AN: Sad. Only one review. Oh well, I wrote this anyway. I'm not sure if the rest of the story will be entirely in Derek's POV. But maybe...we'll see.

Disclaimer: Don't own Boone, Shannon, Casey, Derek, or anything they're affiliated with.

"What do you mean cancelled?!" The girl behind the counter stared wide-eyed. She was young, probably twenty-two. And she was cute, too. If it hadn't been for the current problem, I would've hit on her. But, she was young, and being so, inexperienced at dealing with such problems.

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Venturi. We had some…issues this morning; all overseas flights have been cancelled. If you need to get somewhere in Australia, I can help you. But, otherwise-"

"And just what the hell are you going to do about our need to get to Victoria by tomorrow, hm? Are you going to pay for me to buy tickets with another airline?" I reached out my hand to her. "Come on, pay up. I'm going to need to get those soon before anyone else gets to them." She averted her eyes from mine and looked around for someone to help her. I could tell I was making her nervous, but I was pissed off. I really don't care whose feelings I hurt, as long as I get on a damn plane.

"Derek…" I turned to face Casey after she grabbed my elbow tightly. She was glaring daggers at me, making it clear she did not at all like the way I was treating this girl or handling the situation in general. It was then that I noticed I wasn't the only angry Oceanic Airlines passenger in that airport. Each other attendant was having a similar argument with other customers, and there was a huge line behind us.

I let out an exasperated sigh and buried my face in my hands, willing myself to calm down. I already felt like shit from the previous night, I did not need this, too. "All right, look," I raised my head and locked eyes with the girl. My voice was harsher than intended and as a result, she winced. "I understand that this is not your fault and that me being angry with you doesn't solve anything. But, we need to get to Canada, today. Or at least tomorrow. Now, how about you bring me your supervisor, and they can tell me what you guys can do for me. Cool?"

She smiled weakly and looked down at her computer. "Our supervisor is pretty busy right now, actually. I'm sorry. There's really nothing our airline can do for you unless you need to go somewhere within the country. I can offer you a refund, or you can keep your tickets and wait until we open flights back up again."

"When will that be?"

Another sympathetic smile. "We have no clue. They're not telling us anything down here. But between you and me, it had to have been something big, because it's the first time since the company opened they've cancelled flights."

"Great, now I have some incentive to watch the news." I retorted, sarcastically. She looked down again and frowned.

"I'm sorry, sir." I waved her off. "What would you like to do with your tickets?"

I looked at Casey, who seemed to not be paying attention at all. She hadn't been paying attention to anything since we met in the terminal, really. We may not have been close, but I could tell something was wrong. She wore no make up, was dressed in sweats, and her eyes were puffy, as if she had been crying sometime before. But most noticeably of all, she was being quiet. I hoped she didn't start crying again. Maybe her job was stressing her out? Or a boyfriend? Or maybe…

When she shrugged, it broke my line of thought. I turned back to the clerk. "Whatever. Just refund the credit card, I guess. I don't fucking care."

Another wary smile. She should stop that. "All right, sir."

"What do I need to do?" I asked as I ran a hand through my hair, clearly agitated.

A few minutes later, I joined Casey, who had sat down in some chairs.

"What now?" she asked quietly.

"I have no idea."

"Mom's going to be so worried."

"Yeah. And Dad's going to be heart broken." I slouched down in the chair, leaning my head back. He really wanted me to be there for this. He was so proud and excited about his book, I felt horrible about letting him down. I have to admit, some part of me was proud of him for doing something he'd always talked about. The book was great.

Okay, so I hadn't read the copy he sent me…yet. That's what I had been planning to do on the plane. I still knew it was going to be good. And even if it wasn't, I still planned to be supportive.

Suddenly, I felt light pressure on my knee and looked down to see Casey's hand.

"He'll understand, Derek. It'll be okay."

I covered my face with my hands and tipped my head back again. How the hell was it going to be okay? I'm missing my dad's first book release because I'm stuck in Sydney, with my stepsister. Could it get worse?

"We should get a car. And then a hotel, before they're all taken." I heard her say as she got up and gathered both of our bags. "Come on."

"Good, maybe I can kill us by 'accidentally' driving on the wrong side of the street."

"Who says you're driving?"

"I'm the man." I said, standing up and taking my bags from her. "The man drives."

"Man?" She laughed sarcastically. "Yeah, right. Besides, after that comment, I don't trust you."

"You never trusted me, anyway. I'm paying. I'm driving."

"But, I'm a better driver. I've been in fewer accidents."

It was my turn to laugh. "Yes, but all the accidents you've been in have been your fault. None of mine have been. It's a proven fact than men are better drivers anyway. You can't argue with science." I grinned, thinking I had won the argument.

"Fine, but if you want to be seen driving around Sydney in a girly rental car, that's your choice. Remember that."

Our eyes narrowed at each other as we approached the car rental desk. I gave them my name and my credit card. After it was approved, the guy went to the back to grab the keys.

"Make sure it's a manly car!" I called after him, earning a snicker from Casey.

About thirty minutes later, we were bitterly driving down the freeway. Casey was bitter because I was driving. I was bitter because, well, she was right; it was a girly rental car.

"Are you hungry?" I looked at her. She simply nodded and kept staring out the window. After we had left the airport, she returned to being silent. "Well, what do you want to eat?" She shrugged. And it pissed me off. "Damn it, Casey, pick somewhere. I'm not going somewhere just to have you complain the whole time."

"I don't care." It was quiet, almost to where I couldn't hear her.

"You do too fucking care. Normally, I can't make any kind of decision without you protesting against it. What the hell is-"

"Just go to the next restaurant you see." She snapped, interrupting me and turning to face me. Her face was flushed and her eyes watery. I looked at her out of my peripheral vision. Damn it, don't start crying. Please.

"Fine."

We ate in silence. She didn't cry, but I could tell she wanted to. She acted like she'd been holding it in for days. The waiter brought our check and I brought out my credit card to pay, when Casey objected.

"You paid for the car, let me pay for this." I shook my head, handing the card to the server. "Well, at least let me pay for my half."

"Case, it's fine." She looked at me, as if searching my eyes for the reason why I was being generous. We stood from the table and began to walk back to the car, with me avoiding her gaze. "You looked like you could use a little generosity." I said sheepishly, sticking my hands in my coat pockets.

That's when the tears started.

I hate it when girls cry. Absolutely hate it. I never know what to do, or how exactly to comfort them. Casey fell against me, burying her face in my chest and sobbing, her hands tangled in my shirt. Tentatively, I removed my hands from my pockets and brought one to her head, stroking her hair in a calming motion, unsure of what to do with the other one. Derek Venturi does not do tears. It's bad enough when I'm the one causing them. But I had no idea why she was crying, and that was a horrible feeling.

We stood like that in the parking lot for what seemed like hours. In reality, it was probably only like five or ten minutes. She pulled away from me, wiping her eyes in an attempt to dry them. I rested my hands on her shoulders, looking at her, silently asking 'Are you okay?'.

"I'm sorry," she managed to sputter out after a few deep breaths. "I know you don't like crying." She pulled me into an awkward hug and I could feel the tears she shed on my shirt through the fabric. They were cool on my skin.

"It's all right." We broke apart and walked to the car quietly, somewhat uncomfortably. She kept crying on the drive to the hotel, but not loud sobbing like she had done at the restaurant. I think she thought I couldn't tell, but I heard her sniffle every so often.

Upon arriving at the hotel, I helped Casey with her stuff and sat her down in a lobby chair. "I'll go get us a couple of rooms. Just sit here. You should call Nora and Dad, tell them what's going on, okay?" She nodded and once again began digging in her purse. I stopped her. "This one's on George."

I walked up to the desk where an exhausted man was standing. He hung up the phone he was on and looked at me. "Can I help you?" he asked, clearly frustrated by something.

"Um, yeah. I'm Derek Venturi, I stayed here last night. I need to extend my reservation, and add a room."

The man sighed. He looked as if he was shaking. "I figured you were going to say that." He brought a hand to his face, rubbing his temples with his forefinger and thumb. Funny, I had the same look on my face a couple of hours ago. "Look, I can't give you two rooms, unless you have a party of four or more."

I furrowed my brow. "Well, why not?"

"I'm assuming you were on an Oceanic flight out of Sydney, right?" I nodded. "Well, so was what seems like anyone who went to the airport today. They're all trying to find a place to stay and there just aren't that many hotels near the airport, which seems to be where everyone wants to stay. So, I'm going to have to cram as many people as possible into as few rooms as possible, got me?" My eyes narrowed as I thought. Shit, this stupid airlines thing was following me everywhere. "I can offer you one room, or you can try another hotel, but I can't guarantee they will have a place, or that they won't tell you the same thing."

I looked over to Casey, who was almost drifting off to sleep in her chair. I couldn't take her anywhere else. She was not going to be happy, either way, so it was a lose-lose situation. "All right, whatever." I said, turning back to the guy behind the desk. "Can you at least give me a room with two beds?"

He nodded and completed entering our information into the computer. "Here are two room keys, Mr. Venturi. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you and I hope you understand."

"Yeah, yeah. Everyone seems to be telling me that today."

He smirked. "We're making a great impression on you, aren't we?"

"You have no idea. Thanks for the room." I took the keys, slipping one in my pocket, and walked back over to Casey, handing her the other one. "I could only get us one room. But before you freak, there are two beds."

She stood from her chair and picked up her bags, nodding. I found it odd that she didn't argue. But then again, she had hardly argued anything today. We walked to our room in silence and after we had become situated, she announced she was going to take a shower. When she emerged from the bathroom, I was watching a rugby match. I knew she wouldn't want to watch it, and I wasn't that into it anyway, so I punched in some random numbers and went to shower myself. I had already torn my shirt off and unbuttoned my jeans when I heard her gasp.

"Oh my God…"

I flung the door open, a panicked look on my face, half expecting there to be someone in the room with her or her to have fallen ill. If I hadn't been worried, I would've been surprised when she stood gawking at the TV. "What? What's wrong?" Weakly, she pointed to it. Apparently, I had put it on a news station and they were talking about some missing people. "I don't-"

"Shh!!" She said angrily, still staring at the screen, pushing a button on the remote to increase the volume. That's when I noticed the caption at the bottom.

Oceanic Flight 815 disappears over the Pacific.

Obviously, that's why our flight was cancelled. The shots on screen were of random helicopters flying over the ocean. Then they started showing images of the some hundred passengers on board. A familiar face popped up and I sank to the bed behind me, utterly confused.

"Holy shit, Boone…" I said, barely above a whisper. I had just seen him twenty hours ago, and now he was missing…or worse.

"Boone?" Casey asked, intrigued and surprised.

I pointed to the screen just as Boone's picture was taken away and replaced with a skinny blonde girl by the name of Shannon Rutherford.

"I met…talked to him…in a bar, last night. For like two hours." She looked at me quizzically, wondering why I'd be so affected by a conversation with a stranger. "We just connected, or something, I don't know. He basically told me his life's story, about his job, his psycho mother and how he was in love with his step-" I immediately stopped, incredibly uncomfortable with the current position I was in, half naked, about to tell my stepsister about a guy I had connected with, who just so happened to be in love with his stepsister. Shit, talk about awkward. Her eyes held a questioning look and I kept myself from connecting mine to hers. "Never mind. I'm going to shower."

When I got out, the TV still flickered when the sitcom she had been watching changed scenes and the bedside lamp was still on. Casey, however, was out. I turned the TV off and was about to do the same to the lamp, when she stirred and grabbed my arm. She looked at me with sleepy, red eyes, and smiled weakly.

"Thank you."

"You're…welcome…" I replied, almost asking her instead of assuring her.

Then she let go and lay back down, still staring up at me. I smiled back, unsure of what she was thanking me for, and turned the lamp off, climbing into my bed. I was gazing up at what I thought would be the ceiling, thinking about the day ahead. I was exhausted, and yet I could not sleep. My mind was racing. I thought about Boone and the unfortunate turn of events. He seemed like a such cool guy; it was sad, really. I thought about Casey and what could possibly have bothered her enough to make her cry in front of me like that. I turned my head to look at where her bed was, though I couldn't see her. I listened intently. Her breathing was shallow and rhythmic. I cursed myself silently for not having the guts before to say what I wanted to say to her face. Scratch that, I could say it to her face. I needed to say it while she was conscious. I've been holding this apology for eight years. It's about damn time I let it out, right?

"I'm sorry for being such an asshole all these years." I whispered into the darkness before finally closing my eyes and going to sleep.

Once again, reviews; nice, appreciated, and motivation.