"What is it now?" Casey asked as she came up behind Cappie and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her head laid against his shoulder blade and she basked in his warmth for a moment.

She had found him with his arm's crossed over his chest, staring out the sliding glass door that lead to her backyard.

Rusty had taken Adam out to get some fresh air, something he didn't receive near enough of.

"Nothing." Cappie answered softly. "I was just watching them."

"You know, I'm sure you're more than welcome to join them."

His hand found hers and he entwined her fingers with his. "I had a couple of phone calls to make. I just finished," he replied.

"Everything is all set on my end. I have the plane reservations and a rental car waiting. My mother is so excited to spend a few extra days with Adam, I could almost hear her jumping up and down."

He turned to face her. "We can take him with us." He told her. "Or I can just go down there myself."

He had made both suggestions before and she had waved him off, like she was doing now. "I'm going and taking a five year old on a plane is a nightmare. Better to do it as few times as possible. Besides Rusty volunteered to take him."

He looked as if he were about to reach out and pull her into his arms. They were standing so close it wouldn't have taken much effort, but he stopped before he completed the motion.

Her hair, longer than it had been in a number of years, had fallen into her eye, and she peered at him through the blond curtain. "What is it?"

"We never really settled this," he answered, still speaking so low it was barely more than a whisper.

Cappie had never been one for being quiet before. He had always been larger than life and louder than necessary. It disturbed her, these new dulcet tones his voice had adopted.

She shifted, not sure what she should say to him. Her first instinct was to put everything she was feeling on the line and just let the chips fall where they may. She wanted him. She needed him. She had never stopped loving him. None of those old feelings had changed. Not even a little and last night had just brought it all to blazing clarity for her.

But she hesitated. She had been down this road before. If her years with Richard had taught her anything, it was that rejection hurt, deeper than anything she had ever experienced physically.

He took a step back, clearing misinterpreting her pause as something it wasn't. "Maybe we should take a step back and breath," he suggested.

"What does that mean?" She wanted to know. If he was taking the rebuilding of their relationship off the table for the time being, she wanted it clear who had made that choice.

He ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. "It means it's obvious that neither of us are sure what were doing right now and maybe it's better if we try to get to know each other again before we just pick up where we left off."

His words slammed into her with a force that almost made her stumble. She felt herself immediately plunging back into the feelings of self doubt that had accompanied her through her marriage. She yanked the sides of her yellow cardigan to the center of her chest and turned away from him.

"I understand. We will just concentrate on finding Emily and getting through Thanksgiving," she said, coolly.

His hand fell to her shoulder and stopped her a moment before she retreated towards the stairs.

"Casey," he said.

She stood still for a moment longer, waiting for him to finish his thought. When nothing else came from him, she shrugged his hand away and continued on her journey up the stairs. She had things to do to get ready for the next day. She needed to concentrate on that and do her best to put her feelings for Cappie aside.

When he didn't follow her or attempt to stop her again, she knew she had made the right choice.

It wasn't Casey that came to him that night. It was the other way around. Neither said a word, both too afraid to break the spell of silence surrounding the sleeping house. He had tried. God knows, he tried to stay in his own room, to get some of the elusive sleep that everyone else seemed to be enjoying. But it hadn't come and he knew the reason.

Finally, no longer able to help himself, he tiptoed down the hall and slipped into her room. She was waiting for him, just like he had been waiting for her the night before.

But tonight was different. Tonight they weren't seeking comfort in each other's arms. They weren't trying to recapture a past that neither of them could hold on to anymore. Tonight they just laid there, wrapped up in each other until he heard her fall asleep.

The dull, gray light of the early morning sun filtered through the blinds and fell softly across the bed where Cappie was resting. He had never managed to actually fall asleep, spending his night instead holding Casey and listening to her soft sighs as she dreamed peacefully in his arms.

He was having a hard time holding on to the reality of where and when he was in time. It was so familiar, laying there with her, letting her head rest on his chest and feeling his arm draped around her waist. It was like the years between then and now never existed. All the pain seemed to fade into oblivion while she was curled into his side. The warmth of her body was like a comforting blanket of safety and security.

He wanted to believe that he was where he was supposed to be, finally after all this time. It was Karmic Synergy at its finest. When something was supposed to happen it would eventually, in its own time and he sighed in contentment as he realized that maybe, finally it was their time. They had found each other again and somehow they could make it work.

The darkness of his thoughts from two nights before threatened to take over his mood as the voice in his head started up again.

Years, it kept repeating like it was on an unending loop. It had taken years to move on from her. Maybe there was a reason for that as well. Maybe it had taken years because it never should have happen. Maybe he never should have moved on it the first place. Maybe, just maybe they really were meant to be together.

He wanted to believe it. He wanted it all to be true. He wanted to let himself believe that he was about to have everything he had ever wanted. A family, a life with Casey at his side. It was everything he had ever dreamed of. The one thing he had wanted more than anything else.

But what did he have to offer her ? She was an important woman with real ambition and plans for her future. Where did he fit into that scenario ? He had never really done anything with his life. He had tried at one point. He let Rebecca talk him into taking a job with her father. He had been miserable the entire time, wanting nothing more than to escape from the tie around his neck that always felt more like a noose.

So where did that leave him ?

Right where it always left him. No plans, no future and no direction. Apparently he hadn't changed as much as he imagined he had. What would Casey think about that when the subject eventually came up ?

He was exactly as she had left him seven years before, only now he was more pathetic, a nearly thirty year old child without a job and without a goal in sight.

He thought briefly about his laptop, still stowed in the back of Rusty's car and the novel that he had been playing with for the last few years. But that wasn't a career, not really. It wasn't something he had ever taken very seriously. He hadn't even known he had the ability to write until a few years before when in a fit of boredom, he sat down and just began to type. What came out wasn't that bad. The few people he had let read it seemed to think he had some talent even. So maybe, if he could believe the words of his mother and his three best friends, maybe he had a future there. But it was a rocky one. There was no stability in it.
Casey needed stability. She had a child to think about. She didn't need a man that was more a burden than anything else coming into her carefully constructed life and mucking up the works.

He glanced around him and realized for the first time that that was exactly what he had walked into when he arrived. The entire house seemed somehow artificial and plastic. Nowhere could be found the mess that usually came with raising a young child. Everything was neat and orderly and he had absolutely no place here.

The fluffy, beige comforter he was laying under, the one that perfectly matched the beige sheets under him, rustled as Casey shifted in her sleep. The strap of her nightgown had fallen off her shoulder and peeked out through a veil of blond hair. Even it matched the color scheme, a champagne colored gown to fit in with the beige carpet, walls, and bedding.

Maybe that was the problem. There was no color here. Everything was monotone and, he hated to think it but, lifeless.

Sterile. The word sprang to his mind and he knew instantly that it was the word he'd been searching for. It fit perfectly. Everything was just too sterile. It was a house straight out of a decorating magazine, nothing personal or untidy presented itself anywhere.

Even the kitchen, a place where most people left down their guards down and allowed a little mess now and then, was barren of anything resembling life.

How did she do that ? She worked all day, everyday. She was raising a five year old on her own. A five year old that had proven him wrong in his early assumption that there was something wrong with him. He was just as rambunctious and disorderly as he was supposed to be. And crafty about it, too. The boy was a schemer. Rusty had regaled Cappie with the story about Adam making fifty dollars by charging the neighborhood kids to watch him try to jump from the second story balcony into the pool. He had donned one of the living room curtains, tying it around his shoulders like a cape as he attempted to fly into the pool. A broken arm and serious damage to the curtain had resulted.

Then there was the story about how Adam managed to manipulate his parents into taking him to a movie by sending them fake, yet extremely real-looking, free tickets in the mail.

It reminded him a lot of the things he did when he was a child and he glanced down at the top of Casey's head in with a look of pity.

Poor woman, he thought to himself, she's raising a mini-me. Except Adam had a few things that Cappie had not been privileged with, like his Uncle Rusty's knack for working with computers, and his mother's indomitable charm that made it nearly impossible to stay mad at him for long.

Yes, Casey had her hands full with Adam, yet somehow she made it look so easy, this parenthood thing. Although, in all honesty, she made everything she did look so easy. It was her way.

It was absolutely impossible not to love her, At least, it was for him.

The sound of coughing from across the hall brought his attention there and he gently moved Casey away from him so he could get up.

The coughing continued as he reached Adam's door and pushed it open.

The tiny little body was raised up in bed as he dug through the drawer of his nightstand, searching for something.

"What is it, little man?" Cappie asked as he child continued to cough. There was a wheezing sound accompanying the cough now and suddenly Cappie understood. He was having an asthma attack. Cappie had been prone to them himself when he was young.

He was just about to run to get Casey when he spotted the small suitcase sitting beside the door.

He opened it quickly and searched around inside until he spotted the inhaler he was looking for.

"Thank you, Mr. Cappie," Adam said hoarsely after taking two puffs from the medication.

Cappie was perched on the side of the bed watching him carefully for any signs that the medicine hadn't worked. But apparently it had because Adam laid back against his pillow once again and his breathing was quiet and even.

"You're welcome," Cappie smiled at him.

"Sometimes I can't breath good." He told him.

"I had the same problem when I was little," Cappie answered as he pulled the blankets back up around the boy's small frame.

"So did Uncle Rusty," Adam nodded.

"Are you all better now?" Cappie asked, even though the drooping of the boy's eyes said he was fine.

"I'm okay," he nodded in answer.

"Okay, then I'm going to go so you can go back to sleep."

Adam reached out for his hand before he had a chance to move. "Mommy stays with me until I go to sleep."

"Do you want me to go get her?"

Adam shook his head groggily. "No, you'll do."

"Alright then. I'll stay," Cappie agreed and made himself comfortable while he watched Adam's eyes slowly drifting shut.

A moment later he was out and Cappie eased himself from the bed and turned to find Casey standing in the doorway watching him.

Neither of them said a word until they were back in Casey's room with the door shut behind them.

"I woke up and you were gone. I thought maybe you'd gone back to your room.," she commented weakly as she slipped back into bed.

He didn't bother to hesitate before joining her. "Adam had an asthma attack. I heard him coughing."

She sat back up quickly. "Is he okay? Did he find his inhaler? I knew I shouldn't have packed it until tomorrow."

He put his hand on her shoulder and drew back to his side. "He's fine. I found it. He used it and he's fine."

"Did you stay with him until he went back to sleep?" she asked, still tensed beside him.

"Yes, I did. He's fine. Go back to sleep," he assured her again.

He felt her relax into him and relaxed himself in response. "You know, not once, in five years, has Richard ever gotten up with him in the middle of the night. Not even when he was a baby. It was always me."

Cappie felt his chest jolt a little at that. He hated that she'd had so little help with her son. "I didn't mind."

She nestled her head more firmly into his shoulder and gave a contented sigh. "He likes you, you know. He always asks Rusty to come get me."

Cappie chuckled. "Well, Spitter doesn't exactly inspire confidence in people. But I did offer to get you. He told me ' I'd do'."

"Tomorrow will be the first night we've spent apart since he was born," she added quietly.

"Really? I figured with your job, you must travel a lot."

She shook her head. "I never had anyone to take care of him, so I've always taken him with me. He likes my assistant, so it isn't too much trouble to have him along."

Cappie glanced down at her in awe. "So you're telling me that not only are you one of the most sought after campaign managers in the business but you do it all with a toddler in tow ?"

She chuckled softly. "Well, he isn't a toddler anymore. But yeah, that's how it started. Hell, I did it with an infant in tow at first. On my last campaign, we we're at a debate and I guess he overheard us talking because I left him in our hotel room by himself for a few minutes to take a phone call. Half an hour later a room service cart arrived and I was informed that the three hundred dollars worth of food on the cart had been charged to our opponent's room. He's so smart it's scary sometimes." She laughed again. "Kinda reminds me of you."

Cappie laughed, too. "That does sound like something I would do."

She raised her head to look up into his face, before dropping it back to his shoulder again. "I really hope you stay around long enough to get to know him. You'll really like him. He's a special little boy."

"Here, in Washington?" he asked, not sure what she meant.

She shifted slightly in his arms. "Well, yeah, or even here in this house." Her voice had dropped so low he could barely hear her and he hated the uncertain quality it held as she spoke. It was almost like she was just waiting for him to tell her he had no intention of staying anywhere near her. It wasn't normal. Casey was always confident and self assured. He wondered what she had gone through to change that.

He decided to mask his concern with humor which was always an easy fallback for him. "Are you asking me to move in with you? Aren't you a married woman? What will people think?" he teased.

She glanced up to his face and he made sure she found a smile waiting for her there. Then she jabbed him lightly in the ribs. "I meant that you're welcome to stay with us if you want while you figure out what you're going to do next. And I'm only a married woman until I can get the paperwork to my lawyer."

"So it's settled?" he asked. They hadn't really talked much about what was happening with her husband and her marriage. "You've already filed the papers?"

She laughed. "I've already signed the damn things. All I want from Richard London is to have him out of my life."

He pulled her back against him and let his hand drag through her ever so soft hair. "I'm sorry, Case. I know that couldn't have been an easy decision for you."

"You know, actually it was. He made it easy. And it wasn't even finding him in bed with another woman, that made it easy. We both know how I can overlook that mistake when I need to." She chuckled a little and he joined her a touch uneasily. "It's the way he's acting towards that Adam that really makes me hate him. That little boy thinks Richard is the most wonderful man in the world and he doesn't even appreciate it. He doesn't care."

Cappie felt a shiver run through him. He would give anything in the world to have a child that felt that way about him. How could this man possibly be so unaffected by that?

They both fell silent for a time, each lost in their own thoughts as night drifted into morning outside the window.

"Do you still love her?" Casey asked suddenly, completely out of the blue.

"Who?" Cappie replied. For the life of him he couldn't image who she could be referring to.

"Rebecca."

Oh, her, he thought to himself.

"You said you were pretty sure you loved Richard at one time. I don't think I ever loved Rebecca. I cared about her. But I don't think it was ever love," he admitted.

" Then why did you marry her?"

He took a deep breath wondering just how much he wanted to tell her. He could go all the way and just tell her everything. It would be so easy. It would also be putting himself completely at her mercy. It would give her all the power she needed to rip what was left of him to shreds. He wasn't sure he was ready to give anyone that much power.

"I'm not sure," he lied.

She raised up and gazed intently into his face. "That's not true."

He looked away letting his eyes land on the ceiling and cursing the fact that she knew him so well. "It's true enough."

Her hand fell to the center of his chest. "What happened to ' I'm still me and you're still you and there isn't anything we can't say to each other'?" she asked. "That goes both ways you know."

He shook his head. "I'm not sure we're ready for this."

"Ready for what, Cap? What aren't you telling me, because now I know there's something to tell?"

He sat up beside her and took another deep breath. "Fine, it was not too long after my dad died. I ran into Rebecca and we were sort of dating, I guess. It was all really casual. We'd hook up when ever we had a chance, but it wasn't serious. She'd been leaning that way for awhile, but we both know how good I am at resisting that." He paused for another breath. "Then I went to stay with Rusty for a few days. While I was there, I found a letter from you." She raised her eyebrows to prompt him to continue. "You were just going on and on about this great guy that you'd met and how he asked you to marry him and you were thinking about saying yes." He paused again, for affect this time and watched her reaction closely. "I asked her as soon as I got home."

Her eyes grew distant as if she were looking back into her past. "I didn't tell him yes until Rusty called and told me all about your wedding," she said finally.

He sighed heavily. "And then Chicago happened."

She nodded. "Then Chicago. I broke up with Richard when I came home. He used some privileged information about a candidate I was working for in an article and I broke up with him. I found out the day I got back to town and after everything with you and I and then the article, I called the whole thing off." It was her turn to sigh now. "Then I found out about Adam and I went crawling right back to him. It was kind of pathetic really."

He put his finger under her chin and lifted her eyes to him. "You are not pathetic. There is no way you could ever be pathetic." Tears welled in her eyes at hearing his words and his heart lurched towards his stomach at the sight. "What did he do to you?"

She moved her face from his hand and looked down at her hands which were laced in her lap. "Richard has a way with people."

"What does that mean ?" Cappie asked, sitting up a little straighter. He hadn't ever met the man, but already he hated him. No one was allowed to cause his Casey the kind of pain he clearly saw reflected in the depths of her green eyes.

"I never really felt good enough for him," she explained tearfully.

He moved closer to her and pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her protectively. "Oh, Case, you're so wrong. You have to be. I've never met anyone that even came close to being good enough for you."

Her thought he heard her make a noise that might have been laughter. "No, you're wrong," she said, pulling her face from his shoulder. "You were always good enough for me."

That was the last thing they said before she pulled his face down to hers and he lost himself in her once again.