AN: So this is the last chapter of my story. A LONG last chapter.

I wanna give a quick thanks to all of you who stuck by me and managed to get through the torture that was my weird sense of humor. hah.

You guys are completely amazing. I can't say it enough. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.

She was sitting through another day alone at her new home. A home that she was slowly getting used to; there was always food in her fridge now; there was more space; there was a bigger TV; there was a lot of silence. Her Dad was still that same work-a-holic and it would never change. He didn't change for her Mother and it wouldn't change for her either. But that was okay. She kind of liked the peace and quiet but she missed her two girlfriends. She missed them physically but she pretty much talked to them every day since she came to New York. She could only thank her Dad for having free long distance on the phone.

- - - -

Casey arrived in New York for her first time ever and seeing the sea of people was overwhelming. She was excited but at the same time she was still pretty bummed with what happened between she and Derek and it kinda radiated off of her.

Dennis could tell something was up and he kind of knew it had something to do with Derek. Nora had told him about Casey's mishap in Vegas and how it ended in divorce and he kind of sympathized for his daughter. He sort of had a slight feeling that because she was heartbroken, that it was the only reason she moved out here. But she was here with him and Dennis was going to try his hardest to make his daughter feel at home here in New York. He just wanted her to be happy.

After lunch and a stroll around her new neighborhood, she finally got settled. She had to gasp at how crazy big the room was. With its lavender colored walls; as if it were already made for her. She smiled and realized things could only get better.

"Hey Sweetheart, I'm gonna get some rest now. We have a big case going on." He gave his daughter a kiss on the head. "I'm so glad you're here. And cheer up, okay? Things will get brighter. I promise."

"I hope so." Casey smiled sincerely at her Father. "But I'm really glad I'm out here, Dad. Goodnight."

"Night, Kiddo."

Casey unpacked most of her things and after an hour of organizing, she decided to finally take a break. Lying on her bed, she started to think about him again. She couldn't help it he just happened to fill a space in her head that seemingly felt permanent. There was a part of her that felt an itch to call him and just let him know she had arrived but her reasonable mind took over. It told her that they finally just ended things and she would look pathetic if she called him. She didn't want to be pathetic. So she would do the next best thing. "Hey, Gina, I'm here now; safe and sound."

"Thank God. I was waiting for a call and then I went through a bunch of scenarios where you might've crashed or something." She had hyper written all over her voice, "Then my baby would be missing a Godmother. Man then I'd have to attend another fun--"

"Gina!" Casey was a bit freaked out by her death scenarios, "I'm alive and well. I don't think I'll be dying anytime soon…" she managed a small chuckle.

"Good. Dying isn't good for my schedule right now." She continued to joke. "But Emily's on her way over. We're going to have dinner with Lindsay."

"Replacing me already?" Casey asked with a slight smugness to her.

"No!" Gina whined and she was getting that all day long. "We're never going to replace you I promise!"

"I'm kidding," Casey chuckled, "Yeah, but I'm glad you guys are hanging out with her."

Gina smirked to herself, "I'm glad too…"

Casey settled herself and decided to just ask, "So how's Derek doing?"

Gina hummed in thought, "He's actually doing pretty good, Casey." For some very wrong reason within herself, Casey kind of hoped he was miserable but much to her surprise, he was okay. Immediately the sound of Gina's voice became that wonderful much too annoying teasing one, "You regret everything that you two talked about in the morning, huh? It's okay, Casey, you can admit it to me."

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves, Gina." Casey started, "We had that talk for a reason and I'm not going to cave in and cry about him." That was a bold statement because she cried on the plane. "And it's obvious he's doing just fine too." Casey sighed in admittance, "I guess I just miss him already. That's all."

Gina snorted almost immediately, "That's because you two did the dirty before you left. Did you guys use protection? Is my child going to have a playmate—ow!" Casey raised an eyebrow at Gina's outburst. "I'm kidding!" she defended herself to someone other than Casey. "Casey," she expressed blankly, "I have to go. But we'll talk later, okay? Go call Emily now before she gets here—oh! And when you call her, make sure you tell her that you called me first!" Gina teased."Because I'm more important!"

"Gina, I love you guys equally, okay?"

"Blah, blah…"

Casey ignored her, "Bye, Gina."

"Blah." Gina hung up the phone and rubbed the shoulder that was pinched lightly. "Dammit! That really hurt, Derek."

"Sorry."

"Well," she stared at his intent nature, "she misses you already and because I told her you're fine, she put on some stupid façade about being okay too." Derek grinned. "So your plan is set."

"Saweet!"

Gina snorted toward him, "You better just hope the girl doesn't find some new guy before you get there to surprise her with everything. I mean," she chuckled to herself, "wouldn't it be something if Casey fell in love with some American guy. Then you'd fall flat on your ass with this whole moving to New York thing. Then you'd have to move back here and be all miserab--" Derek glowered as she spoke every word and he turned red at the thought of Casey being with some other guy. "Fine, Derek," Gina sighed, "If it helps, I'll give you weekly summaries and I'll even use my very persuasive ways to get her to stay single. I'll even tell Emily." Derek got up and went over to her, hugging her tightly. "Ow! Derek! Not too hard. I have a little fetus growing in me."

"Oh," he pulled back and gave her an apologetic smile, "right."

- - - -

It had been almost two months since coming here and she didn't expect things to be so hard now. School was very difficult, being in a new environment was extremely difficult, and being alone was pretty difficult. Work was pretty hectic with all the running around she had to do but she enjoyed it. It was something she needed to be comfortable around. She knew it was too late to cave and run back home. But there was still that strong part of her that knew she could handle this and she wasn't going to be so scared. This was the reason why she came to New York other than school and work. She was trying to become a new person because she was an adult already. She had to face the real world and she was.

The guys around here were much too different than the ones in Toronto. They were forward with what they thought about you and they told you straight up how they felt. It was odd to Casey. There was no chase and most of the guys were assholes. Dating was the last thing on her mind because they weren't that certain guy that she still had in her mind even almost two months into her move. Gina and Emily told her it was too soon for something like that. And she knew it was. Casey didn't always listen to her girlfriends' advice but this time she wanted to.

Studying quietly in her new living room, she went over the newest topic of discussion in her very challenging classes. "Psychological Basis of Behavior…" she sighed, "Kiss my ass." She decided it was time for a break. Closing her big textbook, Casey got comfortable on the couch and turned the TV on to get her mind off of things.

"Where does depression hurt?" came that cursed commercial.

"Everywhere…" Casey answered it.

Who does depression hurt?"

"Everyone…"

"Cymbalta can help…"

Casey grabbed her pen and notepad and wrote, "Casey, once you get your clinical license... prescribe yourself some Cymbal--" she would be interrupted in her small depressed act as the sounding of door-knocking rang her ears. "I swear," she got up and huffed over to the front door, "if it's that creep from the 7th floor trying to--" she opened it and much to her surprise it wasn't the creep from the 7th floor. It was the last person she should've been seeing there standing at her door; better yet, seeing period. But it was someone she could honestly say she missed and has missed. "Wh-what are you doing here, Der--"

He waved a hand to get her to stop talking and she did. The next thing she saw was him bringing out his hand for him to introduce himself and she had nothing but confusion hit her face. "Hi. I'm Derek Venturi. I don't think we've met before." Derek Venturi brought his hand over to the frozen girl's and shook it himself. "I need to see a Casey McDonald?" she blinked at him, "I really, really, need to talk to her."

"What are you do--"

He interrupted her and rose his voice a little bit louder, "It's really important that I speak with her."

Casey's face was scrunched up in a ball of confusion and thought she went a bit crazy for a second. But he really was there and he was really saying the things he was saying. She could do nothing but play along like an idiot, "Oh, okay, come in." He came in and sat on her couch, while she took a seat back on her single chair. She was still completely perplexed by this and any confusion she felt when she saw him was immediately erased because all she saw was crazy.

"You're Casey McDonald right?" she nodded slowly; not quite sure what his game is. "So I happen to know that you're in the field of that crap where you listen to people's problems or whatever. And I really need someone to talk to about the issues I'm having."

Casey couldn't help but let out a tiny laugh. Derek having issues always made her laugh. "So what are these 'issues' you're having?"

Derek sat up straighter and scooted to the edge of the couch to get closer to her. "Okay, see, I just recently got divorced, alright," Casey's heart started to beat faster and her body started to grow tense. She had gone through a mix of confusion, crazy, and nervousness in the matter of minutes. "And I kinda messed it up with her."

"Re-really?" she fumbled her words a bit at the start of his speech. She quickly realized she could actually get some info out of this. "You wanna tell me about it?"

He took a deep breath and started, bringing his focus to look down and not at her, "It was a drunken mistake of a marriage and we started to become close. Yeah, we were never really close before but for some reason this marriage brought us a lot closer when it shouldn't have. Then things started to happen and I started to feel something for her, you know?" he brought his eyes back to stare directly at hers as she nodded slowly for him to continue, "Yeah. I really had it bad. And the best part about it was that she felt something for me too. It took her forever," he chuckled, "but she did admit it."

"Uh-huh…"

"We had some issues we had to deal with in our marriage," he continued, "Whether we wanted to stay married or divorce and we handled it in the most childish of ways. We argued and fought then I went and tried to do something to end it quickly." He shrugged, "See, I've come to realize that I do things without thinking." She snorted a bit loud and he jokingly glared at her as he went on. "I have an impulse and I go with it. I don't think about the consequences and who they could hurt. Usually, I just think about me and if I'm not hurt then things should be fine. But I hurt her." He nodded slowly in remembrance, "I hurt her because I kept things from her that I shouldn't have. And God, it sucks to hurt her." Letting out a deep breath, "Then she told me she couldn't trust me and it hurt pretty bad to hear because I know she could. It was a stupid choice and she wanted to know why I did it. I didn't know but I had some time to think and I know now."

"Wh-why did you keep things from her?" she stammered a bit nervous.

Derek took another deep breath and stared directly into her eyes, "I think because I wanted her to find out on her own." Her eyebrows immediately arched as a reflex, continuing, "I didn't want her to find out about the wedding being her fault but about the things we said to one another. And trust me I didn't know right off the bat. There were all these times where she looked at me funny because I was so calm at the most random hours of the day and that's when it started to hit me. It was completely crazy, all those things we did. So after that, I started to slowly go over everything that happened that night and at the same time I would be around her." He shrugged and brought his focus to the floor, feeling slightly embarrassed by all this talking he's doing. And he was never one for talking. "And I just felt like being around her. All the time, I just felt the need to have her around me. Whether it be annoying her at her apartment or stalking her from a night out," he chuckled lightly in thought of those good times, "I needed her around me."

Casey felt blood rushing to her cheeks as she blushed at his words and she hasn't blushed around him in what felt like forever. "O-oh yeah?" she nervously replied.

"Yep," he nodded and looked back up at her, "I told myself that those things that she and I had done in Vegas were crazy; that they were meaningless words we spoke in a drunken state." His voice was full of exhilaration as he continued, "Then I found myself feeling all these things and it was all because of that night. Sure we were drunk but I remembered it and I remember all the things we said to one another. All those 'I love you's' we said," he stifled a laugh, "Even though we were drunk, I meant them." Casey felt her breathing becoming more erratic. "I meant each one of them and it just took me forever to realize it." He nodded slowly, wanting to avoid her eyes, "And I guess that's exactly the reason why I wanted her to find out on her own. I wanted her to realize that she meant those things to me too. I didn't want her to hear it from my mouth because I would never know if she said it to pity me or if she really meant it. So I never told her. I just waited patiently for her to know what happened between us. I wanted her to love me and know all on her own that she did."

Her eyes grew watery at his words and that was a pretty damned good excuse for doing what he did. "Is that s-so?" she sniffled lightly.

"No doubt," he sighed in continuing, "Then I did it again after we had another chance. I did it again and she feels like she can't trust me. I want her to trust me because I didn't deceive her on purpose. I didn't and I swear if I could have another chance with her that I'd never do it again. I would never."

His voice was full of sincerity and she knew he really meant it. "Did you tell her that?" She was really getting practice at this psychologist thing.

Derek gave her a half smile at her slight attempt to speak to him, "I didn't get a chance because she moved away. It's been over a month since I've seen her and I miss her like crazy. It's like every time we're apart, I'm not myself. And I know I just really need her in my life. I really just need her in my life. I really miss her, you know?"

She nodded slowly and sat hesitant to talk, "D-does she feel the same way?" Casey slowly brought her finger up to wipe the lone happy tear.

"Hmm…" his nose wrinkled in thought, "See that I don't know. I have no idea how she feels about me now. We spoke about how our relationship might never work and it sucked. And let me tell you, it didn't take me long to realize that it could. That our relationship could work but she left and I never got to tell her how much I still wanted her. That I still needed her in my life and I was willing to make it work with her. No matter what it took."

- - - -

Derek was having a hectic few weeks. He wanted to surprise her and he knew that if all went well, Casey would be ecstatic about everything; even imagined the look on her face when he'd tell her. There was a part of him that wanted to just hurry and go to New York and tell her he loves her and that he wants to be there with her; that he was willing to move to be with her but he thought he'd take care of all the basics first. He put his usual impulsive mind to rest for a minute and decided to actually work all this out for them; that things would be all set and perfect.

But perfect was all imaginary since the past few weeks he'd been searching for the perfect apartment for them. Derek Venturi was actually looking for an apartment in New York and that's how much he cared about her. He knew she was staying with her Dad and if he was going to move there, he wasn't going to stay at her Dad's home. He wanted a place for them. Something nice, something kind of spacious and something absolutely in his price range. All he's found so far was small crappy apartments that were the size of his current room or one's that were completely overpriced. It was ticking him off and he was getting annoyed at how long this was taking. He wanted to see Casey already and he knew she wasn't going to wait forever for him and she'd probably end up finding some hot American dude. He cringed at the thought of it and it only made him want to search more. Derek was still enlisting in Gina and Emily's help with the whole keeping Casey single while he found a place to move out plan. Living with Gina, he knew she was getting annoyed with this whole secrecy fiasco but Derek knew she kinda thought the plan was romantic, so she kept at it. But this was Gina and the girl tended to drive him bonkers day in and day out.

"Derek, could I actually use my laptop for once?" Gina annoyingly tapped her foot as her arms crossed at him. "I need to check my FaceSpace."

He took his eyes off the screen to blankly stare at the girl, "What the hell is a FaceSpace?"

"It's a quicker word for both FaceBook and MySpace."

"Stupid…" he blankly teased her.

"FaceSpace now!!"

"Gina," he groaned, "I'm still trying to look for a place." He was getting frustrated and Gina could tell but checking her FaceSpace seemed more important at the moment. "Just wait."

"I can't wait!" she yelped, "I want to post some bulletins and tell all my friends that I'm expecting," she grinned proudly."Then I can get presents!"

"What friends?" Derek snorted at her; eyes still focused on the apartment listings. "We all know you're pregnant. Calm down."

"I have friends!" she defended herself as a pout washed on her features, "I have friends other than you guy--" her cell phone went off and her eyes narrowed with a smug smile, "See. I have friends. My other friends call me, Der--" she grabbed her phone and saw Casey's number. "Dammit."

Derek just couldn't help but laugh, "So which one is it? Sam? Emily? Maybe Lindsay? How about Casey? Or is it even me?" he kept laughing at her as he scrolled down through the New York listings. "Stupid New York," he muttered quietly to himself.

She glared daggers at him and brought her cell to her ear, "Hi, Casey." Derek sat up and stared as Gina spoke to the woman he couldn't wait to see. He also needed to be sure she was still off the market.

"Hey, Gina, how's the belly?"

"Just dandy," Gina rolled her eyes as Derek watched her intently, waiting for some sort of okay; that things were still normal. "So what are you up to?"

"I'm on my break. I'm about to go grab some lunch with a co-worker."

Gina was evil and she had it in her to mess with Derek right now. "Co-worker, huh?" she swore she saw Derek's face pale at the words, "Is he cute?"

Casey laughed pathetically toward herself, "She's a girl co-worker. I'm still not ready to go guy hunting, Gina. Please." She chided. "Derek is still driving me nuts even from all the way over there."

"Uh-huh…" Gina smirked to herself to make Derek even more terrified. "That's good to know."

"Yeah, so I was just checking in. I tried to call Emily but she was busy…if ya know what I mean." Casey and Gina busted out into laughter, "Well, tell everyone hey for me. Stay away from those chips, Gina, I mean it. Love you. Bye."

Casey hung up and Derek was still watching Gina intently. She was tempted to drive him nuts and she was going to. He had already given her a nickname and she was going to live up to it. She was The Evil Hormone. "Oh yeah, you like him a lot?" Derek's face was pale no more. Instead it was red with anger as the words spilled from her mouth. "He plays hockey?! What! That's crazy." Gina continued this act and it was really pissing him off because it was really believable, "So he's hot, huh? I knew it! Yeah, well sweetie. That's great. I'm glad you're finally moving on. Uh-huh…" Gina bit her lip to contain the laughter that was building up inside of her, "Alright. Have fun on your lunch date. Bye. Yes, yes, no more chips. I promise. Love you too." She hung up her cell phone and nonchalantly dropped on the couch as if nothing happened.

Derek's breathing shortened at his friend as he stood in front of her. "What the hell was that?!" he cried out, "She's seeing someone?!" Gina shrugged. "What happened to you're going to persuade her to stay single?!"

"O-oops…" she held her laughter in again as she watched him freak out. The next thing she saw was Derek grabbing his cell-phone, "Wh-what are you doing?" she stammered and had a feeling he was going to call Casey; that her joking was going too far.

"I'm calling her." Gina stood up to stop him but Derek already had the phone to his ear. "She's not supposed to—Casey!" Gina wrinkled her nose and dropped back on the couch to see what could possibly happen. She was a bit intrigued to say the least.

"Derek?" she answered nervously and he was the last person she'd expect to call her. "Wha--"

"Who's this guy?! You're seeing some guy already?!" he practically yelled in frustration. "Who is he?!"

"What are you talking about? I'm not seeing some guy?" she sounded just as confused as ever.

"Casey, I'm not stupid. You don't have to hide it from me, okay?" he expressed with a mix of anger and sadness, "I ju--"

"Derek!" Casey said a bit loud to interrupt him, "I'm not seeing anyone. I hardly even talk to any guys out here. I promise."

Her tone of voice was much too convincing and for her to actually promise made it seem as if she was for real. A part of him felt a bit elated at the fact that he was still on her mind. "But, Gi--" his eyebrows furrowed as he brought his focus over to the in-hysterics woman on the couch and immediately he knew he was played. "I-I was just kidding!" he put on a joking act to persuade her over the phone. "I just wanted to see how you were and decided to play a little joke on you." He laughed nervously, "So how are you? Great? Just fine? That's awesome. Me too. So I should get going. Don't talk to other guys, okay? Ha-ha. Alright bye."

Derek hung up on her while she couldn't even get two words in. "Weird."

"Who was that?" her co-worker asked.

"Ex-husband…"

The co-worker had it in her to tease her new colleague, "Sounds like someone still loves ya if he's getting all jealous like that."

"One could only hope…"

--

Derek let out a much needed breath as his eyes narrowed angrily at the pregnant brunette on the couch, "I can't believe you just did that."

"Yeah," she coughed out in laughter, "and you all made it seem like Sam was the jealous freak." Gina smirked at him, "I'll tell you now, Derek Venturi, you mess with me and I'll mess with you right back."

"You're good," he nodded slowly toward her, "You're real good." He walked over to the computer desk that sat in their living room, dropping in his chair pathetically, "But since you nearly screwed me over, you're off Casey-call duty. Emily's on full-time." Gina wrinkled her nose at her demotion, "And not only that, but you're not getting any laptop privileges--"

Her eyebrows furrowed at him, "But it's my laptop, though."

"So!" he pulled up a chair, setting it next him, "Now you're gonna sit and you're going to help me find the perfect apartment where my future wife and I will reside in the later days. Come on." He patted the seat, "Come sit next to Godfather Derek."

Dragging her feet over to him, she dropped in the chair, "Fine." Gina let out a scoff, "But my child is not calling you Godfather Derek."

"Oh yes, the little fetus will."

- - - -

"Is that so?" she felt herself sweating at his words.

"Yup," Derek nodded, "I brought up some stupid thing about how we won't work because we're complicated." He shrugged, "And it was stupid because who isn't complicated, right?" a scoff was let out, "I mean no couple is perfect but what we had was pretty damn close to perfect." Casey let out a tiny smile at his words. "And I regret bringing up that stupid BS. Seems like a lot of the things I do are stupid." He stifled a pathetic laugh, "She just loved calling me a stupid son of a bitch."

"You know," she felt a bit terrible for him saying that. Her heart tugged a bit at his tone of voice and it seemed as if he kind of was hurt by all the times she's called him that before; whether it was playful or not. "I'm pretty sure she overreacted toward the situation or the problem. Everyone says things they don't mean when they are angry or if the situation is a negative one. I'm almost positive she doesn't think you're stupid."

Derek had a small smirk creep up on the side of his lips, "You think so?"

"Yeah," Casey nodded and tried to hide her own small smile from him, "it's a common fact. It also brings on a lot of regret after the situation has passed."

"So what should I do?" he sat up straighter and brought himself closer to the edge of the couch again, "What can I do about this situation I'm in?"

"D-do you still love her?" she stammered nervously as she asked him.

"Never stopped," he told her with complete confidence because it was the truth after all. "It's just hard," he wrinkled his nose as he thought, "It's just hard to figure out how she feels about me now. After everything that's gone on. The stupidity, the lies, the mistrust, the fighting; it's pretty hard for me to read her. It's also really hard to figure it out when she lives in another country."

Casey took a deep breath and decided to give him some much needed advice; advice that pertained mainly to her. "So why don't you just come clean and tell her everything that you've been feeling." He looked a bit nervous by that suggestion. "It wouldn't just hurt to try, right?" Derek shrugged lightly to himself and Casey knew he wasn't going to get straight with her or else they wouldn't be having this session. "Okay," she sighed lightly and brought herself to sit at the edge of her seat to get a little closer to him, "if your ex-wife were me, what would you tell her?"

Derek couldn't hold that grin that had been hiding in him somewhere. She gave him an opening and he wasn't going to fail at it. Taking a seat on the glass coffee table, he settled himself in front of her. His brown eyes directly meeting her blue ones.

"I love you." Was the first thing he needed to tell her and he saw her nose start to get even more red than it was, "I still love you and this stupid complication that I brought up when I last saw you?" he shook his head, "That's all it was: stupid. I miss you. I miss you and your mini freak-outs; your angry tirades when you get all pissed at me," he smirked, "but deep down you can't wait for me to apologize and make it up to you. I miss you sleeping next to me because those were the best nights of sleep I have ever gotten. And I mean that in the most un-perverted way." She coughed out a laugh as she sniffled lightly. "And even though you drool, I don't really worry about it because it just helps me actually do my laundry. That way I'm actually clean and you don't have to complain about how dirty I am." Casey continued with her light laughter but quickly settled it as he got more serious, "I want to say sorry for keeping all those things from you. I didn't mean to do it. You know me, I never use my brain. I don't think. I just do. I have an impulse and I go with it. I'd never do that to you again. I promise I won't." Bringing his attention to the ground, he nodded to himself, "That day you left me, I had the biggest impulse to date." Casey's eyebrows furrowed in confusion to which his eyes were brought his back to hers, "Right after you left, I had the idea to come here to New York to be with you."

"Yo-you what?" she choked out.

"Yeah, funny thing about this impulse though, was I used my brain." He nodded slowly and pointed to his head, "I used my brain and I didn't just come here after I came up with the idea. I let it fester crazily in my brain for a few hours and I realized if I'm going to do this, I'm going to go all out." He brought his mock smug act, "Because that's how Derek Venturi rolls." Casey couldn't help but laugh at his cockiness, "So I spent the last month and a half searching for an apartment here; for work even. And I found both. I got us an apartment and I got a job so I could pay for the place." Kneeling in front her to be leveled, he reached over. Slowly, he brought his hand up to touch the side of her face and it felt amazing to do it again. Softly, he whispered, "I did all these things for you." Gently swaying his thumb underneath her eye as the tears fell, he continued, "Because I love you, Case."

"I love you too." She sniffled lightly, "I love you."

"Hey!" he grinned happily, "This is the first time we're actually saying it to one another!"

Casey choked out a laugh as he wiped away more of her happy tears, "It is, isn't it?" Derek nodded as she brought her hands on either side of his face, sighing lightly, "So did you really get an apartment here or was that just a bunch of bullshit to make me swoon?" she had a bit of a smirk herself.

"I got us an apartment, Casey." He assured her, planting a kiss on the inside of her wrist, "It took me a while to find the perfect one but I found one. And I literally just got the stuff moved."

- - - -

"Aw!" Gina cried happy tears at the sight of the apartment, "Just like how we saw it, Derek!"

"Wow," Emily was in awe the place, "It really is beautiful, Derek. Casey's gonna love it."

Derek smirked as he took a look around the newly furnished apartment. He could only hope that Casey was gonna love it. It was a mix of his and Casey's things. He'd brought over some of the stuff Casey left behind as well as his own things from his room. Of course he had to bring over his beloved recliner. It wouldn't be a Venturi home without one.

Everything was set and he'd done a terrific job at setting everything in its place. He knew if something was messed up that Casey would fix it herself because she was still that organized freak that he loved to make fun of. Now he couldn't wait to see her and see how she'd love everything here. If she would love everything here and with how everything was swaying his way, he had a great feeling Casey would love it just as much as he did. "So you guys like it?"

Emily and Gina nodded. "We absolutely love it. It kind of reminds me of Monica's apartment in 'Friends' but a much compact version." Emily beamed in thought, "Aw, see! You and Casey are totally Ross and Rachel!"

"Totally!" Gina joined in as she looked out the window at the view of the backstreets, "Those two ended up together in the end."

"Well I'm hoping that it's just the beginning for us." Derek blushed with embarrassment at how soft he got when it came to Casey.

"Aw," Gimily teased him. "Is our little Derek Venturi becoming that super sweet love-sick puppy again?!" He wrinkled his nose at the girls and they wasted no time in approaching him with pinches to his cheeks. "Derek Venturi loves his ex-wifeeee…" they let out in that sing-song voice.

"Anyways…" he slapped their hands away to which they laughed at him some more. "I also just got a paid internship to be an assistant to a Video Producer."

"What the hell do they do?" Gina raised an annoyed eyebrow while Emily nudged her, "Sorry," Gina rolled her eyes and put on a proper voice, "What is it that they do, Derek?" her attention was brought back to Emily, "There is that better?" Emily nodded.

"Like I was saying…" Derek shook his head at The Evil Hormone, "I assist in capturing video, video editing, sound and lighting. I'll get a lot of experience in it and if I'm there long enough I'll be able to get up to that Video Producer Status."

"Oh!" Gina grinned in thought as she elbowed Emily, "Derek's gonna be famous! Then we can get into parties and screenings in New York! Oh! And we'll meet celebs here too!"

Emily was liking the thought of this once more. "And it won't seem like we're using him because we're already friends with him!"

"I mean we'd totally be using him…" Gina let out.

"Yeah," Emily coughed out, "we totally would be."

"Hello?!" Derek raised his arms up in frustration. "I'm standing right here?!"

Emily and Gina stopped their chattering. "Sorry." "Oops."

"In all seriousness though," Emily settled herself, "We're really happy for you, Derek."

Gina nodded along, "Yeah, it's like everything's working out." Her hormones went a bit crazy as she sniffled, "Like a good romantic comedy ending…" Without another word Emily and Gina gave him a group hug.

Derek's nose wrinkled at the two, "Yeah, yeah. I love Casey. But you two girls are starting to make me feel like a pansy!" Emily and Gina rolled their eyes, "Where is Sam when you need him? Shlepper would even be better than the two of you estrogen pills."

"Shut up, Derek!" Gina smacked his shoulder to which he laughed, "Schleppy was with his parents and Sam couldn't go because he just got that new job--"

"Yeah," Derek snorted jokingly to mess with the poor girl, "That and he wanted to see his girlfriend on the side." Emily smacked him upside the head. "Ow! I'm just kidding!" he yelped as he rubbed his head. "You girls just seriously love abusing me…"

"Yeah," Gina laughed nervously not even retorting to Derek's abuse talk, "I know he's just kidding, Em. Sam would nev--" she cleared her throat and grabbed her cell-phone to dial as she went into Derek's bedroom. "SAM!"

"You're an evil, evil, boy, Derek Venturi." Emily narrowed her eyes at him, "The poor girl is hormonal and all you do is mess with her."

"Exactly," he grinned, "It's too easy."

- - - -

"So you had everyone know about this?" he nodded, "So every time Emily or Gina would call me and ask about guys and dating and how it wasn't the right thing to do…that was because of thi—oh! And that time you called me and yelled about me seeing some guy that I wasn't?" Derek cringed in remembrance as he nodded. "Aw," she had that teasing face all ready for him, "you were so scared that I was gonna meet someone new out here, huh?"

"Terrified," he sighed in admittance.

"Aw," she teased again, resting gently her arms around his neck. Quickly, her nose became red and the sniffles started to flood again, "Why!" she smacked his shoulder, "why are you totally sweet, Derek Venturi?"

Bringing his face right in front of hers, he softly whispered, "Because for some insane reason, Casey, I'm crazy about you."

"Thank God…" she slowly brought her face in front of his; her lips hovering over his, "because I was this close to going crazy over here." Without waiting a response, she brought her lips to meet his. The shivers were still there and the fluttering feelings were still intact but there was something different. All the stupid was gone and it was just them. It was just another one of those indescribable and perfect kisses.

Leaning her forehead on hers, he smirked, "Not such a shitty Psychologist after all…"

Casey gasped in excitement, "You said Psychologist!"

His face fell seriously, "Sorry, Psychiatrist."

Casey sighed.

--

"You know, Derek," Casey looked around their new apartment and Derek didn't see her express any excitement whatsoever…it kinda scared him. "This is the size of my Dad's living room…" she looked over a face-falling Derek, "But…" she walked over to him and brought herself in his arms as she hugged tightly, "I love this place because it's ours."

"Really?" he had that sort of reluctance in his voice. "Are you sure? Because I know this doesn't even compete with your Dad's place. But this was the nicest place that I could aff--"

She covered his mouth with her hand and it had been a while since she's done it. "I love it. I love this apartment and I don't care if my Dad's place was a palace. I don't care because having you around and having our own place beats a palace." A grin slowly appeared on her face, "Our own place, Derek. That means we can do whatever we want on our own time…"

He held her tighter as a smirk started to form on his lips, "I think you might be on to something…" he slowly started to nuzzle her neck, "We can do whatever we want…" as he planted kisses on her neck. He realized how perfect this moment was. Just the two of them and he was thinking about it. Thinking of his latest impulse and if it would be risky seeing that they just got together. But he didn't care. He was going to do it just like every other impulse he's thought of. Pulling back, he placed a sweet kiss on her lips, "So you know how much I love you, right?"

"Um…" Casey took a gander around the place as a chuckle was let out, "I'm pretty sure I do."

"So you can see that you mean everything to me," he held her tighter, "I know for sure that you do. Being away from you sucks and I hated it. Months ago I would have killed myself for saying this but," he looked down as he shrugged, bringing his eyes back to meet hers, "I really need you in my life."

"Dammit," Casey muttered as tears started to fall again, "Sorry," he chuckled lightly, wiping them gently for her. "I need you in my life too, Derek, I do."

"I do…" he sighed as he repeated the words, "Um, Casey?" he felt like a fumbling idiot, "You think about the future?"

She had it in her to blankly stare at him, "Do you know who you're talking to?"

"Yeah, yeah. So…" he smirked as his shoulder slightly shrugged, "am I in it?"

"You're in it," she assured him with confidence. "You better be in it after all this we just got ourselves into."

Derek couldn't help but roll his eyes as a small grin graced his lips. "So there was something I bought, right, and I never got to give it to you." Immediately he saw the confusion on her face. "I got it for you on my birthday, if that isn't ironic enough. But before I do this, I have to tell you," his face became much too serious. "I'm gonna quit being stupid because this is it. I promise this is it."

"Me too, Derek," she murmured in front of him. "Well," she shrugged lightly in thought, "the occasional stupid is allowed because we both know that's who we are."

Derek nodded in agreement, "Totally true. Well come here…" he held her hand and led her to their new bedroom where Derek reached into his dresser and took out the black box. Holding it in his hand, he brought his full attention to her, "I love you, Case." Casey caught sight of that black box and her breathing started to become more erratic at the thought of it; eyes started to well up. "It was just another impulse but that day I knew for sure that it was all you. Just like now. I know we just got back together and I'm risking it but I know for sure it's you." He wanted to assure her using those same questions she asked him that one morning, during a fight, "I'm so sure that at my age I'm ready to settle down and stay with you. That it's going to be you forever. It has to be you forever." He got down on that cliché knee, "I know this isn't some romantic setting or anything but I always loved when it was just the two of us."

"Me too," she sniffled, "Just us." He opened up that little black box and it revealed that familiar old wedding ring that she grew used to wearing. That wedding ring she had gotten from the Minister in Vegas. "Oh..." her voice slightly upbeat, hinting a bit of disappointment, "It's be-beautiful, Derek. Ju-just what I wanted." She nodded to herself as she laughed nervously, "Lo-looks exactly like my old one, heh-heh…"

His face fell at her tone. "You don't like it."

"No!" she stared down at him, offering a smile, "I love it! It's..." she bit her lip to contain herself, "gorgeous, Derek." He stood up; hurt written all over his face. "Derek--"

"No, it's okay. I understand." Sighing, he shut the little black box and went back over to his dresser, throwing it in as he shut it closed. "Okay, s--"

"Derek!" she put her hands on either side of him, begging him to look at her and he did, reluctantly, "What are you doing?! I loved it! I promise I loved it!"

"No," he shook his head pathetically, "You hated it. You wanted something better. Not your old ring. Ugh! I'm so stupid!" Casey frowned. "Sorry."

"Derek, I promise I loved it." She tried again to assure him, "I'll love anything you give me no matt--"

"Just stop…" he sighed with much disappointment, "It's not good enough…" Casey was starting to feel horrible. "You expected something better. Something like this…" there he held in between his thumb and index finger, was that ring.

"Der--" Her eyes darted open in shock with what was in front of her; this ring that she had seen before; this ring that she fell in love with. "De-Derek, this is the…the…" she stammered. He managed a slight laugh at her daze for the ring he'd gotten for her. Casey wasted no time in punching his shoulder with force. "You are such an asshole, you know that?"

"Oh, Casey," he slapped his thigh in laughter, "Your face! Priceless, I tell you!" She glowered angrily at him to which he quickly settled his laughter. "Ye-yeah," he cleared his throat and brought on the serious, "I got it that day. I got it for you that day because I knew you loved it. I wanted to give it to you, you know, as a 'real' engagement ring...then everything that happened…" his face fell at the thought. "But I kept it. I kept it because I still had hope, Casey."

Casey couldn't help but smile at him and she just couldn't believe it. This guy had moved to New York for her. Gotten an apartment for them to share and left everything behind in Toronto…for her. Now in front of her was this ring. This ring that she saw at the store that day and come to find out, he had gotten it for her. And he'd had it all along. During the fights, during the divorce, during their time apart; he kept it. It really just confirmed how much he really loved her. And he really did love her.

"Marry me, Case." He looked directly at her as the anger subsided and the tears fell. "A real engagement. A real wedding. A real marriage. Marry me. Again."

"Yes, I'll marry you again." Casey nodded along and let the tears fall softly from her eyes. He didn't wait another second to put that really gorgeous engagement ring on her finger and man did it fit perfectly. Wrapping an arm around her waist; the other gently cupping the side of her face, Derek pulled her in for a re-engagement kiss. Pulling back Casey stifled a laugh, "I promise I'll be better than your first wife..."

- - - -

There they sat on their flight back to Toronto; Casey sitting to the left of him as he stared at the TV on the front headrest. It was an awkward vacation for them both. He was married. He was accidentally married to the snoring girl to his side. And not only that, he had gotten intimate with his wife. Now the two of them were flying home to seek that annulment Casey mentioned. Then their marriage would be dissolved. An annulment they really needed.

He rolled his eyes as Casey's head fell upon his shoulder. His initial reaction was to nudge it off much like she did on their way to Vegas but for some odd reason he didn't. Staring ahead with the occasional glances at the vanilla smelling brunette on his shoulder, he reached into his pocket carefully to prevent waking up the girl. Taking out that cheap metal he called a wedding ring, Derek gently put it on his finger and stared. For a second there, he kind of liked the look but would be immediately shaken out of it as he felt a warm wetness on his shoulder. His face scrunched up in a ball of disgust as he quickly stripped that ring off his finger and hid it back into his pocket. Still realizing he was letting his drooling wife rest on him, he shook his head pathetically as certain thought crossed his mind. A certain thought that pertained to his drooling accidental wife. A certain thought that pertained to him actually being with his drooling accidental wife. "Oh, Venturi," he sighed, putting his head back on his seat, "what the hell is the matter with you..."

I hope you guys enjoyed it. Thanks again! :)