Hi everyone! Much thanks for the warm welcomes and great feedback. I was not sure about this story at first because it is very different from usual Vauseman. However, there seems to be some interest and so I am more than happy to share with you the things my brain has been creating for Piper and Alex. I hope you enjoy it.

The Equation – Chapter 3

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Saturday, May 25th, 2013

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Not kind enough to wait but at least enough to leave the door to the basement ajar so Alex could find it easily. There were two sliding bolts fixed to it aside from the regular lock and Alex pulled it open thinking about what Cal could have meant when he said 'good luck' as he left. He didn't know what they were doing, so it could only have been in reference to being with his sister in general. A little worrying, but where Piper didn't like people very much, Alex was the opposite. People were her thing. And after years of dealing with some horrific examples of human beings, Alex considered Piper Chapman a little lamb.

"I designed a program that will help us close in on Kubra using the information you give me," Piper said right when Alex planted her foot off the last step leading down into the basement.

"I guess we're jumping right in then," Alex said and walked over to her.

The basement was the exact opposite of the homey feel the rest of the house had. No beautiful paintings down here. There was a huge desk taken up entirely by screens and desktop computers, a makeshift privacy curtain covered all of the back wall, a table that looked like it belonged in a senator's dining room stood in the middle of the large open-plan space, and sunken into a huge blue beanbag just to the left of it was Piper, tapping away on her laptop. Alex dropped down beside her, a move that nearly sent the laptop careering off to the side.

Piper snatched after the device and glared at her. "I was going to project the screen," she said, motioning at the white-washed wall on the other side of the room.

Alex snuggled deeper, making herself comfortable. "I'm good," she said with affected earnestness and trained her eyes on the laptop screen, fighting back a knowing smile.

She felt Piper staring at her, felt how she instantly tensed up the second she sat down, but she feigned innocence. Alex loved pushing people's buttons, especially with the ladies. Watching them get all flustered despite themselves. It was amusing and lighthearted innocence in a world where that didn't exist for her.

Piper exhaled slowly, most likely turning words she wanted to say into breath instead to avoid a confrontation, and turned her attention back to the screen. But she was having trouble making sense of the very program she designed. Alex had positioned herself to fit under Piper's arm, and so the blonde was achingly aware of her breathing, every rise and fall of her chest as it brushed against her.

"Alex?" she said, turning to look at her, searching her face.

Alex gave a small laugh. "No funny business, relax," she said. "It's been a while, sure, but this is work. Scout's honor."

It was the right thing to say because it was true. But Alex could have sworn that a hint of disappointment flashed behind Piper's searching eyes before she quickly turned away nodding. No, Alex corrected herself. That's just what happens when you have no-one to satiate your desires for too long.

Piper cleared her throat. "This will look at Kubra, known connections, where he-"

"Could you just…" Alex leaned over to tilt the screen and tried to ignore the way Piper stiffened when she did. "Better," she said. "You may continue."

"I was just saying, if we-"

"One more thing," Alex said, "Sorry, it's just… thanks." The plain sincerity in her tone must've affected Piper because she turned to her again and Alex nearly lost her words. "For getting me out," she said, grabbing them quickly before they got all muddled inside her head. "I don't know how you did it, but I know it couldn't have been easy." And then she looked away. Stared at the screen even though she had no clue about what was going on there, but she just couldn't look at Piper any longer.

"You're welcome," Piper replied, surprising herself with the softness of her tone. "Thank you for agreeing to let me bust you out." They both shared a little chuckle at that and after a second to find her train of thought, she continued with the work.

At first Alex was blown away by the system. It took every little detail she gave and ran it through an algorithm that then went on to predict the most probable future activity and locations for Kubra based on past behavior, habits, people he knew, what he liked to eat… But after what felt like forever, Piper was still going, grilling her endlessly about types of cheeses he liked best and his favorite wine. It wasn't that mind-blowing anymore, just an agitator to the fact that she hadn't gotten any sleep the night before.

"Can we take a break?" Alex groaned, flopping her head back and taking off her glasses to massage her tired eyes.

"Sure, I'll just ask Kubra to hold off on killing my fiancé for a couple of hours while you rest."

Alex's head shot up. "Don't you do that."

"Do what?" Piper asked acting all doe-eyed innocence.

"Suggest that it's my fault if-"

Piper snapped the laptop shut with force and it was like she'd physically shut Alex's mouth along with it. Perhaps it was lack of sleep combined with lack of food and maybe also hours in that stupid beanbag without coming up for air, but her mood was just as bleak as Alex's. But the difference was that she didn't have the luxury of taking a break.

"The only reason you're even here is to help me do this, so yes, if we fail-"

"You don't get to put that on me," Alex shot back instantly, pushing up from the beanbag, her head spinning a little as her body tried to assimilate to the sudden change in position. "I told you from the start what you were up against with him. I said to give him what he wants, which, by the way, you still haven't told m-"

"Because it doesn't matter." Piper was on her feet now too, the laptop discarded in the warm indentations on the beanbag.

"Doesn't matter? All I've heard since I met you – my fiancé, my fiancé, my poor little helpless little fiancé-"

"That's not what I sound like."

"It's exactly what you sound like. And you're standing there telling me it doesn't matter, right after you told me at least two people are about to die because of it. Well I'm no MIT graduate who builds fancy codes in my basement but I know bullshit when I see it. I don't need a degree for that," Alex ended out of breath. She wasn't planning on losing her shit like that but she was tired of the runaround. She was tired in general. It was time for answers.

"Can we just-"

"All I've done since I got here was answer every question you asked. You kept asking and I kept talking. Well now it's your turn to return the favor." She folded her arms across her chest, glowering at Piper.

"Return the favor? Uh, let me see… get you out of prison, give you money…"

"Which I haven't seen yet, by the way."

"You'll get it when this is over. I may not have street smarts or whatever, but I'm aware of the proper procedures when dealing with a criminal."

Alex was silenced. It was stupid, but the life she led… the things she did… even ending up in prison… she never once thought of herself in that way. She was a business woman. Who sometimes acted outside of the law. Criminal. It made her feel dirty. And the way Piper looked when she said it…

"Well can I at least have a sandwich?" she asked.

Piper looked at her wide-eyed, that anger still seething in them but clearly blindsided by such a benign request in what felt like the heat of an argument. Her breathing started to slow back to normal and her fists unclenched.

"I have pizza pockets," she said then.

"I'll take it," Alex said and offered an apology in the form of a smile.

Piper accepted it by smiling back, shaking her head at the craziness of what just happened – calm to complete blow-out and back to calm – and just like that the last of the built up tension between them dissipated and they made their way back upstairs.

They were seated on either end of the three-seater sofa in Piper's living room. She had wanted to go right back down after warming their pockets but Alex managed to talk her into at least eating upstairs, promising complete focus and diligence once they finished.

"Did you write that?" Alex asked off the sheet music hung above Piper's fireplace. She'd noticed Piper's nervous habit of fingers tapping away at an imaginary piano – on the laptop while she waited for the algorithms to run, on her leg while they waited for their food… So Alex wasn't surprised when Piper nodded, not looking up from her plate.

"What's it called?"

Piper shook her head. "Doesn't have a title," she mumbled through a bite of her pocket.

"Well, play it for me and I'll see if I can come up with one," Alex suggested lightly. Her mood had lifted considerably once she was free of that claustrophobic basement and with some food in her stomach.

Piper froze. Or at least it seemed that way to Alex. It was only for a second. Even less. Then she placed her pocket in her plate and shook her head again.

"Maybe later." She looked at her and smiled, and even though Alex hadn't seen many of those – Piper's smiles – she noticed instantly that this one didn't reach her eyes.

She didn't push though. People were her thing, after all, and she was reading Piper loud and clear. Push and she pushes back, closes up, cuts you off. Although sometimes… if you knew just how far to go…

"So what's the deal with the fiancé?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… why do you never say his name?"

Alex studied her closely. How she deliberately wasn't looking at her, the subtle changes in her movements, the way she thought she was being a convincing liar. Oh this was Alex's game all right. And if she was going to be stuck in that basement for the rest of the day she was going to have her fun while she could.

"What are you talking about? I say his name," Piper said, turning to her now.

Alex shook her head, smiling. "You call him your fiancé."

"Well, that's what he is."

"But the way you keep saying it, it's like you're trying to remind yourself that's what he is."

"What? No, that's- I don't do that. Larry, his name's Larry. See? I said it."

"Wow," was all Alex said, and she continued eating.

"Wow what?" Piper asked. She couldn't help herself. She wanted to know what Alex was thinking. A little voice in the back of her head told her she was better off not knowing, but Piper didn't make a habit of listening to that voice. If she did, Alex wouldn't even be there with her. "Tell me," she pressed on, her sudden eagerness getting a laugh out of the brunette.

"Oh so now you're interested?"

"Yes, so tell me."

"Well I just think it's a lot of trouble you're going through to help someone you're not in love with," Alex said with a shrug, contrasting the blow she just dealt with her perfect nonchalant delivery of it. She knew what she was doing.

It had the desired reaction and Piper was immediately incensed. "I never said that."

"Not those exact words, no. But you definitely said it."

"Larry and I have been friends for years," Piper argued.

"I'll tell you something…"

"That's okay, you really don't need to," Piper said and got up with her plate, about to make her way to the kitchen.

"No, let me tell you…" Alex insisted, following close behind. "I'm in no way the marrying type, but if for the sake of argument I were to ever go down that road, I think I would literally die if my wife ever described me as her friend."

Piper stopped dead just as she reached the doorway to the kitchen and turned around, realizing with some awkwardness just how closely Alex had been following. "Your wife?"

Alex held her gaze, a slow smile sneaking onto her lips. She stepped closer. Leaned in. So many buttons begging for her attention… "So what's really the deal with your friend, Larry?"

Piper swallowed. Of all the eventualities she had postulated, the scenarios she had plotted, for all the programming power stored in her basement and computing power in her head, nothing could have prepared her for the unstoppable force in front of her. Or her struggle to control herself around it.

"The deal-" Piper cleared her throat and tried again. "The deal is, we have less than 24 hours to find him or this whole situation gets a lot more complicated."

Alex chuckled softly. "Oh, I think that's already happened."

No longer trusting her body in such close proximity to Alex, Piper shuffled to the side to unwedge herself from between the brunette and the doorframe and moved to put her empty plate in the sink. It landed with a clatter that gave away just how badly her hand was shaking. When she turned back around Alex was still standing where she had left her, wearing a smug smile, obviously aware of the effect she was having on Piper and so obviously enjoying it.

"We should get back to work," Piper said, avoiding eye contact as she hurried out of the kitchen, afraid the ever-perceptive Alex might just pick up on the fact that she was kind of enjoying it too.

This chapter is a bit shorter but I didn't have much time today, sorry! I will not be able to update over the weekend unfortunately because I don't have access to internet so the next chapter will be up on Monday. Thank you for reading and have a great weekend :)