Conquering The Darkness

Chapter Ten

Her arms crossed over her chest, Red stares Lorna over with an attentive eye. "How far along are you?" She questions, her accent much thicker than usual.

Lorna uncomfortably gulps as she turns from the sink to stare at the Russian chef. She's only twelve weeks into the pregnancy, how could she be showing so soon? And with all the vomiting she's done, she doesn't believe she could have gained that much weight. "With what?" She tries to play it off, not wanting anyone more to know about her pregnancy.

"Don't play dumb with me, Lorna," Red warns, giving a curt shake of the head. "I can sense a pregnancy from a mile away. How far are you? Ten—eleven weeks? This is from Mendez's nasty rape, I'm sure...that sick, disturbed, piece of shit..."

Looking down at her shoes, Lorna sighs and quietly mumbles, "Twelve."

Red walks closer to her, placing a comforting hand onto her shoulder. She peers in to her eyes with a slight concern seeping through her own. "And how long have you known about your pregnancy?"

"Since I went to see the doctor here...he gave me a pregnancy test and it came back positive," the petite Italian casually responds. She nervously fiddles with her fingers—displeased that the older inmate knows about her secret now as well.

"So, you decided to keep it a secret for what reason?" Red stares sternly down at her.

Lifting her head to face her, Lorna sighs and shrugs. "I just figured it's my business and no one else should be bothered with it... Besides, what can anyone do? It's my pregnancy, my baby—my problem to deal with. The whole prison don't need to know about it! I don't want them to know about it!"

"You are family, Lorna; you should have told Nicky and I about this! We want to help you through things like this; you shouldn't have to deal with this all on your own... We care about you—we want to help you! You think Nicky and I would tell anyone about it? Because we sure as hell wouldn't. You're right in saying that it is your business...but there are things in life that one person can't go through alone—being pregnant in prison with a rapist's baby is one of those."

Lorna crosses her arms defiantly over her chest. "What is having you and Nicky know about it gonna do?" She shakes her head angrily, staring down at the cold floor, "I'm fucking pregnant in prison...there's nothing you two can do to help me—you can't undo the pregnancy or change the rules here to allow babies...so what's the fucking point?!"

Red pulls the angry brunette into a comforting embrace, running her hand soothingly through her dark hair. "The point is so that you don't have to go through it alone. You're pregnant in prison, Lorna; you shouldn't be dealing with something like that on your own. You need moral support!"

Walking around the dorms, Lorna peeks into Nicky's cube to see if she is there. With the bushy-redhead not in sight, she is instead greeted by the other's bunkmate. "Oh, uh, hi Tricia," she says, looking over at the empty bed on the other side, "How are you?"

Tricia chuckles, peeping her eyes up over the book she's reading. "Hey, Morello. Just enjoyin' myself a good book over here—I assume you're looking for Nicky, yeah?" She flips a page in the book, still looking up at the brunette.

Lorna slightly nods her head. "Do you maybe know where she is or anything? I got somethin' important to tell her."

"She's probably in either the library or chapel—her two favorite places to listen to music."

Lorna wanders into the library, searching the aisles for her redheaded best friend. She smiles when she sees the wild-haired woman lying on the floor with headphones in her ears. Quietly, she walks over to her—giving a gentle tap to her shoulder, "Nicky..."