Chapter 11

Re-inventing what we knew

Taken time is all but true

You're the reason I feel pain

Feels so good to feel again

As the next two days rolled by, Piper became more and more impatient. She spoke with the police twice, telling them everything that happened with Jack, who would be formally charged. The police still hadn't been able to speak with Alex, which just frustrated Piper more. All everyone kept telling her was that Alex was fine, which was obviously a lie if the police still hadn't spoken to her. But still, no one would let her see Alex, and now she would probably be sent home tomorrow. Piper was completely overwhelmed by a mixture of sadness and anger. Anger at Jack for becoming a monster, and anger at herself for being so stupid. She didn't really want to acknowledge her sadness yet, she wasn't ready to face what happened to her. For now, she wanted to focus her energy on Alex, the person that had been holding her life together for the last two months.

Diane had visited her, which Piper found difficult at first, she thought Diane would hate her. But instead she was kind, offering to help both her and Alex get their lives back together. Even though Diane was nothing but kind and understanding, she did still have a serious message for Piper.

"I know how close you and Alex are, but things can't go on like this Piper, it's not good for either of you."

Piper didn't know what to say at first, and Diane could see the confusion that was plastered all over her face. "I like you Piper, and I know how you feel about Alex. I know how rough things have been for you lately, trust me, I know. But I also know what happens when you let these sorts of problems swallow you whole, and it never ends well."

Piper's first instinct was to shut off, she wasn't sure she had the strength to deal with it all yet. It was so tempting to take what she viewed as the easier path, but Diane wasn't done talking.

"This is about both of you now, you and Alex. Trust me, I know Alex isn't perfect, but the two of you need to work together now more than ever. Don't just sweep away all the problems Piper, Alex saw me do that too many times when she was growing up. I'll do whatever I can to help both of you, I just don't want you to make the same mistakes that I did."

"Okay…" Part of Piper wanted to ask Diane what mistakes she made, but another part wasn't ready to know the answer. She also wasn't ready to acknowledge what happened to her yet, she needed more time. Diane's words both comforted her and scared her at the same time. But there was still one question Piper couldn't get out of her mind, "Why don't you hate me?"

"Why would I hate you Piper?"

Piper could barely bring herself to speak the words, but she had to get it out before all her self-loathing took over, "Because I didn't stop him. First I put Alex in danger, the only reason she was there was because of me, all she thought about was me. She pushed him off me, she tried to make sure I was okay. But then he got up….." Piper's voice started to crack, but she forced herself to keep speaking, she needed Diane to know, "he got up and….he hurt her. I tried to stop him, but I couldn't….and now she's here because of me. She's hurt because of me, you should hate me Diane. You should hate me…"

Piper felt Diane take hold of her hand, still holding her gaze, "It's not your fault Piper, it's his, you need to remember that." Piper could see the tears in her eyes, but they never fell. "You probably both made bad choices that night, but neither of you did this. You've both got a lot to learn sweetie, but that doesn't mean I hate you."

Piper still struggled with how nice Diane was being to her. In 25 years of life, Piper's own mother never gave her as much self-belief as Diane had in a matter of days.

"Are you sure you don't want someone to call your parents?"

"No, I don't see them anymore." Piper didn't want to talk about her parents at all, she knew exactly how her mother would react to the situation. That sort of judgement was the last thing she wanted to expose herself to. She was beyond thankful for all the support Diane was offering, but she needed more, she needed to see Alex.

"Why won't they let me see Alex? It's driving me crazy." Alex was still Piper's anchor, and she needed to see her before she could start thinking about anything else.

"I'll talk to the nurses, see what they say." Diane smiled at Piper and left the room, walking towards the nurse's station.

Piper felt like if she could just see Alex, even for ten minutes, she'd feel better, like maybe her mind would be clearer. She would probably be released tomorrow, but she didn't want to wait that long, she needed to see Alex now.

Diane came back pushing a wheelchair towards Piper's bed, "I don't need a wheelchair Diane."

"I know sweetie, but that's the deal. If you want to see Alex, you get in the chair. Come on, hop in and we'll go see her right now."

Piper felt like she was being treated like an invalid, but decided anything was worth seeing Alex. But before they went to see Alex, Piper needed Diane to be honest with her.

"Does she know what happened?" Piper couldn't bring herself to look Diane in the eye as she asked the question.

"No….I think she probably suspects, but I haven't told her. She's been so out of it, we haven't spoken much at all."

Piper got out of her hospital bed and sat in the chair, letting Diane push her down the hallway. It wasn't long before they reached Alex's room, Piper felt like her heart might beat out of her chest. Diane wheeled the chair to one side of Alex's bed, while she sat in a chair on the other side. Alex was asleep, as she had been for most of the last two days according to Diane.

Piper reached over the bar on the side of the bed and grabbed Alex's hand, hoping she'd wake up. She hated being able to see the cuts and bruises on Alex, it made the whole situation too real, and impossible to ignore. At least she could avoid looking into mirrors when it came to her own face, but there was no avoiding Alex, or Diane for that matter. It was a constant reminder that she wasn't able to protect her.

"Has she been awake much?"

"A little more each day, but she didn't sleep well last night."

"You've been staying here the whole time?" Piper couldn't imagine her mother ever doing something like it, it would be too much of a disruption to her schedule. Each day that went by, she was getting an extra snippet of Diane and Alex, learning more and more about the people they were.

"Yeah, I popped back home yesterday for a shower and a change of clothes. But I just couldn't bring myself to leave her here all alone at night, I wanted to be close by."

Piper nodded, for the first time in so long she wished she was close to her own parents.

Alex started to move around in the bed, but she was still so sore, moving and talking were still hard.

"Hey Al," Piper didn't hesitate in standing up to kiss Alex, she had been craving that reassurance and familiarity.

Piper was so relieved to see Alex smile back at her, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"I needed to see you." Piper leaned down to kiss Alex again, she underestimated how much she'd missed the woman in front of her. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay." Even though Piper could only just make out that one word, it felt so good to hear her speak.

Piper could see the strain on her face, "Go back to sleep."

Alex's eyes had already closed again before Piper even finished those words. So long as she could be near Alex, see her and touch her, she could live with that.

Diane smiled at Piper as she left the hospital room, wanting to give the two women some time alone.

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Piper spent the next two hours sitting with Alex, just holding her hand and watching her sleep. A nurse came in twice to make sure Piper was okay, but there was no way she was going back to her own room. Diane had briefly come back to the room, telling Piper she was going back to her own place for a while before coming back that night. Piper couldn't shake the need to touch Alex, to keep a hand on her arm or face, she needed to feel that connection. Her own body was still sore, but she felt okay, physically at least. The doctors were encouraging her to accept help from the hospital psychiatrist, who specialised in helping women deal with abuse. Piper said she'd think about it, but she still hadn't decided what she'd do. She still didn't know how to tell Alex what happened, whether she could bring herself to do that. The nurse told her Alex might still be in the hospital for another week, which is longer than they originally anticipated. It seemed to be more of a precaution than anything else, they were still worried about her head injury and the way her rib had fractured.

Piper was about to close her own eyes when she heard someone enter the room behind her. She turned her head to see a man she didn't recognise. At first she thought it might be a police officer, but she realised that wasn't the case as soon as he started talking.

"You're Piper right?"

Piper hesitated before answering, "Yeah."

"I'm Fahri."

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At first, when Fahri couldn't contact Alex he was annoyed. Then after not being able to contact her for two days, he started to think something could be wrong. He didn't believe Alex would ever run from him and the cartel, the money was too important to her. That's when he got a tip off from a contact in the police department that someone, who sounded very much like Alex, was in the hospital.

After some digging, Fahri realised it was definitely Alex that had been hospitalised, and he could feel the anger rising inside him. No matter what their work situation was, Alex was still Fahri's friend, he still cared about her. He definitely did not want to see her get hurt, especially like this. The information he pieced together from his contacts showed that Alex was hospitalised with another woman, Piper Chapman. That fact made Fahri uneasy, there was something more to the situation, something he was missing. He started to think Alex was keeping secrets from him, and he needed to speak to her immediately. He wanted all the information before deciding on next steps with Kubra. But no matter what secrets Alex had been keeping about Piper, he'd make sure there would be a heavy price for the person that hurt her. It didn't take long for Fahri to find out who that person was, a man called Jack Hunter, who had been living with Piper Chapman for quite some time. Fahri could assume what probably happened, but he still wanted to hear it from Alex before he did anything else.

Fahri found out which hospital Alex was in and went to visit her. He wasn't sure what condition she'd be in, and it almost didn't matter. He'd keep visiting until she could fill in the gaps and tell him what the hell happened. He walked into the hospital room and saw another woman in a wheelchair, who he assumed was Piper Chapman. As soon as he introduced himself to her and saw the look on her face, he knew there was no doubt she remembered who he was. He stepped into the room, closer to the hospital bed until he could see his friend. Even though he was more than a little annoyed that she'd kept secrets from him, he hated seeing her hurt. He was the one that got her involved in the cartel, she was young, the type of person most people didn't want to give a chance. But they'd grown close, they'd grown to be friends, and he felt responsible for her. He knew the only family she had was her mother, and on some level he felt like her protector.

Fahri sat on the opposite side of the bed to Piper, and hated what he saw in front of him. Alex looked broken, and he tried to squash his own sadness with anger. He was completely lost in his own world until Piper started talking, "so Alex works for you?"

He looked across the bed at her, she looked scared. "You could say that. We've worked together for a while. You're one of her customers? I remember talking to you."

"Yeah…"

"Well, you can imagine how surprised I was to find out Alex was in hospital, and then to find out you were here with her. It doesn't really make sense."

"None of this is her fault…"

Fahri stopped Piper before she could continue, he wasn't interested in her story. He needed to hear it from Alex. "I don't care who's fault it is. I want the story from Alex, not you."

Piper didn't bother responding, looking down at Alex, gently brushing the hair from her face as she slept. "Well, you two seem to have become very close." Without even realising it, every one of Piper's movements gave Fahri another piece of the puzzle. He was starting to suspect what secrets Alex had been keeping, and he could see the realisation all over Piper's face.

"Please don't blame her for any of this, it's all my fault." Fahri could see how worked up Piper was getting, but again, he stopped her from talking. He didn't even really care if Alex had started a relationship with this woman, but he did care that she kept it a secret from him. Of course she was allowed to have her own life, her own loves, but she wasn't allowed to get distracted.

"I don't care about any of that! Just…stop talking…"

Fahri swallowed his anger, he didn't want to hear Piper's excuses, he didn't even really care. Before he could start talking again, Alex started to stir, he assumed his shouting had woken her up. She then started to cough, which seemed to cause her pain. Fahri watched as Piper tried to calm her down, seeming to not care about what he saw. "It's okay Alex, it's okay, the nurse is coming. Just keep breathing, I know it hurts."

Fahri kept watching as the tears rolled down Piper's face and a nurse came into the room with a syringe, which she injected into Alex's IV. Piper spoke to the nurse through her tears, "She woke up and started coughing."

The nurse spoke to Piper, trying to reassure her everything was okay, before leaving the room. Piper went straight back to Alex, running a hand over her cheek as she slowly calmed down. Alex started to speak, but very slowly and quietly, "Pipes….sorry."

"No, you're not allowed to say that. Just go back to sleep, you need to keep resting."

Fahri wasn't sure what to think, he sat quietly and saw Alex close her eyes again as Piper kept running her fingers through her hair. He realised he wouldn't be getting any information out of Alex today, but it didn't even really matter anymore. Alex didn't even realise he was there, that's how much pain she was in. That's all he needed, and he already knew who did this to her. He'd work out what to tell Kubra about Alex and Piper, but he needed to start making plans immediately on what to do about Jack.