I AM BACK BITCHEZZZ. Sorry about that very long hiatus there. I was hella busy for a while there. Hope everyone is having a happy new year. What are all y'all' resolutions? Mine is to write more.

Thank you for for the reviews and for all the wonderful feedback. Out of all the stories I have, you are by far my favorite readers! Let me here your feedback, criticisms, ideas, and reviews.

Much love!

Carol POV

"Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me."- Hey There Delilah, Plain White T's

I felt useless. Not to say that I was entirely useless, but it sure as hell felt that way. Everyone in our group had a job. Rick was our leader, filling in where ever he was needed. Nicole and Daryl were hunters, catching as much food as they could. And even when they weren't, they were protecting us, finding gas for the cars, getting meds from pharmacies, working with their weapons. T was our body guard, almost. Hershel was our doctor. Maggie and Glenn were our runners, going on errands and scavenging for supplies. Even Carl was learning how to use his weapon. The only ones left were me, Lori, and Beth. Great, me, the pregnant one, and the wide-eyed innocent. Now, I couldn't really blame Lori. She had a full time job, growing a human. But Beth, seriously the girl really didn't do much. She wasn't a fighter, she was too kind. Hershel was trying to teach her his skills, and she wasn't too bad, but she still had a lot to learn. That left me to do all the cleaning and cooking, like a 1950s housewife.

Woohoo.

But I took that job seriously. Someone had to do it. Without me, none of these people would have anything to wear. Seriously.

I was up to my elbows in the slightly soapy water, washing a blood stain out of Daryl's shirt. It was in the middle of the chest, from where he had carried Nicole into the house. To be fair, almost all of his shirts had blood on them, but this was the first one he had asked me personally to wash. I guess he liked this shirt.

"Hey Carol." A small voice said next to me. I turned and was met with the sleepy brown eyes of Lori, who was leaning against the frame of the archway.

"Hey there." I smiled, nodding because I could not wave. "How'd you sleep?"

"As well as I could." She shrugged, placing a hand on her swollen belly. "I'm just ready for this one to get off of my bladder."

I laughed. "Oh, don't I know it. When I was pregnant, Sophia never let up. I had to pee all the time." Over the past few months, talking about Sophia had become easier and easier. Honestly, at this point, it was almost a relief. Watching how stressed out Lori was over the safety of Carl and the baby made me realize that maybe it was for the best. Sophia had never been a fighter, and I don't think she would have been able to handle this.

"I'm just glad that there's another moth- another woman who's been pregnant here. I swear. These men, they just don't understand what I'm going trough. And Maggie and Beth don't know it, and Nicole is nowhere near having a kid, so I just really enjoy getting to talk to you." Lori gave me a big smile, sitting down heavily on one of the chairs next to me. I smiled back, taking my hands and the shirt out of the water, drying them off.

"No problem sweetie." I said, grabbing her hand. "I'm happy to help. At least now I feel like I'm of some use."

The earned a laugh from Lori. "Ain't that the truth. Ever since I started showing, I feel like they won't let me do anything. I mean seriously. I'm not dead. I'm pregnant."

"Exactly! Everyone else is doing something, and I'm just over here washing clothes and cleaning cars and crap like that. Even Nikki gets to do stuff, and she's injured! I can't believe Rick is letting her work with how messed up her leg is. If that had been you or me, we wouldn't have been allowed to leave the camp if few had pulled a stunt like her." I ranted, drying off some of the clothes in front of me.

Lori took some of the clothes and began to help dry them. "I know. She's a flight risk. She lit the barn on fire for Christ's sake. I don't think she's okay."

"What do you mean?" I asked, continuing my drying and folding.

"She watched her brother die Carol, and then she had to kill him. And then she almost got burned alive. That's too much for one person. One of these days she is going to snap."

I sat there for a moment and thought about what Lori was saying. I hadn't thought about it before, but I hadn't seen her cry, not since right after Shane died. I hadn't seen her cry, or rant, or act out. Hell, she barely spoke. She just woke up every day, went out hunting or scavenging, and came back, ate, if we had anything, and slept. That was all she did. She spoke to Rick, but that was about it.

I opened my mouth to say something in return, but was cut off by a loud noise.

"I don't need you attitude Dixon." A voice chuckled. The door to the kitchen swung open, and Nicole waltzed in, a bag of something slung over her shoulder, her bow on the other. She was smiling. Actually smiling. "Because I think it was good."

"You just hate losing." Daryl followed her in, carrying another bag of food.

Nicole laughed, turned, and elbowed the man in the gut, rolling her eyes. "Whatever asshole." But her words weren't mean spirited. They were lively, like they were joking with each other. Wait, they were joking with each other.

"Umm, hello." I said, catching both of their attention. They both turned and smiled, beaming at me.

"Hey Carol." Daryl nodded, taking his coat off.

"Hi." Nicole smiled, sling the bag off of her shoulder. "Carol, you'll never believe it."

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, a little afraid of the smirk on her face.

"I got some squirrels." She grinned, opening the bag, revealing a few squirrels. They weren't the fattiest ones ever, but damn, that didn't matter. It was meat, real meat. We hadn't had that in days.

"Oh NIkki!" Lori cried, looking up at the smaller girl. "Thank you so much."

"No problem." She shrugged, still smiling wide. "Now if you will excuse me,I have to go and clean myself off. Got a little squirrel blood on me."

"Sure." I nodded. "I'll let you know when we have it all cooked up."

"Great." She gave me a thumbs up and waltzed off, taking off her coat as she went.

I turned to Daryl, who was now going through the bag. "You get anything?" I questioned.

He shook his head. "I didn't get anything. No food at least."

"Well, at least Nicole got something." Lori offered, leaning back in the chair.

"Yeah. Jus' do me a favor. Would ya'?" He looked at the two of us. We both nodded.

"What?"

"Make sure Cole eats some of this. She needs to keep her strength up, so her leg will heal. She'll tell that she's fine, but she's lying. Make her eat." His tone was serious. He truly meant what he was saying.

'Uhh, yeah. Okay." I nodded. "I'll make sure she eats." I was very confused as to why he felt this strongly, but I decided not to push the issue further.

"Thanks." He said, before turning and slipping out of the kitchen. Lori turned to me, eyebrows raised.

"That was…."

"Odd." She finished. "Definitely odd."

'Was she humming?"

"Were they joking?"

"Are they friends?"

"I have no idea." I said honestly. "I guess they're friends now? Apparently they'll talk to each other."

"Maybe they both just needed to find someone as emotionally and physically volatile as they are to be friends with." I laughed, looking back to the task at my hand. I just laughed and rolled my eyes choosing to let the situation go. Who am I to judge people's friendships?

We kept on drying our clothes for a few more minutes, until the door opened again, ringing the peaceful monotony. I turned and saw Rick standing there in the doorframe, looking absolutely shell shocked,

Lori noticed this too, because she immediately stood up and went over to her husband. "Rick, what is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."

He just shook his head, coming into the room, shutting the door. His eyes were huge and surprised. What was wrong with him?

"Rick, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." He shook his head, taking his coat off. "It's nothing. I'm… it's nothing.

"Are you sure?" Lori questioned. "It doesn't seem like nothing."

"No really it's..it's fine. I just, I just need to rest a little. That's all." He stammered, slowly walking out of the room. As he crossed into the living room, I heard him quietly exclaim "Holy SHIT."

And then he disappeared upstairs.

"What the did he see?" Lori said out loud.

"not sure. But whatever it was, it must have been terrifying, disgusting, horrible."

Huh. I wonder.

So... whadya think?