Dear Casey…
By: SugarRune
Synopsis: Casey was in a car accident her senior of high school, one that leaves her in a coma. When she finally wakes up three months later, everyone discovers that she has amnesia. And while she remembers things like how to speak, read, write, algebra, history, etc...she's forgotten rather important things like her family, friends, her childhood, her likes and dislikes. The doctors are unsure if she'll ever regain those memories and as time wore on, she learned to move forward with her life and create new ones. Now, three years later, she wakes up one day and her old memories are back but for her, it's like the past three years have never happened. She's forgotten her new life, the accident, and more importantly, her new love. Suddenly she's thrust into a world New Casey has spent the last three years creating, a world Old Casey isn't so sure she belongs in and with a new love she isn't sure she wants. As Casey struggles to deal with a world she doesn't recognize, she's guided by a series of letters written in a diary written from the New Casey to the old one. Will Casey ever accept her new life or will she stubbornly cling to the world of her past? Will Casey be able to accept that maybe New Casey isn't so different from Old Casey? Or will she ignore the heart both Caseys share, the heart that seems to only beat for one boy...one boy who seems to have taken center stage in both their worlds...
Note: This is my first Dasey, and more importantly, my first fanfic ever so sorry if it's not great. I'd appreciate any feedback so I'll know what I should work on to make it better. But I hope you enjoy it anyway )
Disclaimer: I don't own Life With Derek (although I wish I did) and I don't own the manga Dear Myself (where I got the idea for this fanfic) by manga-ka Eiki Eiki. I did however write this story where I combine the two but I make absolutely no profit from it. It's only for fun )
Chapter One: Rude Awakenings
It was raining. The only sounds she could hear were the loud drips of the pouring rain beating against the car and the slick pavement and the whoosh sounds of the car running through the deep puddles that had already formed. It was dark. And it was cold. And the next thing she knew there was light. A bright, blinding light coming towards the car. She raised her arms to shield her face but knew the impact was coming. Vaguely, she felt tears running down her cheeks as she awaited the inevitable.
And then it was dark again.
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Casey felt as if she'd had the best night's sleep she's had in years. She felt completely rejuvenated and so well rested. Her mind was still a little hazy, caught in that dreamy state right before waking and she was firmly all for staying in the "before waking" stage just a little longer. She snuggled into her pillow a little more, thoroughly enjoying the warmth and softness. In the distance she could hear what she was sure were the sounds of the MacDonald-Venturi house waking up. She knew she should seize the opportunity to beat Derek to the bathroom but at the moment, she just couldn't muster up to the will to fight him. Her bed was unusually welcoming.
But then she made a mistake.
Casey rolled over and while this position was miraculously even more comfortable than the one before, the red glow just on the other side of her eyelids from the morning light seeping in through an opening in her drapes was dangerously close to waking her completely.
No! Casey's mind screamed at her. I don't want to wake up yet. But her sleepy head didn't know how to fix the situation. This position was too comfortable. It was almost as if she was being held lovingly, closely. But the damned light! The light was still streaming down upon her face. She let out a labored sigh as she came to the only decision she could at the moment. She needed to roll back over. Letting out another sigh, this time in dismay, she attempted to roll over only to be held firmly in place.
In her state, Casey's mind only registered that she couldn't roll over. She didn't care to wonder why. Her goal was to stop the light from totally waking her up. She needed a plan quickly. And it needed to be simple enough to carry out as she was not yet capable of something complex. She let out a yawn and as she did so she pulled her comforter further up to her chin. And that's when it dawned on her. She could pull the comforter over her head. That should block out the stupid sun. She smiled at her cunning and covered her head. Perfect, she thought, this is absolutely heavenly. She then proceeded to wonder why people woke up at all. Sleeping was infinitely better.
Now that she was firmly cocooned under her blanket, Casey snuggled more into her body pillow. As she threw an arm and a leg over the pillow she decided that whoever invented the body pillow was a genius. In the back of her mind, Rational Casey wondered when she bought the body pillow but luckily Sleepy Casey decided that she didn't care as she pressed her head deeper into the crook of the pillow's neck. Pillows didn't have necks but Sleepy Casey dismissed that anomaly as well.
As the minutes wore on, Casey continued to fight in the battle between Sleep and Wake. She was torn. Part of her kept reminding her of all the things she needed to do before school. She had a History exam first period and she really should go over her flash cards on Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire once more. Then there was also the issue of the bathroom. She was sure that by now Derek had beaten her to it but if she got up right now she could probably still get in before Edwin or Lizzie. It would probably include cutting in front of Edwin and Lizzie but she reasoned that needing to get in that extra studying for the exam trumped any guilt over cutting since if she waited until after she did the studying, she'd never get her hair dry in time for school.
So that was the plan. All she needed to do now was get up. Unfortunately, that was proving to be more difficult that expected. The bed was calling to her. It was enveloping her in its warmth. And my God this body pillow! Seriously, why had she never gotten one before? She really should have invested in a body pillow sooner. Hugging it was almost like cuddling up against someone. Her pillow was soft yet firm, just like a person. She sighed and buried her face into her pillow. She smiled as she took in a deep breath of contentment. Her pillow smelled faintly like the forest. Like pine trees and evergreens. Mmmmm… wait!
Her brow crinkled into a slight frown. She was almost certain the detergent she used was supposed to smell like oranges and mangoes. But she decided to let it go. It still smelled good. She took another sniff of her pillow. Actually it didn't really smell like detergent. It smelled more like cologne. But faint. Kind of like it had almost wore off. She liked that actually. She hated the smell of cologne on guys when it had just been applied. It tended to be overwhelming. Guys just didn't understand that sometimes, less was more.
Casey sighed again. She really did need to get up. She was about to do just that when something dawned on her. Why exactly did her pillow smell like the forest? More specifically, why did it smell like cologne? She took another sniff. Yes, it was definitely cologne but the question now was whose? She wracked her brain trying to figure it out when recognition hit her. She'd smelled this scent before. Only one person in this house used that particular cologne…DEREK!
Derek had been using her pillow. He'd been in her room, in her bed, using her pillow. She was going to get him. Without opening her eyes just yet she disentangled herself from her pillow, threw off her comforter, and keeping the sheets around her shoulders, attempted to sit up when something pulled her back down.
That time it was undeniable. Something was really holding her down to her bed. She tried to sit up again only to be pulled back down yet again.
Okay, don't panic Casey, she told herself, Think! What's holding you down?
She reasoned that she'd felt pressure around her waist. She hadn't thought too much of it because it felt nice actually. But now, with her mind finally clearing of sleep, she realized that that wasn't normal. Bracing herself, she opened one eye to take a peak at what was around her waist.
Okay, Casey, don't be scared, just take a look. You can do this.
She carefully lowered her gaze until it reached her midsection. And that's when she saw it. An arm. And it was draped over her.
Casey wanted to scream. And she soon realized that she had. Well, she'd tried. She quickly decided it was fortunate not a sound came out since she didn't want to alert the owner of the arm she was awake. She clamped a hand over her mouth anyway, just in case. Her brain quickly put together that the arm clearly had to be attached to a person. At least she hoped it was still attached to a person and since she had detected no blood she had reason to believe this was still the case. And while she pondered that, other anomalies she'd brushed off in her sleep haze came into light which led her to the conclusion that the pillow she had fallen so in love with…may not have been a pillow.
There was one way to find out. Bracing herself yet again, Casey slowly turned towards the pillow. This time her eyes were shut tight.
Please be a pillow. Please be a pillow. Please be a pillow, she chanted repeatedly to herself. She gulped hard and opened her eyes.
Casey sat up fast and threw the arm off her before it could pull her down again. Her eyes were so bugged out she was almost scared they were hanging out of their sockets. She would have screamed except she was in even more shock than earlier and sound refused to escape her mouth.
The body beside her began to move. Yes, it was definitely not a pillow. That was bad enough. Her mind was already reeling at the fact that some guy was in her bed. What had her brain almost fried from working overload was the matter of who that guy was. Her mind refused to wrap around that fact.
Casey could only sit and stare as the guy began to stretch.
And then he began to talk.
"Okay, okay I get it. It's time to get up." The guy sat up and swung around to put his feet on the floor, leaving his back to her.
Breathe, Casey. Breathe! She reminded herself, though she wasn't sure if she was taking the advice.
"Baby, was I dreaming or were you actually smelling me earlier?" He left out a small laugh letting her know he was only teasing but as far as Casey was concerned, he might as well have been speaking Martian.
"Oh, hey Case, have you seen my boxers?" The guy was asking her. Casey realized he was actually talking to her and seemed to be expecting some kind of reciprocation from her.
"Case? Babe?" He asked again, and this time he turned to face her, clearly waiting for a response.
But Casey was only staring at him, her mouth agape, and her expression twisted and frozen in shock and complete horror. She had to be dreaming. Or hallucinating. Dear God please say she was hallucinating because standing before her, naked as the day he was born, was none other than Derek Venturi. Derek. The bane of her existence. Naked Derek. Completely. Naked. Derek was naked. Completely. Totally. Naked.
"Casey? Baby, what's wrong?" His brow creased into concern as he walked back towards her and knelt down in front of the bed. He reached over to touch her hand but his touch seemed to finally jerk her out of her catatonic state as she flinched back.
"You're – you're…Oh my God! Oh my God! You! You- you're…you're naked!" Casey finally managed to find her voice and she managed to find it screaming, laced with accusatory venom.
Derek's face fell easily into his familiar smirk as he let out a chuckle.
"Uh…Case, baby, you're naked too," he replied, the smirk never leaving his face as his eyes washed over her, clearly liking what he was seeing. "It's kind of required for the activities we engaged in last night."
Casey looked down to see if he was telling the truth and discovered she'd instinctively been holding the sheets up around her. As she peeked beneath the sheets she was hit with the fact that, to her horror, he was right about her nudity. She looked back up at him then back down at herself. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the part that was highly trained to note and remember for future reference every slight Derek had ever inflicted upon her, it registered that Derek was smirking again. And he had let out a snicker. And while it was a strike against him it wasn't lost on her that at the moment she probably resembled a bobble-head. But nevertheless she kept repeating the actions as his words and the implications finally sunk in.
And the scream that had eluded her all morning finally came.
