AN: Since I forgot to add it in the first chapter…I also do not own Humpty Dumpty…you know…in case you weren't sure.

Wow! You guys flatter me with the excitement already! Thank you for the reviews! They always make me feel loved!

Here's another chapter, giving us a little insight into Carol. I feel like I need to say that this, like many of my stories, is not going to be an "instant Caryl" story…so please be patient. I'll get us there…but I like building the story.

Also, as always, I don't always stick to fully realistic details…suspension of disbelief is needed, expected, and appreciated.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think! Your reviews are always loved and appreciated!

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"I know it's not Buckingham Palace…but the rent's going at a great price…" Alice declared as she showed Carol into the living room of the house they'd be sharing.

Carol looked around quickly and tried to take the place in. It would be her new home…her new chance for a fresh start.

And it wasn't impressive…not really.

Alice had been her best friend ever since they'd gone to undergraduate school together. They'd roomed together for four years in a rinky dink dorm and lived off of Ramen noodles and their dreams about what they'd be and how they'd save the world.

And Alice was maybe a step closer to saving the world than Carol was. She was a heart surgeon…a beginner, really...but her longevity in the field aside, she was a doctor and every day she came up against the possibility of saving a life or losing one and she hoped for the best...at least that's what Carol got from the information that Alice had filled in for her quickly on the phone.

Carol wasn't, at least in her opinion, much of anything. She had finished her education degree, barely, before marrying Ed…the worst mistake of her life. She was going to teach high school English, and though it wouldn't save lives, she'd thought it would be a nice life.

She'd never gotten that chance, though, because once she married Ed, he had other plans for her.

And those plans mostly involved being a house wife since she learned, though she'd never expected it in the beginning, that Ed had a jealous streak and he didn't want to share her with anyone…not even students who would probably hate her for suggesting that they read great works of literature instead of trashy magazines that told them the all-important keys to life like how to get themselves noticed by their crush.

Carol was free from Ed now, though, a clean break in her opinion…though lawyers might see it a bit different when she finally found one…and despite all the years that she'd neglected even so much as speaking to her friend, Alice had been there for her when she'd called her up, out of the blue and thanked the heavens that Alice was such a creature of habit that she still had the same cell phone number, and now she was helping her get on her feet. She was helping her put her life back together.

"Really," Carol said with a smile. "It's perfect…it's absolutely perfect…I'll go get Sophia."

Carol stepped out of the little house and went to her car…that and the few belongings she had crammed into it being the only things she took out of the marriage that she'd been willing to walk out of without a thing…and opened the back door, carefully easing her sleeping daughter out of the car seat and leaning her against her body so that she didn't disturb her nap too completely.

Carol turned around, almost bumping into Alice who was coming to help her bring her things in, having taken the day off to help Carol move.

Ed was away on business, he'd be gone for a week, and she'd left…taking everything that meant anything to her…without leaving a forwarding address. She figured the details could be handled by a lawyer later. The only thing she'd left was the note that she'd written and stuck to the refrigerator…the note that read:

I'm leaving you, like I should have done years ago.

She'd lacked any flair for poetry at the moment that she'd written it, but it had been difficult to see through the swollen left eye and the tears.

And she might not have left him then…she might have tried to stick it out, might have accepted another of his halfhearted and sorry ass apologies…but when he'd threatened Sophia, Carol had known that she was going…and she was going like a bat out of hell.

She would be, as she had professed on the phone after the impromptu phone call she made as soon as Ed had left for work, eternally thankful to her friend for being there to offer her a place to land, and a place where she might find her feet again…luckily a state away from Ed Peletier.

She'd packed up everything she had to have, everything that Sophia had to have, and she'd put her daughter in the car, driving straight through…and Alice had taken off of work for a so-called family emergency to be there to greet her and help her get settled in.

Without saying anything Alice started getting stuff out of the back of the car, haphazardly packed in hefty bags and cardboard boxes…anything that Carol could throw it in to get the hell out of there and not have Ed say, later, that she'd taken anything that was his…and then Carol followed her inside the house and followed her to the little room.

"It isn't much…" Alice said, putting down what she was carrying.

The little room…a guest room now turned her room…offered a bed, a dresser, and a nightstand. It wasn't much at all, but it was almost enough to make Carol cry…because it was her freedom.

"Oh…" Alice said quickly, "come here…"

She stepped out the room, pushing past Carol and led her to another small room…something that was likely to have been something of an office or maybe a sewing room, a little too small to have been considered a third bedroom.

"I thought…you know…Sophia needed something…and don't worry about it…I'll get my shit out of here, but you know…a couple of hours," Alice said apologetically.

The room at the moment had boxes and such…stuff that Alice was obviously storing there…crammed to the side against the wall and in the middle of it was a crib. Carol hadn't even been expecting that much, honestly.

"I don't know what kids need…but I put out an all-points bulletin at the hospital and one of the nurses, she had her husband bring this over last night. I washed the thing down…and I washed the sheets…I'm so sorry it's not much," Alice offered.

Carol walked slowly into the room and eased her daughter down into the crib.

Sophia didn't need much because she'd been taught not to expect much…but she was going to have so much more now. Carol was going to see to that. She was going to have everything that she needed and everything that she wanted if Carol could give it to her.

But more than anything, she was going to be safe from a man who had never wanted her anyway and had resented her the two years that she'd been on the Earth.

Alice walked over, looking into the crib. It was her first clear view of the baby, and Carol stepped out of the way, glancing at her friend.

"Carol…she's beautiful…perfect…just like her mama," Alice said.

Carol smiled, feeling her throat closing up against all the emotions…feeling it close up with the fatigue that was setting in from her whirlwind adventure…and from the feeling of finally being safe and being able to rest. It all came crashing down on her like a ton of bricks and she was relieved to find the warm embrace of a friend, suddenly, surrounding her.

And once she was wrapped in the embrace, Carol let some of the tears slip out and was thankful that Alice was willing not to try to stop them…instead she let them flow…and when Carol sniffed and rubbed her nose against Alice's shoulder without thinking, Alice tightened her grip around Carol's waist and leaned back, like she had so many times before, and lifted Carol the half inch off the ground that the move allowed her, laughing lightly in her ear.

"You're going to throw your back out doing that," Carol mumbled as soon as Alice rested her feet back down. "You don't need to do that anymore."

Alice smiled and winked at Carol.

"And you don't need to tell me what to do, Carol Ann," Alice teased.

Carol shook her head slightly.

"I can't thank you enough for this…I know that all those times…I should have called…" Carol started, knowing that she couldn't explain herself. She couldn't explain why she hadn't called…why she'd let Ed take over her life and cut her off from everyone and everything she'd ever known.

And now…even with just the few hours of freedom that she had…she felt like she'd been weak to allow him that.

But Alice just smiled at her and shook her head.

"Hey…I don't make braided friendship bracelets with everyone," Alice said. "You don't have to thank me…it's what the hell we do for each other, right?"

Carol sighed and nodded her head.

"You just don't know…" Carol started and Alice shushed her out loud.

"I mean it…Carol…you don't owe me anything. These rooms were empty…and now they're not…and hell…I get lonely sometimes…it'll be nice to have you two around. And I get to know Sophia…" Alice said.

Carol smiled and glanced back at her daughter who was sleeping…her daughter who could have slept through wars being fought because she'd done it so many times.

"She's going to love you," Carol said.

Alice smiled.

"And I already love her," Alice said. "She's gotta be damn near perfect if you made her."

Carol sighed.

Alice hadn't changed since college…not really. She was still the same old Alice…the person that had walked Carol through all of her existential moments and had talked her off of education ledges.

The years had taken, definitely away from both of them, some of the shine of youth…but for a moment, just standing there, Carol was transferred back to feeling like she was barely twenty again, and the world was full of possibility and wonder.

"She is perfect…" Carol said. "I only wish…I wish that Ed wasn't even in the picture at all…I wish she hadn't even had to know him."

"Meh…" Alice responded. "She'll forget about him…she'll pull through. Let's go get the rest of your stuff…"

Carol nodded and went out with her to the car. There wasn't much left to get and both of them loaded their arms down and closed the vehicle up.

It seemed sad to Carol that all the years of her life could be reduced to such a petty amount of stuff…but then it wasn't really the stuff that was important and she was easily reminded that the most important thing she had in her life…the thing that made it even worth going on some mornings, was already inside and sleeping in a second hand crib.

She had sacrificed a lot of herself to her husband. She'd let go of dreams and she'd let go of even her own dignity at times…she'd lost so much that she couldn't even begin to count it all. But she wasn't going to let him hurt her daughter.

Sophia was her reason for living…and she was her reason for choosing to give another go at life…and she was determined to devote everything she had to making sure that Sophia's life was wonderful and perfect…as perfect as it could be.

When all of Carol's things were in her room, she rustled around unpacking only what she absolutely had to have to make it through the rest of the day and the night. She found Sophia's things…things that she'd have to have…and she put the aside for when the girl woke up.

Alice sat on the bed and watched her.

"You haven't said anything," Carol said. "I thought you'd…I don't know…scold me…tell me what an idiot I am…for letting a man do this to me."

Carol turned around from where she was going through boxes and looked at Alice who was wearing a serious face for the moment. She'd said nothing about the bruises…nothing about the busted lip…nothing about the frantic phone call where Carol declared that he'd threatened to break Sophia's neck…she'd said nothing about any of it…and that wasn't the Alice that Carol had lived with for four years.

Alice shrugged.

"I figured you didn't need me to say anything," Alice said. "I don't know what there is to say…"

Carol chuckled lightly.

"Tell me I fucked up? Tell me that I threw my life away for a man? Tell me that I made the biggest mistake that I could make and that I'm an idiot?" Carol responded, slightly bitterer than she meant to sound…really her frustrations weren't directed at her friend.

Alice shook her head, smiling softly.

"That's you talking chicky…not me," Alice said. She was quiet for a moment. "How about…I just say that you're getting your shit together…and you've got the cutest damn kid I've ever seen…and I got Grease and Thelma and Louise…a bottle of wine…and a Chinese menu…and I'm paying so we're not splitting the fucking egg rolls this time?"

Carol nodded her head, unable to find words at the moment around the lump in her throat that came from her own disappointment in herself and the fact that she was amazed that someone else could forgive her for what she couldn't even forgive herself for.

"Wash your face…change your clothes…whatever you're gonna do," Alice said. "I'ma get my pajamas and order…you still like Sesame Chicken?"

Carol smiled.

"Yeah…I do," she said.

Alice got up from the bed.

"Fine…oh and there's apple juice in the fridge…and milk…you didn't tell me what the hell kids eat," Alice declared walking out of the room.

Carol sat down on the bed once Alice had walked out, holding Sophia's pajamas in her hands that she'd dug out of the bag.

And she felt good…she was going to be alright. Sophia was going to be fine…and she was safe from Ed. And as long as Sophia was happy and loved and her life was good…Carol was going to be just fine.