AN: I wanted to put this at the beginning because I have really important and exciting news! My really good friend, JesterDala (you probably all know her from youtube) and I are trying to work on a sort of virtual season 5 of Life with Derek. We have all the episode summaries, but we're in desperate need of writers to, well… write the episodes! If you are interested, PLEASE message me. We would love your help! For more information go to (only replace the dots and slashes with the actual things.) Thanks you guys! I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review if you can! I love you all!

He reaches for the phone, his hands trembling in anticipation. Casey and he agreed to tell their parents about their engagement straight away, considering George was expecting a phone call from him later, anyway. If they did put Marti up to calling and trying to scare them out of a relationship, they are in for one big surprise.

"It'll be okay." Casey says, gently touching the side of his face. He leans into her touch, finding comfort in her presence, and he dials his old home number, still not pressing 'send.'

"They can't say anything that's going to make me change my mind, and if we have to, we'll do this whole wedding on our own." she says softly, trying to reassure him. "I'm right here."

She leans over and kisses him on the lips, and he has to force himself to pull back after a while. They always get carried away after too much kissing, and if he does call his dad now, he never will.

"Alright. Here it goes." he says, and she grasps his hand in her own. He presses the send button, puts it on speaker phone, and sets the phone down on the table, looking at it as if it were an atomic bomb.

"Derek, hey, you finally called." George's voice speaks from the other end.

"Yep." he replies, his voice cracking in the process. "What's up, Dad?"

"Just checking to see if you and Casey are still together."

He rolls his eyes and she sighs, placing her head on his shoulder. "Yes, Dad, we are." he replies. "And we've got some, uh… big news to tell you, so I was wondering if you could get Nora?"

"Jesus, Derek, please don't tell me you got her preg-"

"No, Dad! No." he says quickly, and Casey snorts back a laugh beside him, her face turning bright red. "Just… get Nora. Please."

"Fine. I'll be right back." He hears his dad's footsteps and he looks at his fiancée with wide eyes.

"They never give us a break, do they?" he asks, and she giggles.

"Nah, what would be the fun in that?" she nudges him, and he can't help but kiss her again. If he thought the touching was bad before they got together, he can only imagine what his past-self would think now.

They're still locked in an embrace when they hear his dad speak. "Okay, I'm back with Nora. Let's hear this 'big news.'"

They break apart reluctantly and he's nervous again, his hands shaking. "Well, Dad, Nora…" His voice falters a bit and she notices, taking over for him.

"We… we wanted to tell you-"

"Oh, Casey? You're here as well?" Nora asks, and he groans. He just wants to get this over with. It's a painful process, and he wants to rip off the bandaid quickly, not slowly.

"Yes, Mom, I'm here."

"This must be some news." his dad says without any emotion.

"Yes, well-" Casey starts.

"We're engaged!" he yells, cutting everyone off.

Casey stares at him in awe. He thinks he's had too many outbursts to last a lifetime. "'I love you,' 'I'm a virgin,' and 'we're engaged' being only a few. Not that they were all bad outbursts. He just would like to not be so forward sometimes and keep his cool, but that doesn't seem to happen very often when he's around Casey.

There is a long period of silence and then he hears "what?" on the other end.

"We're engaged." Casey speaks this time, and he's grateful, knowing that he probably won't be able to say anything rational at this point in time. "Derek proposed to me earlier today and…" She trails off a bit and looks at him, biting back a smile and absolutely gleaming with happiness. He smiles at her and wraps an arm around her shoulders, drawing her close to him. "And I said yes." she continues, placing a hand on his leg, tears welling up in her eyes at the not-so-distant memory. "And we're both really happy… And it would be great if you could be happy for us too." she finishes, and he can trace a bit of anxiety in her voice, even though she still looks joyful.

There is another lapse of silence and then – "I don't know what to say." It's his dad this time.

"We know we're young, and we haven't been going out for that long, but… I'm not one to make irrational decisions. You know that." Casey reasons with them. "I love Derek." she says softly. "I know this is going to work. I wouldn't have said yes if I didn't believe that I want to spend the rest of my life with him." She's full-fledged crying now, and he doesn't even know if the 'rents can understand her, so he decides it's his turn to speak.

"And do you really think I would propose if I didn't mean it?" he adds. "This decision means I'm tied to Casey forever. No other girls, no flirting, no nothing. Would I really joke around about that?" Casey lets out a watery giggle. Hey, it was the best argument he could come up with.

"I guess… we know you're serious. It was never really a question of seriousness, but…" Nora starts.

"But what?" he asks, a little too harshly. Casey squeezes his leg.

"This is a lot to take in." she says simply, and George continues for her.

"Do you two realize how this is going to affect the rest of the family?" he asks. "I think that Marti, Edwin, and Lizzie could be seriously confused! Not to mention the fact that we are going to have to explain to everyone how our stepchildren are getting married! I just feel that you are being very selfish."

"What?" he practically yells, his jaw dropping in shock.

"Derek, it's okay, just-" Casey tries to calm him down, but this is just ridiculous.

"Are you kidding me? We're being selfish?" he asks incredulously. "We love each other, and we're just asking you to be happy for us, for once, instead of acting ashamed or... or acting like us being stepsiblings is the worst thing in the world!"

"Son-" George tries to interject.

"Don't son me! I'm tired of this!" he continues, and this time Casey doesn't even try to stop him. "What do you want me to do? Break up with Casey because our parents happen to be married? I never asked for this. I never asked to be Casey's stepbrother! And it's really unfair of you to think that we would sacrifice something amazing for your pride! You shouldn't be embarrassed of Casey and me dating. We're not related by blood. It's not like this is incest!" He breathes in and out a few times and relaxes a bit, lowering his voice. "Dad, don't you remember the feeling of asking Nora to marry you, of knowing that you love her and always want to be with her? I have that. Why would you want to take that away from me?"

There's complete and utter silence on the other end, and he thinks he's done it. He finally manages to make a point (or two) to their stubborn parents. Casey rests her head on his shoulder again and whispers in his ear, "I love you."

"I love you too." he whispers back, just loud enough for their parents to hear.

Finally there is a response from his dad. "Okay."

His heart leaps in his chest, but he's still apprehensive. "Okay… what?"

"Okay. If you two are getting married, so be it. I guess we should know by now that we aren't going to change your minds."

"You know… we do love you two. Very much." Nora chimes in, trying to lighten the conversation.

"We know, Mom." Casey says, as he opens his mouth to retort. She gives him a look that clearly reads 'just drop the issue.'

"I just have one question." It's his dad again. "Did Marti call you earlier?"

A smile breaks out on his face. So they did put Marti up to it, and they did want her to scare them out of a relationship. Ha! That didn't work out how they planned at all. "Yes, she did. And remind me to thank her later. She was the one who gave me the idea to propose!" he says with a smirk, and then hangs up the phone.

That night he can't sleep. He needs to buy her ring to make it official. He needs to make a traditional, formal proposal because he can't help but think she deserves better, that his proposal was possibly the crappiest ever made. The next day she kisses him goodbye (even more enthusiastically than normal), and as soon as she's out the door, he's getting ready and leaving as well - though not to class. He has to find her the perfect ring. He doesn't care if he has to spend all of his savings on her. She has to know that he's serious.

He surprises her by showing up after her class and taking her to the park. He packed a picnic lunch, and although the lettuce on their sandwiches is browning a little, and he's thoroughly embarrassed by the state of his frozen pie (that somehow ended up burnt on the edges), she eats everything anyway, telling him his macaroni salad is to die for.

"You've become better at lying." he tells her, and she smashes some of the pie in his face, just to spite him.

"Oh, now you're in for it!" They chase each other around the park and when she thinks she's safe after ducking behind a tree, he leaps at her and tackles her to the ground. They're both laughing, as he rolls off of her and lies beside her in the grass.

"That really hurt, you know that?" she giggles, and he reaches out and brushes her hair out of her face.

"Man up, McDonald. Marriage is no picnic. I'm just training you for the long years ahead of us." he winks at her and then reaches into his sweatshirt pocket when she rolls her eyes, a smile on her face.

"I have something for you." he says quietly, grasping the velvety box in his pocket. He pulls it out and her eyebrows shoot up.

"Der…"

"My proposal was really awful, so I thought I'd give this another try." He sits up and helps her up as well, so that they're at eye level. He's shaking even more than last time, those damn tears threatening to spill from his eyes. (AH, since when did he become such a sap!) "I'll ask you a second time – will you marry me, Case?"

He opens the box and she gasps. It's not the biggest, most expensive gem in the world. Just a diamond, with two round turquoise gems on each side. He thought of her eyes when he saw them.

"Of course." Casey says, and he smiles, taking the ring from its place and slipping it on her finger.

"Looky, there, we're all official now." he jokes, and she examines it for a moment before tackling him to the ground one more time, this time with her lips.

AN: Sorry for such a long wait. As you can see, I'm absolute crap at writing couples. It can only get better, though. I don't have writer's block anymore, so I'm going to get started on the next chapter ASAP. Hope this one wasn't too terrible. Let me know what you think!