They had gotten there just before his flight was boarding. As much as it made him look like an ass, he wanted to hurry and get on the plane before Casey opened the flood gates. He cared about her, there was no doubt about that, but seeing her in tears was all he could handle.

They stood in front of the gates and he pulled her into a tight hug. He felt her body shaking with sobs and he held her tighter. Realizing the time, he pulled away a bit and kissed her deeply.

"I think I just changed my mind," he whispered.

"About what?"

"I wanna make it work."

She looked at him and he nodded. She kissed him again.

She really just wanted him to make up his mind and he did. And after a few more seconds of good byes, Derek was on the plane back home.

XxX

He had been waiting for his dad to pick him up. He had been waiting for an hour. Finally, he just decided to leave. He walked past a pay phone and stopped. He walked over to it and picked it up off the receiver. He had no idea who to call but he finally decided to call Sam.

He wasn't sure if he would ever speak to him but it was worth a shot.

It rang about three times before someone answered.

"Hello?" A deep voice asked.

"Sam?"

"Who is this?" He asked.

"If I tell you will you hang up?" Derek asked.

"Who is this?" Sam asked again.

"It's Derek."

There was a pause and he thought that he had hung up.

"What do you want Derek?"

"Look, I know we aren't friends anymore but I need a favor."

"Friends, you chose drugs over our friendship."

"I know. I'll admit that, but I would really appreciate this if you did this for me."

Sam sighed, "What?"

"I need a ride home."

--

Derek was sitting on a bench waiting for, hoping that Sam would actually pick him up. And to his surprise, he did.

"Get in," he said from his car window.

Derek got in his car and tossed his bag in the back.

"Thanks." Derek said to him.

"No problem," Sam replied awkwardly.

There was an awkward silence between them and Sam couldn't help but notice that Derek looked better than he last saw him. And he also picked up on his weight. He was bigger than he last saw him too.

Sam cleared his throat, "You look good."

"Thanks."

There was one more awkward silence.

"Look, I'm sorry."

"Derek, it's fine, it's just a ride."

"No, not that," Derek said. "I'm sorry for what I did to you and Ralph. I shouldn't have cut you out of my life when I needed you guys."

Sam said nothing.

"Now, I don't expect you to just up and forgive me like that but I do wanna be friends again."

Sam thought back to all the times they were friends, Scrappy and Sneaky. They did everything together. Picked up on girls, went to parties, had a band together, everything. He had to admit he missed Derek.

"Are you clean?" He asked him.

Derek looked at him.

"Yeah,"

It was true, sort of. He had been clean for about a week but it was a start. And it was going to stay that way. He just needed the help from someone else now.

"That's good." Sam nodded, "So why were in New York?"

"My dad sent me there because he couldn't- wouldn't deal with me. I can't really blame him; I wouldn't wanna deal with me either."

"Who did you stay with?"

"Well first Nora then Casey took over."

"Casey?"

"Yeah," Derek confirmed, "and she really kept her eye on me."

"So she cleaned you up?" Sam asked.

"Yeah,"

The silence became more comfortable and Derek sighed.

"How is she?" Sam asked.

"She's good. She's majoring in writing."

"That's cool." Sam said, "She seeing anyone?"

"Yeah," Derek said biting back a smile. "He's pretty cool."

Sam looked at Derek and saw that he was biting back a smile and smirked.

"So, when did you finally make a move?"

Derek looked at Sam with his brows furred together.

"Yeah, I know you had the hots for her. I'm not stupid."

"I don't know, a few weeks ago." Derek admitted.

"Did she flip out?" Sam asked with a chuckle. "I can see it now, her making a list and what not."

"Actually, she didn't. No freak outs, no lists, just…acceptance, I guess."

"So, what's going on with it now?"

"We're gonna try to make it work."

Sam pulled up to Derek's house and stopped.

"That's cool." Sam said.

Derek nodded and got out. He opened the back door and grabbed his bag. He looked through the open window and at Sam.

"Thanks Sam."

"No problem." Derek nodded and started for his house. "Derek," he turned, "Ralph and I are gonna go see a movie tomorrow. Wanna come?"

"Sure."

"See ya."

Derek watched Sam drive away before walking into his house.

Maybe things were going to get better faster than he expected. Maybe he was going to get his life back sooner than anticipated. And maybe, just maybe, he could sort things out with his family because Lord knows that he needed them right about now.

He opened the door to his house and saw Edwin with his laptop. He looked up and smiled a little.

"Derek, you're home." He said setting it aside.

Edwin got up and gave him a half hug.

"Glad you're back." Derek looked at him, "Serious."

Derek smirked and nodded.

"Where's dad?"

"Meeting,"

Derek nodded.

"Well, I'm gonna go unpack."

"Okay, let me know if you need anything."

Derek nodded once again and went to his room. He flipped on the light and looked around. It was just how he left it. As he continued to look around, he saw it. His left over stash. Obviously, his dad didn't bother to look in his room after he left.

"Ed!" Derek called to him.

Seconds later he came up.

"I need you to flush that." He said pointing to it on his desk.

Edwin did it without any question. Derek watched as he walked to the bathroom and he started to turn back to his room. As he turned, he spotted a little brunette peaking round the corner.

"Hey Marti."

Marti turned around and shut her door. Derek sighed and walked over to her door. He knocked and opened it.

There in the center of her bed, was his little sister. As he moved closer to her, she moved further away from him.

"Marti,"

"Are you gonna yell at daddy and fight with Edwin again?" She asked in a small voice.

Derek's heart broke a little. He shook his head.

"No, I'm not gonna do any of that ever again."

"Is my Smerek back?"

"He's always been here," his voice shook, "he's just been a little lost for a while."

Wordlessly, she crawled over to her brother and wrapped her little arms around his neck and hugged him.

"I really missed you Smerek."

"I missed you too Smarti, so much."

XxX

While Derek was fixing things with his family, Casey was going through her own pain of missing Derek. She knew he was going to choose home and it hurt. And when he told her that he changed his mind, it hurt more to think of her boyfriend being so far away. She was handling it pretty well though and she was surprised with herself. No only was she surprised that she was holding up, she was actually proud of herself that she was trying something new with Derek.

But she was still worried. Worried that he would relapse again and forget all about her. Until her phone rang. She grabbed it and answered.

"Guess whose home?" A voice said to her.

"Hey Derek,"

"Hey,"

"How was your flight?" She asked him.

"It was good," he said to her, "my dad didn't show up."

"How did you get home?" She asked.

"I called Sam."

"Sam? Wow, he came and got you?"

"Yeah,"

"And?" She pressed.

"We talked and it's getting better. He invited me to the movies with him and Ralph tomorrow."

"That's great, Derek."

And they talked for three hours before Casey had to get some sleep. School was going to be starting back up again and she needed to get back on track. And as she was walking out of her apartment to hail a cab, she saw Ben stumble out of the alley. She saw that his eyes were red and he looked completely lost.

"Casey, hey," he slurred.

"Ben, are you high?"

Ben laughed a little and nodded.

"A little bit."

"Derek was right," she muttered.

"Derek, Derek knows some good crank. And when he came to Johnny's house, we set him up so good too." He laughed as he walked away.

Casey watched her ex boyfriend walk away. Her thoughts were racing. Derek had been right all along. And she let Ben walk out of her life because now, she had someone else in her life who was better than him.

XxX

"God, I can't believe I was so stupid." Casey muttered to Lisa.

"I told you to dump his ass a long time ago."

"Yeah, but I didn't know he was doing drugs."

"You really didn't know about Derek." Lisa retorted.

"Are you bad mouthing my boyfriend?"

"No, just pointing out that you're dating a used to be junkie."

"But you and I both know Derek's changed."

Casey sighed.

She really hoped that he would stay clean while he was back home. And she knew that he would be tempted to because of his home life. But she had no idea it was getting better than the last time Derek told her about it.

Wow, I kindof like how this is going. :)!