Chapter Text
Chapter 1 – Another Riot.
The prison had been pretty quiet for a while so a riot was well over due. It was impossible to tell how it even started. Of course, Franky was in the middle of it. Sort of. As usual, she was having harsh words with some of the women and as usual, Boomer and Kim were by her side to back her up if things turned nasty. God knows what was said but it was Simmo who threw the first punch and it happened so fast that Franky almost tripped over as she stumbled backwards.
“What the fuck?” she spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground and hit back before Boomer grabbed her, pulling her away. Franky struggled the whole time, she didn’t like getting punched and if she did, she liked to fight back. Boomer let her go and Kim put her hands on her face, “fuck off, I’m fine,” she didn’t mean to be so harsh, but fuck, that had hurt. Why the hell had Simmo attacked her anyway? She wasn’t the one who had knocked Jacs in the end, anyway.
Franky looked around the yard, of course; there was Bea, out of the action, sitting with Doreen and Liz and a few of the other girls watching from the sidelines. That should have been it. But Franky had to admit, since Jacs had gone, things had gotten kind of boring, she liked a punch up every now and then and so she reapproached Simmo who had her back to Franky.
“Oi,” she said, and as Simmo turned to face her Franky hit her square in the jaw, and the tables were turned except Simmo didn’t have quite the balance Franky had had and fell over. Franky should have let it go but all she had to think of was every time Erica would walk through the yard and pretend not to see her, about how she refused to acknowledge that she had kissed back and that fucking engagement ring she persisted to wear on her finger. Franky hit Simmo until her own knuckles started to bleed and Boomer decided enough was enough, but by that stage Simmo’s friends had dived in and had a go at Kim, and well, Boomer was big but she couldn’t protect them both at once. She tried though, throwing Franky behind her and diving on whoever it was attacking Kim.
Franky was agile though and threw a punch at anyone who came near her. Franky didn’t see who pulled a knife first but she swore, at herself more than anything, for not coming out with one. The truth of it was the girls liked to fight, even when they didn’t know why. Even Bea and her girls were approaching the mess, but so were the guards.
The women were all locked in their cells as the mess got sorted out. It seemed none of the women were seriously injured, a few stitches here and there. Franky was in medical getting stitches in her eyebrow when they bought the governor in. Franky knocked the nurse away and jumped off the bed, making her way into the corridor. Fuck, Erica looked bad. She was bleeding from the head and it looked like she’d been stabbed in the side from behind too. Franky tried to move closer but was pulled back to her own room. She didn’t feel any of the pain as the nurse stitched up her eyebrow and tended to her jaw and knuckles. Women were still being bought in with cuts, and this time it was Simmo’s turn; the nurse took one look at the glares between the two women and took Simmo to a separate room. Franky jumped up and made her way over to the governor.
“What the fuck happened?” she asked Fletch, who had bought her in.
“Franky, get back to your cell, you look all patched up.”
“Who did it?” she asked, ignoring all instructions.
“Franky, get out of here,” he pushed her away.
She stood in the doorway momentarily, letting the image sink in.
“Is she going to be okay?”
Fletch actually turned and looked at her; she hadn’t hidden the genuine concern in her voice as well as she had hoped, “It’s serious,” was all he would say before he got someone to escort her back to her cell.
Kim was in her cell, playing with the ring she had found in the corridor during the riot. She was sure it was Erica’s, she’d seen Franky’s eyes fixated on enough times that she’d had time to have a pretty good look at it herself. Kim liked her and Franky’s relationship and the way it was; she really did. She just didn’t like the way Franky looked at the governor. It wasn’t the same look she gave Kim and she knew she wasn’t the only one beginning to notice. Jacs had known, there was no doubt about that, and she’d seen Liz watching the two of them interact a few times as well. Kim didn’t even know if Franky knew how clumsy she was getting. She wasn’t as suave as she used to be and her emotions were finally making their way to her eyes, her face. Kim put the ring in a box in her top drawer, and put her hands behind her head. It would be worth something, surely, when she was got out. She was being spiteful and she knew it but she had a theory; something had happened between Franky and the governor. It had to have, because Franky had changed.
“Kim?”
Kim snapped out of her thoughts. There was Franky leaning on her door frame, but none of the usual behaviours; the flirtatious look in the eyes, the smirk, the i-know-just-what-you-want smile. Kim stood up, and brushed her fingers over Franky’s eyebrow, then her jaw.
“Are you okay?” she couldn’t pretend not to care about Franky.
Franky pulled her face away, “I’m fine, you?”
Kim shrugged, “All good. Boomer’s a good bodyguard. She’s pissed you got away from her though.”
Franky smiled, “She’ll get over it,” she hesitated, “the governor was bought in while I was in medical.”
Kim resisted the urge to roll her eyes, “Oh.”
“Yeah…looks pretty bad. Someone beat her, stabbed her. Fletch says it’s pretty serious,” Franky tried to sound casual but Kim could see right through that by now.
“Do they know who it was?”
Franky’s eyebrows creased, “No, I don’t think so. I didn’t even see anybody go inside. Did you?”
Kim shook her head, “Nah, I was too busy throwing punches.”
Franky nodded silently.
Kim put out her hand and when Franky didn’t take it, sighed and grabbed it and pulled her over to the bed. She laid down and pulled Franky on top of her, letting her rest her head on her chest. Kim could hear the wheels churning in her head, she wouldn’t let this go, Kim knew that, she was already hatching up a plan on how she would figure out who had hurt her precious governor. Kim sighed, and ran her hands through Franky’s hair, even though she knew Franky probably didn’t feel it at all.