Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Medics rushed the stage as well as a few doctors in the crowd as they closed the curtain, examining Piper, who came to fairly quickly but was groggy enough to warrant the EMT's to ask questions of her to determine the cause of her fainting.

Alex stood with her bandmates outside of the small circle created around Piper, her heart thudding wildly. The image of the blonde paling and meeting her eyes before she fell haunted her and as Nicky and Poussey both put their hands protectively on each of her shoulders, she was suddenly nauseous.

"Girls," Red twirled her hair anxiously as she spoke, "Come back to the dressing room. There's nothing more you can do right now."

Alex shook her head. "I don't want to leave her."

Red's eyes were knowing and she touched her arm, "I know. They are taking her to the hospital to get checked out..just as a precaution. You're scared but it will be OK. Come," she said kindly and Alex was taken aback at how nice she was being about the whole situation.

"I want to go with her," She said quickly, "To the hospital. In the ambulance, I mean, so she's not alone."

The manager shook her head. "I will ride with her. You girls change up and meet us there. It'll give you a chance to calm down." She paused. "I'll have an annoucement made. We'll deal with the headache of refunds later. Go."

The trio didn't speak as they followed Red's instructions, Alex getting dressed as fast as humanly possible as Poussey took responsibility for calling Uber. As she put on her boots, Nicky placed her hand on her shouder comfortingly.

"She's gonna be OK. She's tough."

Even through her own worry, Alex recognized the guilt in Nicky's eyes. "Not your fault, you know. She hasn't looked well for days. Nothing you said made this happen."

Nicky shrugged, "I didn't help anything by being a bitch."

"This is all so fucked," She said lowly, bending back upward. "I never should've let her go on tonight, Nick. Not with how fucking weak she was."

"Now who's feeling guilty?" The bassist said gently. "We don't even know what's wrong yet. All we can do is wait and see, man. Don't beat yourself up."

"Car's on the way," Poussey told them, changing quickly into the jeans and a sweatshirt she had worn there. "How you holdin' up?" she asked Alex.

"I'll be better once I see she's OK."

"Yeah, me too. That was some scary shit." The drummer put an arm around Nicky, pulling her close. "Hey...this is kinda out there, but do you think-" She shook her head, "Nah, man. That's kinda nuts. I don't even wanna put that out there."

"What?" Alex asked suspiciously. "P, if you have something to say, just say it."

"My sister looked like shit like that...dark circles, tired, couldn't eat. She passed out one day and come to find out, she was pregnant."

She hadn't even considered that to be a possibility and the mere suggestion put an even larger knot in her stomach. "I-I don't-"

"Unless she was already knocked up when she joined the band, that's fuckin' physically impossible," Nicky interjected, "Do you really think she'd lie about something major like that? Or that there would be no other signs? Plus she drinks. You guys know I don't think too fuckin' highly of her right now, but I don't think she's pregnant, I really don't."

As she rationalized Nicky's words, her breathing slowly returned to normal and she nodded. "Nicky's right. There's just no way. But obviously she's wrecked or else she wouldn't have passed out "

A text came into Poussey's phone and she glanced down at it. "Let's go, car's here."

It took less than fifteen minutes to get to the hospital from The Palace and the second they stepped foot in the door and into the ER, Poussey breathed in sharply.

"You OK?" Nicky asked.

"Yeah...it's just the smell, man." she explained tightly, "Brings me back to when my Mom was sick."

The curly haired women squeezed her hand. "We can wait outside if you need to. I'm sure Vause will keep us posted."

"I'll be alright. I'm here for Chapman."

As they stepped inside the waiting room, Alex spotted Red who immediately rose when she saw them. "They took her in as soon as she got here. They won't tell me anything though because I'm not family."

"She doesn't talk to her family," Alex was indignant. "They can't even let you know if she's doing OK?" She wanted to punch the wall. "This is such bullshit."

"They'll talk to me," A stocky man with a beard piped up from beside Red. "Probably."

"This is Cal," Red explained, gesturing to the man, "Piper's brother."

Instantly, Alex recalled Piper mentioning that Cal was the only person in her family she still spoke to and although he was several years younger than she was, he had always understood her in a way that the rest of them couldn't. She hadn't said anything about him attending the concert and Alex wondered if she had known he was there.

"Nice to meet you," She gathered herself, extending her hand toward him. "I'm Alex."

" Yeah, I know," He shook her hand. "Piper's told me alot about you. And you guys kicked ass tonight...till Piper ruined it by passing out."

His feeble attempt at humor was met with a few polite chuckles and Nicky and Poussey introduced themselves as they all sat down.

"She didn't know I was coming. The last time we talked, she mentioned you guys were playing Stamford but I was in the woods in the middle of nowhere and I didn't know if I'd be back in time. I drove down here to surprise her."

"Do your parents know she's here?" Alex asked, trying to ignore the fact she desperately wanted a cigarette. She crossed and uncrossed her legs uncomfortably. "I'm going to guess you haven't called them."

"And have Pipe be pissed at me?" Cal shook his head. "No way. They would be like, the two last people on earth she would want me to call."

"You want me to get coffee?" Nicky cut in suddenly. "I'll go-".

Alex suspected the real reason she offered was to escape a totally uncomfortable situation but she appreciated the gesture all the same and gave her a small smile. "I'm good, thanks."

"Anyone else?" The bassist shrugged helplessly, "I dunno, isn't that what you're supposed to do when you're waiting for someone in the hospital?" She turned to Poussey, "Just tryin' to help."

"I know, and you're sweet," Poussey kissed the top of her head. "But all you gotta do is just be here. That's it."

The ER doctor came out and Cal introduced himself and they talked privately for a brief minute apart from the others. When Cal returned, he informed them that Piper was being admitted and they could see her for only a short time as visiting hours were long over and she needed her rest.

"What's going on? Did they say why she fainted?" Alex asked, standing up.

"Exhaustion mixed with dehydration. I guess she said she wasn't eating much either." He shook his head. "Piper tends to shut down when things get tough. So what happened?"

Alex felt her body immediately tense. "I think that's something Piper should tell you. Not my place."

"Fair enough," He shrugged and it stuck her how different he was from Piper. Wheresas she was guarded and intense, Cal was open and laid-back, as was evidenced by how he spoke and she thought it was completely crazy they were close, considering what dissimilar personalities tney had.

"Does she have a room already?" Red interrupted. She had been remarkably quiet through the entire ordeal and Alex had to wonder if she was feeling a little guilty herself.

"She's on the sixth floor," Cal looked at her, "We just have to go to the nurse's station when we get up there for her room number."

They headed to the elevator and as they rode up to Piper's floor, Nicky turned to Alex. "Do you think she'll even wanna see me? We didn't exactly leave things in a good place..."

"I'm sure it would mean alot to her if you popped your head in and saw that she was OK," The guitarist replied. "Obviously you give a shit, Nick...or else you wouldn't be here."

When they reached her floor and got her room number, they were informed by the nurse on duty tnat only three visitors were allowed at one time and that to keep it brief as Piper needed rest.

"You go," Alex ventured to Cal, pausing outside the door. "You too, Red. The three of us can see her together."

Cal looked at her oddly then and she averted her gaze to the floor. Jesus, is it that fucking obvious?

"OK," He said, stepping aside so Red enter first. "After you."

"We'll wait in the lounge at the end of the hall," she told them, gesturing for Nicky and Poussey to follow.

As they settled themselves into uncomfortable chairs, Alex stared mindlessly at Storage Wars playing on the wall mounted TV while Nicky scrolled through her phone, allowing Poussey to rub small circles on her back, a gesture that seemed to be for her own comfort as much as it was for Nicky's.

"Do you think Red called Larry?" She questioned outloud, her gaze still fixed on the television. "Not that there's much he can do from Boston..."

Nicky shook her head. "It wasn't something major. Yeah, she passed out but she's gonna be fine. She calls him and he's breathin' down her goddamn neck more so than usual. He's wanna come here," she pulled a face. "Bad enough he's gonna be aound in New York."

"I doubt Piper would say anything either."

Sitting in silence, waiting for Cal and Red to come back, Alex tried to focus on what was going on on TV, on the ticking of the clock on the wall, on how the leather was cracking a little near the toe of her favorite boots...anythjng to distract her from her thoughts but her head swam too much for anything that required concentration. Instead she busied herself with stupid things; counting the number of blue squares on the linoleum floor, picking at her already chipping nail polish, fishing two dollars out of her wallet to grab a Coke from the vending machine. Tiny things that she could do, reflexes performed with no premediation.

After what seemed like an eternity, Cal and Red entered the waiting, Red looking utterly exhausted. "I'm going back to the hotel," she announced wearily. "Not much more to do here and I need my beauty sleep."

"Did they say why they're keeping her?" Alex asked. A part of her feared that there was something soneone wasn't telling her.

"Only to give her IV fluids and to make sure she rests. It's late. I told her if she needed me to cancel tomorrow's show, I would. It will be lost money and one fucking big headache but Piper's health is more important. I'll keep you updated. Goodnight, girls. Try to get some rest." Red headed out of the waiting room and toward the elevators.

Always a slight cynic, the guitarist couldn't help but think some of Red's concern and generosity was for Cal's benefit, because he had been in the room. It wasn't to say the manager didn't care about their well being but Alex knew for a fact there wasn't nothing that infuriated her more than losing money. The mere suggestion of doing something that would cost them would've normally sent Red into a complete tantrum; she had seen it firsthand. If she had to hazard a guess it was that she feared lawsuits on her hands (Larry's father was a lawyer) if she pushed Piper too hard.

"You know my sister," Cal scratched his beard, "She's stubborn. If she wants to sing tomorrow night, she damn will."

"That's Piper," Alex sighed. "Hopefully she changes her mind because I think it's a shit idea."

"Maybe you can convince her otherwise," He offered a knowing smile. "She asked for you."

"She asked for me?" Alex repeated, taken aback. She was the last person she expected Piper to want, given their last conversation.

He nodded. "She wanted to know if you were here. I told her you were and and she got really quiet and kinda looked down and said, "Oh." Anyway, she's in room 605."

Taking in this news, she exhaled. "C'mon, guys," Nicky and Poussey followed as she stood up and walked down the hall.

She didn't quite know what to expect when she walked in but Piper was sitting at an incline, looking alert and much less pale than when they had last seen her. Alex felt almost dizzy with relief but she found herself unable to speak.

Luckily, Nicky jumped in. "Ya look great, kiddo. You don't match the sheets anymore, so that's good..." She trailed off awkwardly.

"You scared the shit out of us, girl," Poussey said, moving in to touch her arm lightly. "How you feelin' now?"

"Better," She smiled at the drummer. "This is helping," she gestured to the IV in her arm. "Sorry I fucked up the concert...it was going so well too."

"Doesn't matter," Nicky shrugged. "We're just glad you're OK." She scratched her head, "Hey listen, Piper, about rehearsal yesterday..."

"Please don't apologize just because I'm in the hospital. Not like I'm dying or anything." She smirked. "You meant everything you said and I completely understand why. I'd like us to be friends again, Nick, but if that can't happen, well, we can at least try to get along."

"Yeah, dude...That sounds do-able."

The blonde had noticed Alex had not said a word, her eyes glued to Piper's IV stand, to her own shoes, to anything that wasn't the blonde herself.

"Hey Alex," She ventured softly, "Thanks for coming."

Something in her voice made Alex lift her head and when she did and their eyes connected, a little something in her died all over again and suddenly she was back in the moment where she had just taken Piper's hand and the electricity between them, the connection, had been so intense, her first instinct had been to run. And that was what she wanted to do at that moment.

"Where else would I be?" She asked gruffly, averting her gaze.

"I don't know...I know things are kind of weird right now..." Piper smoothed back an errant piece of hair. "Anyway, you didn't have to. I'm fine."

"If you call passing out because you're not eating or drinking enough fine..." It was difficult to keep the edge out of her voice but Piper's blase attitude about the whole situatuon was beginning to get to her.

"Uh, since you're doing better, we're gonna just head back to the hotel," Nicky broke in, Poussey nodding and Alex recognized her friend was trying to give her an out.

"You guys go ahead, I'll grab a cab back later. I wanna talk to Piper."

"OK, man, we'll catch you later. Glad you're feelin' better, Chapman," Poussey said. "See you soon."

They left and Alex sat down in the chair nearest to her bed and put her hands in her lap. "Stop punishing yourself like this," she said simply. "You made the choice you felt you had to. Doesn't matter how I feel...you did what you had to do, Piper. It's done. There's no use hurting yourself because you're hurting."

"You're one to talk."

She sighed deeply. "That's why I'm saying it. It was a really stupid move and I hate that you're doing the same thing."

"I'm trying to live with myself, Alex...I'm trying to figure out why I threw away the best thing that ever happened to me." Her eyes glistened and she reached out for Alex's hand. "I don't know how to-what do we do, Al? I'm at a loss here."

"We try to heal," Alex answered honestly. "We try to heal and we try to move on." She threaded their fingers together, squeezing her hand briefly before releasing it.

"Well, that's hard to do."

"Yeah it is." She looked down. "Pipes...don't perform tomorrow. Please. Give yourself a chance to rest. Really rest, before we go to New York."

Her eyes widened. "I can't believe I'm listening to you say this right now. First Red and now you? What about refunds? What about people bitching on social media? It's not like we're famous enough yet for it not to matter canceling shows."

"Let Red worry about all that. It's what we pay her for. You need to focus on feeling better."

"I feel completely fucking useless right now," Piper sank back against the pillows, her frustration evident.

"Well, what use are you going to be if you collapse again? Or if you can't do the rest of the tour." She asked gently. "Listen...everything will work out. This isn't going to break us. But you need to take care of yourself. Understood? I'm putting on my leader hat here."

Piper cracked a tiny smile. "Understood."

"Good. I'll tell Red what you decided. You go ahead and get some rest, OK?" She pulled the blanket up to cover her. "I'll check in tomorrow."

"Good night."

Alex stood to go, poised toward the door.

Alex?"

"Yeah?" She said over her shoulder.

"Thanks again for coming." Her voice was so soft, Alex could barely hear her. "I hoped you would."

"Night, Pipes."

She exited the room, exhaling shakily and leaning against the wall briefly to catch her breath. The events of the night were beginning to wear her down and she wanted nothing more than to go back to the hotel and climb into bed. The exhaustion was creeping up to her like an unwanted visitor and she rubbed her eyes from behind her glasses.

"Hey, Alex!"

She turned around as she reached the elevator at the end of the floor, her finger poised over tbe button.

"Hey," The guitarist returned, surprised to see Cal standing behind her. "You're still here."

He reddened slightly. "Yeah...thought I'd stick around, you know, in case Pipe needs me."

"I don't think they're letting anybody else in. It's," she glanced at her phone, "almost eleven thirty."

"Yeah...well, can I gjve you a ride back to your hotel then?"

Alex hesitated. "Thanks, but I can get a cab "

"I'm not a serial killer, I swear," Cal offered amicably, "Hey, you like beer? There's a great bar not far from here and I don't know about you, but I need one after tonight."

She paused, considering his offer. It had been a crazy few hours and her exhaustion having momentarily disappeared, it seemed a better alternative than staring at the ceiling, facing hours of possible insomnia.

"Sure, yeah...why the hell not, right?"

"Great, let's go," They went into the elevator and rode it to the parking garage where they drove a few minutes down the road to a tucked away spot.

When they had settled in, sitting at the bar and ordering their beers, they sat in silence, which was surprisingly not weird, considering Alex had known Piper's brother for all of two hours. She could understand why he and Piper got along. He had a calming presence where Alex didn't feel pressured to fill the silence with uncomfortable small talk like she did with some people. Cal was a pretty relaxed guy and she definitely liked that about him.

"So," she spoke finally, taking a sip of beer, "Was Piper surprised to see you?"

"Oh yeah. I mean, she kinda wished it was under better circumstances but..." He smiled. "I'm gonna hang out with her tomorrow. Make sure she takes it easy. You know Piper. Her idea of taking it easy is going on a five mile run instead of a ten mile run."

"Yup. Which is why I'm glad you'll be around. And I bet she'll appreciate the company. Have you guys always been close?"

"Pretty much. We're only three years apart so we were always together...Danny, that's our older brother, he was ten years older than me so he pretty much did his own thing. But Pipe and I...she got me, you know? She would talk to me when she couldn't talk to my parents. Which was alot."

"She's definitely told me a few stories," Alex laughed before becoming serious. "I'm worried about her, Cal. I don't know how much she said..."

"Not much with your manager in the room. But I know a little. She told me about you. About you guys, I mean."

"What?" Alex leaned forward in her chair, nearly knocking her beer over. "When?"

"When she started having feelings for you. She called me and said she was all kinds of conflicted but she was drawn to you. I told her to be careful but we never talked about it after that. I could tell something changed but Piper's pretty tight lipped when she wants to be." He glanced at Alex. "Hope you're not mad."

"No, no...I'm not mad," She recovered, "Just suprised, that's all. I didn't know she told anybody."

"I guess she needed to get my opinion, you know? To see if it was a bad idea. We run stuff by each other sometimes...but I couldn't tell her what to do. I'm not really a guy who gives advice. At least not good advice." Cal drained the rest of his glass. "Want another one?"

She nodded and he ordered them two more, thanking the bartender when he placed the full glasses down in front of them.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go ahead and guess that whatever happened between you and my sister isn't happening anymore since I got a wedding invitation in the mail like, three days ago..."

She shook her head and to her horror, a golf ball sized lump formed in throat. They last thing she wanted was to lose her shit in front of Piper's brother, who by all accounts, seemed like a nice guy, but a guy, nonetheless whom she barely knew and who she didn't want to think she was a mentally unstable musican who went around sleeping with her engaged bandmates. Even if the latter was pretty much true.

Cal put his hand over hers, sensing that she was beginning to lose it a little. "Hey, hey...it's OK. This a judgement free zone "

"I asked her to make a choice," She admitted, playing with the mottled edge of the coaster. "I told her I couldn't handle being her secret anymore. And she chose Larry. This was after he walked in on us kissing in Boston."

"Holy shit," He exhaled. "Larry must've had an aneurysm."

"Practically. But he was willing to forgive her...so I asked her to choose. And it wasn't me." Alex shrugged. "And here we are."

"Wow, that sucks." He said sympathetically. "Can I just say something?"

"Shoot."

"I'm not really shocked she went with Larry. Not at all. He's the safest choice. And this might make me sound like a real asshole here, but the most boring one. I saw the way her eyes lit up tonight when I told her you were here. And when she talked about you on the phone, her voice got all dreamy. She's definitely into you, Alex. But I know my sister...she's not a big risk taker."

"Apparently," Alex replied dryly, rolling her eyes.

"You gotta understand...my parents put alot of pressure on her growing up. Danny was the golden child. He could do nothing wrong in their eyes. He practically shat out sunshine. I was always the screw-up...they kinda knew that early on so I got off pretty easy in the expectations department. It was kind of awesome, actually." He paused, "but Pipe had to behave a certain way and dress a certain way...and pull good grades and do sports and date dudes only from families they approved of...they wanted her to be a doctor or a lawyer. When she said she moving to Boston to try to be a musician...well, all hell broke loose. They basically let her know if that was what she wanted, she was on her own."

"Jesus..." She had known Piper's childhood hadn't been ideal, that her parents had lacked warmth but the singer hadn't told her to what extent they'd controlled her life. "And the boyfriend? Did you know about him? The one who had the band."

Cal's features darkened. "I only met him once when I was visting her but I didn't like the way he talked to her. He was a bully and I told her as much but she insisted she was fine, he was fine, everything was fine. Obviously not, because the next time I heard anything, Polly was calling me to tell me she almost OD'd. That's when I got the whole story. Believe me, the guy was lucky he was already dead."

"What do you think about Larry?" She asked quietly. "A vast improvement from that bastard, no doubt."

"Larry's a great guy. Not the brightest crayon in the box but really nice. And he loves Piper, treats her well. But he doesn't really get her, you know? He's always a few steps behind what she thinks or what she wants. Not that he doesn't try. I thought so, even before she met you." Cal said. "Not that I've ever said anything to her about it. In case you haven't noticed, I kinda try to keep my life conflict free. That's why I live in the middle of the woods. I'm lucky if I get a cell phone signal half the time."

"Do you think she's making a mistake?"

He mused carefully. "I think she's doing what she thinks she's supposed to. My parents controlled her, that asshole controlled her...I'm not saying Larry is, not intentionally, anyway, but the bottom line is, she's scared, Alex. To be with someone who gets her; how important her music is to her, how she overthinks everything till it doesn't exist anymore, the way she's the most supportive person in the world for everyone else but she can't seem to do the same for herself. Not only someone who gets all that, but accepts it, accepts Pipe for who she is and doesn't try to change her. That's not Larry and we both know it."

"I can't change her mind, Cal. I tried." Alex finished her beer, watching as foam clung to the side of the glass. "I know this wasn't an easy decision for her to make."

"She let a guy beat the shit out of her for almost two years, Alex, and it wasn't because she was weak or in denial...she was scared of the alternative. If she left, she would've been completely alone...in her mind, it was the better choice." His eyes met with hers, the shade of blue so like Piper's, she felt the same lump form in her throat again. "Do I think she's making a mistake? Well, yeah. I do. She's in love with someone else."

Her breath hitched. "I'm trying really hard to move on...maybe that's the best thing for both of us."

"And maybe, just maybe, it's not." Cal leaned forward, eyes twinkling. "As much as I told you I avoid conflict, I'm also a sucker for happy endings."

"Yeah, well, that seems kind of implausible at this point, don't you think?"

"That's up to you. Are you going to let my sister marry a man she doesn't love? Or are you going to do something about it?"