This is for mccarthy90210 who sent me the prompt for it centuries, nay, millennia ago and I only just got around to posting it even though I meant to weeks ago. This first chapter is kind of a tester to see is this is anything like what you meant before I get too into the plot (which is mostly formed but still alterable) so let me know if it's headed in the right direction. :)

Also, as always if anyone else wants to add some advice or let me know if it's coming on okay I do read all the comments, I'm just not great at replying. By the time I figure out what to say it's usually been so long you wouldn't know what I was talking about.

Disclaimer: Copy and paste some general disclaimer that I don't legally need but should add as a courtesy

Casey dumped her school books on her bed, heading for her dressing table to remove the rest of her make-up and let down her hair in case she fell asleep studying. It was going to be a late night. She turned on her stereo, smiling when no techno or heavy rock came blasting out of the wall in reply and swapped her jeans for a pair of joggers.

A whole night where she could study uninterrupted. It seemed way too good to be true.

But Derek was going out with Sam tonight and their parents had taken the younger siblings away to see relatives in another state, leaving her with the house to herself for the evening, and God of Hangovers be willing, the night and following morning as well. With how much she was going to get done, she wouldn't have to think about homework for another two weeks! More than enough time to get her college applications in order.

Three hours found her glaring at the house phone as it rung for the third time in a row. She'd answered it the first time, but at the sound of Derek's drunken voice she hung up and didn't pick up again. She was going to get her night off. She was going to get the homework she'd asked for specially so she could get ahead done and ready to be handed in. She was certainly NOT going to let a drunken Derek talk her into finding him and Sam a way home because they'd got too wasted to drive after only a couple of hours, and she was NOT going to let them come back early and interrupt her studying so that they could avoid Sam's parents finding out they'd got drunk.

She relaxed as the phone stopped ringing, only to tense again as her cell started ringing in its place. She gave it a quick glance before muting it and picking up her textbook again. Probably Derek again

Another three hours and she was chewing on her lip, anxiously glancing at her phone every few minutes. Derek should have come stumbling through the door ages ago. At the very least he should have sent a gloating or guilt tripping text about how he'd gone to a friend's house or was getting yelled at by Sam's Mom. But there had been nothing since that one phone call to her cell.

Another hour and she was snoring with the cell pressed to her face, the voicemail that the phone had rung through to having run out of space and hung up a good while ago.

The next morning she awoke at 5:00 am with an imaginary version of Derek's voice sounding through her head, sprawled across her bed, books kicked either to the floor or the end of the mattress and phone fallen somewhere underneath the bed. It took a flashlight, a bumped head and one of Derek's hockey sticks to get it out again. She winced at the missed calls from her parents and went back to Derek's contact information, calling him again.

No answer.

She tried Sam next.

"Casey?" Sam's voice sounded muffled.

"Where's Derek and why isn't he answering the phone?" She raised her voice a little out of spite, hoping to make the headache Sam was bound to have flare up in revenge for not making Derek call her back.

"I don't know, he never showed last night." Sam said, a yawn interspersing the word 'showed' and not a sign of a headache.

"What do you mean he never showed? He left early so you guys could hit that burger place on the way!" Casey replied indignantly; she was not going to be fobbed off by half assed lies.

"I mean he never showed. Didn't arrive. I didn't see him." He took a deep sighing breath. "I ended up spending the evening with my sister painting her toenails while she told me about this book she's reading on female sexual fantasies. You think I would lie about that?"

She stopped for a moment. "Well, did you call him?"

"Yeah, I didn't get through. I called you after."

Casey frowned. "What time did you call him?"

Sam yawned again. "On and off from about eight until ten. Just went through to voicemail."

"But he called me a couple of hours after he left, he sounded drunk."

"I don't know what to tell you, I called, I got voicemail, I had what Cadence refers to as 'quality sibling time' and I went to bed. A place I'd really like to get back to if you're done."

"Yeah, sorry. Let me know if your hear from him" Casey hung up and looked at her phone for a moment, then brought up her call history. No missed calls from Derek, though there was one from Sam. About the time she'd thought Derek had called her. "What?" She stared at the screen, going off the call history and then back on it. The same. She turned the phone off and on again, but still no missed calls listed. There's no way he would have given up after calling the house phone and she knew he had her number. Her feet nearly slipped on the stairs as she ran down them, rushing to the answer phone for the house phone. 2 new messages. One from George checking that everything was ok and, thank God, a message from Derek. She barely registered the words the first time and played it again.

"Hey, Case, nice of you to hang up on me! I've had a little accident. I may or may not have called in to see Beth for some pre-party drinks and I kinda crashed the car. Just a little though! But I figure I probably shouldn't get back behind the wheel. Call me a cab? I don't have a number for one and my battery is about to die. I'm just off route-"

The message cut off, presumably due to lack of battery on Derek's end.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Casey chanted, trying to call Derek again for no real reason. After his phone had died and no cab had turned up he'd probably started driving again. Derek was probably lying either dead or bleeding in some ditch somewhere having crashed the car again and been unable to call for help. All because she'd hung up on him instead of hearing him out.

She called the local hospital on the off chance, and then called the police. They weren't too interested to hear that her step-brother had gone out drinking, tried to drive and ended up stranded. It hadn't even been a full twelve hours yet. They told her to call back later if he still hadn't shown up. He was probably just sleeping it off in the backseat and would come back when he woke up.

No amount of Casey psycho babble would get them to change their minds.