So today in my physiology class we talked about child abuse and Munchhausen syndrome, my birth mom has this so I've been through it and I feel like awareness needs to be raised. Lucky for me I was taken out of her care when I was five and placed into a loving family but some are not the lucky. I feel kind of weird posting this up but I did anyway so I hope you guys enjoy it.

This fic is in Casey's POV, she is watching Derek not knowing that himself, Edwin, and Marti where victims of Munchhausen Syndrome and the first paragraph is how my mom said I behaved for a while.

I don't own Life with Derek or Eminem's 'Cleaning out my Closet.' Or 'Lose Yourself'

Truths and Lies

Casey never really understands her new stepbrother at all, there was certain things that he would do that would make her turn her head. One of them was that he would smell everything, and she means everything. He would look through the fridge and smell everything from the milk to the left over's and the meals that her mother would prepare as well. She just thought it was a habit, most people smell food before they ate something.

But then there were times when her mom would make Marti breakfast and Derek would instantly take the food from her hands, dump it and make something else for her. Nora would just sigh and let it slide, Nora knew about George's ex-wife and she knew how long it would take before her Step-Son would be able to trust again. But when Casey saw this she freaked out, why would Derek destroy a perfectly good breakfast. And then the screaming would start between Derek and Casey, Marti would sit in her chair and cover her ears and Edwin would run into his room and slam the door. Later Nora would yell at Casey for making such a scene and that would leave her hurt and confused, Derek was the one who did something wrong…right?

Then Derek would start to act out, he would come home from visiting his mother and would yell at his dad, the onetime Casey stood at the door to listen Derek caught her. He opened the door so quick that she tumbled onto the door and she saw the anger in his eyes. He lifted her up and threw her against the wall, his teeth where clenched Casey saw the hellfire in his eyes.

"Mind your own damn business Casey!" He said threw his teeth before letting her go. He came to her room an hour later and said sorry, begging her to forgive him. Casey did of course because of what she heard at the door, Derek telling George that he does not want to see his mom anymore and when George asked him why he screamed 'Look what she did to me!'

Casey wished she could see, she wanted to know what was wrong with him. As much as she couldn't stand him she didn't want to see him hurt. She would figure it out somehow but whenever she mentioned his mother to anyone they would change the subject and silently pray that Casey would drop it and soon.

And then Casey finally did drop it, but she kept noticing Derek's behavior. One time she walked into Derek's room to ask him if he had the stapler and saw him without his shirt on, examining an injury on his back. But what startled Casey was the fact that it was fresh and it was in the shape of a clothing iron. She just stood and starred but Derek caught her from the mirror. He quickly put his shirt on and pushed her out the room.

"God Damnit Casey! Do you ever knock?" The door slammed in her face and she went into her room to do what she normally does when she is upset and that was dance. She turned on her stereo and flipped through some songs that where on a mix CD that she took from Derek's room. She stopped when the beginning of Eminem's Lose Yourself poured through the speakers and loosened her shoulders up before moving to the beat and choreographing moves to the song.

Derek finished putting Aloe on the burn that his mother gave to him and sighed when he realized that he once again freaked out on Casey. He made a note that he shouldn't be taking out his anger for his mother on her, it wasn't right. So he put his shirt back on and walked to her door and opened it a little bit to see that she was dancing along to his favorite song. She watched as she lost herself in the song, he didn't know that she could dance like that; he thought that she only danced ballet but he was wrong. He kept watching her as the music shot through her body like electricity, she didn't even notice that he was in the room watching her like a hawk and when the song ended she walked over to the stereo and went to turn it off but Derek stopped her.

"Case no, leave it play." He watched as she jumped at his voice. He moved past her and went through some tracks before stopping on the second of the last another Eminem song began to play. "I uh, I want you to listen to this because this is the song that describes everything."

The opening for 'Cleaning out My Closet" began and Casey stood there, frozen in shock but then sat on her bed and watched as Derek sat on the desk chair. She listened to the song carefully but watched as Derek mouthed the words, almost perfectly. She listened as Eminem apologized to his mother and then went on to talk about his childhood and then say that he was a victim of a mental sickness called Munchhausen Syndrome. She watched and listened and when the song ended she looked at Derek confused. He gave her an aggravated sigh.

"You know for someone that's gets all A's in school you sure are dumb." He got up to leave and Casey stopped him.

"What was that about?" She asked, still sweaty from her dance.

Derek looked at her and then sat back down on the bed. "My mom…she has that, Munchausen Syndrome."

Casey looked at him and then remembered a book she read a while ago called 'A Child Called It' she looked at Derek then went to her nightstand to fish out the book when Derek stopped her. "No Case, there is a difference between those two, it is still child abuse but just don't go to a book for this ok. Let me tell you what it is."

Casey was silent but sat with the book in her lap still. "Ok Derek, I'm listening."

Derek clasped his hands together. "It's when a parent makes their kids sick, mostly for attention or sympathy from others. My mom would put stuff in our foods like pinesole and other things of that sort. She would even hurt us as we slept if we were lucky. But mostly when we were awake….you see all these scars?" He said as he took his shirt off and Casey gasped, she reached out to trace over them. "There from my mom, and her excuse…'he got hurt in hockey, he fell off his bed..' the list goes on. It stopped when my dad caught her putting draino into Marti's bottle. My dad divorced her and she was put away and given help the got out this year, now she resorted back to just plain abuse. That's why I don't wanna see her anymore. Guided visitations or not, I'm tired of her trying to hurt me and my brother and sister."

Casey sat there, tears forming in her eyes. She pulled him close and cried into his shoulder. "God Derek," She said with a sniff. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through that…it's horrible."

And Derek let her hug her, she even felt some tears fall from his face and land onto her shoulder. She was careful not to touch his newest wound when she pulled him tighter. After a while, she pulled away and got up from her place on the bed. "Where are you going?" Derek asked her.

"To get some Neosporin, Aloe might take the burn feeling away but it won't take away the infection." Casey said as she took the tube out of her desk drawer. She instructed him to turn around and began to put some of the clear ointment on his back. "She could have killed Marti." She said in a whisper

Derek shifted. "I know, it's scary to think that if my dad didn't catch her we wouldn't have our little Smarti."

Casey smiled at the nickname.

Derek sighed at the sudden relief from the ointment. "That's why I was so careful with your mom, Nora's great though. You guys brought normalcy back to the Venturi House, I'm glad that you guys are here…especially you Casey."

Casey let out a laugh. "Me? Derek are you ok?"

Derek smiled. "Casey if it wasn't for you and your constant nagging and questions I don't think I would have turned back to my normal self."

Casey gave his shoulder a squeeze and then said. "Well I'm happy that you shared this with me Derek, it means a lot."

Derek grabbed Casey's hand. "Well if I didn't tell you, you would still be nagging me."

Casey laughed. "Shut up Der-ek."

"Whatever Princess." Derek said with a grin