Sorry! Sorry! I know I have no right to even be living right now. You all gave me such wonderful reviews and what do I do? I leave you out to dry, hungry and thirsty, in a scourging hot desert. I am a pitiful excuse for a human being and I don't even deserve to live. Really, those were some of the best reviews I've gotten, and I haven't updated that story for forever. To be honest I actually forgot that I posted it on here. Hehehe. ^_^; I must do my best impersonation of Dobby right now and thoroughly punish myself. So, without further ado or delay, on with the show!

Disclaimer: I do not own Life With Derek or any of the characters. I am simply borrowing them for my own amusement, and hopefully to the amusement of others. ^^

Derek Venturi was not a very patient man. He was not known for his kindness either. Nor has it ever been said that he was known to be merciful. So, what is a guy, such as Derek Venturi, to do when a yelling, irate step-sister barges in his room, which is off-limits by the way, and proceeds to yank off his warm covers and penetrate his ears with her piercing, squealing in the morning? He's not sure yet, but he does know one thing. There will be hell to pay.

"DE-REK! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH IT?" screamed Casey for the second time. 'Fuckin' hell that girl can scream', he thought agitatedly. Any last vestiges of sleep were wiped from his brain at her sudden and completely unwanted intrusion. Trying to pull the covers back over his cold body, he reached for the blankets she still held in her hand. She yanked them away unfeelingly. He frowned at her, his annoyance increasing by the second. "Casey, what the hell is your problem?" he said growling at her. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, what the hell is my problem? What the hell is your problem!" she snootily replied to him, her hands on her hips. 'That's weird', he thought to himself, 'Casey never swears, although hell isn't even a swear word, but still….' Wiping his eyes, and deciding that he better put on a shirt and some pants if he was going to keep having this 'discussion' with her, he stood up and made his way to his closet. "Alright, whatever got your panties in a twist I don't know anything about, so get the fuck out because I gotta change". Casey blinked at him. Through her rage she didn't really realize that he was only wearing boxers. Predictably, a rosy blush arose on her cheeks. When he reached for the bed covers she didn't realize that he wasn't really wearing anything underneath! She whipped around and faced away from him. She didn't even get a good look at him though because she had been too angry to notice anything.

Derek smirked at her. Casey was too innocent for her own good. Some guys would find that aspect alluring and take advantage of it. This thought made him frown. Derek found a black long-sleeved shirt with a gray over shirt to go along with it, the numbers '69' written on the front for a specific reason…ehem. He grabbed a random pair of jeans and put those on as well. "You know", Casey continued still facing away as if nothing awkward had just occurred, "what you did Derek. Stealing is a crime, and I will not pay your bail if you continue this habit and land yourself in jail", she said huffily. He grabbed his comb and as he passed Casey his arm lightly brushed against hers. The scent of strawberries and vanilla barely reached his nose before he was continuing on down the hall to the bathroom. "Oh yeah?" he called lazily over his shoulder, not even bothering to glance back at her. He knew that nothing aggravated her more than being treated like she was insignificant. He would settle for petty jibes like that, until he had time to think of a proper punishment for what she did this morning. Hearing her footfalls behind him he couldn't help a smirk as there was a certain 'stomping' quality to them. "Yesss", she hissed acidicly. Derek stood in front of the bathroom mirror carefully styling his 'yeah-I-just-woke-up-but-I-still-look-good' hairstyle. Casey stood behind him, arms crossed over her chest and chin tilted up in defiance. "Look Derek, if you just give back what is rightfully mine then I will stop bothering you, and that will be the end of that", she ground out, teeth grating against each other. He raised an eyebrow at her. 'Casey going quietly? Not likely….' he thought with amusement. He fixed his eyes once more onto the mirror and looked at her through the reflection. "I don't even know what I supposedly 'stole' so there is nothing to give back", he said nonchalantly. Casey pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on. 'This morning is not turning out to be a good one', she thought with a roll of her eyes. "You're really going to make me say it aren't you?" At Derek's stare Casey sighed and said, "Okay fine." Confused, Derek couldn't help but just continue to stare at her. Swallowing her pride Casey looked up at her step-brother and in a saccharinely sweet voice said, "Pleeeeeaaase can I have my diary back Derek?"

Derek Venturi's smirk was a very triumphant one as the picture of Casey looking up at him with puppy dog eyes and lips set into a persuasive pout was priceless. That image was going to stay with him for quite some time. However, when the words she said finally registered in his mind realization finally dawned on him. 'Oooooh, that's what I stole'.

Casey stood, still not having gotten ready for school and running severely late, in the doorway of the bathroom with a pouty look pasted on her face. Derek still had not said anything to her utterance of the word 'please', and she was growing tired of this situation. She was a perfect student and if this horrible incident didn't get resolved soon she was afraid that her perfect attendance record was going to be ruined. "So Derek? Are you going to give it back or not? We've got to get going soon and I have a test in first period to get to". Snapping out of his daze Derek slipped on his usual 'Derek smirk'. It's the one that said, 'I am so much better than you and I know it'. "So, finally figured out that I took it did you?" he drawled, placing his comb down and spraying a bit of Axe under his arms. Coughing, and waving her hand in front of her face Casey glared at him and his body spray. "That stuff is grossly overpowering. And good gaaawd Derek can you just hand it over already?" She tapped her foot impatiently and pointed to her wrist and her imaginary watch. Frowning down at her he thought, 'Well she's not being very fun. I'm going to have to rectify that.' "Okay Casey, chill, and as to your question, no.", he stated, brushing past her again and her strawberry/vanilla scent.

Casey's eyes bugged out of her skull. Although since this is Derek we are talking about, really, she should not have expected anything else. "No?" she said in a threatening voice as she continued to follow him. Derek whipped around without any sort of warning and startled her into almost tripping and falling. He stood in the doorway of his room, arms leaning against the frame and allowing his tall figure to tower over her own average height. "Yes, no. I haven't even gotten to crack that little jewel open yet", at this Casey visibly relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief, "But I intend to", he smirked. Her body stiffened once again, her pulse jumping faster. 'No, he can't find out. He can't read it!' she thought frantically to herself. "I don't even know why you're freaking out." he drawled. "I bet you there's nothing important in there, just you being girly and gushing over Sam and Max", he said with a roll of his eyes. An indignant blush stained Casey's cheeks and she reached up to smack him across the face. His hand shot out and gripped her wrist tight. He leaned forward, and when she tried to fight and pull away he only gripped her more tightly. A few strands of hair hung in his face, casting a shadow over his eyes, and making them smolder with intensity. "Oooh, did I hit a sore spot?" Casey glared at him, a fire lighting her eyes and blazing within her. 'That Derek is insufferable! I don't even know why I-',her thoughts stopped there as her step-brother leaned in closer. He whispered with a dark sort of gravelly tone, "Don't you ever try to hit me Case. I'm not like those other guys who will let you just push them around". She couldn't help the feeling that washed over her then. It was a sort of dark pleasure that she got whenever she and Derek fought. It was almost as if her body was telling her that she liked fighting with him. "There will be consequences for such actions. You better believe it", his lips quirked as he spoke. This was a game to him, she knew. She had played against him in chess and during the game he got a queer sort of crafty look on his face. He had the same expression on now. But she would play this game…..for now. Forcefully ripping her arm out of his grasp without breaking eye contact she said, voice dripping with velvety smoothness, "And there will be consequences for your actions as well, Venturi. You can count on it". At this he raised an eyebrow at her, but the quirk to his lips widened.

They were both the eldest of their previously separated families, and as such had had to exert their dominance over the other on numerous occasions. However, this had nothing to do with family. This was purely a game, and both were masterminds at it. There were no rules, and boundaries were bound to be broken. Casey walked away from the man she knew to be her step-brother with both excitement and nervousness filling her bones. She could worry about Derek and his mind games later. Right now she had to get ready for school.

So, there it is! I hope the ending wasn't weird. As it got later and later at night my mind sort of lost control of where I was originally going with things. You know how that can sometimes go right? Baaaaaah, whatever. Anyways, I really hope people review! Reviews help me feel like updating actually means something and isn't pointless. ^^