The table was set. Candles were lit.
Everything was ready for their first dinner in their new apartment.
The only thing missing was her wife. Alex's wife.
She never got tired of hearing that.

Alex had spent hours slaving over the stove in their tiny apartment as a thank you for all that Piper had done while she was away. Alex lived to cook, especially for her wife. The time she spent in the kitchen had always been her zen time, a way to relax, although it rarely looked like it. Cooking for her meant going with the flow. Their kitchen showed; with pots, pans, and ingredients thrown all over the place. She never knew how to clean up as she went. Piper had always given her shit for it before. While Alex was much more a free spirit, Piper liked when everything had a place. Just like everything else in their relationship, nothing came easy; but they were doomed to be together. Luckily for Alex, she was sure her wife wouldn't even notice the mess. Especially since she'd prepared her mother's famous lasagna. Diane had made it for Piper the first time they'd gone to visit, in between one of their 'world traveling trips'. Piper had talked about that lasagna for weeks straight afterwards. Still, years later, she brought it up from time to time. Diane had always been an incredible cook. She was the one who originally taught Alex in the first place. Some of Alex's favorite memories with her mother were made in the kitchen. They always made do with what they had, and Diane was able to stretch an already small grocery budget into a week's worth of phenomenal meals. Alex had spent the entire time she was cooking holding back tears. It took a lot to break Alex Vause, but smelling her mother's cooking had her right on the edge. God, she missed her.

Alex wiped a tear from her eye and leaned up against the counter. 6:00 perfect timing she thought, as she listened to Piper's keys jingle in the lock. Piper was in for quite a treat. The table was filled with tons of delicious food; lasagna, garlic bread, and an amazing antipasta salad. What looked even better though was her wife, leaning up against the counter dressed head to toe in black lingerie. She had gone all out for her wife; a full lace black teddy that plunged at the neckline all the way to her belly button, thigh high black stockings, and a garter belt to match. Alex considered heels too, but she was already 5'10 and they didn't really need anything else to take off. There was no better way that she could think of to christen their new apartment.

Alex had spent the entire day preparing for their night together. She'd taken the subway so many times she had to refill her metrocard twice. She'd been to two farmers markets uptown, a grocery store downtown, and basically every single store in between. With Piper working for Cal, she had nothing else to do with herself. Alex Vause, a housewife. Never in a million years did she see this coming. Hell, she never imagined spending 5 years in a federal prison either. The rest of her day had been spent browsing for a job, although she ran into two major problems. The first one being that she was a registered felon; which far narrowed down her options. Many fast food chains wouldn't have even given her a chance. The second issue was that Alex Vause had never done anything other than what she was good at. She had been recruited by Kubra fresh out of high school, and running an international drug cartel surprisingly had come easy to her. There was no way she could go from being on top of, or quite literally all over, the world to working in a McDonalds. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. They couldn't go back to that. They were a normal couple now; a couple of felons, but as normal as they could be.

"Welcome home." Alex smirked, a small chuckle escaping her lips. The tall brunette was leaning over the counter, posed in just a way that would drive Piper crazy. "Well, I do feel very welcome." Piper said enthusiastically, glancing around the room to take everything in. She could get used to this; coming home to her wife. Oh, plus the lingerie and dinner too. It had been a lonely past few years. Piper had spent a year back at home with her parents, but that was all she could handle. It made coming home to an empty apartment seem like the most inviting thing in the world. She almost stayed with Cal; but he and his wife were on baby number three and it was nothing but chaos. Being by herself was exactly the opposite though. It was silent; lonely. Although their apartment was filled with old photos of the two, it had been just her this whole time. Nobody to watch TV with, eat dinner with, snuggle up next to at night. Plus no more sex. She had missed that part big time. Despite Alex's fears, her wife had remained faithful. My vow is to wait for you. Piper hadn't so much as even looked at a girl in the past four years.

Damn Piper thought, closing her eyes for a second trying to make a mental note. It took all she had in her to not beg Alex to fuck her right there on the counter. "How was your day? You didn't have to do all of this." Piper said, adjusting her stance uncomfortably. She planted a kiss on her wife's lips and tried to catch her breath.

"You seem to be enjoying it." Alex remarked, pecking her lips once again. "Did you see what I made you? Pipes?" She chuckled, snapping her fingers in front of Piper's face. "Dinner's over here, babe. You can eat me for dessert."

Piper blushed and brought her hands up over her face. Alex took her wife by the hand and led her over to the table. "Oh shit, Al. I mean, you look good but," she began, lowering her face to the pan of lasagna, "Diane's lasagna looks even better." She inhaled deeply and let her eyes roll into the back of her head, basically mimicking her exact orgasm face. Touché Alex shrugged, pulling out Piper's chair. This was something completely different than what the pair was used to. Most of their meals spent together were also spent with 198 other inmates; and the entire time Alex had to keep Nicky from eating off of her tray. "I almost feel like it's too quiet to eat." Alex sighted, although that was quickly interrupted by Piper practically moaning over the lasagna. It seemed as though Piper was the one who hadn't had a decent meal in years. Slowly, the awkwardness for Alex of a nice quiet meal drifted off, and the two finally got to be comfortable being themselves together again. They hadn't had a night like this in over 14 years.