Howdy! Since it's been a little while, this one's a longer one! Enjoy and please review :) I always love reading your thoughts :)

Piper busied herself in the kitchen making the chicken pasta. She decided on broccoli as a side and hoped Alex liked it. She couldn't seem to drag her thoughts away from what might be bothering the brunette. Considering she had only known Alex a short time, she felt like she had known her for her whole life. Piper was snapped out of her thoughts by a raspy voice.

"Hey…"

"Hey, I'm just dishing out the Pasta… I made broccoli to go with it."

"Thanks."

Piper and Alex began eating in silence. It wasn't uncomfortable, both were too absorbed in their own thoughts.

"Alex…"

Alex looked up from her food. Piper noted how sexy she looked, her expectant green eyes peering over the top of her glasses, looking directly into her own.

"Yeah?"

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Pipes. I just needed some time earlier. Don't worry about it."

A surge of disappointment flooded Piper's system that Alex didn't want to confide in her. She knew her feeling was unfounded and quickly pushed it aside, continuing to eat her Pasta.

"I'm going to have a few appointments tomorrow but feel free to make yourself at home while I work.."

"Thanks…"

Alex was unusually quiet and Piper decided to ask her a little about herself to see if she could find out anymore about this mysterious woman sitting in her kitchen.

"Are you really a dentist?"

Alex looked up at Piper, a smirk plastered on her face.

"Yeah, I am. Why?"

"Oh, I just wondered. So where do you work?" Piper asked, blushing under Alex's smirk.

"In a dental hospital…"

Alex raised her eyebrow and Piper sighed. "I'm just trying to find out more about you, Alex. Tell me some facts about yourself?"

Alex was grinning now, she knew Piper was trying to dig to see what the deal was but she wasn't ready to tell just yet. Somewhat hypocritically, she wanted to find out more about Piper before she opened up to her.

"I'm 28, My hair isn't naturally black and I can barely see without my glasses."

"Well, that's a start." Piper flashed her a smile and Alex was sure her heart stopped for a moment.

She didn't know what was happening to her but she felt like Piper was breaking down all her walls already. Her beautiful pearly white, perfectly straight smile, melted her heart and her scent was something Alex savoured whenever Piper walked past her.

"Piper, if I have outstayed my welcome I can leave… I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, I know we don't know much about each other."

"Alex, seriously, its fine, I've told you, just stay here until you figure out whatever it is you are figuring out. Plus, I kinda like the company. This house gets really quiet and it bothers me sometimes, it's nice having someone to talk to."

Piper looked down shyly at this admission. She knew she felt something for Alex but she didn't want to make herself too obvious. She didn't know what Alex was even doing here. Did she have kids? A husband? The thought made Piper shiver. She didn't want Alex to be with anyone. She liked having her in the house and it wouldn't feel right without her now.

She decided to busy herself with washing the pots. Aware that Alex was watching her every move.

"I'm gonna go take a shower, ok?"

Piper just slightly nodded her head as she heard Alex's chair scrape across the floor and then her footsteps trail away down the hall. She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding and then padded to her own bedroom. She was just about to tell Alex she had forgotten to give her a towel when she noticed the door to the bathroom was slightly open. She cursed as she remembered she was meant to get her dad to come over and fix the handle. Sometimes the door handle would stick so when you locked it, it didn't work and the entire door was just free to open. Piper was about to retreat back down the hall when she caught sight of Alex standing in the shower with her back to her, her head . The shower glass had steamed making it hard for Piper to actually see much but what she was seeing she was mesmerized by. She stood looking for a while and just as Alex turned around, her phone rang loudly in her pocket. Piper jumped out of her skin and Alex's head snapped up, the sound ringing out through the bathroom. Piper had already darted down the hall to answer it, hoping to god Alex hadn't seen her through the crack in the bathroom door. She took a few calming breaths before answering her phone. It was her mother.

"Hi dear, I'm just calling to tell you that your father and I are planning to stop by at the weekend if you are free."

"Yes, Mom. Oh, before I forget, could daddy bring his tools over to fix my bathroom door? The handle is still not working properly."

"Yes, Piper. See, If you had a husband you wouldn't need daddy to come over and fix it."

Piper sighed at her mother's words and zoned out slightly.

Alex didn't know what was going on, she was sure she had shut the door and locked it when she went into the bathroom but the minute the phone rang out and she saw movement at the door, she knew it was Piper and was wondering why the door was now open. Her mind raced with the thought that Piper could have actually been looking in at her. Was Piper straight? Alex's head was a total mess. She didn't want to mess up her chances of staying with Piper and not having to go home. She didn't want to face going back home now but she knew if she ended up having to leave Piper's house, she would inevitably have to return home.

She wrapped a towel around herself and she could hear Piper on the phone to someone. She heard her asking if her dad could fix the bathroom door and a pang of disappointment shot through her at the thought Piper was merely trying to close the door for her. Part of her wanted Piper to be peeking through the door at her. She shook her head and changed into some shorts and a tank top and walked into the lounge where Piper was finishing up her phone call. The blonde wouldn't meet her eye, casting her gaze down on the floor, her cheeks somewhat blushed.

Alex smirked at this. Maybe she hadn't been closing the door after all.

"So what was going on back there?"

"Back where?" Piper decided to play ignorant, not knowing how to deal with the situation she had found herself in.

"The bathroom… what's wrong with the door? I was sure I had closed it when I went in there."

"Yeah, uh, its broken. I forgot. Since there's never usually anyone here, I usually just leave the door open anyway, so I wasn't in a hurry to get it fixed. Sometimes it closes and sometimes the lock sticks back and it doesn't even close. I was just, uh, going to try to close the door, and, um, that's when my mom rang."

"Oh! And here's me thinking you were checking me out!" Alex laughed and Piper somewhat half laughed along.

"Piper, come on. Don't be shy. We're both girls. I mean, Thank god. I don't deal with the male species. Yuk!" Alex screwed her face up.

"What do you mea- oh!" Piper's eyes went wide as she realized what Alex was saying.

Piper quickly gathered herself. She could feel herself becoming more and more flustered as this conversation went on. There was a part of her that was ecstatic that Alex was only attracted to girls and another part of her that was now incredibly nervous, thinking about all that could potentially happen between them. She didn't know why she was even thinking that. Just because Alex likes women doesn't mean she would be attracted to Piper.

Upon seeing Piper's mind going a million miles per hour, Alex decided it was time for her to head to bed and let Piper deal with the information overnight.

"Well, I guess I'm going to go to bed now. Hopefully the door closes or you'll have to watch me drooling on the pillow."

Alex laughed, filled a glass with water and padded to the bedroom with a smirk on her face. Knowing she had planted a seed of thought in Piper's mind.

Piper's brain was in overdrive. She was so tired of thinking and trying to figure out exactly what was going on between her and Alex. She didn't even know the woman but she couldn't shake the feeling that something big was going on between them. It's like Alex had been dropped into her life by that storm. She knew she wasn't going to get much sleep that night but decided to go to bed anyway, her day was full of appointments tomorrow and she knew she had to be focused with them.

Alex walked into the kitchen the next morning, still feeling sleepy. She stopped in her tracks and her eyes almost bulged out of her head as she took in the sight in front of her. Piper was sitting at the table, her hair pulled back into a low bun, a cream fitted shirt with ¾ sleeves and a navy blue pencil skirt that ended at her knees. Her stiletto heels were sitting in front of her and she was munching on a slice of toast as she read the morning paper. She looked up as she heard Alex enter the room.

"Good morning, Here, I made toast. There's orange juice in the jug." Piper exclaimed, inwardly smirking to herself as she saw Alex's eyes trawl over her.

"Thanks, I'll grab something in a little bit. Hey, I was going to suggest I fix some stuff around the house while you are working. I'm pretty handy. My mom was pretty hopeless with stuff so I had to learn and I picked up quite a lot of handy tips and tricks. If you would let me maintain the place, I could help you decorate it like you were planning.."

Alex shifted her glasses on her face, nervously. She knew there was a chance that Piper would ask about her upbringing and her mom and it wasn't a subject she was ready to cover.

Piper had seen the look on Alex's face when she had mentioned her Mom. It was like it caused her physical pain to say the word and Piper instinctively knew she shouldn't mention it.

"Yeah, I think that sounds like a great idea, Al! I'll leave my purse on the side, just go grab supplies from the shop if you need them. I'll just be out back if you need me. Otherwise I'll be done around 4ish, then we can discuss dinner."

"Ok, Laters Pipes."

Alex couldn't help but check Piper out as she walked from the room, her heels making her calf muscles prominent.

She bit into a piece of toast, blissfully aware that mealtimes were becoming somewhat of a "thing" for them. It always seemed like they would have their own little chats or revelations over a meal. Alex decided she was going to call to the hardware store down the street and grab some stuff to fix the lock on the door, then she was going to start sanding and painting the windows at the front of the house. She didn't know whether this would be crossing the line but the windows looked worse for wear and she decided it would be one job less that Piper would have to tackle.

As she crossed the street to the hardware store, she couldn't help but bask in the sunshine. She felt happier than she had done in months. The only thing that was weighing her down was knowing that Nicky must be completely out of her mind with worry. She decided to use a payphone and call her to let her know she is ok.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Nick, It's me. I haven't got long but I just wante-"

"Vause? WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU? I THOUGHT YOUR ASS WAS DEAD. YOU NEED TO COME HOME NOW. I'M ONLY JUST KEEPING YOUR JOB HERE AND YOUR HOUSE."

Nicky was on a rant, yelling down the phone at Alex who had now removed the phone from her ear and was holding it away from herself.

"NICKY, just wait a minute. I don't have long. I just wanted to tell you to stop worrying I'm ok. I'm not ready to deal with anything at the moment. I'm staying at a friend's house. Don't worry."

Alex hung up the phone, breathed out and walked out of the phone box. She felt oddly relieved that Nicky knew she was ok but a surge of guilt washed over her as she realised Nicky was struggling to keep up with the excuses for her at work. She was in demand enough that they wouldn't fire her easily but she knew there was only so much they would take before they replaced her. What she hadn't told Piper was that she had just gotten paid her monthly wage from the dental hospital and she was making all these repairs with her own money.

She headed back to the house with the supplies she needed and began the work on the lock. By the time she had the windows half sanded it was 4pm. She didn't see Piper standing in the doorway of the house watching her.

"You didn't have to do the windows you know?"

Alex jumped. "Jesus, Piper. How long have you been standing there?

"Not long! I just finished work. I'm just going to get changed and head out to get some groceries. Do you wanna come?"

"Sure, Let me just wash the paint off my hands."

Alex watched as Piper headed inside, once again mesmerised by her legs and ass.

Piper knew Alex was watching her as she headed in with a smirk on her face.

They got into Piper's car and the radio came on blaring making Piper jump.

"Holy shit, Alex! Could you not have turned that down when you parked up?"

Alex chuckled a little. "oops! Sorry!"

Piper smiled as they drove to the store. Both girls kept stealing glances at each other while the other wasn't looking.

They strolled around the grocery store. Piper humming quietly to herself and throwing groceries haphazardly in the cart.

"Hey, do you want to go to the movies tonight?"

Alex was taken off guard by this. She hadn't been to the movies since she was a teenager and the thought of having to sit next to Piper and focus on something other than her was going to be a hard task but she decided it would be worth it if she got to spend more time with Alex.

"Sure, we could share a popcorn."

Alex had taken the car back into town when Piper was putting the groceries away so she could buy some clothes and makeup to go out in. She'd been washing and re wearing the same two outfits the entire time she had been staying with Piper. She bought herself a new pair of dark jeans and a low cut black top that made her cleavage look awesome. She went back to Piper's to get ready, leaving her long black locks hanging down around her shoulders and made an effort with her makeup. She walked out just as Piper was coming out of her room and they both stood gawking at each other. Piper knew Alex was hot but she had only ever seen her in the same two casual outfits and no makeup. Her mouth hung open as she took in the scene before her. She studied her face, her eyes looked even more green beneath the winged eyeliner. Her gaze dropped to the top she was wearing and how nice her boobs looked in it.

"See something you like?" Alex chuckled. She too, liked what she saw. Piper was wearing a light coloured shirt and a pair of light coloured jeans, her hair was loose and wavy and her makeup was light. She looked angelic but in a hot kind of way. Alex laughed at the bright red blush that crept over Piper's face as she realised she had been caught staring at Alex's cleavage.

"Uh, I, no, well yeah, um, uh…" Piper was struggling to come up with an excuse to justify herself. Alex walked past her chuckling before she got a chance.

"Come on, kid, anymore of that staring and we'll miss the movie."

Piper followed her, a sly smile on her blushed face.

This was going to be a good night, Alex thought.

"Jesus, Piper, how much do you eat?" Alex said as she tried to shuffle into her seat with all of the food they had just bought. Piper had insisted that they buy two hotdogs, a supersize bucket of popcorn, two packets of chips and a supersize lemonade. Alex had only wanted a small popcorn and a bar of chocolate. She had decided against the chocolate when she had seen how much food Piper was accumulating.

"I like choices! I change my mind too easy and I don't want to have to go out and order more during the movie!" Piper exclaimed.

Alex just laughed. She had bargained with Piper that if she got to buy all that food, Alex was going to choose the movie. She had purposely chosen a horror in the hopes that Piper would need protecting. She knew it was a long shot but she was sure there was something between them and needed to check to make sure she wasn't making it up in her head.

Piper was flabbergasted at her movie choice but a deal was a deal so she went along with it.

Midway through the film, Piper was peeking from behind her hands, her knees were bent up towards her chest protectively and Alex couldn't help but chuckle at her. Alex decided it was now or never, her heart was racing. She knew if she had misread this she could end up having to go home. She moved the popcorn bucket from between them and sat it on the floor, she lifted the armrest up and grabbed hold of Piper, dragging her over to herself and draping her arm around her. Piper removed her hands from her face and looked shocked for a moment before relaxing into Alex, smiling to herself at how natural it felt. She didn't know exactly what was going on between her and Alex but she knew she had feelings for her and was happy to explore them. She had been with girls in college, Polly wasn't lying when she had asked Piper about it. Alex was different though, she felt like she could see into her soul and it scared her a little at how intense it was.

The movie finished and both girls travelled home in silence, both thinking about what had just happened and what would come next. Alex moved her hand over Piper's on the gear shift and Piper felt her heart race at the gesture. Her stomach was filled with butterflies but neither of them said anything.

They entered the house and Piper hung her coat on the peg. Piper didn't know what to expect. She didn't know where the line was in this situation. She didn't want Alex to feel uncomfortable staying here.

"So..." Alex muttered as they stood in silence.

"So…" Piper said as she shuffled on her feet with nervous anticipation. She suddenly seemed hyper aware that she was alone with Alex.

Alex took a step closer to Piper and leant in to her ear.

"Thanks for going to the cinema with me, Pipes, It's been amazing." She breathed onto Piper's skin and Piper visibly shivered.

Then Piper did something that shocked them both. She turned her head so that their faces were centimetres apart.

Alex closed the gap and suddenly lips were gently brushing against each other.