Romance has been blooming in Georgia, and let's face it. There have been some impulsive couplings so it is likely that at least one of the partners is feeling a little uneasy about it. This is a long chapter and be prepared for some good and bad sex.

Second Thoughts

Michonne went to sleep on her side of the bed. Jesse had seemed to sense that she didn't want to cuddle and had turned over and went to sleep almost immediately. Michonne decided that Jesse even slept pretty. He didn't snore, grind his teeth, or fart in his sleep. The sex had been amazing and she had never had a more considerate lover. He was damn perfect.

She woke up and found that she had migrated closer to him in her sleep. She was now in the middle of the bed. Michonne scooted back to her side and took a few minutes to review her situation. She had impulsively had sex with Jesse. She should be thinking about rescuing Andrea and instead she had fallen in bed with Jesse. That part had been almost unbelievably good, but maybe that was just because she had been celibate for so long. That was probably the reason she was gravitating toward him.

Michonne woke up curled next to Jesse hours later. She decided to give up and stay where she was. Maybe there was something to the pheromone theory. Jesse might be emitting some sexual pheromones and she was just a victim of human biology. He did smell good, a little sweaty after sex but in a good way. She couldn't help wanting him; it was the damn pheromones.

Jesse woke up and turned to her and cuddled her close. Michonne felt her body reacting to him either because she had been celibate so long or those pesky pheromones. Jesse whispered, "Either get your ass on your side of the bed or be prepared to be ravaged".

Michonne giggled and her first thought was that she hadn't giggled in a very long time and the second was that she was staying on this side of the bed, "I think I'll prepare myself to be ravaged".

Jesse slid out of bed the next morning and took a quick shower. Michonne was still asleep on his side of the bed. She was going to be skittish in the cold light of day he thought. She had all sorts of defenses she had built up in her psyche that had helped her survive out there. He had to let her be Michonne. She was a warrior and he was a farmer. Warriors always left the farm folk behind when they went off adventuring, but Jesse was going with her. Farmers need love too.

Michonne woke up when she heard the shower running. It was almost dawn and she got up and dressed. She would take a shower when Jesse got out. Jesse came out of the bathroom already dressed. Michonne nodded at him and she went into the bathroom.

Jesse smiled; she was skittish this morning. He found his back pack and packed what he thought he would need. Michonne came back dressed and her face was stoic. She was being a warrior today. "Come with me Michonne, I have a treasure to show you".

Michonne knew that when the world fell apart there had been all sorts of looting but she couldn't quite see Jesse running with a wide screen television. "I have things I need to do this morning." She looked at him and his eyes were gleaming and curiosity overtook her desire to stay distant this morning, "Oh, all right, but I haven't got all day".

Jesse said, "It's downstairs". She followed him down to the basement level which must also be the storage level. He turned a light on and opened a refrigerator. "We keep it down here and as cool and dry as possible".

Michonne saw large plastic box inside, "What is inside it?" She hoped he wasn't as bat shit crazy as the Governor and had a head or something in there.

Jesse opened the box and she was more caught by the excitement and joy in this face than she was by the contents. He pulled out one shelf and she could see package after package of seeds.
"The day I left Virginia Tech I put all these seeds in a container and brought them with me. These are all heirloom seeds. These are worth more than diamonds and rubies. The contents of this box will allow people to grow their own food and settle in one place."

Michonne stopped looking at all those small packages of seeds and looked at Jesse. He was a man of vision; he had taken the time to collect those seeds and protect them. There was strength in those beautiful hands, resolve in that handsome face, and the ability to see beyond today in those soulful blue eyes. Her great-grandchildren might survive because Jesse had saved the seeds.

He was a man worth having, and suddenly she missed Andrea so much that she could cry. She wanted to sit on that front deck and tell Andrea all about Jesse. Andrea would rag her ass off about getting the most handsome man left in the world and she would tell Andrea that she wasn't sharing. Andrea who was off in Woodbury and the Governor would be getting angrier and more unstable because he had not captured either of them.

Jesse saw her face change to fear and knew she must be worried about her friend "We are going to get her back. Caleb has been in martial arts training since kindergarten. He has been training Christie and me in fighting since last summer. We'll do our share and you and Merle will do the rest". He closed the refrigerator and Michonne settled against him. She put her arms around him and held tight for a while.

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Christie had drifted off to sleep from exhaustion while Merle stared at the ceiling and wondered if he should go to sleep or sneak out of her and run for his life. Sleep sounded good because he was tired. Today had been an emotional roller coaster and a physical marathon. Running sounded good too. He wouldn't have to worry that he would hurt her and Caleb by being the asshole that he knew himself to be. He didn't have a clue how to be the man that Christie needed or the father that Caleb deserved.

There were other reasons to run. He would be the most pussy whipped man in the world. Christie could just look at him with those big brown eyes and he could see himself just weakening and giving in to her will. He had already started; Christie Alston should not be going with them. She needed to keep her ass here; this place had kept her alive for a year. Yet, he hadn't insisted that she stay. She can go as far as the prison and then her ass is going back here and he set his jaw and his mind on that. He would let her boss his ass around all day but he would never let her endanger herself. His job was to keep Christie Alston alive and well. She could worry about everything else.

He didn't know how to be a father to Caleb. The boy was a grown man and could protect himself and Christie. Caleb had grown up with the thought that his father was a heroic soldier; the reality of a father who had been a petty criminal and a habitual drug abuser would only disappoint him. The kid had skills but he didn't have the cold blooded mindset that you have to have that allowed you to do what must be done to survive. He couldn't take off before he knew Caleb could survive.

Merle smiled; he wasn't going anywhere. He was just scared that's all. He had a lifetime of fucking up so he probably would fuck up things once in a while. He inched closer to Christie so that he could kiss her shoulder and run his hand down her body. It wasn't a wet dream; they had gone at each other with decades of pent up desire. He wasn't sure that either of them would be able to walk tomorrow.

After he had found out that she had returned to Virginia to marry the finance he had hopes that she would ditch the other man and call him. That fantasy had played itself out in his mind for years. Daryl would call him up and say, "Some woman named Christie called looking for you. I told her that you were working out of state and to give me her number and you would call her". He would get the number and she would say, "I love you, just come and get me". In his mind, he always ran to the truck and took off. She would always run into his arms and that would be that.

Over the years he had seen her a hundred times. Some tall black woman would be walking along the street and for a second he would think that it was Christie, but it had never been. At first, that would send him on a bender but later it would just be a short burst of pain. He had come to believe that it would never be Christie until it had been yesterday. She wasn't the same cute nurse that she had been but how she made him feel hadn't changed. He loved her body and soul and that would never change.

Merle kissed her neck and spooned beside her. Hell, he was going to sleep cuddled close tonight to make up for all those long years away from her. He had to find Daryl; he had gotten really drunk after he came back from overseas and told Daryl all about Christie. Daryl had tried talking about it the next morning and he had brushed it off, "She was just some woman who I screwed when I was overseas in the army. She was smart enough not to get with a Dixon. Think of how good ole dad treated our mother. Dixons hurt their women; you know that. Best just to give them a good time in the sack and get your ass out. Best for you and best for them." He wanted to find Daryl and tell him that he had found his Christie and maybe Dixons could be husbands and fathers. The boy might need to hear that and God knows that he needed to say it to him.

Christie woke up the next morning in a good mood but refused anymore sex. "I think I had my yearly quota last night and we have plans to make and miles to go before we sleep". Waking up with Merle beside her had jolted her a bit. She was not an impulsive woman and jumping into sex with Merle was impulsive.

Merle said, "We could start working on next year." Then he shifted gears, "Do you have photographs of you and Caleb?" Christie took down the family album and showed him Caleb as a baby. Merle had looked at all of them but took one of her and Caleb when he was graduated from high school. He kissed it and asked her to hold it for him. He was afraid that the Governor would find it on him. His mood shifted back to amorous lover and he began his Pepe LePeu imitation that had made her laugh. Merle made a wonderful horny skunk and she laughed as she avoided his pursuit and then turned as kissed him as hard and deeply as she ever had. Then she pushed him away again.
Merle was full of himself this morning and she found herself laughing at his outrageousness. She took a shower and packed things and helped him dress. He hated it but it was faster if she helped. Somehow they fell into a routine as if they had been together for twenty years instead of twenty hours.

They met the others and made final preparation. There were security protocols for when they all left the compound and they put them in place. They took two vehicles and Merle, Christie, and Caleb went in the suv and Jesse and Michonne took the other. They were soon driving the back roads toward the prison.

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Daryl woke up when Carol tried to maneuver over him to get out of the bunk. It was early but he could see her by the first milky light of the morning and not by candlelight. He had been half awake already and a naked Carol trying to slide over his naked body was well worth waking up for. "I want to go get breakfast ready" she whispered. He had put his arms around her and she couldn't move"

"I'll help with breakfast if you'll kiss me good morning and not try to sneak away like some thief in the night." Daryl teased. He would rather have laid her on her back and went for another ride on the "carosell" this morning, but he knew her too well to think that she was going to screw him while everyone woke up and walked around right outside their cell. He made a note to himself; wake up earlier than anyone else from now on.

She smiled that Carol smile and he forgave her for having some sense of propriety and kissed him good morning. They got dressed which took him longer than usual because he spent too much time staring at her body. She waited on him to finish and they went to the kitchen area. She made oatmeal and then made oatmeal cakes and he worked on the dried eggs and by the time the others started drifting in breakfast was ready.

Carol and Daryl d served breakfast together. He would dump a pile of eggs on their plates and Carol would place two oatmeal cakes on their plates and point out the big jar of jelly they had unearthed from the prison food stores. Daryl had figured that everyone knew by now and he might as well get it out there that they were together as a couple and not as some quick fuck.

Beth went through the line for herself and her father. "Daddy wants you to come and see him now, Daryl". Hershel was sitting a table by himself and he looked up at Daryl when he went over there. "What do you need, Old Man?
Hershel said, "I don't need anything but to tell you that if you don't treat her right I'll kick your ass down and pound your head with my crutch. That's a big order for a one-legged man but I think I'd be mad enough to get it done".

Daryl looked at Hershel, "If I don't treat her right, I'll lay my own ass down so that you can pound me with your crutch. I don't know shit about how to do this. So I am going to need somebody to give me some advice once in a while."

Hershel nodded. "Might be easier than knocking your ass down later". Beth joined her father and Daryl scooted back to his place beside Carol.

They ate together before he had to leave for the run. Daryl kept sneaking looks at Carol and she figured he might not get it out before he had to leave, "What is it?"

Daryl had a list of things that he wanted to say before he left. "You kissed me last night and said good night to me".

Carol tried to remember even saying it. A good night kiss was pretty far down on her list of memories of the night before. Daryl had been a little clumsy but receptive to learning. The feel of him inside her and the release of orgasm was way ahead of a good night kiss.

Daryl saw the look on her face and he was suddenly so hard that he would have taken her right there between the eggs and the jelly, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. "You kissed me good night and said good night like it was the most natural thing in the world, but nobody ever did that to me before. I just lay there like a rock and didn't kiss you back."

Carol ate her eggs and thought about it. "I want you to be the last person I see before I go to sleep and the first person I see when I wake up. Is that too much togetherness? You can sleep in another cell if it is. We both know that you want me. I can tell by the tent in your pants right now, but we don't have to be joined at the hip. You have your things to take care of and I have mine."

"That is not the first hard on you have given me, Carol. Kiss me good night every night and kiss me good morning every morning. That's what I want. I'll keep my shit over in the cell beside yours because those cells are not very big, but my ass wants to be lying beside yours every night." Daryl ate the oatmeal cakes last. He saw now why Carol had saved extra to give Carl.

Carol gave his dick a friendly pat, "I'll walk your out when you are ready, but I have to go back toward the kitchen section and I am afraid to go by myself." She looked at him meaningfully and he finally got it and he walked her back toward the prison kitchen. He did get to take her on a prison table that morning and then they walked to the truck where Glenn and Maggie were waiting. He kissed her goodbye for the first time and she walked back to do the dishes and think about what needed to be done. She hadn't gotten that list together last night or this morning, but maybe this afternoon.

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Andrea woke up disgusted with herself and as frightened as she had ever been. Phillip had stopped by last night and she had had sex with him. He was getting suspicious of her and she needed to allay his doubts about her. It wasn't the first time she had faked an orgasm, and not the first time she had used her body to get something that she wanted. She wasn't a saint, but pretending to enjoy his sick attentions had broken something within her. He had dropped the guise of genial leader. She was his property now. There were bruises on her that had not been there the day before. The violence would escalate because he had enjoyed inflicting pain. He would kill her before he let her go. She might die getting away but she was pretty much dead already if she stayed.

She missed Michonne so much. Together they could face anything and she felt weak without her. They had laughed one night about their secret crushes. Michonne had crushed big time on her high school art teacher who was forty years old and happily married. She had never acted on it and was embarrassed to tell it now. Michonne didn't share a whole lot but she had laughed at herself that night.

Andrea had confessed to her crush on Rick Grimes. She had been out on an ill-fated run in Atlanta when she met him. He was tall and lanky and had blue eyes. She had threatened him with a pistol and he had later shown her where the safety was.

He turned out to be married to a woman in the camp that everybody knew was screwing a friend of her late husband. Rick came back and he and Lori had reunited. Lori was pregnant by either Shane or Rick.

Andrea had previously confessed to screwing Shane so why she considered Rick her secret crush was a surprise to Michonne.

Michonne had asked, "Why him?"

Andrea had answered, "He is a decent man. Not a particularly good leader because he anguishes too much over ever decision. Loved his little boy and I don't know why him. I just wanted to take him in my tent and make him all better". They had laughed together, but today facing what she had to face she wished she that memory to overlay last night's episode.

AN

It was a long chapter but I wanted to give a brief overview of each couple and to give an update on Andrea and to let you know that my Andrea was a much quicker learner than the TV version of her.

Why would Christie renew her acquaintance with Merle? Surely no woman would ask that question. There was something about Merle that attracts and repels. Christie loves him. Plain and simple.

I love Michonne and see her as being like Merle in lots of ways. She shuts down and he leaves the situation. Jesse and Christie have the emotional maturity to love them and accept them as they are.

I wanted Daryl not to crawl back into his emotional cocoon but to step out and be a butterfly. He was undone by the goodnight kiss because Carol it made him aware of how little honest affection he had had in his life and that he wanted it in his life. He wants to be kissed goodnight, good morning and goodbye. And I do know how to spell "carousel" and I'll be disappointed if you didn't catch that.

Good day to you all and drop a review by way please.