You all seem to really enjoy this story. It makes me smile! Like reviews! Anyways, enjoy!

His heart was pounding. He had no idea how that got in his pocket. He saw the tears threatening to fall from Casey's eyes and he walked over to her.

"All this time, I thought you were changing-"

"I am." Derek insisted.

"Well the baggie says otherwise Derek." The tears finally spilled over, "You've been lying to me this entire time?"

"No, Casey, no. That's not mine."

"It was in your pocket, Derek."

"Yeah but- you've been watching me like a hawk for the past month and a half, how the hell could I get my hands on that?"

"People like you have ways, Derek."

That stung Derek hard. It even made him cringe.

"People like me." He repeated.

He walked over to her and pointed to the baggie in her hand.

"You want me to make it so it's true?" He asked her, "Make some lines Case." He said bitterly, "You got a lighter, I'll get some foil and a straw, or better yet, how about a fucking needle?" He shouted at her. "Take your pick."

Casey didn't say anything. All she did was walk past him and into her room.

Derek looked back to her closed door and stepped into his shoes. He grabbed his jacket and put it on. Without a second glance and for the third time, he walked out the door.

XxX

There was a knock on the door and a very sleepy Nora answered.

"Derek." She stated.

"Hey, can I come in?"

"Of course."

Derek walked past her and sat on the couch. He sighed and didn't say a word.

"Is everything okay?" She asked.

"Me and Case got into a fight." He said.

"Over what?"

"She thinks I've been doing drugs again." He explained, simply.

"Again?"

"Casey didn't tell you?" He asked her.

"Tell me what?"

Derek sat on the edge of the couch and looked up at the woman who became like a mother to him.

"I've been clean for a little over a month."

There was an expression of mixed emotions in Nora's eyes. It was a combination of happiness, relief, and proud.

"Derek, that's great."

"Yeah, but somehow, I don't know how, she found some drugs in my pocket. She freaked out, didn't let me explain and now I'm here."

Nora examined Derek thoroughly and noticed he looked a lot different from the week he had stayed with her. She noticed that he was in fact, a lot more healthy looking than she remembered. And she believed that he had stopped using.

"You need a place to stay for the night?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I need to let Casey cool off. More importantly, I need to cool off."

Derek stayed in the guest room for the night. He was only planning on staying for the night and then go back to Casey's to talk it all out. But then that one night turned into three days.

He ignored/didn't talk to Casey for three days. She called her mom to see f her mom had seen him and she told Casey the truth; that he was staying with her until he was ready to go back. He did go into work too. And when at work, he didn't really speak to Casey. And even though it was hard for him not to talk to her, he didn't, he couldn't, not after she basically accused him of using again. He wasn't about to use again because he felt better. Both physically and emotionally, why get rid of that feeling that he could have forever for a few minutes of not being able to remember things.

It was hard for Casey to see him at work and not talk to him too. She didn't know if she could believe that he wasn't using anymore because recovering drug addicts, have their ways of getting their hands on drugs. And as much as she wanted to believe it wasn't his, it was in his pocket, and he had been home the day before. He could have easily gotten it during that time.

All she wanted was for him to talk to her and she wanted him to come home.

XxX

"It's been a week since Derek left and I'm going crazy." Casey pouted out, sitting next to Lisa on her couch.

Lisa had been going over to Casey's apartment ever since Derek walked out. Casey needed some sort of company.

"Do you know where he is?"

"He's at my mom's house." Casey told her, "But I want him back here."

Lisa felt bad for Casey. She could tell she really liked Derek and that she was missing him like crazy.

"Why don't you call him?" Lisa suggested.

"He wouldn't talk to me."

"You don't know that."

"Hello?" She stressed out, "I accused him of using again."

"Anyone would have if they found coke in someone's cote pocket." Lisa said.

Casey huffed with a pout.

She really did miss Derek. A lot. And she had no idea that Derek had been moping around Nora's apartment with that same pout on his face.

At that moment Lisa and Casey were talking, he was walking back to Nora's apartment from the gym. As he was walking, someone called out to him. When he turned to the voice, his blood began to boil.

"What the hell do you want, Ben?" Derek asked.

"Why aren't you at Casey's house?" He asked.

"Not that it's any of your damn business, we got in a fight."

"Shame." He said sarcastically.

"Whatever,"

Derek turned around and continued his walk.

"Was it about your drug dependency?" Ben asked, causing Derek to stop.

"What did you say?" Derek asked when he faced Ben again.

"Did she catch you using again?"

Derek looked at Ben who had an evil smirk on his face.

"How do you know about that?" Derek asked.

"I have my ways."

And suddenly, Derek put two and two together and it snapped.

"It was you." Derek whispered. "You're the reason Casey hates me right now."

"If you say so." Ben replied back before he walked away.

Derek shook his head and ran back to Nora's apartment. He raced in, changed his clothes, and left again. He then ran straight to the restaurant, thinking Casey would be there but she wasn't. He groaned and ran to Casey's apartment. When he got there, Lisa was just walking out.

"Lisa, hey." Derek said, out of breath.

"Derek."

"Is Casey upstairs?" He asked.

"Yeah."

Derek walked past her and heard Lisa tell him not to be as ass which made him roll his eyes. He got to her front door and knocked. A few seconds later, she answered.

"Derek."

"Hey."

She opened the door wider and he walked in.

It was quiet for a few seconds before Derek bluntly, gave his explanation that was in no need for.

"It was Ben." He stated.

"What are you talking about?"

"It was Ben." He repeated. "He was the one who put the drugs in my pocket."

"Don't be ridiculous."

He looked at Casey.

"Are you listening to me?" He asked her, "Ben, the guy who treats you like crap, the one who you broke up with, the one who hates me. He framed me or whatever." Casey looked at him, "No, Casey, don't look at me like that. Ben basically told me so."

"If it's all true, how would he know about your drug problem?"

"I don't know." Derek sighed out, "Have you told him anything?"

"No."

Derek sighed, tiredly.

"I'm not using again." He said honestly. "And I'd also like to say, I'm sorry for yelling at you and that I have been going crazy without you in my life right now."

Her breath caught in her throat. Derek told her he was going crazy without her. Maybe Lisa was right. Maybe he really did care about her more than he let on.

She walked over to the couch and sat next to him so she was facing him a little bit.

"When I found the coke in your pocket, do you have any idea how I felt?" She asked him, "I felt like a fool."

"Why a fool?" Derek asked her.

"Because I believed you were changing."

"I am changing."

"I know."

"Then why don't you believe me?" He asked desperately. "You took me in when no one else would, you have put up with everything I have thrown at you. And I know I hurt you a lot too. Why would I start using again?"

"Part of me believes you but another part doesn't." Derek hung his head. "But I want you to come back and we'll forget this ever happened." She said.

He nodded and she pulled him into a hug. He buried his face in her neck and took a deep breath through his nose. Taking in the scent of Casey that he missed. She pulled away slightly, to look at him.

"You promise that the coke wasn't yours?" She asked him.

"I promise."

Something then happened that was completely unexpected. He pulled her closed to him again and rested his forehead against hers. He then placed a gentle kiss on her lips and he heard her take a shard intake of breath before she relaxed.

It was almost like it was a first kiss. Awkward because Derek wasn't so sure if he should have done that, because Casey wasn't expecting it and it even was a little embarrassing because it seemed like her lips weren't working right. And as soon as the kiss started, Derek pulled away.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have-"

He was cut off by Casey's soft upon his. He was shocked that she even kissed him the second time and was even more shocked that she deepened it. He was so shocked; he had no choice but to kiss back. And pretty soon, he felt himself being pulled down.

Casey's hands clutched his leather jacket and began to push it off his shoulders and he somehow managed to help her without breaking the kiss. After it was carelessly tossed to the floor, her hands went under his shirt, feeling the new set of abs he had developed along with his newly toned chest and he shivered. One hand traveled down her thigh and pulled it to the side of his waist and her hips involuntarily thrust into his.

He broke the kiss and started kissing her neck, enjoying the moment while he could and then as fate would have it, her phone rang.

"Derek." She moaned out.

"Let the machine get it." He said between kisses on her neck.

They heard the familiar greeting of the machine and then a beep.

"Hey Case," Georges voice said, "I was just calling to see how things were going."

"Hey George." Casey greeted after she pushed Derek off her and raced to the phone. "Yeah, Derek's here. Would you like to talk to him?" She asked. "Okay, here he is."

She handed him the phone and gave him a soft smile.

"Hey, dad." He greeted a bit nervously.

"Derek, how are you?"

"Fine. You?"

"Good." There was an awkward pause before George continued. "You sound good."

"Thanks." Derek said, "I've been clean for a little over a month now."

"Really." His dad said, sounding surprised. "That's great news."

"Yeah,"

"Listen, I was thinking a lot lately. Why don't you come home?"

Derek almost dropped the phone when he heard that. His dad was actually asking him to come back home.

"Derek? You still there?"

"Yeah," Derek said, "I can't leave."

"Derek, I need my son back."

"I understand that but this, I need this right now." He heard his dad sigh.

Derek looked back to see that Casey had given him his privacy and he walked out into the hall of the apartment. He closed the door and sighed.

"Dad, need I remind you, this was all your idea because you gave up on me?"

"Derek,"

"No. You did. You gave up on me like everyone else did." Derek said, "You, Sam, Ralph, Edwin, Marti, Nora. You really think I wanna go back to a life where everyone threw you away like you were trash?"

"You were out of control." He stated.

"No you let me be out of control," Derek snapped, "and you also ignored how much I was hurting."

"What are you talking about?" George asked.

"Think about it dad."

And Derek hung up the phone. He sighed and heard the door open. He turned to see Casey looking concerned.

"Are you okay?" She asked him.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Then why do you seem like you're not?"

"My dad asked me to come home."

He walked in, making it seem like he was extremely upset, and he sat on the couch. She joined him after closing the door and she was looking at him with big blue worried eyes.

"Well?" She asked.

"What?"

"Are you leaving?"

"No, I'm not leaving." He said and she visibly relaxed. "There is no way I'm going back home, not right now. I need this." He scooted closer to her and grabbed her hand, "I need you." He whispered.

XxX

He was by himself one day and he figured it was the perfect opportunity to finish the song had been working on.

He had finished the lyrics and he had the tune in his head, now all he needed was to put it all together as one. He grabbed the guitar and started playing the melody he had tabbed out. And it seemed like with in seconds, his song came together in one beautiful piece of work.

While he played it over and over again to get it stuck in his head, he thought about the past couple of days with Casey. He kissed her. He kissed her and she was okay with it. There wasn't any awkwardness at all and he was happy about that. Over the past couple of days, Derek got to hold Casey just because he could. He got to kiss her just because he wanted to, and the better part, she let him. He was able to show her a side that he never showed anyone. The Derek who liked to cuddle on the couch after a movie, the Derek who liked to stare at Casey when she wasn't looking, the Derek Casey wanted to keep around.

As for Casey, she was glad that she ad told Ben she wanted a break. And she was even gladder when Derek kissed her. Although she wasn't really sure what they were, all she knew was that Derek made her feel good, and she wanted it to stay that way.

And as things seemed like they were starting to get better, they hit another bump in the road.

The next chapter will have quite a bit of Ben in it. I'm not gonna say that he and Derek are going to drop then gloves or anything but there will be drama. And another thing, should I bring back Kayla? I kindof forgot all about her. Maybe a run in is in dire need? Let me know XoXoX3