Author's note: It's been quite a while again... But I did promise that I wouldn't abandon this story or vauseman, so I'm trying to keep that promise. Unfortunately, life has a bad habit of coming in the way, so...

This is the last chapter and I apologize that this story ends a bit suddenly but when I was thinking about what would happen next, I literally didn't have any ideas. None. I thought it would be best to move on working to my next story rather than trying to force a few more chapters to this story. Hopefully you'll enjoy!

Piper sat in Alex's kitchen sipping coffee and skimming through the Believer magazine that had come today. Alex was supposed to have a day off, but there was some kind of emergency and Amanda had asked Alex to come to work.

So, that's why Piper was sitting alone in Alex's apartment, hoping that whatever the emergency was, it wouldn't take too long.

Piper still felt weird that hundreds of thousands of people were going to see the photos she had taken in the magazine. She stopped when she came to the page where the tattoo article was and traced her fingers over the picture of Alex. It was a beautiful photo and Piper was so glad that Alex had given her consent.

She didn't have time to admire the photo as long as she'd had liked because she heard the doorbell ring. Bemusedly Piper got up and went to open the door, wondering if Alex was back already. It didn't seem likely since Alex would have used her keys.

Piper opened the door cautiously but relaxed as she saw Alex's mother staring at her surprised. The photographer suddenly started to panic, was this how she was finally going to properly meet Diane? She wasn't prepared at all.

"Piper, hi", Diane greeted with a smile, even though she still seemed a bit surprised.

"Mrs. Vause, hi", Piper responded awkwardly but Diane just chuckled warmheartedly.

"Please, call me Diane. Mrs. Vause makes me sound old."

"Sorry", Piper apologized blushing slightly.

The older woman looked at Piper for a while expectantly before smirked and Piper immediately noticed how much she looked like Alex when she did that. "Are you going to invite me in?"

"Right! Sorry, come on in. Alex isn't home though", Piper said as she stepped aside, so Diane could get into the apartment. She closed the door after her and turned around to see Diane furrowing.

"I thought she said she had a day off today?"

"She did, but there was some kind of emergency and she needed to go to work. She left about half an hour ago."

"Oh... Well, if you don't mind, we could take advantage of the situation and chat a bit. I've been hoping to meet you properly."

"I'd like that. I've been looking forward to meeting you as well", Piper smiled, relieved that Diane didn't seem to consider it strange that Piper was in Alex's apartment while she wasn't there. "Do you want some coffee?"

"Yes, please", Diane nodded as she walked after Piper into the kitchen, but before Piper could do anything, the older woman had stridden past her and started to make her own coffee. The photographer wasn't even that surprised, assuming that Diane wasn't one to sit around uselessly. She obviously knew her way around Alex's apartment and kitchen well.

Piper just sat down at the table and sipped her slightly cooled down coffee as she waited for Diane to come to sit down as well

When Diane sat down opposite of Piper, her eyes caught a sight of the magazine that was still splayed open. She pointed at the photo of Alex. "That was the reason I actually came here. Since when has my daughter started to model for photos?"

Piper shook her head as a smile tugged at her lips. "Since never. I took this picture on one morning when she was still asleep and later when Alex sent me this tattoo article, I thought immediately that this picture was perfect. I had to do a bit cropping and editing before Alex accepted it though."

"I bet. Alex has never been a fan of sharing parts of herself. I'm honestly surprised that she gave her consent at all", Diane said before rested her chin on her palm and grinned at Piper. "But it is a pretty picture. Although I'm trying very hard not to imagine what you two were doing the night before that led to Alex falling asleep without a shirt."

Piper's eyes widened in horror and her cheeks turned crimson red, but before she had time to say anything Diane laughed. "Relax Piper. You're two adults in a relationship, it's normal to have sex."

Even though Piper knew Diane was right, it didn't make her feel any less uncomfortable since sex wasn't a topic they discussed openly in her family.

Luckily Diane seemed to pick that up quickly and changed the subject. "So, how is it working at the Believer?"

"It has been really great", the blonde smiled, glad of the change of topic. "Everyone is so nice... well not everyone", Piper corrected as she remembered Sylvia's existence. Luckily, she hadn't seen her a lot around.

Diane gave her a knowing grin. "Yeah. Unfortunately, quite a high percentage of the population are idiots."

Piper snickered. "True. But anyway, I couldn't have asked a better place to work at."

"Most of the things Alex has told me has been positive as well. It almost makes me jealous", the older woman chuckled.

"Where do you work then?" Piper asked curiously.

"I work as a financial advisor. So, lots of dealing with idiots."

The two of them absorbed themselves into a conversation about managing money and other random things as they waited for Alex to come back.

Alex opened her apartment door feeling a bit conflicted. She kind of wanted to spend the rest of the day with Piper and forget what Amanda had asked her, but on the other hand, she also wanted to talk Piper about it and ask her opinion. She should also call her mom at some point, it always made things clearer when she talked to Diane.

The editor furrowed her eyebrows as she heard lively chatter from the kitchen and made her way toward the voices.

"Hey", Alex greeted bemusedly as she looked between her mother and Piper who were drinking coffee and talking like they had known each other for years.

"Alex, hi!" Piper responded smiling widely. "Your mom came to visit."

"I can see that", Alex nodded amusedly as she turned her gaze to look at her mom questioningly. "Any particular reason?"

"I came to interrogate you about the photo of you in the magazine, but I already got my answers". Diane grinned. "How was it at work?"

Alex went to pour herself a cup of coffee before joined them at the table. "We're short of writers at the moment..."

Diane offered her an understanding smile as Piper looked at her confusedly. "But what can you do about it?"

"Ahh, yes... As you probably know, before I became the managing editor, I was working as an editor which gave me more time to... write."

The photographer stared at her with her mouth hanging open. "You wrote stuff for the magazine?"

"I did", Alex nodded as she fidgeted with her glasses. "Although I never wanted anyone to find out, so I wrote under a false name. But Amanda knew about it and now she asked me to write a couple of articles."

"Well, was it something you enjoyed doing?"

"Yeah, I guess... It's just that I wasn't a great writer. Not in the sense that my writing was bad, but in a sense that my writing was terribly irregular. Sometimes it took me weeks to write one article just because I didn't have any inspiration."

"Oh... Did you tell that to Amanda?"

"I did. But she just said that she has faith in me", the editor replied as she rolled her eyes.

"You can say no, hun", Diane reassured.

"I know. I just... I kind of want to do it but I'm afraid that I don't have any inspiration and then we don't have enough stuff for the magazine", Alex sighed.

"But don't you have like tons of freelancers who send you articles all the time? You could pick a couple from those just in case you don't have inspiration", Piper suggested.

"I guess that could work..."

"The decision is yours, but since you really like writing, I'd suggest that you should at least try it", Diane smiled gently at her daughter.

"Maybe I should", the editor agreed nodding.

"Just please don't turn into Larry and write out of necessity. Find a subject that inspires you", the youngest woman reminded.

Alex made a face. "I'm offended that you have the nerve to even compare my writing to his writing. But you're right, the text will be so much better if I'll write about something I find inspiring."

"How does that even work? Are you allowed to write about anything you want?" Piper asked curiously.

"Yeah. One of the perks of being the managing editor", Alex couldn't help but smirk.

Piper was once again reminded how much power Alex had at the magazine and barely restrained herself commenting 'that's hot' out loud since Diane was still there.

"But enough about me, what have you two been up to?"

"We've been just chatting and getting to know each other a bit better", Diane grinned, and Alex could tell by the glint in her eyes that she really liked Piper.

Alex smiled at her mom. Diane was a great judge of character and Alex valued her opinions, so it meant a lot to her that Diane liked Piper. Even though she had suspected that the two of them would get along just fine. "Please don't tell me that you bored Piper with all those money management tips you have."

"Okay, I won't tell you that."

Alex rolled her at the same time Piper chuckled. "It wasn't boring at all. Quite interesting actually."

"Finally someone who appreciates my knowledge!" Diane exclaimed happily.

"You're going to regret saying that, Piper", Alex shook her head in mock disappointment.

Later that night Alex and Piper were lying in Alex's bed and talked some more about Diane's visit and Alex's new task.

"What things do you like to photograph?" Alex asked suddenly, hoping to get some ideas.

"Uhh... everything?" Piper chuckled. "But seriously though, I really like photographing people, not like models, but normal people doing completely normal things. And nature! I love trying to capture the beauty of our surroundings."

Alex hummed thoughtfully. "I do think that the rate at which people are destroying nature is alarming... Maybe I could write about that."

"That's a great idea. Too many people are still ignoring the topic like it's nothing."

"Agreed", the older woman nodded before she remembered something. "We never got to talk about that psychologist Leo interviewed. Did you learn anything interesting?"

Piper chuckled as she remembered last night. "And whose fault it was that? You dragged me into your bedroom as soon as I stepped into the apartment."

"Not my fault you are so irresistible!"

The photographer chuckled again as she shook her head. "You're impossible. But the psychologist..." Piper trailed off and blushed slightly. "He told us interesting theorie abouts why we dream about what we do."

"Oh?" Alex inquired, urging Piper on as she curiously took in Piper's increasing embarrassment.

"Yeah."

The older woman raised her eyebrow. "Have you seen any interesting dreams that you got an explanation for?"

"Uhh...Haven't we all seen some weird dreams?" Piper grinned but she was still blushing.

"Indeed. Although I'm interested in your dreams if they cause a reaction like this."

"Well..." Piper started as she contemplated if she should tell about the dream or not. "I did see a dream about you once."

"A sex dream?" Alex asked smirking. "I'm flattered. What happened in this dream?"

"It wasn't really a sex dream. We were mostly talking, I woke up when you started to... go down on me", the younger woman explained as she avoided Alex's gaze.

"Fascinating. I can't say I've had as interesting dreams as you, but I guess it's fair to reveal that I daydreamed a lot about you."

Piper slapped Alex's shoulder lightly. "You have a libido of a teenage boy."

The older woman just grinned at her. "Not my fault that the world is full of beautiful women!"

The ringing of Piper's phone interrupted their conversation and the photographer furrowed her brows as she saw the caller. "It's my mom", she informed Alex before got up from the bed.

"Hello?" Piper answered the phone after she had exited Alex's bedroom.

"Piper!" Carol greeted. "I wasn't sure if you were going to pick up."

"Why wouldn't I pick up? You called me."

"Yes, yes, but... We didn't handle this situation very well, so I wouldn't have blamed you if you didn't want to pick up."

Piper sighed as she sat down on Alex's couch. "Mom, this situation is who I am. I'm not going to change just to please you."

"We know, we know!" Carol rushed to reassure. "As I said, we should have handled this better and we are sorry that it came across like we didn't accept you. Would it be okay if we come to visit next weekend? And I'm sorry it took this long."

"It's okay, mom. I know it was quite unexpected."

"No, Piper, it was not okay how we reacted. But we'll talk later, okay?"

"Okay."

"Remember that we love you, no matter what", her mother said softly. "Bye."

"I love you guys too, bye."

Piper sat on the couch for a couple of minutes, trying to process what her mother had said before made her way back to Alex's bedroom smiling widely.

"Hey, you", Alex said as she glanced up from a book she had started reading before putting it on her nightstand. "Judging from your giant smile I suspect it was a good call?"

Piper plopped down next to Alex and wrapped her arms around her. "Yeah, it was. She asked if they could come to visit next weekend and apologized for how they behaved. It seems like they're accepting the whole liking women thing."

"That's great. I'm happy they came to their senses", the editor smiled and kissed Piper's cheek softly.

"Yeah, me too."

"Oh, and that gave me an idea. I could always write about coming out and what it means that your parents and other close people accept you. Maybe that'll help some parents to be a bit more open-minded."

"That's an excellent idea", Piper smiled softly at the older woman and wondered if it was too early to be already falling in love.

"Mom!"

"What? I simply want to know what kind of dress I should buy."

"We've only been together for a few weeks. I hardly think it's the time to plan what kind of dress you should wear to our wedding", Piper rolled her eyes at her mother and threw a pleading look to her father who was trying to hide his amused smirk behind a coffee cup.

"Don't you lesbians move like very fast in relationships? Or did I understand something wrong?" Carol asked genuinely confused.

"Have you been reading some stereotypical lesbian traits from the internet?" Piper asked her mother, not knowing if she should be glad about her acceptance or disturbed by the idea that her mother was googling about lesbians.

"I was just trying to get more information!" Carol defended herself.

"Oh my god, please don't", the photographer groaned as she buried her face in her hands.

Carol was about to say something more but luckily for Piper, the doorbell rang. "Thank god, finally!" the blonde said as she leapt out of the chair and went to open the door.

"Hi", Alex greeted smiling when the door opened.

Piper pecked quickly Alex's lips. "Hi yourself. You're just in time to hear mom planning our wedding."

The raven-haired woman raised a curious eyebrow before smirked. "Already? Damnit, I told her I needed a couple of days to plan a perfect proposal."

The photographer shook her head at her girlfriend in faux exasperation. "Alright jokester, let's go before my mom has time to call a wedding planner."

Alex nodded and Piper took her hand before leading her further into the apartment.

"So... mom, dad, this is Alex. Alex, these are my parents", Piper introduced them, and both of her parents stood up to greet their daughter's girlfriend.

They all had dinner together which went better than Piper had expected. Her father was a bit uncertain about how he should act; he wanted to threaten Alex that she better not break his baby's heart but he also considered threatening a woman rude. (He ended up giving Alex half threats and passive-aggressively telling her what was the proper way to treat Piper.)

Carol in turn was always looking for a way to snake in questions about future, marriage and children into the conversation which led Piper hiding her face away in embarrassment more often than not.

Alex knew not to take them too seriously and was more than a bit amused by Piper's embarrassment, so the dinner in its totality was all right.

A few months later

"Come on!" Piper smiled widely as she tugged Alex from her hand toward her bedroom.

"Is all this secrecy really necessary?" Alex asked as she blindly motioned around with her free hand.

Piper had practically pushed her out of her own apartment this morning when Alex had told her that she was going to have a brunch with Nicky and her mother. When the older woman had come back a couple of hours later, she was greeted by Piper who had a slightly nervous smile and was holding a blindfold.

That's why Alex was now following Piper blindly to what she assumed was her bedroom. "If you wanted to bring blindfold into the play, you should have just said so", Alex teased lightly, even though she suspected this had nothing to do with sex.

"Oh my god, Alex", the younger woman groaned. "Just shut up for a second, would you?"

The editor was about to open her mouth to deliver no doubt a sassy comeback but decided against it when they passed the threshold to the bedroom and she smelled the scent of vanilla and... roses?

"Alright, stay put", Piper instructed, and Alex felt her move further away.

Soon the room was filled with the sound of soft jazz and Alex became more and more confused. "Okay, what is all this?"

She felt Piper move again in front of her before the blindfold was gently lifted.

Alex looked around in fascination. The room was illuminated by a dozen or so candles where she suspected the vanilla scent came from. Then Alex noticed the bed where Piper had changed white sheets and put rose petals in the shape of a heart. Piper had also brought a small speaker on top of the dresser where the music was coming from.

Alex turned to the younger woman smiling. "Is the valentine's day nowadays in November or what's the occasion?"

Piper took the other woman's hands in her own. "The occasion is that I wanted to do something nice for you. I know you're still sometimes struggling with the whole trust thing-"

"And I hope you know that it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with my ex", Alex interrupted.

"I know that! But I still wanted to do this because... I love you. And I wanted you to know that. And because you deserve it. You deserve everything."

"Really?" Alex asked as a wide smile spread slowly on her lips. This was the first time either of them had confessed their feelings aloud. She would later be embarrassed that she became a little teary-eyed but neither of them cared at this moment.

"Yes."

The editor lifted Piper's hands on her mouth and kissed them softly. "I love you too. And I truly appreciate all this. It's perfect."

Piper felt like she was finally able to fully relax because she had been wondering if the rose petals were a bit much. "I'm glad you like it", she beamed.

Alex dropped Piper's hands and instead took a hold of her waist and pulled her closer, so their lips were only a couple of inches apart. "Thank you."

Piper closed the gap between them and softly kissed the older woman. Soon their bodies were flushed together and the blonde's fingers were tangled in Alex's hair.

After a few minutes, Alex disconnected their lips. "Is the bed off limits or are we allowed to mess up that pretty heart?"

The blonde answered by walking backward toward the bed and pulling Alex with her.

It was perfect.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this story, reviews and comments are greatly appreciated. :)

I've been trying to improve my science vocabulary since in the future most of my study material will be in English, so I was thinking my next work could have something to do with science (probably biochemistry and biotechnology). I try not to make it too complicated or detailed so don't worry :D (Also I'm currently in love with swanqueen from Once upon a time, so I was thinking about publishing the same story with those two lovely ladies to )

Hopefully I'll be able to start publishing it soon!

- Iina