So...real it hurt. Loved every bit of it :)

Best gay best friend character ever!

omg you write them so well :')

Really good story and handling of characters!

BUT DO THEY HAVE KIDS?! I NEED TO KNOW.

You're amazing. I've never seen them so well written. Love love love this.

I used to read your fic back in the day when LWD was actually on the air, and since Dasey is one of those forever OTPs, I came back to re-read. Your fic is just as superb as I remember! You are wonderful at characterization and I learn so much about writing from reading yours. If only this story could have been the LWD movie-I can see it all so well in my head!

The only piece of constructive criticism I have is that when Derek finds Casey's first novel (while Maya's on an audition), you wrote "she" in a way that I think refers to Maya (grammatically), so maybe...you could put "Casey" instead?

There's one line that I really like - one I don't believe I've seen before in any story, & I was impressed by it:

"He can see a dozen different people in her face, all the past versions of himself reflected back at him, a twisted mirror. He has to look away, it's too much and not enough, all at once."

For some reason, I just absolutely love grown-up Marti in this. I...don't know...but she just kicks all kinds of ass, and it actually seems in character...like she really could've grown up to be like that.

this was very good. i like how you show that nothing is ever easy or perfect between them. they both have too strong personalities for that. they make each other happy most of the time, when they aren't making each other miserable. happiness is enough

there are so many beautiful, powerful emotions in this story. i read it a year ago and, from time to time, i would re-read it because it is just that awesome. in fact, i even keep an html copy of it on my phone, that is how much i love it.

thank you so much for writing such a wonderful piece of fiction.

so review time.

Gotta say love Marti. Everything about her in this.

And love all he little details that are really minor but just make their relationship whole.

Anyway that was fantastic, so i am so favoriting it.

This mostly just makes me kind of happy. I like it. All of it was good, and a few bits were brilliant. Her writing cheesy chick lit. Breaking everything in her kitchen when she found out about the wedding. Having the wedding on his birthday so he couldn't forget the anniversary. And this line, "he can't do anything to make himself not believe it when people tell him that he's not good enough.". I know, the angstiest thing in here, but I can't help it, I know (and love) good writing when I see it. So. Thank you.

Wow. You are an intensely amazing writer. You should defs write a bunch more the LWD fandom. Your stories totally kick ass in that my stories totally kick ass way. I'm glad i read this. I've been on some intense fanfiction addiction withdrawal. So, i'm mega glad i came across this. Just the fix i needed. haha

And, also. I love "somewhere only we know" i just taught myself how to play it on piano. it's beast.

So, to wrap this review up, LOVED IT.

Laura :)

I just found this fic. I'm a horrible, horrible person for not reading it when it was first posted and I beg forgiveness because hot damn! This was fantastic. I think you completely got their early relationship, and I can completely see their college-level relationship going as you described-Casey doesn't want to scare him off, so she holds back, and Derek just has no clue and feels like nothing he does is good enough because she's holding back. I also like that you didn't have Maya be the "fallback wife" or the rebound relaitonship. He loved her. He was a grownup about it and he made a grownup decission and commitment...but Casey was always there, on the edges, and he could never entirely let her go. I love that. So in all, wonderful story. I enjoyed every line.