You are my life

Oh boy

(Piper's POV)

Alex and I had been moved into the Gramercy Park apartment now for four days. We'd just done our grocery shop for all the food and essentials we'd need and Alex was buying ingredients she'd never usually buy which was freaking me out slightly.
Our furniture was put in place yesterday so we were all set to live together once again and I couldn't wait.
Finally, a life we both wanted.
A life together with no obstacles in the way.

However, Alex was acting so weird recently.
She was taking me to yoga classes, something she hates by the way, then getting turned on like a light switch as soon as I so much as bent my leg in some angle, she comments all the time on how much she loves my body and my form, although I guess that's never not appreciated and now she was asking me in supermarkets if I preferred chocolate chip or raisin cookies.
Who was she and what has she done with my Alex?

I'd just come home from work and was in the middle of sifting through my mail but when I looked up Alex was nowhere to be found so I called out to her.
"Al? I'm home!"
"Kitchen!" Came her response.
As I walked into our kitchen I found a bomb site.
There was flour everywhere.
"Hey babe! I made you chocolate chip cookies. I thought you might want some after a long, hard, day of lawyering." She says with a smile as she comes to wrap her arms around me.
Me being a lawyer was clearly something she was never going to get tired of.
"Oh boy. Thanks. Alex." I say cautiously yet gratefully then slump my shoulders.
"Okay Alex, we need to talk."
She unwraps herself from me at these words and her face drops as she goes to lean against the counter, waiting for what I had to say.

I take a deep breath and begin.
"Okay. I love that you're putting in all this effort. I do. And we can still do all these things if you want to but you need to stop comparing yourself with Zelda. I love you for you. I chose you and moved to Ohio after all." I tell her, chuckling in the hopes I'd put her at ease.
She stiffens and inhales sharply.
I'd caught her red handed.
"But you said you had feelings for her." She sadly argues and deflates.
"Oh for God's sake." I sigh and go to her, placing my hands on her shoulders and wiping away flour from her face with my thumb.
"I did. She's a great person and she comforted me. She was the only person who would give me a chance to be friends let alone talk since I've been out and I liked that. She was there for me after I found out what you did." I start.

At hearing this, Alex slumps guiltily and tries to pull away from me in shame but I hold her in place.

"To be honest, she reminded me of you, a legal you. She saw the world's worst waitress, picked her up, shook her off and showed her a whole new world. Sound familiar? I think that's why I liked her in a crush way but she's not you so those feelings are completely different to what I feel for you. The feelings I feel for you are in a whole new ballpark. I LOVE YOU Alex. I love your cheeky little giggles when you fart. I love your beautiful smile. I love how you protect me no matter what. I thought I made that pretty clear when I hand wrote nearly two hundred reasons of how you're my love." I tell her with a smile.
She smiles lovingly back at me and closes the distance between us for a kiss.
Breaking it, I then go on to jokingly poke fun of her jealousy because she didn't need to be jealous but at all.
Snaking my arms around her waist after I break our kiss, Alex does the same, bringing me tightly against her as she thoroughly enjoys our closeness. I enjoy it too. Alex then leans her forehead against mine and rubs our noses together. I can't help my hum of contentment which brings a smile to her face. I almost felt bad for ruining our moment with,
"My jelly bean."

She pulls back from our embrace with confusion and amusement.
"Your what?" She asks.
"My jelly bean. You're my jelly bean." I repeat.
"Pipes, if this is some phase in our marriage slash relationship where I'm supposed to call you by this weird nickname then I pass. 'Pipes' works just fine." Alex chuckles.
I laugh and shake my head.
"No Alex. You're jealous. Of Zelda. To the point you're acting like her. You're my jelly bean." I clarify for her.
She instantly drops her hands from my waist and protests.
"I am not!"
That was very clearly a lie.
I don't care how good she is at lying, that, was a lie.
I've known for a while she's jealous of Zelda, she hasn't exactly been subtle.
"Alex. No more lies." I warn her then lighten the mood again.
"You are totally jealous!" I giggle.

I was clearly poking the bear because Alex was now silently glaring at me with folded arms and a pout. Huffing.
At this point I was giddy with glee. I didn't mind jealousy, I found it hot actually. It means she cares about me. What I do mind though, is how she coped with it by cheating.
But anyway.

I grab her by the cheeks and coo,
"Aww my big bad Al is my little jelly bean."
She narrows her eyes with me still attached to her cheeks which only made this that bit more hilarious for me.
Embarrassed, she shakes me off.
"Shut up." She huffs and turns away from me.
I smile and drape myself over her back with my arms all the way around her waist.
"I love you jelly bean."
Alex can't help but smile too at that.
"I love you too popcorn." She chuckles.
"Popcorn?!" I ask in amusement as she turns around, nodding with a smile and hums, wrapping her arms around me again.
"Mmhmm, you're sweet, salty, have a tendency to explode, a delicious treat and just right." She says grinning, leaning in for another kiss as I smile back and close the gap.

After a while, I break it and say,
"Okay. Enough of that Al, I have a deposition to write."
I then make my way to our couch to begin making notes.