When they descended the stairs to the ground floor, Bayley saw that she and Becky were going to be among the last ones to join the line to be served food. As had been the case on B Wing, two prisoners were in charge of cooking and serving meals, handing them to prisoners one at a time over a small counter. Bayley saw that on C Wing the task had been given to a very short young woman with blonde hair that had dyed pink ends, along with a much taller, much bigger woman with long dark hair and a stern face.
"Christ, who is that?" Bayley asked Becky, subtly pointing to the huge woman.
"That's Nia. She's as dumb as a box of rocks. Next to her is Alexa Bliss. Basically, Nia does everything Alexa tells her to. It's blatant manipulation; Alexa doesn't give a damn about her at all, but somehow Nia can't see it. Some people are just sheep, I guess."
"What are they in for?" Bayley asked as they walked over to the back of the line.
"Nia just for petty crimes. Violence, petty theft, drug possession, crap like that. She's just a loser, really. Bliss, though, she's one to watch your back around. She's a lifer, in for a double murder."
"Wow," Bayley said, drawing the word out. "She doesn't look capable."
"Don't you believe it. Apparently she came home one day and found her boyfriend sleeping with another woman. She stabbed them both multiple times before pouring petrol over them and setting them on fire. The story is the boyfriend was already dead by then, but the woman was still alive. Alexa says she stood outside the house listening to the screams, enjoying every second of it, or so I heard."
"Jesus Christ," Bayley muttered, trying to comprehend that level of sadism.
"Exactly. So be careful around her."
As Becky was speaking, a tall woman with dark hair breezed past the line, walking straight to the front of it and pushing in. She was flanked by two other women, both blondes. Bayley noted that no one objected to the woman cutting the line.
"Who is that? And who does she think she is?"
"Her name is Stephanie McMahon," Becky revealed, making Bayley immediately take in a sharp breath. That was who Ronda had taken the contract from to kidnap Becky! The plan had gone wrong when McMahon had been arrested, and now here she was here on the same wing as them! Bayley had never seen Stephanie in person before, but she had been high profile enough in the criminal world that Bayley definitely knew what she looked like, and knew her reputation for ruthlessness.
"And yes, I know she was the one who hired you guys to kidnap me," Becky went on. "She already made a point of telling me that, along with the fact that she wants to know what happened to her half a million dollars."
Bayley's eyes widened. "She said what?"
"Apparently that's the down payment she paid you guys for the job. She didn't end up with me, so she wants her money back. Ronda and Charlotte are dead, so I think as far as she's concerned right now, you owe her the money."
"Well she can fuck herself," Bayley snapped. "I didn't even have access to the money, and it's not my fault she got herself arrested. Anyway, I'm glad she did, otherwise I dread to think what might have happened to you by now."
"At least you rescued me," Becky said, glaring at the back of Stephanie and the two women with her.
"Who are those two with her?" Bayley asked.
"Her little shit flies, Emma and Dana. They were in here before McMahon showed up, but they immediately latched on to her and started sucking up to her. Now they act like they're her bodyguards or something. I'm sure she's got people on the outside 'looking after them'. Money talks, even in here."
During the course of the line moving forwards, Becky pointed out a few more notable faces. A seriously mean looking girl with tattoos on her arm seemed to exchange a few heated words with Bliss before taking her food.
"That's Shayna," Becky said. "Another lifer, another murderer, and another one to steer clear of if at all possible. She strangled a girl with her bare hands. She also damn near killed a guard in here, but that was before I arrived."
"There are some dangerous people in here," Bayley said nervously, wishing she could go back to B Wing with the drug dealers, thieves, money launderers and people of that nature. They were unpleasant, but they were not this bad.
Becky nodded. "Yeah. But don't forget we're in for allegedly shooting people."
"That's true," Bayley admitted, even though the accusations against Becky were false.
A black woman with a crazy look in her eyes took a tray of food, accompanied by a look of disgust from Bliss.
"Who's that?" Bayley asked. "She looks really weird."
"She is. That's Alicia. She has more than one screw loose. She's in for multiple arson and criminal damage offenses. The story is she had a thing for walking into clothes stores and setting things on fire. I can't believe it took more than one offense like that before they put her away, but it's not my justice system. Hell, if it was, neither of us would even be here."
"Well, I probably would," Bayley sighed. "I'm not only in for shooting Ronda. I'm also looking at charges for kidnapping, false imprisonment, as well as several burglaries I was already wanted for before I got involved with Ronda and Charlotte."
Becky studied her for a second. "It's hard to see you robbing somewhere, Bayley."
"I was good at it," Bayley said frankly. "I could often do it in broad daylight and get away with it. It's all about looking like you're supposed to be doing what you're doing. Pull that off, and no one will question you. It's one of the simplest tricks in the book."
"Plus you have a really innocent face," Becky said with love in her voice. "Such a pretty face, too."
While not paying attention, they had reached the front of the line.
"Come on, dykes," Alexa Bliss snapped at them, apparently having heard the compliment. "I don't have all fucking day here."
The homophobic insult angered Bayley, but she remembered Becky's warning to be careful around this nasty little piece of work. For now at least, she decided to head the warning.
"Sorry," Becky said, stepping forward to take her food. It was all served on a single plastic meal tray, with little areas on it for each item of food to be put into. Today's selection of crap was mashed potato, chicken nuggets, carrots, spinach and a banana, with a choice of drink.
"Water, tea or coffee?" Nia demanded to know as Bliss disrespectfully dumped Becky's portion of mashed potato on her tray.
Becky asked for water. When she had been given it, she moved aside to allow Bayley to step forward.
"Ohhh, someone new!" Alexa exclaimed with a big smile that went nowhere close to reaching her eyes. "What's your name?"
"Bayley. I'll have coffee, please."
Nia set about fixing the drink, while Alexa dumped a portion of mashed potato on her tray. "Enjoy," she said, before spitting on it. She looked up at Bayley with a smug expression on her face, but it was quickly wiped off by the voice of a female guard who was standing nearby, who had evidently seen what had happened.
"Bliss, fix another tray, now! I see you do something like that again, you'll be back on cleaning the bathroom."
"Sorry, Miss Young," Alexa said sheepishly, still managing to glare at Bayley as if it was her fault she had been caught out. Bayley also saw her clench her latex gloved hands into fists for a moment as some violent urge went through her head. Yes, a very dangerous woman, Bayley thought.
"Here," Bliss said a minute later, handing another tray to Bayley, this time with clean food on it.
"Thank you," Bayley replied with politeness that wasn't deserved in the least. With that, she took the tray and walked over to join Becky, who had taken an empty table in the eating area.
"Nasty little bitch, that one, like I said," Becky said as Bayley sat down.
Bayley nodded. "So I see."
They hungrily attacked their meals, making small talk as they ate. No one bothered them at all for more than ten minutes, by which point Bayley was almost done eating. She suddenly saw Becky stiffen opposite her, looking behind Bayley at someone who had approached them. Bayley smelled expensive perfume and felt warm breath against her ear just before she heard Stephanie McMahon's voice, instantly recognisable even in a whisper by its irritating nature.
"I want a word with you," McMahon said, making it sound very much like a threat lay not far away. "Get your ass to my cell after meal time, understand?"
"Yes," Bayley said, feeling genuinely afraid. Not many people could do that to her, but McMahon was one of them. It wasn't about what Stephanie herself could do to hurt someone – she was too smart to get her own perfectly-manicured hands dirty - it was what she could have others do on her behalf. Bayley knew that it wasn't just her that could be in danger, it was her family on the outside too. It would be no problem for Stephanie to make something happen to them if she wanted to.
"Good. Because I have questions, and you'd better have answers."
"McMahon!" the guard called Young said in a warning tone from where she was standing with her back against the wall nearby.
Without another word to Bayley or the guard, Stephanie stood back up and walked off towards the stairs, looking like she thought she owned the place, with her two underlings trailing behind her.
"Oh god, Bay," Becky said, sounding panicked.
"It'll be alright," Bayley promised her, even though it wasn't something she felt sure of. "I bet she wants to know what went wrong with me, Ronda and Charlotte. I'll tell her I never had access to her money. Ronda was the one who had access to the account Stephanie paid it into, and she never gave me or Charlotte the details for it."
"She's probably also going to want to know how we ended up in love with each other," Becky pointed out.
And good luck to me explaining that, Bayley thought. As if McMahon would understand that part of the story. It barely made sense to Bayley herself, let alone someone who hadn't been there in the shack where Becky had been held hostage, or in the motel where they had fled to.
"I'll figure something out," Bayley assured Becky. "Come what may, I'll make sure you and I are okay, Becks. I need you to trust me."
"I trust you," Becky said without hesitation, reaching across the table and taking her girl's hand. They sat like that for the next half an hour, making more small talk and simply enjoying being with each other at last.
After meal time, there was a two hour period of free time on the schedule for prisoners. They could spend time in their cells, or even in other prisoner's cells, so long as they were well behaved. There was an area downstairs with a pool table and seating in front of a large TV that played movies or sports events. By the time everyone was told to leave the eating area, though, recreation was the last thing on Bayley's mind. Stephanie McMahon was upstairs waiting for her.
The start of evening free time was also when the night shift guards came on duty, with a half hour overlap before the day shift team left to go home. As Bayley and Becky stood up to make their way upstairs, Becky took Bayley's hand again and squeezed it, looking over towards the C Wing entrance. "There's Vega," she said under her breath.
Bayley turned to get her first look at the nasty piece of work who was C Wing's head guard, who apparently got a kick out of mistreating and tormenting prisoners. She saw two women in guard uniforms letting themselves in through the locked gate. One was a young, dark-skinned woman about the same height as Alexa Bliss, with long black hair and eyes that indicated cruelty, even though she was currently happily chatting away to the other guard. Vega, Bayley thought, already taking a dislike to her. She didn't look like much, but Bayley knew better than to take that at face value. She didn't look like all that much herself, but she could handle herself in a fight if she needed to.
"That other guard is Ms Stratus," Becky said. "She's possible the nicest of all of them. She was very kind to me on some of my first days here, when I was really struggling."
Just hearing that tugged on Bayley's heartstrings. She gave her girlfriend a hug and said, "Oh, Becks. I wish I could have been here with you."
"You're here now, that's all that matters," Becky said, holding her tightly.
A blonde woman came marching down the nearby stairs at that moment, an angry look on her face. She marched up to them and spoke to Bayley in an Australian accent. "I don't know if you're retarded or something, but keeping Stephanie waiting is a pretty fucking dumb idea."
As tempting as it was to tell the flunky to fuck herself, Bayley knew it would be a bad idea. Instead, she went with, "I'm coming now."
She gave Becky a peck on the cheek and promised to meet her back in their cell as soon as she could. With that, she hurried after the McMahon underling, who was leading the way to Stephanie's cell. Bayley realised that whatever was about to happen was going to be crucial to both her future and Becky's.
"You've got this, Bay," she told herself on her way up the stairs.
A/N: Many thanks to everyone who left a review and a suggestion for characters to include as prisoners last time. What do you make of the ones we've heard about and met so far?
For the prediction question, what do you think Stephanie is going to say to or want from Bayley? Leave your answers in a review!