"Here you go, Derek," Edwin said, passing him his last gift for the morning.

It was rectangular box, usually the kind clothes were put in. Derek internally groaned. He wasn't exactly excited at the possibility of a new pair of slacks or a dress shirt he most likely would never wear. Looking at the tag though, he saw it was from Casey.

Curious as to what the keener got him, he ripped off the wrapping paper and tugged off the lid in record time to find a Leafs shirt. "Sweet!" Derek immediately exclaimed, taking the article out, holding it up to get a better look at it. "This is awesome!"

"You said you really like their latest t-shirt design so…" Casey helpfully supplied, shrugging.

"Yeah," Derek said, still admiring the shirt. "Thanks, Case," he said, making sure to send her a grateful smile. She gave him a serene smile back.

"Here's mine," Derek said, reaching down to grab her gift and throwing it to her.

Casey barely caught it, but luckily didn't drop it. She wanted to yell at the eldest Venturi child, but nevertheless decided to keep it to herself for the sake of Christmas.

She looked at the box perplexedly. It was relatively small – about the size of her cellphone. It was also very light.

She carefully opened the hazardous wrap job – for something so small, it seemed to be wrapped entirely by tape. However, that also indicated that Derek wrapped the little present himself, which caused the young adult to smile internally. Popping the lid of the small container, she was struck confused.

"What is this?" she questioned, holding up the little, plushy man.

Derek cackled. "It's a 'grow your own boyfriend'," he answered. "I thought you could use the help," he added, smirking deviously at her.

Next to him, Edwin join in his laughter. "Good one, bro."

"Derek," George started to repemend, but Casey stopped him.

"Der-ek!" she hollered, "You are so immature," she continued, trying to keep herself calm and steady, but she could feel her eyes welling, betraying her. "Urghh," she let out frustratingly, chucking his 'gift' back at him before fleeing up the stairs.

She could still hear the Venturi's boys' laughter as she slammed her bedroom door shut.

…

An hour later, a knock was heard softly on her door.

"Go away," she yelled from the safety of her bed.

"Case," she heard from the other side of the door. "Just open up. This is ridiculous."

Her eyes widened. "Ridiculous?!" she repeated, appalled. She got up from her bed to stand by her door. "Your gift was ridiculous! Could you not honestly buy me something so mean-spirited?"

She heard him heavily sigh. "It was a joke. You weren't supposed to take it seriously," he defended.

"Well obviously I did," she commented, and she swore she heard him snort.

"Just open the damn door," he told her, his tone tiring.

She huffed. "Why should I?"

"Because your…" he trailed off, pausing, "because your boyfriend," he said quietly, "wants to give you your actual gift."

Casey's one eyebrow peeked in confusion. "What?" she questioned as she opened the door. "What are you talking about?" she further asked, surveying Derek for any deception.

"Can I come in first?" Derek asked, motioning to her room.

The oldest McDonald child sighed, but let him move pass her and into the bedroom. She then shut the door, knowing they needed some privacy.

"Well?" Casey spoke, crossing her arms defensively as she regarded her boyfriend.

Derek wordlessly handed her an envelope, which she took curiously but eyed it warily.

The hockey player rolled his eyes. "It's not a bomb, Case. It's safe to open."

She stuck her tongue out at him, but made to open the envelope. Upon opening it, Casey gasped. "Der," she let out softly. "You got tickets to that play I wanted to see."

The Venturi boy nodded. "I didn't want to give you that in front of everyone, since it would've raised some eyebrows and we haven't told anyone about us yet," he began to explain. "So in the spur of the moment, I got that gag gift. I didn't mean to upset you."

Casey let out a hollow chuckle. "I just thought you didn't care," she admitted sadly, taking a seat on the foot of her bed. "I mean, it's our first Christmas together as a couple, and I had really tried to get you something I knew you would like, and it just looked like I was another joke."

Derek sat down next to her, snaking an arm around her waist, holding her. "You have to know I don't want to hurt you," he expressed softly. "I was just lessening the suspicion."

"You can do that without making me the butt of the joke, no?"

Derek cocked his head to the side, pretending to think. "I don't know," he joked smirking. "You make it so easy sometimes."

"Der-ek!" she playfully hollered, elbowing him lightly. He only chuckled.

"So…" he started, trailing off as he watched her, gauging her facial expression. "Are we cool?"

"I don't know," she said dramatically, copying Derek from earlier. "The 'grow a boyfriend' is looking like a good option right about now…"

His eyebrows raised as he smirked at her amusingly. "Oh, you've got jokes, I see," he commented. "But can he do this?" he asked just before he kissed her.

Casey's immediately responded, letting her arms wrap around his shoulders and her hands tangle in his hair. Her tongue poked at his lips and he immediately obliged, easily invited her into his mouth where their tongues curled over the other's.

"No, no I don't think he can do that," Casey answered Derek's previous question breathily, still on a high from their kiss.

Derek winked at her. "Damn right," he boasted then swept down for another.

A/N: Someone requested for Derek to gift Casey a gag gift only to later reveal that he got her another one, so here it is. Hope you and everyone else liked it. Please review with your thoughts! :)

REVIEW REPLY:

Thank you for reviewing geetika, Balyndaba, and Tomboy22!

tvd1992: Hmmm, I can see them getting married on Christmas, but I don't know how Casey would react to that being a surprise. lol. I'll see if I can think of something along those lines though. Thanks for reviewing!