True to his word Derek did take Casey to get a new number and then they kicked around the mall for a time. The mall was crowded, though, so they didn't stay long. Instead, Casey bought him lunch. She was still flinching at sudden movements and overall a little jumpy and stuck close to Derek's side. He stayed close to Casey, protective as always. From the outside, it could have looked like a date. They even managed to get along… sort of. There was plenty of banter but neither ended up truly mad at the other.

When they returned home, Nora and George were waiting for them, standing together. "Ed did it," Derek responded automatically when he saw their unified front, ignoring the indignant 'hey!' from his brother on the kitchen. Really, it was just a reflex; he honestly hadn't done anything (read: done much) to get in trouble.

"Nobody is in trouble," Nor started just as his dad looked suspiciously at Derek, "What did Ed do?"

"Nothing!" Edwin lamented, still in the kitchen. George amended his question, "Derek, what did you do that you're blaming Edwin for?"

"Nothing." Derek held both of his hands up on defense, "It was just a reflex."

"Mom," Casey saved the situation by turning to Nora, "What's up?" Clearly there was something.

His step-mom beamed at them both, "Our Christmas present to you both." Derek and Casey exchanged a glance; they'd already been given gifts.

"Like, the kind we have to share?"

Casey glared at him and shoved his arm, "Derek doesn't know how to share."

"Correction, I know how to share, just not with Klutzilla."

"Well," and Nora and his dad exchanged a look, "Maybe helping you two to move into an apartment together isn't such a good idea."

Snorts of laughter followed this statement and Lizzie spoke up, "They'll kill each other before they get unpacked."

"Hey, we can cooperate!" Which was true, sort of.

"Yeah!" Casey quipped, "We can be adults about this." She turned toward their parents, "Where is this coming from?" Derek shook his head, once, out of Casey's line of sight. His parents weren't dumb, but still the reason should not be revealed.

Nora was no fool, however, and had an answer prepared. "It's cheaper living off campus, more so if you share the space. It will help you… well, Derek, learn the responsibility that comes with living in your own place so you won't be completely unprepared for after college."

"There are rules to this," George warned, sensing the excitement from the two students.

The rules, it turned out, were mostly directed at Derek:

1. There will be no parties.

2. You will show extraordinary care toward the property.

3. Any damage toward the apartment will come out of both Casey and Derek's pockets, regardless of how the damage came to be.

4. Nora and George will pay the rent, for the time being-likely through the semester,-so they get to approve of the apartment (and it's why they get to make all these rules) but any extras (i.e. cable, internet, phone, etc.) will come from Casey and Derek's pockets.

5. Don't kill each other.

6. Remember that they are living closer to neighbors than they're used to, so don't get the cops called for their fighting.

7. Don't kill each other, please.

George summed this up by saying that they were adults now, so they needed to figure it out between themselves if any issues come up because him and Nora won't be there to mediate at the dinner table anymore. If they want to have friends over or to throw parties (despite rule number one) it will be up for them to figure out, clean up, make sure no one leaves trying to drive drunk, etc. They won't be checking in to see that they are taking care of their home. It was at this point that he reiterated that any costs that come up when they move out will be paid by Casey and Derek. Derek responded that living with a neat freak like Casey it would be unlikely that there would be any issues with the apartment when they left. Casey glared and told him that she wasn't going to be cleaning up after him (which, she probably would since the money would come from her pocket as well) and his dad ignored him going on to remind them both of the fact that he and Nora won't be paying their rent forever.

In reality, Derek had never planned on throwing a party in their apartment (those two words together also did funny things to his stomach). It would be too crowded and full of his own stuff. Not to mention the responsibility that comes with throwing a party is nowhere near as fun as just attending a party.

When his dad and Nora left them alone Casey turned to him and, naturally, she had her own rules for their apartment. "I don't want to hear you and whatever flavor of the week you're with, Derek. Find somewhere else to take care of… that."

He couldn't help but laugh, "You mean find somewhere else to have sex?" He shouldn't enjoy the way her cheeks colored slightly pink, but he did.

"And you have to help out around the apartment," she continued, forgetting that she'd already mentioned this, "I'm not going to be constantly cleaning up after you and I refuse to live in filth."

"So you're on board with this?" He'd been worried she might not want to move in with him.

Casey thought about it for a moment and then jerked her head in one quick affirmative motion, "Yes." They both ignored the two teenagers still giggling in the kitchen.

"Good. But I have rules of my own, Case." She arched a brow but let him continue, "When hockey is on, leave me alone, and don't even think that you're going to be watching the TV then-"

"Fine, but no replays of past games. Also, Derek, we don't have a TV."

He ignored her, "And Greg isn't allowed over. Ever."


With the intent of apartment hunting and moving Casey's things in before Greg returned to campus, Casey and Derek returned to Kingston two weeks early with their parents and Simon in tow. The four of them knew it was not going to be an easy process, but it proved more painful than any of them had anticipated.

When Derek liked a place, Casey wasn't fond of it.

The places that Casey liked, Derek could never see himself living in.

The ones their parents were fond of, Derek and Casey were agreement that it was an absolute no.

When Casey and Derek both agreed upon somewhere, it was out of their price range.

The one apartment the four of them had agreed upon was off the market by the time they'd inquired about it.

That night at dinner everyone was frustrated with the experience. No one had expected to find an apartment that day but the level of disagreement had frayed the nerves of all involved. They each went to their respective hotel rooms that night, irritated with one another and looking quite dejected. Naturally when Casey came knocking on his hotel room door at 7:30 in the morning, Derek wasn't pleased. He tried ignoring it, but then she started yelling, "Derek. Open up." he grabbed the ends of the pillows and shoved them to cover his ears but it only barely muffled her noise.

Finally he gave in and yanked the door open, "You're going to wake the whole hall, Princess."

"Well," She hardly seemed to care as she slid past him into the room, laptop in hand, "You should have answered.

"I was sleeping. Something I'd like to get back to. Jeez, is this what living with you is going to be like?"

She gave him a pointed look, "You already know what living with me is like." She shoved the laptop at him, glowering for just a second but for whatever reason she was in a good mood. "Too bad about your sleep, Derek. Hurry up and get dressed. I found the place and I don't want it to go." She flounced out of the room leaving him a bit dazed as the door shut behind her.

He sat at the little desk provided and browsed through the layout she'd picked. He was vaguely familiar with the complex, knowing a few people from the hockey team who lived there. It was a two bedroom, two bath (the latter being a real bonus), the living room was connected with the dining room but it was made up by the fact that there was an "office" room. It looked like another bedroom in his opinion, but he supposed it was a little small to act as a bedroom and it just had an archway instead of an actual door. He had to admit, the floor plan and pictures looked great, and it was in their price range.

Driving to the apartments everyone seemed a little hopeful, even Simon gurgled happily. "Dad said he'd help a little with furnishings, the things we can't bring from home, anyway. The neighborhood isn't the best but it is close to the school, has a lot of amenities," here she reminded him of the dishwasher, again, "and two bathrooms!"

"It's great," he agreed "but I have to warn you, they don't all look as good as the pictures."

She waved a hand at him, "Oh, I know. But we can make it work. A rug here, some pictures. It will look great." She looked over at him expectantly and he sighed letting his smile grow.

In reality, the apartment didn't look as bad as some others that were known for housing college students. There were no beer stains on the carpet, for one, even though the carpet was kind of hideous ("A rug!" Casey remind him, when he made a face). And the wall paint was an ugly faded yellow. Casey and Nora eyed it with positivity, though. "It's workable," both women agreed. They couldn't paint the wall so there wasn't anything to be done with that, but Casey already had plans to shampoo the carpet and decorate the walls. He didn't even try arguing with her. Their parents agreed, she was happy, he was satisfied with the place. And Casey was alive, she was engaging. The squeal and brief hug that followed when he agreed made the ugly wall paint worth it.


It took two days for them to move in and for Casey to completely unpack her things from her dorm (he took a little longer than that). She'd also rented a carpet shampoo machine and meticulously went over every inch of the carpet and when she was finished the carpet was two shades lighter (which is incredibly disgusting when you think about it) and so he was actually pretty thankful for the neurosis that is Casey McDonald. By the time he'd finished unpacking his stuff, his dad had come by with a rental truck and moved in their bedroom furniture and whatever else from their rooms that they hadn't taken initially leaving Derek with more stuff to unpack. Nora, apparently, was very excited to redecorate the guest rooms.

With no real furniture, they used Casey's futon (which would eventually go into the office if they ever got a real couch) as the living room couch and dined on folding dinner trays or at their respective desks. Derek bought a set of bedside tables from an ad in their building and put one in his room and offered Casey the other. He'd also found a bookshelf that had been put on the curb marked as "Free or Trash" and that went into the living room (covering up a large chunk of ugly yellow). Casey hung curtains and pictures and Derek was pleased to find that she took his tastes into consideration. They also bought huge rugs that could cover most of the carpet in each room.

By the time classes started Casey was eating better (not great and sometimes she'd still pick at dinner, but it an improvement), she was waking up at the crack of dawn again (something he wasn't exactly thrilled about but she mostly left him alone), and they had officially moved into their apartment. It felt like home.

It felt even more like home when he walked through the door after practice to find Casey wrapped up in a blanket on the (new!) couch from Dennis, eyes red and puffy. First day of school and she was already crying, but then it wouldn't be home without this.

Her face turned to look up at him as he locked the door. Her red eyes were wide and frightened and he felt white hot anger course through him. He could already tell that what improvements Casey had made were set back. "Greg?" and thankfully he was able to keep the anger out of his voice. Casey nodded. He sighed, "Five minutes, okay?" She nodded again, then he dropped off his hockey gear and hopped into the shower to clean himself of most of the sweat.

When he returned, Casey was in the kitchen mechanically going through the motions of dinner. "What happened?"

She didn't look at him as she spoke, "He followed me from class to class wanting to know why I stopped answering his calls, what was my new number, why is none of my stuff in my dorm, where was I staying." She tried to take a breath but it came out sounding a little strangled. "All day, Derek. Eventually I ran into someone from the hockey team and he walked me to the building-I guess he knows Greg." She shrugged one shoulder.

"I'm scared," she huffed and continued stirring whatever was the pot on the stove, "I don't want to be looking over my shoulder every damn minute but I also don't want to leave this school. I love it here." Her shoulders slumped and Derek's heart squeezed in his chest.

"I know, Princess. You're doing good not giving him any more control. It will get easier. I'll walk you to class tomorrow and when he see's you're not alone, he won't bother you." Not when he was so insistent on playing the good guy. The look that she gave him should have broken another rule. "You could consider pressing charges, getting a restraining order?"

"I know."

"But you won't." It wasn't a question. She shook her head and took the pot, now with water close to boiling over, to a strainer that was already waiting in the sink.

"Spaghetti." She told him and his stomach answered with an audible grumble. "You know you can't walk me to every class. Our schedules don't line up." She left the pasta there and moved back to the stove to add the sauce to the already browning meat.

"You know my schedule?" He teased.

"I helped you register, moron." But her cheeks turned pink.

"Yeah, but you memorized it. But it doesn't matter, just send me a copy of your schedule." Then, deciding to wait for dinner to be ready in the living room, he grabbed the milk from the fridge, downed it in one gulp and left the carton on the counter before exiting.

"Derek!"


Casey was right, though, he could not walk her to every class. He did walk her to campus in the morning (the two of them deciding to save money by conserving gas), and to class. He walked her from their shared media studies class to her next course above his. The times he could not escort her to class he found someone to do it, either someone from the hockey team or some other sports play he'd befriended first semester. She was hardly ever left alone when on campus. Ben, an upper classmen, had been the one to walk her home that first day had his roommate walk Casey home and, more often than not, when he wasn't available she walked with Derek to practice and sat in the stands studying until practice was over.

If she minded being babysat, Casey never said anything. Surprisingly, she became quite close with the rest of the team after a few weeks of this new schedule. Coach even jokingly called her an honorary member of the team. As a thank you for putting up with her (her words, not his) she baked and cooked for the team. There were cookies, brownies, dinners, healthy snacks for after practice. There was soup for when a member was sick and she forced emergen-c and theraflu on them all when it looked like something was spreading on campus. Derek watched as she became a sort of Den Mother to the team and they became fiercely protective of her until she was always coming to practice instead of heading home. It was no longer a favor to Derek that they kept her company between classes.

She'd always complained about how easy it was for Derek to make friends everywhere he went and how she envied that fact but she failed to realize that she had her own ability to draw people in.

All of this to explain why it was such a dumb idea for Greg to come and bother Casey while she sat in the stand during practice. It was after their first game of the semester. It was a home game and also happened to be the first Queens game Casey had attended. It had been a blow out and the team had deemed "Mama Case" the lucky charm of the team.

They were running drills when they heard Coach's angry voice bark out, "Lucky." On the ice the team slowed; Coach was never mad with Casey, only playfully slow when she was passing out baked goods at the end of practice. "There a problem?" Derek's eyes found Casey in her usual spot, but she wasn't alone. Greg stood beside her, a hand on her shoulder which she kept trying to shrug off. Both of them looked up at the sound of Coach's voice.

"No sir. Just trying to talk to my girlfriend here." Greg answered, calm and polite. Casey sat ramrod straight, hands trembling.

"I wasn't talking to you and it doesn't look like she wants you talking to her."

"She's just upset with me." Greg tried.

"You're disrupting my practice and my team." Greg opened his mouth to respond but Coach cut him off. "Leave my rink." He hesitated, peering at Casey for approval, and she looked back nodding her head, once, firm. Greg tried grabbing Casey's arm to bring him with her but she shook her head and Derek was so proud. "Now." Coach barked.

Scowling Greg retreated. Casey met Derek's eyes and he cocked his head to the side. She offered a faint smile and a nod to indicate that she was alright. Practice resumed and when Derek next looked up Casey had shifted down closer to the ice.

That should have been the end of it, but when Casey stepped out of the building-Derek and Michael right behind her-there was Greg, grabbing at Casey's waist. "Stop avoiding me, Case. You have made your point, okay?"

'Let go of me, Greg." Her voice was calm but quiet.

"For fucks sake, I'm sick of this, babe." He raised his hand as if to hit her and before Derek could move, Casey had stepped aside with a dancer's grace. When he lunged at her again she'd planted her left foot and let himself run the family jewels right into her raised right foot. As he doubled over in pain, Casey grabbed the side of his head with each hand and leaned close to his ear.

"Never lay a hand on me again." She glanced over her shoulder where most of the team had now gathered, "I'm sure they'd have something to say about it." Then she did something Derek never expected from his generally (with the exception of him) nonviolent step-sister. She raised his head some and then slammed it down in her knee as it came up. He was pretty sure he heard Greg's nose break. Derek was actually impressed; she'd seemed so timid when they'd gone to their self-defense lessons, but he guessed she hadn't actually felt afraid.

Greg staggered back, one hand cupped himself and the other clamped over his nose, "You bitch." his now nasally voice snarked at her. Derek stepped forward, then.

"It was self-defense." he argued, "There's nothing you can do. Now, never talk-no, never even look at Casey again."

"I recommend a transfer," Michael spoke up. Greg backed away muttering something but Derek was no longer listening. Casey had thrown her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder. It took him a second to remember how to breathe.

Then he did remember and he remembered something else, "Greg, phone." He demanded in a falsely pleasant voice. Casey stiffened in his arms; she'd forgotten about the videos. Michael looked at Derek, confused, and he mouthed back, "Videos. Casey." Understanding lit his teammates face.

"Hand it over," Michael added and when it looked like Greg might just bolt, the team circled him. Grunting he tossed the phone to Michael who took out the memory chip, broke it in half and dropped it in his water bottle, tossing the phone to the side. Someone shoved Greg away and Casey let out a sob.

"This calls for a pizza celebration!" Someone called, causing Casey to giggle. She pulled away from Derek, wiping at her eyes.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah, Princess." he played uncomfortable, "I'll buy you pizza, come on." So she, along with the majority of the team, crowded into the local mom-and-pop pizza shop and sitting there with her by his side laughing at something someone next to her had said, Derek could almost pretend they were two different people in completely different circumstances.

"Hey, Lucky." Robbie called from his booth a few tables away. Casey had grown accustomed to this moniker fairly quickly and didn't hesitate in meeting his eyes. "When did you become Anderson Silva?"

Her eyes slid to Derek's and he laughed, "An MMA fighter and I was kind of wondering the same thing myself."

She looked surprised, "Self-defense. You've been there, Der."

He rolled his eyes, "Yes, but they never taught us that and you always look so… afraid to hit anyone."

Now she looked rather smug, "I've been taking some additional lessons."

"When do you have the time?" He blinked. She was always with someone, too…

"Between my time and the school paper and biology." Robbie said something about not getting on her bad side and Derek offered her a silly grin.


Despite the fact that it was obvious Casey didn't quite need physical protection, Casey was still often accompanied by a member of the hockey team between classes. She never seemed bothered by it, really, and continued coming to games and practices. For her birthday, the team presented her with a jersey that said 'Lucky' above the number '00'. And they threw her a party at a house belonging to one of the seniors on the team.

She cried.

Derek gifted her with whipped cream in her underwear drawer and she chased him with a pillow and beat him with it. And when she went to go take a shower she grabbed a pair of his freshly clean boxers from his laundry basket and that made his mouth go dry.

His real gift was another charm for her bracelet, which she found in Derek's wallet. When he went to give it to her, thinking he'd have one up on her, she dangled her wrist in front of her until he spotted the tiny quill already soldered on. So, it was his turn to chase her and he did, tickling her until she cried.

He was happy and she was doing better. So, it stood to reason that their good times would not last.

It started with a guy...