19

"Do you want to help me?," she asked the boy who had been at her heels all afternoon. She'd been putting in longer hours at work, staying later, having Piper come pick him up, it was understandable that he was more clingy then usual. He nodded following her and stood beside the dryer. She filled the basket once and handed him a sweatshirt and a pair of pants, "let's go, put these on the bed and we'll come back for the next batch." He did what he was told, and followed her to the dryer once more. He held onto the edge, stuck his head in to see how many clothes remained, when she pulled him back,"you never go in there, alright? It's...hot," she reasoned. He got into the laundry basket as she pulled out another armful of their clothes and laughed to herself while piling them ontop of him. She lifted with her legs and carried the basket to their bed, "this one's heavy look out below," she said as Piper came out of their bathroom and watched her son tumble out of the basket with their laundry.

"Are you guys having fun?," she said pulling out the drawer that held their bathing suits and tossed hers into the open suitcases that lay on the floor. "Which do you want?"

"Surprise me," Alex said while grabbing her wintergreen tic tacs off the bureau and popping one in her mouth.

"I want one."

"You don't like these, you always spit them out." He crawls over on his knees and opens his mouth.

She looks over at Piper while reaching back to grab the tic tacs back off the bureau. "This one?," the blonde lifts a black string bikini.

Alex laughs at the hilarity, "is that even mine?" She puts a tic tac between her front teeth and bites it in two and puts half in Jamie's mouth.

Piper laughs back, "I may have bought it for another occasion, on our own, just wanted to see your face."

"Spicy," he says a few moments later and spits the morsel of a tic tac into his hand and hands it to Alex.

"Uh, uh, Piper, your baby is stubborn and sticky," she says motioning to Piper to come handle the situation.

"I'm your baby," he says pointing to Alex as Piper lifts him off the bed to wash his hands in the bathroom in their bedroom.

"Everytime," Alex says back to him, "why don't you listen to me? Stubborn," she says lifting him back onto the bed. He jumps around some while holding onto her hand and jumps up into her body and starts sniffing her like a puppy. "Woof woof, you smell like this," he says holding up a clean shirt.

Piper holds up another bathingsuit, a black floral two piece, "Pipes," she says with a gentle whine.

"You said I could pick, this one has twenty times more material, hush," she silences her wife and adds it to the growing pile in the suitcase. "I'll bring this one for you too," she says tossing in Alex's favorite mod one piece that she's had for an unnatural length of time.

"Can you grab my culottes as well?," she says as James continues to bounce all over their bed, yanking her arm as he goes.

"Those culottes are well beyond their years, they're worse than the bathing suit Al."

"They're my favorite, for trips," she justifies.

"You've had these and the bathing suit since I met you, among other things in here," Piper eyes Alex's collection and aches to throw some things away.

"They're in perfect shape, no holes, that's your rule, they stay."

"And because you've worn them on every trip, it looks like you've taken one epic vacation," she laughs, while Alex pulls them away from her.

Alex holds them up to James with her free hand, "can we keep these?," she asks him.

"Yes," he says pointing to them without missing a bounce of the mattress.

"Great, leave your fashion sense to the two year old with the mismatched socks and backwards undies, doesn't that hurt?"

"Yeah, he looks very distressed. Okay, no more sugar for you today. You still wanna help me?," he nods looking around at the mountain of laundry that's now further scattered throughout the bed. "Alright, grab the towels and put them on this side." He pulls all the towels from around the bed, satisfied with his assistance, and walks off into the bathroom, pulling his step stool that he uses to get on and off the toilet and up to the sink, into the bedroom and watches the dvd's spin until he sees the Wizard of Oz and plays it for the umpteenth time.

Alex finishes folding their clean clothes and looks at the heaping pile Piper has created in their suitcases. "Ay, there's so much stuff, Piper...," she calls out. Piper returns with a toiletry case and an armful of loose travel sized bottles. Alex waves her arm around all of their belongings,

"I know, I'll work it out," she says with intent to give reassurance. She crouches down to start moving around their things to make them fit and looks up to see pale hands fixing raven strands into a messy bun which she holds with both hands on top of her head, her elbows come together blocking her face.

Piper stands up and parts Alex's elbows, "it's alright to be nervous," she nods, trying to get Alex to focus her eyes on her own, "it's the first time they're sending you away with the expectation that you'll gain some insight and skills to benefit the company. It's a big deal, it's good." She presses her forehead against that of her wife, "they wouldn't have bothered with you if they didn't think you were worthy. This," she says breaking away for a moment to point at the clothes and returns, "it's a little overwhelming, but I got it, and I've got him...I've got you both. Why don't you print out whatever travel documents we need and just re-check that you've got all your stuff for the conference, lemme finish the miscellaneous."

She nods and breaks her head away from the blonde rock who has such a strong faith in her, she takes a step back, she's terrified of losing that image. She returns shortly after with documents in hand, most of their things are packed but there's still some items that don't look like they'll fit. Their son sleeps silently, his face pressed into Piper's pillow, his arms wrapped around it.

"You have to roll the clothes, to save space," she whispers to Piper. The blonde looks up over her shoulder, and moves things around so Alex can see she's done just that.

"And the smaller items? Push them into shoes."

"Alex, relax," she says barely above a whisper and tugs her hand so she can sit beside her, "I have packed a bag a few hundred times, I know your little tricks," she picks up a sneaker that's stuffed with a couple of shirts, "got everything?"

"Mmmhmm," she says setting the documents down on their rug and helps Piper re-arrange the last of their belongings, sorting items into back packs and carry-ons, "I miss this."

"Ugh, me too, packing up and running away with you. Just the steps of innocently going through security, sitting on the plane, having that recycled air blast me in the face," Piper laughs giddily, "it's sick, is it not? How much I'm craving it? I don't even care if we just go from LaGuardia to Newark," Alex shoots her a grimace disgusted, "I just want that feeling."

"It's not sick, I want it too," Alex relates.

"Then what's wrong?," Piper places a hand on her thigh and rubs upward.

"S'just the first time I'm getting the opportunity to move up the ladder," she takes a long pause, "legally. It's a chance to provide more for us, get some of my edge back, possibly call the shots again."

Piper moves so that her knees touch Alex's knees, she sits across from her, "and you were good at it," she raises her hand to correct herself and whispers, "really fucking brilliant at it. And you will be again, it's the same skills, just a different playing field." She nods her head slightly, willing Alex to nod along in agreement. She strokes the clenched jawline, grazing the porcelain skin with her fingertips, "and I'm right here," she leans into Alex and kisses her, giving in to her craving, trying to suck the self-doubt right out of the brunette's soul, her nails trace up her arms, the smile Alex fights, breaks through slightly, Piper traces it with two fingers. Piper rises to her knees and looks over at their bed, "even he's thrilled at the prospect," Alex laughs through her nose at the serenity of James nestled atop their bed.

"Ready?," Piper squeezes both of her shoulders. Alex tilts her head all the way back with closed eyes and takes a deep breath, "ready."

They get through security haphazardly, between Jamie demanding on removing his shoes like everyone else, and digging out their seven-days worth of toiletries for two women from their suitcases. They make it to the terminal with some time to spare, Alex takes a seat and looks around. She's been in this airport well over a hundred times, but only once before without being guarded. She couldn't help but wonder who was here, working in similar lines of work that she once had, if they did their job well, she wouldn't be able to pick them out. She refocuses her attention to the long blonde curls that cascade down Piper's back, as their son sits in her lap by the wall of a window, watching her point out different parts of the plane.

They come take a seat by Alex as they start boarding first class passengers. "Erase it... now."

Alex puts on a huge fake smile with wide eyes, trying to make up for the annoyance that had just been seen on her face.

"We could've still flown first class, it's just not necessary, it's a ninety minute flight, and it's not worth it," Piper reassures her.

Alex cuts her snarl short, when Piper cuts her eyes at her for acting immaturely.

"We'll now begin boarding those with assistive devices and those with small children."

Piper nudges her, "Whaaaat? Early boarding? Priori-tay!," she says with a twist of her neck. The blonde shoves Alex to snap out of it, loops her purse over her neck and helps James fit his back pack onto his back. She grabs her roll on suitcase and tells James to hang onto the metal bars, while tucking his Curious George doll under his armpit.

Alex cant get over how cute he looks with his little backpack, "alright, peanut boarding, let's go," she grabbed her suitcase and followed behind her family. They got settled in and throughout the flight, he changed back and forth between the window and the aisle, frequently exchanging conversation with their neighbor across the aisle. As they were exiting, the pilot stood outside the cockpit and said goodbye, allowing Piper to snap a picture of James with him; he pinned a pair of golden wings to his shirt for being a great passenger on his first flight.

Alex is gone early in the morning, she left with ample time to make sure she made it in time for the conference, and could relax beforehand. Piper shot her a text mid-day to check in and Alex said she'd be done by 5 P.M. Alex met them in the lobby and after listening to Jamie talk about his day at the pool, they began their walk to the historic district. Alex went over the detailing of some of the finest homes she'd seen in North America, accompanied by their beautiful gardens. They visited the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist along with other houses of worship before the sun started to set. Piper reveled in the enthusiasm that emanated from Alex's lips, she was in her element, just ejected from a mass of art worshiping architectural nerds, speaking a mile a minute. Piper stopped pushing the stroller with their son as they came to the Avenue of the Oaks. She peered up at the overlap of the lush green trees, covering the sky, blanketing them underneath. "We didn't come here today, but I really wanted to see this with you." She undid Jamie's stroller buckle so he could run around under the trees. Piper grabbed Alex's hand and strolled, dragging the stroller behind them. It was a naturally romantic atmosphere and she was thankful for detour.

Each day, Alex would suggest meeting them for lunch, while Piper told her to stay behind and network. They'd meet up and visit new sites: the home of Juliette Gordon Low, Owens-Thomas House, the Lucas Theatre for the Arts, and the Mercer Williams House. They had dinner on River Street after stopping along sweet shoppe's, their favorite being a bee shop where they sampled a dozen different types of honey and Piper took special interest in their honey body products. She went to town grabbing products to show Polly before making their way out to saunter through the quaint cobblestoned street.

After a few more days, Alex felt rejuvenated within her career field and knew she'd made the right decision in attending her conference to aid in her progression within the world of architectural art design. She was excited to get back and share what she'd learned along with her new ideas that seemed to keep churning out from within the wheels of her brain, but she was also ready for a few days of waking up on her own clock and spending some time with her biggest cheerleaders.

"Hilton Head Island: Population 38,366," Piper shouted over the wind that came through their windows, "almost there baby." Alex rolled down the rear window and told Jamie to breathe in, "can you smell the salty air?," she shouted back to him, tilting her head just slightly against the headrest as the sea breeze wove it's way through their rental car. She brought her foot from off the dashboard and adjusted the angle of the sun-visor so she could see him through the mirror, and caught his nose in the air trying to breathe in deep. She tapped Piper's arm to direct her attention toward Jamie so she could see him.

They picked an open spot on the beach, layed out their sheet and secured the corners before digging a hole to anchor their umbrella. Alex, stays under the shade of the umbrella and calls him over to her and starts bathing his skin in sunscreen, asking Piper for his hat, while she begins the unnerving task of covering his face.

"I don't know where it is, give me a minute to get this stuff unpacked."

"He needs his hat, he's gonna get sunburned," she says adamantly. He jogs in place and whines as she tries to rub in the white of the sunscreen into his skin, until she's confident that he's adequately covered.

"What about his swim shirt?," she asks Piper not 2 minutes later, while she starts putting sunscreen on herself.

Piper looks up annoyed, "I said to give me a minute, he's not even standing in the sun."

"According to the National Institute of Health, there is a direct correlation of melanoma and childhood skin exposure under the age of five."

Piper pivots toward her, wide eyed and amazed at how much of a dork her wife is, loser, she mouths with an L shape on her fore-head. "You know some of us have a little bit of pigmentation, and have at least a five minute grace period upon claiming our territory at the beach, alright?"

Alex scratches the corner of her eye with her middle finger before shoving Piper and knocking her onto her ass. She begins rubbing sunscreen on Piper's back, when Jamie protests, "I do it." He puts sunscreen on Piper's back but avoids her bathing suit, "can you go under the straps?," Alex asks him.

"Nooooo," he says while spreading the white lotion all around Piper's back, still cautious to avoid getting any of it on her blue bathing suit. He comes up to her neck, "fishy. "Make sure you cover the fish, so he doesn't get burned either." He covers the fish well, and then asks Alex to sit next to her. Alex asks Piper to watch him to make sure he doesn't miss any of her skin as it's not as forgiving as Piper's. "Shake, shake," he says as her covers the salt shaker. He tosses the tube onto the sheet and points to the water, "lets go."

"Ooooookay, wait a minute," Piper reasons while re-doing Alex's back, knowing that while she'd been giving her a hard time, Alex was extremely prone to sunburns and wanted to make sure she was well covered. "Why don't we hunt for shells, first?"

He holds her hand and makes his way closer to the water with his bucket in tow, squatting down to inspect little shells. He walks back and forth to show Alex each one they find, and she acts amazed every time. She walks down to join them and re-lathers them both. He plays with Piper by the shore, creating castles, while Alex reads a few pages from a book she brought. Her head rises from her book as she hears him scream as Piper is leaning toward the ground trying to write in the sand, as the waves tease at the boundaries of their castles and threaten to wipe out their letters. She shouts every time the water comes close and he copies, laboriously running away from the water, trying to avoid it from touching his toes. He points to the water and Piper turns back to Alex using her hand to block the sun from her eyes and waving a hand over both of them, trying to explain she's taking him in, to rinse off, as they both resemble Shake n' Bake chicken. She takes him in, wading at first; she holds him in front of her legs and lifts him as the waves roll in. His laughs are just audible over the roar of the water. Alex guffaws at the pair, causing Piper to turn back, her wife's face hidden behind the lens of their camera. Alex's finger stays pressed against the button causing the shutter to speed wildly; she's obsessed with those two, their laughter, they way they move. She sees his fingers bend first, before she hears him, "mama, come!"

Piper walks them out and sets him down, he marches over toward Alex, who's still sitting on their sheet, snapping photos as he gets closer. He's getting so big, she thinks as she refocuses the lens and zooms in on his face, determined, it reads, he's on a mission to get to her as fast as possible. A smile spreads across her lips, concealing her heart ache.

"Mama, come!," he says again while he continues his trek, now picking up to a run, he's running, he's been running, she lowers the camera from her face. It seems as if he conquers something new everyday, constantly trying to prove his independence, "mama-come-oooon," he says finally arriving with a slight whine and thrusts his fists downward, why aren't you getting up this instant?!, he can't fathom the reason behind the glaze of tears coating her eyes. He crouches down and grabs her hand, not because he needs to but because he's an excellent mime and has seen his moms crouch down many times to grab his hand, and because she clearly needs help. He tugs at her arm, she takes the camera from around her neck and pushes herself off the ground, allowing him to escort her back to the water. She swirls him around in the water, while Piper skims a hand along her spine, and then both hands along the brunette's thighs. Alex gently pushes her leg back, guiding Piper away. Their sons arms are around her neck, he watches the water and yells "wave," kicking his feet like a duck, even when it's still 100 feet away.

They play a short game of Marco Polo, Alex tries to keep his eyes shielded, so they don't cheat, before getting out to dry off and eat on the sheet. Piper lays in the sun beside the umbrella, while Alex digs with him, until he asks Piper to look at their creation and is then prompted to get up and get him water to make wet sand for the nineteenth time. They move down closer to the shore, the blonde extends her arm, trying to move her hand far enough away to get a picture with the three of them, when an older woman comments,

"Y'all are just the sweetest," she says with a hand on her hip, Jamie looks up and flashes an I know smile.

"Want me to take a photo of y'all?," she asks already taking the camera from Piper.

"Would you mind? I'm not having much luck here," she moves over behind Jamie some and pulls her hair to the side. The woman takes the picture and hands it back over to Piper, "sweet" she says as she walks away. Alex smiles just slightly through pursed lips and leans back onto her elbows as a breeze comes off the water and gives her chills.

"How long can we stay?," Jamie asks as he pats a plastic sea creature mold filled with sand.

"We can stay as long as you want," Alex answers him softly, "until you're absolutely exhausted."

"Or how about until I'm tired?," he reasons.

She bites her bottom lip and scratches his lower back, "or until you're tired, yes."

Her neck goes slack to the side, she rests her ear onto her shoulder and squints her eyes, watching him contently playing in the sand, while Piper praises all of his sand animals.

She inhales deeply as the waves roar and crash behind her. Piper looks at her over his head, "what's up?," she mouths.

She shakes her head just slightly and mouths back, "nothing."