A/N: Hey, hope you're all having a great weekend? Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter. It's interesting to hear the differing perspectives on the characters and your reasoning of their actions in the story. I don't want to rush all of the reveals or limit how many chapters or words I deliver them in, but I'm glad the pace is working out about right. Once Piper gets her independence back, things will even up a little more with her and Alex. For now, I'm exploring the change in dynamic between them and how Alex deals with the vulnerability she feels at the hands of Piper.
They raised their glasses and sipped the champagne before Alex returned to the kitchen to get the plates, Piper helping.
"Can you behave while your friends are here please? It's very distracting." Alex slapped Piper's ass on her way to the counter.
"Not as distracting as seeing your ass cheeks in the window while I eat my dinner. It makes me want to rush to get to dessert. I'm really fancying something chocolatey as it happens…" Piper chuckled as she picked up the plates and went back to the table.
They ate their food and talked animatedly about their worst ever Christmas presents and the presents they never got as children. Piper was a little uncomfortable knowing that Alex's Mum didn't have the money for the fancy gifts that the rest of them had been afforded, but the brunette didn't seem bothered by the conversation and had laughed along with them. They finished the meal and Alex suggested they move back to the lounge to see if anyone was going to get a new 'worst present ever' today while she tidied up.
Piper topped up everyone's drinks and helped Alex to load the dishwasher before they joined everyone on the sofa.
"I think this might be the longest I've ever waited on Christmas Day to open my presents, I'm so excited!" Piper clapped her hands together while eyeing the gifts around the tree. She stood up and passed a gift to Polly and another to Pete and everyone watched them open their gifts. Polly's was a montage photo frame of lots of different photos of her and Piper through the years and Polly gave her a big hug and thanked her for being a total sap. Pete got some speciality beers from around the world, which delighted him.
Alex opened a bottle of good cognac from Nicky and promised to open it later so they could all have a try with her new rotating warming gadget that turned the cognac to warm it to the best temperature to drink.
Piper opened a Gucci purse from Polly and Pete, which was one that Piper had seen in a magazine ages ago, but Polly remembered.
Nicky got a black retro style t-shirt from Piper that had a slogan across the front that read 'Straight? So is spaghetti until it gets wet' which tickled Nicky no end. Alex passed her gifts to Nicky and she found a set of hair straighteners in the first present, then a '101 ways to pleasure a woman' hardback book. Nicky held them both in the air and looked at Alex with her eyebrows raised.
"Are you trying to tell me something Vause? Like you want me to play with your hair like a girly sleepover before guaranteeing you a happy ending?"
"Will you be wearing nothing but your new t-shirt when we have a pillow fight?" Alex spoke in a girly voice and batted her eyelashes.
"Goes without saying. Is blondie joining us?" They both looked over at Piper, batting their eyelashes at the same time.
"Leave me out of your girly sleepovers thanks. There's already far more oestrogen at that party than I can handle."
Piper handed Alex a small box with a ribbon around it. "I hope you like this. I can change it if you don't…." Alex took the box and smiled as she pulled the ribbon off and lifted the lid. Inside was a thick silver curb chain bracelet with a skull & crossbones fastener. Alex lifted it out and asked Piper to put it around her wrist.
"I love it, thank you." She kissed Piper quickly on the cheek before turning it around on her wrist.
"OK, my turn…." Alex pulled out the shoebox sized box she had wrapped and handed it to Piper.
Piper grinned and carefully opened the wrapping paper. Inside was a pair of reindeer mittens that she'd seen at the Christmas market that day and she laughed at Alex remembering them. She lifted them out to find something wrapped in tissue paper beneath. She put the mittens on one side and lifted out what she could now feel was a book and carefully removed the tissue paper. Lifting the last layer of paper, she could see it was a first edition copy of Roald Dahl's 'The BFG' with an original signature on the inside cover.
"Oh my God Alex, this is amazing! How did you even find this?!"
Alex smiled big when Piper came over to hug her and kiss her on the lips in front of everyone.
"Glad you like it Pipes."
"Oh my God, I feel like I should put it in a frame and never take it out." She sat back down next to Alex on the sofa staring at it.
"Books are for reading, not framing. So you'd better read that." Alex smiled.
"Looks like someone's hankering for a bedtime story there blondie….Well, I take your sappy sentiment Vause and I raise you….with one final piece de resistance…..for you Piper Chapman." Nicky interrupted them.
"Wow, thanks Nicky! The biggest present for last….oooh, the anticipation is killing me!"
"Calm your tits blondie. You might find the anticipation is the best bit here." Nicky grinned and passed her a large gift from behind the sofa.
"Aww, thanks Nicky. I wonder what this could be…." Piper carefully peeled the tape off the paper, not tearing it as she unwrapped it. Alex was equally puzzled by Nicky's gift as she's never known her wiry-haired friend give anything other than bottle-shaped gifts.
Inside was a large cuddly grey parrot and Piper laughed loudly as she pulled the paper off the bottom to reveal it was wearing a pair of skimpy red crotchless panties.
"Hahaha! This is awesome Nicky, I love it! Thank you!" She scuttled over to give Nicky a kiss on the cheek and a long hug as Alex watched Nicky waggle her eyebrows over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at the shorter woman.
"You've got to push the button blondie. It talks too." Nicky waved her hand at the parrot. Piper sat back and pressed the belly and nothing happened. She pressed it again and looked at Nicky when it didn't make any noise at all.
"Jesus, I thought you knew how to turn a woman on Chapman?" Nicky raised her eyebrows.
"Er….what?" Piper blushed slightly feeling suddenly like her sexual prowess was under scrutiny from her closest friends for reasons she wasn't entirely sure of.
"She's wearing crotchless panties. Where do you think you need to put your finger to make her open her mouth?"
Alex was shaking with laughter beside her as Piper looked back at Nicky with raised eyebrows.
"Really?"
"Really. Come on blondie, show us your skills."
Piper rolled her eyes and put her fingers through the crotchless panties, feeling around for a button to press.
"Whew! Is it weird that I think this is kinda hot!" Pete was grinning at Polly.
"Yes, it is fucking weird." Polly scowled at him.
"Found it!" Piper grinned as she pressed the button, proud that it didn't take her all that long.
"Mmmmmmmmm….do it again" A low, whispery voice came from the parrot that sounded suspiciously like Nicky's. Alex spat out her beer all over her top. Piper pressed it again.
"Ooooh….baby that feels….sooooo goooood…" Piper raised her eyebrows at Nicky and pressed again.
"Yes, yes, yes, faster….right there…" Polly was wide-eyed and Piper started laughing. Alex was choking on her beer and Pete was grinning like an idiot. Piper put the parrot down, shaking her head.
"Come on Piper, don't leave her hanging like that!" Pete ventured.
"I am not sitting here pleasuring a stuffed parrot to the point of orgasm for your mutual entertainment like some kinky fucking ventriloquist show." Piper was also laughing now, partly at Alex struggling to breathe between coughs as she wiped herself down.
"In case you get lonely Chapman." Nicky winked and stood to get another beer. Alex followed her to get a cloth, still coughing.
"I don't know where the fuck your brain gets these ideas from Nic, but that was epic!" Alex shook her head and hugged her best friend.
"Well, I figured she needed cheering up after the shitty run up to Christmas she's had. She seems to be OK at the moment though, right?" Nicky questioned, looking at Alex for an answer.
"Yeah. I guess. I don't know actually. She's….I don't know….different I guess? We talked this morning about…some serious shit…and she stated it all like facts and said she was over it. The Piper I remember would never have reacted like that. She'd have held a grudge, gone off like a firecracker or avoided the conversation completely. It's like she is totally intense for a burst and then flicks a switch to turn it back off and I'm left wondering if I just dreamed it. In between, the old Piper is there and we can banter and talk like we always did. It's just….the intense bits worry me I guess. Like there's something wrong, but I have no idea what."
"What about the Victim Support meetings? Are they helping?"
"She only had the first one last week and she didn't really want to talk about it. She said some of the things they talked about, but I felt like she was holding back you know?...To be fair, that is probably because she doesn't trust me. Maybe she said something to Polly though….I don't know. I mean, it's great to see her again, but I'm kind of waiting for an explosion to happen and I can't predict when the timer is going to go to zero….It's changed the dynamic between us."
"It's early days yet. See how the next session goes and when she gets her freedom back from the Doctor it will be different again. It's like fucking Stockholm Syndrome or something at the moment." Nicky slapped her on the back before heading back to the lounge.
Alex saw Piper's phone on the sofa as the blonde listened to a story Polly was telling them, so she quickly typed out a text.
'I think I have one final present to unwrap. Bring it to the bedroom?'
Piper heard her phone buzz and picked it up to see a message from Alex. She looked up to see her grinning back at her from the kitchen and read it quickly before typing a reply.
'You're supposed to be entertaining guests.'
'You're a guest. I'd like to entertain you. Help me out of these wet clothes?'
Piper couldn't disguise her grin when she read the last message and Polly noticed.
"Well I didn't just text you that very funny story about the time my Aunt got friction burns on her ass….so are you gonna share that with the rest of the class?" Everyone was looking at Piper and Alex quickly threw a large pan onto the floor with a clatter to distract them as she saw Polly about to make a lunge for the phone.
"Ah, shit. Cranberry sauce all over my floor….."
"I'll help you clean that up Alex, here…" Piper pocketed her phone and jogged over to the kitchen as the rest of the group returned to their conversation. They both bent down behind the counter and Alex scooped some sauce out of the pan onto her finger and sucked it off slowly as Piper watched.
Piper's eyes glinted and she leaned over quickly to run her tongue over Alex's lips, sucking them gently before moving away again. "Anywhere else I need to clean up?"
"God, this stuff is EVERYWHERE..." She replied loud enough for everyone to hear before taking another finger swipe and smearing it over Piper's lips. Alex leaned over to Piper's lips but stopped short of touching them as she murmured "Are you staying tonight?"
"Well, I thought I'd go back with Polly and give you your apartment back…."
"What about my bedtime story?" Alex pouted before leaning in to lick Piper's lips slowly. Piper moaned softly and moved her hand to the back of the brunette's neck to pull her closer. Alex smiled into the deepening kiss and reached up with her clean hand to press it against Piper's breast, firmly kneading it as she heard the blonde's breath hitch and feeling her nipple rise beneath the thin blouse.
"Is Nicky staying?" Piper pulled away to look at Alex as she spoke.
"Um, probably. Why? Do you want me to get rid of her?"
"No! Come with me to the bathroom, you need to sort out your lipstick."
They stood and Alex tidied away the pan into the sink before following Piper to the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and Piper's lips were on hers as soon as the lock clicked. She kissed Alex slowly and softly at first, before the kiss started to get more heated. Piper pulled away slightly, with her hands on Alex's hips.
"You'd better wash that cranberry sauce off your hands. I can't think of a plausible explanation for a red handprint on my boob when we get out of here." She smiled and moved Alex to turn around and head to the sink. As Alex started running the taps, Piper kissed along her neck and moved her hands inside Alex's top to begin massaging her breasts. Alex tried to rush and turned the taps off before Piper stopped her.
"Ah-ah, soap those hands properly sticky mitts." They were watching each other in the bathroom mirror as Piper began playing with her nipples while she went back to kissing up to her ear, whispering and nipping the lobe as she watched Alex's eyes darken. Piper maintained eye contact in the mirror as she felt for the zip down the side of Alex's jumpsuit and began to pull the zipper down to her hips slowly.
"I'd like to give you your last gift now….."
Alex tried to turn around but Piper pressed her body firmly against the sink.
"I can't stay tonight, so this is your goodnight kiss." She slipped her hands inside the jumpsuit at her waist and moved her hands slowly over the brunette's panties. She could feel the damp patch between Alex's legs through the panties.
"Piper I…want to touch you." She tried to turn around again and Piper held her firmly against the sink.
"In time Al, but for now I want you to enjoy this. We don't have a lot of time here so drop your pants and let me see if you still taste like hot chocolate…"
XXXXXX
Piper stood up, wiping her mouth and kissed Alex on the lips before quickly brushing her teeth and reapplying her lipstick, winking at Alex and wishing her a Merry Christmas before leaving the brunette alone in the bathroom.
Alex had enjoyed her orgasm at Piper's mouth, but she felt a sense of frustration at not being able to touch Piper. Truth be told, she wasn't used to the shoe being on the other foot. Alex had many hook ups since Piper and she would fuck those women and rarely let them return the favour unless they were a regular arrangement. This is how it felt to be on the other side of that she supposed and she felt almost used by Piper in this scenario, especially knowing that the blonde had no intention of staying with her tonight. She cleaned herself up and reapplied her make-up so that she was presentable again before leaving the bathroom.
When she reached the lounge, she saw Piper's bags by the door and the blonde was sitting next to Nicky already wearing her coat and ready to leave.
"Oh. You guys are heading home already?"
"Yeah, sorry Alex. I'm not used to being sober all day for Christmas and those beers Piper got me are dancing in front of my eyes now. We're gonna shoot and leave you to it." Pete said walking over to hug her and then Nicky before Polly handed him his coat.
"Thanks for the dinner and nice wine SuperCunt. See, you CAN be almost likeable when you play host. Guess you just need a little practice eh?" Polly grinned.
"Well, you guys are welcome. Until I see which of my secret bottles you found and then I might not be so quick to volunteer….Are you staying at Polly's tomorrow Pipes?" Alex looked over trying to appear matter of fact rather than hopeful with her question.
"Yeah, I'll be there in the morning and then I'm going to stay with my family tomorrow night. Not sure when I'll be back yet but I have another appointment with VSU on Thursday, so it will have to be before that. God, I can't wait for the hospital to give me the all clear now. Sobriety and my parents do NOT mix well with me….Anyhow, thanks for looking after me this last few days and I had a great time today." Piper came over and hugged her quickly, kissing her on the cheek before turning to Nicky. "See you soon Nicky Nicholls, don't be a stranger." She gave Nicky the same hug and kiss on the cheek before turning to leave with Polly and Pete.
The door closed behind them and Nicky and Alex stared at it for a moment before Nicky turned to the taller woman to speak.
"Fuck. Stone cold that one stretch."
Alex turned to look at her, eyebrows knitted together. "Cold? She just hugged you goodbye?"
"Yeah, but she didn't just fuck me in the bathroom."