Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, I've been doing some end of the summer stuff with my friends... last hurrah parties and whatnot. So I've been kinda busy. To make up for it, I've made this chapter a bit longer than usual. Hope you enjoy and thanks for all the reviews, please keep 'em coming, I enjoy reading them all!
-----------------------------------------
The next thing Derek heard was his name being called over and over by an unfamiliar voice. He slowly opened his eyes, coming face-to-face with a blurry-looking stranger. It took a few seconds for everything to register in Derek's mind. He stared at the man blankly as he gradually came into focus. He was wearing an EMT jacket and hat.
"Mmrrf?" Derek asked sluggishly, his words not exactly forming correctly. His throat felt dry and his head was pounding so hard that he could barely hear anything else around him.
"Derek, you're currently in an ambulance on your way to a hospital," the man said slowly so the somnolent teen could comprehend what he was saying. "You received a heavy blow to the head."
"Casey?" Derek managed to ask hoarsely, licking his lips to try to moisturise them. "Where's Casey?"
"I'm here, Derek," he heard a gentle, soothing voice say. Suddenly Casey's blotchy, tear-stained face appeared in Derek's view, and a soft hand wrapped around his fingers. She gave him a small smile, letting him know that she was okay.
"Did you tell them what happened?" Derek asked, swallowing several times. His vision was still a little fuzzy and his ears were ringing, and all he wanted to do right then and there was sleep. But first he had to know that Casey was being taken care of.
"Her stepfather hit you," the EMT responded with a nod.
Derek shook his head and then winced, realising that wasn't such a good idea. "No," he groaned, closing his eyes a moment for the sharp pain to subside. "Tell them, Casey," he said, opening his eyes again to find Casey.
Casey's eyes widened a bit and she shook her head vigorously, that frightened look coming over her face again. "No," she mouthed to Derek insistently.
Derek's eyes narrowed into a glare. "Casey, you need to tell them."
"I can't," she whispered, wrapping her arms around Derek's jacket that she wore, hugging herself in comfort. "I can't," she said again brokenly, tears falling again.
"Sweetheart, if that man hurt you, you need to tell us," the EMT looked over at Casey compassionately.
Casey began crying even harder and Derek used all of his strength to sit himself up in the stretcher he was in, despite the EMT's protests. He reached out for Casey, who immediately sank into his arms, and he soothingly ran his fingers through her tangled hair as she sobbed.
"Casey, you've got to tell them," Derek murmured gently into her ear as he stroked her hair and rubbed her back. "I promise I won't let him ever hurt you again. I promise, Case."
Casey's sobs slowly turned into hiccups and she turned her head to look over at the awaiting EMT.
"He raped me," Casey said softly, and Derek let her cling to him for support. He wrapped an arm around her tightly, squeezing her shoulder gently to let her know that she was doing the right thing.
"My stepfather raped me."
------------------------------
By the time they arrived at the hospital, Derek was feeling a lot better. Except for the ache inside of him he felt for the pain Casey was in. She didn't let him go as they insisted on still wheeling him into the emergency room.
"Don't leave me," Casey whispered, her whole body still trembling.
"I won't, I promise," Derek replied, entangling their fingers together, strengthening the grip they had on each other. He would protect Casey with all he had.
"What happened to Daniel?" Derek asked the EMT.
"He's been brought into the police station for questioning," the EMT responded.
"What?" Derek demanded, alarmed. "You mean that asshole isn't even under arrest?"
"We have no real evidence against him," the EMT replied gravely. "That is, unless Casey agrees to a rape kit and we get something on him…" Both he and Derek looked over at Casey, who looked like a deer caught in headlights.
"Casey, do it," Derek urged gently, squeezing her hand.
Casey looked very unsure, her eyes filling again.
"The evidence would help put him away," the EMT also pushed.
"Like, in jail?" Casey asked tentatively, her voice very small.
The EMT nodded, and Casey looked over at Derek. He gave her a gentle smile and nod, and finally Casey relented.
"Only if Derek stays with me," she said softly. She was too emotionally broken to do any of this herself. She needed someone. She needed Derek.
"Alright," the EMT nodded, and went to go get a nurse.
Meanwhile, Derek sat up, his headache now nearly gone. He got off the stretcher and hugged the half-dressed girl to him.
"You're doing the right thing," he said to her gently, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
"I was so scared, Derek," Casey said, her voice wavering.
"I know," Derek soothed, holding her even tighter to him. He knew he could never let her go after this. He never wanted anyone to touch her again. Ever.
A friendly-looking nurse came over and with a solemn smile, asked if they were the ones who needed the rape kit. Derek answered for Casey, and firmly made it known that wherever she was going, he was coming with her. He also gave the nurse their house number so they could call George and Nora, who should know what was going on.
The nurse got a wheelchair for Casey and Derek helped her into it; Casey wouldn't let go of his hand for a second. And Derek didn't mind one bit. They walked down into a small examining room filled with posters about pregnancy and birth control.
"Here's a hospital gown for you to put on," the nurse said, pressing a folded Johnny onto Casey's lap. Derek took it off and Casey stood up so the nurse could take the wheelchair away.
"A doctor will be in shortly," the nurse said gently and left, shutting the door with a soft click so the two teens were now alone.
"Are you okay?" Derek finally got to ask the traumatised girl. She finally let go of his hand reluctantly and looked down, giving him a sad nod.
"Just scared," Casey responded weakly, biting her lower lip.
Derek nodded sympathetically. That was more than understandable. He hated Daniel MacDonald for everything he had done to Casey. He wanted to kill him. Or at least make him suffer. A lot.
"I'll turn around while you change," Derek said, turning his back to his stepsister before she could even respond. He closed his eyes as he listened to Casey unzip his jacket that she was wearing. He could imagine the nurse on the phone with George and Nora right now, telling them what was going on. He could see George's look of utter shock and Nora's twisted face of feigned surprise. She could say whatever she wanted—but Derek knew that she had to have known.
"Okay," he heard Casey say quietly, and he turned around to find her dressed in the white-and-blue printed gown. She looked so tiny in the large hospital gown that Derek just wanted to take her in his arms again. But he didn't get to because suddenly there was a rapping on the door.
"Come in," Derek said, and the two teens turned towards the opening door. A man in a doctor's coat with the obligatory stethoscope hanging loosely around his neck walked in, a serious look on his face.
"Casey MacDonald?" the man asked Casey, and Derek cringed at the last name. She really shouldn't have to have his name.
"Yes," Casey affirmed weakly.
The doctor shut the door behind him and took out a chart. "Alright, I'm going to need you to hop up on the examining table," he said, then looked over at Derek. "And you are…?"
"Casey's stepbrother," Derek responded immediately. "I'm not leaving."
The doctor raised an eyebrow at Derek's stern tone, but nodded. "Alright. I'm Doctor Flynn," the man extended his hand towards Derek, who shook it firmly. He also turned and shook Casey's hand where she sat on the paper-covered table, swinging her bare legs nervously back and forth.
"Now, let me explain to you what's going to happen," Doctor Flynn said. "First I'm going to ask you a few questions, Casey, and it is imperative that you answer honestly. Then I'm going to do a routine pelvic examine and a swabbing of the cervix to see if there is any leftover semen that could provide evidence."
Derek reached over and took Casey's hand at this, seeing her body still.
"Then we're going to take a blood sample to make sure you didn't contract any disease and to check for pregnancy. In any case, we will be giving you what we call the Morning After Pill just for precaution. We also are going to bag the clothes you came in wearing as evidence. Alright? Any questions?"
Casey looked like she was barely holding up. She suddenly looked so completely exhausted that Derek wanted to tell the doctor to scram so she could get some sleep before she passed out from exhaustion. But she shook her head weakly in response to the doctor and lay back on the table when Doctor Flynn instructed her to.
Derek moved towards the head of the examining table to be with Casey. Casey reached out and grabbed Derek's hand. He let her take it.
"Okay, Miss MacDonald," Dr. Flynn sat down in a stool in front of her and uncapped the pen that had been hidden behind his large, stuck-out ear. "Remember that I need you to answer these questions honestly." He looked over at Casey through his thin glasses and she nodded carefully. "Could you have been pregnant before tonight's incident?"
"No," Casey said, shaking her head vigorously, her eyes wide and serious.
"Were you sexually active?"
"N-no," Casey said, her voice trailing off. "Not for the past couple of years anyway."
Dr. Flynn looked back up at her at this. She was only fifteen. "What do you mean by that?"
Derek felt Casey's hand tighten around his and knew that she was trying to gather some of his strength in order to say what she had to say. He looked over at her and gave her a nod of encouragement, even though he wasn't quite so prepared to hear what she was going to tell them.
"My stepfather, Daniel," Casey started slowly, her voice wavering a bit as she spoke his name. "He's m-molested me before. When my mother, sister, and I used to l-live with him."
Dr. Flynn looked impassive as he jotted this all down. "And when was the first time he forced you to have intercourse with him?"
"When I was about eleven," Casey said quietly, and Derek closed his eyes as a pained look washed over his face. She had been just a little kid.
Derek cursed Daniel MacDonald over and over in his head as Casey had to go into more detail about the molestation and her pre-teen years—filled with abuse, not only sexual but physical and verbal, too. By the end of the questioning, Derek's blood pressure was sky-high and he was seething. He was going to kick that son-of-a-bitch's ass as soon as he got a hold of him. He didn't care how big and tough the jerk thought he was.
He plotted ways to kill the bastard as Casey had her pelvic exam and Dr. Flynn took a culture to see if he could get any sperm. Daniel hadn't used a condom. And according to Casey, he never did. How easily she could have gotten pregnant or contracted some horrid STD over the years…
How goddamn considerate of him.
The doctor left them alone to get the nurse and Casey finally looked over at Derek. He was fuming.
"Derek," Casey said softly, squeezing the hand that she still held of his.
"Casey, I'm going to kill that man," he vowed, his tawny eyes wild. "I swear I'm going to kill him."
Casey only shook her head, a tear escaping from her eye. "Derek, you can't…"
"Watch me," Derek said, pulling his hand away and moving towards the door. The look on his face scared Casey.
"Derek, no, please!" Casey's pleading stopped him in his tracks. He looked over to see just how frightened and fragile the girl looked, and he had to swallow to choke down his emotions.
"Please, just stay with me," she whispered.
Derek nodded, moving over and hugging Casey to him. She hugged him back tightly, burying herself in his chest, wanting to disappear right off of the examining table. That's how the nurse found them moments later.
"One blood test and one pregnancy prevention pill," the nurse smiled as if she was awarding them with some parting gift. Derek snarled at her and the young woman quickly lost her smile.
Derek continued to hold her as she took the pill with a small paper cup of water and the now-deadpanned nurse explained she would have to have another one in twelve hours. She gave her the blood test, taped a small square piece of gauze to her arm for the minor bleeding, and hurried off.
"Why didn't you ever tell anybody?" Derek as quietly as he rocked Casey gently in his arms.
"He made me promise not to," Casey sniffled into his shoulder. "He threatened to kill me, Lizzie, and my mom if I did."
Derek pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He felt so helpless, like there was nothing he could do. The girl he was falling in love with was completely broken and there was no way to fix her. She was hurting and there was no way for him to stop the pain.
And it killed him.
"I swear I'll never let anyone hurt you again," he murmured into her hair, stroking his hand down her spine.
"Thank you," was all Casey whispered then, sinking deeper into his embrace.
And she believed him.