Authors note. I do not own any of the characters, I'm not American so if some of the terminology is wrong I apologise. Still new to fanfiction, any mistakes are my own, hope you enjoy.
It happened in a second, a blink of an eye and then it was gone.
To the casual observer they wouldn't have noticed anything, Piper herself wasn't aware at that precise moment either, but Pipers life had just changed forever.
Piper Chapman was a fresh faced 20 year old who had just moved to the NY campus of Smiths University to study physiotherapy. She had secured a place in halls and had opted to take the journey from her sleepy home town in upstate New York to Manhattan on her own.
Having left to the hugs, kisses and well wishes of friends and relatives. Her father had given her words of advice about staying safe in the big city, always take a taxi after dark, walk on the well lit side of the street, be aware of your surroundings and belongings at all times... If only she had paid heed to those last few words.
"that'll be two dollars twenty ma'am"
"thank you keep the change"
Smiling, she took the steaming cup of coffee went to kick her rucksack over to the side, so she could add creamer and gather her thoughts before the final leg of her journey. She absentmindedly kicked her foot to where she had left her bag but instead of being met with the reassuring thud and resistance her foot kept in moving. Piper looked down to see a large empty space instead of her trusty battered blue rucksack. Thinking that the long day was finally taking its toll, she turn her head every which way, thinking she had been mistaken but the horror of the situation slowly dawned on her and panic set in. "my bag, have you seen my bag?", she was asking to no one in particular. The kindly barista looked over at the commotion and came round from the counter to see what the problem was.
"everything ok?"
Piper was drawn to the short, dark haired girl, "my bag is gone", as she said the words tears pricked in her eyes. "oh sweetie, what kind of bag was it? was it your purse?" " no a rucksack, a blue rucksack" was the shaky reply". The shorter woman scanned around the remaining customers and the floor, under tables behind chairs but to no avail. "You really can't leave anything these days" she proffered, rubbing the young woman on the arm. " was there much in there?, "ev...everything".
That was it, the final piece of her resolve broke and the tears which had threatened to spill now flowed freely down Pipers cheeks. The barista pushed her towards a seat at grabbed a handful of napkins, thrusting them towards her. A piercing whistle broke Piper from her daze.
"hey Nichols, get over here", the officer and her partner couldn't have been passing at better time.
"Morello, what's up, couldn't wait till this evening to see me?"
"another bag gone, this here is ..."
"Piper, Piper Chapman" the blond volunteered to the wild haired NYPD officer.
"Hey it'll be alright" the husky, deep Brooklyn accent said, but its sentiment fell flat on the crest fallen student.
The officer pulled the barista to the side and whispered in her ear ' jeez I'm due to clock off in half an hour couldn't you have just let her call it in herself?' This earned her a smack on the arm from the shorter woman "she seems nice and looks upset, be nice and I'll make it worth your while later".
The officer turned back towards Piper, taking out her pad she started to take down details, "ok, description, was it valuable, did your parents not teach you not to leave your bags in a train station?" the words left her
lips harsher than she had meant, but this was seriously going to run into plans for the evening and a certain barista. Piper was just detailing what the bag looked like and what it contained when a second officer arrived, taller, a lot taller than the first, thin with dark hair and the sexiest secretary glasses Piper had ever seen.
"be nice" the taller woman said into her partners ear. This earned her a hard stare, "another tourist loses bag, we both know how this is going to end" she whispered back.
"I'm not, I'm not a tourist", the words brought both officers attention to the blond sat before them.
" I'm not a tourist, I'm a student".
"a student, well excuse me!" came the acerbic reply.
" how about we all go back to the station, ill take care of this and you can get off and have your evening with Lorna?". Alex knew how Nicky was when she had to go too long without sex and their recent shift pattern certainly hadn't made things easy for her and her new squeeze. Not that this was the poor blondes fault, nor were she to know the reason for the uncharacteristic arseyness of her partner. Nichols thought about this for a second, eying up her colleague, "ok, but no funny business Vause".