Allie Novak, sent on a mission by the woman she could only wish was her mother, tried to keep her emotions in check as she sauntered down the concrete halls towards H1. Allie ignored the voices coming from the adjacent cells; their volume nowhere near as loud as the thumping of her own heart, daring her footsteps to keep up the pace.
She was about to meet Bea Smith in person, the woman she idolized, if not downright worshiped. Oh, would she worship her. The thought alone sending Allie's stomach into another frenzy.
Although Bea admittedly had no clue she even existed, Allie believed she understood Bea better than most. She too ached for revenge, finding out too late that it never accomplishes what you think it will. The past is still the past, and her future will now be caged.
Regardless, once you've been trampled on too many times, once you can no longer remain a doormat, there is no going back. "I am woman, hear me roar" becomes more than an anthem, it becomes a way of life.
For Allie, that point came when Kaz cleaned her up and showed her a different path. Kaz easily fell into her role of leader as the two rounded up like-minded women and formed the Red Right Hand, what the news would later call a violent vigilante group against domestic violence. Their mission was clear: eliminate the world of men who think they can beat women into submission. Men who really aren't men at all.
The RRH started quietly, hiding in the shadows, picking targets from a list Allie compiled of the worst of her former johns. Men who couldn't just take what was offered, what Allie's desperation had put on the table for them. No, they weren't satisfied until part of Allie's soul seeped out along with her blood, sweat, and tears.
Those men were monsters, and Allie had no remorse when it was their blood that ran. Nor did she object when Kaz decided the Red Right Hand needed credit for their actions. Someone had to make an example of these men, why not their survivors?
The RRH knew plenty of women in dire situations, and though Allie understood despair and the reasons behind Bea's initial act of self defense, she had seen it all before. There were too many men like Harry, Bea's good for nothing husband, and everyone hits their breaking point. Allie didn't grasp the idea of Bea Smith being anything special, until the mother's dramatic escape from Wentworth to end the life of one Brayden Holt.
Bea, and Bea alone, ensured justice for Debbie that wouldn't have otherwise come. Harry apparently couldn't be bothered though his conscience was far from clear. Bea slashing her own wrists, with little to no self regard, set the stage that allowed her to seek vengeance for her daughter. Civilized society would say her methods were all wrong, but few could deny the efficiency of her actions, and even less would mourn the loss of the evil that existed within the Holt family.
For the same reason, Allie didn't grieve when she learned of Harry's murder months after, and she knew Bea wouldn't either. His body might lay six feet under, but his soul went much further south. In the end, neither Bea nor the RRH was responsible for Harry's death, an unfortunate fact in Allie's eyes. She would have gladly took the honor. One could say she agreed wholeheartedly with Kaz's public declaration of her love for Bea Smith.
Allie's devotion to Bea and the cause allowed her to focus on something besides the drugs. She had been clean for a while, though the symptoms were similar to what she felt now, seconds away from meeting her own personal hero.
Allie's blood pressure rose with each breath she took. Quit fangirling, you haven't even seen her yet, she chided as she stuck her sweaty palms into her hoodie pocket, taking the final steps to stand in the doorway of Wentworth's Queen.
Then for one glorious moment all she could do was stare. Even from a distance, Allie felt the atmosphere change, the air being sucked from her lungs, flooding the stillness of the room. A tornado couldn't have ripped her eyes away. There, behind a rickety table, Bea leaned above her crew, arms crossed, head cocked to the side, thick red curls cascading down her back. She was listening intently as her friends carried on about conjugal visits and other free-time activities.
Too soon, Bea straightened out, and caught Allie's stare with an intense one of her own. Before Allie lost herself in Bea's gaze, she stole her breath back and stepped forward. You can do this.
"Hey," she drawls out, gaining the attention of all five women. "I'm Allie Novak." She was met with complete silence, and a look on Bea's face urging her to get to the point. Right. "Uh, Kaz wants to see you."
Bea's eyes tightened, body visibly tense as she looked to her right. The trans woman Maxine, Allie thought, explains, "Bea doesn't see anyone, love. If Kaz wants to meet, she comes to Bea, okay?" Bea continued to glare, never moving from her spot.
"Okay, sure, but when and where?" Allie chuckled nervously, but had to insist. She couldn't go back to Kaz empty handed. The woman who loved her as her own was intense to say the least. She had yet to be on the woman's bad side, and didn't intend to start today.
Bea swelled up, before quickly backing down when Allie didn't step any closer. "Laundry at the change over."
Allie turned away without a word. One quick look back was all she dared before she darted out of the cell.
At change over, Allie stood alongside Kaz and the rest of their crew, waiting for Bea. Kaz has been on the warpath since the RRH's arrest, convinced Bea lagged, though Allie had her doubts. Why would Bea give them a job and then have them arrested before it was complete? Without proof, Kaz knew better than to make too big of a scene, though she wasn't really known to let things go either.
When Bea strutted through the doors flanked by Maxine and Boomer, the tension in the room grew worse than at a Republican Senator's office, waiting for his mistresses pregnancy test results. All Allie could do was smile. She relied on her smile. Her upbeat exterior hid many things, only a few people caring enough to peel back the layers in an attempt to find the real her.
The sexy smirk on Bea's face as she stood toe to toe with Kaz, distracted Allie from what was being said, though she didn't need to hear, she already knew the gist of it. With no love lost between them, the bottle of alcohol and the way she presented it to Bea was Kaz's way of sucking up to the Top Dog. Allie could think of much better ways to please Bea, like getting under her.
The next time they met, tensions were as high as ever between Kaz and Bea, though the subject of this argument held little concern for Allie. Conjugal visits or not, she had no use for birth control. Allie never enjoyed screwing men, it had been all business, no pleasure. After everything she endured, she knew she would never again willingly lay with a man. She had no such issues about women, especially those named Bea Smith.
Allie chose to ignore the obvious beef between their crews, even as the amount of Bea trashing steadily increased from the leader of the RRH, especially after the beating that transpired between Maxine and the Samoan drug-runner, Tina. Despite her own reservations about the whole situation, Allie couldn't help that her admiration for Bea grew every time she saw the older woman.
The way Bea carries herself demands respect, and Allie can feel the undercurrents of repressed sexual energy radiating off her. Thinking of Will Jackson potentially getting to experience Bea in all her glory did not settle well with Allie, not one little bit.
Her infatuation had neared its peak by the time Allie saw Bea alone in the shower, steam rising as fast as Allie's internal temperature. She couldn't resist peeking around the slightly open curtain. Damn, God sure made women the most beautiful creatures of all. Allie couldn't stop leering until Bea caught her and jerked the curtain closed.
Knowing better than to encroach on Bea's territory, Allie skipped a stall before she stepped into her own shower, stealing glances at an unamused Bea over the short walls. Allowing the water to cascade down her face and into her mouth, Allie was only slightly surprised when her own curtain flung open, and Bea stepped into her personal space.
Allie's eyes trailed down Bea's body on their own accord, disappointed to find her covered by a towel, not so disappointed in the cleavage that protruded.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" Bea demands predictably, missing the real point behind Allie's inability to look away from the most enticing woman she's ever met. "Do you have a problem with me?" Bea challenged.
Allie gulps, but stands her ground, half smirking as she replies, "No, just a bit disappointed. I always thought you'd do your own dirty work."
The vision of Maxine bashing Tina, regardless of the reason was hard to stomach. She had no problems with the T of LGBT, its just years of being beaten by men Maxine's size, left her with a bad taste towards ill-matched fights, or bashings as the case may be. Confident she had the last word, Allie turned towards the onslaught of water.
She felt Bea lunge behind her before she heard her grunts. Having weighed the merits of provoking the Top Dog, Allie made a few miscalculations. Mainly, underestimating Bea's temper and the tenacity needed to hold such a position.
Allie's face smashed into the hard tiles with a resounding splat. Bea's soft skin contrasting with the hard muscles rippling behind her, sending shock-waves down Allie's body. Allie knew violence, knew when the person needed to beat her down to size, yet this felt different. Allie wasn't sure why exactly, but fear was the last thing she felt towards the woman behind her, even as her eyebrow swelled, and bloods familiar warmth began to pool.
"Do you want me to bash you, huh, is that what you want?" Bea muttered in her ear, lips grazing the outer-shell, her grip against Allie unrelenting.
The normal pulsing between Allie's legs, always present when Bea was close enough for any of Allie's senses to kick in, began to throb. "Is this making you wet?" Allie chokes out, knowing her own answer, desperate for Bea to acknowledge the same.
Bea's shock lessened her hold, and Allie used the opportunity to push herself off the wall and spin towards Bea. The steady shower stream kept the blood from her eye, so her battle wounds were easy enough to ignore under the otherwise pleasant feeling of being naked with Bea Smith. Allie did the only thing she could think of, the only thing she'd been thinking of, and began to drop to her knees, intent on burying her face in the woman before her.
She reached out for Bea, wanting to grab handfuls of that ass to pull her close, only for her hands to be smacked away as Bea yelled, "What the fuck?"
Bea glared, longer than what's necessary for someone so apparently appalled, before grabbing her towel and stomping out of the shower.
For her part, Allie stayed in place, unable to stop the smirk that spread. It wasn't going to be easy, but one day she would worship at the altar of Bea Smith.