A/N: Ta-dah! 200k words ! Thanks for your support on each and every one of them - reviews and follows much appreciated along the way from every one of you. Hope you've all got nice plans for the weekend and can enjoy a little breakfast time / supper time reading with this little ditty. Have a great weekend guys and make sure you do something fun!
Alex was running on high levels of caffeine and adrenaline by mid-morning as the clock ticked down for them to sign up for space. Lorna had emailed her the cost breakdowns to show how much they would take a hit if they had to fly most of the equipment over the Atlantic and Alex knew they wouldn't make anything at all on this first contract if they had to do that. It would prove they could deliver on time and look good for the next orders, but the investment they'd have to make would be coming out of the company instead of the contract payment to get them up and running. If they got the warehouse for the shipping transport arranged this weekend, she could use money from NY Logistics to cover it. If they had to do that and send a lot of the order by air, it would mean altering some of her other investments and she didn't want to have to do that in the current economic climate as she'd lose on some solid interest pay outs.
Lorna had got a lead on a company that was struggling over at Post Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal and called Alex to let her know.
"Jake's just been over there to make a delivery for a guy who works there and they got talking. Jake was saying we're crazy busy preparing for this new order and the guy asked if there were any jobs going. There's talk that the staff have been told about possible redundancies and I was thinking they might be willing to sub-contract if you can use their space Alex. I don't know how big they are in terms of the staff or the warehouse they've got over there, but it's worth a shot right?"
"Lorna, you could be an absolute fucking life saver with this. If they've got staff there already, all we need to do is get the containers loaded in their premises and use their staff to help get this thing on the road. Have you got the CEO contact information or anything? I'll give them a call and see if I can get a meeting right now."
"Let me do some digging and I'll text you the address so you can make your way over there while I find the contact information. "
"Perfect. Thanks Lorna. "
XXXXX
The session with Julie had gone quite differently to how Piper had imagined it to start in her mind. The night before, she had gone from feeling physically sick with dread at the prospect of reliving the nightmare for a third time that week to deciding she was cancelling first thing in the morning. Telling Alex had been one of the hardest things she had ever done and it had been far harder than talking to Sarah or Julie about it, as difficult as that conversation with Sarah had been. Apart from Alex losing it at the time, she also knew that her girlfriend felt guilty for knowing she was the one who ultimately put Piper into a place where the attack happened. There wasn't really anything she could do about that, but Alex was falling over herself to take care of Piper right now and as much as she might find that overbearing at times, she also needed it. It was impossible to imagine facing the counselling and angry feelings she had about the attack on her own.
Polly had given her an opportunity to try and do something in return for Alex by helping with the Rigoveri contract she was preparing for. Even if it meant all she could do was make everyone cups of coffee and do a lunch run to keep the troops fuelled, she could feel useful.
It was 3pm and Polly was in the back office going through invoices to look at the manufacturing costs of the last 3 months versus what stock they had at the moment. Piper walked to the doorway to interrupt her from tapping on the calculator app of her phone.
"Hey, Pol?"
"Yeah." Polly didn't look up.
"Were you serious about me helping Alex out for a few days earlier?"
"Yeah, it's not like I can't manage on my own here." Polly quickly raised her head and shrugged her shoulders.
"Because I've regularly left you on your own over the really busy weeks of Christmas you mean?"
"What? No. I wasn't being sarcastic. I'm just saying, you might as well help her out. She's helped us out enough…." Polly caught herself.
"Me. She's helped me out enough you mean."
Polly waived her hand dismissively. "You, me, us. Whatever. The point is, they need help, we have time. Unless you want to swap and I'll help out and you can stay here?"
"No. I want to help…..So would you mind if I went there now to see if I can help?"
"Go for it. I'll move these files to the front counter and carry on from there. Go on then."
Piper grinned and hugged her friend before putting her jacket on and heading towards the subway for NY Logistics. Walking the couple of blocks towards the offices, Piper saw that Alex's parking spot was empty. Maybe she should have called first to let her know she was coming over. It didn't matter as she could head inside and see who else was around though. She pushed the door open and headed upstairs to the office, where Nicky had a headset on and was talking animatedly to someone on a call.
"I don't give a shit that you promised your Mother a lift to the airport that day. You either want the job or you don't and it's sounding a lot like an 'I don't' to me right now. What's it to be 'cause I've got a queue of people behind you for these overtime hours….."
Piper knocked on the doorframe and waved at Lorna who was also wearing a headset. She took it off as Piper came inside.
"Hey Piper! What are you doing over here?" Lorna stood up to hug the blonde as she walked her over towards Alex's office and away from Nicky's call.
"Well, I wondered if you guys needed an extra pair of hands for anything actually. We're quiet at the store, so Polly said I could come over and see if you can put me to good use."
"Oh, that's so sweet!"
"Yo Blondie, I can think of a few ways to use those hands of yours." Nicky threw her headset on the desk and waggled her eyebrows.
"Oh really?"
"Really….." Nicky comically swayed her hips and sashayed towards Piper. "I hope you've warmed them up already Chapman. I don't like cold hands on my body."
"Oh please! Don't make out like you're even fussy, you'd be happy to have any hands on your body Nicholls." Piper pulled her out of her sashay and hugged her warmly.
"Ooooh Chapman, I didn't know you were so handsy! You seriously have to stop touching my ass like that in front of Lorna though, she'll get embarrassed." Nicky stood back from the hug, grinning.
"I've worked with you long enough to stop blushing now Nick. So, you were probably hoping to see Alex right?"
"Yeah, I'm guessing she's still on the road though. Any idea what time she'll be back?"
"No idea. She's over in Newark at the moment. We're so close to the wire on this thing that we've got almost every person who works here on standby to use their own garage space for the stock from tonight. Alex must be wrecked by now."
"Shit….what can I help with? Do you need me to help you make calls? Move stuff? Drive anywhere?" Piper pushed her sleeves up and waited for instructions.
"Steady on Chapman, that sort of enthusiasm from a new starter makes me look bad. Calm your tits and give Poussey a hand outside clearing out the vans will you?"
"Tits being calmed Nicky. I'm on my way." Piper saluted and turned on her heel to head outside to find Poussey.
XXXXX
After receiving the CEO contact details for the company Lorna was talking about, Alex managed to arrange a meeting with the Contracts Manager initially. She headed to the address Lorna sent her and she pulled up outside a concertinaed metal door that was half opened. Popping her head inside, there was nobody around, so she called out a few times as she walked further inside the building.
The floor space was massive and half-filled with metal containers on one side, stacked on top of each other. She saw a light on down the bottom of the warehouse, so headed towards it. It reminded her of some of the creepy places she'd had to go to do deals for Kubra in years gone by, so she wasn't at all intimidated by the dark space or the group of men she found at the bottom end playing cards around a table.
"Hey, do you know where I can find Bill Turnbull?"
"Who's asking?"
"Alex Vause. I called to arrange a meeting with him today. Is he around?"
"Maybe." The guy shrugged and they went back to their card game.
"OK…maybe you can help me out a bit here. Like point me in the direction of his office or something?"
A guy from the back of the group broke away and nodded for her to follow him.
"Quicker if I show you. Bill doesn't hang our down here much and there's some high stakes in there."
"I see that. You haven't got much work on today I take it?"
"No. Only had one order to sort out and that went this morning. We're hoping to get a new contract today, so we might have some work tomorrow maybe. Sounds like it could be a big one too!" Alex chuckled at how someone could be so happy to have some work to do, before realising that Bill had probably excitedly told them that he might have work because Alex had asked for a meeting. It dawned on her that she could make or break jobs for the guys sitting around that table and she suddenly felt the weight of expectation beyond her own company.
"Well, I hope that works out for you then."
"That's just how it is around here these days." He shrugged and pointed her towards Bill's office door before turning and leaving. "He's in there."
"Cheers dude."
Alex knocked on the door and went inside to see a guy in his 50s with silver hair poring over a pile of paperwork.
"Hey, I'm Alex Vause. I called earlier?"
"Oh yes. Hi. Come on in. Let me clear this off for you and you can take a seat." He picked up a pile of papers off the chair opposite his desk and moved other piles to one side so they could see each other as he sat back down.
"Can I get you a coffee or anything Alex?"
"Oh, no thanks. I've had way too much already today and I need to let the caffeine settle right now." Alex smiled warmly to try and put the obviously nervous man at ease.
"So, um, what kind of stuff were you wanting us to help you move Alex?"
"Er…..well…I have got some options here that I'd like to discuss. But we might need your CEO to get on the line to go through the details. I'm primarily interested in your warehouse space as I have a logistics company in New York but we don't have enough space locally to cope with the space we need for a new contract we just won."
"That's kind of ironic, being that we have so much space because we lost out on a big contract we used to deliver recently."
Alex winced inside as she wondered whether it was the Rigoveri contract they just lost.
"Right. Well, maybe we can help each other out a bit here. I have a contract I need to get shipped ASAP. Like, literally, the trucks are on the road on their way to New York right now waiting for directions for where to put this stuff. I need space and I need manpower to help me get this gig up and running first thing in the morning."
"That's great! We can do that! You want me to work out some prices?"
"Well, yes and no. Look, I know you guys are struggling here and your boys are downstairs playing poker and waiting to see if they're gonna have a job in the morning. I wanted your warehouse and I wanted it like yesterday. But maybe we can do a deal where you work for me on this contract and everyone gets to keep their jobs. Basically, I'm looking for a competitive price where I pay your wages and the running costs for the warehouse while we deliver on this contract. Is that something we can put to your boss right now?"
XXXXX
Piper was In the back of one of the vans, brushing out the dirt when Lorna shouted her name all over the yard.
"Piper! Where are you girl?! Piper!"
"I'm here Lorna, where's the fire?" Piper laughed as she jumped down out of the back.
"She's done it! She's only gone and done it!"
"What? Done what? And who?" Piper was confused as Lorna was jumping up and down hugging her tightly.
"Alex! She's found a warehouse we can start using tomorrow!"
"Oh. Oh! That's great! What does that mean right now though?" Piper was excited, but also didn't know if the sweeping had to continue at this point.
"It means we're not going to need to use my cousin Vinnie's garage!" Lorna was already running off down the yard to pass the good news on, leaving Piper standing with her brush, perplexed. She climbed back into the van and finished the job off before doing another four vans. The physical labour felt good to work her muscles a little bit and her ribs seemed to be OK with this kind of movement at least. It wasn't running, but it was the closest she'd been to any sort of exercise for a while. She locked the last van up and took the keys back to Poussey in the store area.
"You all done there Piper?"
"Yep, all ship shape and ready for action now they are. That's the last one. What else do you need?"
"I think Alex got back a few minutes ago, so maybe you should go and ask the boss lady." Poussey nodded towards the upstairs office door.
"Great! I'll go up then. See you later."
Pushing the door open to the office upstairs, Piper was greeted by the sight of Alex's dark hair and back surrounded with the arms of a woman. When she stopped in her tracks and looked at the face of the owner of those arms, her eyes narrowed as Dannii eyed her straight back as she spoke into Alex's ear, not loudly enough for Piper to hear her. Alex chuckled at whatever she just said and leaned back as Piper cleared her throat.
"Pipes! You made it!" Alex grinned and dropped Dannii like a hot potato as she moved over to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek and hug her.
"I did. Just in the nick of time too." Piper was staring Dannii down over Alex's shoulder now. Dannii rolled her eyes in response.
"Dannii brought us all pizza, didn't you?" Alex tried to bring her into the conversation but Piper looked at the single box on Alex's desk behind her and snorted.
"One pizza isn't going to go much further than your desk I suspect." It was clearly meant for Alex to share with Dannii, who hadn't realised Piper would be here. "But the bottle of wine will go down nicely, thanks Dannii. Alex and I will enjoy this together later tonight. Maybe we can drink it in that nice big bath of yours hey Al?" Piper pecked her on the lips before striding over to pick both the pizza and the wine up and turning back to Alex, knowing Dannii's eyes were burning holes into the back of her head now.
"You've worked so hard today baby. Let me take you home to take care of you now. Looks like we don't even need to waste any time cooking since Dannii has brought this romantic meal for two. You ready babe?"
Alex shook her head. "Yeah, I am ready to go now. Are you OK to close up and start for 6 in the morning Nick?"
"Yep, we're all in at 6. Ready to start herding those trucks into the warehouse deal you aced. You big shot you." Nicky punched her on the arm and went to get her own coat.
Piper led Alex outside towards her car and they got into their seats, closing the doors behind them.
"So, what was all that about?"
"What?"
"You know exactly what."
"I just came around to help you guys is all. Can't a girlfriend be nice once in a while?"
"Sure. She can also be jealous over absolutely nothing too."
"She could. If there were nothing to be jealous of."
"Piper…..she just wanted to say thanks or whatever."
"The thanks I'm fine with. It's the whatever I don't like."
"Ugh. I'm too tired for this. My brain hurts so much." Alex started the car and they drove back to her place with Piper feeding her strips of pizza all the way. She hadn't eaten anything more substantial than a gas station snack all day, so the smell of the pizza was too much to wait.
Alex let them into her apartment and Piper took their bags and coats off her and went about closing the blinds down and putting some low lights on as Alex peeled her boots off. Piper sat down next to her to take her own shoes off.
"Do you mind if I take a shower? I feel like I'm wearing half the crap I brushed out the back of those vans."
"They had you cleaning out the vans? They wouldn't have dared give you that job if I'd have been there. "Alex chuckled a she stood up, holding her hand out for Piper to join her.
"I didn't mind. Honestly. It felt good just to know I was helping." Piper leaned into kiss Alex on the lips.
"OK. Well you go on ahead and get showered then. I'm just going to make a couple of calls to check things are all set with the trucks that are arriving first." Alex kissed the end of her nose and released her to go and get her phone charged.
Piper turned the shower on and undressed as the water warmed up. She could hear Alex talking to someone along the hallway in the kitchen and held her hand under the water to test the temperature. Walking beneath the pounding heat, Piper closed her eyes and let the water wash over her as she stood with her hands on the wall, enjoying the feeling of the jets on her back. Alex had a lovely strong shower and it was massaging Piper's aching muscles as she slowly moved her body under the heat to feel it against every inch of her sore back. She had no idea how long she'd been in there when she suddenly became aware of Alex watching her. She froze, suddenly feeling self- conscious and forced herself to open her eyes and look at Alex.
"I honestly only planned on coming in here to look for a tube of toothpaste, but I have to confess you distracted me." Alex held her hands up and smiled. "I'll beat a hasty retreat now." She turned to leave before Piper called out.
"No. It's OK. You just…caught me by surprise is all." Piper forced her limbs to not move to cover herself and continue showering as though she was relaxed about it. Alex stopped and half turned in the doorway. "Well, it looks like I've put the toothpaste in the utility room anyway, so I'd better try and track it down. Don't want to worry about cavities do we?" She smiled and closed the door behind her.
Alex had been thinking about joining Piper in the shower. Sex wasn't the first thing on her mind, though them showering together inevitably used to end up with delicious, aquatic orgasms. She wanted to feel the closeness of their naked bodies together under the water and get that physical connection with her girlfriend that she was desperately craving. She wanted to be able to run her hands over Piper's wet body and soothe her, to kneel before her and wash away the hurt and the pain of the past from every cell of her skin with her fingertips. She wanted them to not talk, for Piper to just feel the love that Alex had for her through her gentle and familiar caresses. Her body yearned to feel Piper's skin against it, to feel the goose bumps raise on it as Alex ran her thumb over her hips, the slipperiness of her skin as Alex soaped a cloth to cleanse her feet one toe at a time, kissing every part of her better as she moved methodically with the task of worshipping her girlfriend. Alex wanted that so badly as she stood in the dark utility room, feeling tears silently make their way down her cheeks. Every bone in her body wanted to go back into the bathroom and take care of Piper like that, but seeing her girlfriend stiffen in the water and try to force herself to allow Alex to see her naked form had damned near broken her heart.