Title: Behind Bars 4/6
Author: Mandi
Characters: Faith and Cruz
Summary: Faith gets reluctantly pulled into another one of Cruz's great plans.
Disclaimer: They are not mine
Authors Note: Did I mention I really have no direction w/this story? Thanks form continuing toread anyway. I appreciate it soo much!

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The food fight hadn't gone exactly as Cruz planned since two other inmates were blamed for it and sent to isolation. Cruz really couldn't understand how she and Faith weren't held responsible for the incident when they so clearly threw the first spoon fulls of mash potatoes that started the chaos. Her only guess was that the guards were out to get her and Faith. The guards probably knew her and Faith wouldn't be lasting much longer and keeping them out of isolation would ensure their demise.

After the night of the hectic food fight her and Faith started taking turns sleeping in shifts. Cruz would sleep the first four hours or so while Faith stayed awake looking out for any suspicious happenings that could possibly endanger her or Cruz. Then Faith would wake Cruz up for her turn as lookout. It worked quite well for the first week or so, but then the drag of only getting four hours of sleep every night started to take its toll on both women. But that was life right? Gotta make some sacrifices for the greater good.

By day, Faith and Cruz found themselves working in the prison garden pulling weeds, watering plants, and trimming hedges. It wasn't the greatest, but it was something. At least they didn't have to do laundry and wash dishes like most of the inmates. Garden work, though hot as hell because of the blazing sun over head, was quite relaxing. Cruz found herself enjoying the work especially when she made time to take a whiff of the sweet smelling garden roses.

"Yokas," Cruz uttered, leaning toward Faith as they stood side by side trimming the thick hedges lining the prison fences.

"Why are you whispering?" Faith asked, keeping her focus on the task at hand.

"See that guard ova there?" Cruz nodded pass Faith at the guard standing about 10 feet away under the shade of the nearby building. Faith reluctantly looked over her shoulder at the man Cruz was referring too. He caught her eye and nodded at her, flashing his pearly whites in the process. Faith politely smiled back before looking at Cruz again.

"Yeah, what about him?" Faith shrugged.

"He's checkin' you out."

"Give me a break." Faith replied while rolling her eyes.

"You should go give um a little sumpin' sumpin'."

"Sumpin'? Sumpin? What are you a rapper? Speak English."

Cruz shifted her weight to one leg, obviously growing frustrated with her new friend, "you know what I mean. Go ova there and be friendly with him."

"What do I look like, a prostitute?"

"I don't mean sleep with the guy—just go ova there and lead um on, Yokas. We need all the friends we can get and from the way that guy's lookin' at you—come on, go flirt with the him a little."

"Hey—look at me. Who do you think you're talkin' to here? I don't flirt."

"Come on, you and Bosco do it all the time."

"What!" Faith nearly shouted turning to face Cruz, "me and Bosco? What the hell are you talkin' bout? We don't flirt."

"Right."

"We don't."

"Okay—sure." Cruz said innocently, nodding her head.

"Cruz—."

"Alright! You and Bosco don't flirt—my mistake." She threw her hands up in defeat and smiled to herself. Getting under Faith's skin was just too easy.

"You know, you're really startin' to piss me off." Faith started again.

"Yeah? What else's new? Yokas, I'm not askin' you ta marry the guy, just show him you're interested and maybe we can start gettin' some pull around here."

"Like I said before, who do you think you're talkin' to here? I've been with one guy in my life time, I don't know how to—."

"Wait—hold up!" Cruz interrupted, a stunned expression now on her face, "one guy? You serious?" She really couldn't believe what Faith had just told her.

"Yeah, I was married right outta high school to—."

"Fred."

"Yeah, Fred."

"Bald Fred."

"Yeah, bald Fred, can we get back to what we were talkin' bout before. I really don't wanna discuss my bald jagoff ex right now."

"Great, so let's move on from Fred and get your ass talkin' to that guard. I think he's kinda cute."

"Yeah? Then you go talk to him."

"Believe me, that guy ain't interested in me. Who knows, maybe you two will hit it off."

"Oh—the inmate and the prison guard, it's a romance of the century." Faith scowled in her most sarcastic tone, "I don't think so."

"Yokas."

"You can't make me go over there."

"Fine." Cruz said finally accepting defeat. But as she continued to work, she glanced side long at Faith who was busy with her hedge trimmer. A new plan started circulating in Cruz's head. After a few minutes she asked again, "you sure you're not gonna go ova there?"

Faith shook her head, "not a chance."

"Suit yourself." Cruz barely finished saying before she slammed her weight into Faith's side, causing the blade of Faith's hedge trimmer to slice the skin of her palm. Faith let out a cry of pain, gaining the attention of the guard.

"Why the hell'd you do that for!" Faith hissed, glaring angrily at Cruz.

"Just add pressure—It's not that deep, quit whining." Cruz told her before motioning for the guard they were talking about earlier, "hey! We got a problem here!" He quickly made his way over to them.

"You did that on purpose." Faith accused.

Cruz looked at her innocently, "who, me?"

"What's the problem here?" The guard asked as he arrived on the scene.

Cruz squinted to read the guard's name tag. In clear upper case letters was the name 'Vincent'. "Vincent? That your name?" She asked.

"It's my last. The name's Scott." He replied. He must be new, Cruz thought, too nice to be an old timer. No matter, a newbie's even better.

"Well, Scott, she cut her hand." Cruz explained indicating Faith's hand now completely covered with blood. He winced when he saw it, but quickly took hold of her hand and added pressure.

"Does it hurt? You okay?" Scott asked, looking straight into Faith's eyes, his face full of concern. For a moment Faith was mesmerized by his gorgeous deep blue eyes but quickly snapped out of it to turn and glare at Cruz again.

Cruz snickered, but quickly turned serious when Scott looked at her. She changed her expression and was now looking at him pleadingly, "could you help her? She's my friend, I don't want her bleeding to death or anything." Cruz was astonished at how well she could pull off a ditzy voice.

"Yeah, of course." Scott nodded and then looked back at Faith again. His hard eyes now softening when he gazed back at her. Faith couldn't help but notice how he really enjoyed holding her injured hand. "I'll take you to get it cleaned up." He offered, giving her a friendly smile.

Faith forced a smile and nodded, "sure."

"Don't worry," Scott said to Cruz, "I'll take good care of her."

"I bet you will." Cruz uttered under her breath. Faith heard her little remark and shook her head, giving Cruz a warning look.

"I really hate you, you know that?" Faith said as Scott begun to lead her away from the hedges. She continued to glare back at Cruz until it started to get painful to look over her shoulder. Faith gave up and just allowed Scott to walk her back to the main building.

"Have fun!" Cruz called after them.