A/N: Amazingly, I didn't have a hangover today which means I was able to write another chapter for you! Enjoy ;)
Purple. Green. Brown. Yellow. Those were the colours visible on Emma's right temple as she looked in the mirror on Monday morning. The pain of the punch had lasted a couple of hours into Saturday afternoon before the blonde forced herself out of bed and down to Snow's bunk. Her friends hadn't said any more about the obvious assault injury and the three of them spent the rest of the weekend consciously avoiding any mention of Mills or the events of Saturday.
Emma was relieved the weekend was over. She wasn't exactly fond of her laundry job but at least it kept her occupied. The hours since Saturday lunch time had dragged immeasurably. Emma was also sure she would not run into her attacker in the laundry room. In fact, Emma mused as she tried to cover the worst of the bruising with some cheap foundation from the commissary, she didn't even know what Mills' work detail was. A final look in the mirror and Emma gave up trying to hide her injury and headed to work. Before Emma had had the presence of mind to purchase some foundation, Nolan had asked her about the bruise in the dining hall on Saturday evening but Emma just said she hit her head on her cabinet trying to get something from the very back. The blonde guard didn't look like he believed Emma but knew better than to press the issue.
Even Boyd didn't ask what happened when Emma greeted her with a small smile a few minutes later. The two of them worked side by side all morning, mundane conversation flowing as they sorted linen, loaded machines, started cycles, and folded clean loads.
As Emma worked, her mind wandered to the brunette. It was doing that a lot lately and she didn't seem to be able to stop it. Miraculously, Emma hadn't seen Regina since she left the chapel on Saturday afternoon. She assumed the older woman was avoiding her and for that she was glad. She didn't know what she would have said or done had she seen her. To say Emma was hurt would have been an understatement. Not just because of the physical injury but because she felt betrayed by Regina. The two of them had talked, been honest with each other, and Emma had let her guard down. She vowed never to make that mistake again. Emma slammed a machine closed harder than necessary at the thought and Boyd glanced over at the blonde who was clearly preoccupied. Deciding not to comment, Boyd started talking about what colour theme she wanted for her wedding to Sean, hoping to distract Emma from her evident angst.
That evening, Emma walked with Red to the dining hall, the two of them chatting about their day's work and Red talking excitedly about how they were preparing the soil for vegetables they hoped to plant in early March. As the two of them took a seat, raised voices from the kitchen filled the room. Hunter walked quickly to inspect the source and the inmates all fell silent, waiting. A few moments later, the redheaded chef, Athena returned to the counter looking flustered. Seconds later, Hunter reappeared, Regina walking behind him with a smug look on her face. Hunter nodded to the brunette and resumed his post as Regina continued to stroll out of the dining hall. Emma ducked her head, avoiding eye contact as the brunette passed her. Red watched Mills leave, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.
"I'll be right back," she muttered to Emma before jumping up and following Mills quickly from the dining hall.
Confused, Emma watched her go. Surely Red wasn't about to confront Regina about what she had done to Emma.
"Hey, how was work?" asked Snow, sitting down beside her preoccupied friend.
"Dull, but Boyd's wedding plans sound hilarious," Emma said, turning to the pixie brunette. "You know she wants a princess theme wedding?"
Snow laughed. "Yep, she told me all about that."
"How was the education programme today?" Emma asked. Snow ran several workshops for inmates who wanted to better themselves by improving their literacy and numeracy skills. Emma admired the brunette's dedication to educating her fellow inmates as well as her ability to convince the warden to allow her to run them at all. According to Snow, it was her first class Masters degree in education that finally forced him to agree it was a good idea.
"Fun," Snow grinned. "I'm seeing a lot of improvement and it's so satisfying. If these women continue to put in the hard work they're going to have a great chance at getting a proper job when they leave here."
"Snow going on about how she's saving the world by educating us stupid and worthless criminals again?" Red asked as she sat back down.
"Hey," Snow whined. "You know I do good work in those programmes and you also know how important it is to think positively about yourself. I've told you before not to use such derogatory language."
"Oh shut up, Snow," Red snapped, stabbing angrily at her wilted vegetables. "You know most of the people go just to your workshops to get out of actual work and they don't give a shit about bettering themselves. We're all scum as far as society is concerned so what's the point in trying to prove them wrong?"
Emma and Snow sat in stunned silence at their friend's outburst. Snow opened her mouth to respond but Emma laid a hand on her arm to stop her. Subtly shaking her head, the two women joined their friend in finishing their meals in silence. As soon as Red was done, she stood and dumped her tray before walking quickly from the dining hall.
"What was that about?" Snow asked.
"I don't know but she went to speak to Mills just now. Maybe she said something."
"Mills?" Snow asked, eyebrows raised. "What do you think she spoke to her about?"
"You tell me," Emma shrugged. "I've only been here ten days. Do the two of them have history?"
"Not that I know of."
"Reg- I mean Mills was coming out of the kitchens again. Any idea why she's been back there twice recently?"
"None," Snow frowned. "Maybe I should talk to Red."
"Give her some time to cool off if I were you," Emma advised as she finished her meal. "Wanna go to the TV room for a bit? Castle airs tonight and I missed last week's episode."
Crime shows always drew a large crowd to the TV room, Emma noted. Perhaps the inmates were trying to pick up tips on what not to do if they wanted to avoid getting caught next time. Emma and Snow sat with Boyd and Rose, a friendly argument developing as to whether Stana Katic or Nathan Fillion was the true star of the show. Emma thought Stana won hands down with her superior acting and the endless hair porn but Snow had a soft spot for Nathan's baby blue eyes.
As the credits rolled, Emma felt a hand brush lightly against her shoulder behind her. Whipping her head around, she watched Regina walk away from her, her hip sway exaggerated. At the doorway, the brunette turned around, making eye contact with Emma and jerking her head slightly, clearly indicating that the younger woman should follow. Emma turned back around in her seat to face the television.
"What's up next girls?" she asked in a voice loud enough to reach the open door, her heart in her throat.
When she turned around to look a few moments later, Regina had gone.
Emma saw Regina twice more during the week. Once at lunchtime and once in the bathroom. Regina was towel-drying her hair in front of the mirrors, clad only in a black bra and panties. As soon as Emma emerged from her toilet cubicle and saw the almost naked brunette, she bolted from the room without even washing her hands. Regina had watched the red-faced blonde race past, her heart beating a little faster.
On Saturday morning Emma watched sadly as Red bounced excitedly out of their bunk alongside Snow. The long haired woman had apologised to the pixie brunette for their argument and the two headed off arm in arm to enjoy their visitations. Red's grandmother was coming to see her and Snow's father was making his monthly trip to visit his only daughter.
Emma lay in bed for a while, re-reading one of Red's magazines. Deciding she was bored with the trashy, poorly written prose, she decided to make her first trip to the prison library. Red had mentioned it once and it was where Snow held her education programmes. Emma loved to read, enjoying the power of the written word to suck her into an imaginary world and allow her to follow the intrepid journeys of interesting, diverse characters.
Walking through the quiet corridors, Emma quickly reached the library and pushed the door open. It was quiet inside too. But then again, it was a library and Emma supposed it wouldn't be noisy even if most inmates weren't at visitation.
"Hey," came a soft voice from beside her.
Jumping, Emma spun around. Sat behind a desk by the door was a friendly looking brunette. She grinned at the blonde as she placed her bookmark in her novel and rested the book on the table.
"Oh, hi," Emma greeted. "Didn't realised anyone would be in here."
Standing up, the girl held out her hand. "I'm French, I work in the library during the week and I like hanging out here at the weekend."
"Swan," she introduced, shaking the proffered hand. "Are you Australian?"
The brunette's smile widened. "Good ear, have you been?"
"No, but I loved Neighbours when I was a kid."
French laughed. "Don't judge us all by what you see in that show."
Emma grinned, liking the easygoing attitude of the inmate immediately. "I won't."
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
"I'm just looking for a good book really," Emma shrugged. "Any suggestions."
"Of course, follow me."
The two prisoners weaved through the shelves until they reached the far corner. As they walked, Emma looked around at the books. They seemed to be arranged and cared for very well but most of the shelves were half empty and Emma got the impression relatively few were ever read.
"Here we go," Belle said as she gestured to a rather large collection of books. "I've put all of my personal favourites here."
"Thanks," Emma grinned, bending over to pull out a book. "Enduring Love," she read. "Sounds rather sappy!"
"Oh not at all. It's intense and dark and completely gripping," she gushed enthusiastically.
Emma read the blurb before setting the book aside and pulling out several more. The Great Gatsby, Oliver Twist, The Angel's Game, Music and Silence, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Of Mice and Men, and The Green Mile.
"You've got quite eclectic taste," Emma commented as she flicked through the books.
French nodded. "I just love books. It doesn't matter what genre."
"Me too," Emma agreed. "How many books can each inmate check out at once?"
"Two."
"Ok," Emma said slowly, considering the books in her hands. "Then I'll take these."
French took the books and walked back to her desk. "Inmate number?"
"108412," Emma reeled off.
Taking note, the brunette handed over the books. "There you go, enjoy."
"Thanks," Emma grinned as she headed towards the door. Just before she reached it, she turned back. "Hey, you want to join me and my friends for lunch today?"
French smiled at her. "Sure."
"Great, we'll see you in the dining hall at about midday then."
"See you then. Thanks Swan."
Emma nodded and headed out of the library, her two books tucked under her arm. Eager to get back to her bunk and tuck in to the new literature, Emma walked quickly down the corridor towards the sleeping area. As she entered the corridor where her bunk space was, the blonde made sure to keep looking forward, determinedly not looking into the room where she knew Regina now slept.
"Shit," she gasped as she rounded the archway into her own bunk.
"Hello, Miss Swan," came that sinfully sexy voice. "Are you avoiding me?"
Regina sat on Emma's bed, her legs crossed and her hands resting gracefully in her lap.
"What are you doing here?" Emma hissed, stepping inside in case any inmates were around to overhear.
"I wanted to talk to you," Regina explained simply.
"I think you said everything last week," Emma sneered, gesturing to her face. The bruise had faded significantly but there was still a faint colouring to the abused area.
Regina had the good grace to look guilty. "I'm sorry about that. I had no choice."
Emma laughed, placing her books on her cabinet and walking to stand in front of Regina, arms folded. "You had no choice? You just had to punch me in the face? Yeah I'm not buying that Mills but to be honest I don't want your excuses, or your apology. I just want you to leave me alone."
"You don't mean that," Regina said, licking her lips slowly. The blonde standing up for herself made the older woman's heart beat faster.
"I do," Emma stated firmly, trying to ignore the tension in her abdomen as Regina's tongue wetted her plump lips. "I just want to keep my head down and serve my time. I have no interest in getting involved in a prison war."
"That's not what I was trying to achieve in the chapel, Miss Swan," Regina said, standing up to place herself on the same level as Emma. Well almost. The blonde was a couple of inches taller than the older woman and for the umpteenth time, Regina wishes she was allowed her killer heels in prison.
"What were you trying to achieve then Regina?" Emma asked with a sigh, running a hand distractedly through her long blonde hair.
"I told you. I needed people to know you had been punished for your insolence towards me. You're lucky Faery, Trident, and Feinberg are in SHU because had they not been, I would have had no choice but to make them do it for me."
"My insolence towards you?" Emma laughed. "Do you hear yourself? We're all convicts in here. We've all done something wrong. None of us are special. None of us are better than anyone else in this dump. You're our queen," Emma used air quotes around the word, "because people are scared of you, not because they respect you. Do you like the fear in their eyes as they walk past you? Do you like knowing every girl in here avoids you? You have no friends Regina, only your thugs who are also afraid of you. Aren't you lonely? Don't you want to be liked?"
"There's more to it than that Emma," Regina said, her eyes imploring the blonde to believe her. "I provide for my friends and lots of people in here couldn't actually live without me."
"What the hell does that mean?" Emma asked.
"I … I can't tell you," the brunette shrugged. "The less you know the better."
"What, so you're trying to protect me now?" Emma scoffed.
"Believe it or not, yes," Regina nodded. "That's why I punched you. I didn't want to drag you into my business and there was no other way to distance myself from you."
"You punched me to distance yourself? Well it worked, I don't want to be anywhere near you."
Regina took a deep breath before stepping forward. She was now mere inches away from the blonde. "Really Emma? You really don't want to be near me?" Regina waited for Emma to shake her head before continuing. "So why is your heart racing right now as I stand before you? Why are your cheeks slightly flushed? Why are your beautiful green eyes darkening as I move closer to you?" The brunette stepped even closer at her words. "I think you do want me near you. I think you want it very much and that scares you. You don't want to be scared, to be vulnerable in here so you're pushing me away. It won't work Emma. You won't be able to stay away."
Emma held her breath as she gazed down into the flawless face before her. No, not flawless. A small scar marred the brunette's upper lip, an old injury leaving a darkened fissure in the plump flesh. Emma wondered what it would feel like to run her tongue across the scar. At the thought, her cheeks coloured even further. Regina noticed, smirked and turned to walk out of the bunk.
Emma watched her go with her mouth open and her heart racing. As soon as the brunette was out of sight, she collapsed face down on her bed. As she groaned loudly into her pillow, the scent of the older woman filled her nostrils. Regina Mills smelled like apples.
P.S. I don't have a beta but I hate spelling errors and bad grammar. If you spot a mistake, please mention it in a review or drop me a PM and I will fix it ASAP!