AN: Thanks to everyone who is still reading and still with me! I appreciate knowing that you like the story enough to keep coming back, and I hope you enjoy where we go in the future.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 11111
Michonne pulled her cloak tighter around her as she walked toward headquarters where she could already see that Carol was working to get a fire going. She'd cleared an area of snow, and was just beginning to get some sparks going.
"Good morning," Michonne said, approaching.
"Morning," Carol mumbled, not looking up from the baby fire that she'd finally kindled. Michonne sat down next to her.
"Is the snow making it harder to get it going?" Michonne asked. Carol didn't respond. "Daryl is taking the girls down to Dory and Frank's house. We're going to take them some breakfast. He figured they might not want to come out much today since it's so cold," Michonne added.
"That's fine," Carol said.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Michonne offered.
"There's nothing to talk about," Carol said.
It was pretty obvious to Michonne that there was something to talk about and it was pretty obvious that Carol did want to talk about it.
"Is it something with you and Tyreese?" Michonne asked. "I thought things were going well."
"Things are fine with Tyreese," Carol said, unconvincingly.
"I see," Michonne said. "Did something happen last night? Is that why he left dinner early?"
Carol sighed. She put more wood on the now growing fire and brought over the wire grate that Daryl had made into a makeshift stove for her.
"Maggie walked in the kitchen last night and caught us," Carol said.
Michonne looked shocked for a minute, and then she smiled.
"In the kitchen, Carol? With everyone right in the other room?" Michonne asked, a sound of surprise in her voice.
"No, we weren't doing that," Carol said. "We were kissing…and I thought it might be a little more."
"Did you want it to be a little more?" Michonne asked. Carol was blushing a little. Michonne knew by now that Carol didn't mind talking about sex, as long as it wasn't herself that she was talking about. She would rib Michonne, and a few others, from time to time about their escapades, but she quickly got embarrassed when Michonne questioned her about the advancing relationship she had with Tyreese.
"I don't know," Carol said quietly, moving one of the large pots onto her stove to start boiling water for oatmeal.
"Well, Carol, either you did or you didn't. I've never made out with a guy and not known afterwards if I wanted something more or not," Michonne said. When Carol didn't respond, she continued. "You know, Carol, we're both grown women. It's OK to admit that you have feelings, even sexual ones. I know you said you weren't raised that way, but this life functions on an entirely different set of rules than the one we knew before."
"OK, so maybe I did want more. It wasn't even really making out. It was…well, I don't know what it was. It was a kiss, and a little more." Carol said.
"So why don't you just let him know you liked it? Let him know you want that? You can't play around it forever. Sooner or later you're either going to have to move forward or abandon the whole thing. Which would you rather do?" Michonne said.
Carol's face changed. She didn't look as embarrassed as she had before. There was a little bit of the fire in her eye that she got whenever she was about to challenge Michonne. Michonne always thought it was funny to see that look appear because it was one that Carol hadn't ever shown her in the beginning. At one time Carol had always been meek around her, like she wouldn't have dared to talk back to her at all, now Carol didn't seem to regard her as such an untouchable person. She realized that Carol had fully accepted her as a friend, and as a friend, she was just as likely to get a snarky comment from Carol as anyone else.
"That's great, Michonne," Carol said, "I hadn't thought about that. So what should I do, exactly? Should I go find Tyreese after breakfast and say 'Hey, you remember what we were doing last night? Well, I've got a few minutes, so how about we go find somewhere where Maggie won't be popping up and pick up where we left off?'"
Michonne laughed a little at Carol's tone. There was some bite to, but it was pretty obvious that it wasn't directed at her. Michonne imagined that the bite in her voice was really coming more from her frustration, and right now she was wearing her frustration very obviously. Michonne didn't even have to try to read her to see that Carol was struggling with some of the same feelings that she'd had when she'd begun to entertain the idea of Daryl, not knowing if he would even be interested in someone like her. She remembered that frustration, and the yearning, and how it could quickly make you angry with your own thoughts and with anyone around you.
"Well if that's what you'd like to do, I really don't see anything wrong with it," Michonne offered. Carol glared at her.
That wasn't exactly what Carol wanted to do. What Carol wanted to do was something that she knew was entirely unlike her. She wanted to rip all her clothes off and throw herself at him. She wanted to feel his hands, his mouth, everything. She wanted to be ravished. That's what all the smutty novels that she and Dora passed back and forth called. She wanted to show him those books, where they'd dog eared the pages of all the good parts, and she wanted to tell him that now, at night, when she read just the dog eared pages, not needing the rest of the plot, that she was thinking of him and wishing that he was doing the same thing to her that all the heroes of the novels were doing to the heroines. She wanted to act out every one of those scenes, but she knew that wasn't her, and she wasn't the women in those books. Those women knew what they were doing, and a part of her was worried that when the time finally did come, she'd disappoint Tyreese. She'd only ever been with Ed, and the more of those novels she read, the more she realized how clumsy Ed was. She imagined even the lusty teenagers walking around this place had more experience than her, and that might not be at all what Tyreese was looking for.
"Carol?" Michonne got her attention again. Michonne had noticed that Carol was deeply lost in thought, so much so that she had forgotten to add the oatmeal to the water that was clearly boiling now. "Do you want me to help you out?"
Carol looked at Michonne. "How could you help me?" She asked.
Michonne sighed. "I'm going to set this up for you," Michonne said, "but it's up to you to make it happen. I'm going to get you the opportunity you need, but you better not blow it. You've got until this evening to do whatever it is you need to do to get ready. Understand?"
Michonne heaved to her feet. "Water's boiling."
Carol poured the oatmeal in the water and stirred it. "This evening?" She sounded a little nervous.
"This evening," Michonne said. "It's time to pull the band aid off and get on with life." She walked toward headquarters to figure out exactly what she was going to do to help Carol get over this frustration she was carrying around.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 11
At breakfast Tyreese couldn't help but notice how jumpy Carol was around him and he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. He didn't know if the night before had freaked her out or what. He knew she had liked it. She had been very clearly responding to him. The way she had ground into him had make him thankful that he hadn't waited to get warm bath water. He'd spent most of the night pleased with the thought that Carol was not only warmed up to him, but she was actually hot for him, and he wouldn't have to keep playing it safe for too much longer before she was probably ready to head to the next level. And now, here she was, just as jumpy around him as she'd been the first day when he helped her carry boxes.
Tyreese caught up with Carol after everyone had cleared out from breakfast. They were all taking a snow day and everyone had their own activities planned. It appeared, however, that Carol wasn't taking any time off. She was doing the dishes now.
"What are you going to do when you finish that?" Tyreese asked. Carol jumped. "Sorry, I shouldn't have snuck up behind you," he said.
"No, it's fine," she stammered. "I'm, uh…I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Daryl said something about everyone working on a snowman? I might join in on that for a little while."
Tyreese didn't like the vibes he was getting from Carol right this minute. Just last night she was pushing against him and searching his mouth with her tongue and now she looked like she might freak out if he even put his hand on her shoulder. He decided to leave her alone for a little while to let her work out whatever it was she was going through, hoping that then she'd be back to normal.
"Yeah, he and Rick were talking about helping Carl build one," Tyreese said. I'm going to check in on Sasha and see if she had anything in mind or if she wanted to help with it. Maybe I'll see you down there?"
"Maybe," Carol said.
Carol's heart was pounding. She didn't know what to think and knew she wasn't thinking clearly. What would happen this evening? She hoped she could rake together her courage and at least be more confident and more collected than she was right now. She wasn't going to be able to pull off being the heroine of one of the novels, that was clear to her now, but she also didn't want to be the big mess of nerves that she felt like she was right now. She just needed to calm down and let things go where they were going. She took a few deep breaths and continued to finish up the breakfast dishes.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 11111
Michonne knocked on Glenn and Maggie's door and waited for Maggie to open it. She was clearly in the process of layering her clothes to go out and play in the snow. Nearly everyone was outside, playing in the snow. The whole community rang with laughter and chatter.
"Hey Michonne," Maggie said. "What's up?"
"Can we borrow one of your Uno decks for the evening?" Michonne asked.
"Sure. Come in, I'll get you one. You can keep it if you want, we've got like four," Maggie said, walking away from the door and letting Michonne in.
Glenn was in the living room putting on boots, but Beth was nowhere to be seen. She was probably with Junior. Michonne looked around the living room that was scattered with so much stuff.
"This place is a mess," she said to Maggie. "You really out to clean up."
Maggie shrugged. "Why bother? We'll just drag it all back out if we put it up," she said.
"Do any adults live here?" Michonne asked, surveying the quantity of toys and games they had acquired.
"We try to pretend that none do," Glenn offered.
"This coming from someone who stopped by for Uno cards," Maggie said, offering Michonne a box of cards. Michonne took them.
"You got me there, but this is a lot," she said. She shrugged. They all did what they liked to do and they might as well enjoy themselves, she thought.
"Uno cards?" Glenn asked. "You're playing Uno?"
"They are this evening," Maggie said.
"Hey, that's cool. We can come over and play with you. I'm itching for a re-challenge since you cleaned up last time," Glenn said, smiling.
"Next time, Glenn," Michonne said. "This game is a little different."
"What are you doing? Playing strip Uno?" Maggie asked with a snicker. Glenn looked disappointed.
"Something like that," Michonne said. "Thanks for the cards," she said, turning to leave.
"No problem," Maggie called behind her as she let her out the door.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 1
"This is going to be the world's biggest snowman!" Carl said to Daryl as he helped him pack the base. Rick had decided to be proactive about the snowman and had taken the younger members of the group to the other side of the community with wheelbarrows to bring together as much snow as possible for their snowman.
"Kid, it might be the only snowman," Daryl said. He still wondered from time to time how many people were out there, and how they were living. Were most of them still on the run, living day to day in terror, or had others built communities like theirs where they got to enjoy the passing of days and nights without much worry? The life they had here was good, and Daryl appreciated every moment of it. One of their first nights here he had heard Dominique lamenting that these were supposed to be the best days of their lives, as college kids, and that this had happened. Daryl hated to admit it, but frankly these were the best days of his life. The world had to go to shit for him to be the happiest that he could imagine being. Now here he was, building a snowman with his new and improved family, his wife was wandering around somewhere doing whatever it was that she did when he wasn't around, and his daughter was being entertained by a crotchety old man who spoke five words a day at best to adults but had a soft spot for pretty little girls who wanted him to read them Goodnight Moon a thousand times. Daryl chuckled to himself.
"What is it?" Carl asked.
"Nothin' kid, just thinkin'," Daryl responded.
Michonne walked past, not really looking at anything. Daryl could tell she was lost in thought.
"Hey you!" He called. She turned, seeing him for the first time. "Why don't you come help us build this here snowman," Daryl said. "Carl said it's gonna be the biggest in the world. We can't do that alone."
"Maybe later," Michonne said. "I'm busy right now. Do you know where I could find everyone? They've all disappeared."
"Most everyone went with Rick to the other side. They're gonna bring back all the snow they can get to make this guy a monster," Daryl offered. Michonne just nodded her head and started off again, steering her steps toward the other side of their community.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 11111111
Michonne found Tyreese first, on one of the streets with Sasha, Jimmy, Dominique, and Stella. They were all raking snow up with shovels and packing it into a large wheelbarrow that they'd found.
"Tyreese, can I talk to you a minute?" Michonne called, approaching. Tyreese put his shovel down and walked over, meeting her halfway.
"Sure, what's up?" He asked.
"I wanted to ask you to come over to our house tonight, after dinner. We're just going to hang out and play Uno. We thought you might want to come and play," Michonne said. Or, you know, you could just come and hang out with Carol, because we're blowing you both off after one game. She thought.
Tyreese hadn't actually been inside their house before. He'd often walked Carol to the door at night if he stayed after dinner, but she'd never invited him in.
"Sure, that sounds like fun," Tyreese said.
"It's a private party," Michonne said. She didn't know how else to let him know that he shouldn't find out if anyone else was interested in joining them. She didn't want the task of getting rid of everyone without making it obvious that she wanted Tyreese to stay. If it was just the four of them she was fairly certain she could get Daryl upstairs without much trouble and without making it obvious what she was doing.
Tyreese looked confused for a moment. "Fine, I understand," he said.
"Good," Michonne said. She turned and walked away without offering anything else.
Michonne was up to something, of that Tyreese was sure. He wasn't going to argue, though. Getting to be around Carol that evening was something he was looking forward to now. He just hoped she was over whatever it was that was bothering her this morning or things might be a little tense. He didn't know how much Michonne knew, but he was pretty certain that Carol shared most everything with her.
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Michonne located Rick's group of snow collectors on their way back toward the giant snowman, Rick pushing the wheelbarrow that was overflowing and the others walking behind him, dragging their shovels.
"Rick, do you mind if I borrow one of your workers a minute?" Michonne asked as she approached the group.
"No problem," Rick said.
Michonne approached Chelsea. "I'd like to talk to you for a minute," she said.
Chelsea eyed Michonne suspiciously, and everyone else had started to scurry off. The idea of talking to Michonne, especially when she looked as expressionless as she was right now, wasn't something that was appetizing to many of them.
"What do you want?" Chelsea asked, noticing that her friends were all abandoning her.
"Just to have a talk. Let's walk, it's too cold to just stand still," Michonne said, motioning away from the direction that the group was travelling in.
Chelsea followed her, somewhat timidly, not saying a thing.
"Look, I know about your advances on my husband," Michonne said finally. "I don't know anything about you, and I don't know how you were raised, but I'm going to let you know that it's not OK to make advances on anyone's partner around here. We don't have much left in this world, and what we do have left, most of us are fiercely protective of."
Chelsea didn't respond at first. Michonne walked on a minute with her. "I'm going to let you off the hook, just this once, but I'm warning you that if you try it again, it's going to be you and me," Michonne challenged.
Chelsea didn't know how to respond. Everyone here had somebody, except her. It was annoying to sit around and watch them all, paired off most of the time, and she was just twiddling her thumbs. She'd had a boyfriend when all if this started, Andrew, and he'd been amazing. The only reason she'd gone to school here was because of him. They'd been high school sweethearts and he'd gotten a football scholarship. They were going to get married, but her parents had forbidden it until after college. She needed an education, they said. Now she didn't have an education, she was pretty sure she didn't have parents, and she didn't have Andrew. He'd been one of the first to be overtaken when they'd left the dorms. He'd been trying to protect them, he'd slowed down the Dead ones that were after them. She'd never even gotten to say goodbye.
She'd thought about moving on, hoping to find someone. She missed Andrew, but she was lonely. Every day that they made it, every encounter they had, every loss they suffered, they'd all made her feel more and more alone. The last fight had forced them away from their old group. Eight of them had been wandering around together and one by one they'd been picked off.
In her group, people had changed who they were with like dance partners, mostly owing to someone losing their partner in an attack and later connecting with someone else who had suffered the same loss. They'd all treated Chelsea like she was untouchable, though, and it was probably owing to the amount of time she'd spent mourning Andrew's death.
Now they were with this new group and she was completely alone. She didn't know where she fit with this group at all. Dominique and Stella were fine. They had each other, and slowly they were becoming accepted, and even included, by the others. She felt like she was floating around on the outside, with no way to get in.
She didn't know why exactly she'd chosen Daryl as an object of interest. It was probably because he seemed like the most open of the men. He was handsome, and he had a kind face. He was also not as often "up under" Michonne as some of the others were with their partners. She had thought that maybe there was a little wiggle room there. Maybe he wasn't as attached to her as the others were? Maybe they'd just gotten into a spot of trouble with the baby and had stayed together because of that? Now Chelsea realized she'd read the entire thing wrong. If they did spend time apart, it was obviously just because they didn't seem to need the constant affirmation that some of the others needed. She realized she had overstepped a boundary.
"I'm sorry," Chelsea said finally. "I didn't really mean anything by it…" she continued, "I guess I was just looking for something. I don't have anybody, you know?"
Michonne was a little struck. Looking at her now, Chelsea didn't look like the overconfident cheerleader that she usually looked like. She looked sad, and she really did look sorry. Michonne also realized, in this moment, how young the girl actually was. She was just a kid with a little of the softness rubbed off.
"It's OK," Michonne said, "but don't let it happen again." Chelsea nodded, but didn't say anything. "You may find someone out there, you don't know what we'll find, but it's not going to be anyone's partner. Even though a lot of rules don't exist anymore, that's one rule that's remained in place. You don't mess with another woman's man."
Chelsea nodded again. "I got it," she said.
Michonne felt sorry for the girl for a minute. What the hell is wrong with me? I'm supposed to be out here setting her straight for trying to get something going on with Daryl, and now I'm feeling sorry for her because she's wearing that damn sad face? Michonne thought.
Michonne decided not to respond to Chelsea. She simply walked off, considering the case closed for now. If the girl was smart, and stayed away from Daryl, she'd forgive her for slipping up in the first place. If she slipped again, though, Michonne would knock that sad face right off of her. She had her warning, and if she was smart, she'd take heed.
1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Carol barely made it through dinner. Michonne had already told her the plan she'd come up with. They'd go back to their house with Tyreese in tow. Carol was already planning to boil water and make hot chocolate for the four of them. They'd play a game of Uno so that the invitation that Michonne had made didn't look bogus, and then Michonne would convince Daryl to go with her to get the girls down and go to bed, leaving Carol and Tyreese to do whatever they wanted with their alone time.
Carol was playing the scenario over in her head a dozen times. The bad thing was that she could see things going super smoothly in about half of the scenarios and then she could see things going really wrong in the other half.
After dinner, she finished the dishes up with the help of Michonne while Daryl and Tyreese headed back to the house. She'd put water on to boil while they were finishing the dishes, and when it was done she used the dish water to douse the flames. They carried the boiling water back to their house and in the kitchen Michonne helped her make hot chocolate from some packets that she'd found and brought over for a treat. Snowy days just needed hot chocolate and tonight was a special occasion.
Daryl had engaged Tyreese in a conversation about their upcoming plans to start trying to open up more space in the back part of the community. They were going to try to tear down one of the houses, just to see how possible it was and how long it took. Glenn had suggested burning the houses down, but there was a lot that could be done with the wood and bricks if they took them apart. Still, they hadn't decided if it was actually a doable project or just something that seemed doable until they began.
Michonne and Carol interrupted the conversation by coming in and handing each of them a mug of hot chocolate. Michonne sat down beside Daryl on the couch, dragging Hope's bouncy seat closer to her. Judith was running around, hopefully tiring herself out for the night.
"Ok, does everyone know the rules?" Michonne asked, handing out cards.
Every affirmed that they did and the game began.
Tyreese sat on the floor beside Carol, who seemed a little calmer than she had that morning. Apparently, whatever the issue had been, she'd worked through it a little.
As the game went on, Carol was alternating between growing nervous, and then relaxing again. From time to time she felt Tyreese put his hand on her thigh. Oddly enough the contact made her calmer, thus giving her a little hope that the nerves would almost entirely leave her once the game was over and she figured out how to proceed with the evening. She hoped that he would figure out what was going on and help her a little.
When the first game was done, Michonne stretched and willed herself to yawn by mentally repeating the word over and over in her head. It had worked.
"I'm pretty tired," she said. "Daryl, let's put the girls down and go to bed."
"It's still early…" Daryl said.
Michonne made a face at him. It was her bored face. She usually made it whenever he wasn't doing what she wanted.
"Daryl, let's go to bed," she repeated.
Daryl couldn't understand it. It was early. Judith wasn't even entirely ready to go to bed yet. He thought about it for a second and then decided that maybe she was horny and this was her way of letting him know. If that was the case, he was willing to turn in early.
"Fine, we're going to bed," he said, getting up and picking up Judith. Michonne got Hope out of her bouncy chair.
"Goodnight, you two," Michonne said. Daryl grunted his goodnight and followed Michonne upstairs.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 11
When they got into the bedroom, it was obvious that Daryl had misinterpreted her desire to go to bed as a desire for extracurricular activities. Michonne, however, knew that the walls were not as sound proof as Daryl thought they were. He still didn't realize that the walls of the house afforded them little more privacy than those of the prison. She didn't want any of their sounds to drift downstairs and disturb whatever was going on there.
"Not tonight, Daryl." Michonne said, getting in bed.
"What'cha mean not tonight? What'd you drag me up here for then if'n it weren't to have a little fun?" Daryl asked. He got in bed too, obviously beginning to pout. Michonne couldn't very well explain to him that she had basically tried to set up the perfect scene to get Carol laid, since Daryl wouldn't understand why she would orchestrate such a thing.
"It's time for bed, Daryl. I just though Carol and Tyreese might like a little alone time together, you know?" She said.
"I ain't even sleepy, 'Chonne," Daryl said. "I could be sleepy, though, if you'd roll over here an' be nice to me."
Michonne stifled a laugh. She rolled over to face Daryl.
"I'm not being mean to you. I'm just saying not tonight," she said. "I'm allowed to say that sometimes, you know," she added.
Daryl moved his hands between her legs and she had to fight to make herself reach down and push it away. She wanted him to understand that she actually was just as interested as he was, but she didn't want the sounds to make whatever interaction was taking place awkward. It would be hard to advance a beginning romance with the background noises that they could provide.
"Nope," she said, "not tonight."
Daryl pouted. He didn't understand Michonne sometimes. Now he was in bed early and was all fired up because he'd been sure that's what they were coming up here for and now he just had to go to sleep? It didn't make any sense at all. Let them do whatever they wanted to do in the other room, but he wanted to do what he wanted to do in his.
Michonne smiled at Daryl's clearly frustrated face.
"It's time for bed, Daryl," she prompted. "Go to sleep and dream about what you want to do right now, and I just may wake you up with a surprise." She kissed him and he returned it wholeheartedly.
"Promise?" He asked.
"Mmm…you don't get promises. Promises take the fun out of possibilities," Michonne said. Daryl seemed satisfied enough and rolled over. Michonne tried to go to sleep too.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111
"So what do you want to do?" Tyreese asked when they were alone. Carol turned to face him. She looked like a girl in the lamplight. Tyreese could see on her face that same look of expectation she gave him when she expected him to kiss her, mixed with something else he hadn't quite seen before. She didn't respond to him, so he took his chances and kissed her. She returned the kiss, more confidently than she had before. She broke it long enough to get to her knees and then kissed him again, pushing against him. From the force, Tyreese thought he had a pretty good idea of what was on her mind, and he wasn't displeased at all. She wasn't going to ask for it. That wasn't her style, but she was showing him the best she could that she expected it, just like she'd expected all those kisses hello and goodbye.
"You got a room?" He asked, breaking away and smiling at her.
"She smiled at him and nodded, still not saying anything. He got to his feet and helped her up, picking up the lamp and following her upstairs.
Carol's room was simple. Nothing in the way of decoration at all. Tyreese put the lamp on the bedside table beside a stack of books. Carol sat on the bed. She still wasn't saying anything and Tyreese wondered if she even could say anything at this point.
He sat down and kissed her again, his hand on the back of her head, pulling her toward him. With the other hand he started peeling off the jacket she was wearing, and wondered how many layers he had to go through.
Carol responded by helping Tyreese peel off her protection from the cold air. Seeing that she was helping him, he started to peel off his own. Finally they were both down to their underwear, and cold, but it wasn't deterring either of them. Carol made a move to blow out the lamp.
"Don't," Tyreese said, stopping her, "I like it. I want to see."
Carol swallowed hard, but didn't blow out the lamp. Tyreese reached around fumbled with her bra and she finally reached up and helped him. He spent a few minutes, kissing her breasts and her stomach. Her moaning spurring him on. She hadn't said a thing, but the sounds escaping her lips right now, told him more than enough.
There were scars on her, the texture of the skin felt different against his lips than the rest of her. Burns, he thought, several of them were circle shaped burns. He stopped kissing her for a minute, absentmindedly. He was angry that someone had done that to her.
"What? What is it?" Carol panted. It snapped Tyreese out of his thoughts.
"Nothing," he said. He returned to kissing her and the moaning started back up again. He removed her panties finally. He looked at her and her eyes were closed. She was lost in her own thoughts. When he'd placed his hand between her legs it was really only to get an idea of how ready she was, and how tight, but she'd responded to his finger in such a way that he continued to pleasure her, watching her face the entire time. She was tight, and he had a good feeling that it wouldn't be that great for her when he joined her in what she was feeling right now, so he came to the resolution to give this to her. He'd let her have this round all to herself.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Michonne hadn't fallen asleep in time and now she realized just how thin the walls were. Carol's muffled moans were invading the room. Luckily Daryl was snoring next to her and wasn't aware at all of what was going on around him. Michonne lie on her side, realizing what Carol had probably had to listen to all those nights.
When Carol cried out, Michonne jumped, and Daryl woke up.
"What the hell was that?" He asked, starting to get up.
"Daryl, lie back down. It's Carol," Michonne said.
"I know it's Carol," Daryl said sleepily. "I'm goin' to see what the fuck happened."
"Lie down. Tyreese is with her," Michonne said. Daryl got back in bed, confused for a moment but later figuring out what was taking place in the other room. It was silent now except for muffled talking.
"Are they…" Daryl started.
"Yep," Michonne responded. "Although he is either very quiet or was just taking care of her first."
Daryl moaned. "Shit, 'Chonne, don't say shit like that. Now you done got me thinkin' 'bout stuff I'd rather not think about."
Michonne giggled. "You'll be fine, Daryl. Lie down and try to go to sleep anything else happens."
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Tyreese watched Carol for a few minutes after her body stopped spasming. She was still trembling a little, and she kept her eyes closed, trying to get her breath. Finally she opened them.
"Good?" He asked, smiling.
Carol smiled at him, snickering a little. "Yeah, real good," she said. "But what about you?"
"Well, I was getting to that," Tyreese started. "Listen, you're pretty tight and…"
Carol stopped him. "I know, I've got to get used to it again," she said, "but we've got to start somewhere."
"I just don't want to hurt you," Tyreese said.
She smiled at him, leaning up to kiss him. "I'll understand," she whispered in his ear, pulling him toward her.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
The next time Carol cried out Michonne jumped again and Daryl sat up again.
"Christ! What the fuck is he doin' to her?" Daryl said. Michonne shooshed him.
"I'm guessing that it's Tyreese's turn," Michonne said as the noises from both of them continued.
"Sounds like he's fuckin' murderin' her," Daryl said.
"She's got to get used to it," Michonne said. "He's not doing anything to her that she doesn't want, at least in some way. She'll get more accustomed to it."
"Shit, I don't know what's worse, 'Chonne, that sound or you narratin' it for me," Daryl said.
They were both quiet for a while, the sounds continuing.
"Are they ever gonna fuckin' stop that?" Daryl asked finally.
"Well, it certainly isn't a pharmacy run," Michonne said with a giggle. "I guess he had a little foresight."
"That ain't funny, 'Chonne!" Daryl said.
"It is funny, Daryl," Michonne responded. "You've redeemed yourself a million times over, I think we can laugh about that one time."
"Well I'm gettin' sick of hearin' this," Daryl said.
"Carol's heard us a million times, I guess now it's our turn to pay the fiddler," Michonne responded. She handed Daryl her pillow. "Here, bury you're head between the pillows. I'll let you know when it's through."
When the noises did finally stop in the other room, the loudest of the final noises coming from Tyreese, Michonne tapped Daryl on the shoulder.
"It's over now and I want my pillow back," she said. He gave it to her.
"Yeah, I heard," he said.
"You better get to sleep, Daryl. I'm pretty sure they're done for the night, but you might want to go to sleep anyway, just in case they're not," Michonne said. She kissed him.
"'Chonne, I hope you wake up and give me that present you promised me," Daryl said. "I want to pay them back for that round of torture."
Michonne laughed at him. "I didn't promise anything, but I'll do my best. Try to sleep. I love you," she said, kissing him again.
"Love you too, 'Chonne," Daryl said, bunching his pillow up and burying his head down in it.
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
AN: This one ended up being longer than I expected, but we covered a lot of ground for one day. I hope you liked it.
On another note, I'm going to plug a story for a friend of mine that some of you may find interesting. She's still getting going good, but it's a Daryl/Beth story (though like mine everyone is involved). It's updated nearly every day. EnglishPoet18 is her name and the story is Something Wicked This Way Comes. It could be interested for some of you multi-shippers out there.