Sandfromoz- thanks for all of your comments. You know, again, I wrote this a while ago- but based on what we knew about Carol and Bill, they were less than thrilled about Piper's past and her choices. Then we got a glimpse during visitation at Pipers bday and the reaction again w "I have a girlfriend," wasn't great. Carols reaction in season 5 was a little unbelievable BUT, I'm looking at it from this angle- as I had Alex say, Carol has always shown up/ she's been there for Piper throughout her time at Litchfield even though she doesn't approve which says how much she really does love her and she's genuinely worried about her with this riot (I loved her, Suzanne's mother and leanne's mother out there during the riot) and in the way that Alex and Piper prioritized their lives between the hell they experienced in season 4 and now the riot, I'm thinking Carol prioritized as well and said look, my daughter is in danger, and through her eyes, not equipped to handle a riot, I'm glad she has someone in there that she cares about, has someone to live for, (and maybe will try to remain safe vs leading the resistance,) I guess there's worse things in life than her being in love with a female partner. Her tone was too nonchalant for me after this build up. I soooo hope to have footage from the show that shows Pipers family meeting Alex though, and I hope it's done well.
Guest who's asking for proposal/wedding etc- stay tuned. Whole fic is 54 chaps but it's there. I have no intent on writing new stuff but I'm open to hearing thoughts and if something stands out, I may.
49
"Bill," she breathes, "I was telling your wife," she exhales, what am I doing?, "I plan to ask Piper to marry me."
He makes an uncomfortable groan.
She quickly continues before she's chewed out or doesn't have the strength to finish.
"I wouldn't have always made a good wife. I'd have made a terrible one actually, but I'm ready for that now, that role. It's not always easy, nothing that's worth it should be though, right? I love her...all of her, the good...the challenging...the not so pretty."
Bill Chapman grits his jaw, while Carol shifts uncomfortably. She presses her moist fingertip into stray pieces of sugar that dropped along the journey from the bowl to her cup, she sprinkles them into her napkin. Her eyes are watery, no, she does not want this. She's been understanding until now, tolerant of their cohabitation, waiting for Piper to come to terms with reality. But as this woman sits across from her, she knows Piper will never be who she's wanted her to be. Before she can say anything further about this, the brunette breaks the silence,
"Regardless, by law, you'll be stuck with me."
Her tone is grappling. Carol's eyes widen at the statement.
"So, if you could try to come around... not just for Piper, but for me too. It would mean a lot me as well. You only get one set of folks, but some people get two if they're lucky, if their in-laws, wanna claim them as their own."
Her expression is shocked. They've never spoken directly to each other before today, only having known each other in the abstract. Their relationship does not exist, so how could her presence suddenly matter?
"I know more about you than you'd probably be pleased with, and you probably know less about me than you should by now, but both are for a reason, I'm sure. I want her to be herself, I won't hold her back. But I won't make you a promise I can't keep. I'm not a doormat- I want her to be in a relationship where she's an equal, but if she desires something, even as much as I don't, it'll be on the table because I love her and want her happiness to come first. If she wants to open this shop with Polly, I'm going to do whatever I can to make that happen for her. But if she wants to make sandwiches because that's what makes her happy, then every morning I'll tie her apron around her back and tell her to make her best possible sandwich she can, because life is too short to not go for whatever makes you happy."
His face contorts, "you do what you need to do," he forces, as his words don't seem to come from a true place, but it's what needs to be said. "I want her to be happy, and if this," he says mildly disgusted, "is what will finally make her happy, will allow her to be who's she's meant to be then, so be it." He forces a small smile and pushes back from the table.
Carol starts to gather the coffee-ware onto the tray to return it to the kitchen.
Alex sits still, unsure if she's put a dent in the relationship her girlfriend has tried to rebuild. "Will we be seeing you both again soon?," Carol asks.
"W-what?"
"With Piper? Will you be returning with Piper? Soon?" Her voice aches to see her daughter.
"If you'll have us, yes. Maybe next time, we can have you over."
"Maybe," she forces.
Her elbows rest on her thighs underneath the table in the Litchfield visitation room. The ring that can possibly change her life lays loosely on her pinky, she spins it around with her opposite hand. Inmates enter individually, about a minute apart, they're sent in after being thoroughly searched. Each time she see a flash of the beige uniform, her back straightens, her neck strains to see if it's her, but that hair is unmistakable. She stands up ready to give her, her single allotted welcome hug. The sparkle in her eyes is always there, every time you've said you'd be here, you've shown up. Thanks to you she's gotten more visits over the last few months, than she has during the rest of her sentence, each time is as exciting as the last.
"You smell clean," she tells you as you break away from each other. You each sit down.
"I try to do the daily shower thing."
"So how'd it go? You're alive, so that's good."
Her voice is deep, "I dunno. It was a resistant go ahead." She takes a deep breath and exhales, "so, how are you?"
"I'm shittier than fucking fuck, what do you think?"
"Stupid question, sorry."
She notes the nerves in the brunette, "so are you gonna do it tonight?"
"No." Haven't I been through enough today? "Well I don't know." She stops to think for a moment, "no."
"Wow this eagerness, would definitely be all the reassurance I'd need to say 'yes.'"
She lifts her hands to rub her eyes. She feels the ring move around her smallest finger, she angles it toward Nicky.
"But that would, holy shit."
She takes it off to let Nicky hold it.
"I cant," she motions for the brunette to hang onto it.
She moves it around so it catches the light.
"That's beautiful Vause, really. Very Chapman."
"Thanks, it made a rather sizeable dent in my savings, but it'll be worth it, right?"
She raises her head at her friends doubt, her mouth is crooked, "she'll say yes," she says with great confidence, and sits back. "You survived the worst part," she says loosely waving her hand around, palm up. "You just gotta do it. Don't keep thinking about it, or you'll psych yourself out."
"I know. She wouldn't want anything extravagant, she likes the little things. I'm just not sure when and how and..."
"I'm sending her a letter, asking her how it feels to be engaged."
"What?," Alex looks at her sternly.
She nods, "mail goes out Wednesday. I'm putting a letter in there, so you better have done it by then."
"You wouldn't."
"Wouldn't I?
"Nichols I will strangle you in this visitation room."
"And then maybe you can be my bunkmate," she says knowing she could say whatever she wants right now and Alex cant do a thing about it.
"Nick...," she pleads.
"I won't, I won't...," she says with her hands up. "Just, do me a favor alright?" The brunette nods her head.
"Wait til I get out okay? It'll give me more motivation to not screw up."
Alex smiles, "yeah, you'll be my delinquent of honor."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. I don't have anyone else, so I have to wait for you."
She scoffs, "I hear ya sister."
"How many more weeks?"
"29."
"Completely doable," she says reassuringly.
"Think Chapman'll be able to hold out that long?," she asks with a sarcastic tone, but Alex knows her wild haired friend is asking honestly.
"Yeah that sounds more than fine. Her brother," she chuckles, "had an impromptu wedding at their dad's mother's funeral," she laughs, "talk about haste."
Nicky looks at her strangely, "yeah good luck. Sounds like you're marrying into a whole lotta crazy."
"I am," she says with the biggest smile on her face.
"Yeah, I remember you how nervous you were after talking to Piper's folks," Nicky says swirling her foot around in the pool.
"It feels like a lifetime ago," Alex confirms.
"Do you and Piper talk about us?," she stops and looks around for Francesca. "Do you think that's what they're doing now?"
"Knowing Piper, she's holding up Francesca, while she tortures our children, with more inquires about all the windows being locked."
"Seriously though, do you talk about us?"
"Sure. Sometimes. We just want you to be happy Nick. That's all, seriously."
"Well I am, seriously. With the way things are. Okay?"
"Mmmhmmm," she takes another sip of her beer and pinches Nicky's knee as Francesca returns sans Piper in a tank top and running shorts.
She removes the layer of clothes over her bathing suit, "so your wife conked out," she says with a snicker and walks over toward the steps in the shallow end of the pool. Her head remains above the water as she does a few breast strokes to where the ladies are sitting. She reaches for a bottle as Nicky pulls it back,
"you have to drink it over the edge. You can't spill it or well get kicked outta here. The guy said we weren't supposed to be in this area with any glass bottles."
"Ooooh," she scratches her eye with her middle finger. She uses her arms to push herself up some, she leans forward on her torso,
"Oh yeah," Nicky teases, as her girlfriend's chest is pressed against the poolside, she pulls the beer back a little further.
Francesca shoots her a "fuck off" look, and goes to reach for it, but Nicky leans back further. She falls back into the pool and pinches the skin under Nicky's foot hard,
"ow!," she exclaims and tries to hook her toe underneath her girlfriend's top to expose her. Alex puts her hand up, just in case Nicky succeeds. She looks back to see if Piper is really sleeping, when Nicky relents and brings the beer closer. Francesca reaches for it, when the wild haired woman pulls it back for a second before handing it to her.
She takes a sip, and notes the brunette looking back toward the hotel, "she's really sleeping," she takes another swallow, "and she called your son again."
"Not surprised," she rolls her eyes but smiles, "she can't help herself."
Francesca leans her cheek on Nicky's thigh. Nicky removes the barrette and multiple hair pins that the auburn haired woman had holding her hair up, she begins massaging her scalp until her hair falls loose. The brunette looks at her best friend and wishes she would get her shit together and have a good long conversation with the woman that's tangled among her lower limbs.
"They're not allowed to leave the house. They know we'll call the landline at some point, my son knows better. He's not exactly a fan of our punishments so unless he wants a shitshow when we get back, he won't let anyone in and they won't go out."
Francesca laughs while Nicky shakes her head in agreement that those kids will be on serious lockdown if they mess up the first time they've been left alone overnight.
Francesca asks, "what's your secret?"
Alex sucks in her cheeks, with her mouth full of beer, her brows furrow in confusion.
"After so long, you're still head over heels. And not in a fronted manner, like truly."
Nicky explains, "well, you see, they were inevitable."
"Feel free to pull her in and drown her," Alex says to Francesca.
"Well, it's admirable," the woman lets her legs float to the surface, "and rare."
"And only slightly disgusting and full of drama," Nicky adds.
Her dark eyebrows raise, "you have no idea," Alex says to Francesca.
"No she does," Nicky clarifies.
Alex hooks an arm around Nicky's neck, and wraps it tight slightly choking her. She points her bottle toward Francesca, "first I wooed her to a point where I essentially had this sweet girl fawning over me, then I let her get fucked up in my drama, then I essentially neglected her to the point that she couldn't stand to be near me anymore. Next, I got her thrown in jail then lied to her and said I didn't...should I go on?"
Francesca restrains her judgment, "alright, but after that? You obviously did something right."
Nicky helps the explanation, "throughout that, they had this sick hold over one another," she stops talking.
"Yeah you know, after a while, I found myself spending more of my time longing to be with her, and I guess I just got to a point where I said 'why play this game?'" She stands up and finishes her last sip. She raises her eyebrows and motions to take Nicky's bottle.
Francesca looks at Nicky not able to tell if Alex's point was supposed to be implied toward them.
"Well, good night ladies, I'm gonna see if I can go wake my wife from the dead...with the only way I know how. Part of the whole happily married thing, sticking it to her when she doesn't even know she wants it." She lifts her shoes and let's them dangle in her grasp and walks off. She remembers...
Here, she thinks. They've walked for the better part of an hour, the air is only slightly chilled as Spring hasn't yet come into full force. The grass is short, there are green patches mixed with old brown ones, but the cherry blossom tree is full, as it is around this time every year. She tries not to peer back at the Belvedere Castle, a place that has a special significance, the place where Piper took her on a date. She notices Piper pull at the cuff of her sweater, her hands nervously push the bulky button through the hole to her girlfriend's sweater.
Piper looks at her curiously, "thanks?"
She reaches back, rubs her hands over her back pocket, she can feel the ring through the fabric of her jeans. She sits down and leans against the rough bark of the thick tree trunk. She reaches one arm up and outward, the blonde comes down to her knees and leans into the warmth of the brunette.
They people watch, talk, reminisce about memories, both old and more recent. The brunette shifts her leg, with intent to remove the ring, but Piper moves over her thigh and rests in between her legs, her back now rests against the brunette's chest.
How am I supposed to get it out?, she thinks. Piper continues to talk, she's not paying attention. She thinks of how she can casually remove the ring from her pocket, without bringing any attention from the movement.
"...don't you think?," the blonde asks.
"Yeah," she answers having no idea what the blonde was going on about.
"You're so full of shit, you're not even listening to me."
"Sorry."
"Are you getting tired? Do you want to go home?"
"Shhhh. God you talk a lot," she teases, knowing the blonde will fake being insulted with a forced pout. That lip. "I'm fine. You were saying?" She gets lost in the blonde's voice, her senses are heightened, as she manages to hook her pointer discreetly into her pocket and snag the ring. She feels the blonde's head moving against her sternum, she rests her chin atop her head. The sun has gone down, the blue of the sky starts to darken,
"How long are we gonna stay here?," Piper asks noticing the only thing that stands out is the paleness of her girlfriend's hands.
She brings her arm over the blonde's shoulder, she can't see her face, the ring sits on her index finger, "I was hoping for forever."
She can hear her pull in the air around her, she pivots quickly, her face goes back and forth between shock and happy tears.
Thank God, she thinks.
"Yes."
"I haven't even asked you yet."
The blonde laughs, it's snotty and gross, but she doesn't care. "Okay, ask me then!" Her hands grip Alex's hips, "say what you were going to say."
Knowing she already said yes made everything she'd planned to say easier.
"I used to think getting married meant that my life would be predictable, that I'd have to give up my freedom. And maybe after everything we've been through a little predictability wouldn't be the worse thing in the world."
Piper shakes her head, no it wouldn't be, would it?
"But then I thought, if I choose to spend my life with someone..." The blonde cant hold back her gasp.
"...who keeps me on my toes, my life will never be boring. There was this time...a time where this blonde walked into a bar...," she looks up to catch Piper's blurry eyed eye-roll, "where the world paused, so this smart assed, but all the while extremely beautiful brunette, could take her in. And she thought she had her pegged to a tee. But she shortly realized, she didn't know shit and this girl was so much more. Pipes, predictability, is not something that's ever fit into our lives. I love that I'm still learning things about you, I love that you're still learning things about yourself. I've always preferred to have you with me versus leaping over hurdles solo. So if that means that I lose part of my freedom, than great, I don't want it. I want you with me, through everything. I promise I'll do things right this time, I'll take care of you."
You already do.
"This whole, 9 to 5 thing, its not so bad. I know I'm coming home to someone who's as excited to see me as I am to see them. And maybe once enough pieces of my paycheck go into the travel jar, we can pay for tickets with honest money, and still do X on a beach in Cambodia with three strangers in drag."
The blonde cant suppress her laugh, "like normal people?"
"Whatever that means, yeah."
"Maybe without the X, so we don't end up back at Litchfield?"
"Yeah you're probably right. See how much I need you?" Piper takes one of her hands and squeezes it gently.
"Pipes, I...we're... not like everyone else. We'll make our marriage work for us, make our own rules, and if you want something, I promise not to be closed off to the idea. Anything you want, it'll be on the table and we'll discuss it. Alright?" The brunette aims to not repeat the same mistake, still upset that she hadn't been open to Piper's inquiries when she'd asked about a potential future together while they were incarcerated.
"We've hurt each other more than what's considered healthy, but I think it just hurt that much more because I've loved you so much. I know asking you to be with me, means ruining your life for a third time, but Ill try to keep you feeling like you haven't, until we leave this world."
"I haven't ruined my life...," she rests her hand on the brunette's cheek, her thumb strokes the underside of her chin,"the way things happened, they needed to evolve that way for me to understand what I wanted."
She can feel the brunette swallow. "And I want you."
I've heard these words before, but it's usually mid-throw of passion. When she says it now, she means I want you... as a person...as a partner... for life. And I feel high.
She slips the ring over Piper's finger, it stops at the knuckle but with a wiggle, it continues until it rests at the end of the blonde's left fourth finger. The brunette traces the diamond with her pointer, "Piper, will you allow people to question your mental sanity, whenever they look at this ring on your finger, and say you'll be my wife?"
A single laugh leaves her choked back sob. "Yes," she nods. Her arms relax around the brunette's shoulders while the brunette catches her mouth, drawing in her fiancé's lips.
They smile at each other. A different kind of commitment has been made, new hopes, promises, goals. A very important goal. An ultimate goal of being in this, for the long run.
"How does it feel?," the brunette asks lifting up Piper's left hand.
Piper moves it around, her finger bends and flexes, "like it'll be happy there, til we leave this world."
Alex slides the card through the slot on the door of the their hotel room. She's stupidly happy, lost in memories of the day she asked Piper to be hers. She crawls on top of the sheet and nuzzles the sleeping blonde. She strokes the blonde's neck, her hand traces between her breasts, she caresses each one gently. She's still asleep but she moans in unconscious pleasure, unaware of the noises she's making. Alex begins working at her neck, when she sucks a little too roughly.
Piper grunts and pushes her away. "Are you serious?," she asks irritated at being woken up. The brunette lies on her back, her hands raise over her head, she shoots her a lustful stare.
Piper shakes her head, no, as if she had a chance. She's tired and now she's been woken up from a very comfortable sleep.
The brunette frowns for a moment, the mood having been killed, when the blonde bends near her,
"can you unzip my dress?," she asks.
Alex raises her eyebrow, at the renewed possibility that bumping uglies isn't completely off the table. She taps the blonde on her behind,
"not happening," she growls, as she walks over to their suitcase and pulls out her pajamas, goes into the bathroom and gets ready for bed.
The brunette sighs, while she hears the faucet turn on as the blonde begins her ten minute bedtime routine.
She grabs the remote and settles on a channel. She laughs at Denise Richards' sad attempt to drown Neve Campbell in the pool. But then she gets quiet. She bends her knees to adjust her dress, her hand slips between her folds when Denise Richards starts sucking on the dark painted fingernail of the other woman. The room is quiet other than the instrumental background music and the sound of the sloshing pool water. Piper's head comes around the bathroom door and sees her wife mid-rub,
"you're kidding me right?"
She's unsure if she's asking about her actions, or judging her for knocking one off to the current images, "you were invited," she says at a relaxed drawl.
Piper walks over and sits on the edge of the bed, she watches the wicked smile crawl across the brunette's face, while she watches the two women go at it. Piper slips her hand in and takes over.
"Always so jealous," Alex teases her.
"Shut up."
She chuckles as Piper leans on top of her, to get a better angle. Before the blonde gets comfortable, she flips her over, taking the dominant, top position. Piper continues to work her fingers, as Alex starts ravenously, moving the blonde's night shirt up, exposing her breasts. Her hands massage the flesh of the blonde's torso with both of her hands, leaning in some to wrap her arms around her back, the blonde likes the security of being held in her arms. She holds her tight, she pins the blonde's working hand, between the both of them, she moves her hips, causing friction for a few moments. Piper slips a strap of the brunette's dress off her shoulder, until her breast is uncovered.
"Come here," the blonde pants. Alex leans forward, as commanded, she feels Piper take her nipple into her mouth.
"Spread your legs," she whispers to the blonde.
The blonde moans at the words and she complies. Alex presses her knee against the blonde's wetness, as she continues to have her hands pinned beneath the blonde's back. Piper's other hand drags up the brunette's thigh, her ass is bare, she thinks, until she feels the lace from her thong. Her hand starts working faster. The brunette's knee follows suit.
Nicky and Francesca walk by their door, they can vaguely hear them screwing. Nicky wants to stop, but Francesca pulls her along and says "it's probably the TV."
In their room, they hit the light. It flickers on, but flickers right back off. Nicky takes a lightbulb from one of the side tables and replaces the blown bulb, but it doesn't go on. "It's probably the wire, I can fix it."
"We'll just call the service desk in the morning," Francesca says flopping on the bed, about to remove her shoes.
"It'll take me five minutes, I just need a pair of pliers."
She leaves the room and starts down the hall, unable to get past her friends' door, she stops outside their door, and chuckles, their bed is creaking, the moans are coming from no one else other than Piper.
She runs back down the hall like a teenager, "you gotta listen to this c'mon," she pulls a reluctant Francesca by the hand.
Francesca grabs the ice bucket, "I'd just like to say, that I was getting ice," she verbalizes as an excuse for later when Nicky says she wanted to listen too.
Nicky runs down the hall and presses her ear toward the door once again.
Francesca stand about a foot away, "this is sick! They're your friends." She lowers her voice to a whispers, "they're my students' parents!"
"They're your friends too," she says with a playful shove. Nicky's mouth is dropped in pure amusement. "Sleeping my ass!"
They exchange glances and try not to laugh out loud at the continued moans.
"I swear she was!," Francesca says through whispered laughs.
"Gotta give it to Vause."
"Alright enough," she says getting self-conscious. She pulls Nicky away from the door and heads to the elevator. She presses the down button.
Nicky looks at her confused, "where are we going?"
"To get the pliers?"
"Oh right."
"You're disgusting," Francesca says getting on the elevator. "Think the place downstairs has champagne?," she asks, now mildly turned on.
"I thought I was disgusting?," Nicky asks with a smirk, knowing the sounds of other people getting it on heightens her arousal.
"Night's still young."
Mrs. Chapman stands in the doorway of Piper and Alex's apartment, "Mom," Piper looks at her mother, not expecting her arrival.
"Hi darling."
"What are you doing here?," her thumb swirls the diamond around her ring finger so that it faces the inside of her palm.
"I was in the city doing some shopping, and I thought I'd stop by."
Piper looks at her mothers empty hands, "looks like you went all out."
"You look good," she takes Piper's left hand into her own and brings it up. She pulls her hand over looking at the ring and fixes it appropriately, "so, she asked you."
Pipers heart beats quickly. She nods.
"It's quite beautiful dear, don't hide it."
A little bit put off by her mother's reaction she asks her mother once again, "what are you doing here?"
"Alex invited me."
"Right," she says skeptically.
"Not today in particular, in general."
"Oh yeah?"
"Is she...home?"
"She should be home soon," she says with hesitation. Piper steps back so that her mother can come in. She closes the door.
"I like what you've done with this space," she says clasping her hands against her body uncomfortably.
"It's small, I know, you can say it . We're thinking about getting a bigger place." She shrugs her shoulders, "this is what we could afford at the time. But we're both doing pretty well right now."
She awkwardly shows her mother around their apartment, picking up little messes here and there, trying to avoid any criticism.
"Well it looks like you girls are doing just fine." She rubs a hand over a photo of Cal and Piper, "I assume you've spoken to Cal?"
She instantly smiles, "yeah, he drove down with Neri, in their hoopdie, the same day," she laughs.
"And Polly?"
"Well I see her just about everyday," she says with slight defense.
"Why didn't you call to tell me?," she asks appearing somewhat hurt.
"I," she hesitates, "didn't exactly think you'd be thrilled."
Her mother's face is indifferent.
"Are you saying you are?"
"Let's not go that far," she says with an oddly cheerful tone.
They continue to walk along the space that she and Alex have decorated over the last year. Her mother finally asks...
"are you happy?"
She wants to scream "yes I'm happy, happier than I've ever been in my entire life. I finally have what I want. I can be who I am." She chokes out a mild, "yes."
"Then I'm happy for you," she admits. "I thought maybe we could go to lunch? I've always like that little place in Bloomingdale's. I'll treat."
Piper looks less than convinced. Her mother continues, "maybe I could get to know your fiancé, a little better."
This isn't right. She doesn't seem surprised at all. "You knew she was going to ask me, didn't you?"
"She spoke to your father and I."
"She called you?"
She shakes her head, no, "she came to the house."
"Alex came to the house?"
"A few weeks ago."
"Alex?," she asks again unbelievably. She picks up her picture and points to her fiancé's face.
Her mother looks at her curiously, and takes the photo, "yes. How many women," she stops herself.
"What did she say to you?"
"She hasn't spoken to you about this?"
"Do I seem as though she has?"
Her mother looks at the photo in her hands, she takes a deep breath and exhales, "I can understand what the appeal is."
Piper scoffs, "oh really?"
"Piper," she starts, but stops as she can't think of the words she want to use to describe Alex. "It's clear that she loves you very much."
"She does, and I love her too,very much. I love her, and she's done things, that have made me more mad, than I've ever been in my entire life, but I still want her despite that."
She takes her daughter's hand again, "then it looks like you made the right choice."
A/N: ""I used to think getting married meant that my life would be predictable, that I'd have to give up my freedom. And maybe after everything we've been through a little predictability wouldn't be the worse thing in the world."" You can imagine how ecstatic I was during season 4 when Alex and Piper were sitting on Piper's bunk and Alex says she's ready for things to be easy and Piper convinces her that they can eat soup and hold hands on the way to the ass doctor. It just felt like my proposal was even more possible lol.