After a few days Bette felt as though she was settling into prison life as best as was humanly possible. She'd found that by associating herself with Shane, Nikki and the others she avoided trouble from other inmates; it was almost as though there was an invisible barrier around them. Shell Dockley seemed too scared to approach her, although she often caught her giving her evil looks across the hall. She found that her days passed by quite quickly when she was surrounded by the girls, occupying her time by laughing at their ridiculous jokes or else savouring every brief exchange that she had with Officer Kennard. It was the nights that were hardest. Lying all alone in the uncomfortable prison bed made sleep difficult for Bette, and even thoughts of Tina didn't completely soothe her. The noises made by the women at night were something that made getting to sleep a tough task, but it was something she hoped she would never get used to. Prison was a temporary thing, she told herself, and definitely not something to call home.
Bette took her seat at the girls usual table for breakfast, but found them in a more sombre mood than she expected.
"What's going on?" she whispered to Shane, who was sat next to her.
"The Julie's just told us that they were called to one of the cells to clean it this morning and found blood all over the floor"
"Shit, who's cell was it?"
"You know that kid, Jenny, the one that's kinda crazy?"
"Yeah I think I know the one. What do you reckon happened?" Bette asked, concerned.
"Well she's always been on the edge, but ever since her cellmate's been down the block she's just gone off the rails"
"Down the block?"
"You know, in solitary" Shane explained.
"Oh" Bette paused for a moment in thought "Do you think she's…you know?"
"Dead?" Shane asked matter-of-factly "Who knows"
"Hey, Miss Fairbanks!" Nikki tried to attract the officers attention.
The young officer turned round at the sound of her name being called "Yes, Nikki?"
"Is there any news on Jenny?"
"How do you lot know about that?" Dana seemed genuinely surprised that the inmates were privvy to information that she had been told to try and keep quiet.
"Well she's not on the wing. And you know, we're not all as stupid as you screws like to think. We know she's hurt herself" Nikki informed her.
"Oh, right, well, there's err…no news so far. Someone will let you know when there is" Dana looked flustered and walked off to avoid further questions.
"Bloody screws" Denny complained, slamming her cup down on the table "Never tell us bleeding anything"
"That's coz they don't want us to know how they let it happen. I mean, it doesn't look good for them, a con harming herself. Questions get asked, you know" Shane said.
"I'm willing to bet Fenner had something to do with it" Nikki mused.
"He always does" pointed out Shane.
"Bette?" a soft voice came from behind her.
Bette turned and was greeted by the smile that brightened her days "Hi"
"I wanted to meet with you today to go over your sentence plan. Come find me when you're done with breakfast, ok?"
"Sure" Bette flashed what she hoped was a winning smile at Officer Kennard.
When she turned back to the table she found that all the women were staring at her, and Denny was wolfwhistling.
"What?" she asked, still unable to wipe the smile off her face.
"Damn girl, you got it bad" Shane said, leaning back in her chair with a grin on her face.
"I don't know what you're talking about"
"Yes Miss Kennard, no Miss Kennard, three bags full Miss Kennard" Denny mocked.
"Oh leave her alone" Nikki swatted a hand at Denny.
"She's a bleeding screw" Denny grumbled.
"She is fit though" Shane thought out loud, which produced a glare from Bette.
"On that note, I'm going to go do my sentence plan, whatever that is" Bette said, picking up her breakfast things.
The women just shook their heads at her and laughed, which she pretended not to notice. She quickly scanned the room for the beautiful blonde who was never far from her thoughts, and found her in the far corner of the hall talking to a couple of younger inmates. As soon as she saw Tina laugh, Bette felt a twinge of jealousy, and then chided herself for being so ridiculous. At that moment the officer looked round and the two women held each others gaze for a moment, both of them smiling. Tina excused herself from the women she had been speaking to and made her way across the hall to Bette.
"Shall we go to your cell? It'll probably be quieter there and we're less likely to be disturbed" Tina asked.
Bette felt her heart start to race at the thought of being alone in close proximity to the blonde. Turning to lead the way to her cell, she smiled to herself at the way in which Tina's statement coud be misinterpreted.
"Welcome to my humble abode" Bette said sarcastically.
Tina just laughed and closed the door behind them.
"I'd say pull up a chair, but as you can see, I don't appear to have one" Bette said with a wry smile.
"The bed will be fine" Tina said, shaking her head disparingly as both women sat down.
"Why Miss Kennard, how very forward of you!" Bette winked at her.
"Don't make me put you on report for being inappropriate Bette" Tina warned, but was unable to keep a serious face for long.
Bette widened her eyes in an attempt to appear as innocent as possible "I wouldn't dream of it Tina"
"Right, so let's talk about your sentence and how you can make the most of it" Tina looked down at Bette's file and avoided eye contact with the brunette.
"I'd say my options are pretty limited"
"Not at all" Tina looked up "You can get access to education, experience in certain industrial fields…"
"Miss Kennard" Bette interrupted "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm highly experienced and have a PhD in art history. I fail to see how all this applies to me"
"Bette, three years is a long time to sit around doing nothing"
"Oh, I can think of plenty of things to do" Bette winked.
Tina chose to ignore it and put the file down on the bed, looking Bette straight in the eye for the first time since they entered the cell "Bette, don't make this harder on yourself"
"I'm not, honestly. It's just…I'm not your average prisoner. I already have qualifications. Only now, I have a conviction for embezzlement to counteract them" Bette folded her arms and leant back against the wall.
"I've read your file you know. And the way you act in here surprises me"
"What do you mean?" Bette frowned in concern as to what Tina might be referring to.
"You were convicted largely on testimony from your employer and what appears to be circumstantial evidence, and you always maintained your innocence. Yet in here, I haven't once heard you complain" Tina explained.
"Tina, half the women in here claim to be innocent. How many of them do you think really are?"
"That's not the point. If you're innocent Bette, there must be evidence to prove it. And that could be grounds for an appeal. Have you thought about that?"
"Do you think I'm innocent?" Bette raised her eyebrows.
"Are you?" Tina countered.
"I want to know what you think"
"I need to hear you say it before I make my mind up"
Bette paused and took a deep breath before looking Tina in the eye "Yes, I am"
"I believe you" Tina said softly.
"Why?" Bette asked, equally quiet.
"Because I can see it in your eyes. And, I don't know, I just get the feeling that you wouldn't lie to me"
"I wouldn't" Bette said honestly.
"Then maybe that should be your focus. An appeal"
Bette gave a slight laugh, but it didn't spread to her eyes.
"Whats wrong?" Tina asked.
"Any evidence to exhonerate me has been very well hidden. And I don't even know by whom. And it's not like I have many resources at my disposal being stuck in here, is it?"
"Surely there's people on the outside who could help you. Your solicitor?" Tina asked hopefully.
"Fat lot of use she was. Someone wanted to make sure I take the fall for this and they've succeeded. And I don't wanna get my hopes up, or spend my time spouting on about how I'm innocent and annoying the hell out of everyone. I'd prefer to just serve my time peacefully"
"And what about after that Bette? You think you can just walk into a job with a conviction like that? This will stay with you for life" Tina almost sounded desperate.
"Why do you care so much?" Bette asked curiously.
"It's my job to care" Tina said, shuffling the papers next to her to try and appear nonchalant.
Bette let it go "Look I'm sorry if I seem all defensive. It's just…I guess I feel like everyone on the outside abandoned me, and so there's no-one left to fight my case"
"What about your girlfriend?"
Bette pulled a face "That would involve a serious commitment"
"You don't think she'd stick by you?"
"I give her a week or two before she finds someone else"
"Wow" Tina said quietly "That's sad"
"I'm over it. Things change when you come in here, priorities change"
"I'm sure they do"
Both women sat in silence for a moment, lost in their own thoughts. It was Tina who broke the silence first.
"Maybe I could help you" she thought out loud.
Bette was snapped out of her thoughts and stared at the blonde "What are you saying?"
"I don't know, I mean, someone needs to look into things for you" Tina stumbled nervously over her words.
Bette looked at her curiously "Why would you stick your neck on the line for me?"
"I…" Tina stammered as she got up hurriedly "I don't know. Ignore me. Just think about an appeal ok. It would do you good to focus your attention on something"
The blonde opened the cell door.
"Tina…" Bette said softly.
Tina turned around slowly to look at the brunette on the bed.
"Thank you"
"For what?" Tina asked.
Bette spoke almost in a whisper "For giving me something to focus on".
Tina just smiled weakly at her before she left the cell. Bette waited for the door to swing shut before she put her head in her hands. What had just happened? Had they just had a moment? Or was she imagining things? All she knew was that there was an intensity between them that she'd never felt before. There was something in Tina's eyes that drew Bette to her. Something deep and soulful. All of a sudden this stretched beyond physical attraction. Bette wanted to know more about the blonde, about what motivated her, what angered her, what made her smile, what made her cry, what turned her on….she wanted to know everything about her, on every level.
As she heard the door swing open again she looked up, hopeful that the blonde had come back to speak with her again. The smile on her face quickly faded away as she saw who had entered her cell.
"Crying over your dyke girlfriend are you?" sneered Fenner, closing the door behind him.
"Piss off Fenner, can you see any tears?" Bette said, folding her arms defiantly.
"You know what you really need is a man who won't cause you half as much ball ache, so to speak" Fenner laughed at his own joke.
"You really don't take a hint, do you?" Bette looked up at him.
"You need a man…a strong…hard…man" he said, slowly stepping forwards until he was stood by the edge of the bed.
"I want you to leave my cell. Now"
"Listen love, it doesn't quite work like that. You see I'm a screw, you're a con. You do what I tell you" an evil smile spread across her face.
"Get. Out." she snarled at him.
"Now now" still smiling he leant in and grabbed her face "there's no need to be so rude. Just when I thought we were going to be friends"
"We'll never be friends. You disgust me" Bette tried to keep her voice flat while ignoring the pain of his hand clenching round her jaw.
"See that's a shame, coz you just made me get nasty. And I hate to have to be nasty"
She closed her eyes briefly as she felt the sharp sting of a slap registering across her cheek. Unfazed, she opened her eyes and stared straight at him.
"We've got a tough one here, have we? I'll soon wear you down"
"Don't you have a job to be doing?"
"This is my job. Taking care…" Fenner leant in so that Bette could smell his putrid breath "of the women. You see…" he reached down and grabbed her crotch, causing her to freeze in fear "I just love women" he sneered at her.
Mustering all the strength that she could, Bette shoved Fenner backwards so that he let go of her and staggered backwards across the cell. He wrenched the door open and yelled out into the hallway.
"Officer Hollamby, would you escort Miss Porter to segregation on rule 53, assaulting an officer!"
Officer Hollamby bumbled her way into the cell.
"Come on, let's not have any trouble" she reached over to pull Bette to her feet.
"I didn't do anything!" Bette struggled and wrenched her arm from Officer Hollamby's grasp.
"Get up, now!"
"He assaulted me!" Bette protested.
"Can I get some help in here please?" Officer Hollamby shouted.
Tina came running in to the cell and was surprised to see Officer Hollamby attempting to restrain Bette.
"Don't just stare, give me a hand, we're taking her down the block"
"What for?"
"She assaulted Jim"
"Are you sure? I mean…" Tina started.
"Don't question Officer Kennard, help me"
Begrudgingly Tina stepped over to help move Bette, but her touch was much more tender than that of Officer Hollamby. While giving the appearance of being forceful, her grip on Bette's arm was actually gentle and caused the brunette to stop struggling. Bette closed her eyes and allowed herself to be led down to the segregation block, focusing her concentration on the tenderness of Tina's touch. It was the only thing keeping her calm at that moment.