One Last Time [Vauseman Fanfic]

2: We Might Be Dead By Tomorrow

Alex was halfway across the dorm and away from Piper when she heard her small voice call out to her,
"Alex? Please don't leave me...” 
Alex could practically hear the pain in her voice then. She halted, closing her eyes and clenching her jaw. Damn this woman for having immeasurable amounts of power over her. Damn her and her weakness. Just damn it all. Alex turned and slowly started to walk back towards Piper and soon enough she was stood before her again. 
"What do you want from me Piper?" She begun, looking down at the blonde's small frame on the bed. "The face I came to check on doesn’t mean that I've suddenly forgiven you, in case you hadn't noticed it was barely even 48 hours ago that you basically told me to go fuck myself!" Alex had to take a breath to calm herself, she was a mess today and she was starting to regret going to check on Piper's well-being. 
"That's not fair, Alex...” She muttered in response.
Alex couldn't help the laugh that escaped from her own thought at the ridiculousness of what Piper had just said. "Are you fucking kidding me?" She retorted, "I'll tell you what's not fucking fair... You walking out on me, again." Alex's voice was cold again. She walked back out, ignoring the pleas for her to come back. Yes, checking on Piper had been a mistake, one that Alex resolved she would never make again.

Alex had been able to avoid Piper for the rest of the week. She woke up extra early in the mornings to avoid her in the showers, always sat with her back to her in the canteen. The only time where Alex was unable to avoid Piper was when her laundry day came around, but even then there was no eyes contact – no contact at all. Just the silent exchange of laundry for ticket and ticket for laundry. So when Alex was woken and dragged from her warm bunk by Nicky at 5 in the morning on Sunday she thought no less of it than Nicky was lonely and was using Alex as an fix for that. Alex would never say no. That thought almost made Alex smirk as she was dragged down towards the laundry room, had she been awake enough she was sure she would have made some snarky comment about the situation. Right when they got to the door leading into the laundry room, Nicky halted and spun around to face Alex. Alex frowned at the crazed blonde as Nicky planted her hands firmly on Alex’s shoulders. Alex hadn’t noticed the grim look she held before.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asked, now assuming that it had something to do with Morello.
“Just… Please don’t freak out, okay?” Was all Nicky had said before leading Alex into the laundry room.
Alex looked around with care now, suddenly awake and very aware that something bad had either happened or was about to happen. She didn’t even think about Piper until she heard her soft, murmuring voice from the back end of the room. Alex stopped walking, pulling Nicky to a halt.
“Nicky….” She began.
“Alex no, it’s not what you think okay? You need to see this.” Nicky’s voice was urgent and that was about the only thing that persuaded Alex to carry on walking. She knew that Nicky wouldn’t drag her to see Piper if it wasn’t for a good reason.
Alex walked slowly around the washers and she saw Piper cowering in the corner of the room, knees hunched to her chest and her face buried in her arms. Morello was sitting next to her, rubbing her back and telling her that it was all going to be fine and that they would be able to figure something out.
“What’s going to be okay?” Alex asked, her way of announcing that she had arrived. She was immediately suspicious; Piper wasn’t dying so she didn’t see any other reason why she could have possibly been dragged down here. She imagined that Piper’s precious Larry had called her up again and let her down; left her after he had proposed to her. Alex almost scoffed; he was such a waste of a man.  Alex was watching Piper though and she saw how the blonde tensed when she had heard Alex’s voice. Alex narrowed her eyes as she tried to listen closely to what Piper was saying. She could hear soft cries.
When neither Piper, Nicky nor Morello answered her question Alex sighed, pushing her glasses up on to the top of her head and rubbed the bridge of her nose between forefinger and thumb therapeutically. No way was she dragged down here against her will to just be ignored.
“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on? Because I have no qualms with just walking back out of that goddamn door and back to my bunk.” She ranted, looking at all three of them in turn.
It was only at the threat that Alex would leave that Piper finally lifted her head. Her eyes were puffy and red from her crying but Alex could see other red marks, marks that looked like the product of someone’s fist. Alex closed her eyes and clenched her fists; resisting the urge to groan. She had been doing so well. She took a deep breath and looked over Piper again, she could see that her lip was bust and there was some bruising around her eye.
Alex stood as still as a statue, fists clenched so tightly that she could feel her nails digging into the palm of her hand.
“What the hell happened to you?” She asked, keeping any emotion that she felt hidden from her voice. She didn’t want Piper to know that she still cared.
In response to Alex’s question, Piper just broke out in quiet sobs again. It racked Alex’s heart to see her like this and she prayed that her resolve would hold out against this. She looked to Morello and then Nicky for an answer instead.