A/N: Derek POV. Slight Dasey in this chapter, and some Vicky bashing (a la Casey). Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own LWD. I know, shocking, right?

------------------

Blast From the Past

Chapter 14—The Nutcracker, pt.3

By VirgoMaiden

------------------

Derek was currently sitting backstage, an extremely annoyed Casey beside him, wondering slightly at how he had come to be there.

It had started, like most problems that week, with Vicky. She had, after spotting Casey conversing with her mini-fanclub, proposed that she (Casey) watch the performance from backstage with some of the other dancers. The rest of the family was invited along too, but George and Nora had gently declined, saying something along the lines of enjoying their balcony seats. Vicky, hearing that, had also, fatefully, invited him along. He would have refused, too, except Casey had jabbed her elbow into his side and muttered, "Please, Derek, or I'll kill her in cold blood."

Which resulted in him whispering back, "Wouldn't be too much of a shame," her laugh, and him being introduced to the cast.

He still didn't get how the last two events had anything to do with each other.

Casey had been just as popular with the cast, if not more so, considering that these people knew her on a more… professional level. It was also when he had seen her legendary guy popularity, when multiple dancers had started to approach her nervously.

Quite honestly, he had been pretty surprised. Especially when Drake showed up and immediately began chatting her up. Derek had felt a surge of frustration when he had done so; tempting Casey was not the way to go, even if it was Vicky that they were talking about. Especially after the "Scott-the-player-coach" ordeal.

And it wasn't like he had liked the "thrill" of being backstage with tons of people crowding him, each in complicated outfits and tons of makeup on that he couldn't even tell if the person that he was thinking of chatting up was a guy or girl.

But then Casey laughed at him again as it turned out that one of the dancers that had been dressed up as a teddy bear was not in fact, a girl, but a very… confident guy, he had merely chosen not to fight back with her and had instead grabbed a folding chair and had gotten a good seat, ignoring her jesting remarks.

So, when looking back, he guessed that it was when Casey had elbowed him in the ribs that his fate was sealed. He was forever doomed to be seen as a gender-confused ballet troupe groupie.

It was then that he felt his stomach lurch and the familiar need of antacids as his sudden revelation became clear in his mind: He had done it for her. And he had liked it. He, Derek "Triple D" Venturi… was whipped. By his stepsister, Casey McDonald.

This was going to be complicated.

------------------

He had become painfully aware of Casey sitting next to him since his little "discovery". Every move that she made, he was aware of. Every tsk of disapproval, or every time that she flicked her hair out of her eyes, he noticed. It was then that he decided to turn his eyes to the stage to see what was annoying her so much for one of the first few times since the curtain had gone up.

It was Vicky, quite obviously. She was center stage and looking like she was enjoying it greatly. Dancing from one end of the stage to another, stepping delicately (and with McDonald-style precision), she looked like she was actually good at it.

He heard, as Vicky made a small jump, a barely noticable psht of disgust. Amused, he cast a look at Casey. She was sitting rather childishly in her seat, slumped over, her lower lip pouted in annoyance. He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it: Casey McDonald acting like a jealous four-year-old.

He leaned down slowly, so that his mouth was level her ear and murmured, "She's got nothing on you."

She stiffened at the proximity of his mouth and her head, but gave an awkward smile at the comment. "She nearly missed her cue," she whispered back before making a gagging sound. "Unacceptable."

"She fails the inspection, then?"

"Undoubtedly so."

"Making note. Any other complaints?"

She shot him a smug look as she said, "Far too many that an untrained eye of yours could ever hope to catch."

He smiled and watched as the tips of her ears turned pink from it.

"Then teach me," he said simply.

She sighed, as if being given sitter duty to Marti on a Saturday night, but he could tell that she was secretly enjoying this.

"Fine," she said briskly, "But pay attention, as I'm not repeating anything that I say. Were you watching her a second ago as she made that small jump?"

"Always," he said slowly, in a highly suggestive tone. "What about it?"

"Misstep," she informed him loftily. "The audience couldn't notice – it was too fast for them – but a few of the dancers close up did. It was a stupid mistake."

"And you are far too experienced to ever make such a blunder?" he asked.

"If I had your ego and its constant need for reinforcement, I would reply 'yes' to that without a second thought," she said.

"So that's a 'yes' coming from a one Casey McDonald? With no Derek Venturi divine intervention?"

"Maybe," she said mysteriously. "And that's all that I'll leave it at."

Derek smiled and turned his head to watch the impending struggle between the mice and the toys.

------------------

It was calm for a while after their little dissection of the first twenty minutes of the show, although typical backstage noises occasionally came up, causing them to lose their focus on the show. Occasionally, she would make a remark about the dancing (it was usually Vicky's), or he would ask about what was happening in the ballet (which would usually result in a snot from Casey at his apparent stupidity for "the classics"). But, besides that, there was extremely little conflict between the two of them.

But by the time that intermission had begun, if you had asked him, he would've been fairly clueless about what had just been going on, but very knowledgeable of what Casey's jaw looked like.

------------------

A/N: Intermission begins. Constructive Criticism is very much appreciated, as this chapter was pretty hard to write. If you are somehow brilliant in the ways of ballet (more specifically "The Nutcracker") and I have made a mistake with it, I would greatly appreciate it. And, of course, reviews are love.

-VM