Twenty six

Josh returned back to his cell and saw Daniel was sat on the floor cross legged. Josh raised an eyebrow but didn't argue or say anything. He walked past him and went and sat on the bed. Like the first night Daniel had been in the cell the photo of Josh and Jessie was on the bed. This time there was a black cross marked in two places on the photo. Over Jessie's left eye and over her heart. Josh was furious. He thought about what Jessie had said. He refused to respond to it. He picked the photo up and moved it further up the bed towards his pillow. It was the only photo of Jessie he had with him. Daniel opened one eye and looked up towards Josh. "Do you like it?" he asked sincerely. "it's how I will get my friend to hurt her," he said. "one arrow in the eye, the other in her heart!" Josh took a deep breath and steadied himself. Josh ignored Daniel's taunting. "Well, what do you reckon? Will it kill her? Because if not my friend could do something else with her," Daniel teased. Josh lost it then. He leapt of his bed and landed directly in front of Daniel. He punched him. Hard. In the jaw. There was a crack and Daniel spat some blood out onto the floor. "You'll pay for that!" he said. "Help! Josh just attacked me," Daniel yelled loudly. The door opened, the warden took a look at the room, saw the blood on the floor and the blood running down Daniels lip. Josh felt his hands being roughly pulled behind him and his hands being put into handcuffs again. Josh sighed. He hadn't meant to hurt Daniel that much and he certainly hadn't meant for this to happen. He was led down some stairs and another door was opened. It was a small, completely empty cell. All that was there were the four walls. And Josh. The door closed behind him and Josh slumped onto the floor. It was freezing in that cell but it was clearly used as a punishment. Josh felt he deserved it, even though he had only been acting in retaliation. He hadn't meant to break his jaw. Josh knew this would have an effect on his possibility of parole. He hit his head against the wall and drew his knees up to his chin to keep as warm as possible.

Jessie was sat in the living room with Rick, Elektra and Faith. Faith was doing star jumps and was trying to persuade the other three to join her in her exercise. Jessie just raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry I did PE today, that's enough exercise for me for one day," Jessie said. She threw herself down onto the sofa. Rick joined her while Elektra just stormed out the room to get away from Faith's persistence.

Jessie rested her head on Rick's shoulder. "So how was he?" Rick asked.

Jessie shrugged. "He seemed alright. He's got a cell mate. Some fellow called Daniel. He's a bit weird. I met him. Apparently he's threatened Josh, that if Josh annoys him Daniel will send one of his friends after me. To kill me. I know it's serious but I don't think he'd do it so I'm just ignoring it," Jessie told him, nervous about what Rick's reaction would be. As she expected, he stood up suddenly, letting her head fall onto the arm of the sofa.

"You are joking me Jessie?" he asked deadly serious. Jessie shook her head. "No wonder he asked me to keep an eye on you," he said. Jessie frowned angrily.

"He did what?" she asked through gritted teeth.

Rick gulped. "Right, well you know when I went to visit him with you, he sort of asked me to look after you and be like a big brother to you," Rick stumbled. "Someone who is there for you."

Jessie looked murderous still but her eyes had softened. "And you agreed?" she asked. He nodded. She smiled "that's so sweet. Thanks Rick," she said. "so that is what Josh was whispering to you then," she said.

Rick bit his cheek. "Well no that was something else," Rick said without thinking. It clicked what he had said and he looked into Jessie's face which was again looking murderous.

"What was that about then?" she asked.

Rick shifted his weight awkwardly. "it's not something I want to tell you," Rick mumbled. Jessie could tell he was uncomfortable with this and so she stepped closer to him. She put her hands on his waist and tilted her head so she was looking directly into his eyes.

"Tell me, please," she told him gently. Rick stared into her blue eyes and took a deep breath. He was probably going to regret what he did next. He leaned in closer to her as if to whisper in her ear and kissed her gently on the lips. He felt Jessie push him away slightly. He moved his head away but realised Jessie wasn't trying to pull away from him. They were still stood how they had been before he kissed her. She looked back into his eyes and tried to work out if he meant what he had done. Deciding he clearly had she leant back in and kissed him. She pulled away and smiled shyly. "I'm assuming Josh has given permission for this?" she said. Rick nodded and so Jessie smiled. "I feel the same way," she whispered. She let go and walked upstairs. Rick just stared after her, not moving. Faith who had seen what happened went over to him. She waved her hand in front of his face.

"Rick," she said. "Rick! RICK!" she shouted. Rick blinked and shook himself. He smiled at Faith and burst out into laughter.

"She likes me," he said hysterically laughing at the same time. Faith just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah but if she saw you like this she might not, calm down," she told him. Rick stopped laughing and smiled.

"thanks Faith," he said. She went back to her exercise and Rick felt like he floated up the stairs to his room.

A/N: So I decided to get them together. When I set about writing this story I wasn't planning on putting any relationships in but I thought this one was too cute not to, Indigo :)