Girl's Day Out

Carol was lying cuddled up to a sleeping Daryl; she found that she did her best thinking when she relaxed with Daryl at her back. Michonne had come back from spying on the Nazi compound two days ago; she had not bounced back to be her confident self. Carol had tried talking to her but she turned away from any talk of what she was feeling. Carol knew that Michonne wasn't exactly a touchy-feely kind of woman but she had come back …well.. defeated and a word that Carol had never applied to her before…..afraid. Carol moved closer to Daryl and tried to think how to get Michonne back on track.

Carol's mind took her back to the Quarry; the world had gone crazy but it almost felt safer than being at her house with Ed. Sophia had children to play with; she had women to talk to and to work with. Ed had not allowed her to have friends, even girlfriends. Carol had read a story about frontier women who had been captured as slaves by Indians. They lived for years in Indian villages and then they would get rescued. Most were happy to go back to their lives, but others wanted to stay. Indian women did their work together, raised their crops, tended their children, cooked the family meals in close juxtaposition to one another. Some white women did not want to go back to living in an isolated cabin with no other women to share their lives on a daily basis. Carol had felt like that at the Quarry; she never wanted to go back to not having close women friends to laugh and talk with during the day. As much as she loved Daryl she knew that she still wanted time to hang out with the girls. Daryl needed time alone in the woods and to continue his bromances with Rick and Tyreese. Too much togetherness would drive them both crazy; Carol smiled when she felt Daryl's wake up call pushing up against her back. She knew it was more nature than personal, but she had never said that nature was a bad thing. She kissed him awake and hugged him close to her; she certainly enjoyed togetherness with Daryl.

Afterward she bounced off the bed and got dressed. Daryl sat up and asked, "No cuddling, no afterglow, damn girl, I feel used. You just take what you want and try to sneak off without a backward glance." She laughed and went over and kissed him. "Gotta go, I think its time for some Girl Time." She grabbed Zak and he could hear her pounding up the stairs.

Carol pounded on Michonne's door, "Wake up, sleepy head, it's time to get your perfectly proportioned ebony ass out of bed and go work out." She heard an answering obscenity and said, "Judith" They used "Judith" as a code for bad language. She moved to Andrea's door, "Get up, it's time to get your perfectly proportioned ivory ass out of bed. We need to work out. And don't be using that bad language, we don't want Judith's first word to be that."

Carol went downstairs and waited for them to crawl downstairs in a foul mood. Andrea showed up first with her weapons and they both waited for Michonne. She showed up with her stuff and they went out into the yard. Andrea went over and got Maggie; they seemed to be playing well together the last few days. Carol led the drills and Michonne just followed along. Carol took it slow and then they worked out full tilt for a bit. She stopped way before they were exhausted. Michonne looked a little disappointed that they had stopped.

They went to the porch and got water, Carol thought it was time for phase two, "Let's go on a run, just us and leave the men behind". Carol saw a glimmer of interest in Michonne and downright denial in the other two. "We can't be going off on a run, there is going to be some big powwow in town to talk about the Nazis, " Andrea said. "Now do you think that we will have a whole lot of say in that, " Maggie pointed out. "They will talk the whole day, come up with a battle plan, and then tell us what they think we should do". Andrea thought about the last couple of weeks, she had been spending most of her time with Rick, and had not been hanging out with Michonne and Carol. Andrea had always been decisive and she had decided to go with the girls today, "Let's do it".

They organized themselves into one large vehicle, decided to check out a town that they had not scavenged, and had Tyreese check out the car. Tyreese made a careful inspection of the vehicle, they told him where they were going, and kissed their menfolk goodbye. The men were sitting rather forlornly on the porch as they waved goodbye. Beth had decided to go; it sounded like fun.

Michonne drove of course, No one had enough nerve to even ask; they did razz her about being a control freak. It took them about ninety minutes with Michonne driving so that meant the drive should have been over two hours. Rick and Daryl had driven through the town a time or two, didn't look like there was much there to them. Michonne drove through the main part of town and looked it over; she had survived almost a year of the ZA on her instincts and her fighting ability. This town had walkers but she didn't see any herds. She did another circuit of the business section. The downtown had possibilities; some of the doors still looked locked. "Where do you want to shop first, ladies?" Michonne asked. Carol saw a pawn shop off to the side and she pointed to that. It was locked up tight, but there were bolt cutters and pry bars. Michonne and Andrea had it open in a few minutes. Carol and Maggie had cover, they would sound the horn if things were getting out of hand. The vehicle was parked with its rear end at the door. Michonne and Andrea went in first, Beth followed. The main room looked promising but Michonne and Andrea continued down the hall. The first door was an office and empty. They couldn't hear anything but checked out the rest room and a storage room. The back door had the long decayed body of the owner. He must have killed himself. The back door was still locked. They went back to the main room. Beth had been collected weapons. It seemed the good people of this town believed in the right to bear arms and to pawn them when they needed to. They found some ammo which was even better. They closed it back up and went out to the car. There was a small stack of walkers killed by Carol and Maggie, but nothing they couldn't handle easily.

"Next stop?" Michonne asked. They got back into the vehicle and drove out of the downtown area. America had begun to shop in strip malls and malls. This town didn't look big enough for a mall but they did find a strip mall. Michonne did a circuit through and found that there were outlet stores there. There had been some scavenging but not too bad. There was an outlet store for a chain outdoor life clothing store. They stocked up on thermal underwear and socks. Got some things but there wasn't enough room to get everything. Carol picked up a tshirt with a large deer on it, Andrea said, "Daryl will never wear that". Carol snickered, "I know but I will wear it when I want to turn him on". Michonne laughed until she cried at the thought of Daryl being turned on by a deer on a tshirt. Michonne decided to razz Andrea a little, "Girl, when you gonna put out for the po-leese-man. I know you have been without so long that you think that your're a vigin, but you really aren't". Andrea rolled her eyes, "Somehow I can't use to book a romantic bed and breakfast." Carol knew the perfect place, "Hey, I know where is a sweet little log cabin that isn't booked up tonight." Andrea thought that over, Carol had shared how hard Daryl had worked to make the cabin so nice. "Won't Daryl mind that you let someone else use it?" Carol held up the t-shirt, "Not so much". Carol changed her voice so that it was low and growly and big her thumbnail, "Carol, you gave our cabin away, I think I will go pout on the damn porch. Ooh, you gonna wear that shirt, damn girl, come over here to ole Daryl. He wants to go deer hunting." Maggie and Beth were eavesdropping from the doorway and they laughed the hardest. Andrea bobbed her head a bit and answered in Rick's let's go get a win one for the gipper voice, "Now we can do this thing Andrea, if we put our bodies where our minds want to be we can take that cabin tonight." Andrea made eye contact with each member as she imitated Rick. Everyone howled with laughter. They all looked at Michonne; she looked hesitant but finally gave a big smile, "Michonne, honey, sweetheart, if you want that rainbow, the king of rainbows will get it for you. Just tell me what you want and I will laugh and sing my way to it." Carol thought she had nailed their own personal King of Rainbows down to his expansive smile. All eyes turned to Maggie who had no clue on where to begin; she put a slightly worried look on her face. "I have to build this house tonight Maggie. Tomorrow I will dig a well, invent a time machine, and find a way to make electricity from dirt." It wasn't as funny, but it was Glenn trying to take of everything all the time. Beth just shook her head; she couldn't believe how they were making fun of the men they loved.

They decided to find Andrea something to wear that night; Carol let them talk without her and she went back to and picked up a few things. Soon they were headed to a lingerie section in one of the stores. Andrea picked out a revealing sexy nightgown that looked as if it had started its life in a Fredericks of Hollywood catalog. Carol smiled thinking revenge is a dish best served cold. They found some champagne and some other odds and end. They went to a hunting store, the guns were long gone but Carol found a bow and some arrows.

They were having a great time in a shoe store when they heard the car horn. There was a small herd headed their way. Michonne assumed point position and they all fell in place around her. For the next few minutes, the only sound was the swick of swords passing through walkers and the occasional grunt from one of the women. Carol was right of Michonne and Andrea was on her left. Maggie and Beth were on the other side of Andrea. Carol finished all those in her area and watched Michonne be Michonne. She swung her katana with all power and with such exquisite grace that it was a joy to watch. Michonne dispatched the last one and turned to see that all the women were watching her. She held up her sword in victory. They took a minute to clean up their weapons and decided to get on home while the getting was good.

Andrea walked over to Carol before they got in their vehicle, "Did you arrange for that herd at the end? She looks so much better now?" Carol said, "Just lucky, I guess. Michonne needed to know that she can handle whatever comes her way."

Michonne set a new personal record on the way home; she thought she would go home and hang out with the King of Rainbows for a while. Andrea planned her evening and Maggie and Beth laughed all the way home. Carol took a nap; she thought she might want to have her game on tonight.

The men were back from town with some plan to defeat the Nazis; but for once they didn't talk about how to kill or be killed. Andrea broke the news to Rick that he was going to put out tonight or she was going with someone else to the prom. He took the ultimatum well, and got ready for the prom. Michonne and Tyreese played chess and she beat him the first game and quit while she was ahead. Michonne was back on track; nothing like some time with her friends and a violent encounter with a herd of walkers to make a warrior feel better.

Carol went to Andrea's room while she was packing her sexy clothes for her big night. Judith was holding onto the furniture and trying to walk. Carol brought Andrea a blue diamond bracelet. Daryl not only gave up the cabin gracefully he was willing to share his stash of jewelry. Andrea said, "I can't take that, Daryl got it for you". Carol replied, "It was his idea , he has more stuff stashed away". It was beautiful and Andrea put it on. She turned to show Judith the bracelet and saw Judith take her first steps. Andrea knelt down and Judith kept walking until she got to her. Andrea hugged her close and thought my baby can walk. Andrea picked her and took her downstairs to show Rick. Carol removed the sexy nightgown and replaced it with a blue tshirt. The shirt had a fat deputy sherrif and the lettering spelled out "Cops rule 'cause they carry handcuffs and their big gun is always ready for action". Carol shut the bag up and carried it downstairs. Soon Andrea and Rick were on their way. Carol snickered to herself all evening.

That evening Andrea and Rick had a quiet dinner together, drank champagne, and Rick went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He went on upstairs and Andrea went to the bathroom, she brushed her teeth, put on some perfume, and reached in to get her sexy nightgown. She found a tshirt with a fat deputy on it. She thought back to the thoughtful gift from Carol. She said a few words really loud and Rick yelled, "Judith" back. Then Andrea laughed. She strutted upstairs in her tshirt and Rick laughed and laughed. He had been sad and lonesome so long and now he had someone in his life that would wear that shirt and laugh about it.

Andrea viewed a naked Rick from the doorway, "Well, well another theory of mine proved wrong" she said.

Rick asked, "What theory would that be?"

Andrea said, "I always figured the guys that wore the biggest pistols were compensating for not having a big penis. For once I am glad to be wrong, you wearer of a 357 magnum colt Python."

Rick said in his best Clint Eastwood impression, "I have a very strict gun control policy: if there's a gun around, I want to be in control of it. And I have one more, Andy come over here and make my day."

"Andy"did her best and Rick did his best and it was all worth waiting for. They drank some more champagne and Andrea described the nightgown that she had planned to wear and the trick they had played on Carol. They fell asleep cuddled together, and Rick felt the last of his loneliness ease away.

Daryl had spent the day worrying about Carol but knew that she needed a "Girl's Day Out". Carol took a shower and put on the deer tshirt that night, Daryl was already in bed when she got to their room. He loved the shirt and laughed at Carol's imitation of him. He said in his best Carol impression, his eyes widened and his smile deepened, "Daryl, I know that I just gave away our honeymoon cabin that you worked twelve hours a day for a week on, but sweetie I am wearing an ugly ass deer tshirt to make it up to you." Carol said, "Did it not work?". Hell, yes I love that shirt. I will never wear it, but you look cute in it". Carol slid into bed wearing and ugly ass tshirt and she told him about the trick she had played on Andrea while Daryl began taking the ugly ass tshirt off of her.