Author's Note: Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, this next chapter is dedicated to all of you :-) Hope you enjoy it, and look for another LWD fic from me coming soon! (no, this one isn't over yet, don't worry! hehe)


"So how was it being stuck alone together?" George asked Derek and Casey as the whole family sat down at dinner that night.

"They probably fought the whole time," Edwin commented to Lizzie, who nodded as she picked at her crust.

Casey looked up at Derek, and his eyes met hers. He gave her a slight smirk as he lifted his glass of water to his lips. Casey looked away, her cheeks turning pink.

"It was fine," she said quickly, staring down at her slice of pizza.

Nora raised an eyebrow up at her new husband, surprised at Casey's response. "No fighting?" she looked over at Derek.

Derek simply shrugged. "It was…a blur, really."

Casey's fork slipped from her hand to her plate with a large clanking noise, causing everyone at the table to turn to her, slightly startled at the sudden sound. Casey calmly folded her hands in her lap, avoiding everybody's eyes.

"I'm, uh, finished," she said shortly, and hurried off to her room.

"What's with her?" Edwin asked.

Derek looked over at his brother. "Girls and their moods." He shrugged and went back to his dinner.

Casey sat on her bed, hugging her pillow to her chest, just staring at the wall when she heard her mother call for her downstairs.

"Casey! Phone!"

Wondering who it could be, Casey quickly ran down the stairs to grab it. "Hello?" she asked.

"Casey?"

"Emily?" Casey asked, relieved. She had tried calling earlier that day and nobody had answered. "Where have you been?"

"In bed nursing a major hangover," Emily moaned. "How about you?"

"I'm alright," Casey replied. Then, under her breath, she added, "Considering…"

"Lucky you," Emily answered with a sigh.

"Em, what time did you leave last night?" Casey asked curiously. Since last night was such a crazy mess, she was slowly trying to put pieces of it back together, maybe to jog her memory of how she could have possibly slept with her stepbrother.

"Um…I have no idea. I looked around but I couldn't find you. Or Derek, as a matter of fact," Emily answered. "I wanted to say goodbye to the party hosts before I left."

"Oh," was all Casey could reply. She wanted to tell Emily what had happened…but she didn't know how she would react. But then again, she had to tell someone because it was driving her nuts!

"Emily…" she spoke suddenly, coming to a decision. "I have to tell you something."

"Okay," Emily probably could hear the abrupt seriousness in Casey's voice.

Casey bit her lip, her finger twirling around the cord of the telephone nervously. "Uh…this is hard for me to say…"

"Casey, go ahead," Emily urged her.

"Okay…" she took a deep breath. "IthinkthatIsleptwithDereklastnight," Casey spat out as quickly as she could.

"Wait, what?" Emily sounded confused.

Casey sighed. "I think that I slept with Derek last night," she forced out more slowly.

There was silence.

"You mean slept with or slept with?"

"Slept with," Casey winced.

"Wait…are you trying to tell me that you had sex with Derek?" Emily sounded completely dumbfounded.

Casey swallowed hard at her blunt way of putting it. "I—I think so."

"Oh my God," Emily breathed, clearly trying to take that in. "Wow. I…wow," was all she could say.

"Yeah," Casey felt extremely uncomfortable and exposed now. She wondered if it had been a good idea to tell Emily in the first place.

"Well did you…uh…use protection?"

Casey felt her cheeks getting hot. "Uh, yeah. I guess so. I mean…Derek found a condom wrapper so—"

"But that could have been from another time or something," Emily interrupted. "I mean, if you were in Derek's mess of a room."

"Yeah…"

"I mean, who knows how many other girls he's done it with," Emily went on.

Casey felt her stomach turn a bit. She didn't know if it was Emily's words or her dinner. Or the thought of what she and Derek had done the night before.

"Yeah," Casey said, her voice suddenly small.

There was another silence.

"Well…how was it?" Emily asked.

"I…I don't remember," Casey said quietly.

"Any of it?" Emily sounded a bit disappointed.

"Nope," Casey sighed. "I can't believe that. I don't even remember losing my virginity. How much does that suck?" Casey grumbled, sinking into a depressed mood.

"Does Derek remember anything? I mean, did you guys talk after this?"

"We didn't really talk much…he doesn't seem to remember anything, either."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Another silence.

"Well, I'm sorry Case. Maybe we should go to the doctor's and have you checked out, just in case," Emily said gently. "I hate to say this, because I want Derek just as much as the next girl, but you can tell that that guy's been around. You should make sure you didn't get anything from him. Sometimes a condom's not enough."

Casey shivered. She hadn't even thought of that.

"I'll come with you if you want," Emily said gently.

Casey was glad to have her friend's support, but the wheels in her head were spinning. "Uh, maybe. Thanks, Em. I think I'm gonna go have another chat with Mr. Macho himself," her eyes narrowed. She was a little ticked now at the thought that Derek might have given her some STD from one of his sleazy girlfriends.

"Alright, good luck, Casey," Emily said.

Casey tore up the stairs and charged into Derek's room without knocking. He was sitting at his computer with his headphones on. He looked up at her when she walked in.

"What happened to knocking?" he asked, pulling his headphones off of his ears.

"I need to talk to you," Casey slammed the door behind her so nobody would interrupt them.

Derek raised his eyebrows, seeing that she was obviously steamed about something. "What?" he asked curiously.

Casey swallowed. This was going to be kind of hard to say, but she was going to say it anyway. "Derek, I need to know that you're clean."

"Clean?" Derek looked utterly clueless as to what she was talking about.

"You know clean. I mean, with all the girls you've been with, I just need to know if you have anything that I could have caught last night since—"

Derek cut her off, holding up a hand. "Wait, all the girls I've been with? Where are you even getting this information, Case?" He sounded a little annoyed, sitting up in his seat, his eyes getting a bit narrow.

"I just need to know if there's a possibility—"

"There's not," Derek said sharply. "And you can get out of my room now."

Casey's eyes flashed with anger. "Derek, we need to talk about this!"

"Out!" was all Derek said, his jaw set and arms crossed over his chest.

"FINE!" Casey yelled and left his room, making sure to slam the door as loudly as she could behind her. She stomped into her bedroom and slammed her own door, flopping down on her bed. She would have to make an appointment with her doctor in the morning.

"How embarrassing," Casey mumbled, dreading it already.

Her door suddenly swung open and Derek barreled in, looking like he was on a mission.

"You don't have anything because I don't have anything," he explained, trying to keep his voice low since the door was still open. His teeth were clenched, however, and it was clear he was pissed.

"You don't know that, Derek," Casey sat up. "I mean with all of the girls you've been with…" she began again.

"I WAS A VIRGIN TOO, OKAY!" Derek finally burst out, and angrily left her bedroom.

Casey just stared after him, her mouth hanging open in shock. She got up and quickly ran over to his bedroom. The door was opened and he was back at his computer, but he wasn't doing anything. He was just staring at the screen, the air around him thick with hostility towards her.

"You're lying," she said calmly.

"I'm not," he replied, not looking at her.

She studied him. He didn't look like he was lying about it. He didn't look like he was joking, either. He looked very serious. And pissed off. But serious.

"But…" Casey looked stunned still. "But…all those girls you go out with…"

"That doesn't mean I have sex with them all, Casey," Derek spat at her. "I'm not as skuzzy as you may think."

Casey really didn't know what to say about this. She had never thought about Derek having random morals. She had always just assumed, like she was sure that the rest of the school did, that he had had a lot of experience in that department.

All she could say was a lame "Oh."

"Yeah. So I'm sure you're fine. Bye," Derek didn't even look at her.

But Casey didn't move from where she stood, still processing Derek's confession. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, looking down at her feet. She felt bad about accusing him in the first place. When he didn't continue, she did. "It's just that kids at school think—"

"I know what kids at school think," Derek snapped, his dark eyes looking back up at Casey's downcast blue ones. "I just figured, being my stepsister, you knew me better than that."

Casey opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again, looking into Derek's dark pupils. He looked angry but also a bit… disappointed. Was he upset that she thought so low of him?

She quietly said again, "I'm sorry, Derek."

Derek looked up at her and just solemnly nodded. There was a pregnant pause and Derek studied Casey closely. "Case… look, I know you never planned on losing your virginity to someone you hate, that you and I sleeping together last night was a mistake… but I swear to you that I was just as drunk as you were and can't remember a damn thing about last night. I wouldn't like…" he shifted uncomfortably, "take advantage of you or anything."

Casey was a bit surprised at him saying this. That thought had never even crossed her mind. "No, Derek, I never even thought that," she shook her head quickly as if getting rid of the idea before it even entered her head. "And I don't hate you," she added quietly.

Derek blinked. "Come on Casey," he gave a bit of a smirk, "You don't have to lie."

There was the faintest hint of a smile on her face. "Okay, okay, sometimes I hate you. Well, not hate, that's such a strong word. More like strongly dislike you."

He snorted, "Ditto."

Casey finally gave him a smile and left the room without another word. Derek stared after her. And looking at the empty doorway, he rubbed the back of his neck with a somewhat shy, un-Derek-like smile.