A/N: Hey guys! Teeny note from me this week to say thanks for all your support on the last chapter. I got some great reviews and they are much appreciated every time. Chapter 83 coming right up...
They had both slept soundly that night, Piper quite content to be little spoon when they settled down in her bed. Although their positions had shifted during the night, they remained in contact with each other's skin as they took both comfort and reassurance from the closeness they had found.
Alex woke first in the morning, thoughts of paperwork and meetings already permeating her semi-consciousness. It didn't take long for her to open her eyes and smile at the sleeping beauty beside her, blonde hair fanned on the pillow around her as she slept soundly. Not wanting to disturb her, but conscious she had things to do, Alex carefully got out of the bed and pulled on her clothes from last night. She needed to get home to change before a client meeting this morning and prepare some papers in the office before she and Bill met up. When she was dressed and ready to leave, Alex walked around to sit on the bed next to Piper, stroking her fingers against the hair above her ear to softly wake the blonde.
"Pipes…Pipes…I've got to go babe."
Piper stirred and sleepily took Alex's hand from her face to pull it to her lips. "Mmmnnnnnnn. Don't want you to." She hadn't even opened her eyes as she took Alex's arm hostage by pulling her down on top of her. Alex chuckled at cute Piper waking up. Cute Piper had a way of getting what she wanted from Alex and the brunette peppered the sleepy woman's neck and collar bone with kisses before pushing herself up again.
"I'm not going to fall for your charms this morning, Chapman. As tantalisingly charming as they are." Alex smirked as Piper opened her eyes to pout. "We've got things to do and I need to not look like a dirty stop out when I meet clients this morning." She interlaced their fingers and rubbed her thumb over the top. "You've got an apology to prepare for Polly too, don't forget."
Piper brought her other hand up and rubbed her face to wake up some more. "I know. I don't even know where to start with that." Alex squeezed her hand a little to reassure her. "Well, start by not leaving it too long at least. Are you working today?"
"I've got a meeting with Julie this morning, so I usually take the whole day off because I'd meet my Lawyer in the afternoon. I don't need to see him today though, so I could go and see Polly after I'm finished with Julie. If she hasn't already put burly door staff out front to stop me from getting in."
"OK, well happy grovelling. If you're free this afternoon, I thought I'd go and see where things lie with Red. Do you want to come?"
"Oh God….I can only imagine what she thinks of me right now." Piper covered her eyes, recalling her performance yesterday. "It's a nailed on bet that we won't be getting the investment, put it that way. There's probably no point in you even-."
"Pipes…..I said I was going to see where things lie." Alex gently pried her fingers away to hold her hands again. "Anyway, it's up to you. I'll probably be free after 2, so I'll give you a call then and see if you can hear me."
Piper furrowed her brow. "Huh?"
"It's kinda hard to hear people talking when your head is either up your own ass or in the sand." Alex grinned as she dodged Piper's swat.
She leaned down to kiss Piper, who wrapped her arms around her neck tightly and pulled her closer still. "Still don't want you to go." Piper mumbled through their melded lips.
"Only because your grovelling already worked on me. I ought to play harder to get." Pecking her on the lips, Alex stood up and grabbed her phone. "See you later."
XXXXX
Piper was excited about her session with Julie because once again, she felt like she had made some progress. She answered Julie's questions for a while, before she was finally asked whether she was still managing to shower with the door unlocked. Piper's excitement won over her embarrassment in an instant and she told Julie about her shower with Alex last night. Blushing a little as she talked about them both being naked from the waist up for a while, Piper soon got over it when she saw that Julie was smiling at her.
"What made you want to do that?"
"I don't know really. We'd argued over something – all my fault." Piper held her hand up to acknowledge that before continuing. "It turns out, I had been angry about something I should have been thanking her for and she was there for me anyway. Even though I always think the worst of the reasons for her doing something and lash out at her, she keeps coming back. I just…I don't know….I just felt really close to her last night and I wanted to get closer still. It wasn't even sexual…..well it sort of was to start off to be honest. But it wasn't that when we took our shirts off…..I don't know…It was like the sexual tension was replaced with something else….I can't explain it." Piper shook her head, searching for the right words to describe the feeling. "It was like we both felt the shift while we were under that shower. Looking into her eyes I saw it. We were reconnecting…..Properly. I saw a woman whose heart I broke all those years ago, who loved me so much that she moved heaven and earth to look out for me and has been doing it for years, despite my protestations and tantrums at every turn. Your whole sense of self worth gets a massive burst of energy when you see that in someone's eyes."
Julie smiled and made a couple of notes, allowing Piper to let her newly acknowledge feelings sink in a little.
"I want to show her how much I love her Julie. I know she's scared of pushing things too far with me and I am too a little. I really want to be able to relax with her and let her….touch me, you know? I just tense up when I think we're getting towards that base and she senses it immediately. It's like pouring cold water on things repeatedly. Eventually, you start to anticipate the cold water as soon as you're making out and you're already tensing. How do I get past that?"
"Piper, it's not an instruction manual I'm afraid. You made so much progress last night. Just keep doing what you're doing."
"You must have some hints and tips though?"
Julie laughed and set her notepad down. "I don't really. You can try something like setting up a quiet evening for just the two of you to relax together. Get some massage oils and focus on the touching, rather than the sex. You need to get that confidence back with touching and being touched without the fear or expectation that intimate touching like that doesn't have to lead to sex."
"Hmm, massages ALWAYS lead to sex with Alex, so I'm not sure that's a good idea for us."
"Well, set the rules then. You think about what you're comfortable with and how you want to do it and tell her before you start."
"Won't that feel a little robotic? Like, ask her to sign a disclaimer before we start?"
"It might to start with. But once you get started with the massage, you're focused on the feelings without the expectations of it leading to sex. Anyway, like I said. I don't have a magic wand for these things. It's really up to the individuals to work through. It's just my idea. Just try to increase the contact without the sex. Holding hands, arms around each other while you watch a movie, cuddles while you're cooking. That kind of thing."
XXXXX
Piper called at a florist before she ventured to PoPi and walked into the store with the bunch of flowers in front of her. She was really nervous about Polly's reaction and glad that Brooke and Tricia were in the stock room when she reached the counter. Polly's face was unreadable as Piper put the flowers onto the counter.
"Hi….These are part of a massive apology that I owe you. I'm really sorry for what happened yesterday."
Polly folded her arms and watched Piper put them on the counter when she refused to take them.
"Alex told me everything. She found me in a bar last night and made me listen to reason eventually. I know Red only bailed us out because Alex stepped in and you wouldn't take her money."
Polly eyed her as she went through the details of what Alex had told her, only nodding to confirm her understanding.
"….Basically, you were both looking out for the store and for me all this time and I was behaving like a diva by not listening to you. I know that now and I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions."
"Wrong conclusions."
"Wrong conclusions."
"And you're a terrible best friend."
"I know."
"And a terrible girlfriend."
"That too."
"I should also mention that you're a terrible business partner."
"Agreed."
Polly chewed the inside of her cheek, not wanting to forgive her friend so easily for putting her through the last 24 hours.
"I'm going to start seeing Sarah Phillips again. To help with my trust issues and deal with my anger better."
"Glad to hear it. What else are you going to do?"
"Um…I already said sorry to Alex."
"Did she accept?"
"Yeah, if I meet with Sarah and try harder." Piper avoided Polly's eyes as she scratched her nail along the glass counter.
"Are you going to apologise to Mrs Reznikov?"
"Red…Alex calls her Red. It's the hair I think. Um…Alex is going to see her this afternoon. She said I could go with her."
"Good. If she accepts your apology, I will."
"Oh Polly, don't be that way…"
"Don't be what way P? If she doesn't give us the money, we're going under. She was as good as signing the paperwork when you basically accused her of being as trustworthy as the Russian mafia doing their tax returns."
Piper winced at the lasting memory of Red peering at her over her glasses before she stormed out and slammed the door behind her. She sighed at the extra helping of humble pie she would have to eat when she was already nauseous for over-indulging in apologies in the last 12 hours.
"OK, I'll go with Alex….I'd better go and get some more flowers as well…." Piper was on her way to the front door when Polly shouted her back.
"Take some of this with you." Polly walked around to the shelves stacked with herbal lotions and picked up a couple of the pots of the one designed to ease back pain. Shrugging, she said simply "She seems the type to like a practical gift and she was complaining of back ache when we saw her."
"Thanks. This is a great idea. I'll even offer to apply it." Piper tried a small smile.
Polly screwed her face up and shook her head.
"OK, just the products then. Oh, that reminds me…." She walked to pick up a few things for herself off the shelves and waved to Polly to deduct it from her pay. She got an eye roll and a hand shooing her out of the door by way of a reply.
XXXXX
Piper had time to go grocery shopping, make an appointment with Sarah and call her Lawyer for an update on the trial before Alex called to pick her up. Seeing her coming out of the house with the largest bouquet of flowers she had ever seen and a neatly ribboned gift box, Alex opened the car door for her to put them down.
"Should I be worried you are wooing someone else and using me for a ride there?"
Piper grinned and leaned to kiss her on the lips quickly. "No. It's the biggest apology I can carry for Red."
"Would now be a good time to tell you she suffers from life threatening hay fever?"
"No Alex, it would not."
"OK. Well you'll either be killing her with kindness or pollen I guess." She walked around to get back in the driver seat.
"Not funny. I'm shitting myself and trying to remember my speech here."
Alex laughed loudly as she pulled onto the road. "You don't need a speech. The shitting yourself part is probably appropriate though." She side-eyed Piper who punched her on the bicep.
"Stop talking now asshole."
"Are you gonna get angry again?"
"No. I'm on the wagon. I called Sarah earlier. Got an appointment for Monday, so she's tasked with curing me."
"Good." Alex smiled and reached over to hold Piper's hand as she drove to Red's office.
XXXXX
Piper was far more nervous about the apology than she had been about the presentation and Alex decided to leave her in the car as she fixed her hair for the hundredth time in the parking lot. She was sat in the waiting area, flicking through a story about Tom Cruise's relationship with Xenu when Piper came in. Smiling quickly at the girl on Reception who recognised her, she sat next to Alex with the flowers and gift box jiggling on her lap.
Red came out of her office a short while later to greet them. "Good Afternoon ladies. Come on through." She gestured towards the door and asked the Receptionist to bring some drinks before following behind them and sitting down.
"It's not often I get a personal appearance Vause. It's good to see you." Red nodded before turning her attention to Piper.
"Ms Chapman. Are you on your way to a funeral?"
"What? No! No….these are…I brought these for you." She stood up quickly and dropped the gift box on the floor as she thrust the bouquet towards Red. "Shit! Um…to say sorry. For yesterday." Piper scrambled onto her knees to retrieve the box from under Red's desk before standing up again and straightening her hair. Her cheeks were flushed as she handed the box to Red. "This too. I thought you might try them to help with your back aches." Piper smoothed her jeans down before taking a seat next to Alex again.
"I see. Well, it's like Christmas in here all of a sudden. Were you expecting something in return?"
Alex put her hand on Piper's knee to try and calm her a little as Red turned to put the flowers onto the floor behind her and the Receptionist brought their drinks in.
"Oh, no. Of course not. I just wanted to apologise really."
"I see…..Was there anything else?" Red peered over her glasses again, seemingly about to go back to her paperwork.
Piper looked at Alex, praying for some divine intervention and Alex just smiled back at her. Piper's eyes grew wide as she tried to communicate that she wanted the dark haired woman to say something.
"Would you like a moment Ms Chapman?" Red raised her brows.
"Um no…"
"In that case, what can I do for you Vause?" Her attention turned to Alex, who smiled and relaxed back into her chair.
"You left me a message yesterday about extending the rehab programme. What's up?"
"You came all this way to ask me that?"
"Yeah, and to collect a baklava that you promised me last week." Alex grinned.
"I did. I'll have Sergei drop it off later, you're right. So, there's a company that came to see me yesterday who want to sign up to the rehab programme. It seems they have a couple of employees on loan there at the moment and they want to make the arrangement permanent."
Alex shrugged. "OK, cool. You're always looking for new partnerships right?"
"Yes. Only this place is owned by Ms Chapman here." Red nodded towards Piper, who was only just realising that Red had been talking about PoPi.
"OK. So, what do you need from me?"
"You want to have this conversation in private Vause?"
Alex shook her head before putting her arm around Piper and kissing her temple. "Piper Chapman is my girlfriend Red. There's nothing you can't say to me in front of her."
"OK. Well, as the Director of the Rehab Programme in New York I can't invest in a company with my own money where they are also going to use our ex-cons as staff. It would look fishy and the last thing I want is an accusation of doing anything illegal."
"I get that…So what are you proposing?"
"I don't know. You came to me with this investment opportunity. The business plan is bullet proof and I'd sign it off, but they wouldn't be able to employ anyone from our programme." Red's eyes were looking to Alex for help now.
"And you really need the jobs for the programme?" Alex sighed and rubbed her temple.
"You know I do Alex. We're desperate to get more of these women back into work but there aren't enough places willing to take a chance on them."
"But if PoPi takes on staff from the programme, you can't finance the expansion plans." Alex sighed and ran her hand through her hair.
Piper looked between the pair of them like she was watching the Williams sisters in a Grand Slam final. The tension was all in Piper though and she had never felt so much like a green fuzzy ball in all her life.
"Please Mrs Reznikov. We need that investment to keep things going! You've seen the figures. We worked our asses off on that plan and we know we can make it work. We'll do whatever it takes."
"Ms Chapman, I don't doubt your enthusiasm and your presentation yesterday was very well executed, except the grand finale…."
"I'm so sorry about that. Please don't hold that against us. I was wrong, I know that now. And I didn't mean what I said about you being involved in the Russian mafia-."
Alex spat out the water she had just taken a sip of and coughed the bit she had inhaled sharply. Piper slapped her on the back without looking and continued her plea to Red. "Please, just tell me what you need us to do and we'll do it to make this possible."
Red smiled a little. "You're missing the issue here princess. I want to give you the money and I want you to sign up to the rehab programme. But I can't do both." Red shrugged after laying out the facts and sitting back in her chair, she waited for a solution to come from the other side of the desk.
"I don't understand?"
"I can't…But someone else could."
Piper looked from Red, back to Alex, waiting for one of them to solve the riddle that her livelihood was tightrope walking along. All eyes rested on Alex, who looked like she was about to explode. Piper rested her hand on Alex's knee.
"What's wrong?" Piper murmured quietly.
Alex shook her head and sat up straight before speaking. "No. No fucking way. Everything stays exactly as it is. We're not fucking with this."
"Vause, I don't think…"
"No, I don't either. So let's just leave it alright?" Alex stood up to leave and zipped her jacket up as she walked to the door. She was already in the car, starting the engine when Piper caught up with her. She could sense Alex was in a dark mood and resolved to not press the brunette on what was the matter as they moved towards the street. After 5 mins of silence and an overwhelming urge to cut the atmosphere down a notch, Piper moved her hand to rest on Alex's on her thigh. Keeping her blue gaze on the road ahead, she soothed her fingers over Alex's as they weaved through the traffic. They remained quiet until Alex pulled up outside of Piper's apartment.
"Um…thanks for the ride….I, er….I think Red sort of accepted my apology I guess?"
Alex's jaw clenched and she forced a quick smile before looking away again, busying herself by plugging her phone in to charge.
Piper took her seat belt off and reached for her bag. As she was about to open the door, she turned to Alex one last time. "Alex?"
The brunette turned to face her, a million thoughts racing through her head. "Yeah?"
"Um…thanks for the ride, for taking me to meet Red."
"You're welcome."
"I'll call you later then?"
"Well…yeah. I'll be round at Nicky's though. I'll just call you tomorrow OK?" Alex was already signalling to move back into the street before Piper had closed the door, so it was clear that was all the goodbye the blonde would be getting tonight. She walked through her front door and dropped onto the sofa heavily. The last two days had been a real rollercoaster with Alex and she'd felt like something shifted between them last night to bring them closer. Now Alex seemed suddenly distant and agitated as a result of the meeting with Red. She got her phone out to call Polly and tell her how the meeting went as she made some coffee.
"So, is she going to give us the money?"
"I honestly don't know. She said she wanted to, if that helps?"
"Wanting to give us the money and depositing it into our account are oceans apart. It doesn't sound like we're any closer to getting this sorted." Polly sighed.
"I'm sorry Polly, I tried. I apologized, took her flowers, gave her the lotions, the whole nine yards. She said she wanted to give us the investment, but she couldn't do that as well as have us take part in the rehabilitation programme."
"So, you told her we'd just take the money?"
"Well, no. She said she wanted to do both."
"Well, tell her to forget the rehabilitation and we'll take the money if we need to choose."
"It's not that simple."
"Sure it is. She says she can't do both, we'll take the door with a stack of Dollar bills behind it. Problem solved as far as I can see."
"I want to be a part of the rehabilitation programme though Pol. Alex made me see that I've been lucky to get the opportunity to run a business when I was released and I know that most of those women that were serving time with me won't ever get that."
"And what does SuperCunt think of that dream wrecking that opportunity now?"
"What do you mean?"
"If we don't get the investment, we close. Then your opportunity goes as well as mine. Forget all those orange jumpsuits with a sob story. What does Alex think about that?"
"I don't know. She seemed pissed after the meeting."
"I bet she was. Pissed that you're throwing your business away in an attempt to earn a do-gooder badge."
Piper was quiet for a moment as she tried to swallow the rising lump in her throat before Polly sensed her voice change.
"Are you still there?"
"Yeah. I've got to go. I have a gym class. I'll work this weekend in the store. Don't come in tomorrow. Bye."
Piper hung up and switched her phone off as the first tears started to trickle from her eyes. She wiped them away brusquely and hurried to pack her gym gear. She didn't plan to go to the gym tonight, but suddenly, pounding some padded gloves with Jessie seemed like a great way to let off some steam, instead of wailing about it.
XXXXX
Alex wanted to change out of her business clothes before seeing Nicky, so she called her on her way home to say she'd be about an hour.
"Fuck that. I'm not growing old while Snow White curls her hair for a night in. I'll come to you. Pizza or Chinese?"
"Pizza – and I didn't say I'd be curling my fucking hair OK Dopey?"
"Whatever Princess. Your charms won't work on me anyway."
"Because you're a tasteless dwarf?"
"Because you're high maintenance."
Nicky hung up before Alex could retort and the brunette scowled at the line going dead as she parked her car. She was showered and deliberately tied her hair up wet to prove a point when Nicky let herself in.
"You got your key back then?"
"Yeah. I figured blondie would have her own by now." Nicky winked as she plonked the pizza boxes and a pack of beers onto the table.
"We're taking things slowly." Alex took the tops off a couple of bottles and followed Nicky to the sofas.
"I guessed. Is she making you get Daddy's permission before you get to second base?"
Alex chuckled. "If I had to get her Daddy's permission to be in the same city, it would be a cold day in Hell."
"You're her rebellious phase then." Nicky grinned and took a swig of beer.
"Something like that. Her prolonged experimental, rebellious and totally without her parents' permission phase."
"A phase that coincides with your 'fallen head over heels for a straight girl' phase."
Alex cast her a quick glance that said she wasn't going to admit anything. "She's different…I mean…..she's complicated as fuck, don't get me wrong. But she's….I don't know. Like flawed and damaged, but beautiful. I mean, that's what makes her so beautiful to me. She doesn't hide who she is, she is what you see. She's angry, funny, naïve, goofy, unpredictable, caring, careless, clumsy, thoughtful, sexy."
"Sounds like you've got all the dwarves you need right there Snow White."
"Yeah…and I never know which one I'm going out with at any point. Fun, you'd think?"
"Chapman's cool. I like her." Nicky shrugged and shovelled a slice of pizza into her mouth.
"Yeah. I know. I like her too. I just wish I knew how to protect myself when she winds up into a tornado." Alex told Nicky about Red investing in PoPi and the plans they presented for more investment, right up to the meeting she had earlier today.
"Piper's been in prison? Are you fucking kidding me?!" Nicky's eyes were wide with genuine shock.
"Yes. But don't say anything unless she tells you OK? She doesn't like people knowing that."
"Fucking Hell Vause. I might actually have to take you down to get to her now I know that. Fuck, if she'd have been in my prison bunk, this story would be way different now."
"I mean it Nick, don't say anything to her."
"I won't. What the fuck did Daddy's girl do to end up in a sexy orange jumpsuit?"
"She met me." Alex drained her beer and gestured to Nicky that she was getting some more.
"I'm guessing I'm not allowed to ask any more questions."
"You're learning quickly Nicholls."
"So how come Chapman is mad at you? I mean aside from the meeting you and going to prison part?" Nicky took another bottle from Alex as she sat back down.
"She's not. Well, not anymore I don't think. But she wants to take on women from Red's rehabilitation programme and Red can't agree to that as their investor. So, she's going to be mad that she can't have both and I just know Red wants me to take over her investment role. She's forcing me into a corner here and I don't like it one bit." Alex felt the anger rising in her body again, whitening her knuckles around the bottle.
"You can't afford it?"
"It's not the money Nic. It's about Piper not wanting me involved in her business. She fucking hates it if she thinks I'm taking over and I don't want that hanging between us when we're trying to build a relationship together."
"Is that what she said?"
"Not today, but she's said it plenty enough in the past for it to sink in. She'd rather let the business sink than see me take over from Red. So, what do I do? Call things off with her to be a business partner and save her business or let PoPi sink and hope she'll let me comfort her as a girlfriend as the soaps float down the drain?"