Chapter 4

Barracks & Orangies

Chaos. That's the only word that can describe what is happening right now at Litchfield. After the alarms finally stopped sounding, Alex and Piper stood up and joined some other prisoners that were huddled over by the garden. Lolly ran up to Alex, "Did you see what just happened?"

"No, what happened, Whitehill?" Alex asked.

"Some of those crazy ass women took off through the hole in the fence and were jumping and splashing around in the lake over there. It was probably thirty or forty women out there," Lolly said excitedly.

"Really?" Piper asked. "Did they round everybody back up? Where are the guards?"

Lolly was really animated by this time as she started to describe what she had seen. "That's the weird thing, none of the regular guards were anywhere around. Just these newbies and they had no clue what to do. You should have seen it, the baby faced guard took off running to get Caputo and when Caputo got out here, you could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears. He started yelling at some other guards to get down to the lake and get the inmates back into the yard. It took them about an hour to get everybody back in, and then Caputo told the guards to take them all straight to the SHU."

"All of them are going to the SHU? That's crazy, there are probably not enough cells down there for that many people," Piper observed.

"You think that's crazy, just wait until you go into the dorms," Lolly teased.

"What's going on in the dorms?" Alex asked.

"You'll see. I gotta run. Bye," Lolly said as she took off running leaving Alex and Piper standing there.

Piper looked at Alex, and for a moment she had forgotten that Alex was still mad at her, but then it all came crashing back into reality as Alex turned her gaze from Piper and walked away.

Alex entered the dorm area and the first thing she noticed was that all of the beds had been replaced with bunk beds. Each cube now had four beds instead of two. She walked over to her cube and sat down on the bottom bunk. She put her head in her heads and just closed her eyes. The memories of her run in with Aydin were still vividly etched in her mind, and she was trying to think of ways to somehow get out of doing this. Then she started to hear voices and the shuffling of feet. She looked up and saw nothing but orange. Women in orange jumpsuits were everywhere. The guards were assigning them to their bunks. Alex figured this was all part of MCC's corporate strategy to fit as many prisoners in one prison as possible.

The guards stopped at Alex's cube and called out an inmate's name and she moved in to the bottom bunk across from Alex. Then the guard called out another inmate's name and told them to take the top bunk above Alex. This inmate's name had a familiar ring to it. Nichols. Alex thought how ironic that she would get stuck with another Nichols. The inmate shuffled forward through the crowd and Alex heard a familiar East coast accent, "Hey, Vause… never really figured you for a bottom," the girl quipped.

Alex smiled in disbelief, "Nicky… what the hell? How are you back here?" She stood, and gave Nicky a tender hug. She was really happy to see her. She didn't have a lot of friends in here, but she definitely considered Nicky to be a friend.

"Okay, Vause, you can let go now. You know how I don't like it when you get all soft on me," Nicky said.

Alex laughed and let her go. "No, really, tell me how you're here. What happened?"

Nicky began, "I'm not really sure. One minute I'm down at Max, and the next thing I know there's a guard bringing me an orange jumpsuit and telling me to pack up my things. He told me I was being transferred back up the hill. I didn't ask a lot of questions because I really wanted to get the fuck out there, you know."

"Yeah, I'm sure this place is like spa compared to being down there, huh?"

"You have no idea, Vause. What the fuck is going on here? I mean, why are the cubes now barracks? I came in with two other busloads of orangies. That's gotta be at least 100 or more new inmates. Why are they cramming all of these women in here?" Nicky asked.

"Well, since you've been down the hill a lot of shit has happened here. The prison was set to be closed, but then this corporation called MCC bought it and kept it open, but they've made tons of changes. New guards, new jobs, new food… if you can call it that. Red is back in the kitchen, but she'll let you know very quickly that she has nothing to do with the food," Alex smirked.

"Where's Lorna? Where's Chapman? You two were having lots of hate sex and giving each other hickeys before I got sent down the hill. Everything still okay with you two love birds?"

"Not really, but I don't want to talk about that right now. You need to find Morello and talk to her. She really lost it when you left. She just hasn't been the same."

"Shit, Vause. I really screwed up. I should have never touched that heroin. I mean I know what a junky I am for it, and I really, really wanted to do it so bad. I should have never trusted Luschek with it either. I'm going to make sure that fucker pays. That shit may have cost me my relationships with two of the most important people in my life."

Alex knew Nicky was sad and she didn't want to make her talk about it anymore if she didn't want to. So they just sat looking at all of the new faces that were busy unpacking their meager belongings into their new cubes. No one was familiar. These women looked hardened. They looked as if they had been in the system for way too long. After a while, Nicky said she was going to go look for Lorna, and Alex decided she would go take a shower before dinner.

Piper made her way back to the dorms. She had already heard some chatter about the new bunks and she had seen several of the new inmates. She went straight to her cube to make sure all of her belongings were still there, and luckily they were. She looked over to Alex's cube to see if she could still see signs of Alex there. At first she was worried because all of Alex's toiletries were missing, but then she saw the Quran was lying on her bed. She guessed Alex must be in the shower right now. She started to reminisce about all of their fun times in various different showers, and she kicked back on her bed and closed her eyes and got lost in those memories.

They were at the Four Seasons in Seychelles. They had spent last night and part of this morning at a club in the heart of Mahe Island. Piper had way too much to drink and she was all over Alex on the dance floor. Alex had been drinking as well, but she was much better at holding her liquor than Piper, plus Alex was working too so she had to be in control of her actions.

While Alex and Piper were dancing, Alex noticed this naïve looking brunette at the bar. Alex whispered to Piper that she needed to work for a few minutes and kissed Piper thoroughly on the lips. Piper continued dancing with one of their friends while Alex went to work on this girl. Piper finished off another margarita and looked over to the bar to find Alex. She saw Alex flirting with this brunette girl and rubbing her hand up and down her back. Usually Piper was okay with this because she knew Alex was just doing her job, but whether it was the alcohol or something else, this time Piper was jealous. Jealous and pissed.

She walked over to the bar and butted right in between Alex and the girl. She had her back to the brunette and was totally in Alex's face. "Fuck you, Alex. I'm getting a cab, you know where to find me," she slurred.

Alex was stunned and maybe a little turned on at the same time. She had never seen jealous Piper before. It was kind of hot. She apologized to the brunette and finished sealing the deal with her to carry the shipment the next day. She paid for the girl's tab, and then headed for the hotel. As she came towards their room, she noticed Piper's clothes were all out in the hallway like she had just drunkenly stripped them off and left them. Alex smirked, knowing that she would soon find a naked, drunk, and jealous Piper.

Piper was in the shower trying to sober up. She was crying and didn't know why. She just knew she was pissed at Alex for touching that other girl. Alex was hers and she didn't want to share her with anyone else. Even if it was Alex's job to recruit women, she didn't need to be so flirty with them. She stuck her head under the warm water and let it wash away her tears.

The next moment she felt someone slide in behind her and start to kiss down her neck. Alex. God, this woman, she thought as her eyes rolled back.

Alex turned Piper around so that they were facing each other. "What's wrong, Piper? Why did you act out like that at the club?"

"I don't know, Alex. I didn't like seeing you touching that other girl. It made me feel… jealous and I've never really been a jealous person. I guess I've never really cared about anyone else the way I feel about you. Plus, I'm like really super drunk."

Alex laughed a little at Piper. She knew she was totally ripped and probably wouldn't remember this conversation in the morning, but she was reveling in Piper's drunken honesty. She really does love me, she thought.

"Piper, listen, you know what I do for a living, right? You know that my flirting with other girls is nothing more than an act. It's part of my job to seduce these women. I can't imagine how hard that must be for you to see, because I sure as fuck wouldn't like it if you were the one flirting with someone else. But I promise you, Piper, the only woman I want to be with is you. None of those other girls matter at all to me, but you do. You're everything to me, Pipes."

"Did you just call me Pipes?"

Alex smirked, "Yeah, is that okay?"

"Hmmmm, I like it. I like the way it sounds coming off your lips," Piper slurred out and stumbled a little towards Alex. She reached up and grabbed a handful of Alex's hair and pulled her in close. She kissed Alex passionately, her tongue slipping in and out of her mouth, tasting and biting at her lips. She was starting to get lost in the kiss, but then she started feeling dizzy and almost collapsed.

"Whoa, kid. I got you. Maybe you should let me finish showering you, and I can help you to bed before you pass out."

"I think that's a great idea," Piper said, smiling.

"Hello, hello, hello… are you alive?" Piper heard someone say.

Nooooo, I don't want to wake up from this dream, she thought.

She opened her eyes and standing over her was a red haired older lady, but it wasn't Red. "Who are you?" Piper asked.

"Who am I? Why, I'm Judy King, honey. Have you never heard of me?" she drawled.

"Oh, yeah, right," Piper said, sitting up, "you're the latest version of Martha Stewart."

"Martha Stewart can suck my dick, honey. I'm much more than she could ever be. Anyway, I guess I'm in the bunk above you. What's your name, blondie, and what are you in for?"

"I'm Chapman, and I carried a suitcase full of drug money, once. Ten years ago."

"You've been in here for ten years because you carried a suitcase full of drug money once? Well, holy fuck! You should have gotten a better lawyer, honey."

"No, I carried the money ten years ago, it just recently caught up to me," Piper said.

"Well, that's a shame, honey, but it happens to the best of us. Do you mind if I use some of this space on this cabinet, and can I use some of those hangers?"

"Yeah, if you'll excuse me," Piper said as she quickly exited her cube.

Piper had to get away from that woman. She was loud and too talkative, and worse, she had interrupted Piper's nice little dream about Alex. Piper didn't know where she was going, but she just needed to think. The cafeteria was full of orange jumpsuits, so she kept walking. Before she knew what she was doing, she was in the bathroom. It was quiet in there, but she could hear the water running in one of the showers.

She went behind the wall where the showers were and found the stalls empty except the last one. She knew who was in there. She walked over quietly, and stood outside the shower stall. She knew she shouldn't do it, but she couldn't stop herself. She pulled the curtain back and there stood Alex, and she was naked and wet and fucking glorious. Piper didn't wait for Alex to say anything; she stepped in the shower, completely clothed, closed the curtain behind her, and then pushed Alex against the wall and kissed her.

A/N – So, will Alex reject Piper, or will she give in once again? Thanks for the reviews. Please keep them coming! I appreciate your thoughts. Thanks! - J