The next few days pass by uneventfully, and although she's been swamped under in work, Piper finds herself craving any form of company that doesn't want to talk about deadlines or trial dates. Her friends had recently left on their traditional break to Napa Valley, but with the court case she had been working on beginning within the next few weeks, the blonde couldn't afford to take an extended amount of time off from work. Contact with Alex, on the other hand, was a different story. The brunette remained distant in conversation, and although things had reached new heights as to where their relationship stood, Piper felt as though progress was somewhat moving backwards.
"Are you sure you don't want to say for dinner?" Piper had asked one evening after Alex had finished her routine sweep of her apartment.
"I should really get back," Alex responded. "I'm seeing some friends this evening. Maybe some other time."
"Yeah, I guess so," the blonde had commented quietly, trying to not act jealous at the fact that others get to spend quality time with the taller woman outside of working scenarios.
Since that exchange two evenings ago, Piper found herself wondering when it was that things between herself and Alex would even remotely appear to be running normally again, and when she finds herself in a meeting with herself, Alex and the taller woman's boss about her security for the beginning of her court case, it's hard to focus on anything other than the brunette herself.
"So yourself and Alex will be staying somewhere nearby - that's yet to be confirmed, but we'll let you know as soon as we can," the grey-haired man who - if she were to guess - is in his early 50s voices while scratching his beard.
"That's if you'd be comfortable with that," Alex contributes, eyes searching Piper's for a form of confirmation that has the blonde wondering why she would have any doubts about such a thing.
"No - of course I'm fine with that. I trust how you work," the blonde responds, trying to sound professional given the presence of the brunette's boss.
"Excellent," the man says. "Alex is one of the best - if not the best - at her job around, so you're in safe hands, Ms Chapman," he smiles, his brown eyes proving the sincere nature of his words. "Do you have any questions for either of us?" he goes on to ask, indicating that the conversation is coming to an end.
"No, everything's great, thank you," Piper responds, getting up and rounding her office desk to approach the now standing man.
"That's all I've got to say then for the time being. Anything to add, Alex?" he asks, turning to face the brunette who has now also joined him in a standing position.
"No sir, not at the minute."
"Alright then, I'll be seeing you next week, Ms Chapman," the man concludes, holding out his hand for the blonde to shake.
"Actually, could I please have a word with Alex?" Piper asks, getting a word in before the pair leave the room.
"I'll leave you two to it," the man says as he opens the door. "I'll talk to you some other time about next week, Vause," he adds before closing the door over, leaving the two women alone for the first time that afternoon.
Piper, eager to express how she's feeling, walks over to the taller woman standing by the closed door and places her hands on both cheeks, pulling her into a searing kiss as she backs her up against the door.
"God, you were so hot just then," the blonde says between kisses, giving in to the feeling of finally coming into physical contact with the woman before her.
Although she reciprocated the unexpected kiss, Alex finds herself in the middle of an internal battle; placing her hands on the smaller woman's shoulders, she pushes her back slightly, breaking the kiss.
"What're you doing?" the brunette asks, her breathing shallow.
"Don't act all shy on me now, Alex," Piper responds, running her right index finger over the dark-haired woman's bottom lip.
"We can't be doing this here. You know that."
"But that doesn't mean that I don't want to… that you don't want to."
"As much as I want that, not here. We both have work to be doing."
"So is that why you've been avoiding me?" the blonde asks, voicing her suspicion for the first time, despite her sarcastic tone.
"It's not like that."
"Then what is it like, Alex? Because you're making me feel like I've done something wrong over here," Piper says sharply, taking a step back from the woman still up against the door.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Alex runs her right hand through her hair, gripping the dark locks attached to the back of her head.
"Can we not do this here? I'd like one day at work where I don't feel stressed out, okay?" the brunette comments, somewhat worrying the blonde before her at the sudden flash of vulnerability she'd shown.
"Sure," Piper pauses, her eyes following Alex's hands that move down her own torso to straighten out her black blazer.
"After you when you're ready, Ms Chapman," the brunette voices, tilting her head towards the door, indicating that she's ready to leave whenever Piper is.
After the blonde collects her belongings and is guided out of the building, the pair are soon seated in the back of the Jeep belonging to Piper's driver. Watching her surrounding environment out the window, the blonde notices that they aren't taking the regular route they normally do to get to her apartment, and when the car stops at the side of an empty road, she furrows her eyebrows in confusion.
"Here's great, thanks, Marcus," Alex says to the driver, patting him on the shoulder as she steps out of the car and holds an arm out to assist the blonde as she follows.
"Where are we?" Piper finally asks as she gets out the vehicle and watches Alex close over the door.
"Here," the brunette smugly comments. "This way," she adds, walking towards the left along the pavement - the sound of their mode of transport departing proving to be the only sound within their current vicinity.
"Seriously, Alex - where are we going?"
"Just be patient," Alex says, turning to face the blonde. "Trust me."
If there's one thing for certain, it's that Piper indefinitely trusts the dark-haired woman whose job it is to ensure her safety, and as they take a right turn onto the next street, the blonde immediately recognises where they are.
"Was this just a ploy to take me back to yours?" Piper asks as she sees Alex's apartment building in the near distance.
"That's one way of putting it," the brunette smiles before grabbing the blonde's right wrist and assisting her as they cross the street.
"I know how to cross the road, Alex," Piper jokes, chuckling slightly.
"I know that," the brunette responds seriously as she looks into the blonde's blue eyes, pulling her hand away from her wrist to open the lobby door.
By the time they reach Alex's small apartment, Piper smirks to herself at the fact that Alex had gone out of her way to bring her here while not wanting anyone else to know about it at the same time, maybe sneaking around won't be as bad as it seems, the blonde thinks to herself, but is soon pulled from her thoughts as Alex appears in front of her in the front hallway.
"Drink?" she asks while taking off her blazer and placing it onto the nearby coat rack.
"I'll have whatever you already have open," Piper says, starting to remove her grey trench coat.
"White wine okay with you?" Alex asks as she begins to disappear into the kitchen area.
"Perfect, thanks," the blonde smiles, hoping that something positive will come out of their time together.
Throughout the next 2 hours, the two seem to revel in one another's company, and as they find themselves seated in the brunette's living room eating the takeout Chinese they had ordered, it seems as though no trace of tension is apparent, but it isn't until Piper soon grows confident enough to ask one of her many burning questions that the atmosphere soon shifts.
"So why do you do what you currently do workwise?" she questions before biting into a mouthful of chow mein.
"Wow - going in with the heavy stuff, I see," Alex says with raised eyebrows as she sips on her glass of wine.
"I'm curious, that's all."
"Well, I'm pretty good at leading particularly stressful situations and I like helping people, so I figured being a bodyguard would be right up my alley," the brunette admits, putting down her glass to prepare a new mouthful of food.
"But you didn't start off your career doing that?" Piper probes in question, immediately seeing Alex somewhat freeze out of her peripheral vision.
"No. No I didn't," the brunette confirms before changing the subject. "What about you? Have you always wanted to be a lawyer?"
"Not entirely," the blonde ponders, looking up towards the ceiling in thought. "I always knew I wanted to help people, but I wasn't too sure what form that would come in. I spent some time volunteering for some local charities and went to some free classes before I decided I wanted to go into law."
"And was it all it was made out to be?"
"I guess so. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but it has its ups and downs."
"Doesn't every job?" Alex chuckles, placing her cutlery into the centre of her empty plate and pushing it further into the middle of the coffee table in front of them.
"Of course they do… it's just the extent of the shittiness you encounter. I mean, I've seen it all: grieving families, inadequate policing, false convictions. It just gets to the point where you question whether you really can help the people that deserve it," the blonde admits, sounding somewhat nostalgic.
"From what I've seen and heard, you've done your fair share of service," the brunette says, placing her hand on the blonde's knee, squeezing it slightly. "Some people just don't want to be helped."
"If I had a dollar for the number of times I've heard that one," Piper smiles, yet it doesn't quite reach her eyes.
"How are you?" Alex suddenly asks. "Mentally? Physically? You've been working a lot, even for the average lawyer."
"Tired, stressed. Nothing I haven't been through before," the blonde comments, appreciating the raven-haired woman's attentiveness. "I just can't wait for this all to be over."
"Then you can finally be rid of me," the brunette returns a smile, turning her body to the right to settle into the sofa more comfortably.
"That isn't something I want, and if you couldn't already tell that, I'm guessing my signals haven't been that easy to read as of recent."
"Oh your signals have been clear alright," Alex smiles. "I just thought I'd check they were still in tact," she adds, giving Piper the bait she needs to take this conversation back to where she had hoped it would go initially.
"I thought it might have been you that changed your mind considering you've been doing everything in your power to avoid being alone with me for extended periods this week."
"I'm sorry if I made you feel that way," the brunette apologises. "That's why I brought you here this evening. I wanted to show you something."
Before Piper gets the chance to reply, Alex stands up from her seat and moves to leave the room.
"Wait there," she says before disappearing.
It's another few minutes before the brunette returns, and - very much to Piper's surprise - she's holding the cardboard box that had been the very cause of the underlying tension that seems to have settled between them throughout this past week.
Returning to the space that she had inhabited a few minutes prior, Alex extends her arms and hands the box over to the blonde, giving a close-lipped smile while doing so - an indication that it's okay to look inside at its contents.
Piper, meanwhile, isn't entirely sure how to feel about what's happening - sure, she wants to know what's inside the box, but a part of her is afraid that whatever's inside will restore the memory of something she won't be able to save the woman before her from.
Pulling back the flaps on the top of the box in a much slower fashion than she had done previously, Piper's eyes again fall on the garments that reveal an insight into Alex's past. Skimming her finger along the black hat sitting at the top of the pile of objects, the blonde proceeds to carefully analyse the items that would have been moulded to the brunette's body. A series of both dark and light blue garments are neatly folded on top of one another, and as she attempts to keep the items of clothing in their tidy order, Piper's vision is captured as - out the corner of her eye - she sees Alex holding out her arms, indicating that she'll take the items that are proving to be an obstacle.
Lifting up the pieces of the old uniform and giving them over to the brunette to hold, the blonde now has a view of the various miscellaneous objects lying in the bottom half of the box. A close-lipped smile graces her lips as she eyes the medals and documents highlighting the extent of Alex's services; however, it isn't until her blue orbs land on two similar looking uniform badges that Piper's curiosity begins to - yet again - peak.
She notices the two badges are identical in detail bar the identification numbers running across the top, and when she runs her fingers along the inscribed silver digits, the blonde gets a sense of the sentimental values these particular objects hold for the woman seated to her left.
Underneath the medals and badges lie some framed newspaper articles - most of which giving the brunette a mention regarding a particularly successful act, but it isn't until her fingers brush against a neatly folded article under a frame that Piper feels her internal tide shift.
'Police chief killed in armed car chase,' the article's headline reads, and below the bold font lies two pictures: one of a police car so damaged it must have been written off, and another of a younger version of Alex standing by the side of the car - dried blood staining her face as well as the right shoulder of her light blue shirt - in what must have been captured without her knowledge.
Reading through the article, Piper learns that the police car had been shot mid-chase, resulting in the death of the chief, and that the car then crashed at a high speed.
"Everyone called her Red," Alex says stoically, noting the blonde's eyes falling into a daze as she finishes reading the contents of the article.
Looking up from the newspaper clipping for what seems like the first time in hours, Piper observes the brunette's twitching fingers fiddling with the edge of one of the blue shirts in her arms - noting the red stained patch adorning the shoulder of the material.
"She was weeks away from retiring… the longest serving member and the first female chief officer," she adds, sounding emotionless while staring into the distance. "She scared the shit out of most people and took no one's bullshit, but everyone had so much respect for her," Alex concludes, finally finding the courage to look into Piper's inquisitive blue eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Alex," is all the blonde can muster up, not quite knowing how to handle the current situation she'd found herself in.
"They'd taken that picture without my permission," the brunette comments, nodding her head down towards the image of her broken self. "You'd think they'd wait a few minutes before having a photoshoot at a fucking crime scene," she adds, her right fist curving into a ball around the material in her hand.
Looking back into the box, Piper's eyes return to the badges she had previously discovered. She instantly understands who the other badge must have belonged to, and her heart clenches out of sympathy for the woman seated next to her.
"Who was driving?" Piper asks as she moves the box onto the empty space on the floor next to the coffee table, turning her body to give Alex her full attention.
"I was," the brunette pauses, looking down while visibly clenching her jaw. "The windshield smashed, a chunk of glass went into my shoulder, and I lost control of the car," she explains in a self-loathing manner.
"You can't blame yourself, Alex," Piper says, reaching over to place a hand on top of the brunette's.
"Well who else crashed the fucking car?" Alex asks with a raised voice.
"You weren't the one who hurt her, Alex. You can't blame yourself for something that was out of your control," the blonde counters, moving both hands to remove the items resting on the brunette's lap and place them back into the cardboard box on the floor, closing it over after doing so.
She takes this opportunity to study Alex's face; her eyes are glossed over with the inevitable tears she's trying to keep at bay, and her cheeks are somewhat flushed - a sign of the fluctuating emotional state she's currently battling. Reaching up a hand, Piper moves a strand of the brunette's dark hair behind her ear before cupping her jaw.
"Oh, Alex," she murmurs, pulling the emotional woman forward into a hug, trying her best to be comforting despite the evident shaking of the brunette's shoulders and the wet tears painting her neck.
Despite having witnessed many a breakdown during her years of living, for the first time, Piper doesn't know what to do; Alex's silent sobs can just about be heard in the already quiet room, and after a few minutes of letting the brunette cry into her neck while she rubs her back, the blonde finally feels Alex pull back while resting a hand against her shoulder.
"Sorry," the brunette apologises, using her free hand to wipe the tear-stained skin under her glasses.
"You don't have apologise, Al," Piper smiles before reaching up to turn off the light switch on the wall behind her before returning back to her previous position.
"I don't really like talking about it if you couldn't already tell," Alex says, sniffling her nose. " I couldn't deal with all the shit that happened in the following months, so I quit."
"I'm sure she'd be proud of how far you've come."
"It's a work in progress," Alex smiles, "but I'm getting there."
Smiling at the fact that the brunette is showing more than just her usual professional persona, Piper shuffles onto her side while tapping the empty space in front of her, indicating that she wants Alex to lie down in the space.
Letting out a heavy breath through her nose, the brunette complies and shuffles to lie down so that her back is against Piper's front.
"God, I'm too tall for this," the brunette laughs as she bends her legs so that they're linked with those of the blonde's behind her.
"You seem fine from here," Piper says, running a hand down Alex's side before wrapping it around her waist, feeling the brunette's abdomen rising and falling as she breathes in a more controlled manner.
"Feeling better?" the blonde asks when a silence falls upon them.
"Much," Alex turns her head left so that she can see the smaller woman's face. "Thank you."
"I like seeing this side of you."
"Hmm?"
"Your non-professional side," Piper grins, placing a hand on Alex's cheek to place a kiss on her jaw.
"Don't get used to it," the brunette responds, turning her head further to the left so that the blonde's lips land on her own.
Smiling as the kiss comes to a natural end, Piper wraps her left arm back around Alex's body; nuzzling her face into her neck. The pair share a chuckle at the image of the two of them trying to fit onto the below average sized sofa, and although they should really relocate to sleep in Alex's bedroom, neither woman can be bothered to move - unfazed by the inevitable ache their bodies are bound to experience in the morning.