Disclaimer: No, still not making a cent of this. It's actually a little depressing how many of the things I do don't come with money.
Home was awful. Home was worse than awful, it was nightmarish, horrifying and terrifying in its silence. Only a short time ago she'd been contemplating how peaceful and relaxing the silence was, how much she wished it would be this quiet more often, but now it's just a sign of how wrong things are. It shouldn't be quiet, it should be loud and full of noise, even at night. It should be full of Edwin's snoring, Marti mumbling to herself in her sleep, the faint noise of Derek's music or computer games left on even as he sleeps.
But it wasn't. There was nobody there.
After half an hour of tossing and turning, unable to sleep despite being more tired than she could ever remember being, Casey dragged her bedding downstairs and turned on the TV, finding some chat show with a relatively steady volume. It worked, but there was nothing to make sure her dreams were restive and peaceful.
She woke up three times, the frightened feeling and the speed of her heartbeat overshadowing the memory of the dreams themselves until she drifted back into them. Tired as she was, it took a good while to register the sound of the front door opening, her mom's voice calling her name.
"Yeah?" She called as clearly as she could through her groggy throat.
Nora sat on the edge of Derek's recliner, stroking a hand over her daughter's hair. "You stay down here all night?"
"It was too quiet." Casey explained, something in her relaxing in response to her mother's affection.
Nora smiled tiredly and her eyes narrowed a little, her mouth twitching like there was something she wanted to say.
"What?" Casey asked when it became apparent that hesitancy was winning out.
"It's just, Lizzie and Edwin wanted to come home tonight. I told them no, but I can't keep them from home all week and with everything going on I can't be here to get them ready for school, pick them up, drop them off and be at the hospital at the same time." Nora ran a hand through her hair, fingers tensing like they wanted to clutch and pull instead of gliding through. "George won't leave Derek's side to eat or sleep or even use the bathroom if there isn't someone there to sit with Derek; I really need to be there. I can get Sam or Ralph to visit for a few hours after school, but I need to-"
"Mom." Casey interrupted firmly. "It's okay, I'll help. I am a member of this household, I know how the morning routine goes and I can drive them-" Casey resists the urge to breathe in sharply at the idea of getting behind the wheel of the Prince after everything. She'd find a way to deal; the only damage the car had suffered was the dent from Derek's crash, so it was still perfectly drivable. Someone had even driven it back from the road side the day they'd found Derek. "You just focus on Derek and George."
Another tired smile and Nora reached over to squeeze Casey's hand, not letting go for a good minute or two. "Love you kiddo."
"Love you too, now go get an hour or two of sleep before you have to go back to the hospital."
The next three days were hectic. Sleep still wasn't Casey's friend and she left her bed feeling almost as tired as when she climbed into it at night, Edwin and Lizzie were quiet and somber in comparison to their normal behavior, but still managed to be hard work, especially when she wouldn't tell them how Derek was doing (she didn't know) and refused to take them to the hospital to see him as Nora had said she'd call when Derek was up to seeing them. Nora and George alternated coming home in the middle of the day and the middle of the night to catch some sleep, but she didn't see or hear from either of them apart from hurried notes left on the fridge and barely five-minute phone calls at around four o'clock to give her vague status updates and messages about her siblings and the house. On top of all that, her teachers were constantly pulling her aside to ask after her, Derek and their family and she was doing her damnedest to avoid Paul alongside convincing every teacher she could to give her Derek's homework despite the fact he most likely wouldn't be fit to do it until well after the deadlines.
She caught Nora asleep on the couch on the fourth day. She looked exhausted and had clearly only meant to close her eyes for a moment; she was almost upright, head lolled back against the sofa, slumped with one arm dangling over the side, phone in her lap ready to be picked up as soon as it rang.
Casey swallowed the twinge in her throat and carefully rearranged her mother so that she was lying more comfortably, Lizzie and Edwin slinking quietly up the stairs as she did so. She did a quick check of Nora's phone to ensure Nora wasn't missing anything important and moved it to Nora's handbag.
Nora woke while Casey was making dinner, clearly still tired but a little panicky about how long she'd been asleep.
"Mom, calm down! I'm sure George can manage on his own for a few hours, there are nurses and doctors and Ralph and Sam will probably be there by now." Casey tried.
"No, Ralph and Sam came up yesterday and the day before, they both need tonight off. Sam's coming back tomorrow and Ralph is on friday." Nora busied herself in the frantic, clueless way she did when she was late for work. "And George-"
"Won't leave Derek's side unless someone else is there." Casey finished for her. "I know, you told me." She sighed and stared at the floor, the feeling that this was all just a nightmare resurfacing as it had done on and off since Derek went missing. She clenched her hands. "I'll go to the hospital. You stay here and eat some decent food, say hi to Liz and Ed, have a shower, get some more sleep."
"Are you sure?" Nora asked, somewhat dubious.
"Yeah, I know George told me not to go back for a few days but it's been a few days now and it isn't like we have a lot of options here." Casey said resolutely.
Nora hesitated some more before agreeing.
Casey finished cooking dinner, shoved some in tupperware and left for the hospital, ignoring Lizzie and Edwin's complaints that they didn't get to come too.
George didn't look surprised to see her, but then her mom had probably texted him to let him know what was going on. He looked awful. Truth be told, he looked worse than Derek did.
Derek was a lot less loopy with his pain meds, but his gaze was still a little glazed and he was a lot more chill than usual, smiling easily and lying back against his pillows rather than hunched forward as he would be normally while talking to her.
She asked him how he was feeling, received a neutral shrug in response and offered to sit with Derek while George stretched his legs. George agreed somewhat reluctantly and she handed him a tupperware on his way out.
"Hey! You brought him food but not me? I'm the one mostly living off mashed potatoes and jello here!" Derek protested.
"They're probably worried you'll choke." Casey reasoned.
"Why? There's nothing wrong with my mouth. Well apart from the several times busted lips, but they don't affect my chewing and swallowing." Derek argued, and even his annoyed face was more relaxed than usual. It didn't look right.
"I don't know, do I look like a doctor?" Casey gestured at herself.
"I guess not, most of my doctors are middle aged men with beer bellies and smokers breath. You're a lot healthier looking than them." Derek shifted. "Now seriously, where's mine?"
Casey grinned a little and handed over the other tupperware. "As long as you promise not to tell on me."
Derek just gave her a thumbs up, mouth already full before she had a chance to finish the sentence. And Casey really hoped there wasn't an actual reason for them giving him soft foods only.
"You're a bad influence on me." She joked, though to be perfectly honest she was beginning to wonder if it was the other way around.
"Yeah, you're getting to be a real rule breaker." Derek spoke halfway through chewing and Casey looked away from the mangled contents of his mouth but didn't say anything. Derek finished his food before he spoke again, scraping the tupperware almost clean and looking regretfully at the now empty container. "I now remember how you earned the title Casserole Casey."
She gave a short laugh, a little startled by the flash back. "You haven't called me that in ages."
"That's because you haven't fed me a decent casserole in ages." Derek quipped.
They were arguing (quietly, they'd already caught the eye of the nurse Derek was irrationally scared of) over Casey's cooking skills when George came back. He nodded at her and waited for her to vacate the seat by Derek's bed, even though there was another in the corner that he could have pulled up.
Casey stood and ignored the slight stinging in her eyes. "Let me know if you need another break."
George nodded again without looking at her.
"You gonna come back and pester me some more any time soon? I think my moral compass is already suffering a relapse with you gone. I may start pranking nurses and who knows how that would turn out." Derek said as she opened her mouth to say goodbye. "Though it could be interesting to find out."
Casey smiled and George sent an unimpressed but slightly amused look his way.
"I'll be back soon." Casey promised and left to spend a few hours in the waiting room until Nora came back.