hear whatever I feel like telling you. Is there anything else you need?"

"Nope."

"Then get back to work."

Natalie turned and left the office. Dana leaned back in her chair and sighed. She was really going to miss Kevin this weekend. She wondered if he was going to miss her as much as she would miss him. Dana glanced at her watch and forced herself to finish her work before the six o'clock rundown.

Dana made her way back to her office after the rundown. Despite Dan's pleading not to cover soccer, it had gone well. When she finally arrived at her office, Dana found a surprise waiting for her.

"Did you think I was going to leave without kissing you good-bye?"

"I thought your flight was leaving at six."

"Dana, I'm the vice president of a Fortune 500 company. I decide when my flight leaves and I decided it wasn't leaving until I kissed my girlfriend good bye."

Dana could feel herself blush as Kevin walked over to her. He pulled her gently to him and slowly kissed her. They were forced to part by the sound of Natalie knocking on the door.

"Come in."

"Dana, oh I'm sorry. I'll come back later."

"Not, it's all right. You must be Natalie."

Natalie was impressed. Dana hadn't said much to her about Kevin but she obviously told him enough about herself to know who Natalie was.

"Yes, you must be Kevin. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Dana smiled as Kevin and Natalie shook hands. Of course she realized that she was going to be read the riot act for not revealing more details, but she didn't care. She was glad Natalie and Kevin hit it off.

"What do ya need Nat?"

"Dan's begging not to cover soccer."

"Tell him he has two choices, he can cover soccer, or he can do the show without his pants."

"Will do. It was nice meeting you Kevin."

"The pleasure was mine Natalie."

Natalie gave Dana a look that said "I want details" and left Dana and Kevin alone again.

"I'll call you as soon as I get to Chicago."

"Okay, I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too Dana."

Kevin pulled her close and kissed her again.

"Come on, I'll walk you to the elevator."

"You just want an excuse for me to kiss you good-bye again."

Dana smiled coyly at Kevin. She took his hand and led him out of this office. Dana could feel people's heads turning to look at them as they walked by. She pretended not to notice. Finally, they arrived at the elevator. Dana put her arms around Kevin's neck, pulled him close and kissed him. They parted when the doors opened and Kevin stepped into the elevator.

"Bye sweetheart."

"Bye Kevin."

Sadly, Dana watched the elevator doors close. She sighed and walked back to her office. She could still feel his arms around her waist, holding her body close to his. She thought about what he said, "Dana, I'm the Vice President of a Fortune 500 company. I decide when my flight leaves and I decided it wasn't leaving until I kissed my girlfriend good-bye." She was very lucky to have found him she thought as she opened to door to her office. Very lucky indeed.

Casey had just finished his script and was on his way to drop it off to Dana when he saw her walking through the newsroom. She wasn't alone. Casey didn't know who the man with Dana was, but it was obvious that she knew him from the way he had his arm around her waist. Casey noticed Natalie heading towards her desk and decided to find out what was going on. As she passed him, he grabbed her elbowed and pulled her inside.

"Who the hell is that?"

"Huh?"

"Who the hell is that with Dana?"

"Kevin."

"Kevin."

"I don't know his last name."

"Well what do you know?"

Natalie was surprised by Casey's interest in Dana's new friends. It was clear that things were over between them, despite the fact that he wasn't seeing Pixley anymore.

"Why do you care?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?"

"Why do you care. Dana's not your girlfriend or your ex-girlfriend for that matter. Why do you care?"

"Because I care. Who is this Kevin person? Where did she meet him? How long has she known him?"

"His name is Kevin, he's the Vice President of a Fortune 500 company. She met him at El Perro Fumando one night after the show...

" "Where was I?"

"I don't know, but you weren't there. Maybe it was during your 'I'm not speaking to Dan phase.' Either that, or you were with one of your substitute Dana's, but you weren't there. She's been dating him a couple of weeks."

"By any chance, did she go out with him last night?"

"Yeah, they had dinner at Tony Anthony's after the show. Why?"

"Nothing never mind."

Casey left his office to go find Dan. He wanted to know exactly what he saw last night when he saw Dana at the restaurant. Casey found Dan in the edit bay, working on tape for the AL East.

"I want details and I want them now."

"I'm done with the Yankees game, but if you want the Red Sox game, you might want to wait until they play it."

Dan knew that Casey wasn't talking about baseball. He wanted to know exactly what Dan saw at Tony Anthony's the night before.

"You know what I'm talking about Daniel."

"Dana had dinner after the show last night at Tony Anthony's with a gentleman. I don't know the guys' name. However, he was very well dressed in what I think was an Armani suit. I didn't get a good look at his face because his back was to me and he didn't take his eyes of Dana for a minute. When they were leaving, I noticed that Dana was carrying a single pink rose. Truthfully, I didn't know that Dana liked pink roses."

"She didn't use to. But Gordon always brought her red roses so I guess she doesn't want to be reminded of him."

They sat there in silence. Dan went back to editing tape, knowing that Casey would soon interrupt him.

"Why didn't she tell me she was seeing somebody?"

"Why would she tell you?"

"What?"

"Given your history lately, I'm not surprised she didn't tell you. In fact, I would be kind of surprised if she did tell you."

"I've known her half my life Dan, she used to tell me these kinds of things.

"This isn't a recent development Casey."

"What do you mean? I thought they had only been dating a couple of weeks."

"How did you find out about Gordon?"

"When she brought him to the Continental Corp cocktail party."

"An prior to that evening, did she mention that she was seeing someone?"

"No."

"And didn't you get the impression that it wasn't their first date that night?"

"Yes."

"Why would she tell you about Kevin?"

Casey just sat their and stared at Dan. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Dana rarely talked about the guys she was dating until they were fairly deeply involved. Even in college, Casey would tell Dana about his dates with Lisa, but she would never mention what she did. After a few minutes, Casey got up and left the edit bay. He didn't like it when Dana kept things from him. He was always honest with her.

Dana was sitting on the couch in her office getting ready for the eight o'clock rundown when Casey came in. He didn't knock and it was clear that this was not about work.

"Why didn't you tell me about Kevin?"

"Hi Casey, come on in. Do you need something? Feel free to interrogate me about my personal life. "

"In all the years I've known you, I've told you everything that was going on in my personal life, especially when I thought Lisa and I were getting a divorce. Why the hell didn't you tell me about Kevin?"

"Fist of all Casey, who I see and when I see them is none of your concern. And second, you certainly have not told me everything that goes on in your personal life."

"What didn't I tell you?"

"Oh, I don't know, about Sally?"

Dana was getting angry. Leave it to Casey to but in where it wasn't his concern. There was a very good reason why she didn't tell him about Kevin. It was none of his business.

"Casey, so you want something related to the show?"

"Yeah, I want to know who my boss is not only spending her free time with, but also her work time."

"It's none of your business Case."

"Well, I'm making it my business."

Dana realized that Casey wasn't going to leave until he got some answers. She didn't understand why all of a sudden Casey was interested in her personal life. In all the years she had known him, he never asked about it, He just when on and on about his own life.

"Are you jealous Casey?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Are you jealous Casey?"

"What makes you think I'm jealous?"

"You're behavior for one thing. When I asked you out and you said no, did it ever occur to you that I might meet someone else while you were moving on with your life? Did you think that I would get tired of waiting around for you to decide when later was? Did you think I would wait another sixteen years for you to be in love with me? I couldn't do it Case. I waited sixteen years to be with you, and when you finally wanted to be with me I got scared. So I created that six month dating plan to buy myself some time to get over being scared. And I ended up pushing you away and hurting you. I'll probably regret that for the rest of my life. I'm sorry I hurt you Casey, really I am. But I can't spend the rest of my life waiting for you. You said you wanted to move on with your life. I accepted that. It hurt like hell, but I accepted it. It's time for me to move on with my life Casey."

For the second time that day, Casey was at a lost for words. He didn't realize that Dana felt that way. Without so much as an "I'm sorry", he turned a left Dana's office. As she watched him walk away, Dana could feel the tears starts to roll down her cheeks. It had taken all her strength to say what she had just said. Admitting that she had feelings for Casey since college, admitting that she was scared of being in a relationship with him. After a few minutes, Dana pulled herself together and hot get ready for the rundown.

The show went off that night without any major errors. Dan and Casey got unwired and were making their way back to wardrobe.

"So, you got any plans for tonight?"

"I have a date with Rebecca."

"Wow two nights in a row."

"We're making up for lost time. How about you?"

"I'll probably just head home."

"Sounds exciting."

"Shut up."

"So are you okay with the whole Dana thing?"

"What Dana thing?"

"The Dana has a new boyfriend thing."

"Why wouldn't I be okay with it?"

"Cause earlier you didn't seem okay with it."

"Who Dana sees in her free time is non of my concern. She wants to move on with her life and that's her choice."

By this time, Dan and Casey had made their way back to their office. Natalie was waiting for them when they arrived.

"Are you okay with this Casey?"

"Why do people keep asking me that?"

"Because you're secretly in love with Dana."

"I am not secretly in love with Dana."

"Yes you are. You're just too proud to admit it."

"Natalie, I am not secretly in love with Dana. At one time, yes I was very much in love with Dana. But it was clear that she didn't want a relationship with me. I've moved on with my life and it looks like Dana's done the same."

Casey collapsed onto the couch. He was in love with Dana. The only reason he said no was that he wanted her to feel as rejected as she made him feel. The thought of her being with someone else drove him crazy. In all his life, he had only two dreams; to be a sports journalist and to be with the most wonderful woman in the world. He had accomplished the one, but now it seemed as if the second would never happen.

"It's not to late Casey."

"It's not too late for what Nat?"

"To tell her."

"There's nothing left to be said."

"Yes there is Casey, there always is. Dana loves you, I know she does. She's just scared."

"She's moved on with her life."

"Dana doesn't love Kevin the way she loves you. She's only known Kevin a few weeks, she's known you half her life. The bell hasn't rung yet Casey. What you need is a plan."

"I had a plan."

"Showing up and seeing what happens isn't a plan."

"Worked for Napoleon."

"Dude, no it didn't."

Casey hung his head in his hands. He couldn't live his life without Dana. He wanted her, always had, always will.

"I don't want to hurt her."

"If you have the right plan, you won't hurt Casey."

"I'm scared Nat. I'm scared of hurting her again. I'm scared of how I feel about her. In all my life I have never loved anyone half as much as I have loved her. All I want is for her to be happy. And if Kevin makes her happy..."

"Stop it. Stop it right now Casey. This thing with Kevin is only temporary. Dana needed someone to go to when Continental Corp went up for sale. She needed someone who understood what the sale could mean to her job security but who could also take away her pain. She didn't think she could come to you, so she turned to Kevin. He got her through this because she didn't think anyone else could."

Casey was confused. If Dana needed him the way it sounded she did, why couldn't she just come to him? Had things really changed between them that much?

"What do you want me to do Nat?"

"Be a man Casey."

"What?"

"Stop hiding and be a man."

"But she's seeing someone."

"Did that stop you before?" "

"No."

Casey got up and left the office. He needed a plan to get Dana back. He didn't want to hurt her. He knew that breaking up her and Kevin was going to hurt for a while. She was going to need time to get over the pain. He would wait for her. He would wait a lifetime if it meant that they could be together. No all he needed was a plan.


To be continued.


The End