AN: Here we are, another chapter here.
I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think!
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Beyond the bathroom door, Daryl could hear the water splashing. He could hear Carol, every now and again, hum to herself in satisfaction.
If this was a dream, or a trick, or even some kind of science experiment, Daryl wasn't sure that he wanted it to end—not if it remained just like it was.
She'd taken her cup of coffee to the bathroom with her. As soon as they'd come back inside the place that Chakotay had identified as their new home, Carol had practically walked straight to the bathroom with her cup of coffee in hand, and she'd stood in the bathroom loudly suggesting to the air that the shower needed to turn on.
Daryl had been the one to figure out the trick by calling on the "computer" before he announced that Carol wanted the shower on, and she wanted it hot.
The coffee was delicious, she'd said. And she'd called, through the closed bathroom door, that the shower was wonderful. Now she was humming to herself, every now and again, in satisfaction. It was a welcomed break from seeing her simply surviving—looking for something she trusted to give her even a scrap of lingering happiness.
Alpha's death had brought some peace to Carol. At least, for all the children that she'd lost—and Daryl had shared a great many of Carol's secrets after a mini-breakdown that had followed at the relief of seeing Alpha's head so very well separated from her body—she felt like she got some kind of revenge for the final loss of Henry. It wouldn't bring him back, but at least she felt like she'd gotten something.
Still, it was distance and space that she believed would bring her peace. It was time and room to breathe. It was a new world and an entirely new life that they'd gone seeking when they'd said goodbye to everyone and set out for New Mexico.
And maybe this place was just right to offer Carol something of a new life.
Daryl looked around their quarters, as Chakotay had called them.
The area where the man had produced coffee out of thin air for Carol was a living room of sorts. It was just a plain space, but it was very clean and it felt oddly secure. Daryl tested to doors once or twice, but they opened every time. They weren't locked in. They could, as Chakotay had said, come and go as they pleased—they simply didn't know where there was to go or how to return if they left. The hallways beyond the door were an almost dizzying blur of doors, lights, and repetitive carpet. It reminded Daryl of a hotel. Still, without knowing where he was or how to get back to Carol if he wandered too many doors away, Daryl simply stepped back into their quarters, allowed the automatic doors to hiss closed, and waited for Carol to finish her shower.
Beyond the living room, they had a bedroom where there was a connected bathroom.
The bedroom was also clean and plain. Just as there were towels and even bathrobes stacked for them in the bathroom, there was an extra change of clothes for each of them on the edge of the bed.
The edge of the only bed in their quarters.
Daryl sat down on the foot of the bed and waited for Carol to finish her shower. He waited to hear her loudly announce to the computer that it could turn off the water. He caught the satisfied giggle that escaped her when the computer obeyed her. He waited while she dried and dressed, and he heard her bumping around the rather spacious bathroom before she opened the door and stepped out in a practical fog of flower-scented warm and damp air.
Her hair was wet, but she'd still pinned it up and out of her face with something she must have found around the bathroom. The pointy-eared woman—Kes—had done her best to think of the things that Daryl and Carol might want. The clothes that she'd given Carol were similar to the ones she'd been wearing, but clean and softer in some way. They looked good on her—or maybe it was simply the prospect of a whole new life in a whole new world that looked good on her.
If Daryl hadn't known any better, he might have insisted that the shower washed ten years off of her.
"Good shower?" Daryl asked, standing up.
Carol smiled at him. He loved to see her smile. A genuine smile from Carol had always been worth anything that he had to do to earn it.
"It stays hot the whole time," Carol said. "You should take one."
"Don't know when he'll be back," Daryl offered.
"He'll wait," Carol said.
"What happened to your coffee?" Daryl asked. "It disappear?"
"I finished it," Carol said. "While I was showering. I almost felt like royalty. Hot water, coffee. The soap smells so good…"
She smelled her own hand and then offered it out to Daryl. He could smell the soap in the air, but he leaned forward, anyway, to be closer to her.
"Smells good," he offered. He looked around the little room. "They—uh—put us in some tight quarters."
Carol looked around and a hint of a smile drifted across her lips.
"I would say some of them have been tighter," she offered. "After the farm, especially."
Daryl laughed to himself. He remembered the time on the road when they'd shared space sleeping in cars, barns, or anywhere else they could find a spot to lay their heads. It seemed like a million years ago and, now, it seemed like a different world entirely.
"There's only one bed," Daryl said.
Carol stared at the bed. She contemplated it much longer than was necessary, really, to stare at a bed. Then she looked at Daryl and gently shrugged her shoulders.
"I can sleep on the couch," she offered. "Or—tell Chakotay we'll need another room?"
Daryl's stomach tightened at the thought of either of them moving to some other room aboard this ship—if they were really on a ship at all.
"Better if we stay together," he said.
Carol simply nodded her head, her eyes focused on him. She didn't ask him why it was better. She didn't seem like she wanted to discuss it. It seemed like she'd already decided that it was better, as well, so she accepted it.
"It's not much different than two sleeping bags," Carol offered. "Side by side."
Daryl nodded.
"Yeah," he said. "It'll be fine. Be good. I'ma—shower."
"Good," Carol said. "Next to the soap—you're really starting to smell."
Daryl accepted the good-natured teasing because he knew that's what it was. He did smell next to the floral soap that filled the air. He smelled like sweat and dirt. He smelled faintly of their campfire. It was in his hair, but soon, he'd wash it away.
"Don't go nowhere," Daryl offered.
"Just to the living room," Carol said, pointing toward the area where she was already headed. Daryl nodded at her and stepped into the bathroom to have his own shower.
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Carol walked over to the window and gazed out. It was as though a very clear night full of stars was gliding past the glass as they rolled along.
She didn't know where they were or where they were going.
If Kathryn—apparently the captain of this ship—was telling the truth, they were in some place that Carol had never heard of before. They were in the Delta Quadrant and Earth was thousands of lightyears away.
Carol didn't even know what a lightyear was, but she knew that she felt oddly lighter simply believing that there were thousands of them between her and the life that she'd known.
Earth had been cruel to Carol. Her life there had simply been one painful loss after another. She'd lost her parents early—now it seemed like several lifetimes ago since she'd seen them or felt their love. She'd married Ed, believing he loved her, and she'd soon lost that when she'd realized that he only wanted to control her. A man who spent years abusing her mind and body wasn't worth her mourning.
And everything beautiful and wonderful that Earth had given her, it had taken away.
Sophia, her baby girl, had been the most precious thing in her life. She'd been ripped away just as Carol had begun to imagine a new life with her—one that was out from under Ed's thumb.
She'd been reluctant to get close to Lizzie or Mika, even though she'd adopted them when their father had died and left them to her, but she'd finally started to give in. In the little house in the pecan grove, Carol had begun to imagine a different life entirely—and she'd lost them both.
She held out longer with Henry. She fought harder against loving him. Finally, though, she'd given in. She'd trusted that he would make it. She'd seen him growing into a man that would find love and build a life. Then Alpha had taken his head. She'd lost hers for the act, but it wouldn't bring Henry back. It wouldn't fill Carol's empty arms.
Earth had been cruel to Carol and, really, her heart beat a little differently in her chest to simply imagine that, maybe, she'd left the planet behind entirely.
Maybe this really was the chance at a new life. She wanted that. She wanted the chance to start over entirely. Maybe, away from Earth, she could actually find the kind of life she'd dreamed of before she'd started to accept that her lot in life was to suffer at every turn.
Maybe she was meant to live among the stars.
Daryl would probably think she was mad if she told him that she was excited about the potential that lie before them. She wouldn't tell him that just yet. She wouldn't tell him, either, that she was grateful—so grateful—that they were there together.
She knew that Daryl thought of her as his best friend, and that was enough for now. He was her best friend, and she was happy to be with him—no matter where they ended up.
She wouldn't tell him that she'd been intrigued by him since the rock quarry outside Atlanta. She wouldn't tell him that she'd admired him since the CDC. She wouldn't tell him that she'd loved him since Hershel's farm.
She wouldn't tell him that she was happy about the fact that she felt something growing inside her at the thought of a new life and a fresh start, and she was happy that he was with her.
Daryl might not be ready to hear all of that. So, she wouldn't tell him.
Right now, if Carol knew him as well as she believed she did, he would be worried about if they were safe. Carol didn't know if they were safe, but she had a gut feeling that they were. It was a strange sensation because she did, actually, feel safe—and she couldn't quite recall the last time she'd felt that. Even if she weren't safe, though, she wasn't sure exactly what to do about it unless she were to attack their captors—and it felt odd to even humorously think of Kathryn and Chakotay as their captors—with the coffee table or the flowers that had, undoubtedly, been placed there to make them feel more welcome.
Carol didn't feel threatened, and that was a wonderful feeling. After all, she'd felt threatened since almost a month after she'd married Ed. The sensation hadn't lifted, really, until she'd been in the shower. It was as though she'd been washing it all away with the hot water. Still, she would accept Daryl's need to try to keep them safe. She appreciated, at least, that he wanted to protect her, even though she knew that he understood that she could protect herself. She'd learned to protect herself. The world had taught her that. She respected Daryl's need to protect, and she wouldn't take that from him.
Carol jumped, her contemplation of the stars interrupted, when there was a whistling noise that she hadn't heard before. She walked around, looking for the source of the noise, and the doors slid open.
"May I come in?" Chakotay asked, standing in the doorway.
Carol smiled at him.
"It's more your home than mine," she offered. Chakotay stepped into the space.
"Hopefully you won't feel that way for long," he said. "I wasn't sure if you'd recognize the sound of the chime. When you hear it, you can say 'come in.' Unless, of course, you don't want the person to come inside."
"A doorbell," Carol said.
"Exactly," Chakotay ceded. "Are you—ready to go? Where's Daryl?"
"He's finishing his shower," Carol said.
"We can wait," Chakotay assured her. "I thought we'd go to the mess hall. Let you get something light to eat. Then, I can take you on a tour of the ship. Answer any questions you might have. This evening, when she finishes her duty, we've been invited to dinner and drinks in the captain's quarters."
"That sounds—important," Carol said. "I have to say—we don't know how to do captain's dinners or…whatever." She laughed to herself. "It's been a long time since an uninterrupted dinner was even guaranteed."
Chakotay laughed.
"There are no guarantees that things aren't interrupted here, either," he said. "Voyager is a very busy place sometimes. Still, it's just dinner and drinks. Captain Janeway—Kathryn—would just like to get to know you both better. Have dinner. It's nothing formal. You can refuse, though, if you like."
Carol smiled to herself. She was confident that there would be no punishment or repercussion if they were to refuse the invitation. Still, she could see something in Chakotay's eyes that said there would be some disappointment.
"I think I can answer for both of us when I say—we'd be happy to eat dinner with both of you," Carol said.
"Great," Chakotay said.
"I'll go check on Daryl," Carol offered. "I'm sure it won't take him much longer. He might've forgotten—how to turn the shower off."
Chakotay laughed to himself.
"It's tricky, I'm sure," he said. "But you'll both learn quickly."
