Chapter 10:

"Loved But Secretly Broken"

One Day After

"Vause…Vause wake up."

Alex groaned. She was still lying on the floor of the laundry room unconscious when Nikki and Morello found her.

"Alex, c'mon babe," Nikki repeated.

Alex opened her eyes. "Piper? Piper?" Alex said and realized she was not there. She tried to sit up, but screamed in pain.

"Slowly, slowly," Nikki told her then asked Lorna to help her lift her to the chair.

"AHHHHHHH!" Alex scream when her back touched the chair.

"What the hell happened to you Vause?" Nikki asked and Lorna handed Alex her glasses.

Alex turned and lifted her shirt to reveal a huge bruise on her back that looked like the form of a pipe.

"Holy fuck, who did this to you?"

"Leann did and another meth head fucking bitches. Dammit. I thought I was dead," Alex said, but what she wanted to say instead was that she wished she were dead.

"You have to tell someone, this gotta stop you don't have to go through this," Morello reasoned her.

"I don't care she can fucking kill me if she wants to I don't care," Alex snapped. Nikki and Lorna shared a look.

"Is it about Piper?" Nikki asked and Alex nodded. "Don't get your hopes up, maybe they find a way to get her out of there."

"I can't lose her twice Nikki. I can't. It nearly killed me the first time and I don't want to be without her… I can't" Alex confessed.

"I told you… straight girls will fuck you up sista." Nikki looked over at Lorna and smiled at her. Lorna rolled her eyes. "Come here." Nikki helped Alex up on her feet and hugged her. "You too," Nikki said to Lorna and they all hugged. Alex was grateful to have such wonderful friend. She felt bad for not being there for them more often.

"Thank you… ow ow ow" Alex said and winced in pain when Nikki touched her bruise.

"Oh sorry. You should go to the infirmary." Nikki suggested.

"I will… after I go talk to Caputo" Alex promised and left straight to his office.

It hurt to walk, but she was surprised it wasn't more painful than that. She was almost certain no bones were broken; however, going to the infirmary was still a good idea. Maybe they would give her the good painkillers that she would use to heal another pain.

Alex knocked on Mr. Caputo's office's door, waited for him to answer, and she came in.

"Alex I told you we are doing what we can't but it's—" Caputo started but he stopped talking instantly when Alex lifted her shirt and showed him the bruise on back.

Caputo sighed and told her to sit down. "What happened?" He asked leaning on the desk in front of Alex and crossed his arm.

"You released them," Alex said simply. Caputo didn't need any more information to know what happened. "And this is what happen when you lock up the wrong people."

"I didn't want you to release them but the Warden said it was too expensive and gave the prison a bad reputation. I had no other choice," he defended himself. "I'm sorry this happened to you".

Alex just looked down and nodded. There were so many things she wished to say and be angry about, but at this moment she didn't have the strength to get it all out.

"For the record, I really am trying to fix things with Piper's situation." Caputo told her. Alex could tell he felt remorseful and that he was really trying.

Alex thanked him and then left to the infirmary. The doctor examined her and concluded that they were no internal bleeding or broken bones. To Alex's disappointment he prescribed her Ibuprofen and no sad drug. It sucked, but it was probably better that way.

The days passed and Alex still had no idea how Piper was. She had a bad feeling that Piper was hurt or something and she hoped that she was wrong. If only there had been some way to contact her and know she was okay. At least Nikki and Lorna were there for Alex, but they both know they could only make her feel better to a certain extent. One thing that made her happy though was that those two were back together officially as a couple—they both deserved some happiness and love. As for her back it wasn't hurting as much anymore, but she still had the pipe printed on her skin as reminder. She hadn't seen or heard about Leann and her friend so she figured Caputo and the Warden had finally dealt with it.

Almost every night Alex woke up with a start because she had a nightmare about Piper being hurt. Alex would dream that Piper would get beat up with a pipe like Leann did to her, but the blonde always died in her dream. She would then cry herself back to sleep.

One day Alex was having lunch why Big Boo and Yoga Jones when Nikki and Lorna came and get her out of the cafeteria because they had a surprised for her. Alex was grumpy that day and told them she wasn't in the mood for games, but the couple insisted.

"Look I just want to eat my lunch, get back to work and then not speak to anyone for the rest of the day is that to much to ask?" Alex grumbled.

Nikki and Lorna held her arm on each side and brought her to a dorm. "No you don't," Lorna protested.

"What are we doing here this not even our dorm—" Alex instantly stopped talking and walking when she saw the orange silhouette unpacking a bag at the back of the room. The couple gently pushed her forward. Alex didn't need to see her face to know who it was; blonde hair, a DOC jumpsuit and the beauty mark on her elbow that she would recognize anywhere.

Piper.

Alex darted toward her almost as she was scared the woman in front of her would disappear and she would wake up from a dream. "Piper!" Alex exclaimed and the blonde turned around and ran in her arms.

"Alex baby," Piper breathed in her hair. Alex held her so tightly; still not believing this was real. "I'm here baby, I'm here" Piper said softly as she felt doubt building in Alex.

Alex moved back just slightly in their embrace to look at Piper. She was real indeed. Gorgeous green eyes looked back at her with unyielding affection.

Piper framed Alex's face with her hands, before leaning forward, and captured her lips in a kiss that made their legs go a little wobbly and their hearts race. "Here let's sit baby," Piper said after she broke the kiss. They sat down on the bunk bed next to them and that's when Alex realized that Nikki and Lorna had left to give them some alone time.

"I can't believe it, you're here. I was so worried," Alex said as she held her hands tightly in hers. "How did you get back here? What happened?"

Piper let out a sighed and gave her a soft smile. "Well, it's a long story and you have to thank Mr. Caputo's brilliantness, yes yes I was surprised too, his idea was actually genius." Piper explained to Alex the whole story. She told her a woman named Janet who she'd been assigned the same dorm assaulted her. She left out the part that it was a sexual assault, too scared of Alex reaction to that—Alex had been through enough lately and Piper judged it wasn't important for now.

The reason of this random assault was because Janet suffered of psychosis and she had confused Piper with her wife, who according to the Albion's prison's Warden looked identically like Piper. Janet had killed her wife a few years before and that was why she was serving time in prison. The night of the assault Janet had had an episode and Piper had just been very unlucky and at the wrong place at the wrong time.

As horrible as it had been, Piper tried to see the most of it, because if it weren't for that the Warden of Albion's prison maybe would have never realize that Piper didn't belong there.

The Warden of Albion had looked into transferring her and coincidently Mr. Caputo had called him the day after Alex's assault and offered to trade Leann and her friend. This had made the Warden and the executive of Litchfield happy because that meant no more bad publicity and unnecessary drama for the prison because of Tiffany's friends. Piper hadn't been told that exactly though, she had been told that the transfer would work out perfectly because they were two women at Litchfield that needed to be placed in a higher security facility. Piper had assumed it was because of their attempt to drown Alex. That's what she told Alex and Alex decided not to talk about the second assault to protect Piper's feelings.

Everything had worked out perfectly, although Piper still had four years left on her sentence and that couldn't be changed without a judge. She couldn't be happier to spend them at Litchfield with Alex though.

Once Piper was done explaining everything Alex bursted into tears. The sheer fact that Piper had been assaulted was more painful than her own assault, and little did she know that what Piper had been through much worse than what she had told her.

Piper put a hand on her cheek. "Shh. It's okay. We're okay now baby don't cry."

Alex kissed her firmly through the tears. The passion grew and her tongue demanded entrance. Piper allowed her to explore her mouth as hands started to roam and grope over the clothes. Piper moaned and broke the kiss. "Alex… we shouldn't do this here out in the open someone could walk in at any moment." Piper pointed out. It was not the only reason why she wanted to avoid it, but she really didn't want to get caught and be separated again regardless.

"I know… I just missed you a lot, that's all," Alex admitted. "Can I at least hold you?"

"Of course," Piper said and smiled. They lied down in the bed, faced each other and wrapped their hands around on one another- no talking, just enjoying the other's presence in its most simplest and beautiful form.

There were so many things they needed to worry about, so many issues to fix and problems to come, but when the most important thing in your life had been lost, all that matters is that you got it back.

A/N: Wow it's crazy to think that a few years ago I barely spoke English and now here I am, writing over 20k of words :D. I hope you liked this chapter. As always, I will continue to write this if you want me to, so please review and tell me what you think! Thank you! xoxo