So, this chapter is a bit longer than the past few. And the end...it gets kind of raunchy. But it's not Dasey raunchy, for which I apologize. It'll come soon, I promise. It also ends kind of abruptly. Sorry for that, too. I just couldn't come up with a better way to end it, so...I pretty much just didn't. I hope you guys like this okay. And I hope it's not too much. If so, just let me know.

Also, thanks for the reviews. I appreciate it.

Disclaimer: Ironically, I still don't own this. Hm. Surprise, surprise.

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleeeeeeaaaaase?"

"No."

"Der-EK." The corners of my mouth turned into a smirk for a brief moment. I couldn't remember the last time she yelled my name like that; with emphasis on the "ek". I always found it humorous.

"What did I tell you before we left the hotel room?" I queried, looking at her out of my peripheral vision.

"I'm not complaining! I just asked a simple question." She protested.

"Yeah, well, the answer to your simple question is still no."

"But Derek, it's freezing! The least you could do is let me borrow your stupid jacket until we get back to the car."

I stopped in the sidewalk suddenly and she stopped with me, people bumping into us both, muttering remarks under their breath. I looked at my stepsister irately. "First of all, that's complaining that you're doing right now. Second, it isn't freezing out here; it's probably only sixty or so. Third, the car isn't but a couple more blocks, I think you'll be all right. And finally, I told you it was going to be cold, so shut up, okay?" I nodded my head at her and began to walk again, only to be stopped.

"Derek…" I froze with my back to her and my shoulders tensed up. She said my name so helplessly, she sounded so vulnerable, almost like she had the night before when she was crying, I couldn't help but turn around. And when I did, I was greeted with the same pout that she'd used to get me to come on this stupid venture with her.

I had to admit though, up until this current walk, we'd been having fun. We had been all over Sydney, starting with the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was just a little ways from our hotel and could be seen clearly from my window in the room I had before. We went and drove around in The Rocks, the oldest neighborhood in the city. After that, we toured the Chinese Gardens of Friendship and walked around Chinatown for a bit, where we, or I guess I should say Casey, did some shopping. When she had finally finished shopping there, she insisted on us going to Paddy's market in Haymarket. It was a huge flea market, the biggest of any I'd ever been to-not that I'd been to many. Casey's eyes lit up as soon as we arrived and I was forced to give her a limit on how long she could stay there. The time constraint apparently meant nothing to her, as she shopped way past the allotted amount.

That was when we decided we were hungry and walked a few blocks to a small café someone had told us was a great spot to grab some quick lunch. We really were having a good time hanging out with each other, arguing minimally and only about different parts of the attractions we had seen thus far. And then we went outside. And she got cold. And she complained. And here we are now.

Upon facing her, I sighed and my shoulders fell in defeat as I slowly shrugged the leather fabric from my body, holding it out to her. She smiled genuinely and took it from me. She handed me the bags she was holding and draped it over her own shoulders. I handed them back to her and dug my hands deep into my jean pockets, trudging on, walking in the direction we had left the car. The hairs on my arm perked up as the brisk air waved over them while I walked. I instinctively drew my arms closer to my body, glancing at Casey as she caught up with me and looking back ahead of us a moment later. She noticed the goose bumps and smiled apologetically.

We walked the rest of the way to the car in silence. Finally, we reached it and got in. I turned it on and waited for the heater to warm up.

"Derek?" She was so quiet, I wouldn't have known she said something if it wasn't for her hand resting on my arm. I looked at it and made sure to avoid eye contact with her.

"Hm?" was all I said.

"Thanks for giving me your jacket, even if I had to pry it off of you. It was nice of you."

I nodded in response, keeping my eyes on the road as I pulled away from the curb. We both stayed quiet for a couple more minutes, before I finally spoke. "We're going back to the hotel and you're going to put on something warmer." Though it had come out as sort of an order, I meant it as more of a request. Apparently, that was how she took it, as well.

"All right, I'll change." She removed her hand from my arm, then, and I felt the warmth leave it as well. Again, we didn't talk until we reached our destination.

I pulled under the awning in front of our hotel and parked, the doors unlocking themselves automatically. Casey gathered her bags and reached for the handle. "Are you going to come up?" she asked. I shook my head so she shrugged and shut the door, walking through the revolving door.

Settling back against the seat, I leaned my head on the headrest and shut my eyes, only to be interrupted by the annoying blaring of music coming from my pocket. I recognized the song and a smile came to my lips. Digging around, I found my cell phone and flipped it open, not even bothering to look at the screen. "Hey." I said softly.

"Hey yourself." The feminine voice said in my ear. "What's up?"

"Oh you know, the usual. Stranded in a foreign country with my stepsister whom I haven't spoken to in roughly eight years, no big out of the ordinary." I smirked, my eyes still closed.

"I heard. How are you and Casey getting along?" she asked.

"Surprisingly well, right now. I don't have time to explain it all to you at the moment, I'll have to give you the details when I'm home."

"When are you coming home, Derek? I miss you." Her voice was pleading and mournful.

"I know, I miss you, too. Soon, I hope. The airline said they would call, but it's barely been twenty-four hours, who knows how long this 815 thing is going to take." I paused, the smile which had formed on my lips fading. My eyes opened slowly. I swallowed hard, not wanting to know the answer to the question I was about to ask. "How's Dad?"

I heard Marti breathe deep. "Well, you know, as well as one can be when he's published a book and his oldest children can't be here to share in the joy."

"That bad?"

"He's disappointed, Derek. What can I say? I mean, he knows it's not your fault. He's not blaming you."

"That's a first." I said quietly, mostly to myself. She heard me, though.

"Derek." She said sternly.

"I'm sorry. It's true, though."

"Now would not be the time to flaunt that in front of him, I don't think."

"I wasn't considering it. I was just…I don't know, voicing my opinion."

"You've always been good at that."

"The best." I replied, my smile coming back.

"Why haven't you called him?"

What was that huge lump in my throat, preventing me from swallowing?

"I-Casey called. I mean, she called Nora, explained everything." I said, stuttering.

"I know, but…" she paused thoughtfully and for a minute, I wasn't sure if she was going to continue. "But I think he would still like to hear from you." She said finally.

I sighed, my eyes closing again. "I know. I'll call him. I will. I just…have to…get a chance."

"Well, I'll get off with you right now so you can have that chance." She giggled. That little mischief-maker.

"Thanks, Smarti." I said, grinning. I could almost hear her wince. When she turned ten, the Smarti-Smerek nicknames kind of wore off. They occasionally still slipped out, of course, by both of us. But while I didn't have a problem with it, she did.

"You're welcome, Smerek." She retorted, her voice thick with disdain. I chuckled.

"Sorry, it slipped." I heard her mumble something when I noticed Casey walking out of the revolving door, dressed in much warmer clothing. "Look, I do have to go though, Casey's coming back and we're going to the aquarium."

"Ohh sounds like fun! Hurry home, though."

"I will." I said, nodding at Casey as she returned to her seat next to me.

"I love you, Derek. I'll see you soon."

"You too, Sm-" I started, only to be hushed by a loud 'ahem'. I chuckled again. "All right, all right. Love you, too, sweetie." I heard her groan at the equally unsettling pet name. "Talk to you later."

I put my hand on the key, which was in the ignition, ready to turn it.

"Who was that?" Casey asked me, angrily.

Wait, angrily?

I furrowed my brow, not looking up from the steering wheel. That's…interesting.

"What?" I asked, pretending to be dumbfounded. I looked up at her, noticing that she was staring at me. No, not staring. Glaring. What the hell?

"You heard me." She said, taking a deep breath and apparently claming herself down. I just kept looking at her, so she rolled her eyes and gave me a look that made me feel incredibly idiotic. "Who was that?" she repeated. "On the phone?" she clarified.

"Ma-" I paused. And then I did something completely on impulse. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, or why, but it did. "Megan."

I lied. For no reason. It just kind of slipped out. Do I even know a Megan? I mentally smacked myself over the head, hard.

"She's a friend, back in Wellington." I kept going. Why? Why was I doing this?

She made no response, not even a nod. But I thought I heard her say something under her breath using the words 'friends' and 'love'.

I kept my hands on the steering wheel, staring out the windshield. What is going on?

"Are you going to drive?" she snapped, after I had sat there for a few minutes.

I looked at her quizzically. "Casey, did something happen while you were in there?"

Her eyes narrowed at me. "No." she said shortly, turning her fierce gaze away from me and out the window.

I took a deep breath, shaking my head slightly. "Well, do you still want to go?"

"Yes, Derek. I want to go." She replied. I couldn't tell if she was being serious or sarcastic.

Reluctantly, I put the car in drive and began to pull out of the parking lot. When she made no protest, I turned down the street in the direction I had been told to go in order to reach Sydney Aquarium. We arrived and entered, not speaking to one another. Her eyes still held their stern appearance and I tried my hardest to ignore it. We followed a group of people through the building, into some glass tunnels. It wasn't long before Casey started ohh-ing and ahh-ing at all the creatures under the water, swimming all around us. After about an hour and a half, we had toured the whole facility and were walking out together, getting along again.

"What do you want to do now?" she asked me.

I pulled my hand out of my pocket to look at my watch, which read 6:17. I shrugged, my mind running over all the possibilities of what we could do this late.

"Are you hungry?'

Truth be told, I was still kind of full from lunch, but I had a feeling it wouldn't last very long. So, I shrugged again, which she didn't like.

"Well, help me out a little bit here. I mean I've only planned out basically our entire day."

I cocked my head to the side. "I'm sorry, weren't you the one who wanted to run around town all day and wanted our whole day to be planned out? Not my fault you didn't think of what to do for dinner."

"You could at least help me think of something." She spat, obviously frustrated with my nonchalant behavior.

I sighed, racking my brain. "Umm…did you bring any nice clothes? We could find a nice restaurant to go to, and then maybe go to a show or something?"

"A show?"

"Yeah, at the opera house." I said, acting as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Or there's an IMAX here. Those are really cool. Have you ever been in one?" She shook her head. "Oh, then that's definitely what we should do."

She smiled. "Sounds great."

When we got back to the hotel, she announced she claimed the shower. I started to argue, but realized that she would probably take longer to get ready than I would, thus it was better if she went first.

"Didn't you already shower today?" I asked as we exited the elevator and walked down the hall to our room, pulling out my key.

"So? I've been running around all day. I need to freshen up, at least." She said, shrugging.

I smirked and went to put the card in the slot, only to find a piece of paper obstructing the way. I pulled it out and shoved it in my pocket.

"What was that?" Casey asked, following me into the room.

"Oh um, just a couple of coupons the maids left us, I guess." This whole lying to her thing was becoming a bad habit. Not that I'd never lied to her before, but I really tried to avoid it. Well, she bought it. Quietly, she gathered her stuff and went into the bathroom. When I heard her lock the door, I pulled the paper out of my pocket and read it.

I get off at 6:30. Room 214?

I grinned and glanced at my watch. 6:32. Shit. I was late. I grabbed the key off the desk I had set it on and bolted out of the room, towards the elevator, pressing the down arrow several times even though I was only required to push it once. The ride down felt much longer than it actually was. I was silently figuring out how much time I had. I estimated that between the two showers she'd taken while we were here, Casey would take anywhere from fifteen to twenty minutes to shower, plus an additional ten minutes while she dressed and brushed her hair, did whatever it was she had to do. So that gave me at least twenty-five minutes, thirty-five if I wanted to push it.

I reached the door and knocked, running a hand coolly through my hair. It opened and a hand grabbed me, pulling me roughly inside. Lips crashed onto mine, forcing me against the freshly closed door. I returned the kisses with equal intensity, pushing myself off of the door and walking towards the king-sized bed in the room.

"You're…late…" Cassandra said bitterly in between kisses. She ran them down my neck and to my chest as she began unbuttoning my shirt. She gave me one kiss for every button she undid.

"I just got back and saw the note." I admitted, closing my eyes and reveling in the feeling of her familiar lips caressing my now bare skin. "I don't have long, my sister is in the shower and if I'm not back by the time she gets out, she'll get suspicious."

Cassandra's fingers had been working on my belt buckle. When she got it undone, she retraced her trail of kisses back up my stomach and chest to my mouth. I helped her shrug my shirt off of my shoulders, then pushed her back onto the bed. She bounced a time or two and I fell on top of her, our lips meeting again. I began to deftly unbutton her snow-white blouse, not parting from her mouth.

"Suspicious…of…what?" she managed to get out, breathlessly.

After she had slipped her own blouse from her shoulders, I began to trace the same path down her body as she'd done on me. When I reached her skirt, I paused, brushing my lips over her belly button as my hands made their way down her sides and to the zipper. It slid off easily and joined the growing pile, leaving her in a bra, panties, and nylon stockings.

"She just asks a lot of questions." I said truthfully, thinking about the phone incident earlier. I shook my head to rid myself of the thought. I shouldn't be concentrating on my stepsister when I'm about to have sex with another woman. "Let's not talk about her anymore." I removed both of her stockings, slowly and tantalizingly, placing kisses on the insides of her thighs as I did so. I couldn't help but notice the strong smell of perfume. I liked it; it reminded me of the stuff Casey used to wear when we were in high school. I shook my head again. Stop thinking about Casey, damn it.

Sensing my frustrations, Cassandra pulled me up and stood with me. We kissed briefly before she shoved me hard down onto the bed. "How about you just shut up." She said, her fingers returning to their previous spot, only this time they were working on my jeans. She pulled them off quickly, my boxers following. My vision suddenly went cloudy and my eyes fluttered closed out of sheer pleasure. I've been with several girls, and honestly, not many of them had made me moan. Cassandra, however, did. Unfortunately, it was the wrong thing.

"Ohh God, Casey…"

Shit. Did I just…?

Shit shit shit shit.

Cassandra stopped what she was doing and looked at me. All the pleasure that had been building up in my body suddenly left. I looked at her astonished, acting as if I had no idea as to why she had suddenly released me.

"Who the hell is Casey?" she snapped, and rightly so.

My mind raced trying to come up with a reason. Somehow, 'Sorry, I'd just really rather be banging my stepsister, so I moaned her name instead of yours' just doesn't sound like a very good excuse.

"I-It's you." I said, suddenly, not believing my own words. She apparently didn't either. "I thought Casey was kind of a good nick name or Cassandra. Do…do you not like it?"

She shook her head violently. "Are you daft? No. Casey, what a stupid name."

I opened my mouth, about to defend it, but stopped so she wouldn't be even more skeptical. Phew. Disaster, narrowly avoided.