Thanks for the review ya'll!!!!! this is back to "present day"

:D

Casey froze. Did he hear me? I'd better sneak out before he wakes up! Casey ran out of the room and went to her own to go to sleep.

Derek slowly opened his eyes and noticed that his suitcase was suddenly filled with his stuff. Of course Nora would go and pack all my stuff for me. He sighed and went back to sleep.

The next morning the family loaded up the car and headed to the airport...

"I'm sorry Mr. Venturi, but since you didn't book directly though our airline, your seats were only requested, not guaranteed. Luckily, all but two went through."

The kids were groaning and George was furious, but Nora tried to calm him, "Georgie, we'll just make Derek and Casey sit in another spot so we can sit with the younger kids."

"That would definitely be possible," the airline man said as he typed on his computer, "I still have 26E and 26F still available. Would that work for you?"

"That would be great, thank you!" Nora said quickly before George could contradict.

Casey was very nervous about this arrangement. She HATED flying and she'd rather be next to her mom who would calm her down. She didn't want to scare the kids though, so she put on her tough face and went on through security.

The closer it got to flight time, the more queezy she became. The stress of sitting with Derek added to her nervousness. She knew that he would be less than helpful in her situation. Okay, Casey, you can do this. Just focus on your iPod's music.

"Flight 7402 en route to Miami, Florida is going to be delayed 30 minutes. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

"Case, what's wrong?" Derek asked as Casey sat there, frozen.

"This is a sign."

"A sign of what?" He laughed.

"Derek, stop this is serious," Casey whispered, "This is a sign that the plane is going to break down when we're on it."

"Smerek? The plane's gonna break down?" She cryed.

"No," Derek shot Casey a dirty look, "It's going to be fine, they're just giving it a bath right now, that's why it's late!"

"Oh." Marti said.

"Casey, seriously? Now you're scaring the little kids? You need to calm down." Derek whispered into her ear.

"I'm sorry, I just don't do planes!"

"Well, you're doing it today. Just listen to your iPod and relax."

About 20 minutes later, it was time to board.

"Case?" Derek said to her as he waved a hand in front of her hypnotized eyes, "We're boarding now."

There was no response. He crouched down to be at her level, took her hands in his own, and looked her in the eye, "Casey, we are boarding the plane. Put on your brave face for the kids' sake. Let's go."

He slowly helped her up and they walked onto the plane. She just followed Derek until they got to the last row.

"You've got to be kidding me." Casey complained.

"What now?" Derek asked.

"We're sitting in the back row. There's nothing scarier than that!" Casey fretted.

"Calm down, Princess," Derek said, rolling his eyes, "the emergency exit would be scarier." He added with a smirk.

Casey slid into the window seat and immediately closed the shade as well as her eyes.

"Derek." Casey whispered before they took off.

"What?"

"Can you do me a favor?"

He raised his eyebrows then rolled his eyes, "What?"

"I need you to order me a drink."

"Why can't you do that?" Derek questioned.

"No, Derek, not just a beverage, a drink. You need to be 21 to order an alcoholic beverage and seeing that you turned 21 two months ago..." Casey suggested.

"Why do you need a drink?"

"I'm freaking out here okay? I don't fly. If humans were meant to fly, God would have given us wings!"

Derek thought about it and finally gave in, "You can't solve your problems by drinking, Spacey."

"I'll buy you a drink, too!" Casey suggested.

"Sounds good to me!" Derek said and pressed the flight attendant button.

"Yes, how may I help you?" The 27 year old ditzy blonde asked.

"Hi, um, I'd like to order 2 shots of your Skyy Vodka please."

"Okay, that'll be $12 and I'll just need to see your ID."

Derek pulled it out and Casey handed over the money.

"Okay, I'll be right up with those." She said as she strutted away.

"Thank you so much, Derek. I owe you big time."

"You sure do!"

By the end of the flight they had consumed 3 shots each and were feeling a little tipsy. They tried to keep the noise to a minimum, but they could not stop laughing. The family in front of them kept turning around and giving them dirty looks.

"Sorry!" Casey laughed to them as Derek "shh"-ed her.

Finally they touched ground and they started cheering that Casey survived.

"Oh shit, Der!" Casey whispered.

"What?"

"We can't let George and Nora know we drank on the flight!"

"True, true. Just act normal." Derek giggled.

They got off the plane and found their family.

"Welcome to Miami, bro!" Edwin said, "Let's go find some babes."

Derek and Casey just looked at each other and started laughing. The whole family looked confused.

"Case, Derek? Are you guys okay?" Nora asked them.

"We are fineeeeee." Casey laughed, drawing out the e.

"Okay, then! Let's get our bags."

A few hours later, Casey and Derek were sobering up and they were all getting settled into their hotel rooms. The room assignments were: Nora, George, and Marti in one room; Derek and Edwin in another; Casey and Lizzie in the last one.

Derek and Casey went into their parents room to check and see how they were doing, "Dad, do you think Casey and I can go downtown to explore for a bit?"

"Are you guys sober now?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

"Yes." They both nodded.

"Yeah, that's fine. Be back before 1am. I'll stop by your rooms at 1am. You better be there."

"Agreed." Derek said.

As soon as Derek and Casey walked out of the room, they high fived, "So, how about a sports bar?" Derek suggested.

"Fine...but only because I owe you for those drinks!"

"Works for me!"

They both got changed and headed to "The Sports Exchange" for dinner.

"So, are you excited for the cruise?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, I guess so, but I'm bummed that we're gonna be cruising on my birthday."

"Oh, please. We can make it fun! Remember your last birthday?"

Casey laughed, "I remember bits and pieces. Maybe less alcohol this time."

"Yeah, and maybe less sharing our feelings."

Casey smiled, "Oh please, I know you loved it."

"Okay, maybe I did. You were like my on-call shrink...just getting everything off my chest."

"Good times. If you ever need to talk, I'm here." Casey said, with a more serious, caring tone.

"Thanks. And I'll make sure you can remember your birthday this year."

"Good!" Casey laughed.

"So I guess we're friends now?" Derek asked, kinda awkwardly.

"I guess so." Casey smiled and looked him in the eye.

"Well, friends can dance, right?" Derek asked, extending his hand to her.

"I don't think there are any rules against that!" She said as she took his hand.

The first song that played was Keith Urban's "You Look Good in my Shirt." It seemed fitting seeing as they were once friends, then they weren't, now they are again! As soon as it came on Casey said, "I freaking love this song!"

"I"m not really a fan of country, but Keith knows what he's doing."

Time flew by as they danced and drank, and eventually it was midnight.

"We should probably head back to the hotel now." Derek suggested.

"Yeah, let's walk!"

"Casey, it's like a mile and you're wearing heels!"

"Who cares? We can take our time!"

"Fine." Derek agreed.

About a half hour later, they arrived back at their hotel. They went to George and Nora's room first.

"Dad," Derek whispered, "We're back now."

"Did you guys have fun?"

"Yeah, it was great." He laughed.

"Good. Night!"

Derek then went to drop off Casey in her room. They were shocked to find Lizzie and Edwin sleeping on the one king sized bed with the tv still on.

"What should we do?" Casey asked Derek.

"We shouldn't wake them up, it's late."

"Yeah, I guess we can just sleep in your room. I'm going to grab my stuff then I'll meet you over there."

"Sounds good."

Five minutes later, Casey knocked on Derek's door.

"Hey." Casey said as she walked in dressed in her jammies.

Derek had to stop himself from drooling...she looked so plain, but so good. She was dressed in a small blue tank top that she probably outgrew when she was in 8th grade and small white Soffe shorts.

Casey was taken back from the way Derek looked, she didn't know he only slept in boxers.

"Hey, so I guess I'm going to go to bed now." Derek said awkwardly.

They both awkwardly climbed into bed, knowing that there was some sexual tension. Trying to lighten the mood, Casey said sarcastically, "Oh my goodness, I can't believe I'm sleeping with the Derek Venturi!"

"And I'm sleeping with Casey MacDonald! It's like a dream!" He said in a girly voice.

Then Casey put on her seductive face and rolled onto her elbow to face him, "Well, babe, this is real." She closed with a passionate kiss. When she pulled away, all Derek could manage was, "Wow."

"Oh my gosh." Casey responded, "I probably shouldn't have done that."

"No, I'm glad you did." He whispered and kissed her again. The kissing went a little far and Casey was playing with the elastic of Derek's boxers.

Maybe it was the alcohol, but then Derek said, "Go for it." with a wink.