Free In Litchfield - Nicky Nichols x female oc (OITNB)

Chapter Nine

The music was loud and cheerful, and almost all the women around Lacey were smiling and laughing, and looking around at the scene in front of her, Lacey actually felt content.

Lacey never thought she would think those words while being in prison, so she smiled in the corner of the common room, admiring the Christmas lights and paper snowflakes hanging from the ceiling.

"Hey Lacey," a hoarse voice said from behind her, and she felt an arm swing around her shoulders.

"Hey Nicky," she responded, glancing at the smaller women standing next to her.

"You seem happy, you like Christmas?"

"Not really. Not until I came here," Lacey said, shrugging.

Nicky looked surprised, "Why here?"

"I always just sat inside alone watching TV, all my friends had families to go to," Lacey said, chuckling dryly.

Lacey could see Nicky's eyes soften slightly, but her smile remained confidently resting on her face. "Well, at least no one can go home to their family here."

Lacey scoffed, thinking about all the people here who probably wanted nothing more than to be with their families. "That's one way to look at it."

Nicky nodded, tapping Lacey's back once before saying, "Come on, let's go get cake."

Lacey nodded, letting Nicky drag her by the hand into the party.

They sat at the table where Red stood, cutting slices of cake and placing them on plates for the inmates.

Red's face lit up when she saw them. "Merry Christmas, my girls!" She began to cut separate pieces of cake for them. "Here, you two get extra big slices," she said, her eyes full of love and affection.

Lacey's heart warmed when she looked into Red's eyes. Sure, she had Tanner who loved her, but still, the way he looked at her was nothing like the maternal way Lacey's mother used to look at her, which was just like Red.

"Thanks Mommy," Nicky said, eyeing the cake pieces greedily.

"Thanks Red," Lacey said. She knew that in the month she had known Red, the Russian woman had basically taken in Lacey as a daughter and treated her with almost the same love as Nicky, but calling Red her mom still felt wrong.

She didn't want Red to feel the pressure of dealing with all of Lacey's problems.

When Piper had asked Lacey why she never called Red her mom and Lacey said it was because she didn't think Red actually considered Lacey her daughter, Piper had said it was bullshit. Apparently she had never seen Red act so warmly towards Lacey with anyone else except for Nicky, and even then Red had taken her in so fast, she definitely wanted her to be a part of her family.

But even then, calling Red "mom" left an uncomfortable itch in Lacey's stomach.

Nicky and Lacey sat down at an empty table on the edge of the room, right where a couple of the girls were dancing and singing.

Lacey watched the girls as she ate her cake, memorizing their movements and the room so she could draw it later.

"Whatcha looking at Locke?" She heard Nicky say, snapping her fingers in front of Lacey's face.

"Trying to memorize this so I can draw it later."

Nicky stuck her lip out, pouting. "Aww, you're not going to draw me?"

Lacey rolled her eyes, "I draw you enough."

"I don't think so," Nicky said, smirking. The raise of Nicky's eyebrows and the way she leaned in slightly almost convinced Lacey she could be flirting.