Author's note: Someone give me a damn trophy for being on time! I've been alone at home almost a week without seeing anyone and I just laughed while writing this, I might have gone a little bit crazy but I hope you'll like it.

Enjoy!

To: Piper Chapman

From: Alex Vause

July 17th 9.36 a.m.

Subject: Your first assignment (and second)

2 attachments

Good morning, any ideas? Contact me anytime for further discussion.

I need the photos July 29th 2.00 p.m. at the latest.

Alex V.

Piper smiled at the email. Despite its formality, Piper could imagine Alex smirking while writing it. She bit her lip in concentration as she started to open the attachments, she had almost two weeks to come up with the ideas, discuss with Alex and then take the photos. It wouldn't be a problem as long as she could come up with ideas. Piper was sure that Alex had some ideas as well but it would be quite embarrassing if the photographer didn't have any ideas.

The first attachment was an article about the importance of hobbies and that one was easy, she just needed to talk with Alex if she wanted to a few pictures of different hobbies or just one about some particular hobby.

The second one wasn't an article but more like a story. It was about a young girl and how she grew up. The story was touching and motivational, the girl had had a hard childhood but she was determined and ended up becoming a successful young woman. Piper furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to think suitable photo. This story needed as meaningful picture as the story itself was. For some reason, Piper couldn't come up with anything.

Piper decided to just leave it for a while. She'd figure it out later.

"Here you are! I didn't almost notice you behind that laptop."

Alex looked up from her laptop screen to see her grinning mother. "Hey, mom", she greeted as she closed the laptop. She and her mom had agreed to meet at the café and Alex had been working on the new articles while waiting for her mother.

"Work?"

"Yup", Alex nodded.

"Has anything interesting happened since last time we talked?"

"Not really... We got a new photographer, though."

"Are they good?

"I don't know yet, I just sent her a couple of hours ago her first assignments. But I think we have pretty high standards, so I guess she must be good."

"Is she cute?" Diane asked with a devilish smirk.

"Mom!"

"What?"

Alex shook her head. "Funnily enough... she happens to be my neighbor."

"Wait. Is this the same neighbor you're having a crush on?"

"I am not having a crush on Piper! How hard is that to understand?" Alex asked exasperatedly.

"Alright, alright", Diane raised her hands. "Tell me about her?"

"She's awkward. And cute. That's it. We haven't talked much..." Alex trailed off as she noticed a familiar blonde. "Speaking of the devil."

Diane turned around to look who Alex meant. "Is that her, the blonde?"

"Yeah."

They watched as Piper bought her coffee and when she was about to leave Alex called out her name.

Piper turned to look around with a confused look before her eyes found Alex and her mom. She smiled and made her way toward their table. "Hi."

"Hey."

"I got some ideas for the photos", Piper started enthusiastically.

"That's great. I need to focus the layout today but could you maybe come to my office tomorrow morning? Like at 10. We could also go somewhere else if you prefer."

"Your office works just fine, I just-" Piper interrupted herself as she at the first time took the other woman in. She looked just like Alex but older and Piper assumed she was her mother.

Alex and Diane both watched confused when Piper's eyes widened and she snapped her fingers.

"That's it!"

"What?"

"The growing up story! I didn't know which kind of photo would match the story's meaningfulness but then I saw how similar you two are and got this idea that if it would be possible we could find two girls, a younger one and older one who look similar, so the readers could imagine that they are the same girl from the story-", Piper explained quickly while waving her hands around eagerly.

Alex chuckled. "Breathe, kid."

Piper stopped her rambling and took a deep breath blushing slightly. "Sorry. I just got a little bit excited."

"A little bit?" Alex laughed again. "But don't be sorry for being passionate. And that idea of yours, it sounds good, let's talk about it more tomorrow?"

"Yeah, okay. See you tomorrow then?"

"Yup, see you tomorrow", Alex said before Piper turned around at left the café. Alex looked after her with a grin before seemed to remember her mother. She quickly cleared her throat. "So, that was Piper."

"Yeah, I gathered that", Diane laughed. "You were right. She's cute."

"Anyway, how's your work?" Alex asked, changing the subject. She didn't want to talk about Piper with her mom because she would just make it a bigger deal that it was. Alex never talked about girls with her mom, except maybe occasionally commenting that someone was hot. Alex didn't want to seem like a crushing teenager because she definitely was not crushing after Piper. Yes, she was hot. Alex wasn't blind and she was very gay, so yes, it was normal that she found Piper attractive and Piper was her neighbor and now also the magazine's photographer, so it was completely normal to think about her more often than Alex usually would think about girls, right?

Piper stepped out of the elevator as she noticed Larry to stand in front of her door. Like feeling Piper's gaze, Larry turned around and Piper saw he held a bouquet of roses.

"Did I miss some important day?" Piper asked as she walked closer, trying to remember when their anniversary was.

"Uhh, no", Larry shook her head. "I came to apologize... and bought you some flowers. Can we talk?"

"Yeah..."

Piper opened the door to her apartment, and they went inside. Larry offered the flowers to Piper with a sheepish smile.

"Thank you. They're beautiful", Piper commented as she went to put them in the vase. Though, she couldn't help to be a little disappointed that Larry hadn't remembered that her favorite flowers were tulips.

"I just wanted to apologize about the Saturday..."

"Look, Larry. I like you, I really do, but I'm not going to continue this relationship if anything isn't going to change."

Larry hurried to take Piper's hands in her owns. "I'll be better, I promise! I know I've not been a good boyfriend lately but that's going to change, okay?"

Piper sighed as she looked at Larry's eyes. She knew that Larry was a good man and meant his words. "Okay."

"I'm sorry that I have been so focused on writing lately. I just thought... I tried to write good enough article for the Believer because if you'd get the position there, it would've been nice if I could've got an article there and you'd take a photograph for it... It just would have been nice to do some teamwork."

Piper tried to keep herself from laughing as she remembered Alex's face when she saw the article about gasoline prices. She felt bad because Larry had only meant well, and it was sweet of him to think like that. "Larry, it's good that you're so passionate about writing but I don't think you should over-do it, you know? Write about what you like and don't what you think some magazine likes, okay? If you don't know what you should write about then take a break wait for inspiration, that's what I do with photographing."

"You're right, you're right. Have you heard anything about the magazine?"

"Yeah... I got the position. I went there yesterday and today I got my first assignments", Piper smiled happily.

"That's... amazing. I'm proud of you", Larry said smiling but it looked forced. "What if we go to the dinner tonight? That's worth of celebrating."

Piper nodded. "That sounds great. Where to?"

"I'll surprise you, I need to take care of some things but if I can pick you up at six?"

"Okay."

Larry kissed Piper gently before they said good boys and Larry left, much more calmly than last time.

Piper sighed as she touched her lips. She wondered if it was true what they said, that when you were with the right person, every kiss felt like the first one. There wasn't that spark with Larry anymore, but Piper wanted to give it one more shot if everything would work out between them.

Piper knocked on Alex's office door next day at 9.49 a.m. She was a bit early but she didn't think Alex would mind.

"Come in."

Piper stepped inside to find Alex sitting behind her desk furrowing at the computer.

"Hi."

Alex looked up from her computer. "Piper, right on time", she glanced at the computer screen again, presumably checking the clock. "Actually, a little bit early. Couldn't wait to get to see me?"

Piper blushed. "No!"

"No?", Alex smirked.

"I mean yes! Wait..." Piper furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to think which one was the negative answer.

Alex just laughed. "Please, sit down."

"You're infuriating", Piper said playfully before tensing. Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say to your almost boss.

Piper relaxed when Alex laughed again. "Yeah, I've been told. Anyway, straight to the point, tell me what you thought about the hobby article."

"Well, obviously a picture of some hobby, but I was wondering how many pictures you want and if there will be more than one would they be the different or the same hobby?"

Alex turned her computer, so Piper could see the screen. There was the magazine layout on the screen and Alex scrolled to the page where this particular article was.

"As you see, the article takes almost the whole page, so I was thinking one big photo behind the text."

"Yeah, okay. Were you thinking any particular hobby that would fit?"

"At least not football or soccer. They're so ordinary. What do you think about the rally? Isn't that quite unique sport?" Alex asked as she kept an eye on Piper's reaction.

"Absolutely not."

Alex raised an amused eyebrow.

"I mean... You're the one who decides- but think about it. The text is mostly about the community. About the people you meet through your hobbies and how they motivate you. It wouldn't make sense that the photo would be about an individual sport. Obviously, you also meet people through the rally and any other hobby but you cannot capture that in a picture. So, I think it would be best to think about a team sport."

Alex was quiet for a while and Piper thought that she had already crossed some kind of line.

"Congratulations", Alex said finally with a grin. "You passed a test."

"What?"

"I just wanted to test if you'd argue back or voice your own opinion if you think mine is bad."

"Oh... You didn't think I wouldn't?"

"I actually had no idea if you would. You come off as a little shy but on the other hand, you're so passionate about photographing, so I figured you probably wouldn't let an unfitting photo to get into the magazine. But honestly, there have been many photographers that think that staying quiet would please me or that I would be mad that they don't approve my opinion, so I had to test."

Piper nodded in understanding. "Well, I can understand why they wanted to please you."

Alex's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the same time as Piper's eyes widened in horror. Alex watched with amusement when a deep blush crept up on Piper's neck.

"I didn't mean- I just... That came out weird."

Alex smirked. "I'll take it that you want to please me too?"

Piper's face became even redder. "I mean... yeah, in a way. I want you to be pleased with my work, so..."

Alex decided to let Piper out of her misery. "Good. And you can achieve that by voicing your opinions. You're the professional one here Piper, so if you think my ideas are bad just say so. Don't worry about offending me or anything because they are just ideas, and I know this isn't my territory. I mean in a way it is, but you know what I meant."

"Yeah, okay. Got it."

"But don't get too comfortable, I'm still in charge of things."

Piper nodded her head vigorously. "I know."

"Good."

Piper hesitated a couple of seconds before asked something. "You said that there have been many photographers... How long have you worked here? Because you certainly don't look very old."

"Did you just ask my age without actually asking my age?"

"No! I know it's not my business and wouldn't want to-"

"26."

Piper shut her mouth when she heard that. She really needed to stop rambling around Alex.

"And to answer your actual question, I've been working here almost four years. It isn't very much but for some reason, the photographers change quite quickly. Hopefully, you'll stick around a bit longer", Alex added with a wink.

"Oh my god. Why are you so flirtatious?" Piper wanted to know because this way the blush would never leave her face.

"Does it bother you?"

Piper narrowed her eyes defiantly. "No. I don't even like women, I'm straight."

Alex smirked and opened her mouth, but Piper beat her to it. "And I swear to god if you say something about spaghetti and getting it wet, I'll leave."

The older woman laughed at that. "Okay, okay. Back to business. So, team sports?"

They talked a bit and ended up with volleyball. It wasn't over-shown sport and you could easily get a good photo of the team. There was an upcoming volleyball match in a week near Boston where Piper could take the pictures. It was a small match between two high school teams, so there wasn't even a need to buy a ticket.

"So, now when that's settled, tell me more about your idea for the growing up story."

"So, the writer said that if it was possible, she would travel back in time to tell her younger self that everything would work out, that it was going to get better. So, the photo could be about a girl, young one but not too young, maybe 11-12 years old who looks scared or lost. Then there is the older one, a young woman, who looks calm and collected and is reassuring the young one. Like holding her hand or something."

Alex rubbed her chin as she thought about it. "I can see why Amanda hired you."

"So... you think it's a good idea?" Piper asked hopefully.

"Yes. That's a brilliant idea, I was just thinking about the execution... Try to get a hold on Jessica. She usually organizes the photoshoots if needed. She knows who to contact to get similar looking models."

"Amanda's assistant?"

"Yeah. She'll contact you when she has found the fitting girls. I trust your judgment, so you don't need to notify me. Just send me the photos when you've taken them."

Piper nodded. "Okay."

"One more thing", Alex said as she took something from her desk drawer. "Read this and tell me what you think about possible photos.

Piper started to read the text. It was an article about climate change and how it affects people's health, she raised her eyebrows in interest. She had read a lot about how climate change affects the weather or animals but not so much about how it affects directly at people. When she read about temperature-related death and illness, air quality impacts, water-related illness, and other diseases, dozens of possible photos flashed behind her eyelids.

When she had read the article, she gave it back to Alex. "Well, I think it would be best to find somewhere where these are already a problem. The photos visualize the consequences and that sometimes get people to realize the seriousness."

"Exactly. Now, do you think they can be found in Boston?"

"No?"

"Exactly. There are a couple of freelance photographers who we'll usually contact if the photos need to be taken far away from Boston. One of them is specialized in crises and usually would take care of these kind of photos but he's busy at the moment and wouldn't be able to get the photo by the deadline. I was able to find another photographer who had suitable pictures and I'd like you to take a look of them and see if anything would fit."

"Okay", Piper nodded.

"But in the future... If we can't find anything fitting, you wouldn't mind traveling a bit?"

"What? Are you serious?"

"Yeah. We need good quality pictures and if we can't find them then we need to send our photographer to take them."

"Does the magazine cover the travel expenses?"

"Duh. We don't expect you to pay yourself if you're getting pictures for us. The magazine covers the plane tickets and hotel. You have to buy your own food, though."

"That's amazing!"

"Figured you might be excited", Alex grinned. "Anyways, find Jessica and ask her about the photoshoot. I'll send you the climate change photos at some point."

"Yeah, okay", Piper said as she got up.

"And remember to go to that volleyball match", Alex reminded.

"Yeah, I'll send you the photos as soon as I can."

"Good, see you later."

"Yeah, see you", Piper said as she left the office.

Piper went to look for Jessica and found her office next to Amanda's. She knocked on the door and when she heard the 'come in', she stepped inside. It was smaller than Amanda's or Alex's but it still looked nice.

"Piper, hi. How can I help you?"

"Hey, I just... Alex said that I should find you", Piper started before explaining the situation.

"Oh, yeah. I can do that, give me a couple of days and I should find the girls for you", Jessica smiled

"Great!"

"I'll email you when I find them, okay?"

"Yeah, thank you."

Later that day Piper was in Larry's apartment. They were watching TV together when she got a notification on her phone.

She checked her phone and when she saw it was an email, she quickly opened it. Like she had expected, it was from Alex and there were five different pictures and a short text 'We need one picture'. She looked them all through. There were two pictures that fit. Piper couldn't decide which one, so she asked Alex if they had permission to edit the pictures and would it be okay if she edited the two pictures together.

Then she focused back on the TV.

"Who was that?" Larry mumbled.

"Work."

After a few moments, Piper's phone chimed again. She was surprised that Alex had answered so quickly. She had probably clarified the whole editing thing beforehand.

To: Piper Chapman

From: Alex Vause

July 17th 2.28 p.m.

Subject: Climate change photos

We had permission to edit the photos. If you need help, contact the magazine's photo editor.

To: Alex Vause

From: Piper Chapman

July 17th 2.29 p.m.

Subject: Climate change photos

Thanks, but I should be fine. I'm quite good at editing.

To: Piper Chapman

From: Alex Vause

July 17th 2.31 p.m.

Subject: Climate change photos

Of course, you are. Is there anything you can't do? ;)

Piper smiled as she hid her phone screen. She didn't want Larry to see it. For some reason, it felt like it was forbidden to talk to Alex because it made her feel all giddy among the other feelings she couldn't explain. She shook her head and sent Alex a quick reply 'nope', before turning her phone silent.

Larry wrapped her arm around Piper's shoulder and Piper leaned against him. She really tried to figure out why Alex made her feel all different kind of things but Larry just... didn't

Thanks for reading! I'm sorry it was a bit short but things are processing between Alex and Piper! Sorry, you have to wait for the breakup a little longer :D Tell me what you thought!

-Iina