Do not own Orange Is The New Black or any of the characters.

AU, Piper Chapman is about to walk down the aisle with the man of her dreams but what if faith as other plans for her? A certain raven haired beauty is back in Piper's life. Will she go the safe root with Larry or chose the unknowable future with Alex?

Runaway Bride

Prologue

forever is a fucking long time...

Saturday, June 22nd- 2:15 pm

Piper couldn't breathe.

She didn't know what the fuck to do?

She loved Larry.

But she loved Alex too.

She didn't know who to choose.

Tears brimmed her eyes as wave of panic washed over her. However she quickly blinked them away. She couldn't allow herself to cry. It would ruin her make-up, the artist had just completed painting on her face. Polly would have a shit-fest for sure if she saw one drop of mascara run down her cheek.

"Fuck!" cursed Piper to herself as she paced around the small dressing room. The tulle of her skirt rustling with every step she took. She was fully dressed in her wedding dress and was suppose to be walking down the aisle in less than fifteen minutes.

"Fuck!" she cursed again to herself. It wasn't suppose to be like this. This was suppose to be the happiest day of her life. However, it felt nothing like that. She was on the edge of a nervous break down. She was finally getting the wedding she'd dreamt of as a little girl. Finally marring her prince charming. She frowned slightly at this. Larry was no prince charming. He was a good guy. The funny, nice boy but he was no prince charming. At least not to Piper.

"Fuck!" she swore again. She had stopped pacing and was now looking at her reflection in the mirror. She frowned at what she saw. She didn't look anything like a blushing bride, she thought. The perfect dress that she had picked out almost a year ago now, seemed to be too much. It was too frilly. Too princessey. It didn't seem to be her at all. It was a strapless off-white mermaid style dress. It had a tiered pleated skirt made out of tulle and chapel train. It had a sweet-heart neckline which was also pleated. There was beaded embellishments underneath the bust line and on the top pleat of the skirt. It had seemed like the one at the time but now she was having second thoughts about it. Just like she was having second thoughts about the whole wedding and who she was choosing to be with forever.

"Forever is a fucking long time," she whispered out loud to herself. She didn't know if she wanted a forever with Larry. She didn't want to wake up one morning after being married for 20 years and three children later, and regret the whole thing. Just like her mother had done with her father. She didn't want to end up resenting Larry. She wanted to only get married once in her life.

"Fuck. Chapman. Get your self together!" she murmured to her reflection in the mirror.

Of course she loved Larry. They had been together for almost five years now. She had been so happy when he had proposed to her at the cape. She'd felt like the happiest girl on the planet at the time and had been, up until ten days ago, that was.

Ten days ago, she'd ran into a woman she had thought she would never see again. A woman she hadn't seen in almost eight years.

Alex Vause had stepped back into her life.

If this was faith way of telling her something. She got the message loud and clear.

Alex was no Larry. She was Alex. She was like no one else Piper had ever met before and after being with her. She was sexy, damn sexy. She oozed confident. She was reckless and loved adventure. And the woman of Piper's dreams. She loved her. She fucking loved Alex Vause.

"Fuck!" swore Piper again in frustration. She hated that it had come down to this. That she had to pick between Larry, a great guy and Alex, damn, sexy woman. She had to choose between a safe and normal life or a wild, unpredictable adventure. Why couldn't she just have both? Why couldn't she just for once have her cake and eat it too?

She didn't know what to do. Her heart was saying one thing, but her brain was saying another.

However, before she could think about the choice she had to make, there came a loud knock at the dressing room door, interrupting her from self-combusting. Piper looked over her shoulder as the door opened and her father, Richard popped his head inside. Their eyes locked with one another.

"Pippi," spoke her father in a soft and gentle voice.

"Is it time?" she asked towards him, all colour draining from her face, a feeling of dread washing suddenly over her.

"It's time!" confirmed her father, a warm smile appearing on his face as he took a step further into the room and held out his arm for Piper to take.

The wedding was about to begin.

Thanks for reading and please review!

Julie