Fic: Scofield Standard Time

[kitmerlot_1213]

A/N:  Be prepared for some strangeness ahead!

Chapter 14


T-Bag walked down the halls of Ward B, trying to desperately stop himself from whistling. He had begun to purse his lips, but then he thought better of it.

After all, he couldn't risk having his favorite time of the day taken away from him.

From the very beginning of his employment at Fox River, T-Bag had the rare distinction of distributing the nightly doses of medication. He loved pushing the medicine cart up and down the hallways, and sometimes he would deliberately shake his keys so that the inmates knew that he was coming.

And then he would get to witness the favorite part of his favorite activity. He could never get enough of watching the prisoners react to medication time, because everyone reacted differently to getting their drugs. Some prisoners would be happy, almost giddy at knowing their nightly oblivion was coming. Others looked morose, or even angry at being force fed anti-psychotics.

But T-Bag always loved the prisoners who would look at him with true gratitude. He was never sure what they were grateful for, but he liked to pretend that they were thanking him for helping them leave their tragic and depressive lives.

Either way, he knew that it was unusual to love his job as much as he did, but he damn near couldn't help himself.

Now that he thought about it, the worst part of the job was that he couldn't whistle, because the Warden frowned upon the orderlies or anyone in the staff, making too much noise. His reason had something to do with not wanting to upset the inmates.

T-Bag shook his head sharply, and muttered darkly to himself that the true reason had more to do with the warden being afraid of accidentally setting off a room full of violently insane people.

But the warden didn't need to be afraid of that happening, because T-Bag knew that was all bunk. The women in this place wouldn't have cared a lick if the prison decided to do a re-enactment of The Battle of Bull Run on the front lawn.

No, the reason for the No Whistling policy had to do with the sheer fact that the warden had something against people being too jovial.

So instead if whistling, T-Bag settled for smiling. But not too broadly, because he wouldn't want to give anyone the wrong impression.

Well, there were a few women in Fox River he wouldn't mind having a gander at his pearly whites.

And none of them lived in Ward B.

No, T-Bag's new favorite fish was in Ward A, and what a pretty little fish she was. All blonde hair and a fierce attitude. It was lucky for her that he liked them feisty

He did wonder how much longer it would take before she was in Ward B like her momma. He followed the prison gossip just like anyone else, and he knew that one Miss Chloe Sullivan was the off-spring of Ms. Sarah Donovan. And he knew that Ms. Donovan was as crazy as a bedbug. Therefore, Miss Chloe would soon be joining the ranks of the drooling masses.

He would be lying to himself if he didn't admit that he was truly looking forward to that day. Right now, the pretty fish was protected by being in Ward A, but when she came to his territory, she would be all his for the taking.

Despite his best efforts, his mind instantly conjured up a vision of how the pretty little blonde girl looked when she was first brought in: tied in a straight-jacket and soaking wet. That image would forever be burned into his brain.

He took several deep breaths to calm himself down. Now was not the time or the place to be thinking these thoughts. He had to keep a clear head when he was distributing everyone's meds, and he could not get distracted.

A prisoner taking advantage of his momentary lapse in concentration was all he needed.

He waited a moment for his mind to clear of all non-medication images, and then he nodded to himself, assured that he had himself under control again.

He looked down at his list, and almost groaned out loud. Ms Sarah Donovan was next on his list.

It was alright, he could hand the woman her pills. He would just have to be careful not to mention her daughter.

Or what he would like to do with her.

He grimaced slightly as he placed his key in the lock. He would have to give himself a strict talking to when he got back home, and the topic would be inappropriate thoughts in the workplace.

He had just started to turn the lock over when he could have sworn he heard voices, coming from the locked cell.

He stopped, and placed his ear close to the door and listened hard.

There were two voices. He grabbed his radio from his belt, and signaled that there was a problem in Ward B. Miss Tancredi, the head nurse, started to ask him what the problem was when the voices stopped.

Now that was curious.

T-Bag very carefully placed his radio back on his belt, and turned the lock.

He swung the cell door open, and peered in cautiously.

But all he could see was Ms. Donovan sitting on her bed.

Keeping his eyes trained on her, he walked slowly into the room, and glanced around.

There didn't appear to be anything amiss.

And all the while, Sarah just continued to sit. She didn't make any sudden movements or try to lunge at him.

All was as it should be.

He released the breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding in, and looked at the woman on the bed.

He smiled gently, and cooed softly at her. "Now, Ms. Donovan, it's time for your pills."

He turned back toward his cart, and saw a movement out of the corner of his eye.

Too late he realized that the grate on Ms. Donovan's vent had been crooked.

Before he could even yell, Chloe Sullivan hit him over the head, and he lost consciousness.

Chapter 15


In the months that it had taken Chloe to plan the escape, she had never once thought that she wouldn't succeed. Her thoughts always centered on what would happen after she got her mom out of Fox River. The idea of failure never entered her mind, and it was always "when" the escape happened, and not "if."

But Chloe now had her own arrogance thrown back in her face, because she and her mother were both currently sitting in Dr. Bellick's office, and they were both tied into straightjackets.

She closed her eyes, and tried to keep the tears back. They had just needed five more minutes. Goddamnit, they had been so close!

Chloe and Sarah rounded the hallway that lead to the kitchens, both women running as fast they could. Around them the alarms blared, but they were so intent on their goal they barely heard them.

They could hear the guards shouting at them, but unlike the alarm, they were not so easy to ignore.

Chloe could see that her mom was starting to slow down, so she yelled out at her: "Mom, look! We’re almost there!"

Sarah saw the double doors of the kitchen and a renewed determination replaced the distracted look.

Chloe smiled grimly to herself, because thinking about failing in the escape was not an option at this point. Their only priority was to get to the kitchen so that they could get to the sewer pipe.

And then freedom.

The kitchen doors were right in front of them, and Chloe put on a sudden burst of speed, and when she was in front of the entrance to the kitchen, she turned to look back at her mom.

Sarah was about twenty feet from Chloe, but she had five guards following right on her heels.

Chloe opened her mouth to yell a warning when the one guard caught up to Sarah and wrestled her to the ground.

Chloe’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the office door open. She looked up, and tried to keep her face impassive when Dr. Bellick walked into the room with T-Bag and Miss Tancredi.

Chloe glanced at the door, and waited for the warden or at least another prison official, but no one else followed the hospital staff in.

Her confusion must have shown on her face, because T-Bag grinned unpleasantly at her before he asked, "Who’re you looking for, Fish?"

"The warden, actually," Chloe answered calmly.

T-Bag laughed out-loud when he heard this, and Chloe’s baffled expression caused him even more mirth. He was finally able to pull himself together enough to chortle out. "He’s on a three-week vacation, so you’re just stuck with us."

Sarah quickly cut in to explain what she could. "When the warden is away, Dr. Bellick’s completely in charge. And she has the warden’s full permission to deal with the prisoners as she sees fit."

When Chloe heard those words, she didn't even try to hide the sense of hopelessness that filled her. According to the research she had done, a prison official was required to be at Fox River 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the hospital staff was not to have sole discretion in dealing with any of the prisoners.

It really shouldn't have surprised her that none of the rules that applied to other hospitals for the criminally insane applied to Fox River.

T-Bag had been watching Chloe's face avidly, and when he saw her reaction to her mother's words, he let out another loud whoop of laughter. Oh yes, this day was getting better and better. True, he had been conked on the head, but he now had the opportunity for a little payback in the form of a taunt.

Leaning in carefully, he gauged her expression and delighted in the look of disgust that crossed her face at how near he was to her. He deliberately paused, and then whispered into her ear: "Oh, did the pretty little fish think she was about to get rescued?"

Chloe refused to answer, and instead glared back at the orderly.

T-Bag grinned maliciously back at her, but before he could formulate an appropriate response, Miss Tancredi interrupted.

"Dr. Bellick, we do need to report this escape attempt to the Department of Corrections. They will need to start an investigation into how this prisoner was able to gain access to another cell."

Chloe held her breath when she heard what the nurse had said. Their bringing in an outside prison official might be the only thing that kept her and her mom unharmed until they could get out. She silently thanked God that there was at least one person in this place who was trying to follow the protocol that the state mandated.

Dr. Bellick nodded thoughtfully as she listened to her nurse talk, but in reality, she only half-listened.

Instead, she carefully studied Chloe Sullivan.

She had been fooled by Chloe's calm and nonviolent presence in Ward A, but it would seem that she had underestimated the young woman's ability.

Dr. Bellick had thought that Chloe was an unfortunate young woman who was cursed to follow her mother in being mentally ill. And then she had dismissed the daughter from her mind, and chose to focus on the mother.

That was obviously a mistake, and one she was going to rectify.

Dr. Bellick smoothly interrupted Miss Tancredi in mid-sentence. "While I agree that the prison authorities need to be notified, that can take place in the morning. I would like an opportunity to question these inmates myself."

Miss Tancredi was momentarily startled, but she quickly came out of her daze. "Of course, Dr. Bellick, whatever you think is best."

Whatever hope Chloe had of getting away from T-Bag were dashed by the nurse’s words. She had a feeling that this was not going to end well for her or her mom.

~~~

Lex sat in the back of his stretch limousine that had been parked on Fitz Street for the better part of two hours.

He had a weird, jittery feeling in the pit of his stomach when Chloe failed to appear at the designated time.

The jittery feeling became full blown nausea when he heard the alarms go off in the prison.

But the alarms stopped not soon afterward, and instead of making his feel better, his fear increased ten fold.

He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he was forced to come to a rather horrifying conclusion.

Chloe and her mom weren’t able to escape, because something must have happened to thwart her plan.

So, he would just have to go in and get Chloe out himself.

That being settled, Lex pulled out his cell phone, and started to make some calls.


Chapters 16 and 17