Alex and Piper Fanfic 'A-Z'

Aquarium.

They arrived at the huge building before them that was decorated somewhat garishly with pictures of fish and other aquatic creatures. Alex bit the inside of her cheek, this is the last place she wanted to be when she decided to let Piper pick where they went on a date. It was Piper's first time planning the date and Alex could tell that she was eager to please. The huge grin spread across her face said it all.

"Ooh the aquarium!" Alex announced trying to disguise the nervous tone in her voice.

"Mhm. I just love looking at all the different fish. They have sharks, and octopi too, or is it octopuses? I can never remember." The blonde rambled for a few moments longer but Alex had already zoned out. She smiled as Piper had a puzzled look on her face and for a few moments came the brief relief before the impending failure of a date.

"Anyway, let's just go in!" The blonde finally finished her ramblings. She tugged Alex by the hand but Alex barely moved. "Come on, let's go see."

Alex pulled her lips into a half smile hoping that Piper wouldn't see the fear behind her eyes and finally but slowly stepped forward towards the entrance.

Piper's excitability distracted her for a moment at the desk but as soon as they were fully inside Alex took a deep breath. It was slightly darkened so that the tank lights would illuminate the fish better but that just made it worse for the dark-haired girl whose eyes were frantically darting around trying to find a part of the building that they were in that wasn't filled with fish.

"So much to see eh?" The blonde announced as she stepped over closer to a tank with some particularly large fish in. Piper tugged Alex's hand but to no avail. Alex released the blonde's hand instead and diverted her eyes to the floor. The only place there wasn't fish.

No fish, but instead garish carpet that looked as if it was intended to hide a multitude of stains from dirty boot prints to kids dropped sweets to even possibly, throw up.

Alex suddenly felt very sick, she wasn't sure if that was to do with the fish, the carpet, or the fact that she hadn't eaten this morning, or possibly a mixture of all three. She just knew that when Piper grabbed her hand and lurched her forward towards the tunnel it certainly didn't help. An enclosed space surrounded by fish just really wasn't what Alex wanted right now but given that she didn't want to upset Piper, she stayed.

The blonde wrapped her arm around Alex's and took her forwards through the tunnel. Alex tried her best to remain calm. She stayed silent, more focused on keeping her heart from out of her chest and keeping her breathing somewhat in rhythm.

"You're quiet today Al, you okay." Piper turned to face Alex. "Actually, if you don't mind me saying, you look a little pale."

"I'm always pale Pipes." Alex tried to shake it with a little laugh but it didn't work. Piper persisted.

"No, paler than usual. Are you okay, are you feeling sick?"

Alex diverted her eyes from Piper's gaze to lie. "I'm fine Piper honestly."

"Okay, so you called me Piper, something's obviously wrong. We're in a beautiful place surrounded by beautiful creatures and I'm not just talking about the people." Piper was doing that nervous rambling as always and Alex wanted nothing more than to silence it with a kiss but the way she was feeling now, she didn't dare. "There's fish everywhere!"

And suddenly Alex was very aware of the bubbling in the bottom of her stomach again.

"I just, feel a little queasy that's all. It's fine, no cause for concern."

Piper shook her head. "No, we can go step outside if you like, I don't want you feeling ill."

The blonde looked genuinely concerned but Alex didn't want to upset Piper.

"Maybe standing outside would be good. I can get a little air." 'And get out of this place!' Alex thought to herself as Piper guided her towards the exit.

Alex was hit with a barrage of questions on their way to the exit which wasn't unwelcomed as it distracted her from her busy surroundings.

"Have you eaten today?" Came the final question as the pair stepped out into the open air.

The raven-haired girl let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in. Pure relief flushed through her and she felt better already.

"No, I got up late and wanted to meet you on time."

"Good job there's a quaint little café not far from here then. I've always wanted to check it out and I thought now would be a good time."

Alex wasn't usually one for bourgeois little cafes but she had already ruined the first part of the date for Piper and so she played along. She was, however, pleasantly surprised when there was no menus at the table and that when the waitress arrived, Piper ordered for the both of them.

Piper flashed Alex a smile as she reeled off a list of Alex's favourites from hot croissants to pain au chocolat and a dozen things in between that Alex had never even heard of.

"Hope you don't mind, I ordered your favourites."

Alex couldn't help but smile. " Of course I don't mind. I'm sorry we had to leave the aquarium, I just..."

Alex didn't even get to finish her sentence before Piper butted in.

"I know."

"You know?"

"Yeah, I know."

Alex was thoroughly confused now. "Know about what?"

"Know that you are scared of fish. I noticed it once you saw the outside of the building, I just thought that the fear was purely of a certain fish or perhaps the sharks and not all of the fish." The blonde was holding back a laugh as she saw Alex's jaw drop slightly.

"I didn't realise I was being that obvious."

"That's one thing I've learned about you these past few weeks is that the one thing you can't hide is your fear and God was this one obvious!"

Alex felt a rush of insecurity sweep over her and she leaned back in her chair, her hands just resting on the edge of the table.

"You know Alex, you can open up to me. I won't judge you." Piper placed her hands over Alex's and the raven-haired girl relaxed slightly dropping her shoulders.

The blonde knew she wasn't going to be dragging Alex's walls down anytime soon but this, this was something at least.

A/N: Hey so what did you all think of slightly vulnerable Alex? As always please leave a review and let me know if you liked it or not. This was fairly AU as most of these oneshots will be. I plan on updating at least once a week on this one but please do not hold me to that. I'm a very busy person. I HAVE NOT ABANDONED SECOND FAVOURITE! Do not fear dear readers as I have not abandoned second favourite, I just have a little bit of writers block. Please feel free to PM me with any ideas for the upcoming chapters or anything in particular you'd like me to include. I will try and include as much as I can! Thanks for reading :)