A/N: Thank you all for your awesome reviews. Chapter 3 is almost done so it should be posted tonight too!
Six Months Later…
Casey Novak sat at the dinner table with her mother and stepfather waiting on her stepsister Alex to come home for dinner. Alexander had just gotten off the phone with his daughter and did not seem happy one bit. As a matter of a fact, he seems almost enraged.
Her mother and stepfather had been married for the last year, and the entire time her stepsister seemed to cause more trouble than anything else for their parents. She had befriended her stepsister six months ago while on a family ski trip and while she and Alex got along most of the time it really bothered Casey to see how the blonde treated their parents with such little respect. All Alexander seemed to want was for them all to get along, and while Casey did know that he tended to be very hard on Alex she still didn't understand why Alex refused to do anything her dad wanted her too.
Hearing the back door slam, Casey knew Alex was home. As the blonde walked down the hallway from the garage and into the kitchen she threw her bag down on the counter as she approached the kitchen table. Casey tries in vain to get Alex to look at her hoping to send the blonde a mental message to reign in her behavior before Alexander explodes.
"So I am here now. Let's eat." Alex says sitting down at the table.
The dark haired hard faced man stares in disapproval at his daughter. Shaking his head he says, "Well we are happy you could join us Alexandra."
As the family begins to eat in tense silence, Casey catches Alex's eyes. The blonde instantly smiles seeing Casey and seems to let her guard down a little. Looking up Alexander catches this small unspoken exchange between his daughter and stepdaughter. To any normal person this might seem like a harmless moment between two stepsisters, but Alexander knows his daughter well enough to see that something more is meant by her smile and he intends to get to the bottom of it.
"Alex, Caroline and I are heading to California this weekend to go check on the new grapes for a couple of the vineyards. We will be leaving Thursday night. You will be able to watch Casey while we are gone won't you." Alexander asks with a very serious tone in his voice.
"Yeah Dad I can handle watching her, although, I think she is capable of watching herself just fine." Alex says winking at Casey.
Caroline smiles, "Alex it's just a precaution. We know Casey is responsible."
"Whatever." Alex says with a sigh as she drops her fork on her plate. "I am finished, may I leave?"
Casey kicks Alex under the table to get her attention. When the blonde looks up to meet her eyes she gives her a pointed look that says 'shut up.' Alex smirks and looks towards her father.
"No, Alexandra you may not leave. We need to talk about going to Harvard sometime in July to visit the business school. You need to be well connected before you start in September." Alexander says giving his daughter a stern look before he takes a sip of his drink.
Alex sits up straight and looks at her father in shock, "You are joking right? You know I want to go to Columbia."
"Alexandra, you are going to Harvard end of discussion. It is the better choice. If you are going to run my corporations one day you are going to need to do everything in your power to make yourself stand out." He says firmly.
"I am done." Alex says pushing her chair away from the table, "Oh, and since you are planning my entire future for me go ahead and plan the trip. Just let me know when to show up. Hell my 19th birthday is in July maybe you want to plan it for then." With that she turns and walks out of the room and up the stairs.
An hour later, Alex hears a familiar knock at her door. Knowing its Casey she yells, "Come in."
"Hey," Casey calls out as she enters the large room and walks towards Alex.
"Hi, I hope dinner wasn't too rough for you." Alex says as Casey climbs onto Alex's bed and lies down next to her.
"Nope, but I would really like it if you could maybe be nicer to my mom. Hate your dad all you want but please be nice to my mom she is all I have left." Casey begs with her hands clasped together as if she is praying.
Leaning over Casey, Alex's says, "You have me too you know, but for you I will try!"
"Thank you," Casey says as she looks into the blondes blue eyes. There was something about Alex's steely blue gaze that always made Casey think that Alex was hiding something from her. Something she could never quite figure out. "Where were you tonight?" she whispered.
Alex pulled back and sat up. "I was visiting my mom," Alex says quietly.
Casey nods and sits up pulling Alex into a hug. "You want to talk about it?"
Alex shakes her head and replies, "No, I don't but do you mind holding me for a bit?"
"Sure lay down." Casey says pulling Alex tight to her body as Alex starts to silently cry. Casey was sure that she was the only person that Alex ever let her guard down around. The blonde always portrayed a strong front to everyone and she really was just as strong as she was rebellious, but she still fiercely missed her mother and Casey seemed to be the only person that Alex was ever honest with regarding those feelings.
Holding Alex tight while she cried Casey ran her fingers through Alex's silky blonde hair to help calm her. As the blonde fell asleep and her breathing evened out Casey found herself following Alex into a deep slumber. Unconsciously, both girls drew each other in tighter seeking comfort in each other's presence.
Alexander Cabot that evening decides to look in on his daughter seeing her light on under her door. Quietly opening the door incase his daughter had fallen asleep he caught sight of his daughter asleep in his stepdaughters arms. Something was definitely going on with these two and he intended to get to the bottom of it and soon.
Two Days later….
Wednesday afternoon Alexander stood in his home office window waiting on his daughter to arrive for a one on one talk. He was planning on talking to her about her relationship with his stepdaughter. Alexander was aware of his daughter's sexual orientation both he and his late wife had been accepting of this knowledge when their daughter had come to them years ago to tell them and he was still accepting of that fact. However Alexander was no fool, he saw the way his daughter looked at his stepdaughter and he knew by those looks that Alex had romantic feelings for her.
Honestly he felt bad having to have this talk. He knew having to tell his daughter to let it go and back off from the redhead was only going to cause Alex more pain, but it was unacceptable behavior. Alex couldn't be in a romantic relationship with her stepsister it wasn't right, and it would not look right in the eyes of the world. He just hoped that he wasn't too late with this conversation.
Hearing the door to his office open, Alexander turned to see his daughter enter. Motioning to one of the leather seats by the window, he took a seat followed by Alex. Looking over his daughter, he was taken aback by seeing how much more over the last six months she had come to resemble her mother. Right now, her simply sitting in the chair with her legs crossed while she looked at the floor Alex could easily be mistaken as a younger twin of his late Charlotte. It was really remarkable.
Alex looked up at her father waiting for whatever he had to say. Finally getting tired of his stare, she rolled her eyes and said, "You said when you called earlier that you wanted to talk."
"Yes, Alexandra I do. First, I would like to tell you that I have arranged our appointment with the Harvard Business School for the week before your birthday. So, three weeks from today we will leave. I also figured while we were there we could find you an apartment." Alexander said with a small smile.
Alex returned her father's smile with a blatant frown, "You really won't think about letting me attend Columbia will you?"
Sighing Alexander asked, "Why Alexandra do you wish to attend Columbia?"
"Well it's in New York City for one so it's closer to home and Casey…"
"Alex you need to stop right there." Alexander said with a firm tone.
Alex could hear her father's disapproving tone, "What?"
"I called you hear today to talk with you about your relationship with Casey. What is going on with you two? I see the way you look at her and I saw you two in your bed the other night. Are you in a relationship with her?" the dark haired man asks his daughter.
Shrinking in her seat, Alex says "Nothing is going on with us. She is just my best friend that's all. I don't even know if she likes girls so what does it matter?"
"It matters because I can tell you have feelings for her. You cannot be with her, it wouldn't look right."
"I am aware of that. Just add it to the list of how you have ruined my life!" Alex says as she stands and heads towards the door.
"Alexandra, I expect you to put distance between you and Casey. If you won't I will and the first step will be you attending Harvard. Don't make me go farther." Alexander bellows at his daughter as he stands.
Looking at her demanding father Alex stands tall in his shadow matching his icy glare and firmly says, "Fuck you and the horse you rode in on." With that she opens the door to his office and lets herself out. Once she is out in the hallway she runs to Casey's room.
Walking into Casey's room Alex can see she startled the younger girl, muttering a quick apology she begins pacing the room. Casey can see that Alex is fuming mad most likely from her conversation with Alexander. Putting the book she had been reading down, Casey stands and approaches the blonde.
"Alex," Casey starts, "Alex, talk to me please." Getting no response, she tries again, "Please Alex stop and talk to me."
Alex refuses to answer she just keeps her back and forth pacing like a caged tiger. She would honestly love to stop to tell Casey everything she is feeling but nothing she would say would even remotely help the situation, it would only make it worse. She shouldn't even be here. Stopping briefly to look the redhead in the eyes she turns to leave.
Without thinking her actions through Casey grabs Alex's arm and roughly pulls her back into her arms. Holding the frustrated blonde close she looks into her icy blue eyes. As if on some sort of autopilot Casey runs her fingers down the side of Alex's face and then lightly kisses her.
It's a chaste kiss and Casey isn't even sure why she has kissed Alex, but as she pulls away she feels this enormous loss that can't be explained. Looking at Alex, she starts to speak but before words can be formed Alex pulls her into another kiss. This one is much more sensual and filled with volumes of unspoken words.
Alex pulls Casey closer as she begins to kiss down Casey's jaw towards her neck. Casey lost in the passion filled moment whispers Alex's name. Hearing the redhead speak her name Alex is ripped back to reality and immediately stops her actions and steps away.
Casey looks at Alex not understanding what has just happened or why Alex stopped. Looking once more into Alex's eyes, Casey asks, "Alex what was that?"
"I don't know Casey. I am sorry Casey, I have to go." Alex answers heading to the door.
Casey with tears evident in her voice pleads, "Alex, please don't go."
"I am so sorry Casey," is all Alex can say as she leaves the room. Running down the stairs, Alex runs immediately to her SUV and drives to her mother's grave. Walking up she sits against the headstone and cries. She knows she doesn't need to say anything her mother already knows her pain.
