AN: Here we go, another little chapter.
This one gives you a little more view into the "personalities" of the characters that are specific to this fic.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Carol wandered through the various hallways of the floor they were allowed access to. The building had little to offer in the way of entertainment. Most of it was offices, a good bit of it was closed off with heavy and locked doors, and the whole thing seemed almost like a ghost town.
There was a room that was something like a lounge, and there was a room that was set up to be something of an entertainment room, complete with books and a few board games. Those two rooms were where everyone else could be found.
Except Carol.
Because she wanted to walk around and walking around helped her forget that her new home, so it seemed, was essentially underground like some type of mole hole. All she had to do, really, was not wander far enough that she was incapable of managing to find her way back around all of her twists and turns.
Carol smelled an odd scent as she wandered the halls and followed it. It was cigarette smoke, but it didn't seem as though it would be something that she'd find in a practically abandoned part of the building.
When she stepped into the office, though, she smiled.
Daryl was sitting on a desk, cross legged, smoking and looking at some kind of book or magazine that he'd apparently found.
"You're hiding here to smoke?" Carol asked.
He looked up, surprised, and then he offered her a crooked smile.
"Was smokin' down at the other end," he said. "Damn Lori run my ass out for smokin' 'round her kid."
His face changed slightly.
"Sorry…reckon I was smokin' 'round yours too," he said.
Carol stepped farther into the room and sat down in the chair in front of the desk. She sighed.
"I'm sure it would be better if she weren't around it. Ed smoked around me when I was pregnant, so she's never been away from it…" Carol said, letting her voice trail off for a moment, "but if that's the worst she's around? I'm fine with it. You're going to run out eventually though."
"So when I run out, I run out," Daryl said with a shrug. "Might be the only damn way I ever stay quit."
Carol sat there when the silence fell between them and she looked at him. He held whatever book it was that he was reading in his lap and when he finished his cigarette, he put it out on the desk beside him.
Exhaling the last of the smoke, he closed the book and slid off the surface to stand on his feet on the floor.
And Carol felt like they were at an impasse. They were both fully aware of what was hanging between them. Carol wanted to say something, but she was torn by already feeling so far outside of her comfort zone and thinking that, if she went even farther out, she might not recognize herself at all anymore. Daryl seemed like he wanted to say something too, but he was hovering around actually committing to words.
Carol almost thanked him when it was Daryl that spoke first, even if she hadn't expected him to say what he did, chewing at his thumb like he clearly wasn't certain if it was the right thing to say.
"About last night," he said, "uh…I'm clean an' all…but you got Sophia an'…usually I think about that shit but I was kinda caught by surprise…an' I didn't know if…"
Carol was struck, but she realized immediately what his concern was. She shook her head, still sitting in her chair.
"No," she said. "Don't worry. I'm clean too…and I can't get pregnant."
He raised an eyebrow at her but nodded.
"You're going to tell me you didn't notice the scar?" Carol asked, letting the fact that she wouldn't believe it at all creep into her voice.
Daryl shrugged.
"You mean," he said, and he traced quickly with his fingertip where the scar would be on his body.
Carol nodded and he looked between her and the door like he might escape the office.
"There was a lot of trouble around Sophia's birth," Carol offered. "She was an emergency c-section and then I had a hysterectomy. I can't get pregnant. You don't have anything to worry about."
Daryl shook his head.
"Wasn't worried about me," he said.
Carol got up from her chair and stood near him. He'd been the one to break the ice, whether or not he'd realized that was what he was doing, and she figured that now she could at least address the elephant in the room.
"If I was too forward," she said. "I'm sorry about that. It really isn't like me at all to be like that."
Daryl stared at her and something in his demeanor changed slightly.
"So you didn't mean it?" Daryl asked. "You didn't mean ta do what we done?"
Carol froze. Now she'd insulted him. She'd thought that he might be horrified that she'd flung herself at him like that, but he seemed a little disappointed in the moment that she was apologizing to him. She shook her head quickly. She didn't want to insult him…and she didn't want him to think that she regretted it, at least not if it was something that he didn't regret.
"I didn't mean that," Carol said. "I just meant…I just meant that if you…"
Carol stopped, flustered.
"I didn't mean that I didn't mean to do it," Carol said. "I just wanted you to be comfortable."
Daryl stared at her, chewed his lip, and nodded his head slightly. Then he stepped forward and Carol eased back, not sure what he was going to do. He held up a hand to the side as thought to say that he wasn't carrying anything…even his magazine had been abandoned on the table…and then he touched the side of her face with his knuckles before he kissed her again, a gentle and innocent kiss.
And then, without saying anything else, he turned and walked quickly toward the office door and down the hallway that she'd followed to get there.
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
The good news was that they weren't going to die torn apart by the dirty fuckers outside, but they were going to die of boredom. Merle was sure of this. He was also pretty certain that, to date, he was the only one in the group that had thought about the fact that one day they were going to have to go some damn where to get food…the place might be stocked, but if they were waiting to die from old age they were going to run out of shit one way or another.
But he wasn't going to piss on anyone's parade just yet.
Somewhere in the building, Merle had lost Daryl and Alice both. He didn't have a damn clue where they were, but they weren't with him. He was on his own for the day, apparently.
Merle came into the lounge area and found Andrea sitting by herself on the floor, her back against the wall. She'd been that way since just after the breakfast that she refused to eat.
Merle dropped a pack of playing cards that he'd found right in front of Andrea. She looked up at him only after they'd landed with a thud on the floor.
She didn't say anything to him, so Merle sat down on the floor in front of her and took the pack. He opened it, thumbed through the cards to take out the jokers, and then started to shuffle the pack. When he started dealing, Andrea finally spoke.
"What are you doing?" Andrea asked.
"Fuck it look like I'm doin'?" Merle asked.
But she didn't touch the cards.
"I don't play cards," she said. "I don't even know how."
"Everybody's gotta learn some damn time," Merle mused. He chuckled to himself and looked around. The few people still lingering in this room looked like they'd either die or fall asleep soon. "Looks like we just come up with enough time for ya to get'cha start."
"I don't really feel like playing cards, Merle," Andrea said.
"Rather fuck?" He asked.
She curled her lip at him and he chuckled and tapped her cards.
She stared at them like they'd burn her instead of like they were simple playing cards.
"Pick 'em up," Merle said. "Step numero uno."
Andrea picked up the cards.
"What are you after, Merle?" Andrea asked with a sigh, her voice barely above a whisper.
Merle looked at her and smiled.
"Hold 'em up," he said. "You don't want me lookin' at'cha cards…you s'posed ta keep 'em hid. I can't see yours…an' you can't see mine."
"This place…it's great, but we're staying here," Andrea said. "We're staying here forever. Do you even have any concept of how long that is? Can you wrap your mind around it? You can't get away from complicated here."
"Look at'cha cards," Merle said. "You ain't worried about me yet…don't be lookin' at me."
Andrea held the cards then and stared at him. Merle laughed to himself.
"Can't play cards ya don't got nothin' ta bet," Merle said. "So…you win…what you want?"
Andrea tipped her head to the side and then looked around the room like she was checking to see if anyone was paying them any attention. Merle followed her gaze. There wasn't a soul paying attention to them. Two people sitting on the floor with a deck of cards wasn't interesting to anyone.
She shrugged.
"I don't want anything," she said. "I want my life back…I want my family back…but I don't think I can win that in a card game."
Merle hummed.
"Ya win, ya get somethin'," Merle said.
"And if you win?" Andrea asked. "What do you get, Merle?"
Merle sucked his teeth.
"There's a whole damn row a' offices at the other end a' that hall out there…whole damn row of 'em an' ain't a soul back there," Merle said. "I always smoke after a good game a' cards. Reckon if someone was lookin' for me…that'd be where the hell they'd find me."
He cleared his throat and rearranged his cards.
"That's what kind of woman you think I am?" Andrea asked, something of a challenge evident in her voice.
Merle loved a challenge.
"Do you really think that I'd sleep with someone over losing a game of poker?" She asked. "You think I'd bet something like that?"
Merle looked at her.
"Didn't say nothin' 'bout a bet," Merle said. "Figure you gonna win…seein' it's ya first damn time an' all..."
He laughed to himself.
"I'd be a real piece a' shit if I didn't make sure ya had a good time ya first time out," Merle said. He winked at her when she looked at him and she curled her lip.
But he got the distinct feeling that it was more for the benefit of anyone looking than a show of true disgust on her part.
"What'cha say, sugar tits? We gon' play cards?" Merle asked.
Andrea sighed loudly and dramatically and rolled her eyes with enough enthusiasm that Merle laughed again.
"How the hell do I do this?" She asked, looking at the cards.
Merle hummed at her.
"That's right," Merle said. "Ole Merle's gonna talk ya through it all…"
He snorted.
"Now gimme all ya damn aces," he said.