Six Visits
DISCLAIMER: Bad Girls and all its characters are property of Shed Productions, a division of Shed Media Group, plc. The author implies no ownership of these characters, and they are used in the stories without permission solely for entertainment and not for profit. Similarly this applies to any copyrighted fictional characters either from literature, broadcast media or film.
SUMMARY: Six times Nikki and/or Helen could have been included post S3.
WARNING: If you haven't seen seasons four through seven, I am including a massive amount of spoilers. If you don't plan to watch them, then read on. I'll include a brief summary of the true story-line at the end of the chapter, so you don't get too confused.
ONE: KAREN BETTS
Karen Betts slammed the door shut, barely missing Jim Fenner's fingers. She glared at him, unable to believe the sheer betrayal this man had shown himself to be capable of.
"It wasn't rape!" Jim yelled at her.
Karen didn't bother to crack the window. She started the car and yelled one last time, "I said no!"
With that, she drove away, leaving Jim standing on the kerb. A block later she pulled the car over, too upset to continue driving. She took a shaky breath, cursing herself for her stupidity in going to see Jim the night before. Staying for a drink, giving him a hug. Had she wanted to rekindle their relationship? Had she been looking to sleep with him?
Things hadn't been going so well with Mark Waddle, and despite their differences, Karen and Jim had loved one another once. Jim's troubles at work had led her to his small flat and she'd meant to give him comfort.
Had she given him the wrong signals?
She hadn't stopped him from kissing her.
Karen cursed herself angrily.
She'd said 'no', and she'd meant it. Jim had been drinking, but not drunk. She'd been drinking as well, but she'd clearly told him she didn't want to have sex. That was rape.
As she cursed herself for being so foolish, she couldn't help but remember Helen's words to her, so many months ago.
'He's a misogynistic bastard, Karen.'
She'd ignored everything Helen had ever said against Jim. She'd even torn up Helen's letter of complaint in regards to an attempt at sexual assault. She'd forgotten about Shell Dockley's allegations against Jim, and her firm belief that Dockley had been telling the truth. She'd even felt guilty at confronting the man about his banking details when she'd suspected him of running Virginia O'Kane's brothels, and she suspected that had been entirely accurate as well.
Jim Fenner had been playing her.
'You're too close Karen, you can't see it,' Helen had told her.
She'd been right, and Karen had been too stubborn to admit it.
She sighed unhappily and set her eyes on the horizon. The sun was coming up, and she knew that she wasn't going to go to work. She sent Neil a text message, telling him she was sick, and unfit for duty. With that done, she started the car again, and slowly drove away from Jim's neighbourhood.
Helen had been completely right. Karen had driven herself away from rational thought to side with Fenner, and it had cost her more than she'd ever imagined.
Helen.
Karen's fingers tapped impatiently at the steering wheel. If there was one person in the world that would understand what she was thinking right this minute, it would be Helen.
She'd managed to dig up Helen's address with a little help from a certain well-connected prisoner when she'd been pushing to go through with a sexual harassment charge against Jim earlier in the year. She'd dropped the case, but she could still recall Helen's address. It had stayed in her memory given that Helen lived one street away from where Karen had grown up. She'd recalled the person who had lived in the house, and could picture it in her mind.
It was less than a five minute drive, thanks to the lack of traffic on the streets.
She pulled the car to the kerb in front of Helen's house, and brought up an image of the place as it had been over fifteen years ago. Not much had changed, beyond a new front garden, and a new coat of paint. The garden seemed well loved; flowers and plants lining the edge of the property, and a line of roses trailed up either side of the footpath.
Karen wrapped her coat around her shoulders, and stepped out of the car, locking it behind her. She made her way quickly up the path to the front door and knocked before she had a chance to second guess herself.
She noticed that there were lights on in the kitchen, and wondered if Helen had suddenly become a morning person in the eight months she'd been gone from Larkhall. Karen recalled that the Scottish woman had been constantly late, and never without a cup of takeaway coffee in her hand.
She knocked again, and heard the sound of footsteps. The door opened, and Karen froze in shock as a familiar face peeked out at her.
"Nikki! What the f-"
Nikki couldn't help but laugh. "That's not the first time I've heard that at this door," she said. The laughter faded as she took a good look at Karen, seeing the red eyes and the rumpled hair. "You look done in, why don't you come in out of the cold."
Karen hesitated. This was not at all what she'd been expecting.
"What – what are you doing here?"
Nikki raised an eyebrow. "I live here," she said dryly. "Now come on, I'm freezing my tits off. I've got the kettle on if you want something hot to drink."
"I think I'm going to need something a bit stronger," Karen said, stepping into the house as Nikki closed the door behind her. The house was warm and inviting, the front room was neat, but lived in. Six pairs of shoes were lined up against the wall, smaller sized business shoes next to larger joggers, and boots. A handbag she recognised as belonging to Helen lay abandoned on a nearby table.
"Hmm...scotch, neat," Nikki guessed.
Karen blinked in surprise. Nikki winked. "I'm psychic in my spare time," she said.
Karen followed her into the kitchen, and watched as Nikki poured two fingers of scotch into a short glass. The ex-con made a cup of tea for herself and then directed Karen into the living room, sitting down on the couch, and watching as the prison officer gulped the drink down in three swallows.
"Tell me what happened," Nikki said, her voice soft, but firm.
Karen sighed tiredly. It had been a very long night. "Fenner."
For a woman who had lived nearly four year under Fenner's thumb that simple word and the disdain with which it had been said was enough to let Nikki know that things between Karen and Jim weren't as rosy as they'd once been.
"Did he hurt you?" Nikki asked.
Karen nodded. "He..." she couldn't bring herself to say the words. "I said no."
Nikki knew instantly what had happened, and shifted closer on the couch. She reached a hand out to Karen, waiting to see if the blonde would take it. Karen saw the offering, and couldn't help but reach back, clutching tightly, and tugging a little. Nikki shifted until her body was touching Karen's, the blonde taking comfort in the warmth of the ex-lifer.
Nikki knew there was nothing she could possibly say in this situation, no comfort she could give to Karen that could make things better. She kept quiet, just offering a presence beside the woman that would let Karen know she wasn't alone.
"We broke up months ago, I didn't trust him, and he knew it. He made me feel so guilty about it all. I started seeing Mark, but things weren't going so well. And Jim was so upset yesterday. I was such an idiot. I should never have gone to his place. I...I let him kiss me. I'd never said no to him before," Karen said.
"It doesn't give him the right to have sex with you, even if you went over to his willingly," Nikki said. "'No' means 'no'. Nothing gave Fenner the right to touch you."
Karen nodded. "I know that, I do. I just...if I hadn't been so bloody stupid!"
"Hey, you couldn't have known what would happen," Nikki said. "This isn't your fault."
Karen couldn't keep her emotions inside any longer, and she felt her body give way to violent wracking sobs. Nikki pulled her closer, hugging the woman tightly, letting Karen hold tightly to her. Nikki whispered quietly into her ear, soothingly reminding Karen that it wasn't her fault.
Nikki heard footsteps from behind her, and looked up to see a bleary-eyed Helen looking at her inquisitively.
Karen sensed that they weren't alone, and she pulled back, looking up at Helen.
"I...I didn't know where else to go," Karen confessed.
Helen stepped closer, and knelt in front of Karen, hugging her tightly. "You're welcome here, anytime," she assured the distraught woman.
Karen felt another burst of tears coming on, and let herself cry as she relaxed in Helen's embrace. She could feel Nikki hand on her shoulder as well, and felt safe for the first time in the last twenty-four hours.
She felt the tears abate and pulled back from Helen, settling onto the couch beside Nikki.
"I...I'm sorry," she said quietly.
"Don't apologise," Helen replied, settling herself into the single-seater next to the couch. "I want to help you, if I can."
Karen took a shuddering breath. "I don't know what to do, where to even start. There's no way I can work with him ever again."
"And you won't," Helen assured her. "You've got to go to the police."
Karen scoffed. "They'll never believe me. I went home with him, sat on the bed with him, kissed him...they'll never believe it was rape."
Nikki leaned closer to Karen so that she could catch the woman's eyes.
"Karen, women don't just get raped by strangers," Nikki said. "More than half are done by someone the women knew. A friend, a colleague, a relative. It's a lot more common than being attacked by some random bloke on the street. They'll believe you."
Karen wasn't entirely convinced. "There's no proof. He'll say it was consensual."
"Karen, you've got to do this," Helen said emphatically. "There's no telling what Fenner would do if you let him get away with it. He has to be held accountable for hurting you, and for violating your trust. At the very least he'll lose his job, and that's a start in the right direction."
Karen considered Helen's words carefully. She couldn't disagree with anything the woman had said, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to work with Fenner ever again.
"I can't believe I ever trusted him," Karen said.
"Love blinds us," Helen said sagely.
Karen's lips twitched into a slight smile. "Makes you ignore gender?"
Helen grinned. "Definitely."
"You know, that's the one thing I didn't believe Fenner about," Karen said. "He was always banging on about the two of you, and I put it down to a straight man's fantasy. Funny that it's the one thing he told the truth about."
"He's a surprisingly perceptive bastard," Nikki said. "He knew about Helen and I before there was anything going on."
"So, you two were together when you were in Larkhall?"
"Emotionally," Nikki replied. "Never sexually, not in Larkhall."
Helen bit her lip to keep from smiling. 'Not in Larkhall' definitely didn't include the night of Nikki's escape.
"I can't believe I didn't see it," Karen said, shaking her head, grateful to think about something other than Fenner for a moment. "I just thought you had a crush, Nikki."
"Yeah, a great big one," Helen teased. "Most of the time you were there, we were taking a break. Things had been too intense, and we were trying to keep things platonic between us."
"That worked really well, as you can imagine," Nikki replied cheekily.
"When Nikki was released, I went and found her. We've been together ever since," Helen said.
"We've helped each other through some pretty rough times," Nikki said, lowering her voice, gentling the conversation as she squeezed Karen's hand. "Just knowing you've got a friend can get you to the next day."
Karen nodded, and felt tears welling in her eyes. "I'd really like that," Karen said, understanding Nikki's implicit invitation.
She knew she'd made the right decision to stop in at Helen's. She also knew it wouldn't be long before she dropped in again.
BAD GIRLS VERSION: Karen goes to see Jim Fenner after he storms out of Larkhall after a particularly bad confrontation with Governing Governor Neil Greyling. Jim is the new G-Wing governor, and Karen is a principal officer. Karen and Jim broke up after Karen suspected him of making money from O'Kane's brothels (which he was). Jim, offended she could believe such horrible rumours, breaks up with her. Anyway, Karen goes to see Jim, and comfort him. They kiss. Then he tries to go further. Karen says no. Jim doesn't listen. Karen goes home in the morning, and showers before calling the police. She files charges against him, but eventually drops them when Greyling convince her she won't be believed. Karen and Jim never reconcile, and she is forced to work with him.
