Twice in a Lifetime

Chapter Four

by Nunda

Disclaimer: FAN fiction based on a TV show that I do not own. Lyrics from "Fix You" by Coldplay.

/A.N./ Thanks to all the reviews. Keep them coming!

When you try your best, but you don't succeed

When you get what you want, but not what you need

When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep

Stuck in reverse

When the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can't replace

When you love someone, but it goes to waste

Could it be worse?

.oO00Oo.

"Hey Dad," Derek approached the basement bedroom with caution the next Saturday afternoon. "I'm going out, OK?"

Derek already had the keys in hand and started back up the stairs.

"Derek." George Venturi called his son back in the room. Saturday mornings George and Nora liked to lie in bed all morning and pick apart the newspaper.

"Yeah, Dad?" Derek stood in the doorway.

"Where are you going?" George handed his section of the paper to Nora.

"There's a comedy-fest at the cinema. I thought it might be a good release to laugh a little."

"Oh, of course." George said suddenly. "Go ahead."

Derek was finding out quickly that his parents pretty much would let him do anything and go anywhere.

"Hey Derek." Nora said in a tone that Derek knew what was coming next. "Why don't you take Casey with you?"

Derek closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She was part of the reason he wanted to go to the movies. To get away from the pain of losing his best friend meant to get away from her as well. He looked up at Nora's pleading eyes and nodded his head. It wouldn't hurt to ask her, he thought. She'd just say no anyway.

.o.

"Let me just get my coat." Casey said as she closed her school books and scrimmaged around her unusually messy room for her coat.

Derek forced a slight smile. He expected Casey to say no. He hadn't expected her to accept and so quickly, too.

"Here it is." Casey said triumphantly, pulling the fuzzy pink coat on and zipping it up to her neck.

"Great. Let's go." Derek said taking note of her purple panda pajama bottoms and pink fuzzy jacket. Oh, well, it was a comedy-fest after all.

The theater was packed full of bored school kids tired of being forced inside due to the inclement weather. They pushed their way through the crowd towards the front counter. Derek found himself grabbing Casey's hand. He didn't feel like being lectured by George and Nora if he lost his step-sister at the theater, he told himself.

"Two tickets to the comedy-fest." Derek said to the ticket clerk. Sandler, Spade, and Farley were mere minutes away.

"Hey, man." Sam was standing in Derek's doorway. Derek, who had been clenching and unclenching his fists, looked up, "Your dad let me in. Are you okay? You look pissed."

"My dad's marrying that woman I told you about." He said, irritably.

"So? I thought you said Nora was nice?" Sam took a seat at Derek's desk.

"Yeah, she is. But, I met her kids last night. Lizzie's all right for a little kid, but Casey…" Derek trailed off. "Casey's a bitch."

Derek immediately felt a slight twinge of guilt for saying it but their first encounter did not go well at all. She was stuck up and snobby and Derek did not like her at all. She cut him down at every chance she got and Derek Venturi was not used to being treated like that by any girl.

Derek glanced at the Casey he knew now as they settled into their seats in the dark theater. Her hair fell in her eyes and she didn't even bother to push it back.

"What movie is first?" Casey whispered loudly to Derek. He tore his attention away from that strand of hair that he wanted to push out of her eyes for her only because it annoyed him that it was in her eyes.

"It's supposed to be Tommy Boy." He whispered back. "Then Happy Gilmore and Black Sheep."

"Oh." Casey said, grabbing a handful of popcorn.

As if on cue, the first film began to play.

"Here, Derek." George handed his son the phone.

"Hello?" Derek said. It was Mrs. Marshall.

"You and Casey might want to come to the hospital." She said, through tears. "The doctors say he might not make it through the night."

Derek felt the wind get knocked out of his chest. He was not ready for this. He wasn't ready to say goodbye.

"I'll be back." Casey squeezed past Derek to go to the restroom. He glanced up at her, and then unwillingly, his mind went back to that day.

"Derek…" Sam talked in a voice just over a whisper. "I need to ask you a favor."

"Anything, man." Derek said, trying hard to keep his composure. His best friend was laying wilted in front of him—once a strong hockey player, now a skeletal version of his former self.

Sam's voice got stronger, "I need you to watch over Casey for me. She's going to need someone when I'm gone."

"Sure." Derek said without hesitation. A promise was a promise.

"I know you guys don't get along," Sam continued, "but I've always felt that if it were not for me, the two of you would be together."

Shocked, Derek said, "No way."

Derek sank into the vinyl seat next to Sam's bed.

"Just take care of her for me. You're my best friend. She's a really great girl, Derek. You'll see it soon. Trust me on that."

For the next minute, there was a silence, and only the sound of Sam breathing through his oxygen mask could be heard. Derek realized that Sam had fallen asleep. He leaned over, pulled a medal out of his pocket and placed it in Sam's hand. Derek had earned the medal for being MVP this year in hockey.

"Excuse, me. Sir? Your girlfriend's in the bathroom crying hysterically." One of the theater attendants said, squatting down next to Derek.

Derek was about to tell the attendant that he didn't have a girlfriend when he remembered Casey. He rose from his seat and made his way to the back, following the dimly lit pathway.

Casey was just leaving the bathroom when he got there. She wasn't crying now, but Derek could tell that she had been.

"What happened? Are you okay?" He asked her.

"I'm fine, Derek." She said, and then smiled, as if that proved it. "I just have to do that every once in a while."

"Do you want to finish the movies? 'Cause we can go if you want to." Derek asked.

"I'm fine. I promise." She stated.

"Hey, Der-Bear!" A girl with short brown hair and a wide smile approached them. "I tried calling you all day but some little girl kept saying you were in the shower."

Derek smirked. Some people wouldn't take a hint and stop calling and that's where Marti came in handy.

"Yeah," Derek said. "I like long showers. Angela, this is Casey, my sis-, uh, step-sister. Casey, this is Angela. I told you about her."

Casey rolled her eyes. Sure he told her about Angela, and Carrie, and Melanie, and Tabitha and so on and so forth.

"Are you here to see Tommy Boy?" She asked and when Derek nodded, she said, "Me too, what a coinky dink. Let's sit together."

"Angela, I don't think…" Derek protested, but Angela grabbed his arm, dragged him back into the theater with Casey, the third wheel, following behind.

Casey sat in the free space next to Derek and crossed her arms over her chest. Derek had to laugh out loud when Casey told Angela, who'd been talking rapidly for ten minutes after they sat down, to shut the hell up. Shocked, Angela did just that much to Derek's relief.

The movies were a great release for Derek. It was a great way to waste seven or so hours. The theater had a 15 minute intermission between each movie providing Derek with the perfect opportunity to escape to the men's restroom-- the only place the two girls close to getting in a catfight couldn't follow him.

When they came home, Casey went straight to her room, shutting the door behind her.

Nora came in and sat down on Casey's bed. Casey was scribbling away in her journal—an instrument very therapeutic in her grieving state.

"So, how did it go at the comedy fest today?" She asked.

"It was okay." Casey said slowly. "Derek's bimbo came along and kind of ruined it."

"Derek's bimbo? Nora chuckled.

"Yeah—Angela or Tabitha—whatever her name was. She came running up to us and invited herself to sit with us. So I guess I'm left grieving for Sam and Derek's just quickly moving on." Casey explained.

"Well, honey, I don't think it's fair to judge Derek on how he's grieving." Nora said, for once taking her stepson's side.

Casey nodded her head. "I'm not judging him. I just, I don't know…"

"When your father died I didn't cry for months." Nora said quietly as she picked at Casey's covers. "I was in shock. I had two little girls to raise and I went on doing what I could do to make sure you guys were taken care of. Then one night, I was flipping through the channels—you guys were in bed—and It's a Wonderful Life was on the TV and I broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. Your Aunt Fiona thankfully came over and was such a lifesaver to me."

Casey closed her journal and wrapped her arms around her mother.

"The point is," Nora said into Casey's shoulder. "Everyone grieves differently. If Derek hasn't done so now, it will hit him eventually. He's going to need you there to be there for him, Case."

Derek was in the kitchen later that night when Casey went down to get some juice. He was drinking milk—and from a glass for once!

Casey grabbed a tall glass from the cabinet and filled it to the rim with grape juice.

"Thirsty much?" Derek smirked.

"Yeah." Casey said. "Listen, I'm sorry if I was a little hostile with Tabitha today."

"Tabitha? Don't you mean Angela?" Derek said, and then added, "I think…"

He grinned and gulped down the rest of his milk, rinsed his glass and dropped it in the sink.

"Well, I'm sorry." Casey said. "I don't know how to explain it. I just felt she was intruding on our grief or something."

"Don't worry about it." Derek said. "I'm not worried about it. Besides, I have never heard you tell anyone to shut the hell up before and that was more comic relief than Farley, Spade or Sandler."

Casey smiled. "Well, we should do that again sometime. I mean, going to the movies, not telling people to shut the hell up. It was kind of fun."

Casey couldn't believe what she was saying. This was Derek she was talking to. Derek.

Derek nodded. "Sure, sis." He said.

"Just, uh, don't tell anyone I said that." Casey said with a sly grin as she took a big drink of her juice, "'Cause I'll just deny, deny, deny."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Same here, sis."

He tugged on her ponytail before running back upstairs to turn in for the night.

.oO00Oo.

Review, please. Let me know what you think. If you got any suggestions, let me know. Even though I have the whole story outlined, I could still work in your suggestions. Hopefully my updates will be a lot sooner as I have no more papers due in school this semester!

/A.N./ Okay, I don't know if Casey's pop is dead, but for this story, he is. I just know they never talk about him on the show (which, according to some sites is going to change) and they've talked about Derek's mom a few times, so anyway, that's what makes this fanfiction I guess.