AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

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

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"You want sensible outfits that you can wear casually, and to work, and that you can dress up when the situation calls for it," Michonne pointed out. "Remember, you're probably going to be wearing this later, too, until things get back to normal—or at least until they reach a point where you're buying the wardrobe you actually need for your new body…whatever it ends up being."

"Oh…" Sadie crowed from where she was looking through clothing racks as though she were shopping for herself. She was enjoying the whole process of looking at maternity wear, and she'd been overjoyed at the idea of the little baby-bump padding that the store offered for them to wear while trying on clothing. Carol, for one, appreciated her genuine enthusiasm. "Oh…" Sadie repeated, clearly pleased with something she'd found.

Carol and Andrea were both drawn much more quickly to Sadie's happy sounds of approval than they were to Michonne's sensible sorting of black pants and black dresses that could cover every occasion.

Carol touched Sadie on the shoulder so as to not surprise her, and the woman turned with a smile and held out the dress. It was simple, really, but something about it was appealing—whether it was the color, the fabric, or the cut, Carol didn't know and she didn't care.

"Oh—I love that!" She said.

Sadie held it against Carol's body and smiled.

"Pretty," she said. "It'll be perfect. It's so soft. Can I wear one? Would it be so bad?" She giggled at the idea of buying maternity clothes for herself, thrust the dress into Carol's hands, and then waved Andrea over, showing both of them that the dress came in a variety of colors.

"Merle likes when I wear dresses," Andrea mused, holding out one of the dresses to admire and decide if she was adding it to her pile to try on.

"Are you really going to want to wear those colors for that long?" Michonne asked, looking at the lavender dress that Carol had added, without a second of hesitation, to her small pile in the buggy. "To work, to…everything you're going to need to do?"

"Oh—I want like ten of these," Carol said.

"You really shouldn't buy that much. A few things will be sufficient. You don't want a whole closet full of maternity clothes," Michonne said.

"You just said we'll be wearing it forever," Andrea said with a laugh. "I love to change clothes."

"But if…and I'm just saying if…if something were to happen, then you're stuck with a pile of clothes that you paid a lot of money for and you can't use."

Andrea looked a little sobered, and she frowned at the dress that she'd been smiling at before.

"Then I'd just return them," Andrea said.

"They won't always take things back," Michonne said.

"Then I would fucking donate them," Andrea said through clenched teeth. She relaxed her jaw after a moment as she pulled a pink dress from the collection. "Oh…these are so pretty. They're like all the prettiest flower colors—look at that."

"How many days are you going to want to be dressed like a flower?" Michonne asked. "Will you want that for—everything you're doing?"

"Well, I do agree that one black dress is a good idea," Carol said. "But—I don't want to feel like I'm in mourning, Mich. That would just be depressing, and I feel the exact opposite of depressed. I feel—bright." Carol grabbed a green dress, of the same style, and accepted that she was probably just going to end up with one of them in nearly every color—she even replaced Michonne's heavier black dress for the lighter black dress in this style.

"You're not going to feel as bright as you do now as time goes on," Michonne said with a laugh. "You're going to feel enormous, and disgusting, and…"

"Jesus, Mich!" Alice barked. "Lay the fuck off, if she wants to feel pretty, let her feel pretty. Look at these—that woman up there said pregnant women love them."

Alice offered out one of the items that made up her handful of items—leggings. They were all brightly colored. Alice, apparently, was much more drawn to bright and happy things.

"Oh—I love these," Andrea said. "And this will make the dresses better for whatever weather."

"Add a sweater and you can wear them now. Ditch it, and you can wear it when it's hot."

"The bigger the baby gets, the hotter you're going to be all the time," Michonne offered.

"I got like assorted sizes until we know what you like to wear," Alice said, ignoring Michonne. "She said you can try them on."

"You need pants," Michonne offered. "Real pants. Something sensible."

"I have jeans, black, and khaki," Carol offered.

"Same," Andrea said. "But these dresses are way more fun…and Merle is going to like the colors and fabrics. He's such a magpie. He loves pretty things, even though he hates to admit it."

"Must be a family trait," Carol mused. She got Sadie's attention. "Pass me that one—that one…Left. That one."

"These are maternity clothes," Michonne said. "You need to be realistic. When you go in there and you try them on right now, they're going to look cute because you don't really need that elastic panel in those pants more than you just need a little extra give in your old pants. Those dresses are going to make you feel cute right now, and he might think they're pretty because nothing's really changed. But when you get bigger? They don't think it's pretty or cute. It's just…that thing again on his enormous wife."

"Oh…" Andrea said, stopping her efforts at matching a dress with the brightly colored leggings that Alice was holding out to her like a human display. She dropped everything into the buggy and turned around to face Michonne with her hands on her hips. "Oh—see? I understand. I get it now, Mich. Because I—I thought you just woke up and hated me. I thought you just…had some personal vendetta against me…and Merle…and our baby. I thought, maybe, that you were even right—and I'm already a terrible mother, and I don't deserve anything good. But I see what the hell it is now. This isn't about me at all. And it isn't about Carol. This shit is about you. And it's about Dean. And it's about what the hell happened years ago."

Carol's stomach tightened and she felt a little nauseous. Sadie was watching, owl-eyed. She didn't need to hear what had passed between them women to feel the tension that had suddenly come up between them.

"Do you think Dean was the only man who didn't find pregnant women attractive? Pregnancy isn't sexy, Andrea," Michonne countered.

"I don't know," Alice said. "I mean—I kinda think it could be…"

"Don't, Alice," Michonne said.

"Don't tell me what to do and what not to do, Michonne," Alice responded back in the same kind of tone that Michonne used with her. "You don't know what I'd get off on…"

"Y'all…" Carol said.

They were practically alone in the store. There were a couple of other pregnant women shopping, but it was a maternity-only store in a nearby little city center. They were in the heart of the Christmas shopping season, and it was clear that maternity stores weren't the most bustling stores when people were looking for that perfect gift. Still, Carol didn't want a scene.

"Do you think Dean's the only man that ever cheated because he didn't find his wife attractive anymore?" Michonne asked. "No—he just got caught."

"They don't all cheat," Alice said.

"What the hell would you know about it, Alice? You've never even seen a man naked that wasn't a patient…"

"Hey!" Carol said. She was just loud enough to draw their attention. "Stop. We're not going to do this. Not in public. I can't believe we didn't think about it before. Michonne—I'm sorry that this is probably dredging up some bad memories for you." Carol put a comforting hand on Michonne's back. "We should have thought of that, and nobody did. And—I'm sorry. And you're right. Dean wasn't the only man who's ever cheated. Ed cheated on me. Shane cheated on Andrea…"

"Shane spent more time cheating on me than he spent not cheating on me," Andrea said.

"And what was his number one complaint?" Michonne challenged. "About you, Andrea. What was it that Shane was always complaining about?"

"That I was fat," Andrea said after a moment of hesitation.

"You worry about—muffins and cookies. Do you even realize what this is going to do to your body?" Michonne asked.

"Easy," Alice said. "Easy—we have way too many fucking insecurities in this space to start throwing darts at each other. Shane was a fucking asshole, OK? He could say whatever he wanted, but he cheated because Andrea wasn't Lori. End of story. He wasn't going to say that, so he came up with something else to bitch about. Big fucking deal. That doesn't mean that Daryl is going to cheat, or Merle is going to cheat, or anybody is going to lose their mind over some baby weight."

"You know that men are assholes, Alice. I bet—your fear of that is what has kept you from ever even venturing over to the other side to see what it might be like."

"To clarify," Alice offered, "I've could've fucked a man before, Michonne. Even though I didn't make the offer the center of my existence or whatever, I've had the offer. And, before you go at her, and she doesn't have a single damn clue what the hell we're arguing about, Sadie has fucked men before. The reason that I don't fuck men is not because I hate them. It's because I have like zero interest in the penis…and I'm a real tits and pussy kinda gal."

Alice winked dramatically at Michonne, and Michonne broke a little from the dark cloud that had descended over her and laughed in spite of herself. The laughter, thankfully, spread to all of them. It did a little something to untangle the tense feeling in Carol's stomach, but it didn't entirely relieve her nausea. She focused on swallowing against the salty taste in her mouth because she didn't want to be a stereotype that spent the rest of her time at the maternity store testing their proud declaration that they had "mommy-to-be-approved clean bathrooms."

"There are good guys, Mich," Carol offered. "Ty—he's a good guy. He loves you. He loves your girls." Michonne's expression softened slightly. Carol felt bad that they hadn't thought about the fact that all of this—new marriages and new babies—would bring up what had happened between Michonne and her first husband. Dean had cheated on Michonne, and when she'd confronted him about it, with her youngest barely more than a newborn, he'd signed off on the girls and Michonne completely. Until now, that had been an experience that was all her own. Carol hadn't shared her experience with the girls about her first baby, and as far as Michonne knew, she was the only one in the entire group to even get close to having a child. She could declare, undisputed, that men were assholes where children were concerned and, really, nobody had any reason to challenge that. "Daryl's a good guy, Mich. Merle's a good guy. They want this."

"They all think they want it," Michonne said. "That's the thing, Carol. And every man is a good guy when there's no reason for him not to be. You know that. Even Ed. Every man's a good guy when it's all going in his favor. They all think this is what they want until it's what they have to deal with…and then, they stop being such a good guy."

Carol's stomach lurched violently.

Immediately, she was almost dizzy with the thought that this felt true—especially since she remembered the stark difference between Ed when he'd first found out she was pregnant, and thought fatherhood was something he wanted, and how he'd felt as it became clearer that it was more of a burden than he'd imagined it might be.

"I'm sorry…" Carol managed to get out before she covered her mouth.

"Uh—oh—come on," Alice said.

Carol was thankful for the pressure of Alice's hand on her shoulder as she led her through the store and into the bathroom. Carol could have normally found it on her own, but it was difficult to do that with the terrible feeling of being about to throw up everything she'd managed to keep down since waking. They made it in time, though, and Carol apologized to Alice who had simply taken a place standing behind her in the stall. She scratched her fingers affectionately across Carol's back.

"Don't apologize to me," Alice said. "More room out than there is in. Everyone knows that. It's a medical fact. I can't hold your hair back, but…I'm here for whatever you need."

The good thing about having a friend who had completed medical school was that absolutely nothing made Alice squeamish. Carol didn't need much help throwing up—she was good at that on her own—but she appreciated the support and the damp paper towels that were offered to her when she was done. She rinsed her mouth out in the sink, wishing that she hadn't gotten sick in public.

"We left Michonne and Andrea out there to kill each other," Carol said.

Alice laughed.

"They'll be fine. Sadie won't allow any bloodshed. You feeling OK?"

"Just—didn't sit right," Carol said. "Sprout's…just…there, I guess."

"Are you sure that's all it is?" Alice asked.

"Are we assholes for not even realizing that—this was going to be hard on Michonne?" Carol asked.

"Maybe we should've realized it," Alice said. "But the fact of the matter is that Michonne's going to have to deal with her shit. Just like the rest of us. I mean we can pat her on the back and say—do you want to talk about it, but she's the one that's got to put in the time and the work. I think the biggest problem is that she never dealt with it. Hell—it'll be good for Ty if she finally does deal with it. He's been fighting against Dean since they got married. The splinter only festers if we leave it in. Maybe it's good something forced it to the surface. I think the biggest thing is that…if she turns out to be wrong about all men? Then, she's got to face the facts that it was Dean that was the asshole. And he's not alone, but that means fully accepting that she's not perfect and she got taken in by a charmer that turned out to be an ass. We all know the hardest thing for Michonne is admitting she isn't perfect."

Carol nodded her agreement, and Alice affectionately squeezed Carol's shoulder. Alice laughed quietly.

"She's our Eeyore sometimes," Alice said. "And we know that—we've always known that. We promised to love her anyway, right?"

"I do," Carol said. "That's why I hate knowing that—she's hurting, Alice."

"We all hurt, sometimes," Alice said. "I'm a little more concerned right now about keeping her from hurting anyone else. We lash out when we're hurting, and that shit can be dangerous."

"I worry about Andrea…" Carol said.

"We'll take care of Andrea," Alice said. "She's OK. If Mich is our Eeyore, she's our Care Bear. A little lovin' and she's right as rain. I'm a little concerned about you, though. You'd tell me if you're not OK, wouldn't you?" Carol gave Alice what she could gather of a smile and nodded. Alice didn't look wholly convinced, but she accepted it. "Hey—is Sprout ready to go get some cute ass clothes?" Alice asked.

Carol's stomach didn't feel entirely settled, but there wasn't anything left in it, so at least she knew that she was done being sick for now.

"Yeah," she said, her smile a little more sincere than it had been before. "These safety pins aren't going to work for too long."