Visiting Hours

Summary – Snapshots of the visits Lindsay receives over her fifteen years in prison - because she's not as alone as she thinks.

Author's Note – I believe that this is the first Line of Duty fanfiction ever, so that's awesome... Well, this was born because I was a little disappointed that we never got a Lindsay/Dryden scene. It spiralled and well, this is the result – it isn't what I originally planned, but I quite like it.

This fic is going to be a series of interconnected two-shots, set over the fifteen years Lindsay spends in prison and those people who chose to come and visit her. The first part will focus on the visitor – for example, this chapter focuses on Helen Dryden, Mike's wife, during her visit to Lindsay in prison. The second part will focus on Lindsay and her reactions to the visit afterwards. There will be about fifteen two-shots so about thirty chapters overall, if all goes to plan. I hope this makes sense...

And here we go...I hope you enjoy.

DISCLAIMER – I own nothing. (Except the mistakes, all of them are mine!)

One – Helen Dryden

She's never been in a prison before. She's never even been inside a police station, which is more than a little surprising because her husband was a police officer for more than three decades, Helen Dryden thinks to herself as she hands her handbag over to the watchful prison officer. The woman searches roughly through the bag as Helen passes through the metal detector. It doesn't go off, not that she was expecting it to. The officer hands her the bag back, waving her on through.

Clutching her handbag to her like a lifeline, Helen takes a few steps further into the room. She takes a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves – not even sure why she has come, and with no clue what she's going to say. A strip of glass separates the prisoners and their visitors and Helen realises that she's the only person, bar the officer – who looks utterly bored, standing in the furthest corner possible – in the entire room. Taking another breath, Helen crosses to a chair and sits down, swallowing the urge to cut and run before the prisoner turns up.

But the need for answers overwhelms the urge to run.

Helen sits in silence, nervously twiddling her thumbs, waiting. It's nearly five minutes later that the door on the other side of the glass swings open and the prisoner enters, flanked by prison officers. She finds herself drawn to the stranger's face, with its tired eyes and pale cheeks.

The woman sits down opposite her, her hands resting on the table in front of her. Neither of them know what to say – even Helen, who had requested the meeting. "Well," The woman on the other side of the glass says, quietly, before sighing. "I can't say I was expecting this," she adds, softly, a long, silent moment later.

"Neither..." Helen breaks off, her mouth dry, her tongue glued to the top of her mouth. She gives a short cough. "Neither was I." It's the truth; Helen hadn't expected any of what has unfolded over the last three months, her carefully controlled life slowly spiralling out of her reach.

No matter how prepared she had thought she was for this visit, Helen is painfully aware how vulnerable she feels, facing this woman through the glass. The stranger's gaze keeps darting around the room, as if she's unsure where to look. Helen realises that she never thought that a woman like the one across from her could ever nearly ruin her life like she had.

She has such a forgettable face.

"Lindsay," the woman says, hurriedly. "It's my name." Helen's eyes dart back up to Lindsay's face, with weary eyes and drawn features, but only for a second. "Though I'm sure you already know that. Seeing as it was at your request we're here." The other woman gives a short, sharp, humourless laugh. "I thought maybe we should introduce ourselves."

"You know who I am," Helen replies, coldly, unsure what game the other woman is playing.

Lindsay sighs, rubbing her face with both of her hands. "What do you what, Mrs Dryden? Or should I call you Helen?" She's being sarcastic, and she's angry too, Helen notes – though, if she were in her position, Helen reasons she would be too.

"Mrs Dryden is satisfactory," Helen replies, icily.

"Ms Denton, then, thank you," the other woman shoots back, matching Helen's tone beat for beat. "I'm guessing Mike doesn't know you're here?"

"Does it matter?"

"No...no, not really," Lindsay admits, after a pause. "How did you find out?" Even though the other woman doesn't specify, Helen instantly knows what she's talking about. "Mike didn't tell you."

She reaches into her handbag and picks out a newspaper clipping and sets in down on the desk. Lindsay leans forward in her seat, straining her eyes to read the writing. Helen cannot even bear to read the headline, but forces herself to, so she can remind herself why she is here.

'Disgraced ex-DCC hit by second scandal', it reads. Her eyes flick to the next line, which makes for even more cheerful reading - 'Ex-copper had five year affair with former colleague.'

"I woke up to that two weeks after Mike resigned. Someone leaked the story to the press. As you can imagine, my morning was ruined."

"My name isn't mentioned," Lindsay points out, quietly.

Helen reaches into her bag again and pulls out another clipping, placing it next to the other one. This one's headline is 'EXCLUSIVE: Scandal-hit ex-copper's mistress was corrupt ambush cop.' Helen watches as Lindsay can't finish the article, getting half way through before looking away in embarrassment and disgust. "This appeared about a week later." Shaking her head, Helen studies the face of her husband's ex-lover, wondering what he ever saw in the pale, pasty faced woman who is looking back at her.

It's then that Helen plucks the worst clipping out of her handbag, setting in on the table and watching with slight curiosity as the woman on the other side of the glass is unable to keep her gaze away for long. Lindsay reads the headline slowly, but this time, she can't even start the article. This doesn't surprise Helen. The story doesn't really show her in a very good light, if she's being honest.

The headline reads 'Ex-DCC forced lover to have abortion'.

"This came out about a month later," Helen says into the tense silence.

Helen can see the pain written on Lindsay's face even before the other woman breaks the silence."Why are you doing this?" She manages to get out, her voice strangled and strained. "What good will it do you?"

"I want answers," Helen replies, coolly, her tone completely level. When the other woman doesn't answer, Helen starts gathering up the clippings and is putting them in her handbag when Lindsay speaks up.

"You've read the stories, you know Mike," she says, her voice quiet, and Helen realises that the article about the abortion has really unsettled her. "He isn't the saint everyone thinks he is, Mrs Dryden."

Helen's face sets in a scowl. "I know my own husband, thank you very much," she hits back in reply. "He says the baby, it wasn't his."

"Well then he's lying," Lindsay counters. "Plain and simple."

The room lapses into an uncomfortable silence, neither sure quiet what to say.

It's Helen who breaks it, needing to speak, needing answers, "He never cared about you."

"I realised that. A long time ago," Lindsay replies. "He promised me he'd leave you and I was an idiot and believed him." Helen can hear the bitterness in the other woman's tone. Lindsay's words are the first thing she's said during the meeting that have actually surprised Helen. "Didn't know that, did you?" The other woman says, softly. "I loved him too." Even though she had been expecting words along these lines the whole meeting, they still hurt. "What I fool I've been," she adds, softly, after a long pause, and Helen can hear the weariness in the other woman's voice. "What fools he's made of both of us." Helen nearly misses Lindsay's next remark, she's speaking so quietly, but she just catches it and it stings.

"Mike hasn't made a fool of me," she says, coldly.

"Really? Because that's what it looks like from where I'm sitting." Lindsay sighs again. "Mike never cared about anything apart from his job and whoops, that's gone now, isn't it? How long do you think it'll take before he gets bored of you and finds someone else - someone younger, someone prettier...?" Lindsay trails off, her words having the desired effect.

"You should remember which side of the glass you're sitting on, Ms Denton," Helen hits back, icily, anger lacing her words with intent.

"Oh, I know which side I'm on," Lindsay replies, softly.

Neither woman says anything for a very long time after that.

"I hope you and Mike are very happy together." The sarcasm is obvious in her voice, as Lindsay looks at her with a piercing, icy stare. "He deserves someone as cold as you."

"But at least I'm not a criminal," Helen retorts, calmly. "An abortion was the best thing for the child, in my opinion, with you as its mother." Helen can see her words have had the desired effect, riling the other woman, making her angrier than Helen has seen her the whole meeting.

She knows her words are on the harsh side, but she doesn't care – this is the woman who had an affair with her husband for five years, why should she feel pity for her? Why should she be nice to her husband's former mistress? "What are you in here for again? Oh, yes, conspiracy to murder. Four police officers were murdered, Ms Denton, all on your head."

Lindsay doesn't reply, too stunned at Helen's callous words to form a decent retort.

"Don't you think I know that?" She hisses in return.

"I'm sure you do," Helen replies, evenly.

She stands up, giving Lindsay a final, cold stare, having got all the answers she wants. Her husband's ex-mistress puts her head in her hands, and though she thinks that maybe she should, Helen doesn't even feel a twinge of pity for the woman on the other side of the glass.

Without another word, Helen Dryden leaves.

...

Thank you for reading. Reviews would be lovely – the second part should be up soon, explaining how Lindsay feels after Helen's visit!