Hard Time (Part Four)

Scott lay in his cell thinking about Elisabeth. She should be back on the job today. He smiled as he thought about how he had kissed her. She was such a sweet girl. Then doubt clouded his mind. How would this work? He was a prisoner, doomed to die. There was nothing he could do about that. He pounded his fist against the wall. Why had he done all of this in the first place. Drugs had just started out about money, but then it had become an obsession. Scott remembered that day clearly.1

...........2

He could hear the voices outside. He knew they had come for him. Scott took one last injection into his arm before grabbing the gun. "They have come for you. They are going to take the drugs, and they are going to kill you. They are just going to steal it and sell it for themselves. Protect your prize, Scott!" It was the drugs talking now. They came inside the house and into view. Cops!3

"We know you are in here, whoever you are. Don't put up a fight, just come out with your hands up." one of the officers said as he came in the house. "Come out."4

"NO! You are NOT gonna take me alive!" Scott fired a shot. The other cops began firing. Scott saw one of them pass before him. He fired a shot straight into his back. The officer fell do the ground.5

"MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN!" a cop radioed as the shots continued. Scott was out of bullets now. The cop found him shaking in a corner with bloodshot eyes. "Stand up, against the wall! You are under arrest for drug possesion and manufacturing. You are also under arrest for assaulting an officer...."6

...........7

Scott was disgusted with himself. Had he never done this he could have been with Elisabeth. He would have taken her to a nice dinner at some restaurant. He'd tell her she was beautiful, she'd blush. But he had ruined that all. Hindsight really is always 20/20. Scott rolled over to face the wall.8

"Hey Kendrick! Time for supper. Let's go." It was Valdez, the new officer that had taken Rembolt's place.9

"I don't really feel good, Valdez. I'm just going to stay here."10

"Your loss man, it's Chili tonight." Valdez laughed as he turned down the hall.11

Meanwhile Elisabeth was getting ready for nightshift. She carefully wrapped the gauze around her head to protect her staples from the rub of her hat. She couldn't wait to get them out. It really hurt to sleep with them in. Satisfied with her job, she put on her hat and headed out the door. In about 20 minutes she was at the gates to the PCF. 12

"Long time, no see Lyons!" Lenny the gatekeeper welcomed her.13

"It's great to see you too Lenny!" She smiled back as she drove through the gate. In no time she was on the prison grounds. First watch tonight was with A block. J block was second watch. A block was uneventful that night. Four of the girls were sick, and all the others just seemed worn out. 14

Elisabeth was glad when it was time for J block. She was tired of hearing girls throw up all night. She made her way to J Block, where she was greeted by the warm hug of Officer Benton.15

"Great to see you back!" he said.16

"It's great to be back!" she returned and greeted Rodgers and Merriman. 17

"You'll probably want to stick around for when the morning shift comes on, because Sanger will want to see you." Benton told her.18

"Will do." Elisabeth set off down the hall, checking the inmates with a flashlight. She got to Scott's cell. He was awake. 19

"Hey Elis---I mean Lyons." he said, but there was no smile, no sparkle. Scott seemed troubled.20

"Hey Scott. What's your problem? I can tell it in your eyes something's up."21

"I just wish that I wouldn't have been so stupid. I let drugs possess me....ruin me. Here I am stuck here and I can't ever get out! There were so many things I dreamed of doing as a kid...and I can't do them now."22

"Sometimes the consequences of our actions are overwhelming. But we have to deal with them, there isn't anything else you can do."23

"Just imagine. My life would have been better if I would have just said no to the first time I tried meth. I could have lived a decent life. Like now I could have taken you out to dinner or something. Nothing good has come from this." Scott rambled.24

"Scott, if you would not have ended up here, we never would have met."25

Scott was stopped by this. He smiled up at Elisabeth in the dark. "I guess not."26

"Weird how God works isn't it?" Elisabeth smiled back.27

"Mmmmm," Scott mumbled. Elisabeth winced as she took off her hat. "Still hurts?"28

"Yes." 29

Scott grabbed Elisabeth's hand through the bars. "About the last time you were here..."30

"Scott....I just don't see how this is going to work....we can't keep doing this..." She was fighting it again. "Why are you doing this?" she asked herself.31

"I know you liked it when I kissed you. I know you want to be with me." Elisabeth didn't answer. "Tell me that you didn't feel anything."32

"I can't tell you that." It was a whisper.33

"So you did feel something. You want me and you know it. Why fight it?"34

"Because!" she said loudly, then lowered her voice, "because I'm afraid...I..." she trailed off. She was afraid. She just didn't understand how it was going to work. She didn't want to be hurt again.35

"I know what you are thinking. How is this going to work out? I don't know, I don't have that answer. Maybe "God" knows. Chaplain O'Malley talks about trust. Maybe you are just going to have to trust this." He brushed away a tear that had run down her cheek. "I need you to trust this."36

Elisabeth knew she couldn't fight it anymore. She didn't fight it when Scott kissed her. She didn't fight it when her hand shot up through the bars and around the back of his head. Somehow she had unwillingly fallen for an inmate, something she never in her wildest dreams would have imagined. She smiled. She kissed him again.37

"I take it you trust me now." Scott smiled. 38

Elisabeth nodded. "This happened for a reason. This week I tried to come up with every reason TO fight this....but I just don't have a good one."39

"I was thinking the same thing. If both of us feel so strongly, there isn't a thing either of us can do to stop it." He kissed her again.40

She pulled away. "I have to go make rounds again. Get some sleep Scott." Scott smiled and kissed her hand as she walked away.41

.........42

At shift change, Elisabeth stuck around to talk to Sanger. Sanger saw her immediately and smiled. "Howdy stranger!"43

Elisabeth gave him a huge hug. "Howdy yourself!"44

Sanger became serious. "It's good to see you back."45

"It's good to be back. I can't thank you enough for what you and Scott did for me."46

"Hey it was the least we could do. Elisabeth, I have something serious to tell you. Rembolt is pleading not guilty. Says you wanted this. You are going to be called on to testify before long."47

Elisabeth became angry. "What?! How could he even......"48

"Hey, the trial will be a piece of cake. No way he is going to walk, but I just thought I'd give you the heads up. Testifying is no easy business. Again, great to see you back!"49

Elisabeth nodded and added one last Thank you. She went to the women's locker room and immediately sat down with her head in her hands. She had been trying to forget that had ever happened, but evidently she was going to have to face Remblot again.50

........51

A month had passed again. Elisabeth and Scott did the best they could to keep their relationship a secret, which wasn't hard now because it was nightshift. When she was switched back to day shift, now that would be the hard part. Scott smiled when he heard the second nightwatch come on. After ten minutes the dark form of his love appeared in front of his cell.52

"Got my staples out today." she smiled.53

Scott rolled out of bed onto his feet. "That's good, bet it hurt like hell though."54

"Yeah it hurt pretty bad." Elisabeth chuckled. It was forced though.55

"Hearing's in a couple days, huh?"56

"How do you do that?"57

"Do what?"58

"You know when something's bothering me." Elisabeth teased.59

"Well," Scott said leaning his head out through the bars, "I know something's wrong when you do that forced laugh. Annnnd I knew the hearing was in a couple of days because I have to testify as well."60

"What's it like, Scott? What's it like to be in court?" Elisabeth asked, a tone of nervousness in her voice.61

Scott took her hand, "Elisabeth, I have only been on the criminal end, but I'll try to give you an idea. It's scary. Lawyers will bend anything you say to make it fit what they want. You have to relive the moment you don't want to relive. It was hard for those cops to get up there. It was hard for the wife of the one I killed to be up there. It was hard for me to be up there because I knew what everyone was thinking: Murderer, cold cruel Murderer. At least you know that it isn't going to be easy for Rembolt either."62

Elisabeth leaned against the bars so that Scott could kiss the top of her head. "Good."