Please see authors note and disclaimer in chapter one
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-- Present Day --
After a few minutes she pulls herself into a sitting position and looks at him, still lying on his back. She smiles, but it's unconvincing at best. She takes a deep breath "Dennis isn't coming" she says it quickly (like pulling off a band-aide she thinks). Her eyes dart everywhere but at Derek.
He swears under his breath. Awhile ago Casey had finally decided that she wanted to tell her father about them, so she'd called him and after rescheduling once he said that he said he had some business in their area around now and could swing by for dinner. Casey had gone into super cleaning mode. Ever since Casey moved in, the apartment was always clean but now, it was borderline scary. The fridge was stocked and she had even cleaned his room (that had been fight later). She was planning to cook an elaborate dinner (she had even made some of the food lat night).
Derek sits up and places a hand on her arm, "Did he have to reschedule? Case, it's not that big of a deal"
Casey's laugh sound more like a sob and he scoots closer to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "I guess he called the house last night to talk to Liz and Marti picked up and when my dad said he was coming out here today Marti thought he knew and told him." Casey pauses to catch her breath. "I don't think he's ever going to speak to me again." Casey says and looks at Derek.
He leans over and presses his lips to her forehead softly and her father's words filter through her head; it's disgusting, Casey, he's you're brother, it's sick, it's incest. She closes her eyes tightly and leans into Derek.
-- One Year Six Months Fourteen Days Ago --
Casey's headed back to the apartment form the Student Union. She'd had to change her address to the apartment from the dorms so on her way back she stopped and picked up her and Derek's schedules.
She gets back to the apartment and has to try for a couple of minutes to unlock the door (her key sticks, she's not surprised something is wrong with it). She opens the door and walks straight into a huge box with a photo of a kitchen table on it. "Ouch" she mumbles looking at the table she and Derek picked out a few days ago (after much argument). It must have gotten delivered while she was out. She wonders idly how the hell they're going to put that thing together while she throws their schedules on the counter.
Derek's not there so she opens hers and for the most part she's happy. She notices the pre-calc class and remembers that before they were forced to live together she and Derek requested that and European History together. She opens his schedule and sees that they are in the classes together and it hits her that they are going to be spending way too much time together this term.
Casey leaves to go shop for some random still needed things for the apartment and about half an hour later Derek comes back from checking in with the hockey coach. He sees his schedule laid out on the kitchen counter and looks it over. It's not bad, but he can't remember a reason why he'd sign up for a European History class. He figures there had to be a reason…and then it hits him; he and Casey signed up for that and pre-calculus together.
Then he can't remember why he'd do that.
-- One Year Six Months Twelve Days Ago --
Casey's sitting in the floor in the dinning room area (or at least where they're putting the table) trying to assemble the new table. She's dumped out the contents of the box and sorted all the parts and the photo on the instructions sheet makes it look like it should be simple form this point forward but she's been trying to make it work for the past hour and so far nothing she's made has even vaguely resembled a table.
Derek comes in and almost trips on the table leg pile she's made by the door. She's tempted to call him Klutzilla but she made the piles herself and she trips every time she gets up so it'd probably be bad karma. "What the hell is going on here?" Derek asks amusement obvious in his voice as he looks at the mess Casey's sitting in the center of (eye of the storm).
"I'm putting the table together" she says it like its obvious and rolls her eyes.
"Really?" Derek asks sarcastically walking over and through the disaster area to get to the kitchen. The only good thing about Casey moving in is that now the kitchen is always stocked. He pulls a soda out of the fridge and the chips down from on top of the fridge and sits in his chair. He watches Casey struggle with the table for a full thirty minutes before sighing dramatically, "You're a joke" he tells her sitting down on the floor across form her.
She throws a screw at his head and winces when it misses and he has to lean back to pick it up off the floor.
Forty-five minutes later the table looks done so the stand up and flip it over. It wavers a little and they both hold their breath. It looks sturdy so Derek puts his back pack on it and it makes a creaking sound before one of the legs slides out of it's slot under the table and whole thing pitches in that direction. Derek grabs the table and holds it up, Casey can't stop laughing "I'm the joke, huh?" she asks and he kicks the wrench in her direction. She reconnects the leg and she smiles broadly when the table can hold both their backpacks.
-- One Year Six Months Two Days Ago --
So far, anyway, the acclimation process to living together has been relatively easy. They stay out of each others rooms (ish) and made rules for the apartment which, so far, neither has broken. Casey is starting wonder if half their problems weren't everyone else and not actually each other.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays Casey's last class gets lets out at 5:00 in the afternoon so she goes home and makes dinner. It ranges in complexity from cereal and toast to real meals of lasagna and bread sticks.
The first time it happens Derek's sure it's some kind of trap but its chili so he just stares at her skeptically while he eats. Casey's excited because she could never cook in the dorms and Nora always hated cooking so no one ever really taught her. But she picked up a cookbook at the used book store near campus and is determined to learn at least the basics.
-- One Year Five Months Thirteen Days Ago --
Casey's just loaded the groceries into the Prince, so she takes the cart back to its corral and goes to leave.
She pulls on her seat belt and checks her mirrors before she pulls out of her parking space. She pulls out of the store and she's not on the road for even a full minute when another car slams into her door. Her window crashes in on impact and she can feel glass cutting through her skin.
She realizes she's shaking when she brings her hand up to her temple where blood is starting to seep through. She's sitting in the car, staring out at the other driver who looks, to her anyway, relatively unfazed. She swallows hard before stepping out of the car. She's about to walk over to the other car when a police car pulls over and stops next to the Prince.
She and the other driver have to give statements. That lasts for all of about two minutes (the time it takes for everyone involved to realize that the guy who ran into Casey is falling down drunk). It's not even late, a little before 10:00pm on a Wednesday, but the guy was headed to a party and decided to "pre-game" at his house first. She can't believe this is happening to her.
The officer offers to take her to a hospital when he sees the blood dripping from her temple but she remembers the anatomy cycle of her biology class junior year (head wound bleed a lot, just by their nature) and declines. "It doesn't really hurt, if it gets worse I'll go" she promise and the officer nods and gives her a claims number and tells her that she can her the car fixed anywhere, to just give the number to the shop and it'll be covered by insurance. It hits her then that Derek's going to kill her.
The car is in bad condition (the front drivers window is busted, the alignment is off, and there is a dent) but it's not un-drive-able and the apartment is only a few blocks away so Casey gathers the glass from her seat and throws it in a nearby trash can before driving back to the apartment.
She parks and stares at the apartment building for a long moment, trying to get herself to stop shaking. She keeps telling herself that it was a minor accident but it doesn't seem to matter and the more she tries not to shake the harder her body seems to vibrate.
She takes a deep breath and grabs her bags of food before going inside. Derek, who's been watching television since before she left doesn't even look up when she walks in, "What'd you get?" She doesn't answer, just walks to the kitchen table and drops everything she's holding there.
She finally turns to face him even though he hasn't looked away from the television, "I'm gonna get it fixed tomorrow morning. I would have done it tonight but I didn't know where to go. I am so sorry." All of her words tumble on top of each other and she's still shaking and the blood from her cut is starting to mingle with tears and she feels so stupid.
Derek has a come back all ready (Spacey, when you speak that quickly humans can't understand when you're saying) but it dies on his lips when he glances over and sees blood tracking down her face. He jumps off the couch and crosses the small space over to her, "What the hell happened, Case?" he asks and pulls her hair to the side so he can look at her temple. He realizes that she's shaking and he closes his eyes for a moment (he has no idea how to deal with this) before rubbing his hands up and down her arms a few times "Case…" he breaths out her name before deciding on a loose plan. "Stay right here, okay?" he asks and doesn't move until she nods.
He goes to his room and grabs a zip up hoodie that's big even on him before going to the kitchen and grabbing a washcloth and filling a bowl with water. He goes to the living room and sets the water and washcloth on the coffee table by the couch then goes back to Casey, still standing where he asked her to stay (which is the biggest indication of all that she's really freaked out). He pulls the sweater around her shoulders and she pulls her arms through when he lets his hand fall to the small of her back to lead her to the couch. She sits and he sits next to her and it scares him that she's not arguing, that she's letting him tell her what to do. And it really scares him that she's shaking, especially since he can see that the cut isn't that bad, she just in shock.
He starts to wipe the blood away from her face (he tries to be gentle but really he's not that guy) and she takes a deep breath, "I wrecked the Prince" she pauses and he has to make a conscious effort not to. "I just pulled out of the parking lot and he was drunk and he just slammed into me…"
He's cleaning the last of the blood, what's dried around her temple, and he's unbelievable angry that someone would run into Casey (it's all most impressive, the girl has to be the safest, most cautious driver in the world) but he's trying to keep his anger in check. She's clearly horrified and for once he doesn't want to make it worse. "It's okay, Case, it's not a big -"
She cuts him off "The officer said that we can get it fixed anywhere. Insurance will cover it, he gave me a claims number," he words all collide into each other and she finally takes a breath, "I'm sorry" her voice is so small and defeated and Derek hates it.
"Casey, we'll get it fixed tomorrow, it's fine" he says and she nods a little. He pulls the last trace of blood off her skin with the wash cloth and presses his lips lightly to her temple, a little above the now visible cut. He's not sure what possessed him to do it but when he moves to place the wash cloth in the water bowl he notices that her shaking is starting to subside.
He smiles weakly at Casey before handing her the television remote. She laughs once before nodding a little and changing the channel.
When Derek wakes up a few hours later Casey's asleep and her head is on his shoulder. He tries to move, but when ever he does the hand Casey has tangled in the hem of his shirt tightens a little so he places a pillow on his lap and moves Casey so she's lying down, her head on the pillow. He turns to Sports Center and lets his hand play idly in her hair until he falls back to sleep.
-- One Year Five Months Seven Days Ago --
It's Tuesday evening and Casey is just finishing dinner (salad, pizza, and garlic bread) Derek's helping (standing in the kitchen and occasionally throwing pieces of lettuce at her). She's actually having fun. So far she likes to cook (mostly) and she doesn't hate living with Derek (occasionally).
She's setting plates on the table when someone knocks at the door. "Not it" the both say at the same time.
"Answer the door or no pizza" Casey says and knows she has him when he looks at the pizza still in the oven then walks to the door.
Half of Derek's hockey team is on the other side. "D, man, major party at Joey's place, lets go" one of the team members slings his arm over Derek's shoulders and Derek looks back at Casey.
He makes a random gesture at his step sister and tells them to wait a sec, "You should go" Casey says when he walks over to her.
"I can eat first" he offers half halfheartedly. If she wants him to, he'll stay and eat before he goes (he'll make rude comments about the food and tell her she's lame and his actual friends are cool, but he'll stay and eat).
"That's stupid, you should just go" Casey doesn't understand parties on Tuesdays but there are parties every day in college. She'd rather go to class (she's okay with being called lame – at least she has a future).
He nods once and stares at her the whole time he's pulling his jacket on. He starts to ask her if she's sure she's cool with him bailing but realizes that he's all ready asked and even that's way more than he had to do so he waves once before leaving.
He feels a little bad when he comes home several hours later and there are pieces of pizza wrapped in tin foil with a post-it stuck to the top (his name written in pink ink on the yellow paper).
-- One Year Four Months Twenty Three Days Ago --
They're walking back to the apartment after Euro History. "I have no idea what that crazy man was talking about" Derek says laughing.
Casey laughs and nods a little, "It's not so bad, I can show you tonight after your game if you want"
He nods before, "Oh, actually we're going out after the game. Jerry's throwing a win/loose party." He pauses a moment "You wanna come? Should be awesome."
Casey smiles and nods, "Yeah"
"You can show me that thing this weekend?" he asks.
"Sure" she nods.
Most of their walk is filled with conversations about their history class and as they're walking up the sidewalk leading to their apartment Casey trips on a break in the pavement, Derek's in mid-sentence and he reaches out and grabs her arm, holding her upright until she can do it herself again without ever pausing in what he was saying.
Casey waits all most a full ten minutes for him to call her Klutzilla or make fun of her and smiles when she realizes that it's not coming. She thinks back and realizes that for as much as he makes fun of her, this has happened once or twice a week since they started to hang out more at college (she'll trip and he'll make sure she doesn't fall without even mentioning it).
She realizes, at that moment, how much time her and Derek have been spending together (and that they've kind of been…friends…its weird.)
-- One Year Four Months Nineteen Days Ago --
Casey's dance class is canceled so she goes by the store before walking home. She figures she can make a dinner that will keep, then go to Derek's hockey game, then come home and eat.
She's messing with her key in lock, telling herself for the ten thousandth time that she needs to get a new one (that doesn't stick) when the door just pops open. She's sure Derek forgot to lock it again and she's can't believe that because just a few days ago one of the people upstairs had their apartment broken in to.
She walks in and for a second can't even believe what she's seeing. "Der-rek" she yells and he jumps away from the blond on the couch whose face he was just trying to eat.
"Thought you had dance" Derek stumbles nervously, standing up and moving a slightly away from the girl on the couch.
"Canceled" she says and shakes her head a little. The girl, who Casey doesn't know, looks incredibly uncomfortable so Casey swallows her anger for the moment and looks at Derek, "Can I have a word?" she asks all false calm and nice and Derek knows he's screwed.
He can't think of a way out of it, if he said no and left he'd still have to come home and deal with her later (all his worldly possessions are in the room down the hall). He shrugs and says fine, he goes to follow her down the hall to his room when Beverly stands up, "You know what, I should really go anyway…" she gestures idly at the door and Derek nods his apology, "Good luck at your game, Derek" she smiles and kisses him once before she leaves. When Derek turns around to face Casey she's looking away; disgust etched in her features.
"We weren't even doing anything" Derek says before she can speak. And it's true, mostly. They were kissing, but all clothes were on and hands were plainly visible.
"No dates or hook ups in the apartment" Casey says all most completely monotone. "We agreed, Derek, it was a part of the rules when we were forced to live together again" Casey feels completely betrayed and she has no idea why.
Derek rolls his eyes, "I didn't think you'd be home for another two hours, and since I had to leave before that for my game -"
She cuts him off, "It doesn't matter if I'm here, Derek, there they rules we agreed on!" she's shouting. If Derek had done this when she first had to move in she's pretty sure she wouldn't have even been fazed, but lately it had seemed like they were getting closer. They were more friends/room mates than step siblings that hated each other and had to live together again. She's beyond mad that he betrayed that.
"Look, Case -" he starts and this time it's the alarm on his cell phone that cuts him off, he closes his eyes and sighs, "I have to go, pre game meeting starts in ten" he says and starts to gather his things.
"Whatever" Casey throws back and doesn't move from where she's standing by the door, arms crossed, until she hears the latch click into place behind Derek. Derek knows the next few weeks (until Casey forgives him) will suck and that he'll probably be making his own dinners.
The announcers start to bring everyone out onto the ice and Derek can't help but smiles when he sees Casey in the very last row, right next to the door.
-- Present Day --
"He'll come around, Casey, everyone else has" Derek says and even as the words leave him he knows they mean nothing. Casey rolls her eyes but says nothing. They both know they've been lucky.
All he knows is that doesn't want to sit in bed all day and watch Casey cry and he thinks maybe a distraction would be good for her so he pulls on her hair lightly and laughs when she hits his chest will her balled up fist. "Okay," Derek starts and smiles at Casey when she looks up at him with red eyes; "I, for one, want to know exactly what kind of disaster dinner would have been" he says and slowly stands up. It's kind of early for dinner but whatever, so he extends his hand to her and smiles reassuringly when she takes it.
He pulls her to the kitchen and starts pulling out things she bought for dinner tonight. He holds something up and turns to her "What the hell is this?" he asks.
She nods once and pulls her hands across her face. She sniffles then smiles, "tofu". She giggles at the look on his face.
"Seriously?" he asks and she nods, "we could always go out tonight you know" he says and dodges a spoon she throw at him. She takes the tofu away from him and he leans against the counter and smiles when she starts to prepare the food, rolling his eyes when she gives him tasks.
-- One Year Four Months Twelve Days Ago --
Mid-terms aren't too far off so Casey's in the library studying when her phone goes off. She's pretty sure everyone around her is conspiring to kill her when she picks up, "Liz, I can't really…what…okay…I'll be there" everyone around her is staring but she throws her things in her bag and frantically tries to call Derek.
Derek's just finishing practice when he sees a text from Edwin and sixteen missed calls from Casey. He reads the text first.
Casey answers her phone before the first ring is even complete. "Yeah, I'm at the library"
They don't get back to London for almost seven hours with all the mid-day traffic but when they get to the hospital Nora is still in labor anyway.
Derek and Casey try to entertain the younger kids while George runs back to be with Nora. It doesn't take long for Marti and Edwin to fall asleep so Casey paces while Derek tells her chill and Lizzie watches.
About two hours after Casey and Derek's arrival George comes out to the waiting room looking pale and tells them that all that they have a new baby sister.
-- One Year Four Months Eight Days Ago --
Casey's holding baby Annabelle as they all walk to the door. Derek can't stop staring because Anna's hair all ready looks like Casey's and everyone's been saying that she got Derek's eyes and it's unexplainable how much t freaks him out. What's really weird though, is how good Casey is with this baby.
Casey hands Anna back to Nora and everyone exchanges hugs so Derek and Casey can leave to go back to school, four days was all ready stretching it, especially this close to mid-terms but they promise to come back soon so they good-byes are pretty painless.
-- One Year Three Months Twenty Days Ago --
As much as Marti has loved being the older sister she also misses the attention that comes with being the youngest, so Derek really wants her birthday to be special.
Derek talks his hockey coach into letting him miss weekend practice and picks Casey up from her last class so they can drive through the afternoon and get home for Marti's birthday.
They get back to the house a little before midnight and Nora was supposed to leave decorations out so they could get the place ready but instead there's a note on the kitchen counter saying she wasn't able to make it out, lying over some money. It's hard to begrudge her when you hear Anna's soft cries from the basement.
They get back into the car and drive to a 24 hour store about twenty minutes away. They argue about a theme in the car and finally decide to just throw a birthday party. They get a cake and decorations and things to fill loot bags with and mini pizzas and mini hot dogs and Derek's feeling pretty good about this.
They get home and decorate (mostly Casey decorates and Derek watches). By the time they're done the place actually looks really good. Casey grabs the loot bags and the toys and candy they bought to fill them with and drops them in front of Derek, "It is your sister, you can help, you know"
They end up filling twenty loot bags, figuring that even with the extra guests Marti probably managed to sneak in there's no way Nora would let her invite more than that. Casey hides them and the cake in the kitchen and realizes that it's morning.
Derek comes into the kitchen carrying the leftover bits of streamer they'd had to cut off and throws them away. "Not bad right" he says and when walks over to him to look out at the living room she has to agree. She leans against him a little without thinking about it and when she feels his hand on her arm she jumps a little and is sure she's about to be made fun of.
Instead, Derek pulls her around so her back is against the counter and Derek is looming over her. They're caught in this weird stare "what are we…?" Casey trails off when his hand trails lightly up her arm to rest on her shoulder. She blinks once, trying to get this to make sense and the when she opens her eyes her hand is on Derek's chest and they're a fraction of an inch apart.
"Wow!" they hear Marti scream from the bottom of the stairs.
Derek's hand tightens on her shoulder and whatever weird trance they were in is broken. He leans towards her for a brief moment before pushing back to turn towards Marti, "Happy birthday, Smarti" he says pulling his sister into a big hug.
Casey turns around and moves farther into the kitchen. She pulls her hand across her face to wipe away a tear and moves to the sink to get a glass of water.
It seems Marti's scream has woken everyone as Lizzie and Edwin come downstairs and Nora and George (carrying Anna) come up. George hands Anna to Derek while he goes to get something to eat and Casey can't tear her eyes away from Derek, sitting in the floor with Marti, Anna in his arms.
Around noon the girls start arriving, there are fifteen party guests (on a guest list of ten) and it goes pretty smooth. Derek plays games with the girls (and convinces/orders Edwin to help) while Casey makes food and Lizzie helps, asking her all kinds of questions about college. Nora and George stay in the basement with Anna for the most part, not wanting the noise and activity to overwhelm the new baby.
After they eat, everyone watches Marti open gifts before the kid's parents start picking them up.
A few hours later George, Nora, Edwin, Lizzie, Derek, Casey (holding Anna), and Marti all sit down for a happy birthday Marti snack. Later, after Marti's taken a shower (and not a bath because "I'm a big girl now, daddy") she comes downstairs and says thank you to Casey and Derek for coming home special for her and throwing her a party. Derek tells her that she'll always be special and she begs him to read her a story.
Anna's fallen asleep so George and Nora take her downstairs, hoping to get some sleep of their own. Derek follows Marti up the stairs so her can read her Cinderella and Lizzie has soccer and Edwin has hockey (which he took up recently in his never ending quest to be just like Derek) in the morning so they head up stairs as well.
It leave Casey alone in the living room, so she turns to radio on and turns the volume down low so it wont disturb anyone and starts to clean. It's really only then that she realizes how messy the room. Bits of food everywhere and streamers (some falling down and only half attached to the ceiling now) hang everywhere, and wrapping paper liters the floor.
She's been cleaning for about half an hour when she hears someone coming down the stairs. She glances behind her and sees Derek picking up pink and purple streamers from the stairs. She ignores him, taking the trash bag she's filled and placing it by the door before opening a new one and continuing to clean. They go on like that for a while and it's Derek who breaks the silence, "Casey -"
She cuts him off, "I don't really want to talk right now, Derek" she says and he nods even though she can't see him from where she is.
It's silent for another few minutes and Casey's gathers about all the wrapping paper she can carry from this area when she turns around. Derek takes a deep breath and walks over to her, backing her into the corner, "Der-rek" she sighs exasperated and tries to move past him. He moves so she can't and she finally looks up at him. He walks forward, causing her to walk back until she hits the wall lightly. She hadn't realized she was that close to the wall so her skin coming in contact with the cold plaster makes her jumps slightly and drop all the wrapping paper she was holding.
Derek laughs a little as he moves slightly forward, "Case…" he starts be realizes that he has no idea what he actually wants to say.
He's too close now, and she knows that. Knows the chances of Marti running down the stairs and stopping this are all most non-existent this time. Knows she should just push past him and go upstairs and finish cleaning in the morning.
One of his hands moves to rest lightly on her hip and she puts her hands on his shoulders, she's thinking (always) and deciding how hard to push him when she feels his other hand on her cheek. She leans into it, biting her lip and finally looks up at him.
They're way to close and if she moves forward, even at all, she knows with an absolute kind of certainty that their lips will meet. Right until the moment when her hands slips from his shoulders and snake around his neck she's absolutely sure she's going to push him away. But after that, it's like gravity (it just happens), their lips connect and his hand slips from her cheek to her hair and Casey's ready to cry it's just so damn gentle.
The kiss intensifies and Casey breaks it off out of the need to breath and Derek moves to trail kisses lightly down her neck. His lips meet hers again and he mumbles her name against her lips and all the sudden she's crashing back to reality.
She pushes him away and ignores that she's suddenly freezing, she steps around so she's no longer cornered, "I don't…we can't…you're my…" she stammers and takes a deep, shaky breath, "We can not do this, Derek" she says and he opens his mouth to respond but she runs upstairs and locks her door behind her before he can.
Later that night Casey's sitting in her bed, looking at the wall that separates her room from Derek's and she can hear his CD player from inside.
Later that night Derek's in his room, staring at the wall that separates his room from Casey's and he can hear her crying from inside.
I got a lot of hits on chapter one, but not many reviews. Please review!!
Chapter three coming soon!