I hope you guys had a very good holiday! I wish you all the best and a happy new year!

Previously:

Derek finally looked at Lizzie. Her eyes were red and there were tears running down her cheeks. "I think it's going to take time, Liz. I was really hurt by you words." Derek's heart broke more when he saw more tears roll down her face. "That doesn't mean I don't love you. It just going to take some time."

"Okay," Lizzie whispered. Derek sighed and held out his arms wide. Lizzie didn't hesitate. She hugged him tight and knew she'd have to seriously make this mistake up. However, she was ready to commit to it.

DASEY

Emily was camped outside Derek's house. It was late and she knew everyone was sleeping. Derek's bedroom was on the second floor so there was no way she could look inside. She saw a few rocks on the side of the house and tossed them up at Derek's window. She needed to speak with him now.

Derek was startled awake by a tapping sound at his window. He puffed out his chest and swung his curtains open. Derek let out a, "What the hell?" When he saw it was Emily throwing rocks. He opened his window and yelled out, "What in the hell do you want?"

Emily motioned him to be quiet. "I wanna talk to you."

Derek rolled his eyes and closed his window. He wanted her gone before she woke the entire family. He grabbed some sweatpants and a hoodie and made his way downstairs. Once he opened the door he was startled again by Emily's face which was right up front.

"What do you want? What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?" Derek closed the door behind him.

"I needed to talk to you." Emily tried to compose herself. She wanted them to work so bad. She wanted them to get past this Casey fantasy of his. "I'm sorry about what I said the other day but I think we can get past this."

Derek couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Listen," Derek began. "You. Need. To. Listen." He spoke slowly and firmly. "We are never going to get past anything. Ever again."

Emily acted as though she didn't even hear him. "I know Casey has been temping you ever since you guys left for college. I'm sure it was just like an itch you had to scratch and that's fine! But now it's time to come home and settle down. I know you were just trying to make me jealous with that whole marrying Casey talk."

Derek fought to keep the rage inside. It was like talking to a brick wall. He was starting to think that Emily might be mentally unstable. "Emily, I'm sorry you can't comprehend that I don't want to be with you. We are never going to happen."

Just as Derek finished speaking the font door opened and out walked Casey.

Emily sprang into action and roughly grabbed Derek's neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Derek quickly pushed her off. Derek still had not known that Casey had walked outside.

"Emily, seriously. I'm in love with Casey. You need to move on. I'm sorry you're acting all crazy but we were never going to make it anyways!" Derek had had enough.

Casey now made herself known to Derek. "What is going on?"

Derek jumped away from Emily. Emily decided she had had enough of Casey.

"Listen Casey," Emily began. "I know how you feel about Derek, but Derek and I are going to be together."

Derek couldn't help but allow his jaw to hang open. The Emily craziness was spreading.

Casey's face did not change. She remained calm and quiet. She had worked out earlier that Emily might have been jealous of her and Derek's relationship. However, Casey never thought that she would be so forward about it. She decided to play dumb.

"But… I thought you said that Derek couldn't even stay with one woman. One woman wouldn't make him happy. You said it yourself that I was crazy to think that someone could tame Derek." Casey saw Emily's eye calculating her own approach.

"Well… I just meant that you might have a great challenge in Derek." Emily paused to think. "However, I do think that I am enough for Derek. He and I have a spark. Derek is willing to forget every girl he's ever been with."

Emily semed proud with her speech. Casey smiled inside. "Then how is he seeing me right now? As we are currently dating."

Emily shrugged. "You are just a passing fancy."

"But… I thought you just said you were woman enough for Derek not to want any other woman?"

Emily blinked a couple of times. "Well… I am. I'm sure he will give you up."

Casey turned toward Derek. "Are you?"

Derek turn and looked Emily straight in the eyes, "No." His voice was firm and dark. "If you don't get the hell off my property I'm calling the cops."

Emily didn't say anything. She stood her ground and folded her arms in front of her. Derek cocked his eyebrow and pulled out his cell phone from his pocket. He unlocked it with his thumb print. He punched in 911.

Emily finally broke and began to walk towards her house.

"Do you think it's over?" Casey asked.

Derek shrugged, "Hopefully."

Casey turned to fully look at Derek. His eyes were sunken and the dark circles could not even be concealed by the night. He looked so sad and over all beaten.

Derek took a look upon Casey and saw an all around brightness that he hadn't seen in days. Her glow was still dim but her eyes sparkled a bit more. His hope was restored. Even through all what happened Derek was happy to his Casey happy again.

Casey started to speak but Derek simply held a hand up. "We can talk in the morning. It's late and I don't want to be up all night. All of this was enough excitement for one day."

Casey frowned. She knew in her head that he wasn't rejecting her… but she still felt like he did in her heart. The ache in her chest was strong but she held back the tears and nodded. As they walked back Derek grabbed her hand without speaking. She tried to see his expression but couldn't in the dark house. He led them to his room and kept the lights off. She heard him undressing so she followed suit. Derek waited for her to finish before grabbing her hand once again and pulling her into his bed. He tucked himself in and pulled the covers back waiting for her to get in. She got in and got close to him. He must have heard her begin to speak for he all he said was, "Go to sleep."

With that Casey dropped into a dreamless sleep.

DASEY

The morning brought light through Derek's window. He had forgotten to shut them last night. He squinted and cursed his past self. He rolled over and bumped into a body. He jumped, but only slightly. He had forgotten that he practically dragged Casey with him into his bed. Thankfully she was still asleep and slightly snoring.

He remembered telling her that they would talk today. He tried to think about what he was going to say but couldn't concentrate on anything due to having a beautiful woman in his bed. He slowly got up and slipped out of bed. He needed some time to think. Needed some time to get his head straight. They would talk… but not yet. Not this early anyway. Derek quickly grabbed the clothes he wore to meet Emily outside and his sneakers by the door.

Derek made his way downstairs and saw Nora standing over the stove making eggs and bacon. Nora knew it was Derek by the heavy footsteps on the stairs. "You're up early," she commented.

Derek rubbed the back of this neck. "I'm heading out early. I need to clear my head. Get it on straight."

Nora chuckled. She glanced back at him and smiled. "Do you know if Casey went off early? She wasn't in her bed."

Derek paused in the door. He wasn't sure what to say. He knew Nora was fine with them dating but he didn't want to venture there just yet. He wasn't comfortable enough for that yet.

"Uhh…" he tried to stall.

Nora could only chuckle. "Nevermind then, I think I know where she got off to."

Derek practically ran out of the house.

Later as he parked his car in the parking lot of a grocery store he pulled out his cell and dialed Kennedy.

Kennedy had been sleeping and dreaming of a certain lead singer from her favorite band. As he sang to her she kept hearing a cell phone going off. She turned around to try and curse at whoever was the crowd was gone. The ringing of "Carryon My Wayward Son" began to increase in volume until she realised it was her phone. She turned back to the stage to see the lead singer gone and her dream melted away.

Kennedy finally awoke and answered the phone. "You better have a good goddamn reason you're calling me this early."

Derek sighed. "Casey wants to talk."

Kennedy jolted awake. "What's happened?"

Derek filled Kennedy in with all the Emily craziness and about Casey's response. "Do you think it's over?"

"I'm not sure. I was kind of surprised Emily took it this far."

Kennedy didn't like that feeling. She wasn't entirely sure they had gotten rid of Emily. She seemed like a weak person but her craziness concerned her still. "I'd still be on the lookout for her. Even though she's gone now you never know."

"Yeah," Derek responded. "So… Casey wants to talk but I'm not sure of what to say. I mean yeah, I obviously forgive her but I still hurt too."

Kennedy laughed. "That's all you have to say Derek. Don't make this more complicated than it needs to be. You have to tell her that you understand why she acted the way she did but in doing so it hurt you too. You guys are strong Derek. You'll get through it."

Derek stayed silent for a moment. "How do you have so much confidence in us?"

Kennedy smiled. "Honestly, listening to Casey talk about you before you guys started dating I already knew. But when you guys did start to date… this is going to sound so cheesy but she glowed. I mean, she looked like she had been proposed to. She talks about you non stop. It's annoying and kind of wonderful and I'm kind of jealous."

Derek laughed. "Well, thank you for having so much confidence in us. We are really lucky to have you on our side."

"I feel like I'm your relationship conscious. You guys care so much about each other that you want to pull away but I'm there to bring y'all back together." Kennedy laughed. She had honestly hoped one day soon she too would find the Derek to her Casey… as cheesy as that sounded. "You're just nervous, Derek. Tell her how you feel and listen to her too. You know she was hurting just like you."

Derek nodded and said his goodbyes to Kennedy as he hung up. Derek decided to drive around a bit more.. Well until his stomach started growling so much that he couldn't just ignore it. He stopped by the diner and had himself a greasy cheeseburger and salty fries. For now, he wanted a peaceful meal and some time to come up with what he was going to say to Casey.

Casey woke up long after Derek had left in the morning. She head was heavy. She almost didn't recognise the room she was in. If it hadn't been for Derek's desktop and his bed sheets Casey would've never have guessed she was in his room. His walls were bare. The numbers that used to hang around the room were gone. The walls were so bare that she could see the small amount of dust shadowing an outline from where the posters and numbers used to hang.

Casey never thought much about the numbers hanging from the wall. Then again, she never thought about Derek in a romantic way much either (until recently). But seeing the numbers off the wall made her stomach do a flip. She was happy, Casey admitted to herself. She was happy that the numbers were gone and that in a sense so was the past. It was like they could start over… or at least she hoped they could.

It wasn't until 3 o'clock that Derek arrived back home. Casey had been worried when she finally stopped to notice that Derek's had not been in bed when she awoke that morning. She asked her mom and she told her that Derek needed some space of his own. Her mom's smile told her to calm herself.

When he did arrive back he grabbed her hand gently pulled her from the sofa and walked her into his room. Deja vu all over again. Once they were inside he closed and locked the door.

"Let's talk," he whispered. As if he was scared to actually speak the words, that they would have more validity to them if he spoke them any louder.

Casey nodded. "I'm sorry," she immediately spoke. "I mean, technically all this is my fault. I was so fearful what everyone would say when they would find out about us. I knew there was going to be at least some backlash but I didn't expect it to come from my sister. I'm so sorry that Emily's words kept playing in my head over and over again. I kept having flashbacks of the past and your past with women! I mean there were so many, don't even TRY to fight me on that. But this morning when I saw your wall I saw that you were willing to out the past behind you. When I saw that, I thought that if you could make that big of an effort I could too. I want to forget about the past girlfriends and boyfriends. I'm not going to deny that I had quite a few as well-

Casey didn't finish her sentence. Derek was too busy kissing her. When he was finished he pulled back and saw that Casey was about to speak again. He quickly kissed her again and rested his forehead against hers. "For once, shut up and let me talk."

Casey nodded.

"It hurt so bad that you kept me out of your thoughts," Derek's voice cracked at the end. "You could've… no you should've let me in to how you were feeling. I want to be there for you Casey. That's what being in a relationship is all about."

Derek could barely look at her. The tears were steadily flowing from her eyes. If Derek had looked at her, he wouldn't be able to say his peace and move forward. Nothing good came out of swallowing down emotions. He'd learned that from Casey.

"You said that you were willing to put all those things in the past and we can do that. But I need you to promise me Casey, no more locking me out. I really can't deal with that. These past four days have been seriously hell. We move forward from now on."

Casey nodded and hugged him tight. The first real bump in their relationship was over. They were both relieved that it was over and that they had survived it.