So, your reviews made me happy. So I bring to you, Chapter Twelve!

"How about we go to dinner with my mom and Lizzie?" Casey suggested when she plopped down on top of Derek.

It had only been three days since he admitted to her about wanting to be with her and they were pretty much inseparable. Every time she walked to another part of her apartment, he would always call her back just to see her face or to say something cute to her.

He let out a groan when she landed on him. He had been watching TV and now, with a gorgeous brunette lying on top of him, he was distracted.

"Dinner?" He asked.

"Yeah, my mom called me earlier and asked if I wanted to come."

"I see a small problem with that," her brows furred together, "she invited you, not me."

"Well, I have a small problem with that." She said to him, "You're my boyfriend now so when I get invited to go somewhere, you get to go." He looked at her pointedly, "Except when Lisa and I have our girl day."

He smirked.

"Please?" She asked him.

"Fine," he said giving in to her cute plead. "But only because I really, really like you."

She smiled at him and kissed him.

"I really like you too."

She kissed him again.

Yeah, she liked this.

XxX

Derek had just tossed another shirt onto the floor of Casey's bedroom and he sighed.

"Derek, why aren't you ready?"

"I have nothing nice to wear."

"Derek,"

"No, Case, I wanna look nice for this dinner."

"It's my mother; you don't have to impress her."

Derek sighed again and fell back on her bed. Even though she was right, Derek still felt the need to look perfect that night, to show her mother that he had changed and that he was worth being with. He knew Casey was going to tell her mom that they were together and he wasn't sure what to expect. He didn't know if she was going to be happy about it, or if she was going to convince Casey to leave him because she could do so much better than him.

"I know, but I wanna look nice tonight and I don't think I know how to."

"Just wear jeans and that one polo I saw stuffed in your bag."

And sure enough, Casey was right yet again. It was a simple dark green polo, nothing too fancy. And with a pair of dark blue jeans, he looked very presentable. And Casey, my god, Derek thought she looked amazing. And all she was wearing was tight jeans and a blouse.

"Ready?" She asked him after she stepped into her heels.

"No." He said honestly.

"You'll be fine."

--

They walked hand in hand to into the restaurant and before they walked in, Derek pulled her aside and kissed her deeply.

"What was that for?"

"Uhm…I'm not really sure."

"Derek, honey, you'll be fine."

She saw that he was still freaking out a little bit and she sighed.

"Would you rather me not tell my mom about us?" She asked him.

"What?" He asked with a light chuckle. "I…I'm sorry, Casey."

"Derek,"

"No, as much as I wanna stand on top of a car and scream that you're my girlfriend now, can we wait?"

She looked at him, his eyes pleading with her to say that she would wait to tell her mom and she nodded.

"Okay," she agreed.

He smiled and pulled her into a hug. She gave him a small peck and then they walked in.

There, they saw Nora, Lizzie and Edwin?

Why was he in New York? More importantly, did his dad know he was there? Derek and Casey walked over to the table and Edwin didn't even look at Derek.

"Derek, what a surprise," Nora said, "I didn't know you were coming."

"Casey said I should tag along."

Edwin didn't look up or anything, but he listened to how Derek responded to their ex-step mother and noticed that he wasn't rude nor was his voice slurred at all. But just because Derek sounded like he was sober didn't mean that he was going to look up at his brother. Ever since Derek started using, Edwin stayed as far away from his as possible. He wasn't about to just forgive and forget just like that. Sure he didn't have anymore physical scars, he still had emotional ones. And they were all from Derek.

"Hey Ed," Derek said to him.

"Hey," was all he could muster back to his brother.

Derek hung his head slightly, disappointed in himself for letting his urges control his relationship with his brother. Derek was positive that no matter how many weeks, months, years, he was clean; Edwin would never look at him the same way again.

--

Dinner was pretty awkward for Derek. His brother was there and he didn't even look at him. After Edwin's short, bitter greeting to him, Derek said nothing to him. In fact, he hardly spoke during dinner.

And finally, when Casey and Lizzie went to the ladies room, a mystery unknown to Derek as to why females always go together, and Nora left to pay the tab, Derek and Edwin were left at the table. Derek couldn't help but think it was all planned during the dinner.

"You look good, Ed," Derek said to him, trying to break the ice.

Edwin looked at him briefly, "Thanks."

Derek sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Look, Edwin, I'm sorry for the way I treated you in the past. I'm not like that anymore."

Edwin snorted.

"When Dad sent me here I was pissed, I wanted nothing more than to just stay out all night and get high." He said to him, "Believe it or not, I've been clean for about two months."

"When pigs fly," Edwin muttered.

"It kills me that you hate me this much but it kills me more that I made you hate me this much." Derek sighed tiredly, "I really am sorry though, and I've changed."

Derek felt that nothing more needed to be said. He simply sat there and waited for Casey to come back so they could leave. And to say he was shocked to hear Edwin speak again would be an understatement.

"Marti misses you." Edwin said to him, "She cries sometimes because you're not home."

"I'm coming home at the end of summer."

"Which Derek?" Edwin asked.

"The one right in front of you,"

"That's good then, because…uh…I really want my brother back."

And with those words being said, he had yet another reason to change and to stay that way.

XxX

She was lifting a small amount of weights, well actually, she was trying to considering that Derek was sitting right behind her, kissing the base of her neck.

"Derek,"

"I'm not doing anything, I'm spotting you."

"I don't need to be spotted."

"I'll be the judge of that." He said before he placed another kiss on her neck.

Casey sighed and put the weights back down. She looked at her trainer who could be considered a Kendra double.

"Isn't there some kindof rule that your boyfriends aren't allowed to distract you while you're lifting weights."

"Hey, I'm just your trainer." She said to them, "I think it's cute."

Derek smirked. When Casey looked back at him, he wiggled his brows suggestively. She snorted and he pulled her back against his chest.

Derek did eventually let Casey finish working out, while he totally checked out her body, and when they were all finished for the day, the walked home hand in hand.

--

Now he couldn't remember the last time he took a bath but when he got to Casey's, he took one. And Casey was right. Bath's really did make your body relax. But he would never tell anyone that he enjoyed taking a bath.

After a few minutes of sitting in the tub, the door opened and Casey was standing there.

"How's the bath?" She asked him.

"Surprisingly relaxing," he sighed out. "Care to join me?"

She looked at him before she walked in.

"Close your eyes."

"What?"

"Close your eyes." She repeated.

Derek sighed and closed his eyes. He hardly heard noise around him and then he felt her body against his. He was surprised that she even joined him. Of course they had never seen each other completely deprived of clothing before so this was completely different for him. Not that he had a problem with seeing naked girls before, he's seen a lot, but he had never seen Casey, and since she had him close his eyes, he still hadn't seen Casey.

"You can open your eyes now."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Do you think if I wasn't so much of an ass hole, we could have had this sooner?" Derek asked.

"I don't know, maybe and watch your hands."

He smirked and moved his hands away.

Yeah, he liked this.

XxX

Derek was sitting on the couch, waiting for Casey to come home from her girl day. He needed to talk to her. His dad had called him again and asked him to come home, again.

Derek didn't understand. His dad sent him away because he didn't want to see all the pain he caused him, he sent him away because he didn't want to help him, he sent him away because he didn't want to do anything for him. And now he wanted him to come home? After a year of acting out in his own way, his dad still hadn't figured out why. Why he was so angry all the time, why he didn't want to get involved with his family more, why he was numbing the pain all the time. And what Derek wanted to tell him now was that the pain was gone. He didn't need to drown himself in white powder anymore; he didn't need anything like that. All he needed was Casey and that's it. And he wasn't about to let his dad take her away from him again. That was one reason why he wanted to change; he wanted to prove to his dad that he was actually worth something.

There was Edwin. Derek spoke to his brother for the first time since their dads divorce. Even though it wasn't a full on conversation, it was still a start. When Edwin told him that he wanted his brother back, it hurt. It made him feel guilty for not being the big brother that he was supposed to be. And when he mentioned that Marti missed him, he wanted to break. The last time he came home, she ran away from him and hid. She was afraid of him. Another reason, it tore him up inside to know this his Smarti was afraid of him.

And finally there was Casey. The girl who despised him back in high school, the one who wanted nothing more than to be as far away as she could. And now, she was the one who stuck by his side and put up with all his crap. She was there for him when he was going through all his withdrawal symptoms, everything. He had no idea where he would be if she hadn't bitten the bullet for him.

His thoughts were interrupted by the front door opening. He looked and in came in beautiful girlfriend. He got up and smirked.

"Hi," she smiled at him.

"Hey,"

She gave him an intimate hug and a soft kiss. When she looked at him, she sensed that something was bothering him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just need to tell you something."

"Okay, because I have something to tell you too. Well, it's more of a suggestion but, go ahead."

He took a hold of her hand and led her to the couch.

"Okay, I was thinking, since I'm gonna be going back home soon, I could go to school and when I graduate, I can come back to be here, with you."

"You wanna go to school?" She asked him and he nodded, "That's great."

"I was hoping you'd say that." He smiled, "What were you gonna tell me, or suggest."

"Well, what if you didn't go home, what if you stayed here with me."

Derek looked at Casey and had no idea what to say. He just thought about going back to school to start to get his life back on track again and she just asked him to not go home. Did she just subtly as him to move in?

Not too drama filled, I thought I needed to ease up a little. But there will be more drama with Ben and the explanation as to how he knows about Derek's drug problem. Enjoy!