Physical therapy was going very well for Cappie, so well in fact that he no longer needed his crutches. Not needing his crutches made life so much easier.
Casey was sitting in the living room on her laptop when Cappie walked in.
"Whatcha lookin at?" Cappie asked, sitting next to her.
"Apartments for the fall." Casey answered. "Since I can't live in the ZBZ house I need to find somewhere else. Like my aunt and uncle said, deciding to stay in school was the first step in planning my future, now I need to finish all this planning. I think I've got it narrowed down to a few apartments."
"On campus?" Cappie continued.
"Some on, some off." Casey said. "Definitely need a two bedroom though."
As Casey searched, her cell phone rang. She recognized the ringtone instantly.
"Hey Ash." Casey answered happily.
"I have great news!" Ashleigh exclaimed into the phone.
"Tell me!" Casey squealed.
"Well I was going through ZBZ's Rules and Rituals book, and it said that we have to abide by Pan-Hellenic bylaws." Ashleigh explained.
"Ash, how does that help me?" Casey interrupted in a frustrated tone.
"Will you let me finish!" Ashleigh yelled back. "Anyway, as I was saying, we have to abide by Pan-Hellenic bylaws, but if the house finds a ruling unjust, they can petition to overthrow it."
"Ok, that would work, if the sisters didn't hate my guts." Casey said matter-of-factly.
"I'll have you know that not all of them hate you." Ashleigh reassured her. "The petition has got two signatures on it."
"Seriously, other than you, who else decided they like me now?" Casey asked.
Ashleigh bit her tongue. She couldn't tell Casey who the real signer was; it would ruin everything.
"It was Betsy." Ashleigh said, coming up with a random sister on the spot.
"That drunk mess." Casey replied. Ashleigh was thankful Casey believed the lie.
"She's still one of our sisters." Ashleigh said. "One sister at a time."
"Baby steps." Casey giggled. "Guess Lexi was right."
"Lexi?" Ashleigh didn't know who she was talking about.
"Cappie's nurse friend." Casey explained.
"Oohhh." Ashleigh replied. It made more sense now.
"But wait, even if you do get all the signatures, we're going to be missing the ones from the girls that went with evil Frannie." Casey reminded Ashleigh.
"You just let me worry about that." Ashleigh reassured her. "You just worry about how little ZBZ's stuff is going to look in our room."
Casey giggled at Ashleigh calling the baby little ZBZ. Ashleigh wanted it to be a girl so bad, just so she could rub it in the guys' faces.
"I'm still going to get an apartment, just in case." Casey said.
"Alright, fine." Ashleigh sighed. "I'll keep you posted on the petition status."
"Thanks Ash." Casey said.
"Tell Cappie I said hi." Ashleigh said cheerfully.
"Will do. Bye Ash." Casey said.
"Bye Case." Ashleigh replied before hanging up the phone.
"Sounds like you and Ashleigh had an interesting conversation." Cappie smirked.
"Ashleigh's trying to petition Pan-Hellenic's ruling to let me back in the house." Casey said.
"That's great!" Cappie replied.
"I'm still getting an apartment. Knowing my sisters they aren't going to sign the petition very easily." Casey said.
"Hey, does it only have to be ZBZ's?" Cappie asked. He had an idea.
"Unfortunately yeah." Casey said. "I know exactly what you were thinking, and I don't think it would've worked."
"Awe, why not?" Cappie pouted.
"I'm not thinking Pan-Hellenic would even look at a petition with signatures like Corn Nuts or Ferret." Casey half laughed; the Kappa Tau's have such weird nicknames.
"We do have real names I'll have you know." Cappie jokingly argued.
"Yeah, too bad nobody knows them." Casey laughed.
"It's what adds to the mystery of being a Kappa Tau." Cappie said. "And our kid's going to be a part of that too."
"You want our child to have a really weird nickname." Casey said, kind of shocked.
"Maybe." Cappie smirked. "But I also don't want him to be like me and have a real name that is kind of embarrassing. I want him or her to have a cool name."
"I'm guessing that's why nobody knows your real name." Casey giggled.
"Pretty much; it's the one thing I really don't tell people." Cappie said.
"I know." Casey smiled. "You didn't tell me until we had been dating for like six months."
"Exactly, which is why I don't want our kid ending up like that." Cappie explained.
While Cappie and Casey were talking, Casey's parents walked into the living room with smiles on their faces.
"What up with the weird faces?" Cappie asked.
"Mom, dad, you guys are a little too happy." Casey said.
"We're not allowed to be happy?" Mr. Cartwright asked jokingly.
"Something's up with you two." Casey said.
"Alright, you got us little miss know it all." Mrs. Cartwright said. "We've got a small surprise for you."
"Ok then?" Cappie had no clue what the Cartwright's had up their sleeves.
"Well with everything that happened, we figured you guys needed some good in your life." Mr. Cartwright began.
"And with you guys going back to school in less than a month, we figured now would be the perfect time to do it, especially now that you can actually tell Casey's pregnant and Cappie's doing a lot better." Mrs. Cartwright added.
"What exactly are we doing?" Casey asked.
"And why does it matter if she's pregnant?" Cappie also asked.
"The two of you have an appointment for this afternoon at the photography studio across town." Mr. Cartwright explained.
"Are you serious?" Casey asked.
"Wait, so we're going to be getting those couple-y pregnant belly pictures taken." Cappie finally got it.
"Yup." Mrs. Cartwright said. "And Casey honey, I know how you hate my fashion sense, but I got some new clothes for the pictures. I promise you'll like them."
"Thanks mom." Casey smiled.
Cappie and Casey walked into the studio and were greeted by a very nice middle aged man holding a camera.
"Hi, I'm Seth." The photographer said.
"Hi Seth, I'm Casey." Casey replied, shaking his hand.
"Ah, that must mean the guy in the black boots here is Cappie." Seth said, remembering what Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright had told him.
"That's me." Cappie smiled, also shaking his hand. "And don't worry, if you want me to, I will gladly take these off for a couple shots."
"Well alright then." Seth chuckled. "Why don't you two go get changed so we can get started."
Cappie took one of the dressing rooms and Casey took the other. When Casey looked in the bag her mom packed for her, she was pleasantly surprised by what was there. She actually didn't hate it, in fact, she liked it. She decided to put the white sports bra and matching yoga pants on first.
When Casey walked out and saw Cappie, her face lit up. His walking boots were gone and he was wearing long khaki pants with an open white button down short sleeve shirt, exposing his almost impeccable chest. For the amount of drinking and partying the boys did, none of them had beer bellies. That fact was something that mystified Casey.
"Alright you two." Seth said. "Ready to get started?"
Both Cappie and Casey nodded, and Seth directed them over to the area where the photos were taken. There were so many backdrops and props and lights. Both Cappie and Casey wondered how many of them Seth would actually use.
"Now since you're both wearing white we'll use a black backdrop." Seth said, bringing them over to where the black sheet was.
The two stood there a little awkwardly at first, but Cappie did what he does best and simply wrapped his arms around Casey. Seth thought the moment was sweet and made sure to get it on camera. Once Cappie got Casey to relax a little, the two could really get into the photo session.
"Now Cappie, wrap your arms around Casey from behind with your hands on her belly." Seth told them what to do. "And then Case, I want your hands on top of his."
Cappie and Casey did everything Seth asked, and with each snap of the camera, they could feel their emotions heating up. Cappie's hands on her body, protecting her and the baby, made Casey's heart race. Cappie felt the same whenever Seth told Casey to wrap her arms around his neck or lay her head on his chest.
"I think we've got enough shots with this outfit. Go get changed into something a little more fun and we'll keep going." Seth said.
Seth went back over to one of the computers while Cappie and Casey got changed. Casey thought of fun and immediately thought of ZBZ. She put on a pair of denim booty shorts and one of her ZBZ t-shirts. The matching pink low top converses made the outfit complete.
When she walked out of the dressing room and saw Cappie, they both started laughing.
"I guess we had the same meaning of fun." Cappie said. He had put on his gray Kappa Tau tank top and his camo shorts; the same ones he wore to the fraternity floor hockey tournament.
"Guess we're just that in sync." Casey laughed. "Although if this shirt gets any tighter I think it's going to rip."
"I still think it's cute." Cappie smiled. "Even with a five month pregnant belly under it."
Seth took Cappie and Casey outside to get some outdoor shots. He turned around, and automatically smiled at the shirts they were wearing.
"Ah, I see we've got a couple of Greeks here." Seth laughed. "What school do you guys go to?"
"Cyprus Rhodes." Casey said.
"That's actually where we met." Cappie added. "We met at the Kappa Tau rush party our freshman year."
Seth continued asking questions about their lives and made them reminisce about old times while he instructed them on different poses he wanted. Reminiscing put a huge smile on both Cappie's and Casey's faces. They were both in their own little worlds; both wanting to go back to freshman year when relationships came easy and mainly revolved around the Greek system…and pie.
Seth enjoyed taking pictures of the two. He could tell how truly in love they were; just by the way they looked at each other and the way they interacted. It was at that moment he decided to try something new.
"Hey guys, for this next shot I want you guys to hold hands on Casey's stomach, and then…give me the most passionate kiss I've ever seen in my life." Seth smiled.
Cappie and Casey stared at each other at first. Did he really just ask them to do that? Was he reading their minds? Both of them wanted to, and now they had an excuse to relive the thing they missed the most about being together. With their hands intertwined on her belly, they gazed into each other's eyes as Cappie planted his lips on Casey's.
"That's it!" Seth exclaimed, taking a whole bunch more pictures of the cute moment.
They broke away from the kiss and continued to stare into each other's eyes, both soaking in the moment.
"Wow." Casey smiled.
"That was…" Cappie added. "Wow."
Seth could tell they were having a moment, so he decided to end the photo shoot there.
"Why don't you guys get back into your normal clothes while I upload these to the computer?" Seth said. "You guys can come over here and see the pictures whenever you're ready."
They got changed and met Seth back over at the computer.
"All the pictures I've taken today are on here for you to look at. If you want any special effects on the pictures let me know." Seth said.
"Oh this one is cute." Casey smiled, looking at a picture of Cappie sitting on a bench outside with her lying in his lap.
"I like this one." Cappie said, showing her a different picture. In this one he wasn't wearing his walking boots and the two of them looked cute in their Greek shirts. They were sitting in the grass outside with Casey leaned against his shoulder, his arm around her, his hand gently rubbing her belly.
"What about this one?" Casey asked, showing Cappie the picture of them wearing white with the black backdrop.
"I like it, but can he change it to a black and white picture." Cappie asked.
"I think that would look very nice." Casey said. "I'm sure my parents would love to have a copy of that one."
"And I'm sure my brothers would like copies of our cute Greek shirt picture." Cappie added.
As they looked through the rest of the pictures, they both stopped and stared at the picture of them kissing.
"I'd kind of like a copy of this one." Cappie said shyly.
Casey could tell Cappie loved the picture. She loved it too. After that kiss she finally felt like her and Cappie were getting somewhere with their...relationship. That kiss mixed with him wanting the picture was definitely a sign that Cappie wanted to be with her.
Casey smiled, "Me too."
