Chapter 16

Helen still felt a bit strange being back at Larkhall. The sound of metal clicking against metal as she opened and closed the gates behind her brining back memories. Even though it had been ten years since she'd left this place having the key chain hanging down the outside of her thigh felt so natural. She made her way through the corridors and stopped briefly at the entrance to G wing to look over the familiar surroundings. The faces inside were ones she didn't recognize and the walls had changed colour but she got the feeling that nothing much had changed since she'd left, which made her a little sad.

A young officer caught her eye beyond the gates; he was talking to a girl with auburn hair. His back was toward her but she could tell he was good looking, maybe it was the way he carried himself with confidence or possibly the way the girl kept stealing glances at his face as he spoke. He was very animated as he spoke and even managed to get the girl to smile a few times, probably something she didn't do a lot of these days. Helen recognized the girl from the photo on the case file she'd seen on Nikki's desk.

As if feeling her eyes on him the officer turned and met Helen's gaze. He gave her a smile before turning back to the girl, placing his hand on her shoulder he said something that made her frown and look toward Helen as he began to make his way toward her. She was right, he was exceptionally good looking, his broad shoulders filled out his uniform perfectly and he had the most piercing blue eyes she'd ever seen.

He smiled and greeted her as he opened the gate, "hi, you must be Helen Stewart." He extended his hand toward her, "I'm Aaron Chambers."

She took his hand in hers and returned his smile, "It's nice to meet you Aaron, Dominic has been telling me a lot about you."

He laughed good naturedly, "all good things I hope?" A lopsided grin creeping onto his face.

Helen chuckled, "nothing but praise so far anyway."

They began walking together toward the office behind them where they were scheduled to have their first meeting. Even though she'd known Aaron for less than 5 minutes she already felt comfortable in his company. She could see why Dom had chosen him.

He picked up a stack of folded newspapers from one of the chairs and motioned for Helen to take a seat. "Could I interest you in a cup of tea, or perhaps some coffee?" He asked politely. "Although just between you and I, I would stay away from the coffee. I've heard it could put hair on your chest."

"A cup of tea would be lovely thanks," Helen replied. "Oh, and that hair on your chest story, not hearsay, just ask Sylvia Hollamby."

Aaron snorted and half choked on the tea he'd just taken a sip of as Dom stepped through the office door, followed closely by Karen Betts, Mark Waddle and a petite young officer who Helen assumed must be Stephanie Daniels.

"Ah, Aaron, I see you have already met Helen. Got you on your toes already I see. Tea is made for drinking mate, not breathing." Dom said as he looked at Helen questioningly.

She just shrugged her shoulder and smiled one of her mysterious patented Helen Stewart smiles.

Helen stood to greet Karen and Mark, who both seemed genuinely happy to see her again. As she had suspected the girl she didn't know was indeed Stephanie Daniels. The small Latina was friendly and polite and greeted her with a smile, "nice to meet you ma'am," she said.

"Please, call me Helen," she said as she shook Stephanie's hand.

"Right, seeing as the introductions are out of the way, let's get down to business shall we?" Dom said as he took the seat next to Helen and waited for everybody to do the same. He spoke animatedly for the next hour of his plans for G wing, laying out a timetable and discussing logistics of moving non lifers off the unit and lifers from other units onto the wing. He also covered staffing, and addressed the groups questions and listened to their suggestions and taking them into account accordingly.

By the time their meeting had concluded everyone seemed to be excited and ready to move forward. The only thing that still had to be done now was to address the G wing residents. They had been kept abreast about the changes the wing would be undergoing but there was still expected to be some resistance to the proposed plans. A few of the prisoners saw it as just one more way to cause trouble for management.

Dominic excused himself to take a call before beginning his address to the inmates, leaving Helen and Karen standing in the atrium between the office and the wing. The silence between them slightly strained. Neither of them knowing exactly where to start.

It was Karen who eventually broke the silence, "Helen, I feel I should apologize. I know it's all in the past now, but I just want you to know that you were right about Jim. I could kick myself for not seeing the truth in your words back then but I was just too close and I couldn't believe what you were saying about a man that I thought I loved. It's one of my biggest regrets and I just want you to know that I am truly sorry about everything that happened. I picked up the phone a hundred times after all the chaos with Jim but I was just too much of a coward to face you. I..." Karen cleared her throat and Helen could see the sheen of tears forming in her eyes

Helen placed her hand comfortingly on Karen's forearm, "look, Karen, like you said, it's a long time ago now and I'm just glad you came out the other side of it all in one piece. I know it couldn't have been easy for you either. So how about we just close the book on it and start from the beginning?"

Karen smiled down at the scot next to her as she placed her hand atop of Helen's that still lingered on her arm, "I'd like that."

"Good," Helen said with finality, "but just before we do there is just one last thing I need to say on the matter. Karen caught the mischievous glint in Helen's eye and cocked her head to the side expectantly waiting for Helen to say what she needed to say.

"I told you so..." Helen said as she began to giggle a little.

Karen stood it stunned silence for a few seconds before she began to laugh heartily with Helen.

Both women had been too caught up in their own conversation to notice the blonde inmate sauntering toward where the stood near the gates. Helen only spotted her when she heard her clear her throat. The smile immediately dropped from her face and she stiffened as her eyes met those of Michelle Dockley's through the bars. Karen turned when she saw Helen's change in demeanour to see what the problem was. On seeing Dockley stood across from them she mirrored Helen's reaction subconsciously.

"Well well, what do we have here, if it isn't Miss Betts and Miss Stewart! What a surprise, personally I thought you two would be tearing each other's eyes out after the whole Fenner fiasco, but I'm pleased to see you two have kissed and made up." She smirked at them as she delivered her little speech. "And I see congratulations are in order, you look just about ready to pop there Miss Stewart. Lovely ring there on your finger too," she said, eying Helen's wedding ring enviously.

Shell looked as if she were about to carry on taunting them when Aaron stepped in, "that's more than enough sass from you Miss Dockley. I'm sure you have places to be and people to see so off you go."

Shell leered at him through the bars, "well sir if you care to come and join me I'm sure I could show you a few things you'd like to see."

"That's enough Michelle!" Came Dominic's angry tone from behind us.

"Oh but Mr McAlister sir, I was just..." She stumbled over her words.

"You were just nothing Miss Dockley. You heard Mr Chambers, move along before I change my mind and send you down the block. Trust me this is not how you want to start your time here with us." He said with an air of finality as Shell turned in a huff.

Helen and Karen both turned to Dominic; Helen's face said it all. "I'm sorry you had to find out about her like that. I was planning on sitting down with you both to discuss her presence here." He said.

"How exactly did she end up back here anyway? I thought she was put into a mental institution?" Helen asked.

Dominic sighed, "Honestly, I don't even know exactly how it happened. I heard rumours about her transfer but I never expected them to even consider bringing her back here. The next thing I knew she was back on our doorstep. It seems she's caused enough trouble everywhere else that she's come full circle. Maybe they were hoping we'd forgotten about the grief she caused, who knows. I tried to organize to get her shipped out somewhere else but no one will touch her with a ten foot pole so here she will stay. Anyway, let's not dwell on the bad. We have had such a good day so far I'd rather we didn't let someone like Shell ruin it for us."

Dominic stepped forward and unlocked the gate in front of the group, stepping out onto the wing and holding the gate open for the others to follow. Helen hesitated for a second before taking a deep breath and stepping through behind Karen. She made sure to stay as close to the exit as possible just in case she needed to get out quickly. Normally it's wouldn't have bothered her as much but the sight of Michelle Dockley on the wing had her a bit jumpy and she still had to think for two for the next week, there was no way she was putting bean in any kind of danger. Instinctively she place her hand on her stomach and gently stroked the bulge under her shirt as she ran her eyes over the woman who had started to form small groups in front of them, waiting to hear what the number one had to say.

Dominic cleared his throat to get their attention, "good morning ladies, I trust you are all well today. I've asked to speak to you all today regarding the changes that are about to start happening on G wing. As you know, it has been decided that G wing will become HMP Larkhall's new home for all the inmates serving life terms as part of a new project started by the home office recently. Now I know that some of you weren't too thrilled about being moved around but unfortunately it is inevitable. We will do our best to get everyone to where they need to be with as little stress and fuss as possible. The move will take place next Monday, exactly a week from today. This gives you enough time to pack up all your belongings and be ready for the move. I have assigned an officer to each of the ladies who will be moving; they will be by to see you all later today and tomorrow to discuss the move with you. Right, that will be all for today. If you have any questions at all please feel free to ask your personal officer for assistance. Thank you for your patience."

Helen was rather surprised that there had been no more than a grumpy mumbling that circulated amongst the women. She'd been watching Dockley from the corner of her eye and held her breathe when she looked as if she was about to voice her opinion. Luckily a stern gaze from Dominic stopped her short, the threat of spending the week down the block had obviously worked. Although she doubted that Shell would just leave well enough alone.

All in all, the day had been a productive one and other than the shock of coming face to face with Dockley, Helen had a good feeling about her new endeavour. She absentmindedly played with her new set of keys as she made her way out to the car, her mind had drifted to Nikki and their dinner plans when she felt her phone buzz in her purse. She smiled as she saw the goofy picture of Nikki on the screen, "Hey you," she said into the phone, "I was just thinking about you. I'll be home in half an hour."