Disclaimer: I do not own Life with Derek… but I've sent the producers beautiful flowers with a note…. You know, to butter them up a bit. They'll be putty in my hands by the time I meet with them again!

a/n: Before anything, I must take this time to answer poor iluvhsm-Sprntrl-LWD-Sville13 who has waited so long! Whether Casey's problem is 'serious' or not is a matter of opinion.. however, since I think you had said something about her being schizophrenic or something like that earlier- it's nothing like that. She just… isn't really able to deal with an abundance of emotions and such without getting overwhelmed. She doesn't really know any way to release these feelings, so she ends up breaking down to get them all out. I hope I answered your question satisfactorily and it doesn't disappoint you too much! And sorry for taking so long with your answer. :-)

And a happy Labor Day weekend to you all! Now.. on to the story!

Can I Help?

Talk

Derek had a full schedule the next day at school and Casey had seen him surprisingly little, and spoke with him less. At one point they had run into each other, but before Casey could even get out a "Hey," he was looking over her shoulder, telling her he'd see her later, and trotting off down the hall.

It upset her. She didn't like being brushed off by anybody; especially not somebody who, when they did it, made her think it was because of her deepest secret. She was embarrassed- did he think she was a psycho? The idea made her shudder and draw into herself. She could have dealt with him making fun of her, or being freaked out by it. Then she could have just joked and yelled it off. But for him to act like he cared, to take care of her and be nice to her how he had, and then to practically ignore her? She didn't know if she could take that.

Depression began to overtake her, as worst case scenarios plagued her mind and she just stood in the middle of the hallway, forgetting what she was doing.

"Hey, Case," she heard Sam behind her and turned around. Sam gestured in the direction of their next class, "Can I walk you to class?"

From down the hall, Derek looked up from the kid he was talking to and stared for a moment before stalking off toward his stepsister and best friend.

Casey shook her head to snap herself out of the haze she had found herself in and put on a smile. Sam looked disappointed. "No?" he asked sounding surprised, and at the same time surprisingly small.

Casey's eyes widened and she reached out, "No, no… I'd really like it if you did!"

Sam smiled and took her books for her. And Derek took them from him.

"Case, hey, thanks for waiting," Derek acted, putting her arm around her. "I just had to take care of something." He spoke distracted, watching Casey's eyes and seeing the emotions inside of them. "On second thought…" Derek said, giving both Casey's and his books to Sam, "Sam, could you bring these to French? Case and I are gonna be a few minutes late."

Sam looked between the two of them confused. "Those rumours about you two… they're not true, are they?"

Casey and Derek stopped in their tracks.

"Sam, bro. Use some sense for once. Me and Casey? You've got to know that's not true," Derek said, taking his arm from around Casey and throwing it around Sam, steering him aside a bit, "I do, however, need to speak with her right now. You know, family stuff."

Sam nodded, "Sure, man."

"Oh and Sam?" Derek called over his shoulder as Casey and he began to walk toward the stairwell. "Next time you hear anybody saying anything like that, tell them it's untrue… and convince them in any way necessary."

Casey sat on the stairway, understanding that he took her here because he knew something was wrong, but puzzled in the change in attitude. Derek sat down next to her, seeing that she was confused on top of upset and not getting why she was so confused. First priority, he decided, was to find out why she was so upset. Then she'd let him know why she was confused.

"Case…" he prodded, nudging her gently. He knew that she knew why he steered her off to talk. He didn't think he'd have to actually ask.

"What?" she asked stubbornly, holding her chin high. Okay… maybe he was going to have to ask. Sometimes he didn't understand why girls made things so difficult.

"Casey, what's wrong?" he sighed, worried. She looked away. She didn't want to talk; she didn't want to tell him that his brushing her off had really hurt, because it wasn't supposed to hurt… but he wasn't supposed to do this, taking her away to talk, either.

"Case, you can talk to me. You said you'd let me help, so let me. Talk to me," he pleaded. If he didn't get her to talk to him now, this could get worse. This little bit of depression he'd seen in her eyes could blow up and end in the type of breakdown he'd witnessed the other night.

Concentrating on the brick corner to their left, she sighed and closed her eyes. "The way you treated me today hurt," she confessed, reluctantly. She waited for him to say something, to get defensive, to insult her. He didn't. He just sat, his legs slightly apart and hands folded comfortably, listening intently and never looking away.

Casey continued in a rush, "It hurt the way you totally blew me off today when we had been able to laugh together yesterday and- and the other day you had been so nice and told mom I wasn't feeling well to get me a day off from school because you KNEW that I'd never do something like that, no matter how much I needed it, because I would never admit that I needed it because I can't miss school! And then how the night before that, how you were so understanding and you didn't mock me and call me a psycho freak and you just held me and calmed me and CARED. And then today suddenly you don't care anymore. I'm just that annoying stepsister who you have to live with and can't stand and…"

Casey couldn't keep her voice from faltering. When had she turned into this?

Derek pulled her closer with one arm and waited, silently, for a minute until he knew that she had pulled herself together enough.

"Case," he started softly, "I wasn't trying to blow you off today. I… Look, I was trying to undo that stupid rumour while getting to the bottom of who started it. I've been running around all day, person to person, thinking I'm getting closer to the source until I realize it was another circle… You know, you gossiping teenage girls not only make my job incredibly hard, but you tell everything to everybody. Just trying to find out who they heard it from, I've found out that Tim Olsen ate a live goldfish, then puked it up whole, Kat Brennan slept with her cousin, Jenna Miller had a hole in her pants all day yesterday and she was wearing Mickey Mouse underwear, and Clyde Conner finally got together with Connie Murphy."

Derek took a deep breath, having said the last part in one breath. Casey laughed.

"Ah! I like to see that," Derek grinned, gently poking her smiling face. "So you feeling a little better now?" he asked, resting his head on hers.

"Yeah." She paused, her face a softened seriousness. "Derek, I don't understand you."

He looked down at her curiously.

"Everything about your personality and my past experiences with you say that

you should have turned and run when I came to you. But you didn't. You took me in your arms and told me you were here for me. …Why?" she turned to him, searching for answers.

He looked away. He didn't know why either. It had just been… that night he had seen her slouched there amoung the stuffing and broken glass, staring up at him in this fear that he had never seen before. He couldn't just make fun of that, and he couldn't turn his back. He had tried, he really had. Once he was forced to his room he had tried to forget it, but he couldn't. He attempted to act normal in school with her the next day, but every time he saw her he flashed back to that look in her eyes.

He thought he could deal with it, that he could forget it eventually… but then she had come into his room and he realized- he couldn't run away from this. It wasn't some stupid little problem; this was big. If he turned away, who would keep her from being lost forever in the blackness of her mind which consumed her at times? It wouldn't get better alone; she needed somebody. He may be an egotistical jerk sometimes, but he couldn't just stand by and knowingly watch somebody lose themselves in a sense of hopeless darkness. Especially not somebody he knew to be as strong a woman as Casey.

Derek glanced back at Casey, getting up. "We have to get to class. Come on…" he muttered.

Casey pursed her lips and got up. "If you're going to do this again, fine," she said angrily, walking away. Derek grabbed her arm.

He pulled her closer to him, keeping his grip on her upper arm and stared her in the eye, his own slightly pleading. "Please don't question this, Case. I don't know. You're right; it's out of character for me. And you know what? I did try to not care, but I can't. For once, I do care. Don't ask me why because I don't know why, and I don't want to know why. Didn't you mother tell you not to question a good thing?"

With that, he released her arm and walked to class.

-+-+-+-

a/n: This MIGHT be my longest chapter now? I just hope it was okay and ya'll like it! Thanks to all my readers, chocolate to you all! Except if you're allergic… then you get gum. And my reviewers- cue gushing!- you are all amazing. Thank you so much, I love hearing from you.

I'll try to get the next chapter out, and the more reviews I get, the faster I'll work! You know the drill. :-P