Author's Note: Last chapter I stated the date was 2117. It was pointed out to me that this infact 110 years in the future, not 10 years like I wanted. Stupid typo. Thank you to Rose for pointing that out. :-) (Things like that make me think I really should get a beta.) Anyway thank you all so much for the reviews to the last chapter. They made me a happy girl!

I hope you guys like this chapter. There are a few episdoes of LwD I actually havn't seen, so if anything I say isn't canon accurate thats why. Please let me know if there is anything I need to change. Italics indicate a flashback.

Disclaimer: Last night a little fairy came into my room and granted me the rights to Life With Derek. Its true.

Casey poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down on her recliner, thinking about Derek. Looking back, she couldn't really pin point when it started, she didn't remember the first time her annoyance was mixed with attraction, or the first time flash of gratitude also contained longing. She knew it must have been pretty soon after they moved in. After that party they got locked in the bathroom maybe? It was all fuzzy, mostly because she'd spent so much time denying it.

Then, after that disastrous dinner with her father, when Derek called him back for her, things changed a little. That night got her thinking about all the times they'd actually been nice to each other, and she wondered why it was they fought as much as they did. So she'd done some research, and then marched to Derek's room with a plan.

"Derek, I've been thinking," Casey said entering his room with out bothering to knock.

"Hope you didn't strain yourself." He said glaring at her, "is there a reason you're in my room?"

"Shut up, I'm trying to be sincere here, I want to talk to you." she said.

"What?" he asked warily.

"The other day Marti asked me why we fight so much." Casey said. This was true; she had spent half an hour the week before reassuring Marti that she didn't really hate Derek.

"I don't know what I did this time, but if you're expecting an apology of some sort-"

"I'm not" She cut him off, "Its just we are siblings-"

"step-siblings," he corrected, looking annoyed.

"Whatever. The thing is I thought it might be nice if we made more of an effort to get along." She said.

"Nope. Impossible. Nice talking to you." He said, spinning away from her on his computer chair. Casey threw up her arms in frustration. She didn't know why she had even bothered. She stormed back to her room, and was about to slam the door, when she saw that Derek had followed her. She glared at him.

"Lame, Casey. I don't get a real come back? Where's the fun in that?" he asked, trademark smirk in place.

"I was TRYING to have a serious conversation with you." she informed him.

"Why?" he asked. She rolled her eyes.

"Because we're selfish. Do you realize this entire house revolves around our fights?" She asked.

"So?" he asked, letting himself into her room and sitting down on her bed.

"So, we can get along if we try you know, there have been times when were surprisingly nice to each other." She said.

"I was under contract." He said.

"I'm not talking about the 'be nice clause', I'm talking about you calling my dad back, or me keeping you from getting expelled." she said.

"What's your point Casey?" he asked, looking guarded.

"I just think, in an effort to get along more often, and save our families sanity, we should try something." she explained.

"I'm listening," he said. She took a deep breath, knowing he'd fight her on what she about to suggest.

"Every day, you and I will tell each other something about ourselves. Reveal things. The idea being, that the more we know about each other that we didn't know before, the less we will fight." She said.

"Is this Pete's idea?" he asked, rolling his eyes and standing up.

"You mean Paul? No its not. I looked it up online." She said, mildly comforted by the fact that he hadn't run from her room.

"Where at he quipped, rolling his eyes at her.

"Something like that," She said, "Will you try it?"

"Casey I really don't see-" he began.

"Marti said sometimes when we fight she goes in room and hides her head in her pillows and cries!" Casey said quickly interrupting him. She knew it wasn't right to use Marti's words against Derek, but this had become important to her, and she knew Marti might soften him.

"Cries?" he asked, looking alarmed.

"Cries." Casey confirmed, feeling triumphant.

"Fine. I'll do it," he said, "But just for the record Casey, using Marti against me is low." he said then started to walk out of the room.

"Wait!" she called, he turned, "You have to tell me something about you I don't know."

"We're starting now?" he asked clearly annoyed.

"Yes now." she said

"You first then," he challenged. There was a long pause as Casey racked her brain to think of something to tell him that would start this plan off on the right foot.

"At my first dance recital, I fell off the stage," she said. Derek cracked up.

"Not surprising. Klutzilla from birth huh?" he asked still laughing. She laughed too; at least he wasn't glaring at her anymore.

"Ok, Your turn." She said, smiling. He looked thoughtful.

"My first hockey game," he began, then paused and ran a hand through his hair, "I scored the winning goal, for the other team."

"Aww!" Casey said, laughing, "Did you cry?"

"No! I was a very manly five!" He said. She shot him a look of disbelief, "Fine," he said, "I cried the whole way home."

"Aww, see Derek? I hate you less already." she said.

"Whatever. Are we done now?" he asked, but he was smiling.

"For today." she said.

The first few days, they'd exchanged basics; Casey's favorite color was orange, Derek's was green, in Grade three Casey had her tonsils out, in Grade 4 Derek broke his arm and was out an entire hockey season. Then one day three weeks after they'd begun, Casey stayed out late at Emily's and didn't get home till the rest of the house was asleep. She assumed she and Derek would just skip their exchange for that day, but when she got to her room, she found a post-it stuck to her computer screen.

I'm afraid of bats. They're like mice with wings.

She was pleasantly surprised, so smiling she grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote,

I'm terrified of needles.

and stuck it under his door. From then on no matter if they saw each other that day or not, the daily exchange was always done on post-its or pieces of scrap paper. They'd stick them all over the place, computer monitors, doors, mirrors, pillows. For some reason, it was easier on both of them that way. It seemed less forced, and they relaxed a little admitting more and more. Casey still had every single confession of Derek's. She'd saved them all; she had shoe boxes stuffed to the brim with them. Even now, when they hadn't really spoken in years, she hadn't been able to bring herself to throw them away. They were like little pieces of Derek himself.

Once I turned the water heater up in my fish tank. I just wanted to see what would happen, I ended up boiling my gold fish. It was traumatic.

That had made Casey smile, thinking of little Derek so upset over killing his fish. There were a lot like that, little stories from his childhood, especially in the beginning. Later, they started to be more personal.

I know Edwin's smarter than I am. It doesn't bother me really; I just sometimes wish everyone didn't act like it all the time. The constant rubbing it in gets a little old.

If any guy ever treated Marti or even Lizzie the way I treat girls, I'd kill him.

There were some that carried slight insults.

You know that headband of yours that missing? That pink and blue checked one? Well I stole it. I gave it to Marti, it looks better on her anyway.

She remembered confronting him after that one. They normally didn't talk about their notes, but she had to know why he stole her headband. He'd just shrugged,

"Sam used to go on and on about how good you looked in it. How it brought out your eyes when you wore it. It was revolting."

She'd been annoyed by this, but she'd let it go. Amazingly they really were getting along a little better. They would watch movies in peace, study in companionable silence, and even their fighting, was more of banter than the all out brawl it had been before. After two months or so, Casey realized she spend all day looking forward to Derek's post-it confessions. She would sit in math class and think of what to tell him. It had become one of the highlights of her day.

Three months in, they started confessing bits of their romantic pasts.

My first kiss was in grade 6. Susie Reynolds. Recess.

I had this huge crush on my grade 8 English teacher. The last day of school I brought her flowers. She kissed my cheek. I was one happy 14-year-old.

Then one day, almost four months after their exchange had begun, they began to get flirty. With out talking about it, with out anything changing on the outside, they both, on the same day confessed similar things.

Stuck to her mirror was a note that read:

You know your babe raider outfit? I didn't really make me sick. You looked really hot. Really hot.

She had put a note in his jacket pocket that morning:

I think you look sexy in your leather jacket.

That was when things really began to change.

Hope you guys enjoyed it.