Save Me from Myself—a Dasey fic (AU)

A/N: This fic takes a bit of a stretch of the imagination, I know, but I think it'd work. The basic gist of it is that the Casey McDonald we all know and have come to expect is gone, and has been for two years. Early on in her freshman year of high school, something happened that no one knows of but herself, but that doesn't stop it from having changed her from a sweet, naïve schoolgirl into one-hundred-percent rocker chick. On the other hand, neither is Derek at all like we're used to seeing him. Instead of being a sexy bad boy, he's…well, how do I put it? Remember what he looked like when he wanted to be mature for Kendra? That's what he looks like, and he acts like it too. Let's just say that he was Mom's favorite kid. He's still straight, though; he's just so shy with girls that he's never been able to ask one out. Now, even though these two are total opposites, Casey's mom and Derek's dad are a perfect match, and decide to marry, with the Venturis moving into the McDonald household. (The same house as on the show, though.) From the day of the wedding onward, their paths are set to run together, and neither of them will ever be the same again.

Disclaimer: You can tell I own neither Life with Derek and its characters nor the department store Lord & Taylor's, because if I did, lemme tell you, I'd be one rich and famous son of a gun. I'd almost be like Paris Hilton, minus the stupidity. And I wouldn't be blonde, 'cause believe me, I would definitely NOT make a good blonde.

Chapter One: Breaking in the New Boy

"You've gotta be kidding me," Casey McDonald said, tapping her leather-booted foot impatiently and examining her black-polished fingernail.

"Casey," Nora explained once again, "you're not going anywhere unless you bring Derek with you. This is a new neighborhood for him, so the least you can do is show him around and introduce him so he can make a few friends. He needs a bit of help in that department, he's a little shy."

"A little shy? He's shaking like a leaf."

This was very true. Right now, Derek Venturi was looking at his new stepsister with brown doe eyes that were wide with fear, as indeed they were every time he looked at her. He couldn't tell what it was about her that made him so scared of her; it was more of an aura that seemed to surround her, from the heavy black eye make-up, messy hairstyle, and dark lipstick, to the 'nonconformist' clothing that typical punks conformed to (a/n: no diss to punks there), to the multiple body piercings, to the thick black army boots that never seemed to leave her feet. But it was even more than the way she looked. Whenever she had spoken to him privately, she always did so with patronization and insults, and now, even though she was in front of their parents, she did the same.

Derek would never have imagined her to be like this, judging by his first impression of her. She had looked perfectly presentable on the day of his father and Nora's wedding, if you didn't look closely and see the five empty holes in each ear, and one in her nose, that is. She had worn a beautiful lavender bridesmaid's dress that matched her younger sister Lizzie's, and had even had regular makeup on, and her hair was caught up in a loose bun, with a few curls in the front sides escaping and framing her face. To Derek, she had looked like an angel, and he had been beyond delighted to have her as a ready-made sister. But as soon as he and his family moved in, and they met the real Casey McDonald, complete with a pierced tongue and a wardrobe that made his baby sister Marti scream loud enough for the whole of Ontario to hear the first time she ever saw her in full getup, poor Derek's dream of a perfect stepsister crashed and burned, and he very quickly became petrified of the same girl whom he had secretly adored from the very moment they met.

Of course, it was obvious that nothing of the kind had ever gone on in Casey's head. She had always protested the marriage and the Venturis moving in, and had shown her dislike for Derek from the very start, and at the moment she was speaking as if she wished to disown him. "I don't want to be seen anywhere with him. He looks like Lord & Taylor's threw up on him."

"Casey!" exclaimed her mother.

"But it's true. If I take him to any of my usual places, he'll stick out like a sore thumb."

"Nora, is it really necessary for her to bring him along?" George asked cautiously.

"Of course it is, George! Casey needs to learn responsibility some way or another, and Derek shouldn't stay inside while his sister has all the fun. Casey," she turned back towards her daughter and repeated her ultimatum, "you either bring Derek along to wherever you're going or you're not going at all."

Casey looked at him appraisingly, narrowing her eyes. "I'll see what I can do."

She began by searching messily through his wardrobe for any clothing that could potentially be taken for punk, and settled on a button-down black shirt which when Derek put it on, she got him to keep the first three buttons open, and a black pair of dress slacks, as he had no dark jeans. The shoes were rather too refined, but she figured that no one would look at them anyway. She had real success with the hair and make-up. She wet his hair, then mussed it up artfully and put gel in, slapping his hand away whenever he tried to touch it or comb it out while it dried. Then she applied just the right amount of eyeliner and as an afterthought, some overall make-up to make him look at least a little bit grungy. For a finishing touch, she took a black necklace (a/n: the one that Derek wears on the show) from her jewelry box and fastened it around Derek's neck. "It looks better on you than it does on me," she said approvingly.

Derek looked at her in surprise when she said that, it being the first time that she had ever said anything to him that wasn't either derogatory or sarcastic. "Thank you," he replied quietly, not daring to look her in the eye as he said it, instead keeping his eyes to the floor. She observed his every move through the mirror on her vanity desk that he was still sitting at where she had applied the make-up to his face, and smiled, and continued to watch him for a minute or two, all the while surveying her work with approval.

"So, are we ready?"

Derek nodded, smiling, for Casey's compliment had transformed the fear and dreading from before into a happy anxiety and anticipation for the night's events, whatever they might be.

"Come on then." He followed her out of her room, and down the stairs, to the coat rack behind the front door. She grabbed a black leather jacket (a/n: Again, the one that was Derek's from the start on the show) and handed it to him. "It used to be mine, but you can have it. Especially since you're gonna be hanging with me from now on," she grinned.

Derek smiled cautiously back at her, and laughed when he looked to see his father and Nora staring at him with disbelief in what they saw. "It's me, don't worry," he assured them.

"I know, I just—Good job, Casey," sputtered Nora.

Casey smiled while she searched the rack for another jacket to wear, soon finding one made of red and black leather, and having several ornamental studs and zippers on the front. "Thanks, Mom. And don't worry, George," she assured her stepfather, "I won't take him anywhere dangerous, and as soon as we come home, I'll change him back into the sweet, innocent little Derek we all know and love."

Derek gaped at her when she said that. Maybe he was only overanalyzing, but had she not just said, in albeit an ambiguous manner, that she…? Casey laughed at the expression on his face, and as she pulled on her jacket, she told him, "Yeah, you heard right, I said I love you. I have to now, we're family, right?"

Derek secretly wasn't quite satisfied with that type of love from her, but as he couldn't expect anything more, he was happy. It seemed to be more than enough for their parents, for they smiled widely with both relief and happiness at the sweet family moment they had just witnessed.

"Try to come home by eleven, would you, please?" Nora requested of her daughter. "Tonight's a school night, remember."

Casey smiled. "Sure. Come on, boy," she began slightly pushing Derek out the front door, "we gotta get out of here, or we're gonna be late. Bye everyone!" she called, slamming the door behind her.

There was a pause, then George asked Nora, "Are you sure that we can trust her? With Derek, I mean?"

Nora smiled, and said, "Come with me." She showed George into Casey's room, where she opened her daughter's well-organized backpack, pulled out her planner, and showed him the page for that day. The homework was neatly written down, with check boxes in front of each one, all checked off.

"When she stops doing her homework," she told her husband, "then I'll know something's wrong."

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A/N: Love it? Hate it? Tell me whatcha think! My ears are open! (And my email inbox, for that matter.)