Headaches are a horrendous thing, and Casey McDonald is quickly learning why commuting with your obnoxious, boisterous step-brother is a terrible idea when you have one. Of course, he couldn't help that she had woken up that morning, sweaty and with a headache just beginning its steady pulsating pain in the back of her head. That's not to say he couldn't take the appropriate measure to ensure he didn't worsen it, but she knew that was asking a lot of him. His behavior when behind the wheel of a car was deplorable and it made her nervously anticipate the day they were involved in an accident. The loud music only seemed to add to the reckless behavior he put on full display during their commute to John Sparrow Thompson High. His thoughtless driving was steadily aggravating her headache and she could feel her stomach crawling into her throat from the pain.

She picked up her backpack from it's place on the floorboard of the car, situated between the seat and her legs, opened the door and swung out of the car. Of course, Derek Venturi, in all of his care-free swagger had already slung his leather jacket on and his backpack on one shoulder before strutting over to meet his friends, who were waiting for him at the door. With a roll of her baby blue eyes, she slammed the car door closed and made her way to the school, roughly shoving Derek and his idiotic friends out of the way. Sam and Ralph were great, but his other hockey friends were sexist imbeciles, who she had no tolerance for whatsoever.

"Don't shove, Klutzilla!" A crass voice shouted at her back.

She turned sharply on her heel and narrowed her eyes at the back of his head, identifying him as the too-stupid-to-be-alive, Vinny. The only player on the team whose grades are worse than Derek's, and yet, he still remained an integral part of the team. How, she'll never know, but Derek was always talking about him, so she figured it was either because of his stupidity or his usefulness on the team. She met Derek's eyes over Vinny's shoulder and just nodded at his motion for her to leave it alone.

His words from a couple of weeks ago, while they were gathered around the dinner table, came back to her. It had been a sharp warning from Derek about Vinny; "He's a bully, Casey, on and off the ice."

"Not worth the trouble." Casey mumbled, twirling gracefully back in the direction of the hallway and continuing on to her locker. That idiot was so not worth possibly making her headache worse. She opened her locker, reveling in the darkness. The small, dark space provided much needed relief from the fluorescent lights of the school.

"Hey Case!" Emily Davis' chipper voice invaded the darkness, drawing Casey's head out of her locker.

Swallowing thickly, Casey managed to smile weakly at her best friend and offer a quiet; "Hey Em."

Noting her friend's obvious discomfort and the trouble she seemed to have with moving her head, immediately sent Emily into concerned friend mode; "Case, are you okay?"

While in any other situation, Casey would appreciate Emily's concern, she was really starting to wish she had stayed at home in bed. Anything would have been better than attending school, miserable and in pain. Not to mention the fact that the pain had intensified to the point, she was starting to see two, blurry Emily's and that freaked her out a little bit. This was most definitely not the tension headache, she had brushed it off as when getting ready for school. This was accelerating far too rapidly into something much worse.

She crumpled against the lockers, cradling her head in her palm and squeezing her eyes closed.

Derek Venturi, as a general rule known to the entire student body, ignored his step-sister. And up until now, he followed that rule without exception. He had been in the middle of fake laughing at Vinny's latest lame attempt at humor when he noticed her. He knew she hadn't been feeling well on the car-ride to school but seeing her huddled against the lockers made it all the more apparent that she should have stayed home.

"I'll catch up later, guys." He shouldered his friends out of the way and staggered toward Casey. "Princess?"

Casey flinched away from his voice, whimpering at the brief flare of intense pain. She offered him a weak mumble in hopes of making him go away, unable to conjure her usual shriek; "Go away, Derek."

He gently wrapped his large hand around Casey's bicep and turned her toward him to get a better look. She had paled considerably, even under the dusting of pink powder she had brushed along her cheekbones. Her eyes were closed and the tears clung to her eyelashes. He gently tugged her away from the lockers and reached up to pull her hands away from her head, holding both of her wrists in one of his much larger hands.

"Casey?"

"Derek, please!" Casey whimpered, trying in vain to pull her hands away.

"Casey!" Derek practically spit out his demand.

"My head hurts, Derek, please!" Casey growled lowly, yanking her hands once more but he held firm.

Derek released her wrists and reached around her, closing her locker. "That's it. We're going home. Emily -"

"I know. I'll be by with her backpack later." Emily nodded in understanding.

Derek nodded, wrapping a strong arm around Casey's thin shoulders, resisting her attempt at pulling away with a steady hold. One advantage of playing hockey, he supposed, was that he was a fair bit stronger than her. He knew she couldn't bloody well get to the car with her eyes closed and leading her was the only way to get her there without picking her up. He might have considered picking her up if the paleness of her complexion didn't speak of her possible inability to keep anything down, should he jostle her the wrong way.

"Hey D, what are you doing with Klutzilla?" Vinny called out stupidly.

If Casey hadn't of flinched and turned into him, he might have shouted back at his teammate but at the moment, she was more important than Vinny. Although he was sure the rest of the hockey team would ream him out nicely. It wasn't very common knowledge amongst the student body, but the hockey team had a pretty good idea of just how protective Derek could be over his step-sister and they all knew not to mess with her.

Vinny, being the exception, of course.

"Come on, Case." He tugged her hand gently, guiding her down the hallway. "Let's get you home."

xxx

"Here we go," Derek huffed out a tired breath, dropping Casey onto his bed. "I'll be right back with some aspirin."

Casey just nodded and tunneled her head beneath his pillow, brown hair slipping messily around her face. No, Derek. It was not the time to think about how damn adorable she looked despite being totally miserable. And it was definitely not the time to think about how much like Casey his bed would smell the next time he crawled. Not going to think about it. Ah, hell. Derek couldn't help it. She was cute, even if she was suffering from a headache. A pained whimper from the bed reminded him that she needed aspirin. Yes. Aspirin.

He needed to get them.

Now.

He darted to the bathroom, in hopes of retrieving the aspirin before she realized he had just spent the past couple of minutes staring at her, burrowed in his bed. After shuffling through more feminine products than he was comfortable even thinking about, he finally found the aspirin and sprinted down the stairs to make her a glass of water. He jogged back up the stairs, aspirin and water in hand, determined not to let whatever he was feeling toward Casey get in the way of taking care of her.

He could think about that later. Whatever the hell that was.

Not that he, you know, cared to figure it out. That would be weird. Having feelings for his step-sister. Psh. No way. Usually. Except for lately. When he couldn't really deny them, to himself anyway, because he had been finding her so damn pretty all the freaking time. Like when she burrowed into his bed as if it was her own.

She was in his bed.

Casey McDonald. Klutzilla. Keener Casey. His step-sister. She's in his bed.

Holy Fudge Balls.

This was messing with his head. First of all, there was some law against being freaking sexually attracted to your step-sister, right? There had to be. Had to. This just wasn't right. This was illegal, immoral, not justifiable even with the not related by blood excuse. Okay, sure there was that. They were only related by marriage, but still. He shouldn't be feeling that way, especially not toward her. She was the victim of all of his pranks, on the receiving end of most of the horrible nicknames he could possibly think of and, quite frankly, not his type.

Guys like him didn't get the girls with an ounce of intelligence and their wits about them. He got the no-brain blondes with the tiny waists and big breasts. Not that he didn't appreciate nice cleavage when it was presented to him but having Casey as his step-sister was really starting to make him long for a girl with a brain instead of a body - although, you know, having a nice body wouldn't hurt either.

"Derek!" Casey's pained groan from his bedroom shook him out of his trance and sent him sprinting back into the room.

He fumbled with the aspirin bottle and the glass of water - okay, maybe Klutzilla was a better name for him - for a few moments before finally getting it right. If she had been awake enough to see him, she probably would have laughed but at the moment, she seemed to be borderline comatose. It was a fickle thing, waking someone up when they're in so much pain they can't bear to open their eyes but nevertheless, he did manage to get the aspirin down her.

"Okay, you can go back to sleep now, Case." He told her quietly, dropping the bottle of aspirin on his nightstand. His dark eyes watched as she rolled over and snuggled down into the covers of his bed.

He needed a cold shower.

Immediately.

He had to stop thinking about her in anyway that might suggest he found her pretty or adorable or any of those other goopy adjectives that he despised.

xxx

She felt blurred.

The headache had dulled to more of annoyance than a pain but her eyes felt swollen and tender. Her thoughts were sluggish and hazy, strands of incomplete thoughts floating about. She didn't like not being able to put her thoughts together. It made her uncomfortable and a little more insecure than she was comfortable with but she knew it was a result of the headache and once she felt better, her mind would clear. She doesn't remember much before Derek helping her take two aspirin and a soft, cotton pillowcase that smelled of cologne and sweat underneath her cheek.

"Derek?" She rasped skeptically, vaguely aware that he could have gotten bored and left.

"Hey Sleepyhead," Derek dropped his magazine, the boring thing that it was, on his desk and stood up from his chair. He made his way over to the bed and stood beside it, hands in his pockets as he rocked nervously on the balls of his feet - damn feelings, creeping up at the weirdest time. "You slept for three hours. Feeling better?"

"Eyes are sensitive." Casey strung a few words together, unable to conjure the energy for much more. "Aspirin helped."

"Good." Derek smiled, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Do you want something for your eyes?"

"No." Casey shook her head, peeling them open slightly, wary of the tenderness. "Swollen?"

"No."

"Feels like it," Casey stammered, blinking almost imperceptibly. "Sure?"

"I'm sure, Case. Your eyes are fine." Derek reassured her, taking one of her hands in his.

His hand enveloped hers; his palm against the back of her hand and his fingers curling into her palm. She pretended not to notice the delicious warmth and slight roughness of his hands, instead she turned her head and almost gasped at the expanse of mattress that stretched out to her left. His bed was much larger than she thought - not that she thought about it because that would be weird. And wrong. And, anyway, so not the point.

"How on earth do you sleep in this bed alone?"

Well. That wasn't supposed to come out. She could have sworn she had only thought that. Apparently, not. She did wonder how he slept in such a large bed, though. The thought of a huge bed always seemed a little intimidating for Casey. The idea of sleeping in such an extensive space without someone there seemed lonely and cold. Beds were supposed to be warm and cozy, with body-heated sheets and soft, cloud-like pillows, not empty and too crisp to be comfortable.

"Like a baby." Derek tilted his head in confusion. "Why do you ask?"

"Your bed is huge." Casey scrunched her face up, "I couldn't sleep in a bed like this."

"Why not?"

"It's too big."

"Too big? My bed is not too big!" Derek insisted indignantly.

"Yes, it is. I would hate sleeping in bed like this alone." Casey reiterated her previous argument.

"Newsflash, Princess, you just did!" Derek laughed arrogantly, "For three hours!"

"It's still too big."

Derek just rolled his eyes. She was not one to let a headache stop her from needing the last word in any argument. Then again, maybe this argument could end well for both of them. She was right. His bed was rather large. In fact, if he had to hazard a guess, he'd say there's room enough for both of them. And it might calm that overwhelming desire he currently had to spill his feelings to her. He wasn't sure if it was his brain that made the decision or those damn feelings that were currently fluttering about in his stomach, but either way, he kicked his shoes off and crawled into bed with her, silently willing her to keep her mouth shut. He collapsed beside her and closed his eyes, hoping for a little peace and quiet - and maybe, some sleep.

The silence lasted for all of ten seconds before Casey, ever the curious one, even in bed sick, had to break it. "Derek?"

"What?" He bit out in frustration.

"What are you doing?" Casey asked him suspiciously, turning her head to look at him - or, the rough Derek-shaped blur that her eyes perceived him to be.

"Shutting you up." Derek growled, hoping she'd drop it. To be honest, he wasn't irritated with her so much as he was irked by the damn butterflies from hell that seemed to be intent on churning his stomach to the point of physical illness everytime she said something. Or did something.

Casey just pursed her lips together and rolled over onto her side, with her back to him, content enough with his answer to go back to sleep. He seemed pretty intent on going to sleep himself and she could feel the intense pound of her headache returning. The conversation needn't go any further. It was relatively easy for them to drop off into a state of unconsciousness, despite the misgivings of the day that should have kept them awake.

Neither of them woke up when Derek rolled over in his sleep and curled against Casey, his hand slipping under her shirt and his face nuzzled in her hair.

xxx

She smelled like roses and vanilla; floral with musky warm undertones and just a touch of sweat. It lingered in her silky brown hair and in the soft warmth of her skin. Her stomach felt taut with toned muscle and velvety skin. She's soft and feverish, pressed flush against his chest with her head on his shoulder and both of her arms clutching one of his - um, hello Casey's breasts. He exhaled and breathed a sigh of relief at the sufficient lack of arousal the situation brought about. The last thing he needed was Casey waking up to him being aroused at her pressed against him. He quite liked the position they were in and it seemed to placate the anxiety that knotted up his stomach. He lifted his head slightly to get a better look at her.

With her baby blue eyes hidden behind porcelain eyelids and a serene smile on her face, she looked more tranquil than he had ever seen her. He was so used to seeing her wound up too tight and such a keener, that seeing her like this, completely at peace, made him realize how truly beautiful Casey McDonald was.

"Derek?" Casey mumbled sleepily, her voice muffled by his bicep.

"Go back to sleep, Case." Derek whispered, kissing her head.

He nuzzled his face into her hair again and closed his eyes, reveling in everything about her. The lithe dancer's body, long legs bent at the knee, blue eyes closed in tranquil sleep and a serene smile on her face. It was perfection. Never, not even in his wildest dreams, did Derek Venturi ever think he'd hold her like this. Actually, he never really thought he'd develop feelings for her but he had and when they woke up, maybe he'd tell her.

After all, he needed an excuse to hold her like this, again.

And, soon.

Originally for my best friend. Decided to post it. Not sure if I like it but she did and that's all that matters to me :) Leave me some love, dolls!

Love ya,

RobertDowneyJrLove