Disclaimer: I don't own the show Life With Derek, or Eve 6, or the lovely Mandy Moore and her song Latest Mistake!

A/N: I would just like to clarify something: I put Derek and Casey into certain situations and I try my hardest to make them act the way they would if they really were in those situations. Thanks for the reviews! Continue writing them!

Last time: Casey and Derek were having an extreme bonding moment in Casey's room and Derek kind of spoiled the platonic time by trying to kiss her as she napped.

Read on, dears!

--Beautiful Oblivion

Chapter Ten: someone's gonna have to clean this mess up

"Casey…"

She didn't answer, right away.

"Okay, Derek. I'm sorry if I'm about to come off as a little harsh or something but I think it's time that you leave my room." He tried to speak.

"But—"

"No buts. You're out. You just can't be in here anymore." She pointed to her door. When he didn't immediately move towards it, she got up herself and opened the door for him.

"Now, Derek. Please. I can't deal with this any longer. You just crossed a line." She didn't look at him, just continued to point out the door. She didn't want to look at him. If she did, she would see his incredulous face and then maybe she wouldn't be able to say no to him.

"I crossed a line?"

"I don't—I don't want to talk about it!" she stuttered.

Derek's frown consumed his face. He reluctantly got up and walked over to the door. Before he left, though, he stopped in front of her and willed her to look at him. She didn't.

"Casey, will you please just look at me?" he asked her, running his hand urgently through his hair, deeply disturbed. When she did eventually look at him, he regretted asking. Her face was completely void of any emotion; he couldn't tell from her look what she was thinking, feeling. For all he knew, she hated his guts. "Okay," he said, defeated. He didn't know what else to say, or do. The wounded look on his face was evident and it took all of Casey's strength not to falter.

"Can you go now, please?" she asked him quietly, so politely that he winced. He nodded.

"Yeah, I will. But can I just say one thing?" She bit her lip. He took a deep breath.

"I guess…"

"You were right," he said simply. Casey didn't know what he what referring to.

"About?"

"About this, tonight. It was all a big mistake. I realize that now. It took me a while, but then again, you've always pointed out how dumb I am, so I guess it's not that surprising. But don't worry. It won't ever happen again. Frankly, I feel disgusted right now." He walked away then and left her standing there alone, her mouth hanging open in shock. If he had turned back to look at her he would have seen that her expression had changed. She looked sad, hurt even. He didn't turn around. He was done bothering her.

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As Casey fluffed her pillows, she tried to get her thoughts organized so that she could go to bed peacefully. It was already past 12:00 and she was tired. It had been a long day.

Finally, now that he's gone I can finally go to bed and actually get some sleep. He better not bother me again. But even as she thought it, she knew that he wouldn't. After the way things had just ended, she was fairly sure that he wouldn't be knocking on her door again for a long time.

She quickly changed into her pajamas and crawled into her bed. Just as she was about to shut off her lamp she remembered something.

"Ugh…" she grumbled as she pulled the covers off of her and got out of bed again.

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Derek was in the bathroom when Casey arrived there. The door was propped open but for some reason she found herself knocking lightly before she entered.

He turned and looked at her silently and she knew that it was okay for her to come in, so she did. He was brushing his teeth already, but she knew that even if he wasn't he probably wouldn't have said anything to her and she was glad for that. They had done too much talking for the day, enough bonding for a lifetime.

She quickly grabbed her own tooth brush and toothpaste and as she squeezed the paste onto her brush, Derek was finishing up with his own brushing.

Good, she thought. This is so awkward. Just please leave now.

But of course he didn't. No, he still had to floss. So she just stood there, terribly close to him as they both stared at their respective reflections in the mirror, not once glancing at the other.

The tension in the room was flagrant. It was obvious that they were both trying to ignore the other, and it worked, except that Casey kept thinking about their earlier encounters in that same bathroom and the memories made her heart race. They had made so many mistakes together within just a few short hours. She wondered if he was thinking the same thoughts; if he was picturing them pushed up against the wall, mouths connected, bodies touching. If he was, he was doing a good job at pretending like he didn't care. Casey herself was slowly starting to blush and she was hoping that he wouldn't notice.

If he would just leave already

After what felt like an eternity, Derek threw his floss into the trash can and then stocked out of the bathroom, not once looking in her direction or making a sound. Casey felt awful. Her stomach felt uneasy and her frown was causing her forehead to scrunch up in a way that made her look older than her seventeen years.

Derek was mad at her and for some reason, it bothered her. But she was mad at him, too, wasn't she?

He's making my life so complicated, way more than it ever was before. I can't deal with this. I am mad at him! But her stomach still ached for some reason and she couldn't stop her frown from deepening.

After she finished brushing her teeth, she splashed her face with cold water and then wiped her face gently with a towel. Then she made her way back to her bedroom. As she did, she couldn't help but let her gaze fall to Derek's closed door. She even walked right up to it, and paused outside, her hand lifted momentarily. She briefly thought about knocking but then quickly decided against it.

That is so not a good idea, Casey MacDonald, she scolded herself. She sighed loudly as she walked into her own room and quietly shut the door.

Before she got back into bed, she went to her window and looked outside. It was still snowing, but not quite as fiercely as it had been a few hours before. Even though she still felt bad about her current situation, she couldn't help but smile for a split second at the thought of how beautiful it would look outside when she woke up in the morning.

Soon, she was back under her covers, shutting her eyes tightly in the hopes that she would be able to fall instantly to sleep and hopefully not dream or be plagued by thoughts of Derek.

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To say that Derek Venturi was angry with his stepsister was an understatement. He was pissed. She was seriously pissing him off. But he didn't want to think about it. No, because if he thought about her, then his thoughts would just wander and he would get even more pissed, and then he would realize that he really couldn't just blame everything on Casey. And he so didn't want that. He didn't want to take credit for anything that went on with them that night, or ever.

No, she was right. Everything we did was a mistake. Every kiss and touch, caress. Me kissing her on her bed? Yeah, bad idea. Bad, bad idea. I was so stupid. I don't even know what I was thinking. Me and her? It's not a good idea. It's not even possible. Our parents would freak. Our friends would freak. Why am I still debating this? The whole notion is crazy. So what if she's an amazing kisser? I shouldn't even be surprised. She's perfect at everything else, why wouldn't she be perfect at kissing, or…he didn't even want to finish the thought. It was way too much for him to handle at the moment. He really needed to get some sleep. And she really needed to not be in his dreams.

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Casey had been trying to sleep for almost an hour and was finding it impossible. She kept shifting around under her blankets; she couldn't seem to get comfortable. But she knew that wasn't it. She couldn't sleep because of Derek. She still felt terrible. She kept picturing his hurt expression when she had kicked him out of her room, the mean things he said and then the way he deliberately ignored her in the bathroom.

But it's not like it was her fault. He was the one being stupid.

I mean, he kissed me while I was taking a nap! What's with that? What was he thinking? It's not like we're not a couple. We could never be a couple. And you don't just go and kiss people that you're not supposed to get along with and we do not get along!

She knew that she was a hypocrite even as her thoughts came. She had kissed him twice. But there was a difference. She knew that it was wrong, and she had specifically told him that they were mistakes, the kisses they shared. And she had stupidly thought that telling him was enough. She had been foolish enough to think that they could just be normal around one another after that. Oh, how she was wrong.

Why did he have to go and kiss me? I just don't get it. It's not like he actually cares about me, that can't be it. He practically hates me. We don't get along, not really. I mean, sure. We tend to have those weird moments where he does something really nice, even sweet for me, and moments where I can tolerate him enough to help him out of a sticky situation, but that doesn't mean that we're friends, or more. Even if those moments actually happen more than we'd both like to admit. They don't justify the fact that we made out and then sort of kissed on my bed. And just because he's an amazing kisser doesn't mean I should enjoy kissing him so much. Of course he would be a good kisser. There has to be a reason why so many girls can stand going out with him all the time.

That's what did it. Just thinking about kissing him again made Casey's stomach hurt anew. She had weird butterflies fluttering around in there and she hated it. Derek was making her want him. She realized then that she really did like kissing him and maybe that meant something, but maybe it didn't. She also realized that she wasn't going to be able to fall asleep until she saw him and talked to him. They really needed to talk. She needed to know what was going on with them, once and for all.

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Derek was still awake at 1:19 when his door cracked open. Curious, he turned his head to the right and sure enough, the figure of Casey was coming towards him. He knew it was her because she was the only other person in the house, and also, his arm hairs rose when she entered, he could just feel that it was her. Right then, for some odd reason, he could feel his anger towards her slowly lessening.

She closed his door slowly and softly and then walked over to him. She stopped at his bed and he didn't move. He waited for her to explain herself. He could see her shifting nervously in the dark. If he could see her face clearly he would know that she kept opening her mouth to say something only to close it a second later, speechless.

After a minute of this, he couldn't stand it anymore. He shifted a little to the left side of his bed and then patted the empty space next to him. He knew that it was a big deal that she had come to him, that she had probably debated about it back and forth in her head before making her final decision, but he needed to hear her speak.

"Talk to me, Case," he said, and it sounded like he was trying to sound lighthearted. She only paused for a moment before she sat on the bed next to him, legs crossed Indian-style. She still didn't say anything to him, but he patted the pillow behind her and she slowly put her head down and stretched her legs out so that she was lying stiffly next to him, on top of his comforter.

"Derek?" she muttered after an uncomfortable minute.

"Yeah?"

"I like it when you call me Case." He couldn't stop his grin after she said this.

"Casey?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you get up, please?" She was horrified. She immediately sat up and out of his bed, and if the light was on he would be able to see how red she had turned in about two seconds.

"Casey, calm down. I meant just for a sec." He motioned towards his side again. He had lifted the covers. She stared down at him, considering what to do. Then, very slowly, she got back into the bed and he put the covers back over both of them.

"I'm sorry if I freaked you out," he whispered, incredibly close to her ear. She could feel his breath on her skin and it made her shiver involuntarily.

"I'm kind of freaked out by a lot of things right now," she admitted just as quietly as he had spoken.

"Me too."

Casey decided that she felt too awkward just lying straight on her back next to him, so she turned to look at him.

"Can we just…" she tried to think of something to say, something smart that they could discuss and agree over, but she couldn't find any words. And then, Derek did something that quite possibly could be looked back on as the turning point in their relationship, even more so than their several kisses. He reached over towards her and pulled her closer to him…and she let him. After that, it was understood that they weren't going to talk. At least not yet. They were just going to live in the moment. They were going to sleep, at last.

Right before Casey's eyes naturally closed with sleep, she snuggled closer to Derek so that her head was pressed up against his chest and her lips lifted in a small smile. She understood that what they were doing was slightly ridiculous but at the moment, when it was just the two of them and no one else around, it felt right.

"I knew you wanted to have a slumber party with me," Derek murmured into Casey's hair. Her eyes flew open and as she was about to snap a sardonic retort, his left hand found its way to her mouth. "No," said Derek dramatically, with what Casey decided was his version of a bad Spanish accent, "Do not spoil the moment, chica." She rolled her eyes and he couldn't help but laugh. They soon fell asleep after that.

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A/N: Whoa. I know. Crazzzzy.

Review please:/