A/N: Again, thank you, thank you, thank you and a million thank yous to those who have been patiently reading my chapters (ahah) and reviewing them. Also thanks to those who have put this on their alerts and favorites. I can't thank you enough, but hopefully I can thank you with another chapter. So, here we go! Derek, Casey, and Marti at the mall. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! More notes below. Way below, because this is long. :P

Disclaimer: I do not own LwD, Twitter or any of the TMs and registered TMs here. Sarah's my added character. Tweets are made by me.

Chapter 8: Afternoon at the Mall

"Are we really gonna be stuck together for the rest of the afternoon?"

Derek groaned, letting his head fall back on the headrest of the driver's seat after turning the ignition off. Unfortunately, his 'Dad, I'm sick' and 'Dad, I need to start on my readings for my first college semester' (What, I'm desperado! Or is that 'desesperado'? Whatever!) alibis didn't convince his father, or anyone really, considering the former was so overused and the latter was just absurd considering his chillz reputation. So, here he was in the parking lot of the mall, together with his little sister and not-looking-so-happy eldest step-keener. At least they shared sentiments regarding this early weekend punishment.

Breaking the news to Sam was surprisingly easy, since it didn't even last a good minute. Once Sam started with his teasing chuckle, he immediately pressed his thumb on the Talk button to end the call. Maybe it was a good idea not to see them this afternoon after all, seeing as he just tried to plot his best friend's demise in his mind. He seemed to know too much for his own good and he wasn't even saying anything! How creepy was that? Ralph was looking more and more appropriate as a best pal. His 'let's rock' attitude was what he needed for the rest of his summer – maybe the rest of his life.

"If we don't want to get in trouble if either of the 'rents calls, then yes."

Casey was too busy staring at the mall entrance bearing the words "Masonville Place" to even look back at the person beside her as she spoke. As the other ill-fated half of this predicament, she wasn't too thrilled about the setup either. She didn't think that it was fair for her to be forced to waste time with the bane and boon of her existence when she could be using this time to bond with her best friend over a good selection of romcoms and maybe nail painting. Bane, more bane than boon! Right. She didn't make any excuses, unlike Derek, but she stayed in her room and busied herself with novel-reading until she had to get ready for the hangout of doom.

Breaking the news to Emily was depressing. At least for her. Her best friend was disappointed because she had already turned down another weekend offer to go hiking in favor of her. Now, she ended up without a hiking trip and without a movie buddy to watch with. Casey desperately wanted to ask her mom for another form of punishment, like maybe washing the dishes for a week, but her preggo hormones were not one to mess with, especially when she was about to give birth soon. At least she's going to do her a favor by keeping Derek's antics away from her personal space. She didn't want her mom to have a premature labor because of his innate reckless stupidity.

"Why don't you want Casey around, Smerek?" Marti leaned forward from the back seat, grabbing both front seats' headrests.

"Because this is not part of the plan," he replied, giving Casey a poke.

"Well, this is part of the plan now and this is staying here," Casey said, rolling her eyes and brushing off the part where Derek's finger hit her shoulder. "Whether we like it or not."

Having Marti around kept the awkwardness and the strain at a tolerable level. It wasn't a total walk in the park, but at least they managed to be slightly civil for the sake of not causing a ruckus in a public place. There was still the occasional glaring and taunting, but they tried to keep it to a minimum (based on their standards, so..) and a fair amount of distance between each other – good thing Marti was such a good divider.

Since the little kid was the reason for going to the mall, she was the 'boss' of the day. She had taken them to the Build-A-Bear Workshop to make her own stuffed toy. At first it was a brother-sister bonding moment - Derek helped out in choosing the animal and even recorded the sound that got included in it. Marti found his imitation of the Joker's 'Why so serious?' too scary for a bunny, so he had to change it to 'Say hello to my little friend!' which he thought would be hilarious once she grew up and realized where that line came from and what 'friend' really meant. Casey was watching them from a distance and was planning to keep it that way when Marti ran to her and asked if she could help with the stitching. She agreed.

"What did you wish for?" Casey asked Marti right after she opened her eyes.

Marti parted her palms to reveal the heart that she had chosen for her new bunny. She had warmed it with her hands while making a wish, just like what the lady 'Bear Builder' told her to do. This was so that her new furry friend would have life and it would keep her wish in its heart forever. Of course, Derek cringed and almost puked when he heard that being mentioned in a squeaky, chipmunk-y voice, but luckily he kept that to himself. And luckily, Casey was there to give him a good elbowing.

"I wished for Smerek to find true love," she replied with a smile. Casey couldn't help but smile back as her hopeless romanticism let out an 'aww' - inwardly.

"You.. are too young for these things," Derek pinched Marti's nose while scrunching his, causing her to laugh. His sister took his hand and placed the heart on his palm, telling him to put the heart inside the now stuffed toy. He did as he was told and then gave the bunny to Casey afterward. "Stitch that now, Cinderella."

Casey rolled her eyes and obliged.

Moments after their Build-A-Bear session, they found themselves in front of the window displays of the Swarovski store. The two girls marveled at the crystal figurines, jewelry, and charms beautifully sitting on the display stands. Their sighs and gasps were audible enough to make Derek, the only guy in the pack, raise his danger flag and slowly back off to go some place else. But he wasn't going anywhere, not when these girls still had the energy to drag him inside. He received his first shirt-pulling of the day from Casey and grimaced as he thought of how many more times his shirt would get crumpled during their stay at the mall.

Both girls exclaimed their 'oohs' when they entered the store. There were gems hanging from the ceiling and the display cases were filled with individual Swarovski crystals arranged into different shapes and designs. They proceeded moving from case to case, but their amazement had not toned down a notch. It was Derek's turn to watch from afar as the two enjoyed their gem-gazing. Although he was showing that he wasn't comfortable in his position, he couldn't help but glance around and be impressed with the natural shine reflected off of the crystals on display. Some of them were almost kaleidoscopic.

His sight-seeing had been going quite well until he saw what his little sister had been doing – she went to the glass-free shelves and started touching each figurine she could reach. She took one in her hand and examined it, but since she wasn't holding it carefully, the figurine wobbled perilously on her palm.

"Marti, be careful!"

Derek warned as he rushed to where she was standing, but it was too late, the figurine went crashing to the floor and breaking into pieces. He stood there, face pale and body stiff for a few moments, then slowly turned his head sideways to check the prices of the others on the shelf. His face went even paler when he realized that most of them were within the $300 to $1000 range. Oh, I'm so screwed. Marti tugged on his arm, looking extremely worried and scared.

A middle-aged saleslady quickly approached the scene of the crime to see what happened. Scattered pieces of the broken figurine lay on the floor. Derek was still standing there with Marti hiding behind him. Seeing her outraged reaction, he tapped his sister's shoulder and told her to go check out the other display boxes in the corner. She shook her head and kept her grip on his arm. Derek faced the saleslady and opened his mouth to speak, when he saw Casey hurrying to the place and seeing what the Venturi siblings had done. He gulped hard as the two ladies shot him glares - Casey's being the fiercer of the two. That couldn't be good. Good thing Marti agreed to move a little further so she wouldn't get into too much trouble.

Cased turned to the lady and started with her apology, "Oh, I'm so sorry. See, I'm with them. They're my family and -"

"Then tell your husband and your daughter to be careful next time. But someone has to pay for the breakage."

The lady hastily walked back towards the counter before either one of them could say anything regarding the accident and/or the 'husband-daughter' thing. She called her helper and pointed him to the area where the broken pieces still cover the floor. Casey gave Derek the what-the-heck-did-you-do look and he responded with his shh-just-calm-down expression. They seemed to be too engrossed in their mishap to continue contemplating about this weirdness that the lady just told them.

Seemed to. But not really.

"No, I meant.." Casey followed her to start her long defense, but she was greeted by her 'poker face' so she quickly dismissed the thought. "I'll pay for it."

"57.20," she replied monotonously.

"No, I will," A familiar voice mentioned from behind her, pulling out a fifty and a ten dollar bill from his wallet. "Like you have enough money to pay for this."

Derek, the owner of this voice, was beyond relieved to hear that he wouldn't have to go file for bankruptcy before he reaches the age of 20 in case he had to pay $1000 or more for that damn figurine. It wasn't that he wouldn't be half-broke after paying the amount, but at least it wouldn't be necessary to work at Smelly Nelly's for the rest of his life or wait for his hockey career to flourish before he could pay for the damage. He was a little more relaxed and proud of himself since it definitely looked like he was about to exit the store alive, any minute now. He probably would never set foot in any Swarovski store, ever again.

But not Casey, no. Her face still bore traces of annoyance and worry. And she was determined to let the reason of her annoyance know.

So, the verbal battle began, starting from 'you were not supposed to be here' up until 'you babysit like an uptight battalion commander of the land of mindless zombies'. It would have went on and on if not for the intervention – read: annoyed clearing of throats – of some people impatiently waiting in line to pay.

"You know, for a young couple, you fight like old ones," the lady eyed them both and shook her head as she motioned for Derek to hand her the bills. He immediately gave them to her.

This time, Casey cracked. "We are not a couple!"

"You're getting a divorce at this age?" She inquired in both surprise and curiosity while handing Derek his change.

"Yes, and I'm waiting for her to move out of my house," he took the change and smirked at the lady, much to Casey's surprise. "She's a big pain in the you-know-what," he continued, leaning against the cashier desk and lowering his voice as he spoke, then winked after. The lady merely shook her head and mechanically thanked them for coming.

"If you don't shut your big mouth, I will show you how much pain in the you-know-what I can really be!"

"I'd like to see you try."

"Hey, hey, hey. Knock it out. I don't want to have you get arrested for public nuisance or disorderly conduct," the lady sternly cautioned them, making them cease from laying hands or 'claws' on each other.

"I'm sorry, Miss.." Derek tilted his head forward and squinted his eyes to read her name tag. "..Sarah. My wife here is very moody lately. I'm beginning to think our little girl over there will soon have a playmate."

"I am not pregnant, you dolt!" Casey raised her hand at shoulder level and curled it into a fist, ready to hit her stepbrother whose own hands were lifted to the side for protection, eyes slightly wincing in anticipation of her punch.

Sarah raised her eyebrow and clenched her jaws as she continued to bear witness to the brewing fight between the two, clearing her throat in an attempt to stop them. The two immediately pulled themselves together, Casey apologizing right after. Derek signaled Marti to come up front.

"Work it out, you two. Poor little girl over here needs two parents to love her," Sarah quickly added, giving Derek a half-smile.

"No, see –" Casey started, but her mind went blank and words disappeared from her system when she felt Derek's hand clasping her waist. It was lightning quick, but she felt like time stopped when that surge of electrical impulses ran from the source to the rest of her body. She trembled under his touch. She couldn't breathe. She wanted to move away but he pulled her even closer to his side, letting his palm rest on her stomach. Get it off, get it off, get if off! It wasn't like she wasn't used to him pulling her close, but usually he does it by the shoulder. This, this is different. She stared at him with the most incredulous look in her eyes, searching, wondering, but he only gave her a smirk and nothing else. Oh, wait.. no, nothing. But.. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out of her mouth.

"Here's a calling card for our marriage counselor. She's really good, give her a call," Sarah handed Derek a small card.

"Thanks. I'll be sure to give her a call once she starts throwing knives at me," he took it from her hand, sporting a smirk across his lips. His hand left Casey's waist, which gave her the opportunity to breathe a little better, only to lose it again once his palm rested on hers and his fingers laced with hers. She tried to pull her hand away but his grip was too strong, so seeing as it wasn't going anywhere, she tried to relax.

Well, that was some epic relaxing failure.

"Derek, what is this game you're trying to play? Have you lost your mind?"

Casey wiggled her hand to free herself from Derek's grasp. They were already a few shops away from the dreaded crime scene, but his hold on her hadn't loosen up until she finally forced it off. At last, she got the air that she had been desperately requesting in her screamed-out brain. It wasn't as great as she had hoped for since she was still in the same breathing space as Derek, but as long as they were already a few rulers away from each other, that was a great start.

"Look who's talking. Weren't you the one who didn't bother explaining what we really are in the first place?" Derek casually placed his free hand in his pocket, as his little sister still held the other.

"What?" Casey took a few seconds to figure out what he was saying before exclaiming, "I just wanted to get out of the place as soon as possible before you knock over every single thing in the store!"

Marti suddenly released her hands from Derek's hold, face glowing with embarrassment and guilt. She kept her head low and refused to walk any further. Derek's eyebrows furrowed as he turned his head and icily stared at Casey, and right there and then, she realized that it wasn't Derek who accidentally broke the Swarovski figurine, it was Marti. He was protecting his little sister from getting into big trouble. Casey bit her lower lip and weakly smiled at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Marti. I didn't mean to say that," she ran her fingers across Marti's hair and caressed her cheek. Her features lightened up as she smiled at her older stepsister.

"Why so quiet, Smarti?" Derek asked since he noticed that she hadn't said a word yet since the incident at the Swarovski store.

"I'm hungry," Marti replied quickly, staring her puppy-dog eyes at him.

Derek smirked at his sister as he commended her Venturi-ness - they love their stomachs, that's for sure. Although, it was interesting that she wasn't being vocal about it. Either she was mature enough not to whine or the accident really scared her that much. He scanned the area for a decent place to eat at. And he found a good one with a good deal.

"Oh, look, a family discount for lunch. Let's go!" He exclaimed, once again grabbing Casey by the hand.

"Der-ek! Stop dragging me around!" Casey tugged back, stopping him on his track. Derek turned around to face her, eyebrows raised.

"Unless you want to pay for food, you'll shut up now and just follow my lead," He held out his hand in front of her and waited for a response.

She stiffened as she thought of how much money she currently had in her wallet. She didn't ask her mom for extra shopping money because.. well, she wasn't planning on having a good time with Derek at the mall. And since he was the original babysitter of the day, George gave him the food allowance for the afternoon. She would be able to pay for the three of them if they went to a fastfood restaurant, but that's gross - for her. Eww, have you seen the food they're serving? They're not even healthy. I am not eating processed junk! And I've promised myself that I'm eating healthy this summer. She would barely be able to buy food for her and Marti if they go to this place. Well, Derek could starve to death. Who cares?

Sighing heavily, she hesitantly placed her hand on his palm. Of course, she cared.

Derek clasped his fingers around Casey's hand as he lowered it to his side. She never looked back at him, in fear that he would see her blushing so hard. Marti only giggled at the sight of the two holding hands again as they entered the place.

"Table for three."

"Smerek.." Marti called out to her brother sitting beside her, busy chewing on food. Casey had just excused herself to go to the washroom, leaving the two behind in their booth.

"Hmm?" Derek mumbled over a mouthful of meat.

"Why do you want to hold hands with Casey?"

His jaws stopped chomping on his lunch when he heard her question. Uh. He gave himself time - probably more than what was necessary - to chew and gulp his mouth's content (secretly wishing he could chew forever and avoid her interrogation) before answering.

"Uh, I don't want to. We just needed to save money."

"Right," she nodded. "Well, why were you holding her waist when we were at the store?"

Oh, no. Here we go. Again, questions that catch him off-guard. What is up with this week? Actually, he didn't really mind being asked questions that would make him uneasy for a few seconds - like, 'where did you go last night?' or 'have you been stealing money from Edwin?' - because it was easy to get out of these things. But Casey-related inquiries? While I'm eating?

"Don't want her to get lost. Nora's gonna kill me," he replied in defense, resuming his food-stuffing to hide his discomfort.

"She's a big girl, Smerek. She could take care of herself."

"No, see, it's not just that," he started, wiggling his finger to the side. "She's klutzy. She could easily trip, break everything there, and hurt herself. Then we'd have to take her to the hospital. On top of that, we'll be broke until the next lifetime. That's too much of an inconvenience. And Casey, on her own, is enough bother for the whole family. I'm just saving the 'rents' butts."

Marti just kept staring at him the whole time he was blabbing animatedly about Casey's inconvenient existence, as if trying to read something in his face. He averted his eyes from her inquisitive look and tried to keep his expression blank and neutral. He thought that she was going to ask something else, but she went back to her food and said nothing, leading him to believe that she thought of everything as a joke - which is true! - and decided not to question any further.

"Smerek.."

Derek stopped chewing again. "Yeah?"

"Why didn't you tell the lady you weren't Casey's husband and I wasn't your daughter? I was listening, you know."

"She 'forgot' first. I don't have a fault there," he immediately rebutted.

Marti squinted her eyes and tightened her lips, obviously not satisfied with his answer. Derek merely shrugged as he took a sip from his drink, inwardly hoping that it would be the last of her questions. There was nothing else left to ask anyway. She had covered every weird thing that happened today. He relaxed a bit and anticipated their exit from the restaurant, once the princess comes back and Sherlock Holmes finishes her food. Then they would forget this had ever happened.

"Smerek.."

Derek breathed heavily before turning his head to give his sister a forced smile.

"Yes, Smarti?"

"Do you like Casey?"

Derek's eyes widened and his nostrils flared as the question started getting more and more imprinted in his eardrums, clouding his mind. He quickly looked away from his sister, wishing that she hadn't seen his reaction, or if she had, she'd think that it was because of outrage and disgust. At least he's glad that that he just finished gulping his food and there was nothing left on the plate to contribute to that ever growing vomit that might exit his system any minute now. Maybe it's a good time to excuse himself and go to the washroom, but he didn't want to leave his sister alone. Where the heck is Casey?

"Wh.. where are you getting all these questions?"

"You like her, don't you? You can tell me. I will guard your secret with my life," she replied, beaming at him.

Derek shook his head and nervously chuckled. "Go finish your food now. She's gonna come soon."

"Answer me first. If you don't answer me, I'll tell Dad you're hiding a dead rat under your bed."

"I am not!"

"Answer.."

Rolling his eyes and sighing in defeat, Derek stared down and contemplated whether he'd be honest with his little sister or not. He didn't know how to start or what to say. Okay, so of course he should. After all, the question only begged for either of the two possible answers – yes or no. He wasn't really scared of her threat to tell on him and his dead rat. He threw that out a long time ago, but since she had been scarred for life the moment that she saw it, she couldn't let go of the subject. He just wanted to let it out. Say something. He had never ever said anything to anybody else, not even his best friend, Sam. Not that he would tell him, no. No, that couldn't be right. He was pretty sure it was against the Male Code to do that. You know, the 'don't date your best friend's ex' or 'don't date your best friend's ex, who's also your stepsister' section. Stupid Male Code, backfiring on him.

"Smerek, answer.."

Derek quickly glanced at her. What was he gonna do? Was it even right? I don't know. What does it mean when you couldn't get someone out of your mind, when you constantly get pulled into a trance where she was all that you could see and all that you wanted to reach out to, or when you couldn't help but go out of your way to do things you'd normally be killed first before you'd do it? That no matter how hard you try to mask it with your 'jerk-ness', you just couldn't hide that fact that you get hurt when she gets hurt, you get affected when she cries? Yeah, well. But it's not right! Not right. Not right. Not right.

"Smerek!"

He couldn't say a word. Not without feeling the need to puke. What now?

He took out his phone from his pocket and went to the Notes app. There he typed the answer to her question.

YES

Marti shrieked when she read the three-letter word, causing everyone in the restaurant to stare at them in confusion, curious to know what was going on.

"Ooh, I knew it! You lik-!"

"Shh!"

"Right," Marti nodded and glided her thumb and index finger across her lips like closing a zipper. "Not a word."

Derek, whose face was still slightly flushing, held out his right pinky finger. "Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear," Marti beamed at him, hooking her own pinky finger onto his.

They were in the middle of entwining their little fingers when Casey walked back into their booth. Derek hastily unhooked his finger and grabbed his phone lying on the table to delete the note. He avoided her eyes for the rest of their stay at that place, making her wonder what went on while she was gone. And Marti was thoroughly enjoying this.

"Hi, Casey."

Casey turned her head to the direction of the voice to see who had just greeted her. Her face lightened up when she recognized who it was.

"Hey, Matthew. What are you doing here?" She beamed widely and, in fact, a little too flirtatiously. Derek had to scoff and roll his eyes at her actions.

"I just bought some clothes. How about you?" Matthew responded, briefly lifting his hand holding a couple of plastic bags.

She was about to respond when he started asking again. "Is.. he your boyfriend?"

"No!" She immediately blurted out at the same time as Derek's "No."

"Yes!" The three older teens quickly looked down, all of their foreheads creasing. Uh-oh.

"Marti.." Derek hushed her with wide eyes.

"Who are you and why are you talking to Casey?" Marti continued, ignoring his brother's glare threats.

"I'm.. her friend," Matthew responded, feeling a little queasy.

"Are you going to ask her out on a date? Casey's not allowed to go on dates anymore. This is her financey," she raised her eyebrows at him as she pointed to her brother.

Derek laughed and corrected her, "Fiancé."

Casey, whose mouth suddenly fell open upon hearing this, elbowed him hard, making him wince as he clutch his side.

"You're getting married? You've never.." Matthew asked, still confused.

"Oh, no, no! I can explain.." Casey shook her head rapidly, waving her hand in the air.

Marti unexpectedly grabbed both Derek's and Casey's hands and forced them together. Seeing as this was quite an amusing scenario, he tightened his grasp on her hand so that she wouldn't be able to break free. She was rendered speechless as her mind got flooded with a thousand thoughts. She couldn't help but feel like a helpless victim in the evil duo's current shenanigan. And her body was betraying her. Only her eyes spoke, telling Matthew to rescue her. Too bad, Matthew didn't have Derek's Casey-smarts.

"No, she can't. And it is what you think it is." Marti interrupted her, pointing to the two holding hands. "Plus, you look like Tru-scum. I don't trust you."

"Marti?" Casey said as she feebly tried to wiggle out of Derek's grip, but she couldn't fight the strength of his hold. "No, no. I'll explain."

"Uh, I better be going. See you later, Casey," said Matthew, still staring at their hands joined together. "Nice to meet you.. Casey's fiancé and.. little girl."

Derek simply smirked at him in response.

"Call me later?" Casey sighed as she saw his back facing her already as he carried on pacing away.

Then as if every single offense Derek every made had dawned on her, her features started to darken as she turned to face the annoying zit that won't pop, rash that won't heal, nose that won't stop running. She breathed heavily as she curled her hand into a fist beside her and approached him slowly, eyes shooting invisible daggers at his direction. Derek widened his eyes and slowly backed off, glancing from side to side as he noticed that more and more mall-goers were starting to watch the scene.

"You, Venturis, are seriously -" she started, teeth gnashing in the process.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's watch a movie!" He announced before she could even finish what she wanted to say. He quickly took both of the girls' hands and led them to the escalator.

"I want to watch Eclipse," Casey huffed. She still hadn't forgotten about what happened earlier. She had been wearing her sulking expression from the escalator to the Silvercity lobby entrance, thinking about the wasted opportunity to be asked to a date again by a cute guy. Not that she was expecting him to ask her at that point in time, but.. ugh.

"Who said your opinion matters here?" Derek responded.

"We will watch Eclipse or we won't watch at all," she retorted, raising an eyebrow at him. He just cast a sneer at her.

"What's Eclipse?" Marti asked, breaking their intense eye battle.

"This.. is Eclipse, Marti," Casey pointed at the huge cutout display of Eclipse actors.

"Oh! He looks cute. I want to see this," the little kid stared at the picture of a shirtless Taylor Lautner, playing the character Jacob Black.

Derek rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his sister's shoulders, twisting her to face him.

"No, Smarti, the three of us will watch Inception. It's a cooler movie, I promise."

Casey snorted at him and touched Marti's arms, causing her to look at her stepsister's direction.

"No, we'll watch Eclipse. It has werewolves and vampires with really cool powers."

"Ooh.." Marti's eyes twinkled at the mention of 'cool powers'.

"Stop brainwashing my sister, Twi-hard," Derek folded his arms across his chest and scrunched his eyebrows. "People just watch this movie to see Lautner's.. not-even-that-great body. Please."

"You're just jealous of his six pack," Casey replied, smirking at him and crossing her own arms.

"Uh, I have my own."

"What's a six pack?" Marti looked up to question her brother.

"Oh, you know, those little buns on the tummy," he responded, patting his abdomen.

He caught Casey looking at the area he had patted, which she ceased doing as soon as she realized how inappropriate that was. She proceeded staring back at him, hoping she'd melt his pride with her eyes. But, bad idea since he gazed deeper and even rolled his tongue along his inner cheek, as if taunting and teasing her, making her cheeks flush and her eyes look somewhere else.

"I want one! Is it yummy?" Marti excitedly exclaimed.

"You can't ea – " Casey started.

"Ask Casey," Derek cut her off, still keeping that intent gaze at her.

Marti turned to Casey and asked. "Have you ever eaten a six pack before?"

"N – " Casey began, shaking her head.

"Yeah, in fact, she has eaten mine before.. in her 'nightmares'. She wrote about it in her diary," Derek cut her off again.

"What? I do not..!" Casey gave him a menacing look in return. So infuriating! Wait, what diary..

".. care. So, let's watch Inception," He interrupted for the third time, leaving her gaping and very much flushed from both anger and embarrassment.

"Eclipse!" The two girls shouted synchronously. Derek groaned as he gets dragged to the ticket booth.

It was already an hour past their movie-watching and Derek was sitting on one of the benches with sleeping Marti's head resting on his lap. The two eldest decided to part ways for a bit, then meet back up after an hour or so. Derek took Marti and Casey strolled around alone. At least, that gave them time away from each other. Not that they needed this break to stop themselves from pushing daggers at each other's backs. No, not really. In fact, overall, the day went okay. Sure they were still fighting, that had always been a recurring theme in this life of theirs, but they actually had.. fun. They laughed, they enjoyed each other's presence, and they had a good time with Marti around. It wasn't such a doomsday kinda hangout after all.

Feeling kind of bored, he decided to tweet her.

| DerekVenturi: Where are you?

| LifeWithCasey: Victoria's Secret buying.. you-know-what.

| DerekVenturi: Yeah, very funny. Where are you and what are you doing?

| LifeWithCasey: I'm just at Coles, searching for "Love in the Time of Cholera".

| DerekVenturi: Try the horror section. Are you gonna take long? Marti's already asleep on my lap. I kinda want to go home now.

| LifeWithCasey: Funny, Derek. Oh, okay. Five more minutes, I promise. Are you sitting somewhere? I guess I'll meet you in the parking lot.

| DerekVenturi: No, it's fine. I'll just carry her and meet you there. Make it quick, okay?

| LifeWithCasey: Alright.

It took Casey shorter than five minutes to find and purchase the book, so she decided to wait for the two near the store entrance. To keep herself busy, she took the book out of the bag and started reading the first few pages.

Minutes later, Casey saw Derek walking towards her, carrying his sleeping little sister and her new stuffed bunny. He looked very fatherly and she couldn't help but stare at him in awe. It was so adorable to watch. He always did have a way with children. She would probably never surpass his natural charm when it came to dealing with kids. Especially Marti, he was a great big brother to her. He might not always be the perfect role model, but regardless, he was genuinely caring and she could tell that he loved her so much.

Her mind flashed back to the incident at the Swarovski store. She would have never guessed that it was Marti who accidentally dropped the precious crystal and broke it, and she was sure that Derek never had the intention of revealing it even to her until she unintentionally insinuated that the kid would break every single display in the store had they not left the place. She felt guilty that she didn't catch on right away, but at least her apology got accepted. And Derek.. he'd rather be the one to take the blame for it. Who said chivalry is dead?

Casey smiled to herself as her mind continued to dwell in the past, eyes fixated forward in oblivion of her surroundings.

"Earth to Casey."

"Huh?" She shook her head and blinked quickly.

Derek imitated her zoned-out face and smirked at her. Casey gave him a light slap on his arm, then rolled her eyes and smiled at him.

"Done?"

Casey nodded and lifted the book she's carrying. "Got the book."

"See, I told you. When in doubt, always check the Horror section."

"By Horror, you mean Romance." Casey sported her own smirk.

"Yeah, Horror."

Casey responded with an eye roll. She took the stuffed toy from his hand so he'd be able to carry Marti easier. She was about to start on her heels when she felt his free hand gliding against her own on her side, parting her fingers to entwine his with them.

"Stay with me. I don't want to lose you."

Casey's heart skipped a beat or two. She wanted to melt right there and then. Of course, he could've meant something else, but why was her heart beating faster than a bullet train? Thousands of questions plagued her mind and possibly impaired her from moving altogether since she wasn't able to move right away when Derek started walking towards the exit. She had to be tugged a couple times before her spaced out, freaked out, OMG-ed out self responded to his gentle nudging.

She wanted to know what was going on. But, whatever this was, it would have to wait until later.

A/N: How was it? Eek, haha. The only thing that I took from the original story is the idea of the cinema scene. In the actual plot, Derek and Marti argued whether to watch Inception or Eclipse and Derek and Casey were talking about Jacob Black's "six pack" on Twitter, similar to what I had there but a LOT more flirty because there was something else that happened before (which I will tackle in the next chapter). Since they're not actually together-ish yet, I figured this is more appropriate. So, for those who are familiar with the Twitter Dasey plot, you might recognize some stuff but the timeline is a bit mixed up.

Also, there is no Victoria's Secret in Masonville Place, only La Senza. So, let's just pretend there is one since that's what Derek said in the last chapter. :)

Anyway, finally Derek admitted it. Yay.

Please review if you have time! I enjoyed writing this chapter even though it took me a while to finish it because it's so long. And I can't bring myself to omit some parts.