Author's note: Sorry, I'm late again :/ I wrote this chapter and at some point I mentioned that Piper got her inheritance money only after she turned 18 and then I realized that I don't know if this law applies in the US, so ignore that part if it doesn't :D

Enjoy!

Piper paced around the apartment, sometimes stopping and staring out of the window or staring at some random object for a while before continued pacing again.

"What are you doing?" Polly asked finally as she looked up from the laptop to glance at Piper who was currently circling around in the living room.

Piper stopped to look at her. "What?"

"I've watched you walk around the apartment and then stopping and staring creepily at something nonstop now for half an hour. What are you doing?"

"Oh... I just- I try to think something for Alex. I just want to give her a nice day because she has been so great lately but..." Piper trailed off blushing. "I'd like to... spend a night somewhere just by ourselves."

Polly raised her eyebrows. "I'm sorry. I'm ruining your chances to get laid", she said half amusedly and half apologetically.

"It's not your fault... I could ask Diane... Or then I could just book a hotel for a night... Maybe I'll ask Diane first", Piper decided as she went to get her phone.

Polly grinned after her. "Do you know what I have noticed, Piper?"

"What?" Piper asked as she walked back into the living room with her phone.

"You become this soft, stumbling mess always when Alex is in question. I like to see you like that."

Piper blushed slightly. "Or you're just making things up."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night", Polly smirked before turned back at her laptop.

Piper just huffed before went to call Diane.

"Hello?"

"Diane, hey."

"Piper. How can I help you?"

"I was just wondering if..." Piper stopped for a while to think. She was literally going to ask Diane to get out of her own house? She obviously hadn't planned this through.

"Yes?"

"Nothing. Never mind. Bye."

"Wait! Just ask Piper. You obviously had something in mind, so go ahead."

"It's stupid. I shouldn't have called."

Polly snickered from the couch and Piper sent her a desperate look.

"I don't care, what is it?" Diane asked kind of amused and kind of worried.

"It's nothing, I promise", Piper tried before Polly hopped up from the couch and took the phone from her hand. "Hello, Diane. It's Polly. Piper wanted to have a nice date night with Alex and would need an empty house..."

"No, no, no!" Piper exclaimed as she tried to take her phone back.

Polly laughed and moved out of the reach. "And since I'm here, Piper can't use her own apartment. So, she decided to call you before realizing that she was basically trying to evict you from your own house. But she really wants an empty house, there wouldn't be a chance to get you out of the house somehow, would there?" she asked as she put Diane on the speaker so Piper would hear.

Diane laughed. "Now when you mentioned this... there is a friend of mine in Waterbury who I'd like to visit. We haven't seen for a while, I'm sure it would be fun to stay over for a night."

Piper finally managed to steal back her phone after chasing Polly for a while and took Diane off the speaker. "No need. I don't need an empty house. You don't need to go anywhere."

"Nonsense. Now when I think about it, I really want to see my friend."

"You really don't have to-"

"Great. That's settled. When do you want to organize this date night?"

Piper groaned. "I don't care."

"Nicky leaves tomorrow and Alex has to work the day after that. But what about after that, on Sunday?"

"Yeah, yeah. That works fine."

"Awesome. It was great to talk with you", Diane said and Piper could hear the smirk in her voice.

"Sure, sure. Bye", Piper responded with an eye roll.

"Bye."

When Piper ended the call, she immediately grabbed a pillow and threw it at still grinning Polly. "You idiot!"

"Hey! I got you an empty house!"

That was true but Diane knew exactly why she needed the empty house and there was only so much embarrassment Piper could handle.

It was Friday and Nicky and Lorna were leaving today. Piper wanted to see them again before they left, so that's how she found herself once again standing in front Alex and Diane's house.

She rang the doorbell and briefly wished that Diane wouldn't be home. No such luck, Piper found out as Diane opened the door.

"Hey. I just came to see Nicky and Lorna before they leave. They haven't left yet, have they?" Piper said quickly, hoping to distract Diane from whatever comment she was about to make.

No such luck this time either.

"Piper", Diane greeted with a smirk. "I was just wondering if you dared to show up anymore."

Piper tried to keep the blush down but failed. "I do not need an empty house! It is nice that we have it now but it wasn't necessary", Piper said with furrowed eyebrows.

"Of course", Diane grinned before broke into a soft smile. "I'm sure that Alex appreciates the effort you're putting on that relationship."

That didn't help Piper's blush at all, so she just slipped past Diane into the house. "Yeah, yeah."

"They are upstairs. Probably in Alex's room", Diane called after her.

Piper walked the stairs up and knocked on Alex's door, not wanting to just barge in. She opened the door as she heard Alex's soft "Yeah?"

"Piper", Alex said smiling. "You don't have to knock."

Piper shrugged as she took in Nicky and Lorna sitting on Alex's bed and Alex sitting on her desk chair. "It would have been weird just to barge in."

"The only thing that is weird is that you didn't barge into your girlfriend's room", Nicky chuckled from her place. "I knew you couldn't resist seeing my beautiful face one more time."

Piper turned to entirely look at her with a smirk. "More like I couldn't resist to insult you one more time."

"Does your friendship base on sarcasm and insults alone?" Lorna asked amusedly but there was a hint of curiosity in her voice.

"You forgot the drugs and mutual mental disorder", Nicky stated.

"You don't have a mental disorder", Alex and Lorna rushed to say, immediately defending them.

Piper just sent Nicky a knowing grin before settled down in the armchair Alex had in her room.

"We are also pretty good at sharing therapy level advice with each other", Piper informed.

Nicky nodded seriously. "That is true."

Alex and Lorna just looked between the two of them amusedly.

They spent the rest of the time talking and arguing over if books or movies were better. Difficult to guess, Alex and Piper were fiercely defending books as Nicky was making rather ridiculous defenses on behalf of the movies. Lorna stayed impartial but listened the heated argument entertained.

When the clock neared 5 p.m., Nicky and Lorna started to make a departure.

"It was nice of you to pay a visit. I was glad to get to know you better", Alex said, the last part addressed to Lorna. All four were standing in the entry as Diane joined them, not wanting to miss the goodbyes.

"Likewise", Lorna nodded smiling widely.

"You should come to visit us in Hartford someday", Nicky proposed. "Take the blondie with you."

Piper grimaced inwardly at the thought of going back to Hartford.

"Maybe", Alex nodded chuckling. "See you around Nicky."

"You're always welcome to come here again", Diane said smiling.

"Thanks", Nicky smiled back.

Nicky and Lorna gave hugs to all three, though Piper tried to half-heartedly resist.

"We know you love us, blondie!" Nicky grinned as she opened the door. "See you all, sooner or later."

"Bye!"

When the door had closed Diane turned to Alex. "So, Alex. I'm going to Waterbury to see my friend on Sunday. I'm spending the night there so you have the house all by yourself. You can invite Piper too", she said with an exaggerated wink thrown at Piper.

Piper groaned. "Diane, please?"

"Okay, okay. I'll stop now, I promise", Diane laughed as she started to walk towards the kitchen.

Piper looked at her retreating back skeptically. "I'm sure you will..."

Alex frowned in confusion. "What was that?"

"Something I hope you'll never find out", Piper stated. "But for real, do you have anything on Sunday?"

Alex raised her eyebrows questioningly but answered anyways. "No, I don't. You had something in mind?"

"Yes, actually. I reserve you for the whole day", Piper informed before hesitating. "If you want, that is."

Alex chuckled and kissed Piper's cheek. "I would want nothing more."

"Great. I'd say that I'll pick you up at 11 a.m. but as you're aware of, I don't own a car, so I'll appear here around 11 a.m. and you can drive us to the location I tell you", Piper told quickly.

"All right", Alex said smiling widely.

Piper spent the entire Saturday planning the date and couldn't sleep when the anxiety and self-doubt came back. She tried to reason that there was no way that Alex wouldn't like it. Finally, she managed to get some sleep. She didn't have any nightmares this night either, talking with Alex really had helped.

Piper was woken up by her alarm at 8.30. on Sunday morning. She was kind of surprised to sleep so late as she usually wakes up around seven a.m. After a quick shower, even quicker morning coffee and thorough search of her closet, she was ready to go. Polly insisted on giving Piper a ride regardless of her protests.

Piper directed Polly as she was driving and they stopped in front of Alex and Diane's house at a quarter to eleven.

"This is it?"

"Yup. Uhmm... there should be everything you need and... I'll see you tomorrow at some point."

"Yeah. Have fun!" Polly smirked as Piper climbed out of the car.

"I plan to", Piper grinned back. "Thanks for the ride. Bye!"

"No problem. Bye!"

Piper walked the short path to Alex and Diane's house that she had become so familiar with lately. She rang the doorbell, still not familiar with using a key.

Soon she was greeted by Alex in clothes that revealed more skin than covered. Piper took her time checking her girlfriend out and realized that Alex was still in pajamas.

"Are you going to come in or just stay there and stare at me? I'm fine with both", Alex smirked.

"Very funny", Piper said, blushing slightly as she went in. "I hope you're not planning on wearing that."

"Something wrong, Pipes?"

Piper chuckled at the thought Alex actually wearing pajamas where she was planning on taking them. "Nope."

"I didn't actually know the dress code, so I decided to wait for you", Alex said as she let her eyes roam over Piper. She took in the tight, light blue jeans and the elegant white T-shirt with lace sleeves. "Kind of casual but hot... got it."

"You better hurry up. We need to be in Hartford by 12."

"We're going to Hartford?" Alex asked surprised. That was the last place she had thought Piper would take her.

"Yeah. There is this thing I want you to see", Piper grinned mysteriously. "And we can't see it if we're late, so chop chop."

"Bossy", Alex raised her eyebrows smirking but started walk towards her room. "Are you coming with me?"

"If I'll come with you when you're changing clothes then we'll be definitely late, so I'm just waiting in here", Piper told her.

"Okay, yeah... That's true", Alex grinned as she disappeared into the staircase.

After a couple of minutes, she came back with similar clothes with Piper. Only that her jeans were black and her T-shirt was burgundy colored and had a V-neck instead of lace sleeves.

"Am I in more appropriate clothes now?"

Piper nodded as her eyed found Alex's cleavage. "Yes."

"Great. What do I need with me?" Alex asked smirking, tearing Piper's eyes from her body.

"Nothing really. Just your phone and keys."

Alex raised her eyebrows. "Such a gentlewoman. Paying our date?"

"Of course", Piper grinned as she checked the clock. It was only a couple of minutes to eleven. They didn't need to hurry yet.

Alex took her purse where she placed her phone and keys. After a while of consideration, she decided to take her wallet too. Just in case.

"All right, we're ready to go."

They went outside and into Alex's car. Or more like Diane's car but she had been kind enough to take a bus to Waterbury.

When they were sitting in the car, Piper became nervous again. "I'm sorry about the long drive."

Alex chuckled. "It isn't too long. I mean it's really only about 45 minutes. And I'm sure that whatever we're going to do there, is worth the drive."

Piper bit her cheek as she nodded. "Okay."

"So, where are we going?"

"166 Capitol Ave", Piper grinned.

The address sounded kind of familiar to Alex but she couldn't place it, so she just put it into the GPS. "Got it."

The drive to the Hartford was rather pleasant. Piper and Alex talked about random things, Alex was trying to pry more about their destination but Piper stayed quiet about that. When they had arrived in Hartford and there were only about five minutes before they would reach their destination, Piper started to become nervous again. Like really nervous.

Of course, Alex noticed that and placed a comforting hand on her thigh. "Hey. You don't have to be nervous. Just so you know, I wouldn't care if we went to a fricking landfill as long as I'm with you."

Piper chuckled and noticed that the most of the tension in her shoulders increased. "Thank you, Alex. That was only slightly cliche."

"Oh, shut up."

"You have reached your destination", an over-chirpy voice of the GPS informed.

Alex looked around and recognized the place. The Bushnell Performing Arts Center. That's why the address sounded so familiar. "You're taking us to watch a play?" Alex asked excitedly.

"Yeah", Piper said with a somewhat sheepish look. "The other day you said that you would like to see a play since you've never seen one. So, I just thought... Maybe it would be nice..." she rambled.

"This is amazing. Thank you, for bringing me here", Alex smiled. About two weeks ago she had seen some advert about the Hamlet play. The prize of the tickets had been something shocking and she didn't even know the plays could cost that much but she had mentioned to Piper that she would have been interested in seeing some play. "So, what are we going to watch?" she asked as she parked the car.

Piper seemed to consider for a while if she should reveal it just yet but decided that Alex was going to figure it out soon anyway. She took the tickets out of her purse and hesitantly gave Alex hers. She knew what Alex's reaction would be.

"No way! Piper!" Alex exclaimed shocked. "Hamlet? Seriously? These have cost a small fortune!"

"They weren't that much..."

"How much? You need to let me pay for mine", Alex demanded. She wasn't going to let Piper, who was working in a bookshop pay almost thousand dollars for tickets.

"They weren't that much. And I have money! I promised to pay this date, didn't I?" Piper said back.

"Yeah, usually a date means like a dinner that costs about fifty dollars and not some play that costs fricking thousand!"

"Okay, now you are just exaggerating. It didn't cost thousand dollars. It was 550$, together", Piper rolled her eyes.

"That's still way too much! I'm sure you have other things to spend money on. Please, let me pay", Alex argued.

"You seem to forget that I'm from a wealthy family. Now when I turned 18 and got my part of my parents' money, I can afford to buy a little expensive ticket for my girlfriend."

"A little expensive? And I'm certainly not letting you to waste your inheritance money on me!" Alex told her.

"Fine. Then I use my inheritance money on my bills and my wage on this."

"Piper."

"Look, Alex. I'm not spending all my money on you. But I have money now and that allows me to spoil you on rare occasions."

Alex sighed in defeat. "This seriously won't become a habit then?"

"Nope", Piper shook her head.

"Fine. But I'm paying the dinner."

Piper figured that this compromise would be her best chance. "Deal."

They got up from the car and went inside. They watched in amazement around the beautiful building.

"How much time do we have?" Alex asked as she watched around curiously.

Piper checked the clock. It was quarter to twelve. "About five minutes before they start to let people in."

"Okay. Do you want to sit over there?" Alex asked, nodding towards couches that were in the corner.

Piper nodded and they started to walk there.

"So, what are your plans after this?" Alex intrigued.

Piper shrugged as she sat down on a couch. "I figured we could just eat somewhere. I didn't make any table reservations because that way we can eat anywhere we feel like. Then after that, we're probably going back to Litchfield if we don't come up with something to do here. Then we're going to get ice creams because soon it's too cold to eat ice cream anymore. And we can like walk around before going to your place and then I was thinking we could cook together something light and watch a movie or something..."

"Sounds perfect", Alex smiled widely.

Piper nodded, happy that Alex seemed to really like the plan.

"So..." Alex started hesitantly, debating over if she should ask about what she had in mind, or not. "How much money exactly you have? You don't have to answer that if you don't want."

Piper thought about it for a while. She had enough money to live alone and pay bills without even needing to work. Money had never been a big deal for her, she rarely bought anything for herself beyond food and other inevitable things. (Inevitable things include books.) And if she wants to buy something for herself, she enjoys getting things after working for it. That's why she keeps working for Diane, also because she really likes her job. "Let's just say that I'm managing better than most of the students who are living alone."

Alex nodded before she remembered something. "What the hell was that thing with my mom?"

"Oh my god, that is so embarrassing", Piper said as she buried her head in her hands.

Alex laughed. "Now I definitely need to know."

"I just... When I was planning this date, I thought that it would be nice to have an empty house so we could... uhmm..."

Alex chuckled as Piper was stumbling over her words. "Have some sex?"

Piper's eyes widened. "No! I mean... Yeah, kind of... But it was only because I thought that if the day went great that it might l would maybe lead to sex, so it would be nice if we had the empty house but it wasn't necessary!"

"Whatever you say, kid. So, what does my mom have to do with this?"

Piper blushed slightly. "I really don't know what I was thinking... I just had this excellent idea to call her and ask if she would be somewhere within the next few days but then I realized mid-call that I sounded like I was trying to evict her from her house because I know she would have come up with something, so we could have the house. Then Polly took my phone and explained the situation and of course there just happened to be a friend in Waterbury where Diane could spend a night and now she won't leave me alone because she knows too well why I needed the empty house."

"That is hilarious", Alex laughed.

"No. It was embarrassing!"

"I bet it was."

Piper pouted before she noticed that they had started to check tickets. "Come on, they are starting to let us in", she said as she got up and pulled Alex with her.

They went into the line and waited patiently that their tickets were checked before they got in. It took them for a while to find their seats but when they did, they were pleased about the placement. They weren't in the first row or directly in front of the stage but they could see perfectly.

They talked about Hamlet and Shakespeare as they waited for the play to start.

An elderly couple sat next to them but Piper and Alex didn't mind much about them and continued their conversation about the tragedy and revenge that appears in the play.

They fell silent as they noticed the older woman sitting next to them glancing at them curiously from time to time. She seemed to pick up that the girls had noticed her glances and turned to face them wholly. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but hear your conversation. I was just thinking how nice it is to see young people so passionate about literature, it is pretty rare nowadays", she said smiling.

Alex and Piper nodded in unison. "Yeah, we know", Alex said chuckling slightly but didn't have the chance to continue the conversation as the lights dimmed and the curtain started to rise.

At first, they couldn't see anything but suddenly the stage lights were turned on and they could see a figure standing in the middle of the stage.

"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go."

Thank you for reading! As always, please review and tell me what you thought (it keeps me motivated) As you might have figured out THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER :p I'll try to be on time next week.

-Iina