Why were the lights so bright?

Casey was standing in front of her locker, her forehead placed on the cool metal. The whole room was spinning.

"Hey Casey, you okay?" asked Emily as she approached the locker as well.

"Mhm.." Casey mumbled, wincing.

"You don't look okay. Are you not feeling well?" questioned Emily, examining her friend with concern.

Before she could answer, Casey ran for the bathroom. Silently thanking God that there was no one else in there, she dropped to her knees and threw up.

"Derek!"

Derek turned as he heard his name to see a frantic Emily standing in front of him.

"You need to take Casey home."

Derek rolled his eyes before asking "Why? Is it Truman again? How many times is she going to-"

"It's not Truman. She's sick. In fact, she's currently in the bathroom puking."

"Lovely," sighed Derek, running his fingers through his hair. As he glanced up, he saw a pale, shivering Casey stumbling towards him. He quickly grabbed her arm to stop her from falling over.

"Come on Case, let's get you home."

After practically carrying Casey to the car and then inside the house, Derek helped her upstairs to her room.

"Dad and Nora should be home soon," he said as he threw himself into the chair next to her bed, his feet propped up on her desk.

"No, they won't," mumbled Casey from under her pillow.

"Why not?" asked Derek, raising an eyebrow.

"They're going away this weekend, remember? They left last night."

"Oh crap," muttered Derek, realizing that she was right. He yanked his phone out of his pocket and quickly dialed Nora's number.

"Hey Nora, it's Derek. We uh, have a situation here. Casey ended up puking her guts out at school," he said casually, resulting in a groan from Casey.

After a few seconds of silence, Casey heard Derek half shout "What! But this is my weekend to myself, and cleaning up vomit really wasn't part of my plans."

He sighed deeply before hanging up.

"Well, it's storming where they are so there's no chance of them getting on a plane until at least tomorrow. Looks like I'm on sick duty," he grumbled.

"Yeah well spending all weekend with my head in the toilet isn't exactly my idea of a fun time."

"Well, I'll be in my room if you need me. And uh, try not to need me," said Derek as he slammed the door.

Tears stung Casey's eyes at the harshness of his words. She blinked them away as she nodded off to sleep.

Not even an hour later, Casey bolted out of bed and into the bathroom. After throwing up for the second time that day, she leaned her back against the bathroom wall and sobbed. No, she wasn't a little kid anymore but she still wasn't ready to be completely on her own when she was sick. Or worse, with Derek. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she willed herself not to throw up again.

She suddenly heard a light knock on the door.

"Case?"

"What do you want, Derek?" she sobbed, bracing herself for one of his stupid jokes.

Derek opened the door slowly, walked in, and knelt down next to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked gently.

"Like you care! Well, this is me not needing you, just as you asked," cried Casey, burying her face in her knees.

Derek sighed before standing up and offering her his hand.

"C'mon, you can sleep in my room. It's closer to the bathroom."

Casey looked up at him in shock.

"Are you messing with me? Because it's not funny-"

"I'm not!" he insisted as he pulled her to her feet.

She followed him wearily into his room and watched him pull back his covers, motioning for her to lie down. She hesitated before climbing into his bed, wrapping herself in his comforter as she shivered. He placed a hand to her forehead before muttering "damn, you're burning up" and rushing out of the room. He returned a moment later with a bottle of pills and a glass of water.

"Here, take this," he said, handing her two of the white pills and the glass. "This should help bring your fever down."

Too tired to argue, Casey did what he asked before laying back down. Within seconds, she was asleep.

What felt like only a few seconds later, Casey felt her stomach turn again and jumped out of bed. She ran to the bathroom with Derek on her heels. Before she could protest, she was on her knees in front of the toilet. Holding back her hair, Derek held her steady until she went limp.

"Sorry you had to see that," she whispered.

"It's no problem," he said gently, helping her back into his room.

Once she was settled back in his bed, she said "you know, for such a jerk, you're really good at taking care of people when they're sick."

Sitting back in his desk chair with his hands behind his head, Derek laughed before saying "yeah, somehow Marti always decided to throw up when I happened to be babysitting her so I got lots of practice."

Casey smiled slightly. She thought back on all the times her mom had taken care of her and Lizzie when they were sick.

"My mom would always lay with us, no matter how sick and disgusting we were, and rub our back for hours. It made even the worst flus and stomach bugs bearable."

"Don't get any bright ideas. I brought you water and drugs, that's the extent of my nursing care," smirked Derek.

"Trust me. I would never expect you to do that," snapped Casey, rolling over so she was no longer facing him. As she began to doze off, she vaguely heard Derek standing up from his chair. Expecting him to leave, she was surprised when she felt him sit on the bed next to her. A few seconds later, she felt his hand on her back. Hesitating at first, Derek slowly began running his fingers along her spine. He felt her relax under his touch. Smiling to himself, he laid down next to her and continued rubbing her back gently. After a few moments, he slowly slid his hand under her shirt. When she did not resist, he began tracing her spine with his fingers. Flushed and sweaty though she was, he could not tear himself away from her. He buried his face in her hair, marveling at the feeling of her skin under his fingers.

"Derek?"

Her voice startled him.

"Yeah?" he whispered nervously.

"Sorry for ruining your weekend," she mumbled, half-asleep.

"You didn't, Case," he said quietly, pressing a kiss to her temple.

He fell asleep with his hand on her back and a huge smile on his face.