A/N: I'm so sorry, you lovely people! The usual excuses apply: busy life stuff and just not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with this story. Then inspiration struck and I got to work on dialogue, my favorite part of OITNB. Okay, one of my favorite parts ;). Let me know what you think and I will promise to write faster! xo
Alex was dressed and ready at eight o'clock when Nicky finally emerged from the bathroom, trailed by steam from her shower. The brunette put down the book she had been pretending to read.
"Well?" Alex cocked an eyebrow, standing up.
"'Well' what?" Nicky responded, knowing full well what she was being asked.
"Forget it," Alex sighed and sunk back down on the couch.
Nicky snorted.
"You look good, Vause," the shorter woman surveyed Alex's tight black pants, black scoop-necked shirt, and fitted black jacket.
"I mean, it's not the glamorous khaki ensemble I've grown accustomed to seeing you in, but it works."
Alex smiled and then clapped her hands together loudly.
"Coffee is ready. Hurry the fuck up, I don't want to be late."
"Afraid the boss will spank you? Or hoping?"
Alex smiled but feigned annoyance.
"Nichols, shut the fuck up and go do whatever it is you do to that rat's nest you call 'hair' and get fucking dressed."
"Jesus! Okay, okay, I'm going. Stop worrying. I'm sure Blondie will like your outfit."
Alex rolled her eyes but couldn't keep a smile from creeping across her face.
"You're late, bitch."
"Good morning to you too, Polly."
"Morning, Pipes. Do we have clients coming in today?"
"No...?"
Polly looked Piper up and down, taking in her tight black pencil skirt, the dainty white blouse tucked into it, and her black stilettos.
"Then why are you dressed up... Oh. Ewwww. Grossss."
"What? I am not..."
"Not..what? Not dressed up for Supercunt?" Polly smirked.
Piper made a strangled sound and headed for her office, slamming the door shut. She sat down behind her desk and checked the time.
Shit shit shit. I'm not ready. Well. You've had eight and a half years to get ready. Here goes nothing.
She used her phone to check her makeup, blotting some shine from her forehead with a tissue.
"Are you fuckin' sweating?"
Nicky elbowed Alex as they rode the elevator up to the office.
"What? No."
Alex shrugged and tried to look casual.
"You are. Christ. Keep it together, Vause!"
"I'm trying, Nick. First day jitters, that's all."
"Alex. She's just a chick."
The two made eye contact and Alex bit her bottom lip before speaking quietly.
"Nicky... She really isn't."
Nicky nodded sympathetically and then grinned wickedly.
"Wait! She's NOT a chick? Hold on, back up, I didn't think you went for dick, even if it dressed up pretty for you, and now you're tellin' me-"
Alex laughed out loud.
"You know what I mean, Nicky."
"Yeah, Vause, I do and frankly, you're disgusting. Now, let's go give this whole legitimate employment thing a try. Can't be worse than getting paid fourteen cents an hour to electrocute myself while Luschek yelled at me with peppermint schnapps on his breath."
"Ah, peppermint schnapps! that's what it was! I knew his breath seemed...festive."
They cracked up as the elevator dinged at their floor.
"Ready?" Nicky asked
"Lets do this," Alex nodded, more confident.
Fifteen minutes after Alex and Nicky arrived for work, Piper realized she was still rambling about soap-making and a new lotion line and marketing campaign and Whole Foods and black cats and god knows what else that she had blocked out.
"I am probably getting ahead of myself here."
She gestured to the long, black granite reception counter, two MacBooks already waiting.
"So. You two can set up here. I was thinking Alex will be my assistant, since she already knows what I need."
Alex smirked as piper blushed.
The blonde shook her head. Fucking foot in mouth disease strikes again.
"Also because I'm afraid Polly will also end up in prison if you two work too closely. "
Polly nodded at this and shot Alex a dark look.
"That's assuming any jury would convict me. Anyway, Nicky, you'll work with me."
"Yes ma'am!" Nicky saluted her.
"We've loaded some quick tutorials for our software programs on your computers, so you can take the morning to work through those, and then I hope you'll let us take you to lunch," Polly smiled.
"I love this job already!" Nicky exclaimed as she took her seat.
"It's asking me for my username and password," she stated.
Polly nodded.
"Your logins are first initial, followed by last name."
Nicky nodded and entered "NNichols" into the prompt.
"And password?"
"We set temporary ones for you, you can change them. Yours is "BumbleAndBumble"
"Got a thing for bees, Harper?" Nicky squinted as she typed it in.
"It's the name of a salon, actually. The one on west 56th is excellent, just FYI. They can work miracles," the brunette pronounced, glancing at Nicky's hair.
"Subtle, Pol," Piper rolled her eyes. "Just ignore her, Nicky."
Alex had typed her username and looked up, pushing her glasses back up on her nose.
"What's my password, Pipes?"
Piper leaned over and scribbled on a piece of paper, folding it and handing it to Alex before she winked and walked away.
Alex waited until Piper closed the door to her office before she unfolded the slip and read the word scrawled in that familiar delicate handwriting.
"Eucalyptus"
The brunette's raspy laugh was enough to prompt Nicky to roll her chair down to Alex's side of the desk and read over her shoulder.
"What the hell does that mean? Koala fetish?"
"Close. That was her safeword back when we..."
"Did things that require a safeword?!" Nicky enthused.
"Mmmhmm," Alex grinned. "Now, go back to work."
"Okay, but we are sooo not done talking about this, Vause."
"Eucalyptus", Alex typed, physically unable to stop smiling.
Around one o'clock, Piper texted Polly from her office.
Piper: Lunch?
Polly: God, yes. starving. I'll call ahead to the restaurant, you get the felons.
Piper: You're the best, Polly. Give me five minutes.
Ten minutes later, Polly tapped her Jimmy Choos impatiently.
"HURRY UP, BITCH!" she shouted towards Piper's office.
"Since her majesty is keeping us waiting anyway, Nicky, can you put your contact in here?"
The brunette handed over her iphone, the case emblazoned with PoPi's logo.
Nicky stared at the device as Piper emerged from her office, stuffing a clutch into her larger black bag.
"You okay, Nicky?" The blonde asked.
"Uh, yeah, but boss? We didnt exactly have an Apple store in prison..."
Piper elbowed Polly, embarrassed.
"Of course. We'll take care of it right now. Lets go shopping and then we'll get lunch!"
"You don't have to do that," Alex protested quietly, her cheeks flushing.
"Don't be ridiculous," Piper said lightly, "you need a phone for work responsibilities, the company covers it."
"Oh does it now?" Polly asked.
Piper glared at her.
"I'm sorry, I'm hangry. Need foooood," Polly whined.
"Really. Let's just go to eat. You don't have to-"
"It's not negotiable, Alex. Polly, here's a granola bar. Eat it, because we are going shopping on our way to lunch."
"Bossy, much?" Alex commented with a smirk.
"Yes. And I think you like it." Piper grinned back.
"It looks good on you. So does that skirt, by the way."
"It's been four hours!" Polly shouted, her mouth full of granola. "They've worked here for four hours and we are going to have a sexual harassment lawsuit on our hands."
"She's not going to sue," Alex and Piper said at the same time, eyes sparkling at their verbal unison.
"What?" Piper recovered first.
"Well," Alex said, "technically I was sexually harassing you."
Piper squinted. "Yeah, but I'm the boss."
"Oh, I know, Ms. Chapman. You keep saying so...in this breathy voice. Hot."
"Stop it stop it stop it stop it!"
Nicky patted a shrieking Polly on the arm.
"Maybe we should get Ms. Harper to a Starbucks and the Apple store forthwith, so we can proceed with our ladies' luncheon, " she said, using Taystee's "Amanda McWhitelady" voice.
"That would be great, actually," Polly said sincerely, making both Nicky and Alex grin widely. "And please call me Polly, Nicky." Polly glared at Alex, daring her to comment.
Alex just raised her eyebrows comically in response and held the door open.
"After you..."
One whirlwind visit to the Apple store later, both Nicky and Alex were glued to their new devices. The four women were sat at an outdoor table, Polly and Piper showing Alex and Nicky different features of their new phones, when a handsome waiter approached.
"Hello, ladies. Can I take your drink order?"
"I'll have a glass of the sangria," Polly announced.
"Really?" Piper raised a critical eyebrow.
"Dirty martini, two olives," Alex said quickly, earning a smile that Polly barely remembered to conceal.
Nicky ordered a beer and Piper sighed and acquiesced.
"Chardonnay, please."
"You are such a WASP," Alex snickered.
"Okay, James Bond, whatever you say.."
The women sipped their drinks and discussed PoPi's recent expansion while they waited for their meals to arrive.
Piper excused herself to visit the ladies' room. It was empty and Piper locked herself in the stall and took a deep breath, her skin tingling with happiness, her cheeks hurting pleasantly from smiling so much. She flushed and stood to adjust her skirt.
She exited the stall, her head in the clouds, and found Alex standing there, leaning against the sink, looking like the cat who ate the canary.
"Uhhhh...hi."
"Eloquent, boss."
"Shut up," Piper smiled and then regarded Alex more seriously, staring, taking inventory of the most familiar face in her life, checking within the few new fine lines and crinkles, looking for what she had missed.
"Are you okay, there, Pipes?"
"Yeah. It's just...it's weird. Isn't it? I just...I haven't seen you in so so so long." Piper nearly gasped at the relief of it. "I always thought that if I had another chance...another chance to see you, I mean...that I would...that we would..."
Alex stepped forward and pushed a strand of blonde hair off of Piper's face.
"We would what, kid?"
The blonde licked her lips and stepped forward.
"I don't know...I just thought...about you. A lot."
"You tought about me. A lot." Alex repeated, so pleased that she felt both electrified and terrified.
Maybe, on those nights after Paris, when she was drunk or high, alone or with any warm body, lonely and angry, Piper had been thinking of her. Maybe during the long, sober nights under the fluorescent lights in Litchfield Correctional Facility, Piper had been thinking of her, too. Missing her, too. It wasn't nearly enough and yet it was more than she'd dared to hope.
Polly squirmed a little bit, feeling suddenly shy and awkward alone with Nicky at the table.
"I have an icebreakers app," she offered, sipping her second glass of sangria. "You know, so we can learn a little more about one another."
"Sure, lay it on me," Nicky grinned and rolled her eyes slightly.
"Okaaaay," Polly clicked the app and read the first question.
"What is your guilty pleasure? Mine would be shoe shopping. Ooh, or watching Real Housewives!"
"Mine used to be heroin and pussy. That was before the open heart surgery and prison time. Now it's just pussy."
Polly's mouth hung open for a brief second before she composed herself.
"Next question: if you could meet any famous person, living or dead, who would it be?"
"Hmmm," Nicky mused. "Angelina Jolie. One night with me and Brad Pitt would be history."
"Oookay then. Mine would be Coco Chanel. Next question: If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?"
"Pretty sure old Coco was a Nazi spy, FYI. As for the death row thing, which hits a little close to home by the way, Harper, my last meal would be pussy."
Nicky nodded seriously.
"And coffee ice cream, if I could have that, too. But yeah, definitely pussy."
"Okay, well, I'm sensing a theme here. That's enough ice breaking for today."
Polly cast her eyes towards the rest room.
"Hey, Nicky, how long does lesbian sex take?"
"Depends if you're doing it right," Nicky mused.
"Do you think Alex and Piper could be...right now?"
"Scissor sistering? Throwing a hallway down a hallway? Rockin' the Casbah? Probably," Nicky shrugged.
"Ugh. Excuse me." Polly stalked off towards the restroom.
Feeling Piper's hands on the sides of her face brought Alex back to reality.
"Of course I was thinking about you," the blonde said emphatically, blue eyes locked on green. "Always."
"Me too, kid," Alex whispered, running a thumb over Piper's bottom lip, "Always."
"Al, it's really important to me that you know-"
They were interrupted by a sharp bang on the restroom door, after which Polly barged in, her eyes covered with her hand.
"You can open your eyes, Polly," Piper sighed, reluctantly removing her hands from Alex's face.
"I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?"
Polly shot Alex a smirk and walked to the mirror to reapply her lip gloss. When she had finished she escorted the two women out, pushing Piper ahead of her and leaving Alex to follow, shaking her head. Their moment had been interrupted but all she cared about was the promise of more moments. That provided the tall brunette with a heavy sense of contentment.
The women finished their lunch and returned to PoPi to try to get some work done. That meant marketing proposals for Piper to write, new scent ideas and soap techniques for Polly to research, and more computer training for Nicky and Alex.
Alex was happy but restless by the time five o'clock came along. Polly stood in the doorway of her office, looking up from reading about the cost of lavendar worldwide to talk to Nicky.
"Thank you for today, Nicky. You can go home. I'm going to read a bit more and then head out myself."
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay? I really appreciate everything you're doin' for me...the job, the lunch, the bling, the great ice breaker game, all of it."
Polly laughed.
"You're welcome. Just show up again tomorrow and I'll be happy."
"I wish all the girls were as easy to please as you are, boss lady! See you tomorrow!"
Nicky waited until Polly retreated to her office before sticking her tongue out at Alex.
"Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah," she sang gleefully. "I got the nice boss and you have to work late!"
"If you think Holly is nice, you really were in prison for too long. And maybe I want to work late," Alex smirked.
Before Nicky could reply, Alex's phone rang.
"Good afternoon, PoPi soaps, how can I help you today?"
"Has anyone ever told you how sexy your voice is?"
Alex grinned.
"Why yes, not that you mention it, several hundred women have said -"
"Yeah, yeah," Piper laughed. "Come to my office for a minute before you go home, please?"
Alex hung up and knocked on Piper's door before entering.
"You wanted to see me?" She asked, looking down at Piper, batting her eyelashes at the blonde.
"I did. Listen, Alex..."
Ut-oh. Alex knew that tone. It meant Piper was going to tell her something she didnt want to hear.
Piper saw the panic in the brunette's eyes.
"Oh! No! Alex, no. Everything is fine, it's great. Today was just so...so fucking amazing. And then we got interrupted by my psycho best friend and business partner. Anyway, the conversation we were having? In the bathroom earlier? Do you think we could have it on Saturday?"
Alex blinked, confused.
"Why Saturday?"
"I just...this is too important. You are too important. I don't want to screw it up again. I want to think. I want both of us to think. Plus...you have to show up to work for the next four days, so I know I get to see you then. I've gone so many days without seeing you...I don't want to not see you Saturday."
"Are you asking me out on a daaaaaate?" Alex teased.
"Maybe," Piper smiled shyly, "Yes, I guess I am."
Alex positively beamed. She was too excited to even attempt to tease Piper about the slight blush on the blonde's cheeks.
"Looking forward to it, kid. Okay if I get going now? Nicky is finished..."
"Oh. Oh, um, yes, of course. I'll see you tomorrow, Al."
"Yes, you will. And on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and even on Saturday."
Piper smiled to herself as the tall woman strode happily out of her office.
Saturday.
That evening, Alex and Nicky were side by side on the couch, sipping beers and playing with their new gadgets.
Alex hemmed and hawed for a minute before composing a simple text to Piper.
Alex: Im not sure if I said it earlier so: Thank you.
Piper responded immediately: For what?
Alex sat seriously for a moment. Oh, what the hell.
Alex: For everything today. And for Saturdays, past and future.
Piper sent a photo of herself, her smile radiant, her eyes shining and Alex's heart soared.
"How the fuck do I save a picture on this thing?" she muttered.
"What?" Nicky looked up.
"Piper sent me a picture and I want to save it."
"Ooh lemme see!" Nicky leaned over to look at Alex's screen.
"Aw, it's just her face," the redhead clucked in disappointment, returning to her own phone.
"Yeah, but what a face, huh?"
"Dude. You are so gay for her it even grosses me out."
"Fuck you very much, Nichols. What are you doing over there, anyway?"
"Oh man, you gotta see this. I just found something called TINDER!"