All Differences Aside

By TheBucketWoman

A/N: This is a challenge fic written for moirariordan. The challenge was to write a non-Degrassi crossover fic. I'd thought of it before, but the challenge gave me the nerve to actually do it. This might actually be the oddest crossover fic of all time. It is Life with Derek meets Queer as Folk. Stay with me, the idea worked surprisingly well. It had to be a Dasey, natch. And there is Shemily, mild hints of Lizwin, and Norge (Nora and George). It takes place in between HTFHOH and ATWI because I'm still so stuck to those fics, but you don't have to have read those, necessarily. Also folks, there's language, adult themes, the smoking of one cigarette, but no actual depiction of anything untoward. Okay?

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with LWD or QAF, so nobody sue me, okay?

In January, George Venturi's officemate went into private practice and he had to be on his best behavior for a couple weeks so as not to piss off the new officemate. When Joe Schmidt, George's best friend out of the partners, introduced him to Melanie Marcus-Peterson, from Toronto by way of Pittsburgh, he thought, I'm in for it now.

She looked to be maybe five years younger than George, but about ten years sterner. She stood in front of him in her severe brown suit, with her severe short brown hair and eyes that reminded him of the nuns in grammar school. She was carrying a cardboard box with office supplies and some of her personal stuff in it, and he felt certain that she had a yardstick in there. She shook his hand wincingly hard and went about arranging her stuff without much in the way of pleasantries.

He couldn't shake the feeling that she not only didn't like him, but that he wasn't allowed to talk to her, so any small talk fell to the carpeted floor with a muffled thud. He peeked at the photos on her desk a time or three, and saw two cute kids and a cute blond woman who, from her coloring to her pose (arms around Melanie's waist, chin on shoulder—something Nora did to him every so often) couldn't possibly be her sister. This was stuff George could talk about, stuff they had in common: the wife and kids. He had some of those.

But the awkwardness went on for a little over a month, until one Friday afternoon when George got a phone call that his eldest was hurt at hockey practice.

"Gotta go," George said.

Melanie looked up.

"School just called...an ambulance for my son, Derek—"

"Shit," Melanie said. She put a hand on his arm and it calmed him for a second. Then, abruptly, she said: "Why are you still here? Go! Take care of your people!"

He took off without another word.

"And let me know if you need anything!" She called after him.

The next day, the Saturday of the longest weekend of George's life so far, Melanie showed up on the Venturi's doorstep with some of her wife's spaghetti marinara and asked after Derek. George wasn't home, so she had coffee with Nora and met some of the kids. Lizzie asked her where she got her boots. Edwin tried to pump her for investment tips, but she really didn't know a hell of a lot except that she had a friend who did and she always asked his advice. Melanie talked about her two kids, Gus and Jenny Rebecca (J.R. for short), and her wife Lindsay. She expected the proverbial brick wall to appear on Nora's face at the mention of her wife, and Nora blinked in surprise, but she shrugged it off.

They talked about Toronto and how they both surprisingly liked London better. Melanie was from Pittsburgh originally, but within the past couple of years the political climate had been such that she and Lindsay had had to take the kids and run to Canada, which, as far as she could tell, seemed more civilized and less likely to take their civil rights away.

"Proposition Fourteen," Nora said. "I think I remember reading something about that. George ranted about it, so it sticks in my head."

"Yeah," Melanie said. "We left a bunch of friends—family—behind. Including Gus and J.R's fathers. Mikey and Brian come over every few months and sometimes we fly down, but it hasn't been easy."

Nora had been slicing up some cake when Melanie said that, so Melanie ended up with a hunk of cake that she couldn't finish in a week. And Nora dug the whipped cream from the back of the fridge.

Melanie left before George got back from the hospital, but Nora gushed about how cool his new officemate was and informed him that dinner was courtesy of her wife.

Needless to say, the ice was broken after that.

George, a week or so later, over a beer, even told her about another development of that weekend—that his son and stepdaughter were now an item. It was the oddest thing he could've imagined happening in his family, but it hadn't been completely unexpected. He explained all this to her, not knowing what to expect.

"I've seen weirder stuff," she said.

"You are so awesome,"he said. He hoped she never went into private practice.

So a few weeks later when she mentioned that her anniversary was coming up and that her wife was aching for a party, George said he was in. Nora agreed to help conscript the kids (meaning Derek) to attend.

"So what's this gonna be," Derek had said. "Back of restaurant, church hall? Dorky DJ playing "YMCA"? Dried out baked ziti? And I wanna go to this...why?"

"Because," George said. "Melanie is fast becoming the best officemate I've ever had—she knows baseball better than I do and doesn't care when I curse. Marti and Dimi have been getting along great with Gus, so the Davises are coming, too. Which means Emily is coming, which means Casey is coming. Which, I don't think I have to tell you means you're coming. And because I said so."

Then Casey, to George's amusement, informed Derek that he was dressing up. Derek fought the good fight, but anyone could tell how that would end. With George shelling out for a new suit, because the one from the wedding no longer fit.

All of the kids ended up with new stuff for the party, actually, and the sight of all of them in the living room fiddling with their outfits made Nora camera happy. They were all so cute, especially George. And she noticed that Derek fiddled with his shirt cuffs the same way George did, and she cooed over that while she snapped as many shots as time would allow.

"Smile, Derek," Casey said. "I will not have our first official pictures as a couple be ruined by your emo glare."

Nora got a shot of Derek sticking his tongue out at Casey, but then got the proper portrait of the two of them. In the shot, he smiles hugely, his usual smirk forgotten because he really did seem to melt at the sight of Casey in her blue dress. The bruise on his neck from the hockey puck was completely gone, finally, and his voice, as he argued with Casey, sounded better than it had in weeks.

The party itself was being held at the basement of a temple. Melanie ingratiated herself with the local rabbi by doing a lot of fundraising in the few months she been in London, so she'd easily reserved the space.

Both Casey and Derek breathed sighs of relief at the sound of the Postal Service's "Be Still My Heart" emanating from the place. It boded well. Any DJ who knew about the Postal Service was less likely to play "The Chicken Dance."

They were all greeted at the entrance by a tall guy in a very loud suit.

"Emmett Honeycutt at your service," he said, bowing low. He had a slight southern accent that grew the more he talked. "You must be George, and this is Mrs. George and all the li'l Georges?" He kissed Nora's hand and she giggled.

"Good guess," she said. "I'm Nora, this is Marti, Lizzie, Edwin, Derek, and Casey."

"I like your suit,"Marti said.

"Why thank you darlin! Ain't you the sweetest?" He smoothed out his lapels. "I've always been a fan of purple myself, though I must say you look like a little movie star in your cerise."

"My what?" Marti said.

"Means cherry red, honey," Emmett said. Nora could tell that the two of them would get along great. Emmett gushed a little bit more about what everyone was wearing as he took their coats and led them to the main room.

"Y'all can just sit anywhere," he said. "In fact, we encourage mingling, so go get comfy."

They were a little bit early, and there weren't that many people there yet. Casey and Derek peeled off in search of Emily and hors d'oeuvres respectively. Derek immediately overheard an argument between a blond guy and an equally blond woman at the DJ's table.

"Linds, I have already vetoed the Village People," the guy said. "I'm too young for it and so are you. Besides, it's cliché. I have enough stuff to get people moving, we do not need no stinkin' 'YMCA'!"

The guy noticed Derek pretending not to eavesdrop and said "Kid! C'mere, back me up! How Godawful pain-inducing would it be to have me play the Village People and have all the old folks try to remember how to form the letters in YMCA for the eleventy billionth time?"

"Pretty bad," Derek agreed. "Not as bad as The Chicken Dance, but bad all the same."

"See?" the blond guy said.

"Okay," the woman said. "Point taken. I'm Lindsay Marcus-Peterson, by the way, Melanie's partner, and this prima donna is Justin Taylor, one of our oldest friends from Pittsburgh."

"Who the hell are you callin' old?" Justin playfully smacked Lindsay's butt.

"Derek," Derek said. "Venturi." He shook hands with both of them.

"Oh," Lindsay said. "George's son. I should've guessed that. It explains a lot."

"Huh?" Derek said.

Well," Lindsay said. "I was standing here right now looking at you like we've met and I couldn't place you, but it's just because you look a lot like your dad."

"I get that a lot," Derek said.

They were interrupted by a squeal from the door. This was followed by Emmett almost knocking over a shorter guy who just walked in.

"That Mikey?" Lindsay said gearing up for a squeal of her own. Derek braced himself.

"Looks like," Justin said.

Lindsay turned to Derek. "Nice meeting you, sweetie; I'll be right back." Then she all but jumped on the poor guy who didn't look like he'd quite recovered from Emmett yet. This Michael was shortish and dark, and generally reminded Derek of Edwin. The two of them marched over to the kids' table and if Derek remembered correctly, one of the kids—the girl—was Michael's. (See Nora? Derek thought. I pay attention.) Michael picked up his daughter, Derek thought her name was Jenny, and hugged Gus, whom Derek knew because of Marti. The guy also introduced himself to Marti and Dimi, and Derek knew all he needed to know at that moment because he could see that Marti clearly liked him.

Casey popped up with Emily and Sheldon. They sidled up to Derek.

"What'd I miss?" Casey said. Derek filled her in and introduced everybody to Justin ("He says no 'YMCA' thank God") and then pointed out the kiddie table.

"That guy remind you of anyone?" Derek said.

"Edwin," Casey and Emily said, almost in unison.

Michael made his way over to where they were standing. He gave Justin a hug, then struck up a conversation with the gaggle of teens. He seemed to be looking very closely at Derek, then he caught himself.

"Sorry," he said. "You kinda remind me of somebody I know."

"We were just saying the same thing about you," Casey said. "You sorta look like my stepbrother—"

"His name wouldn't be Edwin would it?" Michael said. "Miss Marti over there tells me the same thing. So where is this handsome devil?"

Casey pointed to him, over by the cheese puffs. He was having an animated conversation with Lizzie.

"Good looking kid," Michael mused. Justin snorted.

"Eat me," Michael said to Justin.

"Then I won't eat dinner," Justin said. "Speaking of which, is he coming?"

"Teddy says he is," Michael said. "Just wants to make an entrance."

"Who?" Casey asked.

"Brian Kinney," Michael said. "The great and powerful. And Gus's daddy."

After Michael left, and Justin busied himself with the computer he had hooked to the sound system, Sheldon piped up. "Derek," he said. "You notice how all the Americans keep looking at you like this?" He cocked his head to one side to demonstrate.

"I've seen three people do that, yeah," Derek said. "I figured they met my Dad."

"What about that guy who just walked in a couple minutes ago?" Sheldon gestured vaguely toward a man of about his father's age. Another Edwin type, looked like an accountant. He was standing by a table and shaking hands with Derek's Dad and Nora.

"Okay," Derek admitted. "That one's new."

At one point Melanie came over and pointed them all toward the food.

"Whatcha all waiting for?" she said. "Don't stand on ceremony. I know some of you should've worked up an appetite today." She pinched Sheldon's cheek. When she moved on, the rest looked at him quizzically.

"I helped set up," he explained. "This is my temple; my folks kinda volunteered me. Mrs. um...Melanie...and Lindsay are pretty cool, though, and I'm told the food is good." They ate some truly excellent junkfood and talked about nothing in particular until there was a mini commotion at the door.

There was an older lady, with red hair and a screaming red dress. Everybody turned toward her. She had an older man on one arm and with the other, she was trying to drag someone else into the room.

The woman had a loud, gravelly voice, and it carried easily over the music. She let out a string of seemingly unconnected stuff: "Something smells good in here. I think it's eggplant. Carl, what do you think? It is, right? Now where did that boy go? Brian! Get your cute little ass back here! Emmett baby look at that suit, I told you it'd be perfect! Am I right or am I right? SUNSHINE!"

Derek looked at Casey to see if she was taking this in, and she most definitely was, but somehow she seemed to be following it better. She caught his eye and grinned, but then the smile fell off her face and she pointed back toward the door.

In walked a guy who had to be this Brian Kinney dude, and he was staring straight ahead at Justin, who was staring back and it was like High Noon. Derek half expected the music to stop, probably with the scratch of a needle on a record even though for all he knew there were no turntables in the building. But from the computer controlled sound system, Paolo Nutini kept singing about his shoes as if there wasn't a standoff brewing.

Brian walked down the middle of the empty dance floor, past where Derek and the rest of the kids were standing, up toward the table where Justin had his stuff set up. Justin hopped across the table, but before he had a chance to stand up...

Brian had him in not just a kiss, but THE kiss.

That was the last thing Derek expected to see. He turned to see Casey who had tears in her eyes. Emily had a hand over her mouth. Sheldon looked about as dumbstruck as Derek felt.

"Dude," Sheldon said. "I thought for sure they were gonna kick each other's asses."

Sam was going to be so sorry he missed this.

The two men didn't come up for air for a while. Two or three people clapped, and Derek was really starting to feel uncomfortable. This was why he wasn't a fan of public displays of affection. This was an incredibly intimate moment and everybody and their mother was staring at them. He turned away and studied the pattern on the napkins. Then he studied Casey, who was turning a little red and looking at him like this display had given her a really good idea. Derek wondered if there was a back room they could escape to real quick for a little necking. Would he go to hell if he did that in a temple basement? He took Casey by the hand and they walked toward the coatroom, where they were stopped by George and Nora.

"Both of you stay where I can see you," George said, amused. "Besides, I think the room might be occupied." The loud lady was already sitting at the table with George and Nora, right next to the accountant-looking guy. Her date was holding her bag.

"This is your boy, isn't it George,"she asked.

"Yes, Debbie," he said. "This is the eldest. Derek, and this is Nora's eldest, Casey. Kids, this is Debbie Novotny, and Carl Horvath," George gestured to the bag holder who waved. "and Ted Schmidt," George gestured to the accountant guy, who got up and shook hands.

"Well," Debbie said, standing and grabbing Derek's cheek in one hand. "You're...absofreakinlutely gorgeous, the both of you."

Under normal circumstances Derek would say "Yes I am," but he was a little afraid of her, so he just squeaked out a thank you. Casey put a hand under Derek's chin, bringing her face close to his and telling him she didn't like the sound of that squeak. Was he okay, she wanted to know. He assured her that he was, but she remained unconvinced until, some minutes later, they saw that Debbie had the same effect on Edwin.

"You're gorgeous, too," she said to Edwin.

"Um...thanks," Edwin squeaked.

"George, Nora, what exactly do you feed them?" Debbie asked. She moved on to Lizzie, patting her hair as Lizzie reddened.

"A lot of mac and cheese," Nora said. Debbie laughed.

"My Mikey's over there," Debbie said, pointing with one long red nail. "I raised him on meatloaf and lemon squares with the occasional canneloni if I had time. It's a wonder he's still alive. Brian, too. He had enough of my food, growing up. Damn good thing I make excellent meatloaf."

"And on that note," Emmett said, putting his arms around Debbie. "If I might stick my nose in here, Dinner is served. Help yourselves. Might I recommend the pizza rustica, or eggplant parmigiana? Deb's recipes." Derek wondered at the fact that Emmett's Italian pronunciation was even worse than Derek's.

"No honey, the pizza rustica was Vic's," Debbie said. "My brother, God rest his soul," She explained, crossing herself.

"He was a chef," Debbie said. "The best. Who gives a rat's ass about Mario Batali when you got Vic Grassi?"

"Pizza Rustica," Ted, who'd been talking to Edwin (Edwin might have been trying to get Ted to invest in something), piped up. His Italian was perfect. "That's not kosher, though, is it?"

"We went veggie with it tonight, Teddy," Emmett said. "I'm not trying to serve prosciutto in a temple."

"Must try that," Ted said.

"So what's everyone having?" Debbie said, getting up.

"Nuh-uh, Deb, you got the weekend off. You are sitting down, and I am bringing you a little of everything," Emmett said.

"You're so cute," Debbie said, beginning to make her way to the buffet.

"I mean it," Emmett said. "Sientate...that's not Italian, but you get my point."

Derek and Casey joined the buffet line right behind Emmett, who talked to them in a steady stream.

"Deb's a waitress, and worse than that, she's a mommy, the mommiest of mommies, so if we let her? She'll run around getting stuff for people. We cannot allow that. Meanwhile Mikey and Ben, that's his husband, are having themselves a time over there," he pointed to a table off to one side where Michael and a tweedy looking guy were literally feeding each other finger food. It was enough to make Derek gag with the sweetness of it all, but Casey stared at it quite openly, a dopey grin on her face. Until she smacked Derek on the arm.

"Why can't you be cute like that?" she said.

"Because I think you might have finally mastered the ability to feed yourself?" Derek said. "At least most of the time."

"You're such a romantic," Casey said.

"I try," Derek said. "Not."

Emmett laughed. "Oh my God," he said. "That's it."

"What?" Derek said.

"That's who you remind me of," Emmett said.

"Care to elaborate?" Derek said.

"You are sooo Brian!" Emmett said. "Hey Sunshine," he called, waving Justin over.

Sunshine? Derek thought.

"I figured it out," Emmett said. "Took me a while, but...look at this kid."

Derek looked at both of them quizzically and debated hiding behind Casey for a moment.

"Well okay," Emmett began. "His cute girlfriend is getting all gooey over Mikey and Ben, and she turns to him and goes 'why don't you do that?' and he goes 'cause I think you can feed yourself.'"

"Shit," Justin laughed and covered his mouth. "It's uncanny. YO BRIAN!"

Brian comes over with Gus attached to one leg and Marti to another.

"Everywhere you go, you have an entourage," Emmett said.

"You bellowed?" Brian said.

"We were just wondering," Emmett began, "if y'all met. This is Derek, the brother of the one on your left leg right now, and this is Casey, his chica, and apparently stepsis, the Greg to his Marcia, if I got the story straight."

"Charmed," Brian said, smirking, but he shook hands with both.

"Nice to meet you, Smerek," Marti chimed in, holding out her hand.

"Likewise, Smarti," Derek said, slapping her five. "Sup, Gus?"

"Keepin it real," Gus said. He learned that one from Edwin.

"What about me?" Casey said.

"Eh," Marti dismissed, but then, disengaging herself from Brian's leg, hugged her around the waist to show that she was kidding.

"Your other brother the one trying to sell Theodore on his million dollar idea?" Brian asked, gesturing toward the table where Edwin was talking rapidly to Ted, his hands flying in every direction. Lizzie sat nearby, her chin in her hands.

"Not again," Casey said. She made a move to go over to their table.

"Leave em alone," Brian said. "He'll keep Theodore out of trouble."

Casey laughed.

"And I see Mikey hasn't learned to feed himself yet," Brian said, grinning. Justin gave Derek a pointed look. Casey laughed harder.

"I don't see it," Derek lied. Everybody laughed, except Derek and Brian.

"Don't see what?" Brian said.

"Nothing," Justin said. He leaned in for a kiss. "Get something to eat. Something with carbs in it."

"Yes, dear," Brian said. He ruffled Gus's hair. "C'mon, sonny boy, let's get you some brussels sprouts."

"Ew?" Gus said as he allowed himself to be dragged to the back of the buffet line.

"Brussels sprouts have carbs in them?" Marti asked. "What are carbs?"

"Something the mice in your stomach really like," Derek said. Casey smacked him again. Then she handed him a plate, having finally reached the food. He handed a plate to Marti and started to fill it for her. Casey made him a plate along with her own. Justin and Emmett watched the whole thing and cooed over the three of them.

They sat down to eat, Marti and Gus rejoining the kiddie table. Derek watched them for a second. Brian sat there briefly with them to cut the little one, Jenny's, food up for her. Melanie had been on her way over to do this, and she looked surprised at Brian for getting there first. Then Brian got up, a little awkwardly, since the table was a little lower to the ground than the others, and went over to kiss Justin some more. This was when Derek decided it was time to turn back to the table. He watched Emily steal Sheldon's asparagus and Sheldon steal Emily's tomato salad, and rolled his eyes hard enough for them to be in actual danger of staying that way.

"Help me," Lizzie said, bringing her plate to their table. "Edwin's talking patents and trademarking, mind if I sit here?"

"Still working on that board game?" Emily said.

"Among other stuff," Lizzie said. "Thought I'd die."

Lindsay and Melanie came over to their table, arm in arm, both of them looking a little disheveled.

"How's everything going?" Lindsay said. "Having a good time? How's the food?"

"It's really great," Casey said. "Thanks so much for inviting us!" The others nodded, most of them having their mouths full.

Looking at the two women in their state of disarray gave Derek a pretty good idea of who'd been occupying the Coat Closet.

There was just too much sex going back and forth around this party and none of it was being had by him. He did not approve.

Another thing he didn't necessarily approve of was the dancing. The music got louder and faster, and Derek found himself being dragged to a nearly empty dance floor, currently occupied only by Nora and Emmett. George stood off to the side, and if Derek knew him, he was relieved that he didn't have to dance. Derek wasn't quite so lucky.

Casey leaned over to him and said directly into his ear: "You are dancing with me. That's all there is to it. And don't even try to pretend that you can't dance 'cause I've seen you."

So he danced, first to some run of the mill Killers' remix, then to something sung in what might have been Hindi, Fall Out Boy, Daddy Yankee, then he needed to sit down. He watched while Casey danced with Justin to some old Madonna song, then the Cure's "Love Song" came on and Brian cut in on Casey and she went to get Derek again.

The dance floor gradually filled up, but Derek bumped into people before he even noticed. After three or four more songs, he decided he needed some air, so he left Casey in the care of Marti, Gus, and Dimi and went outside.

It was cold out, but not unbearably so and absolutely clear. Derek stood outside without his coat and looked out onto the parking lot and the houses beyond. The trees were starting to bud a little.

He jumped at the sound of a lighter. He turned around quickly and saw that Brian had had the same idea he had.

"You don't mind do you?" Brian said, lighting his cigarette.

"Well," Derek said staring at the cigarette. He minded very much, actually.

"Cause you better get upwind if you do."

Fair enough, Derek thought and moved to Brian's other side.

"I figure it was getting a little...heartwarming in there, so it was time for a break," Brian said. "How bout you?"

"Girlfriend running me ragged," Derek said. "And not in a good way."

"Been there," Brian said. "Held out as long as I could. Did not do relationships."

Dude really is me, Derek thought.

"Know what you mean," Derek said. "Seems like a lot of trouble."

"Drama," Brian said. "Mishegoss."

"Huh?"

"Yiddish for craziness," Brian explained. "Remember we are standing outside of a temple here."

Derek nodded. He should've guessed. Brian took a drag of his cigarette.

"But," Brian continued after he exhaled. "The thing that you learn as you get older is that you can't keep wasting time pretending like you don't do commitment or love when everyone knows better. Because you're not even fooling yourself."

Derek said nothing. It didn't seem like he had to.

"I'm thirty-hrhdmph years old," he said. "And I'm full of shit. A couple years back, I was about to get married to Justin, but he had an opportunity in New York that he couldn't pass up, so I told him he needed to get lost."

"Dumbass," Derek said.

"Exactly," Brian said. "I mean, okay, there was other stuff, but I never should have let him go, and I'm thinking of fixing that."

"Okay."

"I've been looking into opening an office in Manhattan—"

"What is it that you do?"

"Oh yeah," Brian said. "I'm in advertising. Basically I bullshit for a living. And I'm good at it, hence the second office. I figure Theodore can run things in Pittsburgh, just don't tell him that, cause he'll hyperventilate, but it's easier to get up here to visit the kiddies from New York, and Sunshine is in New York, so I guess I'm gonna try New York."

Derek hated to say what he was about to say: "What if this dude says to go to hell?"

"Haven't signed any mortgages yet," Brian said as he crouched and peeked in to the basement window. "But nothing ventured, nothing gained. How'd you land that girl who is right now exhausting Mikey?"

Derek peered in to see Casey and Michael trying to belly dance. Neither was successful.

"Long story," Derek said.

"Short version?"

"I pined, made her life miserable, drove her nuts for about a year, then had as close to a near death experience as I ever hope to have and decided to make a move on her," Derek said.

"Shit, we really do have a little bit in common, don't we?" Brian said, laughing.

"Maybe a little."

"Did you ever think of going into advertising?" Brian said. He pulled out a business card. "Call me when you get into college. We do internships."

Derek hadn't given that type of thing any thought before, but he wouldn't say no.

"Here goes nothing," Brian said as he put out the cigarette and turned to go back inside. He opened the door and Derek heard him say "Right over here, babes."

"Thanks," Casey said.

Derek turned around to see a slighty sweaty, but otherwise perfect Casey.

"De-rek," she said. "Are you crazy, it's freezing out here! Inside! Now! You'll die of pneumonia!"

"Yes dear," he said and let himself be dragged back out onto the dance floor, but not before he tried the coat closet and found it once again locked.

"Screw it," he said, and planted one on her. Nobody was really looking anyway, he thought. Until he heard a lone whoop.

"Edwin get lost," Derek mumbled, breaking the kiss just long enough for that. Edwin held up three fingers.

"Read between the lines," he said, grinning. Then Lizzie grabbed him and dragged him out to join her and Marti, who was showing not the slightest sign of slowing down. No Doubt's "Don't Let Me Down" was playing, and Derek and Casey were pulled into the general bounce of kids and adult gay men. Among those who weren't dancing were couples lurking in the shadows to make out. He could just barely recognize Sheldon and Emily going at it behind a ficus tree. Melanie and Lindsay have kept their hands off of each other a grand total of about twenty minutes. Nora and George were back at their table, deep in conversation, their foreheads touching. Derek didn't know how they could hear anything in the room. He knew that there was no chance of him being able to yell above the music, so he didn't try. There had been some charades between him and Casey when necessary. Like when he noticed that there was some space behind an ancient piano in the corner.

He didn't hear from Brian again until he was carrying a finally drowsy Marti to get the coats and saw Brian and Justin exiting the coat room.

He had to ask. "What'd he say?"

"I said yes," Justin said. Brian winked.

Derek nodded.

"You were kissing in there," Marti said from Derek's shoulder.

"Yep," Justin said.

"Cool," Marti said.