The blonde opened her eyes to the penumbra of the room. Her sleep had been sound and dreamless, and now she felt fully rested, even if it was the middle of the night. Feeling ready for anything, she glanced down at the wrinkled sheet, which was doing an irregular effort of covering her up, and then to her left, where the dark-haired woman was. Alex was lying on her side, facing her, but completely asleep. For a moment, Piper couldn't believe her own eyes. They had been "together" for a couple of months, going out either by themselves or with Alex's friends almost every evening, fucking on any and every available surface, lounging lazily in the sunny kitchen, exploring tiny bookstores and rundown record shops, watching more movies than she could remember. Except when they were at work, they had hardly been apart, and yet, she could not recall a single occasion when she had woken up first. Her eyes had always collided with Alex's ever-present, blue gaze, effortlessly dissecting her to the bone, spying on her at her weakest.

This Alex, however, was so different that she looked like another person. She was breathing deeply, her lips parted, and every muscle in her face completely relaxed. A single strand of raven hair had freed itself from behind her ear and was now framing her cheek, but Piper didn't dare touch it, lest she broke the spell, so perfect that she was almost willing to believe that it had been conceived by some benevolent deity.

With her hands bunched up under her own cheek, Piper tried to be as still as Alex, even trying to tone down her breathing, because she was scared that even the slightest change in the atmosphere would wake her. Was she just a light sleeper? Was it in her nature to be an early bird? Or was she such a control freak that it was impossible for her to appear vulnerable around her? Piper's hyperactive mind had inevitably been drawing her own conclusions about Alex, because even if the woman clearly wanted to retain part of her mysterious appeal, no one could keep their walls up every single second of the day, particularly if one was spending almost every waking hour with another person. Alex, who was always sardonic but never cruel, who was probably the raddest person she had ever met but brought her coffee to bed and made her funny-shaped pancakes which they called "O Keeffe's" or "Rorschach tests" when they were a bit too abstract to identify, because Alex always said they looked like pussies.

Even on the first night they'd met and slept together, several things had indeed taken her by surprise; she had noticed the brunette's unexpected tenderness during what she had considered a one-night stand, but at the moment she hadn't known whether the brunette was just being considerate because it was Piper's first time with a woman. It was also true that, lying in Alex's arms and feeling more spent than a dead battery, she had seen something in the woman's blue eyes which she had identified as joy. Later, when it became more than a one-night stand because it kept happening, it was all college parties, drunken dancing, and running back home to fuck with abandon. Piper's vision had been so clouded with the discovery of her attraction for Alex that she became blind to everything else. In her mind, they were fuck-buddies, or whatever it was called, but nothing more.

Recently, however, the myriad of discrepancies populating their "relationship" had started to register. They were already "together"; Alex didn't need to "conquer" her anymore, but she kept adding those jarring little touches anyway. Of course they didn't have to spend so much time together, certainly not fully clothed, but that was what they were doing, and they did not have to go for walks hand in hand, or talk endlessly about this or that book - Piper knew that she shouldn't even care about the other woman's opinions, her interpretations, but their discussions sometimes reached the wee hours of the morning. Certainly Alex didn't need to empty a drawer and a shelf for her stuff, or assign her a shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms in case she didn't want to walk around the house stark naked. Their habits had changed, gradually, naturally, however temporary Piper believed all this was, and maybe that explained why the woman beside her was still fast asleep.

Looking at Alex without her knowledge - that was no little thing. That was a novelty, and Piper intended to enjoy every second of it. She watched the woman's face come alive little by little, her eyebrows twitch, her lips purse, her throat swallow. For an instant, Piper wondered if she should shut her eyes and pretend to be asleep, let Alex have her security, maintain the status quo for a little longer. But, honestly, she didn't want to. She wanted to find out what would happen, so she kept her eyes open and, when Alex opened hers, she smiled.

"Hi," Piper whispered.

The brunette seemed confused, with a cute little frown slightly wrinkling her brow, and then, upon seeing Piper, came the recognition, and the familiar glint in her eye returned.

"Hi." She cleared her throat, rubbed her eyes, and returned the stray strand of black hair behind her ear.

"Did you sleep well?" Piper asked, unable to hold back the shrill excitement from her voice.

"Yeah… I guess someone tired me out a bit, huh?" Her voice sounded hoarser, clouded with slumber.

"Really? I didn't think that was actually possible."

"Me neither." Alex raised one eyebrow and reached out to cup her face. "But you're becoming such a good student."

"Oh, is that what I am? At least I hope I'm getting good marks."

"I don't know… Let's find out, come here."

Obediently, Piper scooted closer to her, and Alex made her lie on her back, commanding her to stay still. Her careful hands started caressing down Piper's neck and shoulders, stopping at her clavicle.

"Hmmm, I think we've got something here." Using her thumb, Alex gently stroked a small area of skin. "Yeah, I'd say that's a good mark."

"Ouch!" Piper cried, feeling a sharp sting. "What is that? Is that…? Is that a bite?"

"A scratch, I think," Alex laughed. "Relax, this is not a zombie movie. God, aren't you dramatic?"

"I'm not."

"Yeah you are. You're such a drama queen sometimes."

Wide-eyed, Piper opened her mouth, pretending to be deeply offended - and not having to fake it too much, either. Sometimes Alex's jokes hit so close to home that they bruised her pride, and she knew that Alex was aware of it. Was this some kind of retaliation for having spied on her while she slept?

She hurled herself on top of the brunette, trying to pin her down on the bed, but Alex was like a very restless Houdini, escaping from Piper's every attempt to grab her.

"Are you actually trying to attack me? Now you see why I have to sleep with one eye open?" Alex seized Piper's wrists, eliminating her support, making her fall flat on top of her, her face in the crook of Alex's neck.

"Why do you do that, really, sleep with one eye open?"

"So I can do this." Alex winked at her, and then started laughing like she had come up with the most hilarious joke ever.

"No, come on," Piper tried to shake her wrists free, but Alex didn't oblige. "Be serious for a second."

"For a whole second? Jeez… Okay."

"Okay?"

"Sure, fine."

Alex then released her and raised her hands like someone who was about to get arrested. Her cat-like gaze was as playful as ever, but she allowed Piper to reposition herself on top of her, so they could look each other in the eye. In that moment, Piper became aware of two facts at the same time. Firstly, that they were about to have "the talk", or some version of "the talk". Secondly, that her thigh was resting between Alex's legs, and that the brunette was still wet from their earlier activities. Evidently, she wouldn't be capable of attending both matters at the same time, so she would have to make a choice.

Piper sighed and brushed her parted lips over Alex's, not quite kissing her, but not doing something entirely innocent either. Realizing this, like she realized everything, Alex giggled huskily.

"Wow, we made it. We were literally serious for one second."

"Shut up," Piper whined, wondering if the teasing would ever stop. "I'm such an open book to you, am I?"

"Yeah… not just an open book. You're, like, a book for ages three to five."

It wasn't even slightly funny. She scrambled out of the bed, swatting Alex's hands away, and started walking towards the door.

"Fuck you. Now I'm being serious."

"Pipes, come on, don't be like that. I was just kidding! Well, who knew you had a temper?"

The voice in the back of her mind told her that Alex was just trying to make her stay by being all kinds of outrageous, but Piper couldn't help herself. She turned around to see Alex kneeling on the bed, squinting at her, not because she was angry, but because she wasn't wearing her glasses.

"Really, go fuck yourself," Piper said, pointing at her with her index finger.

"Alright. Might as well." Without breaking eye contact, Alex plopped down on the bed and spread out her legs. Her hands began stroking her breasts, her stomach, her thighs, and then met between her legs, parting her lips, which Piper already knew were moist.

She wanted to curse the brunette, but part of her feared what she would do if she told her again to go fuck herself. Another part of her couldn't move and couldn't stop staring. When two of Alex's fingers disappeared from view, Piper's feet started taking her back to the bed, like a sleepwalker. She crawled towards the brunette, placed her hands on the woman's bent knees, and spread her legs further, so she could see.

But seeing was not enough. She seized Alex's hand, brought it up to her mouth, and sucked the wetness off her fingers.

"This isn't yours," she whispered with authority.

"No?" Alex asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No, not anymore. This is mine."

Piper scooped her long, blonde hair to the side and dipped her head between Alex's legs, her sex opening up easily to the flat of her tongue. It had surprised her, at first, how much she liked the taste of Alex, how much she wished to stay down there for hours and hours. Now, for the first time, she was thinking about Alex in terms of property, and even though she knew that this thing between them had an expiration date, she was on a mission to reclaim what she considered hers, what was hers for the moment.