Author's Note: This chapter was a lot of fun to write. I like to build up Dasey rather than just smoosh them together, so be patient. More Dasey is coming. Also more dance as well in the upcoming chapter. I hope you enjoy this one!

Chapter Ten

"What is wrong with you?" Casey stormed into Coach Samuel's office.

"Casey?" He glanced up from writing some notes down on his clipboard, clearly surprised by her presence and her outburst, "I know that I've known your family for some time, but I am still faculty and you are still a student. To talk to me like that is completely unacceptable."

"Is it?" Casey folded her arms across her chest, "Because I am going to keep talking to you like this until I am absolutely certain that I have your complete and undivided attention. Am I clear?"

Coach Samuels blinked, "What would you like to discuss with me, Miss McDonald?"

"I happened to hear some information pertaining to a certain stepbrother of mine that caused me a bit of alarm from a certain new transfer student," Casey raised an eyebrow and scrutinized Coach Samuels for a reaction. He leaned back in his chair and ran his hands over his face, sighing.

"What did you hear, Casey?"

"Gavin told me that if Derek didn't straighten up, he was going to be his replacement. But I know that can't possibly be true because Derek has been one of the best things to happen to the Thompson hockey team. He is a great captain and leader and it would be absolutely ridiculous for you to try to find him a replacement. It just doesn't make sense."

"Casey," Coach sighed, gathering his thoughts, "Your brother…"

"Stepbrother."

"Stepbrother," he corrected, "has had a lot of issues lately. I just don't know if his head is in it or not. When I named him team captain when he was fifteen, I got a lot of crap for it. A lot of people questioned my decision but I never did. I knew Derek was the perfect team captain – he has excellent drive and ambition and passion. But lately, I just don't know if he is the right choice. He seems to be going through a lot and I am always going to stand by him and support him, but if he needs to take some time to sort out some stuff, then I need to have a backup plan."

"Derek doesn't need time to sort out some stuff!" Casey glared at Coach, "What he needs is to keep playing hockey and to keep being your team captain. He's just under a lot of pressure because of those scouts at the championship which I am undoubtedly sure you will win. Which he will win. He's been a bit of a jerk and hasn't used the best judgment, but he loves hockey and he loves being the team captain and there is no way I am just going to let you take that away from him!"

"Let me?" Coach Samuels raised his eyebrows and it was then that Casey realized she had been yelling at a member of the school faculty.

"Oh goodness," she sunk down into the chair, "I don't know what came over me. I've never…I've never spoken to an adult like that. I…I'm sorry…"

Coach sighed and shook his head, "Miss McDonald, it is evident to me that you and Derek are quite a lot a lot alike when it comes to certain qualities. You are both driven people who are very passionate about what they do and the people they care about."

Casey was taken back, "Um…I don't…I don't care about Derek, Coach Samuels."

"Oh really?" Coach was far from convinced, "Because this little display proved otherwise. In fact, I'd venture to say that you care about him quite a lot. That's good. Derek needs people rooting for him right now. I know he's stressed. I know he's under a lot of pressure. But that is no excuse for how he behaved lately. His outbursts and inability to work together with the team…"

"He'll fix that," Casey said assuredly, "Trust me. Just don't replace him. Please don't replace him."

"After dance today, have him stop by my office. I want to chat with him."

"Please, Coach!"

"Casey, I've already made up my mind. Now then, please get to class."

The rest of the day was maddening for her. She honestly thought about going back to talk to Coach at lunch but knew that probably wouldn't get her anywhere. He had already made his decision; Casey just hoped it was the right one. She ate lunch that afternoon with Derek, Sam, Ralph, and Emily. Gavin was nowhere to be seen. Casey had called Emily before going to bed the night before and had filled her in with the details and had made her swear up and down not to tell anyone – especially Derek.

"Ugh," Emily grimaced, "Don't look now, but there's that Jerkface!"

Casey turned and saw Gavin flirting with another brunette. She grimaced and shook her head, "I can't believe him."

"Be right back," Derek slid his chair back, stood, and walked over to Gavin.

"Oh no," Casey winced, "This is not going to be good."

"What happened between you two anyway?" Ralph asked, "Yesterday you were fine."

"During our date, I just realized he wasn't the guy I thought he was," Casey explained, "He's a jerk. I wouldn't want to waste my time on him anyway."

"That's the spirit!" Sam tried to sound encouraging.

Casey watched as Derek approached Gavin. He walked up to where Gavin was sitting and tapped him on the shoulder. Gavin turned around, seemingly surprised to see Derek standing there.

"Hey D-man! What's up?"

"You, me, chat, now!" Derek practically pulled Gavin up from his seat.

"What do you want, Venturi?" Gavin brushed himself off, looking Derek square in the eye.

"Here's the thing, G-man," Derek sneered, "When the evil stepbrother allows the princess to accompany the knight in shining armor on a date, he doesn't really like it when he gets a phone call from her in tears asking him to come pick her up. Nor does he like it when she cries all the way home getting her mascara stains on his upholstery. Got it, G-man?"

"I am sure she was just being dramatic…"

"That may be," Derek nodded, "She can be quite the drama queen sometimes. But here's the thing, G-man – no one, and I repeat no one, makes Casey McDonald cry. Got it?"

"D…"

"No. You may think it's cool to do whatever you did to her last night, but you aren't the one that has to clean up the mess and pick up the pieces. One day, you're going to have a girl in your life – girlfriend, daughter, niece, wife, whatever – and when you see that girl cry, your whole world ends. It's not pretty. Just about as ugly as the black goop that mixes with the tears on her face. Then you'll realize that it's a shit move to make a girl cry, jackass. I just hope you realize that sooner than later."

"Derek…"

"Oh," Derek turned just as he was about to walk away, "If you ever call me D-man or even get within five feet of Casey ever again, you'll have to visit a proctologist to extract that stupid hockey ring out of your ass. Understand, G-man?"

Derek grinned, turning and heading back towards his lunch table. He popped his collar, impressed with his speech. When he sat back down, everyone wanted to know what he said to make Gavin go pale like he did.

"Oh, I just had a little talk to him mano-a-mano," Derek shrugged, popping a tater tot into his mouth, "No biggie. Hey, Raphie, you gonna eat your pudding?"

That afternoon, Casey met the hockey team in the gym for one last dance lesson before their game that Saturday night. Gavin turned away the second she walked into the gym. She was surprised to see everyone lined up in their places she assigned them for their stretching. Derek was front and center.

"Hey guys," Casey smiled, clearly impressed, "Today we are going to do something fun. I figured you could all use just a chill-day before the game tomorrow. So here's the deal, after we finish our stretches, I am going to pop in a CD and you are going to have free-dance. That means you can dance anyway you want to. You can be as goofy as you want or as serious as you want. I think it'll be a good way for us all to loosen up before tomorrow. Now then, let's get started."

After stretches, Casey put her CD and the music began to fill the gym. At first some of the guys just stood there looking a little lost. Sam bopped his head in time to the music, and Aaron was tapping his toe to the beat but that was it. Casey frowned – maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all. Did she really expect a hockey team to just start dancing around the gym as if it were no big deal? Casey sighed. She felt like an idiot for making this decision.

Derek recognized the music instantly. Casey was always playing it around Christmas time and dancing around the house like an idiot. He glanced over at her and saw her floundering. He nudged Sam roughly in the ribs. Sam glared daggers at him, knowing what Derek was asking. Finally he gave in and began to walk around the gym, bopping his head to the music. Derek glared at Aaron next, who sheepishly joined Sam. It still wasn't enough though. Casey was turning a shade of pink and no one else was making any sort of move. Derek exaggeratedly rolled his eyes and ran up to Casey and grabbed her.

"Derek! What are you doing?"

"Dancing, what does it look like I'm doing," he grabbed her hand in his and put his other on her waist. There were many things Derek Venturi was bad at, but surprisingly dancing wasn't one of them. He and Casey danced/skipped around the gym in time to the music. None of the guys dared laugh, all knowing if they did, they would have to face Derek. Eventually, they joined in as well. Some of them danced like it was a school dance others attempted ballet. Casey honestly didn't care what they were doing as long as they were giving it a try. The song changed and another upbeat song sounded throughout the gym.

"Thank you, Derek," Casey laughed as he spun her, "This means a lot."

"Sure thing," Derek grinned, pulling her just a tad closer to him, "You know, if you're not careful, Spacey, someone might mistake you for being beautiful when you dance."

"Really?" Casey raised an eyebrow, "Just when I dance?"

"You know what I mean." Derek growled and Casey felt a little sorry she hadn't just accepted the closest thing to a compliment Derek had ever given her. Why couldn't she have just smiled and thanked him? Casey mentally kicked herself.

Suddenly, the music stopped playing and Casey realized that they had gone through the CD already. She pulled away from Derek and went over to her CD player and popped out the disk.

"Well then, I guess that's it for today. Guys, good luck tomorrow. I'll be rooting for you, alright? Oh, and Derek – Coach wanted me to tell you to meet him in his office right before practice."

She tried not to sound too concerned when she said it. For a brief moment, during dance lessons, she had forgotten about Coach's decision. Now, suddenly being reminded again, she felt nauseous. Derek had seemed like he was genuinely having a good time in dance class and when they danced together…Casey shook her head – it was nothing. Derek was just being nice. Sure he can be a jerk, but there's a lot of times where Derek is genuinely a good guy and right now was one of them. It doesn't mean anything. But he did look happy when we danced. He was smiling and I…I almost forgot all about Gavin and Coach. But now…now Derek's going to have to go in there and face him. Gosh, I hope Coach makes the right decision. If not, I swear he'll be hearing from me!

Derek knocked on the doorframe of Coach Samuel's office and Coach waved him in and instructed him to take a seat.

"Casey says you wanted to see me, sir?"

"Ah yes, Casey," Derek swore he thought he saw Coach shudder, "I called you in here today because I wanted to discuss something of importance with you, Venturi. Now then, as you and I both know, your behavior recently has not been up to par. You have not shown the leadership traits I saw in you when I asked you to be my captain."

"I know, sir. I'm sorry about that."

"Let me finish. This isn't easy for me to say, Derek, but I needed to do what was in the best interest of the team. You just didn't seem in a good place and I needed a player that would show leadership and responsibility. You just weren't doing that. So I asked around and I requested that Gavin come on and join the team just to cover my bases."

"What are you saying, Coach?" Derek's brows furrowed and he felt his pulse quicken.

"Derek, I wanted to have a replacement player lined up for you in case I felt that you could no longer handle the job as captain and center. Now then, I was all set to make this decision especially after the fight in last weekend's game. You showed great irresponsibility and immaturity…"

"Sir…"

"I'm not finished yet, Venturi. Gavin is a great player. He won the championship game for his high school last year and I had to pull some strings to have him come to Thompson. I made him promise not to tell anyone about any of this but apparently he let it slip to Casey last night that I was planning to replace you."

Derek felt dizzy and he ran a hand through his hair. He couldn't think straight and was glad Coach was so adamant about him not speaking yet – it gave him some time to try and gather his thoughts. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. For the past few years, Coach Samuels had fought for and believed in him. Now, Derek felt that crumbling around him. He could see his whole world being taken away from him – no more hockey, no more scouts, no more shot at a good college. Everything would be gone. Was that what had caused Casey to be so upset the night before?

"I was still debating my decision until this morning when I had a rather rude visit from your sister…"

Oh no…

Derek winced, "Stepsister."

"Whatever!" Coach rolled his eyes, "She stormed in here like hell was at her heels and she yelled at me. She actually yelled at me."

"What?" Derek's eyes practically bulged out of their sockets. If he wasn't so concerned about his hockey career, he'd have actually thought the mental image of Casey running in here and yelling at Coach was pretty amusing. No one yelled at Coach – ever. He was the one that did the yelling. Everyone else just shut up and complied or else.

"Yes, she came in here and really tore into me for even questioning my decision of you being team captain. Now, I don't admit stuff like this much but she was pretty terrifying."

Derek allowed himself a small smile, "Yeah, she can be at times."

"She's a lot like you, Derek."

Casey? Like me? No way. We have absolutely nothing in common. Coach is off his rocker! "Um…how so, sir?"

"You're both very driven and passionate about what you do and the people you care about."

"Casey doesn't care about me," Derek scoffed at the very suggestion, "She can't stand me half the time."

"Yeah, well she came in here pretty much risking months' worth of detention for speaking to me the way she did just to stick up for your sorry ass, Venturi. Call me mistaken, but I think that's caring about someone. I had my mind pretty much made up until she came in here and convinced me otherwise."

Derek winced, dreading Coach's verdict.

"Now then, get your butt out there on that ice and prove to me that you can be the team captain she – and I – know you can be."

Relief flooded Derek's face and his eyes widened in disbelief, "Coach…"

"Now, Venturi. Before I make you run laps!"

"Yes, Coach!" Derek anxiously stood from the chair and turned to head out of Coach's office.

"And Venturi?" Coach Samuels stopped him.

"Yes, Coach?"

"You're one lucky son of a gun, kid – having someone like Miss McDonald rooting for you."

Derek was still overcome with disbelief, but managed to nod and say, "I know."

"I've coached for twenty years, kid. I've never seen anyone believe in any of my players and stand up for them the way she did today. She's something special."

"I know, Coach."

"But you tell her if she ever tries talking to me like that again, she'll be serving detention for a month!"

Author's Note: So what do you think so far? I love it so much and I love sharing it with you. Here's a list of some of the music that I use as inspiration in regards to Casey's dance classes. It's really good if you care to check any of it out:

Don Quijote Pas de Deux, Act III
Nutcracker Party Scene Music
Mozart K.365 Concert for two pianos in E-flat 3rd mov. Allegro
Mozart String Quartet 17 'hunt' on period instruments (1/5)
Mozart - Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550 [complete]
Bizet - Habanera (Carmen) instrumental