Chapter Fifteen

They brought them back when everyone was at lunch. Bell gave them a pizza to share. She didn't say anything but they ordered one too many. They all knew that wasn't the case. Piper's mouth watered. It was a really good pizza, with three different types of cheese. She thought maybe they sent a new officer out and he went to a gourmet place rather than the usual Pizza Hut. They didn't care and enjoyed the fare with some soda provided by Red.

"I wonder when they'll be back," Nicky was pacing back and forth in that frantic state she got when she was worried. They knew one another very well after their close incarceration. All of them just wanted to go outside but they knew to just be thankful they were allowed in the dorm again. Piper noted two new cameras and thought that there wouldn't be another attempt in their bunks. She wasn't sure about the other areas. Piper knew Caputo wasn't a complete idiot. He could piece together what was happening to her by just reading her file. He could probably figure out something was up with Aydin as well. Piper knew she had precious little time.

While they were eating, the guard Smith walked up to stand in the doorway of their cube. Piper tensed. "Red you're going back to the kitchen Monday for breakfast, Nichols and Chapman back to Electric. You're specifically in the cage Chapman until Caputo says otherwise. Vause, you have a new duty. You are now on the cleaning crew. You are assigned to cleaning the executive offices...you'll also do some filing or what not in Director Caputo's office area each afternoon. You report to the cleaning closet by the counselor's office after breakfast tomorrow," Smith read from a clipboard. "You have commissary tomorrow afternoon. Your escorts will cease in the hallways but if you are found out of bounds, you will get a shot and three days in the Special Housing Unit up the hill." He finished as if he was reading his grocery list, turned on his heel and walked away without checking if they understood. He was obviously ex-military and something about him was scary yet Piper didn't think he'd hurt anyone in his charge. She looked over at Alex and she slumped against the wall where she was hanging up her hoodie.

"Damn. I hope the fuck he doesn't try anything with me. He always gave me the creeps," Alex rambled. Piper knew she was worried that he was keeping her close because he thought she killed Aydin. Piper tossed her plate in the trash and cleaned up Nicky's plate as well.

"I'm sorry Chapman. I know the cage sucks. At least you won't get shocked in there. The new girl, Sterling is not half bad. He's very by the book and is actually teaching some skills," Nicky mistook Piper's quietness for worry about her job. She knew that kept her locked safely away from Alex all day long for eight hours. She had a feeling that she would be getting her lunch in that fucking cage each day. He probably figured Piper killed him to protect Alex. It could have been her. She thought about it all the time. She could have arrived and maybe he would have killed her by then or maybe Piper would have stopped him. Either way, he would have to end up dead. Alex looked over at her with concern. She took Alex's Pillow and unpacked her stuff. Piper curled up on her bunk and hugged her pillow tightly. Alex sat on her bunk briefly but she had to get up quickly to help Nicky get her things in place. They first group of prisoners came back in and everyone was stopping by to say hello. Lorna darted in and actually hugged everyone. She even climbed into the bunk with Piper for a few minutes.

Everyone had questions and Red answered for them and Piper was thankful. She noticed that Lorna and Nicky disappeared at some point. The dorms opened up all it took was a tug from Alex to get her to leave her bunk. They headed outside and it felt glorious to see the sky. Alex walked with Piper to the track. They were close as they walked and Piper could almost imagine they were just walking in a field somewhere together.

"We never went to Montana. I have never been there at all and I think seeing a big sky together would've been fun. I could see you all wrapped up at a ski lodge, looking so cute in your snow bunny outfit, " Alex teased as they walked.

Piper snorted. "You hate the cold."

"No, I love it actually, I was retiring in Vermont if you recall. I just hate the cold in a city. If I have nowhere to go and a comfy fire with you, I'd love it."

Piper smiled and felt her heart race some in her chest. She wasn't making plans really. Alex didn't really do that and it was something Piper missed about her relationship with Larry. They had plans together and the planning of their life was part of the fun. The most fun they'd had together in prison had been planning her panty business.

"I've never been either...I'd prefer Cambodia and a beach, but we can take a skiing trip to Big Sky," Piper offered. Alex smiled as if Piper saying that meant something more than just the words. Alex was worried about her. Piper had tried to withdraw in her bunk. She was feeling the pressure of her new circumstances and it worried her.

They stopped and sat by the fence in the exact location where Alex had brought her some lemonade that summer. She had made fun of her paranoia. How foolish she'd been. "I think my job is going to suck but I fucking can't stand the idea of you in a cage all day...it's that one that the runner chick had when she got tossed in the SHU over that screwdriver?" Alex asked after she took Piper's hand. She looked around and saw no one was close enough to tell it and smiled.

"Yeah that's the one," Piper said. She knew going toe to toe with Caputo would make her last weeks in Litchfield tough. She didn't like that her girlfriend was going to be up close to him. She was worried but she knew Alex was a smart woman and would do what she had to do to survive. Piper was counting on it.

"Did you squirrel away some money that the Feds didn't get?"

Alex blinked at her out of the blue question. She looked around and laughed some to herself. "Yeah, I invested most of it but I kept a percentage of all my profit in cash. You know that, I'm surprised you asked," Alex said with a grin. Piper did know that. She told Piper it was her insurance policy. Her girlfriend had never asked specifics and even then Piper knew it was something that Alex needed to feel secure after growing up in poverty.

"Is it ski lodge in Montana and summers in Cambodia big?"

Piper grinned at her as she asked. Alex laughed and looked up with that infectious smile. It was stunning in the sun. They were pale and both of them needed the sun on their skin. She didn't really think Alex would respond, but getting her to smile like that was everything to Piper.

"It is enough for both of those and spending money for about five years...but we could live and travel on it for a decade or two if frugal. Are you frugal Pipes?"

Piper snorted. "Larry didn't work and I was starting my own business. He hated to ask for money from his parents and I just wouldn't from mine. I made some good money producing in California before I moved back to New York. Grandmother had a stroke and I wanted to be closer to home. I met Larry two months after I moved back. We lived off that for three years," Piper said with some pride. Alex didn't flinch when she said Larry's name. Piper was going to try and not flinch when Alex told her more about Rhonda. It felt good to tell her more of their time apart. It was kinda nice that they had new stories to tell one another.

Alex though had been pretty tight lipped about her escapades after she left. The story she told while they were in SEG was the first glimpse Piper got to her world after they broke up and Piper left. Her job must have been tense. It must have intensified to the point of constant stress and worry. Piper couldn't have lived through that with her and still been around.

"It's in that car you got stored away in your old neighborhood. You pay cash rent, years in advance to your Uncle Melvin...and then his son Henry now. Diane's old mercury...you never signed it over to you so it never shows on the books," Piper said softly. Alex sucked in a breath and squeezed her hand. She had never told Piper. It drove her crazy and so she snooped. Diane gave her pieces, by telling about how she was close with Melvin. She had dated him when Alex was little and he took a 'shine' to her. Alex told Piper that he was the closest thing she ever had to a father. Henry was the only person Alex kept up with from her old neighborhood.

"Not all of it but yeah, some...I have a few places around the world actually. You are a scary person sometimes Pipes...and it is crazy sexy on you," Alex admitted. Piper laughed and looked up at the sky.

"It was a mystery and I had to solve it. I'm glad you still keep ties there and I know you didn't start living large while you were on probation...we can do frugal in Queens if you want...but do it with me, okay?" Piper leaned over and placed her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. Alex leaned her head over and rested it on Piper's and it was warm.

"I had hoped it would work...Kubra would go to jail, I could get you to talk to me and be there to pick you up when you walked out of this fuckin' cage," Alex said in a voice that was thick but still a whisper. "I thought that apartment would only be cute with you in it. I couldn't sleep without the light on, I thought about and worried about you constantly. I fucked up and got right back in here."

"I got you back in here," Piper pointed out. It wasn't something she wanted to bring up but she was loving the honesty between them. To tell the truth, they'd been really honest with each other after Alex made those rules. Piper liked it and it was hurting her not telling Alex the details of what she was trying to pull off but so much of it depended on Alex having no real choice but to go with it.

Alex nodded and then smiled a bit. "I didn't want to leave you. I cried all the way back to New York after I left you. I was so scared he'd send someone to hurt you. Aydin was here days before I noticed him...you didn't see him either. Everyone fucking knows we're...ya know...Vauseman," Alex said with a roll of her eyes.

"Vause-whatthefuck?" Piper said lifting her shoulders and shooting up her eyebrows. Alex grinned and looked at her in a way that said she knew something Piper didn't know. Alex loved to read but her mind was always busy with business details. Piper would read something and ramble off facts in any conversation. Alex always got a thrill when she knew something Piper didn't. When they traveled it was a ton of things because Alex knew the areas and the people around her. She would study a city relentlessly for hours if they were staying there.

"Well to be fair, some use " Pipex". Murphy told me those are our ship names. Like Bradgelina and the like...it has something to do with nosey ass people pulling for us to be together. I think maybe someone wrote a story while we were in SEG and that started it," Alex explained.

"Not Suzanne, please," Piper shot back. "And I like Pipex better."

"Yeah but in prison we go by last names...and no..how was it explained to me. Oh yeah, Craz- um Suzanne, only writes AU or Sci-fi...slash...oh I can't remember but she doesn't write about mere fucked up queer girls," Alex relished in giving her the details.

"So someone else wrote it?" Piper looked around suddenly wondering if this little talk would end up in someone's hand at night in their bunks. It should have grossed her out. She had to think about it.

"Ha! You don't know if you like the idea of someone rubbing one out to imagining us fucking. I'm sorry to tell you baby, but I'm sure Boo has been doing that for almost a year now," Alex said with a grin. Piper laughed at the idea and was strangely turned on by it. "I fucking love you my lil perv."

Piper beamed. She loved it when Alex just blurted out her feelings. It made her feel warm inside. "Don't worry about me. I didn't testify. If he hurts me he will be sending the message that you're fucked even if you keep your mouth shut," Piper explained. She wasn't worried for herself. Alex had only testified because Piper told her she was going to tell the truth. Over and over they keep inadvertently fucking each other over and she wasn't going to let fear of something happening to her hurt Alex in any way.

"Well, as I was saying, I've been thinking some and our new jobs may not be Caputo wanting to fuck with us but...perhaps it is the safest place for us. You will spend your work day locked up in one spot with a guard watching and I will not leave Caputo's sight. It is kind of like he extended SEG out of the room," Alex observed. Piper thought for a moment about what she said and had to admit she could be right.

They had to go back inside when the guard started to yell. They didn't get a moment together for the next thirty-six hours. It was hard for Piper listening to the snoring of the women around her she had to concentrate to hear Alex breathe. She wanted to climb in her bunk and snuggle up close to her but she couldn't. It made her feel better to know her head rested on the key to her safety. Work was awful because Piper was bored. She just handed them tools and put them back. It was nice to be with Nicky again. The new guard was much better. He actually knew what he was doing and he never made lewd comments or felt the girls up. There was a random inspection of the place and one of the guards felt Piper up but he didn't it behind his back. This let Piper know he would have objected.

Each day they ate lunch and Piper had to eat in the cage each day. It was wearing on her and though she could believe that Caputo kept Alex safe in his office she knew her job was punishment. She was ancy after every shift and kept under close guard until she was back on the dorm. After a week of this, she was looking forward to the weekend. Cal and her mother were coming to visit. Piper was looking forward to seeing them actually. She and Alex ate dinner together each day that week. She actually liked her job because she got to read files and learn the inner workings of the corporation that runs the prison. Piper knew that would come in handy if Alex could access good information. She cut out after work to run. O'Neil and Bell were out in the yard so she felt safe. She had to build up her endurance because of her long inactivity. It was nice to run and feel the air on her face though. She went straight into the showers when she was finished. There was just enough time for a quick wash off before she went to dinner. Piper knew the water would be cold at that time of day but it was alright with her.

She liked the quiet time because she could think. Alex was in their cube reading and didn't really acknowledge Piper when she popped inside to get her bag and other uniform. It was kind of normal and slightly domestic. Piper couldn't help but smile. She stepped out of the shower and was startled by someone standing right by her shower.

It was that same skinny assed girl that spoke to her at the phones. She wasn't even trying to seem friendly this time. Piper was aware of her but hardened her expression to show she wasn't startled or afraid. "You're a little close, back off." Piper's tone didn't leave any room for discussion. She was too close to her.

"You're one hard woman to get to...you see, I visited here a few weeks prior to my returning here. This is my second time back at the Litch. The first time I fell for this amazing woman and you...you fucked her over and sent her to Max. That is why your sorry ass is gonna die," she told Piper in a cold tone. With that she slashed out with her right hand, aiming for Piper's side and she felt a sharp sting. Piper reacted with her fists and slammed her head against the railing. The girl, fuck Piper didn't even know her name, she twisted her hand as she fell and there was such intense pain Piper thought she may pass out. She didn't though. She reached up to keep herself upright by clinging to the stall and then she back peddled out of there. She was holding her head and the shiv was on the tile beside her. Piper turned to head out of the bathroom, clutching the warm stain at her side. She knew it went too deep and she knew it wasn't going to be good.

She had to get to Alex. She had to tell her what she needed to know before it was too late. Piper hunched over as she passed people and made her way as fast as she could do their cube. Nicky wasn't in sight and Red was in the kitchen. Alex was alone reading on the bed when Piper leaned over to shake her.

Alex looked up from her book and pushed up her glasses. She smiled at Piper in a way that made her heart skip a beat. Piper couldn't help but wince as a wash of pain covered her. She had to reach up with her other hand to keep herself from falling down there. Alex fixed her eyes on Piper's bloody hand.

"Don't worry...you can take me to the infirmary in a minute, first...though first you got to make me a promise..." was all she got out before she fell to her knees. She had heard some heartbreaking sounds in her short life. Nothing...nothing compared to sound she heard from Alex's mouth as she sunk to the floor of their cube.

"Piper!"

** PIP- Piper in Peril...gotta love it! Thank you for reading and thank you for leaving the review I know you're going to want to leave after reading my chapter. So please, leave a review and I hope everyone is having a great Fall season. Blessed Be, Fae***