Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize from outside this story. I claim only the plot, the characters, any places, and such that I make up for the purposes of this story.
Chapter 12
Toronto Halls Inn The Friday After the Game 9am
Derek wakes up to his phone vibrating near his pillow. He turns over to grab it and shut it off. He turns back to Casey. He contemplates lying back down and snuggling back into her warmth. Derek shakes his head and eases the arm that under her out and carefully slides out of bed. He pulls on his sweatshirt, zips it up, and heads back to the bed. He pulls the covers back up around Casey and writes her a note telling her he will be right back on the back of the receipt for the room and leaves it on the nightstand. He changes out of his pajama pants and into his jeans and checking he has his room key he heads out of the hotel. He sees a coffee shop a few doors down and perks up. On the way he calls Emily.
"What? Hello?" comes a sleepy voice.
"Emily, It's Derek. You awake? I need to talk to you about something."
"One second" Emily says. He can hear her rustling about. "Alright I am up. What is this about? I was actually sleeping in for once."
"You are home for the weekend right?"
"Yeah why?" Emily asks cautiously.
"Casey and I are coming home this weekend too and should be there in a few hours. We should be there around noon. I was thinking today would be a good a day for you to go out to lunch with your good friend Casey."
"Is there any reason for this visit that I would have already made when I saw you guys were home? And why do we need to go out to lunch?"
"Emily, just do this for me please?"
"Yeah sure. I am hanging up now. Going back to sleep for another hour. Bye Derek" Emily says before hanging up.
Derek pushes the hotel room open with his side while holding a couple coffees and a couple croissants.
"Rise and shine my Princess Casey." Derek calls out while turning into the room.
Casey comes out of the bathroom with hip hugger jeans and a dark purple tank with a hooded pink sweater over it. "Oooh coffee. Thanks." She takes a sip after giving him a quick peck on the lips. She sits cross legged on the bed. Casey says hesitantly, "so are we ready to head to London?"
He looks down at her, takes her hand and says "Of course we are. Don't worry about it so much. You worrying is not going to changed what will happen. You trust me right?"
"Of course."
"Well, then its settled. Let me take a shower and we can get going."
"You sure we don't need more of a plan? I can write up talking points."
With a kiss, Derek says , "Which I will throw away." Over his shoulder closing the bathroom door, Derek tells her "I got this."
Casey shakes her head, scowls and grabs a pen and notebook from her suitcase and proceeds to write.
McDonald-Venturi House Noon
Casey couldn't believe her luck when she got of the car and out walks Emily from the Davis' front door. Emily immediately asked if she would have lunch with her after giving Casey a hug. Knowing her siblings wouldn't be home until 3:30, Casey agreed and jumped in Emily's car after saying bye to Derek. She can always see her mom in an hour. Derek was going to take a nap anyway, right?
Derek walks into the house with their bags and yells "Dad? Nora?"
Nora comes out of the kitchen and wraps her arms around Derek. Stepping back Nora holds his shoulders and looks at his face. "It is so good to see you. What do you think?" Nora asks gesturing to herself.
"You are definitely getting bigger. Won't be able to fit you through the door pretty soon," Derek says making her laugh. "Where do you want these?"
"Casey's goes to Lizzie's old room. She moved down to the basement room and we converted your bedroom into the nursery, Casey's into ours and Lizzie's turned into a guest room. Edwin wanted to keep his attic room. You get the couch Derek, unless you want to bunk with Edwin or Marti."
"Couch it is. No problem, I will be right back." Derek bounds up the stairs with Casey's bag.
When he comes down, he sees his dad sitting down in his customary sit at the table while Nora set down her plate. Derek sits down in front of his plate as George says "So why are we having lunch Derek? And where is Casey?"
"She is having lunch with Emily. I wanted to talk to guys just us about something important."
"You aren't in trouble are you? You have been doing so well. You seemed to found your stride in college. This doesn't involve a girl does it?" George says with a frown.
Derek sets down his grilled cheese and says "Well it does but how much trouble I am in depends on you and Nora."
"How does this involve us?" Nora asks stopping her spoon of tomato soup halfway to her mouth and setting it back in her bowl.
"Ok so you know how the last time Casey and I came home, we were a lot nicer to each other?" Seeing them nod, he continues, "So since then we have become more roommates and friends. I have realized why we could never see each other as siblings or even friends in the past. The fact is we have started dating. I wanted to tell you two this before Casey got back."
After a long pause of no one saying anything, Derek says "Ummm can someone say something?"
"I am not sure what to say at all. I need time to think. It was easier to know what to do when you hated each other." George stands up and says "I got to go. I have a hearing to go to. I will be back later. We will talk then ok?" He kisses Nora, grabs his briefcase and goes out the door.
"Nora?"
"Oh Derek, I am sorry about that. Can we sit on the couch to talk?"
"Sure, Nora."
Nora leans back against the pillows and sighs. "How is it that you and her have changed this much towards each other?"
"I guess we didn't have as much to fight about once we left. We weren't fighting over control of our house anymore. We started helping each other out and going to each others' events. We balanced each other out."
"But I still have a few questions before I say anything about this. You have grown a lot in the past couple years but you both a ways to go. I need to ask this. How do you feel about her?"
"I love her, Nora. I tend to worry about the big picture while she worries about the little things. I have friends at school and so does she. But she is so much than that to me."
"Have you thought about what all this entails? I mean this effects everyone plus you aren't the ones paying for that apartment."
"I realize that. I wanted to see what happened this weekend before I went looking for a backup plan for money. I wasn't sure what you and Dad would say. And I wouldn't have asked her without knowing in my gut it was right."
"Even if your dad and I are okay with this, we might have a problem if Dennis doesn't. He is paying for Casey's half of the rent. We are just paying your utilities. Just keep that in mind for me okay? I am holding my judgment right now until I talk to Casey and to George."
"When is Dennis coming to visit again?"
"Probably not till Christmas."
"Okay. That gives me sometime. Casey wants us to take Lizzie, Edwin and Marti for ice cream tonight and tell them then. I know Casey is nervous about Lizzie's opinion. What did you want to ask?"
"Well when did this happen?"
"About 3 weeks ago. I actually hadn't planned it to happen how it happened. I wrote her a song and she heard it and it went from there."
"You wrote a song? I thought you had problems writing songs before."
"If you mean with Sally, that song Casey helped me write and I was forced to write it. This one came easy for me for some reason."
"Can you play it for me?"
"Sure. I'll be right back." Derek gets up to grab his guitar from the car.
Smelly Nelly's 12:30
Emily and Casey seat themselves at a booth and order lemonades. Casey looks up from her menu and asks "Are you sure you are okay with me and Derek? You are one of my best friends and I don't want this to be weird."
"Casey, like I said on the phone the other day, I am so over Derek. I really am. I am back with Sheldon and couldn't be happier. I am also glad I finally can be with him now that we are at school."
"How are your journalism classes going?"
"Pretty good. They are really fun. I get to gossip about the world for fun now. How are you handling those first nursing classes?"
"My class is about nutrition and health so that is really interesting. But my anatomy and physiology class is a lot of memorization. I am really glad I decided to take classes and not defer till later. Dance is for fun now and I have enough pressure with studying. "
"That's good. I was worried when you were going to go to New York instead of pursuing medicine. I remember you telling me about how you were going to go into medicine or law for as long as I have known you." Emily says.
The waitress set their sandwiches and drinks in front of them. After she leaves Casey says, "You didn't seem too surprised we are dating when I called you before."
"You also were the one insisted that we would always talk every week and e-mail all the time. You stopped sounding irritated by his pranks and more like you found them funny when you would tell me about them. Awhile ago though you stopped calling as much and e-mailed more. It seemed like you were leaving something out even though you sounded happier. You even mentioned going on a date with someone and going to a Queen's hockey game the week before you told me. Why did you avoid telling me anyway?"
"I don't know. I guess I was worried you wouldn't understand. You were the first friend I made in London."
"I can understand the charm that is Derek. At least with this one, you won't change for him. You always acted different depending on your boyfriend."
This makes Casey laugh, "Derek has told me I do that before too. He didn't like it when I would change for other people. If I do that now, Derek would get confused. I have always been myself with him."
"That would a great prank though."
"For about five minutes before I burst out laughing at the look on his face. Can we swing by the bookstore on our way back? I want to get my nursing professor recommended. I also want to be back before Lizzie gets home from school."
"Sure, I told my mom I would baby sit my brother tonight anyway." Emily says as they leave money on the table and get up to leave.
**** End of Chapter 12****
Ch. 11 and 12 are posted at the same since I got them done at the same time. This chapter was the hardest one to write yet. Thanks for reading. Hope you like it.
Anybody know of any good Harry Potter fan fiction out on this site? With the new movie coming out, I am itching to read some along with rereading Deathly Hallows. Feel free to PM me.
Questions, reviews and shout outs are all appreciated. Since I usually post updates in the evening, it is exciting to wake up or get home at night to reviews. Totally makes my day. You guys are amazing.
Up Next:
Chapter 13 The Rest of the Family
