Author's Note: So this is a one-shot I came up with in honor of Halloween. It's not scary or gory or anything but it should fit the mood. I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Life With Derek
Picnics At Midnight
Derek's breath ran ragged as he raced through the gates, not caring that his new three hundred dollar pair of imported Italian leather loafers would now be clomping through damp and muddy grass. He ignored the splashing of dirty water on his new Armani wool suit as he ran through puddle after puddle, just grateful it was no longer actually raining. His eyes feverishly scanned the horizon, so afraid that he was too late. He slowed as he approached the location, his breath held as he saw the silhouette of a figure with its back to him by the tree. The thudding in his chest became almost too much to bear but he didn't dare release his breath yet, afraid his eyes were simply playing tricks on him.
He took another tentative step forward, daring the figure to disappear and take all his hopes with it.
And then she turned around and bestowed upon him the smile he'd been waiting to see for a long time. He wasn't too late.
"Casey," he breathed her name like a prayer passing between his lips.
"Derek," she returned, her smile growing bigger as she launched herself forward and into his waiting arms. "I was afraid you weren't coming."
He tightened his hold on her and placed a kiss into her hair as he inhaled her scent. "Of course I came."
She pulled away from him and looked up into his eyes. Her beautiful forehead suddenly furrowed as her lips curved into a frown.
"What's wrong?" she asked, worried, knowing him far too well. Derek held her gaze a long time, knowing she would only get upset at his answer. Thinking to distract her, he simply smiled at her as he moved a hand to tuck an errant lock of hair behind ear. He let his knuckles brush along the side of her jaw and downward to the hallow of her neck. Her head instinctively leaned toward his gentle touch as he took in the impossible softness of her cool, porcelain skin as it seemed to shimmer, bathed in the pale glow of the full moon.
"You are so beautiful," he whispered, locking his chocolate brown eyes with her haunting blue orbs.
"Why, thank you," she replied, the smile back on her lips a contrast to the way her eyes suddenly narrowed by a fraction. "But you're not getting out of answering the question."
"What question is that?" he asked, forcing himself to push all other thoughts out of his head and instead focusing on the girl before him.
Casey pointed a look at him and tilted her head the other way. "Der-ek! Tell me."
"It's nothing." At her raised eyebrow, insisted, "I'm fine. Really."
"Fine, if you don't want to tell me, that's okay," she said not wanting to argue over it. "I'll simply have to take your mind off it."
"How did you plan on doing that?" he baited her, already knowing the answer. It was the same thing she always did.
She leaned in and pressed her perfect red lips against his, letting him savor, just briefly, the intimate nearness of her. She pulled away after a moment, pausing to glance up at him through her thick, sooty lashes with a small, slightly nervous smile. He loved that smile. He dreamt of it often.
She held her hand out to him and he didn't hesitate in placing his in hers.
"Come on," she told him, chewing slightly on her bottom lip, "I have a surprise for you."
"Am I going to like it?" he asked, playing along.
"I hope so," she answered with a nervous laugh. "I've been planning it all day."
She led him over back to the tree where a blanket had been laid out along with a small picnic.
"A picnic?" he asked, trying to sound surprised for her sake.
"Yeah. I loved A Walk To Remember and the scene with them holding each other under the night sky, I always wanted to do that."
"Well, Case," he said as he lowered himself onto the blanket and reached up to pull her into his lap, "this isn't A Walk To Remember and I believe they were charting stars or something."
"I know," she told him, leaning her head back against his chest as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "But I just can't see you interested in astronomy and I know you like food."
"Am I that simple to you? Even now?" he demanded, teasingly.
"No," was her easy reply. "Just easier to manage when your belly's full."
He laughed at her jibe and let her tuck her head in the crook of his neck, breathing in the soft scent that was uniquely Casey. It was the faint blending of ripe oranges and lilies with a hint of vanilla. He thought surely that was what heaven smelled like. He gazed up at the stars and wondered briefly if anyone was up there, listening. Would it matter to them if he wished hard that just for one night, time could stand still so Casey would always be in his arms. That they would always be happy and content, together, a far cry from the time they'd wasted fighting in high school. He noticed Casey shiver in the night air and quickly removed his suit jacket so she could use it as a blanket.
"My hero," Casey announced as she threw it over herself, reveling in the smell of Derek's cologne. "I don't know why I'm so cold. I'm not even cold, I just feel cold. Does that make any sense?"
"Perfect," he answered.
"Liar," she teased. "You are so whipped. What did I do to you in college?"
"You finally caved to my charms and let me have sex with you," he told her smoothly. She let out an offended gasp and smacked his arm playfully.
"You pig!"
"But you love me anyway," he returned, smirking.
"I love you anyway," she agreed, craning her neck to look him in the face. He quickly brought a hand up to caress the planes and contours of her cheek as he stared into the oceans of her eyes.
"I love you, Case," he whispered as he moved to capture her lips with his. After a few moments, Casey pulled back.
"Really, what's with you today?" she asked him, puzzled by the urgency in his kiss. "Something's wrong."
"Nothing's wrong," he said quickly.
"Don't lie to me. You're upset about something. Did something happen at work?"
He let out a ragged sigh. "Marry me."
She smiled. "You already asked me that, if I recall. Six months ago."
"Let's do it tonight," he pleaded.
"Are you crazy?"
"People elope to Las Vegas all the time," he reasoned.
"Derek we live in Canada. Not America."
"We could go. We'll pack our bags and fly to Las Vegas."
"Okay, my mom and George would kill us. And second, now you're really worrying me."
"Casey," he begged. She studied him long and hard then moved away and put the uneaten picnic back into the basket and pulled out a small pillow from a bag that had been lying against the tree. Derek watched her do this, memorizing the graceful movements.
"Here," she said, placing the pillow onto the blanket and forcing him to lie down on it.
"Case?" he questioned.
"Lie down, look at the stars and tell me what's bothering you. We're not going anywhere until you do," she commanded. She lay down next to him, placing her head on his chest and covered them both with his jacket.
Derek was silent a few moments, not knowing how to proceed. He let out a shaky breath.
"Don't leave me," he finally said. Casey shifted onto her elbow so she could look at him.
"What brought this on?"
"I'm serious. Don't leave me. I can't do this without you Casey."
"Baby, I'm not going anywhere," she assured him. It was her turn to reach out and stroke his cheek. "I'm not going anywhere."
He caught her hand and brought it to his lips.
"Wow, I really did something to you in college," she joked, attempting to lighten his suddenly dark mood. "That must have been some really good sex."
"It really was," he added. She quickly pulled her hand away to smack his chest and as she did so, something caught her eye. She reached up to stroke her fingers through his reddish brown locks.
"Derek, when did you start getting grey hairs?" she asked curiously as she stroked the guilty streak of grey marring his perfect hair.
"A long time ago," he said honestly.
"No, these weren't here this morning," she argued. He shrugged to appear nonchalant and pulled her hand away from his head. She simply stuck her tongue out at him playfully and resumed her former position, cuddling next to him.
She let her fingers trail up and down his chest. "Are you really not going to tell me what's bothering you?"
"It's nothing, Case. It'll all be over come morning anyway."
"Are you sure?" she asked, not understanding his cryptic meaning.
"I'm sure."
They lay there, simply holding each other the rest of the night as Derek placed a gentle kiss into her hair every once in a while as he traced lazy circles into her back. But soon the stars began to go out, seemingly one by one and the moon began to fade. Casey began to yawn tiredly and shiver in his arms. Derek instinctively pulled her closer to him and began to rub her back in an effort to keep her warm.
"I'm suddenly so tired," she yawned. "And it's freezing. Maybe we should head home?"
"No," he said. "Let's just stay here a little longer. I don't want to let go just yet."
"Would you get upset if I just take a little nap?" she whispered tiredly.
"Of course not. I'll wake you when it's time to go," he replied, yet again tightening his hold on her. He knew his grip must be uncomfortable for her by now, but she never complained and he was feeling too selfish to let go.
He knew the moment she fell asleep. Her breathing immediately evened out and he felt his chest tighten at the implication. He continued to watch the now darkened empty sky, keeping his hold on Casey firm. He relished in the feel of her soft breathing against his neck and forced himself to stay awake despite the tiredness that was now gripping him.
After an hour, his eyelids had grown incredibly heavy and Derek knew it was just a matter of time before sleep would overtake him. He thanked the sharp chills the growing cold brought as another shiver was elicited from his body.
"Derek," Casey mumbled beside him, "It's cold. Let's go home."
"Not yet," he answered quickly.
"Derek, we're going to catch colds. Or worse," she complained. He smiled sadly into the darkness.
"Don't worry about it Case. We'll go soon."
"Is this how you plan to work out what's wrong? Freeze it out?" she joked sleepily.
"Yeah, exactly," he joked back.
"I don't understand but I love you so I'll support you. Even if I'm forced to buy cough syrup and tissue and cough drops tomorrow. I had no idea inviting you to a late night picnic to get you out of that office would result in having to sleep out here. Remind me never to do this again," she complained, cuddling deeper next to him for warmth.
"I love you too, Case," he whispered back.
"You so owe me for this," she grumbled, drifting back to sleep.
"I know. Believe me, baby, I know." He pressed a kiss onto her forehead and took a quick glance down at her, always perfect at twenty-four.
And he continued to fight against sleep but as time wore on he began to feel himself slowly lose.
Derek's eye shot open with a panic. He immediately held his breath and he strained to listen in the darkness and stillness that met him. He steeled himself, not wanting to look over beside him, knowing exactly what he'd find. He did anyways, seemingly glutton for pain. Derek looked over to where she should have been sleeping soundly next to him, knowing she would be there. She was never there when he awoke, whether he slept a few hours or a few minutes and he'd long ago stopped keeping track, choosing instead to simply hold off sleep entirely. But he never could seem to, try as hard he did not to.
"Casey," he called out into the blackness around him. "Casey!"
He didn't know why he bothered, she'd never answer. She never did.
"Casey," he continued repeating softly as he curled up clutching at his jacket, still smelling faintly of oranges, lilies and vanilla. Eventually, exhaustion took over and he drifted off to sleep, her name still on his lips.
"Derek," said a familiar voice, calling him back from the dream world he'd escaped to.
"Derek, get up," it repeated, insistently.
"Derek, please get up," added a second familiar voice.
"Ed? Liz?" he said blearily, shielding his eyes from the morning light. "What time is it?"
"It's half past seven," Edwin Venturi answered his brother.
"Just leave me here," Derek commanded.
"Derek, you know we can't do that," Lizzie MacDonald said calmly, concern tingeing her voice.
"You wouldn't understand," he snapped angrily.
"I wouldn't understand?" Lizzie replied, responding to his anger. "I understand Derek. She was my sister. You think I don't want her back?"
All three sets of eyes snapped to the tombstone that now stood where the tree had been. The absence of the blanket and basket glaringly obvious to Derek.
"I'm sorry, Liz," he said, tracing his fingers gingerly across the letters on the tombstone.
Casey MacDonald-Venturi
Beloved Daughter, Sister, and Wife
1990-2014
Even though she'd died a month to the day before they were to be married, "Venturi" and "Wife" had been added in honor of the wedding she'd dreamed of and had planned diligently for months but never got to attend.
"Come on, Derek," Edwin urged, pulling him to his feet, "let's get you warmed up."
"Here," Liz said, throwing a blanket over his shoulders. "Kendra sent a blanket."
They tried urging him towards their waiting cars but he resisted. They paused and let him have his moment. They'd been through this before.
"Why didn't I answer the phone? I should've –" he paused to shove away angry tears.
"Oh god, Casey!" he lamented, letting himself break down. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."
Edwin shifted uncomfortably in his stance. Seeing his brother's anguish over his lost love always made him feel like he was invading on a private moment he wasn't meant to witness.
Lizzie felt the control she'd been struggling with fall away with the first of Derek's tears. It was hard. Casey's loss had taken a toll on them all and it had taken a long time to recover. And she had. Derek, on the other hand, had never seemed to. He'd managed to regain parts of himself, but he would never be the same Derek as before. But today was the exception. And Lizzie didn't push it and instead joined in the pain of their mutual loss.
They all knew Derek blamed himself for her death. It had been late. He'd been struggling to finish all his projects at work in time for their wedding and honeymoon and as a result had been putting in extra hours upon extra hours at the office. He'd been coming home late every night, sometimes well past midnight. He'd been skipping meals to work, forgoing sleep and Casey was afraid he was stressing himself out and would make himself sick.
So she had come up with an idea. She started planning late night picnics for the two of them to draw him out of the office. She knew he would never let her stay out late by herself waiting for him and by threatening to do so, he usually came running.
But not that night. That night he was determined to finish. It had been around 10:45pm and she'd called him twice already wondering where he was. They'd gotten into a small fight during the last call and Derek, stressed and tired, had gotten annoyed and ordered her to go home.
He'd immediately regretted it but figured he'd be able to finish in about twenty minutes. He also knew she was stubborn enough to wait about twenty-five minutes and he would call her to let her know he was sorry once he was on his way.
However, it was cold that night. Much colder than usual and Casey must have decided that pushing him was adding more stress to his pile so ten minutes after their fight, at precisely 10:55pm she decided to pack up and go home. She called him to let him know but he didn't answer.
When she called after only ten minutes, he'd gotten more annoyed and forgot his resolve to apologize. He'd picked up the phone and hit ignore, switching it over to silent before replacing it on his desk. A move he would live to regret everyday afterwards.
Casey quickly left him a message then headed back to her car. She'd barely pulled into traffic when a drunk driver going the wrong way collided with her head on, killing both her and the driver instantly.
Derek, who hadn't bothered to switch his phone back on or check his messages, arrived twenty minutes later with flowers. He immediately recognized her car and reached it just in time to see the paramedics zip her body up in a black body bag.
Edwin finally managed to guide Derek into walking back towards their cars.
"Bro, you can't keep doing this," Edwin began carefully. "It's been eleven years. Kendra's worried about you."
"She understands," he said automatically.
"I'm sure she does, but she can only understand so much." Lizzie walked along his other side and placed a reassuring hand on his arm.
"She understands," he repeated.
"Yeah, but –" Edwin started to say.
"You know how she sends you to find me every year this day?" he said, pausing in front of his car.
"Yeah?"
"July 15th, I send Emily to find her. She understands. Why do you think she agreed to marry me?"
"July 15?" Edwin asked.
"When her first husband was killed in that bank robbery. Remember?" Lizzie filled in.
"Oh."
"She understands," Derek said once more.
"Do you want me to drive you?" Edwin offered, moving to take Derek's keys.
"No, I'm fine. Thanks though," Derek told him. "I just need to clear my head. I'll see you guys later."
Derek turned to get into his car when Lizzie called out to him.
"Why here?" Lizzie asked. She and Edwin had been coming to get Derek every year for the last ten years and she always wondered why he was always asleep on her tomb. "Why here? This isn't where she died."
Derek gave them a sad smile as he tossed his phone to her. "It's where she always asks me to meet her."
Using their confusion as a means of escape, he quickly got into his car and drove off.
Edwin and Lizzie were still glancing at each other not understanding Derek's parting words. Edwin took the phone from Lizzie's grasp and flipped it open. His forehead scrunched with lines of concentration as he searched around the phone for an explanation of Derek's cryptic answer. Lizzie startled as Edwin suddenly dropped the phone. She shot him a puzzled look as she bent down to pick it up. She straightened up and let out a gasp as she read the screen.
Last incoming call:
10:55pm
Casey
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So that was Picnics At Midnight. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I hope it wasn't too melodramatic. As always reviews are much appreciated. Happy Halloween!