Chapter 5

You were kind enough to say hello,

I figured I could at least say goodbye.

I was thinkin' about telling you that I was in love with her.

I'm still in love with her.

So take this photograph

and I'll take this empty frame.

I wont be coming back,

you're not the one to blame.

Wait, wait. Wait.

Let me set the record straight.

I was never really yours in the first place.

There's no place I'd rather be than home.

With her beside me, I'm home.

Piper slid out of the backseat of the taxi, handing the driver the cash for her fare. She straightened and wiped her sweaty palms on the pockets of her jeans. She studied her reflection in a nearby shop window. Seeing herself in regular clothes was so strange now. She felt out of her element. Yesterday was harder than any of them would like to admit, trying to pick out clothes with the money that Charlie had left for them in the dufflebag. Though the feeling of relief she'd experienced with finally throwing those god-awful 'granny-panties' in the trash had been magnificent. She smiled to herself as she turned to make her way down the sidewalk.

She was on a mission. There was a reason she had taken a 25 minute cab ride from the hotel. Alone.

She had seen the anger overtake Alex's face when she'd announced that she wanted to call Larry.
"Alex, it's not what you think." She'd protested. "I know he'll pass the word that I'm OK. He'll call my mother and Polly. I don't think I could handle dealing with that right now."

"And the second he remembers that you're with me? Who else will he tell? Don't be fucking stupid, Piper. You know he'd turn the cops on me in a half-second if it meant getting you away from me." Alex pushed her glasses up to rest on top of her head.

"And what? Risk me getting caught too and sent away with more time? Larry can do a lot of stupid shit, but I don't see him putting me in danger."

"Oh, you mean like making a public national broadcast of how you feel and what you think about every fucking person you're locked up with? Labeling them murderers or shining them in a negative light. He could've gotten you fucking killed, Piper!" Piper knew that she couldn't argue that. Larry had a tendency to be extremely naive, sometimes to a fault.

"Come on, Alex... It'll be fine. We're leaving here soon, anyway. I'll stay in control of the conversation and I'll hang up at the first sign of opposition." Alex sighed and glared into her eyes, knowing she'd already set her mind to it.

A fairly quick internet search on the hotel lobby's public computer had given her a list of the addresses for the few remaining pay phones in the city. She jotted down the address of the one that was the furthest away from their hotel. She was already taking a chance with making the call, she didn't want to bring the feds right to their door stop.

Alex became just as angry again when Piper had informed her that she was going alone.

Before she could even voice her protest, Piper had cut her off.

"No, don't even start. I'm not going to put any of you at risk. You've already risked everything for me, I can't ask you to do it again. I'll go straight there, make the call, then come straight back. Easy peasy." She tried to give Alex a reassuring smile, but deep down she knew it didn't matter. She knew that Alex would begin pacing the moment that she stepped out of the door and probably wouldn't stop until she returned.

She stood in front of the large, seemingly prehistoric phone. She was actually surprised there were still any left in the city. Since cell phones were so commonplace now, the only people she associated pay phones with were the Hollywood portrayed drug dealers and people running from the law. She laughed and rolled her eyes at the irony of it. Never in a million years did she ever see herself in a situation like the one she was currently navigating.

This. This was not her life. This wasn't what all those bedtime stories she'd been read growing up had promised. Her parents had never warned her about the possibility of her life turning out like this. No class in high school or college prepared her for this. No one is ever made aware of how your life could actually turn out. Throughout childhood, you're surrounded by nothing but fairy tales with happy endings that you try to bring with you as you grow up. You see all these horrible things on TV or in passing, but rest easily in the comfortable confines of your own ignorance, knowing that something like that could never happen to you. Never taking in consideration that for someone out there, that is their reality. That is their life. Their existence.

Somewhere out there, at that very moment, there was a little blonde haired girl, all ready for bed in her princess PJ's, listening in awe as her daddy reads her a fantastic story about finding her prince charming and sunsets and happiness. No one dares to entertain the thought that in a little over ten years, daddy's little princess gets mixed in with the wrong kids because she has a crush on a boy that she knows daddy wont approve of. Next thing you know, you're looking at your daughter through the metal bars of a jail cell, giving her an ultimatum of your acceptance while she tries to hide the track marks on the insides of her arms. But no one considers that because those types of things don't happen in real life.

None of the stories she'd remembered hearing ever involved going to prison, escaping and living the rest of your life on the run...

She didn't remember dialing the number, so when she heard the phone ring, she jumped. Her heart pounded in her chest, harder with every ring that sounded in the headset. She was about to hang up when she heard the click as the other end of the phone line was opened.

"Hello?" His voice was groggy sounding. Like how it sounded when he hadn't been getting much sleep, rather than having just woke up. Piper fought away the feeling of guilt that filled her. "Hello?" He answered again, growing impatient.

"L... Larry, it's me." Tears stung her eyes. The familiarity of his voice had caused her chest to tighten.

"Piper? Piper, is that you?!" he was immediately more alert. "Are you ok? Where are you?"

She nodded her head, forgetting that he couldn't see her. "Yes, I'm ok. I'm fine. I'm safe."

"Jesus Christ, Piper! What the fuck were you thinking? The FBI has been coming by here and calling me every day. They keep asking me questions about who you know or where you could've went." His voice was sharper now. She knew him well enough to know that his hands were all over the place. He'd always talked with his hands when he was excited or upset.

"The FBI?"

"Yeah, the fucking FBI. You escaped from a federal prison, Piper. What did you expect?" Piper wasn't really sure what she'd been expecting. Everything was still in the process of sinking in. "They told me that you were with her."

Well, that didn't take long. She rolled her eyes. "Larry, don't start. I was calling to let you know I was OK. I'm sure Polly and mom have been worried."

"Is this really what you want Piper?" His voice was growing more angry. She could tell he'd been doing his best to hold all of this in.

"What are you talking about, Larry?" Piper said, exasperated. This was not how she was hoping this conversation would go. She turned and leaned against the side of the building.

"Her. Are you really in love with her?"

"Larry, I told you that I was in love with her. And to be honest, I don't think I ever stopped loving her. I'm sorry that I hurt you, you didn't deserve that and it was never my intention. It's only been lately that I've began to realize a lot of things about my life. But I can't change how I feel. It's not because of anything you've done, you're not to blame in all this."

"I should've fucking known. I should've just ended things the minute I found out she was in there with you. I knew this was going to happen, Piper." The severity of his voice caught her off guard. She started to speak, but her voice caught in her throat. "No, Piper. No, I don't want your fucking excuses or your pity me fucking attitude." He growled.

Piper's mouth fell open.

"Excuse me?" She stood up off the wall. She could feel the anger and adrenaline coarse through her.

"You heard me, Pipes. I'm sick and tired of playing the part of the understanding fiance. I'm done." She waited. She knew he wasn't through. He only paused for a beat and she had the quick thought that he'd probably recited these exact words to himself in the mirror plenty of times before tonight. "Don't even think about calling me in a week, begging to come home."

She laughed into the phone. She knew the sound would stick under his skin.

"I am home." She said calmly. He started talking, but she didn't even care to distinguish the words.
"Goodbye, Larry."

She calmly sat the phone back into the metallic cradle, hearing her change drop into the reservoir. It'd went exactly as she suspected it would. But she'd accomplished what she'd set out to do. She'd known he would get upset. But she also knew that after the initial hurt wore off, he would in fact pass the word to her mother and best friend that she was safe.

She stepped out from under the awning of the shop and looked up at the sky. It was a clear night, the stars barely visible through the light radiating from the city. She knew she needed to get back to the hotel. It was strange not being with the others. This was the first time in months, since before she went to prison, that she was legitimately alone. For some reason she couldn't figure out, that made her uncomfortable.

When she arrived back to the hotel room, Alex wasn't there. Nicky and Bree were lying in bed, watching reruns of The Nanny and eating on the leftover Chinese food they'd ordered earlier that day. Nicky said that she'd went for a walk and that she'd mentioned checking out the marina in passing. She thanked her, then turned and left again.

She found her standing under one of the far lights that lined the dock, the collar of her jacket pulled up, protecting her from the cool wind blowing up off the water. Her long, raven hair flowed around her face. Piper smiled and vowed to save that picture of her in her mind. Alex turned just as she was walking up, hearing her approaching footsteps on the wooden planks, and smiled, only half her mouth turning up. Her eyes lingered on her lips before making their way up to her eyes.

"So how'd it go?" Alex asked, reaching up and adjusting her glasses before nodding her head towards the dock, an invitation to walk with her.

Piper fell into step beside her. "Exactly as I'd expected and the opposite as I'd hoped. I told him I was safe, he said he was done. I told him that I was in love with you, he told me not to come home. I told him I was home... then I said goodbye." She noticed Alex's glance down at her, but she didn't reply.

They continued walking in silence. The only noise was the gentle lapping of the waves against the bottom of the boats, swaying them back and forth. It was peaceful. It was perfect.

Piper felt fingers brush hers, and she looked down and smiled as Alex took her hand in her own. They walked together, enjoying the cool breeze on their faces. A few minutes later, Piper slowed and tugged on her hand, directing her attention towards one of the boats. The white, cursive letters stood out easily against the dark blue paint of the boat.

"The Great Escape" Alex read and smiled.

Piper felt a chill rise up her spine and she shuddered, immediately regretting her decision to forego her jacket. The air had been warmer earlier, when she'd left to call Larry. Now the wind was blowing straight off the Delaware River. She could feel Alex's eyes on her and she slowed to a stop in the shadowed area between two of the flood lights. She opened up her jacket, and Piper glanced up at her face before stepping into it's welcoming warmth. She wrapped her arms around Alex's waist and breathed her in, her head against her chest. She relished in the way her heat radiated through her shirt and before she'd realized what she was doing, she'd snaked her cold hands up the back of Alex's shirt and softly traced them down her back. She started at her shoulder blades, feeling them shift under the soft skin there, then moving down, feeling each vertebrae in her spine until they disappeared down into the waistband of her jeans.

She felt Alex drag in a shaky breath through her clenched teeth. Piper enjoyed the feeling it gave her as she felt the chill bumps rise on Alex's soft skin and she smiled to herself. She slid her fingers back down, low on her back, then around to that small spot on Alex's stomach she knew would get just the reaction she was going for. She felt the muscles involuntarily twitch under the skin and it made her feel good to know that she still knew her body so well. She felt Alex's arms tighten around her and she took the opportunity to slide her fingertips across her hipbones, over the sensitive skin just below her stomach, taking the time to deliberately dip just a little too low.

"Pipes..." She felt, rather than heard, her growl out. Her voice was low and it set Piper's insides ablaze. She could feel her heart pounding against her cheek. This time, when she brought her hands down her back again, she did it with her nails. Dragging them down her skin. She felt her back arch and that was all it took.

Piper pulled away and grabbed her by the hand, almost dragging her back down the dock.

Alex's mind was still reeling when they entered the lobby of the hotel. She was about to remind Piper that Nicky and Bree were up in the room when Piper led her past the elevator. She continued until they arrived at the last door in the hallway. Alex was grinning like a fool as Piper pulled her into the stairwell, not even waiting for the door to close before she pushed Alex against the wall, her hands making their way up her shirt.

"You know," Alex started as Piper broke their kiss to pull Alex's shirt over her head. "I'm really diggin' this new, aggressive Piper." She smirked, removing her glasses and tossing them on top of her discarded shirt. "She's really fuckin' hot." She smiled before Piper's mouth was on hers again. Her fingers wound into her hair, pulling her mouth down to meet her.

"Alex."

"Mm?"

"Shut up."

A/N: Ok, so this chapter is heavily influenced by the song that I posted at the beginning. For those who are curious, it's called Photographs and Gasoline by Framing Hanley. It came on while I was writing the previous chapter and I just thought it fit Larry and Piper's situation nicely. Plus, it kinda set the tone for the phone call that I was looking for. Anyhow! I hope you enjoyed it. Please, let me know what you think about how things are going. Your comments are my motivation. Thank you again for reading and I'll post more soon.

-C