Chapter Five-Life in the Burbs
It shouldn't have been surprising that she was having trouble readjusting to minimum security. After nearly six weeks in a rectangular box everything seemed strange. Sleeping with other women in the room, showering when she wanted to, even the most basic of conversations took concerted effort. Piper found she was really only interacting at mealtimes when she couldn't avoid it. She mostly sat with Red, Nicky, Lorna, Boo, and Alex of course.
Sometimes she found herself drawn to Taystee and Poussey. They were friendly and didn't mind if she was quiet. The first time she had gone over they had just welcomed her and said 'good job' and 'serves the bitch right' and left it at that. She could sense that they felt differently about her, not so casual and with a respectful deference. Taystee had let her know she had a box of her stuff and would get it to her when they assigned her a bunk in the dorms for which Piper was very grateful. She let both women know she owed them.
Everything had been quiet on the Pennsatucky front except for the one lame confrontation Taylor had attempted at dinner. She had no intention of being intimidated by another crazy meth head. Neither Caputo nor the COs had said anything about Doggett's condition, so she tried to put it out of her mind.
Polly had come for a visit on her second Saturday out of the SHU. Piper knew she was probably mad at some level, but the way her best friend had given her a crushing hug and let out a series of gasping sobs had before sitting down made Piper wish Polly had come in dripping sarcasm and cursing her for being so stupid. Piper couldn't imagine how awkward it would be when her mother came to visit. At least there would be no tears, just truckloads of guilt and recrimination.
Piper had smiled and assured her everything was going to be fine and eaten the three bags of chips Polly bought. Polly had shown her dozens of photos of Finn and talked about his first Christmas and the pile of presents his grandparents and Piper's mom had given him. "I always said I would not have a spoiled child and now look at me."
"I can't wait to join in his corruption by modern consumerism." Piper had responded gleefully. Truly it was her most normal interaction in months, but as soon as she walked away Piper knew deep down that something fundamental about her had changed. She was not the woman she had been at Polly's last visit, which had been before Larry's last visit. His name hadn't even come up and Piper was grateful for that. She just wasn't ready to deal with his whirlwind of anger, acceptance, forgiveness and betrayal and the part it had played in her loss of control with Doggett.
Two days later Piper finally got the call to pack her stuff for her cube assignment in the dorms. Healy was still her counselor and had her report to his office to find out where she would be housed. She arrived at his office to find the door closed and the sound of voices inside. She waited in the hall for several minutes until Caputo came out, a scowl on his face. "Chapman. Mr. Healy will see you now."
Piper walked through the door and waited just inside the entrance. She was really hoping he would just tell her the dorm and cube number and let her be on her way. Of course he couldn't do that. "Shut the door Chapman and have a seat."
Piper slowly did as he instructed. Since her return from SHU she had avoided any interaction with the man who had stood by and allowed Pennsatucky to attack her. She loathed him deeply, especially since he still lorded such control over her life at Litchfield. She swallowed the bile that bubbled in the back of her throat just being in his presence and waited, sitting on the edge of the chair closest to the door.
"I have your dorm assignment Chapman. I'm also figuring out your work assignment, but that may take a few more days." Healy seemed particularly pleased with his second comment, a smarmy expression on his face.
"I'm not going back to electrical?" Piper had always assumed she would return to work there when she had her permanent housing.
"No. I just informed Mr. Caputo that I feel you are too dangerous to return to electrical, too many tools. You might decide to attack a CO or another inmate with a deadly weapon next time." He sat back and stared at her as if she would take his pitiful bait and jump over the desk to pummel him right there in his government issued chair.
"Ok." Piper didn't really care about whatever crappy job they gave her. "Where am I bunked?"
Disappointment flashed over Healy's face for an instant before he picked up a folder on his desk. "Doggett's been through surgery for her extensive facial injuries. She should be waking up and coming off of the painkillers soon."
Piper kept her face completely neutral and said nothing, which seemed to irritate Healy further.
"Suburbs, cube six." Healy barked. As Piper jumped up and started to leave he kept talking. "Your actions will still catch up with you Chapman. And I'm going to do everything I can to help make sure you go down hard."
Piper got out as fast as she could. There was nothing she could do about Healy right now, and she had no idea what Doggett would say when she was fully awake, if anything. She had mixed feelings finding out she was in the suburbs. Most of her friends were there. But Taylor and her born again crew also occupied several cubes, and of course Alex bunked there. She thought back to the terror she felt walking into the ghetto for the first time and meeting Ms. Claudette. Now she almost wished she was headed back there to hang out with Taystee and the others.
Walking down the line carrying her things she found she had been assigned to share a cube with Red. Nicky had told her about what had happened in the kitchen and how Red had lost her position as head cook. She had noticed Red didn't come to the cafeteria often to eat. Nicky had said she mostly heated up noodle cups and stayed in her cube.
"Hey Red. Guess I'm your new roommate." Piper announced as she placed her things down on her bunk. "You going to tell me to march my yuppie ass out like you did when I came to your kitchen?"
Red sat up and put down the magazine she had been reading. "Na. I think we'll get along just fine. You hear what happened while you were in the SHU?" Piper nodded. "I'm just an old lady who picks up trash in the yard now. Anyway you're supposed to be the new tough girl."
"Well, I do remember you taught me that perception was everything in prison." It didn't take Piper long to stow the few things she had from her stay in the room. She could get her other things from Taystee later.
Red raised an eyebrow at her comment but stayed silent and went back to her magazine.
Before dinner everyone stopped by to welcome Piper to her first stay in the burbs. Nicky couldn't resist the opportunity to comment on the benefits of having another lesbian around.
"I'm not a lesbian." Piper retorted. She hated anyone putting labels on her.
"Chapman, I have seen tons of straight girls come through here and get horny enough to ignore the gender of the person licking their pussy, and that's not you. Plus we all know you have history with Vause, ancient and modern, so don't even try to claim you're hetero." Nicky had made herself at home on Piper's bunk as she spoke.
"I didn't say I was straight Nicky, I just said I'm not a lesbian." Piper really didn't want to discuss her sexuality or anything about sex with Nicky. It made her think about Nicky being with Alex and that made her queasy.
"Whatever. You've still got Vause following you around like a puppy and staring at your skinny ass all the time." Nicky wondered how Piper felt about her friend and one-time fuck buddy and was willing to throw out a little verbal challenge.
Piper's eyes narrowed and her lips opened as if she was going to respond. Instead she got up and grabbed her towel. "I want a shower before dinner."
"Thank god. I don't need to hear any more about sex from my daughter." Red mumbled without looking up from her reading.
Piper hurried towards the showers. She had taken one that morning, but needed some time alone before dinner. Everyone was being very nice to stop by and greet her, but all the attention was overloading her senses and a few minutes feeling the water run over her would clear her head. Even if the temperature was more lukewarm than hot.
God how she missed steaming hot showers under a pelting spray. Baths were nice, glorious on occasion, but sometimes you just needed the massaging effect of hot water hitting your shoulders and the back of your neck hard.
She had taken baths with Larry. Nice, comfortable together time with oils that didn't smell too girly. He hadn't liked hot showers, saying showers were meant to be a perfunctory cleaning. She hadn't had the heart to tell him he was oh so wrong. Or maybe she had just wanted that particular feeling to remain a memory of time spent exclusively with Alex.
Piper slipped off her clothes and stepped into the furthest vacant spot and turned the water on as warm as it would go. She stood under the flow and thought about all of the showers she had taken with Alex. That woman had delighted in showers the same way she did, even more so when they took them together. Sometimes they just got clean, sometimes they got very dirty. Often they got clean, dirty and then clean again. Several of the hotels they frequented during their travels had the huge walk-in marble showers complete with the rain shower heads she loved.
Piper's mind slipped back to one particularly memorable time on a layover in Singapore. It wasn't a country that Alex did business in, just a weather related stopover. They were staying at the Four Seasons and had spent the day wandering through the lovely botanical gardens and then shopping, followed by a stellar dinner. Unfortunately, the country was very conservative and homophobic enough that the few gay clubs were quite secretive. She had wanted to find one and go dancing anyway, but Alex had argued she didn't need to attract any police attention and the clubs would be all men anyway.
In her not uncommon bratty fashion Piper had huffed off to the suite bathroom and gotten into the magnificent shower, where she immediately started to loosen up. Several minutes later Alex came in, fully clothed, and walked right into the shower, picking her up around the waist, lifting and spinning her directly under the shower head.
Piper had thrown her head back and laughed. She could never stay mad at Alex. "What are you doing you crazy bitch?"
"I made a couple calls, found out about a club we can go to safely. If my girl wants to dance, I'm going to take her dancing." Alex's speech was somewhat interrupted by her frequent kisses to various parts of Piper's torso.
"Hmmm. That sounds nice. Thank you. But now I'm all wet and what you are doing feels really good." Piper wiggled so that her left breast was directly in front of Alex's lips. "Maybe you could convince me to stay in after all."
"Just wet huh? You look soaked to me, and well, I'm drenched." Alex started to use that growly low voice that made Piper groan and melt every time.
Piper leaned over and whispered into Alex's ear. "Let me help you out of those clothes."
"Not yet, we've got extra traction this way." To prove the point Alex hoisted her a little higher and Piper willingly wrapped her legs around Alex's waist. "Can you grab the shower head?"
Piper smiled and reached up with one hand, grasping the plumbing tightly feeling the water streaming down her back. Alex moved one hand from her back around her hip before sliding it down into her wetness that was water and more. Piper had always thought the way Alex stroked her long fingers through her folds could only be described as amazingly sensual. Piper moved her hips ever so slightly back and forth in Alex's firm embrace, enjoying the light touches, but knowing she would soon want more.
Now Alex was teasing her clit with light rapid flicks followed by firm pressure. Piper started to squirm until Alex grasped her back more firmly and murmured, "Hold on tight baby." When two fingers thrust into her, Piper tested the strength of the shower head with her grip. She used the leverage to move with Alex, pulling up and then relaxing down into the marvelous feeling of fullness. When Alex added a third finger it only took a few more thrusts before Piper felt delicious tension coiling deep within her, followed by a quaking release.
"Alllllexxxx." Piper moaned before her thighs lost all strength and she slipped down the taller woman's body to the floor of the shower.
Only then did Alex strip off her wet clothes, before helping Piper up with a smile. "Let's get cleaned up. I want to go dancing."
Piper blinked as the water turned cool. Dinner had probably started while she was daydreaming. She turned off the faucet and dried off, wrapping the towel around her for the short walk back to her cube. As she passed by the row of empty showers she realized one was still occupied.
Alex had to hustle to grab a quick shower after work. The laundry had been particularly dungeon like today; steam with humidity and not in a nice spa sort of way. She just needed to rinse off the sweat before heading to dinner, where most of the other inmates would already be, including Piper.
In her rush to get out of the shower, Alex held a towel loosely around her body with one hand as she whipped the curtain open with the other. She stepped out and found herself directly in the path of an oncoming Piper. The collision wasn't hard, but the force of the bump combined with momentary shock caused Alex to drop her towel as she tried to catch her balance.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry." Alex sputtered as she reached down for the limp wet cloth that had somehow tangled at her feet.
Alex was a little surprised as she heard a soft chuckle. "It's ok Alex, I've seen you naked before."
Alex laughed and stood up slowly, drawing the towel into her hand without rushing to wrap it around her body. If Piper wanted to look, she had no objection.
Her laugh froze in her throat when she saw Piper staring at her midsection with a horrified look on her face. She tried hold up the towel as a barrier to Piper's sight, but the blonde simply shoved her hand away and reached out to touch one of the purple splotches on her hip. How could she have forgotten about the bruises?
Spinning away from the touch Alex hurriedly began to cover herself. Unfortunately her maneuver exposed her back to Piper and she heard a gasp as she finished tucking in the top of the towel. Piper had obviously seen the full extent of the damage. Facing Piper once again Alex found she was flustered and unsure what to do or say. She was usually so sure of her actions; it was a foreign feeling for her.
"Alex, what happened?" Piper's voice was quiet and filled with worry.
The truth wouldn't work. If Piper knew she might do something stupid. "I had an accident. It's getting better now. I …"
Piper held up a hand and didn't let her finish. "Just don't. Don't lie to me. If you don't want to tell me, that is your business. But I'm not stupid Vause." Piper stepped close once again. "You can tell me. Maybe I could. . ."
This time Alex did the interrupting. "No, Piper you can't. This is my issue; I'm taking care of it."
Piper raised an eyebrow and looked deliberately back down at Alex's abdomen. "Really?"
Alex knew she couldn't back down now and let Piper get involved. She drew herself up to full height and looked down at her. "Really. Come on, we're going to miss dinner if we don't hurry."
She watched as Piper shook her head, obviously disappointed, and headed for the door. "Fine, if that's how you want to be."
Alex took a moment after Piper had gone to breathe. She knew how she wanted things to be. She wanted to be with Piper, she wanted Piper to want only her, and most of all she wanted both of them to be out of prison and free. Since none of those were likely to happen anytime soon, she would do what she had to do, even if it wasn't what she wanted, and the number one item on that list was protecting Piper Chapman.