"So, are you going to the father-son retreat next weekend?"

Luca turned to his friend, Jack, as they walked to the other boy's house and sighed. "Probably not. My dad is in the States and he won't be able to make it."

"You can hang out with me and my dad, if you want!" Jack offered with a large and beaming smile as he walked backwards, hugging his backpack straps with his small hands. "It'll be fun!"

"I don't know. I'd have to ask my mom." Luca shrugged while staring at the ground in front of him.

"Or…" Jack turned back around and smirked. "You could ask your uncle Derek. You two hang out a lot so I'm sure he wouldn't mind coming."

The nine-year-old smiled at the prospect of spending an entire 'father-son' weekend with his step-uncle. Though, the same problem would repeat all over again: he is a busy man and might not have the time to spare him three entire days, between work and Skye.

Besides, for all the time they have lived together, camping had never been discussed in the household. While he and his mother are rather proficient at it, with Felicia's Lodge and all, the boy had no clue if that is something Derek is remotely interested in, since he never joined in their trips up north. Even Skye went on occasion.

Luca sighed. "Maybe..."

"It wouldn't hurt to ask." Jack argued. "Besides, isn't he dating your mom? He is practically your father at this point."

"They're not really dating, I guess. Derek and my mom's relationship is... Complicated, I guess." Luca sighed. "They spend a lot of time together, but they're not dating. I think they want to date, though I'm not sure why they're not."

"Grownups." Jack rolled his eyes perceptibly. "They never make any sense."

"Agreed."


"Hey, honey!" Casey smiled and greeted her son with a short hug as Jack's parents drove away from their house. "Did you have a fun time at Jack's?"

Luca nodded, returning his mother's smile.

"Yeah. After homework, we played video game and Jack got creamed hard. It was cool." He shrugged his backpack off of his shoulders and asked, "It's just us at home? Where's Derek and Skye?"

"Well, Skye hasn't arrived from her dance practice yet, but she shouldn't take much longer, while Derek is off at your Aunt Marti's, she's having car troubles again. He said that he'll be back before dinner, though." Casey said as she picked up her son's backpack. "I'm going into the kitchen right now. Do you want a snack while we wait for them?"

"I'm good." Luca answered quickly and then softly added, "Thank you for asking, mom."

"Manners, I see." Casey hummed and poked his nose. "I like it."

"Can I play with my Xbox until dinner time?"

"Sure, baby." Casey grinned and kissed Luca's forehead. "I'll be at the kitchen cooking if you need anything."

Before any further words could be exchanged between them, the boy left the living room, racing upstairs towards his room and his games.

"Luca! Wait! Your bag!" The woman called from behind her son, but he took no notice of it.

Casey rolled her eyes and carefully carried her son's book bag to the dining room table, for him to put it back on its designated place once he came down to set the plates, and gently dropped it to the floor next to a chair.

Since this is as good as a time as any, she decides to pull out the orange school folder to see if the boy's teacher had sent any important information home, and spotted a neatly folded green paper hiding behind a few old notes from his teacher, likely a flyer of some sort. This is unusual, as Luca, while no prodigy at school, is mostly well-behaved and has no reason to hide, impede or fake communication between his mother and the school.

Concerned, Casey quietly unravelled the note and skimmed over the form. As understanding dawned on her face, so a blooming sense of sadness and failure erupts in her heart. She quickly wiped away the tears falling from her eyes and slowly walked out the dining room and up the stairs, following his steps from a few minutes prior.

She stops by his open door and knocks once.

He looks over at her. "Yeah?"

"Can you stop the game for a sec?" The woman asks, kindly. "I want to talk to you."

The boy seemed confused, but complied to her request. "Yeah, sure."

Casey walks over to the single bed and sits down next to her son. As she is now facing him directly, he is able to notice the permission slip sitting in her lap. He gulped, unsure how his mother was going to react.

"Why didn't you show this to me, Lucas?" She asks pointedly, with the use of his full name.

The nine-year-old shrugged. "There was no reason to. Dad is in the US and he doesn't have the time to come all the way here."

The brunette woman lifted an eyebrow. "Did you ask him?"

"No." He shook his head to punctuate his negative.

"Then how would you know that he doesn't have the time?" Casey placed the permission slip on the bedside table and leaned towards her son.

Luca inhaled a slow, deep breath before quietly answering his mother.

"I overheard you talking to him on the phone." He said, sincere. "I know that he wanted to reschedule for the weekend he had planned on coming down here. If he can't make something that's planned months in advance, I can't ask him to come over here in the last minute. Even if I did, I'm pretty sure that he'd say no."

Casey covered her son's hand with hers and squeezed his fingers as she brought them to her lips. "I see. I understand what you mean, Luca."

He looks up sheepish at her. "Are you mad?"

"No." The woman shook her head and wrapped her arms around the boy's lean shoulders. "Of course not."

"Did I have to ask him?" Luca asks, again with the puppy eyes.

"I think so." Casey kissed his forehead. "I think it would have been polite to have asked him. He's trying to be a good dad, but he still has a lot to learn, Luca. I understand why you didn't ask him, though, and I'm not going to force you to. This is supposed to be about you having a nice time, after all."

He sighed. "I guess. Thanks, mom."

"You're welcome, but we aren't done yet, mister." She bopped his nose. "Tell me, sweetheart, is this retreat... Is this something you'd want to do?"

Luca shrugged, noncommittally.

"I don't have to go. We'll camp in the Summer anyways, and I can always wait. I like camping, Jack's going with his dad and the grounds seem kinda cool, but..." He does not finish his statement.

"But what, baby?" His mother encourages him.

"But I don't really want to go with my dad..." Luca twiddled his thumbs and stared at the floor. "Even if Dad was able to come, he wouldn't really enjoy it, and because he and I don't always get along, I don't think I'd enjoy the retreat with him, either. We have almost nothing in common, and I'd rather go with someone I can talk, do stuff with, or else is no fun. If it's to listen to dad nagging and complaining about bugs and stuff, then I want to stay in."

Casey kissed her son's hair.

"I know you hadn't had it easy when we lived with your father in New York, and that moving to Canada also has its challenges, but it's not supposed to be just the two of us anymore." She rocked him in her arms. "Did you think to ask your Uncle Derek?"

"I thought about it, I swear it." The boy responded, emphatically, disliking the insinuation that he might have forgot about it. "But I thought that camping really wouldn't be Derek's thing."

Casey chuckles loudly at the assertion. "Oh, honey! Believe it or not, Derek's more of a nature guy than you give him credit for. He likes the beach, he likes quiet places, and he certainly loves camping! He even has a map of Canada in his study, with pins on the grounds where he wants to go."

Confusion runs through the boy's features. "Why he always refuses to go to nan's resort, then? I know you and grandma Nora invite him every year."

"Well… I guess it brings bad memories for him, and he doesn't get along with nan, either. I'm sure he'd love to go with you somewhere else." The woman assures her child.

"But can he?" Luca asks, pointedly. "He's got work and Skye and stuff, and I don't want to mess it up."

"If he can't make it, then he'll tell you that he can't make it. You can always ask your Grandpa George, or your Uncle Edwin. And if that falls through, too, I can always go along with you." She responds. "What's important here is whether you want to go."

He sighs. "I don't know, I guess it would be fun to spend a weekend with Derek. We could go stargazing, probably. And kayaking, fishing, playing football, swimming. Stuff like that."

Casey smiled and blinked back her tears at the actual thought of her baby boy wanting to go on a retreat for the first time. Never before had he been interested in a school outing of any kind, but here he was, secretly wanting to go on a retreat with Derek just to spend some time with him.

"Then it's settled. I'll call the teacher to confirm that you're going."

"I guess it's fine." Luca sighed.

"Hey, what's with the sad face?" The brunette woman pulled away from her son and cupped his cheeks. "What else is bothering you?"

"I don't know..." He pressed his lips together. "I guess I don't want him to say no."

"He won't." Casey smiled, knowing the man would give up every project he ever worked on to spend time with their children. "Derek is a good man with a good heart. He adores you, Luca, and I'm sure he'll be delighted to go with you."

"Really?!" Luca's eyebrows reached for the ceiling as a wide smile beamed across his face. "You think?"

Casey laughed and then kissed his nose.

"No, baby, I know." She hugged him before he climbed off of the sofa and headed for the door. "You can ask him after dinner, okay?"

"Kay!"


While Luca was busy pestering Skye for her help on a history project they had due next week, Casey slipped away to the garage. There, the man of the house was working on his quaint hobby of fixing up old and vintage cars.

Not to too much success, as Marti is always prone to point out.

Derek, who was very aware of the woman's presence, eventually stopped adjusting some of the bolts on the aging engine and turned to face her. She was smiling, which, in turn, made him smile too.

He stepped off of his ladder and wiped the oil off of his hands with a rag as she walked up to him.

"Is there something you need, Princess, or did you just come by to ogle?" He smirked, self-assured.

"Actually, there is." Casey laughed as she took the rag out of his hands and dipped it into his cup of water.

"I was drinking that." He said, dour.

The brunette rolled her eyes. She shook her head and giggled before dabbing his cheek with the wet rag. He grew rigid under her touch but eventually relaxed as she wiped the motor oil, he assumes, off of his face.

"Much better." She grinned as her eyes found his.

She dropped the rag onto the workbench and noted how incredibly good-looking that man was in black. How toned his muscles were, how sexy his oil-smeared face appeared.

"Okay," Casey took a step back and shook her thoughts away before she traveled down what could be a very dangerous path.

Derek cleared his throat. "So, you needed something?"

"Yes." She nodded, visibly creating a few inches between them to keep her thought processes in check. "Luca."

"Luca?" He folded his arms and leaned forward a little, shifting the weight from his heels to his toes. "What about Luca?"

"He's a little shy about asking you something so when he does…" Casey bit her lip. "Do me a favour and just say yes."

The former hockey player shifted his weight again, clearly interested on the subject at hand. "What sort of question?"

"Uh…" The woman considered briefly just straight-out telling him, but she decided it would be best to let Luca have all of the fun. "You'll just have to wait and see."

He blinked, slightly confused. "Okay?"

"Don't worry." The woman laughed and lightly smacked his cheek. "I promise it's a good thing."

Derek pursed his lips and nodded.

"If you say it is good, then…" He smiled brightly. "I believe you."


As bedtime crawled ever closer, Casey encouraged Luca to talk to Derek, so her son asked his step-uncle to come with him to his room, so that he could show him something. She could not help but want to eavesdrop, since she was very invested in it.

She followed them but kept herself to the corridor to give them some privacy.

Derek spotted her almost immediately, since she did a poor job of concealing her presence as always, and then Luca saw her too. She gave her son a thumb's up, and he gulped in response.

Luca, after looking at his mother, turned to Derek and pulled out his permission slip.

"I wasn't sure if it was okay to ask you since you didn't actually contribute to my conception, but…" The boy gulped. "There's a retreat next weekend, and I'd like to go, but I can't go unless I have a dad who's also willing to go, so..."

Luca suddenly got quiet, trying to figure out the best and most efficient way to get his thoughts across. Derek could almost guess what the boy wanted, but he stayed silent and waited for him to continue.

"Derek?" Luca suddenly knew what he wanted to say.

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Can you be my dad?"

At first, Derek was thrown off a bit by Luca's question but then smiled after piecing together everything the boy had said.

"Sure, buddy." He ruffled Luca's hair. "I'd like that."


Casey wiped the tear falling down her cheek as she watched her happy son surprise Derek with a quick, but oh-so-endearing embrace before racing off to brush his teeth and get ready to bed.

She slowly walked up to him and bumped her shoulder to his. "Thank you, Derek. You made my son very happy."

The man grinned. "No. Thank you."