A/N: Yeah, I know I haven't put up a chapter since like…… last year, but everything has been so crazy, that I didn't have time to write anything. I'm sorry for taking forever for this chapter to put up. I just hope you all will enjoy it like the other chapters.

Again, I don't own Life with Derek.

Continue on with the story(

Chapter Seven.

Casey lied on the cold pavement of the mall's parking lot, trying to regain oxygen. She felt tears falling from her eyes. She felt a shock of pain burst through her body as she tried to breathe.

She tried to roll her shirt, checking on her stomach, but winced quickly, feeling it was already getting swollen. Just great.

It took her about ten minutes, to get herself the strength to get up, continuing to wince in the process as she got in the car and headed home.

In the car, all she thought about was Dennis, handling her again. She hit her head against the steering wheel, wincing from the pain that spread from her stomach throughout her body.

Is this how it has to be?! She screamed in her mind. She wiped the tears that escaped her eyes and continued down the quiet town. She tried to stop crying, but all the images would not stop.

"You're a disappointment to everyone!" he yelled as he pulled her at the collar and threw her against table.

The tears continued to drop.

"Lizzie and you were accidents… you understand me!?"

She shook her head and closed her eyes as drove into the driveway of their home.

"Never did I ever want you, and I never will." He murmured into her ear as he swung at her and her bloody body fell to the ground blacking out.

She made sure her eyes weren't too noticeable. She got out of the car wincing a little bit but refused to shed another tear because of what happened. She walked slowly towards the front door and stood there for a minute. What will happen when they found out that he hurt her again? Better yet, what would Dennis do if he found out she told them? She took a deep breath and opened the door. She kept her head down, that way no one would notice her puffy eyes. She could hear the television on and wanted to look up to check if it was Derek, but decided not to, because if it was him he'd ask questions.

"Hey Case, have fun at the mall?" Lizzie asked.

Something like that, she thought sarcastically. She merely nodded and quickly went up the stairs. Lizzie followed Casey's figure up the stares and curiosity in her eyes. She knew something wasn't right. Casey was going up the stairs holding her stomach as if she was in agony… Lizzie turned off the television and slowly walked up the stairs towards her older sister's room. She knocked on the door and hear quick movement behind the doorway.

Casey was looking at the bruise on her stomach that was forming quickly when she heard the door, and she quickly put on a sweater and yelled "Just a minute." She put a book on her bed and opened it up to a page to make it look as if she was reading and then walked towards the door and opened it. "What's up Liz?"

"Nothing. You just seemed off when you came home a while ago. Are you okay?" Lizzie asked suspiciously.

"I'm fine," Casey said quickly.

"But I saw you holding your stomach. Are you sure alright? Did anything hap-" Lizzie pressed on but Casey cut her off.

"Lizzie I promise. I'm fine. I ate something bad in the mall and I think it just upset my stomach even more when I was coming back home."

Lizzie studied Casey for a moment. She knew something was wrong, yet she believed if Casey said nothing was wrong, she was not going to press on it anymore. She sighed and walked towards Casey and hugged her. Casey was glad that Lizzie did not see her wince when she wrapped her arms around her waist. "Alright Case. I am just checking. I love you and I do not want anything to happen to you. I'm going to be outside. Try to get side tracked. Edwin and Marti's coming with me, want to come?"

Casey shook her head. "Is anyone else home?"

"Just Derek now after we leave." Casey nodded, and with that, Lizzie let go and walked out the door.

Casey stood there as she watched Lizzie walk away. She locked the door again, and moved her sweater up to see her bruising stomach again. It was a shade of purple. As she stared at the bruise for what seemed like forever. Soon her hurt and despair turned into anger. All the problems he built up for her have been bottled up in her forever was finally coming out.

"I wish you were never born!" Her blood started to boil.

"Nobody loves you!" Casey felt her hands begin to shake.

"Daddy I love you, please stop!" Six year old Casey said as she tried to stop her 'father' from hitting her. "Shut up, do not call me 'Daddy'! You're not my kid!!" Dennis yelled as he back handed her. She fell to the floor and tried to stand up. "Get up you stupid girl and get out of my face!"

As her body shook with rage, she exploded. She threw anything she could grab around the room. Books, picture frames, cups, clothes, anything she could reach, she threw.

Derek was in his room, trying to keep his mind off his feelings for Casey. But somehow, everything he would think about would him back to Casey. He heard clattering in the other room and a blood curling scream. "Casey," he panicked and bolted out of his room towards her room. He opened the door and opened the door to Casey continuing to throw any object she had found. Derek ducked when he saw a book thrown his way. "Casey!" he yelled as she went and grabbed her. But she wouldn't budge. She continued to push and punch him.

"Get away! Don't touch me!" Casey yelled at him.

"Casey calm down!" Derek pleaded, but Casey did not listen. He pulled her into a hug, and she tried to push him off, but he was stronger than her. They fell on the bed and she tried to kick and get up, but he gripped on her wrists tightly against the bed, so she could not do anything. After a few minutes of struggling, Casey finally stopped fighting back. She just stared at the ceiling behind him. He tried to make contact, but Casey just looked empty inside.

"Casey," Derek spoke quietly. No response. "Casey," he said more forcefully. Still, no response. All she would do it stare at the ceiling. "Casey, talk to me!" He begged.

She started laughing sympathetically. "We're going to lose," she said venom seeping through her words.

Derek shook his head, "No we're not. Dennis will be put in-"

"That won't make a difference. He'll get out. And hunt us down." She cut him off. "No matter what. It'll never do anything. Us running, us trying to fight back. He'll just kill us."

"What are you talking about Casey? Snap out of it!" Derek yelled shaking her now, yet she still would not stop rambling on.

"It's just a matter of time. This is a game to him. We're the pawn and he's the king. He'll knock anyone in his way till he gets what he wants." Casey whispered shaking her head as her body began to shake.

"I promise you Casey, nothing will happen to Nora, Lizzie, or you." Derek swore, yet Casey continued to shake her head.

"No… promises don't mean anything."

Derek's heart tore. She was giving up without a fight. "So you're just going to let him win? Let him do what he wants with you and Lizzie?!" he snapped getting off her and pacing the room. "You're not the same Casey MacDonald that I've been living with for two years!"

Casey stood up from the bed and pushed Derek. "Who are you to say you know me?! You don't know what I've gone through, what I've done to repair every pain I've had! You don't know what it's like, to have your own father, own parent to push you away and tell you, that you're nothing! Don't you dare say that I'm giving up, because I'm not. I'm just stating facts," she yelled as she pushed past him to walk out the door, but Derek pulled on her arm towards him.

"What the hell are you doing now? Huh? 'we're going to lose'… yeah, that definitely sounds like you're not giving up," he said sarcastically.

"How else do you think we'd win this. Huh? Fighting with him won't make us win" She yelled back. "Derek, he's already hurting me, and no one even knew!" she exasperated as she raised her sweater to show him the bruise. Derek's eyes turned from shock to anger within a second. "No one in the damn parking lot saw him. He got away with this, he'll get away with everything! What's the use to fighting a losing battle?" she whispered in the end.

"Fighting a losing battle is willingly handing yourself and Lizzie to him is! Or letting Nora watch her daughters get hurt, just like it happened years ago! Or better yet, her going to the hospital because 

your 'daddy' got hot tempered and punched Lizzie and you around. Is that what you want? To lose you're family and go with the son of a bitch that ruined your life?!" Derek yelled shaking her.

Casey just stood there, eyes getting watery. She knew Derek was right. She knew she was letting her mind give up. She was finding any excuse to surrender. She finally had a family to feel comfortable around. She was finally letting her guard down and letting her heart heal, and then Dennis came and made her heart shatter. She knew if he won custody, it was over. Never seeing her family again. Never seeing her friends. Never seeing life again.

Derek slowly walked towards her, all his anger were gone, seeing as Casey was on the verge of realization. He wrapped his arms around Casey slowly, and felt Casey stiffen for a second and then slowly relax against his body. She slowly brought her arms around his neck and locked her hands around him. She buried her head into his neck as her body shook.

They stood there in silence till Casey broke it, "I'm sorry." She whispered so quietly. "I snapped."

Derek closed his eyes and squeezed her closer to him, "Don't ever give up." he said pulling away a little bit. He took one arm away from her waist and brought it to her cheek. His brown eyes stared straight into her blue eyes, "Your life is too precious for it to be taken away."

Casey stared at him for a moment. Slowly, she moved her head forward, as Derek did the same thing. She closed her eyes and felt her lips touch his. His lips were soft. Derek felt his body melt to her touch, as he put his hand back on her waist and pulled her closer. Their mouths moved in sync with each other. Every pent up emotion from the first time they almost kissed were put into this one. Casey moved her hands away from his neck and grabbed a hand full of his hair. She felt him smile in the kiss as he walked forward, pushing Casey up against the wall, never letting his lips part from hers.

Needing air, they finally detached their lips from each other breathing heavily. Casey felt like her head was spinning from the kiss. They had their eyes closed and their foreheads were touching.

"Promise me," Casey whispered, eyes still closed.

"Mmm."

"Don't let him take us." She pleaded.

Derek grabbed her face and looked straight in her eyes. "We will do all we can to get him away from you and this family. We won't let him break us, okay. I promise, I'm here for you."

Casey nodded, as Derek leaned towards her a pecked her on the lips. He moved away and lifted her shirt up a little bit. He winced at the bruised and lightly put his fingers on it. "He won't get away with this."

"What are we going to do?" Casey asked.

"Well, you're first going to show Nora this. And this would show evidence that Dennis is still in his old ways." Derek said but Casey shook her head.

"That's not going to work. No one saw what happened, and I know for a fact he's going to deny it and say I probably got it from somewhere else since I'm a klutz."

"Well it's worth it to try at least. Okay?" Casey nodded and looked around her room. Derek did the same and chuckled. "You did quite a number in your room. Hurricane Casey!" he joked and Casey punched him lightly.

"Shut up," but she ended up laughing along with him. After a while, she quieted down and looked at him, "Derek?"

"Yeah?" he looked up at her. She was biting her lip and staring at the ground.

"W-w-what about us," she asked nervously. "Where does this put us."

Derek stared at her for a moment, and Casey thought he did not want her so she looked away from him and hugged herself. Slowly Derek moved closer towards her and gave her a kiss and then pulled away. "I want you mine. I want to be together."

Casey looked at him with a small smile, but then it quickly disappeared. "What about Mom and George?"

"If Edwin and Lizzie can keep it a secret, why can't we? Besides, it'll be fun sneaking around with my girlfriend." Derek smiled at her as she returned it as well.

"Girlfriend, is that what I am?" she teased and he chuckled.

"I sure hope so," he retorted and kissed her again.

"Than I guess I am, boyfriend," she said kissing him. "Now, would you like to help your girlfriend clean up her room?"

Derek laughed, "Sorry Case, but I maybe your boyfriend, but I'm still not helping you," he joked.

Casey scoffed, "Some boyfriend you are." Derek just laughed as he walked out the door.

"I'll go get ice for your stomach and then I'll help you." Casey just nodded and turned to start cleaning up.

Boyfriend, she thought with a smile on her face.

A/N: Hope you liked it. Feedback please, I need to know if it's good and what not.