A/N: this is my first Life With Derek story. I hope you like it. Sorry it's so short. Update reall soon if you review!

Life without Derek

Chapter 1

"I hate you!" Casey McDonald yelled as she stormed out of the living room and up the stairs. Anger nearly pulsed from her. Derek had really done it this time. In retaliation for her going out with Sam, which had been over for quite some time, he had asked Emily to the Valentine's Dance only to stand her up. Casey could not believe that he would stoop so low! He had gotten Emily's spirits up and had broken her heart.

Derek sat in his recliner, watching some game, though not really watching it. He actually did feel bad for standing Emily up, though he hadn't intended to. Sure, he didn't like her, but he had planned to at least go with her to the dance. He wanted Casey to see that you weren't supposed to date your sibling's best friend- even though they were just stepsiblings. He wasn't sure why that thought bothered him as it did, but he didn't care either. The fact was that something came up, like his on-again off-again girlfriend Kendra. He knew he had taken it too far for Casey this time so he didn't bother arguing back.

Casey slammed her door and picked up the phone. She dialed the familiar digits that connected her to Emily. The phone rang and rang. She sighed. Emily was not answering her calls. She hadn't really expected her to, but she couldn't see why she was blaming her. Casey had tried to warn her, but she didn't listen. It seemed Derek's selfish ways had cost Casey her best friend.

Dinner that night

"Daddy, why is everybody so quiet today?" the young, but incisive Marty asked her father. George looked up at his wife and she averted her eyes quickly.

"Everyone just loves this spaghetti. Eat up dear." he lied to the six-year old.

Casey looked up at her mother. She hadn't seen her look this dejected in a very long time. She wouldn't make eye contact with her and this bothered Casey. Her mother was acting so peculiar. Even Marty had picked up on it. Casey looked to Lizzie next. She simply shrugged at her older sister. She turned to Derek next but looked away disgusted. Derek seemed so calm and untroubled. He was merely eating his dinner, though it was even a bit too peaceful for Derek. This family is wearing thin. Some major problems are being hidden and it's driving everyone nuts! She thought to herself.

Casey walked back up the stairs from the dinner that had been laced with great amounts of awkwardness. Casey was so angry with Derek that she wasn't speaking. George and Nora hadn't spoke, nor made eye contact all dinner. Edwin and Lizzie had even seemed a bit too quiet. Casey felt like she was living in a mad house, with people who were slowly turning into zombies!

She sat in her room for a few hours before her thoughts got the better of her. She walked out into the hall. She checked Lizzie's room. She was fast asleep, as was Edwin. She didn't want to go into her mom and George's room so she sighed and walked into her last resorts' room.

Derek was lying on his bed. Above the covers. Only clad in some blue boxer shorts. Casey covered her eyes and frantically whispered, "I'm sorry! I should've knocked but I thought you would be asleep, and clothed!" She quickly exited his room, waiting outside the door and hoping he wasn't too mad at her to come talk to her.

He covered himself with a pillow, nearly jumping out of his skin at the sudden burst in. When she left, he went to his chest of drawers and grabbed a pair of pajama bottoms and a tank top. He knew she wouldn't have come to him at this hour if she weren't really stressing about something. Truth was that he already knew what was troubling her, because it was him too.

He sat down beside her, resting his back against the wall. He didn't look at her immediately, though nor did she look at him. They let the uncomfortable silence pass over them before Derek broke the silence.

"So, what's up?" he asked coolly.

"Dinner." She replied. "What was going on? I mean, I know you and me had a rather large tiff but what was up with mom and George? They wouldn't even look at each other."

Derek sighed. "Yeah, I left that. Something is defiantly up." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "They must have had a major argument. I've never seen my dad that way."

"Me either." She looked over at Derek. He looked genuinely troubled by this. She hadn't seen him look so caring, yet down. She put her hand on his knee in a friendly sort of way.

"Don't worry Case, I'm sure everything will be ok. They'll get over this one like the other ones." Derek said and looked down at her hand. He knew that this gesture was meant to be sisterly but it was making him uneasy. Casey and he weren't that close, and they rarely shared a sibling moment like this. Without even realizing it, Derek covered her small hand with his. Her hands were soft. He gently moved his along the back of her wrist.

"Yeah, you're right." she said, as he was trying to tear his hand away from hers The moment was defiantly getting more tense by the second. He hoped she didn't think it was- too bad, she was growing edgier than he knew.

She pulled her hand out of his grasp. That strange moment of compassion had been too much for her. She wondered if he felt as perturbed by that as she did. Praying he didn't, she said, "Thanks Derek."

He looked at her. "Don't mention it, sis." He actually hated calling her that, because she truly wasn't, but he added it in there to lighten the weird air around them. He stood and turned back to extend a hand to help Casey up. She smiled at the nice motion and took his hand. She was so much lighter than he had imagined.

"You know, when you're being human, you can be a good brother." She walked into her room. She also distasted calling him her brother. It was just weird.

She went to sleep, though it wasn't a restful one. Dreams of her mom and George arguing plagued her dreams. Emily also invaded her unconscious to tell her what a horrible friend she was for letting her believe Derek liked her. Casey tossed and turned through the morning hours until she finally was brought out of the horrible images by her alarm clock. She desperately hoped today would be a better day.

That evening after school

Casey arrived home exhausted mentally and physically. Her lack of sleep caused her to be groggy in all of her classes, earning her a 'C+' on a pop quiz. She had to sit at her lunch table alone because Emily still refused to talk to her. Not to mention the fact that her mom and step-dad hadn't even been in the same room at all that morning. She sighed and threw herself onto her bed. Could her present life get any worse?

As if on cue, a knock on her door caused her to jump. Lizzie poked her head inside of the door. "Umm, Case? Mom and George are calling a family meeting. They want everyone downstairs." Casey nodded and Lizzie walked away.

Casey groaned. What now?! She walked down the flight of stairs to see that the family, minus Derek was all sitting in the living room. She took a seat next to Edwin, wondering who had gotten into trouble this time.

"Ok, we're all here. Well except for Derek, but we'll tell him when he gets home from practice after while." Nora said and then sighed as she knew that the hard part of explaining this was awaiting the children's ears. "George and I are unhappy." She started out simply enough.

"Yes kids, and we have decided that it would be best if we…" George began but couldn't finish. He paused for a minute, nervously glancing at his wife for a moment before trying to continue. "You see, when adults are unhappy… they make… well big decisions that will affect a lot of people." He jumped around the topic.

Casey's eyes grew wide with understanding. They wouldn't!

"What George is trying to say is that…" she bit on her lip, a nervous habit she had when she didn't want to tell the girls something. Like when their dog died and she had to explain to them that the neighbor had ran over it. "He and I believe that it would be best if we… if we all had some…" she stopped again. This wasn't easy for them to tell the young children who had grown so attached to one another.

This stammering and beating around the bush went on for another few minutes. Neither young sibling was grasping what their parents were trying to say. Though it's understandable, the babble was enough to thoroughly confound anyone. Casey was on the verge of tears already. She had, not only two years ago, uprooted her entire life so that her mother could marry this man and now that things were finally becoming the slightest bit stable, her mother was divorcing him?! It was unspeakable how wrong this was.

The door was heard and Casey saw Derek come into sight. He looked at the gathered family and said, "What's going on?"

Casey stood. "They're divorcing!" she screamed and ran at Derek. He was so shocked he nearly fell over as she threw herself into his arms. He dropped his hockey equipment and somewhat awkwardly put his arms around the sobbing girl. "You said everything was going to be ok Derek! You told me they'd be fine and get past this one like the others! You told me…" she whispered angrily into his chest trying to hit him but not succeeding, her arms were pinned to his chest through his tight embrace. He could do nothing but stare blankly at his dad while rubbing Casey's head in a soothing way. he was trying to imagine what life was going to be like and it was weird.