A/N- Sorry for the long wait. Here's the final chapter…well, epilogue, of Love Match. I hope you guys like it! Please review! :-D
4 years later
"This is it," Casey said as she stared in the mirror. She twirled in the white wedding dress that her mother had helped to pick out.
"Yep. Today's the day. Are you excited?" Nora asked as she shut the door behind her.
"Excited…and nervous," Casey sighed.
"Don't be. You're marrying the man you love, the father of your son. Everything is absolutely perfect," Nora reassured her.
"Yeah. Perfect," Casey murmured.
Flashback begins
Casey smiled as she watched everyone huddle over Max to see Michael. They had just gotten home from the hospital and everyone was visiting.
Derek walked in and saw Casey. He smiled as he walked over.
"Hi," she whispered.
"Hi," he whispered back.
"So, what's up," Casey asked.
"I need to ask you something Casey. Who is it? Who do you choose? Is it me or Max? You have to choose one because one minute you tell me you love me and then next, you're all lovey-dovey with Max. Who is it Casey? Which one?"
"She doesn't have to choose," Max said. He walked in from where he had been standing.
"Where's the baby?" Casey asked, worried as ever.
"I gave him to Nora. She doesn't like you Derek. I don't know what little sick fantasy you have about your stepsister but it better stop," Max told him.
Derek raised an eyebrow at Max and gave him a glare.
"Sick fantasy? You don't even know half of me and Casey's relationship. I've known her a lot longer than you think. Before our parents got together. We were together before. We kept a pretty good secret huh? I know Casey way better than you do and unlike you, I would never treat her like you did."
Max scoffed at Derek's words.
"What do you mean how I treated her?" he asked while a look of disgust spread onto his face.
"You got her knocked up at a party and then bailed out because you weren't ready. Now all of a sudden you think you can come back and sweep her off her feet when I was the one who had her first," Derek shouted at him.
Max didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't admit that he knew Derek was right. Because he was.
"Derek…," Casey murmured.
She didn't know what to say. She didn't know who to choose. She loved Max, the father of her son. She loved Derek, the one who was there all this time. The one who stood by her through it all. He was by her side every time something was wrong. He jumped whenever she called for him. He was so loyal towards her and Casey just wasn't loyal back.
Flashback ends
Casey sighed as she thought about the 4 years before. The look of Derek's face when Casey announced her love to Max still hung in her mind. It was a look of sadness, due to the loss of the love of his life. Another look, regret, was plastered onto his face. The look of regret was only there because he regretted ever caring about Casey. Although, deep down inside, he and Casey both knew the never-ending love they had for each other.
----DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY----
Casey walked down the aisle, her father's arm linked into hers. She smiled as she listened to the wedding music and her smile grew larger once she saw Max. He was smiling and Casey couldn't help but want to cry. Her mother had already begun to. Her smile quickly dissolved when she looked to the left of her mother and saw Derek. He was sitting there, a fake smile planted on his face. Casey could tell he wanted to leave and she couldn't blame him. She started to feel bad until she spotted a familiar face sitting next to Derek. She looked twice until she finally confirmed her question. Courtney. Casey shuddered at the sight of her. She shook her head, not letting Courtney disturb her wedding. Her smile reappeared when she saw Max.
She stopped and she stood eye level with Max.
"You look beautiful," Max whispered.
"Thanks. So do you," Casey said. Casey smirked. "I mean, you look handsome."
The vows were read and finally, the priest uttered the words Casey waited to hear.
"You may now kiss the bride," the priest said.
Casey sighed as she looked into Max's eyes and she blushed as soon as her lips met Max's. The kiss ended and the two faced the crowd as they walked back down the aisle.
Casey caught a glance from Derek and smirked. He looked sad and depressed and slightly angry. Casey couldn't believe that she was actually getting pleasure out of someone else's pain.
This was how it was supposed to be. Casey with her child's father, the love of her life…and not her stepbrother. If this was how it was supposed to be, why was Casey so unhappy?
6 months later
Casey got up from her bed as she heard the phone ring. She managed to catch a glimpse of her alarm clock. 6:30. To make matters worse, it was Saturday. Lucky for her, she had the day off. Max had already left for work and Michael was spending the night at Max's parent's house.
"Hello," she said, her voice still had the morning rasp in it.
"Will you accept a call from Toronto Police Station?" the voice said.
Casey sighed. "Yes."
It took a moment.
"Hi Casey," the voice on the other line said.
It took a second for Casey to realize who it was. She sighed again.
"Derek, what the hell did you do now?" she asked.
"Um…nothing big. Just come pick me up…please?" Derek asked.
Casey sighed, for what seemed the billionth time that morning. She quickly hung up, got dressed and got into her car.
She could tell just from the small amount of time that she had been awake that it was going to be a long day.
----DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY----
As soon as Derek was bailed out and in the car, it was silent. At last, Derek spoke.
"Case, I'm really---."
Just be quiet. Please. Its 7:30 in the morning, I'm half-asleep and I just bailed you out of jail. Just…be…quiet," Casey snapped at Derek.
He wasn't surprised. This was Casey. This was just how she was.
Minutes passed and Casey finally spoke.
"So where am I supposed to drop you off," she asked him.
"Um…I don't know. Courtney kicked me out so I'm pretty much just sleeping at Sam's but then he kicked me out after last night. So…I don't know," Derek shrugged his shoulders as he spoke.
Casey rolled her eyes and drove to Sam's house.
Derek picked up his stuff from there and piled it into Casey's car.
The two sighed simultaneously.
"So you can just stay at our house for a few days until you figure everything out," Casey told him.
"Thanks Casey. Really. I mean it. Thanks."
"No problem."
"I wonder what Max is going to think about this," Casey thought to herself. She heaved a sigh for the billionth time that morning.
-DASEY-
Casey walked into the house and breathed in the warm air. Her cheeks and nose were red from the 50 degree weather. Derek and she dropped all of his bags onto the living room floor. She hung up her coat and scarf on the rack and tossed her gloves in a basket on the coffee table.
"Nice place," Derek commented.
"Thanks. Make yourself at home," Casey said as she walked up the stairs.
Derek took of his jacket and hung it up. He walked over to the mantle to admire the pictures that were there. He passed by pictures of Casey and Max's wedding and Michael.
He came to a picture that made him smile from ear to ear. It was a picture of the MacDonald-Venturi family on their first ever family vacation. Marti was sitting between Nora and George. Lizzie and Edwin had their arms around each other. Casey had her arms crossed across her chest and she was rolling her eyes as Derek placed at friendly kiss on her cheek.
He was interrupted by Casey's voice from the kitchen. "Do you want anything to drink?"
"Um, sure. I'll help."
Derek walked out into the kitchen and laughed at Casey.
"Nice pajamas. I didn't know you liked Hello Kitty."
"Hey! These were a gift! I happen to think Hello Kitty is very cute," Casey retorted. Derek took another glance at the little pink Hello kitty faces on Casey's pajamas. He rolled his eyes and walked over to the cabinet Casey was standing by. He leaned against the counter and she looked down. They caught each other's gaze and their eyes locked on one another's.
For a moment, Derek couldn't help but remember the crystal blue eyes as the ones he had fallen in love with. Casey, although she tried hard not to, couldn't help but stare into the chocolate brown eyes that she had loved once before.
She tore their gaze apart. It was a thing of the past, their relationship. It was over. It was all in the past.
-DASEY-
Derek smiled as Casey laughed. Both of them had a cup of hot chocolate in one hand and a photo in the other.
"Remember this time?" Casey said as she showed Derek a photo of him and her at the beach. Derek smiled at unforgettable memory. He looked up and into her eyes. She looked up too. Their eyes were locked once again and Casey tried so hard to refrain from leaning in toward his lips. Derek tried hard to but stopped trying once he realized what was going on. This was what he wanted. He hoped this was what she wanted too.
Their lips were centimeters away and they were surprised and shocked when the door swung open.
"Max. Hi," Casey said, surprised as ever.
"Hey baby. Hi…Derek," Max said. He was just as surprised to see Derek as Derek was to see him. He had hoped and figured that Max would be home later on that day.
"What are you doing home…so early?" Casey asked.
"I left early…," Max said, still slightly confused about Derek's appearance.
"Um…Do you mind picking up Michael?" Casey asked.
"When? Right now?" he asked.
"Yeah, that'd be good."
"Okay. I'll be back in a little bit," Max said as he kind of gave Derek an evil and suspicious look. He grabbed Casey by the waist and pulled her towards him as he kissed her hard on her lips. He released Casey, whose cheeks were flustered and he said "Bye Derek" in a sort of ha-ha-ha-I-get-to-kiss-her-and-you-don't voice.
"Bye," Derek quietly said.
Derek and Casey sat in silence and both were extremely bored. Finally, Casey spoke.
"Sorry. He's a jerk sometimes," Casey said.
"Sometimes?!"
"De-rek!"
Derek rolled his eyes but smirked at the sound of Casey's voice. Just like old times.
----DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY-DASEY----
"I can't believe I'm doing this again," Casey said. She was standing in the bride's dressing room and she was beginning to have cold feet. "Don't get me wrong, I love him. I just don't know if I'm ready for this again."
"Yes you are. And you look absolutely gorgeous," Nora said. And she did look gorgeous.
Nora kneeled and fluffed the bottom of Casey's dress and the stood up, tears already forming in her eyes.
"You look gorgeous," she repeated as she stared at her daughter.
Casey sighed. She twirled in her white wedding dress and it seemed like déjà vu. After all, it was only 2 years after her previous wedding.
"I'm so nervous," Casey whispered. Nora heard her and shook her head.
"Don't be. You look beautiful. It's going to be fine."
The music started and Casey froze up.
"Alright. I have to go. You look great. I love you." Nora quickly kissed Casey on the cheek and then wiped the lipstick mark away. She ran out of the room and in walked George. Casey's father had refused to walk his own daughter down the aisle after he found out who she was marrying.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
"Yep."
The two walked out of the room and started down the aisle. Casey's legs started to shake and she felt the sweat. All of a sudden, her shaking, the sweat, the nerves, they all disappeared. She saw him, standing there and all of it went away. She had her doubts before but now, she knew. This was the right guy. She knew. She had always thought it; she just never really did anything about it. Now she knew.
The vows were read just as they had been read 2 years before and Casey bit her lip.
The words that she had heard once before echoed through the room once more.
"You may now kiss the bride."
The two's lips met and it sent an electric spark through Casey's whole body. The kiss broke apart and they walked back down the aisle.
"Perfect match, huh," he whispered.
Casey smirked and nodded her head and leaned in to kiss her husband.
"I love you Casey."
"I love you too Derek."
A/N- Well, that's the end. I really hope you liked it! I know it wasn't the best epilogue ever but I thought it was okay. Towards the end I was trying to find a way to surprise you guys and make you think it was Max. I don't think it worked out as well as I had actually planned but it's here so please review and let me know what you think for one last time! :-D