Piper bounced her leg up and down as she sat in Polly's living room looking out the window. She wasn't really listening to her best friend talk as her mind was focusing on something different. Her and Larry had been together for 5 months and had been living together for almost 2 months but things hadn't been going exactly as she expected.

Polly walked into the living room carrying two hot cups of tea as she still yammered on about Pete. She set the cups down on the coffee table and took a seat in a nearby chair facing Piper. She stopped talking once she realized her friend wasn't listening.

"Have you even heard a word I've said?"

Piper blinked and looked at her friend, "Huh? Oh, sorry Poll…"

"What is up with you, Pipes? You've been acting antsy all day. Is this about the new client we just got?"

"No, nothing about work. I guess I'm just stressed about something else."

"Talk to me."

Piper shook her head as she sipped her tea, "I don't want to bore you with my problems."

"Oh, please! How many times have you listened to me bitch about my life, huh? The least I can do is listen to someone else's fucked up life for once."

Piper sighed as she sat back against the couch, "When you and Pete first started living together, did you…how long did you, um…well, was there ever a time…"

Polly scrunched her face, "Piper? Just fucking say it."

"Larry and I haven't had sex in almost two months."

"What!? Oh, my god!"

Piper gulped, "Actually, that's a lie. We have sex but it isn't as often as I'd like and I haven't…you know…"

"Cum?"

"Yeah. I can't remember the last time he made me do that."

Polly let out a long breath and sat back in her chair, "Wow. That's some serious stuff. Wait, how often do you have sex?"

"Maybe twice a month. I know he's busy and stressed at work and I know I've been stressed too but it's like ever since we moved in together, we've become like strangers. We used to go out on dates all the time and hold hands and kiss and stuff but even that has become really limited. I don't know what to do anymore and I'm going crazy."

"I bet you are." Polly leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. "Have you talked to him about it? Maybe you just need to spice things up."

"I've tried that. Sexy outfits, oils, scented candles, you name it. I've even greeted him completely naked when he gets home but all I get from that is he's either too tired to fuck or he cums too fast that my body has barely anytime to react to anything. And talking about it just pisses him off." Piper took a sip of her tea. "Maybe he doesn't find me attractive anymore, you know? Maybe he's bored now."

"Bullshit! You're fucking gorgeous and if he can't see that then fuck him. You deserve someone who will give you what you want." Polly gave her friend a warm smile.

"I'm starting to think we rushed into everything too soon."

"So what are you going to do?"

Piper shrugged, "I don't know but something needs to change."

The two women looked at each other before Piper looked out the window again.

XXX

Nicky ran her hands through her messy hair as she stared at the paperwork on her desk. The Dirty Slut part 2 was starting to really stress her out and she was having second thoughts about opening another restaurant.

As she took a swig of her beer, someone appeared in the doorway to her office.

"Isn't it a little early to be drinking?"

Nicky looked up and met Alex's green eyes, "You do know I own a bar, right? It's never too early to drink in here."

Alex laughed and nodded her head, "That's my kind of girl. Am I interrupting you?"

"Fuck no! Just boring paperwork."

"So how is the second restaurant coming?"

"Stressing me the fuck out but that's how business goes." Nicky leaned back in her chair. "What brings you in here at 10 am?"

Alex took a seat in front of her, "I had a meeting with some buyers around the corner and thought I'd stop by. Haven't seen you in awhile."

"How is the art world? Got any shows coming up?"

"Soon, hopefully. I actually just got back from this amazing trip to Barcelona. Met some fucking rad artists and even got to meet a professor I've been dying to work with for years!" Alex shrugged as she adjusted her glasses. "I'm trying to incorporate some Spanish influence into my work. Everything seems a little dull to me now."

"Barcelona, huh? So that's why blondie didn't get a new painting from you."

"Blondie?"

"Chapman. She wanted a new painting for her office to match the other one you gave her but said you were out of town."

"Oh, yes, Piper. I didn't think going out of the country would piss her off so much."

Nicky shrugged as she took another swig of her beer, "She gets mad easy. She's a weird girl."

"So I've noticed." Alex lifted her glasses onto her head. "Listen, since it's been awhile since I've seen you and Lorna I was wondering if you guys wanted to come to a rooftop party I'm having Saturday night. I just bought a new apartment with unbelievable views of the city and I'm having some friends over to break it in with me."

"Hell yeah, we'll be there!"

"Cool." Alex grabbed a piece of paper and began writing on it. "Here's the address. I'm telling everyone to get there around 11 and you can bring some other people too, if you want."

"Like blondie?"

Alex smirked, "If she wants to come. She seems sort of mad at me now but I would love to clear the air with her."

"You got it, Vause."

Alex stood up, "I'll see ya, Saturday!"

Nicky winked at Alex as she walked away. She quickly grabbed her phone and dialed Piper's number.

"Hello?" Asked Piper sounding not like her usual self as she answered the phone.

"Is this a bad time? You sound tired or something."

"No, Nicky, I'm fine. What's up?"

"Well, I was wondering if you had any plans Saturday night."

"Not that I know of. How come?"

Nicky smiled, "You wanna go to a rooftop party with Lorna and me?"

"Hell yeah! I've never been to one of those. Whose party is it?"

"Cool! I'll text you the address and feel free to bring Larry and Polly. It starts around 11, by the way."

"Nicky?" Piper paused as she sighed into the phone. "You didn't answer my question."

"What question was that?"

"Whose party is it?"

"Oh! Um, just a friend of mine. She got a new apartment and wants to show it off. Says it has amazing views of the city or some shit."

"A friend of yours?"

"Yep."

"Does this friend have a name?"

Nicky furrowed her brows, "What's with the questioning? I feel like I'm on Law and Order or something."

"What's this friends name?"

"Uh, it's um…AlexfuckingVause." Nicky said as quickly as possible hoping Piper didn't hear her correctly.

"Nicky! I am not-"

"Yes, you are. Okay I have to go but I'll see you Saturday night. Bye blondie!" She hung up the phone quickly before Piper could say anything else.

She knew Saturday night was going to be fun.

XXX

Nicky and Lorna held hands as they walked around the rooftop of Alex's apartment building in awe of the view. You could see all of Manhattan lit up. They both felt like they were on top of the world.

"What do you think?" Alex asked as she walked up with 3 beers in her hand.

"You're weren't fucking around about the view. It's fucking amazing!" Nicky exclaimed as she took a beer and drank some of it.

"I feel like I'm in a Julia Roberts movie or something. It's so romantic up here!" Lorna smiled as she squeezed Nicky's hand and took the other beer.

"Relax, kid. Don't start fangirling out on me just yet."

Alex laughed as she looked at them, "You two are fucking perfect together. You know that, right?"

Nicky winked at her as she kissed Lorna on the head. Suddenly, a petite dirty blonde haired girl walked over to Alex and wrapped an arm around her waist. Alex wrapped her arm around the girls shoulder and smiled, "Nicky and Lorna, this is Jodie. Jo, these are some of my friends."

Lorna reached her hand out and shook Jodie's hand, "Nice to meet, ya."

Jodie smiled, "You too. Don't you own that bitchin' bar in Hell's Kitchen?"

Nicky raised her hand, "I do, actually. Lorna's just my muse with it."

"I fucking love that place!" Jodie smiled at Nicky. She turned her head and looked back at Alex, "I'm going to go mingle. Catch up with you, later." She kissed Alex on the cheek and walked away.

"When the fuck did that happen?" Asked Nicky as Jodie walked away.

"After I got back from Barcelona. She's a DJ from Chicago and she's visiting the city for a few weeks."

"Having fun?" Asked Lorna.

"So far, so good." Alex said with a smile. She looked around at her guests and looked back at her friends, "Well, I'm gonna go make the rounds. Eat some food, get drunk but please don't fall off the roof. Nothing ruins a party faster than an accidental suicide."

Nicky and Lorna laughed as Alex walked away.

About half an hour later, they were seated in a corner talking to some of Alex's friends when they spotted Piper, Larry, Polly and Pete walk in. Lorna waved at them as they walked over.

"You made it!" She gave Piper a hug as she smiled at everyone else. "And you look fucking gorgeous, babe!"

Piper smiled as she looked down at her outfit. It was just a yellow romper with thick straps that crossed in the back. Her hair was pinned up in a messy but cute bun and she had on brand new flats.

She shrugged as she looked back at Lorna, "It is summer time."

Larry wrapped an arm around her waist, "You do look nice."

Piper rolled her eyes as she looked at Polly who gave her a small smile.

Nicky walked up and placed her hand on Lorna's shoulder, "Well, look who made the time to come tonight. Chapman, I swear I thought you'd be busy."

"Fuck you, Nicky." Piper whispered load enough for only Nicky to hear.

Larry and Pete walked off to grab some drinks leaving the girls alone. Piper still looked stressed about something.

"What's up, Piper?" Asked Lorna as she rubbed her hand on Piper's arm. "You look way too cute tonight to have such a long face."

Piper smiled at her, "I just have a lot of shit going on right now."

"You wanna talk about?" Lorna asked looking concerned.

"Not tonight. I just need a drink" She answered as she turned to see Larry walking up with a couple of cocktails. Piper grabbed one and quickly drank it.

"Easy there, Pipes. You know what happens after a few cocktails…"

"I honestly don't give a fuck, Larry." She licked her lips as she looked at the bar. "I'm going to get another drink. Excuse me."

Everyone watched confused as Piper walked away.

Nicky looked at Polly and asked, "The fuck was that about?"

Polly rolled her eyes, "You don't wanna know."

Piper had been standing at the bar for a few minutes and had already downed another drink and was getting ready to chug another when she heard a familiar voice speak up behind her.

"I know this is a party but pace yourself, kid. The last thing I want is for you to get vomit on that adorable outfit of yours."

Piper whipped around and glared at Alex, "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not a kid? And I'm not going to vomit and don't call my outfit adorable!"

Alex laughed as she crossed her arms, "Fine, then your outfit is fucking awful and you look like shit wearing it. Better?"

"Much." Piper looked around the roof at all the guests. "Where's your girlfriend?"

"My what?"

"You know that dirty blonde haired girl you were with at the movies. What was her name? Brody? Toby? Cody?"

"Jodie."

"Jodie! That's right."

Alex cocked an eyebrow and watched Piper drink the rest of her cocktail, "First of all, she isn't my girlfriend and second of all, you've had too many drinks already. I'm cutting you off."

"Fuck you. I'm a grown up."

"I don't give a shit. You've been here for less than 10 minutes and have already had 3 cocktails. I don't want you acting like some drunk college chick." Alex grabbed Piper's wrist and pulled her away from the bar.

"How do you know how long I've been here?"

"I saw you walk in." She crossed her arms over her chest again. "Speaking of girlfriends, how's Larry?"

"Larry isn't my girlfriend asshole."

"Sometimes I get confused. I'm sorry. Boyfriend."

"Larry is fine. He's great, actually! We're great, actually!"

Alex knew something was up with Piper. She wasn't being her normal self and she was concerned. She grabbed her hand and led her away from the party and down a stairwell off the roof.

"I thought this was a rooftop party? We aren't on the roof anymore!"

Alex laughed as she continued leading Piper down the stairs, "You need some air."

"Air? Alex, I was just outside. I was already getting air."

"You need a different kind of air, kid."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Then stop acting like a kid."

They reached a door and Piper watched Alex push it open. They then walked down a long hallway until they reached another door.

"Is this the part where you try to impress me with your work because you already did that and I still wasn't impressed."

"Then why did you tell Nicky you wanted another painting?" Alex asked as she cocked an eyebrow and unlocked the door.

"That little shit." Whispered Piper under her breath.

"Don't worry. I'm not showing you my work."

"Then what are we doing here?" Piper asked as Alex opened the door and pushed her inside.

Piper's mouth fell open at what she was seeing. She looked over at Alex as the brunette closed the door. "Is this…?"

"My new digs? Yeah, it is."

Piper started walking around the gigantic loft admiring the architecture and décor. She ran her hand along the exposed brick wall and gawked at the amazingly beautiful view again.

"What do you think? You're the first person to see it without all my shit still boxed up."

"It's incredible like your studio but without all the paint fumes and formaldehyde smell in the air." Piper ran her hand along the long wooden dining room table and looked back at Alex. "Jodie hasn't seen it?"

"I told you, she isn't my girlfriend."

"That's not what it looked like to me at the movies."

"Trust me, Pipes, if she were my girlfriend then you would definitely know." Alex lifted her glasses onto her head as she sat on the edge of her leather couch. "I wanted to apologize about that night. I didn't mean to make you mad about Jodie or about me skipping town for a few weeks. I was just trying to gain some inspiration and work with another artist I've been dying to work with for years."

Piper sighed as she looked at the brunette woman across the room, "Don't apologize. I'm the one who should be apologizing. The way I acted was completely uncalled for and you didn't deserve any of it. I guess I just got the wrong impression of you…again."

"Well, I can see why you would think that. I swear I'm not a shady person and I'm not a womanizer either if that's what you were thinking."

Piper narrowed her eyes, "You sure about that?"

Alex smirked, "Okay, I'm not a total womanizer. I date a lot and have fun but when the right girl comes along, I stick with it. Total ride or die."

"You don't need to explain yourself, Alex. We don't know each other that well so you don't need to tell me your life story. I'm still a stranger to you, sort of."

"That's what's odd about this, Piper. Usually I don't like opening up to new people so fast because it hasn't always worked well for me in the past but with you…it's different."

Piper smiled as she walked around Alex's living room. She looked at the framed pictures on her entertainment unit and saw a picture of Alex and another girl. The girl was smiling happily with her eyes closed while Alex was standing behind her with her arms wrapped around her waist and kissing her cheek.

They looked so in love.

Piper looked over at Alex and noticed her watching her look at the picture. The brunette stood up and walked over to the blonde. She grabbed the picture and smiled down at it.

"Her name was Sam. Well, actually Samantha but she hated being called that."

"Was she…?"

"My first love." Alex looked at Piper.

"Alex, I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay. I don't mind telling you this stuff." She put the picture back onto the shelf and smiled warmly at it. "We were together for about three years. She's actually one of the reasons I pursued painting as a career."

"What happened?"

"I loved her and I knew she loved me but there was something she loved more than anything in the world: heroin. She was a total junkie and it got worse. Rehab never did shit for her and I certainly couldn't do anything no matter how hard I tried. It got so bad that we would literally get into fist fights over it. It made her paranoid. She was constantly accusing me of cheating and she would yell at me and say really hurtful fucked up things." Alex took in a deep breath and looked down at her feet. "I finally had to make a clean break thinking and hoping that the end of our relationship would make her want to get clean for good but…"

Piper swallowed hard. She had never seen this vulnerable side to Alex before.

Alex looked at her and licked her dry lips, "She died of an overdose two days after her 24th birthday."

"Oh, Alex. I'm so sorry." Piper whispered as she put her hand on the brunette's shoulder.

"She made me promise her to do whatever it took to become an artist. A week after her funeral, I vowed to do just that and I busted my ass selling paintings in Washington Square Park. It wasn't too long after that that I was 'discovered'. I owe a lot to her and even though we were fucked up and she was fucking terrible to be around most of the time, I don't regret any of it." She sucked in a breath and looked straight into Piper's blue eyes. "That kind of love is rare and when you find it, you fight as hard as you possibly can for it. Even if it hurts. Even if it kills you. In the end, it's completely worth it."

The two women stared at each other in silence as Piper tried to figure out what to say. She felt like an asshole for judging Alex the way she had.

The brunette shoved her hands in her front pockets and said, "Look, I didn't bring you in here to make you sad. You seem like you have something on your mind so if you want to talk about it, I'm all ears."

Piper smiled and shook her head, "I'm fine, really. Just been busy at work, I guess."

"You sure?"

"Yeah but thanks for asking." Piper looked at Alex's plump ruby red lips and could suddenly feel the alcohol in her system take over. She licked her own dry lips as she watched Alex move toward her a little more. Her heart began to race as she anticipated what was about to happen…

…until there was a loud knock on the door. The two women quickly moved apart as Alex ran over and opened the door.

Piper could hear her talking to a man but didn't know what was being said. Alex closed the door and turned back to Piper.

"I guess, Jodie needs me."

Piper swallowed and nodded her head, "I should be going anyway. The alcohol is starting to get to me."

Alex chuckled, "You need a ride home?"

"No, Larry is with me."

"Right. Well, thanks for coming."

"Of course. Thanks for, um, showing me your apartment. It is really beautiful, by the way."

Alex opened the door for Piper as they walked back up the stairs in silence to the roof.

Thought I'd give you another gift since I kept you waiting so long :) By the way, this story is going to be as happy, fluffy, smutty, cute, angsty as possible so don't expect anything really fucked up to happen. I feel like there are way too many Piper/Alex fics that deal with abuse and rape and crazy shit like that. :(

Anyway, I'll try and have the next chapter as soon as I can.