Chapter Four

Nicky shoved a fully clothed Morello into the shower.
"It's freezing!" Morello shrieked, Nicky pinned her in the shower against the wall.
"Yeah it's like a slap in the fucking face, isn't it?!"
Morello struggled against Nicky, "Get off me! What're you doing?!" Morello demanded. Nicky held Morello beneath the icy cold shower against her will.
"So he broke your fucking heart, grow up. You're better than this! You're worth more." Nicky said, furious. Morello stopped struggling, Nicky released her. Morello stared at Nicky, who looked furious.
"You aint a broken down, messed up junkie like me, Morello. You're fucking better than that, and we both know it."
"It's not your place to tell me how to be." Morello said.
"No. But I'll tell you this, you do drugs once more? I will be finished with you. And I'm not talking the week break we take from each other now and then. I mean finished. Pure and simple."
Nicky walked away. Morello felt a pang of shame creep through her. The disappointment in Nicky's face was something she'd never forget. Nicky had her on a pedestal all these weeks, and Morello had taken it for granted. She wrote it off as some high school crush. But it was more than that. Somehow, during their clumsy fumbles, Nicky had actually started to care for Morello. Truly care. That was a hard thing to come by in these parts. Morello hung her head and leant against the cold shower wall. The hard tiles sent a shiver down her spine as they soaked through her shirt. Nicky didn't realise that Morello would never be able to love someone, not the way she had loved him.
"Hey, hey, bride of chucky, wake up..." the annoying voice made Alex's hang over feel all the more worse. Alex groaned and rolled over to greet her visitor. Upon seeing it was Pennastucky and Leanne, Alex sat up. Cautious.
"what the fuck do you want?"
"I wanted to give you something. A peace offering, for while I heal up..."
"What?" Alex asked, confused.
"Well, I'm in no state to fight you and your girlfriend right now. So the Christian thing to do is to offer peace. I'm turning the other cheek for you."
"...Right." Alex said, unconvinced.
"Voila..." Pennastucky announced. Nobody moved. Nothing changed. Pennastucky threw Leanne a look, Leanne hurried out of the room then returned with a new prison mattress under her arm.
"For you. May you sleep well. And may the lord save your soul. What's that stench?"
Alex took the mattress from Leanne, "Rum. You ever tried it? Sweet and smooth. How I like my women." She said, intentionally making Pennastucky uncomfortable.
"Well, inmate, Jesus drank wine. So we can't be all that different."
Alex forced a smile, but made no attempt to hide her bafflement, "okay."
"Peace out." With that, the scrawny little woman stalked out of Alex's room. Alex let an incredulous laugh leave her lips.
That was strange.
Alex cleared her throat and stretched. The hangover wasn't so bad, it was the dullness of reality that bothered her. She wondered if she should sneak another bump. Morello would never know. She'd only take the smallest amount.
Stop it. What the hell is wrong with you? She shook off the thoughts. She knew where thoughts like that led, and it wasn't someplace she planned on revisiting. At least she didn't think it was.
She groaned, she needed some aspirin, but then she had a better idea. Her eyes landed on the rum.
Bennett paced in the yard while Daya leant against the fence. Diaz shook her head at Bennett, "She says it's Mendez's, then what happens?"
"He'll demand a DNA test, proving it isn't his."
"Maybe we should let him think it is his, just until we figure out what to do..."
Bennett and Diaz stared at Daya.
"No, absolutely not!" Bennett exclaimed, "that man isn't going anywhere near my child—"
"You won't be either if this plays out any other way for now!" Diaz ordered, "Daya's right. It's our only option right now."
"Jesus Christ." Bennett muttered, he stared at Daya, furious. But more furious with himself than with her. How could he have been so stupid to let things get to this point? He ran his hands over his face, "ok." He said then exhaled deeply, "Okay. Then that's what we'll do. We can't put off medical checkups much longer."
"That Chapman," Diaz fumed, "Why I oughta..."
"No. You oughta nothing." Bennett said, "do you understand me? The last thing me and Daya need is more chaos on the inside. Just leave it. Piper's problem was with Healy anyway, not me. I just got unlucky because I signed off Vause's stay in SHU."
Healy glanced from Fig to Caputo, "I'm sorry, as far as I can tell..." he said, in a gentle manner, "it's an inmate's word against mine. And I'm telling you I don't know what Chapman's talking about. May I also remind you I have no criminal record? Who's the more reliable source?"
Caputo sighed, "Look, Healy... you have to understand, if Chapman takes this higher...above our heads? You're in deep shit. She hasn't gone on the record officially yet. So you've got time to turn this around."
"That felonious lesbian inmate has caused nothing but trouble since she got here."
"WOAH-WOAH." Fig interjected, "I KNOW you aren't stupid enough to make homophobic remarks right now, when your ass is on the line of fire. Because I'd have no choice but to fire you on the spot if we suspected..." she held his gaze, "that you held such discriminatory views."
"I understand," Healy said. He did his best to swallow his pride.
"Was Pennastucky out there? Yes. Was Chapman out there? Yes. When I was there, nothing untoward was happening."
"But you confirm that Chapman was out there?" Caputo asked.
Fig cut in again, "Answer carefully, Healy. Because if you confirm it, we have no choice but to investigate her version of events, and whoever she names, thoroughly. Including yourself."
Healy sighed, "No. It might have been someone else..."
Fig stared at him, hard.
"Or no one. I saw Pennastucky alone that night. Then I left her to it."
"That's more like it." Fig said with a self satisfied smile. She patted Caputo on the back and exited the office. Caputo let out a sigh of relief, he turned to Healy.
"Jesus Christ, that woman will be the end of us. Healy, stay away from Chapman. For your own sake. Despite your extremely homophobic views, you seem like a nice enough guy. And you do your paperwork. That's an important thing to me. I wanna keep you on the payroll."
Healy nodded, "I got it. Head down. No trouble."
"Exactly." Caputo said, relief washing over him. Healy looked at him, somewhat tired from always getting crushed by his bosses.
"Must be nice to feel relief." Healy said as he walked out of the office. Caputo watched Healy go. He knew Healy was an odd one, but Healy had never done much wrong while on his payroll. He appreciated that.
The alarm buzzed. Alex walked into the visiting hall. She smiled at the gorgeous brunette who was waiting at one of the tables for her.
"Hey trouble." Luka spoke softly, she pecked Alex on the cheek. Alex smiled at her ex.
"What brings you to these parts?" Alex asked.
"You sounded... different on the phone. I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"I'm in prison, Luka. What do you think?"
Luka studied Alex, "you know what I mean." Luka paused, she flared her nostrils. Alex knew she smelt the rum, but didn't say anything.
As the inmates greeted their visitors, for once Piper found herself outside the visiting hall peering in through the mirror at the inmates who the outside world still cared about. There was no sign of Larry, or even Polly, let alone her mother. Her eyes landed on Alex and a woman Piper recognised but couldn't quite place. Piper watched the woman lean across the table and kiss Alex, slowly.
Piper's jaw hung open. She clenched her fists and stared at Alex through the window. Alex glanced in Piper's direction and then pretended not to notice her, adding fuel to Piper's rage. That. Is. It. Piper decided. As the inmates returned to the prison, Piper stepped in Alex's way.
"Real mature, Chapman."
"Chapman? I'm Chapman to you now?" Piper said, pissed. Alex wasn't going to deny it, she enjoyed that she had gotten a rise out of Piper. Alex brushed past her and headed down the corridor.
"Where're you going? Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you!" Piper ordered. Alex scoffed as she kept on walking.
"You're not the boss of me, Pipes. I have work to do." Piper seemed to grow more furious with each exchange.
"Wow, you're fobbing me off to sort laundry?!"
"No shit Sherlock." Alex muttered, dryly.
Piper had barely even realised that they were in the laundry room now, she was too preoccupied with the rage boiling over in her gut.
"Drugs Alex! I mean really?!" Piper ranted.
"Shut the door behind you." Alex said, if she was phased by Piper's fury she certainly didn't show it. Piper shut the door while still ranting, and for the briefest moment Alex hated herself for finding it endearing.
"Haven't drugs messed up both our lives enough?!"
"Clearly not." Alex retorted as she grabbed a bag of clean laundry. Piper snatched the laundry bag from her hand and tossed it aside, stepping closer, making sure Alex couldn't ignore her wrath.
"I can smell the rum on you—and then you're kissing that...that woman?! Why are you trying so hard to hurt me?"
"You've just stood there and made every choice I made this past few days about you. Stop being so self-absorbed."
"Self-absorbed? Alex, I'm the reason you got out of SHU early!"
"You're also the reason I got sent to SHU."
"Sit up there on your high horse, but understand this. I told you I love you."
That was it. Alex only had one button, and Piper had pushed it. Alex stepped closer, furious, locking her eyes on Piper's.
"Yeah, you told me you loved me, then followed it with you fucking hate me. Then you chose Larry. Larry. Not me. So FUCK YOU!" Alex shoved Piper, Piper stumbled backwards.
"You just crossed a line." Piper warned, making her fury no secret.
"I told you I love you. I will never make that mistake again."
"I don't care." Alex lied, just as stubborn as Piper.
"If you didn't care, you wouldn't be trying so hard to get a rise out of me. Fuck you, Alex. No, really... fuck you."
With one final look of utter disgust, Piper walked away.
"We've already played that game, haven't we Pipes?" Alex called after her. It hit Piper right in the pride, Piper spun on her heels and ran toward Alex.
"Oh...shit." Alex managed just as Piper knocked them both to the ground. A pile of clean clothes broke their fall. Piper sat atop Alex and pinned her down.
"What're you gonna do, Piper? Beat me to a pulp, like you did to Pennastucky?"
Piper's rage broke clean into a devastated look. A loud silence clung to the air. Piper's eyes gazed down at Alex. It was as if finding herself on the verge of harming Alex had made her realise some thing. She was heartbroken. She climbed to her feet. Alex's heart began to race. Suddenly she needed Piper to hit her.
"Piper..."
"You've never said it back." Piper spoke, the words gently fell from her lips. As if the revelations were merely breaths.
"Piper..." Alex managed, she felt a knot in her stomach.
Piper backed away from Alex, ashamed and wounded.
"You've had so many chances, but all you managed was an 'I heart you'." She let a sad laugh slip out.
"Piper wait," Alex said softly.
"You wanted to get even right?" Alex shook her head, but Piper continued, "Break my heart...? Well this is it, Alex."
A stillness consumed Piper as she said the last three words, "You did it. It's finally broken."
Piper seemed lost as she pressed her back against the wall and slowly lowered herself to the ground. She buried her face in her hands as sobs wracked her body. Alex felt tears sting her eyes as she forced herself to look at the mess they had both created.
"Piper..." Alex said softly.
"Get out." Piper said, unable to take it.
Alex crouched opposite her, and gently touched her hands. Piper pulled them away, "please, just get out."
"No." Alex declared. She joined Piper shoulder to shoulder on the floor of the laundry room, and put an arm around her. Piper didn't resist as Alex pulled her close. Comfort was comfort. Alex planted a solemn kiss on Piper's head, as Piper sobbed in her arms.