Hi everyone! I've been reading Life with Derek fics for a while now but this is my first attempt at writing one. I had this idea rolling around in my head since I first saw the show and finally I just sat down to write it. The story itself is few scenes from a family vacation, I was thinking like 3 days into it, but there flashbacks of earlier dates in italics. Thoughts are also in italics and stressed words are in bold.

I set a line from a Guster song at the beginning of each chapter, subsequently I'll name each chapter after the particular song. None of the songs really tie into the story, or the chapters, at all but I liked the particular lyrics lol. Anywho, I really hope you guys like it! And really hope you review, hint hint, wink wink lol.

Disclaimer: I don't own Life with Derek (and I really don't own Michael Seater) or anything else.

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Chapter 1: Amsterdam

"She comes from far away,
gets closer everyday."

Falling into step with Lizzie and Edwin, Casey lent down inconspicuously, wanting to catch bits of their conversation that held a certain air of conspiracy. They were always huddling, emitting the most hushed of whispers and only lifting their eyes to shoot out irritated glares.

Casey suddenly felt her younger stepbrother's glare boring her from the other side of Lizzie. She sighed heartily, letting it hitch in her throat loudly before she blew the gust of air from her lips. It wasn't like she was actually going to tell anyone what they were talking about. She was just bored, looking for someone to talk to. Marti tugged at the hem of Casey's shirt, bobbing up and down excitedly. "I wanna press the button! I wanna press the button!" She demanded happily. Casey gave her a wide grin before wrapping an arm around the small girl's torso and hoisting her up to press the elevator button. Marti clapped gleefully as the arrow illuminated from the wall. Looking up at Casey with a devilish grin, inherently similar to her brother's, and jammed her finger into the button, pressing it a few more times for good measure.

.:o:.

"We're taking a family on vacation!" Nora exclaimed excitedly, setting the pan of eggs in front of Derek while Casey munched on her cereal and Edwin and Lizzie battled over a granola bar.

"Paper covers rock." Lizzie argued. "But the rock can crinkle the paper. Rendering it useless." Edwin threw back, yanking the bar towards his chest more persistently. "You can still use it." Lizzie rebutted, paired with a look at her stepbrother as if he were stupid, planting another hand over the wrapper and tromping her foot backwards to gain ground.

A sudden gasp sounded through the kitchen indignantly as the small pattering of steps quickly followed. "You stepped on Daphne!" Marti wailed a few feet away from Lizzie while she fell to the floor to cradle an armful of air near her stepsister's foot. "You killed her!" Marti shouted tearfully, fixing Lizzie with a determined glare. Casey couldn't help but snort, recognizing the same glare that adorned Derek's face occasionally. Ok, more than occasionally. A lot of the time. The small girl reached for her fairy wand, standing up to point at Lizzie ominously. "Disappear!" She chanted, bringing the strip of plastic behind her head before striking it down against Lizzie's arm viciously. Unlatching a formerly firm hold on her breakfast, Lizzie's hands flung out to nurse her bruising arm. "Hey, cool." Edwin muttered to himself as he stumbled backwards with the granola bar resolutely in his grasp.

Clearing his throat over Lizzie's pronouncements of pain, feeling the eggs shuffle in his mouth, Derek looked between his father and his step mom. "What family?" He asked through his mouthful, letting the bright yellow of the yolk fall to the counter top. Derek sloppily mopped his chin before moving his hand in empty circles against the table, making no efforts to actually clean anything. "Derek," his father warned, exasperation evident in his tone. His son's eyes widened with his jaw slapped open, but still positioned to crib the eggs between his teeth, and he shrugged innocently as if he had said nothing at all. "We're going to the beach!" Nora explained with an ecstatic beam, her white teeth gleaming from her open smile. "Great." Casey breathed, as she huffed out a sigh. Feeling her breath tickle his neck and sending a ripple down his spine, Derek shoved the pan against the sanded wood of the counter before popping his collar indignantly.

.:o:.

Setting her stepsister on the ground again, Casey absently brushed off a few droplets of water that had mingled together on her collarbone. The soft wetness under her fingers fell away at her touch so she pressed her hands against the fabric of her shorts to wipe it away. Feeling sand against them, she sweepingly flounced the grains off her legs but stopped when she suddenly felt a pair of eyes on her.

Looking over at her mom, Casey expected to get shoved with an armful of Marti's bright orange noodles that were disgustingly riddled with her and Derek's bite marks. But she saw that Nora was ruffling Marti's hair lovingly as the little girl squirmed in her wet clothes. Casey turned to Lizzie but found that she was still deep in conversation with Edwin; spinning around to look behind her, her gaze met a piercingly dark stare that was ornamented with a small smirk.

Her eyes remained locked with his for a chilling moment that sent shivers coursing down her spine; drove sparks through her veins; and ignited her skin. But with a shake of her head Casey broke the trance and found herself watching Derek, who was watching her as a girl giggled beside him. She breezily quelled a flash that struck her from the pit of her stomach, shooting off through her whole body, repressed the blaze in her eyes and turned away.

Waiting for the elevator to meet them, Nora stood on her tiptoes and peered over each head as she silently counted. Before she could finish, the doors slipped open and prompted the McDonald-Venturi clan to pile inside. Feet shuffled slowly and awkwardly before everyone was securely inside. Standing next to her husband, Nora regained her elevated position to survey her children. Edwin, Lizzie, Casey, Marti…she ticked off silently, realizing she had come up one short. "There are only four, we're missing one." She told George, who had been nodding off slightly, his poster slacked and his head resting against the scuffed mirror at the fond of the elevator.

.:o:.

Casey's smile shone brightly from over her glass of orange juice while Derek found it hard to put one foot in front of the other. He forcefully plunked himself down across from her and lethargically reached for the box of cereal inches away from him. Not finding any energy to muster to make a trip for milk, or a spoon, or a bowl, Derek titled the box to his lips and lightly shook the contents into his mouth.

"Could you be any more disgusting?" Casey asked him. Shoving the box from his face, he waited for her perfunctory eye roll and scoff but he was merely met with an unwavering smile. "I don't know. Could you be anymore chipper?" He asked her glumly and wiping the reminiscent sleep from his eyes. "Dude, it's almost noon. Stop being so dramatic." Edwin berated his older brother as stepped into the kitchen. Derek shot his head towards Edwin, throwing a menacing look that all but sent shuddering tremors through his younger brother. "Shut up Ed-weirdo." Derek taunted as he flung a Fruit Loop across the room.

"Go' morning!" Marti shouted as she tromped down the stairs. Casey looked down at her stepsister, seeing a pair of fish eyes staring back. "Morning Marti." Casey greeted her with a smile, chuckling slightly as the little girl struggled with the goggles that were over her eyes. "Smerek they're too tight!" She yelled, sloppily running towards him before jumping up into his lap and forcing herself into the chair with him. Who said she didn't know how to share?

"I'll fix 'em Smarti." He reassured her, grasping the neon green strap and pulling it closer to his sister's head. "Better?" He asked tentatively, circling his head around to look at her. "Tighter!" She demanded, her spit lightly sprinkling his face. "Tighter it is." He muttered to himself, pulling a hand to wipe his face while the other fumbled with the goggles again. "Better now?" He asked, leaving himself out of her spitting range. Marti wiggled her head, the ends of her hair whipping his face, making sure they didn't shift as an appeased smile spread across her face. "Yes, Smerek. Thank you!" She cried happily, turning around on his legs to face him and planting a wet kiss on his cheek. "No problem Marti." He grunted out as she disentangled herself from his lap. Derek watched Marti run off in search for the matching fish flippers, stomping through the kitchen and clumsy with excitement as an affectionate grin graced his features. He looked up to see Casey watching him, her smile softening.

.:o:.

Her arm flung against his chest, waking him with a start from his reverie. George let out a soft 'nnn' grunt, shaking his head and wiping his face tiredly. "What?" He asked more animatedly. "We're missing one, Georgie."

"Which one?" He asked, anxiety creeping in his tone. Nora looked over the group again, before inhaling tiredly. "Derek." The two parents said in unison. "I think I saw him with that reception chick." Edwin offered; he and Lizzie had been waiting for them to realize Derek was missing so the two were listening to their respective parents' conversation. Sharing a sigh with her husband, Nora looked to her eldest daughter with a winning smile. "Casey, could you get out on the next floor and go get him?" She looked at her mother, with an astounded look.

Why would she even think I would, ever, agree? Casey thought to herself, tempted to giggle at her mother's request.

The feeling soon ebbed away when she realized Nora had been completely serious. Casey let out an indignant scoff, her head falling forward slightly in sheer astonishment. "No." She refused simply.

"Please, Case." Nora almost pleaded; the day at the beach had spent her clean and she was too tired to fight. "No way, mom. I won't do it."

"Twenty bucks." Nora prodded, cocking her eyebrow lightly. Casey seemed to consider it for a moment, licking her lips in contemplation. "Twenty bucks, plus reprieve from babysitting for… a month." George's eyes flew between the mother and daughter, feeling as though he were watching a tennis match. Nora modified the terms once more before Casey finally settled.

"Deal." She pronounced and spun away from her mom to face the buttons. Looking up to see what floor they had already reached, Casey reached out to press the unlit 14. She drummed her fingers against the wall expectantly but when the soft tapping noise met her ears irritatingly, she crossed her arms over her chest. From the opposite corner of the elevator, Marti leapt towards her. "I wanna press one!" She demanded and roughly gripped her hips in protest. "Maybe later, Marti." George suggested lightly as the doors opened for his stepdaughter.

Just as Casey stepped out, she watched Marti gleefully disobey as she ran her hands against each button rancorously and illuminated every floor between one and twenty-six. Secretly laughing to herself as George and Nora groaned loudly, Casey waved towards them with a grin as the door slipped together and closed them in again. She absently tapped her foot to a non-existent beat as she waited for the next elevator to creak down the shaft to meet her.

.:o:.

Settling into the designated gate, Casey slumped into a chair and set Marti down in the one next to her. Lizzie leaned across the youngest Venturi, who was clawing her leg because her 'kitty paws were itchy', and threw a stick of gum to Casey. "Thanks," she muttered gratefully to her sister, already tensing at the prospect of the long flight.

Placing the spine of her book along her nervously jittering legs and snapping her gum fretfully, Casey succeed only in attracting Derek's unwanted teasing. "Scared?" He whispered after swiftly parking himself in the chair next to hers and dipping his lips to her ear as he leaned across the cold metal of the armrest that separated the two. A foreign tremble shook her lightly; her breathing picked up a faster, uneven tempo while her lungs burned and swelled for more air; her face flushed a deep scarlet, the crimson seeping all the way to her hairline; her skin refused to cool and heated as if a fire roared beneath it. Casey contemplated pinching herself, wondering if it was some kind of sick but lucid dream. It was reality.

"Don't you have a pair of legs to busy yourself with?" Casey snapped out, throwing her attention out the encompassing windows to watch a plane, which seemed to engulf and occupy the all the Heavens, land with a thundering and rumbling grace. "Ouch," he burred out, placing a hand over his proverbial wound before continuing his barrage "don't worry, the take-off is the worst. Unless there's turbulence in the air." He informed her as if she had been living in a hole her entire life, missing any opportunity to board an airplane. But her anxiety clouted her better judgment as she played right into his underhanded ploy and looked to him with wide, wary eyes. She stuttered out a few words, tumbling over the 'what's and the 'how's and the 'when's; but Derek rushed to clear any confusion. "Well, if it's really bad, most people just start praying." He said with a sneaking laugh.

Derek shook with silent laughter, grasping for hushed breaths, while Casey sat before him with a slacked jaw and tearful eyes. But he suddenly sucked his lungs dry of any oxygen as his stepsister's gasp was stifled abruptly by the thoroughly gnawed piece of gum that lodged itself in the back of her throat and strung strangled and failed breaths of air from her lips.

Falling to his knees in front of her chair, he searched her eyes. She blinked them furiously, pressing the involuntary tears across her newly wetted lashes. "Casey?" He called tentatively, his voice cautious with concern. Her silent huffs for air persisted as Lizzie dropped next to Derek, watching her sister with worry. Casey frantically batted her hands against the solid metal of her armrests and popped up and down out of her seat, struggling for a breath.

"Casey." Derek demanded with his voice deeply husked in concern, before positioning himself to pull her up and force the gum out himself. Moments later, sputtering and coughing flew from her mouth as the gum shot back between her teeth. Lizzie let out a sigh of relief only to be drowned out by Derek's gasp of calmed thankfulness. But just as suddenly as she recovered, Casey stilled herself and fixed Derek with a stare of unbridled rage. Before he could register her innate anger Casey had taken her hand and beat it against Derek's cheek with a crackle. The howl of her violent slap pierced the still air that had been shocked into silence as his face immediately flushed a livid crimson.

"What was that for?" He shouted irately, clasping a hand to his bruising cheek and babying it tenderly. Springing up on her feet and coming nose-to-nose with him, Casey flushed angrily. "You made me do that, you …ass!" Casey shouted back sputtering over an adequate insult as Nora and George finally took notice. They stalked over to diffuse the fast approaching brawl, not waiting for either side of the story. "Derek, stop pestering. I don't know how many times I have to tell you!" George reprimanded irritably, toying with the idea of grabbing his son by the ear and dragging him to Time Out.

"Casey, honey, are you ok?" Nora cooed, gently smoothing a hand over her eldest daughter's back reassuringly. Everyone seemed to ignore Derek's indignant scoff and bruised cheek, where a handprint so perfectly mangled his skin that someone could trace the palm's contours. Casey nodded to her mother without protest to the contrary before reaching down for her bag that sat idly next to Derek's foot. She snatched it up furiously, throwing him a scathing glare, before stomping away to sit in the row opposite him.

Watching Derek fumble in his bag until he found his I-pod, Casey carelessly threw her old gum out and looked to Lizzie for another piece. Popping the sugary watermelon gum in her mouth, she continued to observe Derek. His brow furrowed in concentration as he searched for a song; his foot thumped against the ground to the otherwise silent beat; his fingers tapped against the metal armrest perfectly in time with his feet. Smiling in spite of herself, Casey turned back to her book without paying any attention to the words in front of her eyes while her mind toyed with thoughts of Derek.

Soundless minutes passed as the rest of the airport buzzed with boarding, arriving, leaving, delayed and cancelled flights before Derek looked up from his I-pod. A song blaring in his ears, he looked over to the row across from him and watched a grin unmistakably play across Casey's lips as she gave a small pop of her bubble gum, her eyes dutifully glued to the book on her lap.

.:o:.

The smell of summer rolled through the lobby while the wind, heaped with the lingering salt of the beach, whipped and nipped at Derek lightly from the open doors. Staring at her forehead, the deeply red carpet distracted his peripheral vision while its gold accents mingled with the crimson. Counting the number of tiles in the ceiling had become outstandingly redundant in the short time he had been talking with…what was her name again? Derek questioned himself lightly as the girl before him chatted on about how all shampoos dry her hair out and that she thanks 'Gawd' for conditioner every time she steps in the shower.

He found himself picturing her in the shower for a millisecond before searching out the nametag that was stitched into her shirt, next to the hotel's logo. Heather, withReception printed in perfect lettering beneath it,passed in front of his eyes for a moment. Just as he mentally repeated it to himself, it was forgotten.

He wasn't always so bad with names, in fact he never was. He remembered all the ones from July; there was Information-Kiosk Girl from the mall that one day, Ice Cream Shop Girl from the date he had been on with Dog Walking Girl. There was Movie Rental Girl from when he had gone to pick out a movie for his date with Driver's Ed. Girl. And just as he tallied them all, he silently added Front Desk Girl. Sure, it was a little presuming but he earned the right to be presumptuously bold after all incessant chatter had already endured.

He looked away from Front Desk Girl for a moment only to see Casey pop out of the elevator and scan the room. He assumed she was looking for him, so he dipped his head back towards the redhead in front of him until he felt her eyes on him. He smirked more deeply as Front Desk Girl reached out, flitting her touch across his arm.

Derek lightly noted that it merely felt like a bug was crawling across his skin as he subdued the urge to swat it away. He blatantly refused to let himself remember how another girl's touch had emblazoned his skin, sending him across an unfamiliar edge. No, he wasn't going to think about that certain girl; he wasn't going to think about her even as she made her way across the lobby towards him.

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Ok, I couldn't resist another note at the end here. I'm trying to think of something that would give it purpose...hmmm, I've got nothing. But please tell me what you think, I'm honestly so addicted to feedback that it's unreal. Oh, and I promise some actually Derek/Casey interaction in the next chapter, I just wanted to set up the situation first.