I know it's been ages since I've updated, and I'm really sorry. I truly had/have no idea where I'm going with this anymore, so each chapter is going to take a lot of work to get it somewhere decent. Plus school is really busy, and this is the first opportunity I've had a lot of free time to finish it. The plus side? I wrote a future chapter this summer, and it will either come after this one or the next one. But yea, I really am sorry for the long waits between chapters. I want to write the best possible material for this story, so I can no longer promise when any chapter will come anymore, with the exception of the one I already wrote.

Enjoy! And LWD isn't mine. At all.

The next week, Derek came to a realization. Well, not quite a realization. It was hard to explain. Hell, it was hard to wrap his head around. But, basically, he had come to terms with the fact that he was in love with his step-sister, and that it was very possible that she felt the same way, and that if he played his cards right and got his act together, he could get her.

The question was if he could manage to not screw it up. Despite their being rather close at this point, he knew that if he really messed this up, he could lose her forever. And he wasn't willing to consider that.

This revelation came after two incidents: one involving each of them.

The first one was the day after Casey's Women's Studies test, when she had returned to the apartment stressing over auditions for some ballet production the school was putting on. She wanted so badly to audition for any role—although she had her eye on the lead role—but she was allowing her fear of failure and her insecurities to hold her back. Derek had sat her down, held her hands in his own, looked her in the eye, and told her to follow her heart and audition. "Princess, you can do anything you set your mind to. If you want the lead in this ballet, then go for it and get it. I know you can do it, Casey. You're an amazing dancer." And so she had. The look of complete trust in her eyes was what tore him apart and got him halfway to that determined attitude.

The second was the end of the week, when the hockey team had their first home game, and Casey had come to the game. Despite her barely understanding a thing about hockey, she had sat in the very front and cheered Derek on every minute of the game. Then, after they had won, she met him outside the locker room and jumped into his arms with a broad grin, despite how sweaty and stinky he still was. He couldn't sleep that night; he just kept reliving the feel of her in his arms, her face pressed into his neck, her playful grimace when she pulled away and declared that he needed a shower pronto. He knew he had it bad, but he couldn't help it. He was, quite frankly, in love.