With the flabby pillow covering her sweaty head, Piper felt slightly better. More than anything, she craved for darkness and silence, so that maybe she could sleep soundly enough to forget the searing stomachache. However, that was an impossible fantasy, and not even because it was still around noon. Nighttime had proven to be a hundred times worse, in fact, as the bungalow's shabby walls of woven cane did nothing to fend off the laser lights, the deafening music, and the general screaming and whooping of the beachside parties. Basically, it was like trying to move and breathe and survive inside a large basket.

Her sudden sickness had cut short their excursion, as much as she'd wished to see more of the Javanese temples. She had started having an attack of stomach cramps just as they were passing through a small village. Physically lacking the time to explain what was happening to her -and what was bound to happen-, Piper had spontaneously started running down the dirt road in a panic, with a confused Alex sprinting behind her, yelling what the fuck was the matter with her. As if their mere presence hadn't been enough, their little performance had of course made the village's inhabitants come out of their cabin-like houses. What Piper hadn't noticed, however, was that they were following her as well, so, when she finally found a more or less isolated place among the tall grass to crouch and pull down her pants, there were an extra thirty or forty pairs of eyes she hadn't counted on, watching her intently. The brunette had thrown her backpack to the ground, bent over with laughter, which was to be expected, but then she'd started hearing other voices, other giggles.

Still feeling mortified, Piper groaned into the pillow, pressing it harder against her face. Alex had quickly taken her first to see a doctor and then to this seaside place, which Piper had believed was relaxing - until the sun went down and the tourists started partying like it was the end of the world.

And now Alex was nowhere to be found. Surely, the brunette was playing the socialite down at the beach, making friends and drinking cocktails, while she had been left to die in that goddamn hut. No, that wasn't it. Alex was working - even if that did involve drinking and socializing. It was no secret that Alex had mainly gone to Indonesia to work, but until now it had only consisted of many cryptic phone calls and a lot of typing on her laptop. It had been very easy to ignore, even if deep down Piper did notice everything. It seemed that Alex had become a little too absorbed in their romantic and or wild escapade, and had received some kind of fair warning from her boss or bosses. Either to prevent Piper from worrying or because she hadn't wanted to worry herself, Alex had matter-of-factly explained that there was no problem, that all she was required to do was to get some kids to smuggle some heroin into their suitcases' lining. That was it. Too easy. A done deal. But Piper had spent enough time around the dark-haired woman to know her quirks and if there was something going on behind her clear eyes. She was sure that it hadn't gone so smoothly, but of course Alex could fix it.

Meditating about the current state of her life was one of the luxuries and drawbacks of being sick - she had managed to do as little of that as possible until now, and she wished to keep it that way. As always, she pushed down the twinge of worry and focused on the unexpected and fantastic thing she had found. Her mind concentrated on the memory of Alex's devilish smile that first night they'd met. How easily the brunette had conquered her and swept her off her feet. And then they had started spending more and more time together, with Alex's mystery still in place. But that was okay, since it was all temporary anyway, right? Alex hadn't lied about her job, and had told her more than once that she was expected to travel abroad sooner rather than later. But the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, and the brunette found her a job as a waitress very close to her very impressive house. And so Piper had started staying there more and more often, for days on end. Still trying to keep her distance -because this was temporary (wasn't it?)-, Piper had started feeling a weird sense of entitlement, of property, towards the woman. She hadn't wanted her to leave and hadn't wanted her to do to other girls what she had been doing to her, but it was unavoidable, so she swallowed that too, buried it as deep as she could, so that it hardly ever came to the fore. Then, on their supposedly last night together, she'd still kept quiet, going about her business of packing because it was a done deal, they were going their separate ways. But Alex had been more somber than usual, a little bit grumpy even, and Piper had been surprised to glimpse that part of her, usually nowhere to be found. And so she'd gone ahead and asked Alex if she would miss her, earning the woman's unfiltered affirmation, and then the request to go to Bali with her. Piper, who had kept her distance so as not to suffer more than necessary when Alex decided to leave and who'd had no expectations of accompanying her (because there had been plenty of time to ask), had realized that their adventure was an ongoing one.

And what a bacchanalia it had been. Piper had asked her "Are you serious?" every step of the way, and Alex's only answer had been to show her an even more incredible thing, so she felt like she was floating blissfully, never to land. Honestly, that was how she wanted it. No landing was necessary.

Suddenly, she felt a moist kiss precisely on the strip of skin that was visible between her top and her shorts. She lifted the pillow to discover the dark-haired woman kneeling next to the bed, her lips still on her belly.

"So, what's the score?" Alex asked, circling Piper's belly button with one finger. "Who's winning?"

"Stomach virus, 12 - Piper, 0."

"Aww, you'll get there, babe, you'll kick its ass."

"How are you?" Piper asked, bringing a hand to Alex's face.

As expected, the brunette shrugged. She wasn't going to get into that. "Fine. I was just wondering if you were in need of a big spoon."

Piper smiled and carefully turned onto her side, making room for Alex. The bikini-clad woman climbed into the bed and pressed her body against Piper's back. One hand gently covered her upset stomach, while the other combed back her hair.

"No, don't get too close, I'm all sweaty and disgusting."

"I don't care." Alex said, placing a kiss on her humid temple. "Looks like you're still a bit warm. But you're better."

"Yeah…" Piper closed her eyes. "I can't sleep at all in this place, though."

"Come here, turn around. No puking, though."

The blonde faced a grinning Alex, who held her against her breast. She then covered Piper's eyes with her hand. "That better?"

"Uh-huh."

Her skin felt cool, even if she had just come in from the sun, because Piper's was hotter, and she had brought a faint odor of pot into the room. Relaxing against the woman's body, Piper tried to synchronize their breathing patterns. She felt weak and incredibly vulnerable, perhaps more than ever, but knew that she was safe. More than anything, she believed in Alex's protection.

She recalled how she'd been the one to take care of Alex the night they'd watched the volcano, how invincible they'd been for a moment, how alone in the world. That night, she'd actually seen how much the brunette needed her, and how wonderful and terrible it must've made her feel - how helpless. Because Alex was happy being the strongest magnet in the world, and Piper was happy to bask in her attractive pull, but this thing between them wasn't a one-way street; it couldn't be, or it would've finished much earlier. With her touches, she'd tried to inform Alex that it was okay to feel that way and, most importantly, that she wasn't going anywhere. She hoped she had managed to communicate that yes, Alex was allowed to be that scared little girl once in a while, even if the other ninety-nine percent of the time she was that object of unstoppable attraction.

That night, Alex had sighed into her mouth and dug her fingers into the skin of her arms and back, and whispered that she loved her before falling asleep. Piper hadn't known if Alex had been conscious of what she'd said, and still wasn't exactly sure of it now either. It had just happened that one time.

But what did she feel? What did she feel, day in, day out, during every single minute they spent together? That there was an invisible thread linking them, that the universe sometimes threw the dice in a very promising manner and people called it destiny. Piper didn't believe in destiny, but believing in that inexplicable thread that bound them… yes, she was somehow capable of doing that.

Piper grasped Alex's hand, the one that was covering her eyes, and pushed it upwards so that she could see the other woman's face. How could she believe in the consistence of their feelings when they were just two people floating in a space continuum, building their foundations in the clouds, like an air castle? She didn't know how, but it felt real.

It could be the fever. It could be that she was feeling sick, and down, and rather repulsive. It could be that the inhabitants of an entire village were probably still laughing at her, and that "home" was so far away that she felt she couldn't even remember the façade of her parent's house. It could be that she no longer had a home, that she no longer answered Polly's e-mails to narrate the million things she'd seen and done. What was the point, when she had become this being on an unending journey? It was scary, how good it felt, to be so unconnected to anything but Alex, to have Alex as the only constant, and only home.

And if that was love, well… then she was in it.

"I love you too," she whispered, choosing to assume that Alex had in fact said it first, several nights before, and this was just Piper answering her, saying it back, if only with a bit of a holdup.

Judging by the brunette's reacting expression, Piper realized that she had been right, that Alex had indeed murmured those words in the tent, and also that she remembered having done so. She looked stunned, but not as much as she would've been if Piper's words had come out of the blue, without context.

Alex kissed her and embraced her feverish body cautiously, surely being less effusive than she would've been if Piper had been her usual self. The brunette was holding back, and Piper felt her trembling slightly with emotion, which overwhelmed her and made her teary-eyed.