Chapter 25 – perfect

At first, time moved slowly for Alex, sometimes it moved painfully slowly. The days and weeks after the trial finished didn't even feel real. It had been so long since Alex felt free, felt like she wasn't living with something dark hanging over her, it felt strange at first. For a while she didn't know what to do with herself, so for those first few weeks she focussed on herself and her family. She spent more time with Kerry, those sessions never got easier but the positives became more noticeable. The biggest thing Alex learnt from Kerry was recognising her own emotions before she lost control of her actions. That in itself felt like a minor miracle, but she still didn't like needing help from Piper to pay for the sessions. One day, Alex would find a way to pay her back, to show Piper that she could take care of her. Even though she couldn't really afford it, Alex took a few weeks off work after the trial. When she wasn't in sessions with Kerry, she spent time with her family. She took Lucy to and from school every day, helped with her homework, and put her to bed. Alex liked being able to focus so much of her time and energy on her sister. Alex could also see the change in Lucy, she seemed more relaxed, happier.

Outside of her time with Lucy, Alex tried so hard to be honest and open with Diane and Piper. It was something she struggled with, but she never stopped trying. She slipped back into old habits with Piper, speaking to her when they were both lying in bed at the end of the day. But she didn't want it to be all one sided, she needed to know that Piper was happy, that she was okay. Alex never let a day go past without asking Piper how she was feeling, how her day was. She never wanted Piper to feel like she didn't care, that she didn't think about her all the time. Alex still couldn't shake the feeling that she had a lot of making up to do.

Even though they had their differences, Alex tried to stay in touch with Emily, Robbie probably wouldn't have spent any time in prison if it weren't for Emily's statement. It at least seemed like Emily was starting to mend her relationship with her mother, and had gone back to live with her. Even though Alex tried to stay in touch with her, they never spoke about Robbie, that topic was off limits. Alex asked Diane if she'd ever heard from Emily's mother again, but she hadn't. Alex was almost too scared to ask Emily how her mother was coping, she figured she must be doing better if her and Emily were living together again. But she never knew for sure.

After about a month, time started to move more quickly for Alex. She went back to work, then it was Christmas, then New Years, and before she knew it Piper's short story book was finally being published and hitting the boutique stores around town. Alex saw this as a chance to really show Piper how much she meant to her, and to say thank you for being her rock over the last 18 months. Even Carol Chapman called her daughter to congratulate her on the book. Piper didn't see her parents over Christmas, but Bill at least called her on Christmas day. But now that her mother had actually phoned her, Piper was completely blown away. That was the first time they had spoken since that failed lunch at the Chapman house all those months ago. Piper felt like she could still see the cut on her face from her mother's ring, even though it had healed long ago.

Alex had been talking to Diane about doing something special to celebrate Piper's book being published. Diane had made dozens of suggestions to Alex on what she could do but none of it felt good enough for Piper. She didn't want to do all the usual things like taking her out to dinner or buying her flowers, all those things felt too dull. None of them were good enough for Piper, to show Piper exactly how proud Alex was of her and how much she loved her. No, this had to be something amazing, something she'd never forget. Alex had already decided that she would take Piper back to the same place she had for her birthday last year. That place held a lot of special memories for Alex, and she wanted to take Piper back there. But she needed something else, she just wasn't sure what.

Diane, Alex and Lucy were sitting down to dinner one night while Piper was meeting with her publisher. Alex was sitting there, twirling her spaghetti around her fork when the most perfect idea came to mind. It seemed so obvious, she felt stupid for not thinking of it sooner. She jumped out of the kitchen chair and ran to get her phone, calling Nicky immediately. It was all coming together, and Alex couldn't stop smiling. She made her way back to the kitchen table after asking Nicky to do some searching for her, "everything alright?" Diane raised an eyebrow at Alex as she kept eating.

Alex still couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face, "yeah, perfect actually."

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It was a Sunday afternoon when Alex decided to take Piper for a drive to their special place, and give her the perfect gift that Alex had finally managed to find, with some help from Nicky's family contacts. Alex walked into the lounge room with a smile on her face, finding Piper and Lucy playing Scrabble while Diane was relaxing in the armchair after just finishing another shift.

"Are you actually losing Scrabble to a kid Pipes? You, a published author, losing a game of words to a ten year old?" Even through all the hard times, Alex tried to keep her sense of humour in check.

"Yeah well it's hard to win when the opposition keeps cheating!"

"Hey, you agreed it was a real word!" Lucy replied as she threw a Scrabble tile at Piper, laughing the whole time.

Alex sat on the arm of Diane's chair, letting the older woman put an arm around her waist, "well, now that you've been thoroughly beaten, it's time for you to come with me."

"And where may I ask are we going?"

"Someplace special, but we'll be back for dinner okay." Alex leaned down to kiss Diane on the cheek and said goodbye to Lucy before she pulled Piper up from the floor and led her out of the apartment.

Alex and Piper got into Diane's car and drove along while they made small talk. Piper reached over the centre console and gently touched Alex's free hand, slowly linking their fingers. Alex didn't think she'd ever get tired of that feeling, those simple gestures meant the world to her. Alex eventually pulled up to the park where she brought Piper so long ago. Piper smiled as soon as she realised where they were, "Alex, I love it here, thanks for bringing me again."

Alex leaned over and kissed Piper slowly on the lips, "I can't help but think of this as our place now." The two young women smiled at each other and walked hand in hand until Alex reached the spot she liked most of all, surrounded by old trees. She patted her satchel about 50 times to make sure she hadn't forgotten the gift, she couldn't wait to give it to Piper. Alex laid down a blanket for them and pulled Piper into her lap as they got comfortable. Alex had no idea how long they laid there in silence, it didn't matter, even without any words it felt perfect.

Eventually, Alex started talking, "I know I say this a lot, but I really do love you Pipes, and I'm so fucking proud of you. What you've done with your book, it's amazing. Even with all the shit that's happened, you still managed to write a book, and look after me at the same time."

Piper pushed herself up from Alex's lap and sat next to her girlfriend, placing a hand on her leg as she smiled at her. Alex placed her hand on top of Piper's and kept talking, "I wanted to do something special for you, to show you how proud I am and how much you mean to me. But I didn't want it to be some run of the mill gesture, you're too special for that. So I thought maybe this would help show you how much you mean to me." Alex reached into her satchel and pulled out a small package that was wrapped in brown paper and string.

Piper smiled and looked slightly confused, "what is this?"

Alex handed her the package, "open it." Alex watched intently as Piper slowly unwound the string and pulled off the brown paper. When she had removed the last of the brown paper she looked down at the gift with disbelief, she didn't know what to say. She slowly ran her fingers over it, as though she needed to make sure it was real. She felt tears stinging the back of her eyes as she looked up at her girlfriend, "how….this is amazing Al. How did you know?"

For the second time that day, Alex couldn't stop smiling. She looked down at the gift, which was an early edition of Piper's favourite collection of short stories, The Garden Party and Other Stories. "You read that book at least once a month Pipes, it was kinda hard not to notice."

"How did you find this?" Piper was still completely astonished that Alex had managed to get her a gift like that.

"Let's just say I pulled in a favour from Nicky's park slope roots, those old ladies really know their stuff." Alex loved watching Piper's reaction, it was the one time she had seen Piper completely lost for words.

"Alex, this is the most thoughtful and beautiful gift anyone has ever given me, I don't even know what to say."

"Just tell me you love me."

Piper leaned close to Alex and kissed her, slowly at first, and then she let all the feelings in her chest take over as she tangled her hands in Alex's hair as they kept kissing, "I love you."

"I wanted to get you something special, something you could keep forever, something you'd never forget. This time it's a book, maybe next time it can be something even better. Maybe a place of our own, a ring, a holiday around the world." Alex didn't break eye contact with Piper even for a second, all she wanted was to get lost in those blue eyes.

"It's perfect. Anything that comes from you, it will always be perfect."

A/N

And that's where I'm going to end this one folks. Thanks again for reading, massive thanks for all the follows, favs and reviews. Like I said at the start, this was the first thing I've written in a while, so it's nice to know people enjoyed it. Keep an eye out for something new from me in the not too distant future.

Cheers.