AN/ HERE IT GOES! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR LOVELY REVIEWS!

It was a short kiss, and it was so wrong. Casey felt Derek's grip on her arms loosen. She wrenched her arms away and pushed Derek off of her. "Shit." She said for the third time that day "shit…" She sat up quickly avoiding Derek's eyes, picked up her purse, and exited the car.

She walked quickly to the back door, and leaned against the doorframe with a sigh. She slowed her breathing, fixed her mussed dress and reapplied her lip-gloss. She walked into the living room with a fake smile plastered over her face. George and her mom were fast asleep on the couch, her mom leaning against George's chest with a contented smile. Casey turned off the T.V. and quietly pulled a blanket over the two. She sighed again and kissed the top of her mom's head. "I'm sorry mom," she whispered to herself before making her way up the stairs.

Derek stood in the shadows of the living room doorway watching this interaction. He watched as she shuffled her way up the stairs. Once she was gone he sat in his recliner next to 'the parents.' Was it really so wrong? He was just caught up in the moment after all. It wouldn't turn into anything more. Besides, there was that step before the sister. He sighed quietly. What was he doing? The Derek Venturi does NOT sigh, especially over a girl. Especially over his stepsister. He emptied his mind, and for some reason pictured Casey telling him that emptying his mind shouldn't be that hard of a task for him. He smirked to himself, and then shook himself again. 'Man up Venturi' he thought to himself. He left his recliner and made his way up the stairs. He passed Casey's slightly opened door and was worried to find that she wasn't in her room. He heard the tap run, and felt comforted.

What was going on? Worried that Casey wasn't in bed? Checking on her? He never cared before. And kissing wasn't unusual for him, so why would this suddenly change everything?

In the bathroom Casey was washing her face for the hundredth time. The faint blush in her cheeks didn't seem to be going away, and every time she pictured that brown-haired jerk it returned in an even darker shade. She gripped the edge of the sink and pressed her forehead against the mirror. What was she doing? It's not like she'd ever let that happen again, and there were no feelings attached, so it shouldn't have such an enormous effect. She turned away from the mirror and began pacing.

But Casey? Kissing without any feelings attached? That was nothing like her! Then again, she wasn't the one who initiated the kiss, and she pulled away. But did she make the first move? No, of course not. But suddenly she couldn't remember the events leading up to that moment. All she could remember was the feeling of his warm lips against hers, and the spark that had shot up her spine. 'Oh great' she thought to herself, catching her reflection in the mirror. She bent over the sink and turned the tap on.

--

The next morning Derek woke up to the smell of pancakes. He stretched out in his bed before rolling out ungracefully and opening his door. He passed Casey's door and suddenly the events of the night before came back to him. He suddenly lost his appetite and felt a bit nauseous. It was like a Casey hangover. He turned back around and unceremoniously dropped back into his bed. Just five more minutes he thought to himself.

Casey used the bathroom and washed her face. The feeling of cold water on her skin brought her back to the events she had been trying to forget that entire night. She turned off the tap, dried her face and left the bathroom. She heard Derek's door close and quickly made her way down the stairs. She sat across from Lizzie at the kitchen table and greeted everyone with a cheery 'good morning!'

Nora walked over to Casey with a stack of pancakes at hand. "Why Casey, you look flushed. Are you alright?" Casey muttered a yes and began picking at her pancakes. "And where were you and Derek last night? You missed curfew." Casey felt embarrassed and guilty. What would her mother think if she knew the exact reason for their being late?

"Oh, umm. We left a bit late, because I offered to help clean up." She offered, and Nora bought it.

"My guess is that Derek wasn't too happy about that?" Nora smiled.

How did Derek feel about last night's events? He surely didn't toss and turn all night replaying it in his head, thinking about what it all meant. "Yeah. He threatened to leave me there." She replied instead. Would he just leave it at that? Pretend it didn't happen? She sort of hoped he would, I mean, it didn't mean anything after all. "Oh the nerve!" said George joining the conversation. "Well it's only cause he didn't want to miss curfew." Casey defended. Why was she defending him? God, things really do change because of one simple kiss. But was it simple? And was it wrong?

He couldn't do it. He couldn't go back to sleep. He was determined to get just 5 more minutes, and though he told himself that he felt sick, his stomach had a mind of its own, and damn those pancakes smelled good. He couldn't lay there in his bed tormenting himself in this way, although he wasn't looking forward to the awkwardness he would be faced with in the kitchen. But those pancakes…

He'd do it. He'd risk it all and go downstairs. Knowing Casey, she would try and talk about it anyways, so why not get it out of the way. Ok, two more minutes and he was down there. He wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. Why was he perspiring?! ON HIS HANDS! Oh man, he was really not looking forward to the changes in their behavior towards each other. He opened his door and trudged slowly to the top of the stairs. He slowly made his way down, counting the steps as he went along. One, two, three, four…

"Smerek's up!" shrieked Marti from Derek's recliner. She was the only one who could get away with that. She jumped off the chair and crashed herself into Derek for a hug.

"Marti!" exclaimed Derek, picking her up off the ground. She was the only person who could make him feel better without trying. He swooped her up and down while walking to the kitchen making airplane noises. He dropped her on a stool and reached for the milk carton.

"Umm, Derek?" said a stern Nora, holding out a glass.

"Right." He responded, remembering last night with her daughter, his stepsister. Only then did he realize that Casey had been sitting at the end of the counter watching the entire display. He plopped down on the stool next to Marti and poured himself milk as Nora handed him a plate of pancakes. Marti had already proceeded to retell a detailed dream about bunnies. Derek listened half heartedly, watching Casey out of the corner of his eye. It was only slightly awkward.

Casey tuned out the second Marti said the word 'bunny,' and focused all her attention on the moving the strawberry slice around on her plate. Of course, she also took an occasional peek at Derek, who was sitting a seat away and devoting all of his attention to the pancakes on his plate. She looked down again. What was she doing? This was awkward! She quickly excused herself and ran up the stairs to her room.

Almost the entire day was spent this way. Both teens avoided each other at any cost, and found themselves taking occasional glances at one another. Ed and Lizzie noted a slight change, but the rest of the family remained blissfully oblivious. Dinner was called, and the two were forced to take their seats across from each other and act as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. And if the two believed what they were trying to tell themselves, it wouldn't be so hard, but at this rate…

"Lizzie, pass the peas?" Casey asked/demanded.

"But they're by Derek's elbow…" Lizzie replied, confused.

"Right," noted Casey "Edwin, pass the peas please?"

Edwin shot Lizzie a confused look, and nudged Derek. Derek grunted and handed the bowl to Edwin, who then handed it to Casey.

"Thank you." Casey said.

"Alright, what's going on?" asked Ed

"Nuffin," replied Derek with a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"De-REK!" protested Casey, "No need for anyone to be subjected to your chewed food!"

Derek was almost glad that they were back to their usual banter.

"Wha'?" he questioned, mashed potato oozing from his mouth "They were already mashed!"

Edwin sighed contentedly, Lizzie shrugged her shoulders, Nora rolled her eyes and George rested his face in his palms. Marti continued to find other words that rhymed with peas, please, sneeze, cheese, squeeze…

After dinner, the family decided to watch a movie together. Casey excused herself, claiming to have work and a headache from Derek's 'antics,' while the rest of the family took their places in front of the T.V. screen. As the opening credits to The Incredibles began, Derek found himself zoning out. He had expected a confrontation from Casey, she always wanted to talk. He had found himself alone with her on two separate occasions that day, and both times she had either excused herself or run off without giving any reason. Derek was confused and had seen this movie loads of times. He got off his recliner, and after warning Ed not to even think of sitting in it, went upstairs. He had meant to go straight to his room, listen to some music, go online or something, but for some reason found himself stopping in front of Casey's door. He knocked lightly and heard a faint 'come in.' He paused, was he REALLY doing this? He hated talking. And talking to Casey, about…well, what happened? He was having some serious issues. "I said come in!" he heard coming from the room. And before he could talk himself out of it, he found himself in Casey's room.

AN/ So there it is, haha, I miscounted chapter 4s reviews, my bad. But here, I'm posting sooner than I posted the other one. Hope you liked, I liked.

Sorry if you were expecting Dasey to the extreme after the kiss, but that would be unrealistic? :(

OMG, yesterday, my history teacher was talking about Canada and how we know nothing about it and don't study it in school, so I woke up. And like six seconds later someone brought up their family (don't ask) and she began talking about blended families and, and I was like, 'huh? You watch LWD too?' :)

Then she tried teaching us the Canadian national anthem. Strange woman.