Chapter Fourteen

The weekend wasn't so bad. Alex told stories about her travels after Piper left. She listened with rapt attention. She didn't mention rehab but Nicky had asked if she visited Istanbul after she got clean. "Yeah, it was my first trip actually," Alex responded.

"You were setting up new business?" Red asked. She had little love of Alex's former business but she tried to keep her voice civil. Alex shook her head and said no.

"It was leisure with the boss. He was just testing my sobriety. I drank some, smoked some good weed but didn't go near the other stuff. The girls were fantastic though and the culture was awesome," Alex admitted.

"We were going to visit there together...or well-" Piper reminded her.

Alex nodded and crooked a small smile. "Yes and I thought about you the entire time I was there. I rarely travelled where I didn't think about you." Piper was surprised by this but reached over on the bunk and took her hand.

"You two had the real thing and your business fucked it up. Now, your business fucked it up. Maybe the two of you are even and can let your relationship go to a more amicable demise. You're out of here soon, yes Piper?" Red interjected. Piper didn't like her insinuation. They didn't talk about their sentences and she knew it was all going to be a moot point.

"We've agreed not to let business come between us again Red. My time is up when it is up. Who knows what will come of all of this. Oh...and I thought about you too when I travelled. Larry and I went to Israel and Mexico together. He used to say I got so quiet when I travelled. I was always afraid I'd tell him a story about you or say you name out loud. One time I thought I saw you at an airport in Dallas and nearly passed out," Piper admitted. Alex's eyes went wide and Piper realized that Alex believed she never thought about her at all. "Surely you aren't surprised? You were an important part of my life I just tried to shut away. I tried to make up for the damage I caused others by laundering that money by never thinking of it. Chapman fucked up denial."

"You come by it honestly, Pipes." Alex squeezed her hand and Piper's mind went to her mother. Yes she couldn't deny she had some "truths" taught to her at an early age.

Red snorted. "Growing up means you take responsibility for your actions and stop blaming your parents."

Piper nodded and looked away. "I never blame you Mommy." Nicky said with a grin. Red laughed and told her to straighten up her bed. They weren't inspected but she didn't want Nicky to get lazy with taking care of her bunk when they get back on the regular schedule. They all cleaned their little space. It gave them something to do. There were pads by the sink and with some soap and water, the place was shining when they delivered their dinner trays. Red didn't like being cooped up and it was obvious that it helped distract her. Piper and Nicky sat on the floor to eat while Alex and Red took the bottom bunks. It was mashed potatoes chicken tenders. Well, chicken something. Red laughed and Piper looked up.

"Look under your mashed potatoes," she said. Piper moved the huge pile aside and saw a wrapped sandwich. It looked like ham.

"Oh my God, a real meat sandwich," Nicky exclaimed. They all opened them and started to eat the fresh food. The potatoes were awful but they offered a nice hiding place for the other food.

"The guards all keep luncheon meat and bread in the kitchen. We frequently eat a sandwich at lunch. I guess Gloria had Norma hide them," Red said and Piper could tell she was pleased that they thought of her. She missed her kitchen crew and being useful. She wasn't surprised her " vacation" was so boring to her. Red was an active woman, Piper enjoyed her sandwich and smiled over at Nicky.

"So has Vause told you who Rhonda is yet?" Nicky asked her. Piper about choked on her bite of sandwich. Alex pushed her glasses up and squinted at Nicky.

"Stop trying to stir up shit with us because you're bored Nicky. If Pipes wants to know things, she is perfectly capable of asking," Alex pointed out.

Piper glared at Nicky and drank her tea. She was afraid to know about Rhonda. Piper knew Alex slept with women, dated them and did whatever else with them while they were apart. She had dated men and women before she settled with Larry. She'd loved him dearly and part of her always will love the dumbass. She could think about him without a twisting pain in her gut now. His sleeping with Polly and starting a relationship with her while Piper was in prison was a major contributing factor to the change in Piper's personality. So much shit had happened to her over a short amount of time that she was left scrambling to find a way back to any good part of herself. She looked up at Alex and knew that her love for that woman was the only good part of her that she could still feel. Alex was able to have a relationship with this Rhonda that seems to have survived prison. She didn't talk about the outside like other people do in here. Piper had always assumed it was because she didn't have anyone important out there to talk about. But Alex had told Nicky about Rhonda and that made her real.

As real as a girl she hugged in visitation. "Play me in canasta if you're bored," Piper finally said when she finished her meal. Alex pushed her glasses back down and shot Nicky a look that said she knew Piper would avoid the conversation. It irked her. Piper kept seeing that expression when she looked at Alex as they played cards. Red was reading and they were trying to be quiet.

"Alright, who is Rhonda?"

Alex's eyes got big and Nicky laughed loudly. Red grunted at her but Nicky ignored it. "She isn't your old Piper anymore. My girl faces shit head on now." Nicky leaned over to bump shoulders with Piper and she had to smile. Alex frowned and looked down to cover up her expression. Piper and Nicky had gotten closer while she was out on parole. The dynamic in their friendship had shifted. It pleased her to know that it bothered Alex. Although, she wasn't sure she was more upset that Piper had a close friend or that Nicky wasn't as close to her anymore.

"She would call herself my girlfriend. I call her my friend. I broke it off with her when I was indicted but she is persistent. She's very helpful...like getting my glasses for me on the outside," Alex said pointing to her glasses. Piper knew that prisoners often needed help from someone on the outside and she knew that Alex loved to manipulate women to do things for her.

Yet something was different with this one. "So you tried to break it off with her before you came inside...you tried to set her free," she observed. Alex looked up at her and nodded. Piper knew it then. "You love her."

"No, I loved her. It ended when I saw you here and well, we back in love. I told her as much...when you were in the SHU after Christmas. I told her I found you again and that was that. She still clings to me, saying it will not last once you leave and she's willing to wait...to wait your leaving and my release," Alex admitted. Piper felt the air leave her lungs.

"Oh...well okay as long as she knows you're mine now," Piper stated. She messed up and put down the wrong card. Nicky grinned, grabbed up the deck, winning the game. Piper retreated to her bunk after that and pretended to read. Alex gave her what space she could. Her mind kept going over the vision of Alex hugging her and turning so she could wink as Piper hugged Larry. She was hiding Piper from her girlfriend the same way Piper hid Alex from Larry. She was angry that Alex never told her but she knew that Alex felt the matter wasn't important. She had officially broke it off with the girl and but Rhonda kept helping her.

They were all sleeping when finally Piper couldn't take it anymore. She climbed up into Alex's bunk and gently shook her awake. She woke with a start and Piper regretted her actions immediately. She was an idiot for shaking her awake after someone had tried to kill Alex in her bunk just a month prior. "I'm sorry baby, I just...I couldn't sleep and I wanted to talk." It sounded lame even to her own ears. Alex didn't reach for her glasses she just pulled back her blanket and gather Piper up close.

"Took you long enough," Alex whispered against her ear. Piper kissed her pulse and clung to her. They really shouldn't waste any nights where they can lay together. Yet she had feigned sleep when Alex was ready to turn in to avoid talking to her. Now, though she had thought it through.

"I'm glad you got someone. It fucking hurts so bad though...to know the details and...I'm so sorry I kept throwing Larry up in your face when I first got here," Piper whispered back. Alex drew in a sharp breath. Piper could tell she was stunned that she had started with an apology. They had to start dealing with painful occurrences with more grace and kindness.

"Thank you for saying that. I never supported your bisexuality the way I should. I bought into the lesbian prejudices and used it against you as weapon more than once. We both make digs at each other...but baby, I'm not with her. She knows this...she knows I'm still in love with you," Alex said tenderly.

Piper nodded and snuggled closer to her. They held one another for several minutes and Alex started to drift back to sleep. Piper fought with herself to let her love sleep. She was always more of a night owl that Alex. If her mind was active she couldn't sleep. Now was no exception and she knew she needed more information.

"Where did you meet her?"

Alex yawned and exhaled in a way that told Piper she realized this wasn't over yet. "She was decorating my house in Vermont. I was about to retire from the business when Kubra got busted. I had trained my replacement and had earned him enough money I was free and clear. She was adorable and kept calling me about little things until finally she asked me out. My house was gorgeous...it was seized with all my artwork, the whole kit and kaboodle when the Feds stormed it. She was out of town on business then. She knew about my job but no details. They interviewed her and she acted like she didn't know what I did for a living," Alex explained in a very hushed tone.

"You used to coach me on what to do if you were caught. You stopped after I carried that bag of money," Piper realized that later after she'd left Alex. "So she travels down from Vermont to see you?"

"Yeah but she makes that trip often. Her parents live in Queens. The apartment I lived in was one of their rentals. She packed my stuff back up and it is in storage now. Her family despises me but her dad can't refuse her anything," Alex admitted. So Rhonda came from money as well. Maybe Alex had a type. She didn't look like Piper though so at least she wasn't a blonde.

Piper felt stupid for even having that thought and turned over on her back in frustration. Alex brought her arm up and looked down at Piper in the dim light from the pale nighttime lights above. "I don't love her nor have I ever loved her like I love you. You ruined me kid. You're the love of my fucking life Pipes. When I told her we were in here together...when I told her that I had found you again, she cried on the phone. She knew as long as you were in my orbit, no one else stood a chance. You're the one habit I could never kick."

Piper could hardly breathe. Alex never said things like that. Yet there she did. "I told them that in Chicago...on the stand. I told them you were the love of my life and all I saw. I was there for you. I settled with someone that was completely opposite of you...someone like Larry, so I'd never be reminded that I had true love and threw it away."

"Oh baby, I'm so glad you did. You should have run as far away from me as you could. Kubra was and is dangerous...if you'd seen him have Fahri killed, you'd been next," Alex kissed her then in a way that was laced with fear and told Piper she wanted her to stay as close as ever now.

"Go back to sleep both of you before I kill you both," Nicky murmured. They snuggled closer and held on tight through the night. Piper stayed awake long enough to feel Alex slip back to sleep then she let sleep overtake her.

***another chapter for my patient readers...there will be delays but I will finish this fic for you! Peace and love to you all, Fae ****