A/N: Ok, this'll have to tide you guys over for a little while until my creative juices start flowing again. Cut and paste reply reluctantly left at the end.

The Dot

School had been interesting to say the least for Marco. He had been cornered by Hazel late in the morning so that she could tell him to be at the Dot after school so that Alex and Paige could explain the new "relationship". Complete with air quotes. He wondered what he needed to know about Paige and Alex that he didn't already. Sure they had come to school wearing clothes that looked like the belonged to the other one, but Alex had done that the other day. He didn't have time to think about it much more as Hazel came striding into the restaurant. She plopped in the chair next to his and leaned in conspiratorially.

"So what do you think? Do you think Alex and Paige are dating?"

Marco's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Um... Left field much?" He asked staring at her.

Hazel shook her head and opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted as the object of her speculations walked in the door. Hand in hand. Marco watched Paige lean in and whisper something to Alex and whatever it said made Alex giggle.

'Wait Alex giggle? Whoa, I never thought I'd see that. Wait a second, hand in hand?! What the -' Marco's inner musings were cut short by the arrival of the girls at the table. They attempted to seat themselves across from Marco and Hazel but Hazel stood up and grabbed Paige's arm.

"We need to talk privately Paige." She tugged on Paige's arm and Marco watched as Alex's look darkened.

"You know what Haz-" She began angrily but was cut off by Paige laying a gentle hand, which she had wrestled out of Hazel's deathgrip, on Alex's arm.

"It's ok Hon, I'll be right back." Alex looked like she was going to protest but was unable to get out a word before Hazel grabbed Paige again and yanked her away. Paige shot an apologetic look over her shoulder.

Alex sat down across from Marco all the while shooting glares in Hazel's direction. Glares that turned into goofy smiles whenever her eyes would land on Paige. Marco felt a little confused, happy for his friends, but still confused.

"So um... Alex, are you and Paige-" He made a motion with his hand as his voice trailed off.

"Are Paige and I what? Human?" She regarded his fluttering hand, "Capable of flight? What Marco?" She asked dryly.

Her sarcasm actually made him relax a little bit.

"Are you two going out?" He asked getting to the point.

"Yeah, we are." She answered simply.

Marco watched as she looked over at Paige again and smiled.

"Good, you two make a good looking couple."

"Paige would make a good looking couple with a lemur." Alex remarked with a smirk.

"Yeah, but you two compliment each other."

"I know, my dark to her light. My butch to her femme."

"Alex, stop that." Marco reached over and rested his hand on Alex's. "You are good enough for her. She wouldn't be dating you otherwise."

Alex turned an insecure look towards him.

"It's just... it's not going to be easy."

"The good things in life rarely are Alex." Brown eyes met brown as Marco tried to communicate his meaning to Alex in a way that she would understand.

"I guess so."

The both fell silent as they regarded the girls across the room who looked to be deep in discussion.

Paige and Hazel

"Ok, I don't get this. Yesterday you're telling me Alex means nothing to you and today you're dating her. Can you please explain this to me?" Hazel asked her friend pulling her attention away from the brunette sitting with Marco.

"I lied." Paige looked at Hazel as she began to assume her "Queen Bee" posture.

"Paige, we're best friends, you're supposed to tell me when you decide to become a lesbian."

Paige sighed and rolled her eyes. "Hazel I didn't lie about not being a lesbian. I'm not. I just- I like Alex." The blonde shrugged helplessly.

"Um... Hello, Earth to Paige, liking another girl qualifies you as a lesbian." Hazel said waving her hand in front of Paige's face.

Paige glared at her and swatted her hand away.

"I'm not arguing my sexuality with you Hazel. Now you can either accept that Alex and I are together or you can not. That's up to you, I'm not going to try to convince you."

Hazel sighed dramatically as she looked over at Alex staring morosely out the window as Marco tried to get her attention.

"Ok, but if you just had to give into your sapphic desires, why Alex? I mean come on Paige, you couldn't have picked someone less like yourself than her."

"Don't do that Hazel." Paige's tone held a warning.

"Do what? I'm just saying you could do so much better, I mean at least she's not Heather Sinclair but still.."

"Hazel, knock it off. Now!" The anger was unmistakable and took Hazel by surprise. "You don't get to judge this. You don't get to judge Alex. You know nothing about her except what everyone else sees so don't you dare just dismiss her like she's nothing." Paige calmed a bit as she looked over at Alex again "You think I couldn't have found someone less like me? You have no idea Hazel, she's more like me than you could ever know."

"You're not a bully Paige." A raised eyebrow was the only reply. "You're not Paige. You have a future, a chance to make something of yourself, Alex is going to be here for the rest of her life."

"Ok, we are so done with this conversation. I thought I could talk to you and get you to understand that I'm happy. That being with Alex is what I want... but no. You can't understand that." Visibly upset Paige got up from her chair but stopped when Hazel put a gentle hand on her arm.

"Wait Paige. Look I'm sorry. This whole thing has taken me by surprise. But if you're really happy with Alex, then you have my support."

"Really?" Her tone was disbelieving.

"Really Paige. You're my friend and I want to see you happy. I know you were really messed up with the whole Matt thing and I just don't want to see you get hurt again."

Paige regarded her friend silently for a moment and seeing her sincerity relented in her anger.

"Ok, thanks Hazel. I appreciate that, just tone down your Alex hate."

"I'll try. Just because you're dating her doesn't mean I'm going to like her."

"Yes, and just because you're my best friend doesn't mean she's going to like you either." Paige retorted not unkindly.

"I'm aware. So should we go rejoin the others or do you want to wait until Alex comes over to rescue you?" Hazel asked lightly, teasing her friend a bit.

"We should go, I don't want Alex thinking you've managed to talk me out of being with her."

The girls got up from the table and shared a somewhat awkward smile before they headed back over to their original table. Alex shot Hazel a glare as they approached, but Hazel detected a hint of worry in her eyes. Yeah, Paige was right. Alex obviously thought Paige might have been talked out of them being together. Right, like Paige ever let anyone talk her out of something she wanted.

"Hey you." Paige leaned into Alex and laid her hand on her leg reassuringly.

"Hey." Alex returned as she turned to her girlfriend. She searched Paige's eyes for any rejection or even a hint of doubt. Finding none she allowed herself to relax.

A few awkward moments and a few sodas later and the four teens were talking civilly if not amicably to one another. After about a half an hour of this Hazel got up to leave. She made a brief request for Paige to call her later and said goodbye to the others as she walked out of the restaurant.

Marco heard Paige's sigh of disappointment and brushed his fingers across Paige's hand gently. He caught the flare of jealousy in Alex's eyes at the contact and smiled inwardly.

"It'll be ok Paige. She'll come around."

"No, she's fine with Alex and I... she just doesn't like Alex." Paige replied softly.

"Well I don't like her either so I'd say we're even." Alex said leaning against the window.

"Alex..." Paige began before Alex interrupted her gently.

"Paige, we both care about you, that won't change the fact that neither of us likes the other one. But I will try to keep my dislike to a minimum and my opinions to myself. That's the best I can offer."

Paige gave a half smile. "I guess that'll have to be enough if I want to keep both of you."

Alex gave a lazy grin and leaned in brushing her lips against Paige's for a moment. Marco took that as his cue to leave.

"Well ladies, I'm heading out. I'll talk to you later."

Paige pulled back from Alex a look of surprise on her face. "But Marco-"

"Nope, you two need some quality time. Just call me later." He said as he gave his patented Marco grin. His eyes were dancing and Paige found herself rolling her own eyes in response.

Once Marco had gone Alex leaned into Paige again, her breath tickling Paige's ear.

"I don't know why it took me so long to like him. He's obviously just full of good ideas."

Paige turned surprised eyes to Alex. "What do you mean?"

Alex smiled as she leaned in, her eyes locked with the blonde's. "Quality time. We definitely need some of that. And I don't know about you, but I intend to make the most of it."

Their lips met again, far less briefly than before. Paige lifted her arm off the table and wrapped it around the back of Alex's chair leaning into her more. Alex's hand found it's way to Paige's cheek and then moved slowly to the back of her neck pulling her closer still. When they finally pulled back they were short of breath and had a slightly wild look about them.

"I think that's enough quality time in front of a restaurant full of people don't you?" Paige said as she glanced around shyly.

Alex took the hint. She knew Paige was comfortable with them holding hands in public and even cuddling a bit... but full blown makeout sessions in the Dot were not what she really wanted.

"I agree, so what say we go have ourselves some quality time in the park?"

"Park, no. My house, yes. More specifically the family room couch where we might even get in a movie or two?"

"Hmmm... I like the way you think Ms. Michalchuk. Seems you have even better ideas than Marco."

Paige left some money on the table for their drinks and they too got up and left the Dot, They each kept sneaking glances at the other one and when they would catch each other at it they would laugh softly. They both knew there was still a lot more to deal with regarding how people reacted to them but for now they were content just being together and enjoying themselves and each other.

TBC...

Alright...fine... here is the cut and paste reply since ALMOST no one can reply with out prompting. "Glad to see at least one aspect of this is going to be easy for them Can't wait for the update."