Here she is! There's really not much to say, other than enjoy!

read a/n at bottom for next chapter's deets.

Things went quite smoothly back in London. The family was a bit thrown off when the couple would be genuinely nice to one another. When they would randomly fight, it would end with Derek biting his lower lip and tickling her until she clasped his wrists and begged him to stop. They would just awkwardly stare, and continue about their day with a roll of their eyes. They never understood the pair to begin with. There was a lot of "I'm really glad the two of you are getting along now. Maybe we should've done this a long time ago." To which they would just reply with a smile.

Being sneaky about their affection was easy enough. They were still in their separate rooms, but learned that as soon as the baby was born that they'd use the basement, which was going to be turned into a guest room. Neither of them argued, because that was just easier for them to do what they wanted.

They had exchanged their serious presents for one another on Christmas Eve. Derek got her a heart shaped necklace, which she asked him politely to put on for her. As she moved her hair from her neck, he put it on for her and placed a simple kiss to her shoulder. She had bought him the fanciest and nicest watch he'd ever seen. She shrugged, and said it was nothing. She loved her necklace and honestly thought she could never be happier. She tried her best not to giggle while she held it between her fingers.

On Christmas day, they'd given each other gag gifts. Derek got Casey a pair of rocket ship slippers, "Because she's a Space Case." He had shrugged. Casey had gotten him a t-shirt with a picture of a brain, to which she replied "It sort of makes up for the one he doesn't have."

The following day, everyone was out, and they had the house to themselves. Casey was in the kitchen finishing up her rice pudding, when Derek walked in, and swiftly picked her up, and placed her on the counter.

"De-rek!" she screeched. He silenced her with his mouth.

"I've missed you so much, Casey…" he murmured. She kissed him back, and wrapped her legs around him. His pants were already unbuttoned, and all he did was slide her tights and panties down.

"Here?" she gasped, breathless from the kissing.

"We're alone for another hour, Casey, we're fine!" he had torn the foil packet, and was now entering her, to which she gasped loudly and tilted her head back as he pumped into her.

"Oh, Der…" she moaned loudly, meeting his thrusts as well as she could while sitting on the counter.

"Casey…" he groaned. She tightened her limbs around his body as they both came together.

She held him tightly to her as she came down from her high, his head buried in her chest as he too caught his own breath.

She grabbed a fistful of his hair, and pulled it so that she could see his face. She pushed a passionate kiss on his lips, and smiled as she bent down for another.

"We still have time to take this upstairs." She bit her lip. "I really wanted to see how you are on your home turf." She gave him that look.

It was safe to say that they bonded very well that day.

It was a couple days after New Years that Derek got a phone call.

"Hello?" he was confused, because he didn't recognize the number on his caller ID.

"Hey, D, it's Mark!"

Derek's stomach dropped. He had actually deleted Mark's number because he didn't want to speak to him anymore.

"What's up, Mark?" he sighed.

"Awe, don't sound too excited to talk to me, Derek!" his friend teased.

"Was there something you needed? I'm trying to spend as much time with my family as I could." Derek tried to seem friendly.

"Oh, I was just wondering how your girl took it when you dumped her. You know…because I dumped mine on her ass the night of the dance." He laughed a little.

Derek felt like puking. He couldn't even imagine breaking up with Casey at this point. It was all going so well. He had almost forgotten about the whole bet.

"I didn't dump her, dude…" Derek mumbled into the phone.

"So I win, right? I mean, I bet you didn't even sleep with her!" Mark's barking laughter was somewhat eerie.

"Well, I didn't say that…" he sighed, feeling that familiar disgust he had for himself when he thought of all this mess.

"Wow, D! I'm proud of you! When are you gonna pass her on to us, huh?" he could hear that stupid grin on his face, and for a second he wished he could reach through the phone like they do on cartoons and punch him in the face.

"I'm not, Mark…I don't want to dump her…" Derek finally admitted.

"I mean, why would you, right? I've seen her, Der. I'm a warm blooded man, get it." knowing his friend so well, he knew he winked at that last part.

"I didn't think I'd have feelings for her is all. I want to see this through." Derek nodded.

"Well, I guess I'm happy for you, bro. You do realize, though, that this whole thing was built on a big lie, don't you?" Mark chuckled. Derek was silent. "I mean, if you want an honest relationship with her, you should totally tell her."

"I don't think that's an option. She wouldn't ever speak to me again…" he sighed. This was the Mark he remembered as his good friend. He was the sensible one that gave alright advice at times. He was probably just acting that way because he knew the way Derek was with girls, and figured it was okay to talk about them like that. Obviously, Casey was different.

"You gotta consider it, though. Don't you feel guilty at all? I mean, I'm happy for you and everything, but if you're considering keeping her around, I think you should tell her."

"Yeah, maybe…" he sighed. He talked to his friend for a while catching up a bit because Derek liked having a friend to talk to again. They hung up, and Derek sighed, going to his room to lie down and think everything through. This wasn't going to be good.

Once they had gotten back to the apartment from Christmas vacation, Casey jumped into talking to him about different film scholarships that he could apply for. There were so many that Derek could easily get if he just put some effort into it.

He was very quiet the whole time she was talking about it. His mind was obviously elsewhere and the more and more she showed that she cared for him, the more and more he felt guilty over this whole relationship. He really shouldn't have talked to Mark on the phone over break, but it was probably for the best, because he either needed to be honest with Casey, or do something that will take his mind off of the whole thing because it was putting a stress on him. It honestly kept him up at night half the time, and lord knew that he needed his sleep to function well the next day. His conscience wasn't having it.

When Casey was done talking, he smiled and thanked her for the help. He stood up, and slowly walked over to his room. He really needed to sleep on it. He couldn't take the guilt any more than this. How on earth was he supposed to charm his way out of this?

He could only hope that the dinner conversation would go something like: "Hey, Case, the only reason I started dating you was because Mark bet me that I couldn't get into your pants before the dance and then take you to it. I totally won!"

"Oh, Derek, that's great! "

"Isn't it, though? Can you pass the salt?"

He shook his head. Life wasn't that easy or fair on him. Why should life be fair on him, after all? Look what he's done with the one girl that's actually proved to mean more to him than anything else. He needed to fix this soon.

The next day, he was so out of it that he'd walked into the wrong class room, and almost stumbled over a flat sidewalk twice. Practice was a whole other story, and he rather not get into it. All he could say was that he was going to be sore for the rest of the week.

"Derek, are you okay? You've been acting so strange lately…" Casey was on the edge. He hadn't been around the apartment much lately, and even when he was there, he wasn't really there. They hadn't even made love because Derek had acted as though he was too tired from everything, which in reality really was true.

"Sorry, Casey, I've just had so much on my mind lately…" he moved his food around with his fork, not really up for eating.

"Talk to me, Derek. You've been so distant lately, and it's scaring me." She pleaded him.

He looked up into her eyes, and sighed. He was so frustrated and angry with everything going on, and damn her for loving him so much! She wasn't supposed to care about him; she was supposed to totally blow him off! If she had just said no to that first date, this would have never started, and he wouldn't be feeling so god damn guilty! And damn her for making him love her so much that it angered him.

"You're mad…" she whispered.

He just scoffed. Maybe if he turned this into a fight, it would be easier just to end it all.

"You're so observant…" he said sarcastically, and unknowingly stabbed his food.

"What's the matter? Would you just tell me, please?" she begged louder this time. He looked up at her and glared.

"You're what's the matter, Casey!" he didn't know where it came from, but it kind of worked, and it was the truth. She was what the matter with him was lately. Just not the way he was making it seem.

"W…What?" her voice got small, and her eyes got large.

"Yeah, you're what's bothering me, Case…" his voice got softer, and he ran a hand over his face. This was the last thing he wanted to do, and dammit, why did she have to look at him in that helpless puppy way?

"Why me?" her voice was thick, as if she knew what was happening. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, and pulled his hair.

"I just think…" he shook his head, and looked at her. It was only fair that he looked at her while he did this. "Maybe we rushed into this…"

She dropped her utensils and put a hand over her mouth.

"No, we didn't, Derek! Please don't say that!" she was going to cry, and he couldn't stop her.

"Casey…please don't cry…I just…I think we need to take time off and find ourselves…" he whispered. God, this was the last thing he wanted right now.

"No, Derek, please…"

He shook his head, so she can know there was nothing she could do to change his mind. This was it, and she needed to move on. He needed to as well.

"Was it something I did?" her voice was getting smaller and weaker, and he couldn't stand it, because usually she was so damn strong. He didn't know he'd be the one to make her like this.

"Case—" he said, shaking his head.

"Did I do something wrong? I won't do it again, Derek! Please don't do this…" she grabbed onto his hand, and she was sobbing. Why was she making this hard on him? The last thing he needed was for her think that she had been the one at fault for this.

He clutched her fingers in his and looked determinedly into her eyes. "Casey, you didn't do anything wrong…"

Of course she didn't. Casey was perfect to him, and he couldn't stand her thinking that this was in any way her fault, although his previous fight with himself claimed that she was the start of all this evil. It was all him, and he couldn't let her take the blame for this. He just couldn't.

"I just think we moved into this too fast…we need to find ourselves. This is our first year of college, Casey…we don't want to hold each other back…"

"Is that what I'm doing now? I'm holding you back?" her chin was shaking from her trying to hold her tears back. What did he get himself into?

"Casey, let's not start this right now…" he said softly. She sobbed, tearing her hand away from his, and standing up.

"Why is this so easy for you?! Did I really mean so little to you that you don't even care about how I feel right now?" she accused him. This is what he really needed. It was what he deserved, for her to be mad at him.

"It isn't easy for me, Casey…"

"Then why don't you want to even try to fix this, Derek?" she asked him like if she was asking a five year old.

"This is me fixing it, Case. By ending it." he shrugged, not looking up at her from his seat. She only sniffled. "I can't continue to lie to you any further…" he shook his head.

"Don't say that, Derek! We had something! I felt it, and so did you!" she cried, sitting back down giving him that pleading look that he couldn't bear to look at right now because he was going to break this whole façade if she kept this up.

He only shook his head, and looked away from her.

"Are we still going to be friends?" she was weak Casey again. He sighed, and shook his head.

"We weren't friends before this, Casey…" he felt so low for doing this to her, but it had to be for the best. She only nodded, and wiped at her face frantically.

"I guess it's a good thing we didn't tell the family after all, then." That was all she said before she walked out of the room.

He let out a breath that that he wasn't aware he was holding in. What made this all worse was the fact that she genuinely though she'd done something wrong. She was probably in her room thinking of all the things that were probably her fault in the relationship. He was an ass…scum…lower than Truman French, and everyone knew that that was pretty low.

How was he supposed to move on from this? How was she? He really hoped that things cleared out sooner than he thought they were.

Casey wasn't doing so swell. She was perfect in school, though. Everything she did as far as school and studying was put on blast after the break up. Anything to distract her from him was an added bonus. She still cooked for him, but she'd finish eating and cleaning up before he got home so she wouldn't have to see him. There was always that awkward moment every morning where they'd run into one another. She needed out, and she wasn't sure how she was going to do it.

She got to her dance class about two weeks after the whole break up, and met up with her friend Martha. Martha was a very nice girl, and she often had lunch with Casey when she was with Molly and Whitney.

"Hey, Casey, everything okay? You look pretty stressed…" Martha was very aware of everything going on in Casey's life at the present.

"I just need to get out of that apartment for like one night. I just…he's always there, and it's very hard for me to move on if he's always around reminding me that I was a horrible girlfriend…" Casey shook her head, and put her bag down as she took a seat on the floor of the gym.

"Why don't you stay at the dorm with me tonight?" Martha slung an around Casey after she'd taken a seat next to her.

"What about your roommate?"

"Oh, she moved out after last semester. I think she transferred to University of Toronto or something." She shrugged. "I have the dorm alone now."

"If I won't be too much of a hassle?" Casey looked at her friend hopefully.

"Of course it won't be. Anything to get you out of that living hell that you're stuck in. I have no idea what I'd do if I was forced to live with my ex…" she couldn't get much out because Casey was hugging all the oxygen out of her lungs.

"Thank you so much, Martha!" she hadn't genuinely smiled since before Derek had started acting weird.

"Alright, girl, I still need this body to get through this practice…" Martha pushed her away. "But it is good to see you smile again."

It was then that the other girls from their dance class were shuffling into the gym. Casey stood up and got in line to stretch with her teammates.

After practice, she burst into the apartment happily. Martha was waiting in her car outside while she got her things. She walked to her room, and got a backpack where she put enough clothes for her to sleep and change into before she came back the next day.

Derek was walking by her room, and all he caught was her furiously throwing clothes into her bag. His heart dropped. Was she leaving him? He knew things were so bad right now, but not bad enough for her to run away from everything yet.

His conscience was feeling a little better knowing he didn't have to continue lying to her about the bet. He wasn't even close to over her, though. He didn't realize how hard it was to not just go up and kiss her or ask her how her day was going.

His mind came back to the present, and her packing that bag.

"You're leaving?" he asked softly. He'd caught her off guard, and she jumped a little. She faced him with her hand over her chest and flushed cheeks. It reminded him of that day she had been dancing in the kitchen. Boy was this different.

"Stop sneaking up on me!" she gasped, and shook her head, turning around. "I'm staying at my friend's dorm tonight…I'll be back in the morning." She zipped up the bag, and put her arm through a strap.

"You have a ride over there?" he cocked an eyebrow up at her. This was the longest conversation they'd had since that day, and even this wasn't much.

She grabbed her pillow walked past him. "Yeah, she's waiting outside for me. You're good for dinner, right?" Casey grabbed her throw blanket from the sofa, and made her way to the entrance of the apartment. She turned to him before she walked out the front door.

He stared at her for a second. He loved that she still cared. It really gave him hope for their future, whether it be together or as step-siblings.

She caught onto him staring at her, and she blushed, looking down. He needed to stop looking at her like that or she'd go back to being pathetic and begging him to please take her back. This is what he turned her into, after all.

"Yeah, I'm good. Call me if you need me, Case." He said softly. She nodded, and walked out the door. That was too weird for its own good.

She was really glad that she'd stayed at Martha's. It was good to just get out and talk to another human being. It really helped that this other human being was a girl.

"Men! You can't live with them, you can't live without them!" Casey exclaimed. They were both ranting about the guys in their lives on their own sugar rushes from all the munchies they'd purchased for their girls night.

"You're telling me?! They're allowed to be overly attractive but have the personality of a bunch of cocky ass holes!" Martha cried. "It isn't fair!"

"You said it!" Casey sighed, and lay back on one of the millions of pillows that were thrown in a pile that the girls had created. They had a movie playing, but had started talking about guys as soon as the romance started.

"I just wish I knew what I did wrong." Casey shrugged. "It was so out of nowhere."

"Maybe something happened when y'all went home. Did you see him much during Christmas vacation?" Martha leaned on one elbow and faced her friend.

"Well, yeah…we saw each other pretty much every day…" Casey said awkwardly. When she caught that obvious look in Martha's eye, she saved herself. "Our families have known each other for years…we've been spending Christmases together for a while now." She shrugged.

"How did your families react to your dating?"

"Oh, we didn't tell them." Casey shook her head, and Martha gave her a pointed look. "Martha, there's something you have to understand about me and Derek…" she paused, unable to find her words. "We used to hate each other's guts. We were polar opposites…if our families knew us to hate one another, and we just who up all lovey dovey, it would definitely raise eyebrows. We just needed to start slowly for them, and act kinder to each other. Even that got some eyebrows raised." Casey shook her head at the memory of Edwin and Lizzie with their mouths wide open when Derek casually complimented something Casey would wear.

"Well you'd hope you'd get along being that y'all were forced to live together, right?"

"Well, the way they saw it was that now we could fight in our own privacy instead of around the people we love." She laughed lightly, thinking of them being relieved that they weren't fighting anymore.

"You still love him, don't you?" Martha asked her friend softly. Casey looked over to her and nodded solemnly.

"I just wish that I can find someone for love and not lust. I seriously thought things were getting real with Mark and me." Martha sighed. It was Casey's turn to look at her friend with sympathy.

"What happened with all that?"

"It was all a joke…" Martha said sadly, sitting up Indian style. She rested her chin on the palm of her hand and gazed at nothing.

"A joke?" Casey sat up with her friend and faced her.

"Yeah, he said that it was all a bet with one of his sporty friends. Said that the bet was that he had to sleep with me before the dance and then take me to it." Martha shrugged. Casey gasped.

"That is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard…" Casey whispered. Martha laughed.

"Yeah…the worst part is, he was talking to me about the friend he'd made the bet with. He said that the guy had actually gotten the girl to genuinely fall in love with him and sleep with him."

"That is…ugh…guys are so…" Casey couldn't find her words to describe just how disgusting this all was to her.

"That's not even the worst part, Casey…" Martha shook her head with a sad smile.

"How does it get worse from there?" Casey was still shaking her head, too.

"The girl was a virgin. She's never getting that back…" Martha sighed. Casey's eyes got wide. This story sounded way too familiar for its own good, and it made her feel sick to her stomach.

"Do you know what guy it was?" Casey tried to keep her voice casual.

"I don't know. Some hot shot from the hockey team…" Martha sighed, digging into a bag of chips, and stuffing them in her mouth.

Casey's heart dropped. How was it that she put the pieces together so easily, and Martha didn't? Maybe it wasn't her and Derek she was talking about. It was probably some other poor girl that got herself into a bad situation.

"Is that couple still together?" Casey asked softly.

"Nah, it was part of the bet to dump them after the dance or after Christmas break. Mark hasn't talked to me since the dance when he told me all this." Martha shrugged. "There'll be other guys. Better, more honest, guys." She nodded her head as she tried to make herself feel better.

"You're right." Casey said softly.

It's safe to say she didn't sleep much that night. The story fit too well. Casey felt the most uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, and it made her want to puke. Derek wouldn't do something so foul to her, would he? He didn't hate her. She was sure his feelings were mutual for her during the whole relationship…

What if he did hate her that much? What if it was this huge prank that he'd never let her forget? He's done pretty harsh things before, but this? She'd be the laughing stock of the locker room and all of Queens. She wouldn't be able to live with the embarrassment…

If the damn story didn't fit so well, she wouldn't have felt this way.

The next morning, after breakfast with Martha, she drove Casey back to the apartment. As soon as she walked in, she saw Derek on the couch flipping through channels. Why wasn't he on his recliner? She stared at him for a while, until he finally looked up at her and cocked an eyebrow up.

"Can I help you with something, Case?" he seemed amused. She slowly nodded at him, unsure what to say. Oh, boy could he help her…

"We have to talk." Casey looked right at him. She was going to straighten this out and prove to herself that Derek wasn't the monster she'd made of him in her head that night.

There you go. Next chapter will be the big fight about it all, and honestly I kind of have writer's block, but that usually passes after five minutes lol. I'll write it tonight I think and post it the next day:). I hope I've still got your attention!

Anyways, thanks for the reviews and I appreciate more:).