Wow. I did actually make this in before the deadline. Who knew. This is the longest one-shot I've ever written. Figures it's for moirariordan. At least the length is a plus. I'm not sure about the rest of it, but I hope I get at something you were hoping for. Prompt is at the end. And OOCness in Casey or Derek is total my fault.
Writing Love
"I knew it was too good to be true," her redhead friend and colleague, Sarah, said as she held open the door.
"What? Our vacation?" Keisha, known around the office as Kiki, asked as she walked into the writers' room. "We did get a few days, at least," the African-American pointed out.
"And we were called back for a good reason. We were picked up for another two seasons," Casey added. "Every time Mike sends us on vacation, I'm afraid I'll have to start looking for another job."
"That's because you're paranoid," Kiki laughed as she opened the small refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water.
"Hey. Just because she's paranoid doesn't mean Mike isn't out to get her," Sarah laughed as she began to fiddle with the coffeemaker. "Especially as she keeps turning him down for dates."
Casey just laughed as she pulled out legal pads and pencils for the three of them. Sure, they did most of their actual script writing on laptops, they still took meeting notes long hand. And the creator and executive producer of the show, Michael "Biggs" Bauman would be in to see them shortly. In fact, Mike was the reason the three ladies weren't still on vacation after the wrap of the second seasonof The Stereotypes of Cali Hightower, the show where the three served as primary writers.
The three ladies had just gotten settled in their chairs facing the door, when the door swung open and Mike waltzed in. Mike looked like your stereotypical Hollywood player, even though everyone affiliated with the show worked and lived in Chicago and its many suburbs. He had dark hair, blue eyes, and almost always a cell phone attached to his ear and an underling following behind him with a notebook, day planner, and pen. That he didn't have cell or minion was not necessary a good sign.
"How are my favorite ladies, the best writers in all of television?" the producer asked as he stood on the other side of the table.
"No," Kiki said.
"Absolutely not," Casey agreed.
"I'm busy this weekend," Sarah added.
"Now, why are all of you like that? You are great writers. You're Emmy nominated writers! What makes you think that I have any ulterior motive in mentioning that fact?"
"No," Kiki repeated.
"Absolutely not," Casey also repeated.
"Still have plans this weekend," Sarah insisted.
"Alright, fine. I do have an ulterior motive. I had a brainstorm for Cali's newest love interest for the third season."
"Uh-oh," Sarah said. Kiki laughed. Casey just shot them looks that told them to behave in front of their boss.
"Anyway, he's going to be an indie film maker and pull Cali into one of his productions-"
"We aren't writing porn, Mike," Sarah interrupted.
"This is not porn. I said independent. Respectable independent. You will have the creative freedom to take this in any direction you would like."
"Yeah, uh-huh, Mike? Here's the problem. You have two English majors and a Sociologist. We know nothing about film making. And I'm pretty sure we can't make that shit up. So how to propose we deal with that?" Kiki asked.
"I have a consultant who is willing to come in and work closely with one of you while the script is in development," Mike smiled as if he thought the facial gesture would make the news go any better.
"No," Sarah said.
"Absolutely not," repeated Casey
"I'm busy this weekend," Kiki rounded out the objections.
"Busy?!" Mike exclaimed doubtfully. "Doing what, Kiki?"
"Washing my hair," the African-American replied. "What?" she asked when she noticed that everyone was staring at her, "That's a three hour endeavor at least!"
"Look, one of you needs to meet with him. You can draw straws, play rock, paper, scissors, whatever. Just the lucky girl needs to be here in the writers' room tomorrow to see him. Got that?"
"Yes, Mike," the three writers chorused.
"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
"Yes, Mike," the three writers repeated.
The producer just groaned and shook his head. "Look, just figure out which one of you will be working with our consultant on this project. That person will need to be here bright and early tomorrow morning to meet the consultant and get to work. We need the first five scripts in two months, so petal to the metal and all of that."
After Mike walked out, Kiki turned to Casey. "Be sure to have coffee made tomorrow when you meet with the consultant. Since it's a morning meeting and very few people are natural morning people, you'll want some caffeine in him or her. Otherwise, they are going to be a bitch to work with."
"Wait a second, how did –"
"On second thought," Sarah jumped in, "Just pick up coffee from Starbucks or McDonalds. That way you know it will be good."
"Especially since you have never been able to effectively master the coffee maker in this room," Kiki finished.
"Hold on. How did we decide that I was the lucky girl stuck with the full of himself consultant?"
"You mean, besides the fact that you didn't move fast enough to pin it on one of us?" Kiki laughed. "And don't even pretend like that didn't cross your mind, McDonald," she continued before Casey could open her mouth to retort.
"More honestly though," Sarah chimed in, "it only makes sense that you meet with him as it is the parts of Cali that are you that would interact the most with the love interest film maker."
Casey shook her head, not quite sure she believed her colleagues. But if they were convinced that the "Casey part of Cali" was needed that season, then she was getting top billing for season three. It was only fair.
The show, The Stereotypes of Cali Hightower, had been hailed as a huge success for NBC since its first season. Many people said it was because of the amazing writing and acting. While having no control over the acting, Casey, Sarah, and Kiki had created an interesting character with their words. A character that was part of all of them. Cali had Kiki's smart, dirty and foul mouth and mothering bossy streak. Cali had Sarah's weakness for shoes and interest in science and the search for truth. Cali finally had Casey's romantic heart and tendency to freak out and over plan. So the character Cali was a combination of an African-American, an intellectual American, and a displaced Canadian.
Just to mess with the mold a little more, Cali was played by a Latina actress. Belen Adora Garcia. In creating the character from the acting side of the house, Belen had decided the character was also tri-lingual, as was Belen herself…meaning that the writing team had to mark places that Belen could decide to speak in Spanish or Arabic as she saw fit.
Put together, Cali Hightower as a character was both a walking stereotype AND unable to be placed into one box effectively. The cynics loved to play point out the stereotypes with the character. The optimists loved to talk about how Cali was an example of the new global world. Both groups watched the show in large numbers.
Because Cali was part of each of the writers, the writer who would be most like Cali in a given situation was given the reigns of an assignment. In the first season, when Cali was struggling to find her place in corporate America, Kiki took the lead and Cali's snarky take on business with no heart as she tried to take care of her fellow co-workers helped to draw in the initial fans. The second season was Sarah's baby as Cali had to reconcile a few rough moments in her life with finding her purpose. Among other things that helped Cali handle the low times was her shoe shopping.
Now, Sarah and Kiki seemed to believe that a serious love interest would pull on the Casey parts of Cali. Now Casey could see how the romantic heart piece might be important for the season – the film maker becomes a love interest, after all – but she could equally see snarky responses or a need for truth and a scientific interest in the world being a part of that too. It was probably stereotypical that her fellow writers thought that freaking out and over-thinking was how women dealt with love.
The latent feminist in Casey really wanted to rally against that. The pragmatist in Casey told her to take her chance at shaping a season and run with it. Even if it meant dealing with a consultant.
Consultants were a notorious pain in the butt. Kiki about killed the corporate consultant who came in to help with the first season. In fact, by the time they had finished two scripts, Kiki "fired" him and instead read a few business books and talked with professors in business schools. The consultant that Sarah had to work with last season decided that he needed to save Sarah and put her in touch with her spirituality; she was still getting solicitation from the several more fringe movements. And Tom Cruise had tried to stop Sarah at the Golden Globes, but luckily Sarah managed to evade him.
If this "indie" film maker tried to get Casey to make porn, she was going to kill Mike. With her bare hands.
That night Casey entered her small house in Evanston, exhausted. It wasn't the delay on the purple line that had her so tired, though. It was the worrying about this whole consultant thing and having no one to talk to. Well, no one besides Kiki and Sarah, who would not be sympathetic, and her next door neighbor, the retired teacher – who was either asleep or grocery shopping at that hour.
How did she get to be so alone in the world? When she was a freshman in high school, she was one of the most popular girls there. She had friends and acquaintances and random people who knew her – even though she didn't know them – who were all willing to listen to her. Hang on her every word is more like it. Even when she had to transfer to Thompson because her mother had married George, she'd had Emily. For a while she'd even had Kendra and Sally, although that dynamic did get to be a little weird at points. Sam tried to be helpful. And poor Paul. Looking back, Casey wondered how the man put up with her.
School connections aside, she also had family. Her sister Lizzie had listened to Casey complain, worry, and cry more times than Casey could count. And her mother listened as well. While living with the Venturi's she pulled on George's ear, ran things by Edwin, and even unloaded on Marti a few times.
Then there was Derek. Their dynamic was so strange and half the time Derek had something to do with her need to talk, so he didn't count.
But that was high school. When Casey started University of Western Ontario, she didn't really expect much to change. But it was after Derek and Casey left that Nora and George hit a huge roadblock in their marriage. There was a rather nasty fight that ended in a trial separation. The strain was almost too much on the blended family, on Casey herself. She wanted to fix it…or at least keep everything else perfect so things would work out. She wore herself out in school, probably caused more problems than she fixed, and wound up in the psychological services office. The counselor told her that nothing she could do could make Nora and George's decision for them. He even pointed out that Casey had tried a similar approach when Nora and her father were having problems and that hadn't helped either. The counselor told her to put herself first.
Agreeing, Casey took some rather drastic measures. She transferred to Northwestern University in the States. She reconnected with her father, via email. And she lessened her connections to her mother.
Eventually, Nora and George, with the help of some counseling, managed to work out their differences and remained married. But the year long separation had taken its toll. The family wasn't the same anymore. Lizzie and Casey didn't talk at all. Lizzie seemed to be angry at Casey for leaving in the middle of the mess. Edwin was accepted into a gifted program in Toronto and left to go there, only going back to London for holidays and not really talking with anyone in the meantime. Marti had turned quiet and didn't really talk to anyone much anymore. Casey had lost track of Derek in all of this.
Since transferring to Northwestern five years ago, Casey hadn't returned to London. Nora and Casey did occasionally talk on the phone, but those conversations were always awkward and full of pauses now. Casey did ask after everyone and her mother supplied vague answers. Of course everyone was well, and Derek was supposedly, "off following his dream". Whatever that meant.
If she had the energy at the moment, Casey would get very weepy about the state of things. But she was still keyed up about this stupid consultant. The consultant better not be an asshole.
Before Casey knew it, a new day had dawned and she was back in the writers' room in downtown Chicago. She had stopped at the local coffee shop, more for herself than the consultant and waited in the room with her special occasion chocolate and coffee signature drink, some half caf, no foam monstrosity that Mike drank, and a basic coffee for the consultant. With her luck, the consultant probably only drank tea.
At nine that morning, only ten minutes after Casey arrived herself, Mike waltzed in.
"If you are the consultant, Michael, I'm quitting," Casey growled.
"Now, now, Casey. That's not a nice thing to say."
"But I mean it," Casey retorted
"Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm not the consultant," Mike sighed. "He's on is way down, though."
"You made him find his way down here on his own?" Casey gasped.
"No! Of course not. My assistant Melissa – or is it Melinda? – is bringing him down."
Casey blinked, "Wow. The assistants are usually right behind you to unload a consultant. When they dropped off the idiot Kiki had to work with, they even beat you here. Was the consultant late?"
"No," Mike shared. "Supposedly, he's attractive. All the females in his path have been stopping to drool."
"Wonderful. So I get a full of himself consultant who will spend more time flirting that helping. Thanks so much for that, Mike."
Mike might have said something else, but he had just noticed the cups on the table. "Is one of those for me?"
"Unfortunately," Casey confirmed as she handed him the correct cup. "It's your usual."
"Good," Mike said. At Casey's raised eyebrow, he followed that up with "What?'
"Never mind."
"You got something for the consultant, too?" Mike asked.
"Yes. Kiki suggested it. She pointed out that the consultant might not be a natural morning person and caffeine might help our first talk."
"Well, he did say that mornings weren't his thing unless they had to be for a shoot. He'll probably appreciate the Java. How does Kiki know everything, anyway?
Before Casey could answer that question, the door to the writers' room opened again and one of Mike's underlings, followed by a vaguely familiar male, walked into the room. "Great, you made it down without too much trouble," Mike smiled as he shook the familiar stranger's hand.
"Well, everyone's been so helpful," the stranger answered in a voice that seemed familiar, as well as being slight sarcastic (not that Mike caught the sarcasm). Casey hadn't seen his face clearly yet, but she figured that would happen as soon as he turned around to be introduced. Then she could ask why he seemed so familiar.
"Well, I'm sure that trend will continue as you work with one member of our Emmy nominated writing team. Let me introduce," Mike began as he turned the consultant around to face Casey, "one of our writers, Casey-"
"McDonald?!" the consultant asked in shock. But his shock couldn't have matched her own.
"Derek?!"
Mike looked back and forth between the two. "You know each other? Well, I guess that makes sense. You do seem the art house film type, Casey."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Casey demanded. "Besides, between researching and writing for this show and all the popular culture we have to bury our heads in, when would I have had time to watch art house cinema?'
"Okay, but surely at Northwestern-"
"When I was trying to complete three majors in two years having transferred in from a foreign university?"
Mike looked even more confused, not that Casey was really focused on him, even though she was answering his questions. "So then how-"
"This is the consultant?" Casey asked. "There is no way he's experienced enough to be a film maker."
"Casey, Casey, Casey. Of course I'm a film maker. I decided I wanted to be and what Derek wants-"
"Derek gets," Casey finished. "I swear to God, Derek, I'm not putting up with your crap. If you try to drag me through unnecessary shit-"
"Wow. The keener learned to curse. What else have you picked up in the States?"
"Um, excuse me," Mike finally interrupted them by stepping in "how do you know each other?"
"He's my stepbrother," Casey grudgingly admitted after a pause.
"Love you to, sis," Derek returned.
"Your stepbrother? You never mentioned you were related to the Derek Venturi."
Casey groaned. She hadn't heard her stepbrother referred to in that way since high school. She found she hadn't missed it. "It never came up."
"Even with the problem with Seth last season?"
"Look, even if I had known that Derek had gone into film, there is no way I would have called him to ask him to fill in as a cameraman so you could get to Boca a few days earlier," Casey growled at Mike.
"Um…well…okay. Since you know each other, you don't need to do the whole 'getting to know you' convo. I'll leave you to here to talk through how the consulting will work and all that. Glad that you're part of the team, Derek," Mike finished as he slapped Derek on the shoulder and then rushed off, dragging his assistant with him.
As the door closed behind them, Casey found herself wishing she was dreaming. Feeling that, with her luck, she wasn't, she turned and trust the cup of coffee at Derek.
"What is this?" he asked as he took the cup.
"Coffee."
"Trying to poison me already, Casey?"
Casey sighed. "Actually, I bought that before I knew who the consultant was, so it's pretty safe." She took a deep breath. "So why don't you sip on that and finish waking up while I order my thoughts and decide if I'm being punk'd or not."
"Punk'd? Are you serious? Case, you do realize that not only is that show old, it's no longer on the air."
"Oh, shut up, Derek."
Oddly enough, she didn't get the push back from that comment that she expected. What did meet her is silence. Uncomfortable silence. Ignoring that for the moment, Casey pulled out one of the tablets and started making a list. Somehow making lists always helped her to think. Finally, she asked, "So how should we do this? Do you want me to give you a list of questions and you answer them? Or you point me in the direction of some things I can read, or-"
"You really aren't going to ask."
"Ask about what?"
"The family,' Derek said. "I mean, it's not like you've been back to London-"
"Have you been around to notice? But back to how we are to make this work-"
"Casey, seriously?! You aren't going to ask about your sister or your mother? Or how Marti's coping with a broken wrist-"
"Marti broke her wrist? Mom didn't mention it," Casey started to defend herself.
"When was the last time you talked to Nora?" Derek returned.
"Um…a few months ago I think."
"A few months ago, she thinks. She's your mother and you haven't talked to her in months."
"Oh, no. Don't you dare. It's not like you are some model son or something."
"You don't know that!" Derek replied.
"Yes, I do! You never were in high school-"
"But you wouldn't know about anything after your freshmen year at university because you were never around and then you fucking left!"
"I would have thought that would have made you happy!" Casey found herself shouting back. "Besides, I had to look out for myself for once-"
"For once?! Princess, it is all about you. Always was."
"First off, how dare you? You have no idea what I went through-"
"Only because you weren't wailing about it at the top of your lungs, for once!"
"And second," Casey continued as if Derek hadn't said anything, "it's not like you were around trying to pick up the pieces of the family or anything. I mean, to do that you'd have to deal with feelings and crying. And you have to think about someone besides yourself. Like the Derek Venturi had time for that."
"You weren't there. You don't know what happened. You just ran south of the boarder so you wouldn't have to deal with it."
"So you think I took the easy way out?"
"Didn't you?"
Casey threw down her pad and marched over to Derek. "Look. I do not have to talk about my life or my decisions with you. Supposedly, you are some kind of film maker and for whatever reason my boss thought you could help us. So either help or get out."
"So you're going to avoid the situation by focusing on some mindless task-"
"Derek, this is my job. My Job. This is how I pay my bills. Forgive me for that being my major focus. It's this thing called responsibility, which I'm sure you never learned. Forgive me for not wanting to spend time in Derek-land." Casey winced in her head as she said the last part. That might have been a little harsh.
She expected a reply from her stepbrother. She didn't expect him to shoot her an unreadable look and walk out. "Great," Casey muttered as she sank into the nearest chair. "That went well."
After the fight and Derek's abrupt departure, Casey left work for the day herself. At first she tried shopping in Macy's but that really didn't help her mood. So, she found herself on the campus of Northwestern, walking around. The place oddly soothed her. When she had arrived there five years ago, feeling like her life was falling apart, something about the feel of the place welcomed her. Anytime she felt overwhelmed or lost, just walking the campus always made her feel better. It helped her think, too. And the thinking made her just panicked enough to rush into the library and start researching film makers and film making. She might have been an English and Theater major with a minor in Women's Studies, but she knew nothing about putting words and performance on film. And given that she had told off the consultant for the project….
Casey went in early the next day, with her reading and research from the day before, trying to figure out how she was going to introduce this new character and how in the world film making was going to affect Cali. Her fellow writers found her an hour later, surrounded by paper, notes, and a few books.
Kiki, noticing the pile of papers around Casey, raised an eyebrow, "Do I even want to know?"
Sarah picked up the book nearest her. "The biography of George Lucas? Is this show research?"
Casey shrugged and went back to her notes.
"I take things with the consultant didn't go so well," Kiki said more than asked.
"Maybe she beat your record of kicking a consultant to the curb!" Sarah laughed.
"Can we not talk about pushy consultants this morning? I think I'm a little screwed."
"No shit," Kiki smiled as she sat to Casey's left. "You don't think you can learn everything you need to know from books, do you?"
"You did," Casey returned.
"Not really. To be honest, people in business can't write for shit. It was an exercise in tolerance to actually get through their clichéd insights and not copy edit. I had to read a ton of Toni Morrison and Skyler Johanson to function during that time."
"You are going to have to talk to people at some point, Casey," Sarah pointed out. "Not all truth makes it into mainstream written format after all."
Casey would have responded to that, but the door opened at that particular moment and in walked the last person she expected to see. She probably glowered at him, but she noticed that both Kiki and Sarah were staring.
"Can we help you?" Sarah eventually asked.
"Aw, Case. I'm hurt. You didn't tell them about me?" Derek asked Casey.
Kiki laughed while Sarah got up. Walking around Derek she seemed to be sizing him up. "New boyfriend? I approve."
"Well, I don't. Not until we drag him out for food and pick his brain. And run a background check. He strikes me as someone who can cover up shit, and given your track record, McDonald? We should probably make sure he's not fucking crazy."
"First, thanks Kiki for reminding me about the whole Dag mess-"
"Anytime," Kiki smiled.
"And second, he's not my boyfriend, Sarah."
"Sucks to be you, then. Wait…does that mean you're single?" Sarah asked Derek.
Before Derek could flirt with her co-worker, Casey interrupted again. "Sarah, Kiki, I would like you to meet the bane of my existence-"
"The new consultant?" Kiki asked.
"He's that, too," Casey conceded. "But he's also my stepbrother, Derek."
"Stepbrother?!" Kiki and Sarah exclaimed together.
"But I thought your father didn't marry the sleazy ho," Kiki added.
"The sleazy ho?" Derek echoed
"No, Dad didn't marry Vanessa. Anyway, Derek's my stepbrother through my mother's second marriage."
"Is he the only stepsib you've got? And if not, are they all this cute?" Sarah asked.
"You haven't mentioned the Venturis to your co-workers?" Derek asked.
"No. Look, what do you want?" Casey asked.
"You gave me a lecture about work and responsibility yesterday, Space Case. I'm here because you went on and on about your job. Seems that it is the most important thing in your life."
"Ouch," Sarah stage whispered to Kiki.
Kiki shrugged, "Family can be a bitch."
Casey groaned and closed her eyes to think. "Okay, fine." She said after a pause. Reaching for some of her notes, she pulled off a list and handed it to Derek.
"What is this?"
"It's a list of questions I have about film and those who make them. You can just totter away, answer those, and bring me back the answers. Then you can go hit the party scene or whatever."
"'Totter away'? Who even says that?" Derek responded.
"Shit, Casey. You can't just have him take an essay test on film making, you know," Kiki added.
"At least, take him away and interview him in person. In an interview you can hear tonal differences and see facial expressions that might lead to important questions that you didn't think of beforehand," Sarah added.
"Any excuse to use that qualitative methods class, huh?" Kiki looked at Sarah with a sly smirk.
"Only because quantitative methods wouldn't make any sense here."
"And you are trying to justify your master's degree."
"Look, Qualitative kicked my ass. Of course, I'm going to use the insights out of it whenever I can."
"Okay," Casey jumped in. "As much as we all love hearing about Sarah's graduate education, why should we do an interview if neither of us wants to be in the other's presence? I just need a little information-"
"And you got this? Not that simple, sweetie," Kiki insisted.
"Besides, isn't this your job? It's Your Job, right, McDonald? It's how you pay the bills, so the responsibility you feel would be enough to venture into Derek-land for a few minutes, right?" Derek sneered at Casey.
"Derek-land?" Sarah asked
"They must have had a hell of a fight yesterday," Kiki added as an aside.
"Fine!" Casey jumped up. "Come on. Let's just go somewhere and get this over with."
As Casey dragged him out of the room, she could hear Sarah shout, "Take him to the sports bar on the Avenue. It should be pretty empty at this time of day and I bet he likes bar food!"
Twenty minutes, having arrived at the place Sarah suggested and ordered, Casey pulled out her pen and looked at the list of questions she taken back from Derek. "Okay, first question."
"I cannot believe we're doing this," Derek replied.
"Look, I'm sure you are getting paid, camera boy-"
"Camera boy? Is that the best you can do, Spacey?"
"And since you are getting paid," Casey continued, ignoring the jab, "you can answer the questions.
"Fine. You'd keep babbling until I caved anyway."
"First question, how do film makers find their stories?"
"What kind of a question is that?" Derek asked
"A real one. One that you are going to answer."
"There isn't just one answer. Stories come to film makers in a variety of ways. Some written. Some need to be written. I can't really answer that."
"If you are trying to be difficult, Derek-"
"Do writers have stories come to them only one way?"
"Well…no," Casey agreed.
"So why would film makers? Of course, I'm sure you are assuming writing novels is better than film making. Probably believe some drivel about the power of the written word-"
"The written word is powerful! I mean, even with the show-"
"You words would mean nothing if the actors didn't deliver them. Interpret and deliver them."
"So, fine then. If you won't answer my first question, answer this one. Where did you get your inspiration for your first film?"
That question silenced Derek and an unreadable look came across his face.
"What? You do have a film, don't you? I mean, it would be embarrassing if you have been living off the promise of some film you haven't even-"
"I have a first film!' Derek interrupted. "I've had three films, all successful."
"Mm-hm. Which is why you haven't started bragging about them, huh?"
"No!" Derek shot her a scowl. After a pause, he added, "It's just…have you seen my first film?"
"As I didn't know you were a film maker, that would be a 'no'." Casey responded.
"Okay…okay."
"I take it you had an inspiration for your first film-"
"Which I'm not going to tell you about."
"Okay, fine then. So I guess, I move on to my second question. How would a film maker not tied to a studio get funding?"
Derek fell silent for a few moments. At first, Casey thought he was thinking about her question and might actually give her an answer she could use. But the silence went on, and when the waitress came back through with their orders, Casey decided that Derek was just stalling for food…that he probably expected her to pay for.
"Derek-"
"I can't do this," he suddenly shared as he put down the hot wing he was holding.
"What?!"
"I can't do this question and answer thingy you want. It feels too much like homework and tests. I guess I'll just have to show you."
"Show me?"
"Yeah. I'm working on developing a project while I'm out here. I'll drag you along and explain what I'm doing."
"O-okay," Casey agreed.
"As soon as we finish up here, I'm taking you to see a money guy. In fact," Derek smirked as he pulled out his cell and hit a few buttons, "Hey Manny," he said after a few minutes, "Killer idea to spin your way? Up for me to swing by? I'll even bring a Canadian babe with me for you to stare at while we talk."
"Der-ek!" Casey growled, annoyed at being presented as eye candy.
It wasn't until much later that she processed that Derek had indirectly shared that she was attractive.
But in the frenzy of paying the check, grabbing a taxi, and going over to meet Manny, it wasn't surprising that Casey missed a few things. The whole rest of the day was a whirlwind, with Derek dragging her to all sorts of people to shore up financing for his latest project. The gift he had of getting his way in high school served him well in that arena. Casey couldn't help but be impressed.
And inspired, ironically enough. When Derek dropped her back her office eight hours later, Casey raced home to get working on all the ideas that she had. The first thing she worked on was the character description of the film maker who would try to win Cali's heart. The character, who Casey had christened "Derrin", had a bit of an ego and was a pretty smooth talker. She made him a former basketball standout from college, only because the area obsession with the Bulls had made Casey learn basketball to survive at Northwestern. She created a whole back family for him, including a little sister he adored and a little brother he treated like a servant, even though he secretly cared about the brother, too.
And she told herself that she wasn't writing Derek. She was waaay too creative for that.
The next day, Casey was once again at the office bright and early, plugging away at a scene for an upcoming script. It wasn't the scene where Derrin and Cali meet – Casey wasn't sure how the approach for that would work – but it was a scene where Derrin was trying to talk Cali into having her business contacts donate to his latest endeavor. She was a little worried that her characters had started arguing with each other, but she decided to roll with it.
"You know," Kiki observed as she entered the room, "if I hadn't seen you at that office Christmas party, I would seriously think that you had no fucking idea how to have fun."
"I was inspired, so I came in and I wrote," Casey shrugged.
"The evil stepbrother consultant was actually useful in the interview?" Sarah asked as she waltzed in after Kiki.
"I wouldn't use the word 'useful'-" Casey began.
"Because the thesaurus would give her a word that wasn't so pedestrian," Kiki laughed.
"But, he did drag me around yesterday while he was rounding up funding for his new project. It was eye-opening."
"So, is that the end of stepbrother consultant in your life?" Sarah asked.
"Probab-" Casey started to say but the door opened before she could finish and Derek strolled in.
"I'm guessing, no then," Kiki laughed. "Coffee, Derek?"
"Nah. I had some at the hotel this morning. It's hard as hell to get out of bed at this hour. How do you ladies do it?"
"We are responsible," Casey insisted.
"We don't have a life during script development," Sarah answered more honestly.
"Especially with diva actresses. You do know that Carmen is asking for more screen time this season," Kiki shared as an aside.
"Are you serious?" Casey asked. "She plays Cali's estranged mother. What part of estranged does she not get?"
Derek laughed, but sent Casey a pointed look. "What, does she only get to talk wit her daughter once every few episodes or something?"
"Oh shut-up. Why are you even here?" Casey asked.
"Has she always been like this you?" Sarah asked as she patted Derek on the shoulder.
"Pretty much," Derek agreed.
"Are you going to answer my question?"
"Actually," Derek turned his charm onto Casey's co-writers. "I was hoping to pick Kiki and Sarah's brains about something."
"What?" Sarah asked. Kiki was too busy laughing at Casey's expression.
"I need to scout some locations for some shoots I'm thinking of doing in Chicago and I need to find a club. So what are the happening night spots around here?"
"Derek, if this is just a way to find out where to take some bimbo that you picked up yesterday-"
"Casey, Casey, Casey. How little face you have in me. Seriously, this is for work. So, Kiki, Sarah? Where do people go around here to rev things up?"
"Asking the wrong girl," Kiki replied. "I have never gone clubbing, clubbing. Rather hit a comedy show or a movie or a mall instead of fending off drunk ass guys giving me shit. And I'm a deaconess at my church. Image is everything."
Sarah shrugged, "My taste is a little wonky, honestly. Every since I did that participant observation thing at the ice bar, I've been hooked."
Casey sighed. "Derek?"
"Yes, Casey?"
"If you are serious about this club thing being for your project? I might have a place for you to check out."
To say that Derek didn't quite believe her was an understatement. Even after he left a little later to run some errands while Casey worked on the scene she'd started that morning, he would keep calling and asking if Casey was serious and if this was a real club. The more unsure he sounded, the more amused Casey was. It was almost as if he was afraid she was going to drag him to the ballet or something.
Although dragging him to the ballet that night would be a wonderful prank, if Casey thought she could pull in off. Derek would be expecting something like that though, so she decided to actually take him to the club and shock him that way.
When they arrived at the club later that night and saw the line at the door, Derek laughed. "Well, it does look like a real club. But there is no way you are cool enough to get in. So, now what do we do?"
Casey just smirked and walked right up to the bouncer, giving Derek no option but to follow her. Ignoring Derek's somewhat worried, "Um, Case? He's a little too big to try and take on," she smiled up at the six foot two powerhouse manning the door. "Hi, Carlos."
"Casey!" the bouncer's frown fell away and a genuine smile graced his face. He came forward and swooped Casey up into a hug. "I had no idea you would be coming tonight. Aren't you supposed to be on vacation?"
"Called back. Mike got word that we were renewed for two more seasons."
"Righteous."
"So, think we can squeeze in tonight?" Casey smiled at Carlos.
"Sure," he said, unhooking the rope to the door, "Go right on in."
"Oh," Casey pointed to the shocked speechless Derek, "the gaping guy is with me."
"You could do better," Carlos said as he motioned Derek through.
"That's what everyone tells me," Casey smiled as she waved to the bouncer before she and Derek entered the club.
"Okay, Case. How in the world did you know scary-McMusslepants back there?" Derek whispered as she led them over to the bar.
"Northwestern alumni. He was a year behind me. I helped him out with some stuff for a research writing class," Casey shrugged. "He was grateful and stayed in touch."
"And developed a crush, maybe?" Derek growled.
"Doubt it. Carlos is just a sweetie."
"A sweetie?" Derek muttered in surprise. But his shocked didn't end there. As they reached the bar, one of the bar-tenders looked up in surprised and then rushed over. "CM! Didn't know you'd be here tonight. Your usual?"
"Yeah, and whatever is on tap for my friend." As the bartender started to work on an umbrella drink, Casey asked, "Is Cecila in tonight?"
"Think so. Why? What's up?"
"My friend here is in the film business. Might want to film at the club. Wanted to run it by Cee-Cee first," Casey shared.
"Well, she should come down to the club at about midnight. I'll knock her in your direction," he smiled and he handed Casey a beer and a complicated green concoction.
Handing the beer to Derek, Casey said, "Thanks Thomas. I appreciate it."
As Thomas moved away to help someone else, Derek looked at Casey with an eyebrow raised. "I take it Cecila owns the place?"
"Yep?"
"So how do you know the barman and Cecila?"
"Northwestern is a big school and I'm an officer in the local alumni chapter," Casey smiled.
"Figures."
The smile rarely left Casey's face the whole night. While she would tell anyone who asked she was just happy to have shocked Derek to the core, being honest with herself, Casey realized that wasn't the reason she was smiling. She was actually having fun with Derek at the club. She even managed to get him out on the floor to dance with her. It was clear he viewed as work, because the only female in the place that he paid attention to was Casey…and Cecila when she came through to meet him. Casey imagined that James Burton's party probably would have felt something like this if they had made it there instead of hitting George's car on the way out.
Not that she would have spent James's party hanging around with Derek. He wouldn't have let her, she was sure.
The sense of fun lasted all the way through the next few weeks. Casey would write in the mornings. Derek would show up around noon and drag her on some film maker errand. Occasionally, Casey would drag him into dinner at night, introducing him to some of the restaurants she fell in love with while a student at Northwestern. Everything was flowing nicely.
Until she hit a block. She was writing everything but Derrin and Cali's first meeting, and she found that she couldn't put it off anymore. She was trying to figure out how Derrin would approach Cali, but everything she'd tried so far felt off.
"Derek?" Casey asked when he walked in that day.
"Yeah?"
"How does an indie director cast for a movie?"
"What?" Derek asked.
"How do you cast for a show? Casting calls? Flyers? Walking up to people on the street?"
"Usually not the latter," Derek said. "For some reason, everyone thinks you are directing porn when you use that one. But, when you are known, it's really easy to put together a casting call."
"How about before you are known, though? How did you cast for your first movie?"
Derek looked a little uncomfortable at the question. "That was harder. I was looking for a specific look for the female lead. I kind of found the girl and then tried to find a way of approaching her that didn't sound stalker-ish."
"Even though you were being a little stalker-ish?"
"Yeah, I kinda was," Derek shared.
"Hmmm," Casey thought a glimmer of an idea was coming to her. "Could casting be done from a coffee shop?"
"Sometimes," Derek conceded. "But I wouldn't recommend it."
Derek left soon after that conversation. That didn't bother Casey as much as she was pounding away on her laptop. She had the perfect introduction in mind. She set the scene with Cali sitting in the local coffee shop, thinking about her revelations about her place in the world. As she reaches down to pick up a fallen napkin, she hears a voice say:
Man: Stop! Don't move. That is an absolutely perfect shot.
Cali looks up to see a stranger staring at her through a box he made with his thumb and forefinger of both hands.
Cali: Excuse me?
Man: You are absolutely perfect for my next project. You are free for the next few months, right?
Cali: Do I know you?
Man: Not yet, but you will.
The man takes the empty chair next to Cali and pulls out a business card. He hands it to Cali who takes it reluctantly.
Man: My name is Derrin and I'm a film maker. And you would be the perfect leading lady for my next project.
Cali: I don't do porn.
Derrin: Not the kind of films I do, either.
Cali: …Are you trying to pick me up?
Derrin laughs
Derrin: God no. You aren't my type at all. I'm trying to cast you.
Cali: Why don't you want to pick me up?
Derrin: Well, you aren't blonde, for one.
Finally, after trying to figure out how to get A and B, or in this case, C and D together, it worked. Before Casey knew it, the first few episodes of the show just seemed to pour out of her. She worked late that night and into the next morning. She even got to the office a little late, but was still typing away at episode three, when her co-writers and Derek decided to waltz through the doors at twenty after eleven.
"Okay, so why is everyone so late?" Casey huffed.
"We saw Derek coming in the building at nine, decided he was taking us to breakfast," Sarah shared as if that were normal.
"Excuse me, what?" Casey asked.
"Oh, don't get your panties in a bunch because you didn't think of it first, McDonald. It's Friday. Who wants to put in a full day of work this close to the weekend?" Kiki laughed.
Oddly enough, Derek didn't say anything. In fact, he had a strange look on his face and he kept glancing back at Casey, as if something was clicking for him. Casey sighed. She's worry about what stories Sarah and Kiki told her stepbrother later.
"Well, you are all in time to do some light reading," Casey smiled as she pointed to the three big stacks in front of her.
"Light reading?" Derek asked with a raised eyebrow.
"In front of you are the drafts of episodes one and two for season three. I want all three of you to take a look. Kiki and Sarah, have at it as always-"
"Finally get you get you back for the bleeding scripts you'd give back to me last season," Sarah groused.
"Sarah, you write like a sociologist. Of course my fellow English major was going to tear it to sheds," Kiki pointed out.
"I write like a human being. I mean, who actually says 'It was I,' anyway?"
"Luckily, Belen decided to deliver that line in Arabic," Kiki laughed.
"And, a pile is for you Derek. Kiki and Sarah might change a few things, but I wanted to be sure I was on the right track with the whole film making thing."
"Okay, sure," Derek agree as he turned his attention to the stack in front of him.
"Well," Kiki stretched. "If I'm going to be reading and it's a Friday, there is no way I'm staying here. I'm taking this to my favorite hangout to get lost in the prose."
"So, Barnes and Noble, then," Casey laughed.
"Hells yeah. And I'm going to get the Key Lime Cheesecake and the Chocolate Chunk cookie this time!"
"I'll join you," Sarah laughed. "If I'm out there reading, diva actresses can't find me to ask for more lines."
"Derek?" Casey asked, wondering what he was going to do.
"Well, I guess I better head on back to my hotel room and get to work, huh, Case? Let's hope this is at least as interesting as your diary was in high school."
"You read her diary in high school?" Kiki laughed.
"Of course I did. I lived with her, it was there. What's a teenage boy to do?"
Casey had some ideas about what he should have done, but before she knew it, she was alone in the writers' room.
"So, now what do I do?" she said to herself. She had pieces of the next seven episodes, but they all depended on pieces from Kiki or Sarah or on something that was in the first two episodes. She couldn't go forward until she heard what needed to be changed. So there was no reason for her to be in the office, either.
She saw the newspaper article in passing. Northwestern was doing a film festival and discussion on up and coming independent film makers. That day they were highlighting three indie film makers by showing their first films and discussing them. One of the discussions planned that afternoon was a look into When Was She Gone directed by Derek Venturi. That had Casey rushing over to her alma mater.
She just managed to get the last seat as one of the Women's Studies professors began to introduce the movie. She thought the faculty choice was odd at first, until the professor talked about how the original script for the movie was seen as misogynistic and racist. Venturi didn't change any of the words, according to the professor, but the movie he shot seemed to tell a deeper story than the script that was delivered to him. Critics praised the movie when they saw it, saying that Venturi had worked a miracle. Many had wondered about the real story the film maker was trying to tell. Although asked about it several times, he never shared his inspiration.
The praise of the film made Casey frown. If it was so wonderful, why was Derek so reticent to talk about it?
As the film started, she found out why. Although the script was about a man getting out of from under some "femi-nazi" controlling woman, that wasn't the story that seemed to flow across the screen. This movie seemed to be about a family on the edge of destruction. A family that almost went over the edge when one of the family members ran for the hills. The male lead didn't seem to be saying that all women were trash, but instead seemed to be acting out frustration about being left to pick up the pieces of a family, when his heart was shattered.
In so many ways, the story rolling by Casey's eyes could have been the McDonald-Venturi story. "Oh my God," Casey whispered as she started to cry.
If things were really as bad as they seemed in the movie, no wonder Derek lit into her when he saw her. If things were that much of a mess, no wonder Lizzie didn't talk to her anymore. If things were really that bad, of course Derek must think she took the easy way out.
He must hate her.
That cheery thought kept her up all night. Her weekend was awful, and not just because she didn't hear from Derek. She now had insight into why her family, why Derek was so angry with her. And she didn't blame them, but she didn't know what to do. She didn't like not knowing what to do. She thought about calling her mother, but what would she say? "Hi, sorry I left the country while you were going through hell, but I thought my little freak-out was more important than you. My bad." Yeah, right. At least she didn't have to worry about Lizzie ever wanting to talk to her again.
Even when she wasn't trying to make things worse, she did.
On Monday, she dragged herself into the writers' room. Sarah wasn't there, but Kiki was, holding Casey's draft of episode two in her hands.
"Casey, we need to talk."
"Oh. Okay."
Kiki patted the seat next to her. Casey sat down and looked at her friend. After a few moments, Kiki said, "We've been friends since African-American Women's Lit at Northwestern, right?"
"Yes."
"And you know that I care about you. And when I'm giving you shit or pointing out your sometimes crappy decisions, I only do so because I care, right?"
"Right," Casey looked at Kiki beginning to get concerned. "Is the script really that bad? I know I've never done the whole head writer thing before but-"
Kiki quieted Casey by raising her hand. Then she finally said, "Casey, how long have you been in love with your stepbrother?"
"What?!"
"How long have you been in love with Derek?" Kiki asked again.
"Kiki! That's – that's ridiculous. I don't love, Derek." Casey insisted.
"You may be able to lie to yourself. But your eyes don't lie. And you words can't seem to either."
"What do you mean?" Casey said.
"Your script. We're seeing the Casey side of Cali here, which is great. But I don't think Derrin's all that fictional. I think Derrin is a proxy for Derek."
"Kiki," Casey laughed uneasily, "that is the stupidest thing-"
"Just read pages twelve through twenty for me, alright? Read those and then we'll talk."
"Fine," Casey huffed as she took the script from Kiki and started reading. Her eyes widened as she realized that Kiki had asked her to read Derrin and Cali's first fight. Casey was quickly drawn into the fight. She could almost hear it in her head, like she was there. It was the note in red pen on the top of page twenty that caught her attention. Kiki had crossed out the word "keener" and written, 'Derrin and Cali are American. I don't think he would have called her that.'
Keener. Derek called Casey keener, for as long as she could remember. Derek would fight with her like that. Derek would – "Oh my God," Casey whispered.
"Exactly," Kiki patted Casey's shoulder. "So how long?"
"I don't know. Days? Years? I never really dated at Northwestern or at UWO. Maybe this is why?"
"Maybe."
"Oh, God, this is awful," Casey decreed as she burst into tears.
"Why? He's your stepbrother. Nothing wrong with following your heart here."
"But, don't you see? Derek hates me!" Casey continued to cry.
"What makes you say that?" Kiki asked.
"Friday, I saw – I saw his first film. Even though the strict was different it was about the hell my family went through when my mother and stepfather almost divorced. Their marital problems were among the reasons I transferred to Northwestern. The whole family thinks I ran away from what was happening. And, if Derek's vision of events is even partly right? He and everyone else who lived in that household must want nothing more to do with me. No wonder my mother never has anything to say to me or never puts anyone else on the phone to talk to me."
"I'm not sure if that's how Derek feels," Kiki disagreed. "But, whatever he feels, he's got your declaration of love in his hands and he'll be back to give you feedback today or tomorrow."
"Oh, God. Oh, God. I can't face him! I can't! Kiki, you have to talk to him. You can get the feedback and take care of everything!"
"Whoa, hold the fuck on, sister girl. You say that he hates you because he thinks you ran from a problem, and you plan on solving this by running from him now?"
"Yeah. What's your point?"
"What the fuck are you thinking? Uh-uh. You are going to talk to him when he comes looking for you. And he will come looking for you. Alright? Promise me, McDonald."
"Alright," Casey promised. In a sick sort of way, she figured she deserved a little hell. After all, she was the one who ran away, wasn't she?
The fallout came faster than she anticipated. Kiki had stepped out to grab lunch and Casey was still looking over her edits, when the door opened and Derek walked in.
"Hey, Case," Derek started but then feel into silence.
"Hi, Derek. I…well, I didn't think you'd come – back," Casey finished lamely.
"Well, I have to tell you what I thought about it, right? Consult or something?"
"Yeah," Casey said as she walked over to him. Standing in front of him, she said "I saw your first movie" at the same time he said, "I finished the scripts."
"Casey-" he began, but Casey cut him off.
"I saw your first film and I got what your inspiration was. You came back to London to help pick up the pieces of our family after I left. It really looked like hell. Heh," Casey tried to laugh, "no wonder you and Lizzie hate me for running."
"Casey-"
"You don't have to clean it up for me, you know, Derek. It's about time I stopped playing Princess, huh?"
"Casey," Derek asked, "is it true that you had three panic attacks in the course of twelve hours your sophomore year at UWO? The last so bad they rushed you to the hospital so that they could get your heart rate and breathing back under control?"
"I've never handle things not going my way, right?" Casey replied nervously.
"Were you really under psychiatric evaluation for awhile, to the point where people were suggesting a move for you?"
"I don't see-"
"Were you really helping Nora find counseling and running errands at home while carrying an overload at UWO?"
"That's all keeners are good for, right?" Casey asked. She winced as the strange look that crossed Derek's face. It looked like a mixture between anger and pain.
"And your first year at Northwestern? The immigration scare, the assault, the car accident…that all happened, too?"
"Well, probably what I deserved for running-"
"Don't say that!" Derek cut her off. "Just don't say that. I was wrong for ever having said that you had it easy. I mean, shit Casey! You could have told someone!"
"I didn't know where to find you and I couldn't bother Mom. She had enough stuff to deal with. Besides, I had no idea what you were trying to keep together at home. The last thing anyone needed was to hear from me."
"I think that was probably the thing we needed the most. Probably still do." Derek stopped for a second and looked down at the script in his hand. "So…"
"I know," Casey looked embarrassed. "What a way to tell you, huh?" She tried to laugh but it seemed to get stuck in her throat. "While it is probably the most original way that a girl has thrown herself at you, it probably isn't the most romantic. You don't have to worry about it, I'll just-"
Derek cut her off by kissing her.
"Wait, what?" Casey asked, feeling rather lost and confused.
"Shit. How the fuck do I-?" Derek seemed to ask himself before finding an answer. A few seconds later, Casey blinked from her position in Derek's arms.
"Derek?"
"Yes, Casey?"
"You're hugging me."
"Yes, I am."
"You never hug me."
Derek shrugged. "I figured this way you would know I meant it."
"Meant what?"
"You are really going to make me say it, aren't you, princess?"
"Say what?" Casey asked, knowing that she shouldn't hope for anything else. Derek was still talking to her. Anything else was an impossible dream.
"Fine. I – I love you, Casey McDonald."
Casey blinked up at Derek, "You love me?"
Derek nodded. "I have for years. I'm not sure why I didn't notice. To be as angry as I was at you for so long…I really had to be invested. You…you do-"
"I love you, too, Derek," Casey smiled as her words seemed to put her stepbrother at ease. But her smile fell a little as she thought. "So, what do we do now?"
"Well, between you seeing my first film and me surviving breakfast from hell with Sarah and Kiki-"
"They had no right to-"
"They care about you a lot Casey. And, given the whole Dag thing, of course they were going to check me out. I'm glad they did, because I'm sure you wouldn't have told me otherwise."
"Well, no."
"But…given our baggage, I think we just take this one step at a time."
"One step," Casey smiled again. "I think I can do that."
"Now, I was thinking we could discuss script changes over lunch."
"Lunch?"
"And if the lunch happens to be in one of those quaint cafes you like so much and we accidentally leave the script here-"
Casey just laughed as she let Derek lead her to the door.
Several months later, the two stood outside of the reading room, Derek's arm around her waist. "So, why are you coming to the first read-through again?" Casey asked.
"I am the consultant. Just want to make sure you were paying attention to everything I taught you."
"That's really the reason?"
"Of course," Derek shrugged, "it's not like I can't keep my girl out of my sight or anything."
"Your girl?" Casey asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Please, Case. I know you secretly like it that I'm a little territorial. I promise not to tell the other feminists, though."
Casey thought about fussing back, but then decided against it as she stuck out her tongue at Derek and then smiled.
"Don't tease with that unless you plan to use it," Derek commented.
"We're in public, Derek. Won't that break your PDA rule?"
"Rules were made to be broken," Derek smirked. After a few moments, he asked, "But why are we out here and not in the room, getting ready for the read?"
"I was hoping to catch the guy who would be playing the film maker in the show. Writers don't get to see the casting calls, but I would like to get a feel for him, see what might need to be edited from what we have."
At that moment, the conference room opened. "Oh, great. There are two of the three people we are waiting for. Casey, we'll start the read through as soon as the actor playing our film maker gets here."
"Who did you end up casting?" Casey asked. "It wasn't that Efron guy, was it?"
"No. And we tried contacting Jesse McCartney's people too, but he's busy filming the follow up film to blockbuster Tsubasa. Between that and his new album dropping soon, there was no way he'd be free to tape. Our actor is a new find. But he's Canadian. Hey! You probably know him."
Casey groaned. Ever since Mike had "introduced" Casey to Derek all those months ago, he began to assume that Casey knew every Canadian out there. Given that Mike still acted like Kiki knew or was related to every African-American in the United States, Casey was afraid this assumption wouldn't go away any time soon.
"And there he is now," Mike said as he looked past Casey and Derek to a person coming up the hall. "Glad you found the place."
"Sorry I'm late," the actor said as he came into view. "There was some problem getting here."
"That's okay. Let me introduce you to one of our writers and our consultant for this season. They are both fellow countrymen of yours. Casey, Derek, this is-"
"Noel?" Casey whispered as her mouth dropped open.
"Covington?!" Derek asked, apparently equally shocked.
Noel blinked and then said. "Casey McDonald. Derek Venturi. Wow. This is like a regular high school reunion, huh?"
Derek's hand tightened slightly on her waist as Casey heard him mutter something like, "Yeah, like I want to go back to when the three of us were in high school."
"Well, everyone's here, so let's get in there and get started," Mike smiled as he opened the door to the conference.
As the four of them joined the cast and director for the primetime show, Casey found herself wondering who else from her London life would suddenly reappear. And what that would mean for her heart and her sanity.
- the end -
The Prompt
3 Casey's a writer for a television show, and her producers bring in Derek as a technical advisor for some aspect of an episode she's writing. What he's advising her on is up to you maybe he's a hockey player? A cop? A musician? Whatever. Dasey.
Oh, and sorry about the random Noel appearance. The idea just hit me and wouldn't leave me alone.