StoryTagger: That's pretty much exactly what Lizzie is thinking. Personally I don't think there is anything taboo about it, but there are a lot of people that do. I've experienced it before. My viewpoint is along the lines of Lindsey's in chapter five. That's part of why I wrote this story. Thanks for your reviews, and I'm glad you like the story!

I'm so giddy over these reviews. They're making me want to post the rest of the story now, but what fun would that be? I'm basically finished, I just need to fine-tune the last few chapters. I really hope you all like it. I'm kind of proud of it. This plot has been in my head for about six months now, and it's nice to see it all come together like this. :)

Anyway, enjoy!

Pieces

Chapter Ten

"Smerek!" Marti crowed with delight as he entered the living room with a couple of bags full of his stuff. He grinned and hugged her. She really was growing up, but at the same time she was so young. Could she really understand, as Lindsey said? Or would she be affected for the rest of her life, as Casey had predicted?

"Hey, Smarti." He looked around. "Is Lizzie here?" She nodded.

"She's upstairs. You wanna play a game with me?" He nodded.

"After I talk to Lizzie, I'll play, okay?" She grinned, and he ruffled her hair and loped up the stairs. He dumped the bags in his room and went back out into the hall.

He reached Lizzie's door and knocked softly. This was not going to be an easy conversation, but it had to be done.

There was no answer. Derek knocked again. Still no answer. So she was going to play it this way. Well, he had no problem marching into Casey's room when she was being stubborn. Should Lizzie be any different?

As he turned the knob, he heard, "What are you doing?" He jumped, turned around, and nearly fell over. When he had righted himself and caught his breath, he realized Lizzie was standing on the bottom stair of the flight leading to Edwin's room.

"Looking for you," he replied. She came down onto the landing.

"I was helping Edwin with his homework," she said, walking past him and pulling her door closed. "You and Casey don't seem to believe in knocking first."

He crossed his arms. "I did knock," he shot back. "Twice."

"And when no one answered, you didn't think maybe no one was there?" She asked. He sighed.

"I thought you were ignoring me."

She feigned surprise. "And why would I do that? I can't think of a single good reason for me to not want to talk to you." He glared at her.

"Come on, Liz, let's not do this here." In response, she opened her door and gestured inside.

"After you," she said with mock politeness. Deciding to ignore her tone, he went inside and waited until she had closed the door. "You have exactly five minutes to convince me not to kick you right back out that door." She said, her tone low and angry. She was no longer toying with him and he was starting to wish she was.

"Lizzie, I'm not intimidated by you, so drop the tough girl act. You're not going to send me out of here crying like you did to Casey." His words had the desired effect: Lizzie glanced at the floor, looking slightly ashamed. "All I want is for you to hear me out. Give me the courtesy you wouldn't give her." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. Lizzie's head snapped up and he could tell he had pushed her too far.

"Don't you dare treat me like the bad guy here," she shot back. "I love Casey and I love you but I have every right to feel the way I do about this."

"About what?" Derek demanded. "About how we feel? Do you think we can control that any better than you can control your feelings?" He sighed. "We didn't ask for this, Liz. This is just the way things are. If you can't accept it then I guess we have to accept that but I'm asking for a little understanding. Or at least a little respect." Lizzie sat down on her bed.

"But I don't understand. I don't understand how you can feel that way for each other. You're my brother, Derek. Casey is my sister. Edwin is my brother. It's all the same to me. Why is it different for you?" Derek pulled the desk chair around and sat down in front of her.

"I don't know. I've never really thought of Casey as my sister, the way I do with you and Marti." Lizzie still looked skeptical, and Derek tried a different tactic. "Okay, let's take Jamie, for instance. You really like him, right? You've been off and on for three years now." She nodded. "Why do you like Jamie?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. He's smart, he's cute, he's funny, and he really cares about me."

Derek nodded. "You like him because he's Jamie, right? Does it matter to you what his last name is or who his parents are?" Lizzie shook her head.

"That's different and you know it, Derek. It's not like Casey is your classmate and her parents are wackos or murderers. These are two completely different situations."

"Fine. But if someone told you, for whatever reason, that you couldn't be with Jamie, you would fight them, wouldn't you? Because he means that much to you." She shrugged again.

"I suppose so. But-"

"That's how I feel about Casey. Everything you just said about Jamie is what Casey is to me. Liz, she makes me feel… like I've never felt. I know that sounds cheesy," he added when she opened her mouth. "But I don't know how else to describe it. She makes me feel like I could be a better person, you know? She's made me a better person. You know it, we all know it. And I'm not going to apologize for how I feel about her." When he finished, he finally realized Lizzie's expression, which was surprised and more tender than he'd expected.

"Gosh, Derek. I didn't realize it was that… emotional. I mean, no offense, but you're you. You're not exactly Mr. Feelings." She looked away. "I guess more than anything I was worried for Casey. She was just so emotional about her feelings for you-"

"She was?" Derek asked, surprised. Lizzie raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah. Didn't you know?"

He shook his head. "We haven't talked about it, not really. I only just came to terms with it when the situation with Sam happened. I think it was always there, I just didn't, I don't know, recognize it. When I told her how I felt, she basically told me that she felt the same way, but that it didn't matter because we couldn't… you know, do that. To you. Or to the rest of the family."

Lizzie pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, making her look more like the shy and confused twelve year old he had met four years ago than her present bold self.

"You're my brother, Derek, and I love you," she said. "And I love Casey. I want you guys to be happy. I just… I don't know if I can be okay with this." She sighed.

"I understand," Derek replied, knowing that this, though enough for him, would not be enough for Casey. "Just, be nice to Casey, okay? She's going through a lot." She nodded and he left the room. As he headed down the stairs, he remembered his promise to Marti.

"Smarti!" He called as he descended the steps. He stopped short on the lowest landing when he saw Casey coming through the door, shedding her coat.

"I can't believe you still call her that," she teased with a light smile. He shrugged.

"It's just habit now," he replied, trying to keep his cool. "I promise I won't call her that in front of her friends and embarrass her."

"Embarrass who?" Marti appeared in the doorway from the kitchen. "Casey!" She ran to give Casey a hug. "Are you going to play with me and Smerek?" Casey started to shake her head, but Derek managed to catch her eye and gave her a pleading look. He could tell she was fighting it, but finally she said, "Sure. Why don't we get Lizzie and Edwin in, too?" Marti nodded excitedly.

"I'll go pick the game!" She announced, running past Derek to the games closet. Casey shook her head, smiling.

"She's growing up so fast."

"But she's still a little kid," Derek mused. They locked eyes, and he knew they were thinking the same thing. "But she's pretty mature for her age." Casey shook her head again, but with a frown.

"Don't, Derek." Something in her tone convinced him not to argue.

"Fine." Marti came running back down the stairs, carrying Monopoly. Derek resisted the urge to groan. Monopoly was the longest game in the history of the world. Then, seeing Casey's expression, he realized it meant he could be in her presence for that much longer, and she couldn't leave for fear of hurting Marti's feelings.

"We're coming," Edwin called, coming down with Lizzie at his heels. Derek watched as Lizzie and Casey exchanged an unreadable look. Casey smiled softly and took a seat at the table. Lizzie caught Derek's eye and nodded slightly before sitting down next to her sister.

"All right, Monopoly!" Edwin said, sitting down next to Marti. Derek took his dad's usual seat at the head of the table. Of course enterprising Edwin loved Monopoly. Edwin was usually the one who built a row of hotels and cleaned everyone out.

"I'll be the dog," Marti said, setting the little silver piece on the "Go" square. Edwin, Lizzie, and Casey selected their pieces as well. Derek picked the hat and set it in place.

An hour later, Derek was nearly bankrupt, Lizzie and Casey were holding on for dear life, and Marti and Edwin were vying for control of the board. Derek was tense as he rolled the dice and let out a long sigh of relief when he landed on the "Jail" square, where Lizzie was currently being held hostage. One spot less or more would have ended the game for him, thanks to Edwin's "Death Row".

"I'm just visiting," he reminded them as Marti picked up the dice. Lizzie shrugged.

"I'm staying here awhile," she said. "It's the only place safe enough!" Casey shook her head as she took a small amount of money from Marti for landing on one of her properties. She rolled and landed on one of Marti's hotels.

"Sheesh, Marti. I should have just had you put that toward my tab," she joked as she handed over a large stack of bills. "I'm about done here."

Edwin rolled, landing on one of his own properties, and handed the dice to Lizzie, who rolled.

"No doubles," she said happily. "I'm staying in jail."

"You can get out for fifty bucks," Edwin reminded her. Lizzie shook her head.

"No thank you!" Derek grinned and picked up the dice, blowing on them before rolling them.

"Ew!" Marti squealed. "Now they have your germs all over them!" Derek shrugged, holding his breath as they bounced across the board, both die landing on five.

"Ten spaces," Ed counted. Derek moved his counter, landing on the "Free Parking" space.

"Yes!" He cried jubilantly, collecting the money from the "pot" in the middle. "I am so coming back." He added the money to his dismal pile.

"You rolled doubles," Casey reminded him, and he nodded. "Roll again," she prompted.

"First, I'm going to buy a house."

"One house?" Edwin mocked. "Oh, I hope I don't land on that space, I don't think I could survive it!" Derek raised a fist at him.

"Don't you mock my growing empire, Edweirdo," he threatened. "It's going to crush yours, you'll see!" He placed the house on his most expensive, well, only, property. Rolling the dice again, he managed to sneak onto the "Question Mark" space and drew a card.

"Advance directly to 'Go'," he read aloud. "Ha!" He moved his counter to "Go", collecting his money and passing all of Marti and Edwin's deadly properties.

"That's doubles again," Lizzie said. "You have to roll." Derek sighed, rolling again.

"One, two, three, four, fiv- NO!" He had landed on Casey's only hotel.

"Pay up," she said, holding out her hand and adopting the familiar smirk that Derek had come to love. Grumbling, he handed over most of his money, but seeing her look at him like that again, seeing her look at him like she had before all of this mess, was completely worth it.

"Oh no!" Lizzie said, as she rolled doubles. "I'm so dead!"

"Who's dead?" Nora called as she came through the front door.

"Someone's dead?" George asked, appearing from the kitchen.

"I'm dead," Lizzie replied as she landed right in the middle of Edwin's chain of hotels. "That's going to take all of my money."

"Aww, George, look at them playing a game together," Nora said, a wistful look on her face. "We haven't come home to a scene like this since Casey and Derek went to college." George raised an eyebrow at her.

"Are you kidding? We've never seen them like this. No one is strangling anyone else!" They laughed, but the Monopoly players all rolled their eyes.

"Dad," Edwin said, "we get along just fine."

"Sure you do, Ed," George joked. "But it is nice to see you kids acting like a family."

It was amazing how that one statement could completely change the atmosphere in the room. Setting down her money, Casey said, "Excuse me," in a quiet voice and left the room. Lizzie gave Derek a half-knowing, half-troubled look and went after her sister.

Edwin recognized the tension and sent Derek several questioning glances, but Derek shook his head slightly.

"Was it something I said?" George asked.

"No, dad," Derek replied. "I think she's had a bad day."