Paranoia

Trapped

While Piper would have been fine ignoring the harsh voice, the loud pounding, and even the fear that was now rising up within her own chest; restricting her airway as if someone had sucked all the oxygen from the room, Alex had not left her with much of a choice.

"Piper, I am not overreacting," she began, her voice straining. Her words struggled to make their way past her lips, fighting their way through as she simultaneously gasped for air. Alex hadn't been at peace in a long time.

The woman shook her head, and brought her fingers to her temples, rubbing them in circles as if that would be enough for the voice in her head to go quiet for a moment.

She felt like an idiot for being so panicked. Surely, she should have been used to it by now; the fear, that is. There was no time for her to have a panic attack, no time for her to stop and breathe, or practice the progressive muscle relaxation Piper was so keen on her using. No time for her PTSD; for voices or flashbacks. They needed a plan, and they needed one now.

"Go in my dresser." She said simply, a hand now over her heart. Her head was spinning and she felt as though her world was about to come crashing down.

It came as a surprise that she wasn't handling the situation calmly. Most of her life, now, had been spent trying to protect herself; from bullies during her early childhood, from the police during her international drug lord days, from screwing up a drug run and having to face Kubra. The list simply went on and on.

Alex Vause had only ever wanted to feel safe, protected, and that had been ripped away from her; even in prison.

The blonde slid open the top drawer of their dresser, shifting around the contents to search for whatever it was that Alex expected her to find. While she had expected to find another handgun, a grenade, something intense and peculiar that her wife thought they needed for no reason, she pulled out two small booklets.

"Al, what-" she began, as her fingers flipped through the pages. "Passports?"

Piper cocked her head to the side and shot Alex a look. She had misplaced her passport at Larry's, and had never gone back to get it. This also was definitely not her passport photo. She scanned her eyes across the page, reading the details of which were clearly not hers.

"Madison?" She scoffed, seemingly forgetting that this was an urgent matter.

"Just grab the fucking passports." Alex ordered, her voice strict and harsh. She was very matter of fact right now. They didn't have the time to waste.

While Alex didn't think Kubra would let his men make such a commotion, and risk getting caught, she also knew that nothing was out of the ordinary for him. Even if he'd been sent just to scare her, they needed to leave and quickly at that.

Alex pushed back her long back hair, that had no been drenched in sweat from the panic of her nightmare, and dropped to the floor. She reached an arm under the bed only to pull out a metal box, locked by a combination on the front. She knew her wife would be frustrated with all the things she'd hidden from her, but she also knew that Piper wouldn't have been understanding.

Back in prison, Alex had driven herself insane worrying about Kubra getting to her, and though it turned out that he had in fact sent someone after her, someone who later tried to murder her on prison property, she still had the fear that Piper wouldn't believe her, that Piper would reassure her that they were safe.

That was lovely to hear, but Alex wasn't safe. She would never be safe again.

Alex's fingers trailed along the dials, her hands so shaky that she needed to redo the combination three times for the case to open. Inside was a few thousand dollars of cash, in multiple currencies, and another handgun. Alex crumpled the cash in her hand before cramming it in her bra.

"We don't need have time to pack. We need to go." She told her wife, who was standing there with her jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

"Al, really, it could've just been someone pissed that we parked on the street." Piper tried to reassure her, attempting to find any reason for the pounding other than that there was a hitman there to murder the both of them. "Are you sure?"

Even Piper, who liked to avoid the possibility of this all being true, was afraid at this point. All the preperations Alex had in place were opening her eyes to the fact that this was a very real, and very dangerous, possibility. "Like, can't we just call the police."

Alex threw her head back, and chuckled unintentionally. "The police?" She said, a brow raised, "Piper, when has the justice system ever worked in our favor? Not to mention that I'm a felon standing here with two handguns. We leave, now. We don't wait. We don't see how it plays out. We don't take chances. We take our shot now to leave. We might not get another chance."

The harshness in Alex's voice hit her deeply, sending chills down her spine. This was real, and they were in danger.

"Whatever you say." Piper nodded quickly, the panic hitting her on a much deeper level now.

Alex quickly dug through her dresser, and tossed Piper an outfit, before fishing one out for herself also. Though they didn't have time, they'd certainly draw attention leaving the house in their underwear.

She slid into some black jeans and a t-shirt, stopping herself from checking out her wife as she got dressed. Admiring Piper's body was what Alex did best, but certainly not if it was going to put them in danger.

Alex leaned against the wall and peered from behind the curtain, scanning the alley behind their house carefully. A dark skinny road with one twitching street light; a couple of dumpsters, the occasional street rat, and a few misplaced shopping carts. It seemed safe enough; at least as safe as a sketchy back road could be.

"Keep the gun close, Pipes. This isn't a joke." she warned. The woman stuck her own handgun into the waistband of her jeans. Her shaky fingers trailed along the glass and up to the lock, struggling to pull it open. "Fuck come on." she stressed, her heart rate picking up. It was their only way out. "Fuck!"

Alex's own heart was pounding out of her chest as she struggled, feeling stuck in the moment. Her breathing was staggered and weak, as if someone had wrapped their hands around her neck and was ringing the oxygen out of her lungs like water out of a wet towel. Sneaking out of her fire escape in the middle of the night with a gun strapped to her hip was far from ideal, but not even being able to escape was worse.

Alex had felt trapped plenty of times in her life; felt the danger of the situation, feared for her safety. This feeling wasn't unusual, but she'd never get used to it. "Please for the love of god." Alex begged.

The level opened with a pop, the force nearly enough for Alex to stumble. She quickly slid up the window, and motioned for Piper to climb out onto the fire escape.

"I'm so fucking sorry I got you into this mess." Alex said, her eyes welling up with tears once again. She swung her legs over the edge of the windowsill, and slid out onto their fire escape, groaning as the rusty metal shook beneath her feet.

"I knew what I was signing up for." Piper replied, planting a hurried kiss onto her lips.