Here we go: the final chapter. More from me at the end.
A year later:
"I think you should go for it," Alex says from where she's standing behind Piper who is sitting at her office desk.
The pair are currently looking at an image of a high-rising tower building that her company have been pushing to rent in LA. Piper had been contemplating the idea of expanding her company, and establishing an office in a different state seemed to be an effective plan for that to be achieved.
"You don't think it will be too much stress?" Piper asks, not looking away from the screen as she scrolls through an email that provides a summary of information from some employers she sent to scope out the space in LA.
"Why would it be?"
"With the house, Al," the blonde finally turns, looking up at the woman behind her. "I want that to be finalised before I even think about having to deal with another company building."
"Then don't do it then," the brunette comments, immediately regretting voicing that aloud given the look Piper gives her.
"Are you serious?" the blonde asks, placing both hands on the handles of her desk chair to stand up.
"Pipes," Alex says softly, raising a hand to hook some hair behind her girlfriend's ear. "If you think it will be too much, then wait a little longer. You've got a good thing going here. Another building will come around."
"So you think I should hold it off?" Piper asks, tilting her head to let Alex cup her left cheek.
"I think you should do what you think is best for you - not your business," Alex adds, pushing the wheeling chair between them to the side so she can take a step forward. "By the sounds of it, your the only major company interested in renovating the site, so it could still be there in what 6 months' time?"
"I know," Piper nods, placing her hands onto the brunette's shoulders, looking up into her eyes. "I just don't want it to get in the way of our move."
"If it gets too much, you need to know when to take a step back every now and then."
"I think this is me stepping back," the blonde chuckles, resting her forehead against the woman's in front of her.
They'd pondered the idea of moving in together for quite some time now. It wasn't that they couldn't afford it, it was just finding the time in their busy schedules to go out house hunting. They agreed to both have a fresh start and move into a new property together, and within a few months of looking, they found a modern three-bed home that's close enough to commute into work, and also within the sort of area filled with convenience.
"I'm here for you no matter what you decide, Piper. You know that," Alex says in a hushed voice, knowing the other woman is stressed out about the fact that she could be letting down some other high-up members of her company if she decides to pull out in forming LA offices for the time being.
"I know," the blonde responds, nodding lightly, but careful to not crash their heads together. "I think I'm just over-excited to be finally living together."
"There's nothing wrong with that. I'm excited too," Alex says, kissing the blonde on the cheek lightly.
"What did your dad say?" she goes on to ask, pulling back slightly but still placing her hands on the blonde's hips.
"Not a lot," Piper shrugs. "I'm just happy they've stopped sharing their opinions. I think they know I don't care."
Since her brother's wedding over a year ago, the tension between herself and her parents seemed to be at peak levels. They'd argued during the wedding, with her parents' line of argument following that they expected better than Piper bringing a woman to the event, but over time, they've worked on it. Well, by work on it, Piper avoids family events, and makes an effort to bring up Alex every time she had to see or talk to her family members.
It's been a while since she allowed herself to grow upset about her parents; if anything, moving in with Alex is another sign that things between them aren't going to ending anytime soon.
"What did he say about the house?" Alex asks, knowing Piper had been debating whether to tell her parents about their move.
"He said the neighbourhood sounded good," she rolls her eyes.
"It's better than nothing, I guess," Alex shrugs.
A knocking on the door interrupts their conversation - not that either woman particularly minds considering it was already nearing its end.
Appearing in the doorway, Lorna smiles as she - as expected - sees Alex in conversation with her boss.
"Alex, someone's looking for you," she says with a high-pitched voice, referring to her girlfriend and the taller woman's best friend, Nicky, who is waiting outside the building to drive them to lunch.
"Have fun," Piper says, running her right hand down the brunette's neck. "Love you," she whispers, moving forward to lightly peck their lips together.
Over the last year of being an open couple around the office, there hasn't been any issues other than the odd amount of teasing they receive - more so from Piper's assistant, or those who sit around Alex's cubicle.
"Love you too," Alex whispers in response, aware that Lorna is watching their exchange.
"Aw sweet," the brunette by the door chimes in, her tone of voice clearly in a teasing manner.
"I'll remember that, Morello," Alex jokes, moving to leave the office, making sure to wink at her girlfriend's assistant as she walks by.
"God knows what you see in her," Lorna jokes, looking over at Piper who is now seated back down in her chair.
"Sometimes I find myself asking the same thing," she responds with a smile, making it evident that she's only kidding.
"Pipes," Alex says as she descends the ladder leading into the attic, sliding it back into place and closing the door's hatch behind her with a long, metal pole.
She gathers the other woman is in one of the rooms downstairs - or maybe even outside - and can't hear her. She goes into their bedroom and slides the metal pole underneath the small gap under the bed, all the while listening out for any sign of Piper being present in the house.
Now going in search of the other woman, the brunette briefly ducks her head into every other upstairs room; their en-suite, the main bathroom, the home office, and the guestroom. As she originally thought, Piper isn't on the same floor as herself, so she begins to descend the stairs to further her search.
"Have you seen the box with my old records in it?" she asks, making sure her voice is loud enough to be heard in any lower room of the house.
"Piper?" she prompts again, and upon walking into the large kitchen area, she sees a small note written on a yellow post-it note attached to the marble counter.
Al, just headed out quickly to the store. I don't think you heard me go, but I'll be back soon.
Piper x
After now confirming she's home alone, Alex sighs, frustrated that she hasn't been able to find what she's been looking for the past hour.
They'd moved into their new house coming up to a month ago, and even though they have all the things necessary for living unpacked, some items that they don't use as regularly are still inhabiting the cardboard boxes that are scattered around the side of some of the rooms.
She heads into the open-planned living area and decides to tackle some of the boxes she knows she hadn't looked through. Earlier that morning, she didn't want to disturb her girlfriend who had been doing some work from home despite it being a Saturday, and decides now is a better time than ever to have a rummage.
Towards the far side of the room behind the dining table, there are three stacked boxes that are yet to be touched since they moved in. Taking a seat on one of the nearby chairs, Alex pulls over the top box, and places it onto the floor closer to her feet, ready to inspect its contents.
Although upon opening the lid she is disappointed that this box doesn't seem to be the home to what she's looking for, the contents do prove to be a distraction that prompts many a good memory.
She gathers this box must belong to Piper as the stuff inside aren't things she's ever particularly stored as a collection, but of course knows what they are. It's like a museum of some of the more popular pieces of work Piper has written over the years - more so from when her focus was on producing work rather than editing it.
She scans her eyes over some familiar magazine and newspaper clippings that she has indeed read before, smiling at how far Piper has come in her career from the work of her own brain and two hands.
Pulling out each item slowly, she creates a small pile on the hardwood floor next to the box, being careful not to mess up the order that they seem to have been put into. It isn't until she gets to the last layer of the box's contents that she realises the work is more familiar - almost as though the words are her own. It doesn't take her too much longer to figure that her girlfriend kept some of her words as a - well, she guesses - memento, and she finds her smile growing as she thinks back to when they had just met. The thought of working with Piper - never mind being in a relationship with her - was a privilege in itself.
"Hello," a loud voice shouts, followed by the sound of the closing front door.
She knows it's obviously Piper returning from whatever errand she had been on, but Alex doesn't bother responding, knowing her girlfriend will reach the room's opening before she gets the chance to get a word in.
"Hey there," she hears Piper's voice in the doorway, sounding cheerful for whatever reason. "What're you doing down there?" she goes on to ask, clearly wondering why the brunette is leaning down from a chair towards the floor.
"I'm looking for my old records," Alex's head pops up, immediately smiling at the sight of Piper making her way across the room.
She's wearing Alex's dark navy Ralph Lauren mid-zip pull over with a pair of black skinny jeans. For how casual the look is, the blonde sure does know how to pull it off.
"Oh, they're in the attic," Piper says, rounding the table to join by the brunette's side.
"I looked there already," Alex turns her head back towards the box on the floor. "But I did find these."
She knows from Piper's silence behind her that the blonde is somewhat embarrassed that her little collection has been found. From Alex's point of view, it's nothing to be ashamed of - if anything, it's something she's surprised she hasn't done with her own things over the years.
"Do you remember that?" Piper asks, leaning down and looping her hands around Alex's shoulder, chin resting on the top of her black v-neck t-shirt.
It's the top visible item in the box, and although it's something she hasn't seen in a very long time, Alex immediately knows what her girlfriend is talking about.
"You wrote that for me in my office. You said you liked writing about people," Piper continues, clearing enjoying the recall of that particular memory.
"I remember," Alex smiles, looking at the magazine cut out that she had written about Piper, comparing her eyes to the ocean and alluding to her calm nature.
"I used to go back to that a lot," Piper says, rounding Alex's chair and moving the magazine clipping out the way to pick up the piece of notebook paper underneath it. "I preferred looking at the original though. It made it feel more," she pauses, clearly thinking of the right word to use. "Special."
The small notebook-sized piece of paper is filled with Alex's familiar cursive writing, and from the similar starting words of the published version they had just been looking at, the brunette recognises this as the initial start of the piece Piper had asked her to produce on the spot in her office when they had first met.
"I didn't realise that," Alex says slowly, not expecting her girlfriend to reveal such a thing while she opens her body up slightly, letting the blonde sit on her lap.
"Anything that comes from that brain of yours is special in my eyes, Al," Piper says, blue eyes looking deeply into the brunette's greens.
"Just when I thought you couldn't get more cheesier," Alex smiles, enjoying the sight of Piper's cheeks flushing lightly in the sunlight coming through the nearby windows.
"Do you want me to write you another one?" she goes on to ask, suddenly getting a good idea.
"Now?" Piper counters, pulling back slightly.
"Yeah, why not?" Alex raises her eyebrows, kissing the blonde on the jaw before patting her ass lightly - a signal for her to remove herself from her lap.
"You sit there," she continues, getting up and moving around to the opposite side of the table, making sure to grab the small notebook and pen resting nearby on the way. "And keep looking beautiful."
"This is hardly beautiful," Piper chuckles as she adjusts her chair so she is now directly facing the woman opposite her.
"You keep telling yourself that," Alex responds without missing a beat, eyes focused on the pen moving in her hand across it's canvas.
"No peaking," she adds, knowing Piper will attempt to read what she's writing, but soon decides she'll prevent that altogether.
Leaning back slightly, Alex folds the notebook in half and rests it against the edge of the table, allowing her to both write at a suitable angle and hide what she's scribbling down.
She looks up a few times - observing Piper who is trying to patiently wait for her to finish what she's doing, but once she puts her pen down, she smiles as she watches a flicker of excitement fill her girlfriend's blue eyes.
"Okay. Ready," Alex says, holding the notebook up to her chest as she watches Piper pull her chair closer to the table as though that would give her faster access to the written material.
Sliding the notebook across the table, Alex swallows hard as she watches the blonde pick it up and start reading her words.
She watches in anticipation as Piper's eyes slowly flicker from side to side, clearly taking in her every word written on the page. The next thing she knows, the blonde's blue eyes are welling up, and although she isn't completely sure of it, she gathers the other woman is reaching the end of what she'd written.
She watches Piper close her eyes tightly - almost as though trying to compose herself, before she re-opens them and looks up.
"Are you serious?" she asks, her voice wavering as she speaks.
"I meant every word," Alex delivers a close-lipped smile, not expecting this physical of an emotional display from the other woman.
Piper follows her with her eyes for another few seconds before pushing her chair back dramatically and rushing around the table, smiling widely while doing so.
"Yes," she voices, placing both hands either side of Alex's cheeks, pulling her into a passionate kiss. "Yes," she repeats, and this is when the brunette starts to feel the other woman's emotional display as opposed to just seeing it, as she feels a few wet droplets come into contact with her cheeks.
"Of course I'll marry you," Piper concludes as if she wasn't clear enough already, pulling back from their kiss as a string of saliva follows the backwards movement of her head.
"I can still get down on one knee with a ring if you want me to," Alex says, her hands tightening around where they had landed on the blonde's hips. "I have it upstairs."
"You do?" Piper pulls back, only so Alex can again adjust her chair and allow her to straddle her lap.
"I do," the brunette smirks. "Isn't it a bit early for that bit?" she laughs, alluding to her wording.
"What you did," Piper begins, clearly still trying to process what just happened. "It was perfect," she says, wrapping her arms around the brunette's shoulders, shifting her hips further forward.
"I thought I'd give you something new to add to that box down there."
Staring down at her now wife-to-be, Piper lets out a heavy, emotion-filled breath.
"We're getting married," she voices more so to herself than anything, laughing at the fact that someone - for the first time in her life - actually wants to stick around.
"We are," Alex nods, moving her hands to now rest on the blonde's thighs. "And you know what?" she asks, her fingers running along the material of Piper's jeans. "Now we get to celebrate," she continues, not waiting for an answer despite knowing Piper can tell what she's talking about.
Without saying anything further, Piper again pulls the brunette into a kiss, groaning at both the sensation of their mouths meeting as well as the feel of the brunette's hands starting to fiddle with the button of her trousers.
From the very moment she'd met Alex, Piper found her irresistible. No matter what they've been through or what they're inevitably going to face together, she knows that feeling is never going to change.
I contemplated making another few chapters, but felt this tied everything together well. I had a lot of fun writing this story, and again, I appreciate all the kind reviews and messages I've received. There's a chance I will write an epilogue, but I'm going to give myself a little break for the time being. I'm currently writing a new story, but want to get a good chunk of it done before I start uploading chapters.
Hope you stick around for that ride, and equally I hope you enjoyed this one!