A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing as always, it's good to see so many of you are sticking with the story as it develops. Things are about to get serious, so fasten your seatbelts as we head towards answering your burning questions!

Piper turned her head slightly to look at Alex and scowled at her.

"You left me."

"I did." Alex went to move her hands from being clasped around Piper's waist but felt the blonde put her own hands over the top of them to keep them in place. Alex rested her chin on Piper's shoulder.

"You didn't answer my question."

"I didn't." Piper shrugged.

"You didn't answer my question or you didn't miss me?" Alex interlinked her fingers with Pipers on top and wrapped her arms fully across the blonde's stomach, pulling her closer.

"I think you're trying to influence my decision here…." She looked down at their hands, but couldn't manage to hide her smile from Alex.

"Does that mean you aren't going to answer?" She pecked her on the cheek.

"It means you are trying to sway the decision in your favour."

Alex moved her mouth up from Piper's shoulder towards her ear. "If…..IF….I was trying to…(kiss)….sway your decision…(kiss)…I'd have to be…..(kiss)…sure of a positive…(kiss)…outcome…(kiss)…to make it worth my while." Alex removed her lips from Piper's ear and released her arms from around the blonde before stepping back.

"Glad you're feeling better and I'll let you consider the evidence. Let me know when you've made a decision."

"Wait. What?"

Alex winked and walked to the door, closing it softly behind her as Piper watched her walk to her car through the store window.

XXXXX

It took all of Alex's resolve to not pull Piper into a thorough make out session in the store. She smelled so good and hadn't appeared to be as sulky as the brunette was expecting, so pulling herself away from her had been difficult but necessary. Alex needed to know if Piper was willing to do some of the running to make things work between them now. She'd broken her neck to get to London and back as quickly as she could and Piper had been less than understanding about it from the limited text exchanges they had shared.

She made her way to get some groceries in before calling Nicky to see if she was up for a few beers at the bar they went to the other night. Nicky didn't need any persuading so Alex arranged to pick her up from work later.

XXXXX

Piper walked around PoPi with her phone in her hand for the rest of the afternoon, on the verge of texting Alex until Polly prized it from her hands and put it in the back office.

"Call or don't call, but you need both hands to tidy down the shelves in the front."

"Do you think it looks worse the longer I leave it?"

"Honestly? I don't care. What are you, a teenager with a crush?"

"You could be a bit more sympathetic about my love life…" Piper sighed as she glanced over at where Polly had put her phone.

"Is that what it is? Your love life? I thought it was the Piper and Alex show – also known and the spider and fly." Polly rolled her eyes and went to prepare a bucket of soapy water to clean up the shelves.

"Which one am I then?" Piper shouted to her through the door into the little area they used as a mini-kitchen. Polly didn't answer as the taps were running on full and she was searching for the detergent. She carried the bucket out a few minutes later, carrying a couple of pairs of rubber gloves and some cloths.

"Am I the spider or the fly?" Piper repeated. Polly looked at her for a second, considering the question.

"You're the spider."

Piper beamed like that was the part in the school play she wanted the most.

"I haven't finished. You think you're the spider, but you're probably always gonna end up being the fly…..The fly that is the most difficult for the spider to capture, but a meal so tasty, the spider constantly pursues you….There. That analysis enough for a Thursday?" She threw a pair of rubber gloves at Piper and walked to the front of the store with the bucket.

"But I don't want to be the fly."

XXXX

Nicky and Alex slid into a booth at the bar with a couple of beers. The bar was starting to fill up with the after work crowd and in another couple of hours it would probably be packed for a band that was playing later. Alex told Nicky a bit about the London trip before Nicky insisted she couldn't talk shop unless she was on the clock.

"So, has blondie called you?"

"Has Piper called me? No. Why do you ask?" Alex seemed surprised at the question.

"Because you keep checking your phone when you think I'm not looking."

"What? I'm just checking in case there's any news on the London stuff is all."

"Right. So she didn't call you?"

"No! What does it matter?"

"She was asking me if you were back yet and I told her to call you." Nicky smirked as she took a swig of her beer.

"When was that? I called round to the store this afternoon to see her."

"Probably around lunch time."

Alex smiled, knowing that Piper had been checking up on her and that she'd put the ball back in her court when she left her earlier.

"What happened at the hospital? She said she has to have someone with her during the day, but not at night anymore?"

"That's for Piper to answer. I didn't go in with her, but she said something about high blood pressure and the Doctor wanting her to have more VSU sessions before he gives her the all clear."

"Mmm. Did you stay with her yesterday?"

"Yeah, she met with some hot red head from the VSU at home and then we went to the flicks. It was kinda weird as dates go, but whatever." Nicky grinned when Alex raised her eyebrow at the mention of the 'd' word.

XXXXX

Polly and Piper locked up and went their separate ways home for the night. Piper felt good sitting on the subway like a normal commuter again after a day at work and she was looking forward to some time on her own tonight. She got through the door of her apartment and threw her keys on the table and hung her coat up before flicking the TV on for some background noise while she looked through the cupboards for some ingredients for a quick dinner. She made a pasta with bolognaise sauce and sat to eat it in front of the TV, enjoying the luxury of a TV dinner without any conversation at all. It was bliss and she decided to cap the night off with a long soak in the bath, where she thought about what Alex had said in the store earlier and what Polly had said about her being the fly. She didn't want to be the fly, but as soon as Alex wasn't around to chase after her, she had gotten pissy about it. She had done nothing at all to chase Alex and had liked her calling in today as a surprise visit. Fucking Hell, she WAS the fly – and she didn't know how to be the spider with Alex.

She climbed out of the bath and dried off before putting on her PJs and getting into bed with her phone. She brought up Alex's name and started to type a text out, pressing send before she changed her mind.

'I missed you. X'

She held her phone for a few minutes, hoping for a reply straight away, but nothing came through. She put her phone down on her pillow and rested her eyes for a while, eventually falling asleep when no response came back.

XXXXXX

Nicky and Alex had hooked up with the two girls they had played pool with earlier in the week, after being challenged to a rematch. It was like offering Nicky free seconds with the girl she went home with, so Alex agreed to the wing woman duties. At least she got to talk to a pretty brunette with nice curves this time and not Lacey, so it was less of a chore and more of an enjoyable evening of harmless banter and a bit of flirting. Alex had left her car at work, so they were all drinking and there was a happy hour on two for one shots which they were all partaking in. Nicky and her squeeze for the night, Lucy, were trying to come up with increasingly creative ways to drink the shots for all four of them and setting up forfeits for anyone who failed or declined. Lucy was currently kneeling on the floor with her arms behind her back, preparing to stoop down to grab the shot off Nicky's boot when Alex returned with another round of four shots for each of them. She succeeded and her friend Sarah knelt down to balance hers on Alex's Converse to make them even. Nicky needed to up the ante to beat Alex at a game the tall brunette was notoriously good at because she never backed down from a challenge when it came to drinking games.

"OK, we've all warmed up now. Time to have some real fun!" Nicky grinned as she picked up another shot and handed it to Lucy, whispering in her ear. Lucy giggled loudly because the alcohol was hitting her and her friend harder than Alex and Nicky at this point and she took the shot glass and put it into her well-hoisted cleavage. Alex shook her head as she saw Nicky pick up the shot glass from Lucy's chest with her mouth and downed it with a cheeky grin before turning to Alex and Sarah and raising her eyebrows in challenge.

"Er, no. I think we're managing just fine with our hands thanks." Alex glared back.

"Come on Sarah! You're up for it aren't you babe?" Lucy threw the challenge to her friend, who was drunk enough to accept and grinned as she picked up the shot glass to start nestling it between her tits while grinning at Alex.

"You really don't have to join in with all this you know. Let's just stick to the drinking part hey?" Alex tried to talk her down, but Nicky was quick to cut in.

"Woah, challenge accepted Vause! You know you have to do the forfeit if you decline such an exquisite invitation…." Nicky waggled her eyebrows.

"Fuck off Nicky."

"You saying you can't do it Sasquatch? What's up? Those titties not the ones you want to bury your face in tonight?" Alex rolled her eyes, trying not to bite.

"Come on Alex, we can't forfeit. I promise they don't bite…" Sarah winked at her, grinning encouragement.

"Fucks sake. Right." Alex reminded herself that they were only having fun and it wasn't like she was hitting on this girl. She lifted her glasses into her hair and leaned forwards to pick the glass up with her teeth, before knocking back the shot.

"Awesome! That's one for the memory books!" Lucy laughed as she slipped her phone into her back pocket.

"Nice to see you keeping up Vause. Let's see if you can raise your game again… Your shot this time Lucy, come and get it!" Nicky poured the shot into her mouth and held it for Lucy to come and drink it from her lips.

"OK. Forfeit. We forfeit. Give us the loser prize." Alex cut in before Lucy even started to drink from Nicky's mouth, waving her hands in surrender. Nicky barely managed to contain the shot without choking on it to hear Alex giving up so quickly, but she managed to keep it to a wide grin as she winked at Alex while Lucy kissed the vodka from her with far more fervour than strictly necessary.

"What? We're supposed to be a team here Alex. I NEVER end up on the losing side." Sarah was drunk and had lost her inhibitions a while ago. She was also quite competitive apparently and not about to go down without a fight.

"What are you prude or something? For God's sake it's just drink and a bit of lip smacking with spit. Get over yourself and pour the damn drink in your mouth." Alex had never been called prude in her life and it was ridiculous that it was the one word that made her pick that shot up and pour it into her mouth while watching Nicky with steely determination. She wasn't hitting on the girl, it was business. A matter of principle. Sarah grinned and moved closer.

"Atta girl. I'm going to enjoy taking that nectar back from between those luscious lips of yours and finally finding out what you taste like Alex Vause." She winked as she closed the gap to press her lips against Alex's and proceeded to pull her into a long and slow kiss as she drank the vodka and searched the inside of Alex's mouth with her tongue, her hands fisting Alex's hair to pull her close. All the while Alex was wide-eyed that she'd been played by Sarah pretending to be drunker than she actually was and she tried to tip her head forward to quickly pour the rest of the drink into Sarah's mouth to break the kiss off.

XXXXX

It was 8am the next morning when Alex had showered and taken some aspirin when she realised her phone was dead. She plugged it in to charge before getting dressed and grabbing a couple of cereal bars and a coffee for breakfast to eat on the way. Picking her phone up, she saw there was a text from Piper. She opened it up and felt an immediate sense of guilt and irony in equal proportions when she saw the text was probably sent at the same time she was playing drinking games last night. Well, it was innocent fun anyway. And it wasn't like they were exclusive by any stretch, they were also having fun, right?

She got a cab to the office to find everyone but Nicky waiting outside for her to open the doors.

"Morning Boss!" Shouted Taystee. "You looking a bit pastier than usual there…You OK?"

"Good morning, I am fine. Thanks for your concern, though passing me a note to ask that would have been far better right now." She walked upstairs with Lorna following close behind.

"I take it you were out with Nicky last night then?"

"Mmmm-hmmm" Alex could only manage as she slumped into her chair.

"I'll get you a coffee and some cold water shall I?" Lorna smiled sweetly. At least there was one person around who could smell a hangover and deal with it sensitively.

XXXXX

Piper checked her phone again before getting out of bed at 7am and there was still no reply from Alex. She sighed and went to get a shower, dropping her phone into her bag on the way. Doubt was starting to creep in that she shouldn't have sent the text now. Maybe it had freaked Alex out and she should have made it more of a joke before sending something like that. She dried off and got dressed into some black leggings and a cream sweater before heading off to the subway station for work.

It was about 10am before she heard her phone beep on the counter and Piper leaped up to grab it as though the message might self-destruct if not read immediately. It was Alex, finally replying.

'Are you still missing me or would you like to not miss me tonight? x'

'Keep a girl waiting why don't you?! But….I like the sound of not missing you. My place at 7?x'

'Is it a date? X'

'No. Was that a yes? x'

'Yes.x'

XXXXX

After stressing for much of the day about what she might cook for dinner and what she would wear, Piper decided to make a seafood paella with fresh ingredients she picked up on the way home. She put the wine in to chill when she got in and headed straight for the shower, before changing into a pair of skinny back jeans and a blue sleeveless blouse and making a start on preparing the food. At 6:45, Alex knocked on the door holding a bottle of wine in each hand.

"Hey. I didn't know what we were eating, so I brought one of each. I didn't have enough hands to carry a pink as well and I didn't drive tonight I'm afraid."

"White is perfect. We're having seafood paella if that's OK?" Piper stepped aside to let Alex come in and closed the door behind her. She was about to ask if she could take Alex's jacket, but the brunette had already walked towards the kitchen to put the bottles down before shrugging off her jacket and catching Piper's eye.

"Sorry. I've been here a few times already and I forgot that I was a guest for a second." Alex grinned before walking back to the door to hang her coat up. "You look gorgeous by the way." She leaned down to peck Piper on the cheek before heading back to put the white wine in the fridge.

"Thanks. You look pretty hot yourself Ms Vause." She looked appreciatively at Alex wearing a tight fitting black dress, her hair down around her shoulders in loose waves and her signature winged eyeliner with red lipstick completing the hot look.

"I aim to please…..Is there anything I can help you with?" Alex looked over the various pots and pans around the worktops and spied the shellfish that needed preparing. "May I?"

"You really don't need to, but I guess two pairs of hands make lighter work right?" She joined her in the kitchen and they worked together side by side to get the meal prepared. Piper lit some candles on the dining table as there was only the main light that was a little harsh for eating dinner, then poured a couple of glasses of wine from the fridge before Alex plated the meals up and they sat to eat opposite each other.

"Shall we toast?" Piper asked as she lifted her glass.

"Is it going to be a toast to butt cheeks on the windows later? 'Cause I'm up for that." She winked.

"I won't rule it out, but it's not appropriate for tonight….How about we try 'new beginnings' again?"

Alex smiled, remembering the argument they had when they last had that as a toast.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

Piper had her first drink of wine since before Christmas and boy did it feel good to share a bottle of wine with their meal. Alex told her about her trip to London and the new contracts they were trying to agree with the company as a result of her quick visit and Piper told her about Steve taking her to see the Bodyworlds exhibition in Boston. She could see Alex's jaw clench at the mention of Steve, but she tried to ignore it and focus on the fascinating science facts she had learned about the human body when she was there. When she mentioned that Steve had driven her home afterwards, Alex couldn't help but scoff.

"I bet he did. No doubt hoping for a goodnight kiss as payment."

"It wasn't like that. We've been friends for a long time Alex-"

"Yeah, but you know he wants more than that."

"Are you jealous?" Piper asked honestly.

"Pfft. Of a dude like Steve? Please. Give me some credit."

"You know, I was going to say this at the toast earlier, but it seems kind of appropriate now…..I'm going to quote Spencer Johnson here, so first of all, sorry about that. But – Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people." Alex looked puzzled by what Piper had just said, so the blonde explained.

"When you left for London, I was pissed. You know that right?" Alex nodded.

"But I wouldn't admit to myself that I was pissed because that would have meant admitting why. So I didn't have the integrity part of that quote. Believe it or not, Polly and Nicky made me realise I was being an ass by pretending I wasn't pissed with you and that it was because I didn't like you leaving me again."

"Piper I-"

"I'm not finished Alex. Just wait a minute. So when I admitted that to myself, I was half way there. Then I didn't want to let you know that I didn't want you to leave me and when you came into the store you handed me the perfect opportunity to say I missed you, but I wouldn't do it. Once I sent that text message and realised that I didn't burn down in flames by telling you the truth, I felt better. Even better, telling you the truth meant you are here tonight instead of me pretending I'm all cool with you being anywhere but with me and sitting here watching TV on my own again and wondering where you are. So, I'm trying the truth on for size at the moment and it's working for me."

"OK….."

"So what I'm saying is. It's OK to be jealous Alex. Admitting you are jealous of someone spending time with me, whether that is a man or woman is OK…I know this is a new concept for you, so I'm going to let you have that fact sink in." Piper stood to clear the plates and kissed Alex on the cheek as she made her way into the kitchen to wash up.

Alex sat at the table with her back to Piper for a moment, caught in wonder at whether Piper knew about the girl from last night. Is that was has triggered the whole truth and honesty speech? Well she hasn't asked her about it, so technically she wasn't talking about that particular incident. Proceed with caution was the best advice she could give herself in this situation. It could be a trap…. Walking over to help Piper with the dishes, Alex kissed Piper on the cheek and picked up a towel to start drying as Piper washed.

"So, forgive me if I'm a little cynical about this truth amnesty…But I'll go with it since I'm in your house and all…..Yes, I probably am I bit jealous of Steve. There, OK?"

"And why are you jealous of him Alex?"

"Seriously? I thought that was the honesty part all done?"

"Not exactly. If you are admitting it to yourself, you must know why. So why not tell me? It might help you not be so snarky around him."

"I'm not-"

"Alex…."

"Ok!….Um, I don't know…maybe because he's a guy and I'm wondering if you're still into them."

"I am. So if that's the only reason you're jealous of Steve, there's a whole 50% of the population you're gonna be snarky with." Alex wasn't surprised by that, but she'd hoped that Piper might have given them up as a bad habit or something. Obviously not though.

"Alright, this is a bit intense for me. Can you be happy with the admission of jealousy for now? It's starting to feel like therapy." Alex brought the remaining dishes to the sink for Piper and wiped down the table and tops as Piper talked about her VSU session.

"So you have another session on Monday and then you see Doctor Shetty again to see if your blood pressure has dropped?"

"Yes. I think they assume it is all about the attack and the court case, so they want me to talk it out or something like that. I'm supposed to think of a way to vent my anger between now and Monday."

"Vent your anger? What like standing in a forest and screaming at the top of your lungs venting?" Alex laughed, clearly thinking this VSU woman might be some sort of hippie.

"I guess. But that's not a practical solution in New York. I was thinking more along the lines of exercise, but I can't think what."

"Well you've not been able to go running for weeks now, so that will be bugging the Hell out of you. Why don't you think of something to do that would get your heart racing but not hurt your ribs?"

Piper raised a suggestive eyebrow and stopped washing the dishes to flick soap suds at Alex.

"Hey! I actually wasn't thinking about that as an exercise routine, but I guess it does fit the criteria." Alex laughed and dipped her hand in the sink to put a handful of bubbles on Piper's nose before snaking her arms around the blonde and pulling her towards her front. Piper ran her soapy hands through Alex's hair before stroking her cheek softly with the back of her hand.

"I've missed you." Alex turned to kiss her hand before replying. "Ditto."

"Come on, let's get these finished and we can chill and finish that wine off." Piper turned to rinse the last of the cutlery and emptied the sink while Alex dried up the last of the dishes and whipped Piper's backside with the towel as she passed her to top up their wine glasses.

"So, do want to watch a movie? I've got a few DVDs here we can have a look through…" Piper put her glass down on the floor next to the sofa and started rummaging through a box of DVDs in a cupboard behind them.

"Actually, I was wondering if we could just talk maybe?" Alex spoke softly before sipping some wine in case there was going to be a long silence. Piper popped her head over the sofa to look at her, concern in her eyes.

"Sure. What's wrong? Have I done something?"

"No! No. Nothing is wrong. C'mere and sit with me." Alex patted the space next to her on the sofa and Piper got up and picked up her wine before sitting down, not quite touching Alex as she did.

"I just thought since you were trying truth on for size, you might talk to me. There are some things we need to talk about and I don't think we can properly move on until we rip off the band aid."

"Sounds serious. I'm glad there's another bottle of wine in the fridge 'cause we're perilously close to finishing this one to be starting a conversation like that." Piper laughed, trying to lighten the mood and dispel the sudden nervousness that was palpable between them.

Alex reached out and stroked a piece of blonde hair back that had fallen over Piper's eyes before speaking.

"I know. I'm shit scared of this too."

A/N: To be continued...