A/N: I'm trying to pace myself through the episodes, because this season is so good, so far. Sorry this is a little delayed - although, I'm sure you guys have all been watching too, so I have a little bit of leeway there. Thank you again to all the followers, and favorites, and reviews. They really mean a ton, and I'm glad to know that people enjoy this story as much as I do.
Alex found herself standing on the beach, facing the sunset. 'This is beautiful,' she thought to herself.
She felt arms wrap around her waist from behind, with a chin settling on her shoulder. Piper's familiar scent enveloped her senses. Vanilla and verbena, with salt from the ocean settling in her hair.
"I could stay like this forever." Piper finally whispered in Alex's ear. Her sweet breath tickling Alex, causing goosebumps to start to rise on her arms.
"Al, are you cold?" Piper started to rub the brunette's arms to help her warm up.
"No." Alex turned to face Piper. "Not in the slightest."
Alex reached into Piper's hair to pull her girlfriend closer and quickly closed the space, placing her lips over her lover's. A hum of contentment overtook them both, as both started to escalate the kiss. Alex gently guided them both down to the sand to continue covering each other with kisses. 'I could do this forever.' Alex thought to herself as she moved to pepper Piper's neck with her lips.
"How long has she been out?" a man's voice resonated.
Alex gently pried herself away from Piper, causing a groan from the latter at the lack of contact. Alex quickly scanned the beach, not finding anyone in earshot.
"Did you hear that?" Alex asked.
"Hear what baby? The only thing that I hear is the surf. Now, don't stop." Piper pulled Alex's head back to her eager lips.
All thoughts of the voice that Alex had heard were erased rapidly by the feeling of Piper's lips and tongue over hers.
'Fuck it. If somebody's been a perv, let them watch. My girlfriend is hot as fuck. And she's mine.' Alex thought to herself.
Piper rolled over, placing herself on top of Alex, and undid the knot on her sarong. Taking Alex's hand, she took two of Alex's fingers in her mouth, and started to suck on them. Weaving her tongue between her fingers and taking them deep in the back of her throat, Alex felt her pussy clench with want.
"Fuck, Pipes. You're driving me crazy."
"Wake her up."
Alex shot up and grabbed Piper against her. "Did you seriously not just hear that?!" She frantically searched around them.
"Al, seriously. What's wrong? There's literally nobody here. Just us, babe." Piper smirked at Alex. "Is the big, bad Alex Vause afraid of being caught?" Piper pushed Alex's back into the sand. "I thought I told you. Where's the fun in having all these rules?"
"Piper, I swea-"
Piper had silenced Alex with a finger to her lips, and withdrew it to reach around herself and undo her halter top. Piper turned her head to look back to the now fading sunset. Without turning around, she said "You know, it's going to get dark soon."
"Did you want to take this back to the cabana?" Alex asked.
Alex met Piper's blue eyes, that seemed even more so with the pristine water that was just feet away. Alex could still feel her panic about the seemingly disembodied voice. Maybe she was going crazy. Maybe it was too much drinking. 'Please say yes to going back to the room.' Alex pleaded silently.
"Alex. I want you to wake up."
"What? What are you talking about?"
Alex watched as Piper put her face very close to Alex, so she could smell that sweet breath that gives her goosebumps all over.
"Wake. Up. Alex."
"Fuck."
Alex's eyes shot open, and she was momentarily blinded by brightness of the lamp immediately next to her. She tried to bring her hand up to rub her face, trying to shake the feeling of the nightmare away, she couldn't.
She was handcuffed. To a chair.
'FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK. Where am I? Still in the room. I think. The chair is the same. I'm going to die. Iamgoingtodie.''
"Alex. I'm glad you woke up. You've been out quite awhile."
Alex looked up and took in the sight in front of her. Kubra Balik. Easily a handful of inches taller than Alex. Broader, muscular. Kubra probably didn't need bodyguards or hitmen. He looked as if he could easily handle anyone that tried anything against him - if they were stupid enough to.
"Kubra, I -"
"I know what you're going to say. I've spoken with Fahri." Kubra flipped his hand to the right, Fahri was standing immediately next to him. Ayden was next to him playing with a toothpick. Jay's platinum blonde was visible not far off to the left. 'That MOTHERFUCKER! So help me God - if I survive this I will fucking make a bag out of you, you traitorous cocksucker!' Alex blinked a few times again. Everything was blurry - she didn't have her glasses.
Alex cleared her throat. It was dry and scratchy. "I need...can I have my glasses?"
Kubra nodded and glanced at Fahri. He went to the bedside table and retrieved the black frames, and slid them onto Alex's face. Alex quickly locked eyes with Fahri, his brow furrowed a bit, but then returned to the stoic stare and looked away from Alex's fearful eyes.
"Better?" Kubra asked.
"Th-thanks."
"Alex, look at me." Kubra sat in a chair immediate opposite the one Alex was handcuffed to. Next to him was a small table, on it were two guns, one being Alex's that she bought from Paol. 'Fuck. They must have searched the room too. What about the phone? Fuckfuckfuck."
A slam of a fist on the table from Kubra brought Alex out of the series of questioning. "Look. At. Me." Alex slowly brought her eyes up to meet Kubra's. There were tears already threatening to fall, and Alex was doing everything she possibly could to not completely fall into a blithering mess.
"What were you going to do with this?" Kubra pointed to the gun on the table.
"I felt like I needed protection." 'At least I'm not lying about that. Just omitting the fact that it's because I think you're going to kill me. What good is it now?'
"Alex. Tell me what's wrong. I can see you're not yourself." Kubra spoke low, almost as if he was feigning compassion.
"Kubra, I - I can't do this anymore. It's not the same as it was when I was younger. It was money and power, and - women." Piper. "I need something...something more." Alex's voice was barely there.
"More?" Kubra laughed. "What could you possibly want? Money? Women? You were nothing! You had nothing. Now - now you've seen more of the world than most people would ever dream of! What more could you possibly want? You could do this forever. You are the best I have." Kubra threw a quick side-eye at Fahri.
"I - I want to -" Have Piper. Get married. Have babies. Jesus fucking Christ. That's what I want. I want to settle. I want to nest. If it's something to do with Piper. I want it all. Everything I can possibly get. " I want my family."
Kubra exhaled and stood up from his chair. "Family. Your mother? The blonde whore? That's your family? What about this family. The family that supported you all these years? The family you partied with, worked with? Sought out and recruited yourself?"
"Kubra, please." Alex felt the first tear slide down her cheek. Pull it together, Shithead. "I've been doing this for you for years. I've been your highest producer, and no fuck-ups. I've trained the people than can take over and replace me. This is the only thing I'm asking you - just let me walk away. I'm slipping. I'm distracted. I'm going to fuck up at some point - and then what good am I to you?"
"You're right. You are distracted." Kubra gripped the top of the chair. "So why don't I remove the distraction for you? One call, and I'll take care of Blondie. Then it'll be settled."
"NO! No, Kubra, PLEASE!" Alex was frantically trying to bring her hands up to plead her case further, but was only met with the cold metal cutting into her wrists. "Please. Anything. ANYTHING you want me to do. Kill me - KILL ME INSTEAD! She doesn't know anything. She's clean." Alex lost all control over the tears that were cascading down her face. "If you kill her and leave me to live - I will do it myself. I swear."
Kubra released his grip on the chair. "You're right. I'm not a monster, Alex." He seemed to be plotting something. "I can respect that you want your family. It's a woman thing. I can tolerate that. Your need to - to - to be some housewife. To pop out a few kids, and somehow that gives your life purpose. A reason. What a waste of life! I thought you were better than that, Alex."
"But do you know what I really can't tolerate? I cannot tolerate a fuck-up. Somebody that completely disregards my directions, and fucks up simple tasks like using a burner phone." Kubra picked up the gun off the table.
Alex shut her eyes. 'This is it. This is the end. Jesus, I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry I failed you. I'm such a fucking disappointment. And Piper, Christ, please let me be enough for him so that he doesn't come after you. I'm so, so, so sorry I ever let you get involved in this shit. Fuck.'
BANG
A gunshot cut through the silence in the room. Even though it had a silencer - a pin dropping would have had the same effect.
'I don't feel any pain. Am I dead?'
Alex opened her eyes to find Kubra holding a smoking gun, and Fahri lying on the floor. Blood was pooling from underneath the lifeless body. 'What. The. Fuck.' The tears continued down her face. This time part relief, part sadness for her onetime friend. Alex felt herself tense back up when she realized that she wasn't shot, she wasn't dead, but she wasn't out of the woods yet.
"Sorry about that Alex. I said I'm not a monster. But I'm fucking human too. I can't excuse that many mistakes." Kubra put the gun back down on the table. "Look, I'll make you a deal here. You can't just walk away. You know this. Jay and Ayden are going to have to beat you. Halfway to death. And if you survive, you're out. No shadows, no contact, and no testimonies from you in any way. You ever get pulled over for a speeding ticket and my name get dropped in some way, I will find you. I will kill everyone you love, everyone who knows you, everyone who thinks that they might know you. And then I'll kill you. Slowly. You understand?"
Alex nodded her head.
"I need to hear you say you agree."
"Yes." Alex breathed out. "I understand Kubra."
"Good. See? Not a monster." Kubra pulled the chair a bit further back from Alex. "Okay. Aiden" Kubra waved him over, and pointed to Alex. "Alex, I want you to know that I'm rooting for you."
The first punch landed straight into Alex's stomach, knocking the wind out of her. It surely would have put her on the ground, was it not for the already handcuffed-to-the-chair position that she was in.
The next was straight to the side of the face. Alex could taste the blood in her mouth. She tried to not clench her jaw for the next punch to save her losing some teeth, or worse. Blow after blow, Alex could only wail out in pain, in frustration. Her eyes were swelling from the constant crying as well as the assault to her face. Trying to focus on her mom, on Piper, on anything that would let her mind separate from the pain that was wracking her whole body. Her glasses had long been knocked off her face, flying to some part of the room. 'At least I can't see what's coming all that well.'
Ayden kicked a leg of the chair, sending Alex crashing onto her side on the floor, still cuffed to the remnants that were splintering around her. A swift kick from Ayden to her arm and Alex heard the sickening crack of bone. She immediately knew that it had to be broken. Her voice was cracking with all the screaming and crying. Blood was staining her clothing, mostly from her nose, and was now circling her head on the floor.
"Alex? You still with us?" Kubra's voice stopped Ayden briefly. "I'll tell you what, if you give me a feel of those tits, I may have Ayden stop all this."
Powering through the waves of excruciating pain, fighting passing out from it all, Alex breathed as deep as she could with potentially broken ribs and mustered everything within her to sputter out, "Fuck. You."
Kubra laughed. "At least your resolve still remains with us. It's a shame to ruin a beautiful body like yours. Ayden, continue. Jay, soon."
Alex's thoughts were running away with her. "Just fucking kill me already. I can't breathe, I can't move. This is how I die. In a fucking fetal position on the floor. Like some dog. With nobody here to help me."
From her position on the floor and battered eyes, Alex only had slits to see what was happening around the room. She saw a flash of platinum blonde hair grab something off the table and before Alex knew what was happening, the sounds that followed told the whole story.
BANG. BANG.
Jay walked over the body of the former drug kingpin and his hitman, over to Alex.
"Fuck. You. Jay. Just - " Alex wheezed. "End it."
"Who said I was going to kill you, Doll? I think I just saved your ass."
"You. Put me. Here."
"Yeah, I know. I'm really, really, very sorry. This was the opportunity I was waiting for. What do they call it in the military? 'Collateral Damage.'"
Alex just closed her eyes. She wasn't going to beg for her life. She wasn't even sure if it mattered now. 'Am I even going to survive this? What's left of me? What's there left to drag home?'
"Let's get some help for you, Doll."
Jay gingerly uncuffed Alex from what was remaining of the chair, gently rubbed her wrists and helped her sit up on the floor. Alex screamed out when she tried to move the arm that Ayden had viciously kicked. The pain was far too great now. She turned her head and allowed all the contents of her stomach that she had desperately tried to keep down during the beating.
"Yeah, that's definitely broken. Wait, before we move you anywhere." Jay stood and started to flit around the room. Alex heard him shuffling around somewhere behind her. She also overheard him make a phone call, to who she had no idea - 'Somebody else to torture me.' But she could swear she heard him say, "In pretty bad shape, Doc."
Alex didn't try to move, or think. She just tried to focus on the short breaths that she could take. Her mind and body were so absolutely beyond exhausted, she thought about begging Jay to kill her. 'And how are you going to do that, Shithead? You can hardly breathe, much less talk. How do you expect to do anything.
Jay returned shortly. Alex wasn't sure how long he had been gone. Seconds, minutes, there wasn't a sense of time. Jay knelt and approached her with a washcloth. Alex shook her head back and forth trying to avoid him getting too close to her face.
"It's just to clean your face a little bit. Don't worry. If I wanted you dead, Alex - I've had the opportunity now for minutes. Really, believe me. I'm letting you go. Once you're healthy enough, that is." Jay exhaled. "Now let me clean your face, yeah?"
Jay tenderly cleaned as much of the blood as he could off of Alex's face and neck. There was a knock at the door. "I gotta get that. Don't get nervous - it's a doctor. Our doctor." Jay waved his hand to indicate the bodies that were still on the floor of the room, "He's used to messes like this."
The doctor was let in by Jay, and as he approached Alex, he averted his eyes to the dead men in the room. He did a quick check of her injuries and placed Alex's arm in a temporary brace, advised she be brought to his clinic so he could xray her ribs and set the bone properly.
As the doctor stood, Jay handed him some cash and said that they would be by as soon as they could. Jay got back to Alex, and helped her to stand. Standing wasn't difficult for Alex, thankfully, as Ayden had focused on her torso and face, and left her legs alone.
"I took the liberty of packing your bag and whatever else I could find in the room. And your phone. You should leave this though." Jay pointed to the gun on the table.
Alex nodded.
"Okay, cleaning crew is coming in a moment. We're out of here."
Alex sadly looked at the bodies of Fahri and Kubra. 'Did I really just make it out of this. Alive? Barely.' Alex offered up a silent prayer to any God that might be listening. She looked to the door, and looked to Jay and nodded.
He moved to her side and slung her arm around his shoulder, grabbed the bag and turned to Alex, "Let's patch up that pretty face, Doll."
A/N#2: Sorry - had to put our girl through the wringer a bit. But I was never going to off my favorite girl. Who do you think I am, George RR Martin? :)