Casey didn’t care what anyone said to her, she must have hit her head and was in some kind of never ending really weird dream. She’d listened to the people tell her that this was a real and she wasn’t dreaming but it was still hard for her to accept that fact. She was supposed to be in her car driving with Cappie to go live their life and do the whole grown up thing, not being kidnapped to some weird place where apparently Cappie was.
After being handed a device, temporary housing information and basic information she was leaving the weird base thing when she saw Cappie.
“Cappie!” She called out. “What is going on? Is this some elaborate prank,” She paused stopping herself from saying she thought those days were behind them. “Because if it is, it’s really impressive, but seriously, what are you doing here? What am I doing here?”
Cappie could hardly believe his eyes when intake had sent him notification of Casey’s arrival. Could she really be here in Atlantis? Finally? How many times had he wished she were here? How many times had he found himself pining for her, both consciously and subconsciously? How many times had his mind wandered to her, mid-conversation, and how many times had he found himself recalling little anecdotes about her to his friends here? Sure, she hadn’t arrived in the usual way but what did that matter. She was here.
He’d dropped what he was doing, as soon as the message had come through, and rushed down to the base, where all the new people were arriving. He got there just in time to see Casey emerging, looking confused and bewildered.
Despite her flurry of questions as soon as she saw him, he ignored them for a moment while he ran to her and scooped her up into the biggest, tightest, longest hug he thought he’d ever given anyone in her life.
“You have no idea how glad I am to see you,” he murmured. He would answer her questions, whatever she wanted to know, but, just for this moment, he buried his face in her neck, breathing in the wonderful scent of her hair and skin, and simply let himself enjoy the feel of her in his arms.
"Woah!" Casey let out as she wrapped her arms around him, the confusion didn't stop, and he was acting really weird.
"Cappie, what the hell is going on?" She asked after a few moments. "We were just in the car getting ready to drive away, and..." Casey stopped remembering some of what she'd been told when she arrived.
"Okay, really, what is going on?"
He knew he was going to have to let go of her at some point but he wished he didn’t. Still, there was a point at which a hug, even between on-again-off-again soul mates, became awkward. So, before they reached that point, Cappie released her from the hug and took a step back so there was a little bit of space between them.
“Time works kinda weird here,” he told her, by way of explanation for his over the top greeting. “I’ve been here round about a year…” And I’ve missed you so much, he didn’t say, although it didn’t take a genius to work it out.
“How much did they tell you?” he asked, nodding towards the base.
“You’ve been a year? You’re-” Casey paused putting a hand on her forehead as if she was trying to stop a headache. “But, you and me, we were,” she paused again. “Nevermind.”
“Um, they told me welcome to Atlantis, gave me this thing,” she held up the Atlantis device. “And told me a hotel I have a room at and that they would get me back home as soon as possible, they mentioned you were here and they were contacting you and something about a war, but you my head was about to explode and I really thought it was some weird prank, or I was dreaming.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too, when I arrived,” Cappie remembered, thinking back to that first, confused post he’d made on the network. “But even my pledges aren’t this imaginative… or competent.”
Cappie was surprised by how much about his old life had come rushing back to him upon seeing Casey again: thoughts, memories, feelings. He hadn’t realised it but he guessed he must have slowly been putting Cyprus Rhodes behind him over the past year, with Atlantis becoming his new norm, but having Casey here brought everything back into clear focus again.
“It sounds like you got the bare minimum,” he said, deciding to deal with his feelings over the ‘get me back home as soon as possible’ part later. “Come on, we’re going for a drink,” he told her, not leaving her much room to protest. “You’re gonna need it when I get through explaining.”
“We’re going to my bar,” he added, leading her off in the direction of Dive. “I’m a bartender now. I’ve managed to hold down a job for over a year. Are you impressed?”
"Your pledges? Wouldn't they be Rusty's pledges now?" They were supposed to be moving on from Cyprus Rhodes and Greek Life and all that crazy college stuff. They were supposed to be starting their lives, adult lives!
Casey hesitated with her eyebrows knit together. She almost considered saying no, and he'd have to tell her right this second, but a drink probably was a good option.
"Cappie, I love you, but you are so much more than just a bartender," Casey was still having a really hard time getting her head around the fact that he'd been here a year and subconsciously didn't listen to that part.
Cappie halted suddenly, turning to look at Casey with a bemused expression. She had just said two things that he hadn’t been expecting to hear and he wasn’t sure which one to deal with first: the fact that Spitter apparently had his own pledges or the fact that Casey, who when he had last seen her had been shoving him unceremoniously out of her bedroom window rather than admit to her friends that they’d slept together, had just said she loved him. Just like that. As though that was something that they just said to each other now, rather than something that they, and everyone else around them, obviously knew but definitely didn’t talk about.
“Say that again. But slowly. And with explanations.”
“Say what again? That you are so much more than just a bartender?” Casey couldn’t figure out what the heck was wrong with him, he was acting like, like he had no idea about anything! It was starting to really frustrate her.
“What do you mean with explanations, everyone knows you are a lot smarter than you want to let on to, so, you are more than just a bartender.” She tossed her hands up in the air frustrated. “It’s like you you got hit on the head and have amnesia or something!”
“The bit about loving me,” he clarified, unable to stop the goofy grin from spreading across his face. It was tempered a little, however, as he added, “and the bit about Spitter having pledges…”
Cappie could tell that Casey was getting frustrated with him and he didn’t want that, not when she’d only just arrived. He knew what must have happened. She must come from their future. He’d seen it happen to other people enough to recognise the confusion, he’d just never expected it to happen to him. In reality, he’d stopped hoping that anyone from home would turn up here a good few months ago. Now that it was actually happening, though, he was regretting the decision he’d made not to watch the TV show he was in. He thought it was wise not to spoil himself on his future but it would have at least given him a heads up for if or when something like this occurred.
“Case, we’re obviously not on the same page right now. When I came here, it was just after Homecoming.” Just after spending an amazing night with you, only to be callously discarded the next morning, turfed out into the flower bed with nothing but my shame and disappointment for company.
“That happens sometimes here,” he explained. “People come in from different times. You are, clearly, way ahead of me. Or from a weird, alternate reality where Spitter usurps my presidency in a bloody coup…”
"Not on the same page!" She talked over him. "I don't even know if we are in the same book!" How could he possibly be surprised by the fact that she loved him, EVERYONE knew they loved each other, seriously, everyone.
"Homecoming?" She frowned. "And I'm not some weird alternate reality!" At least she didn't think she was, but how would she know. "We aren't living in some sci-fi geek fantasy!" Okay, maybe they were here in Atlantis, but in the real world, the world was normal.
"Oh my god, of course, you're worried about someone else being in charge of Kappa Tau." She sighed running a hand through her hair as she took a moment to try and think about all of this. "Wait, so the last thing you remember is when we slept together after homecoming, and then there was Cappieland?" Although, he might not know what she was talking about.
Cappie raised his eyebrows and quirked his head to one side when she said they weren’t living in some sci-fi geek world. He’d have to introduce her to Luke Skywalker some time... But now was not the time for that conversation.
“Not that Cappieland doesn’t sound like a wonderful, mystical place, but I have literally no idea what you’re talking about,” he said bluntly. “The last thing I remember was you shoving me out of your window, after telling me that nothing had changed between us.” It still stung, even just remembering it. He shrugged. “Then I was here. I’ve been here ever since.” He paused, trying to ignore the awkward knot that had appeared in his stomach. “I guess I didn’t see much reason to rush home.”
Covering her eyes with her hands, she squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to figure out how in the world anyone was supposed to handle this! Not to mention, she was pretty sure she was dreaming, or she hoped more like it. Pulling her hands away from her face and into the air she sighed.
"Let me get this straight. We sleep together, you go out the window, wind up here, but you were also still there, because, yeah, a lot of stuff happened after that. That last thing I remember is you and me getting into my car and driving off into the sunset, okay, so not really the sunset, but were in a car leaving Cyprus Rhodes and moving to DC, as in no more Kappa Tau, no more ZBZ, but life. Grown-up life."
She paused. "Wait, am I not supposed to tell you about the future, is that going to mess everything up or cause whatever it is that happens in those movies?"
“The butterfly effect,” Cappie offered absentmindedly. He was too preoccupied with what she had said just before to pay too much attention, however. They were going to move to DC together. They were going to, metaphorically speaking, drive off into the sunset together. Hearing that, he felt as though a heavy weight had been lifted from his chest. This whole time, he’d been putting off going home because being in a world without Casey in it seemed like a better option than being in a world in which Casey had decided they weren’t going to work out and wasn’t prepared to give him another shot. But now it sounded like they did work out and, with that knowledge, a whole world of possibilities had opened up for him. Even the thought of leaving Cyprus Rhodes didn’t sound so horrendous if he knew he’d be leaving with Casey.
Cappie could feel the grin spreading across his face and knew that there was nothing he could do to help it. Except perhaps kissing Casey, which is what he proceeded to do. There was still so much to talk about, so much to work out, and that wasn’t even beginning to think about all the crazy Atlantis stuff he still had to explain, but for that moment he really just wanted to kiss the girl he loved and who, apparently, loved him right back.
"What-" she'd started, but he was moving towards her, she shouldn't be startled that her boyfriend was kissing her, but somehow she was a little bit surprised, something about all of this was so surprising for her that she didn't even know where her head was.
Finally pulling back she smiled at him. "If that isn't an 'I love you too' kiss, I don't know what is." She reached up putting a hand on his face. "Are you going to fill me in on this place, because I'm still really confused and still could use that drink."
“I love you, Case,” Cappie said, completely seriously, fixing her with his gaze and lifting his hand to cover hers on his cheek. He knew that there were so many complications waiting to shake her confidence in that statement, not least the fact that his grown-up daughter with another woman was here and actually a part of his life now, but he hoped that his earnestness was clear enough that she could carry that knowledge through the next few difficult days.
Letting his fingers intertwine with hers, Cappie pulled back, smiling, and started again in the direction of Dive, pulling her with him. “Hey, I’ve gotta tell you about the time I met Jess from Gilmore Girls. It was epic. You know, he still maintains it was a swan…”