"You're such an immature jerk Derek! How could you do that to me?!" Casey shouted and the words echoed around Derek's mind. There was a flash of white light that blinded him and then Casey's long agonised, terrified scream accompanied by the sound of something hitting something else hard and cracks that sounded like bones as the scream came to a sudden stop.

Derek awoke with a start and gazed around him trying to work out where the hell he was. White walls. Long corridor. A certain horrible smell…disinfectant.

A hospital.

Rubbing his eyes he realised that he wasn't in a bed, he was in a chair. And Edwin was asleep, leaning on him from the next chair. Looking past him Derek saw Lizzie with Marti curled up in her lap. Lizzie looked back at him with tear stained eyes, rimmed with red. She had obviously been crying for hours.

Opposite them was a large window and Derek could see his dad and Nora in the room behind it. He could also see her.

She was deathly white with tubes sticking into her and a large bandage around the top of her head and forehead. There was also a huge purple bruise that took up almost the whole of her face. He couldn't even see her beautiful hair.

It was all his fault. If he hadn't pushed her…

"Derek it's not your fault. She'll be fine." Lizzie said gently, reading his mood.

"You don't know that. You weren't there."

"No, I wasn't. But you carried her all the way home."

"She wasn't moving, what else could I do?"

"Exactly Derek. You shouldn't feel guilty."

"But I do." He tried not to let his quiet voice tremble.

Lizzie observed him quietly. She told him to go and talk to her. Maybe apologising would help.

Glumly he nodded and shifted Edwin onto Lizzie who raised her eyebrows comically.

George and Nora looked up at him as he stood in the doorway, unsure if he was allowed to come in. They nodded and he carefully inserted himself into the room.

"Can I talk to her? There's something I need to get off my chest." He asked quietly.

"It'll be awfully one sided." George joked weakly as they got up to leave.

"She won't hear much, but perhaps she'll hear a little bit." Nora said tearfully as George helped her out of the room.

Derek took Nora's vacated chair by the bedside.

He looked at her unmoving body and reached out for her hand. It was cold and he couldn't quite feel a pulse, but he knew there must be one because a machine was beeping steadily somewhere in the room.

"Case? I don't know if you can hear me, but I have to apologise. I've felt terrible since the accident. I never meant to push you, and I certainly didn't want this. Case, I'm also sorry about the fight. I shouldn't have meddled with you and Max. I just wanted what was best for you. I was worried about what he was doing to you. What you didn't know about. We really need to learn not to meddle with each other's lives don't we?" Derek chuckled tearfully. "I don't know why I meddled this time. I guess it's because I really do care for you, more than I ever let on. It's a pity you can't hear it, now that I finally have the courage to tell you."

"Don't worry, I can." He looked up and saw her smiling a very small smile, as though the small simple movement hurt. "I understand, Derek. I'm sorry too." She broke off and coughed horribly. "I have to tell you, before it's too late. I can tell that I don't have a lot of time left but you have to know."

"Know what?" he asked her eagerly but gently.

"That I've loved you since the second I met you." she coughed again. "And that no

matter where I go," her voice grew very hoarse "I will always love you. Tell the others I love them." She finished in a whisper.

Casey squeezed his hand briefly and smiled a little again. Then she closed her eyes and Derek became aware that the steadily beeping machine was now giving out a continuous beep.

"Oh no. Casey? Casey! Don't do this! Don't go! Please stay with me!" tears rolled down his cheeks as he leant over her. "Casey, I need you with me. Casey!" he wailed and the rest of the family rushed into the room. Derek collapsed over her and sobbed piteously.

They had lost Casey. At that moment of realisation everyone broke down. How could they live without Casey?