a/n: They may call you Orange, but I call this chapter four and it's all for you because your writing has continued to amaze, entertain, inspire and motivate me in equal parts. You are very very clever.

This is a shorter chapter than the last one. Basically I wrote one very long chapter and decided it worked better in two separate parts, so you may get another chapter soon. Or maybe not. We'll see...

Chapter Four

"Paige, I made you some tea," the gentle coaxing was met with the faintest of eyerolls as the blonde resolutely clung to her cheerless demeanour.

"Great… more tea," she murmured, as Alex set the mug down on the nightstand next to where she lay.

Paige continued to languish on the bed, eyes cast downward as the rain rattled against the windowpane.

Alex perched next to her, against the side of the bed and did her best to dissipate her sigh internally. She was trying to be a good girlfriend, supportive, like she had promised she would be over this whole outing-to-parents fiasco.

The truth was, she wasn't surprised at how the scene had played out, depressed of course, no one likes to have their girlfriend greet them with a face full of tears. But from what she knew of the Michalchuk family, and she had come to know them fairly well from the first time she and Paige had dated, the prospect of losing their prized princess permanently to the dark side was not something that would be smoothed over in one sitting.

But that still didn't solve the problem that was lying in front of her at this present time. She ran a sympathetic hand along Paige's thigh. "You just gonna stay here? You don't want to do anything?"

"I am doing something," Paige replied sulkily, "I'm being morose. And it requires a great deal of concentration."

Alex sucked in her lower lip at that, realizing that it was going to take a great deal of further indulgence before Paige would be all sweetness and light for her.

"Okay, and how long are you gonna do that for?"

"Dunno… depends…" came the despondent answer, arms crossed against chest, eyes threatening another deluge.

"Depends on what?" Alex persisted, in an effort to keep drawing her out into conversation.

"'Till hell freezes over, I suppose," Paige let out one of her trademark sighs, "Or my mother comes to terms with the fact I have every right to live my own life, whichever happens first. Personally, I think the odds are looking pretty good on hell these days."

Alex smirked at her girlfriend's irascible tone, unable to resist her charms, even when she was sinking herself into a melancholic funk. She scrambled over Paige's clamped up body so she could lie down next to her, pulling the other girl around as she did, so they were lying face to face.

Paige put up a token resistance, clearly wanting Alex's comfort but feeling the inexplicable need to make it harder for her.

"Paige," Alex spoke her name softly, like foam on a wave, compensating for the roughness of her girlfriend's present attitude.

Whenever she was like this, when they were lying together intimately like this, Paige couldn't help but succumb to her gentleness. It was more than just coaxing or coddling or general pampering, a means to an end. It was a side of Alex reserved for the two of them, a private side than no one else would ever have the full benefit of experiencing and it came from a place of love and deep trust.

So Paige let her mood be pacified by Alex's tender touches, wisping an errant golden curl from out of her eyes, tracing her swollen lips with her fingertip.

"They'll come round," she whispered into the descending darkness.

"When?" Paige huffed out.

"I dunno sweetheart. But they will, you know they will."

"Yeah?" her sombreness gave way to hopefulness as she gazed at her girlfriend for further assurance.

"Yeah. No one can resist your charms for that long."

That got a smile, thought Alex, relieved at some sign of progress.

"I just wish…" Paige paused, knowing that everything she felt went without saying, but compelled to verbalize her thoughts anyway, "I just wish… they just accepted it now, like it wasn't even an issue."

"I know," Alex responded, draping her arm over her girlfriend, seeking out her hip underneath the baggy sweatshirt reserved for slobbing.

"I wish that… y'know, they could see the bigger picture, you and me… how happy we are…"

"I know. They will," Alex continued with the soothing words and tender ministrations and Paige gradually relented, folding into her arms, enveloped by the warmth.

"Your mum accepted you," she said, voice muffled against Alex's shoulder.

Alex let out a ghost of laugh, betraying the bitterness that was still underscoring how she felt in that department. "Yeah, well, it's not like she had much of a choice."

Paige looked up at her quizzically.

"I mean, I'm all she had. It was just like, 'Mum, I'm gay, deal with it. If not, I'm gone.'"

"You really said that to her?"

"Not in so many words," Alex's twitching mouth belied her casual tone and her shoulders briefly tightened in tension before she let the nagging guilt and lingering pain drain out of her. "Besides Paige, my mother's got bigger problems to worry about then if her daughter's a lesbian y'know? And I think she knew she wasn't exactly in a position to criticize who I went out with, given her own dating record…"

Paige murmured in agreement, thoughts drifting to Alex's old home life with Emily and Chad. It had been far from ideal, she had witnessed that much, what with drunken rows and occasional tell-tale bruising.

She inadvertently tightened her grip on Alex's encircling arms, happy that she was here with her now… here… safe…. and just hers.

Alex took this as a positive move forward. She kissed her forehead in return. "You wanna maybe… go get something to eat?"

"Nope," Paige offered forlornly.

"Wanna see what everyone else is up to?"

"Na-uh," came the reply, as she snuggled further into Alex's embrace, head against shoulder, eyes staring into the middle-distance.

The rain continued its relentless pounding unabated. The wind had started to get up as well, whipping the frail trees in the front yard into a frenzy, their branches desperately clawing at the window.

Alex watched the worsening storm with a growing sense of unease. Storms always made her feel fidgety and trapped and in need of distraction.

As she stroked Paige's hair absently another more palpable feeing stirred within her.

"You, er..wanna…" she snaked her hand down from Paige's head, skimming under the sweatshirt, resting on the small of her back, then slowly crawling down to her rear.

Paige's heavy sigh stopped any premature hopes of afternoon sex from going any further.

She lifted her head off Alex's shoulder so she could look into her eyes, so Alex could see how she was feeling.

I'm sorry, I'm just not in the mood, her eyes said.

Get your hands of my ass, Alex read.

She reluctantly raised her hands back to a more PG-friendly area of Paige's body, mind still set on finding an alternative to brooding.

"Wanna watch some TV?"

"Mmfgh."

"Come on," Alex said, trying to sit up, "Let's go downstairs."

" 'Kay…"