My New Chapter Fic...Wee...A/N at bottom for more info.
I never put this, but I probably should at least once for now.
I don't own LWD or anything to do with it. I just own my ideas.
Casey and Derek couldn't agree on anything. They never could agree on food choices, television programming, or even what brand of toilet paper to get. When it came to making a decision, they made sure that they never agreed on anything.
Being back at the McDonald-Venturi house was very different now, that they could agree on.
They'd been home a couple of weeks now, and it was quite…crowded. Nora and George took Casey's room, moving Simon, who was now five, into Derek's room. The two stepsiblings were left to sleep in the basement on two twin beds.
They were already aware of the sleeping arrangement, because they'd had the same arrangement for every holiday after the baby was born. The only difference now was this was a long term arrangement rather than a few weeks long vacation from school. This was it.
They had a privacy curtain between the beds, but other than that, they were room buddies. The fight they had the night they found out about their permanent room arrangements was one to go down in history. It wasn't even a fight with each other, either. Nope. It was with their parents.
They'd obviously lost, though, because they were still in this room without a choice. They didn't look on the bright side of anything. Just because they were friends didn't mean they had to like it.
"Think of it as a sleepover!" Nora had beamed at the angered faces of the stepsiblings.
They still rolled their eyes about that to this day.
They were passed all of that now, though.
They'd already graduated from Queens and had moved back home. Casey had a handful of schools in the area that she was going to apply and test at to see if they would hire the fresh out of college elementary school teacher. She'd had plenty of experience as a student teacher her final year of university, so she knew what she was up against. Derek was a film major, and was planning on teaming up with someone he'd met a while back in a nearby town on a documentary they were supposed to get paid big for. Hopefully then, he'd be able to move out. Casey had already tested at a few schools in the area and was just waiting for results. Soon enough, like Derek, she'd have the funds to move out as well. They both just had to wait it out.
The two had lived together in nearby apartment on campus. It wasn't the best arrangement, but they managed to finally start getting along after a while. That didn't take long to do, because they were already on the verge of being friends during their senior year. Often he would talk her out of a bad decision before she made a fool of herself, and she'd help him study when she knew he was having a hard time. They worked. They disagreed on everything, but they were still friends. Not that they'd tell anybody that, though.
Today was a special day for Casey, though. Yes! Today, Casey McDonald was turning 22. Casey enjoyed being the youngest one in her graduating class, even though it was just by a month or so. It made her feel like she'd accomplished more than anyone else at a younger age…no matter what that age was.
After showering and dressing herself up that morning, she thought about her night's rest. She'd been sleep sweating more than usual lately, which was weird, because she had never been like that until a few months before she'd graduated. Perhaps it was another case of futuritis? Maybe. The possibility of it was there, because she'd had another mini freak out before graduation as well, but got over it after the ceremony. These night sweats needed to stop though, because they were keeping her from sleeping, leaving her more tired during the day.
She hopped upstairs, where her sister and mother were already plating breakfast in the kitchen.
"Happy birthday!" Lizzie exclaimed before her mother had seen her. Lizzie ran to her sister, and embraced her tightly.
"Thanks, Liz…" Casey murmured against her sister's hair.
"Can't believe you slept in!" her mother exclaimed, taking her in her arms. "Happy birthday, my Casey…" she squeezed Casey until she squeaked.
"Yeah, sorry about that, I didn't realize…"
"It's your birthday, and you'll sleep if you want to!" George walked into the kitchen and embraced his stepdaughter.
Everyone gave her hugs and wished her a happy birthday before she got to sit down at the table. Even Derek gave her an awkward pat on the arm with a nod of his head, to which she just rolled her eyes.
Casey picked at her food while she wondered what she was going to do that night. She hadn't really kept in touch with anyone from high school, so a big party couldn't be in the question. Emily had stopped contacting her after her breakup with Derek. She really only had her friends from university, but they all lived many hours away, so that was out of the question. She wouldn't mind a night out with her family…
"Casey, stop scratching yourself, you're going to reach bone soon!" Lizzie scolded her sister. Casey was unaware that she was scratching her neck now. When she stopped, she realized how much it itched, and was confused, because she hadn't realized she was scratching it. She needed to snap out of these nervous habits, seriously.
"Are you alright, honey?" Nora, concerned, asked her daughter. "You haven't even touched your food, and you hardly ate last night."
"I'm just not very hungry…" Casey smiled at her mom.
"She hardly ate at Queens, too. It was awesome!" Derek reached over and took the bacon from her plate.
"De-rek!" the table chorused.
"You have lost some weight, though…" Nora murmured to her daughter. "Perhaps we should get you checked out for stress, yeah?"
"Mom, I'm sure I'm fine!" Casey shook her head. The last thing she wanted to think about right now was going to the doctor. The last time she went to the doctor on her birthday, she had appendicitis.
"Casey…" her mother warned.
Derek laughed. "Leave it to Casey to get the ick on her birthday!"
"Derek, close your mouth when you're eating." George scolded, and looked at his stepdaughter. "Casey, it's your birthday, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt anything to go to a quick checkup."
"Have you been sleeping well?" Lizzie cocked an eyebrow up at Casey.
Casey hated this kind of attention, especially because she didn't want anyone to worry about her on her special day.
"Well…I sleep fine…"
"She sweats like a hog!" Derek cut in.
"Derek!" she cried. "I do not sweat like a hog! People get night sweats! That happens!" Casey nodded, looking around the table to see if anyone agreed.
"Sick…" Edwin said under his breath.
Casey exhaled deeply and sat back in her chair. "Great." She shook her head.
"Derek, how would you know Casey sweats?" Marti chirped in. Marti was always observant of Derek and Casey's relationship, or lack thereof. She was now 12, and spoke a little less, but was always sure to see that her opinion was heard.
Everyone looked at him, and he visibly swallowed his food, looking at all the faces that were turned towards him.
"Uh…because I can smell her…" he rolled his eyes. Casey scoffed. Everyone else shook their heads. In reality, though, since they shared a room he would sometimes hear her get up and watch her cross the room while fanning herself. She would walk to the restroom, and emerge with a separate set of clothes. It didn't really worry him, but it probably should.
"Look, if it makes everyone feel better, I'll head to the doctor around noon and I'm sure they'll give me something for stress." She shook her head, poking at her food, but still not eating it.
"I'll go with you, dear. We can have lunch afterwards, and I'll take you shopping. How does that sound?" Nora smiled at her daughter.
"Who'll take care of Simon?" George's eyes widened. "I have to go to the office right quick to finish up some files…"
"Derek and the kids could watch him, I'm sure."
Derek grinned. "Yeah, the kids can. I just came up to eat." He scooted his chair out, and walked out of the room.
Many hours later, Derek emerged from his nap, and walked back upstairs. The house was unusually quiet, and he remembered it was Casey's birthday, so they probably took her out to dinner or something.
"Thanks for the invite, Spacey." He rolled his eyes, because seriously, they were friends enough for her to possibly want him to go with. He walked further into the living room lazily, and plopped down on the recliner with a bag of potato chips.
It was soon enough that he got bored of being alone and he headed out to hang-out with Sam, who happened to be down for the summer.
"Isn't today Casey's birthday?" Sam cocked an eyebrow up at Derek a few minutes after his arrival.
"And?"
"I just figured since the two of you were getting along better now that y'all were doing something…" he said uneasily from the look his friend was giving him.
"Please." Derek scoffed. "We tolerate each other, that doesn't make us friends."
"If you say so…"Sam shrugged. He really didn't want to get into it with his friend, especially when even Sam knew that the stepsiblings had been getting along a lot better in their final year of university. He could deny all he wanted to.
It was really good catching up with Sam, considering they rarely saw each other in the four years they were attending school apart. Sam actually stuck with hockey throughout his college career, but settled on coaching for a long term thing. He'd already gotten an amazing opportunity somewhere in Toronto, and Derek was quite proud of his lifetime best friend.
Sam had never really talked about future plans with anyone before, not even Derek. So you could imagine his surprise when he found out that his friend was studying to be a coach. Mostly just surprised his friend had applied in colleges. Sam studied his butt off in high school, but never mentioned the future once.
Derek hung out with his friend until around midnight, when he decided to get back home. The house was dark, but the cars were there, so he knew they were all home but most likely asleep.
When he walked into the house, he was proven right, and quietly made his way down to the basement. Casey must have been asleep, because the curtain was up. He didn't bother peeking around to see her because she was probably knocked out from whatever medication the doctors gave her.
Because her bed was against the wall, and out of the view of the rest of the room, he quickly changed into his night clothes, and got under his covers. For a birthday, it really was a dull day. Nevertheless, as high maintenance as Casey acted, she was pleased with whatever she received.
"Happy birthday, Case…" he whispered before he fell asleep.
When he woke up in the morning, he heard talking upstairs. He groaned and rolled out of bed. Silently, he peeked around the curtain to see if Casey was still asleep, but her bed was neatly made.
"Of course…" he mumbled and took his time getting to the restroom for a shower. Life was really dull waiting around for his friend to get all the contracts signed for the film they were getting involved in, so all he had to do during the day was bum around until that day came.
After toweling off and getting dressed, he hopped up the stairs, hoping breakfast was made or something, because he was starving.
As he walked into the kitchen, he could see straight away that nothing was made, but there was a certain…air to the atmosphere. A very negative air, at that. He looked around for the voices he'd heard earlier, and sure enough, sitting at the table was Edwin and Marti looking down at their bowls of cereal silently eating.
"Why so serious, sibs?" he grabbed his own bowl and started pouring cereal. His siblings looked up quickly. Edwin's mouth hung open as if unsure of what to say. Marti only looked at her older brother as if seeking comfort…but why?
"What's going on?" he said more urgently, forgetting his bowl, and pulling up a chair next to Marti and putting his arms around her.
"It's Casey, Smerek…" Marti pushed her face into his shoulder, and that's when he realized something was wrong, because Marti hadn't been acting childish in the time that they'd been back after graduating univeristy, so to say he was worried was an understatement.
"W…What about Casey?" he asked uneasily, his stomach dropping. Edwin was still unsure how to say it, so he put his spoon down, and rubbed his face with his hands, because he wasn't sure how to tell his older brother about his older stepsister
"Derek…we were going to tell you, but we didn't want you to find out over the phone…" he shook his head.
"God dammit, Ed, just tell me! What happened to Casey?" his frustrated brother yelled at him, because he was already pissed enough that they'd obviously known since yesterday, and he was just finding out now.
Edwin took a deep breath, still not sure how he was going to say it, either. The easiest way to get this done was to be straightforward about it. No holding back. Here it goes…
"They think Casey has cancer."
Dun dun dunnn...
well, I'm not sure how long this fic will be, but it will be more than a couple chapters. Maybe five at most? We'll see.
I'll tell y'all my inspiration in the last chapter.
What I write from here on out will be what is to my knowledge from personal experience. Not that I had a sickness, just someone dear to me, but like i said...last chapter.
I hope y'all will enjoy this fic, and please review! i love that feedback.
