Chapter Four

Piper and Alex had always looked at each other a little too long to be just friends. Now that Larry was gone, Piper was acting like an actual human being with all the bullshit feelings behind her. She knew there was always a rebound but she didn't think she was using Alex as her rebound. Piper, after all, had a habit of where she'd go running off to Alex with her cute little sad face. Was it Alex she wanted or the company?

Because Larry was no longer an option. Her mother wouldn't approve, but Piper knew for certain she stopped truly caring for her when Larry left. Everybody left but even now, after all that, it was reassuring for Alex to know Piper took all of the baggage that tied to her. Piper couldn't even tell the difference anymore, because she didn't know if she was using Piper to make herself feel better and get through the breakup with Larry or if the emotional connection was always hovering over her heart, just a little dimmer when Alex was gone.

Maybe if she hadn't thrown that pie for Alex, things would be different. But Alex was like fucking heroin, smuggling her way into Piper's heart, which couldn't help but give pathetic thumps. She needed her more than she realized, to have her smile at her and touch her like old times, despite the scenery being a little different. Alex inhaled Piper like a remedy, the addiction a little too strong and her heart a little too intoxicated. But she wasn't suffocating.

Heroin was the best girlfriend that Alex ever had, after all.

- 0 -

Yes, Lorna left the keys to a prisoner transport van but she was helping Rosa and that's what friends did. She didn't want her to die in here like Tricia, who supposedly hung herself, though it was never confirmed. She just didn't want to find Rosa with eyes wide and blank with the shine taken from her pupils, so she let the mystery van drive away until it was long gone. But whatever, Rosa was free.

And there Lorna was, Nicky holding her close to herself and coddling her up on the edge of the stairs, a warm hand crawling onto her knee. Lorna was straight, but labels were for idiots and she eventually broke it off, whatever she was with her. Nicky wasn't just some evil fuck monster as Piper put it to most criminals in here. She was done doing sexual contests with Boo. She'd always let Lorna settle in her soft spot. She showed her that she cared, because even criminals needed friends, no matter how awful they were at attaining them.

Nicky nudged her shoulder softly. "Hey. What's wrong, kid?"

Lorna's eyes shadowed by her lower lashes, shaking her head a little. "She high-jacked the van," she whispered, eyelids heavy and mascara smudged under her irises. "Rosa. I didn't want her to die in here like Tricia, you know?"

"You're a sweet girl, Morello. Remember that. I told you not to break into that guy's house again. Nothing about letting a prisoner escape." She explained to her, stroking her face momentarily. "Fuck this prison, okay? Fuck the policy. We don't need another Tricia incident. I won't nark on you."

The moment when Tricia died was just as surreal for Nicky as anybody else. It wasn't only the drugs. Mendez played a part of it. Tricia should've cut them off cold turkey, but then she'd have no outlet, no supply that'd fill the aching emptiness. At least Mendez was gone, burning that weight off all of the criminals shoulders.

Lorna's eyes flicked over to Nicky's face, her lower lip wedged between her teeth. She nodded mutely and stopped fretting. Even if she were straight, would it have been weird if Nicky thought she was absolutely adorable? But she couldn't give her thatcomfort anymore and she ended up muttering a quick, "Shit," before lifting her head up, Alex standing in front of them.

Alex had been back in prison for three days. She had left Piper watching her leave and she'd have to be blind not to see how hurt and confused she left her. The escape, though, just left Alex hiding in her house and sleeping with a gun under her pillow. She knew it wouldn't last and she couldn't remember the last time she ever admitted to herself that she fucking needed anybody. She just couldn't hold out any longer and she found more relief in prison than back in the real world. Maybe that's because Piper was with her and she knew for a fact that she wouldn't leave her again.

Somehow Piper was in a meeting with Mr. Healy, which left a bored Alex who got amusement from clawing at others, trying to pretend she was strong when even the wolves had their weaknesses.

"You and Morello gonna fuck, huh?" She jumped her eyebrows suggestively, wiggling them. "You know, with all the guards around I'd take it to the bathroom."

Lorna stared at her. "I'm straight, Vause."

She grinned. "Oh yeah? That's what Piper kept telling herself until she stopped feeding on loneliness and self-pity and came to me instead."

"I'm sorry the cafeteria makes your sexual appetite a little desperate, Vause." Nicky teased, deciding to humor her, her eyes narrowing.

Alex smirked at her. "Piper's part of a balanced diet, what can I say?"

Rolling her eyes, she edged past them, walking over to the cafeteria. The criminals were always fighting fire with fire.

- 0 -

Don't forget, ladies. Your usual meal is over 1500 calories. Beware of overeating.

Alex smiled grimly. "You were stubborn, Piper. I didn't want to break you down yet I got you to that point."

Piper picked at her dinner reluctantly, even though her stomach was growling, sitting at an empty table with Alex to find clarity within her. How could she eat when every feeling in the color wheel reeling in her head? She sighed, feeling this intense curiosity.

Piper's head jerked forward, trying to see what lay under Alex's pretty mask and then she said, "So who's winning here, Alex? Tell me."

She hated how Alex had infected this place, the chamber of her heart, the one place she felt the safest. All she had now was this prison, Alex, and her head. She just wanted her out of her head. She kept telling herself that, really, but she didn't mean it. Alex killed all the terrible things that were locked up inside there.

"The games over, Piper." Alex's eyes leveled on her. "I'm done chasing after you like I'm the goddamn wolf just because I fucking want you, okay?" She shook her head, a wistful smile on her face. "Listen to me. It's not going to end well. We've ruined our lives over each other. But if that's not inevitability, I don't know what is."

Sometimes, Piper didn't know if Alex was the good guy or the bad guy. But there she was, her mask starting to slip. This was like a side of her Piper hadn't seen, something flickering in Alex's face that she couldn't quite recognize because Alex hated the person she was turning into. Sure, she told Piper she liked her because of sexual reasons the first time, but that was her alter ego talking. Fuck you, brain, she thought. Fuck that Larry guy, too. Alex loved her, damn it, even if Piper could be a Park Slope narcissist.

Now it was two sentences and two prisoners once again. Larry had gotten everything wrong about Piper and Piper had gotten everything wrong about herself. But Piper was whirling and confusing and Alex didn't know if she liked her because of the attention she gave her after Larry was gone or if she just liked someone wanting her and treating her as desirable.

Nicky did the same with So-So, who after Alex had met the newbie, wanted wolves to gnaw at her flesh because of her annoyingly but determined hunger-strike. She remembered Piper's first day. Nobody insulted Red, which So-So involuntarily did. But fires clambered away just as much as they burned, though Larry lit the same fire in Piper that Alex did. Alex was just a constant fire burning in Piper's chest.

Piper listened intently, a cautious curiosity in her eyes. She huffed. "Vause. How about we start over?"

Because she couldn't believe the game was over. That she, Alex Vause, was becoming like Piper Chapman. A lamb. Piper remembered Alex's little voice in her head, a voice that was so not like hers, and hearing that she was scared on the other line of the phone call just squatted Piper's heart.

A smile crept on Alex's lips, laughing caustically. She dramatically stood up. "Chapman. This isn't a bad time, is it?"

She grinned wildly at her, slumping down again. Alex recalled back to meeting Piper again with such clarity, except her brown eyes just went wide when she found out she was caged in this place with her. But whatever, Alex got the prize. Which was Piper, by the way.

"Do I look like I'm screaming because of you?" Piper raised her head, biting a grin back. "No. It's not a bad time at all."

And then Alex deadpanned, "I can make you scream, Piper."

"Stop it, Alex." Piper's eyes rolled, lips curving, using her elbow to nudge her. "So now it's like two sentences, two prisoners, huh?"

"That's an even more terrible title." She made a disgusted sound and shook her head, a smile threatening on her. "But it's different the second time around. I have you, Pipes. Like, for real."

Alex smiled, and she smiled back. This was what Piper wanted, Alex to realize how much she loved her, because why would she care enough to break her?

A/N: Reviews can make up for that pie. Although I wouldn't mind a slice, too.