We need to talk.

The four words no one wants to hear.

Alex only had to look at Piper's face, her eyes puffy and her cheeks flushed, to know that something was seriously wrong. Her first instinct was to pull her in close and kiss those swollen lips, soothe the creased forehead…but something in Piper's face stopped her. Alex's gut dropped as she remembered the detective behind her.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

"Pipes, are you ok?" Alex asked uncertainly, still resisting every urge she had to touch her.

Piper stared at Alex for a moment before lifting an envelope "I got some mail today." She paused as Alex's eyes flicked guilelessly between hers and the envelope. "O-kay…" Alex said slowly, feeling like she was walking blindfolded in a room full of mousetraps.

"Are you going to let me in?" Piper said, annoyance quickly growing.

Alex's heart battered her chest. "Uh, Pipes, I'm sorry…it's not a good time…" she started weakly, wildly trying to figure out a way to resolve the situation quickly and easily.

Piper's brow furrowed as she started to speak, "Why n-" her eyes flicked over Alex's shoulder, widening as they caught sight of the attractive woman standing by the couch, adjusting her shirt and looking a little perplexed, two glasses of bourbon on the table.

Her head snapped back to look at Alex, mouth dropping and face turning a deeper shade of crimson as her mind quickly did its own form of math.

"What the fuck Alex?" she blurted, unbelieving.

"Piper. It's not what it looks like…" Alex began, cringing internally at how clichéd she sounded but trying desperately to calm the situation careening quickly out of control.

"Oh I'm sure it's not. Nothing is with you – is it?" Piper's voice was soaked with bitterness and shaking with rage and hurt. Alex stepped forward to touch her arms to calm her or at least get her to look at her. "Piper I don't understand what…"

"Don't fucking touch me." The blonde yanked her arms away, staring incredulous at Alex. "Who are you?" she said coldly before thrusting the envelope at Alex's chest.

Piper's eyes pierced Alex's, storming with disbelief and betrayal as she spat, "Stay away from me Alex." She turned and walked quickly down the hall and stairs, disappearing as Alex stared after her dumbly, heart plummeting in free fall.

She briefly considered following her but something kept her feet planted where they were. Piper wasn't going to listen right now, that much was clear.

Kate already had her jacket on and was standing awkwardly as Alex stepped back inside, shell-shocked. The room was a silo filling with silence.

"I'm guessing that's the someone you've met?" Kate asked gently.

Alex nodded, her mouth dry and no words coming to greet her lips.

"I'm going to go Alex – I think you need some space. We'll carry on with this later. I've written down my personal number. I'll call you in a few days."

Alex took the card robotically and moved out of the doorway to let Kate out. The detective paused and turned back, placing a hand on Alex's arm.

"Alex, it's pretty clear to me that Kubra has messed with your life for long enough. I hope you agree to help – I promise I won't let you down." She smiled kindly and squeezed her arm adding, "Look after yourself." She pulled on her beanie before walking quickly down the hall.

Alex shut the door and collapsed on the couch. She was numb everywhere except for a small searing hole that smoldered somewhere in her chest. She felt it spread like paper catching fire.

She was still clutching the envelope from Piper, hands shaking for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She pulled out the contents of the envelope and promptly dropped them on the coffee table.

Her face was staring back at her. She was instantly taken back to the day the mug shot was taken – still trying to pretend she was a tough street-smart bad-ass. Her eyes said something different. She had been scared shitless.

She broke out of her trance, quickly flicking through the other papers in the bundle. Newspaper articles, testimonies, transcripts - all about the trial and the bust.

Alex's stomach solidified into a bowling ball while her heart fluttered around in her chest. The juxtaposed sensations made her feel nauseous and she stood quickly, putting distance between herself and the papers on her table.

So Piper knew. She was too late. She'd wanted to tell her – was going to soon, tonight even, couldn't actually wait to do it. Alex had day dreamed about telling Piper everything and then having her by her side through all of this, actually knowing what she was going through, supporting her, like a…partner.

Alex shut her eyes tightly and clenched her jaw as her inner voice chirped up. Too fucking late, you idiot. And AS IF she'd just nod and smile and "be there" for you. You saw the way she looked at you! All she sees now is an ex-con drug dealer. She shook her head sharply trying to dislodge the thoughts from her mind.

She sat down again – staring at the paperwork in front of her. Slowly her heartbeat slowed and the first rational thought since Piper had left gently wormed into her brain; why the fuck did Piper have all this?

Alex sat back cradling her glass of whisky and took a small sip. Piper said she'd got some mail. Alex flipped the envelope and saw it was entirely unmarked. So someone had dropped it off to her. Hand delivered.

Kubra?

It was possible he was just fucking with Alex but something didn't sit right with that. It was in Kubra's interest for Piper to stay in Alex's life – that way he had a pawn to play. If Piper got scared off and left, then it followed that Alex would no longer have the motivation of protecting her. It made Alex harder to manage from Kubra's perspective. The idea of not wanting to protect Piper, even if they weren't together, was absurd to Alex but she knew how Kubra's mind worked.

So if not him, then who? Stella? Jealousy was a good motivator and she'd made it abundantly clear she wasn't too excited about them being together with that shit she pulled at rehearsal yesterday. But Alex doubted her ability to source court documents and find newspaper articles…it wasn't her style. Stella was someone who relied primarily on her ability to charm to get what she wanted – she wasn't the sleuthing type.

So really the only other person who might care enough to pull this shit…was Larry? Alex remembered Piper telling her that Larry was an investigative journalist so that made sense. But how would he even know that there was any story to look into? She shut her eyes tight, fighting the maddening sensation of an important thought sitting just out of reach.

She took a hit of whisky and stood again, walking to her window and yanking the curtain open. Staring at Nurse Diane for a moment her eyes scanned to the bars and cafes across the street. Perfect spots for surveying her club. She stared at a figure sitting in one of the cafes. Finally, it hit her – Aydin.

Alex's eyes widened as she pushed off the windowsill and stalked around her apartment, thoughts pinging. Sylvie had said Aydin was outside with some guy the other night. Aydin never worked with anyone else, he made a point of it. Didn't trust anyone enough to have his back. It was the same night Larry had been kicked out of the bar…Aydin must have talked to him, told him…

Alex's jaw clenched hard. It was just the sort of shit Aydin would pull – fucking with people's lives for his own sick amusement. She'd never trusted or liked him and got the feeling it was a mutual dislike. Alex was far more successful with women than he ever was – a fact that clearly irked him. So it made sense that he would try and mess with her personal life.

Well, two could play at that game. But first she needed to find out for sure. Her mind whirred as she imagined jumping Larry outside his apartment building, grabbing his neck and watching his eyes bulge…

She flinched as her phone rang, the noise obscenely loud in the empty apartment. Scooping it up she couldn't help but feel a disappointed dip in her gut when the name displayed was not Piper's.

Hey Nick…yeah I met her…I'm fine…

Ok no, you're right, I'm not fine...

Just, there's a lot of shit going down for me right now…

Yeah, ok, yeah that would be good actually – I'll meet you there.

Alex grabbed her jacket and keys. There was a time when she wouldn't have been able to admit she needed help, but right now the sound of her best friend's voice on the other line was like music to her ears. She needed someone to talk her down from where her brain was leading her – potentially back to prison.


Piper slammed her apartment door shut and slumped onto her couch, shaking with adrenalin, anger, pain – hands clenched in fists and tears finally spilling unfettered. Idiot! How could I be such an idiot?

"Sis?" Cal's tentative voice made her jump – she'd forgotten he'd be there and had been in such a state she hadn't explained to him where she was going, just left mid-sentence, mid-dishes. She wiped her cheeks futilely as fresh tears stubbornly replaced the old ones.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." She choked out.

"Hey it's like 9pm, I know I'm old but it's not quite my bedtime." He tried for a chuckle but instead received a fresh flooding of tears. "Hey, hey it's ok Pipes. C'mere." He sat and pulled her into a hug as her body took over, shuddering with tears and shock.

"What's happened?" He asked simply after he felt her take a few steadying breaths, sniffing unceremoniously as she sat up.

"Sorry, I got snot on your jumper." Piper murmured miserably.

"That's ok – it's good training for the baby. Although, I'd prefer if you didn't vomit or poop on me too…" He grinned as Piper's face managed a slight smile before collapsing again.

"Oh Cal…I'm a fucking idiot." She managed between hiccupping gulps of air.

"I might need a bit more information to decide whether that's true in this particular situation. Come on, I'll grab you a cup of tea and you can tell me all about it."

Piper had composed herself by the time he returned with their tea, though now her face looked disturbingly blank. He waited quietly for her to speak.

"So, you know how I said Alex was a bar-owning, bike-riding bad-ass? Well evidently she's also an ex-con, drug-dealing, philandering asshole." Piper stated, staring blankly ahead.

"O-kay. And you just found all this out in the last couple of hours? Uh, how?" Cal asked bewildered.

"Someone left me an envelope in the mail – it…it had a picture of Alex, a mug shot, and all this information about some drug bust. She went to prison…I don't know everything, I didn't read all the details…I wanted to ask her about it…" she paused, struggling again as she took a deep breath.

"So, what did she say?" Cal asked carefully.

"Nothing. I went to ask her but…let's just say she was busy." Piper spat out bitterly, dropping her mug on the table and holding her head in her hands.

"Oh man. You caught her cheating on you?" Cal asked quietly.

"Yes. Well…sort of, yeah, it looked that way…definitely looked…" Piper mumbled.

Cal's brow furrowed, "What do you mean looked that way, Pipes? Either she was or she wasn't…" He stopped talking as his sister lifted a withering gaze at him.

"There was a chick in her apartment. They were drinking whisky. Alex said it wasn't a good time to talk. I mean, who says that unless they're cheating on someone? And she had the nerve to tell me she wasn't a shady person – HA!" Piper's voice was rising and she stood suddenly, pacing over to her freezer and pulling a bottle of vodka out.

"Sure Pipes, but…well," he paused nervously as Piper flopped back on the couch, a large glass of what looked like straight vodka and ice in hand. "You didn't actually see her cheating? And you didn't actually ask her about any of the drug stuff?"

Piper took a long sip and felt the liquid run through her body, soothing the sharp edges off her insides, numbing the pounding certainty that the world had collapsed in the space of an evening. She avoided her brother's soft eyes as her brain searched for the evidence it was so sure it had.

"I…well…no. But that doesn't mean it's not true…" she mumbled weakly, her mind mushing the last few hours into a confusing mess. "I saw the photo! There were court documents! And that woman looked…freaked out – like I'd caught her out! Caught them out!" Piper ran her hand through her hair, trying to nail down the certainty she'd had storming back home.

Cal leant over and swiped Piper's drink, pouring half into a glass for himself before replacing it in front of her. "Ok but just remember the Chapman curse. A healthy temper mixed with a tendency to shoot from the hip – it's not in our DNA to wait around for the truth."

"Oh fuck off Cal. You weren't there. I'm not imagining it – I know what I saw!" Piper snapped, her fuzzy brain and rational brother providing an immensely irritating combination.

"Fine. Maybe you're right Pipes." He paused before bravely ploughing on, "But maybe you're not. I mean, there could be a million reasons why Alex had a nervous woman in her apartment! Maybe she's a neighbour escaping a violent partner, maybe she's her long lost sister, or maybe she was freaked out because you were standing at the door screaming? Just a thought."

Piper let a few beats of icy silence descend before responding. "Ok fine. Let's pretend Alex has a hot red headed older sister who dropped in unannounced. Let's say you're right and I was wrong and have a temper – I'm not agreeing with you, by the way..." Piper paused waiting for her brother to nod before continuing.

"That still doesn't change the fact that she is a fucking DRUG DEALER. I mean, ok, you grow weed but what kind of shit is she into that she went to PRISON? Who is she? Heisenberg? Escobar? Oh my god." Piper stopped, eyes widening as she turned to Cal, "She was probably grooming me! She probably wanted me to carry drugs up my ass to South America for her!"

Cal chuckled rolling his eyes, "Calm down Pipes. No one puts drugs up their ass anymore."

"Oh my apologies. How silly of me. Perhaps I could invite Alex over and you guys could have a discussion about the latest best practice drug transportation methods?"

Cal sighed and grabbed Piper's hand, "Pipes, aren't you even a little curious as to where the envelope came from? How can you trust it? You didn't even talk to Alex – maybe there's more to the story..."

Piper opened her mouth then shut it again, choosing instead to down the rest of her drink. Where had the envelope come from? It didn't have a stamp, nothing written on the front, so it had to have been hand-delivered…

"Larry." She blurted as her glass clattered to the table. She looked at Cal, face draining of colour, "You said Larry was outside yesterday right? And he wasn't hiding in a bush? Where did you see him exactly?"

"Uh…I was coming up the stairs and he was coming down from your front door…Pipes? Wait, you think he dropped off the envelope?"

"Yes! Who else? He's trying to fuck with me and Alex! Oh my god – it's probably all photo-shopped!" Piper's mouth hung open as her brain knitted together this latest version of events.

"Woah. You think so? Because that's a dick move." Cal shook his head, "That guy has some serious karma coming his way. I hope he's ready for it."

Cal felt his sister's eyes on him and looked up into their gleaming scope. "Uh oh. I know that look."

"Cal…"

"No. Nope. Not interested Pipes."

"Cal…"

"Piper! No! I'm a grown man who can say no! I'm also a responsible member of society now…well apart from the living in the woods and growing weed thing…"

"Please, Cal." Piper moved to sit next to her brother, gripping his hand and doing her best pleading look. He sighed heavily, shaking his head.

"Oh man you're good at that. If manipulation were an Olympic sport you'd be America's Golden Girl. FINE. What's your devious plan Piper?"


A/N – Hey guys! Festivities are really taking it out of me so we might be down to one update per week for a bit…I'll try and squeeze another in before Christmas...you never know your luck! This little tale is fun but just keeps growing in my head! I'll try not to make it the never-ending story…
Thanks for reading and reviewing as always, you guys rock. Now, what could this mysterious plan be…? x