Chapter 9 – the Chapmans

Piper was writhing under Alex as the brunette kissed her harder and harder, biting her bottom lip as she curled her fingers inside her. But Piper wasn't ready to come yet, she wanted Alex to come with her. She lifted her hand to stroke her girlfriend's core, trying to speak in between her laboured breaths, "Alex, please. Come with me." Alex didn't hesitate in lowering her hips so Piper could properly reach her. "Mmmm Al, I've missed this, I've missed you."

Alex kept her eyes trained deeply on Piper's, never stopping her movements, "I've missed this too Pipes." Alex wasn't ready for this to end yet. She removed her fingers from inside Piper and started rubbing circles around her clit, eventually finding the spot that would push Piper over the edge, "Agghh, Alex, fuck." Alex started making her movements faster and harder, but Piper was still determined for Alex to come with her. The blonde composed herself enough to pull Alex closer to her, and start fucking her, "Shit, Piper." Alex started breathing heavily as Piper took her closer to the edge, "You're so wet Alex." Those words in Alex's ear made her entire body tingle, and as the two girls continued exploring each other, they pushed each other over the edge. They had intentionally gone to Piper's apartment, so they didn't need to worry about making noise. They both slowly brought each other down, and Alex let her body rest on top of Piper's as she tried to catch her breath.

"Fuck, that was amazing Piper," and Alex couldn't stop herself from crashing her lips into Pipers, she just could not keep her hands off this woman. She would gladly spend the rest of the night making her come again and again. "Mmmmhh, Alex, I need to get ready."

"You are getting ready," Alex slid her hand over Piper's breasts and started rubbing them and moving her hips against Piper. "I'm not done with you Piper."

"Al…we. I need, to get ready." Piper slowed down the kissing and smiled at her girlfriend. "Trust me Alex, I would much rather be here than playing host to my parents. Come on, I'll make it worth your while."

Alex just smiled, "that is not fair." It had been a month since Alex was released from the hospital and she was mostly healed. She was starting to feel like herself again, she was making a real effort to open up to Piper more. It wasn't easy, but Alex was willing to try.

Alex walked back into her own apartment, she was looking after Lucy tonight while Diane worked. The police still hadn't caught Robbie, Alex couldn't imagine where the hell he was hiding, she tried not to think about it. Things had gotten better between her and Diane, Alex told her every day that she loved her. They were having trouble with the bills, but at least this time Diane was letting Alex help with the money, there was no choice these days. Alex had gone back to work two weeks ago, she was thankful for the extra distraction from worrying about Robbie. Her and Piper had decided they wouldn't say anything yet to Piper's parents about their relationship. Alex felt like Piper was hiding her, but at the same time didn't want to push too hard. Alex had put Piper through a lot in the last few months, she wanted to support Piper in her decisions.

"Ally, where's the mail? I'm waiting for an invite to Becky's birthday."

"Shit, forgot about the mail. You can go get it kid," said Alex as she tossed Lucy the keys to their mail box. Lucy was excited to see if she'd gotten her invite yet and practically ran out the front door and into the hallway. In the process, she managed to run straight into an older couple in the hallway.

"Crap, sorry!" said Lucy. She looked up at the people she had run into, an older man and woman.

"That's ok," the older man sounded kind.

"I've never seen you in the building before."

"Oh, well we're here for the first time to visit our daughter, Piper."

"Oh I know Piper, she's my sisters girlfriend," Lucy found it hilarious that she'd run into Piper's parents.

"Sorry sweetie I think you must be getting confused." The older man gave her a sympathetic smile, like she had made a simple mistake.

"No, I'm not. Piper lives in 3B, and she's definitely my sister's girlfriend." At this point Lucy saw Piper's apartment door open, "I thought I heard voices out here, hi guys," Piper smiled as she saw her parents. She started walking towards them when she noticed Lucy, and her heart skipped a beat. Shit, shit, shit! She wasn't expecting Lucy to run into her parents, and by the looks on their faces, they were shocked about something. Carol Chapman was the first to speak. "Hello Piper," Lucy then ran over to Piper and gave her a hug, "So you do know this young lady?" Carol's voice was very uncertain.

"Yeah, she's a neighbour."

"I told them you're Alex's girlfriend," Piper felt like her heart stopped beating. At this exact moment Alex stepped into the hallway.

"Seriously Luce, how long does it take to get the mail?" Alex then noticed the small gathering in the hallway. She looked over at Piper whose face had turned white.

"This is Alex," Lucy smiled as she provided introductions.

Oh fuck, thought Alex, this is gonna be a long night.

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"What is wrong with you Piper! We raised you to be better than this. We indulged you with this little move of independence, and find you running around with someone like that!" Piper just sat there while her mother berated her, her father also sat there, motionless.

"I love her mum," Piper didn't have the energy to fight, but she also knew there was no way she could go back home after this.

"Don't be ridiculous Piper, you could be anything you want, have anyone you want. I don't need any more information to know that girl will never amount to anything, she'll never be able to take care of you."

"I don't need someone to take care of me mum! We take care of each other, that's all that matters."

Her mother just scoffed, "I really think you need to come back home, what you're doing here isn't healthy."

"You're not listening to me! Alex is my girlfriend, I'm in love with her. I'm not going back to Connecticut with you so you can lock me away and get me to marry someone you deem to be good enough. Alex is a good person, you don't even know her, you saw her for thirty seconds before coming into my apartment."

Bill finally spoke up, "Listen Piper, this isn't how we expected to find you. Have you even found a proper job yet?"

"You know I work at the library Dad, it gives me more time to write."

Bill just sighed and turned to his wife, "I think we should go." With that, Bill and Carol left the apartment.

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It was late, but Piper needed to talk to someone, she let herself into the Vause apartment. She walked in and found Diane sitting at the kitchen table, "Hi sweetie, come sit with me." Piper sat next to Diane, her eyes red from crying. "What's wrong Piper?" Diane shuffled closer to Piper and put her arm around the younger woman. This is it, Piper thought, this is what it feels like to have a real mother, a mother that really loves you. Piper put her head on Diane's shoulder and started crying. "Oh sweetie, come on, tell me what's going on. Did you have a fight with Alex?"

Piper couldn't stop the tears, "No, things are good with Alex."

"Then what is it? You can tell me anything Piper." This just made Piper cry more.

"Where's Alex?"

"She's in bed with Lucy, they were both asleep when I got home. So come on, talk to me."

"My parents came to visit tonight, they found out about me and Alex. We fought, and they left."

"Oh Piper, I'm sorry, come here, shhh. You know, no matter what, you'll always have a place here with us. And not just with Alex, with me too. You can always come to me Piper."

"Thank you Diane." Piper held onto Diane like she was her real mother.

"You want me to get Alex?"

"No, I don't want to wake her up. Alex and Lucy need their alone time together."

"Well, you know you're welcome to stay."

"I know." Piper paused for a moment, but she needed to say this, "Alex means a lot to me, but my mum doesn't even care. She doesn't care that I'm happy, she's only disappointed. But it's not like that with you. No matter what Alex might have done in the past, you never turn her away."

"No, I don't, and I never will. Trust me, Alex has been a handful over the years, but she's mine. I got pregnant at 18 Piper, my parents kicked me out when I told them. Alex never knew them. I never had a lot to give Alex, or Lucy, but I promised that I would never treat them the way my parents treated me. And to be honest, when I look at Alex, I see myself at her age. And I see her dad, that dark side of hers, that anger, that's all her dad. Dangerous combination." Diane smiled, but there was a sadness in her eyes. "I let her down, but I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to her."

"You didn't let her down Diane, Alex doesn't think that."

Diane didn't say anything to this, but did ask a question, "Is she still having dreams?"

"Yeah, but she's getting better."

Diane smiled, got up, kissed Piper on the forehead and headed to bed.

Piper didn't want to spend the night alone. She took a blanket from the couch and headed into Alex's room. Sure enough, Lucy and Alex were asleep, Piper never got tired of seeing the relationship between the two sisters. Alex was on her back, one hand resting above her head, the other pulling Lucy into her. Lucy slept with her head on Alex's chest, with one arm wrapped around her. Piper loved this side of Alex, the soft side that she tried to hide, the side Lucy always brought out in her. Alex put herself through hell to protect Lucy, she would always try to make her happy. Alex may not come from the type of family Piper's parents wanted to see their daughter with. Alex might never be able to buy Piper the biggest house, or the best car. But Alex would always protect Piper, and always love her. Piper placed the blanket on the floor next to Alex's bed, took a spare pillow from the floor, and drifted off to sleep.

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Piper woke up the next morning with Lucy lying next to her on the blanket. "I'm sorry Piper, I didn't know your parents would get angry about you and Alex."

"It's not your fault Lucy, they needed to know."

"Why don't they like Alex?" Piper hated this question, Lucy had grown up in a home where she couldn't understand why someone would get so mad about something like that.

"It's hard to explain Lucy."

"Ok. Well, maybe we can talk about it later." Lucy gave Piper a quick hug before leaving the room. Piper got off the floor and slipped into the bed next to Alex, who was still sleeping. It felt so good to look at her and not see those horrible bruises anymore. All that was left was a small scar hidden by her hair. But the nightmares were still there. Piper was proud of how hard Alex was trying, she hadn't turned back to heroin, and had opened up more to Piper. It felt good, Alex had no idea how much good was in her, how special she was. Piper felt incredibly lucky because she got to see it every day. She snuggled under the blankets and drifted back to sleep.

Later that morning Alex had another nightmare, but this one was worse than all the others. She was being held tightly to the ground, she couldn't move. Robbie was on top of her, holding her down. He moved his hands down to her jeans, trying to pull them down. Alex tried to scream but nothing came out. Fuck, this couldn't be happening. Alex was then jerked out of her dream, waking up to Piper gently shaking her shoulder to wake her, "Baby it's ok, you were having a dream." Piper stroked Alex's cheek to calm her down. This wasn't like a bruise that would heal, Robbie had left deep scars in Alex's mind, scar's that Piper was afraid would never heal. Piper brushed the damp hair from Alex's eyes and kissed her gently. "I'm here Alex, are you ok?" Alex tried to steel herself, but she felt the tears in her eyes, "No, I don't think I'm ok."

"Talk to me Alex." Alex hated talking about her dreams, but Piper could tell this one was different from the others. Alex felt ridiculous, it was just a dream, but she couldn't shake that fear she felt, it was so real. She buried her face in Piper's chest. "He….he was trying to rape me."

"It's ok babe, it was just a dream. I will never let him touch you again Alex, never."

"He's still out there Piper."

"And it doesn't matter, I will never let him hurt you again Alex." The two girls lay tangled in each other until Alex felt better.

"So how did it end with the folks last night?"

"Not good, I don't think they'll be making a return visit anytime soon. I spoke to Diane about it last night. You're so lucky Al, you're lucky to have a mum that loves you no matter what. My mum's main concern is keeping up the façade for every asshole at the country club." Alex hugged Piper, "You've always got us babe. And don't forget about Danny, he's nothing like your parents." Danny had gone back home two weeks ago, and Piper already missed him. She felt like he was the only one in the family that really loved her. He had promised to come back for a visit soon, but it wouldn't be soon enough for Piper.