Lafayette, John and Alex all sat in the cafeteria together at their usual table, John plaiting Alex's hair delicately. Alex watched Lafayette carefully, picking at his food lazily. It had been 4 days now and nobody had heard any news of Hercules' condition. Lafayette started as a nervous wreck, but now he was starting to fall apart. He barely spoke more than one sentence each day, always sluggish in everything he did. Nobody wanted to be here right now, it was one of those days.

That all changed when a small shout was heard from the front of the cafeteria. Heads whipped around and jaws dropped.
"What is it?" Alex muttered, swivelling around quickly.
"Hercules?" Lafayette muttered hopefully.
"Is Conway out of the slots?" John piped up nervously, letting Alex's hair slip from his fingers.

Samuel Seabury stepped into the cafeteria dressed in the blue and white prisoner's attire, dark circles under his eyes and an angry frown plastered across his face. The inmates gasped with shock in chorus.
"SAM!" A voice yelped from the back of the cafeteria. Charles Lee leaped out of his seat and sprinted towards him, capturing him in a tight hug.

The rest of the inmates watched on in complete and utter confusion.
"What the fuck is going on?" Alex finally voiced. Sam snapped to face the boys, his expression grim as Charles still held him lovingly. Charles leaned back and took Seabury's hands in his, but Seabury pulled him forward, leaving a light kiss on his cheek. He whispered something in Charles' ear that made him blush like mad before making his way over to Laf, Alex and John.

"What are you doing here? In that?" John asked, motioning towards Seabury's clothes.
"Jefferson framed me for distributing drugs among inmates, even went to the extent of slipping weed in my tea so I came up positive on the drug test," Seabury growled, his fists clenching tight.
"Why the hell did he do that? You're the best officer at this prison." Alex exclaimed, leaning forward.
"Exactly." Seabury sighed. "John," he muttered turning towards him and pausing for a moment, pressing his lips together in a thin line. "I received a call from Jefferson while I was working a night shift on Levi's cell."

Everyone's eyes widened nervously and Seabury squeezed his eyes shut.
"He demanded that Levi be released and given my key card so he had access to the entire prison." Seabury spoke quickly, fidgeting nervously. "That includes your cell."
John's head slammed against the table, causing everyone is a 10 metre radius to jump with shock.
"John?" Alex exclaimed worriedly, grabbing his shoulders. He had passed out.

John quickly sat up again, swaying a little and holding his head in his hands, Alex steadying him.
"Wh-what's going on?" He mumbled his eyes darting around nervously. Seabury opened his mouth to speak but Alex beat him to it.
"I'll tell him later, ignore him, so you disobeyed Jefferson?" Alex confirmed, raising a brow at Seabury.
"Yes. I couldn't let Levi loo-" Seabury began to speak before he was cut off by Alex wrapping him in a tight hug.

"Thank you," he whispered into Seabury's shirt before slowly pulling away. Seabury smiled warmly but it soon fell.
"Jefferson is formulating some kind of plan, now that he's got me out of the way and Conway in here to control," he explained anxiously.
"Let's discuss this later," Alex replied shortly. "Uh, before you go, did you get any news on Hercules before you were removed from the staff?"

"Oh, he's fine," Seabury smiled. "That's the one thing Jefferson can do right, he's made sure Hercules is as safe and healthy as possible,"
"He what." Lafayette cut in, standing from his seat slowly. "Je suis très tellement rempli," He hissed, muttering a string of colourful french words before storming out of the cafeteria.

"Is he okay?" Seabury asked cluelessly once Lafayette had left. Alex and John both shook their heads 'no' with a sigh.

---

Lafayette slammed James into the wall angrily and James yelped, squeezing his eyes shut and groaning.
"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about!" James gasped, tears in his eyes.
"Of course you do! You're Jefferson's little bitch he tells you everything!" Lafayette roared, leaning in closer to James.
"NO!" James screamed, shoving his palms against Lafayette's chest in an attempt to push him off. "This is exactly why I broke up with that asshole!" James retaliated.

Lafayette dropped James and he stumbled a little when he hit the floor, rubbing his neck.
"When was this?" Lafayette hissed, throwing his hands on his hips.
"Right after Conway was sent in to beat you guys up! He's taking this too far and getting innocent people hurt, and I am so done with shit like this happening!" James yelled angrily, flailing his hands wildly. "W-where people just see me as an object! As 'Jefferson's boy toy'! I'm more than that! I'm my own person, p-people can't just use me to get to Thomas, or blackmail him or whatever," James let a tear slip now.

Lafayette felt guilt pool in his stomach and he sighed, swivelling around with his back to James. He shook his head and began pacing, mumbling to himself under his breath.
"Lafayette," James spoke up quietly. Laf looked up at him and they stared at each other for a moment. Suddenly Laf jumped backwards and began shaking his head in horror. He saw Hercules standing in James' place, James' concerned expression painted across his features.

"Non non," Lafayette muttered, shaking his head and closing his eyes. Something clicked in James' mind and he advanced forward, wiping his own tears away and grabbing Lafayette's arm.
"I know what you're thinking," he muttered. "And I don't like it either," he added, gazing up at Lafayette.
"I am going to rip his spine out of his mouth and shove it up his asshole." Lafayette growled, clenching his fists. James stepped back with wide eyes, his hands shaking.

"Sweet jesus that's a bit-" James began before Lafayette shot him a deathly glare. James squeaked and shut his mouth, biting the inside of his cheek.
"Fils de pute," Lafayette finished before he stormed out of the gardening shed.

---

Jefferson removed Hercules' lunch tray off his bed for him and placed it on his bed side table, taking a seat at the end of his bed.
"When can I see Laf?" Hercules mumbled sadly, leaning back into his pillows.
"When the hospital discharges you and you can return to prison," Jefferson responded calmly.
"Alex got to visit John in hospital," Hercules protested persistently.
"Alex and John were breaking the law," Jefferson shot back with a sigh.
"We both know I don't have a problem with that." Hercules dead-panned. He rolled his eyes and shifted his gaze out the window.

"When can I go back then? Alex got shot and he was back in no time," he questioned quietly, crossing his arms.
"When the hospital discharges you Hercules." Jefferson groaned, lying, as if this was the 100th time he was saying this. The hospital had given Hercules permission to be transferred into the King's medical ward 2 days ago, but Jefferson wasn't ready, not yet. Hercules noticed his annoyed tone and glanced up at him.

"Sorry, I just... miss him," Hercules finished. Jefferson felt a pang in his heart and he stood up off the bed, walking closer to Herc.
"I know how that feels all too well," Jefferson mumbled, crossing his arms and following Herc's previous gaze out the window.

"I wish I could remember-" Hercules began before Jefferson cut him off sharply.
"No you don't." He shot, looking down at Hercules. "You really, don't."
Hercules shut up and closed his eyes in defeat, shooting them wide open again when a strong pair of arms wrapped around him. He didn't hug back, he was honestly kind of weirded out as to why Jefferson was so concerned about his recovery.
"I'll leave you to rest," Jefferson sighed as he released him. Hercules nodded with a small smile.
"Say hi to Laf for me, and John and Alex," Hercules grinned as Jefferson made his way out. He nodded, turning around at the door.
"Feel better soon, James," Thomas finished, turning to leave.

"What did you just call me?" Hercules called out, shooting upright in his bed.
"What do you mean 'what did you just call me'? I said feel better soon Hercules," Jefferson replied quizzically, shooting him an odd glance.

"No... you said James." Hercules muttered, tilting his head a little. Jefferson's cheeks blew up with a strong blush and his expression fell to one of frustration.
"I said Hercules, now good bye." He spat, storming out of the room.