A/N: Hey everyone, new chapter! Another relatively short one, not a whole lot of plot progression here, although this part will lay the foundation for future Vauseman. Hope you enjoy, and as always, don't forget to leave a review with your thoughts!
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CHAPTER 3: AND SO IT BEGINS
Alex didn't sleep very well that night. Her mind took a while to leave the warmth of her kiss with Piper, even if the actual event had lasted less than a minute. She tossed and turned, trying to convince herself that leaving, not giving in to her beautiful new colleague's advances, was the right idea. When her cell phone alarm finally sounded at 4:30am, she was already wide awake.
She got ready that morning on autopilot, working the motions of rising, quickly making her bed, grabbing a clean uniform, showering, getting dressed, pulling her pistol out of its lockbox, loading it, and securing it in its holster, clipping on her duty belt over it, jumping in the 2014 Honda Civic SI that she bought with the money from her last deployment, and finally making her way across the base to 91st MP HQ, pouring out of her car at 5:30, leaving her just enough time to make a coffee and take some Advil to stave off the hangover that had slowly started to pound in the back of her head before she took her seat in the conference room along with the other patrol commanders to hear the Watch Commander's daily briefing.
"You look like shit, Vause. You didn't even drink that much last night," Nicky teased, "maybe you're starting to become a lightweight."
"Ah, leave her alone, Nic. Maybe she had a rough night." Morello chimed in from the other side of the table.
"Wait, y'all went out last night?" Sergeant Carrie "Big Boo" Black's voice was far too loud to not be noticed by the other three patrol commanders as she strolled into the conference room and took her usual seat at the table. "Thanks for invite, bitches."
"We were going to invite you, but maybe if you still lived in the B's it'd be a little easier to track you down, Boo," Nicky shot back amicably from her position on the opposite side of the table, beside Morello.
"Hm, I suppose that would help. Oh well, I managed to entertain myself just fine," Boo said, concealing a smirk that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Attennnnnn-shun!" Alex's deep voice was surprisingly loud as she announced the arrival of 1st Lieutenant Washington, their Watch Commander.
"Fuck off, Vause, you know I hate that shit." The young officer said, waving off the four women's reaction to her arrival. "Let's get right to business, I don't want to keep you from policing the beautiful streets of this Post longer than I have to. Nothing huge to report today, the OC wants us to focus on enforcing traffic violations: speeders, burnt out lights, running stop signs, the usual shit that makes everyone on post hate us. 1 and 2 Patrol, I'd like you guys to focus on roaming patrols at random intervals, try and catch anyone you see. Black, I want your guys to take a spin out to the ranges, make sure everything is being run well down there. Vause, get your people to set up checkpoints, one at Omaha and Salerno and another at River Ridge and Mount Belvedere. Nothing too serious, just checking registration, insurance, licensing, maybe inspections if you want. I want you in the field, on the same VCP as your new 2 I/C, make sure she's competent, got it?"
"Roger that, ma'am." Alex spoke up from her seat for the first time since the small woman arrived.
"Any questions?" Washington asked, this time directing her question to the whole table. When no one spoke up, she stood up, gave a small wave to the group and walked out.
"Fuck, Vause, who'd you fuck over to get your guys on VCP duty?" Nicky laughed, turning to the brunette as all four women stood up and starting making their way to their respective squad rooms.
"I don't fucking know. Maybe she just wants me out and about in case Chapman fucks up really badly."
"Speaking of Chapman, did anything happen between you two last night? I saw you both going into her room after we got back…"
"No, Nic, nothing happened. Don't worry about it. Maybe occupy yourself with trying to be a little quieter in the bedroom, you and Lorna kept me up all night." Alex said, stopping as she reached her squad room.
Nicky just laughed in response, adjusting her duty belt as she stepped into her squad room. Alex followed suit, swinging the door open and seeing Piper standing in front of the six other members of the patrol, who were all seated at small desks.
"Thank you for occupying the troops in my absence, CPL Chapman, but if you don't mind, I'd like to brief the patrol on our plans for this shift, assuming that's ok with you." Alex snarked at the younger woman.
"Uh, yea, sure Sarn't, sorry for stepping on toes." Piper said, slightly shocked at the older woman's frosty reception.
"Don't be fucking sorry, just don't let it happen again." Alex shot back, unconsciously fiddling the handcuff key that dangled from the front of her duty belt as she stepped to where Piper had been addressing the rest of the group. Not giving the blonde a chance to respond, she began speaking to the whole patrol, "Alright, so the LT wants us setting up checkpoints throughout the base today. Myself, Chapman, Ford and Soso will set up at River Ridge and Mount Belvedere, the rest of you head out to Omaha and Salerno. Sign for your vehicles from Chang in Transport, I'd like everyone to sign out their own sedan today, except SPC Watson, I want you to sign for an Escape so that we have an SUV at both locations. I'd also like everyone to sign out their M4 from the vault, just in case shit hits the fan. Questions? No, good. I want everyone with their M4 and vehicle at their assigned location no later than 6:45. Move now." She finished, gesturing to the group to leave the room. "Chapman, stay behind, I'd like a word."
The blonde stopped, making sure the rest of the patrol had left before closing the door and turning to face the taller woman, who had taken a few steps closer to the shorter woman.
"Look, um, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about last night, I was drinking and I'm not usually that, uh, forward. It won't happen again, I promise." Piper sped through what sounded like a pre-rehearsed speech, not making eye contact with Alex as she spoke.
"Don't worry about it, kid. I was as into it as you were, I just didn't want things to get weird between us, we do have to work together, you know," she flashed one of her trademark smirks before continuing, "I'd really like to see where this, us, leads. I just don't want to rush into anything."
The two women had made their way out of the squad room and were beginning to descend the stairs to the vault to sign out their weapons and vehicles for the day.
"Yea, I totally get it. How about something non-alcohol related? We start on the night shift tomorrow, so maybe we could grab lunch?" Piper said, her face reflecting the happiness she felt internally, knowing that she still had a chance with her alluring new boss.
"I think I'd like that. We could continue our conversation from yesterday, you know, get to know each other better. There's a nice little diner a few miles off post. I can drive, if you want to just take one vehicle." Alex responded, her trademark smirk growing bigger and bigger with every word.
"Sounds awesome, we can leave around 1? That'll give us time to bank some extra sleep before the graveyard shift." Piper beamed back at the taller woman.
"It's a date." The brunette allowed her voice to deepen slightly, making her words sound just a bit more suggestive.
…
"Fuck this shiiit." Soso complained, adjusting her camouflage patrol cap as she walked back to the impromptu checkpoint headquarters, waving a dark sedan through the maze of vehicles the group had set up. "It's only noon. We still have six more hours of this." She continued, gesturing to the growing lineup of vehicles that had collected. "I should have been an officer…" she muttered under her breath, before looking up at Alex and Piper, who were both seated in folding chairs, typing away on standard issue laptops. "What exactly are you guys doing, anyway?" she questioned, referring to their considerably relaxed demeanor compared to the rest of the patrol, who'd been checking licenses and registration papers since 7 o'clock that morning.
"Paperwork. Reports and stuff. Important NCO business." Piper replied, without bothering to look up from her screen.
"Administration is the backbone of good policing, Private Soso." Alex elaborated.
"Hey, who said that? It sounds familiar." Piper asked the brunette, finally choosing to look away from her "paperwork" that was actually the website of her friend's artisanal soap business.
"Vause. Alex Vause. Don't know why it's familiar, I just made it up." Alex chuckled back at the blonde, before turning back to Soso. "Do the members of the patrol require relief, Private? Corporal Chapman and I would love to stretch our legs for a bit."
"Uh, yea, I guess so, Sarn't. Um, a couple guys just went to grab lunch, but the rest of us haven't gotten a break yet." The young woman stammered back, shocked at her supervisor's sudden change in demeanor.
"Alright, then. All you had to do was ask. Chapman, let's go show these kids how real police handle a VCP." The brunette said, smirking, as she closed her laptop, stood up from her chair and replaced her patrol cap. Piper followed suit, following the taller woman up to the line of traffic.
"You guys can go take a break for a little while. Be sure to thank Soso for not being a little bitch and actually asking." Alex said to the remaining three soldiers at the checkpoint, before turning to Piper. "Just lean in, make sure everyone's got a seatbelt on and the driver's sober. Let's see if we can't break up this traffic a bit."
Thirty minutes later, the two women returned to the improvised headquarters.
"Damn Soso, don't know what took you guys so long to get traffic moving. We cleared up a mile-long line of cars in half an hour." Alex proclaimed as she and Piper returned to their seats.
Shocked, the four junior soldiers looked down the road, taken aback at the distinct lack of traffic that now occupied the route.
"What the…" Ford began.
"Handed out a dozen tickets, too. Just gotta know what you're doing and how to do it, kids." Piper chuckled at the group, before continuing, "now get your asses back out there and don't let traffic pile up again."
…
The rest of the shift, and the rest of the day, went by rather uneventfully. They packed up the checkpoint an hour early to avoid rush hour traffic, then hung around HQ until Alex told them they could (finally) go home. That evening, Piper prepared her outfit for her date the next day, ate a mediocre supper at the on-post DFAC, and called it a night around 11.
Alex had an equally uneventful afternoon and evening. After dismissing the patrol, she finished up a bit of admin, before linking up with Nicky, Morello and Boo and grabbing dinner at the good DFAC on the other side of the base. When Nicky asked her if she wanted to go drinking with the group that night, she politely declined, much to the chagrin of her best friend, before heading back to her room and spending the rest of the evening watching Netflix before she fell asleep just after 1.
The next morning, both women woke up late. By the time they had showered, gotten dressed and ready, eaten breakfast and returned to their rooms, it was well past 11. They both got ready, nervously awaiting the arrival of 1pm.
At 12:45, Piper heard a knock on her door, and happily jogged to answer it. She swung the door open, and spotted Alex, wearing a black t-shirt with the name of a band she'd never heard of printed in large scrawl across the front, light skinny jeans with rips down the front, and a red leather jacket that hid the Browning M9 Alex had strapped to her hip.
"Are you going to stop checking me out anytime soon, or can we get going, kid?" Alex chuckled at the younger woman, pleased at how her appearance had already affected the blonde.
"Um, yea, sure, let's go. After you." Piper stammered, trying desperately to regain some semblance of control.
As the two women reached the elevator, Alex had her first chance to properly examine Piper's choice of outfit. She had also opted for skinny jeans, although hers were a little darker than Alex's. She paired them with a white t-shirt with pink designs throughout, and a light grey rain jacket to conceal her sidearm.
"You look great, kid." The words fell from Alex's mouth before she even had a chance to stop them.
Smiling back at the taller woman, Piper replied, "You don't look too bad yourself, boss."
The sudden 'ding' of the elevator drew them out of their trance, as they exited the building and Alex led Piper across the parking lot to her car. She quickly swung the passenger door open, holding it for the blonde.
"Hm, I guess chivalry isn't totally dead." Piper murmured as she sat down in the car.
…
Twenty minutes later, Alex and Piper were sitting in the corner booth of Alex's favourite diner, a few miles off post.
"So, Chapman, tell me your funniest deployment story." Alex requested, as she crunched a french fry in her mouth.
"Alright, but you have to promise not to laugh at my stupidity." Piper said, placing her hamburger down on the plate in front of her.
"Cross my heart." Alex smirked, tracing an X across the left side of her chest.
"Ok, so, my first tour was a couple months after AIT. I got to my unit and immediately got tossed into pre-deployment training, no time to find my bearings, or get subjected to the new guy BS." Piper began, as she took a sip of her milkshake. "First couple weeks down range, no big deal. Take IDF a few times, think I'm hot shit compared to my basic training buddies who are still state-side doing jack shit. One day about two months into the tour, we were prepping to make a convoy move from KAF to a little shithole FOB about two hours away, so we had to bring a fuck ton of supplies up with us. I was checking the oil in my vehicle when this terrifying Staff Sergeant starts screaming about not having any headlight fluid in the Bradley. Like, I'm talking full on, half expect this guy to turn into an active shooter pissed. Then, he suddenly just stops, looks at me and goes 'Hey, Private! Go get some fucking headlight fluid for this piece of shit right fucking now.' So, I go running off, all around KAF, trying to find headlight fluid. It took about four hours before someone finally let me in on the joke."
Alex, who had begun cracking up laughing at the first mention of "headlight fluid", was able to calm herself enough to get out, "Oh, come on. I can't believe you fell for that, it's like the oldest trick in the book."
"Yea, I know, right? It was just one of those times that I never really thought about what I was doing, and when I finally took a second to reflect, I realized just how fucked up I was."
"Kinda like a couple nights ago…" Alex rasped, her voice deepening suddenly.
"Yea, I guess you could say that. I was wondering when we were going to bring that up." Piper replied, a look of grim acceptance on her face.
"I'm not saying it wasn't enjoyable, kid. Because it most certainly was. I just think that with both of us recently having gotten out of relationships, maybe taking that particular step so soon isn't a great idea." Alex pondered for a moment, before continuing. "It's just, I think I really like you, and I don't want sex to fuck this up."
"You know what, Alex? I think I really like you, too." Piper concluded, before finishing off her milkshake and setting it back on the table.