A fluffy-ish kind of Derek and Casey getting caught story. Hope you enjoy, Please review :)
When they get caught it's very anticlimactic.
For the amount of time that they have been sneaking around in the dark quiet house, for the number of times he's done something reckless and stupid like kiss her hard and fast in the hallway or tug her into the bathroom with him in the morning, it's ironic that they get caught holding hands on the couch.
When Nora walks in on them, in the house that they'd thought was empty, Casey doesn't even realize that they'd been doing anything wrong. Holding his hand is second nature, it's completely normal, it's like breathing.
If it had been any other girl, handholding would hardly cause Derek to jump away like that due the arrival of his stepmother. Of course, handholding wasn't something he typically took part in, but he knew that Casey liked the subtle touching, and all he ever wanted to do was touch her. Not exactly like this, but they did plenty of that too, so it was a compromise that he only pretended to resent.
When Derek jumped away, she realized that Nora had seen them. The real Derek and Casey. The Derek and Casey who hadn't been playing the role of bickering step-siblings who couldn't stand being in the same room.
Nora stands there and stares at the teenagers, her teenagers, for a few long moments. No one says anything. She thinks how easy it would be to pretend that she hadn't seen the way that her daughters' fingers clutched tightly at his, or the way that her stepson's thumb spun in small restless Derek-like circles around her hand.
Easy, but wrong.
The reality of this crashes into her. Hard. They are siblings. They are supposed to be brother and sister. And this is wrong.
Her eyes meet Derek's first, seeing desperate expressions that she never sees looking at him. He's scared, and worried, and pleading with her. But she can't concede. He must know that.
She can't just turn around and order any kind of pizza, pretending she hadn't walked into the living room to ask if Casey wanted a veggie pizza and Derek wanted the works. She almost doesn't know why she did it. They always ordered the same two pizzas. One for Casey and one for Derek, and then the rest of the family worked around the obstinate pair who could never compromise. But apparently they did more than compromise in private.
She wondered why Derek looked so distressed. Was he anticipating yelling? Trouble? Surely George would lose his temper with him, the way he did when Derek took things just a bit too far. This was much too far. But Derek never stood down because of fear. He didn't weigh his options or consider the repercussions of his actions, he simply went for what he wanted. Derek Venturi always got what he wanted. Since when was her sweet cautious daughter what he wanted? What was it that Derek could possibly want from Casey?
She knew Derek's reputation with girls. He went though them fast and thoughtlessly. He didn't like relationships much, or talking about his feelings, or planning for the future. She didn't want to think about what he did like.
He was her son, and she loved Derek. She imagined the mothers of the girls he 'dated' did not love Derek. She bet that they cursed his name under their breath while they consoled crying daughters who let Derek bring out the worst of their insecurities. Girls wouldn't eat dinner fearing that he'd left them because their waist wasn't small enough, or girls who wore low cut shirts because Derek wasn't shy to admire feminine beauty.
She looked Casey over, bottom to top, still afraid to meet her eyes. She looked like Casey. Her Casey, actually. Not cheerleader Casey. She had dance shorts on and a t-shirt. She wondered if she had been at the studio earlier, or if this was her "watching a movie with Derek" apparel. Her clothing looked relaxed and comfortable, but when she dared meet her daughter's eyes she saw panic. She looked embarrassed but not ashamed.
"Mom" she said tentatively.
She wasn't ready to talk. Couldn't they just all sit here and remain in this state of ignorant bliss. But no one looked blissful.
"Casey. Derek,"
"Mom we, we just- I know that it's wrong. That we shouldn't, but..." Casey, planner and organizer extraordinaire, couldn't gather her thoughts fast enough. She didn't really know how to explain her and Derek. Most of the time it didn't even make sense to her. Maybe it made no logical sense at all. But it felt so right. She tried not to think about it too much. She just let herself be with him.
It was so easy. She didn't have to try all the time to be what he wanted, like she had with Sam, and Max, and Truman. Derek already knew about her lame pajamas, the way she panicked about a test even when she'd studied all night for it, and a million other stupid little things. And even though they had to pretend for everyone else, she never had to pretend for him.
It sounded like it should be more effort, like it wasn't a worthwhile trade, but it was. The payoff was more than she'd realized it could be.
She loved him, but, for a few reason, they never talked about that.
First, because she didn't want to think about the reality of this situation.
Second, because it was 'wrong'.
Third, because Derek Venturi didn't 'do' feelings. And this one scared her the most. Because she just didn't know. Because even though he rolled his eyes when she reached for his hand, sometimes he reached for hers. And even though Derek was known to have many notches in his belt, he'd never once pushed her about sex. He knew that she'd never done that and he told her that they'd go at her pace. He told her not to worry, as he knew she did, that he wasn't here for the sex, and then he quickly hid the sincerity as he cracked a joke about the conveniently close proximity from his bed to hers.
She wasn't sex to him. But Derek wasn't a forever kind of guy. She knew that.
So it was hard to say who looked more surprised, the girl who loved him or her mother who thought he was messing with her daughter, when Derek cut Casey off with "I love her. And I'm not sorry about that".
His expression had faded back to something that portrayed the confidence that Derek exhumed, but there was something a little different and genuine there.
"You what" she breathed, eyes wide, as she turned to look at him.
"I love you, Case" he said plain and simple. He wasn't big on mushy declarations, and these three words were all she needed to hear. She knew he meant it. Derek was a good liar, but this wasn't the kind of thing he joked about, it was the kind of thing he ran from.
"Don't you love me?" he asked when met by more silence.
"Yeah, yeah I do." She responded lamely and he chuckled at her while her head continued to nod. He wanted to pull her close and kiss her, but Nora was there, and things were very tense and serious.
Casey bit her lip and smiled at him, and he smiled back. It was a "to be continued" moment.
Then they turned back to Nora.
"I know we'll need to talk about this, but-"
"But it's me and Case now." his tone implied a finality, one that she was very okay with.
It was her and Derek now.