Chapter Two - "Dreams"

Red had all kinds of dreams for herself when she was a little girl growing up in Russia.

She wanted to be famous, she wanted to fall in love and live happily ever after, and she wanted to have three little girls to call her own someday.

Needless to say, she wasn't able to make any of her dreams come true.

She didn't care about not becoming famous. That was a silly dream because after all, almost every little girl has that dream at some point in their lives. It was an easy one to let go of.

As far as falling in love and living happily ever after well, Red did fall in love. Once. But...she didn't live happily ever after with him. Happily ever after only happens in fairytales, which is something everyone finds out once life eats away at you and you are left feeling you came out on the other side with nothing to show for it. Dmitri was a nice man, a good man, a gentle man, but she didn't love him the way she loved Pavel, and she certainly didn't live happily ever after with him.

Red had three sons, not the three daughters she longed for as a little girl, and although she did love her sons with all her heart, and she knew that it was not anyone's fault what their genders ended up being, she couldn't help but long for that dream all her life.

Ironically, she didn't get her daughters until she came to Litchfield. And only one of them was as much a part of her as her sons were. She was a terror, and had a mouth on her, but she also had a heart of gold and insecurities she only let Red see.

It was easy to love Nicky. It had always been easy for her. Always.

It had been a bad day for her girl. Lorna had been released today, and as tough as she acted, and as tumultuous as their relationship had been, Red knew that her heart was broken.

She had crawled into Red's bunk that night, and rested her head on Red's lap. Words weren't needed as Nicky began to cry, and Red played with her hair. She had sort Red out, had needed her more than anything, and it meant the world to her.

Maybe dreams do come true after all.