piperhalliwell-goodwitch:

“Both? Wow, well I might have to get some new recipes after a couple weeks of this.” She teased back but blushed deep red at the comment about being an attractive bartender. Piper hadn’t expected that but she should have. “I don’t know what your criteria for stalking is, but I’m pretty sure I don’t show up to your place of work looking for you without admitting it, having a drink and a snack instead…” She grinned a bit. “You see where I’m coming from here? Yes?” She hadn’t known Axel would be back tonight but she had hoped. Despite the current state of her emotions and her heart in turmoil she was rather smitten with the idea of someone who wasn’t normal, someone who had secrets like her…

“Actually…” She cocked her head to the side. “I haven’t fixed anything with my boyfriend, ex now. I can’t fix anything with him because nothing about me can change, at least not really.” She sat down on a barstool beside him and tried to explain. “My sisters and I live together, didn’t used to but it’s a fairly new endeavor. We’re…not like other women our age. There are things, secrets, both mine and theirs that I can’t talk about with anyone. No one would understand even if…I did.” She paused, trying to gauge his reaction to the way she skirted the actual issue in Dan’s and her relationship or lack thereof anymore. “Dan couldn’t accept that and I can’t accept someone in my life who can’t. Or…maybe it just had to be the right someone to share it with…I don’t know. All I know is there has to be trust or I can’t make a relationship work right now. Does that make sense?”

It was more of an explanation than she’d given anyone about it. It was better than anything she’d ever said to Dan on the issue. Why had she opened up to Axel when she couldn’t vocalize this to her own boyfriend, someone she claimed to love? “You might think that I’m…I don’t make any sense because sometimes secrets are horrible. I know they can be horrible when they come out… I just…” She looked Axel in his ocean hues and tried to think of why she’d been so open before realizing, yet again, he wasn’t normal. That’s what she wanted right? Someone more like her…? “Can I be forward? I know you’re not…mortal, if you follow.” Her eyebrows wiggled up and down. “What you tried to do to me last night…” She kept her voice low so no one but them could hear. She was close to his side. “Who are you?” She didn’t care what kind of creature, per say, but she had to know who he was; because who he was, was different than what he was.

He was a little shocked to hear that she thought he might be stalking her, it wasn’t the case. THe other night he had come just to have a night out of the house but this time was in hopes to actually see her, but he didnt think of it as stalking. “…..I guess I see were you are comiong from, but I’m not stalking you…I promise.” He told her with a smile.

As she sat down next to him and started to talk he listened carefully, taking every word on board. “That is understandable. If I was in your shoes I would be just as secretive as you are. Its not just your secret…so its not like you can just go blurting it out to everyone you go out with. As I said last night if he really wanted to be with you he would understand that you cant tell him everything jsut yet..If it got to the point where you trusted him enough to tell him then it would be good but if he keeps pushing you to tell him it is not fair on you or him cause it will make you just shut him out more even if you dont want to."The vampire explained, hoping that his words would help her in some way.

"I think you are making sense, secrets can be horrible but when they are not just yours you cant just tell everyone freely. If it was just to come out I am guessing it would be bad for everyone involved.” He gave her a small smile before she said he was not mortal. Axel shifted in his seat a little uncomfortably as he looked at her. How could he lie when she already kinda knew that he wasn’t normal after what he had tried and failed to do on her. He sighed and looked at her wishing he could just compel her to forget about him now. “….I’m not mortal….I’m just a nice guy who was cursed, well I view it as a curse many others dont…but to me it is…”

piperhalliwell-goodwitch:

By the time Piper woke up it was late in the afternoon. She yawned and stretched and her back arched as her legs hung off the bed by her knees and her arms raised over her head and off the other side of the bed. She realized pretty quickly that she’d slept in her clothes from the day before, relaxed fit jeans and a tank top that fit too tight for her own good; it rode up her stomach during the night and bunched up underneath her breasts. Oops… Once Piper regained enough of her equilibrium she made her way into the communal bathroom for a shower. She had to open the club at two in the afternoon for the staff to get setup for the night. She had an hour until she had to leave. The real start of business didn’t happen until around six when the patrons started filing in.

Piper was in the back checking in a fresh batch of peaches from her fruit vender when a girl came bounding into the back room giggling and rambling about a hot guy out front. It was well past nightfall when this particular vender was able to make the delivery; driving in from Florida and all, it was a long trip. The brunette witch raised an eyebrow and addressed her employee. “What hot guy?”

“Freshly shaved and smells like heaven. Hot like sex with curly dirty blonde hair. He’s dark too, real mysterious…charming like a movie star.”

It wasn’t obvious that she’d seen the same young man that Piper met the night before. A lot of men in California looked like movie stars with dirty blonde curls and were ‘hot like sex.’ It wasn’t until Piper left the back room that her eyes set on Axel at the bar, same as he was the other night but now he was shaved and baby-faced, his curls had more bounce and he smelled…well the girl was right, he smelled phenomenal for a man. Or…whatever being he actually was…

She smiled as soon as their eyes met. “Welcome back.” She commented, leaning her curvy body against the counter of the bar, leading with her hip. “Miss my cooking already or was it my strong premium alcohol?” Her eyes seemed to dance in the dim light of the club and her smile lit her eyes even more.

While he had been waiting to see if Piper was working today he had been having fun flirting and giving the other staff a lot of attention, as one bounced away to the back room he smiled and sipped his drink. He turned around on his stool and looked over at the crowd of people that were dancing, he had a few of the girls try and coax him out on to the dance floor but he politely declined and stay where he was till the woman he was looking for showed up.

As he heard Pipers voice her turned around to face her, he smiled and placed an empty glass on the coater in front of him. “I think it may have been both darling….It doesnt help that you are a very attractive bartender.” He said with a grin as his eyes moved over her body before locking with hers. “Seems like you cant keep away from me though..” Axel said with a laugh, he was joking of course as he wasnt even sure she would be here tonight.

Axel leaned on the bar a little more as he looked at Piper, she seemed different tonight, happier, and not as worried with things as she had been the night before. “I am guessing you fixed things with your boyfriend?” He asked as he played with the rim of his emtpy glass.

piperhalliwell-goodwitch:

Piper smiled as he retreated through the door of the club and into the early morning dark as it lightened into day. Dawn was fast approaching and she knew she should be closing up right then and getting home. Axel was his name and he’d made her smile when she didn’t think that was possible; Dan had pretty much made that impossible. Axel was sweet and everything Dan had been when they’d first gotten together, before she’d gotten in too deeply with him and the secrets she kept starting being too great to ignore any longer.

The manor was dark when she got home, both of her sisters still sleeping, or so she’d thought…

“I wasn’t expecting you to come home this late, or…early, as it is.”

Piper’s eyes widened into round orbs in the dim faded light of the foyer, passing by the sitting room entryway. She’d forgotten that Prudence Halliwell was always the first one up and the last one down of the three of them. “I didn’t know I should be expected at all.”

“A perfect point you just made. Why are you home at all, Piper? Don’t you live with Boy Next Door Dan now?”

A terrible burning turned her cheeks red. She wasn’t embarrassed so much as the memory of her plans coming back to her now did nothing but make her angry. “Not anymore.”

“What do you…?”

Piper interrupted her. “Not now, Prue. I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

“Okay. Your room is always gonna be yours, you know? Sleep well, Piper.”

Once Piper entered her old room she barricaded herself in, locking the door behind her. Clearly her sisters could unlock it with their powers if they wanted to but it meant something to her to still be able to at least have the appearance of privacy. Now that she was alone and to herself she thought about the way Axel had handled Dan and how he’d almost ordered her to go home and take care of her needs. He’d locked eyes with them, herself and Dan both, and that meant something. He was as plain as he was complex in ways that Piper could not yet define. He wasn’t a human, an Innocent, as was her initial decide. He was something else, someone else.

“Who are you…?” She whispered to no one but herself, an empty room, before laying back on her coverlet and closing her eyes. Her mind repeated the words she’d spoken in silence, a reverberation against the bone of her skull. Who are you…?

The vampire yawned as he got out of bed and made his way ino the bathroom his feet shuffling along the floor as he scratched his head and rubbed his eyes. The bathroom window were blackout as were much of the other windows that were in his house, he flicked on the light and smiled as he thought back to last night and the bartender who some how broke throught his compulsion. It made him curious as to what she was, he couldn’t smell wolf or vampire on here.

Yet he could tell that she was a supernatural creature of some kind. He stepped into the shower once the room was steamy enough and put his head under the water letting it run off him as he thought of seeing her again but she seemed to have a boyfriend with some unresloved issues about her and what sounded like things to do with her family. Axel stepped out the shower after a while and dried off before looking for something that looked cleanish.

Once he was dressed he waited for the sun to go down enough so that he could leave the house and head towards the club again to see if she was there. The vampire made sure that he had the last of the blood bag he had opened last night so that he was not craving blood while he was there.

This time he had actully found some clothes in his closet that were clean and that he hadn’t worn in a while, he had also combed his hair the best he could and shaved. Axel wanted to make a good impression on her this time instead of just being there as a shoulder because of her boyfriend being a dick to her.

piperhalliwell-goodwitch:

The hug was abrupt but very soft, kind, and warm. Piper couldn’t help the smile that came to her lips at the action and she hugged him back. No longer than she began to feel at ease than the hug ended. Piper hadn’t been prepared to feel at ease in the arms of a stranger but this one was a gentleman, which kind of made up for the whole stranger thing. He brushed her tears away off her wet cheeks and she blinked, coming aware of the moment as it was and sniffling. Her composure returned as he began to talk to her.

He was right about the fact that Dan shouldn’t have brought their problems back to her place of business. This was work and it should have been professional and instead she was crying over him and the spilled milk, as it were, with one of her patrons. “You’re right, or course you’re right.” She wiped her own cheeks off of any remnants of tears and smiled softly as he put his jacket on. When they locked eyes she felt the overwhelming need to go home and do as he bid her, to go home and take care of herself, to get some sleep. She blinked, feeling the compulsion as clearly as she felt the hole in her heart. But she didn’t move or do as he asked. What made her stand her ground?

“I really should…” She hesitated but as he walked away she took two steps toward him and called out. “Wait! I don’t even know your name…?”

He looked back down at her, surprised that she had broken his compulsion it seemed, he raised an eyebrow and smiled down at her. “Oh…Axel.” THe vampire told her with a grin as he waited for a moment before heading out the door, he wasn’t going to stick around too much longer, and not because he didnt want to but because he had to get home. “Maybe we will meet again.” Axel mumbled as he slipped out of hte door and into the night, cursing at himself as he saw the faint glow of the sun rising.

He had to rush home covering himself with his jacket as he reached his front door, pushing it open just as the sun reared its head, he sighed and laughed before closing the door and haning up his jacket. The vampire moved into his kitchen and grabbed a blood bag from out of the fridge, openingit and pouring it into a glass before heading up to his bedroom, he needed a few hours of sleep and a hot shower after his night out.

The vampire groaned and woke a few hours later, surprised to see that is was closer to the evening than he would have liked, but he guessed that he had needed the sleep. A small grin found its way to his face as he remembered the bartender from last night, he wanted to go back again and talk to her but he was a little afraid as she had broken through his compulsion.

piperhalliwell-goodwitch:

Dan balked at the stranger that dared to approach him while he was trying have a conversation with his girlfriend. “Excuse me!? I don’t think this has anything to do with you.”

“Dan…” Piper was getting restless and even more so now that one of paying customers, someone who had given her one Hell of a large tip at that, was getting involved with their domestic spat. “Just do what the man says and leave, okay?”

“Or maybe this wasn’t about your sisters, as it’s been all the other times before, except for Leo. Maybe this is about someone else. Is it? What is this, Piper?” Dan looked into the man’s eyes and suddenly he wanted to leave. He didn’t want to hash this out anymore. “Whatever, I’m done with this. I didn’t want to know anyway.”

While Dan stomped away and out the doors Piper took a breath and blew it out harshly on a sigh. She was crying before she knew it. “I’m sorry…” She got herself under composure even though the tears still rolled down her cheeks. If she wasn’t so absorbed in her emotions, her feelings, she would have realized Dan’s behavior wasn’t normal and that this man has done something to him, to compel him to leave. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

As the man started to arc up at Axel talking to him he frowned and his eyes flash black for a moment before Dan decided to leave, he sighed and looked over at Piper, getnly pulling her in for a hug as he could tell that she needed one. He didnt hug her for too long as she did not know him and he didnt want it to be too awkward. He smiled at her and used his thumb to brish her tear away.

“Its okay, he was out of line and he should not have come in here like that. Not to your place of work. If he wanted to talk about what happened between you two he should have done it at your home not here.” Axel told her. “This was not your fault.” The vmapire smiled and slipped his jacket on as he kept an eye on the time as he knew the sun wouldn’t be to far from rising.

“Go home, get some rest..And take care of your needs."He told her as he lent down and locked eyes with her, compelling her to go and get some well deserved rest. Axel smiled and gave her a wave as he headed towards the front door, heading up the stairs. He wanted to get home before he got burnt as it was not a fun experiance.

piperhalliwell-goodwitch:

She watched him play with the coaster underneath his drink while he tried to explain men to her. It made sense as far as she could tell. Putting on a façade; that was something she was familiar with. She’d had to do that every time someone got too close to her or her sisters, the family. The brunette middle sister was sure she’d done it around Dan. And yes, that was why he’d broken up with her. She kept that secret and she had to, from him. Maybe someday she would have told him…

The laugh was contagious and Piper gave one of her own to match. “I don’t know exactly how to reply to that. I would like to think he knew I wasn’t capable of something like dealing drugs or cheating on him.” Just having talked about it with someone was more than enough to lighten the load on her heart a bit. It still shocked her when the blond took her hand and told her if it was meant to be it would happen and if not he was stupid. Perhaps it really was that simple. She was hurting, that much she knew for a fact the young man was right about.

In the positive column, she did have an awesome club and she had her sisters and the Halliwell Manor and nothing would ever change that. Those were the only things that really mattered, the only things she couldn’t live without in her life. Men would come and go, right? At least until the right one came along… She nodded as the girl beckoned him away. “Yeah, I suppose that’s right. Thank you…” She smiled back at him once again but he was too far away and turned into the sultry vixen to take anymore notice of her, her words drowned out by the band again.

Hours passed and soon it was closing time. Last call was announced over the speaker system and the front doors were thrown open allowing people to come and go as they pleased for the early morning hour. She cleaned up behind the bar and had been about to usher the last of the patrons out when Dan appeared in the front hall, walking slowly across the carpeting and into the main room of the club.

“We need to talk, Piper.”

“I think we’ve talked enough, actually. You made your point pretty clear earlier today.”

“I don’t want to lose you but if you won’t tell me everything…”

“If I don’t tell you everything then what? I don’t trust you? That’s not true, I just; there are certain things that I can’t tell because it’s not just my secret to tell. Other people depend on me and they need to go into this with me…”

“Like your sisters? God, Piper, this is always about them!”

“Oh my God! Please…Dan, just go. I can’t deal with this right now…”

Even thought hte music was loud he had still heard her words as he was dragged along by the girl he gave Piper a small wave to let her know that he had heard her. He stayed dancing with the girl till her friends eventually dragged her away from him as they were all heading home, he gave the girl a light kiss on the cheek before smiling as she left.

Axel made his way over tothe bar again, having a few more drinks untill it looked like the club was closing, and he was one of the only few left there. He grabbed his jacket and had started to make his way towards the front door, leaving a large tip for Piper as he left. Though as he saw the man walk in he raised his eye brow and watched him carefully as he headed towards the bartender.

As they started to talk he was about to leave till the man raised his voice to piper, he didn’t care if they were fighting or not it was just not something he liked to see. “Sir I think you should leave you are clearly distressing her….and I do not think that is a wise thing for you to do if you want her back in your life.” Axel told Dan as he gripped the other man’s forearm tightly, making sure he did not break it yet.

“I really think you should leave, don’t you?” He asked looking into Dan’s eyes, using his vampire mind control to make the man leave so he wouldnt cause anymore harm to Piper.

piperhalliwell-goodwitch:

Piper was happy with the turnout this evening. For ounce, despite the heartbreak earlier in the day, things seemed to be looking up around there. She noticed everyone was having fun, drinking and mingling and dancing to the live band she had procured back when she’d had a romantic notion to appeal to. Now this slinky sexy band’s music was just more noise in the background.

She turned away from the band to see a young man in front of her. He looked to be about her age but she couldn’t be sure. His blondish locks were curly and boisterous and proclaimed that he wasn’t what he appeared to be, which was ‘just another pretty face’. Piper smiled at him and he flashed her a toothy cocky grin after ordering two ciders. Lucky thing that she knew what those were. “Did you wanna pay now or open a tab?” It was a question that she asked nearly everyone that crossed her path at the bar but for him, there was something different about him.

She watched him with the young lady he was with and he seemed the most normal of normal men in the club that night. There wasn’t a single thing about him, sensed or seen, that Piper could attribute to supernatural or evil or dark in any way. In fact the way he smiled was, if a bit too sure of himself, genuine and sweet. When the girl he was with took a break to the powder room Piper leaned into the counter of her bar and put her chin in her palm. “You look like you’re having fun. Can I ask…why are men assholes? At least, most men I’ve dated and I realize that puts a nasty spin on the rest of the men of the world, fine specimens and such, but… Can you perhaps, try to explain to me why someone I’ve dated for months now suddenly breaks up with me because I’ve been keeping things from him? Why would he think that? I’ve been nothing but honest!”

Except about the witch thing…

She shook her head, the mental statement merely that. But that was it, in a nutshell; she could never tell him about the witch thing.

“A tab might be easier, yeah?” Axel asked as he flashed her another smile before moving off to dance with the girl he hand picked up on his way to the bar, he smirked as he gave her hand a light kiss as she went off to the bathroom, he knew that she would come back to him when she was ready as he was paying her more attention than any other man had so far.

Axel made his way back over to the bar and smiled at Piper as she leaned ont he counter. “Lots of fun..you have an awsome club here. Oh uh…Well not all men are assholes. Maybe you just havent found the right one. If say you were with me I would sweep you off your feet every moment I had and not worry if you were keeping things from me. Everyone has scerets..There are always things we cant tell other people…so if he broke up with you over something like that then he is a bit of a stupid man..”

He smiled again and played with the coaster that his drink had been on as he looked at her. “Men are more inscure then we let on, he was probably thinking you were dating behind his back or I dunno perhaps dealing hardcore drugs.” The vampire laughed and gently took her hand.

“If it was meant to be he will come back to you and apologize for being a massive dick to you. If he doesnt he wasn’t the right one for you..Give it some time, you are just hurting right now becuase how much you felt for him, trust your own feelings.” Axel smirked as the girl he had been dancing with came back and hooked her arm around his and tried to tug him back to the dance floor. HE gave Piper a wink before disappearing back intot he crowd with her.