"It's getting to be a bit of a habit with you, isn't it?" Casey asked in the early hours, idly running a finger down Derek's naked back from her position underneath him.

"What is?" He smirked down at her, their faces so close he had to pull back to focus.

"Hanging around in the freezing cold outside my bedroom window with very little on. This is the second time."

He chuckled and dropped his head to kiss her neck. "At least this time you were willing to share your body warmth…repeatedly. Last time you were so far away from me in the bed you nearly fell off." He nuzzled the skin gently with his nose.

"Hmmm." Casey murmured distracted…again.

Derek lifted his head and began kissing her mouth purposefully.

She groaned and all resistance packed up and left.

A while later and definitely feeling warmer Derek was the one running fingers up Casey's naked back while she cuddled into his side.

"Does this mean that I'll actually get to wake up beside you in the morning?" He asked.

Casey groaned. "Don't drag that up, Derek. You know why I made the decision to run away."

"Doesn't mean I agreed with it."

"I know."

"Besides, this is your bed." He mused. "Maybe you'll wake up and I won't be here."

Casey jerked her head up to look at him.

"Joke." He said lamely.

"Not funny Derek."

"Sorry." He kissed her nose. "I find it very hard to be serious around you."

"I noticed."

"I guess this means we're dating?"

Casey chuckled. "What makes you think I've made up my mind?"

"Stop teasing. You're mine and you know it."

"Oh really? Did I miss the laundry label on my ass or something?"

"I don't know about your ass but there's definitely something written on your…other lumps."

"Lumps?"

"You know…"

"No. I don't. Was that you using some male euphemism for my breasts?" Casey didn't sound impressed.
"I couldn't possibly say."

"I was right about you. You are a Neanderthal." She dismissed his attempts to cover up.

"Because I have an instinctive need for you?"
Casey snorted. "Because when faced with a naked woman you get all territorial and possessive."

"Only you."

"I'm convenient."

Derek laughed loudly. "Casey, you are many things, my love, but convenient is not one of them."

Casey huffed. "Lumps!"

Casey was asleep when the next knock on the door happened. Derek sighed and climbed out of bed, naked. He didn't want to wake Casey so he couldn't let the banging noise continue. At the last minute, he grabbed Casey's dressing gown and wrapped himself in it, then peeked through the peep hole and saw that it was Luan. Figuring that she was already in on Casey's clandestine visitor, he reasoned it was safe to open the door.

"Very stylish." Luan commented on the pale pink floral Thai silk he was wrapped in. "Give us a twirl."

"Ha ha. To what do we owe this honour?" Derek asked, pulling her into the room with a finger to his lips and a jerk of his head towards Casey.

Luan grinned. "I just thought I'd enquire as to how you were planning on escaping this place. Do you have a plan?"

"Not yet. I'll figure something out. Or I'll just stay."
"Don't you have practice or a game or something this week? You can't stay here." She pointed out.

"I know." Derek sighed. "Casey's already been through this with me…why? You got a suggestion?"

Luan folded her arms. "Yes. As a matter of fact I have. I can smuggle you out."
"How?"
Luan tapped her nose. "Are you interested?"
Derek glanced at Casey. He nodded reluctantly. He didn't actually want to leave her so soon after their…reunion, but Luan was right. He needed to get back into the real world so that he could sort all the crap out before Casey emerged into a blaze of publicity. "Yes."
"Okay. I'll be back for you in ten minutes. Get dressed." She too glanced at Casey's sleeping form. "Say your goodbyes - quickly. I'll see you soon." And with that, she was gone.

Derek closed the door after her and walked over to the bed.

"Casey. Wake up honey."
"Not again, Derek. I'm tired." She moaned batting him away with her hand.

Derek laughed. "Tempting though you are sweetheart, I wasn't after sex. I need to talk to you."
Casey sat up. "Oh?"
"Luan was just here. She says she can smuggle me out without the cameras seeing me. Do I trust her?"

Casey nodded.

"Are you sure?" Derek asked. "You've only known her a few weeks."

"Yes. But she's Paul's niece."

"Paul?"

"Greeby."

"You're shitting me?"

Casey pulled a face. "Nice Derek." She reproved. He smirked and kissed her. "How is she going to do it?"

"I don't know." He admitted. "She said she would be back in ten minutes."

"You'd better get dressed then. You'll have to shower at home."
"That's a pity. I was looking forward to lathering you down." Derek ran a hand up Casey's arm. She rolled her eyes but lifted her face for the kiss.

"You're incorrigible." She mock-complained.

"I'm sure I am. I'm just not sure what that means." Derek smirked but then his face fell. "I'm sorry. I honestly didn't plan on leaving."

"I know. But it's for the best. You can't stay here all week."

"I'd have tried. I'm not ready to walk out the door."

"You have to. I'll still be here on Saturday."
"So will I. I'll plan things a bit better and make sure I have an exit strategy lined up."

Casey leaned forward and kissed his mouth. "You're Derek Venturi. You always have an exit strategy."

They chuckled together and then Derek climbed off the bed to get changed. Casey watched unashamedly as he dropped her robe and walked around the room naked to reclaim his clothed from the chair they had tossed them earlier.

"I'll miss you." Casey said wistfully. Derek chuckled.

"I bet you will." He commented deliberately fastening his zipper.

"Moron."

"Uptight-ass."

Dressed, Derek resumed his seat beside her. "Good luck on Saturday. Any idea what you'll sing and dance to?"
Casey shook her head. "I'm sick of reacting to Chloe, though. I think I'm just going to pick what I want this time. Any requests?"

Derek grinned. "Surprise me."

Casey knelt up and slid her fingers into his hair. "That sounds like a challenge, Venturi." She said, her eyes flashing.

"Probably because it is, McDonald." He smirked back.

"Always the challenge." She murmured against his lips.

"Always the passion." He whispered back.

Casey sighed, her forehead now resting against Derek's. "Are you sure you have to go, now?"

There was a knock at the door. Derek kissed her and stood up. "Yup."

"What do I get if I win our challenge?" Casey asked, holding onto his hand tightly.

"I'll take you to our island for a month."

"And if you win?"
"We'll never come back."

"Tempting to throw the competition, but as it's chemical with us…I have to win."

Derek laughed and kissed her for a final time. "I love you."

Casey grinned back. "I love you too."

Luan's "escape" route was boringly simple. She took him down the fire escape, out the fire door and through the shrubbery to her car which was parked in the lot closest to Casey's room and in an area not overlooked by windows from the hotel. Once there, she let him in to the vehicle trunk.

It was a long bumpy ride until they were past the little encampment the press had built outside of the grounds. When Derek emerged from the trunk into the beginnings of daylight, he was slightly green.

"Thanks." He said. "I think."

Luan grinned. "No pain, no gain."

Derek gave her a look. "You think being in love with Casey McDonald is easy?"

"Evidently not." She beamed. "Uncle Paul just lost a bet with me."

"Oh?"
"I told him I thought your relationship was a two-way street. He wasn't convinced. It's nice to get one over on him for a change."
"Glad to be of service."

Luan smiled. "Are you staying Saturday night too?"
"I hope so."

"Then I'll park round the back again. Same time? Same place?"
"You're a star!"

She chuckled. "No. You and Casey are the stars." Her face became serious. "I like Casey. She's a nice person. Mis-guided sometimes but nice all the same. You hurt her…" her voice gave warning even without words.
"Agreed."

Derek wrapped himself up tightly in his coat.

"I'd best go. I parked my car in a less than ideal parking lot. It's probably jacked up on bricks by now."

"How about 'Right said Fred'?" Trevor suggested after breakfast on Sunday.

Harriet snorted. "You're channelling your camp side again. Casey is not shaving her hair and wearing a string vest. Besides, I don't think infantile pop counts as MOBO."

Trevor pouted but then the door opened and Casey's head appeared around it.

"I'm not reacting to Chloe this week." Casey said entering the room. She had a spring in her step which was new and two spots of colour in her cheeks. "I have a different agenda."

Trevor and Harriet looked up. "Oh?"
"I've been set a challenge…by Derek." Casey's colour grew as she mentioned the man who had left her bed only a few short hours previously, leaving her in a delicious state of flustered.

Trevor grinned. "Which was?"

"He wants me to surprise him. I need something outside of my comfort zone."

Harriet laughed. "So far everything you've performed has been outside of your comfort zone."

"I know. Which is why I want you to come up with something…sensational. Something completely unrelated to Chloe which will blow him out of the water. What's the theme again?"
"MOBO. Music of Black Origin. It's about the music genres which have their origins in black ancestry. Everything from gospel, through blues and soul to hip hop."

"Hip hop?" Casey queried. "Has anyone ever performed a hip hop routine?"
Trevor shook his head. "Previous celebrities have done soul mainly. What about you? Ever performed hip hop?"
"God no!" Casey exclaimed.

"Well maybe hip-hop or something similar might be the ideal genre."

Casey shook her head. "I can't sing like that."
"Okay. Then we'll do the hip-hop for the dance and something more normal for the singing. Now we just have to choose what."

They met again later on Sunday afternoon with a selection of music for Casey to listen to - or watch as some tracks Trevor had found the DVDs for. Casey picked the third song and the fifth dance track.

"Brave." Harriet commented.

"It's a nice song, I like it."

"I wasn't talking about the song." Her singing coach grinned. "I was talking about the dance track."

Stars with Hearts (Saturday)

And so we come to the highlight of the week, Stars with Hearts (Saturday) and the drama within. What a week it had been for Camp Venturi!

What started out with the vitriolic on-air attack by Chloe Prescott on her former "spouse" and his step-sister ended with a spectacular musical reply from the aforementioned sister, and some witty verbal interview responses from Mr Venturi which completely failed to answer the questions with any degree of satisfaction.

You know a little bird tells me that Miss Prescott's claims and revelations were not quite as outrageous as you might believe. Despite her strait-jacket and wild hair, Miss McDonald is perfectly sane and responsible belying Miss Prescott's claims – however apparently Casey McDonald is also closer to Mr Venturi than you might expect even a best friend to be- allegedly.

Likewise, rumours of Mr Venturi's "blindness" when it comes to Miss McDonald's faults are exaggerated and his denial of the alleged bedroom antics may be a question of semantics rather than a refutation of facts.

Either way, Casey's fantastic rendition of "Mad about the Boy" had me laughing hysterically. In contrast, her strait-laced version of Carpenter's "One Love" was second only to Karen's own performance in my own humble…gay…opinion.

I have not changed my opinions of the principals in this TV/Life soap. Except to say that I think Derek has the situation in hand which means my own attempts to embrace heterosexuality with Miss McDonald at my side have failed at the first.

Don't forget to watch this week when the music will be Music of Black Origin. Now that is a car crash waiting to happen.

AN: Sorry for the delay. I have a head cold which has limited my mental capacities this week. Will update when I can.