SPEECHLESS

The morning of April 29th rolled around quickly. Casey had been taking it easy the past week, mostly by Cappie's insistence. Her wrist hurt a lot. And even though the doctors told her the pain medicine they gave her was safe for the baby she just couldn't bring herself to take it. So she relied on the old remedies of rest, ice and elevation to try and relieve the pain she was having. And cuddling with Cappie of course. There was something about his masculine hands around her holding her tight that just made any pain she was feeling go away.

She woke up in his arms on the 29th like she had done most mornings. She began to stir but he just pulled her closer to him.

"No," he said with a raspy voice. "It's not time to get up yet."

"Cap," Casey giggled. "We have to get up eventually. My appointment is at eleven."

Cappie glanced at the clock.

"And it's only nine-thirty," he said with a smile as he pulled her closer. "We have plenty of time."

Casey moved around so she was face to face with Cappie. She gave him a soft kiss.

"Mmmmmmm," he moaned softly. "I'll never get tired of morning kisses from you my love."

"So," said Casey as she laid her head back down on Cappie's chest. "We haven't discussed at all whether we want to find out whether we are having a boy or a girl today."

"Well what do you think?" asked Cappie who already knew what his answer was.

"I kind of think I do want to know," said Casey. "What about you."

"Well it's settled then," he said. "Because I want to know too."

"That's it?" asked Casey. "Did we seriously just make that decision that quickly?"

Cappie smiled as he moved Casey so he could look into her eyes.

"That's what makes us so perfect," he said brushing the soft blond hair off of her shoulder. "We're relatively in sync with each other."

"Yeah, we are," said Casey smiling back at Cappie.

He leaned in and began to kiss her. He began to get a little shocked when she deepened the kiss and began to rub her hand along the outside of his shorts. He began letting his hands explore her body when his cell phone rang.

"Ugh, hold that thought," he grunted picking up his phone. "Hello?"

"Hi honey!" Casey heard a female voice say.

"Mom," Cappie replied. "How are you? I haven't heard from you in a while."

"Yes well we were out in the forest camping for a while," his mother replied. "There were no phones near us for miles."

"Well I'm glad you finally got to call," said Cappie. "I-"

"Oh and you can keep this phone number son," interrupted his mom. "We now have these cell phones that are solar powered. So as long as the sun is up we should be available!"

"That's great mom," said Cappie with a smile.

"Your father wants to say hi," his mom said handing his dad the phone.

"Hey son!" said his dad. "How are things going? Still running that fraternity out there?"

"Yeah, I'm still the president," said Cappie knowing that his father deep down wished he never joined the fraternity. He always thought it was a young adult version of a cult.

"And how about your grades?" his dad asked. "How are you doing in school?"

"Actually dad I wanted to talk to you and mom about that," said Cappie. "Is there any way you can have mom listen in too?"

"Sure, I'll just put you on speaker phone," his dad replied hitting the button.

Cappie did the same on his phone so Casey could hear loud and clear.

"Can you both hear me?" Cappie asked.

"Yes we can," his mother replied.

"OK, well," Cappie began. "I wanted to let you guys know that I'm graduating this semester. The graduation ceremony is May 8th and I would love for you guys to be there."

"You're really graduating?" asked his mom.

"I thought you still had another year or two," stated his dad.

"I thought I did," Cappie replied. "But after meeting with some advisors here I realized that I had enough credits to graduate with a general education degree."

"Well that's great honey," said his mom. "We'll try to make it to your graduation. But you know it's only a couple of weeks away. I'm not sure where your father and I will be."

Cappie's heart sank to the ground. He was really hoping his parents were going to be there to cheer him on.

"Well you guys made it quite hard for me to be able to tell you," Cappie argued. "I had no way of getting a hold of you."

"I know son," said his dad. "Like your mom said, we'll try our best to make it. We just can't promise anything right now. You never know where the wind will take us."

"Alright," said Cappie solemnly.

He looked at Casey who sat next to him with her arm around his waist and her head on his shoulder. She knew he was hurt by his parent's response.

"Well honey we're sorry this is so short but we are on our way out to a protest," said his mom. "It was really good to talk to you."

"No wait," said Cappie anxiously. "There is something else I have to tell you guys. Something that kind of influenced my decision to graduate this semester."

"Did you meet a girl?" his dad asked.

"Well, sort of," Cappie replied.

"Oh I'm so excited," exclaimed his mother. "When is the wedding?"

Cappie laughed. "There is no wedding mom," he said. "At least not yet."

Cappie looked at Casey who smiled at him as she squeezed him a little tighter.

"So who is this new girl?" his dad asked.

"She's not exactly new dad," Cappie replied. "It's Casey."

"Casey….Casey," he could hear his dad say her name over and over trying to rack his brain to remember who she was.

"Oh is she that girl from your freshman year?" his mom finally asked.

"Yes, that's her," Cappie replied.

"Oh honey that's great," his mom exclaimed. "I know how much you loved her."

"Yeah, she's pretty great," Cappie replied again smiling at Casey.

"Well if she encouraged you to graduate then she's a-ok in my book," said his dad.

"Thanks dad," Cappie replied. "But she isn't my only reason for graduating."

"What else is going on then?" his dad asked.

Cappie took a deep breath, nervous about how his parents were going to react once he dropped the bomb on them.

"Casey is pregnant," he said. "With our baby."

The phone was completely silent. Cappie had to hit one of the buttons so the screen would light up again to make sure he was still connected to his parents.

"Mom? Dad?" he finally said. "Did you hear me?"

"Yes, yes, we heard you," his dad finally replied.

Still there was silence on the phone.

"Can someone please say something?" Cappie asked as he started to get a little choked up.

"Son, are you sure the baby is yours," his dad finally asked.

"Yes," Cappie replied. "Positive."

"Well that's certainly big news," said his dad.

"Mom?" asked Cappie. "You haven't said anything."

"Um," said Cappie's dad clearing his throat. "Your mother went inside."

Casey could feel Cappie's entire confidence shoot out of him as his body seemed to grow heavier against hers.

"Dad," said Cappie fighting back tears. "Aren't you going to congratulate me or something?"

He heard his dad take a deep breath into the phone.

"Son, a baby is a big task that you are about to take on," he said. "You know your mother and I believe children should only be born between two people who love each other and are planning to spend the rest of their lives together. You're only in college. There is no way you could know any of that stuff right now. We're disappointed in you."

Cappie's heart sank as he let the tears flow from his eyes.

"Casey and I are in love dad," he pleaded. "We will get married someday."

"That's great son," said his father. "You're mother and I wish you luck with that."

"So this is it?" asked Cappie. "You're just going to push me aside because I did something that you don't necessarily agree with? What happened to free-spirit and non-conformity?"

"Having a baby just doesn't fit into those categories," his dad replied.

"Dad, I need you and mom," said Cappie through his tears. "Please don't leave me like this."

"We're not leaving you son," said his dad. "You mother and I have to talk about things. We'll call you in a few weeks."

"A few weeks?" said Cappie as he stood up and walked over to the window. "I guess that means you won't be at graduation."

"Please just let your mother and I talk. You have to realize the amount of life changing information you told us today. It's too much for us to process right now."

"Alright dad, whatever you say," said Cappie somewhat bitterly.

"We'll talk later," his dad said.

"Bye," said Cappie as he slammed the phone shut, not letting his father say another word.

Casey stood up and walked over to Cappie. She put her hand on his back and began to rub it. He then turned around and collapsed into her arms. He was sobbing. Casey wrapped her arms around him tightly. He had been her rock for so long. It was now her turn to be his.

"I'm so sorry," she said squeezing him as tightly as she could.

"I thought they would understand," he said through his tears. "I thought of all the people in the world my parents would be the coolest about this news. They've always been the most loving and caring parents no matter what I did. No matter how much I screwed up."

"They're just shocked," said Casey. "Just give them a little time and they'll come around."

"I'm not so sure," said Cappie as he broke away from Casey and sat back down on the bed.

Casey felt helpless. She wanted to say something to Cappie that would make things better but had no idea what to say. She went over and stood in front of him.

"Well I love you," she said. "And even though Cappie junior isn't in this world yet I know he loves you just as much and if not more."

Cappie looked at her and gave her a half smile.

"We're a family now," Casey continued. "You, me and little Cappie. It's just going to be the three of us for the rest of our lives. Even if your current family doesn't support you, your future family does, and always will."

Cappie's smile grew bigger as he stared into Casey's eyes. He put his hands on the sides of her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"We really are a family now aren't we?" he asked leaning in closer to her.

"Of course," she replied. "We always will be."

Cappie leaned in and kissed her softly.

"Thanks Case," he said breaking away. "I really needed to hear that."

"It's the truth," she smiled at him.

His kissed her one last time as his hands rubbed the sides of her stomach.

"Speaking of the baby," he said looking at the clock. "We should get ready for the appointment."

"Oh yeah," said Casey who almost forgot about it.

Cappie stood up and handed Casey his shower caddy.

"You can shower first today, mommy," he said with a smile.

Cappie watched Casey grab a towel and head out of the room to the bathroom. His brothers were really good about letting Casey take a shower there since she was always making them some sort of food and cleaning up things around the house. He sat back down on the bed and reached for his phone again. He highlighted the number his parents called him from and hit the 'store' button so he could have it in his phone. If he didn't hear from them in three weeks then he was going to call them. There was no reason for them not to be happy for him. And there was no way he was going to let his child grow up not knowing his or her grandparents.

A/N: Sooooo my first time posting three chapters because you guys are so awesome!

I can't believe the number of responses I got from the last posting.....maybe I should leave you with some cliffhangers more often :0) LoL.....I'll try not to though.

How about a little teaser........In the next chapter we find out if it's a boy or a girl!!!

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