Series: Hard Times
Title: "Fallen" (Part 3) (21 Chapters)
Previous: Part 1 "His Final Days", Part 2 "Consequences"
Character: Abbey, Liz, Millie, Ellie, Zoey
Rating: PG-13 (some intensity in some chapters)
Category: Drama/Angst/AU
Disclaimer: The real ones are owned by Sorkin, Wells, and NBC. I have responsibility for all others.
Summary: Abbey is incarcerated in the women's prison after her conviction.
Chapter 1
"I said 'Sit down'," as the guard pushed her onto the metal springs of the bare bunk bed. Abbey had momentarily hesitated to follow the guard's order.
"I am."
The guard bent down to face the newest inmate at Goffstown. "Oh, we have a smart mouth don't we? Well, let me tell you something. The high and mighty have fallen and you had better get used to it. You may think your former life means a great deal here, but it doesn't. I don't care if you're the Queen of England. You've been convicted of a crime, a serious crime and you're to follow my directions. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Abbey lowered her eyes, away from the guard's face. She was so full of hatred mixed with fear that she was afraid of what her eyes would say if she looked at her.
"Good." With that, the metal door clanged shut and Abbey was left to her thoughts.
She looked around to see her home for the next ten years. A seventy square foot cell with bare, gray concrete block walls would be her world. It had a metal toilet and sink in the corner and two bare shelves built as a part of the opposite wall. She sat on a gray metal bunk bed, each with a two inch plastic mattress.
Sighing, Abbey took the two sheets she had been issued and made up her bed. She had been allowed to bring a box of personal items with her, but they were still being catalogued and searched for contraband.
Having nothing else to do, she laid back on the bed and thought of what had happened since she had been led from the courtroom two days ago.
From the courthouse, she had been escorted to the Manchester jail and placed in a holding cell with another inmate scheduled for transfer to the women's prison. She had exchanged her clothes for an orange jumpsuit with 'Manchester Jail' written across the back of it.
The only jewelry she had on at the time was her wedding set. The set Jed had given her on their twentieth wedding anniversary. He had engraved their wedding date inside with the words 'Forever Yours'. Upon admission to the jail, it had been taken off her and placed in a small brown envelope, with the promise it would be given to her lawyer. She would just have keep her love for him in her heart.
The next day, she had met with Pat and given her a list of things she wanted to take with her to prison. Abbey asked again if she could see her family prior to leaving Manchester, but Pat had told her that the rules didn't allow for a convicted felon to see or talk with their family for the first two months in prison. Adjustment time Pat had called it.
Prison. That was so hard to believe. She thought she wasn't capable of killing anyone. But that's just what the jury had convicted her of. Of killing her husband. She was still adamant she had done it for love. But doing it for love was not an acceptable reason in the eyes of the law.
While still in Manchester, she met with the prison liaison to get an understanding of expectations during her prison sentence. The liaison emphasized that life would now be totally different. No special arrangements would be made for her former position in life. She would be expected to work seven days a week at the prison, share a cell with another inmate, and obey all the rules. The liaison told her it was not going to be easy. The kind of people she would be dealing with had no patience with the powerful that had fallen out of grace. But Abbey knew she could make it through anything. It was just another challenge in her life. One of many.
The Secret Service had pulled all of the agents off her detail. She wouldn't need them in prison.
Early the second day, both women were awaken early, fed breakfast and prepared for the journey to their next destination. Before she left her cell, her hands were handcuffed to her waist and her feet shackled. Shuffling, she made her way to the basement, where the prison van waited for their passengers. Helped into the van by the guards, she settled in for the drive to Goffstown.
As the van left the jail's basement, photographers were there taking pictures. Abbey wanted to hide from them but couldn't. She was belted in her seat with her hands shackled. One of the guards laughed. "Well, that's going to make one of those guys very wealthy." Abbey only cringed and kept her mouth shut.
She shared the trip to Goffstown and the women's prison with the other inmate and three guards. Quite an abrupt change for someone who had been driven in the finest limousines for eight years.
Upon arrival, she was ushered into a common area, where she was ordered to disrobe. After a search for contraband, she was escorted to a communal bathroom, where she and the other inmate shared the shower. After finishing, she was given a clean uniform to wear, this one with the words "Property of New Hampshire Board of Corrections" across the back. Her identification number was on a strip of material across her chest.
Handcuffed again, she was escorted to a cell block where she was placed in closed custody, essentially solitary confinement, until further evaluation could take place. It was mainly done for her safety, but it did nothing for her mental health.
Now, Abigail Ann Bartlet, former First Lady of the United States, former Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Massachusetts General, was prisoner number 160753.
TBC
