I only remembered after writing this that Red didn't run the kitchen anymore so, err, yeah, that didn't happen for my story. Here's another short chapter from Alex's POV, thank you all so much for the motivation!

Red sat down across from Nichols in the canteen, and nodded her head towards Alex, who was pushing her food around on her plate, looking miserable.

"What is the matter with your girl?"

Nicky and Red didn't need introductory niceties.

"Not my girl", Nicky replied before shoving a large amount of food into her mouth. Red knew her prison daughter well enough to detect the hint of disappointment in her voice.

"She has not been eating. There is nothing wrong with the food, what is wrong with the girl?"

Red would never describe herself as a gossip, but she liked to know what was going on. Especially when it came to people she cared about, like Nicky. Which was why Red wanted to assess the other inmate's feelings on the current situation.

"Chapman", Nicky said as though it was obvious. Because it was. "Same reason she'll never really be my girl", she shrugged.

Alex was ill, and she didn't like it. She lay bundled in the sheets of her fancy hotel room, clutching her dirty tissue like a binky. A lone ray of sunshine peeked in between the drawn curtains, betraying the beautiful day that Alex was missing out on. She had managed to become ill in the middle of the Indonesian summer, of all times. She was struggling to breathe through her blocked nose, and it felt like her brain was throbbing inside her skull.

She was so busy feeling sorry for herself that she almost missed the sound of the door opening and closing.

"The great Alex Vause, taken down by a little air con!"

"I thought you were supposed to be at the beach", Alex grumbled, refusing to turn around to face what she knew would be an amused look on Piper's face.

"I was, but people-watching just isn't fun without you". Piper's voice got closer, as Alex felt the mattress sag under the weight of her girlfriend climbing in.

This time Alex turned around, but made sure she kept as much distance as possible between herself and Piper. Not that it was of much use, as the younger woman crawled to the other side of the massive bed to lie down facing her.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked suspiciously.

"Getting into bed with you."

Alex pouted.

"But I'm a disgusting pile of snot!"

"Mmm." Piper murmured her agreement, but with a tender expression in her eyes that she hoped made it clear that she didn't mind. "But you're *my* disgusting pile of snot."

At this point Alex turned her head to sneeze the most pathetic little sneeze. Piper bit her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing. Alex hated to show weakness, Piper wasn't about to add insult to injury by showing just how adorable she thought Alex was right now.

"I don't want you to see me like this."

Piper reached over and started softly ghosting her fingers over Alex's cheek as she looked directly into her eyes.

"But I *want* to see you like this, Alex. I want to see you in every situation. I'm your girlfriend – I get to see you vulnerable, and I get to be the one to make you feel better."

Alex Vause didn't know what to say, which wasn't a very common occurrence. She gave Piper a grateful little smile and nodded as if to give her permission to take care of her. Piper scooted closer to the warm body in front of her and placed an affectionate kiss on top of Alex's head, as she pushed it down to rest on her own chest and started tracing patterns up and down Alex's back with her fingers.

Maybe being ill had its perks after all.

Alex lay on her bunk hugging her pillow to her chest. She had been spending a lot of time in bed lately – thankfully she had finally received a new mattress. She would nap to stop herself from feeling the way she did, but lately even her dreams were populated with the same face she couldn't help but see.

Alex knew that the only person who could make her feel better was also the person who made her feel this way in the first place. Piper fucking Chapman. When the alarm rang after the pageant and Doggett and Piper's bodies were seen being carried out on stretchers, Alex's heart stopped as the sounds around her seemed to mute and she felt her blood turn to ice in her veins. Piper had to be OK. Alex wasn't sure she could cope if anything happened to her. She had never felt so terrified in her entire life – this beat the first time she did a deal, even the moment the whole ring got caught and she realised she was headed to prison.

Alex lay catatonic in her bunk, staring at the ceiling except when she was made to stand up for count, for the full two days until Nichols came to give her news of Chapman. Apparently Bennett had seen her, Piper was awake and only had a broken hand, Doggett was the one whose life was in danger. Nichols was impressed by Chapman's handiwork. Alex herself would probably have been a little bit proud if she had had any more room for feelings in her confused heart. Sheer relief must have exuded from Alex's face because Nichols patted her shoulder in a way that showed she was both happy for her and a little bit sad. She knew that what Piper and Alex had, their connection – whether they ended up together or not – was irreplaceable, and that Vause would never have as much room in her heart for her.

Alex was still worried about Piper. Morello drove Piper back from her hearing and found out first hand that Piper got 4 more years before she was sent to the SHU for a month. Piper had found solitary for two days difficult enough, Alex wondered what a whole month would do to her sanity. Not to mention the extra sentence. Piper had told her that the one thing she knew was that she was never ever going back to prison, and now she was staying five times longer than expected. All because of a fucking crazy Bible-banging meth-head that everyone knew was after her. Maybe she could have done something.

But Alex didn't want to care. Alex desperately wanted to pretend that Chapman was dead to her and get on with her life in prison. Piper was the only woman she had ever loved, the only person she had ever trusted with her heart, and she had crushed it. Twice. There was no way that Alex would survive another ride on the Piper Chapman rollercoaster.

And so Alex tried to do what what she did best: she put up walls. She took her bricks of smartass remarks and cockiness and rebuilt the fortress around her heart that Piper Chapman had managed to tear down. Alex would avoid Chapman and go about her life, and maybe one day she could look at her without feeling that familiar squeezing in her chest and twisting in her stomach. Maybe one day the dreams would stop.

A/N: I realise that so far the story isn't particularly original but I just wanted to cover the consequences of Piper's 'encounter' with Doggett and Alex's reaction before I moved on. I've got an idea of where the next few chapters are going and I promise they've got a bit more substance to them so please stick with me! :)