"I'll miss you."

Brian had already been halfway down the first set of stairs, but those words stopped him in his tracks. "…what?"

As he turned around, he saw that Casey's gaze was toward the ground, but her eyes flashed over in his direction for just a moment with a look of sadness. "…nothing," she said as she turned away again.

For a fleeting moment he thought about simply taking her response at face value and continuing to leave like he had intended to, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. "No you just said something to me," he said as he stepped beside her. "You said you'd miss me."

Casey turned to look at him again, her expression seemingly a mix of fear, embarrassment and confusion all rolled up together. The confident resolve that had emboldened her to barge into the men's room minutes before looking for him had completely evaporated. There was only a moment of silence between them but the awkwardness in the air made it seem like much longer than that.

"Well… I will," she sighed as she raised her hands in an exasperated manner. "I mean, who… who am I going to hang out with? Or order Chinese food with, or rent a cheesy movie when I don't have a date on Saturday night with?" All of her thoughts were just spilling out rapidly now.

Casey looked at Brian's face for any sign of a reaction, but all she could see was a blank stare. "…forget it," she said in a resigned manner, as she headed for the stairs before anything else might spill out.

"…okay you can go."

It was barely audible and mumbled like his mouth was full, but somehow Casey heard every word. She was back up the stairs in a flash. "Wh-what did you say?"

"…nothing." Now it was Brian who had a strange expression on his face as he looked away quickly.

"N-no, you said I could go!" Casey pressed. She felt a sense of spontaneous glee welling up inside her.

"…how did you hear that?" Brian sputtered. "What are you, a bat?"

"Brian… did you mean it?"

The awkwardness felt torturous to him. His natural instinct was to retreat to his usual defense of dropping some kind of sarcastic response, but the pleading look on Casey's face stopped him. "…we leave on Friday," he finally said with a sigh.

"Oh thank you so much!" Casey burst out, undeniable happiness in her voice now. "You will never regret it!"

"…I already regret it," Brian replied with exasperation.

"Of course you do," Casey said in a mocking but cheerful tone. "But no backsies!" she called out happily as she ran back downstairs to share the news with whoever she could find.

As he watched her go, Brian couldn't stop a small smile from curling up on the side of his mouth. "No backsies, I guess," he sighed.

"Brian, wake up!"

"No backsies!" Brian blurted out as his head shot up off the desk. As his vision slowly came into focus, his gaze was met by that of a perplexed-looking Casey standing beside his seat in the office, her hand on his shoulder.

Right, the office. He had retreated there immediately after returning from a tiring set of morning flights and must have fallen asleep. The irony of having a dream about partly how he ended up in this situation to begin with was not lost on him.

"…no backsies on what?" Casey asked, confused.

"…nothing," Brian answered hurriedly. "What do you want?"

"You've been in here since you came back from your Boston flight and you didn't come out for lunch," she replied, motioning towards a plate placed on the side of the desk. "I thought you were working on something, but it turns out you were just sleeping," she added with a disapproving look.

"I'm lazy, sue me," Brian said flatly. He glanced at his watch. "Damn it, only have about 20 minutes before the next flight and I haven't even done the pre-check yet." He pushed himself off the chair, stifling a yawn as he did so.

"You should eat something first!" Casey said as she grabbed the plate she had brought in and thrust it towards him. "Egg salad sandwich," she added as she waved the plate up and down slowly as if trying to add to its allure. "I'm trying this for the first time today!"

Brian wrinkled his nose a bit. The truth was that he was actually quite hungry, having been late to the airport this morning and only having a cup of coffee before his first flight. Another (less convenient) truth was that Casey's cooking generally still left quite a bit to be desired. While she had improved dramatically since the initial days of taking over Helen's lunch counter, there was simply no substitute for years of practical experience. Casey was someone who barely had to enter a kitchen while living in the lap of luxury, much less run and maintain a business centered around one.

But she was trying. Damn it, she was. And the sincerity of her gesture counted for something too.

"Appreciate it," Brian said as he accepted the plate and willed his face into something hopefully resembling an encouraging smile. Casey nodded but didn't leave; she simply fluttered around him, awaiting a verdict on her culinary creation.

As he chowed down on the sandwich, Casey was happy that Brian was eating it without any sign of an adverse reaction, which had happened before. "How is it how is it?" she asked, pressing for a response.

"…it's pretty good," Brian mumbled in response with his mouth full. It wasn't a lie. Maybe everything tastes better when you're hungry, or maybe she was actually getting better at making sandwiches.

Somehow Casey understood every word. A smile broke out on her face. "Really? You really think so?" she bubbled excitedly.

Brian swallowed down the chunk of sandwich he was chewing on. "What are you, a bat?"

Casey punched his shoulder in response. "If it's good then eat faster, don't be late for your flight," she said with a lightly scolding tone.

"Yes, mother hen," Brian deadpanned through another mouthful.

Casey rolled her eyes. "I'm leaving now," she said as she turned to leave. "See you later."

"Wait!" Brian called out as she got to the office door. "Are we still on for tonight?"

The question caught Casey off guard. She blanked out as she tried to remember what was supposed to be happening. "Err, tonight?" she asked sheepishly after a moment.

"That movie premiere you were interested in, remember?" Ah, that was it. A film she had been excited about for a while was opening tonight, but they would have to fly to Boston to see it because the theater on the island wasn't showing it. "My late afternoon flight should be back here by 5:30. If you can be ready to go by then, we can head off for Boston right after I get back?"

Casey's excitement swelled and she opened her mouth to reply, but stopped. She remembered how she had just found him, facedown in a stack of papers, asleep, before noon. The truth was that as much as Brian tried to play it off, he had been working himself into the ground and was probably running on fumes more often than not. With Joe away, Sandpiper was now back to being a one-pilot operation and Brian had been flying a LOT, on top of managing the office work as well. An extra round trip to Boston tonight after a full day's load certainly wouldn't have helped.

For a moment, Casey thought about telling Brian to stay home and she would find some other way to go watch it, whether it was by herself or with someone else. But when she finally said something, what came out was "let's just stay in tonight."

Brian was dumbfounded. "What are you talking about, you've been waiting for this movie for weeks now. Ask me how I know. Oh right, it's because you won't shut up about it!"

"We can see it some other time!" she pushed back. "Look, I know you've been working really long hours lately, and I think you know it too. You were faceplanted on your desk snoring when I came in just now."

"…that was just a quick powernap in between flights. I'm fine," Brian said in defense.

"Even if it was, you should take whatever rest you can get. I don't want you to have to fly to Boston again tonight just for this," Casey continued.

"Casey, seriously, I'm fin-"

"Don't argue with me on this one, okay?!" she yelled with closed eyes and clenched fists in the air. Don't… make me worry, she thought to herself. She didn't realize that she had said that last part out loud, even if only quietly.

"…what?" Brian was taken aback by her sudden outburst.

"Nothing! Just… we're staying in tonight and that's final!" Casey declared emphatically, straightening her posture and composing herself. "I'll even make dinner, okay?"

Brian arched an eyebrow. "And this is supposed to make your idea more appealing…?"

Casey had no more patience for his wisecracks by now. "I can't stand you sometimes!" she said, glaring daggers at him before turning back around, opening the door to leave.

"Casey!"

She stopped, but did not turn around. "What?" she asked, annoyed.

"…thanks. For bringing lunch, and, you know…"

Try as she might, Casey couldn't stop a small smile from coming out that she hoped he wouldn't notice. "That sandwich is going on your tab you know, and there will be an extra fee for delivery," she said nonchalantly as she walked back into the terminal.

Delivery fee?! She walked all of 10 steps to get here! Brian thought as the door closed behind her. He sat back down in his chair; the office quiet once again. "And thanks… for worrying," he said into the silence as he stared up at the ceiling.

A/N: I'm a 90s kid who loves 90s sitcoms. Recently I was stuck at home for a week because of illness and binged all of Wings, which I had never watched before but got hooked on quickly and thoroughly enjoyed. I'm a huge fan of the Joe/Helen pairing (despite some of the clumsy bits in the middle seasons) and the elevator proposal scene is one of those signature moments that I'll always remember about the show. I also enjoyed the 2 seasons of post-marriage Joe/Helen that we got as well as their happy ending, which I would say tried to defy the trope of romance arcs only being interesting during the chase and not after their resolution.

So with all that being said, why am I writing a story about Brian and Casey?

There's a lot I can write about that, but in the interest of not having this note balloon to an unreasonable length I'll just say that the dynamic between the two became the most interesting to me by the end of the show. They have run through almost the entire spectrum of 'relationship statuses' from outright enemies, frenemies, toxic lovers, toxic friends and eventually settling in as great (or maybe even best) friends. While the show purposely avoided putting them together on-screen, there's a lot of potential meat on that bone, in a manner of speaking. The pairing label on this story tips my hand as to how I would have wanted things to go.

As for setup, the finale puts everything in place already. Their ship does not sink (and is in fact lightly teased!) and they end up continuing on in the same location around the same people, but under a new status quo with Joe and Helen gone. Where that leads exactly, we'll have to see.

Initially I was intending to make one-offs, but eventually decided to try weaving them together into a cohesive story. This part I wrote weeks ago shortly after I finished watching, and truth be told I like it less and less every time I re-read and edit it. But by now I have several more parts done, and I'd rather put time towards moving the story forward instead of trying to rewrite a better introduction, so I've decided to go ahead with posting it now. More parts will come as I edit them to hopefully tie together properly.

I thank you for reading and hope you enjoy.

UPDATE: The small after-stories that were collected in the chapter previously titled "Interludes" have been placed with their corresponding chapters for easier reading; see chapter 1.5 below.

"I'm home!" Brian called as he walked through the front door. He didn't get an immediate response but surmised that Casey was around somewhere, judging by the pair of hastily discarded shoes by the entryway. "Casey, where are you?" he called out again as he walked through the living room.

"In the kitchen!" she called back. "Dinner's almost ready!"

She was serious about that? Brian thought, looking down at the bag of takeout in his hand. He briefly considered hiding or even discarding it somehow, but before he could do anything he was met by Casey, who was exiting the kitchen with a large salad bowl in hand.

Her cheerful expression turned into a frown as she noticed the bag. "…what's that?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Nothing!" Brian stammered as he swiftly pulled the bag behind his back, for whatever good that would do. "…leftovers?" he mumbled with a sheepish grin.

"I told you I would make dinner!" Casey said with a glare. "Or did you not trust me to do it?"

Brian's usual defense here would be an attempt to diffuse the situation with humor, but he could tell she was legitimately angry. "No, it's not that," he started. "Look, the truth is you were gone already by the time I got back from my flight and I didn't know what your plan was. I figured it was better to be safe and bring some food back in case because it's getting late… and I'm kind of hungry."

Casey was still upset that he hadn't believed her, but was a bit surprised that he had owned up to it directly instead of lying or trying to come up with some lame excuse. Perhaps his skepticism was somewhat warranted since it was the first time she had offered to make dinner like that, and she had done it out of the blue earlier. On top of that, the only thing he had probably eaten all day was the egg salad sandwich she had brought him for lunch, so it made sense that he would be very hungry by now. "...what did you get?" she asked, her expression softening.

"Roast beef sandwiches," Brian replied as he took the bag out and opened it. "And those cajun curly fries you like."

As soon as the bag opened, Casey caught a whiff of her favourite combination from a burger place they had gone to a few times before. He remembered…

Suddenly, the meal she had prepared seemed a lot less appetizing. "…we can have some of the fries, but don't eat the sandwiches now. I made pasta," she said, motioning her head back towards the kitchen.

"Sounds great," Brian said with a smile. "Uh, let me help set up," he said, putting the takeout bag down on the dining table and taking hold of the salad bowl in Casey's hands.

She didn't let go. "I'm still mad at you," she said with a pout.

"I'm really sorry," Brian tried to put on a remorseful look, but he couldn't stop a bashful grin from slowly coming up as he felt her anger melting away. He shifted his hands to get a better grip on the bowl, slightly brushing against hers as he did so.

"…but at least you remembered what I like," Casey finished with a small smile of her own, releasing the bowl. "I'll go get the pasta, you can set the table."

"Yes ma'am!" Brian said as he turned and set the bowl down before giving an exaggerated salute to her, drawing her usual eyeroll as she turned and went back into the kitchen.

After a short while, they were settled and ready to eat. Casey had waved Brian away to the bathroom so she could bring their dinner plates out along with some makeshift covers to set up a grand reveal of her main course. "What's this?" Brian asked bemusedly as he returned to the table.

"Ta-da! Dinner is served!" Casey said as she pulled the cover off of his plate, revealing a somewhat messy plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce.

"It looks… good," Brian said diplomatically as he looked over the dish carefully.

"You don't have to lie," Casey said ruefully as she took the cover off her own plate and sat down. "I know it probably doesn't look the best, but hopefully it tastes okay, at least."

"No, it looks fine," Brian assured her. "Let's give it a try," he said, rolling a large chunk of spaghetti around his fork and eating it. Unlike earlier in the day, Casey looked anxious rather than excited as she waited for his reaction.

The spaghetti itself was rather mushy as he slowly chewed into it, and the sauce was a bit watery and bland in taste. Brian was no ace in the kitchen by any stretch, but his best guess was that she had boiled the pasta for too long, while not letting the sauce simmer long enough and probably forgetting to season it. As he swallowed, he noticed that Casey was not eating, only watching him intently. "What's wrong?" Why aren't you eating?"

"…it's no good, isn't it?" she asked sadly, noting the slightly strained look on his face.

"It's… not the best I've ever had, but it's honestly not bad," Brian replied slowly. "It's really hard to make sauce from scratch, you know."

Casey's face fell. She knew he was still trying to be nice and was now wondering how bad it actually was. She took a mouthful of spaghetti and sauce for herself, frowning as she chewed through it and forcing it down with great effort.

Brian raised an eyebrow as he watched her. "Are you okay?"

Casey didn't answer, only giving a small nod while trying to push out a smile. She reached across the table to grab a handful of curly fries and ate them all at once. Even with her mouth full, Brian saw her forced smile changing into a real one.

Brian laughed, picking up the plate of fries and putting it front of her. "The sandwiches are still in the bag," he said as he rolled up another forkful of spaghetti.

"Stop, you don't have to eat it," Casey pleaded as she reached over and grabbed his fork-holding arm. "…I know it's not good."

"I want to," Brian protested as he forced the fork into his mouth. "You can't stop me," he mumbled with his mouth full and the fork still sticking out.

"I'm not responsible if you get sick," Casey said as she sat back and folded her arms, trying to suppress a laugh at how silly he looked.

"I'm sorry you couldn't get to see that movie premiere tonight," Brian said unprompted, taking out his fork and putting it down.

"I already told you it's fine, we'll just watch whatever's on TV tonight," Casey answered with another frown. "We can go see it when you're not so busy."

"What if things stay busy for awhile?" Brian replied, unusually serious.

Then I'll wait for you… Casey thought to herself.

Brian saw her mouth move but couldn't hear what she had whispered. "…what'd you say?"

"I…I just said we can wait until it shows on TV," she tried to cover quickly, cursing her penchant for thinking out loud. "Come on, let's eat. It's really getting late now and you're hungry," she added, offering him the bowl of salad.

"Thanks for making dinner," Brian smiled as he scooped salad onto his plate and prepared to dig into the spaghetti again. "It's… delicious."

"You're welcome… you big fat liar," Casey said, sticking her tongue out at him cheekily as she pulled one of the roast beef sandwiches out of the takeout bag.