A/N: Anyone there? Hi! Weekend upload for your reading pleasure coming right up then. Hope you have a good weekend everyone! I'm starting mine with a cider-infused sleep the moment I press 'launch' on this. Mostly no drinking and typing you'll be pleased to hear, but drinking and proof-reading might be a bad combination, so...meh, you'll work it out ;-)
Piper picked up lunch for her and Polly on her way and headed into the store through the front door.
"Hey Pol, brought you a salad box for lunch." She waved the paper bag in the air before putting it onto the counter. Seeing Polly screw her face up, she rolled her eyes.
"And a large blueberry muffin to maintain your progress towards a diabetic coma."
"And THAT is why you and I remain friends." Polly eagerly pulled her lunch from the bag and ate it while answering in single words as Piper asked her about how busy the store had been and whether they should worry about the sales figures yet.
Polly balled up the empty box and threw it in the trash, turning to Piper to cut her off from another question about profit margins. "So now we've established that our business model hasn't changed in the last 48 hours since we last discussed it, where the Hell were you yesterday when I needed help with my dress?"
"I told you, I had my phone on silent and I must have been in the bath when you called round."
"I have known you long enough to call BS, but since SuperCunt was better at hide and seek than I was, I'm going to let it slide and not bother with a sermon on being a responsible adult and BFF. THIS TIME…."
Piper rolled her eyes and went to move away from the scene of further interrogation.
"Ah-ah. You're a captive audience for the rest of the day since we only have like 3 rooms for you to hide in here. How was the VSU meeting? Have you got to keep having them?"
"Ugh, Pol. I don't want to talk about it."
"Why? Was it really that bad?"
"Yes... No. There's nothing to tell. I just get sick of talking about it. It's extremely fucking boring quite frankly and all this touchy-feely talking about feelings really isn't my thing."
"I don't know why you're always so allergic to talking about this stuff. You were exactly the same when I had to physically push you into AA meetings. What's the worst thing that could happen? They give you some advice and you try it?"
"It's embarrassing. Most people never have to go to anything like this for the entire lives and I feel like I'm always being signed up for them against my will."
"That's probably because you don't have a positive attitude to them in the first place though. If you go in there all crossed arms and scowly-faced from the start, you're already planning for it to fail so you can shout 'I told you so' when you come out."
"I do not!"
"That. That is exactly the face you have when you are going to one of the meetings. I've seen it every time we went to AA and I put money on it being exactly the same face you have before you open the door to Sarah and put your fake smile face on. How right am I?"
"Polly, you don't see how patronising it all is. It's so textbook, I could do it myself from self-help videos on YouTube if I wanted to."
A couple of customers came into the store and Polly lowered her voice to a whisper.
"Maybe, but a physical appointment with a professional is making you do it. I think it's a good thing. You should stop sulking about it and open your mind to the actual possibility it might help you." Polly walked around the counter to see if the customers needed any help, leaving Piper staring at her back with a mouthful of ifs and buts that Polly wasn't interested in hearing.
XXXXX
Alex downed half of the cold beer before setting it on the floor and heading back to finish pulling the piece of wood off the floor. Nicky sat on top of the dust sheet over the sofa, clearly not bothered by the dust she was going to be wearing.
"So, is this another career break?"
Alex pulled at the wood until it came loose and she stacked it by the wall with the rest of the lengths before responding.
"What are you on about?" The brunette stopped what she was doing and turned to look at Nicky with her hands on her hips, sighing.
"Last time you disappeared from work at short notice was to play nurse with Piper."
Alex rolled her eyes and went back to kicking the wood into a pile.
"And how long is it going to last this time?"
"As long as I want it to."
"Right. Could you maybe be a bit more specific about how long you want me and Lorna to be opening up for?"
Alex picked up her beer again and shrugged. "You keep telling me I don't need to be there to watch you all the time, so you should be happy I took your advice."
"You don't stop being a control freak overnight. As much as I like you taking time off, this isn't exactly the beach vacation I was trying to talk you into is it?" Nicky gestured towards the pile of rubble by the wall.
"It's a city break sabbatical."
"Can I say this new careers advisor you've got yourself must be pretty persuasive?"
Alex sat cross-legged on the floor across from Nicky, leaning against the wall. "Can I ask if you've got another one of these in your bra for me?" she waved the near-empty beer bottle at her friend.
"No, I haven't. Because I have to make sure you don't leave Poussey's place a mess and you can drive home. Do you want to tell me why you're knocking down walls instead of signing these new contracts you just won us for Europe?"
"Not really. I just needed to break something and I knew this needed breaking as part of the plans to make it open plan. There's something I CAN fix apparently."
"Is it Piper?" Alex just looked at Nicky before draining her beer.
"That's all the answer I need." Nicky stared at her friend, waiting for her to add words to the glare she was receiving by way of conversation continuity right now. "Aaaand, it's obviously all the answer I'm going to get from you in this mood. Right, fine. I'll only say this once though. If you want to talk about it, I'm prepared to listen. I'm about to leave you with a gap to fill with that talking. Here it is, the floor is yours Vause." Nicky leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, watching as Alex rolled her eyes. After about 2 minutes of Nicky being completely silent and staring at Alex, trying to communicate and encourage her to talk with moving her eyebrows and eyes, she gave up.
"The offer just got closed. We're moving on….Do you feel better?"
"A bit." Alex shrugged and looked up at her work.
"Good. I'll help you clean this place up a bit so Poussey doesn't end up falling over this stuff when she gets back later. I'll let her use one of the trucks this weekend to move this stuff to the city dump." Nicky necked her beer and started piling the debris up into the rubble bags that Alex brought from the hardware store earlier. She worked in silence and her friend stood to give her a hand by holding the next bag open for her.
"Thanks Nick."
"What for?" Nicky pushed the plasterboard down to the bottom of the bag.
"Bringing me beer…..And letting me be an asshole….But mostly for bringing me beer." Alex grinned as Nicky rolled her eyes.
"Whatever Vause. Now help me fold up these dust sheets over the top over this lot and we're good to go."
Nicky said she'd text Poussey to tell her to watch where she was stepping when she got home and they got in their separate cars to head home. Alex hadn't slept at all last night and today's exertions were catching up on her as she yawned on her way back. Throwing her keys on the table, she shrugged her jacket off and dropped it on the sofa before pulling her boots off. She felt filthy from all of the dust and couldn't wait to get into the shower, but checked her phone for any messages first. There was only one from Piper.
'Thanks for staying with me last night and I'm glad you were at the meeting this morning. x'
Alex smiled and saw that it had been sent about an hour ago. Maybe the bit of space had given her time to calm down a bit. She typed out a message on her way to the bathroom.
'You're welcome. Will you be OK tonight? X'
She pressed send and put her phone down before peeling off her dusty clothes in the small utility room for washing and heading to the shower. Her hands were sore as she ran them through her hair to rinse the dust away and her muscles ached from swinging the heavy hammer. The hot water felt good pounding against her back and she could have stayed in there a lot longer if it weren't for the fact that she was practically sleeping while standing under the shower head now. She turned the water cooler to wake herself up a bit and rinsed off before drying off and pulling on some sweats and roughly drying her hair. All of the manual work today had really built up an appetite, so she called to order a pizza from her local favourite before checking to see no reply had come through from Piper. Argh! She knew she shouldn't leave her on her own tonight, especially with what she'd opened up about in the last 24 hours. She either really wanted some alone time or she was going to open a bottle of vodka and drink away her feelings. It was impossible to tell which when she wasn't getting a reply. Thinking for a minute, she called Piper's number and thought she'd try and talk to her to just ask if she was OK, then at least she would have a better measure for whether to give her some space or not. It rang out and switched to the answerphone and Alex hung up before it beeped to leave a message. After pacing the floor for a few minutes in hope of a call back, she decided to throw some clothes and a toothbrush into a bag before picking up her car keys and heading back out into the night. Collecting the pizza on the way, she headed over to Piper's place and parked outside. It was in darkness and Alex suddenly thought it might have been a better idea to call first and see if she was going to be in.
Locking the car up, she slung her bag over her shoulder and headed up the steps with a pizza in her hand. It took a couple of knocks before she saw a light go on inside and Piper came to the door.
"Alex….hi…Are you delivering pizza in your spare time now?" Piper raised an eyebrow and stepped back to let her inside.
"Have you eaten tonight?" Alex stepped through the door and pecked Piper on the cheek before putting the pizza on the table. She dropped her bag onto the floor as she went to get some plates.
"No."
"Then, yes. I'm delivering pizza. Extra ham and mushrooms, just as you like it. You want some water?" Alex was walking around as though it was her own kitchen and Piper was the guest.
"Thanks. I was just having a bath actually." Piper pointed to her wet hair and robe.
"OK, well you can always warm it up when you come out of the bathroom if you want to get back in the tub." Alex plated up half the pizza and poured a glass of water before dropping onto the sofa and flicking the TV on.
"But make yourself at home while I do that won't you?" Piper raised an eyebrow, causing Alex to grin with a mouthful of pizza. "I will."
It was 20 minutes later when Piper returned, towelling her hair dry in her PJs. Alex was lying back on the sofa and Piper could see she was sleeping soundly. She walked over to her girlfriend, smiling at how peaceful she looked and leaned down to gently remove her glasses and brush her hair out of her face. She went to the kitchen to warm up some pizza and sat at the bottom of the sofa by Alex's feet, moving carefully so as not to wake her as she did. After watching the end of the obscure vampire movie Alex had put on, she moved to clear up the pizza and lock the doors before waking the sleeping beauty on the sofa with a gentle kiss on the lips.
"Come on gorgeous. Let's get you in my bed since you packed a bag and all." Pulling a confused Alex up by her hand, Piper led her to the bathroom with her things and Alex got washed and changed for bed while Piper was already snuggled.
"Still no pyjamas then? Have you ever owned a set in your whole life?" Piper laughed as she glanced up the long porcelain legs extending out from the bottom of a short black-grey band shirt that was barely covering her ass.
"I like to travel light." Alex sauntered over to the bed and groaned as she crawled under the covers.
"Ironic, since you're wearing a Prince of Darkness top to bed."
"Mmmm. Comfy though." Alex snuggled into Piper's side, her eyes already closed and on the verge of sleep.
"So, can I ask what the surprise visit is for?"
"Girlfriend business." Alex mumbled as she put her head onto Piper's chest and laid her arm over the top of her stomach, pulling her body closer.
"OK…what kind of girlfriend business?"
"Protection."
"Protection?" Piper wrinkled her nose in confusion.
"Yep." She leaned up and kissed Piper on the cheek quickly before supporting herself on her hands and leaning over the top of the blonde's face, brushing a strand behind her ear.
"Last night, my girlfriend told me about a monster she was afraid of. I'm here to keep an eye on the monster and make sure my girlfriend is safe and sound all night." She leaned down and kissed Piper slowly and chastely on the lips before smiling and moving back to her previous position across her girlfriend's body.
A small smile came across Piper's face as she laid holding Alex in her arms, a flicker of hope that they might be OK starting to take hold in her heart.