Hey everyone sorry for the wait. I was away for a week on Spring Break, but I'm back! Thanks for all the positive feedback so far.
This chapter actually wasn't apart of my original plan, but I wanted a light-hearted chapter before I get into the parts that'll make you guys hate me :p.
Disclaimer: I don't own Life with Derek
To say the McDonald-Venturi family was unconventional would be like saying that Derek and Casey have had some disagreements. For one, there were actually two proposals: one by George and one by Casey. Neither one was particularly normal.
Nora and George were at the fanciest restaurant that George could afford at the time. The night was going really well so far, and George just knew it was the perfect night to propose. He decided to use the classic ring in the champagne trick. However, things didn't go quite as planned.
George and Nora were in the middle of discussing how they were going to finally get Casey and Derek to meet each other. Both of them were concerned about their eldest child because of the high probability of World War III breaking out. Suddenly, there was a loud scream coming from the table next to them. They looked over and saw a young woman, probably 25 at most, nearly hyperventilating. She was using one hand to fan herself and the other was holding a ring…George's ring. George may not always be the quickest man in the world, but he knew immediately it was his. The stupid waiter sent the champagne to the wrong table!
As George stood up to retrieve the ring, he couldn't help but laugh at the woman's attempt to put the ring on. She kept trying to push the ring onto her finger, with absolutely no success.
"Oh my God, Kurt, you forgot my ring size!" she yelled.
The man with her just had a deer-in-the-headlights look about him. He had no clue what was going on.
"Actually Ma'am, that's actually my ring. The waiter sent it to the wrong table. If you look at the inscription, you'll see my last name in it", said George.
The woman then took a quick glance at it and then promptly gave it to George. She had a rather disappointed look on her face, while the man looked absolutely relieved.
George then went back over to Nora and decided to use the more conventional, one-knee proposal.
"Nora…I'm not very good with romantic stuff so I'll keep this as simple as possible. Will you marry me?" asked George.
"Yes George!" Nora exclaims. She slips on the ring and it fits her perfectly.
"That's weird, it almost felt like the ring…expanded to fit my finger. I must be imaging things though", says Nora.
A couple weeks later, Derek and Casey finally met. To make a long story short, they immediately got off on the wrong foot. The fact that neither wanted their parent to get married didn't help matters, but they also had clashing personalities. In fact, it got so bad at one point that Nora decided to call off the wedding. However, Casey first bit the bullet and proposed to George on her mother's behalf. Then Derek accepted the proposal on his Dad's behalf. Ironically, it was the two people who desperately wanted to do anything to prevent the family from merging that ended up saving it (after nearly destroying it of course).
The wedding was another interesting experience. To say that it was all a normal and smooth occasion would be a blatant lie. It's possible that even Derek Venturi, the king of lies, could pull off that sale.
The chaos actually started the night before, as the soon to be merged family went to Nora's house. While everyone was trying to break up Derek and Casey's third fight of the night, Marti made her way upstairs and into Nora's bedroom. She went into the closet and saw Nora's wedding dress.
"What kind of dress is this? No purple!" exclaimed Marti.
Marti then remembered that Lizzie had paint after she helped her soon to be stepsister with a project once. After quickly finding the paint, she then proceeded to paint various people on the dress. She was at it for a good 10-15 minutes before George came upstairs looking for her.
"Marti where are…Marti what did you do?" George asked after seeing the newly painted dress.
"I painted our new family!" Marti exclaimed happily.
"George did you find…oh my God!" exclaimed Nora after seeing the dress. "Marti, why did you paint my dress?"
"Because it was all white. A dress for such a happy day needs purple. I painted our family. See here's me…the kitty cat", says Marti.
"Is that me and George holding hands?" asked Nora who was still in shock, but trying her best not to scare Marti.
"No that's Casey and Smerek", said Marti. "You two are over here. Do you like it?"
"Marti you know you really shouldn't…" started George.
"I love it Marti", said Nora enthusiastically.
"Seriously Nora?" asked George who was very much confused.
"Sure why not! I mean sure it's a little unconventional, but it seems like everything is lately. Why break up the pattern now? Unconventional has gotten us this far", said Nora.
Marti then happily skipped off downstairs.
"If you're sure dear", said George with uncertainty.
"I am George. Besides, you try telling that little girl that you didn't like it", said Nora.
"I honesty couldn't. But what about the whole sneaking into your closet?" asked George.
"Oh I'll just get her Smerek to address that", said Nora.
"Good luck. I haven't been able to get Derek to do anything willingly without bribing him for years now", said George.
"Oh, I think I have something that'll persuade him", said Nora.
The wedding ceremony went surprisingly smooth. There were some comments and jeers over the painted wedding dress, but since Derek and Casey didn't fight once the whole time, you can consider it an overwhelming success.
After the ceremony, it was time for food and dancing. Surprisingly, Edwin and Derek didn't start a food fight (like they did at their uncles wedding a couple years back). However, the real surprise came when it was time to dance.
Casey soon realized that Derek was the only person close to her age (Edwin and Lizzie where the next closest). As much as she didn't want to, she couldn't resist going over to him.
"Derek want to dance", said Casey.
"I don't think so Princess", said Derek.
"I wasn't asking", said Casey as she pulled Derek onto the dance floor.
"Ugh!" complained Derek, even though he didn't really resist.
The next thing they knew, they were slow dancing in the middle of the dance floor. They both got a brief confused look from their newly married parents. However, Nora and George just left them alone fearing a fight if they made a big deal about it.
"So…I guess you McDonalds will be moving in with us tomorrow", said Derek followed by a weak chuckle.
"Yeah…and I guess we'll go back to our normal fighting ways" said Casey.
"Yeah…you're right", said Derek.
"Wow, I've never seen my mom this happy…maybe ever", said Casey.
"Yeah, I can't believe she didn't freak out about the dress. You would have", said Derek.
Casey responded by just sticking her tongue out a Derek.
"Hey is that your grandma because I know she isn't in my family?" asked Derek as he casually pointed towards an older woman who was sitting on the side, contently watching everyone else.
"No, I've never seen her before. Are you sure she isn't your family?" asked Casey.
"Yeah I'm sure. I know all my aunts, uncles, cousins and all. I just pretend I don't know them. A lot of them are more embarrassing than you are and that's saying something", he answered.
"I'm sure she isn't in my family either", said Casey.
"Than who is she?" muttered Derek.
Ok as I said earlier, this is just a light-hearted chapter before I start going into the core of the story. This is lot fluffier than the following chapters will be.
As always please review even if you are anonymous.
