Disclaimer: Life with Derek is copyright Shaftesbury, Disney Channel, Family Channel, and Nickelodeon. This story was created for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement intended. It will be removed immediately and without question upon request.

This Feeling

He did not understand this feeling, not that he'd ever admit to having it in the first place. Derek Venturi was heartless and he'd first jump into an icy lake than have his reputation shot. If that was true, then why was he in pacing the length of his room in the middle of a Friday night; a Friday night so perfect—in weather, in date, in timing even—that he'd be cramped up in his small little room? He himself did not understand either.

He glanced down at his shoes, studying the traces of dirt that had adhered themselves to the soft leather of his sneakers, and then sighed. What was he doing? This whole thing was ludicrous, he told himself. He reached over to grab the cordless handset, thumb just about to hit the 'call' button when suddenly he punched the 'end' button instead. He groaned to himself. Why was he agonizing over this so much? This had absolutely nothing to do with him, but it was driving him absolutely insane, not that he wasn't already.

Casey was just out on a date, no big deal. Derek went on dates all the time too. As a matter of fact, he had endured months of Sam and Casey dates as well as Max and Casey dates, so why would Noel and Casey dates be any different? No difference, he told himself, absolutely no difference.

So why was his fingers tapping impatiently and annoyingly on the computer table? He glared at his hand and clenched them, halting the tapping. There, much better. Then, his leg started shaking.

He growled in exasperation and grabbed his wallet, cell phone, and stormed out his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him. He saw Lizzie jump slightly out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn't care less. He needed to get out of the house before he drove himself even crazier than he already was.

"Where are you going?" the youngest McDonald asked, watching her stepbrother close to stomping down the hall and stairs.

"Out," was all he could supply before he practically ripped his prized leather jacket off its hook and stormed out the front door of the house.

Lizzie stared bewilderedly at the front door for a few seconds before mumbling to herself, "Teenagers." She then turned around to head to her bedroom.

Well, this wasn't awkward. Nope, not at all. He shifted his weight back and forth between his feet as he stared up at the movie listings. Okay, who was he kidding? He was two people behind them in line and all they could do was smile at everything the other person said? Come on! Do something already! No, wait. Don't do anything. He couldn't help but wonder why he wished so badly that nothing would happen between Noel and Casey's date. Must've been something he ate getting to him. Yeah, that was it.

Before he knew what was happening, he was barking out the name of the movie the other two had requested and shoving the appropriate amount of money out at the girl behind the booth. She was a bit startled by his demeanor, but handed him the ticket nonetheless.

He found a seat a few rows back from them and he had the perfect view of them. He wasn't sure what prompted him to pick that seat, but here he was, spying on Casey on her date. He would've felt revolted with himself if he didn't feel this urge to rip Noel's hand away from Casey's. He blinked in confusion. That wasn't normal, he thought to himself. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and leaned back into the cushiony seat as the movie previews rolled on screen.

The movie wasn't even interesting. It was too artsy and too girly. No wonder they both agreed on it. They were too alike that it was almost scary. At least with Sam and Max there was some difference in personality. To Derek, Noel and Casey were practically the opposite sex version of each other. Well, wasn't that a thought, Noel in a dress and with long hair. He shuddered at the thought—bad image.

He stiffened and suddenly he was leaning way too forward in his chair that he was afraid that he'd fall straight off if he moved any more. Noel's arm was rising up and just about to rest upon her shoulders when she turned to him with a smile and his arm had dropped, pretending a small stretch.

Derek glared at the boy. That was so unoriginal. Why couldn't she see through that?

He was relieved to see that Noel had halted any further attempts at holding onto Casey's hand or resting an arm around her shoulders. He wasn't sure why he a wave of relief washed through him, but he had to duck down, pretending to retrieve something that he had dropped on the floor when the two walked by his aisle. Once he was sure they were out of the dark room, he sprung up and followed them as quietly as he could.

"Sir?" the waitress in front of him called for the fifth time.

He was pulled out of his stupor when he looked into the annoyed face of his server, one hand on her hip, the other gripping a little notepad. He blinked in confusion before realizing that he had been watching Noel and Casey intently for the past twenty minutes and had yet to look at his menu. The waitress in front of him did not seem amused and he wouldn't be surprised if he received less than acceptable service that night.

"Right… um…" He stole a glance at the neglected menu in his hands. "I uh… I'm still looking."

The waitress shot him another annoyed look before nodding her head, "I'll be back."

Derek nodded his head and hurriedly directed his gaze back onto the table in the corner. He blinked again in confusion. Noel was sitting by himself in the booth. Where did Casey go?

His question was soon answered when a brunette entered his field of vision and sat down across from him, glaring daggers into his head. Well, wasn't this awkward…

"What are you doing?" she demanded, eyes narrowed at him.

Quick, think of something! Anything! Nothing came out of his mouth. He mentally cursed himself. Why was it the one time that he needed his lying skills it was no where to be found?

"Well?" She sounded impatient. Then again, he had been silent for the past minute or so.

"Can't a guy go out to eat his dinner in peace without being harassed by his klutzy stepsister?" he replied with a shrug. Where did that come from? He didn't care because it was something at least, but judging from the look she was shooting him, she was less than pleased by his comment.

"Apparently not," she deadpanned. She then leaned forward and grabbed the front of his shirt, bringing his face to hers. "Listen and listen well, Venturi. Ruin my date and I'll be sure to butt into your love life for the rest of your life, got it?"

He wasn't sure why that was a threat, especially since she had been doing such a thing, even without him doing anything to upset her, for all his relationships since she moved in. Why would this be any different? He shrugged his shoulders.

She seemed to have had taken it as an affirmative and left the table, leaving him feeling suddenly very alone. He felt a presence right beside him and he chanced a glance up, wondering what Casey could've forgotten to mention to him. He groaned when he realized that it wasn't Casey. The waitress was back and it seemed as if she was even more peeved at him, if that was even possible.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. It looked like he needed to turn on the Venturi charm.

He glared at the couple sharing a kiss on the front porch. They pulled away from each other and smiled. Derek quickly released the curtain in his hand and headed up to his room just in time for Casey to enter with a blissful smile plastered across her face. It made him sick. He didn't know why, but seeing her so happy made him grumpy and Edwin was very aware of that when he had his head yelled off for greeting his older brother.

He was sitting on his bed casually flipping through a magazine when she barged in, the same smile from before still on her face. She sighed dreamily, causing whatever food in his stomach to churn and to cause him discomfort.

He was about to ask what she wanted when she beat him to the punch. "I forgive you," she said, leaning against his doorframe.

Derek raised an eyebrow at her in confusion. "Excuse me?" he asked, puzzled.

She seemed to have drifted down enough from cloud nine to make some sort of sense to him. "I forgive you for your intrusion tonight, if you never intrude again."

He scoffed at her comment. "Wouldn't want to," he said, but for some reason knew that he'd be doing just that—intruding.

She merely nodded at his response and turned around, sighing dreamily back on her way to her room.

There went that horrible gut feeling again. He glared at his stomach. Why, oh, why must it do that?

He was probably one step away from calling the insane asylum because so far, he had followed Casey on all her dates for the past four months. He had definitely been more discreet than the first time around and had yet to be busted, but that still did not explain his strange behavior. Even Edwin, Marti, and Lizzie were picking up on his strange habits around Casey. Thankfully Nora and his father were oblivious to it, though he couldn't help but wonder why, but didn't want to question it.

He adjusted the zoom on the digital camera and pointed at some random direction, capturing a very interesting, though disgusting shot of a man picking his nose as he walked down the street. Derek shuddered at the picture and immediately hit the delete button.

He took another glance back at the happy couple and glowered. That feeling still hadn't gone away, but if he tried to ignore it, it only got worse. Curses. Was the world out to get him? He really needed a new hobby. Shoving the camera away in his pocket, he tore himself away from the park and stalked down the street. Perhaps getting a new girlfriend would keep him occupied and from doing this crazy things.

Casey had noticed Derek out of the corner of her eye as he pretended to snap random shots of people and things at the park. He couldn't fool her; he was a horrible actor. It was a wonder he was so popular at their school play. She turned her attention back to Eric and sent a smile at him. He beamed back at her and asked if she wanted to go grab some ice cream.

She and Noel had dated for a little while, but it was clear that they could never be anything more than friends. Although sweet and very caring, Noel wasn't someone she was interested in as a boyfriend. She had found out about his crush on her and he had been very red in the face when he admitted to sending her the flowers at the play. She was touched, but was very disappointed that she didn't feel anything romantic toward him. The kiss they shared had been sweet, but lacked the feeling she usually got whenever she kissed either Sam or Max. Noel had been put out by her confession but understood and gradually transitioned himself back to being her friend. She was more than happy that their little trial had not affected their friendship at all.

Right now she was dating the third boy since she and Noel decided to call it off. They weren't officially together since this was their second date and so far, even Eric did not give her any special feeling. At least with Sam and Max she had felt something. She sighed sadly to herself. Eric was also a sweet guy and she hated to let him go, but knew that she had to. She didn't want to play with his feelings.

Wait, what? When did this happen? She was sure that she must have been gaping like a fish for a good minute or two. Edwin had just told her than Derek had a new girlfriend, named Kelly. Who was Kelly and when did she come into the picture? As far as she knew, there was no Kelly aside from the geeky girl in Grade 9 with the polka dotted socks and large stripped sweater vest.

"Um… hello? Earth to Casey?" Edwin waved his hand in front of her face and then stopped to snap his fingers instead.

She came back to reality in time before Edwin was able to pour the glass of water over her head. She sent a glare in his direction and wondered where Lizzie had gone. Lizzie would've stopped Edwin from doing such a thing if she were here.

Speaking of Lizzie, she bolted right through the front door and came to a stop in front of her older sister. She was panting and judging from the look on her face, she had some juicy information.

"Where's the fire, Liz?" asked Edwin as he plopped onto one of the kitchen stools.

"Yeah, where's the fire," repeated Marti from Casey's left.

Lizzie took a gulp of air before saying, "You know the girl that Derek had been dating for the last two weeks but we have never seen?"

"Kelly?" wondered Marti.

Casey was sure that her face was set in a scowl, but she wasn't sure if she could fix it and pass it off as uninterested.

Lizzie nodded her head, ignoring the scowl on the older girl's face. "Yeah, Kelly. Well, I just saw her and—" The younger McDonald was cut short for the front door opened and Derek's voice filled the house.

"I'm back! Oh, and Kelly's staying for dinner," he called out, leading the girl up the stairs.

She wasn't aware of her sister and two younger stepsiblings staring at her until she realized that her mouth was still open and that she still resembled a fish.

"So… Kelly was it?" Nora asked awkwardly to the girl across the table.

Kelly looked up in response to her name and smiled sweetly at Nora. "Yes, ma'am. My name is really Sara, but everyone calls me by my middle name."

Well, that explained a lot. The reason why she didn't know of a Kelly was because Kelly was really Sara, the new girl in town, except no one really called her Sara because she preferred to be called Kelly when clearly her name was Sara and not Kelly. Okay, she was losing it. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and to ignore the smile on Derek's face from across the table. He was smiling at Kelly and that sickened her for some reason.

What was so good about Kelly anyway? She looked like the typical girl, long straight brown hair, perfect clear complexion, bright blue eyes, and nicely dressed. Casey sent a discreet glare in Kelly's direction. If Kelly wasn't Derek's girlfriend, she was sure that she and Kelly would've been friends. Right now though, she wasn't sure why she was holding some sort of resentment to the girl since she had clearly not done anything but appear at dinner as Derek's girlfriend.

Stupid, stupid, stupid Kelly, she thought to herself. She wasn't aware of what she was doing until Lizzie gently nudged her from her left and asked if she was alright. It was only then that she realized that her plate of food was severely mixed, mashed, and no longer distinguishable. When she looked up she realized that everyone was staring at her.

She could practically feel the heat from her blush reach all the way to her toes. "May I please be excused?" she said, pushing away her plate. "I'm not feeling too well." Without waiting for a reply, she bounded up the stairs and into the safety of her own room. She sighed, burying her face into her pillow. What had just happened?

She was pretty sure that she was glowering at the back of Derek and Kelly's head, but she wasn't about to stop. She didn't feel like stopping or let alone want to stop. When Derek turned around to glance at her, she merely shifted her gaze to her math textbook. She thought she saw him frown, but she couldn't be too sure. Those limits were really looking interesting. Who was she kidding? She hated limits, she hated Calculus. She was amazed that she even passed Trigonometry. Algebra was her element, but give her Geometry or Trigonometry and she'd be stumped.

Casey stole another glance in Derek's direction and seethed at Kelly resting her head oh so comfortably on Derek's shoulder. A small snap alerted her to the pencil that she had been using had been snapped cleanly in half. Thankfully the happy couple was blissfully unaware of what had happened. Casey groaned to herself and dug out a mechanical pencil from her pencil bag.

"Are you seeing Travis this Saturday?" Emily asked her as they walked down the hallway to their next class.

Travis… Travis… Travis… why did that name sound so familiar? It suddenly clicked in her mind who that was. The guy in her French class! She would've figured that out sooner if she hadn't been glaring at Derek and Kelly for the past two minutes. "Um, no… actually Travis and I decided that it wouldn't work out between us."

Emily nodded her head in understanding before craning her neck to look down the hall in the direction that Casey had been staring at earlier. "Well, now that we've gotten that straight, would you mind telling me why you look as if you're going to burn holes into the back of Derek's head?"

She gaped at Emily, surprised that she had been that obvious.

"Oh, come on, you've been doing that for the past two weeks," exclaimed Emily, clutching the books slightly closer to her chest. "If you weren't glaring at Derek you've been sulking. So spill, what happened? What did he do?"

Casey bit her lower lip softly, lost in thought. What was the reason? She herself did not know. She just found herself doing it without really knowing why and it was driving her crazy, so crazy that finding a date interesting was even harder than before. Maybe she should give up on the whole dating game until these feelings went away. Yeah, maybe that was what she should be doing.

She looked into Emily's awaiting face and said, "I'm not really sure myself, but the moment I figure it out, I'll be sure to tell you."

The other girl was giving her a skeptical look, but dropped the topic nonetheless.

Hmm, coloring in a coloring book was very relaxing. Who would've thought? Casey hummed to herself as she reached for the purple crayon and started coloring the corner of the page.

"Casey?"

She looked up at the small Venturi in front of her and offered a, "Yes, what is it, Marti?"

"Why are you coloring with me?" wondered the purple princess as she hugged her stuffed monkey to her chest.

"Because I feel like spending time with you, Marti. Why, is that a bad thing?" answered the teen.

Marti shook her head. "Of course not! It's just… you never colored with me before…"

Casey realized how true the statement was and fought off the frown that was forming on her face. Instead, she offered a smile at the youngest Venturi. "If you want, I could spend more time with you. Not just coloring, but with playing dress-up or making potions…"

Marti's face brightened at the suggestion. "Of course I want to! You're more fun than Kelly," she said, wrinkling her face at the mention of her older brother's girlfriend.

She couldn't help but feel interested with her stepsister's opinion of Kelly. "Oh? And why's that?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant, but failing miserably.

"She's always telling me what to do instead of playing with me. She's too bossy. Kelly reminds me of you because she's really smart, but she's no fun! I don't know why Smerek likes her. I mean, you're like Kelly but more fun, but Smerek doesn't like you," answered Marti with a pout. "Even Edwin and Lizzie don't like Kelly."

Casey suddenly felt very relieved to know that she wasn't the only one feeling that way about Kelly, but she was extremely surprised by Marti's logic. If she and Kelly were so alike, then why did Derek treat them so differently? Derek acted as if she was the bane of his existence while Kelly was the center of his world. Very peculiar…

"I don't know why either…" she found herself saying.

Two months had come and go and all she could do was seethe silently to herself while Emily waited patiently, or as patiently as she could, for her friend's explanation. Derek and Kelly were still together and she didn't know why but it extremely irked her. Growling lowly to herself, she slammed her cup of orange juice onto the island counter and turned away from the happy couple walking through the small kitchen.

"Okay, this is getting old, Casey," the other girl said, observing her friend's behavior.

Confused, she asked, "What is?"

After giving her an incredulous look, Emily exclaimed after the happy couple was out of earshot, "This whole sulking and seething thing over Derek."

She snorted at the comment. "I have not been sulking or seething over Derek," she said, but at Emily's pointed look, she added, "Okay, fine… maybe I have…"

"Casey," sighed Emily. "Do you seriously not know what you're feeling?"

She blinked in confusion at her friend's sudden question, but nodded nonetheless. Even after two months she still hadn't figured out this strange feeling she'd been having, especially around Derek.

"Kelly's coming over for dinner again," she told her mother bitterly.

Her mother raised an eyebrow at her eldest daughter as she placed the bags of groceries on the counter. "Do I sense some sort of resentment there?"

She flushed, realizing what she had let slip. She hadn't meant to be that obvious, especially around her mother and George. What would they think of her? Clearing her throat, she shook her head hurriedly. "Of course not!"

Her mother shook her head disappointedly. "That's too bad, because George and I are not too fond of Kelly either." And at Casey's surprised expression, she added, "Don't tell Derek that, okay, honey?"

She could only nod dumbly, not believing what had transpired.

He felt strangely not upset or affected by the event that had happened a few hours ago. As a matter of fact, he didn't feel any different, maybe a little lonely after having no one to call his girlfriend anymore, but other than that he felt absolutely normal. Strange. Was this even right? When he broke up with Kendra and Sally he had felt something at least, but this recent breakup felt oddly right and comforting. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Clearly, he was losing it. Either that or his heartlessness was back. He chose to believe in the latter, after all, that was what he was after for the past six months.

He rose from his chair and plopped onto his bed, reaching for the magazine resting on the side table. He had just gotten through two pages when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he replied absentmindedly.

He didn't know why he was surprised when she strolled into the room and seated herself at the foot of his bed. Perhaps it was that she actually knocked on the door? Usually they barged into each other's rooms without any warning and here she was, being civil. Strange… now what did she want?

"I heard that you and Kelly broke up," she said with a slight smile.

Why was she smiling? Did his heartbreak amuse her so? Wait, who was he kidding? He wasn't hurting at all. If anything he felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders when they broke it off. Again, very strange...

"Here to torment me about it?" he returned with what he hoped to be a glare, but ended up as a look of amusement instead. Darn, he was losing his touch around this girl.

The smile slipped and a frown came in its stead. "N-no… I'm here to ask how you feel."

To say that he was surprised at her sudden admission was an understatement. She had never in all the time she had lived under the McDonald-Venturi household, ever come to check up on him after a breakup. Was the world ending?

He must've said that out loud because the next thing he knew she had smacked his pillow at him and crossed her arms in front of her chest with a huff. He chuckled at her, replacing the pillow back behind him and sent a smirk at her.

She retaliated by sticking out her tongue at him. "If this is what I get for worrying about you, then I shouldn't have even bothered," she said, rising from the bed.

He surprised himself when he stopped her, gripping onto her elbow lightly and guiding her back onto the bed. "I'm touched, Case, really I am. But I'm a big boy; I can take care of myself."

She snorted at his reply and he knew that she had good reason to. Most of the time he acted as if he were still six, not that there was anything wrong with being six…

He only shrugged in response, leaning back against his headboard, arms crossed behind his head. "I appreciate the effort, Case, but I'm fine. Kelly wasn't right for me so I broke up with her."

He must've been imagining the way her eyes had lit up because why would she be happy if he had broke up with Kelly? Unless…

"Were you jealous?" he asked.

She looked like a deer caught in headlights because she shook her head rapidly, even though her face was flushed. So he wasn't imagining things. She really was jealous.

"Why Casey, I had no idea that you liked me so much that you were jealous," he emphasized the last word with a smirk.

She seemed to have sputtered for a while, trying to come up with an explanation or an excuse. "I wasn't! You-I-arg!"

This was very amusing to say the least. Who would've thought that Casey McDonald would like him so much that she became jealous? This was a day that he was going to remember forever.

Finally after a few more seconds of useless sputtering, she managed to regain her coherency in speech and blurted out, "You were jealous of me and Noel!"

He was sure that if he had been drinking something that he'd be choking on it at that exact moment. Sadly, instead of choking, he merely banged his head against his headboard instead, the thump echoing loudly in the small room.

"W-what?" he croaked out, cradling his head in both hands.

"You heard me," she replied smugly, arms crossed across her chest.

He bit his lower lip softly, not sure of what to make of the situation or how to respond. Was it true? Was he jealous the whole time? Was he jealous that all these boys were dating Casey while he wasn't? Was this the same thing she felt when he was dating Kelly? He frowned to himself. Suddenly everything made much more sense.

"What if I was?" he answered softly after a few moments silence.

He wasn't sure what happened, because the next thing he knew she was hugging him. He was dumbfounded at the action and did the only thing he could do, awkwardly bring his arms up to wrap around her body. He sighed, burying his head into her shoulder and inhaling her scent, something uniquely her. It calmed him immediately and he wasn't sure when it was that she had that effect on him.

"What are we doing?" he heard her ask, voice barely above a whisper after a few more moments silence.

The truth was, he didn't know either, but he didn't want it to stop. This felt so right and so different than anything he had ever experienced before. This was the first hug they had ever shared and for some reason he felt as if he was on cloud nine, if that was even possible. So he said the only thing he could think of at the moment, "Coming to terms with our feelings."

"Hmm," he heard her say, a smile on her lips, "that sounds about right."

A/N: Hello everyone! Er... I wasn't planning on posting up another story so soon, but this wave of inspiration came out of nowhere and well, this is the product. I hope you enjoy! And remember to review! Your feedback motivates me to write more C: