**I want to thank you all for your reviews the last few weeks. I love to read about people that have really connected with the story. You are the absolute best! Please keep it up! Peace, Fae***

Chapter Sixteen

Piper waited and it was Nicky that told her. "They said they found no evidence of wrong doing but that wouldn't keep them from freezing out accounts and dragging our name through the mud. They offered me a deal-" Nicky began.

"Us a deal, it is to the both of us. Pipex is my creation. You joined in with the stores-" Alex butted in. Piper's head went back and forth between them.

"With money I got from investing money I got from my step father, the real target of this whole fuckin' mess. I'm so sorry...my family has come back to screw us all up the ass. I fuckin' need a drink." Nicky walked over to the desk and back. Lorna got up and went to the small hot plate and started to brew tea. It reminded Piper about how they used to cook in their cube and she was stunned to hear Nicky say she wanted a drink.

"Wear a wire where?" Piper probed.

"In a meeting my step father is conducting with my brother and his shady partner. I explained he'll say nothing incriminating but they said my brother would steer him...it is crap. We gotta get him admitting that he tried to pay off a senator to shut down the investigation. The Senator's aide went to the authorities but they need more. It sucks all the way around." Nicky explained. Piper sat back and tried to process this... Pipex owned Popi. This would affect her family and livelihood. She knew that her wife and partners had poured their hearts and hope in to these stores.

"They are trying to force your stepfather to give them something they want. Are you sure he isn't connected?" Alex asked Nicky.

Nicky walked over and plopped down on the small couch near the back window. "I'm not sure of any fucking thing. I don't know these people Alex. I was an addict, living on the streets when I was arrested...then prison."

Lorna handed Nicky her tea and Piper saw how she sat up on the edge of the couch almost without thought and sipped her tea. She knew it was orange oolong because that was her favorite.

"You've spent more time with them since. Nicky, tell us...did your mom share something with you when you went to brunch?" Lorna asked. Nicky looked up and Piper could see her flinch. Lorna wasn't going to just sit in silence while all their hard work and possible freedom was put on the line.

"She was distracted and not paying me much mind. It was like it used to be and I found myself pondering drinking her mimosa. I told her I wasn't feeling well and had to go. She reached out and..." Nicky just stared off for a few moments.

"What Nichols?" Piper prompted.

"Ma took my hand all desperate like when I stood up. It freaked me out, she hadn't...ya know really been a big hugger, especially after I started stealing to pay for drugs. She looked at me, all intense..She asked if that Russian lady was a good mom to me and if she helped to keep me safe. She told me that was all she could do for me and begged me to forgive her for choosing Pablo when I was young. I jerked away and started to just go off on her... I mean I had always wanted to hear that she was sorry but it was like she was telling me now because something was wrong." Nicky stared out the window, her tea forgotten. She placed it on the desk and looked at Lorna. "I jerked away and told her it was in the past. I just left. It wasn't until I was halfway to the store that I realized...I never told her about Red. I thought maybe she had read Piper's book, but you did a great job mixing my character up...some of me here..some there. It would be hard to tell."

Piper, Alex and Lorna all looked at each other. Everyone knew Red was connected with the Russian mob. Piper and Alex knew more than they'd like to remember. Some of Red's associates had attacked the guard that raped Alex. He was still in a hospital and would never fully recover. Piper didn't lose one wink of sleep over his fate, but she did worry about it coming back to Alex. She trusted Red as much as anyone could trust someone that tried to kill you. Nicky had a different relationship with her. She was sure she wasn't the only one wondering what the connection between Nicky's mom and Red.

"How long do you have to decide?" Piper asked. No one really knew what to say to Nicky so she thought to ask for as much information as she could.

Alex responded, "We have until tomorrow at noon. The meeting has to take place quickly if they want to keep a lid on it. I think they thought we'd cave on the spot but our lawyer was a bit tougher than they thought. He called in extortion and told them he'd tell us not to help. He didn't however when we were alone. He got us more details in the process though. Nicky is the one that has to wear the initial wire. If he goes for it and incriminate himself fine...if not we are to be guaranteed immunity from financial prosecution over our initial investment." Alex looked at her best friend. Nichole looked over and shrugged at her, pretty much agreeing.

Piper didn't want Nicky to have to ruin her family over this but she had a feeling that Pablo was up to his neck in crap. She walked over to Alex and put her arms around her waist. She wanted to be close.

"Nicky, look...it is just money. We can fight them if they freeze out accounts and we can threaten to make a huge public stink about them using us to persecute family...etc. Hell, we can just start all over with a book cart at NYU. Don't do anything you can't live with or live through." Alex advised her in a tone Piper hadn't heard her use in years. It was the one she used to use when Piper would try to steer her to see a life free of crime.

"You turned evidence against a few to get time off...didn't you fear retaliation?" Lorna asked. Piper stiffened because generally it was frowned upon to ask about one's sentence. She had t remind herself they weren't sitting at a table in the chow hall of Litchfield. Here Lorna felt she could ask her wife intimate details...no one knew she'd turned Piper in for less time...well unless she'd already told Nicky.

"I was worried about Fahri but he turned against someone way scarier so I figured he had enough to worry about. The rest I wasn't worried about. There was that guy in Chicago..people I met. I mainly collaborated on places and times. My memory helped them to piece together details concerning who they were after," Alex explained softly. Piper squeezed her and nuzzled under her chin. She was worried and scared now. Nicky stood up and went to the door.

"Hey...want to go to a meeting?" Alex asked her. Nicky stopped with her hand on the knob.

"I want to go visit Red more...but I can't because they are watching me. I feel like I have no choice and that makes me want to... fuck everything makes me want to get high." Nicky mumbled. Alex kissed Piper on the lips and broke away from her gently. She walked over to Nicky and grabbed their coats.

"We're going to a much needed meeting. There is one starting in fifteen minutes down at the center. How about we meet you guys at the brownstone later?" Alex offered. She clenched her jaw and fought the urge to keep Alex close. She knew they needed each other right now.

Lorna apparently thought the same thing. "I think I'll wait here. I do have some work to do. Nicky...anything we decide...anything you decide...isn't going to change how I feel about you." Piper thought maybe she'd walk over and hug Nicky but she didn't. Nichols just smiled at Lorna and nodded softly. Lorna walked over to Alex and hugged her. Piper watched her some with a smile. "You bring her back to me." Alex nodded and she told Piper she'd see her later. Piper smiled and nodded again. She wasn't sure of her own voice. They left and Piper finally sat down on the couch. Lorna sat in the desk chair and stared at the door.

"I worry everyday that she will slip. Those fucking bastards know she has a drug problem," Lorna said through clenched teeth. She looked to the door and wondered again if she wasn't an idiot to live in constant fear that Alex would return to using.

"I was there when Red picked her to help. It didn't seem like she knew in advance but you never know about Red. She plays her cards closed at the vest." Lorna said in all seriousness. Piper thought about correcting her but decided she liked Lorna's phrase better. She didn't feel the urge to play idiom police at the moment.

Piper nodded again and stood up. "I'm going to head back to the brownstone I have work to do as well. I'll speak with you later today I'm sure," Piper told her quietly. They hugged and held on for moments to try and comfort one another. Piper headed up the street and pondered hailing another cab. It was long walk and she didn't want to take the chance of running into anyone. She wanted to run, but she knew her doctor wanted her to wait another few weeks before she ran any real distance. Alex had asked her to wait at least until the weather cleared.

She hailed a cab and went home. She was pacing the living room, trying to think about the time when Alex was locked away from her. This entire mess could blow up in their faces and land them dead. She didn't have all the facts but her damn imagination was running wild. She would lie on that sofa and imagine Alex in all kind of different roles at her new prison. Mainly, in the wee hours of the night, she would imagine Alex fucking some girl in the laundry room or on her worse nights, the chapel.

She even worried Alex would go back to taking or dealing drugs. They were in the prison but what you had to do for them was oftentimes disgusting. She had seen more than one pill head come out of a closet wiping her mouth for a fix. One dark night right after she left Larry, Piper imagined Alex being made to suck off a guard and got so sick she threw up on the coffee table.

The feeling she had now was close to that dread. None of this was under her control. She had to stand by and watch as her friends were forced to work with a very government that had sent them to prison. They wanted Nicky to help them put away members of her own family.

Granted she hated Pablo and PJ...Pablo Jr? perhaps, was a stranger to her. Still, it was a dirty deal. Piper knew enough now to know that their lawyer could tie them up in court for a few years but they'd run out of money soon enough. If Nicky didn't cooperate they would most likely lose all their money in a couple of years.

Well not all. Piper made a good portion herself with her book and job. She made a pretty penny speaking at events as well. The difference would be she'd have to work harder. Alex was so worth it.

Piper pulled out her old machine and started to work out. She tried not to think about how working more would leave less time for Alex, their therapy and the possiblity of a family. Piper just tried to move slowly on the machine and not run though her body screamed for the release.

After a workout where she probably over did it, Piper went to work. She had several emails to complete and two conference calls with her publisher. They were going to release the book and were working on new cover. She was trying to pick an artist. It was getting late when Alex called.

"Hey, where are you?" Piper asked. She was reaching for the phone to call her when it rang.

"We're at the Brooklyn Book 'Em. She is going to do it." Alex said. Piper was happy she was straight to the point.

"Is she alright?" Piper asked.

"No. This is all kinds of fucked up Pipes and neither of us trust the Feds not to screw us over just because they can."

Piper had to agree. "I love you Alex. Did you eat?"she asked. Alex told her they stopped for coffee at a diner afterwards. She knew Alex refused to drink the coffee at most of the meetings they attend. She called it hyped up caffeine sludge crack.

"I'll be waiting with a bowl of hot soup, you know the soup mom froze that you love...a glass of wine and a warm embrace? How does that sound, wife?" Piper whispered to her through the phone. She was worried as well and it showed in the gentle way she needed to be with Alex.

"Sounds like the best offer I've had all day. I'll see you soon." With that Alex hung up and Piper felt her heart race at the thought of her woman coming home to her. She hoped that feeling never faded.