AN: Went to see Hozier in concert the other day, can't quite get the beauty that 'In a Week' out of my head, so here is a one-shot inspired that song.

…

-I'll be home with you-

Piper is thirteen when she first finds the glade.

It was this beautiful quiet place, small streams encompassing the entire perimeter and a barely there waterfall that filled the secluded area with the babbling voice of the water. The grass was lush and it seemed to be eternally covered in dew with wild flowers breaking through the green blanket in poignant bursts of color that attracted bumblebees and monarch butterflies, flitting around as if they had never thought of actually leaving this place.

The glade for Piper was a place of quiet comfort. It was cool water running over her bare feet, the smell of buttercup flowers, it was cicadas playing their thrumming song as the sun began to set and birds welcoming the new day as the first cracks of light breached over the horizon. It was a place where Piper Chapman ceased to be the girl that her parents expected her to be at home, far from the responsibility of school and acting cool in front of her friends. Everything outside of that glade ceased to exist while its warm air brushed lovingly across her face. It was perfect. It was starting to feel like home.

So, she told no one about the glade. Afraid that if anyone were to find out, it would destroy the sanctity that it had provided her, but all summer she would disappear leaving Danny and Cal at home and wander into the woods for a few hours that often would feel like weeks. Weeks away from the screaming at home and she would always come back smiling, this silly grin that comes from the rush of riding a roller coaster or jumping off of diving board. She would spend the rest of her night and much of the next day suspended in this weightlessness before she would wander back only to start all over again.

But as the weather started to grow more frigid and the rain more unforgiving she was forced to abandon the place but secretly she committed the path to memory, knowing that when the opportunity presented itself she would wander back. She had to.

…

As muggy wet spring fades into dry humid summer Piper realizes that finally, finally, she can make it back to the glade. So one day when her parents are out and her brothers were busy getting high, she sets off. Practically sprinting the full distance with excitement and anticipation coursing through her, breathing new life into her lungs and she is laughing out loud with joy.

Until.

Until.

She actually gets there and quickly discovers that her sanctuary is not so secret anymore. Because leaning up against a small boulder is a girl. Her head leaned back raven hair splayed onto the rock, eyes closed basking in the warmth of the sun and Piper can't quite seem to get over her disdain at the sight to see how picturesque it was.

So with all the righteous fury that her young mind could muster she marches over to the girl. The rustle of the grass beneath her feet gives away her presence causing the girls eyes to snap open. Her eyes scan over Piper once, twice before a bemused smirk pulls at the edges of her full lips.

"Hey," the girl's voice comes out in a soft husk. It reminds Piper of the cigarettes that her grandmother used to smoke, the clouds lay thick in the air as the older woman told her story after story of the crazy days of her younger life.

It pulls her up short, the apparent kindness of the strange girl and for a second she considers bolting especially when the girl stands up brushing her jeans off and extends her hand in a greeting. "I'm Alex."

"You can't be here," Piper blurts out.

Alex arches an eyebrow her mouth still set in that ridiculous smirk. "Usually, when someone tells you their name the proper thing to do is to return the favor."

Piper shakes her head like a toddler about to pitch a fit. "You should leave."

Alex stares at her blankly for a long second before her other hand brings a pair of black-rimmed glasses up to her face. "Is this private property?"

"No," Piper seethes through clenched teeth, quickly losing her patience. "But this is my place, and I want you to leave."

Then Alex is laughing, this warm soft sound that caresses Piper's ears. "Tell me your name kid."

And it goes against everything Piper has been told by her parents about talking to strangers, especially in secret places that no one knows about but something about Alex's voice and her smile that shines through her eyes makes her think that maybe it's okay.

"Piper."

That smirk that Piper would come to know so well graces the taller girl's features once more. "Well Piper," her voice drawls the name as if testing how it sounds coming out of her mouth. "Do you mind if I share this place with you?"

And that's how Piper met Alex just a few days before she would turn fourteen. The two of them fall into an easy routine, Alex is always there when Piper finally steps foot in the glade, sometimes resting her eyes other times reading a book the cover and title changing at least once a week if not more. They never really say anything outside of the typical greeting and Piper keeps her distance for the first couple of weeks. She is always skirting around the edge of the glade, dipping her feet in the stream watching the minnows avoid her ankles.

Every once and awhile she will find herself watching Alex, taking in her serene features as she slowly turns the pages of her books or tracing the pale flesh of her neck as she rest her head against the stone a place that Piper has aptly named 'Alex's spot.' Occasionally, Alex will flick her eyes up catching her staring before Piper turns away cheeks burning red. Other times she would notice Alex watching her, throwing a smirk at the blonde for being caught in the act.

June slips into July without warning and she begins to warm up to Alex, smiling when they say hello to each other now. Sometimes she would even wander over to sit down next to the raven-haired girl who would smile at her briefly before turning back to her book. Piper still stays quiet, feeling like if she spoke she would be interrupting Alex, bothering her with the musings of a fourteen year old.

Then one day when July bleeds into August Alex speaks first.

"So why is this 'your place' kid?"

So Piper tells her about her parents arguing and how her house never really feels like a home anymore, how this place feels like the only place where Piper Chapman is just Piper and can simply be alone to think without everyone else's turmoil taking precedence.

"I know it sounds silly," Piper mumbles. "But it feels like home."

"No," Alex counters shaking her head. "It make sense."

"Then why are you laughing at me?" Piper says hating how whiny she sounds.

"Because," she draws out the word mocking Piper's tone. "There is something kind of adorable about how you ramble."

And Piper smiles a genuine infectious grin that makes the whole glade seem just a little bit brighter. Things change after that day, there is still days in which they sit in silence for hours with only the sounds of nature to accompany their mundane tasks, but it's comfortable and everyday Piper inches closer to Alex as they lean against the boulder.

But other days, they sit and talk for hours, about simple things that hold no real meaning or consequence like how old they are and Piper is surprised to find out that Alex is only sixteen since she seems to have the bearings of someone much older. Then of course there are times in which they find themselves spilling out information that is much too personal but the glade gives them the courage to let the words come out without fear of judgement. Piper talks about her father's infidelity, Alex talks about growing up with just her mother and in those quiet moments whispering in hushed voices it all feels so entirely far away.

The summer fades quickly after that and eventually they both realize that this place of tranquility will be lost to them and Piper begins to feel a sense of sadness creeping in on the idea of not only leaving behind the glade but leaving behind Alex as well. She doesn't say that out loud afraid that it would sound too childish.

Every day in September they say goodbye, lingering long on the words until one day Alex pulls her into a tight embrace whisper a hushed 'see you later kid' into her hair and almost like she knows. Because the next day it rains furiously, the sky never relenting in its constant downpour and the world turns cold and marshy in the forest again.

Piper dreads the upcoming months of winter, but then she focuses on the day she can head back to the glade and she thinks of Alex being there. And she thinks she will be okay.

….

It's the same as last year, she is running full force her feet hitting the ground kicking up dirt as she charges towards the glade silently wishing, praying that a certain brunette would be there. As she comes to a stop breathing raggedly, bent over with her palms on her knees she quickly scans the space immediately feeling her heart drop when her spot is empty.

She simply stares, her eyes burning into the boulder as if looking hard enough will cause Alex to materialize.

"What are we looking at?"

Piper literally jumps, whipping around to find the owner of the voice. She see that smirk and those green eyes filled with laughter and she is launching herself into Alex's arms causing them both to stagger before eventually falling backwards into the damp grass. Alex huffs with Piper's weight falling full force on her but eventually they both fall into a round of giggles.

"Good to see you too, Pipes," she husks out voice straining slightly.

Realizing their position Piper rolls off of her, unable to stop smiling and just so damn happy that she was back here with Alex right in front of her after so many months of wondering what the other girl was doing.

And that's how their reunited, Alex is seventeen and its a few days before Piper's fifteenth birthday and the routine picks up as if they never stopped it to begin with. Alex smokes cigarettes now and Piper begins to associate the smell of menthol and smoke with her. On some days she warns Piper she won't be showing up because she has to work, but she promises that will be back as soon as she can.

On the day after Piper's birthday (because she worked the day of) Alex brings an extra book with a string and a bow wrapped around it, it was the first time Alex had seemed shy explaining that it was one of her favorites. Piper insists that they read it together for the rest of the day. She's fascinated with the way the words fall off the older girls tongue as she reads through the familiar lines of the story and she loses count the number of times Alex is nudging her awake.

They do that more often than not throughout the summer, reading the book Alex brings with her together sometimes acting out different voices for the characters causing them to devolve into laughter.

One day as the sun was edging towards the horizon Piper plucks a cigarette from her mouth and falls into a fit of coughing as the smoke invades her lungs. Alex just gives her a strange whimsical sort of look as she watches Piper take hit after hit, eventually lighting another one as the blonde plays keep away with the she apprehended.

That summer was filled with Alex and cigarettes, books and soft conversations. It's the best summer Piper has ever lived so far in her life. When the cold whether starts to come in it bring the familiar sense of dread at knowing it will be almost another full year before she feels this happy again. Just like the year before, it's like the older girl knows when their last day together will be and she holds onto the Piper tight whispering a promise of seeing her next year.

She holds onto that promise, wraps it up tight and tuck it in place right next to heart knowing that it will be the only thing that can help get through the next eight months.

…

This year for Piper is rough, it brings talk of college and standardized tests. It also brings her parents inevitable divorce and for a small terrifying moment Piper feared that she would have to leave the house to live with her father, a place where the glade and Alex were unreachable. It's stressful and while she had quit smoking as soon as the summer was over, she found herself silently wishing for one. Mostly because cigarettes remind her of Alex and the whole year she wishes she could talk to the older girl, wondering how she is doing, silently berating herself for not finding a way to keep in touch.

But maybe she preferred it that way, after all if there was one thing that Piper Chapman was learning was that compartmentalization is a key aspect to survival in her family. There was always the fear, that deep rooted anxiety that if anyone found out about the moments shared in that glade they would somehow find a way to put a stop to it. She can even hear the biting remarks of her mother and can physically feel the threat of imprisonment hanging over her head if she were to ever find out.

And of course there is always the fear that maybe Alex doesn't want her in her everyday life, maybe the older girl also liked the idea of keeping her outside of the real and important aspects of her life.

All of that gets wiped away the moment they see each other again, Alex's hair is different tipped with blue and she has a tattoo on her shoulder blade now. But her smirk is still the same and her voice is still soft and honest as she tells Piper how great it is to see her. When Piper gives a very late birthday gift, a leather cuff with tribal markings branded into it Alex's smile is radiant and immediately clasps it around her right wrist.

That summer is the first time Piper get high, she just turned sixteen and Alex is eighteen and the image of the teenage rebel so when she pulls a joint from the pocket of her faux leather jacket Piper is by no mean surprised.

"You don't have to," Alex insist upon seeing Piper's hesitance, a smirk unfurls on her face. "But I promise it will be fun."

And it is, for the first half hour all Piper can do is laugh at the absurd remarks Alex begins to make. She is laying in the grass feeling the individual blades as they prickle at her skin. She is running her hand over the earth suddenly fascinated by how it feels throwing occasional glances at Alex as she rolls another joint, she's transfixed as she watches Alex's tongue trace the seam of the paper sealing it together.

She gives Piper an awkward uncertain look. "What?"

Piper just shakes her head haphazardly, feeling like she has little control over the movement. "I'm just happy."

Alex smiles softly. "Me too, kid."

The next day Alex slips a piece of paper into her hand, a series of numbers scrawled in a handwriting that blatantly belonged to the older girl.

"That's my phone number," she mumbles. "I'm assuming you know what do with it."

"What are starting to miss me?" Piper teases.

"Yes," Alex says, her face and tone oddly serious. "Too much."

There's something about the way Alex behaves that summer that seems different. It all started when Piper mentioned Bobby Spanner, a senior in her school, had asked her to go on a date with him. At first Alex remained unerringly quiet for the next few minutes, smoking her cigarette and chewing on her bottom lip before changing the subject entirely.

It was a put off to say the least and from then on Piper never mentioned Bobby, a few weeks later she tells Alex that she said no to him. She shrugs indifferently but Piper notices from the corner of her eye that Alex is smiling. She isn't sure what that means. And when Alex hugs her goodbye that night Piper's stomach fills with a strange fluttering sensation. She's also not sure what that means.

…

"Alex."

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?"

"…"

"Stop laughing, you asshole."
"No Piper, I've never had a boyfriend."

"…"

"What is it?"

"Have you…ever had a girlfriend?"

"…"

"…"

"Theoretically, no."

"Theoretically?"

"You heard me."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, I believe that the dictionary defines it-,"

"Haha, Al. Stop laughing you're not funny."

"I'm fucking hilarious, Pipes. You can't deny that."

"…"

"Does it bother you?"

"Does what bother me?"

"The whole…me being gay thing."

"…"

"…"

"Actually, no."

…

Once the glade is unreachable again, the phone calls become her saving grace. More accurately, Alex becomes her saving grace. Because just hearing her voice reminds her of the greatest moments spent there. Alex was spending most of the day high splashing each other with water from the stream or reading books by the boulder. She was hushed talks and profound promises whispered as they watched the sun go down, staring in awe as the stars shone down so bright that the whole world turned to odd hues of blue, black and gray. Alex was every good memory that she can remember in the last two years.

It was a terrifying truth, to depend on someone so much for happiness. But it seemed that Alex felt the same. And besides, it just felt so damn right.

…

"Why aren't you in college?"

"No mullah, no schoolah."

"…"

"And besides I barely graduated high school, not sure I could even get into college with my academic record."

"Don't you want to go?"

"Sometimes you just accept the way things are, Pipes."

…

They're on the phone as the minutes slip into the day Alex turns nineteen, Alex is high and Piper can hear her mother in the background cracking jokes. At one point Diane mentions the term 'girlfriend' in reference to Piper and Alex mumbles an apology on her behalf.

But Piper is smiling as she tells her that it's okay.

…

It just happens one day.

Piper calls Alex to talk and there is no answer.

She shrugs it off, the situation being so rare that it's entirely forgivable. But she calls the next day and the day after that and every time she is met by silence. Just Diane's voice telling her to leave a message and no call in return from Alex. She calls every day for three weeks straight, until one day she is greeted by a recorded message. Not Diane's friendly voice, but an automated dial-tone bearing the news that the line is no longer in service.

She's spiraling from panic, because it's only April and it would be almost two months before the glade is reachable again. Before Alex is reachable again. During those months Piper is a ball of anxiety and guilt, there are several times where she calls hoping desperately that the only direct line to Alex will spark back to life. It's the dial-tone always.

Until one day.

It rings.

And rings.

And rings.

Until the answering machine picks up, telling her she has reached the Hopkins family and she slams phone down on the receiver. She sprints to the bathroom and sticks her head in the toilet just before she loses her dinner.

…

She is at the glade as soon as the sun is rising. A book in one hand and a late birthday gift for Alex in the other and she is sitting in Alex's spot, she waits all day. Every time she turns a page in the novel, her head shoots up looking around for the site of raven hair or evergreen eyes and every time single fucking time there is nothing.

She does that every day for a week, showing up with a book and Alex's present. Everyday Piper leaves with both of them in hand, until one day she just brings a book. The day after she doesn't sit in Alex's spot, eventually the grass starts to grow there again.

She kisses Liam Martin at a party while she is drunk and she stops going to the glade as often. On the rare occasions she makes the trek, she can never stay long. Because the gurgling of the tiny waterfall is way too loud without Alex's voice and every time she notices the older girls name carved on the boulder she fights the urge to slam it with her fist. The place is haunted with memories, riddled head to toe of the misadventures of the two unlikely friends.

This is why Piper never wanted to share it.

Because now it doesn't feel like home anymore.

Not without Alex.

…

The summer passes and as the school year begins Liam asks her to be exclusive. Piper says yes, he kisses her and she tries desperately not to focus on how wrong it all feels. She goes through the motions despite it all, she holds his hand on the way to class and they watch movies while huddled on his couch. He comes from dry humping her as they make-out on her bed, soft whispers of 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you' mingle together. She can never bring herself to say either back.

And she is distracted. College applications is what she claims to Liam, her mother and all of her friends. But she knows why, deep down she can't ever shake the enigma that is Alex. She hides the books that Alex gave her underneath her bed, hoping desperately they don't turn into monsters.

She fucks Liam the night of prom, in some cheap hotel room that he rented from them. She is drunk and little stoned and when she wakes up the next morning she feels vile, her hair knotted to the point where she has to cut her hairpins out and the expensive dress her father bought is ruined.

Two days later she breaks up with him.

She still can't bring herself to apologize.

Sometimes you just accept the way things are, Pipes.

…

She fights with the idea for a long time, in the month leading up to the day she goes back and forth hundreds of times. Before she thinks, fuck it, she is already expecting the worst. So on the day of her eighteenth birthday she grabs a book, packs a lunch and absently she grabs Alex's present from last year.

The trek is slow and longer than she remembers. (or maybe it's just the weight of her own misery dragging her down that makes it feel like the journey last forever) Her feet are watching the trail, one that's been beaten away by her over the last five years. She keeps her head down even as she smell the telltale sign of fresh water running in the stream or even when the earthen floor gives way to lush grass and for moment she wonders why the fuck she came here.

But as her eyes level out...

And her heart stops.

And for a moment she thinks she is literally dead.

Because there is Alex, legs folded in the grass in front of the boulder, in her spot. Piper watches as she stands up slowly and the first thing she notices is that the older girl looks thinner, more worn out. And there is no smirk or laughter in her eyes.

And Piper can't decide if she wants to scream or cry.

So she does both.

She is inconsolable as she is pushing Alex away, ragged 'fuck yous' flying from her lips and Alex doesn't stop her. With every shove she lets herself be pushed back and every hateful word she lets hit her right in the face. Until Piper shoves her so hard – or maybe she couldn't muster the strength to hold herself up anymore – that she falls, landing on her side.

She holds her hand up in front of her like she is surrendering, her voice cracks when she speaks finally. "Pipes…" And then something that Piper could never expected happens, Alex is crying. Thick painful sobs crashing through her like tidal waves, tears leaking from her eyes and every time she breathes it sounds like she is choking. And it's so much, too much, she collapses next to her.

The fall into each, a somber embrace where they can no longer distinguish what tears belong to who and they are both gasping out apologies. They are rocking each other back and forth when Alex manage to say something other than incoherent pleas of forgiveness.

"My mom died."

And she talks, disconnectedly, but the story unravels.

An aneurism, not long after Alex's birthday. Any money they both had saved went directly to funeral expenses and the older girl immediately had to find another job. She couldn't afford their phone bill, much less the apartment and there wasn't a day that went by that she didn't work miserable unforgiven labor that barely paid enough to afford food.

"And I'm so sorry, Piper," she gasps. "For all of it."

And Piper can't stand herself, she is disgusted at the anger she had towards Alex so she holds on tighter as if hugging her hard enough pull together all the pieces that have broken away from her in the last year. She isn't sure how long they lay there curled up on the grass, it could have been weeks or a few hours but at some point she feels Alex's lips press firmly against her own.

And it is hesitant and takes faintly of salt, but it's so damn beautiful because this is Alex and she is holding onto Piper's hand like she is the only thing that she has left to loose. And like no time has passed they just lay there, they talk, and they relearn the planes of the other's face, lips tracing every line, marking each other like a well-worn map.

Piper notes the tribal tattoo on Alex's forearm and the other girl smiles.

"I lost your bracelet when I had to leave the apartment. So, I tried to copy the design as closely as possible."

"You must have really liked that bracelet."

She chuckles and Piper notes it's the first time she has heard that sound in over a year. "I really liked you, rather."

Piper's face bunches up in confusion at the past tense of the term and Alex grabs her hand gently stroking the knuckles. She murmurs three soft words that echo loudly in the glade and without even thinking about it Piper says them back.

She has a different job now, it's dangerous and Alex tells her that she would be gone for long periods of time often not sure when she would be coming back. Piper's heart drops, but then Alex is asking her to come with her. And in that moment Piper isn't thinking about college, or her mother's disapproving words, or how that would mean leaving the glade behind, because for the first time all year she feels like she is home.

Even if it comes in the form of a red-eyed, slightly heartbroken Alex, its home. So, when their lips meet again, a kiss that evolves into so much more she knows that she will never let it go again.

And they'd find us in a week

When the buzzards get loud

After the insects have made their claim

After the foxes have known our taste

After the raven has had his say

I'll be home with you, I'll be home with you.