Four months pass before he sees Casey again. Derek had begun to resign himself to the fact that he would probably never see her again. It happened with adventuring groups; sometimes, they showed up regularly. Sometimes they stopped in once or twice, never to be seen again—it was a fact of life.

However, his resignation doesn't stop a little flicker of hope from igniting in his chest every time the door to the inn opens.

The flicker starts to die out, though, when she next strolls through the door, favoring her left leg. As soon as she steps through the threshold, Casey catches his eyes and waves. Despite his concern—no, curiosity—the gesture makes him smile.

It literally makes him smile. Derek tries to fight the upward tug of his lips, but his body no longer obeys him, preferring to react to her without his consent. It no longer belongs to him, his reactions under Casey's ownership now.

She and Sam approach the bar together.

Derek gestures to her leg. He'd told himself this time he'd start with asking her order, but the slight limp has him worried—curious. "What happened?"

"I'm starting to think you're doing this on purpose, or you have a memory problem you ought to see a physiker for." Casey makes a tsking sound, gingerly lowering herself onto a stool.

"I think this time I might be forgiven. You're obviously hurt."

She glances around, going as far as to lean over the counter searching. "Where do you keep it?"

"What?"

"Your license?"

"What?"

Wincing, she drops back onto the stool. "Because I'm injured, you seem to think that it gives you license to butt into my personal business, so I'm just wondering where you keep it. Is it with your business parchments or somewhere else?"

Sam tries to cover his laugh with a cough, but it fails. Though he appreciates the effort, Derek feels he does a better job covering up his disappointment at Casey's insistence that she keeps their conversations strictly business-related.

He wants to know everything about her.

"Hilarious. I just want to make sure you aren't going to start bleeding everywhere and frighten away my customers."

There's a twinkle in her eye at his attitude. "Were you worried about me?"

"No."

"That's so sweet," she gushes, plopping her forearms onto the counter and leaning forward.

Feeling a flush creep up the back of his neck, Derek ignores her and turns to Sam. "What can I get for you?"

Sam orders for himself and the rest of his table with a wide grin, carrying their mugs with no help from the feisty elf, still giving Derek a cheeky grin.

When she doesn't move, he finally gives his attention back to Casey. "Aren't you usually the one delivering drinks to your friends?"

"Well, as you so kindly pointed out, I'm injured."

"Oh," Derek snorts, "now you want to talk about it."

Casey laughs, and he finds he loves the sound. "I just really think you should wait before interrogating your customers. Anyway, I thought I'd sit and eat here today."

He eyes her for a beat. "Don't you want to eat with your friends?"

"I've just spent the last month with them for my only company. I'd rather have someone else to talk to."

It delights him. Maybe Casey chooses him because her options are currently limited and because she wants a break from her current companions, but she still chooses him.

"Unless you're too busy?"

Derek gives a quick shake of his head, biting down on his tongue to keep from blurting out something that might sound like him begging her to stay. "Nah," he says around the throbbing pain. "I'm not too busy."

"Alright." She places her order—it hasn't changed from her visit, and Derek files this information away.

Later, as Derek is setting her stew down in front of her, she says, "I got bit."

"Oh?" Derek's a little fearful of prying further, even though he wants to know more. Sometimes he thinks she's messing with him, but he doesn't want to risk Casey shutting the conversation down.

She nods. "Yeah. Giant lizard came out of nowhere." She mimes the action, swinging her spoon suddenly toward him before scooping some of the stew into her mouth. "A few weeks ago. It's mostly healed now."

"That's good."

"I only mention it because you were worried."

He shakes his head. "I think you'd like it if I was worried. You enjoy my company."

"Please." She tosses her hair with a snort. "I just wanted quick access to food and drink without having to get up."

"Mhm." Derek feels like he might vibrate right out of his skin. This conversation has his body humming with electricity. "I'm willing to bet your friends would have carried it over to you."

Her answering reply is quick. Derek likes that about her, likes that Casey challenges his mind. "They all have their own injuries to deal with." She's smiling, seeming as entertained by their exchange as he is. He hopes he isn't imagining it. Her expression is expectant like she wants this as much as he does. As if she's been keeping score the same way Derek has.

"Sam seemed alright when he was over here."

"You think that I should sit around and let my friends wait on me?"

Derek shrugs, his usual smirk making its way onto his face. "I think that you should admit you like talking to me."

A beat passes as Casey mulls this over, spooning more stew into her mouth.

Patient, Derek waits for her answer. He thinks he might be willing to wait forever for her. The thought should maybe scare him, but it doesn't. It just is.

"My parents split up," she says, eventually.

He blinks, pausing in the cleaning of his mugs. It's not that he doesn't appreciate Casey sharing the information—in fact, it gives him a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach, like drinking warm cider on a cold day—but the abrupt twist in the conversational road throws him.

"Since then, my mom has started working for a tailor. It doesn't pay much, but she's good at it. Lizzie, my sister, can't do much work yet, but she was working to help clean houses and such when she could have been focusing on her lessons. I needed a job that could help the family so Lizzie wouldn't have to work at her age." She tilts her neck to the side, stretching. "I've known Sam for as long as I can remember, and he'd gone out with this group. Few months after my dad left, he stopped by for a visit."

Casey pauses for another bite of her stew. Derek, no longer even trying to clean, waits patiently and enthralled.

"I've always been good with a bow and arrow and with animals. Their group needed someone, I needed a job, so I joined. I found out that I loved it, and now I get to send money to my family."

"That's how you got into adventuring."

Casey nods. "That's how I got into adventuring."

It pleases Derek beyond measure that she shares this with him, that in her eyes, she's earned the right to the answer.

Behind Casey, her friends are moving. Sam wanders over, seeming almost apologetic about interrupting. "Case?"

She hums, glancing over at the halfling. "Ready?"

"Yeah. We've got to hit the road."

Nodding, Casey drains the last of her drink. Be there in a mo'."

Smiling, Sam nods back. He gives Derek a wave before meandering back to their friends. Again, Derek wonders what the nature of their relationship is beyond the fact that they've known each other forever.

It takes Casey a moment to get off the stool, her movements stiff compared to earlier. "Thanks for your company." The smile she tacks on to the sentence does bizarre things to Derek, including giving him goosebumps. "It was fun."

A thrill goes through him, fills him with energy. Derek wants to bounce on the balls of his feet with excitement, an urge he stomps down. "You do like talking to me."

"Maybe," she admits without hesitation, grinning. Casey turns to go with a wave. "See you around, Derek."

He wants to beg her to stay. Now that they were making progress seeing her leave feels harder somehow. What if something happens and she's not able to make it back? He doesn't want these conversations to end. The thought sobers him. The urge to move leaves him. Instead of begging, Derek asks, "When?"

The question halts her movements, even though her group stands waiting for her at the door. Casey shrugs. "I'm not sure. We head out this way sometimes, but I never know when that will be."

He nods, passing a cloth idly over the already clean counter. "Okay. See you… sometime." His tone is insistent, wishing he could tell her to be careful.

Casey smiles. "See you. Maybe in a month or so."

Imagine Derek's surprise, then, when he sees her again two days later.