A/N Okay, so here is the next and very last chapter! It took me a while to write it but I'm rather pleased with how it turned out...


George sat in the living room while reading a very interesting book, one that had pop up pages and colorful pictures in it. It was suppose to be one of Marti's books, but that didn't stop him from looking through it…

As he flipped through another fun filled page, the sound of a very loud car pulling up into the drive way interrupted him.

"There back…" He said to himself while plopping the book onto the coffee table.

George left the couch and walked up to the window inaudibly, pulling the curtains apart in a way that made it almost impossible for both Derek and Casey to notice him.

They were talking and-- wait a minute, were they laughing? No, they couldn't be. His eyes were surely playing tricks on him.

George strained to hear what they were saying, but all he could make out was, Derek, Case, love, and oak tree.

"Oak tree?" he asked himself, looking away from the window for a split second. "What is it that suppose to mean?"


"I can't believe I'm doing this," Derek began while Casey merely looked at him, "But I'm going to apologize."

The look in her eyes was priceless, they were sparkling and twinkling like never before. "But why?" Casey asked him curiously.

"Oh, don't make me explain myself, too!" Derek exclaimed while throwing his hands up in the air. "You should be lucky I'm even apologizing in the first place!"

Casey laughed heartily and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You know the rule." She said teasingly.

"Uh, what rule?" Derek asked.

"Derek," Casey began dramatically, "a person must always explain why they are apologizing before they officially say they are truly sorry."

"Well, that's a stupid rule." Derek grumbled.

"But you admit it's a rule?" She questioned him, a glint of amusement spread across her face.

"Hey, you tricked me!" Derek shouted. "For the second time…" He added, clearly defeated by his clever stepsister's skills.

"I just want to know why you are apologizing," Casey innocently explained.

As much as he didn't want to do it, he knew he had to. After all, he did owe it to her.

"Fine," Derek sighed while scratching the back of his head, "I am sorry for all of the terrible things I did to you."

Was Casey hearing things? Was she dreaming? Did The Derek Venturi just apologize to Casey McDonald, the girl he claimed he despised. She literally had to pinch herself to make sure this was real.

"I'm not dreaming!" Casey squealed with joy. "You really did say you were sorry!"

Derek raised his eyebrows at her. "Yeah, so…"

Casey couldn't help but do the unthinkable:

She hugged him.

"Cas-EY!" Derek exclaimed while she continued to squeeze him, his face buried in her hair.

'Der-EK" She mocked him. "Don't ruin this sweet moment."

So Derek was forced to give Casey a hug; an awkward, strange, and agonizingly long hug…

--which he secretly enjoyed.


George couldn't believe what he was seeing, he must have been dreaming. Maybe it was the aspirin he took earlier, it probably had some kind of effect on him. There was just no way that Derek and Casey were hugging each other.

Suddenly he noticed something very odd; there was a large dent in the front of the car.

Has that always been there?


"Uh, Casey," Derek stuttered out as she continued to hug him. "You can let go now."

Embarrassed, Casey pulled away from him and smiled weakly. "Sorry."

"Whatever, space case. I'm just glad it's over." Derek said coolly, trying not to look like he really cared.

However, Casey did know he cared. She could see it in his eyes… and in his body language.

"Derek," She began.

He simply motioned for her to continue by raising an eyebrow.

Casey smirked before continuing, "Despite everything that happened tonight--"

"You mean the fact that I ditched you at the house and almost used your ticket on some other girl?"

Casey gave him a displeased look and said, "Yes, that it exactly what I am talking about."

"Are you're also talking about the oak tree we almost smashed into?" Derek questioned her again.

"Derek, we did smash into it." She said annoyingly.

"No, we collided with it." He corrected her.

"Moving on," Casey began loudly, trying to get back on topic. Derek smirked at her but she ignored it. "Despite everything that happened tonight… I actually had a good time."

Derek almost choked on his spit. She actually had a good time? Why did she have a good time? The whole night was an utter disaster; Derek treated her terribly. Maybe he heard her wrong.

"You had a good time?" Derek asked while giving her a questioning look.

"Well of course I did!" She said happily, and out of nowhere she pinched Derek's cheek, he whined but she didn't care. "I finally had that feel good family moment!"

Derek swatted her hand away and said, in a mortified tone, "Hey, we are NOT family."

She laughed in her head menacingly. Maybe she was driving the guy nuts…. If she was she really didn't care.

"Derek, I am your sister!" She teasingly exclaimed.

"STEP-sister!" Derek corrected her. He looked like he just wanted to run out of the car and hide. Obliviously Casey was entering a forbidden topic.

"Well, STEP-brother, I guess we should leave the car now." She suggested while motioning to the house.

"Yeah, we should--" Derek was suddenly distracted by the window next to the front door. "Hey, is that Dad?"

Casey tore her eyes away from Derek and followed his gaze. "Is he spying on us?"

The mysterious figure jumped startlingly and pulled the curtains back together, leaving both Derek and Casey in sheer confusion…


"Oh, I think they saw me…" George said to himself as he stepped away from the window.

Since it was dark and he couldn't see where he was going, George accidentally tripped over Marti's doll house, causing him to fall backwards and bump into a lamp, where it hit the ground with a loud crash.

"Oops!"


Derek and Casey were both startled when they heard a loud crash coming from inside their house.

"What was that?" Casey asked Derek.

He turned his head at her and gave an unknowing look.

"Who knows," Derek shrugged.

"We should go find out," Casey suggested. She then opened the squeaky door, but instead of leaving the car, she looked at Derek. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows.

"What?" He asked her nosily.

Almost out of nowhere, Casey decided to do something that might or might not upset Derek.

She swiftly leaned her head forward and pecked Derek on the cheek, when she pulled away he didn't say anything, he only stared at her with very wide eyes.

Did she really just do that? And why was his cheek burning from where she just kissed him?

As Derek sat in owe, Casey smiled and left the car, walking off with a sense of cheerfulness. He slowly brought his hand up to his cheek and smiled brightly to himself.

"…whoa…"


When Casey entered the house, she was shocked by the scene displayed in front of her. All the lights were turned on and right in the middle of the living room was George laying on the couch with an ice pack pressed against his forehead. She was even more shocked to see her siblings cleaning up a busted lamp located on the floor near the staircase.

Edwin and Lizzie were sweeping up little remains of glass while Marti stood next to them, a small trash bin settled in her fatigue hands. Meanwhile her mother, Nora, was sitting on the sofa with George's head positioned on her lap, her right hand gripping the icepack for him.

"Yo, Casey!" Edwin greeted her in his usual manner, "how was the movie?"

She didn't say anything and only stared at him precariously.

"Hey, where's Derek?" Lizzie asked before dumping a whole lot of glass into the bin.

"Mom! What happened?" Casey asked loudly.

Nora smiled at her weakly before replying, "Well, George had a little accident…"

Casey took her mother's explanation as a understatement. It looked more like he had a huge accident.

"I need Advil…" George groaned inaudibly.

Nora was startled by her husband's sudden ability to speak but obeyed. "Edwin, go get the Advil!" She ordered him.

Edwin walked off annoyingly, grumbling to himself as he left the living room and stepped inside the kitchen.

Suddenly, Derek stumbled into the house with a goofy grin on his face, however it slowly vanished when he saw his father.

"Dad? What happened to you?" He asked him stupidly.

Casey turned to look at him and rolled her blue eyes. "Apparently, George had an accident."

Derek couldn't help but to burst out laughing, there was something about the situation that he found comical.

He knew this would be the perfect time to break the bad news to him.

"Hey, dad," Derek began.

George painfully looked up to see his son standing near the doorway with a overly cheerful expression plastered onto his face.

"You are not going to believe what happened when we were driving home!" He said this in a way that made it sound like he was about to tell a very amusing joke. "We crashed into a oak tree!"

Derek laughed even harder as George's expression stiffened. "You what!" he furiously exclaimed.

Casey decided to join Derek and laugh with him. "Yeah, we were in the middle of yelling when he collided with it!" She explained happily. "Isn't that funny?"

"You crashed into a tree!" Nora repeated heatedly.

"Yeah, but it was totally worth it!" Derek laughed out, his words barely understandable. "Casey and I ended up revealing our 'feelings." He put quotation marks on the word 'feelings'.

"Excuse me!" Nora and George yelled in unison.

Casey laughed even harder and steadied a hand on Derek's shoulder. "Isn't that the most funniest thing you ever heard!"

George tried to leave the couch, but the pain in his back stopped him. Marti couldn't help but jump for joy, oblivious to all the drama around her.

"Yay! Smerek loves Casey!" She squealed.

"Smerek loves Casey?!" Nora repeated, she was so upset that she didn't realize how much pressure she was putting on her husband's forehead.

"Ow!" George cried.

"Oh, sorry!"

Lizzie tried to avoid the bizarre situation, so she continued to clean up the mess, ignoring Derek and Casey completely.

"Hey, don't be upset!" Derek started. He put his arm around Casey and hugged her tightly. "This means that Casey and I are finally cooperating, right!"

Everyone just stared at him, minus Edwin, who was still in the kitchen.

"Well, I am so tired." Casey yawned dramatically. "We better get some sleep, come on Derek." She grabbed him by the arm and began pulling him up the stairs.

George just stared into space, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping open.

"George?" Nora called out to him in a concerned voice. She waved her hands in front of his face but he didn't do anything; he didn't even blink.

Almost on cue, Edwin walked back into the living room with a small bottle of aspirin in his hand. He stood in front of the couch and dangled the bottle in his face almost comically.

"I think you'll need this." Edwin said while his father just looked at him blankly.

A minute later, George sighed and grabbed the bottle weakly. It would take ten different pain relievers to get rid of this particular headache…

As he put the pill inside his mouth, he couldn't help but wonder what Derek and Casey were really doing upstairs.

The only thing he could be grateful for was the fact that his son probably forgot all about his promise in raising his allowance…


I big thank you to everyone who read this and everyone who reviewed.

Now hit that little GO bottom at the button of your screen and write me a review-- I don't care if it is a good one or a bad one-- I accept all your opinions.