Vauseman: Forever and Always

Our honeymoon

The song finished and we stayed in bed kissing each other. Hours had passed and we were still lying in bed looking lovingly at each other.
"I love you." I said.
"I love you too." Piper said.
It immediately brought back the memory of when we first said that to each other. I had left Sylvia to be with Piper and Sylvia was cruelly stalking Piper.

Flashback
"Do you think she's going to murder me? Just how unstable is this Sylvia person?" Piper asked me. I put my glasses on, laughing.
"It was a joke." I said as I reached for the clock to check the time.
"It was not a joke! It was a very clear message! 'I know what you did bitch and I want you to know that I know'. Piper was referring to the time she found me in another bar and we had had sex again in the bathroom. Sylvia somehow found out when I broke up with her and was now psychologically torturing the younger, much hotter 23 year old I had fallen for.
I put the clock back and rolled back over to face her reaching an arm out to reassure her.
"Look, being with you was my choice." I stretched, it was morning and I had just woken up. "I wasn't happy." It was true. I hated being with Sylvia but stuck it out because there was no one else and honestly I just needed her as a drug mule. Then, my beautiful Pipes came along and in her, I found true happiness.
"And then I took advantage of that." She said in a guilty voice. It made me laugh.
"I'm a grown up Piper!" I say still laughing while taking my glasses off, I was now holding her hand and rubbing it.
She was still scared.
"Do you think that she's going to come after me?"
I started twirling her hair between my fingers, "Look, I think that she just needed to get it out of her system, alright? Sometimes, you gotta rage in order to move on."
She then took me completely off guard and asked sadly as if she'd broken up a real relationship,
"Did you love her?"
So I replied, "No. But I love you." I meant it, wholeheartedly. Piper was who I had been waiting my whole life for.
She smiled and asked happily, "You do?"
I smiled in embarrassment and assurance and gestured with my body for her to get back into bed beside me since she was sitting up. So she did and I laughed. When she was back beside me, I stroked her hair with my right hand then moved it to hold her left hand and we looked into each other's eyes.
"I don't say that to everyone." I told her truthfully. Any other girl I had been with, including Sylvia, was either a fling to rid myself of sexual frustrations or a drug mule for Kubra. Piper was different, I had fallen for her, so much so I had fallen in love with her. She didn't say it back which worried me.
"You have to say it back."
Luckily, she was just taken aback, she looked deeper into my eyes and said,
"I love you too."
I chuckled and grinned. She loved me too! I took my hand away from hers so I could hold her face with it.
I leaned in and gave her a long and soft kiss. I broke it and we both chuckled at our newfound love. She was smiling at me. It was the most beautiful smile I had ever and would ever see.

I got out of bed and pulled on a T shirt from my suitcase.
"Come on, I'll make us some dinner." It was now late. Piper and I had spent the rest of the day in bed. Not that I was complaining. I stood at the door and waited for her to put on a T shirt of her own. When she had, she walked over to me, I took her hand and led her downstairs to the kitchen. The kitchen was large and open plan to the living area. Like our kitchen back in New York, it was white gloss and had a large island in the middle. The stove was on the island and the oven was linked to the counters behind it. It was hardwood floors in the kitchen and the rest of the house was carpeted. Our compromise. I liked hardwood floors and Piper liked carpets so I had Lorenzo install both.

Flashback
During the riot, Piper and I had escaped to sleep alfresco in the digger bucket that had previously been used to dig out Aydin's body. We had taken Linda's phone in return for keeping her safe. I found the app StreetEasy on her phone and sounded this to Pipes.
"StreetEasy! Let's search for New York real estate porn! Gramercy Park. One bedroom. Two baths, hardwood floors, of course. Or! Two bedrooms for like an office, guest room situation. Is it important to have a gym in the building?" I was playing with Piper. I didn't want her to know I still had my things until we got out.
She killed my buzz. "How about cement floors, no windows and a view of a toilet? Because that will be home if Von Barlow tells her boyfriend what she heard." Piper was referring to the fact I was talking to Piper about killing Aydin in the guard bathrooms not knowing Linda, who had disguised herself at our help as Amelia Von Barlow, was there. Her and Caputo were together. I had forgotten her real name in the chaos of the riot.
"What's her real name again?"
"Oh my god, I don't know, Linda something? I guess. Linda. Linda, who has 'Solsbury-Hill' on every single one of her Spotify playlists."
This made me laugh, "Her heart is going boom boom boom."
Piper was worried about me and our future together.
"She could end you."
I had killed and it was my responsibility to take the blame even if it was in self defence so I really didn't care. If I was caught, Piper would just have to wait for me.
"I don't know how many ways to tell you, I don't give a good goddamn, or a bad goddamn, I don't give any kind of goddam, goddam. If she spills, she spills. I'm guilty. I did it. What will be, will be."
Piper was annoyed now. "Jesus, Alex."
I just wanted to enjoy the relative freedom the riot had given us with her so I said,
"I don't want to talk about this with you anymore." I reached out my hand and stroked her leg. "Lie with me under the stars and look at homes we'll never afford thanks to sub-prime lending and also because we're registered felons." Again, I didn't want Piper to know I still had our things.
Piper was desperate to make me see we could have a future together outside prison.
"You can feel guilty and not destroy your life, which is long and involves me. You have to care about protecting yourself."

I brought out tagliatelle pasta, smoked salmon, spinach and cream from the refrigerator and cupboards. Piper loved this and so did I. She sat on the stool at the island opposite me as I stood at the stove and prepared dinner. She got off the stool and came up behind me, "I love it when you cook." And kissed me on the cheek.
"I love it when you let me cook." I laughed. She let go and went back to sitting on the stool opposite me.
"Babe, I can't believe you did all of this. You really are the definition of perfect." She said to me and it made me smile.
"I did it for us Pipes. Not only did I love this island when I discovered it but I thought no one but me, Lorenzo and now you know where it is so it would keep us safe from Kubra. Piscatella breaking my arm went viral. Kubra is bound to have seen it"
She watched me sadly, "Then we'll stay here for as long as it takes. It is not a problem with me. We've only been here for a couple of hours and I don't want to leave. If it wasn't for the business back in New York I'd stay here with you forever." It made me happy she loved it. I was really hoping she would.
"I'm so happy you love it Pipes. I was really hoping you would."
"How can I not? Alex. What you did. Honestly the nicest, sweetest, kindest most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me." She leaned forward and kissed me. I served the pasta and we ate together then went to bed. These last few days had been perfect