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"YOU DON'T HAVE A good poker face," Carl pointed out an hour or two after everyone set off. Juliette, who had been sitting next to him in the pew, carrying a cooing Judith to her chest, glanced at him with confusion.
"What do you mean?" she questioned, briefly looking down at Judith as the words left her lips. Carl shrugged his shoulders absentmindedly as he looked down at his hands.
"I don't know, you look worried," he answered with instead. "Why?"
Jules let out a breathy laugh at that, the sound humorless. "That's a loaded question there." When Carl made it clear he was still expecting in answer, she sighed. "Shane was my uncle. Certain circumstances had me living with him for the summer. I didn't live in Atlanta."
Carl didn't try to mask his curiosity as he turned to look at her with furrowed eyebrows. "So, where did you live?"
"Washington, DC," Jules answered coolly, gently rocking the baby in her arms to provide some sort of distraction for her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Carl blinking owlishly.
"Why aren't you glad to be going back?" Carl asked bluntly, her reasoning lost on him. "I think I'd be."
"Because then I'll know for sure that there's no seeing Rory or my mom again." The air felt suffocating. "Just . . seeing my hometown destroyed . . it'd break me."
No other words were shared for a while. They took turns playing with Judith, gentle smiles on their lips as they watched the ball of sunshine. So unaware and unknowing of the world she lives in.
When it was Carl's turn, Jules silently stood from her seat, wandering over to where Tyreese stood next to the door, alert and at the ready. Jules offered him a smile and small wave as he turned to look at her, who quickly returned her smile.
"Hey," she greeted, voice barely above a whisper, considering the only noise around was her voice and there was no reason to be any louder. "Feels like I haven't spoken to you in forever."
The much taller man nodded his head, turning to face the outside window. "I see what you mean. With everything going down, feels like there's no time for things like that."
Jules nodded and hummed in agreement, because he was right, and there was no arguing with that. "So, um . . " she started, unsure of how to word it, "you and Carol." She hadn't meant to sound so blunt, with everything that Tyreese went through because of Carol, but the words fell from her lips before she could truly think about it.
