Chapter 29:

"Merry Fucking Christmas… Eve"

Piper was comfortably nestled in Alex's arms when the sunlight beamed through her curtains and awoke her. Alex was so soft and warm and Piper never wanted to leave her side or this bed ever again. Alex was that person that made her feel safe when life stopped making sense, when everything turned to shit or hurt. She could shut the world down completely and just be with Alex because they were like two soul merged into one. She had never felt this way with Larry, and that even though he was the one supposed to be the safest. It was amazing after all this time that she had found her and fell in love with her all over again.

The dark-haired woman's eyes fluttered opened slowly, and her face lit up when she saw the blonde grinning at her. "What a lovely way to wake up, although maybe a bit creepy. You're staring." Alex said in her husky morning voice. She was wearing a pair of black cotton panties and a sweatshirt and she looked so damn sexy.

Piper moved on top of her fiancée. "Merry Christmas! Well, Merry Christmas Eve but whatever, yay!"

"Jesus, I don't think I've seen anyone your age as excited as you," Alex chuckled. "It's cute though."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "Cute?" Alex nodded and smiled. The blonde lowered her sex on Alex's and pressed hard. "How cute is that now?"

Alex bit on her lower lip. "Really fuckin'—oh fuck." She moaned and lifted her hips, seeking for friction. "Hot," she finished. "Yes, that's good, really good," Alex said when Piper's fingers found her clit. "Merry. Fucking. Christmas… Eve," she moaned.

Piper and Alex went grocery shopping in the morning and came back home to prepare the food. They were expecting around six persons and it was the biggest meal Alex had ever prepared. This time Piper gladly helped her, and they both had a lot of fun cooking together. Later in the afternoon Nicky joined them, and the room was filled with even more laughter. The three girls couldn't remember the last time they had so much fun. The reason for that being is that prison wasn't the happiest place to be, and now every bit of their freedom they enjoyed and were thankful for. Then again, if they thought about their life before prison, it hadn't been much blissful either. Alex and Nicky were mixed with drugs, and as thrilling it may have appeared to them at that time, it had quickly fucked up their life pretty bad. As for Piper, yes she had her moments with Larry and her friends, but it all seemed fake compared to the life she was living now. With these girls, Alex especially, it was organic and she didn't need to pretend anything.

At three o'clock the three women welcomed their first guests, Cal and his wife Neri, into their warm and festive apartment. The atmosphere was even lighter with these two in the mix, as they kept entertaining the people around them even if they didn't mean to. Piper was genuinely happy to see her brother again since it didn't happen so often anymore.

This gave Alex an opportunity to drag Piper out of the loud living room, leaving Nicky to share a bunch of wacky stories with the couple. Once upstairs and alone, Piper was confused as to why Alex had brought them here. She wasn't sure she could handle a quickie while her brother was downstairs.

When Alex disappeared into the walk-in and left Piper sitting on the bed, Piper understood that her fiancée had something else in mind, and she felt a bit silly that her mind had went there. "Close your eyes," Alex shouted from the other room. Piper obeyed, a soft smile forming on her lips. She heard the dark haired woman walking back to the bedroom and suddenly a box was placed on her lap. "Okay you can open it now," Alex said with a proud grin on her face.

Piper opened the box and threw the lid on the floor. What she saw inside made her eyes well almost instantly. She ran her fingers over the silky material. Alex had bought her a beautiful white dress, simple yet elegant all while being incredibly sexy. The nicest part was that it fit well with Alex's red sparkly black dress. Piper was so happy, and it wasn't like it was the first gift Alex had ever bought her, no, many times she received shoes and jewelries from her girlfriend after she received her drug money. But this was different. This was Alex earning the money with her hard work and doing something nice for Piper, not because she was afraid of losing or because she had done something wrong, but because Alex truthfully believe that Piper deserved the world.

"Merry Christmas baby." Alex said and then realized Piper was crying. She kneeled in front of the blonde and placed her hands on the side of thighs. "Piper don't cry, what's wrong Don't you like it?"

"No, no that's not it. I love it sweetie it's beautiful and god I don't know why I'm crying, those are happy tears because I am so unbelievably happy and so, so deeply in love with you Alex," Piper saw Alex's features relax and her lips curved upwards. "I just, I can't believe you did all this for me, this dinner, our friends, this dress." She brought Alex closer in a tight embrace. "I love you Alex. I always will."

"Fuck Piper, this is not much. I just want to make you really happy because you really deserve the world. I'm glad you like the dress, you'll look beautiful in it, hell you look beautiful in everything. And I love you too baby." Alex said, emotions building up in her voice as well.

"Unzip me?" Piper asked in the crook of Alex's neck after a few seconds.

"Of course," Alex said pulling away, her voice husky and full of desires. She knew she had to behave herself at least until tomorrow.

The couple went back downstairs and Piper immediately got snarky remarks because she wore a different dress. One from Nicky in particular that didn't go unnoticed by the guests that sounded along the lines of 'You guys were so messy with your quickie that Piper had to change her dress, nice' and it made Piper blush and Alex smirk even though the pair hadn't done anything.

A few minutes later came a knock on the door and Polly, Larry and Finn joined the crowd.

Maybe it was because Alex had just sucked Piper into an infinite bubble of happiness, but the blonde seemed genuinely happy to see her best friend and Larry and interact with them. Weirdness aside, she managed to have an actual civil conversation with Larry and that surprised everyone. Alex watched them from the kitchen and caught herself smiling. Yes smiling at her fiancée talking with her ex fiancée to whom she had almost lost Piper to twice. It was incredible how much had changed, she thought.

After another knock on the door and they welcomed their last guest, or so Piper thought. Katherine Vause walked in with dessert and a big load of sassiness. Alex made the introduction and everybody loved her aunt already, especially Nicky.

"Alex," her aunt called her and followed her into the empty kitchen. "How are you feeling my dear?"

"Good, I'm great. I'm nervous though. I hope everything will go as plan and that this isn't a mistake," Alex confessed easily to her aunt. She was never scared to share her worries with Katherine.

"Alexandra, baby, that woman is head over heels in love with you. She accepted your marriage proposal and proposed back. It's time that you stop being so fucking afraid of living. You made it sweet heart; you didn't fuck up this time. You did good for once so accept it and embrace it." Katherine took the empty glasses of wine from Alex's hand and gave her a wink before leaving to the dinning room.

All the visitors sat down around the meal that Alex, Piper and Nicky had put so much efforts into. It looked so damn delicious and Alex was really proud of herself because she had never made so much food for people before. Alex sat at the end of the table, facing her aunt, and just beside her was a satisfied and smiling Piper. On the sides was sitting Cal and Neri, and Polly, Finn and Larry. The dark haired woman pressed a quick kiss on Piper's forehead and saw her aunt giving her a wink. Cal was the one cut the turkey, and of course he had to do some sort of strange maneuver to achieve that. Who cares though, every got an intact pieces of turkey on their plates and were grateful that they weren't the ones cutting it.

"So Piper how's the weird prison soap deal going on?" Polly asked as she passed the mashed potatoes to the blonde.

"Let's hope she didn't drop it!" Cal joked and his girlfriend was the only one to laugh.

"Well my dear Polly," Piper started dryly. The word 'weird' had offended her a bit. "I am happy to announce, to everyone of you, that I have a contract with the Women's Prison Association, and that we are currently working into bringing my product to life and selling them in prison commissaries across America," Piper announced proudly. Nobody knew that yet except Alex. They all congratulated her, except Polly who seemed rather pissed. Piper raised an eyebrow at her. "Thank you guys. So Polly any huge announcement you want to share with us as well?"

Polly's jaw dropped. "Bitch how the fuck do you know?" She turned to Larry. "Did you tell her?" Her boyfriend shook his head 'no'.

"Please, I've known you since college. You've had that I'm hiding something from my best friend face because I think she's gonna be mad face." Piper chuckled.

Polly's face was red. "Are you gonna be mad?"

Alex frowned and put her glasses on top of her heads. "Mad about what exactly?"

Cal raised his hand. "Who knows what that nobody knows except Piper?"

"We got engaged okay!" Polly admitted suddenly. The whole room was silent for a few seconds.

"Was that's so hard to admit?" Piper asked calmly.

"Yes it is Piper, it always is with you!" Larry jumped in and everyone's gaze was suddenly on him. "You hard so goddamn hard to talk. You take everything the wrong wait and you can't never be happy for anyone else because you are so fucking selfish!"

"Language!" Cal shouted, a mouthful of mashed potatoes in his mouth.

"Hey watch it!" Alex cringed, pointing her finger at Larry. "Don't fucking talk to my fiancée like that."

"See that's exactly what I'm talking about! She gets to call you her fiancée while I'm sitting here not even able to be properly happy the fact that I've finally moved on from the toxic hold that you had on me!" Larry exclaimed, but Piper stayed calm and let him have his show. She didn't want to participate into ruining this dinner. "You two have the right to shove it in front of everyone's face, how is that fair huh? Is it because I'm not a woman and that my nipples doesn't smell like marzipan that I fucking lose all my right to be happy?"

Piper gasped. "You told him that! Oh c'mon Polly he didn't need to know that…" She buried her face in her hands in embarrassment.

"Wait whose fucking nipples smell like marzipan?" Alex asked... and then realization hit her and she started laughing hysterically. "Really Piper? Oh my god." Piper shared a look with Alex and the older woman didn't seem to be mad at all, in fact she laughed like it was the funniest thing she had ever heard. She was definitely not gonna let go of this one ever, and she promised herself to tease the blonde about that about that.

"Holy shit, if dinner parties were so entertaining at my parent's I would have probably never gotten into drugs!" Nicky joked and took a big sip of wine.

The room was quiet for a moment, and then Piper spoke, "I'm actually happy for you, both of you. Yes I might a selfish asshole sometimes but I'm happy you found each other and can make each other happier than Pete and I could. Congratulation." Piper raised her glass in a toast. "To new beginnings."

"Thank you Piper, it means a lot." Larry said with a smile. Polly took his hand a nodded at Piper.

All their glasses knocked on each other and Alex squeezed Piper's hand. She was proud of how her girlfriend had handled the situation.

After dinner, the group moved to the living room where they all sat down with their glasses of wine, impatiently waiting to open the gifts under the tree. Finn was the most excited of course, even though he had no clue of what was going on, but the colorful wrapping had gotten his attention. Polly was really happy about Piper and Alex's gift and thanked them. Too young to understand, Finn tossed the gift away to play with the wrapping paper and ribbon as if it was more interesting than any gift.

Next, Alex gave the Friends DVD to Nicky and this one pulled her into a hug before giving Alex and her fiancée a gift that she said they shouldn't open in public. It made the couple laugh and they thanked her even though they had no idea what the shorter women had gave them. Okay, maybe they had an idea, but they rather not think about it for now with all these people.

It was finally turn for Alex and Piper to exchange their long-awaited gifts. Piper started, giving a large rectangle box to Alex. The dark-haired woman smirked and furrowed her brows—she didn't expect to receive anything else since she had already gotten that amazing ring. "Oh my god…" She said once she had a part of the wrapping off and saw the Apple logo. "A new laptop? Baby that's amazing!" She leaned in and kissed Piper on the lips.

"Well since you are a professional writer and all, you need a better laptop than that old thing you had," Piper said and grinned at how happy Alex was.

"Thank you Pipes, I really love it. And I love you," she breathed that last part and kissed Piper's knuckles. "Now that you mention the writing thing, that brings me to my first gift." Alex took an enveloped adorned with a ribbon from under the tree. "Here you go."

Piper opened the big enveloped and tossed it away, reveling a heavy manuscript titled "The Adventure of a Drug Smuggling Lesbian Lover." The title immediately made Piper laugh. Under it was written "by Alex Vause". Piper's eyes welled up. She was so proud of fiancée, so in love. She lifted her head and looked at her lover. "It's done?" Alex nodded. "I'm so proud of you Alex. So proud."

"You'll be the first to read it baby. You'll be my editor."

Piper bit her lips and titled her head, gazing lovingly at Alex. She mouthed a 'thank you'.

Just after the doorbell rang. Piper frowned. "Who could possibly be here at this hour on the eve of Christmas?"

Alex stood up. "Perfectly timed. That my dear, is your next Christmas gift." The dark 4haired woman walked and disappeared behind the wall that separated the living room and the entrance. The person that she came back with surprised everyone in the room.

Piper stood up to look at the new guest. She couldn't believe it. "Mom?" she said quietly. "What are you doing here?" Not the slightest bit of anger could be heard in her voice; she knew that if her mother was standing there, in the comfort of the home she blissful shared with her fiancée, it was because she wanted to be and that she had finally come to terms. Piper looked over Alex who gave her a soft nod.

"Piper, dear, can we talk for a moment please?" Carol asked softly. She looked vulnerable and that was something that Piper rarely saw.

Piper followed her mother in the kitchen and the rest of the group got back to their businesses. Carol took a seat at the kitchen counter and Piper sat beside her. The blonde wasn't really sure what to expect… to have her mother in her apartment for the first time, the apartment that Piper shared with her lesbian lover who Carol firmly disapproved of. It was surreal.

Carol took both of Piper's hand in hers, and then she looked at her daughter with her eyes full of guilt. "Piper, my beautiful daughter," she swallowed the emotions in her throat. "I am. So, so proud of you," she stammered, trying hard not to cry. Piper had to frown. Proud? Of her ex-con daughter? "I should have done better. I should have supported you. You made mistakes and instead to be there for you like real mother does, I was selfish." She paused to wipe away the tears falling down her face. "I'm a terrible mother," she admitted after a few seconds.

"Mom… you are not terrible," Piper quickly reassured her. She knew that her mother wasn't exactly mother of the year, but still, it was her mom. The person that had raised her and provided her stability and education. After meeting a few women in the past two years that hadn't had that chance, Piper felt incredibly grateful for it. Maybe being raised around lies and selfishness wasn't the best, but it could have been a lot worse.

"I should have taught you to be less preoccupied about what others think, to communicate better and speak when something is wrong. Your father and I never knew how… I am so sorry Piper. I thank god everyday that you didn't turn out a bitter alcoholic like me. You are so loving and caring Piper. You get that from your grandmother. She would be so proud of you right now. Just like I am."

It was Piper's turn to cry. She had waited all those years to hear her mother say that. To be enough for once. "Thank you mom."

Carol's thumb brushed on Piper's engagement ring. "Does this woman makes you happy, Piper?"

Piper didn't need to think twice to answer that question. "More than anyone could ever do, mom. I love her with all that I am, all that I have. There's no one else I rather spend my life with. She's everything and I love her."

Carol nodded and smiled softly. "Good. That's all I need to hear. I give you my blessing. Even though I know you don't need it or want it."

"It means a lot, Mom. Thank you."

"I love you Piper."

Piper let out a sigh of relief that she had been holding for too many years and pulled her into a hug. "I love you too Mom."

Shortly after Alex walked in the kitchen. Both women pulled away. "Hey sorry to interrupt Finn spilled some of his milk on the carpet I was just getting a towel," she explained and grabbed the nearest towel she could find. She was about to go back when Piper's mother stopped her.

"Alex, come here for a second," Carol asked. Alex turned on her heels and walked to her. She grabbed Alex's hand in hers, which totally caught the dark haired woman off guard and made her slightly uncomfortable. "I just want to say that I am truly sorry for everything, and thank you for giving me this incredible opportunity to speak to my daughter again. I wish you both the best."

"Thank you Miss Chapman. I'm glad you decided to come," Alex replied politely.

"Wanna join us for the rest of the evening mom?"

"I'd be honored sweet heart."

"Great. Now that everyone is here, I have another surprise for you Piper," Alex said with a smirk. Carol joined the rest of the guests in the living room, but Alex and Piper stayed there. Once again, Piper didn't have the slightness idea what Alex had planed for her and she felt the butterflies in her stomach flutter again.

Alex wrapped her arms around Piper's waist and licking her lips before starting, "Pipes, I love you. You made me want things that I never imagined I'd ever even consider. A legal career, children, marriage, love. You made me a better person and I'm so thankful that you did. Which is why I can't wait to call you my wife. I was wondering, if you'd be willing to get married right now, in front of our friends and family."

"Are you serious right now?" Piper said completely bewildered.

"Serious enough that I redeemed Nicky as our minister," Alex shrugged with a grin. "You don't have too, honestly. I will still be as unconditionally in love with you as I am now. If you want a big wedding then I will get you a big wed—"

Piper interrupted her with long, passionate kiss that told her to stop talking now because there was nothing that she rather do then be able to call Alex her wife right now on this magic day. She embraced her woman tightly in her arm a few seconds before pulling away and she said, "Let's go get married baby."

Needless to say that their guests were surprised that they were about to attend a marriage on Christmas Eve... and in a living room. Everyone was genuinely happy to see the lovers finally tie the knot though, even Piper's mother and Larry. Sadly, they didn't have all their friends and family there, especially all the wonderful women from Litchfield that were proud to call family, and maybe that was a little bit selfish of them, but they made a promise to themselves to make a huge party to make up for it. After all they had been through that had proven that life is way to short, a bit of selfishness was acceptable. Love was always gonna be an acceptable excuse for selfishness.

Alex and Piper stood at the arc that separated the living room and dinning room, facing each other, witnessed by everyone in the room. Nicky was next to them, proud to be about to marry two of her bestest friends.

"Okay so, since you are pretty much the less conventional couple I know, I figured it would be okay if we could cut some of the bullshit talk and go straight to the vows," Nicky explained. "I'm aware that you haven't wrote any Piper because that was sorta last minute and all for you, but you know just talk from your heart and stuff alright? Alright."

Piper and Alex couldn't help but to chuckle at Nicky's way of doing this. They loved their friend and all of her craziness so much.

"Vause you go first."

"O-okay, emh." Alex cleared her throat. She was suddenly nervous. She took Piper's hands in hers and started, "Piper, when we first met I wasn't the kindest person. I made a lot of bad decisions and mistakes. I didn't know how to love you properly, even though from the moment we met I couldn't imagine not to have you by side. You managed to love me for who I was, not what I did. It didn't matter to you. You just said hey I don't care that you import drug for a living, I like you so just go through life with me. Then I lost you because eventually, I made it be a problem. I want you to know that I don't blame you for that anymore, now that I finally realized that it was my fault all along, and I am sorry for that. We spent a lot of years apart and miraculously we found each other again, and fell in love with each other all over again, except this time, we made things right. We put our love first and cherished it. That was I promise to you today; that our love will always be the most important thing in our life and that I am gonna protect it. I promise to keep trying to be a better person for you. To continue to hold your hand when all your dreams come true and when things are hard, especially when things are hard. I promise to communicate with you when we face difficulty, no matter what those difficulties are. I promise to desire you even when we are old and wrinkly and honey, no, we won't be that old couple that argues all the time and doesn't have sex, I promise. I love you Piper Elizabeth Chapman, a nothing will ever change that."

Piper laughed through her incessant tears. She mouthed a 'thank you' and squeezed her lover's hands.

"Woah." Nicky said, her eyes unexpectedly moist as well. "Okay, eh Piper your turn."

Piper took a deep breath. "Alex, before I met you I didn't know how to appreciate life and have fun. Yep, I was an uptight girl. But then when we met, I wanted all this to go away. I wanted to enjoy life and see the world like you did. I was naïve, but no matter how ignorant I might have been, I knew that I had fallen for you hard and that you had too. I'm complicated and I don't know what I want most of the time, everyone in this room knows that right." The group said 'yes' in unison and laughed. "Took me a long time to make the decision that I wanted to be with you because I was confused, and then I realized that you're the only person that could complete `ll my multitude. You give me everything I wanted, the warm, the hot, the fireworks, the adventure. I feel so lucky, and yeah, maybe you weren't the best version of yourself back then, but I always knew that you had the potential to become a better person, even if you couldn't see it. I'm so glad that you realized that you could do more than just importing. You are the most brilliant person I know I admire you so much, and that's why it's gonna be an honor to be able to call my wife and to be the one at your side when you release your book and all the many more to come. Alex, I promise to be at your side and support you, whatever happens. Whatever life throws at us, we'll go through together. I love you."

"Good stuff Chapman," Nicky said with a thumbs up. "Now the rings please."

"Oh my we don't have rings! Wait do we!?" Piper exclaimed.

But of course, Alex had planned everything.

The dark haired woman turned to her aunt. "The rings please." Her aunt stood up and walked to give the requested items. Alex took it and thanked her, and her aunt resumed to her seat. Alex opened the small leather box, revealing two beautiful bands. "So this is my grandmother's wedding ring, the one that fits with your engagement ring, and the other one is your grandmother's ring that your father kindly accepted to give me. Now I'm not sure if you want the ring that matches yours or your grandmother's one so feel to choose the one you prefer my love," Alex explained with a soft smile.

Piper was amazed that Alex had thought of every single detail. She didn't need to think twice about this, "My grandma was a wonderful, loving badass person. I think it's fair that her rings goes to a person worth of that greatness, so I will give it to you."

Alex's lips curved into a warm smile and she gave her the chosen band.

"You may now pass the rings into your partner's finger," Nicky announced.

Both women were so nervous they struggled to slip the rings.

"C'mon ladies you're supposed to be good with your fingers," Nicky quipped with a laugh and the couple finally managed to exchange the rings. "Good, now Alexandra Vause, do you take Piper Chapman to be your beloved wife?

"I do."

"Piper Chapman, do you take Alexandra Vause to be your wife until the rest of time and all?"

"I do."

Piper and Alex tightened the hold of their hands and gazed lovingly at each other, impatient for the final kiss.

"I know declare you wife and wife! You may know ki—"

Nicky wasn't even done with her sentence that Piper pulled Alex into a kiss, that just like the first one, was so passionate and intense that it could have change the world, and maybe it had…

END.

A/N: Yes folks, you've read correctly. This is this end of this fanfiction. I hadn't plan to end it there, but let me tell you a bit why, and also why it took me so long to update.

I recently moved to Toronto to fulfill my dreams. I was on a roll and decided to do everything I ever wanted to do and cross a butt load of things on my bucket list, hence why I didn't have time to write as much anymore.

While living to the fullest have been, and will still be incredibly time consuming, this will definitely not be the last thing I write because I'm starting film school in less than a month, and writing and making up stories will always be a part of me. I wanted to end this on good terms because first, I think that this wonderful couple deserves it, but also because I won't be able to update regularly, and I can't continue to leave you hanging for long periods of time like that.

For me, a non-English native, it's a lot to have written so many chapters of a story, and I'm grateful for every person that encouraged me to do it, and for all those amazing reviews. Honestly, I never thought I would get so many. So thank you.

I love this story very much and where I left it, so if you are still interested, I'm willing to write an epilogue. So please leave me a review if you'd like me to continue it for one more chapter.

Thank you all for your incredible support. I love you!

Special thanks to Jensen and Marcela. You guys have supported me so much and I'm eternally grateful.

-Shirley