Chapter 1

Alex woke with a start, instinctively reaching a long arm out to the table beside her to find her glasses. Moving her hand across the table top - her long fingers brushed over her mobile and connected with her black secretary style glasses, nudging them precariously close to the edge, threatening to drop to the floor below. Cursing for nearly damaging another pair, Alex turned her body, pulling herself up slightly, wincing at the effort it took to reach out with a long arm to properly pick up the frames. As her fingers drew them back from the edge of the table, she lifted the thick black frames up, placing them gingerly onto her still sleepy face.

Alex fell back into the cushions behind her, attempting, but failing to blink away the feeling of sleep; lying motionless for a few moments longer, the brunette slowly took in her surroundings. The room had a faint glow to it - thin curtains, hastily drawn across the windows allowed thin shafts of sunlight to peak through them, specks of dust in the air drifting lazily as they entered the rays of light, performing a slow dance in front of her.
Still blinking, the rest of the room slowly came into focus, the sunlight casting shadows on the few pieces of furniture in the room, her gaze drifted towards the large clock on the wall opposite and regretted it instantly as the time read 5 o'clock. 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

"Fuck!" she shouted to the room, raising her hands to cover her face, leaving them there a while as she cursed herself further.

She'd only meant to have a nap - that was 8 hours ago, her first whole day back in the city had been wasted already, something Alex hated to do, even more so as she'd promised herself hours before as she stepped off the plane not to lie around her old apartment feeling sorry for herself.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her suitcases and bags piled up in the hallway, and her thoughts went back to the hours previous, returning back to her apartment this morning, hurrying to open the door, dumping her belongings then stumbling the few steps to the sofa before crashing out from sheer exhaustion.

Groaning, Alex attempted to get up off the sofa, inwardly cursing as a dull ache spread throughout her body from lying on the cramped piece of furniture for far too long. On the second attempt her body worked with her allowing her to rise from the old worn sofa, standing for a while as she gained her balance, Alex turned in the direction of her kitchen, deciding she needed to eat something and get herself sorted.

Stepping away from the sofa, but before moving towards the kitchen, Alex carefully rearranged the large quilted throw that had been covering her whilst she slept and had now fallen on the floor. With a careful movement she straightened it out on the back of the sofa and ran a slow, careful line along it with her hand, at the same time making a mental note to look into finding a larger sofa that would fit her long frame better. If she was back and staying in this city for some time - she may as well start investing in some decent furniture.

Padding across the hardwood floor in her bare feet, Alex noticed the slight chill in the air and rubbed her bare arms. With the intention of only napping, she hadn't bothered to change out of the short sleeve top and jeans she still wore. Alex picked up the maroon jumper she'd worn on the flight yesterday and had been carelessly thrown over a stool at her breakfast bar as she had returned to the apartment. Pulling it over her head, then flicking her long raven hair out of the collar, Alex felt the warmth of it immediately and slowly started to feel life returning to her weary body. Although she had landed back this morning, the heat of the sun from California seemed like a far distant memory, and made her start to wish she hadn't left. Shaking her head, Alex cast her mind back briefly to the reason she had done just that. Staying wasn't an option then and going back sure as hell wasn't an option now, no matter how hard she had been persuaded at the time. Alex had made her decision, she was back and she was going to have to deal with it, along with everything else.

The walk from sofa to fridge seemed to take an eternity, Alex pulled on the oversized handle, taking what little strength she had left to open the heavy door. What was up with her? Alex had travelled internationally for years, and luckily never seemed to suffer that badly from jet lag, but today? Maybe her body had resigned itself to the fact she wouldn't be travelling for a while, at all if she was honest with herself, and had finally released all its built up tiredness, jet lag and general exhaustion. What ever the reason, Alex knew she needed to snap herself out of this funk otherwise she knew the path she'd end up treading, she had been there before, and didn't fancy going down that particular rabbit hole any time soon.

As the door of the fridge creaked open and the blinking yellow light inside cast its glow on the contents, Alex's shoulders sank at what faced her. A few bottles of beers, a block of unopened cheese and bottle of mustard. Alex had every intention of arriving back, grabbing a nap and then heading out for groceries for this exact reason. A quick scan of the nearby cupboards didn't hold much joy in the food department either, in fact they didn't hold much joy full stop, a chipped mug and plate, along with a single beer glass. When Alex had packed up her apartment months earlier, she had excelled herself in clearing the clutter from her old life with such ease, boxing it away neatly in storage with the plan never to look back on it. Now, stood back in her old place she muttered at herself for being so goddamn organised. She was just thankful that she had been reluctant to get rid of the place completely, otherwise she really would have had no place to turn to when it had all turned sour in the last few weeks.

Briefly contemplating whether cheese and mustard could actually pass as a nutritional meal for a split second, Alex shook her head, sighed, slammed the door of the fridge shut and spun around, surveying the sparse apartment for what she needed.

Quickly locating her phone from the table near the sofa, but not bothering to check it, Alex shoved it into her jeans pocket and moved into the hallway, shoving her feet into a pair of comfy sneakers before picking up her keys from a small side table, that sat below the mirror on her wall.

Standing still for a second, Alex regarded herself in the mirror, not quite recognising the face that looked back at her. What had happened to the Alex that once exuded so much confidence and sass, that was so sure of herself? This last trip had taken everything from her - all she could see was a tired mess of a woman, with nothing but a half empty apartment to come back to.

Alex ran her hands through her long raven hair, trying to make herself feel somewhat presentable to the outside world. Taking a few bills from her purse - she shoved them into her back pocket. Groceries could wait until tomorrow, this day was going to end with a take-away, those bottles in her fridge and a stupid movie.

With a sigh, she opened the door to her apartment but before closing it behind her - decided to grab the book that was jutting out of the bag that had been used as hand luggage on the flight, tucked it under her arm, and headed out.

If she was having to start over - she needed time to think and a coffee, and knew the best place to go.

A/N

This is the first fan-fic I've written (after reading and loving lots on this site already!) - this chapter was intended to give a little background - I have the 2nd chapter pretty much sorted, and the 3rd kinda planned out.

If you can take the time to review - would love it - and prompts / ideas as to what you'd like to see more than welcome. I'm Vauseman end-game all the way - but there is always room for a little drama along the way :)