Author's note: First of all, super duper thanks for the encouraging reviews! It's good to know that the story I'm rather obsessively writing right now is making sense. Ok, so I read this theory somewhere, that maybe the whole face punch scene in the finale was a dream and I loved the theory. For this story though, I'm going with the assumption that it was a real fight and secondly, that Piper made her way out of it somehow. The prison higher ups are so intent on covering their own asses in the show that I figured why not presuppose that they'd just wash their hands of the fight altogether. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it cheers all!

Prison Daze

Not talking to the person you most want to talk to is shitty for all involved. Alex sees Piper wandering the halls like some angry livewire. Her gaze is steady and dark, her hands are still bruised and some of her fingers are wrapped in white tape. Nicky huffs, "She looks like a boxer. Your ex is turning into some UFC dyke." Alex just pretends to laugh.

Ever since Pennsatucky and Piper return, various women accompany Piper on her laundry runs. Poussy and Taystee follow one day, Morello the next, and Diaz (the mother, not the obviously pregnant daughter) the day after that. The women are diplomats—representatives all taking it upon themselves to send a message that Chapman isn't to be touched. They're even. It's done. It's an homage of sorts. Everybody paying their respects to Piper for stepping up. Alex takes their laundry silently. She knows that her name is implicated in this little game, because Pennsatucky and her band of assholes don't say shit to Alex for days on end.

Alex tries not to get caught watching Piper—staring at her like some lovesick puppy. But she glances over her glasses every morning as she and Watson walk in from the track. Piper showers, quiet and quick, avoiding Alex's eyes as she enters and exits the washroom.

Sophia was the first person to take care of Piper when she returned from her post-Pennsatucky punishment so she spends a lot of time in the 'salon'. Alex watches as deep and unlikely friendships form. Piper wandering the grounds with a former firefighter, and a nun—it could be the start of a joke, Nicky is the first to decide.

Nicky, who soothed Alex's broken heart first, sneaks into her bunk to get her off quietly at least a few times a week. Alex lays with one hand behind her head and returns the favor, lazily sliding two fingers between the other woman's legs.

And the time just goes by.

There are other newcomers of course. The revolving doors don't stop for anybody.

One woman, Haskie, is particularly interesting. She's gorgeous. Black hair and light brown skin and a body that is all muscle and soft curves in all the right places. Alex sees Piper looking as well. Especially after this new woman makes some big speech at breakfast about liking men and liking women and not being entirely certain that she's supposed to be held to anybody's bullshit dichotomies on the subject.

Haskie and Piper sneak away to the chapel at least half a dozen times in three days and Alex tries to pretend that it doesn't hurt like fuck. Nicky jokes at first about Haskie's prostition ring and how much experience she must have, but one look at Alex's face halts the teasing.

Things calm down between them though. Haskie takes up with Sophia after Sophia's wife brings divorce papers to visitation, and something big happens there. So Piper goes back to her loner status, this time with an actual smile on her face.

Which is actually nice. It undercuts any lingering jealousy. Alex takes her laundry one day and their eyes meet. Piper doesn't look away. Her shoulders don't slump. They smile tentatively at one another and Alex finds herself defending Haskie an hour later against Pennsatucky's latest cause.

"The whores need to be freed from their own sin!" is the dangerous tail-end of the rant. 'Freedom' means some sick fucking attack, and Alex knows it. She turns on the now pearly-toothed Pennsatucky and surprises them all with a big speech about the kinds of people Jesus actually kept company with. Not that she's any kind of born-again, but for some reason Alex feels passionately about the other woman's need to exclude people from her definitions of godly love.

It shuts the laundry room up and creates a lovely, lingering silence.

That night, when Alex welcomes Nicky to her bed, she just holds her. The wandering hands are pinned down and she nudges the other woman until they lay side by side. It isn't love between them and they both know it. Alex also knows that Morello has begun sending those familiar lovesick looks toward Nicky.

They talk quietly and Nicky says something really weird. She says,

"You can't just like, or love, one person in this life. You have to be open to the possibility that somebody other than Piper Chapman will matter." Nicky turns until their eyes meet and adds with a smirk, "I'm not talking about me here. I know you like me. You and I are going to stay friends after this shit is done." Then she turns back and pats Alex's hand, squeezes her arm quickly, and slides off the bunk.

Alex stays awake for a long time, thinking about those words. She turns restlessly onto her back and wonders how Piper is sleeping. Rumor has it that Piper is working toward a legal degree after worrying incessantly about some of the other inmates' appeals. Alex tries not to be too impressed—or too turned on—at the sight of her ex pouring over books in the library when she makes it there. But fuck if Piper's brilliant little brain doesn't turn Alex on as much as the rest of her.

Piper had asked what they would do when they got out. The pottery studio in Vermont is starting to look pretty fucking nice. Doing drugs on a beach somewhere with strangers in drag…well, that's starting to look less and less appealing. Especially when Alex sees Piper across the room and remembers her reprimand. That drugs were ruining everything good about her life. The drugs sent Piper out the door and into jail, nearly killing her. Nearly killing the one person Alex cares about anymore.

Funnily enough, it's Nicky who drives the point home. The next morning when they sneak into the utility closet after seeing both of their 'other women' half-naked in the showers, Alex presses her lips to the scar that speaks to Nicky's survival.

"Just say no, right?" Nicky grunts as Alex's fingers work inside of her. "I'm a walking…ugh…right there…a walking…"

"A walking public service announcement?" Alex finishes weakly. Their eyes meet and Nicky nods.

"Yeah and fuck your guilt complex. I'm alive. And I'm the one did enough drugs to kill an elephant and half its family."

Alex laughs but the sound is jagged and hollow. When Nicky demands an orgasm she replies and gives as good as she gets in return.

2017

On one cold day in November, Piper finds herself wondering if her absurd ruminations about pottery studios in Vermont weren't all that far off. They're painting a small shop—Piper and Polly's new business venture together—and Piper catches herself staring at Alex as she studies the careful lines of the crown molding. For a second, Piper knows—knows—that they were always meant to be here. Like this.

Their Parole Officers visit, each just taking notes silently before leaving without a word.

Polly and Alex are also silent and wary of one another.

But then the dam breaks, when Alex takes off for an hour to pick up supplies. Polly claps her hands delightedly when Alex returns with a friend and brings in beautiful teak chairs and tables from his storage space. They take some time to unload a truck out front and then Alex and Piper leave Polly to rearrange things and squeal some more.

The shop, rent paid by Piper's mother to start, will specialize in therapeutic oils, soaps, and feature a massage therapist in the back. An actual professional, someone Polly has known for a few years, partners with them. In the day to day operations, Polly will take over and Piper will take care of promotions and travel—including a trip to federal prisons to hand out samples and talk to the women about self-care.

"I'm going to write the bar exam." Piper mutters sleepily, later that night. They had each pushed themselves, not only to get the shop ready, but to fulfill other work requirements. Alex is doing some kind of mysterious community service initiative but she refuses to discuss it.

Piper yawns and swipes at her nose with the back of her hand. They're laying side by side, facing one another, wearing underwear still. It could go either way. Sex or sleep. Piper isn't sure which she wants just yet. They haven't done it yet and it's been months since Alex got out. Her mind wanders to some small edits on her business plan. Alex is thinking about something overly serious though. She can tell. "What is it…"

"Remember that psycho Pennsatucky?" Alex asks.

"Yeah?" Piper lets the wariness seep through in her tone. This can't go anywhere good.

"What did she say to you. to make you snap like that?"

"She threatened me." Piper scowls and tries to tamp down the growing anxiety that this line of questioning inspires. Play it cool. But Alex will not give up.

"You hit her repeatedly. Out of anger. Not just out of self-preservation." Alex's finger tips are gentle against Piper's cheek, trailing down over her neck. It takes awhile for Piper to answer.

So Piper thinks about it. "Dogget said I wasn't worthy of anybody's love. Not God's, not anybody's. Something about the way she said it just…" She blinks back angry tears and swallows hard before continuing. "…just made me feel such despair. And then I was furious."

Alex stares at her, her face giving away dawning realization. She rolls on top of Piper and kisses the tears that roll down her cheeks. Kisses her face again and again and again.

"I'm sorry I implied that Larry was some kind of change in my identity, or that I was negating our life together." Piper sniffles and closes her eyes against the lips that press to her cheeks. Her hands tangle in Alex's dark hair.

Alex mutters, "I'm sorry I didn't take you out for cappuccinos and read the Sunday paper like a normal girlfriend should have," and shifts so that she can wrap her arms more tightly around Piper's body.

"You were paying for my clothes, what else could you do?" Piper stops and meets Alex's eyes for a long moment. "Listen, Alex…" She starts but falters. There has been too much bullshit between them and she wants to say something right. "I just…I just want to tell you…how sorry I am about your mother. And about walking out the way I did."

"Well…" Alex's expression shifts from hurt to actually angry looking but then back to the calm and caring look she's been giving all night. "I suppose we could spend a lot of time apologizing to one another. Let's leave it at three for the night, ok?" She dips her chin down and presses her face against Piper's neck.

Piper has no doubt that they've got a way to go, but that they're at least moving forward. It's good enough. With Alex's weight in her arms and her breath against her neck, it's at least good enough.

2004

There was a night in Seattle when it finally manifested.

It, being Piper's infamous temper and it arose in response to Alex's stupidly demanding career choices.

Years later, Alex would tease Piper about her mandatory anger management classes, but if the woman tried to skip them, Alex would be the first to make her go.

After being left pretty much on her own—during what was supposed to have been a cozy little vacation with her girlfriend—Piper decided to walk along the waterfront. Their hotel room was growing cramped, stuffy, despite the stiff breezes that rattled the pages of her book out on the balcony. She ended up in a pub, where she drank tequila alone. Ignoring the interested looks she received, Piper stumbled toward a cab and got herself back to their hotel room.

When she returned, she saw that Alex was back also. Only it wasn't just Alex, it was Alex and like twenty of her fucking druggie friends.

Piper took a moment, staring blankly from the doorway, clutching her little black purse (she was wearing the white silk Gucci dress that usually got Alex all wound up and dammit if she wasn't still being ignored) so she just stood there, fuming and thinking too hard about whether this shit was really what she wanted from life…

…and then she proceeded to throw everything she could get her hands on.

Apparently that's what she did anyway, since the memory was kinda blocked out after that night. There were two women in particular who earned her frustrations. Ines and Char, two of Alex's regulars, had made no effort to hide their disdain toward Piper's relationship with their 'boss'.

And those two now had the audacity to actually laugh. Which made things worse.

But Alex got to her just as Piper prepared to clock someone for making fun of the 'little wife', grabbed her around the waist, and carried her to the bedroom.

"Cool off, I'll get rid of them, ok?" Alex growled the words. Twenty minutes later the music was turned up and Piper stormed to the bathroom, locking herself in. By the time she woke up again, the party had ended and it was 3am. Alex, finding the bedroom door blockaded, had fallen asleep on the couch. That was where Piper found her girlfriend, splayed out in her dark navy dress, hugging a pillow with a scowl on her face.

Standing in the darkness, Piper took a moment to think about why she'd snapped. It was fear. Totally, totally fear based. She watched the blinking green light on the hotel phone and tried to swallow the feeling.

There was only this moment. And in this moment, Piper needed to fix things with Alex. Her Alex. Not any of those other women's…well, whatever. She'd won. She wasn't just another silly girl. She was in this. In it for the long haul, whatever that might mean.

Alex turned in her sleep, flopped onto her back and stretched one hand over her head. It was easy to negotiate that space between them, because Piper had done so before. Alex teased her for her stupid temper, but always looked a little amused by it. Once, she'd even said, "I know you'd have my back in a really big fight. So. It's all good."

Fuck. Alex just loved her. No matter what.

That thought made Piper's heart hammer in her chest. She noisily removed her clothing and stumbled around doing so, while Alex struggled to wake up. Finally, Piper just straddled her lover's hips and kissed her neck and chin and jaw…

"Baby, take this off," Piper said by way of apology, hiking Alex's skirt gently. "I'm sorry I freaked. I just wanted time with you. Only you."

Alex hummed and smirked, cracking one eye open. "Sorry, I've just been so busy and so stressed…Sorry I didn't call first…" she muttered the words sleepily before leading Piper's hand down and between her thighs. The first touch of her was dry, smooth warmth, but it didn't take long before the gentle touches and deep, wet kisses inspire similar wetness against Piper's fingers.

Piper lay atop her, fully naked, writhing sensuously, while Alex dipped in and out of her pussy from behind. Piper shifted onto her knees and scooted up to Alex's chest so the angle worked better, and slid one long finger into her girlfriend, reaching back to do so.

Which…fuck…felt amazing. Piper knew what people said about her. That she was experimenting. She knew that some of her so-called friends were waiting for her to 'go back to guys'. But she loved Alex and she wanted Alex. And how could she be straight if she liked Alex's pussy so much, really? Sometimes she thought things like this but just wrote about them because it was sort of embarrassing how turned on she could get by eating her girlfriend out. She liked boys and she liked girls and didn't see the issue with it. Because most of all, she loved Alex. And when Alex clenched around her fingers and moaned her name, still fucking her so perfectly, still holding her so close, her lips humming against her nipples, back and forth, sucking and pressing all the right places until she cried out and came harder then she'd ever cum for anyone…

…Piper knew she'd do fucking anything for this woman. She'd even leave if she had to. Sometimes she thought things like that. That she'd do whatever it took to save Alex from herself. That she'd leave if she had to in order to save what was good about their relationship.