Long Distance Something

George attributed it to the heat. It was smack dab in the middle of a particularly hot and humid August, and for the last few weeks Derek had been particularly irritable. He had been more sarcastic then normal and had even snapped at Marti a few times. And, of course, he had been meaner than ever to Casey. George wished that Derek and Casey would at least try to get a long in the little time they had left with their family. There were only three more days before Casey was off to college and one week after that until Derek was off as well.

Of course, Casey's behavior lately was only fueling Derek's snarkiness toward her. George knew that his stepdaughter was very anxious about leaving home. As independent as she was, the idea of leaving seemed to really upset her. For the last week, she had been quite emotional. She would frequently burst into tears for no apparent reason and had been taking picture after picture of the house and the family. This only elicited looks of disdain and snide comments from Derek. George rolled his eyes as he saw the two them coming down the stairs, apparently at it again, and took that as his cue to leave.

"Der-ek!" yelled Casey. "How could you?!"

"It was easy, Spacey," Derek said snidely. "I just took a permanent marker and started drawing."

"How dare you draw mustaches on the pictures in my family photo album!" Casey fumed. "You know that I've been working on that all month!"

"Relax, Drama Queen, it's just on the plastic photo covers. I didn't actually draw on the photos themselves."

"Even so," screamed Casey, "it will take me hours to put them in a new album! Not to mention the cost of buying one!"

"Yeah, well, serves you right for not using a digital album like the rest of the world," Derek said.

"Aren't you even going to apologize!" said Casey.

"Wasn't planning on it," Derek shrugged.

"Derek Venturi, sometimes you just make me so mad!" said Casey.

"Well," said Derek, bitterly, "fortunately for you, in a couple days you won't have to deal with me any more."

"You . . . you . . ." Casey's lip quivered and tears welled up in her eyes.

"What now? Developed a speak impediment?" asked Derek.

"You insensitive jerk!" yelled Casey, flinging herself onto the couch and starting to sob. "I know that you can't get wait to get out of here, but for some stupid messed up reason I'm really going to miss you." She buried her face in the arm of the couch and continued to sob.

Derek took one look at her crying and let out a sigh of defeat. He sat down next her on the couch, looked away from her, and quietly started to speak.

"God, Case," he whispered gently, "how stupid can you get."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" she sniffled, turning toward him.

"Of course I'm going to miss . . . people," he said. "Why else do you think I've been on such a short fuse these last few weeks?"

Casey smiled softly and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. He hadn't actually said that he would miss her but she knew that was what he meant. She threw her arms around him and started to softly cry again.

At first Derek stiffened, apparently shocked by her actions, but eventually Casey felt his body relax. At some point her even put his arm around her and started stroking her hair. It was comforting and eventually Casey fell asleep. When she woke up, Derek was gone.

For the next few days, things were awkward between them. The teasing and pranking stopped and Derek rarely met her eyes. Whenever he spoke to her it was in a soft and serious tone. And then, as she was leaving, something unexpected happened. After saying his goodbye, Derek quickly hugged her. And Casey could have sworn that she heard him mumble something about e-mailing . . .

Another's Note: This story is unusual for me in that I've written the first chapter before I had a clear idea of where I was going with it. I know that it will be a Dasey but how exactly it will unfold remains to be seen.