Carolina in my mind

Chapter 25

"Do you think he's on his way here right now?," Carolina asked. When Merle gave her nothing but a questioning look, she added, "...the governor? Do you think he's on his way here?"

"Naw," Merle scoffed, giving a slight shake of his head. "He'll wanna take all their asses back ta Woodbury and see what they know first." Merle reached for her lit cigarette, taking a hard pull and blowing the smoke away behind him before he handed it back. "Which ain't much. They ain't seen nothing but the inside of the holdin' cells. Suppose they know how many people are here and that we've got a lotta guns. But it's fine if the fucker knows that. Maybe he'll think twice before he fucks with us again."

"So you're pretty sure he's not on his way here?," Carolina clarified, ignoring the rest of his strategic commentary.

"Yup," Merle said, raising his brow at her. "Why?"

"I wanna go down to that creek and take a damn bath," she admitted, pointing out past the corner guard tower. There was a good size creek down there with a narrow bridge running across it. The water was probably cold. But it was still better than nothing. She'd been cleaning herself up the best she could with wet wipes. But they were only doing so much.

"Ah," he said, his demeanor instantly changing. In less than a second he went from thinking about the governor's next move to raking his eyes over her curves. She laughed as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "Ya wanna wash up, I'll take ya down there right now sugar…" His voice was filled with sexual innuendo, making it clear what he assumed they were going to be doing directly after she finished bathing.

"You better clean up too," she scolded, "...if you think you're about to be doing all that."

Merle laughed as he pressed one more lingering kiss onto her neck. He loosened his grip on her waist but kept his arm around her as they walked back into the prison together. Carolina poked around in their cell and in the cell that was full of Morgan's bunker supplies. She found soap and a few washcloths. And she'd already taken some mostly clean looking clothes and towels from a big laundry bin of prison garb that someone found and rolled into their cellblock. They really did need something other than prisoner and guard uniforms to wear. Especially the women. But unfortunately, going on a clothing run wasn't going to be feasible until after the conflict with the governor was over.

"Are you going down to the water?," Maggie asked, gesturing to the stuff Carolina was piling up on the table outside their cell. Merle regarded the woman with a foul expression as he leaned back in his chair with his feet kicked up on the edge of the table. Carolina flashed him a warning look. One that she hoped would keep his mouth shut as she confirmed to Maggie that they were going down to the creek to clean up a little.

It was hot inside the prison. Without power, the system that cooled the place and circulated the air wasn't functioning, making it stuffy inside as well. Still, Maggie was wearing an oversized hooded sweatshirt that she had wrapped around herself like a security blanket. Unlike Glenn, who came back from their brief captivity looking like someone used his face as a punching bag, Maggie didn't have any visible injuries. But she had a wounded look in her eyes that wasn't there before. Carolina couldn't help but wonder if the governor took his sexual assault on her further than he did on the show.

"Can I come with you?," Maggie asked, casting an uncertain glance at Merle. "I really need to wash off."

"This ain't no babysittin' service," Merle scoffed. "Get yer chinaman ta take ya."

"Of course you can come," Carolina said, flashing Merle another dirty look that she was sure he was about to ignore as fast as the last one. "Just ignore Merle," she suggested. "He's an asshole." Merle barked out a laugh, leaning sideways and aiming a swat at Carolina's rounded backside which she jerked out of his reach to avoid.

"I'll take you," Glenn said. He kept his hand on the wall for balance as he made his way over to their table. He staggered the last few steps, bracing himself against the table as he sat down in one of the empty chairs. Carolina gave the man a nervous sideways glance. He didn't look like he was in any position to take anyone anywhere. Or even get back out of his chair without help.

"We can all go together," Carolina said, ignoring Merle's loud irritated snort. "It'll be safer that way."

She knew it wouldn't really be safer for her or Merle that way. They were fine to go wash up by themselves. But it would certainly be safer for Glenn, who smelled like blood and looked like the inside of an undercooked hamburger. And Carolina didn't want anything else bad to happen to him or Maggie.

Carolina was about to turn and head back to the giant laundry bin to look for a few more towels when she was stopped by the sound of Rick clearing his throat. She noticed him hovering nearby already, acting like he was busy with something when it was obvious that he was listening to their conversation. She just chose to ignore him.

"No one should be going outside the fences," Rick announced.

Carolina looked at Rick like he'd grown a third eyeball. She wasn't sure if he was in charge or not in this reality. But he certainly wasn't in charge of her. And he was picking a weird time to assert his questionable authority. Why does he even give a fuck what we're doing, she wondered.

"Yeh, well opinions are like assholes. And nobody wants ta hear yers," Merle scoffed.

Rick spun on his heel, stomping off into the next cell block in a huff. Carolina covered her mouth, trying to hold her giggles in as she wondered if he was running off to tattle on them to Hershel or if he just wanted somewhere private to lick his wounded ego. The sound of a gurgling cough caught her attention and she turned towards it, laughing even harder when she realized that Glenn was laughing too. He sucked in a hard wheezing breath, pressing his hand down over his battered ribs to ease the burning pain.

Carolina gathered up all their things and followed Merle out into the courtyard, trying not to start giggling all over again. Since Glenn laughed at the joke he made at Rick's expense, Merle apparently decided that he was no longer persona non grata. And now he had Glenn's arm slung around his shoulders and was half dragging half carrying the smaller man through the courtyard as he regaled him with an unnecessarily detailed and graphic description of the time Daryl lost his virginity. Carolina glanced at Maggie, mouthing a silent I'm sorry to her.

"Daryl's the one that needs the apology," Maggie whispered, shaking her head. "Good lord."

Carolina stifled another laugh. It was her opinion that the poor hooker Merle hired to fuck his teenage brother was the one that was owed an apology in this situation. Or maybe two apologies. One from each of them.

"I think your husband just made a new best friend," Carolina quipped, covering her hand with her mouth to hold back her laughter.

"Never had a chink fer a friend before," Merle announced, dragging Glenn through the gates Sasha was holding open for them.

"Well you still don't," Glenn huffed. "I'm Korean."

"Whatever," Merle said, unaware that Carolina mouthed the word right along with him. She knew that was coming.

Once Carolina was finally able to strip down and wade in, the water was cold and clean and felt so good against her overheated skin that she probably could have happily soaked the rest of the day away. She found herself wishing for a bikini, an innertube, and a floating cooler of cold beer.

When she was done aggressively scrubbing and dunking her hair under the water, Carolina let Merle pull her out into the deepest part of the narrow river. He was tall enough that he could still touch the rocky bottom there, but only his head and the tops of his shoulders were above the waterline. She wrapped her arms around his neck, enjoying the weightless buoyant feeling of her body in the water as he lifted her into his arms. They got one brief kiss in before Maggie was clicking her tongue at them.

"Walkers," she warned, pointing towards the treeline.

Carolina sighed as she quietly paddled her way to the opposite bank. One moment's peace was apparently too much to ask for, she thought as she wrapped a towel around her body. Merle still had to help Glenn back up the incline and through the gates. But his dip in the cold water helped. Glenn's face looked less swollen and he seemed to be having less trouble walking. Once they got into the courtyard, Maggie was able to take over and help him the rest of the way inside.

Carolina knew Merle would have been happy to head back to their cell immediately to pick up where they left off under the water. But she wriggled out of his grasp with the promise that she would make it up to him later, after everyone went to bed. Curtain or no curtain, banging one out in the middle of the cell block while everyone was awake and wandering around in there seemed like it had the potential to be embarrassing. Not only for her but for whoever had the misfortune of hearing them.

To his credit, Merle did as she asked and waited until it was dark. But after the sun sunk below the high windows of the prison, all bets were off. Not only was he being noisier than she thought he needed to be, he seemed to be getting great amusement out of the fact that she was trying her best to be quiet. His goal seemed to be to elicit as much noise from her as possible. And when she came for the second time, with her head hanging upside down off the edge of the bunk and her knees draped over his shoulders, she was long past caring if anyone heard her high pitched squeaks of pleasure or her moaning.

The loud clang of what she guessed was Daryl's crossbow hitting the bars of their cell made her squeak again. And not in a good way this time.

"Hey!," he huffed. "I'm tryin' ta fuckin' sleep. Assholes!"

"Well I'm tryin' ta get laid, so fuck off," Merle snipped back, clearly finding the situation funny. He knew his brother's cell was right next door. And Carolina rolled her eyes, wondering how much of what was happening between them was due to Merle wanting to show off the fact that he was getting laid and his brother wasn't. Not that she wasn't enjoying herself. Multiple times. But it was still juvenile as fuck.

"I'm sorry Daryl," she added. "I have some valium if you're having trouble sleeping."

Daryl must have taken her offer as an invitation to enter their room. Because the next thing she knew she was laughing and covering her titties with a pillow as Merle leaped off the bunk to shove his brother out and jerk the curtain closed. Ignoring this, Daryl poked his head back into the room.

"Ya got sleepin' pills in there or what?"

"Get out you fuck," Merle cursed.

Carolina's mouth dropped open when Merle turned and poked his one good hand into her pile of rumpled clothes and personal items, snatching up her hidden bottle of pills in a way that clearly indicated he already knew exactly where they were. He thrust the bottle at Daryl before closing the curtain in his face for the second time. Carolina rolled out of bed, loudly making her objections known.

"Hey! Stay out of my shit! Don't give him the whole bottle!"

Carolina was sure Daryl heard the loud stinging slap Merle delivered to her ass. Everyone in the place probably heard it. And the second one.

"Shuddup," he ordered as she squealed and darted out of the way of his third swat. "Get back in bed!"

Carolina was giggling again by the time he pushed her back down onto the bunk. They rolled and wrestled around with each other as much as the small space would allow. Until the playing turned into kissing and the kissing turned serious. After they were done they lay together as the small battery operated lantern slowly dimmed and flickered. There wasn't much room on the narrow cot for one person, let alone two. But Carolina had no desire to escape her confines. At least not at the moment. Her muscles were deliciously relaxed and she was enjoying the feeling of Merle tracing his fingers up and down over the curve of her hip.

"You hear that?," she asked, lifting her head up off his chest and cocking it to the side.

"What?"

She felt Merle's body tense against hers. And it reminded her of how quick he could go from totally relaxed to full murder mode.

"I swear I hear someone else having sex," she whispered. Merle huffed in annoyance, letting his head flop back down into the pillow. "Who do you think it is?," she asked.

"I dunno. Who fuckin' cares?"

Merle cursed at her as she crawled over him and began pulling his boxers up over her hips. The only romantic hookup that happened at the prison was Glenn and Maggie. And Carolina was sure the noise wasn't them. Glenn was beat to fuck. And the sounds were coming from upstairs. Their cell was downstairs. Someone else was doing the nasty. And Carolina was most certainly going to die if she didn't find out who it was.

"Carolina," Merle groused. "Fer fuckssakes. Just come back ta bed and mind yer own fuckin' business."

Carolina ignored him as she groped for his undershirt. She pulled that on and grabbed the lantern. Merle flipped his middle finger at her before he pulled the blanket over his body and rolled onto his side, putting his back to her. Carolina tiptoed out of the cell, listening for the sound of someone else's business before she poked her head and the lantern into Daryl's cell.

"DARYL!," she hissed. He jumped at the sound of his name, swinging his legs off his bunk and rubbing at his eyes.

"What's happening?," he asked. "Are we being attacked?"

"No. Someone's upstairs having sex. Do you know who?"

"What?," he asked, sounding certain that he must have heard her wrong. Carolina repeated her question. "I dunno. It's probably just Glenn and Maggie," Daryl huffed.

"It's not them," Carolina argued. "They're sleeping downstairs."

Since Daryl obviously wasn't going to be any help, Carolina leaned back out of his cell and started sneaking towards the metal staircase. She heard a shuffling noise behind her and turned just in time to catch Daryl as he stumbled into her. She slapped her hand over her mouth until she was sure her laughter was under control.

"Daryl, how many of those pills did you take?" More than he should have, that was for sure.

Daryl put his finger to his lips, indicating that she needed to be quiet. Then he grabbed her by the hand and started pulling her towards the stairs. The flickering lantern was swinging back and forth as she moved. But it was still giving off enough light that she could see that Daryl was barefoot and for whatever reason was only wearing his leather vest with no shirt on underneath. Carolina was surprised that he was able to pull her up the stairs so quietly, considering he was obviously high as a fucking kite. When they reached the top of the steps, he pushed her back against the wall and clamped his hand over her mouth, pressing his finger to his lips again.

"Sshhhhhhh," he hissed. Daryl cocked his head to the side. And Carolina's eyes widened when she heard a muffled moan drifting out from behind a sheet curtain at the end of the catwalk. Daryl released his hold on her and darted towards the noise. Carolina took off after him. But it was too late. He didn't sneak a nosy peek in around the edge of the curtain like she was planning to do. Daryl jerked it open and hollered.

"GOTCHA!"

Carolina still wasn't sure who was in the cell. But she could tell they weren't happy about Daryl's surprise appearance. Because both of them were cursing. Carolina shoved forward, forcing him back and jerking the curtain closed. But she did manage to sneak enough of a peek inside the room to see that Michonne and Tyreese were naked in bed together.

"Uh," Carolina stuttered. "I'm really sorry. He uh.. We thought we heard a walker!"

With that, Carolina grabbed Daryl and started forcibly walking him back down the catwalk towards the stairs. And given that he was stronger than her and high, she was relieved that he was going where she steered him. His cooperation continued until Carolina tried to encourage him back into his bed. He wasn't having any part of that shit. And kept darting back out of his cell after her every time she pushed him into bed and tried to leave. Finally she sat down on the edge of his bunk and waited until he was actually snoring before she crept from the room.

"Well," Merle asked, scooting closer to the wall to make room for her on the bunk with him. "...who was it?"

"I thought you didn't give a shit," she teased, climbing in and snuggling down with her head on his chest. He only chuckled and pulled her closer, knowing full well that she didn't need any further encouragement to spill her gossip.