Author's Note: I really wish Dasey would happen on the show. Sorry, just had to get that out. Okay, here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy, thanks for all the feedback :-)


The next morning, Casey stared across the breakfast table at her stepbrother. Since last night, she saw Derek in a completely different light. There was a good guy buried under all of that… Derek-ness.

"Pass the syrup, Ed," he mumbled to his brother as he ate his pancakes. Marti had woken the whole house up early, so the MacDonald-Venturi clan were enjoying a nice Sunday morning breakfast together. At least, that's what Nora had called it.

Derek looked like he was about to hall asleep in his plate. Casey stifled a giggle as she watched his eyes close and his face slip off of his propped up hand. He caught himself just before he went nose-down into the pancakes.

He shook his head, trying to wake himself up, and heard Casey let out an amused titter. He looked over at her and gave her a sheepish smile.

Lizzie kicked Edwin under the table to get his attention. They both took note of their older brother and sister looking into each other's eyes from across the table.

"So, Casey," Nora spoke, and Casey and Derek both quickly broke their gaze. "I noticed that it seems even cleaner in here than I left it," she smiled. "You didn't happen to clean up while we were away, did you?"

Casey almost choked on the mouthful of pancake she was chewing on. "Um…" she swallowed, "…well, actually…"

"She did," Derek quickly saved her. "Before, uh, Emily got here." He met her blue surprised eyes. "Dork," he quickly added, and she could tell that he was just covering himself.

She gave him a small smile. "Jerk," she responded back.

Lizzie kicked Edwin again, and this time he let out an "Ouch!" Nora gave the two a confused look. And Casey and Derek both looked down at their plates again.


Casey was surprised to see Emily later that afternoon. She barged right into her room while she was reading and trying not to think about her enigma of a stepbrother.

"Did you make an appointment?" was the first thing Emily demanded as she sat down next to her best friend.

"What?" Casey asked, confused. She shut her book, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to finish chapter four anytime soon.

"The doctor's appointment," Emily pressed. "You know, for the—"

"Oh," Casey interrupted her before she could say it. "Uh, no," she shook her head nervously.

"Why not?" Emily looked at her as if she was nuts.

"Because…" Casey said carefully, "Derek's clean."

"You don't know that!" Emily burst out, tossing her hands up in the air.

"I trust him," Casey told her quietly. She didn't want to let her best friend know about Derek's virginity. Because she knew that it took a lot for him to even tell her. He would certainly not want her spreading it around. And Emily was widely-known to be the source of much gossip and rumours.

Emily let out a sigh of frustration. "Alright, Case. It's your body, I guess."

"That's right, it is," Casey said firmly. Emily was kind of annoying her now. Judging Derek so quickly like she knew him so well. Please.

"Did Derek mention any of it at all?" Emily went right on to the gossip part. Casey hoped that Emily hadn't told half of the school yet about her and Derek sleeping together.

Oh God

"Em, you didn't tell anyone, did you?" Casey asked worriedly.

Emily looked surprised. "Casey, I'm your best friend," she said forcefully.

Casey let out a woosh of air that she didn't even know she had been holding. That was a relief. But then she saw Emily's face. She had on a guilty look.

"Oh no…" was all Casey could groan.

"I just might have told Molly, that's all," Emily said with her guilty smile.

Molly Atherton. One of the biggest gossipers in their high school. Great. Just great.

"I'm sorry, Case," Emily bit her lip. She felt horrible about it. "Maybe Molly won't tell anybody!"

"Yeah, and maybe my mom will let my change schools," Casey replied sarcastically. This was not good. Not good at all. Especially because she was sort of seeing Sam. It wasn't official or anything, but still…

Casey flopped onto her bed with a huge sigh. "My life is over," she groaned up at the ceiling.

At dinner she stared glumly into her plate. Derek noticed this and mouthed, "What's wrong?" to her. She just gave him a small shrug and looked back down into her plate. She picked at her food until her mother asked her if she was feeling alright.

"Yeah, I'm just, um, not very hungry," she said, pushing her food away. "Can I be excused?"

Nora and George exchanged looks.

"Uh, sure, honey," Nora said to her daughter, and Casey quickly left the room. Derek spent the rest of dinner wondering just what Casey was obviously so upset about.

After dinner, he went to her bedroom and knocked. "Case?"

"What?" she asked with a sigh.

He took that as permission to enter, and walked inside, closing the door behind him. Casey was sprawled out on her bed, not doing anything in particular.

"What's up?" he asked carefully, awkwardly shoving his hands into his pockets. He still wasn't very good at this whole… emotional stuff.

"I, uh, told Emily about us sleeping together earlier," Casey said slowly. "And, uh, apparently she told Molly."

Derek bit his tongue. Molly Atherton. He hated that gossiping bitch. She probably had spread it all around school by now that he and Casey had had sex. If the whole damn province didn't know by now, he'd be surprised.

And, of course, it didn't really matter to him that the kids at school thought that he had slept with Casey. He already thought that he had slept with most of the girls in school, and probably other schools, too. Hell, he bet that a lot of them probably already thought that he had slept with Casey.

But Casey… she didn't have his reputation. Her reputation was of the good girl, the grade grubber. A nerdy girl who happened to be the stepsister of Derek Venturi, Mr. Popularity. Klutzilla.

She wasn't supposed to be labelled as the girl who slept with her stepbrother.

He let out a deep breath and sat down at the corner of her bed. "Don't worry, Case, I can fix it."

"How?" Casey peered over at him questioningly.

"I can straighten it out; tell everyone that we didn't really sleep together," he shrugged. It wouldn't be that hard. He did have a lot of say in the school.

"You'd do that?" she looked surprised. She just… didn't think that it was something that Derek would do.

He nodded. "Sure. It's no biggie."

There was a pause of silence and Casey gently inquired, "Why?"

Derek looked over at his stepsister. "Why what?"

"Why would you do that for me?" she pressed, searching his tawny eyes.

He gave a shrug like it was No Big Deal. "Just… part of making it up to you, I guess."

"Making what up to me?" her eyebrows furrowed.

He looked around the room as if the answer was plain to see. "Because I took your virginity?" he said slowly.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Derek, we were both drunk. We both did it," she said steadily. "And besides… I took your virginity too, didn't I?" she finished softly.

Derek gave her a slow nod. That was true. "But… it's different for girls, you know…" he tried to push. But Casey just shook her head.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Derek," she said firmly. "What's done is done, right?" She paused and reached over, tentatively taking his hand. "But… thanks for saying you'll tell everyone tomorrow that it's not true."

He nodded, looking into her eyes. Her face was suddenly so close to his. He could just reach out and…

No, he quickly stopped himself from even thinking about it. No matter how strong the urge was, he couldn't kiss his stepsister. Couldn't press his lips against her soft, pink mouth. That mouth. Those lips. That tongue…

Derek suddenly jumped off the bed and to the other side of Casey's room. Casey stared at him as if he had lost his mind.

"Derek?" she asked, sitting up. "What's wrong?"

He raked his fingers through his hair. He had to get out of there right away before he did something he regretted.

"I, uh, gotta go," he said, and without giving her a chance to say another word, he threw open the door and booked it into his bedroom next door.

He didn't notice Edwin and Lizzie scurrying away from the scene.