Disclaimer: I don't own the show or characters. All I own is the writing and story.
Updated Author's Note: After watching the entire new season, and being left somewhat disappointed, I've decided to go forth with turning this into a little collection of one-shots that are inspired by season six...or in better words, I'm writing what I wish would have happened. Why can't the writers see that Lorna and Nicky deserve to be happy together? I'm so frustrated with that, I need to fix it for myself. And thank you to all the people who've reviewed this; I appreciate that highly :) Obviously, this first one-shot is just a prediction of what I thought (wanted) to happen. The rest will be to make what happened better...in my opinion.
Author's Note: This little one-shot was, obviously, inspired by the season six trailer. Probably not even close to what will happen in it but I guess what I wish would. Also, as a side note, I wrote the majority of this today with a 100-degree fever so if the writing is shit, that's why. I'll check it over tomorrow and make changes if need be. Anyway, feel free to review. I appreciate those. Thanks.
Challenging Fate
Three days felt like an eternity. Aside from the time she was forced to spend in max, Nicky never went even a day without seeing Lorna. That made the three days that much harder to go through—sure, she had Red and the family, but the lurking thought of Lorna's having no one was what made the time away so painful. She knew, from experience, that Lorna didn't fare well on her own. She couldn't imagine what this must have been doing to the petite brunette that she so desperately loved.
When she first caught glimpse of the Italian beauty—just hours later as she and all the other women from the Litchfield bunker were brought over to the max prison—her heart sank miserably in her chest. Something was not exactly right, she immediately came to realize. Even from afar, Nicky could easily see the healing bruise that sat right above Lorna's nose and the solemn mien walloping in her brown orbs. Her chest tightened; she didn't remember the last time she'd seen the brunette look that disheveled.
A long row of bars, sitting in the middle of the room, separated them. Nicky loathed that. She wanted to reach out and pull Lorna to her—it made her chest ache heavily that she couldn't do much for the woman she longed to spend the rest of her life with. "Hey, Vause," she whispered, tapping on the woman's arm in front of her as they waited in line to be processed into the system.
When blue eyes turn to glance puzzlingly into her own, Nicky moved her hand to gesture towards Lorna—who seemed too oblivious to notice the line of new inmates. "Do ya see the bruise on her face?" Her teeth grit together in a slowly building anger. To think that someone had the nerve to hurt Lorna—oh, did it make her blood bubble beneath her skin.
"Hmm," Alex muttered, squinting her eyes to get a good look at the petite woman on the other side. She searched her face for what Nicky saw and could just barely find a faint bruise. "Right on her nose? It's hard to see from here but yeah, I think you're right. Bet it was one a the guards or something. Sick. What reason would they have to be forceful with Lorna? I can't imagine she'd put up a fight."
Nicky shook her head fiercely and, without realizing, tightened her grasp on the taller woman's shoulder. "They better pray that's all they did to her—god, if they hurt her—" She covered her mouth to stop herself from blurting out Lorna's pregnancy.
Arching an eyebrow, Alex turned to look at her with intrigued eyes. "Why'd ya stop mid-sentence, Nichols? What were ya gonna say?"
"If I tell you, ya gotta keep this between us…for now," the redhead reluctantly stated, not wanting to lie—something she gave up prior to being locked up—while also not wanting to blab Lorna's private life to anyone without her consent. Seeing Alex slowly nod, Nicky deemed it safe to continue. "I made Lorna surrender because she's pregnant. I didn't believe her and, so, she took a test—a whole drawer full to be exact and there's no lie about it. She's really pregnant, Vause. So, if those guards fucking hurt her enough to harm her pregnancy…I'll kill them."
"Ya gotta watch what ya say in here, Nicky…don't need to get any more time on your sentence," Alex reminded her, looking around to make sure none of the Cos were in earshot of them. She sighed, though, at the information delivered. Shocked that Lorna could end up pregnant behind bars—and how that must have made Nicky feel, she couldn't even imagine.
"One time with Vinny and she's knocked up? Damn. How do ya feel about her having his baby? Shit, if Piper ever ended up pregnant with Larry's baby—I don't think I could be with her. But I mean, I guess those are two completely different stories. I assume Lorna's over the moon?"
Biting the inside of her mouth out of nervous habit, Nicky shut her eyes in thought. It wasn't the most thrilling thing for her to hear that the woman she loved was carrying a baby inside of her; however, she couldn't disregard how blissful it made Lorna to finally get the family she envisioned for so long. If there was one thing she wouldn't do that would be to sacrifice Lorna's happiness for her own. As detrimental as that might be to her own well-being, Nicky knew the love she had for Lorna was too strong to rationalize with.
"It's not like I blame her, Vause. For fuck's sake, he is her husband—an asshole husband at that. He better be there to help her or I'll make life hell for him," the redhead vehemently whispered, her teeth gritting together in anger. She inhaled a sharp breath and shook her head. "Yeah, it's not something I'm happy about…but I love Lorna so much and I know having a baby is her dream."
With a light chuckle, Alex gave a friendly pat to the shorter inmate's shoulder and looked admirably down into her big orbs. "Lorna's lucky to have a person like you who loves her that much. Hopefully she'll come to her senses one day and admit that she feels the same way about you, Nicky. It's pretty obvious that she does—she musta settled for Vinny outta fear of being alone or somethin'."
Finally processed into the system, many hours later, Nicky went on a search for her favorite petite Italian. It left a dreary sensation in her mouth to be back in there—in max—after only a few weeks. However, at least the people she cared for were with her this time. The only thing that kept her going. Freedom was not the same here; she saw a guard standing at merely every corner—"monitoring" the behavior. She shook her head. They weren't here to help anyone, she knew, all they wanted was to make everyone suffer more. Something that made her fear heavily for Lorna's safety. She couldn't imagine the small Italian being felt up by a CO—the thought, alone, had a shiver run down her spine.
It was when she walked past the bathroom that a tiny—familiar—whimper alerted Nicky to where she'd find Lorna. Cautiously, she entered inside and followed the heartrending sound of cries to the back of the room where the showers were located. The sight before her instilled her with both a fiery rage and overbearing protectiveness. "Who the fuck are you and what the hell do ya think you're doing to Lorna?" The questions spat out of her mouth as she hurriedly yanked the unfamiliar blonde woman off of a largely shaken-up Lorna.
"Bitch tried to steal my blanket—I ain't fond of thieves," the blonde woman yelled back, blue eyes glaring menacingly over the two others. She folded her arms irritatingly over her chest, observing closely. "Who are you, huh? I don't think I've seen you here before. This little red-lipped slut your old-time prison bang buddy, yeah?"
"You better back the fuck outta here, shrimp. And leave Lorna the hell alone, hear me? Insult her again or even try to hurt her, I'll ruin ya for good," Nicky growled, her arms wrapped protectively tight around the brunette's waist while her eyes pierced bitterly towards the inmate across from her.
"Aw, looks like I hit a nerve," the short inmate chuckled, a smirk displayed on her plump face. "Listen here, junkie bitch, no one tells me what to do. If I wanna tease your little girlfriend, I will. You don't like it, too damn bad. I can kick your ass all the way across the planet—I ain't afraid a you."
Nicky held her breath, watching intently to make sure the other was completely out of the room before proceeding to comfort the obviously distressed woman in her arms. She shook her head as a way to help disintegrate some of the anger. To see someone pin Lorna up against the wall so callously, it brought a chill over her. She couldn't contain how infuriated such a sight made her.
"Nicky," the brunette cried out, her arms holding tight around her neck. She lifted her head slightly, almost fearful that this was all just an illusion—that the redhead was only a figment of her imagination. "Are, are ya really here? I-I was so scared that we would never see each other again."
Stroking a soft kiss atop her forehead, Nicky cupped her hands softly around Lorna's tear-brimmed cheeks. The other's words were thoughts that ran through her mind as well after she told the younger woman to surrender herself. If that were the case, she would have never forgiven herself for willingly letting go of her one true love. "I'm really here, baby. And so are you. We're here together," she murmured the last sentence warmly against the other's ear.
"I don't like it here."
"I know, baby, it's scarier here. Everyone's meaner and ready to fight over the stupidest shit. Like that fuckin' little blonde bimbo bitch. What did she do to ya, kid? She hurt ya?"
Lorna swallowed thickly as she gave a small nod. The new living quarters weren't nearly the same as in Litchfield—something she feared. If her cell-mate wanted to slowly suffocate her in the middle of the night, no one would even hear. "All I did was take the laundry outta the bag and put her blanket on her bed. I don't know why she thinks I was stealing it…I wouldn't do that, Nicky. And now, she just hates me. I-I don't know what to do—God, it feels like I'm back in high school again," she mumbled, eyes looking blankly ahead at the faded-out walls.
Tilting her head intuitively, Nicky brushed the palm of her hand lightly along the side of her face. She nodded. "I know you wouldn't. You're not a mean person—don't have a mean bone in your body, kid," her lips stroked over the crown of Lorna's head. A small sigh escaped her; she wrapped arms tighter around the brunette, pulling her to rest against her. "You just ignore her, okay? She's obviously jealous of how sweet and cheerful you are. Why else would she try to get a reaction outta ya? I'm here now, Lorna, I'm gonna protect ya from that bitch."
Shaking her head sadly, Lorna felt a lonesome tear slowly creep along her cheek. "Haven't had much reason to be cheerful lately. The only thing that's been getting me through the days is thinking that maybe you'd show up…and I'm so glad ya did, hon. I-I've really missed you," her voice broke, arms clinging desperately to the older woman.
"I kinda noticed ya looked a little down…This morning when we were getting processed, I kinda saw ya through the bars—could easily tell something was bothering you. What's the matter? And the bruise on your nose—baby, who did that to you? Was it that bitch cell-mate a yours or did that happen when ya surrendered yourself?"
The question immediately had Lorna erupt into a fit of uncontrollable sobs. "They pushed me to the ground, Nicky, and I'm pretty sure that made my nose brake…but that—that's not even the worst part."
Nicky held her breath, loathing what Lorna might be about to inform her with. She gently smothered her head in soft kisses to help soothe some of the pain. Her arms enveloped tight around her waist, hoping to provide her with any amount of comfort she could. "What else did they do? It's okay, doll. Don't be afraid to tell me. I'm here to protect you."
"I-I lost the baby, Nicky," Lorna's sobs picked up; she buried her face in the taller woman's chest. The thought of never getting to meet the child she created—her heart felt empty and numb. She couldn't go through that right now.
It tore a hole in her heart to hear how broken and traumatized the brunette was. Something she had always dreamt of—always talked about to her and now, that dream was whisked—so cruelly—from her grasp. Oh, Nicky thought, how she wanted to kill the COs who did this to Lorna. "You had a miscarriage? Oh, Lorna…baby, I'm so sorry. I know how happy you were to be pregnant and I can't, I can't imagine how much grief this has given ya. But I want you to know that you have me. You have me to help ya through this. Whatever you need, angel, you just tell me."
Swallowing uncomfortably, Lorna slightly pulled away and let her brown orbs look sadly up into the other's. She shook her head solemnly. "No, Nicky, I-I don't wanna drag ya into my problems anymore. You-you don't deserve that, hon. I needa figure this out on my own…it's not fair for you to be pulled down with me, ya know? I-I'm so sorry for always managing to do that, Nicky. I love you. That's why I don't wanna—"
"Enough," Nicky firmly interrupted, pressing her lips very delicately over Lorna's to quiet her. She held her hands lovingly around the other's face, gazing lovingly into her eyes. "I love you, Lorna. I wanna be with you and help ya through all of this. You need me to help you. You can't deal with this on your own, baby. Especially on top of having this bully cell-mate—you can't be going through either of those things without someone who loves you—as much as I doo—by yourself."
She gave a small smile down towards the petite Italian, stroking a kiss against the flesh of her cheek. "We'll survive this hellhole of a prison, my baby, together."
