They didn't exactly knock on Bill Chapman's door. They parked the stolen car outside the backyard. Piper suggested that they should go in through the backdoor which she knew the passcodes for. Alex agreed.
The sun was already up in the sky and Piper was starting to look a bit exhausted. Alex hung back keeping a lookout. She fumbled with the security lock, getting the passcode wrong the first time.
"Fuck!" She muttered under her breath.
"Pipes, is everything okay?" Alex asked, concerned at her girlfriend's agitating behaviour.
"Yeah, I-" Piper hesitated. "I just typed it wrong." She put in the passcode again, getting it right this time around but stopped short when the door opened.
Alex sensed something was wrong. She put her good hand on her shoulder, making her turn around.
"Pipes, what is it?"
"I-I… Mom and Dad… they know that I am, you know, gay but…I never really like came out to them so…"
"You don't want to know about us?"
"No. No. No. No." Piper shook her head. "I'm just a little bit scared. Carol can be very uptight about it all. Dad is cool, I think… And after all the secrets and lies, I want to do this like real people do. I want them to know that you are the love of my life. You deserve that." Piper looked down at her hands.
"Hey…" Alex put a finger under her chin. "We will figure it out together. Take as much time as you need, I don't mind. But if they love you, they will accept you no matter what."
"Yeah, I know." Piper cleared her throat. "Let's just go in."
They opened the door into a dimly lit hallway. Her parents should be asleep this early in the morning. She rounded the corner into the kitchen. Alex following her steps.
As she turned, she was taken aback, seeing her father standing still with a frying pan in his hand dressed in a nightshirt and white robe.
"Daddy?" Piper asked, bewildered.
"Jesus Christ! Piper?" He put the pan and placed a hand over his heart.
"What were you doing?"
"I thought I heard someone coming in. With everything that's been going on lately, I thought I might as well be prepared."
"So you were gonna attack - with a frying pan?" Piper asked teasingly.
"Oh, don't. You nearly gave me a heart attack there." His attention shifted to Alex awkwardly standing behind her. "What the - Piper why is she with you?"
"Look, I can explain it all later. But now, I need your help. Can you take a look at her shoulder?"
Bill seemed confused. He was not sure about what he was supposed to do. So, he put on his profession as a deciding factor. He was a doctor and he should provide medical assistance to whoever needed it most. He weighed that in and the decision was easier.
"Okay." He said after a while.
"Honey? Is everything okay?" Carol called from upstairs. Bill's eyes went wide. They heard faint footsteps coming closer.
"She will freak out if she sees her. Take her to my office. Quick. I'll handle your mom." He said shooing them away.
Piper led her to her father's office. A comfy study room where she had spent most of her childhood watching her father work. She pulled out a chair for Alex and listened for the conversation outside.
"Hey, honey. Everything is okay. I was uh- just," Bill tried to cover.
"Someone was here." Carol said suddenly.
"What? Nah." Bill tried to wash her off.
"Look footprints-" Carol said.
Piper sighed. She had to go back to her mother. She knew that Carol wouldn't stop until proven right.
"I'll go out and send dad in, okay?" She said to Alex.
Alex nodded. She closed the door behind her and walked to the kitchen dusting herself a bit to look more presentable. She combed her fingers through her disheveled hair and zipped up her jacket to hide the blood stains.
"Hey, mom," she said entering the kitchen casually. Her mother turned around with a surprised look which soon turned into disgust.
"Jesus, you look awful." She said scrunching her nose.
"Wow, thank you. Good to see you too." Piper said sarcastically. She didn't blame her mother for thinking that. She looked and felt disgusted too. "Dad, someone's calling you at the office phone. I think it's something urgent."
Bill looked confused again, not catching up on the excuse. Piper raised an eyebrow.
"Oh! Yes, yes, I - I was on a conference call from uh Singapore. Very important case it is. I'll go." He said
"When was the last time you took a shower?" Carol pulled out a coffee mug asking Piper.
"Actually, I haven't in a while." Piper said turning away from her mother towards her own bedroom.
"Wait, Piper," Her mother stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "I am glad you are okay."
Piper furrowed her brows at the sudden show of concern. She nodded in acknowledgment and walked away.
—
To say it was awkward would be an understatement. Alex was chewing her bottom lip and tapping her legs to shake out the anxiety. She tried to look away but pictures of Piper and her father were practically everywhere she laid her eyes on. Rest were different awards her father had received throughout his career.
There was a picture of Piper showing a toothy smile with her two brothers at a beach. Some with her grandmother. Her graduation picture where she looked like she was fed up with life. Alex laughed a little. Bill who was sterilising some of his equipment on the table turned to her.
He cleaned and stitched up the wound with practiced precision. He stayed silent. Not even a word out of his mouth. Alex was determined to keep a straight face even though she wanted to curse out the pain. She did not know how to start a conversation. She wasn't good at small talk anyway. She just prayed that Piper will come back soon so they could just move to someplace else.
At last, he patched up the wound letting out a satisfied sigh. He packed away his equipment in the small surgical kit. He discarded his gloves in a packet and went out of the room.
Alex exhaled in relief. She sat back on the chair and closed her eyes. Where the hell is Piper? She was exhausted and all she wanted to do was sleep in a real bed. She was about to stand up when Bill came in again.
"Sit." He said to her. She did. He pulled out a chair from in front of the desk and put it right in front of her.
She tried to keep her face neutral. But she was scared shitless. She grabbed the handle of her chair tightly. This was worse than the meetings with Kubra.
He didn't say anything for the first few minutes. He folded his arms in front of him. She adjusted her glasses and chose a random point to focus on behind him.
"Are you my daughter's girlfriend?" He asked out of the blue.
"Excuse me?" Alex sputtered out.
"Are you in a relationship with my daughter? Yes or no?"
"Yes." She shifted in her seat awkwardly having some vague idea where this was going. Is this what they call a shovel talk?
"Do you love her?"
"Yes." Alex answered without missing a beat.
He sighed, "The allegations they have made on you, are they right about you?"
"No." Alex answered immediately. "I didn't do it. Not the hospital or the assassination. I wasn't involved in it. It was all a lie and a huge cover up. You could ask Piper if you want."
He nodded. "So, you are innocent?"
Alex answered in affirmation.
"Then tell me, Alex, what is it that you do exactly, for a living I mean?"
"I-I-"
A loud gasp came from the door quickly followed by the sound of breaking glass. Both of them whipped around to see what had caused it.
Carol was standing at the door with one hand covering her mouth and one hanging in midair. Her silky white nightdress now had splotches of coffee that she had brought for Bill. She was terrified to say the least. Her eyes wide and heart racing.
Bill and Alex stood up immediately. Bill moved towards her trying to calm her down.
"Carol, let me-" He started.
"I am going to call the police." She said and turned around in the blink of an eye only to be stopped by Piper covering the door.
"No, Mom, you are not." Piper stepped in and closed the door behind her.
"Piper? You knew about this?"
"Yes. I brought her in. She is with me. And please let me explain-"
"You let a criminal into our house? I never agreed to your life choices but I never stopped you either and now you are bringing terrorists to our house! This is outrageous! I will not accept this."
"I don't expect you to. If you think she is a criminal and I should be one as well. Besides we were going to leave. It would be very gracious of you if you could just ignore what you saw, you are very good at ignorance anyway." Piper had her fist clenched white.
Carol looked like someone had kicked her. She blinked and shook her head.
"Bill, how are you supporting all this nonsense? Let's just call the police and get this over with-"
"You might as well put a gun to my head and shoot me!" Piper hissed at her mother.
Both Alex and Bill watched them like they were watching a tennis match. Heads moving one side to the other. Both Chapman women were equally furious. Piper stood taller than her mother looking down at her with utter contempt. Her mother took a threatening step towards the phone.
"I didn't raise you to be a criminal!" She yelled.
"You didn't raise me at all." Piper replied. "You sent me to a boarding school."
"Because you were so adamant on hanging out with that drug addict-"
Piper scoffed. "Eliza wasn't a drug addict. She just smoked some weed, that's all-"
"But it was the wrong crowd for you! You reeked of cigarettes and alcohol. I did what was right for you!"
Piper waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, for Christ's sake, why don't you just say that you did that because she was a girl!" She raised her voice.
Her mother looked baffled. Like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on her.
"No, it wasn't because of that-" she started.
"Oh, so you won't have a problem if I say that Alex is my girlfriend." Piper dared.
Carol's face paled. She stumbled on her feet. She looked from Piper to Bill to Alex. Realisation dawning upon her. She opened her mouth as if to say something but then closed it. Then she walked further into the room aiming for the phone. Piper stepped in between her and the phone.
"Don't." She said. "Don't call the police. You'll end up ruining not only us," she pointed to her and Alex, "but also Dad. He helped us knowing exactly what he was doing."
Carol let out a frustrated sigh. She looked around the room, a tight line forming at her lips. She gave one last disappointed glance at Piper and stormed out of the room muttering incoherent words under her breath.
They all were still standing when the door closed with a bang behind her mother. They were still processing it. Bill was in midst to deciding whether or not to go after Carol. Alex really just wanted to sit down. Piper however had other ideas. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for another emotional let down.
"Dad," she said facing her father, "I am gay."
Bill looked thoughtful for a second but he opened his arms wide.
"Hi Gay, I am dad." He said smiling softly and inviting her in for a hug.
Piper was confused for a second but then she burst out laughing. Alex joined in too, falling back on the sofa from laughing. Tears rolled down her eyes as she ran into her father's arms. She could feel the stress bubble they were in, bursting.
"That is the most awful dad joke ever." She said against his chest as he held her close to his chest firmly.
"But it got you laughing, didn't it?" He said rubbing gentle circles on her back.
"Thanks, dad." She said pulling away. "For everything."
He nodded and patted her shoulder. "I am proud of you. And I trust that you know what you're doing."
"You will know, dad. You'll know that Alex is not what they made her to be. And that's what we have been trying to prove so far."
"Piper, I do trust you. But I don't think it would be wise to stay here for long given how your mother feels about it."
"Yeah. I know." Piper said. "We were about to leave anyway. I parked my car in the backyard and it's too early in the morning for anyone to notice us."
"Then you might as well leave before the rest of the block wakes up and freaks out." He suggested.
Piper nodded and gestured forAlex to get up. She got up as Piper left to get her keys. She stayed behind to thank Bill as he accompanied her to the backdoor.
"Thank you, Mr. Chapman-"
"Bill," he interrupted.
"Thank you, Bill for letting us stay and for helping. And for Piper. She needed it, the acceptance. It means a lot to her that you still love her."
"I know," he said. "But that doesn't mean our conversation is over. You and I have a lot to talk about. Do you understand?" He said threateningly.
Alex felt her mouth go dry. She swallowed thickly.
"Yes, Sir I understand."
"Good."
"Bill, how's- uh - how's my mom? Diane?" She asked hesitantly.
He sighed and looked down before putting a hand on Alex's shoulder and said, "They have her on life support now. They had to do an emergency surgery but she hasn't woken up after that. But I can assure you that she is being given the best care there is, kid." He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.
"Yeah. Sure." She said wiping the single tear that had slipped from her eye. "Sure."
Piper walked down the hallway with keys dangling from her finger. She gave the keys to Alex. Alex went ahead giving them some privacy.
"Mom's brooding in the living room. Be careful handling her." She advised.
"Yeah, I'll be." Bill hugged her lightly. "You be careful out there too."
"Yeah. I always am." She said.
"You know your mother loves you. And she wasn't lying about that girl, I didn't like her either. She was trouble. And no, it wasn't because she was a girl. Sending you to boarding school was harsh. We should've cleared up why we did that." He apologised.
"Dad, it's okay-"
"No, it's not. We should have never let you feel like that. And now, with Alex, your mother is scared for you and that's just it. It's not about Alex being a girl. It's because she has a criminal record. But we still love you and we will always love you."
"Love you too, dad." Piper replied with a sad look on her face.
"Now, go take care of your girl. And be safe."
"Yeah, you too. Bye." She got into the car waving her hand and started the engine.
—
They rented a shady tailor from a guy with a tattooed forehead at a garage Alex suggested. She paid him in cash and he directed them to a scrapyard, no questions asked. The trailer he gave them was well hidden and hideous. It looked like a number of outlaws had resided in it. Piper scrunched her nose at what smelled like piss.
"We will take it." Alex told the guy. He nodded and left them.
"This might be the right time to invest in air fresheners." Piper suggested picking up empty beer bottles from hot refrigerator. "Jesus! Does that looks like blood?" She pointed at a red stain on the hole-y carpet.
Alex chuckled closing the door with bullet holes in it. "Why are you acting like a priss? We have been in messier places than this and you didn't utter a word-"
"Nope. No way." Piper closed the distance between them to grab a spare bucket. She put the garbage in it. "Did you see the bathroom, honey? Looks like someone died in it. We are so not gonna tip that Charles Manson wannabe."
Alex laughed, pausing to look at Piper who started to clean up the place with bare hands, scrunching her nose once in a while, muttering under her breath.
"This is so below our standards." She changed the sheets with less dirty ones presumably. "What if we found a dead body here? Do we leave it or do we get rid of it? Do we complain to the service provider?"
Alex smiled at how much she looked like the old Piper. Then she caught herself thinking that they are literally the same person. There's no old and new. Piper had always been what she has been, it's just that Alex is seeing it for the first time. It dawned upon her that Piper's truth comes with a plea for acceptance. And Alex hopes that she will try her best to be the person with whom Piper can be herself, with whom Piper can be whole.
Piper stopped in her tracks with hands on her hip. She gave her exasperated look saying,
"Al, not to break your heart but your staring is really starting to get unadorable. And to be honest, all the staring and smiling into the void is borderline creepy."
"Unadorable? Is that even a real word?" Alex walked you to end of the bed where Piper was standing. She pulled her closer with her good arm till they were standing face to face and all Alex could think was how delicious Piper looked.
"Yes, Ms. Vause, I'm pretty sure it is." Piper said with her head held high. She licked her bottom lip unconsciously. And Alex found it irresistible.
"Prove it." Alex whispered.
She stepped even closer, her hands cupping the base of Piper's neck. Piper's hand had already found its place in the small of her back. The blue in Piper's eyes rendered Alex speechless, so dark and in sync with Alex's own forest greens growing darker in shade. Then Piper gets this sort of mischievous look in her eyes.
Piper leaned in and kissed the top of her nose tenderly. She pushed her glasses that had slid down further on the bridge of her nose with her free hand. She stuck her tongue out when Alex chuckled at her utter childness. Then Alex captured her lips in her own and the feeling destroyed her in the sweetest way.
"So…so…unadorable…," Piper husked.
Alex leaned in even more, pressing their lips firmly, keeping it chaste but meaningful. They kissed with practiced fluidity as if the world doesn't exist outside these four walls. By the time they pulled away, Alex is reminded that she has to breath. But how could she when Piper looks so gorgeous in an over worn pair of jeans and this fluffy sweater.
Piper's blood was rushing to her cheeks and they were Alex's favourite shade of red. Alex was happy because she did that to her. She has Piper all smiling and blushing and flustered in her arm. And she couldn't deny the sweet rush she was feeling at her core, she was certain Piper felt it too. She moved again, willing to satiate that feeling but Alex pulled away.
"No," she said surprising Piper.
"What?"
"Not now, okay? We need the rest. And I don't want to take risk with this." She pointed to her shoulder.
"But-"
As much as Alex wanted to please her, she didn't want to do it in a half-assed way. There was a certain standard when it came to fucking Piper. And she wasn't going to bring the bar down with a broken shoulder and sore muscles. So she refused.
"We will have plenty of time but first we need to sleep." She convinced Piper.
"Okay." Piper said half-heartedly. "But can we at least get to cuddle?" She pouted.
Alex chuckled. "Sure, kid," she replied.
Piper happily jumped into the small bed they had been given. Alex laughed at her antics and laid down as well. There wasn't much space in the bed but they didn't need space anyway. Piper tucked herself tactfully on Alex's left side. But now that she knew the agent within Piper, she couldn't help but notice when Piper pushed a loaded gun under her pillow in the blink of an eye.
"Just a precaution." Piper murmured and closed her eyes after kissing Alex once more.
Sighing, Alex gave herself up to sleep as well, contented at the feeling of Piper's body on her side.
When she woke up after what seemed like hours, Piper wasn't by her side. It was already dark outside. By the scuffling coming from outside she could tell that Piper was probably moving around, cleaning stuff. She got up and opened the curtains that separated a little dining area from the bed.
Piper was indeed moving around. She was chopping vegetables and humming under her breath. Alex found it endearing.
"Your creepy tendencies are starting to worry me." Piper said, amused. She put the chopped vegetables into the pot she had on the stove.
Alex chuckled. "Do they teach you to cook at the CIA?" She said, marvelling her cutting skills.
"No, but they do teach a thousand and one ways to use a knife. That comes in handy, I guess." Piper replied.
"Do I want to know about the other thousand ways?"
Piper scoffed. "The people who have witnessed the other ways aren't alive to tell the story."
"Wow, Pipes, was that bragging that I just heard?"
"Shut up now." Piper smiled. "I made us some chicken soup. I figured you would be hungry. Could you get that bed table set?"
"Sure."
Alex felt weird at how domestic it all seemed. Like they were a normal couple having a vacation. In reality, they weren't. She suspected that Piper had already made contact with the agency since it explained her anxious behaviour.
She set the compact table on the bed and spread the covers enough to look comfortable. She told Piper that she would take a quick shower.
The hot water felt like heaven on her sore muscles. She exhaled in relief and took as much joy as one could get in that tiny shower. She came out wearing a clean pair of pajamas and t-shirt that Piper had arranged somehow. It felt good to be clean and she understood why Piper was so obsessed with bathrooms.
When she came out, Piper had already set up their dinner plates. A very healthy look bowl of soup and a box of pizza. Alex was starving to say the least. She toweled her hair quickly as Piper laughed at her grumbling stomach. She got under the covers as Piper turned on the laptop.
"Where the hell did you get a laptop?" She wondered.
"Went shopping while you were asleep. Figured we could use a fucking break." Piper stretched out her arms proving her point.
"Did you contact the agency?"
"Yes." Piper hesitated. "We have a meeting early in the morning. We um… agreed on this small cafe downtown. They'll be sending in a negotiator, unarmed presumably. But I would go in to scout out the place anyway. See if they have set any surprises for us."
Alex laid her head back on the headrest. Piper put her head on Alex's shoulder and intertwined their fingers.
"I wish we could have this a little longer." Piper said lowly. Alex picked up bowl of soup drinking some of it earnestly.
"Do you mean the crammed up shower and this tiny bed?" Alex joked even though she knew exactly what Piper meant. She liked this too. Their own little universe where Alex doesn't have to run out of the door at a moments notice for drug deals and Piper doesn't have to overthink about her secret.
Piper chuckled opening up Netflix and scrolling through the list of potential shows to watch. They ended up choosing Breaking Bad even though they had already watched it a thousand times. Perhaps they craved the familiarity it offered.
Halfway through season one, Piper ended up telling Alex all about her career at the agency. With the show on mute and Piper in Alex's arm, she told her everything she had never shared with anyone. And Alex listened to all of it as if it was water and she had been through the desert.
Piper told her (keeping the details out) about the missions she's been on, the countries she visited, the languages she could speak. Alex was in awe. She could tell that Piper was holding back a lot of gritty details but she didn't mind. She would take anything Piper shared. She had missed a huge part of Piper's life for so long but she couldn't wait to fall in love with this part of Piper.
They talked for hours into the night. Piper was ecstatic telling her stories she had heard. Her days in the army. And her mentor Miss Claudette. Piper was in the midst of telling her about this mission where she had to live in Moscow for over a year when Alex felt her dozing off on her shoulder. She never heard the end of that story.
Alex patted her head and slowly put away the plates and the computer to lay Piper back down on the bed. She smiled at Piper's sleeping form and kissed her behind her ear.
"I would miss this too, kid."
—
Piper had woken up before the sun. She was determined to make this meeting as smooth as possible. They had had enough trouble to last a lifetime. She left Alex in the trailer to scout the breakfast cafe they were meeting in.
The cafe wasn't very far from where they were staying. She walked there. She had known this place from earlier. It looked like cozy little place from the outside but she knew it wasn't. Some of New York's most important weapon dealings had happened here. She had come to know the owner while doing an undercover mission. But the mission had unexpectedly made the owner a personal informant for Piper. Those were only some of the reasons why Piper chose this place.
She went into some of the nearest buildings easily by fooling the security with an FBI badge. Everything seemed normal. New York was waking up slowly even though it never went to sleep. Piper checked and rechecked until she was confident that there wasn't any foul play. They must be desperate for Alex since there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Piper dreaded her return to the trailer because it meant that they would have to get out of their little universe. That she would certainly have to let go of Alex and she wasn't ready for that yet.
She had tried to make yesterday as comfortable as possible. She made sure that Alex was happy. Possibly because deep down she knew that there's no way Alex would be getting out of this without prison time. Even if they pardon the violence, they won't go easy on the drug crimes to make themselves look good at the end. And from Piper's experience they wouldn't agree on anything less than a decade. Plus, Piper had lost any leverage that she had. They were basically sitting ducks for the agency.
Then again she wanted to prolong their stay because she wanted to have some time to work on themselves. Even though everything looked good on the outside, she knew that Alex was holding herself back. Alex was cautious. The way she refused sex last night cemented Piper's doubts and insecurities. Alex wasn't ready yet. And she understood that. She understood that Alex needed time and assurance that Piper wasn't going to abandon her. And Piper was willing to prove that no matter how hard it gets.
When she entered the trailer, Alex was already up and about. She was making coffee.
"Hey," Alex said, her voice husky, just how Piper liked it.
"Hey, yourself," Piper took the offered cup of coffee.
"How's the site?" She asked taking a sip.
"Clear. They are staying true to the deal." Piper said sitting down on the spare chair.
"So, how are we going to face this? I mean, what exactly we are looking at?" Alex asked.
"There are a lot of things that we need from them but the truth is that we have lost most of our leverage."
"Yeah, but if they are still waiting on us there must be something they need from us, right?" Alex suggested. "We just have to figure out what."
Piper agreed. They could easily take them out. There had been cover ups like these in the past, some of them Piper had executed herself by taking out every witness of the activity. But since they were still alive, Piper hoped that Alex was right.
"Tell me," Alex added. "What do we need from them?"
"Well, there should be an official apology from the U.S. government for all the misconceptions. Then there's prison sentence for your drug crimes and then with what Nicky pulled off, we have to negotiate her sentence as well."
"Okay." Alex nodded. "What about you?"
Piper scoffed. "I really don't know what they will do with me."
"Such BS." Alex laughed. "You practically saved the whole country from that maniac single handedly. You should be getting awards and shit."
"That's not how my job works, Al. We often don't get anything in return. No recognition. No fame. It's just how it is." Piper shrugged. "I don't want anything either. I mean after all the trouble we have been through, I'll feel lucky to even get a desk job."
Alex nodded in understanding. She put their cups in the sink and gathered whatever stuff they had brought in, which wasn't much to start with.
—
A/N:
Thank you so much for the reviews!
I'll be posting the chapters as I write them. I have some ideas on how I'll end this. But let me know what you think. We have got hardly 3 to 4 chapters left. This has gone on longer than I had initially expected. But I am glad it did because it had been an amazing experience writing for you guys. I hope you had that too.
As always, thanks for reading.