A/N – This chapter just kind of wrote itself, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Chapter 9 – I want you.

When Alex woke up at 6.00am on Thursday morning, she achieved something rare for this time of day, a smile.

She threw on her work clothes, inhaled a bowl of cereal and left the apartment. The streets were always quiet at this time of day, it was one of the better parts of doing delivery receipt on Thursday mornings, there weren't many cars around, just the odd jogger and occasional early bird dog walkers.

She pushed her key into the shutters which protected the glass door and windows, unlocked the entrance door, and relocked it behind her before she hurried towards the stock room to deactivate the beeping alarm. Whoever had designed the system had barely left enough time for the journey from the front of the store to the stock room, Alex used to hate the mad rush so early in the day, but today she felt revitalised and energised. She reached the alarm box with time to spare and dialled in the code, which instantly silenced the beeping.

Alex checked the time on her phone to find that she was a little earlier than usual, and began the usual routine, flicking the panel of switches to turn the lights on in the store, the air conditioning and the music system. She opened the delivery door, and pulled out a foot stool to sit on as she waited for the delivery truck. She didn't have long to wait before the van pulled up and a familiar man in a yellow high vis jacket stepped out. Even Stinky Steve, the unkempt and unbathed delivery driver, couldn't bring down her spirits this morning.

"Hello Steve!" She called as the man leapt down to the pavement.

"Good morning, Alex," the man replied, he held a piece of paper between his yellowing fingers. Alex took the paperwork and reviewed it before signing and handing it back to him, careful to avoid his long and dirty fingernails.

"Big delivery this morning," he informed her as he opened the back of the truck and pulled down a ramp.

Alex stood back and watched Steve as he moved boxes of books and stationary from the truck into the stock room. She held her breath as he passed, unable to bare the stale smell of wet dog and sweat. It didn't matter how often she met Steve, she couldn't get used to the smell, or his lecherous personality. Once he had finished moving the boxes, he stood in front of Alex and scratched the greying stubble on his chin, his watery blue eyes looking her over appreciatively. "Same time next Thursday?" he winked, and licked his dried lips. Stinky Steve was creepy, but harmless. He seemed to enjoy that Alex was a lesbian, though seemed certain it was because she hadn't been with a "real man" such as himself. The very thought made bile rise in her throat.

Alex said goodbye and wandered back into the stock room where the boxes had been piled waiting to be opened and sorted. She grabbed the first box and a knife and began the task of entering the stock into the system with a hand held scanner, before moving the items to their temporary home. She was half way through when a familiar voice called out to her. She thought back to this time a week ago, and smiled at thinking how things had changed.

Piper placed a coffee and a brown paper bag on the shelf beside Alex, "Coffee and a banana nut muffin," the blonde smiled.

Alex took the bag and sniffed inside it, she sighed happily, "my favourite."

Piper wrapped her arms around the taller woman's waist, pulling her in close, "good morning."

Alex placed the box knife in her hand down beside the coffee. She ran a hand along Piper's slender arms before resting it lazily on the blonde's shoulder, idly twisting a lock of hair between her fingers.

"Morning," she spoke before pushing her lips against Pipers. She could taste coffee and a hint of honey.

Piper smiled into her lips, "someone seems happy this morning," she commented.

"You talk far too much," Alex chastised as she moved her hand from Piper's shoulder into the waves of blonde hair, guiding her head closer as she crashed their lips together. Alex licked Pipers lip gently, eliciting a soft moan from the blonde, causing her to part her lips, Alex deepened the kiss, teasing her with her tongue. Alex felt herself being pushed uncomfortably into the shelves, and raised her eyebrows in amusement. Not breaking the kiss, she went along with it. Piper had never been the aggressor and Alex found that she enjoyed this new characteristic. She kissed back even harder, allowing her hands to travel down the slender body pressing into her.

The sudden sound of the heavy stock room door closing behind itself caused reality to pull them apart as Piper jumped back as though she had been burned. Alex smirked, watching as Piper brushed herself down and made an attempt of looking casual.

Amanda, one of the girls who worked with Alex, walked towards them oblivious to what she had nearly walked in on.

"Hey," she smiled brightly, "thought I would help you with the rest of this," she waved her hand indicating the unopened boxes.

"I was just bringing Alex some coffee," Piper stated, "I'll get back upstairs now.." And she scurried off.

"What was that?" Amanda asked, clearly amused.

"I have no idea," Alex replied, not bothering to hide her smirk.

Amanda raised her eyebrow, to which Alex responded with a shrug, and sipped her coffee as she turned her attention to the boxes. "I will open and add them to the system, you can put them out, ok?"


Once 3pm came around, though she felt tired, Alex's mood had not altered. As she passed her car on the way to the entrance of her apartment building, Alex thought back to the heavy make out session she shared with Piper in the car the night before. She could feel the stir of butterflies in her stomach, and wondered what their next date would bring. Just as she was about to turn her attention back to the keys in her hand, she noticed a man sat in parked car a short way down the road. Alex didn't usually pay much attention to other people's business, but she had the strange feeling that she was being watched. As much as she wanted to shake off the feeling, she couldn't ignore her instinct to be vigilant, years in the Cartel had taught her to recognise suspicious behaviour, usually from unmarked cop cars, but more often from rival cartels. Men sat in stationary cars on the side of the street definitely aroused her suspicion.

Alex took out her phone and pretended to answer a call, temporarily taking her eyes away from the car as she tried to look as though she hadn't seen it. The chances were that this was nothing, or if anything, probably just a small time dealer making an exchange. There were a few stoners in her apartment block, but as she thought back to the man on the plane whom she'd felt sure at the time had been following her, she decided she couldn't be too careful. She continued to keep watch, and noticed a man walking by, speaking hurriedly on the phone. He stopped at the parked car and slid into the passenger seat before the car engine started up and the car pulled away. Alex slipped her phone back into her pocket and shook her head at her own paranoia. Sometimes she felt as though she had become too used to her new life, too comfortable, and occasionally she would over react to the simplest things. It was always in the back of her mind that Kubra would rather her dead than alive. She decided that with recent events such as Piper coming back into her life, as well as her visit to New York, was causing her to feel a little on edge about the past.

She walked up the stairs and into her apartment where she could hear Nikki laughing from her bedroom.

"Hey guys," Alex called out, hoping that they would be a little less vocal about the activities they carried out behind closed doors. Lorna was loud. She dumped her bag onto the kitchen worktop, headed for the fridge, pulled out a cold bottle of beer and pulled it against the bottle opener attached to the wall, and took a long drink.

"Alex!" Nikki came out of the bedroom, she was fully dressed much to Alex's surprise. Lorna followed behind, also fully dressed and not a single hair out of place.

"We're about the play Monopoly," the smaller woman spoke.

"Monopoly?" Alex asked.

"We've been playing board games all day," Lorna added.

"Wait a minute," Alex looked from Nikki to Lorna, "aren't you two in that exciting beginning phase of a relationship? Why the fuck are you spending all day playing board games?"

"We're both surfing the crimson wave," Nikki frowned, "which wouldn't bother me, but Prissy Knickers here- Ouch!" Nikki rubbed her arm where the smaller woman had elbowed her.

Alex laughed at the pair of them, "you're like an old couple."

"Anyway," Nikki said, still scowling at her girlfriend, "Monopoly. You in?"

Alex considered this for a moment. It was a Thursday night, she had nothing better to do.

"You do know I'll wipe the floor with you so bad you're gonna have friction burns a week, right?"

Nikki laughed, "fighting talk, perhaps we could make this a little more interesting?"

Alex took another mouthful of beer, "I'm listening?"

"If me of Morello win," Nikki rubbed her chin as she thought of a forfeit for her friend, "then you do the dishes.. for a week."

Alex scoffed, "two against one? That's hardly fair.." she looked at the dishes piling up in the sink.

Nikki Shrugged, "well, if you don't think you can win…"

Alex narrowed her eyes, "Fine, when I win, you can do dishes for a week AND you can clean the entire apartment, top to bottom... With furniture polish and everything."

Nikki took a look around the apartment, they usually shared responsibility for the cleaning, and while it wasn't in a particularly bad state, she didn't quite fancy doing it all by herself. But it was two against one..

"Deal."

Alex gave her a wicked smile. She had played monopoly with her many cousins while growing up, and she had always outsmarted them. If she won, she had an easy week ahead.

When nearly two hours had passed, they'd had a few disagreements about the rules, but as with all Monopoly games, nobody bothered to check the actual Rules. They lay neatly in the box, untouched.

"I spend more time in jail than out of it," Nikki complained, as she placed her a little metal dog piece in the jail cell.

Alex smirked at the the cards lay in front of her. As she had predicted, she had practically monopolised the threw the dice and moved her boot a few places, landing in the safety of one of her own "properties."

"You better get those rubber gloves ready," Alex said with a grin, "Looks like you're about to join Morello over there in Bankruptcy."

At hearing her name the dark haired woman looked up at them from her position on the floor. She had positioned herself on top of a bed of cushions as she watched West Side Story on the television, she had been out of the game for over an hour, and she found watching Monopoly even more boring than she had found playing it.

About fifteen minutes later and the game had ended, and Alex found herself both hungry and smug.

"I think I might make something really complicated for dinner," she smiled, "one of those meals that uses every dish in the Kitchen."

"You struggle making a sandwich," Nikki scoffed.

Alex felt her phone buzz in her pocket and looked at the screen. "Saved by the bell, Nichols," she said as she moved into her room to take the call.

"To what do I owe the pleasure," Alex spoke as she answered the phone.

"I'm outside your apartment," Piper announed.

"You're what?"

"Come down, I'm in the white SUV."

Alex walked to the bedroom window where she could see the street below, "Give me five," she said before dropping the call. She took her work clothes off and hastily threw them to the floor. She pulled on a pair of skinny black jeans and a loose fitting black vest top, and checked her hair in the mirror before applying a little bit of hairspray to give it more volume.

"I'm just popping out for a bit," she called to Nikki and Lorna as she headed for the door.

Piper sat in SUV beaming at Alex as the woman walked to the car, she motioned for Alex to get in.

"What are you doing here, Pipes?" Alex asked with a bemused expression.

"Larry's gone out with a few of the guys from work," Piper explained, "so I thought I could use this as an opportunity to see you!"

Alex laughed, "just can't keep away from me, ay kid?"

"Something like that," Piper agreed, "so what have you been doing to distract yourself from how much you miss me?"

"Kicking Nikki and Lorna's ass at Monopoly"

"Monopoly?"

"Yeah, Monopoly."

"I didn't have you down as the Monopoly type," said Piper in amusement.

"I'm a woman of many mysteries," Alex spoke deadpan, "so, how long do we have?"

Piper shrugged, "I don't know, but I've shoved my running stuff in the back, so if I get back later than him, I can just say I drove up to the hills for a run or something."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "you're better at this sneaking around stuff than I'd have thought."

Piper nodded, "I guess I'm a woman of many mysteries too."

The raven haired laughed, "I guess so."

Piper started the engine and pulled away from the curb, with no idea of where to go, she said "lets just drive."

"You know, I've not had any dinner yet..." Alex hinted.

"Me either," the blonde said, not catching on.

Alex rolled her eyes, "Maybe tonight could be our second date?"

"Are you asking me out to Dinner?"

"That depends," Alex shrugged, "I'm not exactly dressed for some fancy French or Italian place.."

Piper looked down at her own casual clothes, "that doesn't matter," she said, "I've got an idea!"

She continued to drive until she found a grocery store and parked up. Piper told Alex to stay in the car, and hurried into the store. When she returned she held two grocery bags which she placed in the back of the car beside, ignoring Alex's questions of what was in side, and swatting her hands when she tried to look.

"I've done my part," Piper said as she started the engine back up, "now you have to decide where?"

"Where?"

"Where to have a picnic."

Alex paused as she thought about where they could go, she grabbed the satnav and entered "Vista Hermosa Natural Park".

Piper asked her where they were going.

"Like I said, I am a woman of many mysteries," Alex looked over her shoulder at the grocery bags, "if you tell me what food you've bought, I'll tell you where we're going."

"I guess we will both find out when we get there."

"I'd almost forgotten how difficult you can be," Alex stated.

Piper ignored her and followed the directions on the satnav. Eventually she pulled into a carpark and read the sign, but from where they sat in the car, the park didn't look like it would be any different from any other neighbourhood park. She grabbed a blanket and passed it to Alex. Piper took the grocery bags and asked Alex to lead the way. They walked between trees and rocks, and eventually into a clearing where Piper could see amazing views of the city buildings. She turned on the spot as she took the sight in. Until now she had only really seen the buildings either very up close as she walked beneath them, or very far away as she looked down from the canyon. But here, she could see downtown LA from a perfect distance. She turned to Alex who had spread the blanket across the grass and was now slipping off her shoes.

"Well, I showed you mine.." she said suggestively, her rapsy voice sending shivers down Pipers spine.

"Right, the food, the food," Piper said, placing the bags down on the blanket. She pulled out a bottle which at first appearance could have been wine, but as Alex picked it up, she could see it was some kind of upper market juice, though its name sounded more like a potion. She raised her eyebrows, and shook her head, another reminder of the different worlds they both came from. Piper began to take out various pots and tubs, and finally a punnet of rich red strawberries and a small tub of gooey chocolate.

As Piper took the lids from the various pots of food, Alex looked at each with a frown. "I literally have no idea what any of this shit is," she said, poking the contents of one of the tubs with a fork.

"Its food," Piper said, "you eat it."

"What's wrong with real food?" Alex asked.

"You sound just like Larry!" Piper complained, "this is real food, natural food, not pumped with chemicals and fat and...

"...and taste?"

Alex had placed a fork full of something into her mouth, and screwed her face up. Piper rolled her eyes and dipped her fork into the same pot, she tasted it and then screwed her own face up. "Ok, so that one... that's not so good," she said and unscrewed the cap on the bottle of "juice." She poured some into a plastic cup, took a mouth full and passed the bottle to Alex, who sniffed it tentatively. She then tipped the bottle back against her lips, ignoring the cup Piper had placed in front of her. Alex closed her eyes tightly as she wrinkled her nose before turning to the grass where she spat the liquid back out.

"What the fuck, Piper?!" She coughed.

Piper couldn't help but laugh. "You seemed so classy when I first met you," she shook her head in faux disappointment.

"Do people actually enjoy this shit?!"

Piper smiled, "I like it," she said, "it doesn't taste so artificial."

"I like artificial," Alex said proudly. She looked at the tub of fresh salad and stabbed a fork into it, "I guess I will just stick to the rabbit food."

Piper tore some bread and passed it to Alex, while she dipped hers into various dips, and picked at a tub of antipasti. Alex took an olive, which she actually liked, she'd eaten plenty of them with Martini's anyway.

"Here," Piper dipped a strawberry into the chocolate sauce, "damage control," she said. She leaned closer to Alex, "come get it," she whispered, and placed the chocolate covered strawberry between her teeth. Alex moved quickly, quicker than Piper had expected, and closed her lips around Piper's and took the strawberry between her own teeth with a smile.

"At least dessert is good," she smiled, reaching for another strawberry, swiping it in the chocolate and as she brought it to Piper's lips she said, "I changed my mind," and ate it. Piper laughed, she knew Alex had a sweet tooth. She took a strawberry for herself and dipped it into the chocolate, and before she knew it, Alex had leapt towards her, and took the strawberry from her fingers with her teeth.

"It's like having a picnic with a dog," Piper said as she laughed. She grabbed the tub of chocolate, stretched back against the blanket and held it away from Alex, leaving her abdomen open for attack. Alex lifted the material of her t-shirt a little and began placing soft kisses against the sensitive skin on her hips. Piper made a start at the sudden touch, and tried to push Alex away, but the raven haired held her ground and continued placing kisses across her stomach.

"Alex stop," Piper squirmed, trying to pass back the tub of chocolate sauce without spilling it, "here, look, you can have your chocolate."

"I've found something better," Alex growled.

Piper felt her breath catch as the kisses moved just above the sensitive skin by the waistband of her shorts. She cast a nervous looked around the park, it was relatively empty at this time but a few people glanced their way.

"Alex!" she warned.

The raven haired paid no attention.

Piper dipped her fingers into the chocolate and wiped the sauce down the side of the woman's face. Alex stopped immediately, and propped her glasses atop of her head. She blinked before focusing on the blur of blonde hair that was Piper, she took her index finger to her face, gathered the sauce and tasted it slowly.

"Hmm.." she said, scooping the rest of the chocolate away, "I think this would taste better on you," and in one swift movement she took the pot of chocolate, scooped some with her fingers and smeared across Pipers lips. Before the blonde had a chance to escape, Alex closed the distance between them, and flicked her tongue across her lip as she gently licked the chocolate away. "Mmmm, I was right," she said with a wicked smile. Alex moved her attention to her bottom lip, took it between her teeth, and pulled on it lightly. She flicked her tongue across the lip, tormenting Piper until she caved. She didn't have to wait for long before Piper crashed their lips together and pulled her down on top of her, both of them becoming lost in each other.

When they eventually parted, Alex rolled onto her back beside Piper, not caring that her hair was in the grass. She looked up at the blue sky as she caught her breath. The sky was getting darker as the sun was beginning to set, causing an orange glow over the buildings.

"Pipes?"

"Yeah?"

"When do I get to spend a night with you?"

Piper rolled over, resting on her elbow, she twisted a lock of hair between her fingers nervously as she tried to find an answer. She wanted this too, of course she did, but how would she explain another night away from home to Larry without it looking suspicious. She wished that she could just follow her heart, like she had done before, that she could just end it with Larry and start over with Alex, but was scared. Scared that Polly had been right, that this was just a mix up of emotions at seeing her ex again, though deep down she knew the truth, she wanted Alex because she loved her, she loved her in a way that she couldn't ever love Larry, in a way that she could only love Alex, and nobody else. But still, she was scared.

"I don't know," she said honestly.

Alex continued to look up, she watched a stray wispy white cloud floating above.

"What about next Friday?" the darker haired woman suggested, "you could tell Larry that there's another staff night out, and you're staying with Nikki as you're both working the next day?"

Piper considered this for a moment, "I could.." she agreed.

"I want you," Alex spoke, her raspy voice nearly a growl.

"I want you too," Piper replied before kissing her tenderly, running a hand through her dark hair.