Happy New Year! This chapter is fresh from the oven with a little hint of Dasey on top. Hope you all like it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Read and Review!
"Okay," Casey told her daughters as she drove their new, glossy SUV into the supermarket parking lot, carefully avoiding the row of shopping carts situated in the middle of the large paved area. Derek would kill her if she scratched the precious paint job on the new car he bought. "We have exactly one hour to buy everything on this list before we have to pick up the boys from Nathan's hockey practice."
Casey held up a piece of green, lined paper that they kept on the fridge with magnets, for anyone to write what they wanted to be bought by the Venturi Women Shopping Express as Derek called them.
"I still don't understand why every Wednesday is always the grocery shopping day." Marissa grumbled as she unbuckled her seatbelt.
"Because," Casey answered reaching into the back seat by Olivia to grab the cloth grocery bags. "Wednesday is the day the boys 'oh so conveniently' have hockey practice all afternoon so there is no possible way for them to help us shop. And, as I heard this morning from your Dad," Casey tilted her chin down and began talking in a very deep, mockery of her husband's voice. "The fridge is empty, the pantry is bare and the food in the house, besides that veggie stuff of yours, has disappeared. Buy more, woman."
Olivia giggled in the back seat, kicking her little feet and clapping her hands. At the age of ten she still acted like a little princess sometimes, but Casey and Derek passed it off as her being the youngest, not that she was spoiled or anything...right?
"Dad would be so proud, Mom. That's the second time you've made fun of someone in the last twenty four hours." Marissa commented.
Casey just gave her daughter a cheeky grin. "What can I say? I'm a daring soul."
Marissa just rolled her eyes and sent her Mom a small smile.
"I hope you hit him for calling you woman."
Casey gave her oldest daughter a serious nod. "I punched him really hard, right in the mouth. Then I batted my eyelashes at him, leaned in really slowly and kissed it all better."
Marissa shuddered. "Why do I always walk into those?"
Casey just laughed, unbuckling herself and opening the car door. "Let's just go get the cavemen their grub."
---
The supermarket was warm and smelt of candy canes as the three Venturi's entered, stomping their boots on the already soaking floor. Casey stopped pushing the cart she had grabbed outside and looked at the floor with a frown on her face.
"This is dangerous, someone could slip. Why is there no one cleaning this mess up? We should go get the mana-"
"Mom." Marissa placed a hand on her Mom's arm, shaking it slightly. "We only have an hour."
"You're right, I guess. Let's get moving." Casey still looked hesitant as she pushed the cart slowly away from the door, carefully stepping over offensive puddles of melted snow and ice. Olivia grabbed on to one side of the cart and Marissa grabbed onto the other, both of them pulling the cart at a faster pace away from the disaster of a floor.
"Come on, Mom." Olivia whined. Casey opened her mouth to reply, when she heard a snobby voice behind her.
"Merry Christmas, Mrs. Venturi." They all turned to look at an older woman leaving the store, her husband in tow. Marissa squinted, trying to recognize where she'd seen the woman before.
Casey flashed her most polite smile, nodding to the older woman.
"Merry Christmas to you too, Mrs. Quail."
Mrs. Quail motioned for her husband and they both left the store, heads held high. Marissa turned to her Mom. "Who was that? I think I've seen them before."
Casey's head tipped down so she could whisper in her daughter's ear. "She's the Mother of that one captain. You know the one with the nice eyes? I think he plays on a team in the states but he's from Calgary originally. Anyways, Dad played against him a while back and beat her son's team. That's where we met them."
Marissa made a noise or recognition. "He does have nice eyes."
Casey gave a dreamy smile. "Mmhmm. He sure does."
Olivia looked over at her sister and Mom. "You better hope I don't tell, Dad you think he has nice eyes."
Casey looked down at her youngest, shaken out of her daydream, and raised an eyebrow; steering the cart towards the produce section.
"If you did that, little girl, I would have to take and sell all those presents of yours under the tree."
Olivia's little eyes widened and her bottom lip stuck out into a pout. "Not fair."
"Just think, Livia," Marissa said to her sister. "Daddy won't give Mommy any presents if he finds out that she so much as looked at another man. Don't worry."
Olivia slowly brought her arms down, face erupting into a huge, sly smile. Casey rolled her eyes, pushing the cart towards a tub of apples. Grabbing a bag and setting it in the car, she replied. "I don't know what I'm going to do with all of you. The Venturi blood in you transforms you from the sweet, innocent girls you usually are, too the best pranksters of your schools."
"Daddy taught us well." Olivia stated, placing her fist up to her chest and doing a little bow. She almost walked into a cardboard cut-out of Santa eating cookies if Marissa hadn't grabbed the back of her coat and hauled her back.
Casey laughed. "And you got the clumsiness from me."
Olivia ducked her head, scowling to the floor. She was a lot like her Dad in that way. She hated when people found a reason to laugh at her when she had no good come backs of her own.
"Speaking of Santa and cookies," Marissa commented, taking the list out of her Mom's hand and scanning it. "When are we going to do our Christmas baking?"
"I was thinking about doing it tomorrow morning, on Christmas Eve. That way your Dad will be at his practice and we can hide everything before he gets home and eats half of everything. Nate won't be a problem, bribe him with a few and he'll leave the rest alone. Your Dad will just eat."
"Makes sense." Marissa nodded, looking down and the paper in her hands. "It says we need more vanilla and icing sugar. Other than that we're good for baking ingredients."
"Alright." Casey turned the cart into the baking aisle, almost hitting a young woman holding a baby in the process.
---
"So, Mar..."
They were standing by the cereal; waiting and watching Olivia grab the various boxes of breakfast food that the Venturi's ate. Olivia always insisted on doing it herself, so Casey and Marissa were leaning against the cart watching her. The store was full of people shopping for the last minute items they needed for the holidays so Casey was keeping a sharp eye on her youngest who had a tendency to wander off and explore instead of coming right back.
"Wait a second. What does that say?" Marissa questioned.
Casey looked over her daughters shoulder, reading where she was pointing.
"...Corn Pops, I think."
Marissa squinted. "Are you serious? That's a C? I thought it was a V. Dad must have written it."
"It does look something like a V, but I guess I know how he writes his alphabet from living with him since I was fifteen." Casey gave a short chuckle. "After we got married, we both split up that names and began to write thank-you notes. I honestly don't think people could make heads or tails out of his writing."
"How did he even pass grade one the second time?"
Casey shrugged, eyes shifting to look around for her youngest. Olivia was just making her way back with her arms full of colourful boxes stacked on top of each other. She dumped them all in the car, brushing her hands off on her jeans.
"Whoa, Livia. What's this doing in here?" Casey reached and grabbed a bright yellow box with the words Planet Chocolate and some small little aliens on the front of it. She looked down at her daughter, hand on her hip. The little girl shifted her weight, looking slightly uncomfortable at her Mom catching her, before looking up and flashed typical Venturi smirk, although it looked a bit shaky.
"I thought we could try a new kind. Since it's Christmas, the time for sharing and giving." She winked.
Casey gave her a soft smile before handing it back to her. "Breakfast and dessert are two different things, Sweetie. Go put it back."
Marissa rolled her eyes as they watched her scamper off. "If I would have done that you would have found it annoying, not cute."
"I didn't find it cute."
"You gave her that you are just too cute smile."
Casey sighed. "What's up with you and smiles? First Dad has one and now I do? Besides, I haven't got a chance to ask you. How was your trip?"
"It's been hard to find time to talk around Bethany being born." Marissa gave a soft smile.
"That's true," Casey pressed. "But I still want to know how it all went. Was Edmonton busy? How did that new dress we bought you work? Did it fit right?"
Marissa laughed. "It fit great and it didn't stand out at all and," There was a loud snap off to her right and both women looked to see a man and a little boy arguing over a pack of hotdogs. Casey turned back to her daughter, not wanting to let any of the time they had alone pass.
"Go on, how was the conference?"
Marissa stared at her Mom and swallowed. Casey looked so happy. Her eyes twinkled and her face looked content and blissful. Talking about the trip was going to bring up some things Marissa wasn't looking forward to that much.
"It was great. They actually played decent music, and the food didn't taste like plastic at all."
Casey nudged her. "How about the boys, any cute ones?"
"A few of them were okay." Marissa blushed; embarrassed and reached to wrap her fingers around the chain around her neck, the nervous habit she picked up from her Dad.
Olivia bounded back at that moment, eyes wide with a tinge of annoyance. Marissa gave a sigh of relief at the distraction. Her parents always acted funny when it came to past girlfriends or boyfriends or anyone that they knew in High School. Marissa always figured it was because they were step-siblings but either way, she never liked mentioning it.
---
They were going to be late picking the boys up since Olivia used her cereal scheme and failed miserably. This, of course, was causing them all to rush.
"So you never really told me," Casey sped down the dairy isle, only stopping to grab a brick of cheese off one of the shelves before pushing off again. "What you all did. Did you talk to anyone?"
Marissa found herself fumbling over her thoughts and she reached up once again to twist her fingers in the simple chain. The diamond pendant at the bottom with the letters "M V" intertwined with fancy cursive writing, poked out of her sweater, flashing in the dim lights of the market. She swallowed and turned to her, Mom.
"Not too many people. Everyone was pretty busy chatting and stuff. I did talk to this one lady though and she said she grew up with, Dad."
The cart jerked violently, the sack of apples leaning up against the inside of the cart, fell down and Marissa winced as they landed on a tub of yogurt. Luckily, nothing broke open, splattered or blew up and that seemed to be a sort of sign. Either way, Marissa was relieved; maybe this would all turn out okay.
The cheerful music in the store played on, people carried about their lives and no one paid any attention to the scene happening by the milk and cream. Casey cleared her throat and moved the apples back to their original stance.
"What was her name?"
Marissa tried to swallow but found she couldn't and ended up with a more gagging noise.
"Emily Davis."
---
"Well don't they look happy." Marissa muttered sarcastically.
Derek and Nate were sitting outside of the arena. They both looked cold, miserable and when they noticed the car pulling up alongside the curb, pissed.
"You are so late, Case." Derek opened the passenger side door and motioned for Marissa to move. She sighed and crawled over to the back of the car to sit by her sister. Nate followed soon after, plopping himself down into the seat behind his Dad's.
"Where the hell, were you guys?"
"Nathan!" Three voices echoed through the cab and Marissa quickly placed her hands over her little sister's ears. Olivia pushed them off, looking irritated. "It's not like I haven't heard it before."
Casey looked at her daughter in the rear-view mirror. "It's just we don't want your brother using language like that...word. That's all."
"Yeah," Derek turned around in his seat to face his son. "And he knows that already."
"I know, I know." Nate rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat. His long, dark brown hair was falling into his eyes and he tried to blow it out of the way.
Derek stared at him a little while longer before turning back around in his seat, content with his discipline techniques. Casey rolled her eyes, obviously not feeling the same way, and pulled out of the parking lot. The car ride was quiet for a few moments before she asked her son, "How was practice?"
"Brutal. Coach made us do double the laps we normally do." Casey shot a glare in her husband's direction.
"Is that so, Nate?" She flicked her eyes back to the road.
"Yep." He answered, popping the 'P'. "I don't even know why we have him for a coach anyways. He sucks."
Derek scoffed. "I don't even know why they even asked me to coach you guys in the first place. It's like trying to teach teddy bears how to lift weights. It just can't be done."
"Maybe because you're an NHL player." Nate replied sarcastically, ignoring the teddy bear jab. His hair fell down again and he gave an annoyed sigh.
Derek hid a smile by peeling off his gloves and throwing them on the dashboard. "And they ask every NHL player to coach High School hockey teams? Puh-lease. Am I chopped liver now or something? Jeez. What is the world coming to?"
"They asked you because you're my Dad. Duh."
Derek paused for a moment.
"I need to start taking that off my resume."
Casey smiled, flicking on her turn signals and sparing a sideways glance in Derek's direction. "You are such a softie."
"I am not." He scowled at her.
"You are too."
"Am not." Derek stuck his tongue out at his wife, causing the girls in the backseat to giggle.
"Are too."
"Whoa." Derek held up a hand. "Let's not go all Star Wars, Case. What did that poor little droid do to you?"
The backseat erupted into laughter.
Casey looked over at Derek and gave him a soft smile and mouthed "I love you" while he just stuck his tongue out at her again and gave her a sly wink.
---
"Derek, I don't think you understand how serious this is." Casey ranted as she paced around the kitchen's island. Her husband sat on one of the barstools, eyes following her movements. After they had gotten home, the kids left for their bedrooms, leaving Casey and Derek alone in the kitchen to put away the food and get started on supper.
"And I think you're overreacting. Again. Case, Marissa talked to Emily. So what? It's not like she offered her the spare bedroom or anything. Emily lives in London. We live in Calgary. There is a lot of land between here," He pointed at the kitchen floor. "And there." Derek threw his arm back.
"That's not the point." Casey argued, aggressively grabbing the fridge door and yanking it open, causing a few of the magnets to fly to the floor. Derek barely had time to blink before she slammed a brick of cheese and grater in front of him.
"I'm making pizza for supper, so get busy." She grumbled through clenched teeth. He rolled his eyes and went back to her previous comment.
"Then what is the point, Casey?" He sighed, standing up and grabbing a bowl out of the dish drain board before heading back to his stool to do as he was asked. He had discovered that it always was a lot easier to convince his wife of things when she wasn't pissed off at his lazy antics. It saved him a headache and she got to wait to use her drama queen attitude for another time. Everybody wins.
"The point is..." She had paused, her hand grasping the edge of the counter as she thought.
"See? You don't even know what you're all worked up about." He didn't even have to look up from the cheese to know she was drawing up a blank.
Her eyes flashed over to him, angrily. "I do so, know what I'm all worked up about. I just...can't..."
Derek rolled his eyes at her, placing the cheese down on the counter top and walking over to her. He grasped her shoulders and gave her a little shake. She was looking down, avoiding his eyes.
"Babe, look at me."
She did, hesitantly. Her blue eyes were clouded and upset and Derek found his heart clench as he looked into them. He gently ran his hands up and down her arms and tried to say something to comfort her. "It's not like she's going to come here, kill you while you're sleeping and hop into bed with me."
That was the wrong thing to say, apparently, because Casey pulled back from him. Her blue eyes went wide and she started shaking her head over and over again, as if she had never even dreamed of this possibility until now and was actually considering it.
"Uh...maybe that was the wrong thing to say." Derek stated, scratching the back of his neck.
"You think? God, can't you just see it? It's probable. She'll come grab a knife from the kitchen, my favourite one that I got from my Mom last year, or she might take Nate's gun an-"
Derek laughed. "Case, a pellet gun would not kill you."
"Not if she shot me in the temple!"
"Well..." Derek considered this, putting on his best thinking face as he crossed his arms across his chest.
"Maybe we should do a dummy test on you, just to be safe."
"Der-ek!" Casey huffed, hurriedly wiping under her eyes to get rid of the few tears that had escaped. She heard Derek sigh and felt him pull her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his brood shoulders and buried her face into his neck. The tears were flowing freely now and she didn't try to stop them. Derek's fingers were running through her hair and he was kissing the top of her head.
"Baby, why are you sad?"
"I'm not sad!" She pulled back, still keeping her arms around him, to look him in the eyes. He instantly reached to brush the tears off her cheeks. "I'm just...frustrated. I know that I'm overreacting but she was a total mess when you broke up with her Derek. I was just hoping she would be a memory that would...fade...I guess."
"How could she be a mess when we barely dated for a month?" Derek asked, perplexed.
"She's a girl, Hun. A girl that was in love with you since grade school."
"And she's a girl that isn't going to steal me away from you or whatever that Spacey head of yours, is thinking." He tapped the side of her head and she gave him a small smile, swatting his hand away. "Also, when was the last time you saw her? In University when we were already dating. You never told her, then and it never was an issue."
"Because we weren't dating then." Derek tilted his head at her.
"Um, yes we were, Head-Case. I remember seeing you in the mall, shopping, and as soon as Emily left for the bathroom, we went into one of those dressing room things and made out."
Casey blushed, sliding her hands from behind Derek's back, over his shoulders and to his chest. "You hadn't asked me out though. We were just at that stage."
Derek stared blankly at her for a moment before he beamed, remembering, and pulled her in for another hug. "I loved that stage. You were so hot with your whole bad girl, sneakiness." He wrapped his arms tighter around her waist. "Then you decided that we had to tell our parents if we were going to 'move into a relationship'." Derek smirked, slipping his hand down to quickly pinch her ass. She jumped and he laughed.
"If you hadn't agreed to my 'telling the parents', we wouldn't be where we are now."
"True," He dropped his chin on her shoulder and blew into her ear. Casey giggled and tried to squirm out of his hold.
"No way, Case. I finally got you where I want you, so there is no chance of me letting you go now." Derek gave her a slow smirk, before he bent his head, his lips finding hers.
---
"Derek, I think we need to tell our parents." Casey managed to choke out.
The kisses on her neck stopped abruptly.
"You just had to bring this up now, didn't you?" He stated, annoyed.
"Derek, we aren't even dating and here I am, lying with you on your couch, making out. Where the hell did this come from? This isn't me, you know."
He got up off of her, shifting so he was now sitting on the couch and pulled her so she was in his lap. "Trust me, I figured that. You never use to wear lace before." He looked pointedly at her chest, where the top few buttons of her shirt had come undone, the red, lacy bra was just peeking through.
"And you use to never be a Peeping Tom before." She stammered and reached down, fingers scrambling to find the buttons. Something warm covered her hands, brushing them back.
"Let me."
She watched Derek, through half open eyes, as he buttoned her shirt back up. She jerked back when she felt her fingers graze the red lace.
"We need to slow this down."
Derek sighed, leaning in so his forehead was resting on hers. He kissed her closed lips a few more times, closing his eyes and breathing in.
"This is a lot slower than I normally go, already. We would have already won the baseball game if you were any other girl."
This didn't make a lot of sense to Casey, but she guessed it was something dirty. She shoved him off her slightly, sitting up more, so she could look at him better but not have to move out of his lap. His hair was sticking up from where her fingers had run through it and his cheeks looked a little flushed. Other than that he looked...happy. It was a strange thing for Casey to consider; that she was the one that made him look like that.
"I don't even know how this all started. Last week I was waiting by the locker rooms to pick you up from hockey practice, since I had The Prince, and then you were dragging me behind the bleachers, your tongue down my throat."
Derek scoffed.
"I was not dragging you. You're making it sound like I was forceful."
"You were!"
"You weren't complaining."
Casey closed her eyes, swallowing. The last thing she wanted was for them to get into a fight, especially now when they had gone three weeks without any big squabbles. Even when Emily was visiting, they had managed to keep it at a minimum, and that had been stressful.
"Do you like me?"
Derek sat up a little straighter, staring at her with bemusement.
"What are you talking about, Spacey?"
Casey tried again. "Do you like me? And I don't mean, like as in you think of me as a decent person. I mean like as in you like me." Her voice had dropped to a whisper and she felt the need to look down, fearing the look on his face wouldn't be the one she wanted.
Fingers were beneath her chin then.
"Why would you ask a question like that?"
"Because, Derek, you don't do this. We use to fight all the time and we never agreed on anything but now you kiss me, try to take off my clothes," He blushed a little at that and she gave a soft smile. "And generally show that sweet side of yours more often."
He grimaced and opened his mouth to protest this. Casey placed a finger over his lips.
"I like you. I think you're a decent person and I like you. I really do."
Derek blinked several times, his face was blank. Casey felt panic swell up inside of her and was just about going to push him off of her, stand up and dash out of his apartment, when he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. It was different from every other kiss they shared. It was timid, careful and at the same time passionate. Derek pulled back, moving her off his lap a little. She shot him a confused look as he took his cell phone out of his pocket, pushed a couple numbers and handed it to her. The screen said, "Calling...Home/London. Connected." Casey looked back up at him, bewildered by what was going on. Derek simply rolled his eyes and answered.
"I like you too, you goof."
---
"Eww, get a room." Marissa watched her parents in amusement as they hurriedly pulled apart, each taking a step back from one another. Derek wiped his mouth on his shirt sleeve while Casey reached up to smooth out her hair, blushing.
"Shouldn't you be doing your homework?" Derek asked. His voice sounded too deep and he cleared his throat.
Marissa shrugged, grabbing an apple out of the bowl on the counter. "Two words, Christmas break."
Casey shot her a pointed look. "Two words, almost supper."
Marissa looked around the kitchen, then at her parents, then back at the kitchen. "Somehow, I rather doubt that." She shook her head, muttering under her breath. "And I thought kitchens were for cooking food."
"I'll call for pizza!" Derek said instantly.
"But Derek I was already making..." Casey took one look at the bowl of cheese on the counter and then at her daughter leaning against the counter with a knowing look on her face and grabbed the phone off the wall, handing it to him. "Yeah, call for pizza."
Review, please!