Four days later, and a day before the therapy session, Derek's wariness of attending had only increased. He needed someone on the outside to give him some perspective.
He decided to go to the one man he could trust: Sam.
Derek tracked down his best friend at lunch. "Sam, I have a dilemma. It is your job to solve it."
Sam groaned. "Let me guess—Casey." Derek ignored his comment and took a bite of his sandwich.
"They want us to go to therapy, Sam. Therapy! And it's family sessions! As in, all of us!"
Sam snorted, holding back a laugh. "Sucks for you, dude." Derek glared at him.
"Touching." He said dryly, "I don't want to go. How do I make Casey see that?"
Sam shook his head. "Man, all these years with Casey and you can still surprise me with that dense skull of yours. You're being an idiot. All this time it's been what Derek wants, Derek gets. The second you started dating Casey? Casey gets what Casey wants. And she wants you to suck it up and try to fix things with your family. So just do it."
Derek frowned, not pleased with the advice.
"Besides, this has less to do with Casey and more to do with whatever issue you have with therapists. They're not literally going to shrink your head, you know."
"Love is so stupid," Derek grumbled.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Derek met Casey at her locker. "Ready?"
"As much as anyone can be, I guess." Casey said, putting her books in her locker and shutting the door.
The ride to the office was silent; Casey occupied herself by looking out the window, and Derek occupied himself by driving as slowly as possible, and even taking a few wrong turns to prolong the trip. Casey did not say a word.
Two thirty—the appointment was at two forty-five—came too fast, so he pulled into the parking lot and turned off the car.
Casey's hands wrapped around his own as they made their way into the building.
The waiting room was brown. Casey, having experience with therapists, found this color choice to be interesting. What was it with shrinks and the color brown? It was a more depressing color than…say, green.
She sat down on one of the leather–covered chairs (one guess as to its hue) and was distinctly aware of the tension in the room. Edwin and Lizzie sat parallel from their eldest siblings, and George and Nora were at the front desk.
Instead of staring at her sister's expression when Derek grabbed her hand and squeezed it, she focused on the painting on the wall across from her.
It depicted a lone lighthouse in the middle of thrashing, violent waves. That image wasn't uplifting either, and Casey was beginning to doubt the integrity of the therapist.
"Hello!" a woman said warmly to Lizzie, "Are you my next appointment?"
"Unfortunately," Edwin deadpanned, ignoring the death stare his father shot him. The woman didn't bat an eye at this and instead turned to Casey and Derek.
"Is it okay if I take your children in?" she asked.
Casey's face grew red. "I-I'm the sister." She elbowed Derek in the ribs as his laughter, barely stifled, escaped past his lips. The woman was confused now. Thankfully, George came to her rescue.
"Ah, I'm sorry. Um, I'm the father," he said, and motioning to his wife, "This is Nora." The woman's smile visibly slipped off of her face.
"You're the…blended family, aren't you? Oh, let me get Gertrude and she'll help you get started; I'm sorry, I wasn't aware she had any more appointments." Then she scurried off.
"Ever hear of patient confidentiality?" George muttered, not even thanking the woman as she handed him a clipboard.
Twenty minutes later they were all extradited out of the miserable silence. Their therapist, apparently having the misfortune to be named Gertrude, led them into a comfortably sized room for the six family members, as well as the therapist herself.
When they were all situated—Derek next to Casey, Lizzie next to Edwin, and Nora next to George—the woman introduced herself. "I'm Gertrude Waters; you may call me Gertrude or Dr. Waters, whichever you prefer."
Dr. Waters was a woman in her mid-forties; she was of average height and build (five foot six, one-hundred and fifty-three pounds), and wore loose, colorful skirts with splashes of neon oranges and greens and yellows. She had dark brown hair, dark skin and sky blue eyes that contrasted startlingly so with her skin and hair.
"Where's Marti?" Derek asked, finally aware that the youngest Venturi was missing.
"We decided that because some of our conversational content may not be appropriate for Marti, she will be coming in once the other issues are resolved." Dr. Waters answered easily, not at all irritated by his rude outburst.
The woman watched the oldest boy react to this. She studied his actions and the emotions in his eyes; they screamed rebellion. This one wasn't going to be easy.
Being predictable Derek, he snarked, "What issues? You mean the fact that we're paying you God-knows how much for problems that aren't even there?"
The brunette next to him kicked his foot. "Derek, let the woman speak before you go out on offensive. She's trying to help."
"No she's not." Derek muttered; however, he let up and allowed her to speak.
"So, George, could you tell me a little bit about what your concerns are?" Gertrude asked.
The man seemed flustered at her question. "Well, as you know, there's quite an age difference with the kids in our house. And, um, some of the older ones will be interested in…things…before the younger ones will. I don't think it's healthy for them to be subjected to…"
"Jeez, you're acting like we just strip down naked wherever we are and do it right there." Derek muttered, much to Casey's distaste.
"How do you feel about this, Derek?"
Oh, God, she used the word feel. Casey rolled her eyes. Here we go…
"I think Georgie needs to lay off. We're not stupid." Derek sniped.
"Since this seems to be predominantly about the younger siblings, don't you think we should ask them how it's affecting their lives? Lizzie, Edwin, what do you think?" Dr. Waters gently led the conversation back to the siblings.
Lizzie began. "I didn't get it at first. They never seemed to like each other much, they always fought, and Derek was always pulling pranks on her. But he did nice things, too. I don't know, if he makes her happy, I think it's okay. I'm fine with it."
Except that Casey makes every guy she dates the center of her world and forgets about everyone else and I'm the freak for being jealous about it, She thought.
Edwin picked up on that. "Except you never talk to anyone anymore, you always hide in your room, and make up reasons to not hang out with me as much. I don't think you're okay with it, Liz, I think you're just saying that for Casey."
"It has nothing to do with them." She said sharply, throwing daggers at her stepbrother. She was acutely aware of the way the woman watched her.
"Whatever," Edwin muttered, shifting his gaze.
"Liz, are you sure—" George started, but stopped when the glare was redirected at him.
"Don't make this about me. You're the one who blamed my sister for being immature. You're the one with the problem. We shouldn't even be here."
"Lizzie!" Nora admonished, surprised at her outburst.
"You know," Dr. Waters interjected, "I think it would be best if we let Lizzie and Edwin wait outside for now. Let's have some time to talk about you and Nora's thoughts, okay?"
The younger McDonald didn't wait for a confirmation; she stood and left quickly. Edwin followed suit only after George told him to look after her.
An awkward silence passed before the woman started the questions again. "George, Nora, a lot of times, anger comes from fear. You reported feeling angry when knowing about the relationship. Can you articulate some of the fears you have about this?"
"If you break up, you don't have the option of parting ways as easily, and I'm worried it could put strain on all of us if things don't work out." Nora said quietly.
"The lying. The lying has to stop. I'm not sure when, or if, I can even trust you again. At home alone, going somewhere, how can I trust you?" George muttered.
"I don't like that you're sexually active, especially under the same roof," Nora added bluntly, "but I especially don't like that you were sneaking into his room—"
She blushed and looked at her hands, suddenly wishing she hadn't agreed to go.
"I did the sneaking sometimes too," Derek interjected, "and it's not like we…it wasn't always for sex, okay?"
Nora did not look like this comment eased her concern at all.
"I was scared," Casey said, "And you always said it was my choice, when I knew I was ready and when I knew who I wanted to be with. You taught me what I needed to know. I wanted to be with him, and I'm sorry that we had to lie, but you have to know it wasn't because we wanted to hurt you or George. It was because I loved him, and that was scary enough. I didn't want you to hate me for it, or Derek."
"We tried to protect everyone the best way we could," Derek said, "Maybe it wasn't the best way but we tried."
"I could never hate you, Casey," Nora said, tears welling in her eyes, shifting her gaze from her daughter to him, "or you, Derek. I am afraid for you, and I can't help but want to protect you, but I will always, always love you."
George sighed warily, watching Nora's resolve whittle down quickly. "All right, look, none of us meant to say or do what we did. Casey, I'm sorry for unfairly blaming you, and Derek, I'm sorry for not listening to you. The best thing now is…to just move on from this."
The doctor stepped in then, "How about we try to set some ground rules, and go from there, okay? Everyone will have their turn to list the rules they think should be set or omitted. George, how about we start with you, and then we'll have Nora add her thoughts,"
George nodded, and began.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Edwin watched Lizzie flip through a magazine slowly, clearly not paying much attention to the pages. "Can I ask you something?"
She looked at him. "You just did."
"This thing, with Derek and Casey getting together…are you avoiding me because you think I might want to…be with you?"
Lizzie had to stifle a laugh. "Not in the slightest. I know you don't think of me that way, and I don't think of you that way. Right?"
He shook his head quite vigorously. "You're my best friend, Liz. That's it."
She nodded, "Okay, mine too."
"But I'm still really worried about you, Liz, and I miss you." Edwin murmured softly.
The girl forced a smile. "There's nothing to worry about, Ed. Honest. I'm just really busy lately."
Edwin let it go. "All right, if you say so."
He was going to have to do some snooping of his own.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"So basically," Derek began, raising his brows, "you're saying you don't want us to act like we're anything more than sibs, a peck on the cheek, a curtsy farewell, when anyone is around?"
"I'm not curtsying," Casey told him sternly, knowing precisely what idea he had in mind for that.
"We will acknowledge at this time," George forced out, "that we cannot realistically control everything you do, so we are asking that you exercise good judgment and respect the rules for the younger kids. That includes how you choose to conduct yourself outside the house. Nora doesn't want to lock you out of your own home after school just because you'll be together alone, but if it becomes a serious issue, we'll consider it."
Derek didn't really know what his father defined as a "serious issue" but he took it to mean that his skills in sneaking around were going to be continuously utilized for the sake of their parents' denial and the sake of his "poor judgment", as his father called it.
"Works for me," he said, "No PDA or any of Casey's ridiculous sap. Extended curfew on Fridays and Saturdays for date night, no hotels."
"Okay, so, I have that on the list, along with Nora's stipulation of mediation if your relationship ends and makes things difficult. Anything else?"
"No." Nora said, forcing a smile. She was tired.
Dr. Waters smiled. "Do you want to schedule for another session to include some other family members?"
"Not right now," George answered politely, clashing with Derek's firm, "No, thanks."
"I'll call if we need to. Thank you for your help and patience, I think we're…" Nora trailed off, "Well, we have somewhere to start."
The family left the room, gathering the two siblings waiting for their return, and headed home.