A/N: Okay, it's 6:30 in the morning for me. I really don't want to be up, but I have to go babysit my wife's little brother. Tried to upload this last night, but wouldn't work. Hope you still enjoy.

God, I feel like Derek Venturi in real life - 6:30 A.M. isn't one of those times that should exist.

Disclaimer: Don't own LWD.

Now, on with the show!

(end of last chapter)

"Sam, it's me, Derek."

"And…"

"Look man, I've got a problem."

"Ugh…and…"

"No, I mean I've got a big fucking problem."

"AAAAAAND!!!..."

"I think you and Ralph were right about what you said earlier. I think I'm in love with Casey."

There was a prolonged silence before Sam spoke again. "Oh…okay…that's a new one…"

Anyone watching Derek on the phone right now wouldn't believe that this same guy who was stuttering and rambling incoherently was the playboy hockey captain who was practically worshipped at his school.

"Dude…I mean…mass hysteria…dogs and cats living together…I'm screwed…uh, uh…"

"Derek, calm your ass down. It's too early for me to help you deal with this. Okay?" Sam replied groggily on the other end.

"Emergency guy meeting – my house, tomorrow afternoon" Derek quickly said before he hung up. He flopped down on his bed, not even bothering to remove his clothes or crawling under the covers. He just needed to finish getting some sleep – or whatever sleep he could get before another dream or fantasy took over.

Derek felt a frantic jumping taking place beside him on the bed. Cracking his eyes open slowly, he noticed that it was Marti jumping excitedly on his bed.

"Smerek, Smerek, wake up!" she shouted.

"Smarti, it's too early for this."

"But I want to finish playing Candy Land!"

"Can I at least get up and get some food first?"

"Okay, but hurry up!" she yelled as she hopped off the bed and ran out of his room. Against his will, Derek found a way to pull his body off the bed. As he did so, he felt something fall around him. It was his jacket. Despite the sleep that still hung in his eyes, he noticed a purple sticky-note attached to it. Grabbing it, he held it close to his eyes.

Derek,

Thanks for protecting me and being there for me last night. That was really sweet.

-Casey

Derek let out a groan. He instantly had a flashback to the whole Scott situation, when he found out that Lizzie's soccer coach – who Casey was smitten with – was seeing three other girls at the same time. He went out of his way to show Casey how big of a jerk the guy was. After it was all over, she made a similar comment about him being sweet. Sure, he had done a couple of things to help her out (like getting the school to stop calling her that hated 'Klutzilla' name, or getting her dad to come back to the house to see Casey after her plans for a perfect evening with her dad were ruined), but this one instance finally solidified the fact that, despite all the shit he put her through, he had a soft spot for her.

Derek finally got the last remnants of sleep out of his system and decided to get this Sunday out of the way. As he reached the door, a thought went through his head. 'Now I know why I don't do tears, hugs, or feel-good-family-moments.' As he reached the bottom of the stairs, another thought went through his head. 'Now I also see why I tried to avoid all three of these with Casey.'

Edwin watched in awe as Derek walked into the kitchen, grabbed a bowl, a spoon, the carton of milk out of the refrigerator, and a box of cereal out of the cabinet. As Derek set the items down, he couldn't help but feel freaked out by Edwin's stares.

"What, Edweirdo?"

"Dude, are you okay?"

"Yeah. Why?" Derek said as he poured himself a big heaping serving of cereal into the bowl.

"Because, you walked in here and got your own breakfast" Edwin replied with wide eyes.

"So?" was Derek's reply as he added milk to the bowl.

"So, usually you come in and order me to get your food. Something is up."

"Nothing is up, Edweirdo."

"Trust me, I will get to the bottom of this." Edwin declared.

Derek replied by taking his bowl of cereal and dumping it on his brother's head.

Edwin turns around to walk off, muttering "Was it something I said?"

"Der-ek! Why did you do that to him?"

'Just great' Derek thought as Casey walked into the kitchen with a bewildered look. "I had my reasons." He said as he refilled his bowl. As he ate his cereal, he watched as Casey entered the laundry room and started pulling clothes out of the dryer to fold and put away. In no time, he had finished his cereal and went to place his bowl in the sink. As soon as he did so, he closed his eyes. At this point, he could feel another one about to happen. No sense fighting it now, just let it run its course and be done with…

Derek opened his eyes to still find himself still standing at the kitchen sink.

"Casey, Derek, we'll be back in a little bit!" he heard Nora's voice yell out before hearing the sound of the front door closing.

"Where are they going?"

"Mom and George were going to take the younger ones out."

"Okay." Derek turned on the cold water and splashed his face. Grabbing his shirt tail, he pulls it up to wipe the excess off of his face. He turned around, to be greeted by the sight of Casey sitting on the island. "Jesus, what the…?!" he exclaimed. He thought she was still in the laundry room folding clothes.

"You aren't finished with breakfast already, are you?"

"Uh, yeah." Casey just shook his head to Derek's response. She motioned for him to come closer. As he did so, Casey grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. As both teens deepened the kiss, his hands explored Casey's body. Deciding to get a little bold, he slipped his hand underneath her skirt. Slipping his hand between her thighs, his eyes snapped open. 'No panties?'

"So, are you sure about what you said earlier about being finished with breakfast?" Casey asked in a sweet, low tone, giving a mischievous smirk that would easily rival Derek's.

"Now that you mentioned it…" Derek trailed off as his fingers began to rub against Casey's entrance.

"Mmmmmm…now you get the point" she moaned in content, spreading her legs open to grant him easier access. Derek leaned in, planting more kisses on her face and neck as his fingers continued their current task. With his free hand, he pulled Casey's skirt up further until it was around her waist. Giving Casey one more kiss on the lips, he knelt down on the floor in front of her. Casey let out a moan as Derek's tongue made contact with her. "Oooooh…Derek…"

"Derek?" Casey asked as she grabbed his shoulder. You remember the cat in the old cartoons that would jump and latch himself to the ceiling when the hyperactive puppy ran up behind him and barked? That would've been Derek had it not been for a nanosecond thought of 'You do that, and the resulting impact might kill both of you, idiot.' He still jumped, but not to the ceiling as initially feared.

"Gah-wha…?!" Derek let out as he turned and faced Casey, wide-eyed and in shock.

"You okay?" she asked, a little fearful due to Derek's freak-out display.

"Yeah. Uh sorry, you kinda startled me there. Was thinking about something" Derek replied. He really didn't care if Casey bought the excuse or not. Currently, he wished he could just quit thinking. Him and thinking weren't getting along good at all these days.

"Sorry" Casey mumbled as she looked down at the floor. Derek could tell something was going through her mind. What it was, though, was still a mystery to him. Finally, she found the nerve to look back up at him. "I just wanted to thank you again for last night. It…it meant a lot to me that you were there when I needed someone."

"Yeah, I kinda got that from the note you left on my jacket" Derek said.

Casey, with a faint smile, shook her head and immediately stretched her arms out. Derek didn't have enough time to move away.

"Oh, come on! I had my fill of tears, hugs, and feel-good-family-moments last night!" he protested as Casey wrapped herself around him. Resigning himself to his fate for the second time in as many days, he gave an awkward hug back. After about ten seconds into the hug, an awful thought entered his head. The fantasy earlier gave him a raging hard-on. One that Casey's stomach was currently pressed up against. Mortified, Derek immediately broke out of the hug. "Gotta go! Bathroom emergency!" he blurted out as he bolted out of the kitchen, through the dining room, and up the stairs.

He didn't look back, which probably was a good thing because he didn't have the luxury of seeing Casey standing there, shock in her eyes and mouth hanging wide open. Her right hand went up to cover her mouth, while her left hand was pressed up against her stomach.

And it was a probably a bad thing that he didn't look back because if he had, he would've noticed Edwin hiding in the dining room, jotting something down into his research binder.

(3:35 P.M.)

DING-DONG! DING-DONG! Growling at the interruption to her movie, Casey hopped off the couch and went to answer the front door. "Sam, Ralph! What a surprise!" Casey exclaimed at the sight of Derek's best friends standing on the porch. "What are you two doing here?"

"Emergency guy meeting about…" Ralph started but was cut off by an elbow to the ribs by Sam.

"About?" Casey pried.

"For us to know and for you to never find out, Space Case" Derek said coolly as he stood at the bottom of the stairwell. "So, if you don't mind…mind your own business."

"Gladly" Casey snapped as she walked back to the couch and flopped down on it. Derek could've sworn he heard her mutter "jackass" under her breath, but he really didn't care at that point. Sam and Ralph followed him upstairs. Pausing at the games closet, Derek swung the door open quickly to see if anyone was inside. No one. He then went down the end of the hallway, making sure nobody was down on that end or hiding in the bathroom. He quickly motioned for his friends to go into his room.

"What was all that about?" Sam questioned as Derek closed the door behind him and locked it.

"Just making sure nobody's out there spying on us" Derek replied.

"So, what's up?" Ralph asked.

"Before we get to that, what's the deal with beating a guy senseless with a hockey stick?" Sam asked.

"How did you find out about that?" Derek asked.

"I went out with my parents to Smelly Nelly's for lunch. I overheard a couple of people talking about it" Sam said.

"Casey went to the party with Max, and there was some jackass who was trying to force her to…well, you know…" Derek trailed off. Just remembering what that Jason guy tried to do to Casey made his blood boil again.

"Oh" Sam replied. "No wonder you broke his nose."

"Wait, if she was with Max, where was he?" Ralph asked.

"This guy had his friends to distract Max so that he could try to single her out. She called me to come get her, which is when everything went down" Derek replied. "When we got home, she broke down and turned into Niagra Falls. Unfortunately for me, I ended up being the one to have to console her until she fell asleep. After that, I fell asleep and then…"

"Another dream" Sam added.

Derek nodded his head as he flopped down in his chair behind his desk. "But this one was different from most of the others. It ended with me and Casey in the bed together, but there wasn't the raw energy to it. It was too much like a chick flick than a porno flick."

"Okay. So, how did you get you're in love with her from a dream that ended with both of you getting it on?" Ralph asked.

"Because in the dream, I told her I loved her" Derek replied. Sam and Ralph didn't need to speak further. He placed his hands on his face and let out a long sigh. He was about to say something else before he noticed some movement from his closet door. 'No! They wouldn't!'

"Hey, you okay?" Sam asked as Derek got up and walked over to his closet door. Throwing the door open, all three watched as Edwin fell face first to the ground.

"You!" Derek let out as Edwin cowered in fear. He noticed his little brother had his research notebook and…and…a walkie-talkie? Grabbing the walkie-talkie, he took in a deep breath before pressing a button on the device and screamed "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He listened intently, then heard commotion (and was that a cuss word?) coming from Lizzie's room. Derek ran to his bedroom door and opened it long enough to catch Lizzie trying to run out of her room and to the stairwell. Grabbing her by the arm, he snatched her into the room and slammed the door shut.

"Oh God, Derek, we're sorry, we're sorry!" Lizzie quickly blurted out.

"How much do you know?" Derek said through gritted teeth. Lizzie stood there silent, shaking in fear. He then looked over at Edwin. "How much do you know?"

"We heard everything" Edwin said solemnly. Derek had never lashed out at his siblings or stepsiblings in absolute rage before. That was about to change.

"Sam, Ralph, go find me a place where I can bury the bodies" he growled as he started toward Lizzie and Edwin. Both of the teens scurried into a corner.

"We're sorry Derek. We were just trying to follow up on some research about you and Casey" Lizzie whimpered.

"Research?" Derek let out in disbelief.

"She's telling the truth" Edwin let out as he held out his research notebook. Derek snatched the book out of his hands and started flipping through the pages. He stopped at a section labeled "Project: Dasey."

"Project: Dasey? What the hell is that?"

"It's a combination of Derek and Casey. A play on your names" Edwin said.

'How cute, you rotten little shits' Derek though as he turned his attention back to the notebook. As he flipped through the pages, his eyes widened at the amount of information they had gathered. Arguments over the remote, arguments at dinner, fights over the bathroom, times when they were actually civil or nice to each other – Edwin and Lizzie were very thorough. At the end, he saw a note: Hypothesis – Derek and Casey's behavior toward each other possibly reveal underlying feelings toward each other. These feelings may be reveal that they like each other in a non-sibling or stepsibling way. More research is needed to verify.

"Looks like we could change that hypothesis to a theory in Derek's case. I think we should focus our efforts on Casey" Lizzie said with a faint smile.

Derek immediately sprang to life. "No! Nobody, and I mean nobody, must find out about this until I get this mess straightened out!"

"But why?" Sam said, breaking his silence.

"Dude, I've already told you why. All hell will break lose if anybody at school, the 'rents, or Casey finds out. Especially Casey."

"But we want to help you, D-man. Eventually, this is going to eat you alive" Ralph said.

"Until that day happens, you are all sworn to secrecy. You must swear to God, Allah, Buddha, or whoever it is you worship not to tell anybody until this situation can be resolved. Understand?" Everyone in the room nods their heads to Derek. "Okay, now that we've got that settled, I need some time alone. So, everyone, out" he directed as he opened his bedroom door. Sam, Ralph, Edwin, and Lizzie piled out of the room and made their way downstairs. After the last one gets out, Derek stuck his head out of the door to notice that Casey was standing just outside her bedroom door. "Uh…"

"I think it will be for the best if I don't know what that was all about" Casey said as she entered her room and closed the door behind her.

"Whew" Derek let out. Thank goodness. Just then, Marti skipped down the hall. "Hey Smarti."

"Hey Smerek. Did you figure out if you liked that girl?"

"Yeah Smarti. Yeah, I did" Derek said. "Too bad I can't tell her that."

"Why not?"

"Because I know she won't like me back."

"I'm sure it will work out, Smerek."

"You do?"

"Yep. One day, Casey will figure out she likes you too and have both of you can have your happily ever after." Derek stared at Marti, mouth hanging wide open, as she turned around and skipped off toward the stairwell.

'How did she…? Wait, wait. I think I'm better off not knowing' Derek thought before he closed the door.

A/N: Uh oh, looks like more people are finding out about Derek's secret. How long can he keep the secret a secret?

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- the OD