Red River Blue

Chapter 25

"Why the hell do you have so many wigs in here?," Carol asked, tossing more items out of a tuperware container and onto the bed inside River's camper. She didn't know why anyone would need so many wigs even in normal life, but at the end of the world they seemed especially useless. River laughed and pranced over, plucking up a platnium blonde one and flipping upside down to pull the wig on over her own darker hair.

"Forgot these were in here," River announced, "might have to wear this one later... with nothing else on." She turned her back to Carol and rotated her hips in what Carol could only guess was an imitation of what the woman planned on doing later while she was wearing the blonde wig. Carol started laughing and plopped down on the bed, sifting through the wigs and trying to imagine how silly she might look in one of them. There was even a hot pink one that was cut into a bob. Carol considered it for about two seconds before tossing it into the pile on the bed.

"What are we looking for in here anyway?," Carol asked once she had control over her laughter.

"My red velvet bag," River reminded the woman. She glanced down at Carol's feet and let out a shriek of excitment. There, peeking out from under the bed, was the corner of the red bag in question. River ripped it out from under the bed and sat down on the bed next to Carol to start digging through it. She tossed the unwanted items onto the bed behind her, leading Carol to quickly understand why River could never find anything without looking for it for at least twenty minutes. She would probably misplace her own head if it wasn't attached to her neck.

Finally River found what she was looking for and she gave Carol a big smile before she handed the items to her. Carol looked down at the lacy garments in her hands. It was a matching bra and panty set. Both pale pink lace. The bra wouldn't offer much coverage or support, it was something clearly made only to be worn for a short time before it was removed by a chosen partner. The panties were cut like a pair of boy shorts and like the bra they were shear enough that her skin would show through. Carol had never owned or worn anything like them before in her life. Ed barely let her spend money on things she actually needed, let alone something to wear just so she could feel pretty.

"What am I supposed to do with these?," Carol asked. River giggled like the question was the funniest she had ever heard.

"Wear them for Daryl," River told her. The shocked look on Carol's face made River second guess her gift. She had only wanted to make Carol feel better about herself, not to embarrass her or make her feel bad. River always felt more confident when she knew she had on something sexy on under her normal clothes. She thought the pink panties and bra might do the same for Carol. Plus she knew Daryl was partial to pink panties. Merle liked to tease him about it.

"I've never worn anything like this before," Carol admitted in a voice that came out sounding like someone else's voice. Someone small and scared that she thought she had left behind down in the tombs when she almost died there. River wrinkled up her face, making the crook in her nose look even more crooked than normal.

"You were married," River asked, "didn't you ever dress up for yer husband?"

River knew by now that Carol's husband had been abusive, but she figured at some point towards the beginning of their relationship they must have been in love. She used to dress up for Merle all the time, especially when they were first married. She remembered one time that Merle gave her money to go shopping for new clothes at the mall out of some army bonus he got and she had spent every single penny on lingerie. Harley had still been small enough for River to wear her around the mall in a soft little carrier that strapped on like a backwards backpack, which would have made River about sixteen or seventeen at the time. When she got home with nothing but a bag full of sexy underwear and new baby clothes for Harley, Merle had laughed like crazy and told her next time she ought to get herself a new dress so he could take her out to dinner.

Carol shook her head, hanging it down lower and balling up the items in her hands. "If Ed ever saw me wear something like this he would have either told me what a fat cow I was or beat the shit out me for acting like a whore."

River leaned in, wrapping her arms around Carol and hugging the other woman to her chest. Carol went stiff for a moment and then she was hugging River back, the pink panty outfit sandwiched between their bodies.

They held each other tight, and for the first time in a long time Carol felt understood by someone. River didn't cock her head and give that same judgemental look that Carol had gotten from the few female friends she had confided in over the years. The ones that all had the same attitude. Hit me once, shame on you. Hit me twice, shame on me. Like leaving her husband and starting her entire life completely over from scratch was as simple as changing her underpants. Once she felt Carol's tension start to ease, River leaned back and put her hand under the other woman's chin to lift it.

"You're not ugly. Ya sure ain't fat. And wearin' pink panties don't make you a whore," River told her. Carol thinking she was a whore would be funny if it wasn't so damn sad. She was practically a nun compared to River. River gathered up the bra and panties and put them back in Carol's hands. Then for good measure she turned and dug though the pile of underclothes on the bed behind her, plucking out a much skimpier outfit. A white lace thong and a matching white nightie that didn't leave much to the imagination.

"Now this one is a full on whore outfit," River announced with glee. She forgot this outfit was even in her camper and she liked wearing white, especially since she had a great tan going from working out in the garden. The nightie was going to look good with her blonde wig too. Damn good. Maybe she ought to take up actual whoring and start charging Merle to sleep with her. Money wasn't worth anything anymore but she figured he could pay her in chocolate. The thought of that made her giggle again.

Carol looked at the scandalous outfit River was holding up in front of her body, and then down at the much more demure outfit in her own hands, feeling silly now for almost having a full breakdown over a pair of pink lace underpants. Carol didn't think anything was ever actually going to happen between her and Daryl, but just in case it did she knew she would be happy to have something to wear that wasn't stained, torn, or fit for a granny.

"Thanks," she finally managed to squeak out. River dropped her nightie on the bed and leaned forward to hug Carol again. Her demons were different from Carol's but she wrestled with them just the same. She was about to suggest that what Carol really needed was a pink wig to go with her pink panties, but her train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the open door of the trailer.

"Mom!," Wren called out, "Dad's back!"

TWD

With the heavy weighted pillow sack slung over his shoulder and the metal sleeve on his arm, Merle came off looking like a cross between a bandit and some sort of deranged santa clause. He set the cloth bag down on their bunk and then gripped it by the bottom corner, dumping the contents out onto the rumpled blanket. What tumbled out was a giant tangled up pile of jewelry. From the looks of it, River guessed it wasn't costume jewelry either.

"What the hell is all this?," she asked, her face more amused than curious. The pile was almost too much for her eyes to take in all at once. Most of it was gold, but there were sparkling stones in all different colors. Earrings, rings and braceletes all tangled up with long roping necklaces and the pendants that hung from them. She cast another glance at Merle, her eyes lingering on his metal sleeve. "You a pirate now?"

Merle pursed up his lips and sneared at her. River said she wanted a goddamn new wedding ring. So off he went to some stupid jewlery store. The kind of place Merle couldn't have even afforded to step foot in before the turn. The problem was, once he was in there he had no idea what to get her. And the only person with him was Daryl, the only man in the world that was possibly more clueless about women's fashion than he was. The other two rings he had bought for River, she had gone with him to the store and picked them out herself. So he figured he would just grab everything in the place and she could pick out whatever she wanted and toss the rest out.

"You said ya wanted a new weddin' ring," Merle reminded her.

"A new ring, not the whole store," she shot back with an amused smile. She was teasing him a little, but he could tell by the look on her face that she was happy. She had only mentioned the ring once, weeks ago. He remembered about it, and little things that like were never lost on River. Once she got over her shock of staring at the large mounding pile of gold and jewels, she drifted into his arms and pressed her mouth to his, parting his lips with the tip of her tounge.

"What's all that?" Wren's voice came drifting in from the doorway. River reluctantly let go of her husband and turned towards her daughter. Carl was standing next to the girl and they had their hands locked together, fingers intertwined. That was new. River was happy for her daughter, but she also felt the small sad pull inside her. Like she wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. The constant conflicting emotions that came with being a mother. Wren was her baby. Watching her turn into a woman made River feel proud, but also a little sad. Her heart was full but her arms were empty. If this was normal life and not the end of the world, she might have given thought to having another baby. But with things as they were, she knew she was just going to have to learn to let go.

Merle had no such conflicting emotions. He glared at the boy that was clinging to his daughter's hand until Carl started to shift around nervously. He tried smiling at Merle, which only made the man give him an even dirtier look. Finally Carl made some lame excuse about needing to help his dad with something. He let go of Wren's hand and scampered off down the corridor. Merle grinned to himself until he realized River was giving him a dirty look. She raised an eyebrow at him and he just shrugged back at her. He didn't have to ask to know what she was thinking. Be nice. Wren didn't notice any of the subtle communicationt that passed between her parents. She was already on the bed, sorting through the large pile of sparkly wonderfulness.

River smiled at the girl, who was now holding up a long strand of pearls that was probably worth more than River's old car. Wren untangled the end of the strand from a diamond bracelet and wrapped them around her neck. River sat down on the bunk, staring at the pile and not even knowing where to start. She plucked a silver ring up from the pile. It caught her eye because it had a giant pink stone on it. She turned it around in front of her face, looking at how the stone caught the light. The stone was so big she didn't think there was any way it could be real. If it was she had no idea what sort of stone it might be. Maybe a diamond? She wasn't sure if diamonds came this big and pink.

"Daryl found that one there in a safe in the back room," Merle informed her, "pro'bly worth some loot." River nodded and slipped the ring over her finger. It was too big in her ring finger but it fit her middle finger just fine.

"Look, it fits," she teased, flipping Merle the bird with the giant stone sparkling on her finger. He shook his head and laughed at her. She took the pink ring back off, but didn't toss it back into the pile. It got set aside behind her hip so he figured she was keeping it. Wren was now wearing a ring on every finger including her thumbs, at least five necklaces and she had bracelets laddered up both of her wrists.

Merle leaned back against the wall and lit up a smoke, even though there wasn't supposed to be any smoking inside the prison. He smiled and watched River and Wren poking around at the pile on the bed, chattering to each other like two happy birds. Wren looked so much like her mother had at that age. The same age she was when they started sleeping together. Which was most of the reason he didn't like Rick's little shitbird kid hovering around his daughter. He remembered being a teenage boy. And the sorts of thoughts that had gone through his mind about pretty teenage girls. The last damn thing he needed was to become a grandfather before he was even forty. Looking like one was already bad enough.

River started sorting through the massive pile, setting aside things she thought she might want to keep and trying on rings to find one that fit the ring finger on her left hand. She set aside a pair of earrings with pale blue stones and a matching ring for Harley. River wasn't sure if her older daughter would want to wear them or not, but the stones were almost the exact color of Harley's pale blue eyes. As she shifted through the rest of the pile, River finally found it. A ring with a slim gold band and a stone that caught the light without being to big and awkward. The stone was clear and round with a little ring of smaller stones around it. She slid it on, finding that it fit her finger perfectly.

"Found one!," she announced as she held up her hand again, this time without the inappropriate gesture. River rose up from the bed and closed the small distance between her and Merle. Reaching out, she snatched up what was left of the cigarette he was smoking. He expected her to stomp it out, but instead she lifted her hand to her mouth and took a puff, blowing the smoke out slowly. She smiled at him and handed the cigarette back. Trying to look sexy and not start coughing her lungs out.

"Since when do you smoke?," he asked her, his voice low and rough. She had her body pressed up flush against his now, her head tilted back so she could look up at him. River tossed one quick glance back over her shoulder to make sure Wren wasn't paying them any attention. Then her hand snaked down between them, stroking him through the fly of his pants.

"There's plenty about me that you don't know," she teased. Merle shuffled his arms awkwardly. He only had one good hand, and he was holding a lit cigarette in it. Finally he gripped the smoke with his teeth and shot his hand down, grasping River's wrist and pulling her slim fingers away from his growing erection. She wasn't playing fair, grabbing at him like that when their daughter was only a few feet away. Wren was showing no signs of leaving their room anytime soon either. On the contrary, she was now halfway done organizing the pile of jewelry. Putting the earrings with their matches and lying the necklaces out so they weren't all tangled up.

River leaned in, giving Merle one more lingering kiss on the strong line of his jaw. Then she spun around.

"Hey Wrennie?," she asked, her voice high and upbeat. Her mommy voice, the one she used to talk to the girls when they were little toddlers. She didn't use it on Harley anymore, but Wren was still young enough she didn't seem to mind it yet. Merle smirked, River reminded him of an overgrown cheerleader when she talked like that. "How 'bout I help you take this stuff into your room and then you can show it to all your friends?" All your friends consisted only of about three other girls that happened to be around the same age as Wren. But that did not diminish the girl's excitement.

"I can have all this?," Wren asked. River nodded, laughing at the excited look on her daughter's face. Wren looked about like it was christmas and easter and her birthday all rolled into one. Like it was the best day of her life. River thought moving the jewelry would take them a few trips, but Wren gripped the bottom of her shirt and pulled it out like an apron. Not caring if she would have to organize all of it over again, she started scooping the items up and dumping them into the pocket made by her outstretched shirt. She left only the few items that River had set aside for herself and Harley. Once Wren was done, she set of racing down the hallway calling for Mika, the large bundle swinging in front of her like a kangaroo pouch. Behind her, she left a sparkly trail of the few items that slipped out through a tiny hole in her shirt.

** Big thanks to all the readers that have left me a review - QueenDisney, RandomMoonshadow, The 5 of spades, Kabrinastar, Shannon143, angelicdg, RazorMyRamona, DarylDixon'sLover, linnterr, MiliMaddoxDixon, blackcat711, blueberrry and also my guests (also known as people like me that are often too lazy to log in to their accounts). I try not to leave a lot of author's notes since I like to have my stories read like actual book, but I really do appreciate all the views and the reviews, you are all wonderful! **