The girls, minus Rebecca and Laura of course, had helped me put all the stuff in my car from the baby shower.
It was mostly diapers, which is honestly what I had asked for since I know I'll need like a million of them and they're not outrageously expensive. The rest of the presents had been some cute baby bibs from Betsy, a set of pacifiers from Abby, and something I really did not feel okay even accepting, a Louis Vuitton diaper bag from Rebecca.
I'd told Rebecca that I really did not need such an expensive diaper bag and that she should take it back, that she shouldn't spend that kind of money on me. She'd just shrugged and told me it was her father's money and I should enjoy it.
So it was now sitting in my backseat. The only designer bag I've ever had.
Even though Rebecca could majorly get on my nerves, I could tell she truly cared about me to do something nice like this, to let me come back to the sorority and to help out on my baby shower.
I pull into the parking lot of our building now and I hadn't really thought about it but now I was going to have to lug all these bags of diapers into the building and I'd probably have to make a few trips.
I'd ask Rusty but him and Dale went to the lab to work on something, even though it was a Saturday.
I grab as many bags as I can, getting about three packages of diapers along with my purse and make my way into the building, straight for the elevator.
When I get up to our floor I see a familiar large figure roaming around.
"Beaver? Is that you?", I look at him confused.
"Oh thank god! Casey!", He smiles at me.
I look at him quizzically over the diapers I'm desperately trying to keep steady in my arms.
"I didn't know what floor or apartment you guys were on so I've been here for…", He looks down at his watch. "Like an hour and a half just looking around! A really weird woman invited me into her apartment for tea but I got kinda creeped out and told her I'm allergic to tea..."
"Oh yeah that's... that's just Sheila. She's pretty harmless", I wave it off with a laugh to myself as a bag of diapers falls out of my arms in my plight to get to my door.
"Oh I've got it, don't worry", Beav smiles and then picks them up off the ground.
"Thanks Beav", I say appreciatively. "To be honest, I can't really bend down anymore so if you weren't here they'd probably just stay there until Cappie comes home".
We laugh as I get out my keys.
"And for future reference it's apartment 3C", I tell him, pointing to the door as I unlock it.
"I'll have to write that down somewhere", He comes in with me.
"Well you could just think of C as in Cappie and Casey", I shrug. "Oh and 3… as in there's gonna be the three of us living here".
"You're right", he gives me a dumbstruck smile. "You're so smart, no wonder you got into law school".
I laugh then as we both put the diaper packages down on the couch.
"Thank you. So uh… what brings you by Beav? Cappie's at work for a bit", I ask him.
"Well I'm actually here for you", He explains and I give him a confused look.
"I have to take you somewhere", He says like it's a totally normal thing to say.
"What?", I scoff. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that I have to bring you somewhere um… we're gonna…", He thinks to himself for a while trying to come up with something. "Go get ice cream... Or pickles, pregnant ladies crave pickles right?"
"I don't and also I don't believe you", I give him a look.
He sighs in defeat, looking awkwardly at the ground.
"Okay fine. I have to bring you to the KT house, it's a surprise thing", He explains.
"I kind of just got home Beav", I shrug. "Is this something Cappie set up or..?"
"No, your brother is actually kidnapping Cappie right now", Beaver explains.
"Rusty told me he was going to do work at the lab?"
"Well he lied", Beaver gives me a grin. "We've been planning this for like a day, which is the most we've planned… anything ever actually".
"So you're… kidnapping me?", I put my hand on my hip.
"Yes. I'm gonna make you come with me to KT", Beaver says and then reads my expression. "I mean if that's okay with you. Cappie will be there too, don't worry".
"Okay, okay", I laugh. "I'll go as a willing participant. Just let me go to the washroom first. The baby is seriously pressing on my bladder".
"So this baby shower thing earlier today…", Beaver gives me a grin from the driver's seat. "Did it involve Katherine in the showering part? You know showering with the girls at ZBZ?"
I give him a grossed out look then.
"Okay one, what the hell are you talking about? And two, gross", I reprimand him.
"I'm talking about the showering thing?", Beaver shrugs.
"Beaver a baby shower is a party, we just had lunch and talked and stuff", I explain to him and then touch my belly. "And new rule, no talking about inappropriate things in front of my baby".
"Okay sorry. I didn't think she could understand everything we're saying", Beaver shrugs and I don't have the heart, or the patience, to explain to him that she can't.
"It's okay, let's just… talk about normal things. Like, hey, I didn't know you had a car", I gesture to the interior of the car we're in. It's a beat up civic, but still a car.
"Oh it's not mine", Beaver says. "It's actually Anthony Hopkins'. I only learned to drive a few months ago. Cappie… actually was the one that taught me".
Beaver looks down then and starts to make noises. Noises of what, I'm sort of unsure.
"Beav…?", I look at him. "Eyes on the road okay?"
"Sorry", He shakes his head and I can now tell that he's actually crying. "Cappie would kill me if I didn't get you there safely".
"Oh god… are you… okay?", I ask him carefully.
"Oh I'm fine, I just have bad allergies", Beaver shrugs as he lets out a few more weeps.
I thought I was supposed to be the hormonal pregnant woman.
"Beav…", I pout. "Are you sad Cappie left?"
"Yeah it's just… ", Beav shrugs and wipes his eye. "Cappie has been like a big brother to me for four years now and things are totally different without him. I mean yesterday night there was a huge spider in my room, and on instinct I walked to Cappie's room only to realize it's not his room anymore. I had to sleep on the couch downstairs until the spider was gone".
I frown then, feeling sad for Beaver.
"I'm sorry", I say quietly, knowing there's really nothing I can do. "I know how close you are and I know you probably hate that me and the baby are taking him away".
"It's… it's okay", Beaver finally concludes. "I mean yeah I'm a little jealous of the baby since she'll have all his attention but Cappie seems so happy about her so what can I really do?"
I can't help how the corners of my lips turn into a slight smile then as we stop at a stoplight and I look over to Beav.
"You really think he seems happy about her?", I give him a shy smile.
"Oh totally. I mean I never thought he'd leave KT, never thought he'd give his room up and give his presidency up. But… the day he found out you were pregnant he literally sat down and told all of us he'd have to move out and that Rusty could take over. He didn't even have to think about it".
I smile to myself then.
"Plus he talks about you and her nonstop when we hangout", Beav adds.
"Well that's… nice to hear", I blush. "I mean, still sad for you… but you can come over anytime you want to Beaver. You can even sleep over in Cappie's room if you want to".
He looks to me, surprised.
"Wait really?!"
"Um… yeah, of course", I smile at him. A little reluctant to invite what is basically another big baby into our lives to take care of, but I could see that he needed this right now.
"You know Casey", He grins at me. "You're my favorite lady that I've never had sex with".
"Aw", I touch my heart. "Thanks Beav".
"You're welcome. And wait a sec… if I'm able to sleep in Cappie's room…", He thinks to himself. "Does that mean that he's not sleeping in his bed because he's sleeping with you?"
Beaver gives me an insinuating smile then and I meet his eyes with a roll of my own.
"Inappropriate again Beav", I point a finger at him.
"Right, sorry", He takes my direction and looks back to the road. "We're almost at KT".
Although I'm a little surprised that Beaver was able to remember how to get back home, we somehow make it to the KT house. It's later now, just getting dark out as we walk up the driveway.
When Beaver opens the door for us, the KT guys jump out from behind the couch and other furniture in the room yelling 'surprise!'
"Aw you guys!", I laugh and then look over to see Cappie standing looking at me with a smirk.
He walks over to me then.
"You really had no idea this was happening?", I ask him with a giggle.
"Literally zero, Spitter and the guys really got me", Cap laughs and weaves his arm around me and then looks at Beav. "Hey Beav!"
"Hey, guess what? Casey said I could stay over at your place for sleepovers Cap!", Beaver says excitedly.
"Oh did she?", Cappie gives me a confused look and then laughs.
I give Cappie a look with a nod.
"She said I could sleep in your bed", Beaver continues.
"Oh wow, okay", Cappie laughs and gives me a knowing look, biting his lower lip.
"Although when the baby comes you probably won't want to stay over Beaver, you won't get any sleep", I explain to him.
"That's no problem. I mostly sleep during the day anyways", Beaver smiles, not being sarcastic at all and I have to stifle in a laugh.
We walk further into the room then as I look at all the guys and what they'd set up.
There's a sign hanging that looked like it was made by a four year old that read 'Welcome New Pledges' but they'd crossed off pledges and written 'baby' instead.
"Wow, I love the sign guys", I laugh.
"That was all me!", Pickle puts his hand up proudly. "And even though I can speak for all of us when I say we wish it was a boy so that we could have a legacy KT brother in a few years… we're still happy for you guys".
I laugh then as Cappie squeezes me into his side.
"Well I for one am fine with it being a girl", Cappie smiles and looks down at me.
"Hey maybe you'll have another slip up and then we can have a guy baby to hangout with us", Beaver points out with a dopey grin.
"Yeah no way Beav", I shake my head at him. "Absolutely no more slip ups after this. If you want a baby boy, you'll have to have your own".
Cappie laughs at me then and gestures for me to sit down on the couch. The rest of the guys find a place to sit, even if it's on the floor or an empty keg.
"Hey that actually leads me into my baby shower gift!", Beaver grins and goes into the other room to get his present.
"Aw none of you guys had to get us anything", I say to them. "This surprise party is sweet enough".
"Oh thank god, because I don't think any of us did", Woodchuck says looking around at the guys and they nod in agreement to me and Cappie's amusement.
"I got you something obviously but I'll give it to you guys back at the apartment", Rusty laughs.
"Okay guys!", Beaver runs back in with a bag filled with tissue paper.
"Wow nice wrapping buddy", Cappie gives Beav a supportive pat as Beaver passes the bag to Cappie. "Casey can open it since she's doing most of the brunt work".
Cappie smirks as he passes it to me.
"Oh, it's kinda… for the guy though", Beaver says awkwardly but I'm already taking the tissue paper out as I look into the bag which contains what I can only estimate to be around 50 condoms.
"Oh…", I gasp slightly. "Wow".
"What's in it?", Cappie sits on the arm of the couch and looks over my shoulder to look into the bag. "Oh…"
Cappie gives an awkward grimace.
"Well show it to us!", Heath smiles.
Cappie takes the bag from me then and takes some of the condoms out with a laugh.
"Very funny Beav", Cappie shakes his head.
"I meant it to be a functional gift…", Beaver says seriously. "I used that word right, right Cap?"
"Yeah you did actually", Cappie seems surprised.
"It's for after you have the baby, so that you don't have another one", Beaver smiles.
"Well that's sweet", I give him the best smile I can. "Right Cap?"
I give Cappie a look.
"Yeah, no you're right Beav. I love it", Cappie laughs and then pulls Beaver in for a hug.
"Hey…", Dumptruck starts to look at the condoms that Cappie had dropped out on the couch then. "Beav! You totally just raided the entire condom drawer didn't you?"
"What if one of us had an unexpected visit from a Tri Pi tonight?", Pickle chimes in, annoyed.
"Well I didn't have time to go to the campus CVS", Beaver complains. "Plus I can't remember where it is!"
"You know what, I think that we should put them back Beav", Cappie laughs. "You guys probably need them more than I do right now and hey, I can get my own when the time comes. But it's the thought that counts buddy".
"Okay", Beaver nods up and down.
"Well… this is fun", I laugh, looking up at Cappie with a smirk.
"Oh and we have pizza too!", Heath points out, gesturing to the pool table where there's a couple pizza boxes laying. "We ate a good portion of it before you guys got here because you took a little longer than expected, but there's still a bit left".
"No more meat lovers though", Pickle points out sighs frown.
"Oh! And there's beer!", Beaver chimes in. "You guys both want one?"
He looks at me and Cappie for an answer.
"Um, I kind of have this thing where I can't have alcohol", I say, deadpan. "It's called a baby inside me. But you guys go crazy".
Cappie and Rusty laugh at me then.
"I'm actually okay too, I have to drive us home", Cappie explains.
"Oh right… this isn't your home anymore", Beaver nods up and down and gets emotional again. "Please excuse me, I have something in my eye. Dust or something… I'll be back".
I lean in to speak to Cappie then.
"You know you may want to have a talk with him sometime", I laugh. "Explain to him that he still means a lot to you even though there's gonna be a new… baby in your life".
Cappie scoffs then.
"Yeah he's probably feeling a little left out, I'll give him a drink on me next time he's at Doblers, it works like a charm", Cap jokes.
"So!", Heath's voice interrupts our side conversation. "What kinda stuff do you actually do at a baby shower?"
The rest of the KT's look around at each other for answers.
"Well I searched it up online and it said a lot of groups play little games that have to do with babies", Pickle shrugs.
"I wish I'd known that this morning before I cleaned out the shower", Beaver mutters as he walks back in the room.
"I'm sure it needed it anyway Beav", Cappie gives him a grossed out look.
"What kind of games should we play?", Rusty questions.
"Well hey what about we play guess what position the baby was made in!", Beaver suggests with his signature dopey grin.
"Well since we don't really know which time it happened that night, we can't really know for-", Cappie begins his sentence until I nudge him in the side.
"Wait multiple times in one night? Up top man!", Dumptruck lifts up his hand to high five Cappie but Cappie just gives him an awkward nod after sensing my discomfort.
"Yeah Beav, remember when we talked in the car about inappropriate topics to bring up?", I say to him. "This is one of them".
"Crap sorry. Sometimes I can't tell", Beaver shrugs.
"Well it would be pretty hard to tell the exact time anyways since sperm can actually live inside the female reproductive tract for up to 5 days", Heath says and the rest of the guys, and myself, stare at him in confusion.
"I'm a health science major, remember? I've taken biology", Heath looks at us like we should all know this. "Damn, it's like you guys don't even listen to anything I say!"
"Yeah I think that when I become acting president after Winter break my first term of business is going to be to issue a rule where no one can talk about my sister and sex in the same conversation", Rusty says, giving us all a cringing look.
"Yes please", I say with a laugh, looking to Cappie awkwardly.
"Hey Casey, can you make the baby move so we can feel her?", Beaver smiles over at me.
"Beav", Cappie scoffs. "Case can't just make her move".
I laugh then and try touching my stomach.
"She kicks more at night when I'm lying down trying to sleep. But sometimes if I push down on my stomach she'll give me a jab", I say and push down slightly.
I'd been feeling her move a bit on and off all day but no big kicks since yesterday night.
"Oh here she is", I exclaim with a smile as I feel what I'm pretty sure is her foot push against my insides in reaction to me poking her.
Beaver moves over then to touch me.
"Hey Beav, ask first, Casey might not want you touching her all over", Cappie laughs.
"No it's okay", I laugh and gesture for him to come over. "C'mere Beaver. Touch right here".
Beaver leans down to touch against my belly.
"I don't feel anything", he looks disappointed.
"Try here", I move his hand and watch his facial expression change.
"Oh my god!", Beaver looks back surprised. "I think I felt it. Cap I'm high fiving your kid!"
Cappie just looks at the two of us with a laugh.
"Nice to meet you, I'm your uncle Beaver", Beav says to my stomach.
"Me next! I wanna feel", Dumptruck whines coming over to us.
"Me too!", Ferret echoes.
"Guys don't make Casey uncomfortable okay? She's not a circus performer", Cap laughs.
"Plus she stopped moving", I say to the rest of the guys. "But I promise I'll let you know if she starts again. But for now… me and the baby need pizza".
"I'll get you a piece Case", Cappie touches my leg with a smile as he gets up off the couch next to me.
"Two actually", I grab his arm before he gets too far away. "If possible".
"Sure", he looks back at me with a smirk.
After about two more hours with the KTs, that seemed more like five hours to me, finally Cappie drives us home.
"Well that was definitely interesting", I giggle as we drive down the dark streets.
"Yeah sorry for Beaver being… Beaver", Cappie laughs. "And for the other guys too".
"It's okay actually, I know your brothers mean well, they were really nice to put that on for us", I laugh. "I'm tired though after a whole day of baby showers".
"Yeah me too", Cappie laughs.
"Oh when we get home I'm gonna show you what I got", I say. "Mostly a bunch of diapers which are good to have, and then you would not believe it, but Rebecca got me a Louis Vuitton diaper bag".
"Really? Those bags are like a hundred dollars aren't they?", Cappie looks at me.
"Oh honey", I laugh to myself. "Boys".
"What?", Cappie smirks at me. "Am I really off base?"
"Yeah just a tad", I laugh. "Anyway, I didn't get to bring in all the stuff so maybe you could help me when we get home".
"Yeah for sure Case", Cap smiles. "So your shower went good?"
"Yeah it was really nice. A little bit chaotic and some fighting, but it wouldn't be a ZBZ event otherwise", I laugh to myself. "It was really nice of all the girls, and Dale, to put it on for me".
"That's awesome. And hey, free stuff too", Cappie grins.
"A little better than the gift from your brothers", I tease him.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure the guys don't know the first thing a baby would need", Cap laughs. "I can't judge though because neither did I until the last few months".
I grin to myself then, thinking about Beaver's comment to me, how he could tell Cappie was excited about the baby. About how he talked about us all the time.
I want to thank Cappie, tell him how grateful I am for him, because I did want him to know. I knew it couldn't have been easy for him to leave his brothers and to take on so much responsibility.
I look over to him then, him focused on the road. His scruffy hair in his face, his stubble lined jaw. Silver rings, leather jacket and dark jeans clad. I really wanted to tell him a lot of things. Thank you, to start, and that I loved him, that I did see a future with him and not just because we're having a baby together.
But I swallow down my words and instead just let myself admire him as we drive down the dark streets, rain starting to fall slowly against the windows of Cappie's car as I feel the comforting feeling of our baby swish around inside me.