The Reunion
Disclaimer: I don't own LWD.
AN: Enjoy

The Reunion:
Chapter 7.

The second Casey mentioned him being her husband he knew exactly how big the whole fiasco could get. His public relations manager had media train him from the very beginning of his Major League career. Derek knew just how much of his daily life could be put into the press on a regular basis. So yeah, Derek knew exactly what he had gotten himself into. He warned Mikey, he told him he owed Casey a favor... a favor that could backfire on him, big. He told Mikey to keep a look out for his name in the papers and shut down any rumor that emerged in the following days.

Reluctantly, Mikey agreed to take care of it, it was his job after all, but he still reminded Derek that it was best to be careful than reckless. Mikey swore that Casey would understand if he couldn't do it... but no, that wasn't good enough for Derek. He refused to step down. He didn't even warn Casey about the dangers of "marrying" him. He didn't mention it at all because he was selfish, he needed this. He needed a proper night out with her, even if it got out to the media... even if it was all pretend.

Derek knew the second that Mikey called him the following Monday, only two days after the reunion, that it was bad. He knew because his twitter started blowing up, asking him if the rumors where true, if he had actually gotten married. Derek... well Derek was an internet troll and he loved to rile his fans up constantly. So instead of replying to any of it, making a statement to confirm or deny it, or something sensible he trolled on. Sending a ridiculous tweet was sent out to his 36,000 twitter followers.

[DerekVenturi]: Is it just me or is Silver Linings Playbook just a virgin teen movie with mental illness?

To his defense, Casey had made him watch the movie the night after so it wasn't a completely random tweet! Because he didn't end up just getting up and leaving the night after the reunion since they were up until the wee hours of the morning. After they showered their wrecked bodies, they fell asleep curled up and content in every way possible. They slept well into the afternoon. It wasn't awkward or anything, it was just kind of comfortable and normal because it was them. Eventually when they got out of bed, achy and complaining that they weren't as young as they use to be, they had "breakfast" which was just a really late, but much needed, lunch. Afterwards Casey suggested that they curl up on the couch (clothed!) and watch a movie while the rain continued to fall outside, giving them the perfect lazy Sunday.

It was just shy of perfect. Except for the fact that eventually, he had to leave.

Aside from twitter there were the actual tabloids that were cycling. He couldn't stop himself from buying a few that had his name on the cover when he popped out for his coffee earlier that morning. He needed to know exactly what they were saying.

"Derek," Mikey started, already sounding frustrated.

"I thought you'd take care of this Mike!" His panicked eyes danced across all the magazines spread out on his coffee table; his name was staring up at him on the cover of each one.

"I've been on the phone trying to take care of this since 6am Derek. They refused my offers. They ran the stories anyway. But there's no pictures, which is good. So I'm spinning it as just a rumor. No official statement or anything, let it die down and it'll be forgotten by Thursday," Mike promised.

"I just don't want her seeing any of this." Derek admitted. He didn't want to scare her off. He wasn't sure how she would react to the stories, to the world knowing.

"She won't, they've got nothing! Unless..." Mikey trailed off.

"Unless what!" Derek asked panicking.

"So, the 'source' is claiming to have a picture of you two from the reunion." Mikey sighed heavily into the phone.

"Oh god... Those could be very bad pictures Mike." Derek thought for a second. Them dancing, Casey sucking on his neck... "Pictures you can't spin. She was wearing a ring, and we were..." He trailed off, not wanting to tell Mikey that they were all over each other.

"Oh jeez Derek! I told you not to do this." Mikey groaned into the phone.

"But I did. So fix it."

"Okay, okay. I'll make sure no stories run tomorrow, and take care of the picture."

"Good," Derek breathed out.

"Derek!" A female voice called out that clearly wasn't Mikey.

Derek's head snapped up and faced the intruder. He spotted Casey standing in his doorway; her cheeks were flushed, her hair was a mess, and she was breathing heavy, like she had just ran a marathon or something. And man, she looked pissed. He was dead, he decided. RIP.

"Uh, hey Mike? I'm going to have to call you back," he spoke into the phone after tearing his eyes away from the train wreck that had just walked in. "Just take care of it, okay? Absolutely no pictures. I'm serious Mike, I can't have her-" He stopped and rubbed his face frustrated. "I'll call you back later. Casey's here and she looks like she's freaking out," he sighed while running a hand through his hair, pulling at his long locks frustrated.

"I'll take care of everything." Mikey promised once more.

"Later Mike," he added before hanging up. He closed up all the magazines he had been studying and piled them up as he usually did before putting his phone on top of his stack to minimize what Casey could see. "What's up Princess?" He asked, finally looking up at her again. He tried not to look nervous or like a deer caught in headlights, which is how he felt.

She made her way into his living room, shedding herself of her coat and bag. She even went as far as to kick off her high heel shoes. She was in her professional-official attire, meaning she must have slipped out of work at a decent time for once.

"Do you need to take care of that?" She asked with a frown before pointing at his phone that still laid on top of the closed magazines. He usually had a few around when he was on the cover, so she didn't think twice about it.

"No, its fine." He shook his head, leaning back into his couch more relaxed position, no longer hunched over the coffee table. "What's up?" He asked again.

Casey sighed before falling into the couch next to him in a slump. She turned towards him with a ridiculous pout. "You have to take it back." She groaned, like it pained her to say it. "Take it off." She added while wiggling her fingers of her left hand in front of him impatiently.

"What?" He scoffed while looking at her hand. "Your ring?" He asked yet he almost sounded like he was taken back by the mere idea of it.

"Yeah," she blushed, scrunching up her face in discomfort.

"Why, can't you take if off yourself?" He asked while intertwining his right hand with hers. He covered their hands with his free one before tracing over the ring carefully, touching the diamonds one by one.

"No, I actually can't." She whispered before throwing her head back into the couch. She closed her eyes and squeezed his hand back.

"Why?" He asked while trying his best not to laugh. She clearly didn't look like she wanted him to take the ring away from her.

"Derek..." she breathed out, exhaling all the air in her lungs. She licked her dry lips and picked her head up to look at him. "You said I could wear the ring. And I listened... I haven't taken it off since. For two days, just two days," she emphasized "I've been walking around with a wedding band on my finger, and people have been noticing. And asking me questions, and I've been answering them. Like my coffee lady asked how you proposed. And I told her that we were in the car and you kind just opened the box, shoving the ring at me. My cashier at my local grocery store asked about my husband, and I told her how you play hockey and drive me insane on a daily basis. Do you see the problem here?" She asked with her pupils blown wide, her cheeks still burning red from the confession.

"Why?" He simply asked while looking down at her.

"What do you mean why?"

"What made you tell them all that?" Maybe the source the media was getting information had it traced back to Casey...

"Because...because maybe I like the idea of being married, Derek."

"Yeah? Is that it?" He asked yet hinting that it wasn't the real reason and he knew it.

"'Cause I like it," she repeated with a pout, upset about the confession. "I like the idea of being someone's wife."

"Someone's?" He asked, laughing. Or mine, he wanted to add, but he didn't. "Come on," he smiled before getting up from the couch and pulling on their interlocked fingers.

"Where are we going?" She whined yet allowing him to lead her away.

"Bathroom."

He stopped in front of the mirror above the sink in the bathroom. He guided her in front of his body and laid his hands on her shoulder, trying to comfort her with a gentle squeeze. "Look in the mirror," he coached her. "What do you see?" He asked.

He watched he roll her eyes at him through the mirror. "What do you mean what do I see?"

"Look. What do you see? Humor me a little, McDonald."

She sighed heavily but complied. She stared at them in the mirror for a while before answering. "You and me," she replied softly.

"Look closer."

"You." She declared. Her eyes focused on everything about him, forgetting about herself completely "You look tired Derek, that's my job. Why do you look like you haven't slept in weeks?" She asked before she turned around and got a better look at him. She frowned before pressing her fingertips into the dark circles underneath his eyes, probing at his face like he wasn't real "You okay?" She asked concerned with a frown still tugging at her lips. She didn't like seeing him so out of it and blah.

He leaned into her touch with his eyes fluttering closed. He loved her warmth that radiated off of her body. "I'll be fine." he promised. "Turn around," he told her after opening his eyes. He slipped his hands to her hips, twisting her around softly. "Look at yourself. How do you look?" He tried again, getting back to the task at hand.

"I look..." she started, "Alright." She finished yet she sounded pleasantly surprised by her appearance; her eyes were lighting up the tiniest bit.

"You sound surprised." He chuckled behind her.

"I mean...everyone's been telling me I look like hell lately, you included," she added with a small elbow jab to his ribs. "I feel like I should look like a wreck, cause of the freaking out about the ring and... stuff." Which Derek took to mean them and what happened between the pair in the last few days. "But, I look alright. Better than I have in weeks, I'll admit." She smiled at her reflection.

"Why?"

"Because... because I'm happy?" It sounded more like a question than an answer, but he'd accept it.

"Why?"

"I don't know," she groaned, clearly sick with the questions already. She threw her head back to hit his shoulder, no longer staring at the image of them.

"What's this really about Casey?" He asked with his hands still on her hips yet they started to knead the flesh. He needed her to say it, to figure it out all on her own. He didn't want to be the one to tell her.

"Der," she breathed out.

"Come on Case. You know what it's about. It's more than just the ring. I mean, none of those people know me. You could have made up the most elaborate stories about your very own Prince Charming, the one you deserve. You could have made up an over-the-top proposal to an amazing wedding to tell them about. But you didn't! You kept me, the idea of me as your husband throughout all the lies, all the stories you told when people asked you about it. Now tell me why that is," he pressed on yet speaking against her ear.

Casey gasped, taken back by his words. She quickly turned around to face him with a scowl across her features. He had something wrong that she clearly did not agree with. "Don't!" She yelled. "Don't make this seem like it was your great big master plan all along. I'm the one who brought up taking you to the reunion in the first place," she pointed at herself triumphantly.

"Yeah, you did actually," he agreed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Let's talk about that. Out of everyone you could have asked to go along with your plan,you asked me. Why? Because you trust me…just like how you trusted me that night." He simply couldn't resist adding that last part, even though he knew he shouldn't mention anything about them sleeping together. It was an unspoken agreement between them. But he had to say it.

Casey blushed a violent shade of red; he was worried she'd actually explode this time. "Oh come on, don't make this about the sex Derek!" She tried to rebuttal against the low blow.

"I'm not! This isn't about sex at all. But the ring and the sex, it's the same thing. It's our relationship in a way that you could actually touch and feel. That pushed you over. If it wasn't for those things, you would still be ignoring it. Because this thing between us isn't new, it's been there all along. You know that!" He argued.

"I didn't ignore anything," she countered while ignoring the bulk of what he had just admitted.

"Casey," he spoke her name, slower, softer this time.

"I didn't. It was just..." She sighed while looking down at her feet in a defeated manner.

"What's this really about Casey?" He asked again. He didn't want to fight about it. He just needed her to say it, once and for all. To admit that there was an elephant in the room.

"It's about you," she grumbled as her resolve began to crumble, her eyes flicked back up to his. "Is that what you wanted to hear me say, Der? It's about you?" She asked before using her index finger to poke him in the chest. "Just like everything in the entire world, it's all about you!" She finished, poking him with every word, seemingly angry.

Derek beamed, finally hearing the words fall from her lips. "Damn right it is," he added before pulling her into a tight hug. He felt her melt into him, the wall fell away and it felt good for once.

"I don't like this," she mumbled into his chest yet she wrapped her arms tight across his back. She tried to squeeze him as hard as she could.

"Why not?" He asked with a chuckle after ducking his face into her neck, needing to be closer. And it was at the point that he realized how much of a sap she had made him, and how he didn't even really care.

"Because, I don't like being vulnerable in front of you." She admitted.

He smiled, knowing that it took a lot for her to be so open with him, but she trusted him and that's all that mattered. "How about we go lay down? You take a lot out of me, Princess," he decided before pulling away from her enough to lead them out of the bathroom.

"Can we... can we do this." She asked him from the place on his chest as she traced invisible patterns over his heart with her fingertips. She was comfortable in the position and she realized it was a place she was quickly coming to love.

"I don't know... Can we?" He teased while racking his fingers through her hair in lazy strokes with his free hand tucked behind his head.

"What will our parents say?" She groaned, thinking the worst outcome. What a pessimist she was.

"I... actually know the answer to that." He admitted, stilling all his movements and dropping his hand to the small of her back.

"What?" She asked, picking her head up to look him in the eyes.

"Have you answered your phone lately?"

"No, it's been off. I was too tempted to call you," she admitted with a shrug.

"Have you been online... at all?" He pressed on; he was confused at how it was possible for her to not have heard a peep from anywhere.

"Just trying to finish my work... but I've been a bit distracted. I had to leave work early because of it. Why?" She asked; knotting her eyebrows, starting to get panicked by all his questions.

"Don't freak out, okay?" He warned her before biting his lip. He reached up to tuck her hair behind her ears, pushing it away from her face as best he could to get a good look at her. He pressed his palm against her cheek gently.

"Oh god. What now?" She asked, pulling away from him and sitting up on her knees. She sat nervously beside him now.

"Someone at the reunion must have said something..." He trailed off, unsure of exactly how to tell her.

"Said something like?" She pressed on.

"Just... you know, rumors about us being married," he shrugged while trying to make it seem like it wasn't that bad. Just a normal day in the life of Derek and Casey.

"WHAT?!" She squealed, clearly freaking out.

"It's kind of been all over the media. We have a couple name too; Dasey. Why is it mostly your name? That's just not fair," he teased, trying his best to lighten the mood. "There's no pictures of anything," he promised, "Well... there is one speculating. I guess someone's auctioning it off or something? I don't know but Mike's tracking it down and making sure it doesn't get out. He's making the whole thing look like a rumor." He went on to explain.

"Oh my god," she breathed out, on the verge of hyperventilation or having a panic attack. "Oh my god."

"Hey," he started softly, recognizing the look on her face. He wrapped his arms around her shoulder, pulling her back down to lay next to him but giving her space. He couldn't smother her when she was like this, no matter how bad he wanted to. "It's okay." He cooed, his voice silky soft. "They didn't really say anything about you at all. Mostly me. Just that I'm not single, that we eloped or something." He explained.

"Kill me." She frowned because she knew the implications of that getting out. She knew that everyone who knew them would think the worst about them. That they were gross and disgusting. And when the media got wind of how their relationship started out as... step-siblings... it would just get worse. It was the begging of a shit storm.

"I took care of it Casey," he promised her before kissing her forehead as he tried to sooth her until her heart rate dropped to a normal speed. Her breathing would regulate itself soon after that…he just had to wait.

"So... mom?" She asked after a while. She was looking up at him this time, and she seemed to have calmed down a bit from her initial shock.

Derek winced. "Yeah... they called." He nodded.

"Oh god. Was it bad?" She asked, her heart spiking up again. Even Derek could feel it thumbing against her chest.

"Dad was pissed." He admitted.

"Kill me," she repeated before trying to roll away from him and onto her stomach so that she could hide her face in the pillows but he didn't let her.

"No," he told her while holding her hips in place. "He was pissed because they found out that their kids got married off the cover of a magazine while Nora was grocery shopping this morning." He clarified with a smile.

"Oh."

"They just wanted to be invited Case."

"Really?" She asked, taken back.

"Apparently." Derek shrugged.

"So... technically, we can do this." She decided after rolling back into her favorite spot; putting her jaw on his chest looking up at him with bright eyes.

"Casey, it doesn't matter what our parents say, or the media, or anyone. It's all up to you. We can do this if you want to."

"What about you?"

"I think you know where I stand, where I've always stood. Nothing has changed. It's only grown." He whispered.

"Are you trying to tell me that you like me Venturi?" She teased like a kid on a playground.

"I'm just saying, I wouldn't mind making out with you. You know, if you're into that kind of thing," he winked.

"You know... I think I am," she replied before leaning in to press her lips against his.

AN: This was supposed to be the last chapter. But there will be one more while will include a major plot twist that none of you saw coming!

Disclaimer: Bolded tweet is actually a 'mSeats' tweet!