Twelve years Ago

"She's not coming." George announced as he came down the stairs sluggishly.

"She's what!" Nora whisper-screeched wanting to scream but also not wanting to deal with the consequences of waking the baby who had finally drifted off to sleep an hour ago after bawling for most of the night. "She has to go."

"Technically she doesn't." Derek interjected with a smirk. He rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Right. Let's be off then. I want to get there early so that I can ditch whatever room assignment they've given me and get somewhere decent." He started to move towards the front door.

George stretched a hand out and caught his eldest by the scruff of the neck.

"Not so fast, sunshine. You are not going to abandon your sister in her hour of need."

Derek tilted his head to one side thoughtfully.

"Yes…I am." He said eventually and angled his body towards the door again. "Ok, I suggest I lead the way and you follow – my sense of direction is better than yours. Frankly, my everything is better than yours, but who's quibbling?"

George regarded his son carefully and then let go of his t-shirt. "Okay."

Nora glared at her husband. George winked - and waited as Derek made for the front door and opened it. He paused for a second and then shut it again, turning back to his father.

"Looking for these?" George Venturi asked, waving a set of car keys in the air. Nora hid a smile. "If you want them I suggest you find a way to get Casey out of her "Slough of Despond" and into the car."

Derek pulled a face. "Her what?"

George shrugged. "Her words not mine."

"Casey's been reading Pilgrim's Progress as a little light reading from her pre-college book list." Nora explained. "Please Derek. If I have to go up there it will take an hour of cajoling. If you go up there she'll be down in five minutes."
"If she doesn't want to go, she doesn't want to go." Derek pointed out. "I'm all for letting Casey do what she wants."

"That would be a first." Lizzie chipped in from the sofa.

Her mother sighed. "She wants to go. She's just nervous and getting dumped last week didn't help matters."

"Hey! She wasn't the only one who found themselves unexpectedly single last week." Derek complained.

"Derek I hardly think you dumping that poor girl because you saw a picture of the woman's ice hockey team at Queens equates to quite the same thing as Casey getting unceremoniously dumped because someone told her boyfriend she looked a bit "hip-y".

Derek's eyes widened in amusement and Nora realised she had just let slip something she had promised Casey she wouldn't repeat.

"Promise me you won't use that comment against her."

"Give me some credit Nora. I'm not that big an ass."

"Der-ek!" George barked. "Go up there and persuade Casey she wants to go to university or I'll stop the check for your car insurance."

"You wouldn't. I need that car."

George looked pointedly at him. "Now, Derek."

Muttering, Derek charged up the stairs two at a time and then they heard him stomp across the landing to Casey's room.

He entered without knocking because he knew it would piss her off.

"For someone who's planning on staying here, you look very dressed at five am in the morning." He observed nodding towards her carefully chosen outfit and painted nails. It had taken her three days to decide on the right nail colour for her first day at college and her hands had been shaking so much it had taken three goes before she was satisfied with the result.

"Go away Derek."

He leant against the door frame. "I tried to. Dad confiscated my car keys to make me come up here and bully you. So until you haul ass down stairs and get in the car you're stuck with me."

"I'm not going. You should be pleased."
"Oh I am, believe me. The parentals…not so impressed."

"They'll come around."

"I know. I mean after all, I'm sure the employee discount you'll get working at Wal-mart for the rest of your life will come in handy for the family food bill."

"I'm not going to work in Wal-mart I'm going to go to a college nearer home. One where I know some people. Maybe I'll follow Emily to Toronto or Sam to the States."

"Sure. I mean it's no real different to going to Queens is it? The more the merrier to U of T. Why go somewhere so stuffy as Queens when you can go to more laid back U of T? I mean Queens must be a dive. Only two people from our school opted to go there this year."

He pretended to look thoughtful knowing the fact that Casey was one of only two people who had been successful in their application to Queens was something she was incredibly proud of.

"Whoops! Correction! If you aren't going I guess that means only one person from our school is going to Queens. Who was that again? Oh that would be me!" he pointed at his chest.

"What-d-ya know? I'm the only SJST graduate to go to Queens!" Derek smirked.

Casey sat up and glowered at him. "Over my dead body." She hissed.

"Sorry, Case? Was that you saying you're ready to get in the car?"

His step-sister pushed herself off the bed angrily, grabbed her bag and shoved past him and out onto the landing.

"He shoots, he scores!" Derek exclaimed with a fist pump and then turned to follow Casey down the stairs.

"Oh no. Not in my car." Derek wasn't laughing now as he stood on the sidewalk arms folded. "Get out of the car, Casey. You can ride with Dad."

"Nope. I have no intention of sitting in the car listening to Jazz for hours and hours."

"You like jazz. You dance to jazz all the time."

"That's different."

"How so?"

"I get to choose the music I dance to. I don't in George's car."

"You aren't choosing the music in my car either."

"Our car's radio is broken. I can listen to my ipod."

Derek grimaced and then his face broke into a smile. "But what if Dad gets lost. Most of your stuff is in his car."

"The important stuff is in our car, and George won't get lost."
"Now you're just being ridiculous. Of course he'll get lost, this is George "What junction was it again?" Venturi."

"Ah. But when he does, we can find him. Edwin fitted that GPS tracker we got him for his birthday. I just google "George Venturi", type in my password and it tells me where he is."

"Seriously? You'd rather endure hours in the car with me rather than dad?" Derek sounded amazed.

Casey grinned. "Who would you rather spend five hours in a car with?"
Derek frowned and then smiled. "Good point."

There was no time for further arguing as a very tearful Nora threw her arms around him cutting off all speech as she kissed him goodbye.

"Behave yourself, mister."

"Of course Nora. I'll be my usual charming self."

Nora looked panicked. "No please!" She pleaded. Derek looked hurt and she grinned suddenly. "Have fun, son." She said and out of sight of her husband slipped him a fifty dollar bill. "And go easy on Casey."

"Now where's the fun in that?"

Later as they turned onto the highway, Casey looked up from her ipod. "How much?" She asked curiously.

"How much what?" Derek turned his attention from the road for a second.

"How much slush money did you get from the rents?"

Derek smirked. "$150." He said. "Fifty dollars from each. How about you?"
"The same. Oh and your mom sent me a really pretty cameo necklace from Florence."

Derek's eyes flicked back to hers again. "Really? So does that mean I should be expecting a catcher's mitt from Dennis?"

"Dream on, buster. She sent it to me because I passed on all that information about Tuscany to her for her trip."

"Yeah. Where did you get all that stuff anyway?"
"The library, Derek. Remember? Big building with lots of paper things in it."

"I thought that was the bank?"

"Ha ha. Do us all a favour and go back to sleep."

"If it wasn't for me you wouldn't even be in this car."

Casey bit her lip. "I know." She admitted quietly. "Thank you."

"What are you thanking me for? It's going to be like starting a new school all over again. Ready for your first Klutzilla moment?"

His step-sister said nothing, just stared out of the window and he knew he'd over done it again.

"I'm nervous too." He said softly. Casey did a double take.

"You're nervous?" She asked, surprised.

"Yeah. I mean." He backtracked. "What if my good looks cause a riot? What if the rest of the hockey squad are so worried about me showing them up that they refuse to play with me?"

Casey groaned.
"Next time we move we'll rent a van. It's the only way we'll fit your ego in." she snorted.

Derek smiled to himself.

"There is one reassuring thing about this whole leaving home shit." He said a few minutes later.

"Oh?"

"If we get homesick and all else fails we can always meet up for a big smackdown."

"Sorry was that you saying you wanted to stay in touch with me?" Casey asked incredulously.

Derek shook his head. "Nah. You're right. We'll save the fights for the vacations. It'll give me chance to hone my wit."

"You don't have any wit to hone, Derek. I'd give up if I were you."

Despite himself, Derek turned his eyes to the side briefly and chuckled.

The best thing about Casey McDonald was that she never backed down from a fight…with him at least.

"Ah yes! The siblings!" The administrative clerk announced. Casey and Derek looked at each other in horror.

"We're not…" Casey started, but the matronly lady behind the desk wasn't listening.

"Normally we don't take a note of familial relationships when we are allocating dorms, but in view of the letter from your father citing the special circumstances and the bond you two have forged to overcome the …" she lowered her voice, coughing slightly. "…PTSD we felt that it was a reasonable request to site you close to each other. Of course, we couldn't put you on the same floor because of our regulations, but you will be just one floor away from each other in the same block. I believe you will even be able to see each other's windows."
"What letter?" Derek asked, turning his head to look at George who was standing off to one side. "Dad. What letter?" His tone was getting ominous.

"Yes, George. What letter?" Casey sounded tense too.
George frowned. "I didn't write a letter." He said coming forward.

"I've got it just here." The administrator held up the paper. It was typed, but Casey only had to see the signature to know.

"Edwin!" She hissed. "Only he spells "sincerely" with three es."

""Sincerely" has es in it?" Derek asked. Casey looked at him to see if he was joking.

"Yes moron. And it would appear that your brother thinks it is funny to have us stuck together in the same dorm!"

"My brother?" Derek glared at her. "How come this is my fault? He's your brother too, Casey."

"No he isn't. He's my step-brother! There's a difference."

"Not from where I'm looking, toots."

"Toots? Toots? What do you think I am, Derek? A vapid bimbo whose IQ is measured in tyre pressures?"

George bit his lip. Not bad, Casey. Not bad. Then he realised his two children were causing a scene and there was the possibility they might get thrown out of college before they had even enrolled.

"Erm. I'm afraid there's been some sort of mix up." He said, stepping to the counter and shouting over the noise of Casey and Derek still arguing to one side. "They really shouldn't be placed in the same dorms. They…erm…don't get on at all."

The woman in front of him dropped the grandma act abruptly.

"Well they're going to have to." She shouted in reply. "They should have thought about that before someone wrote to us and made us change all the room arrangements. They'll get on or move out. Simple. Now. Are you going to take the keys and sign here, or do I have call security?"

"We'll sign." George said, resignedly. Edwin would be in serious trouble when his father got home.

AN: This is the start of the telling of the earlier part of the story. We're going to move through the years looking at what happened between Casey and Derek. I'm not going to jump back and forth. We're moving forward from now on.

Before anyone takes issue with the comparisons of U of T and Queens, can I just point out I know that they are ranked equally under the latest rankings. Put it down to poetic licence and Derek knowing that Casey had a strong preference for Queens.