Chapter Two

Alex knew it was selfish to bring Piper with her. But it wasn't as selfish as what Piper did. Out in the real world, Alex had a fighting chance to protect them both. In Litchfield she was trapped. It didn't matter that the "guard" was dead. Kubra would send someone else. And if she got put in SHU she wouldn't even be safe there, because that would make it even easier for a guard to kill her.

Her only option was to completely disappear. Piper was her only family left. Even if they didn't end up together in the end, she wasn't ready to say goodbye to her forever yet. She could almost justify bringing her by all of the cruel things Piper had done to her. Alex scoffed to herself. Everyone wanted to believe they were a good person.

"I have some money stashed away," Alex said. "It should be enough for us to live, pretty comfortably for a few years."

Piper looked around nervously. They were sitting on a fallen tree trunk in the woods, waiting for one of Alex's "friends" to pick them up. Alex had used Piper's prison phone to call them. They were apparently a tech whizz, and had been able to get their coordinates from the phone.

"I know a guy who can make us fake IDs, more than that actually. We can be out of the country in a day. We can have new identities in a week."

Alex took Piper's hand, but looked into her eyes, asking for permission. Piper looked back, just as questioningly, until finally, she made a decision and rested her head on Alex's shoulder.

Now that they were outside of prison, alone together in the forest, Piper felt the identity that she had constructed for herself, the tough cruel bitch in charge, crumble away. It left her feeling vulnerable. But also a bit less pissed off.

"Why didn't you do this before? Why did you even go to prison?"

Alex shrugged and smirked. "I was turning over a new leaf. After you left...after my mother died...a lot of shit went down. It wasn't even approaching the word "fun" anymore. It was terrifying. I thought that maybe, if I played by the rules the rules would protect me, you know?" Alex scoffed sadly. "Justice is fucked, but if Kubra can run free, then so can we."

"So your still that wild, bad-ass criminal I fell in love with," Piper smirked. She looked up and touched the blood on Alex's face. "I can't believe what that bastard did to you. I wish he was still alive so I could strangle him with my bare hands."

"God aren't you bloodthirsty," Alex scoffed and smiled. And where was all that protectiveness when I needed you? Alex thought. Oh yeah, I forgot, my paranoia wasn't hot for you. You only like me when I'm covered in the blood of my enemies.

Piper looked at her seriously. "I really am sorry."

Alex shrugged. "Prison can do strange things to people. Sometimes, when people have to live in horrible conditions, when their not even treated like they are human, they do things that they never would have thought they were capable of. You didn't have any power in there. So you got it wherever you could."

"Can you forgive me?"

"Forgiveness takes time. But luckily, we have a lot of that now."

Piper nodded. She still had a lot that she needed to forgive Alex for. There relationship could never be without conflict, it was too passionate for that. But maybe, working together to survive would bring them back to each other, in a way that they hadn't been with each other in years.

-A-P-A-

They stayed in a pretty shitty motel. They changed their clothes on the ride there. They didn't stay at the motel just for lack of money (it would take time for Alex to retrieve her cash from whatever bank account she had hidden it in) they stayed their more so that they would be less likely to have questions asked, to be traceable, to be found.

"I'll sleep on the floor," Alex said.

"Don't be ridiculous," Piper said.

"Technically, we're still not back together," Alex teased.

"Fuck you."

Alex's smile widened. "God, it's been so long since we've slept together."

"I didn't miss it."

"Really?" Alex raised an eyebrow.

"No."

They slipped into bed and Alex held Piper tightly. Piper dreamed of sunshine and the sound of water dripping off of distant roses.

-A-P-A-P-

"So, wait, how did you get the body past all of those people?" Piper asked. They were on a long road trip, and so Alex took the opportunity to go into more detail about her story.

Alex shrugged. "The yard was completely empty when we left the shed. Not a guard in sight. We went through the forest down to the water, got there pretty fast. If anyone did see us, they must just have not realized he was dead, thought it was a joke or something. Sometimes, people don't see what's right in front of them, they refuse to look, because it would disrupt the sunny day."

Piper leaned closer to Alex. "You never do."

Alex let out a small laugh and closed the distance for the kiss. Kissing Piper, looking into her large eyes. She had missed her kiss, but not so much that it hurt too much to love.

Being kissed by Alex, being held by her protective assertive lips, a butterfly of happiness came alive in Piper.

Alex rested her head on Piper's shoulder, and Piper placed a protective arm around Alex. As much as it hurt her, because she wasn't sure how, she would support Alex. She wouldn't let her own weakness destroy the love of her life.

Author's Note: Okay so I lied, it's not a one-shot. Half lied I guess. I just read over the first chapter and thought it was lacking enough detail for it to qualify as shitty writing. This chapter wasn't that great either, but that's mostly because I'm still stuck in the emotional pain that is season 3. I mean seriously, Laura Prepon deserves like 500 Oscars just for her expression when Alex watches her friend get shot, and like a million more for her whole performance as Alex's character.

Okay so, I hope this was somewhat readable. Review!