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Playing Pretend Shouldn't Feel So Real

An Alphas fic

Pairing: Rachel/Nina

Premise: What if, instead of bringing Gary as her pretend-boyfriend to her sister's engagement party, Rachel brought Nina as her pretend-girlfriend? Anything's better than showing up alone, she figures; and maybe if her family were shocked enough, they'd at least leave her alone for a while. But what if the pretending started to feel like more than a game...? I have had this story idea floating around in my head ever since I first saw, and then binged-watched Alphas last month, and I have to get it out! Hopefully there will still be at least one or two people left out there in fanfic land who will read it, despite the INSANE fact that syfy has cancelled the show. What were they thinking? Anyhow, enjoy :)

Part 1

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"Is Hicks still here?" Rachel demanded breathlessly, her hair uncharacteristically askew as she leaned against the doorway of Nina's office, with the manic gleam in her eye that said she was stressing about something family-related.

"No, he left about ten minutes ago to pick Tyler up from school," Nina said, frowning quizzically as she took in the younger girl's flustered expression.

"Oh, crap," Rachel groaned, closing her eyes and pressing a hand to her forehead in obvious distress. "He was my last chance...I was gonna bring Omar from the gym, but his boyfriend just took him away on a surprise cruise, and now I am so, so screwed!"

"Rach, relax," Nina grinned, getting up from her desk and squeezing her best friend's arm reassuringly. Even when she didn't mean to, Rachel had a way of being so heartbreakingly adorable when she was anxious, people fell all over themselves for the chance to do her bidding. And she didn't even need her alpha power to do it. "Maybe I could help...if I knew what you were talking about."

"Oh. Right. Well, tonight is my sister's engagement party; and if I show up without a date, my mom is gonna auction me off to the highest bidder. I cannot face this thing alone, Nina. Maybe it would be better for everyone if I just didn't go."

"No, don't say that," Nina frowned, trailing her nails lightly up and down the Iranian girl's arm until her breath gradually slowed, and the rigid tension in her muscles began to relax. Getting Rachel to calm down was never an easy task, but Nina had found a few failsafe methods; especially since they'd moved in together two months before, and basically spent all their time together since. "It's your family, of course they want you there. Plus, I know you, and you'd beat yourself up for months if you blew it off. Why not ask Bill? I bet he'd take you."

"Bill's way too old for me. That would be creepy," Rachel groaned, wrinkling her nose.

"So I guess Dr. Rosen's out, too," Nina frowned, thinking.

"Ugh, yes. They'd be mortified if I showed up with my dad-aged therapist as my date," Rachel sighed, rolling her eyes and laughing humorlessly. "I might as well bring Gary."

"Gary? That's not actually such a terrible idea," Nina mused, a little half-smirk on her red lips. Rachel just rolled her eyes.

"You're not helping, Nina. I love Gary, but he's not exactly an asset in social situations, is he? I'd be lucky if we got out of there without him threatening to throw my family in jail for brushing up against his suit as they passed him at the buffet table."

"Okay, okay, sorry. Just brainstorming here," Nina shrugged, leaning back against the doorframe and crossing her arms thoughtfully. They stood in silence for a moment, Rachel's anxiety growing palpably with every passing second. "What about me?"

"What about you?" Rachel asked, her face a mask of innocent confusion for a moment; then her cheeks flushed bright red, and Nina knew she got it. "Oh. Ohhhh. Nina, that's—I mean—they'd never—you're kidding, right?"

"Rach, just take a breath before you start hyperventilating," Nina chuckled, fighting her amusement as the younger girl's face flushed with what looked like full-fledged terror. "I know I'm not your first-round draft pick for a fake-date to run by the Pirzads, but we could totally pull it off in a pinch. I mean, think about it—you just want them off your back, right? You want a break from the endless stampede of mom-approved blind dates with boring Iranian lawyers? Nothing shuts a family up like getting a nice little gay shock at a public event. No way they'll make a scene, because it would embarrass them even more than it would embarrass you. Plus, they'll be so thrilled that you're "back to boys" the next time you bring a real date home, they won't even care if he's muslim! I'm kind of a sneaky genius, right?" Nina raised an elegant eyebrow, grinning playfully. Rachel just bit her lip, her big brown eyes wide with anxiety as she stared blankly, considering.

"Nina, I...it's a very generous offer, but don't you think it would be weird? For us, I mean. We're roommates now, you're like my sister. You're way better than my sister; I mean, you actually get me. One night of avoiding my parents' wrath isn't worth screwing up our friendship." She gulped, hoping the slightly-twisted truth would be taken at face value, and not scrutinized too deeply. Because it would be uncomfortable for Rachel to have to pretend Nina was her girlfriend...just, not for the reason the taller girl probably thought.

"It won't be weird for me," Nina shrugged, the playful, childish grin of a moment ago sliding into something a little more calculating, almost sultry. "I have dated girls before, you know. It's been a few years, but I think I can shake off the cobwebs enough to fake-date you for one night." She hoped her smile was casual enough to put the other girl at ease, and not betray how very on board she was with the idea of this little roleplay.

"You have?" Rachel squeaked, eyes wide as saucers. "When?"

"What are we, in 6th grade? Why are you spazzing about this? You have gay friends, Rach."

"I know, I just—I never knew you were..." Rachel trailed off, her cheeks reddening all over again.

"Bisexual?" Nina smirked and raised an eyebrow teasingly. "You can say it, it's not a dirty word."

"I know!" Rachel exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "I was just surprised, that's all. It's totally no big deal, of course I just want you to be happy," she stammered, mentally willing her heart rate to slow and her face to cool off. "I just wondered...who? You never mentioned it before."

"It was before we met...like, five years ago," Nina said quietly, her playful tone softening into something a little more vulnerable. "Another alpha. Skylar Adams. You probably read her case file."

"Oh...yeah...I did," Rachel nodded, feeling herself relax a little. Oddly, Nina's sudden display of openness and vulnerability made Rachel's nervous heart rate calm; like it wasn't all a game. That, coupled with natural curiosity, put the shorter girl even more at ease as she leaned her weight on one hip, cocking her head to the side thoughtfully. "What happened? Why'd you break up?"

"Ahh, well...Dr. Rosen was starting to put the team together then; we'd started out just as his patients, and things were a lot less...complicated. Of course he offered Skylar a spot on the team, too...you've read her file, you know how amazing she is, what an asset she'd be. But she's a badass indie rebel chick, you know? She doesn't punch time cards. She can't stand being pinned down. In the old days, I was the same way. I guess that's what made us so good together. But, once I started working with Dr. Rosen...I guess something changed for me. I started wanting more out of life." Nina looked a little sad and wistful, and Rachel's usual shyness fell away completely as she reached out and squeezed her best friend's hand.

"I understand," the shorter girl murmured, with a sympathetic half-smile. "I'm sorry Skylar wasn't ready to grow up when you were...she sounds like a great person to get to know."

"Yeah. She was," Nina sighed. Then the playful glint returned to her dark eyes, and she looked back up at Rachel with a little half-grin. "So, am I qualified enough to be your fake date tonight, Miss Pirzad? Worst case, I'll just push your parents so they think they're cool with it." Rachel laughed, shaking her head at the taller girl's gentle teasing.

"What the hell...let's do it."

"Awesome," Nina grinned, silently thanking Hicks for being at his kid's baseball game. She knew she could never take Rachel on a real date...the girl would spook like a jittery racehorse for sure, and Nina couldn't stand the idea of hurting their friendship, any more than Rachel could. But there was no harm in playing pretend every once in a while...was there?

…...

Two hours later, Rachel was sipping chamomile tea and putting the final touches on her makeup, while waffling back and forth over the idea of just calling the whole thing off, and staying in with a pizza instead. The idea of her parents, and her entire extended family, seeing her with Nina...thinking Nina was her girlfriend...it just made her stomach twist with either terror or elation, or maybe both. Definitely both.

"She's your best friend. She's just doing you a favor," she hissed at her reflection in the makeup mirror, giving herself a stern look as she dusted a little blush over her cheekbones. "It doesn't mean anything. It's just a big joke." But Skylar...a little voice in her head whined. She dated Skylar. She likes girls. Rachel had never, ever, in a million years seen that one coming. If she had...what? Get real, Rachel. If a woman like Nina—so poised, so commanding, so in control of every situation—if she'd ever felt for one second the same way Rachel felt, deep down, about her, then she obviously would've asked her out a long time ago. Nina gets whatever she wants, with or without her powers, as far as Rachel was concerned. So, the very fact that she hadn't ever asked Rachel out on a date served as irrefutable proof that she wasn't interested. And why should she be? Rachel was a wreck when it came to dating; no one knew that better than Nina herself, since she was the one Rachel came home and cried to time and again.

But that's okay, Rachel told herself firmly as she took a fortifying sip of tea. She could live without romance...but she couldn't live without her best friend, not now that she knew what having a real friend felt like. Someone who knew her and loved her for who and what she really was, someone who would never see her as a freak; someone who really got her. Nina treated her as an equal, not as a fragile child who needed to be protected from the world. But at the same time, she always seemed to know exactly when Rachel really did need a little tenderness, a little understanding. Like, when the construction started down the street, and Rachel began waking up every day with a headache, Nina got her that fancy, noise-canceling wave machine; and she put it in the bathroom. Because she knew that putting it in Rachel's bedroom would be too much stimulation for her sensitive ears. Or, when she came home tense and depressed after one of the awful blind dates her mother forced on her, and Nina would put on old episodes of The Muppets and they'd dance around the living room, laughing and singing along with Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear. Those were the things she couldn't live without. Physical intimacy...well, she'd been living without that her entire life, more or less. It obviously wasn't in the cards; not for the girl whose senses were so finely tuned, she had a mind-blowing, blackout-level orgasm every time someone kissed her.

"Rach? You ready?" Nina called, knocking very lightly on her bedroom door and rousing her from her daydreams.

"Uh, yeah! Coming," Rachel called, pressing the back of her hand against her cheek and trying to cool the blush she felt rising. She took one final look at herself in the mirror—she may be a spazz, but at least she was a cute spazz—and crossed the room to open her door, where her roommate was waiting.

"Hey," Nina grinned, her eyes traveling slowly up and down Rachel's body. "You look great."

"Thanks," Rachel squeaked out, all the blood in her body rushing south so fast it made her a little dizzy. "Um, so do you." Of course, Nina always looked gorgeous; but in that little black dress, with her long dark hair tumbling down her back and a small, elegant diamond choker glinting at her throat, she was positively breathtaking. Rachel felt a momentary possessive thrill—even if it was a lie, tonight everyone who saw her was going to think this goddess was hers.

"Shall we?" Nina asked, raising an eyebrow teasingly as she held her hand out to Rachel invitingly. "Gotta get my girl to the party on time, now." She winked, and Rachel nodded, too flustered for a moment to speak. She slipped her hand lightly into Nina's, feeling the warmth of the simple contact in every tingling inch of her body.

"Let's go."

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...Shall I continue? Plz let me know if anyone out there is into this!