This was just begging to be written. It takes place right after Allergy Season because, while I never really minded Max, he totally pissed me off in this episode. The way he just grabbed his jacket and walked off. Total asshole. Seriously. So to make myself feel better...I wrote this.
I bet every Dasey fan in existence wanted to write something after this episode aired, whether they did or not.
Sorry it took so long to post. I actually wrote it on Livejournal and it was up there for ages and then I thought...hey! I ought to post this on . So here it is.
Enjoy!
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This was the party of the year, and all he wanted to do was sit down and talk with the girls. Girls that were more than willing to do a lot more with their mouths than just talk...but for some reason...he felt this insane need to express himself. He supposed he ought to be thanking god (or somebody) that he didn't feel the need to do so through poetry. That would make him...like Casey...
He sighed and was about to give up and just go home when some caught his attention.
Max. Alone. Without Casey.
His curiosity slightly peeked; he made his way to the quarterback, who was surrounded by good-looking girls.
"Hey," he greeted causally, slapping him on the back. "Where's Casey?"
Max scoffed. "I don't know, probably off "finding herself""
Derek raised an eyebrow, feeling slightly more intrigued. "Shouldn't you be with her? We both know it's dangerous to let Casey do much on her own." He chuckled quietly.
Max shrugged. "That's not really the ex-boyfriend's job."
Derek's laughter stopped. "Ex?" He was seeing red. Max had dumped Casey? After all the crap she'd done for him. Oh...was that boy going to pay...
"Yeah," Max continued, "She said she needed time to think or whatever," She shrugged again, "so I came to the party."
Immediately the red subsided and he was filled with the strange sensation of being overly pleased. He was even tempted to go find a mirror and check to make sure there was no dorky, overly large smile on his face. Then, the rest of Max's sentence sank in. "Wait, you just left her at school?! If you didn't give her a ride," he pointed at Max, "and I didn't give her a ride," he pointed at himself, "then she must..." His eyes widened. "I...gotta go."
He turned on his heel and made his way towards the door.
"Hey," He turned to see the pretty blonde girl he'd been trying to chat up earlier. "Don't you want to stay and...talk." She giggled flirtatiously.
Derek shook his head. "I'd loved to..." He tried to recall her name, "babe... but I've got to go." He turned and continued out the door.
"Go where?" He heard her call.
"To save the day." He muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes but trying to contain the worry that was swelling in his gut.
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She had slid to the floor by the lockers, her knees up to her chest. She had a vacant expression on, and he could only imagine what was going on through her head.
"Case?" He walked up to her slowly; half afraid he would scare her.
She looked up at him slowly, recognition flashing in her eyes. She looked down at her feet again, not bothering to respond his greeting.
"Casey?" He tried again, sliding down next to her. "I-"
"You're going to want to get out of here." She finally spoke.
He cocked his head to the side. "Huh? Listen, I don't do the whole sensitive thing very often, so I'd suggest you enjoy it while it lasts."
She shook her head. "I-I don't know how much longer I can stop myself from crying," His eyes widened at that, "and we both know you "don't do tears."
Derek stood up, brushing off his pants as he did so. "Come on, Case." He held out his hand for her. "I'll take you home."
She looked up at him, her blue eyes glassy with unshed tears. Her eyes flickered towards his outstretched hand and she seemed to debate it for a minute before placing her hand in his own and allowing her to pull him up. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and didn't protest when she leaned her head against his shoulder. He'd let her get away with it this one time...as long as she didn't cry.
They walked to the Prince in silence and he opened the door and watched her slide inside before going around and getting in behind the wheel. He started the car and they began the drive home. It was completely silent until after they'd lost sight of the school.
"Thank you."
Derek turned his head to look at Casey. She had spoken so softly he wasn't sure if he had heard her correctly. She was...thanking him? Not that he didn't deserve it; it just wasn't like her to thank him for something. "Uh...?"
She was looking out her window, but he could just barely make out her reflection in the glass, she still looked slightly broken. "You...you told me that I should just change back. I think...on some level...I've been thinking that for a while but...I didn't want to lose Max." She looked down at her lap, her hands gripping the edge of her skirt. "But when you said it, I don't know, it was like I could finally really see that maybe Max and I needed to take a break." She looked out the window again. "I felt like I had to give up so much stuff because I was with Max, but he never actually asked me to do any of it so I felt like that was okay."
Derek's hands were slowly tightening around the steering wheel. He wasn't sure if it was her heart wrenching tone, the topic itself, the "sensitive" side showing through, or all three, but this speech was making his heart hurt. You know...just a little.
"And then...I don't know, he pointed at me after the game and all I could think was that I should feel ecstatic. But all I felt was like I was drowning and I knew that I needed to sort some things out. I didn't really like who I'd become, you know? I didn't even know who I'd become..." she broke off, turning to face him for the first time. "And I know you've got a list a mile long about the things that are wrong with the old me," She smiled lightly at that, "but I liked the old me...and I missed her."
Derek stopped at a red light and took the chance to look over at her. "I kind of, sort of, maybe...missed her too. But only a little bit." She looked at him, a look of disbelief spread across her features. He sighed. "Look...the old you had some annoying tendencies, like your neuroticism, tendency to be kind of dorky, and your need to find perfection in everything, but the old Casey had looks of good qualities too. I mean you're smart and nice, you're positive to a fault and, for some reason, considered attractive by most of the guys at our school." She shared a smile with him at that last one, knowing he meant no harm by it. "Just...be Casey. Everything else will fall into place."
His eyes were on the road, so he didn't notice her smile widened. "You'll see, Max will wait for you I bet."
He saw Casey's smile falter from the corner of his eye. "What?"
Casey shook her head. "He's not going to wait." Her eyes squeezed shut and he got the impression that she was trying to hold back tears.
"What are you talking about?"
"I told him that I just needed to figure some things out, without being the quarterback's cheerleading girlfriend, that I needed to think. But he told him he didn't, grabbed his jacket and left. Even I'm not clueless enough to not realize that it's over."
Derek's grip on the steering wheel tightened again. He'd never really cared for Max (despite what he'd told Casey earlier that evening) but the guy was just creeping up his list of people he hated at an amazing speed. He pulled to a stop in front of their house and Casey slipped out of the car.
"I'm going to head back to the party. I think our little chat took care of my need to be sensitive and talk. Oh, and Case?" He called to her and she turned around, leaning in through the open door. "This conversation-"
"Never happened." Casey grinned. "Got it."
She turned around and was about to close the door when she changed her mind and turned around again. "Before this conversation goes six feet under..." She smiled shyly and he felt his heart do that strange flopping thing it often did around her (for some reason). "Thank you. For everything."
He smirked. "As long as you never mention it, it might happen again someday."
Casey threw his smirk right back at him. "Mention what?" and with that she slammed the car door and made her way to the house.
Derek grinned to himself, shaking his head and backing out of the driveway. He couldn't wait to get back to the party; he figured that talk must have taken care of his want to share things. He might even be able to go and have a good time. Plus...he had a few things he needed to say to Max.
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Casey didn't wonder why Max came to school wearing a sullen look on Monday. She also didn't wonder why he avoided Derek like the plague. That really just wasn't any of her business. At least...it wasn't until she heard some girls talking about how amazing Derek was for sticking up for his stepsister like he had. And wasn't he just the sweetest thing ever!
But even when she'd heard that she'd simply smiled and continued on like nothing had happened. After all, if he'd wanted her to know, he would have told her. It did make her feel a little bad about conspiring with George and her mother to crack Derek like they had. But, well, it's what the old Casey would have done.
And didn't he say he missed the old her...?
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So, yeah, this had to get done. Because poor Casey looked so miserable at the end of Allergy Season and she and sensitive Derek didn't have nearly enough on screen time. Because, yikes, could you have made a moment out of this episode.
R&R and let me know what you think!