Time for Roman to reveal his secret even though most of you have hit the nail on the head (now what did I say about making me pout huh?!) Hope you like where we're heading next!

Hayley1001, Ooh, yep, you got me on that one as the rest of this chapter will now make super clear, but just because we know what Roman is up to doesn't mean I'm going to make things any easier on him!

Guest, Thank you, I'm glad you like it, there's still a lot more to come from this story too!

Mandy, Mum came home from hospital midweek so at least she's back now and we can try to be normal. Dean and Roman's relationship is the best thing ever, it's so pure and honest so I'm glad you love it too!

LHisawesome4ever, Yeah, bless Dean and his random ticks and twitches, luckily Roman is not the kind of person that gets easily wound up! Roman makes his big secret clear in this chapter...you were right!

SkittlezLvr79, Yep, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking (wait, what) then a certain copper blonde haired someone will indeed be upset when the time comes but that's not for a long while yet!

Cheryl24, I looked into prison life when I was writing so I know some jobs are more sought after than others, but I suppose anything is better than nothing? No Seth in this one, sorry. Hope all is well with your ex.

Wolfgirl2013, Glad you're still enjoying it, Roman's secret is revealed in this chapter which might end up changing a few things down the line…

Cherry619, Haha, well, who's to say that I won't be roughing up both boys in this story? But either way, never fear there will be a bunch of hurt/comfort and brotherly love in this one, how could there not?!

Ohana1337, Yay! Welcome back and yes I'm still busy writing like a lunatic so hop on board and enjoy (I hope). Yeah, looks the secret isn't such a secret but there is still one person who doesn't know!

Daisysakura, Yep, definitely some foreshadowing going on because you can never have too many enemies in a story right?! I LOVE when Roman tousles Dean's hair it is so instinctual and cute!

Minnie1015, Aww, well thank you for sparing my pouting and as a reward I won't leave you in suspense for a minute longer! Also, this may be the brotherliest (so a word) story I've ever written.

Wwe21, Yeah, I wanted someone who Dean used to know from his indie time and who might be a bit of a loose cannon and he seemed to figure perfectly for this story so voila, his cameo (sort of) was born!

Skovko, Is this the part where I say I never watched Prison Break? Was I the only one?! Yep, no matter what happens in life, the Wyatt family will remain my favourite weird bad guys ever!

KyanaM, Thank you (puts pouty lips away) Super happy you like it so far. I just had a sudden hankering for a real brotherly love story and this was born! Plenty more to come, including Roman's secret in 3, 2, 1…

Stingerette1975, Nice guess on the daughter (kinda wish that was the answer now) but never fear because the secret will be revealed here and maybe you won't feel quite so sorry for Roman once it's out (or maybe you will...)

HannonsPen, Yay! Glad you're with us for this one too and like it already, now let's hope I can keep the excitement up! Nice guess by the way and yep, you've rumbled me, but there are still a whole bunch of surprises to come!

Back into the prison...


Be Safe

Luckily and unsurprisingly given it being chow time, the telephone room is pretty much clear with the exception of a thin and pasty guy in one corner who seems from his tone to be talking to a kid, if the fact that he is slowly reciting itsy bitsy spider is a determining factor.

Roman sure hopes it is.

He heads to the far end of the long line of cubicles then takes a seat to work out how its done, which has handily been written on the side of each payphone in a how to for baffled looking newbies like him. He has a card in the pocket of his fashionista prison scrubs that had been given to him five hours before with a startled looking photo that had been taken in processing and that will now more than likely follow him around.

It's a bank card of sorts that is linked to his in house account which he knows has already been paid a healthy amount and so he swipes the black stripe through the payphone receiver in the knowledge that he has credit enough to begin a quick brief.

He stabs in the number that he has memorized so carefully and then waits for a moment for the call to connect, which seems to take a long and drawn out few seconds that he passes by drumming his fingers on the desk.

Maybe Dean is already wearing off on him?

Roman grits his teeth in frustration –

"Come on."

He is a second away from hanging up and giving up on it and skulking his way back to the lonely little cell, when the ringing is interrupted with a grunt and then a clatter which implies that the recipient has dropped the phone,

"Damn – ,"

"Boss?"

Roman can picture the scene all too easily since he's been present at it happening a million times before, sitting at the desk that is always strewn with paper and watching his tall employer hunt the receiver down, which is then usually fumbled or answered in such a hurry that he either disconnects it or holds the thing the wrong way round.

More fumbling follows, then a voice,

"That you Reigns?"

He blows out the breath he has been holding,

"It is."

In response to the confirmation Police Captain Hunter Helmsley huffs in relief and more than likely rubs his eyes, in the settling motion he does without thinking and which one day will probably push the things damn right inside.

"Everything good?"

"I mean, I haven't been stabbed yet so I'm guessing that's a plus."

Roman is going for light in what is possibly another latent quirky cellmate side effect but could also be the comfort of simply hearing a familiar voice. Hunter grunts back at him to show his displeasure at the ribald type of humor he has already picked up and it makes the bigger man sober a little and put his professional face back on in a flash,

"I meant how are you finding it? Have you met your roommate?"

"Yeah, he's – ,"

Roman stops.

How to explain Dean in few words?

Hunter however simply blasts right on past it since his natural policeman instincts are firing hard and he is clearly impatient to move onto bigger issues besides new friends and girls summer camp stuff.

"Have you found out anything?"

"Maybe."

"Can we use it?"

Roman hunches himself in closer to the phone, brown eyes flickering as another figure enters then lumbers across to a booth of his own. His black and grey streaked hair spike from beneath a growing bald spot located on the back of his head and the whole mess frames a pair of tiny little eyeballs that stare out unblinking and impossibly white.

Harper or Rowan.

Roman feels himself shiver and his free hand tightens into an unhappy fist, because while he doesn't know one man from the other, he knows that Dean hates them and therefore on instinct mistrusts them both.

Hunter clears his throat across the phone line,

"Roman?"

"Sorry boss, I must've had something on my mind."

"I said have you found anything of interest we can look at?"

Brown eyes shut for a second –

Focus Reigns.

"Dean mentioned people not getting their prescriptions, he says it's a pretty big problem in here."

"Dean?"

"Uh, my cellmate."

Roman has said it without thinking on the basis that his superior would somehow know who he was, because the copper blonde is basically such a screwball sort of livewire that it seems vaguely impossible there are people not in the loop.

Hunter ignores or else misses the implication,

"You think the prison guards are selling it on?"

Roman blows a breath loose and then stretches his legs out which crash up against the wooden kickboard at the back in a way that tells him whoever built the cubicles had given little thought to those over six foot tall.

"It makes sense, I mean, we both know there's a market for good, high-quality, untampered drugs."

"But do you think that's all they have got going on in there?"

Hunter is pushing for something more and although he clearly doesn't expect immediate answers, they both know the reason the bigger man is really there on the first ever undercover assignment he has been tasked with and hopefully the last he will be handed as well, since lying to people doesn't feel like police work, even if the ends somehow justify the means.

In terms of the parameters of their secret investigation, the brief they are working to is pretty damn broad, since it spans not only allegations of corruption but also disappearances and suicides as well. It also includes the at least ten inmates who have hanged themselves in just nine months, which is pretty excessive not to mention suspicious since they had happened in solitary and therefore away from wider gaze.

Roman blinks himself back into the present,

"Right now I couldn't tell you what the hell is going on, but I'm 'a work my ass off on getting you answers."

Hunter snorts back at him,

"I know that you will."

"Need you look something up for me first though – ,"

Roman leans in closer to the privacy of the booth and then drops his voice to a resonating whisper because this is the type of thing no one else can hear since it is likely to get his ass rumbled immediately which would not be a good way to start out the case.

His boss' tone sharpens,

"Is this related information?"

"It could be, I need the whereabouts of a Sami Callihan."

"Who the hell is that?"

"Dean – uh, my cellmate – says he's one of the guys that never got any meds."

Hunter blows a breath out and then fumbles the receiver in a way that suggests it is being wedged beneath his ear and which is followed by the sound of a ballpoint on paper and a slow and deliberate repetition of the name,

"Callihan."

"Dean says he got transferred outta here, but if we could find him – ,"

His boss grunts,

"I'll get it done."

Roman chooses not to add the fact that his new roommate will be over the moon at them tracking his friend down, or that he feels Dean deserves to have some closure or the knowledge that his only other buddy is alive and well.

"Thanks."

In the silence that follows he rubs his eyes wearily because he suddenly feels ridiculously tired and his brain is still spinning with rules and directions and a million outside world words he isn't really meant to say.

Dining Hall.

His voice when he speaks up again sounds groggy and about an octave lower than its usual bass tones, which aren't exactly light and melodious at the best of times but grumble from him now like a lengthening storm.

"I haven't seen the warden yet – ,"

"Bischoff?"

Roman nods accordingly then remembers abruptly that his boss cannot see and so clears his throat roughly by way an answer while trying to slap a bit of life back into his cheeks, which doesn't really work but does draw some attention and quickly makes him stop in case someone helps him with a fist.

"I need to ask around and see what people think of him."

Hunter throws back a word of caution,

"Be safe."

Roman nods pointlessly,

"I'll check in again tomorrow."

He pauses for a second and then hangs up the call, resisting the urge to pick it up and ring right back again because his boss is his tangible link to the real world and the life that he knows is still waiting outside for him. But instead there is slumped surrounded by whitewashed walls and a whole hierarchy he doesn't much get while possibly being watched over by a crooked administration who withhold medication and maybe do things far worse.

Geez.

Hauling a breath in he pulls himself upright and tries to look fierce as he strides across the room, breezing past the creepy ass black and grey striped giant that his crazy new cellmate seems to loathe so damn much and then stopping suddenly with his fingers around the handle as he latently takes in the words being said and which fill him abruptly with a sort of uneasiness that he doesn't expect and therefore cannot fully place.

"It will be good to have him back here where he belongs again."

Roman's prying eyes dart over for a second and collide with the white orbs in a sudden fixed stare which lasts for possibly three or four seconds.

Who is Harper-or-Rowan even talking about?

More importantly, who belongs where?


One question answered and another one posed then! Except I fully expect you clever people to have worked out who Harper was talking about! Fun and games are certainly coming...except they're not fun and games for our poor boys!