This ficlet came to me randomly and I just had to get it out. It's killing me that I've only seen March Break once; it was so good I want to watch it again and again! But anyway, this takes place in that episode, so it includes minor spoilers.

Enjoy!

--Brandi

Disclaimer: Life with Derek is going to be mine on October 14, in DVD form. But the episodes in Season 4? Not quite mine yet.

The Meatloaf in the Ficus

Nora opened her eyes slowly, relishing the feeling of being in her own bed. She lay quietly for a few moments, listening to George's shallow breathing, before she allowed herself to think on the previous night's events.

She had been exhausted the night before, too exhausted to do much else besides put Marti to bed and then brush her teeth.

Well, there was one other thing she had been awake enough to do – have an interesting yet confusing conversation with two of her children.

"George, wake up!" she shoved him lightly and he rolled over with a muffled noise that was probably something along the lines of "Go away."

"Georgie, there's meatloaf in my ficus!"

George rolled back over to face her, this time reluctantly awake. "Excuse me? Is that a euphemism for something? Because I probably don't want to hear it right now. I'm going back to sleep."

Nora poked George right in the sternum, and he winced. She gave him a pointed look.

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" He grumbled and groaned as he forced himself into an upright position. Nora sat up next to him.

"No, I'm not. There's meatloaf in my ficus." She raised her eyebrows at him in what she knew was an adorable manner, and he shrugged.

"So?"

"So? So? George, the kids were having a food fight. Don't you get it?"

George rubbed his face with both hands, and then sighed. "Nora, you know I can't think until I've had my coffee."

Nora rolled her eyes. He was so thick sometimes. "Okay, I'll spell it out for you. The two children I was reluctant to leave home alone…the two children who were in the living room together when we came home last night…"

"Aha!" George held up a finger. "Derek and Casey had a food fight while we were gone!"

Nora grabbed onto his finger and kissed it. "Took you long enough."

"They have these kinds of fights all the time, Nora. At least they cleaned most of it up."

Nora wrinkled her nose. "But doesn't it make you wonder what else they did while they were home alone?"

"You don't think Derek invited Sally over, do you?"

"No, I don't. In fact, did you notice how Sally hasn't even come up all week?"

"That's true." George suddenly became more alert. "Oh my God, do you think this was it? Do you think something happened between Derek and Casey? Is that why they wanted to stay home alone together? You know Derek forgets Sally exists whenever Casey's around."

Nora put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I really hope nothing happened. Besides, she would have told me, right? I don't think she's quite on the same page as Derek quite yet."

George looked over at her incredulously. "Are you kidding me? Honey, I know she tells you a lot of things, but really, she's not going to tell you that she has a crush on her stepbrother."

Nora sighed. "I guess I know that. But I keep hoping she might. Right now she's too caught up in being a teenage girl. She doesn't realize that the way Derek looks at her is far from normal."

George nodded. "And it's gotten worse lately. He barely even tries to hide it anymore."

"Have you talked to him like you said you were going to?"

"No, I changed my mind. I don't think it's a good idea to even allude to the fact that I caught on. He'd shut down and refuse to tell me anything."

Nora sighed again. "I guess that's true. But you were a teenage boy once. You remember what it was like to have your hormones run your life."

George kissed Nora softly. "I remember," he answered, and they were caught up in each other for a moment, until Nora pulled away.

"Seriously Georgie, do you think anything happened last night?"

George ran a hand through his hair. "Besides some intense flirting and lots of wrestling over the remote, I doubt it. They didn't look that guilty when we came home."

"I guess you're right. When I was reading Stepsiblings for Dummies, it warned me about the whole attraction thing. But I never thought it would happen to us."

"Thank God they've only been dancing around it. Do you remember how bad the fighting was when you guys first moved in? I thought we were in for a whole lot of trouble. But then they actually started to like each other. And then they actually started to like each other. Made life a lot easier. Go figure."

Nora shook her head. "No, I really think Derek knew from the beginning. Casey's still gloriously oblivious. All that Max drama, and Sam before him…I still say she's too preoccupied to even realize that how she acts with Derek has any kind of romantic meaning."

"Okay, you remind me of that next time they so much as look at each other and we're afraid the house is going to burn down from the heat."

"Will do." She paused. "Do you think we're doing the wrong thing, just letting it play out? Do you think we should go to counseling or something?"

George mulled it over for a second. "Nah, I think everything will work out. I really don't see them acting on their feelings until they're out of the house, anyway. Derek has a lot of maturing to do. Not to mention the fact that he won't stop going out with Sally anytime soon. Speaking of remembering what it's like to be a teenager, she is awfully pretty…"

Nora made a face. "Stop right there, I don't need to hear the end of that. So we're agreed—we'll just let nature take its course?"

"Sounds good to me. Strange as it sounds, I love our crazy family, don't you?"

Nora kissed him again. "I do, too. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a ficus to water and a meatloaf to dispose of…" She got out of bed and winked at George.

He exited the bed as well and looked up at the ceiling with apprehension. "Guess I'll go referee breakfast."

They walked up the stairs together, suppressing their laughter when the traditional yelp of "De-rek!" came from the kitchen.