Hey :] I want to tell you guys about Operation:Dasey. A couple months ago, some genius Dasey shipper posted fake Season 5 episode summaries of LWD on Wiki. Now the community is getting together and writing fics based on each episode, but we still need a lot of help!

I volunteered for one of the earlier episodes, and there's many left. So if any of you authors are interested or would like to read the ingenious Dasey intensive summaries, please visit my profile for the link. :D

P.P.S. I have a new story out, called 'Makes no Difference'! Check it out. It'll be a chapter-fic as well, and of course Derek/Casey.

Disclaimer: I don't own LWD or Terroni's, I'd be rolling in money if I did.

Chapter X

"How lovely. Should I bring my lunch bag and animal crackers to share with everyone?" Derek's snarky retort riddled with sarcasm came after Casey's ridiculous suggestion that they go on a double date. However, they wouldn't be going with each other, they would be going with Casey's beau from hell and Casey's roommate who was fine but got them all into this mess in the first place.

Casey narrowed her eyes at Derek. They were sitting in his apartment after Casey called an emergency meeting. Usually there was never an emergency, just Casey spazzing out over something entirely inconsequential. Not that Derek would ever admit that. Well yes, he would, but only in a teasing manner. He sighed rubbing his temples, a headache coming on.

"What are you insinuating exactly? It should be fine, you like Sadie right?" Casey's loaded question didn't seem like it came out of left field, but to Derek who knew her so well, it pretty much felt like it did.

"I'm insinuating, Princess, that double dates are for tweebs like our siblings and yes, Sadie's a cool chick." Derek laid back, and threw his arms over the back of the couch. Casey sat up straight, perched on the edge of the couch with her arms crossed. She looked rather frazzled; her hair sticking up in odd places, and Derek resisted the urge to call her Ms. Frizzle because that would imply that not only she drove a magic school bus, but that she was also as cool as Ms. Frizzle – which she wasn't.

"Derek, it's just one hour at Terroni's. You can have a whole nice flat crust pizza for yourself." The way to a man's heart was through his stomach right? Normally that would be the exact case for Derek, but he didn't want to tag along with Casey's manipulative cookie cutter boyfriend – why did she always end up with those? Plus, things were wicked awkward with Sadie. He got weird vibes from her that he had yet to identify.

"Casey, spare me the food tactics. Good try though." Derek closed his eyes, suddenly feeling tired. Probably because Casey showed up at his house at 8 am in typical princess fashion.

"Just do this for me please; I know you're a good guy underneath the tough exterior that unfortunately comes with gas and pigsty's and toe jam—" Derek cut in.

"Alright, sheesh. You're not perfect either miss priss. I just don't get it though," he began, his tone changing. Casey raised an eyebrow and felt that dreadful feeling creep up in her stomach again.

"You don't get what? Hasn't this been an ongoing problem since your birth?" she said snidely. Derek rolled his eyes this time.

"Why are you so afraid of us, Casey? Even I can understand the parental thing, but the beau?" Derek looked at her then, his many barriers falling down one by one and she could see the pain shining in his eyes. It was strange in the sense that, while they had admitted their feelings to one another, and made their relationship official, what did that matter if no one knew? Why did it still feel like she wasn't his girlfriend?

Casey was slightly taken aback and she wondered once again just how much Derek felt for her or cared for her. It took moving mountains to get Derek to tell her anything involving this, but lately it seemed as if it was easier for him. It was almost as if Derek had been prepared to tell her these things for a long time, but that didn't make sense.

"It's not that I'm afraid Derek, I just…" she trailed off.

"I wonder when we switched roles." Derek commented , his tone blithe.

"In what way?" she asked, genuinely curious. She leaned back, his arm behind her neck proving her with warmth.

"When you started to care about your rep. Because that's all that this is." Derek said, propping his legs up on the table and reaching for the remote.

"I've always cared about my rep!" she replied indignantly, her eyes firing up but backing down slightly when she realized that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Yeah, when you dated scumbags. You only changed when Max and Truman wanted you to. Oh, and that one time you tried not to be a keener which didn't work out very well." Derek flipped through the channels, not really paying attention to it. The silence in the room was just getting to him.

"So, what does that mean for us then?" Casey said, unable to do anything but agree. It was always Derek who made her realize that she had stopped being Casey and was morphing into something scary.

"Casey, I've always… appreciated you, just as you are. While I know you're not changing anything for me – especially your tendency to wake me up so damn early in the morning, you forget that I'm not telling you to hide anything." Derek finished, sort of feeling defeated before Casey even said anything in return. She was too stubborn, he knew that because they were exactly alike in that way.

"Derek, I know all that. I think part of the reason I like you is because I'm able to be completely myself around you. I can look like this, and you won't even care." Casey smiled a little, and it caused warmth to spread through his chest. She looked less than tidy, in a random pair of thrown on stretchy pants and a large t-shirt. He thought she still looked beautiful.

"But Derek," she continued, "I just don't feel comfortable with everyone knowing yet. It's not because I think less of you at all… It's hard to explain." She said, and whenever Casey couldn't explain something, Derek knew he had to give up. Casey had an excuse for everything, and was so articulate that she could explain everything. If she couldn't now, then he should accept it for her sake. At his silence, Casey knew he understood and she jumped in his lap, hugging him.

"Whoa, Case. Still waking up here, you might induce some sort of shock." He wrapped his arms around her in kind, taking in the scent of her and cradling her warmth.

How many times would they have this conversation before he felt like he was happy?

-

"It was invented in 1889 in Italy of course," Carter was busy giving the group facts about pizza after finishing their lunch and waiting for dessert. He looked at Derek, for what seemed like confirmation and Derek shot him a dirty look. The restaurant was bustling with guests but still had an intimate feel at their table near the artwork.

"What, I'm not Italian. Can't say I was really listening to your history lesson, either." Derek groused, and Casey shot him a dirty look this time, trying to ignore the way his expression changed to a gloating one once he looked at her.

Carter laughed, although those sitting at their table and even those around them could tell it was fake. Casey began to wonder what she had seen in the guy in the first place, but as she looked at Derek who swallowed his desert whole after getting it, she wondered about him too.

"Derek, you're a joker really." Carter said, and Derek scoffed. Sadie sat there quietly nibbling at her chocolate concoction, not entirely sure of how to act anymore. Occasionally Derek would put his arm around her to keep up appearances, and she would laugh at all his jokes but she didn't want to aggravate Casey anymore than she did the other day.

Casey got her dessert, and after enjoying about half of it, Derek stole her spoon. Why did he love doing that? He took a chunk out of her dessert and put it in his own mouth, watching Carter's reaction through the corner of his eye as he licked it. Casey blushed seeing the way he was licking her own spoon so sensually, and Carter was enraged. Sadie sat with her mouth slightly open, staring at Derek.

"Derek, don't you think—" she started.

"Case, that's some great dessert you got there. You have to share with me later." Derek's voice dropped a few octaves and it sounded awfully suggestive.

Carter gritted his teeth but tried not to show it. "Don't you mind him eating your dessert, Casey?" he asked, trying to sound light.

"Heh. We're besties, remember?" Casey reached over and punched Derek in the shoulder a bit hard, trying to get him to stop.

Seeing Carter's skeptical expression, Sadie leaned over and put her head on Derek's shoulder. Used to the act now, he slid his arm around her and pulled her in closer. Carter's eyes flicked to Casey to see any reaction on her part, but she was busy staring at her food and picking at it.

"So… anyone up for a movie?" Sadie spoke for the first time in several minutes.

"No!" Casey and Derek chorused adamantly.

-

"So, you're coming to my games right?" Derek was sitting in Casey's apartment between Casey and Sadie on their couch. He had his arm wrapped around Casey, and Sadie was munching on carrots, not paying any attention to the couple until—

"Okay!" Sadie said excitedly.

"Um, okay… but hockey is still way too dangerous." Casey said taking on her keener tone, a couple seconds after Sadie. Derek looked at the two girls, and suddenly felt uncomfortable. He had only really been talking to Casey, but he couldn't very well be mean and tell Sadie that. He might be head over heels in love with another girl, but that didn't stop him from being a gentleman.

Casey flicked her eyes toward Sadie, who was trying her best to avoid their stares. Silence took over the room, and Derek swallowed.

Several days later.

"I scored three tickets to the amusement park, let's get Mart—" Derek started.

"Ooh, it'll be so much fun, the three of us!" Sadie said, her voice taking on a higher pitch that was beginning to get on Derek's nerves. She was slowly morphing into Emily.

Casey sighed, and jammed her fork in her strawberry jello, defeated.

One week later.

Casey and Derek were having a water fight in the kitchen with the sink hose, and ended up on the floor wrestling (i.e. foreplay).

Sadie comes in and dumps her water bottle on both, and smiling gleefully at the two of them.

Buzzkill much?

The day after.

"Do you think that she…"

"No, no way. It's not possible."

"Every girl at Thompson High had a crush on you, statistically, it's possible."

"That's not fair, you're using a sample from a totally different city. And does that sample include you?"

"What do you know about sampling and statistics? Girls all over the world are the same, which usually is a good thing for you Venturi."

Derek slumped against his couch, and threw his bag of chips on the coffee table, suddenly losing his appetite. For the past two weeks, Sadie had been in every nook and cranny of their relationship. Whether if it was a date, or having dinner, or even their daily banter. It was ridiculous and it felt like they were having some odd quasi-dating thing going on with Sadie, which they were in a sense but only in front of Carter. The problem was that Carter hadn't been around much at all in the past couple weeks, as he was busy and Casey herself was busy with classes. That didn't stop her from spending time with Derek almost every day, but Sadie was seriously cramping her style – if she had one that is.

"Well, what do you propose we do, McDonald? You should just break up with Carter already." Derek said, a smirk creeping onto his face. Maybe the Sadie morphing into Emily thing was really good for his situation. Casey raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, and why should I do that?" she asked, her tone skeptical.

"One, we'd be able to get out of this ridiculous threesome relationship with Sades, and two, your jerk pseudo boyfriend would be out of the picture." Derek grinned, and threw his legs onto Casey's lap while she promptly shoved them off. Derek shrugged and figured Casey was in one of her mood's again. He couldn't blame her. If some guy was lurking in their relationship, he would feel jealous.

He looked at her closely then, and felt guilt grip at his chest. He knew she was feeling uneasy lately, and the jealousy she treated him to for four years was hitting her now. Though, with the way she had said that every girl at high school had a crush on him, he could sense some residual jealousy that she kept very well hidden.

Casey sighed, defeated, as she had done for the millionth time in the past couple weeks. "We'll see how things go, Venturi. Carter hasn't called me in two days, and usually that means he's getting tired of me." She said, leaning over and laying her head in his lap. He ran his fingers through her hair affectionately.

"When a guy hasn't called in two days, it means he's being a guy. But if he's being a jackass by your standards, I'll accept that – and only because it's not me." He grinned down at her, and laughed when she pursed her lips.

"Whatever! I just want him out of my hair, I don't know what I saw in him in the first place." Casey admitted.

"You might've seen something in him, but then you were blinded by the brilliant light that was me, and you just couldn't ignore it." Derek said, his voice taking an awfully egotistical tone.

Casey snorted, "Okay, D. Let me know when your pain killers for hockey have worn off, and then we can talk."

"What, I'm perfectly fine." Derek giggled, and Casey knew that he definitely was still feeling effects. Maybe he had taken far too much.

"But, what are we going to say to Sadie? She's having a real grand time 'dating' you, she might be upset." She looked up at him, her eyes pleading and he felt obliged to help her.

"It's alright, princess. She knows it wasn't real, she knows that I lo-like you, and she'll be fine." He said, tracing her eyebrows with his index finger.

"Okay… maybe we can throw caution to do the wind, and do it all tonight? We can meet back here with our results." She suggested, seemingly excited about having Derek all to herself again without any interruptions of any kind.

"Yeah, let's do it. Be strong, Case. I'm on speed dial if you need me." He said seriously.

"Who said I had you on speed dial?"

Derek merely scoffed.

-

"What's wrong, Case? You sounded sort of urgent on the phone." Carter dabbed his napkin on her mouth, and took a sip of his wine. Casey eyed him with contempt, and wondered if she liked the guy because he was the complete opposite of Derek, the guy she'd been hiding feelings for, for a few months now.

"It just feels like… I don't know, like the relationship is getting too comfortable." Casey fibbed, and rubbed her arms trying to rid them of goose bumps that had risen due to the unusually chilly air. They were sitting on a patio of a bustling restaurant downtown.

"Too comfortable?" he asked, a little surprised.

"You know… like the spark is gone. You and I are both so busy, and you've been making it all strained by worrying about my brother." Casey cringed at the unused step, but she had to do it. Derek told her to shift all the blame onto Carter for it to be successful.

"I know Casey, but you have to understand…" he started.

"No, I really can't. I know that I never told you about Derek, but you couldn't be understanding enough to realize there's nothing going on between me and him." She sighed exasperated at the situation.

"Well, I'm sorry if it seemed like my girlfriend was cheating on me when she was half-naked in bed with some other guy!" Carter exclaimed, his calm exterior broken.

"Carter! Quiet." She hissed angrily, "This is why I can't stand this relationship anymore. You claim that you like me so much, yet you don't call me, you think I'm some slut that sleeps with her brother, and everything between us is just dead." Casey gritted her teeth, slapping her hands down on the table, making the cutlery clink against the metal surface.

Carter threw his napkin down and a few bills. "What did I do to deserve this Casey?" he asked quietly, steeling his anger and calming down for a second before he left.

"Are you really asking me that?" she asked loudly, but then her voice lowered. "There's nothing positive with us anymore, it's done." She said quietly, and looking down.

Carter looked away from her then, and forced a tight smile.

"Good luck in the future Casey." He said, before standing up and walking away, ignoring the stares of the other patrons.

"Bye." This was for the better, right?

-

"She's breaking up with him?!" Sadie's loud voice frightened Derek slightly, and he helped himself to some chips and ice-cream from Casey's break up stash. She wouldn't be needing it, really.

"Yup, as we speak. Guess that means you're off the hook, Sades." He said bluntly, he was never one to break the ice gently. Quick and direct was his motto.

"Yeah but…" Sadie trailed off, her expression changing from surprise to sadness. Derek was expecting this, but he wasn't quite sure how to deal with it. He really and truly thought Sadie was a cool girl, but he didn't like that this could ruin their friendship.

"What's… uh, the matter?" he asked carefully if not eloquently.

"Your feelings for her…" Sadie started, leaning against the kitchen counter. He sat at the island, his ice cream beginning to melt into a soup in his bowl.

"What about them?" he eyed her cautiously, almost afraid of what she would say next. The hot summer air was blowing in from the window, and the fan in the corner tousled their hair and grated at their nerves when they realized it wasn't getting any cooler in the room.

"You've been in love with her for a long time, and she's been treating you like shit. That's what." Sadie said, her sassy tone back and her green eyes dark and fiery. He recoiled in his seat and stared at her with wide eyes.

"Wait, how do you know that? Does Casey know, did you tell her if she doesn't? Sh-she can't know, I- I'm not ready for that yet." Derek stuttered, dropping his spoon in his bowl, the sugary substance flashing up and dropping on the kitchen island.

"No, she doesn't know. But the entire world does. I was able to figure it out just by how she described you and how you are with her, but she refuses to even acknowledge your relationship." Sadie said adamantly, her hands bunching up into fists.

Derek sucked in a breath. "It's not that bad Sadie, I mean she likes me back and everything—"

"But she can't take the risk, she can't tell anyone but me because she's talked to me about this since the beginning." Sadie finished, and looked straight at him.

"What are you trying to say, Sadie?" Derek's voice became serious then.

"I know that you don't feel anything for me right now, and that you're head over heels for Casey, but why don't you think about giving us a shot?" Sadie proposed, her expression filling with hope. Derek's eyes widened.

"What? You're not serious are you?" he asked incredulously.

"What are the chances that she'll ever want to tell your parents, your siblings or anyone else about your relationship?" Sadie raised her eyebrow. She had him there. Casey would probably never tell anyone, and he was scared that waiting for her might be in vain. He was happy now, but not as happy as he could be.

"Look Sadie, I think you're a cool chick and everything, but it just wouldn't work out, alright? I only want to make Casey happy, and if that means I have to be hidden away, maybe I have to accept that." He said, suddenly tired.

"Whatever, Derek. I'll be here when she breaks your heart." Sadie said sadly, before retreating to her room. He shifted on his stool and stared at her bedroom door as it shut. Suddenly the front door opened, and Casey walked in, surprised to see him still there.

"I thought we were meeting at your place?" she asked, feeling bad vibes in the room. Her eyes flickered to Sadie's room for a second, and she decided not to say anything at the moment.

"Yeah," Derek looked at her, and felt his heart fall into his stomach. He was so scared that he could lose Casey and that she would break him all over again, but he didn't want to think about it.

Sadie was out of her mind, and was obviously having a crush on him. He couldn't deny however, the truth that rang in her words.

tbc.