Thank you all for being so patient, I have had some SERIOUS writers block, I hope it doesn't show, I finally made myself sit down and just type. This is what came out.

CASEY

Casey was laying in her bed absentmindedly rubbing her hand on her protruding belly. Enjoying the feeling of her baby kicking inside of her. She heard Derek call from down stairs that he was home. Excited that he was home after such a long day Casey jumped off her bed and quickly made her way down to the stairs.

Upon stepping onto the first step she felt her legs give out from under her and she began to tumble down the stairs for what seemed like eternity and landing in a heap at the bottom.

Derek rushed to her and helped her stand up, she felt her belly and her hands came back slick with blood. She looked down and seen blood begin to seep through her shirt and pouring down her legs. Derek ran to the laundry room and grabbed all of the towels he could find, but in a matter of seconds those too were soaked through with blood.

Casey woke with a start and put her hand over her mouth to muffle the scream that was trying to escape. She looked over and seen that Derek was still asleep, the hand that must have been over her waist now lay limply over her legs. Carefully she removed his arm and quietly went to the bathroom and turned on the shower.

Peeling off her clothes she examined her body in the mirror. She looked the same except for the faint pink horizontal scar on her lower abdomen. Running her finger over it a single tear left her eye and she quickly got in the shower, where she felt it was safe to break down.

She had gone on for months pretending to feel ok, and Derek had to come back with a sledge hammer to knock her expertly constructed walls down. She cried for what seemed like hours until there were no more tears and she was making herself sick.

She got out of the shower and went to her room to dress for the day, Derek was still sleeping so she tried to be as quiet as possible. She opened her underwear drawer and it gave a loud squeak, Casey winced and then looked over to Derek who started to stir. She quickly grabbed her bra and underwear and put them on under her towel and put the towel in the basket in the corner.

"Hey," Derek sleepy called out to her, "Hey," She whispered back. She kept her back to him as she got dressed, not ready to show him that she had just spent the better part of an hour crying in the shower.

Derek must have sensed that something was wrong, she heard him stand up and walk to her, he put his hand on her shoulder and waited for her to turn around. She sighed and turned around, sure that her face was red and puffy.

Derek looked at her for a moment before gently putting his hand on her cheek, "Talk to me Case," Casey closed her eyes and put her hand over his, she turned her face and kissed his wrist, "I've missed you so much," She could feel new tears sting behind her eyelids, she squeezed her eyes tighter before she looked at Derek. His face was a mix of love and worry. She took his hand and led him over to the bed.

"I'm not going to freak out, Derek." Derek looked relieved.

Casey wanted nothing more than to crawl into Derek's arms and never leave, but she had a few things to say before they could move on, if there was going to be a 'them' after she was done.

"Talking with doctor Williams really helped me Derek, he helped me understand that it wasn't my fault." Casey sighed. Derek took her hand. "I think I took it so hard and blamed myself because of all of your teasing," Casey could feel his hand begin to sweat, but she needed to get this off her chest, she looked him in the eyes and Derek looked like his might vomit. "The teasing and name calling never bothered me, but after I tripped down those stairs and the doctors told me I lost the baby it all just came back to me." "Casey, I'm so sorry," Casey shook her head. "Don't, Derek that's how we were. It sounds silly but those were the times that I knew I loved you. You were a pain in the ass and teased me, but I think I knew that you didn't really hate me," Casey said with a shrug.

"I never hated you Case, I was 15 when we met, I didn't know how to handle being around a girl I wanted but knew I could never have." He said stoking her cheek.

"Derek, where did you go for those two weeks after we were together?"

Derek looked down and sighed. "I didn't go anywhere, I was still on campus but I avoided you and I know that was wrong and I'm sorry."

"I kind of need more of an explanation than that Derek,"

"What do you want me to say? I already apologized." Derek said sounding defensive.

"I gave you everything Derek and you disappeared for two weeks, do you have any idea how that made me feel?" Casey said choking back the tears.

"I was mad at you, Casey I have wanted you for as long I have known you and I thought that you used me to get your first time over with," Casey opened her mouth to say something but Derek held a hand up. "I know I was the one who started it, but I thought that you would have at least told me it was your first time. If I would have known we probably wouldn't have done it then. I would have wanted to make it special for you."

Casey was taken aback. "I, uh, I had no idea." Casey looked down at her lap. "I wasn't trying to trick you, I had been wanting that to happen for a long time." Derek still looked sad. "And even though it hurt, it was still perfect. I was with you, and that's all I needed."

DEREK

It took about a week but Derek and Casey got closer and everything seemed to be normal, they had just sat down to dinner when Casey said that she had something that she wanted to say.

"I had my last appointment with doctor Williams two weeks ago," Derek reached forward and grabbed her hand.
"But he gave me some homework, and for once it didn't come easy for me." Casey looked down at her plate.
"At my last appointment he told me that the only way that I was going to get closure was to give the baby a name." Derek stopped breathing, in fact it looked like everyone was holding their breath, waiting for Casey to break. She took a deep breath before she continued.

"Michael Allen Venturi," Casey rushed out. Derek looked around the table his dad had a big grin on his face. "That's a wonderful name Sweetheart," Nora said rubbing her shoulder.

Casey nodded. "Michael for Derek's middle name," She said giving Derek a small smile. "And Allen for George's middle name. I wanted his name to mean something." Derek got up from his seat and went to her and pulled her out of her seat and hugged her.
"It's great, Casey." He said kissing her cheek.

It takes another week for Casey to let Derek sleep in the same room as her. They are lying in bed together when Casey sits up, Derek sits up with her and brushes some hair out of her face. "What's wrong? This wasn't too soon was it? I know all we did was sleep but-" Casey blushes. "No," she chuckles, "It's been too long," Casey breathes out, "But," she said sounding serious. "I need you to forgive me." "For what?" Derek laughs. "For shutting you out for 5 months, I should have been dealing with it with you here." She said reaching for his hand. "I know I've been distant but I just want you to know that if anything else major happens I'll let you in to help me." "Thank you," Derek said hugging her.

Derek is sitting at the table watching Marti color, Casey is in the kitchen making chocolate chip pancakes and Edwin is talking to her gesturing wildly with his arms.

"I'm glad you're home Smerek," Marti says smiling at him, "I'm happy I'm home too, Smarti," he says ruffling her hair. "Casey is happy your home too," "I know," Derek says sneaking a glance over at Casey who is laughing at something Edwin had said.

"Edwin has been really nice to Casey, he is always making her laugh." Derek's stomach pinches in jealousy. "He has huh?" He asks Marti keeping an eye on Edwin and Casey, she has a smudge of flour on her face and Edwin reaches over and wipes it off, his fingers lingering on her face a little too long for Derek's liking. Derek turns to Marti who is oblivious. "What kind of nice things does Edwin do for Casey, Marti?"

"He does silly things to make her laugh, he pretended to be blind at dinner one time and kept missing his mouth and got food all over his face." She says giggling. "Lizzie says she hears them talking down stairs late at night sometimes." She says switching her green crayon for a red one. "Anything else?" Derek says barely concealing his anger. "He takes her out for ice cream after dinner every once in a while, I get to go sometimes!" Marti said smiling.

Derek looks over to the kitchen, Edwin is doing a dance that resembles a seizure and Casey is almost doubled over laughing. Derek gets up and walks over to Edwin and grabs him by the collar of his shirt and drags him out of the house.

"What the hell are you doing Ed?" Derek demands releasing his shirt, Edwin rubs his neck. "What are you talking about?" "What's going on with you and Casey?" Derek asks trying to keep his voice even. "Nothing, what's wrong with you?" Edwin asks furrowing his brows, Derek wrings his hands together trying to calm himself. "Marti informed me how much you have been making Casey happy while I've been gone." Edwin rolls his eyes, "It's nothing, Derek. I've been trying to make her feel better, that's it." "And you don't think I wanted to be the one to make her feel better?" Derek is almost shouting now. "Well you weren't here were you?" Edwin accuses, it takes all of Derek's self-restraint to not hit Edwin.

"So what is this thing you're doing Ed? I leave and you think you can just swoop in and be the good guy with Casey? Well I'm back now so you can drop it." "Swoop in? Good guy? What the hell are you talking about?" Edwin says trying to play stupid. "Cut the crap Ed, I know what you're doing." Edwin shuffle his feet. "And what am I doing?"

"I see the way you look at her when you think no one is paying attention. And that thing with the flour in the kitchen? Are you really that hard up that you have to try and take advantage of Casey?" Edwin crosses his arms and draws in a deep breath and lets it out.

"It's not like that, I don't want to talk about this with you." Edwin turns to walk back in the house. "Tough shit," Derek says grabbing his arm.

"It started out with just trying to cheer her up, she was sad and I hated it." Edwin says inspecting his finger nails. "About 3 months ago, she had been seeing that therapist for a little over a month and she changed. She actually would laugh at my ridiculous attempts to make her smile, when she would hug me it was easy to pretend it was because there was something there." Edwin kicks a rock by his foot, "One day it stopped being about trying to cheer her up, I just want to see her smile. I would spend all day at school thinking of what I could do just to hear her laugh," Edwin chuckles "You've had her Derek, you know what that's like." Derek knows exactly what he's talking about, his anger toward his brother starts to fade, he knows what it's like to be under Casey's spell.

"I can't just turn it off," Edwin says breaking the silence, Derek was about to say something comforting to his brother but he cut him off. "And I'm not so sure I want to," Edwin says staring at him for a moment before going back into the house.

Don't fret my babies, this is a Dasey, Derek just needs to realize that he isn't the only one who can love Casey and he needs to step up his game.