A/N Hi everyone! Gosh, I haven't published since last year! (It's a bad pun, I know, sorry, I can't help it) Anyways, here is chapter 4, things are starting to heat up. I hope you enjoy! A song I recommend for this chapter is Four Seasons In One Day by Crowded House -boundless

Chapter 4

Piper came in with a sandwich for Alex and the brunette wiped her tears away.

She couldn't help but think how much Diane would've liked Piper.

Piper's POV

The next day, Piper went into the guest room to wake Alex up so that she could have some food and help her get into fresh clothes. As she walked in she saw Alex asleep on her back, her chest rose softly as she breathed lightly while she slept. Piper could now really take in all of the woman's features. The blonde hadn't noticed it before but Alex was very attractive. Her dark hair was ruffled from sleep and her lips were slightly parted, her face had softened in sleep and Piper hoped that she had better dreams that night. The blonde was hesitant to wake her up as she looked so peaceful and needed to rest.

It was as if Alex knew that Piper was staring at her because she started to stir under Piper's gaze. The blonde walked over to the edge of the bed and put her hand up to Alex's head to check for a temperature. Alex opened her eyes and Piper looked down to meet her line of vision. "Good morning."

Alex grunted and tried to sit up.

"Let me help you" Piper put her hand on Alex's back and helped her to sit up straight.

"Thanks."

Piper just smiled at her and brought the fresh change of clothes onto the bed. "You can borrow some of my clothes until we find your car and get the rest of your things." Piper said as she recalled Alex's 'story'. Piper unfolded the shirt and gestured Alex to help her take off the spare nightgown she had given her. Alex lifted her arms up and Piper went to pull off the clothing, "I'm fine, Piper. I can get changed by myself."

Piper looked at Alex and thought about protesting but didn't want to upset her, so she just nodded and left the room until Alex told her she could come back in again.

Piper helped Alex down the stairs and into the dining room/kitchen area. Alex sat down on one of the chairs and Piper put a plate of toast and a glass of juice that she had already prepared down in front of her.

As Alex ate, Piper went to get the medicine and bandages that the doctor had given to her yesterday so that she could clean the stitches. She walked back to meet Alex at the table. She gave Alex the medicine to have while she cleaned the stitches.

Piper rolled up the shirt she had given Alex and removed the bandages on her side, cleaned the stitches, and replaced the bandage with a clean one. Piper then rolled up Alex's right pants leg and made sure that the graze wasn't infected before putting some disinfectant cream on it. Alex cringed from the pain of the disinfectant working but Piper was gentle and let Alex hold her hand.

Once she was finished, Piper sat next to Alex and decided she should try an get some more clear answers out of her.

"Alex, I know that you been through a lot in the past 48 hours, but you need to tell me what really happened."

Alex looked at Piper as if deciding whether or not she should tell her the truth, Piper wished she would.

"I crashed my car in the storm, it was so dark and I couldn't see anything except for a faint light ahead."

"But Alex, my candles had burned out hours before you arrived here. How long did you have to walk?"

Alex exhaled loudly and paused for a moment. Piper just waited for Alex to answer her.

"I walked for a few minutes but there was a ditch in the side of the road which I fell into. I tried to get out but I was in so much pain, I turned my phone on and the light showed that I was bleeding badly. I was thinking of calling someone to help me but then my phone died. By the time I started to walk again the lights I had seen were gone but I roughly knew the direction they were in. I couldn't walk very fast, hence me showing up at your door late."

Piper took a few seconds to process this information. She decided to believe that Alex was telling her the truth, but didn't know what she was doing in this part of Ithaca at all.

"Do you think you could give me directions to where you think you crashed?"

Alex nodded and Piper took her to her car so that they could locate the brunette's vehicle.

Alex's POV

Alex was looking out of the window trying to locate her car. After 10 minutes of driving, Alex pointed to the side of the road and Piper pulled over. Together (with Piper helping Alex) they walked to the wreck that was Alex's vehicle.

The front of the car was crushed so that it was flat against the driver's window, the back had been torn apart and the seat that Alex would have been in was a centimetre away from being impaled by a post sticking out from the ground.

Alex went to the side of the road and threw up, she had avoided death more times than she had thought in the last two days. She felt a hand on her back between her shoulder blades, it was slowly rubbing her back in circles. It comforted her and as she turned around she saw Piper looking at her with heavy eyes, it was as if she was trying to say sorry for what Alex had been through, Alex even thought for a moment that the blonde was going to hug her.

After a moment of silence, Alex stood up and limped her way to the back of the wreck. Her bag was laying on the ground unscathed and she went to reach for it but Piper had beat her to it. Piper picked up the bag and put it in the back of her car. "I'll go and phone a towing service, see if you can find anything else before they come to take the car away.". If you need help reaching something just tell me.

Alex nodded and shuffled to the glove box. She found her emergency money, a few pictures from her friends, and then bid her farewell to the car.

xxx

Alex walked back home after the funeral to her mum's house, she felt too bad to drive and she just wanted to say goodbye to her mother by herself. She trodded up the driveway to be met with her mother's old, grey Nissan 1996 Sentra. Even after Alex had bought Diane a new house, enough money so she wouldn't have to work, and other luxuries that the middle class could not afford, her mother had been insistent on keeping the car. It was the car that Alex had learnt how to drive in and the one that would always take Diane to wherever Alex was staying in New York.

Alex remembers Diane picking her up in the car after school and taking her to the diner she worked part-time at so that Alex and she could talk about their days. Alex used to be embarrassed by her mother's car, but now she would give anything to see her driving in it to meet Alex, one last time.

Alex sat down in the vehicle and breathed in the air, it still smelt like her mum. Alex knew that if she were to drive the car now, it would feel like her mother would be sitting in the passenger seat right beside her, smiling at her only daughter.

xxx

Brushing the tears from her face with her sleeve, Alex turned around and made her way to Piper's car. Alex saw Piper walk over to her to help her and as soon as she supported Alex by putting her arm around her back, Alex realised just how strained she was. Alex let the blonde lead her to the car and sat down, all she wanted to do was fall asleep.

At the house, Piper and Alex were having lunch when Piper's phone started to ring. She excused herself and then walked into the lounge to take the call. Alex didn't mean to eavesdrop on the conversation but she had nothing else to do and Piper was only in the next room.

"No, Polly, I don't want to talk about it"

Alex didn't know who Polly was but it sounded like she was in the doghouse.

"I just can't understand why you would do this to me... how dare you say that! It wasn't my fault and if I had known that my relationship was 'doomed' I would have tried to fix it... stop being such a bitch and don't call me again!"

Alex started to feel guilty listening to this obviously private conversation.

"You know what Polly, sometimes I wish that too!".

Alex heard Piper's voice crack and then the phone call ended. Piper came back into the dining room, Alex just looked at her as if she hadn't heard a thing. Piper looked as if she was about to cry and seemed as if she was about to say something to Alex but instead apologised and told her she was going to the bathroom. Alex saw Piper rush upstairs and heard her bedroom and bathroom door shut behind her.

Alex wasn't quite so sure about what had just happened but she wanted to help Piper so she slowly took the plates to the sink and turned the tap on the wash them.

After about ten minutes, Alex felt Piper's presence in the kitchen.

"Thank you Alex, but I could have done them later"

"No it's fine, you've done heaps for me and you probably needed to cool off after that heated conversation with Polly"

Piper looked embarrassed and Alex noticed that she had put on a sweater whilst she was upstairs.

"I'm assuming you heard my talk with her then?"

It was Alex's turn to feel flustered "I didn't mean to eavesdrop... I mean it...it was quite loud and...and I was just sitting down and-"

"Alex, it's fine. I could tell you didn't mean to."

An awkward silence fell between the two, Piper took the towel from Alex's hand and began to dry the plates.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Piper shrugged "Maybe when I know you more. We do have two weeks together after all."

Alex chuckled "Yeah kid, I guess we do".

The silence left was more comfortable now, and both women looked at each other like they had the other night, both curious about the other. Alex wished she knew what was going on with the blonde. This moment was interrupted by a text sound from Piper's phone, Alex saw her look down. Piper looked at her with an apologetic look in her eyes and went upstairs, Alex heard the bedroom and bathroom door shut again.

Alex thought something was off about Piper having to go to the bathroom so soon after she had last gone, but she just assumed that Piper must have a weak bladder.

After Piper came back down she helped Alex to the room she was staying in and said she was going out for a run but would be back in an hour. So Alex was alone, laying down on the bed, left to her own devices.

After seven minutes or so, Alex realised she needed to go to the bathroom.

The brunette hoisted herself out of bed and limped to the door, leaning against the walls for support. As she got out of her room she saw Piper's door opposite and went to lean against the door so she could start her way down the stairs. As she placed her hand on the doorknob and put her weight on it, the door opened and Alex fell into Piper's bedroom. She picked herself up and looked around the room. The only photographs in the room were in turned down picture frames so that you could not see them. Piper's bed was messily made and she had unfinished books littering the room, the room smelled like blossoms and there was a half-open laptop laying on Piper's bed.

Alex knew that after she fell she would not be able to go to the downstairs bathroom and back, so she made her way to Piper's lead-on bathroom, she was sure the blonde wouldn't mind and would be done before she got back.

Once Alex had finished using the toilet she went to wash her hands. She looked in the mirror at her reflection and saw a shell of the once powerful woman she used to be, deciding not to travel down that dark path in her thoughts, she turned off the tap and looked for a towel to dry her hands on. The only one she could find was on the lowest level of the shelf next to the basin, an odd place for a towel. She looked down at the towel and saw that there were some dark red stains on the edge of it. Alex dried her hands on the clean side of the towel, confused as to what the stains could be from.

As Alex went to put the towel back, something caught her eye. She looked down at the shelf to the place where she found the towel and saw the objects that were hidden by it.

They were razors, one with fresh blood.

A/N Oooh, what's going to happen next? we'll just have to wait and see ;) Just letting you know that my next few uploads might be a little late because I am going away for a week and school starts in three weeks, I am trying to keep on top of the chapters though! Anyways, please leave a review and thank you so much for reading, I really do appreciate it. Thanks for everything and I'll see you sometime in the next two weeks, hopefully :) -boundless