A/N-I really should've done my calculus homework instead of write this, but this was much more fun, and therapuetic. I just barely moved down to college a week and a half ago, and my mother reacted the same way that Nora did. It really does suck. All of Casey's thoughts about moving are mine, and I feel much better about being in a new place after writing this.

On a different note, one reviewer, an anonymous one, asked me for a fic that killed off Sam as well as Max, and I just want to let him know that I probably won't write that one, just because I kinda like Sam. I don't think he should be with Casey, but he's cute in this "I'm friends with the most popular guy in school, but no one ever really notices me, please love me!" sort of way, so if I do kill him, it'll be in some horribly tragic way, and everyone will be sad, not like they were with Max .

And, third note, I'm trying to reply to every review that gets posted, even if it's just something quick like, "Hey, thanks for the review! I appreciate the feedback!" or something like that, so if you don't want me to reply, just say so and I'll leave you alone.

Disclaimer-I don't own Life with Derek, or Garden State, nor was any copyright infringement intended.

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Moving

This was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Packing up my whole life into boxes. It was a very odd experience.

Sure, everyone moved at some point, unless you were one of those creepy 40-year-old guys that still lived in his mom's basement. Why is it only guys that do that? Or do girls do it too, but it's never talked about? Hmm, that's odd.

Anyways, I digress. It was so hard to take my whole life, put it in boxes, and load it into a truck, knowing that you will never again live in the home you grew up in. Or at least spent the last three years in.

It's like in that movie, Garden State. Large tells Sam, "It's a weird feeling, realizing that the place you used to live isn't home anymore. Suddenly, you have this place where you store all of your shit, but that feeling of home is gone, and you won't get it again until you get married and create that feeling for your kids. Maybe that's all a family really is, a group of people that miss the same imaginary place."

I stood there thinking this, brushing tears from my face. Suddenly, I changed my mind. I didn't want to go to college in the States after all. I wanted to go to the local community college, and stay living at home for as long as I could. I didn't want to move away from everyone I knew and start all over again. I wanted to stay right here, with my mom, and George, and Lizzie, Edwin, Marti, even Derek. Especially Derek.

Especially Derek, who had chosen that moment to come find me. "Casey? Come on, Case, where are you? Your flight leaves in a couple of hours, you're the one who wanted to get there early." He had finally reached the top of the stairs, and he poked his head into her room. "Casey? You okay?"

I smiled bravely at him. "I'm fine. It just looks so weird, doesn't it? I'm still trying to get used to the fact that I don't live here anymore." I looked around the room at the empty walls. All of my stuff had already been driven down to New York by a moving company, it was all waiting for me in my new apartment.

"I know," he stepped out of my room and next door into his. He was in the process of packing, but he still had another month. "I'm still adjusting too. But it'll be okay. This is what people do, right? They leave the nest. They go to college. They get married and buy their own homes. Everything will be alright." He smiled at me, trying to make me feel better obviously.

"Do you promise? What if I can't do it? High school was so easy, what if college is different? Harder? What if I fail all of my classes, and have to come back here to work at Smelly Nelly's for the rest of my life?" I was really freaking out now, and Derek could tell.

He walked over to me and put his arm around my shoulder. "Hey, come on, you know you won't work at Smelly Nelly's, they fired you already." I smacked him. "I'm kidding, Case. Come on, be real. You're going to do fine. It's me you should be worried about. I barely made it through college, it's a miracle they let me into film school."

"Yeah, right. You'll get by purely on charm, just like you did in high school."

"So you admit I'm charming? It's about time."

"Casey? Derek? Where are you two? It's time to go!" George yelled from downstairs.

"Well, I guess it's now or never," Derek said, giving me a squeeze.

"I choose never." I replied, trying to walk further into my room.

"Yeah, right, okay. Come on Casey, brave new world, here we come!" He slipped around behind me and began to push me out the door. I grumbled the whole way down, but as soon as I saw my mom I knew it was time to be serious.

She wasn't handling this well at all. Her eyes were all red, and it looked like she had just barely stopped crying. I knew that if I started talking about failing, she would lose it and make me stay here. Even though I was having second thoughts, if I stayed I wanted it to be my choice, not because my mother freaked out and made me stay home. I gave her a big smile and walked over to hug her. She started crying again before I even reached her.

"Mom, are you okay? We haven't even got to the airport yet." I asked her, worried that she was going to make me stay.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. It's just odd. This morning you still lived here, and now we're taking you to the airport so that you can live in an entirely different country." She began to compose herself. "I'm alright, I promise I'll try to hold it in until we get to the airport, okay?"

"Okay. Well, are we going?" I picked up the duffel bag full of things I had still needed, the only things I still had in this house.

George nodded and picked up his keys. Lizzie, Edwin, and Marti began to look very upset. They were staying here, because George wanted as little of a scene as possible, and he knew that my mother was going to make a huge one all on her own.

"Well, guys, I guess this is it." I walked over to my younger siblings. "Liz, take care of yourself alright? Call me if you need any advice, I don't care what time it is. Just because I'm leaving doesn't mean that I'm not still here for you, okay?" I pulled her into a hug, and began to cry a little when I noticed that she was crying.

"Edwin, don't worry about the girls, okay? They might not understand you now, but they will eventually, and when they do, don't start serial dating like Derek. Being in a real relationship isn't so terrible." I hugged him, and was a little surprised when I felt him hug me back.

"I promise to be better behaved than Derek," he said with his hand over his heart. He even looked a little teary, and I was touched.

"Okay, little one, what about you?" I picked her up. "If you need advice, the same rules apply to you that I gave to Liz, but don't forget that she's here too. You have an advantage, because you'll still have an older sister living with you. Make sure that you keep Mom and George on their toes, okay?" She nodded and hugged me, and I hugged her back.

"Alright, I guess it's time to go then," I said. I pulled all three of them into a group hug, picked up my bag, and led our little group outside.

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Good-byes at the airport were even harder than the ones at home. At least at home I was comfortable. At the airport everyone was saying good-bye. It was a very depressing atmosphere.

Naturally, my mother pulled me into a hug first. She was balling. "You call us if you need anything, okay?" I nodded. "And if anything happens, you call us and we'll be there, on the next flight, okay?" I nodded again. "And call. Call all the time. I don't care what time it is. Just because you're leaving and growing up, don't think that you can get rid of us." I nodded yet again. There was a pattern here. "Oh, Casey, I'm going to miss you so much!" She gave up on speech and just held me, crying. I was crying too, but it seemed like nothing but a small leak compared to my mother's waterfall.

She finally let go of me, and I stepped over to George. He held his hand out, and I looked at him funny, then pulled him into a hug. "Thanks for being my dad," I said. When I pulled back, I saw him wiping at his eyes too.

That left…Derek. Wow, this was hard. I stood awkwardly in front of him. "So…" I started, looking at the ground.

He surprised me and pulled me into a huge, rib-crushing hug. "I'm going to miss you," he said huskily, and I knew without looking at him that he was crying.

"I'm going to miss you too," I said, the tears continuing as I wrapped my arms around him. "I'm sorry that we didn't always get along. I'm also sorry that I sometimes went out of my way to annoy you. Things around the house would've been so much easier if we had just made an attempt to get along."

He pulled back from me a little bit, still holding on. "I'm not sorry. I'm glad that we were like that. True, I could see how it would piss everyone else off, but I loved it when we argued. Thanks for making my life interesting, and for challenging me." I was really crying now, and he just leaned in and pecked me on the cheek before walking back to stand with George over at the souvenir shop.

My mom came towards me again, still bawling. She hugged me again. "Good luck, baby. I believe in you. You can conquer all of New York if you want to."

"Thanks," I said. I realized that, while I hadn't started out this way, I was now crying just as hard as my mom. "Okay, I guess this is it. New York, ready or not, here I come."

As I walked towards my gate, I turned around to look at them. George stood with his arm around Nora, him leaking small tears, her crying so hard it was a miracle she could see. Derek stood off to the side a little bit, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans, crying a little, but trying to hide it. They all waved at me, and I waved too, looking at them for the last time as a member of my home.

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I finally made it to my apartment, after almost getting ran over by several cars on my way to get a cab, then losing said cab to a group of tourists, then almost getting ran over again on my way to another cab. I walked inside and sighed, sitting down on the loveseat that Mom and George had found for a good price and sent along to me. I looked up at the kitchen counter, and saw an envelope with my name on it sitting there. I walked over and picked it up, and read the letter inside, dated a week earlier.

Casey,

Why oh why did you decide to take that stupid summer workshop? If you had just waited, we would've left for school at the same time, and your poor mother would only have had to say good-bye once. I can only imagine the scene she's going to cause at the airport. Well, then again, I suppose I should be thanking you, because I get to see it and prepare myself before I have to experience it myself next month. Well, I'm sure we'll be in constant contact, I just thought that some friendly words from a familiar hand would be nice for when you first got in.


I love you, and I can't wait til I move in next month.

Derek

I smiled. Maybe moving out here wasn't such a bad choice.

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A/N-Let me know what you think by pressing the magical review button, and I'll tell you what you need to survive in the dorms.