I'll Never Stop Loving Him
Casey's POV
I let out a groan of agony as I pushed. "When will it be over?!" I screamed. My new best friend, Destiny, laughed. "As soon as we see those beautiful little babies, Case" she responded. I pushed again, only this time to be met with a cry. A cry so beautiful, I wanted to stop everything and hold its source, my daughter. "Okay Casey" the doctor yelled. "This one's your girl, here comes the boy." I pushed again to hear that cry for a second time. I let out the long breath I was holding and held out my arms to take my children into.
A few tears escped my eyes as I kissed their foreheads. "My beautiful babies" I said as I sniffled. "McKenzie Destiny McDonald-Venturi, and James Derek McDonald-Venturi." My son opened his eyes then, and I gasped as he gave me the infamous smirk his father had given me so many times. The Derek Venturi smirk. I broke down and cried then. Hysterically. I sobbed and sobbed. Derek. Derek. Derek. The name was stuck on my mind and it killed me everytime I said it. I finally got myself under control and had some alone time with my kids.
"McKenzie, James, even though your daddy isn't gonna be around, I want you to know that I love him with all my heart. I would die for him and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not having him be a part of your lives, but it would be better for him that way. And I know I'm sacrificing your happiness for his, but believe me, it's really for the best. You'll understand some day." I kissed their foreheads and sighed. You're probably wondering what the hell was going on. Let me explain.
9 months ago, my parents threw a huge Christmas party. And I mean huge. Since Derek and I had both just turned 18, our parents decided to let us have a little bit of champagne. But Derek and I decided to put our differences aside and have a little fun. At about midnight, Derek and I told mom and George that we were gonna call it a night and went upstairs, only, Derek had a bottle of boos and we went into his room. We had fun laughing and drinking and talking. Then, somehow, the topic of sex had come up and we both admitted to each other that we were virgins. The next thing I knew, I woke up naked, in Derek's bed, with a nude Derek sleeping next to me. A week later, I realized I was in love with Derek. A week later, he told me we had to just forget that night and that we would never work out. A week later, I found out I was pregnant.
Knowing Derek would be ashamed of himself and feel obligated to help me out, I decided to leave. I couldn't crush his future and career like that. I just couldn't. So I snuck out in the middle of the night and left a note for my mom so she wouldn't worry. Only, I left out the whole being pregnant part. I moved to an apartment just an hour away. It was a nice apartment in a nice neighborhood. There was a beautiful kitchen, a huge living area and three bedrooms. I thanked God that I had so much money saved up in my bank account.
I first got a job at Famous Footwear during the afternoon and took night college classes. I majored in literature and arts. I had started my own dance studio while I went into my sixth month. Sure it was stressful, but the studio would provide the best future possible for me and my children. (I found out they were twins in my fourth month). I had hired excellent dance instructors, one of them being Destiny, who took night classes with me, as she was raising her son on her own. We became close and she helped me through everything. One night I was working on the students' payments, when my water broke.
Destiny helped me through it all. And this is how I got here. I was now an 18 year-old mother of two who was madly in love with her step-brother. Yeah, you think you've got problems.
6 Months Later
Derek walked down the street thinking about her again. Yes, her. Casey McDonald, the love of his life, who had vanished just the night before he was going to tell her he loved her. Sure, he had made the mistake of telling her to forget the wonderul night they spent together, but she deserved someone better than him. He shook the thought out of his head as he walked into the daycare center. His friend was working, and Derek had volunteered to pick up his son for him. When he walked in, he was overwhelmed with the smell of babies and hand sanitizer. He scanned the crowd for Peter, his friend's son, when a young woman caught his eye.
She had to be his age, 19, and she was chasing after a little boy and a little girl. She had long, curly, brown hair, much like Casey's. He groaned and tried to forget about her. Suddenly, the little girl crashed into a held onto Derek's leg. He looked down to find her smiling an adorable, toothless, baby smile at him. He laughed as the woman came and pulled her away. "I'm so sorry" she apologized without lifting her head. "McKenzie, don't do that to mommy" she scolded, even though Derek knew the baby was probably only six months old and couldn't understand her mother.
The woman hoisted the infant up and turned quickly. "Now where is your brother?" she asked. "James?! James?" she called. "James Derek-" but she was cut off when she heard Derek cough and looked down to find her son attached to Derek's other leg. She rolled her eyes, "Apparently my children have an attraction to your legs." She lifted the boy into her other arm and finally looked up to face Derek. Both of them frowned immediately.
"Casey?" he whispered. "Derek?" He nodded. "Wow" was all he could say. "Casey, you're, you're, your're-" "A mom" she finished for him. "Yeah." Derek bombarded her with questions. "Is that why you left? Is that why we never hear from you? Who's the father? Did he leave you? Oh, I"m gonna kick his ass." Casey put her hand on Derek's shoulder to calm him.
"Derek. Yes, yes, no one, no, don't kick his ass." "What?" Derek asked. She sighed. "That's why I left, that's why I don't keep in touch, don't worry about who the father is, he didn't leave me, don't kick his ass." Derek nodded, understanding now. "So Case, you're a mom." "I'm a mom."
He stared down at his feet. "Who's the father Case? Please tell me." Tears came to Casey's eyes. She shook her head. "You wouldn't know him." He looked at the babies' faces for some clue. McKenzie was a carbon copy of Casey, so that was no help. And James looked exactly like Derek when he was a baby, so that didn't help either. He sighed. "Derek-" but she was cut off by the woman at the desk. "Uh, Casey?" she called. "Sorry to interupt, but you really gotta pay." Casey smacked herself on the head. "Damnit" she mumbled and walked over to the counter. Derek followed her.
"Now remember Casey you have to fill out the twins' full names on the forms." Casey's face went white. She looked at Derek who was staring at the babies. She motioned for Destiny to hold the door open so she could make a clean getaway. Casey drew in a deep breath and scribbled down their names and made a dash for the door. Derek didn't even notice Casey leave. He was staring at the forms. There, written in Casey's perfect handwriting said, McKenzie Destiny McDonald-Venturi and James Derek McDonald-Venturi.
Derek felt like he couldn't breathe. Was he their father? It made sense. Little James looked just like him. And his name was James Derek, and Derek's name was Derek James. He turned to find Casey gone. He picked up Peter and ran out the exit. He looked both ways for Casey, but she was gone. He rushed Peter home and then looked for Casey's name in the address book. There she was. Casey McDonald, 311 Kew Gardens Apartment complex.
He ripped the page out and climbed into a cab, bound for Casey's apartment.
Casey's Apartment
Casey sat next to the tub washing McKenzie's back. James was screaming and McKenzie soon began to wail. "Please" Casey whispered. "Please stop crying. Please McKenzie, please." Casey looked out the bathroom door at the sauce that was spilling out of the pan on the stove. She sighed and lifted McKenzie out of the tub and hurried her into the kitchen. McKenzie's soaked body stained Casey's shirt as she frantically tried to turn the stove off. This was too much for Casey.
She sat down in one of the counter stools and cried. Cried right along with her children. She gathered the two up into her arms and the three cried together. Casey was so lost, she hadn't heard the front door open. "I'm so sorry" Casey sobbed. "I'm sorry I'm such a horrible mother and I'm sorry your daddy's not here. It's all my fault. I thought I would be enough for you two, but I'm not. I'm sorry. When I saw him today, I realized how much I loved him. How much I still do." She cried even harder. "I'm sorry. I"m so so sorry." The twins stopped crying, but Casey kept going.
"I'm sorry I never told you about him. I'm sorry I made your lives suck. I'm sorry I let your daddy go. And now, I bet he was in there today picking up his other son. The one he had with some other woman whom he loves. One he's married to. And they have a perfect life together and I bet he teaches him hockey, and I bet he kisses her every night when he gets home from work. And I bet he loves her, almost as much as I love him. And I bet he's at home laughing at me right now, thinking about how his life turned out great, and mine sucks, which is exactly opposite of what it was supposed to be. I love him so much, though. I love him, I love him, I love him. And I have to stop loving him. I have to stop loving him. But I never will. I'll never stop loving Derek Venturi."
Casey finally collected herself and stood up. She wiped away her last few tears and turned to find Derek staring at her. "Derek." Casey stood there, frozen. Derek stared at his feet. "H-h-how much of that did you hear?" Derek frowned. "All of it." "Oh" Casey whispered. "Derek," she started, but she didn't know what to say. Derek did.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. "Well, she started, "I didn't tell you a lot of things, be more specific. The twins? Or, me being in love with you?" she whispered the last part. "All of it." He whispered back. "Derek, I knew that, deep down, you were an amazing person, and I knew that if you knew about my pregnancy, you would feel obligated to take care of us. I couldn't do that to you Derek. You were becoming a world-famous hockey player, you were already signed with a NHL team and you had just graduated high school. A baby would've ruined everything for you."
"I didn't wanna drag you down with me. You were going to make something of yourself. You were going to rise to the top and shine. Me and a baby wouldn't be a good thing for you. You didn't deserve that. I didn't tell you I loved you because you said that we needed to forget about it and that if it we were together, it would never work. I guess that really let me know how you feel, and I thought my child should have a father who loved him or her because he wanted to, not because he had to."
"Do you honestly think I wouldn't have loved them Casey?" She shook her head. "I knew you'd love them, but I knew you'd let go of your dreams to fulfill fatherly duties. I couldn't ask that of you. It woul've been so hard for you. So, I left. I knew it would be hard, but I was sure I could do it. I didn't have the future you did. I figured I'd have the baby and get a career when he or she were older." Derek shook his head. "Casey, you had a way brighter future than I ever had. You always have. You were gonna be successful. You're brilliant. You could've done anything. You still can." "Derek, you had finally decided you were going to go to college. I was so proud of you. How would you have managed a job, college, and children?" "The same way you did! Jesus, Casey. You know, that's your problem!"
She couldn't tell if he was saying that to her in anger or bittnerness, or sensitivity. "Casey, you work so hard to make everything as easy as possible for everyone else, but you don't make anything any easier for yourself." "I do not!" she informed him. "Oh, yeah?" he chuckled. "What about the time Lizzie had the flu and you stayed in her room all night so you could hold back her hair while she puked, just so she wouldn't have to get out of bed?. And not to mention, you had a math test the next day. And you wound up getting the flu! And when Lizzie tried to do for you what you'd done for her, you refused so she could play soccer." "That was one time!" "Well," he continued, "when Sam was away from school for a week when he had his appendix out, you rushed to his house every day during lunch to bring him McDonald's or Burger King and made sure he understood all of his work. Then you would come back to school and wouldn't eat cause it was too late."
"Then you would rush back to his house to help him with his work some more. And you wouldn't leave until you were sure he knew everything. Sometimes you didn't get home until 10! Then you stayed up until 1 in the morning doing your homework and studying. And you two weren't even dating at the time! You had broken up a year prior!" "So what if I do that Derek? What's so bad about that." "Nothing, for the people you help." He sighed. "But it sucks for you. Casey, you deserve more than this. You know I would've loved our kids, and not because I had to. And I would've wanted to be with them."
Casey nodded. Tears fell down her face. "I know. I know. But you couldn't throw it all away because of me. Just because I love you. I-" "CASEY!" he yelled. "DON'T YOU GET IT?! I LOVE YOU!" "I really wish I could believe that Derek. How do I know it's not just some pity answer?" Derek sighed. He reached into his pocket and felt the three objects that he had kept there for four years. "Because it's true." He took his hand out from his pocket and showed her the first object, a purple hair clip. "Remember this?" he asked. She thought for a moment then nodded. "Yeah. I lost it the day I moved into your house. The day after the wedding." "You didn't lose it. I took it." "Why?" she asked. "Because it smelled like your hair. Like you." He took out the second thing. 'How about this?" He showed her her favorite charm bracelet. "Oh my God!" she screamed. "I looked for that everywhere, where did you find it?" "I found it in my bed the morning after we, um, you know. I kept it cause I figured if I couldn't have you, at least I'd have a piece of you."
"Now this," he said as he took out the last thing, "I bought this the day you left. I was going to tell you I loved you the next day, but you were gone." He opened his fist to reveal a beautiful heart-shaped diamond set in a silver band. Casey gasped. "I was going to ask you to marry me. Even if you said no, I was going to hold onto it and keep asking you." Casey laughed through her free-falling tears. "I held onto it in case I ever found you. I always told myself I would ask you as soon as I was sure. So, Casey," he dropped down to one knee, "will you marry me?" Casey smiled. "I don't know what to say." "How about yes?" Casey laughed and nodded. Derek lept up and took her into his arms.
He took her face in his hands and slowly brought her lips to his. The two remained in their lip-lock until they heard the twins clapping. They seperated and looked at them. Derek laughed and walked over to James. "Hey little man" Derek said as he lifted James into his arms. "Sorry I haven't been there. But never late than never, right?" Casey smiled. He turnde to face McKenzie, who was now in Casey's arms. "You are never going out on dates, young lady. Understand?" Derek leveled his face with the face of his drooling daughter.
Casey laughed as Derek put his arm around her. He kissed the top of her head and sighed. "Casey Venturi. It works." Casey closed her eyes and placed her head on his shoulder. For once, everything was as it should be.
Epilogue
Casey raced around the apartment gathering the toys and diapers and shoving them into her bag. Her one year-old daughter, Morgan tugged on her shirt. "Mommmmmmyyyyy" she whined. Casey sighed and looked down at her. "What sweetie?" The little girl stuck her lip out. "Michwull pwulled my hairuh." Casey sighed. The last thing she needed was her youngest set of twins causing mischief. Why did she have to have another set of twins? When her Derek did something, they really did it. She thought about Derek.
They had gotten married two years ago when McKenzie and James had turned one. They were escorted down the aisle as the ring barer and the flower girl by Lizzie and Edwin, who were the maid of honor and best man. Casey could swear that during the entire ceremony, Edwin and Lizzie weer making googely eyes at each other. Casey laughed at the thought. Just three months after their wedding, Casey found out she was pregnant, and Lizzie broke the news that she and Edwin had eloped. And she was pregnant.
Casey couldn't believe it. Her sister was only 17! But she was happy, and that was all that mattered. Casey had had twins. A boy and a girl that she named Morgan Lizzie Venturi and Michael Edwin Venturi. Lizzie had a girl named Madison Grace Venturi.Casey was shocked by her sister again, when just three months later, Lizzie found out she was pregnant. This time, she had a boy. Charlie Andrew Venturi. Casey realized all the McDonald women's lives were very shocking an somewhat twisted, but who would've thought they would all become Venturis? Casey smiled at the thought. Too bad they didn't have a younger brother Marti's age.
"Mommy!" Morgan whined. "Do somethwing." Casey rolled her eyes. "Michael Edwin Venturi do not pull your sister's hair!" "Bwut I didwn't" he said as he shrugged his shoulders, exiting his room. Again, Michael looked just like Derek and Morgan looked exactly like Casey. The front door opened then and Derek came in decked out in his hockey equipment, with McKenzie in one arm and James in the other. The two were wearing matching uniforms with black smeared under both eyes.
Derek set them down and the three flexed their muscles and growled. Casey laughed. Derek came over and kissed her. "I gotta tell ya, Case, miraculously, Kenzie didn't inherit your klutzilla gene. She's incredible! At her age, she would've skated circles around me. And James too!" Casey nodded as the two kids smiled. "How were Michael and Morgan?" Derek asked as he got himself a drink. "Well, first Morgan pushed Michael off of his chair. Then, he "accidentally" spilled his juice all down the front of her shirt. Then Morgan colored all over his new coloring book. And then he pulled her hair."
Derek wakled over to his two youngest and gave them a stern look. "I told you two to behave today, didn't I?" They nodded. Derek sighed and walked away. He put his arm around Casey and sat down on the couch with her. She put her head on his shoulder. McKenzie and Morgan sat on Casey's lap, while James and Michael sat on Derek's. Casey sat up and looked into Derek's eyes. And she knew she would never stop loving him.
