Please read here first!

My fanfiction takes place two weeks after the Season 4 finale. It basically picks up where Season 4 left off with Red and Healy as well as some of the other inmates so there will be many spoilers (obviously). I appreciate feedback and even suggestions. Please don't hate on me too much cause this is the first fanfiction I am publishing. Enjoy!

Chapter One:
Downhill

As many people already knew, Galina Reznikov did not truly cook the meals that were served in the cafeteria. With only four measly zuccinis and a few semi-ripe tomatos, the food that was served for lunch at Litchfield came right out of a bag. Red had hoped that things would change in the cafeteria, but all her hopes had been destroyed two weeks back when the prisoners had rebelled against the gaurds. It had only made things worse, specifically the food. Her garden had been destroyed and almost everything that came into the kitchen looked like it was made from mud, intestines, and water mixed together. Many of the inmates had adapted to the disgusting lunches but Red could never truly get used to it.

"I didn't-" Red began, but she was immedietly interupted by Nicky.

"We know, Ma," Nicki complained, "You didn't cook it!"

Red gave Nicky a condemning look before sitting herself down at the table. She passed out the few tomatos that she had saved to the women that sat around her-Nicky, Lorna, Piper, Alex, Norma, Gina, and Freida.

"Oh thank God," Alex said, clutching onto the vegtable as if it were pure gold, "I never thought that I would see one of these again."

Red raised her eyebrows. "Well enjoy it because there aren't many left," she held the tomato tightly in her hand and appreciated it's smooth texture, "I don't know why they can't supply more vegtables. I can't believe they expect me to cook with these bags of filth. It's an embarresment to my years of experience."

The ladies were all used to hearing Red make these complaints, although they agreed completely. It was inhumane.

"Man, this is bullshit!" Taystee's voice yelled from another table, "Red, ain't you got anymore of the toast from breakfast?"

Red felt something get angry inside of her. "No," she sneered in her thickest Russian accent, "They don't give me any real food to work with!" And with that, she slowly stood up on her chair, "People!" her voice rang loudly.

"Get down!" Nicky's voice hissed, but Red paid no attention.

"I can't make you beautiful Russian meals let alone any real food with what they are giving me!" she cried out, shaking her hands in the air, "It's not my food!"

"Inmate!" barked the voice that Red hated so much. Piscatella stomped over to where she stood on her chair. "Do you remember what happened last time you misbehaved!"

Red looked at him, squinting her eyes so that her eye liner looked more fierce than it ever had. "Yes, I'm starting to recall," she replied in a sarcastic tone, "I remember you pushing this defenseless old lady to the floor."

"Down." his voice commanded. "Or you're going straight to SHU."

Red hesitated, then lowered herself back into a seating position, muttering, "I've been trying to get into SHU forever but no one will escort me."

Piscatella stared at her for another long moment before walking back to where he had been standing. She made a noise of disgust to herself.

"You can't let it get to you like that," Lorna chimed in, "We all know you have no control over the meals."

Red didn't care. She stared down at her gross plate of whatever it was that she had taken out of a bag and turned her nose up at it. She hated what Litchfield had come to. It felt so much different than it had been when she arrived many years ago. So much of the love that she had found in her fellow inmates had been overpowered by the unfair treatment and hatred from the gaurds.

After the cafeteria began to clear out, Red and Piper were the last two sitting. Neither of them had bothered to eat anything beside the small tomatoes that had been leftover from the garden before it had gotten destroyed.

"I get it, I really do," Piper sighed, offering Red the only sympathetic words that she could think of.

"I need something to make me feel the passion again-" Red's voice trailed off, "First they give us these bags of slop, and then the garden gets taken away! If I could get my hands on one of those kitchen suppliers, he would never see the light of day again!"

Piper gave Red half a smile. "Can't you ask Healy for a favor? He did get you back into the kitchen, didn't he? Can't he give us something? You know, just our family?"

Red's heart skipped a beat. She hated the fact that she couldn't stay calm at the mention of his name. She wanted to punish herself for it-to tell herself that he meant nothing to her and that she needed to get over the thought of him. But at the same time, she knew that she had too much care for him to just erase him from her mind. He was going through something awful, and she knew he didn't have anyone else who understood him like she did.

"Wait a minute," Piper went on, "He hasn't been here, has he? I haven't seen him here in like two weeks now that I think about it."

Red avoided Piper's gaze, hoping that she would drop the subject. She already found herself wondering about him for most of the other hours that she was awake.

"Do you know where he is?" Piper pressed on, not giving up, "You two are close, right?"

Red tried to answer her in a nonchalant tone, as if it was no big deal. "As far as I know," she began, "He needed to get some help. He was dealing with a crisis with his wife and he felt that he was bad at his job."

Piper's eyes widened. "He told you all of this?"

Red shook her head. "I'm a smart woman, darling," she forced a laugh to hide her genuine concern for Healy, "I could tell that he was struggling without having to ask. Russians are smart like that."

Piper took a deep breath. "Well I never thought I'd say this, but we really need him right now..."

Red felt herself go slightly shaky in her stomach and tingly in her fingertips. No, she tried to tell herself, Healy couldn't solve all of the problems that Litchfield was facing! But she knew deep down that most of her personal troubles would at least lesson if Healy were to return soon. She never had really realized just how comforting it had been over the past two decades to know that he was in the office down the hall. It didn't matter whether the two were being friendly or if they were having one of their entended periods of avoiding one another, just the knowledge that he was in the same building had made her feel like she had a sense of security at the end of the day. But now without him there, things that normally didn't bother her started to get on her nerves. She let all of the gaurds piss her off rather than just ignoring them. She let the other inmates hurt her feelings too rather than just returning their comments with smart and witty comebacks. It was all starting to go to shit.

"I agree," Red suddently stated, her voice softening, "We really do need him back."

The two of them sat there for a long moment. They both were both extremely smart, strong women, but at the center of every strong woman was a soul that needed happiness and love, and Litchfield was headed in the absolute opposite direction. Yes, it was prison, but never had it felt so unlike home.

to be continued...