Let's compare commitment issues. I bet I'll win. I have this story to prove it!

She's been walking the busy streets of New York for God knows how long, aimlessly allowing the freedom to seep through every one of her pores. Still, years later, it all seems so new to her. Alex has been trying to find herself in a world where drugs were not an option. Her experiences in prison changed her. She felt like there were new bones forming inside her from every memory, shifting in positions that forced her to take on a new skeleton; to be a new person.

She always felt like an island. Like Alcatraz. No one ever wanted to visit, no one ever wanted to stay, but her conditions are changing. Learning to live, not only to survive. Maybe willing for people to visit, maybe even stay.

Going to AA meeting after her release made her realize how she wanted to help others. So, she began volunteering, took a few courses and managed a certificate in drug abuse counseling. Just today she heard back after her interview last week, she got the job with the organization she had been volunteering for and wanted to celebrate. She hears a loud chime as she's walking and looks up. Coffee! Quickly, she pulls out her phone and sends a message continuing to enjoy her.

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They're in too deep now. The pottery class was probably the last place she would have wanted to end up, but it wasn't her turn to pick and this seems like the most normal thing she will have a chance to do. She hears the buzzing noise of her phone go off at the edge of the table and Piper eyes it closely, "My money's on it falling" she hears the blonde say, and she's fighting the urge to give in and grab it, knowing well enough that her hands are a mess. "I have no money so, there's that!"

"I told you it would be fun! Now, you can check it off your list!"

"Thanks, Martha Stewart."

Liz checks her phone and to her surprise, it was the message she had been waiting for. "Finally!" and it slips out, disturbing Piper's train of thought as she's finishing cleaning up, "What?" She walks over to the younger girl and throws her bunched-up paper towel. Liz, deflecting it, begins to adjust her sweater, "Nothing, just some info I was waiting on. I have to go"

She's bolting past the door and Piper's left with an okay staggered on her lips. She remembers when she hated loneliness, but she has been filling herself with all things Liz. She bought a few parenting books and read blogs about dealing with teenagers. Becoming a mom was never on her priority list, it probably never really cracked her top 50. However, things changed with the arrival of the young brunette in her life. Liz told her about her journey in foster care and the horrid people she encountered. This made her want to find stability, seek maturity for the sake of the teen. Fragments of an idea began to surface in her mind every day, but she couldn't bring herself to fully form it, to say it without figuring out her issues first. Then, research. Lots and lots of research. Perhaps, if Liz agreed, they can piece it together.

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"I got you hot chocolate because I don't think you need any added energy, kid," she says, her voice has a pep in the rasp that she can get used to. She can see that mocking smirk from behind the book Essays in Love. The brunette's smile is filled with pride.

They manage to spend a few hours in the bookstore/coffee shop. They talk about Liz's life and Alex sees a familiarity in her eyes, that sense of drowning that she once felt, from when she was a child. They quickly bond over the loss of their mothers and a rope of abandonment lassos their bond tightly. We can all remember a moment when something begins; this is the moment they'll both remember.

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Liz spends her Summer vacation juggling between Alex and Piper. The way she diverts any attention to what she does when they both ask, she doesn't do it on purpose. Not completely at first, but when Alex tells her about the love of her life, she knows that it's best to keep it to herself. It's not time for them, yet she thinks, every time guilt seeps through. But it's so easy for her to fall into these friendships. She can see how they would compliment one another. Not yet, not yet.

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"I never had a game console. I don't think I'll ever have a foster family that will care enough to get me one, but it seems interesting to play something you're not" she kicks a tennis ball as they walk past the busier part of the park.

"You're in high school! You don't need a fucking game for that. That my friend, is the game of life" she leaves her mouth hung open with amusement. Liz laughs and it's pretty much all Alex can do to deflect the young girl from feeling inferior to other kids her age. She knows that feeling too damn well. She pushes her glasses to the top of her head, "want to do something better than playing a stupid game?"

"Sure"

….

"Woah! Are you a billionaire and you didn't even care to tell me?"

"Nope, I have savings, but I have a friend and she has the means for this"

It was the first time she had ever been in a helicopter. She was amazed at how much Alex knew; that was her second favorite part, but the way everything looks from up there was the greatest. She sees a message from Piper after she missed two of her calls and realizes she has been waiting this out too long. It's time. She replies too high, can't pick up. talk later.

They get off and Liz thanks her for an amazing experience. Alex walks away with a sense of accomplishment. Her phone chimes and she laughs hysterically at the message, who are you impressing, Vause?

She should have seen this coming.

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Too high? What did she mean too high? It worries her, but she had no right to question her, or reprimand her for anything. Her thoughts are going wild and she shakes off this naggy Carol shtick she's pulling when she spends time with Liz.

Two days. A whole two days for the young blue-eyed girl to set this up. Never has she been a planner, she wasn't going to start today. The older brunette had offered to show her around her job and she jumped on the idea. Perfect timing! If she got Alex to agree to meet her at this address and Piper agreed to have her and her friend over to calm her nerves about whatever crazy momma bear fit she was having, the rest would be easy. Right?

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"Stop pacing. Why are you so anxious?" Piper was spent; an entire day of cleaning up her worn-down apartment. Her hair was up in a messy bun, sweats that were her "comfy clothes."

"Can you just go change! You can't be in sweats. Please, you'll thank me!" Liz pleads one last time and finally the blonde huffs and makes her way to her room. Moments later she returns in a cardigan, jeans and her leather boots. "And you smell good….aaaand you put makeup on. Now, this is perfect," she says as she waves her hands toward Piper as in presenting a gift.

She sees an eye roll and before the woman can ask, Liz takes command, "Look, my friend agreed to meet me here because she invited me to a work thing and it's not too far. She doesn't even know she's meeting you. She probably figures it's my place."

They're in the middle of a staring contest. Piper sense something's off, but she's getting no answers from her. Just then there's a knock on the door and Liz begins to make her way, but Piper cuts her off and opens the door. This is already not going the way the young blonde pictured it. Piper swings the door open and lets out a stifled gasp.

"What the fuck? Piper? Liz?" It sounds raspy, but foreign to both Liz and Piper. Liz appears in Alex's sight, just feet behind Piper and those emerald eyes are fuming. Piper, reacts.

"Liz?" She turns back, there's this sense of anguish as she's looking from her to Alex and Liz can't quite figure it out. "What work thing? Alex! Alex! No, you can't do that to her."

"Piper, wha-" It hits her just like that and Liz follows, they know what's running through Piper's mind. Too high. Work thing and Liz is panicking.

"Fuck you, Piper! I'm not in that business anymore. I would-" She turns to Liz almost ashamed, her rage quickly faltering if only to clarify, "I would never use you as a mule, you're a kid. She's a kid, Piper!" Her voice cracks and there's hurt when she looks at them.

Piper tries to calm herself down, thinking a mile a second, "Then?"

"Don't play that with me. This is fucking new, even for you. Using a kid to trick me. No, I expect shit like this from you," she drags her eyes behind Piper, they're glassy now and Liz can't help be stunned at this entire scenario and begins to weep, Alex continues, "but you? Why would you do this to me? I never hurt you, why would you let her drag you into this?"

They stand there. No one says a word. And Alex avoids staring at Piper for too long. She's trembling, every fiber in her body is singing Piper's name, but she's not a toy. She can't play this game with them.

Both the older woman and the young girl are startled by the slamming of the door. Just like that, the brunette is gone.

"Piper, I'm sorry. I thought-"

"Neither of us knew?" Liz shakes her head timidly. This is the smallest she's ever looked and Piper can't be angry at her. "It's okay, I'll fix this. Just stay right here."

And then there was one.

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Her heart is pumping, running down the steps for what felt like an eternity. She doesn't know what she'll say. She can't even put it in perspective that this is Alex who she's chasing after. It's all too familiar, funny, in a sadistic life really does like fucking with us type of way. Yet she needs to fix this, for Liz.

The door to the apartment swings open, no one in sight. Piper looks in every which way, her eyes finding their mark. Leaning against the wall, her arm supporting the weight of her body, as she gets closer she can hear her heaving.

"Al-ex" she has trouble saying it. It's been too long since that name has been caught in her throat, burning there, so that when she speaks, ashes of "Alex" drape over every syllable that leaves her mouth. Almost reaching to tap her shoulder, she stops afraid in that instant. Her body could combust and then what would happen to Liz?

"With all do respect, Pipes, fuck off….please"

"With all do respect, No."

She turns around, but her eyes are shut tight, Piper proceeds with her objective, "I didn't know. She had good intentions, but Liz doesn't get the history. I would never. SHE would never. If you know her, you'll know that."

As to punctuate Piper's sentence, emerald eyes make their appearance. They're staring in complete silence, but Alex is trying to read her. Whatever plan she had was quickly dissolving.

"You left her a mess up there."

"I can't do this. With you. With her and you." Her words are trying to convince her own being, but she tries hard to sound certain, she knows Piper.

"I'm not involved in this. Leave me out of that equation. It's you and her, only. I just want to tell you that she's young and broken. People walk out on her so often, she expects it. You know that feeling. Now, I'm in. Like all in. I can'-I won't leave her, but if you even have the slightest doubt, then do it. Walk away right now because any pieces left of her to put back together will be gone if you teeter and leave her later."

"And I'm sorry. I assumed the worst in you and it wasn't right."

Her mouth is unable to allow her words to come out. This is a Piper she has yet to know. Same form, different being. Her eyebrows furrow as Piper pivots on one foot and begins to make her way into the building.

"What if I fuck up? What if we fuck up, classic Vauseman style?" It bothers her that she sounds like she's pleading for her attention, but she shouts it anyway hoping to reach her. To stop her.

"This isn't about us."

The cold bites at her, or maybe it's the loneliness, or maybe it's the blonde's words.

Maybe it's the realization that there isn't an us to argue about.

Yeah. I needed to move things along or else I'd stare at the draft for another year. Let me know what you think.