A/N: A new one for you folks. It's my first foray into the world of canon, so thoughts and comments welcome.

Quick thank you to 'imissedyourpatronage' for her assistance with the chronology and the tiny details of the show I didn't realise I needed to know until I spoke to her!

Enjoy.

It's a fucking cocktail umbrella and right now it's sitting in a puddle on the floor, mocking her. A gaudy reminder of why her parents think she's being impetuous and stubborn.

Downright ridiculous

Her mother always did have a way with words.

…

Northampton is more inviting as a ghost town, especially under the whisper of a fall breeze. Bare trees flank the paths around Smith, a contended sort of hush blanketing the place.

But there's nowhere to hide amongst the still and the crunch of leaves under foot begin to echo a little too loudly, the sidewalks stretch out a little too endlessly, until she becomes restless, a persistent itch prickling under her skin, one that she can't quite reach.

Maybe.

Graduation was a week ago, but she finds herself carving out the familiar path to the campus bus stop and taking a seat on the cold plastic bench to wait. There's a sole beer can resting on the floor beside her, remnants from the night before no doubt. But there's something odd about the way it's been placed neatly upright- measured even. She kicks it firmly, watching it wobble onto its side and out seeps the remainder of the cheap hooch.

And she enjoys it, because there's strange comfort to be had in upsetting the regularity of it all.

It makes her smile.

…

It's the night before graduation. They're at the pool party of a girl that Polly's shared some classes with. Shannon something.

'So what are you gonna do?' Polly asks her, breath raspy and wet, eyes glimmering under the first throes of inebriation.

'Do with what?'

'Life Pipes' her friend replies, grabbing the blonde by the shoulders. She stares up into the sky, like it holds all the answers. Piper looks up at the same with a burgeoning curiosity, a sense of possibility.

'It's infinite' Piper whispers, mainly to herself.

'What?' Polly asks.

Piper shakes her head.

'I'm gonna get us some more punch' Polly replies, her eyes already drifting over to Bobby Clay, her mind replaying their one and only date from last semester.

But Piper's no longer listening, because she knows (maybe she always did) it's all up for grabs. She just needs the courage to reach for it.

…

She's takes a seat at the back of the bus and runs into a Spanish student she recognises from her dorm. They chat for a while, making small talk about Smith and when that peters out, about Spain; the gothic architecture of Barcelona and the chattering hum of Sant Antoni Market.

And it could be gloom of the morning or the charcoal mass of the sky, but it suddenly makes her yearn for the warmth of a foreign sun, to feel the replenishing heat of it radiate through her.

'It's my stop' the girl finally says as they pull up outside the library. 'Where are you heading?'

Piper doesn't reply. She's not sure she knows the answer.

…

Her cell hasn't stopped ringing all morning. She watches it stutter across the Formica, gently buzzing towards the lip of the table. The waitress refills her cup wordlessly, but her eyes glance towards the phone.

'It's just my mother' Piper offers, for no other reason than her own frustration bubbling over.

'Say no more' the woman grins before returning to the counter.

It's a few more minutes before the phone disturbs her again and she's on the verge of depositing it into her drink, savouring the thought of it disappearing into the murky depths, before she notices it's a message from Cal.

Call home, mom is threatening to cut you out of the will if you ignore her. Or don't….more for me that way….

Piper rolls her eyes, downs the rest of the drink like a shot and dials.

…

Carol can't emphasise her disappointment enough and practically all of Piper's suggestions are met with a sneer. Backpacking is dismissed as needless frivolity and charity work treated with a haughty sigh.

Bill occasionally murmurs inaudible things in the background; Piper doesn't need to hear them to know they'd be in support of her mother. Clearly now is the time he's decided to play the dutiful husband.

'I just don't see the need for you to stay there' Carol hisses. 'Graduation was a week ago'

'So?'

'So? So Piper, don't you think it seems a little odd that rather than coming back to your family, you're rattling around in Northampton…alone?'

'Odd to whom?'

Her mother is silent for a second and Piper imagines what she must look like, lips pursed in frustration, fingers nervously playing with the string of pearls around her neck. It gives her a visceral thrill, one that rips through her deliciously.

'Well…to everyone…I mean honestly Piper…just what are you doing?'

It's a fair question and up until a few seconds ago Piper wouldn't have had an answer, but her eyes settle on the notice in the window of the café; Staff required, apply within.

A mischievous smile pulls at the corners of her mouth, as she imagines the frown lines on Carol's forehead deepening, cheeks flushed with fresh panic, eyes darting anxiously to her husband.

'I'm getting a job' she says straightening up in her chair, pausing before she delivers the final blow: 'as a waitress'.

And then the line goes dead.

…

'It's 8.30am' her voice hisses down the phone.

Piper can hear the rustling of covers. 'Good to know you can tell time Poll'

'Stop grinning you asshole'

'I'm not'

'You are….I can tell'

Piper laughs and pulls into an alleyway across from the train station. 'So what's up?'

'What's up? What's up is that this is the second morning in a row I've had a call asking me to provide a job reference for Piper Elizabeth Chapman, for working at an establishment that I've never even heard of!'

Piper pauses, 'Oh that….'

'Yes….that'

'I meant to ask you….'

'Uh huh'

'But then I got busy and….well would you mind?'

Polly sighs, 'I don't even get why you're bothering. You're a Smith graduate for fuck's sake, why do you want to be waiting tables or making Woo Woos for yuppie assholes?'

'Humour me will you?'

'Whatever, if another one of your calls disturbs my sleep, I'm telling them you're a convicted felon…'

'Bye Poll….'

…

Two weeks trawling for minimum wage work around Northampton is almost enough to send Piper back home; or at the very least to Polly's couch. She's been told she's over qualified, under qualified and everything in between. But the thought of her mother's smug smile and told you so demeanor is enough to make her stay put and she's rewarded with a trial run at a tiki bar, imaginatively named 'The Tiki Hut'.

It's based on the outskirts of the college campus and Piper has a hazy recollection of throwing up in one of the stalls after happy hour one night, freshman year, when the place was called something less exotic and serving dusty peanuts instead of pulled pork sliders and watered down pitchers of foamless beer, instead of Pina Colada's.

As far as trials go, Piper is almost certain that this one is bad: fatally bad.

Her war trophies from today include; two broken glasses, a smashed bottle of bourbon and a cut on her ring finger from an attempt to slice a lime. But she's pretty sure that Jonah, the bar manager has a crush on her, so she's riding out his goodwill for all it's worth, occasionally flashing him the warmest smile she can muster, hoping he doesn't notice when she messes up yet another order.

Hey lady, I said no ice!

But by 8pm, Jonah's temper is fraying and Piper is sure it's burning on the edge of something else; namely the volition to fire her.

So she stares down at the cocktail umbrella, the pinks and reds clashing horribly against the blue puddle it's presently bobbing up and down in, wondering if she can be fucked to fetch the mop and bucket and pointedly ignoring the increasing murmur of the patrons drifting around her.

'Looks like you could use a hand'

Piper looks up; a woman with short brown hair is smiling warmly at her, as if she's familiar.

Old acquaintance?

'Aquatini, right?' she continues, pointing down at the spilt drink.

The blonde straightens herself up, 'Do I…do I know you?' she offers gingerly. The woman looks older than Piper, maybe only a handful of years or so, but definitely older. She can't place her from Smith and the warmth she's trying to exude seems forced- and suddenly Piper's folding her arms protectively, because this feels all wrong somehow.

'Know me?' The woman laughs and like her smile, it lacks genuine depth, failing to reach her eyes. She glances over Piper's shoulder at something, but it's fleeting, so the blonde ignores it. 'No…I was just making an observation and I guess you sort of stick out like a sore thumb behind the bar'

'Why?' Piper says, eyes narrowing slightly.

'Smith grad right?' And she glances away once more.

Piper turns her head to follow the woman's gaze, but there's a group of men gathered by the Pool table and she can't see past them. So she turns back around. 'Yes…' she replies hesitantly. This could be nothing more than a lucky guess, Northampton is tiny after all and other than Smith, there's nothing else of note for miles.

'You just strike me as someone that should be on an adventure some place….like….'

'Chapman, you wanna clean that up, or do you plan on slipping in it and injuring yourself for the second time today' Jonah interrupts, his words, slicing through the conversation, severing it irreparably.

He hands her a mop and bucket and by the time Piper glances up again, the woman has disappeared.

'You see that woman?' Piper asks him, eyes scanning the burgeoning crowd, beginning to wonder if she didn't just imagine it all.

'What woman?'

'Short brown hair…she was standing right here a few seconds ago' she drops the mop and bucket, deciding to wander down the street to see if she can find her.

'Wait…what about the mess?' Jonah yells after her.

'Don't worry' she fires back, 'I won't expect a reference'.

…

Fahri is smiling at her in a manner that means she isn't going to get her way and it's making Alex wish she'd popped an X before coming out tonight, to make this more bearable, to take the edge off, blur the reality of Sylvie.

'I can't babysit her, I've got my own shit to deal with' she pleads, over the increasingly raucous voices of the men playing pool next to them.

Fahri leans back in his seat, swirling the liquor in his glass, regarding her closely. 'Most expensive fucking babysitter we've ever employed in that case'.

Alex rolls her eyes 'hilarious….but you wanna address my actual point?'

Fahri sighs. 'Whaddya want me to say Vause? She's been promoted, we need someone to show her the ropes and you're it, you got a problem with that then I can give you Kubra's direct-line, maybe you wanna thrash it out with him huh?'

He leans forward slightly, his voice becoming a little more hushed. 'Me on the other hand, I prefer a quiet life. Do the work, take the money and enjoy, what's so difficult about that? Besides, it's not forever and don't tell me you're not getting any perks out of it?' He grins, takes another sip of his drink and lights a cigarette.

'The hassle is vastly outweighing the perks' Alex spits, 'she's fucking clingy…and…..'

'I'm pretty sure she's not the first clingy woman you've dealt with Vause. Like I say, just show her the ropes and then cut her loose, she'll be too busy to trouble you by then, I guarantee it'. He takes another drag on the cigarette and then hands it to Alex.

'I'm gonna hold you to that' she replies, voice surly, just as Sylvie returns, beaming with news of a new target, the perfect mule. She points her out across the room.

'Her?' Alex says, her eyes locking on the blonde stranger, dejectedly clasping a mop and bucket. 'Laura Ingalls fucking Wilder?!'

'She's perfect Al….she's a Smith grad and….'

'No' Alex interrupts firmly.

'What? Why?'

Fahri straightens up in his seat, eyebrow raised in anticipation of an explanation, but none is forthcoming, just an affirmation of the previous sentiment.

No.

Of course Alex knows that Sylvie is right, the girl looks perfect; polished enough to be middle class, liberal enough to be a Smith grad, bored enough to be seeking adventure, but the thought of Sylvie recruiting the blonde jars with Alex, sit's uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach, like something jagged, indigestible.

And then Sylvie's face crumples into something soft and broken, before she's up and excusing herself to the restroom.

'See what I mean?' Alex says to Fahri, as if this is proof of the precise point she's been making to him all evening.

But he just smiles, raises his glass in an exaggerated fashion and offers her a'cheers'.

Alex stubs out the cigarette in an ashtray and grabs her jacket. 'Tell Sylvie i'll see her later'.

She doesn't wait for Fahri to reply, her head's already swimming with thoughts of a club downtown, being lost in smoky shadows, strangers melting in and out of focus around her, sepia, where everything is safe.

She stops just short of the exit door to glance up at the blonde for a final time. But she's gone.

Alex breathes a sigh of relief, before disappearing into the distance, swallowed up by the night.