"Okay just a little further okay", I guide him into my room, and he bumps into a light hanging down as I'm guiding his tall frame through my room. "Oh crap sorry, I forgot you're much taller than me".

I have him blindfolded.

"Is the surprise a concussion?", He laughs and puts his hand on his head where he got hit.

"Ha-ha", I play along, crossing my arms. "No, I promise you'll like it. Just give me a second to set up".

"Set up?", He questions, still standing there, blindfold over his eyes.

"Mmm hmm", I smile as I take off the robe and pajama shorts I'm wearing, looking in my full length mirror, making sure I look okay.

I sit on the bed then, laying down, propping up on pillows.

It was his birthday and I didn't want to let it pass by without doing something special for him. I'd already given him the 'I love my daddy' onesie on homecoming weekend. But when I was at the mall yesterday going to the maternity clothing store I stopped by Victoria's Secret too.

"Okay you can take the blindfold off now", I say with a giggle and his eyes find me and immediately a look of mischief takes over his face.

"Miss Cartwright…", He says jokingly. "This is a surprise".

"The girls are out at a mixer with the Omega Chi's so… we have the place to ourselves", I smile.

"The only time I'm actually thankful for those pretentious, blazer wearing republicans", Cappie nods sarcastically, looking me up and down as I giggle at his joke.

I'm wearing a pink lingerie set that has hearts on it. Skimpy underwear and a bustier looking top that I was somehow able to get on. My stomach is sticking out underneath it, but he probably wouldn't even notice that because I'd be the first one to admit that my new pregnancy boobs took centre stage in this outfit.

"Happy birthday", I laugh. "I couldn't really think of anything you'd want".

He comes over beside me then to pull my face to his, kissing me softly.

"You got me exactly what I wanted", he gestures to me with a smirk. "But…"

He gives me a strained look then, disappointment crossing his face, holding me at arms length.

"But this…", He gestures up my body and his eyes land on my boobs. "… is making it really really hard to keep my hands off you. And it's already hard enough as it is, believe me".

"You don't have to keep your hands off me", I say, looking into his blue eyes.

"It's only been three days since you were in the hospital Case", He looks confused.

"I know but there's other things we can do", I give him a smug look. "They just said to wait a week or so before doing anything inside. Not to mention…"

I grin at him, playing with the buttons on his flannel shirt.

"It's your birthday so this nights about you", I say.

His face breaks out into a smile then and he he takes my face into his hands then to kiss me.

The kiss is filled with wanting, no, needing. Everything we'd been longing for, since we hadn't let ourselves kiss like this since the day we had lunch with my parents and slept together.

"Happy 23rd birthday Cap", I say to him through our lips between kisses.

"Thank you", He grins at me. "Weird to think next one we'll have a baby".

"I know right", I feel the same way. It's surreal to think about how different life is gonna be after we meet this new little person. Even though I felt like I already knew her because she was with me constantly. "I know this is probably a pretty lame birthday since you're not out with the guys but-"

He rolls his eyes at me and cuts me off before I can say any more.

"Seriously? You really think I'd give up this", He gestures down my body. "To go find Beaver after he gets lost on his way home after a few drinks?"

I giggle then.

"Okay", I smile and give him my best seductive look. "Well… do you want to unwrap your present?"

"Um… obviously", He smirks and his hands find his way down my body, his fingers playing with the sides of my lacy panties.

He kisses from my knee all the way down my thigh, making my back arch as I get comfortable on my bed, my head sinking into a pillow. Then his fingers hook through the sides of my underwear, pulling them down my legs slowly.

He looks up at me to make eye contact while he pulls them off my feet and discards them onto the floor, giving me a curt smile before going back to kissing down my other thigh.

I didn't often feel sexy nowadays with my belly. But when I was with him it felt the same as it always had, like it didn't matter that I didn't have the flat stomach I did before.

"Cappie?", I breathe in sharply, reacting to his lips moving closer and closer to my center, his breath down there sending shivers up my spine.

"Mmm hmm?", He questions but doesn't really stop what he's doing. I'm sure he likes the way my body is reacting to it.

"This night is supposed to be about you", I make a half hearted argument because if I was being honest I didn't want him to stop now that he'd started.

His head pops up from over my bump then and he gives me a signature Cappie smirk.

"Doing this is what I want to be doing, trust me".

"Okay", I nod.

"And I know you don't want me to stop so just lay back and relax", He says like he's mocking me and I sigh.

"How do you know that?", I ask, mad that I can't seem to hide anything from him.

"If I didn't know your body well enough by now I'd be pretty stupid", He laughs against my hips before placing a kiss down.

I scoff.

"Fine you win".

"Good", He practically grunts, using his tongue now, getting closer and closer. As usual, preferring to tease me before getting right to it.

I writhe underneath him, reacting to the way his mouth elicits pleasure in me.

He stops for a moment then, to my chagrin, to look up at me from between my legs.

I lean up on my elbows.

"Why'd you stop?", I let out breathily.

"I just…", he sighs. "I guess I'm just wondering, is this a 'my birthday' one time thing or… "

Cappie wasn't usually one to pause at a moment like this to talk about something serious. Damn, maybe he really is growing up.

"Um…", I say quietly.

"I know that we haven't really talked about it since the weekend after sleeping together again but I guess I'm just wondering…", He trails off as he scans my indecisive face.

"Sorry I know that I'm kind of leaving you high and dry here", He smirks looking down my body but I can still see the curiosity on his face, looking for answers.

"Cap I… I don't want it to be a one time thing", I say. "I was thinking… we could just see how it goes? Hookup when we feel like it, not put too much pressure on it".

"So friends with benefits then?", He asks.

"I don't know… that sounds so… weird. I was just thinking that we don't have to put a label on it, that we could just do our own thing", I say but he looks slightly confused at my words, for good reason.

I move my arms down my body then to play with the tufts of his hair, trying to assure him that I cared. Because I did care, so much.

"So we hookup when we want to, we spend everyday together, we move in together next week…?", He smirks slightly then.

"Why are you the one that's pushing this?", I laugh. "I didn't think you'd care".

He looks at me then, looking like he's taking his time to decide what to say.

"I don't. I just… wanted to know if we were still going to be hooking up or whether I should savour this as merely a birthday gift", He starts and I laugh.

"But…", He has a glint in his eye. "Luckily we are still doing this, so I should get back to it".

"Okay", I nod and relax then. Thank god for Cappie being understanding and not pushing. I think part of it is because he knows as long as I'm still wanting to hangout with him everday, live with him, have sex with him, he knows he's still got me.

And of course he does. I wasn't even trying to hide it.


"So…", Cappie breaths out with a laugh. "That was fun".

I look over at him, his eyes bright blue, his lips pink, his stubble, that I could still very much feel the effects of on my thighs, growing in.

"Yep", I nod, my lips pursed in a flustered smile.

"So much fun that we may have to change your sheets", Cappie grins and I cover my face with one of my stuffed bears embarrassedly.

"That reminds me… we majorly have to go shopping", I turn to look at him, serious now.

"For more lingerie sets that I can take off with my teeth again? Yeah I think I'd be into that", He jokes.

"No dummy, shopping for the baby. We still need like… everything", I groan, feeling the weight of all of the things I still had to do before she got here. "And household stuff for our new place".

I catch myself and it doesn't go undetected by Cappie either.

"My new place I mean", I correct myself quietly, awkwardness you could cut through with a knife present on both our faces.

"I mean we need a couch… new bedsheets, a ton of kitchen stuff, maybe a small table and chairs", I list off. "And those are just the non baby things. The baby list is like a mile long".

"Well you can subtract baby clothes from that list", Cappie says, making fun of the fact that I'd bought her an entire wardrobe at this point, gesturing to the bags beside my bed. "And shoes. I even saw baby Uggs in one of those bags".

"She needs to keep her feet warm in the Winter!", I argue and he laughs.

"You can also subtract toys", He grins, holding up one of the stuffed animals on my bed that he hadn't thrown off in the process of doing what we just did. "Our kid will be set for life with your collection".

I give him a faux annoyed look then, playing along with him.

"See, aren't you happy I have them now?"

"Yeah I just love looking into the beady eyes of your teddy bears while I fuck you", He says sarcastically and I shake my head at him with a laugh. "You're right though, we should go get all that stuff over the next few weeks".

"The girls are putting on a baby shower for me which is so sweet, but I can't ask them to spend money on a ton of stuff for the baby. I'm mostly just telling them that they can contribute diapers if they want", I explain.

"Why don't we go to Ikea together or something? Pick out stuff?", He suggests.

"Yeah that'd be good", I nod. "Once I get it all done with I think I'll feel less stressed about things".

"Well then we should do it as soon as possible so that you can be free of stress, it's not good for the baby", He says.

"Well then they shouldn't make having a baby so freaking stressful", I groan and he laughs and pulls me into him.

"Don't worry Case. I'm here, our friends are here, you've got a great doctor. And once we go shopping for everything and set up her crib and stuff in your room we're good to go", He assures me.

I give him a look then that says 'seriously?'

"There are just so many things Cap. There's these birthing classes I got the pamphlet for at my last appointment, the new mothers and fathers classes", I sigh and think about the other pamphlet the doctor gave me. "Pregnant yoga, Lamaze I think it's called".

"Those are all optional", Cappie says like it's no big deal. "We can go or not go to whatever classes you want".

"I think maybe I should go to at least one birthing one", I think about it. "I think it'd make me feel more prepared".

"Okay, let's sign up then", He nods.

"Thanks", I smile. "Sorry I'm such a basket case".

"Yeah you would've thought after 2… you knows, you'd be laying in incoherent bliss. But no, not Casey Cartwright", He laughs.

I blush then.

"It's stressful", I whine. "I don't want to be a bad mom because I didn't put enough effort in".

"You're gonna be a great mom", He assures me.

"Okay", I sigh. "Thanks Cap. Want to watch something with me until I fall asleep?"

I pull out my laptop from my bedside table.

"As long as it's not that documentary Katherine gave you, sure", He says and we laugh about it.

"I wonder how Katherine and Beaver's date will go on Friday night", I theorize. "Beaver should beware because she's kind of on a mission to lose her virginity".

"Beaver should beware? Believe me, Beaver would be happy to", Cap laughs. "Kappa Tau's don't excel at much, but taking virginities? We take pride in that. The house itself has seen many a virginity lost over the years".

I give him a look then with a giggle.

"I hate to say it but I sort of already promised her that if things worked out with Beaver we'd double date with them", I say with a laugh.

"A double date… when we're not even dating?", He scoffs. "I don't know Case, seems like we're doing all the things couples would do just without the official label".

I look over then to see a know it all glance from him that both intrigues me and annoys me at the same time because who was he to question this arrangement? It's not like Cappie was Mr. Opposed to Casual Relationships. In fact, after I'd broken up with him freshman year, he was basically the spokesperson for no strings attached arrangements.

I suppose he was just opposed to a casual relationship with me.

"Let's just watch a show", I say curtly, trying to avoid getting into a debate about what we are with him right now.

"Just not The Bachelor again, please dear lord. Watching it with you guys downstairs the other night I lost the very few remaining brain cells my freshman year activities had left me with", He jokes.

"Fine, what about Legally Blonde?", I laugh at him.

"Ugh fine", He concedes. "You grow the baby, you get to choose the movie".

I smile triumphantly.

"Exactly!"

As we lay beside each other and I watch Cappie's eyes glued to the screen, definitely enjoying this movie more than he thought he would, I can't help the smile on my face, a result of knowing that he wanted more.

Because thank god he did.