Chapter Ten-Cup o' Pills

"It's from Larry." Piper held out the letter as she stood in front of Alex who was currently sitting on the floor of the library, her back against the wall.

Alex motioned for Piper to sit down next to her but made no move to take the envelope. "You don't need to show me what that says. I trust you. If you need to communicate with him you should."

"I want you to read it. Honestly, I need your advice." Piper gave the paper a little wave before settling it on Alex's knee.

Alex gave her a questioning look before picking up the envelope and slipping out the paper. The letter was short.

Dear Piper;

I would like to come see you, if for no other reason than we need to discuss dividing up the apartment and things. Polly told me you were in solitary confinement partly because you were upset at my breaking it off and for that I am really sorry. This has all been more confusing and difficult for me than I ever imagined and I know it must be ten times worse for you.

I know I still love you, even though I'm not sure we can be together after you get out. The things that have happened, what you have done in prison, I can't seem to get over. I would like to think we could at least be friends again someday, but we can both decide that when the time comes. In the meantime how about I come a week from Saturday for a visit?

Love, Larry

Alex refolded the paper and gave the letter back to Piper. "What do you need advice about?"

Piper sighed and let her head bang lightly back against the wall. "Should I see him?"

"If you are asking if you seeing him will make me upset, the answer is no Pipes." Alex brought her arm up and around Piper's shoulders, drawing the other woman into her side. "If all you need to do is argue over who gets the espresso machine, you can do that through the mail. But I think you should see him, I think you need to see him at least this once. He deserves to know how you feel and you deserve to tell him how much he hurt you too."

Alex kissed the top of Piper's head, running her fingers through the fine blonde hair. "And if you happen to tell him you are madly in love with this really sexy brunette and to get on with his life, well, maybe that's what I deserve."

Piper initially flinched at Alex's statement, but realized she was correct. She glanced around to make sure they were alone before giving Alex a long deep kiss. "You are right. We all need to know where we stand and that includes me telling Larry not to wait because you and I are together for good. Thank you."

"It's getting late; let's head back to the suburbs." Alex smiled and helped Piper to her feet before helping herself to more of Piper's lips.

When they got to Piper's cube, the ever present Candace Johnson was there, seemingly sleeping again. This time Alex stopped to take a long look at the young woman. She had basically ignored Johnson since she had arrived, but there was something bothering her now about the woman's behavior.

Alex sat down on Piper's bunk still watching Johnson until she felt a warm hand enfold her forearm and begin to stroke softly up and down. Piper snuggled up against her and Alex could feel contentment radiating from her lover. It was as if Piper had found peace in her decision and suddenly didn't have a care in the world. Alex was secretly thrilled that Piper was willing to make a statement to her ex, it showed her commitment to their relationship.

"Maybe we should talk to her Alex, she might be in trouble." Piper whispered seeing Alex's focus on the woman in the other bunk.

"I'm awake." Candace sat up slowly to face them. She looked at their entwined position and gave a little frown when Piper and Alex didn't move apart. "So you two are a couple, for real?"

Piper figured she should answer since she was the one living there. "Yes. I hope that doesn't bother you."

"Whatever." Johnson leaned her head back against the short brick wall. "Don't worry about me, I'm not depressed or anything. Just sleepy and bored I guess."

This time Alex spoke up. "You'll get a job assignment pretty soon. The pay is a joke, but at least it gives you something to do."

"Yeah, great. Pick up trash for ten cents an hour. I'd rather sleep." Candace slumped a little to the side as if it was too much effort to stay sitting up and then started picking at the skin on her arm.

Alex looked up at the clock and saw they still had twenty minutes until final count. "Let's go to my cube Pipes. I want to show you something."

"Ok. We'll see you later Johnson." Piper looked a little surprised but followed Alex down the row of cubes and then out of the dorm and into the adjoining bathroom. "What was that about? I doubt you can show me what I want to see in here this close to final count." Piper gave Alex her best sultry smile.

"Unfortunately no." Alex did a quick survey around the room to make sure they were alone. "I knew there was something that bugged me about your cube mate and I finally figured it out. She's high all the time."

"What? No. She just got here. You think she hasn't detoxed?" Piper knitted her brow trying to think back on her interactions with the younger woman.

"Piper you don't know druggies like I know druggies. She's got all the signs; she's sleepy, sweaty, picking at her skin and you must have noticed that glazed look in her eyes all the time." Alex was irritated with herself for not putting it all together earlier.

Piper couldn't argue with Alex's observations. "I guess that all makes sense."

Alex put her hands on Piper's shoulders. "This is bad for you. She might have stuff stored in the cube. We need to go through her side and yours carefully. They could send you to the SHU if they find contraband anywhere in the cube."

"Oh shit. I hadn't thought about that. What do you think it is? What should I look for?" Piper's eyes got wide thinking of the implications.

Alex pondered the options for a minute, hugging Piper close as she did. "Probably pills. They are the easiest to get in. Maybe Pornstache has reestablished his network now that he has been back at work for a while."

Piper shuddered in Alex's embrace at the mention of the tall CO thinking about how he assaulted her outside of Caputo's office.

Alex noticed immediately. "Hey, you ok?" Piper looked up and kissed her then nodded before tucking back into Alex's arms. "We will take care of this tomorrow. I'll find a way for Johnson to be away so we can search her stuff."

Piper stepped back into a fighting stance and put on a fake scowl before starting to shadow box around Alex. "I know we'll be fine. Believe me, I beat the shit out of Doggett and we know that little meth head couldn't lay a hand on me. No way am I letting some newbie little doper screw with me!"

Alex laughed and grabbed Piper's hand tugging her back towards the dorm. "Come on tough girl. You don't want to be late for count."

Candace wanted to go back to sleep after the dykes left the cube, but the pressure on her bladder wouldn't allow her to get comfortable. Looking at the clock she realized she had just enough time to go pee before final count. As she turned into the bathroom she couldn't believe her luck. Chapman and Vause were in there and she heard Chapman loud and clear admit she beat the shit out of Doggett.

Candace hustled back to the cube, her bladder forgotten. This was just the sort of information Mr. Healy was interested in and she smiled knowing the next day she might have a shorter sentence than she had tonight. Screw Chapman and her girlfriend.

The next morning at breakfast Alex made sure it was only she, Piper, Nicky, Morello and Boo within hearing distance. She explained the concern over Johnson and asked if the three women could distract the new inmate long enough for Alex and Piper to search the cube for contraband. They all agreed it was most likely pills, but inmates had been known to sneak in drugs and needles. Morello had to do a van run that morning, but Nicky and Boo agreed to get Johnson out of the cube and keep her away for a half hour before they had to go to work.

Getting Johnson out of the cube turned out to be no problem. She was up, dressed and headed down the hall when Nicky and Boo were headed back to the suburb to find her. The two women quickly diverted to catch up to Johnson and waved Piper and Alex back towards the dorm to begin the search.

"You missed breakfast again. It's the most important meal of the day." Big Boo started as she caught up to the younger woman.

"Thanks, but I don't eat breakfast." Candace didn't see any reason to be unpleasant. She was feeling really good this morning and couldn't wait to tell Mr. Healy what she had heard.

Now Nicky had her flanked from the other side. "Nice to see you up and about Johnson. How you feeling?"

"Fine." Why were these two women walking with her? She wasn't sure she wanted them to know where she was headed, but then thought what does it matter? Mr. Healy was her counselor and she might need to talk to him for all kinds of reasons.

"Good. That's good Johnson. We just wanted to make sure cause Chapman said you had been looking kind of sick." Nicky said nonchalantly. "We look out for each other, you know? And Chapman, well she's a really good person to have as a friend around here."

They were nearing Mr. Healy's office and Boo pulled up to a stop. "People have tried to fuck with Chapman because of her kind nature and it didn't turn out so good for them. Just some friendly advice, ok?"

Shit. These two were warning her about messing with Chapman, which she was just about to do by ratting her out to Mr. Healy. Maybe if she did it quick she could get out of the prison before anyone figured out it was her. "Yeah, thanks for the chat. I have to see Mr. Healy about something."

Nichols smiled at her, but the look she gave was 100% suspicious. "Well that's going to have to wait until tomorrow. Healy is off on Mondays. Why don't we go get a cup of coffee?"

Johnson had no interest in coffee. If she couldn't talk to Healy for another day, she could at least go back to her cube and pop a couple Xanax. She had stayed sober this morning for her talk, but now she could spend the day floating. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll just head back to my cube."

She was more than a little horrified when Big Boo put her meaty arm around her shoulders and began to guide her towards the cafeteria. "Oh, but we insist."

There were only so many places to hide contraband in the small living spaces. Alex took the bunk area and Piper went directly to Johnson's cabinet and they began to pat, lift, remove and inspect the limited articles the young woman had in her area.

Piper growled in frustration. "Nothing."

Alex agreed Johnson's area seemed clean. "You search your cabinet and I'll go through hers again."

Piper nodded and dug into her own belongings. She actually had quite a bit accumulated now and it took several minutes to make her way through everything. By the time she finished Alex had started in on her bunk area. "What's this?"

Piper looked up to see Alex holding the box of Red's stuff that had been stored under her bunk. "Red's. I'm keeping it for her."

Alex nodded and set the box down on the bunk, flipping the lid open. She saw Red's favorite magazines along with several letters from home. Despite their 'noodle breakfast' in honor of Red, Alex saw there were still two packages in the box. When she moved one, she saw the seal at the top was peeled back a bit. "Piper."

Piper looked up as Alex handed her the cup of noodles package before stepping out to quickly scan for any COs or other inmates in the dorm. Seeing none she nodded to Piper to open the lid.

Piper felt an anger rise within her. She had felt this twice before now, once with Doggett and again when she had seen Taylor hitting Alex with the bible. But this time it seemed even more personal. Johnson had intentionally invaded her personal space and put her at risk storing contraband pills under her bunk. If these had been discovered during a search, she would have been in the SHU for months and her sentence would certainly have been lengthened. All so the other woman could get high.

"We need to get those out of here." Alex pointed at the container half full of light blue tablets before scanning around nervously. "We're going to be late for work too."

Somehow Piper found she was now able to channel the deep anger inside of her. Her mind suddenly felt clear and focused. "I think there might be a way we can get rid of multiple problems at once." Piper couldn't stop the small grin that started at one corner of her mouth. "I need five minutes with no one in the dorm, be my lookout?"

Alex found Piper's smile infectious and matched it without knowing why. It didn't matter. She loved this woman and trusted her completely. "Always."