AN: So here's a little something for you! I hope you're enjoying your weekend! As you can see, I'm spending mine relaxing and writing fanfic!
Reviews are always appreciated. I'm glad to see that you are all curious about Philip. We'll surely be hearing more from him.
I hope you enjoy!
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Carol got out of her truck and made her way toward Michonne who was standing in the parking lot waiting on her. It was her first morning at the law office and she didn't quite know what to expect.
"Good morning," Michonne called, walking toward Carol and hugging her.
"Morning," Carol said, returning Michonne's contagious smile.
"How are you feeling?" Michonne asked, wrinkling her brow a bit.
Carol nodded, smiling.
"I'm fine," she said.
Michonne moved beside her, rubbing her back a little as they walked toward the door.
"You look a little yuck," Michonne said.
Carol chuckled.
"OK, maybe I feel a little yuck too, but it'll pass," she said.
"We have clean bathrooms too," Michonne said with a chuckle. "Trust me, I've spent a little time on my knees in them before also."
Michonne unlocked the door and led Carol inside. The smell of the offices was something that always struck Carol. She wasn't sure why they smelled the way they did, exactly, but there was something distinct about it.
Michonne motioned to Carol and Carol went around behind the desk, sliding her purse into the corner. She was there early so that Michonne could go over the ropes with her. She needed to know what her new job entailed.
"It shouldn't be that bad," Michonne said, "but you are kind of a jack of all trades around here."
"I can handle that," Carol said.
"And I know you can," Michonne responded. "So basically your primary job is answering the phones and keeping up with appointments. She shuffled some things around on the desk. "These are the hard copies for appointments and then you're also going to put them into the computer." She moved the mouse and the computer blinked on. "Don't ever turn that thing off," Michonne said. "It's too old to still be living here, but my father won't let it go until it's absolutely dead so we make do with it. If you turn it off, though, then you'll spend the next two hours of your life praying it comes back on." She opened up the program and it loaded. Michonne showed Carol how things were logged in there. She went over how to use a few other programs as well.
"What about billing?" Carol asked.
"We take care of that individually so when something needs to be sent out you'll get it from me or my father and you'll mail it out that way. Daddy doesn't come in except for maybe three days a week and that's part time unless he's doing something for a friend. He's unofficially retired. Mostly it's just me that you'll be dealing with," Michonne said.
Carol nodded her understanding.
"Every now and again I'll send you on errands to pick things up and if we have something that needs to go out but mail's already been here, then I'll send you to the post office. The longest trips you'll have to make are up to the county courthouse every now and again, but I try to keep that to a minimum and I always let you go early and just take the rest of the day off if that can't be avoided," Michonne said.
"Sounds great," Carol said, smiling. "I think I can handle it."
"Of course," Michonne said, "if you have any questions or anything you can let me know. I'm line one on the phone and daddy is line 2. Come on and I'll show you the little break room. We keep it stocked but there's a fridge and stuff in there if you want to bring in something special."
Carol got up and followed Michonne down the hall to a tiny little kitchenette type room. It had a refrigerator, coffee pot, hot pot, microwave, and sink. The two cabinets were in there were opened by Michonne to reveal an assortment of food.
"Daddy's bottom drawer in his file cabinet is stocked with all kinds of sweets if you're into that or the little one makes you think you might be," Michonne said with a snicker. "Daddy thinks it's a secret, but I know it's there and he never says anything to me when things go missing."
Carol smiled.
"OK, that's good to know," she said.
She watched as Michonne started some coffee going in the coffee pot.
"I drink a lot of coffee," Michonne said. "I know it's terrible, but I'm an addict. I hope the smell of coffee doesn't bother you because I keep it brewing nearly all day."
Carol shook her head.
"I love the smell of coffee," she said. "I have to admit, too, that I like it more now than I did before I was pregnant."
"Well then you're going to be thrilled around here," Michonne said. "We take lunch officially between twelve and one so you're welcome to leave. I hardly ever do, I just eat in my office. You're welcome to come and eat with me, though."
"I'd like that," Carol said.
"You want some tea or anything? I've got a ton of hot tea flavors too," Michonne said, pulling a large basket out of one of the cabinets and holding it out to Carol. Carol burrowed through the basket and came up with one that looked appetizing.
Michonne showed her where a cup was and got water heating in the hot pot.
"I'm not overwhelming you am I?" Michonne asked, looking worried. "Tyreese warned me about that. He told me not to be too overbearing because apparently I have a habit of getting that way."
Carol smiled. She knew that Michonne did indeed have a habit of getting that way, but she didn't think that was a problem today. She thought Michonne was handling things nicely. There was always a lot to take in on the first day at a new job. It seemed like every job you did, even if you'd done jobs like it before, required a lot of new information at first. Carol had never worked at an office like this before, though. It did help, in her opinion, that her boss was one of her best friends.
"You're doing great," Carol said. "You can tell Tyreese that you took his advice wonderfully. I'm not overwhelmed, just trying to soak it all in."
Michonne smiled.
"Well, it won't take you too long to get used to it," she said. "Then you'll know this place even better than I do."
Michonne fixed her coffee and Carol got a mug out of the cabinet and fixed her tea to steep.
"Daddy's not coming in today," Michonne said. "So you won't have to worry about that. I've got quite a few appointments, but the first isn't until about ten, I think. So you've got a little time to adjust and just relax a little. I'm going to be working in my office, but if you need anything you can let me know. Amy finished the organizing that I had for her so really right now you've got time to just read or whatever you want to do."
"OK," Carol said. She'd brought her book with her, anticipating that there might be some down time at a law office in Sweet Junction.
"Oh!" Michonne said, jumping a little at her own thought. "I just remembered…Rick had some things to give me. If you don't mind, can you run over to the jail and pick those up? I know I'm already sending you on errands…" Michonne frowned and it made Carol smile.
"Michonne, it's fine. I can go and pick those up. That's my job now, remember?" Carol asked. Michonne nodded.
"Fine," she said. She looked at her watch. "Well, I'm going to get started. If you can pick those things up, I'd appreciate it. Rick should be there by now, or at least someone should be able to let you in. It's just a couple of folders so it's no big deal. Finish your tea first."
Carol smiled again and nodded.
"I'll do that," Carol said. "I want to play with a few of those programs, so I'll do that while I finish the tea and then I'll go and pick up those files for you. You go do what you need to get done and don't stress about the fact that I'm here. I'm just working here, and while I'm here I'm nothing but a secretary that you don't even know."
"Except at lunch time," Michonne said, pointing her finger at Carol.
"Except at lunch time," Carol said.
Michonne smiled and walked past Carol, squeezing her on the shoulder as she stepped out the little break room. Carol picked up her mug and walked back to the desk to start playing with the files on the ancient computer.
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Carol walked in the door of the jail and pushed her sunglasses up on her head. There was no secretary there, and she might have thought the place was empty if the door wasn't unlocked.
"Hello?" She called out. "Rick?"
A moment later Rick Grimes came walking from the back. He looked at her, a little confused.
"Carol," he said. "Hi. Something wrong?"
Carol shook her head, smiling.
"I just started working at the law office for Michonne," she explained. "She sent me to pick up some things that you have for her."
Rick smiled and recognition covered his face.
"I remember her saying now that you were coming to work for her," he said. "Come on back with me a minute, I need to get those together."
Carol followed Rick back to his office and sat down in one of the chairs while he fumbled around in a file cabinet.
"You know Lori's coming back to work up here," he said. "It's always an adjustment when all the summer help goes running back to school."
Carol giggled. That was how Sweet Junction ran. It seemed like in the summertime everywhere you went there were college students running any job they could or high school students filling the stores as stock people and checkout workers. The high school students tended to remain, though only during after school hours, but the college students disappeared. A good number of them would never really return to Sweet Junction. After college they'd only come back there to visit relatives until the family they had their passed on. Only a handful of people really came back. Usually they found themselves trapped there for one reason or another and they stayed simply because once Sweet Junction had its hooks in you it seemed almost impossible to get away.
"That's how I ended up at Michonne's," Carol said.
"Mmmm hmmm…" Rick drew out, still looking through things. He glanced over his shoulder a moment at Carol. "Amy was working up there wasn't she? Andrea's little sister?"
Carol nodded but Rick wasn't looking at her anymore.
"Yeah, she was," Carol said.
"Good kid," Rick said. "Always was a good kid."
Carol didn't say anything. She'd heard about Amy from time to time when Andrea felt like talking about her. She couldn't deny that Amy had been a good kid. She'd been a start student, a pageant queen, a cheerleader, homecoming queen, queen of a few festivals…and now she was at college with honors. She'd been a good kid, but she'd also had life more or less served to her on the silver platter of "good kidliness" by her parents. Carol knew it was a very sore spot for Andrea, and she almost hated to hear anyone in Sweet Junction praise Amy any more than they already had. She had picked up, probably from being friends with Andrea, the feeling that every time someone referenced the girl as a "good kid" it was because in their back of their minds they were making the silent contrast and saying that she "wasn't like Andrea".
It was true, of course, Amy was nothing like Andrea. To be at least somewhat genetically alike they couldn't have been greater opposites, but Carol felt like it was a blow to Andrea every time she heard it. The idea that Amy was a good person, but Andrea wasn't. Andrea was different than Amy, but she wasn't some kind of living horror. Unfortunately, her reputation would have anyone believe that she was a lot worse than she really was.
"Here you go," Rick said finally, ignoring Carol's silence on the topic of Amy Duff. He turned around and passed her a few folders. She took them.
"Thank you," she said, standing up.
Rick reached out, catching her arm.
"How are things?" He asked.
Carol felt her stomach clench. That was one of those questions that caught her about the same way she imagined people talking about Amy caught Andrea. She forced a smile.
"Things are good," she said. Things really were good, and she was happy in her life, but she knew that when people asked her those questions, especially people that weren't close to her, they weren't thinking about her life now and they weren't asking how she felt about her little house or her relationship with Daryl. They were really still dwelling in the past and asking about Ed. Ed might be out of the picture, but he was still in everyone's minds.
"I heard you're living with one of the Dixon men," Rick said. He look concerned.
Carol nodded.
"Daryl," Carol said. "Yes, he's living with me."
Rick nodded a little and walked over, sitting on the edge of his desk. He scratched at the back of his neck.
"They're a rough bunch, Carol," Rick said. "I looked him up. He's got a record for a couple of things. His brother's far from clean."
Carol swallowed. She knew about Merle's past problems and Daryl had mentioned that he'd been hauled in a time or two in various places for misdemeanors of one sort or the other, but they just didn't sit around and converse about all the different convictions that had been made. It was in the past, and she was trying very hard to figure out how to let the past be just that…for them, for herself, for all of them.
"We all make mistakes," Carol said, forcing a smile.
"I just don't want to see you get hurt again," Rick said. "What Ed did was terrible, and I'd hate to know you're getting wrapped up with the wrong type. Just be careful and if anything…and I mean anything…happens, you let me know. Don't let it go so long this time."
Carol swallowed again and shook her head.
"It's not like that with Daryl," she said. "He's good to me. He's not like Ed was."
Carol appreciated the fact that Rick was concerned about her, but just talking about Ed and thinking about the possibility of being trapped in anything even similar to her life with him made her heart start to race. She didn't like the feeling and she wanted it to calm back down.
Rick nodded.
"And I really hope he's not," Rick said. "But if anything happens, let me know. You have my home phone number. I don't care if I'm on duty or not. I'll come down there."
Carol nodded.
"Thank you," she said. "But don't worry, nothing's going to happen."
Rick stood up then. He smiled a little, nodding slightly and then he crossed his arms over his chest.
"What about Ed?" He asked. "I know they locked him up, but he hasn't tried to contact you or anything, has he?"
Carol shook her head.
"No," she said. "I haven't heard anything from him since that night."
Rick smiled.
"Good. Maybe they'll straighten him out in there. He could use it," Rick said.
"He could use a lot of things," Carol said.
She didn't know what prison was really like. Really all she knew about prison came from movies and she knew that movies could be misleading about things. She hoped, though, that Ed was getting his. Sometimes she thought about it and she hoped that his life sucked there and that he'd ended up with a really rough cellmate that happened to like to beat the shit out of assholes like Ed on a regular basis.
"How long is he in for?" Rick asked.
Carol shook her head. She realized she didn't know. Michonne had said a long time, but she wasn't sure exactly what that meant. She hadn't asked about it, and she hadn't really worried about it. He was gone and he was in prison. That was really all that concerned her.
"I'm not sure," Carol said. Now she was trying to swallow. She could feel the tea she drank and the muffin she'd decided was a good breakfast choice brewing in her stomach and the last thing she wanted to do was violently vomit all over Rick at the moment. "Can we please stop talking about Ed?" She asked, forcing out the words.
Rick wrinkled his brow and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Are you alright? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," Rick said.
Carol shook her head, still trying to hold back the nausea against the salty taste that was rising in her mouth.
"Fine," she said. "I just…I just don't want to talk about Ed."
"Of course," Rick said, squeezing her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."
"It's alright, really," Carol said, forcing a smile, the rise of nausea passing a little. She took a breath and blew it out as quietly as possible.
Rick chuckled a little, shaking his head.
"Boy, I've stepped all over myself here, haven't I? Lori says I'm great at doing that," Rick said.
Carol shook her head.
"No, it's fine. You didn't mean any harm. I'm just not quite over all of it, I guess," Carol said. She wondered if she'd ever be entirely over all of it.
Rick rubbed her back for a second before dropping his hand.
"Well, hopefully it won't be too long. You can finally get on with your life, there's no need to be worried about him, right? He's got his own problems now. The prison isn't exactly a Caribbean cruise," Rick said. "It's still probably a little too nice for him, though."
Carol smiled a little. She was calming down and was glad of that.
"You're right there, too," she said. "I really need to get these back to Michonne. It's my first day and I don't want the phone ringing off the hook and making her wonder where I am when I'm supposed to be working."
Rick nodded and walked her back to the front.
"Really, I'm sorry," he said. Carol held her hand up to him to let him know that everything was fine. "Why don't you let me know some time when you might be interested in coming over for dinner? I know Lori has asked me about you and I'm sure she'd love to have you over. I don't think you've seen Carl in a long time, have you?"
Carol shook her head, smiling.
"Not since he was a tiny thing," she said. "I'd like that. I'll let you know."
Rick smiled at her and she thanked him for the files. She let herself out the door and took a deep breath. There was something almost instantly calming about the hint of fall in the air. It was one of her favorite seasons. She stood, for a moment, on the side walk and finished calming herself. Then she got in the truck and headed back toward the office with the files. She was off this evening and she was thinking that she might like to make something nice for dinner. Something that would remind her that fall was coming. Daryl would like that, and she thought she'd really like to have the house smelling all warm and inviting when he got home from work.