Hey there… you guys. It's me, Price.
You know, being shitty with updates on this site kinda makes me feel like I lured you all into bed with me, and after a wild night of amazingly hot sex, I promised to call but then didn't like… ever.
That's not to say that I would equate my writing to the sensation of amazingly hot sex or anything because trust me, I do not. I'm just saying that that's the level of assholery I think I'm achieving.
So, you know. Sorry. Shit's just been hella cray around here, suffice it to say.
Also, this chapter is…a bit of a filler. And I'm not proud of it but I think you've all waited long enough for an update.
And really, thank you so much for your continued support. I really didn't think people would still be into this after season 2 came out so I was actually prepared to drop it but, the response from you all even after it came out – and weeks (months) after I said I would update is gonna keep this train chugging.
Anyway, enough of that. Here's chapter 5.
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Alex tried desperately to ignore the two women peering at her as she tried once again to read her book.
Nicky and Big Boo were exchanging glances towards her and then back towards each other in relative silence while they sat next to her on her bed. A humor filled smirk twitched on Nicky's lips as Boo mischievously sided eyed Alex as if she were missing out on something hilarious. Minutes passed and Alex finally gave up on ignoring them with a huff as she sat her book down on her lap.
"Okay. Why the fuck are you assholes staring at me?"
Nicky opened her mouth to say something but Boo beat her to the punch, throwing a thumb in the direction of the ghetto and asking,
"Are you gonna eat that?"
Alex narrowed her eyes at Boo in confusion before she realized what she was talking about and groaned.
"Please tell me you two aren't here about Piper."
Big Boo shifted as she sat next to her, throwing up her hands. "I know! I wouldn't have believed it either." She shrugged. "Something happened to your WASP-y girlfriend in the SHU and I don't know about you...but I really want to investigate...if you know what I'm sayin'."
Alex rolled her eyes at her and ran a hand through her hair before turning to Nichols.
"You too?"
"Aw, don't make me blush."
Alex frowned. "Well?"
"I mean..."
The taller woman narrowed her eyes again.
"I mean, all I'm saying is that you fucked her, I fucked you, and if she fucks me this little love triangle will have come full circle, and I think that would be beautiful." Nicky threw her hands up in a gesture of surrender as Alex groaned again and tossed her book behind her onto the bed.
The red head chuckled a bit before patting Alex on the shoulder.
"Aw, c'mon Vause... you know I wouldn't put my fingers in Chapman, no matter how hot she's being."
Alex turned her head towards Boo who simply shrugged.
"Yeah, I'm not promising anything."
Nicky shook her head incredulously.
"What?" Boo produced a bag of chips from her wife beater and popped one in her mouth. "Badass Chapman makes me feel all tingly." Her tone and expression were exaggeratedly wistful, complete with her clasping her hands together and looking off into the distance.
"Wow."
Big Boo popped another chip in her mouth and made to get off the bed before smiling conspiratorially and placing a hand over her mouth - giggling out, "I might even let her top!" And with that she waggled her brows and left.
"I can't believe this." Alex moaned into her hands as she sank further back onto her bed.
"I know right? Boo would never let Chapman top."
The dark haired woman whipped her head over to Nicky, irritation stamped on her face.
The red head just shrugged and continued to sit next to her. In a way, this was the longest conversation about Chapman they'd had since they'd seen her headed into the SHU. Alex had been even more agitated after seeing the woman for the first time the day before, and it was quickly becoming clear that maybe just seeing her wasn't the closure that she needed. Sure, to anybody but Nicky...and maybe even to Piper, it'd seem as if Alex didn't care at all that Piper had returned and was still just as angry as she had been in December. But no one else saw how her eyes lingered after her or peeked over the top of her book when she sat at the table across from her. How Alex always seemed to be distracted, and how she stiffened whenever the blonde woman came near only to slump when she passed by. And it hadn't even been a whole 24 hours since her return.
So Nicky sat. And waited for the oh-so-stubborn Alex Vause to finally open up and talk about it. Hopefully before it gave her an ulcer.
"She doesn't talk to me. Or look at me." The dark haired woman finally uttered, burying her face back into her hands.
"Right..." Nicky leaned over and put a hand on Alex's back. "Isn't that what you wanted."
"Yes, it's exactly what I wanted...still want."
"So...?"
"So why the fuck does it agitate the shit out of me?"
Nicky shrugged. "Probably cuz you miss her. And she's almost like a new toy to you right now. Her personality has gotten a major improvement in my opinion and so has her body. I mean I'm not gonna lie, I kinda peeked on her in the shower and I almost hopped in with her."
Alex's face went blank, as the image of a very wet, very naked Piper flashed across her mind. She closed her eyes and massaged her temples as she felt a dull, nearly imperceptable-but-definitely-there throb shoot through her loins. "...I just want to be able to ignore her, Nicky." She muttered finally, somehow feeling slightly more miserable.
The red headed woman hummed thoughtfully and leaned back against the wall of the little cubicle. "Well then...maybe you should just speak to her once, get it out of your system, and then move on.
Alex shook her head lightly and ran a hand through her hair, laughing mirthlessly. "It's never that easy with Piper. Talking to her is just gonna fuck everything up. I have to quit cold turkey."
Her friend rolled her eyes and sighed before patting Alex on the back. "Well, just try not to seize up or have a stroke from the withdrawals."
Alex allowed herself to rest her head on Nicky's shoulder as she looked at nothing in particular. In her heart she could practically feel the word "inevitable" being thumped out in morse code.
/
Piper was desperately trying to stay patient as she waited in the phone line, staring at the back of a couple of other inmates' heads. Her foot tapped incessantly as her eyes darted back and forth between the clock on the wall and the people in front of her. It wasn't going to be long before she had to go to the shop for electrical and she really needed to talk to Polly about the thing with Fig because it was eating away at her and she had no idea what to do. Take the selfish and probably stupid route and possibly get Tucky all stucky in Pysch? Or look the warden directly in the face and tell her no and then...who knows what? She had seen what happened when she had pissed off Healy and he didn't have nearly as much power as Figueroa...
Piper grumbled, noting that even though her irritation was becoming intolerable, she was no closer to the front of the line. The women in front of her couldn't possibly be talking about anything nearly as important as what she needed to talk about! It briefly occurred to her that she might be being a tad narcissistic with that thought but she quickly reasoned that other people's futures were hanging in the balance... possibly including the women in front of her! With that thought smoldering in her mind she tensed up and sprung into action.
"Hey!" Piper slammed a hand against the wall, eyes closed as she shouted.
The two people on the phone as well as the two standing in front of her snapped their heads in her direction, looking at her incredulously.
"Hurry... the fuck...up." The blonde intoned lowly, narrowing her eyes at the two women on the phone.
The young and clearly new inmate in the orange jumper that stood in front of her immediately side stepped Piper, eyes wide, and made her way to the back of the line. One of the two women on the phone could be heard quickly finishing her conversation before walking away from the area with her head down, eyes trained onto the ground in front of her. That left the weird little old woman who was always crying, and who was now crying harder...
"Hey!"
...and Maritza.
The shorter Latina frowned as she turned to fully face Piper with her hands on her hips.
"The hell?" She paused as she looked the blonde woman over." You don't fucking scare me, puta." She pursed her lips. "Just because you beat up that little backwoods bitch and put the fear of God in her little followers don't mean you put no fear in me. So step back."
The taller blonde woman just stared at her blankly for a moment, working her jaw. Then before Maritza could react, she zeroed in on her and in a flash she had captured a lock of the girl's hair and was rubbing the strands between her thumb and pointer as she had done with Leanne.
"You sure about that?"
Maritza's breath hitched a bit as she looked down at Chapman's scarred hand toying with her hair and then up into her almost vacant eyes. A heavy moment passed between them which was only broken once Maritza knocked Piper's hand away with her wrist and scoffed before side stepping her.
"I'm leaving because I want to." She said with a sneer before walking calmly away from Piper.
Piper watched her leave before releasing a deep breath of her own and hurriedly crossing over to the unoccupied phone, turning her back to the other inmates as she bit her lip nervously, waiting for Polly to pick up.
"..Come on, come on..."
"Piper?" The aforementioned woman's face lit up just as her friend Polly began to rant.
"Where the fuck have you been? I've been trying to contact you or come see you! What the fuck, I thought something happened to you-"
"Polly, calm down! I'm alright, okay? I was just in the SHU-"
"Just in the SHU? Just in the SHU?!" Piper cringed at Polly's volume, waving her free hand as if her friend could see it.
"Polly, please calm down-"
"Have you been in there this whole time? What about the fact that you were injured?!"
"I-"
"We have to do something about this. We need to talk to Larry's dad, this is inhumane."
"Polly..."
"Are you feeling okay? You're not feeling crazy now or something are you? Come to think of it...you were probably already borderline before you went to prison-"
Piper's face contorted as she sputtered, "Polly would you please shut the fuck up for a minute I'm trying to tell you something important!"
"Something more important than this?"
"Yes."
"Oh, dear God.."
"Yes, I'm glad you're grasping the gravity of the situation, oka-"
"No not you, I think your little poopy friend over here just sharted."
"...Ew, Pol." Piper's lip turned up in disgust.
"Everybody sharts. Get over yourself."
"You're right, sorry-"
"Didn't you shart in front of a whole village or something once?"
"Actually I- Goddammit, Polly, I'm in really fucking deep over here and I just need you to listen for 3 seconds. I don't have a lot of time left."
"Okay, okay, sorry. You got my attention now. Lay it on me."
Piper waited a moment to ensure that Polly had truly gotten the point before starting. "Okay, so as soon as I got out of the SHU they took me directly to the Assistant Warden's office, right? And I'm obviously really fucking concerned because I almost killed someone, so I'm prepared for the worst. And then she comes up to me being super weird, like I kinda felt like I was the princess in a Disney movie and she was the evil villain, though it was considerably gayer-"
"Like Maleficent gay?"
"You mean like Sleeping Beauty? I don't know, Pol-"
"Oh right, I forgot, you probably haven't seen the previews... well, they made a new movie about Maleficent and it was pretty gay. You would've liked it."
Piper frowned. "Like Maleficent...and Aurora?"
"Yeah. But Maleficent was played by Angelina Jolie so that'd explain the sexual tension. Though, thinking back on it, I'd have to say that that movie was a pretty good allegory for you and Super Cunt's relationship-"
"Polly." Piper seethed as she gripped the phone with both hands. "Focus."
"Got it."
"So then, she makes me a deal right? She says that if I-"
"Wait! Did you say almost kill?"
"Yes! Almost! Polly-" Piper's anger begins to boil to epic proportions just as she is cut off by the bell, alerting her that it is now time to shuffle to her work station. It is all she can do to freeze and wordlessly lower the phone onto the receiver even as Polly's voice warbles on through the speaker, before stomping away towards the other side of the building.
Once she finally got to her destination, frowning quite heavily, she stopped in the doorway briefly as she looked at the only empty seat... which was beside Nicky. Her mind was immediately torn between whether or not she should be throwing a huge fit about that, seeing as it was impossible not to have heard about how she and Alex had been hooking up. But at the end of the day, even with that being the case, the blonde knew that Nicky was still one of the best friends she'd ever had. It was such a strange and foreign idea, to be so okay with it, but with all the other drama and bullshit going on in her life as well as the huge relief of human contact it just didn't seem like that big of a deal. Inherently, she knew that it didn't really represent the ultimate betrayal that that type of thing usually did. She briefly considered how she'd feel if Polly and Larry were to hookup and scrunched up her face, immediately dismissing the decidedly much more unpleasant scenario. Polly was married with a child for pete's sake. ...But really. Pete though.
After only a moment's more hesitation, she walked over to the empty seat and plopped down into it, facing forward. The redhead, who had been resting her head on her forearms, shifted so that she was turned toward the blonde and smirked at her stiff posture.
Feeling the slightly older woman's eyes on her, Piper let her eyes glance over toward her in her peripheral vision a couple of times.
Sure she wasn't going to be a bitch about the situation but she had to at least give her a bit of a hard time. And so, the silence stretched on until it was making Piper herself uncomfortable.
With a sigh, Nicky elected to end the awkward moment though it was awfully amusing. "Hey there, hot shot." She drawled, the same amusement evident on her face.
Piper side-eyed her again, pursing her lips. "Nicky."
There was another beat of silence between them as the red head continued to scrutinize Piper.
"So...are you actually mad at me, or do you just feel like you should be, given the situation?"
Piper stiffened and slowly turned towards Nicky who raised her eyebrows playfully in response, but was cut off by Luschek giving them their assignment for the day before she could say anything.
Once the man had sat down and gotten busy doing absolutely nothing useful and they were settled into their work, Piper breathed out, "Not sure yet."
Nicky looked up from her work briefly before continuing. "If it'd make you feel any better we could begin an illicit affair of our own. You know, just to keep everyone on their toes."
Piper huffed then - though it sounded vaguely like thinly concealed laughter - and turned towards Nicky fully for the first time. "Why can't you just let me be pissed at you for fucking my ex like a normal person would? Don't you know how this works? Weren't you ever in high school?"
A grin stretched over Nicky's face. "Because I know you know it wasn't like that, for starters. And because I kinda missed you. It's been even more depressing around here without your special brand of comic relief, Chapman."
The blonde woman finally allowed a faint smile to alight her features. "...I missed you too, Nicky."
A hand clapped on her back as Nicky smiled back at her. They continued working in relative silence for the next few minutes as both women seemed to be getting slowly lost within their thoughts. Piper looked up briefly to examine a diagram posted on the wall and then did a double take as she noted that a few of the inmates that were sitting near the front had been staring at her. She caught their gaze and watched with mixed feelings as their eyes widened and they immediately turned away. Up ahead to the side, Janae caught her attention and jutted her chin up in acknowledgement, causing Piper to reciprocate before venturing a look behind and to the side of her, where she caught a few more glances in her direction. Abruptly, she thumped a hand on the table, contorting her face in confused agitation.
"Are people looking at me? Cuz I really feel like everyone in here is looking at me." The woman's head swiveled quickly in a slightly disconcerting display of paranoia.
Nicky narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. "Hey. Hey!" She put a hand on Piper's arm. "I forbid you from going psycho bananas on me. That shit might've flown down there in the boonies but up here it is liable to get you smacked."
Piper's face registered panic as she looked at Nicky pleadingly. "Are you trying to tell me that they're not?"
The woman was silent for a moment before snorting. "Glad to see you're evolving, Chapman. Congratulations, your narcissism has become borderline schizophrenic."
The blonde woman gave Nicky a vacant eyed glare and tilted her head slightly to the side in response.
"What?" The red head worked her jaw as she attempted to keep the giant cheeky grin off her face. "You gonna beat the shit out of me now too?" Piper rolled her eyes as Nicky submitted to the smile on her face. "Just give me the safe word."
Piper made a face but couldn't fight a smile herself.
"But really," Nicky continued flexing her hand, "Are you surprised? You went from the uptight prison princess to bad ass of the year. First you beat Doggett's face till its concave, and then you go on a rampage and make Leanne practically piss herself. Hell, even I've found myself staring at you while trying to make sure I'm not dealing with your significantly hotter evil twin. So, you know, purely scientific observation there."
"Har. Har."
"No but seriously, were you sharing a cell with Jillian Michaels down there?"
Piper shook her head smugly, "No. In between psychotic monologuing and painting the walls with SHU loaf I somehow managed to do a push-up or two." Reminiscing on her time in the SHU reminded her of her of the odd friendship she'd formed with the woman who had been in the cell next to hers. As she looked at Nicky, she began to wonder if she should tell her about that experience too but on top of deciding that it was not something she wanted to discuss, she remembered that there was something much more pressing that she needed to talk about.
"Well, even Vause has had a hard time keeping her eyes off you since you've been back." Nicky said in a quiet voice that wasn't quite nonchalant.
And just like that all of Piper's thoughts about the Fig situation evaporated and her brain went into overdrive.
"Why-" She sputtered as she attempted to kickstart her mind into action. "She barely even looked at me when I was bleeding to death, why the hell do you think she is now? Did she say something?"
"That's for you guys to work out. …You really hurt her you know."
Piper hung her head and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah. I know. But really...has she said anything to you?"
I know that I've been so involved with the both of you that you sometimes forget that I'm not actually part of your weird shit relationship, but alas, I gotta draw the line somewhere. Though," Nicky began, holding up a fist, "Snatch sisters for life."
"Nicky-"
"Chapman!"
The blonde, as well as well as practically everyone else in the room, looked up as Officer Bell stood in the doorway looking about the room, lip curled.
"Yes?" Piper asked flatly, betraying the apprehension crawling up her spine.
"Come with me."
Piper's face fell dramatically as she looked back at Nicky who only shrugged, though her face displayed a healthy amount of concern. Reluctantly, she dragged herself up from the table and stalked off behind the woman in front of her.
/
Alex was trying to think about anything else, she really was.
As she stood in the back of the laundry room scrubbing relentlessly at a stain that she had no desire to attempt to identify she cursed quietly in her frustration though, stubborn as it was, the stain was not the object of her scorn. In fact, her meticulous attempts to remove it were giving her a bit of relief from the actual issue she was having.
But of course, only a bit. And as her hand began to cramp up she realized with a heavy sigh that attempting to ignore everything was hopeless.
Now on top of the Molotov cocktail of emotions and feelings she'd been trying to (not) process there was a lingering undercurrent of arousal. It had been there ever since Nicky's comment about Piper in the shower and it had whispered across her thoughts for a while until her mind began to respond - as minds are so awfully inclined to do - with questions like, 'Why?' and then the much more unsettling 'Why not?' And then the whispers were shouts of encouragement, of how she most definitely could and how it couldn't possibly make anything worse. But part of her knew it would definitely make everything worse. And yet part of her still wanted to take advantage of the emotional advantage she was almost positive she still had in the situation and simply waltz over to Piper, pull her into the chapel and fuck her mercilessly until those delicious abdominal muscles twitched and undulated along with the walls of her deliciously tight pussy. If Alex Vause was anything, she wasn't blind. Wait, well she was blind, technically but she'd have to be completely without all of her 6 senses to not be able to see how unnervingly hot Piper had become while in the SHU.
It made her think of when Nicky had told her to hope against hope that the blonde would get fat and stop shaving her legs...clearly she should have taken that seriously. It was one thing to ignore her when she was nowhere to be found, and still when she was being plain old Piper, but now she was very very present and enticingly new.
It was becoming hot in her beige jumper and though she wryly remembered stating that she was a dishwasher kind of girl, she was beginning to wonder if those girls sitting on the washing machine had been onto something. She allowed herself a smirk, thinking of how Piper had laughed at her comment that day in Healy's office before - as it always eventually did - a throb and then a swelling of heavy, heart-wrenching guilt settled deep in her chest.
How could she think of taking advantage of the situation with Piper after she had literally just watched as the woman had bled out on the floor? But she'd had a good reason, right? No, of course not, someone shattering your heart into pieces and letting someone actually bleed to death were two completely separate things. Apples to fucking oranges. But really what could she have done to help? Her being involved wouldn't have changed anything. It wasn't like she was a medical professional or really good with a sewing needle. If she had rushed in to help Piper it would not have made her any less likely to die, and she was hardly the only concerned presence in the room.
Alex let out a sigh of something akin to relief at that line of reasoning.
Because clearly, it wasn't her fault.
Unless...
Alex mind reeled as it found it's way back to the one instance that kept her wrapped up in her current vicious circle.
Piper had come to her. Just before the thing with Pensatucky.
And if Piper had been about to ask her for her help, and instead of being a dick she had at least listened to what Piper had to say, maybe she could've kept her from being stabbed altogether.
Everything was so fucked up, and one thing was clear. She didn't deserve Piper any more than Piper deserved her. But even so...Alex couldn't help thinking that maybe that just meant they were perfect for each other. And as soon as that thought was in her mind, she screwed up her face and shook her head.
"Fuck no." She muttered rolling her eyes at herself and getting back to her frantic scrubbing. After a while her hand cramped up again and she decided now would be a good time to try and find that elusive bottle of stain remover, so she stepped around the corner back to the main washing area where it could sometimes be found.
Alex stops in her tracks, the indescribable stain forgotten as she looks at Piper who is quietly loading a washing machine. Her blonde head bobs up above the door to the machine as she peeks over it to see who has walked up. Then it disappears again as she continues working. The dark haired woman still hasn't moved as her brain scrambles desperately for her next action. Her mind had practically given her the blue screen of death at the combined feelings of keen excitement and overwhelming dread that made her entire body quake.
"Why the fuck are you here?" Her tone was more confused than angry, and her eyes were lit with panic. "Shouldn't you be in the shop?"
Piper closed the door to the washer and slowly stood upright. "Yes, I should be." She walked a couple steps away to pick up another laundry bag and sighed as she bent back over to load another machine. "But, since my conduct has indicated that I am a potential threat to my fellow inmates, I have been reassigned to a job with no pointy objects."
Alex frowned. "Isn't there somewhere else you could be?"
The blonde woman hesitated as feelings of both sadness and anger began to creep up inside. The fact that she had known this was going to happen and that she had imagined it over and over again didn't make it hurt any less. She resumed tossing clothes before intoning, "My other option is going back to the SHU."
Her ex-girlfriend opened her mouth as if she were going to say something but closed it and pushed her glasses back on her head as she rubbed her eyes. "Fuck."
It was Piper's turn to frown as she finally turned to look at Alex head on. "I don't have any unrealistic expectations or delusions about how this is going to be. If I could have been assigned anywhere else, trust me, I would have been. But you're stuck doing this with me until further notice. Just because I'm here doesn't mean that you have to talk to me, and if you don't want me to, I'm not going to try to talk to you. You do your loads, I'll do mine. No problem."
Alex rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you're right. No problem at all, this is just fucking perfect."
Piper snapped and popped up, dropping everything, before slamming the door closed. "Look Alex, I just spent the last couple of months in a godforsaken box, okay? After I had to literally fight for my life. And got fucking shanked. I understand why you fucking hate me, alright? I get it. I fucking suck for using you and breaking your heart again. I will probably never live that down. But I have got a lot going on. My own heartbeak, my own giant ass problems, and my own pain. It's not easy to see you either you know."
Alex threw her head back in a biting laugh. "No, I don't know Piper. It was just too fucking easy for you to tell me you were going to marry that little douche. It was like nothing ever even happened between us. You were everything to me, and I was practically nothing to you." 'Just like always,' she thought bitterly.
"That's not true."
" Ha. Tell that to your fucking fiancé."
Piper dropped her eyes from Alex to the floor. "I did."
Alex faltered. "..You what?"
"I told him. And Larry's not my fiancé anymore. I told him I didn't want to marry him."
Dark eyebrows furrowed as Alex's face contorted, "Well what the hell did you do that for?"
"Because I..." Piper sighed again before glancing at Alex who had an indescribable look on her face. Her mind flashed back to her conversation with Larry. As she looked into the eyes of the tall woman staring back at her, their facial expressions were the same. She would not drag either of them through this again. She knew she couldn't finish that sentence the way she wanted to. With those three simple words.
"...Because I'm trying this new thing where I am honest with myself and put other people's feelings first. I'm sick of being a selfish fucking narcissist. And it's funny because even though I was always looking out for myself..." She let out a botched attempt at a laugh. "...it was getting hard to live with myself." She felt her eyes stinging with tears, but she wouldn't allow herself to cry. Not now. Not in front of Alex of all people.
Vause's balled fists went limp as she stood there looking at the broken woman in front of her. It was very hard to be so angry with her if she was going to be like that. But she'd be damned if she didn't try.
"But to be clear; Larry broke up with me first. He broke up with me before I got hurt and I guess when he saw me in that hospital bed he realized he could lose me and wanted to get back together. That's when I told him no."
"Why are you telling me this?" Alex's voice was on the verge of quivering. Why couldn't anything be simple? Why couldn't the woman just keep on being a bitch so she could get over her?
"I hope it's clear that it's not for sympathy. I just want you to know that I hear you. I know you're angry at me and you deserve to be. Hell, I'm still angry at you for a lot of things. Maybe we'll always resent each other, I don't know. I'm not asking for your friendship or anything. I just want you to cut me some slack while we're working here. Be mad at me, but be mad at me knowing what we've gone through together and what I have gone through for the past few months. I'm... I'm not gonna get some happy ending with Larry. Take solace in my misery." She smirked as she muttered the last statement, side-eyeing Alex as she shook out a shirt.
The dark haired woman couldn't fight the small grin spreading upon her face and leaned her back against the machines with a chuckle. After a moment, she looked over at Piper again. "Is it fucked up that that actually does make me feel better?"
Piper shrugged. "No. We're both pretty fucking horrible."
"True."
They continued working in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, as Alex found the bottle of remover and returned to her scrubbing. Alex glanced at Piper a couple more times. It was odd for Piper to be okay with it being so quiet. Usually in this type of situation Piper would have gone on for another hour at least, blaming Alex for everything and taking responsibility for nothing. But she hadn't. And she wasn't even trying to fill this silence with awkward small talk. It was nice. But also unnerving for reasons Alex didn't really want to consider. 'Was she really going to just move on?' The thought was out before Alex could repress it. She found her hands going still and her throat beginning to feel as if it would close up. She remembered what she had said.
Don't come to me for anything.
How sick was it that she was kind of upset that Piper hadn't? She had seen the other woman's brow furrowing as she talked to some of the other inmates and even more so when she thought she was alone. What was worse was that she didn't know if she was upset because she wanted to be able to throw it back in Piper's face or because she wanted the woman to confide in her like she always had. The thoughts stewed in her stomach, agitating her.
"So it was pretty badass how you handled that situation with the Westboro prison division." Alex blurted out. It had come out smoothly but Alex wasn't really sure when she'd decided to start up another conversation.
Piper's head bobbed up from behind the washer door again as she threw a smug look over at her ex. "I'm just tired of people thinking they can give me shit all the time. And frankly, I don't give a fuck about the consequences."
"Is that why you finally beat the shit out of Pensatucky? I didn't know you had it in you."
There was a moment of hesitation as the blonde looked down at the floor. "Even you'd be surprised at what I'm capable of."
Alex's eyes slowly drifted over to the woman who seemed to have a lot weighing down on her mind. Her mouth opened as she felt the moment to respond slowly but surely passing but just dumbly let her jaw go slack before pressing a hand on the cold steel of the machine.
"So are you saying that...is she...?" It was certainly the question of the hour.
Piper frowned. "No. She's a resilient little shit."
The relief Alex felt in her chest surprised her. She wasn't quite sure what exactly she was relieved about until she heard the words coming out of her mouth.
"So does that mean they're not gonna put you in Max?"
Piper stiffened, causing Alex's breath to catch as concern flashed over her face.
"What?" The taller woman swallowed as she fought to keep the desperation out of her voice as she continued. "Are you going to be resentenced? Are you going to have to go to trial?"
The blonde sighed and shook her head. "I don't know yet." It was the truth but not all of it. Piper realized it was a burden she was going to have to face alone. No more dragging Alex into her shit.
The blood drained from the woman in question's face as she turned fully towards the blonde woman who was silently separating clothing.
"I'm sure it'll all work itself out." Piper said with a shrug, continuing to work.
Alex's could feel her pride almost tangibly restraining her from commenting as she gaped at the woman helplessly. Her mind was spiraling. She could still feel the buzzing of her anger, her pure, well deserved righteous anger. But now it was dirty. Tinged with guilt and sympathy...and the horrible sense that she had failed to protect Piper and that soon she might not be able to do anything about it. And It wasn't fair.
She clutched the clothes in her hands as she became increasingly uneasy. How could it be that Piper could spark so many feelings in her without even trying? It just wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that Alex could never push Piper completely out of her life while Piper always found it so easy to dispose of her. Why should she give a single fuck about any of Piper's shit. It was masochistic. It was stupid. Some time in Max might do her some good, even. Her time in the SHU sure seemed to. She thought of the blank look on Piper's face when she'd said she was going to marry Larry. How she'd delivered the message like she was dealing with a bratty kid that she expected to throw a tantrum - like she was just a loose end to cut off.
Alex took a shaky breath that eased into a sigh. Ah, yes. There it was. Finally, she had landed on an emotion.
Anger.
She tilted her head toward Piper when she sensed the woman stirring. The blonde stood up slowly, lifting her arms into the air and arching her back a bit to ease some of the tension she apparently felt from being hunched over in front of the washers.
As Piper stretched, the shirt she was wearing came up just enough for the v of her taut lower abdomen and hip bones to be readily apparent in the exposed strip of skin. Alex's bottom lip found it's way between her teeth. She let her gaze linger there for a moment before she traced up the arch of Piper's back, then to the nape of her neck.
And as it was oft to do, one primal feeling gave way to another one. Anger fizzling but not fading, shifting its energy into white hot lust.
It had been on the backburner but now it hit Alex with such intensity that her mouth went dry and her body once again shook.
Quietly, she stepped forward as Piper reached up to the top dryer to begin unloading it, leaving her perfectly vulnerable and causing her top to slide up her back.
Alex just looked on for a moment, the woman unaware of the reason for her approach.
So un-fucking-fair.
Piper couldn't even sense it. How crazy she was making her.
But she'd let her feel it. Every little last bit of her angst.
And then Alex was right behind Piper, her hands wavering right before they landed on Piper's waist.
The shorter woman's eyes widened as she tried to glance back at Alex, before being pulled flush into her, her back meeting Alex's front.
Alex let out a small groan as she then rolled her hips, pressing her pelvis into Piper's backside as she leaned into her, causing the woman's own pelvis to be pressed against the active washer in front of her - it's vibrations rocking straight into her core.
"A-Alex...what?" Piper tried to turn towards the woman but was just pressed more firmly against the dryer.
Pale hands slid up Piper's shirt, one finally stopping to grasp a bra clad breast roughly, the other pressing against her abdomen where its fingers splayed against her, a single finger dipping slightly under the waistband of her pants before it was stopped by the dryer.
Alex ghosted her lips over Piper's ear tantalizingly, smirking as she felt the woman begin to tremble against her as her breathing came heavier and heavier.
"What… are- why are you-?"
Alex licked the shell of the woman's ear, becoming more and more anxious to finally release several months of pent up frustration. "I'm trying to work something out here Pipes. And I need you to be absolutely quiet." She husked into her ear, "And I need you to listen." Her arm reached across the woman's chest to the other breast, so that her forearm draped across her torso, allowing her to bring the woman as far back against her as possible. She sighed against the woman's sensitive skin before nibbling on her earlobe.
"…And If you say anything, I'll stop."
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Yeah, I'm kind of a dick.
So like I said, not particularly proud of this update but hopefully next one will be better and/or sooner. But like Boo, I am not promising anything cuz we've all seen how that turns out.
Anywho- those of you who are also reading Babylon! (bless you btw)
I'm not going to say when I'm actually going to post that update since it is wavering at +10k (since I'm not all that happy with it) and is probably only 65% completed.. but it is getting there and I'm still working on it. So whenever I actually do manage to stop self-sabotaging myself long enough to get it done, you might be looking at somewhere around a 20k word chapter so that'd be nice right? Right? Don't stone me yet.
Til next time.
-Price