Secret in the Secret Ch. 25

It was hard to leave the sleeping Emily all alone, Amanda felt fiercely protective of her, and nothing would've made her happier than to curl up beside her and sleep the rest of the day away, Emily in her arms, breathing in Emily's unique scent.

But it had been hours since she had last ate, and she was starving, and Emily would be too when she got up. She had to control herself around her human lover, even though the moment they became intimate she wanted to make love to Emily for days. But Emily was human, and she needed food, rest. She held back, but she had never been happier, every cell in her body buzzed with joy.

She quickly walked to the cafeteria, where a lot of the guards were sitting, enjoying dinner. She got in line with the others, piling her tray high like the other guards with roast beef, cooked veggies, a bowl of fruit salad an entire loaf of garlic bread and then two bottles of soft drinks. She was about to take it all back to her room when she thought about what Emily might think about her voracious appetite. So she grabbed more plates, setting aside regular, human sized portions of food for her and Emily, and then she quickly devoured the rest. She returned to her room, entering and shutting it quickly behind her. Emily was sitting in bed and when Amanda came in she looked up, her expression changing instantly from surprise to happiness.

"Hello, lover." Amanda said, putting the heavy tray of food down on her desk before climbing into bed to give Emily a kiss. She was madly craving contact with Emily even though they had only been apart for a short time, and the feeling of Emily's soft skin against her was a cooling relief. Oh god, she was still naked underneath the blankets. She had to pull away from the kiss before it got out of hand. "I brought you food." She said, her chest heaving.

"Mm, looks good." Emily said, pulling the covers around her and standing up. "Come on, you must be hungry too."

"You eat first." Amanda said. She wanted to make sure Emily was full before she would polish off the rest. Emily must've thought she was hungry though because she clucked her tongue and taking Amanda's collar in her hand, led her over to the desk.

"I had a light snack, just eat first." Amanda insisted.

" No."

Amanda let out a huff of frustration when Emily pushed her down onto the seat. She changed her mind when Emily sat in her lap. Ah well this was much better, she thought when she felt Emily's heat and her soft buttocks on her thighs and when Emily passed her a fork they both ate heartily.

They had finished eating and were sprawled out on Amanda's bed, chatting and snuggling when Emily sat up to check the clock.

"Mm I should go soon, the head count is coming up."

"I'll excuse you from it." Amanda mumbled, burying her face in Emily's hair.

"Mm... tempting, but I think I better get back anyways." Emily said, sitting up and starting to put on clothes.

"Hmph. Fine. I'll walk you." Amanda said reluctantly. She wished Emily could stay with her forever, but as long as they had to keep up the facade of being a legitimate prison, it was probably a good idea not make the prisoners suspicious.

"I'll miss you." Amanda said softly as she gave her one last kiss. They were standing in the hallway that led back to the prison. At this time, most of the prisoners would already be in their cells, no one but the guards would see that Emily had left.

"I'll miss you too, see you tomorrow?"

"Yes, of course. Good night."

Emily walked back into the prison, running up the stairs and back to her cell. She had a few minutes left and she stood outside the cell beside Jenni.

"Where've you been, girl?" Jenni said with a grin.

" Oh you know, just around." Emily said. The guard came around and they went into their cell and into their beds. Emily had just slept and so she lay in her bed, happily reflecting on the day's events.

In the afternoon Emily headed to the kitchen to do her chores. When she got there Angel was pacing the kitchen, clearly in a bad mood as usual. She separated them immediately into several groups, and most of them left to do their tasks, while Emily's group had a very specific job.

"Alright listen up inmates, I'll try to make this easy for you to understand." She said, slamming down a large crate of veggies onto the center island, making everyone jump. "Cut up the vegetables into pieces this size, and don't fuck it up." Angel looked around. "Well?" She snapped, making everyone jump again.

"Yes, mistress!" They all said immediately. Angel let out a growl and went to sit down in her chair. Everyone immediately grabbed some cutting boards and started washing and then cutting up the carrots and potatoes.

Emily loved cooking so with Angel sitting far away, reading her Hustler, she could relax a bit and just concentrate on cooking.

"Well, Emily. It looks like you're taking your sweet time with this." Emily felt a spike of fear when she heard Angel's voice behind her. She couldn't even move because Angel was so close she was pressed up against the counter. She looked over at everyone else's' cutting boards and realized that she was very far behind.

"I'm sorry, mistress, I had to remove the bruising on the potatoes, it took me a longer than I expected." She stammered.

"Are these potatoes not to your liking, Emily?"

She felt her face flush red as the other inmates laughed. "You're staying late." Angel said flatly.

Seething, Emily spent the rest of kitchen duty in an angry haze. It wasn't her fault the potatoes were bruised, geez show a little dedication to the work and it just gets you in trouble. She watched enviously as everyone left the kitchen, leaving her alone with Angel.

"Alright, so what do you want me to do?" She said, defeated.

"Mm not here. You're going to help me." Angel said, standing up.

"Well, where..." She let out a yelp as Angel slapped her on the ass.

"Come on, we're going to the guard's kitchens."

"Angel, I can't go there." Emily said, struggling against Angel's steel grip on her wrist.

"Oh don't be such a loser." Angel said. Ah shit.

"Alright, so here's the serving orders." Angel said, tossing a piece of paper onto the table. "You'll cook this."

Emily looked at the food prep order and winced. "But that's enough food to feed a hundred people!"

"Nonsense, it's just for fifty people. Guess you better get started." Angel said with a smirk.

"But-"

"Hey, get it done or I'll tell the warden you tried to smuggle one of the knives out of the kitchen. Alright?"

"Fine." She said, feeling mutinous. She would have to talk with Amanda later about Angel's treatment.

"Great. I'll be back in a hour to check on you."

And so reluctantly, Emily started preparing the food, shredding the lettuce and grating the cheese for the Ceasar salad. It was exhausting work, but she grit her teeth. Amanda was working right now, and she wouldn't disturb her, she wanted to bring as little trouble into Amanda's life as she could. She heard the door open and she turned sharply. Had it been an hour already? Imagine her surprise when Stevens let herself in, shutting the door firmly behind her.

"Hello, Emily."

"Hey." She said cautiously, remember the last time she was stuck in the kitchen alone with the guard. Stevens looked at the large serving dish of romaine lettuce silently and then over at Emily.

"Did Angel send you in to check on me?" She asked in an attempt to break the silence. This apparently was a ridiculous question because Stevens chuckled in a very patronising way.

"Angel wouldn't dare send me anywhere."

Oh right, because you rank higher than her, Emily thought to herself. Still doesn't explain why you're here. She decided to continue preparing the Caesar salad.

"Do you know where they keep the croutons here?" She asked Stevens, who was helping herself to the shredded cheese.

"Mm Angel just makes those." Stevens said, nodding at the loaf of bread on the counter.

"Great." Emily grumbled to herself. She started taking out slices of bread, then preheated the oven. She went back to the salad only to realize that Stevens had eaten the entire bowl of shredded cheese and was now playing with a potato peeler, balancing it on her index finger and laughing.

Emily could feel her frustration reach a boiling point and she snapped. "Fuck Stevens, I'm really busy right now so please just tell me what you want or leave me alone!" She started cutting up a lemon angrily before her mind registered the silence in the room. Uh oh, maybe that wasn't such a good idea to yell at the second lieutenant. She quickly snuck a look at Stevens' face and surprisingly, Stevens was smiling.

"Just tell me what you need help with." Stevens said gently.

"Well I could use more shredded cheese, ." Emily said hesitantly, unable to believe it.

"Alright."

She watched in astonishment as Stevens started grating the cheese. Huh, well I guess stranger things have happened in this prison. With Stevens grating the cheese she could actually get started on the dressing, which of course, had to be handmade too. Damn it.

"Emily, the cheese is done." Stevens called from behind her. "What next?"

"Hm, if you could peel the potatoes, that would be great."

"How many?"

"Uh, all of those." Emily said, pointing to the bags of potatoes stacked in the corner. She watched Stevens' eyes widen.

"Emily, that'll take hours!"

"Yeah, and dinner's in three." Emily said once she looked up at the clock. She had already been working for an hour. "You know, I think Angel just set me up to watch me fail." She said with a grimace.

"No kidding." Stevens said. Emily watched as the tall brunette headed for the exit. Oh well, it was nice to have the help for a while anyways. But wait, Stevens wasn't leaving, she had picked up the phone next to the door and was calling someone. "Hello. Yes it's me. Send all the rookies to the kitchen right away."

Ten minutes later the kitchen was busy and loud with several more guards, working away happily under the watchful eye of Stevens. And man did they work fast. Emily watched in amazement as one of the guard she hadn't met before chopped up potatoes with such speed it was like she had been using a knife all her life.

"Impressive, huh?" Emily jumped as she heard Stevens' voice behind her.

"Oh. Yeah." She said with a laugh. She looked and then saw the short-haired Aella. It was sad, ever since that time she had seen Aella with Stevens it seemed like the young guard was avoiding her. She had liked the dark haired, sassy woman and had enjoyed their brief time playing video games together. Stevens looked at her, then at Aella.

"Aella?" She called.

"Yes, Lieutenant."

"Have you met Emily? Come over here and introduce yourself." Stevens said as she leaned casually against a counter.

"Yes, we have met before. "Aella walked over shyly. "How are you?" She asked.

"Besides the insane task that Angel assigned me? I'm alright." They laughed together, and all of a sudden it seemed like everything was back to normal with them.

"Move your stuff over here." Stevens said, and Aella complied eagerly.

They finished cooking forty five minutes before dinner time, and then there was just the task of taking all the food to the warming pans in the cafeteria, accomplished easily by all the guards lending a hand.

"Would you like to serve the guards?" Stevens asked Emily as most of the guards when to grab plates and started getting in line for the food.

"Sure."

"I'll help you too!" Aella offered cheerfully, and eagerly planted herself infront of the plate of brownies.

"I'll set aside some food for us." Stevens said.

"Will Amanda be here for dinner?" Emily asked hopefully, then was disappointed when Stevens shook her head.

"She'll be working late. I'll save a plate for her too."

Then there wasn't much time for talking as there were tons of hungry guards to feed. Stevens had somehow taken over and was serving out the barbeque beef for every guard. "Eat up, Hale." She said to one short haired dirty blonde woman.

"You too, Hawthrone."

Emily was in charge of dishing out the salad and after a few polite requests for larger servings soon realize that these women had incredible appetites. That really explained Angel's comment earlier about there only being fifty people when they made enough for a hundred. She started giving out double portions and then all the guards seemed quite please. The job was actually quite fun, most of the guards were quite friendly to her, though that could've been attributed to the fact that Lieutenant Stevens was standing next to her.

While they worked Stevens would sometimes introduce a guard to Emily, or tell her a tidbit of interesting information. One guard had fended off her village from a horde of werewolf-like creatures, another had singled handedly defeated the most fearsome creature on her planet, a vicious, gigantic boar creature that could spit fire. It was so strange for Stevens, a grown woman, to be talking about things like werewolves and fire spitting pigs, but it was definitely exciting to listen to.

A few of the women came back for seconds, and after that the cafeteria started clearing out. Emily started to clean up and Stevens stopped her. "You've done enough for today, time for you to relax, come on, let's eat."

They grabbed their food and then she and the other guards that had worked in the kitchen went to sit at a table together. Emily watched the interactions between the guards, the way they talked to each other, they were like a cohesive unit, but the physical contact they had with each other carried an undertone of sexual tension. She watched everyone eat the food, and was very pleased to see Stevens eat everything that she had got, even soaking up the barbeque sauce with her dinner roll. Stevens sat back in her chair, looking very content and she decided now was a good time to talk.

"Thank you for helping me today, I really appreciate it. I couldn't have done it without you." She said softly.

"Damn right you couldn't have." Stevens said with a chuckle. "And you're welcome, little one."

After everyone had finished eating Stevens got up, "Let's go clean up here and go to the break room." She said.

"You want to come too, Emily?" Aella asked with a grin. "We got xbox, ps3, super Nintendo, you name it."

"Um." She looked over at Stevens who shrugged. "Okay, sure!"

A few hours later the group were hanging out in the break room, playing poker. There was Stevens, Aella, Emily, and the two other guards, Vanessa, a quiet long haired brunette, and Hallie, a very friendly redhead. Emily was busy looking over her cards and trying her best to put on a decent poker face when Stevens suddenly looked up from her cards. "Richards? Would you like to join us?"

Emily looked up eagerly towards the open doorway and didn't see anyone.

"Yeah, Amanda, join us!" Hallie called.

"Not today, thanks." Came Amanda's voice, sounding farther away as she spoke.

"Yeah, join us, Amanda." Emily called too. There was a pause, and then the fast footsteps of Amanda walking back.

"Ahh. There we go." Stevens said with a triumphant laugh. "Deal Amanda in."

"Hello." Emily grinned as Amanda sauntered over, the other women were already chatting again and so they could have a private conversation.

"I couldn't smell your scent, the smell of barbeque sauce and everything else was too overwhelming." Amanda confessed. Amanda was sharing more and more about herself every day, and Emily couldn't help but feel a rush of happiness towards her lover. She was hesitant to show any affection towards Amanda though, unsure if they were still supposed to keep their relationship a secret. She quickly got her answer when Amanda leaned in close and kissed her, pressing their foreheads together. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Emily said. Up close she could see the weariness in Amanda's eyes, the dark shadows underneath them. "Do you need to rest?"

"No, I'll be fine, I just need to get some food." Amanda rubbed her eyes and sat back.

"Oh we left you some food." Emily brightened, glad that she could help in some way. "It's in the fridge."

"Ah! Wonderful."

Amanda was part of the poker game, but she was more interested in the food than the card game. Emily beamed as Amanda devoured everything, making little sounds of pleasure that were almost R-rated.

"Angel's cooking has definitely improved." Amanda commented.

Stevens snickered. " It wasn't Angel that made this, it was that little firecracker over there." She said, pointing casually at Emily.

"Really? You were making food for the guards?" Amanda said, baffled. Emily had to quickly explain what had happened. At the end of this, Amanda was fuming. "Angel has really overstepped her bounds."

"Oh it's not that bad, at least we get to see each other tonight." Emily said trying to calm her down. Amanda let out a little growl of discontent and settled for shredding her napkin into tiny pieces. "And Stevens helped me." She said softly.

Amanda raised her eyebrows. "That's rare for her."

"Mm, see, some good came from it after all." Emily said, rubbing Amanda thigh. Amanda looked down and finally smiled.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, would you like to spend the night?"

"I would love to."

"Ok, I'll sign you off for the curfew, but when I get back you have to help me with this game."

"Deal."

"I feel like I have the entire deck here." Stevens complained as she looked at the cards in her hands.

"Almost. Nope, no fives. Go fish." Aella said cheerfully. Stevens groaned and grabbed another card from the table. She looked at it and rolled her eyes.

It was a few hours later and they had switched the game to Go fish. Steven was exceptionally entertaining to watch as they played because while she could hold her own in poker, she was awesome at Go fish. Emily happily sipped the raspberry juice cocktail Stevens had made for her, she had turned down Stevens offering of scotch, and to her surprise Stevens had shrugged and had made her a fruit drink instead.

"Hey Emily." Amanda mumbled to Emily as they watched Hallie try to help Stevens out.

"Mm yes my lover?" Emily playfully nuzzled Amanda's shoulder, feeling the effects of the alcohol as it made her dizzy.

"I think I may be drunk."

Emily snickered and gave Amanda a playful slap on the shoulder. " I know, silly."

"Think we should call it a night after this game?" Amanda suggested.

"Ok."

Every day should end like this, Amanda thought happily to herself as she and Emily curled up under the covers in her bed. "Are you happy, Emily?" She asked as she nuzzled her long locks, wrapping her arms around Emily's waist.

"Who wouldn't be in a bed like this." Emily giggled, caressing Amanda's arms.

"I mean with me." Amanda said with a soft laugh. She shifted back as Emily turned around to face Amanda.

"Amanda, I love you with all my heart, of course I'm happy with you."

"Good, me too." Amanda said. It was hard to believe that one person could make her so happy but it was true, she fell asleep holding Emily in her arms.