AN: So, I'm sorry for the delay. I have a final chapter, which, I'm sorry, but it will require tissues as well, because this one is also bittersweet. Hopefully nobody hates me for what I must do now :'(
Thanks goes out to:
Dark-Supernatrual-Angel: Thanks so much for your support! I'm glad you kept with my story and didn't hit the back button.
gosal11444: I'm sorry! But I DID warn you! Thanks for your support with this fic and thank you for reviewing. I hope you will review with this one as well and maybe visit my other fanfics? I always welcome constructive criticsm. Here's a tissue with a promise that I shall soon go read and review one of your works. Message me to tell me which one you want me take a look at first! :)
nottingham12: Hey! Thanks for reviewing! Don't worry, I shall continue with "the long ride home." This is just one of those plots that gets stuck and has to be written out. I just figured I'd post it instead of waiting.
leaf26: Thanks so much for your support! I really hope you enjoy this one and hopefully you'll review this chapter to tell me how I did.
rumoredreader: Well thanks! I'm glad you liked it. Yeah, normally I don't like the death of Dasey either, but trust me, the ending of this chapter is as bittersweet, but better closure for Dasey. Please review to tell me how I did!
Disclaimer: Other than coming up with these plots in my head and borrowing the characters for my amusment and hopefully the entertainment of you fanfiction readers.
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Casey's POV:
It's been almost two years since that disasterous day. I still go to Queens and still trying for my degree in Pediatrics, though I've signed up to learn more about photography, in his memory, of course. I also have moved out of the apartment he and I shared together...too many memories. I can't quite return to my old self, but my acting abilities have gotten much better. Everyone has stated that I've returned back to how I once was, but I know I haven't. I try to act like I'm perfectly alright and over the shock and moved on from his death...even going so far as stuttering out his name when I have to and making references to him.
Of course, this is just so people don't worry about me. For the first three months, people were walking on eggshells around me, worried to say something to make me angry. Lizzie and Edwin had been dating for almost a month before they told me that they were dating and only because I came home for a weekend visit to find them making out on the couch. Marti still is super-close to me. She's over the initial shock and is still slowly moving on in the grief process. We've made it a point to only speak of him when we must. Mom even went as far as suggesting a psychiatrist and making an appointment for me, saying that it was necessary because I was the first to find him. I went and played along, trying to keep the peace and being the good daughter.
What the psychiatrist had said about me shocked me to no end. He told me that I was a timebomb waiting to explode. Now, when he was alive, I would have believed it, and everyone else would have as well. Now, however, I've been nothing but passive and calm. I have followed his instructions to a "T" you might say, taking care of Marti and the rest of the family. I was supportive of Lizzie and Edwin, even though I was secretly jealous, knowing that they would have what I never would, but I kept it to myself, showing nothing but feirce support and love toward them both, even threatening some guy who was making fun of Lizzie over incest. Let's just say that now he knows the difference between siblings and stepsiblings. And not to mess with my family.
Other than that, life for me has been uneventful. The hardest thing, though, was when I was alone on the first aniversary of his death. I drank myself stupid the night before, in anticipation, then stayed all day in my new apartment, alone. I had decided not to go home for the holidays this year for year two, so there was no one around to pretend for. I sat still for hours on end, just crying. I only found out how long I stayed like that when Marti came with Lizzie for a visit and saw me like that. Thankfully, Marti got me ushered into my room before Lizzie could see me like that.
Now, I'm sitting on my own bed, with a glass of wine in one hand and another sitting on the table for a person I know will never come. Of course, I know that the other drink will just sit there untouched until I dump it down the drain in the morning. I can tell it will be a long, sleepless night. Just one of many. It doesn't matter. It will all be over soon. Sleep will come, it was just a matter of time.
I walk into the kitchen, with my wine glass in my hand, and grab myself a small bowl of grapes. As I sit down at the small, round table, I can't help but think of how everyone's been doing lately.
Lizzie has stopped crying. She's more reliant of Edwin to be her support. She's still shaky, especially since there was so many changes going on for her. She's already applying to Queens, hoping for an early acceptance, as is Edwin. Lizzie doesn't want to distance herself from me too far. She's confided in me about her fears about losing me too.
Edwin has been ever-steady and a great boyfriend for Lizzie. He's become the responsible rock for us all, keeping us together, organizing frequent trips to keep me from losing my mind. I don't know if he knows how unstable I am inside most of the time, but he knows that it's one way to keep Lizzie sane.
Mom and George have had a handful with Simon. He's been a great little tyke, not really knowing what is going on in the world around him. Mom's worried about me, but trying her best not to show it. I don't know if she thinks I'm going to go crazy or if she's just worried, like Lizzie, that she's going to lose me like she lost him but George has been Mom's Edwin. Always there for support.
And Marti. Sweet Marti. She's become my closest friend, strangely enough. Being closest to his heart has sort of bonded us. She's the only one who knows for certain how badly things have effected me. She's walked in on me crying more than once, and automatically without question came to sit on my lap to cry with me. She's the only one that I can cry infront of, and I don't mean that she's the only one I will allow myself to cry in front of, but the only one that can break me down. In front of others, my resolve is calm and collected, but behind closed doors...
I think about all the things that have lead up to my decision of what to do with my life. I've tried and tried to come up with a better solution, but really? This is all I want. He told me to be happy, and I've tried. I've tried to date a couple of guys, but I just can't bring myself to commit to any of them. They could tell that I just wasn't into it. Heck, one of them actually boldly asked who the "asshole was that he had to beat up" because obviously "he was stupid enough to hurt a girl like me" which kind of made me laugh. That was Travis, and I'm still friends with him, but he knows that we'll be nothing more.
I think about all the fights he and I had, wondering what I could have done differently, had I only knew a little sooner! I realized a long time ago that I missed our crazy fights over stupid stuff. I'd give anything for those times back. Anything at all. It's a really steep price to pay for happiness, and I'm willing. And that's exactly what I'm going to do.
I step out of the kitchen and into the livingroom, wineglass still in my hand, and proceed in lying down on my couch, pulling a blanket down above me. I close my eyes as the wineglass stained red, falls to the ground.
Back at the MacDonald/Venturi residence, a young Marti wakes up, gasping for air. Her nightmare, if it could really be called a nightmare, still burns vividly in her mind.
"Edwin!" she calls on the walkie-talkie. She knows she should be over the kid-toys like this, but they come in handy.
"Yeah, Marti? What are you doing up? It's 2:30 in the morning," Edwin says, groggily. She feels bad for waking him, but she needs him. She has to tell him about her dream. Something very important.
"Can you come here? Please?" She must sound desperate, she decides, because after a half a second, Edwin agrees and says he's on his way down. Less than five minutes later, Edwin knocks softly on her door and pokes his head in to find Marti wide awake and alert.
"Marti, what is it? Another nightmare?"
"I'm not sure if I can actually call this one a nightmare. I mean, for us, yeah, absolutely...for Casey? It's a dream come true...peace, finally," Marti sighs, looking at her hands.
"Tell me about this nightmare/dream. What do you think it means?"
"Well, it was about Casey and Derek. They're finally together," she says with a tear. She remembers how Casey was dressed in a flowy white summer's dress and Derek wearing a white shirt with jeans. Derek was exactly how Marti remembered him, loving, kind, funny, and strong. She remembered How she had finally seen Casey smile a real smile when she looked at Derek's face. It was the face of a person who just had a nail pulled out of their foot, pure instant relief, and as she took his hand, she knew Casey was in pure bliss. Smerek looked as if this was the happiest day of his life, though he was dead. He had a slight sadness in his eyes, so Marti knew that her suspicions were correct. Well, at least they had eachother. She'd tell the family in the morning.
The following week, the MacDonald/Venturi household held a second funeral within 2 years, for another young life lost. This time the culprit was poison, and the gift was a picture with a note saying, "I'm sorry, I tried. Be happy, because I am now."
As Marti's gaze wavered from the priest saying a prayer for Casey's soul at the burial, she could swear she felt their presence. This comforted her enough so she did not cry as Casey's casket was being lowered, the Priest sprinkling the first of the dirt. As everyone started to turn away to leave, Marti looked back at the setting sun to find the two lovers fading into the sunlight, stopping once to kiss. Marti smiled, then blinked, and the lovers were gone, finally at peace.
Alright, so this is the final chapter of the two-shot. Hopefully it's good!
Read and review. I was going to go into much more detail, but I figure I'd shorten it up a little bit and save you from the truely depressing sad moments that popped up in my head as I wrote this. Please, if you really don't like it, leave CONSTRUCTIVE criticism or nothing at all. There is no contract binding you to writing flames or hate-views. I need the ideas, so they're more than welcome. Thanks again for my reviewers and I hope more will do the same, not only on this one, but on my others as well.
Oh, and yes, Casey poisoned herself. I am sorry I had to do that to them, but I did promise that I'd have a kind of happy ending for Dasey, didn't I? If they couldn't have each other in life, then they will spend eternity with eachother in death.