Alex and Jaz, the newest detox trainee, were working on charts on a slow night at the detox when Fischer, the duty nurse, walked into the back office. Or they had intended to anyway. Instead, the two women were acting like they were working but really just hanging out on a rare slow Saturday graveyard shift.

"There you two are," he teased the women. Alex barely looked up while Jaz gulped and tried to busy herself with the closest stack of papers, "Don't worry, Jaz. I'm teasing. We gotta have a little levity around here once in a while. Vause behaving herself," this was Alex's first trainee since getting her recent promotion to Tech Supervisor II, which meant she was now in charge of the non-RNs and LVNs on her normal weekend graveyard shifts, in addition to training certified staff.

"Yes, Nurse Arpaio."

"It's Fischer."

"Then why do you use Nurse Vause's last name?"

"Cause that's what she told me to call her and since then that's what I do. We don't call you Yasmina, now do we?"

"No."

"So Vause, is what Jaz is telling me correct?"

"You know I'm married and you've met the pit bull-hurricane cross that I call my wife."

"Yes, and thanks for taking that crazy off the market for all of us."

"She does have a few good qualities."

"Yeah, she's hot, young and blonde with a trust fund."

"Those aren't even on my top ten list."

"Yes, and yet you have no prenup," Fischer teased as he moved closer to Alex.

"I have a deal with her dad. He trusts me and I respect him. Her mom still wanted a prenup for her family's trust but her dad convinced her otherwise."

"What? Wait, your wife has two trust funds," Jaz asked in a shocked tone, "Why you working here? Isn't this your second job?"

"Adults in her family are expected to make their own way in the world if they want their share of the funds. And I did some very bad things and now I'm paying for my sins. Besides, I happen to mostly enjoy nursing. I love watching my clients improve and helping people."

"Are you ever gonna tell me what you did?"

"Not as long as I'm your supervisor. And don't you dare tell her Fischer."

"I won't. I would never betray your trust like that. So how is married life?"

"The part about being wives is great. I love knowing I'm going to come home and find Piper waiting on the couch with her iPad in her hands or sleeping at her desk cause she tried to wait up. That as long as I don't fuck up, somebody will always love me and be there. It's becoming moms that's been a bit trying. Piper's used to having everything just sorta handed to her, to things coming easy for her. She is used to always being the best at everything she does right out of the gate."

"How many times have you tried now," Fischer asked as Jaz tried to busy herself around the office and not intrude on her supervisors' conversation.

"Twice," Alex answered, looking down as her poker face betrayed her. She would never admit to anybody that this affected her as much as it did Piper.

"That's nothing."

"Have you met my wife? The fatalistic pessimist who somehow won my heart?"

"Pot-Kettle."

"I know, and it's saying something when I'm the optimist in our relationship."

"Sure, Vause."

"Piper thinks she'll never get pregnant and she's already worried about all the what ifs," Alex responded, stopping short of confessing that these were her worries too but Fischer knew her well enough that he saw through her façade.

"Which are," Fischer asked encouragingly.

"What if the donor doesn't work out and we have to go through the bank and IUI? What if we have to get IVF? What if we don't conceive before the move in five months? What if we don't conceive at all? And a whole lot of Protestant nonsense about what certain people deserve," Alex confessed as she pushed her glasses up her forehead.

"You two did some shit together in another life but that's not who you are. Your wife can be a psycho, entitled pain-in-the-ass but I like her," Fischer responded as he reached out to touch her shoulder.

"You just like when she picks us up late night food or coffees when day shift forgets about us again," Alex responded as she shifted her shoulder, pushing his hand away.

"That's not the only reason. Would I want to live with her? No. Do I recognize that she's the sort of friend you want in your corner when shit hits the fan? Yes. Maybe she needs to relax, maybe you both do. Has she tried acupuncture and teas? Yoga? Massage? My family has tried it for every ailment imaginable. That and going to temple for the grannies and Buddhist retreats in the mountains for my generation," Fischer suggested.

"We haven't tried acupuncture and she's started to blame not getting pregnant on being too physically active. WASPs aren't supposed to be actual athletes, just claim to workout to keep their husbands happy and make other women jealous when their looks are more plastic than perspiration."

"I know a lady in Chinatown. She's Thai and she's amazing. She is kinda famous in the neighborhood for her skills with fertility and labor. Some in the older generation say she's a witch but then they hold their chubby grandbaby and forget to give a damn, whatever she's doing works."

"I'll talk it over with Piper but leave me her number."

"So you can decide if you trust her first?"

"Fuck, you know me so well."

"There was a comma in there, right Vause?"

"Why, of course Fischer. So how's the floor," Alex asked as her friendly tone turned businesslike and closed off just as quickly as it turned confessional and open.

"The addicts are all nestled all snug in their beds with visions of Seroquel and Suboxone dancing through their heads," replied jokingly before Alex glared at him.

"Funny, Fischer," Alex looked over at Jaz who was uncomfortable with the sarcastic humor between the two who were more friends than supervisor-employee, especially now that Alex was a level below him, "Don't mind Nurse Arpaio, Jaz, he thinks he's a comedian but this place owns his weekend nights and for a very good reason. So quiet night? No med noncompliance?"

"Yes, Vause. Almost too much so. You know what happens when a night is easy and the patients are well behaved, motivated individuals in search of sobriety."

"Don't remind me," Alex responded.

"Dare I ask," Jaz said in a nervous, meek voice.

"Nobody told me, so you'll have to find out on your own."

"Hazing?"

"More like trial by fire. But I would buckle up cause shit is about to go down around here. Learn to worry more when the natives aren't restless," Fischer added.

"Calm before the storm sorta deal," Jaz asked.

"Exactly. You are gonna be running this place in no time," Alex reassured her trainee.

"Me, no. I'm just grateful to have a good job and to help people. I got so many cousins in jail for drugs but my auntie saw how good I was at science at six years old and told me to stick with it. She spent money she didn't have to make sure I had access to STEAM programs. But I don't think I could go to a real college. Nobody has ever even considered getting a BA, let alone an advanced degree in my family."

"Mine either but look at me about to go to a combined BSN/NP program and looking into PhD programs in Neuroscience. I didn't see much of a future for myself. I figured without money I couldn't go to school. Nobody told me financial aid and scholarships existed or that there were programs to help underprivileged but intelligent queer young adults."

"Aren't you like thirty?"

"Well, aren't you sweet. Thirty-Three. And I was twenty-eight when I got into the program that's paying for my schooling. It's not for youth but I can imagine how my life would have been different if I had known about other programs. Nobody wants to be eligible for the program I'm in. We're all happy to be there and get the tools we need to live successful, independent lives but it's not a club one wants to join."

"You've been through some shit, haven't you," Jaz asked as Alex tried to hide the tear slipping from the corner of her eye at thinking about all she could have had sooner and all that she had been through.

"Yeah, I always say Vause is the only thing that's gonna survive cockroaches and Cher," Fischer joked as Alex threw a balled-up piece of scrap paper at him as they both laughed.

Fischer went to the breakroom and moments later brought them all green tea and the three chatted about their classes and the latest articles they'd read or seminars they wanted to attend, making it look like they were being professional while on the clock, just in case anyone walked in but knowing on a weekend night that wasn't likely, Fischer basically ran the place on Fridays and Saturdays when nobody among the higher ups wanted to work. Eventually, their swing shift receptionist walked into the back office from the reception desk.

"Marcia, you wanna go home early? I don't blame you," Fischer asked the tall woman who walked into the chart room, "Go on. I can handle the phones."

"Thanks, Fischer but I don't think you're gonna want me to leave when you hear what I got to tell you."

"Don't say it, don't you dare. It's such a blissful evening. I'm not even wearing a long-sleeved shirt under my scrubs, the patients went to bed with no trouble, nobody stole anybody's soap during shower time, a few girls even let the AAers stop by their beds."

"Hey, Fischer, some of us go to AA," Alex declared with a sisterly anger towards her friend.

"Hey no, offense. I've seen them save some lives I was certain were unsavable. They do good work and I will always unlock the door for any'a them. And true sobriety looks good on you. So as I was saying, it's been a perfect night and I know you didn't come in here to ruin it. Trey is on rounds tonight, right," Fischer asked, referring to the other detox tech on shift.

The only reason they had two was Jaz was counted as in training and the medical director was 'trying something out' as she had told Alex and Fischer at a recent Grave/Swing supervisor meeting, the Board was considering increasing staffing on shifts from 9pm-6am. They were glad that finally the powers that be were recognizing that theirs was the hardest shift, that's when the roughest clients came in and it wasn't like watching children sleep. They had known something was beginning to change when they were given fewer little projects, instead those shifted to afternoons and evenings when most patients had groups, meals and counseling to keep them occupied. Their only remaining extra duty was to record the day's intakes and discharges into the system and put them in their appropriate place in the filing system.

"I don't like it either. Especially not when they come through the door like this. You know ever since those fuckers nearly shot my brother while he was holding my baby cousin's hand I'm not too fond of our boys in blue. They were fourteen and three, he just wanted some Skittles on a winter night after dinner and my bro had just gotten some cash for helping an old lady in the building," Marcia told the two nervously, as her emotion overtook her awareness that she was addressing her superiors.

"They make me itch and I'm the only white person on shift," Alex volunteered.

"Care to explain to the class, Vause," Fischer whispered and Alex shot him a glare that nearly stopped his heart as Alex smiled in satisfaction, that look may not work on her wife but as long as it worked on the rest of the world she could be satisfied. Once he somewhat recovered, Fischer looked at Marcia, "So is there any good news?"

"This one hasn't been here before. But they couldn't figure out what she's on."

"Party or streets," Fischer asked, referring to the two most likely places a newly arrested client would have come from at such an hour.

"They aren't sure. She was caught during a B&E in process with a bunch of known street people. She was the most combative, they think she might have been the ringleader but you know how often they get that one wrong. They couldn't tell what she was on and she refused to tell them, she accused them of ruining her high, they are worried she's having a psychiatric episode of some sort, so we got her and the other four went to jail. One sped off in the getaway car or as witnesses described a stolen taxi."

"Why do we have to have space in the lockdown unit at the moment," Fischer groaned.

"And a money-hungry Board who contract with the cops," Marcia asked, as she made it clear what the bigger issue was.

"Yes, but that dirty money pays our checks," Fischer answered as Marcia rolled her eyes and walked away. Fischer went into professional mode while Alex used her lack of enthusiasm as an excuse to teach Jaz how to do one of her least favorite aspects of her job.

Around fifteen minutes later, three cops walked in with a screaming woman with a nasal East Side accent. She was dirty and unkempt with mascara smudged across her face but Alex would have recognized that hair anywhere.

It was Nicky.

Alex had hoped to see her again but not like this. She knew when Fischer figured out who this woman was she wouldn't be allowed to treat her, so she decided to make the most of what little bits of her experience at the detox that were under her control.

"Officer Montoya," she addressed the woman she knew well because she was an alcoholic lesbian cop she often saw in meetings, but of course she would never say-so, "What have we got?"

"Twenty-eight year old female. Combative, non-cooperative and erratic on scene. Likely possession with intent but I doubt it."

"I would agree," Alex said just soft enough for Officer Montoya to hear, "She doesn't look to be in any condition to be selling."

"I hate the alternative," Officer Montoya whispered close to Alex's ear as one of the male officers waited by their security guard while Fischer took the other back to start a chart on the new patient.

"What's she on?"

"No clue. Definitely heroin. And who the hell knows. Maybe salts?"

"You get a BAC?"

"On a collar who was kicking and spitting? No. We just did rapid field drug tests but those things are so antiquated. They don't even pick up meth half the time."

"You know you are supposed to do that."

"Wasn't my case. I was only called in cause it was a female perp in need of a hospital escort."

Alex looked at Officer Montoya as Trey and Jaz led Nicky into the reception area to wait for the two women, "Why do they always call the lesbians for that job," Alex whispered with a covert chuckle before they headed towards the intake room to search Nicky. She wasn't sure Piper would ever understand what she was going to soon have to do but she knew she would need her after this.

"They haven't yet grasped the irony. But you know they won't send the guys they so much as think are gay to accompany the males," Officer Montoya responded as she looked around to make sure nobody was within earshot of the two women.

"Idiots."

"You said it."

"Shall we? I don't know about you, but I'd like to get home to my wife at a halfway decent hour."

"How's that going?"

"It's been a bit rocky lately but we're still crazy in love. Just life is challenging and being married to people like us, with our addictions and callings is tough. And she wants to have a baby already. No matter how many times I tell her the world won't end if she doesn't get knocked up in our first year of marriage, she won't believe me."

"You've been married what, nine months?"

"Seven and eighteen days and fourteen hours," Alex looked at her watch, "and five minutes."

"You have it bad for that girl, don't you?"

"You've seen her, do you blame me?"

"Nope. It'll happen when it's meant to and how it's meant to."

"Tell her that," Alex answered as they headed into the office to search Nicky and log any scars, bruises and tattoos along with Jaz.

Nicky didn't even recognize Alex as the woman did her exam. If she hadn't been so concentrated on her job she would have noticed this but it wouldn't be until hours later when she woke Piper to tell her and started crying in the blonde's arms in heaving sobs that she realized Nicky no longer knew her.

She was so deep in her addiction that the best friend she had once called her sister was "just another strange cunt who was tryna kill her buzz," as she had called Alex during the exam. Piper held Alex until the woman fell asleep. If she had been jealous that Alex had touched Nicky's nude body, she didn't show it. Alex wasn't sure if it was growth on the part of the blonde who was prone to envy or she grasped the seriousness of the situation and was making an exception, just this once.

The next morning when Alex said her prayers she included one for Nicky, that maybe this would be enough of a scare. But that night, when she got to work Fischer told her the new patient was officially considered an FBI case. She went outside for a smoke down the block, the spot where employees were allowed to have cigarettes and vape. She whispered to the dark, cloudy sky and its full moon, She's not gonna get better. She's really fucked. And it's not gonna get better. She's gonna die of this. It's the first time she said those words, she had been told them plenty of times by plenty of people she chose to call family.

Alex didn't like her higher power's response as she took another drag of her cigarette, 'sooner than you think. Soon.' Alex wanted to shout at all the gods for taking her mother than her first real friend ever but then she thought of Piper. The gods took but they gave too. She couldn't hate them but tonight, she sure wanted to.

A/N: So Nicky is back and take this as your warning that things are about to get dark and remember that I love canon Nicky too...even if I'm not kind to her in the world of this story. I wanted to illustrate the all too oftentimes dark and tragic realities of addiction in this story and through her character.