A/N: Hey, thanks to izzielg, WB79, lia, ejm137 and guests for your reviews. Glad you're all excited for the next chapter! There's a lot to do in the run up to the big day, so I'm splitting Christmas Eve up into two parts. I've started part 2, so hope I can upload without you waiting too long. Rubbing your hands for some Vauseman? Here you go with my longest chapter yet...
Alex was on the phone in the kitchen when Piper came through, dressed in blue jeans and a Red Sox hoodie. The bruising on her face was barely visible at all now and she was walking much more easily as her ribs healed. She walked past Alex and reached into the cupboards past her for a glass. Alex turned from the window and smiled as she carried on her conversation.
"But did they agree to collect on 2nd Jan from the depot?...Yeah…..And did you sort out that Tokyo order this morning?...OK, well do you think you'll be finished by lunch?..."
Piper took her meds and looked over at Alex, mouthing 'Is it Nicky?' as she heard the conversation.
Alex nodded and rolled her eyes at the phone.
"No, I told you I can do it…Yes it is exactly because I don't trust you…."
Piper swiped the phone from Alex's hand.
"Hey Nicky Nicholls! Guess who?" Alex's eyes grew wide as she tried to reach for the phone again, but Piper held her off.
"Well if it isn't my number one pain in the ass customer! How ya doin blondie?"
"I'm doing just fine actually. Will I be seeing you at dinner tomorrow?"
"You sure will. How else am I going to collect my Christmas present from you?"
"A little premature as always Miss Nicholls. How can you be so sure you made the nice list this year?" Piper smirked as she saw Alex shoot her a look of warning.
"Well I guess the fat guy in the red suit will be the judge, but I'm pretty sure I'll be rewarded for my good deeds this year."
"Ah, tomorrow will tell then. Was Alex just calling to tell you all to finish at lunch time? I'm pretty sure I heard her say she was going to let you all finish early, seeing as it is Christmas Eve and all."
"No I did not say that! Piper! Give me the phone back right now!" Alex was trying to get hold of Piper's arm without hurting her ribs and Nicky could hear the struggle at the other end of the line.
"Yeah, we can hear all that. So, just to confirm – amongst all the heavy breathing and giggling going on – we are to finish at lunch and head straight to the pub and what was that last part? Oh, open a tab in your name? Sure thing boss. Hearing you loud and clear." Nicky laughed as Piper agreed with her and hung up before handing the phone back to Alex, grinning from ear to ear.
"I can't believe you just did that!" Alex put her phone in the back pocket of her skinny black jeans.
"Come on Al, it's Christmas Eve. Poor Nicky has been running the place without you for a week, you should give her a break and let her leave a little early today of all days." Piper knew Alex wasn't really mad, she just wanted to be the one to tell them they could leave a little earlier than normal today.
"Well, I still need to look in on them later this morning anyway and I'll lock the place up. With the snow coming, I want to check the pipes are covered and sleep easy knowing I didn't trust goldfish brain to do it when she was thinking about the pub."
"OK, we need to get some more food and drink in for tomorrow anyway so we can head over once we've done that. Are you finished with your gifts already or do you still have more to get?" Piper was looking through the fridge to see if there was anything to eat for dinner tonight as Alex replied.
"I'm pretty much done, but there's a store near PoPi that I need to call into if you want to see Polly as well?"
"Shall we get going then? There's kind of a lot to do…."
Piper started to walk towards her coat when Alex grabbed her wrist as she went past, stopping her in her tracks. Piper looked at her wrist and then up at Alex, puzzled. Alex pulled her closer and leaned in to kiss her soundly on the mouth. After a few seconds, Piper started to respond, kissing her back and opening her mouth to encourage Alex to deepen the kiss. The brunette pulled her lips away quickly and whispered into Piper's ear "We don't have time for you to take another cold shower this morning." She walked off to pick her bag up and put her beanie on before opening the front door. "Well, are you coming?"
XXXXX
They walked around Wholefoods with Alex putting whatever Piper wanted into the trolley. She just wished the blonde would not have to read every label before deciding whether to buy or not because this whole chore could be over so much faster if they just scooped up everything on the list and paid. She texted Nicky while Piper was working out how far the mangoes had travelled…
'Hey, what bar are you heading to later? Might join you.'
'Probably Sandy's. Should be all done by 1 if you bring your purse ;-) '
'Don't go to Sandy's. Pick somewhere different and we might join you. Not sure if Piper will want to come, but I'll ask.'
'OK. Maybe try that new place called Gotham then? Text me if you're coming.'
Alex flipped her phone shut just as Piper came back to show her the calculations on her phone for how many miles the mango in her hand had travelled to get here.
"Fascinating. Really. It must be tired after all that swimming, so maybe you should let it have a sleep in one of the eco-friendly canvas bags you've brought along when we pay and get the Hell on with the rest of the stuff we have to do today? I'd say it was the humane thing to do here Pipes. Come on let's get him tucked in." She steered Piper towards the cash desk before the blonde could protest and they paid for everything and packed it away in the car.
"Alright, let's head to Brooklyn now and we can go to the liquor store down the road from PoPi and you can go in and see Polly while I finish a bit of shopping. Then I need to go and make sure Nicky closes up properly before she escapes. Um, did you fancy joining them for a drink this afternoon? I mean, I know you can't drink on the meds so you might think it's a bit…-"
"Yeah, I think I'd like that. It will be nice to see everyone again and get into the Christmas spirit. It won't be anywhere loud or crazy will it? "
"No, I think Nicky was talking about a place called Gotham. I think it's fairly quiet in there, just for locals I guess. We don't need to stay long. I just wanted to get them some drinks in and say thanks before they go home for Christmas."
They drove through the city and parked outside of PoPi before heading over to get a few nice bottles of wine in and some decent Bourbon for later. They put them in the trunk before Piper headed into PoPi, leaving Alex to do the last of her gift buying.
Alex headed over to a small antique book dealer she knew as a client. The shop had been there for many years and was a specialist in obtaining rare and first editions, tracking them down through an existing network of book dealers operating internationally. She walked to the counter where the owner, James recognised her.
"Hello Alex. It's nice to see you again. Are you here to pick your book up?"
"Hi James, I am. Thanks so much for tracking it down for me. I really appreciate you finding it so quickly too."
James went into the room behind the counter and brought out a black box, about the size of a show box and placed it onto the counter. He gestured for Alex to go ahead and look inside and she gently took the lid off before looking inside at the book, which was sealed in protective packaging and cushioned by shredded paper. She didn't want to open the seal on the book and could tell it was in excellent condition through the packaging.
"It's perfect, thank you!" It was already paid for by bank transfer when James had found it in a London store a couple of days ago, so he wrapped it in a paper bag so Alex could take it back to the car.
"Have a Merry Christmas James and I'll see you again after New Year." She smiled as she waved goodbye and went back to put the box into the car. It was 12 o'clock now and Piper texted Nicky to say they would be coming to the bar with them and were going to head over to NY Logistics in a few minutes to close up. Slipping her phone back into her pocket she headed into PoPi to find Piper serving a customer behind the counter. She walked around the store for a few minutes and picked up some shower gel and bath foam gift sets, taking them to the counter.
"Hey, good choices. They are two of my favourites. Do you want them gift wrapping?" Piper asked as she started to get a piece of pink tissue paper.
"No, they are for me so no need to wrap them." She took out her purse and Piper waved her away.
"Well, you're not paying for them. I won't let you."
"Come on, I wasn't expecting freebies. I want to pay for them, please take this. I won't let you give these to me without taking something." Alex put $40 on the counter as Piper bagged up the products. She picked up the bag and backed away from the counter so Piper had to pick the money up.
"Where's Polly at? We need to get going to lock up before Nicky starts drinking soon."
"She's out back wrapping her Christmas presents while I took over the counter for a bit. Hey Pol! Are you nearly done? We have to head over to NY Logistics to close up soon." Piper shouted through the back doorway.
She walked around to help an elderly couple search out some last minute stocking fillers for their grandkids and sold them $60 worth of miniature sets before Polly reappeared.
"Ah, it must be Christmas. Scrooge has made an appearance." Polly nodded at Alex.
"Scrooge? Why the fuck are you calling me that?"
"Well, I hear you don't have any Christmas decorations up at home. Are those rumours true? Am I about to spend the most festive day of the year in an empty shell without so much as a sprig of mistletoe?"
"Well, no I haven't got a tree up and there aren't any decorations either. But now I know you're hot for the mistletoe treatment I'll get straight on it."
"Ugh, no thanks. I know where your lips have been." Polly screwed her face up and Piper turned crimson.
"Polly!" Piper glared at her.
Alex creased up laughing and Piper dragged her out of the store before the embarrassment got any worse.
"Right. See you tonight then."
"Bye!" Polly sang out after them.
They drove over to NY Logistics and parked up outside the side door. Alex opened the door for Piper to walk up the stairs to the offices first. Piper pushed the door open to find Nicky and Lorna sitting at their desks with their backs to the door wearing reindeer antlers with flashing red lights. The place was covered with tinsel and fairy lights adorned a small tree in the corner of the office.
"Well looks like the Christmas spirit is alive in here at least!" Piper said, causing them both to turn around.
"Hey Piper Chapman! How are you doing? You coming to rescue us from the labour camp?" Nicky came over to give her a hug.
"Ah, easy on the love Nicky. My ribs aren't Nicholls-proof yet. And yes I am here to help you escape. Hey can we take some of these decorations to Alex's place for tomorrow?"
Nicky shrugged. "Sure, if The Grinch over there will let you."
Alex closed the door behind her and rolled her eyes. "Is there any point for only a day?"
"Yes!" Nicky, Lorna and Piper said in unison. Alex held her hands up in mock surrender before walking into her office to check everything was switched off at the mains switch. Piper picked up the little tree, some fairy lights and tinsel as she walked around the office.
"What are your plans for Christmas Lorna? Are you spending time with your family?" Piper asked as she bunched up the fairy lights.
"I'm going to my parents for dinner and there will be about 20 of us, so it's gonna be a mad house. My sisters are bringing their kids, so they are really excited about Santa coming too." Lorna grinned, clearly Christmas was a special time for her to spend time with her family as they all seemed really close.
Alex came out of her office and closed the door behind her. "Are you guys all finished here and we can lock up?"
"Hell yes!" Nicky pulled the plug out of the wall for her computer and waved it at Alex, who rolled her eyes.
"I hope you saved whatever that was on your screen before it went black."
Nicky didn't even answer as she ran downstairs to tell Poussey and Taystee that the boss had given them the thumbs up to call it a day. Alex went around the building checking everything was unplugged that was supposed to be, water pipes were covered and the heating was set to come on at intervals to keep the place from freezing over the next few days.
Piper knew Alex was a control freak when she was in the cartel, but that was all done on email and phone calls to organise people to do things. Seeing her doing much more domesticated things like preventing the pipes from freezing was kind of strange but also comforting as it seemed a bit more akin to long term planning – someone who was sticking around. Piper looked around the office space and looked in through the window of Alex's office. There was a pretty clear desk, with neat piles of paper in ordered trays and the chair was pushed in under the desk. Neat freak and control freak. Piper smiled to herself as Alex came back.
"Ready? Everyone's ready to go when you are."
Piper nodded and walked back downstairs where everyone was waiting, with her armful of decorations.
"Wow, Piper, looks like you just stole Christmas there!" Poussey laughed as she half hugged her around the decorations.
"OK, I've got room in my car for 3 of you if you want a lift. Is anyone else driving or are you taking a cab?"
"Aw, aren't you drinking Alex?" Poussey whined, pleading to change her mind.
"No, I need to make sure Piper gets back home tonight or Polly Hobby will have my head on a sharp stick. Plus, I have a shitload of shopping in the back that I have to get home later."
Nicky managed to hail a cab while they were talking so the four of them said they'd meet Alex and Piper there. They got back into the car and Piper put the decorations on the back seat before belting up.
"Are you sure you're OK going to the bar this afternoon? We can always bail you know." Alex leaned forward to look at Piper as she spoke.
"It's OK. Good to get it out of my system quickly I think. Just…don't leave me on my own." Piper looked over to Alex, clearly a little nervous about the prospect of going into a busy bar for the first time since the attack. Alex held her hand tightly.
"You won't be on your own, I promise."
They drove to the bar and Alex parked down a side street further away because it was well lit and she didn't want to leave her nice car with all that shopping in the back down some dodgy backstreet. Alex took Piper's hand as they walked towards the bar and stopped be her side when Piper hesitated in front of the doors when she heard all of the bar noise inside.
"Take your time. I'll be right here with you." Alex kissed her on the cheek and waited for Piper to make the move indoors. Taking a deep breath, Piper stepped forwards and pulled the door open quickly and stepped inside. Alex was right behind her, still holding her hand as they made their way to the bar.
"What do you want to drink?"
"Um, just water please. In a bottle from the fridge."
"Sure thing."
Alex ordered a beer for herself and the bottle of water, conscious that Piper watched the barman's every move with her drink. She opened a tab for the group and gave her card to the barman to cover anything they ordered this afternoon.
"OK?" Alex soothed up and down Piper's arm as they looked for where Nicky and the group had sat in a booth in the far corner of the room. Piper took her hoodie off before sitting down, revealing a tight fitted white v-neck t-shirt.
"Whoah, easy Blondie! You said you were giving me my present tomorrow!"
"Nicky!" Piper scoffed, suddenly conscious of if the v was too revealing as she looked down to check on her cleavage.
"Nice unwrapping there though." Nicky winked before taking a long drink of her beer.
They sat in the booth drinking and laughing for a while before Alex leaned over to tell Piper she was going to the restroom. Piper was caught in a moment of indecision as she wanted to go with Alex, but she knew she would be fine with the group around her. Alex saw the panic in her eyes and put her hand on her thigh and squeezed it reassuringly before she got up to leave. Piper watched her leave and gripped her water bottle as she tried to focus on the conversation to take her mind off the fact that Alex had left her. Nicky saw her keep looking over towards the door of the restrooms and caught her eye.
"It's OK Piper. She'll be back any second. We're not going anywhere, OK?" She smiled.
Piper felt silly for worrying about Alex leaving her. She was a grown up for God's sake and she felt a bit pathetic to be sitting and looking at the door like a puppy waiting for their owner to return. Alex soon came back and quickly squeezed Piper's hand beneath the table when she sat back down.
"You ready for another drink Pipes?" Alex asked her, noticing she was still clinging to an empty water bottle on the table.
"Yeah, I'll come with you."
"Another round of the same guys?" Alex asked the rest of the group as she stood to go over to the bar. Greeted with emphatic nods, they walked to the bar to put the order in.
"You having a good time?"
"Yeah, I am. Sorry if I seem a bit jumpy. It's just the noise of everyone talking around the bar is a bit overwhelming I think."
"It's fine. Let's take these over before they sober up and we can have a look at the old jukebox in the corner. I bet there's some decent songs on there we can put on."
They dropped the drinks off and had a look through the song titles on the jukebox. Alex put a few dollars in the machine so they could choose half a dozen songs to play in the background. Piper was reading the song lists when Alex put her chin on her shoulder as she was reading. She snaked her arms around her waist and pulled her close as they read through the various artists. Piper was finding it hard to concentrate, having Alex so close to her.
"Mmm, I like the view from here." Alex breathed onto her neck as she looked down the v of Piper's t-shirt. She kissed her pulse point and notice Piper's nipples stiffen beneath the t-shirt and smiled as she moved her hands to her hips and gently moved her fingers over the material at the bottom of the white top.
"Alex….you're going to have to stop that." Piper hissed as she put her hands over Alex's to stop them from stroking her hips.
Kissing Piper's neck, Alex breathed in the scent of her hair, nuzzling it with her nose as she did. "Are you absolutely sure about that?"
Piper closed her eyes briefly and swallowed before speaking.
"Yes. We're out with your friends and it's rude to leave them."
Alex moved her hands from beneath Piper's and moved them around to the base of the blonde's back, finding the hem of her top and pushing her fingertips beneath it to touch just her thumbs against the bare skin on Piper's back and stroke little circles as the fabric bunched over her wrists and she pushed her fingertips up beneath her t-shirt and moved them above Piper's hips. She could feel the goosebumps raising on Piper's skin and traced over the top of them slowly as her fingers took in the warmth and ached for the familiarity that touching Piper brought.
"Stay with me tonight." Alex spoke against her neck.
Piper's breathing was shallow and she was desperately trying not to think about the sensations her skin was feeling from Alex's touch, but the brunette knew exactly what reaction she was getting from her an knew she was doing just enough to make Piper want more than she wanted to admit to. Piper punched some numbers into the jukebox and turned to look at Alex. The brunette took her hands away and held them up in the air, expecting Piper to lay the law down.
"Dance with me Al." Piper took her hand and led them over to the small wooden dancefloor area down some steps behind the jukebox. They were the only two on there and other people around them were busy talking.
Yazoo 'Only You' played over the speakers and Alex smiled at the memories of them playing this song in some cheesy 80's style dance club they had been to when they were travelling. They had danced together to this before at the end of a night where Piper had been jealous over her spending a lot of time with a new mule and that night Alex had requested this from the DJ and asked Piper to dance.
Piper ran her fingers over Alex's cheek as they danced together slowly, looking into her eyes as she spoke. "What's going on Al? What are we doing?"
"Honestly? I don't know. I just know this feels right to me." She turned her face into Piper's fingers and kissed her palm.
"Are we going to end up hurting each other if this carries on? I….I don't think I can go through that again."
"Me neither." Alex pulled Piper closer and kissed her softly on the lips. Piper kissed her back and it was chaste and tender at the same time as they moved slowly to the song, barely dancing at all to the music now.
"I just know I want to spend time with you and it's getting harder to leave you every day and wait for the next morning to see you again." Alex kissed her cheek and Piper laid her head against her shoulder as the song finished.
They made their way back up the couple of steps and Piper remembered they still had 3 songs left on credit. She pulled Alex over to punch some more song titles in.
When Alex started to put restrictions like 'no boybands' and 'no ballads' on her selections, Piper insisted on Alex not looking when she made her final choices.
"Piper, I can sense you flipping back to that NSync album already.."
"I'm not. See, the first track is coming on now. Not NSync."
Joan Jett 'I love rock'n'roll' started up and Alex nodded appreciatively as Piper punched in the rest of her list and they went to sit down again.
"There you are! We were starting to wonder if you'd dumped us with the check." Taystee remarked as they settled back into the booth.
"Nope. Just checking out the vintage tunes over there. I like this place, it's very laid back and not too crowded." Piper said, taking a drink of water. Alex was also drinking water now as she had to drive back and sitting in a pub with everyone else drinking beer felt a little odd.
Poussey started telling them the story of how she found this bar by accident when she was driving the delivery truck a few weeks back. She promised she didn't come in for a beer while she was at work but Alex just laughed at her being defensive and said it was time well spent on good research for today.
The next song clicked on and it was The Ramones 'Do you wanna dance?'
"Wow, The Ramones! My Dad loves this band. Anyone want to dance?" Lorna stood up, hopeful that someone would want to join her. Taystee and Piper joined her, while Poussey, Alex and Nicky stayed in the booth. The three of them jiggled around on the dancefloor along with a couple of other people who were emboldened by the group starting the music. The next track that came on was Kelis and 'milkshake' and as soon as Piper heard it start she started to do the dance routine her and Alex learned from a young drug mule in Bali many years ago. She was soon teaching Taystee and Lorna the moves, with a couple of other people who moved to the dancefloor also trying to follow behind them. Everyone was laughing and having fun. Piper had chosen some upbeat tempo songs that everyone could dance and sign to, so they stayed up the for a while as other people added more songs to the playlist.
"Having a good time Vause?" Nicky asked with raised eyebrows as Alex was peeling the label off her bottled water.
"Yeah, apart from the fact I'm sat in a bar drinking water on Christmas Eve you mean?."
"You and Piper seem awfully friendly like. Anything you want to tell us boss?" Poussey cut in.
"Nope."
"Hmmm…she ain't smirking either there Nicholls. That means she ain't got as friendly as she'd like I'd say, wouldn't you?"
"Think you might be onto something there P." Nicky kept her eyes on Alex as she spoke, but the brunette wasn't giving anything away.
"Isn't it your turn to get off your ass and get a round of drinks in Poussey? Or shall I just close that tab now and assume you're all done for the night?" Alex threatened, raising her brows.
"Oh, we ain't finished yet. You want some tequila with your beer Nicky?" Poussey clambered past Alex to get to the bar.
"Line 'em up P!"
Nicky was looking at Alex expectantly waiting for her to talk. But the green eyes remained firmly fixed on her nearly empty water.
"Hey, we're just messing with you. I know you're gonna do whatever the fuck you want. You always do. I just want to make sure-"
"Whew! White girls were busting some moves down there y'all!" Taystee interrupted them, leaning over and grabbing Alex's water to finish it off. Lorna and Piper were close behind, laughing together as they stood by the table.
"Great, you're back! Shall we head off now? I'm not sure I can drink another bottle of water while this lot are downing shots of tequila." Before Piper could even reply, Alex was getting up and putting her jacket on.
"OK, fair enough. I guess you have a lot to do before tomorrow as well. Let's get going. Have a great Christmas guys and hopefully I can join in with the shots next time around." Piper hugged everyone before putting her hoodie and coat on.
"See you tomorrow Blondie. Don't forget to wear something nice for me." Nicky wiggled her brows, making Piper laugh.
Alex put her hand on the small of Piper's back as they walked to the front door and out into the cold winter air, then moved to put her arm around Piper's shoulder as they walked towards the car. Piper leaned into her to snuggle into her warmth.
"So, it's 4 o'clock now…Do you want to come back to my place while I get that poor exhausted mango into a warm fruit bowl and you can put up those decorations you stole? There must be something in all those bags that I can rustle up some dinner with as well."
Piper was curious about where Alex lived and wanted to help get the place ready for dinner tomorrow, especially as she felt as though she'd kind of pressured her into extending her plans to include an extra 3 people because of her.
"I suppose I am the foremost expert in hanging fairy lights that is available to you at such short notice….I'll have to clear my schedule for you of course."
"Thanks. I'm honoured, obviously." Alex laughed as she moved her arm away.
"Can we…go to my place first and pick up some things?"
"Yeah, we can….." Alex started to turn to walk to the other side of the car before stopping in her tracks. She turned to look at Piper, who was smiling and looking at her from beneath her eyelashes.
"Is that a yes?" Alex grinned from ear to ear when Piper nodded back. She pulled her in to kiss her on the lips, pressing their faces together so tightly it was hard to breath.
"Call Polly and tell her you won't be home tonight because I'm checking out your mistletoe."