Casey woke to the smell of bacon in the kitchen. While she was still somewhat nauseous from the salad the night prior, she had to admit, she was pretty hungry.

She combed through her messy hair, watching as Derek dug through his duffel bag on the side of the bed, sniffing at a shirt to make sure it was clean enough to wear. Ew.

"Good morning," she greeted.

"Hey."

"What time is it?"

"Almost eleven, why? Did being sick ruin your detailed itinerary for Black Friday?" Technically, it wasn't November, but their hometown shops had their own version of Black Friday to appease the masses for the time being until the American Thanksgiving celebrations took place.

"Unfortunately, yes. Why aren't you out shopping? I thought Sam was going to pick you up this morning."

"I overslept."

It was a lie. Derek canceled with Sam. When Casey didn't wake up before him, he got worried and decided to stick around. As far as Sam knew, Derek was too tired to get up that early.

"So, who's making breakfast?" Casey stretched her legs out onto the cold floor, testing the waters as she started to get up.

Derek's eyes burned through her back, making sure she didn't fall, and luckily, she didn't.

"What's with the third degree? Give a guy a chance to wake up in the morning, will ya?"

"It's probably George. We should be careful not to critique his cooking after yesterday."

"That's more reason to mess with him. I'm thinking about telling him his bacon tastes moderately good." He was a glutton for punishment.

"Derek, you're going to get grounded, and you don't even live here anymore." Casey shook her head.

"Alright, I'll get Edwin to do it."

"Leave your poor brother alone. He's not your puppet." Casey grabbed a change of clothes so she could take a shower and get ready for the day.

"Are you still going shopping?" Derek asked.

"What's with the third degree?" Casey mocked his earlier statement.

"There's still a chance for a middle-aged towel fight at the store, and I don't want to miss it. I need to know if you're coming, or I'm taking your keys."

"Yes, Derek, I'm going. If you leave without me, you're losing all radio privileges for life. That means be prepared for a lot of Michelle Branch and Jennifer Paige on the way back to school."

Not that girly pop music!

"You better hurry up."

After a successful shopping trip, Casey held a spot in line to check out, swinging back and forth on her heels to see if the line was moving. Her hands were getting tired of holding all of those sale items.

Derek finally came back to the line, holding a pair of pajamas as if he won the lottery.

"This is what you came here for?" Unbelievable.

"No, I came for the fights; the clothes are a bonus," he winked.

"Derek, you don't wear a shirt to bed. What good is this going to do you?"

Derek tried not to think about the fact that she noticed how he liked to sleep at night. It meant nothing, but his brain was overreacting to this news. He had to act quick. Insult her and change the subject. Insult her and change the subject!

"Hey, I don't ask you why you're buying more makeup. What good is makeup going to do you?" He smirked, feeling satisfied with his comeback.

"Ugh, you are so annoying!" She yelled.

"And you are such a drama queen." Derek rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, there was a guy rushing to squeeze in between the two siblings and the elderly couple behind them.

"Hey!" Casey called out, clutching her items tighter so they didn't fall.

"Watch it! You're gonna wrinkle my pajamas," Derek added.

"Sorry."

Oh, Casey recognized that voice. And so did Derek.

"Truman?" Their outrage was mutual, turning back to stare at Casey's not-so wonderful ex-boyfriend.

Truman gave a sly smile when he saw who was in front of him.

"The one and only," he said.

"And one is too many." Derek couldn't take one Truman, much less several more.

"Nice to see you, too, Derek."

"Pleasure is all mine. The line is all the way in the back, bud," Derek gestured behind him.

"I'm sure Casey doesn't mind," Truman insisted.

"I don't have to check her nerdy itinerary to know standing beside her ex in line at a department store isn't on her list."

Truman and Derek left on decent terms after high school for Casey's sake, but that didn't mean Derek liked the guy. In fact, Derek hated his guts.

Truman cheated on Casey. Truman was scum. And now that Casey was completely over the guy, Derek didn't have to pretend anymore.

"You're not seriously going to kick me to the back of the line, are you, Derek?"

Derek let out a big sigh, flinging the pajamas over his shoulder.

"You know, I came here to watch the fights unfold, but I'm not opposed to getting in one, myself."

The guys were sizing each other up, and Casey had to stand in the middle before it escalated further. She knew that both guys had very bold personalities, but this was too much.

"Derek, calm down. Truman, go to the back of the line. Let's not fight over something so childish."

"I don't think it's the line Derek's fighting for, but yeah, alright, I'll go. See you around, Casey."

"Bye, Truman."

Derek burned with embarrassment but quickly collected himself.

"Can you believe that guy?"

Casey tried not to read into anything the likes of Truman French had to say. She swallowed his words down and focused on her annoying stepbrother.

"Derek, he wasn't hurting anyone. You didn't have to overreact."

"Wow, you can't even take my side when it's involving your ex who rated you six and three quarters," he huffed.

"I'm not taking sides because there are no sides here. You both were acting like babies."

After Truman cheated on Casey, Derek was the one to convince her to take him back; that way, she wouldn't miss her own prom. It seemed like the guys were getting along, but the minute she broke things off with Truman for good, Derek started trash-talking him. It was strange. Well, Derek was strange, so what else is new?

"Immaturity is a choice that I happily embrace."

Casey rolled her eyes.

As they finally reached the register, both of their phones went off simultaneously.

"It's Lizzie. She said George forgot to pick her and Edwin up from the mall. She's waiting in the food court," Casey explained.

"Edwin said the same thing, except he's waiting in the back of the mall with the police."

"The police?! What did he do?!"

"How should I know? Honestly, it's pretty impressive. Not even I got caught by mall police at that age."

"Derek, this isn't funny! We have to go now!"

"But what about our stuff?" Derek whined, looking at his pajamas.

"Leave it! Lizzie and Edwin need us!" Casey dragged Derek by his shirt, forcing him out of the store.

"Is he yours?" The policeman asked Derek and Casey upon their arrival.

Great. Another person who assumes Derek and Casey have a child together. This is exactly what they needed.

"Yeah, he's ours." And, of course, Derek lies for Edwin.

Casey opened her mouth to object, but thought better of it.

"What did he do?" Casey asked, deciding to go along with Derek's lie.

"He took it upon himself to test out the display drones in the tech store, and one flew into the glass door." The policeman sat back in his desk chair, clearly exhausted from having Edwin here for so long. Who could blame him?

"Oh, nice!" Derek praised his amused brother while Casey shot daggers at both of them.

"This isn't funny! Edwin, you could've seriously hurt yourself or someone else," Casey stated.

"There's only a few minor scratches to the door, but I couldn't let Mr. Venturi off without letting his guardians aware of the situation."

So Edwin chose to call his siblings instead of George and Nora? Derek had to hand it to him; he was smart.

"I understand, Officer. Thank you for letting us know."

As the three walked out into the corridor, Derek praised Edwin instead of reprimanding him.

"You know, I have half a mind to tell George about this," Casey pushed.

"Don't be a nark," Derek told her.

"Please don't tell my dad, Casey. I'll do your laundry until you go back to school. Wash, dry, and fold it!" Edwin begged her for silence, squeezing his hands together as a plea for help.

"Do I look like Derek to you? This is not about blackmail or chores, Edwin. You could have gotten into serious trouble! Or what if you had broken that glass? George and my mom would have had to pay for it. Derek may have gotten away with a lot at your age, but that doesn't mean you are immune to consequences."

"She's got a point, Ed. I don't think you'd survive in prison. They eat nerds like you for lunch in the slammer."

So what? He had a change of heart. Derek hated taking up for Casey, but he loved his brother too much to see something bad happen to him in prison.

"I don't want to go to jail!" Edwin panicked.

"Good! Glad we can agree. Now, let's go pick up Lizzie."

On the way home, Lizzie complained about George forgetting to pick her up once again.

"George is a busy man. Besides, he shouldn't be on the road today. The risks of getting into a wreck are dangerously higher around the holidays," Casey said, jabbing at George's horrible driving skills.

"Casey, you aren't really going to tell him what happened today, are you?" Edwin was worried George would send him to private school if he found out. If only he stayed in the food court like Lizzie suggested, none of this would have happened!

"If you're talking about scolding him for forgetting you both, yes, I will. If you're referring to your time with the police, then no. I don't want to ruin the holidays before we go back to school. No real harm was done, right? I'll give you a pass... just this one time."

Derek smiled genuinely at her. He was very impressed and surprised at how well she was dealing with this. For someone who was supposedly awful with kids, she was doing great.

By the time they arrived home, it had started to rain. Derek parked the car on the side of the road because the Prince and all of George's tools were blocking the driveway.

Lizzie and Edwin opted for playing out in the rain like little kids while Casey was less than enthused to be touched in any way by the weather.

"Here goes nothing."

Derek and Casey made a run for it. Once passing the trunk of the car, Derek placed his leather jacket over both his and Casey's head.

"Derek, the house key!" The door was locked, and neither had remembered to grab the key.

The jacket slipped off their heads, and they were now both soaking wet.

Casey momentarily forgot about the existence of rain and was more concerned about Derek's chivalrous behavior towards her. Never in a million years did she think Derek Venturi would share his jacket with her.

"What was -

"Don't - finish that sentence. I had a brief lapse in judgment." Derek already knew where she was going with her question and had to stop her in her tracks.

He was panting beside Casey, his brown hair matted to his glistening face. Their eyes locked together, and neither made a move to look away. Gosh, even their eyes fought to assert dominance.

Suddenly, the door swung open with a stunned Nora at the door. Both Casey and Derek turned their attention toward her, breaking their concentration.

"You two are soaking wet! Let me grab some towles. Stay right there."

"Make that four. Edwin and Lizzie are in the yard," Casey mentioned.

"Edwin and Lizzie are with you? Did George forget to pick them up?"

Casey stepped onto the welcome mat with Derek, attempting to dry off a bit. She wished the mat was wider to give her space from Derek.

"Uh, no. Change of plans. Derek and I were in the area, so we decided to pick them up. Right, Derek?" Casey elbowed her all-too close stepbrother.

Derek glanced at Casey and then back at Nora. Casey continued to pleasantly surprise Derek, and he didn't like it. Not one bit.

"Uh, yeah. What she said," Derek nodded.

"Oh, alright then."

Was Casey really lying for George?

The truth is she was tired of all the fighting, and sometimes a white lie or two didn't hurt anybody.