Thank you to the people who reviewed and alerted this story. I was shocked at all of the hits and visitors, but very happy. I hope you like this chapter. I may take longer with my next update. Work out any kinks. I also got a story request from a friend so I'll be working on that as well.
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.
Damn you Alice Abernathy, Claire thought as she sat next to the other woman. They were still on watch and were still in a comfortable silence. The worst part of this silence for Claire was that it gave her thinking time. Lately, thinking time meant she was thinking about something that involved the mysterious woman that had come into her convoy in a cloud of fire. She tried not to, she really did, but Alice always managed to weasel her way to the forefront of her mind.
Claire had been wary of Alice in the beginning, but quickly saw that she wasn't a danger to the people of her convoy. Soon after, Claire began to like Alice. She enjoyed talking to her. Her sharp wit was refreshing. She had to adjust to being around people again, but warmed to Claire not long after her arrival. She joked with Claire and made her smile. She had immediately thought Alice was gorgeous, but she had come to think of her as also sweet and fun.
Claire was jealous. She knew it, but she wouldn't admit it. She didn't like the attention Carlos constantly gave Alice. She was also pissed that despite Alice's obvious –well, obvious to everyone but Carlos – disinterest in his offers and disregard of his attempts at flattery, he kept at it. All. The fucking. Time. She knew Alice didn't want him, but it didn't stop the jealousy from rising to the surface each time he flirted with her. It was why she had rescued her when Carlos offered to keep watch with her. She knew he would try something and she didn't want that happening. She wanted Alice for herself.
Suddenly, an idea came into Claire's mind. It had the possibility of working out greatly in her favor. If Alice went for it that is.
"Alice?" She wanted to get this going quickly.
Alice's head snapped over to look at Claire. "Yes?"
"You said you wanted to get Carlos to leave you alone, right?" Alice rolled her eyes.
"God, yes. I've been trying to think of something that would actually work for the past half hour."
Claire smiled. Her smiled changed to a smirk as she said, "Maybe I can help you." Alice's eyes widened. "Does this mean you have a plan? Will it work? What is it?" Claire laughed at her frantic questioning. "Calm down. Take a deep breath. Yes, I have a plan…sort of. I believe it should work. I'll tell you what it is if you promise to keep an open mind."
Alice scoffed, "Anything to get him to back off. My mind is open to whatever."
"All right then. It involves me and you." Claire felt a little nervous but she hid it well.
"Continue, please." Alice encouraged urgently.
"We would need to try getting into his head. We need to make him think something is going on between us and make him suspicious of it. When he asks, we'll say we are together and he should leave you alone." She bit her lip and waited for Alice's response. By the look on Alice's face, she wasn't adverse to the idea.
"Okay. What if he doesn't get suspicious by the two of us flirting and the subtle touches? What then?" Alice wanted to make sure it worked. She didn't exactly hate the idea either.
"We make sure he's watching and I'll do something to make the message perfectly clear."
"Like?" Here it goes.
"I'll kiss you." There it is.
Alice was a little surprised at Claire's suggestion, but she was excited and had hopes that the flirting and touches wouldn't be enough to convince Carlos. She smiled at Claire. "Sounds like a plan then. If this doesn't work then I may have to verbally slap him in the face."
Claire was relieved she agreed to the plan. Perhaps there was hope yet. "Okay. When would you like to start this?"
"In the morning. For now, however, we should get Mikey and L.J. up for their turn. We need to get what little sleep we can." Claire nodded her agreement and they climbed down from the roof of the Hummer to go wake the two men.
They returned to the Hummer. Claire was in the front seat, Alice in the back. They both fell into a dreamless sleep.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Claire woke to a knock on the window. She groaned and moved her hat off of her eyes. The first thing out of her mouth was "Fuck's sake. It's too early for this." Carlos and K-Mart were looking into the vehicle. The two backed away from the door when they saw Claire sitting up.
"What is it?" Alice asked. She sat up in the back seat and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"Just guess." Both women rolled their eyes. Alice said, "It's too early for this shit." Claire laughed then she asked, "Are you ready?"
Alice smirked, "Are you?"
Claire answered with a smirk of her own. "Let's do this." The women stretched and climbed out of the vehicle.
Carlos and K-Mart made their way back over from Betty's ambulance. Since they were looking right at Claire and Alice, Alice decided it was time to start. Touching Claire's arm lightly, she smiled and turned her head. She leaned in to Claire's ear and whispered, "I wonder what he would say if I told him he turned me gay." Claire nearly lost it, but she kept the laughter in by biting her lip. Although, it didn't stop the massive grin that made its way onto her face. Alice had hoped for that reaction. From a distance it could look like something it wasn't. By the slightly odd looks on their faces, she guessed it worked. Claire decided to return the favor and whispered in Alice's ear, "Remind me to thank him, then." Alice managed to hide her surprise with a smile to the other woman. Claire winked at her before turning her attention to the new arrivals.
"Hey guys!" came K-Mart's chipper greeting.
"Hey Alice," the man smiled. "Claire," he nodded to her.
Neither woman was surprised with his concise greeting to Claire. She was really going to enjoy this.
Alice greeted them with a "hey" and Claire with "What's up?"
K-Mart spoke, "Mikey said he wanted your help, Claire. I think it's about the perimeter."
She nodded. "Okay." She looked at Alice and said, "I'll see you in a bit, babe" then turned at walked to Mikey's van. K-Mart looked confused. "Babe?" Alice shrugged. "Ooookay then. Well, I'm going back to Betty. She's going to teach me some necessary first-aid stuff." With that, she left. Carlos smiled at Alice. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Alice did.
"I wonder if Claire and Mikey need help with the perimeter. See you later, Carlos." She walked away. He huffed and went off to find L.J. "Damn it, Claire" he grumbled under his breathe.
Claire was getting some canned food from Otto when she saw Alice saunter up to her. She smirked knowing Carlos was behind her in the line.
"Hey, sexy."
"Hey yourself, gorgeous." Alice replied, looking up and down at her.
Her smirk grew. She held up the cans and raised an eyebrow at the blonde, "Dinner for two?"
"Thought you'd never ask." Alice slipped an arm around her waist and led her to the Hummer. Both women enjoyed the confused glare on Carlos's face as they walked away.
They had just finished eating when he showed back up. Alice let loose an exasperated sigh, "If he starts coming over here one my time I'm kissing you." Claire was surprised but got out a reply of "All right" before Carlos was upon them.
"Alice, do you have any ideas on where to go next? We'll need supplies soon and I thought you might know some cities or towns we can hit," he grinned.
"I'd have to think about it. Claire?" Claire shrugged.
"We can think about it and have a meeting in a few hours." Carlos was visibly disappointed.
"Okay. I'll tell them. See you later." He sulked off.
"Pussy." Alice burst into laughter at what Claire said. Claire joined in her laughter with an "Oh, shit" when Carlos's head snapped back to glare at her. She wrapped an arm around Alice's shoulder as a taunt. His glare stayed in place as he turned and stomped away.
Alice giggled, "He doesn't like you very much right now."
Claire shrugged, "Not my problem. I got the girl and he didn't. Should I tell K-Mart about this?"
"If you'd like." Claire thought about it before deciding this way would be more fun.
Alice looked around for a second before Carlos caught her eye. He was talking to Betty. He winked when she looked at him. She rolled her eyes and turned to Claire.
"Don't leave me by myself. He's already working out a plan to steal me from you." She pleaded.
"Is he still looking?" Claire asked.
Alice glanced at him quickly. He was staring right at her. "Yes."
"Good. This will give the hint then." Alice didn't understand until what she meant until Claire's hands cupped her face. Claire leaned in and pressed her lips to Alice's.
Don't kill me lol I hate cliffies with a passion, but this seemed a good place to stop. It helps give me a decent start with the next chapter. That and it's 4 in the morning where I am and I felt the need to get this one up quickly. So, my apologies if this one wasn't as good. I'm putting more K-Mart interaction in the next one.
