Thanks so much for the all the wonderful reviews! I'm glad you guys want me to continue. I know it is kind of a creepy thing to think of, but I think that's part of the appeal...for me anyway. Anyway this took longer than I wanted it to, but writing Paul is way harder than I thought it would be. Plus the exact details of the how were evading me. If this goes anything like I'm planning (which is no guarantee), this will be a decently long fic. Well, without further ado, here's chapter two!


He was floored. Absolutely floored. Derek felt like Ryan the Fridge had just fell from the sky and pancaked him to the ground. Opening his mouth to say something, he found himself suddenly parched. He closed his mouth, tried to moisten it with his own spit. Opened it again. All that came out was a slight wheeze.

Casey just continued to stare at her hands.

Finally Derek managed to find his voice. "What the fuck?" he sputtered, still incredulous.

Casey's eyes started watering again. "I knew I shouldn't have told you," she said in a small voice.

"Shut up Case, I'm not judging you or anything, I'm just kind of blown. Don't you dare start crying again. I can't take twice in one day," Derek scolded lightly, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look him in the eyes. Hoping she could pick up on the caring in them. She just nodded mutely, a large chunk of brown hair falling into her eyes. She didn't bother to brush it back, and Derek just let go of her.

They sat in silence for a long time. After at least ten minutes, Derek got up and strode out of the room without a word. Casey held her breath, terrified he was going to leave, or call her parents, or do SOMETHING drastic and terrible. She released her breath when she heard the familiar (yet slightly awkward) sound of Derek taking a leak. Habitually, she listened for the sounds of the flush, of the running water in the sink. Moments later, he appeared in the door frame.

"Here's the deal Princess. I want you to tell me every detail of this sordid love affair," he pretended not to notice as she winced, "but I'm starving. And we both know I can't concentrate on an empty stomach. So I'm going to order us some Chinese, my treat, and you're going to tell me everything," he told her sternly but with a smile.

Casey looked hesitant, but after a moment's consideration, she nodded.

"Now, let's get you out of that sweatshirt," he continued. Suddenly, he had new suspicions about the origin of said garment, and he didn't like it.

His stepsister stood up shakily, and looked around her room with a frown. After a moment, she looked back at Derek with a helpless expression.

She mumbled something that Derek didn't quite hear, so he stepped into the room and gestured for her to speak up.

"I don't want to wear any of my clothes," she said softly, almost embarrassed, refusing to meet his eyes.

With considerable effort, Derek managed not to make any retorts to that comment, and simply held up a finger before disappearing out the door and into his own room. He reappeared a moment later in what he hoped was something that wouldn't reminder her of…him. He couldn't think his name just yet. Not in that context.

Tossing her his practice jersey, he jerked his head towards the hallway, and walked out to the living room, leaving her to change.

He didn't need to ask what she wanted. Their order to the Chinese place never changed. Having taken care of that, he put his phone back into his pants pocket and parked himself on the couch.

Something like twenty minutes later, Casey padded softly into the living area of their apartment. She still had on the jeans, but Derek couldn't help but smile at the way his big jersey looked on her slim frame. Her face was washed and shiny, hair brushed and pulled back into a purposely-messy bun. Returning Derek's smile with a watery one of her own, she curled up at the other end of the couch from him, hugging her knees to her chest.

Derek had been half-heartedly watching television, but as soon as Casey sat down beside him he switched it off. Turning so his back rested against the armrest, he studied his stepsister.

"When did it start," he finally asked in a strained voice, half afraid of the answer.

"Junior year," she said meekly, but without hesitation.

Derek's eyebrows shot up.

"No! I mean, not. Not like that. We didn't—no," she breathed out hurriedly, tripping over her words as she tried to get them out. She sucked in a lungful of air to steady herself before continuing.

"It all started, believe it or not, with that stupid list thing Truman did when he first got to Thompson…

Casey flopped down on the utilitarian grey couch in Paul's office and let out a sigh. Paul looked like he was about to fall out of his chair in shock when she didn't immediately launch into a tirade against Derek, or something similar.

"Something bothering you, Casey?" he asked, wondering what exactly could have his most frequent visitor so down.

"It's just…that stupid six and a half is still bothering me and I can't stand it. I've never felt this insecure about my looks before, and it's all because of some stupid new guy! I mean sure, he's cute, but ugh! I don't know. I guess I just don't get it. I mean…aren't I pretty?" she blurted, starting slowly but quickly building up into her usual near-hysterical stream of consciousness. It ended abruptly and Paul just blinked, momentarily stunned.

"You're beautiful, Casey," he murmured suddenly, and his eyes widened simultaneously with hers. Had he really just said that out loud?

Paul gulped, tugging uncomfortably at the collar of his shirt.

"Um, you're a wonderful young woman Casey, don't let some dumb high school boy get you down. Now if you'll excuse me, I have another appointment soon," he said in one breath.

Still wide-eyed, Casey nodded and stood up, shuffling awkwardly out the door.

That night, she couldn't get Paul out of her head. The way he had looked at her when he said she was beautiful…she knew should have found it creepy, it was PAUL for chrissakes, but for some reason, she didn't. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep, her mind filled with images of her guidance counselor.

At first, Casey wasn't sure if she was going to go back to see Paul. But she knew she was going to have to see him again at some point, so coming to the conclusion that it would be better to face any awkwardness now rather than later, she found herself walking briskly towards his office during lunch the next day. Making a quick detour to the bathroom, she stood in front of the mirror checking her hair and smoothing her skirt. Looking herself in the eyes, she paused, wondering what exactly she was doing. Since when did she care what she looked like when she went to see Paul? Shaking her head at herself slightly, she pushed back into the crowded hallway, and continued on her way to see Paul.

Things went back to normal after that…except for the weird undercurrent of flirting that was now often present in their sessions. Casey didn't think anything of it, until she started turning down dates from classmates for no good reason.

But still. Nothing had changed. Not really anyways.

A sharp knock on the door broke the spellbinding tranquility of Casey's storytelling. Derek jumped up off the couch, grabbing a stack of bills off the kitchen counter as he passed it. Opening the door, he quickly traded the money for the plastic bag holding the brown paper bag, stacked full of small white cartons and radiating heat. He deposited the bag on the small coffee table in front of the couch, and then looped back to the kitchen to grab some utensils, a glass of milk for Casey, and a Coke for himself. At the last second he also yanked a length of paper towels off the roll, knowing how woefully inadequate the flimsy paper napkins included with the food were. And how much Casey hated them.

Settling back on the couch, Casey dug into her vegetable fried rice like she hadn't eaten in years. Derek smiled, and proceeded to impale a dumpling on one of his chopsticks.

"You know that's not how you're supposed to use that, right?" Casey asked with a smile, as she used a finger to rescue a grain of rice that was marooned at the corner of her mouth.

"So?" he replied with a shrug, stabbing another dumpling and dunking it in some sauce before shoving the whole thing into his mouth.

"Der-ek!" she cried, trying in vain to suppress a laugh. "You're getting sauce all over the table," she chided lightly. Grabbing a napkin to wipe up the mess, she was pleasantly surprised when Derek beat her to the task. With a grin, she lifted up the tiny sauce pot and slid her unsoiled napkin under it.

"There," she said, pleased with herself. "To guard from future messes."

Derek chuckled jovially, shaking his head. Good old Casey.

Presently, they settled into a comfortable quiet, focusing solely on eating. After some time though, Casey broke the silence.

"After graduation," was all she said.

Derek just looked up, cocking his head to the side in a silent question.

"Nothing else really happened until after graduation," she elaborated.

Ah. Silently, he waited for her to continue.

"It was my last visit to Paul before the end of school…

Casey sat quietly on the couch, while Paul just waited for her to speak. It was eerily reminiscent of the meeting last year, when this whole weird thing between them had started. Not that there was anything between them.

"I wish I knew a more adequate word than 'thanks,'" she said suddenly, nervously pulling at a strand of her hair. "You've been so wonderful these past three years, I don't know how I would have made it through all this without you. I probably would have gone completely insane," she finished, laughing lightly on the last sentence.

Paul smiled warmly. "Just doing my job, Casey," he said, though his tone implied something different. Casey wasn't quite sure what that something was, but the butterflies in her stomach indicated she liked it.

"Listen, I know I'm not supposed to say things like this, but you've really been one of my favorite students over the years Casey," he continued, and Casey tried not to blush. Pulling out a piece of paper, he started scribbling something down on it. "I really hope you'll keep in touch with me, Casey. I'm giving you my personal email address. Maybe we could become pen pals of sorts?" he smiled. "I mean I've gotten so used to it, I don't know how I'll get through a week without hearing about Derek's latest antics," he added with a good-natured laugh.

Casey grinned, hoping she didn't look too giddy at the prospect. Paul stood up and walked around the desk to give her the paper and a handshake, but the pretty brunette surprised them both when she pulled him into a quick, warm hug. Smiling shyly, she took the paper and headed towards the door.

"See you at graduation," she called over her shoulder, shooting him a dazzling smile before closing the solid wooden door behind her.

They immediately struck up an easy, comfortable email correspondence. Taking their relationship out of the dividing "student" and "teacher" boundaries, they found they could slip easily into a warm friendship.

About a month before she was set to leave for university, she got an email from Paul that worried her. He sounded…off, sad. He mentioned something at the end of the email about separating from his wife. 

Said he was taking it hard. Casey's stomach clenched a little at the mention of his wife, but she quickly shook it off.

Taking a deep breath, she began typing a reply, in which she expressed sympathy for his situation. Gathering up her courage, she added an offer to meet for coffee at a lesser-known local café on the outskirts of London. Quickly she hit the send button, before she could change her mind.

When she got his reply the next day, saying to name the time and he'd be there, she couldn't stop smiling.


So yes. I hope the style isn't too awkward...I wasn't sure about how the flashbacks were structured. Also, I wasn't sure about Paul's personal life...I thought I remembered him saying in one episode something about a wife and kids. But I might have just imagined that. This chapter definitely wasn't my best work though, sorry. I'm done with the awkward part though.

Also, just as a note, I hope you don't find the email correspondence thing THAT unusual. I myself had a teacher in high school whom I had an email correspondence with after he left the school before my senior year. We're good friends now.

Thanks again for all the great reviews! You all are the best.