Author's Note: Thank you so much for all of the encouraging reviews! I will try to update whenever I get the chance, but I'm a graduate student (who sadly enough, still watches the Disney channel), so I'm insanely busy, and this fic is pretty much the last on a long To Do list.

I have this fic mapped out though, and I have every intention on finishing it. So if you'll bear with me, I promise it will be worth your patience. Basically what you need to know is that it's currently AU (Alternate Universe), because when I started writing this I had only watched a couple episodes of the first season. It's also going to be a trilogy, and as the title suggests, this is only the beginning.

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses.

You've been out riding fences for so long now.

Oh you're a hard one, I know you have your reasons.

These things that are pleasing you,

Can hurt you somehow.

You draw the queen of diamonds, boy.

She'll beat you if she's able.

You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet.

Now it seems to me, some fine things have been laid upon your table.

But the only one you want the ones that you can't get.

Desperado- The Eagles

Chapter Two

Derek Venturi had done a lot of stupid things in his life, but kissing Casey in front of their entire family was by far the most idiotic thing he had ever done.

He had no idea what possessed him to do it. He should have kissed her on the cheek, on the forehead, a quick peck on the lips… but no, he had kissed her, really kissed her. Never in a million years would he have ever guessed that he would kiss Casey, of all people.

She was, he was certain, the most maddening person he had ever met. He had known from the second she opened her mouth that the two of them would not get along. She was too perfect for her own good, and she expected everyone else to be the same. There wasn't a single thing she couldn't do if she wanted to. She took everything personally. She was the only girl he had ever met who gave as good as she got, and didn't give in, no matter what. She drove him completely insane.

He hadn't expected that kissing Casey McDonald would be anything worth repeating. He certainly didn't expect to feel anything. And yet, when they pulled apart, he was left wanting more.

This was bad. This was very bad.

Even worse was the fact that in a few minutes, guests would start arriving for the annual Venturi/McDonald Christmas Eve party. Guests that included Sam.

After his idiotic move, Derek had managed to avoid everyone for the rest of the afternoon, made possible by the fact that the entire family seemed to feel guilty for enforcing the mistletoe rule. Even Marti hadn't dared to bother him, but he knew he couldn't stay held up in his room all night.

Sure enough, a tentative knocking he recognized instantly as Edwin's let him know that it was time to face the music.

"Uh…" Edwin said hesitantly, pushing open the door when Derek didn't respond. "Dad says you'd better look presentable because guests are supposed to be here any minute."

Derek grunted. Edwin seemed to take this as a sign that it was safe to enter, and he pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside, closing it behind him.

"Casey's really upset," Edwin said, dropping his voice.

"Yeah," Derek said tonelessly, staring up at his ceiling.

"So you have Dad and Nora thinking that kiss with Casey was real," he said casually.

"Great," Derek groaned.

Edwin waited a beat. "Was it?"

Derek didn't say anything.

"And here I thought winter break was going to be boring," Edwin said ruefully, shaking his head as he turned to leave.

"Hey Ed," Derek said.

"What?" Edwin said, turning back around.

"Not a word, do you hear me?" Derek warned him severely.

"You don't have to threaten me with my life for this one," he said sympathetically. "I get it."

After the fifth failed attempt, Casey gave up the effort of applying eyeliner. Her hands would not stop shaking.

She drew in a shaky breath as she looked back up at the mirror, trying to clear her head, and failing miserably. She could not stop thinking about what had happened.

Derek had kissed her. More importantly, she had let him. Why?

She had known from the very moment they had been introduced for the first time that he was everything she wasn't. He never tried, because he never had to try. Everything came easily for him, and when something didn't, he could talk his way out of it. He never took anything seriously. He was the only person she had ever met who everyone liked. He always made everything work out to his advantage. He drove her completely insane.

But kissing Derek had been nothing like kissing Sam. It had been rough and full of fury, like a battle over who could make the other feel more. More of what, she didn't know. All she knew was that she had never felt more alive in her entire life.

"Casey?" Lizzie called out as she knocked on the door. "Sam's here."

Casey fumbled with her make-up organizer, nearly knocking it to the ground as she quickly put it away. Drawing in another deep, nervous breath, she reluctantly left the bathroom.

Naturally, she ran straight into Derek. They paused, regarding each other awkwardly.

"Hey," Derek said softly, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Casey fidgeted, brushing her hair back behind her ears. "Hey."

It was as though they had never met before. Suddenly Derek was not just her step-brother, and Casey realized with a startled shock, that she did not really know him at all.

She heard Marti's cheerful voice echoing up the stairs. "Smerek kissed Casey!"

And she knew what she had to do.