"Heard you're not in the brotherhood anymore."

Nobelle looked up from his food. "What's it to you fag?" He growled.

"I wasn't such a fag when you were gargling my balls in the Laundromat." Keller dipped his finger in his juice and flicked it at Nobelle. Nobelle jumped up impulsively and swung at Keller missing and Keller punched him right were it'd hurt, in his new stitches from where he'd gotten sliced two days earlier by Alvarez. Blood wet his shirt quickly. Keller felt a billy club come down on his head.

_

"Rita keep Nobelle overnight to make sure he doesn't bust his new stitches. Put him the private room so we can make sure no body tries to shank him tonight." Rita, Lana's favorite nurse nodded, unsuspecting and cheerful.

_

Lana stood over Nobelle with the pillow in her hand. He laid there calm, the bruises and cuts from their fight still swollen on his face. She almost stopped herself before she remembered laying in her hospital bed, nurses ignoring her questions of whether the baby had been lost or not. Her hands squeezed the pillow in uncertainty.

"If you won't do it I will."

O'Reily took the pillow and put it over Nobelle's face. Nobelle just laid there because of the Diazepam Lana injected into his system to make him sleep. O'Reily stepped back and Lana checked Nobelle's pulse.

"Go Ryan. Get out of here."

His fingertips brushed her throat affectionately before he left.

_

"Did you see anyone going into his room?" McManus asked.

"No, I didn't. I was dozing off at my desk trying to finish up some paperwork so I didn't hear anything. There was a guard there so I don't know what happened."

She knew. O'Reily had paid Officer Whitcomb off.

"I believe you. There were a lot of inmates that wanted him dead especially inside Em City. I heard whispering for the last two weeks about plots against his life. And between you and me, I'm not sad he's dead."

She smiled at McManus warmly.

"Do you want to go get some dinner tonight? Sister Pete and Mukada are tagging along too."

"I'd love too."

_

Lana looked into the mirror reluctantly. She traced her oval shaped eyes and the irises that looked like two melted pools of chocolate. Her long broad nose with the tiny hole where her nose ring used to be. Her fingers brushed the moon-shaped lips that had enjoyed Ryan's lips against them, and mistakenly Keller to her regret. Her high, powerful cheekbones that she'd inherited from her father, the only thing she'd ever gotten from him, fetched her the biggest compliments. She took the pins out of her hair and her russet colored waves fell down into her eyes, the ends curled in direct directions just under her chin, courtesy of Sister Pete who cut her hair once a month for free.

She worked hard to keep her cinnamon skin smooth and blemish free, she fantasized about Ryan's fingertips sliding down her cheek, his labored breath on her neck. Lana looked down at her completely flat stomach, already missing the slight bump that had been there. A flash of Ryan kissing her belly went through her mind and she shook her head instinctively, wishing it to go away.

She now fully realized it wasn't a good idea to be around him. Or with him. Ever again. She had watched him kill Nobelle, something she wanted to do but didn't have the nerves to do again in her life. Ryan absolved her of further guilt. And she just couldn't face him again.

_

"I want to see you tonight."

Lana stitched up Ryan's arm. "Can't." Her flat tone made him look at her in confusion.

"Why not?"

"I'm going out to dinner."

"Like a date?"

"No and it's none of your business."

He grabbed her wrist. She wondered why everyone felt the need to grab her wrists these days.

"With who?"

Lana hesitated. "With McManus, got a problem with that?" She whispered.

His hand tightened on her wrist. "Yeah, I do. Are you fucking him now?"

She stared at his hand. "Please don't make me accidently rip your stitches and have to start all over again." He let go. "I'm not screwing McManus. I'm just having dinner that isn't a homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And as much as I'd like to sit next to you in the cafeteria and eat prison grub I'd rather not." Lana knew she was being cold, but it was for the both of them. Or rather her own sanity.

"Why are you being like this? What changed?" He asked with genuine hurt on his face.

"Nothing much O'Reily. I just need time to myself."

He glared at her, his mouth a grim line. "I know things about you."

"That you said you wouldn't use against me. I guess not huh?" She asked in a choked voice.

He sighed in regret. "I won't but I have to see you again. Alone."

She pressed a bandage against his wound. "I'll try. Be patient." She knew patience wasn't one of his biggest virtues.