AN: Hi everyone!

I just thought I'd drop you off another little chapter. As always, I thank you for your reviews and comments. You guys are great. We still have a little way to go in this story, but it won't too terribly much longer before we bid farewell to it. I'm already trying to figure out what in the world I'm going to name the sequel…and it's hard for me since I am really, really bad at all things having to do with names. If you have any suggestions (even though you don't really know what all will happen in the sequel…but you know Sweet Junction and the feel of it pretty well) then I'd love to hear them. They might at least give me inspiration if nothing else!

I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think!

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Daryl rolled over, reaching over Carol to switch off the alarm. She protested loudly and he backed up enough to get off her.

"What?" He asked, barely recognizing his own voice through the thick sound of sleep.

"Pulled my hair," she grumbled.

Daryl chuckled and kissed her head.

"Sorry…ya forgive me?" He asked.

Carol rolled her shoulders back enough so that she was looking at him. She puckered her lips at him, her eyes still swollen from sleep, and he kissed her.

"I guess I'll think about it," she said. She rolled fully then, turning to face him in the bed and he dipped down, pressing his hands and his lips to her belly. When the baby moved, he smiled and looked at Carol who was hugging her pillow and obviously trying to steal a few more minutes of sleep.

"Lil Bit's awake," Daryl said. He kept his hands on her belly so that he could feel any of the morning movement of his daughter.

"She's been awake," Carol grumbled. "If she went to sleep…that would be the real trick."

Daryl chuckled. He moved back up, kissing Carol's face.

"I gotta go ta Hershel's…but why don't'cha just stay in bed?" Daryl asked.

He knew that Carol wasn't sleeping as much as she probably should be, but she complained that it was more difficult to sleep…and he could imagine why. For every bit as excited as he was that their daughter was growing, that also meant that Carol was growing, and Daryl didn't even want to imagine how uncomfortable it might be sharing the space for your bones and organs and stuff with a baby. He had a hard enough time sleeping if Lincoln got in the bed and held the covers down or if they got twisted around him a bit. He certainly didn't think he'd sleep at all if he had a kid hanging out in his gut.

"Can't," Carol moaned. She shifted and pushed herself up, running her fingers through her hair. "I've got work at Lula's and then Andrea and I are supposed to meet Michonne…some crisis or something."

Daryl huffed.

"Weddin' stuff?" He asked.

He started to get out of bed now and she followed suit, althought she was a lot slower moving than he was and as a result he had his pants on before she was even fully committed to getting off the side of the bed where she'd come to sit and claw at her curls with her fingertips.

"I don't know," Carol said with a yawn. "She called last night…said it's some crisis. Merle's going with Tyreese to go and do something this evening so Andrea said we could come over there and she could de-stress or whatever."

Daryl glanced at Carol.

"What am I s'posed ta do?" He asked.

Carol chuckled and rubbed her belly, apparently playing a poking war with their daughter, before getting to her feet and starting to get dressed.

"I don't know, Daryl…whatever you want to do," Carol said. "You're welcome to come to girl's night if you want…but you'll be bored."

Daryl grunted.

He would be bored, that was the truth. It would be the three women and the two little girls. More than likely this crisis was like the last one. It had to do with something about the differences between all the dresses. Daryl didn't even understand why there had to be so many different dresses.

"Yeah…I'll pass," he said. "Might see if Hershel needs an extra hand…or if Axel wants ta ride with me ta look at a car."

"You think you've found one?" Carol asked, wrestling into her clothes with more groans than were actually necessary.

Daryl had been looking for a car for them for what felt like forever and he was starting to feel that they'd never find one. If the price was right, the car wasn't and vice versa. He had everyone and their entire extended family searching and it wasn't getting a little disheartening.

"One out near where he works," Daryl said. "He checked it out an' said it looked a helluva lot better than the other shit we seen. Gonna go an' see if it ain't somethin' decent. We ain't got that damn long ta keep lookin' if we don't wanna have ta borrow a fuckin' car ta bring Lil' Bit home in."

Carol chuckled and wrestled her shirt on.

"We've got time, Daryl…we've got plenty of time," she said. She shuffled through the house then, toward the kitchen and Daryl heard the cracking sound of the side door and Lincoln's toenails on the floor as she let him out.

Time they had…and Daryl knew they had a couple of months or so to work with…but it didn't mean that lately he didn't have a tightening feeling in his chest every time he thought about the fact that they weren't ready. He wasn't sure what all they had to get done…and maybe it was really just the car that was killing him…but he just kept worrying that they weren't ready for her to come and she was going to be here before they had a chance to get everything done.

Daryl was careful, though, not to mention his worries to Carol. He figured her biggest worry needed to be baking the kid…he could figure out what else needed to be done and somehow get it all done in time.

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"You think you're up to a walk after work?" Jacqui asked, picking at one of the pastries she'd been working on throughout the day.

Carol flipped on the decaf coffee maker to brew a fresh pot for the soon to be incoming lunch crowd.

"Depends," she answered. "Where are we walking to?"

"I got something to show you," Jacqui said. "A project. I want you to see if it you think you could waddle about two blocks."

Carol scoffed.

"I don't waddle," she responded.

Jacqui chuckled and stood up from the leaning position she was in to disappear a moment and retrieve the glass of one of the patrons who was out of sweet tea. She came back, filling the glass from the large contain of sweet tea that Lula had to refill every hour at least on their regular days.

"You do waddle…a little," Jacqui said. "So are you coming or not? We can drive if you don't feel up to it…"

Carol shook her head.

"No, I'll come," she said. "And the walk sounds good. I could use the exercise. If I'm around Daryl or Andrea they don't let me do anything. I don't know what they're going to be like when it's actually time for Lil' Bit to come. Andrea seems terrified she's just going to fall out of me while she's there or something and Daryl seems to think I'm going to break."

Jacqui smiled at her and shrugged.

"They're looking out for you," she offered. "Besides, if no one cared at all, then I guess you'd be worked up about that too."

Carol pulled the towel off her shoulder and smacked it in Jacqui's direction and Jacqui laughed before taking the now refilled glass back to the patron that was awaiting it.

As the day wore on at Lula's, Carol felt like she was about ready to drop. She wasn't sleeping as well as she used to, but everything she read warned that might be the case. She was also slowly realizing that for all the time she spent declaring that she was absolutely, positively able to do everything she could before she got pregnant…it was all a lie.

Just a regular Saturday of working the tables at Lula's had her ready to go home and crawl on the couch with Lincoln and beg Daryl to make her something to eat.

She wouldn't do that, though. She tried, even though she daydreamed about it, not to put Daryl out too much or take too much advantage of him. He'd have likely done anything she asked him to, but she didn't want to put any more pressure on him than he naturally seemed to have on him.

And she didn't want him to feel like she was using him or like being pregnant made her and the baby his burden to bare. In the end, it wasn't his job to wait on her and it wasn't his job to try and solve all the little discomforts she was discovering came with this pregnancy stuff…things that her idealized beliefs about the whole thing hadn't left room for before.

When the day was finally over, though, she and Jacqui both went about filling shakers and napkin holders and getting everything ready for those that would work the Sunday rush. Then, Carol excused herself to the bathroom for what she felt was the thousandth time in half an hour and she stepped out onto the sidewalk with Jacqui.

Jacqui looped her arm in Carol's and they walked slowly down the sidewalk. The air was cold and despite her coat, Carol shivered a little at it.

"Cold?" Jacqui asked.

Carol realized the shiver had likely run through her body and into Jacqui's due to their close contact at the moment.

"Is it not that cold?" Carol asked, her teeth chattering a little. She didn't know if maybe it was yet another of those delightful pregnancy things that made her feel like she was freezing. Maybe everyone else was just warm and toasty.

"It's pretty chilly," Jacqui said. "Weatherman said it might snow, but I'll believe it when I see it."

Carol chuckled.

"You know we probably won't get snow until you least expect it," Carol said. "Like in March or something…it might snow out Michonne's outdoor, spring wedding."

Jacqui laughed.

"If she hears you say that," Jacqui said, "she'll think you've cursed her."

Carol chuckled.

Michonne had come into Lula's a couple of times while she was working there with her notebooks and things. She'd sit and buy food all day for various patrons if that's what it took for Lula not to give her the evil eye over taking over a table. Then she'd sort through problem after problem…which was never really a problem…and expect Jacqui and Carol both to lend an eye or give an opinion.

Carol couldn't imagine there was more that could possibly be left to plan a wedding. She'd also never imagined that something that was supposed to be a simple affair would end up being so complicated. To date the location had been changed six times. It was indoor, outdoor, indoor, outdoor…until Carol almost felt like the best way to solve Michonne's planning issues was to just have it somewhere with a revolving door and every three or four minutes the entire wedding party could simply switch locations.

She hadn't been in today, though, and it suddenly reminded Carol that they had a girls' night at Andrea's house. Something must be up…and it must be serious to some degree…if it had kept Michonne away from Lula's all day on a Saturday. Especially on a Saturday when she didn't have Tyreese around and she'd already mentioned at work that her parents had the girls.

Carol was stewing over what it might be when she felt Jacqui tug at her arm, bringing her to a stop on the sidewalk. At first she glanced around for some obstacle she might be trying to avoid, but then she realized that they'd simply reached their destination. And she still had no idea what was going on.

"What?" Carol asked finally.

Jacqui gestured toward one of the stores tucked into the line of stores on Main Street. It used to be a music store and had been for as long as Carol could remember. It had closed down a couple of years ago…apparently the patrons of Sweet Junction didn't buy as many records as they once had…and from then on out it had simply been an empty store that sat waiting for the next big entrepreneur that wanted to tackle the commercial side of their little town.

"Jack's Music?" Carol asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jacqui nodded and smiled. Carol shrugged a little, hoping the woman would realized that she had no idea why this was an exciting thing.

"I bought it," Jacqui said.

Carol smiled.

"You're going to open a music store?" Carol asked.

Jacqui shook her head and scoffed.

"I think this baby's making your brain weak," Jacqui said. "I'm fixing it up. Theodore's going to do most of the work himself for me…maybe we'll see if Daryl and Merle want to pick up some side jobs…"

Carol smiled and nodded her head. Jacqui was always getting involved in something, but this was definitely in left field for the woman. Still, if they were paying she was sure that neither of the Dixon men would turn down an extra dollar or two in their pockets.

"But what are you going to do with it?" Carol asked, snuggling into Jacqui some and hoping her friend didn't mind that she was attempting to steal her body heat like a frigid little vampire.

Jacqui sighed, but it was more a sigh of pleasure than one of fatigue.

"I've been doing hair classes," Jacqui said. "I've been taking the advanced classes…squeezing in every hour I can get."

She turned to Carol and shook her head a little.

"Lula's ain't no kind of life for anyone but Lula," Jacqui said. "And I'm not going to run that place ever. But it's a good idea…opening up a place to do hair around here. There aren't many places to go that aren't run out of people's garages…and even if they do a good job, it doesn't have a real nice feel to it."

She gestured to the building with her hand.

"So I bought this place. Downtown…Main Street. I'm going to turn it into a real salon. A nice salon, Carol. One of those places where everyone could come," Jacqui said.

Carol smiled at Jacqui. It really was a great idea. It was the same idea that Carol and Andrea spent a good amount of time turning over and over between the two of them. It was what they were working for and hoping for, though they were realizing more and more that they were likely to end up enclosing Merle and Andrea's carport and working from there for all the money they had to invest in real estate.

"That's great!" Carol said.

She really was excited for Jacqui and she hoped that her own disappointment over their situation didn't shine through in her face, but she could tell by the shifting of Jacqui's eyebrows that it must have, at least a little.

"What's wrong?" Jacqui asked.

Carol shook her head and offered a smile that she hoped was more sincere than the one that she'd just failed at giving.

"Nothing's wrong," she said. "I really do think it's great. And it's a good location…I mean the music store didn't make it, but women love to get their hair done."

Jacqui smiled.

"Lookin' good never goes out of style!" Jacqui said. She chuckled and Carol echoed it.

"So you think Merle and Daryl would be willing to lend a hand? Just when they can, of course. The sooner we can get it fixed up, though, the sooner that we can start drawing in customers," Jacqui said. "I had someone come out and look at it and we can easily get three people in there. Might even be enough room for up to four chairs…that means we could bring in more hands when we find them."

Carol wrinkled her brow.

"Five chairs?" Carol asked.

Jacqui shrugged, still regarding the building.

"Or if you think it's too much, it could just be the three of us," Jacqui said. "I just thought as long as we were remodeling the place we might as well plan ahead…just in case we want to bring people in."

Carol raised an eyebrow at Jacqui.

"We?" Carol asked.

Jacqui smiled and shook her head at her.

"Me, you, and Andrea," Jacqui said. "Partners, or whatever you call it when there's three people. We get it up and running and we'll split everything three ways…bills and profits. The building will be in my name…but that's just details."

Carol didn't know what to say. She wasn't even entirely sure she believed her own ears. Michonne had teased her that when she was pregnant she could hear all kinds of things that just never really happened and she almost worried that this was one of those moments. Maybe she was imagining the entire conversation.

"You mean all of us work here?" Carol asked.

Jacqui smiled and nodded.

"You didn't think I was going to open a salon all by myself, did you?" Jacqui asked. "This is what you've been yacking about, isn't it? We all open it up together…make big deals of ourselves. No more Lula's…no more Watering Hole…no more nasty Korean food or side jobs cleaning houses for people."

Carol nodded, still unable to really comprehend that this was happening. She nodded again, feeling the back of her throat ache and her eyes feel like they were welling up with tears that she didn't want to let fall.

Jacqui pulled her to her then and wrapped her arms around her, rubbing her back.

"Does that mean you like it?" Jacqui asked. "Because I gotta admit…it's a big chance I'm taking with the mortgage to this place and I don't think I can do it all on my own. The down payment and the costs to get it ready are going to be about all I can handle."

Carol squeezed her back and broke the hug.

"Of course…" Carol said. "I just…don't know what to say. I mean we didn't figure we'd be able to find anything. We didn't have the money…"

Jacqui nodded, having heard everything about a half a million times.

"You didn't have the money to get it going," Jacqui said with a smile. "It just so happens that I had enough tucked away for a rainy day."

Jacqui looked at the store again.

"And I think it just started raining," she said.

Carol smiled at her.

"I've got to tell Andrea," Carol said.

Jacqui nodded.

"You've got to tell her, and you've both got to get through with those classes. If everything goes as planned we'll open in a couple of months. I'll have my license by then, hopefully, and can work part time while we get things going. You two can come in as soon as possible," Jacqui said.

Carol nodded.

All of a sudden the excitement was bubbling up in her and she was starting to realize that this was real. Andrea was going to lose her mind when she heard about this. Now when Carol looked at the building it looked perfect. The location was perfect. Everything was perfect.

Carol smiled again.

"I think this is going to work out," she said.

Jacqui grinned.

"It better…there's a lot of eggs in this basket!" Jacqui said. "Let's get on back to the cars before the snowstorm comes, though, I'm about to freeze."

Carol smiled again and looped her arm through Jacqui's, turning back toward the diner where their vehicles would be waiting on them. She glanced back over her shoulder at the building and thought that she couldn't wait to get home, solve whatever crisis it was that was plaguing Michonne, and tell Andrea that they weren't going to be working out of her carport after all.

They were really going to make something out of this, right there on the Main Street of Sweet Junction.