I don't own LWD, unfortunately. If I did, I'd be rich. Thanks for all your reviews! They're really helping me, but if anyone has any ideas of where this should go, don't hesitate in telling me, you'll get full credit too. Anyway, R&R!

At 2:59 P.M. Casey stood on the corner. Derek better hurry up, before I change my mind. She was a little hesitant, what if Derek brought everyone with him? All she wanted was to be left alone. Last night when Derek called, all she wanted to do was kill him, but he sounded so sad-an emotion that was so unlike him. She hung up quickly so that she wouldn't continue feeling sorry for him. She stood there barely noticing what was going on around her. She didn't see Derek come up behind her.

"Boo!" he whispered in her ear.

"What!" Casey jumped and turned around to face Derek. It took all that she had not to smack him in his face. "So this is why you wanted to meet me?" she said through clenched teeth.

"It's great to see you too, Case. For a minute there, I thought you were kidnapped." Derek said, while hugging her.

An alarm went off in Casey's head. Derek is hugging you! Push him off of you! She did.

"Derek! What are you doing? Get off of me!" She pushed him off, and hit him softly on the arm.

God, she looks sexy when she's mad. No, Derek said to himself. Get a grip. She's my runaway stepsister.

"Let's go down by that park Marti likes, Case. We can talk there without getting caught. I'm sure if Nora saw you-"

"Yeah, I know what will happen." They walked to the park in silence. They reached, and they sat down in the grass.

Derek cleared his throaght. "So, where've you been?" he asked her.

"Around." she replied quickly. She looked him in his eye. "You always picked the fights, you know."

"What? Me?" Derek asked.

Casey just sighed and muttered something to herself. "Yes, you jackass. You always had something stupid to say, especially when I started dating Sam."

"Sam's my best friend! You can't go out with him!"

"That stupid male code of yours messed up everything. Sam won't even talk to me now. I hate you, you know that? I hate the shit out of your body."

Derek, surprised, blinked and didn't say anything. "I'm sorry." was all he managed to say.

"Well, sorry isn't going to bring me back home. I hope you can live with your male code now, Derek." she spat. She got up, and walked away.

"Wait!" Derek ran and caught up with her. "I'm really sorry. But dad and Nora, well, Lizzie...everyone misses you." he pleaded. "You can't do this to everyone because of me. No one talks to me much. Nora barely even looks at me now."

Casey was close to tears. Tell him your sorry. He just looked so...sad. "Look, tell them I'll be home in a week at the most." She did her best to wipe away her tears without him seeing. "I'm giving you time to act like a human for once."

She walked to a picnic table and sat down, and waited until Derek left.

When Derek reached home, he was feeling hurt. When he walked in the door, his father noticed him immediatly.

"What's wrong, son?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing." Derek said, a little startled.

"Are you sure?" he pressed. "You don't look ok."

"Actually, no." Derek said as he sat down on the sofa. He sighed deeply. "I miss Casey. Can you believe it? I miss Casey?" he said in disbelief more to himself than his father. "I called her last night, and I could feel all of her hate for me just radiating over the phone, dad. I mean, I know I pick on her alot, but I never thought she would take it this seriously."

"Well true you weren't always easy on her, Derek. You made this change really hard on her. Since it seems that you have such an influence on her, you could persuade her to come home." he paused. "Somehow."

Derek was really surprised. "What? Me, big impact on her? Dad, maybe this whole thing has you a little messed up. She doesn't even listen to me anymore-"

"Derek, she left because of you. She was sick of you Derek. Sorry to rub it in. But, maybe you're just the one to bring her back home."

Derek knew he had alot of influence on Casey. Obviously that's why she left, because of him. But he didn't think that he was the 'key' to bringing her back home. He was supposed to hate her, or was he? Now, he was just feeling pure guilt. This was his fault.

All his fault. How is he going to fix the boo-boo?