THE NEXT MORNING:
"Rachel, for God's sake, shut up!" Derek said angrily as Rachel continued to chat. Hurt, she stopped talking. Shelby rolled her eyes.
"Rachel, ignore Wills. He stayed up late last night drinking." Shelby said, shooting Derek a small guilty grin. Derek rolled his eyes.
"And who was giving me the alcohol, Shelby?" Derek asked sarcastically. Shelby laughed, and Rachel raised an eyebrow.
"I'm still not used to you being close with a guy." Rachel told her mother. Shelby grinned at Rachel.
"Yeah, well, can you believe that I dated Jesse before you did?" Shelby asked. Rachel made a face.
"Ew. I made out with a guy you slept with? Oh, God, Mom." Rachel said and wandered to the opposite side of the room. Shelby winked at Derek and added in a loud voice "Oh, and I made out with Will!" Rachel screamed dramatically and rushed from the room. Laughing, Shelby high-fived her ex. He was grinning widely.
"Wow, Derek. First time I've seen you grin in almost twenty years!" Tom walked into the room. Shelby got up and hugged him.
"How've you been, girl?" Sam asks and hugged Shelby. Sam had followed Tom into the room. Shelby laughed and kissed Sam's cheek.
"Oh, God. Life's good. Sarah's bringing Beth in a couple minutes, and she'd love to meet you guys." Shelby added, with small glance at Derek and Tom. The two nodded.
"Okay, now I heard about your fight, and I seem to be the only one able to do this. Shake hands, and promise with scouts honor, yes both of you were boy scouts, I'm not an idiot, that you will stop this fight and become the best friends you were before. That was probably the best relationship I've ever seen between a gay and a homophobe I've seen, and I mean no offence." Shelby grinned at the two. They reluctantly looked at each other.
"She does have a point." Derek said as he reached out. Tom silently took his hand and shook it. Then the two men stood and put their right hands over their chests.
"I swear that we will never fight without good reason again. Good reasons include girls- hmm, Shelby- family or Lyle West." The two said in unison after a moment's discussion in hushed tones. The two exchanged grins and glanced at Shelby as she rolled her eyes but gave them a small grin.
"You two are such idiots, honestly." Shelby said and was about to storm out overdramatically when a friend entered.
"Scott. If that is you, I swear, you've grown a foot since I last saw you." Shelby said as she almost bumped into Scott. He grinned.
"I'd say you shrunk, but you'd kill me." Scott responded easily. Karen scoffed at Shelby. How many people did this woman know? Anyways, since that night, things had been awkward between Karen and Derek, so they'd mostly avoided each other, but things were slowly leading back to where they'd been beforehand.
"Damn right I'd kill you." Shelby responded as the doors opened again.
"Momma!" The blonde toddler flew into Shelby's arms. Follwoing the toddler was a tall woman who looked a bit like Shelby (Stephanie J. Block).
"Thanks again for watching the angel last night." Shelby said. Sarah wrinkled her nose.
"Angel? You mean the devil?" Sarah responded with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Oh, Hi, Derek. Didn't see you. I'm hoping you and Shelby made up, otherwise I have to go kill myself." Sarah continued, oblivious to Derek and Tom's eye rolls, and Scott, Julia and Karen's raised eyebrows. Shelby smiled as she kicked her sister.
"Ow! Okay, Shel, I'm leaving. I'm gone." Sarah grinned at her sister as she left.
"Shelby, we need to have another fight so that your sister kills hersef." Derek said, earning a high-five from Tom and a smack from Shelby.
"Derek, can I talk to you?" Karen asked and motioned to the door. Derek nodded and left with Karen. Immediately, Scott, Shelby, Tom and Julia raced to get the best spots to listening at the door.
"Derek?" Karen asked softly, as Derek looked anywhere but at her. Slowly, his eyes met hers.
"I'm sorry for running off on you last night," Karen said. Derek gave her a small smile.
"My fault, don't apologize." Derek responded. Karen smiled shyly and nodded.
"I just. You know that I'm not very good at choosing guys and I've had my heart broken one to many times for my liking." Karen said, watching Derek closely.
"And you have every reason to be suspicious of me." Derek agreed. Karen smiled and nodded unhappily.
"Karen. I understand completely, I promise. All I want is a chance. Listen, I have an idea. We'll try this. We'll go slowly, and discuss everything, we'll be completely honest with each other. If I ever hurt you, I promise you. I will disappear. I own an island in the Bahamas. I'll move there, with the billion dollars I have and you'll never see or hear from me again." Derek said. Only by looking into his eyes, could Karen tell he was sincere.
"You'd leave everything behind for my comfort?" Karen asked. Derek nodded.
"I'd bloody jump off a bridge if you wanted." Derek said with a small grin, and got the laugh he wanted.
"I guess we can try it." Karen said. Derek grinned and opened his phone. He speed dialed number two.
"Ivy. Listen, I got together with Karen. Yeah, I guess. Bug her about preparing a wedding, not me. Acutally, bug Tom. Tom's already shotgunned it." Derek hung up. Karen and Derek grined sheepishly at each other. Shelby poked her head out of the door and yelled "About freaking time!" and ran back into the room and Derek growled and lunged after his ex. Laughing, Karen joined the others who all grined and high-fived her.
"You got Derek to promise eternal chastity. That is impressive." Scott said, earning a death glare from Derek and Karen and a laugh from Julia.
"One condition. Derek, if we're getting together, Julia and Scott need to go out as well." Karen said, laughing. Derek grinned as well. Julia turned the color of her hair and Scott looked bashful.
"Guys!" Rachel ran into the room looking really happy. Shelby raised an eyebrow, and Karen imitated her.
"What is it, Rachel?" They said in unison, in the exact same weary tone. Shelby looked at the actress, amused.
"Jinx." Karen said calmly. Shelby opened her mouth before snapping it closed angrily. Karen high-fived Derek as the door snapped oopen and three people walked in calmly.
"Ana Vargas, bitch exrtaodinaire in the house." Ana said, tossing her short black hair over her shoulder. Jimmy followed with a grin, and Jesse followed. Shelby gasped as the two lined up next to the other showing off the fact they were identical.
"You two are related?" Karen asked. Jesse noded.
"His little brother." He said. The entire group exchanged shocked looks. Karen looked at Shelby, amused.
"So I'm currently dating your ex, and I dated your ex's little brother?" Karen asked Shelby, who shrugged and gestured at her mouth.
"So I'm currently dating your ex, and I dated your ex's little brother, Shelby?" Karen repeated angrily.
"Contrary to popular belief, the theater world is actually quite small." Shelby responded with a small smile. Jesse grinned at the mother and daughter pair.
"If anyone starts bloody singing it's a small world, I'm going to murder all of you. Can we start rehearsal, please!" Derek yelled. Shelby and Karen immediately began humming under their breath and exchanged quick grins as Derek shot them irritated looks. They slowly got into position one.
Hey guys! Kerry here. Anyways, I've decided that I'm not gonna post another chapter until I get more reviews. So if you want another chapter, I need some more reviews. Also, if anyone wants to co-write something about either Glee or Smash, let me know. My friend Diana also has an account now. Her account name is DiDilovesDerek. She's looking to co-write something about Smash right now, so give her a PM to chat with her. Love you all! Kisses!