Piper looked out the window, she felt like she was 22 again. It had been so long she had last visited New York. The last time she was here was probably about 8 years ago when she had left Paris and came there to get her stuff and head out of town, far away. She ended up moving to a little town in Pennsylvania where she met her boyfriend, Larry. Now ex-boyfriend. Now she was leaving.

She sighed heavily as she stopped at a red light and turned around to check on her four month old daughter, Isabella. She was all cuddled up in her blanket and had her binky in her mouth. She looked so peaceful, despite the crazy situation around her.

Piper frantically threw all of her and her daughter's clothes into a big duffel bag. She ran around the house trying to find anything that she could fit in there. She couldn't think straight. Her mind jumped from 'what if Larry comes home?' to 'I can't fucking leave him. How am I supposed to do this on my own?' She stopped for a second and looked at herself in the mirror. She had a black eye that was almost swelled shut and a couple of scratches from when Larry pushed her down the stairs and there were a few loose nails on the steps. "I can't fucking do this" she said to herself and sat down. She thought about her daughter in sixteen years, and what would happen to her if she stayed. "FUCK" she screamed, and punched a wall, which caused Isabella to start crying. Piper picked her up and tried to comfort her. She couldn't believe she was finally doing this. She grabbed her bag and walked outside to her car and threw it in the back. Then she strapped her daughter in and sat in the front seat. "Fuck it. Theres no turning back now" she said to herself and started the car.

It was about four in the morning now, and she pulled into her best friend, Polly's driveway. She turned the car off and sat back in her seat. She was so exhausted. The past eight years just seemed like a big blur to her. She thought back to her life before Larry, when she was in Paris with her girlfriend at the time, Alex. Alex Vause. Piper's heart pinched at the thought of her. There was not a day that went by that Piper didn't miss her. Eight years ago, Alex imported heroin for a living, which Piper dealt with for a few years before it eventually got to be too much and she left her. On the same day Alex's mother died of a heart aneurysm. Alex was loaded, she took Piper all over the world. Their last stop was Paris and that was when she left. She's regretted it almost everyday since. There were so many times when she wanted to fly back to Paris and run into Alex arms and tell her she was sorry, she was an idiot, to take her back. But she knew it was doomed from the minute she walked out that door. For awhile, when Larry was still nice to her she had almost forgotten about Alex. Of course, she had never told Larry about her and all their adventures. There was no way he would have understood.

Things were so different now. 8 years ago she could not have seen herself running away from home, with a baby. Piper with a baby looked so awkward. She loved her daughter to death but she never had a real maternal instinct kick in. She got flustered any time when Isabella would cry or fuss, even though she really only did if she was hungry, needed changed, or was uncomfortable. She kept telling herself she's only a new mom, she'll get the hang of it eventually.

She opened the door to her car and grabbed Isabella and her duffel bag from the back. She walked up to the door and knocked. When Polly opened the door she watched her mouth drop from the sight of Piper's face. Was it really that bad?

"Holy shit, Pipes. What happened?" Polly asked as Piper walked in the house and threw all her stuff down.

"Wow great to see you too Polly!" Piper replied sarcastically "holy shit you got huge." Piper said, looking at Polly's pregnant stomach. She was about 7 months pregnant with a boy that she was going to name Finn. Piper always imagined her to be a better mother than she is, but the thought of Polly with a baby looked about as awkward as Piper with a baby.

"Seriously, what the fuck happened that made you finally decide to leave him?" Polly asked again

Polly had known about Larry being abusive for a long time. Piper was going to leave a long time ago, but then she had found out she was pregnant and had to stay with Larry because she had no money to take care of a baby or get decent prenatal care.

"Everytime I looked in the mirror I saw Isabella in a few years with all the same lumps and bruises I have, so I had to." Piper stopped for a second "I'm not quite sure what to do with her yet. I can't stand the thought of being without her but I feel like I should leave her at my moms for a week or two incase Larry finds out where I am." she stopped again, letting this all sink in.

"Holy shit, Pipes." Polly said. She didn't know what else to say. How do you respond to all that?

"I can't stay in New York for long, Pol. He'll eventually figure out where I am or come into the city looking for me."

"This is all batshit crazy, Piper. Damn, I wish I could rip his throat out."

Isabella started waking up, and Piper knew she'd probably be starving so she got her out of her carrier and grabbed a bottle.

"Here let me see her, I haven't seen her since she was a few hours old and all shriveled up like an old alien" Polly said and laughed at herself. Piper laughed too

"She's gotten a little bit cuter since then" Piper said and laughed again

"How is she at night?"

"She wakes up once to be fed and then usually once after that to be changed but other than that she's out most of the night. Thank God, I wouldn't know what to do if she wasn't."

"I hope Finn is like that. God help that child, I don't have a maternal instinct and all Pete does anymore is watch porn because I'm fat and no fun to fuck anymore." they both paused for a minute.

"Fuck, Pol. I can't believe we're having this conversation. We're mothers, like when the hell did we grow up? 10 years ago we would have never saw all this coming." Piper said and shook her head.

"10 years ago you were also dating Supercunt." Polly said and both her and Piper broke out laughing. Supercunt was Alex who could never remember Polly's name so Polly gave her that nickname.

They laughed together for awhile and talked about how things used to be and Polly filled Piper in on everything that had been happening. For once, Piper felt okay. She knew she still had a lot to worry about but she couldn't bring herself to care.

"I'm exhausted. I'm gonna head to bed. What room am I staying in?" Piper asked

"Here, follow me. I gave you Finn's bassinet for until you can go get all Isabella's stuff back." Polly said as all 3 of them went down the hallway.

Polly stopped at a closed door and opened it for Piper. It was a pretty big room, which Piper expected because Polly and her husband Pete had decent money. The room was blue with its own bathroom and shower, it was enough room for Piper and Isabella.

"Sweet dreams" Polly said and started to walk out

"Hey, Pol" Piper said and waited for Polly to turn around "thank you." she said and Polly smiled.

"No problem, I'll see you in the morning." she said and shut the door.