February 10, 2011
~*~ CP ~*~
Carol's never had a lazy birthday morning before, unless there's some long-ago memory from when she was a kid she can't dredge up anymore. But it's past ten and she's still in bed, with orders from just about everyone who can manage them that she's taking the day off.
Merle was up early, before dawn, readying for a trip down to that old biofuel place with a crew to disassemble everything they could. They've spent the last week fencing in more of the property beyond the Eldridges. While they ended up with a wealth of food, more than expected, she understands the itch to have more land ready. The old neighborhood outside the gates is now enclosed, just far enough back from the old state highway that the fencing can't be seen even in the dreary winter due to the tangled and unkempt vines and shrubbery along the roadway now. Those fields, carefully set in around the abandoned and cleared houses, will either provide extra food for the livestock or run the biofuel plant or both.
It didn't stop him from a half hour spent driving her insane with needing - and getting - him. Despite the fact she knows the early morning sex was driven as much by the damned little charted calendar in her nightstand drawer as by the wish to bring her a little early morning birthday gift in his arms, she aches pleasantly and wishes he could have stayed. She can only blame her own scheduling for it though. She did insist the world go on as normal despite her birthday today.
The kids brought in breakfast not long after Merle emerged into the house, and it was sweet how flustered Jazz was between overseeing the breakfast but also needing to be ready to leave with the work crew. Today's run is more about mechanical skills than skill with a gun, but they'll be well protected while they work.
Deciding lying in bed is about done for the day, she shuffles in the drawer for that little calendar. Honestly, as much as she initially liked the idea of the ovulation kits and being more in control of the process, she doesn't like the thing haunting them both. Before she can change her mind, she gathers everything up and chucks it in the bathroom wastebasket. It's time they just left it up to fate.
She showers and dresses, emerging into the mostly quiet house to find Lori snoozing in the recliner while Cricket has Judith cuddled close. Christian doesn't seem worried about his mother's distraction with another baby, since he spots Carol instantly and makes a break for her. His wobbly walking is getting steadier by the day. She scoops him up and blows raspberries on his little stomach, causing him to cackle.
"Where's Patricia?"
"Upstairs giving Matty a bath. He decided that poop was better inside his entire sleeper suit than his diaper," Cricket explains.
"I'm dreading when she manages that one," Lori says, revealing she's not actually asleep.
"You can always hope she does it on someone else's turn at diapers," Carol suggests. With the amount of help hovering around the two youngest members of Homestead, the odds are better than they would be for the average new mother.
Christian interrupts the conversation with a quick tap at Carol's chest. When she glances down at him, he opens and closes his right hand, pointing toward the kitchen. "Is it time for a snack, sweetie?" It gets her a toothy grin.
"There's are spinach muffins on the counter in the Tupperware," Cricket tells her.
She pops Christian in his high chair before fetching the container of muffins. He slaps the tray happily, but points at the fridge too, repeating the sign for milk. By the time she's got the sippy cup of sheep's milk back to him, he's begun to destroy the muffin. Everything has to be deconstructed before he nibbles. It's a cute process, but she knows it's just a precursor to learning to throw food on the floor just to see what happens to it.
He guzzles from the cup, grinning afterward and offering her a squashed fistful of muffin. She takes the bite and nibbles at his fingers, so that he giggles and snatches them back to shove the next squishy bit of green muffin in his own mouth. He signs for good and Carol repeats it back to him when he gives her another bite.
"How many signs is he using now?" Lori asks. Carol's curious herself, because sign language with a baby is something she's heard of in passing or seen on television, but never in practice. Christian only actually says three distinguishable words - Mama, No, and Da, which they determined to be 'dog' because he always signs 'dog' along with it. But his sign language vocabulary is much larger.
"Twenty that we know without a doubt he understands. Got a new one down last night." Cricket turns as much as she can with Judith in her arms to see over the couch. "Christian? Who's that?" She points at Carol.
The baby drops his cup to his tray with a thump and makes a wiggly movement away from his face after bumping his thumb into his chin. "That's right, baby boy. That's your grandma." Cricket repeats it more distinctly, and Christian signs it a second time.
"You're such a sweet baby," Carol praises, leaning in to kiss the baby on his forehead. He just grins and stuffs another bite of mushed muffin in her mouth.
"Fun part is going to be showing Dad he knows Grandpa, although he keeps jabbing himself in the eye on that one. He doesn't know where his forehead is yet."
"Where did you learn sign language?" Lori asks.
"Took it as my high school language credit. I already knew Spanish and didn't want to take French. They didn't start offering Mandarin until the year after I graduated. Thought it would come in handy as a doctor."
"I'm sure it would have. It's fascinating that Christian can communicate so well already. He doesn't get frustrated the way I remember Carl doing at that age."
"It'll be easy enough to teach Judith. She'll be a regular little chatterbox."
"I think that's inevitable. You have met Shane, right?"
Carol giggles, which sets the baby off, then the two younger women.
That's the scene Daryl walks into, looking around as if he's not sure he wants in on the joke in a room full of women. He leans over the back of the recliner to nuzzle Lori into a kiss before moving to brush a hand over Judith's soft hair. He starts to move away and Cricket protests with a mock pout.
He smiles and tugs her braid before kissing her forehead. "That better?"
She grins. "Yep. You gotta remember not to forget the poor middle child all the time. Gonna give me a complex."
Daryl snorts as he heads into the kitchen, hugging Carol. "Happy birthday," he says, brushing a kiss across her cheek. "Watch sent me with a present for ya. Honey's on the road home for sure today."
That's a present indeed. Carol honestly expected them to stay even longer in Virginia, since the communities up there seem to need fresh ideas. 'Thank you, Pookie."
"Still ain't a teddy bear."
"I dunno, Daryl. You are the best at cuddling," Lori calls out. "I like Pookie. Suits you."
He huffs and blushes a little. "That's Carol's name for me." It makes Lori laugh, and Carol hugs him tight for the protective affection he's expressing.
Christian wants in on the action and smacks Daryl with his sippy cup in the hip, hard.
"A'right, little man. Uncle Daryl's happy to play, but no hitting." He gently takes the now-empty cup from the boy and unfastens the safety straps. He swings the baby into his arms. "You are your Mama's child for sure. She used to smack me with things too."
Then Daryl makes a face. "Smelled like that quite often too."
"Hey! Just for that, you can change him for me."
"She says that like it's a terrible job, little man. Let that be your lesson for the day. Girls are weird." He keeps chatting with the baby as he disappears to the guest bathroom, which has just enough room for a changing table.
"I'm now picturing itty bitty Daryl toting you around, Cricket, and it's just too cute for words."
Carol agrees with Lori on that. With one baby spirited away, she goes to see if she can slip in a cuddle with the other.
~*~ DC ~*~
Denise still isn't entirely sure what possessed her to take up the offer to leave Alexandria when it came. She doubts a bigger community needs a psychiatrist anymore than Alexandria did, but she did spend enough time around the nurse with the Georgians to realize that at Homestead, she'll be one of many medical staff, not the sole backup in a place that doesn't even have a single nurse. The fact that she's quietly treated Jessie's family while Deanna ignored the abuse helps. There's a part of her that didn't want to see the kids going off into the unknown without at least one more friendly face.
She realizes now that Christopher was probably recruiting her, gently and unobtrusively, all along. The fact that none of his people seem to even think anything's odd about the nurse's relationship with another man did factor into her debate with herself. Add in they all seem to take Aaron and Eric's relationship in stride, and she thinks she has enough data to know that Homestead's a good place for a woman like her.
The bus is trundling along the rural road that barely qualifies as a highway. Christopher drove the bus out of Hilltop, with Tim taking a seat behind him and leaving their passengers to settle among the remaining seats. Jessie and her boys settled into the two seats at the back before the storage area starts, so Denise took the seat in front of Jessie. All of the Shirewilt immigrants are in the RV that's following the big military truck, letting the bus bring up the rear.
Jessie's been quiet, tense and almost mournful. Denise imagines that no matter how bad things with Pete were at the end, she loved her husband at one point. There's going to be a period of grief no matter what. Sam's happy and delighted. She can see the relief in the ten-year-old's face and understands his joy at being free of the monster his father's become. Ron, on the other hand, looks angry. He didn't want to leave Alexandria, but in the end, he wasn't willing to let his mother and brother go off with strangers without him.
The bus pulls to a halt and Denise looks up with a small jolt of alarm, but Christopher's smiling. "Bathroom break and changing out drivers," he explains. "Maybe let everyone get a bite to eat without worrying about wearing their food thanks to a pothole."
He stretches, reaching up to touch the roof of the bus for balance, before releasing the door and letting Honey Dixon on board. She greets them warmly as she makes her way down the aisle.
The little boy that seems to be adopted by the young woman follows her up the steps, looking around curiously. He spots the empty seat in front of Sam and Ron and plops into it while Honey goes further into the bus and rustles among the shelves.
He doesn't greet the boys right away, but instead calls out to Honey, "Can I have the one that's like the McRib?"
Denise hears Honey laugh just before a plastic package is airborne and Logan catches it with a grin. He also catches the water bottle that follows. "You gotta be one weird kid to actually prefer the MREs, kiddo."
The boy just fumbles with the package, getting it open and looking over the back of the seat to the other boys. "You should try them. It's kinda fun eating military food," he suggests. "And if you don't like McRibs, there's meatballs and chili mac and a breakfast one that has sausage."
Sam's curious enough to lean over the seat to watch as Logan opens the MRE and sets to opening a carton to pull out a smaller pouch. "This is how you heat it up," the boy explains, walking through the steps and tipping just a bit of water into the heating pouch. He folds over the pouch and puts it in the carton, then slides two smaller pouches on either side of the heating pouch. "It's okay to eat when it's not warmed up, but a lot better if you do. But it gets hot enough to burn a little. And you can sneak two things in at once if they're small and flat."
"Or if one of them's the hot beverage bag," Honey calls out.
"How long does it take?" Sam asks.
"'Bout ten minutes, it says, but I sometimes take it out sooner. Honey says it's not a bad thing to eat everything else while I wait. And you can lay things on the outside to warm up a little."
The young woman passes by with a bag of whatever she's collected from the shelves, passing it to one of the men waiting at the door of the bus and talking to Christopher and Tim.
"What else is there?"
Logan opens the water bottle again, concentrating hard as he tips the packet of powder into the bottle. It turns the water yellow. "This is like Gatorade. And the second packet I put in the heater box was potato soup. This is a trail mix packet and there's peanut butter and jam with tortillas, which is kinda weird, but not too bad." The boy rips the packets open, squirting peanut butter and strawberry jam onto a tortilla and taking a big bite.
Sam looks to his mother. "Can I have one too?"
"If it's okay with Miss Dixon." Jessie looks toward Honey, who is returning down the aisle, but pauses with her hand out. Logan opens the little packet that looks like the takeaway utensil packet some restaurants give out and hands over a packet of matches that Honey pops into a pocket on her cargo pants.
"It's fine with me. You can all have one if you want to get a feel for what they used to make our military eat. We brought plenty along because we weren't sure how often we'd be able to actually cook."
Denise is curious herself now. "He said there are other flavors?" She's never particularly cared for the McDonald's sandwich Logan's comparing his meal to.
The other woman nods. "He mentioned the chili mac, and it's pretty good, but if you don't like spice, it has cheese spread with jalapeno instead of the peanut butter and jam, but it does have a packet of fruit." She steps to the back and returns with a box and rustles through it. "There's chicken breast, chicken and dumplings, beef patty, maple sausage, and chicken pesto pasta in this box. Oh, and tuna if you don't want to mess with a heater."
"I'll try the maple sausage," Denise ventures, figuring a breakfast sounding one is a safe enough bet. If a ten-year-old can figure the packet out, she can, and from what she sees, everything has good directions.
Sam seems indecisive, so she shows him one of her items. "Toaster pastries in this one, Sam."
The boy grins and snags the same MRE, but moves to sit with Logan. With his splinted fingers, he ends up needing the other boy's help on some of the prep. "Mine's brown sugar, Denise. Is yours?"
She shakes her head, showing him the chocolate chip and offering a trade. She's happy enough with either, and she knows the boy's got a love for chocolate.
"Anything you don't want to eat, just toss it in this box," Honey says. "Makes for good snack and drink selections."
Denise looks at what remains after she tucked the sausage and the hot drink bag into the carton with the heating bag and scoops the apple cider packet, salsa, crackers, and apple butter up to drop into the box Honey leaves in the seat in front of the boys. Realizing that one item is actually toilet paper after Logan's explanation, she drops that in as well. Handfuls of other items like hers get contributed by the others, like coffee and creamer packets the boys don't want.
Honey takes the seat in front of Denise. She makes short work of her own packet, tossing Logan something out of it and telling him to share with Sam. Even Ron is eating, although Jessie's picking at hers until she catches Denise's concerned look and makes more of an effort on the food.
"How many days will it take to get to your home?" she asks Honey.
The younger woman looks thoughtful as she spoons chicken and dumplings from the packet into her mouth. "Well, it took us seven days to make it to Richmond the first time, but we had to make for some allowances for that first big snowstorm. And we won't have to clear the roads as much going back once we reach where we left our route to avoid the storm, so Abraham thinks four days, although we've debated some night driving just to get back sooner. He worries about another snowstorm coming through while we're in the mountains."
"And if it does?"
"We camp out best we can. Worst case scenario is that it lasts long enough to drain the solar batteries and we have to bundle up, but we've got safety gear for that."
"Where are we now?"
"Just north of Lynchburg. We're going to make it at least to Martinsville by nightfall, because we can stock up on fuel at the raceway there. Might stay the night there anyway, since we've already been through that area compared to today's route."
"And what will it be like when we get there?" Jessie asks softly. "Are there houses like in Alexandria, or is it trailers like Hilltop?"
"Homestead's a bit of a hodgepodge. We found this place that converted containers to living quarters, like the ones you see on the back of semi-truck trailers or on cargo ships. So, we built a little village of those, right up by the community center where we do all our meals. I've got a little apartment in the village myself, but there are some houses on the property because it's where my family originally lived, and a lot of folks have been building cabins as they have time."
She pauses for another bite of food. "You'll probably be assigned a place in the village to start with, one of the family units. That'll give you a bedroom, with a bunk area for the boys and a bathroom and kitchenette if you do want to cook a little on your own. Denise will be offered one of the apartments with or without a kitchenette, depending on what she wants. Used to, they liked at least two people to share, which is why I have a roommate, but as more cabins get built, they're not real picky about it now."
"What sort of work will I need to do? What will be boys be doing? Is there a school?" Denise likes the questions, as she wondered that herself. She figures her own task will be some part of the medical staff, but Jessie's mainly looked after her kids and done some work in the community as a hair stylist.
"Well, it really depends on what you want to do. My mother's the one who assigns jobs, and she always asks what people used to do versus what they want to do now. If you want to learn something new, she'll set that up. There's a school for kids Sam's age, but Ron's over thirteen, right?" Both Jessie and Ron nod. The boy looks suspicious. "Teenagers don't have to attend classes. We just don't have a reason to keep them on busy work like that. So, they get chores five days a week and the chance to apprentice with anyone that has a skill they want to learn."
"Like what?" Yes, Ron is definitely suspicious.
"Well, for example, my younger brother's fifteen. He does a shift with the building crew one day a week, another with the critter crew taking care of the various farm animals, one with the laundry crew, and then two supper shifts at the community center. Any free time he has is up to him, but he's apprenticed to our veterinarian, so he spends a lot of time studying and working with the animals. Noah, the boy traveling back with us, is apprenticing with the building crew to learn the trade as a whole, everything from design to wiring the electricity or putting on the roofs. He's eighteen now, so he won't be on the chore rosters with the teenagers anymore, just full-time with the building crew."
Ron relaxes a little. Denise wonders if it's the idea he won't have to go to school that helps.
"I was a hair stylist before," Jessie notes. "But I don't think that's a full-time job right now."
"Maybe not, but having someone who really likes to do it would be nice. We've got a couple of ladies who do it now and then, mostly for family, but no one who just sets up shop for it. And you can try out other things. I know they're always wanting people willing to stand watch, and that's an indoor job watching a bunch of camera screens, and that's just one of the areas you could try out."
The men are back on the bus now, with Tim taking the driver's seat this time. The bus lurches a bit as it gets back underway.
"Do they actually need another doctor?" Denise asks. The thought makes her nervous. After failing to make it as a surgeon, she made a decent enough living as a psychiatrist, but there can't be a full-time need for that skill, or so she hopes.
"I'm sure they wouldn't mind having someone else in the work roster, but honestly, most of the medical work is the occasional accidental injury as far as the infirmary. Now they do have rounds through our nursing home every day, but they've got that down pretty regular and the elderly are kind of attached to Caleb now."
"Elderly?" Denise is surprised. She hasn't met anyone who qualifies as elderly since the world ended.
"Yeah. We rescued an entire abandoned nursing home a while back. Used to have twenty-two people from there, but Miss Lucia passed away around new year's. But she was eighty-six, so we sorta expected that to happen." Honey glances to Jessie. "That's another area they wouldn't mind extra helpers in. G and Felipe keep on top of things and have a few helpers, but not everyone's got the right kind of patience."
"I might be interested," Jessie admits. Denise is curious herself.
"And if I wanted to get more hands-on medical training?" she asks.
"I'd recommend asking Hershel, the veterinarian, or Caleb of the doctors. Caleb's been training a couple of folks for nursing, so he won't mind more students. They both have been overseeing my sister's training. She was still in med school when things went down. Edwards is a good doctor as long as he keeps his mouth shut. My sister says he skipped out on the classes about bedside manner."
Denise can't help laughing a little at that. She's met a lot of doctors – especially the males – just like that. Pete at Alexandria is just an extreme example of the arrogant part of the profession. She feels a little better about her decision to go now, especially with the cheerful question and answer session Honey provides as they make their way further and further south from any place she's ever been.
~*~ CP ~*~
Carol perches on the edge of the tub and enjoys the view of Merle in the shower. The day's work was one of the grubbier ones he's had lately and she's debating if the jeans he wore are even salvageable with the muck smeared on them from the machinery they moved today.
He's clean now, but standing braced against the shower wall and letting the hot water massage his back from one of the dual showerheads. A lifetime of physical work keeps him fit as a man ten years younger. She would never guess him to be nearing fifty if she didn't already know, even with the grey being more noticeable with him letting his hair grown out long enough to curl.
Apparently, he realizes he's being watched, because he turns his head to one side to watch her through the spray. He reaches out to push the glass door open, hand out in obviously invitation to join him.
She takes her time stripping down, watching his expression change from tired to intrigued with each layer she removes. She's a year older today, but instead of feeling worn out and older than her years like last year, she feels beautiful, young, and cherished. She steps under the spray, pulling the door closed behind her.
"We're going to be late to supper," she says as she brushes her lips against his.
"Pretty sure supper doesn't start until the birthday girl shows up." He strokes his hands along her skin, resting them against her hips before drawing her close. As always, his touch on her bare skin makes her tingle with anticipation of what will come next. "And there's not a soul out there gonna blame me for wanting to show my gorgeous wife just how enticing she is."
edited scene
He holds her to him, kissing along her bare shoulder with all the affection she's used to. "Love you," she whispers, kissing his skin along his hairline.
He huffs against her skin, smiling. "Love you too."
~*~ MD ~*~
Merle pauses in his dishwashing when Sophia hugs him tightly. With his hands wet, he's limited on the return hug, but she doesn't seem to mind. Her blue eyes are suspiciously bright.
"You okay, princess?"
"Yeah, Daddy. Just glad we're here for her birthday. She looks so happy."
He glances back to where he can see the back of Carol's head where she's wedged on the couch between Daryl and Cricket with Andre on her lap. The close-shorn grey locks have grown out a bit, and he knows the shiny strands frame her face like a halo now. She's laughing at something Shane's said.
The birthday supper was a success, although he thinks Jazz was disappointed they ran so late that he didn't get to participate in the cooking as much. The ladies of the family did good, putting out a nice spread of Carol's favorites, and Jazz's cheesecakes, made up yesterday, chilled nicely in the fridge all day long.
"Happy looks good on her, doesn't it?" he says, and Sophia grins and pokes him in the side before going back to her drying duties. "You excited for Honey to get back?"
His current youngest nods. "Mama can't decide between making up Jazz's room for Logan or if he'll want to stay with the other boys. I think she's set it up both ways now."
Merle knows Carol's been building up nerves in regards to the little boy Honey's adopted into the family. Knowing his history, he can understand it being a lot different than taking on his own kids. Although they all carry different scars on their psyches from the absence of their mother, they at least were never fully alone in the walker-infested world.
"He might end up wanting to stay close to Honey for a while, until he adjusts." Christopher's given some insight, when Merle talked to him for a morning update not long after the boy was found. He's imprinted hard on Honey and that young man that's staying up in Virginia.
"We'll all look after him," Sophia says determinedly. "Maybe Honey can move back in a little while." He smiles at her and snags a towel as he finishes the last pot and tugs her in to drop a kiss on top of her head.
Yeah, they'll all take care of Honey's little lamb.
