During her stay in SHU, Piper's job in the electric shop had been filled by new inmates, so when she returned to camp she had to be reassigned. Out of sheer luck she was placed on laundry duty to take over Pennsatucky's job. When Caputo told Piper of her new job assignment she tried to act calm, not wanting him to know that laundry was the best job that she could ask for. When she left Caputo's office she ran to Alex's bunk. "Alex!" she yelled excitedly. "Hey kid, what's up? Why are you so hype?" Alex asked quizzically. "I got my new job assignment today," Piper said smiling, "guess what it is." Alex sat for a moment confused, what could Piper be so excited about? Unless... "No way!? They gave you laundry?" "Yeah" Piper smiled, "Now we can be together all day." Alex couldn't help but think that fate was on her side.
Heading to work the next day, Piper ad Alex left breakfast hand in hand. Alex spent the day showing Piper how to use the machines, how to keep track of inmate tickets, and what bin to put them in according to the inmates designated laundry day. Every time that Piper turned around she would catch Alex's eye, they would find any excuses to talk and to touch while still getting work done and making sure that none of Dogget's crew had any reason to report them to Caputo.
After work they headed to the TV room to meet up with their friends and play cards. When they walked in Nicky and Morello smiled at them. "It's so nice to see the two of you this happy." Lorna said, "I remember that feeling, never wanting to be separated, Christopher and I used to be joined at the hip." "Not this bullshit again," Nicky snorted, "Morello if we wanted to hear about your love life constantly we would ask. Give it a rest already with this Christopher shit." Everyone could see the tears begin to well in Lorna's eyes at Nicky's hurtful words. Before her tears spilled over she looked at Nicky, "Fuck you." And with that she ran out of the room.
"Way to go Nichols," Alex said, although Nicky was her friend and she sympathized the feelings that Nicky had for Lorna, she knew that Nicky had royally fucked up and that Lorna hadn't deserved that. "Shit, what have I done?" Nicky asked, "What do I do?" "Just go to her," Piper instructed, "tell her that the reason you keep snapping at her about Christopher is because you still have feelings for her. Tell her that you're worried that Christopher will hurt her and that you can't stand the thought of it. Tell her you're sorry and that you love her. She will understand." Nicky ran after Lorna and Alex looked at Piper in awe.
"How are you always so good at that?" Alex asked. "What do you mean?" "I mean that you always know just what to say to someone who is hurting, how to make them feel like everything will be alright, make them fall right back in love with you no matter what you've done," Alex said. Piper sat silently for a moment, deciding what she should say, "I guess that after I left Paris, I tried so many times to think up what I could say to you to get you to take me back, after a while I must have just gotten good at it. For weeks I tried day after day to call you, I would finally get up the courage to pick up the phone and then I would think to myself, she won't want you back. You left her, you abandoned her, why would she want that back in her life. Every time I would sit the phone back down and I would cry. I missed you so much but I knew that I didn't deserve you." Alex could see the tears in Piper's eyes. "You know I never stopped missing you. I would have taken you back in an instant. I was hurt that you left, but more than anything I was lonely and I was still in love with you. If you had called me and asked me to take you back, I would have promised to get a real job, to settle down and to live a normal life with you. I'll do anything for you Piper, because I love you." Now both women were crying. "When we get out of this place, if you still want to be with me, I promise you Pipes, I'll do whatever I have to do to make you happy. We will have wild adventures, but this time without all of the illegal business. I'll find a good job and I'll support you and we can be happy, like we always wanted to be." Piper leaned in and kissed Alex with happy tears running down her cheeks. "I hope you know I'm gonna hold you to that." Piper joked.