It has been 6 years since Derek and Casey's graduation. Nora and George have divorced, and Nora has custody of the baby boy, Aidan. Casey is back at Queens to get her Masters' Degree in teaching.
I am so so SO SO SO sorry. My laptop's AC adaptor failed, and I've been without it for a while. And, it happened the day I actually was going to update. :)
Thanks for your patience. Please review!
Later that afternoon, Derek is in the middle of watching another hockey game.
"Derek?" Casey asks, knocking on the door. "Can Ed and I come in?"
"Yeah, gimme a sec," Derek's voice comes from inside the room. The other voices in the room are silenced as he turns off the TV. "C'mon in."
Casey smiles down at Alexi, who was holding Edwin's hand. "It'll be okay Alexi."
"But…"
"I hope everything will be okay," Edwin clarifies for Casey, "but we can't make that promise."
"Okay." The little girl reaches for Casey's hand, searching the young woman's face for approval.
Casey smiles and squeezes her almost-niece's hand.
"Case?"
"We're coming, Derek," she opens the door. "How was your day?"
"Good," he shrugs. "Hey Ed—" Derek stares at Alexi, his eyes hardening and his mouth settling into an angry, flat line. "Who's the kid?"
"Daddy?" Alexi states at him, then pivots towards Edwin.
"You got married? Geez, Ed. You've only been in college a year."
"Two years," Casey corrects, trying to distract Derek.
"And, I'm not married," Edwin mutters.
"You had s—" Derek pauses, looking at the little Venturi then looking at Casey.
"Intercourse?" she raises an eyebrow, providing a child-safe synonym.
"And," he continues, "got the chick pregnant? Ed, I thought you were better than that!" Derek yells.
"Daddy?" Alexi whimpers.
Derek glares at the child, and she bursts into tears.
"Derek!" Casey exclaims, not even fracturing his name like she usually does. She kneels next to his daughter. "Don't make her cry. I thought you were good with kids!"
"Marti's the exception," Edwin mutters, locked into a staring contest with his older brother.
"Smasey," the girl blubbers out her name amidst the tears.
Derek swivels to the little child, distracted by the nickname. "Sweetie," he mumbles, taking in the dark hair and eyes. "what's your name?"
She hangs onto Casey and replies, "Alexi."
"Hi, Alexi. My name's Derek," he smiles at her. "I'm your uncle."
The curly haired brunette blinks, then cuddles into Casey's arms, crying once again.
"Wanna go home!" she snivels.
"What did I do?" Derek wonders aloud.
"I'll see you tomorrow, D."
"Casey," he whines. "Don't go."
"Derek, she needs to go home. I rode with Edwin. Tomorrow, we can talk."
"But—"
"It's not that late. I'll come to pick you back up later," Edwin says. "Casey, would you… explain?"
"Are you sure you shouldn't be the one to tell him?"
Her brother, as she thinks of him, looks at her. Never before had she seen him so serious.
"Alright," she nods. "Bye, Lex," she hands the little Venturi to Edwin.
"Buh-bye, Miz Casey an' Da…. Uh, De-wek."
"She's cute," Derek nods as Casey waves. "Who's the mother?"
"I've never met her. Derek, don't be mad at Ed, but Alexi…"
"What?" Derek's eyes narrow as his former step-sister wrings her hands.
"Alexi's name is Alexi Cassandra Venturi."
"After her aunt?" Derek glares, a sinking suspicion coming to mind. "Or, her mother?"
Casey stares at him. "De-rek!"
He laughs roughly, a harsh note coming into his voice. "Did you even tell her? Of course you didn't; she calls you Smasey! Was it fun, with Ed? Was it after the divorce? That was the real reason we didn't talk, isn't it? You've been lying to me. You're a true MacDonald-Venturi now, Casey. That little girl finalizes it…"
"Derek," she says, calmly interrupting him mid-rant.
"Don't interrupt me!" he yells in her face.
"You know what!" she exclaims, standing. "Shut up, Venturi! If you wanted the truth, you wouldn't have started putting words in my mouth." Casey starts collecting her things. "I'm walking home."
He stares at her, silent anger apparent on his face.
"Derek, when you're done accusing me and Ed of… getting it on… I'll come back. Until then, enjoy your lonely, pitiful life!"
She slams the door, huffing in anger. She marches down the stairs, bypassing a smirking Andrew.
"Trouble in Venturi paradise?" he mocks to her retreating back.
Casey gets outside and lets off a long, angry scream. "I. HATE. Derek Venturi!"
What she didn't know was that the object of her loathing heard her declaration.
"Stupid Casey," Derek mutters. "Stupid Ed."
"Mr. Venturi?" Dr. Frasier pops her head into Derek's room.
"What?" he snaps.
She glares at the younger man. "Casey may not be your stepsister anymore, but she still cares about you a lot."
"If she cared, why did she let my little brother get her pregnant?" he asks, dark eyes flashing. "If she cared, why'd she bring her stupid kid to flaunt it in my face and then lie to me? Huh?"
"Maybe," the doctor says calmly, "she's not lying." She turns around to leave the former hockey star with his thoughts.
"Wait! Why should she? She doesn't care what people think, much less me!"
Dr. Frasier shrugs and closes the door.
"She did care what others thought, a lot in high school," he mutters.
He closes his eyes, the memories washing over him.
"Casey," Emily's voice floated twards him in the hall. "People are starting to think you're a…"
"A klutz?" the fifteen year old brunette laughs.
"Worse," Emily says, sounding gravely serious. "A grade grubber."
"I most certainly am no! Um, what is a grade grubber?"
Derek rolls his eyes, ignoring whatever it was that same was saying. Casey was so a grade grubber. He was busy thinking of new insults when his English teacher comes up, warning that unless Derek aces the upcoming project, he'll fail.
Casey brings up her 'grade-grubber' dilemma at dinner that night. Derek chuckles when his dad calls grade grubbers annoying. Casey gets mad again and goes upstairs. Later, he sees that Lizzie wen tot talk to her.
Derek sneaks upstairs, knowing that if he wants to pass 9th grade, he'll need his keener of a stepsister's help.
"But Casey, isn't it lame to change?" The bedsprings creak, and Derek imagines Casey standing.
"Normally—" her voice filters through the vent "—yes. But, this is high school. And, high school is complicated."
"Is there anything about being a teenager that isn't complicated?" Derek smiles at Lizzie's innocent question.
"Not really."
Later, he manages to get Casey to be his partner and eventually pressures her into doing the project. He'd convinced her to give up trying to be a slacker, because it was driving her nuts.
The next day, he couldn't believe he'd done this willingly. They were wearing costumes. Costumes!
"Not up to my usual standards, but under the circumstances, I think it was pretty good presentation. Dressing like Percy and Mary Sheldon was definitely what pushed it up over the top," Casey grins.
"Yeah," Derek shrugs. "It was okay."
Casey squints at him. "Okay? We got an 89. Not bad for one night's work."
Derek asks her, "But don't you think we deserved a 90?"
"Well, yeah, but who cares about one mark?" she asks, raising her voice so the other students would hear.
"I do. I need you to get us a ninety."
Casey tilts her head. "Why? Is this a trick?"
Derek confides, "I need one more point to pass the class."
"Really?"
"Really," he answers softly. "Can you do this, please?"
She sighs, and mutters, "Make room for the grub."
Two guys turn around to tease her, and Derek takes off his hat. "Hey! Not a word."
She got him the grade. And he passed. Derek couldn't believe it.
The phone rings next to Derek's bed, jarring him from his walk down memory lane.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Derek. Is Casey there? I need to know what time to pick her up," Edwin explains.
"Casey left."
"Did you make her mad? Derek, you've only been awake for twenty-four hours!" Edwin reminds him.
Derek can practically hear his brother rolling his eyes. "Ed!"
"You did, didn't you? Geez, Derek, what'd you say?"
Derek growls. How dare Edwin talk to him like that! His anger returns with a vengeance. "Just the truth."
"Oh?" Edwin says, his voice taunting his older brother. "And what is the truth?"
"You and Casey are the kid's parents. Ed, you got her pregnant. The little girl may look like a Venturi, but seeing her with Casey…" his voice breaks. "Seeing her and Casey interact, I just knew. Casey loves her, like a mother would a daughter."
"Or," Ed inserts angrily, "she's just being a good friend."
"Yeah to you! She picked the wrong freakin' Venturi!" Derek blurts out angrily.
Silence greets him.
"Darn it, Ed! Say something," Derek commands.
"I can't believe you're jealous."
"that's not what I meant," he snarls.
"But," Edwin realizes, "it's true. Well, if she's mad at you, she'll have to be the one to tell you why I find this so absurd. Goodbye, Derek." Edwin hangs up the phone.
For a moment, Derek sits there, listening to the dial tone.
"Stupid Edwin," he throws the phone towards the wall.
He closes his eyes, succumbing to the sleep-inducing effect of the drugs.
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