You Came Back…

Summary: Derek appears in Casey's life after several years without communication, wanting to meet his daughter. They now have established lives on opposite coasts, with Casey in New York and Derek in LA. Casey finds herself trapped between bitter memories and fresh attraction, but still wants to protect her little girl.

General notes: To anyone that read my other LWD fic, you know I have problems with updates. Please bear with me – I have a short attention span, but I'll try to update as often as I can (hopefully weekly). I do not have a beta reader though I do proofread. Please excuse the mistakes that slip through the cracks.

Chapter notes: There's a bit of melodrama involved here. I don't intend to make a habit of it, but it's just a warning. Okay, enough notes. Happy reading.

Casey opened the door to her quiet, dark apartment and rushed inside, closing the door behind her softly and locking it. She threw her bag into the hall closet and kicked off her high heels, sighing when she finally stepped on soft cream-colored carpeting. Casey loved the feel of this apartment; clean, soft, spacious rooms, paid for by her own labor, tastefully decorated, and always ready to embrace her after a grueling day at the office. That particular day was particularly tedious; people didn't stop knocking the whole day and she had to stay overtime to review yet another sales report. Leave it to Casey McDonald to finally get that VP promotion, and then just dive right into more work. She could have dumped it all on one of her assistants but had a certain pride in her work that didn't let her do anything that could be construed as unethical. She flicked on the lights and progressed into the kitchen where she opened one of the top cabinets and felt around the top shelf for her favorite scotch bottle, now dusty from neglect.

After pouring herself a generous amount into a crystal glass and gulping down the burning, amber liquid, she washed the glass and sauntered into the living room, sagging into the large leather couch. Casey closed her eyes and rubbed the sore spot between her eyes in a circular motion, willing the headache away. She didn't usually drink, especially not with a little girl in the house, but Derek's email from earlier that day, plus overwhelming exhaustion from work, managed to send her stress levels into overdrive.

Hey Case,

I'm coming by later tonight, I don't know, sometime, okay? See you then.

-Derek

It was so like him to disappear for a few years then pop back in with almost no warning. Just thinking about seeing him again made Casey's head throb painfully. What would he look like? What does he do now? She wanted another drink, but wouldn't allow herself one. The last thing she needed was to be drunk when Derek came by.

After lounging about for another few minutes, Casey finally gathered the strength to roll herself over and grab the phone.

"Hey, Molly?" she asked when the girl on the other end picked up.

"Yeah, Ms. McDonald?"

"Hey, I was wondering if you could hang onto Katie for another few hours. Something came up…"

"Sure, sure, no problem. She's having a great time with my sister's old Barbies," the young girl answered.

"Thanks, Molly. This is going into overtime for you."

Casey wrapped the conversation up and hung up. She stared up at the clean, white ceiling, then out at the New York skyline just outside her window. It had taken years of work, but she finally had her penthouse apartment on the Upper East Side. From the height they were at, it was almost always perfect quiet.

She glanced at the digital clock built into her cable box. 8:43, it read in muted green light.

8:43 and already Casey was ready for bed. Sometimes, work seemed not to even be worth it.

Casey was woken suddenly by the low, tasteful buzzing of her intercom. She didn't even realize she was falling asleep until the phone dragged her back into reality. Forcing herself off the couch, despite how heavy her limbs felt, she got herself over to the phone and picked it up.

"Yeah?"

"There is a Mr. Derek downstairs for you, Ms. McDonald," her doorman said through a slight Italian accent.

For a moment, Casey considered telling the man downstairs that she didn't have any connections to a Mr. Derek, and that he must have been mistaken, but she knew that would only make things worse.

"Yeah, send him up," she said groggily into the phone.

The next few moments were engulfed in panic. Casey rushed to straighten her clothes and reapply a bit of lipstick. Despite the fact that she was completely uninterested in Derek romantically anymore, she couldn't help but want to look good, just to show him that she could get along without him, and she wasn't worse for the wear.

Her electronic doorbell buzzed softly and Casey rushed to answer it, gulping down what felt like a tennis ball in her throat.

And there he was, before Casey could stop to think about how to react to him. In a brown leather jacket and dark jeans. His red hair was dressed up with some pomade that made it choppy and a bit messy, as though he had just rolled out of bed. He wore his signature smirk and a sort of amused expression in his soft, brown eyes, eyes as comfortable as worn-in leather. Casey felt her heart stop for a moment in shock.

"Hey, Case," he said casually. "You look … tired."

Casey ran a hand through her hair, suddenly self-conscious. That wasn't the look she was going for. "Derek," was all she could think to say in response, "come in."

Derek strolled into the apartment as though it were his home and, as though by some intrinsic sense, headed straight for the kitchen.

"I thought I'd drop by," he said as he rummaged through a cabinet. He fished out a bag of organic chips and started working on the packaging.

"Derek, I don't even know where you live now. How could you just-"

"L.A. I'm in the music business now now. I have a band – Black Thunder. I manage it, though – I can't play anything for shit. These taste like crap, by the way. Buy some fucking normal chips for our daughter, will you?"

Casey felt heat prickle over her at the mention of 'our' daughter. She grabbed the bag away from Derek and started rolling it up.

"Still a pig," she said softly as she stooped to put the chips away.

"Speaking of Katie, where is she? I want to meet her," Derek said. He sauntered into the living room. "Katie!" he yelled out.

"Would you shut up? She at a sitter's. And she won't come back until after you've left," Casey said firmly.

"What? Casey, you can't do that," Derek said as he sat down on the couch, as though the gravity of his visit hit him just then.

"I can, and I am."

She looked Derek up and down. He'd barely changed. He was still tall and lean, his bones furnished by sinewy muscle and creamy skin.

"I have a right to see her," he demanded.

"Not after you take off for years at a time."

"Oh, come on," Derek said defensively. "You know why I left."

Casey blushed deeply. "Please. Like that had anything to do with it. You freaked out because I was pregnant, and you took a flight to the States."

"Yeah. Seeing you fuck my best friend had nothing to do with it," Derek said acidly, looking up at her with suddenly sharpened eyes.

Casey was split between being hurt and angry. Derek's words stung, but she wouldn't allow herself to show it; he knew very well why she had briefly seen Sam. Her head pounded. She didn't want to get into this with Derek again – even if she wouldn't admit it, seeing him had evoked powerful memories, and she didn't want to fight. She didn't have the energy or the will for it.

"Derek, you should leave," was all Casey could think to say.

"I want to see my daughter," he replied sternly.

"What makes her yours?" Casey countered.

"Look, I know I'm no saint, but I think she deserves to at least know her father, doesn't she?" Derek asked. He looked at her with dark, impassioned eyes. "I want to make things right—"

"Too late," Casey interjected. She shrugged coldly. "I worked too hard to let you come in here after all this time and pretend like nothing's wrong."

"I'm not pretending—"

"Tell me something, Derek. How long did it take you to get that managing job? Two, three months? What I have took me years."

"Hey, I work damn hard!"

Casey sighed, choking down the insults she was ready to throw. "Derek," she closed her eyes and collapsed onto an armchair. "I want you to leave. I don't want to get into all this again with you. It's too much…"

"I'm not asking you to marry me or anything, Casey. I just want to meet my daughter."

"Tell me something, Derek. Before last week, did you even think about her? Even once?" Casey asked, her voice a bit dampened by sadness, yet still sounded sharp and well-aimed. She looked at him without knowing what answer she wanted to hear.

"Yes. Of course I did. I just wanted to get on my feet before coming here." He sighed deeply. "I flew all the way here. I just want to see Katie," Derek said, a note of panic and exhaustion laced into his voice.

Before Casey had time to respond, a soft knock sounded from the door. Casey groaned and got up to answer it.

Sure enough, there stood Molly, with Katie by her side.

"I'm so sorry, Ms. McDonald. Something came up and I have to bring Katie home."

Casey sighed at the horrible timing. Molly was usually a good sitter, but now Casey wanted never to hire her again. At that moment, Derek came into the foyer.

Molly smiled awkwardly at Derek. "Hi, I'm Katie's sitter."

"Hey," Derek responded, though his attentions were clearly on Katie. He crouched down to be at eye level with her.

"Hi, Katie," he said gently.

Casey's heart pounded as she scrambled for money to pay Molly. She wanted to get the young girl out of the apartment, so she could focus on throwing Derek out. She finally handed the appropriate wad of cash to the teenager and said a rushed goodbye.

The door clicked behind Molly softly and Casey turned toward her daughter.

Katie looked apprehensively at Derek. "I am three years old," she said softly and shyly.

Casey was in shock. She didn't know whether to separate the two by force or introduce them properly.

"I'm twenty-seven," Derek said in an exaggerated tone, his eyes staring directly into Katie's shining blue ones. His hand reached out to stroke her shining, light brown hair.

Casey felt the instinct to cry. Her baby seemed to no longer be truly hers, a bit stolen.

"Who are you?" Katie asked softly.

Derek looked up at Casey, clearly conflicted. Casey stood frozen in fear and shock. Her limbs felt numb and her body frozen. Her blood rushed through her temples in loud bursts.

"A friend of Mommy's," Derek said. He stood up and looked at Casey solemnly, a hint of what looked like pity in his eyes. "Do you have a guest bedroom?"

In all seriousness, it's hard to keep writing a story when it seems like nobody reads it. Leave reviews please.