Alabama

Casey McDonald's head picks up from her textbook when she hears a knock at her door. She stands from her desk chair and heads over to open it, assuming the person knocking is her friend, Natalie, with a question about their Biology homework.

Casey's eyes narrow when she opens the door, realizing she was wrong. The person knocking wasn't Natalie.

"What's up, Spacey?" the young man asks, pushing past his step-sister into her dorm without even asking.

Typical.

Casey rolls her eyes, shutting her door harder than she intends before turning around, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Sure, Derek, come on in," she says, sarcasm in her voice as the aforementioned boy sprawls out on her twin bed, kicking his shoes onto the floor.

Casey places her hands on her hips and eyes her step-brother pointedly while he shrugs his leather jacket off and tosses it across the room onto the small sofa Casey has in her dorm.

"Can I help you?" Casey asks, exasperated. "I was trying to study, Derek."

Derek laughs, shaking his head.

"Go ahead, I'm not stopping you," he responds, shrugging his shoulders.

"Why are you even here?" Casey wonders, sitting down on the opposite end of the bed from her step-brother.

Derek shrugs again, his brown eyes meeting his step-sister's blue ones.

"I share a dorm with three other loud hockey players. Yours is quieter," he explains, reaching over to Casey's end table for the television clicker.

Derek flicks through the channels until he lands on one of those silly rom-coms he knows Casey likes.

Casey raises her eyebrows at him.

"So, instead of hanging out with your teammates, you'd rather watch Sweet Home Alabama with me?" she questions, leaning back against the wall behind her bed.

"In a manner of speaking," Derek replies, turning his head to look at the girl next to him.

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't seen you much this week. I need to fill my 'annoy Casey' quota."

Casey shakes her head, laughing.

Casey lies down on her bed, her legs stretched across Derek's, which she expects him to complain about, but he doesn't. He just crosses his arms over his stomach and turns his attention to the movie.

"She so should've married the rich guy," Derek states when the movie ends, shaking his head as if he's disappointed.

Naturally, Casey disagrees.

Casey sits up, but doesn't remove her legs from across Derek's lap.

"No way," Casey argues. "She didn't sign the divorce papers for a reason. She still loved Jake."

"She left him, though. If two people are supposed to be together, they would be," Derek points out, but Casey hears something in his voice she can't quite place.

Casey looks up, their eyes meeting.

"Not always. Life doesn't always work out the way it does in movies," she frowns, her brows furrowing.

Derek nods, understanding.

"No, no it doesn't," he sighs, his fingers twitching absently against Casey's knee.

Casey bites her lip, leaning closer to her step-brother.

The corner of Derek's mouth pulls up into a half-smile and he pretends to not notice how Casey's eyes flicker to his lips for a moment before she catches herself.

Casey averts her eyes from Derek's, but he quickly reaches up and cups her chin, bringing her attention back to him.

Before Casey can reason herself out of anything, Derek leans forward, tentatively brushing his lips against hers.

Casey's breath hitches, but her eyes flutter closed and her fingers instinctively reach out to curl into the fabric of his t-shirt at his side.

Derek tilts his head to the side, deepening the kiss, and to his surprise, Casey allows it.

Derek drops his hand from her chin, wrapping both arms tightly around her waist.

Casey inhales heavily.

"Derek," Casey breathes, her mind reeling.

Is she really doing this? Is Casey really doing this? Kissing her step-brother? Well, it's not like she's never thought about it. Of course she's thought about it. She imagined crushing her lips to his in the middle of every argument they've ever had. But she never actually did it. And this is definitely not what she thought it would be like if she did.

She always imagined Derek would be more aggressive. But his lips were soft against hers and his his arms were strong around her.

"Don't over-think, Case," Derek whispers against her lips, his voice low and heavy as he pushes forward, easing her down onto her back.

Casey exhales. How could she possibly not over-think this? Sure, it feels right in the moment, but what about the next time they go home to visit their family? Their shared family?

Casey is about to say something in response when Derek dips his head down to press his lips to the hollow of her neck. A shiver rips through Casey's body and she tips her head back, allowing her step-brother more access.

Casey runs her hands down Derek's back, her fingernails digging into his lower back.

Derek bites gently into Casey's neck as he runs his hand down her thigh, hitching her leg up on his hip, which she uses to pull him closer.

"No thinking here."

Derek smirks and lifts his head back up, bringing his lips back to hers.

"Good," he laughs lightly, only pulling back when Casey begins to push his t-shirt up and over his head.

She drops the shirt onto the floor, her hands dragging down Derek's now-bare chest.

"Derek," Casey whispers again, but this time her tone is different and she lifts her hips to press against his.

Derek inhales sharply and he lets out a low groan, his mind going fuzzy.

Casey can't believe this is happening. Well, she can, after all, this is Derek. Derek— the one person she's felt completely connected to since she met him.

All Casey McDonald knows right now, is she is supremely thankful that she has a single dorm.

Casey stirs awake a few hours later, brushing a strand of hair out of her face as she checks the time on her bedside table clock. 12:13 a.m.

Casey rolls onto her back, looking to her right, biting her lip when she sees him.

Derek is sleeping on his side, his bare bicep draped over his side over the comforter. His face is soft and he looks peaceful.

Casey smiles, pulling the comforter up a little higher on her chest, covering herself, despite that being kind of a needless feat. Derek has already seen everything anyway.

Casey slips out of the bed, fishing through the pile of clothes on the floor for her shorts and sweatshirt, throwing them on quickly.

"Where you goin', Princess?" Derek grumbles, his voice tired.

Derek's face is smushed against Casey's pillow, which muffles his voice, but Casey hears him loud and clear in her near-silent dorm room.

"I'm right here," Casey replies, brushing her fingers through her tangled hair.

"Come get back in bed," Derek says, reaching his arm out for her.

Casey sighs, mentally arguing with herself over what to do. Of course, she wants to get back in bed with Derek, but there's something nagging at her. He's her step-brother. Her step-brother that she just had sex with— which was incredible, by the way. And she wants to do it again. As soon as possible.

"You can have your Casey McDonald freak-out in the morning. Just come back to bed."

Casey bites her lip, exhaling heavily, knowing there's not a chance in hell she's going to make any other choice.

She shakes her head in disbelief, stepping forward and crawling back into bed beside him.

Tomorrow. She can deal with the consequences of their actions tomorrow.

Hello, friends. So, this one-shot is one of the prequels to the last one-shot I uploaded, "Red-Handed". As of right now, including "Alabama" and "Red-Handed", there's nine one-shots in the series. From here on, I will upload them in chronological order, and I will put a note at the end of the first one that comes post-"Red-Handed". And I will put a note at the end of each one-shot to explain where in the timeline each one falls.

I hope it's not too confusing. All of the one-shots can be read alone. They don't have to be read as part of the series, but I think they make more sense and they're funnier if they are read as a series.

Thanks for reading.