Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Behind Steel Bars

By Midnight Dreamer

Chapter 14: A day in the life of Isabella Swan

It has been a couple of days since Isabella had last seen Charlotte. The paint fight at Jasper’s had been fun; she couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so care free. However fleeting the moment was, it was now back to business. Isabella walked into her office to find a stack of files that looked like it would take days to go through. So she sat down and started the daunting task of filling out paper work. File after file were devoted to the criminals she looked after and each one she read made her queasy; some where transfer requests from other prisons, some where medical release forms, while others were status reports.

Each cell block had different guards and each set of guards had a foreman; Isabella herself had five different blocks to worry about. Each block was housed in a different building on the grounds and in the middle of it all stood a large courtyard. To an outsider flying over head, it might look like some kind of private resort but to those in the know, it was the best of the best – for the worst of Texas society. The Swans spared no expense: the prisoners had a private gym, swimming pool, tennis court, basketball court, football and track course; if sports weren’t their thing, they had access to a very large, very expansive library, one that could rival any college library in the country. Anything an inmate would need in order to better himself and find a way to release any pent up anxiety. All inmates where scheduled a daily therapy session, one on one, with a shrink and then a weekly group session for those who weren’t dangerous to others. The overall goal was to rehabilitate those who could be and send them back out into the world to become a better part of the populous.

However, that never seemed to be the case. Sometimes it felt that Isabella kept seeing the same faces and names over and over again – they would get released and then a year or two later they would be back. It was as if a revolving door had been placed on the front gate.

Isabella was so lost in her work that she had completely lost track of the time. It wasn’t until Angela her secretary came and asked her if she wanted to go out to lunch or have something delivered that she finally realized the time. She decided that she would order in, but if Angela wanted she could go out. Once her food arrived, she began once again going through the files on her desk.

It was pushing 10 pm when Isabella finally made it to the last file on her desk. Cell block A. It was always the first file on her desk after the weekend and the last file she went over when she returned. Foreman Emmett McCarty was a very thorough man and he made sure to list each inmate by name and number. What complaints they had or if anyone sustained an injury. Most of the time his file wasn’t very thick since Cell block A was often called the in and out Cell block so most of the criminals housed here were short timers carrying 1-5 year sentences at the most.

 Isabella and Emmett had become what some would call friends over the last several years. He had started at the bottom of the pole as a guard; working his way up through hard work and promotions. He earned his title and position so when it came time for him to be promoted to Foreman, Isabella gave him the choice of Cell blocks. He was the best in the business as far as she was concerned and he had the highest scores in all the classes and tests he had taken to get to be a guard as it was. The inmates respected him since he always treated them like people and not animals in a cage. Some of the other guards had so many complaints stacked against them she was hard pressed not to fire them and she definitely would have done so already if she could find replacements but it was hard to do so since no one wanted to work under a woman.

She closed up Emmett’s report and turned out her light. Tomorrow was another day, another stack of files and monthly inspection rounds. On her way out she ran into Emmett.

“Ms. Swan.”

“Emmett. I thought I told you to call me Bella.”

“Fine, if you insist. So, how was you day today?”

“Same as always. Files to read, requests to allow or deny. The usual.”

“Read mine last again, huh?”

“As always.”

“Well, there wasn’t much to report this time around. My block is almost empty seeing as how there are only 4 inmates in a cell block built to hold around 100.”

“I don’t know what to tell you… Perhaps you should try to persuade some of those criminal types to do some bad stuff that will get them time? That way you fill your cells up and won’t be so bored.”

“Now that wasn’t nice, Bella. Why would I do that?”

“Sounded like a good idea to me.”

“You’re so strange sometimes.”

“I know but you tend to go a little loopy when your the only woman warden in the state. Hell, several states for that matter.”

Emmett chuckled at her. He knew she was playing with him.

“So, did you enjoy your days off at least?”

“Yes and No.”

“Okay, wanna explain that?”

“Well, a friend of mine has this brother-in-law that recently came home after an 8 years stint overseas. When he arrived at his house, he found his wife in bed with his best friend; they got into a fight and the friend went to the hospital. The brother-in-law, of course, went to jail for the weekend. She called me all frantic and wanted me to come help her find some stuff out and to look over the surveillance footage from the house. And so I did. Turns out, the wife has been cheating on him since he left two years ago! It was all caught on tape so the bitch has no leg to stand on; not to mention that she signed a prenuptial agreement when they got married. Anyway, we all hung out until Tuesday when he came over to her house. We watched the video with him, and of course, he seemed really bummed about it all and you could tell he loved her. Well, after that he decided that he didn’t want anything of her’s in his house, so we went over and helped him clean out his house. I swear, Emmett, it looked like two gay men were living there, not a Marine and his wife! So, we boxed the whole house except the dining room table and his office and he sent everything to Good Will. Then we painted all the rooms and got into a paint fight in the dining room. It was a good weekend after all.”

“So, that explains the yes and no. The no part being the stressed out friend, and the yes part being you met a guy who actually may have caught your attention.”

“Wait, I didn’t say that!”

“You didn’t have to – it’s written all over you face.”

“Is not.”

“Is too. You get all gooey eyed and wistful when you talk about this brother in law… does he have a name?”

“Yes, but I’m not telling you.”

“Why not?”

“Cause you’re like an annoying little brother and you’ll pick on me about it.”

“Am not – I’m an annoying big brother!”

Isabella laughed at the defiant look on his face. Emmett always made her feel better. He was right though; he was like the big brother she never had. Throughout their banter, Isabella never noticed that they had walked clear to her car.

“Thank you, Emmett – I needed a good laugh.”

“You’re welcome! Just remember, I’m here if you ever need me.”

“I’ll remember that when I need to move my furniture around and need some muscle to do it.”

“Just supply some beer and food, and I’ll be there with bells on.”

“Hopefully, you’ll have more then just bells on or you might be staying in your own cell block.”

“Ha-ha funny.”

“Good night, Emmett.”

“Night, Bella.”

Isabella went home and settled in for the night. Curling up in her bed she thought about what Emmett had said: Did someone finally hold her interest enough for her to notice them? Maybe, just maybe, Jasper was more than just Charlotte’s brother-in-law.