Arriving at Toni's door, she tapped on it with her foot, and seconds later it was opened by her tall, dark-haired friend, dressed as she always was, in clothes that were worn, faded and two sizes too large. Stepping aside, Toni allowed Krista to enter.

"Hi, Toni," Kris said, leaning over to kiss the woman on the cheek, and even though Toni backed away, Kris followed until her lips softly grazed Toni's face. "How you doing?"

"I'm okay," she said, her voice still as dull and lifeless as it had been since the day Krista drove her away from the holding facility.

As Toni aimlessly headed back to the lounge, Kris went to the kitchen to put away the groceries. Emptying her meager purchases into the cupboard, she quickly stashed the new items behind the old and opened the refrigerator. Noticing that it only contained beer, water and one bottle of vodka, she called out, "Did you eat tonight?"

Not hearing a response, Kris checked to make sure there was more beer in the crate on the floor and then walked into the lounge to check on Toni. Finding her sitting on the sofa, looking through a stack of papers, Kris repeated, "Toni, did you eat tonight."

"I had a sandwich delivered," Toni said, without looking up.

Aware that the woman could easily go without food for more than just one day, Kris glanced at the door. There were three restaurants in the area that delivered and long ago, Kris had made arrangements with all of them. Explaining that her friend was a shut-in, she instructed them to knock four times and Toni would slide a brown envelope containing payment under the door. Once they received their money, the food was left in the hallway, and Toni would retrieve it, but only after she watched from her window to make sure they had left. Noticing the money envelope, along with a take-away menu sitting near the door, Kris breathed easier. At least she was eating.

"I checked the beer. You have about a dozen bottles left so I'll bring you over a new crate early next week. Okay?"

"I only drink one a night. You don't have to make a special trip."

"I don't mind," Kris said, sitting on the arm of the sofa. "Toni, I was thinking...maybe we could go out and see about getting you some new clothes."

"I don't need anything new. These are fine."

"Well, they are getting a bit worn, don't you think?"

Raising her eyes to glare at the woman, Toni said, "I don't need anything new, Krista. We've gone through this before."

The room went silent, and chewing on her lip for a moment, Kris said, "Hey, I have an idea. Antonio's is right down the street. How about I order a pizza, and we have dinner together. Like old times. I'll even buy a bottle of wine. How's that?"

"I told you, I already had a sandwich."

"Oh, right," Kris said. Noticing the pile of papers on the coffee table, she said, "It looks like you have a busy weekend planned."

"Yeah. I have essays from two classes to grade. I need to hand them back on Monday."

Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Kris tried to think of something else to say. Years before, they could spend hours talking about a recent bestseller, a new shop or people making headlines, but that was no longer the case. The books scattered around were old and used, and although popular in their day, Krista hadn't read any of them in years. Toni refused to have a television or radio in the apartment, and whenever Krista brought over a magazine or a newspaper, it left when she did. The world held no interest for Toni any longer, and she showed no curiosity over technology or the latest novel to hit the stands. The classics were safe, providing a warm cocoon where she could hide amongst the words she had read a hundred times before, allowing her to forget, if only for a moment, the ugliness that lay beyond the door to her flat.

Knowing that their limited conversation had come to an end, Kris reached out and touched Toni's sleeve, the simple action causing the woman to jerk away. Refusing to allow her sadness to show, Kris said softly, "I know I say this every week, but if you ever need anything, if you ever just want to talk...I'm here for you."

"I know you are," Toni whispered.

Looking into Toni's dark brown eyes, Krista felt her emotions begin to rise to the surface, remembering a time when those eyes, now dismal and empty, once sparkled with life, love and mischief.

"I love you, Toni," Kris said as she walked to the door, needing to leave before she broke down like she always did. "Please call me if you need anything...anything at all."

A few moments later, Toni murmured, "See ya, Krista."

She hadn't noticed that her friend had already left.

With Duane out of town visiting his parents, Laura spent most of the weekend going through paperwork and getting a grasp on the monthly reports, so by the time she returned to work on Monday, she was raring to go. Even though there seemed to be a mountain of forms and requirements to adhere to, she quickly came up with a schedule that would allow her ample time every month to monitor the teachers, submit her reports and bring a few of her own ideas to Calloway House.

On Wednesday morning, as Laura sat in her office drinking her third cup of coffee, John appeared in the doorway. "Good morning."

"Hiya, John."

"Do you have a few minutes?"

"Sure, what's up?" Laura said, putting aside her paperwork.

"I thought it was time that you meet Toni."

Instantly grinning, Laura popped out of her chair, and quickly followed John out of the room and up the stairs.

Pausing once they got to Toni's classroom, John said, "Laura, don't expect too much, all right? I mean, I doubt that she'll say more than a few words, if that."

Laura was nervous, and she didn't know why. The woman she was about to meet technically worked for her, so taking a deep breath, she straightened her suit jacket. "I understand, John. It'll be fine."

"Good."

Hearing the hushed voices in the hallway, Toni recognized one as John Canfield's and immediately knew that she was about to meet the new head of her department. Sighing, she took a few deep breaths to steady her nerves. She hated this...this requirement of life that she couldn't avoid. Meeting people, strangers until they weren't, but they were all strangers to her. She didn't trust them. She couldn't trust them. They would hurt her. Maybe not with a fist or a foot or a belt, but somehow, in some way, they would hurt her.

Entering the room, Laura saw her sitting at the desk, and while most people would have looked up to acknowledge their visitors, Toni Vaughn did not. Several moments passed and Laura began to feel awkward, unsure as to why John hadn't said anything and the woman behind the desk hadn't moved an inch. Biting her lip, Laura began to take another step forward when John reached out and touched her arm. Shaking his head, he whispered, "Wait."

Another minute passed before Laura heard the screech of the wooden chair across the tile floor, and she watched as the apprehensive woman stood and took a few hesitant steps toward them.

Since their discussion the week before, Laura had built an image of this woman in her mind. She believed that Toni Vaughn would appear hard and much older than her age, downtrodden by her time in prison and the brutalities inflicted upon her, but Laura couldn't have been more wrong.

Appearing to be nearly six feet in height, with short black hair that had a style all its own, Toni Vaughn was an attractive woman. Although gaunt, her features were striking and natural. Her jaw was strong and her nose narrow, and while dark circles appeared under her eyes, they couldn't offset the whole. Even though John had explained that the years behind bars had taken their toll on her psyche, as far as Laura could tell, they had done little to affect Antoinette Vaughn's beauty.

"Toni, I'd like to introduce you to our new Education Administrator, Laura MacLeod."

Laura watched as the woman dipped her head a millimeter, but continued to stare at the floor.

"Laura, this is Toni Vaughn, one of our most popular teachers."

Extending her hand, Laura smiled. "Nice to meet you, Toni."

Taking a quick step backward, Toni shoved her hands in her pockets. Refusing to look in Laura's direction, instead she raised her eyes to glare at John. Abruptly turning her back on both of them, she walked to the window and stared out the glass, desperately trying to hold it together. They needed to leave. They needed to leave now.

With a frown, John motioned toward the corridor, and they left the room without saying a word. As soon as John closed the door to Toni's classroom, Laura asked, "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "But I did."

"What do you mean?"

"I forgot to tell you. Toni doesn't like to be touched."

Chapter Three.

Four weeks later, Laura MacLeod couldn't have been happier about her decision to work at Calloway House. Except for those taught by Toni Vaughn, she had managed to monitor every class and found herself duly impressed by the patience, intelligence and fortitude of her staff.

Seeing Susan Grant heading outside for a smoke, Laura grabbed her coat and followed her out the rear exit of the building.

"Hard day?" Laura asked as she sat down next to Susan on the step.

Chuckling softly, Susan said, "I've got one woman who can't grasp addition sitting next to another who could do calculus in her sleep. You tell me."

Laura knew all too well that while all the residents at Calloway had spent time in prison, that's where their similarities ended. A melting pot of ethnic backgrounds, incomes, educations, religions and mental aptitudes, they presented the teaching staff with a smorgasbord of challenges.

"Sounds difficult," Laura said.

"You think?"

"What can I do?"

"Oh, Laura, there's nothing you can do. There aren't enough hours in the day to have classes for each level, at least not until John can scrounge up enough funding to hire a few more teachers. Until then, we just have to muddle through."

"And make sure you don't run out of cigarettes," Laura said, watching as Susan lit her second.

"Yeah, that too," Susan said with a laugh. "So, how about you? How are you doing?"

"Well, the paperwork was a little overwhelming at first, but I'm getting the hang of it."

"I heard that John introduced you to Toni," Susan said, taking another drag of her smoke.

"Yeah, last month."

"What do you think of her?"

Tilting her head, Laura asked, "Are you asking me about her teaching abilities or about her?"

"If you ask any of one of those women inside as to whom their favorite teacher is, Toni would win hands down. We all know that. I'm talking about the woman, not the teacher."

Thinking for a moment, Laura shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know what to say. When we met, she didn't say a word, and then I tried to shake her hand-"

"Didn't John tell you that she doesn't-"

"He forgot."

"Ouch."

"Yeah," Laura said with a sigh.

"You know, every time I see her, she just seems so lost, so hurt. It's almost painful-"

"Wait," Laura said. "I've been here over five weeks and the only time I've seen her was when I was in her classroom."

Holding up her pack of smokes, Susan said, "I occasionally bump into her out here."

"Does she talk to you?"

"No," Susan said, shaking her head. "On second thought, there've been a few hellos over the past two years, but nothing more than that. Honestly, Laura, I think she's terrified of everything and everyone. Absolutely, positively terrified."

"Bastards," Laura said under her breath.

"You got that right."

"You know about...about what happened to her?"

"Given her background, John wasn't sure about her...um...her stability, so he pulled us all aside one day and told us about what she had gone through. Of course, he didn't go into details, and seeing the way she is, I honestly don't think I wanted to hear any."

"She just seems so fragile," Laura said.

"At first, I tried to help her," Susan said, taking a drag of her cigarette. "I mean, she must have been put through hell to end up like that, and I thought the least I could do was to try to become her friend. So, I'd stop by her classroom to chat, and I even invited her to the pub a few times, but she always refused, and eventually I stopped trying. There are a lot of wounded people in this world, including many of our students, so I decided to stop trying to help someone who obviously didn't want my help, and moved on to others who did."

Hearing the bell signaling the start of the last class of the day, they both walked back inside. Going their separate ways, Susan climbed the stairs and Laura headed to her office, but when she saw John at the end of the hall, she called out to get his attention. Jogging down the corridor to catch up to her long-legged boss, she said, "I just wanted to remind you that I'm going to need those reports for Toni Vaughn's classes. They're due next week."

"Which ones do I owe you?"

"Remedial reading and the university-level creative writing course."

Quickly stepping into his office, he returned with a file. "This is the one for the writing course, and I'll get you the other one early next week. Will that work?"

"Absolutely," she said, taking the file. "Have a good weekend."

"You, too."

Returning to her office, Laura glanced at her watch and then at her desk. Grinning, she gathered her belongings, filled her attache with work she could do from home, shut off the light and left. For the first time in weeks, she would get home before the sun went down.

Irene looked up when she heard the sound of heels tapping down the hallway. As Laura came into view, dismissing the usual morning greetings, Irene said, "Silly man should have known better than to try to trim the tree himself."

"I think that falls under the heading of hindsight," Laura said, glancing at the mail piled on Irene's desk. "I hope you know I'm going to be depending on you a lot in the coming weeks."

"Of course. I'll do whatever I can. Have you come up with a plan of attack?"

"Well, I'll need to see his calendar, and then we can start rearranging some appointments."

"I know which ones are the most important, so let me get his diary, and I'll make some notes. That way, we'll know who to cancel and who to coddle," Irene said with a smirk, knowing all too well the politics that went along with funding.