Just Keep Walking

Thirty three

"Go on. You can do it." Rick soothed. Mary's eyes were clouded with uncertainty, but allowed Rick to put her down. She walked over to Aiden, still holding Rick's hand, her face nervous.
"Hey. It's Rick, isn't it? And Mary?" The man asked, his voice friendly and bold.
"Yeah. Yes it is." Rick nodded. Mary looked up at Aiden expectantly, then tugged at the bottom of his shirt. Both Rick and Aiden chuckled, and Aiden bent down to Mary's eye level.
"Hello."
"I did this." Mary mumbled shyly, thrusting a piece of paper into his hands then turning around to go. Rick laughed again, and picked her up before she could escape.
"Say why." Rick prompted as Aiden looked at the picture, slowly standing up.
"Thank you for my clothes." Mary smiled shyly.
"Thank you for my picture. It's good." Aiden said with a smile. It was a little girl wearing a blue dress, surrounded by flowers and hearts, as usual. Scrawled in the top was her name, and thank you, her handwriting messy and practically illegible.
"Glenny taught me the thank you spelling. But don't fight with him again, or I won't like you."
"Mary!" Rick scolded lightly, but Aiden just laughed it off.
"It's fine. I won't. Thanks for this, kid. I'll go put it on the fridge." Aiden nodded, walking away.
"Hey, Rick!" Deanna called, and Rick walked over to her and the man at her side.
"You're Rick." The man smiled.
"Rick, this is my husband Reg."
"You're a pretty remarkable guy."
"How's that?" Rick asked modestly.
"You are." Mary insisted, making him smile.
"I watched the tapes," Reg explained, "all of them.  The things those people said about you. The things you did for them..."
"Didn't you build that wall out there?"
"Yeah, I did, with help. A lot of it. And it's a damned incredible achievement. But it's a wall. Fifteen lives in this world? I think you have me beat."
"Well, we're standing behind that wall right now, dear, so let's call it a tie."
"Well I'm glad you're here. Now, take a glass."
"I'm good." Rick declined politely.
"You don't have to be."
"Well, I have the girls. I don't want to..."
"Rick." Deanna laughed, and Rick laughed along with her, shrugging as he accepted a drink.
"There you go!"
"Thank you." Rick smiled politely.
"Right. Welcome!" Reg grinned, pouring Rick some whiskey into a glass and passing it him. "Now, honey, what would you like to drink? We have water, juice, lemonade, some coke..."
"Daddy?" Mary mumbled shakily, expecting him to reply.
"She'll have some juice please, if you don't mind." Rick answered.
"I'll get it." Deanna smiled, walking away, as Rick stared at the door, Jessie, a man, and two young boys walking through it. Slowly, Rick took a sip o his drink.
"So, are you Mary or Judith?" Reg asked with a smile.
Deanna returned promptly, rolling her eyes. "I told you, Judith is the baby." She sighed, passing Mary a plastic cup full of orange juice.
"Thank you." Mary whispered.
"You're welcome."
"Okay... Are you Mary or Carl?" Reg teased.
Mary's face turned in the older man's direction as she giggled. "Mary!"
"Ah. I get my son's mixed up sometimes, and they're grown ups."
"I thought it was Aiden? I like him."
"We have two," Reg explained, "Aiden and Spencer."
"I did you a picture. Not Spencer. I didn't know about him." Mary mumbled, pushing some paper into Reg's hand.
"Thank you." Reg smiled, looking at it and showing Deanna.
"Oh, that's lovely, Mary." Deanna grinned, looking at the drawing of houses, simple yet sweet, with stick people in each one. On the top of the paper it read: Deeanna Munrow, Mr Munrow, Aydn.
"I did it all myself." Mary announced proudly, less shy now.
"Some interesting spellings." Rick joked, Mary oblivious.
"Hey dad. Is Mary okay?" Carl asked, coming over with two other boys behind him.
"'M okay." Mary smiled, leaning over and letting Carl hold her.
"Just thought I'd introduce you." Carl explained. "This is Mikey and..."
"And you must be Ron." Rick smiled to the other boy.
"Yes sir. You're friends with my mom, right? Jessie."
"Right." Rick nodded.
"Where's Judith?" Carl asked, looking around in worry.
"Everyone wanted to hold her. She's fine." Rick shrugged, knowing they were amongst kind hearted innocents.
"My mom's probably got her," Mikey laughed, "she loves babies."
Rick smiled, and took another sip of his drink. "Right, I'll let you guys go do whatever teenage boys do. Moo, are you coming with me, or staying with Carl and his friends?"
"You." Mary said quickly, kissing Carl's cheek, then leaning over to Rick. Rick took the child, and walked over to Carol.
"Having fun?" He asked her softly.
"Sure."
"You still ready?"
"For what?" Mary asked in confusion.
"Nothing." Rick replied quickly.
"Look," Carol whispered, seeing Olivia walk into the house, "she's here, which means it's empty so..."
"I'll go with you."
"You have the girls. And remember..."
"You're invisible." Rick nodded, as Carol slinked into the background.
"She's not."
"It's a figure of speech." Rick chuckled.
"Hey Rick," Jessie shouted, walking over to the pair, "this is my husband, Pete."
Rick went over to the couple, and shook Pete's hand, Mary nestling back into Rick's crisp white shirt.
"Hey, good to meet you. I wanted to thank you for taking in being our constable. If we keep growing at this rate, we're gonna need even more."
"I hope so." Rick nodded, then he whispered in Mary's ear, "Say hi. Why don't you say hi to Jessie?"
"Hi." Mary breathed, looking at the familiar woman.
"Are you gonna give her a hug?" Rick asked, his voice half joking, not thinking she would, but Mary nodded, and Rick passed her over to Jessie.
"Just... Just watch her bad hip." He said, worry in his voice, but Jessie just nodded, holding Mary on her hip, the little girl playing with Jessie's hair.
"You want to come by my office next week, I'll take a look at you." Pete offered, his offer creating silence. "And I probably should have said I was a doctor first." Pete laughed, as did Jessie and Rick.
"I think it sounded nice either way." Jessie smiled.
"What's wrong with her hip?" Pete asked in interest, having overheard Rick's warning.
"She got shot, just over a month ago. Got really infected, real badly. Infection's gone now, but she has a lot of pain, and can't walk far."
"Bring her round tomorrow, I'll have a look." Pete nodded.
"I appreciate it." Rick replied quietly, everyone knowing he was only accepting Pete's kind offer because it helped Mary.
"I'm going to get us a refill."
"Oh, I can do it." Jessie offered quickly, but Pete span around at her, his face firm and determined.
"I'm on it." He hissed, then he left.
"Having fun?" Jessie asked Rick and Mary breezily.
"Yes I am." Rick replied confidently as Mary nodded.
"That's kind of a stupid question, right?"
"No."
"We had good times before." Mary nodded seriously.
"This place has a pretty amazing view though." Jessie smiled.
"Yeah."
"Yeah, take a look. Ordinary life like before. Well, not like before."
"No."
"No. I mean it's better. Not out there, in here. You know, everyone's been through it somehow. Everyone. And a lot of things disappeared. But a lot of bullshit went with it. They're all from totally different backgrounds differently places. They would have never even met. And now they're part of each other's lives. They are each other's lives. I'm just saying, we all lost things, but we got something back. It isn't enough but it's something."
"Mommy." Mary whispered, and Rick took her back before she could get upset, his lips firmly planted into the side of her head.
Rick looked down at Mary, the little girl he'd have never even known if this hadn't happened. His world. His joy. And he knew that he saved her in more than one way, and that this world did too. He knew that her old family, her father she didn't even remember, wasn't a good man; he could tell. The way she flinched away, was scared of things, her bad memories associated with alcohol, her hangover cures that a five year old shouldn't know, her horrific nightmares. Him finding his daughter was the best thing that had happened to her, and one of the three best things that happened to him (joint with both Carl and Judith).
Then he looked over and saw Michonne in the background, holding Judith, feeding the baby pieces of cut up food, the baby giggling in joy. And he saw Carl. His first child, his only son. He was like a normal child again, playing card games with Ron and Mikey, all of the worry vanishing from his young head.
"Yeah, yeah, it's a pretty good view." Rick nodded with a smile.
"Mom, there's no more cookies!" A little boy pouted, running over to Jessie. He looked over at Mary in confusion, but she didn't return his stare.
"Well, oh, I happen to know the cookie maker," Rick said seriously, crouching down to the young boy's eye level, still holding Mary, "she's a, she's a good friend of mine. And I might be able to see about her making a whole batch, just for you."
"Mom, he doesn't have a stamp. Do you want a stamp?"
"Sure. Can Mary have one?"
"Yeah." The boy nodded, stamping Rick's hand with an A, then Mary's, the little girl not speaking as he did so.
"See, now you're officially one of us." Jessie smiled.
"Yeah." Sam nodded.
"Hey, Sam!" Ron called, and Sam ran over, Jessie calling over at him, telling him not to run.
"I'll have to get these two to be friends next." Jessie joked, looking at Mary.
"I have Glenn." She replied firmly.
"Yeah, you do." Rick chuckled.
"Hey, I'll see you later." Jessie smiled, walking away.
"Yeah." Rick nodded as she left, looking at his stamp.
"A for Abraham?" Mary asked innocently, her voice soft and questioning.
"A for Alexandria." Rick corrected, and she smiled back at him.
"We have to be stamped to live here?"
"No, it's just a game."
"Okay." Mary nodded. Rick laughed at her, then saw a little girl staring at them. Izzy.
"Hey, why don't you go play with the other girl? Izzy?"
"Just a little bit?" Mary asked, and Rick nodded reassuringly. He put Mary down, and she limped over to Izzy.
"Can I go talk to other people? I'll stay where you can see." Rick asked, and Mary nodded shakily, panic taking root inside her.
"Hi!" Izzy grinned, seeing Mary coming her way.
"Hello." Mary whispered shakily, clinging onto her bunny with strength larger than even her father's.
"I'm Izzy. You're Mary, right? I wanted to come meet you, but my mom said I had to give you time to settle in."
"Yeah." Mary breathed, her head overloaded with new names and voices.
"You're really pretty. I love your dress too! It's so cool. It's a pretty colour too. Blue's my favourite. What's yours?"
"Green."
"That's my mom and dad over there. Where's your mom?"
"In Heaven." Mary whispered, looking at the floor.
"Oh, I'm sorry..." Izzy began, but Mary's eyes found Carl in the crowd.
"I'm gonna go." She announced, before limping over to her older brother.
"Hey, Moo. Are you okay?" Carl asked in worry, picking her up.
"Yeah. There's lots of people." She mumbled, as Mikey laughed.
A woman walked over to the suddenly, and looked over at Mary with kindness in her eyes and a motherly smile on her lips. "Hey, sweetie, what's your favourite meal?"
Mary looked at Carl in worry, clinging onto him for dear life. "What?" She whispered shakily, shy around the woman.
"Your favourite meal. I'm gonna cook everybody's favourite for them."
"Don't know." Mary breathed into Carl's shirt, her voice shaky and Carl could tell she was about to cry.
"Well, if you could eat anything on the world, what would it be?" The woman asked, her voice kind and patient.
"She's really shy, and she doesn't really remember stuff from back when things were normal," Carl explained apologetically, "but she loves eggs. And fruit, and juice."
"Bless her." The woman smiled, squeezing Mary's cheek, but she just tried to wiggle away. "How about I try to make pizza? All kids love that."
"I know I do." Carl laughed, and the woman ruffled his hair playfully.
"Carl, I can't breathe." Mary panicked.
"Okay. It's okay, let's just go outside." Carl soothed suddenly, walking away with her in his arms. He stepped out of the door, letting the fresh air soothingly hit them.
"I've got you." He whispered, rocking her slightly as she cried, the panic taking over her tiny body. "You're safe. Deep breaths."
Mary nodded shakily, breathing in and out as he did, her brown eyes fixed on Carl's bright blue ones. Once she had calmed down, they stayed outside in silence for a few minutes longer, Carl holding her close.
"Shall we go back? And we can just sit with our family. With your Maggie and Glenn."
Mary nodded at that, and let Carl take her into the house, finding the sofas which held the majority of the group.
"What happened?" Glenn panicked, seeing Mary's limp, sweaty, shaken body.
"I think she had a panic attack." Carl whispered, holding Mary to his chest.
"Moo? Come here, kid. It's your Glenny. Come on." Glenn soothed, as Carl passed her over to him. Mary didn't speak a word, just nestled into Glenn's shirt for the rest of the long evening, letting him hold her close, and Maggie hold her hand.
When they went home, Mary refused to let Rick put her down. She was even clingier than normal, one of her hands clinging onto Rick's shirt, the other holding her bunny. She wouldn't even go to Michonne or Carl. So for the first night in a long time, she slept in a bed, a comfy, amazing bed, unlike the ones at the prison, holding onto Rick the whole time, and not even letting go during her nightmares.