It was visitor's day at the pen and Heath sat in the visitor's yard waiting for Brax. It had been a week since Casey's failed attempt to see Brax and though Heath was still mad at Brax he was determined not to make being locked up harder on his big brother by bringing it up. There was nothing any of them could do now to change the situation anyway. Brax appeared and Heath still couldn't get used to him in those bloody prison greens, it just wasn't how he was supposed to look. Brax sat down opposite him.

"Hey."

"Hey." And then the usual awkward silence ensued. You knew you were on a time limit and that there were all sorts of things you might say, but none of them seemed right.

"How's Casey?" Brax finally began, deflecting the conversation from either of them was a tactic they often used. Sometimes it was just easier to talk about other people.
"He's good." Really bloody good actually but that wasn't a path Heath should let his thoughts stray down at the moment.
"Ricky said he broke up with Tamara, how's he taking it?"
"He's okay. I think he was the one that broke up with her."
"So what happened?"
"I dunno," Heath lied because he couldn't very well say 'he decided he preferred fucking me instead'.

"Heath," Brax chastised, "please try to pay a little more attention to him." Heath doubted that was possible.

"I'm doing my best Brax." There, that wasn't even a lie.

"I know you are," Brax sighed. "How are things with you and Bianca?"

"Yeah good. We don't see each other as much as we should I 'spose, we're both pretty busy with work..." among other things.

"You sure you're alright Heath?"

"Yeah, 'course I am. I'm not the one that's stuck in here, am I?"

"Yeah well I can't complain, three squares a day plus time in the exercise yard, it's like a holiday camp really."

"That crap might work on Ricky and Kyle but I know what it's like in here."

"So maybe I just don't wanna talk about it."

"Fair enough." Heath didn't push the subject, he knew it was easier not to think too hard about being inside when you were stuck here, so he decided to steer the conversation in a more positive direction.

"I passed my personal trainers course."

"Yeah? Good work Heath, I always knew you'd do alright if you ever settled down to anything."

"Thanks. I had a lot of help from Case and Dex but I guess that whole studying business wasn't too bad."

"I'm so glad you and Casey are making a go of running the gym together, it means I don't have to worry about you so much."

"You don't have to worry about us at all, we're doin' alright. Just worry about yourself okay? It's rough in here..." They fell into silence for a short time before Brax spoke again.

"Look, there's something I need to ask you, I was gonna leave it alone but I can't. Why hasn't Casey come to see me?" Wasn't it obvious?

"He's having a hard time with this Brax-"

"You said he was good-"

"And he is, except for this one thing. You know what a shit time he had of it when he was in here, he got stabbed for Christ's sake, it's just not as easy as booking a time to come and see you for him."

"I never really thought about it," Brax said as much to himself as to Heath.

"No, you didn't." Heath couldn't help the hostility that crept into his voice when he thought about how much this was messing with Casey.

"You got somethin' you wanna say to me?" With Brax's shitty tone all Heath's good intentions flew out the window.

"Yeah actually I do. I think you're a selfish pig for leaving us all. Barrett's been dead for a long time and you 'fessing up to ease your conscience doesn't bring him back or help the rest of us. Casey needed you and you abandoned him."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sure ya are now that you're in here. It's not really a holiday is it?"

"No, no it isn't." Next thing they knew Brax was being hauled up by two guards.

"Come on Braxton, didn't you hear the bell?" As a matter of fact they hadn't.

"Heath, I really am sorry," was the last thing Brax said before they dragged him away.

xxx

Brax sat in his cell pondering what a stupid fucking idiot he'd been. Heath was absolutely right, getting himself locked up him here didn't bring Johnny Barrett back. And not only had he ruined his own life by confessing, he was dragging the rest of his family down with him, not to mention Ricky. Fuck! He shoulda thought this through more, what would another few weeks have hurt after thirteen years? But none of this was going to help, what he needed to do now was figure out a way to make this right. Surely, there had to be a way.