A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Please, I'll take any review, good or bad. Tell me what you like, tell me what you didn't like, tell me what you think should happen. Everything is welcome! Please enjoy!
Jacki :)
Chapter Two: When you're feeling empty keep me in your memory
Casey did wake up in her bedroom. But it had been three whole days since the accident, the night before they had finally let her leave the hospital. She tried rolling over to her side, but was stopped by the large hip to ankle cast that held her left leg in place. She groaned; this was going to take some getting used to. She was late getting up, Derek will have already stolen the bathroom, and she needed to hurry so she could beat Ed and Liz to it. As she sat herself up, her head pounded. She waited to hear Derek's voice as he joyfully taunted Edwin and Lizzie about his triumphant victory.
When she didn't hear it, she began to get worried; maybe Derek was late getting up as well. She carefully swung her legs around and grabbed the crutches that were propped up on the wall beside her bed. She slowly made her way up out of her room and into the hall. She turned to look at Derek's bedroom and saw Marti sitting in front of his door, yawning, but looking serious and crossing her arms.
'That's weird; Marti usually doesn't get up for another hour…" Casey thought to herself.
Lizzie poked her head out of her door, she looked at Casey and scrambled out of her room, "How are you doing, Casey?" she asked, timidly.
Casey looked down at her leg, "You mean this?" she pointed to the large cast, "It's doing fine, it's just going to take some getting used to, is all."
"Actually, I meant the whole Derek thing…" Lizzie said, choosing her words carefully, and speaking slowly.
Casey stared at her sister and blinked twice, "What Derek thing?" she asked naively.
Lizzie's jaw dropped; she had heard of quick recovery, but this, this was too quick, "Casey, I thought you wouldn't like being back in the house, seeing Derek's room and everything. You're taking his death a little too well."
Casey's heart began pounding harder and faster, she ignored Lizzie and turned to Derek's bedroom door and Marti, "Excuse me, Marti; I need to get into Derek's room."
"NO! Smerek told me that I needed to keep everyone out of his room while he went on vacation!" Marti pouted and looked up at Casey, eyes narrowed.
Casey looked puzzled; at that time, though, George was coming up the stairs and he had heard his daughter's cries. His face was suddenly very white and he looked about to be sick. He walked up to Marti and kneeled down to her level.
"Marti, we went over this, remember?" George's voice was shaking and it was unusually high-pitched; Casey looked down at him, curiously, "Derek is not on vacation. But he's not coming back."
"NO! Smerek is coming back! He promised he would be back soon!"
George looked ready to cry now, "No, Marti, he won't be coming back. I know he promised, but there's nothing he can do."
"NO! Daddy, Smerek is coming back. That's not true Daddy!"
George took a deep breath and his face grew stern, "Marti! Your brother is dead. He will not be coming back and that is final!"
Marti's pouting face softened as she looked at the tears coming down from her father's eyes, "Are you telling the truth, Daddy?" she asked, shaking her head, wishing the answer was 'no'.
All George could do was shake his head. Marti burst into loud screams as tears poured from her eyes. George picked her up and he brought her into her room, where the two stayed. Casey stared after them, her face crumbling. She looked at Lizzie, whose face was scrunched up in pain. Casey shook her head.
"Not again. I can't go through this again." She suddenly remembered the three times she had been told Derek was dead before this morning. The evening it had happened, the morning after, and yesterday morning; and now today, that made a fourth. She couldn't take realizing Derek was dead anymore. Tears ran down her face as she hobbled over to Derek's room. She swung the door opened and hurried in. She slammed the door shut behind her and locked it. She sat down on his bed and threw the crutches down on the floor. She laid down, putting her head on his pillow, taking in its scent. It smelled just like him.
Tears fell down her face and began to soak the pillow. She put her hand under the pillow for better support and felt something under her hand. She pulled it out and saw that it was a picture of her and Derek. She was on his back and he held her under her thighs. His head was turned towards her and was kissing her cheek. She had a radiant smile that shone brightly as her boyfriend's lips met her cheek. This was a picture that they had taken secretly at a portrait studio at the mall. They had made sure they saw none of their friends and Derek had dragged her in.
"Derek!" she giggled as he pulled her into the studio's lobby, "What are we doing?"
He looked over at her and wiggled his eyebrows, "I am not going to wait until we are eighteen to have a picture taken with my girlfriend where I can pose however the heck I want to."
She giggled again, "People might see!"
He shook his head, "Not if we hurry in there!" he grinned and pushed her to the counter and they signed in.
"Venturi/McDonald?" the photographer called after a few minutes of waiting; Derek smiled and pulled Casey into the studio.
The photographer had them make many poses, but Derek and Casey saw the one and fell in love with it. They paid for two wallet-size copies of it and left the studio smiling brightly.
Casey had cherished that photo and had kept it under her own pillow so it would always be close. And safe. More tears poured from her eyes as she realized he had done the same thing. She closed her eyes and held the picture to her chest, keeping it close to her heart. She took in the scent of Derek and a small smile crept up on her lips as she remembered when Derek had secretly taken her out for the six-month-iversary.
Derek pulled Casey out the door by her hand and stuck his head back in the door, "Casey and I have a project due tomorrow and we need to head down to the library to finish it! Be back in a couple of hours!"
Casey smiled as Derek shut the door, "So, Mr. Venturi, what do you have planned for this evening?"
He grinned and took her hand and led her to the sidewalk, "I figured since we couldn't go to any of the restaurants in town that I would take you out for a walk, and then we could go to the park and take a moonlit stroll around the lake."
She smiled up at him as they walked down the sidewalk, "Sounds perfect!"
He looked behind him at the house they had just left, then all around the street. Then, he leaned in kissed her on the lips, a long, gentle, meaningful kiss. As he pulled away he smirked. She giggled up at him.
"What's that for?"
He grinned, "I don't know how I spent six whole months before I told you how I felt. I could have gotten a kiss like that, and kisses like all the others, months ago!"
She laughed; he smiled, he loved her laugh, "It wasn't easy keeping my feelings from you either. Do you know how many times I wanted to scream and tell you that I didn't like any other guy but you?"
"Probably just as many times as I wanted to let you know that no other girl meant as much to me as you do."
She smiled and put her head on his shoulder, "Derek. I love this. I love you." It was the first time she had said those words to any boyfriend she had ever had, and she immediately began to regret it, until he stopped walking turned to face her, grabbed her other hand and looked straight into her eyes.
"I love you too, Casey. Always have, always will."
Casey smiled and as they continued to walk, she laid her head on his shoulder once more, because that was where she felt the most comfortable; his touch had that affect one her.
Casey sat up and looked around the room. It was exactly how he left it: messy. Clothes were thrown everywhere, his hockey gear was sporadically lying around the room, and CDs were on the floor. She shook her head, smiling through her tears, normally she hated clutter and mess, but with Derek, that was one of the things she loved most about him.
She slid the picture of the happy couple back under the pillow and she grabbed her crutches off the floor. She stood and made her way out of the room, giving it one last look as she closed the door. Tears were still flowing from her eyes and she made her way to the bathroom to wash her face and getting ready for the day.
'Typical Casey, even in a cast, she hurries to be the first one in the bathroom.'
