A/N: Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews, especially you I3VauseMan you really made me smile. Sorry this update took a few days, my internet was down.

CHAPTER FOUR

Alex arrived to work over 30 minutes , however, for once, was on time for Alex's shift, she was already sitting at the bar when Alex arrived.

The raven-haired girl threw her wild maned friend a knowing look and a sarcastic eye roll as she walked through the diner's large glass double doors before disappearing into the kitchen.

She emerged two minutes later with a tea towel slung over her shoulder and her usual uniform on.

"Hey Nick, found any hot girls yet?" Alex questioned, leaning over the counter top.

"Nah, no one yet." Nicky seemed unusually down-hearted.

Alex's eyes scanned the diner, there were only three tables occupied, the first held a young family, the mother may well have been pretty if she didn't look so tired and actually wore clothes that fitted. The second table consisted of a group of young girls, seven of them, perhaps thirteen or fourteen in age, six of them appeared to be talking about their boyfriends but the seventh girl reminded Alex of her younger self. She didn't really seem to be engaging in conversation, she just sat at the end of the table facing an empty chair twiddling spaghetti with her fork and every now and again looking up and smiling. For a moment she thought about Elizabeth and how easily that young girl could be her in six or seven years time, she shuddered at the thought. The third table seemed to be acting as a cock blocker as the pair, roughly around Alex and Nicky's age, made out wildly over the table. The guy wore a sweater and seemed like the guy you settle for in your mid thirties because you've had all the adventure you can have. The girl had brown curly locks that hung down to her shoulders and red lips that never seemed to smudge no matter how hard she kissed that guy.

Alex scoffed in disgust before turning her attention to Nicky. "Why so down-hearted kid, you know that the diner is in no place to pick up chicks."

Nicky sighed heavily. "The straight ones always fuck you over, you know."

Alex replied immediately, her quick wit always evident "Straight has never been a problem for me"

Nicky gazed over at the third table again and sighed, that's when Alex realized.

"Hey, Nick, you can't seriously be pining over that girl, you don't even know what she looks like. She could be ugly for all you know."

Nicky didn't take her eyes off of the couple "I saw her when she went to the bathroom before you came in Vause, she is hot."

The raven-haired girl sighed "What happened that steel cage keeping your heart safe eh?"

"I just said she was pretty Vause, it's not like I admitted my undying devotion to her or anything."

That was more like Nicky, sassy and sarcastic.

"Good news Nick, cause there's fresh meat coming through the doors to hell."

The crazy haired girl's eyes snapped straight to the diner's doors where two girls walked in laden down with shopping bags.

Nicky laughed. "I bet you they are both straight Vause, you gonna serve 'em?"

Alex nonchalantly looked over at the pair now seated in the booth and watched as 'perky boobs', as Nicky so kindly nicknamed her, happily skipped over to serve the two girls.

The two girls seemed fairly tired, the blonde specifically. She looked as if her mind was elsewhere as she gazed out of the window, her friend continued talking at her but Alex could tell that she didn't really care for what was being said.

Perky boobs quickly returned with their drinks. The blonde grabbed her drink, thanked the waitress and returned her gaze to the window.

"If they are gay I want the blonde one" Nicky quipped looking slightly perkier than she had five minutes ago. Alex was too involved watching the blonde in the booth to notice that the third table was now clear and the kissy couple were nowhere to be seen.

"No chance." Alex spluttered, "If they are gay then I want the blonde, the other on talks too much. You know how to handle that, I hate the talkers. Plus she seems quiet, I bet you I could make her scream."

"At least I could take her back to my place, offer her a bed instead of the storage closet at the back of the diner."

"Screw you Nicky, you know that's not fair."

"Hey, nothing's fair in this world Vause, plus we don't even know if she is gay or not."

"Well let's make her take the test then." Alex's face lit up.

"Fuck, Vause, you can't just walk straight up to a girl and expect her to take the Kinsey scale test, shit doesn't work that way." Nicky's thick accent was raised to almost a squeal as she recoiled in horror at Alex's proposal. She was all for being up front and everything but this took the mick.

"Not that test, jackass. The cleavage test, it's a little test I created myself, got to entertain myself working here otherwise I'd be bored shitless. I walk over there, offer them a refill, lean purposefully over the table presenting my cleavage, if they look then look away they are probably straight, if they stare, they are probably gay and if they don't look at all they are probably a closeted gay."

Nicky laughed, "Well shit Vause, you've got this all mapped out haven't you?"

Alex nodded her head slowly "Here goes nothing"

Nicky watched, appreciating the genius that was Alex Vause.

Alex grabbed a pot of coffee from the perculator and headed towards the booth. As she arrived at the two women she was surprised to see the pair had switched roles. The blonde was now talking at the other brunette girl and she seemed slightly disinterested as to what her friend had to say. The raven-haired beauty leaned forward, bending at the hips and pushing her arms towards each other purposefully enhancing and flaunting her cleavage. That's when Alex heard it.

"They are broke Polly, I gave the woman the first night free, I felt so sorry for them."

Alex paused. "They can't possibly be talking about my family?" She thought to herself.

"Can I get you a refill?" Alex asked gesturing forward with the coffee pot spout.

"There's three of them, in one tiny apartment Pol." The blonde said, not taking her eyes off of her companion.

"What are the chances that this is that Piper girl, the babysitter?" She thought again.

The blonde glanced up briefly and met her gaze with the waitress. "Yes please." Then she returned her gaze to her friend.

"They are broke Polly, I gave Diane the first night free, I felt so sorry for them. They don't have what we have. The youngest girl, she had secondhand Star Wars sheets."

"What a bitch" Alex thought to herself. She had enough information now to justify the 'accidental' spillage of coffee into this girls lap. She jutted forward slightly, just enough to make it look like she had tripped, throwing fairly warm coffee into the lap of the blonde. She had done this enough times now that it appeared to be a perfected art. She was impressed by her own handiwork.

"Oops." Alex said, her voice laden with sarcastic intonation.

She sauntered back behind the bar with no obvious intention of helping the blonde clean herself up.

"Is the coffee spillage part of the test or was that a happy accident?" Nicky quipped as Alex returned to her usual stance, stood by Nicky, leaning over the bar.

"It looked like an accident?" She questioned "Good."

The raven-haired beauty lifted to a standing position, chest puffed out in a defensive manner as the blonde stepped out of the booth and headed towards her but lucky for Alex the blonde diverted herself and instead headed towards the toilets.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Piper stormed through the doors of the bathroom muttering under her breath "Stupid bitch." The blonde couldn't understand what she had done to deserve this. All she knew was that this was done on purpose by that dark haired bitch behind the bar.

A scruffy haired woman came into the bathroom.

"You okay?" she asked.

It was obvious that she was talking to Piper as there was no one else in the bathroom.

"Yeah I guess." Piper shrugged her shoulders and went back to dabbing her jeans dry with a paper towel.

"Ignore her, she can be a real bitch sometimes but she means well."

"I would never have guessed." Piper replied, a snarky tone in her voice.

"Suit yourself" The frizzy haired girl said holding her hands up, palms facing the sky, shoulders lifted slightly as she turned around and left.

Piper followed shortly after, heading straight to the booth where her friend was sat.

"Let's leave" She commanded, picking up the bags from their place on the cushioned benches.

Polly threw a few notes and a handful of coins onto the counter towards Alex and shot her a glare as she walked away.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Nicky returned from the bathroom and returned to her usual bar stool.

"Yup, she's pissed alright." The frizzy haired girl turned her stool round to face Alex.

"Good, no bitch fucks with my family." Alex replied. She glared over at the girl in the booth, the brunette met her gaze and looked away abruptly.

She tutted when the blonde went storming over to her friend demanding to leave.

"Stroppy bitch." Alex muttered under her breath. Nicky heard.

The brunette threw Alex some notes and coins and a glare.

"If looks could kill..." Nicky began.

"I'd be dead." Alex finished, dragging the money off of the counter and tapping the till wildly.

"Ooh look, I can't be that bad, they even left me a tip." Alex chuckled pocketing the change.

-0-0-0-0-0-

As Piper and Polly returned to Polly's the blonde changed out of her jeans and into a pair of Polly's sweats.

"I'll order food." Polly shouted up as Piper got changed.

"I'll have whatever you're having." she shouted back down.

After the pair ate they sat in Polly's lounge. The room was set out with a corner sofa against two of the four walls, a fireplace on the third and an 80 inch television on the fourth. Polly's parents were out of town but the fire was still lit when they walked in. Piper was confused by this as the fireplace always seemed to hold a roaring fire but no one was ever seen stoking it and as far as Piper could remember the fire was never out.

Polly poured the pair a second glass of wine and they moved from the sofa to the floor. Piper listened to what Polly was saying but she definitely wasn't concentrating properly, once again her mind was back at the diner, still trying to figure out the entire situation.

"Hey Piper, concentrate, the blue wrapping paper is for..." Polly purposefully left a pause in her speech expecting Piper to fill in the blank as she had already explained what each of the colored wrapping papers were for. Piper's face drew a blank. "Clothes Piper, the blue wrapping paper is for clothes. Ugh, do you ever listen to me Piper."

"Uh, sorry Pol." the blonde offered up a less than convincing apology to Polly as she stared into the fireplace.

"You really are away with the fairies tonight aren't you Piper? Why don't you go home and sleep, that business at the diner really fucked you up didn't it. I can wrap these presents by myself, go home in my sweats if you want just bring 'em back tomorrow."

Piper stood up slowly, still not concentrating on what she was doing.

"Sorry Pol." She apologized again as she left the room.

"Don't forget about Pete's birthday party at the weekend, you promised you'd be there."

Piper hummed approvingly before leaving through the front door, she only lived a street away and so she wasn't too fussed that she was walking around in sweats.

When she arrived home her family had returned too. She assumed that Cal and Danny were asleep or at least in their rooms as it was obvious from the moment she walked through the door that her mother was drunk.

"If you weren't fucking sleeping around then we wouldn't have this problem would we?" She slurred.

Piper slammed the front door announcing her arrival, her parents were too caught up in their argument to hear it though.

"I don't know what you're on about Carol, you're the only woman I want."

The whole house stank of alcohol and cigarettes. Piper headed towards the kitchen where the pair were obviously situated. She intended on telling them to shut the hell up, she was going up to bed.

"BULLSHIT!" Carol screamed, Piper was convinced she felt the floor vibrate. That was when the blonde heard a glass smash.

"Shit, better go clean that up before someone gets hurt" She thought to herself, her parents would probably forget to tidy it up as the usual routine went Carol would eventually pass out on the sofa and her dad would probably carry her to bed and the kitchen would be left in disarray.

As she headed into the kitchen she was mortified to find her mother wielding a half broken bottle towards her father. Carol began taking slow steps towards Bill shaking wildly.

Piper stepped into the kitchen and dashed forward into the gap between the pair facing her mother holding her hands up in surrender.

"STOP!" She yelled as her mother tripped forward, legs unable to steady her, she thrust the bottle directly into Piper's hand.

The whole situation was very surreal for Piper and this surrealism was aided by her not feeling pain for a few seconds, it felt like minutes. Carol gasped in horror as she immediately seemed to sober up and took a step back inadvertently ripping the bottle from it's place lodged in Piper's hand, that's when she felt the pain. Searing pain ripped through Piper's entire body weakening her legs and pulling her to the ground. She watched as the blood trickled from each of the four holes in her hand.

"You stupid girl Piper, you shouldn't have gotten in the way!" Scolded Carol. Of course it had to be Piper's fault, was she expecting anything other.

"GO TO BED!" Bill screamed at Carol as he stormed over gripping her harshly by the shoulders and pushing her out into the hallway slamming the kitchen door behind him as he re-entered.

"Are you okay Piper?" he gushed grabbing the first aid kit from the top of the cupboard.

Piper took a sharp intake of breath through her teeth as her dad attempted to tidy up her wound. Once he was done bandaging her he ushered her out of the room.

"Go to bed Piper, I'll clean this mess up." She headed up the stairs as Bill spoke again. "Remember, secrets are best kept Piper, I don't want your brothers knowing about this."

Piper nodded her head knowingly and she continued her way up the stairs and into her bedroom where she took her sweats and bra off one-handed and curled up in bed. Tears rolled from her eyes as she bit her lip hoping to silence her cry, she stayed in the same position until she finally fell asleep.

-0-0-0-0-0-

As Alex's shift finished and she locked up Nicky headed home as she usually did and Alex hopped aboard her rust-bucket and began the trip home with her usual showy wheel spin.

As Alex returned home her mother was still awake.

"Why you still awake mum? You've got work in the morning get to bed.

Diane turned to Alex and let out a meek smile. The younger Vause could sense something was wrong and a stray tear rolled down the older Vause's face.

"Please don't cry mom, what's wrong?" Alex took off her leathers and threw them over to the coat hook behind the door, she missed and the outfit fell to the floor bundling itself up into a little ball, she made a mental note to move them later.

Alex slumped onto the sofa next to Diane and immediately threw her arms around her mother. Diane sniffed loudly and quickly pulled back from Alex's embrace.

"I've lost the job at the bed shop so I won't be going to work tomorrow hun." Diane sniffed again.

"Not a problem mom, don't worry about it, we can survive now that I have this job. Plus you got a pay rise in your other job at Wendy's. "

Diane knew that this was true but she felt like a failure, she didn't want to have to rel on her daughters income but she had to face the fact that she was becoming more and more dependent on the extra money.

Alex headed to the kitchen to look in the fridge, two beers were left over from last night. She grabbed them from the back of the fridge, grabbed the bottle opener from the cutlery draw and opened the bottles. Diane walked over to the counter an sat down on one of the bar stool type chairs. Alex pushed a beer towards her mother.

"Hey mom, I think I met the babysitter today, Piper or whatever her name is."

"Oh yeah darling. What did you think of her? She's nice right?"

"I'm not sure we are talking about the same girl mom, the girl that was at the diner today was talking about us, saying that she felt sorry for us. She was telling her friend that she felt sorry for us and she was talking about Liz's Star Wars sheets!" Alex volume was raising higher and higher along with the pitch of her voice as she spoke.

"People are allowed to talk Alex, she didn't lie or talk crap about us did she?"

"No" Alex admitted looking at the floor. She was almost instantly subdued by her mother."I guess not."

"There you go then, no need to flip your top."

"I still don't like her" Alex began "Can we get a different one, I don't want her talking like that with Elizabeth, making her think that she's less than everyone else."

"We aren't getting rid of her Alex, Elizabeth actually likes this one. In fact, I would probably go so far as to say she was smitten with Piper. She didn't stop talking about her all day. Plus, she's cheap, she halved the price she was asking by half and God knows we need that right now."

Alex couldn't argue with that, if Elizabeth was happy and her mother was happy then she should be happy too, but she couldn't help but shake the thought that Piper was going to be trouble in some way or another.

"I don't want her treating us like a charity case though mom. You aren't going to accept any more free nights no matter how hard she tries though okay mom?"

Diane laughed at her daughter "I won't mom, I promise." Diane joked, she felt strange when the roles were reversed and she was frequently left asking herself who was looking after who. "You'll grow to like her Al."

Alex wasn't convinced "If you say so mom." The younger Vause downed her drink in a very unladylike manner and slammed her bottle down on the counter wiping her mouth with her forearm. "I'm gonna head to bed mom, you should too."

"There you go again Al, I'd like to remind you again that I am the mother. Oh and you'll have to wait with Elizabeth tomorrow for the babysitter as I have an appointment with the bank. She should be coming around half three." Diane's voice got louder and louder as Alex walked further away.

"M'kay" Alex replied before shutting her bedroom door.

Diane tutted and rolled her eyes. "That girl" she muttered under her breath as she hopped off of the stool and headed to her own bedroom.

A/N: I was wondering if there was any characters or references from the show that you would like me to include from here on in. If you PM me with them or leave them in a review I will try my damn best to fit them in. Also, do you think I should make Alex join the cartel or do you guys want me to leave it out? And one final thing, do you want me to change to first person when I am doing the different characters or shall I stay in third person. I can do either although it may help to do first person in later chapters.