Author's note: Wow, I didn't expect that this story would be so well received. Thank you for all reviews and positive comments :) Someone asked to write on Alex's pov and I try to write every other chapter mostly on Piper's pov and every other on Alex's pov.

Here's the second chapter, and I just wanted to remind you that the scientific facts might not be correct, so don't take this too seriously! Also, there's a bit angst in this chapter.

Enjoy!

On Friday afternoon Alex was sitting in the lab and grading her students' papers as she waited for the rest of the project group to show up. She couldn't focus, though, as a certain blonde disturbed her thoughts. If things had been different, she would have called the other woman back. She felt a connection with Piper that she hadn't felt with anyone else. But her life had taken a sudden turn after their shared night and calling the woman back had been the furthest thing in her mind.

Things were different now. They were working together, and Miss Chapman was still as attractive as she had been a year ago. But Alex wanted to keep their relationship professional in order to avoid any difficulties that may arise. Also, she wasn't sure if she was emotionally capable of handling a relationship or anything else like that just yet. She decided that the best way to go was to stay away from Piper as much as possible.

"Hi."

Alex looked sharply up from her laptop and saw the current subject of her thoughts walking toward her. Piper was wearing black, tight jeans and a pale blue long sleeve shirt that highlighted her eyes nicely. The older woman had been so deep in thought that she hadn't heard Piper come in. "Good afternoon, Miss Chapman."

Piper raised her eyebrows at the formal greeting before sitting down opposite of Alex. "What are you doing?"

Alex pursed her lips in annoyance. It was going to be hard to stay away if the blonde insisted on initiating a conversation. "Grading papers."

"What subject?"

"Genetic diversity and personalized medicine."

"Sounds interesting. Are they any good?" Piper inquired.

"Certainly a step-up from high schoolers' papers", Alex commented as she willed the other woman to shut up in her mind.

The blonde's mouth dropped open. "You were also a high school teacher? At what point? Just how old exactly are you?"

Alex glared at Piper and before she had a chance to say a word, the blonde raised her hands in surrender. "I know you said no personal questions, but I can't help it. I'm just curious, you don't seem to be much older than me."

"I'm 29 if you must know", Alex revealed and sounded like it was a chore to give this information. "And I was teaching part-time in a high school as I was studying my Ph.D."

"And when did you complete your Ph.D.?" Piper questioned, knowing that she was pushing her luck but couldn't help herself now when she had a chance to talk to Alex.

"Almost two years ago", the professor replied before decided to steel the conversation further away from her. "What about you? At which point of your doctoral studies are you currently?"

The younger woman could see what the older woman was doing and wondered why Alex was so reluctant to share things about herself. Piper, however, didn't want to pressure her too much, so she gladly answered the question. "I'm currently refining my thesis into a dissertation. My supervisor thinks that I'm about a year away from my doctorate."

"What is your thesis about?" Alex asked, now actually a little bit interested.

"Stem cells and using them in tissue engineering."

"Fascinating. Unfortunately, our project has nothing to do with your thesis, but I hope that you'll be able to pick up something useful from this project and can apply it to your dissertation."

"I'm sure I will", Piper smiled widely, and Alex noticed how beautiful she looked when she smiled. That caused her to turn her gaze back to the laptop because this was not staying away.

Before Piper had time to mull over the other woman's sudden disinterest, Nicky burst into the lab grinning widely.

"No", Alex said immediately after taking one look of her friend.

"What? Alex, you don't even know what I'm going to say", Nicky whined as Piper watched the exchange curiously.

"I know you well enough to know that that look means you have an idea. A bad one, usually."

"Look, hear this one out. We should have a bonding night!"

"A what now?"

"Bonding night! We'll go out to get some drinks or whatever we want to do. Get to know each other a bit and then working together would be more comfortable", the wild-haired woman explained enthusiastically.

Alex rolled her eyes. "I'm fine thanks. If the rest of you want to do something, be my guest, but I'm not coming."

"Oh, come on! Alex, it's time for you to come out of your shell for a while. Have some fun."

"Nicky", Alex said warningly and there was something in her tone Piper couldn't quite put her finger on.

Nicky's eyes softened. "Okay."

"But it was a good idea, for once", the professor admitted. "The rest of you should go."

Piper looked at Alex with furrowed eyebrows. "Why wouldn't you want to come with us?"

"Because I have more important stuff to do", the older woman growled, wanting this conversation to end. Piper didn't have to know about this particular aspect of her life.

The blonde stared at her perplexed but decided not to press any further, especially as she saw Nicky to subtly shake her head. At that moment Polly and Lorna stepped into the lab and took in the tensed atmosphere.

"Everything alright here?" Lorna asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, don't worry about it", Nicky nodded as she went to give a small kiss on the brunette's cheek.

"Wait? You two know each other?" Polly asked in bewilderment.

"Oh, yeah, we crossed paths a few times as we studied and now she's my girlfriend", Nicky grinned proudly. "But don't worry. Lorna didn't get any special treatment when she was picked to work on this project. If you hadn't noticed, Alex is quite professional."

"Yeah, I think we all got that", Piper quipped as she gave Alex a small smirk.

The professor narrowed her eyes, not knowing if the younger woman had meant that as a joke or as an insult. She busied herself with putting away her laptop as Nicky and the others planned their night out. They decided to go to a nearby bar diner after they were done with the project for today.

Alex truly didn't have any desire to go with them, but the conversation made her think about her life. The last time she had really taken time for herself was the night she had met Piper. She knew she had been overworking herself but couldn't care less. She had to succeed with this project.

She was halted out of her thoughts as Nicky asked once more: "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"You aren't coming?" Polly threw in surprised.

"No, I'm not", Alex answered with finality. "Are we ready to get into the project or did you have something else, Nicky?"

"Nope", Nicky shook her head and looked at Alex with a soft expression. "Go to save the world, kid."

Everyone else was looking perturbed by the odd sentence but Alex was staring at Nicky with an unreadable expression. Piper swore she could see Alex's eyes water but then the professor blinked, and it was gone.

"You too, Irving Fisher junior", Alex said quietly.

The wild-haired woman gave Alex a sad smile before turned her attention to the other occupants of the room who were watching the odd conversation curiously. "See you later tonight!"

After Nicky left, they delved into the project. Lorna had done a preliminary design of the enzyme with computer software which they studied for a long time.

Polly, unsurprisingly, had focused on the chemical aspect of engineering the enzyme. "The idea of our enzyme is to decompose the plastic back to the original elements, right? And as we know, different plastics are made in different ways, so at least in the beginning, we should probably choose just one kind of plastic we want to focus on."

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing. I think it would be most useful to focus on a polyethylene terephthalate, otherwise known as a PET plastic. It's harmful and there's lots of that particular kind of plastic in nature", Alex said.

"Well, you've been thorough", Polly commented as she wrote something on her notepad.

"I certainly didn't get my Ph.D. by doing things halfway", Alex pointed out. "Piper, how hard do you think it will be to change the enzyme's structure, so it starts decomposing plastic?"

Piper was momentarily shocked by the use of her first name but recovered quickly. "Hard to say. It's going to be a long road of trial and error, for sure. But with you and Polly's knowledge about the chemical aspect and with Lorna's computer skills, I'd say we have a chance to get some kind of plastic-eating enzyme in a few weeks."

After they were done for the day, Alex stayed to finish off her notes as the others filed out of the lab. She noticed that someone had left their notebook on the table and rolled her eyes. This was sensitive information, they wouldn't want anyone to steal their project, would they? As she stood up to also leave the lab, Nicky came in. "Oh, good, you're still here."

"Yeah, what do you need?"

"I want to talk to you."

"Please don't say you're here to try to coax me into coming to this bonding night of yours", Alex sighed.

"Look, I know this is important to you", Nicky started as she motioned around the lab. "I get it, I really do. And you know that I miss her too."

Alex clenched her jaw as she willed her eyes not to water. "I know what you think, but I have to do this. For her. I don't have time to have fun."

"She wouldn't want this, Alex. She would want you to be happy."

"And I will be, once we succeed in this project."

"Do you know all of those guys in the movies where they're like seeking revenge or something? And they devote pretty much their whole life on that revenge or whatever other cause and then when they are done, they don't know what to do with their lives anymore. You have to keep living your life!"

"I am living my life", the professor snapped. Tears were threatening to fall on her cheeks as she glared at the other woman. "I'm helping people through my work! She would be proud of me."

"I know she would. Alex, she would be proud of you no matter what you did. But that doesn't mean you can't take time for yourself."

Alex exhaled shakily. "This conversation is over."

"Alright", Nicky nodded, knowing not to push her friend too much. "But... Just think what I said, okay?"

"Yeah."

Piper was walking back toward the lab as she noticed that she had forgotten her notebook. When she got closer, however, she halted when she heard a conversation going on.

"I know what you think, but I have to do this. For her. I don't have time to have fun."

Piper frowned as she recognized Alex's voice, and were those tears in her voice that she heard? Piper also recognized Nicky's voice and stayed outside of the lab, so she wouldn't interrupt their conversation.

She felt bad about eavesdropping as she realized that they were talking about something serious. She gathered that Alex, and also Nicky, had lost someone important to them. She was just about to leave, not wanting to violate their privacy when she heard the professor to end their discussion.

She had a few seconds, so Piper quietly took a few steps back. When Alex and Nicky stepped out of the lab, Piper was walking toward them, looking like she had just got there.

"Hi", Piper smiled, taking in Alex's closed off expression and Nicky's defeated one. "Did you see my notebook?" she asked, pretending that she hadn't heard anything or didn't notice anything weird between them.

"Yes, I took it", Alex said as she took the notebook from her bag. "You should be more careful. It's delicate information."

Piper took her notebook and smiled. "Yeah, sorry. Won't happen again."

The professor pursed her lips, looking unconvinced but nodded nevertheless. "Sure."

All of them continued in different directions, but each one of them was thinking about the conversation that took place a couple of minutes ago.

"So, what's Alex's deal?" Polly asked.

Piper, Polly, Nicky, and Lorna were sitting in one of the booths at the diner. Alex had kept her word and hadn't come but the four of them had had a great time getting to know each other.

Nicky took a sip of her beer before answering. "Alex is... This project is very important to her. And she has never been the most outgoing person. I know she seems maybe a bit... cold, but it's just a coping mechanism of sorts. Don't take it personally."

"Yeah, no, I don't. It just seems like she is... detaching herself emotionally. Only time I've seen her show some kind of emotion is when she is glaring at Piper."

"She's just protecting her feelings", Nicky nodded before turned to grin at Piper. "But you're right, Piper has managed to get several reactions out of her in a couple of hours when others haven't managed to get anything in months."

Piper blushed at the sudden attention and coughed awkwardly. "But it's only because I-" she cut herself off as she thought about what she should say. She knew that Alex probably didn't want the others to know about their shared night, and she wasn't sure if she wanted them to know either. "Because I annoy her."

"Whatever you say", Nicky smirked. "But let me tell you, there's something different about her when she is around you."

"Or then you're all delusional", Piper rolled her eyes as she blushed.

"What was that weird thing between you two today?" Lorna asked Nicky curiously. "When you called her kid and she called you Irving Fisher junior?"

"Oh... That's uh kind of our thing. Someone important to us used to call us those and it stuck", Nicky shrugged like it wasn't a big deal, but Piper could see it was.

She filed away this little tidbit of information for later as she wondered if this was the same person that they had lost. And quite recently at that if the amount of pain in Alex's voice had been anything to judge by.

"But I want to go back to Piper and Alex for a while. What do you think about her?" the wild-haired woman grinned.

"I don't really know her", Piper shrugged. "Yes, she is attractive. And yes, I'd like to get to know her. But if she wants to keep things professional, then I'm going to respect that." Or at least I try to, she added in her head.

"Even though she's acting like she wants to keep your relationship professional, it doesn't necessarily mean she actually wants to do it. Just saying."

Piper tried not to get her hopes up and kept her expression neutral. "Well, if that's the case, she can come to me."

Nicky groaned. "No, she is trying to push you away. So, you have to push back. Toward her."

"Oh, yeah, great idea. Just push back and annoy her until she gets tired of it and throws me out of the project", the blonde huffed.

"She can't actually do that. Annoying group members wasn't one of the acceptable reasons to withdrawn, so I'm guessing she can't throw you out because of that either", Polly interjected helpfully.

"Alright Cupidos, I think we're done with this conversation. I'm going to get another drink, does anyone else want anything?"

Piper memorized what everyone wanted before making her way toward the bar. She was just waiting for the drinks when she heard an unmistakable voice.

"Dry martini. Stirred."

Piper whipped her head to look at the woman next to her. "Alex! You decided to come after all!"

"For the sake of togetherness and working together as well as possible", Alex said grumpily, almost like she wanted to be anywhere else.

Piper noticed that Alex had changed out of her professor clothes and was now wearing tight, black jeans and burgundy colored, casual but stylish blouse. She didn't know what had caused Alex's change of heart but for some reason, she was happy that Alex was here.

"Well, for what it's worth, I'm glad you came."

Alex studied the younger woman. She was normally good at reading people, but she just couldn't figure out Piper. What was her angle?

"So... this brings up some memories, doesn't it?", Piper asked awkwardly. She wanted a chance to talk with Alex about what happened between them, and this seemed like a good time.

The professor raised one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. "Indeed."

"Do you think we should... uh, talk about it?"

"No, not really."

Piper frowned. "Okay... well can I just ask-"

"What part of 'no, we should not talk about it' you don't understand?" Alex asked irritatedly.

"I'm just trying to have a mature conversation about this!" Piper exclaimed, her temper flaring.

"Well, stop trying. I don't want to have this conversation."

"Oh my god. You're really hard to get along with", the blonde huffed.

"Me?! You are the one who doesn't stop bothering me-" Alex started incredulously before she was interrupted. "Oh, man. I wish I had popcorn."

Alex and Piper turned to look at Nicky who was leaning against the bar counter and smirking at them.

"Nicky", the raven-haired woman greeted with narrowed eyes. "Where did you come from?"

"I just came to check what took so long with the drinks. Imagine my surprise when I found you two here bickering like an old married couple", Nicky grinned. "Nice to see that you changed your mind, by the way."

"We didn't bicker", Alex mumbled at the same time as Piper stated that they were nothing like a married couple.

Nicky nodded knowingly. "Sorry, my bad. I found you two here having a very sophisticated debate about which one of you is harder to get along with. That sounded really interesting exchange though... There seems to be some unresolved tension between you two."

Both women blushed furiously and was glaring at Nicky with almost identical looks.

"But not to worry", Nicky beamed as she took the drinks from the counter. "This is exactly what the bonding night was about. To get rid of the tension, it's up to you which way you want to do it", she winked at them suggestively before made her way back to their booth.

They stared after her for a while before Piper cleared her throat. "There isn't any tension between us to get rid of, right?"

"Definitely not", Alex agreed. "Nicky is just seeing things", she added before took her drink and followed Nicky.

Hehe... no tension at all.

Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you thought :) Oh, and points for anyone who guesses why the project is so important to Alex!

- Iina