A/N: I realize that I may have ruffled a few feathers with the ending of my last chapter. For that I apologize, and I hope that this chapter will get me back in some of your guys' good books. Enjoy!
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CHAPTER 4: ALEX AND PIPER, SITTING IN A TREE...
Over the next two weeks, Alex and Piper's budding relationship blossomed into a veritable romance, perpetuated by picnics, romantic dinners, and the occasional drunken night out with Nicky, Lorna and Boo. Although, by the time Piper's third week at 91st Military Police Battalion rolled around, the two women still hadn't slept together.
"Hey, what do you think about grabbing a beer after shift?" Alex asked the blonde, who was sitting on the opposite side of the older woman's desk, enthralled with trying to sink as many paper basketballs as possible into the garbage can on the opposite side of the office.
"Sounds great. The whole gang going?" Piper replied as she threw her hands in the air in celebration of finally hitting a shot.
"Uh, no, probably not. Boo is off getting ready to move, she just found out she's been posted to Wainwright, and Nic and Morello are covering for a couple guys on 2 Watch who are at Ranger School." The brunette said, typing away at her last bit of paperwork for the day and flashing a smirk at Piper's celebration, before continuing, "I'm all done here now if you want to go rally the troops so I can dismiss them for the day."
"Sounds good, boss. I'll radio to you when they're all back in the squad room." Piper said, leaning across the desk and placing a chaste kiss on the older woman's cheek before turning on her heel and leaving the office.
"Hey, Corporal Chapman, can I have a word, please?"
Piper turned around to see the familiar face of 1LT Washington, the Watch Commander, peering out from her office door across the hall.
"Yea, absolutely, ma'am." Piper replied, a little confused as to why the officer would want to deal with her, and not Alex, who outranked the young blonde and was normally Washington's point of contact within their patrol.
"You're not in trouble," the smaller woman explained as Piper stepped into her office, closing the door behind her, "actually, it's almost the complete opposite." Noticing the confused look on the blonde's face, she continued, "As you may know, SGT Black has recently been given PCS orders to Fort Wainwright. This is going to leave the Watch down one patrol commander."
As the reason for her impromptu meeting with the Watch Commander slowly became apparent, Piper nodded, before adding, "You'd like me to replace SGT Black as the fourth patrol commander?"
"Well, after reviewing your personnel file, it seems you are the best fit. You've been promotable to E5 since you returned from Iraq in 2015, you are by far the most experienced 2 I/C in the Watch, you've got a Purple Heart from your first overseas tour, you were nominated for a Bronze Star for that incident, although it appears that was downgraded to an Army Commendation Medal with V. Honestly, I don't know why you haven't already been promoted to Sergeant." The smaller woman said, flipping through a thick file folder that Piper assumed was her personnel file as she spoke.
"Well, I did get into a bit of trouble back when…" Piper was unable to finish her sentence, instead being cut off by Washington.
"Water under the bridge, Chapman. I don't give a shit what happened before, all I care is you show up here switched on everyday." She explained.
"I don't know what to say, ma'am, besides thank you very much."
"Don't say anything, just keep this quiet until the end of shift. Have the whole Watch gather in the conference room, I'll announce it and hand out your promotion then."
"Yes ma'am. And once again, thank you very much for this." Piper said, as she turned and left the office, a beaming smile painted on her face.
Twenty minutes later, Piper stood nervously beside Alex in the crowded conference room, the silence of the room permeated only by the occasional whisper.
"I guess the LT is going to introduce Boo's replacement. She usually only brings the whole Watch together for stuff like that." Alex murmured to Nicky, who stood on the other side of the brunette.
"Hm, yea, guess so. Here she comes." The red-haired woman replied, gesturing to the glass door which now swung open, revealing 1LT Poussey Washington's small frame.
"Good evening everyone, thanks for being here, I apologize for keeping you at work longer than your scheduled shift, but I have some exciting news for you all." Washington began, fiddling with a small swatch of fabric in her hands. "As I'm sure you are all aware, we will soon be losing one of our most valuable assets here on 1 Watch, SGT Black has been posted to the lovely state of Alaska. The OC asked me to select a replacement for SGT Black as 2 Patrol Commander. I'm very happy to announce that, on review of some of the senior E4's files, I was able to fill the position from within our own Watch. SGT Black's replacement is someone I feel immensely confident in: their outstanding performance since their arrival here at the 91st, paired with being highly experienced and decorated is sure to make this person an excellent leader and mentor for the young soldiers of 2 Patrol. Without further ado, please join me in congratulating Corporal, or should I say Sergeant Piper Chapman, the newest E5 here on 1 Watch and your new 2 Patrol Commander."
The whole room erupting in applause at the announcement, as Piper made her way to the front of the room. Washington unceremoniously ripped the Corporal rank off of Piper's chest, quickly replacing it with the small piece of fabric she'd been holding, now revealed to be a shiny new Sergeant rank. Alex smiled proudly at the young woman that she'd come to know in greater detail over the last few weeks, knowing that she greatly deserved this new position.
"Thank you, 1LT Washington and everyone else. I'm really happy to have been chosen for this new position, I know the decision must not have been easy on the Watch Commander, seeing as so many of you are so highly experienced. I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone on 2 Watch, and I hope you are all excited to continue to great work SGT Black has had you doing." Piper spoke to the group, unable to conceal a smile as she made eye contact with Alex, who was totally enthralled by the younger woman. As Piper finished speaking, she gave a small wave before returning to her position at the side of the room, smiling at the 4 sergeants who stood there, waiting to shake her hand.
"Congrats, blondie," Nicky said as Piper reached the first of the four women.
"Oh my god, I'm so happy for you, Chapman!" Lorna continued, beaming at Piper.
"I swear to God, if you fuck up my Patrol, I will fly back here and kill you." Boo said seriously as Piper reached her.
"Congratulations, kid, looks like you're buying tonight, huh?" Alex chuckled at the blonde as the meeting ended.
"Yea, I guess so. And thank you." Piper responded, still unable to conceal her huge grin. "I'll follow you over to Red's?"
"Sounds like a plan." Alex replied as the two women made their way towards their vehicles in the parking lot.
…
"So, kid, what's your first move now that you've got all this new found power?" Alex asked as she took a swig of her beer. The two women had been at Red's for about two hours now, and had systematically made their way through a considerable amount of alcohol, with both of them feeling the effects.
"Hmm, I don't know, Sergeant Vause, do you have any suggestions?" Piper responded suggestively, as she fiddled with the pistol that remained strapped to her thigh.
"I mean, I'm sure I could think of something…" Alex slurred back, raising an eyebrow as she leaned in and trapped Piper's lips in a seductive kiss, the blonde's mouth immediately opening up to allow Alex's tongue to probe in. They stayed like that for quite a while before a loud throat clearing caught both of their attention, causing them to turn to face the source of the noise.
"If you two want to tongue fuck each other, be my guest," Red's familiar harsh Russian accent caused both women to snigger, "but not in my bar. Go back to your room, go do it in a car, I really don't care, just not here."
"Geez Red, you're grumpy tonight." Piper giggled as she reached into her wallet and pulled out her credit card. "Here, close my tab and we'll be out of your hair." Piper shivered as she felt Alex's fingers trace light patterns on her back through the fabric of her camouflage uniform.
A couple minutes later, Red emerged from the kitchen with Piper's card and a small white receipt, handing them both to the blonde before gesturing to the door and giving them a quiet, "Have a nice night, ladies."
Alex and Piper could barely keep their hands to themselves as they made the short trip back to building 1-91, sloppily making out for the duration of the elevator trip up to the second floor. Alex fumbled clumsily in her pockets for her room key, before finally finding it, sliding it into the lock and stumbling inside, followed closely by Piper. Alex turned around as the door shut, pinning the blonde against the wooden frame, once again catching the blonde's lips with her own, probing her tongue into the younger woman's mouth.
After a few minutes of this, Alex reached her hands up from Piper's hips, slowly unzipping the blonde's camouflage jacket. This sudden advance cause Piper to break the kiss and slowly open her eyes, immediately capturing the brunette's gaze.
"Are you, uh, are you sure about this, Alex? I know you said you didn't want to rush things and…" Piper began. Alex didn't respond, instead she finished unzipping the younger woman's jacket, sliding it down her arms as she caught resumed the heated kiss.
Content with the brunette's silent response, Piper pushed off the door, leading Alex to the bed as she unbuckled both of their duty belts, allowing them to fall to the floor unceremoniously. The women broke the kiss only long enough to peel off their tan boots before resuming, Piper falling backwards onto the bed, Alex falling on top of her. Piper started working on removing the brunette's camouflage jacket as the taller woman fumbled with the blonde's pants, eventually unbuttoning and unzipping them, pulling them down her legs expertly without breaking the kiss. As Piper pulled Alex's tan t-shirt over her head, the brunette finally broke their kiss, moving her lips across Piper's cheek and down her neck in a series of sloppy kisses. As she grazed her teeth over the light skin of the smaller woman's neck, Piper let out a low moan, causing Alex to slightly increase her pace, sliding her hands up the blonde's t-shirt, swiftly pulling it over her head and starting to work on unclasping the black bra she found underneath. Sliding the bra down the younger woman's arm, she dropped her mouth to one of Piper's breasts, teasingly running her tongue around the sensitive skin she found there before taking the nipple in her mouth, causing Piper to let out another, louder moan and to arch her back, aching for more contact.
Alex took her time on each breast, leaving each nipple standing hard and tall as she finally broke away and made her further down. She traced light patterns down the younger woman's stomach, enjoying the feeling of abdominal muscles twitching under her fingers. When she finally arrived between Piper's legs, she lightly raked her fingernails over the inside of the blonde's thighs, causing the brunette's newest colleague to buck her hips towards Alex, craving for more. When the older woman finally caved in, running her tongue through Piper's silky folds from entrance to clit, the blonde shivered under the brunette's touched, once again moaning and bucking her hips forward to increase the pressure. As Alex reached Piper's throbbing clit, she slowly traced her tongue around it, before sucking it between her lips while simultaneously bringing one hand to the younger woman's entrance, slowly drawing circles.
"Alex…" Piper moaned lustfully, craving more than what the brunette was giving her in that moment.
"Hmm?" Alex replied, humming into Piper's clit, which she still held in her mouth.
"Ah, mmm, uh, fuck!" Piper said, struggling to form words under the brunette's touch. "Fuck, uh, ha, uh fuck…. Fuck me."
"Gladly," Alex responded, breaking her mouth's hold on Piper's clit and plunging one finger inside her, bending it slightly. The sudden intrusion caught Piper off guard, causing her to arch her back and cry out loudly.
Alex slowly found her rhythm, thrusting in and out of Piper, eventually plunging a second finger inside, as the younger woman arched her back, bucked her hips and cried out in pleasure. Knowing that the blonde was close when her inner walls started fluttering around her fingers, the older woman brought her mouth back down to Piper's clit, which was now totally exposed from beneath its hood, throbbing in the cool air, and flicked her tongue over it a few times, lightly. Suddenly, Piper screamed out an unintelligible string of words and her body went rigid around Alex's fingers. Alex continued to thrust slowly while Piper rode the orgasm, eventually pulling out when the blonde's body relaxed, leaving a trail of sloppy kisses up Piper's naked body until she once again reached her lips, pulling her into a heated kiss.
When they finally broke apart and flopped side by side on the bed, the only words Piper could muster between the afterglow and her heavy breathing were, "Holy shit."
After taking a few minutes to recover, Piper quickly picked herself up and tossed herself onto Alex, straddling her stomach and catching her lips in a long kiss. As they broke their contact, Piper slowly moved her lips up to Alex's ear, softly whispering, "Now it's my turn, Al."
…
The next morning, both women were awoken early by a loud pounding at the door of Alex's barracks door.
"What the fuck…" Alex said, rolling over as she pulled on a large hoodie and short athletic shorts, making her way to the door as Piper watched her through half-lidded eyes.
"G'morning, sunshine!"
Nicky's voice was unnecessarily loud as she strode uninvited into the room, giving Piper a small wave as she passed her on her way to plop down at Alex's desk chair.
"Oh, hey Chapman, what's up?" She said, cracking open the plastic lid of her coffee.
"What the actual fuck Nichols? It's like 7 in the morning. We don't work until 6 tonight." Piper responded, ignoring the red-head's question as she pulled the sheets of Alex's bed up to her neck to hide her naked body.
"Ah well, you two seemed not to give a shit if I got any sleep last night, so I figured I'd return the favour." Nicky replied, taking a swig of her coffee before continuing, "Oh fuck yea, Alex, oh yea, oh god, I'm coming, I'm coming!" Her voice was suddenly a breathy high pitched mockery of Piper's, causing the blonde to blush unconcealably.
"Oh, fuck off, Nic." Alex spoke up for the first time since Nicky entered the room. "I can't count on both hands the number of sleepless nights I've had because of you and Morello."
"I'm just yanking your chain, Vause. I'm glad that you're finally getting some, it's been long enough." Nicky snipped back at Alex, not giving the brunette a chance to respond before she continued, "Besides, that's not actually why I'm here. I just got off shift, remember? Me and Lorna are headed out to grab breakfast, and she wanted me to invite you guys. Sort of a celebration of blondie's promotion. Although it seems like you guys already started the celebration…"
"That sounds lovely, Nicky. What time are we leaving?" Piper chirped, desperately trying to move the topic of conversation away from her evening with Alex.
"Uh, how 'bout 9? Give you two crazy kids some time to shower and whatnot." Nicky said, smirking at the blonde.
"Alright, we'll see ya then. Now can you please leave?" Alex shot at Nicky from across the room.
"Ok, ok. Don't be late!" She said, as she stood up from the desk chair, grabbed her coffee, and made her way out of the room.
…
By 9:30, Piper, Alex, Lorna and Nicky had made their way across town and were seated in a corner booth at the local IHOP.
"So, Chapman, do you feel any different? I remember feeling like the most important person in the world the day after I got my stripes." Nicky asked through a mouth full of pancakes.
"I don't know; I guess it hasn't really sunken in yet. And it's not like I was going from specialist to sergeant, I had already been an NCO for a couple years." Piper replied, taking a sip of her coffee.
"Yea, I get that. I think that it really took me until I was downrange the first time as a SGT for it to really sink in. I guess you'll get that come next year, though." Nicky continued, stealing a bite of Lorna's waffle.
"Huh?" Piper asked, a confused look spreading across her face.
"The unit deploys to Afghanistan in 8 months. We'll be in country for 10 months, possibility of an extension to 13." Alex chimed in from beside Piper. "No one told you that?"
"No, I guess they hadn't gotten around to it yet. When do we start pre-deployment training?" Piper queried, confusion still painted across her features.
"December, for a May deployment. Next month, we start getting relief in from around the country to handle policing the post while we're overseas. I can't believe no one told you." Alex answered, her hand now resting chastely on Piper's thigh, her thumb softly drawing circles.
"It's no big deal, I mean I'm sure I would've found out eventually. I do see why the LT was so gung ho about filling Boo's position internally, though. Didn't want to fuck up the Watch's chemistry bringing in new leadership, especially with pre-deployment training starting in two months." Piper's face had partially relaxed, although Alex could still notice a hint of concern in her blue eyes.
"Hey, don't stress. Not like it'll be any different from any other tours: wait in a FOB for six months for shit to happen, shit finally happens and the MPs end up guarding the FOB gates while the infantry are out doing fun stuff." Lorna piped up from the other side of the table.
"Yea, I guess so. Just kind of caught me off guard is all, I haven't been to Afghanistan since I was a private. It'll be interesting to see how things have changed." Piper said.
"Hey, there's the spirit, blondie. Now finish your pancakes, it's already almost 11." Nicky chimed in.
"Oh, Nicky, forever the charmer." Lorna said from her position, opposite Alex and Piper and next to Nichols.
"Oh, you know it babe." Nicky said, leaning in to give Lorna a quick kiss.
…
"I just can't believe no one told me!" Piper shouted to Alex from outside the bathroom door as she pulled on her Army Combat Uniform.
"It's been common knowledge around the unit for months now, everyone probably just assumed someone else had told you. I know I did." Alex replied as she swung open the bathroom door, dressed in a fresh uniform with her duty belt clipped around her waist. "Are you ready to go yet? We have the LT's brief in 15 minutes."
"Fuck! I forgot to stop at Clothing and Sales to get some sergeant ranks. Do you have any extras? All my shirts still have corporal on them." Piper asked, gesturing to her old rank insignia which was still velcroed to her chest.
Smirking, Alex opened the top drawer of her dresser, pulled out a small piece of camouflage fabric and tossed it to the blonde, who smiled as she looked down and saw the familiar site of three sergeant's stripes embroidered on a piece of Universal Camouflage Pattern fabric.
"Thank you, Sergeant Vause." Piper said, closing the small gap between the two women and placing a light kiss on Alex's lips.
"You're welcome, Sergeant Chapman." Alex replied, tucking a strand of hair behind Piper's ear. "Now, we really have to go, we're going to be late." She continued, pulling her lips away from Piper's as she slowly stepped back towards the door.
…
"Well that was a boring shift," Piper said to the four other sergeants of 1 Watch as they stepped outside 91st MP HQ the next morning.
"Welcome to leadership, blondie. It's not all drinking coffee and laughing at the poor fortune of the troops. I mean, it's mostly that but sometimes we do work too." Nicky laughed at the blonde.
"Well, I'm exhausted. I'll see you all tonight?" Piper said to the group, but mainly addressing the question to the tall, green-eyed brunette who walked beside her.
"I'll see ya then, Pipes." Alex replied, smiling as she leaned in a initiated a kiss that quickly became heated with the shorter woman, ignoring Nicky's mocking barf sounds in the background.
The two women smiled as they separated to their own rooms, happier than either of them had been in quite some time.
As Piper settled into her bed that night, she couldn't help but allow her mind to wander to the fact that she, no, they would soon be deploying to Afghanistan. She thought about her previous experience in the shit hole of a country, her 10 month tour filled with firefights, IED strikes and the deaths of many friends.
…
"Contact right! Push left!" The patrol commander's voice reached Piper's ears through the roar of gunfire and explosions, as she noticed an eerily familiar smoke trail in the distance.
"Fuck, RPG!" She screamed to anyone who could hear her, as she popped a few rounds off in the general direction of the attack before hitting the ground stomach-first, covering her ears just as the RPG hit her already damaged vehicle, exploding on impact.
"Man down!" Hearing the dreaded words, Piper turned to see a sight she never, ever wanted to even imagine. About fifty metres from her now destroyed Humvee laid Polly Harper: Piper's best friend since basic training, who had been with her from the very beginning, through all their training and all the shit they'd already seen on this deployment. But now, there she was, laying lifelessly in an open field, her M4 strewn carelessly at her side.
"No, no, no no. Shit." Piper murmured under her breath. The next few moments Piper wouldn't remember herself, instead hearing about the events through the recollections and statements that her friends and colleagues would make. She took a few steps out of the safety and cover of her vehicle, making her way toward her injured friend. She fired a few rounds in the direction of the enemy, before feeling the eery clunk of her rifle's bolt locking in the rearward position without chambering a new round: she was out of ammo. Without stopping her sprint towards Polly, she drew her pistol out of its holster on her hip, continuing to fire downrange as she reached her friend, roughly grabbing the strap on the back of her body armour, dragging her back towards safety. Slowed by the added weight of dragging her friend, and unable to return fire when her pistol also ran out of ammo, Piper suddenly felt a burning pain in her right arm, looking down to see the arm of her shirt slowly turning red as bright red blood spurted out of her arm with the rhythm of her elevated heart rate. Finally reaching her vehicle once again, she released her hold on Polly's body armour, slumping against the door of her truck. As more blood spurted out of her arm, she vaguely registered frustrated radio chatter and the voices of her fellow soldiers crowding around the two injured women, before everything faded into blackness.
…
A/N: Well, this chapter turned out to be considerably longer than I expected. That was the first smut I've ever attempted, I hope I didn't butcher it too badly. I'd like to thank everyone who has been reading and reviewing, particularly those of you who have taken the time to leave a review on each chapter so far. I can't say how much your awesome reception means to me, know that you guys are my motivation to continue writing about these two crazy kids. I know that I haven't responded to any reviews, and I apologize for that, but I have been totally focused on producing chapters as fast as possible. Once again, thanks for reading and being an awesome fandom!
Finally, to those of you who reviewed and commented on how both Piper and Alex are at relatively low paygrades given their TIS, thank you for your input, but I assure you it will all be explained in due time. To the one reviewer who suggested I totally change one character's back story, I'm sorry but no. I have a good idea of where this story is going and the backstory I have established plays into that largely.