S5:E6 – Scene 2
Vera looked out the window down into the sunny exercise yard filled with H and J Block inmates. "Three weeks!" she thought as she smiled. It felt like a victory to go three weeks without a violent prisoner-on-prisoner incident. And Mr. Jones, the new chairman of the Board of Corrections, had actually sent her an email commending her and her new Prisoners Council. The women had made several interesting suggestions to help relieve the tension left over from the riot and the long lockdown including a drama club, church services on Sundays, and a Halloween dance.
The dance was tomorrow night and her mixed feelings kept her head spinning. School dances were miserable and her mother kept forcing her to go even though she begged not to. Her dancing dress was a baby blue hand-me-down from her mother that was too big and too frilly. She couldn't leave because her mother would sit outside of the gym the whole night waiting for her. So she started bringing books and escaping into the stairway where she'd sit and read while the music pounded on the walls around her.
She had Linda schedule extra guards for tomorrow's evening shift just to be safe but the way things were going, she wasn't expecting any major problems. The women on the Prisoners Council had assured her that the inmates would be on their best behavior.
A movement in the yard caught Vera's attention. Allie Novak had joined the drama club and a small group was in the far corner rehearsing a story she had written. She was glad that Allie was finally starting to step out of her self-imposed separation from the other H Block inmates and she had a feeling that it was partially due to Liz Birdsworth, who had also joined the drama. Vera had to smile as Allie and Liz were practicing their Charlie Chaplin walk and Allie couldn't stop giggling. Vera scanned the yard and found Bea Smith sunbathing on the grass with one arm thrown over her eyes. She knew that prison romances seldom ever worked out but a part of her still hoped that these two would find their way back to each other. They had fought so hard to be together. Both had nearly died and it seemed such a waste, particularly when others had lost before they had the chance. Vera pushed back the knot in her throat and brushed away the tears that welled in her eyes. It still seemed so unfair that she had had so little time with Fletch and these two were wasting the precious time they had.
She continued watching the yard when her eyes fell on the tall woman sitting on the bench by herself. Joan was still, like a manikin, her hands on her knees, her eyes constantly scanning the yard. Vera smiled as she imagined that if she was close enough, she could hear Joan's mind running like a computer. At that moment, Joan looked up and saw Vera smiling at her. The older woman smiled back and she raised a hand and waved it ever so slightly. Without any hesitation, Vera lifted her hand and placed it on the window pane. It was warm from the sun and the when she touched it, a wave of heat rippled through her body and her cheeks flushed red. Then Vera noticed the oddest thing happen: Joan Ferguson lowered her head and actually seemed shy.
A knock on the door took her attention away from the former governor and she turned to see Linda step in with a stack of folders. "Here are the files of the ministers that are approved by the Board. Four men and one ex-nun, and one that Bridget had on her list of resources. I ran a background check and she's clean."
Vera opened the manila folder and scanned the resume. A Masters in Social Work, a Doctorate in Divinity, practicing Buddhist, and an assistant pastor at a church in St. Kilda. "She looks good on paper. Let's schedule a meeting," Vera suggested as she handed back the folder.
"Next Monday?" Linda asked.
"Let's make it Tuesday just in case."
"Are you expecting trouble at the dance?"
"I'm not expecting it but I AM preparing for it. It's been quiet and smooth for three weeks. It's hard to believe that someone isn't plotting… something."
Linda shrugged her shoulders. "I haven't seen or heard anyone complaining. No one wants to risk that council coming down on them – with the holy trinity – they're too afraid to try anything."
Vera laughed, shocked. "The what? The holy trinity? What's that?!" she asked incredulously.
"Bea, Kaz, and Ferguson. The holy trinity… well, some say the holy 'fucking' trinity, but I think that's implied. No one wants to mess with any of them now that you've teamed them up."
"I did what?" Vera kept laughing and shaking her head. "Bridget said it was Bea's idea. I just used it."
"Yeah. Well, at the time, Bea probably wasn't expecting you to tame The Freak and then put her back in gen pop."
"I didn't tame Joan!" Vera answered, exasperated.
"Well, I for one, hope you did. A tame Freak is a really big gun on our side."
"Linda," Vera paused trying to find the right words. "We don't need Joan Ferguson to be on our side. She is an inmate. Never forget that. You and I will run this prison the best way we know how and make it the most successful facility in the country. And we won't do it with the heavy hand of Joan Ferguson. If we treat these women with respect, they will respect us and each other."
"Righto! Respect." Linda waved the folders at her as she backed out of the office and closed the door. "I'd rather have a tame Freak," she whispered to herself as she walked down the hall to her office.
Vera turned and walked back over to the window. She looked down and found Joan still sitting on the bench. Joan turned her head toward the window and when she saw Vera, she gave her another smile, which grew a little larger when Vera smiled back.
A movement over on the grass grabbed Vera's attention and she watched as Bea jumped up and brushed herself off before walking back into the prison. She looked at Allie and watched as sadness pushed away the playfulness. "Ah," Vera thought to herself. "So it's all an act. Maybe she still cares. Maybe there's hope for them yet. Maybe they just need a little push."
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Bea had to get out of there! She needed to stop hearing Allie's laugh – so close yet so far. She pushed into the dimly light hallway and started walking back toward H Block, going faster and faster, nearly at a run until a prison guard told her to walk. She made it back to the empty cell block and stomped into her cell, slamming the door behind her. Screaming, she pushed the books off the shelf, clothes went flying, and toiletries smashed against the window. She grabbed her mattress, the one they had shared, the place where they had made love; she lifted it over her head and slammed it back onto the frame over and over. She had given everything to everyone else! She had lost everything! In all her life she never asked for anything! She never wanted anything! Except for Allie.
She slammed the mattress down again but her hand lost its grip and slid down across the bedframe and it sliced a long gash from her hand and past her wrist. The searing pain shot up her arm and she screamed in agony. She pulled her hand up and saw the open gash and was surprised that there was no blood. Then suddenly the blood came flowing in waves with the pace of her heart.
"Shit!" Bea grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her hand and rushed down the hall toward the Medical office. Six stitches and a mental review later, she walked back down the hall shaking her head at her own stupidity. "I wasn't trying to kill myself," she had to repeat over and over, and she was still saying it in her mind as she walked into the showers. She still had blood all over her and she didn't want to walk back into the cell block and have everyone fuss over her for something so stupid.
She didn't see the woman in front of her until it was too late. She bumped into the larger woman and her clear plastic shower bag went sliding across the floor, its contents spewing out across the tiles. The big woman turned around, her fluffy pink robe dangerously open.
"You!" the woman growled. She grabbed Bea by the neck before Bea could apologize. "You!" she growled again. "It was you who got Juice in trouble. I should snap your neck right now."
As the air was cut off, Bea slapped at the thick arm holding her. She tried to apologize for bumping her but couldn't get any words out. The woman punched her in the stomach with her other hand and then tossed her across the floor. Bea put her hands out to keep herself from crashing into the wall but when she hit the wall, the stitches tore open and pain and blood poured from her hand. She was sliding so hard that she banged her head on the wall and everything began to grow dark.
Bea heard the door open and the large woman shout, "Get out!" but she didn't see who had come and gone. She hoped it was someone willing to go get her some help.
It was Chrissy, the young blond woman from C Block, and when she saw the woman in the pink robe and Bea lying on the floor bloody, she took off toward H Block, ignoring the guards warning to slow down. She got to the gate and slid to a stop, grabbing the metal frame and swinging into the room. She was shouting even before she had stopped moving. She kept moving until she ran into and then bounced off of Maxine.
"It's Bea! In the shower! There's blood everywhere!" Chrissy shouted.
Before Maxine could ask what was going on, Allie burst from her cell and took off down the hallway. She hit the shower room door so hard that it banged against the wall and bounced back at her but she put a foot out to stop it from hitting her. The pink-robed woman was gone and Bea was huddled on the far side of the room, blood dripping through the bandage on her wrist and from the gash in her forehead. She was unconscious and Allie kneeled beside her and tapped her face to try to wake her.
"Bea? Bea, wake up." She pleaded. "Come on, Bea. Wake up. Don't leave me!"
Bea's eyes fluttered open and Allie pulled her into an embrace and rocked her. Maxine smashed through the door followed by Linda Miles and Linda called for the nurse on her radio. It felt like just seconds had passed when the nurse arrived with two attendants pushing a gurney. The nurse checked to make sure it was safe to move Bea and then, with the help of the attendants, put her on the gurney and wheeled her out of the shower room. Linda followed and left Maxine and Allie alone.
Allie was shaking so hard that Maxine went over to her and held her. Allie grabbed onto Max's shirt as she sobbed.
"I can't lose her, Maxie. I can't. There was so much blood. There's always blood. It's like she's a little one-woman blood factory and every time she gets hit, whoosh, here's a blood package. I kept telling her to be careful. I told her not to go to the showers alone. I can't lose her. I love her, Max. I can't be here without her." She rambled as she cried and Maxine just held her, rocking her, telling her that everything would be alright.
Kaz and Chrissy were there when they turned to go.
"What are you going to do?" Allie asked angrily, more towards her friend Kaz than the young woman.
But it was the young woman who answered. "She will be brought to justice."
Allie smirked at her. "What does that mean? A week or two in the hole. I fell in love in the hole, it's not all that bad."
Chrissy looked at her seriously. "I don't know what that means but I will discuss it with the Council. I will ask you not to take matters into your own hands. That's what we're trying to stop and we can't have Bea's woman breaking the rules."
Allie was speechless. "I… Bea's…" She looked at Maxine and then at Kaz, who was trying hard to not laugh. "Who are you?! What are you doing here?"
Chrissy looked confused. "I found them." Then she thought she understood the question and stuck her hand out and smiled. "I'm Chrissy. Councilor from C Block. It's nice to meet you, Allie."
"You know me?"
"Everyone knows you. You're Bea's woman. Protected by The Freak. And friend of Kaz." With that, she patted Kaz's arm.
Allie was flabbergasted. "Everyone knows…" She looked at Maxine, who just shrugged. "Protected by…"
That was almost too much to take in and she looked at Kaz, who looked at her and pointed at herself.
"And friend of Kaz," Kaz mouthed silently, barely stifling her laughter. Allie could feel Maxine's body shake with laughter.
"What are you doing here? Why are you in Wentworth?" Allie asked the young woman who looked like a high school cheerleader.
"Oh, that. I shot my boyfriend," she said almost cheerfully. "He beat me up after finding me and my girlfriend in bed. So I shot him." Chrissy pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "I'm going to go check on Bea. Do you reckon y'all wanna come?"
"Sure," Maxine answered. "We're right behind you." She wrapped an arm around Allie's shoulder. "Coming?"
Allie looked a bit scared but nodded and wrapped an arm around Maxine's waist. They walked up to Kaz and Allie put her free hand out and Kaz took it. The three women walked down the hall that way until they got to the Medical block. Allie looked in the window but couldn't go inside. Allie had been so afraid when she saw Bea lying on the shower room floor, still and bloody. It felt like all the other times when everyone was against them and all they had was each other. Seeing her alive, there, now, all the anger of being lied to left her, all she wanted now was to touch Bea and feel her alive in her arms.
Bea was talking to the governor and Miss Miles. The nurse walked up to them, said a few words and motioned towards the window. Bea looked up and saw Allie standing in the hallway with Maxine and Kaz. A bundle of emotions bubbled in her chest and her eyes said "please." But Allie didn't seem to know how to move, she didn't know what she'd say, or how they'd move on from the past. So, Maxine gave her a little push towards the door. And Kaz gave her a little push through the door. And as Vera and Linda walked out of the room, Vera leaned over and whispered, "take good care of her," and pushed her ever so slightly towards the bed, towards Bea. Allie looked at the governor, who gave her a wink as she pulled the curtain and closed the door.
Allie gave Bea a look of surprise. "I think the governor expects me to give you a roll right here."
Bea looked shocked. "What!?" she howled and they both laughed.
Bea shook her head as her laughter quieted into a smile, and the smile turned into a look that asked a thousand questions. And then she couldn't look at Allie at all and she looked down and studied her hands.
Allie took one step closer. "Bea?" she said in a broken voice.
Bea looked up and saw that Allie was shaking and she got out of the bed, ignoring the pain in her stomach, and wrapped her arms around her lover. Allie sobbed in relief as silent tears of joy rolled down Bea's cheeks.
"I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." They said in unison. "I love you." "I love you." They said together again. They stood there holding each other, all the words that needed to be said had been said.