Just finished watching Vacation With Derek for the first time while writing this and I have to say, those writers have to be torturing us on purpose! If you've seen it then you'll know what I mean, practically anti-dasey most of the way through before landing you with a totally daseyish ending. They are mean, evil sadists who knew exactly what they were doing...

Anyway, I digress

Disclaimer: I am not a mean, evil sadist, so no I don't own LWD!

Chapter Four

I had to get up to feed and change Simon twice in the night. Twice. I was sure he shouldn't have been waking up twice in the night by his age, but Mom told me he was often much worse. I couldn't imagine having to do that every night, let alone more than twice, and I discovered a new found admiration for Mom and George. I mean, how did they do it? I felt like a zombie after only one night, but they did it every night then George worked all day and Mom, instead of collapsing, did the housework, paperwork and looked after Simon through the day. I couldn't even look at my college work that morning.

Still, even with my lack of sleep I got up earlier than Derek, if only by twenty minutes. I rolled my eyes as he came stumbling into the kitchen at 11:15. Seriously, anyone would think he was the one who looked after Simon that night.

"And sleeping beauty stirrs at last!" I said sarcastically, cringing when I realised I'd just called him 'beauty'. He didn't even notice, only making a grumbling, groaning noise in response.

Frustrated at my failure to get a rise out of him, I tried again. "Up parting all night while I looked after our little brother?"

That got a glare. "You were up half the night, and I can't sleep when you're awake." There was a brief pause. "You make too much noise." He added as an explanation.

"You slept fine this morning." I faced him, arms folded.

He mimicked my pose and I couldn't help but remember something Emily had mentioned after her psychology class (who knew she'd finally settle on psychology as a major? She had other plans originally, but once she knew people watching was part of the course it was a done deal), that crossing your arms was a 'closed' gesture, meaning you don't like someone. Though mirroring someone's posture is meant to put them at ease and encourage them to like you. How Emily didn't go crazy in that class I'll never know.

"Once you got downstairs, yeah!" He leaned in, trying to antagonise me further no doubt.

"Whatever happened to that brief time that you two got along?" Mom interjected before I could answer him. I hadn't even noticed her come in.

"Oh, we never got along. I tried. I even said he was my brother. It didn't take. I can't even imagine being related to that." I wrinkled my nose in disgust at the thought. Whatever had possessed me to say that brothers and step-brothers were the same thing? If Derek was my real brother- No I am not going there...

"Feelin's mutual." Derek winked annoyingly.

"Well, can't you at least be friends?" Mom said in a tone that made me feel instantly guilty. "I mean, we had hoped but we never expected you to think of each other as brother and sister, we just wanted you to try and get along. Is that really too much to ask for?"

Up until that point I always thought my Mom would go to any lengths to get me and Derek to be sibling-y. It made me feel a lot less like killing him once that pressure was removed. Though the urge was still pretty strong.

I sighed. "You're right, we should try to at least be civil," Here I couldn't resist giving Derek an I-am-better-than-you look, "So from now on I'll try not to fight with Derek so much. At least while we're here." It was worth it to see my Mom's smile, she looked like a weight had been lifted.

Derek just rolled his eyes and left the kitchen with a bowl of cerial.

If he spilled that on the couch then so help me- No, I can't break my promise ten minutes after making it! I swallowed hard. How was I going to manage not to fight with him when he seemed to live to provoke me?

I got and ate my own breakfast, wondering where everyone else was. When I asked Mom she said apart from George they'd all eaten before I got up. George was sleeping in because he was still tired from baby duty the night before we came, Marti was already at Demi's house (which reminded me I had to call Emily tomorrow and ask how her journey home was) and Lizzie and Edwin were upstairs.

I often wondered what it was they found to do up there; they always seemed to spend most of their time up there.

Stifling a yawn I got my college work from the last night and sat down in the living room to look over it. When I got to the end I frowned. I must have been paying more attention to Derek and the TV than I thought. The last sentence I'd written went 'and so this shows that the guy is so stoned...' Derek had been saying that just before I stopped writing. "Der-ek!" I screeched before I had time to reconsider.

He peered over my shoulder on the way back from getting a drink (without offering me one of course) and laughed. His laughter so close to my ear was unnerving and I flinched away.

"Though that is pretty funny, I don't see how any of it's my fault." He said, leaning in closer, trying to make me move again.

Well, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction! I straightened my work out and set about correcting it without even looking at him. I caught his smirk out of the corner of my eye and pushed back the unpleasant feeling of knowing he thought he'd won. I was a grown woman, I wasn't going to get into another childish argument. Even if he was completely and utterly wrong about winning.

He stayed leaning over the couch until I shifted uncomfortably, then jumped over to sit next to me, making me move off to the side as was obviously his intention; why else would he sit next to his keener step-sister instead of on his precious recliner?

I let out an unintentional sigh of frustration. He just wasn't going to let me do my work was he?

"What's up Space-Case, are even you finding your stupid essay boring?"

I ignored him, even though my fingers clenched so tightly on the paper that it nearly crumpled in my hands.

"Earth to Spacey, I know this isn't your home-world but would ya come back for a second?" He asked, clearly annoyed that I hadn't answered him.

I stifled a smile of satisfaction. "What do you want, Derek?" I asked, coldly but politely.

Having got my attention, he didn't seem to know what to say. Just as I thought, he was trying to distract me from my work. "I can't find anything on TV, you wanna look?" He asked at last.

I was speechless. Last night he compromised on what to watch, now he was letting me choose?! This was the complete opposit of Derek. Not to mention I knew for a fact he hadn't even looked what was on. He was just letting me choose.

Not about to let the opportunity slip by, I grabbed the remote from his hand, feeling a momentary resistance as he joked about being undecided. I smiled at him and actually got a smile back. Not a smirk, an actual smile. My heart nearly stopped in surprise.

"So, you actually gonna put something on?" Derek snapped me out of whatever place his unexpected smile had taken me and I realized I was staring.

"Yeah," I said, a little dazedly. I turned to the TV and flipped through the channels. Strange how with the controller there in my hands, uncontested and with very little risk of being taken away, I suddenly didn't care what was on. I half heartedly tried to find something before handing the remote back. Normally I would put on whatever I could find that Derek would hate, but my words to my Mom were still fresh in my mind and his gesture in giving me the remote threatened massive guilt if I did.

He looked as surprised as I had felt when he passed it to me. He gave a brief flick through before turning the TV off. Derek turned the TV off.

I couldn't hide the shock that must have been plastered all over my face.

He shrugged and for second there I thought he looked self conscious, but I must have imagined that. Derek doesn't do self conscious. "Nothin' on." He proclaimed.

There was no such thing as 'nothing on' to Derek, and I was getting a little worried. I made a big show of trying to feel his temperature, him fighting my hands off him of course, and things started to feel normal again.

After a few moments of me teasing him about the TV, his phone rang. I rolled my eyes, just knowing it would be one of the Derek groupies. It wasn't a logical assumption; it could have been one one of his friends, or even his Mom, but some unknown instinct told me that wasn't so.

Sure enough, Derek's 'charming' voice kicked in as he spoke to the voice on the other end.

I sighed in an exasperated way and tried yet again to get some work done.