The Favor

Derek checked the time on his phone for the third time in the last ten minutes. Where are they he thought? He really needed their second and third opinions on this. It wasn't that he disagreed with Marti's thoughts on it but she was also biased, being one of the more subtle shippers for the chaotic pair.

He was about to check his phone for the fourth time when his dad, George, and his brother, Edwin, walked into the pub. Singling to them where he was, Derek also gestured for the waiter to bring over three more beers. When they were closer, he tossed out a teasing comment, "You ladies carpool?"

Edwin shot Derek an annoyed look as he sat down, "No, we meet outside and were trying to figure out what you did that you would call both of us to a pub." Leaning closer, he took a sniff of his older brother then turned to his dad, "He's not drunk." Derek eyed his brother and once again tried not to be envious of investment bank who had married his college sweetheart.

"Thank you. Edwin," was George's reply. The oldest Venturi was getting up there with age, but could and would have no problem putting an end to fighting that might start between the brothers. Turning to his older son he asked, "So what is the emergency?"

Derek held up a finger for them to wait one more second as the waiter appeared with the soon to be much needed alcohol. Almost snatching the beers from the man, Derek dropped one in front of each Venturi at the table. As the waiter left, Derek motioned for them to grab theirs as he snatched up his own mostly untouched original bottle.

When they complied, Derek took a sip and said, "Casey's pregnant. It's mine."

Looking back on it, it was kind of a strange way to finally start a relationship, but then Casey and he never did anything normal when the other one was involved. About six months ago, she had called Derek up out of the blue, asking if she could come over and talk to him about a favor she needed. Intrigued as to what the thirty-five year old heart surgeon wanted that a thirty-six year old algebra teacher could give her, Derek had told her to come over to his place that night.

Derek had expected her to show up at maybe ten o'clock as her shifts normally went late. Instead, she was waiting for him outside his apartment after he got off work around five. She also had a six pack of his favorite beer and was shuffling nervously in the way she used to do when they were younger and she was afraid of being caught doing something wrong.

After they traded barbs for a minute, him asking if she needed to use the little girl's room and her asking if that was something he normally said to his dates, she eased up a little and helped him carry some homework upstairs. With the finally box was brought up, Casey had snapped open two bottles and purposed a toast to academia.

Derek could tell she was still tense and just took the offered beer and let her talk. Casey went on about how she had never been there before and how they needed to keep in touch more. Then she asked about how the family was doing. He told her about Robbie's getting into college on a scholastic scholarship. Lizzie had just won a civil case for an environmental group. Edwin was handling a scandal about one of his companies being involved with illegal dumping. Yes the two things were related. Marti was fine and was currently dating one of her camera men of her globe-trotting news show. Dad and Nora were enjoying getting ready for retirement. Everyone was okay and was sorry that she had to miss the last family get together.

Finally he asked how she was, as she had gone through three beers already and was looking around the place like she thought the police might storm in at any second. Casey had just deflected the question by asking about Derek's love life, noting the lack of mention of a woman. He had told her that he was too busy with his career and charity work to date.

Casey admitted to having a similar problem and that was why she was here. They were at this time in the living room with Derek sitting in the replacement recliner from the one that had been lost in the shuffle between Kingston and London during their college years and Casey had been pacing around the room in a fashion that reminded Derek of how she would be when talking with Paul. Downing the fourth beer, she had walked over to Derek, straddled his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss.

Surprised, Derek had let her for a minute, but quickly put a stop to it when he realized that she was trying to unbutton his shirt. Pushing her off him, Derek stood quickly and asked, "What the hell, Case?!"

Now this that needs a little explaining: Teenage Derek would have started working on getting her undressed, wanting to see if his fantasies matched the real thing. That Derek had thought that the reason why he was always fighting with Casey was because she was a gorgeous teenage girl that he couldn't touch without causing some serious problems for their families. College Derek would have slowed her down and asked if this was what she wanted, because he wanted her happy. This Derek had realized that their fights were them saying 'this sucks, but I just might love you'. This Derek had bought a ring for an intelligent, easy on the eyes woman halfway through college and had tried to find the right moment to tell her just that. A moment that never came and he had decided that if it wasn't her then there wasn't anyone. From there, College Derek had become Caseless Derek who had focused his life on to being a teacher, a coach, a one night stand because I can't give you more kind of guy. He had reacted that way because he loved this woman and for her to move their relationship from not talked about to here and now, he know something was going on.

Falling to the floor, Casey scrambled to her feet and said, "Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking." Grabbing her purse, she was heading to the door, Derek noticing the tears about to form in the corner of her eyes. She looked at him and said, "Just forget it, I'll think of something."

This meant that if she walked out that door, he might not ever see her again. Moving with speed that he had earned on the ice, Derek blocked her path, "No way, McDonald. Why did you kiss me and does it have anything to do with the favor you want?"

Casey slammed her purse on the kitchen table and frantically searched through it for a collection of cue cards. Pulling them out, she looked at Derek and started, "I want a baby."

"Excuse me?" Casey wanted a kid and she had picked him to be the father? The answer was yes.

Clearing her throat, she began again, "I want a baby. As a woman in her mid-thirties, my options are limited. Most men in my age group are either already married or have decided to become livelong bachelors. While sperm donors are a viable choice, I want the father involved with the raising of our child. Of the men in my life, you are the most suited to my needs. You are well educated, physically healthy, not looking for a commitment, great with kids, and know how to deal with my quirks."

Casey's words of his not wanting a commitment stung Derek as she was the reason why he had stopped dating shortly after college and dived head first into his work. He wanted commitment, he had just thought that after seven years of them not doing anything while under the same roof that they never would. Now she was asking him to father a child with her. "You really are crazy, you know that."

Casey deflated, "So that's a no."

Derek shook his head, making sure that she saw that he wasn't making fun of her, "No, that's a you're being a keener. That's an okay let's do this."

"Good, where is the bedroom?" Casey asked as she began to undress.

Derek grabbed her hands and pulled them away from her body, not quite believing that he was stopping Casey from finally having sex with him. "Not yet. First we are going to have dinner and talk about this. Leave your keys; you're not driving anywhere tonight." It could be that he was delaying it until she was sure of what she was doing. The last thing he wanted to do was to finally be with her and she freak out about what she had done.

"Der-ek! You're not the boss of me." Casey screeched in a way that Derek was getting flashes of their high school years.

"No, but I am the more sober one. There's a diner a couple of blocks from here. The walk will clear our heads and we can discuss this arrangement over coffee." It would also help if he knew what had caused her biological clock to go nuts.

"Fine, but when we get back we're having sex." This caused Derek to look away and groan, where was this insists thirteen years ago?

"Maybe." Derek said, following her out and wondering how he had become the rational one.

Over dinner they hammered out the idea of how this would work. Once a week, one of them would go over to the others place and they would have dinner and catchup on what had happened over the last week. If the mood was right, they would have sex and the person would spent the night. If either of them felt things were off, the guest would leave and they would try again the next week. Casey would do a pregnancy test once a month. When she became pregnant, Derek would move into her larger apartment and help her through the next two years before moving out and back to his life.

That night, nothing happened. The four beers, the short walk, plus the fulfilling meal had done what Derek expected them to do and knocked Casey right out before they could even make it back to his place. Laying Casey on his bed, Derek took the couch, finally falling asleep with a plan forming in his mind.

What Derek didn't tell Casey was that he was going to intently hold off having sex with her for the next three weeks before agreeing to stay the night and would repeat the process until she insisted that they changed the arrangement to twice a week, then every night. At the same time, he used the very skills that had caused Casey to refer to him as a man-whore, to heighten each experience. Derek didn't allow Casey to use that joke of laying back and thinking of queen and country. By the time she was finally pregnant it had become more common for him to sleep at her place than his own and he knew every meter of her body and how each part would react to him.

But there was a downside; they had done this without telling this to any one of their friends and family. He had a plan but needed to know how they would react to it. Casey wouldn't be a problem as he felt that he had a card he could play to get her to agree. So he called up Marti and asked her to meet him at their normal place.

After a few minutes of catching up, he dropped the bomb like he would do with Edwin and their father. Marti's reaction was interesting. "Fucking finally! It took you guys long enough! So do I have a niece or a nephew?"

"Language Smarti, and it's too soon to tell. Here's the problem: Casey wants me in the kid's life, not hers. She thinks I want the same thing. I don't. Now how will the family respond if I could get her to agree to a more permanent arrangement?"

"How permanent?"

"The till death does us part permanent."

"Holy Shit, you're going for the gold rings? Well, Lizzie and Edwin will be okay with it, Robbie might freak out a little, Nora and Dad will be confused but understanding. As for Mom and Dennis, they might try to stop it, but will back off once the rest of the family rallies around you two."

"And Casey?"

"Will cry and say yes. You're Derek and Casey, Dasey forever. No way is she going to say no to the man she loves."

"She's never said she loves me."

"Yes, because your heads are thicker than bricks and you have to do everything back asswards. Come on Smerek, she chose you to be the father of her kid and neither of you dated after leaving Kingston. There has never been anyone else for either of you."

So here Derek was seeing if Edwin and his father shared Marti's colorful thoughts on the matter. After a minute of hearing the news, Edwin started laughing. George quickly followed. Derek shot them glares. "I'm serious."

Finally catching his breath, George turned to Edwin, "Well this is makes your news not so bad."

Still trying to stop himself from laughing, Edwin just nodded to his father to tell Derek the punchline. George shook his head, trying not to start laughing again himself. "Edwin is getting divorced. His wife found out he was having an affair with his best friend and served him papers the next day. Not to mention, her father was one of his biggest clients and threatened to drop his firm if Ed wasn't fired."

Derek just raised an eyebrow, "You're gay and lost your job?"

This caused the other two Venturi men to start laughing again. After another couple of minutes, they finally stopped. Edwin took a deep breath and began, "I'm not gay, Derek. I just finally got the nerve up to admit who was the real love of my life. She's a lovely woman and we're getting married once I get this divorce over with. Until then, I've staying at her place and helping her organization with the lawsuits they're leveling against my former clients."

Derek was taking a sip from his beer when Edwin's words finally sank in. Almost spitting over his dad and brother, he shouted, "You and the Lizzard?! No wonder Marti thought you guys would understand." Turning to their father he asked, "You seem pretty calm, what's yours and Nora's take on this?"

Lower his own bottle to the table, George again shook his head. "We talked about this a few times when you were younger. Don't think we didn't notice the tension between both pairs of you. There were a few times that we expected you to tell us that you had eloped or gotten one or both of them pregnant, but there was nothing. So you finally acting on it when we're about to retire and sending a sixth kid through college is surprising but not something we didn't see coming. We'll have to convince Robbie that we're not going to appear in some reality show about crazy families, but otherwise everything is fine."

Shaking his head at this news, Derek decided to keep going, knowing the likely answer to his next inquiry but figuring it would best to still ask, "So with that out of the way, I have a question for you Edwierdo." Intrigued, the other Venturis leaned forward to hear his proposal, "Given your resent loss of fortune, wouldn't it best to go half with someone on the expanses and do a double wedding?"

This caused all three men to crack up as the idea sank in. Able to catch his breath at last, Derek raised his bottle and offered a toast, "To the McDonald women, for waiting a lifetime for us to catch up."

Edwin and George clanked their beers in agreement. "Here, here."

Putting down his beer, Derek reached for his wallet. The other Venturi men waved him off. George saying, "You need to save your money for the ring and diapers."

Edwin adding in, "Knowing Casey, you're going to be buying a lot of tofu."

Standing up, Derek just grabbed his coat and let out another laugh, "Now if you excuse me, I have to see her royal highness." He didn't tell them that the ring already being taken care of and had been for some time.

About twenty minutes later, Derek walked into Casey's spacious townhouse. There she was waiting for him, "Where were you?" Yeah, Derek thought, this is something to live for.

Taking off his coat, Derek palmed a worn black box that he had pulled out of storage, "Catching up with Dad and Edwin. They know about the baby. You might want to call your mom and sister before they beat you to it."

"Which sister?" Casey eyed him cautiously, not knowing if he wanted her to reduce the blow out or spread their joy.

Walking over to her, Derek wrapped his arms around the mother of his child, "Marti already gave her blessing a couple of days ago. I meant the one sleeping with Edwin. "

The news of Edwin and Lizzie took her by surprise and she cussed out, "Fuck me."

"Been there. Did that. Going again next time I can." Derek placed one hand over Casey's stomach. It was too early in the pregnancy to feel anything, but he wanted to practice for when there would be. Plus any reason to touch Casey.

"Wait, what?" Again Derek's words took her by surprise. He was holding her like he might a woman he cared for and was talking about being with her again despite the fact that was no longer necessary.

Derek could feel the confusion playing through her and was trying not to enjoy it as he raised the little black box into her view, "See McDonald, I have a problem and need a favor. I got this annoying keener of woman whom I'm in love with and need someone to convince her to say yes. Can you do it?"

Taking and opening the box, Casey saw the platinum ring set in the middle. On one side was the receipt proving it was from about halfway through their college career that it had been bought. On the other was the IOU that Casey had written the night they had spent in the diner going over how this would work. Her face say exactly what she was thinking, the sneaky bastard had been planning this all along.

Slipping the ring on and turning to face her child's father, Casey kissed him. After a minute, she pulled away, "I'll see what I can do. It would be easier if there were plans for a wedding in the near future."

Derek just chuckled, "Not the near future, but Edwin agreed to a double wedding once his divorce goes through. So we'll already have a ring bearer or flower girl by then."

Casey just looked at him stunned. Then she reluctantly pulled away, grabbed her phone, and group dialed her sister and mother as she needed to hear this from other people. Holding the phone to her ear, Casey mouthed the words, "I love you, you jerk," as Lizzie and Nora answered on the other end.

Derek ignored the chattering and screaming as the McDonald women expressed their surprise and excitement over what had happened during the last six months. Staring out into the Toronto skyline, he hoped Casey would need more favors in the future as they could only get better.