Let us all bear in mind that not only is this my first LWD fic, this is also the first time I haven't slashed and/or yaoi-fied a series. Let us also bear in mind that that wasn't a terribly good defense, seeing as I can't stand slashing and/or yaoi-fying live action anything because then I picture the actors doing it instead of the characters and that just creeps me out. Anyway, I don't know what my point was in all that; maybe I just wanted to share some personal information. In any case, I adore watching LWD, and I adore Dasey. In my mind, they are canon. Please enjoy the story.
"Yeah, we're doing fine, Mom. No, I'm not sure what we're doing for our anniversary yet. We haven't had time to plan much of anything. We're still trying to wean Abigail off breast milk, after all." At this, Casey shifted the baby in question to her other arm as she struggled with holding onto the phone and an eight-ounce bottle in with one hand. The little girl gurgled and tugged on her mother's hair.
"No, Mom, Derek's not here right now," Casey told her mother; with a bit of relief at having finally gotten the bottle into the microwave. "He went out to the store; we're running out of formula. You know how I like to be prepared." She paused to let her mother speak, half-listening and half-trying to detach her daughter's fingers from her hair. She gave up trying to hold the phone and tucked it against her shoulder. "Yes, Mom, I'll tell him you called." Pause. "And I will look for George's day-planner, I promise." Pause. "I love you, too. Bye, Mom."
She hung up. Now she only had two things to wrestle with: A bottle of formula and a squirmy baby.
She took the formula out of the microwave and tested it. Satisfied with the temperature, she capped it, shook it, and tried with all the hope in the world to make it look like something appealing. Fifth time's the charm, right?
"Come on, Abby. Let's go relax and have some lunch, shall we?" The baby gave her a gummy smile and reached for the bottle. Casey took this as an approval and settled down in an armchair in the living room with a grateful sigh.
As her baby drank from a bottle for the first time, Casey leaned back and drifted off to the first time she had laid eyes on Abigail Nora Venturi. Even though she was only about a month and a half old, Casey and Derek had seen their baby girl almost seven years prior to her birth.
"Yeah, sure Derek, I owe you, whatever. Now will you just pick me up? It's getting cold out, and I want to go home."
Casey hung up. It really was cold. And dark. It was not a good time for a seventeen-year-old girl to be out alone.
"Pardon me, child. May I interest you in your future?"
Casey turned around. Behind her on the street corner was an old woman draped in layers of purple velvet and jewelry. She wondered why she hadn't noticed this strange woman before.
"I'm sorry?"
"Your future, my dear. I am a fortune-teller." She spread her arms out wide, and her bangles clacked against each other. "It's what I do."
Casey eyed her warily. Being a sensible girl, she never trusted fortune-tellers. They were always phony psychics trying to scam people out of their money. And if they happened to be doing so from a street corner, then that just meant that they were homeless and desperate.
"I don't have any cash on me, I'm sorry," Casey told her. Then she turned around, crossed her arms and waited for Derek. But the old woman didn't give up.
"Oh, no, I require no money, my dear," she said. "Think of me as a playful gossip that has the scoop on things that haven't even happened yet."
"No thank you, I'm really not interested."
"Well, that is shame," the old woman sighed. "Very well, then, Casey. But if you could just do one thing for me—"
Casey turned around abruptly. "How did you know my name…?" She trailed off as the old woman thrust something into her arms. Casey looked down. In her arms was a sleeping baby.
"I will return for her at midnight. Take care of her until then." And before Casey could object, the woman was gone.
At that moment, a pair of headlights struck Casey. Derek had pulled up just as the old woman had vanished. Thinking quickly, Casey rushed to the warmth of the car before the chill of the night air could touch the child in her arms.
"What is that, Casey?"
Casey jumped a little. In her shock, she really hadn't registered that Derek was right next to her. Now he was leaning over her shoulder, staring in surprised curiosity at the baby.
"Is that a baby?"
Casey took a deep breath. "Yes, Derek, this is a baby. Some old woman came out of nowhere and left me with her."
"How d'you know it's a her?"
"The woman told me." She glared at Derek. "And why are you being so calm about this?"
"Because you're freaking out about it," Derek replied with a grin. "And also because weird things like that happen all the time in this part of town. Don't worry. We'll call child services and have the kid placed in a foster home or something."
Casey looked down at the little girl, and for some reason she just couldn't agree. "No. We can't do that."
Derek made a face at her. "Why not? Look, you know what, let's just go home. Dad and Nora will figure something out."
"No, Derek. Why don't we…wait until midnight. The old woman said she'd be back then."
Derek glanced down at the sleeping infant. In that instant, he agreed. "Well…fine. But just until midnight, alright?"
An uncomfortable silence passed between them. The baby lifted the silence with a tiny yawn, and two pairs of eyes darted towards her.
"Hey…Case, let me hold her." Casey glared at Derek again.
"Do you even know how to hold a baby, Derek?" she asked. Derek looked offended.
"Of course I do. I held Marti when my parents first brought her home from the hospital. Hand her over."
Reluctantly, Casey did as he said. And she had to admit, it was heartwarming to see the baby cradled gently in Derek's arms. He looked very comfortable with her.
"She kinda reminds me of how Marti looked as a baby, actually," he said softly. Casey leaned over for a closer look.
From what she could see, the baby did have the same smile that Marti had; spread across her little baby face as she contentedly slept, and there was that tiny cleft in her chin that it seemed all the Venturis had. But Casey didn't see any other resemblance, really. In fact, her nose looked more like Casey's herself. And the way her eyebrows were shaped reminded Casey of her mother.
And when the baby briefly opened her eyes, Casey saw the same pair of blue eyes that she saw in the mirror every day.
"Wow." Casey jumped again at Derek's voice. Then she lifted her head to look at him, and she noticed that he was looking at her, too. "She has your eyes," he said. Casey swallowed.
"Look, um…it's almost midnight. We should…probably…"
Derek cut her off. "Right. Let's see about that old woman and…get out of here."
So they got out of the car and waited. And all the while, a certain feeling seeped into both of them.
They were somehow…sad…to see the old woman emerge from the shadows, exactly at midnight.
"Ah, you've taken good care of her, I see." The woman smiled, and reached for the baby. Derek held her out of the old woman's reach.
"Wait," Casey said, "there's something I have to know. Where did she come from?"
The woman's smile grew. "I did say I wanted to show you your future, didn't I?" Casey and Derek were both stunned to silence as the old woman reached for the child again. This time, Derek handed her over.
"She is beautiful, isn't she?" the woman whispered. "Abigail Nora Venturi. Oh, the two of you make such a lovely baby. Wouldn't you agree, Derek?" She looked up at Derek, who was now looking at Casey, shocked. "You're surprised?" the old woman said incredulously. "Come now, Derek, you said so yourself that she had her eyes."
Derek laughed nervously, still trying to play it cool, even in this impossible situation. "Yeah…guess I did."
"She will be yours in seven years' time," the woman continued. "The two of you will simply have to get along without her until then. Good luck." With a crinkled smile, the woman and the baby vanished.
At first sight, Derek and Casey had fallen in love with their future baby. And they came to an agreement. They simply had to bring that beautiful baby into the world. It was easy enough for them to come up with. But it was even harder that night to make their family understand.
"Look, Dad, I know it's really sudden, but…we just have this feeling. We want to get married once we're out of high school."
"We promise, we'll do all the necessary planning and everything," Casey added. "We even talked about getting extra jobs to pay for everything. We've really thought it all through."
Their parents were silent for a while. Derek was right. It was sudden. But they saw the sincerity in their eyes, and they felt that they had no choice but to give them their blessing.
"If you really love each other that much," Nora said, "we can't say no. Of course, you have to promise to let us help you with the plans. There's so much you're not ready to do by yourself."
"And don't make us grandparents too soon, okay?" George added. He sounded nervous and unsure about the whole thing.
"We promise." Casey threw her arms around the both of them. "Thank you Mom, thank you George."
Derek smiled. "Thanks, Dad."
The next seven years went by in a blur. All Casey could remember about her wedding, now, was that she'd insisted upon all her bridesmaids wearing blue. She hardly remembered her vows. But the two of them did remember thinking only of Abigail as George toasted to, "A love that went beyond any and every expectation," at their reception.
The day Abigail was conceived was the first time Derek had ever sincerely hugged her. It was the first time she'd ever sincerely hugged him back. But they were both so consumed by happiness that neither of them seemed to notice.
When she was born, Casey's mother and George brought all of their old high school friends. Sam brought a video camera. The newly married Emily and Sheldon Shlepper came too, with well-wishes and excitement for the new parents.
All Casey saw was Abigail when she finally held the baby in her arms; and the look in Derek's eyes when he looked at his baby girl. Nothing else seemed to matter.
Casey recalled that moment clearly once again, staring off into space. "You know, Abby, it has been a very long road, but you are worth it. And I know that your daddy thinks so, too." Abby giggled around her bottle. "You know, speaking of your daddy…" Casey began, "…he should be back by now. I sent him out half an hour ago; where is he?"
Abigail pulled the bottle out of her mouth. "Mmmnnaa," she said.
"Well, I agree. He should call and apologize for being late." Abigail made a strange face at her mother before pulling the bottle into her mouth again. Casey went on anyway. "I say we watch a Baby Einstein tape without him. That'll show him, won't it?"
When Abigail didn't object, Casey got up and began to dig around for the Baby Einstein tape. The shelf where the movies were normally kept was a complete mess. Casey scowled to herself and promised to make Derek clean this all up later. It took some doing, but she finally managed to pull a tape out from the pile.
The label on it said: "To: Casey. Watch this on September 22."
September 22, the anniversary of their marriage. That was today. Derek must have put it together; but he hadn't told Casey about it.
'He probably put it up there and forgot about it,' she thought to herself. It sounded like something Derek would do. Nevertheless, she popped the tape in the VCR and pressed play. Instantly, Derek's face came on the screen.
"Hey, Casey. If you're watching this, then that means it's September 22. Our anniversary. If I'm still in the house, please, send me out, because I know I'm going to embarrass myself in this tape."
Casey giggled.
"Ah…listen. Do you remember when we first saw Abigail seven years ago?" The Derek on the screen smiled at the memory, and Casey smiled too. "I remember thinking…that she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. And I knew you were thinking the same thing, cuz, well, you agreed to marry me, after all." He laughed. "Our parents just couldn't believe it. But, they said they'd support us. How could they deny the wishes of two people in love?"
That was when Casey watched him frown on the screen. That thought had been troubling Derek.
"The funny thing is…we were in love. Just…not with each other. I mean, we didn't mind that. We both knew we were getting married for Abby. For our beautiful little girl. And…right up to the day you gave birth to her, she was…my whole world. Nothing else mattered except her." Derek looked straight at the camera, then, and Casey's breath caught in her chest.
The look she saw in Derek's eyes was the same one she'd seen a month and half ago, when Abigail was born. Only now, they were directed at her.
"Something happened that day, Casey. I looked at Abby, and I was happy that we now had the little girl we'd been waiting to have for seven years. But I also looked at you, and I saw the woman I'd been waiting for my whole life. When I looked at you, Casey…I knew I loved you."
"Oh…Derek…" Casey put a hand over her trembling mouth. Tears began to stream down her cheeks.
On the screen, Derek smiled again. "Happy anniversary, sweetheart."
Abigail had fallen asleep by then. So Casey stopped the tape and put her daughter to bed, wiping tears from her face as she went. But she still couldn't make them stop, even when Derek came through the door.
He was holding a bouquet in one hand and a shopping bag full of formula in another. Casey's tears came down faster.
"Casey? What's wrong?"
Casey shook her head and changed the subject, pointing to the flowers. "Are those for me?"
Derek looked at the bouquet in his hand as though he'd forgotten it was there. "Oh…yeah. I thought I'd stop by the flower shop and get you some…you know, for our anniversary and all." He approached her, the concern back on his face again. "Are you okay? Did something happen?"
"I watched the tape," Casey replied. Derek looked confused for a moment. Apparently, he had forgotten about the tape after all. But a second later it came back to him, and a blush spread over his face.
"Oh…yeah…well, I meant it, you know." He thrust the flowers at her. "Happy anniversary."
Casey smiled. Instead of taking the flowers, she wrapped her arms around her husband's neck and kissed him. Sincerely. "I love you Derek."
And Derek wrapped his arms around his wife's back and kissed her back. Sincerely. "I love you too, Casey."
END
For realz, y'all. Was the ending all right? I tend to rush them. Let me know. I want constructive criticism. Really.