You will not believe how therapeutic Taylor Schillings laugh is to me. I spend hours yesterday watching youtube videos. She cracks me up.

42.

Piper didn't speak a word the whole twenty one hours and fifteen minutes flight to South Africa. Braydon left her alone knowing she had to work through her thoughts. He was there to offer advice if she needed it or just offer silent support. It was only after they had already collected their baggage and was making their way over to the vehicle rentals that she spoke.

"I cannot believe you dragged me all the way out here." She whispers and Braydon picks up on the nervousness in her voice but before he can offer her some comforting words she takes his hand asking "What if she rejects me. She is going to reject me you know. And I would deserve it."

Braydon squeezes her hand as a gesture of support "If she rejects you, we accept it and we move on."

Piper thinks that it is easier said than done but she does not voice her response because deep down she knows that Braydon is right and if Alex so happens to reject her she will gracefully accept defeat and move on. She will not pressurize Alex in any way because she has put her through enough in the little more than a year and a half which they have known each other. The brunette deserves happiness and if she doesn't envision that with Piper, then she will accept it. She has no other choice.

Braydon notices Piper shaking or nodding her head every now and again and he knows she is working through all the different scenario's. He occasionally squeezes her hand which is still firmly in his own just to remind her that he is there.

"How do you even know where to go?" Piper eventually speaks again as they sit in the rental vehicle ready to go. "Well, I mean I know she gave us her address, but how do you know they are even there?"

"They aren't" Braydon responds "but that is the beauty of social media. Riley tagged Alex and a whole lot of other people at an address about half an hour ago. It's someone's birthday celebration or something."

"Fantastic, I am going to have an audience when I make a complete fool of myself." The blonde breaths out.

Braydon offers her a soft smile "Well lets go to the hotel and freshen up first then at least you can make a fresh fool of yourself." He tries to lighten the mood.

"I know you are trying to help, but that is not really encouraging."

They make small talk while driving to the hotel, pointing out things which catch their eye in the unfamiliar territory which they find themselves in. After they have checked in and freshened up Braydon hands Piper a shot of tequila and holds one for himself. She raises a questioning eyebrow.

"Just something small to calm the nerves" He explains himself.

"I really want to be sober when I do this, so.."

"One is going to do nothing to you Pip. It's just to calm the nerves a bit and if I am being honest I'm kind of getting nervous now to, so can we just take the damn shot." Braydon interrupts. She agrees so he cheers her and they down the shot before leaving the hotel again.

They enter the location from Facebook into the GPS and set of in search of Piper's happiness, or not. They will know in about an hour.

The drive was way to short for Piper's liking when they stop in front of a house with a lot of cars, in the street, on the pavement and some in the front yard. The garage doors are open at the front and at the back. One of those garages you can drive through to the other side. From inside the car they can see into the back yard where there is a grass lapa and quite a bit of people inside. Piper's nervousness causes her to start breathing irregularly.

"It's okay. You've got this." Braydon tries to calm her.

"Okay, here goes nothing." Piper says as she gets out of the car and approaches the gate. She told Braydon that she will try this on her own but she will call for him if she needed him. Standing in front of the gate looking in she notices Alex standing with her arm over Riley's shoulder laughing with a couple of other people. "What the fuck are you doing Piper." She whispers to herself. "They are happy. I can't do this."

But before she can turn around one of the guys in the group notices her standing there "Fuck me. Is that Piper fucking Chapman standing in front of my gate." She hears him almost shout. Alex spins around so quick she loses her balance and Riley and another unfamiliar face catches her by the arms before she can fall flat on her face.

"You owe me twenty bucks" Piper hears her sons voice causing a huge smile to break out on her face "and why are you swearing at my mother when she is not here to defend herself." And with that he appears next to Alex folding his arms over his chest looking up at the guy who originally noticed her standing there. Her heart swells with pride because of her son defending her in her absence.

The guy clears his throat and points towards the gate to where Piper is. When Cameron turns and sees his mother he sprints towards the gate. Somebody obviously knowing it is now or never pressed the remote for the gate to open. When Cameron reached the gate the opening is just about big enough for him to fit through and Piper closes her eyes scared that he might run straight into the gate but he is through and into her arms in no time.

They hug and kiss and laugh until Alex's voice interrupts them. "You saw each other two days ago, seriously." Piper can hear a bit of annoyance in Alex's voice so she puts Cameron down and points to the car instructing him to go say hello to his father.

They talked about what might or what might not go down and that it would obviously be very confusing to Cameron to see his mother cry, jump for joy or being slapped while talking to Alex, so they came to the agreement that Braydon would try and explain as much as possible to him while his mother talks to Alex. He is not a baby anymore and very wise for his age, so they hope he will understand what his dad is trying to explain to him and take the news positively. Basically he will just explain that his parents love each other very much and that they love him very much, but that his mother is in love with Alex and she wants her to be a part of their little family. He will also explain that even though he might not live with him and his mother anymore that things will not change much and that he will still see him on a daily basis, take him for his rides and even on some days have breakfast and dinner with them. And should Alex accept his mother back in her life she might move back. They were sure that last little fact will encourage him into agreement. Sometimes Cameron's parents thinks he is more fond of Alex than either of them. Piper obviously wanted to present when they explained all of this to Cameron, but that is just not the way things is going to work out this time.

"You didn't trust me with your son for a couple of weeks." Alex asks the annoyance in her voice still present as Piper turned back to her when she was sure Cameron is safely out of the street.

"Hi to you to." Piper shoots back. Alex just folds her arms over her chest in defence raising an eyebrow not offering Piper any sort of greeting in return. "Okay this hostility is not comforting at all." Piper whispers softly, Alex hardly catches it, but she does.

"The fact that you don't trust me is even less comforting." Alex grumbles.

"That is not the case Alex. I…" Piper tries to defend but Alex cuts her off.

"Well if it wasn't the case then you would be on your honeymoon right now sipping cocktails on a beach somewhere in Bora-Bora. Not standing in front of my friends gate in South Africa."

"Will you just give me a chance to explain…"

"You know I looked after and took care of Cameron for months Piper. I am sure I proved myself quite capable. But If you don't think so it is fine. Whatever. You can explain it to him. We had plans."

"Alex I am not here to …"

" I am not going to get involved in this push me pull me shit you Piper…."

"I love you." Piper cuts her off. In her mind she is cursing herself because that is not quite what she had planned out but Alex's rambling made her more nervous and she didn't even give Piper a chance to finish off one sentence so she did the only thing she though would shut her up. Alex is stunned speechless. The colour drained from her face as soon as Piper finished the word 'you'. Her eyes are wide as saucers. Her mouth is opening and closing but no sound is coming out. Piper is a bit stunned at her boldness herself but knows she has to keep this going. "I am sorry that is not quite how I had this planned." Alex still just looks at her not uttering a single word. "Alex, please say something." Piper begs.

Alex shakes her head a bit to make sure she is awake "Way to shut a girl up." She mumbles

"Again, not what I had in mind, but…" Looking over Alex's shoulder she sees Riley standing there looking at them. She is not in hearing distance obviously not wanting to listen in on their conversation, but ready to strike if she feels the need to. Looking back at Alex, Piper continues "I am sorry okay. I had this whole speech planned out in my head, but I am kind of a in the moment person so when I stand in front of you everything comes out differently than what I thought it would. I know that you and Riley are together and you are probably very happy with her but I just couldn't go through the rest of my life with you thinking that I don't love you, because I do Alex. I love you. I am not expecting you to dump Riley and fall back into my arms. I don't even know what I am expecting. I know what I want, but I will respect any decision you make. I just…'

"Are you going to pause and let me speak or are you just going to keep this conversation going all by yourself?" Alex puts a stop to Pipers rambling.

"Sorry…" Piper mumbles looking down to the ground.

Alex however needs the eye contact so she lifts Pipers chin between her pointer finger and thumb. "You are married Pipes." She says in a soft voice, looking over to the car where Braydon is standing with Cameron she continues "To a very good man. A man I consider a friend."

Piper turns her head looking in Braydon's direction as well with a smile on her face. "He is great, isn't he." She says before she turns her attention back to Alex. "And I will have you know it is that great husband of mine over there who dragged my ass all the way out here and told me that I am being an idiot."

"He did?" Alex asked a bit stunned.

"Yeah, he did. It is really a long story and I will tell you some day but basically we came to the conclusion that we got so gaught up in wanting to be good parents that we did what we both thought was best and besides that we really do love each other. We love each other in a very special way considering the shitty cards we were dealt in life and we confused that love to be something different. I really don't regret marrying him. I mean if you are not going to marry the love of your life, then marry your best friend." Piper laughs trying to make a joke purely out of nervousness, but Alex is not laughing so she decides to keep it serious when she continues. "Look Alex, I know you are in a relationship with Riley right now and I know I treated you unfairly. I just really needed to get this off my chest okay."

"Riley and I aren't together Piper."

"You're not?" the blond almost shouts.

"Well, no. We live together and all because she is really a great friend of mine and if I didn't have her around I would probably live on booze and pizza but we are not together." Alex pauses for a second squinting her eyes at Piper pulling a serious yet humorous face "Looks like both worlds gained one."

Piper looks at Alex confused shaking her head "I don't understand what you are trying to say."

"Riley is kinda swinging back the straight way." Alex explains.

"ohhh" is the only reply from the blond.

"And by your confession just now it seems like you're swinging the gay way. So both worlds gained one." Alex explains her earlier comment.

"I'm not gay." Piper defends and Alex crosses her arms over her chest raising a questioning eyebrow. "Well I mean I am probably gay for you but I am not gay gay. I mean.." She cuts herself off puffing out an air of frustration while Alex is standing across from her chuckling.

"Gay for me?" Alex laughs. "Did you seriously just say that?"

"God Alex, I am drowning here. Can you try and take this seriously for a second please. Tell me to fuck off or tell me to stay. Just tell me something…"

"Okay, okay I am sorry. This is serious and I just tried to give my brain a second to catch up but the thing is Piper," she pauses taking a couple of deep breaths "even though Riley and I are not together, I really need time to think about this. I mean we both were at fault at times. I don't hold anything against you, but I just really need time to think. This is a fuck load of information to process."

Again this was not really the response Piper was hoping for but Alex didn't completely turn her down. That is good right. She just asked for time and time is definitely something Piper is willing to give her.

"You can have all the time you need." Piper says looking down at the ground kicking some small rocks "I mean we will be here for another two days or so, but after that, you have my cell number." Looking back up at Alex the taller woman nods in acknowledgement so Piper continues "Obviously Cameron is staying with you. I am not here to fetch him,"

"thank you" Alex says but Piper just waves it off. There is no reason for Alex to thank her. Cameron was visiting her and he is not the reason she came here. Some silence passes between the two of them as Piper still distracts herself with her feet and anything she can find on the ground while Alex is standing deep in thought staring down at Pipers distraction.

Eventually the blond pointing her head in the direction of the car "I should probably go and let you get back to your friends. I am sorry I interrupted." Taking a step closer to Alex she hugs her whispering softly "I really do love you." Pulling back she offers Alex a small smile, which gets returned, and with that she turns around starting to walk to the car.

Alex takes a deep breath, looking up at the sky while slowly turnings back to the house hoping with everything in her that she had just made the right decision. She, however got her answer as soon as she lowered her eyes down from the sky and being met by Riley's eyes boring into her, throwing her hands up in the air and mouthing 'What The Fuck' at her. Alex pauses for a second and when she receives a nod from her red head friend she spins around, taking large leaps towards the rental, where Piper was about to open the door. She grabs her arm spinning her around, slamming Piper's back into the car, not intentionally, but Piper's cry in pain gets cut off by Alex saying something along the lines of "I have had enough time to think." before she smashes their lips together.

Piper's arms are on autopilot as she wraps them around Alex's neck, not giving her brain the chance to process the shock, pulling her into her even more. They hold their lips to one another for a couple of seconds without moving, burning the feel of the other into their minds before they start moving slowly in perfect sync as if they have done it a million times before. Both of the woman having the needy urge to deepen the kiss, because the Lord know they have waited long enough for this. They deserve this, but in the back of both their minds they do remember that Piper's son is probably standing there looking at them, so the kiss only lasts a couple of seconds longer before Piper pulls away resting her forehead against Alex's.

"You don't really need much time to think. I mean that was like three seconds." Piper chuckles still holding her eyes closed.

Alex pulls away laughing waiting for Piper to open her eyes and when she does and Green meets Blue Alex confesses "I love you to." Causing a sob to escape from Pipers throat. She smiles at Piper before nodding her head back in Riley's direction "And she might have given me an invisible kick in the ass after you turned around letting me know I am being stupid."

"We have great ex's" Piper jokes "I will have to thank her later." She says as she throws her arms around Alex's neck once more, "but first can you just kiss me again so I can make sure this is real."

"Well technically Braydon is not your ex. You are still married to him. I mean you have only been married for like what, five days" receiving an eye roll from Piper, Alex continues "But you are my perfect type. I don't really have a type, but when people ask me what my type is I always say, Blond, Beautiful, Straight and married. So this is fucking perfect."

"Oh you've got jokes now? Why straight?"

"Because I just love introducing them to what they have been missing out on their entire lives."

"Why married?"

"because of the challenge" Alex answers again earing a slap on the arm from Piper. "I'm joking," The taller woman laughs as she tightens her hold around Pipers waist. "Blond yes, beautiful yes,"

"Well then I fit perfectly. Can you shut up now and kiss me."

"With pleasure" Alex laughs as she closes the gap between them again only to be interrupted again a couple of seconds later.

"Urgh Alex, that is my mother. Stop already."

Both woman unable to stop the laughter escaping them, pulls away and turns to the boy standing next to his father.

"Hey Brayd" Alex greets

"Hey A.V"

"Okay not that I am being jealous or anything, but since when are you guys on pet name basis"

"You sound a bit jealous Pipes." Alex quips.

"No I don't"

"yes you do"

"No I…"

"Okay kids!" Riley's voice interrupts them "I don't want to witness the make-up and break-up all in five minutes. Give it a bit of time hey." She finishes as she comes to a stand still next to the other two woman, all of them sharing a quick laugh. "Braydon, Cam, why don't you guys join me inside while we give these two another minute."

Braydon agrees and takes Cameron's hand to pull him with but the six year old holds back, taking his hand back from his dad and goes to stand in front of Alex, hands on the hips, squinting at her and tapping his foot while addressing her "You have my permission to date my mother because I love you to, but you better not make her cry again."

"Promise" Alex says as she lifts her hand in a salute gesture.

Cameron nods "And kissing in front of me…" he pauses looking between the two pulling a face "kissing is fifty bucks, because that is just disgusting." He says as he takes his dad's hand on one side and Riley's on the other walking away, leaving a stunned Piper and Alex behind. Obviously Riley and Braydon is screaming with laughter.

"I need to find a job. I am going to go fucking broke." Alex says as she turns to Piper, wrapping her arms around her waist again, pulling her in for another kiss and this time nothing stops them from deepening it filling the silence around them with a moan neither of them knowing who it came from and not really caring.