You say it happened like the movies
Title: Undeleted Sixteenth (1a/1)
Author: December
Fandom: Life with Derek
Characters: Casey
Rating: T
Summary: A late night viewing of videos on a laptop leads to more questions than answers. Really late flashfic for bsloths.
Note: I liked this and then I hated it. And I thought the Derek and Vicky make-out session was on the washing machine, but if it wasn't, my mistake. If anyone is interested in what the prompt was, just let me know
As she looked up at the clock, clutching her blue monkey, she quietly counted down the last seconds of this special anniversary. “Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.” She smiled as she closed her eyes. With all of the surprises that she’d had that day, it was time for a well-deserved rest. She’d sleep for hours, she knew.
Or, at least that was what she thought. She hadn’t taken her curious nature into consideration, it seemed, because an hour later she was wide awake. She could still hear him saying, “It goes on for awhile and some of the tributes get a little pukey.” Did he mean “pukey” as in sweet and touching? Or “pukey” as in with actual puke? She had to know, which meant she had to watch the rest of the tribute video.
She ended up having to buzz a nurse for help. She was a little embarrassed about that, but there was no way she could reach the tray, much less the laptop on top of it. As she turned on the laptop, she worried that Derek would have some password on it; one she wouldn’t know, but, surprisingly, there was no password. Finding the video of her surprise party rather easily, she pushed play and sat back to watch the beginning again.
“Hey. Welcome to Casey McDonald’s surprise sixteenth birthday,” Derek’s voice led off the commentary. First up, in terms of tributes, was Emily. Casey smiled at Em’s apology - raising her eyebrows at Emily sharing that it was a great party. Casey wished she could have heard the rest of Em’s speech about being happy to have her as a best friend, but Derek was in control of the camera. Casey had to wonder if the sudden shift away from Emily (even though she clearly wasn’t finished) was just to mess with her - until Casey realized that Emily had been about to cry. Derek still really couldn’t do tears.
Next was the shot of the hockey team. Now this, more than anything, was proof that this was more Derek’s party than hers. He invited the hockey team. The entire team. Sure, Casey had dated Sam, so if Sam had been invited that would have made sense. But the entire team? She wasn’t currently dating anyone on the team, and she wasn’t exactly a huge fan of hockey.
She laughed as the hockey goalie checked out her picture and then made eyes at the camera, “Well, happy birthday, Casey.” It was just so over the top, she couldn’t take it seriously.
Where had Derek gotten that picture of her, anyway? How much effort had he put into this party? Casey knew it was a party for him - it had to be - but getting the picture blown up like that? That takes some time.
She shook her head as the hockey team and football team seemed to have an impromptu competition over which team could shout “Casey, Casey, Casey” with more energy and volume. Surprisingly enough, if asked, Casey would have to say the hockey team won, which seems wrong in some way, as the football team did have her supposed boyfriend to help cheer them on. She didn’t see Sam in the shot of the hockey team, so it’s not even like her ex and now good friend helped rev the hockey team up. Maybe it was the presence of the camera? Or the presence of their captain and resident hockey god (although, she’d never admit to even thinking the latter to Derek) holding the camera and taping the tribute that pushed their cheering over the edge?
Maybe she was over thinking things again.
She shook her head at the pick-up line uttered by the goalie as part of the tribute. Did that actually work for him?
This was the point where Derek stopped the video when he first showed it to her, so Casey leaned a little forward and started to pay attention. By this point, Derek had moved on but not before she heard him say, “Hey, hey. No hitting on my step-sister through video tributes.”
Casey blinked as the camera panned the packed room and all of the decorations and people. It was strange, in a way. The reason Derek gave for people not to hit on Casey was not that she wasn’t single, which should be the obvious reason. No, the reason he gave for people to back off of Casey was his, Derek’s, relationship with Casey, not Max’s relationship with Casey. It was also odd that this far into the tribute video and Max hadn’t tried to get on camera to say anything.
Casey shook her head at the next three tributes from people who obviously had no idea who she was. There was the girl who kept trying to flirt with Derek as he was taping. “Oh, what a sweet thing to do for your sister!” she cooed
Casey ignored the fact that she added “step” in the same tone at the same time the Derek in the video did.
Next there was the couple who seemed more interested in groping each other, either for or in spite of the camera, than saying anything to Casey. Casey laughed out loud when she heard him say in the background of the video that someone needed to throw some cold water on those two so that they would calm down.
Finally, there was the guy who had shown up drunk. He was weaving back and forth and wasn’t making too much sense. About the time Derek finally got him to string together words that made sense, all he got out was “Hap - Pee Birfday, C-“ before whatever he had eaten earlier decided to make an encore appearance.
“So, pukey as in with real puke. Oh, ew!” Casey whispered.
Even though random drunken guy did bring the video down a bit, he wouldn’t have ruined it. Luckily, the next tribute came from a familiar face, as he was just walking into Smelly Nellie’s after the whole puke fest.
“Sam,” Derek’s voice said from behind the camera. “What took you so long to get here?”
“Sorry, D,” Sam shared as he shrugged out of his coat. “Remember the family that I said was in town to visit? Got pulled into a conversation with my uncle. About sequels and movie remakes, of all things. I never knew someone could go on and on about the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie. Uncle Steve is one bitter man.”
“Okay….well, smile at the camera and wish Casey a happy sixteenth.”
“I can’t actually give my wish to the birthday girl in person?” Sam asked.
The camera moved as if Derek shrugged. “Only if you want to visit her in the hospital tomorrow.”
“Hospital?” Sam’s eyes widened. “Is Casey okay?”
“She’s fine. Just needed emergency surgery to have her appendix removed.”
“Wait, and you went on with the party?” Sam asked, clearly shocked.
“I know. Shame she couldn’t make it. Hence the vid. So, wanna say something to Casey?”
Sam shook his head briefly before looking directly into the camera. “Happy Birthday, Casey. I’m sorry to hear about the surgery, but I hope you get better soon. And - if you need me to sit on this fool while you beat him up after you are feeling better, just call.”
“Hey, hey. Why the violence?” Derek’s voice asked but by then, Sam had seen Emily need the back and moved on to talk to her.
The middle twenty minutes of the tribute video wasn’t super exciting. A few more people puked. The hockey goalie tried to pick her up again. There was a cake eating contest in there, as well. She wondered who was responsible for the cake. Maybe Emily? Whoever it was knew her favorite flower, as it was decorating the cake instead of roses.
This party of Derek’s really did have some things Casey would have appreciated, which was a surprise itself. Maybe Emily’s intervention? But Em couldn’t have thought of all of the thoughtful pieces, could she?
At one point in the middle the camera panned the crowd and stopped on a familiar face. It couldn’t be..?
“Emily,” Derek’s voice called from behind the camera.
“What?”
“Come over here.”
“Fine,” after a sigh and some footsteps, Emily’s voice became louder, indicating that she was probably directly off screen. “What is it?”
“Is that,” Derek began quietly as the camera focused in on a red-headed young man, “who I think it is?”
“Oh My God,” Emily’s voice replied in shock. “That’s Tinker! Did you invite him?”
“No! I have a rep to uphold, after all,” Derek replied. “Did you?”
“No,” from Emily, “Wouldn’t have done that to Casey in a million years.”
“So, how did he find out about it?”
“Derek,” Emily sighed as she stepped in front of the camera. “This party was pretty much an open secret by the end of the school day today. Which I am so sorry about Casey. I just wasn’t thinking!,” Emily took a deep breath before continuing, ”But Tinker finding out? He could have heard it from anywhere and just shown up. So what do we do now?”
“Nothing,” Derek’s voice said from behind the camera. “Absolutely nothing.”
“We probably should ask him to say something on the video for Casey at least.”
“No, uh-uh. We’ll just quietly move away and hope he doesn’t see us.”
As the camera slowly changed focus, Casey had to shake her head. She was almost a little glad to have been in the hospital and missed the party. If the tons of guests wouldn’t have sent her running into the bathroom crying, Tinker’s presence might have sent her in the bathroom to hide. In part because she was a little embarrassed by how she had used him to get back at Derek in the past.
Hmm. She and Derek did tend to cause a lot of collateral damage.
Tinker wasn’t the only surprise guest actually. And this scene from the party both made her night and proved that Derek didn’t have the time to edit anything. Because, he if he had editorial control, there is no way she would have ever seen what happened.
For some reason, by this point in the party, Derek had passed the camera over to Emily. This was a great show of trust on his part, given how Derek was about his camera, but he had seen Emily’s work before with that almost disaster of a Sociology project. Whatever the reason, Emily had the camera; it was her quick skills that got the shot.
Author: December
Fandom: Life with Derek
Characters: Casey
Rating: T
Summary: A late night viewing of videos on a laptop leads to more questions than answers. Really late flashfic for bsloths.
Note: I liked this and then I hated it. And I thought the Derek and Vicky make-out session was on the washing machine, but if it wasn't, my mistake. If anyone is interested in what the prompt was, just let me know
As she looked up at the clock, clutching her blue monkey, she quietly counted down the last seconds of this special anniversary. “Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.” She smiled as she closed her eyes. With all of the surprises that she’d had that day, it was time for a well-deserved rest. She’d sleep for hours, she knew.
Or, at least that was what she thought. She hadn’t taken her curious nature into consideration, it seemed, because an hour later she was wide awake. She could still hear him saying, “It goes on for awhile and some of the tributes get a little pukey.” Did he mean “pukey” as in sweet and touching? Or “pukey” as in with actual puke? She had to know, which meant she had to watch the rest of the tribute video.
She ended up having to buzz a nurse for help. She was a little embarrassed about that, but there was no way she could reach the tray, much less the laptop on top of it. As she turned on the laptop, she worried that Derek would have some password on it; one she wouldn’t know, but, surprisingly, there was no password. Finding the video of her surprise party rather easily, she pushed play and sat back to watch the beginning again.
“Hey. Welcome to Casey McDonald’s surprise sixteenth birthday,” Derek’s voice led off the commentary. First up, in terms of tributes, was Emily. Casey smiled at Em’s apology - raising her eyebrows at Emily sharing that it was a great party. Casey wished she could have heard the rest of Em’s speech about being happy to have her as a best friend, but Derek was in control of the camera. Casey had to wonder if the sudden shift away from Emily (even though she clearly wasn’t finished) was just to mess with her - until Casey realized that Emily had been about to cry. Derek still really couldn’t do tears.
Next was the shot of the hockey team. Now this, more than anything, was proof that this was more Derek’s party than hers. He invited the hockey team. The entire team. Sure, Casey had dated Sam, so if Sam had been invited that would have made sense. But the entire team? She wasn’t currently dating anyone on the team, and she wasn’t exactly a huge fan of hockey.
She laughed as the hockey goalie checked out her picture and then made eyes at the camera, “Well, happy birthday, Casey.” It was just so over the top, she couldn’t take it seriously.
Where had Derek gotten that picture of her, anyway? How much effort had he put into this party? Casey knew it was a party for him - it had to be - but getting the picture blown up like that? That takes some time.
She shook her head as the hockey team and football team seemed to have an impromptu competition over which team could shout “Casey, Casey, Casey” with more energy and volume. Surprisingly enough, if asked, Casey would have to say the hockey team won, which seems wrong in some way, as the football team did have her supposed boyfriend to help cheer them on. She didn’t see Sam in the shot of the hockey team, so it’s not even like her ex and now good friend helped rev the hockey team up. Maybe it was the presence of the camera? Or the presence of their captain and resident hockey god (although, she’d never admit to even thinking the latter to Derek) holding the camera and taping the tribute that pushed their cheering over the edge?
Maybe she was over thinking things again.
She shook her head at the pick-up line uttered by the goalie as part of the tribute. Did that actually work for him?
This was the point where Derek stopped the video when he first showed it to her, so Casey leaned a little forward and started to pay attention. By this point, Derek had moved on but not before she heard him say, “Hey, hey. No hitting on my step-sister through video tributes.”
Casey blinked as the camera panned the packed room and all of the decorations and people. It was strange, in a way. The reason Derek gave for people not to hit on Casey was not that she wasn’t single, which should be the obvious reason. No, the reason he gave for people to back off of Casey was his, Derek’s, relationship with Casey, not Max’s relationship with Casey. It was also odd that this far into the tribute video and Max hadn’t tried to get on camera to say anything.
Casey shook her head at the next three tributes from people who obviously had no idea who she was. There was the girl who kept trying to flirt with Derek as he was taping. “Oh, what a sweet thing to do for your sister!” she cooed
Casey ignored the fact that she added “step” in the same tone at the same time the Derek in the video did.
Next there was the couple who seemed more interested in groping each other, either for or in spite of the camera, than saying anything to Casey. Casey laughed out loud when she heard him say in the background of the video that someone needed to throw some cold water on those two so that they would calm down.
Finally, there was the guy who had shown up drunk. He was weaving back and forth and wasn’t making too much sense. About the time Derek finally got him to string together words that made sense, all he got out was “Hap - Pee Birfday, C-“ before whatever he had eaten earlier decided to make an encore appearance.
“So, pukey as in with real puke. Oh, ew!” Casey whispered.
Even though random drunken guy did bring the video down a bit, he wouldn’t have ruined it. Luckily, the next tribute came from a familiar face, as he was just walking into Smelly Nellie’s after the whole puke fest.
“Sam,” Derek’s voice said from behind the camera. “What took you so long to get here?”
“Sorry, D,” Sam shared as he shrugged out of his coat. “Remember the family that I said was in town to visit? Got pulled into a conversation with my uncle. About sequels and movie remakes, of all things. I never knew someone could go on and on about the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie. Uncle Steve is one bitter man.”
“Okay….well, smile at the camera and wish Casey a happy sixteenth.”
“I can’t actually give my wish to the birthday girl in person?” Sam asked.
The camera moved as if Derek shrugged. “Only if you want to visit her in the hospital tomorrow.”
“Hospital?” Sam’s eyes widened. “Is Casey okay?”
“She’s fine. Just needed emergency surgery to have her appendix removed.”
“Wait, and you went on with the party?” Sam asked, clearly shocked.
“I know. Shame she couldn’t make it. Hence the vid. So, wanna say something to Casey?”
Sam shook his head briefly before looking directly into the camera. “Happy Birthday, Casey. I’m sorry to hear about the surgery, but I hope you get better soon. And - if you need me to sit on this fool while you beat him up after you are feeling better, just call.”
“Hey, hey. Why the violence?” Derek’s voice asked but by then, Sam had seen Emily need the back and moved on to talk to her.
The middle twenty minutes of the tribute video wasn’t super exciting. A few more people puked. The hockey goalie tried to pick her up again. There was a cake eating contest in there, as well. She wondered who was responsible for the cake. Maybe Emily? Whoever it was knew her favorite flower, as it was decorating the cake instead of roses.
This party of Derek’s really did have some things Casey would have appreciated, which was a surprise itself. Maybe Emily’s intervention? But Em couldn’t have thought of all of the thoughtful pieces, could she?
At one point in the middle the camera panned the crowd and stopped on a familiar face. It couldn’t be..?
“Emily,” Derek’s voice called from behind the camera.
“What?”
“Come over here.”
“Fine,” after a sigh and some footsteps, Emily’s voice became louder, indicating that she was probably directly off screen. “What is it?”
“Is that,” Derek began quietly as the camera focused in on a red-headed young man, “who I think it is?”
“Oh My God,” Emily’s voice replied in shock. “That’s Tinker! Did you invite him?”
“No! I have a rep to uphold, after all,” Derek replied. “Did you?”
“No,” from Emily, “Wouldn’t have done that to Casey in a million years.”
“So, how did he find out about it?”
“Derek,” Emily sighed as she stepped in front of the camera. “This party was pretty much an open secret by the end of the school day today. Which I am so sorry about Casey. I just wasn’t thinking!,” Emily took a deep breath before continuing, ”But Tinker finding out? He could have heard it from anywhere and just shown up. So what do we do now?”
“Nothing,” Derek’s voice said from behind the camera. “Absolutely nothing.”
“We probably should ask him to say something on the video for Casey at least.”
“No, uh-uh. We’ll just quietly move away and hope he doesn’t see us.”
As the camera slowly changed focus, Casey had to shake her head. She was almost a little glad to have been in the hospital and missed the party. If the tons of guests wouldn’t have sent her running into the bathroom crying, Tinker’s presence might have sent her in the bathroom to hide. In part because she was a little embarrassed by how she had used him to get back at Derek in the past.
Hmm. She and Derek did tend to cause a lot of collateral damage.
Tinker wasn’t the only surprise guest actually. And this scene from the party both made her night and proved that Derek didn’t have the time to edit anything. Because, he if he had editorial control, there is no way she would have ever seen what happened.
For some reason, by this point in the party, Derek had passed the camera over to Emily. This was a great show of trust on his part, given how Derek was about his camera, but he had seen Emily’s work before with that almost disaster of a Sociology project. Whatever the reason, Emily had the camera; it was her quick skills that got the shot.