(Piper's POV)
It was now a few weeks since Lorna and Neri had their kids. Alex and I were still waiting for news of my blood tests from our doctor.
We were currently in Viper showing Lorna the ropes while Polly looked after Joe. Nicky was showing her how to make Alex's signature cocktails since Alex and I had already shown her around. It was during the day, we thought this would be the best time to do it since we didn't open the club until 8PM.
"I can't thank you guys enough for this." Lorna said gratefully. Her and Nicky were behind the bar as Alex and I sat on barstools facing them, a drink each.
I smiled,
"Oh don't worry about it Lorna, what are friends for?"
She smiled back.
"So how's life with a boy Nichols?" Alex asked, chuckling as she took a sip of her drink.
"As hard as I thought it'd be. I'm being reminded on a daily basis of why I'm a lesbian." She said, unamused, which made me choke on my drink as Alex spat her recent sip out in laughter.
"I'm serious! That kid does nothing but piss, shit and cry, sometimes he occasionally laughs but what can I say? He's just too young for my crass humour." She shrugs and wipes away Alex's sprayed drink from the bar counter.
"Trust me, that's a good thing." Lorna scolds Nicky.
"Hey, I'm not his biological mother so I gotta have something!" Nicky defends as we laugh and Lorna tries to hold in her laugh.
"Did someone say mother?" A thick Russian voice from behind said.
"Red?!" All four of us said incredulously in unison as Alex and I turned to face her.
"Hello you four." She smiled and continued to walk towards us, continuing.
"I see you two have been busy since I last saw you in Hawaii." She said to Alex and I.
We smiled and hugged her in turn.
"We have, it's good to see you Red." Alex smiled.
"Yeah Red! It's good to see you!" I also smiled at her.
"Hey ma, we've been busy too you know? And yeah I did say mother, Lorna had a kid, a boy, he's called Joe. He's home right now with Piper's best friend but you can come home with us after we're done here if you wanna see him." Nicky chimed in.
"You two are parents now?!" Red asked, tearing up and hugging Lorna and Nicky at the same time.
"Yeah." Nicky laughed.
"So he's called Joe? As in the slime-ball who ran that God awful place? Caputo?" She asked.
Lorna chuckled,
"Oh no, he's named after my father."
"Oh how wonderful and yes, I would love to see him." She coos.
"So Red, what can we do for you?" Alex asked, smiling.
"And when did you get out?" Nicky added.
"I got out two days ago. Good behaviour. But yes, I came here to ask if you're hiring?" She asked Alex and I.
Alex looked at me as I looked back at her. Our family plans clearly the first thing on both our minds as we contemplated Red's question telepathically.
"Well, yes, there's always room for more help. Do you know how to work a bar?" Alex asked her.
"Please, I'm Russian and I have skills, you knew me in prison, do I need to say anything more?" She asked.
Alex grinned,
"No, you're hired Red."
"Room for one more?" A voice we all knew asked from behind us so we turned to address it.
"Hey Boo!" Nicky grinned and went to hug her prison pal.
When they broke apart, Boo took a seat beside Red who'd sat beside me and asked,
"So, what have I missed?"
"Well, Lorna and I now have a son and the Vauses just hired Red." Nicky told her, going back behind the bar.
"Oh congrats Nichols. A boy. Good luck." She bantered.
"Oh don't you start. Vause has already started making her jokes." Nicky whined, gesturing towards Alex who was smirking into her drink.
Boo laughed,
"But anyway, hey guys, nice to see you again."
"You too Boo, when'd you get out?" I asked her.
"A week ago, I've been looking all over the city for a job then I saw that you two were now famous so thought I'd check your place out." She explained.
"Well, what's your knowledge on bars and/or casinos?" Alex asked her.
"Minimal on bar but have you seen me Vause? I could be security to your new casino over there." She chuckled which Alex smirked back at.
"Okay Boo, you're hired, just keep it professional while you're on the job, you're worse than Nichols when it comes to girls. But she's married now so I don't have to worry about her." She laughed.
"Hey!" Nicky protested.
"Well if it isn't our favourite white people?!" Another familiar voice called out. Taystee, Cindy, Blanca, Flaca and Maritza had also entered the club. It was like a Litchfield reunion.
They too wanted jobs so Alex immediately grinned and hired them all. She put Cindy, Flaca and Maritza on the bar since Cindy had been in prison for theft and Flaca for fraud so the casino maybe wasn't the best place to put them and Maritza was a bartender anyway before she went to prison. Taystee and Blanca joined Boo in the casino.
Suddenly the door opened again and Ruiz walked in.
"Shit, didn't know you two ran this joint." She said.
Alex distinctively got up from her barstool, glaring at Ruiz and stood in front of me.
"So uh, don't suppose I could maybe get a job since we pretty much used to live together?" She cautiously asked.
"No." Alex quickly and curtly stated, still glaring at Ruiz.
"What the fuck Vause? Why? You gave these other bitches jobs!" She protested, gesturing to our other prison friends.
"Why? Because no employee of mine harms my wife and that is that." She growls, reminding Ruiz of the not so little burn she'd given me on my left arm.
"You two got married? I guess I saw that one coming, well congrats and fuck you I guess." She said and walked out again with her tail between her legs.