A/N: Thank you for your reviews. I wont lie and say that when I saw that I'd reached over 100 reviews, I did a little celebratory dance. I really appreciate each and every review, I especially love reading your opinions on how things are progressing. I have found this week that unless I re-watch OITNB, it's very easy to just allow the characters to take their own shape rather than the shape and personality that makes them the characters we know and love. Or at least I tell myself that re-watching episodes an my favourite scenes over and over is merely research, and not at all bordering unhealthy obsession..

Chapter 15 – Maybe.

As she pulled into the parking lot of the abandoned factory, Alex looked down to the phone in her lap. She had been on speaker since leaving her apartment, updating Kim with her location. Apparently she was being watched but she couldn't see any other car or person around.

"I thought you were supposed to be manning this place," she asked, unimpressed that he had not kept to his promise.

"They're there," Kim spoke simply. Alex squinted and looked up to the windows trying to see any sign of somebody on watch. But she couldn't see anybody. The car-park and the factory looked still. She heard the sound of an engine growing louder and informed Kim of their arrival.

"Don't hang up, put your phone in your pocket so that I can hear."

Alex did as he said, slipping the phone into the pocket of her jeans. She watched as a white van parked up near to the factory entrance. She took a deep breath, pushed open her car door and began walking towards the van. She didn't need to see the four men who climbed out of the van to know that Kubra was not there. She knew that she was going to have to allow herself to be kidnapped. Kubra wouldn't come to her, he would have her brought to him.

She looked around, hoping to see somebody. But she saw nothing. Maybe Kim had lied. Maybe he never intended to go after Kubra. Maybe it hadn't ever been Kim she'd spoken too. A hundred maybes clouded her mind, she felt herself begin to panic. She rubbed her clammy palms on the back pockets of her jeans, avoiding the front pocket with her phone. Maybe Kim was there, and maybe he was listening, and maybe his men were just very well hidden. Maybe. But maybe not.

"Alex Vause," one of the men spoke her name with a sneer.

"Carlos, right?" She asked the man.

"Right."

She recognised him easily. He had been one of Kubra's guards. She remembered how his usual post had been right beside Kubra. Apparently not any more. She couldn't imagine that her kidnapping would be an operation which required the use of his best men. They were just couriers, mules really, only their cargo was live-goods rather than valuable cash or drugs. They were just collecting a person from A and taking them to B, more of an aggressive taxi service really. Plus they were kidnapping her from an abandoned factory, with no witnesses or operational cctv. A kidnap operation such as this hardly required any skill, just eye-sight and muscle.

Alex smirked, "looks as though there's been some changes to the staff."

Carlos squared his jaw, "temporarily" he spoke through tight lips.

"Sure, sure."

She couldn't help herself in mocking her kidnapper. If they were going to take her dignity, she could chip at theirs. She walked around to the back of the van and peered inside, there was a set of handcuffs on the floor. She reached inside and picked them up, locking one around her wrist.

"Shall we?" She asked as she stepped into the van.

The men looked at her perplexed. Hostages were never usually so willing to be taken.

Alex sat down in the van, and simply smiled back at their confused faces. She casually held up her wrists for them to lock her handcuffs. She'd known all along that the plan had been to kidnap her and take her to Kubra. So why fight? Why waste her energy?

"Told you she was odd," Carlos spoke to the other men as he entered the van and locked the handcuffs.

"Hot though," one of the other men replied.

"Do you think?" the other man answered, not convinced.

"Oh yeah, I'd smash her back doors in."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "sorry Fella's, I'm strictly vagetarian."

"Oh, you're killing me," the man responded rubbing a hand over the bulge in his pants.

Alex blinked.

"It's not rape if you yell surprise," the man spoke as he climbed into the van and sat beside her. He placed a hand on her knee and squeezed.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Alex warned him.

"I don't think you're in any position to be dealing out threats," the man spoke with a wicked smile.

Alex rolled her eyes and with a swift movement she elbowed him in the eye, "you were saying?" she asked.

"Fucking bitch!" He growled. Alex lifted her feet in the air, waiting for him to lunge at her, but he backed away holding a hand across his eye. Another man entered the van and took his place opposite Alex.

"Phone?" he asked, barely concealing his amusement over the injury she had inflicted on the other man.

Alex struggled with her hands being cuffed, but managed to slide a hand into her pocket, she quickly clicked the power button to end the call and passed the phone across. She had no idea whether Kim had anybody nearby to follow them, she could only hope. He threw the phone out to Carlos who let it drop to the floor before he stamped his heal down on the screen, and then again, and again until the phone was in pieces.

Carlos leaned in and slammed the doors shut. Alex was in darkness. She had no idea where she was going or what would happen to her, but she knew that sometime soon she would be face to face with Kubra. She wondered about what he would ask, or rather tell her to do. She wondered about Piper and Nikki, about where they were being held, whether they had been hurt, whether she would ever see them again. She couldn't help but feel guilty. Hours passed, the two men didn't speak, not to each other and not to her. Occasionally the darkness was disturbed by the bright light of a phone screen lighting up their faces as they broke their boredom with a phone game or a text conversation. Alex shuffled into a laying position, her body numb and aching.

She tried to ignore the guilt she felt for putting Piper and Nikki in life threatening danger. How could they ever forgive her for this? She wouldn't. She wouldn't ever forgive herself. But maybe, maybe if Kim had meant his promises, maybe Kubra would soon be dead, and there would no longer be any danger. Maybe. Piper's life, their life together, relied on maybe. Maybe Piper would forgive her. Maybe, if they all survived this mess. Maybe.

The word 'Maybe' was beginning to lose all meaning.

It was difficult to tell what time of day it was when Piper woke. With the windows boarded up and no access to a clock, time seemed to stand still. It was only when a bowl of soggy cereal was passed to her that she guessed it must be some time in the morning. She spooned the sloppy rice cereal into her mouth, the milk was warm but not off and she felt thankful for that at least. She nudged Nikki so that she could eat her cereal before it turned to mush.

"Quite well behaved these ones," one of the men spoke as he watched them eat their breakfast.

"Apparently Vause handed herself across, put her own cuffs on," the other laughed.

"No shit?!"

Piper paused at the sound of her name, she wondered if they would say anything else.

"Evans took an elbow though."

"Good that cunt runs his mouth far too much. I'm surprised Kubra even allowed him to go."

"Probably just wanted to piss Carlos off."

The men laughed.

Piper returned to her cereal. Alex had been taken too. It was definite now. Alex would not be coming to rescue them. They were on their own.

"Shit," Nikki whispered as she pushed her bowl aside, "what are we going to do now?"

Piper looked up to the ceiling, to the boarded up window, to the open door guarded by their abductors, looking for a sign of weakness, looking for a way out. But it was pointless. This place was a concrete prison, with metal where there should be glass in the windows.

"We're going to escape," Piper whispered so quietly that she barely heard her own voice.

Nikki looked to the metal window and then to the guards stood outside. There would be no way to escape.

"I don't think so Blondie."

"Well, I'm not just sitting here waiting to die," Piper hissed in a whisper.

"You don't know they're going to kill us," Nikki countered, though she didn't sound confident in her words.

"You don't know that they wont."

"I know that they will if we try to run."

"You two are looking very cosy," one of the guards had walked into the room. He dropped a bottle of water on the bed, "drink it slowly, you get two bathroom breaks a day."

He walked back out and complained to his colleague that he was bored.

"That's how," Piper said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Nikki shook her head, unwilling to listen to whatever elaborate plan the blonde was concocting.

"They have to unlock us when we go to the bathroom."

Nikki shuffled so that she was laid back down. Piper couldn't believe that Nikki wasn't even willing to listen to her. Nikki was wild, she was fearless, she was all talk.

"We just need to catch them off guard."

"Piper, give it up," Nikki's voice sounded tired, bored.

"Urgh!" Piper balled her fist in frustration and punched the mattress.

"Keep it down!" One of the men shouted back to her, his voice just as loud if not louder.

Piper lay down beside Nikki, unwilling to let this drop.

"How can you just lay there and wait?!" Piper whispered.

"Look, these guys managed to track Alex down years after she escaped, then kidnap us, and her too by the sounds of it, they know what they're doing. Two girls who work at Book Ends Coffee Shop aren't going to outsmart these fuckers."

Nikki had a fair point, but Piper wasn't saying that it would be easy, nor that it would be successful. Simply that it was worth a try, even if it did mean their life. They were probably going to be killed anyway, once Alex had done as they asked, they were probably all going to be killed.

Piper closed her eyes, and found that with nothing to do, with only the same pattern of thoughts, it was easier than one would expect to fall asleep. She woke an hour or two later when a foot prodded her leg.

"Bathroom break."

She rose and followed the man through the apartment and into the bathroom. There was a faded blue towel folded on the sink and a toilet roll on top. She held her handcuffs up to him waiting to be unlocked.

"No."

"I can't... you know, with these on" she used her head to point to the tissue and then to the toilet.

"Think of it as something new you learned to do today," the man responded.

"Well then, can I have some privacy?"

The man turned to face the door, "knock yourself out."

Piper did as best as she could with the toilet roll, and just as she began to pull her t-shirt over her head she realised that unless he released the cuffs would become trapped at the cuffs on her wrists. She pulled up her pants and pulled down her t-shirt, feeling a little victorious in her discovery.

"Excuse me," she spoke.

The man turned around, "what now?"

"If I pull this t-shirt up over my head and then down along my arms, it's just going to get caught on the cuffs."

"And?"

"And it will get wet in the shower, I can't put it back on if it's wet."

"It will dry."

Was he for real?! Did he expect her to just sit around in this concrete box wearing a wet t-shirt?

"I guess I will skip the shower then," she told him. He shrugged and opened the bathroom door, she past him and walked back to the bedroom.

Nikki stood up and followed the man into the bathroom. When she returned she looked furious, and the man looked mildly amused.

"Fucking sick fuckers," Nikki mumbled as she flopped back down to the mattress.

"He didn't unlock yours either then?"

"No, and I'm not fucking freezing my tits off, I'd rather smell like ass than spend the rest of the day catching pneumonia."

"I don't get it!" Piper exclaimed, "they managed to break into our apartment, shove us to the floor, sedate us and bring us here, yet they're scared of letting us shower un-cuffed?!"

"See, we aint going anywhere," Nikki folded her hands across her chest as she looked up to the ceiling, "face it Chapman, sooner or later we're gonna die, and its probably going to be in this poky ass room and nobody will even discover our bodies until they finally knock this place to the ground."

"Thanks," Piper replied, trying not to think about her body rotting in the decaying building.

"Anytime."

Alex looked up at the old building in font of her. She could see that the residents of this neighbourhood had long since moved on. Another "development" which had been started and left unfinished. Another place for criminals to operate in privacy.

"Really?" she asked as she walked towards the entrance, "and I was half expecting the Hilton."

She noticed the chain on the floor, and pushed open the door. She stepped out of the morning sun into the dark corridor. Kubra wouldn't be here. For some reason, though she wasn't sure why, she was being held here.

She waited for Carlos to lead the way and he did, down through the littered, graffiti covered corridor, past the broken elevators and to the fire escape. Up one flight of stairs to the first floor, up another flight of stairs to the second floor and then down the corridor, until they reached door number 226.

She walked into the apartment and gave it a look around, "nice place, a little more minimalistic than I prefer my furnishings, but it all comes down to personal taste, right?"

Carlos ignored her, the other three men just looked at her with differing expressions of confusion.

She moved into the back room and looked up at the metal sheet covering what she expected had once been a window, "amazing view," she commented, "I think I'm going to like it here."

She took her place on the mattress and looked up at Carlos, "so where's Kubra?"

"You will see him tomorrow."

"I can hardly wait," Alex stretched out across the mattress, "do you mind? I didn't sleep so well last night."

Carlos folded his arms across his chest, "you think you're so funny, don't you Vause?"

Alex shrugged, looking at the cracks on the ceiling above. She'd never considered herself as being particularly funny, but she enjoyed her sense of humour.

"You always were a little too big for your boots. But look at you now," he sneered, "waiting to jump through hoops for Kubra to save your little girlfriend."

Alex pushed herself up onto her elbows, "And look at you, doing a rookie's job. What did you do to piss him off?"

The man's eyes narrowed, "keep it shut, Vause?"

"Or what?" Alex smiled, she knew that they wouldn't harm her. Not yet anyway. Whatever Kubra wanted her for, he did not want her bruised and battered. On the street battle wounds were like medals, but for those at the top, those making the big deals, it looked bad for business.

"Or I will make personally make sure that the end is long and painful."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "sounds kinky."

Carlos turned and left the room, taking the driver with him.

"So what do we do now?" the man with the fresh bruise spoke to his partner.

"I guess we babysit."

"Don't mind me," Alex called to them jovially, "I'm just going to lay here like a good little hostage and catch some beauty sleep."

A bottle of water was dropped by her feet and then the door was closed and she could hear the sound of a key locking her inside. Alex closed her eyes. She knew it was the early hours of the morning, and judging by the amount of time they had been driving she assumed that they could be as far away as Vegas, or Sacremento, perhaps even Pheonix. At least it wasn't Mexico, they hadn't gone through any border control. She decided the most likely location would be somewhere on the outer skirts of Vegas,
there was plenty of business opportunities for Kubra in Vegas.

Alex had expected that perhaps now, in a room with no noise, in a still room where she could have some privacy, that maybe she would feel a little calmer, but the silence seemed to just allow her thoughts to become louder and louder. There were so many thoughts. So many maybes. Where were Piper and Nikki now? Kubra's men tended not to shy away from violence, so there was every chance they could be hurt. But not dead. Not dead.

She would ask. She would ask to speak to them, or to see them. She would ask for some sort of evidence to make sure they were both OK.

Alex sat up and unscrewed the lid from the bottle of water and brought it up to her lips. She hadn't realised she was thirsty until the water filled her mouth, and then suddenly it was as hough she had an unquenchable thirst.

She thought about all of the possibilities that lay ahead. Her meeting with Kubra wouldn't be an execution, though she supposed if she didn't do as he said, it could well be. Of course she would do what he asked of her, though Kubra could be cruel, he could ask her to do anything. He could make her do despicable things if he really wanted to punish her. If Carlos, his favoured security guard had somehow been demoted to the lower rank jobs such as kidnap, then what would he do to his best importer who ran away with $70,000? She sighed as she decided that it was pointless trying to predict what could happen from this point forward, she would find out tomorrow, and she would do it. She would do anything to keep Piper and Nikki safe.

With her head cradled in her hands she thought about the two women. Kubra must have been watching her for a while, deciding whether the two women were worth it to her. He knew Piper, he had actually met Piper, he would recognise at once that the blonde was the most important part in Alex's life. He had probably assumed Alex had ran away to be with her, and that they had been together the entire time she had been missing. But Nikki, why Nikki? Had she simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or was she just further insurance? Additional weight to the leverage.

How could she have let this happen?! How could she have been so stupid? How could she have been naïve to believe that she could escape the Cartel? Yes, she had been successful in shaking them off for some time, for a few years, but not forever.

Her thoughts continued to run away from her, picking up more velocity, growing wilder and wilder. She considered the possibility that the Cartel had known where she was all along and that they had just been waiting, biding their time, waiting for the moment when she finally had something to live for, something to fight for. She took another gulp of water, and tightly squeezed her eyes shut. She shook away the tangle of implausible thoughts. She had to keep calm. She had to be calm if she was going to stand any chance of saving Piper and Nikki. She had to focus. She had to clear her mind of the mess, there was no room for guilt, no room for "what if's" and "maybes", there was no room for doubt or assumptions.

What happened, had happened. It was done. She couldn't go back and change it. All she could do now was accept the situation for what it was, and deal with whatever came next as it happened. She would do what she needed to do. Whatever happened to Alex, didn't really matter. Piper and Nikki would be freed. She had to be hopeful. Whether the rivals kept to their word, whether they were successful in their assassination attempt on Kubra, or whether Alex had to do whatever task or mission that Kubra told her to, she would make sure that Piper and Nikki walked away from this with nothing more than bad memories.

Alex stood up and began walking around the room for lack of anything better to do. She needed to stop thinking. Carefully she began placing her feet heal to toe, and counted how many steps it took to do a circle of the room, then she she tried doing the same thing backwards, and just as she decided on her next "exercise" she heard the metallic sound of the door being unlocked. She looked up as the door was pushed open and the man, the same man who had sat opposite her in the van, entered the room. He looked back at her stood in the middle of the room, but he said nothing about it. He had a box in his hand and instead of dumping it on the mattress, he handed it over to her.

"Lunch," he spoke, turning to leave.

"Thanks," Alex looked inside the thin box to find a burger and fries, she sniffed the greasy food appreciatively, "what, no ketchup?" she asked.

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a sachet of ketchup and a small packet containing a wet wipe. He offered them to her without speaking. Alex took them and looked at the man with curiosity. He was fairly young, she supposed. Not as rough around the edges as the other men, but he had a slightly worn look about him, as though life hadn't been too easy on him. She supposed that most people in the Cartel came from troubled and difficult pasts, otherwise they would all have framed degrees in their hallways and legitimate means of making money. But the man seemed different, he seemed to look at her differently. She gave him a smile, and he gave her a sad smile back. He didn't like his job, he didn't want this life. Alex had briefly known that feeling, just before she'd left.

"Are Piper and Nikki Ok?" She asked him.

The man watched her for a moment as he tried to decide whether he could share this information, he gave a single nod of the head.

Alex felt relief sweep through her, she didn't know why, perhaps it was his sad eyes, but she believed him.

The man left her and closed the door behind him. As Alex tucked into the burger and found that it was still warm, it occurred to her that wherever she was, she couldn't be too far away from other people, she was at least close enough to a fast food restaurant or drive through. Somehow this made her feel a little more at ease. She finished the burger, downed more of the water and curled up on the mattress, willing herself to sleep.

When Alex awoke, she had the desperate need to pee. She knocked on the door and the man with the sad eyes agreed to take her. He didn't speak, and while Alex was bored and craved conversation with somebody other than herself, she assumed the man was staying quiet to avoid any conversation which could make his job even harder. She'd done it herself, she never let herself become attached to any of the mules, she learned what she needed to learn about them for the job, and nothing more. Keeping things professional just made things less messy, easier.

The day went by much like this, Alex slept as best as she could, she listened out for information in conversations, she was given a Pizza for dinner and a bottle of supermarket brand soda, and then she slept some more. When she requested another bathroom break, it was Carlos who answered the door. She could see on his watch that it was early morning. He accompanied her to the bathroom and offered her the chance to use the shower, unlocking her cuffs so that she could undress. She thought about taunting him about working the graveyard shift, but decided that he had at least been fair to her (or as fair as a kidnapper could be), and in a few hours she would be taken to Kubra. Her stomach knotted at the thought.

She returned to the mattress, hopeful that after her meeting with Kubra, she wouldn't have to spend another night there. She found herself unable to sleep, just waiting for the time to come when she would be back in the van, and driven to some remote location to meet Kubra. And then what? Would Kim's men be there to take him down? Would Piper and Nikki be there? Would-

She heard a key click in the door and then twist. She let out a low, ragged breath. Was she ready for this? She didn't know. It didn't matter. Whether she was ready for this or not, it was happening. She stood up and tried to convince herself that she was ready, she tried to fill herself with the same confidence she had shown yesterday, tried to fool herself into thinking that she had some control over the situation, although she knew that her fate, Pipers fate, and Nikki's fate was all in the hands of other people. She just didn't know whose hands held the tightest grip. The mantra of "maybe" continued through her head, she was unable to stop it, unable to calm herself. Everything else was a blur, she followed the men through the corridors, hardly noticing the pink orange of the sky as the sun rose, she climbed into the back of the truck and sat down. The doors slammed shut and she was in darkness again. But all she could think about was maybe.

Maybe everything would be OK.

Maybe.

But maybe not.