Disclaimer: I do not own Life with Derek.

Ok, since people like my first chapter, I thought I would put a little update up. A longer chapter will come this weekend, but not tomorrow. There's a tournament boy's basketball game I need to go to. You WILL see an update this weekend though.

Chapter 2 – The Next Day

At 6:30 in the morning, Casey woke up with red, swollen eyes and a shattered heart. She didn't want to go to school today, which was not normal for her. Seeing as it was now 6:32 and Derek wouldn't be up, she knew it would be safe to go downstairs and let her mom know she was going to stay home today.

'If I see him, I can face him,' she thought as she walked out her door and saw his bedroom door. 'Who am I kidding? He broke my heart. He never let me explain. Why did this happen?' she thought as she began downstairs with tears, once again, in her eyes.

Upon entering the kitchen Nora immediately stopped preparing breakfast so that she could give her oldest daughter a hug.

"Oh honey, what are you doing up?" Nora asked sympathetically, pulling away from the embrace.

"I just wanted to come down and ask if I could stay home today. You know with everything -- I don't really feel like going," Casey said, wiping tears from her eyes with the back of her pajama sleeve.

"Of course," Nora exclaimed. "I wasn't even going to let you go if you wanted to." As Nora said this to Casey, a looked of pain mixed with anger came across her face.

"Thanks mom, I'm going to go back to bed now."

"Do you want some food Case?" Nora asked concerned. She saw Casey's head shake. "Ok, well I probably won't see you before I leave for work, so I'll be back at 3 to take you to the doctors. Alright?"

"Kay mom," Casey said with a nod.

As she turned in her slipper-clad feet, she said a quick hello to George who was entering the kitchen, and went upstairs. When Casey arrived back into her room, she went straight for the bed. She climbed in, clutched back onto Derek's jacket, and went to sleep.

Meanwhile, at 7:00, Derek was jolted awake by the memories of the previous night. He shook his to clear the thoughts from his mind, and went to the bathroom to take a shower before school. As he passed Casey's closed door, he heard no noise coming from inside. Normally he would go in and make sure she was awake, but now, with his new attitude, he just didn't care.

He quickly took a shower, got ready, and went downstairs for a rushed breakfast. When he arrived in the kitchen, the sympathetic eyes of his dad and sympathetic and angry eyes from Nora greeted him.

"Morning guys," Derek said in his normal way, which shocked Nora, but not George.

'He was being serious last night. He is going to go back to his old ways,' thought George.

"Don't you want to stay home today Derek?" Nora asked him.

"No. Why would I want to?" Derek asked, looking confused, as he ate his cereal.

"Because of last night," Nora said carefully, "Casey will be here. Maybe you two could talk."

"I got nothing to say. It's done," He shot his eyes down into his bowl. "Well, I have to go to another glorious day of school now," he said sarcastically as he got up.

Derek walked into the family room to get his leather jacket. He went to the coat hooks, but it wasn't there.

"Dad, Nora, do you guys know where my jacket is?"

"Try your room Der," George replied from the kitchen.

As Derek walked up the stairs, he realized where it was. It was in the once place where he did not want to go.

He opened her door and saw her sleeping for clutching his favorite jacket. She also had silent tears rolling out from her closed eyes. His heart broke at the sight and he felt terrible for causing her to be in this state.

"Oh well, she brought it on herself," he whispered to himself.

"Give me my jacket," he said in a deep, cold, emotionless voice he himself didn't recognize. Casey did not stir though.

"Casey," he said once again, softer this time. He was now about two feet from her sleeping form and she began to open her eyes. When they were finally open, she was greeted by the sight of Derek.

"Derek," Casey said, looking up with a smile. "I had the worst dream."