So sorry for the long wait! I had a nasty exam that came between me and this chapter.
Thank you so much for your favs and reviews - they literally make my day :)

Chapter 31 – Caught in the act

Although the big window in the gable of the E-block building had yearned for a good cleaning in several months now, Brutus wasn't really surprised to find Harry on a ladder this particular morning, trying to balance a water bucket on the top step and scan the parking lot at the same time. Exciting news was a rare threat on E-block, so it was all about snatching them up, before anyone else did.

"Here he is!" Harry hollowed from the top of the ladder the moment Brutus was inside ear shot. "Mr. big date. How did it go?"

Brutus smiled his most candid smile which he knew would drive him crazy and said: "Fine," before turning towards Dean who was supporting the ladder from the ground. "Is Ellie here?"

"She's in the yard with Alice and Bill," Harry responded before Dean had a chance to open his mouth. "Looking quite happy."

"We had a nice evening," Brutus responded casually.

"So I've heard," Harry said with a sly smile and looked down at him. "So…?"
Brutus had a déjà vu from college, meeting his friends at football practice after the significant first date. He had happily forgotten how something as intimate as a date always seemed to involve a hell of a lot more people than just the two individuals sharing it.

"What?" Brutus asked innocently.

"'What?'" Harry growled. "You know what. You drove her home, didn'ya? Did you kiss her?"

Oh, you have no idea… Brutus thought to himself and had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from grinning.

"On our first date?"

"He won a rose for her," Dean said with a plain face.

"Oh, Brutal, you romantic knockout," Harry snorted in disappointment and turned his attention to the windows again. With a smirk, Brutus left them to finish cleaning the window and locked himself into the stagnant air inside E-block. Paul was in his office with the phone stuck to his ear. Brutus nodded to him, already on his way to the yard, but Paul gestured with his free hand as a sign for him to wait and Brutus stopped reluctantly.

"Hang on there, Henry…" Paul said down the phone and then he covered the mouth piece, looking at Brutus. "I need to share a word with you. It'll just take two seconds. Can you cover the front desk for me in the meantime? Thanks, Brute…"

Brutus closed the office door behind him as he left. The Mile was unusually quiet today. Caught up in his own thoughts Brutus had almost forgotten that there were still inmates in the block, so when he leaned against the desk and a voice spoke out in the silence, he almost jumped.

"So, how was she?"

By the time Brutus had identified the voice and looked up, Wharton was already out of his bunk and close up by the bars, quick like a snake. He flashed his yellow teeth in a snicker.

"Who?" Brutus asked him calmly.

"The nurse." Wharton tilted his head. "I bet she was still all good'n tight. The younger the better, right?" He grinned. "When you're done with her, you can send her in here, I ain't too proud to go for the used ones."

"It sounds to me like you're missing the restrain room a lot," Brutus said coolly.

Wharton threw both hands in the air. "Hey, I'm just having a li'l conversation here. What's the matter, fuckstick?"

Brutus ignored him which only seemed to nourish Wharton's provocative behaviour.

"Are you mad?" Wharton said, grinning like a mad hyena. "What's wrong? Didn't it work? Did she give up on you? You can tell her, I'm here waiting for her, if she wanna feel what a real man feels like."

Brutus turned around, a vein pumping in his temple as he stared Wharton down, but before he could give in to his anger and utter anything stupid that would just worsen the situation, John Coffey called his name from down the aisle.

"Boss Howell?"

"What, John?" Brutus growled and moved down the aisle to him.

"Miss Ellie is outside," Coffey responded in a calm tone. He was standing straight up in his cell, his face almost hidden behind the upper bars of the sliding door, so Brutus had to crane his neck a little to be able to look him in the eyes. It was a weird feeling – it was usually the other way around – and perhaps that and the realisation of Ellie being just around the corner, made Brutus realise how badly he was handling the situation. He took a deep breath.

"Yeah…" he muttered. "Thanks."

Walking back to the desk, he glared angrily at Wharton.

"One word more from you and I'll forget you in the padded room until tomorrow, is that clear?"

The boy gave him a fleer in response, but at least he stayed quiet.

Brutus saw Paul move behind the blurred window in the office door and decided to walk in, before his temper got the better of him again. Paul was scribbling down something on a piece of paper with his back turned against him.

"Alice's transfer date," he said, handing the scarp to Brutus. "Henry just approved it. The 18th of November. Would you mind giving it to Ellie?"

"No," Brutus said quietly and eyed the paper. "The 18th, that's almost three weeks from now."

"I've stretched her stay here as long as possible," Paul answered and looked at him, almost apologetically. "But now her sentence has been changed that's the best I can do, Brute."

Brutus smiled. "Thanks, Paul."

He was expecting a grilling similar to Harry's, now the conversation had turned towards Ellie, but Paul just went back behind his desk.

"Why were you talking to the warden's assistant?" Brutus asked him.

"Hal's on furlough," Paul sighed. "Melinda's condition has taken a turn to the worse. She's…" He paused and sank down into his chair. "She's not herself anymore. The cancer is eating her up. The doctor's say it's only a matter of weeks now, so Hal's at home with her."

His words made Brutus feel sick to his stomach. He had only meet Melinda Moores occasionally, but she seemed like a very nice lady and he possessed the deepest respect for the warden, who had always treated people – both guards and inmates – with great care and compassion.

"Poor guy," Brutus muttered. "No one deserves that but least of all him."

Paul nodded consensually.

"I promised Henry I would try'n get hold of him," he said. "See if there's anything we can help with."

"I'll be in the yard if you need me."

"You can send Bill back in here. I need someone to hold the front desk, while I'm on the phone."

oOo

For once it was almost pleasant to walk out into the exercise yard. A thick layer of clouds kept the temperature on a bearable level and a breeze that smelled of warm hay moved the air around.

Bill nodded to him from his place next to the door. "Hey, Brutal."

"Hi there, Bill."

Ellie smiled at him behind Bill's bulky figure, a heart melting smile that gave Brutus a desire to scrumple of the note and throw it over the fence. Alice's intelligent grey eyes moved from Brutus to Ellie and then she declared in her lady-like tone:

"Mr. Dogde, I would very much like to go inside again, if that's okay?"

Bill blinked. "Already? Well, sure…"

He shot Brutus a funny look – women, geez… Can't make up there mind… - then seized Alice by her elbow and escorted her through the open door.

"Is she on to us?" Brutus asked, when he was sure they were far inside the building. Ellie smiled.

"I think she's just playing matchmaker, but who really knows with her?"

He sat down on the warm wooden bench next to her and made sure to keep a safe distance between them. Alice and Bill may have been gone, but A-block was working outside and there were curious eyes all over the place.

"Well, she's not the only one. I've been exposed to cross-examinations the entire morning."

She chuckled. "Oh, God, you have no idea of what I have been through before you showed up: I have been grilled by Harry, Dean and Paul obviously. And Alice, Bill, Wharton…"

"Wharton?" Brutus repeated, already on his guard.

"He made a huge deal out of telling me what I missed out on. He wanted to show me what a real man could do to me."

"What did'ya say?"

"I told him I had slept with you," Ellie responded with a mischievous smile, "so I was very hard to impress."

Brutus grinned as wide as the Cheshire Cat. "No, you didn't."

"No, are you mad – Paul and Bill were right there next to me. But God, did I wish I had… Oh! And my mother is also expecting a detailed review of our night, when I get home today now we are at it."

"Do your parents know about us?" Brutus asked in great surprise.

"Only the part about the date. My mom called yesterday just before you picked me up. I had to solemnly swear not to ruin it, my first proper date in six years."

"Well, if you want my opinion, I think you did a hell of a great job," Brutus said gravely and she smiled and somehow that smile made the paper scrap in his chest pocket fell a lot heavier; he really couldn't put it off anymore.

"I actually came out here to tell you that Paul's been on the phone with the warden's assistant all morning," he told her and dug the note out of his pocket. "They have finally agreed on a date for Alice's transfer."

Ellie took the paper from his hand with a thoughtful look.

"The 18th?" she said and looked up at him and Brutus was surprised, but also rather relieved to see, that she was still smiling. He had been expecting that setting the date would leave her in dismay. "Did the management really agree to this?"

"Are you fine with it?"

"I'm thrilled! Well, I would have preferred that we didn't have to leave at all, but this is more than I had hoped for. A week more here, means one week less in the women's prison. How did Paul manage to arrange this?"

"He's been pulling some strings – but I think he thinks he's doing me a favour, not just Alice. A whole extra week for me to seduce you. I guess that tells you a little bit about his expectations for me."

Ellie laughed. "Whatever he's thinking, I will be the last person to complain about it."

"So, how are you gonna spend all these extra days in New Roads."

"With dinners. Movies. You." She smiled significantly. "Not necessarily in that order."

"Sounds mighty fine to me," Brutus responded with a smirk and leaned over to kiss her. It was just supposed to be a quick, reassuring peck on her lips, but when she returned it, he found it to be almost physically impossible to stop again; like taking one sip of a perfectly cooled beer on a hot day and just put it away: Preposterous just to think about it.

Ellie scooted over to him on the bench and he cupped her jaw and kissed her back. The wind carried the cries of the guards from A-block and the inmates daring song across the yard, but their prying eyes weren't really that important anymore. They could ogle them as much as they pleased through the fence, for all Brutus cared…

"You two are a pair of complete bastards!"

The unexpected voice, cutting right through the continuous rhythm of the inmates picks hitting the sun hardened soil, made Brutus and Ellie jump apart like two teenagers caught in a very inappropriate situation. Ellie flushed bright pink and both of her hands flew up to cover her mouth, when she started to laugh from embarrassment.

Brutus turned around on the bench and found Paul scowling at him from the doorway and Dean glaring over his shoulder, eyes wide from bewilderment. Brutus cleared his throat.

"Right…" he said, trying to sound cool even though he knew he probably matched Ellie in face colour. "There might be something we need to tell you guys…"

oOo

To Brutus it felt a bit like being sent to the principles office. Harry had joined them, as well as Dean, in the superior's office. Paul closed the door and eyed them with a resigned and rather dissatisfied frown.

"So… how long have you two…?"

"About a week," Brutus responded.

"A week?!"

"Since the night we had that inspiring talk in the execution room, remember?"

"Why on earth haven't you told us?" Harry growled, sounding a little bit annoyed that he had missed the gossip. "Why all this secretiveness? After all we have been though to set the two of you up?"

"Because it was actually quite nice not to have the three of you in the relationship too," Brutus said.

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Exactly what Harry just said: 'After all you guys have been through…' You've been on my back since Ellie got here. I haven't been able to catch a break. I… we just wanted to do this in our own pace, without having to worry about letting you down or having the whole prison follow us, as if we were a public serial-novel in women's magazine."

Ellie looked at him with a tiny smirk. Most of it was true, but she also knew, that he wanted nothing more than to rub their relationship in Percy's and Barry Goodman's faces.

Paul looked at little bit hurt. "When have we ever been on your back?"

Brutus scoffed. "You were spying on us just a minute ago."

"No, I wasn't. Honestly," he added, when Brutus shot him a look. "I came out to invite you both to lunch tomorrow at my place. Isn't that right, Dean?"

Dean nodded.

"Lunch?" Brutus repeated. "Just for the heck of it?"

"Well…" Paul said and looked at them both for a moment, clearly considering if it was worth digging deeper into the newly discovered secret or whether he should change the subject. "There's something I need to talk to you guys about. You too, Harry. And you, Ellie."

Ellie looked slightly perplexed. "But I have to work tomorrow, Paul."

"I can give you the day off. One of the medics from the infirmary can take your watch."

Harry frowned. "What'cha gonna talk to us about?"

"I can't tell you, not here. Just show up at my place tomorrow around lunchtime." He glanced at the clock. "Now let's get back to work, before Percy get's here and catches us doing nothing. Oh, and you two…" He gave Ellie and Brutus a stern look. "No hanky-panky on my watch."

"Don't worry: Next time we'll remember to lock the damn door."

Paul shook his head at him, but he was smiling none the less – right until a sudden thought dawned on him and his smile froze.

"God dammit!"

"What?"

"I owe my wife five bucks," Paul said resentfully. "We made a bet yesterday, when we got home. She was sure there was already something going on between the two of you, but I said: 'No, Brutal's too shy. It will probably take him weeks just to build up enough courage to ask her out on a second date'." He scowled at a grinning Brutus. "Thanks, Brute."