A/N: So, um, it was kinda hard to type this chapter without giggling.

Enjoy! ;)

By the time the Casey and Derek returned home, it was about 6:00 at night. The two still weren't talking to each other, so that increased the tension in the household.

Derek flung himself down on the couch and turned on the TV, while Casey tore off her jacket and stomped into the kitchen.

Nora and Lizzie stopped what they were doing and carefully eyed both teenagers.

"Do you think something's wrong?" Nora whispered to her youngest daughter.

"Uh, yeah, Mom—I think that's a safe bet," Lizzie replied, watching her sister devour a bowl of ice cream.

Just then, George walked—better yet, limped—in from the outside, looking just a tad upset. "Derek! I thought you were supposed to shovel!"

"Get your step-daughter to do it," he grumbled, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Hey, what'd I do?" Lizzie asked, defenseless.

Derek rolled his eyes. "Not you, yuppie. Your sister."

George sighed, narrowing his eyes at his son. "Well, that's awfully nice of you, not caring that your old man just tripped over the snow-covered sidewalk…"

"Oh, George!" Nora called, rushing to help him sit down. After that, she marched over to Derek, turning off the TV, and then over to Casey, grabbing the ice cream from her grasp.

"Go."

Both teenagers rolled their eyes, but grabbed their jackets anyways and did what they were told. Casey slammed the door in Derek's face before he could step outside, causing him to grind his teeth in frustration.

Edwin then sauntered down the stairs, munching on a candy cane.

"What'd I miss?" he asked nonchalantly.

"You're next, Edwin," Derek growled, slamming the door behind him.

Edwin sighed and stomped back up the stairs. "Why couldn't he have been a girl?"

--

Derek grabbed a shovel as Casey began scooping up the snow and angrily tossing it over her shoulder.

"You missed a spot," he mocked.

Casey spun around, glaring at him. "That's funny, Derek. And when do I get to kill you?"

"Hey, you're lucky I'm not making you do this on your own," Derek told her, holding up his hands. "Remember—"

"I get it, thanks!" Casey spun back around and continued shoveling. She began mumbling under her breath as she shoveled angrily. "Wouldn't shake hand…ditched best friend…practically dragged me outta the store…"

Derek stopped what he was doing. "Care to say any of that to my face, princess?"

"Nope."

"Then stop acting like a lunatic."

"…telling me what to do…"

He heaved an annoyed sigh. "Why are you even upset? I think I'm the one who has the right to be," Derek told her defiantly.

"And you won't even tell me why!" Casey cried. Her face scrunched up and her voice deepened. "Derek no like feeling-talk. Derek immature, incompetent human being."

"I do not sound like that…"

"And what's more? You interrupted my conversation with a really nice guy," Casey huffed, crossing her arms.

Derek scoffed. "Right, 'cause you knew him so well…"

"It was still rude." She paused, pretending to think. "Of course, I shouldn't expect much more from you, now, should I?"

Derek rolled his eyes. "Ouch. I just might start bleeding."

Casey became increasingly agitated. "You're seriously not even going to tell me what happened?"

"Nope."

"But maybe I can help—"

"Don't need your help."

"Fine. You can burn in—AHHHH!"

Casey took a wrong step and slipped backwards, landing on her back in a giant pile of snow. Derek, of course, began laughing uncontrollably at her, falling to his knees. Casey could feel her cheeks burning up in humiliation, but decided to retaliate.

"Oh, so that's funny?" she snapped, grabbing a fistful of snow in her mitten-clad hand.

"Yeah," Derek laughed. "You should've seen your face when you—OOF."

Casey gleamed as her snowball hit Derek square in the mouth. His jaw dropped and he spat out the chunks of snow, narrowing his eyes at her.

"That was a mistake," he growled.

"No, your birth was a mistake," Casey snapped back, smirking proudly.

As soon as Derek started heading toward her, Casey jumped up—or tried. The snow was so deep, she just ended up tripping again and onto her belly. Derek decided it was a good idea to take full advantage of this situation, so he sat on her backside and picked up a handful of snow.

"Derek! Don't!" Casey choked out, trying to squirm away.

"Oh, I don't know, Case…" he started, taking a bite out of his snowpie. "This does seem like a perfect opportunity."

Casey tried not to laugh. "Get off!"

"Nope."

Just as he was about to give her a nice whitewashing, Casey leaned back and elbowed Derek in the ribs. He groaned and fell over as she got out from under him.

She stood up in triumph, smiling from ear to ear. "HA! Who's the princess now, sucker?"

Derek narrowed his eyes at her again. "Did you just call me 'princess'?"

"I believe I did," Casey told him defiantly, crossing her arms.

He smirked and gave a quick tug on her leg, sending her crashing down on her back once more. Casey sighed, giving up—there was no way she could win this round.

Derek scooted next to her and leaned over. "Sucker."

With that, he slowly sprinkled snow onto her face until Casey shoved his hand away.

She glared at him, brushing it out of her eyes and mouth. "Thanks, Derek."

"That's my job."

The two suddenly found themselves in a strange situation. Casey was lying on the ground and Derek was lying right next to her, hovering above. It shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but…it was.

Derek's gaze couldn't help but dip to her mouth, causing Casey's cheeks to turn pink. She felt her eyes widen at the way he was looking at her. The cheesy kissing scene from that "From Here to Eternity" movie suddenly flashed through her mind. Derek just furrowed his brows and rolled over, lying on his back beside her.

For a short moment, they were silent.

Derek sighed. "Sam's dating Sally."

Casey snapped her head in his direction. "What?!"

He just nodded.

"But he—I mean, I just thought…Wow," Casey sighed, biting her lip. "I swear I didn't know, Derek… I'm really sorry." She looked at him carefully. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Because of that," he told her, rolling his eyes once more. "You really think I need sympathy? Besides, you always feel like you have to fix everyone else's problems. No thank you."

"I do not," Casey huffed, looking back at the sky. After a moment of him staring at her expectantly, she rolled her eyes. "Fine. Maybe I do…"

"And," Derek added, "since when do we tell each other stuff?"

"Since…never?"

"Exactly."

Casey thought for a minute and shook her head. "You'd think after all these years we'd be able to tell each other important things, at least…"

"Like a best friend going out with an ex?"

Casey grimaced. "Yeah…like that." She couldn't even imagine what it'd be like if Emily went out with Max. Looking over at him again, Casey added softly, "Speaking of which, how does that make you feel?"

"Casey…" Derek warned, sitting up.

"What! I'm just…wondering how you're handling it."

"This is not an episode of Dr. Phil, okay?" he groaned. "And may I repeat? We do not tell each other things. We got a system going, Space Case—don't blow it."

Casey just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah…typical Derek—always running away from his feelings."

Derek gave her a funny look at first, but then just picked up some more snow.

"Nope," he replied, smirking as he tossed another snowball at her. "I think me and my feelings are just fine."

Casey rolled her eyes, but grabbed a ball of snow and chased after him.

--

An hour or so later, Derek threw himself down on the living room couch, moaning.

"That…was torture."

Casey sat down in the chair next to him. "You're such a wimp," she told him, rolling her eyes. "It was just shoveling…"

Derek scoffed. "Yeah, well, tell that to my back."

Casey ignored him as she reached for the remote.

"Oilers," Derek muttered, eyes closed.

Casey groaned. "Hockey?"

"Yes. It'll soothe the pain."

"Massages soothe the pain, Derek—not hockey."

Derek's eyes shot open. "Excellent idea, Case."

Casey looked over at him suspiciously. "What…?"

He said nothing, but sat up and reached for the hem of his shirt.

"Ew! What are you doing?" Casey cried, looking away quickly as Derek began pulling the shirt over his head.

Derek nonchalantly threw it on the floor. "Wanna play some strip poker?"

"What?!"

"Massage, Case. Massage," he replied, rolling his eyes.

Casey stood up suddenly, careful not to look at him. "Right—I'll go get Edwin."

"Definitely not who I had in mind…" Derek replied, shuddering.

Casey's eyes widened. "I am not giving you a massage, Derek!"

He smirked. "I don't really think you have a choice."

Casey took a peek at him. From the look he was giving her, she was sure she couldn't find a way to back out of it. "Fine," she sighed. "But put your shirt back on."

"No, thanks - I'm good."

With another sigh, Casey got off the chair and headed toward him, getting ready to sit on the couch. Derek, however, laid back down and spread out.

Casey crossed her arms. "How am I supposed to…massage you when you're lying like that?"

"I don't know," Derek relied, eyes closed yet again. "Sit on me, I guess?"

Enough was enough. "Let me get this straight—you want me to give you a back massage while your shirt's off and I'm sitting on top of you?" Casey just blinked at him. "That doesn't seem weird…at all?"

"If you're too worried about resisting certain…urges," Derek smirked, "I'll completely understand."

Casey's jaw dropped. "How 'bout the urge to puke!"

Derek sigh irritably. "It's only as weird as you make it, Space Case. Now could you hurry up? My back's killing me."

"I can only hope," Casey muttered, straddling him. "Oh, and please—no weird noises…"

Derek smirked. "I can't promise anything."

She dug her fingertips into his back, causing Derek to writhe in pain.

"OW!"

"Oh, sorry," Casey replied innocently.

"I'm not a piece of dough, Case—could you treat me like a human?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"Ha-ha."

Casey poked at prodded at Derek's back, trying to make it as uncomfortable for him as it was for her. Unfortunately, he wouldn't give in.

"You'd never guess you're…a girl," Derek choked out through Casey's grip of death.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"…camera…"

Damn, it was like a safety word now—Casey's curse.

"Fine," she sighed. "You baby."

"One massage and you think you can call me baby?" Derek tsked after she let his neck go. "You sure like to move quickly, Case."

Casey snorted in disgust and gave his back a pinch. In the process, she realized there really wasn't much there to grab—just muscle. That gave her a strange feeling, making her freeze.

"Problem, Space Case?"

She cleared her throat. "No, nothing."

Casey pressed her palms into Derek's back, causing him to release a moan. She rolled her eyes, trying not to blush and continued on with the massage.

Derek was officially in a state of ecstasy. Casey's hands worked their way over his knots and pains, erasing any lingering thoughts that were once on his mind. All he could concentrate on were those hands as they smoothed over his back.

Who knew she could give him such a…feeling?

Casey suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

A growl escaped Derek's throat. "No…don't stop…"

"I, um…" Her voice was small. "Could you please not…make noises?"

Noises…? Derek turned his torso slightly to take a look at her. Casey's gaze refused to meet his, but Derek could still see that her cheeks were a bright shade of pink.

"Noises? Are you…sure?" Derek asked, clearly confused.

"Yes. Very sure."

Derek tried to smirk. That's…weird. He was floored at the idea that Casey could have such an effect on him.

"Um, I have to…talk to Lizzie. About this boy problem she's having," Casey told him, still averting his eyes.

"Okay," Derek replied, propping himself up on his elbows.

Casey didn't move. She couldn't move. After one peek at his toned shoulders and biceps, all she could do was stare in fascination.

"See something you like?" Derek asked, trying to appear smug. It didn't work and only made him sound like a nervous car salesman.

Casey jumped off of him, rolling her eyes. "Ugh, you wish."

And then Derek was left by himself, wondering what the hell had just happened…

A/N: Chapter 7 - hope you liked!