A/N: Ok, another chapter I am happy with. Hope you like it too! Let me know what you think :)
Saturday Morning…
Casey drove towards the townhouse, her new home. She was moving into today and really excited about the fact that she and Caroline would have a home of their own now. However, despite how excited she was she was nervous about seeing Alex today.
Ever since the morning before when Alex showed up late with the coffee the blonde had been on Casey's mind. She would go back and forth about wanting to try with Alex and then feeling way to guilty. However, Kim's words kept running through her mind that John would want her to be happy. Casey just wished she knew that was how John really felt. It might make it easier for her.
Turning down her new street Casey became increasingly anxious. She couldn't wait to move in and she couldn't wait to see Alex. It was as if the adrenaline surge she was suddenly having was erasing any pangs of guilt. Pulling into her parking spot outside the townhouse Casey sees Alex step out of the house.
"Hey!" Alex says seeing the redhead step out of her car. She had barely spoken to Casey since that night at Kim and Owen's, the only times had been work or coffee related and she really hoped today would change that for them.
"Hi," Casey said hesitantly. Looking at Alex, Casey was amazed the blonde could even make jeans and a tee shirt look sexy. Kim was right; she did really like the blonde. Maybe she should give her a chance.
Walking up the steps to where Alex is waiting Casey looks into Alex's eyes. She is wearing her contacts today in a way it makes her eyes look darker. Alex smiles at the redhead and asks, "So where is Caroline?"
"Oh, Kim is staying with her this morning while Owen gets the movers and sets-up all the furniture, then he will switch off with Kim this afternoon so she can help me unpack." Casey answers while looking around the street from the stoop. She doesn't want to look Alex in the eyes for too long because she is afraid of what she might do.
"Alright, well I guess I will have to show you my surprise for her instead." Alex says with a sigh.
Casey instantly looks at the blonde with a raised eyebrow, "Surprise?"
Alex opens the door for Casey and leads her through, "Don't worry I got you a surprise too."
Walking into the foyer and down the main hall Alex says, "I hope you don't mind, I left the dining table and service pieces. I honestly do not have room for them in my place and I would hate to stick them in storage. If you really have something you would like to use here instead let me know and I will try to arrange something today."
Casey faintly smiles, "No it's fine. My table was more relaxed anyway. I thought maybe I would use it in the family room off the French doors that open to the courtyard. So if we cookout we can eat down there kind of thing."
Alex laughs, "We had a table down there for that same reason. So let's go into the kitchen first and you can see your surprise."
Casey reluctantly follows the blonde to the kitchen. Alex proudly stops near the sink and holds out a hand motioning to a new state of the art coffee maker. Smiling the blonde says, "Every new home needs a new coffee maker and I knew you would need coffee this morning, sugar is here in this cabinet and the cream is in the fridge. Oh, and I got you this as well." She proudly holds up a cup that says 'Super-Mom' on it.
Casey can't help but smile and say, "Thank you Alex. That was really sweet of you."
Alex smiles brightly pleased that Casey liked her surprise. "Okay, so come over here and you can see one surprise I got for Caroline." Alex says taking Casey's hand and leading her to the window. Outside sitting in the courtyard is a little playhouse and a new tricycle. Before Casey can say anything Alex says, "I asked Kim if she had tricycle and Kim said no, there is a helmet downstairs for her as well. Owen said she like the Little Mermaid so the helmet has Ariel on it. The guy at the toy store helped me with the correct sizes and stuff. I wanted to make sure she was safe. If she doesn't like something just let me know, I will happily take it back."
Casey smiles at Alex. "Thank you Alex, you really did not have to do all of this." Casey replies softly.
Alex takes Casey's hand and gives it a small squeeze, "Casey you and Caroline, I-I want you two to enjoy living here. I am sorry if it seems like I am trying to buy Caroline's approval. I might be just a little."
Casey laughs at Alex's brutal honesty and says, "I like your honesty counselor."
"As an officer of the court I am required to be honest. Come upstairs, there is one more surprise for Caroline." Alex replies taking Casey's hand and leading her upstairs. As they near the top of the stairs Alex says, "I hope this wasn't over stepping. You don't even have to tell Caroline I did this, say you did or Kim and Owen. By the way, I cleared this with Owen."
"Alex," Casey starts stopping Alex before the door, "what did you do?"
Without answering Alex opens the bedroom door and Casey sees why Alex was rambling again. The room is beautifully decorated. The walls were a lavender and the ceiling had clouds painted on it now. There was a white four poster twin bed with a beautiful purple medallion quilt and a matching white dresser with a mirror over it. From the ceiling hung a sweet little chandelier, and there was also a matching rug and a cream colored upholstered chair in the corner of the room with a little cream play table and chairs.
"Casey if I over stepped here I am sorry, and I can have men here to remove all of this stuff immediately. I asked Owen and Kim if Caroline needed anything and they said you were going to buy some new furniture and well I had all of this sitting in storage, well minus the bedding that I bought. The chair is a rocker. I am sorry, you hate it don't you. I will call someone right now." Alex rambles as she turns to leave.
Casey grabs Alex's wrist and turns her to look in her eyes. They stand there in the doorway for a minute just staring into each other's eyes. Finally, Casey speaks, "It's beautiful Alex, but why did you do all of this?"
"It felt nice to do something really special for such a sweet little girl. She may not talk to me and I might scare her to death by just being in the same room as her, but seeing her with you, Kim and Owen she is so sweet." Alex sighs then added, "The furniture was mine as a child, I don't have kids so some child should get use of it and I would be more than happy for that child to be Caroline."
Casey continues to stare into Alex's crystal blue eyes. There is something so magical about them, so unlike John's. Taking a breath she asks, "When have you seen Owen with Caroline?"
Alex sheepishly smiles, "Wednesday morning when he was taking her to school he met me for breakfast and coffee. I wanted to make sure she loved the color." Alex waves her hand towards the wall and then adds, "you weren't talking to me it was the best I could do at the time."
"I would have talked to you." Casey says stepping closer to the blonde.
Alex softly smiles and replies "I didn't want to push you Casey."
Starring deep into the blonde eyes Casey whispers, "You have the most unbelievable blue eyes I have ever seen."
"I still want to kiss you Casey." Alex whispers realizing how intoxicatingly close the redheads lips are to hers.
"Then do." Casey whispers back. Alex places one hand on the small of Casey's back and runs the other up to cup the side of her face. As she leans into capture Casey's lips in hers she hears Owen yell, "Hello! Casey?" as he makes his way up the stairs.
Casey steps out of Alex's embrace. Blushing Casey yells to Owen, "Hey, we are in here!" Looking back at Alex, Casey says, "I love the room Alex, thank you." Taking a breath while she considers her words she adds, "You should stay, then this afternoon we can show Caroline everything together if you like."
"Thank you Casey, but I think it might be better for Caroline to see her new home without me here. She really doesn't seem fond of me and I don't want to scare her the first time she sees her home." Alex admits with a frown.
Casey nods and quickly says as she notices Owen approaching, "Yeah, we really need to work on that Alex."
"Hey," Owen says as he walks into the little girl's room, "Wow Alex, you really out did yourself this is amazing."
Alex blushes and thanks him. Owen turns back to Casey, "We are ready to bring in the furniture."
"Okay, let's go!" Casey says as Alex and she follow Owen downstairs.
Later that afternoon, Owen and Casey sat in the back courtyard as Caroline rode circles around them. Kim had been called into work to try and cut a deal and left Owen and Casey in charge of unpacking, which quickly turned into drinking a beer and relaxing while they enjoyed time playing outside with Caroline. Filming another video on her phone of the little girl zooming past Casey sent it to Alex. She was making a point to send these little clips of video to the blonde to show her how much Caroline loved all the surprises especially her new 'princess' room as she called it.
"I can tell you really like her." Owen states as he takes a sip of his drink.
Casey raises an eyebrow and asks, "Oh really, how's that?"
"You smile every time you talk about her, and when you send her messages on your phone you get a goofy grin. Ask her out on a date Casey, or just stop pushing her away. I am sure she would ask you out in a heartbeat." Owen says with a smile.
"It's not that easy Owen."
"Yeah it is Casey. John would not want you to sit and miss out on someone as great as Alex. I know this for a fact Casey. We wrote our letters home together. I wish we hadn't burned them when we came back from the sandbox because then I could give you yours and you would see for a fact. At least I am here and can tell you he didn't want you to waste your life in grief." Shaking his head he adds, "Alex is amazing Casey. Look at all she did for Caroline, just because she wanted her to be happy. She even bought her a helmet for a tricycle because she was concerned about Caroline's safety. It doesn't get much better than that Case."
Casey smiles seeing Alex's return text – Oh my, she's a speed demon! What did I create!
"See!" Owen exclaims pointing at Casey, "You got a message from her didn't you."
Casey smirks, "Maybe…"
"You can't lie to me Casey, I know you did. Why don't you call her and have her come over and help you unpack while I take little one over there to go get dinner for all of us." Owen suggests.
Casey frowns, "I tried to get her to stay earlier, but she didn't want to upset Caroline on her first day here."
"Well, then why don't you call her why I go get dinner with Care-bear."
"Okay, I will." Casey says following Owen inside as he scoops Caroline up in his arms.
Waving goodbye to them, Casey shuts the door and calls Alex. A few rings later Alex answers, "You have been texting me for the last thirty minutes and now you are calling me. Is everything okay? This is a huge change for you."
Sitting in a chair in the kitchen Casey looks out to the courtyard. Smiling she says, "I think I am okay, tired but okay. I just missed talking to you. I wish you had stayed."
"Me too." Alex admits.
"Want to come eat dinner with us? I will share my Chinese with you." Casey asks biting her lip.
Alex laughs, "Sounds tempting, but what about Caroline?"
Casey sighs, "She is never going to get use to you Alex if you don't come around her so come over please."
Alex chuckles, "Sure, on one condition."
"What's that?"
"You let me help you unpack." Alex answers.
"Deal, see you in thirty?" Casey asks.
"See you then Casey." Alex says hanging up. Hopefully her hard work pays off. After this morning Alex thinks she is falling in love with Casey Novak.