A/N: This update took me quite a while despite how quickly it's going up (for once). The angst is coming soon, by the way (just to warn you). Also, recently I hit 500 reviews on Persuasion, 300 reviews on this and 100k overall views of both stories. Now, when I started writing for the first time in the summer (Persuasion is genuinely the first piece of writing I've produced), I did not think I would come this far. For a 15 year old, to be getting this kind of reaction to something written just for the hell of it, is genuinely astounding. I honestly, honestly cannot thank you guys enough. Okay, enough of me being a sap, enjoy!


"This is your entire fault."

"Now, Piper-"

"Don't you 'now Piper' me!"

Alex sighs, setting down the safety pins on the desk and coming around to face the perturbed blonde. Piper looks back at her sternly, arms folded with all the menace of a scorned three year old who'd had her toys taken off her.

"Please just let me go and get your damn running stuff." Alex reiterated her initial point to Piper that really there was no chance in hell of repairing the damaged shirt, and it would make much more sense to have her go to Piper's car and retrieve her clothes for coaching the track team after school.

"Like that won't attract suspicion." Piper surmises caustically.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you rather walk around for the rest of the day in a ripped shirt? By all means, go ahead; I sure won't be complaining." Alex quips with a wry smirk.

"Fuck you."

"Are you sure about that one?" The brunette fires back light-heartedly, raising her eyebrows suggestively. Piper would like to be angry, she really would, but such is Alex's effortless charm and ability to exude an air of complete calmness at all times, she finds herself shaking her head in reverent disbelief. Alex grins slyly at her, a silent inquiry to the whereabouts of her car keys. Piper needs to be mad, she has to tell Alex (and herself) to stop this; the recklessness that had just occurred within earshot of the student body could not and should not ever even come close to happening again. Alex especially should know better; she's turning thirty in a little over a week, and they're both expected to be looking after twenty pupils over a three day period in Boston.

And yet they can't even keep their hands off each other in a classroom, never mind a hotel room.

Piper sighs but eventually concedes to Alex's earnest look once she moves her glasses to the top of her head and gazes at her girlfriend so sincerely that the blonde hands over the keys hastily before her insides turn to mush under the staunchness visible in Alex's green eyes.

"You better...you know, hide." Alex instructs sheepishly, nodding her head to the storeroom door behind Piper. The younger girl rolls her eyes but a smile inadvertently tugs at the corners of her mouth as she stands, holding her top together at the back awkwardly.

"I feel like a fugitive." Piper mutters quietly, but Alex picks up on it and smirks as she strides towards the opposite door.

"Ooh, role-play."


Piper is finally afforded a few minutes of silence alone in the narrow storeroom, hidden in an alcove on the off chance someone would enter looking for her due to the absence of the blonde in her classroom. Apart from the quiet mutterings audible from the class outside, the unusual absence of noise was welcomed by Piper. She picks absentmindedly at a pluck in her trousers while she waited for Alex to return, and was struck by the absurdity of the situation. Here she was, hiding from her pupils while she waited for her co-worker to sneak in her running clothes so she had something to wear for the remainder of the day. Added to the fact the co-worker also happens to be her girlfriend and had ripped Piper's shirt down the seam, causing the need for the blonde to change into more appropriate attire, it would be fair to say that the whole thing was a little surreal. The single most incomprehensible thing, however, is the unutterable truth that Piper Chapman has fallen in love with Alex Vause.

And it absolutely terrifies her.

Piper doesn't dwell too much on the location in which their ill-timed fuck had occurred. Rather, she focuses on the fact that even ten minutes later she still feels fairly dazed by the indescribable orgasmic pleasures inflicted on her by the brunette. No one has ever had Piper Chapman in such a continuous state of delirium just by simply existing, by being around often or, of course, by the touch of their hands and lips across her body. Simply put, no one has ever made Piper feel even a smidgen of the way Alex does. There's a constant cycle of lust and happiness and anger and frustration and a thousand other unattainable emotions coursing through Piper's veins constantly when Alex is around, and if the blonde had to sum it up into one cataclysmic state, she would call it being in love. But Piper has never been in love; she doesn't know the first thing about what she can and can't do. Certainly, by the way things are looking; she's already struggling with the secrecy that must unfortunately come along with their relationship. She blames Alex, but only as a means of distancing herself from conflict and anything that may force her to face up to the fact that it is verboten, it is forbidden, and if she is found out the only thing that has mattered to her up until Alex will be ripped from right in front of her eyes; the prospect of establishing a name for herself in her chosen career path. And, while it may seem miniscule to an onlooker, from Piper's perspective the one thing she has been striving for since the moment she'd gotten her life sorted out, was a sense of stability, power and recognition that may only be granted to her through becoming Head of Department in one of America's most prestigious high schools. Up until now Piper has been obsessed with that goal, and one can hardly blame the blonde for still chasing after it despite the arrival of an incredibly endearing co-worker.

Alex Vause is bad; a dark streak that holds no regard for the consequences of her actions and how they may affect Piper now entwines them both, a deep-rooted ignorance that blossoms from both women's lust for power and perfection. But oh, there are some moments when Piper realises how fucking good Alex Vause is, that they almost pain her to think about.

This is one of those moments.

Here is Alex, escaping out under the prying eyes of pupils and staff to retrieve clothes for her girlfriend by way of apology for tearing a shirt during the throes of passion; it is a reinforcement of the enormity of her love for the blonde that she should risk questioning by anyone for her suspicious actions, yet still she ignores the ramifications and focuses solely on what will make Piper happy (whether it be an orgasm or a new set of clothes). There are other moments, Piper realises now, where she should have known how important Alex was (and is); on Sunday mornings when she'll read meaningless passages from books to the blonde simply because Piper likes the pitch of her voice, or on the rare occasions when Piper is upset, Alex will set her glasses down on the table, cradle Piper in her arms and look at her with so much compassion and understanding etched beautifully across her face that she might as well have the words 'I love you' spelt out in bold lettering across her forehead. Alex Vause is a paradox of good versus evil that has utterly consumed Piper; a deadly concoction of the thrill of breaking rules coupled with unprecedented sincerity gifted solely to Piper that has the blonde falling impossibly harder for her.

Piper sighs happily into the natural lighting of the storeroom, content with her review of feelings for her girlfriend. The terror from before has manifested delightfully into something that curls in her stomach, something that feels a hell of a lot like anticipation. Now, she doesn't have to worry about telling Alex how she feels, it's more about choosing when to tell her. They have chemistry all right, and really they only need one other thing- timing.

But timing's a bitch.


There's an endless list of things Alex would rather do than spend her birthday looking after a group of over enthusiastic fifteen and sixteen year olds on a science trip to Boston. But, then again, there's not much she'd rather do than spend the evening of her birthday in a hotel room with her strikingly beautiful girlfriend who she still cannot catch a break with. Over a week has elapsed, and the pair have found little time for each other in between a hectic race to get the trip planned out. Wednesday morning comes with the promise of a lengthy train journey side by side but the responsibility to look after their students. Alex sighs in utter ambivalence and looks sideways at Nicky who had so kindly offered her less than stellar driving skills to her best friend so that Alex didn't have to leave her car in school while she was away.

"What're you so nervous about?" Nicky cries incredulously when she takes in the brunette's rather hesitant demeanour. Alex shrugs.

"What if she doesn't say it back?"

"As if that's ever stopped you before." Nicky reminds her best friend.

"I never, ever say it first. You know that." Alex fires back instantaneously.

"You still say it, though." The chemistry teachers concedes the fact that it's true, but realises that she really didn't give a shit whether her ex girlfriends said they loved her or not.

"Piper is different." It's perhaps the only way Alex can begin to explain why she cares so much about the blonde who should probably be here by now. She looks out at the various pupils gathering around the bus they're taking to the train station, and realises she should probably take it upon herself to look after them.

"Why?" Nicky presses, but is rewarded with nothing but a derisive snort from the brunette who steps from the car gracefully, moving to pull out her overnight bag. Alex slings it over her shoulder and shuts the door, leaning down to bid goodbye to her friend through the window.

"I'll let you know." Alex smirks, winking at Nicky with a quick nod before turning and making her way over to the bus. "Morning." She greets, attempting to mask her utter disdain at standing in a bitterly cold car park on an October morning with a bunch of children. They reply with a similar greeting to their teacher. "All set?" Alex directs to the pudgy bus driver who affords her a curt nod. How pleasant, Alex thinks dryly as she sets down her bag and pulls out her phone to check the time. 8:03. Piper should have been here for eight, and it's certainly not like her to be late. Added to the absence of a happy birthday text, it was unsurprising that Alex was feeling a little confused. Before she could press the call button under 'Pipes' name in her phone, the familiar roar of the blonde's Audi R8 echoed through the car park. Alex rolled her eyes at the drama of it all, but pocketed her phone and did her best to remain nonchalant as she sat down on the stone bench where she and Piper had sat upon Alex's admittance that she did not in fact drive a black Mercedes. Alex and the students' attention were drawn to Piper's flashy car, and the brunette did little to hide her staring as her girlfriend stepped from the confines of the matte black R8. Piper's grey jeans were literally the tightest pair Alex had ever seen her wear, almost like a second skin fitted marvellously over her long runner's legs. The blonde's denim button down shirt was wide open at the collar, exposing her collarbones for once (for the more time she spent with Alex, the less skin she was able to show due to the array of marks left by the brunette's searching mouth) covered by a thick navy coat into which she thrust a hand while the other pulled out her tan overnight bag and slammed the door of her car overbearingly hard. Alex was at once drawn from her staring solely at Piper's inviting figure and was forced to take in her whole aura; her girlfriend's eyes were obscured by dark Ray Bans which Alex seriously doubted was down to the wintery sun that would be gone in an hour or two and her lips were drawn in a tight line. Piper ran her free hand through her blonde hair and flipped it over her shoulder boldly before turning up the collar of her coat and striding purposefully towards Alex, the only audible sound from the sole of her Chelsea boots against the tarmac.

"Uh...go ahead and get on the bus, guys." Alex said to the pupils absent-mindedly as they looked confusedly between their two teachers. A few of them muttered comments to each other about the blonde's obvious rage that Alex was quite frankly glad she couldn't hear before they eventually all filtered onto the bus and the doors closed once more to keep out the stinging breeze of the early morning. Aware of the inquisitive eyes peering down at the pair from the bus, Alex kept a platonic distance from her pissed off girlfriend as best she could.

"Uhh..are you okay?" Alex inquired, standing to her full height and facing the blonde. Piper took her Ray Bans off and tucked them into the front of her shirt, revealing nothing particularly out of the ordinary. Her eyes, though, blazed with a familiar fire.

"No." She spat, but offered no explanation, just brushing past her girlfriend and waiting for the bus doors to open.

"Hey-"Alex instinctively reached out to grab Piper's wrist for a split second, before dropping it as if burned. "What's wrong?" Piper looked from Alex's hands to her face, and her stormy expression faltered slightly.

"I'll tell you on the train." Piper promised softly, reluctant to get into a rant when she was already late.

"Okay." Alex accepted half heartedly, watching as Piper turned once more. The blonde rearranged herself as best she could, attempting to reign in her fiery temper and drawn on the coolness she was well versed in the art of exuding.

"After you, Miss Vause." Piper encouraged, her tone turning surprisingly chipper.

"Just because you want to stare at my ass." Alex correctly insinuated, smirking as Piper shrugged in defeat.

"Hey, Al." The blonde whispered quietly, her expression softening into one of genuine happiness, unmasked by any preconceptions or facades. "Happy birthday." Alex grinned slyly at her, glancing from her sparkling blue irises to her lips that curled into a smirk before looking back up again.

"Thanks, kid."


Alex loves watching Piper rant. She really, really loves it. The way the words spill from her mouth without much context and her hands flow with the lilt of her speech absolutely enthrals Alex, and she's pretty sure she'll never get tired of watching the blonde talk. She hardly listens, really, but more observes the inherently adorable way Piper tries to get her point across about a topic she clearly feels strongly about. As always, Piper looks at the older girl for approval, and it takes Alex a second to piece together what the hell her girlfriend is actually talking about.

"I can't believe you fell for that." Alex shakes her head in mock disdain, looking down at the Styrofoam cup between her hands, steam rising from the hot contents. "That's like the oldest trick in the book." She looks up at the aghast blonde from through her lashes, smirking at her outrage.

"What is the oldest trick in the book?!" Piper repeats incredulously, spreading her hands across the table and turning her palms skyward. "Poop?!" Her voice raises an octave and her eyes widen in sheer disbelief. "In a bag?! Alex continues to smirk triumphantly at Piper's amazement. "ON FIRE?!" A few passengers turn their heads at the outcry from the blonde, who just continues to glare at Alex in unashamed dubiousness.

"It's a prank, Pipes." Alex, as usual, is the voice of reason, her tone calm and soothing to the blonde. Piper scoffs but settles herself slightly, crossing her forearms on the grey, plastic table and looking deep in thought. Alex continues to study her for a long moment, before the blonde's expression turns into absolute horror.

"Oh, my god. It's her." Piper's voice wavers with realisation, her expression faraway.

"Who?" Alex questions, raising one eyebrow in curiosity.

"Sylvie."

"My ex? Really?" Alex scoffs indignantly, but realises her ex is probably the sort of person to leave a steaming bag of shit at Piper's front door at seven o'clock in the morning. Sun streams through the vast window beside their table, lush greens rocketing past as the train hurtles towards their destination.

"Yes, she's fucking crazy!" Piper insists, her tone accusing. Alex nods her agreement, but shrugs amicably.

"Yeah, well, hopefully she's got it out of her system. Why didn't Holly give you a lift this morning?"

"Too busy cleaning up the shit on my doorstep." Piper deadpans. Alex lets out a loud, throaty laugh at the image of Piper's best friend scrubbing away at the doorstep. The infectious laughter filters throughout Piper and she can't fight the grin that spreads across her face. Suddenly, her annoyance at the situation is at once removed by Alex, and the blonde comes to see it as so ridiculous it's funny.

"I swear, the things you get me involved in..." Piper chuckles with a shake of her head. Alex looks at her a moment longer, before she breaks into that sort of devilish smirk that ignites a ferocious feeling of anticipation within her girlfriend.

"Oh, but Piper," Alex's voice is low, as if she's revealing a terrific secret. She glances around the carriage, at the various other passengers and handful of pupils who are preoccupied in conversations or fast asleep before returning to Piper with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Think of the stories you'll have."

And Piper tries to suppress her grin with a bite of her lip, but then she just smiles so fucking wide and happy and she just falls harder in love with the brunette. The honesty of her voice and the promises of futures together have Piper's heartstrings pulled irrevocably tight; a constant fluttering in her chest that momentarily manifests into an all consuming state of pure delight when she hears those words from Alex.

Yes, Piper Chapman would absolutely love to live a story or two more with Alex Vause before it's all over.


Boston is a fantastic place. A thriving metropolis at its heart beckons with skyscrapers and shimmering waters and all the typical ruckus of a city, yet the sheltered outskirts that the train trundles easily through depicts chipped pavements and derelict warehouse hold as much charm as the far away city centre where the last remnants of morning sunshine were being quickly eaten up by menacing grey clouds. A quiet storm festers overhead, enveloping Boston and its inhabitants with a total dullness that has yet to grow into the thunderous lashings of rainfall the clouds so obviously possess. The hotel is sufficient, if not overly luxurious; it has a bar, a pool and of course a wide, open ballroom that has been transformed into the science exhibition.

But, most importantly, it has a room for two booked under the names of Alex Vause and Piper Chapman.

The train journey takes it out of Piper, considering the morning she's had, and by the time the troupe arrive at their hotel for half past one, she's already half falling asleep in the foyer. Alex lets her slump in one of the plush green chairs and sorts out their party's booking herself, wondering how in the hell her girlfriend can sleep for three hours on the train and still be basically passed out. The pupils are good; they don't run off or cause to much hassle when they go into a McDonald's for lunch and they wait quietly for Alex to divvy out their key cards. Frankly, her biggest problem is the drowsy blonde in the corner. The crowd disperses up to their second floor rooms to unpack and report back within the next hour, leaving Alex and Piper alone in the expansive foyer.

"Miss Chapman." Alex drawls. Hilariously, the blonde's hand that her head rests on gives way underneath her and she's roused with a jolt, blue eyes widening in surprise.

"What?!" Piper gasps, looking wildly from Alex to her surroundings. "Wha- where are we?"

"Oh, for Christ sake, you were awake ten minutes ago!" The brunette huffs, but the makings of a smirk flit across her face. Piper drags her hand across her face and ruffles her hair tiredly, standing from the chair and moving to grab her bag. "I got it." Alex says softly, taking it before the blonde can reach it.

"You'd think it was my birthday." Piper surmises with a wry smirk, her voice rough with fatigue. They step into the elevator and Alex sets the bags down before wrapping a comforting arm around her girlfriend's shoulders. Piper gratefully rests her head in the crook of Alex's neck, taking unreserved pleasure from the intoxicating scent of her sultry perfume.

"Mm, I'm expecting quite the reward, though." Alex reminds the blonde, rubbing her hand soothingly up and down Piper's arm. Piper smirks despite her tiredness, kissing her girlfriend's pulse point for a split second before the elevator doors slide open and the two are forced to drop their hold on each other and return to the infuriating pretence of being simply colleagues. A few students stand in the corridor or shout across rooms through open doors.

"Hey!" Alex barks sharply, and silence runs immediately through the length of the corridor. Piper smirks at the pupil's fear of her girlfriend, and although she wouldn't admit it aloud, she gets one hell of a kick from watching Alex in her element, powerful and domineering and cooler than ice. It's intimidating as hell, even to Piper, but fucking hell if it isn't one of the hottest things she's ever seen.

"Either go into your friend's room and close the door, or stay in your own room and close the door." Alex informs them harshly, looking hard at the guilty pupils who cower under the stern gaze of their teacher. They scarper away quickly, some all into one room while a few just step forward and pull the door shut tight. Piper looks at Alex amusedly, but bites her tongue as they walk to their room at the end of the corridor. Wordlessly, the blonde takes her bag from between Alex's fingers as she fishes out the key card from the tight pocket of her black jeans. She walks through the door first, Piper following, and discards her own bag against the wall beside the wardrobe. The door clicks shut behind them. Alex steps a little further into the room than Piper, walking over to just in front of the bed and looking around. It's surprisingly nice; the queen size bed frame and wall behind it is a warm chocolate brown colour, while the other walls and a lighter shade, more like taupe. The carpet underfoot is pinstriped in reds and browns and the window at the far end of the room is flanked by translucent white curtains and a brown, heavier pair. There's a TV and a few desks, a mini fridge but little else to occupy them.

However, judging by the manner in which Piper is wrapping her arms around Alex from behind, snaking her hands under the tight material of her shirt and attaching her lips to her shoulder, they won't need much else to occupy themselves.

"What're you doing?" Alex breathes but offers no real protests to her girlfriend's actions. Piper moves her lips across the brunette's shoulder blades and up the column of her neck while her dextrous fingers tiptoe higher up Alex's stomach. She smirks, placing a hot kiss behind Alex's ear before whispering roughly to her, her voice as rough as gravel.

"Rewarding you."


It is no easy task asking Alex Vause and Piper Chapman to be quiet during sex. Such is the intensity of their relationship, they can hardly be blamed for being so vocal. Of course, they're not too intimate or loving considering they are in the close proximity of their pupils, but when left with a good hour to kill in a small space together, there's only really one option.

"Rate your birthday so far out of ten." Piper demands gleefully, curled against Alex's side with her head on her chest. Alex is completely naked save for her underwear, while Piper has her shirt and jeans totally unbuttoned.

Thankfully, the blonde's shirt managed to stay in one piece.

"Well, that was fun and all, but I'd like to think there's more where that came from." Alex insinuates sultrily, skimming her fingers along the exposed skin above the waistband of her girlfriend's jeans.

"So needy." Piper shakes her head in mock disappointment, but there's not even a hint of denial. Piper can get a hell of a lot more done when they have a whole night ahead of them.

"You love it." It slips out before Alex can really think about what she's suggesting, and they both realise the enormity of the statement at the same time. Her fingers still on Piper's back and the blonde's breathing hitches, no longer hitting the sensitive skin of Alex's neck. Piper's heart thumps unbelievably loudly in her ears, so loud she's surprised her girlfriend can't hear it. Piper, to her credit, opens her mouth to reply, but a sharp knock on their door interrupts her. She may be half naked lying in bed with her co-worker within metres of her students, yet she's never been happier to be interrupted in her life.

"I think I better get that." Piper mutters, hastily buttoning up her jeans and shirt and attempting to tame her hair. Alex lies frozen on the bed, wondering if she's just fucked everything up with her innate forwardness. She fails to register whatever the hell Piper is saying to their intruder around the corner; the only thing she's able to register is the heartbreaking feeling of her girlfriend's hesitance. It wasn't an outright avoidance, and Alex hadn't quite said she loved her, but it was still incredibly unnerving. Alex Vause did not deal well with rejection; she usually made choices only when she was one hundred percent sure of success.

But this? The uncertain, blurred line between Piper reciprocating and Piper avoiding, gnaws away at her to the point where she becomes irritable. The blonde informs her that the exhibition is starting in an hour, and she should probably take a shower considering the activity of the past forty five minutes.

"Yeah, you go. I'll come join you." Alex tells her distractedly with her trademark smirk that this time doesn't reach her eyes. Piper smiles back, but notices the disappointment in her girlfriend's demeanour. It's not that she didn't love Alex, of course she fucking did, she was just surprised at the brunette's suggestiveness, and had the opportunity to reply snatched away from her before she could truly grasp it.

Alex never joins her in the shower. Piper isn't surprised.


The exhibition is borderline tragic. It's so geared towards the students, that the two Chemistry teachers genuinely feel alienated.

"Yeah, I definitely feel old now. Jesus." Alex whispers to the blonde as the two watch on in awe at their students engaging in different stations set up by the faculty, all neon colours and set to the music of some trashy pop song that neither woman recognises.

"You've been thirty for like, two seconds. Relax, babe." Piper chastises lightly, throwing a sly grin in Alex's direction. The tension has dissipated slightly, but an unspoken awkwardness hangs between them, irresolvable until the next time the pair are alone. Which won't be for at least another two hours by the time the students complete whatever hellish activity they're doing, followed by a lecture and then dinner.

"I mean, I love Chemistry as much as the next person, but...fucking hell." Alex mutters, her expression one of almost disgust directed towards the exhibition.

"Maybe it's not so bad." Piper offers with little conviction, but stands to her feet anyway and looks between Alex and the various stations pleadingly. "C'mon, only one way to find out." The blonde encourages with a glint in her eye. Alex looks at her with a perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised behind the frames on her glasses.

"Are you fuckin' kidding me?" She laughs breathily.

"Alexxx..." Piper complains, jutting out her bottom lip sadly.

"I'll be over in a minute, I promise." Alex nods, rewarded with only a scoff from Piper who turns angrily on her heel and walks away. The brunette sighs, dragging her hands over her face despondently. She shouldn't take out her frustrations on Piper considering she hadn't even been given the opportunity to reply, but Alex just doesn't feel up to the task of doing basic experiments she's done a million times over while the weight of uncertainty looms over her like a dead weight. A man takes a seat beside her, looking like a teacher from one of the other schools. He's pretty old, maybe late fifties, with an ill fitting suit and white hair but kind grey eyes.

"Hello." He greets.

"Hey." Alex replies tersely, taking a sip from her water. The man looks from her to the blonde currently helping her pupils with whatever activity they're up to. Alex follows his gaze, and at once becomes entranced by the manner of her girlfriend. Piper has a terrific sort of ability about her, with an infectious smile and comforting blue eyes that have a profound impact on everyone she encounters. Some think she's pretentious, or fake, but perhaps the only person who's ever taken the time to really know Piper, is Alex. Stripped back from her pretences and cold fronts, Piper is perhaps the most kind hearted person the brunette has ever met. Alex could rant and rave about the reasons she loves Piper, but quite frankly she'd be here all night.

"What's so funny?" The man's voice startles Alex, and she's pulled from her unashamed admiration of her girlfriend. She turns to him, puzzled, her grin falling from her face.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're looking at that girl as if she's just told the funniest joke in the world." He tells her. Alex blushes uncharacteristically, looking back at Piper instinctively.

"Oh, Piper? She's... she..." Alex trails off, shrugging lightly. Where on earth do you begin to describe Piper Chapman to a total stranger? The man has a knowing grin on his face, and the brunette's confusion magnifies.

"I know that look." He insists.

"What look?"

"You look like you're in love." Alex almost chokes on her water, green eyes widening in total shock at the man's sudden outburst. She offers no reply for quite some time, looking between he and her oblivious girlfriend. There's a strong chance she'll never see this man again, though, so what the hell.

"Yeah." Alex agrees finally, standing from her chair. This time, she'll join Piper. There will be plenty of other opportunities to get her point across to the blonde. "Yeah, I guess I am."


Alex and Piper have the corridor in silence by ten o'clock. Not a sound escapes from any of the student's rooms as Alex steals down the corridor back to Piper, a bottle of champagne in one hand and two glasses in the other. Not enough to get them drunk, of course (they're not that irresponsible), but it's still Alex's birthday and she'll be damned if she doesn't celebrate it as best she can. Awkwardly, she puts the key card in the lock and opens the door quietly, closing it softly behind her with the heel of her shoe. And then, she just fucking stops, and she looks at Piper, and she knows there's no way in hell anything about tonight is going to be quiet.

Piper stands with her back turned to Alex over at the window, curtains thrown wide open and pale moonlight streaming through from the blackness outside, casting a shimmering glow over her form. Her phone is pressed to her ear, and she draws patterns on the windowsill with her index finger as she listens to whoever is on the other end of the line. However, it's the small fact that she's wearing nothing but red, lace underwear and her ass is firmly on display to her girlfriend. Her blonde hair falls in effortless waves down between her shoulders, and her whole aura beckons Alex intently. She sets down the champagne and glasses on the bed, inadvertently clinking them together and alerting her girlfriend to her presence. Piper turns in alarm, cerulean irises widening in alarm at her intruder but quickly relaxing when she realises it's only Alex. The brunette shrugs off her jacket, never breaking eye contact with her girlfriend, whose grip on her phone has gone slack as well as her jaw when she takes in the pure desire visible in Alex's eyes.

"Polly, I'll... um, talk to you later." Piper murmurs, hanging up before her best friend has a chance to reply. The blonde beckons Alex with a sultry crook of her index finger, nodding her head towards the champagne. Alex smirks, forgets about her frustration for the moment and saunters over to her girlfriend, setting the bottle and glasses upright on the ledge and immediately bringing her hands to Piper's hips.

"What did Dolly want?" She questions huskily, pushing Piper backwards so that the blonde sits on the windowsill. Her hands tug at the hem of Alex's shirt slowly as she speaks.

"Updating me on the load of shit landed on my doorstep this morning." Piper replies, peeling off the garment and running her hands across Alex's collarbones, mussing up the bottom of her hair slightly.

"Look, Pipes, I'm really sorry about that. She's a crazy bitch, oh God..." The brunette cringes at the fact she actually dated Sylvie, but Piper just smiles softly at her and for once doesn't make a snide comment. Struck by a sudden bravado, the blonde asks a question so uncharacteristically bold she hardly recognises herself.

"Did you love her?" Piper asks quietly, linking her fingers around the back of Alex's neck but averting her gaze to her girlfriend's lips.

"No." Alex replies instantly, her voice sure and steadfast. It had been fun, sure, but now she knew what love felt like, Alex could categorically say that she did not love Sylvie.

And of course, Alex could leave it there. She could press her lips against Piper's and open the champagne and happily go along without admitting her true feelings for the blonde. Piper, too, would let her, but they would constantly be marred by hesitation and denial. So, Alex continues.

"But I love you." And fucking finally, Alex feels the weight lifted from her shoulders, filtering into the night sky outside. Piper's eyes widen but her gaze never moves from Alex's mouth, utterly transfixed with the fact her lips and tongue had genuinely formed the words 'I love you'. Eventually, she looks up, into the forest green of Alex's eyes that are uninhabited by anything but sheer honesty. Still, Piper cannot quite believe it.

"You do?" She whispers, so quiet that Alex barely hears her. The brunette brushes back a strand of blonde hair from her girlfriend's face, smiling easily at Piper who still looks like she's in shock.

"I don't say that to everyone." Alex insists, attempting to draw out some sort of a reply from the blonde. None is forthcoming, however, and the first remnants of panic begin seeping through the older girl's bloodstream. Piper continues to get utterly lost in Alex's total being; in her eyes and the touch of her fingers along her sides and the sincerity of her voice.

"You have to say it back." Alex pleads, her voice barely above a whisper. The dreamy smile has fallen from her lips, replaced by a solemn expression and wide jade irises staring back at Piper, silently begging her to say something. Alex doesn't like begging, she never begs for anything, but the fear of rejection by Piper is something she doesn't think she could even begin to deal with. By now, Piper is vital to her, a piece of Alex that has irreversibly marked the brunette and will comprehensively stay with her for the entirety of her life. Piper's eyes sparkle with electric blue; her hesitance is only down to complete disbelief that someone like Alex Vause is actually saying they're in love with her. Piper's expression softens. A smile tugs at the corners of her lips. She speaks.

"I love you, too."

Liquid love ignites within Alex, erupting totally within and engulfing all that she is, a feverish warmth spreading to every nerve ending in her body that ardently consumes her, from her soul to her lips that curl into a wide grin. Piper smiles back happily, and despite all the hesitation and awkwardness and tension, all of it is simply forgotten when Alex brings her lips softly to Piper's and rests her fingertips lightly along the small of her back. It only lasts for a second, before the brunette pulls back and moves to open the champagne. She's stopped, though, trapped by the inexplicably intense way Piper's staring at her. Momentarily, the common paradox envelops them once more, and everything that needs to be said is told by what they see in each other's eyes.

It only lasts for a second or two, an intimate meeting of clear blue and emerald green that simply says, "Yes, this is going to be quite the story."


A/N: There are bits of this chapter I'm pretty proud of, and bits I'm not, so I'm curious to know what parts you guys liked the most? Leave a review :)