"I've been doing fine, CJ." By the time the next day rolled around, CJ found herself talking to Isla over the phone on her way to work. CJ had dropped Rosie and Sage at daycare and was working on getting to her job on time. "What's the big deal, anyway?"
"The big deal is that I worry about you," CJ said, her tone sounding almost motherly. "You're the only one of our siblings I can get in touch with."
"You don't need to get all motherly with me," Isla responded. CJ could almost hear the eye-roll in her voice. "Everything's fine here. Dad's been taking care of me. He's even got a new girlfriend."
CJ's lips pursed. "What's she like?"
"She's nice." There was a pause. "Dad only started dating her a few weeks ago; but she has two kids with her ex-husband."
"So she's been married?" The question was more said to CJ herself than to Isla.
"You're seriously going to judge her on being married?" The tone in Isla's voice made CJ flush.
"I'm not judging her on whether she's been married or not."
"It sounded that way to me."
CJ let out a frustrated sigh. "I just want to make sure Sage and Rosie aren't around bad people when I visit."
"She's not bad, CJ," Isla exclaimed. "I've hung-out with her; she's OK."
"Fine." CJ huffed, still feeling a little frustrated. "I hope you're right about this."
"When have I ever been wrong?"
CJ couldn't help but laugh at that.
-0-0-0-0-
Working as a receptionist wasn't entirely a bad job for CJ; she was able to focus and the tasks she did during her shift weren't particularly hard. At least to her. The people she worked with seemed pretty nice and, for the most part, everything ran smoothly. She had nothing to complain about. Teresa made sure that CJ had a job somewhere relatively nice with the best people she could offer. Thankfully, Teresa knew the manager of the place CJ worked for, that pretty much ensured that she got the job.
"You doing anything fun this weekend?" One of CJ's coworkers, Bryannah, leaned over the counter and looked at CJ with a slight smirk. For the most part, CJ and Bryannah got along just fine. They didn't really talk all that much; CJ had heard from one of her work pals that Bryannah was a bit of a reckless person by nature―she enjoyed doing things someone in their right mind would consider dangerous or questionable.
"My sister's birthday is coming up." CJ tried for a smile as she regarded the woman in front of her. Bryannah arched a brow at that, tucking some of her ashy blonde hair behind her ear. "I'll be out for a little bit to see her."
"How is she going to be?" she asked.
"Fifteen."
"That's cute!" Bryannah gushed. "I loved being fifteen! I had so much fun at that age." CJ nodded wordlessly. "Guess what I'm doing this weekend?"
"What?"
"I'm going to a party with one of my friends." Bryannah was nearly bouncing with excitement. "It's going to be huge, from what I hear."
"Well, I hope you have fun." CJ tried for another smile, but for some reason it was just too hard for her to do. Bryannah was only a year or two older than her, and it felt like she took too much enjoyment in things like partying and things of that nature. CJ knew that Bryannah was a smart person, she just didn't really try hard enough and would rather go out and have fun; being anything but responsible.
"Maybe you can come with me next time there's a party." There was a hopefulness in Bryannah's eyes.
"I can't," CJ said. "I've got my kids and no-one to watch them."
"Just...drop 'em off at a friend's or something." Bryannah rolled her eyes at that. "You need to have fun, CJ! You're still young and you've got a nice look."
CJ felt anger bubble in her at Bryannah's suggestion. "I can't." It came out maybe a little harsher than expected, but she could see a look sweep across Bryannah's face. "I don't like parties," she added firmly. "Too much noise and drunk people. Not my kind of thing."
-0-0-0-0-
It hadn't been a lie when CJ felt relief walking out of the building she worked in. After her little moment with Bryannah, CJ had remained in a bit of a foul mood for the remainder of her shift.
After getting in her car, CJ drove about fifteen minutes to get to the daycare her children were at. Teresa hadn't been the one to suggest the daycare, but she did tell CJ that it was pretty popular with some parents because of its good workers. That had been good enough for CJ.
Parking her car in the daycare's lot, CJ got out and walked into the building, saying hello to some of the workers before finding her kids.
"Ms. Garcia, before you go we're giving this to all the parents." One of the employees walked up to CJ and handed her a flyer. "Some of the other kids have started getting sick. We've sent out emails to the parents, too. It's just saying to make sure your kids are up-to-date on their vaccines, wash their hands daily, and cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze."
CJ felt as if her blood had run cold. Kids were getting sick? Was that a sign of the virus that was going around? Children did have a tendency to put their hands in their mouths after touching everything―but maybe it wasn't the virus...it could just be a little bug, something like a minor head cold.
"Thank you," CJ said, plastering a smile on her face. Holding her kids' hands a little tighter, she quickly led them out of the building.
-0-0-0-0-
"Were there any sick kids at the daycare?" CJ looked at Rosie and Sage as she walked around her apartment's kitchen, fixing her kids a little snack.
"One." Rosie twirled around in the pink tutu she had on, holding her hands above her head like a ballerina. Sage had plopped himself on the ground, doodling on the paper CJ got for him.
"Just one?" CJ looked between them with slight anxiousness in her expression.
"Mm-hmm." Rosie continued twirling until she got dizzy, giggling slightly as she stumbled a little.
"What were they doing?" CJ helped Rosie regain her balance before sitting her down on the ground beside her brother. The second they made it back to the apartment, CJ had the twins and herself thoroughly wash their hands. She also had plans to meet up with the family physician to make sure their shots were good and to perform a physical.
"He was coughing a lot," Sage exclaimed, pushing Rosie a little when she tried interfering with his drawing. "Ms. Q had to call his mommy."
Ms. Q―or Mrs. Quentin―was in charge of the daycare. She was a nice, but firm, middle aged woman who took great pride in what she did.
CJ nodded wordlessly.
She felt her chest constrict a little, adding to the anxiousness she was feeling.
(A/N):
Heya, everyone! Did you like this chapter? Was it good? Was it bad? Was it meh? Let me know! Leave a review! PM me! Do both!
I own nothing in TWD universe. All I own are my characters and the alarm clock in my room.
If you've got ideas for potential subplots or OCs you'd like to see in the story, let me know! Leave a review or PM me, whichever one you prefer.
KenzieFF: I'm happy that you like what I've laid out with my characters and whatnot. I was hoping I put out enough of a background for them (at least so that it made a little sense), and I'm glad you liked that little Rick mention too! I do agree that the stories that start off with an OC already being a trained walker killer can seem a bit repetitive (though there are some stories that start off that way and they're really good), and I was hoping that having my story start off before the world crashed would be a little different. I'm sure plenty of other stories started that way, too, though. I think CJ could adapt to everything once the virus starts becoming worse, but I'm still working out the details! For now, I think having CJ and maybe a couple other OCs I put in (or whatever OCs reviewers want added in) as a group once the world's completely gone will be a good set-up for when Rick and his group are introduced. Hopefully that makes sense... Anyway! Thanks for your review! Hopefully I can hear from you again!
Thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far! I'm glad you like this story so far.
Also, I don't know if I mentioned it at all in the previous chapters, but I will be going on a vacation for about a week and a half/two weeks near the end of this month. So if you're wondering why I haven't been updating in a while, here's the answer.
Fear TWD is coming back on soon; season 7 of TWD isn't coming back on until October :( ! But I think season 7 will probably be a really intense season, despite Negan having killed off someone from Rick's group (my bet's on Glenn, even though I don't want it to be him...or anyone for that matter).
OK, my rambling is done.
Let me know if there's anything I can improve on.
Many blessings,
Indigo Callahan