Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, please keep them coming so I know what you think! I really value hearing what my readers think about each chapter! Hope you enjoy!
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Tossing and turning in his bed, Derek sighed angrily. He shouldn't have had that damn Pepsi an hour ago. Stupid caffeine had him wired, and he was supposed to drag himself out of bed early the next morning to catch a movie with Sam. Preferably before Casey found out the two of them were going and wanted to tag along to drool over Sam or something.
Speaking of Casey, Derek hadn't seen her for the rest of the night. She had locked herself in her bedroom. She didn't even come out for dessert—Nora's famous double-fudge brownies. She claimed that she had a headache or something like that. An obvious lie that the rest of the family simply accepted.
Groaning, Derek pushed his blankets off of him and got up, padding his way over to his computer desk. He flicked on the computer screen and let it boot up while he tiredly scratched his fingers through his messy hair. He would go online and look up sports scores or chat with a friend or something. Anything so he could stop dwelling on Casey and her stupid drama. She was probably just PMS or something.
Women.
He drummed his fingers along the side of his desk as he signed onto his instant messenger. Just as he was about to message one of his hockey buddies, he heard a low, muffled sound coming from the room beside him. He ignored it at first, beginning to type "Hey" to Jeff, but the noise sounded again—louder this time.
Curious, Derek got up and opened his bedroom door just a crack, peering out into the darkened hallway. Silence. The whole family seemed to be asleep. So what was—
"No!" came a strangled cry, this time loud and clear. And it was coming from Casey's bedroom.
Quickly, Derek rushed out of his bedroom and flung Casey's door open. He couldn't find the lightswitch quickly enough in the dark, but was able to make out Casey's figure in the dark, tossing, alone, in her bed. Thrashing. Weeping.
"Please!" she choked, clawing at her pillow. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but her eyes were closed. She was still asleep.
"Case?" Derek asked, an odd feeling of worry coming over him. He walked up to Casey and grabbed her wrists as they flung into the air, and Casey let out a muffled cry, her eyes finally snapping open. He looked over every centimetre of the girl's face in concern.
Casey sniffled, quickly sitting up, looking around wildly as she tried to get her bearings straight. She wrenched her wrists away from Derek's grasp and wiped her face.
"What… what are you doing here?" she asked him. His eyebrows furrowed at the way she asked it so casually, like she was asking him what the weather was like or something normal like that.
"You were having a nightmare," he told her, still concerned. He had never heard of her having a nightmare before. In fact, he thought the only ones who still had nightmares anymore was little Marti from time to time, during which she would wake up in tears and run to Derek's room and he would let her stay with him for the rest of the night, cuddling with her, protecting her from the monsters and the boogeyman.
Casey didn't respond. She just pushed her hair back and straightened herself out. She was trying to look calm. But Derek could see that she was shaking.
"Do you…uh…want to talk about it?" Derek asked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Having emotional conversations wasn't exactly his strong point…but Casey looked like she needed to talk. Plus, he was kind of curious as to what kind of a dream would freak someone like Casey out so much.
"No," Casey said quickly, hugging herself, bringing her knees up to her chest. It made her look like a little kid. Innocent and childish. Just like Marti.
"Are you sure? Because I—"
"I said no," Casey snapped, cutting Derek off.
Derek sighed in frustration, moving back over to the doorway. He had tried to be nice, but clearly Casey just wasn't having it. "Fine." With that, Derek grabbed the doorknob and left the room. As he was closing the door, he heard Casey suddenly whimper, "Derek?"
Stilling his motions, Derek poked his head into the room. He could only see Casey's silhouette in the darkness.
"Could you…leave the door open a bit?" she asked, her voice suddenly softer, more vulnerable.
"Yeah," Derek said quietly.
He couldn't get that uncharacteristically defenceless, broken tone of Casey's voice out of his head all night.
"SMEREK!"
Derek opened one eye to see his little sister's face just millimetres away from his own. She was grinning her toothy grin at him, already wearing a tiara and sparkles glittering her face.
"Smarti, it's too early," Derek groaned, shutting his eye again to hide from the sunlight streaming in through his window.
"Sammy's on the telephone!" Marti exclaimed, bouncing on him again, waving the phone in the air.
Derek sighed, giving in and opening his eyes. He was instantly blinded by the light, and blinked several times as he took the phone from wiggly little Marti.
"Hello?" he asked, his voice still hoarse and thick with sleep.
"We gonna go to the movies?" came Sam's very-awake and rather chipper voice.
Derek grunted, shifting in his bed so Marti could crawl into the blankets with him. "Why so early, man?"
"Dude, it's like noon," Sam responded.
Derek's eyes moved over to his bed stand, where his alarm clock confirmed his best-friend's words. "Alright, alright," he yawned, sitting up in his bed and scratching his chest tiredly. "You wanna meet there?"
"Nah, it's cool, I'll meet you at your place," Sam offered.
"Fine," Derek said, looking over at Marti, who was humming some nursery rhyme to herself while she played with a toy wand she was holding. "Just give me time to shower."
"Please do," Sam joked and Derek rolled his eyes at his best-friend even though he couldn't see.
"Yeah, yeah. See ya later," Derek said and hung up. Marti peered up at him with her big blue eyes.
"You missed breakfast," she said matter-of-factly. "Nora made blueberry pancakes."
"Did you save me any?" Derek gave his sister a small smile. She was definitely his favourite family member and always had been. For some reason, he just had always had this special place in his heart for his little Smarti.
"No," Marti shook her head honestly.
Derek chuckled. "Oh you didn't, did ya?" He leaned over and began tickling her until she was giggling uncontrollably.
He grabbed his shower stuff after depositing Marti into her room and took a quick shower. As he passed by his Drama Queen stepsister's bedroom, which was closed up to the world, not to his surprise, he heard a whiny female singer blasting through Casey's stereo.
… I get a little warm in my heart
When I think of winter
I put my hand in my father's glove
I run off where the drifts get deeper
Sleeping Beauty trips me with a frown.
I hear a voice
"You must learn to stand up for yourself
'Cause I can't always be around,"
He says,
When you gonna make up your mind?
When you gonna love you as much as I do?
When you gonna make up your mind?
'Cause things are gonna change so fast
All the white horses are still in bed
I tell you that I'll always want you near
You say that things change my dear.
Boys get discovered as winter melts;
Flowers competing for the sun.
Years go by and I'm here still waiting,
Withering where some snowman was
Mirror mirror where's the crystal palace?
But I only can see myself
Skating around the truth who I am
But I know, Dad, the ice is getting thin
When you gonna make up your mind?
When you gonna love you as much as I do?
When you gonna make up your mind?
'Cause things are gonna change so fast
All the white horses are still in bed
I tell you that I'll always want you near
You say that things change my dear.
Hair is grey and the fires are burning
So many dreams on the shelf
You say I wanted you to be proud of me
I always wanted that myself…
He says,
When you gonna make up your mind?
When you gonna love you as much as I do?
When you gonna make up your mind?
'Cause things are gonna change so fast
All the white horses have gone ahead
I tell you that I'll always want you near
You say that things change
My dear…
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One Other Author's Note: The song at the end of this chapter is sorta a vague hint as to where this is going ;-)