"Hey Pipes. How are you?" Alex asks as she walks into the blonde's bedroom.
"Fine Al. Just doing a little reading. What have you been up to?"
Alex gives her a quick kiss before pulling away. "Been running a mental threat exercise with the guys." Blue eyes meet green and they smile genuinely at each other for awhile. "You ready for tomorrow Pipes?"
"Yeah. I'm ready to jump back into my studies. Not thrilled with the possibility of running into Polly."
"Have you spoken since that night?"
"No, and I don't want to. I'm still angry at her. And certainly can't handle if she acts like nothing happened."
"Is she the vindictive type? Would she try to mess with you or is she the avoiding type."
"Oh, Pol is definitely bitter and vindictive. She'll smile to your face and rip you to shreds behind your back. She can be a bully when she wants to be."
"Has she ever done anything mean or vengeful to you?"
"She's said some hurtful things, but besides that, nothing I can think of."
"Good. You hungry babe?" She once again kisses her girlfriend. 'I really need to give Piper what she's been asking me for. But I want it to be special. How can I do that without being able to take her on a real date?'
"Al, look at me baby. Al. Alex." Piper gently shakes her until she comes out of her daze. "Ah, here you are."
"Sorry Pipes, must have gotten lost in thought. Did you tell me if you were hungry?"
"Yeah. I'm starving actually. What about you?"
"So what are we eating today Pipes?"
"Maybe we should get pizza again. That veggie was very good."
"I'll take care of it."
Alex: Bradley, you up for a food run?
Bradley: Sure, where am I heading?
Alex: Pizza. Ask the team for their choices. That and a veggie, and a pepperoni will be my order
Bradley: We debated and decided on supreme
Alex calls in the order and tells Bradley the time and place. Then returns to Piper's room.
"Food will be here around twenty-five minutes from now."
Alex calls her Mom. "Hey, you busy?"
"No baby. Just give me a minute to get in the house."
"Okay Mom."
"Alright baby, let me set these bags down." She pops a soda and sits down on the couch. "So what's up Alex?"
"Since I can't take Piper on a proper date. I'm trying to come up with something to make things special. I'm not really coming up with anything good enough."
"Hmmmm, baby just bring the romance into the apartment. Nice clothes, good food, candles, maybe some dancing. Just build the mood for the both of you Alex."
"I like that Mom. What would I ever do without you?"
"So when you gonna put the plan in motion?"
"I need to get supplies, so within the next week , I think."
"Just continue to treat her right baby and you have nothing to worry about."
"Thanks again Mom. Talk to you soon."
Piper and the team are already eating when Alex enters the room. She gets herself a plate of pizza and some soda. Once she's sitting next to Piper, she can hear her quiet moans. Her girlfriend is driving her absolutely crazy. After eating Piper excuses herself to go read some more.
Alex gathers the teams lists and sees a number of them she plans to work with. The team goes back to patrol and Alex sees that Bill has sent her an email. She goes into the office and dives into the Piper folder. Completely loosing track of time until Colton texts asking if they can call it a day. She verifies the time for Monday and releases the team. Alex reads some more then goes to find Piper.
"Hey babe. Can we run through the morning please."
"Sure Al."
"Okay start from when your alarm goes off. What time do you set it for?"
"I get up at 6:15. Take a shower. Get dressed. Gather my supplies. Breakfast and coffee if I have time, but if I'm running behind, I just hit the coffee shop on campus instead. I'm used to leaving the house around 7:00."
"Do you have any classes with Polly?"
"I know she has zero reason to take anything in media. Business, it's possible but it's also only happened once so far."
"Text me should it happen. I'll make sure to pick you up personally. Last question, do you want the entire team indiscreet or would you like me or possibly Bradley to pose as a friend instead?"
"I'll probably go for you as my friend, since you are after all." Piper smirks at Alex. "Though let's try the other way to today just to compare against when we went to the bookstore."
Alex goes to her room and crashes. Piper falls asleep reading. In the morning they are both missing waking up holding each other. Alex gets ready, makes coffee and has it ready for the travel mugs. Then she makes up a couple of bagels.
Piper stumbles into the living room around 6:50. Alex gives her her mug and bagel. The team arrives five minutes later. They top off the coffee and are in the SUV by 7:00. The ride to campus is spent reviewing times and procedures. Piper makes it to her classroom and the team surveys the area.
Once class starts, Alex texts a picture of Polly to the team. Then tells the team how the girl is someone they should clock and keep an eye on if the see her. That she isn't necessarily a threat, but that her and Piper had it out a week or two back, and haven't spoken since. Alex says unless the girl tries to start something verbally or physically, then she is simply to be watched.
When class is through Piper notices Alex starting to walk down the hallway, and Bradley close behind her. She makes a point to stay between her two guards. She then sees Chase when she exits the building. They complete the three person rotation they did in training exercises until she goes into her second class. 'I don't think this stand-offish thing is going to work for me. There's already been a ton of little things I've wanted to share with her. And I desperately want to touch her, even if it's just platonic.'
Piper: Al, I wanna change methods. Not talking to you is too hard
Alex:Okay Pipes. I'll be right there waiting when your done
Piper is then able to settle in to her second class paying attention to the quick syllabus notes and dates of all tests and projects. She tries to come up with a brief explanation of what the class is about for Alex and the guys. Before she knows it class is dismissed and she's packing up her things.
Alex spots her as soon as she leaves the classroom. "Hey Pipes, how have classes been so far?"
"Great Alex." She proceeds to explain the subject matter in both classes thus far, while walking close to Alex.
"And do you know what's the next one about yet?"
Piper takes it upon herself to continue describing all her classes as well as her internship work. When they arrive at the classroom, Piper gives a quick friendly hug and reminds Alex that lunch is after this.
Alex checks with the guys seeing how they are doing and if anyone has clocked anything today that might be worth looking into. So far so good on security today. She then says that they can eat lunch if at least one of them is ready to patrol before Piper gets out of class for her lunch break.
"Hey Pipes" Alex smirks as Piper leaves class. "All good?"
"Yeah no problems for me. Thankfully no Polly anywhere."
"So what do you want from lunch?"
"I think we should eat in the food court. Have I showed you inside there yet Alex?"
"No, just the location."
"They have a lot of fast food booths, and a few others as well. You really get a good selection."
"Guys food court, someone pick a table, so ahead and wipe it with disinfectant, and make sure no one takes it. Someone else be watching inside the food area, while we're in there. Any questions?"
"No Alex", each of the guys echo.
"Sorry about that Pipes. So what are you craving?"
"Not sure till I step inside. Seeing the signs reminds me of what I like where. Is that odd?"
"No, it makes perfect sense to me." Alex flashes Piper a big smile, which Piper reflects on her own face."
They select their food and make small talk. The security team is scanning anyone who tends to be paying attention to Piper. Snapping pics of anyone seeing way to obvious. Finally dropping Piper off for her final class.
Alex is looking at the guys security pics and asking about each and what the person did to catch their attention. Alex noted that Bradley got a pic of Polly. She was especially eager to hear all about that one.
"Bradley where was this girl?"
"Inside the food court Alex. I couldn't determine if she looked like the pic you sent us a few days ago, but it was close enough to make note of."
"Did she see Piper, stare at her, talk about her, or anything like that?"
"I wasn't close enough to hear any conversation, but she was walking to a taller guy." Bradley pauses "I know she looked at Piper, but by the time I noticed her... I can only say it wasn't a stare."
"Okay thanks Bradley. Continue to observe every time you happen to see her. Hopefully it won't amount to anything, but Polly has been described as a vindictive person."
Alex is back at the classroom before Piper exits. They make their way back to the van along with the rest of the team. Alex thanks the team for a great first day of monitoring, then chats with Piper about her homework and what she generally does after classes. No errands need to be run, so they head back to the apartment.
The guys do their monitoring. Piper starts on her reading. And Alex gets the security team reports ready. Then reads some more of the Piper files. The higher threats didn't usually have any standout features, that her initial read, would find more problematic than anything else. She chalked it up to requiring further study to put the pieces together. She also place attention to the allergy list, printing it out and making sure to find explanations to uncommon allergens and where they are found. She couldn't say why, but she had a gut feeling that she needed to know everything about that area of science as soon as possible.
Alex finally made note of the time and checked up on her roommate. "Pipes, how's your reading going" as she slips onto the bed next to her blonde.
"I've read the first required chapter in three of the four courses. I want to try and knock the last one out, since I'll probably have new stuff tomorrow."
"Anything interesting in those pages? "
"Yeah Al. The media stuff always fascinates me. The radio and tv chain of command are a little different. The latter having more layers."
"You prefer radio of the two. Any particular reason?" Alex pulls her in for a lingering hug and a quick kiss.
"Don't start on that yet Al. I need everything done before I can take you up on that indulgence. You know how much I love your body close to or wrapped up with mine." Piper's smile lights up her entire face.
"Okay, to be continued. But you avoided my question."
"Oh. I like radio more because there's more freedom. Yes both have format clocks to follow, and commercials to play, but what I say over the song intros or into a break is all me. If you get a really good PD, that's program director or boss, then you can earn a little more leeway with a strong vision. That's why I'm constantly refining and sculpting my vision. So that the PD sees where I want to go and why, and hopefully let me try it out completely instead of partially."
"Is that what you were looking for Al?"
"Yeah. I love how passionate you get when you talk about anything really important to you." Alex gives her a quick kiss on the cheek and then asks about dinner.
Alex lets the team go reminding them of the morning time. Then starts dinner for her and Pipes. It's almost ready when Piper ventures into the kitchen. After an excellent meal, they are finally able to relax and have some couple time. After the movie, Alex sees Piper is asleep, so she scoops her up and deposits her in bed and into her night clothes. Alex makes sure everything is cleaned up, off, and locked up in the apartment. She gets ready for bed and then entwines herself with Piper. Loving the feeling of holding her girlfriend protectively.