Do not own Orange Is The New Black or Any of the characters.

Thank you to everyone who continues to read and review each chapter. I don't know why they aren't showing, but don't worry I can still see them in my email.

And I know you all want Piper to leave Larry and be with Alex, but you have to realize that she's only known Alex for a month. So it's going to be a slow burn for a little while longer, but please stick with me. I promise it will be worth it in the end.

Anyways, Enjoy!

"Your neighbour seems crazy."

Alex glared at her girlfriend before shutting the front door. "Come help in the kitchen," she murmured as she walked past her and down the hallway. She ignored Wren's statement. She didn't want to discuss her neighbour's mental state with her.

Alex tried not to think about Piper. She put all her attention into cooking. The pasta was almost done and the sauce just needed to be heated up. Alex had even put Wren to work by getting her to make a salad.

Normally, Alex would have been pissed at Piper for just dropping by like she had. Especially when she had company over. However, it didn't take a genius to figure out that something was indeed bothering the blonde. She clearly hadn't come over just for a booty call. She looked like she'd been crying. That didn't sit well with Alex. She'd never seen Piper like that.

There had only been ever smiles and fun times between them. It pained her to see her hurting and she couldn't go after her. Once she had Wren distracted with dinner, she was going to send Piper a text. She knew she said she was fine, however she had a pretty good idea that Piper was anything, but fine.

She just wanted to check in and make sure that everything was good. Especially between them. They both knew they had significant others, however they weren't supposed to meet them. Alex knew how jealous she felt when she met Larry or anytime his name came up. She assumed that Piper was feeling the same way when she'd seen Wren. Not that Alex had to explain herself to Piper. She hadn't expected Piper to explain herself with Larry. They'd both silently agreed that this wasn't a relationship. That it was just about sex. However, it was slowly turning out that it couldn't be like that. It seemed to be getting messier as time went on.

"Tah Dah!" cried Wren, stretching out her arms like those game show models did. "Salad is done!"

Alex glanced over her shoulder at Wren and the bowl of lettuce. She smiled at the younger woman like how a mother smiles at their child. "Good job, Babe! Why don't you set the table next...there are plates in the cupboard over there...and knives and forks in the drawer just below it..I'm almost done here." The brunette pointed to the cupboard just to her right.

Wren grinned broadly at Alex. She did a little skip towards her before coming up behind her and wrapping her arms around her waist.

Alex stiffened slightly at her girlfriend's sudden touch. She looked at her through the corner of her eye in puzzlement. Wren was acting weird, she thought. She wasn't usually this giddy. Maybe it was the distance thing or something, she thought.

"Look at us!" chimed Wren, not noticing Alex's facial expression. The younger woman had her head resting on Alex's shoulder. "We're playing house!"

Alex frowned slightly as she turned her attention back onto the pot of pasta sauce she was currently stirring. She wouldn't say they were playing house exactly. However, it wasn't a stretch either. The couple didn't exactly cook together often. When they were back in the city together, they usually just ate out mostly.

Wren gave Alex's cheek a quick peck before withdrawing away from her and began to do what Alex had originally asked her to do. She noisily began to open the high cupboard and pulled out two plates.

Alex closed her eyes and inwardly groaned before giving the pot another stir.

"Start eating...I'm just going to the bathroom," called out Alex as she left the kitchen.

She made sure that Wren wasn't behind her as she ducked into the spare bedroom where she had left her phone. She quickly grabbed it before going into the bathroom. She put the lid of the toilet seat down before taking a seat on it. She nervously bit on her lip as she typed in her pass-code and quickly swiped at the screen. She quickly located Piper's number before tapping away at the screen. She was just going to send a little innocence text to the blonde. She just wanted to make sure that she was a hundred percent okay. That they were okay.

Her heart was racing nervously as she reread her text before pressing send. She knew it was stupid to be feeling nervous. She wasn't doing anything wrong here. She was just sending a text to a , a nervous sweat continued to run down her back despite what she was trying to tell herself. She knew it wasn't just an innocence text checking in on a friend. By texting Piper, she was showing her in some sort of way that she cared for her.

Alex didn't know.

Maybe she was just reading too much into everything now. Her mind was a mush of emotions and feelings when it came to Piper. Usually, Alex wouldn't feel so confused and torn about a girl. She'd always known what she liked and went after it. If this was a different situation, Alex would have made her feelings known to the blonde already. They wouldn't be playing this cat and mouse game.

However, Piper was married. That's what was throwing her off her senses. She couldn't just admit not matter how much she wanted too that she liked Piper and wanted more than just sex.

Alex sat there on the toilet seat for a few moments longer, staring at her phone, waiting for a reply to come in. She was so absorbed in her thoughts she forgot about Wren.

"ALEX!" called out Wren from the hallway.

Alex cursed underneath her breath as she looked up from her phone to the back of the bathroom door. She then quickly stood up and pocketed the phone in the back of her jeans. She flushed the toilet, even though she hadn't used it.

"COMING!" she cried back to Wren.

She didn't want to make Wren suspicious of her actions.

The sun was high and beaming down on Piper as she walked down the street.

After leaving Alex's, she'd begun to walk down the street with no destination in mind. She wasn't ready to go home and her plan to be with Alex had fallen through. So here she was walking through the neighbourhood in the thick humid air.

She had a vague idea on where she was heading or at least her feet seemed too.

Piper wished she'd made more friends in town other than Alex. Yes, she knew a few people. There was Lorna and Nicky, but she didn't feel comfortable going to them out of the blue like this.

So she was headed to the only other place she knew she could hide out for a bit, Boo's.

Her dress clinged to her sweaty body as she stepped inside the safe haven of the bar. The cool breeze of the AC sent a trail of goosebumps up her bare skin as she hovered by the door. She was waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark atmosphere before stepping in further.

An old rock song was playing from an ancient jukebox in the corner of the room. The blonde tucked a stray hair behind her ear as she took in her surroundings. There were a few other people in the bar, drinking their sorrows away like she planned on doing.

She nervously licked her lips as she approached the bar and took a seat.

The heavy set bartender, who Piper had met last time she was here approached her.

"Well. Hello There Piper Chapman. It seems like we meet again," spoke Big Boo slyly as she placed a round wooden coaster displaying the bar's name down in front of Piper.

Piper's eyes widen in surprise at hearing her full name on the bartender's lips.

"You remember me!?"

"Yeah, I do," chuckled Boo. "I don't forget a face or a name."

Piper rolled back her shoulders and sat up a little straighter in her seat, suddenly feeling self-conscious under the other woman's gaze.

"What can I get you?" asked Big Boo." You look like you've been through the ringer." She took in the rough looking appearance of Piper's face.

"Um…"Piper's voice trailed off for a second. She didn't know what she wanted. She knew she wanted something stronger than those mimosas she'd drank at the shower. "Can I have a margarita?"

"One margarita coming up," said Boo with a grin before walking away from Piper.

Piper smiled slightly to herself as she instantly began to dream about the margarita soon to be coming her way. She hadn't had one since her honeymoon in Florida. They were one of her favourite beverages. A nice cold margarita was exactly what she needed at the moment. She knew that after a couple of those she would be in a much better place than she was currently. She wanted to indulge tonight in tequila and lime. She wanted to drink like she'd back in college. She wanted to forget everything.

Piper put her purse on the surface of the bar and began to rummage for her phone as she waited for her cocktail to be made. She was just about to text Larry when she saw that there was a message from Alex.

The blonde pursed her lips as she read the message. She hadn't been expecting for Alex to text her. She figured she was too busy entertaining her girlfriend to check in with her.

Hey. I'm just making sure that you're really o.k? You seemed pretty upset about something

Piper checked the timestamp on the message. It had come in ten minutes ago.

She didn't know what to make of this text. Should she answer it? She thought. She didn't want to impose on Alex anymore than she already had that day. She didn't want Alex to think of her as some basket case. However, every nerve in her body was singing to text her back.

At least Alex had texted her, she thought. Larry hadn't even sent her a text asking how she was.

A bitter taste entered her mouth as her thought back to the fight with her husband.

"One margarita!" spoke Boo suddenly, placing the frozen drink down on the bar coaster.

Piper quickly thanked the bartender before looking back down at her phone. As much as she wanted to text Alex back, asking if she could join her, she resisted. She didn't want to drag Alex into her problems. She didn't want to use Alex as some sort of clutch. She wanted Alex to only see her as a fun, sexy plaything. Not for some emotionally-damaged-broken married woman.

So instead she just wrote Alex a quick message back before turning her attention on to the cocktail before her. She shoved her phone back into her purse, forgetting to text Larry. Let him worry, she thought to herself.

It's all good :)

"What the fuck?"

Alex looked down at her phone and frowned.

She didn't know what to make of Piper's text. It's all good? What did she fucking mean? What was good? Last time she'd seen Piper, she'd looked anything but good. She'd been pretty upset about something.

Alex was suddenly pissed off.

She didn't like how Piper was suddenly brushing her she felt like she was being brushed off with this three-word-text. Especially that smiley face at the end. That little emoji irritated her the most. She could see that Piper was trying to brush everything under the rug. However, she wouldn't go away that easy.

Sure they didn't know a whole lot about one another. And maybe she didn't have a right to pry into Piper's business. But it was like what Piper told Nicky, they were friends? They were certainly friendly with each other, very friendly matter of fact. Alex wasn't sure what their relationship status was at the moment. What did people who had affairs call each other, mistresses? That sounded way too formal. Anyways, this wasn't about what they should call each other. They could figure out their appropriate labels later.

This was about Piper and how she'd obviously had come to Alex for a reason other than sex and now she was acting like it was nothing. She knew she shouldn't let this get to her head like it was. The whole point of bringing Wren up here this weekend was to distract her from her feelings for Piper. But now here she was thinking about the blonde.

Alex continued to look at the text message before putting her phone away. She knew there was no point in pushing Piper. If she said very thing was good, than she was going to try her hardest and believe her. What other option did she have?

"Are we going out tonight?" asked Wren coming up beside Alex and putting the dishes she carried in her hands in the sink.

"No...why?" asked Alex, there with an edge of irritation in her voice. She didn't bother to look at her girlfriend as she filled the sink with soapy water.

"Why not? It's fucking Saturday night, Al. We always go out on Saturdays," whined Wren, slightly. She hated staying in. The young girl loved to party and have a good time. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the counter, looking over at Alex.

They'd just finished eating and where about to do the dishes, or at least Alex was. The brunette was trying her best not to think about Piper and that stupid little text.

"Well there is nothing to do in this fucking town. This isn't the city. There are no night clubs here or anything like that…" She knew this would happen. She knew Wren would want to go out at night. The only place to go out to was Boo's, but she wouldn't bring her there. That was her local watering hole. She wasn't going to spoil it by bringing Wren there.

Wren made a face at this.

"Look babe, I'm sorry if you had some sort of grand vision in your mind about partying this weekend...It's not happening. We are in the middle of fucking suburia," explain Alex. She was too old for this, she thought. She once again felt like some sort of mother figure to Wren.

"Fine," huffed Wren gloomily. "Can we at least get high? Or is that forbidden here too?"

Despite the sun setting, humidity still hung heavily in the air.

Alex and Wren were in the backyard seated on one of the metal lawn chairs with it's faded red-and-white plaid seating. Wren was sitting comfortable on Alex's lap and smoking a joint. She took a long drag from the end of it before bringing it up to Alex's mouth.

Alex shook her head at first. She didn't want to get high, really. She wanted to stay clear headed. However, at the same time getting high sounded good. She wanted to numb herself from thinking about Piper. That text still irritated her in the back of her mind. She knew it shouldn't, but it did.

Wren's hazel eyes looked deeply into Alex's, pleading with her to take a drag. She pouted out her lower lip, slightly. Getting high wasn't nearly as fun on your own. She wanted her girlfriend to join in on the fun.

Alex rolled her eyes slightly before taking a small drag from the joint. She raised her eyebrows slightly at Wren before tilting her head back and blowing the smoke out. She didn't feel anything at first as Wren took another drag from the joint, which was now more of a roach.

The effects of the weed were very very subtle as she'd only taken one hit. Maybe it was more of a mind over matter thing? However, Alex felt lighter. All her feelings of irritation and anger had seemed to dissipate from her body. Maybe it also had something to do with the sudden sensation of Wren's mouth on her neck, wet and hot.

The younger woman had extinguished the roach onto the ashtray on the table before attacking Alex. Her hand slid down towards Alex's cleavage, immediately pawing at her breast. Alex couldn't help but let out a small moan of pleasure.

However, things between the couple didn't get any further as Alex's phone suddenly went off.

"Come on," groaned Wren as Alex placed a hand on her chest, pushing the younger woman slightly away from her.

Alex glared at her girlfriend in annoyance for a second as she dug out her phone from her front pocket. She knew that Wren would be pissed for stopping their fooling around, but the phone call might be something important. Her brow immediately fused together in puzzlement as she took in the caller I.D.

It was Big Boo calling her.

"Just give me a minute," whispered Alex towards Wren as she got up and answered the phone. She walked a few paces away from Wren as she did so.

"Hello?" she spoke into the phone.

"Hey Vause," greeted Book on the other end.

"What's up?" asked Alex towards her friend. She was curious as to why Boo was calling her. She never called her. She suddenly feared that something had happened to Nicky. That was the only reason she could think as to why she was calling her.

"I'm sorry to disturb you with this. I don't know if I'm overstepping here or not. But you know that blonde yuppie Chapman you and Nicky were with a few nights ago."

"Yeah?"

"Well, she's here. She's pretty drunk. I offered to get her a cab, but she's refusing...I didn't know who else to call. She's pretty wasted," explained Big Boo.

"No. No. It's fine. I'm heading over there now," spoke Alex quickly into the phone before hanging up.

"Who was that?" asked Wren who had taken Alex's seat in the metal chair. She didn't look too happy, but Alex ignored this.

"It was the care centre...somethin' has happened to my mom," lied Alex quickly to Wren. She knew she couldn't tell her the truth without starting a fight. "I gotta go."

"I'll come with you," stated Wren as she stood up from her seat.

"No. You stay here," stated Alex firmly.

"Why?" asked Wren angrily. "I'm your girlfriend."

"Yes. But your fucking high. You need to stay here. I'll be back in a few hours," explained Alex as she enclosed the space between them. She gave Wren a quick kiss on the mouth before bolting through the back door.

Wren huff in disappointment before plopping down into the metal lawn chair. She looked up at the sky before taking the roach and relighting it.

Alex was afraid of what she was about to walk in on as she parked the car out front of Boo's.

Boo had said that Piper had been upset on the phone. This further confirmed to Alex that Piper had indeed been brushing her off with that text. She didn't like being pushed away. She wondered if Piper would even want to see her as she got out of the car and pushed open the bar door.

She stood there for a second, her eyes sweeping over the place until something red caught her eye. Piper, who was seated at the bar, had her back to her. She didn't need to see her face to know it was her. She recognized the red dress with the yellow flowers on it from earlier.

She adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose before making her way over to where the blonde sat. Alex looked over at Boo as she approached the bar. The two friends silently greeted each other before Alex slid into the bar stool beside Piper.

The blonde didn't notice Alex at first, giving her a moment to study her. Her hair was covering her face like a curtain. She seemed to be nursing a margarita of sorts or as Alex could make out from the shape of the glass. The drink was almost finished by the looks of it. There was also a bowl of untouched chips beside the glass. Boo always gave out complimentary bowls of chips to customers who she'd thought needed to pace themselves, but refused to order food off the bar menu.

Alex debated on how she should greet the blonde. She didn't want to scare her, she knew she would be surprised to see her. At the same time, she couldn't help but make some sort of snarky remark. She decided to go for the later one.

"Tequila, huh? I pegged you more for a gin kinda girl."

"Huh?" murmured Piper as she shifted her attention onto Alex. "Alex! What are you doin' here?"

Alex smirked at Piper, her eyes dancing with amusement as she continued to look at her. "I was goin' to ask you the same thing," she said in a rasped voice. She couldn't help but fall into old habits and flirt a little with the blonde. She was just too adorable at the moment not to.

"I...I.."Piper opened and closed her mouth. She continued to appear at Alex with wide Bambi like eyes. She was shocked to see Alex here. She couldn't comprehend why she was here all the sudden like a vision.

"When did you get here?" she asked after a second time of trying to find her voice. She tucked her hair behind her ears as her eyes continued to look at Alex in astonishment. She couldn't help feeling like this was a dream. That somehow in her drunken state she had conquered up the image of Alex- charming, flirty, sexy, hot Alex. It then dawned on her, had she drunk texted Alex? She was suddenly mortified that she'd done something stupid. She'd had a lot of tequila that night. It was possible she'd done something stupid like text Alex and not remembering she had.

"I just got here,Kid," replied Alex, noticing the sudden look swept across the other woman's features. "God, you're cute when you're drunk." The corners of Alex's mouth turned up into a small smile as her eyebrows lifted in their signature way when highly amused by something.

This wasn't supposed to be happening. She hadn't come here to leer Piper in some sort of trap. She was here to take her home. Not to fucking flirt! Pull yourself together Vause, she thought bitterly to herself as she looked away briefly from Piper. She knew if she continued to look in those big pool blue eyes that she would certainly do something she would regret. Taking a deep breath, she once again tried to compose herself and fight all her impulses to kiss Piper.

"I'm not drunk," stated Piper in a voice that clearly said otherwise.

Alex glanced back at Piper and laughed in amusement again at the blonde.

"Maybe we should get you home..."began Alex.

"No. I can't go home," whispered Piper harshly. She couldn't go home, not yet that was. She wasn't ready to face her quiet big house. She wasn't ready to see Larry again. He would surely want to talk about the baby and everything again.

"Why not?"asked Alex, her eyes looking at Piper with concern. "Seriously is your husband hitting you or something?" She didn't understand why Piper was heisted to go home. She was starting to scare her a little with how high strung she was being about not wanting to go home.

"No...it's nothin' like that...Larry wants to have a baby…" murmured Piper as she reached for her drink and drained the remainder of it. She'd meant to say the baby part to Alex. She didn't want things to become anymore awkward and uncomfortable than this conversation already was. She already felt like an idiot for not wanting to go home. The blonde didn't dare to look at Alex as she mention how her husband wanted a baby.

Alex didn't say anything, watching as Piper licked off the remainder of the salt from the rim of the glass.

"Sorry," whispered Piper looking at Alex through the corner of her eye. "You don't want to hear about my marriage issues."

"So your afraid to fuck your husband...that's why you can't go home?" Alex tried to keep her voice and face blank as she tried to make sense of what Piper was telling her. She didn't know if it was the alcohol talking or what the blonde was saying was truth. Because that sounded pretty fucked up that she could have sex with the man she married.

"No," hissed Piper, shaking her head vigorously. "It's nothin' like that."

"Then tell me," whispered Alex. "I want to help you Pipes...what's wrong?" She ignored her own feelings of discomfort thinking about Piper and her husband. She tried to focus all her attention on the blonde and whatever it was that was bothering her.

Piper looked over at Alex, studying her for a moment. Now she really knew she was dreaming, she thought. There was no way that Alex would want to know about her problems. That wasn't how affairs worked. Alex wasn't her therapist. This tall lesbian couldn't possibly care about her grief and the miscarriage she'd had over a year ago. No one else seemed too, so why would Alex care too? Tears immediately filled her eyes as a gut wrenching sorrow suddenly came over her. "Fuck, she cursed underneath her breath as she tore her eyes away from Alex. It didn't seem to matter how many of the frozen margaritas she had, the pain kept on finding it's way through. She'd once tried to go to a therapist, despite her mother's disapproval. Carol Chapman didn't believe in airing out your grievances with a stranger. It didn't work. She also tried attending a monthly grief meeting of sorts for other women like her who had miscarried. It had helped a bit at the beginning but Piper soon found that everyone in the group had gotten pregnant again. She'd eventually stopped attending after two months. It just seemed like the world kept on going on and she couldn't keep up. So she numbed her feelings whenever they came to the surface. Just like she'd seen her mother do throughout her childhood.

"I can't tell you," whispered Piper, trying to keep her emotions at bay.

"Why the fuck not?"pressed on Alex, leaning in closer to Piper. She wanted her to look at her.

"Because it'll ruin what we have going...between us...I don't want to do that…"Piper's word slurred together slightly as she tried to explain why she couldn't tell Alex what was wrong.

"I don't think there's anything you could tell me that would ruin what we have," answered Alex honestly. She liked Piper and liked having sex with her. There was nothing that would stop her from continuing having affair unless Piper stopped it or they got caught or if Piper got pregnant.

"I like you, kid," she added. "You said it so yourself...we're friends."

"Special friends," laughed Piper sadly. Her voice fizzing out like a popped balloon. She met Alex's eye briefly before looking away and down onto a spot on the bar.

"Yes. Fucking special friends," chuckled Alex. So maybe they weren't traditional friends, however they did have some sort of strong bond, which seemed almost inevitable at times. Especially at this moment. Alex didn't usually try to provoke stuff out of someone like she was doing now unless they fucking meant something to her.

"Look kid, just spill it. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me." Alex reached out and took Piper's hand in her own. She gave it a little squeeze of encouragement. She wanted to let Piper know she could trust her with whatever secret was on her mind.

Piper looked at Alex's hand holding her own on the top of the bar before shifting in her seat to face Alex square on. Her visions blurred slightly at the sudden movement but she blinked the white spots away from her eyes. She studied Alex for a moment reading her face. She wanted to make sure that the brunette in fact wanted to hear all her emotional damage and just wasn't acting like she thought she should. People, she noticed grew very uncomfortable when the words miscarriage were utter. It was a pain that no one could fully understand unless they had been through it themselves.

Alex looked straight back at Piper. Both her eyebrows were raised in anticipation of what Piper was going to say.

"A year ago, I had a miscarriage."

I know, I know, I'm evil but more will be coming soon!

Thanks for reading and please, please leave a review.

Julie