Kasey's POV

July 30, 2032

I began to stir awake as I heard noises from the kitchen. I stretched my limbs out a little, and opened one eye to see sunlight streaming through the blinds. I sat up and yawned, and looked out the window again as I hugged my knees to my chest. The perfect sunny day, I thought to myself as a feeling of peace went through me. Lazy summer mornings were my favorite- it was warm, the room was bright, and I could sit in bed for as long as I wanted to reflect. And that's what I did- I stared at the ceiling, smiling as I thought about how thankful I was for life recently. 

After a few minutes, the noises in the kitchen were growing louder so I finally decided to get up and see what was going on. I tiptoed out of the bedroom and into the hallway where I could hear The Cure playing on a speaker and some giggling happening. 

"Woohoo!" I heard Ben and then some more giggling. 

"Oh this next one is one of your mother's favorite songs," Ben clapped as 'Just like Heaven' started, and I smiled to myself. I poked my head into the corridor, and this is what I caught sight of- Ben measuring from a bowl of pancake batter, wearing his ridiculous apron that says "kiss the cook". He was humming to himself as he poured the batter onto the hot pan. Measuring cups were in the sink, and flour was on the floor. Our daughter, Lucy, was standing on the countertop, dancing in her pajamas. Ben turned back to Lucy after the batter was in the pan.

"Alright, you ready?" Ben bopped his head, pretending to play an air guitar. 

"Show me show me show meee how you do that trick, the one that makes me scream she said," Ben sang into a spatula. 

"Go daddy, go!" Lucy giggled as Ben went into air guitar again after the first verse.

"You try!" he grinned, and Lucy attempted to copy Ben's move. Ben then gave Lucy a pair of sunglasses to wear, and he laughed delightedly as she continued her air guitar with a way-too-large pair of sunglasses on her head. He grabbed his phone to take a video, and my smile widened as I saw how joyed he was. 

"Yeahhh, looking like a rockstar!" Ben grinned, and then he went over to flip the pancakes. 

The best feeling in the world is waking up and falling more and more in love with your person, everyday. 

I walked into the kitchen to finally join them. 

"What are you two goofs doing, hmm? Causing chaos in the kitchen?" I teased. Ben turned around at the sound of my voice and his eyes lit up.

"Mommy's awake!" Ben cheered.

"Mommy!" Lucy practically lept into my arms and I hugged her tight and spun her around, then gave her a kiss on the cheek before putting her down. 

"Good morning," Ben embraced me and gave me a quick kiss. "We may be causing chaos, but guess who's idea it was to wake up early and make pancakes for the whole family?"

"Who's was it?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Miss Lucy herself," Ben gestured towards the toddler who was hopping up and down. "I'm just helping her make the plan go through."

"Aww, Lucy! You wanted to make breakfast for everyone?" She nodded happily. "You're too sweet," I bent down and squeezed her again. 

"Mommy!" Another small voice called out, and I turned to see our son, Cam, running towards me from the living room.

"Cammy! Good morning," I laughed as he excitedly hugged me. 

"I missed you," he said after letting go.

"Aw," I chuckled. "I missed you too. Did you sleep good?"

"Mmhmm," he nodded, and then dragged me over to the living room to show me the puzzle he was working on. After helping him connect a few pieces, I went back to the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee. I looked over at Ben, and we both shared the same smile- the smile that says 'I love our life together'. 

Ben and I have been married for almost 9 years now, which is insane to think about. Time really has flown but I've enjoyed every second of our marriage. We spent a lot of the first few years traveling together when we could, and just continuing with our careers. We've stayed in the city, it's still our favorite place. We'd hang out with our friends a lot as usual. We'd go on dates a lot and weekend trips, and really just spent time enjoying each other. People say there's a 'honeymoon phase' in the beginning of marriage, but truthfully I don't think that phase ever ended. I love Ben, I love our life. And the love grows stronger everyday.

The past few years have been spent a little differently though- a few years ago, we both agreed we were ready to have kids. Ben's been the absolute best father starting from the very beginning. When I told him I was pregnant the first time, he was so excited, more than I'd ever seen him. And he'd been an angel all the way through pregnancy. He was there to hold my hair back during the worst bouts of morning sickness, and somehow my horrible mood swings didn't seem to phase him- in fact he was even nicer to me, which in turn made the mood swings worse. I was a bitch, and like I said, he was angel. 

And a little over 5 years ago, Cameron Glenn Cook was born, his middle name for Ben's father. It was so incredible to be parents together for the first time, and to see Ben absolutely fall in love with his son after holding him for the first time. He's been the best and most caring father in the world. We decided we were ready for a second a little later, and about 3 years ago Lucy Amber Cook was born. The middle name was the biggest tribute I could think to give to Amber, who I still missed very much. Even though I've healed a lot since her death, there's still moments where I miss her and wish she could be here. But anyways, Ben's truly been the best dad and he loves his children dearly.

Lucy is the spitting image of Ben, she has the same nose and eyes, the same blonde curls. People say Cam looks more like me, with his brunette hair and the same nose as mine. It was cool to see which kid got which features, and for sure they were both as weird as their parents. 

I sipped my coffee and watched as Ben held Lucy on his hip and helped her flip a pancake, and then high-fived her once it was done. 

It's been cool to see so many versions of Ben over the years, and to fall in love with all of them. There was Friend Ben, at first. He loved to joke around, but he also cared a lot and would do a anything for a friend. And then Boyfriend Ben, who loved deeply, planned the best dates, always made me smile, and was there for me through everything. And now there's Husband Ben. Husband Ben always does the dishes after dinner, and refuses to let me do them even when I ask. He surprises me with flowers, and plans extravagant dates as if we had just fallen in love. He's always down to get wine drunk and laugh until we cry, to take Sunday afternoon naps together, and for morning walks to get coffee and bagels. And now, there's Dad Ben. This Ben never misses reading a bedtime story, and he tickles Lucy's feet just to see her break out into a joyous giggle. He wakes up early every Saturday morning just to take Cam to his little league soccer practice, and he never says no to getting ice cream when our kids ask. He plays Barbies with Lucy when she asks him to, and colors with Cam in coloring books. He's all of these versions, and I love every single one. 

I'd finished my coffee, and at this point the pancakes were ready so we all sat down to eat. 

"This is our last week in this kitchen guys," Ben reminded us as he cut up Lucy's pancakes into bite-size pieces. 

"Awww," Lucy pouted.

"I like this place. Why can't we take it with us?" Cam asked, and I chuckled. 

"I'm gonna miss this place too, but we're gonna have an even better kitchen now! It's green, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" Cam's face lit up. "I like green."

"Me too," I smiled. 

After Ben and I got married, we moved into a new apartment and have been here ever since. It was great for just the two of us, but now that we had two kids we decided we wanted a little big of a bigger place. We'd recently found a bigger apartment at a decent price, it was exactly what we were looking for so now we're finally moving! We're going to start packing later today in fact with the help of some of our friends. I'd miss this place and all the memories it held, but still excited to move into our new place. 

We finished breakfast and chatted for a bit, and then Ben cleaned up the kitchen as I got the kids ready for the day.

-

It was later in the afternoon now, and Ben was getting the moving boxes we bought out as I found packing tape, and Lucy and Cam were following us around aimlessly even though we'd told them they didn't have to help us pack. 

"I think starting in the living room is best, we can start putting stuff in general piles," I called out to Ben as I found the bubble wrap.

"Maybe we can start with our 'junk closet'? Most of that can just be packed straight away," Ben suggested. 

"Good idea," I nodded, and then there was a knock on the door. 

"Door's open!" I shouted, now rummaging through a drawer to find scissors. 

"What's up Cook fam!" I heard a familiar voice announce as the door opened.

"Uncle Danny!!!" Cam and Lucy shrieked, as Dan came through the door, a donut box in hand. They hugged his legs. 

"Hey kiddos!" Dan happily greeted them, bending down to their level. 

"Hey Dan!" I waved. "Thanks for coming over, we really could use the help! Also, the glasses you left over here last week are on the counter," I pointed.

"Thanks Kasey! Jeez, I've been squinting to read things for like a week now," he chuckled and put them in his pocket, and then put the box on the counter.

"I brought a little snack for our packing party, feel free to take as much as you want!"

There was a knock on the door again. 

"Door's open!" I shouted again, helping Ben carry some boxes to the living room.

"Hello hello!" 

"Uncle Josh!" Cam jumped excitedly, greeting him the same way he did Dan.

"Hey little dude!" Josh grinned, and Lucy followed Cam grabbing onto Josh's other leg. 

"Man, when did you two get so big?"

"I don't know," Lucy shrugged, and Josh chuckled.

"Hey guys!" Ben finally greeted both Dan and Josh. "Thanks for coming. I really appreciate it."

"Of course dude! I'm excited for your new place, I'm glad to help," Josh said cheerfully.

"Yeah! And when you're all moved in, I say we're due for a Cook-DeLuca-Burrage hosted cookout, to christen the new place," Dan raised his eyebrows.

"100 percent! We have literally the best rooftop patio now. It's time we get the gang all together," Ben agreed. 

I feel lucky to have had almost all the same friends over the years, they were all still my favorite people to hang out with. I loved being able to reminisce on the old memories and make new ones at the same time. Seeing everyone go through life at their own pace- I loved it. 

We put Cam and Lucy on the task of organizing the living room, even though they probably wouldn't get too far. They just wanted to be involved. 

The rest of us tackled the 'junk closet', as we called it since that's really what it was. A closet full of junk. Boxes of old photos and random memorabilia. 

"Aw, this is a cute picture!" I said, dusting off a picture frame with a picture of Ben and I in it. "Why don't we keep this out?"

"My hair looks bad in that," Ben shook his head. 

"No it doesn't," I rolled my eyes as I bubble wrapped it. We had a fun time looking at younger photos of us, and finding things like old playbills, movie ticket stubs, and notes. At this point,  Cam and Lucy had gotten bored in the living room and were now looking through the contents of the junk closet as we packed it all away. 

"Oh my god! Is this the painting that that artist painted of us when we had our picnic near the art festival?" Dan said, studying the painting of us.

"Yes!" I grinned. "That was in your old apartment for awhile. Sorry that we've just tucked it away in here now."

"Man, I miss that apartment. The good old days," Dan smiled and we all agreed. 

"No way," I gasped, upon opening a box. 

"What?" Ben asked, and I pulled out a build-a-bear, the very one I had made for Ben all those years ago.

"Oh my god," Ben's eyes softened. "I didn't think we still had those."

"Me neither. I'm glad we do though. What a memory." Ben and I smiled at each other. 

"To Kill a Mockingbird! I've had this copy since middle school, this used to be my favorite book," I flipped through the old book. 

"Aww, not this," Dan frowned, pulling out another framed picture, this was of Ben and Hammer. 

"Didn't come here to cry today!"

"Me neither bro, that's why that's tucked away in here." Ben looked at the picture for a moment before bubble wrapping it, a smile on his lips that was bittersweet. 

Unfortunately, Hammer passed a couple years ago since he was having some health issues. We all still missed that tiny dog a lot. It was just another reminder that even though life is good, there are still bad moments and dark days no matter what. I'm lucky to have so many great people to get through them with, though.

"Pictures from our honeymoon," I showed Ben the photo album I was flipping through, all from the various places in Europe we went to. 

"Anniversary trip back soon?" Ben raised his eyebrows.

"I'm down," I grinned.

"Ohhh here's a good one!" Josh smirked to himself. "Ben's mugshot," he held out for us to see and we all laughed as Ben shook his head.

"I told you to throw that away Kasey," Ben complained. 

"Aww, come on! Why would I ever, you look so good! I'll never forget picking you up from jail at the end of my 21st birthday night," I teased. 

"Dad got arrested?" Cam gasped, looking up from the stack of papers he was collecting. "Is he a criminal?"

"No, no, your dad's not a criminal," Josh assured him. 

"That's a story for when you're older, son," Ben said, and then changed the subject. We eventually finished clearing out the closet, and then we moved onto the living room and packed stuff until it became dinner time. We ordered Chinese takeout, and ate on the couch. Dan and Josh played with Lucy and Cam while I cleaned up all the dishes that were in the sink. I felt two arms wrap around my waist as I was at the sink. 

"Oh hello," I grinned to Ben, and he kissed me. "What's this for?"

"Nothing, aren't I allowed to just kiss my wife?" Ben jokingly huffed, and I giggled as he kissed me again.

"I just love you, that's all," Ben smiled. 

"I love you too," I smiled back, and then Ben helped me load the dishwasher.

And I couldn't help but feel a little emotional, as we went through the simplest task ever. I was thinking about how far Ben and I have come, and the little life we have built together. Ben truly is my best friend, he's made the past almost 9 years so incredible. He's been my side through the happy moments, and also the sad ones. We've tackled all the challenges thrown at us together, and for that I am so thankful for. I love life with Ben so far, and I know I'm gonna love the years to come. 

-

Ben's POV

August 24, 2032

I flipped my hair back and forth a little, frustrated that it wasn't sitting perfectly. My curls kept sticking out in the wrong places.

"You do know that they're just gonna do your hair there, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just want it to look presentable before I get there," I mumbled.

"It looks fine, Benny. I promise," she smiled, and kissed me on the cheek. 

"Thanks," I smiled back. "We should probably get going, anyway." I stood up and gathered everything I needed, mostly just the bag that had my suit in it, along with my shoes and other accessories. Kasey was already one step ahead of me, her dress bag thrown over her arm and her purse in hand. 

"Are you guys already leaving?" Lucy asked as we entered the living room, where her and Cam were playing Candy Lane. 

"Soon!" Kasey put her stuff on the counter for a second.

"Why can't we come?" Cam pouted.

"Aw bud," I smiled and bent down. "I wish you could come too! But, it's gonna be a really late night, way past your bedtime. You'd be reallyyy tired, and that wouldn't be fun, huh?" I explained, and Cam nodded but was still a little disappointed. 

"Besides, you're going to have so much with your babysitter tonight!" Kasey added. "Right?" Cam nodded again. 

"And family game night's tomorrow," I winked, which finally pleased Cam. 

"Okay. Can I pick out all the games?"

"Of course you can!" Cam smiled at that answer, and I kissed the top of his head. There was a knock at the door, and Kasey opened it.

"Wren!!" we both greeted her excitedly, both giving her hugs. 

"Nobody calls me that anymore, guys," she shook her head with a smile. 

"That is such a lie," Kasey teased. 

If you could believe it, little Wren was a whole adult person now. It was strange. And she prefers to go by her first name now, Victoria, but a lot of us still call her Wren. We'd had the pleasure of watching her grow up over the years, but especially those couple years during tour. We saw her less frequently as she grew up, but since we keep in touch with Meredith and Steve we still got to see her at least once a year. And now, she was finishing up her last year of college in the city and she was kind enough to babysit for us on occasion. 

"Hey guys," Wren waved excitedly to Lucy and Cam and they excitedly waved back. "We're going to have so much fun tonight. How do we feel about McDonalds for dinner?"

"Yes!" They both cheered, and we all laughed. 

"Thanks for giving up your Saturday night for us, Wren."

"Of course! I didn't really have any plans anyway," she shrugged. "I hope you guys have fun tonight! Congrats Ben, are you excited?"

"Yeah! A lot of work went into this film, I'm really excited to see it all together."

"I want to see daddy's movie," Lucy pouted, now feeling the same fomo Cam felt earlier. 

"I know, sweetie. This movie is a little too mature for you, though. You probably wouldn't like it," I explained to her. 

"No unicorns?"

"No unicorns in it," I confirmed. 

"Okay," she nodded, now okay with missing out and I laughed. 

"Alright, well mommy and daddy are about to leave, come say goodbye." Lucy and Cam hopped up from their game and came to hug us, and then we left.

Tonight was the premiere for the latest movie I've been in, and Kasey was my lovely date of course. It's been cool to see how our careers have both aligned and differed over the years. After finishing up the Mean Girls musical movie adaption, we'd both gone back to broadway for a little bit. Kasey earned herself another lead role in a new musical, and I did for another show. We then played various supporting roles for a few different shows after that, one of them being together. We even got to go on another tour together, which was fun. I still dabbled in film and TV after that with some minor roles, also going back and forth to broadway. Kasey mostly stuck to broadway, but she has been in a couple more movies and a TV show. We even got to work on one together, in which we'd been asked to play a couple. As we got more well-known, people knew of our relationship and knew we worked well together but it still felt crazy to have people want us. We're not Timothee Chalamet level famous or anything, but we're definitely more well known now which still feels weird. I have new fans and old ones, some who still know me from Newsies and Mean Girls. I feel very lucky to have so many people supporting me. 

I kept up Mindfulness in the Arts for awhile, and seeing the impact I had on young minds and even older ones made me emotional. I was thankful that I could open up conversations about mental health, and thankful that people were learning how to best handle mental health while working in this industry. It got a lot of attention over the years, so much that Dan and I got reached out by a publisher, wanting us to write a book about mindfulness. And that is exactly what we did- it took many long nights of writer's block and revisions, but we wrote a compilation of basically everything we taught, and everything we have learned ourselves. Shortly after, "Mindfulness in the Arts" by Ben Cook and Dan DeLuca was published. It even made the New York Times Best Sellers list!

I've been very blessed with my career, and I really love what I do. Kasey does too, and we've always been supportive of each other over the years whether we were working on the same thing or not.

More recently, I've been in movies and I actually start filming for another one soon and I am pretty excited for it since I'm one of the main characters. Kasey's been the lead in a new show that's just opened, and she opened up her own dance studio with her friend Addie. She teaches a few classes there, and she really loves it. 

After finishing being styled and dressed, I went to find Kasey so we could go down the red carpet together. 

"You look hot!" I whistled, watching Kasey put on a necklace. She was wearing a black dress that was mostly fitted. She blushed.

"Really? I feel like my hips are too wide and this dress makes them look worse-"

"Hey, none of that talk." I interrupted her, and she sheepishly stopped. "You look absolutely incredible, Kase. I know it's hard to get used to changes in appearance. But hey- this body has pushed out two babies. It's not supposed to look the way you did when you were a teenager. Which is hard, even I struggle with that so your insecurity is totally valid. But this is me telling you you look great," I assured her, holding her hands. 

"Thanks Ben," she kissed me and we held an embrace. 

"Ready for the red carpet?" 

"I guess so!" She grinned and grabbed my hand, and we walked to the red carpet, greeting my other cast members. 

I fall more in love with Kasey everyday, waking up and turning to see her sleeping peacefully and realizing how lucky I got is a daily routine. She's the best wife. She showers me with so much love, way more than I could ever deserve. She's the best mother, she loves our children so much and is always doing what she can to make them their happiest. I really couldn't ask for anything better. 

I'm really glad Kasey and I got the happily ever after we wanted, but weren't sure we could even have. 

Kasey and I got our pictures together, and then I talked to a few news outlets.

"Congrats you big movie star," Kasey grinned as we waited for the screening to start. 

"Oh stop it," I grinned back. 

"Seriously, I'm really proud of you though. I know I say this at literally every big event we have, but we've both come so far."

"I know," I nodded. "Who knew one little national tour would've sparked all this?"

"I'm glad it did. I love doing life with you Ben," she kissed my cheek.

"I love doing life with you too." I smiled and put my arm around her. 

My life was full of so much love, that I'm forever thankful for. 

-

when i said soon i meant it!!!! 😌

anyways. this is it, for real this time :,) i don't even know what to say!!!!!!!!!!!

i started this fan fiction forever ago, but never ended up finishing it bc most of the time i give up on all things i do. i never thought i would finish it, but so many people were asking for updates and i finally made a promise to myself to finish this, bc i love writing and i was tired of not finishing things. and it took awhile, but it's finally done! it feels so good to finish something that i enjoyed doing and am proud of :) 

if you've made it this far, each chapter averages about 3,000 words so guesstimating this whole thing is give or take around 192,000 words!!! That's abt 384 pages so congrats!! you've basically read a book. 💃🏻💃🏻 i did not expect this to turn into 64 chapters but here we are!!!

anyways, this lil fic will always hold a special place in my heart and i hope it will in yours as well. i hope you enjoyed the fluff, the drama, side plots and the serious moments- all of it. this story is something i wish i could've read when i needed it. 

i have struggled pretty severely in the past with depression and anxiety, and still def do struggle! i've luckily been able to get the help i needed and while i still have my bad days i feel pretty good now. so many books and shows and movies and more romanticize mental illness, which is so hard to see when you are struggling with something like that. you even start to romanticize it yourself, and i really wish i'd heard so many of the things i talked about in this story a lot sooner. 

so, this story was meant to break the stigma around mental health. it was meant to showcase that it's okay to to be struggling, and it's okay to get help and it doesn't make you any less of a person. it was meant to show the really bad moments of mental illness that's not always portrayed. it was meant to show that you aren't alone, and that it really does get better even when it feels like you're stuck. it was meant to show that you are so loved by so many people. it was meant to do so many things, and i hope that translated well. 

if you are also struggling with your mental health, i hope this story was able to help you, even if it was just a tiny bit. and i hope you were able to pick up some of the advice and lessons in this story, even from the more lighthearted moments!

and on a similar note- i am quite the hopeless romantic. if ur feeling bad abt not experiencing love or relationships yet, it's okay!! i have not come anywhere close to a ben and kasey relationship.  i literally had a guy once tell me that 'every guy bets bored of you' 😐😐😐

some day a person will come into your life and will love you so very much😌😌😌 we just have to be patient besties!! just wanted to remind everyone bc i always feel sad after reading romance books 😇

i really enjoyed writing this story, ben cook and newsies on tour will forever hold a special place in my heart. even though this is fiction, i really enjoyed writing about their funniest moments, and the serious and sappy ones :)

and most of all- THANK YOU!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

i have received so many supportive messages and comments, and it makes me melt :) i appreciate all of you so much.

whether you've just commented, voted, or even read any chapter at all- i see you and i love you all!!!!!!! this would never have been possible without the support i have received. i love seeing everyone enjoy the story, and i appreciate all the compliments and supportive comments more than you'll ever know. 

from young katherine to kasey's wedding- i hope you enjoyed following along. i don't have any plans to write anything else, but i'll be around :,) 

im happy to have contributed something to the ben cook fandom 😎🥳❤️‍🔥

thank you, thank you, thank you. 

love, 

me <3

newsies forever. peace out