It's early still. I should be back in time for the party tonight. I step out of my car and head towards the steps of the front of the woman's correctional facility.

"Can I help you?," The buff police officer behind the entrance station looks down at me from his raised platform.

"Uh, yes. Um, I'm here to see someone- Mary Austin..," His glare is intimidating or maybe it's the fact that I know I shouldn't be here, but I feel my palms begin to sweat as the guard huffs and turns toward his computer screen.

"Are you on the list?"

"List?...Uh, well- yes. I suppose I should be," I'm a stuttering fool feeling under pressure from the cold, stale feel of my surroundings.

I hand over my I.D. And drivers license, sign my name on the visitors sheet and empty my pockets. My keys, wallet, watch, belt and wedding ring are all placed in a plastic bin as I walk through the metal detector with my shoes off. The whole process feels like an invasion of personal space and I had the ear piercing sound of the static from the wand that scans my body. I'm then green lighted, but the last step is a full body pat down, a flashlight shining into my mouth and under my tongue. I'm asked to take my socks off as the guard rings them out, feeling for drugs or money- I don't know. Geez, what the hell kind of people try to sneak things into prisons?

"You can put your shoes and socks back on. Here's your belongings. For the record, anything you posses cannot he handed to or touched by the inmate. You may not hug or touch except at hello and goodbye and your visit is limited to two hours. Please, follow me and I will take you to the visitors room.."

I nod my head at his instructions, gulping against my dry throat as we pass through a set of heavy metal doors. The doors clink shut behind us, sounding like a locked vault. There's no turning back now- if I do they'd think me suspicious or something!

I'm directed into the visitors room, given a visitors sticker pass on my shirt and told to sit and wait. "She will be escorted her shortly. Please remain in your seat at this table. If you wish to use the vending machines- only you can get up and handle the money. The inmate will have to stay seated the entire time," The monotone voice he uses to speak makes this place all the more terrible. Hmm, I guess it's a good fit for Mary.

A few minutes pass and I try to convince myself that I've come here for good reason and I have to stick to my gut instincts. I didn't even tell my own wife where I was going! Mary said the kids were in danger and I'm not taking the chance of anything bad happening to them if I can help it! I swear this better not be some sort of little ploy she has to try and reenter Freddie's life.

Mary comes into the room in front of another guard. Her hands are taken out of handcuffs right outside the door, and she is ushered to my table. There are three other inmates having visitors in this room with us- I don't know how much she will be able to speak out loud, but she swore she would tell me everything.

"Hi, Roger..," She nods her head at me as she takes her seat across from me. I say nothing.

"Um, well- how have you been? How are the guys?," She looks to be asking out of genuine concern. Her bright blue eyes twinkle in the fluorescent lights and the wrinkle between her eyebrows knit to show her worry lines.

"I'm fine. They're fine. Now get on with it, I have plans later today," I don't feel she deserves any acknowledgement, and especially not when asking about things and people that she's hurt tremendously unforgivable in the past.

"Right- uh, well...I don't know how to start," Her fingers drum on the top of the table. She begins to fidget in her seat and I can't tell Marys body language very well- I was never able to. She's always had such a cold cut exterior about her. Never readable in any way- at least, to me.

"Just get in with it!," I grumble after a moment, completely irritated to have drive this far out just to have her back out of her decision now.

She slowly looks around the room. The other people taking up the tables around us, still leave us enough room for private conversation as long as we speak low enough. There's a guard standing by the doorway- the only entrance and exit out of here. Another guard sits at a desk in the far off corner, skimming through the newspaper, not paying much mind to the quiet, eerily calm atmosphere.

"How are the twins and Lily in danger? What do you know, Mary- please...just tell me," I change my demeanor to show her how seriously I take her comments. My tone is soft and pleading and I'm truly trying to beam the same sentiments through my stare.

She laces her hands together in front of her, straightens her posture and flips her hair over her shoulder with one quick motion. Her new position makes it look like she's just flipped a switch, making this into a business transaction. What else is to be expected from the ice queen.

"First- I need you to get Freddie to answer my phone calls. I was only calling him to tell all of this to him, but I figured you would be able to get through to him better than I can.," she reached her hand out to mine, hovering over it before grasping my grip in her hand. "Please, Roger- he listens to you. I just need him to tell me that he forgives me. I...I know I was a monster and I regret it all! Truly I do! Id don't know the type of people I was getting involved with and that's why I'm trying to right my wrongs by telling you what I know..,"

Again, I say nothing. I just wait for her to continue. Which she does, after huffing a puff of hair out, like it's been trapped inside of her for too long.

"It all started when Danielle was getting released. I was infuriated! She did way worse than me and still she somehow was able to get such an early release! I started to dig around to try and fit the piece together- I couldn't understand it! So I confronted her...,"

I gulp at the possibilities of where she is headed with this. We all knew Danielle had been given such an unjust early release from prison and we couldn't understand it much ourselves! Fred was a mess! We all were. We were scared that she'd try to do something to the children-

"So that's it, is it? Danielle is plotting again!? Is she trying to get to the kids? What the fuck is her prob-,"

"No...no let me finish. This is hard enough to believe as it is to say out loud. Just...just believe me.,"

"Alright...uh, well continue..I'm listening..," what else could she mean? If not Danielle then...then who? And why?!

"Thomas... ," She whispers the name so softly that I almost don't believe my ears. "He...he's crooked as they come. He's been lying this whole time! He knew about me and Danielle. He knew where we had Cherie and....he knew that Jimmy wasn't dead."

I grip my hair as my head falls into my hands. Rocking my head back and forth, I try to process what she says as fast as I can, but she just keeps spitting out all of this information! My mind is overloaded! How the hell- What the fuck!

"He lied about the whole thing all this time! Jimmy never showed up at a hospital, he never died! He still...he still kept in contact with Paul and..and I didn't think it was too important to tell, but then when I confronted Danielle and all the stuff came on the news about Cherie suddenly dying in a car accident...I...I was apart of it. I wanted to get out of here!,"

"You...Mary, What did you do!!?," I cant believe this crock of shit! How demented can these people be? How obsessed!?

"Roger- please!," She hisses through gritted teeth as she raises her eyebrows and gestures towards our surrounding. "Lower your voice or we'll be separated before you her all the fact,"

I shut my mouth, my jaw tensing as I swallow all the words I want to spew at her. She licks her lips quickly, closing her eye as she explains the next part of this twisted mess.

"When I confronted Danielle- damning her for leaving me behind and not helping my case...she said it was Thomas who was helping her get out of prison. She said he had another mission for her...," Her eyes open to mine- I see them with a cloud of regret but I had no sympathy in any part of me.

"She...She said the whole reason she contacted me in the first place..was because Jimmy told her to. And the reason Jimmy knew of me...was because of Paul.," She shakes her head rapidly, slipping her fingers over her mouth to hold her tears in.

"Paul is the reason for all of this. He's the mastermind, running everything from his damned prison cell! And with the help of jimmy on the outside, everything has gone according to their plan!,"

"W-What do you mean? I don't understand why you're just now saying this! What does this have to do with now?," She gives me a firm stare, a signal for me to stop talking again and let her connect the dots.

"I just know that t...I know that the cop is still around, right? Acting as an innocent professional- b-but, there's something else going on- a new plan and I don't exactly know what it is...but, I do know that Danielle never seen much of the life on the outside...and that's what I really wanted to tell you...," She bites down so hard on her lip, I can see the fullness form a bit on her thin bottom lip. She seems to be internally struggling.

"Rog...Cherie's not...," She closes her eyes again, pursing her lips and whistling out a deep breath. "Cherie's Alive- Danielle is dead...,"