traded my life [TWD]

『79』

Woojin's butt plops on the concrete floor. He frowns and slaps the gray slab and then pouts up at me.

"Yeah, walking is hard enough without your padding being concrete, huh?" I ask, still holding his hands.

He crawls onto his hands and knees, heading to the cell door.

"Where are you going?" I ask.

"Out," Woojin answers, sassy and simple.

I giggle a little. "You need to keep practicing. Get your little ass back here."

"No."

I cross my arms. "You're mean."

He continues crawling to the door. He yelps in surprise when Rick scoops him up off the floor.

"Got a runaway?" he asks.

"Out," Woojin repeats.

"I should've never taught him that word," I sigh as Rick steps into my cell and sits on the edge of the bed with Woojin. "Between 'out' and his first word being 'Maggie'.. I'm in a losing battle here."

"Carl's first word was 'shit'," Rick informs. "I think I have myself to blame for that one. He said it when I was about to burn pancakes."

"Ah, so he repeated you," I tease. "I see not much has changed there."

"Sam," Woojin says, patting Rick's chest. "Out."

"Samchon," I correct. "Rick Samchon."

"Sam," Woojin states.

I plant my face in my hands.

"I knew he was a ticking time bomb. The second he started talking, we'd never know peace."

"Oh, yeah?" I ask Rick.

"Like mother like son."

I scoff and delicately punch Rick's knee.

"What do you have to do today?" he wonders.

"I'm gonna help Daryl and the crew get ready for the run. Then, I was gonna help Carol get cooking caught up. We've got a surplus on squirrels and we don't want 'em to go bad. I was thinking of making a jerky with it so they last longer."

"That's a good idea," Rick praises. "I'm in the fields today."

"Like every day," I note.

"Hard work," he says. "Just making sure you were good."

"Aren't I always?"

Rick kisses Woojin's head and hands him down to me.

--

I set Judith on the blanket by the prison wall and she rolls onto her stomach. I hand a piece of chalk to Woojin.

 "What is this?" I ask Woojin.

"Wall," he answers. "No bite."

"Good boy," I pat his head and stand, running over to help Daryl.

"This the equivalent of sticking a kid in front of a TV?" he jokes.

"Work with what you got, Ahjussi."

"You sure you don't wanna go on the run?" he asks. "Give you a break from babysitting?"

"Not babysitting if it's my own kids," I remind. "It's just parenting."

"That's fair. Guess I can't say much.. I ain't get raised by a parent."

"I think that's why I feel the need," I confess. "Because parents were so absent.. I gotta be there for them more."

"I'd rather take on a herd than raise a kid," he jokes. "At least I know what to expect with a herd."

Glenn shuffles over awkwardly, looking distant. 

"You okay, Oppa?" I ask, setting a box in the bed of the truck.

"Yeah," he says, nodding wildly. "I'm.. good.. fine."

I give him an odd look, but he walks away to continue loading supplies.

"The hell's that all about?" Daryl asks.

"Dunno. I'll ask Mags," I say.

Beth walks by after kissing Zach. Daryl scoffs. "It's like a damn romance novel around here."

"I'm gonna die alone," I complain. "All these new people and I haven't found someone I can stand."

"Maybe you're the problem."

"I told you, man. I'm literally perfect."

"With three kids," he teases.

"Only one is mine, technically. I'm responsible," I urge. "But, anyway, parenting is easy. Just don't let the kid die."

"You're setting the bar real low for yourself."

"In this world, it's hard enough keeping yourself alive. if I can keep my kids alive, that's a bonus and means I'm doing it right."

Daryl nods in agreement. "That's fair. There anything you want me to keep an eye out for on the run? We're going to the Big Spot."

"Can you look for like a rug or something?" I request. "Woojin's still learning to walk and he's gonna bruise his butt at this rate."

"He still ain't walking?"

"He's a bit behind. But, considering the pregnancy.. I mean, that's fair."

"Unexpected," he recalls.

"I was going on runs, stressed.. hell, you and I got drunk at the CDC that one night."

"Ah," he remembers.

"Plus Shane dropped me out a window two stories," I add. "On the road, starving.."

"There's a reason he's Miracle Boy," he jokes. "Kid already fought death on more than one occasion."

I sigh and lean my arms on the truck as Daryl closes the hatch. "Miracle Boy and Little Ass Kicker. They're like Batman and Robin already."

Daryl pats my arm. "Judith is eating chalk."

My head perks up and I look over at the kids. Woojin stared in shock as Judith licked at the chalk I'd given Woojin.

"Judith!" I scold, running over to stop her.

"Batman and Robin- more like Dumb and Dumber," Daryl jokes.

𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇 𝓇𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈--

woojin is in fact the funniest person ever

him staring at judith just like :O as she eats chalk sends me 

CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW BIG HE'S GETTING AM CRY