DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS FROM TWILIGHT. THEY ALL BELONG TO STEPHENIE MEYER. SCREWING WITH THEIR LIVES AND SANITY IS FUN, THAT'S ALL.

I suck at updates, I know.

Edward

Holding the phone to my ear, I glanced around, making sure that there was no one around that would overhear my conversation. I didn't want anyone else knowing what shit was happening with me at the moment. Not something you want broadcast around a prison wing.

The phone rang twice more before it was picked up. "Hello?"

I let out a sigh of relief when I heard that it was my mother that had picked up the phone. She was the one I needed to talk to after all. "Mom?"

"Edward?" She sounded slightly stunned, as if she didn't truly believe I would actually call her. "Is that you baby?"

"Yeah, mom, it's me." I couldn't help but smile at the contented sigh I heard over the phone. Maybe she really was happy I had called her.

"Is everything okay, honey?" Her voice sounded so full of concern and I knew I had done the right thing by cutting all the chicken shit I had been feeling and calling her.

"Yeah, mom, everything's fine." I took a breath, closing my eyes and resting my head on the wall behind me. "I need a favour."

"Of course, honey, what is it?" She sounded too eager to help me. Especially considering she didn't know what it was I needed.

"If I sent you a V.O., do you reckon you could . . . come and see me?" The last part came out as a whisper as I didn't really trust my voice to work properly.

"Of course." She sounded ecstatic that I had asked her to come and see me. Who knew someone would get such a thrill out of coming into a shithole like this. "I know that your father wants to see you so badly and we could-"

"No." I cut her off, shaking my head even though she couldn't see me. "Not Dad. Um . . . I just need to talk to you. Just . . . you."

"Are you sure everything's okay, Bubba?" I squeezed my eyes closed, biting down on my bottom lip. She hadn't called me 'Bubba' in years. I had never forgotten the nickname she had for me. It made me feel closer to her somehow. She hadn't forgotten it either and that seemed to secure a tiny piece of my heart back into place.

"Yeah," I sighed, opening my eyes slowly to see Bella standing there at the end of the corridor, watching me with a small smile on her face. "Well, as good as can be in a place like this." I took a breath again as Bella gave me a small nod. "So . . . will you come?"

"Of course I will, sweetheart. There's nothing that could stop me." The sincerity in her voice reassured me that she did still want me. She did want to come and see me.

"Thank you." I whispered softly, my voice not responding when I wanted it to. "Look, I have to go, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, my Bubba Boy." She sniffed lightly and I knew she was crying.

It had been so long since I had heard anyone utter those words to me. They felt foreign, like I didn't deserve them. The look on Bella's face assured me that even though I knew she hadn't heard the words, she knew what had been said and she agreed with them.

She thought I deserved my mothers' love.

I gently put the phone back in its cradle and rested my head against the wall. I closed my eyes, relishing the feeling of the cold concrete against my hot skin.

"Hey," I turned to see Bella standing directly against me. "That was brave. You're stronger than you think, Edward. And when you get out of this place, you're going to see that and you're going to realise how many people you have that care about you."

"Don't you mean 'if' I get out of here?" I asked and she shook her head.

"No." Her tone was strong, confident and fierce. "I mean 'when'."

She walked in the direction of her room, seeming so confident that I believed her.

How was it that I had been able to believe Bella's words about the possibility of me getting out of this place when she had said them, yet waiting for my mother to be granted access so I could see her was a completely different story.

I had spoken with Bella quickly this morning and she explained that it was most likely because I was coming face to face with someone I thought had abandoned me after my arrest and sentencing. I knew now that they hadn't. They had been afraid for me. They didn't know what was going on and they didn't want to risk any hurt coming to me.

I guessed they figured it was better for me to be locked away than dead.

I wasn't sure I agreed with them.

I wasn't meeting my mom in a private room today. Apparently that had only been swung by Bella's influence among the screws and her belief that it was better for me to have the initial reunion with my parents in a private environment.

How the hell did this girl get so influential so fucking fast?

I looked up when they opened the doors and the visitors started to walk in. I kept an eye out for my mom, giving her a small smile when I saw her. She all but ran over to me, throwing her arms around me when she reached me. She barely gave me time to stand up before she was sobbing into my shoulder.

"It's okay, mom." I whispered in her ear, running my hands through her hair gently. She had to calm down or the screws were going to take her out of here and I wouldn't be able to get the answers that I needed. I only had an hour as it was and I knew that wouldn't be nearly enough time. "Calm down."

"Cullen." I turned to see Jameson standing there, his eyes flicking from my mom to me. What he was telling me was clear: calm her down or she has to go.

"Mom," I whispered gently, pulling away from her. "You have to calm down or they're going to make you leave."

"What?" She looked up at me, her eyes wide before looking at Jameson. "I'm okay." She sniffed slightly, taking a deep breath. "It's just a bit overwhelming. I'm okay."

"You sure, ma'am?" He looked at me as though he wanted to haul me off to seg in that instant, and I hadn't even done anything wrong.

"Yes." Her voice was stronger than a moment ago and I looked down at her, admiring how strong of a woman she was. "Now, I'd like to sit and have a visit with my son and I don't want any eavesdroppers. I don't care if that's what you're there to do, I haven't seen Edward in a long time so you're not going to cut what time I do have with him short."

"If you're sure, ma'am." He looked between the two of us, his expression seeming to register where I got my brass balls from.

We sat down and I laughed lightly as she took my hands in hers. "I've never heard anyone other than myself talk to him like that."

"Well, you had to get it from somewhere, didn't you?" She smiled, her eyes combing every inch of my face, as though she was trying to commit it to memory. There were a few marks that were different from the last time she had seen me properly, before I was arrested. Battle wounds, if you will. Shit that comes from trying to stay afloat in a shithole like this. "After all, your father's not one for confrontation, is he?"

"I guess not." I shook my head, letting out a sigh. "Mom, I . . . I, um . . ."

"I know there's a reason you wanted to see me without your father here, Edward." She said softly, giving my hands a soft squeeze. "I know there's something on your mind. You might not be . . . you might not be mine, but . . ."

"That's just it, though." I shook my head, wondering how I was going to word this without it coming out completely fucked up. "I am yours. She . . . she might have given birth to me . . . but in the grand scheme of things, that doesn't matter to me and it shouldn't matter to you."

"It doesn't." She whispered, her eyes never leaving mine.

"Good." I took a deep breath. "You were the one that raised me. You and dad taught me everything I know. You both encouraged me in school, you taught me how to cook and play the piano, and dad taught me how to throw a ball and how to fish. The two of you taught Alice and I how to put up a tent without it collapsing on us every two seconds. She might be my mother but you're my mom." There were tears welling in her eyes and I didn't want to see her cry, no matter what the reason. I didn't care that they may be happy tears. My mom was too beautiful to cry. "I know about the phone call."

"What?" She sounded taken aback by the information and I nodded.

"I know about her calling you. When she was in Chicago three years ago."

"How?"

"You know Bella?" She nodded, smiling gently at the reminder of the woman who had been able to orchestrate this whole thing. I owed her so much. "She has a friend who is . . . kind of an expert at digging things up. He managed to find the phone records for her phone and it showed up about the phone call she made to you."

"You're right." She whispered, biting her lip gently. "She did call me."

"What about?" I couldn't help the pleading in her voice. "Why did she call you?"

"Why don't you ask me the question you really want to know the answer to, baby?" Damn, the woman knew me too well.

"Did she ask about me?" It was nothing more than a whisper but it was all I could manage.

"You were the first thing she asked about." She sniffed, squeezing my hands. I could feel Jameson's eyes on us, but a quick glance told me that he was across the room, near to a couple that seemed to be having a heated discussion over something. There were chances that could get violent so he needed to be closer to them. "When she called me it was completely out of the blue. She told me that she was in Chicago and wanted to see me, but she knew she wouldn't be able to. It broke my heart to know that she was so close yet I couldn't see her. My sister was in the same city as me for the first time in twenty-four years and I couldn't even see her because of that monster of a husband of hers." She took a breath, shaking her head slightly, brushing her hair out of her face. "As soon as she said that, the line went silent and I wondered if she'd hung up. I hadn't heard a click, so I didn't want to let go of the phone until I knew for sure. When she spoke, she sounded so full of fear and pain and regret and it made me want to say, fuck that man and come and see me and . . . come and see your son. Do you know what she said?"

"What?"

"Is he happy?" She sniffed again, blinking a couple of times. "She asked me if you were happy and if you were safe. I told her that you were and that you didn't know a thing. I knew it was wrong of us to keep it from you, but it was what she wanted, what she needed for us to do at the time. She couldn't see you hurt."

"Then why not leave my father?" I asked, so confused about all of this.

"I don't know." She shook her head, looking down at our intertwined hands. "All I can say is that I think she was scared of him. She probably still is. He's a dangerous man, Edward. There's no telling what he'll do to someone he wants out of the way."

"I think I know." I whispered and she looked at me, her brows furrowed, confused. "A couple of days ago, Bella's friend came to meet me." I didn't want to say his name out loud, slightly worried about the repercussions if he was discovered. "He said that with everything he'd discovered about my birth father . . . it wasn't Tanya that was . . . she wasn't the one who was supposed to . . ." I couldn't say it but looking at my mother, who was so desperately wanting to know what I was trying to tell her, I knew I had to. "It wasn't Tanya that was meant to die the night I was arrested."

Her hand flew to her mouth as she let out a sob. I could only hope that she didn't lose it. "Are you sure about that?"

"Look, I don't have the information. It's Bella's friend that does. You'll have to ask her for anything he's got on this." I grasped her hand again she seemed to relax a little. "What did she say to you?"

"She um . . . she said that she knew giving you to Carlisle and me was the best decision she could have ever made." She whispered, reaching out to touch me, but realising that anything other than hand holding during a visit wasn't allowed. A hug at the beginning and end of a visit was it and that fucking sucked. "I could see the pain in her eyes and I knew it was tearing her heart out as she handed you to me, but she knew she had to do it. Just like she knew she had to keep you a secret. The staff at the house she lived in didn't even know she was pregnant. The only ones that knew she was expecting you were her, Carlisle and I.

"She told your father that she didn't want to stay in a house where she felt so alone all the time, so she was going to stay with Carlisle and me while he was away. I knew that he wouldn't be happy about that, but he was in England at the time and we knew he would be in Europe until at least the next year." She smiled slightly as she replayed her memories in her mind. "When she was pregnant with you, the way she would just sit there and stare at her belly as you grew, the amazement and wonder in her eyes and smile. It was as though there was nothing more precious to her than you, growing inside her at the moment." She sighed, her tear filled eyes flicking to me again. "I tried so many times to get her to leave your father, to get her to come and live with Carlisle and I. I tried to convince her that she would be safe with us, that he wouldn't be able to hurt her.

"But all she said was that she couldn't. That she would never be safe from him. She said that there was only one thing she cared about in this world and that was keeping you safe. When she had you just after I had Alice, literally hours. And she is older than you, by the way."

"What?" I knew I sounded whiny when I heard my response in my own ears, but I didn't really care. "Can't catch a break, can I?"

"Oh, shush." She giggled lightly and I felt a small smile appearing on my own face. Laughing suited my mom a lot better than smiling did. "Anyway, I knew that it was so hard for her, but she handed you over to Carlisle just like she said she always would. She didn't want to, but she had to. To keep you safe."

"She shouldn't have had to give me up to keep me safe." I said softly and she nodded, looking down at our interlocked hands. "She should have listened to you."

"I know and I think she knows that but . . . there's not really much we can do about it now, is there?" I shook my head, hating that she was right. "When she called me a few years ago, I swear I had never been so relieved to hear someone's voice. It had been so long since I'd heard from her that I'd begun to think the worst . . ." She trailed off, not needing to finish her sentence. "All she asked was 'is he happy?' She didn't want to know anything else, other than if you were happy and if you were safe. She didn't need anything else."

"Have you heard from her since?" I asked, wondering, hoping maybe that since Emmett had said she was in Chicago a couple of months ago, that she would have called my mom again and maybe she was still here. She shook her head and I doubted my mom knew about Elisabeth's presence in Chicago. "I don't know if anyone's told you this, but . . . she's here." She looked up at me, her eyes wide. "Or at least, she was. In Chicago. A couple of months ago. Bella's friend managed to find that out."

"Did he find out where?" I shook my head and she seemed to deflate a little.

"I'm sure he'll be able to given half the chance."

"Looks like I need to have a word with Bella, doesn't it?" I nodded, smiling slightly. "So . . . what's been going on?"

"You really want to hear about the inner workings of a prisoner's day, Mom? Seriously?" I raised an eyebrow and she giggled again. "It's not all that interesting."

"I can't even imagine what it's like for you in here." Her gaze wandered around the room, taking in the bland paint on the walls, the barred windows and deadbolt doors. "It's so bland and drab in here."

"Well, they're not going to hire a top-notch interior designer for a bunch of cons, are they?" I reasoned and she sighed. "Didn't think so."

"So," she gave me another small smile, her eyes filling with tears again. "How's your appeal going?"

"Honestly, I have no idea." I ran a hand through my hair, letting out a breath. "I mean, we're hoping that they'll actually listen to Alice's testimony this time and Caius has managed to pull some of the files from the records." Considering the case wasn't technically closed until I'd won or lost my appeal, the Chicago police had to keep the files on hand in case one of the lawyer's for each party wanted to get their hands on it. It was still unclear as to why Alice's testimony was ignored, considering she had made a statement with the police stating that she was with me from the time I left the college block until we said goodbye outside my apartment building. She had even given me a ride home that day. "Bella's been a great help. I don't know why but she's doing everything she can to help me get out of here. I mean, why should she even bother?"

"Because she sees what we can all see in you." I looked at her, confused and she smiled at me, shaking her head. "Innocence. You are innocent, Edward. We all know that, as does Bella. She knows that you don't belong in here, so she's trying to get you out. And maybe . . . when you do get out because I refuse to believe that you aren't." Well, that shut me up. "Maybe when you do get out of here, you should take her out, you know as a thank you."

"Mom," some part of me had known this was coming and the teenage boy in me wanted to cover his ears and run for his room.

Unfortunately, that wasn't possible for me at the moment, so I had to endure my mother's embarrassing talk.

"Seriously, I think you two would be perfect for each other." She sounded so certain as she sat there, watching me.

"No, Mom." I shook my head, leaning back in my chair. "No. She's too good for me. I'm not the same person I was before I came in here. Being in here . . . it changes you. You can't stay who you were on the outside. It's not possible. You have to adapt, purely to survive in here. Bella deserves so much better than that. It's not fair to her to expect anything from her if I get out. For all I know, all she wants is to help the poor little inmate coming up for appeal. How do I know that, whether I win or lose this appeal, she won't move on to someone else afterwards, seeing that I don't need her help any longer?"

"Because Bella's not like that." My mom said sternly and I internally cringed at the disciplinary tone I had heard throughout my childhood. "I have known Bella for a long time and there is not a manipulative bone in her body. Sneaky ones, yes, but manipulative, no. She's doing this for you because she knows you don't belong in here, baby. She knows you're too good for this place."

I rested my elbows on the table in front of me, running my hands through my hair again. "But . . . what if I'm not?" I whispered, looking up at her as she watched me carefully, judging my words.

"Time." I groaned at Jameson who was keeping an eye on me as my mother stood up, her eyes filling with tears again.

I wrapped my arms around my mother, willing the tears to stay at bay at least until lock up. That was I wouldn't have to show any weakness on the wing. Sounds sad and pathetic I know, but hey, in here, it's how you survive.

"I love you, Mom." I whispered and she nodded into my shoulder, sniffing as she pulled away.

"I love you too, my baby boy." She pressed a kiss to my cheek and I was thankful she wasn't wearing any of that ridiculous lip gloss shit my sister loved to coat her lips with constantly.

Jameson walked up beside the two of us, taking hold of my arm as I let my mother go, placing a kiss on her forehead, whispering that I loved her again.

I didn't look back the we walked back through to the corridors separating the wings, knowing I wouldn't be able to leave my mother standing there as tears flowed down her cheeks. I heard her let out a small sob as I walked through the door and I bit my lip and clenched my fists as I walked back onto the wing, hearing that small sound being replaying in my head over and over again.

"So, Cullen." I felt a scowl forming on my face as I heard the one voice that could really piss me off today. Not just today, any day really. I turned slightly to see Daniels smirking at me from where he leaned on the wall, taking a pull of his cigarette. "Who was the hottie visitor you had?" I felt my fists clench, my nails digging into the palms of my hands as I fought to contain my anger. "Wouldn't mind getting on her. Wonder what she'd sound like screamin' my name."

Whirling round, I grabbed his collar and slammed him up against the wall. The little cronies he'd managed to gather flew out of the way, scattering across the wing. I heard Jasper and Jacob behind me, shouting my name, trying to get me to calm down as I stood there, seething. It would be less than a minute until the screws were on us.

"Say that again, bitch and spend another week in the infirmary." I snarled and he smirked, though the fear in his eyes was palpable. He knew I wasn't kidding.

"Never knew you were so protective, Cullen." The waver in his voice knocked the cockiness right out of it. "Don't want to share your Sugar Mamma?"

Pulling my fist away from his collar, I saw red. After my fist made initial contact with his face, everything around me melted away. I couldn't hear the other inmates screaming at the top of their lungs, nor could I hear the screws trying to get everyone under control as they tried to break us up.

I knew that Bella was probably around somewhere, but I didn't find it in me to care. She didn't have what I needed right now. She couldn't help me calm down.

The next thing I knew, there was a pair of enormous arms wrapped around me, pinning my arms to my sides and crushing me to an enormous chest.

Jake.

"Calm down, man." He muttered in my ear, his grip tightening. "You're gonna fucking kill him."

"Good." I snapped, shaking my head, the red haze still clinging to the corners of my mind. "At least I'll be in here for actually committing a crime."

"Black, get him to the infirmary." One of the screws shouted at him and I felt myself being forcefully moved backwards. They were allowing Jake to take me to the infirmary rather than risking him letting me go and me finishing what I had started on Daniels's face.

That's a shame.

He looks so much fucking prettier now.

"Come on," Jake yanked me backwards again, the direction still confusing me as I struggled against his grasp. "Let's get you to the infirmary." Why the fuck were we going there anyway? "Because your hands are shot and gonna get infected if you don't get them seen to." Must have been speaking out loud again.

A couple of minutes later we were in the infirmary, Jameson and Norton watching us, Jake sitting opposite me and me cuffed to the bed I was currently sitting on as they stitched up the deep gashes on the back of my knuckles. I didn't even realise I'd hit him that hard. Evidently I had. I let out a sigh, shaking my head. I wanted to run a hand through my hair, but considering one of them was cuffed to the bed and the other had a needle running through it at the moment, that wasn't really a beneficial plan.

"All done." The doctor stood up, grabbing some bandages and wrapping them around my hands tightly. "I wonder how many more times I'm going to have to stitch your hands back together, Cullen." He sighed, shaking his head and I glared at him, not really caring for his sarcastic comments or his tone.

I looked at the bed three over from the one I was sitting on, seeing Daniels, laying unconscious, also cuffed to the bed. Bastard. Should have strangled the fucker.

"Hey," I was pulled out of my glare by Norton snapping her fingers in front of me, drawing my attention back to her. "You're in enough shit because of that little asshole. Don't go getting yourself in any more." She turned to look at Jameson who tore his eyes away from me to look at her. "You alright to take Black back to the wing?"

"I don't want to leave you with Cullen." He glared at me again, earning himself an eye roll courtesy of yours truly.

"You think I don't know how to handle him?" She countered and after a few moments he back down, pulling Jake off his seat.

"See ya later, man." He gave me a small wave before walking out of the room, Jameson following.

"Well, you won't be seeing him for another week." I looked up at her, feeling tired and run down as she sighed. "You're on seg again." I let out a breath. "You gotta stop doing this. It's not going to help once it gets to your appeal."

"I know," I sighed, as she uncuffed the ring holding me to the bed. She retrieved a longer set of cuffs, securing one to her own wrist before linking the two of them together, effectively linking her to me.

"You can't let him get to you." She yanked on the chain signalling it was time to go and I hopped off the bed, following her out.

"Easier said than done."

"What did he say to you?"

"Doesn't matter." I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment as I walked.

She left it at that, knowing that she wouldn't get anywhere with me.

Walking down the familiar corridor I started to feel something in my stomach twinge a little. I wouldn't be able to see Bella while I was down here. Surely, she wouldn't be allowed.

But then again, she was a psychiatrist, so who knew. I knew I shouldn't have been getting attached to Bella, at all. Like I had said to my mom, she deserved so much more than I could possibly ever give her. Maybe if we had met before all this shit had started, before I had been forced to become what I am now, back when I was someone who would go out and do all that stupid mushy shit because I wanted someone else to feel better or would sit there and listen when someone had had a shitty day and just needed to unload.

I wanted to tell myself that I could be someone like that for Bella, but the truth of the matter was, I didn't know that I could I had less than a month until my appeal and here I was, banged up in seg again. I didn't know what the hell I was going to do if I didn't win this appeal. I couldn't begin to imagine being stuck in here for another twelve years.

Norton stopped in front of a familiar cell door – although they all looked the fucking same, so who knew which one it was – opening it and leading me inside. She unhooked the ring from around my wrists before walking towards the door again. She gave me a look that told me she didn't really want to leave me in here again, knowing that Daniels was an insufferable little shit that would continue to be a pain in my ass until he was either transferred out or I did some permanent damage. Which I wasn't far off.

I sat on the hard excuse they had for a bed, slipping my shoes off and dropping them on the floor. I rested my head on the wall behind me, my mind wandering back to a place that would only send me insane before long.

Bella.

I knew that I couldn't be who she needed me to be. Even though I had been on top pretty much since I got in here, this place had left me scarred. And not just physically. There was shit that happened here that you didn't ever want to know about. Nobody ever wanted to sit through nights of not being able to sleep purely because there are men sobbing in the cells surrounding you, or because there's someone from across the yard that believes he's possessed, wailing all through the night until one night there's nothing. Nothing but silence. It then turns out that the reason for the silence is because he's shoved his sock so far back into his own throat that he suffocates.

Nothing written in any book ever prepares you for the scenes caused when you find that someone you called a friend has been murdered in the middle of the night by their cell mate, or that someone has been raped in the showers just after you've stepped out.

Nothing on television can prepare you for the sordid little dealings and meetings that happen out during recreation, the prices people have to pay, watching someone as they're wheeled out after an overdose of something that's been smuggled in.

Nothing you could ever hear on the news prepares you for the complete and utter mind fuck that is the screws when they're doing a cell spin. When something's gone missing and they decide they're going to tear the place apart to find it.

Nothing on the outside prepares you for the shit you get in here.

And no one can say that they haven't been changed after being on the inside. There's no way you can remained unchanged. Things happen within these walls that most on the outside could ever dream of.

That was one reason why I thought that the prison was completely fucked up taking someone like Bella on to work here. Yeah, she was strong and scrappy, but did she have it in here to survive the dosings of shit that are going to be launched her way daily?

Only time will tell, I guess.

There was the sound of keys in the door and I looked over to see Bella enter the small room. She looked around it, sighing gently before shaking her head and closing the door.

"I can see why you're down here so much. I just love the interior." I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm, unable to hold off the small smile fighting its way onto my face. "You wanna tell me what happened today?"

I sighed, looking down at my bandaged hands. "Not really."

"Why not?" I shrugged and she sat down on the edge of the bed. "Obviously something he said got to you. Or you wouldn't have reacted the way you did."

"How would you know?" I shot back. She raised an eyebrow at me and I shrugged. "You haven't been here long. How would you know what it takes for him to push my buttons?"

"Well, considering he was in the infirmary when I first arrived here and you were probably sitting exactly where you are right now, I'd say it's not too hard to figure out." She had me there. "But over the last couple of weeks, you've been able to show some restraint when it comes to Daniels. Like the day your family came to visit and he was staring at Alice. I, personally, thought you were going to pummel him. But you didn't. Which leads me to believe that you can control your anger. But when it comes to Daniels, some part of your doesn't want to."

"And how does that help me now?" I shifted, watching her and she smiled at me.

"It doesn't. Not really. It's just my theory. You gonna tell me what happened today?" She tilted her head at me, expecting an answer. Not really wanting everyone to know what that pathetic little asshole had said about my mother, I didn't say anything. Not that she'd tell everyone, but you get what I mean. "No? Not gonna talk? She sighed gently, looking away from me. "Did it have anything to do with your Mom?" My eyes snapped up to look at her before I could stop them and she gave me a small smile. "I know she was visiting you today and Daniels had a visitor, so I put two and two together. I'm guessing it was something about your mom, yeah?"

"Yeah." I sighed, knowing she wasn't going to relent.

"What was it?" I shook my head, not wanting to repeat the words. "You're really not gonna tell me, are you?" I shook my head again, looking over at the tiny barred window, letting in a small amount of light. It was only midday and it was bright outside. What with it being the middle of June, it was going to be a long time until the sun went down.

"What's the date today?" I asked realising I had no idea.

"June 18th." She replied quickly, smirking at me. "Stop deflecting." Is that what she thought I was doing? I had just realised I was going to be in seg for my birthday. How depressing is that? "Why do you think you attacked him the way you did?"

"Because he's an asshole who shouldn't disrespect people's mothers in that way." I muttered and she gave me a small smile. She knew how much my mom meant to me, even with all of the revelations that had come out recently.

"Don't you think there's a better way to resolve that anger than by using your fists?" She asked, still writing things down on her pad.

"Nope."

"Why not?" She looked around carefully. "I mean, don't you think it would be easier to sort out using words and being on the wing rather than using your fists and ending up here?"

I let out a breath. "Bella, in places like these, words mean nothing. The one who uses words is the one who gets raped in the shower. The one who uses words is the punch bag for every other fucker in here. The one who uses his fists gets respect because he dares to lash out. The one who uses his fists doesn't get shit from anyone other than the little smartasses who think they're good enough to take him on. The one who uses his fists is the one on top, Bella. There's no place for words in here."

"It's a shame." She sighed and I leaned back on the wall again, resting my arms on my knees. "Because with your intelligence, you could have that wing following you without you having to use your fists."

"If you believe that, then you haven't really done your job properly."

I had been right. She was too innocent for a place like this. She belonged in a cosy little office, not a prison wing filled with men thinking lewd thoughts about, surrounded by people that wouldn't think twice about forcing her into submission.

No, she knew nothing about what it was like on the other side of the bars.

. . . . . . . .