Sweet and Salty ~ Carl Grimes

The Iron - 099

"Hey, Spencer!" Brooks greeted with a smile as she entered the buzzing kitchen, Charlie strolling by her side. Spencer Maddock was a middle aged ginger lady, Negan's head chef. She oversaw all food preparations for the senior members of the Saviours in the Sanctuary - which obviously included Brooks and Charlie. She used to be a midwife, and cooking was just a passion, but then the world fell and her passion became the reason she would survive the broken excuse of a world.

Spencer turned and greeted Brooks with a bright smile, her blue eyes lighting up as soon as she saw the young girl. "Morning, Brooks, it's lovely to see you. That's a nice shirt."

"Awe, thanks." Brooks grinned, trying her best not to bashfully blush at the compliment. "I love yours!"

"You mean my chef whites?" Spencer laughed. "Thank you though. How can I help y'all this sunny mornin'?" Her Atlanta accent shone through as she spoke kindly.

Charlie's hands grasped over his stomach. "I think you know."

Nodding her head for the two adolescents to follow her, she lead them into the dry store out the back, where each teenager quickly grasped for one of the last packs of cookies left in the world. "Don't let anyone see you carryin' them out." The woman winked.

"Actually, Spencer." Brooks began. "I was thinkin' of doin' some of my own bakin' soon, ya know? As a thank you for everyone takin' me in so kindly. I was hopin', if ya wouldn't mind, of course... That you could write me up a recipe? This woman, Carol, I used to be in a group with would bake in Alexandria, all the time... But, she never cared much to share the recipe with me." Brooks trailed off a little bitterly as she thought about how she was the only person from her old group who Carol never shared the recipe with. Brooks had helped once or twice with the odd thing Carol may have needed while baking, but Carol never fully indulged Brooks.

Spencer's heart sank a little at the sadness on Brooks' face, but for the young girl, she always managed a smile. "Of course, I'll write one up for you tonight - a good one I remember from when I used to bake with my nana. I'll make sure we have everythin' you need and you can take a crack at it whenever you'd like."

"Thank you so much, Spencer." Brooks smiled widely.

/----------\

Sitting on top of the Sanctuary, and watching the clouds turn into different shapes like ducks and unicorns, Brooks and Charlie shared a pack of cookies together. "That boy that broke in earlier?" Charlie began, breaking the silence that had been indulging them for the past half an hour. "He your boyfriend?" He finished after a few seconds.

Brooks had been thinking about Carl for a while. Cole had found them twenty minutes ago, and told them to meet Negan in his bedroom at 12 O'clock which was rapidly approaching. "No." Brooks responded, after thinking about it for a second. Although they never officially broke up... She supposed turning into the enemy ended their little relationship. 

"You sure?" Charlie asked, turning his head to look at her. "The way he was looking at you... It looked like love. Not anger. Not betrayal. Not hatred. Just love."

That's when Brooks remembered what Carl had said to her before Negan dragged him away at the line up. 'I love you'. Carl loved her. Carl Grimes loved Brooks Dixon. It hadn't clicked in her mind before, but in that second, it did. He told her he loved her, before he was dragged away. Did he say it because he thought he was going to die? Did he actually mean it? Was it unconditional? If it wasn't, she knew he wouldn't feel that way anymore. She didn't know if she believed whether or not he felt that way in the first place.

Brooks swallowed thickly, and licked her lips, once, twice over as she thought for the moment. She left the silence linger as Charlie stared at her, and she stared up at the clouds. "Carl's a sentimentalist. Nostalgic, that's all. Nothing's goin' on between us, never has."