A/N I can't believe we're actually nearing the end… Even more I can't believe that it took me so long to reach it. Hell, I'm so sorry for keeping you guys waiting for updates for such a long time more than once, but I'm even more grateful to you for sticking around. Without you I'd never have reached this point of more than 300 fucking pages! That's longer than some books I've read.

I'm not sure how many chapter there're left. Once I said on Twitter that I'd be finished with 25, but I can't do that. Though it won't be many more nonetheless; one to three, I guess – plus a possible epilog.

We'll see. First things first; New chapter, yay!

Chapter 25
Revival II

Litchfield, New York
Litchfield Correctional Facility
Maximum Security
Day 46 05:24 PM

Usually Alex would've been brought to the room with the many boots and the phones, the only way for visitors to communicate with the prisoners in max. No physical contact at all, not even by sharing the same air. It's a precaution she gets completely. People usually don't like being imprisoned, the one in max even less so. And you can smuggle a hell lot of things into prison by one simple hug.

But instead the guard brings her to a room with a single table in the middle and two chairs on either side. There's a small camera in one corner, a red light flashing every now and then into her eyes, but otherwise the room is empty.

She moves her hands up to brush along the scars again, and hears the rustling of the cuffs and chains that tie her arms to the table.

She still wonders who would visit her here, it's obviously not her lawyer, he wouldn't let her wait so long, and apart from that, he's not due to see her for another couple of days. Whoever's standing outside of that door clearly debates with themselves if visiting Alex is a good decision at all.

And since there're only two kinds of people who would be able to meet her in this room; her lawyer, and cops, she's not entirely surprised to see a cop walk in.

She is however shocked at which cop walks in. The very first thing she sees after the door finally opens is a wild strawberry blonde colored mess of hair that probably hasn't seen a brush since the turn of the millennium.

The mane of DEA Agent Nicole Nichols.

She doesn't burst in, or even walk in at all. She just hovers there on the doorstep for a second, taking an obviously deep breath before she takes another step and quietly closes the door behind. But she doesn't move farther into the room than that, she just leans against the cold steel.

It's not hard to guess that it isn't easy for Nicky to see Alex, let alone be in the same room, without swinging another few punches in her direction.

The agent looks everywhere but at the brunette's face, whereat Alex's focus solely rests on Nicky's brown eyes. They are tired, that much is clear. Heavy bags rest below them, and the normally carefully applied mascara and eyeliner are smudged all around.

The rest of her face just seems strained. Her mouth is a thin line, and her brow is slightly burrowed, otherwise there's no emotion to be seen, though.

Finally, Nicky's eyes settle down from moving around the room, though they don't find Alex, they stop at the camera still flashing the red light every few seconds, indicating that it's happily recording the not so exciting meeting.

The agent takes two long steps until she stands in the corner right under the camera. She has to stand on the very tips of her toes before her fingers reach the technology. And with one single pull she rips the power cord out of the camera. The red light vanishes for good.

Alex gulps unconsciously and leans a bit back as the scars across her face tingle slightly, to get as much distance between herself and the now turning agent as possible. She has seen enough movies to know that nothing good ever happens once a cop disables a camera.

"You know", Nicky begins with a very quiet voice. It doesn't sound particularly dangerous, but mostly tired and worn out. "I'm not the most loyal person, or the most honest person, by far." She slowly walks closer to the table, her eyes still haven't found Alex's as her hand brushes across the other chair. "I don't care about a lot of things, and frankly even less about most people." She pulls the chair back and lowers herself onto it. "There are few, though, that I consider family and therefore I value them very high."

Alex doesn't need a hint to know where this small talk is headed to. In their first and only meeting Nicky made it very clear that she'd do anything to protect her colleague from any harm. "Nicky", she tries to interrupt the speech she knows is waiting just around the corner, but gets interrupted herself immediately.

"No", suddenly her voice is very strong and stern as she moves up her hand and for the first time her eyes as well. They bore straight into her eyes and it takes all the strength Alex has left in her mind not to avert the gaze. "You don't get to talk right now, Vause. You get to listen, and that's really more than you deserve already."

Alex snaps her mouth shut and waits for Nicky to continue. She was wrong, her eyes aren't just tired, they're full of fire, a burning pitch of anger and hatred mixed with pain for another person. It's a look she knows very well, having seen it in the mirror every day since being imprisoned.

"I knew Piper since we were both trainees, trying to become DEA agents and not just police officers. It's both expected and strange that we ended up as friends. We came from very similar environments with only slightly differences, but our personalities always clashed. I am this sarcastic cynic who doesn't have a care in the world and only looks out for herself, whereat she did everything by the rules and wanted to be seen as a good person. Which she always was." Nicky chuckles for a moment, before she continues with a slight shake of her head. "As long as you didn't push her too much. If you did, you could turn her into a greater bitch than both our mothers combined." The agent tilts her head slightly. "But I think you already found that out yourself, didn't you?"

Alex drops her eyes and stares blankly at her own shackled hands as those words bring her back to the day when Piper pointed her gun at her. She has almost been shot by her, because Alex pushed her, said one word too much, stopped her from fleeing the scene.

"Yeah, she told me about that. I don't know it all, of course, but she seriously freaked out about it." Nicky sighs deeply and for the first time since starting her rant averts her eyes again. She stares at the wall to her left for a moment, before she turns her head back. Slowly she leans closer in and drops her words a bit. "Back then she already loved you, though she didn't admit it to me or even herself, but I saw it. She sacrificed a lot for you."

"I fucked up", Alex admits after a couple of silent seconds.

"Understatement of the year", the agent scoffs. "I came here with the intend to scream at you, to blame you. To rub the awful truth right into your face, and maybe my fist, too, while I'm at it", she trails off for a moment and Alex thinks she sees something like pity in those eyes. "But I think you do it well enough by yourself, already."

And she isn't wrong. Ever since Alex has seen the limp body of Piper in front of her, with blood pouring out of the severe wounds, she asked herself what would've happened if…

If she hadn't met her, hadn't kissed her, hadn't persued her. Or if she simply had left her alone for good after finding out about her profession.

Long story short; Piper would be alive. And there hasn't been a day since that awful night she hasn't blamed herself for everything that happened.

Nicky pushes herself off the table and stands up. She straightens her jacket, not that it does much to improve her appearance, and runs a head through her messy hair. "Do yourself a favor, Vause", she says as she stares down at the brunette. "Take the deal as soon as they offer it." Without another word she turns around and walks back to the entrance of the room, as soon as her hand touches the handle she stops again, though, to whisper a few more words. "If not for your own sake, do it for her."

And then she's just gone, and Alex is left behind, alone again, wondering what exactly Nicky was talking about just now.

New York City, New York
Manhattan
Presbyterian Hospital
Day 48 12:17 PM

Piper lifts her fork and warily looks at the mashed potatoes that stick to the warm metal. Hospital food isn't really known for its great taste, but this time that's not why she hesitates to dig in and eat everything at once.

Truth be told; eating makes her feel even more sick. Swallowing anything hurts in the throat and because of all the meds that she's been on, nausea kicks in faster than light once she took a bite of anything.

"You need to eat, Piper", Carol urges her, her hands folded neatly on her empty part of the table. She sits opposite of her daughter in the hospital's cafeteria.

After a huge argument Piper finally managed to convince her mother to eat there instead of her own room. She is sick of staring at the same white walls for hours and hours, and so she herself help into the wheelchair and followed the smell of food until she arrived, of course with the IV-bag and a bottle of fresh oxygen supplying her with everything she needs close by.

"I'm not really hungry", she responds and puts the fork back down, the food still untouched, apart from the bit of potato. Carol sighs deeply, but, to Piper's surprise, doesn't argue anymore. Maybe miracles dohappen, she thinks as she absently eyes the people around her. She expected a big fuss from her mother about how she looks as if she hasn't eaten in weeks - what wouldn't really be far from the truth - but she's definitely glad that she doesn't have to hear it. "How is dad?", she asks instead.

"Well", is all her mother provides, causing the blonde to sigh in disappointment. Her father hasn't visited her once, since she woke up, and if he visited at all before, no one is willing to tell her, and that's a clear no.

"He can't bear seeing you like that", her mother told her earlier when she asked for him. But it doesn't explain why he wouldn't even call. And it makes Piper wonder just how much her parents know about everything that happened.

As if her mother heard her thinking, she indeed asks the question she probably wanted to ask ever since Piper woke up in the hospital. "What happened, Piper?"

"You know I can't tell you that", she answers truthfully. The case is still open, and as long as that doesn't change, she isn't allowed to talk about it, other than some superficial stuff, anyway. She's been kidnapped and tortured, but her mother already knows that. She doesn't know to what extent, or why.

"I told you, this job is just too dangerous for a young woman."

Piper rolls her eyes. She waited three days for this sentence. It arrived late, but it arrived. "I live, don't I?", she huffs and would've loved to stand up and just walk away. Too bad she can't stand properly. So she just pushes herself away from the table, turns the wheelchair around and begins to wheel out onto the hallway.

"Piper!", her mother calls after her and promptly follows her out.

"Thanks for the visit, mother, but I'd rather rest now", she lies to her. She can't really rest anymore, she hasn't done anything but resting these past days, but she won't have any of the talk she knows Carol has no doubt already prepared for.

"Of course, you do that, honey."

After she reached her own room again, she rolls straight into the bathroom. There is something she still hasn't done since opening her eyes for the first time after twenty three-days. She grabs the sink as strong as she can, closing her eyes. She lowers her left foot to the floor and puts some weight on it, testing it, before she pulls herself up completely.

It's not easy and she clenches her teeth, as her whole weight is supported by the left side of her body only, her very weakened body. And even though her leg might shake visibly under her, she stands.

When she opens her eyes she looks straight at her own reflection for the first time in almost a month. Her mother's words ring in her ears again. He can't bear seeing you like that.

Her fist has never smashed anything faster before.

Litchfield, New York
Litchfield Correctional Facility
Maximum Security
Day 52 11:13 AM

It takes six days before her lawyer is visiting her again, but he's not alone. With him is another man with balding hair and a graying mustache. He introduces himself as DEA Agent Caputo.

He eyes her from head to toe before he finally sits down on the chair in front of her. Alex can't let go of the feeling that he already judged her for whatever reason based on whatever proof.

Her own lawyer stands right next to Alex and clasps his hands while he leans closer to her. "Mister Caputo has a proposal for you", he whispers into her ear. Then he moves back to the door and leaves the two alone.

This must be the deal Nicky has been talking about, and suddenly Alex wonders if she had anything to do with it.

"How I understand it, Miss Vause, you have a deep insight to Kubra Balik's network. You know of names, places, operations, transfers…"

She doesn't answer, doesn't even waver. Frankly, she couldn't care less for Kubra, other than that she wishes him dead, but she knows very well that he'll always be a huge danger for her, even behind bars, until he isn't breathing anymore.

"We want to shut it down completely, but Mister Balik hides behind an impenetrable wall of lawyers. We will tie him down, but it will take time. And I want more than him. I want it all."

He produces a beige folder filled with papers and spreads it out in front of Alex.

"I know you had nothing to do with Agent Chapman's capture. The fact that you were tied to a chair and bruised, too, was quite the obvious hint that he took both of you."

Alex shudders at the mention of Piper and lowers her eyes, only now truly acknowledging the papers in front of her. They list evidence and witness reports, as well as other information with time stamps and side notes.

"So, while we're busy with making Kubra Balik a prisoner for life, I'd like his other employers to meet him here, too. Starting with", he lifts a couple of papers and shoves a photo from under them closer to Alex. "Yvonne Parker."

"Why me?", Alex finally asks when she lifts her eyes from the photo of the woman only called Vee by most people.

"Officially? Because she duped you."

Alex narrows her eyes at that. She knows that she couldn't trust that woman, that she's cold and does everything to reach the top, but she would know if she's been duped by her. Wouldn't she? "What do you mean?"

"She's the only reason everything escalated." He produces a second picture, this time from a young boy. "She used her adoptive son. He was to be taken by the police and then let your name slip." He pulls a third photograph out, this time from an inside pocket of his jacket, though, and lays it down next to the others. Instantly Alex eyes are fixed on it and won't move a bit. "And that's why Chapman came running to you that evening."

Alex closes her eyes and lets her head drop as the memories of the fight, the blood, and the painfilled screams enter her mind again. When she reopens them, Caputo watches her closely.

"Yes, I know about your relationship. Bits and pieces, anyway. And that's the unofficial reason why I'm giving you the chance for this deal." He taps the picture with his right index. "You have the best reason to take it."

She grabs for Piper's photo and turns it around, so that those blue eyes aren't staring at her anymore. "You're wrong. I've got no reason left."

He looks at her strangely for a second before he takes all the papers and photos back into the folder and stands back up. "Think about it, Miss Vause. I'll be back in a week for your own case and hope for a positive answer."

"Wait", Alex stops him as he just reached the door, his fingers already grabbed for the handle, but he lets go of it as soon as the single word is whispered and turns back around. She isn't really sure why she decided to stop him from walking away and hence fumbles for some words when the agent watches her expectantly.

"Pipes - Agent Chapman", she swiftly corrects herself. "She was a good person, a good agent."

Caputo cranes one brow as if he's confused by that statement. "I'm aware."

"Good", she nods a couple of times. "She'd never turn on the DEA, you know that, right? She just…", Alex trails off for a moment, taking the break to sight heavily. "Fell for the wrong person."

"Tell me, Miss Vause, why didn't you take her offer of turning in Leila Smith's murderer?"

Alex tilts her head and furrows her brow. How does he even know about that offer? Piper spoke about it only once, and that was right after she almost shot the brunette. Did she play a false game after all and planned to give Alex to the feds? Why else would she tell Caputo about it? "It would've meant turning on Kubra."

"You're very loyal to him, it seems."

"Fear tends to do that."

"But you're safe from him now and still won't give him up. Even after everything he has done to you and Chapman."

Alex opens her mouth to answer, but no word leaves her lips. She finds that she's actually out of answers and reason, because he's right. She has nothing left anymore that she could lose, other than her life. But her telling him everything she knows about Kubra and his cartel could actually help to lock him up for good, danger be damned.

And then there's the delicious sweet thing named revenge, of course. "What do you offer me for information?", she finally asks with a big sigh.

"That depends on what you're telling me and the judge", he strokes his mustache. "Less time for yourself, witness protection. Those kind of things."

Less time sounds well enough, Alex looks forward to a couple of years as it is now. And even though she doubts that she'll be in a maximum security prison for those years, there're more pleasant places to be than prison, point black.

Witness Protection means she has to cut all her old tied, but that won't be really difficult for her. Most of the people she knows and somewhat befriended are from the cartel as well, or otherwise connected to the drug business.

"What do you want to know?"

Caputo just smiles at her and lowers himself back down into the chair.

to be continued…
Revival III