There followed a slow and strange change of Marlon's status among the women of E Deck, Shepherds and detainees alike. He had previously spoken with nearly all of the detainees who were allowed out of their rooms, and the discussions had been on the basis of woman-to-woman talk. Now those same women recognised that as well as being sympathetic to them, Marlon also had a valuable extra viewpoint which they could use in their conversations. None of them considered him any kind of threat, but a rather valuable asset to the community, and someone who could consider their problems and needs in a way none of them could.

The problem with the Shepherds was the strangest of all. He noticed that one or two of them began discussing the problems of some of the other detainees with him. At first, he just offered an honest opinion, as he would normally do, but in the end he realised what was happening, and brought a stop to it.

"I mustn't give you advice," he told the four day Shepherds who happened to all be together at the Watch desk one day. "I'm just a detainee here. I'm quite willing to give you the benefit of my opinion here, if you ask me something, but I'm not sure you should be asking me. It's bad enough with all the detainees treating me as some kind of sage, but I certainly don't think the Shepherds ought to be doing it as well."

"That's a bit of a problem," said Elena, "since you do seem to be so good at it! We wouldn't take your advice unchecked, but when we have asked you for it you've been right much more often than not. Your point is taken, though. We'll try to keep ourselves in check. Regarding the detainees, now. Do you consider your situation to be likely to cause problems with the running of the Deck?"

Marlon realised that Elena had spoken formally. "Shepherd, I think I understand what you're asking. You want to know if my actions, or indeed the actions of the other detainees, now that they know I'm male, are likely to cause an unstable, or otherwise unwanted situation on the Deck. I think, now that I know what's happening, that the answer is no. I'll make sure that it doesn't get out of hand. You always have the final say, in any case. If any Shepherd tells me to stop, I'll stop. If you think what I'm doing is helpful, and you tell me to continue, I can do that as well. Just tell me what you want, and I'll do it. That's the rules, isn't it?"

Elena nodded. "We can agree to that, I think. I, personally, think you're doing a good job up here. We were talking before about how much more pleasant the Deck seems the last few weeks. I wouldn't wonder if you were the reason for that. Even before you told them your story, you seemed to have a way of engaging them we haven't seen for a long while. I think we'll have to check the regulations on exactly what Shepherds and detainees are allowed to discuss with one another, but E Deck has always had it's own interpretation of the rules in any case. Feel free to act a a sob sister to the other detainees if you wish to."

Some weeks later Marlon found it necessary to be taken to Stores once more, as his clothes had begun to get tight on him again. Aside from the tightness at chest and hips, the sports bras were becoming very uncomfortable. The stores keeper laser-measured him, and then changed all his clothes apart from his footwear. He got wider briefs, a better-shaped dress, new nightdresses, wider shorts and a larger sized slip and running top. The stores keeper said he needed different shaped sports bras, and also issued him two pairs of standard bras.

"I don't need these... do I?" he queried.

"If you look at your measurements, you'll see that you would benefit from properly shaped support, like most in here. If you've got those puppies hanging from your chest, you need to wear the right garments to make sure they're properly supported."

Marlon looked down at his chest, and realised that what he had thought was just 'flab' had in fact turned into something different.

"Uh, I suppose you're right. Should I put one on now?"

"Yes, we'd better check the fit. It will also make a difference to your dress fitting, so I want to see you dressed properly before you go back upstairs."

Belle, who had brought him down, helped him to put the bra on, and he was immediately impressed by how well the garment supported him. His breasts weren't clamped tightly to his chest, like the way that the sports bra had made them, but gently supported and held in place. He pulled on the slip and Belle zipped up his new dress.

"How do you feel?" asked the stores keeper.

"I should never have doubted you," said Marlon. "I'm sorry. This all fits so much better now."

"You look a lot better, too," said Belle. "Look in the mirror over there."

Marlon went and stood in front of the mirror. He would not have been able to recognise the person who had arrived six months previously. The person who looked back at him was all woman. Almost all, he checked himself. At least I still have those.

"Satisfied?" asked the stores keeper. "Then off you go. Remember to push all your old stuff down the laundry chute so you don't get it all mixed up."

Belle cuffed him, and then piled all his new clothes onto his outstretched arms before leading him back upstairs. As they went, he became ever more conscious of his new, proudly displayed bustline. By the time they had arrived back at E Deck, he had begun to understand why many women considered their breasts to be such an important part of their bodies.

"Gosh, look at you!" said Martha, after he had put his new clothes away and been let out. "You look great! Is that all really you?" she asked, "It's not just padding to keep up the disguise, is it?"

"No, it's actually all me," he replied. "I'm now wearing a properly sized and fitted bra, that's all. I hadn't realised just how far things had gone."

Martha put her arm round his waist, which he now realised was still quite slender. "Now you're really one of us! You'll appreciate our problems even more. Come on, let's have a drink in the lounge. I bet you can't wait to show yourself off to everyone."

"Well actually, this has come as a bit of a surprise to me," Marlon said, "although I can't say I dislike the effect, I didn't ask for this to happen to me. I'm not sure why it has."

"Don't ask me," replied Martha, "although there have been rumours that some facilities put things in the water. I wonder if something like that has happened here. It would affect you, but not the rest of us because we already have breasts."

"Don't start making any conspiracy theories yet," cautioned Marlon, "I think I need to make a few discreet enquiries and see if I can find out what's going on. Besides, they'd hardly medicate the water for the whole facility just to fix a single male detainee, would they?"

But though he showed off his new assets to the rest of the group, to general approval and much friendly laughter, a part of his mind was working on the question of what had been done to him and why. It was a thoughtful Marlon who was locked into his room that night.

The following morning, he got up and showered as usual, but after he had blown himself dry he stood naked in front of the steel mirror and examined himself. It had taken six months or so for his body to change the way it had, and it had all happened so slowly that he hadn't realised the full implications of what was happening to him. He noticed now for the first time that his nipples were much larger, and the dark area surrounding them was much bigger, as a woman's were. His breasts were not particularly large, as such things went, but they were undeniably female breasts.

He cupped his hands under them, just the same way that he had cupped those of Anna, his dead partner, and realised just how sensitive they were, and how Anna must have felt when he cupped hers. These breasts would look good on a woman, he thought. He looked at his smooth, soft, pale face, with it's feminine, shaped hair, his narrow waist, his broad hips, his tapering legs, his smooth calves. These breasts are on a woman. I am a woman. They've turned me into a woman.

The shock of the realisation nearly drove him to his knees. Somehow he recovered, and started dressing. Breakfast would be delivered soon. With muscles that threatened to turn to jelly, he pulled on briefs, bra, slip and dress, and zipping himself up he walked back into the bathroom and looked at himself again, seeing himself in his new clothes clearly for the first time. But I am a man. This is not right. I don't deserve to have this happen to me. The shock hit him again, but this time he was unable to resist, and he folded on to the floor, curling up into a ball.

The breakfast tray thumped unheeded into the feeding station slot. Five minutes later, Belle slammed the door open and rushed into the room. Marlon was wedged half in and half out of the cubicle entrance, and this made it difficult for Belle to determine whether or not there was some kind of medical problem. Finding that he was shaking, and crying uncontrollably, she relaxed slightly, although the situation could still be serious.

Moments later Kristina joined Belle, and the two of them gently got Marlon up and onto the bed, where he sat hunched up, still weeping.

"Talk to me, dear," Belle said softly. "What's happened to you? Why are you so upset?"

Kristina went to the feeding station and retrieved the cup of tea, which she brought over to the bed.

"Marlon," she said, "drink some of this. Come on. We want to help you. You've helped so many of the others, we want to do the same for you."

He accepted a sip of the now cooling tea, and sat there shuddering, his eyes wet. Finally, he spoke, his voice barely audible.

"I don't want to be like this. They've made me into a woman. I'm not a woman, I've never been a woman. Now I'm stuck like this for ever."

Belle wrapped her arm around him. "Oh, you poor thing. It must have come as such a shock to you when you realised. Look. Come and have your breakfast, and we'll look after you today. Keep your door closed, and we'll do some research and see what we can find out for you." She looked significantly at Kristina. "Something's plainly not right here."

The two Shepherds persisted, and eventually he was helped over to the feeding station where the women made him eat at least some of his breakfast. Then Kristina left, pulling the door closed behind her, leaving Belle with him. She made him sit on the bed, and she sat close to him, so that she could put her arm around him.

"Tell me all about it," she commanded.

"I didn't realise what was happening to my body," he began, haltingly. "I just thought I'd got fat in here because I wasn't exercising like I used to. Even when we went down to stores yesterday and I was given the bras it really didn't register. It was only when I saw myself this morning after my shower that I realised what they did to my body."

"We all thought you were supposed to be a woman who changed herself into a man. That's why you got sent to a female facility, after all. Perhaps someone decided that you ought to be turned back into a woman," Belle suggested.

"They turned me into a woman, all right," Marlon said, bitterly, "but they couldn't turn me back into one, because I was never one in the first place. Now I'm just a male mind in a female body."

"I can tell that," said Belle softly, "although you've looked female for quite a while there's a certain something about the way you acted and spoke that marked you out as not being typically female. There are certain of us Shepherds who were concerned about your placement here, although you've managed to fit in well."

"What do I do?" he said, tearfully.

"Like I said, we'll do some digging and find out what's going on. Once we've done that, we'll see what action is possible," she replied. "Our job is to guide and protect our charges, and we'll do that to the best of our ability, even if it means making waves. Leave that to us. Your first job is going to be to adapt to your new circumstances, I'm afraid. As you pointed out, you've got a female body now, you're going to have to learn to live with it."

He burst into tears again. Belle used his small towel to mop his face dry. She put her finger under his chin, and tilted his face up.

"Look, being a woman all my life hasn't done me any harm. I don't say you're going to find it easy, but you're probably in the best place to do it. Everyone on E Deck will rally round you, just you watch. Besides, you're not entirely female, are you?"

"No, that's true. But I don't know if I'm sterile now or not. It depends how they did it, I suppose."

"We'll have a look at how they did it. I'm not entirely sure how we'll manage that, but there's an authorised process for those who want to do gender reassignment, so we'll start there and find out how that works."

"Why do I feel so terrible?" he asked. "I never used to fall to pieces like this before."

Belle prodded his leg gently with her free hand. "To give you this body, I guess they pumped you full of chemicals and hormones," she said, "and by now you're probably making hormones of your own. Welcome to the world I live in, dear sister."

The tears flowed and Belle mopped again.

"As I said," she added, "being a woman hasn't harmed me. You'll soon learn how to recognise your emotions and how to adapt to them. There are many compensations to being female as well, you know."

Marlon eventually calmed down, and he and Belle spent the rest of the morning talking quietly. The rest of the day shift left them alone, as they understood how badly he had been shocked, even though it left them a person short. Lunch was delivered, and Belle had to use Marlon's terminal to be let out so that she could eat her own lunch. He had assured her that he could now be left on his own, and that he would call if he felt the need.

His tray had only been removed for about a minute when his door opened, and Elena stood in it.

"Marlon, I understand the shock you must be feeling. It's my opinion that you could do with a little bit of exercise. Come and walk up and down the corridor with me before we let the others out of their rooms, you can have a little bit of peace out here and get your breath." As she said this, she beckoned him with the fingers of one hand.

Curious, Marlon walked unsteadily out into the corridor. Elena put her arm round his waist.

"Now lean your head on my shoulder, and listen to me while we walk."

As they turned away from the watch station Marlon was surprised to see the trolley with the lunch trays being pushed through the open gate at the end of the corridor by a woman in a brown dress. Up till now, none of the detainees had ever seen the food trays being delivered or collected. He became aware that something unusual was happening.

He actually had to rest on her shoulder, and accept her support, because his legs were weak. He hadn't realised how much the revelation had affected him. In some respects he was glad that Elena had made him come out and walk off some of the effects, but that seemed to be only part of the reason for her actions.

"Firstly," she said quietly, "we're out here because it's safe to talk. There are video pickups out here, it's true, but no audio. In all the rooms, and round the watch station, everything is monitored all the time. I don't want what I say to you to be recorded. Now, you're tired, lean against this pillar a moment."

It was true, he had to stop. Marlon realised that they must have had a number of incidents up here for her to read his state so accurately.

"If you hadn't already worked it out, I'm the senior Shepherd for E Deck. That means I have responsibility for the smooth running of the Deck, and I'm also responsible for ensuring that my Shepherds also obey the rules and don't get tangled up with unusual occurrences. Kristina and Belle reported to me what happened this morning, and I also saw some of it on the monitors. All the other detainees on the Deck now know what happened, don't ask me how. Belle is convinced that your reactions this morning prove that the story you have been maintaining is true. Time to walk a bit more, I think."

She helped him down to the grille at the end of the corridor, and turned back.

"She's not the only one. I think it would be hard for most people to fake what happened to you this morning. But I have to consider all the rest of the detainees, as well. If things get out of hand, we could end up with a discipline problem here, and that could mean a lock-down, or at worst, you would all be split up and sent to other facilities. That might happen to the Shepherds as well."

Marlon looked at Elena unhappily. E Deck was a happy place, and he didn't want to be the trigger that caused it to be broken up.

"As I said before, Shepherd, tell me what I must do and I'll do it," he said quietly.

"Just keep things calm, will you? Try and play things down a little. We'll help you, sure. It's only natural that detainees get an interest in their case files, most of them are trying to look for a reason why they shouldn't be in here, after all. Most give up after a month or two once they've seen the evidence that got them sent here. Your case is a little different, and there is no reason why you shouldn't discuss that with any of the Shepherds or any of the other detainees. But if you occupy too much of the Shepherds' time, or you create a circus in here, someone up above may take steps."

"I understand, Shepherd."

"So we don't distract the Shepherds too much, I'm going to ask Belle to be your point of contact, as it were. She'll be quite happy to do that, and she's most closely connected with you at the moment in any case. The rules will allow me that much, I think. Further, although we have access to your file, we can't actually do much more with it than you can. We're not legal advocates, after all, just glorified minders. I wonder... I have a thought, I'll discuss it with Belle after I've helped you back to your room. Feel any better?"

They had reached the grille separating his half of E Deck from the watch station, and turned again.

"Actually, yes, Elena, I do. I hadn't realised how badly I'd been affected. I'm sorry if I worried any of you."

"And that is what inclines me to think you're telling the truth. However, officially, I have to believe that the court proceedings were valid, so the rules still apply to you and me. Understand?"

"I do understand. Can we go down the other end again, please? Then I'll go in and you can let everyone else out."

"We can manage that. I don't think anyone's going to object to a minute or two longer before we open up."

By the time he got back to the doorway of his room, the waves of weakness had stopped passing up and down his legs, and his breathing seemed steadier. He went inside, closed the door and lay down on his bed. He was asleep within seconds.

A knock on the door awoke him, and he slowly rolled to his feet and walked unsteadily to the door. When he opened it, Belle stood waiting.

"You look a bit better than you did this morning," she said. "I want you to come with me and meet someone, if you feel up to it."

Marlon brushed the creases out of his dress and joined her in the corridor. They walked towards the watch station, Belle wary in case his footsteps wobbled. They passed the watch station and walked through into the other half of the Deck.

"The person I want you to meet is a bit of a recluse, but I think we may be able to persuade her to help. You see, she used to be a court clerk."

"A court clerk? A detainee? What's she doing in here?"

"She fiddled some court records for her lover, and got found out. He was a major criminal. She's up here because she's associated with the system. If she got sent to a normal Deck, they'd kill her the same as if a Proctor or an Enforcer - or a Shepherd - ended up inside. She fears being attacked, so she keeps to her room unless she can't avoid it. But she knows the procedures, so she'll be useful."

"Will she let is in, if she's so scared?"

"I hope so. I don't want to have to lean on her if I can avoid it. If I do that, she might not co-operate. Here we are."

It was one of the rooms almost at the far end of the corridor. The door was closed, but the tell-tale was green. Marlon knocked on the door. After a short delay it was opened, and an older woman peered out, her face closed when she saw the green dress in front of her. She started to close the door.

"I don't want any visitors. That's why my door is closed."

Marlon said, quickly, "I'm a man."

The door stopped closing briefly. The woman looked at him a bit more closely, her eyes flicking over his face and down his body.

"Yeah, right. And I'm a banana." The door started closing again.

"I can prove it," said Marlon, desperately. He bent down, grabbed hold of the hem of his skirt and started to lift it.

"Delusional," said the woman. "Like most of the sad cases in here. Clear off, and leave me in peace."

Belle stepped into view.

"Shepherd," the woman acknowledged, but didn't say or do anything more, just stood there with the door half-closed. She didn't want to openly defy Belle by slamming the door in her face, but equally didn't care to have her peace disturbed.

"Do you want him to expose himself in the corridor, Talya?" Belle asked the woman. "Let us in. He needs your help."

Talya's eyes flicked at Belle's use of the word 'he', but the suspicion never left her face. Reluctantly, she opened the door and gestured for them to enter. They walked into the room and stood awkwardly, Talya's attitude clear that they were not welcome.

With a glance at the Shepherd for permission, Talya said, "Show me."

Marlon pulled up his skirt and, hooking a thumb in his underwear, pulled them down to show Talya his penis and testicles. Her eyebrows rose up and stayed up. Marlon pulled up his briefs and smoothed his skirt back down.

"What are you doing in this place, then?" Talya asked. "Are you a man who's been posing as a woman?"

"Quite the opposite," Marlon said, "they think I'm a woman who's been posing as a man."

Talya's eyebrows rose again, and she said, "You have my interest. I'm sorry for the poor welcome. Please come in and sit down."

Marlon sat on the bed beside Talya, while Belle perched on the end of the feeding station seat.

"I know you," Talya said. "You've been on the treadmill a couple of times when I've been there. What's your name?"

"Marlon," he said, "but there's reason to believe they also think I'm called Marion."

"Well, Marlon, or Marion, I'm Talya. Let's hear your story, then."

Marlon gave his oft-repeated story, without interruption from Talya. At the end, she frowned.

"You've only told me the overview. I need to hear everything."

Marlon shrugged. "I've told you everything I can remember that happened to me. I can't think of much I've left out."

Belle added, "That's the reason we came to you, Talya. Much of what happened to Marlon makes no sense."

Talya grunted. "I still find it hard to believe you're a man, despite the evidence. Outwardly, you look entirely female. Just a moment -" She held her hands up, one palm outwards, one palm inwards with thumbs extended, to make a frame. She framed Marlon's mouth, and then his eyes. "- that's interesting. Your mouth is typically feminine, but your eyes definitely aren't. You're not one of those intermediate gender people, are you? Born with both sets of characteristics?"

"Talya," Belle said, "When he came in here six months ago he was completely and properly male. He's been changed since then to look like he is now. One of the things we need to know is how it was done."

"I need to see your file," Talya said, rising. "With your permission, of course." She walked to the personal terminal and sat down, patting the seat beside her. "Sit here, you need to be close for this to work."

Marlon and Belle looked at each other. Marlon got up and sat beside Talya, who thumbed on the terminal. She logged in, and started doing things neither Marlon nor Belle recognised.

"That's strange," she said, "I've got your record up, and there's absolutely nothing on it. Oh, wait, there's a link at the bottom. Ah, the system thinks that the ID you have round your neck is an alias of another one -" her fingers danced over the keyboard, finally bringing up the female record.

"That's the one!" said Marlon. "That's the other record I told you about, that they showed me the day I arrived."

"The photo doesn't do you justice," Talya said. "In fact," she added, looking from the picture to Marlon and back again, "I don't see how the person pictured here could possibly be you without extensive cosmetic surgery." She frowned. "Okay, let's find the record of the offence you committed."

Marlon began to protest, but thought better of it, not wishing to distract Talya in full flow. She waded through the history, and eventually pulled up the sequence that concluded with Marlon arriving at the Facility.

"Five years," she said, "plus five years concurrent, plus 'regression therapy', whatever that is. I suspect that's what they did to you to turn you female. I'll see if I can find out anything on that in a minute. Looking back to the court proceedings, I can't find anything prior to that. When were you charged with this fraud you are supposed to have done?"

"Charged? I've never been charged. The Justiciar asked me, 'Do you deny the charges?' and I answered truthfully that I had never been charged with anything that I knew about. So because of that, they slapped an extra two and a half years on me."

"They would," Talya nodded. "If you refuse to accept responsibility for your crimes, they will give you extra. But, surely, when you were arrested, something must have been said to you. What were you arrested for?"

"I wasn't arrested," said Marlon. "I was taken to the station for investigation, because the Proctor had come looking for that woman and found me instead. He specifically told the Custody Officer that I was not under arrest. I wasn't read my rights, or anything like that."

Talya frowned again. "It sounds like there's been a serious failure of procedure here, and I can't think how that might have happened. What happened to the Proctor who brought you in? Wasn't he around to sort your status out?"

"No, he got sent out to a 'major incident' the first afternoon I was there. I never saw him again."

"Oh, wow. Shepherd, I'm sorry again about the way I acted. This person is definitely going to need my help. This sounds like one impossible mess. I just hope we can find a way to put Marlon here back the way he should be."

"Thank you, Talya," said Belle. "I was fairly certain we had a good case, I'm glad we asked you. I never realised that you could pull up so much information from a detainee's personal terminal. You will help us, then?"

"As much as I'm able, Shepherd, which probably won't be as much help as he needs. But it will be a start. Citizen," she turned to Marlon, "how long has that appeal status been there?"

"Since the day I arrived, I think," he replied, "I was told it was automatic. Nothing much seems to have happened since then, though."

"No, it can take some time, and if your Proctor isn't around, that will delay things even more. But the point I wish to make to you is that they shouldn't have been doing anything to you while you're in appeal status, since any appeal raises the theoretical possibility that you might be innocent. Especially doing something to you that's potentially irreversible. The system ensures that you get dealt with fairly, and changing your gender doesn't strike me as being fair treatment somehow."

Marlon and Belle looked at one another, thunderstruck.

"How could we have missed that one?" Belle asked. "The trouble is, it's all standard procedure, and we don't take a lot of notice of it. I'll talk to Elena about it. Maybe we have a problem at the facility, as well."

"Don't worry about what you can or can't do," Marlon said to Talya, "We came to you more because you'd be able to tell us how the procedure was supposed to operate. I'm delighted that you've managed to find out so much so quickly."

"Thank you. It's relatively easy when you are familiar with the system. I'll do what I can, this looks like one monumental screw up, and I'll be happy to help you navigate your way through what's here, and show you what's been done as well as what should have been done," Talya replied. She shifted her gaze to Belle. "It occurs to me, Shepherd, that the immediate pressing need is for someone to find the Proctor who was following this case."

Belle nodded. "I'll need his ID code. Now I know where to look, I can pull that up on the watch station terminals and try to contact him that way."

"Good. Meanwhile, I'll run through with Marlon what resources he has available to him."

"Talya? We're not keeping you from anything? You're happy with Marlon here in your room?"

Talya shrugged. "There's nothing I was doing that can't wait." She gave a wry grimace. "It's not as if I'm short of time, is it? In fact, Marlon's case is sufficiently... unusual, shall we say, that I consider the mental stimulation it will give me will be ample repayment for any disruption you have caused."

"That's all right then," said Belle with a straight face. "Is it okay if I leave Marlon here with you? There is other work I ought to be getting on with."

"Yes, I'm happy with that. You just find that Proctor."

Belle departed, and Talya went back to the beginning and showed Marlon how she accessed the areas of his records that she had shown them. Marlon, being essentially a skilled manual worker, had not developed much interest in the use of the personal terminals aside from that required for his basic needs. He resolved to put that deficiency right - now he had the time to do so, and a teacher who was willing to lead him through the complex procedures she found so easy to handle.

Eventually, he began to tire as a result of his incident-packed day, and had to go and lie down on Talya's bed for a while. He was forced to concede that he should probably make his way back to his own room and rest.

"You've probably done enough for today," Talya said, "I think you should return to your own room. Dinner will be in about half an hour, in any case. Come back tomorrow after lunch, I may have some further information for you."

"Would you consider coming to my room?" Marlon asked. "I'd like to return the hospitality."

Talya's eyes flickered. "I'm not sure that I could manage that," she said. "I have... issues."

"So I understand. Perhaps we could talk about that tomorrow then? I'm a good listener, so they all tell me."

Talya regarded Marlon warily as he stood and made his way to the door.

Marlon said, "Look, we've all got issues up here. It's the reason we're all on E Deck, after all. There are people out there with much worse problems than yours, I can assure you. I don't want to force you to do anything against your will, but I don't think you'll come to much harm just talking to me about it."

Talya stared at Marlon, and then nodded jerkily. "I can't promise much," she said, "but maybe you're right. I won't promise you much, tomorrow, but I will try and explain."

Marlon waved a hand, and then left, pulling the door shut behind him. Part way back along the corridor, he met Belle, who didn't look happy.

"I'll walk you back to your room," she said. "We've tried to get hold of the Proctor, but it's not possible to do so from the watch station terminals, we can only call internal locations from those. I might have a go this evening when I get home. You look tired."

"It's been a long day, and it didn't start out well," replied Marlon. "I should be a little better tomorrow. Talya wants me to visit her tomorrow afternoon."

After they passed the watch station, Martha came out of the lounge on her way back to her own room. She stopped when she saw Marlon and came over to him, her arms open. Marlon accepted the invitation and went into a hug with the big woman.

"Heard you had problems, honey," Martha said quietly in his ear. "Just let us know what you need, we'll do what we can."

"I'm touched," said Marlon, as indeed he was. "Thank you for your kind words, Martha. I'll talk it over with the crowd tomorrow morning, but for now, just keep it low key. The Shepherds, most of them anyway, are supportive, but we have to be careful not to cause a fuss."

"Whatever you say, sister - or should that be brother?"

Marlon smiled as he released his grip. "Sister will do fine. And thank you again. See you tomorrow."

With a wave, Martha let him go and walked off towards her own door. Belle followed Marlon down to his room.

"Hold me please, Belle," he said as they entered the room. With only the slightest hesitation, Belle gathered him into her arms. Marlon was about the same height as Belle, but he managed to lay his head on her shoulder.

After a while he said, "I didn't know I had such friends in this place. You've all been so good to me."

Belle murmured, "You seem to bring out the best in us. Even Talya. You've got more out of Talya than any of us have in nearly a year. And Martha's as hard as nails, usually. Of course we're all going to rally round you."

"I'm sorry, Belle," he said after a pause, and began to disentangle himself from her. "Am I being too familiar with the staff?" He looked at her, his eyes wet.

"Not at all," she replied. "You forget, this is a women's facility. As I said earlier today, you're in my world now, and the rules are different. We do get closer to the detainees, and the hormones can run a bit high at times. While hugs are not commonplace, they are not that rare, either, especially when someone has a problem."

"Oh. I'm glad to hear that. I found it comforting today to have some physical contact. I just wondered whether it would be considered inappropriate."

Belle shook her head, found Marlon's towel, and handed it to him. "No, not in this case. You needed support, and we gave it, and we'll keep giving it when you need it again." The evening chime sounded. "I've got to go. If you get any problems this evening, call the watch station as usual. Okay?"

"Okay, Belle," Marlon replied as she headed for the door. "Thank you for what you've done today."

"No problem. Good night," Belle said, and she walked out of Marlon's room and pulled the door shut.