The Final Step

Piper was blushing as she listened to the things Alex was whispering in her ear while they walked up the driveway to the house. They had just concluded another perfect date night. Piper couldn't even keep track of what number it was, because they had all been so fantastic.

The great changes that Alex was exhibiting made Piper fall in love with this woman even more. She was around more, she was more focused on her family rather than some drop-off thousands of miles away, and her paranoia had decreased significantly. It had been almost five months since the older woman had left the cartel and things were on the up and up. Alex had even joined the Popi staff as the imports and exports manager after she and Polly had sat down and came to an agreement that if she were to ever hurt Piper again, Polly had full permission to fire her and kick her ass for hurting Piper a second time. Seeing Alex at work the two days a week she came in only helped strengthen their relationship even further. Polly constantly griped at them for the constant love stares and steamy make out sessions she caught them in at the back of the store in the stock room. The couple couldn't help it, things were working for them and they couldn't be happier. They were like two lovesick teenagers.

Alex had stayed over at Piper's house multiple times in the past month and vice versa. Parker had called it a 'sleepover', but there really wasn't much sleeping going on between the two. Alex had made Piper wait two and a half months before they engaged in any kind of sexual act. Piper was ready to go after three weeks but respected the brunettes' wishes even though it was much to her dismay. This was completely unlike Alex to wait, especially with sex, but Piper understood that Alex didn't want to fuck things up. Overall it had been over a year since Alex had touched Piper, but it was worth it. The first skin on skin contact was a sensory overload to the pair and the rest of the night was magical. They not only reconnected on a physical level but broke through another emotional level.

Piper quietly unlocked the front door and before she could get the door all the way open, Finn leaped at Piper with a sleepy Parker following close behind. Inside Piper was disappointed that Parker wasn't already asleep so she and Alex could have some alone time, but quickly painted a smile on her face to greet her god son.

"Hi Finn!"

Alex quickly walked around Piper to tend to their sleepy two year old. You could practically see he was ready to fall asleep just standing there. The mother and son quickly disappeared up the stairs while Polly gathered Finn and told Piper goodbye.

Piper saw her best friend and son out, while profusely thanking her for watching her son on such short notice. She was grateful that she and Polly were still friends after all these years because although she had a bad habit of bluntly stating her opinion, she was there for her through every major event the past ten years.

Back inside, Alex gently laid Parker in his new big boy bed that she had purchased for him and hoped to God he would stay in it and not decide to have a play time session in the middle of the night. The small boy had successfully learned to scale the crib and get out of it a month earlier. Alex being worried that he would fall and hurt himself, took him to pick out his new bed. Parker had been a little ball of excitement when Alex had pieced the simple, wooden, twin sized bed together earlier that morning. Parker was even insistent that he was a big boy now that he was out of the 'baby bed'. Alex felt confident that he wouldn't even move because it was way past his bedtime but she still had her concerns.

The once seven pound boy was now twenty nine pounds and growing smarter every day. Piper had even noticed that since Alex was around more with her extensive vocabulary, Parker's vocabulary was expanding very rapidly also in good ways and bad. One night while in the bath tub, Parker had dropped a toy he was playing with outside the tub and Piper clearly heard the word 'shit' come out of his tiny mouth as he peered over the edge. It took all of Piper's being to not laugh in front of her son for the saying, knowing exactly where he picked it up from, but also made sure that he understood it wasn't a nice word to say.

As Piper closed the front door, she turned to see Alex looking down over the balcony at her with a loving smile. Piper stood in the center of the foyer smiling back at the raven haired woman.

"Did he go down okay?"

Alex nodded.

"Didn't even want to be read to."

"He really must have been tired."

Relieved that Parker didn't put a up a fight to go to bed, Piper began her journey up the stairs and was greeted by Alex at the top step. Alex stopped the blonde woman and grasped her chin between her thumb and index finger and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. The two intertwined their fingers and walked the short distance from the landing to the master bedroom.

As the two changed into something more comfortable, Piper took a look around the closet. Alex had already filled up two drawers and half of a rack in the closet, but what used to be her side was still pretty empty from when she moved out months ago. In Piper's mind, she was ready to take that final step and let Alex move back in, but whether the brunette was ready for that she wasn't sure.

Alex eyed Piper from her side of the closet knowing she was deep in thought. Piper had this look when she was clearly debating something inside that pretty little head of hers.

"Quit thinking so hard." Alex joked while pulling on a pair of sweatpants and an old band t-shirt.

Piper snapped her head towards the older woman.

"What?"

Alex sauntered over to Piper and placed her arms around her thin waist.

"I said, stop thinking so hard."

Piper wrapped her arms around Alex's neck and looked into the taller woman's emerald eyes.

"I can't. It's a pretty big topic."

Alex's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Did I not hear something correctly in our meeting this morning? We don't have any huge orders at the moment."

Piper smiled and shook her head.

"No."

"Then what is it?"

Piper leaned forward to confess her secret and whispered into Alex's ear.

"I want you to move back in."

Pulling back to gauge the older woman's reaction, Piper added.

"Only if you're ready too, of course. I just want you here, and I'm pretty sure our son wants you here too."

Alex grinned wide at the blonde woman and leaned forward to play the little game Piper started and whispered, "I'd like that too."

Piper and Alex had been doing extremely well to let each other know where they stood in this new chapter of their lives. Rarely did they stumble upon a topic that wasn't agreed on between the two. Not only was Alex around more and had figured out her priorities, she had been expressing her thoughts more openly than she ever had before. On the other hand Piper was also finally feeling relieved that she wasn't pulling a majority of the weight in the relationship and it had equaled out how it was supposed to be.

The next Saturday, Alex and Piper left Parker with Polly and went to move things from Alex's apartment back to their house. It took all of about four hours to box everything up and moved into the back of Piper's BMW and Nicky's truck. Nicky had offered to help when Lorna had left to go visit her mother in New Jersey for the weekend.

The old friend was happy for Alex and Piper. It had been hard to see both of them go through such a detrimental time, but she had sneaking suspicion that they would end up back together. Even when you looked at the couple you just knew that they belonged together. Nicky was like Polly was to Piper, they both expressed their opinions and didn't hold back because they knew it was what their friend needed to hear. If it wasn't for Nicky's swift kick in the ass she had served Alex the night of the divorce, Alex would probably still be debating on how to break the news to Kubra that she wanted out of the cartel.

Later that night after Alex had hung the last article of clothing in that once spacious looking closet, she felt complete. She had her beautiful blonde woman back in her life, and she was finally under the same roof with her son. Thinking back on the past year, Alex knew it had been a rough one, but she knew the next one be phenomenal.

Alex walked out of the closet and downstairs towards the living room where she found Piper playing on the floor with Parker. They had pulled out the rug that had a tiny town on it and the two were running all of Parkers cars and trucks across it. It warmed Alex's heart to see the two together. Piper was a great mom to Parker and Alex made a mental note to thank her for that later.

As soon as Parker saw Alex's tall frame leaning against the entry way into the living room he popped up and ran towards her. Alex scooped him up and lowered his cheek near her face to give him a kiss. Parker had been ecstatic when Piper and Alex had broken the news to him that his mama was gonna be there all the time again.

Piper stood up off the ground noting that the longer she sat on the wood floor the more her legs hurt when she got up. Walking over to the pair, Piper's phone began to ring. The display blinked 'Carol' in white letters. Quickly pecking Alex on the lips and Parker on the cheek, she walked into the kitchen to take the call.

While Alex sat on the floor commenting on how cool every car or truck was that Parker shoved in her face, she heard Piper's voice raise multiple times throughout the duration of the phone call. Every now and then she would catch Piper pacing back and forth in the kitchen. Wanting to make sure the blonde was okay, Alex left the two year old to his trucks and walked into the kitchen.

She found Piper leaning against the island with her forehead in her palm while the other held the phone up to her ear. Alex could faintly hear Carol berate Piper for allowing her to move back into the house. Apparently the gardener for the house across the street was the exact gardener that Carol used and had told her that he had observed Piper and Alex moving things in and being affectionate. Piper or Alex didn't put it past themselves that Carol would be so sneaky like that, but it was still a surprise.

Piper had told her parents that she and Alex were on good terms and spending more time together for the sake of their son. She failed to inform them that she and Alex were also trying to rebuild their relationship together. Carol was not at all fond of Alex being around but when the subject of her grandson came into the conversation, her toned changed dramatically. Piper had hid the impending relationship for five months and she was finally caught.

Alex placed a comforting hand on the small of Piper's back to get her attention. Piper turned into the touch and placed her forehead on Alex's shoulder.

"Yes mother, I understand, but this is my life and I know what's best for me. I don't appreciate you sending me numbers of men from the country club when I already am in a committed relationship."

Carol went into another rant and Piper sighed heavily into Alex's shoulder.

A couple of minutes later when the conversation was wrapping up, Piper agreed to bring Parker by the next morning for brunch but she and Alex wouldn't be attending. She wouldn't deny her parents to see their only grandchild because of the support they put forth to make sure he was in good hands during the divorce, but if Carol couldn't accept that Alex was back in the picture, she didn't want to be there. In the back of her mind, the blonde woman wondered what her father thought of all this. He always had a strong liking for Alex, she could talk money with him and she cared for his daughter a way that she deserved to be treated. Even when Piper had personally told him about the divorce over a morning coffee he offered to pay for marriage counseling because he knew in his heart that Alex was the right one for Piper. It was his fatherly instinct kicking in.

Piper ended the call and set the phone down before wrapping herself around Alex's tall frame. It was a few moments before Piper spoke.

"We have to take Parker for brunch in the morning but we aren't staying."

"We're not staying?"

Alex knew that Piper had become bolder as she talked to her mother, but she didn't know that Piper had grown that bold to skip out on the routine Sunday brunch.

"She can't accept the fact that we're together again. I'll let her see her grandson, but we're not staying."

The brunette woman could understand the fact that Piper wanted to avoid drama with her mother but inside she knew that if Piper didn't grace Carol with her presence but allowed her to see Parker, her mother would be okay with that. Alex had noticed from the beginning when Parker was born, that Carol cared more about her precious grandchild than her own daughter. On the other hand, Alex was worried that Carol Chapman was trying to turn her son into a full on modern day WASP.

"Pipes." Alex paused. "Don't you think that avoiding her would just make the situation worse? I mean I know emotional chaos is not something you're great at handling, but she needs to understand that if I'm in the picture again, she's going to HAVE to see me eventually. I'm Parker's mother too, does she not understand that?"

Piper shook her head.

"She'll avoid you at all costs, like she always does."

"All she cares about is her grandson. Don't you think that if we took that privilege away she might, just might, try?"

"I don't know. I know things are never going to be great between you two because she can't come to grips that I am in love with a woman, but if she could just tolerate you for two hours every Sunday and every holiday, that would be fantastic."

Alex nodded her head to encourage Piper to keep going.

"I love you and that's not ever going to change, but it makes me feel so horrible that she treats you like she does."

A look of defeat was plastered on Piper's face. Alex smiled and cupped Piper's face gently with her hands. The tall woman bent down to place a small kiss on Piper's lips and rested her forehead on the shorter woman's.

"I love you too, and I'm telling you this now, I don't care how she treats me because you make up for it. I'd have to say I've done a pretty damn good job holding my tongue with her the past ten years. If we can just come to an agreement to tolerate each other, that's all I will ever ask of the woman."

"You're right." Piper murmured.

"And in all honesty, I don't want Parker to grow up thinking his grandmother and mother hate each other."

"Okay. We can try to be civil with her. Obviously yelling doesn't achieve anything."

Piper nodded as she strained her lips upwards to kiss Alex again.

"I could've told you that."

Alex winked.

Piper reached behind the taller woman and placed a loud smack on Alex's ass.

"Smartass."

Just as Piper's hand removed itself from Alex's backside, Parker walked into the kitchen and hung on the refrigerator handle. If Parker was old enough Piper would have guessed that he was looking at his mother's like 'Why are you constantly being affectionate? It's gross' but instead she settled that on he was thirsty. Picking up on what Piper was grinning at, Alex chuckled.

The Next Morning…

The whole ride to the Chapman manor, Piper clutched Alex's hand tight within hers. Even with Alex placing small kisses on the back of Piper's hand, she could still tell she was nervous.

"Relax, babe."

Alex glanced away from the road to look at Piper. Her demeanor told it all, she was nervous and fearful for what was to come of the morning.

Once the family had pulled up to the large house, with the very detailed front yard with precisely cut hedges and gardens, Alex reached over the center console to place a lingering kiss on Piper's lips and told her that everything was going to be okay.

After getting a sleeping Parker from his seat, and situating him on her hip, Alex walked to the front of the car where Piper was waiting and grabbed her hand.

The walk to the front door seemed to happen in the blink of an eye to Piper but before she pressed the doorbell, she situated herself and took a deep breath.

Not thirty seconds after the doorbell was rung, Carol Chapman opened the door with Bill trailing behind her.

"Hello, Mother."

A/N: I'm sorry the previous chapter was of poor quality, I hope this one was a little better. Things have just been super crazy for me.

Also, this chapter is the second to last, and there will be an epilogue posted soon after the next chapter is posted.