AN: Here we go, another little chapter!

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

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"She is such a little cutie!" Andrea declared, watching as Sophia tried to stuff her face and Carol tried to simultaneously keep her from getting as much food in her mouth as she was striving to get in there. At the moment, with mashed potatoes and bits of chicken stuck to her face, Carol wasn't sure how cute her daughter could possibly look to anyone who hadn't carried her and delivered her.

"She don't talk much, though," Merle commented.

Carol glanced at him. He wasn't too much more refined of an eater than Russ or Sophia, so she assumed that maybe they weren't judging her two year old's table manners too harshly.

"But she can talk," Daryl offered.

Carol nodded.

"Oh yeah," she said. "She can talk…she just isn't very chatty, I guess. She talks when she feels like it."

Carol didn't want to admit that much of Sophia's life there had been so much contradictory commands around talking that she wasn't sure that her daughter could fully make heads or tails of it. She had always wanted, like all mothers, for Sophia to talk and show off her budding verbal communication skills…so she'd praised her for talking and chattering away about things that she wanted to talk about, but on the other hand she had felt like she needed the girl to be quiet as much as she could be around Ed so she'd hushed her a good deal whenever he was present.

As a result, Carol honestly worried that Sophia wasn't entirely sure if it was good or not to talk…though she didn't know how confused a two year old could actually be and she hoped that it was simply that Sophia was more of an observer and less of a talker for the most part.

"This one," Andrea said, looking at Russ who was sitting next to her, "seemed to start talking when he was six months old and I don't think we've slowed down too much yet."

Russ looked at her and furrowed his brow.

"Nah ah!" He protested. "Babies can't talk…I don't…"

Andrea cut him off before he could get wound up in his defense.

"We love your talking, Russ," Andrea said. "We'd be bored without it…I just meant that you like to talk…a lot."

"He gets that from Daryl," Merle offered.

And Carol snorted. She'd only been her about an hour at this point and she could already tell that of the brothers, Daryl wasn't the chatty one. He wasn't really quiet, per se, but he wasn't as verbose as his brother was.

"Russ is a good storyteller," Carol offered, looking at the little boy who was still looking around the table, brow furrowed, like he wasn't sure if he was taking offense from all of this.

He lightened up a little at that.

"In the car he kept me entertained today," Carol continued.

"I just like stories," Russ said, his face relaxing into the sideways smile he had before he went back to eating…now satisfied that what he was getting out of this was praise, even if he hadn't been sure before.

"Know who else likes tellin' stories?" Merle asked, cutting his eyes at Daryl.

Carol noticed Daryl fidget a little. He cleared his throat.

"Russ an' me…we tell stories ta each other," Daryl said. "That's all there is to it…ain't nothin' more'n that."

Carol smiled at him softly. She knew now about Russ's stories. The boy loved to be read to and he loved stories…and he especially loved whatever tale it was that Daryl was spinning just for him.

And Carol thought the whole thing was wonderful.

"I think it's nice that you and Russ share that," she said, sincerely.

And then she blushed because she realized how it had sounded when it came out of her mouth…she realized how her tone of voice had sounded…and she realized that she had everyone's attention and that Daryl looked a little pinker than he had before.

"So," Andrea said quickly, "Alice told me that you're a teacher?"

Carol nodded her head.

"Well…I will be," Carol offered. "I've got a job to start at the high school, but I've never taught before."

She made a face, hoping that it showed that she was a little bit nervous about the fact that she was about to start teaching. She wanted to teach, and it had been something that she'd wanted to do for most of her life, but it was a little nerve wracking now that it was right in front of her and it was something that she was genuinely going to be doing.

"I hated high school," Andrea said.

"Me too," Merle said.

Daryl looked at him.

"Ya didn't finish high school, asshole," Daryl commented. "You hardly ever even went."

Merle chuckled.

"Ya got me there," he said, reaching across the table in search of chicken. Andrea, without missing a beat, picked up a piece with her fingers and passed it to him in an effort to keep him from stretching all the way across the piece of furniture. "Worst damn three days a' my life, though."

Andrea had obviously been to college or she wouldn't be a nurse, but Carol wondered then if Daryl had finished high school. She couldn't remember if he'd ever mentioned it before or not. Both men worked at a shop, but she really didn't know enough about the business to know if it required an education. It didn't bother her one way or another, and that was probably why she couldn't remember if he'd ever said anything about it, but it made her realize that there were a lot of things she couldn't say with confidence about Daryl.

But the same was probably true for him as well.

And at least, at the moment, she felt like she was comfortable and pleased with the things that she could say with some confidence about him.

"Have you started a nursery for the babies?" Carol asked, jumping in and trying to keep conversation going, but feeling almost like she wasn't sure where to go with it.

Andrea nodded her head and then looked at Merle who was looking at her. Carol could see some kind of conversation passing back and forth between them, though it was silent.

"Well…I mean we have a nursery," Andrea offered after a moment, looking at Carol. "It's not really…ready…but…"

Carol felt like she'd picked the worst topic for conversation she could have chosen.

"Well, you have plenty of time," she offered, trying to undo her mistake.

Andrea smiled warmly and nodded her head.

"We have plenty of time," she repeated.

Carol relaxed more and more as dinner went on and as the conversation of afterwards, while everyone sat complaining at intervals about having eaten too much and complimenting Andrea on the meal, continued.

She liked Merle and Andrea, and as she was loosening up, she was understanding a little more of how they worked…and she was appreciating that they didn't really seem to be the kind to be too judgmental, even of her, beyond that which was fuel for the teasing that Merle thrived on.

When everyone seemed to think they had sat long enough, and the children were starting to squirm without food to entertain them, Daryl took to his feet first and excused himself to go outside and smoke. Merle got up, taking that as a good suggestion, to do the same.

"Sorry," Andrea said to the whole room instead of anyone in particular. "I don't have anything to offer for dessert."

"Uh huh!" Russ declared. "We got nanna popsicles…"

Andrea chuckled.

"You're right, Russ," Andrea said. "I didn't think of that…does anyone want banana popsicles?"

Both Daryl and Merle seemed to consider the offer of fruit flavored ice for a moment, but declined it and Carol watched as both of them left the kitchen and headed toward their destination, her stomach churning slightly at the thought that they might be talking about her when they went out there…and that she could only hope that what they had to say wouldn't be too bad.

"Do you want a popsicle?" Andrea asked, going to the freezer and pulling out a box. She put one on the counter and started to open another to hand to Russ who was already out of his seat and standing in front of her, a hand outstretched in anticipation of his sweet treat.

"No thanks," Carol said, freeing Sophia from the seat that was her friend while she was eating but was now seemed to be making her grow more and more annoyed.

As soon as Sophia's feet hit the ground, she went straight over to Andrea and Russ to investigate what they were eating. After all, she was never so full as to refuse more food.

"Want some!" She declared first to Russ and then to Andrea, seeing that her declaration only made Russ turn his back to her and put a few feet between them while he pretended not to hear her.

"Can she have one?" Andrea asked Carol.

Carol nodded.

"She can have some…but pass it to me," Carol said.

Andrea nodded and delivered one of the paper wrapped popsicles to Carol while Sophia continued to hover around her legs waiting to get one like Russ had.

"I know it's gross," Carol said, "but I still do the baby bird thing with her when it comes to popsicles. If she gets to hold the whole thing it's like she doesn't know what to do with it…she won't eat it and then it just melts everywhere. Soph…come here…Mommy's got your popsicle," Carol finished, biting off a piece of the popsicle and holding it out in her hand for Sophia to take and eat.

"I've got this thing for banana popsicles lately," Andrea said, leaning over the sink and eating hers.

Carol chuckled, biting off another piece for Sophia who was almost dancing for it as though it might be a reward for a performance well done.

"Cravings," Carol said. "I had this thing with raisins when I was pregnant with Sophia. Funny thing is, I really don't like raisins."

Andrea laughed.

"At least I liked banana popsicles to start with," Andrea said.

Carol watched as Russ, sticky handed, started to pull at Andrea's clothes to get her attention. Andrea leaned over, looking at him without speaking. Directing her attention in his direction, obviously, was all that he needed to feel that she was listening to him.

"Umm…" Russ said, half distracted by watching Sophia. "Umm…She…she's not old enough to eat nanna popsicles."

Andrea glanced at Carol with something of a smirk on her face and then back at Russ.

"Why not? Sophia can have banana popsicles if she wants them," Andrea said. "It looks like she's enjoying it as much as you are…"

"But she can't eat it like she's s'posed to!" Russ declared.

Carol almost laughed at his tone of voice because it registered somewhere between horrified and indignant that Andrea wasn't taking his side on this. He pointed a finger at Sophia while Carol handed her one of the last bites of the sticky, syrupy mess as though to illustrate his point.

"And?" Andrea asked. "You couldn't either…we used to feed them to you like that."

"No you didn't…" Russ declared.

Andrea chuckled and nodded her head dramatically.

"Yes we did…you've eaten a lot more food that I've bit before you than you even realize. Now…chew on that for a moment and finish your popsicle. You're dripping and it's a mess," Andrea said.

Carol watched as Andrea took the sticky, gooey stick from Russ once he'd bitten off the remainder of the sweet and tossed it into the trash can. She got a rag, wet it, and then mopped him clean before she rinsed it and offered it to Carol.

Carol cleaned Sophia up and let Sophia go with Russ when Andrea told him to go into the living room and play with her.

And it was only then that Carol bothered to speak again while she helped Andrea start clearing plates, despite the woman's insistence that she was a guest and didn't have to help.

"You've really been…a mother to Russ, haven't you?" Carol asked, keeping her voice low so that they wouldn't be overheard by anyone in the living room.

Andrea shrugged.

"Maybe," she said. "I've just been Aunt Andrea…I don't know…I guess I don't know how to be anything to Russ except Aunt Andrea."

Andrea went back to the table for more dishes, having given up her protesting about the ones that Carol was washing while she scraped them and put food into containers destined for the refrigerator.

"You would have had to know what it was like for Daryl in the beginning," Andrea said. She shook her head, though not at anything in particular. "When Heather left…when she did what she did…it devastated him. And then…he was there with Russ…and he didn't know what to do. And I didn't know what to do and Merle didn't know what to do…but I guess that we all just figured that if the three of us together couldn't figure out how to raise a child, then there just wasn't any way to raise one."

Carol smiled softly to herself. She could imagine the three of them, now that she knew Merle and Andrea a little better, all feeling their way through raising this boy.

"He's turned out wonderful," Carol said. "How does he feel…or what does he know…about his mother?"

Andrea shook her head.

"Not much," she said. "Daryl's just always wanted to teach him that families are different…you know? Some have mothers and fathers…some have fathers…some have mothers…"

"Some have Aunt Andreas and Uncle Merles?" Carol offered.

Andrea laughed softly.

"That too," she said. "They're just…different. I'm sure he'll talk to him more about it when he's older…when he starts asking the big questions, but until now he honestly hasn't even asked about her…he hasn't asked why he doesn't have a mother…nothing."

Carol nodded her head.

She didn't offer the information up at the moment, but she was surprised at how close she came to doing so. She started to tell Andrea that Sophia was probably going to be the same way…except for the fact that she, at least in a very rudimentary way, understood what "Daddy" was. And that was what made it all the more interesting to Carol that in the time that she'd been gone, Sophia hadn't once bothered to even utter the word, even though she'd used it before.

But Carol stopped herself. She might share more of that…more of her life and more of the not so pleasant details of the existence she and Sophia shared with Ed…but for as comfortable as she did feel with the Dixons, she wasn't sure that they needed all of that information all at once…not before they'd really settled into what they thought of her.