AN: So here's the first update. There will hopefully be quite a few today. I have a couple of pages of notes for the chapters that I'd like to get through simply because the thoughts are invading my brain so my apologies to anyone that wants updates around the board because I'm stuck here at least until I make it through the updates (I think they're reasonably divided into chapters now) that are driving me nuts. Otherwise I won't be able to focus on trying to write for any of the other stories.
That being said, I'll try to let you know what number we're on so you don't get lost and miss something.
As always, thank you for your comments and reviews. They mean the world to me, even though I won't be responding to them individually right now as I'm trying to get this all out, hopefully before I have to go to work!
I hope you enjoy!
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111
The first night at the new house wasn't nearly as exciting as Carol had thought it might be. She wasn't sure exactly what she envisioned, but the house was empty and she didn't have a television or anything to fill the silence.
They'd stopped and bought pizza on the way from the apartments to the house and when they got there they sat at the new dining room table and ate pizza together chatting a little about Merle and Andrea moving into the apartment and how Merle had behaved while he was out with Daryl. Carol hadn't mentioned the tearful moment with Andrea or anything like that.
After dinner, Daryl said he was tired and ready for bed. Carol thought that there still might be something eating at him, but for all her probing he kept insisting that it was nothing and he just wanted to go to bed. Finally she had shown him that she was unpacking the little bag that Andrea sent for him and that he had clothes and a toothbrush there so he didn't have to worry about the nights that he wanted to stay over. He was prepared.
Daryl hadn't really responded to the suggestion of the overnight bag. He'd nodded his head a little and accepted it, but then he'd simply gone into the bathroom and brushed his teeth.
Carol found him in the bed when she got came in from brushing her own teeth. Lincoln was beside him, probably having learned how to use his stairs. Carol pulled back the cover on what was apparently her side of the bed, at least until something happened and she got rolled to the other side, and crawled in.
Carol realized that whatever kind of mood that Daryl was in, the very same one that he swore he wasn't in and apparently didn't want to talk about, he wasn't really in the mood to suggest they do anything. It was bothering her, as she lie there, because she'd seen it in her head as some beautiful scene where this would be the first night in her home, and they were in what she had come to consider their bed for the first night, so rationally they should do something to make it special.
She rolled her head in Daryl's direction. The light from a street lamp lit the bedroom up pretty well, especially since she had blinds but no curtains yet, and she could see that he already had his eyes closed. It felt like he was a million miles away from her and not just across the bed. Carol moved over some and rubbed her foot on his leg. He kept his eyes closed in response. She rolled on her side and reached out, trailing her fingers over his arm, but for her efforts all she got was a goodnight kiss she wasn't expecting from Lincoln.
Carol sighed and rolled over. Daryl said he would never tell her no. Those had been his exact words. Apparently, though, in Daryl language that mean that he would just pretend he was asleep if he wasn't in the mood to do anything with her. Carol wasn't going to push it. She didn't want to feel like she'd forced Daryl to sleep with her their first night in the house. That was an image that just didn't go with her idea of home either.
Carol rolled over and tried to adjust to the atmosphere surrounding her new home and what it felt like to try to sleep there. She knew it would be a lot easier if Daryl had seemed more enthusiastic about the whole thing, but she guessed that it was one of those things that he had to adjust to as well. She just hoped that it didn't take him too long to learn to love their new home and to want to play along with her making the memories that she thought were important for building this next part of their relationship.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 1
The next morning Carol was up before Daryl. She had only bothered to buy the basic groceries, deciding she could do a more leisurely trip later, and she'd brought over what they had in the apartment. At least for the morning she could make him pancakes and sausage like he like and offer him coffee. She figured that was a sure fire way to lighten his mood and maybe get him to either let go of the funk he seemed to be in the night before or at least discuss a little what was wrong.
Carol opened the door and smiled as Lincoln trotted outside to patrol his yard. She started the coffee maker an got the dishes out of the cabinets to start making breakfast. She turned at the sound of Daryl's feet slapping on the wood floor and smiled to see him wandering through the house in his boxers looking a little disoriented.
"Making breakfast," she said. "Pancakes and link sausage, your favorite."
Daryl smiled a sleepy smile at her. He came near her and looked out the window that she'd been glancing out of from time to time. She knew everything was fine, but she was still adjusting to the feeling of leaving Lincoln outside alone for any given length of time. For some reason she kept having horrible feelings that something might happen to him or the fence might magically disappear and he could run away. She knew they were ridiculous feelings, but they were flashing through her mind nonetheless.
"He likes the yard," Daryl grumbled, his voice heavy still with sleep.
"He does," Carol said. "I guess it's a lot more fun than pulling one of us behind him on a leash."
"He likes them damn stairs ya got him too," Daryl said. He yawned and stretched and Carol felt a little relieved. He was lighter this morning than he'd been the night before and she was glad to see that whatever it had been was apparently slowly fading. He just needed a little time, perhaps, just like everyone else.
"I hoped he would like the stairs. Last night was the first time I saw him use them," Carol said.
"Yeah ya was over there snorin' somewhere 'round tha middle a' the damn night when he got him an idea ta run laps up an' down 'em. It was like he figured they was gonna go away or somethin' an' he better damn well get some use outta 'em." Daryl said.
Carol chuckled.
"It's all new for everyone," she said. "I guess he's just trying to adjust to it all like we all are."
Carol flipped the pancakes onto Daryl's plate and moved around his sausage links in the pan a little more.
"OK," she said. "Your breakfast is going to be ready soon. Go sit at the table and I'll bring it to you."
"Ya want me ta carry somethin'?" Daryl asked.
Carol smiled.
"No, I want you to go sit at the table so I can serve you your first breakfast in the new house," Carol said.
Daryl shrugged a little.
"OK then," he said. He shook his head a little and walked toward the table. Carol quickly gathered together the syrup and his utensils and napkin and carried it over to him. Next she brought his coffee, shifting the sausage around and making sure it got just the right amount of black on it. Daryl apparently liked his sausage burnt and if you cooked a plate full of it he would spend at least three minutes sorting through the entire plate to find the pieces that were most burnt. For Carol it was hard to just let herself burn food, especially since Ed had always punished her for things like that, but she'd heard Andrea declare it was the best thing in the world. She could forget about Daryl's breakfast and he was happy about it.
Carol finally decided she'd burned his sausage as much as she was comfortable with. She took it to him and sat across from him with her coffee while he ate.
"Ya ain't gon' eat?" He asked.
Carol shook her head.
"I'm at Lula's today. I'm working a partial shift just for the money. I'll just grab something then," Carol said.
"Ya didn't have ta make me breakfast if ya wasn't gonna eat," Daryl said, eating with some enthusiasm.
Carol smiled.
"I wanted to make you breakfast, Daryl," Carol said. "That was the whole reason I did it."
"Well it's good," Daryl said. "Thank ya."
Carol smiled.
"You're more than welcome and I'm glad you're enjoying it. You need to eat if you're going to be stuck out there at Hershel's," Carol said.
"I get sandwiches for lunch," Daryl said.
Carol nodded.
"What kind of sandwiches do you like?" She asked. She wondered if he'd like it if she sent sandwiches with him. She wouldn't mind making a sandwich with maybe a little something extra to pack him lunch before work. She thought that she might enjoy it, actually.
Daryl shrugged.
"I like chicken salad," he said.
"Just chicken salad?" Carol asked. She was beginning to understand that Daryl wasn't really a man of varied culinary tastes. He liked what he liked and that was pretty much the end of it.
He nodded.
"I like other stuff too," he said. "But if Miss Jo's askin' what we want, I'm gettin' chicken salad."
Carol smiled and nodded a little. She thought that she might have to swing by the A and P and make sure she picked up some stuff to make him chicken salad. It could be a nice surprise for him.
After Daryl finished his breakfast, he went and brushed his teeth and then he passed through the house, ready to head to Hershel's. Carol met him in the kitchen, wrapping her arms around him. He leaned down and kissed her and she wished that he didn't have to hurry off so that they could make up for what his sour mood of the night before had deprived them of, but she knew he hated to be late.
"You're coming here after work, aren't you?" Carol asked. She had already decided to make these statements as difficult for him to refuse as possible. Instead of asking where he was going after work, which could lead to him making a difficult decision, she would simply plant the correct answer to the question in the question itself. Then he wouldn't have to think about it too much.
Daryl considered it a moment and then nodded.
"Good," Carol said. "I'm getting off work early because the phone people are going to come and set the phone up. I might step out to run to the store, but I'll be back right after. You've got the spare key, right?"
Daryl felt in his pocket and came out with his keys. He found the shiny new key on the ring.
"Got it," he said, his arms still wrapped around her.
Carol smiled.
"Then you have a good day at work and I'll see you whenever we both get home," Carol said. He leaned down to kiss her quickly and then pulled away, heading out the door. She watched him from the window as he got in the truck and left for Hershel's. Once he was out of sight, she turned and headed toward the bedroom to get herself ready to get a few hours in at Lula's.
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Carol beat the people that were coming in to hook up the phone by about half an hour. It was enough time to get Lincoln out the door and clean up the mess he'd made in her absence when he thought he should help her get settled into the house by leaving one or two surprises here and there and also by brutally murdering one of his many stuffed toys and leaving the living room looking more like a stuffing factory crime scene than anything else.
She greeted the phone people when they got there and left them to do what they needed to do while she worked at unpacking some of the small boxes stowed in the guest bedroom. All that was really left were a few boxes of odds and ends and more than a handful of little decorative items and the like for her to put around.
Some of the women had given her what appeared to be grab bag gifts with picture frames, candles, scented soaps, and all kinds of random things that she thought were nice little additions to the space, even it meant that she had to figure out where to put everything. The gifts also made her realize, though, that she now had frames and no photos. She didn't have a camera either, but she knew that Michonne did and she thought maybe it would be nice to do something like have a picnic at the lake and take some pictures. The leaves were changing colors, so at least that could make for some pretty backgrounds before everything died for the winter.
Once the phone people left, Carol finished up with the things that she needed to unpack and sat down to start making a grocery list. She was considering some things that she could make for dinner, and she thought it might be nice to bake a few things. The changing weather and the excitement of the house had her in an odd sort of nesting mood and she thought that something like apple pie was more than in store for the near future. She also needed to get some things to pack Daryl's lunch so that he could leave in the morning with something instead of going empty handed to work.
While she was working on her list, she heard Lincoln sound the alarm that someone was outside. She got up and went to the window in time to see Michonne's car, but she was startled when Michonne knocked on the door.
"Come in," Carol called, smiling. "I missed you. By the time I knew you were out there you were at the door."
Michonne smiled.
"I was talking to Lincoln when I first got out the car," Michonne said. "He didn't decide to bark at me until I decided to stop talking."
"He's some guard dog," Carol said with a chuckle.
"So? How does it feel?" Michonne asked.
Carol smiled.
"I'm getting used to it," she said. "It was a little strange at first, you know? I mean last night was odd, but I'm starting to settle into the idea a little now," Carol replied.
"That's good," Michonne said with a smile. "You need to start making lists of things you need. That way everyone knows what to be on the lookout for."
Michonne was looking around and Carol knew that it was the mostly empty nature of the house that had her attention. Carol didn't mind the fact that the house didn't have too much in it yet. She liked the simplicity of it and she knew that with time she would acquire everything she needed and probably a ton of things she didn't need. She was a little nervous about telling Michonne much of what she wanted and needed because she'd already learned that the woman was more than likely to just show up one day with an entire semi-truck loaded down with everything.
"Yeah," Carol said. "I'm going to work on that. I think that the only thing that I'm going to get soon, though, are some tools for the fireplace. It's getting chilly outside and I think it would be nice to try it out."
"Well don't buy any," Michonne said. "My parents had a fireplace that they eventually blocked up and I know for a fact that I've got the fireplace set because it's in the attic. I had it out for decoration, but I thought toddlers and fire irons didn't exactly go well together.
Carol smiled.
"I'm not sure how Lincoln and fire irons go together either," she admitted.
"Well you have a fireplace," Michonne said. "It makes more sense for you. I don't so they were purely decorative. You could put up a little fence area here around the fireplace to keep all of that safe. I've seen them. I might get one for you…you know, for when you have the girls over here."
"You don't have to buy me things," Carol said. She was already seeing the wheels in Michonne's head turning.
"I don't have to, but I am allowed to give gifts to my friends when I want to," Michonne said. "I'm not here about that, though, I'm actually here on business."
"Oh?" Carol asked. She went to the coffee pot and fixed herself a cup of coffee that she'd turned on to warm earlier. "You want coffee?"
Michonne nodded and Carol went about fixing her a cup while she explained the nature of her visit.
"I drove to county today to pick some things up," Michonne said. "I thought they were important and it might be nice to have them now instead of having to wait for the mail and sorting and all that mess."
"What is it?" Carol asked. She crossed to where Michonne was leaning on the island and opening her briefcase. She put a coffee cup down for Michonne and sipped from her own cup, waiting to see what Michonne would dig out of the mass of papers that she carried about with her.
"Well," Michonne said, "you got another check from Ed's bank." She held up the envelope and Carol grinned, taking it and immediately beginning to rip it open. "And the good news is that it's even more than we expected. One of the very nice judges over at county happened to have another glance at your case and it seems that you've been awarded a little more than we thought. It's just terrible for Ed who's not going to have a penny to his worthless name when he gets the hell out of prison, but it's good news for you."
Carol looked at the check, her eyes going wide.
"Oh my God! This is great! And there's more?" Carol asked.
Michonne nodded.
"Oh, there's more. Turns out Ed had been squirreling away a good bit of money. He had another savings account," Michonne said.
Carol narrowed her eyebrows.
"We just had the one…I told you about that one," Carol said.
Michonne shook her head.
"You had the one. Ed had the other. He was putting money in there from the business and then performing a beautiful little act of fraud by not exactly reporting the money that he put in there. I guess he figured if he didn't tell anyone about it, no one would ever find out," Michonne said. She grinned. "Ed didn't count on the fact that I find out everything. So he's getting a little more time to his sentence for pissing off Uncle Sam and you're getting a few more bucks in your wallet thanks to the honorable Judge Lambert who will be dining with my father at a very nice restaurant of his choosing this weekend."
Carol chuckled.
"Michonne this is great!" Carol declared.
"That's not all," Michonne said. She raised her eyebrows.
"I'm not sure I can stand much more today," Carol said, grinning.
Michonne produced another folder from her briefcase and flipped through it, passing Carol an envelope.
"I need you to sign a couple more things," Michonne said.
Carol nodded. She'd signed so much lately that if she didn't trust Michonne she'd be afraid that she'd promised her soul to some unknown third party.
"But in that envelope you have the papers declaring your divorce from Ed Peletier to be final," Michone said.
Carol's eyes grew big.
"I thought it was going to take at least a year or something like that…" She stuttered out.
"Under normal circumstances, it would," Michonne said. "But with Ed's shiny new list of convictions and the determination of the honorable Judge Lambert to make things right, he got things processed. Walked right through the red tape and mess. You, my dear, are a free woman."
Carol squealed and Michonne circled around the island, wrapping her arms around her. Carol didn't realize she would cry the day that she was divorced, but she was crying now and there was nothing she could do about it.
She was free from Ed. It was almost impossible to believe. She was free from him. He was in prison doing time for all the things that he'd done to her. He was doing time for his abuse, and he was doing time, even, for what he'd done to the government by trying to pull a fast one on them. Ed was getting some sort of punishment for being the type of man that he was and she was standing in the kitchen of her new home, hugging the lawyer that had become one of her best friends. It didn't even feel, for a moment, like this was her life. It couldn't be her life, it was too good for the way she'd learned to think about what constituted her existence.
"I'm getting my name changed," Carol said when they broke apart. "That's the next thing I'm doing. I'm not carrying around his name anymore."
Michonne smiled.
"I think that's a wonderful idea," Michonne said.
Michonne stayed for a while longer and filled Carol in on the details of everything, but eventually she dismissed herself, saying that she had a few things that needed to get done. Carol thanked her profusely for having taken her time out of work to drive to county to pick everything up and deliver it personally.
Once Carol had seen Michonne out, she decided that some sort of celebration was in order. She had a crazy idea, one that she would never have dreamed of doing while married to Ed, but it seemed like a good idea now just to celebrate her freedom from the asshole.
Her groceries and special dinner would have to wait for the night. She'd buy something nice for dinner and bring it home to share with Daryl. She needed to go shopping because she was going to announce to Daryl tonight that she was a free woman and then they were going to celebrate her good fortune and newfound liberation.
Carol quickly threw herself together, scribbled a note for Daryl, gave Lincoln three treats just to celebrate the good news, and rushed out the house, overwhelmed with how wonderful her life was becoming.
