Derek whips the car into the lot behind the van, and puts the vehicle in park.

George gets out and comes to rap on Casey's window. She rolls it down, and he sticks his head in, giving her a smile before turning his attention to Derek.

"Everything alright?"

Derek nods, avoiding looking at Casey, which is fine by her, because she isn't looking at him, either.

George seems to sense the tension, but he makes no comment. "Alright. Just let me run in and get the condo key from the front desk, and we'll only have a short drive between here and there, okay?"

"Cool," Derek mutters, the first word he's said since their fight earlier.

George nods and turns away. Casey rolls her window back up.

Ten minutes later, after first George, then Nora, then George and Nora have run almost frantically back and forth between the hotel lobby and the van, Casey begins to realize that something is wrong.

She and Derek glance at each other, frowning, before they both silently open their car doors and get out.

"Mom," Casey calls, right as she's about to rush in after George yet again. "What's going on?"

Nora lets George go and approaches the two. "There's a bit of a problem concerning our condo."

Derek narrows his eyes. "What kind of problem?"

"Um. There isn't one. A condo, I mean."

"What?"

"Well, apparently, the condo rental schedule was changed. You can only rent it during the summer months now. However, the website wasn't changed before I made the reservations, so now we have no place to stay." Nora bites her lip in the same way Casey does.

"So what now?"

"The hotel is being very considerate about all of this. We've already paid the full condo price, so they've given us three suites on the top floor. The only thing is, we promised to keep Marti in our room, and… Lizzie and Edwin want to share."

The horrible truth slowly seeps into Casey's comprehension, and anxiety claws it's way through her.

She begins protesting in the same instant that Derek does.

"Nora, are you insane?"

"Mom, he could kill me-"

"She could kill me-"

"And he's a guy, it's not even appropriate-"

"Space Case snores-"

"I do not snore-"

Nora moans quietly and rubs her temples as George comes back out. He spots them instantly, and frown lines settle into his forehead.

"They're already at it?"

"Uh huh."

"Listen to me, you two," he says sternly, and Casey doesn't know what it is about George, but they stop and look at him expectantly.

"Dad-" Derek tries, but George holds up a hand and silences him.

Casey can practically feel the loathing roll off of Derek in waves, and she fights to hold back tears. She shouldn't have been so mean to him in the car. Hell, she shouldn't have been so mean to him for the last two months. He's going to make her life torture now.

"Alright, guys. Here's what's going on. I know you two are always looking for excuses to rip each other's throats out. Believe me, I know. And I know that this situation isn't ideal. But Marti has to stay with us, and Lizzie and Edwin have shared rooms so many times on school trips, that it just makes sense for them to stay together now. We can trust them to stay out of trouble. If Derek rooms with Edwin, we might have to buy their suite because of all the damage they cause."

This was a fair enough statement, Casey knew. The last time Derek and Edwin had roomed together… She shuddered at the memory.

"It's not going to be easy, but we need you two to pull it together and be mature about this," Nora pleads. "We're here to have fun, after all! Let's not let this ruin our trip, okay?"

Disgusted silence from both of them.

Casey looks at George, and then at Nora, and sess all the stress this clearly causes them. They don't like this anymore than they do.

Casey feels guilt. A lot of it. She's acting like a brat, and she knows it. George and her mom stress enough. "Okay."

Her voice comes out so meek and quiet, Derek gives her a look of pure astonishment. Then, he grudgingly concedes, too. "Fine. Whatever. But you guys owe us."

"Absolutely," Nora nods at the same time George does.

They don't speak as they unload their luggage and take the two room keys offered. George helps Lizzie and Edwin settle in, and Nora trails after Casey and Derek.

Derek tries to slide the key card into the slot five times. Eventually Casey huffs, reaches out, and plucks it from his fingers. He's about to snap at her when she smoothly slides it in and out, and the door opens automatically.

He scowls, but pushes the door open and is the first one through.

The suite is amazing, it's true; hardwood floors, a wall made up almost entirely of glass with an amazing view of the Falls. A balcony outside, a kitchenette with granite counter-tops, a small sitting space with lush carpet and a large flat screen. There's a door leading to a bathroom with marble floors and a huge walk-in shower with a glass door, a giant Jacuzzi tub.

And shoved against the wall: one massive king-sized bed.

Casey and Derek whirl around to confront their mother/stepmother in horror.

Her mouth has dropped open and her eyes gone wide in terror, taking in their expressions.

"Nor-"

"Mo-"

"The be-"

"Flip a coin!" She squeaks and slams the door in their faces.

"I'm taking a shower," Derek announces.

Casey nods, lounging back against the down comforter. They had decided to build a mountain of pillows to divide them whenever night-time rolled around and just cope. Neither were willing to completely give up the bed.

As soon as the door closes behind him, her phone starts ringing.

She rolls over languidly and checks the caller I.D, and when she does, her stomach drops and she gasps.

Dad.

She jabs the ignore button, but within seconds, he's calling again.

The brutal request for contact continues the full twenty minutes that Derek is in the shower, and Casey knows she'll have to answer before long. She can't hold this off forever.

She decides to wait until Derek is back in the same room. She hates to admit it to herself, but Derek makes her feel safer.

Not that there's anything to fear. Her father is hundreds and hundreds of miles away. He can't make her do anything.

Right? Right.

Nora pops in to inform her that they're all going out, and will be back in time for a late dinner. Casey nods, tells her Derek is in the shower, she'll tell him when he gets out. Nora leaves, and the assault on her cell continues.

Finally, an eternity later, Derek comes back into the main room, wearing only boxers and his hair still dripping.

She takes in his damp form and licks her lips, all thoughts of her father momentarily forgotten. She studies his muscles and the angle of the hipbones she'd like to lick, and suddenly sharing a bed doesn't seem like a bad idea at all.

But then her phone rings again, jarring her out of her fantasy, and she swallows hard before pressing the green accept button. "Hello?"

"Why the hell haven't you been answering?"

"Sorry," she flinches. "I've been driving all day."

"Don't you mean I've been driving all day?" Derek mutters. "Who is that, anyway?"

Dad, she mouths, and he rolls his eyes. This will be a long conversation; he knows how much she worships the ground her father walks on.

"Where to?" Her father demands, and she begins to relax. Maybe this wouldn't be such a horrible conversation after all. Maybe he had already forgiven and forgotten what had happened.

"Niagara Falls. Mom and George planned a surprise trip," she shrugged, picking at the fabric of the blanket underneath her legs.

"Well, here's another: I want you to come back to New York."

Her blood freezes. "What? Why?"

"I'm getting married."

The world begins spinning around her. Not the best reason, but not nearly the worst. Not nearly what she had been expecting. "To whom?"

"Claire Willows. You remember, the woman you so rudely ignored?"

Casey racks her brain, and then she has it; the slender, twenty-something blonde from the party.

"I didn't rudely ignore anyone," she snaps, her voice cold and shaking. "Although you rudely ignored my problem."

Derek looks up at this and frowns at her, and she averts her gaze.

There's a loud, drawn-out sigh from the other end. "That's another thing. Pierre and his father are willing to… overlook your reaction the night of the party. They want to renegotiate, and I've invited them to the wedding. It's the perfect opportunity for you to smooth things over."

Anger wells up inside her, anger and humiliation and hurt like she's never known. "You mean smooth out my dress after I let him-"

She cuts herself off, noticing Derek's raised eyebrows.

Tears smart her eyes, but she refuses to let them fall. She jumps off the bed and rushes into the bathroom, slipping on the still-slick floor and catching herself on the wide sink at the last minute. She slams the bathroom door shut.

Privacy.

"Casey, I don't see what the big deal is. Pierre is a very nice young man, and I really need this deal."

"Fuck your deal!"

"Casey!"

"No! Do you have any idea what you're asking me to do?" She's yelling now, but she can't stop. "Do you have any idea how this has affected me? Do you?"

"Casey, you're getting older, and-"

"Shut up. Just shut up. I meant what I said that night. You're pathetic."

"I miss you, Casey," her father tries anther tactic. "I miss you and Lizzie both. So much. You know how much weddings mean to families. It would mean the world to me if you were both there. And who knows, maybe Lizzie can meet my other colleague's son…" He tries for a laugh, trying to joke, but Casey has to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep from gagging.

Not Lizzie too.

"Leave Lizzie out of this! That's sick. She's not even out of middle school yet!"

"So you'll come?"

"NO! I don't want anything to do with you! Just leave me alone! Leave me and her both alone!"

"Why, Casey? Don't you think she'll wonder why her big sister suddenly hates good old Dad? What will you tell her then, that you were too scared to associate with a guy he introduced you to?"

Casey's reflection in the well-lighted mirror is pale now, and she's crying hard. Mascara seeps down her cheeks.

"Just stop it!"

"I thought you liked doing things right, Casey. I never knew you'd allow yourself to mess up other people's hard work," he spat.

"I DIDN'T MESS ANYTHING UP," she yells.

"I beg to differ!" Her father roars. "The wedding is in three weeks, Casey. You have until then to get your act together."

Fear settles over her. There's no way she can get out of this. Three weeks, and her entire life will be compromised.

"Don't call me again," she sobs, and hangs up.

She slides down the wall and curls into a ball, the hysterics getting caught in her throat.

Derek had heard the fight. He'd heard the entire thing. He had no idea what it was about, but he'd never imagined Casey had it in her to speak to any adult like that, especially not her parent.

But she had. He wondered what Dennis could do to make her that upset.

He could hear her sobs and cries now, and they were tearing him apart. No one made Casey cry like that. The sound itself makes him want to rip someone limb from limb, and hold her to him so tight she'd sink into his skin and become a part of him so he could protect her always.

He clenches his fists, warring with himself. She wouldn't want to see him. She wouldn't want to be anywhere near him, and she certainly wouldn't want him seeing her like this.

They'd been fighting ever since she got back from New York.

Before, he had thought things might change between them. Not only had they stopped antagonizing each other, but they'd also had some sort of strange connection. Casey made him feel things that no other girl had ever been able to make him feel.

And then she had come back, and hadn't been able to stand being in the same room as him.

By her third muffled wail, his resolve dissolves, and he marches across the hotel floor to bang on the door.

Her crying doesn't stop.

"Casey?"

No response.

His tone softens, because he's really getting worried now. He won't even deny it; he cares about her. He wants her.

Fuck it; Derek loves her, and this is killing him.

She doesn't sleep, she doesn't eat, she hardly studies in comparison to her usual rigor, and now this. He can't take it. He can't take her misery, because it cuts him too deeply. "Case?"

"Guh 'way," comes her quiet, slurred voice, and then she goes right on crying.

He winces, but opens the door anyway.

He finds her lying there on the floor, on her side, tears streaming down her face and eyes clenched shut. Her arms are wrapped around herself, and her brown hair fans out all around her in a wild mass of waves.

She looks absolutely broken, and it scares the fuck out of him.

"Oh, Casey."

She lets out another sob.

He leans down next to her, raising her into a sitting position. She doesn't look at him, she just keeps her eyes closed and continues to let tears slip down her face.

"Casey. Listen to me. Whatever happened, I'll fix it, okay?"

"You can't," she weeps.

He reaches out and takes her face in both of his hands, swiping at the mascara stains and smearing them further, but at least it gets rid of the wet tears. New ones replace them almost instantly.

She opens her eyes though, and they're so shockingly blue that he blinks a few times, startled. Her eyes are always brighter when she cries.

She's still painfully beautiful.

"Casey," he says quietly, in a tone he doesn't use often. This is the tone he reserves for getting rid of Marti's worst nightmares or…

Or proving his love to Casey.

The tone he uses when he's serious with her, when he's comforting her or reassuring her or making her happy somehow.

"Casey," he tries again when she squeezes her eyes shut to force out more tears before blinking them open again. "Casey, you can talk to me. You can tell me what happened. You know I won't tell anyone else. Let me help you fix this, Case. I can tell it's been eating at you for awhile now."

He can fix this for her. He will fix this.

After much coaxing and whisperings of sweet things, Casey finally sniffles and holds her arms out.

Derek smiles softly at her and lifts her easily, carting her back to their bed.

Their bed.

The term comforts her, and she buries her face in the crook of his neck. His chest is bare; he'd only managed to slip on some sweats before the phone call from Hell.

He slides her onto the bed, then lays down next to her, drawing her to him and shifting so that she's nestled protectively into his side, both arms around her, one of her legs between both of his. Her head is on his chest, fitting right against his collarbone, and she takes a deep, steadying breath, letting his clean scent wash over her.

One of his hands draws soothing patterns on her back, and the other goes to her hair, stroking it out of her face.

It's getting dark outside now, and the room is cast in shadows. She's exhausted after the long trip and after all the crying.

"Casey," he says in that same wonderful tone he's been using for the past half hour. She looks up into his eyes, melting into the deep brown. "Tell me? Please?"

So she does. She tells him the whole awful ordeal, and then about the cut-outs and the note in the mail, and then about her father's end of the phone call, and he's shaking he's so angry by the time she's through.

"Jesus, Case. Why haven't you told someone?"

"I just… I can't, Derek. Mom would be so upset. She'd call him and say some pretty unrepeatable things, and then a whole big fight would be started, and Lizzie's relationship with him and image of him would be ruined… I just can't."

He's quiet for a moment. Then he asks, "Can I see the pictures?"

She stiffens. She hates looking at them. She hates looking at the dress that according to her father, should have ended up on the hotel room floor that night.

But this is Derek, and they're back to the way they're supposed to be, and she really really needs someone to talk to about all of this.

She nods slowly, and he kisses her forehead in encouragement. She blushes while extricating herself from his limbs and crawls out of bed to unzip her suitcase and dig through it.

She returns to her previous position moments later, glossy photos in hand, and Derek smirks when she puts his arms back around her. She gives him a tiny smile in return and hands him the pictures.

He studies them with wide, appreciative eyes. "Wow, Casey. You looked so…"

"Whorish?" She suggests bitterly.

He looks down at her, and the look on his face takes her breath away. He's looking at her in awe, with reverence, and one of his hands moves so that his fingers can stroke over her cheek, across her lips. "I was going to say beautiful. Stunning. Gorgeous. Take your pick."

A slow blush spreads across her face, down her neck and chest, and he smiles an arrogant Derek smile.

"Thank you," she whispers, snuggling into him, closing her eyes. "Oh, by the way; Mom came by earlier. Everyone went out for awhile, but they're coming back for a late dinner."

"You can sleep," he says. "You deserve it. Don't worry, okay Princess? I'll take care of you. And I'll save you some pizza or whatever they end up ordering for when you wake up."

She blearily searches out his skin with her lips and leaves little gracious kisses along his neck and jaw, saving the last one for his cheek, at the very corner of his lips.

The last thing she hears is his sharp intake of breath.

Review?