Chapter 1 – love and hate
Derek looked at the clock and sighed. It was almost 7am. Sleep had eluded him most of the night and he was even more exhausted than when he had gone to bed.
He did not usually get up until noon on Saturdays, so he could still have got a decent amount of sleep if he fell asleep then. However, he knew he would not manage it. Those terrible words kept echoing in his mind, "Casey's been in an accident!"
He stumbled down the stairs to the kitchen and found Lizzie already there, eating her cereal despondently. He had just started eating his own cereal when George and Nora came in.
"How's Casey?" Lizzie asked anxiously.
"Casey's in a coma and the doctors don't know when she'll wake up, if at all." George answered quietly.
"No!" Derek choked.
Lizzie turned on him then, "This is your fault! If you hadn't upset Casey, she wouldn't have tripped and fallen down the stairs! Why do hate her so much?"
Derek whispered, "I don't hate her."
He really did not hate her.
Admittedly, he had resented her at first. He had always held a dominant position in his family: his siblings looked up to him and followed his orders and his father never had the heart to punish him. Then she had moved in and he had to fight her for dominance. Her neurotic and overachieving ways had not helped endear herself to him.
He had gotten past that over time though. He had come to appreciate her positive influence on his family and even himself. He would never admit it to anyone else but somewhere along the way, he had even fallen in love with her. The fights had not stopped but they were no longer as antagonistic. He continued fighting her because it was the only way he knew to get her attention, to get a reaction out of her.
"I don't," he whispered again before he stormed up the stairs and into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
Chapter 2 – regrets
"Lizzie!" Nora rebuked. "You should not have said that. Derek does care about Casey although he doesn't show it."
Nora brushed Lizzie's hair away from her face and hugged her, then headed up the stairs to Derek's room.
Nora knocked on Derek's door and stepped in to see Derek wipe away a few tears.
"Did you come blame me for Casey's accident too?" he asked bitterly.
"Oh Derek, of course not," she assured, sitting on his bed and pulling him into her arms.
"I don't hate her. I don't." He sobbed brokenly. "I'm so in love with her it hurts right now. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
Nora looked down at the boy sobbing in her arms and prayed again that Casey would recover from the accident. She recalled the last evening's fight and knew that Derek would regret it for the rest of his life if Casey did not wake up.
Chapter 3 – the fight
Casey was supposed to be going out on her second date with Max that Friday evening. She had worn in a turquoise long-sleeved top, a black miniskirt and black strappy high heels. She had curled her hair, donned silver earrings and matching necklace and carefully applied her makeup.
Casey looked gorgeous and Derek was so jealous that she had dressed up for another guy that he reacted by insulting her.
"You dressed up as a slut for Max?" he asked snidely and the fight started.
Ten minutes later, they were still relentlessly trading insults and trying to hurt each other.
"You're such a loser that you need to dress like a slut for anyone to date you. Don't fool yourself into thinking Max will love you though. No guy could love someone like you," he hissed.
"Right," she said, trying to sound sarcastic. Her eyes filled with tears and she stumbled towards the stairs.
He heard the quiver in her voice though and instantly wanted to take back his words.
"Case, wait…"
He reached for her arm but she yanked it back, forgetting where she was, and toppled down the stairs.
"Casey!" he screamed and ran down the stairs.
The next few minutes were a blur. All he remembered was reaching the bottom of the stairs to find an unconscious Casey and then watching an ambulance pull away from the house.
Chapter 4 – first visit
Derek broke down when he first saw a bruised and fragile-looking Casey lying on the hospital bed, surrounded by tubes and wires.
"Case?" he whispered, caressing her cheek. "Princess, come on, wake up please."
"You're so very loveable. You've got to know that. I didn't mean it. I'm so sorry. Wake up please."
Marti, who had remained calm until then, started crying when she saw her Smerek upset.
"Wake up Casey! You're making Smerek cry. Smerek never cries," she wailed.
Lizzie, who had been crying silently since she entered the room and holding Casey's hand, whimpered and ran out of the room when Marti started crying.
Edwin stood shocked and somewhat scared for a few seconds at the sight of an upset Derek and then went out to check on Lizzie.
George and Nora quickly ushered their upset children out of the hospital. No one spoke on the drive home.
Chapter 5 – life goes on
Casey had been in a coma for two months and life had limped back to some kind of normalcy. For the most part, the family kept busy and the main difference to their routine was the visit to the hospital every Sunday morning.
However, Derek's routine had completely changed since that fateful night. Unbeknownst to the other family members, he had visited Casey every morning before school. He now also paid attention in class and did his homework every evening.
At first, Derek only intended to take notes for Casey; he knew she would want to catch up with schoolwork when she woke up. Then, as his results improved, he found studying stimulating and strangely satisfying.
Chapter 6
Soon, it was Derek's birthday and Casey had been in a coma for four months. He visited her that morning as he did every morning.
"Hey princess, it's my birthday today. I know you haven't bought me anything but I'll forgive you if you just wake up. That'd be a good enough present for me, you know," he said with a sad smile.
He spent a few minutes just holding her hand, watching her and thinking about their years together.
"I love you," he whispered desperately. "I miss you so much princess. Won't you wake up please?"
Suddenly, he felt her hand twitch in his. "Case, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can. Come on princess."
There and then, he felt her hand squeeze his and he smiled happily, "That's it princess. Now open those pretty blue eyes of yours."
Her eyes flickered open and she croaked, "I love you too Derek."
"Princess," he choked, his voice full of relief and happiness.