"Do you want to stop by your place to get some clean clothes or anything?" Franky asked Shayne as they got into her car.
"Yeah, that'd be great. I probably still smell like a bar." He picked at his t-shirt.
"Yeah, you do." The brunette wrinkled her nose. She still hated that smell.
"It's not too far from here. Turn right at the lights," he directed her. "I'm kind of just crashing on a mate's couch. Since the show, I've been kind of in between jobs."
As they drove, Franky realized that this was the same neighborhood where she'd taken Kim the night she'd broken into their house. She shook her head to clear away the memory.
"It's right here, on the left." He pointed to a rundown looking house. "I won't be long."
The brunette watched him walk up the path to the front door. She looked around at the neighboring houses, and realized it looked even worse in the daylight. At least at night the darkness made some of the dirt invisible.
"Fuck sake," she mumbled, and rolled down her window. "Hey, Shayne," she waited until he stopped, and looked back, "bring enough stuff for tonight, too. We're going to the museum early tomorrow."
He nodded, and continued on his way.
She shook her head, and told herself that she should have learned her lesson about helping people by now. It was only one more night, she reasoned, and they did have plans with him tomorrow.
Shayne emerged carrying a small backpack just a few moments later. He thanked her as he got back into the passenger's seat.
"Yeah, yeah." She checked behind her, as she pulled out into the road.
Bridget had decided that her session with Lana this morning would again, not be too formal. She still needed to gain her trust if she was going to get the young woman to open up at all. The packets of biscuits from the day before were still sitting on the coffee table, and she decided to make them each a tea again in the staffroom.
"Come in," the blonde called out when she heard a knock at the door. "Good morning, Lana," she greeted the inmate. "Thanks." She nodded to the officer indicating that it was okay for them to leave them for the session. "How are you feeling this morning?"
"Like shit." Lana was still standing just inside the door.
"Why don't you come have a seat, and we can talk about that?" Bridget gestured to the green chair opposite her own. "I brought us some tea again."
"I don't want anything from you." She eyed the blonde warily as she sat down in the chair.
"You don't have to drink it, but it's there if you want it." Bridget picked up her own cup and sat back in her chair. "Let's talk a bit about what you said earlier; that you were feeling like shit. Do you mean physically? Mentally? Emotionally?"
Lana simply scoffed, and shook her head.
"Anything you say in here is confidential." The blonde tried to reassure her.
"You're not allowed to tell anyone what I say?" The young woman looked at Bridget for the first time that session.
"Not unless you tell me something that makes me feel like you're a true danger to yourself or someone else." The blonde was thankful that she'd never had to actually put that into practise. She saw Lana glance at the food on the table. "Did you miss breakfast?"
"I wasn't hungry," she said quietly.
Bridget knew it was a lie, but she let it slide. "Were you able to sleep?"
"A bit." Her stomach growled, and she glanced at the cup of tea.
"It'll take a few days to settle in." The blonde smiled internally when she saw the inmate pick up her cup and take a sip. "Is that why you're not feeling well?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Lana sat the cup back down.
"Okay." It was time for Bridget to shift gears a bit. "I read your file. I know you were living on the street."
"You think you know me because you read my file? You don't know shit about me." She sat back in her chair, and crossed her arms.
"Why don't you help me understand, then?" The blonde wanted nothing more than to tell her she knew the young woman's story all too well because her wife had lived it once, but of course revealing that was impossible.
"I did what I had to do, and now I'm fucked. That's all you need to understand." Lana angrily wiped a tear from her cheek.
"It was self-defense, wasn't it?" Bridget pried a little bit more.
"It doesn't matter." The young woman shook her head. "I don't want to talk any more today."
"Alright." The blonde admonished herself for maybe pushing a bit too much when she thought she saw a sliver of hope that Lana might be starting to open up. She took a drink of her tea.
"Aren't you going to kick me out? Send me back to my unit?" She wiped away another tear.
"No. I have you scheduled in for the hour. You're welcome to stay if you want." The blonde didn't mind silence. Sometimes she even found that it encouraged conversation.
"You're not going to get anything out of me. I'm done talking." Lana watched Bridget to see if she was going to get some sort of reaction out of her.
"That's fine. We can just sit here." The blonde settled back into her chair with her tea and prepared to wait out the rest of the time left in the session.
"Shayne, come here, take a break." Franky had just returned from the cafe across the street with sandwiches, and iced coffees for them both.
"This is great, thanks." He bit into his sandwich.
"Yeah, no problem." The brunette knew that he had chosen not to eat any breakfast, and she'd seen him throwing up outside a couple of times when he'd taken stuff to the dumpster earlier in the morning, so she figured he could use something to eat by now. "So what happened? You never mentioned the probation and stuff when we were filming."
"I wasn't on probation then." He was hoping he could leave it at that, but Franky was still looking at him, waiting for him to explain more. "Okay, so basically, I quit my job to be on the show. I was a dishwasher, but what I really wanted to do was cook. I couldn't afford school so I used all that free trial stuff for online classes then I'd drop out when I had to pay. No one would hire someone to cook though who had no training and no experience, so when I heard about the show, I thought it was a chance to maybe build a bit of a reputation that I could use. Now that it's over, I just haven't been able to find another job, and the show hasn't aired much yet, so…" Shayne trailed off, and shrugged as he took another bite.
"Okay, so that explains why you're on your friend's couch, but where does the probation come in?" The brunette wasn't really sure she wanted to know, but she couldn't picture him doing anything too bad.
"My mate stole a car, and we were out riding around in it. It was a hot little sports car. I didn't know it was stolen though. He said he borrowed it from someone he worked with." When he thought back, the young man knew he should have been more suspicious at the time. "We got pulled over and we're sitting in the back of the cop car together, and he's begging me to take the blame for it. He says it'll be his third strike and he'll go to jail, but I'd just get probation since I didn't have a record. I thought it was an easy way to help him out. As long as I just didn't get in trouble for a few months, it was all good."
"No offense, but you're a fucking idiot for doing that." She shook her head as she ate.
"I know, but I needed the place to stay and if he went to jail, I was out on the street." Shayne was quiet for a minute. "Thanks for coming last night, and letting me stay at your place."
The brunette waved her hand as if to say it was nothing.
"I will say something though." She paused to make sure she had his full attention. "Don't ever show up at my house drunk if you expect me to keep helping you. My mom was an alcoholic, and so was Em's father. That's what caused the car accident that killed him. She was aware of his problem to the point that Gidge and I don't drink in front of her anymore because it upset her to see us do it, and I won't let you put her through any of it again. Got it?"
"Shit, Franks. I didn't know." Shayne looked down at his food, not knowing what else to say.
"I know you didn't. She didn't see you last night, and I don't think she suspected anything this morning. In the future though, it's zero tolerance, yeah?" Franky waited until he acknowledged what she had said with a nod before she went back to eating. "Let's get a couple more hours in then we have to pick up Em from school."
When Bridget arrived home from work, she was met with the sound of laughter from the kitchen.
"Ooo, is this my own team of personal chefs?" She entered the kitchen to see Emily, Shayne, and Franky all preparing pizza toppings. She greeted the brunette with a quick kiss on the lips, then gave Emily a kiss on the cheek, before she took a seat on one of the stools.
"What? No kiss for me?" the young man asked, pretending to be offended. "I'm part of the team, aren't I?"
The blonde simply smiled, and patted his arm.
"Em asked if we could do pizza tonight, so I thought it would be fun to each make our own individual one. Especially since he wants weird shit like pineapple on his." Franky gave Shayne a look that said she thought he was crazy. "I hope that's okay."
"Yeah, that sounds really good actually. I'm going to go change before I get into making mine." She stood up. "Franky?" When the brunette looked up, Bridget tilted her head, indicating that Franky should follow her to the bedroom.
"How was your day, babe?" The brunette took the older woman in her arms as she closed the door behind them.
"It was okay. Nothing too exciting." The blonde studied Franky's face.
"You're wondering why Shayne is still here." The younger woman could read her very well by now.
"That depends," Bridget said as she put her arms around the other woman's neck. "Is he just here for supper, or is it something more?"
"We need to talk about that. I just didn't want to bombard you as soon as you walked through the door." She saw a smile play at the corners of the blonde's mouth. "All I've told him for now is that he can stay for tonight. I didn't make any promises after that."
"What happened?" The blonde knew that something must have happened today for Franky to bring him back here for the night again. It wasn't something she had even mentioned this morning.
"We stopped by his place this morning so he could change his clothes, and it's not a good place, Gidge. It's the shitty neighborhood where Kim lived, and he doesn't even have his own place. He's sleeping on some guy's couch, who he had to take the wrap for stealing a car for so that the other guy wouldn't go to jail leaving him with nowhere to stay." The brunette sighed. "I just felt bad for him, so I told him he could spend the night here again. I used the excuse that we'd be leaving to go to the museum early tomorrow."
"What's the plan you're thinking of though?" Bridget knew that if Franky thought it was bad enough to tell him he could stay at the house another night, then it had been on her mind all day, and she would have been working on some kind of solution that would help him out.
"You heard at breakfast that I had to say he worked for me?" She saw the blonde nod. "That's part of his probation, too."
"So you're giving him a job?" This didn't surprise Bridget in the least. She had actually kind of assumed with the way he and the brunette had bonded on the show, and how well they worked together in the finale, that he'd be offered a job at the restaurant at some point.
"Yeah. The thing is though, that I can't afford to pay him until it's actually up and running. I can give him some money on the days he helps out like today, but nothing on a regular basis." She took a deep breath. This was the part of her plan that she wasn't sure the blonde would be on board with. "I was thinking we could offer to let him stay here, just until the restaurant opens. Then, once he's getting a regular paycheque, he can get a place of his own in a better neighborhood."
"If he stays, then there's house rules, yeah?" Bridget didn't want Emily to be upset by anything that was happening in their home. They'd worked hard to this point to get her settled in.
"Absolutely." She pulled the blonde a bit closer. "I already told him he's not allowed to come here drunk."
"That's a good start. I think we should all talk later after Em goes to bed." She stretched up and gave Franky a kiss. "But right now, I have a pizza calling my name out there."
They both laughed, and the brunette gave her another kiss before she went to rejoin the others in the kitchen, leaving Bridget alone to change her clothes.
"Is she asleep?" Bridget asked as Franky joined her and Shayne in the living room.
"Yeah, she was tired." The brunette dropped onto the couch beside the older woman, and felt Bridget's arm around her. "Shayne, we need to talk to you about something." Franky was tired as well, and she wanted to get this over with so she could go to bed soon.
"That sounds ominous." The young man paused the show he was watching, and put the remote on the coffee table.
"It's not." The blonde tried to reassure him.
"I'd like to officially offer you a job at the restaurant when it opens as one of the chefs." Franky held up her finger when he opened his mouth to speak. "Also, that place where you're living is a shit hole. Now, I can't afford to pay you much until we actually open, but I'll give you some money on days you help out. Also, Gidge and I talked, and we'd like to offer you the guest room until you start getting paid and can afford your own place."
"Are you serious?" Shayne swiped at his eyes. He wasn't a crier, but the generous offer had taken him by surprise. "I can't pay or anything."
"Yeah, i know. I'm the one paying you, remember?" Franky gave a small laugh. "There's some house rules though."
"Yeah, sure, anything." He knew he could live with whatever the conditions were.
"Like we talked about this morning, no alcohol. We'll give you a key to the house, but you have to make sure you lock the door if you come in after we're asleep. No parties or people hanging out here all the time. Clean up after yourself, and don't bring any sketchy business in my house. Alright?" The brunette knew she was being harsh, but she and Bridget considered their home to be a sanctuary from the rest of the world; a place where the three of them could feel totally safe, and relaxed, and she wasn't willing to risk losing that.
"Yeah, that's all good." He had to stay on the right path while he was still on probation anyway. It wasn't that he was planning to do anything to get in trouble, but he felt like being here would make it easier for him to stay on track.
"Good." Franky sat up on the edge of the couch, then looked back at the blonde. "I think I'll go to bed early tonight, babe, what about you?"
"Yeah, sounds good." Bridget gave her a small smile.
"Goodnight," Shayne said, as the brunette followed the older woman down the hall.
Franky looked back to where he was still sitting just in time to catch a knowing grin on his face.
"And none of that either. Behave." She heard Bridget giggle as the young man shrugged as if to declare that he was innocent and had no idea what she meant.
"Have you been to the museum before? Do you like dinosaurs? Which one is your favorite?" Emily was wide awake and full of excitement for their trip to the museum.
The four of them were eating their breakfast, and waiting for Vera to arrive. Shayne was the current target of the young girl's questions. Franky thought briefly of stepping in and asking Emily to let him eat his breakfast in peace, but then decided that it was something he was going to have to get used to. She was a curious kid, and she liked to ask a lot of questions.
"Uh." He searched his memory for the one he wanted. "I like the one with the big plates on it's back."
"That's a stegosaurus," Emily stated, matter of factly. "It ate plants and had a small brain."
'Sounds a lot like you, Shayne." Franky raised her eyebrow, as she saw him discreetly flip her the finger.
"And no, I haven't been to the museum." He ate another mouthful of cereal.
"You have to find the dinosaurs." The young girl had moved to sit in the chair next to his. "They have them hidden all around, and if you find them you get a special prize."
"Oh that's neat. Yeah, I'll look for them." He doubted that he'd be very good at finding many of them. It had been awhile since he'd been awake and functioning this early in the day.
It wasn't long before they heard the front door open, and Vera appeared from the hallway.
"Vera! Did you know that Shayne hasn't been to the museum before?" Emily was up and kneeling on her chair.
"Oh?" Vera glanced at the young man sitting at the table. "Well, it's been a long time since I've been there myself."
"Something kind of new for both of us then." Shayne smiled at her.
Franky observed the exchange, and was reminded of the time on set when Shayne had asked if Vera was single. When he looked in her direction, she gave him a stare that made the smile fade from his face.
"Everyone ready to go?" Bridget had loaded the last of the dishes into the dishwasher.
"Are we all going in the same car?" Vera asked as they walked out to the driveway.
"Yeah, I think we can all fit in mine." The blonde shielded her eyes against the early morning sun. "If two of you don't mind squeezing into the back with Em."
"That's alright, Vera. Me and Shayne don't mind, right?" Franky asked as she put her arm around his shoulder. She had seen the governor starting towards the back door of the car with Shayne not far behind her.
"Yeah, whatever. Sounds good." He knew better than to try and argue with Franky.
When they arrived at the museum, Emily proudly gave the pass that she'd won to the employee.
"Oh! You found all the dinosaurs the last time you were here!" The young employee smiled down at her. "Did you want to try to find them again?"
"Yeah! There were eleven of the regular ones we couldn't find last time." The young girl was determined this time that they'd find them all. "We need two booklets though. One for me, and Auntie, and Franky, and one for them. They haven't tried to find any of them yet."
The employee handed Emily two books, and she quickly handed one to Vera and Shayne.
"Looks like it's the two of us." The young man smiled at Vera as he opened up the booklet to reveal the map of the museum.
"Baby, what's wrong?" Bridget asked quietly, as they followed Emily through the exhibit.
"Nothing," the brunette mumbled.
She followed the younger woman's gaze, and saw that it was firmly fixed on Vera, and Shayne, who were walking a few steps ahead, and putting great effort into finding all the miniature dinosaurs. She placed her hand on the brunette's back, and brushed her thumb back and forth.
They stopped for lunch at the same place as they had the first time they were there, and Emily was pleased to see that Sammy was still hanging out beside the lettuce.
"How are you guys doing with the hunt?" Bridget asked as they all sat down to eat.
"Uh, okay I think." Vera turned their booklet so she could see their progress. "We've got a bunch of the regular ones, but only three of the golden ones, and no diamond one yet."
"How about you guys?" Shayne asked as he took a bite of his meal.
"We're focusing on the regular ones since we missed a few of those last time," the blonde answered.
"Ah, right on. I'm pretty sure we missed a few of the golden ones." The young man gave a small laugh.
"Maybe you just need to focus on it a bit more." Franky never looked up from her plate.
"Ah, yeah, that's always been a problem of mine." Shayne gave a lopsided smile. "I think we're doing alright though, and it's all in good fun anyway."
The brunette simply nodded her head.
"Baby, you need to just relax a bit, and enjoy the rest of the afternoon, yeah?" Bridget said quietly as they threw the garbage from their lunches into the trash can.
"I'm fine, Gidge." Franky gave her a weak smile, and a quick kiss on the lips. She turned her head at the sound of Vera laughing at something that Shayne had said, and when she looked back, the blonde had her eyebrow raised. "I'm fine."
"Did you find them all?" Emily asked Shayne and Vera as they exited the last exhibit.
"Nah, we missed four of the golden ones, and like fifteen of the regular ones," the young man said looking through their booklet.
"And the diamond one," Vera added.
"That's okay. I'll help you next time." The young girl handed her booklet to Bridget.
The four adults looked at each other with amused expressions.
Bridget said goodnight to Shayne, who was still watching television in the living room, before making her way to the bedroom. She found the brunette already laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. As she approached the bed, Franky put her arm out to the side, welcoming the older woman to come lay beside her. The blonde smiled. She knew that the other woman hadn't been in the best mood that day, but she loved that no matter what, Franky always wanted to hold her at night.
The brunette pulled Bridget close as the older woman settled in beside her. Franky found the hem of the blonde's shirt, and she pulled it up, allowing her to move her fingers over the exposed skin. She heard a soft sigh at the same time as she felt Bridget shiver.
"He was flirting with her," the brunette said, still looking up at the ceiling.
"What?" The older woman lifted her head from the pillow to get a better view of Franky's face.
"Shayne was flirting with Vera today at the museum. That's what was bothering me." The brunette looked over at the other woman.
"Baby, no he wasn't. He was just being nice. They had a good time there." Bridget gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
"They did the dinosaur hunt together." Franky said it as if it were concrete proof of her suspicion.
"Yeah, because Em made them." The blonde gave a small chuckle as she saw the look on the younger woman's face. It was obvious that Franky had forgotten that detail. "Look, I got a text from Vera earlier thanking us for inviting her, and she never mentioned him. I haven't seen him with his phone at all since we've been home, and he's been with us the whole time, so it's not like they're talking or anything."
The brunette sighed. "It's just that he asked if she was single when I said you were bringing her to the finalé filming."
"Did he even know anything about her at that point?" Bridget searched her memory, but was pretty sure that that was the only time Vera had been to the set.
"No." Franky knew where the blonde was headed with this.
"Then he was probably just joking around with you. Seeing if he could get a rise out of you or something." Bridget gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "I love that you're protective of her as well, but I think in this case, there's nothing to be worried about."
"Yeah, you're probably right." The brunette ran her hand over her face.
"Say that again." The older woman watched as Franky smiled and shook her head. "Come on, say it again." She moved to sit atop the brunette's hips.
"Is this supposed to convince me to give in?" Franky ran her hands down the blonde's back until they came to rest on her butt.
"That depends on how you want your night to end." Bridget whispered against her ear.
"My lips are sealed." The brunette gasped as she felt a sharp bite on her neck.
"I guess I'll have to keep going then," the older woman mumbled against Franky's collarbone.
The brunette closed her eyes and let herself get lost in the sensations. She was more than happy to let her wife do whatever she wanted to her tonight.