Break my soul in two looking for you
But you're right here
If I can't relate to you anymore
Then who am I related to?

And if this is the long haul
How'd we get here so soon?
Did I close my fist around something delicate?
Did I shatter you?

Piper might have been feeling brave around Nate, but this woman made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up straight. She didn't know what it was, but every fiber of her being was screaming at her to get the hell out of there. Call it intuition or call it reading the room, Piper only knew that she didn't want to be here a second longer. Vee meanwhile stood in front of the door, her arms crossed.

"I was just going," Piper stammered. "My dad's picking me up. I don't wanna keep him waiting. He gets pretty upset when I'm not ready…"

"Is that so?" Vee asked, setting her purse down on the rusty metal desk Nate was sitting behind. "I didn't see a car outside, so I think we're okay to have a quick chat. I'll keep it brief. Sit down."

"He's probably parked around the block, I should go-"

"Sit down, Piper." Vee shoved Piper over to one of the hard plastic chairs crammed into the dim room. "I don't like telling people twice. You'll learn that about me, in time."

Piper didn't want to learn anything about her. She didn't want to breathe the same air as her for one more second. But she knew she had to change tack here.

"Listen, I don't want any trouble," she said, reluctantly perching on the chair. "I just wanted to let you know...Alex resigns." Piper's voice rose hopefully.

"Resigns?" Vee laughed. "This isn't Storky's, baby."

Piper locked eyes with Nate, who didn't look all too comfortable either. His bravado seemed to have scampered out the door like a little mouse and left in its place was a scared kid. Piper sighed; it was clear he'd be no help whatsoever.

"So what now?"

"Don't sound so defeated," Vee said. "It doesn't suit you."

Piper said nothing but pressed her lips together. She wasn't feeling simply defeated; she was feeling crushed. Like everything that could have gone wrong, did.

"You're a smart girl, Piper. Smart, beautiful, you're the whole package. And I don't just ask anyone to join us."

Piper raised her eyebrows, her gaze settling on Nate. It might have been a compliment, but with him standing there...

Vee laughed. "He doesn't count."

"What do you want from me?" Piper asked. "I don't want to be part of your…." She struggled for the right words. "Whatever this is."

"This is a business. Legitimately," she added. "We all just do the best we can with what we have. Right, Piper? Don't you want to help Alex?"

Piper offered a slow unenthusiastic nod.

Vee smiled. "So you'll work for me, then. Right?"

Piper tried to keep a neutral face and nodded again, still uncertainly but more quickly this time. If she could speed this along then she would have agreed to anything.

"Say it," Vee encouraged. "Say you'll work for me."

Piper suppressed a sigh and chewed the inside of her cheek. "I'll work for you," she said begrudgingly. "Okay?"

Vee nodded. "Smart choice. For me and for you."

Piper gripped the arm of her chair and started to stand up. "Well, if that's everything…"

"Oh no, baby. Sit down. We've still got a lot to discuss. And celebrate. We can't forget to celebrate. You like champagne?"


"She kept me there for an hour!" Piper fumed. "A fucking hour, Alex! I had to sit there and listen to her go on and on. It was like a timeshare breakfast but for drugs."

"And no breakfast."

Piper glared. "You have no fucking clue what you've got yourself into."

"I'm sorry." Alex pulled at her hair, a crease forming between her eyebrows. "I'm really, really sorry."

"Sorry just doesn't cut it!" Piper said, throwing herself down on the bed. "Sometimes I wonder why I'm even doing this to myself."

Alex shook her head. "You shouldn't keep doing it to yourself," she agreed. "I wouldn't blame you if you broke up with me."

Piper snapped her fingers in front of Alex's face, her eyes wide.

"Keep up, Alex," she said. "It won't fucking matter if I break up with you - she wants me to do her drug runs! That won't change whether me and you are together or not."

"You can't do that," Alex said, her heart thumping. "You're not gonna do that, are you?"

"Not if I can help it," Piper replied, which really did nothing to soothe Alex's fears or conscience. "But I really don't see what other options I have right now."

Though Piper wasn't going to tell Alex, Vee had made it perfectly clear that not joining her wasn't an option. If she wanted to keep Alex safe - and despite everything, that was what she wanted above everything - then she had to play ball.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," Alex said hoarsely. From her voice it was clear she'd spent a lot of time crying, but Piper wasn't feeling very sympathetic. "I really didn't. You believe me, right?"

Piper turned to her properly for the first time since Alex laid it all out on the table.

"How could you do this to us?" she asked. "How could you take what we had and throw it to the fucking bonfire? I ignored every alarm bell, every red flag, I just wanted to be with you! Polly said I was making the worst mistake of my life being with you and I think she had it right." She took a deep breath, blinking away hot tears. "It isn't supposed to be this hard."

"You don't think we're worth fighting for?" Alex asked. "I didn't have a choice!"

Piper looked at her incredulously. "You just told me to break up with you. Why should I fight for something you're throwing away?" Piper asked. "I don't even know what I'd be fighting for anymore, Alex."

The name felt familiar but the intent behind it didn't. When had their relationship turned to this? To fighting for the upper hand? To instead of wondering what the future held, wondering what the next disaster would be? Piper longed for skinny dipping in the lake again. Alex just wanted to forget it all and start again. Neither was possible.

"Pipes…" Alex's voice caught. She didn't know what to say. At one point in her life, Piper had been all she wanted. Now it seemed like the universe was doing all it could to tear them apart. "That wasn't what I meant. And you knew what you were getting into with me. You knew it wouldn't be easy." Desperation crept into Alex's voice.

"It used to be easy." Piper hugged a pillow on her bed, sniffling into the fabric. "It used to be me and you against everything. I used to know you loved me."

Alex looked heavenward. She crawled towards Piper and took her hand, squeezing it hard. "I do love you. I do, Piper."

Piper looked at her. She squirmed out of Alex's grip. "Maybe love isn't enough."

"Are you breaking up with me?"


Piper folded her hands on the table, sitting in a booth in Storky's on the other side of town. In her pocket she had one hundred and fifty dollars in ten dollar bills. It had been a wrench to crack open her piggy bank but it wasn't as if she could put this expense on her Dad's credit card. Her fingers were crossed that she wouldn't need more. She shuffled on the uncomfortable pleather seat, the hard wood that wasn't being covered by the threadbare cushioning digging into the bones of her bottom.

In front of her sat two meals. She picked at the fries from her meal, nibbling just for something to pass the time. It was two o'clock. They'd agreed to meet at quarter to. An uneasiness was beginning to settle in her stomach. Maybe she wasn't coming. Maybe this whole thing was a set up, a test of her loyalty...

"Piper."

Piper looked up and exhaled heavily. "Taystee," she breathed. "I'm so glad you came."

"I can't stay long," Taystee said, looking over her shoulder. "And you know who has spies everywhere, so don't go blabbing."

"I wouldn't," Piper said. "I just really need your help. Vee..she…"

"I know," Taystee said. She shook her head and sat down in the booth across from Piper. "What the fuck were you thinking, Chapman?"

Piper shook her head. "I don't know. Although Alex would say my morals have always been questionable." She sighed.

Taystee stared at her. "Paying for someone else to do your math homework is small fry compared to this," she said flatly. "Why would you get involved in this? I don't have a choice, but you do."

"I don't anymore."

"Bullshit," Taystee said. "You always have a choice. You probably have three or four, actually. And none of them end up with you working for Vee."

Piper looked away. "You don't understand."

"You're right," Taystee said, raising her eyebrows. "I don't."

A silence settled between them, and not a comfortable one. Taystee looked at Piper, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, she opened up the paper bag containing her burger and took a bite out of it. A biscuit burger, just what she always ordered. Though she didn't say so she was surprised that Piper remembered, or even bothered to order her something in the first place. Vee was always on at her to stop eating fast food, but she never took much notice. It wasn't as if Vee was at home cooking meals for her to come back to.

"How the hell do I get out of this?" Piper whispered, leaning on her elbow.. "And how do I get Alex out of it too?"

"Tell your parents."

"Taystee." Piper looked at her for a moment, her stare hard. "You know I can't do that."

Taystee shrugged. "Then I guess you're working for Vee."

"That's all you can say?"

"Vee doesn't like to lose," Taystee said in a hushed tone. "I don't know what else to say to you. It's not like I've figured out how to get out, is it?"

Piper looked up. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Vee's like my mom. Kinda. Well, she's the only mom I've ever known. It's not great with her but it's better than being on your own." She tightened her jacket around herself. "It's not so bad."

"Taystee, I'm really grateful you came out here and talked to me. But is there really nothing else you can tell me? I'm willing to pay for it, I'm not asking you to feel sorry for me." Piper pulled out the wad of cash and set it in front of Taystee.

Taystee slammed a napkin over it. "You don't wanna be flashing that kinda cash in here," she hissed. "You'll get robbed. I don't wanna get jumped for what, $110 and the crumbs of weed I have left in my pocket."

"Sorry," Piper said. She lowered her head and looked up at Taystee pleadingly. "Anything?"

Taystee leaned forward. "You could try talking to Nate."

Piper sighed at the suggestion.

"I don't know if he knows anything but he seems to be flavor of the month at the moment for Vee," Taystee continued. "That's all I have, Piper. Really. And you don't need to pay me for it."

Piper pushed the napkin covering the cash towards Taystee. "Keep it."

"This pays for a hell of a lot of math homework," Taystee said.

"Yeah." Piper let out a hollow laugh. "I should probably start doing that again sometime."


"Twice in one day?" Nate asked, leaning against his car. "I must have done something really right in a past life."

"And I must have done something really shitty," Piper said with a roll of her eyes. "Quit with the act. I saw you in there with Vee. You were as scared as I was."

"Listen," he said, crossing his arms. "You might have rejected me like four times but I don't want you ending up under Vee's patio any more than the next guy."

Piper's jaw clenched. "I need you-"

"Yeah, I've heard that one before." He smirked.

"I need you to help me," Piper continued, her eyes pleading. "Tell me what's going on."

"Help you?" Nate asked. "Sure. You can rely on me, babe. You need a man like me in your life. Especially now."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Didn't seem that way earlier, with Vee," she said with a sigh. "But you're right. I do need you. I need you to tell me what the hell to do here, because I'm lost. I have no fucking clue." She hated admitting it but it was true. For the first time in her life she felt utterly powerless. She wondered briefly if this was what Alex felt for the most part. Yet here she was, in that situation, and still she thought of Alex. Anger blazed through her.

Nate frowned. He stood up straighter and looked around. When he saw no-one he jerked his chin toward his car. "Get in. We'll go for a drive and I'll fill you in."

A wave of apprehension washed over Piper as she hesitated. "I don't know…"

"Come on," he said, holding out his hand. He grinned at her, a lopsided smile that seemed so much more genuine than his usual smirk. "Or are you scared that your sort of girlfriend won't like it?"

Piper shrugged.

"Ooh. I'm sensing a sore spot."

"Mm."

"What, did she break up with you?" Nate asked. He still had that stupid grin on his face. She wanted to knock it off.

"Something like that," Piper told him.

"Shit," he said with a laugh. "I wasn't expecting that."

Piper raised her eyebrows. "Well, I like to be unpredictable. Keeps people at arm's length. Right where I like them."

"Is that so?"

He stepped closer to Piper, and when she stepped back, he got closer still. When her legs hit the cold metal of the exterior she swallowed hard. He placed his hand next to her shoulder on the car, blocking her from ducking out under it. She thought of Nicky, and Red's words echoed in her head.

Stay away from Nate Griffiths.

"You look like Bambi," he chuckled, rolling his own eyes. "Don't look so nervous."

"I'm not," she insisted, standing up a little straighter and looking him in the eye. She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince; him, or herself. "I'm not."

"Prove it."

Piper blinked at him. "By doing what?"

"Kiss me."

"That wouldn't prove anything," Piper insisted, ducking out from underneath his arm though he tried to stop her.

"Really?" Nate asked, one eyebrow cocked. "You know, Alex was never afraid of me…"

Piper turned around. She only wanted him to shut up. She only wanted to wipe that stupid fucking smirk from his lips. So she pushed one hand against his chest, slammed him back against his own car door like he'd done to her, and pressed her lips roughly against his.

A/N:

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Thanks for the reviews, Jamla, Guest, GuestAppearance, Juliette45, whenaspritemeetsaunicorn, cece1212 and VeraRose19. Much appreciated! And if you ever think when reading this fic, 'where is she going with this?' Just know, me too, my friends. Me too.