A/N -So, this is my first LWD two shot. Actually, it's my first two shot - period. I just saw the episode of Rude Awakening, and was inspired to write it. I apologize for any mistakes, since I wrote this pretty quick. Please review and tell me what you think.

And the fact that I just watched one of the episodes for the first time should be a hint that I don't own LWD.

~Persuasion~

Casey McDonald prided herself in many things. Especially when it came to planning, organizing, and.. did she mention planning? So, naturally, anyone who knew her, knew that she liked things the way they were 'planned' to be. She didn't like deviations or alterations unless they were pre-planned. Which is exactly why she was storming up the stairs in a rage, prepared for a confrontation with her unfortunate step-brother. The word 'unfortunate' seemed appropriate considering his mental status.

"De-rek!" She flung open his bedroom door with a vengeance, and was disappointed when the object of her irritation calmly continued reading his magazine as if she didn't pose a sufficient distraction.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it." He sounded bored while flipping through his - could anyone call that poor excuse for a swimsuit issue, a magazine?

She crossed her arms. "It's not about what you did, it's about what you're going to do."

His head snapped up in confusion. "Huh?" She knew normal sentences would get his attention.

Sighing, she sat on his bed, and ignored the fact that he shifted an inch away from her. "Why is it that when I spoke to Sam, he didn't believe me when I told him that you were joining me in the fall?"

His eyes bore holes into his reading material. "I dunno." He shrugged. It was too casual, actually.

"Hm.. And why was it that Sam thought that instead of attending the University with me, you would be back packing through Europe?"

He shrugged again, his eyes never leaving the same spot he was staring at for the past five minutes. She grabbed the magazine away from him and wasn't disappointed with the "hey!" of protest.

"Derek, are you going back packing through Europe instead of going to UoT?"

"Shhh." Jumping up quickly, he shut the door, turning the lock in the process. "Not so loud."

"You didn't answer me."

"Well sorry, Princess. But I didn't know that I had to okay everything I do, with you, before I do it."

"But what about UoT?"

He shrugged. "I'll go next year."

"Next year? Derek, you and I both know that if you take a year long sabbatical, you wont go back to school. You'll be too used to gallivanting around and being a.. a... hobo."

His eyebrows raised in question. "A hobo?"

"You know what I mean." She said irritably, her hand swatting imaginary flies. "You cant be serious."

"Believe what you want."

"But, how will you travel?"

"Trains, buses, catching rides with other drunk hobos on skateboards."

She rolled her eyes. "Where will you sleep?"

"Again, trains, buses, and some five star hotels. They know what a celebrity I am." He said, pulling up his collar cockily.

He was obviously not taking her seriously. "Money?"

"We'll work for it"

"We?"

"Yup. We."

"You're not telling me who you're going with?"

"Nope."

"Why?" Surely he had no good reason, except the need to bug her.

"Because if I tell you who I'm going with, you will go to them, and convince them that this trip is the biggest mistake we could ever make." Oh! So he did have a good reason.

"I don't get it. Why cant you go after you graduate?"

He eyed her as if she had lost her mind. "That's in four years."

"So?"

"So, I want to enjoy life now."

She sighed. "Is this about Emily? I know you guys had to break up because of the whole distance thing, but I don't think that that should be a reason for you to drop your chance at an education to sleep on the ground and eat dirt."

"Ah! But the dirt is European. Besides, it's got nothing to do with her. I've been planning this for the past few months, and finally, the time has come." He puffed out his chest, making him ooze confidence.

"And George is okay with this?"

Derek froze. "Er.. he might not know exactly, but I'm pretty sure that subconsciously he knows about this, and is totally okay with it."

Her jaw dropped. "Derek! You can't just not go to university. What about the tuition?"

He shrugged. "What about it?"

"Derek!"

He laughed. "Relax, Case. It's taken care of. I spoke to the dean, and explained my situation, and he's cool with it."

She raised her eyebrows in suspicion. "Your situation?"

"Yeah.. The situation where my Dad's job is going to transfer him to London for the next year, and the whole family has to move there since the company provides the residences."

She stared at him. How does he come up with such excuses? He was really the Lord of the Lies. Sometimes. However, seeing him looking down at her, so smug, so confident, so overwhelmingly sure of himself made her angry. Very, very angry. "I'm telling George." She said in a matter of fact manner, and made a move to exit the room. But Derek, in full-on panic mode grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Casey, I'm not doing anything to you, so I think it's only fair that you don't do anything to me."

"But what you're doing is wrong."

"Do you hear yourself? You really want to live together?"

That caught her attention. "What? I'm staying with a 'bunch of girls', remember?" Quoting him was a sure way of recalling his memory.

"I heard Dad and Nora talking. They are planning on getting us an apartment since the residences are kinda pricey."

That cant be. "But.."

He leaned closer. "Imagine it. The two of us. Alone. No dad or Nora as referees, no Edwin or Lizzie as buffers, and no Marti to make sure we get along."

That cant happen. She wont let that happen. "But.."

"I don't know if we can handle it. We'll probably end up using the knives in a very creative way within the first week of living together."

She looked at him. He was sincere. At least as sincere as she imagined him to be minus the amazing acting skills he possessed. But still.. "You're distracting me."

That took him off guard. "What?"

"We can get along." He scoffed. "We can."

"Never going to happen."

"We get along now, don't we?"

"But that's with a whole household. There can be no guarantees when we live together."

Pulling his arm, she led him to his bed. "We can work something out. But you don't need to go to Europe to avoid me."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Narcissistic much?"

She lightly punched his shoulder. "My point is, Europe can wait. UoT cannot."

"Casey, for the last time, I'm going. And I'm doing this, not to get over Emily, not to get away from you, even though that's an amazing perk, but because I want to."

She was going to call him on this. Make this trip seem relatively less glamorous than it was. "Okay then, I'll go with you."

His face froze. "You're joking, right?"

"Nope."

"You're not coming."

"I'm coming if you don't want me to tell George." Take that, Venturi.

"But you said it yourself, people who go on a year long sabbatical never go back to school." He looked at her with mock concern. "Do you really want to give up your dream of being a professional?"

"Ah! But then we all know that I will definitely get a degree, and this way, I can make sure you do too." She squealed as she clapped her hands in excitement. "This is going to be so much fun!"

Derek rapidly shook his head. "No! No. No. No. You're not coming."

"I am coming." She replied firmly.

"No you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"You're ruining my trip." He said desperately.

She grinned. "That's the idea."

He glared at her. "Let me get this straight. If I go to Europe, you'll be tagging along, and on the other hand, if I stay at UoT, we'll be living together." He smiled sarcastically. "Oh how great is the choice."

"You did say that I wasn't a factor right?"

"Yeah.. well.. I lied."

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, Derek. Make the right choice."

"I'd rather not."

Casey sighed. She was getting really sick of this. There was one last hope. Something she did when all other things failed. Something she knew he couldn't resist succumbing to because of the sheer annoyance of it. Smiling evilly, she grabbed his cheeks with both hands.

Derek's eyes widened. "Casey." He warned.

"Oh Derek." She squealed, in the best baby voice she could muster. "You know you want to go to UoT. Don't ya? Don't ya?"

"Casey." Derek grabbed her arms and tried to wrench them away from him, but she was a formidable opponent, and held her own.

"Come on, Derek." She continued, all the while pinching his cheeks in the way she would a baby's. "You know you want to." She leaned forward threateningly. "You know what I'm going to do next if you don't say you're coming with me, don't ya?"

"Casey." His voice was laced with a deep sense of foreboding. "I swear, if you even try to.."

She didn't let him finish, instead, she pulled him into a quick hug.

"Casey!" He yelled, trying to pull her away from him. He hated hugs, despised them. And Casey couldn't help but grin at his squirming discomfort.

"I'm not letting go until you admit that this trip is a ridiculous idea." She chirped gleefully. "And I have all day."

"Nothing that you say or do is going to change my mind." He tried to pry her arms from around him, but the girl had flexible yet, iron-like limbs from years as a dancer.

Casey sighed. She knew when he was a lost cause, and this was one of those instances. "Fine." She mumbled softly, and moved herself away from him. It was one of those coincidental moments where an incident wasn't foreseeable. She moved back and turned her face towards him to wave the white flag, somewhat verbally, when Derek thought it the perfect time, to face her. Needless to say, their noses bumped each other, causing them to move further apart in surprise. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only reason for Casey to move back. There was a moment, a brief, barely important second where his lips brushed the corner of hers. This mistake of skin on skin could have been over looked, or would have been over looked, if it weren't for the tiny bout of pleasure the touch invoked within her. It was not expected. And the way Derek was looking at her, she guessed, the feeling was mutual.

Casey suddenly realized that her arms were still over his shoulders. She also realized that she was staring at him. And he was staring at her, as if he was looking at her for the first time. Then he did the unthinkable. He leaned forward, and gently placed his lips on hers. Her eyes fluttered close voluntarily, affirming the right to experimentation. He pulled back, and Casey stayed the way she was, eyes closed, still experiencing the sensation of having Derek's lips on hers. Something she can honestly say she had never fantasized about. When she did open her eyes, her glance immediately went to his lips, parted, and looking oh so inviting, just a few centimetres away.

"You should go." Derek whispered. His voice was low, but it did prove sufficient for her glance to meet his chocolate brown eyes, and to have a relatively harsh reality check, as she realized, what had just happened, and with whom.

She nodded. "Yeah." She would have said more if her throat hadn't closed up.

Disentangling herself from around him, she stood up and headed to the door. She grabbed the door knob and pulled, hoping to make a quick getaway. But the door didn't budge. She pulled again, and again, and again.

Suddenly, Derek was near her, and he unlocked the door first. There was no time like the present to feel like a total idiot, for forgetting something simple like how the door was locked just moments before. "Thanks." She mumbled, barely looking up at him.

"No problem." Pulling the door open, he moved aside so that she could walk into the hallway. "Casey."

She stopped, her gaze still fixed determinedly on the ground. "I'll think about.. what you said."

Casey looked up, and her eyes held his. "Okay."

"Thanks." He said awkwardly.

She smiled slightly, even though the awkwardness could be felt in every bone in her body. "No problem." And with that last statement, she hurried into her room and locked the door after her. She let out a low breath, one she didn't know she was holding.

Was she dreaming? Or did she just kiss her step-brother?