Hi everyone! I just wanted to say thanks to those who gave feedback on the first chapter. I really appreciate it. I'm glad you are all enjoying this so here is the next chapter.

The Equation – Chapter 2

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Saturday, May 25th, 2013

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Lights out came and went a few hours ago. B Dorm – or The Suburbs as it was called by the inmates – was blanketed in silence. Save for the usual sounds of snoring and sometimes fitful nightmare-ridden sleeps of some of the inmates. But sleep wouldn't find Alex.

She lay on her bunk, fully clothed, staring into the darkness above her. She was replaying the meeting with her mysterious visitor for the hundredth time in her head. Her mind refused to be still. It felt like she had exhausted every possible angle to look at this. All through work duty, meals, yard time… Kubra, what he could be after, what she was risking by getting involved with him again, how the strange blonde woman fit into everything… Piper Chapman. If Alex were honest, she was the reason for her restlessness. Because in the stillness of night and shadowed privacy of the dark, it was easy to go there. To let your mind wander to places it wouldn't usually go in the harsh judgement of daylight. The shape of her brows, the line of her jaw, the striking blue of her eyes… mostly how she acted like she was totally oblivious to it. There was little as attractive as a woman who had no idea just how attractive she was. Alex groaned inwardly. Three years was way too fucking long. Fantasizing about a stranger, a woman she just met, a woman mixed up with Kubra. That should be enough of a turn-off. But there was something about Piper Chapman that drew Alex in. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on. It felt mysterious, a little dangerous, and the thought excited her. Made her feel something other than the mindnumbing boredom that filled her days at Litchfield. For the first time in years – it made her feel alive. So maybe it was foolish of her to trust a stranger, to even consider getting back into bed with the source of her nightmares after everything he had put her through, but Piper Chapman gave her something that day she hadn't had in the longest time. Hope. And she was ready to go against whatever doubts she had to see where it landed her. Surely anything would be better than staring down the barrel of Kubra's gun. Or another taco Tuesday in this hell hole.

"Vause." It was only a whisper but it made Alex jump the way it shot through the dark to pierce her thoughts.

She groped for her glasses beside her and put them on. Piscatella towered at the foot of her bunk. How she had missed the arrival of someone with such immense bulk was beyond her. this whole Kubra-Chapman mess had her so distracted, she would be easy pickings for anyone looking for some target practice. She looked at him without saying anything. Was he here for target practice? Was he one of Kubra's men?

"Caputo. Now," the guard barked at her in the lowest volume he could manage. He barked everything he said and having to keep his voice down wasn't a strong point.

"What time is it?" Alex asked, but Piscatella had already turned and started out of the dorm.

She sat up, her mind racing. She had seen Caputo leave early that afternoon. Something he only did when his band had a gig at one of the seedy bars in town. What could've brought him back here? Well for starters, you wouldn't be in here Alex straightened, her heart hammering in her ears.

"No fucking way," she said out loud to the memory of Piper's voice in her head.

It had only been a few hours. She couldn't have pulled it off already. Could she?... The idea pushed Alex from her bunk and she hurried after Piscatella, her white socks padding lightly on the cool linoleum floor.

The guard led her through the sleeping prison – eerie in its silence – always a stride or two ahead, never once looking back.

"Did he say what it's about?" she asked. Piscatella grunted. "Do you know if anyone's in there with him?" She tried a different angle. Still no answer. "A woman… blonde… just a little shorter than-"

"I was told to get you and I'm getting you, now shut the hell up," Piscatella said.

And that was the end of it. Alex wasn't about to go pissing off the scariest guard in there just in case this turned out not to be her get out of jail free card. Free. Something very similar to the hope she had felt earlier started to flutter in her stomach, making her feel like laughing, crying, and throwing up all at the same time.

After what felt like forever they finally reached Caputo's office. The door was open. Piscatella strode in without knocking but Alex's feet froze on the threshold. She saw the warden behind his desk, saw him look up and right at her. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. He waved Piscatella to leave and she quickly pressed herself to the one side so the burly guard could get by.

"You just going to stand there?" Caputo asked, eyeing her over the top of his glasses.

Alex forced her feet to move and slowly entered the office. She didn't sit down though.

"Sit down," Caputo said, motioning to the chair in front of the desk.

Alex considered it for a second but then shook her head. "I'm fine, sir, thanks. What is this about?"

"This? I thought you'd never ask," Caputo began. He didn't sound very happy. In fact, he sounded right pissed off about something. That flutter of hope in Alex's stomach gave a hiccup. "You know how many times I've gotten a call from the governor on my private cell?" he asked.

Alex shook her head. The governor? What the hell was going on?

"Just once," Caputo said then. "Earlier tonight, in fact." He took a breath and leaned back in his chair, watching her closely, as if he was thinking about what to do with her. Alex met his gaze comfortably. Her self-confidence was often mistaken as arrogance but she wasn't easily intimidated.

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, but what does-"

"I'm getting there," he cut her off. "You sure you don't want to sit?"

Feeling like this could probably take a while, judging by his mood to apparently want to go into lengthy stories, Alex decided to sit down after all. He waited for her to do so before starting up again.

"You're quite the popular one tonight, Vause. The governor, Supreme Court judge, DA's office… I got paperwork up to my neck. Rush order this, urgency that, but I can smell the money a mile away. You come into some money recently, Vause?"

"Sir?" She didn't know the details, but she knew that this had Piper all over it, and she also knew she had to be careful not to give anything away. Supreme Court? How deep did the kid's pockets run?

"Tonight was a big one for us," he went on, ignoring her. It was like he was talking at her and not to her. "The band had the biggest turn out we've had in months." He sounded so much like he was feeling sorry for himself that Alex found it hard to sympathize. "But work comes first," he added in a tired tone that showed he was used to his life being derailed by matters of Litchfield on a regular basis.

He grabbed a pen from its holder next to his nameplate on the desk and proceeded to sign a form that was lying in front of him this whole time, ending with a flourish as he swiped his signature across the page. Then he held the form out to her.

"This is your release form," he said simply.

Alex looked at it, then at him, and back to the form. Just like that. She swallowed. There were so many questions but she couldn't say any of them.

"Piscatella should be waiting for you. Give it to him and he'll see you through the rest of it." He waved the piece of paper at her because Alex was yet to make a move to take it.

So it turned out Piper Chapman was true to her word. The first part of it anyway. But if this was a sign of things to come, it meant that the kid would also deliver on the money she promised. It shouldn't be this easy. Nothing in Alex's life was ever this easy. There weren't very many people in her life she could call reliable or trustworthy. A wave of gratitude for the blonde stranger washed over her then. The stranger who saved her from wasting away in this place, and would probably also save her from Kubra. It shouldn't be this easy, Alex thought again. She snatched the form from Caputo in case he remembered that same thing and decided to change his mind.

"Oh and congratulations, Vause," he said to her as she reached the door.

She turned back, an unsure, nervous kind of smile playing on her lips, still not sure that any of this was real. "Thanks."

"Don't fuck it up."

She nodded and walked out, and only then did she let go of everything she was holding onto in there. Her heart soared, filling up the empty open space of the deserted hallway. Piscatella waited at the end of it, but even his scowl when he read the form she handed him couldn't dampen her spirits.

It was the middle of the night. The release of prisoners is a process usually followed through when the appropriate admin staff were on call during the day, so it was nearly a full hour before Alex walked through the final gates of Litchfield - wearing a pair of prison-issue blue jeans and an old sweatshirt - and breathed in the crisp night air. She took it in deep, let it fill her lungs until it hurt, until her ears throbbed and her eyes stung. She could feel the hulk of the prison building bearing down on her from behind and although she felt the weight of it, she didn't turn to look. That life was where it belonged – in the past. This was her second chance and she was going to do nothing but move forward.

The renewed hope and lust for life took a dip as Alex looked around at the deserted parking lot, save for the few beaters belonging to the night staff. It should be close to 3am now. She had no money and nowhere to go. For all Piper Chapman's resourceful planning, she had neglected to give Alex any kind of direction of where to go once she got out. Just when she started thinking about maybe going back inside to use a phone, call a cab or something, she heard the sound of an approaching car. A car that came to stop right in front of her, catching her in its headlight – just one, because the other one was out. Alex squinted into the light as she tried to make out the person behind the wheel, but to no avail. A door opened and slammed shut.

"Alex Vause?" It was a male voice. Alex squinted in its general direction. The glare of the one good headlight striking her temporarily blind.

"Piper Chapman sent me," the voice said. It was getting closer. And then its owner came to stand in front of the car, blocking the light so Alex could finally see.

It took her eyes a few seconds to readjust before she finally could make out the shadowy form standing in front of her. A fairly round man, the shaggy hair on top of his head and on his face a dirty kind of blonde. He wore a flannel shirt and beige cargo pants. Cargo pants. He looked like a woodcutter who lived in the forest, like he belonged in the wild. Alex frowned. Why hadn't Piper come herself? For all the secrecy shrouding her so-called plans, why would she risk something so sensitive with someone like… well, this guy?

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Holy smokin' hydrangeas," the man said, stepping nearer and studying her a little too closely for her liking. Alex took a step back. "I'm her brother… Cal," he stuck out his hand. "And she failed to mention the extent of hotness I'd be chauffeuring tonight." His hand still hung stupidly in midair and Alex still didn't move to take it.

"Where's Piper?"

Finally getting the message, Cal let his hand drop back to his side. "She had a thing. Asked me to come."

"A thing?" Alex asked incredulously. "At 3am?"

"You know Piper," he replied in a matter-of-fact way, as if she was supposed to know what that meant.

Because no, she didn't know Piper. And she didn't know him. And now she was just expected to get into his beat-up car and let him take her away? Alex hugged her arms across her chest, trying to stave off the chill that was starting to creep through the worn fabric of her sweatshirt. She could brave the night out here. It would be hard and unpleasant but it would be on her terms. If she went with him now, who knew what would happen.

"Come on," Cal said, moving back to the driver's side to get in. "I'll stop being a creep. Get in. It's freezing out."

She watched him slide into his seat and wait, the car still idling. The thought occurred to her then, that it was taking the leap to trust a stranger that got her into Caputo's office an hour ago. Got her outside the gates of that prison. Things have been working out so far, so maybe, just maybe they would continue to do so. Alex took a breath and let it out slowly, her mind working overtime to make the right decision. Even though she was back to being blinded by the headlight and couldn't see Cal inside the car, she could feel him watching her. How long would the drive be? She didn't even know where they were going. Where Piper lived. If they were even going to Piper. Since she 'had a thing'.

"Thing my ass," Alex mumbled to herself as she made her way to the car, making a mental note to get Piper for this. Right after she thanked her for getting her out of prison of course.

"Hey," Cal said as she slid into the passenger seat and closed the door. "For a second there I thought you were going to make a run for it." He put the car into gear and started back the way he had come.

Cal kept glancing over at her and Alex steeled herself. He promised he wouldn't be creepy, he promised he wouldn't be creepy, he promised he wouldn't be-

"So what are your thoughts on threesomes?" he asked. "My wife would love you."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Please just shut up and drive."

"As you wish," Cal replied. "Just… keep an open mind is all I'm saying. Sleep on it."

Alex shook her head and looked out her window so she didn't have to deal with him, hoping she had made the right choice by trusting Piper, that wherever Kubra was, he was unaware of her recent movements into the realm of the free. Mostly she just hoped that the drive wouldn't be too long and that Cal wouldn't be too chatty.

As it turned out, the drive was a long one. But Cal – despite some of his offside remarks here and there – was on the whole a good natured guy. He even made a stop to grab some bagels and coffee. And it was nice. The coffee, the food, being out… Alex got to watch the sun wake up, reaching its finger flares over the scenery that shot by her window, washing the world in a golden rinse that took her breath away. Like the place was waking up especially for her, because she got out and this was its way of celebrating. She knew it was silly to think so, but she liked the thought anyway. When they finally got to the city, Alex was on her second coffee and in a deep explanation about why she thought Cal should cut his mother some slack. She knew his wife was on her period, their son Nemo was cutting teeth – and actually had a pretty good remedy for it that Cal promised to try out once he got home… but mostly she had learned about Piper. The mystery Samaritan who had changed her life in a matter of hours. Piper was smart – the smartest person alive according to Cal, she loved music, hated people, lived for math, and was easily amused by simple card tricks. Through careful questioning, Alex learned that Cal knew nothing of what was actually going on with the whole Piper/Kubra/her fiancé being kidnapped thing. According to the poor guy, Alex was an old college friend who asked to crash on Piper's couch while she found her feet after being released from prison for a mild case of fraud.

"Here we are," Cal said as he pulled into an empty parking.

With the window cracked, the sounds of the early morning city filtered in and Alex realized for the first time how much she missed it. Traffic, people, everyone on their own mission to get somewhere… life. And she was back in it. For a fleeting moment, the thought of her agreement with Piper pushed into her mind. Kubra. Before she knew it, Cal was at her door and holding it open. She hadn't even noticed him getting out, she was so caught up in her head with everything.

"Thanks," she said, and got out, looking up at the brownstone in front of them. There was money here all right.

Cal went in without knocking, and Alex followed, wondering if he and his family lived here too. They didn't cover that bit on the drive up. He led her into a spacious living room, incredibly tidy, with a piano in one corner.

"She's always in the basement. I'll get her," he said and Alex nodded as she watched him go.

She moved slowly through the room, taking in little details she didn't know were being committed to her memory as bits and pieces of Piper. It smelled faintly of vanilla. Was that her smell then? She wasn't aware of it yet because the process was subtle and subconscious, but Piper Chapman was starting to become an indelible part of her.

There were beautiful pieces of art on every wall and something in particular caught her eye – it was hung above the fireplace – and Alex moved toward it to get a closer look. Four heavy black frames hung side by side and in each of them was a sheet of music, written in a hurried scrawl. There was no title and no composer. Alex caught her reflection in the glass and was distracted for a moment. Every time she looked in a mirror there would be a bathroom stall behind her, another inmate beside her… She fixed her glasses on her nose, looked past the reflection of her face to see the reflection of the huge painting that hung on the wall behind her. No bathroom stalls. A slow smile crept onto her lips.

"Have you eaten?"

Alex spun round, startled out of her reverie by a voice she had no problem recognizing. Because she had heard it very recently, her mind reasoned. Because other reasons, her heart argued on the side. Alex quieted them both and looked at Piper. Her hair was swept up in a messy ponytail, and although she seemed tired, her eyes were on fire. She wore an old MIT t-shirt. And that was it. Alex bit the inside of her lip and forced her eyes back up from the miles of legs that were calling their attention. If there was anything under the shirt, it was well hidden.

"We stopped to get something on the way," Alex finally managed to say just as Cal appeared in the doorway.

"Good," Piper said, giving her a quick once over. "Let's get started." She turned on her heel and walked out the way she had come, not even acknowledging Cal or waiting for Alex.

"Good luck," he said with a wave. "I'll see myself out."

Alex heard the front door open and close, marking his exit and suddenly the house felt empty and stranger than that, she felt alone. It's just the effects of prison life wearing off, she thought to herself, gave her shoulders a shake to get rid of that unsettling feeling, and started in the direction Piper had gone just as her name echoed from somewhere deep inside the house.