We weren't able to leave until five in the afternoon. Casey had some official ZBZ things to do in the afternoon that prevented us from getting an early start like I had wanted to. I made our first stop Indianapolis, Indiana. It was only about a three hour drive from CRU. The first three hours in the car were rather quiet. I turned on the radio just to have something fill the silence. Casey pretty much stared out the window. I wanted to talk to her. I wanted her to tell me whatever was bothering her. But at the same time I didn't want to start a conversation that we couldn't finish. Casey is the type of person that will come to you when she's ready to talk. I've learned that about her over the years. So I figured she would open up to me when she was ready to do so. At the same time though, I didn't want this to be a silent trip. I was hoping this trip could bring us even closer together.

I really couldn't find anything crazy or fun to do in Indianapolis so it was kind of nice we got there in the evening. The one thing I did find for us to go see was seen best in the dark anyway so it worked out perfectly. I first pulled up to the hotel I had reserved. Casey instantly looked at me as we arrived.

"Budget Inn?" she asked like she expected something better.

"It was the only thing I could find," I lied.

Yes, I hate lying to Casey and if you ask me, I really didn't lie to her. I merely told her a fib. I didn't want to give too much away of everything I had planned on this trip. Truthfully I had a nice hotel set up in Saint Louis for us but when Casey told me we couldn't leave until her sorority meeting was done I had to quickly throw Indianapolis into the mix. And since a lot of my money had already been spent on reservations and things in other cities we were going to visit, the Budget Inn was all I could afford tonight.

"I promise, things will get better as we go along," I said as I got out of the Jeep to check in.

A few minutes later we walked into the room. There was a king size bed and a TV that didn't even come with a remote control. Yeah, this place was a dive but it was only for one night. I looked at Casey who was really trying to hide her disappointment.

"Come on, let's head out of here and grab some dinner," I said as I reached my hand out to her.

She took my hand and we walked back to the Jeep. A few miles down the road I found a restaurant for us to eat at.

"So you've been awfully quiet so far," I said to her right after our food came. "Are you upset you're missing Christmas with your parents?"

"No, not at all," she replied. "I just have some things on my mind, that's all."

"And do you care to share these things with me?" I asked.

Casey looked up at me with a solemn expression on her face.

"You know you can tell me anything," I told her.

"I know," she replied. "Just not right now."

And that's all I got out of her during dinner. She quickly changed the subject to talk about Rusty and his silly grant project. Yes, I love Rusty like a brother but he was near the bottom of the list of things I wanted to talk about with Casey. I was actually beginning to get worried. Casey has always been able to talk to me about anything. I've always been like a best friend to her even when we weren't dating. Like when she was trying to make the decision to go to DC or not for the summer. I was the person she asked for advice and that part of our closeness seemed to be lacking out of our relationship at the moment.

After dinner I took Casey downtown. Beaver was helping me find something to do in Indianapolis and turned to Wikipedia of all things. Beaver loved Wikipedia. Anyway, he came across an ad for the largest Christmas tree and found there was a very large one in downtown Indianapolis. I looked into it and some websites said it was the largest in the world but others didn't. I really didn't care though. I figured it was something cool to see and take Casey to so I went with it.

We parked in one of the parking garages downtown and walked hand in hand to the site. I was surprised to see that it wasn't actually a real tree. It was lights coming down from a high tower that made it look like a tree. I looked over at Casey once it came into sight. Her eyes grew wide and she smiled. It was nice to finally see her smile. I squeezed her hand as we walked closer to it.

"That is just beautiful Cap," she said squeezing my hand back.

"Oh but certainly not as beautiful as you," I replied.

Casey looked at me and rolled her eyes. OK, yes, it was a cheesy line. But I got a little upset at her reaction because as cheesy as the line was, it was very, very true. Casey is the most beautiful object in the world to me. The softness of her skin, the boldness of her eyes and the smell of her hair all make my head spin every time I'm around her.

We found an empty bench as we were walking around the tree and I pulled her over to sit down. At first we just sat there staring at the lights and the many people who were walking by us. Eventually I turned to look at her as she did the same to me.

"I'm sorry I've been kind of out of it," she spoke first. "There's just a lot going on with the sorority that's taking up my mind."

"I understand," I replied. "But at the same time I really want this trip to be special for the two of us. It's Christmas break. We're supposed to leave all school and Greek life things in CRU and focus on enjoying our break. I feel like there is this wall set up between the two of us and I just wish it would go away."

Casey took a deep breath as she reached her hand up and brushed it against my cheek. Her touch sent shivers down my spine and I smiled slightly at her gesture.

"This is going to be an amazing trip for us," she replied. "And whatever sorority crap I was thinking about before is gone now. The only thing I'm concerned about is you and all the fun things we are going to do on this trip."

Casey then leaned her head forward and kissed me. At that moment I knew she was trying with everything she had to show me that I was her priority. I kissed her back and wrapped my arms around her waist tightly. I always seem to get lost in the moment when the two of us kiss. It was like all the people around us weren't there and it was just the two of us in front of this big, beautiful tree. However, we were quickly reminded that we weren't the only two people there when an old lady came up and tapped me on the shoulder.

"Do you mind?" she asked. "There are children around here."

I saw Casey's face become extremely red in embarrassment as I'm sure mine did too. I told the lady we were sorry and the two of us laughed hysterically at the situation as we walked back to the car. Now this was the Casey that I was waiting to see. The entire way back to the hotel she gabbed about the Christmas tree and how embarrassed she was when the old lady interrupted us. I barely got two words in but I didn't care too much. It was enough just to hear her voice.

I was afraid Casey's beautiful smile would go away as soon as she was reminded of the crappy room we were staying in. But I was surprised that she didn't have any change in her mood once we went into the room. She actually immediately pinned me against the door and insisted we pick up where we were before we were so rudely interrupted. This time I plunged my lips down towards hers before she could start. She was just looking up at me with the sexiest eyes that I couldn't help it. We eventually made our way over to the bed, removing several articles of clothing along the way.

I love having sex with Casey. Actually, I would say it's more making love. But I had a hard time calling it that because neither of us had said those three words to each other since we started dating this second time around. I think that we both know it deep down in our hearts but it's like our minds are too afraid to admit it out loud. I had to keep myself from saying it to her a couple of times while we had sex. It seemed like it was something natural for me to say because it's what I did when we made love our freshman year. But tonight in the Budget Inn was not the night for me to admit those three words to her. Along with fighting those words I had to also keep myself from laughing because the bed made a very noticeable creaking noise the entire time. I guess that's what I get for reserving a cheap hotel. Hopefully the next ones will be better.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! Decided to post this chapter early this morning. Keep checking back because I'll get another couple up later today :0)