So Much Has Happened...(Casey)

James stepped down the last steps that led out to the courtyard, being welcomed by the heat of the sun. He took a moment to let the heat, well heat him up, before beginning his walk around the fountain sitting beautifully in the centre of the courtyard.

It had been a very...strange last week and a bit. After everything with Casey, they had decided to just take it slow, until she could firgure out what to do. James didn't mind waiting for her, in fact he actually thought it best for both of them to just wait and see what was going to happen.

They still talked of course, but as friends, no make out sessions and weird romancy stuff. He still loved her, he knew that in his heart. Every time he saw her, he would still blush like a little girl and his heart would beat a little too fast.

He walked right up to the fountain, then and sat down on the edge, facing the sun. He closed his eyes and smiled as the warmth of the medium sized star projected it's heat onto him

He imagined her, then. Casey. He couldn't seem to get her out of his head. He saw her, dancing around like she sometimes did, smiling and laughing without a care in the world.

Secretly he wished that's how it really was. There was so much on Casey's plate, he knew, that weighed her down, and he felt useless, though he tried to help when he could.

Suddenly his eyes flew open when he heard the sounds of footsteps and the familiar voice of Casey, approaching him.

Casey waltzed out into the courtyard, half closing her eyes and almost purring in pleasure at the sun. She let it just soak into her pores, unable to stay inside on a day like this. She suddenly realized that James was sitting on the edge of the fountain with his eyes closed and smiled, walking lightly up to him.

"Hey sleepyheads, no napping here," she called as she approached. "I don't want to have to save you from drowning if you roll over," she said with teasing eyes.

Casey had realized over the last week that Liam was starting to seem more and more like a part of her past while James was growing to be her future. She had finally decided that James was the one she wanted to spend her life with. She let go of her dreams of Liam and latched onto the solid reality of James with a smile.

James looked over at her as she walked up in front of him. He playfully stuck his tongue out at her while saying, "I need my beauty sleep."

Carefully stretching out his arms and legs he stood up and grabbed Casey's hand, twirling her around.

"You look nice today." he said smiling at her, and her always unique outfits.

Sure he said the same almost everday, but unlike most guys, he meant it. James was sure Casey would look pretty in anything, even if she was covered in mud.

Casey laughed. "Well why would you think that? You're already plenty beautiful." Mentally, she shrugged. If she had decided to go for James well then she might as well go all out.

Casey laughed again as he twirled her. "Thank you James, so do you." She could tell he was completely genuine with the repeated comment and would probably still say it and mean it on her worst days. Such was love.

Casey grabbed one of his hands, lacing her fingers through his, and swung them lightly back and forth. Looking at their moving hands, she said, "You know James, I've been thinking." She looked up, straight into his eyes and smiled. "I think I'm ready to stop going slow."

James smiled at her, and then blushed. He still managed to do that no matter how much he knew someone. "Thanks." he said looking into her eyes. One of her prettiest features, in his opinion, though he thought she was pretty all over.

James laughed as they twirled around the courtyard. "Why thank you, Milady." he said formally bowing slightly when they stopped after getting rather dizzy.

He smiled at her, when she laced her fingers through his. Looking at her again, he tilted his head to the side a little. "Really?" He asked, feeling confused, but happy. Unlacing his fingers from hers, he carefully lifted her off the ground and twirled around once, lightly kissing her lips.

"I'm glad, in fact, I'm more than glad, I'm ecstatic. Are you alright, though?" he asked, gently putting her down and taking her hand again. He wanted to make sure she was 100% alright with taking this step. "I love you Casey, I want you to be happy." He said smiling.

Casey smiled at his blush. "You always do that," she said, touching his cheek. "It's a very James thing, this blush." She could tell he was thinking about her, the look in his eyes and his emotions.

Casey laughed and stumbled a bit after the spinning. She put a hand to her head dramatically. "If I fall over, I blame you," she said accusingly.

Casey kissed him back happily, flushed with happiness as he pulled away. Twining her fingers with his once more, she nodded. "Yeah. It's about time I stopped living for something that's gone. Besides," she added smiling. "It would be a shame to let someone as good as you pass me by."

James laughed and placed his hand over hers on his cheek. "Blame my mom. She blushes ALL the time." he said smiling down at her with love in his eyes, and his heart.

"I won't let you fall." he said bending down and scooping her into his arms and then lightly kissing her cheek.

At her words, James smiled, feeling happy. Then he blushed again at her compliment. "Damn this blush." he said laughing. "And thank you." he said smiling and sitting down on the edge of the fountain again, with Casey still in his arms.

He held her close to him, feeling happy and so in love.

Casey smiled as he put his hand over hers. "So I'm blaming your dad for your height and your mom for you blushing all the time. Anything else?" she asked teasingly. She saw his love and loved him more for it, holding his face tenderly in her hand.

Casey laughed as he picked her up, putting her arms around his neck to help support herself. "Thanks James," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. "I know you won't."

Casey grinned. "I don't know, I think it's cute. And you're very welcome." She settled herself comfortably in his lap, smiling and laying her head in it's usual position on his chest. "What's your favorite color?" she asked randomly.

James let out a loud laugh, he didn't care if it wasn't that funny to her, or to anyone else, it was funny to him. "Well...I'm not sure. You could probably blame my grandmother on my mom's side for the artisitc part of me, but I think that's it...at least for now." he said laughing still.

James smiled down at her, glad she knew that he meant it.

Her compliment made him blush deeper, but at least he knew she didn't mind it. "Hmm...as an artist...I have many favourite colours...what about you?" he asked.

Casey giggled at his laugh. "Well all right then. Now I know who to thank for making you the way you are," she said beaming. "I got my hair and height from my dad, a ridiculous metabolism that basically let's me eat anything I want from my mom, and in a way, I got my confidence from my sister. But my eyes are all mine." She smiled.

Casey nodded. "That makes sense. Mine is blue because it is physically impossible to find an ugly shade of blue. But my favorite shade of blue is hard to describe. It's bright, almost electric. Somewhere in between aqua and that really intense color the sky gets when it's super clear weather. Your turn to ask a question."

"Well then, I know who to thank for making YOU the way YOU are." he said smiling and repeated her words. "Your eyes are very pretty, by the way." he said complimenting her. He really did think so about her, her eyes may have been purple, but he thought they were unique and suited her just fine.

James nodded as he listened to her explain about blue. "Hmmm....what is your favourite...food?" he asked.

Casey smiled. "I guess you do." She ducked her head, blushing. "Thanks. I love yours too. They're beautiful." They really were, deep blue and endless. They were mesmerizing.

Casey thought for a minute. "Hmmm... Well anything with chocolate is good. But I really like Italian food, pasta and stuff. Especially cheese ravioli. Delicious. What about you?"

James smiled at her blush, even though she ducked her head, he could still see it. "Don't be embarassed." he said trying to make her feel better. "Thanks." he said smiling and looking into her eyes as she looked back up.

"Ooo. Yes, I agree. Chocolate equals life." he said laughing and almost drooling at the thought of chocolate. "Me? Hmm...I like the traditional fish and chips, but I like almost anything Italian. I don't know the names of half the food items, but I like everything I've tried that has been Italian." he replied.

As they spoke about food, he could have sworm his stomach growled, though he just ate. Ignoring it he said, "Your turn again."

Casey sighed happily. "Well you know exactly how hard it is not to blush. So there." She stuck her tongue out at him.

Casey laughed as she felt his stomach growled beneath her. "Well I apologize for making you hungry. And yeah, fish and chips are always good. I don't know what any of the Italian names mean, but I can usually pronounce them at least." She thought for a second. "If you could own any country, which one would you own and why?"

Laughing, James nodded. "That I do." he said smiling and then sticking his own tonuge out at her.

"It's alright, I just ate so...I'll live." he said chuckling and lightly patting his stomach. "That's good. I can't even pronounce the names, I just simplify the specifics into things like...Pasta and what not." he said shrugging. "Hmmm....that's tough. Probably Ireland because it's such an open country, beautiful landscapes and it's just...beautiful and peaceful. What about you?"

Casey smiled, and repeated her usual phrase. "Don't stick that out unless you plan to use it." Then she kissed him.

Casey laughed with him. "I guess you will. But if I've learned one thing about boys, it's that there's always room for more food. Bottomless pit." She patted his stomach too. She smiled. "Well when you speak fluent Gaelic, nothing is hard to pronounce anymore." Casey nodded. "Same and for the same reasons. Also because it's my homeland and it's just gorgeous."

Taken a little by surprise when she kissed him, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. "I love you." he said quietly, and meaning it, as he always did.

"Hahah. That is true, even for me." he said laughing. She certainly had that fact straight. Most guys were bottomless pits, he would admit it to anyone who said so. "You speak Gaelic? My father does, or did he doesn't much anymore, and never bothered to teach me." he said smiling and then shrugging. "I've been to Ireland once, a few years back. Best place I've been to, aside from here I suppose." he said.

Casey wrapped her arms around his neck as they kissed, smiling and leaving them there when they pulled back. "I love you too," she said, almost surprised to find that she meant it after so short a time.

Casey grinned in triumph. "I knew it! I'm always right you know," she teased. "And yeah, I speak Gaelic. My parents are both Irish and my mom's family was really big on it. I can teach you if you want. Then you can go home and surprise your dad." Casey nodded. "I live in a small Irish village, the epitome of everything Irish, so I'm living in the middle of all that."

James smiled at her, knowing in his heart and mind that she meant it, despite having, moved on? if that was the right phrase, in such a short time. He understood that she may never forget Liam, and he wouldn't ask her to, unless she wanted to.

"Aha. I'm sure you are." he said laughing, not in a mean way, but just...laughing. "I'd love to learn. Haha, yeah my dad would be like 'what did you say?'" he replied laughing again.

Casey smiled back at him. Playing with his hair, she said, "You know, love is the most beautiful deep shade of pink? On my Empath vision. It's gorgeous, like the color of a perfect sunset. And it's all over your emotions." She grinned bigger. "I love it."

Casey tossed her head dramatically, sticking her nose in the air pompously. "Of course I'm always right, I'm psychic you know," she said, looking at him with wide, fakely sincere eyes. "Cé mhéad atá ar eolas agat?" she asked.

Spoiler:

James tried to imagine the lovliest shade of pink that existed and put that in place around an image of himself. He smiled at the idea. "Wow, I can sort of picture it, to some extent. And I'm glad you can see it all over, because I feel it." he said grinning happily and lovingly at her.

James smirked slightly and then said, "What am I thinking, then?" He grinned, waiting to see what she would say, even though he was pretty sure she wasn't psychic.

When she spoke, in what he assumed was Gaelic, he stared at her with wide, and confused eyes. "What?" he asked giving her and awkward and embarassed smile.

Casey smiled. "You have a good imagination then. I think you would like my power, the way it translates itself, as an artist. When I'm not busy either ignoring the colors or being overwhelmed by them, I like to just watch them swirl on the edges of my vision. They kind of mingle and swirl around each other like beautiful, colored air."

Casey scrunched her eyes up like she was thinking very hard and stared at his head. "It's definitely... Tacos."

Casey smiled. "Not very much then. I asked how much you knew. Do you have any background in the language? Do you know any of the basic words?"

"Aha. I guess you could say that." he replied chuckling. "I can almost imagine that as well. And you're right I probably would." he said smiling and taking her hand.

James started to chuckle, and then burst out laughing a little. "Bingo!" he said humouring her, and then shaking his head. "Close, I was thinking that you're very beautiful." he said looking into her eyes.

James shook his head. "No, I'm afraid I don't."

Casey nodded. "It is pretty, when it's not being annoying. And I think I'll like it more as I get used to keeping my defenses up to block it. I can turn it off, per se, or at least mute it a lot for a short amount of time. Gives me a headache though," she said ruefully, rubbing her head with her free hand.

Casey chuckled. "Oh yeah, I was so close. Those are very similar topics you know." She smiled at him. "But thank you very much. I'm glad you think so."

Casey shrugged. "'s ok. Most people don't and Alyssa didn't when she moved in with us and she's as fluent as I am now. Maybe even more, she really loved the language."

Giving her a kind smile, James kissed her forehead, as though to make her feel better. "You'll get better at it, don't worry." he said smiling.

"Haha. Very similar." he said chuckling. "And I do think so, always." he said smiling, and speaking honestly.

James raised his eyebrows. "Wow. She sounds like she really did love it. I am barely fluent in English as it is, I don't know how I'll do with Gaelic, but I'll try." he said laughing but being completely serious at the same time.