Hey, guys. Yeah, I'm trying my hardest to get the epilogue for Pages out as soon as possible. I guess i just don't want it to end. Anyways, i hope that you enjoy this one in the meantime.

Disclaimer: I do not own Life with Derek

She wasn't insecure.

She wasn't.

In fact, she was the exact opposite. She was se-cure. So secure, in fact, that she didn't need to stress out about this. She wouldn't stress out about this. There was no reason to stress about this. The fact that he was even still with her a whole seven months later said a lot. So, she would stop stressing, she decided. The fact that Derek Venturi had not told her he loved her since he said it for the first time four months ago was not going to bother her any more.

It wasn't. Starting now.

Okay, starting Friday.

C&D

It was a cold winter night and they were on their way back to Casey's dorm from their date. Casey was just rattling off, trying to get a rise out of him, anything to get him out of the weird mood he'd been in all day. They were just talking, nothing out of the ordinary, when Derek reached over and grabbed her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers.

Casey stopped mid-sentence and looked up at him in surprise.

He looked back at her with a smirk. "What?"

She knew not to ruin a good thing. So, instead she looked down and said, "Nothing,"

He tried not to laugh and she continued her story.

"Anyways, all I was saying is that why is it always that the woman always stays home with the baby in movies and you never ever see the man staying –"

She looked down at their hands and watched as Derek stroked her hand with his thumb.

"What?"

She stopped walking and searched his face.

He asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing it's just," She narrowed her eyes. "You're holding my hand, Derek."

He laughed (nervously) pulling at his collar. "I've held your hand before."

"I know. I know." She looked away from him. "In private, yeah. But, you hate PDA."

"Yeah," He rubbed the back of his neck. "But, I don't hate you."

She raised an eyebrow, rolled her eyes, and said sarcastically."Thanks, Der, that means so much."

"Wait, um," He added, "Actually, no, what I was saying is that I don't hate you. I l-love you." He released out a huge breathe. "I. Love. You."

Casey's smile faded. "You love me?"

Derek nodded, doing his very best not to make eye contact.

She socked him on his shoulder. "Don't play with me, Derek." Her eyes watered. "'Cause I am so not in the right mental state to be played with right now."

"I'm not playing. I just," He dropped her hand and continued walking back toward her dorm. "I just thought you should know."

Casey stood there and smiled a huge grin. She rushed over to catch up with Derek and hooked her right arm through Derek's right arm and grabbed his hand with her left. She stood on her tippy toes and reached up and placed a quick peck on his cheek.

"I love you, too, Derek."

Derek cheeks turned red (although he denied it later) and he shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever,"

She laughed. "You're so immature."

C&D

Maybe there was a reason he hasn't said it again. Maybe he hasn't said it again because he realized he didn't mean it the first time. Maybe he only said it the first time because he thought she wouldn't stick around if he never got around to saying it. Maybe he –

"Stop, Casey." She said aloud to herself, plopping her head down on her desk. "Stop over-analyzing everything, Casey."

"Case!" Jennifer had poked her head through the door of their shared dorm. "You better be dressed. We're leaving in five."

Casey sighed in defeat. "Jenn, honestly, I don't do parties like you. Besides I want to spend my relationship-free Friday in a non-Derek like environment."

Jennifer sat down on her bed and rolled her eyes. "You and Derek are, like, the weirdest couple ever."

Casey went over to her closet and began browsing through her shirts.

"I don't understand why you guys take these weird days off each other. I mean, you and Derek are, like, a great couple oddly."

"Exactly," She pulled a blue halter dress out of the closet and slipped it over her head. "And, that's why. I mean, Derek's great and all – most of the time – but, sometimes he can get kind of annoying. And, most times, you know, I think it's endearing and cute, but then that other 10 percent of the time I just want to punch him in his face until he stops smirking."

Casey turned around to find Jennifer looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

Casey laughed at her face. "It's a complicated emotion."

"You guys are not healthy." Jennifer shook her head.

"I actually think it's very healthy." Casey disagreed. "Look, this way we'll never get tired of each other."

"Okay, clearly I have been spending too much time around you, since you're crazy Casey-logic is actually starting to make sense to me."

Casey waggled her eyebrows, smirking evilly. "Welcome to the dark side."

Jennifer laughed, grabbing Casey's arm. "Ha, let's go chica."

C&D

"No," Casey pushed the red cup that Jennifer was shoving her face away from her. "No more."

"But, Case," Jennifer whined. "You're not even buzzed."

Casey smiled. "Exactly. I prefer to wake up feeling happy and carefree. Not angry and pissed at the world, deciding to take it out on my roommate with mean, snippy comments whilst throwing up all over her favorite shoes."

"One time!" Jennifer cried. "That happened one time!"

"Yeah, yeah yeah."

"Come on," Jennifer sat down her cups and pulled Casey up by the arm. "Let's dance. No buts!"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine."

They got up and headed over to the middle of the room where most of the dancing was taking place when something caught Casey's eye. She stopped walking and watched as some girl flirtatiously placed her hand on Derek's arm.

C&D

He wasn't sure, but he must have said something funny because the girl laughs really hard and places her hand on his chest slurring, "You're so funny Derek, you know that?"

Derek grabs the hand on his chest and places it back on her thigh. She grabs his hand with her other hand and traps his hand on her thigh.

Derek looked around the party. Where was Jerry?

"I like you, Derry."

He raised his eyebrow at her. "Thanks." He tugged on his hand. "Julie, right?"

She nods.

"Yeah, can I have my hand back?"

She moves her face closer to his. "Only if you kiss me."

Derek pulled his head back slowly, trying his best not to seem rude. "Can't do that, babe."

"Why not!" She slung her head all the way back and lost her balance. Derek reached over and placed his arm around her waist, pulling her body up next to his.

"You okay, there?" He asked her. Julie appeared to have fallen asleep, but he wasn't sure. He looked toward the door again. Where the hell was Jerry?

"So, is this how you spend your Casey-free Fridays?"

Derek whipped his head around to see Casey seething with her hands on her hips. "Casey!" He drops his hold on Julie and she collapses to the ground. "Shit!" He leaned down to help her up, and sits her down in the chair closest to where they were standing.

He turned back to Casey and sighed. "This is not what it looks like."

Casey sarcastically let a sigh of relief and wiped pretend sweat off her brow. "Whew! That's good. Because for a second there I thought I saw you standing here with your arm wrapped around some drunk chick who probably wants in your pants."

"Okay, so then it is what it looks like." Casey's fists clenched and he quickly added. "But, seriously I wouldn't ever do something like that to you. You know that."

"Do I, Derek? Do I?" She shrieked.

"You should!" He grabbed her arm, looking into her eyes. "You know how I feel about you!"

"Oh, yeah, and what was that again, Der?" She snatched her arm away from him and pushes him into the wall. "You l-l-l-love me?"

"Yes!"

"Well, I'm not sure I believe you." She said.

He looked back at her with wide eyes. He was confused and hurt. How could she say something like that? He pursed his lips and looked around and noticed a group of people staring. "Case, people are staring."

Her face turned bright red. "Oh, my god! I knew this was going to happen." She pounded her head whispering, "Casey, you're so stupid!"

"Casey, calm the hell down. I didn't do anything! I wasn't going to do anything!" He screamed.

Casey rubbed at her temples, forcing herself not to cry.

"You're s'posed to trust me." Derek reminded, upset. "You're s'posed to believe me."

"I want to." She looked down, tears falling down her face. "But, how can I when I don't even know how you really feel about me?"

"Casey, I-"

"Derry, I don't feel so guh-" Julie leaned over to her right and threw up.

Derek screamed out in frustration. "Where the fuck is Jerry!"

"Look, Derek, why don't you just take your little bimbo home and do me a favor and never talk to me again!"

Casey spun around and started walking towards the door and Derek ran after her. He caught up to her, grabbed her arm, and spun her around.

"No, you don't get to do this. I have been really good." He glares at her angrily. "Really good. And, I'm actually really trying this time so you cannot punish me for something I didn't do."

"Venturi!" Derek turns around and watches as Jerry runs up to him.

"Where's my sister, man? I thought you were watching her?"

Derek sighed. "I was. But, I got into a thing. Look, I just left her two seconds ago, she's right where you left us."

"Thanks, man." Jerry runs back into the house and disappears behind the door.

Casey's face had softened, but somehow she didn't feel any better. In fact, she felt worse.

"I'm sorry, Derek. You were right. I should have trusted you. You didn't do anything wrong." Her eyes began to water again as she backed away. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"No! This isn't over." He grabbed her arm and led her to the huge tree in the middle of the yard. "What the hell was all that?"

She looked away. "I thought you were cheating on me."

Derek shook his head. "No, that's not it. You're mad at me for something else."

"No," She shook her head and two tears fell out of her eyes, and gave him a quick peck on his cheek. "I'm not. We're perfect. I'm sorry I overreacted."

He grabbed her face with his right hand and gazed right into her eyes. She blinked and then started sobbing. Derek let go of her face and she fell into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back up and down. After a few minutes of this, she pulled her head up and whispered,

"I'm so sorry. I think it's PMS. I need to just go."

He grabs her face again and questions, "You don't think I'm in love with you?"

Casey couldn't meet his eyes. She started crying again and shook her head.

"How could you not know that I love you? Of course, I love you."

She looked up at him, shyly. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I told you that, Casey."

"Yeah," Then she looked angry again and poked him in his chest. "Four months ago! This is only the second time you have ever said it in so many words."

"Yeah, I didn't think I needed to say it again."

Casey huffed. "Well, how was I s'posed to know your feelings hadn't changed, Derek? Huh?"

"It's only been four months."

"Me and Max fell in love and fell out of love in only six months." Casey reminded.

"Well, Max is dumb."

Casey rolled her eyes. "Nice." She pulled away from him and wiped at her face. "Ugh, I'm a mess."

She looked up to see him staring at her angrily. "What now?"

"Casey, I don't want to have to do this again. When I say something, I mean it. I don't just throw out the L word for kicks, alright? I don't do words. I do actions. And, I would never cheat on you."

"Why not?" She said. "You've done it before."

"Yeah, but you're different. You're Casey. I don't know, I just … I can't do something like that to you. You actually mean a lot to me. You don't take shit. You know the real me and I know the real you." He shook his head and then added frustrated, "I thought this was clear."

When she didn't say anything he got more animated and even more furious.

"I carry your books for you. I don't put my feet on your bed with my shoes on. I take your car out once a week take it through the car wash and fill up your tank. I –"

"You do those things?" Casey squeaked, tearing up.

"You think your car just magically fills up every week?" Derek yelled, running a hand through his hair. "I love you, okay!"

"Okay, it's clear. You love me." She nodded. "But, that doesn't mean you shouldn't remind me sometimes with your words."

He rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious." She cried. "'Cause I know on the outside I appear really strong and self-sure, but I'm actually just as insecure as the next girl. I need you to tell me more than just when I have an emotional breakdown."

He laughed. "Alright, fine. I'll make it a point to tell you at least once a month."

"Once a day."

"Once a week."

"Deal!" She smiled a huge grin and reached up and kissed him hard. When she let him go, he smirked. She smiled back and replied,

"I love you, Derek."

"Yeah, yeah, love you, too." He placed his arm around her, tucked her close, and walked her toward The Prince. He tried not to let it bother him that he probably said that word five times today.

"You know, you could probably do more romantic things for me once in a while, too."

"Don't push it, Case," He kissed the side of hair.

But, she would. Because that was how they operated. And, that was why he loved her.

Even if he only told her once a week.

REVIEW,

Laura :)