PICTURES

Casey woke up the morning of the 23rd with mixed emotions. She hadn't spoken much to Cappie after their conversation in his room about the baby. He had called her on three different occasions just to verify the date and time of the appointment. Casey thought it was sweet. She could tell he just wanted to hear her voice. It was his way of making sure she was OK if he hadn't seen her for a couple of days.

"So today's the day," Casey heard Ashleigh say as she stretched in her bed.

"Yeah, it's finally here," Casey replied.

"Are you nervous?" Ashleigh asked.

"No, not really," Casey replied. "I guess if anything, I'm nervous Cappie is going to try to talk me into keeping the baby while we're there."

Casey had told Ashleigh she knew Cappie had lied to her. She knew he was only going along with the termination because she was the one who wanted it.

"Well you are sure you want to terminate it then?" Ashleigh asked sitting up in her bed. "Because you know Cappie would be all for keeping the baby if you were."

"Ash, we've gone over this a million times," Casey replied. "The timing is just not right. If this happened three or four years from now things might be different."

"So you're saying if you and Cappie had sex three years from now as friends and you got pregnant you would keep the baby?" Ashleigh asked.

"Probably," Casey replied. "Because at that time we would both have careers established, money to provide for the baby and of course breaking the news to our parents wouldn't be as bad because we would be older."

"So hypothetically," said Ashleigh. "Would you marry Cappie if this were the situation three years from now?"

Casey shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know."

"I think you do know," Ashleigh replied.

Casey looked at her confused.

"Tell me that three years from now you couldn't see Cappie and you living in a cute house in Chicago with him yelling the patent 'honey I'm home' phrase as he walked in the house after work. And having little Cappie Jr. running up to him so excited because daddy was home," Ashleigh continued.

"Yeah," Casey softly stated as she continued Ashleigh's hypothetical situation. "Then he would come up to me and wrap his arms around my waist while giving me a sweet kiss hello."

Ashleigh looked at Casey smiling ear to ear as she talked about Cappie.

"You're still in love with him," she finally stated.

Casey sighed. "Of course I'm still in love with him," she replied.

"And he still loves you," continued Ashleigh.

"Probably," Casey nodded her head in agreement. "But this conversation is pointless. We're talking about a hypothetical situation three years from now."

"I don't think this situation is as hypothetical as you think," Ashleigh blurted out.

Casey shot Ashleigh a glaring look.

"What?" Ashleigh asked. "You both love each other right now. You're pregnant right now. Who says Cappie can't put a ring on your finger and you two can't raise the baby together? I just don't see how you think this situation would be much different three years from now."

Ashleigh paused and waited for Casey to say something. But Casey didn't say anything so Ashleigh continued.

"I don't mean to throw a wrench or anything into your plans today," she continued. "But I always think of a woman terminating a pregnancy because she was raped or had a one night stand or something. Sure you and Cappie had a one night stand but you also love each other. And I think you two could love that baby now just as much as you could three years from now."

Casey continued to be silent. Ashleigh could tell what she was saying was sinking into Casey hard. Ashleigh stood up and went over to the closet. She grabbed her shower caddy and was about to open the door when Casey finally spoke.

"So I'm just supposed to change all my plans on a whim today and keep the baby because I love Cappie?" she asked.

Ashleigh opened the door and began to walk out.

"All I'm saying is to think about things one last time," she said. "I think deep down even you want to keep it."

With that Ashleigh walked out of the room shutting the door. Casey's head began to spin again like the night right before she told Cappie she was pregnant. She needed to talk to him.

"Damn," said Casey out loud as she looked at the clock. Cappie had already started his classes for the day. She wasn't going to see him until he picked her up for the appointment.

She got up out of bed and went over to sit at her desk. She pulled all of the pregnancy information she had out of the drawer to begin to review her options yet again. Ironically enough at the very bottom of the drawer she found a picture. She set the brochures and papers on her desk and pulled out the picture. It was the two of them. The picture was taken freshman year at the Kappa Tau house. Cappie had his arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Each of them was smiling as wide as they could. Casey set the picture back in the drawer as she rubbed her hand over her stomach. She felt somewhat calmed knowing that she had a little piece of him inside of her.

Casey threw all the pregnancy information back into the drawer and walked over to the closet instead. She went into the back and dug out a shoebox covered with dust. She took it back over to the bed and sat down. This wasn't a decision about the pregnancy anymore. This was more of a decision as to if she could spend the rest of her life with Cappie. The pregnancy information she read a hundred times already wasn't going to tell her that. The freshman year memories inside this box hopefully would.

A/N: So since I have the most AMAZING readers in the world I thought I would post two more chapters tonight! I really liked how this chapter ended for some reason and of course the next one is pretty exciting. Keep reviewing and letting me know what you think! And I'll keep posting chapters....I think I'm writing like chapter 30 right now....LoL! So I've got plenty more to post :0)