It was Monday morning, and Franky was packing everyone's lunches and snacks for the day.
"Good morning, baby," Bridget placed a kiss on the brunette's cheek on her way to the coffee pot.
"Hey, babe. We didn't really have leftovers, so I ended up just doing a wrap, and some salad today. I'll try to come home a bit early, and cook an extra dish or two to put in the freezer, so there's some stuff for the rest of the week." Franky had been a bit more distracted than usual lately, and with Shayne sometimes being there for meals, her supply of leftovers had disappeared.
"That's fine." The blonde selected a mug from the cupboard, and began to pour herself a coffee. "Can you make an extra one for me?"
"I didn't forget Vera." The brunette smiled as she pointed to the three containers lined up on the counter. "You, Vera, and Em." They were identical except for a slightly smaller portion in the third one for the young girl.
"I know. I mean another one." Bridget could see the wheels turning in Franky's mind.
"A lunch date threesome?" the younger woman teased.
"No, it's...it's complicated." The blonde paused. "There's this inmate, she's really young." She saw Franky raise an eyebrow, and gave her arm a playful nudge. "Stop, nothing like that." Bridget smiled, and shook her head. "She's a good kid, but she got herself into some trouble, and the other inmates aren't letting her eat. When she comes to my office for sessions, I've been giving her food."
"Be careful, Gidge," Franky said as she reached for another tortilla.
"Careful? Of what?" Bridget didn't see how offering a hungry person food would cause a problem.
"I don't know. Just be careful." The brunette didn't like it. She knew firsthand that you shouldn't meddle with the inmates' business.
"I will, baby." The blonde rubbed Franky's back on her way by to sit at the table.
The brunette had just sat down with Shayne when her phone rang.
"Hello?" Franky had seen the number. She knew what was coming.
"Hello, it's Ms. Johns. I have Emily here, and she says she's not feeling well again." The principal glanced over at the young girl as she spoke.
"Oh, uh, okay. I'll come pick her up." The brunette slid her phone into her pocket. She would much rather work from here for the day, but she remembered Bridget's words from the last time she'd had to pick up the young girl. "Pack up your stuff. I have to pick up Em again, so we'll do the rest of the day from home."
"Is she okay?" Shayne asked as he gathered his things.
"I suspect she is, but we'll find out when I get there." The brunette placed her laptop and papers into her bag.
As Franky approached, she could see Emily sitting in the principal's office waiting for her. The secretary recognized her, and waived her past.
"Franky!" The young girl greeted her happily.
"Hey, bub. How are you feeling?" The brunette sat down beside her on the couch.
"My head hurts." Emily looked up at her with sad eyes.
"Ms. Westfall?" The principal's voice pulled Franky from her thoughts. "Could I have a word in private before you leave?"
"Sure." The brunette gave a small nod then turned her attention back to the young girl. "Can you wait out by the other desk for just a minute?"
"Okay." Emily picked up her backpack, and walked out to the main reception area.
"I won't keep you long. I'm just wondering if there's something going on with Emily that we should know about." This was the second time in two weeks she'd had to call Franky, and she was concerned that maybe the young girl was having some problems again.
"I think maybe she just wants to spend the day with me." The brunette had been suspicious the first time she'd picked her up, and she sensed something was off now as well. "I'm not teaching right now, so we've been out of our routine lately."
"Her teacher says she talks a lot about wanting to be a chef." Ms. Johns gave the other woman a small smile.
"I know." Franky sighed. "I know. I'll talk to her." She was aware of the conversation they weren't having.
The principal gave her a final nod, and the brunette left the office.
"Alright, bub, let's go." Franky reached out, and took Emily's hand.
"Are we going to the restaurant?" The young girl asked as she tried to skip ahead of the brunette.
"No, we're going home." She wasn't completely sure that Emily wasn't actually feeling well. Franky didn't want the young girl to think she thought she was a liar, but she wasn't giving her what she wanted this time. She wouldn't take Emily to the restaurant.
"But you have to work." She stopped walking, and looked up at the brunette.
"I'm working from home today. Shayne is waiting for us in the car." Franky started to walk again, and felt a tug on her arm as the young girl stood her ground. "Em," she crouched down so that she was eye level with her, "you're not going to the restaurant today. Either you come home and rest in your room, or you go back to class and finish the day." The brunette saw the tears forming in Emily's eyes. "What's the decision?"
"My head hurts," she mumbled.
"Okay, we'll go home then. Come on." Franky stood, and took her hand again. She could feel the wetness on the young girl's fingers from where she had wiped her own tears from her cheek. The brunette felt bad that she was upset, but told herself that this was part of being a parent, and she'd have to go through it with each of their children at some point.
Emily was quiet on the drive home.
"I want you to go change into your pyjamas, and lay down on your bed, please, bub." Franky saw the young girl open her mouth to protest. "I'll be in in a few minutes to check on you."
"We working in the living room?" Shayne asked as he followed them through the doorway.
"Yeah, might as well." The brunette tossed her keys in the bowl, and rubbed her stomach.
"You alright?" The young man had picked up on her gesture.
"Yeah, fine." Franky knew she was overanalyzing every little thing right now, but she couldn't help it.
She made her way to the living room, and unpacked her laptop and folder of notes. She waited for a few minutes after she'd heard Emily close her bedroom door before she went to make sure she had settled in okay.
The brunette knocked lightly on the door, and heard a small 'come in'. When she opened it, she saw the young girl laying on her bed holding her teddy bear. It still had Franky's bandana from the show wrapped around it's arm.
"Hey," she said quietly, as she moved one of the small wooden chairs over next to the bed, and sat down. "How are you feeling?"
"A little better." Emily played with the end of the bandana that was sticking out of the knot. "Can I sit with you, and Shayne?"
"No, if you're sick enough to come home from school, then you need rest." Franky reached for the blanket at the end of the bed, and unfolded it, placing it over the young girl. "Do you think you need some medicine?"
"No." Emily's bottom lip quivered.
"Would you like me to read you a story?" The brunette reached out, and rubbed her back. She knew Emily was upset about not being able to hang out with them, and she thought a story might relax her enough that she'd sleep for a bit.
"No." She turned into the pillow, hiding her face.
"Okay. If you need something, or you start feeling worse, I'll just be out in the living room. Otherwise, I want you to stay in bed and rest." She got no response, so she stood, and put the chair back beside the small table before she left the room.
"Come in," Bridget called out from behind her desk. The knock had come right on time.
"What's this? Another lunch date?" Lana gave her a smug smile after the officer who'd escorted her had shut the door.
The blonde gave her a warning look. "I've been bringing you food for days now. This shouldn't be a surprise."
"This is the first one that looks like you packed it yourself though. The others were takeaways, or the officer meals from the kitchen." Lana opened up the container. "Looks like it was made with care." She looked up at the psychologist, and gave her another half smile.
"We should go over your statement for your hearing today, and talk about possible questions they might ask you." Bridget sat down, and picked up her salad.
"You said to just tell them the truth. That I was cornered and it triggered some memories, and I went crazy." The young inmate took a bite of the wrap. "Oh, this is really good."
"I probably wouldn't use the term 'crazy'." The blonde sat back in the large green chair, and crossed her legs. "Your job is to speak about how you were feeling. You told me you felt scared, and trapped, and that you needed to get out of that situation because you feared for your safety. Those are the things you should focus on telling them. I'll talk about the PTSD-induced blackout in my statement."
"So leave the technical stuff to you?" Lana nodded as if to answer her own question.
"Yeah, exactly." Bridget was glad that she seemed to be understanding what she was trying to say. "I'll talk about some of the strategies I've taught you. They'll probably want to know which ones work best for you, so you can explain that."
"I'm not telling them that they were trying to get me to bring in drugs, though. I'm not a snitch." The young inmate gave the blonde a serious look.
"That's fine. The 'why' really isn't needed to explain your actions. They simply need to know you felt threatened." Bridget saw Lana nod as she took a bite of her wrap, and wondered how long the other inmates were going to keep up their torture of not letting her eat.
"How many pounds of wagyu beef do you think we should order?" Shayne asked as he looked over the burger section of the menu.
"It's only for that one burger. Maybe we'll start out with like five pounds and just see how it sells. It's pretty expensive so I don't want to end up wasting it. We can adjust the order each week if we need to." Franky was having a bit more trouble with this side of her work than she had anticipated. She'd only ever done bulk food orders for the Centre, and those were for her classes, so she knew exactly how many portions of each thing she needed. With this, how much she needed really depended on sales, and she had no idea at this point what those would be like. She decided to play it safe with most items, and she'd have to keep a close eye on their inventory to see if they were running out of anything faster than anticipated.
"Franky?" Emily's voice was full of sleepiness, and she rubbed her eyes as she wandered into the living room. She was still carrying her teddy bear.
"Hey, bub, what's up?" Franky put her arm around the young girl as she climbed up beside her on the couch.
"I'm hungry," Emily said as she leaned into the brunette.
Franky glanced at the clock. It was almost time for lunch.
"What would you like for lunch?" Franky hadn't noticed until now, but she was hungry as well.
"Grilled cheese?" The young girl looked up at her. "And those potato things that you do in the oven."
"The wedges with the spices?" The brunette hadn't made those in a long time, but they would go well with the grilled cheese. "That sounds really good actually. Shayne, do you want that too?"
"Yep." He stretched his arms behind his head and over the back of the couch. "Do you want any help?"
"I'm going to help!" Emily jumped in, and made it known that she was Franky's kitchen helper, not him.
"No, you're going to rest." The brunette stood up, and patted the pillow at the end of the couch as she walked to the kitchen, indicating for the young girl to lay down. "And nah, I got it Shayne, but thanks anyway."
After they'd finished eating, Franky sent the young girl back to her room, but not without some protest.
"You know she's faking, right?" Shayne asked after he heard the bedroom door close.
"Mhm, probably." She scanned down through the next section of the order sheet.
"She cleaned her plate faster than I did, and she had just as much food." He let out a small laugh.
"I know." Franky sighed. "Me and Gidge will talk to her later. Come on, if we put in another hour on this we'll be done for the day."
"Ready?" Bridget stood just outside the door of the hearing room with Lana.
"I think so." The young inmate took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.
"You've got this. I'll be right there with you." The blonde gave her a small squeeze on the shoulder as Will opened the door for them.
Bridget observed Lana throughout the hearing. She could tell that the young woman was using some of the techniques they'd discussed to help calm herself. The blonde listened while Lana explained her version of what had happened that day in the exercise yard, and how she had come to understand why she acted the way she did.
"Thank you, Lana. You may sit down." The man sitting at the head table then turned his attention to Bridget. "Ms. Westfall, what is your evaluation of this inmate as it pertains to the situation in question?"
"Well, as you can see from the file I've given you, Lana was in my care even before the incident, which I think demonstrates an eagerness, and desire to work through some things that were troubling her." Bridget glanced towards the young inmate, and gave her a small smile. "That day in the yard, she was cornered, she was outnumbered, she was scared, and she felt threatened. I believe she is suffering from PTSD, and given the similarities of this situation to some of her past traumas, she experienced a blackout. Her mind shut off to protect her from reliving these memories, and she essentially went into survival mode. Now, since then, she and I have talked extensively about her past, and we've worked on multiple strategies that she can use to calm herself. She is very self-aware, and I believe that with continued guidance, we will not see a repeat of this type of incident."
"Thank you, Ms. Westfall." He closed the folder in front of him. "If you and Ms. Caldwell will kindly step back out into the hallway, we'll take a moment and discuss our decision."
Will led the two women back out into the hallway. Once they sat down in the chairs, he walked as far away as he could, and still keep them in sight.
"I feel like I fucked up in there." Lana leaned forward, and covered her face with her hands.
"You didn't. You did great. You spoke very well." Bridget placed a comforting hand on the young inmate's back, then quickly pulled it away. It was a gesture made out of habit, meant to comfort, but in here, it was dangerous.
"Thanks." Lana didn't lift her head.
It was only a few minutes before they were called back into the room.
"Ms. Caldwell, as you know, your actions carry consequences, even inside the walls of this prison. You're charged today with assaulting a fellow inmate, a charge almost identical to the one that brought you here in the first place." He cleared his throat, as he glanced down at the papers in front of him. "One might say that this has become a pattern of sorts with you."
Bridget looked over at Lana. The young inmate was gently tapping her finger against the arm of her chair. It was a nervous gesture, and it was subtle. The blonde doubted that any of the committee members even noticed.
"However, you have taken some significant first steps in the process of your recovery, and healing. Your dedication to your counselling sessions with Ms. Westfall is an encouraging sign." He glanced at the other members sitting on either side of him. Both gave a small nod. "So, in regards to the assault that took place in the exercise yard, we have determined that it will not add time to your future sentencing, or affect your chance for parole, should that be an option at some point.. We believe that your condition played a major role in your behaviour that day, and you are taking the necessary steps to prevent it from happening again in the future. However, a condition of our decision is that you must continue your counselling sessions, and we will be monitoring you to ensure this is the case. Thank you Ms. Westfall for your time today."
The three committee members stood, and exited out a door at the back of the room.
"That's it?" Lana looked around the room, finally settling her attention on Bridget.
"That's it. I told you it would be okay." The blonde gave her a smile. She was proud of how well the young inmate had spoken to the committee. "I'll see you for your session tomorrow." Bridget patted her arm on her way out of the room, and left Lana with Will to be escorted back to her cell.
"That's a wrap for today. I can't stare at any more numbers." Franky closed her laptop, and tossed it beside her on the couch. "And I told Gidge I'd make some stuff to have for her to take for lunches."
"I can help if you want. I'm not going to Vera's until after she's off work." Shayne stretched, and rubbed his eyes.
"How are things going with that? You being good to her?" The brunette watched him closely.
"Yeah, of course. A perfect gentleman." He gave her a big cheesy smile.
"And you're being good to her? She asked, hoping that her emphasis on the word would get her point across.
Shayne simply gave her a confused look.
"You're giving her equal time in the bedroom?" Franky thought she saw a slight blush creep into the young man's face.
"Uh, yeah. I think so." He scratched the back of his neck, nervously. "Has she…has she said something to you...or Bridget?"
"No, I'm just making sure." The brunette could see the look of relief on his face. "Let's get started then." She decided to end his discomfort and get them back onto the more comfortable topic of cooking.
"You really care about her don't you?" Shayne asked as they began their afternoon in the kitchen.
"Sure. She and Gidge are really close, and she's been a good friend." Franky wasn't sure how much Vera had told him about their past and her time in Wentworth.
"She said you saved her life." The young man glanced at her out of the corner of his eye in an attempt to discreetly gauge her reaction.
"She needed help, and I helped her." The brunette didn't want to have this conversation with him.
"Well...thanks." Shayne had picked up the hint, and they exchanged silent nods of understanding.
It wasn't long before Emily made her way out the kitchen, and sat on one of the stools in front of the island where Franky, and Shayne were working.
"What are you making?" She asked, looking at the ingredients that were spread out over the countertop.
"Some things to have in the freezer for you and Auntie to take for lunches." The brunette glanced up at the young girl, then continued her work. "Did you need something, bub?"
"Can I help?" Emily once again gave her the now perfected puppy dog look.
"No, you're not feeling well." Franky knew that she was partly to blame for the young girl thinking she could get her way by looking at her or Bridget like that. The brunette had usually given in in the past, but now it was something they needed to reign in before it became an issue as she got older.
"But Shayne is helping." Emily crossed her arms over her chest.
"Shayne isn't feeling unwell and staying home from school today." Franky had an idea when the young girl had made her way into the kitchen that this was where the conversation would be headed.
"But I'm your helper!" Emily gave her a serious look.
"Not today, okay? Now, do you need something? If not, you need to go rest." The brunette picked up an onion, and cut it in half.
"I don't want to go back to my room, it's boring." The young girl sighed.
"Okay, go over on the couch and watch tv then." Franky did agree that spending the entire day in her room would be boring, so she looked at this as a sort of compromise. She let Emily stay out with them, but not in the kitchen.
It wasn't long before they heard the front door open.
"Something smells good in here." Bridget came around the corner from the entranceway, and set her bag on the end of the couch.
"Thanks, babe." Franky gave her a smile. "You're home early."
"Yeah, you had said you had to pick Em up today, so I moved a couple appointments around, and decided to come home early." She gave Franky a kiss on the cheek, and intentionally bypassed Shayne. She looked back, and saw him shake his head and smile. "Hey, love. How are you feeling?" She sat down on the edge of the couch next to Emily.
"Better now. My head hurt earlier. Franky made me come home and go to bed instead of going to the restaurant like last time. And she won't let me help." The young girl frowned as she looked at the two in the kitchen, then back at her aunt.
"Well," Bridget glanced over, and briefly made eye contact with the brunette, "if you're not feeling well then you need to rest."
"Can I have cuddles?" Emily reached out towards the blonde.
"Sure." Bridget gave her a hug. "Let me go change out of these clothes, then I'll lay down with you for a bit."
The blonde stood, and subtly motioned for Franky to follow her to the bedroom.
"How was your day?" The younger woman closed the door behind her, and placed her arms around Bridget from behind.
"It was alright." She turned in Franky's embrace so that they were face to face. "I'm sorry your day got interrupted again."
"It's fine." The brunette lowered her head, and gave the other woman a quick kiss. "We still got done what we needed to do. I think we should have a talk with her though."
"You think she wasn't really not feeling well today." Bridget said it as a statement.
"Yeah. When I picked her up the first thing she asked was if we were going to the restaurant. I remembered what you said last time about her finding a way to get what she wanted, so I made her come home and go to bed." Franky hoped that the blonde wouldn't think she was being too harsh.
"You did the right thing. We'll sit down with her after supper when Shayne's gone." Bridget knew the young man was starting to feel like part of their household, but there were still some things that she didn't think he needed to be involved in.
"I don't want her to think we won't ever believe her if she tells us she's sick." One of the brunette's biggest worries when it came to Emily was that they would lose her trust. She herself had grown up without that support in her life, and she didn't ever want to make another child feel the same way as she did.
"We'll explain it to her like she has to promise us to tell the truth, and we'll promise to trust her. It's a two way street." The blonde studied Franky's face. "She'll be okay. I promise." Bridget stretched up for a long, slow kiss. "Undress me?" She pulled back, and saw a huge grin form on the younger woman's face.
"Mhm." Franky connected their lips once again as she began to pull open the snaps on the blonde's blouse.
"Em, love, come sit with us." Bridget patted the spot beside her on the couch.
The young girl had just showered, and put on her pyjamas, and Shayne had just left for the night. The blonde thought it was a good time to get the conversation out of the way so that they could enjoy the rest of the evening together.
"Am I in trouble?" Emily hesitated before she climbed up on the couch, and looked at each of them.
"No, bub. We just want to talk." Franky felt like she wasn't sure how to approach the topic with the young girl, so maybe she'd leave that up to Bridget, and she could offer support and reassurance.
"We need to ask you a question, and we need you to be honest." The blonde put her arm around Emily as her niece finally sat down beside her. She had intentionally used 'we' so that the young girl knew that both the adults were on the same page. "When you said you weren't feeling well today, was that the truth?" She watched Emily waiting for an answer. When none came, she decided to help her out a bit. "Or did you just want to spend the day at the restaurant with Franky?"
The brunette watched as the young girl looked at them, the expression on her face gave away that she now realized they were on to her.
"Franky." Emily mumbled, and lowered her gaze.
"You wanted to go with Franky?" Bridget asked, her voice never losing it's soft, soothing tone. She saw her niece nod. "So you didn't feel sick at all?"
"No." The young girl looked up now with tears in her eyes.
"You know it's wrong to lie." The blonde made it a statement.
"I'm sorry." Emily was close to tears.
"Hey, don't cry, love. I know you feel bad, but we're not mad, okay? We just need to talk a bit more, then we can play a game or something." Bridget pulled the young girl a bit closer to her side. "It's very important, from now on, that you don't say you're not feeling well unless it's the truth. If you promise that you will tell the truth about that, then we promise we'll believe you."
"I promise." Emily took a deep breath. "I just wanted to be at the restaurant."
"I know, bub," Franky decided to jump in, "and I'm so happy that you and I share that love. It's pretty special to me." The brunette stopped, she could feel her emotions coming up. "Like I said, you can come to the restaurant anytime I'm there when you're not supposed to be in school. If you're sick, and you need to leave school, you'll have to come back to the house with either me, or Auntie." She knew this was somewhat of an empty threat. She was sure there would come a time that neither one of them would be able to leave work for the whole day, and if Emily genuinely needed to leave school, she would end up on the couch in her office at the restaurant. "Does that sound like a fair deal?"
"Yeah." The young girl nodded.
"Okay, go pick out a game for us to play." The brunette patted her on the back, and watched as she walked to her bedroom.
"You good, baby?" Bridget asked softly.
"Yeah." Franky took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Was what I said at the end okay?"
"It was perfect." The blonde leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. "You're a natural."
The younger woman didn't say anything, but simply smiled. She hoped she'd be getting a lot more practice using those "natural" skills soon.
It was only a few minutes before Emily returned with the game she had chosen. The three of them sat on the floor around the coffee table, and Franky began setting up the board. She was glad the talk with Emily had gone well; it would be nice to spend a quiet family evening together.
