A/N- As promised, the epilogue! It's been fun writing this, and I was glad to be able to get back into this AU. Many, many thanks once again to reverse-swing for reading it for me and re-assuring me it wasn't awful, and for coming up with the most excellent title. And thanks for everyone who reviewed (even the negative ones), faved, followed or just read. I really appreciate it!
EPILOGUE- We'll Always Have Paris
FOUR WEEKS LATER
"God damn! Swear you got to be cheatin'! You pullin' those aces out your ass or somethin'?"
I grinned as Cindy tossed her cards down in frustration, "Look, just because you've gotten all complacent 'cause no one around here knows how to actually play..."
"Bitch, I've forgotten more about this fuckin' game than you've ever learned," she said.
I chuckled lightly, talking around my cigarette as I swept the pile of loose change and cheap trinkets into my stack, "That's not what all this money that used to be yours is saying..."
"Deal again, Snow White! I ain't lettin' you leave here without getting my damn money back!"
Poussey was grinning from the bar where she was helping Tasha do an audit of Le Chat's books (and by "helping", I mean keeping up a rapid fire banter with her... it had been a month and they evidently hadn't caught up on everything they'd missed yet), "Cindy, you ever heard of quittin' while you're ahead?"
"I ain't a-fuckin-head, P!"
"Un fou et son argent sont bientot separes..." I said, shrugging as I shuffled.
Cindy glared at me, "I see your French is improving..."
"I've only learned the important shit..."
"How about this one: va te faire foutre, c'est des conneries..."
"Y'know, when you say it in French it just sounds like you're coming on to me," I leaned forward and raised an eyebrow, putting on my best smirk, "Cindy you're so fuckin' hot when you're angry..."
Cindy narrowed her eyes, "I know you think I'm sexy, Vause, what with all these curves, but you ain't my type... 'sides I'm pretty sure la princesse would probably stab me in my sleep. I saw that look she gave that skinny chick who tried to cut in on you last week..."
My smirk spread into a languid grin at the thought of that night... we were pretty secure in our relationship and jealousy didn't really factor in much, but Piper sometimes liked to remind me of why I'd dropped everything and followed her halfway across the world.
"Oh fuck, are you thinkin' about sex?"
"Seriously, Cindy, stop making the moves on me..."
"You obnoxious, you know that?"
"It's been mentioned," I spread my hands, "And yet you keep letting me back in..."
"Yeah well, no one ever said we had the best judgment," she jerked her head in the general direction of the back room, where Janae was with Claudette doing an inventory, "I mean we let Janae hang out with us all the time and she's annoying as fuck..."
"I heard that!" came Janae's voice.
"You was meant to!" yelled Cindy.
As I laughed, I glanced down at my watch. I sighed regretfully, "Sorry to say, Cindy, but we're going to have to cut this one short."
"Aw hell no! You gotta give me a chance to win my shit back!"
"Like the last three times...?" asked Poussey.
"Oh shut it, P..."
"I promised Piper I'd meet her after she was done with the reading at Les Deux..." I shrugged apologetically, "Sorry I can't take the rest of your paycheck, but maybe Tasha can find something in the bookshop that'll help you play better..."
Cindy flipped me off as I swept my modest winnings into my purse and stood. "Yeah yeah... we gonna see you tonight?"
"Nah, we're going to dinner. Maybe tomorrow though?"
"Yeah. We got a new guy comin' you'll like."
"Great," I headed towards the door and waved, "au revoir..."
They waved back and I walked up the stairs, down the now familiar dark hallway and out the black door, into the late afternoon light.
Piper was seated outside the cafe, a cup of tea in one hand, an open book in the other. The weather had cooled off some in the last month, but the day had been cloudless and even with the approaching evening, she looked comfortable in her light jacket. She looked totally at ease, in her element in a way that I didn't figure she'd been since maybe she was at Smith.
Watching her as she took a sip of tea then turned a page, half smiling at something she had read, I could believe that we'd finally reached a place where we wouldn't have to worry anymore. It wasn't that I thought everything would always be perfect, but I figured that at least we were done with having guns pointed at us and our lives threatened. I mean, yeah, I was being sort of optimistic, but something about seeing Piper like this got me feeling all warm inside.
As I approached she looked up at me and smiled, a big genuine smile she saved just for me, one that turned the warm feeling in my chest up a few notches. She closed her book and laid it on the table next to her cup as I arrived at her side. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and took the seat across from her at the tiny circular table.
A waiter appeared out of thin air and I said, "Cup of coffee, and one of those pro-fit-er-oles, please," in badly accented but entirely comprehensible French. He disappeared back into the cafe and Piper raised an eyebrow.
"Getting better every day, darling. You almost pronounced profiterole correctly this time."
I lit a cigarette and sighed, "Well, it helps that Claudette won't speak to me in anything but French anymore." It was something she'd started doing after I pronounced Champs Elysees "Chomps Ulysses" one day. She'd literally smacked me on the back of the head and told me if I was going to live here I was going to have to learn something other than swear words. Sometimes she reminded me a little too strongly of Red.
"How is Claudette?"
"Didn't see her much today. Just played a few hands with Cindy..."
"I don't understand why she still plays with you. You beat her every time."
I grinned, "She's just trying to figure out how I'm doing it. Convinced I'm cheating."
"And are you?"
"Aww, Pipes, you wound me... I would never cheat..."
"You would never cheat if you could win in another fashion," Piper said, as the waiter came out with my tiny coffee and dessert, "I seem to remember you telling me once that the only time Nicky ever punched you sober was when she found those aces up your sleeve..."
"Look, I was just a kid then..." I took a bite of profiterole, paused a moment to savor it and stifle what would probably have been an embarrassing moan of pleasure at the taste, then smirked as I swallowed and said, "If I'd been older I'd have hidden the fucking things in a much less obvious place."
"Yes well, I've had more than enough of you getting damaged, so if you could refrain from annoying any of the girls too much..."
"Ah, they love me there, babe. Besides, Cindy's all talk. I caught her shedding a tear when she was listening to La Vie En Rose the other day cause it reminded her of her grandmother... Worst she'd do is chuck me in the shoulder and swear at me. Not like she's Janae..." Janae... I figured out she'd never do anything to defy Claudette directly, but I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that ice cold temper of hers.
"Did they have any work for you?"
I shrugged, "Nothing big. Jacques thinks one or more of his guys is stealing from his liquor shipments, but he can't prove it. All the numbers are coming out right, but it still feels off." Jacques was Claudette's old friend, the one who owned the cafe we'd met Vee at.
"That seems as though it would be more than one man..."
"Maybe, or maybe just one who's real good at massaging numbers," I finished the profiterole and sipped the last of my coffee. I stared down at the plate longingly for a moment, mourning the fact that the thing was gone already.
Piper half smiled, "Licking the plate isn't socially acceptable, darling."
"These French and their goddamn rules..." I sighed, leaning back in my chair, letting the food settle, "I'm going to go over and see Jacques tomorrow, poke around a little, see what I can figure. Far as anyone there knows he's not on to them, and I'm just some friend of a friend who likes their foie gras."
Piper was nodding with interest, a fond look in her eyes. She liked that I had finally found something to dispel some of my occasional restlessness. Taking on Vee with them had won us a lot of credit with Claudette and the girls from Le Chat. We weren't exactly family, not like they were to each other (that kind of bond took a lot more than a couple days to form, no matter how traumatic those days had been), but there'd been a lot more acceptance than before.
We started going to Le Chat Noir regularly. Not only did we have an in with the owner, it was a damn good club. The drinks were strong and we'd won the right to have a couple rounds free every night. After a week or so, Piper had decided she wanted to take a look at the bookstore Claudette owned. Poussey ran the place, and Tasha had taken to helping her most days.
Piper had gotten engaged in a conversation with the two girls about expanding her literary horizons (a continuation of the discussion that had started when Tasha been staying with us), and I'd ended up wandering down to the club, where I'd found Janae and Cindy playing poker. Cindy had dealt me in, and after that I'd made a habit of coming by when I had some free time and hanging around with them.
It was during one of these games that Cindy had mentioned a friend of theirs who was experiencing some issues with her business (a seamstress thought her suppliers were delivering her subpar materials). Janae had snorted, "Didn't you used to be some sort of private dick? Why don't you make yourself useful and help her out? Or you too busy rubbing the Princess's feet and feeding her bonbons?"
I'd thought about it and figured why the fuck not (and of course I wanted to wipe the smirk off Janae's face...). I'd helped the seamstress, and after that it seemed like they found another half dozen friends or acquaintances or fellow business owners who were having problems. I didn't take all the jobs (I wasn't going to follow any more cheating spouses around for as long as I lived), just enough that I felt like I was useful.
Sometimes I got paid and sometimes I didn't, but I hardly minded. We had plenty of money, and so far I hadn't had anything that was too taxing or in any way dangerous. The fact that Piper no longer felt guilty for taking me away from LA was just a nice bonus.
"How long do you think you'll be with Jacques?" Piper asked, bringing me back to the present.
"Ah probably not long. Should be able to meet you for lunch if you want?"
"I'll just meet you there. I like the foie gras too..." she looked at her watch, "Ah, we'd better get going, darling. The reservation isn't for another hour, but it's such a pleasant evening, I feel like walking."
She settled up the bill and we stood and started down the sidewalk towards the Seine. She took my arm as we walked and I smiled.
Strolling the streets of Paris with the woman I loved on my arm, heading towards a good meal... We had a roof over our heads, money in the bank, people we could trust to have our backs, and no one actively attempting to kill or maim us... I wasn't sure I could ask for anything more.
A/N- Annnd done... hope you enjoyed it! Thanks again for reading!
