A/N: Glad that you guys have stuck around! Hope you continue!

"Why…god why am I such an idiot!" Casey shouts in the middle of the medicine isle in the grocery store.

"Well there could be several different answers to that question."

The voice to her left says which causes her to jump as she wasn't expecting any response to the rhetorical question. She quickly turns towards Abbie and makes a face of disgust.

"Thank you for scaring me half to death…"

Abbie grins and shrugs her shoulders. "Just another thing I can now cross off my bucket list. But in all seriousness, why are you shouting like a mad woman in the middle of the grocery store?"

Casey sighs heavily and contemplates telling her best friend the truth about what happened. She wants to and she would like to think that Abbie wouldn't judge but a large part of her is afraid of what the brunette would say, so she decides that she'd rather not.

"Alex is sick…and I don't know what kind of medicine to get her." she mumbles lamely .Well at least it isn't a complete lie seeing as she really doesn't know.

Abbie raises her eyebrows amusedly and steps next to Casey to examine the multiple bottles of medication on the shelves.

"What does she have?" she asks as she starts reading labels.

Casey runs a frustrated hand through her hair and makes a noise that is a cross between a whine and a groan. "I don't know. I think it's probably the flu. She says she's achy and her throat hurts…and she sounds freaking horrible. Those are flu symptoms right?"

Abbie chuckles as she starts reading off the contents of the label on a bottle. "Helps flu like symptoms, sore throats, and if you sound freaking horrible. I think this is your medicine right here."

Casey rolls her eyes and smacks Abbie before she takes the bottle of medicine. She's concluded that the reason that she and Abbie get along so well and are practically best friend's is because of their shared personalities.

They're alike in so many ways and a couple of those ways are their sarcastic tendencies and their sense of humor. More often than not, with most of the things Abbie says, Casey is positive that she herself would say it at some point and vise versa.

Thus the reasons that they are best friends. Although if you add Olivia to the mix that brings up a whole different subject on the trio and what all they can and will most likely get into. But that is a story that'll be explored at a later date.

"Hey…red riding hood, you alright?" Abbie asks noticing that her friend has spaced out.

No. "Yeah I'm…I'm fine, just tired that's all." Casey responds. "I should probably head home and get these things to Alex…"

"Awwwww taking care of your lady when she's sick, you're such a good girlfriend. Whenever Serena's sick I try to stay out of the house as long as possible. She's mean as hell when she's sick, it's actually pretty terrifying. Anyway, I'll let you get home; tell Alex to feel better for me."

Even after Abbie has walked off, her words still ring heavily in Casey's ears. "You're such a good girlfriend."

'No I'm not. I'm a horrible girlfriend who is so fucking stupid and has made a huge fucking mistake. Oh god, I can't tell Alex this. It'll crush her.'


Alex slowly cracks her eyes open when she feels a cool hand on her blazing forehead. She actually thinks that she feels worse than she did when she first fell asleep, and that's never a good sign.

She moans in pain as she feels like her limbs have a thousand pound weights sitting on them.

"Casey I feel…horrible…" she croaks and lets out a sneeze a few seconds later.

"I know baby…I got something for you to take." Casey says as she starts reading the directions on the Theraflu, which makes Alex's eyes bug out of her head.

"I am not taking that. Why didn't you get pills?" She questions voicing her disgust for liquid medicine.

Casey sighs and pours the allotted amount of the burgundy liquid in the cup. "Because this is what they had…and it'll make you feel better."

Alex narrows her eyes before she ducks her head under the comforter, disappearing from sight and succeeding in slightly annoying Casey.

"Alex seriously…"

"No…I refuse. I am not a child."

"You're acting like one…will you just take it? It's what they had and it'll be a lot easier on your throat."

"…No." is the muffled reply from beneath the blankets.

Casey pinches the bridge of her knows and sighs yet again. "Fine…then I'll just take you to the doctor."

"NO…! I hate the doctor!" Alex protests even though she is still beneath the blankets.

"Then take the medicine!" Casey counters, surprised at how much of a child Alex can be when she's sick.

Slowly, a head of blonde pokes out from under the comforter and Casey is soon met with a pair of glowering blue eyes. Alex then sits up and takes the cup from Casey's outstretched hand, glaring at the medication as if it is at fault for her sickness.

Alex quickly downs the contents of the cup and makes a face of disgust as she swallows the horrible tasting liquid that is supposed to be 'flavored' cherry. Even after she's swallowed, the after taste that hits her is even worse than the medicine itself.

"That was absolutely horrid." She mumbles as she sinks down into bed once more.

A small smile graces Casey's lips as she realizes how adorable and childlike Alex tends to be when she's sick.

"But it's going to make you feel better. I got you some soup and orange juice too."

"…I don't like soup."

"Yeah I figured, but you'll eat it when you get hungry."

Alex huffs and turns over in the bed at which Casey sighs and softly starts stroking her blonde hair.

"I'll be right downstairs if you need anything, okay?" she says softly as she places a soft kiss to Alex's neck and exits the bedroom.


Later That Evening

Casey is reading through a file when she feels the couch dip next to her. She removes her reading glasses and turns to find Alex huddled in the corner of the couch with a blanket draped over her shoulders.

"You've slept for a long time. How are you feeling?" Casey asks as she sits the folder on the coffee table.

Alex yawns greatly before she sniffles and pulls the blanket tighter around her. "I feel a little better. My throat still hurts though."

"Are you hungry? I can make you something…"

"No…I'm not hungry, but thank you. Thank you for taking care of me. I know I'm not the easiest to take care of when I'm sick."

"You're not the easiest to take care of when you aren't sick." Casey replies jokingly.

Alex rolls her eyes. "Oh ha ha, you're so funny. Can you do something for me? I know I should have told you earlier but I didn't think about it until just now. Can you go by Serena's and pick up a file that she was supposed to give me?"

Casey nods and stands up from the couch, grabbing her keys off the table. "Yeah of course…it shouldn't take me that long. I'll be back." She says quickly as she kisses Alex on the forehead and leaves.

Alex stretches her aching muscles and scoots over to the part of the couch where Casey was sitting. She smiles to herself as she realizes that her girlfriend has left her cell phone on the coffee table. "Leave it to Casey to leave her phone at home…"

She yawns once again as she picks up Casey's open laptop that was sitting on the table. She feels like she's been dropped off the planet for a whole day and it would probably do her some good to check her email.

As she's about to open the internet browser, Casey's phone vibrates on the table drawing her attention. Alex leans forward and glances at the now lit screen to see that it's just a text message from Olivia. But it's then that she also notices an email that says 'video enclosed' under the text message.

Usually, she wouldn't be one to look through her girlfriend's messages, but she's curious as to what video has been sent to Casey from an email she's never seen before. She picks up the phone and slides her finger across the email before she enters the passcode. She then opens the email and clicks the video attachment only to receive the message that says 'file is too large to view on mobile device'.

Alex puts Casey's phone back on the coffee table and proceeds to open the internet browser and make her way to the email site. She clicks the shortcut and notices that Casey is still logged in.

Swallowing thickly, Alex clicks on the inbox and finds that same email from Casey's cell phone. She sits there let's the cursor hover over the video attachment for a good minute before she clicks on the video.

For a few minutes all she sees is an empty bedroom and it spikes her curiosity on whether or not it's just spam mail. She is about to close the video when she sees two figures attached at the lips stumble through the door and towards the bed. She gasps as she makes the realization of the fact that the two people in the video are Jennifer her assistant and Casey her…girlfriend.

Alex continues to watch in disbelief as the two continue to make out heavily. With each passing second she feels as if all of the air in her chest is compressing and preventing her from breathing.

"What about Alex…" Jen whispers as Casey devours her neck.

"She won't know…" is the whispered response before they begin kissing again.

A strangled squeak escapes Alex's throat as her tears begin falling freely. She closes the video as the two on camera begin to undress each other. She places Casey's laptop back on the table before she draws her knees up to her chest and breaks down.

She wants to believe that was she just saw was a joke, but it looked very real and it can very well explain why Casey didn't return home last night. She thought…hoped…that Casey would never cheat on her; but obviously she was wrong.

And not only is it utterly heartbreaking to find out that Casey cheated on her, but she cheated on her with her assistant! She trusted Jennifer and she would go and do something like this! Who does that; sleep with their boss's girlfriend?!

Alex doesn't know what to do with herself as she stands and begins to pace the living room with her hands gripping her hair tightly. Her breathing is ragged and the pain from her illness was absolutely nothing compared to the pain she's feeling now.

Fifteen minutes later, Casey climbs the steps to their house and inserts her key in the door as she holds the folders that Serena had sent Alex. She opens the door and closes it before she redoes the lock and makes her way through the foyer. She stops in her tracks when she sees Alex sobbing on the couch.

"Baby what's wrong?" she questions as she puts the folders on the counter. She freezes when Alex glares at her with reddened eyes as shoots off of the couch.

"I can't believe you! How could you do this to me?!" Alex shouts as she gives Casey a hard shove.

Casey blinks in confusion as she stares at her fuming girlfriend. It takes a total of three seconds for it to dawn on her, and she hopes that it doesn't show on her face. 'No…she can't know. There's no fucking way that she knows.'

"Alex what're you…what're you talking about?" she questions praying hard that her mental assumptions are wrong.

Alex's scowl deepens and her facial expression displays an anger and hurt that Casey has never before seen in all their time of being together.

"Don't you fucking stand there and act all fucking oblivious because you know damn well what you did. You slept with Jennifer. You slept with Jennifer and you weren't going to tell me, but it doesn't matter, because you fucking slept with her anyway!"

Casey feels herself pale at least three more shades than she already is. All of her worst nightmares have come true in the matter of twenty four hours and it's as if her brain has completely shut down and she doesn't know what to do.

"Alex I….I'm so sorry. I didn't…it was an accident…I was drunk and I wasn't thinking and I never meant-"

"You never meant what? For me to find out? God Casey, I just….what did I do? What wasn't I doing? If you weren't happy you could have told me and I would have done anything to fix it because of my love for you, but obviously that means absolutely nothing to you."

"Alex please listen to me…I didn't mean to sleep with her, hell I don't even remember sleeping with her!"

Alex scoffs and moves over to the coffee table where she picks up Casey's cell phone. "She fucking emailed it to you! She emailed it to you and she emailed it to me on both my work and my personal email! There is a fucking video of you two having sex!"

"Alex please I…" Casey pauses as she hastily ducks her cell phone that was suddenly flying towards her head. Thank god for Otter Boxes.

"Alex! Calm down! Let me explain!" Casey shouts as she realizes that Alex's anger with her is beginning to boil over.

Alex laughs bitterly through her tears as she picks up Casey's laptop. "And what else is there to explain?! You lied to me!" she screams as she throws the electronic harshly against the wall.

Casey's eyes widen as she watches her laptop shatter against the wall. "Alex all of my work was on there, and do you remember how much that cost me?!"

"So is your laptop worth more than I am? Is one fucking night with a bimbo that desperately wishes she was me worth more than our entire relationship!?"

Casey knows that she deserves everything she's getting if not more. She just wishes that Alex hadn't immediately gone into hysterics. She watches as Alex sits back down on the couch and begins to hyperventilate.

"Alex, are you alright?" she asks as she places her hand on the blonde's shoulder only to recoil when Alex swats her hands away.

"Please just…I don't want to see you right now…just please get out. I need time by myself." Alex whispers as she stares at nothing and her tears begin to fall again.

"But you're sick, I don't want to leave you while you're sick…"

"I can take care of myself…"

Casey feels her own heart break as she watches the woman she loves shove her away. "Alex I'm so sorry. Please, I-"

"Casey just leave! I want to be alone. God I can't even look at you right now! Please just go! I don't care where you go but I can't…I can't have you here right now…please…"

Casey steps back and clenches her fist tightly. She wants to protest but she knows that she has absolutely no right to. "I'll…I guess I'll just pack a few things."

She shamefully heads upstairs where she absentmindedly shoves clothes into her duffle bag. She doesn't have a preference on where she's going to go, but she knows that with Alex as upset as she is, she shouldn't stay.

Casey slowly treks her way back down stairs and stares at Alex who is tightly clutching her knees against her chest and staring intensely at the wall. She just looks...broken. She sighs heavily before she leaves the house, picking up her discarded phone on her way out.

Once in her car, Casey lets her own tears fall as she realizes just how much she's fucked up. She knows that Alex is hurting all because of her and the thought of knowing that she's caused the woman she loves pain is eating her alive.

She picks up her phone and contemplates calling Abbie but she stops. There is no way in hell that she could stay with Abbie, and that reason can be summed up in two words; Serena Southerlyn.

Casey is positive that Alex is going to tell Serena and there is absolutely no way that Serena would let her stay there knowing that she cheated on her best friend.

She then calls the next person who she knows will hear her out. At least, she hopes they will. The phone rings a few times before it picks up.

"Hello?"

"Um…Liv do you think…you could meet me somewhere? I'm going to call Abbie and…I just need to talk to you guys." Casey explains, her voice cracking mid way through.

"Yeah of course, where do you want to meet?"

"How about that restaurant that the three of us always go to?"

"Okay, I'll be right there. And Casey…is everything okay?" Olivia asks, the concern evident in her voice.

Casey takes a deep breath and rests her head against the steering wheel. "We'll…we'll talk about it." she says softly before ending the call.


Restaurant

"What's this impromptu meeting about?" Abbie asks as she walks up to the table and slides into the booth next to Olivia. She notes the tension in the air but doesn't know what it's about. "What's going on?"

Olivia shrugs her shoulders and turns towards Casey who has her head resting heavily in her hands.

Casey can feel her friends' eyes on her and she doesn't know how to begin with what she's done. She can't even bring herself to look at them.

"I'm an idiot. I'm a fucking idiot who has messed up everything in my life." She mutters shamefully.

"What'd you do?" Olivia asks softly taking note of the redhead's hurt tone.

Casey licks her lips and feels her throat go dry as the words get caught there. After a few tries, she manages to force them out.

"I...I cheated on Alex…"

The silence that follows is so silent that it's loud. Neither Abbie nor Olivia knows how to respond to Casey's revelation. After a terribly long moment of silence, Olivia finds her voice first.

"What…? Why? When?"

Casey sighs heavily and leans back into the booth. "I got drunk last night and Jennifer invited me back to her place. I don't know why I said yes, I couldn't think clearly and I we…I slept with her…"

Both of the brunettes' eyes widen to about the size of sauces.

"You slept with Alex's assistant?" Olivia gasps utterly dumbfounded.

"I didn't mean to! I barely even remember what happened last night! I just…I never wanted to hurt Alex…"

"Then why the fuck did you do it?" Abbie questions seriously. "If you needed someone to stay with last night you could have called me, you know that Casey."

"I know! I know…but I just wasn't thinking!" Casey wipes her eyes furiously as she starts crying again.

"Oh man…this is bad. How did Alex find out?" Olivia asks, still in shock.

"I don't even know! I didn't get a chance to ask! I came home and she confronted me and she just…knew! She threw my phone at me and she smashed my laptop. Then she told me to leave."

"You can stay with me if you need to." Abbie says softly.

"Abbie I love you and thank you but you know that I can't. Serena wouldn't want me there, I promise you that." Casey responds firmly and Abbie nods her head in realization.

"Then you'll stay with me. I'm sure that Amanda won't mind." Olivia says knowing full well just how close Alex and Serena are, and how upset the younger blonde is going to be when she finds out.

"Liv I wouldn't want to impose…I can find somewhere."

"Casey it wasn't an offer, I was telling you. You're staying with me because you're one of my best friends and I care about you. We care about you. Abbie and I realize that you've made a mistake but no one is perfect."

Casey nods her head and spontaneously begins to break down again. Abbie slides out of the booth and sits down next to Casey. She wraps her arms around her as she let's the redhead sob uncontrollably into her shoulder.

"God she hates me…she hates me and I deserve it. I don't see how she'll ever be able to forgive me for what I've done." Casey chokes out through her sobs. Abbie rubs soothing circles on her friend's back as she lets her continue to cry.

None of the three women in the booth notice a certain blonde who just happens to be watching them from where she is sitting in the farthest corner of the restaurant.

I'm sure we've all been through rough patches in relationships, and I feel like it helps make the story more realistic. Things will get better in the future. I promise. I would never just screw you guys over like that. Leave a review.