Lauren shifted her weight around while Camila struggled to come up with words. She glanced at the beer in her hand and took a sip, sighing at the familiar taste.

"God I missed alcohol. Prison hooch just isn't the same."

"Lauren- what..." Camila spluttered before shaking her head. "Did you break out of prison?"

Lauren laughed at that, snorting slightly before stepping closer.

"You think I'd break out and come straight to your door? I'm flattered. But no." Lauren smirked and glanced into the apartment behind Camila, nodding a hello to Ally. "Can I come in?"

"You- I- but-" Camila stopped and took a deep breath, snatching her beer back. "Sure." She stepped aside and let Lauren stroll into the room, gulping down her beer until only a few mouthfuls remained.

"Slow down Mila." Ally placed her beer on the kitchen counter and grabbed her jacket. "I'll be back in the morning. Try not to fuck her." She said lowly as she passed Camila with a grin.

Camila choked on the beer before quickly swallowing it, casting a glance over at Lauren as the door swung shut.

"Feels weird being here again." Lauren said, tucking her hands into her pants pockets. Camila suddenly realised that Lauren was in a suit, the same suit she's arrested her in. The same suit a few X-rated dreams had featured.

"Why are you here- no actually how are you here?" Camila asked, leaning against her kitchen counter with a sigh. Lauren, in turn, leaned on the counter across from her, having stolen Ally's barely touched beer.

"I made a deal with the Warden." Lauren started. "If I got him crippling information on Eilish's trading system, he'd get my case overturned. The prison cares more about what goes on inside than whatever damage I could do out here."

Camila scoffed at that, finished her beer and promptly pulled out a bottle of rum.

"Do go on." She muttered, struggling to open the bottle.

Lauren shook her head, placed her beer down and moved to stand next to Camila. She gently took the bottle from Camila's hand and opened it. Camila swallowed and opened a cupboard, grabbing a glass before holding it out to Lauren. She carefully poured the rum into the glass, her eyes barely leaving Camila's.

"I got the info and the Warden convinced the court to overturn my case and let me out early. They would've put up a bigger fight had the initial charge been less... frivolous." Lauren explained quietly.

Camila bristled and sipped her rum.

"Excuse you, I worked hard to get that to stick." Camila shot back. Lauren laughed softly and shook her head.

"I know. Doesn't change the fact it was easy to overturn." Lauren muttered, her eyes roaming over Camila's figure. "Besides, I agreed to still do my community service, so they don't give a damn."

Camila held out her glass and Lauren poured again. She tugged at her tie and let it hang looser around her neck.

"When'd you make this deal?" Camila whispered.

"Around my halfway point." Lauren replied, moving Camila's glass from her hand to the counter, their fingers brushing against one another. Camila felt her breath catch quietly.

"Took a while for it to come through then." Camila said, her voice hoarse as Lauren shifted closer, her fingers sliding up Camila's arm.

"Things got set back when I got stabbed." Lauren replied with a wince.

Camila didn't realise she'd moved until she felt Lauren flinch under her touch; her fingertips resting gently over Lauren's side, feeling a padded bandage stuck under her shirt.

Lauren swallowed and licked her lips, watching the furrow of Camila's brow as she stared down at the wound, trying to see through Lauren's shirt to where the injury lay.

Lauren's hand had continued it's path up Camila's arm and now cupped her neck, her thumb brushing over Camila's pulse point softly.

"And so you decided to come here?" Camila said, dragging her eyes back up to Lauren's. She nodded, her head tilting down slightly, their noses brushing softly.

"Where else would I go?"

Camila had stopped breathing the second she felt Lauren's breath on her lips. She moved her hand down to rest on Lauren's hip before she accidentally grasped at her injury.

Her eyes had just slipped shut when there was a knock at her door.

Camila felt the frustration in the sigh that Lauren let out.

She stepped back and took a shaky breath before answering the door.

"Rosa, what can I do for you?" Camila said, forcing a bright smile onto her face.

"Wanted to see if you could go over some case files with me, just needed some fresh eyes on this case. Jake's going crazy over it."

Camila glanced back over her shoulder and bit her lip.

"I can't tonight, but if I'm free tomorrow we can?" Camila suggested with an apologetic smile. Rosa nodded and said her goodbyes before heading into her apartment. Camila closed the door and leaned against it.

"Didn't know Diaz lived across from you." Lauren said, appearing in front of her.

"You... should go see your family." Camila breathed out. Lauren stepped closer with a smirk.

"Gonna do something you shouldn't Camz?" Lauren asked innocently. Camila rolled her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Something I'd rather not do drunk again." Camila replied sweetly.

That threw Lauren off her game, making her lips part and her eyes drift down to Camila's lips.

"Right... so, um, I'll be going then. So you can sober up. For the next time we meet." Lauren rambled as Camila opened the door.

She grabbed onto Lauren's wrist and pressed a slow kiss to her cheek.

"See you Jauregui."

Lauren stared dumbly at the now closed door for longer than she cared to admit before heading for the elevator.

----

When Lauren dialed Normani's number and asked for a ride, she'd almost been deafened by the squealing on the other side of the phone.

Lauren was bundled into the SUV about twenty minutes later, her two best friends too busy being excited to notice just where they'd picked her up from.

"Holy shit why didn't you tell us you were getting out early?" Dinah yelled, punching Lauren in the arm as Normani pulled away from the curb.

"Ow! Because it had to be done quietly. Not that it mattered in the end since Eilish jumped to conclusions and stabbed me anyway." Lauren huffed.

"Woah, stabbed? Is that why we lost contact for a month and a half?" Normani screeched. Lauren winced before nodding.

"Eilish cut me off from the outside world, grabbed my phone and then put me in medical for a while." Lauren grumbled.

"You want your apartment or the family one?"

"Mine please Mani. I'll go see my family tomorrow. I just wanna sleep in my own bed right now." Lauren sighed, leaning her head back against the headrest.

----

Lauren was awoken by a loud banging on her front door. She stumbled over to it, not bothering to check who was there before opening it.

"Laur!"

She fell backwards into the apartment as Taylor squealed and launched herself at Lauren. Lauren blinked the sleep from her eyes and saw her mum, Chris and Valentina standing at the door.

"Come in then." Lauren said, patting Taylor on the head before extricating herself. Her mother placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and Chris rolled his eyes with a grin.

"I was about to come and visit you Ms. Jauregui." Valentina said with a smile. Lauren ushered her in before closing her door.

"How come?"

"Business I'm afraid." Valentina glanced back into the living room where the Jauregui's had congregated. "It can wait until later."

"Important?"

"It's just... you mother, she's insisting you get a bodyguard." Valentina said quietly. Lauren pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I assume you told her D and Mani could handle it?" Lauren sighed. Valentina nodded.

"She was rather insistent. I was on my way to tell you I'd be sending my best to work with you. She doesn't mind getting her hands dirty and is unaffiliated with my company." Valentina said quickly with a smile.

"What's her name? So I don't accidentally attack her or lock her out the building." Lauren grinned.

"Madison. She'll find you later today." Valentina replied, nodding her head before shaking Lauren's hand. "Congrats on the early release."

"Thanks. See you around Valentina."

"Call me if there's any problems." Valentina called over her shoulder as she left the apartment.

Lauren finally wandered into her living room and was promptly bombarded by her family. It took some time but she managed to give them all the details on her plan; none of them were too keen on being left in the dark about such a major plan.

"You could've died." Her mum said quietly. Lauren quickly moved to her side and grasped her hand.

"I'm alright mum. I'm not going anywhere. Not again."

"Do I still have to work with Healy? Dude gives me the creeps." Chris shuddered. Lauren looked at him, thinking it over carefully.

"Honestly it's up to you. It might be better in the long run if you stayed." Lauren shrugged and Chris groaned loudly. "Look, I'm planning on taking him down soon so hopefully it won't be much longer."

"But-"

"Laur's right. If you jump ship now it'll look shady as hell." Dinah interrupted with a grimace. Chris threw an arm over his eyes as he leaned back on the sofa.

"How come home last night?" Taylor asked. Lauren felt herself freeze, with what was no doubt a guilty expression on her face.

"I missed my own bed?"

"Convincing." Normani muttered. "Wanna try again?"

"I did! I wanted my own bed and my apartment." Lauren said, folding her arms with a pout.

"Sweetie you spend more time at our place than here." Her mum said carefully.

"Let's just say prison has made me appreciate my own space a little better." Lauren grumbled. The room fell into an awkward silence. "My God if this what it's going to be like everytime I mention prison I'm just gonna become a hermit."

----

On the other side of Brooklyn, Camila was freaking out.

She'd barely walked into the office when Ally was standing in front of her desk with a smug grin on her face.

"What's happening?" Becky said, watching the two have a strange standoff.

"Camila had company last night." Ally said gleefully. Camila rolled her eyes and tried to pretend like her heart wasn't trying to jack hammer its way out of her chest.

"Ally..."

"Ooh someone's got a ... partner." Becky teased.

"Not just any partner." Ally said slowly. "A Jauregui."

"For the love of God tell me it's the brother and not the minor." Blackbear muttered as he walked past, a cup of coffee in his hand and a newspaper tucked his arm.

"It's the crime lord herself." Ally cackled. Blackbear paused and looked at Camila with his eyebrow raised.

"Conjugal prison visits happen at night now?"

"She got out yesterday afternoon." Camila mumbled. Blackbear nodded before disappearing into his office. Seconds later his head popped out again.

"Make sure she never hates you."

His door slammed shut with an echoing bang. Camila closed her eyes slowly and let out a deep sigh.

"Oh come on Mila, don't act like you haven't been catching feelings for the past six months." Ally scoffed, poking Camila in the shoulder teasingly.

"I have not." Camila said quietly.

"Riiight. So what time she leave this morning?"

"She left last night. About twenty minutes after you did." Camila replied curtly. Ally hummed and glanced between Becky and Camila.

"And nothing happened?"

"Nope." Camila smiled up at Ally, an edge to her lips, daring Ally to continue. Ally ignored the warning.

"So you and Jauregui have never done anything?"

Camila took a deep breath and willed herself to not get lost in her memories. Memories that had been awfully present since last night. Apparently she took a second too long to reply, and Ally gasped.

"Holy fuck! You two have!"

"No. No we haven't." Camila shot back, quickly moving around Ally to the coffee machine, carefully keeping her back to the room.

"Oh my fucking God you have!" Ally screeched just before the phone started ringing. She muttered curses under her breath before she picked up.

Camila used this time to make sure the blush was gone from her cheeks and her heart stopped pounding. She finally turned around when she heard Ally hang up.

"Anything important?" Camila asked, sipping on her coffee.

"More important than you telling me when exactly you fucked Lauren Jauregui?" Ally said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Haven't fucked her." Camila muttered.

"Didn't know there had to be a distinction." Ally shot back. "Well you can tell me while we're on the stakeout."

Camila groaned and her eyes slipped shut.

"Fuck."

"Forget about that?" Ally said smugly. Camila flipped her off and downed her coffee.

"Healy?"

"Yep. He's up to something soon and Taylor told us that Lauren would be on his case the second she got out." Ally said with a nod.

"We're taking my car." Camila said, grabbing her keys from her desk. "You grab the gear."

"You're not getting out of this conversation Mila."

Camila groaned and slammed the door closed behind her. She frowned at her car before a smile spread across her face.

Apparently everything reminded her of Lauren today.

----

Once the two of them had settled across the street from Healy's office, Ally rounded on Camila.

"Come on, tell me what happened."

"Well last night-"

"No." Ally interrupted. Camila's eye twitched. "I mean the night something happened between you two."

Camila let out a deep sigh and peered through her binoculars into Healy's office.

"Remember that night we busted Jauregui Senior?" Camila mumbled. Ally hummed and nodded her head before gasping.

"She's who you dipped with? Damn."

"I just walked her home." Camila huffed. Ally snickered.

"I vividly remember hickies."

"Fine. I walked her home and maybe we made out for a while." Camila admitted quietly. Ally squealed before joining Camila by the window.

"And you still arrested her?"

"It was my job." Camila huffed. "And I hated her back then."

"Not enough to say no."

"Or enough to stay away apparently." Camila mumbled. "Nothing happened last night because Diaz came knocking on my door."

"So if she hadn't...?"

"Then something probably would've happened." Camila sighed. "I need you to go across there and get into his office."

"Wha- why me?" Ally said with a frown.

"Because if this guy's out to get Lauren there's a strong chance he knows who I am." Camila reasoned. Ally grumbled but grabbed her jacket anyway.

"Fine. I want details when I get back."

----

Camila had taken to scrolling her phone while Ally worked her way into the building. She was just stalking her ex on Instagram when Ally burst into the room.

"Woah, where's the fire?" Camila joked as Ally scrambled for Camila's jacket and pulling her phone out. "Uh that's my phone."

"And I don't have Mani's number yet." Ally mumbled.

"Mani, Als what's going on?"

"Hey Mani, it's Ally. You need to tell Lauren something from us." Ally nodded as Normani spoke. "We've been on Healy's tail all morning, he's got something in the works that she needs to hear."

Camila's eyes widened as Ally explained the situation to Normani. She waited patiently until Ally finally hung up and tossed the phone to Camila.

"You sure about this?" Camila asked quietly. "'Cause Lauren doesn't like being fucked over, and if that guy's innocent-"

"He's not. Trust me."

----

"Mahone's trying to ditch us." Normani sighed as she tucked her phone back into her pocket.

"What?" Lauren stopped looking out of her window and turned around to face Dinah and Normani. The three of them had barely been back at the office for a half an hour before the call came.

"That was Ally, Austin's got a meeting with Healy tomorrow afternoon." Normani rubbed her fingertips along her forehead. Lauren clenched her jaw before grabbing her suit jacket off the back of her chair.

"I'll handle this.

"Laur, are you sure?" Dinah asked with a frown.

"It'll be a good way to announce my release." Lauren said with a smirk. Normani offered her keys but Lauren shook her head. "I got my car from the impound yesterday. First thing I did." Lauren grabbed her keys from her desk and grinned down at them.

It was good to be back.