"Daley!", Cappie spots Dale across the dining room sporting his pink ZBZ apron.
"Hey Cap!", Dale nods at him and then looks to me with a smile. "And Casey. I think you're gonna like this. It's a baked chicken with a balsamic reduction, caesar salad with a blue cheese dressing, and my grandmas famous strawberry tarts for dessert".
"Man you guys eat like kings over here", Cappie says with a laugh. "Or queens I should say".
"Well anything that's not stale beer and beef jerky sticks would be considered gourmet to the Neanderthals you and Rusty associate with", Dale scoffs, critical of KT lately since he'd been pledging Omega Chi. Cappie plays along with a laugh. "But let's get to what's really important here…"
Dale turns his attention to me.
"You have completely popped since the last time I saw you", Dale looks at me like his eyes are gonna pop out of his skull. "You are just glowing, like a goddess in Spring".
"Oh well…", I say awkwardly with a smile. "I don't know about that. I don't feel like I'm glowing".
"Casey's had a hard day", Cappie explains.
"I heard about that from Rusty. How are you doing now?"
"Better", I smile. "Thanks for asking. The baby's fine so that's all that matters".
I put my hand to my stomach.
"That's good to hear", Dale nods. "I'm sure a good healthy meal will help you Casey. I'll put a little extra on your plate".
He gives me a wink and I laugh.
"Well thank you Dale, that's very sweet".
"Can I uh… get that deal too Daley?", Cappie asks and leans forward to grab a tart.
"Get out of here KT", Dale swats his hand away. "This food is for ZBZ girls only. Which means Casey, and the baby for that matter, qualify, but not you".
"Dale", I give him a look. "Please? Me and Cappie are starving, we just got out of being in the hospital for hours".
I pucker my lip to him.
"Alright well… I can't say no to you Casey, you know that", He gives me a love struck smile, his face red.
Cappie looks over to give me a look that says 'what the hell is going on?'
But I shake my head at him in an effort to tell him to just go with it.
"Here you are Cappie", Dale hands him a plate.
"Thank you Dale", Cappie smiles at him. "That's very kind of you".
"Well you are my friend", He shrugs. "Even if you technically should be my enemy. And Case, here's yours".
"Thanks Dale. See you later!", I smile and me and Cappie go find somewhere to sit in my usual spot beside Ashleigh.
A handful of girls come up to me giving me their well wishes which means so much to me. Even Laura does.
Eventually Rebecca shows up to dinner and comes over to bring her plate near me, Ash, and Cappie.
"Casey! How are you?", She sits down.
"I'm okay Rebecca, thanks for asking. Just gonna eat and then probably go rest", I smile.
"Well that's probably for the best, you have huge eyebags… and your hairs a little ragged", She gestures to my head. "Might want to fix that".
"Oh yeah… well I'll get right on it", I say with gritted teeth. "Thanks for pointing it out".
I say that last party sarcastically.
"You're welcome!", She grins and I look over to make eye contact with Cappie who gives me a knowing glance.
"Cap", Rebecca nods to him. "Stealing our food I see".
"Just imagine it as philanthropy", He grins at her.
"Still sticking around even with the impending doom of fatherhood?"
"Yeah that's the plan", Cappie laughs.
"How… sweet", She purses her lips and scrunches her nose like she smelt something bad. "I've never really been in contact with a baby but I've heard they're cute and stuff if you're into them".
I can't help but let out a scoff at Rebecca's insane remarks.
"You know, I've heard that too", Cappie plays along sarcastically. "And I'm pretty sure we'll be into our own baby".
We both laugh then.
"Well you never know, my mom said she didn't bond with me until I was like 2", Rebecca explains, cutting into her chicken. "Didn't even really feel anything maternal when she was pregnant. But if I'm being honest she probably shouldn't have had a kid".
"Well Casey's pretty maternal already", Ash says.
"Yeah you do have that stay at home mom vibe", Rebecca smiles as if it isn't some sort of backhanded compliment.
I've just come to accept and appreciate Rebecca for who she is.
"Casey's great at a lot of things", Cappie says. "She's already a good mom".
"Thanks", I smile.
"Well… we got you something Casey. I didn't order it from the store until we got the one hundred percent go ahead that the baby didn't… well you know", Rebecca explains rather insensitively. "But when Ash said this morning that it was just a false alarm, I had Betsy go pick it up".
Rebecca gets up for a second to go grab whatever this present is.
"Are you in on this too Ash?", I ask her.
"Yep, I know what it is", She smiles smugly.
"Girls!", Rebecca snaps her fingers and practically screams at the whole room making Dale just about drop his tongs on the floor. "We're all so happy that our former ZBZ sister and current house mom Casey is still in fact pregnant and home from the hospital. And we'd like to present her something on behalf of the sisters".
"And me too!", Dale adds.
Rebecca shoots him a death glare.
"You may wear a pink apron with our letters on it but I swear to god Dale-"
"Fine, fine. I'm pledging Omega Chi now anyway!", Dale sighs with crossed arms. "God forbid I care about my fellow sisters".
"You're not a sister!"
"Rebecca!", Ashleigh stands up. "Why don't we just give Casey the present?"
Ashleigh is trying to speed this along and I'm thankful for that. My bed was calling my name.
"Right", Rebecca smiles, smooths out her skirt and goes over to grab a pink gift bag from Betsy.
"Here Casey", She plops it down in front of me with a smile.
"You guys are too sweet, you didn't have to do this", I say to the girls around the room watching.
"Open it Case!", Abby smiles at me.
"Okay", I nod and take out the tissue paper to see a tiny pink onesie that says 'Future ZBZ' on it with our crest. "Oh my gosh…. Guys!"
I look at it in my hands, just about letting the tears start to flow again.
"This is the absolute best present you could've given me", I smile. "Thank you so much".
"You're welcome!", Betsy says. "I designed it at Joann's Crafts".
"I love it", I giggle. "It's perfect".
"Now we just need a KT version", Cappie jokes.
"Nuh uh, she's a girl Cappie, deal with it", Rebecca says.
"Fine you're right", Cap says with a laugh. "It's awesome, thanks guys".
"We're all really happy for you", Rebecca smiles at me. "While simultaneously being really happy not to be you".
I give her a look then, shaking my head.
"Well thank you Rebecca. And yes girls… make sure you take your birth control", I say jokingly and the girls laugh.
Even if I knew deep down I had to move on with my new life, I was really really gonna miss it here. So much.
"Well that was… interesting", Cappie laughs as he sits down on my bed, the bed sinking with him. "I felt like a real ZBZ sister for a night and I can't lie… I liked it".
I giggle at him then.
We had just come up from watching part of The Bachelor with the girls downstairs until I started nodding off and decided I wanted to go to bed. Since the girls were pretty glued to the TV, I quickly grabbed Cappie and brought him up the stairs with me, no one noticing that he hadn't left out the front door.
I go over to open my pajama drawer to grab out a nightdress.
I pull my top over my head and throw it in the hamper so I'm just in my bra and pants.
I turn around to see Cappie staring.
"Don't get any ideas okay? Turn around", I laugh.
"Okay", He puts his hands up like he's guilty and follows my orders.
I take off the rest of my clothes and pull my nightgown over my head, mentally noting to shower first thing tomorrow. Get the hospital smell and any leftover blood off me.
"Okay you can turn around now", I say with a laugh.
He looks me up and down. I can't lie, I've picked out my favorite black nightgown. It was my favorite because I felt sexy in it. It was low cut with lace and a bow on the bust. Didn't leave much to the imagination. Although the belly didn't exactly help the intended purpose of the look.
"Yeah this look", Cappie gestures to me, looking me up and down. "Isn't really helping the sleeping in the same bed but not touching thing".
I know he's joking but I put my hands on my hips defensively.
"Well sorry all of my pajamas are cute, sue me! Besides I have to wear mostly nightgowns now because your baby is getting way too big for a waistband to fit comfortably", I giggle.
"Alright", Cappie fakes an annoyed sigh. "I'll allow it".
Then he undoes his jeans and starts to take his pants off.
"Hold on… what the hell are you doing?", I ask.
"Taking my jeans off", He says like it's no big deal. "Who sleeps in jeans?"
I look him up and down and finally sigh.
"Alright fine", I agree.
"Hey if you're gonna look like that…", He gestures to me.
"It's just this is getting less and less two people with no ties to each other sharing a bed for a night under responsible circumstances, and more into the territory of why I had to go to the hospital in the first place", I say with a laugh to which he gives me a look stifling in a grin.
"Don't you have more faith in us than that?", He jokes with me in a low voice.
"Hmm", I think to myself. "After the past few days, no not really. But we're gonna have to show some self restraint since having sex with you has proven to be pretty treacherous for me".
The doctor at the hospital had told us to wait a week or two before having full on sex because it could still be sensitive in there.
"Hey out of the billion times we've done it only twice has something happened!", He says with a laugh.
"Pregnant for one, and then in the hospital with a burst cyst", I say as I get into bed and he follows suit. "I think we can pretty surely say that we're cursed".
"Well… might as well embrace it", He plays along with me, giving me a sweet smile and then puts his hand on my stomach. "Well goodnight baby, thanks for keeping us up all hours before you're even out of the womb".
I laugh at him.
"Hey it's not her fault", I say with a giggle.
"I'm gonna ignore what you're implying because you need to get some sleep", he pokes my arm.
"Ah okay", I yawn. "You're right".
I turn onto my side then, tossing my hair out of my face behind me and it hits Cappie in the face.
"Jeez, you're right, being in bed with you is dangerous", He over-dramatically moves my hair off his face as I roll my eyes at his antics.
I lean forward to turn off the lamp on my bedside table.
"Hey Cap?"
It's dark in here now.
"Yeah?"
"I'm really happy that my baby's gonna be half you", I say quietly, almost as if it could go unnoticed if it's not too loud since it wasn't exactly an uncomplicated thing to say.
I see him smile in the dark then.
"Me too", He nods and leans forward to kiss my shoulder.
"Goodnight Cappie", I turn to look back at him one last time.
"Night Case".