A/N-I must be torturing all of you. My apologies. Trust me when I say I only write Dasey in these LWD fan fictions. So, have no worries! I have a few tricks up my sleeve.

Bags & Bows

Chapter 25

Sally was about to tell Derek the news. She was trying to keep it from him because she wasn't sure of his reaction. It had been nearly 4 weeks since she told her best friend that was expecting. She paced back and forth in front of their home office. The door was closed and before she opened the door to go inside, she took a deep breath.

"Hey." she said friendly.

"Hey." he said not even looking up. He was editing a film on his laptop and was fully concentrated on it.

Sally took a seat in the comfortable recliner that was in the corner of the room, near the bookcase.

"So…" she said awkwardly pulling her legs into her chest on the chair.

He didn't say anything and continued to click the mouse on his computer. Sally could feel the tension in the air. It was so cold. Things had been different the past month. Derek had basically cut himself off from everybody around him and fully concentrated on his work.

"Derek, I need to talk to you about something." Sally said.

"Can it wait?" he asked distantly. "I have so much work to do. These reels are due in less than a month and the movie doesn't even have any music yet."

Sally sighed but knew she couldn't hold off any longer.

"No." she said getting up from the chair. "It's can't wait, actually. It's pretty important." she said.

Derek sighed heavily before shutting his laptop quickly, obviously irritated.

"Okay." he said tiredly. "But, can you hurry? I really need to get this out of the way."

"Okay, I'll just start by saying…" she started. "This room…" Sally looked around the space. "Is going to be turned into a nursery."

"Why?" Derek asked confused.

"Because…" she said when her eyes began to water and a smiled appeared on her face. "You're going to be a dad."

Derek's eyes went wide!

"Casey!" he screamed in his mind angrily. He had a sick feeling that Casey had lied to him because she knew the truth.

"Are you sure?" he asked standing up.

She nodded and kept her smile.

"Very sure." she said keeping her smile. "Are you happy?"

Derek didn't know how to respond.

XOXO

"Last week of shooting. I can't believe it." Naomi said as her and Casey walked onto set.

"It went by so quickly." she said tiredly.

"Well, you and Derek did speed through your scenes perfectly." Naomi said taking a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah but besides that, it all seemed to go by so fast."

"That may be, but it's hardly over. Now we promote it." she said. "We have interviews, posters, and autograph signings." Naomi said drowsily. "So, much to do still."

"What's Owen decided to do?" Casey asked.

"He's trying to come back out but he says he's crazy busy at work. Ever since construction began on a few of his top clients, everyone is recommending them and he is non stop working."

"That's great though."

"Oh, I know. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great. I just miss him." Naomi was a little hesitant to ask but decided she would try her luck. "Casey?"

"Yeah?" she asked as the two girls walked.

"Do you think it would be stupid to ask Owen if he wanted to fly to London with me and meet my family?"

Casey stopped and turned to her friend.

"No way." Casey said with a smile. "Owen would love that!"

"Do you think it's too soon?" she asked. "I mean we've only been dating for like…7 weeks."

"I mean it's….quick. But, if you guys are serious, than time doesn't mean a thing."

"You're right. I don't want to go visit my family in London and realize after I'm there, how much I miss Owen and how stupid I feel for not inviting him. Even if it seems too soon for him to meet my family, I still want to spend time with him and show him how fantastic Europe is."

"See?" Casey asked with a smile. "Now, you have to make sure he goes because Owen has always wanted to go to Europe. He'll love it and he'll love you even more and he'll also feel really good about you wanting him to meet your family. He really respects things like that."

"You're so right, Casey. Okay, I'll do it."

"Good."

All of a sudden, Casey saw Derek come walking up to her quickly.

"You knew about this didn't you!" he said more stating it than asking.

"Knew about what?" she asked feeling victimized.

"About…." Derek looked at Naomi hoping she would get the hint to walk away.

"Alright, that's my queue. Meet you at your trailer." Naomi said departing from the two.

"You knew about Sally." he said accusingly.

"What about Sally? Is she okay?" Casey asked worried.

"She's fine. But, I'm not." he said dramatically. "Sally told me that she's pregnant last night!"

"What?" Casey was taken off guard.

"You knew didn't you?" he asked. "That's why you told me to stay with her. What? Was the truth too hard for you to tell me that you had to come up with an easy way of saying you didn't want to be with me?"

"This news had nothing to do with me."

"That's bull, Casey." he said eyes getting darker. "Why would you keep something like this from me? Instead, you made me feel like I wasn't good enough for you."

"How? Derek, I told you plain and simple that I didn't deserve you. Now, how dare you accuse me of knowing something that I had no idea about. Please keep your accusations to yourself because I'm over them."

"I still don't understand." he said looking down.

"Understand what?"

"Why you don't want to be with me after everything we've been through."

"After everything we've been through, can you really blame me?"

He looked up at her.

"Derek everyday I wake up, I have this gut wrenching guilt about us and how we've committed adultery. That's not a good way to start off a relationship."

"If you haven't forgotten, that's not where we started."

"No, but it's where we're ending." Derek had nothing to say. "Congratulations on your new baby by the way." she said walking around him. It hurt her so much to walk away from the man she loved but she would hate herself for ruining the bond between Sally and him. She would NEVER, ever be the other woman who ripped the man away from another woman. And now, he was going to be a father.

Casey shook her head and crossed her arms as she thought things over in her brain. She didn't want to turn around to look at him. Never look behind you…

But, she did because she was weak inside. She threw a glance behind her and died inside at the way he watched her walk away. His eyes were full of sadness but that couldn't change her mind. It was what it was.

XOXO

Derek didn't want to admit it, but he felt defeated. The news of the baby was both overwhelming and strangely exciting. He told the truth when he answered Sally's question. "Are you happy?" At first he didn't know what he was feeling but without realizing he answered the question truthfully.

"Very happy." he had said.

Problem was…

He was having the baby with the wrong girl.

XOXO

Things came to a standstill in shooting when it began pouring rain in a scene where it was supposed to be sunny. This delayed shooting by several hours. Casey and Naomi sat in director's chairs and drank their coffee as they waited for the storm to pass. Naomi was doing a good job of making Casey feel better. Since she found out that Sally was pregnant, she was a little down in the dumps.

And, how Derek accuse her of knowing! She went to the trouble only a month before to find out if Sally was pregnant or not. Sally said that children for her would not be coming anytime soon. So, whatever happened after that day must have resulted in the pregnancy that was now in full bloom.

"Derek should have been more careful." Casey accidentally said out loud.

"Sorry?" Naomi asked her friend.

"I didn't mean to say that. Sorry, Naomi." Casey apologized.

"No, no, no. Tell me!" Naomi pushed. "I'll take you out for ice cream." she said trying to persuade her friend.

"Fine. Derek's girlfriend Sally is pregnant."

Naomi's eyes bugged out hearing the news.

"Wow."

"Thing is, he thought she was pregnant almost a month and a half ago. So, I did some digging and found out she wasn't. But, now she is and I'm just angry with Derek because if they had a pregnancy scare the first time, then why wasn't he more careful the times after that? There are plenty of choices of protection out there."

"Maybe they decided that they do want kids now."

"Ha." Casey said all knowingly.

Naomi laughed. "Casey, things just happen. Everyone has their own reasons for their actions. Everyone else just has to live with the choices they make and be supportive."

"Yeah…I know." Casey said crossing her arms.

"This child is a blessing. It was obviously meant to happen for a good reason."

"You're right. I know." Casey said taking another sip of her coffee.

Blessings come wrapped in different bags and bows.

XOXO

Derek got home around seven and when we he walked into the living room, he laughed at Sally who was covered in Styrofoam popcorn.

"What are you doing?" he asked setting his stuff down.

"I told my mother about the baby and she had a crib fedexed over night." she said embarrassed as she pulled the little popcorn pieces out of her hair.

"How long have you been working on this?"

"About an hour."

"How much do you have done?" he asked helping her up.

"All the pieces are out of the box." she said with a smile. "So, a lot." she laughed and Derek couldn't help but do the same. It was the little things like this that made him love Sally.

"Do you need any help?" he asked picking up a piece on the floor. "I'll take this as a yes."

"Thank goodness you're here." she said.

"So, how long do we have?"

"Before what?" she asked

"Till the baby's here." he said.

"I'm due May 15th."

"May 15th? Are you serious?" he asked completely disbelieving.

"Yeah. Why?" she asked.

"May 15th. That's Casey's birthday."

A/N-Derek just can't win. Haha. Anyway, leave some reviews and tell me what you think. I hope you really like this story because I'm trying to please everybody. Thank you all so much for all the kind reviews. They make my day and I really appreciate ate them. Thanks so much!

Props to 'Veronica Mars' for one of the quotes I borrowed in my fic. "After all we've been through, can you really blame me?" Incredible show! Go check it out!

I do NOT own Veronica Mars or Life With Derek.