Finally! Phewf! That took a jillion years.

Thank you to my AMAZING reviewers! I love hearing from people, it makes my whole day! Especially when sound effects are substituted for words! :)

Anyway, Happy October! It's raining like it's monsoon season or something already. It has made for excellent writing weather. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I still own nothing. And Christmas is two and a bit months away. Dear Santa...

Casey snatched her purse off of her passenger seat. She was late. It wasn't even a lateness that she could control, but it still made her panic as she clicked across the parking lot in heels. She hated being late.

Emily was at a small table, reading a book. Small headphone wires draped over the table and into her pocket. Casey handed a bill behind the counter and hurried over.

"I am so sorry," she gushed, pulling out a chair and sitting. "I got out ten minutes ago, and I thought we were getting out an hour before that, so my buffer time was gone," Casey trailed off, trying to gather her thoughts. Emily smiled as she wrapped up her headphones.

"Don't even worry about it," she said, waving a hand. "I am in the middle of a really good book so I was happy to have a moment to indulge."

Casey relaxed slightly, still feeling anxious that she was so late. The barista brought over her tea and took Emily's empty mug. Casey brushed her bangs out of her eyes and fixed her drink.

"You're rather dressed up today," Emily noted, nodding toward Casey's heels.

"What? Oh," Casey looked herself over. She'd kept on the smart, black pencil-skirt suit and the white blouse in addition to her heels. She plucked at her small pearl necklace; she had been going for professional and sophisticated. "Yeah, we were at court this morning and I didn't have time to run home and change."

"Court?" Emily arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah, just downtown," Casey nodded, sipping her tea, trying to sound relaxed. She hadn't meant to mention that. "Very time consuming. Like waiting for a license through MTO."

Emily laughed. "That would be a hard feat to accomplish," she chuckled, accepting another coffee from the server.

"How was your dress hunting?" Casey inquired, hastily changing the subject.

"Also a feat hard to accomplish," Emily smiled, stirring artificial sweetener into her mug. "My mother and I don't agree on anything, style-wise, and my grandmother hated waiting for me to try the different dresses on and would doze off every once in a while. It was all very exciting." Emily rolled her eyes.

"Any success?" Emily's smile brightened. She giggled a little bit and Casey grinned.

"Oh, the perfect success! My mother was tough to convince, but it is so beautiful. You have to come see it when it comes. I love it. It," she beamed, "it is so perfect."

"I'm so happy for you!" Emily's smiling was contagious. Casey giggled as Emily gushed and mimicked exactly how her dress looked and felt.

Finally, Emily sighed, still smiling brightly. She gave a little, happy shake of her shoulders and took a sip of coffee, looking directly at Casey. Casey's eyes widened in confusion at the weird gesture and she raised her eyebrows at Emily.

"Yes?"

"What was your dress like?" Emily asked in a rush, biting her bottom lip between her teeth. Casey sighed. They were back on her. Great. For a bride-to-be, Emily was remarkably interested in other people. Mainly Casey.

"Nothing like yours, Em," Casey told her, hoping that that would suffice as an answer and would get Emily to focus back on her own wedding.

"How so? What was it? Did it have straps? A really long train? Oh! Sequins? You always liked sparkly things in high school." Emily scooted closer to the table.

"It wasn't anything special," Casey insisted, waving her hand. Emily groaned.

"Caaaaseeeeeyyyy," she whined heavily. "Why are you so secretive? We've been over this. I will know everything, whether you tell me or not. I'll ask and poke and prod and annoy until I get why you cut me out."

"I didn't cut—" Casey started, but Emily plowed ahead.

"Because I told you every detail and thought we were going to be friends for the rest of our lives and then I find out I know nothing. Nothing! So, keep talking, missy; we're not done here."

Casey stared at Emily for a second; trying to gauge how serious her threat was about bringing it up to other people. If she were mad enough, she probably would carry that out, which Casey couldn't endure. Not now. Not again.

"Okay," Casey sighed, giving up, "Where were we?"

"Christmas. Yelling. Well, and kissing, apparently." Emily cocked an eyebrow at Casey with a little crooked smile.

"Okay," Casey said again. "Well, we were both still home for the holiday break, but we also were still both in school. We had a limited amount of time to spend together, so we got creative."

She huddled closer to Derek's side. It was snowing again, but she didn't care. He still wanted her. And he was here, holding her hand. He pressed his lips against her temple. He'd promised they would work something out. Anything she wanted, just so they could be together. Even though he was leaving again. Soon.

"What?" he asked, when she stiffened. She sniffed at the cold and shook her head. "Come on, Princess. What?"

"Why are you going back?"

"Back?"

"To New York."

"To New York," he repeated. "Because that's where my stuff is." He smiled at her. She pursed her lips. Sure, he could joke. She tried not to smile and pressed the issue. "That's where I have a job, Case," he reasoned. A job and a lot of people she didn't know. It wasn't like at school where they knew a couple of the same people; he was in a different country. Then she remembered something and sat up.

"Der?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you tell Truman that you've never dropped out?"

"Why are you worrying about that shit-head?"

"Don't use that word."

"It's just his personal adjective," he smirked, amused.

"Derek," Casey urged. He pushed a breath out.

"Fine," he looked at her, "Because I haven't."

"What are you talking about? I was there; I witnessed it; I watched you turn in your paperwork." He smirked at her again. "What?"

"You're just all-knowing, eh, Princess?"

"What do you mean?" she smacked his chest and his coat puffed air at his face.

"Okay! Remember Coach Brian?"

"Who?"

"My coach at Queens? Remember how he left about this time last season?"

"No," Casey said slowly, trying to draw relevance. For all she knew, the same man with his scrunched little face was still yelling at the hockey team, with or without Derek.

"Not the main guy, but the play coordinator?" Casey was not following him. She had no idea there was more than one coach. "Anyway, he had a paying position and wanted to know if I'd come down and help him run his first team. So, I did."

"What?"

"He offered me a job where he's teaching."

"How does you getting a job equal you not dropping out?"

"I transferred, Casey."

"What do you mean?"

"I transferred. I was able to get a bunch of my credits to count at the school down there and I already needed an extra semester, I figured I might as well take the whole fifth year."

"And you're getting paid?"

"Yeah, and since I work for the school, tuition isn't that bad."

Casey stared at him blankly for a second before flinging her arms around him, nearly knocking them both into the snow.

"You are so smart," she exclaimed into his cheek.

"I keep telling you but you never listen," he shook his head at her.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"That you weren't just dropping out? You let me yell at you."

"Yeah," he shrugged. "I dunno. I just had to make sure it wasn't too good to be true. I wanted it to work. I needed to prove to myself that I could make good decisions and things got," he made a flashing gesture with his fingers, "loud." She nodded, conceded to that. They were very good at being loud. Except right now.

They knew their time was fleeting . He had to leave, but Casey didn't want him to leave her. Even if he was leaving the country. They took to stealing moments together out of the house as often as they could, hoping no one was watching or wondering where they were.

"Wanna go in?" Derek asked, bumping her shoulder with his. "I'm freezing my ass off out here." She arched a brow at him. The wooded park they'd chosen today was mostly abandoned because of the snow and the wind. They had the place to themselves. They had given up on walking around and retired to a bench after nearly stepping on a very dead, mostly frozen squirrel. Nature.

"Yeah," Casey decided, rubbing her legs, "Let's go back. Your lips are purple."

"That's because you're doing a bad job of warming them up," he pouted. Casey rolled her eyes but leaned over and pushed her cold lips to his. Her stomach fluttered as his frozen fingers brushed her face and hair. He was enthusiastic and nearly pushed her down into the slush. She yelped and pulled away before she became a part of a snow bank. He smiled at her and pulled her to her feet before kissing her again, grinning against her mouth. She put her palms against his chest to steady herself as he moved back. He was smirking again.

"What?" Casey adjusted her hat. She knew that look. Derek shook his head, but his lips twitched. "What is it?" she whined.

"That's just how I know I'm doing a good job," he said, slinging his arm around her shoulders as they walked slowly out of the park.

"What is?"

"That noise."

"What noise?"

"That noise you just made."

"What?"

"That little sigh you gave me," he smiled; his entire face lighting up, "It means I am awesome." He was gloating; feeling extremely proud of himself. Casey shook her head, returning his smile.

"Yes, because one never sighs for any other reason." They neared the road back to their street.

"Not when one is kissing me! You don't have to be shy, Casey, I know the truth," he dramatized, moving away from her but taking her hand. "It's okay to be overwhelmed by my superior kissing skills. You just need practice. And I am willing to make that sacrifice. I am willing to devote my time to help you, the less fortunate, out."

"Gee, how generous and selfless you are," Casey deadpanned, holding in a smile.

"I'm a giver," he shrugged. He was ridiculous. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and walked more quickly towards the house. "Come, grasshopper," he called back to her, walking backward, "You can make sock balls while I pack."

Casey shook her head again, still sporting a wide smile. Right now, she didn't even care that he was leaving again. At least not yet. Four days. He was hers for four more days.

"And then he left," Casey sighed, wrapping her fingers around her cooling beverage.

"How did that go?"

"Better than it had the first time," Casey grinned, "We were actually speaking this time and we made an effort to keep talking, even if we didn't see each other."

"Did you get to visit each other?"

"Not really," Casey said, sitting up. "It was hard to align schedules, and I was focused on graduating. He had another year and a half to go in New York, so it was difficult."

"You guys did long distance?" Emily sounded unconvinced. "Derek. He did a long distance relationship? Voluntarily?" Casey laughed once.

"Yeah, it was almost natural."

"Natural? How? He fought me on going to my grandmother's for Thanksgiving when we were dating."

"I'm not sure. But it worked. I wasn't ready to give him up again and we never brought the subject up."

"How does that never come up?" Emily arched an eyebrow. Casey shrugged. She knew that she had purposely avoided the subject for fear that he might have thought of it as encouragement. That he might have found someone better for him than her.

"We wanted it to work so badly," she answered.

"So, did you go visit when you graduated? Did he come up?"

"His term was two weeks longer than mine, so he missed graduation. He sent flowers and a card that said he hoped I was allergic to them so I could be as miserable as he was that day." Emily made a face, a smile on her lips, but confused concern on the rest of her face.

"That's," she struggled for the proper words, "thoughtful? Sort of." Casey smile.

"I think it was his version of poetic. It was just very Derek. In a sweet-ish way."

"Did you go see him?"

"We had two weeks over the summer together, but that was it."

"Why only two weeks?"

"He started hockey and summer school and I was sent to training for my job. So, we clung to those two weeks."

"How did you manage to spend them together?"

"I said I was visiting my dad and Kelsey and whoever else I could think of. And he was just staying at school."

"Did you have to wait for him to get out of class?"

"No, a friend from work and I were moving together, so Morgan and I used that time to pack and ship and move."

"So," Emily wiggled her eyebrows at Casey. "What did you and Derek do?" Casey gave her a small smile.

"He took me around his campus, around the northern part of New York that is mostly like here. Not what I was expecting at all. And then we went into the city and walked around, trying to take everything in all at once."

"Just walked around?"

"We got to be a couple. We got to be dating without being anything else. Walking around New York holding his hand was one of the most freeing sensations I've ever had." Casey sighed. "It was us being whoever we wanted to be." Emily smiled at her.

Casey rubbed her eyes under her glasses. She was exhausted. Derek's friend was really very sweet to let them crash at his apartment; they're tour of Time Square and Broadway had taken longer than they had planned and Derek was not so sure they should brave the public transportation at eleven o'clock at night. Especially because he'd already yelled at someone on the subway for groping her. And threatened a couple of awkward gawkers.

She shook her head, smiling, and stretched. Derek was in the other room with Blake talking about something while Casey washed her face and brushed her teeth. She pulled her hair out of its band and it fell in a mess around her shoulders. She wished she had a comb. She pulled on a pair of leggings and let a shirt of Derek's fall over her shoulders. It looked more like a dress, but that didn't matter. She didn't have to impress anyone here.

Derek had claimed his spot in the room they were to share. Blake had offered them his spare room for the night, warning them that it would be a tight squeeze.

"Do you even fit?" Casey asked, as his limbs flopped over the sides of the single bed. She dug around in her bag when he merely responded with a grunt. His feet hung over the end of the mattress. She looked up at him, slightly amused. He pouted and kicked his feet, flipping over onto his back as he whined.

"This has to be the smallest bed in the entire country." He stopped moving and looked up at her, his face serious. "It's gonna be torture."

"I asked if you wanted to go home, Der," she reminded him. He stuck his bottom lip out at her and she rolled her eyes. "It's one night."

"Yeah," he agreed, sitting up. He watched her pull what she had been looking for out of her bag and started shaking his head the second he recognized it. "Nope, nope, nope, nope."

"What?"

"Nope, nope, don't even think about it."

"About what?"

"That thing. That's not coming into bed." He pointed at her fist. He meant her mouth guard.

"I need it, Der. I haven't worn it in four days!" Her dentist had told her to wear it every night, and she was already breaking that rule. She wanted to still have teeth when she was fifty.

"Yeah, there is a reason for that." He crossed his arms. "Me. I put up with a lot. But not that weird, mangy, plastic thing. You don't need it."

"Der-rek," she complained, "I'm supposed to wear it every night."

"Not with me you're not," he reasoned, reaching out for her.

"I grind my teeth when I'm stressed."

"Oh, do I know it," he smirked and snaked his hands around her waist. "You don't need to be stressed. You're on vacation." She smiled. That was true. She was on vacation. With him. For fourteen days. Two weeks to themselves.

"Fine." She dropped the bit of plastic back into its case on her bag. He smiled, too, his eyelashes closing prettily over his eyes as he leaned in to kiss her. She laced her arms around his neck, feeling utterly rooted to the floor. He pulled away, brushing her messy hair away from her eyes.

"Okay, Princess," he said, his voice low and soft. He tucked a few mangled curls behind her ear. "It's a good thing you're small, because single beds were not made for people like me." He pecked her on the cheek and slipped her glasses off her face. Casey laughed, climbing between the sheets, as Derek proceeded to stretch, as if he were preparing for an athletic event.

She pressed herself against the wall, trying to take up less room. She didn't care that it was a small, twin bed. They were there together. Sharing a room; sharing ninety-five centimeters of mattress space. And no one looked at them strangely. No one cared that they held hands or kissed in public or shared a single bed. He crawled in next to her and looped his arms around her so they would both fit. He kissed her cheek and nuzzled her ear with his nose. Her heart soared. He was being perfect. And they were together. Nothing else mattered.

"You guys are sweet," Emily muttered. "Sweet and boring." Casey laughed.

"We were busy. And not used to having time to ourselves. Anything we were going to have together had to happen in that two weeks. We were soaking up all we could of each other." Emily's lips curved into a smirk. "I was so addicted to that feeling of closeness and togetherness; I chased it and never wanted to be free of that thrill."

"Thrill, eh?"

"Yes. New York is thrilling. Anyway," Casey paused and waited for Emily to stop giggling. "Anyway, going back home was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I knew it would be hard to see him again, so I mourned him even though he was still perfectly alive. And close. He was so close to me in Kingston. He was closer than going home."

"So, did you visit him when you started working?"

"The first time I went back down to New York was when he had lived there a little over a year; around January or February. It was then I knew that if the day ever came when he didn't want me anymore, I would be very lost without him."

"Why? What happened?"

Casey threw her shoulder against the door. She was convinced Derek had given her a key that stuck on purpose. Which was rather rude, because, really, she could have dislocated her shoulder or something. And then he would have to take her to the emergency room. So, if he thought about it, he was just creating more of a hazard for himself.

She finally tumbled into his apartment and called out to him.

"I'm right here, Case," his voice came from his bedroom, "I'm here." He emerged and kissed her in greeting. "How's it going?"

"Your door hates me." She hung her coat on the hook she'd gotten him and forced him to put up. "Do you have some water or something? It was a long drive." She flopped onto his couch.

"Yeah, this commuting thing sucks." He walked over to the kitchen alcove and filled a glass with water.

"I know. I'm usually the one doing the commuting part."

"Not my fault you don't work weekends," he shrugged, handing her the glass. "And don't believe anything that door says, it's all vicious lies."

"God," she gasped, pulling away from the water to breathe. "That's better. Now I need a nap."Derek's eyebrows rose.

"You have me all to yourself and you want to take a nap?" She smiled.

"Yes. Did you drive three hours in the snow after working all day?"

"Even if I did, I would have driven it to be with you, not to sleep." He sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her. He nuzzled her cheek with his nose and it tickled. She squirmed to get away from him, giggling. He made her feel like a kid sometimes; more free than she usually allowed.

"Der-rek," she chided, batting at him. "You're giving me beard-burn." He pulled back and rubbed at his chin. Her hands joined his on his face, rubbing at the rough beginnings of a beard along his cheeks and jaw line.

"Yeah, I didn't shave yet. I was busy."

"Busy not shaving?" she quipped, smiling a little.

"No," he growled playfully at her, "cleaning. Because my girlfriend is a neat freak and would have killed me."

"She sounds quite reasonable and hygienic, even. You know-" Derek cut her off with a finger to her lips as he moved closer to her.

"Shhh, we have to be quite or she'll hear us. She should be here any minute," he whispered against her lips before closing the space between them. Casey rolled her eyes, but let herself be consumed in his kisses. This is why she drove for hours. Him. She didn't care that he was being ridiculous or that his fingers climbing up under her shirt were frozen. He had cleaned for her. And was here kissing her. He pushed her against the seat of the couch, looming over her, and they lost track of time.

"Hey," he said, gently pulling back. Her brain had gone slightly fuzzy, probably from oxygen deprivation, and she had to blink a couple of times to focus. Derek was smiling at her. "Steady," he cautioned.

"I'm fine," she reasoned, "What's up?"

"I'm glad you're here," his voice was soft. "It was a shitty week." Casey smiled hugely and pulled him down to kiss her again. He liked her a lot.

It was grey outside when they took a much needed break. They lay together on the sofa, panting a little.

"Hey, Case?"Derek breathed.

"Yeah?"Her voice was equally as soft.

"I think I love you." Her stomach flipped over.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, quickly kissing her again.

"You love me?"

"No?" His features were harder to make out in the dark, but she thought he looked slightly puzzled. Casey's heart had flopped all the way through the couch. He loved her. She couldn't stop grinning.

"You love me," she said again, less of a question. He smiled a little.

"So?"

"It's okay, I won't tell," she assured him, placing her hands on either side of his face.

"Oh, thanks," he mused, louder. Casey pulled him closer.

"I might love you, too," she breathed against his lips.

They kissed again, more enthusiastically. Until Derek's stomach rumbled. Casey laughed and pushed him gently away.

"Yeah," she agreed, "You should feed me, too." She shot him a sunny smile as he rolled his eyes and stomped to his kitchen.

"Who would have thought that he would be the first to say it," Emily mused, biting a nail. "It was pulling teeth to get that out of him." She smiled slightly and played with her ring. Casey watched her from across the table. "Not that I knew what that meant in high school, it was just what you were supposed to say to each other." Emily put her elbows on the table. "How did no one notice that you'd sneak off to New York on weekends?"

"I didn't go every weekend," Casey explained. "It wasn't plausible for me to be driving that much, and Derek wasn't always free. We were both working."

"Okay, but how did no one notice?"

"I wasn't being monitored or anything, I was an adult. I was free to do as I pleased. It made it harder to go home after, though. I was so elated to be with him that leaving got harder and harder."

"Wouldn't your mooning love-sickness have tipped people off?"

"Oh, people in my office knew about Derek. They understood the distance thing and were very kind."

"It still must have been rough going back to work."

"Only a little. I was actually commended for having a great balance between my work and my personal life."

"Yeah, a weird, lopsided balance," Emily was looking at her like she was a lost puppy. Casey smiled. That was exactly how she had felt. Like a small, lost animal.

"But it was something I had the freedom to choose, all the same. And we worked hard; we wanted to stay together. I kept thinking of it as a loan; if the expiration date came close, more borrowing would push back the inevitable due date."

"You still thought you were going to expire?"

"I was very convinced that he was going to realize that he could do so much better than bickering with me.

"Why? He loved you."

"And I loved him. But I was young, I was twenty-two. Nothing lasted forever. Love wasn't something tangible or something measurable. I couldn't put numbers to it and calculate it; there was no right answer, so I wasn't willing to rely solely on that. I didn't think we had any sort of permanence in each other's long-term future.""

"So, what happened?"

"Derek thought differently."

Boys always see it differently. Any guesses as to what's different? 1,000 points to the best answer!

Anyone else have that feeling where something might be too good to be true?

P.S. The giant thing down here is so handy for reviews, no? :)