No, I haven't forgotten about this story! Life just keeps getting in the way..

Chapter 6 - Isolation

Isolation. Four walls, one door. A dim light from a lamp in the roof is the only source of light, no heating, and in difference from Calejo, not even a bed in the room. Both Kris and Kamili were sitting in isolation, not in the same room and not being able to talk to the other. Both of them were on the floor, knees towards the chest and back leaning against the cold stone wall. They were sitting with their backs towards each other, but the wall in between made sure that they were not even aware of that.

Things were going through their minds, they were not sure of where they were going with this. So far they had been doing alright but it was just a matter of time, literally. Sooner or later something would happen and they would get hurt, they just had to wait for the moment to come.

Kris was sleeping. Her dreams were fuzzy, pictures of old memories that were trying to come to life to tell her things she needed to know, updating her on what her brain was trying to process. She hadn't been dreaming much laterly, actually, she had barely dreamt anything. On the few occassions where she did dream, it was nightmares, nightmares of being back in the basement, hearing her husband's strangled voice and waking up realizing he was gone, gone from her life. Knowing he had left her alone, alone with two kids. It had crushed her, crushed her to pieces, her world had fallen and she knew she had to get back to her old self, she knew she had to, if not for her then for her children and all her family and friends around her. She wasn't sure what she would've done without Kelly. Kelly had not only taken care of her but she had taken care of the twins and made sure they always had a smile on their faces and a good upbringing. Kris hated herself for not being able to be the best mother that she could possibly be, but she didn't know what to do to get the smile back on her face. She had tried, but everything something good happened, the thought "I wish Tommy was here to see this" crossed her mind and her shattered heart felt like it was being stepped on, once again, crushed under the weight. It was painful, horribly painful.

But now she was dreaming, for the first time in a long time. Her mind was trying to help her, her wants and needs trying to push through, being held back for so long, they were now trying to get through to her brain, trying to tell her to cheer up and do things she loved and wanted.

Pictures were flashing by in front of her eyes as she was sleeping, restlessly. The pictures were random and from all times and places, but the pictures and flashes suddently melted together and a scene started playing out.

"Mommy!"

Kris turned around as she heard her daughters voice. It didn't take long before Jess showed up into the kitchen, walking on unstabe legs as she had just learned how to use them. Kris smiled at her daughter dressed in pink as she made her way her, it was beautiful seeing her daughter growing up, and actually becoming a little human being, a little person walking and talking. She was such a happy kid.

"Hi Jess, what's up?"

Jess looked up at her with pleading eyes, the big and round puppy eyes that no mother could resist. Her hands were pulling at her little yellow dress, and Kris smiled as she knew right away that her daughter wanted something. The timid and shy look on her face quickly changed into a big smile and her hands reached up towards her mother.

"Cookie?" She said, her voice filled with hope as her hands started waving in the air, hoping that her mother would give her a cookie from the jar on the kitchen counter.

Kris couldn't help but to laugh. She had been baking cookies earlier today and told Jess she could have one later. Later is such a bad word, though, it can mean anything between in a minute and in a week. For the kids Munroe, later meant after about four seconds, and ever since this morning, Jess had been coming up to her mother asking about the cookies. Kris grinned as she decided that her daugther had waited long enough, and she ruffled her blonde locks before she took the big yellow – oh so typically 70's – jar from the kitchen counter and looked at Jess as she took the lid off, way too slowly.

"Mommy, hurry!" Jess called, bouncing up and down where she was standing, excited about that cookie which she had been longing for all morning. Seeing the lid coming off the jar, she could barely hold it in anymore.

Kris smiled and decided not to tease her anymore, and instead she leaned down and let Jess take a cookie from the jar. Two hands immediately dived into the jar as soon as it came within reach and Jess quickly pulled up two cookies, said thanks and ran off. Kris grinned, knowing she had told Jess she could have one cookie, but what did it really matter?

Kris put the jar away and walked around in the big house, wondering what to do. It was Sunday and she had managed to get a day off from work, and so had Tommy. They hadn't really had any big case since they got married just a few weeks ago, and Kris thought about the wedding with a smile on her face. She had decided to leave her crazy stalker out of her mind and just think about the wedding. All the crazy notes had been driving her mad, and even when she had returned from her honeymoon there had been a note in her mailbox, just with the four words 'I love you, Angel' on them. She never did figure out who it was from – her stalker was locked behind bars and someone had dropped it in her mailbox with just her name, no address, but that was all she got. Nothing else, and she decided that as far as nothing else happened, she would just leave it.

Walking into the livingroom, she smiled at the scene in front of her. The twins, just about 13 months old, were sitting on their big diaper bums on the living room floor, Tommy sitting on the floor as well next to them, and all three of them playing with trucks. Jess was more into it than the two boys, and she had always been. Kris could totally picture her growing up and becoming… Jill. Jess loved cars, trucks, speed and running. She was never still, and Kris could absolutely picture her as the tomboy of the neighborhood. And she didn't mind. Jacob on the other hand was a lot more pulled back, not shy but not as forthcoming as Jess, and rather stayed in the background than run around the house in just a diaper while Tommy, Kris or any of the others tried to catch up.

Kris sat down next to Tommy, looked at him with a gleaming smile before jumping up and sitting down into his lap.

"Ouch! Oh come on!" Tommy laughed.

Kris giggled happily and leaned her head back to let it rest towards his shoulder, her nose finding that soft spot right by the neck. Tommy leaned back against the couch behind him, kissing her gently on the cheek.

"Dada!" Both twins cried out in the same second and before Kris and Tommy knew it, the twins were both in Kris' lap. Tommy let out some painful noises as it suddenly got even more heavy on top of him, but still he couldn't help but to laugh while trying to breathe.

They sat like that for a short while before Kris slid off Tommy and landed on her back on the floor. Jess were laying with her tummy towards Kris', Jess' head on top of Kris' chest. She was giggling happily, before making a big yawn and drifting off to sleep in a second. Jacob was sitting in between Kris and Tommy, and he looked up at both of them with a question visible in his face.

"What is it baby?" Kris asked, reaching over and cupping his face in her hand. He put his head on its side and gave Kris a hopeful smile.

"Elly?"

Kris giggled. Kelly, he loved his Kelly and he never wanted to be apart from her, not even for a short minute. Neither Kris nor Tommy had ever been able to explain the connection the little boy and the brunette angel in charge shared, but all things didn't have to be explained. They loved each other like a mother and son, simple as that.

"She'll be by soon, I'm sure." Kris smiled, pulling her fingers through Jacob's hair as he brightened up.

"In the meantime." Tommy said, leaning over to grab a hold of his boy. "I'm gonna tickle you!"

"No dada!" Jacob laughed, trying to get to his feet but Tommy being faster. He got a hold of the boy, pulled him back so Tommy was lying on his back with the boy on his stomach, tickling him while all of them were laughing.

Watching her family, Kris felt lucky and blessed.

Kris woke up with tears streaming down her face. Looking around she wasn't quite sure where she was at first, because everything was pitch dark. She couldn't make out anything at first, but soon her eyes started to adjust to the light and she realized she was in a dark room without windows and very little light shining in through a tiny rectangular hole in a door. Isolation. She was locked into isolation, at a prison. And it was nothing like the isolation at Calejo, but she wasn't sure which one she preferred. This was darker, colder and more chlaustrophobic… But Big Aggie had been at Calejo. After thinking about it for a second, she decided she liked this more.

But she had no idea yet what else would happen that night.

Kamili sat awake, staring out into the darkness. She had never been too fond of tight spaces, especially in the dark. Anothing thing she had carried like a deep scar in her soul from the war in Vietnam. She wouldn't say she would panic being locked in, but she definitely didn't like it. Now she was sitting up against the wall, staring straight ahead, telling herself to stay calm and relaxed.

The door suddenly opened, shining in bright light which made Kamili twirl her head away from it, covering her eyes which had been so adjusted to the darkness. Holding up a hand in front of her eyes while she stood up, prepared to defend herself, she tried to make out who the three people in front of her were. Not being able to see them just yet, she held her clenched fists in front of her.

"Kam. It's us, don't worry."

Kamili immediately let her guard down when she heard Sandra's soft voice, and she relaxed, giving her eye a second to make out their faces in the dark. Janet closed the door behind her, but she lit two candle lights, which were well enough to make them see each other.

"Are you okay?" Janet asked, whereupon Kamili nodded.

"Yeah, I'm alright." Kamili said, looking up at Kris who had sat down next to her. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Kris said emotionless.

Looking at her, Kamili could tell that Kris had been crying, but she decided not to ask anything about that. Kris would talk if she wanted to and felt comfortable with it.

"Good. So, I felt this was a good opportunity to get some privacy, but let's make it quick. The other guards should patrol soon." Janet started. "Anyone wanna share anything?"

"Well, I've been told that Mara and Gem are the ones to watch out for. Tay told me that there are rumors going around that Mara has killed inmates. Then there's Crystal, supplying drugs, tobacco and alcohol, and whatever else inmates need, for a fee though." Kris said, then turning to Janet. "Do you think you could get their real names?"

"Yeah, I know which ones you mean and it shouldn't be a problem."

"Cool."

"Anyone heard anything from Kelly?" Kamili asked, looking around meeting the others eyes.

All three of them shook their heads, not a word had been heard from the angel in charge, which was quite rare. Kelly usually kept contact.

"I'm sure we'll hear from her eventually." Kris said. "She usually shows up when we're in trouble."

"Truth been told." Kamili said, the others nodding along with her.

"Okay, anything else?"

All of them shook their heads, until Kris spoke. "I'm sure if we just go with the flow, things will eventually come to us."

"I'm sure it will." Janet said. "Okay, let's get out of here before someone sees us."

All of them nodded, and the three of them left Kamili alone in the darkness again, and Janet locked Kris back into her isolation room, then the two of them hurried down the hallway and out of sight, feeling bad about leaving their two friends in those dark rooms.

Both angels eventually fell asleep again, and Kris woke back up. She had no idea what time it was, the room was still pitch dark except the small square of light in the door. She tried to understand what had woken her up, and it didn't take long before she realized it was the sound of feet walking outside the room that had woken her up from her sleep, her senses telling her to pay attention.

Maybe it was morning and she would be allowed to get out of here? Wishful thinking, she knew that much, cause every detective instinct she had was telling her to watch out. Something was about to happen. The hair in the back of her neck was rising, goose bumps were forming on her skin llike a second layer and she could feel a chill go down her spine.

The door suddenly opened, the light hit her face like a rocket. It wasn't that bright, but the contrast towards the endless darkness made it seem like the sun had just shattered the door. Kris hand instinctively went up to her face and she blinked her eyes.

She could see the siluettes of three people, and she recognized the voices before her eyes adjusted.

"Look at her. Not so cocky anymore, is she?"

"She looks so lonely. I do think joining her was a very good call."

"Very good."

Kris' eyes begun to see through the darkness and the flashlight which was still pointed straight to her face in the same time as Mara walked up to her. Gem was there too, along with another guard that Kris had seen around but hadn't gotten the name of yet.

Kris barely had time to brace herself for it before Mara was right next to her, grabbed her hair on top of her head and roughly shoved her face towards the floor, followed by a kick to her ribs. Kris inhaled sharply, and Mara and Gem took the moment to grab her wrists, put handcuffs on them, and attach the handcuffs to two chains hanging on the stone wall. Kris was suddenly standing up, her arms spread over her head, and she just knew right off that this was going to be painful. Biting the inside of her mouth, she knew she had gone through pain before and she could do it again. So she shut up.

The kicks, the fists and the batons came at her like never pausing movements, all three of the guards working their hardest to bruise her up. The more they beat her, the more Kris held her head high and stayed quiet, and the more quiet she got, the more they beat her.

Kris couldn't tell how long they kept it up. Might've been a minute, might've been half an hour, maybe even an hour. A final blow with the baton to her temple forced a small whimper to escape her lips before she drifted off into unconsciousness.

"Kris? Come on, please wake up. Please, come on."

Kris' mind could hear the soft voice talking to her and she could feel a gentle palm towards her cheek. Her mind registered that it had to be Kelly, but as she forced her eyelids open, she saw a pair of dark eyes, not Kelly's emerald green.

"Jane..." Kris whispered, her throat hurting.

"Dear god." Janet mumbled while working on getting the handcuffs off from Kris' wrists. Her masterkey finally clicked it open and Kris, exhausted, fell into her arms. Janet lowered her to the floor and put her down in her lap.

"Can you walk Kris? I need to get you to the infirmary."

"Water…" Kris whispered, her throat absoutely burning and her head spinning.

Janet nodded as she lowered Kris to the floor and left the room for a second before returning with a glass of cold water. She put her hand behind Kris' head and helped her to drink a couple of mouthfuls. Getting some water in her, Kris suddenly seemed to spring to life. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she put the other hand to the floor and forced her body up into sitting position.

"Careful Kris, take it slow."

"I'm fine Janet, don't worry." Kris said, looking up and meeting Janet's worried face.

"Of course you're not. Who was it?"

"Mara, Gem and some skinny guard that smelled of cigarettes and had thin, sweaty blonde hair."

"Uhm, Koi."

Kris looked up at Janet, a small smile on her lips. "Like the fish?"

Janet grinned as she nodded, before carefully slipping a hand under Kris' elbow. "Do you think you can stand?"

"Sure." Kris said, trying unsuccessfully to get to her feet. She inhaled sharply as her hand went to her ribs. "Damn."

"Anything broken?" Janet asked, her fingers trying to lift Kris' prison blouse, but Kris pushed her hand away.

"Probably but just leave it. I'm not going to the infirmary, I'm not giving those guards that pleasure. Just help me up."

Janet didn't like it, but knew there was no way arguing, not with any angel in fact. One thing they all had in common was that they were stubbern as donkeys. Instead Janet slipped a hand around Kris' back, and took her hand with the other, pulling her to her feet while trying to ignore Kris' whimpers and gasps in pain. Once on her feet, Kris took a few minutes trying to get her breath back to normal before Janet cuffed Kris' hands, and took her back to the baracks.

None of them spoke to each other while walking over there, and once there Janet uncuffed Kris' hands and let her in the room. Kris eyed it through and saw Kamili back with her group, looking Kris from down to up as she walked in. Kris rolled her eyes slightly before walking over to Tay, Coco and Dee who all three had looked up at her as she had entered. Seeing their pale faces, Kris realized she must look as bad as she felt. Her legs felt like they were gonna collapse under her weight from being standing for so many hours, her poor ankles were sore and more unstable than usual. Her stomach and ribcage was giving her the most pain, and she knew she had taken a lot of hits and kicks to her upper front, but just as well to her back. She was definitely sore. Her wrists had burnmarks on them from hanging in the cuffs, and her head was spinning.

'Yeah we get it Munroe. You feel miserable.' Kris thought to herself as she walked over to her bed and laid down on her back.

"Survived a night in hell?" Tay asked, sitting down next to Kris' head.

"Not sure if I actually survived." Kris mumbled, shutting her eyes.

"Well, not everyone does." Coco mumbled, which made Kris open her eyes, immediately seeing Tay in front of her. Carefully jumping up a little bit she leaned her back towards the pillow and looked at Coco.

"What does that mean?"

"Oh I just mean, not everyone survive a night in isolation. Those guards are brutal, there's more than one time that we've seen them carry out bodies from isolation in the wee hours of the morning."

"What do they do with the bodies?" Kris asked, her face frowning.

"Throw them in the woods I suppose." Coco said, shrugging her shoulders while looking at the others for support.

Kris nodded as she looked over at Tay. Tay's face, aged by both time and the hard life she'd had, seemed to be deep in thought, the wrinkles already visable were sunken into a deep frown.

"W'zup?" Kris asked, getting Tay's attention.

"Well… I should probably not tell anyone, but there has been times when the girls they carried out aren't dead."

"Do you know what they do with them?"

"I was outside one night, have a cigarette outside during Chrystal's watch. Gem, Mara and another guard carried out, well, dragged out, a semi-concious girl. A man had stopped in a car up on the road, and they put the girl in the car, the man have them a very thick envelope and then he drove off. Never saw her again."

Kris sat quiet for a while before she whispered.

"You think they sold her?"

Tay nodded with her head bent down. "Almost certain of it."

"There's also rumours going on in here that the mob is trying to take over the prison." Coco said. "I don't know if there's any truth behind those rumours, but it's been said that they want to take over for some reason."

Kris laid back in the bed again and closed her eyes again, trying to get the pain off her mind and focus on the case instead. Thinking of what Tay just said, she came to a conclusion.

This was bigger than they originally thought.