Okay, I'm not the biggest fan of LWD, but I quite enjoy the show. Sorry if there's some holes in it.
Don't sue me.
3 years. It had been 3 years since Derek had seen her. 3 years, 1 month 14 days, 6 hours and 32 minutes.
The divorce had been finalized 3 years to the day, but the McDonalds had moved out of the Venturi house a month and a half before the papers were signed.
A hug, some parting words about taking care, and a lingering kiss on the cheek were Derek's final memories of Casey.
He'd gone on to finish high school, and gotten into college. Derek knew Casey would have gone on to do something impressive – a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer. It didn't matter. It would have been something impressive.
But Derek himself had started four different degrees, being unable to find anything he clicked with. Sure, they had all sounded good in theory – a degree in science sounded good. He loved the gory text books and what hay inside, but Derek had never been any good at science, and found he couldn't underStandd any of what the professor was talking about. Perhaps history – he was a closet fan of the history books George had kept in his study – but Derek found history was ancient, as opposed to the more modern he enjoyed. The people were wrong. He was wrong for history. He next tried teaching. That was quickly given up after his first prac – he saw a little girl who reminded him of Lizzie so bad, he quit the very next day.
His next degree appealed more so than a gory text book or playing with ten year olds.
Physiology.
Derek couldn't see why it hadn't occurred to him immediately – he'd always loved sport, and this way he'd get to help people with sports injuries, see all the gory stuff without having to learn about hydrogen and oxygen, and he'd still get to do something he loved.
He'd have to change colleges, though.
So that was why Derek found himself outside a new dorm room with an armful of cardboard boxes, key poised at the door, when a flash of a purple sweater he knew all to well caught his eyes, and a laugh he knew even better caught his ears.
For surely it was a mistake.
He wouldn't recognize her after all these years. These long 3 years, 1 month, 14 days 6 hours and 32 minutes.
"Hey, man," his new roommate said, opening the door. "You gotta be… uhh Derek?" he read off the sheet of paper he'd been given and looked up at Derek. "You lookin' at somethin'?"
"Someone I used to know," Derek said, still staring around for the curtain of midnight black hair he had so longed to touch. "Derek Venturi," he said, holding out his hand to shake.
"Ian Vidas," his roommate said, but Derek quickly spoke over him.
"McDonalds. Where would that room be?" Derek asked.
"Well there's a McDonalds across the street, but it has shit coffee, man-"
"No! No you know how it's last names? I knew this girl. McDonald. Casey McDonald. I could have sworn I saw her."
"Casey McDonald? Damn. You knew her?" Ian asked appreciatively.
"Yeah. Yeah I did," Derek said, staring off looking for her again.
"She's hot stuff man. I remember one time when-"
"Listen, do you know where she is or not?" Derek asked, a little more forcefully than was needed.
"Well yeah, man, but it won't help you nuthin," he said. "She aint had a boyfriend the whole time she went to school here."
"I don't care. I just need to see her," he said, sounding almost broken.
"Daydon House. It's about 500 meters West," he said.
"Watch my shit, will you?" Derek asked, and without waiting for an answer, he sped off.
Running about an unfamiliar campus was uncomfortable. He didn't know anyone, and conStandtly had to ask where Daydon House was. After three wrong turns – it seemed 500 meters West was as the crow flies, as there were dozens of turns and bends between the large buildings, but eventually he found a particularly old one, made of sandstone, with DAYDON written across the top in large lettering.
"Bingo," Derek muttered with his grin, and entered the large building.
Never before had Derek realized how unfortunately common the name 'McDonald' was. And while he knew it had been McDonald, not MacDonald, that only minimized his search marginally. Being roomed in alphabetical order was helpful, certainly, but it must horror to be a 'Jones' or 'Smith' or indeed 'McDonald'.
Derek began searching. In every other room there was a 'C. McDonald', and each time, the 'C. McDonald' more often than not turned out to be Caitlyn or Chloe. It was painful to find a Casey, and a girl he had never once known stepped out.
Finally, on the last room on the third floor, Derek had knocked on each door, to no avail. He sighed, and prayed Ian was as smart as he looked, and knocked on the door.
"Excuse me?" Derek asked.
No answer.
Derek frowned and knocked again.
"Excuse me? Is there a Casey McDonald in this room?" he asked.
"Go away," a muffled voice said.
"No. No I just need to find someone," he told the person on the other side of the door.
"I'm trying to study. Go away," the person said.
"No, please. Just, does a Casey McDonald live here?"
"I said, Go away!" the person said. "Yes. Yes a Casey McDonald does live here, and she hates men, so go away."
"No. Listen, Casey? Casey McDonald? I know you're in here, and I just need to talk to you."
"I told you. I hate men. Go away."
"No! No listen! I know you! Casey, I don't know if I have the right person, but I have to try. If this is the Casey McDonald who's mom's name is Nora and has a little sister Lizzie, I need to talk to you. If you used to live on Carmichael street with your step family and dated your step brother's best friend, I know who you are and I really, really need to talk to you. If you kept your journal under a loose floorboard beside your bed, I really nee-"
But the door opened.
"How do you know that?" the young woman asked angrily, then her eyes widened. As did Derek's.
"Casey?" Derek asked.
"Derek?" she asked back.
"You're… you're…" he said quietly.
"You! You're… taller, and…" she said.
"You're… blonde?" he said carefully raising a hand to touch her newly colored hair, praying it was a good enough excuse.
"Oh, yeah, she blushed, and moved closer to him to Standd in the doorway. "I dyed it right after we moved out. I hardly remember it being dark," she said. "You're here?"
"Oh yeah. You know. Couldn't choose what degree to do. Had to switch schools. What are you taking?"
"Oh umm, same. I've sorta been switching. I'm taking physiology now," she said.
"Weird," Derek said. "So- so am I."
"Wow. That is weird," she said.
"I should probably get back," Derek said, plenty of unpacking to do. He began to back away slowly.
"Oh, yeah, right," she said, taking small steps in the same way.
"See you around…?" he asked holding up his hands in a questioning motion.
"Yeah. Yeah I guess we will see each other," she said, cautiously stepping up to hug him.
Derek embraced her tight, in what he hoped was a good ex-step-brother hug, and he felt her face press into his chest as she hugged him back.
She began to release her hold, and Derek did too, and the two stepped away.
"I'll… see you, Casey," he said, smiling and backing away, and turned.
"See you," she agreed.
Derek was almost at the stairs, when he heard Casey say his name. He turned and she jogged over the short space to meet him.
"Would you maybe… like to get a coffee?" she asked. "I mean, I know you're probably really busy and everything, but I could… show you around, and we could talk, and then we'd be killing three birds with one stone?"
"You know I love the bird killing," Derek said with a grin. "But that's only two birds."
"I'll take you to the best coffee ever. That's three," she promised, and linked her arm with his.
That afternoon, it was like they'd reached an understanding – they were no longer brother and sister. There was no longer a need to bicker. They wandered around the campus, Casey pointing out important landmarks, with their coffee in hand. She was right. It was excellent coffee.
It had been more than three hours when the pair had run out of campus to search, and the sky had begun to get dark.
"You want some help unpacking?" Casey asked him.
"Sure," he said, taking another sip of his coffee.
"Who are your roommates?" she asked. "Anyone cute?"
"Oh ha ha. Weren't you telling me you hated men earlier today?" Derek asked.
"Touché, Der Bear," Casey said, elbowing him in the side, still keeping her arm firmly attached to his.
"Ouch," he said. Nicknames? That's low, McDonald, that's low."
"So? Who said I hadn't dropped a couple of notches? Who are your roommates?"
"Ian Vidas, and two other blokes I haven't met yet," he shrugged.
"Ian Vidas? Oh man, that might be a problem," she teased.
"Yeah, I think he has a bit of a crush on you," Derek said nonchalantly and laughed. They reached his dorm, and disentangled himself from Casey to find his key.
Opening the door with a click, the pair entered a dark room with a small kitchenette, a relatively good sized living space and 6 doors leading away.
"Wow," Derek said. "This place is huge."
"You haven't been in yet?" Casey asked.
"No, I just sort of saw you and ran," Derek explained – he had told her how he'd found her much earlier on.
"Well, there's two bathrooms. Looks like you're sharing with Ian, and four bedrooms. You each get your own. Hey, a note!" Casey explained, then pointed out a sheet of paper on the bench top.
Derek,
Sorry we didn't get to meet. Cody's rushing us all out asap, but Ian told us that you'd gone to find someone, and when you didn't come back, we figured you'd stay a while. Ian's a bit of a neat freak, so the place is like… spotless all the time, but he gets pissed when it's not. Heads up. Your room's on the far side. Shit's already in there still in boxes, and we parked your car. Cody reckon's she's a bitch of a car, but she's pretty.
Hope you found everything okay.
Alex V.
"Hmm, considerate roommate," Casey noted.
"Yeah," Derek said, looking around the room. "He is a clean freak."
"As opposed to you and Edwin?" Casey laughed.
"Gimmie your coat," Derek sighed, unable to find a response. Obligingly, Casey removed her purple sweater and passed it to him so he could hang it on the hook.
"Wait," Derek said, just before he hung it. "I know this coat. I gave it to you for Christmas one year."
"Oh yeah," Casey grinned. "I'd forgotten. Come on. Let's go unpack your stuff."
The pair spent a couple of hours arranging Derek's things in his room. Reminders of a their home together included a picture of their family at the park once, the poster of Casey's favourite movie she had given him once, and Lizzie's soccer ball Casey had thrown at Derek on their first day at the house.
"I can't believe you still have this!" she said, waving the soccer ball at him.
"Shut up!" he said, taking it off her to put in a cupboard.
"Derek, you big softie," she teased.
"Hey!" he protested. "I am not a softie!"
"I bet you are. I bet you're a big softie who cries when he watches that Hilary Swank movie. You're not the Derek I remember," she observed, sitting down on his now neatly made bed.
"You're not the Casey I remember," he agreed, sitting beside her. "You're blonde! I bet you're in a sorority and have a different boyfriend every week and…"
"Shut up. None of the above. Except for the blonde part," she said.
"Well I don't cry at movies. And I'm a guy. I only saw that movie once, and only because you made me. And if I remember rightly, I laughed. I did not cry."
"I was wrong. You are still sort of the Derek I remember," she laughed that laugh he knew so well.
"And you're still kind of the Casey I remember," he said.
They sat in silence for a few moments.
"Was it messy?" Casey asked quietly. "The divorce?"
"Nah. They go for coffee every week – I mean, just as friends, but it's okay. They just fell out of love, Casey. No grudges," he replied softly.
Casey looked up at him, and Derek was astonished to see tears in her eyes.
"I cried for a week when we left. I didn't want to go. I knew I'd miss you too much," she whispered, and one of her tears fell.
"Hey," he said kindly, and pulled her head to his chest, where she could easily cry. "Hey, you're okay. It's okay now. I'm here." Derek gently stroked Casey's hair as she tried to regain some dignity.
"Oh, Derek I'm sorry," she sniffed," taking her head from his chest. "I shouldn't be like this."
"It's okay, Case, I understand," he told her.
"Do you? Do you really?" she begged. "I haven't had a date since. I just couldn't."
"Was it because of your mom?" Derek asked. Casey shook her head.
"Just a personal thing. Derek, can I stay with you tonight?" she asked.
"Sure," he agreed. "Wanna go get some food, or will we order some take out, or I could go get something… or… I dunno… what do you guys do for food around here?"
"Let's… let's go get something," she sniffed. "I know a great burger place, with fries just how we like. Just let me go wash my face first."
After a late dinner of burgers and curly fries, the pair returned to Derek's room, and Casey almost immediately fell asleep. Derek grinned and swept her hair out of her face and took off her shoes, before lying down beside her.
They weren't really brother and sister any more. They weren't together, and they weren't really friends.
What had become of them was peace. Somewhere between the latter two.
A tranquil togetherness, wherein there was no romance, though there was a love of some sort. A love that would change. But when it did, it would remain that way.
All that was left was to wait for it.