A/N: So Alex finally got Piper's number. It can only get better for them from here now, right? Hope everyone is having a good week so far :-)

Piper looked at the text from Alex and knew what the answer needed to be. There was still doubt in her mind, but it didn't change her mind. It wasn't the answer she was thinking about, she knew that the moment Alex asked if she could see her. It was wording the reply that she was struggling with. Her instincts wanted to reply to say 'let's talk another time, when I'm better.' Her instincts were telling her to avoid a confrontation by text, avoid making a decision either way, to hide from this a while longer. Having Alex back in her life would throw everything up in the air that she had worked so hard to organise and put into a routine in the last 12 months. She couldn't help wonder whether that was because she was back home with her parents – was her WASP personality becoming more dominant here after only a couple of days?

It wasn't that she didn't want to see Alex, but the timing and circumstances were all wrong. She was confined to barracks with her parents out of necessity, rather than choice. They knew about the terrible Alex Vause who led their picture perfect daughter astray and she knew they would never let Alex past the front door, there wouldn't be an opportunity for discussion. In their eyes, Alex had coerced her into the two worst things that Piper could have done – lesbian activity and breaking the law. It was inconceivable that Piper might have chosen to do both of her own volition.

Since being released from Litchfield, she could care less about what they thought from a comfortable distance in New York. Being under their roof and in their care though, it was necessary to curb her attitude back to something more malleable for the sake of keeping the peace.

Feeling this sudden need to avoid something, brought back thoughts of Litchfield and the different personas she had developed there.

The 12 moths that Piper had spent in prison taught her a lot about herself, forcing to confront who she thought she was as a person and how that didn't match up with what she wanted to be, to do. There was no hiding from yourself in prison. There was a whole lot of time to think, to try things out. To try on a new personality for size. To try different personalities, different versions of herself to suit any given situation. This was a new concept for Piper to deal with. She had been one persona with her family – polite, accommodating, holding negative thoughts or words inside to present a pleasant and compliant young blonde girl. A girl that handed assignments in on time, studied regularly, never missed classes, could fake laugh at bad jokes, sit properly at a dinner table. That version of Piper was very useful in prison. Being able to maintain a calm exterior in the face of stressful or dangerous situations and keep her emotions in check was vital to her survival on occasions.

The time she had been with Alex, she had learned to blend into the background and not attract attention in certain circumstances. This was mostly orchestrated by Alex, who couldn't be distracted by Piper, who needed to appear unattached in order to gain the interest and attention of potential drug mules. There were often important meetings with prospective new contacts where her appearance and presence were helpful to provide nuance and distraction to groups of men, so that Alex could conclude a good deal. She learned a lot from Alex to either be invisible or a subtle distraction. These were also personas that she was able to use to gain advantages in prison.

The other thing keeping her from agreeing to see Alex, was her current condition. She was shocked that Alex had already seen her in the hospital, so Alex would have already seen the bandages and her swollen eye. At least he was asleep when that happened though. What she couldn't bear to see was the pity in Alex's eyes. Being seen as the wounded little lamb that Alex needed to take care of. That wasn't who she was now and she had a strength and determination that Alex wouldn't be familiar with. She had been able to turn those personas on and off at will in Litchfield, because everyone understood you had to do what was needed to survive. The truth was, she didn't know how any of those would stand up to the scrutiny of Alex, who had an unnerving ability to see through bullshit. She could break down her defence like nobody she had ever met and that made her vulnerable. Vulnerable to a person she had spent a torturous 4 years trying to run from and forget about. She didn't want to go back there and being close to Alex had every chance of undoing any progress.

No, she wouldn't revert to type and avoid this. She decided to call Alex. That was the best way to deal with this. She nervously pressed the call button before she could change her mind and listened to it ring a couple of times before Alex answered.

"Well, I wasn't expecting this." Alex sounded genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, I'm just full of surprises me." Piper chuckled a little at her own bottle surprising her to make the call. "You were waiting for me to puss out via text, right?"

"Well….When you didn't reply straight away, I figured you were choosing your words to puss out, yeah. Calling to do it is new, but better than a text and run. Unless you're calling to explain why The BFG should be a legitimate entry into the list of greatest novels of all time?" It was Alex's turn to laugh now and she was trying not to hang onto the 'can I see you?' question to just have a conversation with Piper.

"Well, anything written by Roald Dahl should be on that list for sure….But the inclusion of the words snozzcumber and whizzpopping do make that particular story a very worthy entrant."

Alex laughed loudly at Piper's recollection of the story and her semi-serious tone when discussing it as though it were a great Shakespearean story.

"Well, I'm not sure your parents would appreciate me peering through your bedroom window with a dream trumpet late at night… But the offer of help still stands. You must be bored stiff staying there aren't you?"

"Yes. A hundred times yes, but I have to be supervised 24 hours a day until the Doctor tells me otherwise. It sucks, but I guess it's a precaution because of my head injury….You erm, saw that I guess when you came to the hospital?"

"I did. It was doing your hairstyle no favours at all, you really ought to get a new stylist you know." Alex smiled, remembering how soundly Piper was sleeping and how she was able to get so close to her without any awkwardness between them.

Piper laughed. "Maybe you're right there. I was fully expecting Rolling Stone magazine to be begging me to do a cover by now. Alas, no missed calls so far…"

"So how are you feeling? Are you taking your meds?"

"Yep. I have a constant flow of Chapmans checking the pill count is going down several times a day. I'm feeling OK. Still getting painful headaches as the meds are due to top up, but that's all normal apparently. And my ribs are really sore still, which makes moving about or getting comfy difficult. The swelling on my eye is going down a bit now, so I can see a bit more out of it. It's a lovely bluey-purple colour at the moment. You should see!" Piper let the last bit slip out without meaning to.

"I'm glad you've got someone looking after you…and I'm sure you have an impressive palette on your eye now. Maybe you can send me a photo hey?"

"Yeah, maybe. It's not all that interesting to look at to be honest…"

"Look, I know you're calling to tell me you don't want to meet up with me just yet. That's OK. It's fine, honestly. I just wanted to make sure you're OK and tell you that I'm here if you need me to help with anything. Is there anything I can do?"

"Thanks Alex, but I've got my family running around me like I'm an invalid already. There really isn't any space for anyone else to lend a hand. I'm not very demanding you know…" Piper knew Alex would have raised her eyebrow at the end of the line at that and it was enough to make her laugh softly as she finished the sentence.

"Yeah, totally low maintenance you are." She laughed again before continuing. "Even if it's to put the trash out and check your place is OK, help Polly with the store…whatever. Just let me know."

"That's really nice of you Alex, thank you. Look, I have to go as I've been given a strict time slot to get a bath off my Mother before she goes to some social event, so I have to go. And yes, you did hear that right. This could be one of the most embarrassing days of my life yet…"

"Your Mother is going to bath you?! Well, there's an image I never thought I'd have in my head….OK. I'll speak to you later Pipes. Bye."

"Bye Alex."

Piper put the phone down, feeling pleased that she decided to call instead of text a lame excuse. Alex hadn't pushed her on anything and she'd cheered her up a little by taking her mind off being practically bed ridden. Her Mother came in a few minutes later to bring her back to Earth.

"Honestly Piper, are you still lounging there on your bed?! I told you I only have small window to help you get bathed today and you aren't exactly helping me here. You'd think the world revolves around you…." Her Mother waved her arms gesturing Piper to sit up so she could be helped to the bathroom. She was feeling hurried and knew this bath was going to be torture, but at least it was going to be over quickly at this rate.

XXXXX

Cal and Neri came over to visit on Sunday and Piper was sitting in the front room watching Miracle on 34th Street when they came to sit down. They talked a while about their plans to change the layout behind the cabin to make space for more water collection drums to they could start to trial some filtration systems they had heard about from friends. Piper was glad to talk about something other than how she was feeling and it was nice to have a normal conversation about something where Cal was so enthusiastic. Without their Mother there to pour scorn on their ideas, it felt a little like they were kids sharing a secret from their parents again. Neri was so good for Cal too. She shared his enthusiasm for being self-sufficient while being bossy enough to keep his focused on finishing things. He was such a dreamer, he got caught up in the ideas and forgot to complete anything before she came along. They were perfect together.

By 7pm, Piper was bored of watching TV and her Father was sorting out the garage in between calling in every hour to check if she needed anything. She called Polly, who was just getting home from the store.

"Hey Pol, how's it going?"

"Hi Piper. It's going good! We've been really busy this last week and next week is going to be the last minute Christmas shoppers, so we should do well out of this. How are you feeling P?"

"Fine, fine. Bored stiff and sick of being treated like an invalid, but fine. Can't you come down to see me one day next week? I'd really like to see a friendly face!" Piper pleaded, knowing it was going to be impossible, but she hoped all the same.

"Oh, don't do that. You know I can't. There's so much to be doing at the store that I just can't keep up. I haven't even filled in the order books since you went to hospital last week, I'm so behind. There are receipts everywhere!"

"Why don't you post them to me and I'll sort them out here?"

"I need to talk you through them and show you what's what. If only you were at home, I could call around after work….." Polly left the sentence hanging in the air.

"You know I've spoken to Alex don't you?" Piper was suspicious of Polly even suggesting she could come home.

"Yeah. I called her this morning to offer to give her your cell number and she said you already talked yesterday. It went OK then?"

"Yes, it was fine. Talking on the phone is not the same as seeing someone face to face though Polly. And it's certainly not the same as asking them to stay in your apartment all day. That would be weird."

"OK. So you're happy to stay home with your Mother bathing you like a baby for the rest of the year then? And, knowing how much you like your baths, that would be every day right? Oh, and at least you'll be catching up on all the Bridge Club gossip too, which I know you loooooove. Yeah, I can totally see why you wouldn't want to leave."

"Screw. You. If you'd come and see me for a few hours, it would make it more bearable…"

"Nope. You want to get some independence back and see me, you gotta come home. Alex already said she would look after you during the-"

"Polly! Fucks sake! Oh my God, did you ask Alex to look after me?! What are you, insane?!" Piper's eyebrows were on the ceiling now.

"Not exactly. I told her you couldn't come home without someone to be at home with you 24/7 and I couldn't cover the day shift. She said she could hang around during the day if it would help. No begging or even suggesting from me. She offered. But you're being an ass about it when you could have her at your beck and call, so more fool you for staying with Mummy dearest."

"Pol, you hate Alex. What the Hell happened?"

"She's been really good while you've been out of action. Helping with the store so I can nip out, ordering stock when I've been running low. We're not at second base or anything, but you know…"

"SECOND base?! You mean you got to FIRST already?!" Piper laughed. "Anyway, no. It's nice that she's helping you out, us out. But I'm staying here. Yes, it is Hell on earth, but I'm staying put."

"OK. Suit yourself then. I got to go, Pete's coming round in a bit and I need to shave my legs and make an effort or he'll think he stumbled into the ape enclosure at the zoo. Love you P. Bye!"

"Bye Pol!" She laughed as he put the phone down.

XXXXX

On Monday morning, Carol Chapman had met with her friends and had brunch before she came home to see Piper lounging in bed still. "Oh good, you're awake. I wanted to talk to you about something." She brought an iPad over to sit next to her daughter on the bed.

"I was talking to Juliette this morning and she was telling me that her son has split up from his long term girlfriend. He's a Lawyer you know and he lives and work in Boston. He has a lovely apartment overlooking the Common too, so he's doing very well for himself…."

Piper tuned out of the one way conversation as her Mother started typing in his company website address to show her his online biography, which showed a slightly podgy guy with curly brown hair and a love of cooking. She managed to nod in all the right places and then firmly say 'no' to a suggestion of him coming to visit this week. Her Mother was adamant that she should meet while Piper was close by and see if they have things in common, completely disregarding the fact that Piper was sporting a large bruise and was essentially bed-ridden.

When she finally left, Piper texted Polly.

'Please come and see me. I might be married to a middle-aged Lawyer with a love of hamsters and 70's disco music before New Year if you don't come and see me. Help a sister out here!'

'Nope.'

XXXXX

Steve came around on Tuesday morning and Piper was glad he'd started to get past the awkwardness a little now. He was allowed back to work full time and was glad to keep his brain occupied again. He sat on the sofa next to her and Piper leaned into him, putting her head onto his shoulder. She could feel him tense a little at first, but he soon relaxed and put him arm around her.

"I'll never forgive myself for not seeing the monster that Darryl was and I'll never forgive myself for bringing him into your life that night Pipes."

"Steve, really it's in the past now. You couldn't have known, so please don't let this eat at you. You were my knight in shining armour that night and they caught him thanks to you. Just….hold me a little while will you?"

Steve squeezed her shoulder to bring her into him more and kissed her head as they sat in comfortable silence. Piper enjoyed the warmth of Steve's chest, listening to his heart beating gently until her Father came in to ask Steve to give him a hand moving something in the garden.

It was lunch time when Steve left and Piper found an old jigsaw puzzle under the stairs to occupy her for the afternoon. It was a 1000 piece picture of kittens in a basket of wool, no doubt an unwanted gift my Grandmother had hidden there years ago. Piper prepared the coffee table to start sorting the edges.

After dinner, she returned to the jigsaw, putting the lamp on so she could see better. She was sifting through the pieces for anything with a roll of red wool on it when there was a knock at the door. Her Father was just cleaning up in the kitchen and came through drying his hands to answer it.

"Look whose here Piper! You have a visitor you might be pleased to see…" Her Dad called through to her as she sat with a handful of red jigsaw pieces.

"Hey stranger, surprise!" Polly beamed as she came into the front room.

Piper tried to jump up from the sofa to greet her with a hug, but Polly reached down to her first.

"Oh my God Pol! It's so good to see you! Did you come all this way after work?"

"I did. Just in the nick of time by the looks of it." She gestured towards the jigsaw with her eyes and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I was just getting into it actually. I'm close to starting on the cute kittens soon…"

Polly took Piper's hands in hers to get her attention. "Piper. Listen to me. We are going to pack your stuff and get you out of here. Tonight."

Piper looked at her, perplexed. "But I have to stay here so I have someone with me?"

"This is an intervention Piper. You are wearing bunny slippers and doing a kitty jigsaw. You've got Nat King Cole on repeat and your Mother is bathing you. It's time P. It's definitely time. Come on, I'll help you pack your things."