A/N: Ok! I finished. Finally you get to see Caroline and Alex.
"Okay, I am out of the tub and in my pajamas. Better?" Alex asks Casey via FaceTime.
"Yes," Casey replies with a smile as she rolls over on her side and sets the iPad on a pillow to look at Alex. In a way it kind of makes it appear as if Alex is lying next to her. Letting out a deep breath Casey asks, "Alex I have a question for you."
Alex smiles seeing Casey roll on her side and prop the iPad Alex does the same. "What is your question Case?" Alex whispers.
Casey smiles, quietly she asks, "Do you like to spoon or snuggle in general?"
A huge smile falls upon Alex's face, "Yes I do, do you?"
"Yes, I am a huge snuggler. I must warn you I have been told that I am a heater as well." Casey replies with a laugh.
"Great," Alex exclaims, "I am always cold at night, I can't ever get warm enough."
Laughing Casey responds, "Well then Alexandra I am your girl."
"That you are Casey, that you are."
The next morning Casey is trying to pick out something to wear for her first day in court. Alex is letting her give the opening statement and she is panicking because she can't find anything to wear in her closet. Picking up her iPad since she is still phone less she FaceTime's Alex.
"Good morning beautiful," Alex says connecting the call as she is applying her makeup.
"Alex I am having a serious emergency." Casey exclaims.
Pausing with her eye liner Alex looks down at the iPad, "Casey what's wrong? Is Caroline okay?"
"What? Oh, yeah, she's fine and eating a pop tart in my bed as we speak," Casey says flipping the iPad to show Caroline.
"Good morning Caroline!" Alex yells out, Caroline looks her way and smiles while continuing to eat her breakfast and watch Bubble Guppies.
"Looking back at the screen Casey says the problem is me see." Casey holds the iPad out to view her underwear only clad body.
"Ah, Casey warn me in the future before you show me yourself, I almost poked me eye out!" Alex says as she rubs her eye from where the eyeliner pencil hit the white of her eye.
Casey laughs, "Sorry, I didn't think I would make you lose concentration so much. Anyway help me I can't figure out what to wear."
"Ok, take the iPad to your closet and let me see your clothes."
"Alright, here you go. Find me clothes baby!" Casey exclaims going through her closet slowly.
"Okay babe, black skirt pant suit with jacket and blue button up shirt for under the jacket. If you are wear low black heels or black flats, the floors have a tendency to make a lot of noise in the courtrooms which can be distracting for opening statements." Alex says with a smile.
Casey looks at the iPad, "Oh, you are good."
"I know. By the way, I love it when you call me baby. Now get dressed we have to be at the courthouse in an hour and thirty and you have to get little one to school." Alex says.
"Okay, signing off. Love you." Casey hits disconnect and freezes. She couldn't believe what she just said. It seriously slipped out. She didn't mean it, it was just autopilot.
Alex stood outside of the courtroom. She was early and she knew Casey would be very early. Casey said love you before hanging up and it was clearly an accident, so Alex knew she had a minimal window of time to put Casey's nerves to rest before her opening statement.
It wasn't a minute later before Alex saw Casey coming down the hall. Checking her watch she saw they had about twenty minutes before they had to be in court so she quickly walked down the hall and took Casey's hand leading her into the nearest empty conference room. Walking in Casey was already starting to ramble and Alex cut her off with a quick chaste kiss.
"Casey stop, I know it was an accident don't worry babe." Alex said looking into Casey's beautiful green eyes.
Casey lets out a deep breath, "Oh thank you Alex. I have been a nervous wreck. That sounds awful."
Alex quickly kisses her again, "No it doesn't because I understand you. Please don't worry."
"Okay," Casey replies smiling, "Let's go we don't want to be late."
Walking back to court, Alex looks at Casey, "Have you ever been to the Central Park Zoo?"
Shaking her head Casey says, "No, why do you ask?"
"If you feel up to it, I would like to take you and Caroline on Saturday."
"Really? That sounds great, I am sure Caroline will love it!" Casey replies with a big smile.
Smiling big Alex says, "Alright then it's a date Saturday with my two favorite redheads."
Saturday Morning…
Alex is standing outside of her apartment building waiting on Casey to pick her up. She is nervously bouncing up and down on the heels of her shoes full of pent up energy. Alex is fully prepared for today. Today she is making Caroline her friend.
Seeing Casey come down the street Alex smiles big. As Casey stops the car Alex climbs in the passenger seat of the car and gives Casey a quick kiss on the cheek. Looking back at Caroline, Alex hands the little girl a single daisy saying, "I got this for you Caroline." Caroline takes the flower and just smiles.
While driving Alex talks about all the exciting things they can see when they reach the zoo. She tells Caroline all about her favorite animals from the sea lions to the penguins to the snow leopard. Alex tells Caroline that out of all the animals in the zoo that the snow leopard is her favorite because they can jump up to 30 feet. Caroline's little face changes with every story about the zoo she hears. The little girl is clearly excited about going and that is making Alex even more excited.
Stealing a look at Casey, Alex sees how happy and at peace Casey looks she is so beautiful. "You look very beautiful right now Casey." Alex whispers.
Casey laughs, "Sneakers, shorts, a tee-shirt, and hair in a ponytail and you think I look beautiful?"
"No, I take beautiful back, you look stunning. I wouldn't want you any other way." Alex says with a big smile.
"Well thank you baby."
Hitting some traffic they slow to a miserable crawl the rest of the way to the zoo. "Mommy, are we there yet?" Caroline asks as she becomes restless.
"No sweetie, not yet." Casey answers.
"Mommy, I want out!"
"Hey Caroline," Alex quickly interjects, "Do you want to hear my all-time favorite song?" Caroline doesn't answer but smiles wide. As Alex plugs in her iPhone she smiles at Casey while thinking, this day is going so well already. Pressing play to Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline Casey laughs.
"Nice choice Alex." Casey whispers. Looking at Casey Alex admits, "I am actually a huge Neil Diamond fan and this really is one of my favorite songs."
As Caroline listens to the song she gets super excited when she hears her name in it. "Mommy! Alex's song say my name!"
Casey laughs stealing a look at Alex, "It sure does sweetie." Alex thinks to herself, 'Score she said my name!' As the song ends Alex watches the little girl's behavior for a second.
"Hey Caroline, do you want me to play it again?" Alex asks.
"Please Alex!" Caroline exclaims with a smile.
As Alex presses play again, Casey sees the blonde quietly wipe away a few stray tears. Casey frowns and says, "Alex?"
"I am fine," Alex quietly chokes, "It's just she said my name. I am so happy."
"Aw, baby." Casey whispers squeezing her hand as they finally pull into the zoo.
Walking around the zoo with Caroline was a whole new experience. After the car ride and the song Caroline was smitten with Alex. Casey smiled watching her daughter finally drop her walls and enjoy being with Alex. Plus, seeing Alex interact with her daughter was actually making Casey start to fall for the blonde.
They watched the sea lions being fed and Caroline and Alex had to go up and down in the exhibit so many times that Casey finally took a seat on a bench. Neither could decide if they liked seeing them more above water or below. It made Casey laugh to see the normally composed ADA act like a child. Thinking about it Casey had never heard Alex laugh so much. Moving on to the penguins and then the grizzly bears they eventually made their way to see the snow leopards.
Seeing the giant leopard Caroline's eyes go wide as she moves to Alex's legs. "Pick me up Alex," the little girl begs. Once she is in Alex's arms she proceeds to ask numerous questions about the white spotted beast. Casey laughs and stands on the other side of her two favorite girls. As they left the exhibit Alex passed Caroline to Casey and said she would catch up in a minute. Running to the nearest kiosk Alex purchases a small stuffed snow lion then runs to catch up to Casey and Caroline.
As they sit to eat lunch, Caroline starts to look sleepy. Alex pulls out the bag and says, "Hey Care-bear, I got you a little something earlier you want to see?" Caroline scoots over to Alex's side of the booth and opens the bag. "Mommy! Alex got a baby snow kitty!" Caroline exclaims. Pulling it out the little girl thanks Alex and lays her head in Alex's lap while playing with the toy. Before long Caroline is sound asleep, with her head still on Alex's lap, and Casey and Alex decide to spend their time talking.
"I have had a blast today thank you." Casey says smiling at Alex.
Alex laughs, "Casey, I should be the one thanking you. I practically stole Caroline as we ran all over the zoo." As she runs her fingers through the little redhead's hair she softly says, "Casey she is just so perfect. You really do make beautiful babies."
"Thank you Alex." Casey asks seeing the longing look in Alex's eyes, "What is it Alex?"
"Nothing really, she just looks so peaceful. I am just amazed at how quickly children can forget things. Just yesterday she wouldn't talk to me and today she is my best friend. It is amazing." Alex replies.
Casey leans over the table and looks at Caroline. Smiling she whispers, "That's kids for you."
That night back at Casey's, Caroline was super overtired and fussy. Dinner was a total fiasco and bath time a disaster and here Casey sat on Caroline's bedroom floor trying powerlessly to get Caroline in her pajamas. Finally Alex walks in finished from cleaning the kitchen and bathroom and touches Casey on the shoulder, "Babe why don't you go get Caroline some water and take a breathier I can finish getting her dressed for you."
Casey looks up at Alex and feels like she could cry. Alex is such a saint. Kissing Caroline and telling her she will be right back Casey heads down to the kitchen.
Caroline looks up at Alex not exactly sure what to think about the blonde. Smiling sweetly at Caroline, Alex says, "If you get dressed right now for me I will sing you Sweet Caroline." Caroline quickly let's Alex help her get dressed, then takes Alex's hand and drags her to the rocker.
Alex sits down and has the little girl sit in her lap. Rocking back and forth she sings to the little girl as Caroline snuggles into Alex and rests her head against the blonde's chest. Quickly she is asleep but Alex remains rocking and singing the song. All she can think is she wishes she could call Caroline her own and Casey her wife. Maybe one day.
As Casey heads back upstairs she hears Alex singing. She smiles as she walks down the hall and realizes the blonde is singing Sweet Caroline, the song that broke down Caroline's walls. Looking into the room her heart melts, seeing Caroline asleep in Alex's arms as Alex sings.
Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I've been inclined,
To believe they never would
Oh, no, no
Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
Sweet Caroline,
I believe they never could
Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
Sweet Caroline...
As Alex finishes the song, Casey watches as she leans her head down and kisses her daughters head. She hears Alex whisper, "I love you Caroline, have all the sweet dreams in the world." And continues to watch as Alex stands and tucks Caroline in bed while placing one more sweet kiss to her forehead. Alex acts as if Caroline is her own child and that is when Casey knows. Casey realizes she is falling in love with Alexandra Cabot.