A/N: Before you get into this chapter, know that even though it's from Derek's POV, it's Casey-centric. Confused? Derek's story brought us up to the present two chapters ago, but we're still not entirely clear as to what happened to Casey, so I wanted to advance her storyline a little more. Instead of flashbacks, we have Casey telling Derek her story, and we get to see his reactions to what she's saying. It's a little different, but I think it works. Let me know if you like it like this!

Derek sat back, chugging beer and listening to Casey finish her story. Kind of. He wasn't really listening, to be honest; he was staring out over the water and getting drunk, running over his past sins and wondering if he had a chance to atone for them.

Think she'll go for it? Derek asked himself. Think she'll want to have one last night with me before she goes back to England? Or, even better, think she'll want to come to LA with me? She can work as a lawyer there … I know she said she wasn't a solicitor, but she's got to have the experience …

Derek's mind drifted: he imagined driving back to Los Angeles with Casey snuggled into him, the United States' countryside flying past their dirty—no, clean, clean for Casey—windows and unfolding in front of them. A new life together, one where they were both adults and no one could tell them what to do or what not to do, one where no one knew that they were stepsiblings, one in which they could be happy together. Truly happy.

And then he heard a word that snapped his attention back to what Casey was saying.

"Come again?" he asked her roughly.

"And then we got engaged," Casey repeated quietly, looking down.

Derek followed Casey's gaze onto her left ring finger. "B-b-b-but …" Derek stuttered, "there's nothing there!"

"I know, Derek," Casey whispered, tears glistening in her eyes. "I never got a ring."

"What? Why?"

"Because he never came back."

"Who?"

"Der-EK! Weren't you listening? Greg! Greg didn't come back!"

"Where did he go?"

Casey sighed loudly. "I don't know. He went TDY—you know, temporary duty—and he just never came home."

"OK, Casey, I'm confused. Start over. What happened?"

"Greg asked me to marry him right before he got on a plane to go somewhere. He was surrounded by a bunch of people—they were all wearing camouflage." Casey's voice drifted off, as if she were speaking through a cardboard tube. Hollow and far away.

"We were in a big warehouse, and he was going through a line. Well, he went through a line. And when he was done, he was sitting in this gated area with a bunch of other people. I stayed, even though we couldn't sit together. We could talk, of course, but what was he going to do, stand by the gate and talk to me the whole time he was in there? But I couldn't leave, I was just so sad.

"And then he talked to someone, who let him come out. This person came with him, but when he came over, the guy gave us a little privacy. And then Greg said to me"—Casey sniffled and wiped away a tear—"he said, 'Cassandra McDonald, I can't leave knowing that you won't be waiting for me when I return. Will you please marry me?'"

"'I can't leave knowing that you won't be waiting for me when I return'?" Derek mimicked. "Wow, this guy sounds like a real winner, Casey. Possessive much? And then he just never shows again? He's probably in Thailand getting his soul sucked out through his"—

"Der-EK! Are you serious? He's been gone for two years!" Casey started crying.

"Oh."

Derek listened to Casey's sobs with a heavy heart. Wow, I'm a real jackass. I thought this just happened. I didn't know it was two years ago … maybe I should have listened a little more closely. Derek looked at Casey, her shoulders heaving. The moonlight glistened on her hair, shimmering with every sob. She really loved him. Not me. Him. Derek sighed. So much for LA.

"OK, Casey, I'm sorry. Tell me what happened."

Casey sat shaking for a few more minutes without speaking. Finally, she wiped her eyes and continued in a soft voice:

"Greg asked me to marry him, and I said yes. We were really quiet about it, but then someone shouted out, 'Hey, the captain is engaged!' and everyone started clapping. I was really embarrassed, but really happy too, you know? He told me that we would go ring shopping when he came back—he didn't have one at the time. But then he never came back."

"Did he die?" Derek asked, scooting a little bit closer to her.

"I don't know," Casey whispered. "He went missing in action. I don't know where he was or where he is or if he's ever coming back. He could be locked in some cell right now being tortured, he could be hiding in the woods, he could be dead. I don't know!" Casey broke into a round of fresh sobs.

Derek gingerly put his arm around Casey's shoulders and patted her on the arm. She nestled her head into the hollow of his neck, sobbing, and Derek felt a sad little thrill go through him. Oh, come on, Venturi, this is not the time. Casey's heart is breaking. Mine too. She's gone, man, and you blew it.

Casey's crying subsided after a few minutes, and she took a deep breath before speaking again. "The military doesn't know if he's dead. As far as they know, he's just missing. He's been gone for two years, Derek, and I don't know if he's coming back. But I can't just leave, you know? We're engaged. Or, we were engaged. I don't know. So I stayed. I couldn't really afford to finish my vocational stage, so I did the two-year program instead."

"Wait, what?" Derek asked, confused.

"My whole barrister thing. I was going to be a barrister. But after my course at East Anglia, I had to do my vocational stage. You know, I pick an Inn, I take these courses, blah blah blah. But I couldn't do the work and pay for food at the same time, so I kept my job at the coffee shop and took two years to finish my courses. I got some financial aid, but it wasn't enough to live off of."

"But I thought you worked for a solicitor?"

Casey sighed. "I do now, Derek. After I finished my courses and was eligible for pupilage, I looked around, but I wasn't really interested. I was sick of the coffee shop … really, I was sick of going on the base every day, looking at all those people. All those wives that had their husbands at home. Or, if they weren't home, that knew that they were alive. Me, I don't even know if Greg's alive. And I couldn't take it anymore. So I left.

"There's a small office in Cambridge that offered to hire me to do their secretarial work. They helped me get a work permit, claiming that my skills were 'professional and essential.'" Casey made air quotes with her fingers. "And then they hired me. I guess I should go back and finish what I started, but …" Casey shrugged her shoulders.

"Wow." Derek sat back and crossed his arms across his chest. "Sounds like you've had a rough time."

"Yeah."

They lapsed into silence again, Casey fiddling with her hands and Derek leaning back on his elbows. She's really had a rough go of it, Derek thought. And here I was, thinking that my Casey would have made something of herself by now. Instead, she chased some dude across the Atlantic and hasn't finished school. Well, the schooling that she wanted to do, anyway. Neither one of us is where we'd like to be. Huh.

A/N: So ... we're pretty much in the present! We know that Derek is a junior executive assistant in Hollywood and Casey is essentially a paralegal. Surviving, but barely. We're one chapter away from finding out why Derek left in the first place and an epilogue away from finishing the trilogy! Thanks for reading, and hang tight for the loose ends to get tied up!