But you don't see me
Title: Mini-Dasey - An Explanation (1b/1)
Author: December
Fandom: Life with Derek
Pairings/Characters: Dasey, Ralph, Lizzie, Edwin
Rating: T
Summary: Future fic. Ralph finally gets his special to talk about how Dasey happened - but can he make it all fit in an hour? And how will two "Dasey experts" react to his observations. Sequel to "Stand-Up Truth" Story Two in Ralph as Comic trilogy
Thanks so much to
rachel_lupin,
bsloths1,
_makeachange,
thebucketwoman, and
lizwinlovefor all of their help with this
“For some reason, Derek decided to tape the party. None of us are sure why. Maybe he wanted to doubly annoy Casey. Maybe he wanted to play director again. Whatever the reason, he had party footage to show Casey, when he went to see her in the hospital after surgery. In fact, not counting her mother, who took Casey to the hospital, Derek was the first person in to see her. And he managed to sneak that football guy she was seeing in to visit her.
“The thing that baffles me about this? Why the two of them didn’t realize that it was love at that point. Derek takes over her party so he can be there. Although it wasn’t what Casey wanted initially, the party actually had a lot of things that would have make Casey happy. All because of Derek, Emily says. Like, Casey’s favorite cake. All of Casey friends, even the ones who weren’t really ‘cool’ enough to be invited to a Derek party. A huge picture of Casey hanging on the wall. A main dish of duck and appetizers that consisted of Casey’s favorite foods. Music by Casey’s favorite artists playing in the background. This included Jann Arden and Sarah Slean, whose music Derek insists he can’t stand. Derek even played a little of Emm Gryner stuff, whose music Derek claims only to tolerate because, ‘She’s hot; she plays the guitar; and she owns a label,’
“Add to that, while Casey was in pain and fighting illness, all she could think about was Derek and how he didn’t do what she wanted. Plus the fact that Derek wrapped up the party early to go see her in the hospital. He even brought her boyfriend - who he didn’t like, surprise, surprise - with him to see her. How can a couple not at least begin to think that maybe something else is going on?
As some in the audience nod, “Well, if you are thinking that, you need to ask Casey and Derek about it. Because they didn’t get how into each other they were. Casey didn’t get it for several more YEARS. For Derek, it just took a few more months and Casey ‘living dangerously’”
“Now, while Derek is a rule breaker and I don’t realize there are rules half the time,” a few snickers followed that comment, “Casey is a rule follower. She has read the rule book several times, highlighted the important parts and has annotated the pages with points and examples.
“So, when Casey breaks a rule, it’s noticed a lot faster. Kinda like when Derek follows a rule, but anyway. Casey had broken few rules in her life up by her junior year of high school. The rules she had broken usually tied back to Derek is some way - not that she noticed this. But even the rules she had broken for Derek before hadn’t been major rules.
“That all changed one Friday night our junior year. Casey broke a rule and my friend got a clue. What did Casey do? She attempted to sneak out with Derek to go to a party.
“Casey had just broken up with her boyfriend. After this event, Derek did seem to be happier. Not that he realized why, but yeah. Casey, who wasn’t taking her break-up hard - yet - had planned to hit the party with her best friend Emily. Derek had planned to hit this party because it was the place to be. He was dragging some random senior with him. I don’t even remember her name. She was just filler. Derek was taking her to the party because she was a senior and that’s what he did. Just another Friday night.
“Or it would have been, if Derek and Casey hadn’t had a fight over the car on Thursday.”
“Now, I know what you are thinking,” Ralph started, “’They fought all time, right, Ralph? Why should this time make a difference?’ Well, maybe it was that the fight was over the car. Maybe it was because they fought like little kids on a playground. Or maybe it was during their fight, they threw a bowl of oatmeal that ended up on Derek’s father’s head,” the audience laughed and Ralph smiled. “Yeah, so they were totally grounded.”
“Now, normally, that would be the end of the story, but Casey overheard that Derek was going to sneak out to the party anyway. She was indignant. He goaded her. She decided she was sneaking out with him…and came up with the plan to do it.
“So the party plans were back on track. I had heard from Derek that the problem was solved, so I’d see him at the party. So I was little surprised when I got a phone call from Derek on Friday evening. Actually, calling it a phone call is exaggerating. After I said hello, Derek basically said, ‘Ralph. Ride? See you in ten,’ and hung up.”
“I’d played taxi for Derek enough to figure out what was going on. I went to pick him up. We left for the party,”
Ralph paused and shrugged, “Looking back? I guess I was more out of it than normal. That’s the only reason I have for not noticing Derek not being…Derek. What finally tipped me off was that we had to double back because…we had forgotten to pick up Derek’s date. Yes, the Derek Venturi had forgotten to pick up his date. That had never happened before. Ever. I mean, ever,” A few chuckles floated through the air at Ralph’s horrified face. “And that led to one of the strangest talks with my best bud, ever.”
“’So, what’s wrong, dude?’ I asked, after I turned the car around to head to his date’s house.
“’What do you mean?’”
“’Um…what I said. I mean, you like forgot your date, dude!’
“’I know,’ he said
“’But you have never forgotten one before,’ I pointed out.
“’First time for everything. Plans change. And then I had to sit through whatever you were listening to on your radio-‘
“’Hey, CHRW is a college radio station, and therefore cutting edge. But dude, what else is up?’
“’Why would something be up?’”
“’Um, yeah. I’m going back up this street because you forgot your date. You got into my car pastier than normal. And, oh yeah, originally you didn’t need me as taxi service. Did your sneak out plan fall through?’
“’No,’” Derek said after a few moments of silence. ‘It went like clockwork. ‘Rents left. Everything was good to go…until I kinda put a dent into the new car.’
“’Holy shit, dude.’”
“’Exactly,’ he said.
“’How did you do that? Was Casey shouting at you for sneaking out or something?’”
“’No. She was just sitting there in the car, all dressed up, reciting safety driving tips at me. You know what she’s like to ride with in a car since getting her license. Hell, she took you out in the hallway when she was practicing for the test!’
“And,” Ralph paused to interrupt his story, “it’s true. Casey was practicing some driving move in the hallway days before her driving test and ran into me. Knocked me down. Caused me to see stars. The scary thing? She’s a much better driver than Derek to this day, but anyway, back to story
“’Uh, dude, back up a bit. Why was Casey in the car with you?’ I asked
“’She was coming with me?’ Derek said quietly
“’Wait. I was supposed to pick up Casey, too?! Why didn’t you say anything?’
“’No, no. Casey’s not coming anymore.’ Derek quickly said.
“’But she was originally?’
“’Yeah,’
“’And she distracted you so much that you backed into your father’s car?’
“’Pretty much, yeah,’ Derek said. ‘Her and her stupid safety tips.’
“At this point, I couldn’t help it. I snorted,” Ralph shared. “Even as a clueless teen, I knew Derek didn’t lose focus because of a litany of safety tips.
“I turned to him and said, ‘It probably wasn’t the safety tips that distracted you, dude.’
“’And he looks and me and goes, “What do you mean by that?’
“’And I go, ‘I mean that you do a good job of turning ‘Casey-talk’ down if you want to. I’ve seen Casey lecture you before, remember? Something else distracted you.’
“’Fine then, Ralph. What do you think distracted me?’ Derek asked.
“’Well…what was she wearing?’
“’WHAT?!’ Derek practically shouted at me.
“’Was it that Bade Raider outfit of hers?’ I asked, clueless that I had pushed like twelve of Derek’s buttons. ‘I mean, both times she sported that you had trouble talking when you first saw her. But that makes sense. I mean, you’re a guy and she’s h-‘
“Then my friend cut me off. ’Don’t finish that statement, Ralph,’ he said.
“’Why?’ I asked. ‘Casey’s hot. It’s a fact. I have said the same thing about Kendra and Emily and you never cut me off.’
“’Casey’s different,’ was all my friend said.
“’How?’ I asked.” The audience laughed and Ralph smiled a little self-consciously, “I know, I should have been paying more attention but I’m me…so I kept going, ‘When I said Lizzie was going to grow up to be hot, you just raised an eyebrow in my direction, and told me to keep drumming,’ I pointed out to Derek at the time”
“Then he goes, ’Casey’s not Lizzie.’”
“And I go, ’Yeah, I get that, dude.’ After a few moments, I added as an aside, ‘Honestly, this reminds me of what you were like after the whole Sally thing.’
“’What Sally thing?’ Derek said. ‘There is no Sally thing,’
“’Exactly,’ I said, ‘and the whole being shot down thing threw you off your game. But there isn’t a Casey thing, so…dude, you are making my head hurt!’ By this point, I had pulled up to his date’s house. I stopped the car and said, ‘Look, just get your date and we’ll not talk about this anymore.’
“’Deal,’ Derek agreed quickly and practically sprinted from the car. The thing was, I think the talk was on his mind all night. He often looked spaced out, like he was deep in thought, or something. And he wasn’t as into his date as I expected. Then, before I knew it, he grabbed himself a non-Casey girlfriend…but messing with Casey was still his number one priority. But the pranks and the fights were a little different from his end after that.
“At his rehearsal dinner for his wedding to Casey, I asked Derek if I could take credit for him cluing into how he felt. I got smacked upside the head for my trouble. I was smacked a second time when Casey asked what I meant, because she had overheard my statement. At that point, for self preservation reasons, I suddenly found a need to go talk to Casey’s sister, Lizzie, who had grown up to be hot.”
Ralph’s set rounded into the last third, but the two people watching on the couch didn’t pay as much attention to the last part of the special. Elizabeth McDonald was still blushing over Ralph’s comment on her looks.
“Well, there’s no accounting for taste,” Edwin commented.
“Ed!” Elizabeth retaliated by pushing him off the couch.
“Kidding, kidding,” Edwin insisted from the floor. “But that explains some of the attention Ralph gave you at the rehearsal dinner.”
Elizabeth merely nodded. Then she laughed. “He even trotted out this awful line about how my shoes were nice!”
“Did it work?”
“Edwin!”
“What? I’m looking for new material. My standard, ‘I know the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ isn’t working anymore.”
“You are so hopeless, “ Elizabeth shook her head.
They both feel quiet after that to watch the last part of the special. Not that the third part of the story was news to them - or any one else. The whole world - at least the world that watched ESPN - had seen the press conference that “ended in Dasey,” as Ralph put it. Casey often rushed to Derek’s aid and defense. Casey had done so since she and Derek were both fifteen, and she hadn’t stopped. In fact, she defended Derek more than she realized. All it took was one insensitive reporter in the audience and there you had it. But Ralph’s take on everything was interesting; it was one of the reasons she had invited Edwin over to watch the special with her.
.
As the credits rolled, Lizzie turned to her stepbrother. “So?”
Edwin just shook his head in amazement. “Damn.”
“I know.”
“I get why Derek didn’t tell me about the Ralph set he saw. And why he was more shook up about the car thing than it warranted.”
‘To be fair, we were asking about more than just the dent in the car,” Elizabeth smiled as she remembered their sleuthing days in the McDonald-Venturi household.
“Yeah, but we were subtle about that. And they were clueless about our other investigation,” Edwin insisted.
“Are you so sure Derek was clueless?”
“Okay, maybe not Derek. Kid was a great liar back in the day,” Edwin conceded. “But Casey had no idea at all.”
“On that we agree.”
“But, damn, I wish I had known then that Ralph had suspicions. We could have exchanged notes. At the very least, you could have told me to bring my research binder!”
“You still have that thing?”
“Yeah. And I wish I had with me. There are a few things I’d love to confirm now.”
- The End -
Author: December
Fandom: Life with Derek
Pairings/Characters: Dasey, Ralph, Lizzie, Edwin
Rating: T
Summary: Future fic. Ralph finally gets his special to talk about how Dasey happened - but can he make it all fit in an hour? And how will two "Dasey experts" react to his observations. Sequel to "Stand-Up Truth" Story Two in Ralph as Comic trilogy
Thanks so much to
rachel_lupin,
bsloths1,
_makeachange,
thebucketwoman, and
lizwinlovefor all of their help with this
“For some reason, Derek decided to tape the party. None of us are sure why. Maybe he wanted to doubly annoy Casey. Maybe he wanted to play director again. Whatever the reason, he had party footage to show Casey, when he went to see her in the hospital after surgery. In fact, not counting her mother, who took Casey to the hospital, Derek was the first person in to see her. And he managed to sneak that football guy she was seeing in to visit her.
“The thing that baffles me about this? Why the two of them didn’t realize that it was love at that point. Derek takes over her party so he can be there. Although it wasn’t what Casey wanted initially, the party actually had a lot of things that would have make Casey happy. All because of Derek, Emily says. Like, Casey’s favorite cake. All of Casey friends, even the ones who weren’t really ‘cool’ enough to be invited to a Derek party. A huge picture of Casey hanging on the wall. A main dish of duck and appetizers that consisted of Casey’s favorite foods. Music by Casey’s favorite artists playing in the background. This included Jann Arden and Sarah Slean, whose music Derek insists he can’t stand. Derek even played a little of Emm Gryner stuff, whose music Derek claims only to tolerate because, ‘She’s hot; she plays the guitar; and she owns a label,’
“Add to that, while Casey was in pain and fighting illness, all she could think about was Derek and how he didn’t do what she wanted. Plus the fact that Derek wrapped up the party early to go see her in the hospital. He even brought her boyfriend - who he didn’t like, surprise, surprise - with him to see her. How can a couple not at least begin to think that maybe something else is going on?
As some in the audience nod, “Well, if you are thinking that, you need to ask Casey and Derek about it. Because they didn’t get how into each other they were. Casey didn’t get it for several more YEARS. For Derek, it just took a few more months and Casey ‘living dangerously’”
“Now, while Derek is a rule breaker and I don’t realize there are rules half the time,” a few snickers followed that comment, “Casey is a rule follower. She has read the rule book several times, highlighted the important parts and has annotated the pages with points and examples.
“So, when Casey breaks a rule, it’s noticed a lot faster. Kinda like when Derek follows a rule, but anyway. Casey had broken few rules in her life up by her junior year of high school. The rules she had broken usually tied back to Derek is some way - not that she noticed this. But even the rules she had broken for Derek before hadn’t been major rules.
“That all changed one Friday night our junior year. Casey broke a rule and my friend got a clue. What did Casey do? She attempted to sneak out with Derek to go to a party.
“Casey had just broken up with her boyfriend. After this event, Derek did seem to be happier. Not that he realized why, but yeah. Casey, who wasn’t taking her break-up hard - yet - had planned to hit the party with her best friend Emily. Derek had planned to hit this party because it was the place to be. He was dragging some random senior with him. I don’t even remember her name. She was just filler. Derek was taking her to the party because she was a senior and that’s what he did. Just another Friday night.
“Or it would have been, if Derek and Casey hadn’t had a fight over the car on Thursday.”
“Now, I know what you are thinking,” Ralph started, “’They fought all time, right, Ralph? Why should this time make a difference?’ Well, maybe it was that the fight was over the car. Maybe it was because they fought like little kids on a playground. Or maybe it was during their fight, they threw a bowl of oatmeal that ended up on Derek’s father’s head,” the audience laughed and Ralph smiled. “Yeah, so they were totally grounded.”
“Now, normally, that would be the end of the story, but Casey overheard that Derek was going to sneak out to the party anyway. She was indignant. He goaded her. She decided she was sneaking out with him…and came up with the plan to do it.
“So the party plans were back on track. I had heard from Derek that the problem was solved, so I’d see him at the party. So I was little surprised when I got a phone call from Derek on Friday evening. Actually, calling it a phone call is exaggerating. After I said hello, Derek basically said, ‘Ralph. Ride? See you in ten,’ and hung up.”
“I’d played taxi for Derek enough to figure out what was going on. I went to pick him up. We left for the party,”
Ralph paused and shrugged, “Looking back? I guess I was more out of it than normal. That’s the only reason I have for not noticing Derek not being…Derek. What finally tipped me off was that we had to double back because…we had forgotten to pick up Derek’s date. Yes, the Derek Venturi had forgotten to pick up his date. That had never happened before. Ever. I mean, ever,” A few chuckles floated through the air at Ralph’s horrified face. “And that led to one of the strangest talks with my best bud, ever.”
“’So, what’s wrong, dude?’ I asked, after I turned the car around to head to his date’s house.
“’What do you mean?’”
“’Um…what I said. I mean, you like forgot your date, dude!’
“’I know,’ he said
“’But you have never forgotten one before,’ I pointed out.
“’First time for everything. Plans change. And then I had to sit through whatever you were listening to on your radio-‘
“’Hey, CHRW is a college radio station, and therefore cutting edge. But dude, what else is up?’
“’Why would something be up?’”
“’Um, yeah. I’m going back up this street because you forgot your date. You got into my car pastier than normal. And, oh yeah, originally you didn’t need me as taxi service. Did your sneak out plan fall through?’
“’No,’” Derek said after a few moments of silence. ‘It went like clockwork. ‘Rents left. Everything was good to go…until I kinda put a dent into the new car.’
“’Holy shit, dude.’”
“’Exactly,’ he said.
“’How did you do that? Was Casey shouting at you for sneaking out or something?’”
“’No. She was just sitting there in the car, all dressed up, reciting safety driving tips at me. You know what she’s like to ride with in a car since getting her license. Hell, she took you out in the hallway when she was practicing for the test!’
“And,” Ralph paused to interrupt his story, “it’s true. Casey was practicing some driving move in the hallway days before her driving test and ran into me. Knocked me down. Caused me to see stars. The scary thing? She’s a much better driver than Derek to this day, but anyway, back to story
“’Uh, dude, back up a bit. Why was Casey in the car with you?’ I asked
“’She was coming with me?’ Derek said quietly
“’Wait. I was supposed to pick up Casey, too?! Why didn’t you say anything?’
“’No, no. Casey’s not coming anymore.’ Derek quickly said.
“’But she was originally?’
“’Yeah,’
“’And she distracted you so much that you backed into your father’s car?’
“’Pretty much, yeah,’ Derek said. ‘Her and her stupid safety tips.’
“At this point, I couldn’t help it. I snorted,” Ralph shared. “Even as a clueless teen, I knew Derek didn’t lose focus because of a litany of safety tips.
“I turned to him and said, ‘It probably wasn’t the safety tips that distracted you, dude.’
“’And he looks and me and goes, “What do you mean by that?’
“’And I go, ‘I mean that you do a good job of turning ‘Casey-talk’ down if you want to. I’ve seen Casey lecture you before, remember? Something else distracted you.’
“’Fine then, Ralph. What do you think distracted me?’ Derek asked.
“’Well…what was she wearing?’
“’WHAT?!’ Derek practically shouted at me.
“’Was it that Bade Raider outfit of hers?’ I asked, clueless that I had pushed like twelve of Derek’s buttons. ‘I mean, both times she sported that you had trouble talking when you first saw her. But that makes sense. I mean, you’re a guy and she’s h-‘
“Then my friend cut me off. ’Don’t finish that statement, Ralph,’ he said.
“’Why?’ I asked. ‘Casey’s hot. It’s a fact. I have said the same thing about Kendra and Emily and you never cut me off.’
“’Casey’s different,’ was all my friend said.
“’How?’ I asked.” The audience laughed and Ralph smiled a little self-consciously, “I know, I should have been paying more attention but I’m me…so I kept going, ‘When I said Lizzie was going to grow up to be hot, you just raised an eyebrow in my direction, and told me to keep drumming,’ I pointed out to Derek at the time”
“Then he goes, ’Casey’s not Lizzie.’”
“And I go, ’Yeah, I get that, dude.’ After a few moments, I added as an aside, ‘Honestly, this reminds me of what you were like after the whole Sally thing.’
“’What Sally thing?’ Derek said. ‘There is no Sally thing,’
“’Exactly,’ I said, ‘and the whole being shot down thing threw you off your game. But there isn’t a Casey thing, so…dude, you are making my head hurt!’ By this point, I had pulled up to his date’s house. I stopped the car and said, ‘Look, just get your date and we’ll not talk about this anymore.’
“’Deal,’ Derek agreed quickly and practically sprinted from the car. The thing was, I think the talk was on his mind all night. He often looked spaced out, like he was deep in thought, or something. And he wasn’t as into his date as I expected. Then, before I knew it, he grabbed himself a non-Casey girlfriend…but messing with Casey was still his number one priority. But the pranks and the fights were a little different from his end after that.
“At his rehearsal dinner for his wedding to Casey, I asked Derek if I could take credit for him cluing into how he felt. I got smacked upside the head for my trouble. I was smacked a second time when Casey asked what I meant, because she had overheard my statement. At that point, for self preservation reasons, I suddenly found a need to go talk to Casey’s sister, Lizzie, who had grown up to be hot.”
Ralph’s set rounded into the last third, but the two people watching on the couch didn’t pay as much attention to the last part of the special. Elizabeth McDonald was still blushing over Ralph’s comment on her looks.
“Well, there’s no accounting for taste,” Edwin commented.
“Ed!” Elizabeth retaliated by pushing him off the couch.
“Kidding, kidding,” Edwin insisted from the floor. “But that explains some of the attention Ralph gave you at the rehearsal dinner.”
Elizabeth merely nodded. Then she laughed. “He even trotted out this awful line about how my shoes were nice!”
“Did it work?”
“Edwin!”
“What? I’m looking for new material. My standard, ‘I know the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ isn’t working anymore.”
“You are so hopeless, “ Elizabeth shook her head.
They both feel quiet after that to watch the last part of the special. Not that the third part of the story was news to them - or any one else. The whole world - at least the world that watched ESPN - had seen the press conference that “ended in Dasey,” as Ralph put it. Casey often rushed to Derek’s aid and defense. Casey had done so since she and Derek were both fifteen, and she hadn’t stopped. In fact, she defended Derek more than she realized. All it took was one insensitive reporter in the audience and there you had it. But Ralph’s take on everything was interesting; it was one of the reasons she had invited Edwin over to watch the special with her.
.
As the credits rolled, Lizzie turned to her stepbrother. “So?”
Edwin just shook his head in amazement. “Damn.”
“I know.”
“I get why Derek didn’t tell me about the Ralph set he saw. And why he was more shook up about the car thing than it warranted.”
‘To be fair, we were asking about more than just the dent in the car,” Elizabeth smiled as she remembered their sleuthing days in the McDonald-Venturi household.
“Yeah, but we were subtle about that. And they were clueless about our other investigation,” Edwin insisted.
“Are you so sure Derek was clueless?”
“Okay, maybe not Derek. Kid was a great liar back in the day,” Edwin conceded. “But Casey had no idea at all.”
“On that we agree.”
“But, damn, I wish I had known then that Ralph had suspicions. We could have exchanged notes. At the very least, you could have told me to bring my research binder!”
“You still have that thing?”
“Yeah. And I wish I had with me. There are a few things I’d love to confirm now.”
- The End -