A/N: Hey guys, good to see so much love for Polly coming through! Thanks for the reviews praising the rescue efforts - our heroine doesn't realise she needs rescuing sometimes ;-). Have some Vauseman banter for your patience. Nearly Friday folks, keep going!
Piper packed her clothes into the cases she brought with her and Polly helped her back downstairs so she could go and talk to her Dad before they left.
"Daddy, Polly has managed to swap some things around at the store so she can take care of me at home now. I'd really like to get out of your hair and sleep in my own bed again." She paused to check her Dad's reaction, but she knew he'd feel better about her leaving if he knew Polly was going to be there with her.
"OK sweetheart. Is Polly sure she can manage everything OK though? Perhaps we can come up on the weekend?"
"Yeah, of course you're welcome. I just want to get back to my own routine and I can help Polly a little with the book keeping for the store from home too, so it gives me something to do. You don't mind?"
"Not at all sweetheart. I know how much you like your independence." He smiled and gave her a gentle hug.
Polly swiped the jigsaw pieces off the table back into the box, a look of disgust on her face as she put the lid on and put the box down, dusting her hands off.
"All set P? I'll take good care of her Mr Chapman, don't you worry about that. It will be great to have her back near by." Polly gave her best winning smile as she guided Piper out of the front door and down the steps. She was able to walk to the end of the drive, the wheelchair was already packed up in the car apparently.
"Where's your car Pol? Where did you park it? I can't walk too far you-"
"It's here P. This one." Polly lifted the boot to put the last of her bags in.
"An Audi Q7? When did you win the lottery and not tell me?"
"Hey Pipes, your getaway car awaits." Alex opened the passenger door and bowed, gesturing for Piper to get in.
"Alex! What are you doing here?! If my Dad sees you…"
"I stayed in the car didn't I? Come on, do you need a hand getting in?"
Piper climbed in and fastened her seatbelt as Polly got in the back. Alex started the car up and started to turn the car around. "I've never got further than the driveway in all the time I've known you Pipes. I'm worried I might explode if I go any further anyway." Alex winked at her.
"So while I like the feeling of fresh air and freedom like I just got sprung from prison (no pun intended), have you actually considered the practical implications of what we're doing here? You do remember that I have to have someone with me at all times and I need to give a change of circumstances form to the hospital. What's the grand plan here?"
"It's all under control Piper. I'm going to stay at your place when I finish work and SuperCunt is going to take over when I leave in the morning. That way, I can leave you with the store paperwork and you can make some calls from home during the day while I sell stuff and Alex gets to make sure you don't start any kitten jigsaws…"
"Kitten jigsaws?!" Alex raised an eyebrow at Piper.
Piper rolled her eyes.
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Alex helped them get the cases out of the car and made her excuses to leave them to it and unpack while she went home to get some work done. If she was going to be away from the office during the day, she would need to sort a few things out to make sure she could run things from Piper's house at the end of the phone and email.
Polly helped her get into the apartment and sat her down on the sofa.
"Oooooooooh. I can't tell you how good this feels to be in my own home again." Piper closed her eyes and savoured the familiar smell of her own home. Polly had made sure the heating was on and it was warmed through for when they got back too.
"I've not had a chance to get any groceries I'm afraid, so we're eating take out tonight if that's OK?" Polly was closing blinds and moving the bags away so they could sit down for a bit.
"Fine with me. I don't care what I eat tonight. Thanks so much for doing this Pol, I really do appreciate it you now. I know you've got your hands full with the store, so whatever I can do to help from here, bring it on and I'll do anything I can. I'm less happy about spending all day with Alex in my apartment tomorrow, but hopefully I'll make a start on tidying up in here a bit…"
"P, don't overdo it OK. I'll update you on what's been happening at the store tonight and bring you the books tomorrow night so you can get rid of some of those receipts for me. Now, do you mind if I open a bottle of wine or do I have to abstain with you?"
"Nope, you go ahead. I'm drunk on freedom anyway. I feel weird about Alex being here with me all day. We could have murdered each other by the time you get back you know."
"Maybe, but it's either that or she'll be in your bed. Either way means I'm excused from being your personal carer beyond that point, so it's a win-win for me."
"Polly! I've told you, it's not that simple now."
They ate Chinese from Piper's local and Polly helped her get her case unpacked upstairs while she got ready for bed. The pain meds were still knocking her out, so it didn't take long for Piper to fall into a deep sleep.
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Polly was up early for a shower in the morning. It hadn't been the comfiest sleep on the sofa, but at least there was no danger of her sleeping in. She got ready for work and called in to see Piper with a mug of coffee as she was getting ready to leave.
"Hey, I brought you this to bring you round a bit. Alex will be here any second and she can give you a hand to get ready and get some breakfast. OK?"
"Thanks Pol. OK, can you give me a hand down stairs then? I'll get dressed later. It's not like I'm going anywhere right?"
Piper was sat on the sofa with her coffee when Alex knocked on the door. Polly let her in and gave her a brief summary of what needed to be done, what meds were taken and what was due next as she closed the door behind her.
"Well good morning Ms Chapman. And how is the patient today?" Alex stood in the entrance to the room awkwardly, awaiting an invitation to come further inside.
"The patient is just fine since I'm sleeping in my own bed again. That was the best night I've had in a long time. I might have to seek out those pain meds on the black market once I get discharged…Are you planning on fulfilling your care duties from the doorway or would you like to come in and take your coat off?"
Alex began shrugging her leather jacket off to reveal a black long sleeved woollen turtle neck as she stepped a bit further into Piper's front room.
"It's not very big to justify a grand tour, but if you help me up a bit I will show you around – in case you are prone to getting lost in shoe boxes."
Putting her coat on the hook by the door, Alex stepped over to offer her arm for support. Piper reached up and held onto her arm as she pulled herself up to stand. She could feel the muscles in Alex's arm flex as she braced her arm and she avoided Alex's eyes as they were so close now.
"Thanks. As you can see this is the lounge. TV remote is normally stuck down the side of the sofa if you want to watch TV while you're here. Wifi codes are here to get online and the house phone is here if you need it. Then we have the kitchen here…" Piper walked her over to the breakfast bar separating the two rooms. "The fridge is pretty empty right now as I need to get some food in…."Piper opened the fridge door and found that there was some funny coloured mush growing, so quickly closed it again. "I'm sure you recognise the Nespresso machine and remember how to use it so…." Piper trailed off as she hadn't meant to bring up the reminder of their past life.
"Nice to see you still have excellent taste Pipes." Alex winked and smiled and she continued to look around the kitchen.
"Well, I lived with a coffee snob for 4 years, so it kinda rubs off you know." Piper smiled, sensing Alex didn't feel any discomfort at her mentioning their time together.
"Washer and dryer are here, but I can sort that out. I'm not expecting you to be doing my dirty laundry Alex, don't worry."
"Well that's disappointing. I was looking forward to getting my hands on your lacy underwear."
Piper's head snapped to look at Alex, but she was already walking towards the cupboards to open them. "Mmm, not much in here either. I think the groceries are our number 1 job today then. Ready for the next room, tour guide." She gestured towards Piper to lead the way.
They rounded the corner through a doorway to a narrow corridor. "Bathroom is in here. The water stays hot for longer than you'd expect in an old place like this, but the pressure isn't great."
"Well, thanks for the offer. But I wasn't expecting to be taking showers while I was here, so I'm guessing that the pressure won't bother me too much. Unless I need to get in with you patient Chapman?" Alex raised her eyebrow at Piper.
"No. That won't be necessary." Piper could feel herself starting to blush furiously and pushed past Alex to get out of the bathroom. Alex chuckled loud enough for Piper to hear as she walked towards the last room.
"This is my room. It's not very big, but it's enough for me." Piper could feel Alex standing closely behind her, peering over her shoulder into the room. She shifted to the side to let Alex in as it felt like she might be wanting to get past. But Alex stayed put, her eyes roaming around the room and over the white linen that covered Piper's bed. It hadn't been made since she got up this morning and suddenly the blonde haired woman was feeling a little self-conscious that it was a mess. It wasn't like she had been expecting guests and had a chance to tidy up before Alex arrived.
"It's nice Pipes. I like it."
Piper was waiting for further comment, but she turned to Alex and found she was smiling back at her.
"Right, well that's everything. No getting lost now."
"Nope, I'm fully inducted. Unless you had a fire escape plan you wanted to take me though…? No? OK, well I guess it's time to order some groceries. Have you got a laptop set up and we'll order online since you're not ready for going out and I'm not allowed to leave you? I'm not sure I want to tackle that Ryvita until I'm absolutely desperate."
"Yes I have a laptop and no, there isn't a fire escape plan. I would like to see your qualifications certificates before I take you into my employment though. Have you got them with you? I do have several interested candidates for this position you know…" Piper picked up her laptop and put it onto the breakfast bar to boot up.
"You're asking if I'm qualified to look after you? OK. I carried you back to our hotel in Hawaii when you cut your foot on that shell, then bandaged it up for you, and made you a virgin mojito while we waited for the Dr to visit to give you a shot. I held your hair out of your face and rubbed your back when you got drunk on Ouzo that time in Greece and were throwing up in the gutter, then paid the taxi driver 10 times more than the fare so he would agree to take you, then kept you warm while you were shivering and hungover….You want more medical examples or do you want me to remind of the other ways I know how to take care of you?" Alex raised her eyebrow, daring Piper to ask for more examples.
"You were keeping me warm well after the shivering stopped I seem to remember. I'm not sure you can count that as a medical example… However, I'll note them for consideration alongside the other applicants." Piper smirked as she logged in.
They ordered groceries for delivery later that afternoon and Alex helped to tidy the apartment up a bit. Piper's phone buzzed with a text and she looked to see I was from Nicky.
'Hey Blondie. How's the head? I heard you took a wallop there, so hope you're doing OK. You killed my friend Sasquatch over there yet?' Piper smiled as she read the text, seeing that Nicky knew Alex was here with her today. Alex saw hr smiling and wondered if it might be from Steve.
'Hey Nicky Nicholls. I'm OK thanks. No murders so far, but I'm going to make sure it's death by chores obviously ;-)'
'I knew there was a reason I liked you Piper Partner of Polly ' Piper chuckled to herself and closed her phone down.
She checked her laptop for the Victim Support Unit number online to call them and let them know she was staying at home now for their visit to be scheduled. Then she filled in the forms for the hospital to let them know she was being cared for by Alex and Polly at home now and was about to press send when Alex peered over her shoulder.
"I got the job then?"
"Er, yes. Looks like you were better qualified than the other candidates after all."
"Yes! Can we talk terms now as I'd like to negotiate my contract?"
"Easy there Ms Vause. You need to pass your probation period first."
"Probation period? "
"Yup. I need to check you can deliver on your promises. You can't expect to get a full benefits package without one, surely?" Piper raised her eyebrows to Alex.
The brunette stepped closer to her and smiled "I can certainly deliver on promises, especially when there is a FULL benefits package waiting for me." The full Alex Vause smirk was on show now and Piper's stomach flipped in a way that only Alex was capable of doing to her. Fuuuck, how did she do that?
Determined not to be put on the back foot Piper leaned in and whispered into Alex's ear "Show, don't tell."