A/N: Wow, more reviews, more alerts, more favorites, and just at the threshold of 15000 hits! You guys are awesome! The must've helped motivate me to get this chapter up quickly. I just started writing and it all fell in place for me.

So, as I mentioned, the story is winding down. I've got some stuff lined up to wrap it all up, get it back to some of the goodness at the beginning that many of the readers loved so well.

Disclaimer: blah, blah, blah...we all know by now...

Now, on with the show!

The first week of Derek and Casey's newfound relationship went about as well as anybody could've hoped for, considering the two people involved. There were still jokes and pranks between them, but changes were evident. Derek followed through on giving up chasing after girls, especially after an unfortunate incident where a former groupie tried to throw herself at Derek and insulted Casey in front of God and everybody at Thompson High School. This resulted in Derek skipping hockey practice, comforting Casey at home, and eventually getting rid of every phone number, email, and dating list of every girl that he had. It was extreme, but it got the point across to Casey that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Other than few people at school, most everyone that knew Derek and Casey accepted the relationship (a few of them exclaimed "It's about damn time!"). Their friends swore that they had never seen them as happy as they are now. Edwin, Lizzie, and Marti enjoyed it as well, even though they would take turns interrupting Derek and Casey while they were spending time alone with each other. At least they were thoughtful enough to serve as look-outs to make sure George and Nora didn't catch them…

Telling their parents. Well, the inability to do so, was the only major problem they were having...

(Friday afternoon – 5:17 P.M.)

Casey was lying on her bed, screaming into a pillow. All week long, they had tried to come up with a way to break the news to George and Nora. They asked their friends, their younger siblings; they were even so desperate that they went to talk to Paul (all that resulted in was a coffee shower for Derek courtesy of Paul's spit-take).

"Case, relax. You're going to pop a blood vessel" Derek said, walking into the room and taking a seat next to her on the bed.

"I can't. Derek, everybody knows about us except our parents" Casey complained, raising her face out of the pillow to look at her.

"Look, we've been trying to come up with ways to break the news to them. Don't you just think we should just do like we did at school and just tell them?"

"That's the problem. Just because it worked with our classmates doesn't mean it's going to work on our parents. I'm scared that they will break us up, or worse, they will split up and we'll have to leave" Casey said, crying into her pillow.

Derek couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Although he wouldn't admit it, he was scared to death of those two possibilities as well. Suddenly, he got an idea. "Get ready."

"Huh?"

"Get up and get ready, Case. We're going out."

"Out?"

"Yes, out. As in on a date. The two of us, alone. You're too stressed, so we need to go out and get you relaxed so you can think better."

"Der-ek…"

"Look Casey, when you're stressed, you don't do your best thinking. Think about it – every time you've made a poor decision, it was because you were stressed out."

Casey immediately perked up. "Since when did you learn all of this stuff about me?"

Derek just smirked. "Attention to detail. So, is it a date?"

Casey nodded her head. As she got up, she looked over to him. "Don't think that I don't know the ulterior motive behind this date."

"What motive?" Derek asked as innocently as possible.

"You're also looking for some alone time without an interruption" Casey said with a smirk.

"Okay, there's that reason too" Derek confessed.

**Two showers and a change of clothes later**

"So, you two are going out?" Lizzie asked. She and Edwin were standing outside their respective siblings' rooms.

"Yes. We both need to get out and spend some time alone" Casey said as she finished putting on her earrings.

"Which means we need a cover story for Dad and Nora. So, when they get home, where are we at?" Derek said, placing his stick of deodorant on his desk.

"Casey went with Emily to the mall, and you're hanging out with Sam and Ralph" Edwin said.

"Perfect. Make sure you coach Lizzie and Marti up on that before the 'rents get here" Derek said. He was about to call for Casey to hurry up, but didn't get the chance to before she walked out. She was wearing a black, low-cut short sleeve shirt with a pink cami top underneath it, a short denim skirt, and black high heels. A simple outfit, he would have to admit, but he still couldn't help but stare at her. She looked beautiful.

"Earth to Derek" Casey said, waving her hands in front of his face.

"Huh?"

"You were zoned out there" she said with a smile.

"Sorry" he said sheepishly. Casey just smiled at him. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he led her toward the stairs. As they reached the bottom step, Marti was waiting on them.

"Don't stay out too late you two" Marti admonished, pointing a finger at them.

Derek and Casey just laughed at how adorable she looked as they made their way to the door.

"Hey! I was being serious!" Marti pouted as the door closed.

(6:40 P.M.)

"Der-ek. Why didn't you tell me that you were bringing me here? I feel so under-dressed" Casey said in a hushed tone as she and Derek took their seats. She was expecting another trip to Smelly Nelly's; instead, he had taken her to Stefano's, a nice, out of the way Italian restaurant.

"Please, you look fine" Derek said.

"I must say, I'm impressed" Casey said.

"If your impressed with this, then you'll be at a loss for words after tonight's over with" he said.

"If you think that this will help you get me in the sack…"

"Relax, Case. I'm not going to make you do anything you're not ready for. Okay?" Casey nodded her head at his statement.

Just then, the waiter arrived to begin taking their orders. This set into motion the remainder of the night.

(Saturday morning - 12:04 A.M.)

Dinner was an enjoyable affair for Derek and Casey. Dinner then turned into a trip to a nearby bowling alley, which Derek had the adventure of trying to teach Casey both the game of bowling and the game of pool (he didn't mind teaching her to play pool – it just gave him an excuse to be closer to her). The trip to the bowling alley lead to a poetry jam at a local coffee shop (which Derek figured Casey would enjoy). The young couple just now find themselves coming back home.

"Oh man, the poetry was so amazing tonight!" Casey exclaimed as she walked through the front door and into the dark house.

"Shhh, keep it down. You're going to wake everybody up" Derek said as he limped into the house.

"Sorry."

"I think I'm going to stick to taking you to poetry readings instead of bowling" Derek grimaced as they entered the dining room.

"I'm sorry. It was an accident. Besides, you won both games."

"At the possible expense of my hockey career. Look, the object of bowling is to throw the ball down the lane at the pins, not backward at the person standing behind you, Klutzilla" he said as he took a seat at the table.

"Der-ek!" Casey whined. She entered the kitchen and grabbed a bag of frozen beans from the freezer. "Here" she said as she entered the still dark dining room, offering him the bag.

Derek declined. "I'll live." They sat there for a moment in the darkness of the room. He couldn't help but notice how the light coming in from the kitchen provided a soft glow on her features. She was just sitting there, staring at him with a smile on her face. "What?"

"Thank you for tonight. This was the best date I had ever been on."

"Even with the bowling accident?"

"Yes, even with the bowling accident. And with your 'little friend' constantly poking me while you showed me how to play pool" Casey replied, with a blush deepening on her face.

"Well, I try" he replied with a smirk. Casey just smiled at his comment before leaning in to kiss him. Derek returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer. They were so lost in the moment that they didn't hear the footsteps coming up from the basement and through the kitchen.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" George said as he flipped on the light. As the light flipped on, it seemed like the whole world stopped. Derek and Casey immediately broke away from the kiss to see George and Nora standing in the kitchen doorway. Both of them were frozen by the sight of catching their oldest children kissing each other in a dark room. Derek and Casey sat there like deer caught in a pair of headlights – this was not the way they wanted their parents to find out.

After what seemed like an eternity in this state of shock, Derek was the first one who found his voice. "Oh shit."

Derek now found himself staring as his dad paced the garage floor. George had pulled him into the garage, while Nora dragged Casey to the basement, probably to prevent from waking the kids up. Derek was too scared to think. He loved his dad and knew he could pull him along, but he found out the hard way a couple of years back not to piss George off. He made that mistake one time about a year before his dad married Nora – it was the only time George ever laid his hands on him. He was now looking at the second occurrence.

"I can't believe you! I mean…what were you…?! Argh!" George exclaimed in frustration.

"Dad…"

"How long?"

"Huh?"

"How long has this been going on?"

Derek took a deep breath. "We just started recently. Dad, please don't be mad. We were going to tell you…"

"When?!"

"That's what we were trying to figure out. Because we didn't want you and Nora to split up, or split us up, or hate us for it, or…" Derek's words just died as he slumped down on the garage floor and leaned back against the car. He was so scared about what would happen next.

George knelt down on the floor in front of Derek. "Derek, why would you think that?"

Derek just shrugged his shoulders.

"Derek, you're my son. You may do a lot of things that get on my nerves, but there is nothing that you can do that will ever make me stop loving you" George said. "Remember the other night, when you asked me what I was thinking about?"

Derek slowly looked up. "Yeah."

"I was thinking about how well you two have started to get along since Casey's family moved in. Sure, you two still fight and everything, but I can tell the difference."

"Okay."

"Just between you and me Derek, Nora and I had discussed the possibility of something like this happening."

A shocked look swept across Derek's face. "What?!"

"I mean, we've taken a set of hormonally driven teenagers and placed them under the same roof. We hoped that you two would grow to accept each other as family and nothing would ever happen between either of you, but we at least wanted to be aware of that possibility."

Derek then found his voice long enough to say more than one word. "Dad, I love Casey. I can't explain how it happened, but I love her."

"Keep in mind, if anything happens between you two, you're going to have to the consequences that it's going to have on everybody."

"I know that Dad. That's why I'm not going to screw up like I've done in the past. I promise."

George grabbed Derek in a hug and pulled him back up to his feet. "If you feel that strongly, then I'll support the two of you."

"Thanks Dad" Derek muttered before walking to the door and heading back into the house. As he walked into the kitchen, Casey walked out of the door from the basement. He could tell that she had been crying. "Case…" Casey ran over to him and threw her arms around him. For several minutes, they just stood there, locked in each other's arms. "Are you okay?" he finally asked her.

"Mm-hmm" was her only response. He looked up to see that Nora and George were staring at them.

"Nora…" Derek started.

"I just wished that you two would have told us sooner. I don't like the idea of my daughter keeping things from me" Nora said.

"Wait, so you're okay with this too?"

Casey looked up after Derek asked his question to Nora. "Too? You mean George is alright with it?" Derek nodded his head in response.

"Of course, there are going to be some ground rules. We'll discuss those tomorrow. Right now, we all need some sleep" George said.

"Good night, Mom. Good night, George" Casey said.

"Good night, you two" Derek said.

"Good night kids" George and Nora said in unison. Before they could disappear down the stairs, Casey stopped them.

"Mom. George."

"Yes, dear?" Nora asked.

"Thank you for understanding."

All four just exchanged glances before leaving the kitchen. Derek and Casey, both exhausted from the evening and the confrontation with their parents, drug themselves into the living room and up the stairs. As they reached their respective rooms, he wrapped his arms around her and gave her another kiss.

"Good night, Casey. I love you."

"I love you too, Derek"

With that, both of them entered their rooms and collapsed on their beds. Finally, it was all out in the open. The world didn't erupt into mass hysteria. No natural disasters. When it was all said and done, there were just two people that had finally discovered the one person they couldn't live without.

After getting it all out in the open, things started going a lot smoother for Derek and Casey. Sure, they still fought over stupid stuff, but nobody could deny how happy they were. She became his good luck charm at hockey games, while he became her good luck charm at dance recitals. He started to tone down some of his irresponsible behavior, while she started to loosen up and enjoy going out more. They even started to do homework together; the excuse was to make sure Derek's grades didn't slip, but it just gave them a better reason to be closer together. Derek sealed the deal in proving his loyalty to her by going out of his way to make Junior Prom the dream moment that Casey had always wanted. They were even chosen to be prom king and queen by their classmates.

Anybody that knew them didn't have the nerve or felt the need to try and split them up – it was much safer with these two as a couple instead of bickering stepsiblings. Having said that, there was one little problem at school that they ended up having to deal with…

(A few months later)

A young man leaned against one of the walls at Thompson High School, watching as Casey and Emily talked to each other at the bottom of the stairwell. He developed a slight smirk on his face before walking by them.

"So, who's the new guy?" Casey asked.

"Hmm, let's see what I got" Emily replied, grabbing her trusty notebook. "He moved here from Toronto, he went to a private school, and he goes by Truman."

"Hey, I'm from Toronto and I went to a private school" Casey said excitedly.

"I'm very sure that Derek would want you to stay away from this guy. He's a total zero. He's only been here three days and has already rated every girl in our grade" Emily states.

"What?! That is outrageous and ridiculous and demeaning…!"

"And the asshole had the audacity to rate give you a rating of six and a half" Derek said, walking up to Emily and Casey.

"What?! That is outrageous and ridiculous and demeaning…!"

"And very stupid" Derek added. "I know what he's trying to do."

"Really?" Emily asked.

"He's just trying to get Casey's attention by being a jerk."

"How do you know all of this?" Casey asked.

"I used to be like that before a pretty blue-eyed angel – who is a 10, I might add – came and straightened me out." Casey smiled at Derek's complement. "Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to have a little chat with our little friend."

"Derek, be nice" Casey called out as Derek walked down the hall.

"Can't promise you that" he replied back before disappearing down the hallway. He eventually found the person he was looking for – looking at more girls. "So, you must be the new guy!" he exclaimed, slapping an arm around Truman.

"Uh, do I know you?"

"I'm Derek, hockey captain, king of the school, and self-proclaimed welcome guide. Come let's talk" he said, pulling Truman down the hall. "So, uh…"

"Truman" the new guy replied, wearing a smirk across his face.

"Right. So I've seen that you've taking a liking to the female population here" Derek said.

"Well, what can I say? There are a lot of beautiful girls here" Truman said.

"Right. Which brings me to what I wanted to talk to you about – the girl that you gave a 6 and a half rating to." By now the fake smile that Derek was wearing disappeared.

"Oh, right! The girl that was sitting by the stairs, uh…"

"Casey."

"Right! Well, you see, I've…"

"Please, let's cut out the bullshit and get down to business. Nobody in their right mind would give her a 6 and a half rating" Derek said.

"I know. It's all part of my little plan to…"

"Make her jealous, get her attention, and eventually try to win her over. How close am I?" Derek looked and saw that Truman's smirk cracked a little. Perfect.

"How…?" was all Truman got out of his mouth.

"I used to be like you once, before I met Casey." Truman's smirk faded a little more.

"So, you two are friends?"

"Yes. The type of friends that go out on dates, support each other at hockey games and dance recitals, get assignments done, and share the occasional intimate moment." Truman's smirk was definitely gone now.

"Hey look, man…"

"Now, listen once and listen good, you sorry low-life perverted asshole. My girlfriend is off-limits, and if you ever try to do anything to steal her away or hurt her, you'll have to change your name to Trudy when I'm done with you. Got it?"

Truman could only nod his head in response. He would've said something, but he noticed the group of hockey and football players down the hall staring at them, waving at Derek and giving Truman murderous gestures. He let out a loud gulp.

"Good" Derek said, giving him a pat on the back and walking off. "Well, that's it for the tour. Hope you enjoy life here at Thompson High."

A/N: Only two more chapters left to go! Stick around to see how it ends. Oh, and for the record, I've got something else lined up for Truman to start off the next chapter.

Until next time, take care and be safe.
- the OD