9 Weeks Later
Derek and Casey got everything set up in their small, two bedroom townhouse.
They convinced Nora and George to let them live together, so they made sure it had to two bedrooms. Little did they know what Derek and Casey shared a room and the other room was for their grandchild.
"Derek, where's the bedding...I want to make up the bed." Casey asked.
"It's in this box, here, let me do it, relax on the couch." He offered.
"Geez Derek, I may be pregnant but I'm not a senior citizen with osteoporosis!"
"Fine, we'll do it together."
They made up the bed quickly and she collapsed onto it.
"Mmm I love this bed. You were right, the pillow top mattress was very necessary." She said laughing.
"I told you that you'd love it!" He said as he laid down next to her.
Within a matter of seconds, Casey was unbuttoning Derek's shirt.
"Case," he groaned, "what about the baby? I don't want to hurt you."
"It's fine! Did you hear the doctor's list of Do's and Don't s? She said as she started to shimmy off his pants.
"Okay, but if I do anything that hurts you, tell me right away, I don't want anything going wrong."
The next morning, Casey woke up feeling refreshed. She looked over to see a glass of orange juice and a fruit cup sitting for her. There was also a note.
Casey
Good morning. Sleep well ;) ?
I had an early class, yours isn't til the
afternoon. Just relax, babe.
I love you.
Derek
She yawned and looked at the clock; it was 10am. Her class wasn't until noon, so she decided to eat and take a nice long bubble bath.
Around eleven, Derek strolled into the townhouse.
"Case!" He shouted and he entered.
"I'm in here!" She yelled from the tub.
He ran in and kissed her, "I have the best news, Nora and George are taking Liz, Ed and Marti on a cruise this Christmas, so we don't even have to think of an excuse on why we can't celebrate with them!"
"A cruise? Wow, that's great." She said flatly.
"Case, what is it?"
"I always wanted to go on a cruise, and now they're all going and I can't."
He thought about this for a moment, "I promise, someday I will take you on the best cruise in the world...even better than the one this Christmas. But just think, you will be having so much more fun than them...we're having a baby!"
She smiled when she noticed his excitement, "Yeah, that totally is more exciting!"
"Good, now go get ready for class before I come in there with ya and you're late!"
He left the room as she climbed out of the tub.
Derek went to the kitchen so that he could unload the dishwasher. Suddenly, he heard a squeal/shriek.
He sprinted to the bathroom.
Casey was wrapped in her towel, hunched over and grabbing her stomach.
He rushed to her side, "What's wrong? Is the baby okay?"
"Yeah, it's just kicking me!" She said laughing.
Derek was relieved, "Can I...?"
Casey looked up at him, "Oh, of course!"
He put his hand on her stomach and felt the little back kicking.
A smile immediately appeared on his face.
He kissed her and left so that she could get ready for class.
Class went on also per usual, so then Casey returned back home and grabbed the mail.
"Derek!" She said in a sing-song voice as she entered, "You've got mail from the hockey department!"
"Let me see!" He said as he walked in.
He opened it immediately, "Hmm, Annual Hockey Gala at the Hilton. Wanna come?"
"Yeah!" She said, "I could use some excitement."
"Aw, I'm hurt, you don't think I'm exciting anymore?"
"Hmmm." Casey thought as she danced around, "Nope!" she said as she grabbed the invitation from his hands.
She went to the bedroom so that she could read the invitation again.
Suddenly the phone rang, "Der, can you get that?" She called from the other room.
"Hello...yes...well, tomorrow I guess...okay...thanks."
"Case!" He shouted, "You have a doctor's appointment tomorrow at noon, I have class, but you have off."
"Okay! Thanks!"
"Casey MacDonald." The receptionist called out.
Casey stood up and went to the designated room.
The new doctor (she's at college in Syracuse now) walked in and introduced herself.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Alisa Musebon, you're Casey I presume?"
"Yes, hello."
"So you're planning on raising this child alone?"
Casey nearly choked, "N-no why?"
"Well, you're here alone, and the father usually comes to all of the appointments."
"Yes, well this was the first one he missed because he has class now." Casey said defiantly.
"Yes...okay then...so you're 19 weeks along! Have you been feeling the kicking?"
"Yes, it just started to other day."
"Good, good." She said as her finger ran down her sheet, "And you're obviously 'showing' so that's good."
Casey scowled when she heard this...it was NORMAL to gain weight!
"Okay, so I'm just going to do the standard procedure. The gel will be cold."
Casey shivered as the goo was put on her warm stomach.
"Okay, all standard procedures are taken care of, do you want to know the sex of the baby?"
Casey's heart jumped, "Yes please!"
The doctor looked at the screen, "Hmm, it seems that your baby is crossing its legs, if you come back tomorrow afternoon, it probably would have shifted, so you can have one of our trained technicians look and tell you!"
"Oh," She said disappointed, "Okay, I'll be back tomorrow."
Casey drove back to the townhouse, and by then Derek was home.
"Hey, Babe, how was the appointment?"
"It was fine, the doctor was kinda rude." She said with a pout.
"Aww, it's okay, she knows nothin. Did you find out the sex of the baby?!"
"Well, almost...it was sitting Indian style!"
"So our baby's an Indian?" He asked pretending to be confused.
"Shut up." She said as she playfully slapped his arm, "Oh, by the way, I need to go to the mall tonight so I can get a dress for the gala tomorrow!"
"Okay, do you just want to go now so we can grab dinner?"
"Yeah, let me just pee...I'm goin every two seconds."
He laughed as he waited for her.
A minute later, they were heading out to the car and on their way.
"Oh! Derek! Look at this dress! Do you think it'd be okay?"
"Case, that dress is 200, you know we can't afford it. We need to rely on savings until hockey season's over."
"Ugh!" She groaned, "Fine, this one is only 35, can I get it?"
He looked into the blue eyes and sad pout and gave in, "Fine, you can get it."
"Yay!" She exclaimed and she hugged him and kissed his neck.
They went back home and eventually fell asleep.
The next morning, Casey snuck out of the house around 8am and went to the doctor.
The technician told Casey and she was thrilled.
"Really?!" Casey shouted, almost crying, "This is so exciting!"
Casey rushed home and joined Derek in bed without him even stirring.
She soon fell asleep, only to be awaken by Derek an hour later.
"Case, wake up..." He whispered.
"I'm up." She said with her eyes closed.
"No you aren't!" He laughed.
She finally opened her eyes and looked at his face, "What?"
"I'm going to the store, is there anything you want?"
"Yes, I want Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, salt and vinegar chips, dill pickles, and lobster."
Derek shuddered, "Um, okay? Is that it?"
"For now...keep your phone on you if I decide I want more."
"Will do." He said as he leaned in for a kiss.
Then Casey fell back asleep.
Derek was at the store when his phone rang.
Please don't be Casey. Please don't be Casey.
He looked at the caller ID and it said Sam.
"Hey Sammy Boy...what's up?"
"Nothing, you?"
"Just doing some shopping for Casey."
"Ew, like chick stuff?"
"Hardly...she's having me buy mint ice cream, salt and vinegar chips, pickles and lobster."
"Ew, man, that's gross...thank God she's not kissing me."
"Don't remind me." Derek groaned.
"Well, anyways...I called to make sure you're going to the Gala tonight."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world!"
"I heard they're announcing captain tonight!"
"No way!"
"Yeah, well I just wanted to give you the heads up...Peace."
Derek quickly zipped through the aisles grabbing Casey's food.
He soon returned home and Casey was in the shower.
"Case, I'm home!"
He heard the water turn off and she ran to the kitchen.
"Mmmm pickles!" She said as she grabbed one, "Do you know what would taste really good right now?"
"Hmm, mint ice cream? Salt and vinegar chips? Lobster?" He asked desperately.
"No. Chocolate chip cheesecake!"
Derek groaned, knowing he would need to go out again, "You want me to go get some?"
She smiled innocently, "Please."
"Okay, I'll be back in twenty minutes."
Twenty one minutes later, he arrived home.
"You're late! You said 20 minutes and its been 21!"
"Casey, there was traffic." He said as he tried to control his anger.
While at the store, he literally had to fight a senior citizen for the last slice of cheesecake.
Casey took a bite, "Ugh! What is this?"
"What?" He asked desperately, "What is wrong?"
"Der, this is raspberry cheesecake, I wanted chocolate chip." She said sweetly, "But that's okay, I can see you don't really care..."
"Casey, I do care." He protested.
"Prove it." She said holding the cheesecake away from her.
He sighed and went back to the car to go to the store.
"That's him! He's the criminal!" Derek heard from behind him as he was looking at cheesecakes.
He turned around to see the senior citizen and the supermarket security on his tail.
Shit. He cursed to himself.
In a moment they were handcuffing Derek, "I'm sorry sir, that is an extreme offense, stealing a cheesecake from a senior citizen's shopping cart."
"Are you serious? Okay, can you just hear me out?"
They paused and let him continue.
"My girlfriend is five months pregnant and this is my third time to the store today because she keeps sending me back to get her food that she craves...salt and vinegar chips, mint ice cream, lobster, pickles! It's endless, I think I'm going crazy because each time I resist, she says I don't care!"
He officers looked at him with pity, "I know exactly what you're going through...my wife insisted on having artichoke pizza every night for a week, and if I didn't eat it, she would accuse me of not caring and I would have to sleep on the couch. I guess we could let you off with a warning."
"Thank you so much officers."
"You're welcome, but beware, the worst cravings are about to come. Pretty soon it will end up being 4am and she'll want sushi...but she's not allowed to have it...so she will throw a fit...just give her California rolls."
"Thanks for the tips, guys! Have a nice afternoon!" Derek said as he went to check out.
Within ten minutes he was home.
"What took you so long?" Casey asked as she poured herself a glass of water.
"Well, I was almost arrested, but they let me off the hook."
Casey spit out her water, "What?!"
"I stole a slice of cheesecake from an old woman's cart and the authorities got involved."
"Aww, Der, you do care." She said as she enveloped him in a hug.
"Of course I do. Now here's your chocolate chip cheesecake."
She smiled and took a bite, "Mmm, that was good."
Then she walked away. He just stared.
"That's all you're going to eat of it?" He asked.
"Yeah, it was really yummy though!" She called out from the bedroom.
He sighed and cleaned it up.
"Case, come on! We're going to be late for the Gala!" Derek called as he frantically looked at his watch.
"Can you zip me up?" She asked.
She came out of the bedroom with her dress half zipped, "You look gorgeous, Case."
"You don't look too bad yourself, Der."
He zipped her up and the headed downstairs.
They walked out and there was a limo in the lot.
"Your chariot awaits, my lady." He announced as the driver opened the door.
"You got this for us?!" She said excitedly.
"Yup, now get in!"
The ride to the gala was short and when they arrived they spotted Sam.
"Hey Sam!" Casey said.
"Casey, you're glowing." Sam said then turned to Derek, "That's what you're supposed to say when someone's pregnant, right?"
Casey rolled her eyes and Derek answered, "Yes, Sam."
They took their seats and in the middle of dinner, the coach had an announcement.
"I would like to take this opportunity to announce who this year's captain will be. This player has shown exceptional leadership, charisma, and devotion. This year's captain will be, Mr. Derek Venturi!"
Casey screamed in joy and gave him a big kiss.
Derek was shocked, after all, he only was a freshman.
After everyone settled down, people started dancing. Naturally, Casey pulled Derek onto the dance floor.
"Congratulations, Mr. Captain. Maybe one day your son will be able to be as great of a hockey player as his daddy it." Casey said as she smirked.
Derek hands let go of Casey, "You're having a boy? We're having a boy?!" His excitement was indescribable. He had never been this happy in his whole life.
"Yup, a beautiful baby boy."
Derek then gave Casey the most passionate kiss neither of them had ever experienced.
"I love you so much, Case."
"I love you, too, Derek. I'm sorry I was such a pain in the ass today."
"It's fine, every thing's good, we're all still happy."
She smiled. And suddenly Derek stopped dancing.
Derek got down on one knee and looked up at Casey as he opened a tiny box.
"Casey MacDonald," her heart stopped, "will you do me the honour of becoming my wife, Mrs. Casey Venturi. It would make me the happiest man in the world."
Casey started to cry, "Of course I will."
With that, he slid a 1 karat diamond onto her slender finger and gave her a big kiss. They didn't even realize the people around them that were clapping. For one moment, the world stood still for them.
