Working On It Chapter 9, a life with derek fanfic

Working on it – LWD

Summary: Set after the movie.

Disclaimer: Oh, look at me, so smart for leaving this spot blank on all my other chapters. Oops? No, sorry to burst your bubbles. I own nothing!

Chapter 9

A/N: Okay, so the last chapter was posted ages ago, but the website was being glitchy, I guess. There was never an alert email for it. So, please make sure you've read that first!

Lizzie woke up just after two in the morning and went down to the kitchen for a drink, and found Derek sitting at the island.

She cleared her throat slightly as she went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, and then leaned against the counter. She was still kind of annoyed that he was ignoring her.

"Are you going to tell me what your little bitch-fest is about?" Lizzie said finally. She was way too tired and annoyed to play word games.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me", she said irritably. "You've been acting like a sullen, pouty jackass all night – only to me. So I repeat, what is wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry", he grumbled grudgingly.

"Good for you. I still want an explanation."

"Guess you're going to have to deal with not having one", he shrugged.

"Oh, right, Derek Venturi is too much of a chicken to deal with feelings", she rolled her eyes.

"Hey, who's mad at who here?"

"Well, I'm a little annoyed at you right now!"

"Just forget it, alright?" he sighed.

She shrugged, knowing Derek never did what anyone wanted. "Or you could just tell me, but whatever. I'm going to bed. Night, Derek."

"Liz-" he groaned.

"No, you don't want to act like a grown up, or whatever- I'm done."

Lizzie was walking away when an arm wrapped around her waist, and she froze. "Derek- what the hell?" she hissed.

"I just- you missed Casey", he said quietly in her ear.

"And you, what?" she asked in an undertone, stepping out of his grasp and turning to look at him. "You're mad at me because… I didn't hug you when you came home…?"

He said nothing.

She stared at him incredulously. "Are you serious? How in the world was I supposed to know that? We don't do that. I mean, you're practically Derek 'I don't do hugs' Venturi-"

"Dad changed my middle name? I don't think he can do that since I'm over eighteen", he said, sounding slightly amused.

Lizzie groaned. "Don't make this into a joke. Not when you've been avoiding me or glaring at me all night."

"I'm sorry."

"You should be. You should have just said something-"

"Something like what? 'I want us to start hugging and have it not be weird'? I hadn't really thought about it before today! Cut me a little slack here."

She sighed loudly, rubbing her forehead. This was seriously the weirdest conversation they had ever had. Ever. It was even weirder than the 'abominable snowman vs. the Yeti' conversation. "So… what? We're going to start doing the hugging thing now?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that a problem? We have hugged once or twice before."

"I didn't say that- ugh. Okay, fine", Lizzie growled. "We'll start hugging."

"Fine", he shot back.

She snorted, backing out of the kitchen. "Yeah, I'm going to bed before my brain explodes."

Derek just grinned. "Night, Lizzie."

Her eyes rolled. "Yeah, yeah, cry me a river, ya big baby." Then she was heading upstairs before he could follow her.

The first thing Lizzie did the next morning was switch the sheets on her bed, and then got next in line for the bathroom to shower once Casey finished hers. Once her morning routine was finished, she gathered the things from her room that she would take with her down to the basement.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with keeping Nora from freaking out as they prepared the rest of the house for their soon-to-be-arriving guests.

"They're here!" Nora called frantically as a silver SUV pulled into the driveway.

"Goody", Edwin muttered under his breath.

"You know this wouldn't suck so much if Vickie wasn't such a bitch", Derek grumbled.

"Yeah, well, she is", Casey said dryly.

"Casey, Derek, I know she can be a bit of-"

"A nightmare?" Derek interrupted.

"A life-ruiner?" Casey muttered.

Derek held out his hand and they traded a fist bump.

"Just- try to be polite without being doormats. Besides, Fiona said she's changed a lot since she started college", Nora amended as the doorbell rang. She went to the door when it became apparent that no one else was anywhere near eager to do it, and let Vickie inside with a hug. "Hi, sweetie, come on in."

"Hi, Aunt Nora", she responded, tugging her rolling suitcase into the house behind her. She gestured towards the car. "They're… coming", she rolled her eyes.

Nora could hear Fiona and Harry bickering as they unpacked their luggage. Then Fiona burst out laughing, and Nora glanced at her niece in surprise. "When did your mother get a sense of humor?" she asked mildly.

"Blame Harry", Victoria said, sounding a bit amused. "Although I could have done without the three hours of show tunes they listened to the whole way here."

Nora grinned and yelled out the door. "Do you two want some help? We might still have a wagon in the garage."

Harry's head popped around the side of the car. "Oh, hey, Nora! No thanks. We've got it. The girls managed to pack lightly this week."

"Harry, neither me nor my mom have an entire bag of hair products", Vickie called.

"I'm training my hair, sweetheart", he laughed. "You can come talk to me if you start going bald!"

Vickie rolled her eyes. "Oh, Lord", she muttered.

Nora chuckled. "Come on, make yourself at home. Kids, I know you plan on becoming one with the couch over the break, but could you at least pretend to have some manners."

"None of us are that good at acting, Nora", Edwin called back.

She sighed. "Good point. Get over here anyway."

The McDonald-Venturis gathered at the door reluctantly to say their hellos as Harry and Fiona came through the front door and began their round of greetings.

"Lizzie, darling, look at you!" Aunt Fiona said dramatically, after making her way from George, Edwin and Marti, kissing both her cheeks, and then moving on to hug Nora before Lizzie had to respond. And then she was getting a perfunctory hug from Vickie.

"Hey, cuz."

Lizzie managed a cautious smile, "Victoria."

"Do all of Nora's relatives have giant sticks up their asses?" Derek muttered in her ear.

She smirked and elbowed him in the ribs, "Pretty much, yeah."

"Derek, it's great to see you again", Vicky drawled.

"Victoria", he nodded.

"No need to be so icy, Derek. We're all family here", she winked before turning her attention elsewhere.

He shuddered. "Eww", he hissed.

Lizzie smirked. "I just vomited a little bit in my mouth."

The next afternoon, Lizzie was about to take her third bite of her sandwich when a hand shot out and grabbed it from her.

"Dude!" she complained when Derek took the seat next to her with her sandwich hanging out of his mouth. "That", she emphasized, pointing at her stolen food, "was just in my mouth!"

"And now it's in my mouth", he grumbled around a mouthful before swallowing. "I just wanted to taste your free-style chicken."

She rolled her eyes and snatched her hoagie back. "It's free-range chicken, not free-style. They don't break dance."

He smirked at her in amusement.

"That's disgusting", she managed to groan despite her laughter.

"Well, aren't we just one big, happy family", Victoria said dryly as she walked into the kitchen.

"Tell that to my sandwich", Lizzie muttered.

Her cell phone rang, and she managed to grab it off the counter and slap Derek's hand before he took it.

"Hello?" she laughed, ignoring Derek's 'ouch'.

"Liz?"

She pulled back from her phone to check the caller I.D. "Sam? Hey, what's up?"

"Sam?" Derek raised an eyebrow, "My Sam?"

"Is that Derek?"

"Oh, my gosh, someone has to shut up!" Lizzie complained. "Derek, zip it!"

"Derek's there? I've called him six times. Would you tell him I said, 'quit losing your phone, asshole'?"

"D, Sam says he's been trying to call you, and to quit losing your phone."

"Lizzie!" Sam laughed loud enough for Derek to hear.

She shrugged, and added the curse word as an afterthought, "Asshole."

"'Atta girl!"

"You're a bad influence", Lizzie teased.

Derek smirked and gestured for her phone.

She waved him off like a mosquito.

"You guys busy?" Sam asked.

She grinned. "Got an offer we can't refuse?"

"Wanna get a two on two game of hockey going?"

Lizzie hesitated briefly. She and Edwin had played with Sam and Ralph on occasion when Sam came home on an odd weekend, but now that Derek was home, she kind of felt like she was intruding on 'boy bonding time'. "Uh, I'm gonna let you talk to Derek", she muttered, copping out of the conversation. She handed her cell phone to Derek. "I want it back."

Lizzie heard Derek's vague, one-sided conversation as she finished eating and then went to load the rest of the dishes in the sink into the dishwasher. She ignored the fact that he seemed to be watching her.

Finally he slid the cell phone across the island at her, and glanced discreetly towards Vicky who was making what looked like grilled chicken salad.

Lizzie grabbed her phone and her half-empty glass of iced tea and followed him into the living room.

"Be ready to leave in fifteen minutes. Sam's gonna swing by to pick us up. I'll tell Edwin."

She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, and who's telling George and Nora that we're bailing?" Lizzie hissed.

"I thought we'd just sneak out and apologize later", Derek muttered under his breath.

She groaned. "I'm so going to regret going along with this plan."

"Go out the back door in ten minutes. Don't get caught."

"Tell Edwin", Lizzie sighed. "Our stuff is all downstairs. I'm gonna change and get outside. And don't worry. I don't plan on writing down an 'escape to do list'."

He smirked. "Yeah, well, you're the smart one."

She rolled her eyes, heading back towards the kitchen to get to the basement. "Just don't go tellin' people", she teased over her shoulder.

The five of them took over the ice rink, chatting as they engaged in a friendly game of two on two with Edwin guarding the goal.

"So how goes the family togetherness?" Sam asked.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "Too much family."

"And too much togetherness", Derek added.

"Basically too much Vicky", Edwin called.

""Victoria"", Lizzie and Derek retorted.

"Whatever."

Sam snickered. "And you guys left Casey to deal with her?"

"Hey, those two feud over everything and it makes life difficult. Case can take her", Derek shrugged. "We'll help bury the body."

Ralph snickered. "She can't be that bad."

"I'd invite you over to meet her and see for yourself", Lizzie said, "but I like you too much."

"That's... nice?" Ralph answered, a bit confused.

"You think we're kidding, but we really aren't", Edwin shook his head. "I hate to say it, but we're probably missing out on an epic cat fight right now."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd rather miss the cat fight than risk the chance of Victoria tripping and falling on my lips", Derek shuddered.

"Yeah, she's kind of been staring at you like a lion eyeballs steak", Lizzie teased. "But I doubt her and Casey will get into a real fight. They haven't done that since Harry and Fiona's wedding. And what we're really missing is Mom getting pissed that we left the house."

"I'm all for sneaking back in and acting like we never left", Edwin said seriously.

"That will only work if they don't search the house from top to bottom", Derek rolled his eyes. "Three of us are missing. Even Nora and Dad would notice that."

Nora finds George in the kitchen. "Is it suspiciously quiet in this house?"

He frowns. "It is, isn't it? Where are the rest of our kids?"

"Casey!" Nora hollered towards the family room.

"Yeah, Mom?" she came into the kitchen with Simon on her hip, holding a stuffed yellow elephant, leaving Marti playing 'Go Fish' with Victoria in the living room.

"Would you happen to know where Derek, Edwin, and Lizzie are?"

Casey shrugged, handing her youngest sibling over to George. "Last I saw, Lizzie and Derek went downstairs. I don't know about Edwin."

"Do you mind checking?" Nora sighed. "I'm fairly certain they're not here."

Casey sighed and heads down to the basement. They would leave her here with Icky Vicky…

The basement was empty. She took a look around briefly, not being able to tell what was missing, before pulling out her cell phone and forwarding one text to her three missing siblings.

'Mom and George are going to kill you guys when you get back.'

It was a quarter 'til five when Sam and Ralph dropped them off with wishes of good luck.

Derek stopped them as they walked around the side of the house to go in the back door. "Okay, they know we left… our best bet is to act like they were supposed to know about it."

"Derek, we're just gonna get busted", Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"I don't get busted!"

Edwin snorted, "Whatever you say, bro."

"Shut up and come on!" he hissed.

George and Nora were both in the kitchen waiting for them when they came in the back door.

"What's up, parentals?" Derek said easily, tossing his bag in the corner of the laundry room.

"Where have you guys been?" George asked sternly.

"Hockey game with Sam and Ralph", he shrugged. "You guys said it was alright the other day-"

"Don't even try it", Nora shook her head. "We aren't that scatterbrained."

He shrugged, "Had to try."

Nora eyed the guilty trio before smiling wryly. "I'd ground you, but I'm a little jealous. Just… go be social, and don't sneak off again."

George's eye widened. "Nora-"

She smiled slightly. "They were only gone a few hours, and I know they'd love to take care of the mess after dinner."

He smirked as the three teens groaned.

"Go clean up", George said. "Dinner is at five-thirty."

After a long and awkward dinner, the teenagers dispersed to the living room where Derek and Edwin were wrapping up a match of Babe Raider 5.

"My turn", Casey snatched the controller from Edwin when he lost, and she hopped over the back of the couch.

Derek glanced over at her. "You sure you wanna do this?"

"You know, it's been a while since I've played… Maybe you could take it easy on me?" she batted her eyelashes teasingly.

"You wish, princess", he snorted.

She smirked. "Bring it."

"Awfully feisty there, McDonald", Vicky drawled.

Casey stuck her tongue out.

"Real mature, Case", Derek chuckled.

"Are we playing or trash talking?" she demanded,

"Aw, why can't we do both?"

A/N: Forgive me for the long wait! The first section was giving me grief. Derek really doesn't do feelings. He was being difficult!

Someone mentioned to me that this hasn't really been all that M-rated – so, I've changed the rating back to T for now. I wasn't sure if I could tone down my cursing, lol. We'll see how it goes. There might be a few M-rated things to come, but not for another ten to fifteen chapters, I suppose. I have a lot of necessary plot written, but have to do the filler chapters and so forth because I got distracted with ideas I had to write down. I just wanted to give you all a heads up. Thanks for reading and reviewing.