"Larry?" Piper says in question as she opens the front door to her apartment.

"I'm in here," she hears a masculine voice come from the kitchen, whereby, once she reaches the room, she sees that her boyfriend is sitting on the kitchen island stool scrolling through his laptop.

"You're back late," Larry comments, not looking away from his screen.

"You left early," the blonde responds sharply, walking to the opposite side of the kitchen island. "How did it go with your apartment?"

"Great!" Larry lightens up. "I was only interested in renting it out, but she's come in with an offer to buy…" he pauses, anticipating Piper's response.

"And what did you say to that?" she asks, crossing over her arms.

"Piper - the offer wasn't just something I could turn down," he attempts to explain.

"So you just decided to go along with it without consulting with me?" she asks in a patronising manner. "Where're you going to live now, because you sure as hell aren't living here with me?"

"That's the thing-" he begins, clearing his throat. "I'm going to move Europe. I mean, I work there, so living there makes sense."

Laughing loudly in a dramatic fashion, Piper shakes her head. "Wow, you're fucking unbelievable."

"Can't you just be happy for me?" Larry raises his voice, obviously unimpressed with how the blonde in front of him is acting. "Think about it: you can come and visit whenever you want. I'll have a dream apartment and have a dream girlfriend."

"Had," Piper interrupts. "You had a dream girlfriend."

"You don't mean that-"

"Fuck yes I do!" Piper shouts, unfolding her arms to use her hands animatedly while she speaks. "This relationship sucks, Larry. You're never here, and quite frankly, it doesn't bother me as much as it should."

"Where is this coming from? You've never mentioned it before."

"Larry just admit it."

"But I love you," the man argues, his eyes glossing over with emotion.

"I'm sorry, but I don't feel the same. I haven't for a while," Piper admits, not wanting to lie to the man.

"So you're just throwing away our relationship."

"Larry - there wasn't really anything to be thrown away to begin with," the blonde huffs out, frustrated at the man before her.

"There's someone else, isn't there?" Larry asks, his tone of voice lowering.

Piper pauses, unsure how to answer. Sure, she hasn't cheated on her boyfriend, but she would be lying to herself if she hadn't thought about doing it with a certain tall brunette whom she finds her mind drifting towards more than it should be.

"No, Larry, there isn't," she voices, quickly deciding to keep her attraction towards Alex away from the man's knowledge for the time being. "I just don't see this working anymore. It isn't even working now, nevermind the fact that you're moving away."

"You always have been a shitty liar," the man comments, standing up from his chair. "Maybe don't hesitate for so long next time," he concludes, storming out of the apartment with his bag of belongings, all the while making sure to slam the front door shut on his way out.

Leaning her arms against the kitchen island while lowering her head, Piper lets out a heavy breath. She'd done what she had intended on doing for quite some time, and although she was certain Larry wouldn't take it so well, she knew that deep down inside they both understood it was for the best.

Despite the fact that it's late in the evening, the blonde grabs a glass, moves to the fridge, and pours herself a glass of white wine. Before heading to bed, she reminds herself to send Alex a message, making sure her tiredness doesn't get the better of her.


"So it ended just like that?" a friend of Piper's asks from where they're all seated along a rectangular table.

"Yep," the blonde confirms before taking a sip of her drink.

She's currently seated in the confines of a local restaurant with some of her friends from college, whereby the topic of conversation has shifted over onto the women's love lives. Initially, being invited to dinner with her friends was something the blonde was looking forward to, but that feeling soon came crashing down when her eyes set on an additional guest being that she was hosting some of the women in her home for the weekend.

Similarly to the time they all met in Connecticut, the group is joined by a younger, blonde haired woman who introduces herself as Amelia - not that Piper had allowed herself to forget. Upon the topic of relationships being spoken about by each of the 5 women surrounding the table, once it's the younger blonde's turn, Piper feels her stomach drop.

"What about you, Amelia, kept anyone around for a change?" one of Piper's friends asks, chuckling while doing so.

"Kind of," she answers through a smile. "We've texted a couple of times since we hooked up, but I haven't gone as far as asking her out yet."

Piper, upon hearing the revelation that Alex had indeed kept in contact with the woman she had slept with during their trip to Connecticut, clenches her jaw, choosing to not voice her questions that such a revelation had conjured.

"Why don't you ask her now?!" a red-haired woman sitting at the end of the table voices excitedly.

"You think?" the young blonde asks while giving a toothy smile.

"Why not?" another one of Piper's friends adds.

Sitting silently as her friends compose a flirtatious message to send the brunette from Amelia's phone, Piper decides to compose one of her own.

Piper: So I'm having dinner with my friends and your girlfriend's here!

Less than a minute later, Piper feels her phone vibrate, indicating that Alex had already replied.

Alex: Either that message wasn't for me, or you know something that I don't.

Smiling to herself, Piper begins to type, knowing exactly how to get under the brunette's skin.

Piper: Well if I had it my way, you'd definitely know about it. What're you doing tonight anyway?

Upon sending her response, the blonde is dragged away from her own world in hearing the feminine giggles of her friends. Looking up, she sees the women smiling at the younger blonde's device, all of them coaxing her to press send.

"I can't believe you made me send that," the blonde says, shaking her head.

"Well, if you like this woman, you gotta impress her, right?" the red-haired woman once again comments, causing Piper to wonder what it is that had been sent in the end.

"I'd like to see what you've got hiding under those glasses," the young blonde says, reading aloud a section of the message. "I shouldn't have given you my phone," she laughs, obviously embarrassed.

"I agree," Piper eventually voices. "That doesn't even make any sense," she explains, trying to not reveal her underlying jealousy about the situation.

"Lighten up, Pipes," one of the women comments. "Maybe that's why you're single now."

The rest of the group join in with the light laughter, yet Piper chooses to bite her tongue, little do you fucking know, she thinks to herself.

"Oh my God," Amelia begins, while looking at the mobile device in her hand, "she replied."

Piper instantly looks down to check her own device - frowning that she herself hasn't received a response from Alex, but upon looking back up, she has to hold back a smile as she sees Amelia's face drop while she reads what had been sent back her way.

"What does it say?" the red-haired woman asks.

"It doesn't matter," the young blonde attempts to par off.

"It can't be that bad," another woman adds before she tries to reach across to grab the device.

"Okay! I'll read it," the young blonde announces, her arm outstretched to prevent anyone from seeing the screen.

"Hey, sorry, but I'm not really available in the dating world at the minute. I hope you find your someone. PS: I don't think contact lenses are that interesting," Amelia reads out, stunning every woman at the table - Piper included.

She finds herself attempting to hold back a smile in hearing Alex reject the other woman, and can't help but appreciate the wittiness in which the brunette went around the flirtatious undertones of the younger blonde's message.

"She's probably too busy with work," the red-haired woman says, attempting to console the situation. "Isn't that right, Piper. She works for you, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, things have been pretty hectic at the minute," Piper responds, internally laughing at the situation.

While the topic of conversation deviates and the women wait for the bill to arrive, Piper feels her phone finally vibrate.

Alex: Nothing too tiresome… slaying dragons. Although I have a feeling you already knew that.

Biting her lower lip, Piper feels her cheeks turn a light shade of pink in knowing she was in Alex's thoughts despite the nature of the other message she had just received.


The following day, Piper's as busy as usual; she has several meetings regarding the final stages of the case she's working on, and by the time it reaches midday, she's already fed up. The spokesperson in her final meeting of the afternoon makes it hard for her to remain focused, and with the glass wall covering the front of the meeting room, the view of Alex standing in position adds to her wavering attention.

Once she finally finishes her meetings, the blonde manages to persuade Alex that she wants to stop for coffee. The pair are yet to discuss anything that doesn't revolve around the blonde's working day, and with Piper's driver parking up and remaining in the car, Alex follows the blonde into the coffee shop whereby they join the end of the queue.

"You seemed to be having fun back in there," Alex comments, alluding towards the blonde's wondering eyes during her last meeting.

"The guy leading it loves to repeat himself," Piper responds. "Plus, the view wasn't so bad either," she adds quietly before moving up in the queue where they're now the ones being served, successfully stunning the brunette in the process.

After ordering, paying for, and collecting two drinks, the blonde leads the way out of the shop, Alex following in tow.

"How do you know what drink I like?" the brunette comments, catching up with Piper to open her car door.

"How do you know that the drink's for you?" she smartly asks back, raising an eyebrow as she turns to look at the taller woman while getting into the car, leaning forward to kindly give the drink over to her driver.


"Ms Chapman?" Piper hears Alex's voice echoing from up the stairs while she remains on the lower floor of her apartment.

"What is it?" the blonde asks back loudly, instantly knowing why the brunette sounds so confused.

"Can you come up here please?"

Upon hearing Alex's question, Piper grins to herself and begins to ascend the stairs.

"What's going on in here?" the brunette goes on to ask once Piper appears in the door frame of the upstairs spare office-like room.

"I'm changing it up a bit."

"Into what?" Alex asks, frowning at the messy room, whereby the floor is covered in white tarp, the walls have its wallpaper stripped, and a medium sized ladder rests against the border of a window.

"I was thinking of a little home gym situation; I figured I should finally make some use out of this room."

"Hmm," Alex hums, walking carefully into the space. "I put one of those in my apartment a few years back," she adds, her back still to the blonde.

"All by yourself?"

"Yep," Alex says, eyes still scanning the room. "I had a spell of free time and went with the 'why not?' philosophy."

"I'd have to come and see it some time," Piper responds, causing the brunette to finally turn her way. "You know, for reference."

Despite her hesitation, Alex smiles before delivering a promising: "sure".

"So what did you get up to last night?" Piper asks as the pair leave the room and head back downstairs, deciding to finally bring the burning topic up.

"Stayed inside, cooked some dinner - the usual. What about yourself? Good night out?"

"It was okay," Piper responds, wondering how to go about the conversation given Alex's cryptic answer. "That's not really what I meant though."

"Listen," the brunette begins, pushing her glasses up on the bridge of her nose. "I don't think we need to talk about it…" she pauses, correcting herself. "About her."

"Oh I think we do," the blonde bites down on her lower lip in thought. "Did you two still talk after you… you know-"

"No," Alex interrupts before Piper got the chance to finish her sentence, yet knowing what she was going to say. "I didn't even know she had my number."

"Good," the blonde says as her head tilts to the left, causing Alex to wonder where her counterpart is going with that comment.

Before either of the two get the chance to expand, a knocking on the front door - followed by the sound of jingling keys, resonates, causing both women to look at one another in question. Alex moves past the blonde and into the hallway to see who is attempting to enter the property, and in seeing a familiar face, her shoulder somewhat relax.

"Oh what a surprise: you're here," a male voice begins, having walked in through the door's threshold.

"Larry what the fuck?" Piper's voice comes from behind the brunette. "You can't just waltz into my apartment. We broke up."

"I know that," the man responds in a patronising manner. "I came to collect my things that I left in your room," he adds, attempting to walk past the two women to get to the staircase.

"They're down there," Piper comments, pointing down at a plastic bag resting against her shoe rack.

"Wow, how generous of you."

"Just take your stuff and leave, Larry," the blonde rolls her eyes at her ex-boyfriend's childlike manner. "Oh, and give me my key back," she adds, internally questioning why she even revealed to him where she kept her spare.

"So you're just kicking me out? Not even going to talk about what happened?" he asks, seeing the rapid manner in which the blonde is trying to get this over and done with.

"Well, we were just leaving to go and grab some building things from Alex's, so yes, I am kicking you out," Piper answers, avoiding Alex's questioning eyes that she can feel burning into the side of her head.

"Ah, things…" Larry begins, laughing while tilting his head back slightly. "I told you you were shitty liar, Piper. Since when do you ever do any DIY?"

"How would you even fucking know, Larry? And why does it even matter to you? Just get the fuck out," the blonde responds, growing agitated at the man's pettiness.

"Enjoy getting your things then," he says as a farewell with the muttering of several other profanities paired with the sound of a set of keys being thrown onto the floor as the door closes over.

"He was charming," Alex says, still in the same position as she had been when the exchange began.

"Sorry about him. He didn't take the break-up very well," Piper apologises while reaching down to pick up the keys from the floor before moving to the side drawer to swap them for her car keys.

"You in a hurry to go somewhere?" Alex asks, stepping back to let the blonde grab a coat from her coat stand.

"Your place," she stoically replies. "If that's okay with you?" she looks over in the brunette's direction seriously as her hand grazes the front door's handle.

"It seems as though I have no choice," Alex chuckles.

"Correct answer," Piper confirms, trying hard to downplay her sudden bout of excitement.


"This is a nice place you've got here," Piper comments as Alex opens the door and steps aside to allow her to enter first.

The apartment is large - not as big as her own, and proves to show that the brunette and herself have similar tastes when it comes to decor, being that an appropriate mix of a luxurious yet homely feel is given off throughout the rooms.

"Are you done?" Alex asks from where she's still standing by the front, smiling at the awe in Piper's eyes as she looks around the open-planned kitchen-dining area.

"Yeah, sorry. Lead the way."

Unlike her own, Alex's apartment is all on one floor, and upon following the brunette along the hallway, Piper finds herself enjoying Alex acting like a tour guide, whereby she shares minor details about some of the objects they see along the way.

"Here we are," she voices when they eventually reach their destination. "It's nothing special, but it's something to look at, I guess."

Piper steps into the room and looks around at the gym equipment that fills the space, along with observing the set of mirrors that lines up against the side wall.

"What used to be in here?" the blonde asks, turning to face Alex in the doorway.

"It was a guest room, but I never really had anyone stay in here. My friends would normally just flop onto the couch if they did stay over."

"I like it," Piper smiles genuinely, turning back to take some mental notes as to how the room looks.

"I feel like I could have just sent you some pictures of the room," Alex says, trying not to smirk as she anticipates the blonde's response.

"You could have done, yeah," the blonde agrees. "But where's the fun in that?"

What began as an awkward silence turned into the brunette playing as hostess, which turned into the pair returning back down to the living area, which turned into the consumption of a bottle of wine, which turned into the two women sitting down to eat the dinner that Alex had cooked for them.

"Do you wanna talk about what happened back there with whatshisface?" Alex asks after taking a bite of her food.

"Not really. Well, there isn't anything to really talk about. I broke up with him and he was being a dick about it."

"How're you feeling about it?"

"Honestly, relieved. I'd thought about doing it for a while, but didn't want to do it over the phone or through a text message."

"Makes sense," the brunette nods.

"What about you? How're you feeling about it?"

"Should I have some sort of feelings about it?" Alex counters, using her fork to push around the food on her plate.

"I'd like you think that you do."

"Well, if I must, I'd say that if you're happy about it, I'm happy about it."

"Original answer," Piper chuckles, leaning back as she pushes her cutlery together into the centre of her plate.

"What?" Alex asks as she sees the blonde opposite her rest the weight of her head against her chin, elbow on the table.

"How long have you worn glasses?" Piper asks, ignoring the other woman's comment.

"Pretty much my whole life. I can't really see much without them. Why?"

"They suit you. That'll all."

"That's a relief then," Alex smiles, too pushing her cutlery into the centre of her plate before finishing off the remaining liquid in her glass. "Another one?" she asks, referring to both of their now empty glasses.

Piper contemplates turning down the offer for the split second in which her brain was telling her she'll need to be home for work in the morning, but her curious side takes over, deciding that this is an opportunity that may never arise again anytime soon.

"Sure."

The pair shuffle into the living room space, whereby they sit next to one another and entertain genuine conversation - one in which doesn't stray towards work or schedules.

"I'm starting to get the feeling that you're giving me this on purpose," Piper digresses through a toothy smile once a silence springs upon them as she swirls the wine in her glass around.

"What makes you think that?"

"I can't drive home now, can I?" the blonde states the obvious. "Unless of course you didn't want me to be able to…?" she probes flirtatiously.

"I just know a stressed person when I see one," Alex responds, resting her left elbow onto the top of the sofa to hold the weight of her head in her palm from where her body is turned in towards the woman before her.

"Going back home could be a bad idea anyway, you know, pissed ex-boyfriend on the loose and all."

"You can stay here if you want," Alex says through a chuckle. "It's not like I don't have the room."

"I'd like that," Piper smiles, draining her drink before placing it down onto the small coffee table in front of the sofa; returning back to where she was just positioned - except this time joining the brunette in placing her elbow onto the top of the sofa so she can hold the weight of her head in her palm.

"What're you thinking about?" the blonde goes on to ask quietly.

"About how badly I want to kiss you right now," the brunette reveals, vocalising how she feels for the first time - somewhat surprising the blonde.

"Do you want to know what I'm thinking about?"

"What're you thinking about?"

"How much I want you to," Piper answers, causing a silence to fill the room.

"You've only just ended a relationship…" Alex leaves hanging in the air.

"A loveless one, yes," the blonde responds, eyes looking down at the brunette's lips before moving back up to her emerald eyes. "What're you so afraid of?"

"Something going wrong. Losing my job."

"That's not going to happen, Alex."

The brunette, however, doesn't respond, instead lifting her hand to push a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

"Aren't you worried?"

"We won't be working together forever. Only a few more months at best if I had to guess," the blonde pauses, placing her left hand over the brunette's wrist that's resting on her cheek. "Kiss me, Alex."

The months of sexual tension had inevitably brought them to this moment, and despite all of her voiced anxieties, the brunette can no longer lie to herself. She watches Piper's blue eyes staring into her own - not like they would be able to change what her mind is now already set on.

Leaning forward, the brunette tilts her head to the left, and - in what feels like an eternity of tension - connects their lips. She hears a relieved breath escape Piper's mouth, and when she feels the blonde's mouth open to change the angle of the kiss, Alex allows herself to let out a groan. Piper releases her grip on the brunette's wrist to instead place it on her jaw, which soon results in repositioning around to the back of her head, fingers running through her dark hair.

The kiss comes to a natural end once both women break away for air; the blonde rests her forehead against Alex's before pulling back to speak.

"Good thing I didn't mention that I could get my driver to come pick me up."

"Oh, I knew not to mention the idea of your driver picking you up," Alex responds, smiling when the blonde pulls on the material of her t-shirt to fuse their mouths back together.


I initially intended for this to have happened in Chapter 10, but, as you can see, my patience went out the window...