Chapter 11

"Do you have any more questions, Pipes?"

Alex and Piper had just concluded their weekly, therapeutic walk around Central Park. The walk allowed each woman to ask the other questions about each other that had gone unanswered, and it allowed the pair to rekindle the once thriving relationship they had strategically built before it was destroyed.

In the first two weeks of the walks out of the four weeks they had been walking, both had ended up with tears trailing down their faces when they were done expressing their thoughts. Seeing Alex fully open up and let Piper see the demons she had been battling for such an extraordinary amount of time was such an incredible thing for the blonde woman to experience. The walks had not only helped them to learn more about each other, but they had quickly noticed the inevitable chemistry between them grow even stronger.

Piper was walking next to the taller woman, gently swinging her and Alex's pinkies that were hooked around each other. She had recently gotten a new hairstyle. Instead of the long tresses that flowed down to the middle of her back, she had cut it to just above her shoulders. The style made her look older and more mature. Alex had called it the "mom-cut", but thought it fit the blonde extremely well. Piper was wearing a pair of Ray-Ban aviators, a gift from Alex, and a black, women's pant suit. Considering that the pair met directly after Piper got off of work, her clothing was usually less casual than Alex's usual skinny jeans and v-neck.

The blonde pulled Alex towards a park bench to sit down, and thought for a moment.

"How did you get associated with the cartel in the first place?"

Alex took off her glasses and perched them atop her head.

"Well… As I've told you, my dad left my mom as soon as she told him she was pregnant. The older I got and the more my mom talked about him, I got this overwhelming urge to meet him. Diane always made him seem like this big ass rock legend, but yet he was heartless enough to never send child support or get in touch. When I was twenty one, his band was playing here in the city so I took the liberty of catching two buses and one train to come see him." The older woman paused a moment to let out a breath. "His show wasn't as great as my mom made it seem. The place wasn't even close to full and they literally played the same song three times in a row. I had seen his band's manager getting the band rounds at the bar and persuaded him to take me backstage. At first, it seemed promising when I introduced myself. Like he was actually going to try. But after he made a comment about my rack and how he could've mistaken me for a groupie and fucked me, I realized he was high off his mind just like everyone else in the room. My anxiety got the best of me and I rushed off to the bathroom to get away from the fucked up situation and the stupidity I was feeling. I felt fucking dumb for even trying to connect with him. I was going to make a quiet exit and try to forget I even tried, and when I came out of the bathroom, a man that had been sitting in the room with the band cornered me. His name was Fahri. He seemed to know exactly how I felt without even knowing me. My dad was one of his clients he sold drugs to. After that he sort of took me under his wing and I started in the cartel within a month."

By the time Alex was done, Piper had fully intertwined their fingers and rested Alex's hand in her lap. It gave Alex a feeling of reassurance and safety that Piper sat through every conversation and never once judged her and her past.

"Well I'm glad that you're past that and are sitting here with me today."

Alex turned her head to the side to look at Piper who smiling brightly at her. The brunette returned the smile and replied, "Me too."

After a few minutes of comfortable silence and people watching, Piper asked Alex if she had any questions for her.

"I don't really have any, Pipes. You've always been so up-front with me from the beginning. I'd like to tell you something though."

"What is it?"

"After we had our initial confrontation and you left, I had an emergency stash hidden in one of my boots in my closet, and I flushed it down the toilet. I've never experienced anything so relieving in my life."

Piper's eyes welled up with tears. Breaking the hand connection, the blonde cupped Alex's face.

"Alex, why didn't you tell me sooner?" Piper paused as Alex wiped a stray tear off of her face. "I'm so, so, so proud of you."

An overwhelming urge to kiss the older woman washed over Piper, but she was quickly brought away from her thoughts when Alex turned her face to kiss Piper's palm.

"I didn't want you to freak out because I had drugs around. It definitely served as some closure though."

"Al, I've never been more proud of anyone in my life. The way you have transformed emotionally over the past month has been truly amazing to watch. Letting your emotions out doesn't always mean you're weak. Emotions mean you have a heart, and you my dear, have a truly great one."


The pair soon walked to Alex's car so she could drop Piper off at her apartment. This had been the drill throughout the past month they had been taking their walks around Central Park. Alex would drive to the park while Piper would walk from Popi, and Alex would drive her home.

While Alex and Piper were sitting in front of Piper's apartment building, hands tangled together across the center console, Alex pulled out a small box from under her seat.

"Here, I got these for Conner this morning. I saw them when I was looking for a new leather jacket and I couldn't resist."

Opening the box, Piper found a pair of black, infant sized converse.

"Oh my gosh! These are so cute!"

"I got the nine to twelve month size so they might be a little big."

Piper looked to Alex and the older woman looked a little shy at admitting she bought something for a baby. Alex hadn't seen Conner in almost three months. Piper knew she had to be dying a little bit on the inside from being away from her little buddy. It didn't only hurt Alex to stay away from the child, but it broke Piper's heart that she had to keep him away.

"Alex. You didn't have to get these."

Alex shrugged and directed her attention to the bird that had landed on the ground just outside of her window. Alex didn't keep it under wraps that she was still partly heartbroken since she still hadn't been allowed to see Conner, but it was all in due time. Alex had expressed multiple times in their talks about how she had missed the small boy, but never once did she ask Piper to see him. The brunette was willing to wait for Piper to make that call, but on the inside, she felt like she was dying a very slow death from the boy's absence.

Piper smirked at how Alex was acting. To see Alex change from a woman who was a complete nervous wreck around children when to someone who is completely in awe of an eight month old little boy warmed Piper's heart.

The blonde reached over the center console and placed a lingering kiss to Alex's cheek.

"Thank you. Not only for these completely adorable shoes, but for the past month and being so honest with me."

Alex squeezed Piper's hand and stared right back at the blonde.

"Thank you, for not giving up on me."

Piper stared at the woman sitting next to her. The color had returned back to Alex's face and the dark bags under her eyes had vanished. Things were on the up and up.


"Piper, I don't even see why you knock. Now get inside! I don't want my grandbaby to get sick from this rain."

Piper and Conner had left the next morning to go visit her parents in Connecticut. The pair traveled to visit Bill and Carol Chapman at least once a month. Piper constantly bribed Polly to go with her so she wouldn't have to face Carol by herself, but since Polly announced she was pregnant, the road trips were solely left for Piper and Conner.

When Polly announced she was pregnant one month ago, Piper had been somewhat relieved that the questions about conceiving would stop. She was quickly proven wrong. Polly had started a whole new forum of questions about what Piper did to get through her pregnancy.

"Sorry mother."

The mother and daughter quickly made their way inside the large house and into the kitchen.

"Would you like some tea, dear?"

"No thanks." Piper murmured as she placed Conner on top of the island to retrieve him from his carrier. The small boy had seemed to have grown out of his motion sickness the older he got and for that Piper was thankful.

"There's my precious grandbaby."

Carol smiled and sauntered over to where Piper had sat Conner down on the island with his feet stretching out in front of him and his back to Piper's front.

"Your father is at the golf course, he should be home within the hour. How are you doing dear? Everything okay at Popi?"

The older woman's tone was apathetic as she fixed the collar of her grandson's baby polo. Every time Piper had taken Conner to see his grandparents, Carol made a huge deal over the sweats and onesies she had been dressing him in. Carol believed that her grandson look sharp at all times. So with that, Piper dressed him up to see his grandparents so Carol would have one less thing to bitch at her about. Piper knew she was trying to start the WASPy ways early, but Piper was going to leave that decision up to her son once he was old enough.

"Everything's great. Polly and I are thinking of opening a store in New Jersey to go along with the one here in Connecticut and New York."

Piper's phone vibrated in her back pocket as Carol replied.

"That would pleasant to see. Although I have to say, the scents you gave me for Christmas were much too strong."

Carol turned around to tend to her tea while Piper rolled her eyes. Pulling out her phone, the blonde found a text message from her favorite woman.

From Alex: How's your morning with your mother? (;

Piper chuckled at Alex's sarcasm.

To Alex: She's being rude and WASPy, as always…

The blonde had yet to tell her mother she was seeing anyone and she was nervous to eventually tell her parents she was seeing a woman. After Jake had passed, Carol spent months trying to hook Piper up with potential dates from the country club. Piper had taken up Carol's offer once to appease her and that was a huge mistake. Not only was Piper almost to full term with her pregnancy when she went on the date, her dates name was Jake. Piper thought her mother would have enough common sense to eliminate that one, but apparently not.

From Alex: Wish I could help babe. Xx

Piper smiled at the nickname as Conner batted at her phone. Carol walked behind Piper to open the refrigerator and saw the text message.

"Who's Alex, Piper?"

The blonde had been caught.

"Uh…He's just someone I met at Popi…A potential investor for the new store."

"Well good for you dear. I'm going to tell Charlotte she can leave for the day. There's no sense in her cleaning with Conner here. I don't want him around the chemicals."

"Okay." Piper nodded. That had been the first sincere thing Carol had said all day.

The young mother noticed her heartbeat had picked up. That had been close. Piper was thankful she had been able to muster up a quick lie. She had disguised Alex as a man, that would have to do for now but she knew that soon Carol would be asking to meet this "investor". Now that her mind was on Alex, Piper couldn't help but think that her weekends were empty now that Alex hadn't been able to see Conner.

Checking to make sure that Carol had left the room, Piper opened the camera app on her phone and turned it to face towards her and Conner. Conner's eyes lit up with fascination as he saw himself and his mother on the screen. Piper blew raspberries into the side of Conner's neck to get him to smile and quickly snapped the picture. In the picture, Conner's feet had flown up in the air from giggling, giving the camera a perfect view of his new converse and Piper had turned her head just in time to smile at the camera while her son was smiling.

Piper sent the picture to Alex with the caption,

"Can I come over tomorrow to show you my new kicks?"

A/N: Kind of just a filler. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up before the end of the weekend.

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