"Wow." Derek said as they started walking toward the Nurse's office, a huge smile on his face. "Casey, that was amazing."

"Yeah?" She asked, raising her eyebrows in anticipation.

"I mean amazing." He gave her a slight nudge in the arm and she blushed. "I don't know what you did, but you managed to get the Principal, who hates everyone, mainly me, to be lenient. Something I never thought would happen. Ever."

"I didn't do that much," She admitted, thinking back to her conversation with the Principal and how she'd defended Derek. She had actually yelled, and Casey felt a little proud of herself. "We mostly talked about happened; he wasn't really interested in my presentation." Derek laughed.

"Smart guy." That comment got him a smack in the back of the head. "Ow, I was kidding!" He paused, and after a moment gave her a clumsy smile. "But honestly, Case…and I probably won't admit to saying this, but…thanks. I mean it. If you hadn't helped me I don't think I would've gotten off so easy."

"You're welcome," Casey replied, and then her face fell. "I'm sorry Josh hit you."

"Don't be." Derek said as he looked at her and noticed how sad she looked. "What's the matter, Case? Everything turned out great! Josh got suspended, detention, and pulled from the football team. Not to mention the black eye. All I got was some detention time."

"And a punch in the face." She added, glancing at the spot where Josh had hit him.

"Yeah, but he didn't hit me nearly as hard as I hit him. I mean, detention and an aching jaw isn't a bad price to pay considering what he got. It's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal!" Casey burst out.

"What--"

"Derek, he could have really hurt you and it would have been all my fault! Then where would I be?" Derek stopped walking and just looked at her.

"You're not serious, are you?" He continued after hearing no response. "Casey--."

"Yes, I am serious! This is serious! You wouldn't have gotten hit if you weren't involved and you wouldn't have been involved if I--"

"Casey!" She stopped. "I was involved the moment they decided to mess with you. And I would have found out and done something about it whether you told me or not. And you didn't really tell me if you want to get technical about it. Emily did. In reality, you had nothing to do with it." Derek paused. Casey was looking at the floor. "Casey?" He took a step closer to her. "Space Case, come back to Earth and look at me." She looked up at him. "This," he pointed to his jaw, "was not your fault. Okay? You had no control over Josh's actions. I don't even see why you're upset, you hit me enough at home." He sighed in mock-hurt tone and Casey couldn't help but give a small laugh and smile.

"Der-ek," She groaned, tilting her head forward and leaning it on her hands. "Why do you have to make everything a joke? This isn't suppose to be funny." It was obvious that she wasn't mad; maybe more frustrated that he could so easily turn something she considered very serious into something funny.

"What's the point on focusing on what could have happened?" Derek replied, shrugging. "Yes, he could have hit me harder and a lot of other bad things could have happened. But they didn't, I'm fine, and things turned out really good in my opinion. Well…mostly." Derek glanced at her. He wanted to talk to about this, continue from where they'd left off when the stupid lunch bell had rang. "Listen, Casey--"

"You're starting to bruise." She said quietly, interrupting him. He paused and considered this.

"That usually happens when you get punched." He said slightly-sarcastically as he moved his jaw to see how much damage had been done. "It'll hurt for a couple of days too, but I'll survive." Casey nodded.

"Good."

"Were you really worried about me?" He finally asked, hoping to get her to talk about it.

"Did you get into a fight over me?" She replied, looking up, as if this was something he should have already know.

"Point taken," He said, kicking his feet.

Suddenly, without really thinking what she was doing, Casey moved her hand up to Derek's jaw as though she was trying to see if the injury was really there. She carefully touched the area around the tender spot, but Derek didn't move. He wasn't completely sure why, but he found what she was doing comforting. She was focused on that spot, she still felt responsible for it, at least a little. Even if Josh and Derek hadn't been talking about her when it'd happened, to her he'd taken a hit for her, and that meant a lot.

"You need to get some ice on that," She said, grabbing his hand and starting to walk again. But he didn't move. He knew that if something didn't happen soon, they'd push the whole conversation in that empty classroom aside and go back to what they were before, and Derek didn't want that. So he did something about it.

"Derek, c'mon, let's-"

Casey was cut off when Derek pulled her in and kissed her. She responded, grabbing the front of his leather jacket while he cupped her face in his hands. The world suddenly became compact, fitting right into their kiss. In that moment, that's all there was.

When they finally decided to come up for air, Casey pulled away just enough to look up at him. She was smiling.

"You know, you're not very good at romantic moments." Typical Casey. Derek shrugged.

"I don't like romantic moments. I like kissing. You should know this." Casey rolled her eyes and pushed him playfully. "Would you mind watching what you're doing? I just got punched!"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Casey replied in a tone of mock concern. "We'll have to have the nurse kiss it better for you when we get there." Derek shuddered.

"No thanks, I think I'd rather have Josh kiss it better." Casey raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think that would go over too well."

"Probably not." Derek paused and put an arm around Casey's shoulder. "You mind?" He asked, gesturing to his jaw.

There was a pause and their eyes met in a moment of non-verbal communication. His eyes were telling her he was serious; there was no trace of a joke on his face. Her eyes were studying him, and after a moment they had that signature sparkle in them.

"I would, but I usually go for guys who like romance." She gave a knowing smile and Derek laughed.

"Let's think about this: where are those romantic guys now? Off somewhere else drowning in romance. And where am I? Fighting guys over you." He mimicked weighing the two sides with his hands. "Besides, I think I can make a very convincing argument, using the famous Venturi charm of course." He winked, and pulled her closer as they walked. "So tell me, what exactly did you do to the Principal to get me out of being suspended? Threaten to never stop talking? Show him your presentation?"

"Der-ek!" Casey exclaimed, rolling her eyes.

This time Derek didn't smirk; he smiled. Life was good, and he only saw it getting better.

--

Well, here it is guys! The Final Chapter to "Why Don't You Date Her?". It's short, but it's all Derek/Casey. Sorry it took so long, I've been busy and I wanted to try to get this right; I didn't think they'd be overly romantic, it's Derek after all, but there would be some romance. And I didn't doubt there'd be teasing and sarcasm and whatnot. Hopefully I found the balance.

I'd like to thank those of you who have been with this story from the start, even though that was only about a month ago, and those of who came during the process and stuck around. This was my first fanfic and I appreciate you reading, reviewing and giving me such great feedback! It has encouraged me to keep writing, and I am currently tossing around ideas for a couple of one-shots and a Sequel to this so don't worry, you'll be hearing from me again.

Thanks again! 3 Becka