The next morning came more slowly than they both would've hoped. Neither of them were able to sleep for the remaining hours of the night. They were silent, but they were awake, which was comfort to them both.
The morning announcements came on as the sun began to shine through the little window. Nicky got up from the bed and stretched her arms high into the air.
"Thanks, Ma." Nicky bent down and kissed Red on the cheek. "I'm going to hit the shower."
"Alright, my girl. I'll see you soon." Red said as if she were sending Nicky off to a summer camp.
As Nicky was walking out, Healy was walking in.
"Hey, Red. How's it going?" Healy asked politely.
"It's a better day than yesterday is all I can say." Red put simply.
"Well I have some news that is probably going to ruin your day, and for that I am sorry but we do need to talk about this." Healy got serious and Red got nervous.
"Well what is it?" Red's eyes widened for fear she had got caught attempting to kill Piscatella.
"This is a private matter. Let's go." Healy walked out of the cube and Red obediently followed.
Nicky saw this out of the corner of her eye as she was about to turn down the hallway. She tried to get a look at Red's face to determine her expression but she couldn't see it. Nicky had no idea if she was in trouble or not and this made her nervous. Once Red was out of sight, Nicky continued on to the showers when she heard her name by the love of her life.
"Nicky!" Lorna called from across the hall, practically running to her. She hugged her tightly and only let go because a guard had yelled "Inmates, no touching."
"How are you doing?" Lorna was very concerned, looking Nicky up and down.
"I'm doing alright. But what about you, huh?"
"You're doing alright? Nicky, Red tries to die and you're doing 'alright'?" Lorna was almost in tears.
"Oh." Nicky let slip as she remembered their cover story. "Walk with me, baby. I've got some truths that need to be told." And Nicky began to explain what really happened, sparing no detail unless Lorna insisted she stopped.
Meanwhile, in Healy's office, Red sat nervously as Healy walked around his desk and sat down. She noticed the cake was still on his desk, untouched.
"There really isn't an easy way to say this but, CO Piscatella has passed away." Healy sighed.
Red was dumbfounded. "What?"
"I'm sorry, Red. I know you must've really felt grateful towards him, with him saving your life. But it's true and I thought you should know."
"How?" Red couldn't make sentences as her eyes filled with tears which she knew were of happiness but Healy took them as sadness.
"A car accident. On his way here this morning actually. It wasn't his fault; a semi-truck ran a red light. He didn't have a chance. I didn't even get the chance to give him the cake you so kindly baked for him."
Red's tears were silent but it took everything in her power to hold back her smile. "I'll throw it away. If he can't have it then no one can." Red was feeling so giddy on the inside that she felt as though she could only speak in clichés.
"Ok." Healy said slowly. "Are you going to be ok?"
"I think so. I'll just stay close to Nicky. As long as I do that then I am ok." Red didn't think Healy knew just how true these words were.
"Alright then. Have a good day."
"Thank you." Red stood up, grabbed the cake, smiled a small smile at Healy and left his office. Once in the hallway she looked around frantically for the nearest trash can. Once spotted, she rushed over to it and threw the cake into the trash. She looked into the can saw the cake smashed on the bottom, satisfied she hurried down the hall. "I have to tell Nicky." She whispered to herself.
Red walked to the bathrooms, it hadn't been that long and Nicky should still be in there. She stopped dead in her tracks just as she was about to turn into them, at the sound of Lorna asking a thousand questions and Nicky telling her, comfortingly, to calm down.
Red leaned against the wall and sighed, realizing Nicky was telling Lorna everything. She could hear their conversation but stayed out of sight.
"…Why would he do that?" Lorna asked between sobs.
"I don't know. I might not ever know. I don't think I want to know. But hey," Nicky touched her fist to Lorna's chin, "cheer up, kid. I'm in one piece, safe and sound now."
"Yeah, no thanks to Red. She left you out there for 24 hours longer? Knowing you were out there? And she didn't tell any of us?" sobs still coming from Lorna.
Red's heart stung at how now her other daughter was angry with her. The guilt rose to her surface like the opening of an old wound and her heart ached, the dagger still there.
"I don't blame her." Nicky said more quietly than she had said anything else. Red strained her ears to hear what would follow. "I mean at the end of the day she did the only thing she knew to do: help me. You know, that's all she ever does. She helps me all the time whether I ask for it or not and I always end up grateful for it because she's always right. You know that expression 'mothers know best', it's pretty true I've come to realize. If there is one thing I know about Red, it's that she loves me unconditionally- "
"without limits, forever and always." Red mouthed the words in sync as Nicky finished the sentence. Red's eyes watered and her heart fluttered with such warmth and affection for her beautiful daughter.
"Am I mad at her? Yeah." Nicky continued. "Do I forgive her? Yeah to that too."
"I can't believe this all happened to you, my poor Nichols." Lorna reached over to Nicky for a hug. They were silent for a moment and Red took this as a signal to walk in. She saw them and her heart melted: her beautiful daughters. She walked over to them, without saying anything and put her arms around the both of them. And there, in the bathroom, the little family of three hugged for several silent moments.
"I take it you know what has happened?" Red said, looking at Lorna after their group hug had ended.
"Yeah." Lorna sniffled, still upset over Nicky's past couple of nights. "I didn't think you'd kill yourself, or try to anyway."
"I could never. Not with you in my life." She said it to the both of them but she looked at Nicky as she said it. The soft spot in her heart for Nicky is something that could not be covered, nor diminished, nor made any less obvious. And she knew Nicky wouldn't want it to be.
"But Nicky on that topic, I must tell you what Healy told me." Red got excited all of a sudden.
"Yeah, I saw you walk away with him? Are you in trouble?" Nicky asked hesitantly.
"No, love, quite the opposite. He died in a car accident on his way to work today." Red smiled at the girl in front of her, who's face looked so relieved that she may even faint.
"Oh my God." Nicky breathed the biggest sigh of relief she had ever breathed in her life. She reached up to her mother like a little kid would wanting to be picked up. They hugged tightly, and seeing as how this should be a moment between them, Lorna excused herself by kissing each of them on the cheek and she walked out.
"Everything is going to be ok now, you see? You're going to be just fine. No one is getting into any trouble for killing him. He is dead, Nicky. He can't hurt you."
The longer Red spoke, the more tears ran off of Nicky's cheeks and onto Red's shoulder.
"It's just…like you said. You said you would protect me…and keep me safe…ad nothing was going to hurt me." Nicky sniffled and mumbled against Red's now wet collar. "You are a good mother." Nicky exhaled deeply, relaxing in Red's arms. "I love you, Mommy."
Her eyes filled with tears at these genuine words being spoken by the girl who is her heart. "Oh, I love you too, my girl. I love you too."