Author's Note: Thanks for the revies, please keep 'em coming! Oh, and a lot of you asked about the song at the end of the last chapter (chapter 3)... it's okay if you didn't get it, it's just something vague that you'll understand more as the story progresses. The song was by Tori Amos and it's called 'Winter'... really good song, always makes me tear up a little... go download it if ya can! And I got some complaints about it being too short (I know, I know) so this chapter I made much longer :-) Hope you enjoy, please let me know! Okay, one last thing... I'm going to up the rating of this story starting with the next chapter, because of themes. Just to warn ya! Alrighty, on with the story!
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As the week progressed, Casey never seemed to return to her usual self. Derek tried several times to incense her by attempting unsuccessfully to start fights with her; their usual banter. But Casey didn't go along with him as usual. In fact, she seemed to be ignoring him. Now, Derek could handle Casey hating him—loathing him because he would try to be so goddamn irritating to her, just for kicks—but being ignored? That was something completely new to Derek. And he didn't like it one bit.
Winter was approaching fast, so George tried to get the whole family to participate in some unorganized sporting event outside after dinner every night that week. At first Derek went along with it, but all of the family bonding time was getting too much for him. By Thursday night, he pretended to be studying for a nonexistent geography exam instead.
Of course, he was playing a computer game instead.
He was on his way to beating his high score on some random game he had discovered online when he heard a lot of commotion downstairs.
"Derek!" came his father's voice soon after, not to Derek's surprise.
Sighing heavily, he responded. "What?"
"Can you come down here?" George yelled back, his tone sounding a bit frazzled even for him.
Derek reluctantly paused his game and jogged down the stairs to see what was going on. His dad had his car keys in his hand, and Nora was talking rapidly on the telephone. Casey, Marti, and Edwin were all crowded around the couch, surrounding Lizzie, whose face was scrunched up in pain.
"What happened?"
"Lizzie landed hard on her leg," Edwin explained to his older brother matter-of-factly. "It looks like she broke her ankle."
Sure enough, Casey had rolled the leg of Lizzie's pants up and it was easy to see that her ankle was definitely bent in a way that it should not be bent. Derek had seen it many times before, being a hockey player and all. He had been there more times than he could remember, too.
"Ooh, Liz, looks like you got a nice break there," Derek said, secretly pitying the poor girl. Having anything broken was not exactly a walk in the park. Her ankle was already beginning to swell.
"Okay, the hospital knows we're on our way," Nora said as she turned off the phone. "Let's get Lizzie into the van."
George picked Lizzie up easily and Edwin ran to open the door for them. As the family herded out the door, Nora stopped Casey and Derek.
"Would you two mind staying here with Marti and Edwin?"
"I'm coming to the hospital!" Edwin shouted from the doorway.
Nora sighed. "Fine. But I don't know how long we'll be, so would you two mind staying with Marti?"
"Sure," Derek shrugged. He was really up to a hospital trip anyway.
"Of course," Casey nodded seriously, taking on her Goody Two Shoes role yet again. Derek had to admit, he liked seeing the familiar Casey spark glimmering through her sudden doom and gloom faze she had been currently going through. Randomly and boringly.
"Dr. Marti needs to come with Lizzie!" Marti cried out indignantly, already getting out her fake medical kit.
"Nah, come on Smarti," Derek scooped the young girl up. "Let's go make some ice cream sundaes."
"Yay!" Marti exclaimed, immediately throwing down her old-fashioned pretend nurse hat.
"We'll call you if we're going to be really late," Nora said as she rushed out the door.
"Alright," Casey said in understanding. She watched as Nora, George, Lizzie, and Edwin sped off in the van towards the hospital. Closing the door, she turned and went into the kitchen.
"Hey Case, you want a sundae?" Derek asked as he scooped some vanilla ice cream into a bowl. Marti was dancing around the kitchen excitedly.
Casey arched an eyebrow at Derek's sudden generosity. Questionable. "No thanks," she told him, sitting down at the table anyway.
"Is Lizzie gonna need crunches?" Marti stopped her twirling and looked over at her brother and stepsister inquisitively.
"You mean 'crutches'?" Casey asked, hiding a smile. Then she frowned, thinking about her poor younger sister and all the pain she was in. "I don't know. Probably."
"I want crunches," Marti said, climbing onto a chair to wait for her sundae.
"No you don't, Smarti," Derek shook his head. "They're not very fun." He placed a large bowl of ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry in front of the little girl, whose eyes immediately got wide.
"I need a spoon, Smerek!" she exclaimed, poking her finger into the mound of whipped cream and licking it up happily.
Derek got her a spoon and finished making himself a sundae, too. He sat down at the table with the girls.
Not a fan of silence, he began talking. "So, what time are you leaving for the wedding tomorrow?" he asked Casey nonchalantly. "Where is it, anyway?"
Casey's eyes immediately darkened and her whole demeanour changed in an instant. She slumped a little in her chair. "Uh, I don't know," she said, looking like she was trying to keep cool about it. Like she didn't care. But it was so obvious to Derek that she was not happy at all about going to this wedding. "In the morning I guess. It's up near Ottawa."
"Ah," Derek said. "Is Vicky going?" his eyes twinkled teasingly.
Casey's eyes narrowed. "No, that's my mother's side of the family, genius," she scoffed. He was just trying to get a rise out of her, she knew. "Plus, if Lizzie's in too much pain, I doubt will even be going," she said, looking away.
"Won' your dad wan you dere at leas?" Derek asked, his mouth full of ice cream.
Her nostrils flaring, Casey immediately stood up. "You're such a disgusting pig, Derek!" she exclaimed. "Why don't you just shut up and mind your own damn business!" With that, she stormed out of the room.
Marti looked over at her slightly stunned older brother. "Casey said the D word!" she whispered, her hand clasped over her mouth like a huge crime had been committed.
Derek only nodded at his sister absently, his eyes still on the kitchen doorway where Casey had fled. What the hell was that? was all he could think.
And why do I care?
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The rest of the family got home pretty late. Marti was in bed, Derek was downstairs watching TV in his favourite recliner, and Casey was upstairs in her room. Lizzie came back with a large cast on her foot and crutches.
Casey came downstairs when she heard them come in, and quickly hugged her sister tightly. "Are you okay?" she asked sympathetically. "Does it hurt?"
"No, they gave me pain medication," Lizzie smiled druggily and the family chuckled.
"The doctor said Lizzie broke it in three places," Edwin explained to Derek and Casey, staring at Lizzie with a mix of awe and respect.
"It's late now," Nora interrupted them all. "Let's get to bed. Casey, we're leaving here at eight tomorrow morning, so be ready."
Casey stilled. "Wait, what about Lizzie's leg?"
"I'm afraid Lizzie's going to have to miss the wedding," Nora patted her youngest daughter's shoulder. "I want her to stay in bed for the weekend to rest up."
Derek looked over at Casey to study her reaction. Her face had drained completely of colour.
"Mom, I'm fine, really," Lizzie said quickly. "I want to go too."
"No," Nora eyed Lizzie sternly. "You are going to rest this weekend and that's final."
"Then maybe Casey should stay with me," Lizzie went on. "You know, she can help take care of me."
"Why that's just silly," Nora said. "You have all of us here. George and I will both be home all weekend."
"It's okay, Lizzie," Casey said quietly, giving her little sister a half-hearted smile. "You really should rest this weekend."
The sisters shared this look that made Derek a little uneasy. Something was going on. That was for sure.
"Eight A.M., Case," Nora reminded her before helping a sombre Lizzie up the stairs to her bedroom.
Casey stood where she was, staring down at the floor, completely lost in thought. Her hands were clasped together so tightly that Derek could see the white of each knuckle. Feeling Derek's eyes on her, she slowly looked up, her eyes sort of glazed and distant. Their eyes held for a brief moment before Casey retreated, heading upstairs to bed like the rest of the family.
Derek watched her go silently, his face exposed and naked for once, full of concern and confusion.
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That night, Derek didn't mean to hear her. Honestly, he was just going to the bathroom during the middle of the night, since he had had a huge glass of water before bed. But as he walked by Casey's bedroom, he heard soft sobbing again.
"Case?" he asked tentatively, opening her door quietly, thinking she was still asleep and having another nightmare.
But her reading lamp was on and she was curled up in a ball in her bed like a little kid. Her face was hidden in her hands as she choked on her own sobs to keep their volume down. She didn't want anybody to hear her.
"Casey?" Derek asked, now letting himself inside the room, concerned.
"Go away!" he heard her, her voice muffled by the palms of her hands. But he didn't leave. In fact, he advanced her.
"Casey, what's wrong?" he asked carefully, trying to sound as un-Derek-like as possible, since she never responded well to him in general. He sat down next to her on her bed and leaned over to see if he could catch even a glimpse of her buried face. "Is it your dad? Are you upset about him getting married?"
That's when Casey finally looked up, and Derek's stomach turned at the sight of her red, splotchy face. Her eyes were swollen, nearly sealed shut, and her lips were trembling. He had never seen anybody look so completely shattered before. It scared him.
"My dad's dead," she said, her puffy eyes glaring straight into his, her mouth pressed into a thin line as she tried to control her emotions.
Derek simply gaped at her. "What? Wait…" he shook his head, utterly confused, "I thought he was getting married tomorrow."
Casey wiped away stray tears on her flushed cheeks and sat up a bit. "No," she spoke slowly. "That's—that's Lizzie's dad. He's not my dad. He's not my dad at all." She sniffled and childishly wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve. "I don't h-have a dad," her lower lip began to quiver again and Derek looked away, embarrassed at all of the open emotions. He just felt kind of awkward seeing Casey like this and not knowing what to do.
"What happened to your dad?" he asked softly, hoping she wouldn't take offence to the question or anything. But he was really interested in knowing, since this was all news to him.
"He left when I was a baby," Casey said carefully, unsure as the whether she really wanted to be sharing this with her stepbrother. "I, uh, never even knew him," she shrugged gently, as if she didn't care. When it was clear that she really did. "My mom got a call when I was three that he was dead. Drug overdose," her eyes filled up again and she looked away, not wanting Derek to see.
"Case…" Derek trailed off apologetically. He had no idea.
"I don't want your pity, Derek," Casey whispered, wiping her tears away.
Ignoring her, he went to awkwardly put his arm around her. And found that it wasn't really that awkward at all. She instinctively leaned in so her head rested against him, and she closed her eyes, breathing in his scent. She never noticed how good he smelled.
"What about Lizzie's dad?" Derek asked Casey, who was beginning to form around his side. All at once he could feel her tense up against him.
"Uh, my mom married him when she got pregnant with Lizzie," Casey shrugged nonchalantly, casually pulling away from Derek again.
Derek frowned as she lay back down on her bed, not touching him. He had like the warmth that spread through his body when she was against him; like he had just taken a large gulp of hot cocoa. "So he was kind of like a dad to you?"
"No!" Casey barked, causing Derek to jump back a little at her reaction.
She looked away from him then. "I gotta get to sleep," she stated flatly, making a show of fluffing her pillow and pulling her blankets up around her body. "I've got to be up early tomorrow."
Derek nodded, standing up. He wasn't ready to go, but apparently she was ready to have him leave. "Uh… have a good time," he said inelegantly, rubbing the back of his neck as he stood in the doorway again.
"Yeah," was all Casey responded with before she snapped out the lamp next to her and the room filled with darkness.
Derek closed the door quietly behind him. He couldn't really sleep the rest of the night. He knew that something was off, but just couldn't put his finger on what it was.
But he knew that it had to do with Casey and the wedding.
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"Casey, you don't have to go!" Derek heard Lizzie exclaim as he lay down in his bed staring up at the ceiling at 7AM. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep, but had heard Casey get up at 6:30AM to shower and then walk back into her bedroom fifteen minutes later. Lizzie's door opened, too, and he heard her limp into Casey's bedroom with her crutches.
"Yes I do, kiddo," Derek heard Casey reply. "It'll be fine."
"But Cayy-seeey—" Lizzie's voice sounded almost pleading.
Derek sat up, his forehead wrinkled. Another scrambled up piece of the wacky puzzle that was Casey.
"I'll call you later, okay?" Casey said. Derek walked over and peered out his door to see Casey wrap her little sister in a big hug. Lizzie whispered something in Casey's ear that Derek strained but failed to hear. But he did see Casey mouth back, "I promise," and give her a strained smile.
She looked up, then, and her eyes met Derek's peeping ones. Their eyes held for a long five seconds before Casey looked away and walked down the stairs to leave.
Derek closed the door to his bedroom and fell into a restless slumber, his mind engraved with the picture of Casey's almost frightened-looking eyes as she stared into Derek's own eyes.
Her eyes had told him everything and nothing in those five seconds.
And still, Derek was stumped. But now, not only was he stumped, but he was worried. About Casey.
And he didn't even know why.