The room was bare, and uncomfortable. The bed was screwed into the floor, small, and hard, not unlike a cot. Having worked in a hospital for so long, Cody had known the cots were uncomfortable before he ever got here. Now he would almost be willing to start a petition for better beds in his hospital. Well... he supposed he'd never be allowed in there again, even if he did get out of here.

He laid on the bed, eyes trained on the dull, grey ceiling. It was too easy to think in a place like this. For example, now he thought about work. Even if Evelyn would accept him with open arms, even if he could keep his house and didn't have medical malpractice hanging over his head, even if the families he knew, such as the Davis', didn't judge him for what happened to their son, life still wouldn't be easy for him or his daughter.

Who in their right mind would hire a serial killer? What was that name they'd given him? Dr. Demise? Perhaps because Dr. Death was already taken. There must've been some bread company or a sweatshop that might take him, but that was very far from $326,000 a year. Just by getting caught, he'd screwed his family over. That was extremely frustrating, when his daughter still had two years before she could up and leave. What was his sister-in-laws occupation, again? Jewelry-making? Working in a perfume shop? It was something girlie that didn't pay much.

It had been a while since they'd held a conversation. She only saw Evelyn a few times a year. He was just her dead sister's bachelor. She was just there for the product of her sister's genetic code. Even before all this happened, she didn't approve of him. She was one of few people who hated the idea of a doctor in the family, because he'd be 'married to his work' rather than her sister. That pudgy, over-the-top woman was always so judgemental of Cody. He supposed that now he just confirmed all of her worst suspicions. Typical for the most annoying people to only be right about important things, tsk.

With thoughts of his daughter lingering on his mind, Cody fell asleep.

He awoke with thoughts of Cosette. Weird. When he first arrived here, he always woke up thinking of his wife. Over the past couple of weeks, though, it'd been his new friend on his mind instead. "I refuse to replace my wife." He muttered to himself, legs kicking off the bed. He sat upright, annoyed with himself. It was just the same moral dilemma he'd faced outside the walls, just not as drastically. He'd always been bitter about killing wonderful, happy people, because he himself, as well as his daughter, were always so privileged and joyous themselves.

At one point, many years ago now, when he was still struggling to deal with his wife's death, he added himself to the terminal list. That was for after he was finished with however many people he was going to get rid of. Then he remembered he had to be there for his daughter. She was... seven or eight at the time? Logically, without both parents, she'd be miserable, so he was the reason she was happy in the first place, right? Therefore, if he died, she wouldn't be happy. He couldn't do that to her. Not that he ever wanted to, it wouldn't have been a personal attack, but rather a business deal. Fortunately for him, he wasn't in that business anymore. His name was only on his list for three or four days before he tore it up and stored the lists in his head. He remembered his head and heart pounding then, and Evelyn had shown him a macaroni picture she made of her family. It was the first time he'd seen anything she made in class without her mother in the artwork.

That was a darker point of life, when he still had tons of debt from his medical school, and couldn't figure out how to raise this kid, and his wife's death had lingered on his mind every day. Ever since his daughter hit double-digits, things got brighter.

The debts were paid off, and they went out a lot together. There was a ton of father-daughter time. That probably saved a few lives, actually, because if she wasn't there, he would've been free to go to town on anybody who waved and smiled at him. All that was in the past now. The depression from losing his spouse, his enjoyment from his work, the ludicrousy of his 'hobby', the bittersweet feeling of being exactly like the people he killed.

That was then, and this was now. He wanted to deny it, to ignore the natural order of what he felt. He reasoned that he only felt this way because of where he was, and because she was the only one who chose to speak with him regularly in... weeks? Months? Who knew how long he'd been here. The days blurred into nothingness with the nights.

The feelings he didn't want to succumb to were just as irrevocable as his thoughts. Cosette was replacing his wife. These walls replaced his home. Guards replaced the workers at the hospital.

This prison he'd found himself in was worse than just going to, well, a prison. In prison, one wouldn't get so easily used to their life. Everything would feel all wrong, even when it became normal. Everyone in jumpsuits, aggressive inmates, violent guards, abusive enemies, cells with iron bars. That would never be standard, no matter how accustomed one became to it.

But here? The customary, home-ish feel of the place blurred with the prison parts. It was easy to see this as an ordinary life. All it took was the world around oneself, replacing the one they'd left behind when they came here.

Maybe if it were a rom-com, or a romantic-drama movie, Cody could see himself fleeing with Cosette and making a life together. Real life, on the other hand, was never so simple. Even if he ran as far as the front gate, he'd have tranquilizers in his arm, and probably wake in solitary confinement with bruises on his face from the guards' batons.

"Why would it have to be a romantic film at all? I'm not... ugh..." He grumbled in annoyance, remembering the purpose of his previous thoughts. He almost forgot that the reason he remembered that dark time of his life was because he didn't want to replace his wife with this woman. But at the same time... his wife was dead. She'd been dead for over a decade. He'd raised their kid on his own, apart from a dozen nannies when she was really little and he had work.

Maybe it was time to get back in the field. To break past the walls and allow someone in. Who else did he have for options? Even if Cosette wasn't, well, mega-whopping hot? She'd still probably be the only woman on this side of the globe who would accept a serial killer. Of course... it's not like he could just swoop in and say 'hey, let's go out to Olive Garden!' and they'd magically fall in love.

(Sounds like somebody is considering human affection again . . . Opinions? Does Cody deserve love? Does Cosette? Would they be a reasonable couple in SOCIETY? Would the family dynamic be VERY different from everyone else? I guess if they lived out in the woods, they'd be better off than in the city? Maybe they could run off to Alaska!)