"You’re serious aren’t you?" Bette stood up, a smile starting to form on her face.

"The paperwork will be through by the morning, and you’ll be a free woman"

"I…I can’t believe it. There’s no way they can go back on this is there?"

"No, I promise you babe. The deal is done and charges are being brought against Franklin. The new evidence exhonerates you. It’s over" Tina smiled, taking Bette’s hands.

"Oh my god" Bette fell into Tina’s arms, relief flooding through her body "Thank you so much babe, for everything"

"Thank you for trusting me to help you"

They stood in each others arms, each of them taking in the enormity of the moment. After several minutes Bette pulled back.

"What about Jodie?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Part of the deal was that no charges were brought against her" Tina explained.

Bette’s face began to tighten in anger "So she gets away with it?"

"It was the only way babe. Without her statement your conviction wouldn’t have been quashed"

Bette took a deep breath, determined to keep control of her anger "I…I shouldn’t even be thinking about her right now"

"It’s ok, you have a right to be angry" Tina soothed.

"I just want to get out of here and get on with my life"

"Well tomorrow you will. And you can expect a visitor as soon as they finish their shift"

"Oh really?"

"That is…well I just thought you might like some company" Tina looked at the floor shyly.

"Hey" Bette lifted the blondes chin so that their eyes met "there’s noone I’d rather spend my first night of freedom with"

Tina grinned "Right babe, I hate to do this but I need to go before someone starts asking questions. But I’ll see you tomorrow ok?"

"I love you T, you know that don’t you?"

Tina nodded "Not half as much as I love you"

Bette hardly slept a wink that night. A million thoughts were running through her head. This was her last night in this place, her last night as a criminal. Tomorrow she would be free, free to start her life again and free to be with Tina. As of tomorrow, she would no longer have a criminal record, she could move on with her life without having that on her back. But she could never forget it. Her experiences inside had changed her. Before she’d been in prison she would have looked down on someone like Shane, a person who had started out life with nothing and resorted to a string of petty crimes just to keep herself on her feet. But now she realised that Shane had committed crimes of necessity, she did what she had to to survive. When noone in life is willing to give you a chance, you have to take chances for yourself. And from meeting Nikki she had learnt that even those who were convicted of the most heinous of crimes were not necessarily bad people. And then there was Jodie. Someone who, perhaps against her better judgment, she had let into her life. Someone who had betrayed her in the worst possible way. And someone who was going to escape punishment for her crimes while she, Bette, had had to endure at least part of a prison sentence when she had been completely innocent. The ironic side of justice. And yet here she was, about to let another woman into her life. Was she moving too quickly? No, she chastised herself, Tina isn’t Jodie and you can never compare the two. Yet the pain of that betrayal still hung over her, and was still there when she got up in the morning.