I mention a few different songs/artists throughout this chapter, and I hold no ownership over those whatsoever. They were just ones I thought Casey and Derek would like. I mention Ron Pope as he is an artist I adore and I listened to a lot of his music while crafting this story. He's not hugely popular, although he should be, so them both liking him made it sort of more.. inclusive, you know? Anyways, highly recommend, if anyone is looking for new music and enjoys acoustic style.

Thank you for the feedback so far! You guys rock.

I do not own Life with Derek.


The plans were made. Derek and Casey would take a plane to New York and meet Dennis on the other side. He had made accommodations to fit both at his rather roomy apartment, so it would be a comfortable stay. Derek would have to stay on the couch however, since Casey would be staying in the guest room, but it had a pull out bed so it wouldn't be so bad.

Derek sat in his room, drumming his fingers against his desk as he waited for his music to be transferred to his Ipod. The green bar flashed at halfway for what felt like the past hour. A brief but hardly audible knock sounded at his door. Rolling his eyes, he swerved his chair to see around the mess piled on his computer to see Casey coming in.

It was weird but he wasn't irritated to have her in his room tonight, despite the fact that he knew she'd be nagging him any second now on packing lists and appropriate behaviour when staying with her father and anything else she could think of.

Although her face showed her anxiety, as usual, she would deal with her stress by ordering him around. It was the way she worked. That's how they got through exams. She'd teach him everything she didn't know she knew, in turn helping her prepare better than if she studied alone.

"Are you packed yet?" she asked, her voice going shrill as she saw the open suitcase on his bed with only a couple items inside. "Derek ,we leave tomorrow morning! We have to go early to pick up our tickets and go through security and-"

"Casey-"

"-and have you even finished your laundry? I don't know how my Dad's apartment is, it might not have laundry facilities and there is no way I'm having you stink up the whole building so you better bring enough for two weeks and-"

"Casey-" Derek tried again, his impatience beginning to color his tone.

"-and speaking of my Dad, don't think your poor table manners and gross guy ways will be acceptable while staying there. You are not just representing you, you know. You're my new family so my Dad will be judging my behaviour by reflecting on yours somewhat and-"

"Can you not remind me that I'm related to a space-case?" Derek said boringly to himself, turning his attention back to the screen to see the bar had moved only a fraction of an inch.

Casey finally stopped her inane rambling at his comment and hesitated. "We're not… related." she muttered, like she was admitting some dark secret.

Derek glanced over at her, trying to understand her expression. It was a mix of embarrassed, ashamed, uncomfortable and something else…it was unexpected whatever it was.

But Derek couldn't figure it out at the moment so he let it pass. He had a short attention span for trying to figure stuff out. It was one of the reasons why he and school never became bosom buddies.

"Yeah well…you were saying…?" Derek said, raising an eyebrow. She probably had cue cards hidden up her sleeve. Or lack there of. He realized then that she was only in a tank top and jean skirt. She looked rather…nice. He shook this thought out of his head, focusing back on the screen.

"What are you doing?" Casey asked interestedly, coming over without thinking. Normally Derek would've shouted at her, told her to get out, flailing his arms in full freak-out mode as he did so since she never seemed to get the hint unless he had a Casey-McDonald-level panic attack. He had a lot of personal stuff on his computer and he never let anyone near it, least of all her.

Luckily he settled on just sending her a glare as she moved over. She rolled her eyes, in typical Casey fashion, and bent her knees to read the dark screen.

"Have you actually just been staring at the bar moving this whole time?" she said incredulously.

He shrugged.

"What about packing!? Need I remind you we leave-"

"Tomorrow morning at 10am sharp, and don't even think about sleeping in Derek, I'm setting your alarm and then coming to get you with a bucket of cold water if you don't surface in five minutes. We'll arrive at the airport three hours before our flight and then hit New York in the late afternoon where Dad will meet us at the airport then we'll go out for dinner and have probably a quiet night in. And so help me, if you embarrass me on this trip, you will not have The Prince anymore. Mom and George said so." Derek repeated from the night before word for word, using a poor shrill girly imitation of Casey. He added a 'Der-ek!' for effect at the end.

She put her hands on her hips, standing in front of him. "I do not sound like that!"

He smirked in reply and went back to the screen. Punching the air in triumph as the bar finished loading, he sifted through his new track list for the trip.

"This is part of my packing, Case. I'm taking this on the trip and need new music if I'm going to be on a plane with only you for an hour and a half." he explained simply.

Letting out an aggravated moan, she left his side but doubled back when she saw the artist names flash on the screen.

"You put Ron Pope on there? I didn't know you listened to him." she said in surprise.

Derek was surprised she listened to him. He figured she'd be begging him to put the Jonas Brothers and Jesse McCartney on there, or anyone else she thought was particularly 'dreamy' and who had pop-tastic music.

"Uh yeah. I love his stuff. I'm working out Fireflies on the guitar right now." he told her casually, his mind still reeling from this new discovery. Casey did have a tendency to surprise him with her music taste.

"I love Drop in the Ocean so much." she gushed, clasping her hands together in excitement. "But Heartfelt Lies is good too, and Tell Me So. Is Fireflies what you were playing the other night?"

Derek nodded, pretending not to care about their conversation but he was actually rather intrigued. They rarely agreed about anything and music was something he could talk about forever, but only with certain people. It hadn't occurred to him that Casey would understand his love for music.

He never really expressed his feelings about anything. He pretended hockey was his only passion, when really, he loved playing guitar just as much. He just didn't make as much time for it even though he wanted to. Now that it was summer he had picked it up a little.

Casey smiled, impressed with Derek's music taste as she scanned the rest of the list. Most were stuff she listened to. She smiled when she saw the long list of Matchbox Twenty songs. Albeit an old band, but a great one. She never got tired of their stuff but she knew that Derek thought of them as basically God in his music world.

"Do you have-" Casey began but Derek sent her a look. "Never mind…" she trailed off.

She had lost her mp3 player to the turmoil of pouring rain. She had not had proper water protection on the only day she had to walk home since Derek had hockey practice right after school and Emily was home sick so it had gotten soaked beyond repair.

She had planned on buying another one but lost her job at Smelly Nelly's so long ago and hadn't searched for a new workplace since. Now it was summer but she was going to her Dad's then away for university so there wasn't much point trying until she got out there.

Derek sighed, seeming to remember her portable music player mishap, and gestured her back over. She bounded over excitedly and leaned her weight lightly on his arm rest as she scanned through his artists.

"You don't have any Demi? Can you please put on a little bit of Ashley? Or Miley's newest album…" Casey began but Derek's incredulous look stopped her.

"I am not going to New York, to pick up girls, listening to Miley Cyrus' Party in the USA." he told her so seriously she couldn't help laughing.

"But you would be…partying in the USA." she added amusedly with a pout.

It was such a stupid statement that he started laughing, louder than she expected so she jumped, slipping off the arm rest and into his lap. He quickly caught her before she crashed into his computer and looked down at her blushing face. She adjusted herself as if sitting in her step-brother's lap happened all the time, so they were fitted comfortably.

Derek simply grunted and began moving to the download section, picking random songs he figured she liked after listening to their brief previews. She watched his choices, her eyes shining with some sort of excitement at his unbelievable accuracy. She glanced back to his eyes, but he purposely focused on the screen. When they were sitting this close, he had no idea what would happen if he met her happy eyes.

"Don't miss Switch….or wait, Catch Me was still on that list!" Casey exclaimed, nearly toppling off his lap. He rolled his eyes and hit backspace to move back a page.

"Anything else embarrassing for me to add to MY Ipod?" Derek asked irritably. The funny thing was he had been planning on finding songs for her to listen to, knowing she would want to borrow his music at some point during the trip, but she had caught him before he had a chance. At least this way he seemed less thoughtful since she had asked him to.

"Can you please put Miley's When I Look at You? I love that song so much." Casey told him softly, leaning her head back against his shoulder. She was getting tired and it was late. Derek wasn't even close to being finished packing and she still had to go through her checklist. But she didn't want to move. Strangely enough, she was really comfortable sitting with Derek like this. His arm had been wrapped around her waist ever since her spill so she felt safe and happy being this way with him.

Over the past couple years, especially senior year, they had really become a lot more tolerant of the other. They were brinking on the very fine edge of friends on some days. This night was probably their closest friendship moment to date. Or feel good family moment.

Derek downloaded her last request before starting the transfer.

Without thinking, Casey threw her arms around his neck to hug him.

"Hey, hey now, remember my no hugging policy!" Derek exclaimed, but she ignored him, pressing her face into his neck.

"I just wanted to thank you. I'll leave your bitter old man self to pack and I'll go to bed. Night D." she said before leaving out his door.

Derek sighed. "Night Case."

Now alone with his thoughts he had to figure out what to do about his over-liking of his step-sister sitting for an extended period on his lap. And the desires that came with her closeness.