The next morning, Piper wasn't quite as ill but she still didn't feel great. She wanted to help Alex move the boxes to the new apartment but she just didn't have the energy. Instead, Alex made her stay in bed so that she could sleep it off as she didn't want to still feel ill for the wedding that weekend. However, throughout the day, Alex brought Piper whatever she needed when the blonde text her and Alex made sure to keep going back regularly to check up on her.
Alex had asked Lindsay to help again the next day and she'd agreed as she enjoyed spending time with Alex again after so many years apart. Grace had also called Piper the night before asking if she'd seen Lindsay as she wasn't home. Piper was barely awake to talk on the phone so Alex spoke to her instead and told her where Lindsay was and what she had been doing.
"I'll come and help out tomorrow, if you like," Grace had suggested. Torn, Alex didn't quite know what to do. On the one hand, she needed the extra hands to help out but she also didn't want to make Lindsay feel uncomfortable with Grace being there. There was also the fact that she and Grace had also never met but Lindsay quickly said that it was okay.
So while Piper stayed in bed, Alex with the help of Lindsay and Grace moved all the boxes to the new apartment and placed them in the correct rooms. Then it was the complicated part. Alex was completely OCD about things and she was tempted to just tell them to go so she could do it all herself but she knew that it would take forever.
Thinking quickly, Alex grabbed a pack of post-it notes that she'd put in her desk and wrote on them what was going in that particular draw or wardrobe. For example, the left half of the wardrobe was Alex's so she put 'Alex – trousers;, on one and stuck it to one of the draws.
"How do we tell the difference between your clothes?" Lindsay asked.
"The boxes are separated and have one of our names on to help," Alex replied.
"There's also the fact that they have completely different fashion sense," Grace added with a laugh. "I mean, Piper's is light where Alex has more of a darker sense."
Alex looked at Grace with a raised eyebrow. She'd tried to figure her out throughout the day but it just wasn't going well. Grace seemed to be good at hiding herself as she had barely talked all day despite Piper having described her as quite a chatty person.
"Yeah, I guess there's that too," Alex said with a shrug before walking off and starting with the first box.
Soon enough, all the clothes and shoes were in the wardrobe and there was nothing else to do than to put the books onto the shelves in the library but Alex wanted to do that herself as she wouldn't be able to explain her method to the other women.
"Thank you so much for the help today," Alex said after she told them that she needed to do the library alone. "I'm in your debt, anything you want and you can have it."
"I'll think about it and let you know," Lindsay replied with a wink but laughed.
"If Piper is better, we'll be having a party here on Sunday night as a housewarming thing and a celebration for a friend of ours getting out of prison," Alex said as she walked to the elevator as she was also leaving the apartment to fetch Piper. "You're both welcome."
"I can bring Zoe, right?" Grace asked.
"I think she's invited anyway," Alex said tensely. She wasn't happy that she was going but she was Piper's friend so she had to allow it. She also knew that she'd be coming when she invited Grace who would have been invited via Piper anyway.
"We'll be there," Lindsay replied and dragged Grace away to go back to the work place.
Alex crossed the street and headed into Piper's apartment an hour after her last visit and went into the bedroom to check on her and what she saw was the complete opposite of the day before. The curtains were open wide and Piper was sitting up in bed. She had a glass of water in one hand and an orange in the other with the peelings on the table beside her.
"You're looking better!" Alex commented as she walked in.
"I'm feeling better too," Piper replied and kissed Alex as she sat on the next to her. Alex smiled at the taste of orange on Piper's mouth and stole a segment from her hand. "I don't even know what happened yesterday. I just suddenly felt really ill and just wanted to sleep. I guess I got a little paranoid too but I'm all good now. Is everything done?"
"Everything except the library but I wanted to do that alone," Alex said.
"Let me get dressed and we'll go. I'll lock up this place and we can officially move in!"
Alex jumped off the bed and quickly walked around the apartment looking for last minute things. She collected the odd clothing item that had been flung around the house and the charges while Piper got dressed.
Once all that was done, they looked at the apartment one last time before leaving it to probably never return.
oOoOo
Piper and Alex entered their new apartment, both grinning from ear to ear.
"Welcome home!" Alex announced.
"It really is," Piper replied and wrapped her arms around Alex to kiss her as if to seal the deal that it was indeed their new home.
They spent the rest of the day in the library as Piper understood the method behind Alex's madness. Alex wanted to have her favourite books on the lower shelves but put in alphabetical order and then the rest of the books were split into genre and then again into the alphabet. They had a corner that was dubbed as either Alex's corner or Piper's and then a separate wall that was filled with DVDs and CDs that they'd both collected over the years.
"I can't wait to fill these!" Alex muttered as she stepped back to admire her and Piper handy work. It had taken them a couple of hours but it was worth it.
"Neither can I," Piper replied, "But for now, I have something else planned for us."
Alex turned turn to look at Piper with her eyebrow raised as her mind had quickly gone. Piper simply held out her hand for Alex to take who took it within moments before pulling Piper towards their new bedroom where they didn't leave for a long time.
oOoOo
When the two woke up the next day, it was Saturday meaning that it was the wedding and Nicky's release day. Although she didn't say it to Piper, Alex would prefer to see her best friend than having to spend a day with Piper's family. It wasn't because she didn't want to, she was just scared to. She'd never met her parents and she still didn't quite understand Danny, nor did she really like his wife.
It was a long drive back to Connecticut so they had to get up rather early despite the wedding being that afternoon.
"Why do we have to go so early?" Alex asked with a groan as she just wanted to stay in their new apartment, going round each room in turn and fucking Piper in there.
"Because I'm not wearing my dress in the car," Piper replied and kissed the frown off of Alex's face. "Also it's my mother's rule that the girls are to get ready in the same room and the guys in another."
"What?" The thought of that frightened Alex to no end as she now had to spend the time getting ready in a room with Carol and Helene Chapman she was not looking forward to it at all!
"It'll be fine," Piper assured her and kissed her again. "I won't let her be mean!"
Soon enough, it was time to go. Alex and Piper were both dressed in jeans and t-shirts and their dresses were in the back of the car along with their makeup kits. Piper spent the entire car journey trying to calm Alex down as nervous wasn't enough to describe her that current moment. She was starting to sweat and she felt really odd. Pier just hoped that she wasn't coming down with something like she had a few days before.
Before they knew it, Piper was pulling up outside her childhood home and Alex got to see a side of Piper that she'd never seen before and suddenly so much just made sense. The house was clearly run by an uptight woman as the Chapmans were never late and even from the outside, everything looked clean
"Admiring or disapproving?" Piper asked as she got out the car and went to the back seats to get their dresses and makeup before meeting Alex.
"Understanding," Alex replied reaching out to take Piper's hand. "I just get why you can be a little uptight sometimes and you always want your way. It's easy to see why now. It's because you're used to it."
Piper looked confused but just laughed it away and led Alex toward the front door. Just as Piper reached out to open it, the door was opened from the inside to reveal Bill Chapman who barely looked at his daughter and just looked at Alex.
"Daddy!" Piper cried and rushed forward to hug her father, letting go Alex's had as she went. Bill hugged Piper tightly but he didn't take his eyes off Alex.
"Piper, it's lovely to see you again," Bill said as he pulled back and then he turned to Alex and he did what Alex didn't expect. He smiled at her and opened his arms wide. "Welcome to the family, Alex."
Piper watched on nervously as Alex walked forward slowly and accepted the hug from Piper's father. "It's nice to meet you," Alex replied after the hug.
"Now, I'll let you get ready," Bill said. "Your mother is getting ready in our room and I believe you two are getting ready in your old room."
"Where are Neri and Helene?" Piper asked as she wanted to see Neri beforehand and avoid Helene for as longs as possible.
"Neri is in the first guest room and Helene is with Danny," Bill replied. "I convinced your mother not to make you all get ready in one room," He added.
Piper nodded and took Alex's hand so she could take her upstairs and lead her to her old bedroom. However, before they got to Piper's room, they stopped by the first guest room, as they had three, so she could say hello.
When they got there, they saw that Neri wasn't wearing a traditional wedding dress; there wasn't any white on her. It was, in fact, green. It has long sleeves and stopped just below her knees. It was a loose fitting fabric that just draped over her baby bump but it was still obvious that she was expecting. What they also noticed was the fact that she was alone in the room. She was looking in the mirror and hadn't noticed Piper or Alex enter the room.
"Hey, Neri, is everything okay?" Piper asked causing Neri to turn round.
"Yeah, I just don't know what I'm doing," Neri replied with a slight frown and Piper started to worry. "Not that! I know what I'm doing by marrying Cal! I want that, I just mean with the getting ready. I don't have my mom and I only have two brothers who are somewhere in the house probably stealing alcohol."
"We can help you if you like?" Alex suggested. "Piper could do your hair and I'll do your makeup. Between the two of us, it won't take long."
"You'd do that?" Neri asked, truly touched at the offer.
"We're going to be your sisters in law," Piper said as if it was obvious. "We're family. This is the sort of thing that we do."
"Thank you," Neri replied and sat down on the bed as Piper got her curlers from her bag and Alex got out her makeup.
While Piper curled Neri's hair into loose curls, Alex applied a thin layer of makeup as to not hide her natural beauty. She did a light smoky eye using browns to reflect the forest and finished the look with a berry red lip. When her hair was fully curled, Piper pinned a few sections back but left some surrounding her face.
"Neri, you look beautiful," Someone said from the door and they all turned as saw that it was Carol. She had her hair in curlers but she was wearing her dress and her makeup was done.
"It's all down to these two," Neri replied nodding at Piper and Alex.
It seemed that Carol hadn't noticed that Alex was there until Neri pointed it out. She immediately stood tall and raised an eyebrow.
"So you're the famous Alex," she stated.
"That's me," Alex said nervously. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs Chapman."
"We'll see about that," Carol muttered before turning and heading back to her own room.
"Well that went better than I thought it would," Piper said before turning to Neri, "We need to go get ready now so we'll see you soon!"
Piper collected up their hair and makeup tools and held out her hand for Alex to take. She then led the two of them to her childhood bedroom which made Piper feel a little nervous. She had a fair few boyfriends while living in this house and it was in that bedroom that she lost her virginity and it felt a little odd that she was bring Alex there now. She didn't know why but that's how it was.
Disregarding the feeling, she plugged in her curlers and started to do her hair while Alex started on her makeup before they swapped. Alex left her hair down with only pinning one section back from behind her ear but Piper started to do a low do on the back of her neck which Alex helped her with as she couldn't see to put all the pins in.
Once the two had finished that, it was time to put on their dresses. Piper had gone for a light blue dress that was a little short for Alex's liking as she simply wanted to take the dress off of her. Alex was wearing a deep purple dressed that hugged her body tightly.
"You look beautiful," Alex murmured and closed the space between her and Piper and kissed her just as someone walked in.
"Piper!" They cried.
The two women broke apart and looked at the new visitor and it was someone that Piper hadn't expected to be there. His name was Joey Mills and he was one of Piper's many boyfriends from a teenager. To be specific, he was the one she was with before she went to Smith and he was the one she lost her virginity to in that particular room.
At first, Piper was confused to why he was there but then she remembered that his younger brother, Harry, was Cal's best friend from school. It would have been odd if Cal didn't have his best friend there. Joey and Harry's parents were also close friends of Carol and Bill so the entire family would have been invited.
"Joey," Piper gasped, but didn't move. "What a lovely surprise!"
"Not as big as this surprise," Joe replied motioning between the two of them. "Did college turn you gay?"
Alex scoffed at his stupidity. "No, obviously not. Who are you?"
"Oh, sorry, I'm Joey Mills," he said and held out his hand for Alex to shake, but she didn't take it. "I'm Piper's ex-boyfriend and Cal's best friend's brother. It's clear that you're Alex, Piper's girlfriend, not boyfriend as I had imagined it. Carol said that you were here with your partner, Alex."
"Mom clearly doesn't quite approve yet," Piper murmured but the three of them were interrupted by Bill walking in.
"It's time to take our seats as it's about to start!" Bill announced.
Piper took Alex hand and took her downstairs, wanting to get Alex away from Joey as quickly as possible. How could he be so stupid to introduce himself as her ex-boyfriend when she was clearly with someone else? She just tried to forget about it.
She and Alex took their seats on the front row on Cal's side. Cal was stood at the front of the garden as that's where they were getting married talking to Harry who was best man. Despite the original idea of having no best man or maid of honour, Cal had changed his mind as Harry had asked Cal to be his best man at his coming wedding so Cal returned the favour. However, Neri had stayed with her decision to go it alone but she did have her brothers walking her down the aisle instead.
Before they knew it, Neri was being walked down the aisle with Edward and Todd, her older twin brothers. The wedding ceremony was short and Cal looked like he was going to cry throughout the entire thing. His voice even split when he said 'I do'. Finally, the vicar announced them man and wife and Cal pulled Neri into his arms and kissed her before they walked back down the aisle.
"Someday that'll be us," Alex murmured into Piper's ear before kissing just underneath it.
"You think?" Piper asked.
"I know," Alex replied and smiled at her cheesiness.
Even before talking to Polly, she'd started to think about her and Piper's future. She wanted to have the kids sooner rather than later so it didn't take such a toll on her body so she knew that marriage was on the cards. She was tempted to corner Bill at some point during the reception to ask for his permission but she was slightly nervous. Add to the fact that Piper's ex-boyfriend was there, it wasn't easy. Despite all that, she already had a key part to proposing.
The reception soon got on its way and everyone was seated in the large dining room in the house. Cal and Neri were sat at the front with Harry on Cal's left and Neri's brothers on her right. Piper and Alex were sat at the table closest to Cal with Carol, Bill, Danny and Helene. Alex found herself sitting in between Piper and Bill which she was quite pleased with. Bill spoke to Alex as if they'd known each other for years and he seemed genuinely intrigued that she was writing a book about a lesbian detective.
"I'm assuming that she's based on yourself then?" Bill asked.
"She has some very Alex like characteristics like dark hair and she is as sarcastic as they come," Alex replied with a smile, "but in truth, she's just fictional."
Half way through the meal, Piper excused herself to head to the toilet before they started the speeches. Neither Piper nor Alex saw someone stand and follow Piper out the room. Instead Alex realised this was her chance and she took a large sip of her wine to build up some courage.
"Bill, can I ask you something?" Alex asked quietly, hoping that Carol wouldn't overheard and interrupt.
"Is this for my permission for Piper's hand in marriage?" Bill guessed with a smile tugging on his lips.
"How did you know?"
"I see the way you look at her and the way she talks about you," Bill said simply. "I want Piper to be happy; she's my little girl. Larry didn't bother asking for my permission because he knew I'd never give it." He then paused just to make Alex squirm a little. He liked the brunette woman but he didn't want her to think that he would hand his permission to anyone. "I want you to promise that you won't leave Piper. You may have disagreements, every couple does and you may want to break it off, heaven knows I wanted to do that, but Piper made me realised that at the end of the day, I do love Carol because she's my person just like Piper is yours. Promise me?"
"I promise," Alex said sincerely. "I would rather hurt myself than hurt her."
"Then Alex Vause, you have my permission." Alex's face broke into a smile just as Bill looked around. "Speaking of my daughter, where is she?" He asked as Cal was looking around to make sure everyone was there before he started making his speech.
"She said she was heading to the bathroom, I'll go get her," Alex said and followed the directions to the closest bathroom that Bill said to her.
It took a few moments but she figured out where it was. When she got to the door, she knocked. "Pipes, you in there?" She put her ear close to the door as she didn't hear anything. Slowly, she opened the door and the sight before her was not what she expected at all!
Oh no, what's gone on? Let me know what you think! Thanks again for all the reviews as always because they always make my day. You're all amazing and I love you. Emss x