With fury blinding her, Piper pushed past the inmates milling around in the halls and headed straight down to the laundry room, stopping only to poke her head into the rec on her way past in case she was in there. She wasn't. Taking a breath in an attempt to calm herself, she continued on her way and took the left turn to the laundry room.

"Alex" she called out as she entered, arms crossed over her body and a frown firmly in place. When no answer came, she called her name again and made her way around the room, but there was no sign of the dealer. Piper stopped for a moment and thought about what she was doing. She knew that this was going to end in an inevitable argument but at this moment in time, she really didn't care. All she cared about was giving Alex a piece of her mind and letting her know how out of order she was. And boy was she out of fucking order.

The next place she thought to look was Alex's cubicle. It was before dinner when the girls had a bit of time to themselves if they weren't working and so her feet guided her up to the subs whilst her mind lingered on the thought of Alex laying down her threats to the meth head crazies. Before even realising she was there, Piper found herself stood in the entrance of Alex's bunk staring over at her as she sat on her bed, knees up close to her chest, reading a book. Without looking up to acknowledge her, Alex continued reading. It wasn't until she finished her paragraph and it had become clear that Piper wasn't going to say anything that she glanced up at the woman stood staring daggers at her.

"Are you going to stand there glaring at me or are you going to tell me what the hell I've done this time." Piper shifted her weight.

"What the hell do you think gives you the right, Alex? Who told you that it was okay for you to go around, handing out threats on my behalf?" There was a moment of confusion as Alex didn't know what the hell Piper was talking about, but she soon cottoned on and glanced down briefly at her hands before returning her gaze to Piper.

"Pennsatucky"

"Yeah, fucking Pennsatucky, and all her little meth head friends. You won't even talk to me and yet you take it upon yourself to become my personal body guard?" Piper let out a small mirthless laugh and shook her head slightly. "Jesus, Alex".

"Oh, come on. Piper. Look at you! You can't look after yourself" waving a hand up and down to indicate Piper, she continued, her voice seemingly trying to hide her slight amusement "You'd get the shit beaten out of you if they were to try again"

"That's absolutely nothing to do with you" Pipers hands were spread out palms up and her voice was steadily getting louder as their conversation developed.

"That is everything to do with me! Alex burst out, the amusement completely gone from her voice and her tone taking Piper back for a second. The open book in her hands was slammed shut with a bang and Piper couldn't help but notice Wilde's name looking up at her. The sudden quiet was cold water over them both and they each took a moment. Alex ran her hand through her hair and took a deep breath, leaning her elbows on her knees and resting her head in her palms. Piper let out a sigh and took a tentative step into the cubical. She seemed to think about her actions for a second and then sat herself carefully on the end of Alex's bed. Looking over at Alex, Piper felt herself calming and her anger leaving her as she was faced with how they had come to this.

"What's happened to us?" she asked quietly, her voice laced with sadness. Alex turned to look at her and swept her glasses of her face and on top of her head. She shook her head slightly and gave a tiny shrug of her shoulder.

"I don't know" was all she said.

Silence. And then;

"I heard what they were planning to do to you, Pipes. I'm pretty sure that they wanted me to know. They'd talk about it in the laundry room as loudly as they could, making more and more elaborate plans to hurt you. Jesus, they had you ready to be slaughtered and sacrificed."

"I can look after myself, Alex. I don't need you holding my hand and watching me all the time" Alex studied her face, her eyes scouring over her and searching her eyes before she cocked an eyebrow slightly.

"Don't you?"

"No I fucking don't." She snapped back, her words coming out harsh. Alex gave her a wry smile.

"Well last time you tried to handle yourself it didn't exactly work out great, did it" Piper felt her famous temper flaring again but she fought to hold it down.

"It's made me a stronger person" she said simply. Alex scoffed quietly.

"Yeah. Sure it has" she muttered under her breath as she ran a hand through her long hair, pushing it away from her face.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Piper was impressed at her ability to keep her blazing anger out of her voice and Alex clearly didn't detect it as she looked back to Piper with an eye roll and a small smile playing at the corner of her lips – she often misread Pipers anger thinking that the situation was less serious than it was and it was a habit that Piper remembered had been the cause of many a heated argument.

"Oh, come on, Pipes. You beat the shit out of one person and sat rotting in SHU for how long? It may have changed you but it doesn't mean that you're ready to take on the world and her wife. You still need someone to keep an eye out for you and you always fucking will" Piper stared at her blankly.

"And you're that person? My 'guardian angel' looking out for me?" Alex remained silent, instead shrugging with a smug smile on her face a little too reminiscent of Nicky for Pipers liking.

"Well I can tell you, you're fucking not. You have no right, Alex. You have tried to avoid me the best you possibly fucking can ever since I got back to this god-awful place and when I finally think I'm breaking through to you and you're going to start treating me like a human being again, you turn around and tell me nothing's changed and you want nothing to do with me. Then I find out that you're, what? Trying to protect me from afar? How very fucking gallant of you Alex. Well I don't need you looking out for me and I don't need to be constantly on the edge of my fucking seat wondering if I'm going to upset you or piss you off or annoy you by being in the same fucking room as you".

Piper stopped to take a deep breath and calm herself. Alex didn't say anything, just sat and stared quietly as the blonde composed herself. She knew she wasn't done, probably far from it. When Piper has something to say, she usually let all her feelings and emotions pour out and it was best for her to wait and let her finish. Instead, she reaching up and pulled her glasses back down onto her face and then continued to wait, looking at her ex through the thick rims.

Piper let out a sigh and continued, her voice sadder than before.

"I've had it with watching each and every one of my steps to make sure that I'm not stepping on your toes. Yes, I know that I hurt you" she paused, pulling her bottom lip in with her teeth slightly and shaking her head. Her eyes were cast down at her lap instead of looking into Alex's face. "I hurt you so fucking badly and I can see it and feel it every time I slip and allow myself to think about anything because it always comes back to me hurting you and I will never forgive myself, but this? This is bullshit. You need to let me know exactly where I stand with you and you fucking well need to stick to it because I can't keep on like this Alex. It's fucking killing me"

Alex continued to stare quietly at Piper who was now looking up at her, waiting for her to say something. Piper rolled her eyes.

"I've finished. You can talk". Alex looked down at her lap and crossed her legs, fiddling with a hang nail as a way of avoiding Pipers eyes now that they were turned her way.

"I don't know what to say, Pipes. I did what I had to do too stop that crazy bitches coming for you and I'm not sorry for it. I'm not. You think I'm going to sit here knowing that at any moment they could be knifing you in the shower or slipping a razor into your throat? You've already been carted away once, I wasn't going to sit by and let the second time be in a fucking body bag"

"You could have handled it differently"

"How?" Alex shot back, finally looking up to meet Pipers eyes. There was a pause as the two women stared at each other, Pipers mind working a mile a minute and coming up with nothing. She shrugged in defeat.

"I don't know, Alex. That brilliant mind of yours could have come up with something, I'm sure."

"It did" Alex told her bluntly. "I told them if they touch you I'd make sure they met Mr. Christ a lot sooner than expected" Piper ran a frustrated hand over her face.

"Alex. What do you want me to do? Because this half way house bullshit is not going to work for me. You either ignore me all day every day and let whatever the fuck happens, happen. Or you stop with the silent act and the bullshit hard ass crap around me because unfortunately for you, I know that's not really you". Alex shrugged with a small sad smile.

"Maybe it is me now" she said quietly. Piper shook her head and replied instantly.

"It's not" Alex let out a small laugh.

"Alright, for god's sake. I'll not leave a room when you walk in" Alex looked like a petulant child being forced to apologise, but Piper couldn't hold back a small smile.

"It's a start" Alex nodded in agreement. Piper could tell that there was something else she wanted to say and waited patiently for it.

"Are you still with Barry?" she asked quietly. Piper frowned.

"Larr-"

"I know." Piper stopped and looked at Alex who was looking back with a vulnerability in her eyes that Piper hadn't seen there for a long time. It was always a look that had scared her, for if Alex Vause was feeling vulnerable, shit was serious. And, Piper supposed, nothing was more serious than another potential breaking of her heart.

"I'm not with him at the moment, no" she answered quietly. Alex simply nodded.

"At the moment?" she asked.

"At the moment." She confirmed. She had no idea what her status was with Larry; they'd not spoken since she'd got out of SHU but she knew that soon enough they would have to talk. She was sure that he wouldn't want to know that she'd nearly taken the life of another person, but there was always the chance – hope? – that they would be able to sort things out. Until then, Piper had promised herself that she was going to be as honest with Alex as she possibly could.

"Hide whatever you have, girls. Inspection!" Morello put an abrupt end to their talk as she went down the line, poking her head into every cubicle and warning the inmates. Piper turned back to Alex who had one eyebrow raised. She shrugged and the pair both stood up from the bed, not entirely sure what to say to the other. Piper began to make her way back to her bunk but paused as Alex spoke.

"See you around then kid". Piper turned and gave her a half smile.

"Yeah. I guess you will".

So a little more Vauseman there for you, kids! Thank you for all the amazing support. I really love hearing what you guys think!

xx