And The Winner Is...
by TheBucketWoman
Disclaimer: At the risk of sounding redundant, I have no claim whatsoever on Life With Derek, or its characters or any other stuff I make reference to.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Part One: Nora
This was the wrong daughter to try to get answers out of. If she wanted guts to spill, she needed to talk to Casey. Unfortunately, she didn't have Casey in front of her at the moment. Instead, she had her lovable brick wall of a Lizzie. She walked three steps in front of the shopping cart that Nora knew she didn't really need, but grabbed out of reflex.
"Don't you trust me?" she tried.
"Don't you trust me?" Lizzie retorted.
"That repeating the question thing is a Derek move," Nora said. "And it doesn't work on me when he does it either, so why don't you just tell me what's going on, since it clearly affects all of us."
Lizzie seemed to plan her next move carefully. She paused, and looked at the display of sugar cones before she spoke again.
"Mom," she said. "I can't talk about this because it's not my place to talk about it. And it's not one of those things that you have to tell parents about because someone's in danger, 'cause no one's in danger. So can we please not talk about it?"
"How do I know no one's in danger?" Nora said.
"Way to trust me, Mom," Lizzie said.
"Honey, of course I trust you," Nora said. I just need to know every move you make and every move you plan to make in the foreseeable future so you don't make the wrong decision is all, she thought. Nothing wrong with that.
"Uh huh," Lizzie said. "I can feel the trust in the room." The AC in the store was up too high as usual and Lizzie pulled her arms inside the sleeves of her t-shirt, which, on closer inspection, looked like Edwin's t-shirt. Lizzie didn't strike Nora as a fan of the X-Men.
"Is that Edwin's?" Nora asked.
"Listen, Mom," Lizzie said. "I am trustworthy. That's why I can't go around talking about this. Please stop asking me to break somebody else's trust."
Nora didn't know when it was that Lizzie harnessed the power of guilt, but it was clear that she had.
Part Two: George
"I like this show," George said. Edwin continued to stare directly at the screen the way he had for the past hour or so, and House, M.D had given way to Law and Order S.V.U. Ice T had just finished yelling at Red Herring Suspect #1 and the commercials started up. George hit the mute button on the remote.
"Spill, Edwin," he said.
"Don't wanna talk about it," Edwin said.
"Ah, but you will," George said. He didn't go through law school for nothing.
"You and Lizzie had a fight," George said.
"Nope."
"No trouble in paradise?"
"Nope."
"Still in the honeymoon stage, then," George said. Edwin finally looked at him with something like shock on his face.
"Ah haaaaa," George said, pleased with himself. Edwin was too trusting. Derek never fell for that type of thing.
"So if it wasn't a fight with Lizzie," George began. "Then the only other person who could have pissed you off enough would have to beeeee..." he let it hang for a second so Edwin could fill in the blank, but he didn't. "Derek," George finished.
Edwin said nothing.
"So what was it about?" George asked.
"..."
"Was it about you and Lizzie?" George asked. Edwin's expression turned just a smidge stonier, and that was all the tell that George needed.
"So what about you and Lizzie?" George asked. "Derek not approve?" That was highly unlikely, but the thing to do right now was to annoy the kid by stating the obvious. He got a raised eyebrow for his efforts.
"No, I guess that's not it, huh?" George said.
"I'm not exactly looking for Derek's approval," Edwin said.
Yeah, you are, George thought. "So then he's been giving you two a hard time?"
Edwin snorted. "When is Derek not giving me a hard time?"
"Good point," George said, hoping for a smile and getting none. "Has he been giving you a hard time about this?"
"No," Edwin said breaking eye contact.
"So," George said. "What you said about not wanting Derek's approval was just a general thing then?"
"You could say that," Edwin said.
"So is this an existential sibling crisis you two are having?" George asked.
"Are you making fun of me?" Edwin asked.
"Nope, just trying to figure it out," George said. "You can't expect me not to wonder why one of my sons suddenly turned into Angsty Angsterson and why my other one looks like he's the one who did it. Then there's the baby who looked ready to cry at any moment..."(At this Edwin looked guiltier than he had all night) "...I, as a father, need to know why all this is going on."
"I'm sorry," Edwin said. "It won't happen again."
George laughed. "Are you kidding?" he asked. "Of course it'll happen again. Are you new here? All I ask is that you work it out. Brooding only leads to parental cross examination."
"I'll keep that in mind," Edwin said.
"So you still don't wanna tell me exactly what it was all about?" George asked.
"No," Edwin said.
George sighed. He'd get the story out of him eventually.
"You know where I am if you want to talk," he said.
Part Three: Derek
So far, he'd sat through three run-throughs of the same damn song: "Skid Row (Downtown) " and he was no longer even pretending to pay attention. He glanced at the camera on its tripod every so often to make sure that it was still running. He tried to doodle, but he couldn't focus.
It had been such a colossal mistake to leave the house without talking to Edwin. Even if the kid popped him one, (Derek knew he'd probably had a good punch coming for the last three years), that would've been something. It was the nothing that he couldn't stand. He was afraid that Edwin would pull the "I have no brother" routine, and that would kill him.
He distantly heard the words "Twenty minute break," and that was his cue to shut the camera off, check the battery, and possibly switch memory cards. As he fiddled with the camera, he felt two cool hands begin to rub his shoulders. He leaned back and accepted a quick peck on the mouth.
"Poor sad puppy face," Casey whispered in his ear. He smiled quickly, but went right back to being depressed.
"Come on, Der Bear," Casey said, grinning at the dirty look Derek gave her. "You're not gonna believe me now, but mark my words, things'll be better when we get home."
"How?" Derek asked.
"I dunno," Casey said. "But it will."
"Should not have left the house," Derek said.
"Trust me," Casey said. "Edwin needed to cool off. Giving him that time was the best move you could've made."
"I guess it'll have to be," Derek said.
"In the meantime," Casey said. "Would you come backstage for a sec? I need your opinion on something."
"'Kay,"he said, following her down the aisle and up the steps leading to the stage. He wondered what she was going to ask about. He hoped it wasn't a costume issue; he hated that type of thing.
When they got to the ugly deserted cinderblock dungeon that they called "backstage," he asked, "So what was it you wanted to—"
She kissed his ear and trailed a few kisses down his neck. God, I'm an idiot, he thought.
"Thanks for trying to cheer me up, but—mmmph—" he said as she finally worked her way to his mouth.
She pulled away and as she did so, put two fingers across his lips.
"Stop worrying," she said. "I mean it. Now cheer up, or else."
"Yes, ma'am," he said.
Part Four: Emily
She was running out of excuses to keep people out of the dungeon.
"No seriously," she said. "Casey saw a squirrel running across the pipes overhead, and it's just not safe to go in there right now."
"I need to get a dollar bill for the soda machine and I'm pretty sure there's one in my jacket pocket, so I doubt that Mr. Squirrel would mind," Chris said.
Emily reached into her own pocket and gave him some change. "Here," she said. "It's just too unsafe to go in there."
"I saw Derek and Casey go in there," Chris said. "You did, too, didn't you Shel?"
"Huh?" Sheldon said. "I wasn't really paying attention."
"They're in there chasing the squirrel back out the window," Emily said, shooting Sheldon a meaningful ask-no-questions-look.
"Whoa," Sheldon said. "Derek's in there with a rodent? Derek Venturi?"
Why Sheldon had to pick this moment to be slow on the uptake was beyond Emily.
"Nah," Chris said. "I think 'chasing the squirrel' is code for hanky panky."
"Oohhhh," Sheldon said. "Why didn't you just say so?"
Emily throttled an imaginary neck. Sheldon finally took the hint.
"Okay, okay," Sheldon said. "Squirrel Invasion, stay outta the dungeon, gotcha. I think there might be a squirrel problem in my car come to think of it."
"Your furry critter is your own problem," Emily said.
"He heee," Chris said. He put on a southern accent. "See what she did there? I think y'all were talking bout something else."
Sheldon groaned.
"All this sexual tension floating around and none for me," Chris said, beginning to walk away. "I need a boyfriend."
Part Four: Casey
When they got back to rehearsal, Derek was decidedly more relaxed. He wasn't as relaxed as he could be, she thought, since she kept things PG-13, but he was clearly feeling a little better. He even seemed a little more optimistic. He looked like he might even have been paying attention during the second half of the rehearsal.
But all too soon, it was time to go home, and Derek's good mood went right out the window. Casey decided that it was her turn to drive home. He didn't argue. In his current state, he might drive into a tree, he said.
They pulled into the driveway at long last, and he turned to her with his big eyes.
"I am going to blow this," he said.
"Don't be an idiot," she said. She gave him a long kiss before she turned off the engine and he went into the house ahead of her. She hoped that Edwin would talk to him.