Guys, calm down! It's a fic. I know you don't like Scarlett but she is meant to complicate things further down the line, as you will find out. Please, just enjoy the story and try not to freak out too much. I have Alex appearing soon, (not in this chapter) And it will all be explained by herself. I wanted it to be different from all the other Fics where Alex and Piper meet straight away, I needed this story to have something different to that because it is a real possibility that they could be going to different prisons in the show... I wanted to explore the idea that they could lose touch completely for a very long period of time and still belong together. It's always Vauseman endgame with my fics so don't panic.

I have uploaded the new chapter early because you guys are freaking out so much about it all. - It will be another couple of days before the next chapter, though.

Enjoy, and as always, Please review.

Lise xx

Piper was sitting at the table with a coffee in her hands. Nicky hadn't emerged from her room yet and Piper didn't know if Lorna was still in there or if she had gone through the night.

She pulled out her phone and saw she had a message from Scarlett. "Hey, I hope everything is ok, thanks for last night. Xx"

Before Piper could type a reply, another text came through. "Maybe we could go on another date… just the two of us? Helene asked if you would email her. xx"

Piper breathed out and ran her hand through her hair. She really did like Scarlett, she was drop dead gorgeous, she actually looked like Alex which was really odd to Piper. She had a lovely bubbly personality and if Piper hadn't met Alex, Scarlett would have probably been a great girlfriend. At the same time though, Piper didn't want to do anything that could jeopardise the new contract with the large online enterprise Helene worked for. She decided to keep her reply short and sweet. "hey, sorry about last night, Nicky had some troubles. Look, Scarlett, I think we should talk. Sure, I'll email her "

Piper opened her laptop and typed out an email to Helene.

"Hey Helene,

How are you? Scarlett told me you wanted me to email you about the business. If you need me to email over some information to you, just let me know. Maybe we could go for lunch to discuss everything?

Piper"

Piper closed her laptop and walked to Nicky's room. She knocked softly on the door and peeked in. Nicky was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Hey, Are you ok? Whats going on?"

Piper walked over and sat on the edge of Nicky's bed. Reaching out for her hand.

Nicky wiped a stray tear away from her face. "I was just starting to get on with my life. Then she comes running back into it demanding to talk!" Nicky had sat up looking angry.

"I don't know what to do."

Nicky was pacing the room, running her hands through her wild locks like she was in a cage and was trying to determine the best escape route.

"What happened last night?" Piper asked, wondering what had transpired.

"She came in here, sat on the bed and told me she needed to talk. Yeah right! Like that's going to help. Anyway, I told her I didn't want to talk to her, she made her choice and I'd moved on. I wasn't going to be a part of her little back and forth game again. So she ran out of here crying."

"Nicky, do you not want to hear her out? Things obviously didn't work out like we thought they had. I think you need to hear her out."

"I think you need to mind your own business, Chapman."

Nicky left the room, slamming the door and leaving Piper siting on her bed open mouthed.

"NICKY!"

Piper shouted after her but heard the front door slam as Nicky left.

XXXXXX

Piper spent most of the afternoon cleaning. She was midway through scrubbing all the surfaces in the house when her laptop made the email notification noise.

"Hi Piper,

Yes, I spoke with the boss, she said she wants to email you about potentially meeting up to discuss the contract. I'm just giving you a heads up. I've actually never seen her do this, she usually doesn't deal with any customers or companies… no one in the company has met her, we just talk over the phone.. She usually silently handles all the important stuff. She's a bit of a mystery, really, Anyway, I'll catch up soon. Let me know how it goes!

Helene"

Piper's heart started hammering in her chest. She didn't know what to think of the boss wanting to talk to her directly about the company. She didn't know if she was prepared. Jumping up from where she was seated she walked over to the small office and opened up the filing cabinet they kept all the business stuff in. She felt like she needed to buff up on all the numbers so she could be prepared and professional. She decided to tell Nicky about it once she had calmed down.

XXXXXX

Meanwhile on the other side of town, Nicky was waiting for Lorna in a diner. She had gotten Emma's number last night before Lorna had showed up so she just set it up through her.

Nicky stiffened and tried to even out her breathing as Lorna approached her.

"Look, I'll hear you out and then I don't want to hear from you again."

Lorna's face dropped. When Emma had told her Nicky wanted to meet, she had been optimistic about their meeting.

"Nicky, I've missed you so much." Lorna's eyes were filled with tears, she reached out to take Nicky's hand but she pulled it away.

"Yeah, yeah. Has Vinnie left you? Is that why you're here? You want another Mommy for your baby? Well I've got news for ya, I've got mommy issues of my own, I don't need a kid to hate me for corrupting their life."

"No, Nicky that's not it."

"Then what is it, Lorna? Coz I've gotta tell ya, I was doing well for a while there until you've wandered back in."

Lorna looked down at her hands, her expression was sad and downtrodden. Nicky's heart lurched at the sight. It's not that she didn't care about Lorna, it was just that she had put on a front to protect herself from being hurt again.

Nicky instantly wondered what was going on with Lorna, it wasn't like her to go quiet.

"Hey, look, it's just it was hard when you left, y'know. Me and Chapman got moved to another prison. Those were long nights wondering if you were ok. Eventually, I just tried to move on. I figured there was no point wallowing on it when I wasn't the one you ever wanted anyway. I was just convenient."

Lorna looked up. "That's the thing though, you weren't just convenient. I pretended I wanted Vinnie because I wanted that stability. You weren't ready to give me that, you were engrossed in that stupid book list thing you were doing and I was just there when you wanted me. When I got out, I went to the doctor and he couldn't find a heartbeat."

Lorna was now full on blubbering in the middle of the diner and Nicky looked horrified.

"Vinnie said that now he wasn't going to be tied down he was going to grab his dreams and travel the world. I was still on probation, you see, so I couldn't go with him and he told me he would be back in a couple of months. Anyway, it turned out that he met some bitch while he was fruit picking in Australia and they have been together ever since. He didn't come back for me. That's when I realised, when I got past the hurt of the betrayal, he didn't really matter to me. He was a comfort, a hope while I was in Litchfield. Y'know, someone on the outside. You were the one who mattered to me. You were the one I thought of whenever I was hurting or whenever I was lonely."

Nicky shot across the table unexpectedly and captured Lorna's lips with hers. She surprised herself but there was no denying she missed Lorna. Here she was, hoping for another chance, spilling her heart onto the table, so tragically alone.

Lorna pulled back from the kiss, shocked but smiling. This was something they could build on, finally some happiness for both of them.

XXXXXX

Nicky and Lorna walked through the apartment door hand in hand. Piper was sitting on the floor, cross legged and immersed in a pile of Papers. She looked up and then did a double take. Her eyes widened but a slight smile spread across her face.

"You guys sorted things out?"

"We're getting there, Chapman." Nicky ran a hand through her wild locks and looked bewildered at the situation she was in.