Just for fun…enjoy :)

Not meant to offend, I apologize if I do.

Disclaimer: I do not own Life With Derek

ooo

The tea resting in her left hand was cold. She ordered it that way; iced milk tea with tapioca. The straw big enough for the chewy roots to travel through. Yet if she had a choice, she would have picked something hot and nerve calming. But hot drinks were something she never bought in public. She was blind and had a hard time lifting cups up to her mouth without spilling it all over her lap. Add burning temperatures into the equation and she was in for a big embarrassment. So she ordered an iced tea (which luckily came with a big straw) as she sat quietly in the metal chair. The woman across from her shuffled in her seat, sucking whatever drink she bought with such force that it made a slurping noise.

"Mom! Please stop doing that, it doesn't exactly sound very appetizing," the blind young woman shifted her sunglasses higher on her nose as she regarded her fidgeting mother.

"I'm sorry Casey, it's just that meeting George's son for the first time is a little intimidating," her mother sighed as she folded her arms on the table, short dark locks framing her face.

"I thought you already met him," Casey questioned, a perfect arched brow rising up from behind her shades.

"Yes and I meant for you," the older woman replied as she checked her watch then turned her head to look out the giant window to her right.

Her daughter made no attempt to reply, merely keeping her features in an emotionless expression that only her mother could decipher. With a sigh, the short-haired woman answered her daughter's unasked question.

"I know you Casey and even if I met him a few times, I get Derek. He's like you, except different. Either you'll like him or you'll want to kill him," she finished, glancing at her watch again before taking the cap off her drink and popping an ice cube into her mouth. Chewing on her fingernails was a habit she was trying to get rid of, especially after meeting George.

"Mom you make it seem like I'm a pet cat. You want to test our behavior before you commit to a relationship with George?" Casey asked, scooting closer to the table. Within the last month, she knew that her mother was serious about this guy she was dating. Her mother had already met his kids and Lizzie, her younger sister, had visited the Venturis about a week ago. It was becoming a regular thing that Casey started to believe her mother was moving in.

The question was for tease of course, but the delayed reply from her mother was making her think otherwise. Something was up and Casey took her mother's behavior into consideration.

However, her mother was not paying attention at the moment for she was too busy rummaging through her purse to notice her daughter's reply.

"Oh crap. Casey, honey, I forgot my phone in the car. I'll be back in a few minutes," with that, the older woman stood from her seat and extended a hand out to squeeze her daughter's shoulder in reassurance.

In a matter of seconds her mother was weaving through tables and out the door. Casey, who shifted her head a bit towards the spot her mother had occupied no more than five seconds ago, shook her head slightly before guiding the straw of her drink to her mouth with her pointer finger and took a giant sip. She repeated this move for a few more minutes before she heard someone sit across from her. Straightening up in her seat, Casey furrowed her brows in confusion. Her mother couldn't be back that fast could she? They had parked a few buildings down due to the crowed theatre transversely to the café. And even if she did, she would have said something.

Opening her mouth, Casey politely acknowledged the person currently before her.

"Excuse me but that seat is taken," she stated, features still twisted in bewilderment.

"Yeah. I know. I'm sitting in it," came the reply. The voice was deep, not like her father's but like it belonged to a teenage boy.

Casey didn't expect that kind of response and she had to blink a few times behind her sunglasses before she took a breath to speak.

"Listen kid, I'm visually disabled in case you haven't noticed and that seat your butt is currently resting on is for my guide. So can you please, for the sake of blindness, move to another table?" she practically hissed, hand clutching tighter onto the condensating plastic cup. Casey could be bitchy when she needed to and rudeness was something she wouldn't tolerate.

It was quiet for a moment before the boy in front of her burst into a fit of laughter. She didn't know what to make of it. On one note, she kind of liked his laugh, making the corners of her mouth slightly twitch up. But on the other, she felt that it was a bit rude to laugh at a blind person. Before she could retaliate, the boy verbalized a reply.

"I'm Derek, George's son. My hand is out in front of you by the way," he said, tone threatening to convert into giggles at any moment.

Casey did nothing for a few seconds as she took in his statement. This was Derek? No wonder her mother was jittery; the kid was witty and like no one she ever met.

Waking up from the initial shock, Casey slowly extended her right hand out above the table. Within a few seconds, Derek moved his hand into hers and shook her small thin one.

"Casey,"

"You better behave yourself,"

"Yeah sure,"

"I mean it Derek,"

"Ok I get it,"

"This is important to me and if you could do this one thing Derek, I'd appreciate it,"

"Dad please stop talking,"

The car drive to the café was non-stop 'behave' this and 'it's important' that. The teen sitting in the passenger seat was seriously considering falling asleep against the window if his father didn't shut up anytime soon. What was so great about Nora's daughter anyway? So she was blind, so what. The girl could still function and as far as he was concerned, that was a good enough reason to not change his behavior for the sake of her disability. It's not like he was going to make fun of her because she couldn't see. When Nora first told them that she had two daughters and one of them was blind, Derek's first though was 'that sucks'. Ok so he could have said it more graciously, but he did mean it. And he will not admit it to anyone but he actually stayed up till three o'clock pondering on this blind Casey girl. What did she look like? How does she get around? What color are her eyes? And what kind of pranks should I pull? Hands tucked behind his head, Derek pictured all sorts of scenarios with Casey and prank pulling.

In the back of his mind, however, way into the corners where he stores his feelings and reasoning, there was a part that warned him of the dangers Casey would bring. The emotional ones. He doesn't know what she looks like yet but if she was attractive in any way, he was in for it. Because Derek is a sucker for pretty girls and daughter of dad's girlfriend of not, he might actually like her.

It was something he should take into consideration, something he should plan on just in case. But he ignored it like he usually does with any rational thought, focusing more on the pranks and his alpha title.

"Derek!" his father pulled him out of his thoughts only to find out that they had arrived.

"Huh?" he replied, turning to face his father who mumbled something about a theatre and crowds.

"I'm going to try and look for parking. Why don't you get off and find them in the café," his father finished, turning into the side street adjacent to the building before stopping the car.

"Behave Derek!" George exclaimed as his son shifted out of the beat up vehicle. Derek leaned down to face his father giving him a curious look, before slamming the door shut and walking around the building to its entrance.

The café was not as crowded as it's been before, due to the fact that most of the population was in the theatre. But it was full enough to hear the buzzing of conversations once you've entered the glass doors.

The shaggy haired teenaged boy scanned the area for hot chicks and Nora. He spotted a few people from school and some girls he has dated in the past, but no sign of the shorthaired girlfriend of his father.

Just as he was about to make his way to a slim blonde towards the right side of the café, Derek saw her. She was sitting at a small iron twisted table, sucking on the straw of a light brown liquid. The sunglasses had caught his attention; big roundish black ones that shouldn't be worn inside. They were a dead give away and despite the shades, her posture was somewhat different. She was straight, arms and legs tucked in as if she were afraid to touch anyone. Something he's seen Nora do all the time and Lizzie when he met her. He, at first, thought it was what ladies like Nora did; sit with perfect posture. But when his younger brother Edwin looked up the weird seating position, he found out that some family members sit that way to avoid accidents with their blind relative(s). It also goes for the visually disabled; they will sit close to parallelism to avoid trips or falls with others. And the way the girl was seated with her elbows close to her center, knees and angles glued together between the iron stumps, Derek knew that she was Casey. Because as far as he knows, girls do not sit like that in public, they cross their legs or lean incredibly close to their male partner.

Even if she was alone, the mere fact that her head did not turn or follow those who past by gave the evidence he needed.

Derek had carefully observed this Casey character from afar and he suddenly realized that she was a girl. The big sunglasses hid the majority of her face and covered the most important feature, but the brown locks falling over her shoulders and the straight bangs ending just below the brow line framed her face pretty well.

With a smirk, Derek stepped forward and sat in the seat opposite of the blind brunette with such skill that he didn't think she would hear him. But she did, shifting her head in his direction with a questionable expression that he could faintly detect hidden behind the black shades.

"Excuse me but that seat is taken," she stated in a sweet polite tone that would have had him vomiting if it weren't for his current situation. The girl has some odd facial expressions that intrigued more than sickened.

"Yeah. I know. I'm sitting in it," Derek replied, smirk widening as he watched her mouth dip into a frown. This is interesting…

"Listen kid, I'm visually disabled in case you haven't noticed and that seat your butt is currently resting on is for my guide. So can you please, for the sake of blindness, move to another table?" the brunette snapped, her angelic polite voice turning into a growl. The record scratch persona she suddenly took left Derek in a state of shock. She definitely was not like all the girls he's encountered. But he couldn't help but think it was because she could not see him, therefore not be entranced by his quote 'dashing good looks'.

And the movements her face made were fascinating, not in the sense that it was funny but it was how well she could express herself through them. Derek couldn't contain the hilarity of the moment and burst into a fit of laughter.

"I'm Derek, George's son. My hand is out in front of you by the way," he replied as he extended a hand, forcing back the need to giggle. He watched her sit there as she pondered the situation. Again, the expression on her face was a sight he would never get tired of inspecting. It was then that he suddenly wondered what her eyes looked like.

Derek was pulled out of his trance when he saw her hand come out and level itself a few inches away from his opened one. Moving his hand into hers, Derek shook the thin but warm hand of the blind girl before him.

"Casey," she said, finally giving him her name.

"Yeah. I know," he simply replied as he let go of her hand and let his drop to the side where it unconsciously slipped into the pocket of his jeans. Derek leaned back against the chair as he watched Casey shift her head in question to his remark.

"How is that? I only met you just now," she said, folding her arms over each other on the marble table. She hoped that her mother did not show him or any of his family members a picture of her brace faced self.

Derek, unsure if he should explain how he recognized her, cleared his throat before he replied.

" Not that many people are blind in this town, so a girl with big shades in a dim lit area is a dead giveaway," he said, taping the side of her sunglasses with his pointer finger for emphasis. Casey slightly flinched at his action, never having someone invade her personal space before. Who the hell did he think he was?

" And you let me tell you off without informing me who you were?" She disputed as her right eyebrow appeared above the rim of her sunglasses. The corners of Derek's mouth twitched while he watched her face closely and speculated what she'd look like without the plastic eyewear.

Sitting up from his leaning position on the chair, Derek bend slightly over the table, hands still in his pockets, and regarded the brunette.

" Uh yeah, it was hilarious. You actually change personalities when you're annoyed," he explained like it was a scientific observation he just concluded. Casey, however, did not find this remark amusing. With a turn of her head, she sighed irritably and spoke.

"If you're making fun of me Venturi, then I have no problem sticking my foot up your ass. I may be blind, but I do not tolerate disrespect to my disability. Got it?" she finished, pitching herself back to lean against the chair, arms still crossed in discontent. Her mother was right; she would either like him, which was not a possibility anymore, or want to kill him, which was something she might consider.

Derek didn't mind the threat Casey made. He found it very interesting that she would actually try to intimidate him in her condition. She had wit and was sharp of the tongue despite the lack of sight. And she probably would go through with her warning.

"Ah! You did it again! The ugly side of Casey, McDonald was it, shows her face," Derek exclaimed, straightening up in his seat before leaning over the table again to continue. "And for the record, if I did make fun of you, you'd be crying. I don't laugh at other people's defects," he said in a lower tone as his eyes scanned the lens of her sunglasses before tipping back to lean against the chair again.

Casey, after deciding that throwing her drink at him was a bad idea on both their parts, slightly tucked her chin so that the arch of her brows presented themselves above her dark sunglasses. The corners of her mouth were being chewed on in an attempt to not scream and the slow movements she made to lean her elbows on the table illustrated her frustration. In other words, as any bystander would put it, Derek had pissed her off.

"Defect? You may not be laughing at me, but labeling me as damaged is demeaning. And I wouldn't cry in front of you."

With that, Casey braced her hands on the arm of the metal chair and hoisted herself up to stand. Derek's eyes followed her movements and just as she was about to turn, he shot a hand out across the table to take a hold of her upper arm. He didn't think he could irritate Casey so much that she would actually get up and attempt to leave without help.

"Sit down McDonald, you're not going to get anywhere without someone to guide you," he said as he steered her back into her chair and ignored her protests to 'not touch her'. But she did stay seated and regarded the annoying boy in front of her.

"What is your problem!" Casey practically shouted as she stumbled into her seat and adjusted herself into a more comfortable position. The scowl on her face did not go unnoticed and a few people started to stare. Derek had her full attention now and he was starting to believe that maybe that wasn't such a good idea in a public place.

Pushing his thoughts aside, the shaggy haired boy smirked at the girl in front of him and leaned in closer.

"I don't have a problem. It's you who's twisting my words around," Derek paused to look at her features, which remained in a glare. "You're not a defect Casey, you're just blind like all the other millions out there who can't see."

Both teens were silent as they faced each other. Casey's glowering features had softened a bit as Derek's eyes scanned the lens of her shades, a faint smirk on his lips. Nothing was said between them and as their respective parent walked in and pulled up a chair to sit, the tension was pushed aside.

"So how did it go?" Nora bluntly asked as she scooted onto her seat next to her daughter. She and George had been anxiously anticipating the meet of their two oldest children and as they both waited in George's car for a few long minutes, she couldn't help but wonder what was going on in the café. So when both adults walked into the small coffee shop and saw the two staring at each other, she blurted out the first thing that was in her mind.

Casey did not move her head to acknowledge her mother, but instead kept her face towards the boy in front of her and answered the short-haired woman.

"You were right mom," she stated, causing two pairs of eyes (the third already on her) to flick in her direction.

"On what Casey?" Nora gazed at her daughter in confusion as she leaned her elbows on the table.

"What you said in the car. You were right," the brunette explained, her head still in Derek's direction who had not moved since his father walked in and patted him on the shoulder.

"Oh, right," Nora shifted her head and turned her eyes to the teenaged boy on her right. The older woman was unsure of what her daughter actually meant and at this point she was just glad that no one came out with an injury.

And in Casey's mind, she couldn't figure out which one she favored more: did she like this Derek character who treated her like a normal person? Not once did he ask if she needed assistance, something she had always gotten in public and the feminist inside her despised. He treated her like she was a person with a disability not a disabled person.

Or did she want to kill him? His attitude and egocentric personality was on her last nerve and she did picture herself slapping him a few times in their conversation.

Casey's thoughts were cut short as Derek's father cleared his throat and shifted in his seat.

"Well anyway. I have some exciting news," George smiled at both teens as his hand reached over to Nora's thin one resting on her lap.

"I asked Nora to marry me and she said yes!" the blond man finished, slightly squeezing Nora's hand in excitement.

In an instant, Derek and Casey whipped their heads around (Casey a few decimeters off George's position) with surprised expressions.

"You what?" Derek finally spoke, slightly rubbing the side of his neck to ease the pain. Casey, who's mouth opened in an attempt to speak, sat up straight in her chair after failing to find something to say and instead settled for a cry of "Mom!" before gawking in her mother's direction.

" Listen Casey, I really like your mother and I'm getting old. Who would settle for me? Especially with three annoying kids?" George began, making sure to use listen instead of look. " It's hard to find someone like Nora who will accept my life, let alone Derek, and agree to share hers."

George's speech had relaxed Casey's features and Derek could tell that his father's words were convincing the blind girl to favor the notion.
"Just one thing dad. Casey and I are comlepte opposites; as in we can't stand each other," Derek interrupted as he leaned his folded arms on the table. He was ready to fight this and like all other arguments in the past, he was sure he would win. But when his father shrugged, Derek knew something was wrong in the routine.

" I can't make you like each other, not all families are like that. Besides, I told Marti she might have older sisters soon and she started cleaning to make room for them," George replied and continued to beam at the woman next to him. Derek, on the other hand, didn't know what to say. He loved his little sister, but why the hell did she have to adore Casey. When it comes to Marti, everything is set in stone and there was really no point in trying to change her mind.

Derek knew one thing was for sure, Casey McDonald would never be out of his life and, with great difficulty to believe, she wouldn't be out of his mind either.

Ooo

Chapter one of two done! Yay!

Ok just a note, this isn't a story. Just pre-shots of Through Your Eyes of the first two meets Casey has with Derek. Hope I'm not milking the story, but I mainly did it to keep practicing since plot bunnies seem to avoid my idea box. Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll try to update as soon as I can!