The awakener (bxb)✔

TA 41 -epilogue

EPILOGUE

7 months later

Casey's POV

"Pee break?"

"You have no idea", I groaned in the dark room that belonged to Riley and I.

It was late at night and I had just gotten up to pee, for the third time in an hour. My bladder wasn't necessarily full. The pressure on it was making it irritable, forcing me to remove whatever was in it, which always turned out to be just a little urine.

Just like my bladder, I was irritable.

Peeing in the middle of the night was something that was occurring often recently, but that didn't mean I was accustomed to it. I admit it wasn't the only reason I was irritable. In fact, irritability was something that occurred for no reason. My hormones were all over the place and only one thing was to blame.

Even though after lengthy denials I had finally believed I was pregnant, that hadn't settled in until I saw physical changes associated with pregnancy. My baby bump was the most obvious sign. It grew steadily until I couldn't ignore it anymore. By then it was so big I couldn't see my feet when standing up.

Riley had adjusted to the pregnancy pretty well. He was always there to lend a hand. After lengthy talks about the future, we had decided to give us a try. I missed my family and having Riley there was amazing. He wasn't just my shoulder to cry on, he dealt with ridiculous meal demands and stayed up with me when I couldn't sleep. He even stalked my family so he could tell me how they were doing.

As expected they weren't fine. Both my dad and Calvin were distraught. My mom had even made the journey to the house, even though she couldn't stand dad. My disappearance was a mystery none of the detectives working on the case could solve. Both Karen and David were dead. There were no clues.

At that point my disappearance was a cold case. My family got on with their lives but according to Riley, "You can tell they miss you Casey".

I missed them terribly too. Riley had said we'd figure out to do once the baby was born, that maybe with time Isandro would give up looking for me. I still had hope that I would see my family again.

Giving up my family, school and the future I had dreamt of wasn't easy, but overtime it became easier. I wasn't happy about everything, but I understood the danger I was in. It was better this way.

Having Riley there gave me comfort, and love in abundance. I still loved him and the love grew every day. He was still the guy I became friends with. He still made fun of me. He wasn't perfect, he was just my screwed up guy.

The others were also great. We had become a family, albeit a weird one. Shalien was like our mother and Andrew our father. Derek reminded me of Calvin and despite Margaret's age, she was more like an older sister. We cooked and had long conversations. The others could go out. I couldn't. Andrew still believed Isandro was looking for me.

Everyone was anticipating the day the child would be born. I could and couldn't wait for that moment. No one knew how the delivery would be like and I was scared I wouldn't live through it. I wasn't even sure where the baby was going to come from. The idea of a caesarean section at a hospital was dismissed for obvious reasons.

So here I was, heavily pregnant and clueless.

When I came back from the bathroom, Riley had fallen asleep again. I climbed onto the bed and curled up in front of him, placing his hand on my belly. Within a few seconds my eyes were close.

"Babe?" Riley said suddenly.

"Hey. I thought you were asleep", I said.

"I was", he said and paused for a few seconds. "I think it's time".