A lot of this chapter refers to chapter 4. And, a little bit of chapter 1. Just in case you forgot what happened there, feel free to go back and read it again. Review u hadn't. haha. Okay, i don't know why. But, i've just been hit with this like gust of inspiration. I mean, i wrote chapter 11 as soon as i was done with chapter 10. It was like i couldn't stop. I wanted to put out this one too. But, i decided to wait a bit. Let you guys read the other one first. So, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Life WIthDerek, Olive Garden, or Red Lobster. I just mentioned them.

February 22, 2010: Really Late: Bedroom

Oh, my God! I've just had such a rough day. I just want to go to sleep and not wake up for a long long time. Except as soon as I lay down one of the Trips will cry and I'll just have to wake up, regardless. So, really there's no point. I am destined to die. Alone.

Okay, so, I'm locked in the bathroom, right?

And outside I can hear crying and loud talking, and CONFUSION. Oh, wait, that last part is just ME. Like what the hell, right? So, I whip out my cell phone and call Sam.

He answers. "Yeah?"

"Oh, my God, Sam! Oh. My. God!" I freak. "Oh, my God!"

"Whoa, calm down there."

"I can't calm down. I won't calm down. What I just went through does not call for calming down!!"

"Aren't you supposed to be at The Tavern in less than," He must of just checked his watch. "20 minutes?"

"Yes." I breathe out. "But, you are never going to believe what just happened!"

"What?"

"Trisha's PREGNANT!!!"

"What!" He screeches into the phone. So, I fill him in on everything that happened since I walked through the door.

And then, he goes all nonchalantly. "Pft! She's lying!"

"What! No, she isn't. She was so serious." But, as I'm saying it, I start doubting my eyes. "I mean, why would anyone lie about something like that?"

Sam pauses. "Do you know who we're talking about?"

"Oh, damn," I cover my eyes with my hand. "She is lying."

"Yes," And then, he says. "She just wants to secure Derek in their relationship! Make sure he doesn't stray. I've seen tons of movies where girls will lie about being pregnant so the guy will marry 'em. It's a classic bitch move."

Then, I'm nodding my head. "Yeah. Maybe you're right. But, even if she is lying, there are other ways to get pregnant."

"Case," He starts calmly. "Trisha's not that smart."

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door so I whisper, "Sam, lemme call you right back."

"Don't forget about your date." He reminded.

"Won't." And then I hung up.

The person who knocked walks through the door. It's Derek.

He walks in and just stares at me - I'm sitting on the counter and half my butt's in the sink, with my legs pulled up and my chin resting on my knees.

I shake my head at him. "Well, someone's quite the manwhore."

"I'm sorry." Derek starts. "I don't know how this happened. I mean, we didn't plan on… I've been extremely careful."

"She's pregnant, huh?" I keep shaking my head at him. "Great. That's great. Real great."

"You think I'm excited about this! You think I'm happy I have another mouth to feed, not even five months after my first three. I'm petrified." He screams out. "Casey, she said she doesn't know how it happened either. We are both really sorry."

He actually looks like a kicked dog. Well, dog, prepare for an ass-whoopin'.

"So, what? You're just gonna forget about the Trips? Start in on your new family? Leave us in the dirt?" My eyes start watering. "What are you gonna do, Derek?"

"Case, no. I would never leave you to take of the Trips by yourself. Never."

"Derek," He comes closer. I don't know why, it just makes me want to kick him more. "I asked for one thing. One. And, I don't even care if you don't want me anymore. That's fine. But, you promised me you wouldn't reject our babies. You promised."

His hands are cupping my face now and my tears – see, crying, again – are spilling over his hands. "Case, I know. And, I'm not going to."

"Why wouldn't you, though?" My voice gets louder. "You can have a happy family with your wife and your new baby! Why bother with us?"

"Because, Casey," His hands get really tight, and his voice drops really low. "'Cause it's our baby. Me and You. And, that's what makes them special to me. I love them more than anything else in this world."

I push him away, disgusted. "You know she's not pregnant."

"What are you talking about?" Derek questioned. "Why would you say something like that? Why would she want to be pregnant? She'd have to be off work for months. Not to mention the recovery period to get back down to her normal size." He looks disgusted at me.

"She's lying!" I scream at him.

"I don't think she is." I give him this insane crazy look. "I mean, it makes sense that's she's pregnant, she's been acting way bitchy lately."

"Derek," I go really slowly like I'm talking to a slow person. "She's. A. Biiitch!"

He rolls his eyes. "Stop. Just chill out."

I yell out in disbelief. "If you can't handle the fact that your future wife's a bitch, maybe you should've thought of that before you dumped the best thing that ever happened to you on her ass!" It's official. I have mouth diarrhea. But, he just rolls his eyes as if he thinks I'm just kidding around.

He scoffs and goes, "Don't you have a date, or something?"

I squint my eyes at him and throw open the door to the bathroom and slam it shut.

On my way out I see Trisha leaning against the couch smirking and I spat at her as I pass. "You're not pregnant."

"I'll get pregnant." She spats back.

"Hope you don't get fat!" I spit back.

"Well, it's a good thing my husbands rich. I"ll just get Lypo." And then she smiles, licking her teeth. "It's on bitch."

I purse my lips at her. I'm the bitch in this situation! Me? Really? I give each Trip a kiss before I leave.

**

I arrive at The Tavern five minutes late.

I see a guy sitting by himself, looking at his watch, and I assume that's him. God, this is ridiculous. I am so not in the mood to be communicative, right now. I so just want to crawl in bed and die. Gosh! I have to pretend to be normal, too!

Curse Sam and Emily.

I go up to him and hold out my hand. "You're Jaden Jenkins, right?"

He looks up and smiles. "Yeah. Casey McDonald?"

I take one look at his face and forget how to shake hands. My mind just goes completely blank. Oh, my goodness. This guy is smokin'! Why didn't Emily mention this, before hand?

"Casey?" He looks at me really concerned like.

Aww!! And, he cares for my well-being!! This guy is like perfect. Perfect enough to help me get over Derek!

"Sorry," I shake my head and sit in the seat across from him. "Yeah. Hi!"

He said. "I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of ordering for you. I just know how long this place takes and well, they're always busy. I didn't want you to be starving."

Hmm. Ordering for me? Well, almost perfect.

He senses my hesitation and adds, "Mad?"

"Well, that depends," I raise an eyebrow.

One side of his mouth curves up. "On what?"

I fold my arms to look tough. "On what you ordered."

He laughs. LAUGHS! Like it's actually funny!

"I got you the grilled chicken salad. It's amazing here. I held off on the cheese though because sometimes they put so much on there that the salad looks orange! With a side of these bread sticks they have. They're real good." He folds his hands on the table. "It's like Olive Garden meets Red Lobster. An interesting combination."

I want to be mad. I really do. I mean, the feminist in me wants to yell at him that I can order for myself, but, the romantic in me is like, "Awww! He's so cute!"

"That sounds good." I purse my lips. "How do you know so much about this place?"

"Oh, well that's easy." He leans back in his chair. "My dad owns it."

"Oh." I look around the room. Searching for something to talk about, when he goes,

"So, Casey, tell me about yourself. Your family?"

"Umm," I said, trying to avert from that specific topic. "Let's talk about you."

And, Oh my God! This guy is so sweet.

He's 27 and he works at some really legit law firm in Toronto, he took a year off before college to go to the Peace Corps – I know, right!! The PEACE CORPS – he has one sibling – sister, younger – and he spends his free time going to orphanages and handing out toys!!!

He is sosweet. And, obviously he loves kids! Which is an added bonus. Forget Derek! I'm ridin' the Jaden train now!

And he claims he hates celebrity gossip and the paparazzi because they are always in people's personal space. So, he said, "I try to stay away from magazines that have anything to do with that."

So, he doesn't know about me and Derek. Because, this morning I definitely saw a magazine with Derek, Me and Nate on the cover. Something tells me he did NOT see it. But, he did say that he liked hockey. But, he didn't say he loved it. And, those, my friend, are two VERY different words. They can mean everything.

For instance, I loveDerek. As in, wants to be with him forever. Wants to marry him. However, Derek likes me. As in, likes me as the mother of his child. Because I'm good with kids. That's about it. It's a tragic story, really.

Oh, and I hate Trisha. That has nothing to do with anything I just thought I'd add that. And, while we're on the Trisha subject I really want to hate her baby too, except it will probably be gorgeous seeing as how Trisha is a supermodel and Derek is well… Derek. Not that she's even pregnant.

Anyways,

"I know I shouldn't bring this up." Jaden says. "But, in high school, I was a real keener."

!!!

We are like a match made in heaven, or something.

Or something.

And he's really funny. He made me forget all about Trish the Bitch, well almost. I haven't had such a good time with no worries, no problems, in SUCH a long time.

But, anyways, he was really nice and he offered to give me a ride home. When we got to my apartment he walks me up to my door. I hope he's not planning on coming in. Because I am off sex. For like EVER.

We get to my door and encounter that whole awkward, 'do we kiss?' thing. But, not to worry, for, he pins me against my door, with his hands on either side of my waist, and I close my eyes and he whispers,

"I'm not gonna kiss you."

My eyes flutter open. "You're not?"

"No."

I know my face has turned into a frown, but I couldn't help it. Why didn't he want to kiss me!

"No?" I fold my arms against my chest and my elbows bump into his chest. THAT'S how close he was to me.

"No," And then he brings one side of his mouth upwards. "Because I want you to want me to kiss you."

I glare at him annoyed. Some guys have such a power trip. "I want you to kiss me."

"No, no no." He laughs. "I want you to long for it. And, if you do, then you'll be so impatient, you'll just have to go on another date with me."

"Really?" I laugh. "You planned this."

"Absolutely. The moment you introduced yourself to me."

I smiled. Geez, he's making me feel like some love-struck teenager. "I promise that if you kiss me, I will still go on another date with you."

"Yeah?" He leans down closer to my face.

I breathe out. "Definitely."

His lips come within centimeters of mine. "Promise?"

"Absolutely."

He brings his lips a little farther away. "No dice."

"Get over here!" I grab his head and bring it down to mine and kiss him.

And, it was a good kiss. It was. I mean, there wasn't any frickin' fireworks, but there definitely wasn't any guilt!

And then,

"Ahem!" We turned our heads to the left and who's standing there looking all angry-like? Derek. Derek is standing there holding the Trips the same way I had this morning, with a clenched jaw. "Am I interrupting anything?"

He has this really hard, angry look on his face. Almost like – I don't know – like he was going to punch somebody in the face. My guess, was Jaden.

I quickly straighten up and push Jaden back.

Dammit! I hadn't told him about my kids. I didn't know if that was something you tell someone on the first date.

"Um, Jaden," I look around everywhere, refusing to meet his eyes. Pointing with my head, I go, "That's Derek Venturi and those are my kids."

"Kids?" I finally look up and his eyes widen. "All three of them?"

"Yeah," I sigh. "They're triplets."

Jaden sucks in his cheeks and just stares.

And, I'm thinking he's just staring at my kids in disbelief. I mean, it is a little crazy. I am only 22. But, I'll be 23 in two months. That has to count for something. But, then I realize he's not staring at the Trips at all. He's staring at Derek. And, Derek, is staring – glaring – right back.

"Derek Venturi?" He whispers. "Derek Venturi, Derek Venturi. I know that name."

I close my eyes. "Yeah, he plays for the Maple Leafs."

And, then he goes, "Yes! Derek Venturi! Center for the Maple Leafs." Then he turns to me. "You guys used to date?"

"Yeah," But, that was Derek who answered, in a really stern voice. "And we have kids."

I shoot him a look and he adds, "Three. Tres. More than one."

"Der-ek!" I'm sure I'm blushing. I'm probably as red as a tomato right now. "I think he gets it!"

"Well, I'm just gonna… you know… go," He bends down and kisses my cheek. "I'll call you?"

I nod. And, then he leaves.

Derek's eyes turn to bore into mine. "Well, he seems nice."

"Derek, you are such an asshole!" I turn my key into the door and walk inside. "You couldn't keep them for one night?"

"Sorry, Princess," He sets the seats down. "I had to go to the store and get Trisha some firecracker Popsicles. And, I have practice really early in the morning tomorrow, 'cause you know, I made the playoffs, and everything. And unless you wanted Trisha to watch them,"

"Fine." He was absolutely right to bring them over. But, he could've waited 'till Jaden was gone.

I went to go grab a bottle of water. I turn around and he's glaring at me. I really need him to leave before I start crying uncontrollably.

"What?"

"I don't like him." I scoff, rolling my eyes.

"Sorry, Derek," I said. "But, you don't have to like him."

"Uh, yeah, I do." He steps closer to me and says. "I have a say in who might become my kids future step-dad. I mean, look at him, with his khakis and his buttoned up shirt and clean hair cut. He looked like he stepped out of a J. Crew catalog."

"Maybe that's how I like my men." I challenge.

"You don't." He rolls his eyes at me. "I don't like him. And you're not dating him, got it?"

"Derek, you cannot control me. You're getting married, remember? And you're fiancé's pregnant."

As soon as I said that he backed away and a frown returned to his face. He started heading towards the door, and I don't know why – okay, maybe I do. He seemed really upset about me dating Jaden, and that was all part of the plan – so I said,

"Derek, please. Don't worry. I don't think he's into me. We're probably not gonna go out again."

"Yeah," He stops. "Why not? He said he'd call you."

"Yeah." My vision got a little blurry, and I shake my head. "But, he didn't even ask for my number, so..."

"Ah, Case," He starts walking back over.

"Stop, okay?" I down like 2 pints of my water bottle. "He had to find out about the Trips sooner or later, it's best to know how he really feels before I get attached."

He looks at me and then goes. "But, you're already attached."

I nod my head, trying to say as less words as possible to refrain from speaking like I was about to cry. "Yeah, well, stupid me! I really wanted this to work." So, that I could get over you. But, I didn't add that part.

Derek gets that look he gets, you know, the one when he's deciding 'should I run or should I stay and comfort her'. Because Derek Venturi doesn't do tears, but it sure seems like he's been doing them a lot for me. I should stop before I make myself feel too special.

"You can leave, Derek. I'm used to rejection. I handle it better on my own."

He gets this look on his face – pity? – and asks, "Need some ice cream?"

I know he said it to release the tension. But, I don't feel like laughing. So instead I whisper so quietly I'm not even entirely sure he heard me,

"I just need for you to go." He looks at me with sad eyes. "Go take care of your pregnant fiance."

He nods and walks back over to the door. He opens it gives me one more look and leaves.

MY. LIFE. SUCKS.

**

February 24, 2010: Apartment

Since yesterday was full of self-wavering pity we're just not going to comment on it, okay?

Okay.

So, I brought Sam with me. We are officially going daycare hunting.

I will not live another day with Trish the Bitch having one over on me. I will get a job. And, I will pay for my own rent. Eventually.

Sam bangs his head against the dashboard. "Case, you can't give up on the mission."

I roll my eyes at him and turn left. "Yeah, I can."

"Uh, no. An agent never turns his back on a mission." I mean, how many drinks has he had today? I mean, it's only noon. But, it's happy hour somewhere. I mean, agents?

"Well, consider my back turned."

"Fine." He said. "But, you'll never know what step two is."

"That is fine with me."

It is silent in the car – well, minus the random noises the Trips are always making – for about 15 minutes.

I mean, obviously, step one didn't work. All it did was make me feel even more heart broken and more alone. What makes me think step two will work? Nothing. Nothing does. Except…

He did get a little jealous. But, that's normal. I mean, I used to – not anymore – get a little jealous when Sam had girlfriends. But, that's just because he would spend less time with me.

"Okay, fine," I cry out. "What's step two?"

"No." Sam says defiantly. "You don't want to know."

"I do though. I really do." I insist.

Sam looked at me like I was crazy. "You turned your back on the mission. I can't even look at you right now!" He turns his head towards the window.

"I was kidding! Tell me the damn step!" I said it so loud one of the Trips started crying, but they stopped. So, I didn't have to pull over.

"Okay," Sam smiles. "Give In to Live In."

I'm confused. "Live in where?"

Sam waves his hands around. "That's beside the point! You are going to pretend to be 100% okay with his marriage. That you actually believeTrish the Bitch is really pregnant. Be happy about it. Pretend like Trisha's your best friend. Help her with the wedding plans. Make Derek think you're over him. Derek's ego is too big, he won't be able to handle it. Derek totally called me yesterday and vented for like an hour."

I shake my head. "No. NO! I can't do that. I can't be nice to Trisha."

"You not only can, but you will."

Gosh, I hate my friends.

**

"HI, Trisha!!!"

Tell me, what you think.

Review and i will send you all virtual hugs :D

Laura