A/N: Hey ... we're still on vacation, but I managed to find a brief moment in which to update. So I hope you like it! I probably won't be responding to PMs or reviews since my internet time is limited, but please know that I am reading them and I really appreciate all the feedback. Now, on with the story!

Casey put the final wrapped box on her massive stack of wrapped boxes and breathed a sigh of satisfaction. There, she thought, it took me all day, but I'm done. Now to go see what Derek's doing. I wonder if he got my note this morning?

Casey heaved herself off the floor and meandered down the hall towards Derek's room. She knocked quietly, and, hearing nothing, opened the door and went in.

Derek was lying on his bed, headphones on and drumming out a beat with his fingers. He was only half-dressed, and his normally-messy hair was slightly less messy. Casey tapped him on the shoulder, and he jumped.

"Casey! Good, you're here. What shirt should I wear tonight?" Derek held up two shirts and looked at her expectantly.

"Um, what?" Casey asked.

"Which shirt should I wear tonight?" Derek held the shirts up again.

"Um … the one on the right. The blue one. What's going on?"

"Not telling. Go get dressed and meet me downstairs in ten minutes."

"What? Why?!" Casey demanded.

"Just do it. And no skirts."

"Fine." Casey turned around and stomped out of Derek's room in a huff. What is he doing? What are we doing? He knows I hate surprises. HATE them. This better be something fun.

Nine minutes and 37 seconds later, Casey was downstairs, dressed and ready to go. She had finally settled on a nice pair of jeans, her favorite sweater, and a pair of black, stacked-heeled boots. Her hair was pulled back into a casual ponytail—she didn't have time for anything more elaborate—and her makeup was understated. Ha, there, she thought smugly, he can't pull one over on me. I'm ready for anything.

"Hey, Case, you're ready," Derek said, bounding down the stairs and landing with a thud.

"Ready for what?" Marti asked as she emerged from under the kitchen table.

"Oh, Marti … hey. Casey and I are just going out," Derek answered, scratching the back of his head with his left hand.

"Going out to do what?" Marti persisted.

"Just some … stuff," he finished lamely.

"What kind of stuff? And why are you guys going together?" Marti asked.

"Just some grown-up stuff, Marti," Casey answered, getting down to Marti's level.

"OK. But why are you going together?"

Casey looked at Derek with desperation in her eyes. Say something! she silently implored him. He looked as panicked as she felt, and appeared to have frozen. Damnit, Derek. If I only knew what we were doing, then I could lie to her! Or, at least tell her the truth and then try to get us out of here!

"Because I asked her to," Derek answered finally.

"But why?" Marti asked.

"Because I did. Casey, ready to go?" Derek asked, walking towards the front door.

"OK, whatever, Smerek. You guys are acting weird," Marti said, returning to her spot under the table.

"Bye, Marti!" Casey called, following Derek out the front door.

"What was that all about?" Casey demanded, chasing her boyfriend down the walk. "Why can't you just tell me what we're doing or where we're going?"

"Because it's a surprise, Casey. You seemed so stressed out this morning, and I wanted to plan something nice for us to do tonight."

Casey's heart melted a little, and she felt her anger dissipate. Aww, that's so sweet! He's so amazing … why didn't we get it together any earlier? Oh, right, the whole Mom-and-George-and-the-whole-world-would-freak-out thing. Because this is weird.

"Oh, by the way, I told Ed about us," Derek casually mentioned as they backed out the driveway.

"You did WHAT?!" Casey shrieked, whipping her head around to face Derek.

"Well, you told Lizzie, and I wanted to get to him before she did. It's easier to intimidate him when I'm the one delivering the information. Otherwise, we'd just be blackmailed."

"What did he say? How did he react? Was he grossed out by it?" Casey fired off her questions in rapid succession without waiting for an answer.

"He didn't really say anything," Derek answered. "Actually, it was a little weird. It's like … he wasn't surprised by it. He just wanted to negotiate price."

"He wasn't surprised by it like he figured it was going on, or wasn't surprised by it like someone told him?"

"I don't know, Casey. Like I said, he just wanted to negotiate price."

"So what did you do?"

"I told him that if he didn't give back your journal, I'd beat him until he couldn't breathe anymore." Derek grinned. "Hey, have you found it yet? Nora said she did some cleaning in our rooms, so I thought she might have found it."

Casey breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good. I'll ask her about it tonight. She knows not to read my journal, so I think we're safe."

"OK, excellent. And we're here," Derek said, putting the car into park and cutting off the engine.

"Where's here?" Casey asked, peering into the inky darkness.

"You'll see," Derek answered cheekily, unbuckling his seatbelt. "Stay right there." He got out of the car, grabbed something out of the trunk, and then opened her door. "Your evening, my lady," he said as he extended his hand.

Casey put her hand in his, thankful for the warmth that he radiated. She shivered with pleasure as she got out of the car and, hand-in-hand, walked with Derek into the darkness. "Where are we going?" she asked after they had walked a few hundred feet.

"You'll see," Derek said, "but you're going to have to trust me." He hooked her arm through his. "We're going into the woods."

"We're going where?" Casey asked. He's dragging me into the woods? Oh, my gosh, this is like a thriller movie, and I'm the victim! "Uh uh, no way, I'm NOT going in there with you," Casey said, shaking her head.

"Just trust me, Case, we're not doing anything dangerous. Just fun. Come on."

"Fine," Casey muttered, allowing Derek to drag her through the trees, "but if something happens to me, I'm forever going to blame you."

They stumbled through the darkness in silence. Finally, they stopped and Derek spoke.

"We're here," he said, bending over.

Casey's eyes shot open wide. They were at a small, frozen-over pond, completely surrounded by trees. White fairy lights were wound around the trees and strung over the pond, lighting up the small area. Snow flurries were blowing around gently, and Casey couldn't help but get caught up in the pure, storybook romantic feeling of it all.

"Derek! How did you manage this? This is amazing!"

Derek stood up and puffed with pride. "I found this place last summer, and I've kind of been using it as an escape. I didn't want to bring someone here until I knew that I could trust them; I just didn't think that person would be you. Merry Christmas, Casey. I love you."

Casey threw herself at Derek, embracing him tightly and trying to hold back tears. This was the singularly most romantic thing that anyone had ever done for her, and she couldn't believe that it was Derek doing it. I was wrong for so long, and this … it's just right. She pulled back slightly and looked into his eyes. "I love you too, Derek," and tipped her head in for a kiss.

After a few moments of kisses that got progressively hotter, they finally pried themselves apart. "So," Casey said, catching her breath and smoothing her hair back, "what are we going to do out here?"

"This," Derek said, holding up two pairs of skates.

The two of them skated and laughed for an hour or so, until Casey's toes and fingers were so cold that she couldn't feel them anymore. They packed up everything—aside from the lights, which Derek said that he would get the next day—and drove home in a happy, companionable silence. It was late, and they slipped into the dark house as quietly as possible to avoid waking anyone up. They sneaked towards the staircase, when a light flipped on.

"Casey, Derek, do you want to explain this?"

George and Nora were standing at the base of the staircase; Nora held Casey's journal in her right hand, flipped open to an entry from November.

A/N: Dun dun dun! So NORA had the journal ... but why did she read it? She usually doesn't do these things, right? Keep reading to find out ...