AN: Here we go, another chapter.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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"Carol, Melodye. Mel, Carol," Alice said, introducing Carol to the blonde that Carol knew, from previous conversations, was Alice's partner. The woman was thin enough that Carol might have believed she'd just come from the prisons and that, while there, she'd been subjected to something like a punishment by starvation, but it wasn't true. Carol knew that Melodye, like Alice, had been in safe zones since the turn.
Carol shook hands with Melodye and offered her a greeting which Melodye warmly echoed.
"Al's told me a lot about you," Melodye said.
Carol swallowed and looked at Alice before she looked back at Melodye.
"She's told me a lot about you, too," Carol offered. It wasn't exactly true. Alice had told her a few things about the woman, but she didn't know enough to fill a decent sized sheet of paper. She couldn't be sure, either, what Alice might have told Melodye about her. They chatted, as was natural, throughout the days when Carol followed Alice around, but most of what they talked about had to do with the project and Carol's experiences in prison as they contrasted with Alice's experiences as someone who had never been, as Carol was deemed, Wild.
Melodye just smiled at Carol, though, and gave Alice a quick sideways glance.
"It's me that should probably be worried, then," Melodye said. "There's no telling what Alice would think she should tell you about me."
Carol's stomach flipped and she wondered, for just a moment, if the woman might have the ability to read her mind. She decided, though, that more than likely she was just trying to be friendly—and the friendly thing to do would be to assure Carol that Alice had said nothing damaging about her.
"All she's told me were wonderful things," Carol offered.
"I hear you're one of the most valuable players in Wave Thirty Three," Melodye said. "I know—that you've already done a lot to get the project moving. And to keep it moving."
Carol felt her cheeks grow a little warm. She was pretty sure that she could guess what Melodye might be hinting at, but she was also certain that she could trust the woman to keep her secret. Giving Carol away for some of her earlier fibs, after all, would put Alice at risk.
"I'm doing what I can," Carol offered with a smile.
"And you're expecting?" Melodye asked.
Carol nodded her head. It was still something she was adjusting to. It was still something that, when it was mentioned, made her feel at least a little unlike herself. She was sure she was going to grow used to the idea of being pregnant—and eventually of having another child—but it hadn't fully sunk in for her yet. It still seemed like something that simply wasn't going to come to fruition.
"Barely," Carol offered.
"Barely counts," Alice interrupted. "Everything has to start somewhere. Babies especially. Mel? I told you about Andrea?"
"Of course," Melodye said.
"Well, you'll get to meet her. She and Michonne are coming in—any time now, really."
Carol furrowed her brows at Alice.
"Why?" She asked.
"She thinks something might be wrong," Alice said. "So I thought—better safe than sorry. I told her to come in and we'll just check things out."
"But you don't think anything's wrong?" Carol asked.
Alice shrugged.
"I can't say there isn't," Alice said. "But it was Michonne who called me and she didn't sound really worried about it. She just said that Andrea said that—something didn't quite feel right and she'd like me to just check on things. So that's what I'm doing. I'm checking on things."
"You know Andrea well?" Melodye asked, directing the question to Carol.
Carol glanced at Alice. She wondered how much she was supposed to tell Melodye. She already knew that Melodye was working with the project now, and that she'd be working as one of the therapists that they had to meet with, but she didn't know when her evaluations actually started—and she didn't know really what she should and shouldn't say in those meetings. Still, Melodye was Alice's partner and Carol had the suspicion that she wasn't going to want anything to go wrong with the project.
And admitting friendship, after all, couldn't possibly suggest that Carol was something less than human.
"We've been friends a long time," Carol said. "Since Andrea and Michonne were captured."
Melodye nodded her head. She might have been agreeing with Carol. She might have already known this. Or she might simply be indicating that she heard Carol and she understood her.
Carol realized, in that moment, how anxious she felt over the very idea of being evaluated and that, if she was really going to prove that she was a level-headed human being, she was going to have to get those feelings under control. She sucked in a breath and let it out, as imperceptibly as possible, and offered a smile to Melodye.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I think—I just don't feel great. I think I'm a little worried about Andrea and I didn't expect—I didn't expect to feel this way. I didn't expect to be affected."
Alice laughed.
"Mel, you have to excuse Carol," Alice said. "I'm still working out her hormone dosage. Unfortunately, Carol's a little side experiment of my own. Some days I think I've got it, and others I think I haven't got it just right."
Carol shook her head at Alice.
"Whatever you're doing is working," Carol said. "I asked you to help me get pregnant, and you did. I asked you to help me stay that way and—I'm still pregnant. So I'm not going to complain. I just..."
"Need a little air?" Alice asked. Carol nodded her head enthusiastically and Alice gestured toward the door. "Let's step outside," Alice said. "I want to check on things out there and I'll keep you company. Make sure no one bothers you for being unattended."
Carol accepted Alice's excuse to go outside as just what it was—an excuse. She didn't have any interest in going outside to "check on" anything. She was going outside to steal a few moments of privacy with Carol without having to outright say that's what she was doing. It wasn't the first time that Alice had offered to escort Carol somewhere that she could have easily gone with her medical pass.
Alice led Carol out and Carol followed her. They walked a few steps away from the building and Alice stopped and leaned against the outside wall.
"You can breathe," Alice said. "You're not on trial just because Melodye's in the office. She'll probably be around a lot. Any time she's got a break she's liable to drop by."
"How do I know when I am on trial?" Carol asked.
"Melodye doesn't want to put you back in prison," Alice said. "She doesn't want you euthanized or exterminated or whatever they're calling it these days. She's giving everyone more than a fair shot to get out of here—at least via her recommendation. Unless you're running around and ripping people's throats out with your teeth? Melodye is going to see you as a perfectly normal human being."
"A human being who gets lightheaded having a simple conversation," Carol offered with a laugh.
"You're nervous," Alice said. "And I didn't entirely lie about your hormone level. I'm sorry. I'm working on it. I really am."
Carol laughed and shook her head.
"I'm not bothered," she assured Alice. "Sure, sometimes I feel like I'm considering crying over something that I know is really stupid. Or—overreacting to something. But it's not ruining my life." Carol hummed to herself. "Really? To be honest? It's been a long time since I could say that. But—this isn't ruining my life. And I..." She laughed to herself. "I have a life now."
"A busy one," Alice offered. "I didn't think it would be ruining it, but I'll get it sorted. It won't be too long, though, before I think I'll feel comfortable taking you off the hormone treatments. Weaning you down. I think the pregnancy will do fine on its own. And if we start to see trouble? We'll do what we can to fix it."
"It's safe to talk to Melodye?" Carol asked, ignoring Alice's words.
Alice nodded her head.
"It's safe to talk to Melodye. Her reports go straight to the top, and I'm not going to say she's going to lie, but I'm going to say that—it's safe to talk to her," Alice said.
"But not to—you know who?" Carol asked.
"Maybe it will be," Alice said, shrugging her shoulders. "Honestly? I don't know what they'll ask or what they'll be looking for. Maybe—it'll be safe to tell her everything she wants to know without even embellishing the truth. But—I'm going to say that you should use your best judgment. If something doesn't feel right?"
"Lie?" Carol asked.
"Pick a comfortable answer," Alice said. She shifted her weight and sighed. "They're supposed to evaluate you, but they're also supposed to help you. In the beginning? Before Kreegan got started with everything? This whole idea of Wild wasn't the same as it is now. Our whole concept of Wild changed when he started publishing his findings. Before? It was a psychological thing. And that's who handled it—psychiatrists." Alice shook her head. "It doesn't matter. It's not what it used to be. The point is that—they're supposed to help you as much as they're supposed to be interviewing you and evaluating your answers. I don't know, anymore, what you-know-who wants. I don't know what she intends to do. I do know, though, that Melodye is actually interested in hearing what you have to say. And she wants—she's willing to offer you some help, if she thinks she can. If you want it."
"I just need to know that she's safe," Carol said.
Alice nodded her head.
"She's safe," Alice offered.
"Can I pass that on?" Carol asked. "Can I tell the others that she's safe? Or is that a breach of confidence?"
"You think they should know?" Alice asked.
"I think they need to know," Carol responded. "I think—we all need to know what we're up against here. Every step of the way. You think that you want this to be a success? You want us all to get out of here alive? Well, there's nobody here that wants that more than we do."
Alice laughed quietly to herself.
"Yeah," she said. "I guess you're right. Tell the others, but tell everyone to be discreet about it. I'll pass it around too. Milton knows Melodye is my partner and he knows she's sympathetic to the cause. That's why he let her join the project and why he thought she'd be a good idea for a sort of second opinion. I guess—the Governor probably knows, too, that she's at least a little biased. Maggie is too, though. But still..."
"But still, don't let it get out too much that we know that," Carol said.
"Exactly," Alice agreed with a sigh. "I wish the whole damn thing were over with already."
Carol's stomach twisted a little. She was collecting bits and pieces of information about the project from Alice. Slowly, she was coming to understand some things. She knew, though, that all of her knowledge was limited by Alice's knowledge. She could never know more than Alice knew—and even Alice didn't know everything about Wave Thirty Three.
The one thing Carol did know, though, was that it wasn't going to be over soon. She knew that, before they could earn their freedom, Milton had to finish his experiment. And before his experiment could be complete, there was going to have to be a veritable population boom within Woodbury.
Carol knew that, even if she didn't fully understand all the reasons why.
"Do you think Andrea's baby's OK?" Carol asked.
"I hope so," Alice said.
"I didn't ask what you hoped, Alice," Carol said softly, hoping they were as friendly as she felt like they were and she wasn't reading the woman entirely wrong. "I asked what you thought."
"I think that Andrea was treated very badly a couple of days ago," Alice said. "I think that it's possible that it negatively impacted the fetus. But—I also think that Andrea is an expectant mother. An expectant mother who was treated very badly a couple of days ago. It could be a case of nerves or something like that just as much as it could be an actual problem." Carol nodded her head. "What would you think?" Alice asked.
"Me?" Carol asked. Alice nodded her head. "You're asking me what I think? I mean—like you want my medical opinion?"
Alice shook her head.
"Like I want your opinion as a mother," Alice said. "Do you think, if you were in Andrea's position, that it's possible that there really isn't anything wrong?"
Carol shrugged.
"I think I'd be worried," Carol said. "I think—I'd be really...really...over-vigilant. About everything. I think I'd just want..."
"What?" Alice nudged when Carol stopped to try to pick the words that she most wanted to use.
"I'd just want someone to check," Carol said. "Someone to be sure. Someone to..."
"Hold your hand and tell you it's OK?" Alice asked.
Carol nodded.
"To put it in the simplest terms, yes," Carol admitted.
Alice sighed and nodded.
"Good thing it's in my job description," Alice said. "I think I see them coming. Come on—let's go and get everything set up."
