"Case, I love you, but your son is a full blooded KT when it comes to his sleep schedule." Ashleigh said as she tossed back another swig of coffee, wishing it was something stronger.
Casey yawned while trying to soothe her fussing infant. "I know."
"Just saying, maybe you should let Cappie take him for a night, because I can't keep living on coffee." Ashleigh took another big gulp. It had only been a few days but she had drunk more coffee in those few days than she had in the past month.
"I know Ash!" Casey's exhaustion was making her more irritable. "I'm sorry if my son is interrupting your precious sleep schedule, but if it makes you feel better he's been interrupting mine for the past month!"
Casey stopped and realized that wasn't really true. "Ok, maybe not the past month but at least the past week."
Ashleigh could tell something was bothering her friend, other than the usual mom lack of sleep drama. She reluctantly put her coffee down and sat across from Casey on Casey's bed. "So then why don't you let Cappie take him tonight so that you can get some sleep. Actually, why aren't you staying there to begin with? When we left you were basically one big happy family living in the KT house. Then when we moved back in you were already at ZBZ, which at first we thought you just wanted to be here to help us move in, but now it's been a week and you still haven't left. What happened? Did you and Cappie have a fight?"
Casey laid Kevin in her lap. She didn't really want to talk about it, but she also knew she needed her best friend's advice.
"So I found out on New Years that Cappie has no plans of graduating. He hasn't even declared a major. Like he basically told me he would love spending the rest of his life in the KT house."
Ashleigh tried acting shocked, but Casey's concerns really didn't surprise her. "Case, no offense but you've known that was Cappie's plan since day one."
"I know, but back then it wasn't as big of an issue because I thought we had time to figure it out. Now three and a half years has gone by and he's still acting like a freshman. And when I called him out on it he accused me of not loving him even though according to him he's been the best damn boyfriend and father. Which I'm not going to say he hasn't because he absolutely has been a great dad to Kevin and I do love him..."
"But..." Ashleigh sensed the 'but' coming.
"But my love for him doesn't excuse the fact that he can't commit to a life with me and be responsible. Basically I love him but can't be with him. Why can't both be true?"
"They can. And especially now with this cute little nugget." Ashleigh jiggled Kevin's little leg. "You have to make decisions that are best for both of you."
"Which is why I moved over here for the time being. If I'm going to be a single mom in less than 6 months anyway, might as well start now." Casey explained.
"Not exactly what I meant." Ashleigh replied, picking up her coffee again.
Casey looked at her oddly. "Well what else is there? The best thing for my son is to have a parent that is going to be there one hundred percent."
"And so far if we're going by that standard then both of you qualify." Ashleigh took another sip of coffee. "You said it yourself, Cappie is an amazing dad. So why take that away from him?"
Casey knew that Ashleigh was right. Just because she may or may not end up with Cappie, doesn't mean Kevin doesn't deserve to have both of his parents in his life.
"So you're saying I should put my feelings for Cappie aside for now so that we both can just focus on being parents."
Ashleigh took one final sip of her coffee. "I'm saying this little dude has another parent that is more than willing to help out. So maybe you can drop him off over there for a few days so mama can get some sleep!"