Author's Note: Hi, all! I'm so excited to be back with a new Dasey story! This literally came to me as a single sentence summary and grew into this beast. There will be 6 chapters and, though they are all written already, I'm going to try to post them every couple days or so. I hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you think.

I'm also still working towards 20 published stories before my 20th anniversary on this site, which is at the end of June. Welcome to story number 17!

Disclaimer: I'm going to use a blanket disclaimer for this whole story. I don't own any rights to the show, the characters, none of it. And I'm not making money off of this story, though I really wish I could. I could use the extra income. ::sigh:: Derek and Casey just frolic around my head, rent-free, and give me new ideas every other day.

one. homesick

They've been at Queen's for two weeks when Casey cracks and calls Derek. She practically begs him to hang out with her. It takes a few minutes of convincing, but eventually, he caves in to her demands.

"Fine! Give me 20 minutes to shower. I just got back from hockey practice."

She resists the urge to clap, but she does break into a wide grin.

"Thank you! I'll order a pizza and make some popcorn. We can watch a movie or something."

The line goes dead before he can make any suggestions, but he shows up about half an hour later, as promised. He stopped to pick up a pint of ice cream on his way. He wasn't sure exactly why she actually wanted to spend time with him all of a sudden, but what would it hurt to show up with ice cream?

Derek turns on the tv and begins flipping through the channels while waiting for the pizza. Casey pulls a second bag of popcorn out of the microwave in the corner of her shared living room. He's found a hockey game that she actually agrees to let him watch until the pizza arrives.

Once the pizza is delivered, they can't agree on a movie, so Derek actually gets to finish watching the game. When they do eventually settle on a movie, it's well after midnight by the time it's finished.

Derek grumbles about having to walk back to his dorm so late, and Casey just shrugs her shoulders.

"Stay here." He looks at her, wide-eyed. "It's not like we've never spent a night in the same space, Derek. We lived together for three years, remember?"

"Well, yeah, Spacey. But we had our own rooms at home."

"Fine. Don't stay. I don't care." She crosses her arms and levels him with a glare. "I was just trying to be nice."

He looks at her for a moment, wondering, and suddenly a thought occurs to him.

"Why did you ask me to come over tonight anyway?"

"I—What?" Casey drops her arms and looks at him in confusion.

"You heard me. Why did you suddenly want to hang out with the step-brother you hate so much?" It's Derek's turn to cross his arms.

"I don't hate you, Derek." He flashes her a smirk and she heaves a big sigh. "I—I was homesick, okay? I was missing home and you're the only part of home I have here at Queen's."

He drops his arms dramatically and stares at her. "Homesick? Really?"

"Ugh. Yes! Can you not tease me about it right now? I'm suddenly exhausted at the thought of talking to you for another second." He sees her leg twitch and knows that she really wants to stomp her foot right now.

He smirks at her again, but he doesn't tease her. "Ok. Homesick. Yeah, I guess that makes sense." They both spend a few seconds looking anywhere but at each other. "I'll, uh—see you later, Spacey. Thanks for the pizza." With that, he grabs his jacket and heads for the door. "Good night, Case."

The door swings shut behind him and she manages to say, "Good night, Derek."

Author's Note: Why, yes. I did write this entire story from concept to complete in 24 hours. How'd you know? ;)

Thanks for reading! See you in the next chapter!

-Bethany