Hey ya'll! Yes, I'm starting another story! I know that I'll regret it later when I have a thousand stories that need updating, but I'm trying not to think about that right now! LOL!

There's just a couple things that I want to say before you read the first chapter of my story. One: this is my first Life With Derek story, so I'm doing the best that I can with it. And Two: Casey and Derek might seem out-of-character for it, but that's how they have to be written for my story to work!

I hope you enjoy the story and PLEASE review!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Life With Derek or anything related to it! This disclaimer goes for all chapters of this story!

Against the Tide

Chapter One:

Casey MacDonald stared at the blur of trees that passed as the SUV moved down the four-lane highway. The ride back home was going much too fast. She was returning home from college for Spring Break and she was in no way excited for the reunion with her family. It had been nearly eight months since her and her step-brother, Derek Venturi, had stepped out of their two-story house in Vancouver and moved to the United States to attend college. Casey remembered how she had been reluctant to leave her mom and her sister behind to move miles from home, especially with her pain-in-the-butt step-brother Derek. But, a lot had happened in eight months. More than she had ever thought possible.

She glanced down and gently rubbed one of her fingers. For four months a small object had occupied that spot, but now her finger was bare.

Releasing her finger, she shook her head slowly. How had they let it happen? How would they face their family carrying the weight of such a large secret? Casey knew that their family would have to find out sometime, but she and Derek had decided to wait. They agreed that now wasn't the best time to let the cat out of the bag. But when would be the best time? Maybe they were just avoiding the conflict that they knew would follow the unveiling of their scandalous secret. Scandalous? Was that really what it was? It would seem that way to many people, but legally it was perfectly all right. Wasn't it?

Casey turned her head towards the driver's seat and studied Derek. One of his hands rested on the steering wheel, guiding the car along the road, while his other arm sat next to hers on the armrest. His sandy brown hair was still the length it had been when they had left for college the year before, but there was a change in his face, in his eyes. Maybe it was something only Casey noticed, but that was probably because Casey had been the one to cause that change in him. It was a softer, more loving look than the old Derek had worn. And deep down Casey knew how much she would miss that look while they were on Spring Break with their family. They had decided that, for now, they would be the old Casey and Derek. The two teens who fought constantly and never laid off of the sarcasm.

Casey sighed and her gaze drifted back to her hand. How in the world was she going to handle this?

"You okay?"

Casey's eyes reached back up to look at Derek. The concern in his eyes touched her more than she would like to admit. He had changed so much in the last eight months. Well, she should say that they had changed so much.

She shrugged slightly. "I guess."

Derek entangled his spare hand with hers and gave it a light squeeze. "We're gonna get through this, Case, don't worry."

The small smile that he offered her seemed to reassure her more than his words ever could. She nodded slowly and leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. "I know, I just feel like we're flies caught in a web and either way we turn there's a spider headed our way."

Casey heard him chuckle softly and she lifted her head to look at his face. "What?"

Derek gave her forehead a light kiss. "You always did have a way with words."

She couldn't help but smile now and she allowed her head to fall back against the strength of his shoulder. "When we were younger all of my words seemed to annoy you and cause a fight." She let out a small laugh. "Listen to me, saying things like 'when we were younger'. It was only eight months ago that we acted like that. How could we have changed so much in such a short time?"

"Maybe we didn't," Derek answered simply.

Casey felt her eyebrows knit together as she played his words a second time in her head. "What do you mean?"
Derek didn't answer right away. He appeared to be choosing his words and Casey realized that that was another thing that was different about him. He thought before he spoke.

"Maybe this feeling has been there for a while now, we just didn't completely discover it until we were out on our own…….until we only had each other to rely on."

Casey considered his answer carefully before giving a slight nod. "I guess that makes sense."

She remembered the first time that she had noticed her attraction to Derek. The discovery had been shocking and at first she had wanted to deny it.

Derek had been attempting to cook some dinner for himself, while Casey had gone to her room to study. She had just finished writing an essay that was due the next day, when there was a loud banging followed by a painful yelp. She rushed into the kitchen and found the oven door wide open, pepperoni pizza splattered across the floor, and Derek with his hand under cold water. Casey hurried to his side and gasped at the big red mark that ran across his palm.

"Derek, are you okay? What happened?"

He bit his lip, obviously in pain and managed to say, "I'd rather not explain."

Too worried to push for an explanation, she ordered him to sit down and went to one of the cupboards for the first-aid kit.

"I can do it," Derek said firmly as she reached for his hand.

Casey shook her head. "I don't think so." She reached for his hand again and, after hesitating, he reluctantly allowed her to take it. Casey pulled some burn cream from the box that sat on the table and read the instructions before unscrewing the cap. "This is going to sting at first, but then it'll just feel like you're holding ice on your hand," she said, almost mimicking what was written on the outside of the small container.

Derek smirked, but the look in his eyes showed that his hand was still giving him pain. "Well, don't you make the perfect little doctor," he noted sarcastically, trying to give a tough guy façade and annoy his temporary nurse.

But, neither his smirk nor his comment took her attention away from what she was doing. She put some of the cream on a tab and gently ran it across the burn that seemed to encompass his palm. Casey felt Derek jerk slightly when it first made contact with his skin, but after that he held still.

When she applied as much as was directed, she wrapped the injury in gauze and used medical tape to hold it there. "All better?" she asked calmly, but when she lifted her eyes, she realized how close their heads were and her heart began to beat faster than usual. She met his gaze and, as if their heads were being pulled by magnets, they slowly moved even closer to each other. Their lips were less than an inch apart when a knock sounded on the door. Casey jerked away and released his hand. "I-I'd better get that," she stuttered, not being able to exit the kitchen fast enough.

Before, they had just had that brother/sister relationship, so sharing an apartment didn't seem like a big deal, but after that incident it didn't take long for them to decide that they wanted their own apartments.

But, even after Casey moved out, they still couldn't seem to escape the events of that night, so they had ended up where they were now, heading home with the secret of their romance following them as if it was the taillight on their car.

Casey sighed audibly and turned over Derek's hand that held hers. There was still a scar from the burn and it reminded them both of the first time they had found the attraction that had to have been laying there for months.

Derek followed her gaze to his hand and one side of his mouth lifted in a half grin. "Do you want some pizza?"

She tilted her head back to look at him, a smile playing on her lips. "Pepperoni?"

They shared a laugh and for the next couple hours they forgot that they were on their way home, forgot that they would soon have to pretend to hate each other. That is, they forgot until they were sitting in their parents' driveway.

Casey exchanged a nervous glance with Derek and he nodded reassuringly.

"Ready?" came his one word question.

She nodded and they both exited the car, ready as they could be for what lied ahead.

So, how was it? Good, bad, okay? PLEASE review and tell me if you think I should continue, cause I'm real nervous about this!

LanaLang79