AN: Here we go, another chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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"Not a single damn problem, and I mean that," Alice said. "No problems with other people if you go to the mess hall. No problems with the guards that come to escort you. No problems with the people who deliver your shit to the door. No problems with any psychiatrists who may or may not come by to talk to you. No problems between the two of you that anybody...and I mean anybody else can hear. Your only interest here is to be quiet and make babies. Do you understand?"
Merle didn't know how much Sadie was getting of the conversation with Alice. She'd started to zone out. She was watching the doctor's mouth move, but it wasn't with the intensity that she normally used to follow conversations. The woman's voice, however, was practically ringing in Merle's ears and she hadn't stopped reiterating the same points since she'd picked them up to escort them to the house that they were now calling home.
"Think we can kinda scrape together the point, Doc," Merle said. "Don't break nobody's jaw. Play nice. Fuck with our free time."
"And you're going to have a lot of free time," Alice said. "You've got to complete at least a week of house arrest before they're even going to let you out of here guarded to try at a job. That's at least a week of absolutely nothing that even seems remotely close to a problem."
Merle laughed to himself.
"You're a lil' high strung, ain't'cha? About this whole problem thing?" Merle asked.
"You're murderers," Alice said. "Both of you. You're both regarded as very dangerous and unpredictable. The guards around here? One of them assaulted a pregnant woman for drinking juice. Drinking juice. How much do you think it'll take for them to blow your brains out and call it self-defense?"
Merle nodded his head at the brunette.
"Point taken, Doc," Merle said. "No fuckin' with no damn body but each other."
"And that better be fucking in the literal terms," Alice said. "Because if you're fighting? They'll take that as a sign of your violent natures too. You need anything? You pick up the phone. They aren't running list pickups anymore, so that's how you'll call everything in. You need me? Just ask them to connect you to the clinic. Other than that? Lay low."
"You got it," Merle said. "How damn long 'fore we get the fuckin' kid requirement filled?"
The doctor sucked in a dramatic breath and let it out equally dramatically. She shrugged her shoulders in the same manner. If Merle had known her better, he might have told her that she needed to go home and have a drink—and then she might think about laying down and sleeping for a week or so. But he didn't know her that well, and he didn't know, really, if her life allowed for such things. From what Merle could tell, she was damn near running a one-man dog and pony show—and she was the both the damn dog and the pony.
"When she's getting ready to ovulate, I'll prepare her for it. The day after that, I'll call you both in and I'll do the job," Alice said. "When I tell you both to lay off the sleeping together? I mean it. No cheating and no..." She made a slightly obscene gesture to suggest that Merle shouldn't jerk off during their "probation period," and he snickered. "Sorry," Alice said quickly.
"Don't fuckin' apologize," Merle said. "Hell—first damn human being I've seen not in handcuffs in years. And then we get the kid thing covered?"
"It's the best chance we've got," Alice said, "but there still aren't guarantees. We'll give it time and she'll take a blood test. Fingers crossed." Alice licked her lips and her expression changed from exasperated and exhausted to simply curious. "Do you want the kid? I mean—if Sadie gets pregnant, do you want it?"
Merle's chest tightened. He looked at Sadie to see how much she might be following along. She'd given up on them entirely. She wasn't even trying to look interested any longer. Sitting at their brand new table, she had her head on her arm and Merle wasn't entirely certain that she was awake. She'd ask him, like she always did, to fill her in later.
And he'd tell her just exactly what he figured she had any reason to know.
"Yeah," Merle said. "I want the kid. She does too."
"You want it together?" Alice asked.
"You too damn nosy," Merle responded.
"That's what the hell they pay me the big bucks for," Alice said. "Listen, I don't give a damn if you want to keep it or—if you want to surrender it to the government for adoption. You do what you want. I'm just curious. Let's say you don't fuck up and end up back in max security or, worse, with a bullet in your brain. Are you two really planning on trying for something outside of this? Out of Woodbury?"
Merle glanced at Sadie again.
If anybody had told him before this whole thing started that he'd be standing a couple of feet away, one arm short, from some Deaf broad and he'd be considering the rest of his life with her, Merle would've called them a fucking liar. But the truth of the matter was, he was one arm short. Her ears didn't work for shit. They were both tagged hardened criminals— cold-blooded murderers and animals besides. And both of them had been through hell on their knees, a few times. They were both to the point, honestly, where it was hard to decide if the bullet in the brain wasn't preferable over going back to maximum security.
And Merle wasn't positive he loved her, but he was sure that he felt about her like he hadn't very often felt about anyone in his life.
He wasn't sure he loved her, but he was almost positive he'd die to keep it from happening to her first. And, for Merle, that was the best that he had.
"We're keepin' the damn kid, Doc," Merle said.
Alice nodded her head.
"Fair enough," Alice said.
"What about my brother?" Merle asked. "What about Daryl?"
"He's certainly planning on keeping his," Alice said.
Merle shook his head.
"When do I see him?" Merle asked.
Alice shrugged her shoulders.
"If you look out your window? You've got a good chance of seeing him while he's out and about," Alice said. "Maybe—when you're eating a meal you might see him. Until you get out of house arrest, though, you're not going to see him very often. Consider it just another incentive not to get your head blown off."
Merle laughed to himself.
"How about his lil' woman? They happy?" Merle asked.
Alice nodded her head. A hint of a smile came across her lips.
"They're very happy," Alice said. "If we gave out awards for happiness? I would guess that the two of them would probably win first place. They're doing well. Loving the life they've got together right now. They're happy with their growing babies—both of which are healthy. And—they seem to genuinely care about each other. Anything else I can help you with?"
Merle swallowed and shook his head.
"Nah," Merle said. "That's about all the shit that really matters."
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"Don't!" Daryl said quickly and sharply. He moved his body in front of Carol. He was jumpy, but Carol could admit that she was jumpy too. She was a little ashamed of the fact that she was actually trembling.
"Daryl," Carol said, trying to remind him not to do anything—not to make any sudden moves.
"She's pregnant," Daryl said, his voice a little calmer. "She's just—just don't do anything. We don't wanna cause no trouble."
Maggie smiled at them. Hurricane Maggie smiled at them. The two men who came in the house behind her—the ones that had advanced inside a little too quickly for his tastes and had startled Daryl—moved to the side and stood against the walls on either side of the door.
"We don't want any trouble either," Maggie said. "You can call me Maggie. And you are Daryl and Carol, correct?"
Daryl didn't move from between Carol and the new people in their home, but he visibly relaxed. Carol felt her own body relax in response to his.
"That's us," Daryl said. "But—we're not going to do anything and we'd appreciate if you didn't do nothin' either."
"Sit?" Maggie asked, gesturing toward the couch. "If you don't give the guards any reason, they're not going to do anything. I'm just here to speak to you. And they're just here to protect me in case I need it."
Carol reached a hand out and caught Daryl's hand. She tugged him with her to the couch. He walked the whole way there practically backward, his eyes never leaving the two men that were holding vigil over their encounter. As soon as they were seated, Daryl still watching the guards, Maggie chose a seat for herself and opened her notebook.
"We'll have a lot more conversations in the future," Maggie said. "But today? I just want to have a little introductory chat with you. Sort of you a getting to know you session." She looked directly at Daryl who was still concerned with the men present. "Do you think you can handle that? A normal conversation."
Carol didn't care for the woman's tone, and she didn't care for what she felt she was insinuating, but she also knew that they were in no position to point out things they did and didn't care for. Knowing what she knew about Hurricane Maggie, doing so might very well land them both in the clinic being treated for what the two men Daryl was watching might do to them.
"Whatever you want to talk about," Carol said. "We can talk about it." She put on the best smile she could. "We can talk about work or...our babies. We also just put together a really nice puzzle last night. We didn't know what it was, but it turned out to be a windmill. We could talk about that. Or the novel I finished a couple of days ago."
She thought she saw something flash in the woman's eyes, but there was nothing that Carol had said that could be used against her. She'd even minded her tone.
"Were you together before this? Or where you matched in Woodbury?" Maggie asked.
"We were in Region Thirty Three together," Carol said. "We knew each other, but you probably know that—relationships weren't allowed there."
"So you chose to be with each other?" Maggie asked.
"Familiarity always trumps the unknown," Carol said. "At least for me."
"Do you consider yourselves wild?" Maggie asked.
"No," Carol said.
Maggie looked to Daryl.
"Are you capable of speech?" She asked. "Or does it only happen in regard to the guards?"
Daryl's head snapped in her direction, but the squeeze that Carol gave his arm reminded him that they were on trial. They were always on trial.
"I can speak," Daryl said. "And I'm not wild. Never was. And I knew Carol in Region Thirty Three, but we weren't breaking the rules. Not there and not here. Model citizens...you can check it out."
"You've both undergone a fair amount of taming," Maggie said. "If you weren't wild, why would you suppose that so much taming would be necessary?"
Carol squeezed Daryl's arm again. A reminder not to answer too quickly or too hotly.
"I don't believe it was necessary," Daryl said. "But it's what they saw fit to do."
"Why did you ignore notices?" Maggie asked. "To turn yourselves in? To avoid imprisonment?"
"Never saw them," Carol lied. "I guess—there weren't any where I was living. I tried to stay away from everything. I was busy trying to keep my daughter alive."
"You?" Maggie asked, smirking a little as she jotted down notes about Carol's response in her notebook.
"Didn't see 'em," Daryl said. "Never saw the first one."
"That's interesting," Maggie said. "Since they were located in the areas where both of you were captured. Are you sure you never saw them?"
"It could be pretty hard to focus on things like that," Daryl said. "What with spending so much time trying to survive. Trying to—take the world back from the Dead. Not hiding behind walls or anything. Guess we missed the signs."
Carol squeezed Daryl's arm again, sure he'd complain about it later, but if Maggie was any more bothered by his response than she'd been by anything else they'd said, she didn't let on.
"Your daughter was with you at capture," Maggie said. Carol's stomach twisted. She nodded her head. She didn't trust herself to speak for the moment. "What happened to her?"
"She was separated from me," Carol said. "I don't know what happened to her."
"You've dedicated yourself to Wave Thirty Three, correct?" Maggie said. "You said yourself that you were model citizens?"
"We work," Daryl said. "We got no problems here. Don't cause trouble. We live normal, calm lives. Got babies on the way. Two of 'em."
Maggie nodded her head.
"Do you think you're reformed enough—tame enough—to handle the responsibility of a child?" Maggie asked. "Of two children, even?"
Carol nodded her head, but it was Daryl that chose to answer.
"Absolutely," he said, his voice not wavering in the least.
