Chapter 10

She stripped. Well, she used to strip. Casey's thoughts were all over the place. Not only Casey's, but also the whole team. They didn't know what to say or how to say it. What if they offended Gia? What if that was a sensitive subject for her? How could they even begin to ask the difficult questions? They needed to. Someone had to.

"Were you actually stripping?" Carisi was the first to break the awkward silence that had fallen upon them.

"No, my outfits always consisted of a bikini or corset crop tops and low-rise cheeky shorts. The most I showed were my ass cheeks," Gia answered truthfully.

"You said you stopped after joining the Academy," Olivia begun, "How did you even get in? Is this going to risk her job?" She finished, directing the question towards Alex.

"I never lied in my application, Lieutenant," Gia offered, "My father," she was having trouble breathing; Casey took notice and quickly stood and brought back a glass of water, handing it to Gia. Gia offered a smile and an apologetic look that Casey quickly dismissed, "he retired as a Major for Miami-Dade Special Patrol Bureau; he was part of the Marine Patrol. They recognized my name and resemblance so yes it was divulged, but never who it was. When they conducted the background check, they went to the clubs I worked at, I passed with flying colors. And, no; it cannot affect it or risk it."

Alex nodded in acceptance of Gia's testimony, "You're just a box of surprises, huh?" Fin quipped.

Gia attempted to giggle, "Yea, something like that."

Amanda gave her a sympathetic smile and reached for her hand, "We'll be by your side, all throughout," she said, smiling.

Gia glanced at all the adults, seeing their smiles and slight nods, but the one that meant the most to her did not belong to her Lieutenant, it belonged to the redhead that often times clouded her mind. The same redhead that had offered her home, the redhead that made her stomach flutter, and her heart soar; that redhead. She was thankful for the support she had found in the members of the one-six that all she could do was smile and finally breathe.

Shortly after the team bid their farewells, they all hugged her gently and carefully and reminded her of their support. Casey left with them, to go and pick up Gia's prescriptions. Whilst in the quiet of Casey's home, she couldn't help but let her mind wander, How amazing would it be for this to be a common thing. She smiled to herself, limping to the spare room to check on Beau. The baby hadn't move, she was resting peacefully and quietly. Gia just watched from the doorframe, afraid that if she entered, she might wake up. She was so lost in thought, so deep in it that she didn't even notice when Casey entered the dwelling.

"Gia," she called, noticing the woman didn't even move, she tried it louder, "Giovanna," that seemed to do it.

"Oh, Casey, I didn't even hear you come in," she said as she limped slowly towards the redhead that had already made it to the kitchen.

Gia watched as Casey read the labels of her medication, setting them aside in order of dosages. She had to take two in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one as needed, "These are strong meds, Gia. I think I'll be working from home to make sure you're ok," Casey mused.

"No, Casey," Gia begun, feeling already guilty for having invaded the woman's space, "You don't need to stay away from work because of me. I'll manage by myself, please, don't stop your life because of me."

Casey held her hand up, not wanting to hear anything she was saying, "I'm not stopping my life because of you, I'm choosing to hit the slow motion button until you're feeling better. I'm not hearing any more of this," Casey mentioned as she opened one of the bottles and shook the pain meds that were as needed into her hand, "Here, take these. Those are your pain meds to be taken as needed."

Gia took the pills and the glass that Casey handed her. She popped the pills in her mouth and swished them down with the water, "Thank you," she said with a small smile.

Casey nodded, taking the glass back, "Why are you limping, Giovanna?"

Damn, and here I thought she wasn't paying attention to that, "Uh," she begun.

"You better think twice before lying to me, Detective," Casey admonished.

Gia smiled and leaned against the counter, "I think Sam might've sprained my ankle in the process or maybe it happened when I was lain in the snow and slush throughout the night. Either way, it doesn't hurt as bad as it looks. Honestly, I'll let you know when I'm hurting, Counselor."

Casey tittered at the use of their titles and worked on closing the gap between their bodies. She didn't know where this pull came to be. Why did she feel so drawn to this woman? So drawn to be there for her, so drawn t—, "Tell me about your relationship?"

"What?" Casey said too quickly, being caught off guard.

"You said you knew what it was like to be in my position, tell me about your relationship," Gia repeated softly.

"It happened in college, his name was Charlie. He had schizophrenia, though I didn't know that when we started dating, but throughout the relationship he just got worst and refused to take his meds. We got engaged but in the end I couldn't handle it, I knew that if I continued to be in that relationship and follow it by the greatest commitment known to mankind, I would end up in a hospital or worse, in a body bag. I found out he died, alone and I blamed myself for a long, long time. They called me to identified the body, the only thing in his possession was my business card from when I first got hired in White Collar."

Gia could see the inner turmoil the redhead still had, even after all this time. She leaned and cupped Casey's cheek with her hand, "Casey, I'm sure you did all you could to save him. This wasn't on you, please, don't blame yourself."

Casey nodded, "I know, still doesn't take away the fact that I could've done better by him, you know?"

Gia shook her head, "No, I don't because if you acted like this towards him as you're doing to me, you did way more than asked for. You're a great woman, Counselor."

Casey chuckled and leaned her head into Gia's hand, bringing her own to cradle the other woman's there on her face, "So are you, Detective; so are you."

They stayed like that for heartbeats; neither of them saying anything, just staring into each other's eyes; something that had become the norm between them. You could feel the attraction that radiated through them in the modern kitchen of the attorney's apartment.

What if they took a chance in love? What if they gave in into their feelings, would it really be so bad? There was no law or rule that could stop them from being together, but to avoid people talking and defense attorney's getting hold of this information, one of them would have to move. That much they knew, but did it had to come down to that?

Gia ran her hand down Casey's cheek and jaw, stopping at her lips, and running her thumb across her bottom lip. Casey took a sharp intake of air, her body melting at Gia's touch. Gia smiled; proud of herself that such small manipulation could cause such a reaction out of the redhead. She leaned in and in a moment of boldness, her lips crashed against the redhead's, So soft and supple.

Her arm circled Casey's waist, crashing their bodies together. Casey breathed in hard, overpowering the woman in her kiss, quickly deepening the fall. Casey moaned when she felt Gia's teeth dig into her plump bottom lip and when she went to pull back she found herself trapped in Gia's hold. Her eyes opened just to catch the other woman's smirk. Gia released Casey's lip, quickly leaning in and placing a quick peck to the bottom lip.

"I really like you, Casey," Gia said breathily, "but I don't want us to do anything until after trial. Defense already has enough ammunition with you having my daughter and I here."

"You're right, I want to properly court you if you allow me to. And, your daughter, Gia," Casey brought her hand to the woman's cheek, careful of her bruise, "I know I have to court her too, you're a package deal," she said smiling.

Gia nodded, smiling, "That we are," she finished with a yawn.

Casey tittered, "Go, sleep. I'll see you in the morning to go over your testimony and trial prep, ok?"

Gia nodded and with the help of the redhead attorney, she made it to her door without much strain to her ankle. She bid the attorney a good night once more and she headed to the bed to lie next to her daughter. She fell into blissful sleep pretty quickly after that, whether it was because of sheer exhaustion or the help of the pain medication.

She woke when she felt the gentle stirring of the small body that lay next to hers; her daughter was looking at her with bright hopeful eyes, Gia couldn't help but smile. Thankful that the doctor had taken into account that she was still breastfeeding, all of her prescriptions were safe for her to take while breastfeeding. She sat on the bed, bringing Beau's body to hers and standing. It was the only way she could hold Beau without putting force on her ribs. She kissed her baby girl on the cheek, riling her up lightly. She walked to the living room, expecting to see Casey, but the apartment seemed quiet and Casey's bedroom door was open.

She sat on the couch and took notice of the time, it was nine in the morning and she wondered, how long had Beau been awake. She could feel the pressure that had been built overnight and over the previous day on her chest, she needed to relieve it, soon. She cradled her daughter and the girl began stirring, recognizing the all-familiar position. Beau suckled on Gia's breast, an overwhelming feeling falling upon Gia. She had missed her daughter and she would never forgive herself for staying in such environment. She rubbed on the baby's cheek, smiling down at her. The girl grabbed on her mother's finger and rocked her hands and kicked her feet as she enjoyed her breakfast.

Gia, too enveloped in her daughter's contentment did not hear when the door opened or when the two women walked in, laughing and giggling with each other. It was Beau's stare that went to the sudden noise when Gia noticed Casey and Alex staring at her with their hands filled with grocery bags. Beau gave a toothy grin towards Casey and returned to latch onto her mother.

"Oh, Casey," Gia said, scrambling to find something to cover herself, "I'm sorry. I—I didn't realize… I—I'll go back to the room," she said as she positioned herself to try and get up from the couch.

"No, no," Casey said, smiling, "you're fine. You don't have to hide to feed your daughter, Gia. This is your home now too, don't feel uncomfortable."

"Besides," Alex added, "it's not the first time she's seen that happen."

Gia relaxed a little after knowing that Casey had seen Alex breastfeed before, "Do you breastfeed on all her meals?"

"I used to," Gia answered Alex, who was in the kitchen now with Casey, "Now, it's only in the mornings and before bed, unless she eats solids; like last night. But, like the little glutton she is, she'll eat twice if I'm not careful," Gia chuckled, sucking in a breath having exacerbated the pain in her ribs.

"Have you eaten?" Casey asked.

"No, I just woke up a couple of minutes ago," she answered.

"Are you hungry?" Alex asked, "Olivia took the kids for breakfast and later they're going to the park. Casey and I thought to make breakfast, allergies?"

By this time, Beau had already finished her feeding. Gia draped her over her shoulder and channeled all her strength to her legs, pushing herself up from the couch and approaching the bar that separated the living room from the kitchen, "Cats, but no food allergies," Gia replied.

"Good, I don't think I could've handled more allergies when I'm cooking. Between Casey's mushroom and strawberry allergy and Caroline and Ethan's nut allergy, I am going insane," Alex, mused.

Casey rolled her eyes, "I don't even like mushrooms anyways, though strawberries," she groaned, "that's an allergy I developed when I was a teenager. It sucked!"

Alex giggled as she finished unpacking, "Who's free today? Other than Olivia, I mean," Gia asked as she burped Beau.

"They're all off," Casey said, looking up from cutting a bell pepper, "Why?"

"I need a clothes job and Beau's belongings. Everything else can be thrown away," she said, rubbing her daughter's back.

Casey and Alex looked at each other, "Are you sure?"

Gia nodded, continuing burping, "I just want my clothes and Beau's stuff. I don't care about anything else."

Casey nodded, "Alright, I'll call the team."

"No, let me," Gia offered, "I'll call Carisi and tell him."

She disappeared down the hall, still burping the baby draped in her arms. She ducked in the room and sat on the bed, continuing to burp Beau. She called Carisi who had been running around with Amanda's three-year-old daughter as he sounded winded and full of life. She felt bad, but she needed her belongings. They talked for a while and she apologized profusely and he dismissed each and every one of them. Even Amanda told her to shove it with her apologies. She sure hit the lottery with her squad members of the one-six. Carisi said that he would call Fin and between the both of them and Amanda's direction they were sure to finish that same day. She called and made the reservation for a U-Haul van and sent Amanda the information.

After changing Beau's diaper and cladding her in a beautiful mint long sleeve onesie with matching headband she placed a jingle bell bracelet on the baby's wrist. Once she started crawling, her mother had made a bracelet with five jingle bells and pipe cleaners for the baby's wrist. That way she could entertain herself with the noise and the adults would know where she's at all times. She exited the room and closed the door to her room, Casey's room, and the bathroom. She went to place the baby on the ground and noticed that bending caused her a great deal of pain. She thought of just fighting through it, but noticed she couldn't do it.

"Uh, Alex," she said, walking down the hallway towards the kitchen.

"Yea," Alex piped quickly.

"Could you put her on the ground, please? Bending hurts a lot," Gia said, a sheep smile falling on her lips.

"Sure," Alex said, taking the baby from Gia's arms.

"Don't you look cute," Casey quipped, gaining her self a rowdy squeal, "What? You want something from here?" She asked the baby.

Beau answered by squealing some more. Casey shook her head as she looked around for something to give the baby. She saw the sliced bananas and looked at Gia for approval, "Casey, she'll eat anything. You don't need my permission to feed her. I trust you," she conceded.

Casey handed Beau two slices of banana that she took and ate effortlessly, "Glutton," Alex mumbled, setting her down by Gia's feet. Beau took off, the bracelet jingling at her every move.

"Why didn't I think of that when mine were crawling? Would've saved me a lot of headaches," Alex said, returning to her task in the kitchen.

The women could hear Beau's bracelet jingling back towards the kitchen, "Just tell her no, she'll listen. Be stern," Gia said to Casey.

Beau attempted to enter the kitchen and Casey did as Gia said, "No, Beau; kitchen is off limits, young lady."

Beau looked up at the redhead and went to take another step, but was blocked by the tall woman, "No," Casey said, sternly but softly.

Beau turned and crawled towards the living room. Casey smiled and Alex smiled at Casey and Gia. They seemed to be extremely comfortable with each other and Alex couldn't be happier that Casey had finally opened up her heart for someone to claim after a failed attempt with Kim Greylek. The women ate their breakfast and Alex snuck bananas to Beau as she continued to explore the apartment.

By the time noon rolled around, Carisi, Fin, Amanda, and Jesse were at the apartment, settling everything in Casey's spare room. Amanda, Gia, Jesse, and Beau played in the living room all while the boys settled everything where it was needed. Casey paid them with pizza and beer and by the time they left, all that was needed to be done, was hang up Gia's closet clothes and put away the suitcases that were packed for her. Beau's chest, changing table, and crib fit perfectly with Casey's desk. It was cramped, but it worked.

She was ready to open a new chapter in life.

She was ready to be happy again.