A/N:

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters.

I don't know what I think about this chapter. What I do know is that I'm a little rusty 'coz I haven't written in a while. So if it isn't as good as you're expecting, apologies. I'll work on it. =)

Also, I'm pretty sure you'll figure it out but just to be certain, italics are flashbacks.

1

Piper still couldn't believe her own eyes. After four months of spending her time, energy, tears and sweat, after endless arguments with her best friend, after months of thinking this was never going to sail, Popi, a store of artisanal baths and soaps she shared with Polly was finally open. It wasn't huge but Piper was aware this was only the beginning, the start towards success. And she refused to believe otherwise.

Looking around, every corner of the small store reminded her of those days when she almost gave up, almost believing her mother's own words, "You're just wasting your time and money and energy on something that would clearly fail." Piper knew that if there was only one thing that was getting in her way of finishing what she started, it was her tendency to go back to that person she used to be, that person who let others' words bring her down (others mostly meant her mom who seemed like nothing Piper ever did was good enough.)

But there was also that other thing that pushed her to not give up, that soft whisper in her ear that told her she could do this. And as hard as it was to admit it to herself, that other thing was far from being a thing because it was a who. It was a person she met years ago, the only one who was able to let Piper believe that she was so much more than what she was led to believe for so many years. That person's voice was what kept Piper going, and here she was, standing inside the proof that it was all true. She could do it on her own, too.

-o-o-o-

Piper tried calming herself as she made her way to the apartment she shared with her girlfriend, but as she slammed the door shut, she realized she was still fuming, her hands almost shaking as it craved to be smacked against a hard surface, if only it meant having been able to release some of the anger she couldn't let out before she left her parents' place.

"Everything okay?" her girlfriend, Alex, who was sitting on the couch watching television asked as her head whipped towards her, worry flashing through her face. She immediately turned the tv off and made her way towards her.

"I... hate... her!" Piper said slowly, gritting her teeth as she let Alex rub her arms soothingly, the gesture instantly calming her down.

"Your mom?"

"Who else?" Piper sighed as she buried her face on the crook of Alex's neck, the raven-haired's arms instantaneously enveloping her. "I went there because I thought we were gonna have a nice dinner, me, her and dad. I can't believe I actually thought she just wanted to spend time with me!"

"What happened?" Alex asked, pulling away from Piper so she could tuck a few strands of Piper's hair behind her ear. Her other arm was still wrapped around Piper protectively, and Piper wondered why she chose to waste her time with her parents than just be with Alex the whole day. That would have been a whole lot better.

"Nothing much, except her using the entire time to remind me of everything I'm failing to do in llife. I swear to God, Alex. Of everything I do, the only thing she remembers is what I didn't do, I'm just so fucking exhausted of hearing her say how much of a failure I am."

"Hey, don't listen to her." Alex cupped her face guiding it to face her and the intensity of those beautiful green eyes looking at her kept Piper calm. "You're not a failure, Pipes. You're gonna do great and one day you're going to shove that in her face, okay? You're amazing babe, it's her loss she can't see that."

Alex then kissed Piper on the cheek and the latter found herself smiling, realizing only Alex could do that, make her smile when all she wanted to do was break everything she could get a hold of. "Thank you."

"For what?" Alex asked, confusion etched on her face.

"For being here, I don't know what I would do without you."

"Become miserable, of course."

Piper knew Alex was only joking. But deep inside, she also knew that it was true. Without Alex, she was one hundred percent sure she wasn't going to be anything but that.

-o-o-o-

"Piper!"

Piper's train of thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Polly shook her bringing her back to the present. She was surprised by where her mind suddenly went as she had not allowed herself to think of Alex for as long as she could remember and doing it had frozen her to her spot, surprised that the woman still had this effect on her.

"Where on earth did you just go? I've called you three times."

"S-sorry, I was just... I was just thinking."

"Clearly. Thinking about what?"

"About how I still can't believe Popi is finally open," Piper faked a smile, the lie easily coming out of her lips. She's perfected it, lying to everyone around her. She'd been doing it for so long she wasn't sure she even knew where the truth ended and the lies began anymore. "I'm just really happy. Sorry, what where you saying?"

Polly seemed to have bought this as a huge grin emanated from her lips. "I'm really happy, too, Pipe. This almost caused us our friendship, this better work out for the both of us."

Piper laughed at the truthfulness of what Polly had just said, knowing full well that it had happened a lot of times, what with her temper and Polly not knowing when to just stop pushing her buttons. But they both loved each other too much to let their friendship go to waste, and Popi on its way to success (well that's what Piper would like to believe) was just one great added reward for them on not giving up on it and on each other, most especially.

The bell suddenly chimed and both heads snapped towards the door, excited for their seemingly first customer. But their faces immediately fell when they saw who it was, realizing it wasn't actually a customer who came in.

"It's one thing to see your girlfriend's best friend's face fall when you arrive, it's a whole other thing when it's your girlfriend who seems so disappointed to see you," Larry walked towards Piper, giving her a chaste kiss as she settled two cups of coffee on the counter.

Piper chuckled, giving her boyfriend of two years an apologetic look. "Sorry, we thought you were a customer. Hi, how are you?"

"I'm good, just passing by to check in on you guys before I have to go to this meeting." He then looked around and looked back at Piper with a huge smile on his face, "I'm really proud of you, hon. Sorry I'm not who you're both expecting though."

"No, it's okay," answered Polly, "...this coffee definitely made up for it," she said as she took a sip of coffee Larry just brought them. "Oh my God," she moaned as she drank, "this is fucking good, where did you get this?"

"Uh, this cafe just across your place," Larry gestured outside and true enough there was a cafe that Piper and Polly surprisingly haven't noticed before.

"What?" asked Piper as she looked outside to where Larry just pointed at, "there's a cafe right across us? How come I never noticed? Did you?" she asked her best friend.

"Nope," Polly took another sip and moaned again, obviously still enjoying her cup of coffee.

"You really need to get laid, Pol. You can't always have coffee bringing you to orgasm, it's starting to become a little weird."

Larry chuckled watching the two women interact before answering Piper's earlier question. "As a matter of fact, there is a cafe right across you. It's just opened, too, I think. I guess you were both too preoccupied with Popi to notice."

"True, but yey! This is going to be my life-saver from now on," commented Polly, continuing to enjoy her coffee. "Hey, do you think we can go over there and give the owner something? You know, to be friends or whatever nice gesture expected from people these days."

"That's actually a great idea! I guess coffee does give you more than an orgasm. Maybe we should go over there later and meet the owner. It'd be nice to have friends around here."

"You've said the word orgasm twice in less than five minutes. Do you need one or something? Larry, aren't you giving Piper enough?"

"Aaaand that's my cue to leave," Larry faced Piper and gave her another chaste kiss on the cheek. "I gotta go, if this works out they'd be publishing my article on New York Times so wish me luck!"

"Good luck! You're gonna get it, I'm sure of it."

"Thanks Hon. And Polly, no more coffee for you. Bye guys!"

Polly waited until Larry had left the store before telling Piper what's on her mind. "So, he still doesn't have a job?"

Piper rolled her eyes at Polly, expecting this question from her as soon as Larry had left. She turned her back on her not really in the mood for this conversation that seemed to have become Polly's favorite the past few weeks. "Polly, I'm really having a great day. Please don't start."

"I'm serious, Piper. It's been way too long, he has to do something."

Realizing she's not getting out of this, Piper took a deep breath and went to face her best friend again. "He is. Didn't you hear him? If this meeting turns out well, he's gonna get his article published and it can only go uphill from there."

"Sweetheart, I love you and therefore I love him, too, but he's been waiting for that article to be published for months now. I'm not saying he should quit, but at least look for other jobs while he's pursuing his writing career, just for the mean time. With that, I mean he needs to stop depending on his parents and start standing on his own feet. And I don't think he'd realize that until you say something to him."

Piper sighed knowing Polly had a point. It had been months since Larry's last job, deciding that he needed to focus on his writing. And it had also been months that he was trying without anything really coming out of it. Piper knew she had to support him with whatever it was that he thought he needed to do, and so that's she did.

But that also meant her watching Larry's parents take control of a lot of things about their relationship just because they were helping him financially. And Larry thought they shouldn't mind because he owed them something.

And Piper hated it because it was all becoming too familiar, having her relationship controlled by something, someone, else, letting it happen when Piper knew she could do something about it.

So yeah, if Piper wanted this to work, maybe she really did need to talk to Larry now.

-o-o-o-

"Hi, how was your trip?" were the first words that came out of Alex's lips when Piper entered their apartment. But the first thing she noticed was how her eyes lit up and how her lips broke into a smile the moment she saw Piper. It was so beautiful it's heartbreaking to realize that she had lied to her girlfriend about where she'd really gone, again.

"It was fun! Polly's kinda crazy so there was really no dull moment. How are you?" Piper let Alex hug and kiss her, the guilt knotting in her stomach painfully but she couldn't tell Alex that she wasn't actually with Polly but with her family. She was certain that if Alex knew this, she'd open the topic about when she would meet them again and Piper didn't have any other excuses for her not to notice that Piper might not ever be ready for her family to meet Alex.

Piper also knew that it was hurting their relationship, these constant lies and all the secrets she was keeping from Alex. But she's made herself believe that if she chose to do the other thing, if she decided to tell her family about Alex, she was surely gonna end up choosing between the two and there was no way in hell she was letting that happen.

"I'd say I'm great but I missed you for days so, I don't know."

"Aw, sorry babe. I'm here now," Piper kissed Alex and tucked herself to her side, wanting to be as close to her as possible. They were drifting apart, she knew it. And she tried to fool herself that this physical closeness was enough for them to get back to how they used to be.

It was pathetic how she was letting this fear of not being accepted by her own blood control how her relationship with someone she truly cared about would go. It was stupid because she wasn't letting it move forward at all.

But for now, these lies and secrets were the lesser of two evil and until she could figure out a way on how to have one without losing the other, it was gonna have to stay this way.

Though that was before Piper realized that by choosing to do this, she was actually on her way to losing more than what she thought she would.

-o-o-o-

Time passed by quickly and soon enough, Piper and Polly were closing for the day. As far as all first days went, the former thought they had a pretty good day and it just raised her hopes even higher about this being a complete success.

Remembering what she and Polly talked about earlier about visiting the cafe right across Popi to be friends with the owner, or owners whatever the case may be, they both decided to do it together to give some welcoming present but Polly had to back out at the very last minute, saying she had an emergency date with a guy she recently met, not really explaining what emergency date meant.

So here Piper was, just about to enter the cafe called Litch Cafe on her own, contemplating whether it was a good idea to do this on her own. But before she could back out, a blonde girl about 5'6 tall wearing a black shirt with black leather jacket, ripped skinny jeans and huge smile on her face approached her.

"Hi, welcome to Litch! Is there anything I can help you with?"

The woman seemed really pleasant that Piper realized it wouldn't be hard for them to be good friends. She looked around for a second and the place looked so cozy and comfy that she wouldn't be surprised if she ended up hanging out here more often than anyone would have anticipated.

"Hi, I'm Piper," Piper extended her arm to shake the other woman's hand and it was taken eagerly. "I own the store right across the street, Popi." They both looked outside before Piper faced the woman again, "... and I just came over to give you these," Piper then handed over a bag of their handmade soaps and lotions together with a bottle of wine, "as welcoming and congratulatory presents."

"Wow!" the woman looked at what Piper just handed her with a surprised look on her face and putting her palm over her chest, she looked back at Piper again, "...this is really sweet, thank you! I wish I could've given you something, too."

"No, it's fine, really." Piper shrugged like it was nothing, liking the genuine smile on the other woman's face.

"Please have a seat, what would you like to eat or drink? It's on the house. Oh! And I'm Paige, by the way. It's nice meeting you, Piper."

"It's nice meeting you, too, Paige. And I'd love to but I have to say no thank you for now 'coz I promised my boyfriend I'd be meeting him for dinner and I'm..." Piper then looked at her watch, "...ten minutes late. I just really wanted to give you those before I left."

"Oh, all right," Paige nodded, "...tomorrow then? I'm kind of new to this place and I'd really love to have new friends, you know."

"Of course! I'd come by tomorrow and I'm bringing my best friend, Polly, with me. We own the store together. So, see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely, my girlfriend is arriving tomorrow, so you can meet her, too."

At the mention of the word girlfriend, Piper found her mind drifting to that one particular person again, that same person she really didn't want to think about anymore. But she always ended up getting lost in her thoughts of Alex no matter how hard she tried denying herself that. And right now, that was the last thing she needed.

"Piper? Are you okay? You seemed lost there for a minute."

Piper was snapped back to reality once more as Paige lightly held her shoulder. "Yeah! Sorry, I just... uh, I better get going. See you tomorrow?"

"Yes. Bye!"

-o-o-o-

"So, how'd your first day go?"

Piper was finally having dinner with Larry at their apartment after around thirty minutes of being late. Their dinner was prepared and cooked by Larry and it was one of those things she really loved about him. He knew how to take care of her and he did it really well.

She met him about two and a half years ago through Polly's then boyfriend, and for a second, Piper thought they'd never hit it off. Larry was the very opposite of what Piper looked for in a person. He followed every rule, he always did what was expected of him, and he was too conventional to the point where he came off as too dull.

In short, he was exactly like Piper and Piper was sure that wasn't the kind of person she needed to be with.

But he was persistent and he was able to show Piper how much he really cared and that he could be good for her. So instead of forcing herself to look for who she thought she needed, Piper decided to give it a try with Larry.

Until simple dates turned into an official relationship, until they decided to move in together, until today and here they were, two years into a safe, conventional relationship. But Piper didn't really found any will to complain... because it was working. And that's all she could really ever ask for anymore.

"It was great! I really think this would work. I hope so, or everything would be put to waste."

"I believe in you, and this will work."

Larry squeezed her hand and Piper found herself smiling. Even though there was a nagging feeling inside her that told her she needed more than this. She's never felt this in a while and she didn't understand why she was feeling it now. So she ignored and pretended that everything was exactly how she wanted it to be.

Why not when she was really good at that, pretending?

"Thanks, hon. How about you? How'd the meeting go? Would I be living with a published writer soon?" Piper smiled at him but Larry's face instantly fell and Piper knew the answer before he even started speaking. "Ah, don't worry about it. I believe in you, too, and I'm sure that time will come soon."

Piper knew it was the opportunity to talk to him about this, about his career and life choices. This was the right time to tell him about how this was affecting her and their relationship. But Larry smiled and Piper thought she didn't really wanna ruin that tonight.

So instead of talking, she smiled back at him and decided to pretend another night that all was well.

Maybe the talk could wait. Right now, she needed to pretend.

-o-o-o-

Piper and Larry had gone to bed for about an hour now but sleep kept evading Piper. Accepting that she wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon, she slowly got up not wanting to wake her boyfriend up and headed for the living room where she opened the television but muted the sound not really interested in watching anything.

It's been four years since she last saw Alex. During all those years, she never really stopped thinking about her, about what could have been if she got on that plane with her. She always wondered why and that was the worst part about all of it, those what if's and the fact that she'd never really know.

But Piper knew that there was no taking back whatever choices she made so she decided to move on. For a while, it was difficult. She couldn't date guys thinking she wanted the softness of a woman, or everything a woman could give that men couldn't. So she only dated women but none of those worked, too.

That's when Piper accepted that it wasn't what a woman had that she needed, it was Alex she still craved for. She missed her and she was all Piper could think about for so long until she met Larry.

Larry was everything Alex wasn't. And Piper did not know how it worked between the two of them but it did. Until she started thinking about Alex less each day, getting to the point when she'd realized she could start a life without Alex, a life with someone else.

That did not mean she never thought of her anymore, though. She still did but she mostly managed to keep it to a minimum, just in passing. But there were also those times when she would slip and let her thoughts drift to Alex a little longer, just like today. And Piper did not understand why she was thinking of her again, why she was keeping her from falling asleep.

She'd like to think it was because it was the opening of Popi and that was a dream she always shared with Alex before, a dream Alex always told her would come true. And now it had.

Or maybe it was because of Paige, too, and her mention of her girlfriend.

But maybe it could be because she simply missed Alex, missed her more than usual.

Because if Piper was being honest to herself, she knew she never really stopped missing Alex, and she had no idea whether she ever really would, no matter how much she tried.

-o-o-o-

Piper and Polly were closing for the day and just like yesterday, today had been a success. That was the reason Piper was feeling really happy until Polly decided to take that away from her by opening her mouth.

"So, did you talk to Larry?"

"I kind of didn't have a choice, Pol. How weird would it be if I didn't just speak to my boyfriend?"

"Stop being a smartass, and of course, you didn't. Piper, you keep doing this. You need to talk to him now." Polly gave Piper that 'you're-not-getting-out-of-this' look and Piper couldn't do anything else but sigh.

"I know, but we were having a really great night last night and I didn't want to ruin it by rubbing in his face how much failing he's been doing lately."

"Yes, but if you keep doing that, it's not only gonna be one of your nights that's gonna be ruined. It'd be your entire relationship when you've grown to despise him because he keeps letting his parents dictate your relationship."

Piper was planning to defend herself, and Larry, too, but Polly continued, not looking like she was gonna be interrupted anytime soon.

"I know you, Piper. I know how much you hate it that you can't have a place of your own because Larry's parents want you to use one of their apartments. I know how much you hate it that you can't choose what color your curtains are gonna be because Larry's Mom might not like it. You may not admit it Piper, but you've cut your own parents off from your life because they kept controlling your life and yet here you are, with Larry's parents, letting them do the exact same thing."

Piper didn't know whether to be grateful or to hate it that Polly knew her too well but she kept quiet, waiting for her to finish whatever it was that she needed to say, all the while contemplating why she really allowed for things to reach this point.

"You don't wanna hurt him with the truth, I get it. But you'd end up hurting him more and most especially yourself, if you don't do anything about this soon."

"I know, you're right. And I will talk to him. I promise. It's just... it's not easy, okay? I'm trying to find the right time but I'll do it soon. Don't worry. Thanks, Pol."

"You're welcome. God, Piper. Where will you be without me?"

Piper chuckled before shoving Polly lightly. "Whatever. And anyway, can't you really make it to Paige's again tonight? I told her I'd bring you."

"Oh about that! I forgot to tell you, I already met her earlier. I went in to buy coffee and she introduced herself. And she's really nice. I like her."

"I know. Me, too."

"Yeah, so she already knows I can't make it tonight, you'll be fine."

"Great, okay. So I guess I'm gonna have to meet her girlfriend on my own. See you tomorrow, then?"

"Wait, what? She's a lesbian?"

Piper hinted the surprised and judging tone in Polly's voice and she was reminded why she also never told her about Alex before. She felt slightly hurt by this, too, because even if she didn't really consider herself as gay, not believing in putting a label on anyone, she couldn't help but feel like Polly was judging her, too.

"Yes, is there a problem with that?"

"No, of course not. I mean, I'm just a little surprised coz she doesn't look like one."

"No? 'Coz it sounds to me like you're judging her."

"I'm not judging her. I'm not a homophobic bitch, you know. What's it with you anyway, you're a vanguard of the LGBT community now?"

"Nothing, never mind. I'll just see you tomorrow, okay?" Piper ended the conversation because knowing Polly, she'd soon say something that would really piss Piper off and she didn't need any drama tonight.

"Yep, bye. I love you!"

"Yeah, whatever. I mean, I love you, too. And tell him to wear protection, in case he forgets."

Piper watched Polly walk away as she raised her middle finger. Shaking her head, she made her way towards the other side of the street. She noticed how the sign at the door already said "Closed" and she wondered whether it was because she was coming over or if it was because Paige's girlfriend had arrived.

Either way, she was a little disappointed that there wouldn't be any other person when she'd meet her girlfriend. She wasn't sure if it wouldn't be awkward meeting her but other people around would have had helped just in case. She liked Paige but she didn't know if that was going to be the case with the girlfriend, too. And she didn't wanna ruin any potential friendship with the blonde just because she couldn't stand the woman she was in a relationship with.

Before she could raise her hand to knock on the door, Paige had spotted her and went her way to the door to open it. "Hi! You made it!"

"Yeah, Polly said you already met her? And that you also already know that she can't make it?"

"Yes, I did. And I do. Too bad, though. It'd be great if she met my girlfriend, too. But maybe next time."

"Of course, we have all the time in the world," Piper smiled as she looked around the cafe. "I see you closed early?"

"Yes, I decided it'd be better if we had dinner outside, you know, get to know each other more. It'd be rude if I just offered you frappe and cheesecake for dinner."

"You didn't have to, I didn't wanna bother you. I mean, I would've been fine here," said Piper worried that she got in the way of Paige's business.

"Oh shut it, it's totally okay. I would have closed up early anyway, since you know, Alex is coming and all that."

Piper was about to sit when she heard the name and she felt like someone poured cold water all over her. She knew there was only a really slight chance of it becoming the same Alex but she still couldn't help the sudden rapid beating of her heart hearing that name.

"I'm sorry, what? I'm not sure I heard you right."

"Alex, my girlfriend. She was stuck at the airport for hours so she couldn't make it earlier. But she's on her way here. She'd probably be here in about five minutes."

"Oh. Okay, great. That's great." Instead of sitting, Piper decided to stand, her nerves getting the best of her. She tried to ignore it and instead focused on the stories Paige told her as she went around her cafe fixing whatever it was that needed to be fixed.

But maybe life had a funny way of constantly reintroducing itself to Piper, of reminding her just how fucked up it was when she heard someone speak just behind her.

"So, I heard someone here missed me."

And Piper just found herself frozen to her spot as her world threatened to collapse around her because of that voice. People said that the first thing you forget about a person was the way she sounded, that it was the first thing that would slip from someone's memory.

But Piper couldn't agree, because that voice was something she never got around to forgetting. It's what kept haunting her dreams for years. It's a sound she hasn't heard in so long but still managed to make her heart skip a bit.

But now it's back.

And Piper didn't know just how much her life was going to change again because of it. Unsurprisingly, she wasn't sure she even really wanted to know.

-o-o-o-

A/N:

So it's been way too long since I was last here. I'm sorry but again, life kinda got in the way. But anyway, I'll be updating this story every one or two week/s so you don't have to worry that it's gonna be abandoned. It's also a lot less dark than Shattered so no need for a supply of tissues, I guess.

Apologies to anyone reading Always and Forever. I don't know when and if I'll be able to continue that. I will do my best to do so, but for now this story is my priority.

So, hope you liked it. Would love to hear your thoughts about this one. =)