Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize from outside this story. I claim only the plot, the characters, any places and such that I make up for the purposes of this story.

Homecoming Week

Chapter 4

Delta Omega Chi House Friday 9:30am

Derek lets out a groan as he is awoken by a loud knock on his door. His roommate Kevin, the little do gooder, must be already gone and off to go help at a retirement home before doing a shift at the library at the circulation desk. Derek lifts his head up enough to squint at the clock on his desk before dropping back down. He closes his eyes and runs a hand through his hair. Another knock on the door accompanied by "hey Derek?" Letting out a moan, he yells out "what?"

Steve pops his head in the door with a goofy grin. "Well if I was you, I would be in a better mood. Did you know there is a girl downstairs making you breakfast? A few of the guys are trying to get her to make enough for them too. Wish I had time to bug her too. I have meeting with a TA to get to."

Derek jumps to attention. Steve chuckling closes the door intent on going downstairs. Derek flings back the covers and goes to his dresser grabbing a pair of jeans and, a t-shirt and a zip up navy fleece jacket. He grabs his hockey bag and takes makes his way to the stairs.

Derek walks in the doorway of the kitchen and dining room area to see Casey flipping pancakes and tending to eggs and sausage on the stove. There is Cory and Sean seated at the island. Sean is actively trying his hardest to flirt with her and persuade her to give her some of the food. Kevin is currently buried in the fridge while telling Casey the merits of blueberries over chocolate chips in pancakes. Cory is rewriting some notes trying to get some homework done before he has to go head to the gym. Cory looks up to wave at Derek before shaking his head indicating the other two guys. Tossing his bag in a corner, Derek saunters over and grabs the plate of sausages out of Sean's hand. "Whoever said I was sharing with you? Don't you have your own breakfast to eat?"

Casey keeps turned towards the pancakes and Derek can see her back shake as she laughs. "Just give him a couple. I brought enough we can share with a couple of your friends."

Sean flashes Derek a triumphant grin. "Really? That is so nice of you." He leans and tries to whisper but it ends up being more of a stage whisper, "Derek, I like her. At least this one can actually cook. Think I can get her number later?"

Derek grabs a plate, slaps some sausage and pancakes on it and thrust it at him. "Here, now get out."

"Touché, gishe." Sean pours syrup over everything, grabs one of the forks and knives on the island and makes a get-away before anyone could take his food from him.

Derek looks down and realizes he had taken his and goes over to the drawer to pull some out. "Yo Kev, don't you have somewhere to be?"

Kevin slams the fridge door and comes out holding a sack. "What? I had to get my lunch. I don't want to eat lunch at the retirement home. Have you seen their Jell-O? Plus I can't eat there. It smells funny. And if those had blueberries I might stay. " He gives a shiver at the thought of chocolate in his pancakes before heading out the door.

Cory speaks up realizing it was just the three of them now. "And that's my cue. I have to be somewhere. There is a thing I have to do ummm ahh with someone that is not here. Okay later. Have fun you two." Derek resists the urge to pull at his hair at his friends' lack of subtlety. Maybe it is time to over that fine art with them; a second time for Sean. How he had a girlfriend all last winter semester Derek will never know.

Casey turns the stove off and plops a heaping plate of pancakes and sausages on the island with two mugs of hot chocolate. Derek sits down on one of the barstools and rubs his hands together grinning. "God I love winning."

Casey laughs setting her supplies back in the bag she brought it with her and into the fridge as she sees the look of absolute glee on his face after taking that first bite. Noticing she isn't sitting next to him, he looks up to see her sipping her hot chocolate leaning against the sink. He pats the barstool next to him. Surprised but pleased she bounces over to sit fixing herself a plate while sending him curious glance. With his mouth completely full, Derek asks around his food, "what?"

Casey shakes her head at his complete lack of manners. "So Sean's cute. What did Sean mean by 'at least this one can cook'?"

"Oh well there was this girl I dated last year after I moved in here that decided she wanted these guys to like her I guess. They weren't exactly friendly with her. She complains and Steve said he didn't see the point.

"By this time, before her, how many girls had you dated? What was it 10? They probably didn't want to waste their time meeting them." Casey asks dryly.

"Who's telling the story here? " Derek says with a grin. "I had dated four girls in as many months and Dani had made it two months. To celebrate she volunteers to cook dinner here, I assume that means she knows what she is doing and go upstairs and next thing I know the smoke detectors are going off."

"See Derek, you need to lay off the sorority girls."

"Wait, how did you know she was a sorority girl? And not all sorority girls are like that."

"Yeah but in a sea of intelligence you pick the blonde bimbo, smart but no common sense. Is that why Kevin watched me like a hawk when I first got here? He was making his lunch and I swear at one point I felt the need to promise I wouldn't burn the place down."

"I can't blame the guys for freaking out a little. They never met you before today. Dani didn't last to see three months anyway."

"They never do; do they?"

"Hey it's not my fault they can't keep my attention that long. Well I got to go. I have an away game tonight and need to get over to the Rec Centre to make the bus."

"I should probably call Janice to come pick me up. She dropped me off and has my car at the library. We are supposed to have lunch later today while I help her study."

"If you hurry, I can give you lift on my way."

"Really?"

"I'm leaving without you." Derek slings his bag over his shoulder as he ambles out the doorway.

"Hey wait up." Casey grabs her purse and hurries after him following the sound of his laughter.

Delta Omega Chi House Saturday 11 am

This morning Derek comes down the stairs to Belgian waffles with strawberries and chocolate syrup, ham, and orange juice. Without a word, Casey sits down to eat with him, though hers lacks the chocolate syrup. Derek rubs his eyes and nurses his coffee still waking up and a little achy from the game the night before.

After closing the front door behind Casey, Derek takes the stairs two at a time. Shutting the door, he starts stuffing his stuff in his bag for another away game tonight. He pulls his jacket of the back of his computer chair and slinging his hockey bag on his shoulder his makes a call to the florist he used all last year, a short white haired lady who loves hockey and all her children had gone to Queen's. "Mrs. Cook? Hi this is Derek. Thanks, I have been good. Yes, I am going to need to change my order. I know I already changed it once and yes you are so sweet to do this for me. I forgot I needed one for tonight. No I don't want a card even the nice one you wrote for me. Thanks again."

Rec Centre Saturday 7:30pm

Casey and her teammates are laughing and joking around headed down the hallway when Cindy who is working that night at the front desk calls out. "Hey Casey, wait up."

Casey turns back and sees Cindy holding a vase off brightly bloomed daisies. "Casey, these just came for you. I was going to put them in the locker room for you since that what I was supposed to do last year but you saved me a trip."

Casey takes them stunned that she is still getting flowers. Her teammates are busy putting their bags away and leaving for the dance studio to stretch and go through their routine one more time before performing at half-time at the basketball game. She waves them on saying she will there in a minute and sits down on a bench in front of her locker. She notices a little card nestled in with the flowers. Curious as there wasn't any with her flowers last year; Casey pulls the card out and sees it is from Sunshine Florist. There is a scribbled out message that Casey can only see a number 11 with maybe a D? Whatever it is someone must have thought twice about it Casey sets the flowers in her locker and runs out to go join her team making a mental note to call the Sunshine Florist.

Cindy calls out to her as she runs past. "Hey Casey; who are the flowers from?"

"I'm not sure. I couldn't read the card very well. The only thing I could make out is an 11 and I think a letter. I don't know what it means just yet." Casey shrugs noncommittally.

"No idea either. Your locker number isn't 11 and unless that number means something to you, I have no idea what it could mean. That number reminds me of my brother. His lucky number is 11 and was his basketball jersey number in college. Their jersey numbers were so meaningful his team got them tattooed on their arms after they won a championship. It could mean anything. Good luck tonight."

"Thanks for the guess and the luck. Bye."

Delta Omega Chi House Sunday 10:30am

Lying on his back with the covers tangled around his ankles, Derek wakes up to the smell of bacon. Puzzled, he sits up and following the smell to a tray on his desk he finds a Mexican omelet, bacon, and Texas toast with a mug of hot chocolate on the side. He touches the mug and feeling it discovers it to be still warm. He turns and pulls yesterday's jeans on and a tank top with a zip up hooded sweater. Derek is halfway down the stairs when he hears a distinctive giggling and starts taking the stairs two at a time.

He comes to the bottom of the steps and turns a corner to see Casey leaning on the island resting on her elbows. She is smartly dressed with tan leather knee high boots, a black ruffled skirt, a white fitted t-shirt with a cropped brown cardigan sweater vest. Sean is seated on a barstool leaning closer to her telling some story that apparently is just so funny. A creak in the floor alerts them he is standing there.

Casey freezes when she catches his eye and quickly glances away. When she had come today, Casey had taken pains on her outfit and had planned on waking Derek with breakfast in bed. Maybe talk to him about some flowers. All her summoned courage flew away though when she saw him sleeping on his back in just a pair of gym shorts arms flung back. Hockey and regular work outs with Rob have done wonders for him in the last couple years. He always has called himself scrappy. She isn't sure what term applies with the abs and arms he hides under his long sleeved shirts. Instead, she set down the tray and walked to the top of the stairs to give herself a pep talk before going back when Sean called to her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey Derek. Good breakfast huh? I was just going to go grab a shower. Casey, maybe we could go to that place I mentioned earlier for dinner tonight?" Sean asks trying not to look too hopeful.

Casey gives him a second glance assessing; cute, uncomplicated, tries hard. "I will think on it."

"Cool." Sean leans back on the barstool and hops off. "Hey when Kevin gets back from visiting his folks for the weekend, you want to play some hoops, D?"

"Sure. Now Princess, don't tell me you forgot we are supposed to go do something today?"

This confuses Casey since as far as she knows they don't have plans. "We are?"

"Remember, we are going to go play some air hockey and foosball? Is Casey McDonald backing out on a challenge? One she issued I might add."

"Of course not. I wouldn't give you the satisfaction."

"Besides, you wouldn't make me eat breakfast alone would you? Now get that tea and I will show you my latest amazing class work. Professor loved my editing skills. Oh and loser buys dinner."

Casey trails him up the stairs. "Well, you better bring your wallet and loads of cash because I will be starving from kicking your butt."

Catching the tail end of it, Steve strolls into the kitchen and tosses Sean a can. "Hey looks like you got nothing to do. You want to come with me on a double date today? This girl says she will only go if I bring someone along for her friend."

"Fine, but you're paying, especially if I don't end up liking her."

"You got yourself a deal. They are both on the volleyball team but I was told she is nice, just a little shy hence the date."

"Nice? Good thing you are paying or you would owe me."

"If she is anything like Chrissy, then you will owe me Dude. We are doing lunch and a movie. Go make yourself look pretty, if that is even possible. I have been working on getting this date for a while."

Sean flips him off and jogs up the stairs to the showers.

Lazy Scholar Sunday 4:30pm

They are standing at opposite ends of the air hockey table and it all comes down to this round. Between air hockey and foosball, it would appear to be that they are evenly matched. Casey is psyched that she is actually so close beating him and there is no way he is backing out with this many witnesses. They are tied and she only needs to win this round. Derek and Casey have both won three games and they left it up to a coin toss to see which game decides it all. Casey insisted someone else do the toss and use their coin.

When the waitress came by with their drinks, Derek hurriedly tugs some money from his wallet and lays it on her tray before picking up a quarter from the tray. He holds it up to her. "Care to do the honors?"

The waitress laughs and, taking the quarter, she flicks it into the air catching it on her tray. Casey leans over the tray, grabs a paddle, stands next to the air hockey. She places her finger to her chin tapping it. "Hmmm, I wonder. What should I make you buy me for dinner?"

Derek reacts just a little too slow and Casey does a little happy dance after scoring a point. Derek retaliates with a point of his own bringing it to 5 to 6. Giving a little frown, Casey refocuses and leans over the table. Derek watches as her hair catches the light and shows off her highlights. With a split second decision to let her win, Derek moves his paddle over to the side a bit. When she banks the puck off the side, it easily slides right in winning her the game. Casey jumps in excitement and slaps a high five with their waitress.

Chez Noire Sunday 6:30pm

Casey steps out of the car as Derek does and glances over the top of the car to the sign above the door of the restaurant. "Derek, why are we here? I mean I know we said you were paying for dinner but why didn't we stay at the Lazy Scholar?"

"It's because I wanted to get a decent steak where people wait on me. Now are you coming or not?" Derek asks holding the door open. As she passes under his arm through the door, he drops it around her shoulders and drapes it around her neck. "And no ordering silly salads either. Ignoring that last round of air hockey, I have been on a winning streak. We won our games this weekend, I won homemade breakfasts and even done well on my editing project. So order whatever you like." Derek tosses his keys with a flourish and catching them, flashing a smile.

Casey notices something on the key ring. "What's that?" she asks pointing to a key chain.

"That? I got it at the beginning of the season. We all did, my teammates and I. Each one has our jersey number and the first letter of our name." There in front of her is an 11 with a D in Queen's colors.

"Do you know I love daisies?"

"Case, any guy around you too long knows you love daisies even if they are trying to tune you out. Follow the hostess lady and you can bore me with literature and economics and I will be my charming self and change the subject to hockey and movies."

"How did you find this cute little café? It doesn't seem your style."

A man comes walking up to them cutting off Derek's reply shaking his hand. "Derek? Is that you? Hi, my name is Jon Black. I own this place. My grandma mentioned you promised her you would come by sometime. She loved those hockey tickets you gave her and the puck." Derek keeps his arm around her shoulder as Jon shows them to a table.

"That is what she wanted instead of money. Mrs. Cook sure loves hockey."

A waitress comes up beside Jon holding a tray and a pen and waves. Jon smiles and signals for them to sit. They sit facing each other draping their jackets on the chairs before saying hi to her. "Ruth here will take care of you. Dessert is on the house." A crash could be heard from the kitchen. "I had better take care of that." Jon excuses himself and weaves his way to the kitchen.

Adelaide Hall Sunday 8:30pm

Casey is walking towards the stairs to their second floor room when Janice spots her. "Hey Casey!" Casey turns to see Janice and Rob standing in front of the main floor common room. "What have you been up to? Rob and I are going to go see a movie. You okay? Maybe want to come with us?"

"No, I think I am going to just go upstairs, change into comfy clothes and snuggle in with some comfort food and a good book."

Janice lets go of Rob's hand and places her hand on Casey's shoulder. "You okay?"

Casey furrows her eyebrows. "I don't know."

"You don't know? Okay, let's backtrack. Where have you been?"

"I think I just went on a date with Derek."

This snaps back Rob's attention and puzzles Janice. "You think?"

Rob crosses arms and spreads his legs apart a little. "It's not hard to figure out. Ask yourself these questions. Did you two go somewhere? Did he pay, willingly? Was his attention on you or mostly on other people? Was he acting like a guy would on a date?"

Casey runs her answers through her head and pulls up short as she realizes them. "Thanks Rob. You have given me a lot to think about. Have fun, you guys." Casey bounds up the stairs.

Awhile later as Rob and Janice are standing in the ticket line at the theater, Rob gets a text from Derek. "And now he realizes what we did a bit ago."

****End of Chapter 4****

Thanks for reading and hopefully reviewing. Reviews = motivation for faster writing and happiness. And sorry for any and all editing mistakes.

Thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter: Dark-Supernatural-Angel, nottingham12, princetongirl, sammy sosa the 13th.