Once Ash has gone home for the night and I'm laying on top my bed in my pajamas, well in my pink sweatshorts and a long sleeve ZBZ top. But I know there's something I have to do before I go to sleep.

Because tonight, and the feeling of comfort and support from my best friend, was only possible because of one person. One person who had gone behind my back to set this up because he knew how much it was effecting me.

I grab my phone, having left it up here the whole time I was downstairs.

I see one new text message.

Cappie: Hey Case. Just checking in, seeing how you're feeling?

I touch my lips then, feeling a smile start to form without me even fully realizing it, feeling giddy inside.

I decide to just call him instead of merely texting back.

I press his number and wait two rings until I hear the sound of his voice.

"Hey!", He says and I can hear the smirk in his tone.

"Hi", I let out meekly, smiling like I'm a 13 year old girl with her first crush. "Do you… do you want to come over here for a second? The girls are all out".

I decide to take a leap then, to do something I normally wouldn't. But like Ash had said, you can't really fight what your heart wants. And I was much too used to fighting it when it came to Cappie, I had been doing it for so long it was like second nature to me, fighting against my feelings for him.

But the truth was that I wanted to see him right now, right this second, his mere voice on the other end of the phone not enough.

"I mean, sorry, unless you're busy with the guys or something which you probably are because it's Friday night, I just—", I ramble on until he cuts me off.

"Case I'm already putting on my shoes", he laughs and I feel my smile intensify, almost hurting my cheeks.

"Oh… okay cool", I say awkwardly, not knowing how to fully respond right now. "I'll watch out my window and I'll come down when you're here".

"Sounds good, see you in a second", he says with a slight laugh and I can picture him walking down the stairs at KT, smirking, amused by me.

"Okay, see you Cap", I say, getting up to check my appearance in my mirror. I see myself smiling, my dimples showing, when I look at my reflection.

We hang up then and I fix my hair a little bit. I didn't really have much makeup on right now, just some mascara and tinted lip balm. But I didn't really care about that around Cappie, he'd seen me without makeup a billion times.

I take my blonde hair out of the messy bun it had been in and let it fall down to frame around my face.

It still baffles me that I could stand in front of my mirror like this, my completely flat stomach staring back at me, looking the exact same as I had last week, the exact same as I had a month ago. And yet my whole entire life had changed.

But also… last week I didn't feel like I could really talk to Cappie, which made me sad. And now here we were, spending every day together. Whether that was healthy for us or not. It was just way better to have him in my life like this, even if the only reason is because we now share something really serious; a growing person who is half of each of us.

I sit on the window seat in my room and wait for him to make the short walk down here from the KT house. Luckily the girls were still out so I could let him in without anyone seeing, without anyone knowing that I'm breaking the no boys upstairs rule.

Eventually I see him walk up to our front lawn and can't help but smile a bit, feeling my heart race.

I throw on my uggs to go outside in and then race down the stairs to the front door, opening it to go meet him out on the lawn.

He's wearing dark jeans with a black leather jacket and a grey t shirt underneath, and his silver rings of course.

"Hey Case, what's up? You ok-"

I cut him off by running over to him and jumping up onto him, standing on my tip toes as I wrap my arms around the back of his neck.

"Whoa!", He laughs, at first surprised at me hugging him but then I feel his arms wrap around me like they so often did.

I always fit comfortably right against his chest when we hugged, that's how it worked out with our height difference, especially with me not wearing heels right now.

"I know what you did", I say against his chest and then pull back from him to give him a knowing smirk.

I watch it click in his mind as he nods shyly, biting his lip.

"Thank you Cap", I look at him softly, feeling such genuine emotion for him right now, making me rest my head against his chest again, hugging him tightly.

With my stomach pressed up against him like this it was weird to think that our baby was in there… and that soon enough we probably wouldn't even be able to hug like this without my belly being in between us.

I decide to do something he probably isn't expecting, pulling away from him to stare up at him, my heart pounding. Then I make my move, leaning up on my tip toes again to meet his lips for a kiss. I can feel the shock in his body, the way he initially leans back a bit, not expecting me to kiss him.

He lets out a soft moan and moves forward, taking his hand to rest on the small of my back and he pulls me into him, getting over the initial shock of me kissing him and instead doing anything he can to deepen it.

I pull away though, a little because I'm out of breath and a little because he tries to turn the kiss into making out which I'm not quite ready for yet.

I try to catch my breath, returning to my normal height, moving off my tip toes to look up at him, my green eyes meeting his blue ones.

"Sorry… I just… I just felt like kissing you", I let out awkwardly.

He smiles then, his usual slightly mischievous smirk, eyes shining even in the darkness.

"No problem", He nods.

"Want to come inside?", I can't help the way I'm blushing right now, not fully having expected to have felt butterflies in my stomach from just one mere kiss. But I did, and I was sober this time, the first time I've kissed him in months where in which I'm totally sober.

"Yeah, sounds good", He nods up and down, licking his lips, looking pleased.

I put my hands on hips, feeling the need to clarify things.

"The only thing is Cap… I'm inviting you up to my room but… that doesn't mean sex, okay?", I laugh slightly, lifting my finger into the air to make sure he knows this isn't me inviting him upstairs to hookup. Not like the other night.

"Yeah no problem", He laughs. "I just want to hangout with you".

I can't help but feel my heart swell then because I can tell he really means it, that this isn't just about sex for him.

"Okay", I grin and reach out to grab his hand, pulling him with me up to the door. "C'mon".

I bring him up the stairs with me, wanting to get him up before the girls come home. I really didn't want them to catch us together. I'd deal with trying to get him out of here tomorrow morning without anyone seeing later, me wanting him in my bed tonight outweighed the possibility that the girls would find out.

When we get to my room he sees the ultrasound photos on my bed.

"Have you been staring at these all night?", He picks them up, grinning at me.

"Well… it's kinda hard to get it out of my mind", I scoff. "Plus… I had them out to show Ash… who is happy for us. Both of us Cappie, I think she's really sorry for what she said about you and me".

"That's awesome", He nods, smiling.

"When I told her I was pregnant she um…", I laugh then, a little embarrassed. "She knew it was yours, I didn't even have to tell her".

Cappie scoffs then, grinning sheepishly.

"So uh… when I start showing and people find out they'll probably guess that me and you are back together", I start with a sigh. "Because the Greek system is pretty gossipy… but we can just tell people whatever".

I shrug then and he smirks, sitting down on my bed, putting the photo strip down beside him.

He looks pleased about something for some reason, smiling like a devil, looking like he's thinking about something.

"What?", I shake my head with a laugh, wanting to know what's got him smiling like this.

"Nothing it's just… finally after all these years of me absolutely hating other guys being around you…. Evan, Max, guys at parties I would see flirting with you….", He trails off slightly, trying to think of what he wants to say I think. "Now once you start showing and people know you're pregnant and that the baby's mine... your bump will be like a big red glaring sign to tell other guys to stay away".

He grins his usual grin, sinking into my bed as he makes himself at home, looking up at me, pleased with himself as ever.

I just stand in front of him giving him a roll of my eyes.

"Well congrats Cap", I cross my arms, giving him a playful glare but I can't help the way I'm smirking a bit at his explanation. "You don't have to worry anyways, even before I got pregnant I wasn't even so much as talking to any guys… like at all".

"Yeah uh… after you told me the other day that you hadn't even kissed anyone since me when we were dating … I was going to ask you about that", He looks serious now.

I sigh, unsure what I want to say to him about this, not wanting to be too vulnerable with him. But I also just wanted to tell him the truth. It was me and him, as much as we had always had some issues in our relationship because we're fairly different, we'd always been honest with each other, always.

I sit beside him on my bed then.

"I… I didn't expect us to break up last Spring Cap. It was the last thing I wanted", I explain, looking into his eyes so he knows I'm serious. "So when we did I was literally heartbroken… When we got back together on Thanksgiving last year it was… it was like the most perfect moment I've ever had with a guy and I honestly thought we were forever. Then we practically moved in together, stopped… using condoms…"

We both laugh then as I roll my eyes slightly, shaking my head.

"What I'm saying is I thought that we were it, that we were forever, that I was done with bad first dates, with being hurt, being cheated on, with not feeling enough with a guy, with not feeling comfortable with a guy. You and me were perfect because you were that one for me", I explain to him. "So I wasn't going to be able to get over that in just a few months. And I didn't even want to get over it. I'm not like you, I don't hookup with people as a way to get over someone… instead I just threw myself into preparing for law school".

Cappie takes this in, nodding. I can tell he's loving what I'm telling him, that I'm being so honest, that I'm confessing to him how much I loved him.

"I felt that way too Case. And… I know that I… messed around a lot this summer. But it's not like I had any emotional connection to any of them, I was just doing it to try to stop myself from thinking of you. Not that that worked anyway", He scoffs. "I thought traveling, partying, and hooking up with girls would work like it usually does for me but… this time it didn't. I couldn't get you out of my mind no matter where I went. I really just… wanted to be with you".

It's my turn to smile at him now, to turn red at his words.

"Well… you and me are kinda stuck together now", I say with a shrug, laughing because I don't know what else to do in this moment, since me and Cappie confessing our feelings like this felt pretty treacherous right now.

"Yeah I guess you're right", he agrees, grinning, his eyes traveling down to my stomach.

"There's not gonna be anything here for awhile Cap", I laugh slightly, putting my hand on my belly.

"Yeah I know", He nods. "I'm just still… trying to wrap my head around everything".

"Me too", I nod.

"Case… last Spring when you said that we were just a college relationship…", He looks serious now, more serious than his usual self.

"Cappie I know that that's how it came out but I think you took it the wrong way", I immediately jump in, sort of cutting him off. "I don't know what's going to happen with you and me, okay? But I never meant that you were just my college boyfriend, I more so meant that I didn't want to be one of those typical college couples that can't make it work once they graduate. Because I couldn't figure out a way for us to stay together…"

I sigh then, knowing that me saying that on Spring break really hurt him.

"I get it", He nods. "I just… I would've… I would've done long distance Case, I would've tried anything, but I just felt like you didn't want to".

"I'm sorry… I didn't want to break up Cappie. And I didn't want to hurt you either", I look at him softly.

"It's fine, seriously. Most of our breakup was completely my fault… me being petrified of change, feeling insecure about holding you back… wanting our senior year to last forever", He sighs.

"I wanted it to last forever too. You and me… were so happy together", I make sure he knows. "And my summer was horrible, I was so lonely, the only person I had to hangout with in Chicago was Rusty. And even Rusty could tell how miserable I was…. because I missed you so much Cappie".

"I missed you too", he nods, putting his hand on my leg and speaking softly, gently. "I'm really sorry about everything".

I look at him for a moment, his warm touch on my thigh making my heart start to beat faster, making me really have to fight the urge to not repeat the events of the other night.

"It's okay… let's just put it behind us now. We have more important things to worry about now Cap", I laugh slightly, gesturing over to the photo strip as I hold it in my lap, my legs crossed as I sit beside him.

"Yeah we definitely do", he nods.

"Thanks for… for trying to grow up this semester Cap. And for graduating in December… I know it's really hard for you to think about leaving the KT house. To be honest, I get it. I mean look at me, I'm back in ZBZ because I couldn't stay away", I laugh, rolling my eyes a bit, sort of making fun of myself.

"Well…", he smiles. "These were our homes, and our families, for four whole years. But uh… now that you're pregnant and we're gonna have a baby… we're gonna be our own family so…"

He trails off then, nervous I think, smiling at me.

"Yeah?", I look from his lips to his eyes then, wanting to kiss him but knowing it's probably a bad idea. Because if we started I didn't know that we'd stop. And being on a bed with him was already dangerous territory.

"Yeah", he reiterates. "I mean… if that's okay, if you want us to be?"

"I want us to be Cappie", I say immediately, smiling at him giddily, wanting him to know that even if we weren't together I still wanted to be a family with this baby. That's really all I could ask for right now, especially being 22 and totally unprepared for this. I knew I would need him.

"Okay cool", he's unable to help the way this makes him happy, biting his lip slightly as he tries to conceal the way his lips turn up into a smile. "Well… I was gonna mention this eventually, and we don't have to talk about it now since we have time to figure everything out but uh…"

He trails off then as I look at him confusedly.

"Sorry I'm nervous", he shakes his head, his nervousness cute to me right now, it reminding me of when he'd finally confessed that he wanted to be with me after he'd walked me home on Thanksgiving almost a year ago now. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that… I think we should live together… eventually at least, so that I can be around while you're pregnant and be around with you and the baby when it's born".

"Yeah I uh… I have sort of been wondering that too, what we're going to do", I nod. "I was going to look at an apartment in Rusty's apartment complex. But I was going to stay here at ZBZ until the end of the semester… because at least I'm making money here now. But once I start showing I'm not sure Tegan and nationals will be thrilled about having a pregnant 22 year old be the house mother here. She'd probably think I'm setting a bad example for the girls".

We both laugh slightly then, Cappie also knowing how strict the standards were at ZBZ. For Cappie, it was much different at KT, they didn't care what the guys did, not like our sorority.

"But I think… I think we should live together too", I nod, my own nerves setting in as I tell him this. "For the baby, obviously. Because when it's born I'm… I'm probably going to need your help. And I think you and me are comfortable enough with each other to do that, right?"

"Yeah", Cappie nods, happy with my response. "Definitely. It'll be way too hard for you, especially in the night, if you're left all alone with him or her. I think if we… try our best to be a family for it that would probably be best, right?"

He asks me as if I know any more about babies than him. Which I didn't really want to admit, but my knowledge was really next to nothing.

"Yeah I think you're right Cap", I nod. "That probably would be best for the baby".

We smile at each other then and I can't help but feel like we're sort of using the baby as an excuse. Both of us just unwilling to say that we wanted to spend time together, wanted to get an apartment together. Having this baby between us now was sort of an excuse for us to spend time together again, to live together, for us both to not pursue anyone else. For us to do everything a regular couple having a baby would do except without the label.

"Okay cool", he looks happy with this.

"I wish we knew if it was a boy or a girl", I laugh slightly. "I know that's crazy since I'm so early on in the pregnancy, but then we could stop calling it an 'it'".

"We could just call it Cappie Jr?", Cappie shrugs, joking with me.

"No way!", I giggle. "Because I think it's gonna be a Casey Jr".

I cross my arms, giving him a matter of fact look, trying to annoy him.

"Oh really?", He gets that devilish look on his face now as he smirks, raising his eyebrow. "You think it's a girl?"

"Yeah kinda", I shrug, laughing still.

"Yeah…", he lets out a joking deep sigh then. "I kind of do too".

"Wait really?", I furrow my brow.

"Yeah", he shrugs like it's obvious. "I just kinda feel like you and me will have a girl… a girl who will probably drive me just as crazy as you do".

"Hey!", I swat his arm. "I do not!"

"Yeah you do", he laughs, smiling. "But… I wouldn't have it any other way".

His face takes on a more serious look then and I can't help but feel my stomach toss and turn in response to him.

"She'll drive me crazy in the best way possible… in a way where I can't ever tell her no, can't stop loving her no matter what happens", He looks into my eyes so deeply now and I'm suddenly aware of how close we are, aware of the goosebumps coming up on my skin.

Suddenly noises pull my focus away from him as I hear the door slam downstairs.

I hear girls laughing and talking, and footsteps all throughout the main floor.

"Oh um… I guess the girls are home", I say awkwardly, me and Cappie's moment getting interrupted now. Maybe that was a good thing, because I knew how close I was to kissing him, and I knew Cappie was just waiting for my lead. He was waiting for me to be ready to take the next step and try being a couple again.

We pull away from each other a little more now.

"Yeah…", Cappie nods.

"Do you want to stay over tonight? I… want you to. Only if you want of course", I ask him awkwardly, feeling like I can't just come out and ask him to stay here with me.

"Yeah, of course I'll stay", He nods, smiling softly.

"Okay cool", I blush and then get up off my bed to start taking the pillows and my stuffed animals off.

"Hey, you know, maybe these stuffed animals will finally go to good use now", Cappie gets up too, holding up a stuffed ZBZ cat. "Maybe the baby will like them. I mean they'll probably like them more than I do".

I give him a playful glare then.

"Oh c'mon, I know you joke about not liking them, but look how cute they are?!", I whine and hold up a stuffed pink dog next to my face as I pout.

He can't help but grin then, amused with me. I loved when he looked at me like this, like he loved me, like he thought I was cute.

"No, actually I don't like them because the last time we had sex they majorly got in the way while I was trying to take your bra off", He grins mischievously and I watch his gaze go down to my chest.

I go red then at his comment, at the way he's staring at me.

I can't help but think back to that night, think about the way his lips kissed down my breasts. I remembered that well even though I was drunk. Honestly, I probably couldn't wipe the memory of it out of my mind if I tried.

"And then I felt like I was being watched…", Cappie sighs jokingly, continuing to make me laugh. "Which sometimes can be hot but not when it's by the beady eyes of this guy".

Cappie holds up another one of my stuffed cats and I cross my arms at him, glaring, even though I secretly loved when he teased me like this.

"That's pussywillow the third Cap!", I pop my hip out as I stand sassily.

"Well that's kind of a gross, and sort of inappropriate, name", He thinks to himself jokingly and then gives me a devilish grin.

"How is it that you somehow manage to turn everything sexual Cap?", I laugh at him as I pull the covers back, raising my eyebrow at him.

"It's just a gift I guess", Cappie shrugs and then keeps on grinning, loving sparring with me like this.

"Yeah a gift that got me pregnant at 22", I scoff.

"Hey!", He laughs. "If you don't remember you're the one that was begging me to… on this very bed in fact".

"Fine… you're right", I roll my eyes, knowing he's right even though I don't want to admit it.

I get into my bed then, getting comfy.

He takes off his jacket first, putting it on my window seat. Then he undoes his belt and takes his jeans and boots off too, leaving them beside his jacket.

Just in his t shirt and boxers now, he comes over to the side of my bed that was now sort of coming to be known as his.

He gets in beside me and I feel excitement bubbling up in me, some nervousness too. But mostly just excited that he's here.

"So uh… do you think we should go to that party tomorrow night? For Calvin's birthday?", I bring up, trying to fill the silence with something other than thinking about how good it felt to have him in my bed again just like that night three weeks ago.

"I'm up to do whatever you want to do", He turns on his side so we're face to face, honestly looking like he means it.

"Okay", I nod. "I guess… I guess we should then. Maybe it would seem weirder if we didn't go. But we shouldn't have anyone thinking that we're together or anything. And I definitely don't want anyone to find out about the baby right now. At least me and Ash have made up now, that'll be one less thing to worry about at the party".

"Yeah now we just have to worry about everyone being suspicious…", Cappie nods. "Well we'll just show up separately and not act like anything's happened between us, I think we can do that".

"Exactly… and I'll… I'll just have to find some sort of excuse for why I'm not drinking", I sigh.

"Oh right… the no drinking thing", Cappie nods, him only just realizing the obstacle of me not being able to drink now that I'm pregnant.

"Yeah. Well anyways… I'm super tired Cap. I literally am exhausted everyday lately, I've been having to go to sleep at like 9 o'clock every night, so this is considered staying up really late for me", I laugh, gesturing to the clock on my beside table, which reads 11:45pm.

"Yeah for sure", Cappie grins. "You've gotta get your sleep, especially now".

I give him a soft smile then, knowing he's saying that because I'm pregnant.

I turn over to turn my lamp off then and Cappie does the same on his side.

"Okay, goodnight Cappie", I give him a smile.

"Goodnight Case", He nods, still looking pretty giddy at this whole thing, I think really happy that he's here tonight.

I turn over onto my own side now, facing away from him so I can smile too. Because the truth was I was just as giddy as him, especially after our conversation tonight. And especially as I go to sleep daydreaming about living together. Me, him and our baby.