That night Alex returned to her small apartment in Brooklyn alone. She went to bed but sleep just wouldn't come. She kept going over every detail of her evening. After Alex talked to Fahri on the phone she felt excited. She was really going to do this. Her talk with Grey made her confident that she could actually pull this off.

Thinking about Grey made her a little sad. Even though she was the only one on the planet who actually knew her whole name, she had no idea how to ever find that girl again. They didn't exchange phone numbers or addresses. How the fuck was she going to find one girl in a city full of girls? And who said she lived here in the first place? If she didn't, Alex would have to search the globe. It was near impossible.

She kept worrying and turning for hours, until she fell asleep around 3 o'clock. The whole time she was asleep, she was being chased by feverish dreams. Of course she didn't sleep long, seeing that her Spanish neighbours had three lovely children that all started screaming around 6.

She got up and dragged herself to the bathroom. When she looked in the mirror she could swear that she saw a panda bear instead of herself. Then she put her glasses on and saw the dark bags under her eyes that felt like they reached her knees. She took a rather cold shower, as always. It almost didn't bother her anymore because her shower was broken for almost half a year now and she had gotten used to it. She had called her landlord several times, but that guy had better things to worry about than her having a cold shower.

Fahri told her that the job was going to pay handsomely, that is if she was as good as he thought she could be. She had mixed feelings about her upcoming work. Her own father was addicted to the same drugs she would be importing. She didn't really feel guilty though. It was just business. And she'd rather be the supply than the demand.

After countless cups of coffee she had finally really woken up. The clock on the wall told her it was 11 am. She'd better hurry up if she was going to make it to her appointment. Fahri told her that she would be meeting with his best importer at a little coffee shop in the city. He would explain everything that was expected of her. She would be learning from the best. Her teacher would be guiding her that same evening to show her how it's done. Whatever that meant. Alex didn't really understand how he could show her how to smuggle drugs that very same evening, but she didn't mention this to Fahri. She would just go with it and figure it out on the way.

Luckily, the coffee shop wasn't very far from her apartment. She rushed out and started walking at a quick pace. It was quite warm outside today. So as always she regretted putting on a jacket. That was always her problem; if it was hot outside she wore too much, but if it was cold she wore too little. When she was walking she figured she should always go for the opposite of what her instincts told her about the quantity of layers to wear.

When she got to the coffee shop she wondered why she had never seen this place before. It was a nice and cozy place, especially if you compared it to the rest of the neighbourhood it was in. She was early, so she could order in peace and just find a table and wait for the mystery importer to come in. She wondered if she would recognize a drug importer if she saw one. She chuckled. If this was truly the best importer around, he would probably not be dressed as an old fashioned mafia member like she imagined.

This was the kind of coffee place where you would order at the counter and take it with you. Some sort of self service. The girl behind the bar smiled very brightly at her when she asked her what she wanted.

"A large black coffee please." Alex replied.

"Coming up!" the girl said with twinkling eyes.

Less than a minute later the girl returned with a large cup of coffee and a cookie.

"I put the cookie on there for free. Enjoy it." she whispered.

"Wow, thank you secret sugar daddy." Alex said with a grin.

The girl blushed and then went back to work, while secretly still looking at Alex from time to time. Alex didn't know why, but she had that effect on women. I mean, it was obvious that she was gay. But even straight girls would be flirting with her almost all the time. She liked it, but it never really made an impression on her though. She was used to it. But it got her free cookies, so that was nice.

Alex was scanning the place for a good spot to sit where she could have a good look at the door when she heard someone yell her name.

"Alex!"

She looked behind her toward the seats by the window, when she saw Grey sitting there. When she saw her, her heart skipped a beat. She never thought she would see her again. Of course she had been up all night hoping that fate or some other ridiculous non-existing deity would bring them together, but she didn't count on it.

She looked ridiculously gorgeous today. She was wearing a pair of gray skinny jeans and a knitted sweater that was a little too big for her. She wore her hair in a ponytail and it accentuated her face perfectly. And the smile she had when she saw Alex was just something to drown in.

"Wow, this is some weird stuff, kid." Alex said when she reached her table.

"Are you stalking me, Alex?" Grey asked with a straight face.

"Nah, I just like sleeping on the sidewalk next to your house." Alex said.

Grey laughed. "Well, you don't have to hide it anymore. So you'd better just join me for some coffee."

Alex hesitated for a second. She was really happy to see Grey, but she didn't want to explain to her what she was doing here. She was here for some serious business, so she shouldn't be distracted by anyone. Then again, she was 15 minutes early..

"I would buy you a cup of coffee, but you already have one I see." Alex said. "It would have been the least I could do after drinking for hours and hours on your tab last night."

"If I had known you were an alcoholic I wouldn't have given you a free drinking party." Grey said grinning.

Alex smiled. Grey was so easy to talk to. Alex could talk to anyone, but she was almost never challenged. Most women just smiled and nodded when talking to her. It was refreshing to have someone that actually replied.

"The girl behind the counter is looking at you every 10 seconds. Literally. I counted." Grey said smiling.

"She gave me this cookie for free too."

"How is it that you got a free cookie and I didn't even get a cup of coffee that was actually hot?" Grey wondered out loud.

"Here, have my cookie." Alex gave her the cookie. "It's the least I can do after you got me drunk last night without even being there while doing it."

Grey laughed and took the cookie. "You know, this cookie means more to me than the most expensive scotch there is." Grey said while adoring the cookie. "I'm like the fricking cookie monster." She added with her mouth full of cookie.

She looked adorable with all the cookie crumbles all over her face. Alex smiled at her while enjoying the sight.

"What?" Grey asked "Is there something on my face?"

"Just the whole cookie." Alex laughed.

It was a quarter past 12. That meant her teacher was 15 minutes late. Fahri said that the importer would find her and that she didn't have to know what he looked like. Alex wondered how someone she never met could possibly find her in a coffee shop full of people. But again, she didn't ask.

"Alex, are you waiting for someone? You keep staring at the door." Grey said. "It's making me nervous as hell."

"I'm sorry. Yes, I'm waiting for someone. It's about some.. uhm, business I got in." Alex said carefully while watching the door.

"Well, you don't have to keep staring at the door. Your "business" contact is already here." Grey said with a grin on her face.

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked. "Did you see somebody in a suit walk in or something?"

"Alex, Fahri told me you took the job." Grey said while bending a little forward to her. "He asked me to guide you through the first few weeks."

Alex looked at her with her mouth wide open. She was positive that the person she was about to meet, would be a big, scary guy in a suit. Now that she thought about it, Fahri had never said it was a man. She just added that part herself.

"Wait, so.. You're his best importer around?" Alex asked completely astonished. "But, how old are you? How did you end up doing this?" She had so many questions that needed answering.

Grey was patient with her. She understood the need to ask all these questions and she took the time answering them. "Yes, I am the best at the moment. That can change everyday though. It's a quick business and if you're not paying attention, you are out of the game." She said calmly. "I am 20 years old. I joined the business when I was 16 and worked my way up from there."

Alex was speechless. This she did not expect. Grey didn't look anything like a drug dealer. She looked like a nice girl who was still in college and enjoying her life.

"Alex, you didn't think I could pay for an open tab by working at a supermarket, right?" Grey joked with a grin.

Alex was pushing her glasses up her nose way too often. She always did that when she was slightly uncomfortable.

Grey must have seen that Alex was unsettled and slightly freaked out, because she took her hand and started reassuring her. "Hey, don't freak out. Did you prefer some sort of Godfather kind of guy?" she joked. "Because if you want that, I can just try on an Italian-American accent." She cleared her throat and continued in the ugliest Italian-American accent you could possibly imagine. "I am going to make you an offer you cannot refuse."

Alex couldn't help but laugh. She was relaxing a little bit now. The only thing that stopped her from being okay, was the fact that Grey was still holding her hand. Her heart was beating like crazy because of it.

Grey saw she was staring at their hands and looked over at the girl behind the counter, who was glaring at her. She grinned. "I'm sorry. I have to let go of your hand or otherwise she will definitely spit in my coffee the next time I go here." she said.

They both laughed. The tension was broken.

Alex felt better and was actually very happy that she got to work with Grey. Suddenly the whole prospect of working for a drug cartel didn't seem so dangerous anymore. Besides, this whole thing was a good excuse to see Grey as often as possible without being a total creep.

"Let's get to business." Grey said. She held out her hand. "Hi, my name is Grey. You must be Alex. I have heard so much about you." She said with twinkling eyes.

Alex took her hand and shook it. "Hello Grey, I'm Alex Vause." she said with her deep voice. "Thank you for meeting me today."

This would be the beginning of a beautiful.. friendship. She hoped.