A/N : I'm picking up right where I left off, after Percy breaks Del's fingers. Like I said, I prefer to do this slowly and properly. Thank you all for your reviews, they are what keep me writing this fic. This fic, of course, centers around Angela, meaning I'll be stuffing her name in everywhere I can. After all, there's no point in writing the fic if most of it is the same as the movie. Joli gamine means 'Pretty little girl' or at least I think it does.

Del was on his knees, weeping from the pain and tears came to Angela's eyes. She had always been sensitive to other people's pain and this was no different.

"Oww" Del cried "Damn, boss, he done bus' my fingers for true…"

"We'll get it looked at, Del" Edgecomb said "Now keep yourself quiet like I said"

Angela thought this was very cold, but she supposed he had a job to do. Angela surreptitiously wiped her tears away and glanced at the enormous man standing no more than a few feet away from her. Angela swallowed hard. She had thought that Brutal was big but this man towered over Brutal. He didn't seem dangerous but Angela knew that things weren't always what they seemed.

(Flashback)

Angela gasped as she came face to face with her grandfather. He looked bewildered as he looked back and forth between his granddaughter and the body on the ground.

"What have you done?" he whispered.

"Me?" Angela squeaked "I haven't…I wouldn't…I"

But her grandfather wasn't listening, he was already pulling her to the door.

"Grandpa, where are we going?" Angela asked, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry, child, but we must see the sheriff about this" her grandfather said.

"But I haven't done anything" Angela said, softly.

Her grandfather merely shook his head and pulled her with him.

(End Flashback)

Angela snapped out of her reverie just as Coffey asked whether or not they kept the light on after bedtime. Angela's face softened at this, if the man was scared in the dark how bad could he be?. Angela looked at the other guards and found that Brutal was looking at her with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, not wanting to disrupts Edgecomb's talk with Coffey.

Angela nodded slowly and Brutal reluctantly turned away. Angela turned back to Edgecomb and Coffey to find Coffey offering his hand to Edgecomb. Angela smiled softly, the big man wasn't so bad, at least he didn't seem bad.

Edgecomb accepted the handshake with trepidation and Angela couldn't blame him. Edgecomb left the cell and Brutal locked the door after shutting it. Brutal then once more turned to Angela.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Brutal asked.

"I seem to remember asking you the same thing, I wasn't too sure about your answer either" Edgecomb said.

"Just reliving some bad memories, this place seems to make them worse" Angela said, softly.

Edgecomb noticed the tension in Angela's stance and decided to change the subject.

"I spoke to the warden about those books I promised you and he said I could bring them in tomorrow, would that be alright?" Edgecomb asked.

"That would be just fine" Angela said, smiling.

Edgecomb nodded and walked off, followed by Stanton and Terwilliger, Brutal lingered for a moment.

"You look pale" he said "I'll get you some water"

"Thank you" Angela said, blushing.

Brutal followed the others into the small office and went straight to the tap. He grabbed a cup and filled it with water, before taking it back to Angela. Stanton and Terwilliger followed him with their eyes and then turned to Edgecomb.

"You don't suppose Brutal has a bit of a crush on our pretty little convict, do you?" Stanton asked.

"The girl will be executed in two weeks time" Edgecomb said quietly "He knows better than that"

"Do you think she did it?" Terwilliger said, indicating Angela's file.

"No" Edgecomb said "Do you?"

Brutal, in the mean time, gave Angela the cup of water and she took it gratefully. She drank some of it before taking a breath. Brutal stood there, watching her drink the water. He didn't know what was wrong with him but he was mesmerized by this tiny young woman.

She wasn't extraordinarily beautiful, nor was she especially intelligent but something about her made his heart beat faster. He shook himself and smiled slightly when Angela handed the cup back to him. Angela wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and Brutal sighed.

So young, so innocent, Brutal thought before shaking his head and walking back to the office. Angel rubbed her burning cheeks to try and get rid of the blush than was once again creeping up on her, she knew Brutal was only being nice to her but she couldn't help but blush whenever he was around. He was very handsome, and very kind. Angela sighed as she laid herself down.

Angela sighed again, she was bored out of her mind. There was no one on the Mile but her and John Coffey, as Delacroix had been taken away to what Boss Stanton had called the infirmary. Angela didn't know what that meant but she hoped it had something to do with his fingers and not with his sentence. Is that where I'm gonna go when I have to die?, Angela wondered. The infirmary?.

Angela was extremely relieved when Del was brought back to the Mile. She breathed a sigh of relief earning her a puzzled look from Boss Stanton. Angela merely smiled and when Stanton was gone, Angela approached her bars.

"Del" she called quietly "Are you okay?"

"I be fine, joli gamine" Del said softly "I be fine"

Angela nodded, not quite daring to ask what joli gamine meant. She didn't like not understanding things but she knew that sometimes it was better not to ask questions.

(Flashback)

The following events happened fast, too fast for Angela. She had never been stupid, but she had never been one for quick thinking either. One minute she was talking to the sheriff, the next he was taking her with him. Her mother fiercely protested as they took her away, yelling that she hadn't done anything.

While being brought to the sheriff's office, Angela learned two things. The first thing was that there had been three bodies in the shed and the second thing that one of the bodies belonged to a young man who had worked for her mother some months earlier.

This young man had harassed Angela in the past, making her a very likely suspect. Angela cried as they took her away, sometimes life just wasn't fair.

(End Flashback)

Angela sighed as she snapped out of flashback, if only she had known where she would be not long after, the last thing on her mind would have been how unfair it was.