A/N: Hope you've enjoyed the last couple of cliffhanger chapters? Sorry to my Guest reviewers who are going bald - I promise I'll try and give you a chance to grow it back in between angst-filled sections! Double update this weekend my dear readers :-) Thanks for the reviews as always and I'm glad you're still with me on the Vauseman ride. Read on to see what happens to Piper...

The driver pulled up outside Piper's apartment and Alex threw him a handful of notes as she climbed out of the back.

"Will you stay there for 5 mins? If I don't come back out, you can go. If not, I need you to take us to hospital." The driver could see she was stressed and agreed quickly, shouting after her that he hoped her friend was OK.

She didn't answer before running to the door and pushing it open with her hip as she turned the handle. Polly was bent over Piper, trying to lift her up as her arms kept raising above her head and Polly lost her grip again. She was sobbing as she heard Alex come through the door.

"Alex! Thank God, I can't lift her up!"

"Is she breathing Polly? Get out of the way!"

Alex rushed to kneel beside Piper, who was now face down on the floor in front of the sofa. She checked her pulse, tuning out Polly who was rambling frantically to recall every detail of what she had found since coming into the apartment. After a while, she turned her onto her back and leaned over her to see if she was breathing.

"Shut up will you?!"

It seemed like an eternity passed before Alex shifted her body and asked Polly to give her a hand to carry Piper to the bathroom.

"She's breathing but she's out cold. What's she taken Polly?" Alex pushed past her to stagger to the bathroom, struggling to carry Piper's dead weight through the doorway.

"Vodka. A lot of vodka and maybe some painkillers, I can't tell though." Polly was running after her with Piper's limp arm pulled around her neck.

Alex braced herself to lean Piper over the bathtub and put her fingers into her mouth to see if her gag reflex would kick in.

"Hold her head up by her hair while I see if she'll wake up…PIPER!...Come on Pipes….."

Piper coughed as Alex put her fingers to the back of her throat.

"Atta girl. Come on Pipes, wake up."

Polly stroked her hair from her face as Alex continued to hold her up, shaking her to bring her around.

"Get some cold water on a towel will you?" Alex took charge as Piper started groaning and moving to push her away from her mouth.

"Pipes, what did you take? Did you take any pills?" Alex was prising her eyes open now to keep her awake and conscious.

"Mnnnn" Piper screwed her face up.

"Open your eyes Piper or you'll have to go in an ambulance. Is that what you want? You want to be back in the hospital? If you can't keep your eyes open for me you'll have to be admitted. I have a taxi outside waiting to take you there. What's it gonna be? Open your eyes or I'll carry you there right now." Alex moved to pick her up and Piper forced her eyes open to glare at her.

"Good. The moment they close for longer than a blink you're ass is in that cab."

Polly brought the cold towel over and Alex wiped it over her face to wake her up a bit.

"What did you drink Piper? Did you take those pills?" Polly took hold of her face now to search for the answer.

"Urgh!" Piper twisted her face away.

"It doesn't matter anyway, we need to get the alcohol out of your stomach. You need to make yourself sick Pipes. Can you do that for me?" Alex sat back on her haunches, her arms were tiring from holding Piper up for so long now.

"Lean over the bathtub for me and sit up a bit. I can't hold you up there much longer. Come on, sit up on your knees for me Pipes."

Piper sluggishly started to move her limbs and slumped the upper half of her body over the side of the tub, breathing noisily as she did. Once Alex felt she was supporting her own weight, she relaxed her arms a little and moved one to rub small circles on her back. The blonde dropped her head over the side of the bath, closing her eyes to go back to sleep again before Alex lifted her head up and wiped the cold towel over her neck.

"Come on Pipes, I need you to make yourself sick. You'll feel a whole lot better once you get rid of that alcohol in your stomach. I'm right here with you….No, don't close your eyes again…That cab is still waiting out there. Don't think I won't take you to get your stomach pumped if that's what it takes." She moved her hand to her lower back as Piper leaned forward and put her fingers down her throat to wretch. Alex held her hair back from her face as she soothed her skin and murmured words of encouragement.

"That's it. Good girl. Can you do that again and see if we can get rid of anything babe?" Alex spoke softly into her ear and kissed the side of her head.

Piper wretched again and again until no more fluid was coming out. Polly was peering over the top of them looking for any signs of pills in the bile that was in the bottom of the tub. She couldn't see any obvious pills in there, but that didn't mean they weren't already dissolved.

Alex passed the blonde the damp towel to wipe her face and mouth before Piper fell into Alex's side sobbing. She rested her head against the brunette's shoulder, hiding her face against Alex's warm skin and the black shirt she was wearing. Alex sat back against the wall opposite the tub and pulled Piper with her, putting both arms around the shaking blonde. Polly left to get a cold glass of water and Alex shushed and stroked Piper's skin as she let her heave and sob against her. While she was doing this at least she was awake and responsive. It was far better than the dead weight she had walked in to find earlier. Polly brought the water in and perched on the edge of the tub, waiting for Piper to calm a little before giving her the water.

"Piper….did you take any of those pills?" Polly asked gently.

Piper sat up and rinsed her mouth a couple of times, spitting the water back into the bath tub and leaning over to rinse it down the drain. She then took a couple of long gulps before sitting back against the wall next to Alex. Their legs were touching, but she was suddenly conscious of sitting so closely to the brunette who had just been holding her hair while she puked into the bathtub.

"I….(cough)I only took a couple of pills to try and get rid of a headache that was starting…I wasn't trying to kill myself if that's what you're worried about." Piper wasn't looking either of them in the eye, but looking out of the doorway.

"Good. That's good. I didn't think that, obviously. But….good to know." They sat in silence for a moment before Polly spoke again.

"So, what did you drink? How much Piper?" Her tone was stern this time.

"I don't know. I can't remember." Piper shrugged like the quantity didn't matter in the least. "I'm tired. I want to go to bed now and rest." Piper started to shift her body to stand up, but couldn't co-ordinate her limbs. Alex pulled her back down by her shoulders and brought her back against her by hooking her arm over the top of her shoulders and back across her chest. Piper didn't resist and Alex leaned her face against Piper's head, kissing her hair again before speaking softly against her hair.

"Are you cold?"

Piper nodded and shivered as though to prove it. Alex leaned forward slightly to take her leather jacket off and put it around the blonde's shaking shoulders before pulling her back towards her chest.

"Here, you can only borrow this if you aren't going to puke anymore though. Do you feel like you might puke?"

"No. No more puking for me tonight." Piper rubbed her eyes, still adjusting to the light in the bathroom.

"Good. Let's get you up and we can have a warm drink before you go to sleep, OK?"

Alex stood and put her hand out for Piper to help her to her feet. They made their way into the lounge and Alex mouthed to Polly to go and fetch a blanket for her. They sat down on the sofa and Piper curled into Alex immediately, seeking the warmth of her body and the reassurance of feeling looked after. Polly had been gone a while and Alex put her arm around the tired shoulders resting next to her. Piper took hold of the hand that was hanging over her shoulder now and snuggled against Alex's chest. Watching carefully that she wasn't going to sleep, Alex held her close and stroked her hand up and down Piper's arm to try and stop her from shaking.

"Hey. How are you doing?" Alex spoke into the top of Piper's head. She knew that they needed to keep her awake for a while to make sure that she didn't have alcohol poisoning. Right now they didn't know exactly how much the blonde had drunk and how long ago she started drinking.

"Fine. I'm tired though. I really want to go to bed now."

"I know….We can at least see in the New Year with a toast of hot coffee though, right?"

"Ohhhh. I forgot it was New Year. Is it already midnight?"

Alex checked her watch.

"1am already."

Piper lifted her head to look at Alex.

"Happy New Year then." She smiled weakly. Alex brushed the hair back from her face and moved the pad of her thumb over Piper's cheek softly as she looked at the pale blonde in her arms.

"Happy New Year Pipes." She smiled back at her.

Polly returned with a blanket. "Sorry, Pete called me to wish me Happy New Year….I think he's managed to get some of those 2 for 1 cocktails tonight. Sounds like he's outside a karaoke bar at the moment. Thank God I don't have to listen to him singing 'Livin' on a Prayer'." She dropped the blanket on Piper's lap.

Conscious of how cosy they must look and what Polly witnessed earlier, Alex moved her arm from around Piper's shoulder and mouthed 'Keep her awake' to Polly as she moved to stand up.

"I'll make us some coffee then. Do you want coffee or some tea Pipes?" Alex struggled not to smile when she saw Piper's disappointment at being left on the sofa.

"Camomile tea please."

"Coming right up." Alex went to the kitchen and left Polly to sit next to her sleepy best friend.

"You scared me…. Can you not ever do that again please?"

Piper worried the blanket between her fingers and avoided Polly's eyes.

"If I hadn't bumped into Nicky in the bar, I wouldn't have known that you were here on your own with a bottle of vodka. What were you thinking?!" Polly was really trying not to get mad and keep her tone in 'concerned best friend' mode, but finding Piper limp on the sofa had freaked her out.

"I wasn't. I just…I was going to buy some wine for tonight and I saw the vodka and thought I'd have a couple of shots before I came over to yours. I didn't realise how much I'd drunk…I knew you'd get pissy about it, so I thought I'd not ruin your night."

"OK….And we both know why I'd get pissy about you drinking vodka don't we?"

Piper sighed dramatically. "Yes! I know. I didn't mean to drink so much though. It was just to take the edge off is all."

"Piper…..Do you think you should go to a meeting?"

"No…I'm OK. It was a one-off…..I haven't really drunk in ages now Polly, since I went to Litchfield. If it happens again, I promise I'll go. I just…had a shitty day is all." Piper was trying to keep her voice down so Alex wouldn't hear them.

"But shitty days are exactly the times you need to not be thinking about vodka….Look, I'm not going to lecture you tonight. I'll just say, finding you in here tonight….cold and unresponsive when I tried to wake you….was terrifying. Please don't put me through that again Piper." Polly moved closer and pulled Piper in for a tear-filled hug.

Alex stood watching their interaction from the kitchen. She couldn't hear their words, but it looked like a serious conversation was being had. She poured hot water onto the camomile tea bag and thought about what she had almost done in the bar while Piper was out cold from drinking a bottle of vodka on her own at New Year. She couldn't have known that Piper would do this, but it didn't make it any easier when Polly's words flashed back into her mind that she'd have to work harder to break down the barriers or walk away. Yesterday, she had opted to walk away from Piper instead of fighting harder to understand her. She'd effectively washed her hands of her and walked straight into the bar for an easy way to forget their arguments. Alex dunked the teabag a few times before pouring the coffee into mugs for her and Polly.

When she brought the mugs over, Piper had her head resting on Polly's shoulder but she was still shivering. She handed them their drinks before heading back to get her own and settled on the chair next to them. She leaned down and picked up the empty vodka bottle off the floor, setting it onto the coffee table in front of them. Everyone noticed the empty bottle placed in plain sight but nobody said anything about it. Nothing needed to be said at this point and there was nothing to be gained from making Piper feel any worse about what had happened.

Polly raised her mug to gesture a toast. "Happy New Year guys. Here's to new beginnings, right?" She glanced at Alex first, then at Piper and they both nodded agreement.

They drank their coffee and Polly told them about one of Pete's friends who just won a trip to Europe from a lottery card he got for Christmas from his stingy Aunt. It was a change of subject to something more light hearted and it kept Piper awake for a little longer. Alex could see she was still shivering though as Polly was talking and was trying hard not to stand and tuck the blanket around her legs. It was easy enough for Piper to do it herself or even Polly if she would only take a breath and glance down at Piper's legs bouncing up and down. She held her coffee mug tightly as though the warmth from her hands might permeate Piper's skin through the ceramic glaze. After another 5 minutes of the story and Piper's shaking, Alex had enough.

"OK, you're still shivering. Maybe bed is the best place for you now so you can snuggle under the covers a bit more. You're all tense sitting there like that and you'll make your muscles sore. Do you have a hot water bottle you could fill up?"

"Er…no. I'll put the heating on though. That will warm everywhere up."

"OK, good. Polly are you going to stay? I don't think Piper should be on her own." Alex was trying to not be overbearing or patronising, she just knew how important it was that she wasn't allowed to sleep until they could be sure she was OK. Really, they should have her checked out at hospital but she was sure that they had most of the drink out of her stomach at this point.

"Yes, I'll stay here tonight and keep an eye on you Piper."

"Right. Good." She watched Polly put her hand on Piper's knee to try and stop it from shaking and every cell in her body wanted to reach out and warm her ex-girlfriend with her own body, as though Polly couldn't care for her in the way that she could. Stuffing her hands into her back pockets, she turned to look out of the window as though she were checking on the weather.

Piper was really tired, but her stomach was sore from heaving up the contents earlier. She couldn't stop shaking and it was really irritating because she had a blanket over her legs and Alex's jacket over her shoulders. She could smell Alex on the jacket and it was comforting, like Alex had been tonight. Although she was embarrassed at the panic she had inadvertently caused, having her best friend and ex looking after her was a bit strange. Both had been in situations where they had looked after Piper when she had been drinking and yet they both did it differently. She let out an involuntary giggle at their different ways of mothering her.

"What's so funny?" Polly looked at her as though she'd grown another head. That made the giggles worse and now both women were staring at Piper as though she had lost her mind all of a sudden. Laughing hurt, but she couldn't stop now.

"Piper what the Hell?" Her best friend didn't see anything funny happening right now.

"Sorry…I just…..thought about you two working together….it's kinda funny."

Alex raised her eyebrow. "Glad you see a funny side. Have you lost your mind now?"

"Don't think so…..But It's funny that this is the first time you are both here when I've been drinking."

"Right. Well, time for me to get a cab I think. Don't let her sleep for another hour though. You need to make sure she's responsive and alert for a while yet so we know there's not a lot in her system before she sleeps. Talk about shoes or something equally fascinating. Whatever BFFs talk about on girly nights in." Alex checked her watch to find it was 2:30 now.

"I will, don't worry. I'm going to take my make up off and put something more practical than this beautiful black dress on. Can I grab some sweats Piper?" She called over her shoulder as she headed to the bathroom.

"Yes, help yourself." She called after her before turning to Alex. "Can I go to bed now?"

"Yeah, but no sleep remember. I'll make you some hot milk to drink before you close your eyes. You need something on your stomach really."

"Alex…..you don't have to. I'll be fine now."

"I see that. But can you indulge my inner control freak? You go and get ready for bed and I'll bring it through in a minute." Alex shoed her away and turned to heat up a mug of milk. As the microwave was whirring around, Polly came through to the kitchen.

"Thanks Alex. I was totally freaking out earlier. Not as good in a crisis as I thought I guess."

"S'okay. What was I gonna do, leave you to ask Siri?" Alex shrugged.

"If I think about what might have happened…"

"Well it didn't. She's OK now and at least you were switched on enough to realise something was wrong. Unlike me, who left her to drink herself unconscious while I was…..well, I didn't anyway."

"Well, who knew we could work as a team eh?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Alex…..why don't you stay with her tonight? I saw the way she was clinging to you in the bathroom before. She needs you."

"I…..I want to. I just don't know whether we are good for each other right now."

"Can you put that aside just for tonight? Just…look, forget the last 24 hours or arguments and think about being there for her right now. Everything else can wait."

The microwave pinged and Alex took her time taking the mug out, mulling over what Polly was asking her. Finally she sighed and turned to face the shorter woman.

"Only if it's what Piper wants. I don't want to make things worse." Polly nodded as a reply before heading back to the bathroom.

She took the drink into Piper's room, where the blonde was curled tightly under the duvet already.

"You're not asleep are you?" Alex asked gently as she put the mug down besides the bed and perched on the edge near the window.

"No, I'm still awake."

"Good, shall I bring Polly in to discuss celebrity gossip for the next hour?"

"No…Tempting as it normally would be for me. I prefer my gossip in daylight hours."

"Fair enough. Are you any warmer now?"

"Not yet. Maybe the milk will help." She sat up against the pillows and lifted the hot mug, where Alex could see her hands shaking.

"OK, I don't think you're ready for holding a hot drink with those hands." She walked around to the other side of the bed and lay down on top of the duvet to pull Piper towards her.

"This is medicinal OK?"

"Right."

Alex pulled the duvet up to Piper's chin and moulded her body against the blonde's with the duvet in between them. She held her tight, trying to quell the shivering.

"Is this OK?"

"Yeah. Better. I feel like I've been mummified under this duvet though."

"Well if it warms you up, it doesn't matter. Except you'll need to wriggle an arm out to drink that milk before it gets cold."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, but I'm pretty sure you would have worked that out for yourself eventually."

"I didn't mean that. Thank you for taking care of me. I'm sure you had way more interesting things planned for your New Year than watching me puke in a tub."

"Well, I do like a little action in the bathroom and I definitely prefer it when the other party is conscious. But you're welcome…I'm glad you're OK." The brunette kissed her on the side of the head softly before lying back on the pillow.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you get under the covers with me?" Piper asked. Alex didn't answer straight away and Piper turned to look at her. "I can't deal with your death grip over this duvet…."

"Oh….OK. Um…mind if I take my pants off first?"

"No…You want to change into a tee? There's one on the chair over there." Alex let go of her and rolled over to climb off the bed before unbuttoning her pants and shimmying out of them with her back to Piper. She folded them roughly and put them on the chair before unbuttoning her silk shirt, looking sideways at Piper, who was looking straight back at her. Their eyes locked for what felt like a long time as Alex moved down to the lower buttons, both suddenly conscious of the electricity in the room and the silence that did nothing to disperse it. Alex slid the shirt off her shoulders, leaving her in a matching black bra and pantie set. Piper swallowed hard and closed her eyes for a second. She was exhausted and weak from puking earlier, but Alex Vause in her underwear was something she needed to take a moment to memorise and savour. Alex noticed the shift in Piper's eyes and unfastened her bra, never taking her eyes off the blonde as she let it slide down her arms. Piper clenched her hands into the duvet as she felt oh-so familiar butterflies in her stomach now. Alex broke the stare as she turned to put the tee on and slowly walked back to the bed, lifting the covers to climb underneath and move towards the blonde again.

"So, you want to come be my little spoon?"