Christmas Planning

Disclaimer: Don't own anything in my story except the plot. PLOT: MINE! No touchy, touchy!

A/N: Here you go: Chapter 3, as promised after five reviews.

Chapter 3: Christmas Planning

"I'm exhausted; you didn't have to whip me with your snowballs you know!" Casey said as they leaned against a wall of Derek's snow fort.

"Hey, don't blame me; I've got a good hand…it's not my fault." He said, trying to act said but failing miserably as tiny hints of laughter laced his words together.

"No, it's not your fault I've probably got a bruise of my shoulder; you're not the one that whipped a gigantic snowball at me…why would I blame you?" She said sarcastically, but, like Derek, hints of laughter ruining her façade of being angry.

"I can't believe we're being civil…without being paid to do it!" Derek exclaimed, completely amazed.

"Who says I'm not being paid?" Casey asked, looking as though she were completely serious.

"Wait…are you serious?! I want in." Derek said, completely serious as he sat up straight.

"Derek…I'm being paid to talk to you without claiming war…it can be done." She said raising an eyebrow.

"Right…I was only joking." He said, lowering himself onto the wall slowly, putting his hands behind his head.

"Mm-hmm. Sure, Derek."

"Whatever." He said smirking.

"So…what now?" She looked at him, squinting as the sun bounced off his jacket's zipper and hit her eyes.

"I don't know….keep walking, I kind of don't want to go back yet." Casey nodded.

"Okay." The two of them kept walking, they didn't where they were going…but it wasn't back.

Derek licked his index finger when Casey wasn't looking and stuck it in her ear; she screamed and jumped then glared at Derek.

"Derek, that was so disgusting!" She cries, squirming as she kept walking.

"Baby." He mumbled, but she had heard and violently hit him on the shoulder. "OW! You suck." She rolled her eyes.

"Dream on, Venturi." He smirked and shook his head.

"Wrong, McDonald, that was wrong." She shrugged and smiled.

"You walked right into that one…it's like when you said 'Fuck you' to me…that only leads to 'you wish', 'keep dreaming' or 'ew'. That's your fault, not mine." He nodded at the explanation

"Touché." He motioned to her with his hand.

"You're such a loser. It's getting cold; I think it's time we headed back." Casey rubbed her arms, though they were covered with thick layers.

"Aw…is the poor little Casey cold?" Derek asked, mocking her with a baby tone; he reached over and pinched her cheek, imitating what she had done earlier. "Fine, let's go back."

"Thank you, Mr. Grinch." Casey said as they linked arms.

"Me? Mr. Grinch? Never, I love Christmas!" Derek exclaimed as he began skipping, Casey soon joined as they skipped they're way back to the cabin, talking about God-knows-what.

XOXO

"How long does it take?!" Lizzie cried out loud as Edwin and she stared out the window, waiting for site of Derek and Casey.

"Calm, Lizzie, calm; they probably didn't even do anything 'romantic'." Edwin said using dramatic air quotes. "Derek isn't mushy." He mumbled.

"I heard that." Lizzie said warningly.

"Point?" That one earned him a hit to the back of his head. "OW! Geez, Liz! No need to get hostile!" Lizzie just stuck her tongue out.

"Wow, look familiar?" A familiar voice rang through the two young teens' ears, they looked over to see Derek and Casey in the doorframe, one smirking the other grinning wickedly.

"As a matter of fact, Derek, it does." Casey replied, the grin not subsiding as she took her gloves off.

"You two are friendly." Lizzie pointed out.

"As are you." Derek replied back.

"Yeah but…you guys are usually at war." Edwin said.

"Yeah…well, yeah that's pretty much true." Casey said, shrugging, Derek rolled his eyes.

"Amateur." He said under his breath, Casey heard anyway though and hit him again. "OW! Stop it with the violence, will you?" He said, pouting and rubbing his arm.

"Baby." Casey said, rolling her eyes.

"Ooh…pet names." Lizzie mock-gushed.

"Okay kids, stop picking on each other." Nora said, walking into the room and smiling. "Go get ready for dinner, we're going to discuss our Christmas plans!" Nora exclaimed happily.

"Joy…" Derek said sarcastically. Casey rolled her eyes and was about to hit him again, but decided against it. Lizzie and Edwin had left to get ready leaving Derek and Casey alone.

"Derek, I don't see why we have to fight all the time…I mean, what's the point? We proved today we could be friends…truce?" She stuck out a gloveless hand and he shook it.

As their hands made contact shivers shot up both of their spines and their arms became warm with the contact.

"T-truce." Derek stuttered, trying to shove the odd feeling aside.

"Right…what do we do as friends?" Casey asked, completely lost at was to do next, her hand was still tingling, even though it was no where near Derek's at the moment.

"Um…get ready for dinner…I think." Casey nodded.

"Right, um…yeah, see ya." Casey spun on her heel and walked away.

XOXO

"So, we're going to invite some of the Venturis over for a Christmas party!" Nora explained, overly excited.

"So wait…there's going to be, like, fifty Italians strangers partying in a cabin we rented out so we could have a peaceful holiday?" Derek asked.

"Pretty much, yeah." George said, not seeing his point or choosing to ignore it.

"Okay then…" Lizzie said. Marti tugged on Nora's sleeve.

"I don't like seeing Daddy's family." She said loudly.

"Why not, Sweetie?" Nora asked, utterly confused.

"'Cause they all say, 'ooh, look at little Marti, she's so cute! You've grown so much since I last saw you! Do you remember me?' and I'm always like, 'lady, who are you?'" Marti explained, acting it out dramatically.

"Marti! That's rude." George said.

"Yet…so very up front and honest and fool proof. Why didn't I think of that?" Derek said aloud, almost as though he should've been thinking it only. Casey rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, when's this party?" She asked.

"Tomorrow." George and Nora said together.

"Great…" The five kids said sarcastically.

"Well, I'm out." Derek stated casually getting up from the round table.

"Yeah, me too." Casey said, as she followed. They stopped in the living room.

"That party is going to be completely lame. Trust me: Dad is the worst guy to plan something fun." Derek groaned as he fell onto a loveseat.

"Well…Mom's no better, so I guess we'll have to endure the suck-i-ness together." Casey said as she sighed and placed herself onto a sofa.

"Yeah, there's a plus." Derek muttered. Casey stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed. "Oh, so, threatening, Case." He said as he shook his head, his smile not subsiding. She just pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"You stink." She sank into the sofa and pouted more.

"Mature, Case, real mature." He shook his head again.

"Whatever, I'm getting an outfit ready for tomorrow." She huffed and walked by Derek, he stood up after her. Before she reached her room he went behind her, she felt his hot breath on her neck and stopped short, her skin tingling, causing Derek to slightly stumble closer. He tapped her butt.

"Friends do it all the time." He smirked and left her in the hall. At that point Casey could do only three things:

Breathe

Blush

Think this one though:

Great…now my butt's tingling.

A/N: Sorry if it's a bit short, I wrote this after a tiring day, I had to go back to school at 6:30 until 8:30 for this choir thingy…if I didn't go I'd be cut, plus I had a bunch of solos, and it was fun until I got stuck waiting for my parents to pick me with two older guys…that was a bit awkward. ANYWAYS…R&R please!!