Piper found herself wandering the streets of Sydney. Polly was with her family still and wouldn't get back to the hotel until late. She didn't want to intrude on the family's grieving process, so she opted to pay her respects and then explore the city some more whilst she was still here.
It was starting to get dark out and Piper found herself lost in the middle of the bustling city. The Qantas Credit Union Arena was on the opposite side of the road to her as she stood outside of a Holiday Inn, completely lost and with only 2% battery left on her phone.
A crowd of people were piling out of the stadium, obviously there had been a concert of some sort, and Piper watched as people bundled into taxis or crossed the road, and went into the pub on the corner to keep the party going.
Piper was stressing out and decided that she'd go and have one drink to calm herself down, before figuring out where her hotel was and how she was going to get to it.
It was getting darker by the second. Piper reached into her bag, looking for her portable phone charger just as she twisted her ankle on the cracked pavement slab.
"Ow, fuck!" she sighed, rubbing her ankle.
Four men were standing outside the pub watching her laughing, they approached her. One of them reaching down to help pick up the stuff that fell out of her bag, whilst the others leered at her.
A slight chill ran down her spine as she watched one lick his lips, looking at her as if she were a piece of meat.
"I think these are yours." the man crouched before her spoke with a heavy Australian accent.
"Um, thanks." Piper forced a smile, taking her purse and things from him, and putting them back in her bag.
The other three men all crowded around her slowly, looking her up and down.
Piper had never been more petrified or felt more violated in her whole life. She took a step back, stumbling into one of them. They put their hands on her waist and she recoiled like a spring.
"Get off of me!" she said disgustedly.
The four men looked at each other laughing, obviously drunk out of their minds as they each took a few steps closer to her.
Piper's hands began to shake and she didn't know what to do. The pub's atmosphere was so loud that she could've heard it down the other end of the road.
No one would be able to hear me anyway, she thought as her heart started racing and her eyes started to water. She looked around frantically, noticing that the streets were now empty.
Fuck, she thought as she closed her eyes, losing grip of her bag as it slipped through her trembling fingers.
"Hey, I'm just gonna go outside for a smoke." Alex shouted to her friend who was clearly too wasted to hear a single word she'd said.
She made her way to the door, dodging in between people as they entered the already overcrowded pub.
A glimpse of blonde hair shot through her peripheral vision and she turned to get a better look. Alex watched as four burly men surrounded a woman. A blonde woman. One of the men were pushed by the woman and Alex's eyes fell upon a very distressed looking Piper. Her blood ran cold as she heard a slight shriek and instinct took over. It was as if her body was working by itself whilst her mind took a few more seconds to catch up.
"There you are! I told you to text me when you were outside, I said I'd meet you." Alex said loudly, gaining the attention of all the men and Piper. She smiled reassuringly as she walked toward the shaking woman. Barging past one of the guys, she open her arms, brow raising in silent question if she was alright. The blonde practically fell into her arms, her head hiding in the crook of her neck.
Alex's arms wrapped around the blonde, a relieved sigh coming from her as she felt Piper's arms wrap around her waist tightly, still shaking slightly.
"Is there a problem here, mates?" Alex glared at each of the men, doing a purposefully terribly attempt at their accent when she said 'mates'.
Each of the men looked at her and shook their heads, leaving the women alone and stumbled their way back into the pub.
Alex felt tears on her shoulder and her heart broke for the blonde. She wanted to kick those men in the balls. Each of them for even thinking what she knew they were thinking.
"Shh, hey… hey, it's okay." Alex said quietly, her hand rubbing the blonde's back soothingly.
"I thought for sure they were…" Piper mumbled against Alex's shoulder.
"I'd never have let them do that." Alex promised, her grip on the blonde tightening.
Piper had never felt so relieved to see someone in her whole life, than she was when she saw Alex in that moment.
She was still shaking when Alex pulled back sightly. "I'll go get my jacket and I'll walk you back to your hotel. Wait, your friend isn't here with you is she?" she wondered.
"No, she's with her family. She said she'd be back late, so I decided to explore the city some more, and then it started to get dark out… so I tried to find my way back to the hotel but my phone ran out of battery and I got lost and…" Piper was rambling, and more tears were falling down her face.
Alex wiped them away with her thumbs. "Well, it just so happens that I have some battery left on my phone." she said suggestively, a small smile on her face.
"I don't want to ruin your night." Piper said in a small voice. Alex couldn't remember a time when she'd seen someone look so small and vulnerable.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, before walking backwards towards the pub. When she noticed the blonde wasn't beside her, she turned around and raised a brow in question.
"You coming?" she asked, holding her hand out.
Piper nodded sheepishly and without a second thought, grabbed onto Alex's hand.
Alex guided them through the crowded bar, keeping Piper close behind her.
"Nichols, I'm gonna walk Pipes back to her hotel and then probably head back to ours. Don't wake me up when you get back." she yelled over the music to her best friend.
Nicky just nodded, waving to them as she took another shot.
A small smile formed on Piper's lips at the little nickname Alex had given her.
Alex grabbed her jacket and led the way out, draping the leather jacket over her arm she turned to face the blonde.
"So, where we headed, Kid?" she asked, noticing that Piper still hadn't let go of her hand yet, and was instead holding onto it for dear life.
She smoothed the pad of her thumb over the blonde's knuckles, "Hey, it's alright. No one's gonna hurt you." she promised, tucking a blonde strand behind Piper's ear.
Piper glanced up from beneath her lashes at Alex, she could see the promise was clear in her green gaze. Her eyes trailed down to take in the fiercely protective stance of the woman standing before her. Her gaze lowered to the jeans that the raven-haired woman was wearing and she took note of how well they defined her curves… in all the right places. Biting her lip, she looked up into green eyes once more and nodded.
"I… I'm staying at the Waverly Hotel." she sniffled, pulling her scarf around her more.
Alex's eyes lit up at this new piece of information as a goofy grin spread on her face.
"What?" Piper asked, giggling slightly.
"That's where we're staying! I can't believe we haven't bumped into each other in the week that we've been here already?" Alex said in disbelief, turning to make her way towards their hotel.
"I can't believe we haven't bumped into each other sooner." Piper commented, still in disbelief after 10 minutes of walking in companionable silence. Still holding each others hand.
Alex glanced over, her signature smirk plastered on her face as she raised her brow. "You almost sound disappointed. Like you missed me. Was our 21 hour and 40 minute flight not enough?" she teased, bumping her shoulder into Piper's.
Piper stumbled and bumped her shoulder into Alex's, rolling her eyes but unable to stop the laugh that bubbled up, "You wish."
Instead of admitting that yes she did in fact wish that, Alex just winked and whispered conspiratorially, "Your secret's safe with me, Kid."
"Shut up!" Piper whined, covering her face with her free hand and resting her head on Alex's shoulder to try and hide her blush.
Piper shivered on their way back to the hotel and Alex pulled them to a stop, unfolding her leather jacket and helped the blonde into it.
"Thanks." Piper was sure she would be as red as a tomato by now, but didn't care much as she saw the look that Alex gave her. It wasn't like the predatory stares of the men from before. It was a look filled with affection and a familiar warmth. She liked the way Alex made her feel, and that confused her because she'd never experienced this with a woman before. She'd always been attracted to men… that was until Alex Vause.
"No worries." she said simply, shrugging she grabbed hold of Piper's hand again, interlacing their fingers before walking towards the hotel again.