"Derek?"

"Hmm?"

"What time do you have to be in work? It's 6.30am."
Derek smiled to himself. It was moments like this that he managed to fool himself that they were more; moments where the conversation and the circumstances fit a scenario that he dreamt of most nights. It would be so easy to roll over and pin her to the bed, kiss her into submission; to make love to her as the morning light grew stronger through the bedroom blinds.

Instead, he merely chuckled softly and pressed a kiss against the back of her neck; actions which might have earned him a knee in rather sensitive parts a decade ago. Now, he noted she merely groaned in a cute way and forced herself round to face him; hardly the actions of a disinterested party.

"You'll be late." She said her face close to his.

"Next Monday." He murmured with his eyes still closed.

"Der-ek! Wake up!" Casey shoved him in frustration.

He opened an eye. "I am awake. I was answering your question. Next Monday."

"What do you mean – Next Monday?"

"You asked me what time I need to be in work. I answered…Next Monday."

"What?"

He grinned. "I took some vacation time. I'm off till next Monday. Turn the light off on your way to the bathroom, Doc."

Casey rolled onto her back and slightly away from him.

"I can't." She said, staring at the ceiling.

"Oh?"
Casey smiled to herself. "I took the week off as well!"

The next time Derek awoke, it was because the sunlight was pouring through the blinds drowning his side of the bed with a bright light that was both pleasant and painful at the same time. He rolled onto his side and noted that Casey's side of the bed was empty too. Before he could panic about her absence, something grabbed the attention of his nostrils…bacon, eggs and, if he wasn't mistaken, some sort of pastry product.

Yes, Casey was perfect.

Then he remembered the non-status of their relationship and the lack of sex.

Okay…almost perfect.

He emerged from their bedroom scratching his head and yawning. Casey laughed which made him frown.

"What?"
"You're so predictable. I was just counting down how long it would take you get up once I put the bacon on. I thought less than a minute - You lasted thirty seconds."

"You know me so well." He acknowledged grabbing for a mug of coffee that was sitting on the side.

"That was my coffee." She protested.

"My need is greater."

"Maybe I should just eat all the bacon then."

His eyes widened. "I'll make you a fresh cup, right now." He promised.

Casey chuckled and Derek couldn't resist planting a kiss on her cheek as he past her on the way to the coffee machine.

"How long did you sleep?" he asked.

"I've been up about half an hour. I can't sleep in for too long, it makes my legs ache. It's a dancer thing."

He arched an eyebrow. "Are you still doing that?"
"Dancing? Yes, when my hours allow. I go to a centre near the hospital – it's on a Tuesday and Thursday – you know when Spike has a half day and you work late."
"Ah! I was wondering why you never pick up then."

"You never ring then!" She argued. He chuckled.

"I used to…until I worked out you'd never pick up." He handed her the new mug of coffee he had been making. "What shall we do for our week off?"

"I have plans for the end of the week but I'm sure we can fit some stuff in before then."

"Plans?" Derek queried. His tone was slightly off and Casey sighed.

"Derek, can't I do stuff without having to run it past you?"
"Of course you can. I was just asking so I know if I need to clear out and leave you to it." He half-lied. He was interested in what she was doing, or more particularly, who she was doing it with.

"You don't need to leave. I am. I'm going to drive home for the weekend."

"Home?" A part of him didn't like that she thought of somewhere other than their apartment as home. Quit being such a controlling bastard, Venturi. H reprimanded himself.

"London, Derek. Our home, remember? I'll probably pop across to Toronto too, and see Mom and George while I'm at it."

"Oh." Her explanation pacified him. It was reassuring that they had so much shared history. Even he needed reminding about that sometimes. Seven years is a long time to be apart from someone. Almost daily he was reminded of what he had lost, even though he had regained Casey.

There was a moment of silence. Casey looked and felt awkward. She put a hand on his arm.

"I'd ask you to come with me only…" She began to explain.

"…only I'm dead to them." He finished in mock flippancy. "It's okay, Casey." He put his hand over hers and she leaned against him.

"No it isn't. It kills me every time I talk to them – that I can't tell them you're alive. That they can't believe what I believe. But, I won't avoid them. I can't stay away from them. I haven't seen them since I made the decision to move here and I know they miss me. Mom begs me to come home every time she phones."

Derek curved his arm around her and drew her closer.

"It's okay, princess. They are safer not knowing." He chuckled. "And let's face it, the fact that we live together would probably give the entire clan a collective coronary."

Casey lifted her face to look at him her own face wearing a slight smirk. "No shit." She agreed and then to Derek's surprise she kissed him slowly and softly on the lips, twice. He joined her with the kiss, but they didn't deepen it.

"Never mind what they'd make of that." He commented when his mind was his own again.

Kisses like that between them weren't common, but they did happen. They were usually out of the blue instigated by the one, taking the other completely by surprise. They never went any further and they always left both of them wanting.

"I'll go on Thursday." Casey stated. "What did you want to do in the meantime?"

More kissing. Derek thought to himself, but he said nothing.

In the end, part of the choice was taken from them when Jazz phoned to say that he had made an executive decision and booked the entire department on a "climbing expedition" to a local climbing wall for the Wednesday night. Apparently it was one of the most challenging walls of its kind in the world and Derek at least seemed up for the challenge.

Casey, still in her pyjamas lounging on the couch, had enquired casually.

"Shall I bring my medical bag?"

Derek paused. "It's not really open to non-department staff." He stated. She raised an eyebrow. "I mean…look I don't trust half of these guys and…"

She interrupted. "…isn't that the point? To build trust in your team?"

"Yeah. I guess. I just thought it was important that we got to know each other as a group first before we threw family and significant others into the mix."
"Well there's your answer." Casey pointed out triumphantly. "I can definitely come."
"Oh?"
She grinned. "I'm neither family, nor your significant other."

"Nah…you're my insignificant something."

"I rate "something" status…? I'm flattered."

They chuckled together and Derek flopped into the recliner nearby. He wanted her to come, he just didn't want to expose her to an entire department full of Mounties who, as well as being known for "getting their man" were also well-known for getting their woman!

A while later as they watched a rather lame horror movie, he pulled the cushion from the small of his back and threw it across the short distance to where she was lying on the couch.

"On second thoughts," He called across the living room. "Knowing our lot, maybe a qualified medic on site might be a good idea."

"Was that an invitation?"

Derek ignored her. "Just don't forget your Mr Bump sticking plasters."

Spike looked up as Jazz hobbled into his office.

"Jesus man! You sound like Long John Silver with that cast on. Don't bother knocking I can hear you coming from down the hall."

Jazz snorted. "You try lugging the damn thing around with you. Going to the gym is a piece of cake in comparison. About the only good thing going for it is the increased female attention." He pulled a face. "Of course when you get the attention you can do fuck all about it but at least you get them interested. Now if only I could keep them interested for the next month until they take the cast off."

His boss laughed. "You got something for me?" he nodded towards the papers in Jazz's hand.

The younger man nodded. "Email from the Governor at the jail where Rich ended up."

He had Spike's full attention now. "What did he want?"
"It's more what Rich wants."

"Which is?"
"He wants Mikey to go and see him. He says he has information for him."

"What sort of information?"

Jazz shrugged. "The Governor doesn't say. But his email makes it quite clear that it has to be Mikey that goes. Apparently Rich won't talk to anyone else."

Spike rubbed the beginnings of his beard with a rasping noise. He hadn't been home last night because a high profile case had come to an unexpected end. Derek's absence had left Spike dealing with the nitty gritty that he would normally delegate. He didn't begrudge Derek the time off he knew his second-in-command needed it, and the case had shown no sign of hotting up when Derek made the decision to take leave time. But last night it had all kicked off.

He wondered if he should try going to the prison himself anyway to save Derek a job. Jazz waited.

"When's Mikey due back?" Spike asked.

"Monday. But we're all meeting tonight for that team-building thing. You want me to mention it to him then?"

Spike shook his head.

"Nah. It's probably nothing. Email the Governor back and explain Mikey is on leave but he'll be there Monday."
"Sure."

Spike regarded his junior for a moment. "Jazz, clear a spot on Monday afternoon for me to speak to Mikey at length somewhere off site."

"Sure thing. You want me to arrange a venue?"

"No. I'll deal with that."
Jazz turned to go.

"Oh and Jazz?"

"Yeah boss?"

"Get someone to cover for you on Monday afternoon. I need you to come with us."

"Okay…" Jazz drew out the word cautiously.

"I think it's time we told Mikey the truth about Papillion."

"You're sure about this?" Casey asked as she watched Derek get strapped into his harness.

"Yup!" He grinned at her. "Quit freaking out about it."

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm not the one about to scale that wall."

"No. You're just worrying about me doing it."

"Why would I worry about you?" Casey lied. She was scared stiff that he would fall.

The guy finished buckling the safety harness and Derek stepped towards Casey.

"Because if you decided to climb a sheer wall like that, I'd freak the fuck out too." He smiled. "Thankfully, you have more sense then I do…but that comes as no surprise to either of us. I'll be fine." He pressed his lips to her cheek and turned to join the couple of his colleagues who were patiently waiting for their turn to climb the wall.

Casey watched thoughtfully as Jazz said something to him. Another member of Derek's team gave Derek a high-five and Jazz pouted. He was still in crutches and therefore unable to take part.

Derek was half-way up the wall when the cheering started, closely followed by the whooping and cat-calls. For a moment, he tried to ignore the sounds from below, but eventually was forced by curiosity to look down and what he saw made him start swearing colourfully.

Casey, appropriately harnessed, was climbing up the wall beside him. She was rapidly gaining ground on Derek as he had frozen mid-climb unable to take his eyes off her approaching form. He could see her concentrating hard, her bottom lip caught between her teeth and her brow furrowed as she listened to the shouted instructions from below and pulled herself up. Once, she glanced upwards towards Derek but his eyes were cold and piercing, and she quickly looked down.

Derek began climbing again his anger pushing him forward and he reached the top first, but there was no victory in it. He released the ropes and brought himself quickly and gently to ground level. Once there, he unbuckled his harness and watched Casey descend equally gracefully.

As soon as her feet touched the ground safely he stormed off.

He avoided Casey for the most of the evening.

"What's biting you?" Jazz asked a while later.

Derek scowled. Jazz laughed.

"Oh man! That expression makes you look like my two-year old nephew." He smirked at Derek.

The latter muttered something about women being more hassle than they were worth – which made Jazz laugh again.

"Why do I get the feeling this is another of your foreplay fights? What did Casey do?"
Derek became animated. "Are you shitting me? You saw what she did!"

Jazz shrugged. "She climbed the wall. So what? Good on her, she looked scared shitless all the way up but she did it."

His partner looked at him in horror. Jazz frowned.

"You're pissed because she managed the climb?"

"I'm pissed because I thought she had more sense than to put herself at risk like that."

"What was the risk? These organiser guys are experts. Besides, you did it."

"That's not the point." Derek growled.

Jazz's eyes widened. "Oh. I see. She scared you. It's one thing to put yourself at risk; it's another thing to watch someone you love do it."

Derek's own eyes widened in fresh panic.

Jazz smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'm not going to say anything to anyone."

"That would be a first."

"Look Mikey, I get it. She's beautiful, intelligent and she challenges you. Plus you're both single – or at least neither of you is seeing anyone else. It's obvious to anyone with half a brain that you two have something significant."

Derek rejected that idea immediately. "No one else seems to think that…you're the only one pulling fairy tales out of thin air."

Jazz scoffed. "The fact that I'm the only one pointing it out says more about the rest of this department than your relationship with Casey."

"I don't have a relationship with Casey."

"Oh yes you do. Even if you are both too stubborn to admit it."

Derek was silent.

After a moment, Jazz nudged his friend. "Look, it's just my opinion, but if you let relations between you sour over her climbing a rock wall…it's going to end in tears."

As if sensing she was being discussed, Casey looked up just as Derek looked across at her. It had been a couple of hours since Derek had stormed away from the wall and he still hadn't spoken to her. The climbing had finished sometime ago and they were all now tucking into burgers and beer which had been laid out on tables nearby. Whilst Casey had hung around and not just gone home, Derek could see that at some point she had taken herself off somewhere private and cried.

Shit.

"It already has." Derek replied to Jazz, nodding towards Casey. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears, and cheeks puffy from already shed ones.

"Go fix it."

Casey was aware of Derek's approach but she didn't look up. She picked at the food on her plate awkwardly.

"You scared me." He said in simple explanation as he sat down beside her.

"You scare me frequently." Casey said in a quiet voice.

"I'm a scary guy." He retorted weakly. Casey's own laugh was equally hollow.

"Derek, I mean that your job is dangerous and I worry every day that you will arrive in my ER the way you did all those years ago.…"

He stopped her by brushing her hair from her face. "I know. I shouldn't expect you to put up with me taking risks and then complain when you take risks too."

"Your job is bad enough. But doing this in your spare time…"

"No more climbing. For me or you." He stated.

Casey said nothing but she did nod.

"Come on. You're leaving tomorrow and I'd rather not spend our last evening together arguing."

They both froze at the "last evening" statement. To most people it would mean nothing, but to a couple who had already been separated for seven years – thinking it was permanent the whole time – the idea of it happening again was painful.

"I mean last evening together until Sunday." Derek clarified. Casey nodded again.

He threw an arm around her shoulders and turned Casey towards his co-workers and began to introduce them.

Derek didn't let go of Casey for the rest of the evening.

"Have you programmed the address in?" Derek asked as Casey pottered about the bedroom.

"Yes. Although I don't need it. It's my apartment Derek and I've lived in London for many many years."

"Yeah but you'll get traffic updates if you run the GPS."

"I'll also be able to see what time I'll arrive so I always use it. Before you ask, my cell works through the car system so I won't need to take my hands off the wheel to answer the phone. I am wearing warm underwear. And there is that under-the-counter can of Mace you gave me safely tucked in the pocket of the driver's door." She grinned at him. "I will be fine."

"It's a long way." He protested.

"I've driven it before. I want to bring some more of my things back with me this time so I need the car."

"I just…"

"You just need to let me breathe a little and maybe breathe yourself."

Derek stopped and took a deep breath.

"Give Marti my love." He said grasping the nettle firmly and steeling himself for what was turning out to be a difficult goodbye for him.

"I will. She's going to ask about seeing you. What do I say?"
"I can't honey. Not right now."

Casey sighed. "I get it. Honestly I do. I just wish."

"Not as much as I do."

Casey knew he was right.

They said goodbye on the sidewalk next to the car. Derek in pyjamas and hastily pulled on sneakers with no socks, Casey looking particularly pretty this morning in a sweater a vivid shade of red and a new pair of jeans.

Derek pulled her close. "Be careful." He murmured close to her ear.

"You too. No going back to work while I'm away and if you have visitors be safe and tidy up after you."

Derek pulled back and frowned at her in astonishment. "What are you? My mother now?"
"Of course not. Abby was much too lenient with you."

Derek rolled his eyes. "No visitors." He said re-establishing his grip on Casey. He kissed her cheek. "No random men in seedy bars with my sister."

"How about I book an escort and invite him to mine for an orgy with me, Lizzie and Marti?"
"ha ha."

Casey grinned. "How about we both agree to behave, be careful and be in touch?"

Derek smiled at her and came within a hair's breadth of saying something he was fairly sure he would regret afterwards. He didn't say it. But Casey's thoughts couldn't have been too far from his own.

"I'll miss you." She admitted.

"I'll miss me too." He joked.

"Derek."

He chuckled. "I'll miss you too." He agreed.

And then he watched as she climbed into her car, strapped herself in and then starting the engine pulled away from the kerb with a wave.