AN: So here's another little chapter. We'll be finding out more about our new people as we go on and how they'll fit into the tapestry of our group.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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When Michonne got around to headquarters with the three women in tow, she realized that everyone else was already inside, and likely already discussing what they'd heard from Beau about the newcomers.
She mounted the steps to the house, hearing inside the din of everyone crammed into the downstairs area of the house.
"This is headquarters," Michonne said. "This is where we eat…where you get bathwater…it's really sort of the heart of everything."
She didn't mention that it used to be located elsewhere…in the first lot that was now simply an empty lot with some remaining marks of the charring fire that had taken place there. The newcomers didn't need to know, right off the bat, everything they'd all been through.
"It gets a little crowded," Michonne offered as a second thought before she opened the door slowly, not wanting to knock anyone out of the way if they were close to the exit, and eased inside, leading in the the others.
Almost as soon as she came through the door, though, she had the attention of the group. Silence, other than the customary sounds of children who weren't going to be quiet for just anything, fell over the crowded rooms.
"Everyone?" Michonne announced. "This is Lisette…Calista…and Mercedes."
Michonne went from woman to woman and signaled who they were, and then she faced the daunting task of introducing them to their own group.
And she realized, as she went about doing so, that the group wasn't really as large as it seemed, but any attempt to explain who anyone was or how they'd all ended up together would be daunting…so she purposefully left the women with the names and little else. They'd likely not even remember the names from the night, so they could worry about who belonged where and to whom later.
The atmosphere at dinner could, at best, be described as slightly awkward. No one was openly rejecting the newcomers, but everyone obviously had something of a guard up. Conversation was kept at a minimum, food was consumed in almost completely guarded silence, and as soon as people finished eating, they were quickly dismissing themselves with last minute chores, the need to get bath water heated, or whatever else it was that they could come up with.
As was customary, as people filed out of the house to get things ready, Michonne passed Zeb to Daryl and he and Tyreese took the girls, heading toward the house to wait for someone to bring by bath water and to start getting the kids settled down while Michonne and Carol stayed behind to monitor that things were in order for starting breakfast in the morning and, finally, to make sure that all the fires they burned in the yard were burned out.
And once the crowd started to thin, then Lisette, Calista, and Mercedes started to seem a little more comfortable.
Michonne realized that, for as uncomfortable as new people could make them, they probably were a lot for the women to take in as well…and the women would still be waiting to find out where they could go, what they could call home for at least the night.
When it had cleared down to the point that it was only Michonne and Carol on the porch of the house, and Rachel and Sadie traipsing back and forth with heated water, delivering it to the houses that still needed it for baths, Michonne addressed Lisette, considering her the "leader" of her small group.
"When Sadie gets back," Michonne said, "we'll tell her to warm bath water for you. Most nights we pass it out, during the day we take turns hauling it up from the creek."
Lisette thanked her softly and nodded her head.
"We've tried to follow waterways nearly the entire time that we've been travelling," Lisette said, her eyes flicking between Michonne and Carol. "We learned early on that you could be creative…and you could get by…when it came to food and nearly everything else, but water was something you needed to always be able to find."
Michonne nodded her head in agreement.
"Do you all want to stay in the same house…or?" Michonne let her voice trail off.
They had more than enough space in housing left for each of the three women to have their own if that's what they desired. Michonne doubted, though no one was ever certain, that they were going to encounter too many other people before they decided to move on. But she also doubted that, having spent so much time together, the women might want to be separated.
Lisette shook her head quickly, a somewhat ironic laugh escaping her, and she sucked in a deep breath like the one that people often take when they're relaxing after a particularly stressful moment.
"No…I don't think we'll want to be apart," she said. "Besides, just having a house for the three of us will be a luxury."
Michonne smiled and nodded her head.
"We have a lot of luxuries here, actually," Michonne admitted.
"Tomorrow…we can help you get set up," Carol offered. "Move some furniture if you want to change things out. I set up supply boxes for rations, and I can show you how that system works, how the laundry works."
Lisette thanked her as well, the other two seemingly fine with letting Lisette be the one to do the negotiating at the moment.
"We're more than willing to do what we can," Lisette offered. "Anything to help."
Carol reached out, squeezing the top of the woman's arm affectionately, and nodded her head.
"I'm sure you'll like it here…" she offered.
When Michonne saw Sadie coming back, carrying two of the buckets now empty toward the area where she'd left two cast iron pots warming water over the fire, Michonne stepped off the steps and got close enough to her to have her attention in the failing light.
"I think we'll put them in the house on the other side of yours…on the other street?" Michonne said.
Sadie studied her face, and then nodded.
Their main street was somewhat filled up, except for the spaces that, out of respect or out of simply not wanting to disturb the remaining signs of people who were gone, remained empty. The second street was clear and nice, though, and their house would be beside the one that Muh and Haralee called home.
And since all the houses were built essentially the same, Michonne couldn't see how it would be objectionable.
"Can you bring them water?" Michonne asked. "We're going to get them settled in."
Sadie looked at her, glanced toward the women, and then looked back at Michonne before nodding her head.
In the passage of time, Carol had emerged from the headquarters with two lanterns. She didn't light them at the moment, but Michonne knew that one would be to leave with the women until the following day allowed them time to really set their house up, and the other would be so that she and Carol could safely get to their own home without getting hurt simply by tripping over each other or their own feet in the darkness.
And Michonne realized too, that asking Sadie to heat another round of water and make another run meant that the woman would be left in the pitch black as well…and Sadie wasn't a fan of darkness.
Michonne put her hand on Sadie's shoulder and leaned into her to make sure she was still clearly visible, the darkness setting in quickly around them.
"Bring that water to them first," Michonne said. "We'll wait for you…with the light. We'll walk you home. Ask Rachel to finish up putting out the fires."
Sadie smiled then and Michonne realized that her fear of the dark was the reason she'd been looking at Michonne like her request was ridiculous.
Sadie nodded her head enthusiastically then and started toward the fire, and Michonne waved everyone on, heading in the direction of the house they would give to the three women.
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Michonne, Carol, and Sadie had all three walked, arms linked with Sadie in the middle, from the house where they'd dropped of Lisette, Calista, and Mercedes right up to Sadie's front door where Michonne had mounted the steps with her, dropped her safely inside, and eased back down the steps to lock arms with Carol once more and continue the short trip to their house to get the children to bed and turn in themselves.
"What do you think about them?" Carol asked, her voice low as though anyone would be listening.
"What do you mean?" Michonne asked. "Do I think they're dangerous?"
"Well…yeah…I mean before you got to the house, Daryl already suggested to everyone they keep their doors locked tonight and Junior and Jimmy are on watch…just as much for what's happening on the inside as what's happening on the outside," Carol responded.
Michonne understood the precaution. They'd had danger come to their community in the middle of the night in the form of strangers, and letting new people in was daunting. They'd taken some precautions with everyone they'd let in, at least for a day or so, just to be sure that everything was as much on the up and up as it could be.
"It's better to be safe than sorry," Michonne said. "I really don't think that they're dangerous, though. I think I'm more impressed than anything…they don't exactly look too bad for the wear when they've been on their own for a while."
She heard Carol hum.
"I didn't get the feeling they were dangerous either," Carol admitted. "And apparently, they know a thing or two about surviving…otherwise, they might not have made it this far."
As they reached the porch steps, Michonne let Carol go up first, lantern in hand, and she followed behind her. Carol opened the door, holding it for Michonne to pass into the house, the sounds of wakeful children and busy fathers drifting down from the upstairs.
"I guess we all know a thing or two about surviving," Michonne said, waiting on Carol to join her.
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"But they made it this damn long without no men around?" Daryl asked.
Michonne sighed. She wasn't feeling like talking about this any longer. She was feeling like going to sleep in case one of her precious offspring decided, for whatever reason, that she should be up even earlier than the morning normally called for.
"Daryl…this might come as a surprise to you…but women can get by without men, you know?" Michonne said. "I did just fine for a while there…and I even drug Andrea around, and that was no small task at times…I didn't need men, maybe they don't either."
Daryl sighed himself.
"I weren't doubtin' ya could handle ya ass…" Daryl grumbled.
Michonne chuckled.
"But you were doubting that every other woman could? I mean…look at it this way, Daryl, Muh was alone out there for a while…Muh…she's like three thousand years old," Michonne said, a laugh rumbling in her chest.
She paused a moment.
"Well…she's magical or something…but I'm saying that just because they're women doesn't mean that they couldn't survive," Michonne said. "Besides…we don't know how long they've been alone or how many groups they've been through."
"Yeah but how they go through so many groups?" Daryl asked.
"You'll have to ask them yourself," Michonne offered. "I don't know any more about them than you do at this point. They might not have even been through a lot of groups…I'm making that part up. It's speculation on them saying that people come and people go…but look how many groups everyone around here has been through, or how many people we've seen die one way or another."
Daryl fell silent, but moved himself to be flush with her back, an indication that he was considering the conversation pretty much complete and was preparing to go to sleep.
"Are you worried about them, Daryl?" Michonne asked.
"Not really," he admitted after mulling the question over for a moment. "Just new people, I reckon…be better tomorrow prob'ly…more time to talk to them…find out who they are."
Michonne sucked in a breath and hummed her agreement with him.
"I guess they've got just as much work…if not more…finding out about all of us," Michonne said, yawning. "Just imagine, for a moment, when they start putting all the pieces of the puzzle together."
Daryl chuckled to himself.
"You right, 'Chonne…" he said.
"I'm always right," Michonne said with a smirk.