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Chapter 19: Family Time

Derek picked her up at the airport, and it was a struggle to stop kissing him so they could leave the parking garage. She spent the entire ride back to London holding his hand, and he kept looking over at her and smiling, as if he was appreciating seeing her in 3D again. She felt exactly the same way.

He pulled over a few blocks from their house. "Can I have you to myself for a few more minutes?"

Casey checked her phone. "Probably not. I told Mom we'd be home for dinner."

"And I said that I had an errand to run on the way home, so we might be a little late."

Casey swatted his chest playfully. "No more lying, remember?"

Derek shook his head. "I didn't lie. I do have to pick something up." He unbuckled her seat belt.

"And what is that?" She eyed him, not sure where he was going with this.

"You." She shrieked as he fully lifted her out of the passenger seat and plunked her down on his lap. Her back hit the steering wheel and the horn went off. They both froze, but Casey quickly realized that no one was around to see or care, so she kissed him.

"Smooth, Venturi. Smooth." She kissed him again and left him hanging pitifully as she pulled away, realizing how easy it would be to completely lose track of time. "I'm going to set a timer for 15 minutes."

He groaned as she pulled out her phone, then sat back and rubbed his forehead. "Seriously?"

"Oh, you love me," she said distractedly, tilted away from him as she finished setting up the timer.

"Yup." He brushed her hair behind her ear and resumed kissing her, smiling against her lips. She gave him her full attention again, and they made good use of that 15 minutes.

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As they pulled up to the house, the gravity of what they were about to do hit her, and for the first time, Casey was nervous about telling their parents. She bit her lip. "Do you think we should spring it on them right away? Maybe wait a little bit?" She looked at him hopefully, and he glanced at her as he put the car in Park.

"Casey, Casey, Casey. Not getting cold feet, are we?" He looked completely confident, and it infuriated her.

"No." She squirmed a little in her seat. "They're … decidedly less warm than earlier, though."

He pressed a kiss to her temple. "Case, I'm terrified."

"You are?" She looked at him in surprise, and he nodded.

"Of course I am."

Casey smiled. "As long as we're in it together."

"Always."

They joined hands again as they walked up to the house, Casey's bag slung over Derek's shoulder. She ignored her pounding heartbeat as she swung open the door to reveal the whole family at the dinner table.

"Welcome home!" everyone chorused. Casey squeezed Derek's hand, and he squeezed back. They had talked over how they would do this so many times, and now the moment was here—and she wanted to turn right back around and leave. But she knew she owed her family honesty.

Derek dropped her bag next to the stairs and led her to the table. Her mom patted her old seat. "Good to have you home, honey." She was watching them both carefully. Casey could tell she had noticed the handholding.

"Good to be home," she said, smiling. She lifted up their intertwined hands. "Derek and I have some news, first."

Everyone fell silent, all eyes on them—but they all had at least the hint of a smile. An intense wave of relief washed over her, and she could feel Derek's grip relax slightly.

"Casey and I are dating." He looked at each person in turn as they took that in, and then his eyes landed on Casey. He winked at her, and she beamed back at him.

Lizzie and Edwin were the first to jump up from the table and run over to hug them. One by one, everyone else shook off whatever thoughts they had been having and joined the group hug, exclaiming how exciting this was. Casey soaked up their affection, knowing that a longer conversation would be coming.

Marti ended up on Casey's hip, even though she was getting too big for it. And Simon ended up on Derek's. He stuck his fist in his mouth and tucked his head against Derek's neck. Casey heard one of them let out a little sigh of pleasure, and she was pretty sure it was Derek.

"Does this mean you're not going to fight anymore?" Marti asked innocently, playing with Casey's hair.

Lizzie and Edwin covered their snickers behind their hands, and Derek and Casey glared at them.

"We'll probably still fight, but not like before," Casey said honestly. "We're never going to stop talking for six months again, I can promise you that." She looked at Derek. "I can promise you that."

He nodded. "Smarti, it probably doesn't make a lot of sense to you, but we fight because we care about each other. It's going to be different when we're here with you guys from now on, though—I won't give Casey such a hard time." He smirked. "Maybe not as much of a hard time."

Marti giggled, Casey rolled her eyes, and Edwin and Lizzie snickered again. Their parents had stepped back from the group a little and kept looking at each other with widened eyes. "Are you two … you know, okay with this?" Casey asked.

Derek stopped stroking Simon's back and snapped his attention to their parents.

George spoke first. "Of course we are. We're just surprised, and a little confused."

Her mom put her arm around George. "But at the same time, it makes a lot of sense."

"It does." Edwin nodded sagely. It was Lizzie's turn to roll her eyes.

"Can we eat? I'm starving." Derek led the way back to the table.

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Over dinner, they told the whole story—reconnecting on Derek's birthday, Derek's trip to New York, Casey's trip to Queen's. They showed them Sam's airport video, both blushing with embarrassment when everyone hooted and whistled at their kiss. Someone, Casey couldn't remember who, started telling stories of the times she and Derek had gotten into trouble together because of one fight or another, and soon they were all reminiscing. She felt Derek's eyes on her the whole time, radiating nothing but love when she looked over at him. It suddenly clicked for her just how long he had had feelings for her, and yet again, she felt really naïve for not seeing it. But she figured it was something she had had to come to in her own time—losing him had made her realize how much she never wanted to again.

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Later that night, she and her mom sat on the porch swing with mugs of tea. "I wanted to check in on you. Make sure you're feeling okay."

"I'm great, Mom."

Her mom wrapped an arm around her. "Good. I know you've had a rough year, and I'm so glad that your dad was there for you."

"Me too. We've gotten so much closer. And I figured out that I can dance for fun—doing it professionally made it into work, and I want it to be something I do for me, you know? I belong at university with Derek and Sam." Butterflies of excitement swooped in her stomach as she thought about the upcoming fall semester. She was going to have the time of her life, she could feel it. And her dad would always be there waiting for her, whenever she wanted to visit. Jasmine was at school in the city, so Casey had already promised to stop by her dorm whenever she was in town. And when Jesse's contract was up and he joined a new Broadway show, she fully planned to go see it. She'd be his biggest fan at the stage door.

Before her mom could respond, they heard the door open and George and Derek come out to join them. Derek sat next to Casey, and George sat next to him. "Just wanted to check on you two," George said. "This has been quite a day." He'd had a slightly dazed look on his face since Derek and Casey's announcement that he couldn't seem to shake.

"Poor Dad." Derek patted his knee. "He didn't see this coming." He turned to look at his stepmother. "But you did?"

She shrugged. "Not really, just a feeling. We tried to turn us all into one big happy family, but you two always resisted. Now I know why."

Casey felt the need to defend herself. "It wasn't like that. I did want Derek to feel like my brother." He made a face. "At first. But it wasn't going to happen. We're much better as friends and as a couple. Our relationship is already better than it's ever been. You'll see."

George looked back and forth between them. "I'll need some time to get used to this."

"We did, too, Dad," Derek chimed in. "I didn't know how to be Casey's boyfriend. You know how I used to be with girls. None of that works with her. She doesn't let me get away with anything."

Casey and her mom shared a smile, and Casey reached for Derek's hand. "You're doing fine." He caressed the back of her hand with his thumb, biting his lip. She could tell he wanted to kiss her, but didn't dare in front of their parents. George was traumatized enough.

They began making plans for the next three days, sharing what they were up to that summer, discussing the logistics for moving Casey to Queen's in August. As the sky turned dark and the fireflies emerged, all four of them leaned back against the swing and held onto each other.

"We're here for both of you, no matter what," her mom said. "Derek, I'm your stepmom first, girlfriend's mom second. You can always talk to me. Same with George and Casey." George nodded in agreement.

Casey swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. "Sounds good to me. It's always easier to get through a problem when I share it. I know that now." She grabbed her mom's hand, but she leaned against Derek's shoulder. He brought his head down to rest against hers.

"Dennis sort of has the same philosophy, Nora," Derek said. "We can still talk like we always did, even though I'm with his daughter. He even—" he grinned devilishly at Casey, and her breath hitched, prepared for the worst—"assumed I'd be sleeping with Casey in her room when I stay over."

Casey gasped and shoved his shoulder, jostling George, who snorted. She didn't know for sure if he was telling the truth about that, but given their new no-lies policy, it must be true. How mortifying.

Her mom glanced at George. "Dennis parents how he wants, and we parent how we want," she said diplomatically, her face neutral.

George shoved Derek's other shoulder, jostling Casey. "And we say Casey stays in Lizzie's room and you stay in Edwin's." He was flat-out grinning.

Casey wasn't sure how she felt about that. She figured she'd have plenty of time to think about it later.

Derek smirked. "It was worth a shot." He leaned close to Casey and whispered, "We'll be at your dad's next month."

"Der-ek!"

THE END