A/N: This is the first chapter of my new multi-chapter Life with Derek story. LWD won in my poll for which category I should write my next multi-chapter for. So hence this story. I have a few chapters ready already, and they'll be put up sometime after this one. I want to say that for the sake of the story, Derek, Casey, Sam and Emily all went to the same college and graduated at the same time. Derek and Casey have become makeshift friends over the years. And I'm sorry for the lack of supporting LWD character, I'll honor them in other stories because they don't hold much importance in this one. Also I don't know the likelihood of him getting a flight/hotel so quickly but if it's not possible these days I apologize. Bear with me for the story. Enjoy! R&R! Thanks! –Mac

Disclaimer: I don't own LWD.

Chapter One

Viva Las Vegas

"We just graduated from college, man. We need to do something big, like tonight," Derek exclaimed, as he sat with Sam at the graduation party George and Nora were throwing for him and Casey.

"What do you have in mind, Derek?" Sam asked cautiously. He was wary of what his best friend might suggest.

"I don't know!" Derek answered excitedly, finishing off his cup of punch. "It doesn't matter. We can be spontaneous Sam. We have no obligations, nothing tying us down. It's summer and we're college graduates. We could do anything!"

"You're really excited about this, aren't you?" Sam smiled an amused smile.

"Well, yeah," Derek responded, calming a little bit. "I mean, Derek Venturi just graduated from college. Who woulda thought that would ever happen?"

Sam snickered, "I had faith in you man. And I wasn't the only one. Should we include the girls?" Sam asked, gesturing toward where Casey and Emily were having an animated conversation. "Cause, they just graduated too."

Derek shrugged, "I guess we could. Good luck getting Casey to agree to anything we come up with to do. She's too uptight to be spontaneous."

"Come on, you know that's not true. We've gotten her to lighten up the last few years. And you know our college experience wouldn't have been the same without her," Sam said, nudging Derek slightly.

"You mean we wouldn't have had to spend half our time forcefully dragging her out of her dorm or apartment to go to parties with us?" Derek replied sarcastically. "Man, I couldn't have lived without that."

"Remember how we did that as repayment for how much help she gave us with our classes?" Sam stared Derek down pointedly.

"Eh, we would have fared fine without her help," Derek avoided looking at Sam. He brought his empty cup to his lips, and then glared at it when he realized it was still empty.

"As I recall, if she hadn't helped you study you would have failed too many classes to keep your hockey scholarship…" Sam trailed of, knowing he had wound up Derek enough.

"Okay, so fine, we can include the girls," Derek conceded, then began to head for the refreshments table, "I need more punch."

-+-+-+-+-

"Hey Casey," Sam greeted as he arrived in front of her and Emily. "Emily."

"Hey Sam," Casey smiled, "Enjoying the party?"

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "Actually, Derek and I were—"

"Derek?" Casey questioned, cutting Sam off. "Where is he anyway?"

Sam glanced behind him then quickly back at the girls. He laughed nervously, shooting them a smile. "He was right behind me a second ago. Excuse me a minute."

Casey shot Emily a confused look. Emily just shrugged and they turned to watch Sam move through the crowd. Craning their necks to see, they watched as Sam found Derek on the other side of the room. From the looks of it, Sam was arguing with Derek, waving his hands wildly and pointing in their direction. They giggled as Derek's shoulders slumped in defeat and the two boys headed their way.

"Act normal," Casey shot at Emily jokingly and they laughed again.

As they appeared in front of them, Sam patted Derek on the back. He continued where he had left off before realizing Derek was missing, "As I was trying to say, Derek and I were thinking of having our own private celebration."

"Another party?" Emily piped up.

"Not exactly," Sam shook his head. "We weren't sure what we wanted to do up until a few minutes ago. We were thinking more of a…"

"A trip," Derek finished for him.

"A trip to where?" Casey frowned.

Derek threw his hands up in the air, "See, I told you she wouldn't be into it."

"No, we're into it, aren't we Casey?" Emily's gaze was intense on Casey. Casey sighed and nodded in agreement. Where are we going?"

"Sin City," Derek answered, when he got no response, he continued, "The City that Never Sleeps, The Gambling Capital of the World? Nothing? You guys are so lame." Derek rolled his eyes and finally gave it to him, "Las Vegas."

Emily squealed, "Las Vegas? Oh my, that sounds like so much fun."

"It will be," Derek smirked and offered his fist to Sam. Sam pounded it and nodded.

"So you in?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Just the four of us?" Casey questioned, clearly not excited as the other three.

"Yeah," Sam answered.

"Is that a problem for you Spacey?" Derek taunted.

Casey sent him a glare and he chuckled. She responded, "I'm just not sure it's the best idea. When are we supposed to leave? How are we going to pay for it? Where are we going to stay? And the only time you've ever been to the States is for hockey games. We don't know the city. Do you really think it's a good idea to go to an unfamiliar city alone?"

"Case, calm down," Derek put a hand up to halt her rambling. "We're all adults here Casey. People travel to unfamiliar cities all the time. They're called tourists. Besides if we get a hotel on the Strip, the only real navigation we'll need to worry about it getting from the airport to the hotel and that's what taxis are for. The Strip will have everything we need: casinos, restaurants, nightclubs, everything."

"You've given this more thought than I thought," Sam replied.

"Well, remember when the team wanted to go on a celebratory trip after the championship?" Derek said.

"Then half the guys got the flu, including me…" Sam nodded and then shivered at the memory.

"I'm kinda going off the plans they had then," Derek continued. "Do I need to go on Casey? Because you're kind of ruining the spontaneous quality of the trip."

"No, I got it," Casey folded her arms across her chest. "I'm still not convinced yet though."

Derek sighed, "Hey guys, can you give me a minute to talk to her alone?"

"Sure," Sam agreed, guiding Emily away as they shared a confused look.

"Derek, you have to understand my reservations," Casey replied once they were alone. "My mom and George are never going to go for it and—"

"Okay, I'm going to say this one more time, Princess," Derek interrupted. "We're adults Casey, and we just graduated from college. We don't need our parents' permission. We don't even live here anymore!"

"So we don't need permission," Casey continued, "But how do you expect to pay for it?"

"We both have savings. No one would fault us for splurging a little bit to celebrate our accomplishments," Derek responded, "Besides, I would imagine some of those cards people are leaving us, probably have some pretty substantial checks."

"I still don't know," Casey murmured, looking down at the floor.

"Are you going to make me beg, Casey? Because I will. I'll beg," Derek pleaded, "Please Casey…please?"

Casey glanced up in time to catch the puppy dog pout Derek put on. She had to stifle a laugh, "Why do you want me to go so bad anyway?"

"I don't," Derek cleared the lump in his throat, betraying him and revealing his lie. He attempted to cover for himself, "Sam said he wouldn't go if I couldn't convince you and Emily to go. He doesn't want you to feel left out since you deserve a chance to celebrate and cut loose as much as we do."

Casey took a deep breath and drew it out, "Fine. I'll go."

"Great!" Derek exclaimed, clapping his hands. He put an arm around Casey's shoulders, leading her in the direction Sam and Emily had disappeared in. "You won't regret this."

"I think I already am," Casey groaned.

"Hey, have I ever steered you wrong before?" Derek asked innocently.

"Yes, many times," Casey answered simply.

"Well, I'm not this time," Derek shrugged. "And we had a good time in college together, didn't we?"

"I guess so," Casey responded.

"This is going to be even more fun," Derek replied, "I can get online and get us tickets and a hotel reservation. We can be in Vegas by this time tomorrow night!"

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And by that time the next night, they were walking into a hotel room in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Derek grinned as he stepped further in, "We have arrived. Let the fun begin."

"Wow," Emily surveyed the room. "This is amazing. I've never stayed in a hotel room this nice. I've never stayed in a hotel room that was more than one room."

"We had to get a large suite," Derek shrugged. "There are two rooms, one with two beds and one with one queen…"

"Wait, three beds?" Casey questioned.

"Yeah, it's all they had with more than two," Derek answered. "Plus Sammy already volunteered to crash on one of the couches."

"More like I lost a coin toss," Sam muttered.

"Right, but cheer up Sammy. You'll still enjoy yourself. Not gonna be sleeping much anyway, now are we?" Derek replied. "So girls get the room with the two beds, I get the queen, and Sam…gets the pick of a couch."

As Derek moved to explore the rest of the suite, Casey walked over to Sam, "I'll switch off with you if you would like."

"Nah," Sam waved her off. "Thanks a lot Casey, but I'll be fine. We're not going to be here too long. Plus, Derek would be all over me if I took the bed from you."

"Derek could care less if I had to sleep on the floor," Casey scoffed.

"You'd be surprised," Sam responded.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that," Sam shrugged. "You would be surprised at just how much Derek would care."

"He didn't even want me to come. He said he only invited me and Emily because you made him—you refused to go if we didn't," Casey recounted.

"I did no such thing," Sam whipped around to face her. "Did he tell you that I said that?"

"Yes…isn't that what I just said?" Casey frowned.

"He is so full of it," Sam shook his head. "I suggested we include you when we weren't sure what we were going to do. He was reluctant because he thought you would shoot all our ideas down. Then he came up with the idea to go to Vegas, and he was the one who really, really wanted you two to go."

"But you had to drag him over to invite us. When you went over to talk to him at the party, that wasn't you convincing him that he had to invite us?" Casey found it hard to comprehend that Derek wanted her on this trip, and even if he did, she couldn't understand why.

"No," Sam corrected, "That was me telling him if he wanted you to go so bad, he needed to help talk you into it. He's always had better skills of persuasion over you than I did."

Sam had sat down on the couch nearest to him and draped his arms over the back. Casey shook her head as she laughed lightly. She sat down beside Sam and smiled as she said, "Derek has no power over me."

"He got you here, didn't he?" Sam raised an eyebrow. Casey didn't respond, so he continued, "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're here. It makes things easier on me."

"How so?" Casey asked.

"You're the only one who's ever kept Derek from going overboard with the drinking," Sam answered, then mumbled under his breath, "I suspect because he doesn't want to blurt something out in front of you that he'd regret in the morning."

"What?" Casey frowned in confusion.

"Nothing," Sam responded quickly, before changing the subject, "So now that you're here, are you excited?"

Casey smiled widely, "You know what? I am. I can't wait to hit the town."

-+-+-+-+-

Derek had explored every corner of his room of the suite, including the bathroom that joined to it. He had inspected every little bottle of shampoo and conditioner and the small soaps. He was about to head back out to join his friends and Casey when something stopped him in his tracks. He paused in the doorway to his room, watching as Casey sat with Sam, laughing and smiling. Derek frowned, before he realized it shouldn't matter to him if Casey and Sam were sitting close together and sharing a laugh. Suddenly, Emily popped up in front of him, blocking his view of Casey and Sam.

"Hey Derek, is your room as awesome as ours?" Emily attempted to peek in his door. When he didn't immediately respond, she looked at him more closely, "Are you all right Derek?"

"Do you ever think they'll get back together?" Derek blurted out the question without realizing it.

Emily followed his gaze over her shoulder, turning to look at Sam and Casey before turning back to Derek. "Who? Sam and Casey? Not likely. I think you and I have a better chance at trying again—which of course is never going to happen. So no…I guess is my answer…no I don't think they ever will. Besides Casey is…"

"'Casey is…what?'" Derek prompted

"Nothing," Emily responded. "Never mind. But you can rest assured that those two are so never getting back together."

"You're hiding something from me," Derek stated, staring Emily down.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," Emily replied vaguely and then continued in sing song, "You'll never know."

"If it's about Casey, you know I'll find out eventually," Derek smirked.

Emily laughed at his certainty, "As long as it's not from me, then it's cool. That way Casey can't kill me for breeching her confidence."

Derek watched as Emily walked away. She hopped around the couch to situate herself between Sam and Casey. Derek shook his head as he walked over to join them. If Emily wasn't going to tell him, he was going to find out one way or another—even if it had to come from Casey herself. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together to get all their attention.

"Okay, I say we change and freshen up and go out on the town, hit a casino or a nightclub or something," Derek replied.

"Now?" Casey raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, why not?" Derek responded, "We're in Vegas, baby. Let's go wild!"