Author's Note I think I'm on another spree! I've been writing chapters like a mad-woman. This chapter was originally written in three chapters, but since they were all short I put them together. So yeah. The ending is inching closer, but it still a ways away.

Disclaimer Don't own! :D

Casey sat silently on the chair across from the principals' desk. Mr. Lacitor sat in the chair behind his desk and clasped his hands together. He looked like he had never had to deal with a fight in a school before. Her reputation with him suffered terribly, and to have him deal with the first fight, and the fight including her…things could go even more downhill.

"Casey, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. He didn't hit me. I'm shaken up. Really bad…" She stuttered out.

"Are you in a moment where you could tell me what happened with a clear conscious?" Casey shook her head yes. He made a hand motion, signaling her to tell him the story.

"I heard two people arguing in the bathroom, about something that concerned me. I got closer and recognized that one voice was Noel and the other was Derek. Noel was yelling at Derek for something he had said to me and when Derek denied it he hit Derek. He stopped after one hit but Derek became," Casey closed her eyes, "became very angry and started attacking him. Noel and Derek came fighting out of the bathroom and Derek probably broke his nose when he kneed him in the face." Mr. Lacitor looked like he was the one experiencing the pain. "When Derek was kicking Noel in the stomach I pulled him away and then Derek tried to attack me so I kicked him in the crouch." He bit his upper lip at the last remark. Mr. Lacitor didn't respond for a moment.

"What, may I ask, did Derek say to you that would make this fight in the least bit reasonable?" Casey sighed.

"I'd rather not say. In my opinion I don't think that they should've fought over me. It's not even important." She said softly downward. If she kept eye-contact she might say more than she'd like to, and she'd rather tell Paul first.

"Hmm. No matter. I'm sure I will get it from Noel or Derek when they are feeling better." Mr. Lacitor said bitterly. Casey felt a twang of guilt in the pit of her stomach. He didn't need to make her feel worse, but then again he didn't know the whole story. He wouldn't believe it anyway. Paul would though.

"Mr. Lacitor, may I please go talk to my counselor?" He looked at her, contemplating. After a few moments he nodded his head and waved his hand.

Casey exited the office and went straight to Paul's classroom. He was sitting quietly in front of the other students, who were busy doing work now.

She walked in, hating the curious glances at her and walked to Paul's desk.

"Paul, is there any one who can fill in, I really need to talk to you. It's an emergency." He pursed his lips, not sure if it was an 'emergency' or an emergency. Deciding that he wouldn't risk it he waved a student teacher in the back that Casey had not seen, up to the front.

"Please watch over the students while I go talk with this young lady." The student teacher nodded her head and he walked out of the room with Casey.

They went to his office and sat down in the proper seats.

"What do you need?" Paul asked, concerned.

"A lot has been going on and I can't wait till Thursday to talk to you. The situation can be put off no longer." Casey said rapidly. Knowing that she was going to talk to someone who didn't know felt like a blessing. "Please don't tell anyone that you don't have to tell, okay. I don't know what's going on with Derek but he's been blacking out. When he blacks out he acts like he is someone else, and Marti calls him Brooke sometimes and something that 'Derek' did to me, was very un-Derek-like."

"What did he do?" Casey shook her head. She wanted to say it, but she wasn't sure how he would take it.

"At first I thought it was him, but I was confused why he was acting like that and did that to me. It was really evil and I felt weird and he acted like he didn't know he had done it. After a few altercations he finally got me to talk to him and told me about his black-outs and at first I was uneasy but now I believe him. It's not Derek. He wouldn't do that to me." Her last sentence sounded more like a plea.

"What did he do?" Paul asked again, looking more worried about her than ever.

"Um…Please, believe me when I say I don't think it was Derek and I can tell you." Casey said. She felt like it was a childish statement, but she did not care. She didn't want him to think it was Derek when she knew it wasn't.

"It sounds like he has a psychological problem Casey. Anything that he may have done could have been when his mind was 'acting up'. I believe what you say, I know you aren't a fool Casey." She nodded her head, half-smiling at his compliment. Casey took a deep breath and looked Paul in his eyes. After a few moments, Paul on edge, she spoke.

"Derek, or whoever he was in that moment, uhm…" Her eyes were tearing up, "He ra-…uhmm…." Casey tried hard to shove the words out of her mouth but they seemed to be strangling her. Fervently wiping away her tears, she took another breath.

"It's okay, take your time." Paul said kindly. Casey closed her eyes, knowing that she couldn't say it if she saw Paul's eyes.

"Derek. He raped me." She opened her eyes and saw Paul's horrified expression. He didn't know what to say, that was obvious. Casey couldn't hold her tears back any longer and she began to sob loudly. "It wasn't Derek; It was Derek…" She muttered weakly, hoping that Paul would see and know the whole truth and tell her what needed to be done.

"He what?" He questioned, unbelieving.

"And Noel and Derek just got into a fight over the threats that the other Derek was making at me last week. The other night Derek asked for my help and I told him that I had to tell you because you always know what to do and I don't know what to do and my life is going to hell and I can't take it anymore do you know what it's like? What it's like to feel this way?" Casey carried on, still sobbing, torn and tortured from the inside out.

"I-"

"The other Derek kept kicking Noel, over and over. Ugh, his guttural noises were disgusting. And people just watched. I've never wanted to barf as much as I wanted to in my whole life as I wanted to in that moment. Paul looked confused.

"I learned about something when I was in college, that could be what Derek is suffering from. But I am not sure, okay, you can't take this as fact okay." Casey wiped her eyes and nodded her head. "It was called MPD which stood for multiple personality disorder. It's rare, and it's not insanity, okay. The mind splits personalities apart when there is major physical and/or sexual trauma as a child. So do you know if Derek experienced- well no you wouldn't know..." Paul looked down, heavy in thought.

"He needs to see a specialist, whether or not that is what's going on…right?" He looked up at Casey and nodded his head.

"Could you get him to come in?" Casey nodded her head. "Is there anything else, that happened?" She started to shake her head no and then remembered.

"I could be pregnant. He didn't wear anything…when-" Her eyes welled up with tears. It felt horrible, and good at the same time. Finally getting it out, instead of fighting or talking to Derek about it.

"When did the incident occur?" She blinked hard.

"Saturday." Casey muttered under her breath.

"Here is my advice for you." Her eyes kept to his, and her ears were open for every bit of advice. "Tell your parents exactly what's going on; you and Derek must say it together. Derek got in a fight today so they will be called by the principal. Let them yell at him over the fight he had with Noel and then tell them the deeper side of the story. They need have Derek see a psychiatrist, a specialist, a psychologist, someone who knows about a lot of disorders, I mean it could be PTSD, but I don't know." Casey nodded, still listening. "Then next Thursday morning take a pregnancy test. Preferably next weekend on Sunday. It won't show up if you are pregnant until around that time, okay?" She nodded her head again. "Don't tell your younger siblings about what Derek has done, they are kids so-"

"Of course! I'm not going to scar them for life!" Paul looked down, smiling weakly. His eyebrows were stuck in the same worried position since she had come into the room.

"Try to get Noel to come in here also. He is now a small part of this, as he heard something that Derek didn't know he said." She nodded and breathed in again. Her heart was beating fast, but the sound was low and soft. Casey felt better now that she had an even better plan thanks to Paul.

"Thank you Paul. Do you think I could call my mom so she can come and pick me and Derek up? I'm sure that Derek doesn't want to be here anymore than I do at the moment." Paul shook his head yes and gestured to the phone.

Casey got up and dialed Nora's work number. When she picked up Casey announced that it was her and that Derek and her needed to be brought home as soon as possible.

Nora obliged.

Derek was called down to Paul's office met up with Casey there. He sat on the other chair by the wall. Casey had her head down and Paul kept looking between Derek and Casey. Confused, Derek was the first to speak.

"Is there something going on with our parents? Why are we being sent home?" She turned to him and looked at him like he was an imbecile. His eye and cheek both brandished hideous bruises. There was also a cut on his lip.

"We aren't being sent home Derek, I called mom to come pick us up. I can't be at school any more today and I thought you didn't want to either. Especially after you fought with Noel." Derek was about to say something but bit his lip and looked at Paul. Casey turned away from Derek.

"I told Paul about your blackouts Derek. I know you don't know what you did." She heard him let a breath of relief out. Paul looked down at his desk. The sound of the clock ticking seemed to threaten Casey's life. It was the thing that she had wanted to destroy. She was tired of having too much time, or not enough of it. The ticking loomed over her, as though it knew that time was her only truth. And what if I was to rid myself of time?

The door opened and Nora walked it, flustered and worried. Her eyes landed on Derek and her mouth dropped.

"They weren't lying! You did get in a fight!" Nora exclaimed, walking to Derek. "This is inexcusable Derek."

"I don't even re-" He started, but Casey interrupted.

"Derek don't." She said forcefully at him. Casey turned and peered as dangerously with her eyes as she could muster. He nodded, leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Casey you look terrible." Nora said softly, brushing through Casey tousled hair with her fingers. The knots in her hair broke painfully and Casey held back a squeal.

"Can we go now Mom?" Casey asked distractedly.

"Yes honey. Come on Derek." Nora said, shaking her head in shame. Casey trailed behind, exiting Paul's office next to Derek. She turned and waved good bye. Paul waved bye back, his eyes still worried.

When they got home Derek and Casey sat on the couch. Nora stood in front of them, not sure what to say to Derek, but was obviously furious. Casey wanted nothing more but for the day to end so she could sleep and sleep forever.

"We'll have to talk about this later. I need George for this." Nora said finally, storming out of the room.

Derek turned and watched her leave till he spoke to Casey. His eyes looked thankfully into hers but she didn't hold the gaze. The image of him attacking Noel was still imprinted painfully in her throat.

"Casey. I'm sorry." He looked down.

"You aren't the one who needs to apologize to me. I don't need you to apologize to me." Casey looked at the TV. "What I need is a fantasy world," She gestured to the television, "so I can rewind time and do it all over with the knowledge I have now. Talk to somebody before what happened and get you help before another version of you ruins me."

"You're not ruined." Casey glared at him.

"I'm not ruined? Who are you to say that?" She said low and angrily. "Nobody. You aren't anybody to tell me if I am ruined, or if I should be happy or anything." Derek looked away, and shifted so that his body turned away from her. "For someone who seems so sorry, why are you so ready to force me to forget it all and say that I'm okay?" He didn't answer. "I'm not ready to accept the fact that I am destroyed from the inside out and that it is okay. That it will be okay in the end. I don't see how anyone could envision a shred of happiness or dignity for me." Casey breathed out.

"I understand the situation about as much as you do." He said defensively. She let out a short and bitter laugh.

"No, Derek, you don't. That's why you came to me in the first place." Without letting him respond to her remark she got up and left the room.

He scratched his eyes, enjoying the way that the pain made him forget.