A/N: Ok, so this chapter was very fun to write, even though it took me FOREVER to write it! I'm sorry for the wait, school has been hectic, thank the Lord for summer break, I just hope I can survive until then! :) Anywho, it's mostly Dasey fluff, but it has ups and downs, and it's kind of crucial to show this before moving on. Oh, and for those of you who read ICME, I will try to write the next chapter for it, but I've had supreme writer's block, if anyone has any ideas what curveballs I could throw the two while he's on tour and she's at home, they would be greatly appreciated, and I would most certainly give credit where credit is due! :D lol Thanks for your patience, guys!
R&R, please!
-Jaclyn :)
Chapter Seven: I'll Sleep Just to Dream of You
It had been a long night. And long nights on the couch, never worked out well, especially for your back. Plus, the fact that Derek had woken up every other thirty minutes terrified of the choice that sooner or later he would have to choose. When everyone started to wake up, he had no choice but to discard the thought of sleeping anymore. He sighed, and stood up, stretched, and cleaned up his couch bed. Casey was down first. She ran over to him, kissed his cheek, and then hurried into the kitchen, to get a glass of juice, as the rest of the family came down. Derek waved to everyone and smiled, trying to hide his obvious lack of sleep. As everyone else wandered around, Casey looked over her glass at Derek. He smiled at her, before yawning once more and running a hand through his hair.
"So, Derek, how did you sleep last night? I hope the couch was comfortable." Nora said, wrapping her robe around her pajamas.
Derek smiled over at her, "Great! Thank you very much!"
Over in the kitchen, Casey almost spit out her juice, trying not to laugh at Derek being polite. Luckily no one noticed. She set the cup down, grabbed the key to her car off the counter, and hurried over to where the rest of her family stood. She cleared her throat, and looked over to George and Nora.
"Uh, Mom, George, Derek and I had planned to get an early start on the project, so we had planned to go get some breakfast and then head to the library for some research. Does that sound all right?" Derek hid a grin; he knew they would not be visiting any libraries.
Nora looked over at her husband, thoughtfully, and then nodded, "That sounds just fine, just call us later to let us know what's going on, when you're coming home, and all that."
"Of course, Mrs. Venturi." Derek said, pulling off the polite façade perfectly.
Casey flashed a grin at him, "Okay, Mom, George, kids, see you all later." She said happily, leading Derek out to the car.
"That was a truly brilliant lie, I almost believed it myself. But then I thought, me, Derek Venturi, in a library?! And I knew you had to be lying."
Casey rolled her eyes, "Same old Derek. Now get in."
"Can I drive?"
"No."
"Please?"
"Did you just say 'please'?"
"Yes, you should be honored. Can I drive?"
"The answer's still no."
"That's not cool."
"It's my car."
"I let you drive mine."
She laughed, "But it looks like my car is the only one here. So I'm driving it."
"Oh, please, the only reason you have this car is because I'm not in the family!"
Casey looked over at him, her hand on the door handle, "The answer's still no. But if you behave, I might just let you drive home." She smirked at him and then got into the car.
Derek stared, dumbfounded at where she had just stood, and then hurried to sit in the passenger seat, "For your information, I am not five, and I don't like you talking to me like I am."
"Quit acting like you're five, and I won't talk to you like you are."
"I was not acting like I was five!"
"Be quiet, I'm trying to concentrate on driving."
"One question, though."
She sighed, and looked over at him, briefly, before returning her eyes to the road, "What is it?"
"If the relationship wouldn't be considered wrong, then why did you lie?"
"Are you really that unintelligent?"
"Hey!"
She sighed once more, "As soon as our parents find out about this thing between us, do you really think they're going to let you stay in the house?"
"So, even though I'm not your stepbrother, I have to hide the fact that I'm your boyfriend?"
"Exactly."
"Well, I find that dumb."
"Do you want to get kicked out of your own house?"
"It's not my house now."
"Seriously. Where else would you go?"
"Umm…."
"Exactly." She repeated and smirked over at him. She pulled into the parking lot of Smellie Nellie's just as he was about to retaliate, "Don't. Just come on, and eat breakfast. I know you're hungry."
"How do you know that?" he asked as they both got out of the car.
"You're always hungry."
"I am not!"
She laughed, "Do you want to eat with me, or not?"
He pretended to think over it.
"I could leave you here."
"I could walk home."
"I could get you kicked out."
"You wouldn't though."
"And why not?"
He smirked and stepped close to her, "Because I'm too good-looking to get rid of."
She gently pushed him away, "You think too highly of yourself, Venturi."
"Alright, I got another good reason why you wouldn't."
"Shoot."
"I'm your boyfriend." And he smiled.
She looked up at him, "Fine, I guess I won't kick you out."
"That's my girl." He grinned and put an arm around her shoulders.
"But another stupid remark, and I will leave you here." And with that, she walked inside, leaving his arm to drop back down at his side.
After a moment, he chuckled and hurried in after her….
….Running right into none other than Sally.
"Sorry, my bad." He said hurriedly, before he had seen who it was. When Sally looked up at him, grinning, though, he instantly wished Casey was by his side.
"Not at all, I should watch where I'm going." She said, and Derek could tell she was flirting, but why would she flirt with him now, when she had shot him down so many times when he had existed before.
"Oh, well, if we're both at fault, there's no need to sue one another, is there?" he laughed nervously, looking over her head for Casey. He spotted her, but her back was towards him, as she spoke to their waiter as she sat at a table.
Sally laughed, "I guess not. I haven't seen you in here before, you new here?"
"No, just first time coming in here. And my girlfriend's waiting for me at the table, so I should probably…" and he broke off, making his way around her and over to Casey, trying not to notice how her face had fallen at the word girlfriend.
"What held you up?"
"Your words hurt me."
"Yeah right. I ordered your drink. Your welcome."
"What did you get me?"
"The same thing you always get."
"You know my usual?"
"Don't flatter yourself, I have a good memory, I could order the whole family's usual."
He made a face, "Man, I thought you just remembered mine specially."
She grinned, "Nope."
"Way to bring a man down."
"I doubt you could ever order my usual."
"You doubt me?"
"Yup."
"I don't like hearing that."
"Do something about it, then." She smirked, and watched as the waitress brought them their drinks.
"Are you two ready to order?" she asked, politely, pulling out a notepad and pencil.
"Yes, we are. I'll have an order of pancakes, heavy on the maple syrup. And she will have French toast, easy on the syrup." He handed the menus over to the waitress, smirking back at his shocked girlfriend.
As the waitress walked away Casey smiled at him, "How did you—"
"Hey, I can be observant when I want to be."
"I never knew."
"And you doubted me."
"Never again." She grinned.
"Good." He grinned back.
"I like this. Me and you, fighting, but this time because we like each other. It's actually pretty funny when you think about it."
He smiled over at her, "I like it too." He reached over and took her hand in his, "Just, promise me, when things go back to normal, we won't have to stop this."
She sighed, "I don't know, Derek. What if we can't help it? What if our parents forbid it?"
"Forget them! We can sneak around. They couldn't stop our fighting; they're not going to be able to stop us dating."
She had to smile, he sounded so confident, "Alright, so I promise, that when everything goes back to normal, we won't stop this, no matter what."
He brought her hand up to his mouth, and gently kissed it, "No matter what."
--
Breakfast had been great, and afterward, Casey had driven them to a park. Not a playground park, a nature park. As she walked over to the entrance, she noticed Derek standing beside the car, looking unsure about something. She went back over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"What's up?" she asked, gently, knowing how Derek could get.
"I've just been thinking."
"About what?"
"Sam. And Ralph. And Kendra. And everything else that's changed because of me not being here."
"It seems the world's just a better place with you in it."
"But we never would have found out that we liked each other if this had never happened. And as much as I hate the fact that Sam's dead, Ralph's depressed, and Kendra's pregnant, I'm grateful for this. Because if this had never happened, I wouldn't have you."
She smiled up at him, but he still looked torn up about something, "But…"
"I feel so guilty. I can enjoy this new alternate reality, when they can't. I know that this isn't how the story really goes, but they don't. They think this is really happening, and it sucks. I know that when things go back to normal, their lives will be alright again. I just wish they could somehow know as well. And Sam, Casey, how can I be so happy right now, knowing my best friend is dead, and all because he had never met me? How can I possibly be able to feel anything but guilt, knowing he's dead because I wasn't there?!"
The look on his face scared her. She had never really seen him this upset, and the look in his eyes made her want to back away from him. She was scared of him, and she didn't like feeling that way. But she took a deep breath, and moved so she was directly in front of him, and took both his hands in hers.
"Derek, don't you ever blame yourself for this. It's not your fault you weren't there. It's not your fault that he's dead. It's not you fault with Ralph, or Kendra, or anything. If anybody should be held guilty, it's me. I made the wish. I was the one that wanted you out of existence, if anything, it's my fault he's dead."
Derek shook his head, "I won't let you take the blame for this."
"And I won't let you take it either." She said firmly.
"But I still feel horrible."
"Just, do what I do. Remember that it's not real. Remember that things will go back to normal soon, and that when they do, they're not going to remember a thing about this."
"But will we?" This time Derek looked scared, "What if things go back to normal, and we don't remember any of this? What will happen to us? What happens to the promise we just made?"
Casey had to admit, she was scared about that as well, but she didn't want to show it, "We just can't think like that, Derek. We have to stay positive, or we'll never make it through this. Please, Derek, please." She looked up into his eyes, trying to show him that she wanted this to work, and that somehow, he would understand that because they might not remember this, she wanted to cherish it.
He sighed, and put his forehead to hers, "Alright. Positive it is." She smiled, "Now, come on; let's go 'work on our project'."
"Which reminds me…" she said, letting go of one of his hands, so they could walk side by side, "We're going to have to throw together a project at one point, because Mom and George are going to want to see it."
Derek groaned, "You mean we might actually have to go to the… the…"
"Library?" he nodded, making a face, "Yes. But don't worry, I'll do the work."
"Really?"
"Only because it's got to look good, and if I let you help, it won't."
"Whatever the reason, as long as I don't have to do anything, I'm good."
She nudged into him, and laughed as he nudged back.
He looked down at her, "How come we didn't do this sooner?"
She bit her lip as she thought, "I don't know. I guess we just never thought of it."
"Oh, I did."
She looked up at him, eyebrows raised, "You did? When?"
"When we first met. And no, not at the house. Before the wedding. When Dad and Nora realized they were getting serious and thought we should meet. Remember?" she nodded, "Well, I had never seen your mom, so I didn't know who to look for, and I was looking all over the restaurant, just to see who was there, and I saw you. But then we started walking over to your table, and I realized that you were Nora's daughter. And that if your mom married my dad, I wouldn't be able to ask you out."
"You wanted to ask me out?"
"The moment I laid eyes on you."
"That's so sweet."
"Well, that night, Dad told me his plans to propose to Nora. Needless to say, I was not happy. I tried everything to try and stop him from doing it. Saying that more girls in the house would make us miserable. Making up weird stuff to keep him from doing this. Even saying I would hate my new step-mom and make her life a living heck. He didn't find that too amusing. And he still proposed. I was ticked. I protested so much, praying this wouldn't happen. But it did." He laughed, "And then you had to come walking down the aisle, looking beautiful in your bridesmaid gown, though you didn't look any happier than I did."
"Did you jus say I was beautiful?"
"I guess I did."
She smiled, "I wasn't happy. I still wasn't okay with moving, or having brothers, or having a new step-dad, or any of it. But go on."
"Well, I guess, so I wouldn't think about dating my new step-sister, I put all my efforts into pranking you, making fun of you, but making sure not to make you hate me. And I was trying to hard to refrain myself from liking you, but that didn't work. So, I just kept up my reputation, and I dated girls, but I was never okay with you going out with other guys. Why do you think I tried so hard to keep you away from Sam? I hated the fact that he got to go out with you, and I didn't. But I had to keep up the role of the annoying step-brother, so I kept on annoying you, pulling pranks, even when it seemed like you couldn't stand me. Because I knew as soon as I let my guard down, I wouldn't be able to put it back up. I liked you too much."
"If you liked me, why didn't you let me hug you? Ever?"
"Do you realize what that would have done? It would have been like have a bite of a gourmet dish, but then before you can get another taste, it was taken away from you. Hugging you would be torture, knowing that would be all I ever got, because I was the step-brother. So, I just got used to the whole, being your step-brother thing, and I brought it up all the time, to remind myself that you were not a girl I could date. I guess, when I found out I didn't exist, and that I wasn't technically your step-brother anymore, I could finally ask you out."
"Really?"
"Why would I make that up?"
"Well, because it sounds like something out of a romance movie."
"Thanks. I just poured out my heart to you, and you make fun of it. Way to break my heart, Case."
"Stop. Derek, I have to be honest. I saw you that night too. But I had seen George before. He had come to pick up my mom so many times, I could recognize him anywhere. I saw you first. I instantly thought you were amazingly handsome. But then I saw George and the others follow, and when you joined them, I knew you were his oldest son. So I let it go. But I could never forget what ran through my head the first second I saw you."
"And what was that?"
"Whoa. He's hot."
He looked down at her, "You're not serious?"
"Oh, I most definitely am. But I knew that you were going to be my future step-brother soon, because my mom never introduced us to her dates. So, I pushed it away. And tried to act like I had never, even for an instant been attracted to you. So, when we moved in, I immediately began to act like a real step-sister and forget the fact that you were a super cute boy living across the hall from me. I eventually moved on. But every now and then you would do something that made me wish Mom and George had never gotten married."
"Like what?"
"Like the alpha force. You were so good with the kids, I finally saw a bit of the real you, and I liked it. But reality had to come back sometime, right?"
He stopped and turned to face her, wrapping his arms around her waist, "But now, this is the reality, we both have liked each other in the past, we both thought we were over it. Now we both know that we never were, and that we're finally together. That's not changing anytime soon."
She laid her head on her chest, "I have no problems with that. None at all." And for the first time since that night at the restaurant, she let herself forget that Derek's dad had married her mom, and was just able to be his girl, and he be her boy.