Disclaimer: I do NOT own LWD. Sadly.

A/N: So, this is the last chapter! I hope you like it! Please enjoy my pretties!

Before going to school, Derek stopped his dad in the kitchen when he was getting coffee. "Dad, we need to talk," he said. His dad looked at him a little shocked. They had made a habit of not talking to each other much.

"Um, sure Derek, lets set at the table," George led the way for him and his son to sit down, "so what are you wanting to talk about?"

"I get that you miss Casey, we all do, but you and Nora are the parents here. You're not helping keep things normal for Marti, or helping Lizzie and Edwin grieve properly," Derek told his dad. He had never been one to tell his dad how to parent, but he had to intervene, "Edwin is being a jerk, and Lizzie has no motivation for anything, do you know how strange that is?"

"I know Derek," George stared into his coffee cup, you could see the guilt on his face, "It's just been so hard, and we really do appreciate what you have been doing the past few days with Marti."

"I know Dad, I'm justing doing what I know has to be done. I miss Casey so much, and I just haven't even had time to really take it all in, I've just been acting like the parent lately."

"Don't worry Derek, I'll start doing more. I know you want things to go back to normal, but that will never happen. Casey isn't going to come back, we just have to learn to live with it," George told his son.

"I know that, but she wouldn't want us to all be sad like this, you know that. We have to be happy, we just have to," Derek was in tears, George hadn't seen his son cry in years and he hated seeing it now. Nobody wants to see their child in pain, especially not over losing a sibling, a love, a family member.

"I know we do Der, we're trying our best, we have to take it one day at a time," George was in tears now, the two men were hugging each other.

"What's going on?" Nora had come into the kitchen. She looked rough, you could tell her hair hadn't been brushed in days, she hadn't changed cloths, and hadn't had a wink of sleep.

"Nothing, we were just talking," George let go of his son and stood up to embrace his wife.

"Okay," Nora leaned on her husband for support. She was physically weak. She hadn't ate much, she couldn't bring herself to.

"Come on, lets get some food in you," George said as Derek left the kitchen.

Derek finished getting Marti ready and off to school. Next he set in on Edwin and Lizzie. He knew they had to go to school, when they complained he got his dad on his side. Surprisingly Nora even told them they had to go. She looked like she had finally had a shower and ate something, and her hair wasn't a rat's nest.

"We can do this," Nora whispered to him as he grabbed some Pop Tarts.

"I know, we have an amazing family, this is what she would have wanted," Derek told her right before he left for school.

After the everyone was home that evening Nora announced that she was going to make dinner, Casey's favorite in honor of her. A silent tear fell down Derek's face, and a not so silent few fell from Edwin's. The family sat together and had a nice dinner. Nora and George encouraged talk about their day. Derek thought that maybe his family could get through this.

As the days went by and turned into weeks the family's eyes drifted off to Casey's empty chair less and less during dinner. Everyone started to seem much happier, and Derek knew that it was how Casey would have wanted. She would want her family to go on and be happy.

On the four month anniversary of her death Derek decided to take some time alone in his room. He didn't have his music on, he wasn't playing his music or messing with his hockey stick. He was just sitting there, looking at some old pictures he had of her. He missed her so much.

"Derek," he heard a voice whisper his name.

"Who's there?" he asked, even though he recognized the voice. He didn't believe it.

"You know who I am," he saw a glowing white figure appear in front of him, it couldn't be. He didn't believe in ghosts.

"Case," he stared in amazement.

"Yes it's me, no I'm not a ghost, I'm a...well, it's hard to explain. But I came to tell you thank you."

"For what?"

"Taking care of the family, I knew you could do it," she gave him that smile that he missed so much.

"I did it for you."

"I know."

"Is this real?"

"Of course, and there's one more thing I want to tell you," she said.

"What?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

A/N: So did you like the way I ended it? Please review and let me know!

-Domi