She'd moved out of Little Russia and into her own apartment—far away from anyone she would know. The bad part about it was that she didn't know anyone. Not a single soul. Day in and day out she walked up three flights of stairs to her apartment and then down. Up and down she went every single day, to the bakery and then to her apartment. Sometimes to the bank. It wouldn't be so bad if her damn back wasn't so bad.

The apartment wasn't that bad. Better than prison. One bedroom, decent sized living room. Everything was white. But she could handle that. As long as she could cook. She could sit in her kitchen there or in the bakery and work her wonders. Sure, the bakery wasn't food-food, more pastries and cakes, but she could handle that. Shit, she was overjoyed that they even gave her a job.

Red had gone through a community action program that helped out felons; with apartments, jobs, getting back to normal life. She'd let her pride down and asked for help—she knew it would be one of the only ways she'd get hired and back on her feet.

But lately, she'd been lonely. At Litchfield she had people to talk to—she'd even give anything to talk to the guards.

Lately she'd been sitting in her chair night after night with the television on or just staring out the window. It didn't excite her any, but she had no time to find a bookstore and find new books.

She was almost asleep when she heard a small child screaming. Motherly instinct kicked in—she jumped up and ran to her door, a sharp pain shot through her back, but there was something about that scream.

"Natalya! Poluchit' svoyu zadnitsu zdes'!" A harsh voice rang out the door across the hall.

Red looked through the peephole before cracking the door open a few inches. The young woman across the hall, with her black hair tied up on top of her head, stood in the middle of the hall, looking toward the staircase. She had a phone tucked between her shoulder and ear, the cord stretching into the apartment.

Once she noticed Red staring at her, she stared back, her face now pale and apologetic. She mouthed 'I'm sorry' before whispering something into the phone. Seconds later she'd hung up the phone and took off down the hall, chasing after the screaming toddler.

"Natalya, vedite sebya!" The young woman practically drug her down the hall. Red's heart stung, she missed her babies. Her son had only brought her grandson around twice since she moved in.

The toddler with the black hair and rosy cheeks screamed like someone threatened to take her puppy away.

Before the young woman could even get back into the apartment, the phone started to ring again.

"Vot, vot , teper' , utikhomirit' malysha," Red walked out into the hallway, her heart racing, unsure of what she was going to do with this stranger's child. She bent down on her knee and rubbed the tears from the little girl's face. "Voz'mite bol'shoy glubokiy vdokh."

She tried to calm her down, the sobs turned to whimpers and then to shaky breaths. The young woman gave her an exasperated sigh and then ran into the apartment, keeping the door open with the tip of her shoe.

The little girl's lower lip trembled and her big blue eyes welled up with tears. She wrapped her arms around Red's neck and clung onto her for dear life.

"Tsss, eto normal'no," she shushed the girl and patted her back. The young woman shifted her head into the apartment.

"Come in," her voice was heavy with a Russian accent, maybe not Russian, but Red was having a hard time distinguishing it from that or the Ukraine. She immediately went back to running her mouth on the phone.

The young girl was still clutched to her neck, Red knew she'd have a hard time lifting her, but she held her breath and stood up quickly. There was a pop in her back, but it was the good kind—thank God.

"Are you going to stop those tears now?" She jiggled the girl on her hip, wiping another tear from her cheek. "Hmm? No more tears?"

She nodded before lying her head on Red's shoulder.

Her heart fluttered—this was what she missed. Being a mother. On top of that she was cooking. Life was almost normal now.