AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

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

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"And who is this?" Carol cooed, kneeling down so she could put herself closer to the little ones that would be joining them.

"This is Anjelica," Michonne offered. "Angie—can you say hello? And tell Ms. Carol what you are?"

"I'ma princess!" Anjelica offered. As though Carol might be confused by that, the little girl danced around, swishing her purple skirt purposefully back and forth.

"You're a beautiful princess!" Carol declared. Anjelica beamed and thrust the plastic wand into Carol's face, nearly hitting her with it.

"You see my wand?" She asked.

"Are you a magic princess?" Carol asked.

Anjelica looked toward her mother for confirmation as to whether she was or she wasn't magical. Michonne shrugged her shoulders.

"You can be whatever you want to be, baby," Michonne offered with all the enthusiasm of a mother who had already put most of her day's energy into the antics of two very small children.

Anjelica gave Carol a toothy grin—her tongue pressing outward as she pushed it between both rows of baby teeth—and nodded.

"I'm magic," she whispered. Carol laughed to herself.

"And who are you?" She asked, directing her attention to the younger of Michonne's children. The little girl was dressed as a cat, judging by her ears and whiskers, but she didn't seem anxious to tell Carol that in any way. Instead, she inched a little closer to her mother and put her sister between herself and Carol as protection. Carol laughed to herself and stood up, giving the girl a little more space.

"That's Celine," Michonne said. "And once she gets to know you, she'll hug you and kiss you all day long, but she'd rather not talk to you if she doesn't have to." Michonne reached a hand down and touched her daughter's face. In response, and much like the cat she was dressed as, the toddler brushed her face against Michonne's hand in an affectionate manner. "Ty says that—not having to is the reason she prefers not to talk."

"She may just be quiet," Carol offered. "I used to think that Sophia was very shy. Reserved."

She glanced over, a few feet away, to the place where Sophia was dancing in and out around the bodies of several of the men who were talking on the sidewalk. They were smoking cigarettes and planning out the Trick-or-Treat route like it was something much more serious than it was. Still, Carol wasn't going to rain on anyone's parade.

"She's clearly not shy," Michonne offered with a laugh.

"She was before," Carol said. "Now I know it was more about environment than Sophia."

Michonne nodded her head. There was very little that she could say or do, and Carol wasn't really looking for anything from the woman anyway.

Michonne worked with Andrea. She was a lawyer in town. In fact, the two of them were the primary lawyers in town. There was another small firm, but they mostly did property law and such. As a result, they never did too much stepping on each other's toes. Michonne was also married to Tyreese. The two children, Carol learned, were Michonne's from a previous relationship, though Tyreese believed in claiming them as his own, so Daryl had told Carol not to let on that she knew any different.

Michonne normally spent very little time in the presence of the club, mostly owing to the fact that, according to Merle, she was a bit more "refined" than she thought most of the club members were. Andrea said that she suspected Michonne's distance from the club was, really, more of a matter of having never really felt like she belonged. She was, according to Andrea, slow to warm up to people—and that could be misconstrued. When some people took that as being snubbed, they pushed her away and, the more she was pushed away, the more she simply stayed away—despite Andrea's urgings for her to simply give the guys another chance or twelve.

Now, it seemed, she was being pushed into the position of giving the club another chance, whether she wanted to or not. They were doubling down, and even tripling down, on safety these days. Daryl limited how much information he told Carol about everything that was discussed at "court," and Carol knew from Andrea that all old ladies got a version of the same decided upon "script" about what was going on. Andrea knew that the decision was made as to how much everyone could share, but Andrea wasn't too much more in the know than the rest of them.

What they did know was that a larger meeting was coming. They were inviting the heads of some clubs to come to Union—since it was a bit larger than Liberty and having the gather there would lessen the strain on their hotel that wasn't quite up and running as of yet—for a small rally-by-invitation. The brothers from other chapters, the Nomads, and the few Independents that had come into town had brought news that made Merle decide that it was best to check the status of some relations and to do their best to foster good relations in any areas where they might be lacking.

Carol also knew that they'd gotten wind that what had happened to Alice and Sadie might have not been a hit from another club at all but, rather, from some locals who were disgruntled about the nature of their relationship. Liberty, it seemed, was not very open-minded. Apparently, the city of Union, being their neighbor, had pissed off some of the citizens of Liberty by declaring that they would dedicate a small area of their downtown winter festival to the local chapter of a college group that advocated for the rights and care of LGBT youth. Those who were not very open-minded, had decided to rally around their ignorance and, apparently, some of them thought it was best to attack anyone that they thought was spreading something around that they didn't support. Alice was not, by far, the only gay person in town, according to Daryl, but she was the most well-known—before Sadie had decided to move into town to teach at the college—and she was absolutely the most outspoken. Therefore, she was a clear target for the assholes.

They didn't know, of course, if that was true or coincidental, but what they did know was that they weren't letting up on protections, and they were also going to try to put out feelers for the assholes that might have thought their attack was a good idea—including paying a little Savior-sanctioned visit to the Union Winter Festival—to make sure that they didn't get any other ideas.

As a result of all the heightened club security, Michonne was being forced into the fold whether she wanted to be or not. She was accepting it, as far as Carol could tell, with grace, but it was clear that she was not as comfortable slipping into the vest as the rest of them were.

Carol, for her part, was being as kind to the woman as she could. Tonight, they were in this together. They were taking their little ones trick or treating, along with a large club escort, and Carol was determined to make Michonne feel welcomed and part of the "club." Carol knew, after all, what it felt like to feel like you didn't really belong, and she knew how wonderful it felt when, finally, you found that you really did. Carol had already made sure that Michonne knew, if she was interested in such a thing, that she and Tyreese were absolutely invited to the wedding that weekend—small though it would be—and she would love to see her there. She didn't know if the woman would accept, but at least she knew that the seed had been planted and the proverbial olive branch had been offered.

"Are we almost ready?" Carol called out, catching Daryl's attention. "It's getting late, and we really don't want the kids to turn into pumpkins before they've had a chance to visit any houses."

Around them, people had already begun making their way through the neighborhoods. There were children here and there, and there were parents who hovered close to their little ones.

Carol also noticed that there was a fair amount of parents who somewhat steered their children away from Carol and her companions. She simply smiled at them and waved when she caught them looking in her direction.

"We ready," Daryl said. "Gonna stop by Al's first. Then down the street an' back up the other side. Got people on both ends. Just in case."

"You really think something's going to happen?" Carol asked, lowering her voice as Daryl approached her. He planted a kiss on her cheek and she smiled to herself.

"I know there ain't nothin' goin' to happen," Daryl said. "Not to us or anybody else that's just tryin' to let their kids have a good damn night. What the hell their judgmental asses don't realize is that—us out here? It's keepin' anybody that might wanna be a dick at arm's length."

Carol laughed to herself.

"Get your daughter," she said. "Here's her bucket. You lead the way."

Daryl took the purple plastic bucket that was shaped like a pumpkin from Carol. He smiled at her and kissed her quickly—barely more than a peck.

"Yes ma'am," he said, heading back in the direction where Sophia was playing something akin to ring-around-the-maypole with Jerry. "Soph, you ready?"

Sophia stopped suddenly—a bit too suddenly—and Jerry's hand immediately went out to catch her arm to keep her from falling forward from having stopped too quickly. She thanked him and then ran wide open in Daryl's direction. He put his hand out to stop her or catch her hand—whichever might be necessary—and she looped her hand in his before slamming into him sideways with all the affection that the gesture could convey.

Tyreese walked around Carol, dodging Sophia as he went, carrying Celine while Anjelica ran along with him. Carol hung back, walking happily—and quietly—with Michonne while Jerry and Kickstand stepped in behind them.

"I'm ready, Daddy!" Sophia declared loudly as she started walking forward with Daryl.

"Good," Daryl said. "Now—remember what I showed you. You remember?" Sophia hummed at him, walking happily along as they headed toward Alice's house under the light of the street lamps and the quickly failing light of the evening. "Show me. How do you sign—Happy Halloween?" Sophia let go of his hand to humor him. "And—trick or treat? You got that shit better'n I do."

"You think Sadie's gonna like it?" Sophia asked.

Daryl laughed and caught her hand again.

"Sadie's gonna love it," Daryl assured the girl.

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"I've got the door," Carol assured Daryl. She opened the door to the house and reached in to turn on the light in the kitchen before she moved out of the way so that he could pass inside with the girl who was sleeping with her head on his shoulder. She'd hardly missed a beat as he'd taken her out of the backseat of Carol's car.

While Daryl tucked Sophia in, Carol locked the house, put Sophia's pumpkin on the table, washed the few dishes that remained in the sink, and stepped into their ensuite bathroom to relieve herself. After she washed her hands, she stripped out of her clothes and padded into the bedroom to find her pajamas.

Daryl practically ran into her as she emerged into the bedroom. He grinned at her, putting a hand on each of her shoulders as he approached her.

"Sophia asleep?" Carol asked.

"I don't think she even woke up," Daryl said. "You think we oughta wake her to brush her teeth?"

"One night won't be the end of the world," Carol said. "And she won't go back to sleep any time soon if we wake her."

"You brush yours yet?" Daryl asked.

"Just putting on pajamas first," Carol offered.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"You don't gotta," he offered.

"Brush my teeth or put on pajamas?" Carol teased.

"Pajamas," Daryl said. "I wouldn't mind if you…brushed your teeth with me."

Carol smiled at him.

"Is that a pick-up line or something?" Carol asked. "Because—I have to admit, that one needs some work."

Daryl laughed to himself. He kissed her forehead in an act of pure affection and she closed her eyes for a second to drink in the feeling it gave her—butterflies in her stomach seemed out of place at her age, but he gave them to her just the same.

"I just felt like it'd be nice," Daryl said. "You an' me—brushin' our teeth together. You know—after takin' our kid trick or treating."

Carol smiled at him.

"You're a hopeless romantic," she said. "Did you know that?"

He shook his head.

"Not 'til I met you," he said sincerely. He furrowed his brow, suddenly clearly concerned that he'd done something wrong. "You don't—like it? Because you don't have to brush your teeth with me. Hell, it was an idea. You can do whatever you damn well please."

Carol caught his face, quickly, and kissed him. She held the kiss until the surprise passed and he kissed her back. She held it a little longer until he relaxed into the kiss.

"I love it," she said, when she finally broke the kiss. "Don't ever change." She smiled at him. "I'd love to—brush my teeth with you. And then, I'd love to do a few other things with you."

"That a pick-up line?" Daryl asked. "Because it could use some work."

"Asshole!" Carol declared, letting him push her back into the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"You right," Daryl said. "But I'm soon to be your asshole—all the damn way."

"And I can't fucking wait," Carol teased.