Galina "Red" Reznikov felt pretty confident about her decision to make Tricia face the natural consequences of her drug usage and lying. Red had already nursed her through withdrawal once before and she had told Tricia it must never happen again. She was aware of how selfish junkies could be and how they would abuse the people who loved them, especially their mothers. She wasn't signing up to be walked all over. She wasn't interested in being anybody's emotional punching bag. Red took these girls in out of the goodness of her own heart, but they weren't angels and she couldn't save them if they didn't want to be saved. Two strikes, that was all she gave them. Russians didn't play baseball.

She knew that Tricia deserved to go down, and she also needed her to if the prison was going to become aware of the drugs coming in and put a stop to it. She didn't account for a new channel being opened up via her kitchen. Red blamed Tricia for this, because it only made sense that the girl of hers actively using would want to ensure she still had access to her supply. What happened after that is a tragedy that nobody will be able to forget for a long time, least of all Red.

Wanting to keep the drugs out and teach her girl a lesson, had unintentionally set off a ripple effect. The drugs would keep coming in, Tricia would die of an overdose, and Red would lose the kitchen that had given her a home and purpose her entire time locked up. Yet, a singular moment of softening. A time of giving in and relaxing of her principles, could have set the universe on track again. How might things have been different if something deep inside of Red had called her to relent and go looking for Tricia that fateful day….

It was after breakfast and Red only had time for a short break before she would need to get lunch going. Feeling restless, she untied and retied the strings of her white apron and then tucked a loose strand of hair that had crept out from under her white bandana. She was in a sour mood, as she had been for the past several weeks. Her stomach was constantly knotted, tightening all the more when Neptune's Produce was due to deliver her order because she knew what Mendez would have tucked inside.

"Don't look at me like that, Norma," Red said, slumping back against the counter defeatingly.

"This place is crawling with drugs now," she reminded her unnecessarily. "Do you want me to go give her a pat on the head for that?"

Norma just gave her one final meaningful glance before walking over to the sink to finish the dishes, leaving Red to chew on her bottom lip and ponder how she was going to fix this. Tricia was clean right now, but was there any hope of her staying that way when there was temptation everywhere she turned? She was still so young, Red needed to believe that this was just a setback. Nothing Tricia had done was unforgivable, but that didn't mean it should go unpunished.

"I'm going for a walk," Red announced.

She left Norma in the kitchen doing dishes and walked past a table in the cafeteria where the rest of her staff were enjoying a coffee break. Red didn't know where exactly she was going, this was hardly an appropriate time to talk. Tricia was supposed to be at work in Electrical with Nicky right now. Then she remembered that 'Scared Straight' program, and how Tricia was a cautionary example of what not to be.

"Where is she?" Red muttered to herself, glancing into the recreation room where some delinquent kids had already been brought to tears by a group of young inmates she suspected were quite enjoying themselves.

Tricia was not among them though, and Red found her absence concerning. Perhaps she was just sulking somewhere. Red certainly hadn't gone easy on her with her discipline this time, but her expectations had always been very clear. No drugs, nothing like that came through her kitchen. At least not until now. Still, she knew she'd feel better if she laid eyes on the girl. She was still very angry with Tricia, but she never stopped caring.

Tricia wasn't in the dormitory though. She wasn't in the bathroom either. Red went out in the yard for a brief look around even though it was a very cold day. Walking back into the building, she was just about to surmise that Tricia must have gone off to Electrical after all, and get back to work herself, when she caught sight of Mendez strutting down the hall. Her intuition was alert and she felt a shiver run down her back when his eyes locked with hers, like he was trying to read her mind. She turned down the hall to get away from him and decided to check a few more places.

"Tricia?" Red called.

It was only by some fate that she had heard coughing coming from inside a storage closet in this deserted corridor. She tried the handle, and found that it was locked. Pressing her palm against the door she listened, sure she could hear some rustling inside. She knocked firmly and called Tricia's name again.

"Open up. It's mom," she said sternly.

Slumped down on the floor of the storage closet, leaning against a utility shelf with her arm resting inside a mop bucket, Tricia could barely keep her eyes open. She would recognize Red's strong accent anywhere though, even if it sounded like she was talking to her through a deep tunnel right now. The habit of jumping whenever her prison mother called her name though, had Tricia flop over onto her knees and then pull herself up on her unsteady feet. She staggered into the wall, and knocked some cleaners off of the shelf. A heavy bottle of disinfectant hit her on the head but she was too zonked out to even notice.

She could hear Red knocking impatiently on the other side of the door, and she fumbled for the lock. It took several attempts before she managed to turn it. Then she stumbled out into the hallway. She would have landed right on her face if Red hadn't caught her. Her heavy head fell on her prison mom's shoulder, and she closed her eyes. Barely coherent, even when she felt Red roughly shake her off.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Red hissed, nails digging into Tricia's shoulders as she held her upright.

"Mmmmm...I just….taking a nap," Tricia managed to get out, dazedly.

Red couldn't believe that Tricia had gone down to detox in SHU only to come back and do it again almost immediately. She'd thought she was stronger than this. Red had been positive Tricia's sole focus would have been getting back in her own good books again. She thought Tricia would have wanted to make it right with the family.

Though she could see that Tricia's pants were stuffed with baggies as well. Red tugged them all out of Tricia's waistband, and hid them away in her apron pocket. A lethal amount, making it completely transparent that she was selling. There could be no doubt now that it was Tricia who had got Mendez to start importing through Red's kitchen. She had to get her fix from somewhere after all.

"Come with me," Red ordered.

She kept her hands on Tricia's shoulders to keep her from falling over, as she turned her around and began marching her down the hall in the opposite direction of where she'd seen Mendez heading. Tricia flopped around in front of her, barely even aware of the fact that they were moving. Red was trying to figure out what her intentions were. Go hide Tricia in her office until the high wore off? And then quietly nurse her through the withdrawal in a couple of days? Not that it would even come to that if Tricia stayed here and continued to use.

Red had reached her wits end and, if nothing else, she was going to keep that girl alive. Reaching the door to Healy's office, Red took one hand off of Tricia's shoulder to knock twice, and then placed it back on, this time a little more gently.

"You're about to hate me more than you ever thought it was possible to hate anyone," Red said quietly into her ear. "But someone has to try and keep you from killing yourself."

Healy opened his office door, and Red pushed Tricia inside before he even had a chance to question what was going on. He shut the door behind them and watched Red help Tricia settle in the chair in front of his desk. Tricia was slouched down so low with her head on her chest, and when Red straightened up he could see there were tears in her eyes.

"You have to help her," Red told him.

"What did she take?" Healy asked, stepping closer to Tricia who was so out of it that she didn't even seem to be concious, even though her eyes were open.

"You know I have to report this," Healy said to Red. He looked furious.

"Better you than me," she replied tersely. She was already backing up towards the door. There was nothing else she could do for Tricia.

"How did she get-"

"Don't tell anyone I brought her to you," Red said, with pleading eyes.

She had a final look at Tricia's hunched back in the chair, and then she slipped quietly out of the office. She had her pocket stuffed full of drugs that she needed to get rid of immediately. She couldn't have let Tricia get caught with all of that in her possession. She didn't even want to think of how many extra years added to her sentence it would amount to if she was caught now.

Red hurried into the bathroom and over to a stall with a locked door. Down into the toilet everything went. Hopefully Mendez would think Tricia had either sold it already or it had been confiscated. Red was sure he'd lay low for a while once this got out. It gave her time to figure out another plan.