Learning to Take it Well Chapter 26, a life with derek fanfic

A/N: Here it is – the second to last chapter. And, actually, the next part will probably be more of an epilogue than a real chapter.

Disclaimer: We've already been through this.

OOOO

None of the Shepherds had been relishing the Sunday dinner, but they all breathed a little easier once they arrived at the diner. The ride there had been plain uncomfortable; there wasn't one of them that wasn't tense and stressing over the meeting that was about to take place.

Lauren was the first to exit the car; even if she was worried, she was still excited about getting to see Nate and not having to hide it.

Contrary to his sister, Tony wasn't excited about anything. In fact, he was psyching himself up, so sure he was that he was going to have to have his sister's and, as much as he hated it, Nate's back during this little sit-down.

Lauren hightailed it into the diner, her brother and parents following closely behind. It wasn't long before she spotted the grim looking Venturi family in the restaurant.

There was an awkward little moment when her family arrived at their table, and then Nate made it even more awkward by standing up to kiss her in greeting. True, he did typically kiss her whenever they saw each other, but something was different this time—Lauren got the distinct feeling that he was sending some sort of 'I don't give a damn' message to both of their families. And while she agreed with him, she thought that it might have not been the best way to open things.

Lauren wasn't alone. Seriously, Casey could've strangled her son. But she chose to forgo that decision and spoke up instead. "Hi everybody."

She got a couple of weak "hellos" back from the twins, but Emily was too caught up in staring at Derek, and Sam was too busy trying not to slam his fist into Derek's face, to give her much of a response.

"Why don't we," Shawn began, gesturing to himself and the other teens, "sit over there," he pointed to a booth across the aisle, "so you guys can have a chance to talk and stuff?"

Casey flashed him a grateful smile and the rest of the teens breathed a sigh of relief before heading over to the table he'd indicated.

There was another odd little pause, but Emily and Sam eventually took a seat across from Derek and Casey.

"Awkward," Casey remarked in a singsong voice after the silence continued to drone on. And, just like that, the tense little spell, well, at least for Casey and Emily, was broken by laughter.

"They're laughing. That's a good sign, right?" Lauren asked nervously.

"Your fathers haven't shanked each other yet," a voice said from behind, "so I'd say it's a very good sign."

Smiling excitedly, Lauren rose to her knees and looked over the back of her seat and into the booth behind them.

"Mya," she exclaimed, "you came!"

"Of course," the girl said before slipping into their booth. "I wouldn't have missed this for the world."

"Aww, a girl after my own nosy heart," Shawn said before winking at her.

"Well," Casey said, having sobered up, "I think we should start by—

"Emily," Derek interrupted, "let's talk over there." It was really more of a demand than a request, and before she had a chance to respond he had gotten out of his seat and practically pulled her out of hers.

Derek knew that his wife probably had their conversation planned out like a vacation itinerary, but if he was going to apologize he wanted to do it his own way. And he didn't want to do it in front of Sam; he was sure Sam didn't want to hear what he had to say to Emily anyway.

"What are they doing, playing musical chairs?" Shawn joked weakly. Inside he was a ball of nerves; just what was his father doing?

"I'm sure everything's fine," Mya said calmly.

"Yeah, well, that makes one of us," Nate mumbled.

"Emily," Derek murmured, once they were deposited in another booth, "I am so—

"Why'd you pick me, Derek?" Emily blurted out, effectively interrupting him. She hadn't meant to say that—she hadn't meant to say anything actually. She didn't even know she could speak; when he had grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her Emily had been robbed of her powers of

speech. And now not only were those powers back, but they were out of her control and making her sound way sadder than she was comfortable with. But, oddly enough, now that she had asked she really wanted to know the answer.

"Huh?" he asked, eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

Emily really couldn't tell if he was faking or not, so she repeated herself. "Why did you pick me? There were so many girls in our school, and you could've used any one of them to make Casey jealous, so why me? Did you hate me that much?" That thought had run through Emily's mind more than a few times—had he picked her as some sort of payback for the annoying way she had obsessed over him?

"It wasn't about you," Derek admitted. He felt awful 'cause he knew how bad this next part was going to sound, but he knew he had to tell her the truth anyway. "I picked you because I was trying to make Casey jealous and you were her best friend." Emily gasped, but he soldiered on. "I considered going out with someone else, like one of the popular girls who was always teasing her, but I knew that nothing would hurt her more than seeing me with her best friend."

"Bastard," she hissed. It wasn't really a surprise to Emily, but God, having to hear him say it was just too much.

He couldn't blame her for being angry; it had been a bastard thing to do. It shamed him to remember just how callous he'd been with her feelings.

Her eyes were tearing up too, and in attempt to make her feel better he said, "I'm glad I picked you though." Her eyes flashed and he hurried to explain. "You were a good—no, a great—girlfriend. You were perfect," he told her, and he meant every word of it. "And after a while, without meaning to, I developed real feelings for you." Encouraged by her surprised expression, he continued. "I really did, in my own ass backwards way, care about you."

None of that was a lie. Just like he'd told Casey a few weeks ago, he had cared about Emily. Besides Casey, Emily had been the only girl he'd ever considered a real friend. She had been one of the few people that he'd ever discussed his hopes and dreams and even his fears with. He had really valued her opinion. And even though he hadn't been in love with her, he would've done almost anything for her.

"Were you ever in love with me?" she asked, somewhat breathlessly. His answer shouldn't have made a difference, and she knew it wouldn't really change anything, but she had to know anyway.

"No," he answered honestly, but hastened to add, "but I did love you."

Emily gave a hollow laugh. 'I love you, but I'm not in love with you.' How many times had she heard that during her life? Two more times than anyone should have to hear it from someone they had slept with multiple times. First with Sam, when he revealed the true origins of their relationship, and now with Derek. This was something that didn't get any easier the second time

around.

"You were my friend—one of my best friends—and I loved you as such," Derek said quickly. He didn't want to lose any more of what little ground he had with her to begin with. "And I regret so much what I did to you—how I hurt you. I'd take it all back if I could."

"No you wouldn't," she said flatly.

"What?"

"No. You. Wouldn't," she repeated. "It got you Casey," she said, tone both thoughtful and angry, "and you wouldn't give her up for anything would you?"

He couldn't lie about that. "No. But," was all he got out before she interrupted him.

"And I suppose…"

Her eyes were closed and her breathing was erratic, and Derek couldn't help but wonder if she was going to be ill.

"… I can respect that; your unconditional and unwavering love for Casey was… is… admirable, if nothing else." It really was. They were a couple that had broken up Lord knows how many times, a couple who was cut off from their families, a couple who most of society deemed unnatural and immoral, yet they were still together. And despite all they'd gone through neither of them would trade the other for anything. Emily couldn't help but respect that.

Derek tilted his head at Emily, regarding her oddly. It almost sounded as if…

"I'm not forgiving you," she announced, having opened her eyes and caught his look. "But I'm trying hard to understand what you did and why you guys thought you had to do it."

"Hey," Derek let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, "that sounds good to me." Actually it sounded great to him. Hell, she hadn't stuck a fork in his eye, so he figured he wasn't doing too bad at all.

"You have any idea what you're gonna say to my husband?" she asked, suddenly. It'd be nice if Derek had some sort of plan, because she was sure her husband wasn't about to go as easy on him as she had.

"Nope," he said, and just like that his little moment of contentment was gone. "I have no idea."

Casey hadn't been expecting Derek to disappear from the table with Emily, but she decided to take the opportunity presented to her and just wing it with Sam. Lord knew he deserved an apology from her too.

"Sam—

"How could you do it, Casey?" Sam demanded angrily.

He was angry for a lot of reasons. But he was primarily upset because his wife had just been dragged to a secluded corner by a man who had the tiny little habit of stealing his women. And being left alone with Casey wasn't helping anything either. When he called her to thank her for helping with the Emily situation all those months ago, Sam had been sure that they would never have to talk to each other again. How wrong he had been.

But, since he was stuck with her, he figured the least she could do was give him a real explanation for her actions. So, when she didn't answer, he asked her again, "How could you do that to me, Casey?"

"I was in love with Derek," she answered, wincing, but there really hadn't been a delicate way to put it. "I couldn't live without him."

"Touching, really." He sneered. "And if you had told me that when we were in high school and then broken up with me, yeah, I would've been pissed—maybe even never talked to you guys again—but I would've accepted it. But," his eyes narrowed, "since you strung me along, practically all the way to the altar, I'm gonna need a more substantial answer than that."

Casey grimaced. She should've known; true as it may've been—that answer wasn't going to work.

Taking a deep breath, she attempted to give him something more substantial. "At first, I stayed because I couldn't choose between the two of you. You were my first love and I had no idea where the thing with Derek was going," she explained. "Then," she chewed on her lip nervously, knowing that things were only about to get worse, "I knew exactly where things were going with Derek—I wanted him. But I didn't want to hurt you, so, I stayed."

"Oh, okay. Thanks for not hurting me," he said sarcastically. 'Does she know how she sounds?' He assumed she couldn't possibly know or she would've shut up.

Casey was seriously dreading telling him the next part. It really was the Big Bad. "Right before you asked me to marry you I was going to break up with you, but Derek and I got into a fight." She paused, then, "I was trying to prove a point, and I ended up accepting your proposal on a dare… sort of."

"A point? A dare?" he bellowed, incredulous.

"But in the end I couldn't go through with it," she rushed on, ignoring his hate filled look as well as she could. "I was in love with Derek; I had to choose him. I mean, even at the rehearsal after you found out about us and begged me to come back to you—

Sam held up a hand. "Stop right there." The last thing he needed was to hear a blow by blow of their rehearsal dinner. And, he didn't really recall begging her either.

Casey silently thanked God for Sam's interruption. She didn't want to talk about all the bad stuff she'd done; she wanted them all to move on.

"I am so sorry about the way I handled things between us," she said sincerely. "And I've been sorry about it everyday of my life. You and Emily were two of the most important people in my life and, even though I know it doesn't seem like it, I never did want to hurt you guys." She'd been being honest, but Sam only snorted.

Leaning across the table as if he were about to share the secrets of the world with her, Sam whispered, "Hey, Casey."

She leaned across the table too. "Yeah?"

"I don't forgive you," he said brutally, and went on to tell her, "and I probably never will."

Keeping her eyes wide so the tears wouldn't fall, Casey continued to listen attentively. She had a feeling he wasn't done.

"What I will do, however, because you are my wife's friend, is smile in your face and be polite. And so I don't lose my daughter," he added, sounding bitter, "I'll open my house to that boy of yours. But, just so you know, if anyone in your family ever hurts my family there will be hell to pay," he finished, before leaning back into his seat.

Casey finally allowed herself to blink, but she didn't shed a tear. Actually, though it wasn't anywhere near what she had hoped for, it was fair enough. And, if Sam was anything like his wife, Casey knew that she'd wear him down… eventually.

"Well, mom and Derek are heading back over to the table, and they both look… relatively okay, so things must've gone fine between them," Lauren guessed, then huffed. "God, I wish I knew what they said; too bad I can't read lips."

"You can't?" Mya and Shawn asked, simultaneously, causing the whole table to stare at them.

"How do you know any good gossip?" Mya said, flabbergasted. She had kinda thought all teenage girls could read lips at least a little bit.

"I can give y'all lessons if you want. I perfected my technique years ago," Shawn said, proudly.

"Dude, you are so weird," Tony told Shawn, but he was smiling as he said it.

When Derek and Emily sat back down at their table, both women turned and looked expectantly at their husbands.

When both men remained silent, focusing solely on their twiddling thumbs, Casey cleared a throat and said, "Derek, don't you have something you would like to say to Sam?"

'Something I'd like to say or something I have to say?' he thought to himself. But said aloud, "Yeah. Sam, I want—

"Wait," Casey interrupted. "Emily and I will leave you two alone for a moment, won't we Emily?" If Derek was going to get the same kind of reception from Sam that she had then she didn't really want to be around to see it.

Emily didn't really want to be around for the apology either, but she thought that leaving her husband alone with Derek would be incredibly stupid. But, then again, what the hell? Her husband was a big boy and he knew what would happen if he messed this up. And he also knew that he better not mess it up.

"Sure," she replied sweetly. "Let's go look at that jukebox over there."

Casey nodded gratefully, and in a matter of seconds she and Emily had disappeared to the other side of the diner.

Tony shook his head at the scene in front of him "What are they thinking, leaving them alone like that?"

Nate hated to come out and agree with Tony, but he couldn't help nodding his head. As someone who had been present for the entire explosive episode yesterday between their fathers, Nathan didn't see how any good could come of leaving those two alone.

"I have no idea," Shawn said, genuinely perplexed. Then he grinned and said, "Twenty bucks says they get in a fight again."

Nate rolled his eyes at his brother. "Only a sucker would take that bet."

"Alright," Shawn nodded, then, "Okay, twenty buck says our dad throws the first punch."

"You're on," Tony said, shaking Shawn's proffered hand. He may have thought this was all a bad idea, but he wasn't above making twenty bucks off of it. He knew his father—there was no way Sam wasn't going to pass the first lick.

Scratching the back of his neck, Derek eyed his companion warily. Awkward didn't even begin to cover how he was feeling—he wanted to talk to Sam about as much as he wanted a hole in the head; but he knew he had to say something.

"Well, I guess I've got that apology you were looking for yesterday," he said, laughing weakly.

Narrowing his eyes, Sam asked, "Do you take anything seriously?"

"No; of course not," Derek replied, rolling his eyes. He had come to this meeting with the best of intentions, but Sam was seriously working his nerves. "I came here just to mess with you," he said, sarcastically. "I mean, really, sitting here while you glare at me and huff and puff is so my idea of fun. I just wish I could spend everyday like this."

It was Sam's turn to roll his eyes. "Way to prove me wrong about you taking this seriously."

Reminding himself that Sam had every right to be angry with him and that he had almost no right to take issue with any insult Sam sent his way, Derek took a deep breath and tried again. "Look, I--"

"No." Sam shook his head. "You look – I don't like you."

'Surprise, surprise.'

"And, really, you can save the apology. Nothing you could say could make me forgive you."

Sam didn't just not like Derek—he loathed the man. Sure, he had sat through Casey's spiel, he'd even encouraged it, but there was no way he was going to grant Derek the same courtesy. He'd long ago resigned himself to the fact that, although he couldn't stand her, he would probably always have a soft spot for Casey. Whether it was there because she was his first love or because he had spent so many years harboring feeling for her, he wasn't sure; but he knew it existed.

As far as Derek was concerned, however, no such soft spot existed. Sam hated the man; literally hated him. And even though he'd promised his wife that he would sit through this dinner, and even though he was still prepared to let his daughter date Nathan, Sam knew there was absolutely no way in hell he'd be able to stomach an apology from Derek.

He figured that it'd be better to save them all some time and trouble and tell his one time best friend exactly what was going to happen.

"I'm not here to humor whatever fantastical illusions you and your wife seem to have about us all getting along," Sam told him. "I can tell you right now that will never happen."

Even though he already had a pretty good idea what the answer would be, Derek couldn't stop the smart-ass question from rolling off his tongue. "Well, why exactly are you here?"

"Because I love my daughter more than I hate you," Sam answered simply. Actually, it was a pretty close one—but he knew he had been telling the truth with his answer. "So, I'll support her." Grimacing, he added, "Even when she's doing something stupid. Besides," he began, his first genuine smile of the day springing to his lips, "this thing between our kids can't last forever. And in a couple of months, with the exception of our wives, we can all sever our ties."

That was something that had hit Sam earlier in the morning—Lauren and Nathan were in high school, and add that to the fact that Nate was a player, chances were that their relationship wouldn't last that long. How many high school relationships actually went the distance? A few months, at the most a year; Sam wasn't expecting to have to put up with this any longer than that. The one bright spot in the entire situation was that Lauren and Nate had to part ways at some point. Thank God.

Derek had to bite back a smile. 'Poor Sam.' Hell, he almost felt bad for the man. Like he himself had been the night before, Sam was obviously misinformed about just how serious this thing between Nate and his daughter was.

Tilting his head and giving Sam a look he couldn't quite interpret, Derek asked, "Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, our kids are actually in love?" Trying his best not to laugh at the incredulous expression on Sam's face, Derek couldn't help but try to push his buttons just a little bit more. "I mean, there's a good chance they could be together forever."

Sam gave a short bark of laughter. "Impossible."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Nate's a Venturi." Sam said their last name like it was a fatal disease, and the insulted expression Derek wore after hearing his tone was all the encouragement Sam needed to continue. "And once Lauren realizes that members of the Venturi family don't know how to love, don't even know the meaning of the word, she'll be gone quick, fast, and in a hurry," he said, sounding insanely happy at the mere mentioning of it.

"So, Venturi's don't know how to love huh?" Sam shook his head, and Derek's hand itched to wipe the smirk off his face. Instead of getting physical though, Derek smiled coolly, opting to take a mental swipe at him instead. "That's odd; I know a couple of people who would disagree with you on that. My wife… and yours," he finished smugly, winking at Sam.

Sam wasn't sure whether it was the wink or the implication that Derek knew Emily's feelings better than he did, but whatever it was, it was enough to make what little self-control he had snap.

Unknown to him, Sam had just made his kid twenty bucks.

"Easiest money I ever made." Tony didn't sound too happy about his victory, but that didn't stop

him from pocketing the bill Shawn held out to him.

"If you two are done," Lauren said, scowling, "maybe you could break them up, before somebody really gets hurt."

Besides the scowl, Lauren also had her weepy/pouting thing going on; the combination of the two was too much for her brother and Nate. In short order, Nate was up and grabbing his father while Tony focused on subduing Sam. It took a couple of curse filled minutes but they eventually got their fathers separated.

Not that that did much to put a stop to the flow of drama in the little restaurant. Casey and Emily had made their way back over to their families and they looked anything but pleased.

Hands upon hips and wearing twin looks of annoyance mingled with irritation, each woman turned on her respective husband.

"What the hell, Derek?" Casey asked in exasperation. "This doesn't look like an apology."

"I was trying to apologize," Derek said, defensively. While Nate loosened his hold on his dad, Derek went on to add, "I barely got a chance to say anything before Joe Frazier over there," he glared at Sam, "was jumping all down my throat and throwing sucker punches."

When Emily turned back to focus on Sam her anger and annoyance were clear. "Oh, really?" she asked, tight lipped.

"No," he scowled, "not really. As usual, he's lying." Sam sniffed. 'Like I'd ever throw a sucker punch.'

"Am not," Derek said sounding indignant.

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too," Sam insisted.

"Am--" Derek started to repeat himself again, only to be interrupted by a very loud, very shrill whistle blowing.

When everyone turned to find the source of the noise, nobody was that surprised to see Shawn lounging in his seat with a whistle lodged between his grinning lips.

"You brought a whistle?" Mya asked, smiling. "Aren't you just the cutest thing?" she said, before reaching across the table and pinching his cheek.

Shawn bowed his head in an overly bashful way. "Well, yeah."

Mya rolled her eyes at his answer, but she was giggling nonetheless.

"Who are you?" Sam asked, momentarily sidetracked by the weird Venturi kid and the… waitress from the day before?

"Mya Madsen," she responded perkily. "I'm Casey and Emily's friend."

Sam just stared at her blankly, shaking his head back and forth in disbelief. Here he was at a Shepherd/Venturi family reunion; his daughter was dating the son of his only enemies; and now, apparently, his wife was hanging out with high school kids. 'Could things get any weirder?'

"Really?" Derek asked. He wore a look very similar to Sam's. He hadn't been aware that his wife had any friends, well, besides Emily. So, finding out that she had one who looked to be about their son's age was just a bit shocking.

"Yes, really," Casey replied, sounding annoyed. She had exactly two real friends in the world and it seemed like Derek was going out of his way to drive both of them away. After today, if Mya decided that her family was just too nuts to associate with Casey wouldn't have blamed her one bit.

She really hoped that didn't happen though. On their way to Casey's house, Tony had informed Emily about Mya's part in their whole 'reunite the parents' strategy and Emily had told Casey about it while they had driven to the diner the day before. Casey had already liked Mya, but now the girl would always have a special place in her heart.

"Oh," Derek said, simply.

"Okay," Casey said, sighing irritably, "now that you're apparently done stalling"—which is what she was starting to think the fight and the preschool-type argument he had just engaged Sam in and the mini-inquisition of Mya had been— "are you ready to apologize?"

"That depends," he looked pointedly at Sam, "is he ready to listen?"

"He sure is," Emily answered, voice syrupy sweet. "Aren't you honey?"

Her tone held more threat than question, and Sam nodded reluctantly. He just kept telling himself not to forget what all was at stake here.

Sighing in relief, Emily gave her husband a little nudge in the direction of his seat. Taking the hint, Sam sat back down and after a second he was joined by an equally reluctant looking Derek.

Everybody breathed a little easier after the two of them slid into their booth. And, after they were sure that a fight wasn't going to break out, at least immediately, the members of the two families who were standing took their seats too. Though, this time Casey and Emily made sure to stay close… just in case.

"Go ahead," Sam said sounding incredibly tired and defeated all of a sudden. "Go ahead and apologize for taking Casey from me so I can go ahead and not forgive you."

Derek grimaced. He couldn't exactly apologize for that, which Emily had made more than clear when they had spoken earlier.

"I can't do that."

Sam rolled his eyes and said, "you do know that Casey's not gonna let you eat anything until you apologize right?"

Derek blinked. For a split second Sam had sounded like Sam, and not the bitter, angry man who was sitting across from him now. It was nice and… awful. Up until that moment Derek hadn't realized how much he had missed his friend.

Shaking his head, Derek decided to push that thought aside and return his focus to the task at hand. "We were friends from grade to University," he said, trying another tactic. Derek had met Sam and Emily during his second tour of the first grade. "And during that time was I ever anything but loyal to you?" Sam cocked a disbelieving eyebrow, so Derek added, "besides the obvious." He didn't get any reaction from Sam, but he wasn't really expecting an answer for that anyway. "I'm just saying, you were always pretty popular – always had a girlfriend. Did I ever steal any of them from you, besides Casey?"

Rolling his eyes once again, Sam started clapping. "Congratulations on the stellar accomplishment of only stealing one of my girlfriends," he said mockingly. "God," he swore, "it always boggles my mind when people want credit for something they're just supposed to do. There's nothing special about you not kissing the girl I gave my extra juice to in the third grade."

"I'm not saying there is." Well, he kind of was, but that hadn't been his intent. Derek was just trying to make a point. "Think about it though, I was never one to pass up a pretty and willing girl, but I always turned yours down. So, doesn't it make sense that if I took Casey from you it was because I really was in love with her?" Sam just stared at him like he couldn't believe what he was hearing, so he said, "I wasn't trying to hurt you; it wasn't personal."

'Derek's crazier than Casey.' "It wasn't personal?" he repeated, incredulous. "You dated my girlfriend behind my back for years and then the two of you decided to turn my wedding rehearsal into your own little coming out party, but it wasn't personal?"

He grunted, and then said, "You know that's not what I meant."

"That's what you said," Sam said pointedly. "How am I supposed to know what you mean if you won't say what you mean?"

Reminding himself that he had about zero room to be annoyed, Derek attempted to explain himself. "All I meant is that I didn't go with Casey just to stick it to you. I wanted Casey, needed

her, but I didn't want to hurt you—neither of us did," he insisted. "And for that—for hurting you so badly—I really am sorry," he said, sounding incredibly sincere. "But I can't apologize for ending up with Casey. I love her, man, and I'll never be sorry for marrying her."

Sam frowned. He didn't exactly want Derek to apologize for marrying Casey. Sam was aware of the fact that if he had married Casey then he wouldn't have Emily or the twins. His family was his life and he couldn't imagine living without them. So, no, that's not what he wanted. Sam just wanted… Well, he didn't exactly know what he wanted.

He had hated them for so long—hated them for making his life miserable, for never even attempting to make things right. And now that they seemed to want to make things better, Sam couldn't deal. He hated them too much—it had been too long. Whatever Emily had that made her forgive him for the way he had treated her, whatever she had that made her forgive Casey – Sam knew he didn't have it. He really just did not like Derek and Casey and he knew he never would; he knew he would never be able to forgive them.

But, he could honor the promise he had made to his wife. With all the crap Emily had put up with from him, would it really kill him to cut the Venturi clan just a little slack? Maybe. But he would suck it up and try to do it anyway.

"You marrying Casey got me Emily, and I'll never need or want an apology for the best thing that ever happened to me," Sam said quietly.

Derek almost fell out of his seat. That was about the last thing he had been expecting to hear, but he tried his best to keep a straight face.

"As for the other thing," Sam continued, voice much stronger, "I'll never be able to forgive you for the way the two of you handled things. Like you said, we were best friends; if you had just been up front with me we might've been able to get past it." Sam wasn't sure if that was true, but he liked to think it was. "But y'all did too much—lied too much; I can't forgive that."

Derek waited a second, then said, "But?" He couldn't help but feel like there was a "but" on Sam's statement.

Apparently he was right.

"But," Sam said, "Like I said earlier, I love my wife and kids; just like you obviously do." Why else would Derek have been there? "So, whatever we have to do to make sure our families are happy," he sighed, "let's do it."

"Really?" Derek asked, shocked. For the first time in his life he thought he might actually faint.

"Really," Sam assured him. "Even if it means Emily and Casey sending us on 'grown man play dates' I want to do it." 'Well, "want" is a strong word.'

Derek released a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. "Okay," he agreed, sticking out a hand for Sam to shake.

Sam didn't hesitate to grasp it.

TBC…

A/N: One more part to go. Please let me know how this went. I think this was the most important chapter so far and I'd really like to know how it came off. Oh, Mya is college aged; Sam's and Derek's guesses were just off.