A/N: Will Alex find a way to contact Piper? Will Piper be sucked back into WASPville or murder her Mother? This chapter will tell...Thanks for the lovely reviews again esp. Vausemania, WB79, Jamaindejamain, ejm137 and the mysterious Guests! Hope you're having a good day ;-)
Late on Thursday morning, Piper was told she could be discharged tomorrow if she completed the paperwork to say where she was staying and who would be providing care for her. It all seemed a bit over the top for it to be 24 hour care, but if it got her away from the beeping monitors and back to some sort of normality she would go with it. The pain meds she was taking were pretty strong and she couldn't walk very far at all because of her ribs, so having someone around to help her was going to be necessary.
Her Mother came to the hospital with Cal at lunch time and Piper told them the good news. Bill Chapman had already set off home to prepare her old room, so everything would be ready when she could leave in the morning.
"Would you like us to go to your apartment and pack you some clothes for you dear? We could-"
"No. No thank you. I'll ask Polly to stop by tonight to do that. It's on her way home from PoPi anyway, so it will be no trouble. I'm sure you'll have packing of your own to worry about tonight anyway since you can stop living in the hotel now." Piper smiled sweetly, but there was no way in Hell she was going to let her Mother snoop around her apartment without being there to confine her to the kitchen. She couldn't remember whether she had tidied up or not and what she might find in her drawers. Best to keep her out, definitely. She made a list of things she wanted Polly to bring for her and emailed it through. She already had a key, so she should be able to bring everything tonight.
"So, I need to start filling in this form to say who will be looking after me. Have you guys drawn straws yet?" Piper asked nervously. She knew Cal would be missing Neri and he'd only be able to travel to and from his place in the woods so much during the day and her Father would need to catch up with things at work, having taken a week off at short notice.
"Well, I'll be home during the day Piper. Except for my Committee meetings, lunch with the girls and Bridge Club, I'll be there with you all day every day. It will be a great opportunity for us to spend some time together." Carol patted Piper's arm and smiled, though it wasn't a smile that reached her eyes. It was an 'I will be able to remind you about all the things you're not doing that you should be doing for a girl of your age' smile Piper thought. She filled in the discharge forms with all the enthusiasm of the forms she filled in when she arrived at Litchfield prison. Was that a fair comparison? It felt like one right now.
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Polly arrived later in the evening, bringing a case of the thigs Piper had asked her for from her apartment.
"Here you go. At least you can wear your own clothes when you're locked up this time around, look on the bright side." Polly tried to lighten Piper's thunderous mood.
"Yeah, if only I was getting the same restrictions on their visitation times as I did in Litchfield prison. It's been way too much this past week Polly. I'm just not used to them being around me all the time and I can't escape it now."
"Well, you could always ask Alex you know…"
"We already agreed not to involve her in this. I'll just have to suck it up, but it doesn't mean I have to enjoy it."
"Hopefully, you won't be there for too long. I'm going to miss you being at the store on my own. I'll do my best to come down to see you, but with the store and everything it's going to be difficult you know."
"It's OK. I know you've got your hands full already, so I'll try not to pine after you too much."
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Doctor Shetty came around to see her on Friday morning to do his final checks and give her the all clear. He explained that she would be assigned a counsellor from the Police Victims Support Unit and that this would need to be handed to a different state department since she was going to be staying in Massachusetts. She would receive a letter from them at her parents' address soon to confirm the first appointment. He explained her medication regime and if she experienced any unusual symptoms or headaches to go to the nearest hospital and explain her history to them.
Satisfied that everything was in place, her Father wheeled her out of the hospital and into the cold winter winds towards their car. Cal had already gone home, so it was just her parents with her now as she inhaled the last molecules of her New York freedom before being bundled into the car by an anxious Dad.
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Although her Dad had insisted on wheeling her from the car to the front door, they had to concede to Piper walking up the steps through the door at least. He helped her into the front room, where a large Christmas tree had been set up in it's usual spot in the corner by the window. Seeing Piper's face brighten at the reminder of Christmas being next weekend, Bill switched the Christmas lights on to see them twinkle in Piper's eyes.
"Aw, thanks Daddy. I love the smell of a real Christmas tree!"
"I know you do sweetheart. Would you like a hot chocolate to warm you up?"
"Yes please! With marshmallows and cream?" She knew all the trimmings would be a given anyway, but she found herself reverting back to the little blonde WASP Daddy's girl after being in the house only 10 minutes. Maybe it wasn't going to be so bad being here for a bit of pampering afterall…
After drinking her hot chocolate, she was curled up watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' when her phone buzzed with a text from Steve.
'Hey Piper. I heard you are back home now, so I was wondering if it would be OK if I called around to see you and I'll call to collect your Grandmother and bring her too? I'm sure she would like to see you. I can still drop her off and collect her later if you don't want me to come in though. It's OK. Just let me know? X'
Piper knew she would have to talk to Steve eventually and she would certainly like to see her Grandmother too. Perhaps them being here together would make talking to Steve less intense.
'Hi Steve. Sure, come on over any time. I'm not going anywhere. x'
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An hour later, Steve was coming through the door with her Grandmother and a bunch of flowers. Celeste came straight through to the front room to give Piper a hug. "How are you dear? I see your face is a little swollen, does it hurt?" She sat down next to Piper on the couch.
"No, it looks worse than it feels actually as the pain meds are pretty good. My ribs are making it more difficult to get comfy, but they will get better with each day so the Doctor says." She smiled reassuringly at both of them to try and put Steve at ease. He was still standing in the doorway holding the flowers and it felt strange not to see him be more at home. Then she remembered it was her Grandmother's house they spent all their time in and he wasn't used to being here.
"Hey Steve. Are those for me? Come, sit down and take your coat off."
Steve gave her the flowers and was about to turn and walk to the chair, when he felt Piper take his hand. He stopped to look at her and she smiled and squeezed his hand before letting it go.
The three of them talked about how much Piper's Mother hated her hospital room and how Polly was coping at the store, before Celeste made her excuses to leave them alone, saying she needed to speak to her Father.
Steve was looking at his feet, unsure whether to start with another apology or make small talk until Piper brought the subject up. Sensing his uncertainty, Piper was first to break the quiet in the room.
"I'm OK Steve. Honestly, it looks worse than it is. The police told me you got to me before anything really bad happened…before he tried to rape me. And they have a lot of evidence to use in the case now, so they are hopeful of a conviction."
Steve looked at Piper and tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but was unable to do anything more than nod.
"If you can't meet my eyes because you are blaming yourself, please don't. Neither of us could have predicted that would happen and I'm OK. Please know that I'm OK and I don't blame you." She smiled, trying to catch his eyes. "Now, come here and give me a gentle hug will you?"
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"Vause, I've seen girls stuffing their numbers into your pockets when all you've done is glanced their way. You collect them like nerds collect stamps. So why do you need this particular number for your collection?" Nicky was sitting back on the couch in Alex's office now.
Alex adjusted her glasses on top of her head and sighed, turning her chair towards Nicky.
"I like her, OK? She's not like those other girls. She's different." Alex was trying to tell Nicky the truth without giving her the chance to make her feel any smaller than she did already today, having no control over the situation at all right now. She felt exposed in a way she wasn't comfortable with at all. Her armour was damaged and she didn't have time for repairs. Nicky and Polly were both used to the self-assured asshole Alex, who had a cocky answer for everything and always took the bull by the horns. She was the number you called to get a problem sorted quickly. She always knew someone who could help. That version of Alex didn't have feelings that could be hurt.
"She's different because she's straight Alex. She knows how to flirt and bat those cute eyelashes for sure, but stone cold lesbian she is certainly not."
"I know that. But when has that ever stopped either of us before?" Alex raised her eyebrow at Nicky.
"Fair point. We do like a challenge I suppose. But right now, I have the advantage on this one. So why would I give that up to make us level and help you gain some ground here?"
"Because this is the only girl whose number I would ever ask you for."
Nicky stared at Alex, digesting the words she had just heard. Alex was looking her in the eye and there wasn't a hint of playfulness or one-upmanship to be seen here. Although her face seemed determined, there was a hint of something in her eyes that Nicky had never seen before. She was trying to place what it was and why it was making this conversation so unusually serious between them. Normally, teasing about a girl's phone number would be playful banter between them but Alex had been determined all along. In fact…it was desperation.
"Alex…..When I said earlier that I saw her first and she was my toy…..You said I didn't. What did you mean exactly?" Nicky spoke softly now, conscious that this was dangerous ground to be treading with Alex. She didn't share feelings easily and Nicky only knew of one thing in Alex's past that had created that iron gate.
Alex didn't reply. She lifted her head towards the ceiling and closed her eyes, breathing deeply.
"It's her isn't it? The one who left you in Paris?"
"Yeah." Alex squeezed her eyes and tears dropped from her eyes before she quickly wiped them away.
"Jesus Vause... That's some fucked up situation right there. How the Hell did you two end up in the same City after all this time when-"
"Can we not talk about this right now? Please Nicky."
Nicky had known Alex for a couple of years now and they were close friends, but Alex had never liked talking about the girl who left her. Wouldn't even mention her name, just given really sketchy details to explain why she didn't do relationships when they had both been drinking one night and closed up again to never be discussed after that.
"Alright Alex, consider it off the table. I'll give you the number. But before I do, have you really thought about this? I mean, this girl fucked you over real good before. Are you sure it's a good idea to be going back there again? Some things are best left in the past you know."
"I've thought about it. I would really love to not put myself through this, believe me. I'd love to stop thinking about her, to move on. I've tried. God knows I've tried for 4 years to do just that. But seeing her for the first time again….Fuck. I could feel the electricity of that connection between us from across the other side of the room. I could sense she was in a building as soon as I opened the door. It's impossible to ignore that Nicky. Call it science, call it fate, call it fucked up. But I've not felt so much as a molecule of that feeling with any other person on this planet. How am I supposed to ignore that?"
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On Saturday morning, Piper knew she'd had a good night's sleep when she woke up at 11am. Thankfully, her parents had let her sleep as long as she needed to and it was probably as much to do with her meds as it was being in a quiet room for the first time in days. She gingerly sat up in bed and turned around to put her feet down, before bracing herself to stand up. With pretty much zero activities or excitement planned for the day, she decided to make her way to the bathroom to run a bath. Picking up her bathrobe from the bottom of the bed, she stood up and put her robe on slowly. After taking a short rest on the end of the bed, she got up again to walk towards the bedroom door. Just as she got there, her Mother opened the door and nearly knocked her over.
"Piper Elizabeth Chapman! Where on earth do you think you're going? Get back in bed at once!"
"I was just going to have a bath.."
"Oh no you don't. Unless I'm with you to bathe you, you are to stay in bed at all times."
"Mother, I don't need you to bathe me. I'm perfectly capable-"
"You have just proven you are not! Please get back into your bed at once and I will bring you something to eat. Once you've eaten and I've seen you take your medication, we can discuss what to do about your bathing routine. I'm meeting Brenda at 1:30 though, so it would have to wait until I'm back. I'm sure your Father wouldn't want to be helping you into the bath…"
Piper sat on the bed absolutely mortified at being treated like a little girl. The same little girl who had to fit around her Mother's social life when she was growing up. God this was torture. She laid back on the bed, still wearing her dressing gown. Her phone buzzed, so she reached over to pick it up, hoping Polly was going to tell her she could visit tonight after work.
'Hey Pipes. How are you feeling? Are you enjoying that famous Chapman hospitality? Alex. X'
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Alex had spent Friday night typing many different iterations of that first text. She didn't know exactly what to say and had decided to sleep on it because at 11pm she realised she was overthinking it. There was a cut off time for sending texts to people unless you were in a relationship with them….11pm is probably that cut off time. In the morning, she decided to keep it short and to the point, and see what came back. She pressed send and put the phone down on the kitchen table, looking for something to occupy her eyes and mind so she didn't count the seconds and minutes for a reply.
She didn't have to wait long before her phone buzzed and she jumped at the sound.
'Hi Alex. I'm feeling OK thanks. The Chapman Hospitality is entirely living up to my expectations so far ;-)'
No kiss at the end. But she did reply straight away, so not all bad. And there was a winky face…that's only a step away from a kiss isn't it? She quickly typed out a reply.
'You had expectations? ;-)' She decided to go with the winky face too, play it safe.
'I always have expectations. They don't always match those of my Mother tho.'
No emoji or kiss this time. What did that mean? Stop overthinking Alex, play it cool.
'Sounds like your Great Expectations might turn into a Catch-22 scenario and we certainly don't want you to end up in 100 Years of Solitude. Anything I can do to help?'
'Clever. I like that. Are you offering to be my BFG? ;-) '
Alex smiled because Piper was playing along.
'I might be…and you can't put the BFG in with those great masterpieces. It's too recent. What was that, 1984?!'
'That was George Orwell, not Roald Dahl ;-) Speaking of 1984, I found that iPod we went travelling with last week! Can you believe that?!'
'Yes. I brought it into the hospital for you. You don't remember me sitting with you?'
'You came to see me in the hospital?! When? I don't remember you being there?'
'I stayed all Saturday night, until Dolly pushed me out before your parents got there on Sunday. You didn't hear me talking to you all night then?'
'Nope. Don't remember a thing. Did I miss anything important?'
'I should have known I'd have to repeat myself. You never hear a word I say until the second time around. If I'm going to say it again, can I see you?'
Alex held her breath as there was a longer pause now before Piper was replying. It meant she was considering it at least.