"Ms. Vause, this is your doctor I was telling you about. She's having a little trouble right now so maybe you should go back to your room and she will be in to check on you in a little while" Morello stepped in front of Piper, trying to shield her from Alex, hoping to give Piper a moment to recover before meeting her patient. Piper's soft blue eyes were locked onto the brunettes piercing green eyes. Piper hadn't spoken yet and her expression remained shocked. Her eye brows were visibly raised with her mouth barely open.
"Pipes, are you really that shocked to see me? You would think I just ran over your cat with that stare!" Alex chuckled quietly, rolling her eyes at Piper. Alex was moving around the short nurse, making her way to a very shocked, Piper. Morello pursed her lips when she heard Alex call the doctor by a nickname. She had confusion written all over her face.
Alex leaned down slowly to look Piper in the eye with genuine concern. She let a long, pale hand rest gently on the blonde's shoulder. The touch made Piper quiver. The blonde blinked a few times before glancing at Alex's hand. It felt so nice to be touched by Alex again. Piper felt like no time had passed and for a moment she was happily in love with the brunette, traveling the world.
"Is this really happening?" Piper asked quietly, taking in all of Alex's beauty. Piper inhaled sharply, getting a nose full of Alex's vanilla perfume. Piper resisted the urge to let her eyes roll back in ecstasy. She had always loved Alex's scent. "This can't be real" Piper decided that she was only dreaming and decided to indulge on the fantasy before it disappeared. She closed her eyes and smiled.
Alex let out a small laugh and removed her hand from Piper's shoulder. "Real as it gets kid, looks like you will be seeing a lot of me." She turned to walk back to her room. Piper watched Alex walk away, a smirk plastered on her face the whole way back. Piper's eyes widened as she comprehended what had just happened.
"Shit." Piper managed to choke out after a few long moments.
"What the hell was that Chapman?" Lorna asked, not understanding the relationship between the doctor and patient.
"That… that was Alex Vause." She stated simply, as if it was the answer to every question in the world.
Piper took a few more minutes, trying to regain composure. Her mind was running a mile a minute and she could not keep up. She had so many questions and concerns about her confrontation. Why was Alex here? Why wasn't she angry? Was she still a drug dealer? Was she in a relationship? The questions got more personal by the second. Piper tried to shake out her thoughts as she visited her other four patients, seeing how they were feeling and giving them any sort of hope of recovery that she could. Only one of her patients wasn't doing very well. The past three days she was getting progressively worse, the medicine was not working and the pain was growing. Piper knew she only had a few days left in her, the infection was over taking her body and there was nothing they could do about it. Piper already had performed three different surgeries on the patient, each time, removing an infected organ. She would recover for a few days and then the infection would show up in a different place. Piper had never seen anything like it and had no answers. She researched hours upon hours, but found no solutions. She contacted doctors across the world, each one just as dumbfounded as the one before. Piper knew she couldn't keep removing organs, and there was no other medicine they could try. Piper avoided going in the patients room because they had both come to the conclusion she would not live very much longer. Piper's heart sank every time she talked to the patient. She had no family and hadn't even asked to be discharged for her final days. Piper explained she could give her pain killers and she could go live her last few days out in the world but the patient didn't see the point, she explained that she already lived a great life. Although she was only 42, she saw many parts of the world, fell in love many times, lost each love, but over all, she told Piper, she did not regret her life and she accomplished everything she could have hoped for. Piper admired her bravery but still felt sorry for her.
Piper was avoiding visiting her last patient; she didn't know what to say or how to act. She walked towards Alex's room and felt a wave of nausea pass through her as she got close. Piper had to stop and take deep breathes before opening the curtain to the brunette's room. Piper had pushed all of her thoughts out of her mind all morning, trying to focus on every little detail in front of her.
As Piper went to open the curtain, she paused, hearing a song playing faintly inside the room. She figured it must be Alex listening to music on her phone or laptop. Piper took a moment to focus on the lyrics. The song was familiar to her. "I told myself I won't miss you, but I remember what it feels like beside you. I really miss your hair in my face and the way your innocence tastes…" Piper recognized the song. She had small flashback to over 6 years ago.
Flashback: Alex was getting ready in the bathroom for a meeting with Kubra. Piper was sprawled out, lazily in their bed, not wanting Alex to leave her. Alex was playing songs off her phone while she took a shower. She left the door cracked, letting the steam out of the bathroom.
Alex sang loudly with the song. "I told myself I won't miss you but I remember what it feels like beside you….you deserve much better than me" Alex didn't sing the last few words.
Piper could tell she related to the lyrics, but would never admit it. Alex was out of the shower a few moments later and continued with the song by Hinder. "If there's one memory I don't want to lose, that time at the mall, you and me in the dressing room" Alex let out a small chuckle, connecting the song to an actual time in the dressing room she and Piper shared. The dressing room was cramped, the store was full but she had brought Piper to an orgasm, not as silently as she had hoped which earned them many disappointed and disgusted looks. Alex always loved that memory of them.
Piper made her way to the bathroom, wrapping her arms around Alex's torso and kissing her shoulder. She would have kissed her neck if Alex hadn't been so tall. Piper kissed the salt shaker tattoo gently, feeling dampness transfer to her lips. "Alex… I love you" Piper said quietly, as the music played in the background. "I love you too Piper" Alex smiled back through the mirror at the blonde.
Piper was taken back from her flash back when she heard Alex's raspy, voice sing part of the familiar song to herself. "And I can't pretend... I won't think about you when I'm older, cause we never really had our closure. This can't be the end."
Piper shook her head and opened the curtain wide, pretending not to have been standing there the whole time. Alex was doing it on purpose, trying to remind Piper of what they once had. She set her jaw and looked at the beautiful woman lying in the uncomfortable hospital bed. Alex turned the music down, almost unable to be heard. She looked up at Piper with her head cocked to the side. Her expression was amused and her eyes focused intently on Piper who was now fidgeting with her coat. Alex's eyes sent patronizing stabs at the 'good' doctor.
"Well hello there, Doctor Chapman." Alex waited for her to respond, but Piper didn't say anything. "Is this the part where I take off my clothes and you examine me?" She winked playfully at the doctor, with a smirk on her lips.
Piper's cheeks turned 50 shades of red before she could respond.
"No, Alex. That's not how this works." She said curtly. Piper didn't want to get any closer to Alex than she had to. It would be professional to examine her, but not in the sense that Alex had suggested, although it did entice Piper slightly.
"Okay then, you're not in the mood for banter, I withdrawal my bant." Alex pursed her lips, waiting for Piper to speak.
"Alex…" Piper started to say softly. She felt so sorry, after all this time. She knew she hurt Alex in a way that was unforgivable and knew that Alex was only joking around to deflect her feelings.
"No, don't Piper. You don't get to fuckin' apologize. Not after all these years. I am curious though, what is your life like now? Married? To a man, or have you found another lesbian to travel the world with? Kids? I am surprised to see you as a doctor, I mean you were just a waitress when I seduced you and now look at you!" Alex smiled softly. The smile didn't reach her eyes. She was hurt and Piper knew it.
"I have a fian-"Piper stopped herself. "I have a boyfriend, no kids and never found a woman that interested me as much as yo-"Piper stopped herself again, mentally kicking herself for the foot-in-mouth disease she had. Why was she telling Alex about her life? Part of Piper wanted to curl up next to the dark haired beauty and cry. She missed Alex so much and wanted to feel the kind of love Alex had given her. It had been 10 years since her heart felt as full as it did now. She realized even in her and Larry's relationship, there was never a moment of love like the love she felt with Alex.
Alex's eyebrow raised slightly, a smile forming on her perfect lips.
"Piper, it's good to see you, kid." She said simply.
Before she could respond, Alex's phone went off. Piper rolled her eyes and Alex immediately jumped to answer. 'Some things never change' Piper said to herself as she made her way over to Alex. She figured she could examine her while she talked, making it less awkward for the both of them. For other patients, she was used to them either ignoring the call or making it very quick. She felt an odd sense of familiarity of touching Alex's skin while Alex was distracted on the phone with her Drug Lord Kubra.
Alex answered the phone, looking off in the distance as Piper listened to her heart, checked her blood pressure and other vital signs. Piper had to monitor Alex's heart rate and temperature, to determine if the infection was getting any better. Both were still higher than Piper preferred.
"Hey Kubra… yeah I am in the hospital still. Some sort of mystery fuckin' infection, it won't go away." Alex started to talk to her boss. She paused, looking at Piper for some privacy but realized Piper already knew Kubra and the line of work she was into. Alex never left the drug business and while she was heartbroken and struggled after Piper left her and the death of her mother, she recovered over time and became an even better importer. Alex was filthy rich and doing great.
Piper jotted down notes in her chart as Alex continued to speak on the phone.
"No… No look, I should be out soon, you don't need to send Nichols to replace me." Alex's tone turned from friendly to angry quickly. Piper was familiar with Alex's business tone, it made her uncomfortable.
"What?! Are you kidding me? I'm not fucking dying Kubra, I'm just sick…." There was a long silence; Alex's expression grew more hostile.
"So that's it's? You are kicking me out of the cartel? After all these years, I get sick one time and I'm out?" Alex's voice was full of disbelief and anger.
"Early retirement my ass Kubra! So the rumors are true, you are afraid I'm becoming more powerful than you. Well I always assumed I would leave this job in a body bag or in handcuffs, so I guess this is my free, one way ticket out. Fuck you Kubra, Fuck you." She hung up the phone and chucked it against the wall. Piper jumped at the sound.
Piper's eyes were wide with shock. She stared at the brunette. 'Did Alex just get fired? Does this mean she is no longer a drug dealer?' Piper thought to herself. A few moments of silence passed before Alex calmed down enough to look at Piper.
"Yeah, I know kid." She shook her head. "Honestly, I've been wanting out of that job since you left. It cost me the one thing I truly loved and wanted in life, and I still couldn't leave." Alex spoke softly for a moment before continuing. "I mean I am a millionaire and didn't get caught so I suppose this is really a good thing. As Kubra just happened to mention, maybe it's just an early retirement for me. Fuckin' bullshit though! I bet when he found out I was in the hospital he was doing happy dances across international borders. He has been looking for ways to get rid of me for years, people respect me more than him now and he can't stand it. He is willing to throw away his best importer due to pride." Alex continued to ramble. She let out a big huff and wrapped up her rant. "Well, I guess it's just you and I, now kid." Alex looked at Piper who stood there with a smile on her face.