AN: My guests are not quite here yet (but on the way! Yay!) so I got this chapter out since it's one that's been brewing for a while.
Also, quick reminder for anyone who has forgotten. I'm in no way trying to be realistic here nor am I in any way suggesting that this might even remotely be how the future of the show goes. This is completely and totally fictional and simply a story that I wanted to tell. OK? OK.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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Carol looked around the house that Rick and Michonne had chosen, or rather Michonne had really done the choosing, once the expansion was complete. At this point they were doing the final movements to take down the wall between the two areas and to clean up, but it wouldn't be long at all before they were able to move in.
So, still dirty and sweaty from a full day of work, Michonne had invited Carol to come with her and have a look at the house that they'd be moving into.
And Carol thought it was very nice…it was nicer, even, than her house before all of this had happened.
"It's beautiful, Michonne…really," Carol said as they walked through the upstairs and then headed downstairs to have a tour around the space.
"It's going to need some cleaning…a little work here and there that we'll have to put in ourselves," Michonne commented. She led Carol through the house, but she wasn't insulting her intelligence as though she couldn't tell what room or another would be, even if they hadn't moved in furniture yet. "So…in addition to the bedrooms upstairs and the master down here we've got this office…so if we expand the family…that's a nursery."
"And Carl and Judith get their own rooms," Carol said.
"That's the plan," Michonne responded.
Carol laughed.
"And if you go over the one expansion?" Carol asked. "More than one addition?"
Michonne made a face.
"Then I'll leave and it won't be my problem to deal with," she teased. "Let Rick figure that one out."
Carol laughed and continued her looking around and talking with Michonne.
At the prison they had always been in different worlds. It wasn't, so much, that they weren't friends with one another or that there was any particular reason for their distance, it was simply that Carol often ended up with jobs and positions around the prison that kept her too busy for much socializing…and they were often not the kinds of jobs that Michonne had while she was there.
But things were a lot different in Oasis. In some ways it was a much nicer set up. Unless you had a specialization…you were one of the very specific kinds of fields that needed to be filled…you pretty much practiced any and all jobs at some time or another.
It was much more equalizing…and, in a way, it promoted much more to coming together of people than the more "designated" jobs of the prison.
And Carol and Michonne had learned that they had quite a bit in common. More, perhaps, than they might have imagined before.
Carol enjoyed the woman's company and appreciated that they could easily relate to each other on most of the planes that mattered…and that even if Rick was, at times, awkward around Carol, Michonne never seemed to let that bleed over onto her at all.
"Michonne!" Tyreese's voice echoed through the empty house with the hollow sound of rooms not yet filled with anything.
"Yeah?" Michonne called back, smiling at Carol and putting her finger to her lips…he was probably there for Carol, but Michonne would try to lead him on a bit if she could.
"Carol with you?" He called back.
Michonne stepped from the back of the house, in front of Carol, toward the front door where he was calling from…probably not wanting to track dirt and mess into the house without realizing that both women had probably brought in a fair share of outside debris.
"What does she look like?" Michonne called.
Carol laughed…she couldn't help it…and then she caught up with Michonne, coming into the front of the house to find Tyreese standing there with the door open, but remaining just outside.
"There you are," he said with a smile. "Just wanted to let you know…I'm going to go with them to take a load of trash and stuff off…then dinner?"
Carol nodded.
"I ordered something," she said. "So I want to go pick it up…I could pick up dinner on my way back from post."
Tyreese shook his head.
"I'll be back by then…go pick it up and I'll pick up dinner and meet you at the house…then we can shower," he said.
Carol nodded.
"Sounds good to me," she responded.
He pursed his lips at her and hung there and she crossed the room quickly, pecking him before he waved at Michonne and turned, descending the front porch steps quickly to go with the crew that would be waiting on him to clean out the back of some of the trucks they'd been loading down with debris.
"I'll walk with you to post," Michonne offered. "I've got to pick up a few things…Rick's bringing dinner. We don't have any furniture, but we thought we'd picnic here with the kids tonight.
"Sure…that'll be great," Carol said. "I ordered a table cloth…it's not much…but I wanted one and they were taking orders with the bulk cloth."
They left the house and started across the community, Carol making sure to keep up with Michonne's longer strides, in the direction of post.
"So do you want to bet on how long it is until Baby Rhee gets here?" Michonne asked.
Carol shook her head.
"I don't have anything to bet you and I know how you are about expecting people to pay up…" Carol said. "Baby Rhee's going to be here soon, though. I'd say three days."
"If even that long," Michonne offered. "Did you go over? See the nursery?"
"I did...it's cute and they're both so excited," Carol commented.
Michonne laughed.
"You went on a different day than I did, then, because when I went Maggie was pretty much done with the whole pregnancy thing," Michonne remarked.
"Well…but that's to be expected," Carol said. "When I was pregnant…I thought I'd never see the end of it."
Michonne hummed her agreement.
Maggie would survive this, and they would have a beautiful baby to show for it soon, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to be at least a little bit miserable in the process.
When they reached post, the women parted ways quickly, since Michonne was going to shop while Carol didn't have anything to pick up except that which she knew was already waiting on her.
She found Eileen working there, and stepped over to her.
"Hi, Carol…yours is ready," Eileen said, getting up from where she was. She disappeared to the shelves behind the "counter" they'd set up in the space and came back with the tablecloth, folded up, Carol's name written on a piece of tape and stuck to it.
"Take it out my credits?" Carol asked.
Eileen smiled and nodded.
"Already did…hope it's what you wanted!" She replied.
"Oh, it will be," Carol said, taking it up in her hands, careful not to get any of the nastiness she was wearing on it before she even got it home, and waving at Eileen before she left the post, headed for the house.
It was a simple thing…just a plain green and white checked table cloth…but it was the simple things that were most exciting sometimes. She knew that Tyreese would like it, or rather he would say that it was a fine table cloth since he cared about it much less than she did, but she didn't expect for him to have the same affinity for it as she did. Those little touches around the house were hers…but at least he did the best that he could to appreciate them for what they were.
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"I just wish you were as excited about it as I am," Carol declared as she bounded back from the shower house, her basket swinging on her arm.
Tyreese laughed beside her and stepped up, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her close to him.
"I'm excited if you're excited," he said. "It's a nice tablecloth…"
"What would make you really excited?" Carol asked. "What…if we could get it…what would it take to make you just feel…I don't know…just happy?"
"I'm already happy," Tyreese responded. "I'm very happy…"
They got to the house and Tyreese stepped in front of Carol, pulling the door open. She smiled and thanked him as she ducked inside and he followed her in, shutting the door and offering to put away her basket while he took his own to tuck it in the bathroom that they used for very little…at least until some of the new plumbing plans were put underway.
Carol set about lighting the lamps to light up their living room area and she dropped down on the couch, sighing at how nice it was to be clean and relaxed for the moment.
Tyreese came back through into the living room and went over to the chair that was near the couch…one of his few "requests" for the little house and sat, angling his body toward Carol.
"You want to know?" He asked.
She raised an eyebrow at him.
"You want to know what would make me even happier than I am right now?" Tyreese asked.
Carol smiled and nodded.
She was genuinely curious since Tyreese never seemed to "want" anything. She felt like it was always her that was making requests or saying that this would be nice to have or that would be nice. She felt guilty, sometimes, that she was always the one trying to direct everything about their home.
Tyreese nodded his head at her and chewed his lip before he drug his hand over his face.
He reached and dug his fingers into his t-shirt pocket and came out, holding something. He smiled, nodded again, more to himself than to anything in his environment, and Carol was surprised when he eased himself down in front of her.
"It would make me…very, very happy…if you would say that you would marry me," Tyreese said.
He held out his hand and in his palm was a little gold band. Carol brought her hand up to her mouth, not quite sure how to react. She'd never expected to be asked to marry anyone again…and it certainly was something that she hadn't thought about in a while.
She reached and took the band out of his hand, looking at it in her own for a moment.
"They didn't have diamonds where we went on the last run," Tyreese said. "But I could look for one later. I got the bands…I've been holding onto them. I wanted it to feel like a good time to ask."
Carol slipped the band on her finger. It almost fit perfectly. It was a little loose, but not loose enough that it was really at risk of falling off.
"It's almost the perfect size," she commented. She looked at Tyreese. "How did you know what size?" She asked.
He smiled and reached his hand up, threading his fingers around hers and moving his body closer to hers. He pulled her hand over, when she curled her fingers over his hand, and kissed her fingers.
"I know…what your fingers feel like between mine," he said. "It wasn't that hard to find a ring that felt about right. I tried to leave a little room…just to grow on."
Carol chuckled and sniffed too…not realizing until then how much it was all affecting her.
"So?" Tyreese asked. "Would you make me happier than I am?"
Carol smiled and glanced at the band again, still on the fingers threaded through his. She nodded her head and leaned forward and Tyreese moved, coming to reach her and kiss her.
"Yes," she said when she broke apart. "I'll marry you…it would make me…very happy too."
Tyreese smiled and got up from where he was sitting, coming to sit beside her on the couch. He pulled her to him and kissed her again.
"First thing tomorrow," he said. "I'll go down…tell them we need to set things up. I'm not letting the most beautiful woman in Oasis, slip through my fingers." He said with a wink.
Carol pushed herself forward and kissed him again.
"I love you…" she said, pecking him on the lips.
"It's a good thing," he said. "Because I love you too."