Chapter Three:

Casey stifled a yawn as she descended the steps that led to the first floor of the house. Glancing at the clock and seeing that it was only a little past six, she guessed that no one else would be up yet. But a sound rang from the kitchen, proving her assumption wrong. She sighed audibly; disappointed that she would have to talk with someone this early in the morning.

Hesitantly Casey started to push open the swinging door that led to the kitchen. To her surprise, and delight, Derek stood at the other end of the room pouring himself a cup of coffee.

A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth and she quietly walked over to him and wrapper her arms around his waist. "Good morning," she whispered.

Derek, who had obviously not heard her come in, jumped slightly at her contact. Then he turned around, returning her smile. "Good morning." He leaned down slowly and kissed her forehead.

"What are you doing up this early? Back at home you didn't get up before nine unless you had to," Casey said, her expression showing her amusement. She remembered all the times she had to go into their bedroom and practically drag her husband out of bed.

Derek pulled her closer and leaned his forehead against hers. "Well, I'm pretty sure that no one else will be getting up this early, so I thought that it'd give us some time together before we start pulling our façade."

Casey playfully slapped his arm and moved out of his embrace to get herself a mug. "Some things never change."

Derek frowned, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I can tell that deep down there's still some of your old mischievous ways." She studied Derek's face and then laughed slightly. "Don't worry, Derek, right now it comes in handy." Casey leaned towards him and gave him a soft kiss, before pouring herself some of the coffee that he had made. "Are you going to make me breakfast too?"

"If you'll be satisfied with eggs. You know that's the only thing I can make."

Casey's smile widened. "Eggs are fine." She turned towards the door and started to push it open. "I'm going to go brush my hair. I'll be right back." She waited for Derek's nod and then left the room.

When she returned, Derek was sliding the eggs onto two plates and pouring two cups of orange juice. "Wow, that was fast."

Derek raised an eyebrow at her and looked at the clock. "Not that fast. You've been brushing your hair for over fifteen minutes," he informed her.

She immediately saw the amusement in Derek's eyes and smiled, shaking her head. "You guys will never understand. It only takes you like five seconds to brush yours."

She sat down at the table and Derek placed her plate in front of her. The smile on her face disappeared instantly as she felt a wave of nausea hit her.

Jumping from the table, Casey ran out the kitchen door and up the stairs to the bathroom. She made it there just in time to lose all of the food she had eaten in the last twenty-four hours.

Hearing a noise at the door, she looked up expecting to see Derek, but instead her mother stood there, a yawn escaping her lips.

"Honey, are you okay?" she asked, worry evident in her voice.

Casey nodded slowly. "I think so. My stomach just feels a bit upset."

Nora walked over to her daughter and patted her shoulder. "I hope you don't have the flu. That wouldn't make this a very enjoyable vacation."

Casey nodded again, this time agreeing with her mom. She was about to reply, but she heard more noise at the door and noticed Derek standing awkwardly right outside the bathroom.

"I, uh….I heard something and wondered what was going on," he lied, giving Casey a worried glance, unseen by Nora.

"Everything's fine, Derek, Casey just has an upset stomach." Nora turned back to Casey. "Maybe you should go lie down."

"I will," Casey promised. "Why don't you go back to bed before George comes to see what's wrong too."

Nora smiled in understanding and exited the bathroom.

Casey waited to hear the latch of their bedroom door click and then looked over at Derek. "Sorry about my impromptu exit. I didn't really find it appropriate to puke all over the nice breakfast you made me," she whispered, attempting to smile, but failing miserably.

Her humor didn't fool Derek either. "Are you okay?"

Casey was about to reply that she was fine, but was interrupted when more nausea hit her. She turned back to the toilet and cringed as she lost even more of her most recent meals. "I don't know what's wrong," she finally said, her voice quiet. "I felt fine when I got up."

Derek touched her shoulder. "Get some more rest, I'm sure it's nothing."

"Okay." She brushed her thumb across his cheek. "Sorry I couldn't eat the eggs you made me."

Derek lifted one corner of his mouth in a half smile. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure that I'll be able to eat both of our portions."

This brought a smile to Casey's face and she nodded. "I'm sure you can." She stepped past him and entered her bedroom. The bed looked all too welcoming and she collapsed onto it with a sigh. She already had to worry about being married and now she had to deal with being sick. Why was everything attacking her at once?

Waking a couple hours later, Casey instinctively reached out for Derek, but found the other side of the bed empty. Sighing, she slowly sat up, a yawn escaping her lips. She brought a hand up to cover her mouth and noticed her ring less finger for the thousandth time since they had come on this trip. If she looked real close at the designated finger, she could see the outline of where her ring had rested since she had said "I do." Casey smiled at the memory of her wedding. It had been one of the happiest moments of her life. Now, though, she felt lost. She knew deep down that they shouldn't be hiding their marriage from their parents, but what were they supposed to do? If they did tell her mother and George, she had a feeling that they wouldn't be taking it very well. But she felt as though she had to tell someone. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she considered the people she could tell. Emily. No, she didn't think her friend would like the idea any more than her parents had. After all, she had had a crush on Derek since before Casey's mom had married Derek's dad. And how could she tell Emily that she had married the guy that she used to despise? No, that just wouldn't work. The next name that came to mind was Lizzie. She had told her younger sister almost everything when they were younger. Surely she could trust her with this one.

A knock on the door echoed through the room, causing Casey to jerk in surprise. "Uh…come in," she called quickly.

The door opened and Lizzie appeared. "Hey, Case," she greeted. "Mom told me that you weren't feeling well this morning."

Casey patted the empty spot on the bed and Lizzie sat down next to her. "Yeah, I'm hoping I don't have a bug."

A sympathetic smile crossed the younger sister's face. "That wouldn't be too great. I mean, you already have to spend all this time with Derek. The flu would be the last thing you would want right now."

Casey hesitated. Should she tell her sister how much things had changed since she and Derek had moved away to college? "Uh…actually I wanted to tell you something." She paused uncertainly. "It's about me and Derek."

The bedroom door swung open suddenly. "Lizzie, breakfast is ready," Edwin said.

"I'll be there in a minute." Lizzie waved her hand at him as if to shoo away a fly.

Marty brushed past her older brother and hurried over to Lizzie, grabbing her hand. "Come see the breakfast that I helped Nora with."

"Give me and Casey one more minute."

"No, I want you to come now," Marty whined, tugging Lizzie by the arm.

Casey shook her head. Even thought Marty was getting older she still had the same old whine. She quietly wondered if anyone would ever do something about it before it turned into something bigger.

Lizzie stood and stepped in the direction of the door. She glanced over her shoulder at Casey, curiosity showing in her eyes. "Later?"

Casey nodded. "Later."

When her three siblings had emptied the room and closed the door, Casey was alone again. She had been so close to telling Lizzie and now she knew that she couldn't change her mind. The last look that her sister had given her had told her that. But would Lizzie understand the way that she felt about Derek? It had only been eight months since the last time that her family had seen them, yet pretty much everything about the two oldest children had changed, including their feelings towards each other. Casey couldn't help but feel that when the truth finally was revealed that everyone would think her and Derek's relationship was just a big joke. How would they convince them otherwise?

It's been WAY, WAY too long since I've updated this!! Sorry everyone!! I want to give a thank you to nikkiAZTS for the PM that got me to write this chapter. I've been having really bad writer's block for this, so it's always nice when fans send encouraging PMs to me!! Thanks again, nikkiAZTS!!

PLEASE REVIEW(again encouragement is a lot of help)!!

LanaLang79