I do not own any of the characters in this story.

AN: Hey everybody, this is my first attempt on a fanfic. Hope you like it. Reviews of all kind are always welcome.

Thanks for reading. Love always.

Time to be an adult

The waves crashed onto the beach repeatedly and created a relaxing rhythm. A mild wind swept through her hair as the sun was setting. It was a beautiful scene, and it made her smile even though today was really a day of sorrow and at the same time it was a day of joy.

This day, three years ago, there had been a lot of goodbyes and sad smiles as she had walked out of prison as a free woman leaving good friends behind. But this day also made her think about something else. It was about five years since she last saw her. She, who was always on her mind. Piper sighed.

This day would soon come to an end, and it felt fine. Well, almost. She missed someone, someone she thought she wasn't allowed to miss because of her major fuck up years ago.

After she lost her shit on Doggett she had been sent to SHU for three months and had another year added to her sentence for assault. She shrugged. Whenever she thought of her second visit in solitary. She was just glad she'd made it out of there alive a second time and hadn't lost her mind completely.

When she was released from SHU, she had been greeted with silence from the other inmates, a silence filled with respect and horror.

To her surprise, her friends had remained by her side. Nicky was even friendly, quiet but friendly.

The only thing that was on Piper's mind, was Alex.

Piper was glad she'd made it out of that hell hole called SHU, but she was truly terrified of meeting her. Alex had been so mad. Piper knew why. It was time to act like an adult and respect Alex's wishes. Even though it hurt, Piper wanted to show her that she could be a grown woman about it all.

She was determined to do it because, there was a teeny tiny light of hope in Piper that if she did what Alex had told her, they could at least be friends. She could almost live with that.

At her first dinner out of SHU Piper kept silent and listened to all the things she had missed while she was down the hill.

Apparently, Mr. Healy had quit his job, and left a week after the incident. So nobody knew what a villain he really was. She felt relived that he had left and wasn't watching her every move.

Miss Claudette was back, but kept to her own and didn't say that much about what had happened to her after she had assaulted the guard.

Red was back in the kitchen, although not in charge of it. It made Piper glad that Red had got her job back. They told her how miserable she had been without the job and how they all thought she would lose her shit if she didn't get it back, so Piper where really glad she was back in there.

Doggett had been sent to the hospital, but had been back in a month with new teeth, straight and everything. Piper nodded slowly at this announcement, she was glad Doggett had gotten new teeth but it really stung when she though about what she had done to her. She had a flashback to all the blood, and how her face had felt beneath her fists. She almost gagged, but tried to put on a good face for her friends, who where still gossiping.

After she recovered from the nasty flashback, Piper waited patiently at the dining table for her friends to tell her the one thing she had wanted to know every single day in the SHU; how was Alex? It was what had kept her alive in solitary, thinking and wondering what Alex was up to, hoping with every fiber in her body that she was alive and well. No one said anything about her. Slowly and quiet and a bit hoarse, since she hadn't really used her voice much in the solitary cell, Piper asked.

"So... how's... A... " She couldn't even complete the sentence, but everybody knew what she was asking about. Nicky looked down on her food and stayed silent while she poked on it with her spork. Piper almost dropped hers at Nicky's reaction. Had Alex been sent down the hill as well? Was it Piper's fault? She felt how fear and panic raced through her body as no one said a word. She looked down at her tray but her vision became blurred as tears started to fill her eyes.

Finally someone spoke up.

"She's been transferred. "