Author's Note: I have no excuses except that the holidays were crazy and that my job depresses me and when I'm depressed I can't write. But to make up for it, this chapter is pretty long. I kind of rushed it so I'm sorry if there are a bunch of mistakes. If you see any really bad ones, please let me know and I'll fix them. Anyways, I hope you like it!

Disclaimer:Except for Life With Derek Season 1 on DVD, I own nothing but Brandon and the plot :(

Chapter Seven: "…Not Without Me"

July 14th

Derek stared blankly at Ian for minute, trying to digest what he'd just told him. Vaguely, he realized that his mouth was hanging open and that probably his eyes were bugging out, making him look pretty stupid. But at the moment, he didn't particularly care.

"Ian, dude, what do you mean you quit?" Derek asked, slightly in a panic knowing full well that chances were George would blame him for this.

"I mean I quit," Ian said plainly as he began to pack up his stuff. They'd just finished their tutoring session and he figured now was as good a time as any to break the news. "Look, it's nothing personal little man, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and I have to get my behind on that plane first thing tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay I get that," Derek said, clearing his throat. "But what about the rest of our tutoring sessions? I mean, I still have my final tests in two weeks."

"And you'll do fine. Just keep with the studying. Don't start slacking just yet and you'll do fine."

"Yeah, whatever," Derek muttered grabbing his bag and following Ian to his car. They drove in silence back to Derek's house and when Ian pulled to a stop to let him out, he call Derek back.

"Here," he said handing him several bills. "This should cover what your dad paid me for the last two weeks. If you're really stuck, I'm sure that should be enough to get you another tutor. Good luck little man. I know you can do it!"

"Yeah, thanks Ian. Uh…good luck with your Japanese Karaoke Championship thing."

"Thank, man," Ian grinned.

"And umm…say hi to Hiroki for me," Derek replied, referring to Ian's boyfriend.

"I will. It's been real," Ian called out as he pulled back away from the curb.

"Great, now what am I going to do?" Derek muttered to himself as he trudged into the house.

Derek was flipping through the channels when Casey came bounding down the stairs in a brown plaid miniskirt and a red racer back tank top layered over a white one.

"Derek," she exclaimed in surprise then quickly checked her watch. "I didn't hear you come in. I must be running late."

Derek took in her outfit, noted the careful up-do she was sporting and the lipgloss she was wearing that was even glossier than usual and knew she was heading out on another date.

"Another date with the mystery guy?" he drawled teasingly and winced internally at how fake it sounded even to him.

"Yes, date number two to be exact," she smiled happily as she slipped on a pair of shoes only to kick them off in favor of another pair.

"So, who exactly is this guy? Do I know him?" He was working over time trying to keep his voice portraying only mild interest. If he'd known becoming friends with Casey would suddenly bring out the protective brother side in him, he probably would have opted to maintain the barely contained dislike they'd previously shared. He didn't even know the guy and already he felt the urge to hunt him down and stake him.

"Umm…Kendra says you probably do," she told him over her shoulder as she checked her makeup in her mirror.

"Oh goody, Kendra thinks I know him. That's so informative," he replied sarcastically.

Casey simply rolled her eyes as she patted her hair down for stray strands.

"Casey, does he have a name?"

"Huh? Oh, I mean of course. Brandon Campbell. I met him a few days ago at work. He's the one who invited me to that party."

Casey's back was to him as she grabbed a light sweater from the coat rack and Derek was glad or else she might have caught the fury that had suddenly come into his eyes or the whitening of his knuckles as he grabbed the arms of his chair.

"Brandon Campbell?" he bit out the name of his predecessor.

"Yeah, you know him?" she asked distractedly as she changed her mind about her shoes and put on the first pair again.

"Brandon Campbell, three years ahead of us?" Oh yes, he'd heard of him all right. What was it with Casey dating guys with reputations as bad as his? Why couldn't she find a nice loyal nerd or some average boring guy like Noel?

"Yeah, that's him."

"He tell you about his reputation?" Derek asked casually, hoping that would give her pause.

"Oh yeah, we talked about it," she said off handedly. "That's all in the past. He's grown up since going to college."

"Really?" Derek asked through gritted teeth and mentally rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. We had a really nice talk the other day."

"I'm sure you did," he returned, hoping she didn't notice the clipped tone and sarcasm.

The sound of a car pulling up to their house drew Casey's attention. "Oh that's probably him. I'll see you later."

"Oh, are you going out? Or staying in today? I didn't have a chance to make anything for dinner," she said, pausing at the door worriedly.

"Don't worry about it, I got plans," he said quickly.

"Oh good. Okay, see you later," she grinned, closing the door behind her.

"Great," Derek groaned, hunching forward in his chair. "Now I have to find a tutor and make plans. When did Casey become the social butterfly?"

Brandon looked down at Casey and raised an eyebrow questioningly. A small smile played at the corner of his lips but he was valiantly warding it off because somehow he knew she would interpret the smile as him laughing at her.

"Casey," he began cautiously, "anytime now would be good. The nice man is waiting and the kid behind you looks ready to burst."

Casey sighed deeply and motioned for him to lean in and hear her whisper.

"I don't think I can do it," she whispered honestly.

"Your aim not good?" he whispered back, now afraid he was losing the will to hold back his smile.

"No, it's not that," she replied then thought better of it. "Okay, that's not true. My aim probably is kind of bad but that's not why I can't do it."

"It's not against your religion to play carnival games is it?" he joked.

"No," she answered before processing exactly what he'd asked her. "What religion bans carnival games?"

"Casey, it was a joke. You know, to make you laugh?"

"Oh." Her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh! It was a good joke." She forced out a laugh she hoped didn't sound as maniacal out loud as it had in her head. Brandon bit the inside of his cheek to hold in the laughter that was now threatening to spill out.

"Right. Umm…so then what's the problem?"

"I just…can't the fish get hurt from the ball going into their little bowls? Or maybe it would traumatize the fish. I can't have traumatized fish on my conscious."

"Case, baby, I think the fish are okay with it. If the ball lands in their bowl, they get to go home to a nice new family."

Casey considered this and as she did, she realized he'd called her 'baby.' A blush began creeping into her cheeks and she quickly turned back towards the fish bowls to hide it from him. He seemed to unnerve her in a way only one other person on the planet could. Derek would have handled the situation differently. He wouldn't have been sweet and charming about it, she decided. No, Derek would have gotten impatient and grabbed the ball and tossed it into a bowl himself. She smiled at the idea before realizing where her thoughts had headed. Why on earth was she thinking about Derek? Brandon had just called her 'baby.' Was she okay with that?

She felt him move closer behind her. Suddenly, his choice of words was no longer that big a deal. He leaned down and rested his chin on her shoulder and she felt his hands rest on her hips. Wow, she squealed silently. Even Max had never been this physical publicly, and definitely not on the second date. Her breath caught as her pulse began racing at his nearness.

"Ready?" he said into her ear and she shivered slightly at his breath brushing against the sensitive skin. Casey, Casey, Casey, you have really graduated into the big leagues, she thought to herself. Somehow she managed to nod that she was ready and he signaled the booth operator who looked about ready to toss them aside for the next customer.

"She's ready," Brandon told the pimply faced teenager. Casey noted he kept his hold of her hips.

"Finally," the teenager muttered before repeating the rules. "You paid five bucks so you get three tosses. If one ball lands in a bowl with a fish, you get the fish. Two balls landing get you two fishes or one fish and a small stuffed animal. All three balls and you get three fishes or one fish and a large stuffed animal."

Casey narrowed her eyes and took aim with her first ball. The table wasn't very far and it was covered with fish bowls so you didn't really need to throw the ball very hard or very far. The catch was it was quite obvious not every bowl contained a fish and as all the bowls were clear, you couldn't really tell which had one or not. She decided to blindly aim for the bowls in the middle and with that thought in mind, she tossed the ball. The pimple-faced attendant wouldn't check the bowls until all her balls were tossed so she made quick work of the last two balls. She'd held up the line for a good five minutes with her moral dilemma so the attendant wasn't a big fan of hers and seemed to take great pleasure in handing over the single, tiny goldfish. She'd just spent five bucks on a something she could have bought for thirty-five cents at the pet store. Casey held up her prize and eyed it dejectedly.

"Next," called out the attendant whose nametag claimed his name was Melvin. She took a step to the side, ready to move on to the next booth when Brandon grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to the counter.

"Hold on," he said, slapping down another bill on the counter and smiling coolly at Melvin. "I believe it's my turn."

Melvin smiled tightly at him and grabbed the money and replaced it with three balls. "Pick out the stuffed animal you want Case. Make sure it's a big one."

"You don't have to do that," Casey argued, not wanting him to waste his money because she wanted a stuffed fish. "I don't really want the stuffed fish…that much."

"Maybe I want stuffed fish," he replied casually, giving her that half-smile she'd come to like so much. She ordered her cheeks to fight the blush and remained silent as he quickly tossed the balls towards the bowls.

Two minutes later, they were walking away from the booth, his arm casually draped over her shoulder. Casey kept quiet as long as she could and to her credit, they'd made it to the Funnel Cake booth before she broke.

"Okay, remember what I said about the stuffed fish?" she asked, trying hard not to look longingly at the giant, pretty, multi-colored fish Brandon was carrying along with his brand new gold fish.

Brandon flashed her a knowing grin as they waited for their funnel cake. "Tell you what. You trade me goldfish and the stuffed fish is yours."

Casey narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "Trade you? Why? Your fish is a lot bigger than mine."

"Uh-huh. Those are my terms. Take them or leave them." The funnel cake guy handed Brandon their order and he made his way over to a rare free table with a large umbrella shade. Casey had been to this particular amusement park a dozen times. Free tables, especially ones with umbrella shades were hard to come by even on a weekday, especially during the summer. The fact that he just waltzed up to one reminded her yet again of a certain somebody she knew who also seemed born to walk under a lucky/charmed sign. She grudgingly walked over to the table and sat across from him.

"Something on your mind, Case?" he asked as he held up a fork with a piece of funnel cake and strawberry to her mouth. She took the offered bite and swallowed before she answered him.

"I've been to this funnel cake stand at least a dozen times."

He nodded patiently and waited for her to continue.

"It's the most popular funnel cake stand in this entire park."

"The man does add a lot of strawberries and whipped cream," Brandon commented, feeding her another piece.

"I never get a table, especially not one that still had the umbrella shade," she told him.

"Okay?"

"You just walked right up to it and it was here, empty, waiting for you."

"I did," he replied, feeding himself a bite.

"And you landed three balls in fish bowls and they all had fish on your first try!"

"I did do that."

"Do you get everything you want?" Brandon stopped to think her question over. After a minute he was nodding his head.

"Usually, yeah." At the expression she had on her face, a combination of annoyance and awe, Brandon pressed her about his earlier question. "Now, about my proposal?"

She hesitated so he took the opportunity to toss their plate before returning to pull her to her foot. "So? What's it going to be?"

She felt a tingle down to her toes as he locked his beautiful eyes with hers. It was his smug smile though that reignited her fighting spirit.

"I want the fish," she announced, taking a step back and thrusting her own fish at him.

"Hmmm, I want to add just one more condition to the deal."

"You can't do that," she argued.

"Sure I can." Her mouth opened to rebut but he cut her off. "Don't worry. It's easy I promise."

"What is it?" She quirked her mouth to let him know she didn't believe him.

"Just name the fish after me."

"Name the fish after you? No way."

"Why not?"

"Because it's silly. A fish named Brandon? Really? That's so not a fish name."

"It would be coolest the fish name ever. All the other fish would look on in envy wishing they had such a cool name."

Casey couldn't help but giggle at such a ridiculous suggestion.

"Ah! You're laughing," he pointed out, grinning wildly which only made her giggle more. "So, is that a yes?"

"No! Brandon isn't a proper fish name. A fish should be named Flounder or Scuttle or …ummm….ummm…I got it, Nemo!" He suddenly pulled her close and lowered his lips to hers. The kiss only lasted a second before he pulled away.

"Too late," he said.

"What?" Casey asked, her voice just a little breathless.

"I said too late. We just sealed the deal with a kiss. Your fish will now be named Brandon. Such a fine name if I do say so myself."

"I – wait a second. I didn't agree to that."

"Yes you did. I distinctly felt your lips kiss me back." He held out the goldfish and the stuffed fish.

"You cheated," Casey replied sulkily as she took the stuffed fish and traded his goldfish for hers.

"You feel cheated?" he teased.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," she muttered, even as she let him wrap an arm over her shoulders and lead them towards the next ride. She didn't even realize they weren't exactly talking about the same thing.

"I guess I have no choice." He let out a sigh and brought them to a stop before leaning in and capturing her lips for another kiss, this time letting the kiss linger until the need for air forced him to pull away. "There."

Casey was speechless and he took advantage of that fact to lean in and whisper something in her ear.

"I forgot to mention the deal went both ways." His voice in her ear and the tingle down her spine it always seemed to cause snapped her out of her trance. But before she could ask what he meant, she found herself face to face with the goldfish she had traded for Brandon's.

"Casey meet Casey, my new goldfish. I'm sure her and Goldfish Brandon will get along just swimmingly." He chuckled slightly at his pun.

"Casey? You're naming your goldfish Casey?" He lowered the goldfish away from her face and gave her a Cheshire grin.

"Of course, why else would I make sure you named yours after me?" He took hold of her hand and began leading them through the amusement park again. "Now, let's see if we can win you more things you can name after me."

By the time they stopped for another snack, again at a table that was magically free by the time Brandon had reached it, Casey found herself sitting next to a bag nearly as big as her filled with stuffed animals of various sizes. Brandon was sitting next to the biggest prize, a purple elephant she gauged to be about the size of Lizzie (she suspected she would be giving it to Marti upon her return whether she wanted to or not). In all, there were twenty-three stuffed animals and according to Brandon, all were to be named Brandon Jr. or some form of it.

As Casey sat eating her ice cream while she listened to Brandon tell her about another hilarious escapade his fraternity had gotten him into, she realized that part of what made Brandon so appealing was he was genuinely as charming and sweet and fun to be with as everyone thought he was. She'd caught more than one girl shoot her envious looks since they'd arrived but to his credit Brandon didn't seem to acknowledge the other girls or even care. And while he was constantly knocking her off balance with his charm and wit and despite that fact that she couldn't seem to understand why she'd drawn up more than one comparison between him and Derek, she had to admit being with someone in the big leagues had its benefits. Sure, it got a little uncomfortable knowing there were several pairs of eyes glaring daggers into your back, but there was definitely something to be said about knowing that while they were all wishing they could be sitting where you were, he was sitting across from you, holding your hand and letting you know there was no place else he'd rather be.

Derek wandered through the mall aimlessly. He figured since it was Friday, he'd worry about finding a replacement tutor once the weekend was over. He was determined not to let Casey have more fun than him this weekend but as it stood, it was closing in on 8pm and he had had no fun whatsoever.

His stomach rumbled just then reminding him that he had yet to eat dinner. He did an about face and headed back towards the food court. He decided on burgers and fries and made his way to an empty table. He'd noticed several girls that were definitely his type eyeing him but for the life of him, he couldn't muster up the interest because his main concern was finding another tutor even though he'd already decided not to worry about it.

Dear Lord, Casey was getting to him he realized, much to his horror. He took a giant bite out of his burger and crammed in several fries.

"This is why I hated her in the first place, I give her an inch and she goes and ruins my life," he muttered to himself. "Oh just wait until she gets home from her date with Brandon. I'm going to give her a piece of my mind. Just you wait and see Casey."

Once he'd finished eating, he realized he was back where he started. He had absolutely no where to go and nothing to do.

"Why is this my life?" he cried out to no one in particular, not really caring who heard him.

"I'll take a wild stab at that question," said a familiar voice approaching from behind. "My guess would be karma? It tends to bite you in the butt."

Kendra slid into the seat across from him and flashed him a slanted grin as she propped an arm onto the table palm up and propped her chin up with it.

"Ken-draa," Derek drawled in greeting.

"Derek," she replied.

"So," he said cautiously, leaning back in his seat. "What brings you by?"

"Nothing, just shopping." To demonstrate, she dropped a couple bags onto the empty seat next to her. "You? You know, aside from the bad karma."

"I…ummm…I-I was…ummm…" Derek couldn't come up with anything.

"Well this is interesting. Derek Venturi alone on a Friday night with no plans in sight. Life is good," she gloated.

"Wow, this little reunion has been so much fun. Well, no it hasn't, actually. Gotta go." He moved to get up and leave but Kendra stopped him.

"What?" he demanded.

"Why so hostile?" Kendra asked.

"Kendra, if memory serves, and it does, the last real encounter we had before you left for college consisted of you leaving tied to a chair. I'm not exactly feeling the warm fuzzies."

"Oh that? Derek, I was mad at you."

"So you left me tied to a chair at the mercy of a bunch of crazed animals?"

"I thought you said your siblings tied you up?" Kendra scrunched her brow in confusion.

"Same thing," he grudgingly admitted. Kendra rolled her eyes.

"Fine. But I have some information I'm willing to share if you're willing to forgive me?"

"Information about what?"

"Oh I don't know how about a certain step-sibling that I'm sure you know is out with a certain high school legend?" she teased.

"You knew about Casey and Brandon?" Derek accused.

"Of course, who do you think went with her to the party the other night?"

"You took her to the party?"

"She took me, actually. She met him at work and he invited her."

"So it's true. She's winning."

"Winning?" Kendra had never noticed before just how similar Derek and Casey were. They were competitive to the core and jumped from one thing to another so quickly it was hard to follow their train of thought.

"We had this agreement to get back out and rejoin the living but I never thought Casey would be able to do it better than me. She's out with some guy who is almost as cool as I am and I'm sitting here. Doing nothing."

Kendra looked thoughtful for a second. "Okay, then let's change that."

"Change what?"

"The fact that you're doing nothing." She got up and grabbed her shopping bags before thrusting them towards Derek. "Here, let's go."

Derek instinctively took the bags from her and stood before he realized what he'd done.

"Wait, why am I carrying your bags?"

"Because, Derry, you can't expect me to carry them all the way to my car. Not let's go." She began walking towards the mall exit before Derek could protest again.

"Kendra, where are we going?" Derek asked once he'd caught up with her.

"To a party, silly. We can't let Casey get too far ahead of you. You're Derek Venturi after all." She threw him a sly grin over her shoulder and she continued to lead them to her car.

Derek smirked back. She was right. He was Derek Venturi and Derek Venturi never lost.

It was just after midnight by the time Brandon walked Casey to her door, carrying the bag full of Brandon Juniors and the giant purple elephant dubbed Brandon III. She opened the door and let him drop them by Derek's armchair.

"You can leave them there. I'll bring them up once I decide where I'm going to put them all." She handed him the goldfish and made her way to the kitchen. She grabbed a small glass bowl and filled it with water before returning to the living room. Brandon helped her get Goldfish Brandon into bowl and dropped a few fish flakes into it.

"I'm so glad that guy gave us some food for the fish," Casey said watching Goldfish Brandon inhale several flakes before returning her attention to the real one.

"I think he was glad to do it after that lecture you gave him when we went back to the booth after you realized the fish would be hungry until the stores open tomorrow."

"I was just telling him how irresponsible it is to give fishes away not knowing when their next meal is going to be since stores aren't necessarily still open once the fish has been won."

"This is true," Brandon replied taking hold of her hands.

"I talk too much, don't I?" Casey suddenly asked.

"Not at all."

"I do. You probably thought it was silly to get into that fight with Melvin."

"Melvin?"

"The fish guy."

"Oh. His name was Melvin?" She nodded and he thought about it. "Oddly fitting."

"Brandon!" she scolded, wanting him to get back to the topic at hand.

"Sorry. No, I thought it was cute how he was scared of you."

"Really?"

"Really." She chewed nervously on her lip as she wondered what was supposed to happen next. From the silence of the house when she'd unlocked the front door, she realized Derek was still out so essentially, she was home alone. With Brandon. She knew he'd promised to go at her pace and she hardly thought he expected anything on their second date but the fact remained she was uncomfortable with the idea of being alone with him in an empty house where there were many flat surfaces. Besides, even if he wasn't expecting sex, there were a lot of things between simple kissing and sex. A lot of those things she didn't even know the name to yet let alone which were considered acceptable on a second date between two college-aged people. And frankly, Casey wasn't ready to find out.

She swallowed heavily. Probably a little too heavily because she thought she saw his lips twitch.

"Ummm…" she stammered.

"It's getting late, I should go," he said, taking mercy on her.

"You don't have to," she answered, despite the fact that she was immensely relieved.

"Yeah, I do." They held hands as they headed back to the front door. He pulled her in and kissed her and Casey ever so briefly considered inviting him to stay again.

"Wow," she breathed as he broke the kiss, unaware that she'd said it out loud.

"Right back at you." He gave her The Smile.

The words "You can stay" were again suddenly at the tip of her tongue. He quickly pressed a finger to her lips.

"Don't you dare." Her eyes showed her confusion until he leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, "I might just accept."

Her lips instantly clamped shut. He smirked at her reaction and quickly placed a quick kiss on her cheek before heading towards his car. She shut the door behind her but had to brace herself against it a moment.

"He's just so…wow," she admitted to the empty house. Her eyes quickly took in the pile of stuffed animals and the Goldfish Brandon. "Yeah, definitely wow."

Half an hour later she was dressed in PJs and tucked into bed when her phone chirped letting her know a text had come in.

"Goldfish Casey wanted me to tell you sweet dreams.

- Brandon"

Casey couldn't keep the grin off her face as she shut off her lamp and closed her eyes as happy memories of her perfect date swirled around her head. Oddly, the one last thought she had before drifting off sleep wasn't about Brandon, it was about Derek and whether or not he would have made her name all the stuffed animals after himself. No, definitely not she decided sleepily. Not the animals but for sure the goldfish. A goldfish named Derek. She smiled. Somehow that seemed like a good name for a goldfish.

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I know I know, there was very little Dasey interaction. Instead they're flirtling with Brandon and Kendra. But I promise there's a reason for it all and it won't last much longer! Also, I know my updates are erratic at best but I am determined to finish this story so bear with me. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please remember to review. I love hearing your opinions and I do read them all!

- SugarRune