AN: I'm not to confidant about this one seeing as it is my first Life with Derek fic. Really this is a product of me being extremely bored in English, but whatever right. I hope you enjoy this and I apologize if anyone is to OOC I tried, I swear I did.

She ran. It was something that she had been doing a lot lately and this time was no different. She had fled from the restaurant they had been at into the cold Toronto night. Stopping for a moment she took of her heals and continued to run down the street bare foot, ignoring the pain that ensued from doing so. It all together had been a great night. She was out with the man that she loved at a restaurant that she adored. The two had been dating for nearly a year and at this point were practically inseparable; in fact they were practically living together. That is until he dumped her on the night of there nine month anniversary, apologizing half heartily and leaving her alone with no ride home in a restaurant that she had once adored, but now knew she would never return to. At the thought of this tears began to run down her face again and little over an hour later she was standing in front of her apartment building with her make-up smeared and looking slightly related to a raccoon.

She knew that this by far would be the worst part of the night as she would have to face him. Their parents had both agreed that seeing as they were going to the same college that they might as well share one apartment forcing her to spend the last two years of her life in closer quarters with her step-brother than they had ever been and to say in the least she regretted every bit of it. At this point she was in the elevator and a floor away from where she would walk down the hall into apartment 34A, and with all her heart she prayed that he would be off on some one night stand so she could have the house to herself without his snide remarks and crude questions.

However, as soon as she turned the key and opened the door she could hear the soft sounds of the television rolling from their living room into the doorway and she knew that God was not on her side this night. She tried her best to creep past him, hoping that he'd be to enthralled in whatever he was watching to notice her presence, though this was far from the case because as soon as she set her bag down on the table by the door he had turned off the TV and was walking over to her with a smirk on his face.

"You're home early. What did your night with Mr. Perfect turn out to be not so perfect?" He asked arrogantly while leaning up against to the wall next to her.

"Derek please, not tonight okay. I just can't deal with you right now." She replied weakly before walking past his leaning form on her way to her bedroom. Unknowingly to her Derek's eyebrows scrunched in confusion before he followed after her.

"Case?" he asked surprisingly patiently while grabbing her arm unsuspecting to the lash out he was about to receive.

"What! I told you to leave me alone alright. I mean God, do I have to throw a stick so you'll just go away?" She questioned violently swinging her arm out of his grasp.

"I guess you are forgetting that I live here to and you and I are practically related so I have a right to be concerned about you."

"Oh sure Derek, you are only ever concerned about me, or anyone else for that matter, when it provides you something in return. So lay off, you are not getting any reward, no noble peace prize, nothing so just go away and get bent."

With that she slammed the door in his face locking it behind her to insure that he wouldn't be able to barge in anytime soon. She then walked over to her bed collapsing on top of it and began to cry her eyes out, again.

Later on that night Casey crept out of her room and down the hall into the small kitchen in the apartment that the two shared. She knew that by now Derek had gone to bed and was sleeping soundly so she was safe from any other encounters for that night, or at least that's what she thought. Seeing as soon as she sat down with a carton of her favorite ice cream Derek appeared in the door way clad in only his boxers and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Upon noticing her presence he went to a drawer and grabbed a spoon before sitting down across from her silently reaching over to take a huge spoonful for himself. She watched him for awhile before she went back to eating her ice cream, this time however she wasn't alone. The two eat more than half of the gallon of the frozen cream stuff before Derek finally dropped his spoon and looked at her with an uncharacteristic look of seriousness written on his face.

"Casey, just tell me what happened. You know that I'm going to find out eventually anyway, so why postpone the inevitable?" He asked her quietly with a raised eyebrow.

"Why do you want to know so badly?" She spoke apprehensively while still eating ice cream.

"Because contrary to common belief, I do care…or at least somewhat. So spill."

"Fine, Greg broke up with me. Are you happy now?"

"No not really, did he give you a reason as to why?" Derek asked with a slight frown on his face.

"Nope, not one single reason. Just flat out broke up with me, I had to walk home and bare foot too."

"Shit Casey, you should've just called me and I would've come and got you, I mean that restaurant is like two miles away." He said with a semi-concerned look on his face.

"Yeah well I didn't think you'd….Derek why are you being so nice to me?" Casey asked confused.

"Because I can be." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

They fell into a silence once again as well as going back to finishing off the carton of ice cream that they had together completely demolished. After they finished Derek stood and walked over to the sink spoon in hand a looked out into the night through the small kitchen window.

"He didn't deserve you Case. He was a lying asshole and I know for a fact that you can do so much better than him." He paused and walked over to where she was sitting bent down and gave her an affectionate kiss on her forehead and whispered into her hair. "Because you're so much better than anyone I've ever known in every way." He pulled away and began to walk back to his bedroom. "Anyway, goodnight."

Casey sat alone in the kitchen for moment, her mind trying to process what was said and trying to formulate a proper reaction to it all. But after a while, she came to the realization that she didn't care. In fact, he was right; Greg wasn't good enough for her, at all. In all reality no guy that she had ever gone out with had been. But as she looked down the hall that Derek had disappeared down she finally knew what she really wanted and it had been in front of her all along. So quickly she got up and nearly ran down the hall till she found herself in front of his room and pushing her way to the edge of her bed where she looked down at him with a smile on her face. She knew that he knew she was there because he rolled from his position that he'd been in to face her. When he did she pulled back the covers and sat down on the bed beside him.

"Scoot over." She said with a smile on her face as she laid down.

"Why?" He asked somewhat groggily.

"I…Derek please I just found out that I don't want to be alone tonight, so can I just sleep here?"

As soon as she said this Derek moved over enough so she could lay comfortable without fear of falling of the bed. When she got comfortable, he moved so he was right beside her and placed his head on top of her shoulder, his body flush with hers.

"Do you think that even in a million years you could ever see me as your brother?" he whispered shyly in her ear.

"No, what about you?" She asked turning in his arms to face him.

"Not a chance in hell..." He admitted bluntly.

They stayed quiet for a moment before Casey finally looked up at him. "So do you think that maybe we could…I don't know." She tried but ended up laughing which caused him to chuckle. "This is so weird, no only am I snuggling with my step-brother I'm trying to ask him out." She said softly as she laid her head on his chest smiling as she heard his laughter reverberating around his body. "This isn't funny Derek."

"Yeah it is, you're so pathetic, but I'm flattered really." He said she knew for a fact that a smirk was on his face.

"So what do you think?"

"Me?"

"No, the guy that's standing by your closet. Yes you, you dumbass."

"Well…I'm not opposed to it. At all really." He said looking down at her meeting her gaze.

"So, what do we do know." She spoke shyly

"Well what are you doing tomorrow?" He asked smiling slowing inching closer to her face.

"Well, I don't have anything planned if that's what you're asking."

"So do you want to go out to lunch or coffee seeing as it's already four."

"I'd like that a lot Mr. Venturi." She said happily leaning her head closer to his almost closing the nonexistent gap between them.

"Good, it's a date then." He said smiling.

"Yup."

Barely after Casey spoke her last word Derek's lips crashed onto hers. She smiled against his lips and pulled him closer, if that was even possible, and deepened the kiss. It was in the kitchen that she had realized why all the other guys that she had ever dated had never really met her standards, it was also the reason that she was currently making out with her step-brother at four in the morning in his bed; it was because the perfect guy, no matter what he did to her in the past, was right under her nose all along.