Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Sg1 characters.
Chapter 2: The Kiss
Saturday 12:45 p.m. (Fifteen minutes till contest commences)
Derek and Casey take theirs seats in the waiting room behind the Special Events Stage in the center of the mall after greeting the other couples. They noticed that a few of the other couples were around the same age as themselves, so that means that they might have the advantage if there weren't any married couples competing.
Derek scans the room, then look towards Casey. "I'm feeling pretty good about our chances now." Derek said. "Our chances? Just wait till the host or hostess starts asking the questions, and then you wouldn't be feeling so positive about our chances," Casey replied.
"If you think so poorly of our ability to win, then why did even agree to it?" Derek asked.
"Well….you see….hmm….I guess I was caught up in the excitement and didn't really think about how we're going to pull this off." Casey looks up at Derek, to see him with an emotionless expression on his face then looks back down at her hands resting on her knees. "And now, I'm kind of regretting of entering this contest," Casey finishes. Derek ends his catatonic state, and starts laughing.
"Der-ek!" Casey screams through her teeth, while noticing glances coming from the rest of the couples in the room.
"Casey, that is so unlike you, getting caught up in the excitement, if anything you're the one that usually ends the excitement" Derek says while continuing to laugh. Just as Casey begins to refute Derek's claim of her always ending the excitement, Mrs. Sullivan enters the room with an unfamiliar woman.
"Hello everyone let me introduce you to the hostess of the Couples Contest, Julia Park, she'll be asking the questions in today's event." Mrs. Sullivan presents. "Hello, it's nice to meet you all." Julia says.
Derek scans Julia slowly from head to toe, seeing how beautiful she is. Derek thinks out loud, "Holy Asian goddess of Shangri-la!"
Casey's hand automatically covers Derek's mouth.
The whole room focuses on Derek. "Um, excuse me?" Julia says, holding up a confused smile.
Derek realizing that he actually spoke what he thought tries to cover it up as something else. "Oh, I said Holy Asian goddess of Shangri-la…..damn it!" Derek couldn't come up with anything on the spot that quick.
Everyone is still staring at Derek, and Casey is now resting her forehead on her hand, thinking of how big an idiot can Derek be.
Derek raises his hand as if to explain himself. "I…I….um…..see….I…I'm sorry."
"It's ok, I feel bad for your girlfriend though, that's not a very nice thing to do in front of her." Julia replies, smiling. Casey looks up to the mentioning of her being Derek's girlfriend, still not quite use to it. "Oh, Casey? Oh no, we have a very open relationship, she doesn't mind that." Derek says, wrapping his arm around Casey's shoulder bringing her in closer to him. "We are made for each other," Derek continues. Casey winces at the thought of being Derek's soul mate. Derek looks towards Casey, "Isn't that right honey." Casey Looks up at Derek with a half smile, "That's right, Der-bear," she says.
An annoyed look comes over Derek, as the whole room chuckles at his pet name, Der-bear.
"Sorry for interrupting," Derek says, raising his voice to overcome the laughs. "That's quite alright," Julia assures him, "Now I'm going to explain the basic rules of the contest and the layout on the stage. After that, I'll answer any questions you might have," Julia says, addressing the whole room.
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The couples come out on stage pair by pair as Julia Park introduces them to the audience, which appears to be a surprisingly big crowd of at least a hundred and fifty spectators. Uneasiness comes over Casey as Derek and her make their way into their little booth with a wall that separates them with Derek on Casey's left side. Casey nervously scans the crowd, hoping not to find any familiar faces. Derek senses Casey's nervousness and whispers to her through the booth wall, "Casey, relax. This will all be over soon. Just enjoy being my girlfriend while you can," Derek laughs, while replaying what he just said in his and thinking of how weird it came out. "What?" Casey says, breaking out of her distressed trance. "I'm just trying to change the anxious atmosphere you created," Derek replies, erratically. "Derek?" Casey says. "I mean, it's not like I'm enjoying being your better half, just thought a little joke would help," Derek continues. Casey's voice rises, "I hope your not enjoying yourself, 'cause I certainly am not. How do I always end up in these intolerable situations with you?" Derek notices the audiences attention is aimed at Casey, "Because you love me, silly, ha-ha," Derek says, raising his voice higher than Casey's, "Now cut it out," he whispers to Casey. Casey snaps back to reality, and gives an apologetic smile to the audience; she could see that many spectators were still laughing about her little rant.
"Well it seems one of our couples today forgot to leave the arguments at home," Julia says, playing off the recent episode. The audience laughs. "Welcome to London Mall's, How Well Do You Know Me?, couples contest, this is our first event to start off our week of many events," Julia says. "Now before we begin, let's give a quick round of applause for the couples that are joining us today." Derek stands up and waves his hand around and sits back down.
Julia sees Derek, "How about we start off with our celebrity couple over there, and have them go first."
"Sounds good, Julia." Derek says. Casey rolls her eyes and shakes head slightly left to right.
"Alright, Casey if you would pick up the dry erase board and black marker under your seat," Julia signals to them. Casey picks up the board and marker.
"Derek, I will ask you a question about Casey and you both will answer it, but your answer must match Casey's answer in order to get the point," Julia informs.
"Gotcha, fire away Julia." Derek says.
"Okay, what would you say is Casey's number one personal trait?" Julia asks.
Casey writes down the answer rather quickly, it's taking time for Derek to think of a possible answer.
"Hmm, I guess I would have to say her number one personal trait is her organizational skills." Derek tells her.
"Are you confident?" Julia asks.
"Pssh, of course." Derek assures her. Julia chuckles.
Casey lifts up her board to where Julia can read it.
"Derek, you've answered correctly, Casey's number one personal trait is her organizational skills." Julia says. Casey thinks to herself, Derek never stops surprising me, maybe there's hope for him yet.
"Congrats, you both have moved on to the next round." Julia tells them. Derek leans out his right hand past the booth divider for Casey to return his high five, she does.
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Derek and Casey have managed to guess the right answers to each question, as if they were cosmically connected and outlast four other couples. It's now down to them and one other couple, Daniel and Vala, who have also answered every question correctly. It's the last round and both couples are tied in points. Daniel and Vala get the first question.
"Congratulations to both couples for making it this far and without one wrong answer, so let's begin the last round," Julia says, clapping her hands. "Alright, this question goes to Vala," Julia says.
"What surprised you most after getting to know Daniel?"
Daniel writes down the answer after a long pause. Daniel nods.
"Okay, and your answer, Vala?" Julia asks.
"The sex techniques." Vala answers, confidently. Daniel slaps his forehead, and raises the dry erase board.
Julia, with a stunned look after hearing Vala's answer, reads Daniels board, as he lowers hid head.
"Opps, sorry, that is incorrect, Daniel wrote, that his trust in you surprised you most after getting to know him."
"Trust!? Daniel!?" Vala says, dumbfounded.
"Wait, wait, Vala, you and Daniel still have a chance, if Derek and Casey get the next question wrong, there will be a tie breaker." Julia informs, trying to calm Vala down.
"Oh really. Daniel, I guess you didn't totally screw the pooch this time," Vala says, feeling relieved. Daniel gives Vala a half smile.
Julia turns towards Derek and Casey.
"Now Casey, if you get this question right, you and Derek automatically win, if not, then there will be a tie breaker." Julia tells her.
"Alright," Casey says, feeling a heavy burden come upon her.
"It's the same question I gave Vala." Julia says. Casey nods. "What surprised you most after getting to know Derek?"
Derek quickly writes down the answer, hoping that their luck is still with them. Derek gives Julia the go ahead.
"Casey, what is your answer?" Julia asks.
Casey nervously fiddles with her fingers, and then she starts remembering all the times Derek had been there when her and the family needed him most.
Casey calms herself before she begins to speak. "What surprised me most after getting to know Derek was his sense of family loyalty," Casey answers Julia. Julia looks over to Derek and Derek's eyes close, and he lifts up the board. Julia reads Derek's board and turns to Casey. "Casey, you answered…" Julia pauses to look back at Derek, whose eyes are still closed, and then back to Casey. "…correctly, Derek wrote, that being there for family no matter what is what surprised you most," Julia finishes.
Casey jumps up from her chair and walks over to Derek, who looks like he's about to cry. Derek jumps up and throws his fists in the air and screams, "Hawaii!" Casey rolls her eyes, thinking they were going to share a moment together.
"Congratulations, Derek and Casey, you've won!" Julia tells them. Julia comes between Derek and Casey to face the audience. "You've won a trip for two to Honolulu, Hawaii, provided by the Law Firm of Lictor and Associates of London, Ontario."
Somehow Derek and Casey's hands have found each other. "Thank you, Julia!" Derek and Casey say in unison. Julia smiles at them, and then turns to the audience, hearing the audience chanting something.
"What's that?" Julia asks the crowd.
The volume of the audience rises. Chanting, "Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss"
"You hear that?" Julia asks Derek and Casey, with a big grin across her face.
Derek and Casey look at the audience and then back at each other, Casey gives Derek that don't even think about it look. Derek, unsure of what to do, looks back at the audience, and says, "What the crowd wants is what the crowd gets." Derek turns back to Casey and just as Casey releases the words, "Oh no…" Derek dives in to her lips stopping her from completing her refusal. Casey's eyes widened and then slowly close as Derek wraps his hands around her neck. The crowd goes wild with claps, whistles, woo-hoos, and Derek and Casey don't even notice, for them time has slowed down, and the sounds around them have diffused, because for them, they were in the moment.
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In one of the stores across from all the excitement on the stage, Casey's boyfriend walks through the threshold and stops suddenly as he sees Casey and Derek executing an intimate kiss in front of hundreds of people. His friend doesn't notice that he stopped and bumps in to him. "Whoa, give a heads up when you stop." His friend says.
"Oh sorry." Casey's boyfriend says, feeling dazed and confused.
"What's up with you Noel?" His friend asks.
"Nothing," Noel answers his friend, turning around to head for one of the mall exits.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys, I'll try to update this every 2-3 days, lates.