The door banged open. Dean looked up from where he was doing push ups and found Cena looking at him. He'd been released from the full restraint chair twenty four hours after he had been put in it. Now two weeks later it was life in the Hole that had become a normal thing. Locked down about twenty three hours a day, with an hour in the cages for rec or a single man shower, this was all he had.

"Lunch," was all Cena said, holding out the tray.

Right, he thought standing up.

As he reached for the tray, Cena dropped it. The tray clanged to the cement floor, the food sloshing out. Not that he cared for the supposed macaroni and cheese, but still, it was blatant disrespect for Dean. And food was not hand delivered in the cell, it was supposed to go through the slot in the door. Dean knew that Cena was doing this out of spite.

"Oops, my bad." Cena smirked but then straightened up when Dean stepped up close to him.

"Don't worry, Superman, I won't hold this against you. But you do know they have a camera right there." Dean pointed. "They saw you harass an inmate. I can get you written up. You can leave, Superman."

"You wouldn't think of starting something, Ambrose."

"I didn't start anything, Superman." Dean picked up the fallen tray. "Thank you for getting rid of the macaroni and cheese, that shit gives me the runs."

Cena left soon after that, banging the door close behind him.

Over in his cell, Roman was staring at his daughter's picture, the one that she had sent with her recent letter. Her mother had given her a puppy, a small black dog and Roman couldn't stop thinking that it was a way to get her to forget about him.

Why did you get in trouble, Daddy?

That question burned at his heart, burned in his head. He screwed it up with her. He wouldn't see her once a month, he wouldn't be able to hug her. Just because the Warden wanted a man killed.

"I love you, Babygirl." He said, running his thumb over her picture.

The slot to the door opened, and he heard Wade's voice. "Chow time, Mate."

Getting up off his bed, Roman headed over to the door. Granted the Englishman was a brute in his own right, over the time that Wade had been delivering food, he'd been supplying other means of supplements to the meals. It wasn't out of the kindness of his own heart, it was for the fact he knew that The Shield would be paying him for months in return. Still, it was something that he would have to live with being that these prison meals weren't very filling for him.

"Sticky bun," Wade added slipping in the packed sweet cake. "You're welcome."

There was a piece of paper that Roman had been writing on. He marked down what he got and what would take to pay it back to Barrett. He had the money on his account to give the Englishman what he could in return, not like Dean. But that was the price he had to pay while being in prison. This was the life he had to live with until his parole hearing.

Seth was enjoying his meal, though undercooked like it normally was, it was filling. He was doodling in the tablet of paper that he was using. His mother had sent him writing supplies, which was highly accepted especially when he told her that someone answered his personal ad on the Internet. He was grateful that he had a support system outside of the prison. Unlike a lot of the other guys, he knew he came from a good background, he made the wrong decision in life to get him in prison but it was enough for him to wake up. There was one thing that had prevented him from getting parole.

The Shield.

Not that he was serious about where he stood within the group, it was hard to operate with morals and with ideals, individuality was not something these guys were made of.

Finishing his meal, he set it up on the food tray slot and proceeded to start doing his work out. The carbs gave him what he needed to do his daily work out. Seth knew that keeping his body in shape was what he needed to do to get through the time that he was stuck in The Hole. Lunges, sit ups, push ups, anything that would get him the strength to get through this whole thing.

"Yo, Roman!" He heard someone call out from down range, since he was up on the second tier. "Check!"

That's when Seth realized that it was Dean. All the yelling and hollering going on was just a chess game between Dean and Roman trying to ignore the fact that not one of them could have any face time with each other. With Roman and Dean being in cells next to each other they could talk. Basically, Seth was separated from them, separate from the three people that he had clicked with since getting there. There weren't any other guys up on the second tier, but the first floor of the Hole was packed. Cell phones were high ranking contraband in prison, shot callers usually carried them bvut with them being illegal most of the guys in the Hole at that time were charged with having contraband or weapons, or some other form of disciplinary actions.

"Fool, try this move…" Roman called out something that dealt with a knight and a square number.

As a response Dean yelled a "Fuck You" in return. This resulted in a cackle laugh from Roman. Cackling from Roman was not something that anyone heard, at all, from the Samoan.

This left Seth in a funk of sorts. He didn't have a neighbor to talk to. He didn't have anything to do besides his work out and the fact that the only mail he ever really received was from his mother. Not that his brother bothered contacting Seth about anything, he had to learn from his mother that he was going to be an uncle later on in the year.

Then his eyes scanned to the other envelope that had come in the mail that day. He had expected it to be from Rose but it wasn't. Some chick named Jennifer had sent him a letter but he hadn't opened it. Finally bored out of his mind, during the break that he had from his workout, Seth reached over and opened the envelope.

Dear Seth,

How are you? Me, well I'm fine. Actually, I'm sure you're wondering where I got your contact information, right. Well a friend of mind gave me your address and suggested that I give you a try. You, as in a prisoner pen pal.

So, I am Jennifer. I work as a beautician at this cool place here in Portland, Oregon. It's very popular. I am twenty-three and I just moved out on my own with my own place near the Willamette River here in Portland. I don't have any pets, I'm not really an animal person. My friend told me that you like dogs. I think that's cool.

I like style, style means everything to me. I have to have the best, I mean what girl wouldn't? What about you, do you like a girl with style?

What do you do in prison? Honestly, I never thought about writing to a prisoner before. This is something new to me. If you have any other friends who need a pen pal, I would enjoy the chance of getting to know new people. I really am an assertive people person, I just love to be around people.

Well, with this being my first letter, I don't really know what to say in these things. I mean, when I deal with people face to face, I don't really have a problem, but speaking through paper is a different experience for me.

So, yeah. I hope to hear back from you, Seth.

Yours Truly,

Jennifer.

Seth put the letter down. Something was different about this woman, whoever she was. He sat back and thought about whatever was going on. It sounded like this woman was sure of herself, yes, but there was a cockiness that he didn't care for. But he wasn't so sure about it. This Jennifer woman did not send a picture with her letter, but with the fine handwriting so she did have a level of intelligence to take pride in her pen work.

Seth took out a piece of paper and started writing a responding letter.

Dear Jennifer,

I am doing fine, thanks for asking. I hope you're doing well by the time you get this letter.

While it was a shock to get a letter from you it was still nice to know that someone took time out to write to me at all. I may be here in Florida, but I am actually from Iowa. I have a mom, a dad and a brother but my parents are separated and I will be an uncle later on this year. You didn't really mention your family life. What is it like for you? I really am interested.

What is it like living in Portland? I hear it is an interesting place. I've never been there. I've been to Chicago, Illinois before. Actually that is where I went to college for physical training, I was a personal trainer before I went into prison. I had a thought that maybe I would find a better life down here in Florida and I yet here I sit in prison for attempted murder.

Yes, I do like dogs. I want to own a dog when I am a free man. I would also like to travel if it is at all possible for me. I first would try to go back to Iowa, see my family and hope to start over new for me.

In prison, you have to know how to deal with people. There is always a hustle of some sort going on and you have to watch what you say to people. Otherwise you could get your mouth busted in, or get a shank in your gut. And even some of the CO, the Correction Officers, aren't all on the straight and narrow. There are one or two around here that want to start something with us, who disrespect us. Respect around here is earned, not given.

I can only guess what you do as a job. For me I have to stay in top health, I have to stay in peak mental health because a place like this can break anyone. I know it has for a friend of mine that I am extremely close with. He's like a brother to me.

So this is where I let you go. May I ask if I can get a picture from you? That way I can put the face to the person who writes to me.

So, stay safe.

Sincerely,

Seth

Once he had finished the letter, Seth decided to mail it out, not sure if this Jennifer woman would be the one to write back to him. Being in The Hole made writing to people a bit difficult. And yet this was all he had going for him.

The very next day, after breakfast, mail call came for the inmates in The Hole. Dean, of course, didn't get anything, Roman had a letter from his daughter again, but this time it was added with a letter from his ex.

Kaya has no right to call you Daddy, Roman. After all the shit that you have pulled in her life, you don't deserve to see her. But because you have part custody of her I have to let her come see you. You're nothing but a dead beat dad. You're not there for her and now that I have a new man in my life, someone who can properly take care of her. Just wait, she won't remember you at all.

Roman roared, crumbling up the letter and tossing it. Roaring again, Roman punched his door. Which he shouldn't have done, instantly his knuckle busted open and blood spilling out of his fist. Roman didn't care, he didn't even notice that he had been hurt as he paced the four or three steps to pace in the cell. He was fuming. How dare she do this, didn't she have any consciousness about anything?

"Yo, Dude, what's up?" He heard Dean holler out of his open tray door.

"My daughter's mother threatened to make my daughter forget about me." He bent down to yell out of his own food tray slot. "The bitch says I'm a dead beat dad."

"Man you chose the wrong woman to sleep with. Glad I don't have that." Of course he would be. "Good thing I don't have a kid either."

"I just, I don't want to loose the only woman I have in my life."

"You're daughter isn't a woman, she's six years old."

Rolling his gray eyes, Roman sighed. "Dude, you get what I mean. The only women in my life that matter are my mother and my daughter. They mean the world to me."

"So you've said before."

"I mean it, Dean. Just being in here now, I don't want to fuck it up for Kaya."

Dean sat back for a brief moment. His friend had a reason to go straight, to be a straight and arrow kind of person in life. He wasn't sure what Seth wanted out of life.

"You there, Man?" Dean heard Roman ask.

"Yeah, just thinking. You going back to life on the streets once you get out?"

"Not if I can help it." Just as Dean thought, Roman was going to go at it straight. "But the gang life is hard to get out of."

"Which is why I never got into one." Dean said. "If I have to shed blood to get in then I will have to shed blood to get out."

Blood in and blood out, that was the rules of a lot of gangs. That was the code that Roman had grown up with and the thought that his kingpin father would let him out of it with his life scared him. The Samoan Syndicate was a scary thing to deal with especially in the Pensacola and in areas of Alabama. But with this latest drug charge, well Roman was willing to just leave it all behind.

And it wasn't just Roman who was thinking of leaving prison life behind, Seth was too.

"Mail call, Rollins." A female CO said opening his food tray door.

He got up from doing his sit ups and went to the door. "Thanks." He said as he took the envelope from the older woman.

Just one envelope, one with one name written on it.

Hey Seth,

It's me again, Rose. How are you doing? You can tell me the truth about anything going on with you.

You may find this strange, but I caught a few of those prison shows from National Geographic and MSNBC, Lockup, Lockdown, Hard Time and all of those because I want to understand the life that you have to live with. I can see the dangers and the things you have to live without while in prison. What is the one thing that you miss? Family, right? I know I would miss my mom.

And honesty is something that I know you would want. So I will give it to you. My mom some how found out that I was writing to you. She is one of those people that are old school parents who thinks that prisoners are con artists and very bad people. I know that a most of the people in there have done bad things, who are still doing them But I think you are someone that is somehow different.

Seth sat back and smiled it. This woman was great, she thought highly of him and understood the stresses of his life right there in the prison. Propping his arm up on the metal table, Seth continued to read Rose's letter.

Today, Tinkerbell and I stopped at a local park where a day school let's its students out for recess. Recess happens during my break at Shave where I take Tinkerbell out for a walk. The kids love Tinkerbell. We are sort of famous in that area, even the teachers and teachers aids let the kids pet Tinkerbell through the fence. This playground is literally surrounded by four roads, one way streets in the Pearl District of Portland. It's really beautiful down there. No wonder why I enjoy walking and working in this area.

What sort of books do you like to read? I ask this because after work I had asked my coworker A to watch Tinkerbell while I went two blocks away to a place that is almost an icon in Portland. It's called Powells City of Books. It is a bookstore that takes up an entire city block with four stories to it. I wanted to get a book, something different. I'm a big fantasy nerd, I loved dragons, elves and stuff like that. But finding a book by Patricia Briggs about werewolves and shapeshifters, wow, I liked it. I was just reading into chapter two when I opted to write back.

I am sorry that I haven't gotten back to your response, my mother's words were just playing around in my head. She thinks this is my pursuit to find a husband the easy way, you know. Granted, I am almost thirty I can't say that I am looking for a husband but I am interested in meeting people, people outside of my lifestyle.

With that being said, I think you're a beautiful man. The picture up on your ad, well even though it shows a bad ass, I see a human with a story in him. I see a man that has seen a lot more than anyone else and you are someone I want to get to know better.

So, stay safe and stay healthy.

Your Friend,

Rose.

This, this is what Seth looked forward to. This is what he had been looking forward to. This was someone who had taken a liking to him, telling him the things that she did with her life. Normal things like walking a dog and the things outside of these walls gave him an idea what a normal life was like. This is what he wanted to hear. Someone telling him that he was a beautiful man, someone who deserved the friendship that he wanted to give. Instantly, Seth reached over, forgetting about his own work out routine at that moment and decided to respond to Rose's letter as fast as he could.

Sorry, this took a bit to get out. I had a minor case of the blahs and couldn't get anything out for this update. I hope you guys liked this. Thanks for reading, everyone.