As the three finally walked into Piper's apartment she quickly decided she needed a stiff drink. She walked straight into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Vodka out of the cupboard and poured herself a glass. She had a quick shot of vodka before resting lifelessly against the kitchen unit. Her head was swimming with the unknown. She never ever thought she would have welcomed Sylvie into her apartment yet here she was. Two ex-convicts and the first woman to ever punch her in the face. It was like some ridiculous sitcom was playing out as her life.

"Chapman steady on with the vodka, or at least share you know?" Nicky winked.

"Is this actually real? Is this actually my life right now?" Piper was desperately trying to understand the current situation.

"Look I know none of this is ideal right now but it's about Alex…" Sylvie sympathised. She wasn't Piper's biggest fan that was certain but she wanted to do the right thing by Alex. After all her and Alex were only ever casual it wasn't as though she had been heartbroken by what had happened.

"My Alex? Oh god what is it? What do you know? Is she okay? I need to know where she is!" Piper was almost at the point of being hysterical once again.

She poured another glass of vodka and looked towards Nicky who just looked like an awkward bystander and then towards Sylvie gesturing the bottle towards the two…. "Want one?" She asked.

Nicky and Sylvie both nodded and accepted a drink. "Piper, Alex is fine for the time being it is her idea that we are here. She wanted fine specimen over here to get in touch with me to come and talk to you about what has been going on and that's why we are here right Nicky?" Sylvie plonked herself down on one of the adjacent kitchen stools as she began to piece things together for Piper who was still looking utterly confused as to what the hell was going on.

"You've heard from Alex?" Piper's voice quivered as she said her lovers name. She was happy that Alex was alright but felt a pang of jealousy knowing that Sylvie and Nicky, who had both experienced the wonderful Alex Vause in a sexual manner, had heard from Alex and that she had been left in complete darkness and complete despair.

"Alex asked me to contact Sylvie because she had no other way to get this information out of Litchfield. Piper it isn't the same place as when you left, shit in there is real bad right now and Vause had all privileges revoked. Piper she isn't in Gen Pop, last I saw she was on her way down to SHU." Nicky walked towards Piper slowly hoping she was taking this information in.

"Why did she end up in SHU? I haven't heard from her in months? Has she been in SHU all this time?" Tears started to silently run from Piper's eyes and her voice was barely above silent.

"When you left Vause was keeping herself to herself she wasn't causing trouble and she was avoiding any altercations with everyone. Shit was fine till Caputo left. We hadn't seen him in weeks and Piscatella was still around you know being his delightful self. One of his guards took a disliking to Vause I don't know why and he was making shit pretty difficult for her. I don't know the ins and outs I just know she was trying to avoid the bastard. She seemed on edge and pretty fucked up, then before we knew it she was carted off to SHU, I don't know why I really don't. Anyway, she managed to get a message to me off one of the Latinas who delivered her food and she just told me to get hold of Sylvie so I did. I had no way to contact you and Vause knew that so I had to get to Sylvie in order to get to you…" Nicky looked over to Sylvie hoping she could continue what was going on.

Sylvie nodded towards Nicky and continued "Alex knew she was going to prison and before she went away she got in touch with me. She had assets that needed to be shall we say taken care of before they were seized. We weren't on the best of terms before she went to prison but I said I would take care of it so we had arrangements in place for when she got out. When she went to Chicago to testify against Kubra she knew some shit was going to go down so again she got in touch to put some plans in place should either of you be released. Are you still with me so far Piper?"

"I don't understand I hated her when we went to Chicago? What did she ask of you should I be released?" Pipers brows were fused together in complete confusion.

"She had plans in place to ensure you had funds to get away should you need to avoid any danger, I was not to contact you until it was needed that's all I know." Sylvie shrugged her shoulders to confirm what she had just said.

"She knew I was going to lie on the stand, didn't she? She made sure they would come after her and not me?" Piper grabbed the bottle of vodka once more and poured another glass. "All this time I thought she was trying to save her own ass and she wasn't she was trying to protect me?!" She slumped to the floor of her kitchen still holding her glass as fresh tears fell down her face.

"Piper I don't know Alex as well as you but I do know that when she left me she was completely head over heels in love with you, so I am not the least bit surprised that she had arrangements in place to protect you. I mean I was a bit pissed off that she expected me of all people to sort shit out for you but after hearing how it went down with Kubra I couldn't say no to her." Sylvie looked towards Piper once more ensuring she was still listening to what she was explaining.

"Alex knew that if I kept quiet and saw out my sentence they'd never bother me didn't she?" Piper looked at both Sylvie and Nicky for confirmation.

"Look Vause is pretty fucked up when it comes to you chapman, she's like a love sick puppy." Nicky added.

"Alex wasn't stupid Piper she knew that one day if Kubra wasn't put away that he'd send someone for her just like he did with Fahri. That's why she wanted this money to be hidden so that at least she had a chance to escape should the worst happen." Piper nodded towards Sylvie indicating she understood.

"None of this explains where Alex is now though?" Piper finally rose to her feet and walked into the living room.

Nicky and Sylvie looked at each other equally unsure of whether to follow her or not.

Sylvie cleared her throat as if to let Piper know of her whereabouts behind her. "Piper, when Alex broke her parole she had me dealing with her lawyer, he was working on getting her out through some loophole he knew of at the time. It looked certain at the time that he was going to get Alex off again with just a slap on the wrist for parole violation."

Piper spun around and looked quizzically at Sylvie, "She was going to be re-released? What happened?"

"Kubra got to her lawyer managed to scare him enough to back off the case, keeping Alex in prison where he knew he could get to her!"

"You mean he has the upper hand in all this and is still controlling what goes on… how fucking far does this corruption go?"

"Piper I don't know but Litchfield isn't owned by the D.O.C now is it? Which means it would be easier for Kubra to get to someone in the organisation that now own Litchfield…"

"So are you saying that you think he can still get to Alex now?"

"He already tried to, right? Last I heard anyway. I don't think that this is just going to go away Piper."

"I need to see her! I need to know that she is okay… when is this going to end, I cant keep going round in circles like this. We need to get her out of that place!" Piper slumped again to the floor as if current circumstances had knocked the wind out of her lungs.

"Piper you need to get a lawyer who knows what they are doing, someone who can dig around and get information. Without getting the information out about what is happening at that prison you do not stand a chance of getting Alex back. That reporter you spoke to? You still in contact with him?" Sylvie was trying her best to get Piper engage in what she was saying but she was struggling to keep Piper calm and focused.

"Look Chapman you need to get all the details out of that reporter and you need to get to someone who knows what shit goes on inside that prison you know like the ex-warden, like the one with the tight skirts and sexy ass." Nicky added.

"FIG!" Piper shouted with conviction.

"If you get Fig on your side then we have at least some information of what the fuck is going on in that place." Nicky replied.

"Your right all this time has gone by and I've just been sat here thinking about Alex and not actually done anything about it." Piper's realisation was enough to give her some motivation to find out if she could find anything that could help her get to Alex.

"Look ladies this is as far as I go with this. I hold no grudges with you or Alex but I can't stay involved with this. Let me know if you manage to speak to Alex. Tell her that her money is safe and to contact me when she needs it." with that Sylvie left Piper and Nicky alone to construct some sort plan of action.