Carol Peletier felt eternally bad. She pitied herself, and her actions. Jane was absolutely right.
She wasn't a great mother, and she knew that. She wanted to make it up to Jane, but how?
She watched from the truck as Jane ran to Carl. He was clearly consoling her, and hearing about the monstrous things that had come out of Carol's mouth.
She hated that he was the one that comforted her, not her mom. But Carol had no one else to blame but herself.
Carl pulled Jane into a hug, and that's when Carol's eyes pried off of them and onto Daryl, who had been watching everything unfold.
"She's gon' come back around," he grunted, walking closer toward Carol. He had just put out a cigarette, and the smell was pungent, sticking directly to his sheen leather jacket.
"I'm terrible." She said, with dry eyes.
"I understand where yer' comin from. If she's even half as smart as me, I'll bet she understands too." He grimaces, wiping sweat off his forehead though nothing about his shaggy appearance seems to change. "An' she is," he adds, with caution.
They watch as the kids enter the grimes's house, Carl's arm slung around Jane's shoulder comfortingly.
"She'll be fine with im' for now. They're good kids."
Carol decided at that moment that she wanted to just forget about the whole thing, so she shrugged Daryl off and continued unloading the supplies from the truck.
Jane however, was inside the family's shared house, and felt somewhat sheltered from Carols words.
She made her way up to her and Ellie's shared room, and was surprised to actually find her there. She sat on the bed, reading a comic book Carl had likely given her.
She was happy that the two of them had at least talked. Ellie was quite fond of Carl, and she was glad Carl was reciprocating her likeness.
"Hey!" She said, dropping her comic down to her stomach so that Jane could see her face.
"Your boyfriend gave me one of his comics. Pretty cool stuff." She said, standing up and putting it away in her bedside drawer.
"Is it good? Should I give it a try?"
"Nah. You wouldn't like it. It's more of a me and Carl type thing. Y'know, cause we're so inseparable and all that." Ellie said, her voice curated with sarcasm.
Jane laughed - zipping down her hunting boots and slipping them off, flinging them to the other side of the room ungratefully.
"It's like 4pm but I'm tired as hell. Fun fact: my mother didn't believe I was alive that whole time!" Jane said, almost throwing herself back on their double bed and burying her head in the fluff of the pillows.
"No! She didn't," Ellie gasped, a hand flying over her gaping mouth.
"Mhm. I'm fucking done I swear to god. I'm sure I'll sleep on it, and maybe, maybe...I'll be less mad. But, just - UGH. It hurt the first time hearing it, but now....I'm just mad."
"Understandable."
"I'm more mad because she brought up Carl too, tried to insult him by saying he didn't find me. Which is stupid, because she didn't even try! He did! And it's not fair bringing him into this. He actually cares, unlike her!"
"That's stupid! No, it's unfair!"
"I know, I know. I can't even be bothered to think about it right now."
"Just get some sleep. I'll wake you up for dinner."
"Thanks," Jane mumbles, half asleep already - still fully clothed.
She slept for maybe three hours, waking up to the sound of silence. Opening her eyes groggily, she looked to the bedside table. There sat a slightly cold plate of spaghetti bolognese, neatly arranged with a fork and a glass of water.
She politely ignored the food, getting up and taking down her hair from its loose ponytail. It fell in light waves around her face, soft to the touch. Jane loved the feeling of actually having clean hair again.
Walking downstairs, she headed to the kitchen - her appetite for something sweeter taking over. She remembered Tara had left some twizzlers in the cupboard before leaving on her trip.
Hearing some strange noises, she turned the kitchen light on - the sight earning an explicit gasp from her mouth, making herself known.
Michonne and Rick stood, lips touching, their hands intertwined on the other side of the marble island.
At Jane's sudden sound, they whipped their heads round and unlocked their fingers.
All three of them just stood with surprised expressions.
"I, uh-you? And you?" Jane said, pointing her finger back and forth between the two of them. Their cheeks flushed a dark red, and Jane couldn't help but let out a short laugh.
Then, another laugh appeared from the darkness - a softer, more gentle one. The sound stepped into the light, revealing Carl's long hair and unmistakable smile.
That's when Rick and Michonne started to laugh too, the four of them erupting into howls of amusement.
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you - they're a thing now," Carl said, still a hint of delight in his voice.
"Oh, just like how you forgot to tell us?" Michonne said, raising an eyebrow at the teens.
Carl looked to Jane, smirking. It felt nice in the moment, because she really felt like she was part of some sort of family.
"Okay, okay okay. Get out of the way so I can get my twizzlers." They reluctantly moved, and she reached up on her tippy-toes to grab them out of the cupboard, haphazardly throwing one in her mouth.
Moving past Carl and into the living room, she sat down next to Ellie on the sofa, who was lighting all the candles on the coffee table.
"Wanna twizzler?" Jane said, her mouth still full.
"Nah. I hate those things." She said, sticking her tongue out like a toddler.
"I'll take one," said Carl, sitting down beside them.
She didn't hesitate to hand him one as he slumped down beside the two girls, still smiling from the interaction a few minutes ago.
"Get a room," Ellie said, hiding behind her comic. That was when Carl stood up and snatched it out of her hands, holding it high above his head.
"Hey!" She said, trying to reach it, jumping up and down continuously.
"I win." He says, half laughing. Jane just sits on the sofa, admiring the two. Because this is what she always wanted. The sight almost brought her to tears, but she kept it all back, continuing to laugh through it.
When Daryl, Michonne and Rick walked in, she thought the only person that could make this better than it already was, was her mom. But she shrugged it off, because she didn't want to think about any of that right now. She just wanted to spend time with her family.
After supplying their open hands with twizzlers, Jane popped another into her mouth, beaming.
"What's that thang even about that's got you two so worked up?" Rick said, biting off the end of his sweet.
"It's about this girl with superpowers, and a group of teenage boys that find out about it. Oh, and a boy goes missing!" Ellie says, now retreated back to her original reading spot.
"Sounds thrilling," Michonne says, just trying to be nice to Ellie.
"Where's Judith?" Jane asks, and Michonne pipes up.
"I put her down to bed an hour ago. Sorry you haven't seen much of her, she's always sleeping these days."
"It's cool. I'll see her tomorrow."
"Wait a minute....what's that over there?" Carl says, pointing to a spot in the wall. Everyone looks over to find nothing staring back at them.
When they aren't looking, he snakes his finger into the twizzler packet and grabs two.
"Hey!" Jane says, trying to wrestle them off of him before he shoves them both in his mouth, grinning.
"He'll be stealin' a hell of a lot more than twizzlers from yuh' later, Jane," Daryl says, making Carl Grimes blush a deep crimson.
"Leave them alone Daryl, they're just kids," Rick says, trying to hold back a laugh.
"Yea, Shut up Daryl," Jane shouts, laughing slightly.
They all continue to laugh and talk until the candles burn out, leaving the room in darkness. They all go off to bed feeling happy and full of sugar. Jane was especially happy, This was what she pictured a good life to be like - Just her, and her family.
★
I wonder how many times I typed the word twizzlers in this chapter 😭😭😭
Sorry it's so short lol 🫶
Ngl I absolutely despise twizzlers