Alicia Smith

10) Grace

"How many of you are here?" Isabell asked as they followed the woman up the stairs.

"18 now." She answered. "When it started, the older ones were dropped off at school. Some of us go home at the end of the day. But some of us... our parents never came."

Alicia frowned at the thought. How could you leave your child alone? How could you leave them to deal with this world all by themselves?

"That's Cricket." She said, referring to the child who ran out of the room.

"What about the young children?" Alicia asked.

The woman smiled. "Orphans that we found through the years. Carine was left in a basket. And we found Dimitri lost in the woods."

"How do you survive?" Daryl asked.

"We hunt, we grow food, we fix old clothes." She said. "And we keep up our lessons."

"Not bad for being little road bandits." Daryl smirked.

Alicia nudged his shoulder, sending him a pointed look. "Be nice." She whispered.

The children all smiled at them, and a loud chorus of "Bonjur!" sounded through the room.

"Bonjur." Alicia smiled.

"You've done all this by yourself." Isabell marveled.

The woman shook her head. She led them into a room, on the bed was an older woman. "This is um... this is Madame Dubior. She's our parents, and our nurse. Teach us everything... and then she got sick."

"For how long?" Daryl asked.

"Six months." She whispered. "Yeah, um, we read to her, and we sing. And everyday we recite a prayer from Isiah."

"For the sick and dying." Isabell nodded.

The woman, shook her head. "Oui but not dying. Prayers will be answered."

She walked forward, holding the older lady's hand. She stood up after a minute, leading them into the dining hall.

"Oh you can sit here." She said to Isabell. "And Father Daryl you can sit by me, Miss Smith, you may sit next to Father Daryl."

Alicia took her seat next to Daryl. As she sat down her leg brushed against his, the contact causing him to stiffen and look away. She sighed, scooting her chair into the table. She had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

Alicia turned her head, the sound of another boy telling Laurent to get up caught her attention. She watched as Isabell directed him to stand up and sit somewhere else.

Lou sighed. "I'm sorry about that. Two of our brothers are on a mission right now." After a moment she told all of the children to join hands.

She turned her head slightly, waiting for Daryl to do something. "You don't have to." She whispered, recognizing the nervousness in his eyes.

He didn't response, gently taking her hand in his and squeezing it gently. She smiled at him, bowing her head for prayer.

"Father Daryl?" Lou asked. "Would you lead us in a prayer of thanks?"

Now Alicia had to stifle a laugh. Daryl's eyes widened as he looked around the table at Alicia and Isabell.

"You mean like, uh, saying Grace?" He asked.

"Yes."

He nodded. "Yeah. Sure." He cleared his throat and everyone bowed their heads once more. "Uh Lord..."

Alicia bit her lip, trying not laugh. 'This is fucking hilarious.' She thought to herself.

"I'm sure you have your reasons for turning the whole world upside down. Maybe we deserve it. For being so mean to each other. We probably do deserve it." He inhaled deeply, his hand tightening once more around Alicia's. "But not tonight. No. Tonight is good. And if this isn't good enough for you... I don't know what is."

Alicia opened her eyes, her head snapping around to look at Daryl. His eyes were already on her, staring intently back. "Amen." He coughed, pulling his hand away from hers.

Her face flushed as she flexed her fingers, the warmth of his hand leaving hers. She stared down at her plate, chewing on her lip.

Daryl didn't look away from her. His eyes never left her as she poked around at her food. He wanted to make sure she got the message.