All That Still Matters

Everyone was silent as they all just kept looking at each other. Daphne kept looking back and forth between Piper, who was still covering her naked self in bed, and Mason, who was standing in the bathroom doorway, obviously having just got out of the shower, as he had water dripping down his chest and had a towel wrapped around his waist.

"What the fuck?" Daphne was the one to break the silence.

"Piper, you got this one?" Mason asked, looking over at Piper, not knowing exactly how to explain the situation himself to Daphne.

"Uhhhh…" Piper trailed off.

"Mason, get out of here," Daphne ordered. "I need to talk to Piper." Mason looked at her incredulously, but he left nonetheless, after throwing some clothes on.

"Call me later," Piper called after him, and he nodded his head with a wave of his hand to let her know he had heard her. "Can I please get dressed before you interrogate me?" she asked, looking up at Daphne, who sighed as she nodded her head.

"Now, tell me what the fuck that was," Daphne said when Piper came back from the bathroom a few minutes later wearing a pair of jeans and a Team USA snowboarding t-shirt. "One minute we're arguing about Daniel Grayson, and then Mase walks out of the bathroom? What, are you sleeping with both of them?" she questioned. Piper kept quiet, and Daphne sighed loudly. "Don't do this to Mase. Don't hurt him, Piper."

"I'm not," Piper began.

"Yes, Piper, that's exactly what you're doing!" Daphne yelled at her. "He loves you, and you're playing him. Don't make him your fuck buddy. He's better than that."

"Do you think that low of me?" Piper questioned.

"That's exactly what it looks like," Daphne said lowly.

"I'm not playing him," Piper defended herself, and Daphne raised an eyebrow, not believing a word she was saying. "Yes, I was with Daniel. Until I learned he was using me, just like you said he was. We got into a huge fight and it ended up escalating in the lobby of the hotel. Mason was here, and he stood up for me. One thing led to another, and that's how Mase and I ended up back here," she explained.

"What?" Daphne asked. "Okay I need all the details, not the sparknotes version of things."

"Fine," Piper sighed, recalling what had happened the previous night.

Three nights ago, Piper and Daniel were lying in bed together with Piper curled up into his body after having an amazing time. He was running his fingers through her hair as he looked down at her. "So, how are things going with Daphne?" he asked her.

Piper looked up at him, curiously. "We're good. She was on that kick for a while where she wanted me and Mason back together, but we finally talked things out, and she's backed off," she told him with a smile, lying her head back on his chest.

"I was talking more about her snowboarding," he said with a slight chuckle. "How are her runs going? She going to do well in competition? What kinds of tricks is she going to do?" he inquired.

This time Piper sat up completely, keeping the sheet pulled against her body. "You've never been interested in her snowboarding before," she recalled. "Why are you interested all of a sudden? I didn't even know you were into snowboarding."

"I was just asking," Daniel shrugged, pulling her back down against him. "Can't you give me a hint as to what she's going to do in competition?"

"No," Piper shook her head. "I can't. Again, why do you care so much?"

"I was just curious," he told her. "I'm going to get in the shower," he said, letting the topic go, as he kissed her temple before getting up and heading towards the bathroom.

A couple of minutes later, his phone started beeping, and Piper glanced over at it to see he was getting a text message. She didn't think anything of it until she saw the name of the person who was texting him running across the front of the screen: Katrina Lehti. She quickly picked up the phone without even thinking about it, reading the text.

Did you get the details yet?

Piper furrowed her eyebrows, looking down the screen to read some of the previous texts that had been sent between the two of them.

Just get her into bed. I'm sure once you've slept with her once or twice, she'll be more than willing to spill all the details. Work that Daniel charm :)

Do whatever you can to get the details of Daphne's run. I need to know exactly what I'm up against.

Everything quickly became clear for Piper, who threw the phone down on the bed, quickly jumping out of it, throwing some clothes on, wanting to get as far away from Daniel as possible. As she was putting a t-shirt on, she felt tears stinging the back of her eyes as she couldn't believe she had actually thought he had liked her for her. No, instead, he had been using her to get information on Daphne for Katrina.

Daniel opened the door to the bathroom, staring at her, as he saw her putting on some tennis shoes. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"How the hell could you do this to me?" Piper screamed, and Daniel looked at her curiously. "You fucking slept with me so you can get info on Daphne for fucking Katrina?" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "Fucking stay the hell away from me!" she screamed, walking out of the room, not caring that it was technically her hotel room, and she should have just kicked him out.

She had made it to the lobby when she felt a hand tug on her arm, spinning her around roughly. "You can't just walk away from me!" Daniel said loudly, and Piper cowered in fear when she saw the look of rage in his eyes.

"Let go of me," she said quietly.

"Tell me what I want to know."

"No!"

"I tried to be nice. I tried to simply ask you. I fucking slept with you, and you still wouldn't tell me. You don't want to cooperate, then fine, you don't have to. But, I'm getting that information out of you one way or another!" he said, squeezing tightly on her arm, picking her up slightly off the ground. Piper could feel the bruises forming, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of letting him know he was hurting her.

"Let go of me," she repeated.

"Listen, you're going to tell me everything I want to know," he told her through gritted teeth, pulling her closer to him. She knew everyone around could hear what was going on, but no one was even attempting to help her.

"Let me go!" she said loudly, trying to pull out of his grasp, causing him to grip even tighter. "Ouch!" she cried, and before she knew it, she saw someone grabbing Daniel from behind, pulling him away from her.

"Stay the hell away from her," she heard Mason say in a low voice to Daniel. "If I see you anywhere near her ever again, I swear, you will have to answer to me. And, you do not want to answer to me," he said, pushing him away.

"You think I'm scared of you?" Daniel asked with a laugh.

Mason took a step forward, saying something to Daniel that Piper couldn't hear, but whatever he had said caused Daniel to leave the hotel without another word. Piper looked up at Mason as she subconsciously rubbed her arm that Daniel had been grabbing onto. "Thank you," she smiled up at Mason.

"You know I'd do anything for you, Piper," he told her, inspecting her arm. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she told him, but Mason didn't look so sure. "Mase, remember, I used to snowboard. I've had so many more injuries that were worse than this."

"That's true," he replied. "Hey, you want to get out of here? Grab a bite to eat or something?" he asked, not wanting to leave her alone right now.

"Yeah," she smiled. "I'd like that."

Piper couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she had just relayed the story to Daphne. "And, well, one thing led to another, and that's how you found me and Mase this morning."

"Are you two back together?" Daphne asked. "Or are you guys just sleeping together?"

"We haven't actually talked about it, you know? We haven't had that conversation yet."

"But, you want it to be official, don't you?" Daphne smirked at her.

"I still love him," Piper told her. "But, you've got to remember, our relationship was doomed from the start before. What makes you think it's going to be different this time?" she asked.

"It's different," Daphne assured her with a nod of her head.