Summary: Lizzie and Edwin have been each other's best friend and partner in crime since their families blended. But the older they get, and the more time they spend alone together, the more stuff they start noticing about each other. Will this bring them closer, or destroy their friendship? Lizwin!

A/N: So I've been dying to write a Lizwin fanfic of my own for a month or so now. I finally decided to just sit down and start typing… and this is the result. I rated it T because I'm not sure where I'm going with this, and just want to be safe. On that note, I don't have much of a plan for this fic, so your reviews will really help. Hope you enjoy! - The Ya

Disclaimer: I don't own Life With Derek... never have, never will.

LIZZIE'S POV

"De-rek! Get back here!" Casey's voice chased Derek through the hallway. His footsteps pounded down the stairs, and when a door slammed Lizzie knew that her sister was going to track him down.

So much for sleeping in, Lizzie thought. She rolled over in her bed and threw back the covers. Normally, Lizzie was up before the rest of her siblings (with the exception of Marti, of course). Sleeping late always left her feeling like she'd wasted the morning; instead of loafing in her room, she could have been practicing soccer passes with the garage door or playing with her ferrets.

However, last night Lizzie had stayed up late finishing a project. When she had gone to ask Edwin for homework help, they had become distracted, and Lizzie vaguely remembered stumbling into her bed at two in the morning.

As she rummaged through her dresser drawers for a pair of sweats and a clean t-shirt, Lizzie attempted to recall what, exactly, she and Edwin had talked about.

FLASHBACK

Lizzie knocked lightly on Edwin's door. "Hey, Edwin? Are you awake?"

"Yeah Lizzie, come in."

She opened the door to his attic room quietly, and shut it just as carefully. Casey hadn't been sleeping well lately, and morphed into a roaring bear the minute she was awakend up.

"What's up?" Edwin was sitting at his desk, scrolling through a particularly lengthy e-mail. Lizzie noticed the subject line mentioned something about their school's athletics program. That's odd. Edwin doesn't play sports. Edwin closed the window, and then swiveled his chair around to face her.

Lizzie held up a file filled with pages of highlighted reading material in one hand, and a few worksheets with various graphs and word problems in the other.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," she began. "We started a new unit a few days ago, and Mr. Matthews is testing us on it already." Lizzie stopped when she noticed Edwin's grin.

"What?" she demanded.

Edwin reached a hand behind his head and ran his fingers through his already tousled black locks. His grin remained.

It's so hot when he does that, Lizzie thought. A mental pause, and then: Wait- what? Edwin's not hot! He's dorky and cute in a brotherly-way. But he is definitely not hot.

"Lizzie?" Edwin interrupted her silent berating. "I'll help you, but you need to be awake enough to pay attention, because this unit is actually difficult to understand."

"Then why am I asking you for help?" Lizzie teased. At his eye roll she walked over to Edwin's bed and sat down, carefully spreading the pages out beside her. She produced a few pencils from her pocket and dropped them on top of the worksheets. "Where do we start?"

"Why don't we take a look at these graphs of parabolas?" Edwin reached for the first worksheet, knocking the pencils onto the floor as he did so; they rolled under the bed.

"Crap," he said, as he knelt on the floor to trawl the darkness of the space under his bed with his fingers.

At the same moment, Lizzie leaned over to grab one by her foot. "Maybe it's too late to do this, Edwin. I could probably go in for help during lunch tomorrow."

No response. She felt his eyes on her, and her head snapped back up.

Lizzie's eyes collided with Edwin's; they both paused, transfixed for what seemed like an eternity. There was no sound in the room, save for their breathing. Lizzie had never noticed exactly how deep Edwin's eyes were. They were like endless pools of brown, and they captured her concentration.

Abruptly, she tore her gaze away. Why have I never noticed Edwin's eyes before? Lizzie wondered. Every time we traded secrets and made deals in the games closet, every time we hung out watching movies, every time I convinced him to play soccer in the backyard and we inevitably ended up tangled and exhausted on the ground… why am I only noticing now?

Edwin cleared his throat, breaking the tension in the room. Still avoiding his eyes, Lizzie picked up her notebook and slowly, deliberately printed her name in the top corner.

"So, Lizzie, if you want to understand why these equations are functions, there are some basic rules you can write down to help you remember."

"Sounds good Edwin. What's the first rule?"

And just like that, everything seemed back to normal. Edwin explained the problems in detail; Lizzie listened and copied down everything he professed. The whole time they teased each other. Her revelations remained tucked in the back of her mind, even when they relaxed and just talked.

END FLASHBACK

"Lizzie! Nora says to come down stairs," Marti proclaimed as she bounced into Lizzie room.

"Okay, thanks Marti. You can tell her I'll be down." Lizzie looked down at the pair of sweat pants she was presently holding until she realized what she had been doing. Marti still hadn't left her room.

"Are you tired Lizzie? You look tired."

"I am a little, Marti. I stayed up late finishing my homework last night." Lizzie discreetly omitted the fact that Edwin had been helping her in his room. For some reason, she didn't feel like that was… appropriate, even though all they had been doing was homework.

Edwin's eyes are amazing.

Well, there was that, too. Lizzie sighed, and turned around to send Marti out of her room, only to find that her step-sister had already left. She shut her door and quickly changed for breakfast.

EDWIN'S POV

There was nothing good on TV. He'd tried all his favorite channels, had surfed the news and weather stations, and had even attempted to be interested in one of those 24/7 infomercial channels. No such luck.

I know what my problem is, Edwin decided. I need to go talk to Lizzie. Before Dad had married Nora, Edwin would have inevitably ended up in Derek's room, trying to get a straight answer from his brother that wouldn't cost him his savings. But now, whenever he couldn't figure out what was going on in his head, Lizzie could. Both knew the other backwards and forwards, since they had done so much scheming together for the past several years. In fact, they probably knew each other better than their respective older siblings did.

Edwin shut off the TV, and was about to make his way upstairs when Derek walked in through the front door.

"Hey Edwin, make me a sandwich," he ordered, in his familiar commandeering tone. "The usual." Derek shrugged off his jacket and made his way over to his chair.

Edwin didn't move. He really didn't feel like making Derek's sandwich this time. For some reason, the urge to go find Lizzie and talk to her was stronger than his fear of Derek's wrath. Maybe I can slip upstairs without him noticing… Edwin thought hopefully.

"Edwin! Last time I checked you can't make a sandwich standing on the stairs." Derek even shifted in his seat so he could eyeball his brother and show him he wasn't kidding.

I give up. Resigned, Edwin shuffled into the kitchen and began searching for the mayonnaise. As he rummaged through the cupboard, he reminded himself of what had happened that noon.

FLASHBACK

"Smerek, where's the peanut butter?" Marti looked up at Derek helplessly.

Though his communication skills were impaired by a peanut butter and nutella sandwich, Derek managed to say "I don't know Marti, ask Edwin. He used it last." He tossed an accusing glance in his brother's direction.

Typical. thought Edwin. "I only used it to make YOU a sandwich, Derek. And it's it the corner cupboard Marti."

"Thanks Edwin," Marti said, proceeding to pull every jar out of the cupboard in her search for PB. Edwin figured he had better vanish from the kitchen so no one would blame him for the mess, even though he knew full well Derek would somehow impugn him anyway. He retreated upstairs.

Just as Edwin was about to seclude himself in his attic room, he heard music playing from Casey's room. What piqued his interest was the fact that Casey was at dance classes, and no one was allowed in her room when she was gone. Stealthily, Edwin crept toward his eldest step-sister's doorway- and found Lizzie sitting on the bed flipping through a magazine.

"Lizzie?"

His partner in crime lept off the bed, shocked by the sound of his voice, and dragged Edwin into the room, shutting the door behind him and pushing him against it.

"What is it Edwin?" she asked, a hint of irritation in her tone.

Defensively, Edwin held up his hands. "I was just wondering what you were doing in Casey's room. Not that it matters, as I've probably done the same stuff in Derek's when he wasn't home." He attempted to peer around Lizzie while he spoke to discern what, exactly, she'd been perusing. To his surprise, the magazine wasn't one of Casey's; instead the article titles, partially obscured, lauded the latest releases in the gaming world. That looks like the latest issue of GAMERS' reVIEWS. Lizzie has never read about computer games before. I wonder why she's suddenly interested?

Before Edwin could dwell on the topic any longer, Lizzie backed up and sat on the bed, tucking the glossy publication under the covers once she did. "You're right Edwin."

"I am?" Edwin felt confused. "I mean, of course I am, but about what am I right?"

Lizzie laughed. "You're right that it doesn't matter. I was bored and hoped that a change of 'scenery' might change my mood." She paused then, and tilted her head slightly, as if she was contemplating something. However, she looked directly at Edwin, so he was dubious as to whether it wasn't him she was contemplating.

"Hello? Earth to Lizzie! Why are you staring at…" Me. Do I have my shirt on inside out? Or is it something else entirely? Edwin finally settled on "Why are you staring?"

"Nevermind. Let's go do something Edwin. I can't stand lazing around all day long." Lizzie hopped off the bed and reached past Edwin for the doorknob. He watched as she walked into the hallway towards the stairs, and as she did so, flipped her hair off her shoulders so she could pull it into a ponytail.

Ooooh. That was so hot. A moment passed before Edwin realized what he had thought. What? Lizzie… hot?! She's cute, but in a tomboy, stubborn sister kind of way. Where did that even come from?

"Edwin, are you going to stand in that doorway forever? Come on!" Lizzie called him from the stairs. He hastily abandoned his thoughts and traipsed after his step-sister.

"Okay, I'm coming. Just so long as you don't want to practice hockey goals."

"Why, because you're always goalie?" Lizzie asked in a teasing voice.

"Precisely. Why don't we-"

END FLASHBACK

"EDWIN! Where is my sandwich?!" Derek's impatient cry resonated in house.

Grumbling, Edwin slapped on a second slice of bread, a proceeded to deliver it to his ungrateful older brother. "Here. Eat. Enjoy. Leave me alone."

"Why so grumpy, Edwin?" Derek accepted his sandwich without thanks, and doled out the question with a half-smirk.

Edwin turned away, ignoring Derek's remark, and went to the coat rack to retrieve his jacket. He had heard the familiar slap sounds of a hockey stick hitting a puck from the driveway, and ventured outside to find Lizzie.

A/N: Yay! I'm happy how this first part turned out; the trick now is to keep my momentum going.

Comments: One thing that is important to me is keeping everyone in character; please let me know if I did this or not. I wasn't sure if I should split this into one chapter or two, and just made a decision. Also, I don't have plans to include any Dasey, just so you all know. I'm totally open to constructive criticism, so please be honest. Just, don't be cruel. :)

Thanks for reading! (Please review if you get a chance!) -The Ya