A/N : *waves* Hey. Everyone must watch 'Half-man, Half-Tree'. So a short one (apologies) and sort of filler (apologies); but anyway, how are you? you doing okay?


"So I looked into this little orphan girl's eyes as she was lying in my arms, and I said, 'Sasha; you're going to live a long, purposeful, and beautiful life." Pausing for dramatic effect, the brunette closed her eyes emotionally as she took a long breath of air through her nasal passages. "and she said," Pause "'Thank you, Dr. Vause.'" She finished with a whisper.

The table grew quiet as all sets of watery eyes were trained onto her, latching onto every word spoken with unbridled interest. Polly raised a both hands to cover her heart as she sighed deeply.

"That is so beautiful." She whispered with a tilt of her head, eyes shining with adoration.

Piper, who was flanked to the girl's left side, reached forward to grab a few napkins from the dispenser positioned in the middle of the table. Dabbing under her eyes, she sniffled as she nodded her head in silent agreement.

Alex looked around the table into the faces of her newly acquired drinking companions before her eyes landed on the subtle scowl of Larry. Taking in his perturbed appearance, she managed to successfully suppress the growing need to grin. She and Piper had been sitting with the couple, as well as the blonde's friend Nicky, who had joined shortly after for well over an hour. Alex had been sharing endlessly, stories of how she had been with 'Doctor's without Boarders' for a few years and had travelled the world in the hope of curing various diseases.

"Well, I don't do it for admiration. I do it to save lives." Alex responded seriously with a nod of her head.

Larry eyed the brunette suspiciously as he straightened in his seat with purpose. "So, How long did you two say you've been together?" he asked while simultaneously narrowing his eyes in question.

Piper looked to Alex quickly as she squirmed in her seat. "A couple of months." She mumbled nervously as she hadn't thought to sort the details of this charade she had been working.

Alex reached over, tangling her fingers with those of the blonde as she smiled adoringly at the girl. "Two of the best months of my life." She husked, bringing the blonde's hand to her lips, laying a soft kiss on top, earning a smile from the blonde in response.

Rolling his eyes in turn, Larry finished his drink with a final swig before slamming the glass back onto the table top. Reaching into his pocket, he fished out a few bills, lazily throwing them onto the table beside his empty glass. Turning to Polly, he slapped on a superficial smile as he wrapped an arm around her. "Honey, we should probably get going." He murmured gently as his eyes jumped over to his blonde ex-girlfriend subtly scoffed, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Okay, sure." Polly smiled softly in response before turning to the other three awkwardly watching the interaction. "It was good seeing you guys. Pipes, I am so happy for you; Alex is truly amazing." She smiled almost dreamily towards the taller brunette before standing to gather her belongings.

Alex smiled in silent thanks as the two circled the table to make their departure.

Huffing slightly, Larry extended his hand offering it to the woman who suddenly wrapped her arm possessively around his ex as he grew nearer. "Yeah, it was a real pleasure."

Taking the offered hand in a firm grip, Alex husked with a knowing smirk. "Likewise."

Holding the woman's hand in his own for a moment as he silently appraised her, he smirked before turning on his heel with Polly trailing not far behind. The three women gazed after the retreating couple, their eyes never leaving their forms until they stepped through the old, mahogany doors of the bar. Finally, they looked at each other for a moment of silence before breaking out into full blown laughter.

"Holy shit, that was epic." Nicky laughed as she scooted over to the comfortable plush booth previously occupied by the vacant couple, dragging her pint of beer along the table top to accompany her. Alex retracted her arm from around the blonde with a chuckle, shifting one seat over.

Piper looked skyward as she laughed. Shaking her head in disbelief that this stranger had turned her night around completely, she looked over to the girl with a wide smile showing off her impossibly white teeth. "Alex, thank you so much."

"No problem, kid." Alex smiled warmly before lifting her own beer to her lips, taking a healthy dose.

"Yeah, Vause; can I call you Vause?" Nicky paused for a beat before continuing to animatedly speak. "That was amazing."

"I aim to please." Alex responded with a chuckle as she lowered her glass down gently on the table top.

"You're not really a doctor, are you?" Nicky narrowed her eyes as she smirked

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Alex laughed before shaking her head; Nicky's booming laughter followed closely behind

"Yeah, I kind of figured after you claimed to have cured the disease showcased on 'half man-half tree'" Piper grinned. "Luckily for you, they're simple folk."

"I can't believe you've seen that documentary." Alex exclaimed with a laugh

"I think we're the only two people in the world that have seen that documentary." Piper laughed as she shoved the taller girl playfully. Punctuating her laughter with a slight snort, Piper calmed before she squinted her eyes in question. "What do you really do, Alex?" she asked as she ran the tip of her finger around the rim of the pint glass in front of her absentmindedly.

"I'm a writer, actually." Alex smiled softly as her eyes followed the movements of the blonde's fingers. "I write for the Times; we're doing a fluffy piece on the fifty greatest small towns in America for the travel section." The brunette finished with false enthusiasm.

Nicky and Piper shared a look before breaking out into laughter, thoroughly confusing the onyx haired girl.

"What?" she asked self-consciously, albeit with a growing grin unfurling at the two girls

"Larry is a "writer" too, Vause." Nicky quoted the word as she continued to snicker. "I use the term loosely. He's more of a slacker who occasionally writes a sentence or two every couple of months." Nicky looked to Piper for confirmation as she spoke

"Yeah, I think he was pretty close to completing a paragraph while we were together." The blonde quipped deadpanned before turning to signal Lorna to bring another round of shots over

Nicky snorted a laugh at the blonde as she turned back to Alex. "Yeah, anyway; I'm pretty sure that would have driven him crazier than you pretending to be a Doctor."

"Shit." Alex hissed with a snap of her fingers. "You mean I missed my chance to really stick it to him? Oh well.." the brunette trailed off with a smile. Raising her eyes to meet the cerulean orbs of the blonde, she shook her head incredulously. "You dated that guy? Seriously?"

"Hey," the blonde snapped playfully as she moved back slightly to make room for Lorna, who was currently dropping another round of tequila onto their table, distributing them amongst the three women. "You don't choose who you love. I happen to love an underachieving, underemployed jew-boy."

Nicky leaned forward on her elbows, sliding her beer away from her as a precaution. "Did you just say love? As in present tense?" Nicky asked with an unnerving calm timbre in her voice

Piper looked into the honey brown eyes of her friend shamefully for a moment, before shrugging with a renewed sense of confidence. "I'm going to get him back, Nicky." She spoke determinedly

"Oh, sweet jesus…" Nicky groaned as she lowered her forehead to the tabletop, gently bobbing it up and down, repeatedly smacking it. "Why?" Nicky asked exasperatedly as she finally raised her head.

"Because, Nicky! Didn't you see his reaction when he saw that I was with someone?" Piper asked, somewhat distractedly as she tilted the salt shaker over the top of her moistened hand. "He was obviously jealous." She finished with a shrug before licking the salt and throwing the shot back.

"Okay, listen to me very carefully, Piper." Nicky said in all seriousness as she reached forward, taking the lime from the girl's hand to rid of her of the distraction. "You're plotting to win back a guy who has no job nor ambition, can't hold an erection-"

"That was one time!" Piper shrieked wide eyed as she looked to Alex, who had almost spit the contents of her mouth all over the table with a snort.

"Uh huh." Nicky nodded dismissively as she leaned back further into the booth, crossing her arms over her chest. "He cheated on you with your best friend."

Alex finally managed to swallow the contents before grabbing her slice of lime, slowly bringing it to her lips. She had heard this, albeit brief story already when she had consoled Piper in the washroom not hours ago. However, hearing the disgust in Nicky's voice, matched with the defeated look crossing the blonde's features, she suddenly felt irrationally angry at the man she had just met. Deciding that the slice of lime was finally spent, she lowered it to the table as she wiped her fingers lazily with a cocktail napkin.

"Piper, you're sure this is what you want." Alex treaded lightly. She still had a difficult time wrapping her head around the fact that the beautiful, warm, and intelligently witty blonde could still be in love with a doughnut like Larry.

"Yeah, I-" The blonde stumbled before glancing in Nicky's direction "Nicky only told you half of what actually happened. I mean, I wasn't that easy to please, and I was never here. He felt neglected, I mean-"

"Ugh, Chapman; give me a break." Nicky mumbled with a shake of her head in disapproval.

"Okay." Alex nodded slowly as she took in the chatter

Piper snatched her slice of lime back greedily from her friends fingers before raising it to her lips, taking a healthy bite into the acidic fruit. "Okay what?" Piper mumbled as she continued to nibble away

"I'm going to help you." Alex responded with a ghost of a grin crossing her features as she crossed her arms in quiet challenge, leaning back bonelessly into her chair.

Nicky huffed in annoyance as she tore the cocktail napkin in her hands into several pieces. Dropping it suddenly to the table top, she locked her eyes on the tall brunette. "What are you doing, huh? Don't encourage her."

"It's up to Piper, Nichols." Pausing, the brunette let a sly grin flit across her lips. "Can I call you Nichols?"

"No, Nicky this is perfect." Piper exclaimed as she dropped the lime excitedly to the table.

"What is perfect? Pretending you two are playing house to win back your dead-beat boyfriend?" Nicky scowled slightly. The girl had seen the emotional impact the Larry situation had on her best friend. She was there when the late night, drunken phone calls poured in; when the blonde had literally cried on her shoulder. It had seemed that the girl was finally taking a turn for the better; however, one brief interaction with Larry had pulled her back onto the emotional chaos-train.

"Nicky, I know this is ridiculous but," Piper threw on her best doe-eyed, pouted lip expression as she scooted closer to her friend, grasping her hand in her own. "I need you to support my bat-shit crazy ex-girlfriend behavior; limited to but not excluding light stalking." She grinned before rolling her eyes. "It's girl code, Nicky." She finished with a soft smile as she tugged on the strawberry-blonde girl's hand playfully to coax the girl into agreement.

Looking down onto their interlocked fingers, Nicky sighed deeply before ticking her eyes to Alex. "I hate that code." She mumbled

Squealing, the blonde jumped out of her chair to throw her arms around her friend's neck, slapping a very drunken wet kiss onto the girl's cheek. Laughing in response, Nicky playfully shoved her away.

"Okay, save it for the good doctor." She chuckled, shooting a wink towards the brunette.

Piper, suddenly remembering her savior's presence, flung herself towards the brunette as she layed an equally sloppy kiss onto her cheek as well. "Thank you, thank you." She whispered by her ear before pulling away with a manically wide smile. "I'm going to call Polly and ask her if they're free tomorrow. I'm thinking bowling; or maybe roller skating." Piper rambled as she searched her purse for her phone. Finally grasping the device, she tugged it out before smiling at the two girl's seated quietly at the table. "I'll be right back; yay!" she cheered as she stood, making her way outside of the noisy bar.

"Yay!" Alex called after her with a grin. Turning to Nicky, she locked eyes with her as the girl looked at her expectantly.

"What's your angle?" Nicky all but whispered as she leaned her weight onto her elbows, effectively bringing her closer to the taller girl.

"Nothing." Alex shrugged innocently with a grin as she lifted her beer to her lips

Earning a knowing smirk in response, Alex swished the contents of her mouth around once or twice before swallowing slowly, returning her glass to the table top. Chuckling at the girl's commitment of not once breaking intense eye contact with her, she lowered her eyes as she batted the discarded slice of lime around with her index finger. "Okay, I may have an angle." She conceded

"and water is wet." Nicky replied deadpanned as she leaned, if at all possible, even closer to the girl. "Spill."

"What if, hypothetically of course…" The brunette began

"Of course." Nicky jumped in with a grin

"Someone makes her realize, through the art of wooing…"

"A lost art, sadly." Nicky cut in once again as they shared a grin

"That she deserves better; someone actually worthy of her." The brunette added thoughtfully as she managed to flick the slice of lime onto the floor, effectively shattering her concentration.

"And that someone is you?" Nicky asked with her brows raised almost to her hairline.

"Could be." Alex mumbled as she shifted her glasses on her face before settling them back onto her nose.

Nicky smiled genuinely as she threw her honey brown eyes around the crowded bar looking for nothing in particular. Snapping her gaze to the entrance of the bar, she noticed Piper walk back inside through the heavy door, making her way over to the bar. Nicky observed as the girl had a slight bounce in her step that had been vacant for some time. She held her gaze onto the blonde as she talked excitedly with Lorna as she poured a draught through the tap and into the pitcher.

Blinking her heavy lashes slowly, she smirked as she turned her gaze back onto the brunette seated across from her. "Okay." She said simply

"Okay what?" Alex questioned confusedly as she paused in her attempt to reach for her glass.

"I'm going to help you." Nicky grinned

Alex laughed whole-heartedly as she stood, wrapping her arms around the strawberry-blonde's neck as Piper mimicking Piper as she layed a kiss on her cheek. Laughing as she was pushed back to away from the girl, Alex threw a look over her shoulder to the blonde leaning against the bar before turning back to Nicky with a ghost of a smile.

"Think it will work?" She questioned warily as she grabbed the pint of beer. "She seems pretty smitten with that loser."

"Don't worry, Doc. It will all work itself out." Nicky responded, bringing her glass to her lips. Pausing, she let the glass hover in front of her. "If you fuck up however, I will kill you." She murmured seriously before throwing the rest of the glass' contents back.

"You're a good friend, Nicky." Alex grinned

Shrugging, Nicky swallowed her drink as she simultaneously wiped the back of her hand messily across her lips. "I blame girl code."