4:33 AM. Piper focused her eyes and groaned when she saw the bright numbers in front of her. She glanced at her sleeping boyfriend. Once upon a time she would have woken him up by kissing his chest and neck, following a quick, hot session of sex. Piper had loved him for many years. 'Loved'. Piper thought to herself. She shook her head, let out a soft sigh and got out of bed quietly.

Piper's relationship with her ex-fiancé/boyfriend had not been the same since she caught him cheating on her. Piper never felt any sort of jealousy with Larry; she trusted him whole-heartedly and was devastated to walk in on him with another woman. The worst part of the confrontation was that her best friend was the other woman. Polly had just given birth to her son Finn and less than two months later, sleeping with Piper's fiancé. Larry had spent hours upon hours apologizing and begging Piper to forgive him. Larry said that it was only a fling, and he was lonely due to Piper's long hours at the hospital. She couldn't blame him for the loneliness.

Piper had a brief flashback of Paris with her ex-girlfriend Alex. Piper didn't think about Alex often but when she did, her heart felt like it was punctured and deflated. She would never admit it to anyone but she missed Alex, all the time. It had been almost 8 years since Piper left Alex in France. Piper regretted how she left, during the time that Alex needed her most, right after her mother died. Piper knew if she didn't leave then, she never would. Alex treated her like a queen and although Piper loved Larry, Alex was Piper's one true love, her soul mate. Alex bought her expensive gifts, traveled the world on her expense, but what Piper cherished the most; was the attention Alex gave her. The attention slowly dwindled down to just a few hours in the middle of the night when she returned back to the hotel that they were staying at. When Alex wanted to celebrate her successful drug movements she always celebrated with sex. Piper much obliged but grew increasingly lonely and angry at Alex for neglecting her.

Piper left Alex due to Alex's inability to separate her international drug cartel and her relationship with Piper. Piper could never be with Alex if she was dealing drugs. Alex chose drugs over love and as much as they were in love, Alex's one true love was importing heroin. Piper broke Alex's heart, but she finally needed to be selfish and find someone who would put her first. Piper thought she found that with Larry, until he started to complain about the hours Piper worked. Piper wouldn't admit that she was doing to Larry, what Alex had done to her. She knew that being a doctor was very different from a drug importer, but in black and white, Piper was just the same as Alex. Piper also refused to admit to anyone, that she preferred to be at the hospital than being with Larry. She really did love him, but sometimes Piper felt like she was trying to make Larry be Alex. She started to distance herself as she realized, he would never compare.

Piper took a quick shower, shaking the thoughts of Alex out of her head. She grimaced at the mirror, knowing that her whole day would be messed up due to the deflated-heart-feeling so early in the morning. She hoped the patients at Litchfield hospital would help her recover from the sadness, or at least distract her. Piper felt like crying.

"Eight fucking years" Piper dried her face and ran a brush through her semi-tangled blonde hair. Her blue eyes were accompanied by dark circles, due to lack of sleep over the last 2 years. Ever since she started her job at the hospital as a doctor, she barely slept and when she was home, she had to stay up to be with Larry in order to make their relationship survive. It had been about two months since she caught him cheating. After Piper's unwanted discovery, when she arrived home from her shift at the hospital, she usually would just eat dinner in silence with her boyfriend and went right to sleep. She didn't bother to placate Larry, he didn't deserve it anymore. His eyes were sad, but he never tried to complain, knowing he majorly fucked up and he had no right to complain any longer.

Piper tried to go back to normal but she would never be able to trust him again. Piper hadn't spoken to Polly since the incident. She was extremely sad, not being able to see Finn, her godson, but Polly had been her best friend since grade school and this was one of the worst things she could have done to Piper. The betrayal felt like a fresh sting to Piper's face every time she thought about it, which was more often than she would have preferred. Piper had agreed to stay with Larry, but told him she did not want to be engaged anymore, perhaps later in the future but she explained her lack of trust. He nodded softly, with tears forming in his eyes but didn't reply, knowing it was a miracle she didn't walk out right then and there.

Piper often wondered why she stayed, she felt differently about Larry now and wasn't happy. Deep down, Piper knew she just didn't want to be alone, so she would suffer with Larry. Piper's biggest fear was being alone again, the same way she was after leaving Alex. She spent a good three months on her best friend's couch; crying, eating and watching TV. Polly finally helped her get her own apartment and Piper went back to college to become a doctor. She had to fight the urge to call Alex and beg to get back together nearly every day for a year. Each day it got easier to move on, but her heart stayed with Alex. Always.

"How can I still feel like this after eight fucking years?" She said quietly, her mind floating between Larry's cheating and Alex's beautiful face and all of the beautiful places they traveled together.

She walked back into her bedroom to put on her blue scrubs. Larry's eyes were open but his head still mushed into his pillow. He looked comfortable and sleepy. Piper envied him for not having to wake up at such an ungodly hour. She wasn't one to sleep in but 4 am was a little too early for anyone.

"Hey Pipes" His voice croaked. Larry smiled at her, his eyes beckoning her to lay down with him in bed again. He hadn't tried to sleep with Piper since the incident but really missed her.

"Good morning, I've uhhh… gotta run" Piper looked for her shoes quickly, avoiding any conversation with her boyfriend. She didn't speak much to him anymore, trying to forgive him in her own head. She accepted his many apologies but struggled to move past it.

"Oh... alright, well… have a good day. I love you Piper!" He shouted to Piper as she quickly left the room, shoes in hand.

"You too!" She shouted before closing the metal apartment door. She let out a loud sigh and made her way to the subway for work.

She entered the hospital. She looked down at her worn out, scuffed watch. It was a present from Alex while they were in Italy. Piper only kept it because she loved the style. It had a black leather band and silver face. It was simple yet elegant and perfect for work. 5 am.

Piper made her way to the third floor. She turned down a long corridor, the familiar pale green color made her smile. It felt like home. She worked in the infection unit. When she was introduced to new people, she explained she worked in the infection unit and they automatically assumed Infectious diseases. Piper had explained one too many times that there was a difference and she dealt with the people who were not contagious, but had infections, usually in their organs or around them and they usually spent weeks or months in her wing. The patients she saw were the ones that had a large infection that took a lot of time to clear up, reoccurring infections or patients that showed resistance to the antibiotics and had to be monitored closely while they found a solution that would help.

The patients were there for so long that Piper usually developed a good friendship with most, which made it hard for the ones that didn't make it, or when they finally got better and left, Piper always felt sad.

Piper made her way to ward, already feeling more relieved. She smiled at the thought of more distance from Larry making her feel better. She knew that it wasn't normal but it made her laugh.

Piper stopped at the nurse's station, saying hello to Lorna. Lorna was a petite, cute woman with short brown hair, pinned perfectly back, bright lipstick and an adorable New Jersey accent.

"Good Morning Doctor Chapman!" Lorna smiled brightly at Piper, which made her grin back. She couldn't be in a bad mood after looking at Lorna's beautiful smile.

"Morning Morello!" Piper beamed back. Piper used her first name if they were talking privately, but Piper wanted to start the day professionally, she felt it would make a statement for how the rest of the day would turn out. Though she loved Lorna, Piper had experienced people who looked at her as more of a friend than superior. Piper was one of three doctors in the Infection Unit. One of the other doctors was Poussey Washington. Washington was an African-American doctor whom she learned, spoke German. She was taller than piper, with buzzed hair. Piper admired her for being so intelligent, passionate and cultured. Piper was almost positive that she was a lesbian but never got friendly enough to ask or even question it. They only saw each other as they were changing shifts, but sometimes Piper would stick around, avoiding going home to see Larry and strike up a conversation while informing her about new patients or anything Washington would need to know. Piper had only met the third doctor a few times. He was only there when Piper or Poussey was out sick and on weekends. Sam Healy was his name. He seemed friendly enough to Piper but she had never really talked to him.

Piper picked up the pile of charts sitting on the counter near Morello.

She recognized her usual four patients. They had all been there for a minimum of two weeks; one of the patients was on her third month. Piper had become very close to her. The patient had tried many different antibiotics but her infection would keep coming back. The patient caught some sort of viral illness in a different country and after being treated, she developed an infection in her liver. The doctors made sure she wasn't infectious and after a few weeks in that ward, she was transferred to Piper, whom spent much of her time researching new solutions and new medicines to treat her with. None of which helped long enough for her to return home.

There was a new chart on the bottom of the stack.

"Oh, we have a new one?" Piper asked Morello, who was distracted by the computer.

Piper looked over the chart quickly, it appeared the patient had some sort of internal infection, obviously not contagious, or Piper would not have her chart, but it was unclear where it started and it seemed to be spreading slowly to other parts of the patient's body. She was admitted three days ago, with the classic symptoms. Chills, fever, shaking, high heart rate and a white blood cell count of 22,000. The normal range was 4,000 – 10,000 so the patient had nearly double the amount she should have. They put her on generic antibiotics but her body was resisting them. They moved her to Piper's wing last night, after Piper left for the night. She looked over the chart and then searched the paper for the patient's name. She saw the birthdate which made Piper freeze. She knew that date anywhere.

"No… just a coincidence Piper…" She said softly to herself.

She searched the top of the page where she originally skipped, to find out what she was dealing with.

Piper dropped the chart like it was on fire. Piper look at the floor where the paper's had fallen. The name stuck out like bold. Piper's mouth stuck wide open, she couldn't move or speak.

"Piper! Hello! Earth to Chapman!" Morello shouted at her, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Piper, are you alright? You look like you just saw a ghost, here come sit down."

Piper sat down in the chair, her expression still blank and mouth slack.

"No… it's not possible." Piper managed to choke out. She heard footsteps coming towards her but couldn't look up to see who it was. Piper's face went from blank to confused and shocked.

"Maybe this is a bad time to say hi" A raspy voice called out quietly. Piper's eyes darted up, recognizing that beautiful voice anywhere. Her heart sank as she looked at a very pale, tall beautiful figure standing in front of her in a pale blue hospital gown. Her feet had light grey grip socks on them and her long fingers gripped a mobile pole that was pumping antibiotics into her arm. Her beautiful green eyes stared at Piper with such intensity it made chills run down Piper's spine. The corner of Alex's mouth was pulled up into a smirk. Alex looked amused to see Piper after so long.

Piper opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.

Alex. Fucking. Vause.