A/N Rewrote a longer fic called Just One More Mistake that got mixed reviews. Just a one shot for now. Enjoy.
Piper! Please don't leave me! Not now!" Alex was in tears watching the one person that she loved, who was still alive, walk away from her.
"Alex, I can't do this anymore, I'm sorry" Those were the last words Piper said to her. She couldn't make herself say goodbye because it was already painful enough. She knew if she stayed she would never leave, and she wouldn't be involved in any more of Alex's illegal activity, ever again so she had to go.
She flew back to America that day and she tried not to look back.
That was ten years ago today. A long grueling ten years had somehow passed. Granted the first two years were long and arduous, but nothing compared to the next eight that she spent in prison.
Litchfield had not been kind to her, nor did she expect it to get any kinder at this point. She'd been raped, stabbed, beaten, and yet she was still around, waiting for whatever was coming the next day. She'd adapt as she always had before. She cut her hair, changed her tone, worked out, she was a different person, a person that no one from back then would recognize, and that was exactly how she wanted it.
She didn't get visits anymore, not even from her family. They couldn't bear to see the bruises and scars and tattoos anymore and she couldn't blame them. She was no longer from that world, and she didn't need to see them. She wanted to get out, but over the years she developed a feeling that she would never get to leave there alive, and she had no real reason to want to either. Everything she could want she had in there. Sure she didn't get to travel, and the food was shitty, but she at least had power, she was treated as an equal in here, no one looked down on her for her crimes, and she could have as much sex as she wanted, with whoever she wanted. Wins for her all around.
Every so often she'd have a falling out with someone, resulting in her getting more time usually, she wasn't one for good behavior anymore. She could understand it though, getting more time for acting out was understandable. But getting more time without having a reason, that was unacceptable.
"I demand an explanation!?" Piper yelled furiously slamming her hands on the visitation table.
"Hey! Chapman, cool it or I'll give you a shot!" The guard in the visitation room commanded.
"I'm afraid I cannot give you one," Her lawyer said timidly. "I cannot tell you who it was, but someone has come forward about your involvement with a drug trafficking incident that allegedly happened ten years ago,"
Piper took a deep breath. "Can you give me any more information?"
"I'm afraid not. You will be notified of the time of the hearing. It will not be for a while I'm afraid,"
Piper heard enough. "Thanks," She walked out of there with purpose, and got through her re-examination for returning to the main prison.
Doggett was waiting for her outside with a towel and bottle of water for her. "Meeting go well?"
"Shut up," Piper snapped. "Come on,"
They walked outside to the track Piper had leveraged to be opened a few years back. She needed to run. Doggett sat and read a book while Piper ran. Piper ran and ran and ran. When she finally came to a stop next to Doggett, her lungs were on fire and she already felt sore in her calves. The shorter woman held the water and towel out to her.
"That bad, huh?"
"No, now that I think about it, what's the difference in a year?" Piper tried to brush it off. "I need to shower,"
They walked back to the buildings. Doggett grabbed Piper's towel, a new set of clothes, and her toiletry set and followed the tall blonde to the bathroom.
Doggett turned on the shower for her, setting it to Piper's usual heat. "No heat today, just cold," Piper ordered.
She stripped and stepped into the jet of icy water face first, letting it cascade over her. She couldn't stop thinking. There was only one person it could be, but why now? How? She couldn't wrap her mind around it.
She finished her shower quicker than usual, the thoughts still going back and forth in her head.
The rest of the day was better. She ate dinner, talked with her friends, read a good book. Almost as if she hadn't been told she was to be serving an extra year because her ex-girlfriend named her.
She slept uneasily, tossing and turning all night long.
The next morning seemed normal again, same old breakfast, same old job, ame old friends. Until that was she heard Lorena's voice from behind her while she had been talking to Nicky. "Eh Chaps, I think you have a problem," The shorted new yorker woman spoke hastily.
Piper thought for a moment, waiting for her to elaborate. "What is it?"
"Just off the bus this morning, you know I bring the new prisoners in, show them to their rooms.."
Piper cut her off. "Get to the point, Morello,"
"Well, Someone named Alex Vause just got her, I thought you'd like to know...Oh also she's been placed in the temporary room with Nicky," With that the shorter woman scurried off so as not to be too near Piper given this information. The tall blonde had a very blank expression on her face, something Nicky hadn't seen from her, it was frightening.
"This is wonderful," Piper smirked venomously before walking away, she needed to think about how she wanted to handle this.
XXXXXXXXX
"It seems Ms. Chapman is already serving time. We'll have to review her case and determine if new charges are necessary. Is that all Ms. Vause?"
Alex didn't know what to say. Piper was already in prison. For what? What could that innocent blonde have possibly done to get sent to prison?! She had no idea and it annoyed her that she was almost worried for her. "Yes, that's all. Can you tell me what Piper was charged with? Or how long she's been in prison?" She asked, internally cursing herself for being so curious.
"No, we can't disclose that information. Just be happy that you won't have to deal with her," The investigator said before they left her alone.
"Fuck" She cursed to herself. She didn't know if she would have named the blonde had she known she was already in prison. At least, the investigator was right, she wouldn't even be in the same place as Piper.
That was less than a month ago, now she was in orange, holding a pillow and blanket set, following a group of other new prisoners through the halls of Litchfield Federal Prison.
"You, what's your name?" A short brunette wearing beige asked.
"Alex, er, Vause," She answered. She noticed an interesting look from the shorter woman as if she knew something she didn't.
"Very interesting, I mean, nice to meet you," She replied. "You will stay in here until you get assigned to a regular bunk. Showers are down the hall, each block has their own. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served at specific times. Outdoor time is regulated and also you will be assigned a work unit this week,"
Alex just looked at her, then into the room with two bunk beds in it. "Any questions?" The woman in beige asked.
Alex shook her head.
"Great, see you later then, the name's Morello," With that the short lady briskly walked off.
Alex felt nothing. How had she let this happen. Her whole world had come crashing down around her and now here she was. Surely this place would be the end of her.
The day went by, she met a few people, but mostly kept to herself. During dinner, she was approached by this wild looking woman, her hair strawberry blonde, but everywhere.
"Nichols," She introduced herself, as she sat across from her.
"Al...Vause," She said, stabbing at her food.
"Welcome to litchfield, a truly wondrous place to be, before you know it, you'll never want to leave,"
"I doubt it," Alex refused to think of this as some vacation from real life.
"Well, don't knock it til you truly get a /taste/ of all this place has to offer," Nicky said deviously. The way she said it had Alex wondering.
Dinner ended and her and Nicky walked back to the cell, talking lightly, or rather Nicky was talking and Alex was trying to accept this as her life now. They stopped outside their room. "Count before bed is in a few hours, don't miss it," Nicky said, about to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Alex inquired curiously.
"I've got a date with my girlfriend, and you've got a date with the boss," Nicky said cryptically before walking off, leaving Alex's further questions unanswered.
Alex shrugged it off and turned to walk into the grey room. She sat on her bed and ran her hands through her hair as she did when she was stressed. She sighed heavily. What a day. Not spectacular, but different.
"Deep in thought are we? Tough first day?" Piper stuck her head into the room. Alex didn't look up.
She scoffed. "Not really, it's gonna be so fucking boring to be stuck in here,"
Piper chuckled as she came to stand in the doorway. "I can guarantee your stay at Litchfield will be anything from boring,"
"Sure sure, just leave me alone," Alex brushed her off.
"She was referring to me, if you were wondering," Piper came to stand directly in front of her, and this time Alex couldn't help but look up at her.
She gasped and stood toe to toe with her and Piper mimicked her. "It's been so long and yet you look the same," Piper smirked and walked around her, eyeing her ex up and down.
"Pip-" Piper cut her off, with a confident hand to her lips.
"Shh, Chapman, if you please, we don't know each other anymore, let's not be so familiar all at once now," Piper smiled and gently brushed a strand of Alex's dark hair back behind her ear. "That's better,"
"Pip-Chapman, what happened to you?" Alex was in a complete state of shock. The knowledge that Piper was in prison did not prepare her for this new woman standing in front of her.
Piper shrugged sillily. "Nice try, you know how it goes, cut a bitch here, get beat up there, normal prison things. It really has done wonders for my confidence and I think I can safely say I'm in peak physical condition," She winked at her.
Alex scoffed, rolling her eyes. She took a step closer to the blonde and raised a hand to cup Piper's face, but before she could, Piper caught her hand, and she wasn't lying to say she was much stronger than she was back then.
She glanced between where Piper was holding her and Piper's eyes. She noticed several scars, burns and tattoos on her arm. She must have looked for too long because Piper withdrew her hand quickly and stepped away.
Alex searched Piper's eyes for the young woman she used to know and she couldn't find her. "I'm not her anymore," Piper said as if reading her mind. "You don't know me or what I've been through. But, may I officially welcome you to hell on Earth, I've missed you," Piper stepped very close to Alex then. She wrapped her arms around her, it surprised Alex. Piper held her very tightly, another display of her new found strength. She let one hand get tangled in Alex's hair. She leaned up so she could speak directly into Alex's ear, "I have not forgotten what you did back then, I know you haven't either, but I also know what you did now," She gripped Alex tightly by the hair snapping her head back so she could look into her eyes. "You will not be so easily forgiven," Piper let her go, and leaned in to give Alex a gentle kiss on the cheek. With that she began to walk away. Alex just watched her go. At the last second Piper turned around, "Looks like our mistakes brought us together again, it's probably best not to think of all this as the end of your life and who you are, but try to think of it as a new beginning," Then she was gone.