The Reign Of Vause

I have an idea

(Piper's POV)

I watched Alex as we continued to walk home. Hearing that song had really triggered something inside her. She had squeezed my hand even tighter and her face was, sad.
"Alex? Are you ok?" I asked her, worried about her expression.
She looked at me and smiled,
"Yeah Pipes I'm great. I was just thinking about something." She said passively.
"What were you thinking about? I'm here Al." I say squeezing her hand in return.
"About the day I ratted you out. It was the same day I thought I'd lost you for good." She sighed.
"You mean when I wouldn't speak to you in prison?" I ask, wanting to know what she was talking about.
It took her a while to answer. She sighed,
"No. I was in the bar that you were in when you and Larry paraded your ring and new engagement."
I was stunned. Alex was there? She was and is the love of my life, how did I not see her? I guess I was trying to forget her and focus on Larry at the time.
"You were there? Oh Alex I'm so s-" I started but she stopped me.
"Yeah Pipes I was there but I left before you got there. I heard Polly talk about it-"
It was my turn to stop her,
"Oh God. Alex whatever she said I'm so sorry. She really hated you back then."
"Yeah that was abundantly clear." She sighed, quickly raising her eyebrows up and down and widening her eyes briefly in a sad, passive yet understanding way. She continued,
"She had a right to. Isn't that what best friends are for?" She asked.
"Yeah. I guess so." I sighed.
"Anyways, before you got there, I went home and I had a message from my lawyer since I had been arrested too, I listened to it and.." She drifted off.
"And what Al?" I asked, tears filling in my own eyes. I knew I had put her through pain but I didn't realise this much.
"And my machine beeped with a message from you. Your message to me from Tahiti when you got this." She sighed, briefly letting go of my hand and stroking the fish tattoo on the back of my neck. She continued,
"8 years of not hearing your voice and suddenly hearing it again so innocently happy, gleeful. Pipes, if I'm going to be brutally honest, you broke me to the core but I love you so fucking much. I never stopped, from the moment your eyes met mine in that small ass bar." She laughed but her laugh was serious, it wasn't playful. I reached up to hold her hand again and hailed a cab.
"I'm taking you home." I told her, letting a tear fall from my eye which she wiped away with her free hand. I leaned my face into her hand as a way to let her know that I loved her too and I would never leave her again.
We got in the cab and gave our address. I laced my fingers between Alex's and rested my head on her shoulder, turning to kiss her softly on the neck. She exhaled and closed her eyes. She never told me to stop and I didn't want to, so didn't. I also didn't want this moment to turn into one of our hot 'I must have you now' nights. I wanted this to be a sweet, tender night that showed Alex just how much I loved her. Especially after all we had revealed to each other tonight.
I could taste her Hugo Boss perfume on my lips and internally chuckled at how ironic it was that Alex's favourite fragrance brand had 'Boss' at the end of it.
She kept her eyes closed but leaned into me, letting me know she didn't want me to stop either. I kept it to a minimal though, not wanting to give the cab driver a show of what should be a private moment between Alex and I.
We arrived at our building and got out of the cab, giving the driver a tip for his discreetness and silence.
Getting to our penthouse, I took the keys from Alex's jacket that was still draped around me and opened the door, leading her by the hand into our home. She shut the door behind us with her other hand and turned to just, stare at me, a small smile curling on her lips. It wasn't the usual Alex Vause 'I have something up my sleeve' smirk, it was, it was a shy smile. I took her other hand in mine and intertwined our fingers, taking one slow step in her direction, closing the space between us and kissing her softly on the lips, lingering there. Her memory had obviously transported her back to the dark time in our lives when I had really really hurt her. We may have rekindled what we once had and even married each other but she was standing here in front of me now, shy, timid and... nervous. This wasn't a side of Alex I'd ever seen before. Just when I thought I'd seen and loved every part of her.
I kissed her softly again. Again I lingered on her lips. In my first kiss, she did kiss me back but it was like she was kissing me for the first time all over again except without the excitement she once had, replace excitement for shyness and that's pretty much what it was like. In our second kiss, it was like something awoke inside her, daring her to ask for more. She slowly and gently let go of my hands and raised hers to tenderly cup either side of my face, leaning further into our kiss, but like me, softly. She felt the same way I did, this wasn't a night for passion. This was a night for love.
Our kisses weren't quick and short, they were long, lingering yet soft and tender kisses.
Without her noticing, I turned her around so that I was the one facing forward into our apartment, both of us with our eyes closed. The apartment was in darkness because we hadn't switched the lights on upon coming home but the lights of New York coming from our panoramic window, lit it up well enough to see. It also helped set the romantic tone.
Slowly, I walked her to the corridor leading to our bedroom but gently pushed her against the wall just at the start of it. Neither of us breaking our kisses once.
She slowly moved her hands under her jacket that was draped around me, to my bare shoulders that was the result of the neckline of my dress and moved it slightly so that it fell to the ground, silent and forgotten.
Eventually, we got to our bed, wearing much less clothing. My dress was lying in a heap at the bedroom door after Alex had unzipped it, her jeans and T-Shirt were thrown onto one of our two chairs sitting at a table at the window, which, like the living area, was panoramic. Still, with me facing forward, I gently lay Alex back on our bed, not breaking contact with her lips, slowly and sensually removing her bra, sliding the straps down her arms and casting it aside as she did the same.
We stayed like this, kissing, for hours, making love in the dark. I planted more soft, lingering kisses on every square inch of Alex's body. Finally a night, that wasn't her birthday, when it was all about her.
Now, we were lying in bed, Alex's arm around my shoulders, staring out at the panoramic city view which was the only source of light right now.
"Al?" I whispered, eventually breaking the magical silence.
"Hmm?" She hummed, rubbing my shoulder with the hand belonging to the arm draped around my shoulders.
"I watched your interview on the TV in my office at PoPi." I started.
"Oh? So you heard what I said then? What I said about you? About us?" She asked.
I smiled and turned my head to face her, so she did the same, "Uh huh." I nodded and continued,
"Do you really want me to choose where Viper goes next?" I ask her.
"Yes Pipes. I do. This isn't just my thing. It's our thing. The business that we run together, without Polly. Besides, you're who the club is named after, my wife, Mrs Vause, it'd be just wrong if you didn't get a say." She confirms.
"Why do you two hate each other so much?" I ask.
"Well, from my end, she just annoys me and to tell you the truth, when I first met her I thought she was my competition." She starts.
"Your competition?" I laughed.
"Hey come on don't laugh Pipes, I'm serious. You know the only people I ever invited to my parties were you, acquaintances, my gay friends, my clients and Kubra. I didn't know Polly. I assumed she was with you, well, you know, to have you. I'm the jealous type. You know that. And on her end, I assume she hates me because of my previous career and what I did to you which I don't blame her for." She admitted.
"Oh I know you're the jealous type and honestly, I love that, but I'm laughing because really Al?! Polly?! Against you?! Seriously?! She's my best friend, my STRAIGHT best friend, who isn't my type and is much less hotter than you!" I exclaim, laughing.
"Hey, my best friend is gay. She could've been too." She laughs back, talking about Nicky.
"Oh I know." I said somewhat coldly, referencing Alex's one night stand with our friend. Getting jealous myself.
Alex knew where I was going with this because she tightened her grip on my shoulder and pulled me closer to her.
"Piper. We've talked about this." She sighs.
"I know Alex but we've also talked about Larry and Stella." I point out.
"Ok, so we're both the jealous type." She laughs.
I giggled in response, "Hey, as they say, jealousy just shows you care."
She smiled, "Exactly. Now come on. Where are we going to next with Viper?" She asked.
A lightbulb had been sparking in my brain ever since she told me about listening to that song on loop after coming back from Paris. Both of us saw that as breakup city when it was supposed to be the city of love. I wanted to put this right.
"Paris." I simply and bluntly stated.