A/N: This chapter is about Casey and Alex working out there feelings. After I finished last night's chapters I really felt like they needed this time. I hope you enjoy.
Alex and Casey lay cuddled together on the couch listening to the rain later that afternoon. Casey was curled into Alex's embrace listening to the blonde's heartbeat and breathing. To her there was no better sound in the world. "Alex," Casey said interrupting the silence, "Are you going to be okay when I go to the office tomorrow morning?"
Alex ran her fingers through Casey's hair, "Yeah babe I will be fine. Honestly, I plan to go back to bed until you get home."
"What if I don't get my leave granted, what will you do then?" Casey asks the sound of worry mounting in her voice.
"Then I guess I will have to get up and clean the apartment," Alex answers with a chuckle in her voice. The sound of the humor put Casey at ease again. Snuggling back into Alex's embrace Casey starts to close her eyes and is soon asleep.
Waking up about two hours later Casey is surprised to see the apartment lit by candles. Realizing she is alone on the couch and there is very little light coming in from outside Casey calls out, "Alex?"
"Hey Case, don't worry the power went out twenty minutes ago the storm has gotten pretty bad outside. I don't know how you have been sleeping through all the thunder." Alex walks back into the room with a flashlight and a tray holding two mugs. Sitting back down on the couch with Casey she snuggles back into the redhead.
"I made us some hot cocoa with marshmallows just like you like it." Alex says giving Casey a little kiss on the cheek, "it's times like this that I love the gas stove."
"I agree," Casey says taking one of the warm mugs from the table, "Any idea how long this storm is going to last."
"Looks like a while from the weather reports, I figured we could just snuggle and talk. You know, work on some Violet homework!"
Casey smiles, "I like the sound of that! So you want to go first?"
"Sure," Alex says, "but I am not prepared. So I get an 'F' your turn."
Casey lets out a loud laugh at Alex's joke almost spilling the hot cocoa on them both. Her laughing causes Alex to laugh and before long they are both desperately trying to catch their breath. Calming herself Alex restarts, "Ok, in all honesty I expected to come back to nothing from witness protection. I thought you would have moved on with your life although I prayed that you hadn't I didn't have faith. I thought I had lost everything and I wanted to die because of it. Yet coming home and walking through that door and seeing our home exactly like it was when I left was amazing it showed me just how much you still loved me and I felt like the most important part of my life was still intact. Casey I knew that I love you more than anything, but that is when I realized that you are everything to me. As screwed up as every other aspect was or might still be to an extent as long as I have you I am going to be fine that is why I am terrified to lose you."
Casey touched Alex's face and smiled, "You are my everything too Alex, it's why I couldn't move on. It's why I ran around with Liv and Elliot on that first case. Sitting in the DA's office without you was killing me, I needed to escape. I promise I don't do crazy things like that anymore, and if it will help you I will tell you all about my cases or switch to another unit. I am okay with doing those things if it helps us in the long run. I love you Alex more than anything in this world." She kissed Alex and lay back down on the couch pulling the blonde down into her arms.
They stayed like that for a few minutes soaking in each other's words. Finally Casey spoke up, "So changing the subject a little, you said you want us to have kids someday."
"Yeah, I do, you said you want them too."
Casey smiled, "Yes, I did, but I want to know how many do you want to have?"
"Four."
"Four!" Casey exclaimed wide-eyed, "You are having them right?"
"No I thought you were?" Alex replies with a grin.
"Are you being serious? I can't tell when the lights are off. Pass me the flashlight so I can shine it in your face and then retell me all of that."
Alex starts laughing at the flustered redhead, "Okay in all honesty, I would like two kids, but if we had more that is fine too. I do not care which one of us has the kids as long as we have kids, so if you don't want to be pregnant than I will happily have them."
"I don't mind the idea of being pregnant, I just don't want to jump on the bandwagon of having four just yet, but two sounds doable. I know we aren't having these kids for a long time, but do you have a name you like because I have one that I really like."
"If we have a little girl yes, I would really like to name our first daughter Vivian Elizabeth after my grandmother." Alex says with a smile.
"I love it so agreed. If we have a boy, I would like to name him Miles Alexander for my dad and your dad and well you." Casey replies with a grin.
"Oh I love that Casey what a good name. Miles, now I hope we have a boy first. Do you think your dad would be upset that we were using his middle name and not his first name?"
Casey thought for a moment, "I don't think so, plus it would make it a lot less confusing at family functions. Could you imagine having two James running around at Thanksgiving?"
"Wow, Casey one day we will actually have kids running around. We will have to buy a house."
"Yeah we will. Where would you want to live?" Casey asked.
Not missing a beat Alex replied, "The lake."
"Boy that would be a horrible commute to work every day. Why don't we buy a lake house and spend the weekends there and then just have a larger apartment for the weekdays." Casey offers up.
"Not as good as living at the lake, but I guess I can compromise. Although, I still think I would like a house or townhouse in the city, at least something big enough that they kids would not feel super cramped and we won't feel cramped."
"Well when that day comes we can look at everything you want until we find the right place." Casey says with a smile.
"Sounds good," Alex answers as her stomach growls, "Want to order a pizza?"
"Sure I am starved." Casey says with a kiss.
After dinner Casey and Alex decided to go lay in bed. The power had come back on about thirty minutes earlier, but instead of staying up watching TV or something they lay in their dimly lit room snuggled into one another. Enjoying each other seemed like a much better way to spend the remainder of the evening.
"Hey, wake me up when you get up tomorrow morning to get in the shower," Alex says.
Casey pushes up a little to look in Alex's eyes, "Why baby?"
"Because I want to make the coffee and yogurt for you tomorrow that way I get to spend more time enjoying you before you leave for work."
"Aw, thank you baby that is such a sweet idea. Just remember to add an extra scoop or two of coffee grounds to the coffee maker before brewing." Casey says with a grin.
Alex gasps, "Casey is that why the coffee is always super strong and I have to dump so much cream and sugar into it?"
"All the better to get the morning started."
"Oh my God, I just thought your coffee brand was ridiculously strong. I should have known you and your caffeine addiction was behind the taste." Alex sighed shaking her head.
Casey laughed, "You love me."
"Yes I do," Alex says with a kiss.
Laying her head back down on Alex's shoulder Casey smiles. Even though they had only had one appointment with Violet, Casey already felt better about Alex's progress. The blonde seemed so much more at ease this evening than any other evening since she had been home. Plus, Violet's homework had greatly seemed to help Alex open up about her fears. Chuckling to herself Casey thought, 'Go figure Charlotte always said Alex was an overachiever in school.'
Feeling Casey laugh against her Alex wonder what was going on in the mind of the redhead. She seemed so peaceful and happy tonight and Alex loved to hear her laugh. They'd both laughed more that night than any other night since Alex had been back. Alex loved this feeling it was as if they were getting back to normal, but Alex wasn't kidding herself she knew she had a long road ahead of her and she was not going to slack off for a minute because she had to get better for her and Casey's future to come true.
"Hey Casey,"
"Yeah."
"Thank you for tonight." Alex said.
Casey pushed up again and smiled at her girlfriend, "You're welcome, but what exactly do you mean?"
"Well, I know we talked about our 'Violet homework stuff' which felt really cathartic, but thank you for also talking to me about our future life. Talking about having kids and buying a home and other things was really helpful. Even though, they are far off plans it is really nice to have something to work towards and when those things involve my life with you it makes it even more exciting. So thank you."
Casey looked into Alex's eyes and smiled as she pushed a lock of blonde hair from her face, "I love talking about our future together so anytime you want to talk about it I am game. Now, speaking about the future what do you want to do this weekend?"
Smiling Alex said, "I don't know. I do know that at some point we need to have our friends over for dinner to make up for this past weekend, although, I don't really feel up to it just yet. Hey, why don't we get my mom and go to the beach house. Have a little family get away, if your parents and sister can make it we should have them join too!"
"I love that idea. I will call them tomorrow and see if they can pull it off. Otherwise, it will be a fantastic weekend with your mom. Are you sure you don't want to just spend time with your mom?" Casey questions not wanting her boisterous family to overrun the weekend.
Alex thinks for a moment then begins, "I really would like us all to be there. Plus, if I need one on one time with my mom we can always go out or go for a walk on the beach. Just if you will, please give your parents and sister a heads up on my condition okay. I want them to know I am working on stuff, but in case I breakdown I want them to know I am not totally crazy."
"No problem baby. Now, we should get some sleep tomorrow will be here before we know it!" Casey says kissing Alex goodnight.
