Disclaimer: Don’t own Life With Derek. I also don’t own any of the movies mentioned in this fic. ‘Nuff said.

Author’s Note: I… am a horrible little wench, aren’t I? I’m SO sorry for making you guys wait so long for the next chapter. Hopefully… this chapter will make up for it.

X

Action and Reaction
Family Fun Time (II)

X

Surprisingly enough, the traffic that day wasn’t too bad, and within minutes, the Venturi-McDonald offspring had arrived at the movie theatre. Given what time of day it was, the parking lot wasn’t full either; it was mostly occupied by the elderly and parents with young children, so Derek had next to no trouble finding a good spot to park, and it wasn’t long before they found themselves waiting in line for tickets.

Had there been a line, of course.

“Two adult tickets for Ironman, and three child tickets for Narnia. Please.” Derek told the ginger-haired teen working there, blatantly ignoring Edwin and Lizzie’s protests about “not being children” as he slid the guy two twenty-dollar bills.

The redhead just nodded and handed Derek back the tickets (and his change) before telling them all to enjoy their shows.

Once inside, Casey’s cell phone went off. Derek quickly turned to face the younger ones while she was preoccupied with… whoever. Emily was his guess, but whatever. As long as it wasn’t some guy, he could care less.

“Alright,” he said, pulling out his wallet and handing them each ten dollars, “here’s some money. Go buy yourselves some drinks and snacks.”

Lizzie and Marti exchanged confused looks, and then shrugged and snatched their share before racing over to the concession stand. Edwin, however, was held back when Derek placed his hand on his shoulder and leaned in so close that his lips were mere centimeters away from his ear.

“Remember,” he said in a low voice that only Edwin could hear, “I don’t want to see any of you until our movie is done. Got it? I don’t care how you keep them busy; just do it. Or else.”

With that, he released his younger brother and watched him scurry off to go join Marti and Lizzie in line. Then he whirled around to look at Casey, who was rummaging through her freakishly large purse. When he cleared his throat, she glanced up, and he couldn’t help but smirk.

“Shall we?” He said, holding out his arm.

Casey eyed his arm suspiciously as a silent debate went on in her head, and after weighing the pros and cons, she decided there was nothing to lose thanks to their truce, and grinned at him.

“Let’s.” She replied, looping her arm through his, and together they made their way into their respective theatre.

X

Derek was up to something.

Lizzie just knew it.

Call it a gut feeling, or women’s intuition, or whatever… she knew he was up to something, and his recent behavior (being nice to Casey? Taking them all out? Driving them places? Paying for all of their tickets? Giving them spending money out of his own pocket?) wasn’t fooling her. Not one bit.

“I can help who’s next!” A female voice called out, jarring Lizzie from her reverie.

Edwin quickly shuffled passed her, slapped his ten in front of the girl working at the counter and began listing off everything he wanted.

Lizzie narrowed her eyes dangerously as she stared at the back of her step-brother’s head.

Whatever Derek was up to, Edwin knew. She knew that he knew, because like his brother, he had been acting weird all day too, and it absolutely infuriated her that he wasn’t telling her anything. He always told her things, so why was he suddenly holding back now? Had something happened between him and Derek? Had he accidentally stumbled upon something he wasn’t supposed to? What exactly was going on and why was she being left out of the loop?

No matter.

She would find out eventually.

Even if she had to use force.

“Lizzie.”

Lizzie glanced down and found Marti standing beside her, holding a bucket of popcorn and a drink, and staring up at her expectantly.

“What?” She asked.

The youngest Venturi motioned to another open cashier beside the one taking Edwin’s order, where the teen working there was looking at Lizzie with an annoyed expression on her face, clearly not pleased that it had taken her so long to even so much as react.

Lizzie just smiled politely and shook her head, stepping out of line.

“No thanks,” she said, “I’m not hungry.”

The teenager just rolled her eyes, and then called out to the elderly couple next in line.

“Alright. I’m done.” Edwin announced as he joined his sister and the object of his desires. “Let’s go.”

Lizzie and Marti nodded in agreement, and Marti led the way to their theatre. Just as they were about to go inside, however, Lizzie came to an abrupt halt and grabbed Edwin’s wrist.

“Wait.” She said. “I need to talk to you.” She glanced over at Marti, who had also stopped, and smiled. “Can you find us some good seats? We’ll be in in a sec. ‘Kay?”

“Okay…” Marti replied slowly, before making her way inside.

In the meantime, Edwin found himself being led over to a dark and secluded area hidden behind a large sign advertising Batman, and after Lizzie was finished scouting the premises to make sure that no one could see or hear them, she whipped around and planted her hands firmly on her hips.

“Well?” She said.

Edwin furrowed his brow.

“Well, what?” He asked.

Lizzie narrowed her eyes.

“Don’t play dumb with me. You know exactly what I’m talking about, Edwin Venturi!” She spat, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him towards her so that their noses were practically touching. “Tell me what Derek’s up to!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Edwin protested, trying to pry her clenched fist off his shirt, but with little avail.

“Don’t lie to me!” Lizzie snarled, releasing him briefly - only to shove him into the wall behind him and poke his chest with an accusing finger. “I know Derek’s up to something, and I know that whatever it is, he’s got you in on it, so don’t even bother trying to weasel your way out of this by feigning innocence. You’re a terrible liar, anyways.”

“Lizzie, I swear. I don’t know anything!”

“Maybe you didn’t hear that last part. You know, the part where I said you’re a terrible liar?” Lizzie took a step closer, making it near impossible for Edwin to escape. “Why do you insist on lying to me, Ed? I thought we were partners. Friends, even, and last I checked… friends don’t lie to each other.”

Edwin swallowed nervously, trying desperately to avoid her piercing gaze by looking anywhere but her eyes.

“Come on, Edwin… you know you can tell me anything.” She coaxed, reaching up to tilt his face so that he was forced to look at her. She smiled warmly. “I mean, really, who am I gonna tell?”

She had a point, he mused. She really did, but…

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you.” He said. “Because I do. I really want to, but… I can’t. Derek swore me to secrecy.”

Lizzie dropped her hand and frowned.

“So?” She said. “Casey tells me stuff all the time and I always tell you. Why? Because I trust you. And… I thought that you trusted me too.”

“I do trust you, Liz.” Edwin tried to assure her.

“Prove it, then!” Lizzie challenged. “Tell me what Derek’s up to. Tell me why he’s been acting so weird all day, and while you’re at it, tell me why you’ve been acting weird all day!”

“I…” Edwin started, but he trailed off and glanced down. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because!” He cried. “It’s… it’s really complicated, okay? And… like I said… Derek swore me to secrecy. If I told you, I’d be betraying his trust and -”

“Oh, please.” Lizzie scoffed. “When have you ever cared about Derek’s trust? All he ever does is treat you like a slave and order you around. Why are you suddenly being loyal to him now?”

“I can’t tell you that!”

“Wonderful.” Lizzie deadpanned, folding her arms across her chest and rolling her eyes. “Just when I thought you were actually getting a backbone, you go back to being Derek’s bitch.”

“I’m not his bitch!” Edwin snapped, glaring down at her.

“Really? Prove it, then.”

Edwin opened his mouth to protest, but before he could, Marti appeared.

“What are you guys doing? You’re missing the movie!”

“And we were just going to come in.” Lizzie assured her, her angry eyes never once leaving her step-brother’s as she spoke. “Right, Edwin?”

“Right.” The dark-haired Venturi muttered in agreement, before he tore his gaze away and stormed over to the theatre.

Lizzie and Marti followed closely behind.

X

Thirty minutes later, Derek found himself torn between trying to watch Ironman, and sparing glances at Casey every chance he got. The latter of the two appeared to be bored and disinterested, and that worried Derek because if Casey had a lousy time that day, then what were the chances of him getting a second chance to prove himself?

He needed to think fast, and with that in mind, he blurted the first thing that popped into his head.

“So…” He said, spreading his arms out and leaning back casually. “How do you like the movie so far?”

Casey sighed and then craned her neck to stare blankly at him.

“I don’t.” She said simply, before frowning. “Derek, why did you have to pick this movie? You know I don’t like action movies!”

“Well, I certainly wasn’t going to settle for some lame chick fli - I mean…” Derek stopped himself when Casey narrowed her eyes, and just smiled innocently at her. “We don’t have to stay, you know. We could always ditch and do something else. What would you like to do, Case?”

Casey’s mouth fell open in shock.

“Derek!” She cried. “We can’t just ditch!”

“Why not?”

“Umm, our siblings?” Casey answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “We can’t just leave them here!”

‘Well, YOU can’t, but I certainly can.’ Derek wanted to say, but he fought against it and instead, said, “We won’t. We’ll come back to get them. In fact, we’ll be back before their movie even lets out. How’s that sound?”

Casey bit her lip, but Derek could tell that she was at least considering it, which thrilled him in ways nothing else could. He loved it whenever Casey dared to break the rules and do very un-Casey-like things; those occurrences were so rare that he had no choice but to savor them in his memory, and every time he thought about them, he couldn’t help but smile at the fact that they were usually results of his doing and his ‘bad’ influence.

“I don’t know…”

Derek sighed.

But sometimes, she just needed a little… push.

“C’mon, Casey!” He urged, placing his hands on her shoulders and feigning a genuine smile. “You know you want to. Don’t deny it. I know that, somewhere deep inside you, there’s a wild child just waiting to let loose. You’re going to have to set her free at some point, Case, so why not start now? With someone you trust?”

Casey raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

“Since when have I ever trusted you?” She asked.

“Since… today!” Derek replied quickly. “Remember our truce? If you’d read the fine print, you would’ve noticed that at the very bottom, it said that as a result of our truce, we have immediate trust in one another.”

“Really? I don’t remember reading…”

“You can check it out later, Case. Just give me your answer.” Derek begged. “Are we going to sit here and watch a movie that you have no interest in to begin with, or are we going to do something you want to do and have the time of our lives? The choice is yours, but the clock is ticking.”

Casey thought about it for about a minute or so, and then sighed in defeat.

“Okay, fine.” She said, standing up and swinging her purse over her shoulder. “Let’s go.”

Derek smirked.

“Excellent choice.”

X

And that’s the end of chapter 6. It’s short, I know, but I decided to include the rest of the Dasey scene in the next and final “Family Fun Time” saga. It’s a three-parter, and after that, I’ll be able to move on with the actual plot. How’s that sound?

Blah. It’s 2:30 in the morning right now, so my mind is kind of… incoherent. You’ll have to forgive me for that.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it’s short, but… bear with it for now, okay?

Please, leave a REVIEW and tell me what you think.

-Lady Azura-