Disclaimer: I don't own the show Life With Derek, or Eve 6, or the Dashboard Confessional song: Standard Lines

A/N: So sorry this took so long! Almost a year, yes, I realize this…haha. I just hope that you guys are still interested! Here's a slight recap:

Casey and Derek are home alone one Saturday night when there is a snow storm. So far, Casey's kissed him twice and she basically just keeps running away from him afterwards and it's really starting to get to him. Especially since he's just starting to admit that he may, oh gosh, like her? Yay!

--Beautiful Oblivion—

Chapter Eight: but your taste still lingers on my lips

Derek had been knocking on Casey's door for thirty-seconds straight and there was still no reply. Even though he had left her alone for only about fifteen to twenty minutes, his could swear that his lips were still tingling from their little make-out session in the bathroom, but maybe he was just imagining it. All he knew was that there was no way that he was just going to stay in his room for the rest of the night without trying to confront her again.

He could hear music playing fairly loudly through the door, at least for Casey and figured that might be why she wasn't answering him. It's not like she was avoiding him, right? He decided to open the door and find out for himself.

When he turned the doorknob and opened the door, the scene that was displayed before him was one he had never really seen. Sure, he had seen Casey dance before. She always practiced for her dumb recitals in the living room and acted like a complete dance freak for weeks until the actual performance, so yeah, he was used to seeing her dance. But what she was doing right now was a little different. She seemed to be dancing for fun. It was just her and the loud beat, not some strict routine of hers. Admittedly, though, he could tell from the way she moved that she was indeed a pretty accomplished dancer and even recognized some of her moves, but that was beyond the point. Casey was in her room alone on a Saturday night, just dancing. Like she had gone crazy or something. Even crazier than her just dancing for fun, it looked like fun. And Derek did not like to dance. At least in public. Unless forced to. With a guitar. On a stage, performing for a large crowd of people, his fans.

Okay, he didn't really mind dancing in general, but because it was one of Casey's favorite hobbies, he couldn't just let her know that.

He had been standing in her doorway watching her speechless for about a minute when she turned around and finally noticed him. And surprisingly, she didn't stop dancing right away like he assumed she would. Instead she gave him a look like she just dared him to say something to her, make some sort of smartass comment about her moment of letting go and being loose. When she was met by silence from him, she stopped, frowned and walked over to her stereo. She turned it up. She was about to start dancing again but then paused, curious.

"What do you want?" she asked him, her voice loud above the speakers. She stared at his face, trying not move her eyes from his and look at the way his slightly damp hair flipped this way and that in its messy way, like he had tousled it with a towel for a bit and then just let it be. If she just looked into his eyes, she wouldn't be able to think about how cute it looked, his silly hair. Or how good he looked in general, standing there by her door in his green flannel pajama pants and white wife beater. She waited for his answer and when he didn't say something right away she slowly started to turn around again, deciding that she was just going to ignore him and continue to dance.

If he was going to be weird and just stand in her doorway and not say anything to her then she was going to let him. Then, maybe he would just go away and they could both just forget the night and everything that had happened. It could be listed as just another one of their many and constant power struggles. They had them all the time, after all. This one was just a little more complicated than fighting for the remote control or for the keys to the Prince. And she understood that, but she just couldn't deal with it. Not right now at least. The dancing helped her, though. It was soothing and familiar and she was convinced that she could just dance away her thoughts, as cheesy as that might seem.

Right. Ignoring him is the best thing to do, she thought, and even nodded to herself as she swayed her hips and moved her arms in rhythm to the music.

Derek couldn't believe it. He was actually speechless. Casey was so damn weird. Weirder than usual. He opens her door and catches her dancing and she acts like she doesn't even care, just turns the music up and then yells a question at him.

What was that about? he thought after she had turned away from him and continued to dance. Odd

Then it occurred to him. Maybe this was her way of trying to ignore him. Ignore what happened between them. Ignore what they both know she did, what she started. Or at least sort of started.

It's not like I'm in denial, or anything, he thought. Sure, she was the one that kissed me first, and the second time, too but I can't just blame everything on her. I didn't exactly hate her kissing me, I didn't exactly tell her to stop, want her to stop.

After what seemed like a minute later, Casey was sure that Derek had left her room, so she turned around, only to bump right into his chest.

"Wha—" she started to say as she took a step back away from him. She stopped when she heard the music stop. He had turned it off.

"It was too loud," said Derek simply when she all but growled at him.

"Derek, what are you doing? Didn't I make it clear enough that I don't want you in here, that I want to be alone?" He chuckled.

"No, not really, no." she narrowed her eyes at him, furious that he was laughing at her.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked him, her voice the slightest bit shrill.

"I think you know," he answered, taking a step closer to her. She instinctively took another step back. Derek just smirked and took another step towards her. The situation looked somewhat like a predator just about to pounce on his prey and Derek was the predator, of course. Finally, this is a little more like it should be, Derek thought as he moved even closer to her.

Once again Casey asked, "What do you want?" After stepping backwards once more, she had run out of room and was now standing up against her desk, Derek close in front of her.

"I guess I just want you to…" he trailed off and she looked confused. She made a face at him that seemed to urge him to finish his thought. "I just think we should talk."

"Yeah? Well I don't," she said, and with that, she put her two hands on his chest and pushed him back. He stumbled backwards a bit but then regained his composure. He caught her arm as she tried to walk past him, and out of her door. She obviously really didn't want to be in the same room with him.

"Casey, wait," he said, pulling her closer to him so that they were once again standing face to face. "Why are you acting like this? Don't you see what's wrong with this picture here?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You keep trying to run away from me, and I know you do that a lot, you just love to make a dramatic exit, but it's a little different now. You won't talk to me. It's just weird. When have I ever been able to shut you up? You always tell me exactly how you feel about things and right now you're doing the complete opposite and I can't stand it. Why am I the only one that seems to care about what happened between us? I kind of feel like this is backwards. Shouldn't you be the one freaking out and asking me all the questions that I don't want to answer?"

Her face up until then had been a bit stony looking, but after his little rant it visibly softened.

"I…I do care," she finally said to him. It was then that she realized that he was still holding on to her arm. She looked away from his face and down at her arm. She stared at his hand, wrapped firmly around her right upper arm. Noticing her gaze, Derek quickly let go of her arm and looked at the floor.

"Look, Derek. I'll admit it. I may not have been acting in the most rational way possible just now, but this is just a very delicate situation and I kind of just want to forget about it. But now I'm starting to realize that maybe just trying to ignore it isn't going to work. So, I guess I agree with you. We should talk."

"Good," he mumbled, still looking at the floor.

"Will you please look at me?" she asked while waving a hand in front of his face. He immediately shifted his gaze to her face, her lips, her forehead and then finally settled on her big, blue, expressive eyes. They looked really troubled but he still found them lovely.

'To be honest, I really don't know what's gotten into me tonight. I mean, I certainly didn't plan on any of it happening, it just did." She stopped talking and she waited for him to say something.

"Is that all you have to say?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Except, I still think we should just forget it all happened. Forget that we, you know. Kissed." She whispered the last part, like that would make it seem less real.

"I'm not entirely sure that'll be possible, Case," he said, and she didn't even comment on the fact that he had shortened her name. She let him continue. "I mean, sure, I've kissed a bunch of girls," Casey couldn't help but roll her eyes when he said this, and he couldn't help but grin, "but I think it's a little more complex and different when one of the girl's I'm kissing lives in the same house as me, on the same floor as me, a wall away and she just so happens to be my annoying stepsister." Casey made a face when he called her annoying. He continued. "So yeah, I don't know how easy it will be for us to just go and do what I'm guessing was your original plan, to just ignore it? Yeah, that's not going to work."

"And why not? It's not like it was that big of a deal." They both winced a little when she said that. "What I mean by that is there's not really anything else that we can do about it. We just have to make things go back to the way they were before and then everything will be okay again."

"When have things ever been okay between the two of us? Can you please tell me because as far as I know, we've always had this weird thing between us and I think tonight we both found out what is was."

"And what is it?" Derek signed loudly and ran a hand through his hair, just a teeny bit frustrated to say the least.

"Do I really have to spell it out for you?" She didn't answer him. "Fine. I'll say it. We have chem-is-try. And not just the class. What I mean is, you and me, together, it's like…well, you know."

Casey didn't know what to say. She kind of wanted him to go on.

"No, I don't really know what you mean. What is it like exactly?" she whispered. Derek laughed.

"It's like…" he paused, searching for the right word, but all he could think of to say was, "wow." Casey's eyes widened when he said this.

"Wow? Really?" He nodded to her, his cheeks flushing a light pink. "Well, wow," she said running a hand through her hair now. Then she walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge. She put her head in her hands and mumbled, "Okay, this is getting a bit crazy. I can't believe we're even having this conversation. I just can't. It's too messed up. We're step siblings."

"Yeah, we are," he stated. "But that doesn't mean that any of this isn't real." He walked over to her and stood in front of her.

"Okay, can we just hold on a second, please? When did you get all sappy? Seriously, where did this side of you come from? You're acting like, I don't know, like you like me or something." She lifted her head and looked at him. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Come on! I think it's time that both of us stop this circling around the subject crap. You were right. We need to talk, so now we're talking. What's going on with us?"

"I honestly don't know. But since we're being honest, I did feel something when we kissed."

"Something…"

"I don't know. Like, it just felt good. What about you?" She nodded.

"I guess I can't deny that there might have been some, sparks between us, some wow as you so nicely put it."

"Sparks is a pretty good word, too and might be the reason you jumped me. Twice."

"Excuse me, jumped?"

"I think that's a pretty good word to describe the way you manhandled me," Derek said frankly, walking over and sitting next to her on the end of the bed.

"Okay, I jumped and manhandled you now?"

"Oh come on. Don't even try to deny it. It was all you. It was like I was your prey."

"Gee, once again, prey? You were my prey? And what exactly are you saying, that I'm usually the prey, is that what you're saying?"

"Well yes, you usually are in most cases."

"Ha! I think not."

"I know. You've made that fairly clear tonight, Case," he said, his eye brows raised suggestively. She shoved him in the side and he fell off of the bed, landing on the floor. He didn't even bother getting up; she'd probably just push him down again.

"You're ridiculous. And yeah, I'll admit that I was the one who initiated both of our little kisses," once again she whispered, "but I don't know why I did. I guess I just temporarily lost my head."

"Twice," he said again. She glared at him.

"Yes, twice. Whatever."

"Are you sure you didn't just kiss me because you wanted to? Twice?" Casey looked at him and laughed. He didn't.

"Come on Derek, that's preposterous. Why would I want to kiss you?"

"Because I'm so hot and you want my body?"

"Well, gee, that must be it. You know me so well," she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Actually, it's true. I do. I know you better than anyone else does, probably. More than Lizzie or Emily even. More than your mom."

"Okay, well if that's true then I know you better than anyone else. Ha!" He grinned.

"I'm not going to deny that." She frowned.

"What are we talking about again?"

"We're talking about what we're going to do about this situation we've put ourselves into."

"Okay…and what are we deciding?" she asked cautiously.

Derek stood up from her floor and sat next to her on the bed once more. Casey could have sworn that he was about to take one of her hands in his, but a second later a loud noise rang out behind them. The phone was ringing.

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A/N: Please review! I really appreciate it!

Oh, and I know that was cheesy. But I can't help it. It's hard for me not to be when it comes to Dasey. They're just too darn cute. And I don't think it's THAT unimaginable that they would both try to talk things out. It's kind of important that they do, actually. They can't just ignore (haha) their feelings… If you've been watching the series regularly then you know that they do talk to each other about a lot more things than they used to. They're actually pretty honest with each other a lot of the time. It's just the way they are.