A/N: I've never written LWD fics before. This is my first attempt atone.I like it in general but for LWD I don't know what to think. I'd like to know what everyone thinks, so please review if you have the time. This isn't a happy fic and involves character death so if you don't like that kind of thing, then don't read it. This may seem rather OOC, but I know that in situations like this people can change, depending on their reaction to it. Or whatever. Constructive criticism is welcome, too. Enjoy. ... :)
X.x.
On the first day, everyone is trapped inside the house. Sam is over and there is a silent war over who gets to spend time with him, and eventually the three of them end up watching an old movie they've already seen before on TV. Casey sits awkwardly between the two boys, glaring at Derek, smiling at Sam. Derek doesn't know whether he wants to punch his best friend for doing this to him, or if he wants to punch himself for letting it happen.
Casey giggles for the fiftieth time, and he knows that it isn't because of the movie since a character has just shot himself, and he knows that no one, not even the jerk that he was, should laugh at such a scene. No matter how badly acted it is.
X.x.
On the second day, they are at it again. He is shouting and she is shouting back, and no one comes up to stop them because this always happens and everyone is used to it by now. Derek doesn't even know what had triggered the argument this time, but it has somehow dove into the topic of Sam, and now Casey is going on about how they are together and he can't do anything about it. He insists that it's creepy and it is violating the Male Code, and she asks how he could say such a thing about his best friend. He doesn't reply because to him, Sam isn't his best friend, or Casey's boyfriend. He isn't anything anymore.
X.x.
On the third day – or night, rather – thunder growls and lightning flashes among sheets of rain. And at midnight Derek enters her room without knocking, and for some reason he isn't surprised to find her awake. When she hears the quiet click of the door closing, she sits up in bed and asks him just what is he doing in her room in the middle of the night.
And he doesn't answer, just bends down and kisses her lightly on the lips. At first she tries to push him away, but he's stronger than she is, and eventually she gives in. But not for long.
Ten minutes later he is on his way back to his room, still able to taste her, wondering how she had gotten so good at wrestling. He slips underneath the covers of his bed, and listens to the rain.
X.x.
On the fourth day Sam and Casey break up. Derek doesn't know why, and when he asks, she tells him it doesn't matter. All he knows is that there was a lot of yelling involved.
That night, he stays in his room, and is surprised when the door opens slowly and Casey comes tip-toeing to the side of his bed and kisses him. Raindrops tap on the windowpane and send goose bumps shooting up his arms. He doesn't know what has come over her but doesn't ask, because right now she's his and he doesn't know if she ever will be after tonight.
Her skin is smooth and warm underneath her tank top and when he presses his mouth against it fireworks explode inside him, and he has never felt more alive.
X.x.
On the fifth day, Casey doesn't look at him once. The phone rings off the hook and every time it's Sam. She sits on the couch and tells him to get lost, she never wants to speak to him again, leave her alone.
Sam ignores everything she says because at six o'clock he shows up at the door and begs her to just let him explain. She protests, but ends up slipping on her coat and leaving with him anyway.
Derek watches through the window as they get into Sam's car and back out of the driveway. They disappear into the fog and he wishes it were raining.
X.x.
When the phone rings for the hundredth time that day, no one answers it until they realize Casey isn't home and it can't be for her. When Derek's father picks it up his brow furrows and voice softens as he listens to whoever is on the other end.
Okay. We'll be right there. Thank you, is all he says and with a grave look on his face, takes his keys in his hand and tells everyone to get in the car.
On their way to the hospital, Derek hopes that if Casey has been bleeding at all, then she better have been cleaned up properly because he knows she can't bear the sight of blood.
And then he prays that she hasn't been bleeding at all. Because he won't be able to stand the fact that there would be scars left to remind her of this accident, scars that would trail their way across her soft, perfect skin, and mark her forever.
He knows that even with the scars she'd still be perfect.
X.x.
On the sixth day, he is allowed to see her.
He enters the hospital room and immediately becomes lost in white. He sits down in the stiff white chair beside the white bed donned with white sheets. She is dressed in a wrinkled white gown and wrapped around her head is a thick white bandage. Her eyes are closed and he leans over and places gentle kisses on her eyelids.
For a long time he sits there, holding her hand. Outside, the sun shines. It creeps in through the slits in the blinds and hits her face, and it is then he realizes that this small, white room must be heaven, and she is an angel.
The bandage surrounding her forehead must be her halo.
X.x.
During the seventh day, visitors come and go. Edwin and Lizzie pop in a few times, but leave because it becomes too strange for them. Marti comes in once and doesn't understand what is going on. Nora brings in a vase of purple tulips and opens the blinds. His dad comes in and whispers to him that maybe they should give her a while alone with her daughter. Derek doesn't want to leave but he joins the rest of his family out in the hall. Questions are asked about why he suddenly cares so much, but he doesn't answer them. Instead, he asks his own questions.
How's Sam?
Sam is fine. His right arm is broken, but besides that, he's fine.
Where is he now?
Getting some rest at home.
Anger stirs inside of Derek but he can't do anything about it.
This whole thing is completely Sam's fault, and he hasn't even apologized.
He hears Nora's sobs leak through the closed door and feels the urge to punch the living daylights out of Sam, but he can't leave the building to do so.
X.x.
After about an hour he is finally let back in. He kisses Casey's cheek and hand and tells her that everything is going to be okay. By telling her this, he is also telling himself.
His back is facing the window and the sun burns through his shirt. He is annoyed by the feeling but regrets it because he is so warm while she is ice cold and that isn't fair because she is supposed to be an angel. The only thing missing is the golden glow that should be shimmering around her.
He is tired and his stomach is empty, but still he sits by her side. The doctor is out in the hallway speaking to Nora and his dad, and he tries hard to eavesdrop on their conversation, but only hears the small bits.
…Coma…
Coma…?
She might now…now we need to know…life support?
We'll need to…
Now…if she does…might not…normally.
We'll let you know later.
He swallows and begins to tell Casey that they are both missing a lot of school and when they go back, there will be a ton of homework to catch up on, and since he's failing math he is going to need extra help from her. Maybe, if she has heard him, this will wake her up.
X.x.
On the tenth day, Derek goes home. His father insists that he needs a good night's sleep and a few good meals.
Everyone does.
At night he goes into her room. The bed is unmade but that is the only imperfect thing about the place. He had only meant to take a framed picture to put on her windowsill, but he ends up falling asleep.
It is the only time he'll feel what it is like to sleep in her bed. He tightens his arms around her pillow and inhales her scent, the whole time wondering just when had he gone so insane.
X.x.
On the twelfth day, the purple tulips turn brown, and Nora tiredly replaces them with yellow roses. Casey is paler than ever and Derek thinks that sooner or later she is going to disappear in all the white and become part of the room itself.
Sam walks in with his arm in a sling and red scratches on his face. He tries to kiss her but Derek pushes him away. They shout and swear at each other and eventually Sam gives up and leaves.
It is the end of their friendship, but Derek can't find the strength to care.
X.x.
It has been two hundred and five days. He has stopped sitting in the uncomfortable chair beside her bed every day and visits only once each month.
Together, the family makes their way to the hospital in silence. Today marks the end of their hope, and the beginning of their mourning. The roads are clouded with fog, and Derek wishes that a truck will come crashing into them and kill them all. Because he has a feeling that this silence will never end, and he doesn't think he can stand it much longer.
X.x.
One by one, everyone says goodbye. Edwin regrets not getting very close to her, Lizzie's voice is inaudible and choked with sobs, Marti waves, and their dad tells her that she will always be his own daughter in his eyes. Nora apologizes over and over and hopes she will find peace and forgive them for doing this to her.
Derek sits down on her bed and kisses her for the last time. Her lips are chapped and they taste like chalk. The ends of her long brown hair are split, and the bandage around her head has turned beige and he wonders why it hasn't been removed. He whispers to her that he loves her. He's never spoken those words to anyone before who wasn't a family member. Then he remembers that she's his stepsister, and that she is supposed to be family. And he doesn't care because he has never thought of her as his stepsister. He hasn't been given the time to let him accept her as that. He never will.
Although he whispers it everyone hears him, anyway. They stare at him, but the shock never reaches their eyes because they are already filled with too much sadness. Even the doctor has heard.
And maybe Casey heard him, too. But he doesn't let that thought get to him, because he knows that she had stopped listening a long time ago.