A/N Hey guys, sorry for not updating this sooner but I had a day off from writing and then spent most of yesterday working on my other fan fic and it was quite a monster of a chapter to write. In good news, I had an epiphany the other night and I now know exactly what is going to happen in this story. I have a few key plot points that I would love to explore so as long as you guys are wanting to keep reading, I will keep writing. Personally, I think you guys are going to love what is to come.

Now to some reviews:

Al: God me too, I love the Vauseman pairing. I just love their dynamic and how they fit together so perfectly.

Guest and Solitary100: I'll answer your reviews together. When I started this fan fic I had a fairly good idea as to what she could have been through. As I wrote, that vision has become so much clearer. Expect to have your questions answered about Piper's past in the near future. Haven't decided exactly where I want to put it in yet, but I know it'll be soon.

Luveverythingtv: Yay, I'm glad you liked it. As I said above, expect to find out what happened to Piper fairly soon. I like your theory, but of course I'm not going to give it away because I'm a meany and am going to make you wait to find out :P

As always, a massive thanks for the reviews keep them coming- I love hearing what you guys think. Thanks again to those who have favourited or are following it means so much to me. Seriously, the response to this has been more than I could ever have hoped for and I hope that I keep living up to your expectation with each updated chapter.

Mrosse38

A ray of sunshine blares through the partially open curtains of Piper's bedroom, causing her to stir and awaken from her slumber. Laying on her back, she attempts to shift her body from the bed, panic setting in as she feels a weight holding her frame down on the bed. Glancing to her torso, she calms immediately at the sight of the familiar arms that encompass her body. Piper's eyes trail from the arms that hold her protectively, up to the face of the still sleeping brunette, noting how her face was relaxed and lips slightly parted as she slept. God, she's so beautiful Piper thinks to herself, continuing to stare at the raven haired beauty as she raises her hand, and gently strokes a stray piece of hair from her face and behind her ear. Alex shifts in her sleep at the touch, before her emerald eyes flutter open. "Hey," she rasps out as she smiles at Piper, her voice still laced with sleep, as she subconsciously tightens her grip around Piper's body slightly.

"Hey," Piper smiles back, loving the feeling of being in Alex's arms.

"How'd you sleep? No, nightmares?" Alex asks, lifting her head from the pillow so she can see Piper's face more clearly.

"Good, and nope none at all," Piper answers happily, feeling the most rested she had been in a long while. "What about you?"

"Best sleep I've had in a long time," Alex replies truthfully, taking her hand and cupping Piper's face as she stares deeply into her eyes. They continue to gaze at each other in silence, bodies now facing each other's fronts, faces centimetres apart.

"You know, you are first person who I have ever actually fallen asleep and woken up to." Piper says shyly, shifting her eyes from Alex's in embarrassment at her confession. It was true, Piper had never once fallen asleep with anyone, for both the fear of her potential nightmares and also lacking the ability to trust someone enough to be in a state of relax in front of them. Normally, she would be the first to bail out after sex in an effort to avoid falling asleep beside that person. Yet, here she was still fully clothed in last night's clothing, happily waking up in the arms of the woman in front of her.

Alex gives her a broad smile, lifting her chin so their eyes meet once again. "Well, I'm truly honoured," she says, shifting her body forward to gently brush her lips against Piper's. Piper smiles into the kiss, feeling the happiest she had felt in a long time. "Mmm, I could get use to this," Piper whispers to Alex as they break their kiss, surprised at her own admission.

Alex smiles again and gently strokes the pads of her fingertips down Piper's cheek before answering. "Me too, kid."

"Knock, knock bitches," Nicky yells as she throws open the bedroom door, causing it to crash loudly against the wall of the room startling the two girls on the bed, who proceed to pull apart at the sudden intrusion. "Good morning to you too Nicky," Piper says, wiping the sleep from her eyes as she sits up from the bed and looks towards her friend.

"Damn, I must say I was imagining a lot less clothing when I realised that Vause didn't sleep on the couch last night. You must be losing your touch, P" Nicky says with a laugh, as she walks across the room and ungracefully throws herself onto the bed, grinning at Piper as she does.

Alex laughs, while Piper shakes her head at Nicky, throwing her pillow at the head of the wild haired girl. "Shut up," she mumbles at her, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment. Nicky was right, normally Piper would have had sex ten times over, but Alex was different and the concept of feeling an emotional connection was foreign to Piper so she was opting to take it slow because she really didn't want to this fuck up.

"Was there something that you wanted Nicky or did you really just storm into my room hoping to catch a glimpse of a parade of tits and ass?" Piper asks, Alex laughing loudly at her description as she continues to lay on Piper's bed with her head raised from the pillow to look at Nicky.

"You know me Pipes, I love me some tits and ass but no. I actually came to tell you that your amazing roommate Nicky has been ever so nice to you and made breakfast" Nicky quips referring to herself in the third person.

"Oh, I thought I could smell something burning," Piper replies with a laugh as she raises herself from the bed, dodging the incoming pillow Nicky attempts to throw back at her. "Sounds great Nick, we will be out there in a few."

Taking it as her cue to leave, Nicky stands from the bed and walks towards the door, throwing a quick wink in Piper's direction as she leaves.

"Already referring to us as a 'we' I see," Alex says, her eyebrows raised, as she stands from the bed, causing Piper to whip her body around to face her. Piper's eyes widen at the realisation of her words and she blushes a deep shade of crimson. "Oh shit sorry…..i was just trying to get rid of her," she finally manages to stutter out in an attempt to justify her words.

Alex throws her head back and laughs at the blonde. "I'm just fucking with you Piper" she laughs, mimicking the words Piper had said to her just under 24 hours before.

Piper smiles widely at Alex. "You bitch, say you are sorry," she says, as she too remembers the conversation they had had the previous day.

Alex laughs again and walks around from the side of the bed to where Piper is standing and places her hands on Piper's hips and pulls her body against hers. "How about I show you how sorry I am by taking you out tonight?"

"What on like a date?" Piper asks, nerves setting in at the realisation that she has never actually been out on a real public date before.

"Yep, is that uh okay?" Alex asks, suddenly worried that she was pushing to blonde too far too soon, knowing that Piper had wanted to take things slow and was not used to the whole concept of 'dating'.

"Yer, you know I've never actually been on a proper date before" Piper confesses to Alex shyly.

Alex looks at Piper in shock, before quickly recovering. "Well, I guess I better make it the best date ever. Are you sure you're okay with this? I don't want to push you to do anything too soon."

"No, a date sounds great," Piper says with a warm smile, giving Alex a quick kiss on the lips as reassurance. "Now let's go eat breakfast before Nicky storms back in here and tries to force feed it down our throats" Piper laughs, grabbing Alex's wrist and leading her out the bedroom and towards the kitchen.

….

Sadly for Piper, and as much as she wanted to simply spend the whole day with Alex (which for her was an incredibly abnormal thing as she normally got sick of people fairly quickly), she had the unfortunate task of a training session she must attend. After scoffing down her breakfast and taking a quick shower, Piper had said her goodbyes and set off towards the gym, telling Alex to meet her there later that night to begin their date.

Piper stands, stance wide and gloves raised at the boxing bag in front of her, jabbing at the bag with her gloves as sweat pours from her body. "Hey Piper, I'm heading off" Bennett calls to her from across the room, causing her attention to break away from the bag and for her to look in his direction.

"Okay," Piper pants out. "Just leave the spare and I'll lock up for you when I'm done."

Bennett nods, placing the spare key down next to Piper's bag and gives her one final wave before he exits through the door of the gym and disappears into the night.

Piper returns her focus back to the bag and continues to jab at it, bouncing backwards from one foot to another to help provide her some rhythm. A light rapping on the glass of the front door of the gym causes her to stop yet again and she looks up to see a smiling Alex waving at her from through the door. Piper smiles in return and walks over towards the door, removing on of her gloves so she can unlock the door and let her in. "Hey" Alex greets her as she walks past her and into the gym.

"Hey."

"So this is where you come to play?" Alex asks as she looks around, taking in the features of the old gym.

"Haha yep" Piper replies. "Sorry, I was just finishing up. I'll just have a quick shower and then we should be good to go" Piper continues as she walks towards her gym bag and takes a sip from her water bottle.

Alex suddenly stop and stares at Piper before walking towards her, stopping just in front of her and smiling widely.

"What?" Piper asks curiously, scrunching her face slightly as she watches Alex continuing to stare at her.

"Oh nothing, I just never realised how fucking hot you looked in your boxing gear" she replies, her eyes raking over Piper's fit body. Piper was wearing only a navy blue crop top and a pair of barely there Nike running shorts, allowing Alex a good view of her well-formed 6-pack and long, toned tan legs.

"Oh yeah?" Piper laughs as she raises her eyes to meet Alex's which burn with desire. Turning her body to face Alex, she wraps her arms around her neck and gently pulls her head closer in order to be able to whisper in Alex's ear. "You should see how hot they look off me," she purrs as her usual self-confidence begins to surface, not really caring in that moment what she was insinuating but rather feeling the need to make Alex weak at the knees.

Alex's eyes widen at her words and she lets out a small moan as she feels the heat beginning to build in her core. This was one of the first times Piper had properly flirted and by god did she find it hot. "God, you are such a tease Piper" she growls out at the blonde, failing miserably to control the need she was feeling from surfacing in her voice.

"I know," Piper grins as she hears the sex laced in Alex's voice. "But like they say good things cum to those who wait" she says in a low voice, smiling wider as she watches Alex take a sudden intake of breath, loving the effect she was having on the brunette.

"Ugh, you are insufferable" Alex groans out as she feels her cheeks begin to flush.

Piper leans in to gently kiss Alex, before pulling back to look at her, her face serious. "I want to do this right Alex. Believe me, there's nothing I'd rather do than take you right here and right now. Sex for me is normally some quick way to blow off some steam, but with you I want it to be different, I know it will be different. I'm new to this whole dating thing and I really don't want to fuck this up."

Alex smiles and leans her forehead against Piper's, despite knowing Piper's feelings for her it never ceased to make her heart skip a beat when Piper actually told her. "I know you do Pipes, but stop stressing so much. You're not going to fuck this up, I won't let you. Besides, I'm too selfish to let you go anyway."

Piper smiles at Alex's words, feeling a sense of calm wash over her at the thought that Alex was just as invested in this as she was. Piper struggled with expressing her emotions, yet Alex understood her so well, easily seeing through Piper's bullshit and understanding what she truly meant. The fact that, even after such a short period of time, Alex could read her so well meant that whatever they had was something special. Something Piper knew she wouldn't take for granted. Despite in all her 23 years, she had never wanted to be with someone for more than a one night stand, yet as Piper found herself standing here in Alex's arms her mind drifting to thoughts of the future, a future that predominately involved Alex. It both terrified and excited her and Piper was willing to do whatever it would take to make this work.

Alex stood back from their embrace, smiling at Piper. "Now, enough with this sappy shit before we have to go a few rounds in that ring to get some of our badassness back."

Piper laughs as Alex's phrasing, loving how even after such serious words were exchanged, Alex knew how to lighten the mood. "You couldn't take me even if you wanted to Vause" she quips with a wink.

"Oh, believe me I can take you just fine, well maybe not in the ring but certainly in other things" Alex laughs, returning the wink, it now her time to watch Piper's face flush at her words. "Now, go get that fine sweaty ass of yours in the shower so I can show you what a real date is."

A/N I planned to feature the date in this chapter but felt like it was just going to end up too long and I really want to have room to freely write about it. So, next chapter (and probably the next few after this) is going to have some cute Vauseman goodness for you all- so you all can look forward to that.

At the time of writing this, I haven't decided whether I will be writing the next chapter for this or my other fan fic. But, either way I plan to get both finished within the next few days so hopefully you won't have to wait long for an update. I have another assignment that I plan to do tomorrow so I probably won't get much writing done, but I do promise that the next chapter for this will be up no later than Tuesday night Australian time. You guys are so amazingly supportive so I'm wanting to keep you in the loop with things as much as possible because I know how horrible it can be waiting around for a new chapter to be published. Feel free to shoot me a pm message if you have any questions about this story and I will happily reply to the best of my ability, without giving away plot spoilers of course.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please let me know what you guys think.