Chapter 28

"You don't look so bad in a sling."

"Shut up asshole!"

He grinned and tickled my side.

"Ow, stop that!"

He moved his hands around my waist and held me close. He whispered into my hair, "Heath, I'm joking. But you still look adorable even in this." Casey lightly touched my right arm which was hanging in a sling due to the injury it sustained when Dan threw me into the wall.

The nightmare, as I refer to it, was finally over. Court dates remained but I knew this time there'd be a better chance of staying safe.

Casey and I were sitting in the park against one of the tall oaks completely immersed with each other and our surroundings.

In the past few months I thought about my future and not only with Casey but in general. I looked up at Casey, who was surprisingly already looking down at me.

"What," I asked.

He just shook his head, "Don't ask me what, what are you thinking about?"

I shook my head, "Just stuff in general. Like what I have been doing for a year."

"You mean besides this little dance we've been a part of this past year?" I could feel his chest heave as he chuckled.

I rolled my eyes in response, "Besides that."

Nodding he returned, "I know, like your career. Weren't we here when you defended history and the importance of it and I tried to counter you but you were being such a bitch…"

"You jerk," I responded as I attempted to struggle out of his grasp.

"Hey," he laughed, "stop, I'm kidding, kind of. You were being a bitch to me that whole day. I don't even know what I did wrong."

"To be honest I don't even remember now; maybe your cocky attitude?"

He nodded in the affirmative, "Most likely. But still there was no need for it since I was just trying to impress you."

"Impress me?" I was somewhat shocked by his admission since I had no sense that's what he had been doing.

"Yes, impress you. I was trying to hold a conversation with you about something you liked and the next thing I knew it turned into a full on debate."

"Well I tend to get defensive."

"Yea I noticed."

"Hey," I meekly tried to defend myself, "that's not a bad thing."

"If you say so," was his sarcastic reply.

"Okay at times, yes, I am a bitch. I'm sorry I try not to be but I am."

Casey kissed me on the head, "Its funny recently you haven't been. Even with everything that has happened you seem calmer or something."

"I think I'm digesting everything that has happened. Maybe I'm in shock."

Casey turned me around and allowed me to straddle his lap.

He looked at me with such seriousness I didn't know if I should ask what was going through his mind.

"Heather, I need to know what you plan on doing."

Confused I asked him to explain further.

"Well," he continued, "what are you planning on doing career wise. Are you planning on going back to school or continue working at the law office."

I chuckled.

He looked hurt so I stopped.

"I'm sorry I'm not laughing at you but I'm just surprised that you want to know," I explained.

He stroked my sides, "I just want to know basically if you were planning on staying in the area. You know if you wanted to continue this," he pointed to me and them himself, "or if you just wanted to focus on your career."

"Casey, if I did decide to go back to school I wouldn't be going anywhere. The closest university is only less than a half an hour away. I'd much rather stay home to save money. To be honest, I don't know what I want to do. I was thinking about taking night classes and work at the firm during the day. I'm just not sure right now. I want to be a little more than a secretary. Not that that's not a bad thing but I still need to pay my dad back for all the loans he took out for me."

I was either getting nervous or agitated I couldn't tell which because my nerves were starting to inflame. "Why are you asking me exactly?"

Guilt seemed to cross his face, "I needed to know because I wanted to ask you something."

Impatience consumed me, "Well then ask!"

He rolled his eyes, "It's nice to know you won't ever change even after I saved your ass."

I kissed his lips, "You know you're going to get special compensation for saving my ass, so don't complain."

"Not everything," he muttered.

Slightly hurt I looked down at his jean clad thighs, "Okay sorry, if you need to ask me then just go ahead."

"Hey," he took my chin and made me look at him, "I'm sorry I said that. But I just want to be with you and after the Dan incident it made me realize how much I want to be with you."

"Yea well I want to be with you too but you said I wasn't ready…"

"And I know why you're waiting and it's fine but I still need to ask you something."

Struggling not to scream at him I replied, "Well then please ask me. Since I assume you're not asking me to have sex with you it must be something else."

"I want you to move in with me."

His eyes stared directly into mine. And even though I wasn't one for long amounts of eye contact I couldn't pull away.

"What do you get out of this?" I questioned.

He looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well someone to cook me dinner and someone to snuggle with in my bed."

"You could order food out and get a dog."

"Dogs aren't as sexy as you and they don't smell as nice."

I contemplated this arrangement he had in mind.

My face came close to his and he closed his eyes waiting for me to kiss him but instead I darted my tongue out and licked his face.

He sat there in shock for a moment and then finally smiled at me.

I smiled in return, "My parents are going to be so pissed."

THE END

AN: I just wanted to say that the story is officially over. Sorry if no one likes the ending but I dragged this story out I had no where left to go. I wanted to thank everyone who read and reviewed! I wouldn't have had the initiative to finish this story without you. Another note to critics, (they always come weeks after the story is finished and blast me for no good reason) I am aware that there are a lot of errors throughout the story which may have made it more difficult to read. Believe me I understand. (Oh and I have a habit of writing back to critics that aren't very good at writing critiques. Constructive criticism is nice. In fact I tried to correct the "laid" and "lied.") But I hope overall you liked the context and the characters were believable enough even though some of the drama was a bit over the top. How many of us have stalkers? Yes? Okay how many of us have stalkers that try to kill our boyfriends and us? Yeah, you see what I mean? If anyone could relate to these characters then I did my job because some of them were based on people I knew and Heather had some elements of me in there (unfortunately the bitchiness). However none of this happened to me, no I never ended up with a Casey or anyone. curses the world Anyways one last thank you to my devoted fans (ok that was the vain me talking). You know who you are and I know who you are and this is getting too long to list you all so just know you guys are awesome! Alright I'm outta here!