For Better or For Worse

Chapter 28

Enjoy.


Late May…

"Piper, we had a newborn in December. Taking showers and getting more than two hours of sleep at a time was a luxury. What makes you think I can remember where you set something down almost six months ago?" The brunette leaned against the door of the main bathroom, keeping a close eye on their splashing four year old while watching her wife dig through every nook and cranny in the girls bedroom.

"Alex, it was a thin binder that has Elliott's pre-school information in it for the upcoming fall. There's information we have to fill out and we need to send in a shot record before this semester is over or they'll give her spot to the next person in line." Leah could be seen jostling around on Piper's hip as she searched.

"Pipes, please don't give the baby whiplash…Ellie's torture is already bad enough." Alex chuckled as she turned back towards her middle child who was content in scooping up the bubbles in her hand and watching them disintegrate into nothing.

Piper paused to shoot her wife a pointed look, chest heaving from the intensity of the search.

"Look," Alex glanced back at Ellie once more before padding across the hall. "We'll find it. There's still two weeks left of the school year. Okay? Relax."

The taller woman pressed a kiss to a quickly fading Leah's crown and one to Piper's check before she was being called to come assist in fishing out a monstrous shark from the deep, murky depths of their bathtub.

"Leah…" Piper looked down to her infant who was clad in only her diaper. "At the rate I'm going, I'm gonna have to fill your pre-school paper work out next week just to make sure it gets done."

The infant could only babble around the hand that was taking up residence in her mouth.

A peaceful night's sleep was something that both Piper and Alex were looking forward to. They had hoped it would've already become a regular occurrence, but Leah was taking her sweet time despite the different techniques and routines her parents tried.

Before Piper had Conner, she had sworn up and down that she wouldn't ever co-sleep with him or any of her future children, but she gave into that with all three, and even more-so with Leah. They had tried multiple times to transition Leah from their room to her own, but something always seemed to get in the way whether it be her own guilt of leaving her baby by herself in her crib or Leah's hit and miss sleep schedule affecting Ellie's nights. Thankfully they were on night five of the infant sleeping the whole night in her crib despite waking up for feeds and Piper was still waking up in a panic as she reached out for her little one in the middle of the bed.

"Mommy." A long drawn out whine broke Piper from her restlessness. She looked to the blinking alarm clock on her night stand and noticed it was only eleven-thirty. She'd only been asleep for an hour and a half.

"What is it, baby?" The blonde glanced over at her sleeping wife who was completely unaware of the current conflict. When she turned her attention back to her preschooler, she felt the bed dip as Ellie tried to climb into her side with her, but failed when she couldn't get her leg high enough to scale the side. Usually she would enter the bed from the small bench at the end of the bed, but Piper figured her drowsiness completely interrupted that habit.

The moonlight peeking in through the partially open curtains allowed Piper to see her daughter in the darkness of the room. The little girl's hair was ruffled and her light blue eyes were full of sleep.

"Leah woke me up." Ellie's lip puffed out, her stuffed puppy tightly tucked underneath her arm.

Piper listened for any noises coming from the baby monitor perched on her nightstand but heard nothing. Maybe the batteries had gone out? It wouldn't be the first time a child had woken her up because of a screaming baby and a faulty monitor.

"Is she crying?"

"Yes." The preschooler nodded her head. "She won't stop."

Piper laid her head back down on her pillow for a brief moment before gaining the motivation to get out of bed. So easily she could've seen if Leah would settle herself back to sleep and pull Ellie into bed with her, but she wasn't in the mood to have a preschooler kicking her ribs and invading her personal space for the rest of the night. As soon as the blonde was steady on her feet, she took Ellie's hand and allowed the four year old to lead them back to the nursery.

The moment the pair stepped through the doorway, the mother was greeted with little sobs and whimpers emanating from her infants mouth. She let go of Ellie's hand and turned on the light, not surprised to see Leah on her stomach, with her hands in her mouth and her pacifier thrown haphazardly into the corner of the crib. "I think she needs to move into Conner's room." Ellie reached through the slats of Leah's crib and rubbed her head. The preschooler trudged back towards her twin bed, climbing up and tucking herself in. "She's loud."

Piper giggled at the girl's remark as she picked up Leah and settled her on her hip. Instantly the attention from her mother calmed her down.

"She's just a baby, sweetie…You were the exact same way and Conner said the exact same things about you." The mother walked over towards her middle child, tucking her in the rest of the way before bending down and pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. "Go back to sleep, kay?"

Ellie nodded, burrowing herself deeper under the covers and pulling her stuffed puppy tighter in her grasp. As Piper made her way out of the room, she noticed the baby monitor was completely dead. None of the lights were on and the white noise from the other end was completely absent. She made a note to replace the batteries in the morning and left her middle child to get back to her sleep.

Shutting the door quietly behind her, Piper contemplated what to do with Leah who seemed wide awake and set on getting attention from anyone who was willing to give it to her. She had been sleeping the whole night in her and Ellie's room for a week now, and usually her crying for her midnight feeds didn't wake Ellie up, nor the process of feeding her and putting her back in her crib. Piper figured that Leah's consistent crying for a period of time eventually woke Ellie up from her slumber.

Piper decided to take Leah into the living room to see if she would nurse herself back to sleep instead of taking her to nurse in the master suite. Alex had her final meeting with the prospective author tomorrow and the blonde wanted to ensure she got a good night's rest.

When the blonde sat down and Leah refused to nurse, she already sensed this had the potential to turn into a battle. While the infant had been the best sleeper of her three kids so far, she was also turning into the child who fought their sleep the most. The infant loved to sleep, but would try to hold out as long as she could before giving in.

Leah's babbling broke Piper from her thoughts. The infant was sitting against Piper's thighs, with her legs propped up on her mother's stomach.

"What am I gonna do with you? You're not hungry, you're not sleepy, and you don't need a new diaper…You cry every time I put you down." The blonde ran a smooth hand through Leah's wispy blonde hair. "Why are you so fussy?"

The miniature blonde could only stare back at her mother as she constantly sucked on the pacifier that +was taking up residence in her mouth. Her big blue eyes were glimmering in the moonlight.

When Alex rolled over and reached out to maintain that consistent contact with Piper that both women needed to have while they slept, she found her lover's side of the bed empty and not a drop of warmth where her blonde laid.

She rolled to her back and listened out into the rest of the house but was met with pure silence. She looked towards the master bathroom but only saw a small flicker of light that was most likely coming from the night light they kept in for the kids (and for Piper but she strongly denied it).

Alex figured her wife was up feeding Leah and would be back shortly, but ten minutes passed and Piper never came back. Usually she was the one up at night with Leah considering her wife was the one who cared for her most of the time. She thought Piper deserved a break each and every day.

The brunette slowly crawled out of bed, stretching slightly before starting her search for her wife.

Luckily she didn't have to go far because just as she stepped foot out of the master bedroom, she heard a soft whimpering coming from deep in the room. The whimpering grew louder as she grew closer to the master bathroom, and when she was close enough to quietly push the door open she was greeted with such a sweet scene.

There were candles lit in various places around the tiled room. The flame from each one of them casting a small, dancing shadow on the wall. As Alex approached the bathtub she found Piper laying there, fully naked and exposed to the chilly air of the penthouse. But what made Alex's heart nearly melt on the spot was their five month old little girl, laid across Piper's bare chest with her face buried deep into the crook of her mother's neck and her small baby bum sticking up out of the water.

Piper was constantly whispering in her ear as she scooped up water in the palm of her hand and let it trail down Leah's entire back in hopes of soothing the little one.

"Pipes?"

The blonde hadn't even noticed her wife enter the room.

"Did we wake you, Al? I'm sorry." Piper sat up slightly, repositioning Leah higher up on her shoulder.

"No." Alex shook her head while perching herself on the ledge of the bathtub. "How long have you been in here?"

"Half hour? Forty-five minutes? She's been up for over two hours now just so fussy." Piper pressed a kiss to Leah's crown as she started to rustle around in her mother's grasp. "She doesn't want me to hold her yet she doesn't want to be put down…She won't nurse. I don't feel any teeth coming up either."

"Why didn't you come get me?" The taller woman reached out to run the back of her knuckles down the chubby cheek that wasn't pressed deep into her mother's arm.

Before the blonde could realize what her wife was doing, Alex had started stripping herself of her clothes and lowering herself into the tub, opposite of Piper.

"Al, what're you doing? You have your big meeting in the morning."

"Let me have her." The brunette's arms extended out, all of her fingers doing the 'come here' motion.

"Alex, no. Go back to bed."

The older woman resisted, scooting herself towards her wife to grab Leah herself. She could see the exhaustion in her lover's face even in the dim lighting from the candles. Alex had always believed in pulling her weight in the family, and an author wasn't going to keep her from that.

"Piper, please just let me help…This is more important than some author who only drinks water imported from the Arctic Circle." Thankfully Leah didn't fuss from being moved from Piper to Alex, but continued her restless movements against her mother's chest. "Please. Go back to bed. Sleep."

Alex's eyes were practically pleading and Piper knew her sincerity was genuine. Five years ago, Alex had chosen her bookstore over getting married, and to see how they had grown as a couple and as parents was something that astounded her. "

"Okay." Piper nodded, a faint hint of a smile spreading across her face. It was the best she could do with how exhausted she felt, but inside she was still teeming with awe at Alex's transformation over the years. She scooted herself closer to her daughter, rubbing a soothing hand down her head and pressing a soft kiss to her tiny back.

"I love you both." She murmured as she then reached up to peck Alex's lips in a quick thanks.

The next morning, Piper wasn't at all surprised to get a phone call from her wife saying that the author had decided to hold her book signing elsewhere. A part of her immediately felt guilty as her lover spilled the news because she associated the author's decision with Alex's exhaustion from the midnight bath with Leah, but Alex was actually at peace with the decision. The blonde had watched not only her wife, but Nicky, Kelly, and other workers from the bookstore practically bend over backwards for this author who was so picky and indecisive. Before she had hung up the phone, Alex had told her that the bookstore was still doing excellent and that they could devote their time towards something else she had in mind, but she didn't tell Piper exactly what it was. After the phone call ended, the blonde only thought on the subject for a moment, before associating it with something her wife must have up her sleeve for her upcoming birthday in June.

To say Alex was excited was an understatement. She rarely ever had one-on-one time with Conner, but when she was given the opportunity, she took it and ran. Although this particular situation was usually Piper's territory, she was more than happy to take initiative and allow Piper to stay home with the girls and not have to haul them with her.

"Hi, momma." Conner waved as he approached Alex in the entry way of his elementary school. A large smile was taking up residence across his features, and the contents of his backpack could be heard jostling around with each step he took.

"Hi, bud." Alex reciprocated a smile and ran a hand down the back of his head in greeting. She knew part of his smile was his usual happy demeanor, but she could also tell that he was ecstatic to be getting out of school early. "How was school?"

"Good. We had a substitute teacher." Conner clutched Alex's hand as they exited the building and began the descent down the front steps. "How was work?"

Alex smiled at Conner's considerate remark. "It was good. I had a meeting with Nicky and some others."

Once the pair reached Alex's SUV, she helped Conner into the back and started the journey towards the doctor's office. The seven year old was overdue for two vaccinations, but with his eczema flare up a month ago, his appointment was cancelled.

As Alex glanced in the rearview mirror, she could tell the closer they got to Conner's pediatrician's office, the quieter he became. Very rarely was he timid, but when it came to shots or poking and prodding from a doctor, a different side of him rose to the surface.

"You ready, bud?" Alex put the car in park and turned around in her seat to come face to face with her oldest. It still amazed her that this little boy was once a small, delicate newborn that was content with just cuddling and napping in her arms, and now he had blossomed into a handsome, respectful young man. Having been in his life for almost eight years now, each day she found herself finding something new about him or learning something new with him each day.

The boy hesitantly nodded his head, taking his sweet time unbuckling himself.

Alex smiled at his tactic and let herself out of the car and opened the back door for her son. Just before she let him hop out, she stepped a closer, wrapping an arm around his waist as he stood on the running board of the SUV.

"Nervous?"

Again, Conner nodded, avoiding eye contact with his mother. He was looking chipper in his khaki shorts and one of his royal blue golfing t-shirt's.

"I'll tell you what, I'm gonna give you something to focus on, okay?"

Conner finally locked eyes with Alex.

"After we're done here, I have something big I need your help with. Are you listening?" The brunette smiled up at her boy, watching the intrigued look spread across his delicate features. "I can't tell you all the details until we get finished in here, okay? This secret has to stay between us, but I'm planning something for mommy and I need your help. Think you can do that?"

"Yes." The boy eagerly nodded his head up and down, while hopping out of the car. He immediately latched on to Alex's hand and practically pulled her towards the door to his doctor's office.

Alex smirked to herself as she silently praised her own parenting skills.

"Momma?" Conner stopped short of the door. "After this can I have a soda?"

The tall woman's signature smirk spread across her face as she looked down at her son. It was a rare occurrence for any of her and Piper's children to have soda of any kind. Piper claimed it would rot their teeth and made them much too hyper, but Alex believed one every so often wasn't going to hurt them.

"Sure, kid."

Thirty minutes later…

From the moment Alex and Conner were escorted to the room where his shots would be administered, she could tell his nerves were reappearing once again. Alex tried to distract him by asking about what he ate for lunch, how recess was, if he was ready for summer, but he only gave short, one-word answers.

Conner bounced his leg up and down quickly as he watched the doorknob closely for any movement. This time, unlike others, the second-grader sat in the open chair next to his mother instead of sitting on top of the table like usual.

As the brunette sat observing the room, trying to think of ways to lighten the mood, a small buzz came from her cellphone in her pocket.

From Piper: Hey, babe. How's it going on your end? Did he do okay?

To Piper: Doc hasn't come in yet. It's all puppy dog eyes and short answers over here.

Alex pressed send and then quickly sent another.

To Piper: How are the girls?

It was a few moments before Piper texted again.

From Piper: Tell him to be brave for me and I'll give him an extra scoop of ice cream for dessert. The girls are sleeping.

This time a picture was attached. Piper was lying on her side with Leah lying parallel to her while nursing and Ellie was sprawled out behind her mother on Alex's side of the bed. There were pillows and blankets sprawled out across the bed, yet Ellie was using none of them.

Just as Alex went to reply, there was knock on the door and in came Conner's doctor. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her son tense.

"Relax, babe." Her hand ran down the back of his neck as the doctor greeted both of them.

After being deemed in good physical health, the doctor exited the room and right away the nurse with the tray of vaccines came in. Instantly Conner's hand reached out to grasp at Alex's arm in search of some comfort.

"Hey." The brunette clutched her son's hand. "I'm right here…Focus on what we talked about, okay?"

Once the nurse prepped the boy and the vaccines and explained what both were, she allowed Conner a moment to compose himself before she started. When he gave the all clear, he got through the first one without any tears, but the second one (the one the nurse claimed would be the worst due to its thickness), immediately Alex could tell Conner was trying his hardest to keep the tears at bay. The nurse could be heard praising the boy for how brave he was, but all the mother could see was the tears threatening to spill over onto his delicate cheeks.

"Hey…It's okay, babe." The brunette knelt down in front of the boy and pulled him in closer to her as he broke down completely. "You did so well."

"He's a trooper." The nurse stuck a band aid on the last injection sight. "Most of the time the kids start to cry when the needle initially pokes them or while the vaccine is being administered."

Alex smiled and wrapped an arm around the seven year old while her other arm took up residence in his hair giving soothing rubs to the back of his head.

"You okay, bud?" Alex looked down at Conner as they walked out of the convenience store that was across the street from the pediatrician's office. The brunette knew if Piper were here, she'd blow a gasket from the amount of sugar he was about to ingest.

The boy nodded as he held a full bottle of soda in the crook of his arm and a package of peanut butter M&M's in his hand. He had successfully persuaded Alex to also buy him candy with those puppy dog eyes he surely got from Piper. His other hand was taking up residence in Alex's as they began to walk the few feet to the SUV. Their next destination was only a few blocks away, but she wanted to give her son some time to indulge in his post-shot reward.

As Alex got Conner settled in the backseat and opened his soda that he had been bouncing up and down for since she paid for it, she couldn't help but admire him. His childhood compared to hers was something she wished she could've had, but now she was content in making sure he and his sisters never went without. Her devoted and thriving relationship with his mother would've never began if it wasn't for him making his way into the world eight years ago.

The boy must've caught on to Alex's gazing because the next thing she knew was Conner's hand covering hers from where it rested on the edge of his booster seat.

"Mom? You keep staring at my candy. You can have some if you want."

"What?" Alex quickly rebounded by pressing a kiss to his cheek and ensuring his buckle was latched. "It's okay, bud. Just thinking. Thanks though."

Once the brunette had pulled on to the road, she couldn't help but feel the butterflies start to flutter around in her stomach. She was going to propose to her wife again and give her the wedding that she never received. There was nothing more important than this task and nothing could get in her way.

"Can I know the secret now?" Conner's small voice could barely be heard over the thumping beat of Nirvana as it filtered through the speakers per his request. The boy loved music and Alex was more than happy to expose him to all sorts of different genres.

Alex chuckled to herself as she turned down the music, but at the same time she also felt nervous.

"Conner, what I'm about to tell you has to stay between me and you, okay? But only for a few days."

"Okay." His head quickly bobbed up and down in excitement, a chocolate stain framing his lips.

"Do you remember when your mommy and I got married?" Alex glanced in the rearview mirror watching her sons facial features scrunch up in deep thought. After a few moments he quietly shook his head. "You were really small then so it's okay if you don't."

"I've seen the pictures."

"Well then you know we didn't have a big wedding like normal, we just went to the courthouse for a quick, small one." Alex began the process of parallel parking in front of the jewelry store. "I want to give mommy a real wedding, so we can celebrate with all of our friends and family, but in this case it would be more of a vow renewal if you know what that means."

Conner was quiet, a look of confusion spreading across his face but it quickly morphed into one of him being deep in thought. The amount of time he didn't say anything was starting to worry Alex. Once she put the car in park, she turned around in her seat, her hand reaching out to clutch her son's knee.

"Hey…Is that okay?" Alex searched his face but she essentially couldn't read it. "Is it okay if I do this for mommy?"

Part of her couldn't believe she was asking a seven year old for confirmation to essentially propose to her wife again, considering they were already married and had been for some time. But at the same time, she could see the other side of this situation. Conner was the main man in Piper's life and he had been and would continue to be for the rest of his life. He was protective of his mother and his whole family for that matter. Although he was so young, he always put his parents or his sisters before himself. He was smart, generous, patient, and loving. Alex still woke up every day feeling blessed that he was the one who essentially changed her life for the better.

"Yes, momma." Conner smiled, placing his small hand over Alex's.

"You scared me there for a second." Alex returned the grin, noticing that his bottle of soda was over halfway empty.

Conner looked out the window for a moment before turning towards his mother again.

"Momma?"

"Yes, bud?" Alex's attention stayed fixed on the boy's face. His features screamed Piper through and through.

"You told me stories about how you used to be scared of me when I was really little, but I think you've turned into a good mom."

The brunette couldn't escape the tears the quickly filled her eyes. Her heart ached still occasionally ached for this boy and how not only his mother's life, but his was turned upside down when Jake died. Conner was fully aware of the situation and handled it with ease at such a young age.

"Conner, you made me a mom and for that I'm so thankful because I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for you and your mommy."

Conner unbuckled himself and slowly crawled onto the center console to where he was sitting face to face with Alex. He gently wiped the tear away from his mother's face and wrapped his little arms around her neck, completely in love with idea of being able to see his parents get married.

A few days later…

The room was quiet save for the sound of running water coming from the master bathroom where Piper was showering. Occasionally Alex could hear Leah's breathing from where she was laying on top of her chest sound asleep, but more felt her little body rising and falling from where her hand was perched on her back holding open a book.

Although it was a Saturday morning, their alarms had been set so they could get the children up and ready for Barbara and Jim to stop by and get them. This Saturday was a day for Piper and Alex to spend together, child-free, thanks to Barbara and Jim's want to spend time with their grandchildren, but it had quickly turned into an eventful one after Alex had received the news that the author didn't want to hold her signing at her store and did some planning of her own. Originally, today was also the day that Nicky would need Piper's BMW so she could pick up Lorna from Litchfield, but a wrong address on her lover's release papers caused her to have to wait an extra day.

Leah had woken the parents up ten mere minutes before their eight o-clock alarm went off, practically screaming for food. As the infant grew closer to six months old, she was only waking up one to two times a night compared to the every two hours she was waking during the night. Overall, it was allowing Piper and Alex to feel refreshed and reenergized.

An hour later all three kids were awake (somewhat), fed, and dressed, ready to take on the day with their grandparents. Only Conner knew what this day held for their family, and as Barbara and Jim escorted them out the door he slapped Alex's hand as she waited for a high-five, throwing in his own little wink.

Alex and Piper left thirty minutes later in hopes of taking advantage of this child free day, but what the blonde didn't know was that her wife had a schedule for them.

Stop 1 was the intersection of where Alex had been sitting in her cab, hurriedly trying to get back to the cab station so she could turn in for the night. When the cab dropped the couple off, Piper had no idea where they were until Alex had started giving her hints.

As she looked around it all came flooding back to her. There was the handrail of the stairs heading up from the underground subway that she had fearfully clung to as contractions ripped through her body, and no one ever stopped to ask if she needed help.

With Alex grasping her hand, they both reminisced as both women gave their own monologue about that day's events. The brunette had been scared shitless, yet intrigued by this woman at same time. That was the day everything changed for her. That was her first day sober and her first day of a new chapter.

For Piper, it was also a new chapter, yet it was bittersweet. She was bringing her first child into the world, yet the father of her child had been taken from her five months previous.

But neither woman knew that almost eight years later they would have three beautiful children and a life full of unconditional love and joy.

Stop 2 was the diner where Alex had held Conner for the very first time. Her hands had been shaky and her body was telling her to run, but her mind was telling her to stay. Before that day she had never had one ounce of domestication in her body. The pair had sat in that diner for over four hours just talking and getting to know one another while Alex also became familiar with Conner.

Just from that meeting alone, Piper could tell that there was something different about this woman. At the time she was fragile and broken, needing someone to piece her back together again, yet Piper knew she needed the same.

That quaint little diner was the start of it all.

The Final Stop was in Central Park. This park had held many of their secrets and many confessions between the two women. This park was where both women had learned so much about one another after a two month break in their relationship. Piper initially was skeptical of reconciling with Alex after finding what she thought were Alex's (but were actually Nicky's) drugs in the pocket of her girlfriends jacket, but something about the bond she and Alex had was magnetic and she couldn't keep herself away from Alex any longer.

There had been so much of Alex's life that Piper was unaware of until they started these weekly afternoon walks in the park. Alex had been hesitant to let Piper in because of the demons she constantly battled. She didn't want to expose the blonde nor her son to those in fear they would walk out of her life. It had taken a lot of courage to let Piper in, but the bond she felt back then was so strong she couldn't keep denying herself that relief.

And now Alex was glad she finally did let Piper in, because she now had a life worth living and family that loved her unconditionally.

"Lots of conversations were held here." Piper squeezed Alex's hand as she pulled them over to a secluded park bench that overlooked a small pond. The wind was breezy and the temperature was warm enough to be comfortable.

"Yep." Alex laughed, keeping one hand locked firm with her wife's and one in her pocket clutching Piper's engagement ring that she still had yet to get back even though Leah's teething had tapered off for the moment. "But who knew that eight years later we'd be here?"

"We didn't." Piper exhaled, turning her attention to her lover who was looking her square in the eye. "We took a chance and ended up getting married two years later. Having Ellie a year after that and then Leah three years after that…" The blonde was quiet for a moment before speaking again. "You know I never thought I'd find someone again, let alone with how quick I did. Before Conner was born and I was alone, I had convinced myself that no one would want a single mother with a newborn who had so much baggage."

"Piper there was no doubt in my mind that there was something between us from the moment you threw yourself into the back of my cab. We both had so much baggage back then but look at us now."

The blonde smiled to herself as she thought about how far they'd come in such a short amount of time.

"We've been through a lot of shit."

"Agreed." Alex chuckled.

It was silent for a moment as the couple observed the people across the pond. Alex searched high and low for how to bring up the idea of getting married again. In her brain she had planned out exactly how she was going to do this, but suddenly those ideas had left her brain. It was a few more moments that she just pulled out the ring, clutching it between her thumb and index finger. She had done this before, the right way and this time, Piper wouldn't even see it coming, she'd just see it as getting her ring back.

It was when Piper looked away that she caught Alex staring at her and not the people.

"What?"

"I think you can have this back now." Piper hadn't even noticed her engagement ring in her wife's hands. Instantly her eyes lit up at the small piece of jewelry, her heart now filled with joy that her finger was no longer "naked" as she had called it.

The blonde went to grab it, but Alex pulled back.

"Even though the decision was mutual, I still feel guilty about not giving you some sort of ceremony to celebrate with our friends and family. You deserved that then and you still do…God, you deserve everything with the way you care for our children and how selfless you are when it comes to our kids and I. Not to mention how you maintain a household on top of all of that."

"Alex…There's nothing wrong with how we got married. It was about the love and commitment we share between each other, not the big price tag and flashy details of a ceremony."

"I know that, but we deserve it…You deserve it…I had told you that we would eventually have one, but along came Ellie and then not too much later we had Leah. I think it's time to do this for us. Let our friends and family in on it and just have fun." The older woman took a breath and continued. "And just the other day Polly was informing me on how you've been talking about doing this also."

Alex narrowed her eyes as a wide grin spread across her wife's face.

"Although we're six years late, would you do me the honor of marrying me again?"

"Yes, Alex." A smug grin spread across the blonde's face as she thought back to the first time they went through this eight years ago, but soon the grin turned into happy tears as she understood why Alex had taken her to all the places she did today. Alex was essentially telling their love story.

The moment Alex put Piper's ring back on her finger she could help but crash her mouth to her wife's for a few moments. Somehow with three kids and busy schedule they always made time for one another.

"With our son's help," Alex reluctantly broke away from Piper. "I decided to get all of our kid's birthdays and our anniversary engraved on a part of the four bands that come off your diamond and intertwine into the infinity band…I know how much you love your ring and I honestly couldn't find one that made me feel the way I did when I purchased this one."

With this Piper couldn't help but throw her arms around Alex's neck once again and planting her lips upon those of her wife. Alex had always been that hopeless romantic deep down inside.

Later that night all of their friends and family gathered in their home to celebrate the day's event. They had all known what was happening today and the dinner had been planned for a week, but it was all a complete surprise to Piper.

Their dining room was packed with people as they sat around their kitchen table. The amount of laughter and fellowship coming from this room was massive, but Alex didn't want it any other way.

All the kids sat at one end of the table yet Leah was passed around from her grandparents to Polly to Nicky to Kelly and finally ended up in Alex's arms when she decided her hunger took priority over being social.

Ellie walked around the table to where Alex was bottle feeding the infant and simply checked up on her younger sibling. Her small hand went to cup the side of her face as she dipped down to press her lips to her sister's forehead.

"What is it, babe?" Alex noticed her middle child and leant down to better hear her preschooler over the chatter of the dinner table.

"I just wanted to say hi to baby Leah." Ellie pressed another soft kiss to Leah's head.

Before Alex could reply, she was drawn back into the laughter and conversation, but her attention quickly gravitated towards Piper who was sitting across from her. She was glowing and a smile had been plastered across her face the whole day.

Everything was coming together.


A/N: I have gone back and forth on how I wanted this chapter to play out and I'm still not truly feeling 100% about it. I didn't want to do a proposal in the closet again yet I didn't want it to be some extravagant proposal either.

Thanks to those of you who have checked in and gave me the encouragement to finish this.

I'm determined to finish this despite how long it takes me. I actually have the next chapter and the epilogue partially written so that's promising.