A/N: So the last chapter was a little one and this is a build up to the next weave of the storyline...so DOUBLE UPDATE SURPRISE!
Piper sat in the back of Pete's car, listening absent-mindedly to the two of them chatter in the front. Polly had drunk a good amount of wine, so was more than a little touchy-feely with Pete at this point and they were keen to get back to their own home now. Piper on the other hand was feeling like a homeless stray, wandering from home to home for a meal and a bed until the hospital told her otherwise. She'd just had her second sober Christmas in as many years, neither of them out of choice, but from circumstances forced upon her. She was really wanting a drink right now but knew if she gave into the feeling it could play havoc with her head. Worse still, it would only leave her craving more at this point. The upside was that she wasn't as lucid as everyone around her and was able to keep control of where things were heading with Alex. She knew the brunette was buzzed enough to be feeling horny and had allowed Piper to take advantage of that in the bathroom. But she also could sense from Alex that the brunette would be expecting a closeness when they were next alone that Piper wasn't ready to give. Having people around them all day today meant that they had to keep a reasonable distance from each other so as not to have everyone commenting on what they were (or weren't) in terms of being a couple again. That suited Piper just fine and she'd decided to call it a night shortly after their encounter in the bathroom just to be sure things stayed fairly platonic for the moment.
Of course, she knew that Alex had known she had been in prison. She hadn't meant to make a big thing out of it, but had lost her head when Alex was pressing her to tell her family she was back in her life. When it came down to it, she just wanted to hear Alex say the words and admit that she knew about it – for 2 years she had known and never let on. Piper had felt somewhat vindicated by the guilt that Alex had been carrying. She was the best liar Piper had ever met and she was on top form when she was manipulating someone to do something she wanted, but she'd rarely seen her cry and the blonde had never known her to turn on the tears to manipulate. For that reason, she knew the guilt was real and so were the tearful apologies. Not that she wanted or even expected either from Alex as she was over it really. Just a simple admission of knowing and acknowledging her part in it was all she had expected.
They pulled up outside Polly's apartment and everyone grabbed armfuls of bags and headed inside. It was late now and Piper said her goodnights and headed straight for the little home office where a camp bed was set up for her. Polly and Pete were going to stay up and have another drink or two but promised to keep the noise down. Piper took her meds and laid in the creaky little bed waiting for sleep to take over her.
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Alex and Nicky had stayed up a good while longer, finishing the bottle of Cognac between them over another couple of hours.
"So what's the story with that lawyer chick you were hooking up with the other week then Nic? Things getting serious with you two or what?"
"Nah, she comes to the City a few times a year on business and she has my number if she's going to be around for a few days. It's just a hook up is all. She's been up a couple of times from Chicago recently and we've met up for drinks and benefits but that's where it ends. I've kinda lost my wing woman lately though, so I think I'm looking forward to blondie getting the all clear more than she is."
"Aw, you missing me already? I've only cried off for what, a week?" Alex chuckled at Nicky sticking her lip out and crossing her eyes.
"Yeah, well that's a week of no pool nights, poker nights at Poussey's and no drunk hook ups. That's a long time in my world….So what, are you planning on you and Piper being exclusive or what?"
"No, it's not like that. We just…have a lot of history and it's hard to take things slowly when you're in each other's pockets 24/7 since the attack. I think we've got a lotta shit to work out yet and I'm looking at a freaking iron door with more bolts shut across it than I can count at the moment." She downed the last of her Cognac before getting up to pour two large glasses of iced water and some aspirin. Handing both to Nicky, she said she was calling it a night and would see her friend in the morning – but not too early.
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Piper's brother Cal came to pick Piper up just after 12 the next day with Neri along for the trip. She shouted goodbye to Polly and Pete, who were still in bed, and brought her bags to the car where Cal had been honking his horn.
"Hey! Merry Christmas you guys! It's so good to see you both. Did you get by on the roads OK? I think the snow is melting a bit now, right?" Piper grinned before hugging them both tightly.
"Merry Christmas to you too. Yeah the roads are all fine at the moment, but it is always worse out in the sticks where we are. Once you get onto the main roads it's easy going." Cal popped the trunk open and put Piper's bags in the back.
"So, we're going to your place first so you can pick up some clothes before we set off right?"
"Yes, if that's OK? I need to drop some of this stuff off and get a fresh set of clothes as well as pick your presents up!" She got into the back seat and buckled up for the short trip across Brooklyn to her apartment. She ran in and dumped her bags before stuffing a few sets of clothes into a small case and bagging up the gifts from under her own tree. She felt a bit guilty about leaving it, so gave it some water before grabbing a coat and hat and locking up.
They caught up on the drive to Boston and Cal told her about his plans for setting out the land around their place to grow more of their own food. Piper was very excited to hear what kind of crops could be grown even in this climate, but also that there were no pesticides or carbon footprints from the enterprise, so she was really supportive of the idea. The opposite to their parents of course, who thought nothing of getting groceries delivered for the convenience factor.
A few hours later they pulled up on the driveway at their parents' house and Cal gave her a hand with her bags. Their Grandmother was already sitting in the lounge with a cup of tea and greeted them warmly.
"Oh Piper, it's so good to see how much better you're doing now. Your head is healing well and the hair is growing back nicely to cover the scar. It's good that those awful bruises have gone as well dear." She kissed her on the cheek and hugged her tightly.
"Thanks, I'm feeling much better now. Hopefully I will get the all clear next week to go back to work. I've been so bored staying home all day, especially when everyone else is out Christmas shopping."
They exchanged gifts before dinner and Piper reassured everyone that she was fine and had taken her meds on several occasions before they let the subject drop. They sat in the lounge after dinner watching a James Bond trilogy that was on and Piper had an early night after not sleeping too well on the rickety camp bed at Polly's.
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Alex and Nicky didn't get up until around 12 on Boxing Day, but neither had a hangover at that point, so they decided to head out to the local gay bar after having something to eat and let Nicky have some fun. They had a couple of beers and tequila shots before heading over to put their money on the pool table to take on the winners of the current game. Four twenty something girls were playing and Nicky was getting a bit nervous that the ugly pair might win, which would take her interest in the challenge away completely. She had her eye on a girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes, about the same height as her. The girl had been looking at Nicky too as they sat in a booth across from the table, but the prospect of playing the large girl with shaved hair around the back and sides with two missing front teeth was alarmingly close to coming true at this point.
"I thought you were supposed to be helping me here?" Nicky kicked Alex beneath the table as she saw her watching the door of the bar.
"Ouch! I am...I mean I will. You've got to get a game first."
"Well you could be over there giving her pal some tips at least - or maybe you want to distract the bull dyke in the corner from cleaning up? Either way, I won't judge. Just get me a place at the table will you?" Nicky shooed her away from the table.
"Seriously? The things I do for you…." Alex stood and took off her leather jacket and unfastened a couple of extra buttons on her shirt to reveal her ample cleavage before she rolled up her sleeved to above the elbow and walked over towards the table with her beer. She ran her hand through her hair as she stood in front of the big butch woman and leaned on the table with the tips of her long fingers.
"So….which one are you aiming for? I can never remember the right way to hit the white ball…No wait, what do you call it when you make the ball like come back towards you or something?" Alex looked at the other woman from beneath her eyelashes as she stroked the sides of the pool table and walked closer towards her.
"Screwing…" The other woman said, barely lifting her eyes up from the table.
"Ah, screwing the ball. That's it! It's such a funny thing to call it don't you think?" Alex was by the side of her now and leaned over the table next to her, giving her a good view of what was underneath her shirt. "Could you um…show me how you do it?"
"Ugh, yeah….you just…um…grip the cue like this, with your hand here-"
"Like this?" Alex put her hand over the other woman's at the base of the cue as she leaned over behind her and brushed her breasts against the other woman's back.
"Hey! Are we playing pool or what?! "Her friend returned from the bar with fresh drinks and was expecting to be tackling the cute wiry haired girl who put her money on the table earlier by now.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take you away from your game. You go right on ahead while I stand her and check out your style." Alex smiled innocently.
She took her shot and missed potting the ball.
"Aw, that was unlucky! You were so close there!" Alex mused. It had been a long time since she'd had to pull stunts like this so Nicky could move on a target but she figured she owed her friend for bailing on her this last week and being AWOL at work too.
The butch woman came over to Alex smiling and leaned against the wall with her elbow, effectively trapping her in the corner of the room.
"I think you might be putting me off my game pretty lady. You're very distracting…."
"Am I? Oh, I didn't mean to. You really look like you know what you're doing over there." Alex put her hand on the other woman's shoulder, partly to stop her from moving any closer to her face.
"Yeah, I know a few moves that I could teach you." She grinned at her innuendo while Alex inwardly cringed at what she had gotten herself into.
"Hey Lacey, it's your shot." Her friend seemed to save her from any further shrinking into the wall.
Alex took the opportunity to move into a more open space as she leaned down to take another shot and she saw that there was only the black to play for, but the shot wasn't on for her distraction target – Lacey. She leaned over and asked Lacey close to her ear if she planned on screwing the ball right now. Unsurprisingly, Lacey missed the shot and her friend was over in a beat to chastise her for losing the game as the shot was lined up perfectly for Nicky's blonde mark to pot it first time.
"Aw, another close call that one! I learned a lot though, thanks for teaching me some useful tips." Alex winked and headed back over to Nicky, her face like thunder.
"You're up Bilbo Baggins and consider any wing woman debt repaid…."she turned to see Lacey waving back at her…."in full."
Alex had several more shots courtesy of Lacey as she paired up with Nicky for the next match and in the end resorted to telling Lacey that her sweet old Granny was picking her up soon and she didn't know she was a lesbian, so she had to go down the street to sit by another bar. She was only allowed to play that card when Nicky gave her the thumbs up that she was onto a sure thing with the blonde. Alex wasted no time in picking up her jacket and running down the street and down a couple of alleys to be sure she had lost her admirer before hailing a cab home.
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On Tuesday morning, Piper was up and showered before anyone else and made fresh coffee and breakfast in the kitchen. She was spooning her way through a bowl of cereal when her Mother wandered in with the morning papers, enquiring about what Piper's plans were for the day. It seemed Piper ought to have some plans, despite this being a sort of vacation with her family for the holidays.
"Um, I don't know. Is Daddy taking Grandmother back home today? Maybe I could go with them and take a walk down to the boating lake this afternoon."
"Yes, that's a good idea. The fresh air will do you good. I think they were planning to leave around 10 o'clock so you have plenty of time."
Piper pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted Steve to see if he was around while she was up this way. She got a message back a few minutes later saying he was at a friend's birthday party today, but could call around to see her tomorrow at her Grandmothers if she was around. She then sent another message to Alex as it had been two days since she had heard from her.
'Hey. How's my BFG?'
There was no reply for all the time Piper was eating her breakfast, so she sent another message before she went to pack her things to set off for her Grandmother's.
'Would you mind taking me to the hospital appointment on Thursday morning please? It's at 10am and hopefully I'll be out of your hair straight away if I get the all clear. Staying with family until then, so you still have your freedom '
She put her phone away and moved her things into the trunk before saying goodbye to her Mother.
Piper told her Dad about the Christmas sales figures at the store and he worried about the business loans they had taken out and whether their sales projections would match their running costs as the sales dropped after Christmas. Piper reassured him the repayments were frozen at low rates until their business was more mature and they had a good investor who was keen to see women doing well in business, so they were in good hands. Her Grandmother scolded him for acting like her Bank Manager and changed the subject to whether she was going to so 'that nice boy, Steve' while she was here. Piper chuckled and said she would be seeing him tomorrow but she wasn't sure how long he could stay for.
They arrived at her Grandmother's house and her Father stayed for a coffee before bidding them both goodbye for the drive home. Piper put her things in the pare room before heading down to the boating lake for a while. The air was cold and the snow melted already here, but the ground was frosty underfoot and it was perfect for walking. She put her earbuds in and listened to Kasabian on her phone as she walked slowly down the steep track to the lake. She heard her phone beep with a message, so pulled it out of her pocket to see a reply from Alex.
'Your BFG is doing just fine, though I'm running out of snozzcumbers so I might have to go shopping today. Fine for Thursday, I'll drop by around 8. A'
She sat on a bench by the boating shed and turned off her music to just listen to the birdsong for a while. After half an hour she started to get cold, so pulled her coat up around her face more and dug her hands further into her pockets as she didn't want to go back indoors just yet. Another half hour passed and she realised her teeth were chattering together, so she headed back to the house at a good pace before she started to lose the light on the rough track she was walking. Getting back to the kitchen door, Piper could smell a casserole and her stomach started growling straight away.
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Alex got up early on Tuesday morning to head into work. The rest of the crew had another day off yet, but she wanted to make sure everything had arrived that was sent before Christmas and the next orders were scheduled properly for when they were back to full staff again in the morning. It had been nice to have a few days off work, but she had missed the peace and quiet of her office. Answering emails and calls while at Piper's had been fine short term, but it didn't feel like time off or time at work either. She had planned to clean the place down while everyone was off as she hated the untidiness of the main office compared to her own. She took off her hoodie and put a Ramones album on her phone earbuds as she worked her way through tidying papers away, wiping over every surface and running the vacuum around, moving the furniture as she went. It was very therapeutic and she felt like she was able to cleanse her own mind of all the over-analysing Piper's behaviour over the last couple of days. Nicky had texted her this morning to say she got lucky with the blonde last night, but she was just experimenting so it was over pretty quickly. Alex replied to say she didn't care if she only got to first base, her part of the deal was done.
She brought some fruit for lunch and sat on the steps in front of the delivery door to eat it, when she saw a text from Piper. She had been wondering if Piper would get in touch as she had decided to let Piper decide when she wanted to call. As much as she'd been tempted to call her since Christmas Day, she also loathed appearing clingy. She kept her reply friendly, knowing she had plenty to keep her busy until Thursday, but she knew that she was going to miss being with Piper every day when she got the all clear.
She went back inside and made a start in the delivery room, tidying up the shelves and re-organising some of the storage containers so they were a bit easier to look through. It was already 7pm by the time she called it a night and headed home for a dinner of warmed up leftovers.
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Piper ate a delicious home-made casserole with her Grandmother and they played a couple of overly competitive games of scrabble before they both went to bed at a reasonable time. When she wasn't drinking, Piper found it quite difficult to stay up late, but at least the fresh air had tired her a little as well as some much needed leg stretching. She was really missing her morning runs and wondered how soon she could start taking at least a fast paced walk in the mornings.
Steve came to the house at 10am on Wednesday and they spent some time with her Grandmother first, where Steve told her how Joe was doing after he had a fall just before Christmas. Then he suggested they went out to see 'The BodyWorlds' exhibition that was in Boston at the moment and he drove them into the city to get some lunch on the way. The exhibition was fascinating, if a little gruesome in parts and they took their time walking around it before Steve offered to drive her back to New York. It didn't take long to pick up her things from her Grandmother's and Piper texted Polly to let her know she'd be home later that night.
They drove in a comfortable silence, listening to the radio in Steve's Mercedes along the way. It had been a nice day out and he hadn't brought up the attack once, though Piper sensed he wanted to. It had been nice to have a normal day out without feeling like someone was looking after her until the next shift took over and she took his hand in hers before thanking him.
"It's been so nice to get out and do something different today with you. I feel like I've been cooped up away from the cold weather and fresh air, so seeing something to stimulate my brain has been really good for me. Thanks Steve, you're such a good man."
"Hey, you're very welcome. Anytime too, you just let me know when you want to hang out and we can make plans to do stimulating brain stuff if you want." He laughed and squeezed her hand gently but didn't let it go.
"He's dropped all charges against me you know. I think he realised the evidence was stacked against him and an assault charge against me wouldn't hold up." Steve ventured, but kept his eyes on the road. Piper didn't say anything at first, just looked out of the window.
"There's a good case against him Piper. A very good chance he will be put away for what he's done you know." He glanced at her before looking back at the road ahead.
"I know. I guess it won't be long before a court date now. I'll have that bundle of fun to look forward to next." She was still looking out of the window and half taking to herself at this point.
"You'll be OK Piper. I'll be with you every step of the way and so will the Police." He turned the corner onto Piper's street and pulled the car up outside her apartment.
"Yeah, well me and the justice system have a chequered past and I have zero good memories of court rooms and lawyers to date, so forgive me for not jumping with joy right now, OK?" She looked at him sternly before opening the door to climb out.
"Piper, I'm sorry. I didn't think about that when I said it. I just meant you had a strong case…" He hurried to keep up with her and tried to take some of the bags off her as she climbed the steps to her front door.
She opened the door with her key and put the lights on, stepping inside to let Steve come in and shut the door behind them.
"I know you mean well, but even when everything looks fucking peachy with evidence and past cases it can all go tits up the moment I stand in the dock. So, I'm actually trying to not think about it right now and focusing on getting back into some sort of normality instead – like not having a babysitter 24 hours a day." She took her phone from her bag and called Polly.
"Hey, we just got back. Are you on your way already?"
"Yeah, I'm about 5 minutes away. Do you want me to pick something up for dinner?"
"No, I've got leftover casserole from my Grandmother so we don't have to eat takeaway for a change. See you in 5 then. Bye."
She put her phone on the table next to the door and took her coat off.
"Do you want t a coffee or anything before you head back? Might help you keep your eyes open?" Piper smiled, trying to change the subject from the court case.
"Yeah, coffee would be great actually. Thanks….And sorry, for catching your foot in mouth disease earlier." Steve bumped her shoulder and Piper grinned back at him.
"Well, it's good to know I'm not the only person who is susceptible to that!" She went to put the coffee on and Steve took a seat next to the breakfast bar as Piper put the oven on for the casserole.
"You want some of this? There's like enough to feed an army here. I honestly don't think my Grandmother knows how to cook for less than 20 people."
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Alex was in the office a good hour before everyone else on Wednesday. She had painted the parking bay lines in the delivery area as well as marking out the zones not to leave boxes in, so she needed to put everything back for when they opened up. She was on the phone to a shipping company in London when Lorna came in and knocked on the glass of her office to make the universal signal for 'do you want a hot drink?' Alex smiled and gave her the thumbs up as she carried on with the call. By the time she was done, Nicky was also in the office and the pair were nattering about what they did over Christmas and Alex came out to pick up her mug of coffee. She listened to them for a while before heading downstairs to see how Poussey and Taystee were doing with her new zone markings, already spotting they had stacked a pile of boxes in the 'no go' area. She tutted and put her mug down to move them, all the while explaining loudly why the lines were on the floor. Dannii was a short red-head who had been working part time for them for about a month in the delivery office and she came out to see what all the loud voices were about.
"Well it makes perfect sense to me Alex. It's a health and safety thing, right?" She offered.
"Exactly right Danni. See you guys? I don't do it to make your life harder."
"Yeah, she does it to keep you safe. She's interested in our welfare aren't you Alex?" She smiled like the school swot who answered the teacher's question correctly. Poussey and Taystee rolled their eyes as though they were back in school and Alex crossed her arms as though she were a teacher.
Dannii had been crushing hard on Alex since she started working there and Alex knew it, but kept her at a distance to not encourage her. She was pretty, but a little young and naïve for her now. She might have made a decent mule once over and maybe that was a type that Alex couldn't help recruiting even though she was out of the business.
"Yes, thanks Dannii. Now you know why the lines are there, please stick to the marked areas and I won't have to clean up any severed limbs since I'm also the resident First Aider here."
Alex went back upstairs with her empty mug and Nicky handed her the phone as soon as she got through the door.
"It's the shipping company in London. They are saying the furniture order is damaged and they won't take it. Can you talk to them?" Alex took the phone into her office and shut the door over. Lorna and Nicky could hear Alex raising her voice as the call went on before she slammed the phone down and pulled her door open wide.
"Fucking idiots! Jesus Christ, I don't know why we have to work with these people sometimes. Argh!" She ran her hands through her hair while she thought.
"I have to go to London to sort this out straight away. Those containers are worth around $75k that we'll have to write off if I can't prove they weren't damaged by us. I need to see if the insurance company will pay out, but I want to see the evidence before they go tampering with anything…..Fuck. Nicky – I said I'd take Piper to the hospital tomorrow for 10am. Can you go in my place? You'll need to be there for about 8am before Polly leaves for work and if she gets the all clear you might be back here for just after lunch I guess. Would you mind?"
"Sure, I can handle blondie for a bit. You go rescue your furniture Vause."
Alex picked up her keys and headed home to pack a case before heading off to the airport for the next flight to London.
*I hope I didn't offend anyone with my use of the terms 'butch' or 'bull dyke' as I know people get annoyed by the labels. My point was only that they are not Alex's (or Nicky's) type and Alex would do the same with anyone who wasn't her type to help out her wing woman. What a buddy ;-)