"Don't be shy, love." Derek grinned at her. "We're all friends here." He took hold of her clenched fist which he was fairly certain contained delicately painted fingernails which were digging into her palms in irritation. He gently uncurled the fingers and pulled her to him.

"You're mine, Casey Venturi." He said with an evil scientist laugh. "All mine!"

And then he kissed her.

Derek swooped towards Casey to press his lips against hers. Derek Venturi would never turn a kiss down from an attractive woman – even if she was his step-sister. (or at least that's what he told himself).

He had it all figured out. A comic, but nice, fairly tame kiss, he thought; nothing too risqué. It wasn't supposed to be a peck on the lips, but instead something that looked loving but restrained; like you were kissing your new wife in front of complete strangers. It was all about appearances.

He decided not to look her in the eyes as he kissed her, reasoning that if he saw cold, bloodied murder in their depths he wouldn't be able to go through with the kiss. Instead, he picked a spot to the side to stare at. There was no way on earth he would consider closing his eyes. Defence is all about being observant.

Duck, kiss, retreat was the plan.

Derek's body, egged on by Casey's had other ideas.

The moment his lips touched hers, his eyes closed involuntarily and his intuitive defence system was flying blind and, it appeared, flying solo, because his mind seemed to have disappeared too. Fortunately, there was no immediate offensive launched by the opposing force. The part of Derek's system still capable of thought put that down to complete shock on Casey's part.

As well as the intention to keep his eyes open, the intention to keep it brief was also lost. Derek's lips met Casey's and they had both closed their eyes. The quick peck turned into something deeper and longer, and a rather amused Barry White impersonator was forced to cough loudly and comment to Angelo and Ronald that he was thinking of coming to the ceremonies equipped with a water pistol because it was like this "every single damned time".

Casey pulled herself away from Derek and they stared at each other for several heartbeats. Casey blushed a vivid pink which slightly panicked Derek and he returned to type.

"That's quite a sink plunger you have going there, Mrs Venturi. I think my mouth's gone numb with the pressure."

The soft look in her eyes hardened as she did the same, and when they turned to go back down the aisle she hissed at him.

Casey snorted. "If only, Derek. If only. The peace would be a relief."

Her new husband laughed, relieved that they had recovered their equilibrium. "Atta girl Case!" He said and, knowing it was expected of a new husband, took her hand in his.

He noticed the strange feeling of the wedding band on his own left hand as he laced their fingers together.

"I guess this is one way to spend our wedding night." Casey sighed, leaning against the casino pillar with a resigned look on her face.

Derek rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the table. "Hush woman! I'm trying to concentrate."

"Why? You need to fold Derek. There's no way you can beat that hand. You need at least an ace and they've already gone."

"Casey…" Derek muttered through gritted teeth, but he folded all the same and then watched in disbelief as the guy next to him got dealt an ace.

"Whoops!" His wife said and he noticed looked suitably abashed.

"I don't know why I listened to you. I was always better at math than you." He growled scooping up his remaining chips and leaving the table. This time, he went for the one-arm bandits, and Casey found herself having to shout to make herself heard.

"Maybe I should just go back to our room." She commented.

"Why? So you can watch the free cable porn?"

She didn't retort back and Derek turned his gaze to look at her and realised she looked lost and sort of lonely. It occurred to him they were going to be each other's sole companion for a while and that ditching her wasn't really an option. "You wanna go at this?" he said offering her the thin plastic cup full of coin.

"I can't Derek, I'm underage." She whispered.

"You and I are the only ones that know that. Come on." He pulled her into the space in front of him and put a couple of coins into her hand. "Live life dangerously, Mrs V."

Casey opened her mouth to protest and then closed it again. His voice warm near her right ear was encouraging and the alternative was sitting in their room reading. She'd spent a lot of time alone recently so she actually wanted to spend time with someone else…maybe even some of her wedding night with her husband. Although not in that way…obviously.

"Okay. What do I do?" She asked and Derek leaned closer, his arms around her so that he could reach for the machine, and his chin resting on her shoulder.

"You need to…" and she tried to ignore his breath on her skin as she listened to his instructions.

The elevator pinged and as the doors opened the sound of laughter filled the hotel corridor. It was ten pm, and finally hunger had forced the pair of newly weds to return to their room. Derek had suggested they eat in the restaurant, but Casey really wanted to get rid of the heels she was wearing because they were hurting. She said she wanted to climb into her pyjamas and eat dinner sitting cross-legged on the floor.

Right now, that sounded really attractive to Derek too.

They steered a path to the hotel room door and Derek pulled the key from his wallet. Then as he opened his door, in a moment of insanity, he bent down and swept Casey's legs from under her, scooping her up into his arms. She squealed and then he stepped over the threshold…

…And immediately cried out in pain.

Casey slipped to her feet again.

"Are you okay?"
"No." He winced rubbing his lower back. "You're heavier than you look." She pushed the door closed behind them and followed his limping figure into the room.

"Yes Derek. I could have told you that if you'd given me some warning. What was that all about anyway?"
"Tradition, Casey." He said, sitting on the end of the bed and kicking his shoes off. His tie was already hanging undone around his neck, and he'd thrown his jacket over the back of the small sofa in their room. Casey was finally removing her own shoes.

"Don't be ridiculous. It's…" she started.

"Bad luck if I didn't do it." He answered.

Casey chuckled. "Derek. Don't you think this marriage is cursed to high heaven anyway?"

"Exactly." He said, lying back onto the comforter, his hands behind his head. "It needs a helping hand." His eyes were closed, but a suddenly noise close by made him flick his eyelids open.

Casey was leaned over him frowning. Derek suddenly realised how his statement had sounded.

"What I meant was we need help to get through the…ordeal." He backtracked trying to ignore the sight of his giggling wife looming over him, or rather, trying to ignore the urge to do something about it.

He slid away from her and went for the room service menu.

"I need red meat and starch." He said as though his life depended on it.

"The way you eat I'm in danger of being a widow before I'm a divorcee." Casey stated, rubbing her sore feet.

"I'm not that bad. I can't afford steak normally, and this one's on the US government." He wiggled his eyes at her, for comic effect. "I'm going to have the steak sandwich and fries."

Casey held her hand out for the menu.

"They don't have any tofu." He added helpfully.

"Why do you always bring that up? That was one meal, Derek. And, I might add, you ate it."

"What can I say? I'm a human garbage can."

She smirked. "I know Derek. I often think of you like that."
Derek tried to think of an appropriate come-back, but he was sort of relieved that they were back to fighting. Knowing that in the eyes of every society in the world there was very little prohibiting them from having sex was rather distracting.

Casey, however, was one of the things prohibiting that course of action – a fact for which he was grateful. His body was a treacherous bastard at the best of times, especially when she hung over him as she had been a moment a go, looking all virginal and sixty degrees of hot.

Casey, surprisingly, opted for the steak sandwich as well, and twenty minutes later, they were enjoying a carpet picnic including ice cream, and a bottle of wine. Derek even managed to persuade Casey to have a glass, though she was technically underage in the US, by nearly three months.

"What's on the TV?" Casey asked as they ate. Derek shrugged and started to flick through the channels.

"The 'Wedding Singer'?" He asked, praying that she realised that was a joke.

"I hated that film." She said quietly.

"Oh?" Derek was surprised. Surely it ticked all the boxes.

"He looked too old." She admitted, regretting the fact she was so shallow. She didn't like Little Women either, or rather she did, but she didn't like any of the following books.

Derek said nothing, but continued to flick. An ice hockey game appeared on the screen.

"Don't even think about it, Venturi." A voice beside him stated. Sighing he continued to flick before finding a channel showing a CSI marathon.

"It'll do." He said, and Casey nodded her agreement.

They watched until all the food was finished, cleared away and left the tray outside of the door. Casey went to the bathroom while the commercial break was on, and Derek topped up her glass with the wine. He didn't want to drink the whole bottle himself, because wine seemed to affect him more than alcohol in any other form, and that was dangerous around Casey. Casey drunk was also to be avoided, for the same reasons, but he thought she would be safe with another glass.

She noticed her glass was full when she returned, but said nothing, just resumed her place on the carpet and leant back against the end of the bed to watch the rest of the CSI episode.

.

Three hours later, at about 1am, Casey woke lying on something hard and warm. Her cheek told her it was fabric, but it occasionally moved. She was still facing towards the TV but her face was closer to the ground and as her mind pulled itself from the realms of sleep, her eyes shot open.

She was lying with her head in Derek's lap, and his fingers were knotted into her hair. She sat up suddenly, accidentally yanking her own hair and waking Derek.

"What?!" he said groggily.

"I was…we were…Why was it so hard?...Urgh! Der-ek!" Casey stormed off into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Still not particularly cognisant of what was going on, he stumbled to his feet and banged on the bathroom door.

"Care to tell me what's got you so pissed?" He yelled.

The door opened slightly.

"I woke up with my head in your lap, Derek."
Derek sighed. Not good but still, did it warrant this reaction?

"So?"

"Your fingers were playing with my hair and your…lap…" her voice trailed off.

"Casey…?" Derek prompted.

"Your lap was hard!" She shouted and slammed the door in his face.