The Last Conversation: Part II

Chapter Nine

Casey opened her eyes and smiled at the sight of Cappie. She was lying in the nook of his arm, her head pressed lightly against his shoulder, her arm draped across his waist. She couldn't believe the night they shared. It had been amazing. She reached up and pushed a lock of his hair off his forehead. Her gentle touch woke him.

"Good morning, beautiful," Cappie said, grinning.

"Morning," Casey said back.

"I don't think I've slept this well in a long time."

"I'd have to agree with you," Casey said laughing.

"Although, we didn't do much sleeping, did we?" Cappie asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking at her.

Casey could feel her cheeks getting flushed. She ignored the question and raised her lips to his for a kiss. "I hate to do this, but you know you gotta sneak out of here before everyone else wakes up. It's almost 6:30."

Cappie groaned. "Do I have to?"

Casey nodded, "Yes, I don't think I'm quite ready to share this news with everyone. Besides, it's Rusty and Jordan's day. We don't need to take attention from them."

"You're right. Want me to head out the front doors?"

Casey nodded towards the window with a smirk.

"You're kidding?" Cappie asked.

Casey sat up and got out of bed and put her robe on around her. She turned to face him and smiled. "I'm not."

"I feel like we're in high school or something with all this sneaking around."

"Oh, it's not so bad. We'll see each other at the wedding. You are escorting me down the aisle. Besides, we could always skip out for a bit during the reception." Casey said the last part with a wink at him.

Cappie's smile faded as Casey mentioned the wedding. "Uh, Case," Cappie started.

"What?"

"I don't know why I agreed to it, but I wished I hadn't," Cappie began, scratching his head.

"Okay, what are you talking about?"

Cappie sighed, "I'm still bringing Natalie to the wedding today."

"You're kidding me?" Casey asked, the smile disappearing from her face.

"I wish I was." Cappie stated.

"Cappie, I can't believe you," Casey said with annoyance. "I thought you broke up with her. Why would you bring her?"

"I don't know, I felt bad," Cappie said.

"Well, this was all a big mistake." Casey said, gesturing her hands between them.

"Don't say that, Case, just cause you're upset." Cappie pleaded.

"I am upset!" Casey exclaimed. "You tell me you broke up with her, yet you're bringing her to my brother's wedding. How do you think that makes me feel? Don't you understand how uncomfortable everything's going to be?"

Cappie got out of the bed and walked over to Casey. He put his arms around her. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I'll tell Natalie I don't think she should come to the wedding. Besides, I only want to be with you."

Casey looked up at him and her face softened. "Sorry I said this was a mistake. The truth is I'm selfish and I don't want to share you."

"Trust me, I don't want to either." Cappie leaned down and kissed her softly. He tugged at the sash of her robe. "Do I really have to leave?"

Casey giggled as she grinned at him and nodded. "Yes, but not till I say so."

Cappie smirked. "I like a woman in charge."

"Well, I hope you like this," Casey said as she untied her robe and pushed Cappie against the bed. They forgot about everything as they concentrated on each other. There was no way anything was coming between them.


Once Cappie snuck out of Casey's window and made his way to his car, he grabbed his cell phone to call Natalie and tell her that he wouldn't bring her to the wedding.

To Cappie's surprise, there was a text message from Natalie. It said "I need to see you." Cappie wasn't sure what more he could say to her. If she wanted to talk to him about getting back together, she could forget it. He wasn't going to let anything ruin his chances with Casey. Cappie was about to dial Natalie's number when he realized it was about 7:00 in the morning. He'd go home and shower first and call her afterwards. He knew he had to be at the church by 2:45. The ceremony was to start at 3:30.

Cappie made his way back to his apartment. As he went up the elevators, he couldn't help but smile as he thought about Casey. He didn't know what any of this meant, but he wanted to enjoy it as long as he could. When the elevator doors opened, Cappie walked out and stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed Natalie sitting on the floor with her back against his door. She was asleep and had her head leaning against the frame of the door. Her face was caked with streaks of dark mascara running down her cheeks. Her normally neat red hair was all over the place. Cappie could feel a weird knot forming in his stomach. What was up with Natalie?

Cappie knelt down beside her and shook her shoulders gently. "Natalie," he said quietly. "What are you doing here at my door?"

Natalie groggily opened her eyes and recognized Cappie's face in front of hers. It immediately brought tears to her eyes. "Oh Cappie," she started crying, "I didn't know where else to go."

"What's wrong?" Cappie asked.

"I, uh, I feel so ashamed," Natalie whispered.

"Here, let's go inside." Cappie gently helped Natalie to her feet and as she stood, he noticed that her skirt was torn and her tights were ripped. Once they were inside his apartment, he led Natalie to the couch. "Seriously, what happened to you?"

"After you broke up with me last night, I needed to go out. To be honest, rejection doesn't sit well with me." Natalie wiped at her eyes and tried to give him a small smile. "I went to this bar by my place hoping to get some cute guy to buy me drinks."

Cappie looked down and felt awful. "I'm sorry," was all he could say.

Natalie shook her head and shrugged. "It's okay," Natalie said quietly.

Cappie took Natalie's hands in his. "What happened to you? Did someone hurt you?"

As Cappie asked the question, Natalie's cries got louder. She tried to cover up her torn skirt and tights. She pulled up the sleeves of her shirt and Cappie's eyes widened as he saw the purple bruises on her arms and wrists. "I met this really cute guy," Natalie started, "and I don't know how it happened, but he raped me," Natalie finally said through her tears. "I was so stupid."

Cappie immediately wrapped his arm around her. "Everything's going to be okay," he said lamely. He wasn't sure if anyone would ever recover from such a situation. "Did you call the police?"

"What for?" Natalie asked. "I don't think I could handle all the questions. Plus I don't really remember the guy at all."

"Nat, we should get you to a hospital at least, and get you checked out." Cappie said.

"NO!" Natalie exclaimed. "They'll want to file a report if we go in. I just need somewhere safe to stay. And the only place I could think of was here. I know we're not together anymore, but I really need you right now, Cap. Will you still be a good friend and help me?"

Cappie knew he couldn't say no to Natalie. She had been through a horrible ordeal, but he wasn't sure if he was comfortable with Natalie staying with him while he was trying to reconnect with Casey. The whole situation would be a mess. "I don't know," Cappie started to say.

Natalie shoved Cappie's arms off of her. "Fine, I'll go." She moved herself off the couch.

"Natalie," Cappie said, grabbing her hand and pulling her back down on the couch next to him. "Look, I want to be your friend and help you, but I don't think it's wise for you to stay here."

"Why?" Natalie asked.

"It'll make Casey uncomfortable," Cappie told her. "And to be honest, I'll be uncomfortable, too."

"I promise I won't get in your way. It'll be like I'm not even here. I don't think I could go back to my apartment right now. It's too awful."

Cappie realized the incident must have happened at her place. Cappie was silent as he thought about the situation. He had to help Natalie out. There was no way he could let her go back there by herself. He knew she didn't have family in the area, and she moved to Chicago a year ago, so she really didn't have that many friends in the city either. "All right," Cappie agreed. "You can stay with me for a while."

"Thanks Cappie," Natalie said. "I really appreciate it."

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the doctors. You should really get looked at."

Natalie adamantly shook her head. "No, I just want to forget the whole thing. If you don't mind, I'd like to take a shower now."

"Go ahead," Cappie said. "I'll grab some towels for you."

Natalie stood up and winced in pain as she moved. "I think I'll still be okay for the wedding."

Cappie sighed. He'd told Casey he wouldn't bring Natalie. He knew he had to bring her. He didn't have a choice. He would have to let Casey know the circumstances. She'd understand, he hoped. "Are you sure you still want to go?"

Natalie smiled, "Yeah, I think a wedding just might make me feel better. Besides, your friends are so nice and funny, I could use some laughter."

Cappie nodded. "Okay. Go ahead to the bathroom and I'll bring you some towels and a spare t-shirt and sweat pants. We can go back to your place and get some stuff after you're out."

Natalie walked towards Cappie and kissed him on the cheek. "You're awesome, Cap," she said. "Thanks for this."

As Natalie made her way to the bathroom and closed the door, Cappie sighed and went to his closet to grab some extra towels. He felt awful about Natalie. He wished there was something more that he could do. He wished he could convince Natalie to report the rape. He didn't want her to become another statistic. Cappie grabbed a couple of fluffy towels and walked to the bathroom. He knocked gently.

"Come in," Natalie called out.

Cappie opened the door and gasped in shock. Natalie had taken off her clothes and was wearing only her bra and underwear. She had dark bruises on her thighs and stomach. "Oh my God," Cappie muttered.

Natalie tried not to cry. "I'll be okay."

Cappie handed her the towels and closed the door behind him. He felt sick to his stomach. He knew it was his fault. If he hadn't been such a jerk and broke up with her, she wouldn't have gone out last night looking to make herself feel better. He would protect Natalie as long as he could. He picked up his cell phone and stared at Casey's phone number. He wanted to call her, but for some reason he was afraid of what Casey would say. Deep down, he hoped Casey would understand.


A/N: Sorry, it's taken a while to update. I've been so busy with the holidays - baking, going to parties, and whatnot.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. I was having a hard time and debating on what would happen to cause an uproar in Casey and Cappie's reunion. Rape a tough issue and I hope I'm sensitive with the subject. I was contemplating this hard situation or a surprise pregnancy for Natalie. But I have a HSM fanfiction where I already used the surprise pregnancy and I didn't want the stories to be similar. So I hope you like what I did here.

I will warn you, it may take till next week to update with Chapter 10 because I'm going to start working on a Christmas story in time for 25th. It'll be short and sweet. I know some fans wanted me to write a longer X-mas Greek fanfic, but I didn't want to draw too much of my time away from TLC Part 2. Stay tuned for the Greek X-mas Fanfic titled "I'll Be Home for Christmas"

Happy Holidays to all of you!

~Dee