----

Four Months Later

Camila almost couldn't believe that it'd been over six months. Six whole months of daily visitation with Lauren.

She frowned as the thought crossed her mind; since when did she start referring to her as Lauren and not Jauregui. Her eyes slipped shut briefly; probably around the time she'd realised Lauren was human, and not the spawn of Satan.

With that horrifying realisation that she'd actually grown to tolerate- no, she'd actually come to enjoy the felon's company, Camila opened her eyes. Seconds later and the door rattled as it opened.

"Woah..." Camila's eyes widened as Lauren was led into the room. She sat down with a wince and leaned her arms on the table. Her jumpsuit was ripped in a few places and her t-shirt's white collar was stained a reddish-brown in spots.

"You should see the other guy." Her voice hoarse and weak. She cleared her throat and cracked a smile at Camila.

"Lauren... who.. What happened?" Camila reached across the table and took Lauren's hand in hers, checking over the bruises on Lauren's skin.

"Doesn't matter."

"Who?" Camila insisted, looking up at Lauren's eyes, noting the pale bruise around one of them.

"My competition doesn't appreciate me selling to her best customers. It's not a problem." Lauren shrugged before groaning quietly.

"Seems like a problem if that black eye is anything to go by." Camila muttered, leaning closer and brushing her thumb along Lauren's eyebrow.

"Yeah well, like I said, you should see her." Lauren muttered. "Besides, it's not exactly the first time."

"Wait... how long has this been going on?" Camila asked, blinking at Lauren and ignoring the tightness of her throat.

"I dunno, a while." Lauren let herself lean into Camila's touch. Camila slumped back into her chair and pursed her lips.

"How long?"

"Four months. It was just after all that stuff with Luce being blackmailed." Lauren sighed.

"Why haven't you done anything about it?" Camila whispered, her thumb brushing over the back of Lauren's hand.

"Right, guards are so keen on breaking up every little fight they hear about. And besides it's not like I can really fight back. I don't want to be in here any longer than I have to be." Lauren rested her head on her free hand and smiled tiredly at Camila. "I'm fine Camz."

"No the fuck you're not." Camila said lowly, her teeth clenching together as she stared down at the table.

"Camila-" Lauren said, her eyebrows shooting up to her hairline.

"None of this is okay. And it's my fuckin' fault. I got so caught up in wanting to be good that I forgot prison is hell incarnate." Camila snapped, she balled up her fists and winced at the slight pain from her blunt nails against her palms.

Lauren's hands curled around Camila's and slowly unfurled her fingers, pressing her fingertips onto Camila's palms gently.

"You're not the one who beat me up Camz." Lauren said seriously. "I got here through my own actions. If I hadn't been so careless in the last few years and had Luce make empty promises, I wouldn't be here."

Camila thought it over for a second before a small smile crossed her lips.

"Yeah you would, I'd have found another way to arrest you." Camila muttered. Lauren rolled her eyes with a huff.

"Sure. But it doesn't matter, the only person responsible for this is Billie." Lauren reassured Camila, her fingers having unknowingly linked with Camila's.

Camila on the other hand was painfully aware of what Lauren was doing; her heart was hammering at her ribcage and she was suddenly realising that Ally may have been right all along.

"Billie Eilish?" Camila asked, trying to ignore the crack in her voice.

"Yeah, she doesn't like me encroaching on her business in here." Lauren grumbled, shaking her head. "I'm kinda embarrassed at being beaten up by a teenager."

Camila smiled at that.

"You should be."

"Not my fault she's got a never ending supply of shivs apparently." Lauren pouted but quickly realised that was the wrong thing to say as Camila's grip got tighter.

"I'm only gonna ask this once Lauren." Camila said slowly. "Have you been stabbed?"

Lauren paused and shifted in her chair, she tried to extricate her hands but Camila's grip tightened again.

"Um... maybe?"

"I will break your fingers."

"Fine! Yes, I've been stabbed once!" Lauren yelped before seeing Camila's narrowed eyes. "Twice... a handful of times." She sighed. "No more than ten."

"Fucking christ. Why is the first I'm even seeing this? I visit every damn day." Camila snapped.

"I usually have time to clean up." Lauren shrugged. "And Ash let's me borrow some of her makeup when I need it."

"I'm getting the warden involved." Camila said bluntly. Lauren yanked their hands and Camila was pulled further over the table.

"You are not. If I get labelled a snitch things will get a thousand times worse." Lauren muttered. Camila opened her mouth to retort but Lauren shot her look and she closed her mouth.

For once she'd let Lauren be right.

----

"God she drives me up the fucking wall!" Camila announced as she entered the office. Ally raised an eyebrow and turned in her chair, making Camila wince when she saw the phone pressed against her ear.

Camila busied herself and poured a coffee out before sitting at her desk with a groan.

There was a clatter as Ally hung up and a squeak of shoes as she wandered over to stand in front of Camila's desk.

"Why are you surprised about this? She's been doing that since you guys met."

"No but this, oh this is different. Some bitch has been beating her up for the past four months." Camila growled. "Four months!"

"Uh-" Ally frowned at Camila's sudden passionate anger as she typed angrily on her computer.

"And she's been hiding it from me! The audacity of this bitch! I cannot believe her." Camila slammed the enter key and fumed as it loaded.

Ally was slightly shell shocked in front of her. She hadn't seen Camila this angry since she'd first met Lauren. But now she was angry for her, not about her? This was a turn of events that Ally didn't see coming.

As much as she teased Camila she didn't actually expect her to catch feelings for the criminal.

The main door creaked open as Camila angrily read Billie Eilish's police file (Rosa had been kind enough to commit a minor crime by letting the agency use the database).

Ally spun around and her surprise only grew.

Dinah and Normani were sheepishly walking into the building.

"So we kind of need a PI." Dinah muttered.

Camila peered around Ally and huffed.

"Your boss is fucking stupid." She stated before gesturing to the two chairs in front of her desk.

Ally moved around to stand behind Camila while Dinah and Normani took their seats. "How can we help?"

"We need you to help us get dirt on Matt Healy." Dinah pursed her lips as Camila narrowed her eyes.

"You haven't spoken to Lauren about this have you?" Dinah and Normani exchanged a glance.

"No. We haven't." Normani nodded. "We don't want to worry her, but there's mutterings that he's trying to move in on our business partner's turf."

"Which area we talking here?" Ally asked. Dinah and Normani shared another glance before sighing.

"Diamonds. We've got someone who moves diamonds for us, we think Healy's gonna poach him and or take him out." Dinah grumbled.

"I'm gonna need the name of this guy." Camila said, scribbling this down on a notepad.

"Can't do that. You'll find out soon enough anyway." Normani shrugged. Camila rubbed at her temple.

"Got anything for me to work with? Meeting's that Healy's having? Anywhere I can start a tail on him?" Camila asked around a sigh.

"Sorry."

"It's alright. We'll figure something out. Becky will draw up the paperwork for you." Camila said, sending a grin towards Becky who rolled her eyes and started typing. "And you two better tell Lauren before I see her tomorrow or else I will."

Dinah and Normani nodded and moved over to stand by Becky's desk.

"Very professional of you." Ally mumbled, leaning down and looking at the police profile still on Camila's screen. "This who beat up Jauregui?"

"I can be professional." Camila scoffed. "Yeah, she's a piece of work and she hasn't even left the teens yet."

"You think they know?" Ally asked, they looked over at Dinah and Normani who were listening intently to Becky explaining their contract.

"They might. No one can really do anything though. If Lauren fights back she might get smacked with a longer sentence, and if I get involved she'll be labelled a snitch and I expect the same will happen if those two try anything too." Camila sighed. "As long as her family don't know, that's all that matters."

"The Jauregui's have definitely been through enough this year." Ally agreed. They waved as Dinah and Normani exited the building.

"That was unexpected." Becky chirped with a giggle. "God they're fit though. Is everyone on Jauregui's payroll that hot?"

Camila shot her an exasperated look before cringing.

"Yep."

----

Lauren was surprised when Beckett appeared at their cell door, an expectant look on her face.

"Visitors."

"Someone's popular today." Halsey muttered from her bunk with a snicker.

Lauren rolled her eyes but followed Beckett out the cell and down the hall.

"Camz come back?"

"Nah, D and Mani are here. Something they want to tell you." Beckett said with a smile over her shoulder. Lauren furrowed her eyebrows as she racked her brain for some sort of idea about what was so important they had to come in person.

Still she wasn't unhappy to see them.

She slipped into her seat and instantly could tell they were nervous.

"'Sup guys." Lauren said with a grin, trying to make them feel less uneasy. It didn't work if Dinah's nervous gulp was any indication.

"We've got something to tell you." Dinah's voice shook and Lauren could feel a panic forming at the back of her throat.

"Oh God, it's not mum is it? Tay? Chris? Fuck it's not my dad is it?" Lauren said before Normani smiled and shook her head.

"Woah, no Laur, it's not bad news. It's just important." Lauren let out a deep breath and relaxed in her chair again.

"Fucking hell start with that next time." Lauren glared at Dinah briefly who guiltily smiled.

"We're dating." Normani blurted out before Dinah could say anything. Lauren paused and her eyes flicked between her two best friends before she broke out into a massive grin.

"Fucking finally." She said with a loud laugh. "Dad owes me fifty bucks now! Ha! Fuck yes."

Dinah's jaw fell slack and Normani seemed to freeze.

"You knew?" Normani squeaked.

"Well no, but you guys have always liked each other. I figured it'd happen eventually, so come on, when did it all happen?" Lauren said with a grin, practically bouncing in her seat.

Dinah finally grinned and Normani rolled her eyes.

"Around when you got locked up." Dinah said, scrunching her nose slightly. "Bad timing."

"Six months and you're only just telling me? I don't know whether to be offended or not." Lauren said, narrowing her eyes at the pair.

"Well... it's not actually why we came in but I figured it'd be now or never." Normani said, laughing nervously.

Lauren looked between them, the awkwardness back in full force.

"What have you two done?" Lauren asked slowly.

"Other than each other?" Dinah joked before seeing the unimpressed look on Lauren's face. "We hired Cabello to help us against Healy."

Of all the things Lauren thought she might say, that was not one of them.

Not even remotely what she thought was going to be said.

"You what?" Lauren blinked at them and pursed her lips.

"We needed someone to get us some dirt and if it was one of our boys he'd get wacked before anything could get back to us." Dinah reasoned quietly.

"So you thought you'd put Camila in danger instead." Lauren said quietly. Dinah gulped and nudged Normani.

"It's kind of her job Laur. She finds things out. She's always in danger as a PI." Normani said confidently before Lauren turned her eyes towards her and she shrank back into her chair.

Lauren took a deep breath before plastering on a tight smile.

"Why her?"

"Other than the fact she's good at her job?" Dinah asked. Lauren nodded once, slowly. "You trust her."

"But did you forget that someone hired her to take down our business?" Lauren started. "That we still don't know who, despite my best efforts to find out. That it could very well be Healy who hired her? And now through this you've given him a way in?"

Dinah and Normani shifted on their seats as Lauren slowly pushed her chair back and stood up.

"Look I'm happy for you guys, I really am, you deserve it. But this better not backfire in any way, shape or form. Or else I will personally dish out punishments when I'm out." Lauren knocked on the door and Beckett appeared.

Shaking her head one last time, she left her friends behind as she was led back into the prison.