"Would you rather be stranded on a desert island or locked in this room with me?" Joe asked.

"Locked in this room with you." Natalie responded. "Would you rather have to eat Rocky Mountain Oysters or be locked in this room with me?"

"Aren't those cow balls?" Joe asked.

"Yep."

"I'll have to go with you. Would you rather be locked in this room with Gavin or me?"

Natalie slapped her hand to her heart in mock pain. "Ouch. You. How about me or the lunatic from earlier?"

"I'll take you. Again." Joe said without hesitating.

Natalie yawned. "Maybe we like each other more than we thought. I thought she was your girlfriend."

"I'd say she's the ex-girlfriend now, but yeah… Why, you jealous?" Joe raised his eyebrows.

"From what I saw?" Natalie snorted. "No, not really. Why didn't it work out?"

"She didn't give a fuck about any of the inmates." Joe sighed. "She's worked for MCC for years, and today was the first time she ever set foot in a prison."

"Jesus."

"Even though you're a bitch on wheels, I believe even you actually you cared about them at some point."

Natalie was quiet for a moment before she spoke again. "I never actually stopped caring, but I stopped showing it or letting anyone know about it. It only fucked me over when they did. Believe it or not, I did think that Jason and I could fix the system if we got him in office. It was a 'the end justifies the means' kind of situation. But the system is fucked."

"Obviously. Just look at us now. Once we were in charge, and now we're POWs. And my back is fucking killing me." Joe grunted, arching his back.

"Whiner. Turn around."

Joe scooted around on the floor so that Natalie could awkwardly reach her free arm over her handcuffed one and press her fingers into his back. She firmly kneaded his skin under her hand, working to loosen the knots in his muscles.

"Damn, that feels good." Joe groaned.

Natalie chuckled. "That's usually how you respond when I'm touching something else."

"Well, now that you mention it…"

"Shut up, Joe."


"Did you ever think you'd end up alone?" Natalie suddenly asked, picking at her nails to avoid looking at him.

"No. Did you?"

Natalie shook her head. "Never."

Joe stretched his legs out in front of him with a sigh. "A long time back, my old girlfriend got pregnant with my bandmate's baby, and I skipped a tour to take a job as a CO and take care of her and the baby. I always thought we'd get married and have more kids, but… Instead, he got famous and she left me."

Natalie looked at him sympathetically. "That's fucking terrible. Maybe you really are a nice guy."

"Doubtful. You?"

"I guess I always saw myself in a big house in the suburbs with two kids and a Golden Retriever." Natalie sighed. "All I got out of that was the big house, and it just feels empty and lonely."

"Neither of us got what we expected."

"That's for damn sure. I didn't expect to find my husband making out with a man on the very same night that we tried to conceive for the first time. I also didn't expect to find out I actually did get pregnant only to miscarry a few weeks later." Natalie smudged her finger along her eyelashes to wipe away tears, laughing bitterly. "Jason doesn't even know."

"Jesus. Why didn't you tell him?"

"The campaign was wrapping up and everything was a whirlwind. I figured, what was the point?" Natalie paused. "This is pathetic, but, you're the only person I've told."

"I think Jason would want to know." Joe said gently. "Maybe you should think about telling him."

"There's no point now. He has a new life. But I really wanted to be a mom." Natalie said, with a wistful softness in her voice.

Joe really had no idea what to say to that. "It could still happen."

Natalie laughed bitterly. "I'd probably be better off going for the Golden Retriever at this point."

"It'd be more loyal than any human."

"True." Natalie sighed and rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "I'm fucking exhausted."

"Then take a nap. We've got nothing but time right now."

"I wish I knew what time it was. We should have put clocks in these closets."

"You can lean your head on me… If you want to."

Natalie's nose crinkled. "You still don't smell fantastic."

Joe shrugged. "Then go ahead and lay your head on concrete. It's no skin off my ass."

She glanced back at the cinder block wall and sighed, shifting until her head was tucked under Joe's chin, and her cheek was resting on his chest.

Joe laid his own head against hers, half expecting her to tense up or pull away, but she didn't. His nose caught a whiff of her curls. One of her 10,000 hair products had a coconut scent, and her hair always smelled amazing; it was one of his favorite things about her (though if asked, he would come up with a dozen things he hated about her to counteract each thing he liked). With his nose by her hair, he tried to inhale slowly and quietly to enjoy the intoxicating smell again.

But he got caught.

"Did you just smell my hair?" Natalie asked in an amused tone.

Joe was glad that her face was positioned so she couldn't see his face flush pink. "What? No."

"Liar." Natalie teased with a smirk.


Reviews are love, and I'm always open to hearing what people want to see. :)