A/N: Thank you so much for the positive responses and the follows/favourites with this story. I'm taking this to mean you guys want to read more so here goes.
And to the guest reviewer, the answer to your question is yes …
Emma slept badly. It wasn't so much the uncomfortable mattress as the endless noises echoing through the bunks. Coughs, shouts, snores, bangs, and occasionally the unmistakable moans of sexual liaisons. She tossed and turned, trying unsuccessfully to block out the sounds with her lumpy pillow.
Watery sunlight struck her face soon after she finally drifted off. Grumbling, Emma rolled over and faced the wall, cracking her eye open and taking in her surroundings. An unfamiliar green breeze block wall stared back at her. Frowning, the blonde sat up and looked around as the events of the previous day flooded back. Court. Sentencing. The bus. Arriving at prison. Meeting Red. The brown eyed woman in the bathroom.
Emma flopped back down on the bed and shielded her face from the sunlight with her forearm. From her right came the sound of sleepy movement as her bunkmate began to wake. The alarm clock glowing on Red's cabinet told Emma it was 7:23. Deciding she wanted to get to the dining hall as soon as possible, Emma swung her legs out of bed and winced as her bare soles hit the chilly cement floor. She slid her feet under her bed until her toes collided with the flimsy slippers that had been in her welcome pack the previous evening.
Once her feet were encased in scratchy wool, she stood up, stretched her arms and moved to her cabinet to find her things. Squatting down, Emma swung open the door and reached for her toiletries and toilet paper. The room was still in semi-darkness and she couldn't see well inside the unit but even through the gloom, she could tell her cabinet was empty.
"What the hell?" she muttered to herself, fumbling right to the back in case anything was left. Her fingers touched something and she picked it up. Her toothbrush.
"Forgot to lock your cabinet?" came the sleepy voice of Red.
"I didn't know I had to," growled Emma, banging the door shut and sitting with her back against it, toothbrush in her clenched fist. "According to the law, I'm a thief. Didn't realise I had to worry about my own crappy belongings."
"Yeah, don't leave anything unattended in this dump," Red advised, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Learnt that the hard way didn't I," Emma laughed darkly.
"You can borrow my stuff until you get to commissary later," Red offered, standing up and reaching under her mattress for the key to her own cabinet's padlock.
"Thanks," Emma said gratefully, "I'd be totally screwed without you!"
Red laughed and threw Emma her toothpaste and some toilet roll.
Emma pushed herself to her feet, kicked her cabinet for good measure, and limped off towards the bathroom, the pain in her big toe doing nothing to improve her mood.
It was much busier in the bathroom than she had expected, and Emma found women chatting whilst they jostled for sink space and queued for showers. A quick glance around told her the brunette she had seen the night before was not there. Squeezing herself between the wall and a young black woman, Emma splashed some water onto her face before using the tiniest amount possible of Red's toothpaste to brush her teeth.
The women around her paid no attention as she went about her little routine and for that Emma was glad. She spat out her toothpaste and headed towards the toilet stalls at the far end of the room. The queue was short and in no time Emma found herself mercifully in the privacy of the dim cubicle. She realised the previous night this was the only "room" she had easy access to with a door that locked. How depressing was it that the room in which she felt most safe was a toilet!
She finished peeing, washed her hands and headed back to her bunk where she thanked Red for the loan of her things and began to get dressed. Thankfully, whoever had stolen all of Emma's belongings left her underwear and the spare set of prison overalls that she'd folded on top of the cabinet. Once dressed, Emma sat on her bed, waiting for Red's clock to tell her it was time for breakfast. Her stomach was uncomfortably empty and she couldn't wait to eat food, regardless of the standard.
"Wanna join me for breakfast?" Red offered as she walked back from the bathroom. "I can tell you where not to sit."
"There's a seating plan?" Emma asked, eyebrows raised.
"Not exactly," Red said, wondering how best to explain prison hierarchy without scaring off the newbie. "It's more that there are people to avoid and others you don't want to piss off."
"Any help would be appreciated in that case!" Emma grinned as she stood up and followed Red out of their bunk.
The dining room was busier than Emma had expected. She had been told there were just shy of 125 inmates in her wing of the prison, all aged 18 to 25, and it seemed most of them knew to get to breakfast early. The two young women joined the queue, chatting together but talking about nothing in particular as they made their way to the front.
Grabbing a plastic tray, Emma felt like she was back at school as she shuffled sideways along the serving counter, getting over cooked eggs, cold beans and some undercooked bacon dumped unceremoniously on her plate. There was a bread and toast section at the far end. Grabbing two of the least burnt pieces, Emma followed Red to a table in the far left corner. Blanchard was already sitting there, chatting with a blonde girl Emma hadn't met yet.
"Hey," the pixie haired woman greeted as Emma slid into a seat. "Swan right?"
"Yep, hi," Emma said, taking a swig of her coffee and grimacing at the bitter taste.
The other woman at the table laughed at her reaction. "You get used to it," she assured Emma with a friendly smile. "I'm Boyd," she introduced.
"Swan. Nice to meet you," Emma smiled shyly before shovelling in some eggs to get rid of the taste of bad coffee lingering on her tongue.
"You back at work today Red?" Boyd asked, turning back to speak to Emma's bunk mate.
"Yep," the brunette confirmed. "Thank God, I was going crazy sitting around all day."
"Why did you stop working?" Emma asked.
"Busted my ankle," Red shrugged.
From the snickers that came from Boyd and Blanchard, Emma knew there was more to the story but she decided not to push.
"Have you got a work detail yet?" Blanchard asked her.
"Nope, I'm meeting my counsellor today to discuss it though."
"Who's your counsellor?" Boyd asked.
"Erm, Booth I think."
"Ooooh," Boyd giggled. "Lucky you, he's a cutie."
"I'm steering well clear of men at the moment," Emma growled, memories of Neal flashing in her mind. "Far more trouble than they're worth."
"Amen to that," Red said, pointing her fork at Emma with a limp piece of bacon swinging from the end. "My life was much easier from the moment I decided to date women."
"Except for the fact that your ex girlfriend was a drug dealer and you got charged for possession right Red?" Boyd quipped.
Red stuck her tongue out at the blonde and munched on her bacon before turning back to Emma. "Nah, trust me Swan. Life with women is far simpler than with men. Just avoid the druggie lesbians and you'll be fine."
The women all laughed and finished their breakfast, exchanging light banter and mundane conversation.
As Emma carried her tray over to the dirty dish counter, she scanned the room surreptitiously. She wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for but her subconscious was clearly searching for something, or someone. The blonde walked back to her bunk feeling disappointed but she couldn't quite understand why. She had made it through her first meal in prison, met another friendly inmate, and not made any enemies. It seemed the morning of day one of the 334 she was required to stay in FCI had gone as well as could be expected.
When the two girls got back to their bunk, Red began getting ready for work as she was due to clock in at 9am.
"What do you do?" Emma asked as she sat on her bed and watched Red apply her makeup and style her hair.
"Gardening," she replied through a mouthful of bobby pins. "Don't look so surprised," she grinned as Emma's eyebrows shot up. "I may take good care of my nails but I love the outdoors. That's one of the things I hate most about this place, being cooped up all day long. Gardening allows me to get outside more than I would usually be allowed."
"Sounds like a pretty good gig," Emma nodded. "Any ideas on things to avoid saying to Booth if I want to get a decent work detail today?"
"Just don't say you're good a fixing things. Plumbing and electrical are the worst."
"Thanks," Emma grinned.
"What time's your appointment with him?" Red asked as she stood to head out for work.
"9.30."
"Well my advice is to put on a bit of makeup, don't lie - Booth hates that - and don't be late,"
"Gotcha," Emma smiled. "Thanks so much Red."
"No problem, I'll see you at lunch."
Long brown and red hair whipped around the corner as Red jogged out of their bunk.
Emma decided she may as well head over to commissary and see if her money had made its way into the account. Her lawyer had arranged for $50 to be transferred after she had been charged so at least she would be able to replace her stolen items and maybe buy a few home comforts. She supposed she ought to buy something for Red to say thank you for all her help. And a padlock, she mused as she stood up and made her way through the quiet corridors towards commissary.
This time there was no queue as almost everyone was at their work detail. The same surly blonde was sat behind the screen.
"Hi," Emma said. "Swan, prison number 108412."
She waited impatiently as the other woman tapped her details into the computer.
"You're in luck Swan," she drawled. "Money's been deposited. What can I get for you?"
Breathing a sigh of relief, Emma reeled off her list: toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, a washcloth, face wipes, a hairbrush, hair ties ,tampons, mascara, lip gloss, a padlock, five packets of salt and vinegar chips, and one packet of steak flavoured chips for Red. Pausing at the thought of her bunk mate, Emma peered past the blonde at the stacked shelves behind.
"You don't happen to know anything Red, I mean, Luccas, is particularly fond of do you?" Emma asked the inmate manning commissary.
"Nope," she supplied unhelpfully.
"Ok, then I guess I'll take a packet of skittles and a mars bar."
Nodding curtly, the blonde flitted around retrieving Emma's items before dumping them on the counter. "This lot all comes to $16.40," she announced, glancing at the screen.
Emma blinked in surprise before nodding shortly. Clearly her money was not going to last her long. She would have to figure out how to get more cash into her commissary somehow. Making a mental note to speak to Booth about that, Emma scooped her new belongings into her arms and headed back down the corridor. Remembering her meeting with the counsellor had to be approaching fast, Emma hurried her step a little, not wanting to be late on the first day.
As she turned the corner, Emma collided headlong with a woman coming the other way.
"Shit," she exclaimed as everything she was carrying tumbled to the floor. Bending down to gather them back up, Emma glanced up at the person she had run into and felt her heart stop. There, stood above her, was the brunette she had spotted in the bathroom the previous evening. The older woman was giving Emma an appraising look as the blonde scrambled around at her feet.
When at last she had everything securely in her arms, Emma straightened up and looked shyly at the woman still stood before her. "Sorry," she offered weakly.
"You need to be more careful," Regina said, the rich tone of her voice making something twitch deep inside Emma.
"I know, I'm really sorry. I was in a rush to get to my counsellor and …" she trailed off pathetically.
"You're taking all this to your counsellor?" the brunette asked, a perfectly plucked eyebrow raised.
"N-No," Emma stammered, unable to drag her eyes away from the deep chocolate orbs before her. "I needed to replace my things. Someone stole them last night."
The brunette tutted. "Some criminals have no manners," she remarked as she continued to look over the younger woman before her.
Emma tittered at the joke before flushing at her childish response. Regina smirked internally at the effect she was having on the blonde but continued to level the younger woman with a condescending gaze, enjoying the evident discomfort.
"Well, I suggest you hurry off Miss Swan. You wouldn't want to be late for Counsellor Booth," Regina said as she moved past Emma and down the corridor towards commissary.
Emma stood, watching her go, transfixed by the seductive sway of the woman's hips as she sauntered up to the counter.
"Wait, how did you know my name?" Emma called after her.
Regina turned and smirked. "I know everything that goes on in here Miss Swan. You'd do well to remember that."