***Hey. Here another update. I hope you'll like it. I'm sorry the updates take so long, but things are a little upside down currently. But I will finish this story and - as I promised - as long as you don't read THE END at the end of the chapter, there will be an update. I've got so many ideas for other stories already, I'm trying to finish this story some time soon, but I still have quite a few things planned for the two, so there a a few chapters to come. Can't tell how many yet. I'm at 230 pages in my word document already, which surprises me a little, as my other story wasn't even close to this. But I'm improving as this isn't my first story anymore. Here comes the next chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 26: Time to talk

The next week went by and Piper didn't find the courage to address the topic she wanted to bring up with her dad yet. Alex offered to come over and be there too, but Piper had rejected her offer saying she had to do that by herself. Still Piper found it very sweet of her girlfriend to offer this. It wasn't an easy situation for her and probably not less stressful for Alex. She decided to go step by step and on Monday afternoon she told him about the 'break up' between her and Michael.

"I'm sorry to hear that." her father said sincerely after she told him. They were sitting in the kitchen, drank their coffee and were about to start the crossword puzzle when Piper blurted out that Michael and her had ended their relationship.

"It's okay, really. It was my decision, actually." Piper said.

"Still, break ups aren't easy." Bill replied.

"No." Piper just said. She really wanted to tell him the whole truth. That it hadn't been hard at all. That it was a purely rational decision she and Michael made together. That it hadn't been hard because it was the first step to being honest about her and Alex. But she couldn't do this because it would lead to a whole other discussion she wasn't ready to have yet. Instead she turned her attention towards solving the crossword puzzle.

"That's ALPHA." Piper said. Bill held the pencil. He looked at her a little surprised but quickly noticed that she was referring to the crossword puzzle. "Which one?"

Piper pointed at the field. "Here. First greek letter." Bill filled in the solution. They went on for a while until Piper finally gathered enough courage.

"Dad." she started, waiting for him to look up.

"Where?" he looked across the page.

"No. Not in there. I wanted to ask you something." now he finally looked up and nodded, waiting for her to ask. "A while ago you and mom reacted - not so well - so to say when you found out about Alex." she didn't have to go further as he knew what she meant. "Now. Some time has passed and I feel like a few things might have changed a little." she started and stopped. She was getting so nervous that she didn't trust her tongue to form the right words.

"What is this about, Piper?" Bill wanted to know.

"What if one of us, Danny, me or Cal came to you and told you they liked the same sex?" Piper finally ripped off that band aid.

"Where is this coming from, sweetie?" Bill asked back.

"Does it matter? Could you just answer the question, please." Piper urged him.

"I know the reaction to finding out that Alex liked girls wasn't great, especially your mom's." he started. "I know I held back in saying anything about the whole topic and stayed out of the discussion with your mother for a long time. For too long. And I'm sorry about that, I really am." he looked at her, hoping she'd accept his apology. Piper nodded and waited anxiously for her father to go on. "Well, to be honest, it would shock me a little, but at the end of the day I want you three to be happy and live the life that you want to have and be the person you want to be. And if it's a girl that makes you happy, or a boy who makes Cal or Danny happy then I'm going to accept that." he finished.

Piper wasn't sure what to say. It wasn't what she had expected. But what had she expected, really?

"This isn't about Cal or Danny right?" Bill cautiously asked.

"Uhm, no. It isn't. I, uhm. I do like both. Well actually I've never felt drawn to a boy like I feel to my girlfriend so I think I rather identify myself as gay, if you have to put a label on it. It's a spektrum and not really an either or situation." Piper rambled on and Bill was a little amused by her daughters quick jumps.

"Girlfriend, huh?" he just asked. Piper blushed deeply red.

"Uhm, yeah." she nervously admitted.

"What about you and Michael? This confuses me a little to be honest." Bill tried to follow.

"That's a long story, actually. Can you promise me not to tell anyone? Not his parents? And maybe not mom either?" she looked at him almost begging.

"You have to tell you mother too, Piper. We can't keep this from her. And I know this might scare you, but there is no way around. I'll tell her with you if you want." Bill insisted.

"I know. And I'll do that. And yes, I'd be very thankful if you'd be there with me. But I meant the part about Michael. It's complicated and his parents can't hear anything about this from us. He needs to do that by himself, when the time is right. So. I'll tell mom, but leave out the part about Michael, okay?" Piper pleaded.

"Okay. Now. What is with you and Michael." he asked to know.

So Piper told him everything. From already being together with her girlfriend - she didn't tell that it was Alex yet - and the dinner when the Wiley's came over the first time. About both needing to hide something and agreeing to fake a relationship. "I'm sorry that I lied about all that, but I couldn't tell you and mom about all that. Especially not after the thing with Alex."

"Don't apologize Piper. I am the one who should be sorry, and Carol too. We should be the ones apologizing. It makes me really sad that you had to go through this and couldn't tell us. Being in love and happy is something you want to show and scream out to the world. I am so so sorry that you couldn't do that, because you were scared of our reaction. I totally understand that you decided to play along and pretend to be in a relationship to make us happy. But from now on, I don't want you to do that anymore. You need to be happy. Not make others happy. At least not by pretending to be something you're not." hearing that Piper couldn't hold back, the tears came without chance to hold them back. She hugged her dad tightly.

"Thank you dad. You can't believe how happy it makes me to hear you say that.", she sobbed.

"Thank you, Piper. I'm so proud of you. For being this strong woman even if it means I have to accept now that you're not my little girl anymore." he chuckled. "And don't be scared about telling your mother. I'll be there and she won't dare say anything mean."

"Thanks, dad." Piper was speechless. "I love you." now that made Bill speechless. He couldn't remember when any of his kids told him that the last time.

"I love you too, sweetie." he said and felt tears rise. "And by the way. Introduce your girlfriend sometime, won't you?" he chuckled.

"You know her already, dad." Piper told him and saw his face change from confusion to realization. "It's Alex, isn't it?" Piper nodded.

"We've been together for about a year and a half now." she told him.

"And you have been really good at hiding that you two are in a relationship. I had no clue." Bill chuckled.

"Well, I'm glad you know now." Piper said. "Cause I'm tired of hiding."

She was relieved but also scared. She still had to tell her mother. And her reaction would very likely be a lot different. It calmed her though to know her dad would be there and have her back. Now she just wanted to tell Alex about her first success. She also needed to text Michael about being completely honest to her dad and that he promised to not tell anyone about the fake relationship part.

She quickly got a few things from her room and went to the hallway to go over to see Alex.

"You're leaving. You don't want to tell your mother now and be done with that?" her father wanted to know.

"Uhm, no. Another day, okay? I've had too much excitement for one day already. I promise I'll do it soon. But I can't do it right now." Piper explained.

"That's okay. Let's me know when you'll tell her if you want me to be there. Where are you going?" he wanted to know.

"I will let you know. And I want to tell Alex, actually." she replied.

"Good. See you later. Have fun." Bill smiled at her. He loved seeing Piper happy and excited.

XXXXX

Piper rung the bell and waited impatiently for someone to open. She hadn't texted Alex that she'd come over and hoped she'd be home. And she was. It was her who opened the door soon.

"Hey Pipes." she said with the biggest smile on her face. Piper couldn't help but return the smile too. "That's unexpected. But very welcome."

"I've got some amazing news." she said as they went in. And then she told Alex about her long talk with her dad.

"Oh my god, that's fantastic." Alex was excited too. "And I'm so proud of you for being so brave and telling your dad." she pulled Piper close and hugged her.

"I feel so relieved. But I'm dreading the conversation with my mother a little." Piper replied honestly. "Not just a little, to be honest."

"Which is completely reasonable after everything she said and did." Alex told her girlfriend. "But you'll have your dad there and me too if you want to."

"Thanks, Al. But I'm not sure if it's a good idea if you'd be there too. I promised my dad I'll do it soon and I will. But that doesn't make it less scary. It is good that my dad is going to be there. That way I'll know that it can't go that bad." Piper explained.

"It's going to be okay. And we're all here for you. We have to celebrate that first step!" Alex tried to take Piper's mind off the talk with her mother.

"That's right. Are you alone at home?" Piper asked. She just noticed that they were alone and she hadn't heard any noise from any of the other rooms.

"Yeah, mom is taking Felix to a friends for the afternoon and dad didn't get home from work yet. He's got some kind of teacher's conference." Alex let her know.

"So what did you have in mind of how we should celebrate?" Piper asked smiling seductively at Alex.

"I think you got the right idea." Alex closed the gap between them and kissed Piper. Slowly and emotional first but soon more passionately and intense.

"I like where this is going." Piper said laughingly as Alex pulled her towards her room.

XXXXX

She had set herself the ultimatum that she'd tell her mom by the end of the week and now it was Friday and she was so nervous that she felt sick. She and Alex were walking home from school and Alex tried to start a conversation a couple times, but Piper didn't really react to her efforts.

"I'm sorry." Piper eventually said. "I don't mean to be rude. I'm just so nervous. I need to tell my mom today and it's freaking me out. I don't .."

"Shh." Alex interrupted her. She had already thought that Piper didn't mean anything bad by not replying. She had noticed how fidgety her girlfriend was. "It's okay Pipes. I'd be nervous too. Actually I am a little nervous too, to be honest. But look at it this way: as soon as you told her, we can finally do things like a normal couple. Hold hands whenever we want to. Be open about us being a couple. I can kiss you whenever I want to, which is basically always." a smug grin spread across her face. Piper returned the grin, pulled Alex closer and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"I'll just tell her. Like ripping off a bandaid, I'll just tell her." Piper said not sounding very confident though.

"I think it is very brave of you to tell her. Especially after her first reaction. I'm proud of you, you know that, right?" Alex told her sincerely.

Piper immediately felt more confident hearing these words from her girlfriend. She smiled at Alex. This time it reached her eyes. "Thank you. I wish it was over and I'd be done with it."

"You'll be soon." Alex tried to encourage her further. "And as soon as you're done you can come over and we'll celebrate. No matter what she'll say, I'll be here waiting for you." As she said 'celebrate' she raised her eyebrow to her signature smirk. Piper couldn't help but kiss that smirk off her face. Soon enough - too soon thought Piper - they arrived at the Vause's house. From there it would only be a couple more minutes until Piper was home and the 'disaster' - as Piper referred to it in her mind - would take its course.

"Remember: whatever she'll say, me, my family and all your friends love you and will be there for you. Also, you got your dad on your side, so it hopefully won't be that bad. And try to think about how we can be open and out like a normal couple as soon as she knows. I know you can't wait for it." Alex reassured her.

"Thank you, Al. It doesn't make me less nervous but makes me feel like everything is gonna be alright." Piper said fidgeting with the zipper of her jacket. "I'll try to come over as soon as I can."

"I'm here, waiting for you. I love you Pipes." Alex pulled her closer and kissed her. She knew that it was hard for Piper to go that step. She had been a nervous wreck herself when she decided to tell her mother that she was gay. But she was really proud of her girlfriend to eventually take that step. Comparing their mother's openness and open-mindedness regarding that topic it might even be a even bigger step for Piper than it was for her. Yes, Alex had been very nervous when she told Diane, but she had been pretty sure that her mother would accept her sexual orientation as long as Alex was happy.

"I love you, too, Al." Piper smiled at her after returning the kiss. She slowly started walking towards her home, trying to postpone the moment of facing her mother as long as she could.

"Go, Pipes. Just get it over with. And then we can celebrate. Just like a bandaid, remember?" Alex shouted to her girlfriend.

"I know." Piper whined.

Couple minutes later she was home. She found her dad in the kitchen like most afternoons. He looked up when he heard someone coming into the room.

"Hi, Piper." he greeted. "How was your day so far?"

"Hi, dad." she replied. "Nerve-racking, actually. Is mom home? I think today is the day."

Bill nodded understandingly. "She's outside in the garden. You want me to get her?"

"Yeah, thanks. I think it's better done in here. The neighbours don't have to overhear that." she said, thinking of the Browns next door who always loved to know about everything and asked anyone they met about everything, even if it was something small like a new colour on their cushions on their garden furniture. Bill just nodded knowingly and went outside to get Carol.

"Hi, Piper. You're home already." her mother greeted her as she walked into the kitchen. "Your father told me you wanted to talk to me."

"Uh, yes." Piper's mouth went completely dry, she never felt so nervous. "I want you to hear me out before you say something and listen to what I have to tell you, okay?" she looked at Carol seriously. Carol nodded signaling she was ready to hear what Piper had to tell her.

"So. You might have heard that Michael and I broke up." she started. Carol looked at her surprised. "Okay, obviously you haven't. We broke up recently, as we both didn't feel like this was working anymore." she stopped. She felt that her mother wanted to say something but held back and Piper was thankful that she did as she had asked her to and let her finish with everything before saying anything.

"It wasn't so recently though, that I realised something else. I like girls, mom. If you want to put a label on it you could say I'm bisexual, I have to admit that I'm not as attracted to boys as I am to girls, so actually I'd consider myself gay rather than bisexual." it all came out like a waterfall. Piper hoped her mother had understood everything after it had come out at such a speed, she didn't want to repeat any of it. She watched Carol turn as pale as she could.

"Piper!" she exclaimed rather whisper-shouting. "You? No." she looked almost disappointed and quite distressed. Piper wondered where her thoughts were going currently. Then Carol looked up. "I knew it. I told you that.." she started sounding almost angry now.

Piper interrupted her. "If you are going to say that Alex was a bad influence on me, then stop right there. It would be amazing if you would maybe read a few things about sexual orientation. People are born that way. Not turned to behave like that or believe oneself is gay. Who you fall in love with is not a decision or a choice. It just happens. And for part of all humankind that doesn't mean that the other one has the opposite sex. I don't need you to be super-excited about this. But I need you to accept who I am and that I am happy with that. Can you at least do that?" Piper asked her, fidgeting again with her zipper.

"I.. I don't know, Piper. Give me time, okay." her mother seemed taken aback slightly by Piper's remarks.

"Okay." Piper agreed. 'This went better than I ever dreamed it would.' she was pleasantly surprised. She had thought her mother would lose it. She remembered a few things she had said earlier when she heard Alex was gay. But obviously her mother had changed. And she liked that.

XXXXX

"Calm down, will you?" Diane asked Alex who paced around the livingroom relentlessly.

"It's..., I don't know..., I can't." Alex replied. Diane knew what was happening and why Alex was so nervous, but she made everyone else nervous too with her restlessness.

"You know, we'll all be there for both of you, no matter what Carol will say." Diane tried to assure her.

"I know, I'm just scared that she'll say something bad and it'll hurt Piper. I hate seeing her down like that." Alex explained.

"And it is totally normal to feel that way if it's about someone you love." Diane reasoned. "But could you please stop pacing around like that? It's freaking everyone out."

"Sorry." Alex apologized quietly and sat down on the couch where she had here troubles of holding still too.

XXXXX

Carol had gone back outside and Piper tried to give her space and time to think about everything. She had wanted to tell her about Alex being her girlfriend too and contemplated whether to go outside and tell her or just to leave it for another day.

She turned to her father. "Well, her reaction was better than I thought it would be." she said.

"You have to give your mother a little more credit. She's not a bad person, you know?" he chuckled. He didn't believe Piper thought of her mother as a bad person even if they had their disagreements in the past. "She's learning too. And sometimes that takes time. She grew up so differently, I hope you understand that. I'm not trying to say that how she behaved and what she said in the past is right or was justified. But she's doing her best to change, I hope you can see that." Piper nodded. She understood and she was grateful that her mother's reaction wasn't like years ago when she found out about Alex.

"Do you mind if I go over to Alex? I think she's desperately waiting for me to come tell her how it went." Piper looked at her dad questioningly.

"Not at all." Bill smiled at her. He remembered how he felt back when he was young and in love.

On her way out she ran into her mother in the hallway.

"Hey." Piper said. "Everything okay?"

"Sure. It'll take a while for me to wrap my head around that. But I want to be a better mother to you and the boys. I know my - as you might call them - conservative views have caused you quite some trouble. I'm learning, Piper. I want you to be happy. But it'll take some time to accept that your idea of happiness might be different from mine. So, give me some time, will you?" Carol explained.

"Yes. Of course. Take the time you need. I was actually pretty scared to tell you, but I wanted you to know this part of me." Piper explained. Carol gave a weak smile at that along with a almost apologetic look. She noticed Piper was about to leave.

"May I ask where you are going?" she asked cautiously.

"I, uhm, to see my girlfriend. I promised to tell her as soon as I could." Piper said waiting anxiously for her reaction.

"Girlfriend, huh?" Carol asked surprised. "You didn't say anything about that earlier."

"Uh, well. I thought it was better to, you know, give you some time to wrap your head around my 'confession'" her nerves were back and she felt almost as nervous as before.

"I understand that." Carol nodded. "Does she make you happy?"

"Yes, mom, she does. Very much so." Piper replied. Carol could see in her eyes that her daughter was happy just by thinking about her girlfriend and could see love in her eyes. It made her happy and she knew she could accept it, if it was what it took to see her daughter happy like this.

"I see. Then I'm happy for you. Bring her here someday, will you? I'm curious." Carol said. It took Piper by surprise a little, if she was honest.

"Uh, sure. It's Alex, actually." she told her.

"Oh, really?" now Carol seemed surprised. "Well, I'm happy for you two. And I'm really sorry about my earlier behaviour. I… it's just…. it's hard to explain. But I will, if you want. But I think you can't wait to go over to see her." Piper had barely seen her mother ramble like this. This was new and definitely caught her by surprise. "Oh and even though I know who your - girlfriend - is now. Bring her over soon, okay? I think I need to apologize."

"Okay." was all that Piper could muster. She made her way to the Vause's still speechless and unbelieving of what just happened. Alex had obviously been watching the street as the door was opened before she even reached the bell.

"Hey." she greeted, anxiously to see what mood her girlfriend was in.

"Hey." Piper replied back, her face not giving away much. She couldn't quite grab what had happened yet.

"How did it go?" Alex asked cautiously as they walked into the living room. Diane sat on the couch and was curious too and ready to help Piper if it had gone badly.

"I… I don't know. I don't know what just happened." Piper said. Alex looked at her questioningly. She didn't know what mood she had expected but clearly something else than this… she didn't even have a word for it.

"Okay. Slow. You want something to drink? And then maybe you can tell me how it went?" Alex guided her toward the couch.

Piper took the tea that Diane made for her and slowly started talking about the initial talk with her mother in the kitchen and the second one in the hallway. And about asking Alex to come over and owing an apology. She could see that this took Alex by surprise too.

"It was about time she realized her bad behaviour." Diane said and left the two to talk.