So, I realised that I keep talking about how Georgie is suffering. Well boo-hoo. Adele suffers too. So I thought I would address the imbalance and let Adele get some stuff off her chest.
Andrea
"Georgie? You need any help in there?" Andrea rapped gently on the door of Georgie and Carol's old room. After Rick's speech at dinner, Dale had approached Georgie to apologise.
"I never should have said you were acting like the Governor. Never Georgie. I'm...I'm an old man. I'm set in my ways. This new life...I could cope when we were just killing walkers. But it's harder to make that transition to living people. No matter what they've done." Georgie had listened, eyes down. "I thought that because it was the first thing you decided to do, it was easy for you. But, I've seen you these last days. I was wrong. I'm truly sorry. If you can forgive me-not that you should-I'd like to start again." Georgie had licked her lips and met Dale's eyes.
"I'd like that Dale." When Dale had held his hand to her, she had taken him in a brief hug. Whilst they were loading up the RV with food from the kitchen, he had paused and turned to Andrea.
"Who's going through Carol's things?" Andrea had stopped and looked at him.
"I don't know. Georgie I guess." She paused, considering what she had just said. When Amy had died, she had wanted to go through all of her old clothes, the things she had brought when they had evacuated to Atlanta by herself. It had taken her 5 minutes to descend into a sobbing wreak. Dale had had to sort through everything with her. She couldn't see Georgie coping with a similar situation well, given the high stress situations she had been through. She leant forward and kissed Dale. "I'll go help her." Dale nodded.
"I can't imagine she'll want me up there. I mean, I know she says she's forgiven me, but..." Andrea smiled.
"She'll forgive you. But I'll go up. I know what it's like."
As she pushed the door open, she was surprised to see Adele stood in the middle of the room. Adele turned and smiled at Andrea.
"I told Georgie not to come up and do this. She's helping Rick and Carl." She glanced around. A mess of clothes surrounded her. Georgie's weapons were the only things neatly stacked in a corner. "I thought, if I did it, it'd be easier." She swallowed, and Andrea realised she was on the brink of tears. "You know, because I didn't think I was as close to Carol. But, it is hard. Every time I pick something up, I remember something about her. Like the day she took a knife to one of the men in the complex for trying to attack Julie. You remember? We both came running down the stairs and she was holding it to his throat. Her hand was shaking, but she held her own." Adele really was starting to cry now, and Andrea held her in a huge hug.
"I would have done the same as Georgie," Adele gulped through her sobs. "If I had gone after Daryl, I would have done exactly what she did. I would have cut that man into tiny pieces for what he did. I know what they did was wrong, but I would have done the same." Andrea smoothed down the younger woman's hair, rocking her gently like she would a child. Gradually, the tears subsided, and Adele raised her head from Andrea's shoulder shamefaced.
"I can't remember the last time I cried like that. I've been so intent on being supportive to Georgie. Everything she's been through, and yet she just carried on. I don't know if she's strong or stubborn. I just thought, because I have Ben to talk to..." She looked at Andrea. "You think I'm just whining now don't you?"
"No." Andrea brushed a piece of hair from out of her eyes. "You and Georgie have been through a lot. And you've supported each other throughout. You both have the right to vent." Adele looked down at the floor. "Hey." Andrea held her at arm's length and lifted her face. "We'll go through her stuff together."
They methodically sorted the clothes: Carol's, Georgie's and Sophie's, and talked about anything and everything. They talked about their respective relationships with Ben and Dale, how the children were holding up (Andrea was worried that Sophie wasn't going to speak again, whilst Adele was confident that she just needed time); the food that they wished they could get hold of (Vegemite for Adele, Candy canes for Andrea). Finally, they broached the topic that Andrea was most curious about.
"We didn't lose control in that room. We kept each other in check." Adele was folding Sophie's clothes, but she kept eye contact with Andrea. "We knew not to go too far."
"How far is too far?" Andrea started to rummage through a set of drawers, picking out clothes that might be useful.
"When you stop having to collect yourself before each cut. When you start to show emotion when you're doing it. Anger, remorse. We just needed to get the information out of him. We didn't do it for revenge." Andrea nodded. "That's why I killed him so quickly when I came back. I tried to make it humane. A quick beheading. Then using the Molotov cocktails to burn the body. It was more than he deserved."
"Did you learn to do that in the complex?" Adele nodded.
"Another one of the Governors sick lessons to create his two protégées. We never enjoyed it as much as he did though. Until we came here, I never thought I'd want to do it to anyone so much. It really...it made me doubt myself Andrea."
"I think if anyone hurt Dale, I'd be able to hurt and maim until every last drop of that person's blood had run out of their body." Andrea sat back and contemplated her next sentence. "Before the walkers came, there was no need for any of this. But now...we're forever waiting for the next extreme situation. And with those situations, come extreme reactions. If we hesitate to take those actions, if we don't adapt...we don't survive."
"The only problem is, if the world ever returns to the way it was, can we change back? We let ourselves do these things, we let these emotions get out of hand, will we remember how to control them?" Andrea looked at Adele. For a moment there was a silence, then both women gave nervous chuckles.
"That's a bit deep."
"Yeah, sorry." Adele smiled. She stood up. "I think we're done. Let's get this down to the RV and cars." Both women picked up a bag and made their way down the corridor. On the way, they saw Daryl and Matthew coming up the stairs. Matthew smiled and said hi to both of them, Daryl barely registered they walked past.
"That's a point," Andrea leant in close behind Adele as they walked down the stairs. "Are Georgie and Daryl together now or something? She's been wearing his shirt for a week. And she spent the night in his room a few times. Any idea what's going on there?"
"Georgie and Daryl?" Adele turned her head. "It would make sense. They're kind of suited to each other! But, she's spent all her time with Rick. I haven't seen her or Daryl even look at each other."
"Why would Georgie spend all her time with Rick?" Andrea mulled this over as they went outside.
"I don't know." Adele placed the bag next to the RV and turned. Andrea followed suit. "But get this. I went in there once, just to see if he was ok, and to give Ben some food. Rick was feverish and mumbling gibberish. Georgie was wiping sweat off his forehead, and he grabbed her arm and called her Lori."
"What?" Andrea stopped. "He thought she was..."
"Yeap. He was totally convinced that she was..."Adele stopped mid-sentence and held her arm out, stopping Andrea in her tracks. She was staring into the woods, and seemed to have stopped breathing. Andrea followed her gaze and felt her heart stop.
A walker was moving jerkily out of the woods. Its head lolled grotesquely to one side, one hand was missing a few fingers. It was reaching towards the pair of them, making the familiar guttural sounds.
"Oh God!" Andrea ran towards the bag that they had brought down, and pulled out a gun. She fired it at the walker, but it simply dry clicked. Panicking, Adele rushed to her side and the pair of them started to rummage frantically through the bag for ammunition.
"Go get your sword!" Adele scrambled to her feet and started to run to the door. A shot rang through the air and the walker fell. Andrea swung around to see Ben stood in the doorway, a smoking shotgun in his hand. He looked shocked, and dropped the gun almost immediately.
"BEN!" Adele threw her arms around him and started to smother his face in kisses. "You wonderful man! I will NEVER doubt you again!" Andrea stood up, her hands shaking.
"What the hell's happening out here?" Dale came out of the RV looking bemused.
"We need to get out of here." Andrea placed her arms around Dale's neck. "The walkers are thawing. We need to get out of here soon."
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