It was already late when she was finally able to fall asleep that night, too stressed out from all the hospital routine she had to go through.

Derek sat on the small plastic chair beside the table, not knowing what to do. In just one day he had seen countless needles pierce the very same skin that used to set all his nights on fire and now, as silence filled the whole oncology ward, he finally began to fully process all that had occurred that day.

He repeatedly glanced at her small sleeping figure, all curled up in such a huge bed. Watching her in her sleep had always enchanted him, ever since he could remember.

"Smarti, I found your…"

He barged into her room, only to find the little girl sitting still on her own bed, her index finger pressed upon her lips. "Shh… Smerek, Casey's sleeping."

Derek followed his sister's gaze, only to see their stepsister motionlessly lying on the bed, her arms resting across her stomach as her chest rhythmically rose up and down with her breathing.

Derek could tell the girls had been playing dress up, since Casey still had a small plastic tiara entangled in her hair. He was amazed at how quickly she had bonded with the little one, seeing as it had only been three months since Nora and her daughters had moved in, but Casey and Marti were already getting along perfectly.

"She's tired, Smerek. She studied a lot last night…"

Derek was still staring at Casey. She still lightly smelled like the honey he had put in her shampoo earlier that morning. He kneeled down beside the bed so that their faces were only inches apart. Her flawless skin mesmerized him, and he was fighting so hard the urge to graze her collarbones with the tips of his fingers. He couldn't recall seeing anything more perfect than her sleeping form, and as he was staring at her, he could almost feel himself on the verge of eternity, losing track of time, his thoughts dissolving into peacefulness.

"I think she knows you don't want to be mean to her."

Derek looked up to the little girl, giving her a questioning expression. "What?"

"I think she knows you love her. Even if you make her cry sometimes."

"I do not make her cry, Smarti. I just …"

"Yes you do. I saw her. When you call her names and bug her a lot. She does cry, Smerek. You make her sad."

Derek let his gaze wander over Casey once more. A sad smile crept up across his face. "Then I don't think she knows, Smarti."

"Or maybe that's why she cries, instead."

Derek was shaken out of his thoughts as his phone started to ring. He quickly rushed out of the room before it could wake Casey up.

"Nora? Sorry I'm whispering but I'm standing in the corridor and just don't want to mess with anyone's sleep… Did you get my text?"

"Yes I have. That's why I called. I figured she would've been asleep by now. What happened? Why didn't she want to see us?"

Derek sighed deeply, and started rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "Well, you know, she had to take many tests… the day went by so quickly, and she was so tired by the end of it. And plus I think she also needed to settle down first. Even just trying to stuff all her bags into the room's wardrobe wasn't an easy task, I really had a hard time with that. And…"

"Alright, I get it. I just… I can't believe I wasn't there on my child's first day at the… hospital. Well, actually there are so many things I can't believe about this… thing… my little girl… she can't be so…"

Derek was starting to panic. He sensed what he was going to hear next and he still intended to stick with his no tears policy, especially in such an already emotional situation for him too.

"Nora? Look, I'm so sorry, but there's this big, scary, hairy nurse heading down my way and I don't think she's fine with me being on the phone in the corridor at such a late hour. I'll call you back first thing in the morning. Bye." He hung up the phone quickly, glad he was able to avoid her breakdown, yet feeling somewhat guilty for not being any supportive of his stepmother.

Soon after, he got back into Casey's room, only to find her wide awake, motioning him to sit on the bed.

He sat beside her, taking her hand in his. "Babe, it's late."

"Who was on the phone with you?"

"Your Mom. She wanted to know how you were doing so far. I said you did great and could be nominated for the Nobel prize in stoical forbearance, seeing as I could've never been nice to a person that would just keep putting needles in my veins, Miss oh Doctor Welsh! thank you for being so nice with me!" he said with a mocking tone at the end.

Casey laughed lightly, and began to gently graze his upper arm with the fingers. "I'd rather have that Doctor on my side, you know" she chuckled. "He's in charge of the chemo thing. And plus, he has nice abs!"

"His sweater had reindeers on it, Case! Reindeers!"

"Woah, take it easy. I was just kidding. But anyways, Derek, it's late, I…"

Derek sighed deeply, quickly cutting her off "Yeah I know, go back to sleep, Case. I'll be here when you wake up."

"That's the point, Derek. You can't spend your nights sitting on a chair by the table. We have no idea of how long I'm gonna have to stay here, and you have college classes to attend, too. You can't stay with me all the time, I won't let you…"

Derek's features tightened. He suddenly stood up. "No way. I see where this is going and no, I'm not leaving you alone here. Get this right."

His stern voice caught her off guard. She hadn't expected such a fierce reaction, and she knew that, at least for the moment, there was no way of making him change his mind. "Alright Der, we'll talk about this again, though."

"I'm not leaving your side. End of the story. No need to bring it up again."

She silently rolled over to lie on her side. As closed her eyes, loving memories came flooding back to her.

She was lying on her left side, her back facing him. Casey could feel his lips kissing her bare shoulder blades, only to end up grazing the crook of her neck.

"Do you really have to go?" she heard Derek moan, her jawline rubbing his cheek.

"Der, it's my Dad's wedding. It's kind of important, you know." She smiled widely, enjoying the feeling of his arms tightening around her waist.

"But how can I let go of all of this? You beautiful skin, your warm, wet…" he began in a fake poetic tone.

"Der-ek!"

"Hey! I was about to say mouth!" he chuckled. "Anyways, really, I'm gonna miss you. You and your gorgeous naked body."

She could tell that he just couldn't be serious for longer than two minutes. It would've implied too much emotional talking. Definitely not Derek's thing. She turned over to face him, staring intently into his eyes.

"I'll come back, Derek. I'll always come back to you."

Day 2.

When her eyes fluttered open the next day, he found Derek sitting on his chair right beside her bed, a beam of sunlight coming through the window.

"Morning beautiful."

She smiled at the sound of his cheerful voice.

"Look, that's the thing, I got marshmallows for you, but I'm contemplating the idea of asking the nurse if there could be problems with you eating those…"

"Indeed, there would be." said a voice coming from the direction of the door.

"Morning Doctor Welsh" they both said in unison, turning around to face the middle-aged man.

"Casey, it'd be best if you only ate what the food service provides you. Nausea and vomiting are very common side effects of chemotherapy so we might want to keep them under control. Today at nine you will be given your first drugs, which will be pills, and you'll keep taking them for the first week, then we'll see how it goes, and whether it's the case or not to start intravenous chemo agents. We might also need to take a bone marrow biopsy, but we'll see later on about that one. As for now, I suggest you just relax as much as possible. I'll be back in a few hours to see how you're reacting to the meds."

As soon as Doctor Welsh left the room, a nurse came in with Casey's pills, making sure she took them.

As she was swallowing them down, she couldn't help but think that was it. No turning back. No more hiding it. No more procrastinating. Cancer . Chemo. They were all real.

She had just got home. She felt as if she was doing everything in slow motion, taking off her coat, leaving her purse onto the small wooden table in the foyer… everything just felt so distant.

"Der…"

He was writing an essay for his English class, sitting on the couch in their small living room. He waved his hand at her, without raising his head from the computer to look at her. "Hey babe… How was your day? Did you go to the doctor? What did he say about the bruises?" he said, taking a bite of the huge sandwich he was holding in one hand.

"Der…" she sighed heavily, as if the whole weight of the world was on her shoulders. "Der…"

He froze for a few seconds, then quickly stood up, leaving his computer on the couch and turning around to face her.

"It's my blood, Derek. It's getting all white." She laughed hysterically, moving her hair out of the way across her forehead.

"What the hell…"

"It's called leukemia."

She heard the flower vase that had been on the dining table being violently smashed onto the wall.

"No! No, fucking no… IT JUST CAN'T BE. IT'S NOT TRUE. IT'S JUST NOT REAL. IT CAN'T BE."

"I love you, Derek." She simply said, putting down her glass of water.

He gently stroked her hair, and at that very moment, she thought that if that moment had lasted forever, she wouldn't have noticed it.

A.N.: Alright guys, so that was chapt. 2! Thank you sooooo much for reviewing and following this story… I really appreciate how supportive you're being!

Chapter 3 will be up soon. Keep reading and reviewing!

xoxo