– 11 –

2 weeks later

Piper was sitting by the dining room table at her parent's house. It was another typical Sunday meal and all of the Chapman children were expected to be there, as usual. And as usual, her older brother was absent, living his perfect life in some other big city, working in some perfect hospital or meeting his perfect girlfriend or just simply being perfect in general. The way their mother spoke of him left an impression that whatever Danny touched turned gold, whatever he did was superb. Even his constant absence was easily explained away. Piper had actually managed to skip the last two dinners with her lovely parents and now she was sitting there listening to her mother's ranting about Piper being completely disrespectful to their family's traditions… It all made her feel utterly frustrated and Cal's behavior didn't help much either. He was sitting on the opposing side from Piper and there was a huge goofy smirk plastered on his face. He didn't speak up once to defend his older sister, busing himself with eating instead. Piper even kicked him under the table to force him to say something, maybe change the topic of their conversation but all Cal did was look up at her with even bigger grin.

Piper had lost her appetite and was just sitting there pushing the food around her plate. She was simply trying to survive the whole ordeal of spending time with her mother. Her father was manageable since he hardly ever said anything. The blonde suspected that he also had had enough of his adorable wife but was too afraid to express his frustrations. Piper worried a bit that when the day came, there would be a stormy fight between her parents which might even end up in divorce. All that pent up bad energy had to find its outlet in the end. For the time being though, Bill was just sitting there looking kind of miserable. His food was also almost untouched and Piper felt a bit sorry for her old man.

Finally, her mother decided it was time for the dessert so she left the room to bring the cheesecake that she had ordered in her favorite shop (Carol never baked on her own).

"Oh, goody! Sweet stuff is sweet!" Miraculously Cal finally found his voice.

"Look! It can speak." Piper couldn't help letting her frustration show.

"Fuck off, Piper Elizabeth." Cal answered with a sweet smile never leaving his lips.

"Language." Bill warned.

"Why didn't you say something when she was talking shit about me. I always stand up for you but I guess I can't count on the same favor from you. You're an asshole." Piper whisper-screamed at Cal.

"Language." Bill made both of his children look at him with annoyance.

"Well… It was nice not to be the addressee of her tirade for once. Besides, that wouldn't change anything and you know it so why should I bother?"

"Fuck you, Cal."

"Language." Bill's voice sounded tired.

Cal was obviously getting frustrated by his father's behavior. He looked at him directly.

"Dad, these are just words. Stop treating us as if we were still five years old. Me and Piper can say 'fuck' as often as we please and nothing bad gonna happen. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fucking fuck! See?"

And just at that moment Carol came back to the dining room. Her face was red with anger which clearly meant that she had heard Cal's cussing litany.

"What on earth, Cal?" She shouted at a high pitch, making all the three people by the table twist their faces in pain. "This is not how I brought you up!" And her attention was now on poor Cal. Piper giggled under her breath. Well, she did feel a bit like a five-year-old again.

"I tried to warn you two." Bill calmly whispered to them. He also was unable to conceal his smile. Yet, he was cautious not to turn Carol's attention to him.

For a while Piper could relax since she was no longer the target of her mother's anger. She enjoyed her cheesecake since it was really good, her favorite in fact but she would never admit that to Carol. Somehow, she didn't want to give her mother the satisfaction of being right. The blonde's mind wandered to her girlfriend. It had been marvelous two weeks and Piper didn't remember ever being so happy in her life. Alex seemed to be perfect. The way the older woman treated her made Piper fall in love with her more every day. Yes, fall in love. She stopped denying that because she knew that that was what she felt. She had never been so infatuated before. Even her friends noticed the change. Somehow, Piper felt excited and giddy and alive all the time. It seemed that nothing in the world could really put her down anymore. Every time she thought about Alex, her heart started to beat faster and she felt the corners of her mouth rise. Right as she was about to wonder what her girlfriend was doing at the moment, she heard her mother calling her name.

"Piper?"

"Yes, mom?"

"I've just asked you a question. Why aren't you listening to me? You've been so absent-minded lately. It can't be anything good."

Piper was very close to snapping at her mother but Bill's miserable gaze which was silently begging her not to, stopped the blonde. She took a long calming breath before addressing Carol.

"I'm sorry, mother. What was the question?"

"What are you planning to do in life? The summer break is practically over. Art and writing are not going to put food on your table. Your grandmother's money is going to run out eventually as well." She stared expectantly at Piper. "So?"

"So what?" She was trying to avoid the unavoidable – the issue of Piper's future.

"So what do you plan to do if you claim so loudly you're not looking for a life with a good husband."

This statement actually amused the blonde. At least her mother seemed to be finally accepting the fact that a typical family scenario is not gonna happen in her case. It was a small progress but still, Piper understood that she should be happy about anything even slightly positive from her mother's opinions.

"Mom, don't worry. I'll figure something out. Besides, I can always pursue academic career. A lot of my professors have actually suggested that to me already."

"Academic career is nice and all, honey, but it won't bring you money. Believe me." Carol just wouldn't give up. "You need something more stable in life. Painting is more of a hobby than a career, my dear and me and your father have been patient enough with you."

"What do you mean?" Piper looked questionably at her father before she returned her sight to Carol. "What are you talking about? Patient?" Her voice started to show the symptoms of the upcoming anger. The blonde felt like erupting any second now. Why can't her parent just simply accept who she is?! Besides, it's not like they don't have enough money. In fact, her family was fucking loaded and even if Piper decided not to do anything in life, she would still be able to have a pretty peaceful life with some normal, not super highly paid job. Maybe without extravagance of a huge house and so on but Piper had never cared about issues like that. She could eventually sell her flat… She still felt it was too empty and too big.

"Piper Elizabeth, I'm just saying that you should be more responsible about your future. You can't count only on my and your father's money all the time." Carol's tone suddenly sounded quite threatening. Was she suggesting something?

"I don't count on you only."

"Good because if you don't sort your life out a bit you might be forced to fend on your own." The older woman's voice was deprived of any trace of emotion.

"What do you mean?"

"You've heard me perfectly well. If you don't start treating your life like an adult would, you might not see any more penny from me in the future."

"You would fucking disown me or something?" Piper retorted with sad frustrated laughter.

"Language." Was all Carol said looking straight into the blonde's eyes.

"I asked you a question." Piper's eyes didn't leave her mother's sight either.

"I'm not willing to invest into a lost cause."

Piper hated that tone of her mother's voice. What the older woman said to her really stung this time and suddenly the blonde was extremely tired. All she wanted was to get away from there as fast as she could, especially that now she could feel her anger sky rocketing at a fearful speed. Tears were stinging her eyes but she was determined not to give her mother any satisfaction. She abruptly stood up from the dining table.

"I think I've had enough." She threw her napkin on her plate. "I don't think I'll come next week." And at that she left the room.

– – –

Piper slammed their parents' house door with such venom that she could hear the window panes shake. She felt like creaming but she knew that wasn't the brightest idea since she was still standing in front of the mansion. She didn't give a damn about her parent's money but the way her own mother treated her infuriated the blonde to no end. She wasn't only angry. She was simply hurt, and tired, and genuinely sad. The tears that she had been holding through most of their conversation were freely streaming down her cheeks and that fact only made her feel worse. Piper hated crying. She always did anything and everything in her might not to let people see her being that weak.

The blonde decided that she needed a walk. Even though the summer was basically over and the first little signs of the upcoming fall were starting to show, the evening was still nice and warm. Soft breeze was caressing Piper's face, slowly drying the tears away. With every step that she took she was more and more sure that she needed to limit her contact with her parents to a minimum. For many years she continued to hope that one day her mother would change. She would finally see a human in Piper and not just her doll meant to be shown off to others. "Fucking investment…" She muttered under her breathe and the words threatened to bring the tears back for a second. It took Piper a while to calm down again but when she finally did she was more determined than ever to change things. She would never look up to them anymore. She had had enough this time and even though it hurt like hell, she would do everything she could to become completely independent. For good.

She sat down on a bench in a park not far away from Alex's apartment. Her legs were tired and when she looked at the watch on her mobile, she realized that she had been walking around for more than two hours. It was slowly getting cold so she needed to decide whether to come back to her own place or maybe drop by at Alex's.

There were three unread messages on her phone. The first was from Cal saying that he was sorry that the dinner ended the way it did. The second was also from her younger brother and this one made Piper laugh quietly since it said only "Mom's a bitch." She quarreled with Cal from time to time but in the end he was her little bro. She loved him and actually really enjoyed his company. Part of her was even a bit sorry that he still had to live with his parents. But not for long. Soon he would be leaving for college and Piper was pretty sure that he would choose one the furthest away from their home. Slowly she was starting to understand why Danny got away and why he never came back. That was just a safe solution to both gain his freedom and peace of mind, and to maintain somehow normal relation to their parents. Keeping the distance seemed to be the best option. Piper decided to do just the same from now on.

The third message was from Alex.

[Alex to Piper] 4:34

Hey, kid! I'm sorry I won't be able to see you tonight. Gotta stay at the station. :-( Unless… You don't mind getting here. I'll give you my keys. You can keep my bed warm. :-) PS Please, please say yes. PPS Bring coffee. PPPS I miss your soft lips!

For the last two weeks the women had been almost inseparable. Of course, Alex had to work a lot, especially now that the investigation was getting more and more demanding and complicated, but she had always found a minute or two to call Piper or at least text her. The brunette was still an enigma to Piper, though. Yes, she did know what was her favorite food, or film, or music, or book, and so on but apart from the information that Alex's mother had passed away not such a long time ago and that she was the only child, Piper didn't know almost anything about her girlfriend's past. And even that what she knew, she found out not really from Alex herself but Stella (who by the way asked Piper to be patient because Alex can be quiet "a pain in the ass sometimes"). The tall beauty wasn't keen on talking about herself and Piper didn't want to pry so she decided to just wait and see what could happen.

Piper smiled and looked at her watch. It was well after 6 pm now so she decided to call the brunette first but she didn't pick up. Piper figured that she must be on some meeting and since the blonde was actually not so far away from the station, she decided to just go ahead and visit her girlfriend, just as she had asked her to.

Within 20 minutes Piper was standing in the front of the police station building. She held two steaming cups of fresh coffee from her favorite café and a bag of chocolate chip bagels she knew that Alex loved. The thought that in a minute she would see her lover made Piper feel a lot better than right after the nightmarish dinner with her family. She felt her heart flutter with excitement but not only – she was really starting to grow serious feeling towards the brunette.

Just as she was about to enter the building, she saw Bennet leaving the station in a somewhat hurry so she decided to just wave him a short hello instead of stopping him for a chat as she would usually do when she visited Alex at her workplace. Yet, when the young man noticed her she stopped immediately and for a second Piper thought that she saw sheer panic in his blue eyes.

"Piper! Good to see you!" He seemed oddly nervous and she didn't have a clue why he would feel like that in front of her.

"Hi, John! What's up?" At that question Bennet forced himself to calm down a bit and he stood in front of Piper with his white toothy grin.

"Oh, it's all good. Busy as always but you know how it is in here. Alex probably tells you all about the crazy working hours and so on. Caputo had been making us all crazy but I'm not surprised. I would also be pain in the ass if I had to do his job." He was obviously rambling, which was unusual. John was a rather quiet man so seeing him talking like that made Piper feel weird. Her gut was telling her that something was wrong and for some mysterious reason Bennet was trying to prevent the blonde from entering the building. Especially that now he was standing in front of her in such a way that Piper was unable to even see what was going inside even though the big door was wide open.

In the meantime in Alex's office

"I've told you fucking million times already, Sylvia. We are not together. We've never been together. You are not my girlfriend. Stop fucking stalking me." Alex was beyond furious. She had had problems with her ex-lover for a while now but she honestly hope they would die down on their own when Sylvie gets bored and moves on. Yet, that never truly happened and now the red head was standing in her office pleading with Alex again.

"But we were so good together. Why can't you see that?" The shorter girl whined.

"We…" Alex pointed between them "are never going to be together, ok? So please stop coming here, stop calling me. Stop leaving messages for me here. It makes me look unprofessional."

Sylvie came closer to Alex even though the brunette was trying to maintain their distance. She put her hands on the detective's waist and Alex tried to stop her from getting any closer by holding the red-head by her forearms. The shorter girl laughed lightly at that.

"What? Scared of me now?" She smirked and pulled Alex closer to her. She got nearer to the detective and started whispering into her ear. "I clearly remember you having a totally different reaction to my touch." And then she kissed her below her ear, surprising even Alex. Before she had the time to push Sylvie away, the door to her small office flew open and for a second the raven-haired woman felt relief, hoping that Stella's gonna save her before she killed Sylvie right in the middle of the police station, but when she looked up from the annoying woman what she saw made her eyes widen in sheer horror.

"Pipes? What are you doing here?" She asked as she shoved Sylvie away from herself and walked to her girlfriend, trying to reach out her hand to her but the blonde took a step back. Piper's face was blank and white as a sheet of paper.

"Something very stupid, apparently." The blonde whispered more to herself than Alex and turned around to leave. The brunette tried to stop but Piper was having nothing of it. She stormed out of Alex's office but the detective followed her.

"Pipes, stop. You've got it all wrong."

"Yes, I did have it all wrong." She continued to walk angrily down the corridor leading to the exit.

"Please, don't be like that. Pipes…" Alex tried once again to hold Piper's wrist in order to stop her from leaving the building altogether but all that she managed to achieve was Piper snapping at her, the blonde's temper obviously reached its limit.

"Don't you fucking touch me." She angrily whispered to Alex when they were outside the police station and Alex yet again tried to hold Piper's forearm to stop her from leaving without explanation.

"Let me explain everything. I don't know what you think you've just seen there but by the looks of it you are so wrong." The brunette tried to calmly reason with the younger woman.

"Now I know why fucking Bennet was so damn talkative all of a sudden."

"What?" This got Alex confused. "What are you talking about?"

Piper just looked at her with an expression that Alex was simply unable to read. This situation was starting to get out of hand and it scared the shit out of her.

"Fuck you, Alex." Piper finally spitted through clenched teeth. She shoved the coffee and bagels into Alex's hands. "Oh, and enjoy your fucking supper. AND if you follow me I'm gonna fucking scream." At that she turned around and started walking never looking back.

Alex stood there speechless. She wasn't sure wheatear Piper was serious about the screaming part but she couldn't really risk it in front of the police station, especially that in the corner of her eye she could see Caputo entering the building together with Healy. She threw the food and drinks into the nearest trash bin and after taking a few long breaths while waiting for her boss get to his office, she finally decided to get back to her own little room as well.

As she was walking back she saw that Sylvie was still at the station, arguing with Bennet and Stella in front of the information desk. Alex saw red. She stepped close to the red-head and grabbed the woman's jacket forcefully, almost lifting her up. This seemed to scare the shorter girl.

"If you ever, and I mean EVER, show your fucking face here or near my apartment or near anyplace where me or my friends are, you are going to need a fucking restraining order against me. If you ever call me or ask about me, you're going to be in deep shit troubles. Do you hear me?" Alex shook her a bit. "I asked: . ?"

It was extremely quiet in the corridor. Everybody was looking at the small gathering, most people not understanding what was really going on.

"Yes." Sylvie whispered, clearly shaken and scared. Nobody knew this side of Alex. She was hardly ever violent and this time it looked as if it hadn't been for Stella, who was now trying to hold Alex back, the brunette would have smashed the shorter woman.

After a few long seconds Alex finally let Sylvie drop back to her own feet. "Get the fuck away from here." She said and entered her office slamming her door.