A/N: This is my first Life With Derek fanfiction. I love the show, but I never once thought of writing a fic for it. I don't know how far I'm going with this, but the sweetness will be there, I promise. I tried keeping them as in-character as I could.

Let me know how I did. :)

"I hate him!"

"Here we go…"

Derek, without taking his eyes off the television screen, picked up the remote that lay on the chair's armrest and repeatedly tapped the blue up-arrow on the volume side.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a light purple jacket being thrown at the coat rack – and falling to the floor, missing the rack by at least a foot – and a very angry fifteen-year-old girl whirling around the last wooden bar of the stair banister and making more noise than the hockey game in front of him as she traveled up the stairs.

Derek rolled his eyes. "Edwin!"

His younger brother appeared in a heartbeat, obviously used to hearing his name being called like a palace servant.

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favor and go get the phone, will you?"

"Why? Date plans with Sally?"

"You know the battle's been on for at least a week now, so what makes you think I want to talk to her? Don't answer that. Anyway, I don't need the phone for me."

"Then who's it for?"

Derek slouched a bit more comfortably in his chair, allowing his eyes to be re-glued to the screen once again. "Max is bound to call any minute now."

And yet he never did.

Casey lay on her stomach on her bed, her arms crossed around a pillow in front of her. It was moist from all the tears that fell from her chin. Never… he had never… there should have been a sign… it's probably my fault… why didn't I catch it?

Somewhere, way beyond her current thoughts, she knew she was over reacting. But these thoughts were dominant and powerful, much more so than the thoughts of reality Casey knew she should be listening to. Dominant thoughts or not, they were interrupted when she heard a soft knock on her door.

"Come in," she choked.

The door opened so the space between the door and the doorway was only an inch or so wide. After a couple seconds, it opened a bit wider, and Lizzie stuck her head in the room.

"Hey Case. Are you okay? I could hear you crying from my room. Did something happen with Max?"

Casey was afraid of speaking again without a fresh batch of tears forming – she'd just "calmed down" after all – so she only nodded her head. Lizzie, always the sympathetic sister, sat on the bed next to Casey and put her hand on the distressed girl's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Casey. It's okay. Max is a jerk anyway. Whatever happened, he isn't worth it." Lizzie leaned forward and tried to give the best smile she could. It usually worked and cheered her older sister up at least a little, but Casey only closed her eyes, and Lizzie saw more tears flow from the shut lids. This was bad… Casey never got this upset about a relationship.

"Casey…?"

"Liz, if I tell you what happened, would you promise you won't tell anyone? Not even mom or George? I don't want them stressing out over me. I couldn't handle that."

"Sure, Casey. You know you can trust me."

"Thanks…"

"Oh, hey Lizard. Do you think you could grab me the chips and cheese dip in the kitchen? Thanks."

"No, I will not grab you your stupid junk food. I've got bigger problems."

"Older sister problems?"

"What do you care?"

"Well, I haven't spread any gossip around lately. What's the deal with Casey and Max? Another pointless fight?"

"It was way more than that Derek, and don't bother me about it. I've been sworn to secrecy."

"Really, now… sounds juicy. The guys would love to hear how Casey tortured Max this time."

"Derek, I don't think you get it. It's really serious, and Casey's hurt. More than you know, actually. So stop being so obnoxious and show some consideration."

"Sure thing. I'll pay attention to the salsa dip, too. Grab me that along with my chips and cheese okay?"

"Get it yourself!"

"Not happening."

"Derek!"

"What? Why should I care about the on-off relationship of my annoying step-sister and the person I hate more than anyone else in the world?"

"Because your sister was deeply hurt by that jerk!"

Derek raised an eyebrow and slightly turned his head in Lizzie's direction without looking away from the second half of the game. There was something about her tone that tugged at his mind and tightened a knot in his guts. Something told him there was more in their millionth break up than another argument.

"Lizzie… what happened?"

"I told you, I've been sworn to secrecy."

"Well I'm un-swearing you. Tell me. Now."

Lizzie bit her lip. She usually never leaked Casey's secrets or broke in front of Derek, but for some reason he seemed more concerned than interested. Just this once…

"Okay…" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "He… he tried… 'Making a move on her'." She hoped Derek would look deeper into Casey's quote… it was pretty general considering how serious the situation actually was. Derek placed his elbow on the chair's arm and rested his fingers on his mouth.

"How serious was this move?"

"Come on Derek, do I have to spell it out for you? They were under the bleachers after his practice… and he… touched her."

She opened her eyes. Derek was not in front of her anymore, and she heard the door shutting to her left. Moments later, she heard a car starting.

What had she done?

Max wasn't worried. There were plenty of girls in the school much dumber than Casey… better looking, too. He was sure he could get another chick to fall for him, what with his charming smile, perfect face, unbelievable talents in sports… the list went on forever.

Holding his precious football to his chest, Max walked down the sidewalk next to the football field. Not one of my best days…

He finally reached the door to the backside of the school, and opened it. Two seconds later, he found himself against the wall only a few feet away from the door. His football was wobbling down the hallway, and there was an intense pain in his shoulders and back. Derek Venturi stood in front of him, and was wrinkling the collar of his shirt with a tightly clenched fist.

"Dude, what the hell's your problem?"

"Your disgusting, immature, filthy ways with my sister, that's what."

"She told you, huh?" Max gave a mocking smirk. "Come on Derek, we're basically alike. When we see girls, we go after them, right? I mean, maybe you don't have the thrill that I do in dating, but it's balanced enough."

Derek narrowed his eyes. "You and I are nothing alike, moron. And I don't think you can necessarily call what you do dating. It's gotta be the most revolting thrill I've ever heard of."

Max made an amused sound in his throat. "You're only jealous that I can lure girls in like th –"

An unbelievable pain in the left side of his jaw shut him off. He tasted blood, and the skin on the inside of his cheek stung like crazy. He looked up – his head had been blown to his side and into the wall… he was pretty sure his head was bleeding – to see a hateful gleam in Derek's eyes. Well shit.

"I don't know who you think you are," Derek hissed, "and I don't know why you thought you could do something like that and get away with it, but don't ever let me catch you doing that to Casey – or any other girl for that matter – again." He tightened his grip. "Got it?"

Max coughed a couple times, then glared at Derek, spitting in his face. Derek felt a mixture of mucus and blood enter his eyes and splatter across the skin around them. He ignored it and used the hand that held Max's shirt to shove him to the ground. Hard.

The injured teen leaned up on his side, wiping his mouth. He watched Derek's feet disappear behind the wall outside the doors in front of him.

"Lizzie, didn't I ask you to leave me alone for awhile?"

"It isn't Lizzie."

Casey groaned and rolled her eyes. She knew that voice, even if he did sound concerned. Before Casey could give another response, Derek came in and closed the door behind him.

"Get out of my room."

"No." Derek grabbed the back of the rolling chair in front of Casey's computer to sit. Casey sighed in exasperation and started to get off her bed and head for the door. Derek quickly reached forward and snatched her wrist.

"You're not going anywhere."

"You can't tell me what to do, Derek."

"Sure I can. Now sit."

Casey didn't have much of a choice; Derek forcefully – yet gently all the same – pulled her back so she came down on the bed. Casey huffed and crossed her arms, looking away from Derek immediately. Derek took his place in Casey's chair and leaned over the back of it on his crossed arms. He looked at Casey... really looked at her.

And he noticed a couple of things.

First of all, she'd most definitely been crying. Yes, he'd seen her cry before, but this was a different aftereffect. Her eyes were so red from tears; you'd think she was blind. Secondly, she hadn't made eye contact with him once since he'd stepped into the room.

Derek sighed and rubbed his forehead against his arms in front of him, then looked up again. He'd never been good at this sort of thing – hell, he'd only 'comforted' Kendra once when her grandmother had died – but Casey was different. She liked to over dramatize things… although Derek really couldn't blame her now.

"Listen, Casey, I know why you're upset."

"No you don't. You just think it's another fight with Max." Casey lifted her chin. "Well, it was a lot more than that, so don't act like you know about it."

"I do." Derek thought twice about telling Casey what his true source of information was, and decided against it. "I just talked to Max. The guy's a jerk."

Casey, finally, let her gaze drift to Derek's face. "He… he told you?"

Derek nodded. Casey bit her lip for a second, then turned away again.

"Well, even so, it doesn't mean you care."

"That's not entirely true."

Casey raised an eyebrow but didn't look at Derek again. Derek sighed and shifted a bit in the uncomfortable position he sat in.

"Look, I can't stand guys like that. I know, I've flirted with and dated a lot of girls, and I do talk about them every now and then with Sam. But guys like Max… it just ticks me off, you know? What he did was stupid and disgusting, and girls don't deserve that. Not even you."

Casey felt her lips twitch into a small smile. Derek sat up a bit and let out a deep breath.

"So, are you okay?"

"Well, what Max did will scar me for life; I'll never forget it. But…" Casey tilted her head in Derek's direction and let her smile grow a bit bigger. "I don't think I'm ever going to forget what you just said, either. Thanks, Derek."

Derek couldn't help but force a smile back. Casey, with the smile still on her face, sighed and rolled her eyes, standing up in front of Derek, who looked up at her curiously.

"…So, we're good?"

Casey grinned and shook her head. Derek raised an eyebrow, and Casey laughed.

"What, you didn't think I'd let you leave this room after saying what you said without a loving family hug, did you?"

"What?"

"Oh come on, Derek. You can't hug your stepsister? Just once?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I don't do hugs."

"You hug Marty all the time."

"That's different. She's like, a decade younger than I am. Besides, she's blood related."

"Please, Derek, that's the lamest excuse to not give a hug I've ever heard."

"Forget it, Casey."

Letting the smile disappear from her face, Casey sighed, crossed her arms, and looked at the ground. Derek groaned. That was the most pitiful look he'd ever seen her give. He knew he'd regret this… she'd probably never let him live down the fact that he'd once in his life been sensitive enough to hug his stepsister.

"Fine," Derek mumbled. Casey's face brightened and she laughed. Derek stood up lazily, rolled the chair behind him and sloppily held out his arms. Casey put her hands on her hips and cocked her eyebrow again. Derek shrugged.

"This is what you get."

Casey rolled her eyes once more and smiled, then took a step forward and hugged Derek's neck. Derek wrapped his arms around Casey's waist, thinking it'd be somewhat of a short hug. But Casey wouldn't budge.

"Uh, Case? You can let go now." He started to remove his arms from her waist. Casey didn't move at all.

"I could."

"Casey…"

"What? I've never hugged you before. This is special, Derek."

Derek sighed, not having much of a choice, and put his arms around her waist again. Something in him twitched for a second, and he gave her a gentle squeeze. Both of their eyes widened, but neither of them dared to let go. Neither of them could look at each other… obviously they'd have to wait.

They were both blushing like mad.