Author's Note: I wasn't going to update for a bit, but here's a new, albeit short, chapter! Hope you all enjoy it and thanks SO much for the reviews, I really appreciate them and love reading every single one!


Casey woke up extremely late, able for the first time since Brianna was born to actually sleep in. Yawning happily, she rolled over to be surprised by an empty spot next to her.

Derek had gone. She should have known.

Slipping her clothes back on, she rubbed her eyes and hesitantly padded her way down the stairs to find the whole family eating a huge Saturday brunch.

"Casey," Nora smiled at her daughter, but Casey didn't smile back. All she could see was the way Amy was practically sitting on Derek's lap, and the way that Derek didn't even acknowledge Casey when she came into the room. Even now, he was just staring at his plate, intently moving his food around with his fork as if it were some intricate project.

Casey tried not to let her feelings show, swallowing the hurt from Derek's obvious rejection.

She really should have known that it didn't mean anything. That everything he had told her last night had been a lie.

Pursing her lips together, Casey sat down next to Lizzie and began filling her plate with Nora's over-the-top brunch. Marti began talking animatedly to her about some school project she and her classmates were working on, but Casey only pretended to be listening. Instead her eyes could only stare jealously at the couple across the table from her. Amy was whispering into Derek's ear, stroking his arm gently, and Derek smiled, chuckling at her words. It was clear that he was happy with Amy.

Suddenly Casey wasn't so hungry anymore, and she pushed her plate away from her almost in offence. "I'm, uh, not feeling so well," she said quietly, standing back up again and not meeting anyone in the eye as she mumbled her lie. "I think I'm going to head upstairs and lie down for a bit."

Nora looked concerned, offering Casey a painkiller, but Casey shook her head. No painkiller wouldn't kill the type of pain she was feeling right then and there.

She retreated upstairs, back to her old bedroom, and hurriedly dialled in Kylie's number.

"Hi, Ky, how's Brianna?" she asked automatically when Kylie finally answered the phone.

"Casey? What's wrong?" Kylie asked, able to tell right away that something had upset her friend.

"Nothing… I'll tell you when I get back," she said dismissively. "I, uh, think I'm going to try to catch an earlier flight." Casey knew that it was stupid—that she would just be running away from her problems all over again.

But it was easier to run than to face him—to face them.

"Hi, sweetheart," Casey said when Kylie put Brianna on the phone.

"Hi Mama!" Brianna exclaimed in her sweet, innocent voice and suddenly Casey's heart broke all over again. Into a million tiny pieces.

"Mama's coming home soon, baby," Casey wiped a falling tear from her eye as she came to a quick decision. "I'm coming home."


Derek took Amy to the mall that day because she wanted to. And because he didn't want to be inside the house with Casey and all of his confusing feelings.

Everytime he looked at his pretty girlfriend, he felt guilty. Guilty because he had cheated on her with his own stepsister just hours ago. And even guiltier because he had enjoyed it so much. Having sex with Casey was nothing like it was with Amy. Casey just… blew his mind. And he knew it was because of how he felt for her. Pure love—a love like know other. A hidden, forbidden love that was buried deep down inside of him and wanting so desperately to come out. And that love had come out last night.

But Casey had lied to him about not having someone back in Vancouver. And that hurt him more than he figured that it should. It wasn't just the fact that she had lied to him and her whole family about it—but the fact that there was someone out there whom Casey's heart actually belonged to. Who touched her in a way that Derek only had. And this possessiveness that came over him at the thought of someone else inside of her, trying to love her like only he loved her, scared Derek. It made him crazy.

So he knew that he had to let her go, completely and totally. That's why he had left that morning and crept into the guestroom and made love with Amy. To rid his mind of Casey once and for all.

He had seen the hurt on her face when he ignored her that morning. But he didn't think that she would actually leave because of it.

When he came back to the Venturi-MacDonald household, George told him that Nora and Lizzie had gone to drop Casey off at the airport. She had gotten an earlier flight back to Vancouver.

But that didn't give him any relief, knowing that she was gone again, probably for good this time. No, it just made him feel worse.

And when he only half-heartedly had sex with his girlfriend that night, Derek finally realised what he had to do.

As soon as Amy was asleep, he scribbled down a note of apology and shoved a few things into his duffel bag before calling a taxi up to come get him.

"The airport please," he said to the driver when the taxi pulled up in front of the Venturi-MacDonald house.