Dora was feeling pretty much useless at this point. Everybody seemed to have jobs. They seemed to know what they were doing, but she didn't know what she was supposed to be doing and neither did Frank, Jimmy, or Junior. When they were alone in their house at night, having chosen to stay together, they talked about the other group. How could they break the ice? How could they get involved?
This morning they were finishing up breakfast, in what had become the most uncomfortable silence ever. Dora was considering approaching Carol after breakfast and asking if she could help with something, anything.
"Someone's going to have to make a run for water." Carol said, coming into the dining room. "We need to wash clothes and I don't have enough water for that."
"I'll go." Dora said immediately.
"I'll cover her." Sasha said. Michonne, without saying anything, got up and handed Hope over to Daryl.
It was settled, Dora thought. She'd go get water with two of the people who she didn't even know the names of. She wasn't sure where they were going or exactly how this worked, but she was going to get water. She was also hopeful that she'd find out what they were named at least. She'd like to feel like she knew them at least well enough to think of them by their names and not their characteristics.
Outside, the woman with the sword had silently given Dora two buckets. Each of them had taken one. Maggie and her husband opened the gate for them and they passed through, the two women accompanying Dora immediately killed off a few Walkers lumbering around outside.
"It's getting cold." Dora said. She shivered, wishing she'd worn more clothes. When she got no response from her travel companions, she decided to try again. "I'm Dora." She prompted. There wasn't any real response. This wasn't going to work out the way that she had seen it going in her head.
Sasha could tell the woman was uncomfortable and she felt sorry for her. For a minute she could remember what it had been like when she'd first joined this group, wondering if all of these new and strange people would ever speak to her or accept her. She didn't know which would have been worse, coming here and having Earl hanging over your head like a crowd, or coming here and trying to find your place under Rick, who had been more than a little unpredictable.
"I'm Sasha." She said, finally. The woman smiled and looked a little relieved. "That's Michonne." She offered, just in case Michonne wasn't in the mood to talk to Dora. "She doesn't talk too much." Sasha said. When she first had arrived, she'd been terrified of Michonne. Now she'd come to realize that Michonne just had a way of walling herself in. Some days she was open and would talk to you, but anytime anything happened she distanced herself and seemed to live mostly in silence. Michonne hadn't really addressed many of them the past few days.
Dora felt relieved to know that Sasha was willing to talk to her. It also made her feel a little better to know that Michonne didn't talk much. Maybe it wasn't something against her, maybe Michonne just wasn't a chatty person. Dora was a chatty person. She loved to talk and she loved people. She was very social when they lived in Florida. They'd lived in a retirement village, not because they needed any kind of assistance or thought they would need it any time soon, but because it put them in close vicinity with a lot of people with similar interests, and since their children had grown up and moved away, they enjoyed the feeling of community. Dora had been quite popular there and loved entertaining all her friends.
"Frank and I were on vacation when all this started." Dora said. "This part wasn't in the brochure."
Sasha, walked away for a minute, killing a Walker that was a few feet away. Though it hadn't really shown much interest in them, she wanted to go ahead and get it out of the way. One Walker down was one less to worry about if they were herding.
"When it really got bad I was at home from college for the weekend." Sasha said. "I hadn't really included all of this in my weekend plans either."
"Was the guy your boyfriend before all of this?" Dora asked. Sasha looked at her in a confused manner. "The man you live with…he's not your boyfriend?"
Sasha laughed. "Oh Lord, no! Tyreese is my big brother." Sasha said. Dora heard Michonne snicker.
"Sorry, I just thought he was your boyfriend. I'm still trying to figure everything out." Dora said.
"No big deal." Sasha said. They finally reached the creek and Dora followed suit and filled her buckets. They were heavy, and it was a longer walk than she had anticipated, but she wasn't going to complain. She'd finally gotten Sasha to talk to her, and though Michonne wasn't saying anything, her face looked significantly more relaxed than it had over breakfast.
"What year were you in college?" Dora asked on the way back.
"Senior." Sasha said. "I was looking forward to graduating, but now I guess that doesn't matter."
"Jimmy was a senior in college, too." Dora said. "I guess y'all are about the same age. I think Junior was a sophomore."
Sasha didn't say anything. Dora felt a little awkward. She was just carrying water, but Michonne and Sasha were carrying water and handling any of the dead ones that came near. They called them Walkers. The group that she'd been with before had just called them the Dead. There had always been stories, always been jokes about the zombie apocalypse. Dora had always laughed at them, never imagining what it would be like to be in the middle of it, and here she was. She was in the middle of it and right now was trying to figure out how to become an accepted member of this group. That was an obstacle she hadn't seen coming.
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Beth was inside passing out supplies into boxes. Carol kept coming in and out of the house doing various activities, trying to keep her mind busy. She was also washing clothes and hanging them to dry on some of the lines that Daryl had hung for her in the yard. She stopped every now and again because it was getting cold and that meant the water was cold. It made her hands stiff if she didn't take breaks to supervise Beth. She had put Judith in her little yard with some toys that Maggie and Glenn had found for her and Judith was more than happy to sit and play with them or to toddle around yelling at anyone who she could see.
"Did you bring your clothes down here?" Carol asked, walking in the room where Beth was trying not to lose her concentration.
"Yeah, I did." Beth said. "I brought them yesterday."
"It doesn't look like the pile is the same size as it normally is. Somebody didn't bring theirs." Carol said. She had brought the clothes from their house, but it annoyed her when others didn't bring theirs.
"Probably Josh and Brenda." Beth said. "They always forget. I can go get them if you want."
"No, I'll go." Carol said. She could forgive them. They had very odd schedules and she imagined it could be difficult to remember everything, like laundry, and still work the night watch every night. "Keep an ear out for Judith."
Carol walked out of the house. She waved at Judith who was watching her and started down the street to Josh and Brenda's house, hoping they'd at least been tidy enough to keep their laundry in the basket she'd given them. She didn't want to go plundering around looking for dirty underwear while they slept. On the way down she passed Michonne on the sidewalk.
"Carol, can you help me a minute?" Michonne asked. She was carrying Hope in one arm and the wrap in the other.
"Sure." Carol said. She stopped and helped Michonne get Hope situated. Hope yawned a few times. "You probably could have put her down for a while. It looks like she'll be going to sleep soon."
"It's OK, she can nap with me. I'm just going to salvage a couple of houses so it doesn't matter if she's with me." Michonne said.
"There are plenty of empty boxes at headquarters." Carol said. "Yesterday Maggie made a big score in one of the houses. Apparently they were going to move because she said most of the work had been done for her and everything was in boxes. Now she's just got to finish going through them to see what we might actually want."
"Well, I hope that someone finds more baby clothes. Judith and Hope are both growing like weeds." Michonne said.
"All set." Carol said, adjust the wrap for the final time. "Comfortable?"
"Feels fine." Michonne said. She paused while Carol kissed Hope. Michonne started off in the direction of headquarters and Carol finished making her way to Josh and Brenda's house.
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They had not been as tidy as Carol had hoped. She'd collected most of what she could find, not really knowing if the clothes scattered throughout the house were clean or dirty. They were not very good housekeepers. She carried the basket back to headquarters. Coming in sight of the yard she scanned Judith's pen. She stopped. Judith wasn't there. Carol jogged over, put down the basket and ran inside. Michonne and Beth were both upstairs, but Judith wasn't with them.
"Where's Judith?" Carol asked, trying not to panic.
"She was outside in her pen." Michonne said.
"Well she's not there." Carol said.
Michonne could see that Carol was headed for a total meltdown.
"Calm down," Michonne said, starting down the stairs. "We'll find her." By the time they got to the yard Carol had started to become unraveled. "Carol, calm down." Michonne said, surveying the yard. "There are no Walkers and no blood, so she didn't get taken by a Walker. Daryl built this thing stronger than Fort Benning, so that means that someone has her. We've just got to find them and you'll see that Judith is fine."
They started down the street and coming toward them was Dora, carrying Judith who was hugging a stuffed duck that was almost as big as she was.
"Oh God!" Carol said, running toward her and taking Judith out of her arms, hugging her. Carol was crying, so Judith responded by doing the same.
Dora looked shocked. Michonne walked over to them.
"See, no reason to panic, Carol. She's fine." Michonne said.
"I'm sorry." Dora stammered. "I was going to ask if Carol wanted help with the laundry. The baby was alone, and we have a bunch of stuffed animals and dolls in one of the rooms in our house. I just thought she might want to pick out a friend. I didn't mean to upset anyone."
Carol was calming down now, as was Judith.
"It's fine." Michonne said. "Just next time let someone know if you're taking her somewhere. It's a shock to think she's going to be somewhere and then she's not."
Michonne didn't think that Dora was a threat. She seemed like a nice older woman. Maybe she'd even had grandchildren. Judith didn't seemed threatened by her either. In fact, Michonne was certain that the only reason Judith was crying a little now was because she didn't know what was upsetting Carol. Even Hope was squirming uncomfortably against her, probably responding to her tensing up.
"I'm sorry." Dora said again.
"It's OK." Carol said finally.
"Do you need some help with the laundry? I know there's a lot of it for one person to do by hand." Dora offered.
Carol paused a minute and nodded. They headed back to the headquarters.
When they got there, Michonne went back inside to gather up the boxes that she had been emptying when Carol came in. Carol kissed the top of Judith's head and put her back in the pen. Judith protested at first, but then gave up.
Dora sat with Carol and started washing clothes.
"I didn't mean to upset you." Dora said. "I guess I should have thought about telling someone that I was taking her. What's her name again?"
"Judith." Carol said.
"She's really sweet. So calm." Dora said.
"She has to be these days." Carol said. It was true that Judith was a lot different than she remembered Sophia being. It was like she had an understanding of the madness around her. Like she had instinctually learned that her life was going to be one in which there was no need to fuss about things because it really wasn't going to change your situation.
Dora decided that if she was going to get Carol to talk to her, now was as good a time as ever since she had her as a more or less captive audience.
"Did your husband die?" She ventured. Carol stopped washing the clothes for a minute. The she started again.
"Yeah. He died in a Walker attack." She said.
"I'm sorry. Was it here?" Dora asked. She couldn't imagine Walkers getting in here, but it could be possible.
"No." Carol said. "An attack on a camp we were at, back when everything was first happening."
It was possible then that Judith was a little older than she thought she was, or it was possible that the baby had not been Carol's husband's child. Maybe she had been right about the whole polygamous relationship. Dora didn't know how to proceed any further delicately. She sighed.
"I don't know how to ask this, so I'm just going to ask it." She started. "Was he the father?"
"What?" Carol asked.
"Was your husband Judith's father?" Dora asked.
Carol realized now that Dora was confused. She laughed a little. Maybe to a stranger's eyes there was a lot to be confused about in this bunch.
"Judith isn't my child." Carol said. She laughed again, but this time it was at Dora's face.
"Did you find her?" Dora asked.
"Not really. Her mother used to be in our group. She was married to Rick. I guess that Judith is Rick's child, but I don't think she knows she is. She's more likely to think Daryl is her father." Carol clarified for her.
Dora assumed by now that Rick was the other man in the group that hadn't been identified for her. The one that had the teenage son. She couldn't figure out why he and the woman that apparently wasn't his wife but was living as his wife didn't have the baby. Why had they given it to Carol? She would have never guessed that Carol wasn't the mother of the child from the way she treated it. Dora decided not to pry into that right now. She'd maybe find out later.
"Is there anyone else that you don't know yet?" Carol asked.
"Who is Rick's…girlfriend or whatever."
"Rachel." Carol said.
"And Maggie's husband?" Dora asked.
"Glenn." Carol responded.
"What about that other couple, the ones that only eat breakfast and dinner with us because they do watches at night?"
"Josh and Brenda." Carol said.
"Is the baby Michonne takes care of hers?" Dora asked. She'd decided it was better not to assume things about this group. They were unpredictable.
"Yes, that's her baby. That's Hope. I guess Hope is maybe four months old." Carol said. She'd lost track of time.
"So Daryl and Michonne are together." Dora said.
"Yeah, they actually got married when Glenn and Maggie got married. We were already waiting for Hope then." Carol said.
"And you live with them?"
Dora's statement had been half a statement and half a question. Carol smiled at her.
"Yeah, we all live together. They took me in." Carol said. She got up, picking up some of the clothes to go and hang them. "Don't get any ideas, though, it's nothing like that." She added.