*I do not own Life with Derek. That would be super awesome but I don't. Anyways I have no clue how this story will end so uh yea. Nobody get their hopes up. It could end in Dasey or Nasey. Either way, I will find a way for BOTH boys to be happy in the end.

Chapter One: Together Again.

Derek sighed. Casey was expected to be home any minute. Usually Derek avoided seeing Casey at all. He waited until after she decided on a college to pick a totally different one. He made sure that she wouldn't be home when he was, which meant he didn't spend any holidays with his family and Casey usually avoided summers. But this time he had made a mistake. He had planned a trip home thinking she'd be busy studying or something and then she decided to make a trip home for some special announcement. Derek almost left. But then everyone might find out Derek's best kept secret. Besides himself and Casey, the only other person who knew what had happened was Sam. Derek had told Sam because he couldn't deal with it on his own. And now here he was at twenty-one, lying on his old bed in his old room, fixing to see the one girl who turned him down, the one girl who he cared the most about, his step-sister. It hurt even worse to know that he set her up with her boyfriend. He had helped Noel get Casey and now he regretted every moment that he helped Noel.

After a few minutes he heard a car pull into the driveway. Derek closed his eyes, hoping to block out the world. Maybe they would assume he had fallen asleep. Hopefully Edwin, Lizzie, and Marti would consume Casey's attention and no one would even notice that Derek was still upstairs. There was a knock on his door and Edwin peaked his head in. Derek groaned and glared up at his brother, "Ed, get out."

Edwin ignored his brother's comment and sat down on Derek's computer chair. "What's wrong, D?" Derek propped himself up on one elbow with a puzzled look on his face.

Edwin sighed and continued, "You've been acting weird ever since you got here. You hid in your room all day today, and you barely visit. Is it girl trouble?"

Derek rolled his eyes.

Edwin nodded. "Okay, so you're not going to talk about it. Derek, it happens to all of us."

Derek pushed himself off of his bed and walked over to tower over his brother. "It's none of your business, Edwin. It's no one's business, okay? So just butt out."

Edwin put up his hands in surrender and stood up to leave Derek's room. "Whatever it is, Derek, I hope you get over it and spend some time with us while you're here, okay?"

Derek rolled his eyes and shut his door after his brother. This was going to be a long vacation.

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Noel pulled into Casey's old driveway. He reached over to grab his fiancé's, Casey, hand and bring it to his lips. "So, we're here."

Casey nodded absent-mindedly. She was worried about seeing Derek again. She hadn't talked to him since she found out about Noel's fake suicide. After they left for college, Noel had convinced her that she couldn't hold it over his head but every time she went home he wasn't. When she had found out Derek was going to be there, she almost told Noel they should cancel. But she knew he would never agree to it and that she would have to explain why. She had never been able to talk about what happened with Derek with anyone. Noel thought she was still mad about him playing along in his stupid plan. Everyone else wrote it off as Derek and Casey drama, like in high school.

Noel came around to open her door. Casey took a deep breath and climbed out of the car. "Do we have to do this? We always avoid summers, Noel."

Noel rolled his eyes. "Casey, we agreed that Derek should know about our engagement as well. And we agreed that we would forgive him, remember?"

Casey sighed. "I know. But, Noel…"

Noel shook his head. "Casey, we talked about this. He's your step-brother. He deserves to know, Casey."

Casey sighed headed towards the house, leaving Noel behind. Noel rolled his eyes.

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They were all sitting at the table that night for dinner. Well, all except Derek who still hadn't left his room. Marti was bouncing slightly in her seat, Edwin and Lizzie whispering back and forth about what could be wrong with Derek. Casey laughed to herself. They may have grown up a little, but her brother and sisters were still pretty much the same.

Nora suddenly straightened in her chair, "So, Casey, why don't you tell us your news?"

Before Casey could reply, Derek sauntered in and slid into one of the chairs. He left a smirk play across his lips and his eyes locked with Casey's. "Go ahead, Case. Tell us your news."

Casey shifted a little under Derek's gaze. Noel narrowed his eyes and reached for Casey's hand to give her support. Finally she spoke up, "Noel and I are getting married."

Derek, who had just put food in his mouth, was shocked. His jaw dropped and food spilled back onto the plate. This was not what he was expecting. He felt his throat closing up. He cleared his throat to be heard over all the congratulations. "I think I'm going to eat in my room. All this lovey-dovey stuff is making me lose my appetite." He picked up his plate and cup and headed back to hind in his room.

"Girl trouble." He heard Edwin explain. Couldn't he just let it go? Derek shut the door and leaned up against it. Casey was getting married? To Noel? Derek knew he had lost. He'd known that for years. But to hear those words come from Casey's mouth, Derek couldn't handle it.

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*So Casey and Noel are engaged and Derek's falling apart. Thank you to all of you who have read this and for those of you who read Confessions of True Love. I'm truly appreciative.