A/N: Thanks for the ongoing reviews guys, I really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks also to Librarybook and Em0001 for making themselves known to me ;-). So, I think you might have been waiting for this one and I hope it answers some of those burning questions you've been nagging me with since Chapter 1! Haha! Enjoy.

Piper assumed this was a two-way street on the truth and honesty talk she was agreeing to, so agreed it was something they needed to do.

"I assume you want to re-open the conversation box we closed on Christmas morning do you?" Piper asked as she gazed down into her glass of wine like it was another world. She was suddenly all too aware of how finely balanced their recently reconciled relations were, knowing they were built on a familiarity that concealed a lot of shitty history at the same time. Knowing they needed to talk about Piper's time in prison and the events leading up to it and actually doing it, were two very different concepts. Her initial thoughts were to suggest a rain check and not spoil the nice evening they'd been having – much like she did on Christmas Day. But there was a nagging danger that they would start building on these shaky foundations with a new relationship that would bite them in the ass and open her to a heartbreak that she barely survived last time.

Alex sensed her indecision and waited for Piper to meet her eyes again before speaking.

"Yes, but I don't want us to push this too far. I have no idea where or how this conversation will go, but I don't want either of us running out on each other if we lose our shit about something. I don't know, like we can call a time out or something maybe?"

"Jesus Alex, you're scaring me now."

"OK, I'm sorry. I just….I don't want to lose you again Piper and I'm terrified that you'll…..Fuck. Just promise me you won't leave OK?"

"Erm, we're in my apartment. I think I'm a pretty captive audience right now." Piper smiled, a weak attempt at showing Alex she was OK with this. "Do you mind if I ask you something first? It's been on my mind since we talked that time at the store after you delivered those leaflets."

"That's fair….Are you going to ask if I dumped them PoPi leaflets in the trash and went to the pub for a couple of hours instead of delivering them?" Alex smiled, trying to deflect from the seriousness of the conversation they were having.

"I wasn't….but since you mention it….Did you?" Piper raised an eyebrow, joining in.

"Nope. Do I get a truth token for that?"

Piper smiled, but wanted to ask the real question before she lost her nerve and they started bantering.

"Alex…I want you to tell me how you got out of the cartel. I begged you to for so long….made all kinds of threats about leaving you, turning you in, anything I could think of….But you wouldn't leave, even when I'd packed my suitcase in Paris. You said it wasn't a job you could walk away from with your life. Yet here you are….Did you go to prison as well? I assume you did because it sounds like the whole ring was brought down."

Alex took a deep breath and tried to keep her voice steady as she spoke. She'd been expecting this conversation and dreading the moment for years already. It was almost a relief to tell it now and she knew Piper's reaction to this could make or break whether they had a hope of a future together.

"No. I didn't go to prison." Apparently not an answer that Piper was prepared for.

"What?! Are you fucking kidding me?!" Piper sat up now and turned to face Alex.

"Look, it's not as simple as it sounds. I paid my price, but prison wasn't part of it."

"The benefits of being able to afford a decent Lawyer hey? If only I'd have kept the drug money I moved for you, maybe I could have got the same deal paid with my ill-gotten gains." Piper never took her eyes off Alex and the brunette didn't dare meet her piercing stare for fear it might be the last time she saw her.

"Un-fucking-believable! You moved millions of dollars in drugs and money and I'M the one who ends up behind bars-." Alex sat up now, ready to stop Piper from walking away if she had to.

"Are you finished? Because I'm pretty sure the whole point of this honesty deal is listening to the other person who is giving you the warts and all truth. Do you want to hear it or are you going to close down and go into full on fucking Rambo mode without hearing me out?" Alex spoke in a measured tone, but her voice was raised and she hated the fact there was a sense of desperation in it.

Piper stood up and stormed towards the front door. Before Alex could grab her to stop her from leaving, she was at the door already. She grabbed the handle and opened the front door wide.

"Piper no!...Please!...You promised you'd stay!" Alex stood quickly and ran toward her.

"Don't fucking touch me Alex!"

"Alright I won't….I won't." The brunette held her hands up as though in surrender and stopped her progress across the room. Piper looked out of the doorway for a moment and slammed the door shut with them both inside the apartment still, beating her fists against the door and kicking it.

"FUCKING HELL ALEX! This is beyond fucked up!" Alex watched with wide eyes as Piper continued to beat at the door. She was relieved the blonde had stayed, but wasn't sure what the Hell she might do next, so she let her vent her anger and stayed where she was. As Piper pressed her head against the door, her limbs tired and bruised from the frustration, Alex called out to her and took a couple of steps towards her.

"Piper, I know you're angry about this but I want to explain-"

"I fucking know Alex." She said without turning around.

"Ok…good…..You'll listen then?"

"I know it was you who turned me in to the Feds."

"What?...W…what did you just say?" Alex stood in the middle of the room, slack-jawed from Piper's revelation. She'd been fully expecting to have to choke that confession out at some point during the night, so hearing Piper say she knew knocked her for six.

"I said I know you named me." Piper turned around to face her now.

"I've always known. It was a sealed testimony, but I never needed to know the names behind it because I knew from the very moment the police knocked on my door it was you." Piper spoke so quietly and slowly that Alex dared not breathe for fear of what might happen. Piper didn't say anything more, but maintained a steely glare at Alex from the back of the door.

"I'm sorry Piper. I'm so, so, sorry." Alex closed the gap, daring to reach out to Piper, who shrugged her away and avoided her eyes now.

"Don't…Just….don't come any fucking closer…" The brunette stood awkwardly a couple of feet away from Piper as she closed her eyes and got her breathing under control.

"Piper, please….listen to me. Don't shut me out now. I can't bear to lose you again." Alex was crying now, not bothering to wipe the tears or snot streaming down her face as she pleaded with Piper to remain in the room with her while they worked through this.

"Fuck! I thought I could do this…..I thought I could have this conversation with you without completely losing my shit….no matter what the truth was, I thought I was ready…."

"Pipes, just hear me-"

"Don't fucking call me that when you just told me you got off scott fucking free out of all of this!" Piper banged her hand off the door, making Alex jump.

The blonde's fists remained tightly balled and she couldn't keep them still as she paced and turned towards the door and away again.

"I can't stay in this room with you right now. I can't look at you without being reminded of what a fucking manipulative bitch you are." Piper spoke through clenched teeth and banged her fist on the door again behind her, emphasizing the last words. "I know I said I wouldn't leave, but I feel like I'm going to explode if I stay in this small space with you."

Alex dropped to her knees, sobbing. "Please don't go Piper. Please don't leave me again. You….you won't come back…You'll….stay away….from me." She was struggling to get the words out between sobs and trying to get air into her lungs now.

"I have to come back. This is my Gad-damned apartment. Just….stay here…..I'll come back…I just need to get out of here and away from you before I lose it completely….Stay there." With that, she grabbed her coat and pulled her sneakers on, slamming the door behind her as she left.

XXXXX

Alex collapsed onto the floor, letting out the tears she was struggling to hold in front of Piper. She felt foolish for thinking this could end in any other way than Piper hating her. After years of having this conversation in her head, she had probably rehearsed her responses to every possible reaction she might have gotten from her ex-girlfriend. Now the time was here and she saw the anger in Piper's eyes, she had no answers or heartfelt apologies that could assuage the fire in her eyes. She curled into a foetal position in front of the sofa and sobbed until the muscles in her torso ached and the sobbing produced no more tears.

It was getting late and Alex stood to look through the window, hoping that Piper was sitting on the steps outside the window. There was no sign of the blonde and a couple of hours had passed since she stormed out of the apartment. Alex wandered through the apartment in a daze, picking up framed photos of the blonde looking happy with Polly and then Cal in the lounge and wondering if she had kept any of their happy times together. Probably not she surmised. Eventually, she found herself standing in Piper's bedroom. She picked up a discarded t-shirt from the floor and inhaled the achingly familiar scent of Piper before sitting on her bed wishing she had gone after her so she knew she was OK. It was past midnight already and she had absolutely no idea where Piper might have gone. It was tempting to call Polly to see if she turned up there, but there would be a full scale search and rescue operation started if she did and Alex would be the big bad wolf yet again. No, Piper said she would come back and Alex needed to be patient and trust that she wasn't going to bail on her. She lay down on Piper's pillow, clutching the t-shirt to her chest and eventually drifted off to sleep.

XXXXX

Piper had slammed the door behind her, without any idea of where she was going to go. She couldn't breathe in that room and the fury burning inside of her was something she had not felt for a long time. It terrified her that she might not be able to control it in front of Alex and thought that somehow it might dissipate in the night air. Her legs wouldn't stay still and she walked at a furious pace through the streets of Brooklyn, not really paying attention to where she was heading or how she might get back. Fortunately, it was a mild night and the blood pumping around her body was keeping her warm as she paced the city streets as though she had a mission to accomplish. Although she had always been sure it was Alex who named her, hearing that she was never sent to prison like Piper had been for much less serious crimes was a shock. Alex always came up smelling of roses when anything turned to shit and she took it all in her stride. Unlike Piper, who always had to work at planning and preparing as though everything was a mini-project to be managed. She made lists, reminder notes, used highlighter pens, rehearsed her presentations, took sample tests to prepare for exams. Alex was the girl who wouldn't even turn up with a pen and still get top marks after charming one off the teacher and it pissed her off that this applied even in the eyes of the law.

Eventually, she wound up by the riverside, at the place she went running. Her legs had been on auto pilot and she thought about how much she'd missed being able to clear her head by pushing her legs harder on this paved track until a couple of weeks ago. She was reminded of the attack that had taken her independence and her anger boiled up again. She started running on the track and enjoyed the feeling of moving her legs only briefly before her ribs cried out with the pain of inhaling deeply. Fucking ribs. Fucking Darryl. Fucking Alex. Argh, she wasn't feeling any better. She looked up and saw a dive bar by the side of the riverside track. She had passed this place many times on her morning runs and thought it looked a bit rough. Maybe this could help her where the walking around in the cold night air couldn't.

She sat on a stool by the bar and rummaged through her pockets, suddenly remembering she didn't bring her purse with her. There was a pile of papers in her inside pocket and she pulled them all out to sort through them, hoping for a wrinkled note amongst the receipts that would get her a drink to take the edginess away a bit. The bar tender came over and asked what she'd like to drink and she asked for a double vodka before she realised she had no means of paying for it. The bartender came back with the drink and put it in front of her, asking if she'd like to open a tab. Piper thought to herself that Alex wouldn't think twice about the tab even if she had no money to settle it, but Piper couldn't bring herself to tell the lie.

"I….forgot my purse….I have no way of paying for that drink…I'm sorry." She mumbled as she went through her receipts again, hoping she might have missed something.

"Well, a little honesty is refreshing in here I guess. You look like you need that, so it's on me sweetheart." The bar tender smiled at her and pushed the drink further towards her before leaving to serve someone else. Piper downed the drink and it quenched the thirst only briefly before she wanted another. A guy in his mid-40's was sitting a couple of seats away from her and heard her exchange with the barman earlier. He moved to sit on the stool next to her, but didn't speak until she started going through the receipts again frantically thinking of a way to open a tab to get another.

"That's a story I've heard a few times. Looks like your sparkly blue eyes worked a treat there missy."

"What did you say? Are you accusing me of lying?!" She stared at him as though she might land a punch on his nose, part of her wanting the excuse to do it.

"Whoah, easy. Just saying, it's a sob story I've heard a lot in here."

"Do I look like I'm sobbing?" Piper gave him a steely glare.

"I guess not. Here, let me get you a drink…..By way of an apology." He turned to signal for the bar tender and Piper's blood ran cold. After a few moments of being unable to move or speak, she was overcome with nausea and ran outside. She was doubled over in the gutter, puking up her paella when the guy from the bar came out of the doorway.

"Hey, missy! What the Hell's wrong with you? You come in here pleading poverty for a drink and when you get one, you bolt right out of the door again?"

Piper started running, ignoring the pain in her ribs. When she couldn't run anymore, she stopped to lean against a wall and bent over to breathe. How stupid could she be?! Not only was a bar the absolutely worst place she could be when she was not in control of her emotions – that double vodka easily opened the door for finishing the bottle, but she had almost got a drink off a stranger. The whole bloody reason she couldn't go out on her own at the moment. She slumped down the side of the wall and let silent tears fall onto her coat. Why was she always able to lead herself down a path of self-destruction? It was pathetic, she was pathetic. It didn't seem to matter what she did, she'd always end up being a fucking victim. Alex was probably gone by now. She'd walked out on her with no explanation of where she was heading and the brunette was probably sick of her complaining when things didn't go her way. Why would someone like Alex even want to stay around a victim? Alex was strong, wily….she was never a victim, always the puppeteer. Alex never bemoaned her luck or blamed someone else for her misfortune. She was the spider after all and the fly was always going to be the victim.

XXXXX

It was nearing 4am when Piper opened the front door to her apartment, closing it behind her before heading to the sink for a glass of water. She didn't bother putting the lights on, knowing her way around was easy in the small space and she preferred being in the dark, in the shadows and left alone to feel sorry for herself. She drank a large glass of water and took some aspirin from the drawer before pouring another glass to take to bed.

The bedside lamp was on when she approached the door and she was surprised to find Alex lying on her bed, having assumed she'd have left by now. Piper froze in the doorway, not wanting to wake the sleeping brunette – partly because it was late and partly because she hadn't prepared for what she might say to her at this point. Piper put her glass of water down quietly next to Alex on the table by the bed before tiptoeing to close the blind over the window. She stood and gazed down at the sleeping woman she'd dreamed of having in her bed for so long. Those dreams were very different to the scenario in front of her now, but she smiled when she saw that Alex was holding one of her t-shirts as she slept.

Piper gently took Alex's glasses off and put them on the table next to the bed where Alex would know to find them and pulled the other side of the bed covers over the top of her. She found another t-shirt from her drawer and got the spare blanket to head for the sofa.

XXXXX

Alex woke with a start at a little after 6am and it took her a few moments to realise where she was and how she ended up here. She couldn't see anything and automatically reached out to the side of the bed to feel for her glasses.

"Ah, fuck!" She knocked a glass over on the side of the bed and sat up quickly to check the damage. Putting her glasses on, she found the switch for the lamp and realised she has spilled a large glass of water over one of Piper's books and it was running off the top. She jumped up to grab some kitchen towels, hurrying towards the kitchen sink and putting the light on in the lounge as she went so she could see where the Hell she was going.

"Ugh, Jesus." A muffled voice came from the sofa and Alex darted towards it to look over the top.

"Piper!" Seeing the blonde hair peeking out above the blanket she was using to shield her eyes from the light, Alex rushed around to the front of the sofa to make sure it really was her.

"You came back! Oh thank God you're OK." Alex hugged her over the top of the blanket, forgetting that the blonde might consider her the enemy.

"Er, yes. I'm back." Piper struggled to lift her head over the top of the blanket while Alex had her arms pinned to her sides.

Alex pulled the blanket down so she could see Piper and released her from the death grip hug.

"I'm so glad you came back. I….I was worried….you might not." The brunette twisted the blanket between her thumb and fingers as she spoke, wanting to stay close to Piper but not sure if touching her was allowed yet.

Piper avoided her eyes for a second before reaching for Alex's hand.

"I'm sorry for running out on you. I didn't know what else to do and I know I promised I wouldn't. I just felt so angry that I needed to blow off some steam I guess."

"You came back though and that's what matters." Alex stroked her thumb over the top of Piper's knuckles before leaning down to kiss it. "When did you get back? I didn't hear you come in."

"Around 4am I think? I haven't slept very much to be honest. This sofa isn't as comfy as you told me when you slept on it."

"Why don't you go to bed for a while then and catch up? It's not like you have to be anywhere today is it?"

"Now that sounds like a good idea." She rolled off the sofa and Alex helped her up onto her feet.

"Come with me?" They were still holding hands as Piper looked into green eyes, searching for something that said she wasn't going to leave.

"Are you sure?" Alex asked quietly.

"Yes. But just to be clear this is an invitation for a decent few hours of sleep where you aren't quite as over-dressed for the occasion maybe, but no sexy time. OK?" Piper looked up and down at Alex's dress and the fact she was still wearing her ruined make-up.

"What? My pyjama-dress and panda eyes not doing it for you?" Alex laughed.