Title: Hot Tempered Is Only The Beginning
Rating: T
Summary: Pretending to be a boy is only the half of what Lara Haven aka Jack has to put up with.
Mercuryband: hehehe yes that was the effect I was going for :D. Thanks for the review, and you'll get to see T-Bag's view in this chapter!
Esset: Thanks very much for the review! I'm glad you like the story and I hope this update makes your day lol. The other story is going pretty well, takes a little longer for me to update that one though. I dunno why. Lol.
KillerRubberDuckiesR-J: Ya, he did take out Abruzzi though I haven't really mentioned that anywhere lol. Thanks for the review, though in this one…T-Bag takes a bit of a turn lol. Anyways, hope you like it!
Scary-Girly: No worries about the whole confusing thing lol, happens to the best of us :).Lara and T-Bag aren't father/daughter they're more like…quirky hot-headed/pedophile who is waiting to get in her pants. Lol. They're friends in a very strange way lol. Does that explain it any better?
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Lara half sat and half lay with her head on T-Bag's shoulder. Her breathing was soft and relaxed and if he shifted slightly he could almost feel her heart beating.
T-Bag found it almost mystifying that this young girl had come into prison and then joined the Alliance – not that she had much choice. Part of him wanted to smile as he remembered her suddenly leaping at the giant Geraldi who was much larger than her. Who knew that little feisty Jacko was actually a girl!
The beginnings of a smirk tugged at T-Bag's lips and his tongue darted across the slightly chapped surface. He remembered first setting eyes on her; she'd struck him as odd. Some shrimp of a kid with fire for hair and dancing green eyes had half stumbled half strutted into the yard. How she'd loathed him as he came and sat next to her on those benches, he could see it in her eyes. But he liked the look of Jacko's petite frame, delicate facial features and the way her hair would fall into her eyes. When T-Bag had first set eyes on her, he thought she'd be in his pocket in no time! Turned out, the little shrimp had much more of an attitude then her size let on.
T-Bag's eyes were half closed as he remembered when she'd screamed at him, he decided then that he'd have to bide his time. Sooner or later little Jacko would crack.
Carefully, oh so carefully, T-Bag shifted, moving his head to try and see if Lara was asleep. Her breathing suggested that she was dozing, and while the others would definably stop him…what little they didn't see was fine, and his shank was in his pocket if Lara needed a little…persuasion…
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I was almost dozing off, my eyes were almost closed and my breathing was becoming relaxed. I couldn't help myself, who knew that a man as wiry as T-Bag could prove to be a good pillow for my head?
I felt him shift slightly but I didn't pay much attention, time had gone on now and we would probably be on our way soon, for now I just wanted to stay comfortable. But it was then that I felt his arm start moving, and I knew by the changing pressure that there was no way his hand was moving anywhere but South.
My fingers closed tight around his shank, which I had taken from his pocket, I was quite the pickpocket on the streets before the cops had caught me. I bared my teeth and moved suddenly, the metal tip was just pressed into T-Bag's armpit. He froze quite quickly.
"Nice try T." I said with the beginnings of a smug grin. "Next time hide it somewhere other than your pocket." I couldn't help being proud, hell I'd just pulled a fast on T-Bag, I had every right to feel a little proud!
"It's nine o'clock Fish. Time to go." C-Note's words cut through the silence and my smug grin turned to one of mischievous excitement. I stood quickly and tossed the small knife back to T-Bag who gingerly caught it. I began to move towards the hole, though I kept my eyes on the Southerner in case he decided to go for revenge.
I was still frustrated with Charlie, well not so much with him…just in general. But like I mentioned once before, I get heated pretty fast, but I cool down quickly afterwards. And I was cooling down now, and beginning to regret what I'd said.
'Maybe I should talk to him…. Damn my pride! I will talk to him sometime soon!' I silently promised myself. Sometime soon.
We all stood around the hole, looking down into the dark depths. Wow, I never remember it being that deep!
Michael looked at all of us, his eyes steely blue and his mouth a grim line.
"See you on the other side." He stated softly before turning and lowering himself down. I could barely keep still, I was practically dancing on the spot and every so often I'd glance up to make sure that the door was still bolted.
Soon it was only C-Note, T-Bag, Westmoreland and myself left. I stepped forward and lowered myself down in the hole.
…Oh great! It had been a lot deeper then I had expected! I clutched to the rim of the hole with slipping fingers and hissed in growing panic,
"I can't touch the bottom!" The three above ground laughed softly and from below I could hear muffled chuckles.
"It's not funny!" I hissed again, my face beginning to glow with embarrassment and also from the pressure that was building up. "Can't hold on!" I panted, the rocks from the edge of the hole digging into my fingers. I suddenly felt strong arms encircle my twitching legs, and for a moment that filled me with fresh panic, what if the person tried to drag me down!
"I got you." I heard Michael say. C-Note grabbed my wrists and between the three of us I was manoeuvred down. I suppose C-Note and I were on kind of truce, well something must have changed cause I never imagined him helping me!
I practically climbed down from Michael's shoulders and hesitantly crouched in the pipe, it was pretty dark down here but I swear my blushing face lit up the whole place!
"Thanks." I whispered with bashful discomfort.
"No problem." Fish replied, grinning.
Soon all five of as were crouch-walking our way through the pipe, several of the taller cons grumbling as they occasionally hit their head on the top of the pipe. I grinned at this; for once my small size was coming in handy!
We came to a sudden stop and I peered out from behind Sucre to see what the hold up was. Michael turned to another concrete pipe and suddenly slid down it.
…Now this was going to be fun!
The last thing I heard before I slid down that concrete slide – which turned out to be more painful then fun! – was T-Bag and C-Note bringing up the racial goads again; never a moments rest!
My feet hit the ground and I immediately got out of the way as three people quickly appeared at the bottom of the slide.
"Quite the adventure eh Lara?" Sucre said, grinning at me. I scowled and ran a hand through my hair.
"Not fair, you guys all have long legs! All I've got are these little hooves!" Sucre laughed and clapped me roughly on the back.
"No worries chica, less weight on the rope." At his words I finally noticed the rope dangling in the middle of the room. Aha! Another thing my size might come in handy for! Back in high school, my sister and I had been the champions of rope climbing!
Michael went up first, secured the rope and then told us to climb up. Sucre headed up and then I scurried up after him.
I ignored the two out stretched hands at the top and pulled myself up eagerly,
"Nothin' like a good rope climb eh Sucre?" I asked grinning, slightly out of breath.
"Whatever you say Lara." Sucre replied as he stared both lovingly and hatefully at the rope.
I watched Westmoreland struggle up the rope. Despite my previous anger towards him I couldn't help feeling worried. As he neared the top we all reached down and grabbed a limb, pulling him upwards. I had to say something, I had to.
"'Atta way Charlie." I said softly. His breathing was pretty laboured but I'm sure that I caught a flicker of a smile.
Michael was grinning now, he looked so happy. Hell we were all grinning, we were out! It was actually going to happen! We were going to be freeeee!
Michael turned around and the grin melted from his face, a look of pure horror replacing it.
A huge – and I mean huge! – steel pipe was running from a grate along the side of the wall.
"They replaced it!" Michael whispered. He leapt forward suddenly and felt around the top rim of the pipe. "Lincoln?" He asked softly and we all waited with baited breath.
"Michael?" Came a very smothered voice from above. Fish turned to us and he was smiling through tears.
"He's there." Fish paused and studied the pipe for a moment before throwing himself at it and trying to bodily tug it out. Westmoreland ran and grabbed a pipe, and soon everyone was using it as leverage.
"SHH!" T-Bag hissed, waving his hand desperately. We all stopped and it was as if everything was frozen; the dull thud of a guard's approaching boots echoed down the hall.
All of a sudden I felt my cold prison dinner climbing up my throat, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end and my feet were glued to the floor.
The footsteps got louder.
This couldn't be the end, we couldn't get caught!
Louder and louder.
There had to be some way around this! Somewhere to hide!
The guard stopped at the door.
'We're done for.'
I've never been very religious namely because my family never had time to go to church our Christmas's were a joke and God must have felt lazy, cause he did a pretty shoddy job on my legs!
But whether God was finally paying attention to me, or other Gods and religions wanted my Sundays; the guard turned away. I swear it was by some unseen force or something, the guard stopped at the door, hesitated and then just walked away!
'Oh thank you sweet Jesus! Muhammad! Ganesh! Zeus! I love all of you!'
After another silent moment we resumed trying to somehow remove the pipe but it wouldn't budge. Michael slid to the ground,
"It can't be done." He whispered and tears started shimmering in his eyes. "It's to thick. I'm so sorry." I've never felt pity hit me so hard. What were we going to do! We couldn't leave Linc up there; we'd be leaving him to his death! We couldn't go back to the shed cause another day we don't use the hole was another day the badges could find it, and who knew if we'd get another chance like this!
"We're not getting out of here." I wasn't surprised when I heard Fish's heavy voice. What astonished me the most was when I nodded grimly, there had to be something we could do, not just nothing. And I wouldn't feel right if we just up and left…Linc was a good guy, he didn't deserve this.
"Unfortunately Pretty that ain't an option." T-Bag's dangerous voice startled me and I turned in time to see him holding the shank in his hand as he advanced on Michael.