A/N

The response to this story lights me up inside, you guys. As I usually write later at night, it's such a joy to wake up and read your comments and reviews first thing in the morning. It really makes me happy all day!

I wanted to answer a few questions posed in the guest comments. I do write one chapter at a time - as you may have noticed, that's usually a chapter a day. I guess I shouldn't set the precedent of daily updates and then skip one ;) Never fear, I won't ever make you wait long :)

I have three young kids and my writing time usually starts after they go to bed. It's a good outlet to have some adult time.

I've loved writing Piper as a grown up. The age of our ladies in this fic is purposeful. Often, I feel that our imaginations tend to want the young and vibrant versions of people but expect from them the wisdom and maturity that only comes with age. This particular writing is my little buck against that norm.

Maybe it's because I'm getting older myself and I refuse to believe there's less opportunity for heat, passion, connection etc as the years tick on. If anything, there's more. Bring it on, I say.

As you know, I'm not shy about smut - this chapter is full of it so be warned :) I tend to burn the story slower and stay generous with the steam so we have a little pacification while we wait for these ladies to get their acts together. In this chapter, we will hit a pretty sweet intersection of story and steam. I'm excited about it. Just don't leave the browser open at work ;)

Let's pick up where we left off, shall we?

Alex moves toward the leaking eyes searching hers. She is still assimilating the disconnect between her personal experiences and the conflicting realities before her.

The voice coming from that beautiful mouth is familiar - Alex would know it anywhere. But the words that pour out of it are born from a place foreign to Alex. Piper's ability to articulate exactly what she means, what she feels clearly and in relative calm...that's a new fucking frontier and it leaves the brunette in a state of nearly artistic appreciation.

It's like listening to a piece of intricate orchestration. Alex marvels at the discipline and practice required to create such clarity. She sounds the same, but she communicates on a different level.

To see her across a crowd, Piper looks very much the same as she always did to Alex. Age has added lines around her eyes that are new to the brunette but those baby blues shine with the same kindness and zest for life that makes Alex happy just to look into them.

She carries a little more weight on her frame but is still fit and displaying those familiar angles in her face and jaw. Her blonde hair is forgiving of the grays that have begun to speckle her hairline, unlike Alex's darker locks that demand frequent visits to the salon to cover her own graying head. Piper looks the same but she carries herself differently. Stronger. Taller. Braver. She's confident in who she is and she's courageous enough to put it out there.

If there's one word Alex would use now to describe what Piper just did here - hell, what she has been doing all week - that would be it. Courageous.

As it pertains to Alex, this whole week has been Piper making one ballsy choice after another. And it's led her right to this moment, right to this room, face to face with the real life version of the raven-haired beauty living in the quiet corners of her mind for decades.

All these nuances of familiar and foreign fade into a low hum when Alex reaches Piper. Her breath hitches and every ounce of her resistance crumbles when she takes the blonde in her arms.

Every jagged edge of filler hearts is forgotten.

Every not-quite-right night sheds away like an ill-fitting skin.

Every other card on the mental rolodex disintegrating into ash.

Every morning of eyes opened to emptiness across the mattress.

In a flash, twenty years of apart is erased when the missing, cried-over, achingly absent, perfectly fitting pieces of each heart crash together in a healing embrace they never saw coming.

For the first time in a long time, they reveled in the only other set of arms that felt right. On the inside, there was much to learn about each other. But on the outside, they still fit seamlessly - like they were designed for each other.

Piper let the tears fall freely while Alex silently sobbed. Neither wanting to rush or speak or stain this moment of relief - of redemption. They clung to each other, unsure how they got here but unwilling to leave.

They held on for what seemed like hours. They cried into each other's hair and breathed into each other's necks. The suddenly, at the same moment, four arms simultaneously relaxed and their eyes met again. Piper brought her hands to her own face and scanned the room for a box of tissues.

"Yeah." Alex softly chuckles as they both attempt to recover from the heavy emotions of the past few minutes.

Tension is still thick in the air, but it's of a different sort now. It's the 'What now?' sort. The 'I want you and you want me but is that even ok?' sort.

Piper takes a long drink from the glass on the table, draining it before setting it down again. "Where's the bathroom?" She asks quietly.

Alex points through the open bedroom door and offers kindly, "Take all the time you need. Can I get you anything besides a refill?" She nods toward Piper's empty glass and smiles.

"Another would be great. I won't be long." Piper moves quickly into the bathroom and exhales long and slow against the closed door.

It smells like Alex in here. Unless things in Alex's hotel habits have drastically changed over the years, she wouldn't have housekeeping in the room at all during her stay. The inevitable result is the whole place smelling like Alex. Her shampoo, her lotion, her perfume. To Piper, it just smells like home. It's the most familiar scent in her life and it rushes her like a flood as soon as she steps into the bathroom.

Taking a long look at herself in the mirror, she attempts to process her own emotions. She is fully aware of her own exhaustion at every level and trying to contextualize her current situation in light of that reality.

Mentally, she is always frayed at the edges after court days. Physically, she's been on her feet in heels for most of the previous three days and not sleeping a whole lot any of the previous three nights. Emotionally...well a cursory look in the mirror tells that story plainly enough.

She feels empty and yet curiously full. Exhausted and relieved. Proud of her decision to do say the hard and vulnerable truth to Alex without backing down or caving into an emotional breakdown. And yet painfully aware that Alex hasn't really said anything in response to her openness.

She did what she did for her own sanity. She doesn't need a response from Alex but she would be lying if she said she didn't want one. The hug was nice. Needed. Amazing. But as much as it communicated, it didn't actually fix anything.

At the same time, Piper was settled in the fact that she had moved toward Alex and said her piece. She had put it all on the table and now it was Alex's turn to reciprocate, if she would. Piper doesn't know if she's attached, if she has kids...she knows nothing about her life anymore. She does want a response, though. Whatever that might look like.

She fights her need to have a clear picture about what's going on and looks at the reflection of herself in the eye, "One step at a time, Piper. Just take this one step at a time."

Opening the bathroom door, she doesn't make it more than a step before running face first into Alex's reciprocity. Hands on her cheeks, forehead touching another...Piper is nose to nose with that familiar face and her hands slip into auto pilot, taking the hips across from her and pulling them close.

"There's so much I want to say, Piper. So much I want to know. So much I want to learn about you. So much I want you to know about me." Alex's eyes are closed and her voice is soft but strong.

"But I've been listening to you for three days and couldn't respond. I've been looking at you for three days and couldn't touch you. I feel like we have all the time in the world to talk and learn and smile and laugh. But I don't want to do any of those things right now."

Her tone shifts away from confidence as she takes a slow breath and summons her own courage, "I just...Is it...Can I…"

Piper pulls back from the contact between their faces to search the hesitant green eyes before her. She knows the end to every one of those sentences and chooses the only response that fits them all.

"Yes."

The combination of relief, elation, intensity and hunger boils through those green eyes as they instantly darken and close. The kiss is calm, courteous at first. Alex cradles Piper's face as if she might break her, afraid that the reality of this moment might crumble to dust in her hands if she isn't careful enough.

Piper returns the kiss in unhurried appreciation, taking her time to feel every one of the familiar movements behind that beautiful smile. Feeling Alex brush her tongue across her bottom lip, Piper smiles as her lips part.

"God, Alex" she manages between kisses, "you still have it."

Only Alex Vause can smirk and kiss at the same time, "I hope that's not the only thing you think I've still got."

Her hands still carefully cupping the blondes face, Alex deepens the kiss. Pouring every ounce of stock-piled passion and hunger she feels into Piper's mouth - Alex shoves all her chips to the center of the table.

"I missed you," Alex manages with a moan. "I missed you every goddamn day." Her hands move quickly downward over purple cashmere, searching for the soft skin just above the edge of denim. Finding it just as delightfully soft as she remembers, the burning in her belly is rapidly overtaking every other thought.

Piper's fingers are already blazing their own trail up under the front of Alex's shirt. She needed to feel everything. Every inch. Every moment missed. This wasn't about making up for lost time, it was about creating a baseline for something new.

This was about rediscovery of bodies and pleasure. Though there was not a place on this beautiful body she couldn't map from memory, Piper explored it as though she'd never been. Swiftly removing shirt, bra, jeans and finally those fucking boy shorts that never failed to instantly prime her with slick anticipation.

Alex cadenced in step with the purposeful removal of clothing, breaking their kisses long enough to get her lover naked and lowered to the king-sized canvas they were about to christen with strokes and swirls long overdue.

The brunette made it her mission to elicit every desperate sound possible from the blonde's exposed throat before her. Sucking gently then leaving a bite as she grazed over every surface from Piper's ears to her chest.

She worked those gorgeous breasts in her hands like clay on the wheel, alternating pinches and twists with a decidedly possessive energy that rendered Piper a moaning mess under her ministrations.

"Alex...my God." Appreciation. Approval. All the connotations that begged for more laced through the words slipping from the prosecutor's panting mouth as she filled her hands with fistfuls of black tresses. She moved her knee upward, connecting her thigh with the wet heat gathering between Alex's legs.

Feeling the sudden contact, Alex instinctively bore down with her hips, covering Piper's thigh with her arousal and releasing a gratuitous groan that bridged the gap between collarbone and breast. Her teeth closing over Piper's already sensitive nipple caused the blonde to arch back in response. She shrieked under the move, tempering her cry to a hum as she felt a talented tongue gently sucking the pain into pleasure.

Alex stayed there with her mouth for several minutes, slowly sucking at Piper's breast as though drawing life from it. Her hands moved skillfully south, working over the softness around the blonde's midsection like it was hidden treasure finally found.

By the time her fingers found their way to the creases and folds at Piper's core, the blonde was tearfully pleading for the expert contact only Alex could deliver. "Touch me, Al. Please. Touch me again."

Alex was steadily grinding down over Piper's thigh, bringing herself closer and closer to her own satisfaction. Between the textures and tremble of the nipple in her mouth and the knowledge that after all these years she could still soak the sheets in Piper, the brunette's eyes were rolling back in her head as she relished every second on top of this woman.

PIper took Alex's face in her hands and brought their lips together for a sloppy, frenzied kiss. "Together, baby. I want to come with you."

Alex rose to face the blonde beneath her as Piper's hand snaked toward its destination at long last. At her touch, Alex faltered and gasped. As their eyes locked, their fingers simultaneously sank into each other and tears filled both their eyes. They moved together back and forth in a tumultuous rhythm, their fingers finding the deepest parts of each other's bodies while their eyes sought the deepest part of each other's souls.

They didn't need words as they watched each other's straining faces, hearing the stuttered breaths of the other choke out in glorious anticipation. When they came, it was an explosion of emotion and ecstasy.

The power of it nearly crushed them as their hearts melted again from two into one. It was physically uncivilized, bodies writhing and spasming over each other as if electrocuted with fulfillment.

The sound erupting from the tangle of skin and bones was primitive...almost savage. They were rewriting their own expectations and the death of what was battled fiercely with the birth of what was to be. It sounded like a war and felt like victory.

They laid there entwined among each other, inside each other as long as it took to breathe and calm and release. When they found each other's eyes again, the tears escaped and they were reduced to sobbing once more. The intensity surrounding their reunion suddenly refusing to be contained in two separate bodies any longer rushed out to coexist, mingling tenderly on salty cheeks and lips.

The first sounds in the wake of their recovery were contented sighs and the mewling that accompanies nuzzled noses in necks and hair. When words were finally possible again, Alex spoke first in a husky boast, "Yep. Still got it."

Piper's laugh burst through her lips, "You or me?"

Rolling onto her back beside the blonde, Alex states simply, "Yeah."

"Like riding a bike, they say," Piper smiles.

Alex narrows her eyes at her, "I don't know what kind of bikes you've been riding, but none of mine have had anything on you."

Piper wedges into the crook of Alex's arm. "If you're looking for an apology on that topic, you're not getting one."

"Fair."

They both smile into the afterglow, silently enjoying the presence of the other. The quiet is disturbed several minutes later by a sudden growling escaping from the brunette's stomach. Piper giggles and looks at the clock. 7:23pm.

"Guess it's dinner time for you, Vause."

Alex sits up in the bed and kisses her again with a wink, "Don't go anywhere."

She returns almost immediately with the refilled glasses from before. "I'll order up. What are you hungry for?"

After dinner, Alex moves to the opposite end of the sofa, much to Piper's confusion and momentary disappointment. Taking her left foot and beginning to massage the tired arch and heel, Alex very quickly relieves all the tension present there.

"God, Alex." Piper moans at the firm attention the brunette directs toward her aching feet.

Smiling through the deep tones in her voice, "You said that already."

Piper teases that she never has stopped acting like a teenage boy. They quiet themselves again just looking at each other. Alex knows she needs to do some filling in of the blanks for Piper in addition her very clear non-verbal indications earlier that she wants to be part of Piper's life.

"This seems like a really awkward conversation to start, Pipes. I'm still not great with getting things out on my own." Alex looks down almost sheepishly. "How about...you ask me anything you want to know and I promise to give you a straight answer."

Unable to hide the smile that emerges at Alex's use of the nickname, she begins. "Alright...are you single?" Piper thinks that's probably not the most important but perhaps is the most pressing of the items on her mental list.

"I am. I haven't dated anyone seriously in years. I had a few girlfriends here and there but have stuck to fuck and run's for the most part since I moved to out to Jersey. Much less complicated. That was just over three years ago."

Piper rolls her eyes but can't hide the amusement in them, "Classy, Vause."

Holding up her hands in surrender, Alex shrugs, "Hey, I told you I'd give it to you straight."

"How's your mom?"

"She's living her best fucking life in the retirment community she joined nine years ago. She runs the monthly poker night (which I'm no longer invited to because apparently I was 'hustling' people out of their social security checks)" Alex uses air quotes while trying to look innocent. "But they still let me play Bingo on Thursday afternoons so that's something. I bring oreros and cases of Fresca as preemptive peace offerings in case I win, as a precaution.

She's doing really well. She's proud of me. And I'm fucking proud of her. We go to Mexico every Spring for two weeks and I take her to dinner often. She's even DATING a guy there. He's younger. She's a cougar in her old age." Alex beams when she talks about her mom.

"Diane running game in the retirement home. The apple sure didn't fall far there." Piper's shade is proudly accepted across the sofa. They smile at each other again and the air stills between them as Alex switches feet.

"The explosion in Malaysia...that was you, wasn't it?" This was the question that had been burning in Piper's brain for three days. Alex stops rubbing her feet for a nearly indiscernible second before breathing out slowly.

"Are you a mandatory reporter? Am I on the record?" It comes out in jest but there's enough sincerity present in the question that Piper responds honestly.

"Only for criminal activity carried out within the United States or it's territories and only within the statute of limitation which, is well and truly passed for drug activity anyway." Piper the prosecutor was dutifully answering.

"Just drug activity?" Alex presses. At her core, she knows Piper isn't asking for any other reason than her own understanding of how Alex's career with the cartel ended. Still, she isn't about to unknowingly put Piper in a position to have incriminating information on her.

"My obligations end at the borders of this country, Alex. Whatever the crime." Piper opens her arms in an invitation for Alex to come closer. The brunette leans back against Piper's chest and lays her head on her shoulder.

"I knew I had to get out but there was no way I could and live to tell about it. I figured hiding out my whole life being paranoid every time I left my house wasn't any better than being dead so that wasn't an option either.

I had already lost you because of my job - I wasn't willing to lose me, too. I couldn't see that until you left. I've wanted to thank you for leaving me so many times over the last twenty years. You saved my life when you saved yours. I mean that.

I would have gotten us both killed if you hadn't done what you did. I hated you for it...and then I loved you even more for it. So I handled the situation. People died. I have had to do a lot of fucking work to learn how to live with that.

I came home and lived with my mom for awhile. It was rough but she helped me through it. I still see a therapist monthly and...though I can't go into super specific details with her, she has helped me with some really awesome strategies for managing my PTSD."

Alex sighs and smiles into Piper's neck. "Now, you're saying the only thing I'm "technically" guilty of is perjury. Ironic how you wouldn't follow me into a felony, but you had no problem leading me into one. And they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks." Alex squeezes the blonde's fingers between hers and turns to kiss her cheek.

Piper scoffs in mock horror, "I'm not sure if I'm more offended that you called me old or that you called me a dog."

Alex turns to face her on the couch, planting kisses along her jaw and ear lobes. "I'm kind of crazy about this old dog."

Piper's theatrical offense melts into a suggestive smirk, "Wanna see my other tricks?"