I don't own anything.

I re-wrote this chapter. Sorry if you got notified twice.

Chapter 14

The next evening Eileen brought over the video tape of the day's rehearsal. Derek had napped most of the day so that he would have the energy to give notes on what he saw. As soon as Eileen walked in the door Derek was shouting

"Eileen, play the tape! Let's see what we have. Bobby center by the eighth bar not on it. Ivy, where are you?" he shouted at the television. "Enter stage left, exit upper stage right. Blasted girl she shouldn't be making mistakes. Jessica on point for mambo; see, she hasn't let things slide. He said with a grin clearly enjoying himself. "Rigging and lighting need tweaked, but not too bad.

Eileen and Karen watched as Derek came alive. He was in his element and loving every second of it.
"If you two to stop gawking at me I may be able to get more done!" Derek shouted in such a tone that both women were taken aback.

The two ladies walked into the kitchen to prevent another outburst from Derek. They sat down at the bar and started talking easily. After a few minutes Eileen grew serious and said, "I've been thinking about Marilyn and Derek was right, you're better than Ivy. I want you to know that whenever you're ready to come back, she's yours."

A huge smile spread across Karen's lips and danced across her eyes. They talked for a few more moments before Eileen realized that time and had to rush off to a meeting. Karen paced around the apartment aimlessly for a while before deciding that she had had enough of being stuck in the apartment for the day. She decided she was going to go to her favorite coffee house down the street and get a nice hot cup of coffee.

"I'm going for coffee, do you want anything?" She asked Derek as she was leaving. Without looking away from the screen, Derek shook his head no and continued writing feverishly.

Karen went and got her coffee and sat reading a magazine for almost an hour then headed to Eileen's office. They talked for a few hours about the show and what Derek's recovery process looked like. Karen promised to bring the notes when Derek was finished and then headed for home.

When she opened the door Derek was asleep in his wheelchair with piles of notes addressed to Tom, Eileen, Julia and the cast all marked urgent. She maneuvered the chair to the bed and as gently as possible helped Derek into bed. She pulled the duvet cover over her, gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek and made her way back to the living room. She bent down to gather the notes and as she picked them up an engagement ring brochure fell out. She smiled and headed to Eileen's office.

After delivering the notes to Eileen she stopped and picked up a few things at the grocery. Derek's fridge was filled with half eaten carry out containers and Karen really felt like having something a little fresher, even if it was a microwave dinner. For the second time that day she reached home. I wonder when his place started feeling more like home than my place? She thought to herself as she walked in the front door. She had brought most of her things over a few weeks ago and was really starting to settle into his place.

She closed the door quietly behind her trying not to wake up the sleeping Derek, when she heard a sleepy voice say, "Thank you Mrs. Wills for taking the notes to Eileen."
"How? You were asleep." She said confused.
"Eileen rang," he said groggily holding the phone up. He sat the phone down and patted the bed gently.

"Join me?" he asked hesitantly.

"You don't have to ask me twice. I'm beat." Karen said setting the groceries down in the door way and climbing wearily into bed.
"Sorry for being short with you earlier. It's been awhile since I was that fired up." He said his voice a mixture of sleepiness and regret.

"It's okay. It was kind of nice seeing you back to your old self." Karen said gently placing a kiss on his cheek. Karen laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She'd get the groceries in a few minutes, for now she was just going to spend time snuggling with the man of her dreams.

Three hours later Karen was awakened by crying. She looked over at Derek and saw tears running down his cheeks.
"Are you okay?' she said blotting up instantly filled with concern. There was no response from her betrothed. Panic set in for a moment before she realized that his eyes weren't open.
"Derek?" She said loud enough to wake him.

Derek's eyes popped open and he looked around startled.

"What? Karen? Where?" he said. As his eyes settled on Karen he visibly relaxed.
"Are you in pain? Are you okay?" Karen asked still very concerned over the tears.
"Yes, no. I'm okay, I was just having a dream." He said wiping the remaining tears from his eyes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Karen asked hesitantly

"I'm starving. Did we eat dinner?" he asked ignoring her invitation to talk.
"No. I bought some food, but I fell asleep before I put it away," she said disappointed that he was changing the subject.

"Want to order in?" he asked as his stomach growled loud enough for Karen to hear it.

"Wow, you really are hungry" she said laughing.

They ordered food and while waiting for the food to be delivered Karen helped Derek back into his chair and wheeled him to the table. There was a knock at the door and Karen walked over and paid for the food, thankful that she didn't have to go out again. She passed out the food and they sat down in silence. Derek ate intently for a few minutes then looked up at Karen for a moment before looking down at his food.
"My parents died in a car accident 15 years ago. I was dreaming about them and my sister, whom I haven't spoken to since their funeral." He said softly looking away, ashamed that a 15 year old wound could cause him to have that kind of reaction in his sleep.

The couple spent the next hour eating and talking about what had happened between Margaret and Derek. When they finished eating, Karen helped Derek back into bed. She kissed him deeply and told him she'd be to bed in a few minutes, knowing that he would fall asleep in mere moments.

Karen found Derek's phone and took it to the living room. She looked up Margaret's phone number and then called her from her own phone.

"Hello?" said the feminine voice on the other end of the line.

"Is this Margaret Wills?" Karen asked unsure of where to start.

"This is she. May I ask who is calling?" Margaret replied in her very British accent.

"My name is Karen Wills. I…" she hesitated, "I am engaged to your brother Derek. Taking a deep breath she continued, "I think that you know that your brother was in an accident a few weeks ago."
There was ice cold silence on the other end of the line as Karen continued to tell Margaret about Derek's condition. When she finished detailing his injuries Margaret finally spoke. "I told whoever called me the first time that I didn't care what happened to him. I don't know why you think I've suddenly changed my mind."
"He's your brother. That should mean something." Karen responded shocked at the heartlessness of Derek's only living relative.
"He killed my parents!" Margaret shouted "Do you know what it's like to sit and watch as the people you love the most suffer and die in front of your eyes?"
"Not exactly, but I know what it's like to watch the man you love lie in a coma not knowing whether or not he was going to live or die. I know what it's like to think he's okay and then have him almost slip away from you again. I sat by your brother's bed day and night and prayed that he wouldn't die on me and you couldn't even bother to call him and see if he was alive?" Karen shouted with tears running down her cheeks.

"What do you want me to do?" Margaret asked coldly.

"I want you to call him. Just call him Margaret. He still loves you and you know as well as I do that the drunk driver killed your parents, not Derek. Please, just call him?" Karen begged
"I'll think about it." Margaret said hanging up the phone.

Exhausted, Karen crawled into bed and nestled close to Derek. They had to get up early the next day and she knew that the alarm would be going off way too soon.
"Is everything alright Love?" Derek asked still mostly asleep.
"Everything's fine. Go back to sleep." She whispered softly.

As Derek fell back to sleep Karen whispered, "I love you Derek Wills," and closing her eyes she drifted off to sleep.