Three:

Derek looked at his watch and sighed. Casey was late. If he didn't already know where she was and why she was a bit behind, he'd be a little worried, but lately it seemed like Derek was the responsible one in the relationship and Casey was always a little bit scatterbrained and in a hurry.

She had ranted to him all last night about this last minute work meeting, and how it was going to cut into their anniversary dinner, which she had been scrupulously planning since the last one—a month ago. Derek had smiled and nodded as they sat on the couch in front of the TV, more focused on the hockey game than on Casey, but when she sighed exasperatedly and looked at him with that adorable face of hers, he actually turned off the TV and listened to her full on.

Casey was surprised, to say the least, but she took it in stride and continued her rant. When they'd said goodbye that morning before heading their separate ways, she had reminded him of her meeting, kissed him quickly and walked out the door.

Derek looked up from his musings as he was hit with a blast of cold air and the restaurant door opened to reveal a bundled, frantic Casey. He smiled at the sight of her rosy cheeks and pink nose from the cold and marveled, not for the first time, how lucky he was to have her. His friends, when they'd visited a couple weeks ago had said as much, and Derek had really been noticing, even more than usual, how great his girlfriend really was.

In his quick reflection, Derek missed the look of worry on Casey's face as she apologized for being late.

"Babe, it's no big deal," he said soothingly. "You reminded me this morning so I knew you had a meeting. I was fine."

Casey looked puzzled for a moment then leaned over and kissed him.

"I had completely forgotten I told you. All I could think about was you sitting all alone in the restaurant, not knowing where I was!" she told him breathlessly, still out of breath from her quick walk from her building to the little place they were having dinner.

"Believe it or not, Case," Derek said, "I do actually listen to you. It may not seem like it sometimes, but I do listen."

She sighed. "I know you do, Derek. I just forget sometimes that we're together now and you've stopped tuning me out like you used to do when we were younger."

Derek looked at Casey and took her face in his hands. He looked her straight in the eyes and said, "Casey, I will always listen to you. I might not always agree or understand, but you are important to me, so what you say is important to me. If you care enough to share your life with me, the least I can do is care enough to remember what you say."

"Aww, Derek! That's so sweet. I love you." She kissed him.

"Happy anniversary, Case. I love you too"

A few weeks later, Derek and Casey were dressing for work, and Casey was struggling with finding something to wear. They were attending Emily and Sheldon's wedding that weekend, so all of their clothes were at the cleaners. Casey was literally contemplating going to work in Derek's clothes when she found a shirt hanging in the far back of her closet that matched her slacks and shoes perfectly. She took her clothes out of the closet so she could be with Derek in their bedroom and not alone in the closet, and laid the clothes on the bed.

Upon seeing what she planned to wear, Derek looked at her questioningly.

"What's wrong?" Casey asked him when she saw the look he was giving her.

"I just thought that you hated that shirt. That's why you always put it back in the closet after you wear it. You feel bad because my Dad got it for you so you don't want to throw it away, but whenever you wear it you come home complaining about it."

"That's silly, Derek. I don't even remember wearing this shirt ever, so I don't know why you think it looks bad on me!" she replied angrily.

Derek threw his hands in the air exasperatedly. "Give me a break, Case! You asked and I answered. Besides, I never said that you don't look good in it, you did!"

Casey huffed, finished getting dressed, grabbed her keys, and left, slamming the door behind her.

Derek rolled his eyes and sighed. Casey could be so dramatic sometimes. He had been pretty sure about that shirt, but he'd been wrong before so he thought he'd apologize when they got home and make it up to her with some flowers and dark chocolate.

Casey didn't even last that long. She showed up at the rink around lunch time, wearing a completely different shirt. She looked at him with a little pout and said quietly, "I'm sorry, Derek."

He couldn't stay mad at her, not when it was partly his fault anyway, and besides, he loved her too much.

"Oh, Case, it's fine. I just figured you were a little tired or I was wrong about the shirt."

She grimaced a little at that. "Nope, you were right. It's an awful shirt," she said. "I don't know what on earth George was thinking by buying that! I'm just amazed that you remembered that instead of me."

"What can I say," Derek said, grinning. "I'm observant, especially when it's about you. Guess I just remember more about your life than you do. It's probably because you're distracted by how good-looking your boyfriend is."

Casey scoffed.

Derek drew her closer to him, and said to her in a low, husky voice, "Or maybe I'm the one who's distracted."

Casey stood on her tiptoes and gave him a long, lingering kiss. She looked up at him and said, equally huskily, "Let's call it a draw," and then went back to kissing him.

That's generally how their disagreements ended; Casey kissing Derek when she was sorry, or Derek kissing Casey out of sheer need to get her to stop ranting at him. Whatever the reasoning behind it, it worked for them, and he couldn't get enough of it.

They say the first step in overcoming addiction is admitting you have a problem. For Derek, that was never going to happen, because loving Casey was no problem.