Alex and Piper are cooking dinner one evening when Piper's phone starts to ring.

"Hey, hold on one second." She looks at Alex "Al, I'll be right back."

Alex nods and keeps on cooking as the kids sit at the table yelling over one another.

Piper makes her way into her bedroom, closing the door behind you.

"Sorry about that. Chaos here. What's up?"

Cal is on the other end of the line

"Piper, listen, something happened."

Piper's heart starts to beat fast

"Cal, is everything okay?" she can hear his voice crack through the phone

"This morning, mom had a heart attack. Pipes, she didn't make it."

Piper hasn't talked to her mother in almost 15 years, but the feeling of grief still hits her.

Her mother was not a great person. Carol Chapman is the one who decided to cut her off, not know her own grandchildren, and not make any effort to fix what she broke. It's because of her that she hasn't seen or heard from her father in almost 15 years. Because her father was willing to accept the fact that Piper loved Alex, but Carol wouldn't let him. He didn't want to lose her, so he went along with her.

"Piper, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here." She says quietly

"I know you haven't talked in a long time, but I knew that I needed to tell you."

"No, I'm glad you told me. Are you okay?"

"I'm going to be okay. I'm at the house. Dad's a mess. So I'm just dealing with all of this. Calling everyone. Danny is flying in tomorrow."

Piper hadn't talked to Danny, her older brother, in years. He's a doctor back in Chicago, with a wife and 2 kids. She's only seen pictures through Facebook and has talked to him a few times. But Piper hasn't seen him in almost 10 years, when he randomly reached out to her when he was in the city for a meeting.

"When's the funeral?"

"It's going to be on Saturday."

"Okay, um—"

"Pipes, listen, it's up to you if you want to come. I'm not going to force you to be here…I'd understand if you didn't go."

"No, but, I think I need to."

"It's up to you."

"Mhmm. Okay, Cal, I have to go. Call me when you know details and let me know what you need. Okay? I love you."

"Okay Pipes. Love you too." And the line goes silent.

Piper sits on the bed for what seems like hours, but is only really a few minutes.

"Pipes?" Alex calls out down the hall. She gets no response and walk down and into the bedroom. "Piper, where the hell—" she stops when she sees her wife sitting on the bed. "Pipes, what's wrong." And wraps her in her arms

Piper blinks back the tears from her eyes, and says softly, "My mom died."

Alex is immediately taken back to that moment over 20 years ago when she said those exact words to Piper in that room in Paris. Her heart breaks for her.

"Oh my God. What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Heart attack. Cal called me. I haven't talked to the woman in 15 years. Why do I even care?" she says into Alex's shoulder

"Because she's your mom. No matter how messed up she was, and what she did; she is still your mom." Alex rubs her back, comforting her

"The funeral is on Saturday. Cal said I didn't have to go, but I think I need to go."

"It's up to you, babe. I'll go with you, if you want me to."

"You would?" Piper says in a small voice

"Yeah, of course I'll go. I'll be there for you the whole time."

Piper shrinks back into Alex's chest, "Okay." She says

3 days later, Alex drives to the address of the funeral home that Cal had given to Piper. Nicky and Lorna offered to watch the kids for the night, so they were taken care of.

Alex reaches across the center console and takes Piper's hand. Piper looks at her, and gives a small smile

"Hey, it's going to be okay." She says, her thumb trailing over Piper's knuckles.

"I know."

An hour later, they pull into the funeral home parking lot.

Cal is outside holding his daughter, Jamie, who is 3. Piper and Alex walk over and say hello.

The last time they saw Cal was a year ago, when he came and stayed at the house with Jack, who was 8, less than a year younger than Ella.

"Hey, Pipes." he says, giving her a one armed hug, and then hugging Alex

"Sorry for your loss." She says, rubbing his arm

"Jamie, you remember your aunt Piper, and aunt Alex?" Cal says, nudging her

There's no way that she did. She was barely even 2 years old the last time they saw her.

The little girl tucked her head into the crook of Cal's neck, hiding her face.

"She looks like Neri." Piper says, smiling at the little girl.

"Yeah, she does." He says, smiling at her. "Jack's inside. So is everyone else, if you're ready."

Piper nods, and Alex pulls her in close to her side, and whispers in her ear, "I'm here. The whole time."

They walk into the common area, and she first sees her brother, Danny. He's tall. His dark hair has started to grey, and he looks just like that typical doctor type. She walks over and he hugs him. He says that he's sorry it's been so long.

His two kids are there. They're older than Piper and Alex's kids. Adam, his oldest, is 17, and Beth is 14. Piper only met them a few times, but that was over 10 years ago. Beth was still clutching a blanket the last time Piper saw her, and Adam was missing his two front teeth.

Danny has never met Alex, so Piper introduces them.

"Nice to meet you." He says, shaking Alex's hand

"You too. I'm sorry for your loss." She says sincerely

They make small talk before Piper looks over and sees her father. She hasn't seen the man in 15 years, other than in photographs.

He's aged a lot. He has had white hair for a very long time, but the wrinkles in his face are deeper. He's wearing glasses, which he never used to wear, and Piper can make out the shape of a hearing aides behind his ears. He doesn't stand as tall. He just isn't that same man she knew all those years ago.

But when he finally locks eyes with her she instantly sees that man she knew. His eyes well up, and he makes his way over.

Despite the last 15 years, Piper has missed him so much. She was always Daddy's Girl, so when he walks over, and melts into the small child she once was. He hugs her, crying, and tells her how much he missed her. She holds on tight, and Alex watches, not wanting to interrupt their moment.

"I'm glad you came."

"Me too, Dad." Piper says, tears welled up in her eyes

There's a brief moment of silence, as he looks over his daughter, who he hasn't seen in so long. He starts to speak, "Piper, honey, I'm so sorry. For all that's happened. Really I—"

She stops him, "I know. I forgive you. And we can talk about it another time, just not right now. Okay?" she says, looking into his eyes

He nods in agreement.

A few minutes later, they are ushered into the chapel for the service. Piper doesn't go and see her mother, she just sits next to her father. Alex takes her hand.

Piper doesn't cry during the ceremony. She is silent. When they are taken to the cemetery, and the reverend says his prayers and gives his speech, people start to leave. There is nobody around the closed casket. Piper lets go of Alex's hand.

"Pipes, where are you going?" she asks, starting to walk after her.

"Al, just a second. I'll be okay." She says, and continues walking towards the casket.

She places one hand on the cool surface.

"Mom, I know we haven't talked in a long time, but I'm here. Listen, I just want to say that I forgive you. And that I'm sorry that this is how our relationship ended. I know we both did our fair share of messing up, but it doesn't even matter anymore. I wish things could've been different." She says, and pauses as her voice cracks. "I wish that you could've got to know Alex. And that you could've got to know our kids. Your grandkids. I just wish that we could've fixed things. So I'm sorry. Okay? If you can hear me, in some way, just know that I'm sorry and that I forgive you." She ends, and she finally breaks.

All the emotions and tears she has been bottling up, and blinking back finally boiled over. She falls to her knees on the ground, and Alex is there in a second to pick her up.

Alex holds her tight, "Shh, Pipes, I know. It's gonna be okay."

"She didn't—I didn't get a chance." Is all piper gets out, and she sobs.

"Baby, I know." Alex just holds her. That's all she can do right then is hold her, and be there for her. She knows what it's like to lose a parent. At least Piper has her, because when Alex went through it, she had nobody there to pick her up, and hold her.

She makes up for it with Piper. She walks her to the car, and they get in. Piper sits in the passenger seat, bringing her knees to her chest, and letting the tears fall. Alex gets in the drivers seat, not saying anything, because when Piper breaks down, what she likes is silence. So Alex sits there, rubbing her back, and waiting. Eventually, she stops crying, and she looks over at Alex. She doesn't even have to say anything, Alex knows with a look, and just smiles, and leans over and kisses her. Letting her knows it's okay.

Alex drives to Piper's childhood home, where there is a small gathering of some friends and family.

She finds herself going straight up to the room she called her own for 18 years. Alex follows her. Piper turns the knob, and she's surprised that it's basically the same as when she left it.

Her old bed sits against the far wall. The board on the wall with pictures of her friends from high school is still hanging up. The desk her grandmother bought her when she was 10 is in the corner. It's all pretty much the same, minus the handful of band posters she used to have on the walls, and all the clothes that once filled her closet.

She sits on the bed. Alex sits next to her.

"I'm surprised they kept it mostly the same." She says, looking around

"I've never been up here. Only in the living room. It's nice." Alex says, taking her hand again.

"I guess you haven't. Well this is it. This is where I grew up. I figured that it would've been turned into an office or something."

Piper is quiet for a second, taking it all in. "Hey, Al, I'm sorry. Back at the cemetery. I don't know what—"

"Don't be sorry. It's hard. Trust me. I know."

Piper looks at her, remembering that Alex had to go through all of this by herself when Diane died. Piper aches inside at the thought. "I'm sorry that you didn't have anyone when you went through this. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

Alex nods, "Yeah, but it was a long time ago. I don't want to go back to that." she says, squeezing her hand

There's a soft knock at the door, and Piper's dad pushes the door open.

"I'll go downstairs and talk to Cal." Alex says, giving a quick kiss to Piper's cheek

"May I?" he asks, motioning to the spot on the bed next to Piper

"Yeah"

"We kept it the same." She says softly

"I can see that."

"I talked to Alex. She's lovely."

"Yeah, she is." Piper smiles, because it's the first time one of her parents have said anything nice about the woman she loves.

"Listen, I know your mother and I really messed up all those years ago, and what we did was horrible. But I want you to know that there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about you. Piper, I'm so sorry." He chokes on his words

Piper grabs his hands, and holds them in her own.

"I forgive you. And I forgave her. That was the past, and I want to move on from that. I want you to be in my life. Hell, Dad, I want you to know your grandchildren. I want you to be there."

"I'm going to be there. I promise. From now on, I don't want to live like this. I want to get to know them, and I want to know Alex, and I want to see you."

"That sounds like a good idea to me." She says, smiling back tears.

He keeps his word. He starts visiting every other Sunday, taking the day to spend with them. Getting to know Ella, who he can't stop talking about how she looks so much like Piper did when she was little. And Aiden shows him all the model cars that he has. And he even sits through Addie's lecture about Unicorns, and how they might just actually exist.

Piper watches him with them. Sees how amazing he is, and she is so glad that he is finally getting to know them. Because he missed out on so much, and so did they.

The kids have Red, who is the best grandmother that they could've ever hoped for. She was there for when they were born, the holidays, the birthdays, the injuries, the milestones. Piper and Alex are forever grateful so everything she has done for their kids.

But seeing Piper's father with her own children. Watching him show Aiden how to hold his fingers on the laces of a football, and helping Ella with her science fair project, and helping Addie decide which dress she'd wear to her first day of second grade was something else. It made her feel really whole.

Despite the fact that she lost her mother, and the fact that Carol Chapman never got a chance to do any of these things with her grandkids, her father made up for it.

All that anger, and resentment was gone. It was like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

Bill even took the time to get to know Alex. Going out to lunch, talking on the back deck while Piper played with the kids in the yard. He tried his best, and it was really great.

Alex never had that father figure in her life, but in a short amount of time, Bill started to become that man. Someone she went to for advice, and actually started to love. Never in a million years did she ever think she'd be sitting in her and Piper's living room having a beer with Bill Chapman. But that's what she is doing, and it is perfect. Because it makes Piper happy. And that's all Alex has ever wanted. For Piper to be happy.

A/N:

First, hello all returning readers, and welcome all new readers. I am grateful for every single one of you, so thanks a million for reading this.

Okay, so this is kind of last minute, and put together very quickly because I felt like it had been too long since an update. I'm not sure when the last was, but it just seems like it's been a while. So I hope that you enjoy this, at least a little bit, and if you didn't, well I'm sorry. I hope the next will be better.

Honestly, this story is winding down. There won't be that many chapter left. I know how it ends, and it's written, it's just the chapters from this point to the ending one that are going to need worked on, but I have kind of a path that I'm following. I am hoping you enjoy what is left of this, but I figured I'd be honest and let you know soon that our story is coming to a close.

Again, thank you for reading, and following, and favoriting this story, and to those who have favorited and followed my account. It is an honor. So thank you. Also, thanks to all who have checked out my other story, And You Can't Breathe. I have a couple things for that done, but I'm kind of all over the place, and need to pick one to really polish up, so hopefully a new chapter will be up soonish.

As always, please review because they are lovely to read, and I really appreciate them. They help in writing other chapters.

See you all next time!