"So," Casey started, fumbling nervously with her hands. "We're going to tell the family tonight?" she asked, confirming the details with Derek.

Derek blew out a nervous breath, nodding. "I think so, yeah…"

She bit her lip. "Actually, I don't think I can do this," she let out worriedly, beginning to pace the length of the hallway as the negative thoughts flushed through her mind. "What if they hate us? What if they throw us out of the house? We'll be cold and hungry and poor. Then one of us will get a life-threatening disease and die, making our declaration and sacrifice mean nothing in the end!" she carried on hysterically.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there, Casey," Derek said, holding her firmly by the shoulders. "I think you've seen one too many Lifetime movies. None of that is going to happen," he assured her. He leaned down to kiss her lightly on the lips, across her jaw, trying to sooth her. "Everything is going to be okay," he whispered into her ear.

Her mom then rounded the corner and Casey instinctively pushed Derek away. "Ew, Der-ek!" she hollered, wiping at her face. "Mom, Derek gave me a wet willy!"

Nora rolled her eyes at the duo. "Derek, behave," she said tiredly. "In fact, can both of you behave? You two are almost college graduates, I shouldn't have to be telling you to stop carrying on like a pack of 1st graders."

Casey solemnly nodded her head. "I'm sorry, mom. We'll try better."

When Derek merely stood there, Casey elbowed him lightly in the stomach. "Right, right. Yeah, sorry. What she said," he said a lot less genuinely than his stepsister did.

Nora shook her head at their antics. "I don't know how you two have managed to be each other's roommate for the past 4 years and haven't burned the place down with your fighting," she commented, though more to herself.

The duo apprehensively fidgeted, but remained silent.

"What are you guys doing up here anyway?" she asked, hands on hips. "We have guests downstairs. Aunt Madge just showed up too – she's been asking for you, Derek."

Derek grinned tightly. "Great," he stretched the word out, not at all looking forward to seeing his aunt, at least until he could get steel implants for his cheeks.

"Go on," Nora said, nodding to the steps. The Queen students sighed, but followed Nora's instructions reluctantly.

…

"When are we going to tell them?" Casey asked after they had snuck off to a secluded corner, hiding from relatives they had been forced to socialize with for the past hour.

Derek shrugged, stuffing his face with the cookies on the table by them. "Why don't we wait until the excess people leave," he suggested. "I want to tell the fam, but I'd rather not be gossip for Icky Vicky and Fiona."

"Good point," Casey admitted, nodding favorably to his logic. "Hey," she started, lightly touching his forearm to gain his attention, "is Aunt Madge okay? She looks like she's been hitting the liquor quite hard this year…"

Derek looked over to where his Aunt was, congoing around the Christmas tree, alone but merrily. He raised a perturbed eyebrow at the scene. "I don't know…" he let warily. "But now that you mention it, her cheek pinching was a bit more aggressive," he noted, rubbing his still tender cheeks. "But she looks like she's having a ball. I don't think we have to worry about her."

Casey nodding, trusting her boyfriend's judgement.

They were then thrusted back into repetitive conversations with their aunts, uncles, etc, asking them about school, their plans after college, and whether they had been dating anyone. They were luckily saved when George's voice yelled from the table that dinner was ready.

As the couple walked to the elongated table, they looked at each other unsurely.

"Are we sitting together?" Casey whispered.

Derek shrugged. "I don't know. We usually don't, so no?"

"You don't want to sit next to me?" she asked, frowning.

Derek rolled his eyes. "I don't care what we do. We just usually don't. I don't want anyone to think anything is up though," he clarified. "But I'm sitting here," he said, plopping himself down in a seat closest to the turkey. "Sit wherever you want."

Casey pouted further, torn to where to sit. She went to walk over to sit on the far end, but at the last moment changed her mind to go to the seat next to Derek, but then stopped before sitting there too. Her mind was still frazzled with how each action she took could be perceived.

"Oh my God, Casey!" Derek bellowed. "Just pick a damn seat!" he hollered.

She huffed, hands on hips. "Don't tell me what to do, Derek," she said, before sitting down next to him.

"Guys," Nora spoke up, her tone disapproving. "I thought we were going to try and behave…" she reminded them.

George snorted. "Nora that would take a Christmas miracle," he joked, causing many of the family members to laugh.

"The real Christmas miracle would be those two to stop pretending to be just roommates," Aunt Madge hiccupped, pointing to the two of them with a wobbly finger. "They've been together for years now, right kids?" she said, smiling sweetly through her drunken spiel.

Their whole family then looked at the two of them with questioning looks on their faces. The couple couldn't help but shrink in their chairs, turning pink under their gazes.

So much for waiting.

A/N: Oh, that Aunt Madge. I always liked the idea of her coming back to help get Dasey together. In this case though, she outed them! lol. Let me know what you think in a review - I really love hearing from you all! :)

REVIEW REPLY:

simplyayra: Doing something as idiotic as sticking your tongue to a pole just screams Derek for some reason. I don't know why. lol And aw, well don't be too sad just yet. We still have 4 more days and stories after today.

Guest: Thank you for reviewing!

Balyndaba: I'm glad you could really visualize it. lol! Thanks you for reviewing! :)