Another Chance ~Carl Grimes Love Story~

Chapter 8 - Valerie

After a while of just laying on my bed, I heard Rick and Daryl come back with the others. They went to go meet with the Governor, one of the things that I learned about the other night. I looked around the corner and into Carl;s room to make sure that he wasn't there, and looked into my reflection. My eyes were red aand puffy. I'd have to just listen to what Rick has to say from here, because I  know if Beth of Carl saw me like this, they would make a big deal out of it.

I see Rick walk into the cell block and pace a little, everybody staring at him for some kind of conformation over what exactly happened today. I look down the stairs and see everybody, though they don't acknowledge me because they don't see me. I do see Carl look around for me, but I'm not there. I lean up against the railing from above, so I'm not looking down at them, and just listen carefully. "So I met this Gov'nor. Sat and talked with him for a while." He starts. "Just the two of ya?" asks who I'm assuming is Merle, though I was never properly introduced. I hear him mumble something but I can't make it out.

"He wants the prison. Wants us gone. Dead." I look around me at the empty floor I'm sitting on. I never thought of a prison as a home. I've never really thought of anywhere as a home, as we moved so much when I was a kid. But this place... it's kept these people safe. Now they could be trading that in. I could be trading that in. I'm a part of this group. Like hell am I going to let this place get taken from us. Us.

"He wants us dead... for what we did to Woodbury." He takes a long pause, everybody taking in their own thoughts on the matter. "We're going to war."

Everybody disperses, and I see Carl look at me from the corner of his eye. He tips his hat and keeps walking wherever he was headed, leaving myself alone to my thoughts.

What have I gotten myself into?

***

Basically everybody is outside about a half an hour later. I'm in, laying on my bunk. I was waiting for my face to deflate itself, but I dozed off for about fifteen minutes. When I woke up, nobody was here except for Carol and Beth, who were both having polite chit-chat inside the mess hall. When I walked in, they smiled at me, and I noticed the little baby girl in Beth's arms.

I walked over, astonishment on my face. "This is Judith?" I ask, touching her cheek lightly with my finger. Her skin is so soft. Clean. Clean from dirt, but clean from the world. "Can I hold her?"

"You know how?" asks Carol. "Yeah, I had a baby cousin. His name was Brian. He was cute. Looked a lot like what she looks like now." I say, the smile plastered on my face from this new found innocence in front of me.

Beth passes Judith over to me and my smile gets softer. "Hi, Judith. I'm Emma." I whisper lightly to her. I start walking around the table and she plays with one of my fingers. I immediately start singing. It's a song that my mom used to sing to me when I was kid whenever I had nightmares. She had such a lovely voice. Always said that I got mine from her.

"Hold me close and hold me fast
This magic spell you cast,
is La Vie En Rose.

When you kiss me, heaven sighs
and though I close my eyes,
I see la vie en rose.

When you press me to your heart
I'm in a world apart,
a world where roses bloom.

And when you speak, angels sing from above.
Everyday words seemed to turn into love songs.

Give your heart and soul to me
and life will always be,
la vie en rose."

When I finished singing, Beth and Carl started clapping from behind me. I turn around and smile, only then noticing Carl standing in the doorway. I blush a little, knowing very well that he just heard me sing. "You have a beautiful voice," he says.