----

Lauren decided to put a plan into action the following morning. Halsey had called her crazy, mostly out of concern that Eilish would drop kick her so far across the cafeteria, they would find a Lauren shaped hole in the wall.

She was half asleep but present enough to walk over to Eilish's table and sigh loudly.

"My contact says you're working an angle."

Eilish raised an eyebrow.

"Am I?"

"Probably." Lauren shrugged before leaning down into her space, speaking quietly into her ear. "And if you are, just so you know, most of the girls in here have got fucked over by Healy. So if you tried anything it wouldn't be hard to spread the word on his latest snitch."

Eilish's eyes widened slightly and she clenched her fists.

"Noted. Now get lost Jauregui."

Lauren continued on to join Halsey for breakfast with a smile on her face.

"You did not just threaten her." Halsey dropped her cutlery with a clatter and Lauren shrugged.

"Reminded her that she's not the only one with influence around here."

"God you're gonna get yourself killed." Halsey muttered with a chuckle.

----

One week later

Lauren tapped her foot against the floor.

Lucy was late.

Lauren's visitation time was being cut into severely by this.

She refused to admit she was twitchy because that meant less time with Camila later.

Lucy barrelled into the room, practically a flurry of panic.

"I got here as fast I could, what's happening?"

"I need you to get me a deal." Lauren said. Lucy slumped against the table.

"What? I thought this was a life or death situation."

"It might be." Lauren winced. "I lightly threatened Eilish and now I need a back-up plan."

"You what?"

"So I'm thinking you go to the warden, ask him if he needs someone to get some evidence on how to stop Eilish's little trade. I'll do it in return of a favour. And I think you know what the favour is." Lauren said, steepling her fingers in front of her face.

"What- Lauren- that's crazy." Lucy looked at her incredulously. "You want to volunteer to be a snitch?"

"Well I don't exactly plan on coming back here once my sentence is up. And my boys know that prison is a much different climate than the outside." Lauren reasoned. "Trust me, I know several of my guys who snitched on the inside to get out faster."

"But... are you sure about this?" Lucy took a deep breath, concern colouring her features.

"I'm sure. I thought about it a lot the last few days." Lauren rolled her neck and rubbed at her shoulder. "Eilish doesn't like being toyed with, which is exactly what I'm doing. This covers my ass."

"Lauren... I'll see what I can do. I'll have Beckett-"

"No. Call me." Lauren interrupted. "Eilish is watching me like a hawk trying to find my contact."

"Alright, I'll text you to see what the Warden needs." Lucy corrected with a glare. "I still say this is a bad idea."

"Understood. Don't tell a soul by the way." Lauren said as Lucy stood up. She huffed and readjusted her dress.

"I won't."

----

Two Weeks Later

Lauren had been anxious the entire week.

Camila had guessed something was up; Lauren was apparently less flirty and more quiet than usual.

She couldn't help it; Eilish had basically told her Healy was trying to blow Lauren's prison business to pieces and cut off all contact she had with the outside.

In fact, Eilish had figured out Beckett was her main contact point and politely threatened her to back off. Lauren's phone had suddenly disappeared and Halsey wouldn't meet her eye. She'd later cracked and revealed a nasty gash on her side that Eilish's crew had given her when they came for the phone.

The only contact they couldn't stop was the visitations.

But Lauren had kept those to a minimum, lest Healy decide to take matters into his own hands and make them unable to visit her.

The only people she'd allowed to keep visiting was Lucy and Camila.

Lucy because she needed to get info to the Warden somehow.

And Camila because... well Lauren would go insane without her daily visits from Camila.

But it was soon coming to a close.

Lauren had already handed over enough evidence against Eilish to keep her in prison longer and a lengthy visit to solitary. Enough to make sure her inside trading was shut down long enough to get Healy uninterested.

She was waiting on the inevitable anger from Eilish while Lucy ironed out the final details.

"Lauren?" She was brought back to the present by Camila's soft voice, a gentle hand resting on her forearm.

"What? Yeah?" Lauren blinked before smiling, trying to push aside the anxiety.

"You sure you're okay? Is this about Healy?"

"Sort of." Lauren admitted. "But me and Luce have it under control. Don't worry about it."

"Dinah and Mani did seem a bit agitated about you stopping their visits." Camila said pointedly.

"You guys hang out a lot?" Lauren asked with a frown.

"If they're in the area they'll say hi." Camila said with a shrug.

"Good Lord have I corrupted you that badly?" Camila raised an eyebrow. "I mean, hanging out with the local criminals, how far you've come."

Camila rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Please, like I'm not trying to arrest them every day."

"Any closer?"

"Nope. To the chagrin of my client." Camila mused, flipping through her file with a shudder. "That girl... is aggressive for her size."

"So your client is a woman. Interesting." Lauren said with a hum. Camila froze in her actions and closed her eyes tightly.

"Fuck."

"Probably shouldn't let your guard down around me." Lauren teased. That grabbed Camila's attention, making her look up at Lauren.

"I don't mean to, there's just something about you." Camila replied quietly. Lauren's eyes went wide and her lips parted.

"Careful Cabello, I might start thinking you like me."

Camila didn't reply, instead quietly cleared her throat and looked back down at the table.

"Not my fault I've got bad taste." Camila grumbled under her breath.

"Weird way of saying excellent taste." Lauren shot back. Camila felt her blush spreading across her face; thought she'd said that quieter. "It's a small room Camz."

"Fuck off."

Lauren grinned at the poorly concealed blush and smile on Camila's face.

----

Lauren was on a high. Nothing could bring her down.

Camila basically admitted she liked her. Score.

Now all she had to do was get out. But legally. She wasn't about to do a prison break just to get a girlfriend. Fuck no.

If Lucy could pull this off, Lauren would owe her forever. Of course she'd get paid, but no, Lauren would owe her big time.

When Lauren got back to her cell, escorted by some random guard, Beckett was waiting in the corridor.

She nodded once at Lauren before walking away.

Lauren's heart kicked up a notch and she swallowed harshly.

She'd done it. Lucy had made the deal. It was a success.

All that was left now was-

Lauren almost blacked out, a sharp sudden pain erupted from her side. She collapsed to the floor and shook her head, her vision becoming blurry. She looked up and saw Eilish standing over her, a bloody shiv clutched in her hand.

The pain shot up her side when she moved to press her hand over the seeping wound, ignoring the screaming from Eilish as she was restrained by the guards.

Someone was at her side, muttering under their breath but Lauren could only see blurry shapes. They batted her hand away and pressed something softer against her side. Lauren looked down and saw a grey hoodie quickly staining red.

----

Lauren blinked her eyes open. She squinted at the harsh lights above her. Her head was pounding and her side ached. Lauren tried to sit up but groaned with the shift.

Suddenly a doctor was by her side and pushing her back onto the bed.

Lauren only caught pieces of what he was saying; she'd been stabbed, pretty deeply in her side, just below her ribs. What she did hear was that the second she was healed enough, her deal came into practice.

Lauren closed her eyes with a smile on her face.

That deal was worth not seeing Camila's face for a week or so.

----

One Month Later

Lauren was almost bouncing with anticipation. She'd pulled one last favour out of her ass and got a visitation with Camila while she was still in recovery.

Apparently almost bleeding out takes longer than a week to heal from.

She almost missed the flash of concern in Camila's face when she entered the medbay.

"Hey." Lauren grinned.

"Wondered where'd you been, thought you got solitary time." Camila laughed quietly, coming to stand by Lauren's bed.

"Nah, I'm upstanding in here."

"What happened?" Camila said, looking down at Lauren's legs, covered by the blankets, trying to seem unaffected.

"Got shanked. Eilish seemed to think I'd snitched on her." Lauren said with a shrug and a wince. Camila moved closer, her hand trailing onto the bed and almost brushing Lauren.

"Did you?"

Lauren glanced around the not-so-empty medbay and scoffed.

"Jauregui's don't snitch. Honestly I'm offended she thought I did." Lauren grinned at Camila. A smirk crossed Camila's face and she nodded, her palm skating over Lauren's leg before stopping on her knee.

"Explains why I heard she'd got extra time and some quality solitary action." Camila mused. Lauren's eyes fixed on Camila's hand, her throat turning dry as Camila's thumb brushed over her kneecap.

"Yeah, well she's a bitch and deserves it." Lauren choked out before clearing her throat and looking at Camila. "No case?"

"Took a few weeks off." Camila said with a forced smile.

"Everything okay?"

"One of my cases hit a rough patch. Saw some stuff that I needed to process." Camila said carefully.

Lauren shuffled into an upright position, Camila's hand slipping to her calf.

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'm good now. Trust me." Camila insisted with a smile. Lauren nodded slowly and gestured for Camila to come closer.

"Look I'd drag you over myself but I'm kinda not in any position to do so right now." Lauren huffed when Camila looked at her blankly. Camila shuffled closer and Lauren's hand slipped down to take hers.

"Doctors are clearing me in about an hour, and I'm not sure where my visitation privileges lie at the moment." Lauren murmured. Camila was watching her closely, the fingers winding around each other absentmindedly. "So this might be the last time you see me in here for a while."

Camila nodded and her breath caught when Lauren brought her hand up to her face and pressed a soft kiss to the inside of Camila's wrist.

"Right." Camila squeaked. The door opened and someone was calling Camila's name.

"I could only get a few minutes, I'm sorry." Lauren muttered. Camila was shocked she was still upright with Lauren's lips brushing against her skin. "And if this doesn't clue you in... my flirting was always real Camz."

Camila nodded and let her hand slip from Lauren's as Beckett appeared at her side.

"Uh, I'll- I'll see you then?" Camila said as she left, smiling incredulously at Lauren one more time before disappearing.

"You didn't tell her then?" Beckett asked once she came back.

"She'll find out soon enough."

----

"How was your date?" Ally asked, cracking open a beer before Camila even had time to collapse on her sofa.

"It was not a date." Camila grumbled, snatching the beer from Ally the second she'd rounded the sofa. Ally rolled her eyes and opened the other bottle.

"Please, you both want each other. It's just a matter of do you want to annoy the prison guards." Ally smirked. Now Camila was rolling her eyes.

"You're as bad as her I swear."

"See. It's a date, you flirt, spend time together, learn more about each other. Ergo, date." Ally grinned as Camila shook her head and gulped at her beer.

"She flirts. I don't."

"Uh huh, weren't you just telling me that things could change once she gets out?" Ally raised an eyebrow.

"Als she got stabbed a month ago. Not to mention a good seven months left before she's out." Camila shrugged. "Nothing's gonna happen."

"Yeah while she's in there. But seven months is gonna fly by. Trust me." Ally snickered.

Camila rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to reply when there was a knock at the door. Camila huffed and wandered over to the door, pulling it open with a slightly bored expression.

Her jaw dropped and she felt her grip on her bottle go slack.

A hand caught the bottle before it could fall and held it gently.

"Hey Camz."