Victory Dance

The trip back to the mountains was thankfully uneventful. Carol watched her friends go to sleep one by one despite the occasional bumps in the road. They had left the mountains hours before daybreak and no had really slept the night before. Daryl had passed out in the middle of a funny story involving Michonne and barn rats hours ago. She looked over at Andrea asleep on Joaquin's shoulder; she looked as peaceful as Carol had ever seen her. Joaquin eased Andrea off his shoulder and gently deposited her on the truck bed. He moved beside of Carol; he wanted to talk. Carol sighed; he was a man of science and reason, but she could try to explain what was unscientific and unreasonable.

Joaquin kept his voice low; there was no need to wake the others. "How did you know that the original plan wasn't going to work?" Carol glanced at him; he looked tired and he was covered with the filth of a battle. "It wasn't a bad plan, but you didn't understand that the only way to defeat the Governor was to push him to defeat himself. The Governor was crazy but he was an organized crazy. He had the high ground, he had control of the prison, and he had a world of walkers on the outside of the fence. We needed the crazy side to override the organized side."

Joaquin could not keep the anger from his voice, "You used Andrea and Michonne and all those other women as bait; they could have been killed or captured. "

Carol kept her voice neutral, "This isn't the old days. The women don't stay at home while the menfolk go off to war. We women have been at war since the ZA; every one of us has looked at death's devouring face time and time again. Today was just one more time; every woman on the truck was willing to chance their fate once again."

Joaquin still pressed for an answer, "Why did your believe it would work?"

Carol hesitated, decided to with part of the answer for now. "I knew the Governor would go bat shit crazy when he saw Michonne and Andrea, both had escaped from him. He was obsessed with killing them because they had in his twisted mind defeated him. He would have sent his men down no matter how many of us surrounded them. His soldiers saw women on the truck, didn't see a lot of fighters coming in, and rushed in for a quick victory. The plan was to let their lusts override good military strategy.

Carol went on, "There was another force at work here. I knew that our men would blow those fences and run through them without hesitation if they were protecting the women that they love. Joaquin, you were the first one through, your men were at your heels. You and your men came in behind the Governor's army in a matter of seconds and you did what had to be done."

Joaquin sat for a while and then ventured, "I know that is all true, my men wanted to keep those women safe and were willing to die for it. But that doesn't explain how you knew it was going to work or how you knew instantly that the original plan was going to fail".

Carol decided to tell the rest. "I saw it, when I looked down at the map. I saw it unfolding the way it would happen if I didn't stop it. I made some comment about it not working and I saw a vision of Andrea and Michonne on the truck and the rest just sort of came to me after that."

Joaquin asked just one more question, "Why the bagpipes? Why play that song?"

Carol smiled at him; it was a good question and deserved a better answer than she could give. "Most of the men are of Scotch-Irish ancestry and there is something about that music that resonates in our very soul, we've been going to battle to that sound for a very long time. There were bag pipes playing that song at my father's funeral. He was killed in battle, and deserved a warrior's farewell. It's also just about the last thing the Governor's men would expect to hear, it would confuse them for a second, buy us some time. "

Joaquin remembered how disconcerting the music had been for him but that his men had liked it. "Why that song?"

Carol remembered going with her grandparents to church: she had always loved it when the congregation sang "Amazing Grace'. People would leave the pews and walk around to shake each other's hand and hug each other. They would tell each other that they loved one another and she knew even as a child that what they were saying was right and true. She had asked her grandfather about why they did hugged and shook hands. He had told her it was because they recognized that God loved them and they were created to love one another. "It isn't a going to war song, but I guess it's about not being afraid to die, trusting that you have something beyond this world to look forward to, and recognizing that God loves you".

Joaquin kissed her cheek and moved back to Andrea, sitting down beside her and lifting her to rest against this chest. He had looked for her in the battle, afraid that she had been killed despite the body armor that they wore. Andrea, Maggie, and Beth were behind the bulldozer shooting at the soldiers while Michonne, Glenn, and Tyreese had their back against walkers coming in from the broken fence. He was an engineer playing army with the other guys; they were warriors. Carol was as kind and gentle a soul as he ever met; she was also capable of planning a battle in which no prisoners would be taken. Joaquin reminded himself to stay on their side in any battle.

Dinner was at Ashton and Jo's house, an old fashioned cook out complete with baked beans and hamburgers. There was some home brew beer, wine, and scotch whiskey for the adults and some locally produced soft drinks for the kids. The party was held in the center courtyard of the large house complete with a tiled fountain in the middle. The courtyard was covered with a large skylight. The roof structure was steeply pitched to resist snow pack in the winter. The house looked vaguely Spanish with thick stucco walls but it managed to somehow look as if it belonged in the mountains. Hershel had stayed in town with the other medical staff to tend to the wounded so the first toast was to him for everything he had done for them.

This was the first time that most of them had been at this house and they were all impressed with its beauty and its functionality. The house was large, expensively furnished, but still managed to make everyone feel comfortable and safe.

Emily had been an environmental architect in Atlanta before the ZA. She had designed this house to be both environmentally and aesthetically friendly. Emily gave Carol and Daryl a tour, showing the features that made it energy efficient and walker resistant. They used well water and caught rain water to use as well. Solar and geothermal heated and cooled the house. They were able to store enough electricity during the day to power the house completely. There was also a backup generator system that ran on propane if needed. Emily had built a smaller house attached to her brother's house and it had similar features. There was a greenhouse, a garden, and a small orchard. The entire complex was secured behind tall fences. The fences had been added since the ZA and the three car garage had been changed to guest rooms to accommodate more people.

Joaquin, Ashton, and Rick were having a serious conversation at a side table. Joaquin wanted Rick to head up the local militia, the McAllister Mountain Brigade usually known as the MMB . Rick pointed out that he wasn't local and they would want one of their own. Ashton said that after today's battle that the MMB would consider him one of their own. Rick said that he would be glad to do everything he could to defend this place.

Glenn and Maggie were walking with Jonathan and Beth. Jonathan was showing them the house; he had thought that he would go to college to study environmental architecture like Aunt Emily. Instead she had moved here and they had worked together on this house and on some others. Jonathan and Glenn discussed the barn-house project as they strolled.

It wasn't long before the goodbyes were said and everyone headed home to their own place. Canary bouncing along beside of them without a care in the world managed to pee and poop at will. The large solar lights lit the roadway between the houses but they maintained weapons ready.

Andrea and Beth gave up their room to Michonne and Tyreese and everyone sorted themselves out pretty quickly. Daryl went on to bed and was quickly asleep. Carol sat in her grandmother's rocking chair and held Judith. It had been a long day but she wasn't sleepy; she decided to see if the Andrea and Beth were asleep. They were both up sitting at the dining room table when she joined them. They decided to have to try Sam and Dave's best; none of them had been drinking alcohol at the party. Carol found a bottle labeled McAllister's and Beth found water glasses. Andrea looked dubiously at the large glasses and at Beth. Hershel would probably kill them if he found out that they had given his baby a drink. Maggie showed up about then so they let her take the blame. Just before they were ready to toast Michonne showed up. She demanded, "Why didn't you invite me to this party?" Andrea teased, "Thought you and Tyreese were having your own party". Michonne laughed shaking her head, "We did, but that kinda party never lasts all that long". The women rolled with laughter and Andrea handed Michonne some scotch. Carol thought, "This feels like a teen age slumber party, we'll be polishing each other's toenails in another hour. If we last that long."

They debated who would give the first toast. Carol declined and said that Michonne had the floor. Michonne stood up ceremoniously and holding her glass up said, "This is for all of us not dying today. We get to spit on the grave of our enemies and kiss the ones we love. And by the way you damn people are crazy, just saying". They all stood clinked glasses, saluting their survival if not their sanity, and the party began.

Maggie kept an eye on Beth who sipped the whiskey very slowly but seemed to be having a good time. Between the alcohol and their weariness it wasn't long until everyone but Carol was plastered. Carol had shared their toast but she was holding Judith and didn't drink much after that They wanted to go wake up poor Glenn so that they could call him Glinda from the Wizard of Oz. Andrea sang some song about a wicked witch being dead from the movie. Maggie pointed out that the Glinda was the good witch not the wicked one. They wanted to go cut Rick and Daryl's hair and blame it on the alcohol. Michonne and Andrea told stories about funny things that had happened to them during their time together. Maggie had a story about being on a run when her period started and she had to tell Daryl that they had to stop at a pharmacy. She thought he was going to die of embarrassment. Everyone tortured Andrea about her new boyfriend. Then they gave poor Beth advice on her romance with Jonathan. Carol put Judith back to bed and finished her drink. Andrea did have nail polish so they did polish some toenails and feet and everything in the general vicinity.

Beth was feeling very little pain and a paranoid Maggie decided that her father would make Deputy Rick arrest them for giving alcohol to someone under the age of 21. Michonne said that she would defend them in court because most of her former clients had been guilty as sin too.

It was a great party, no one threw up and no one cried. The last toast was from Carol and as they stood holding their glasses ready to clink them together she said, "To being bad ass women who take no shit off of anybody". They clinked, they drank, and they walked slightly unsteadily to their beds. Maggie was singing the wicked witch song with Michonne all the way up the steps as Carol checked on Judith and cuddled up next to Daryl.