Just Keep Walking

Forty two

"She was a princess. A princess with brown hair and brown eyes and a big smile. Princesses like that are the best, 'cos they're pretty and kind. She was kind too. And she was really good at doing hair, so I guess she was like Rapunzel. Maggie told me the Rapunzel story. It's a good one. I'll read it to you one day."
"Whatcha talkin' about?" Rick asked with a smile, coming into the living room with his morning coffee.
"Princesses." Mary replied nonchalantly, and Rick laughed softly. Mary put another piece of pancake into Judith's mouth, and began to tell her the story of Snow White.
"Michonne's gonna be down in a second, okay, then she'll look after you for a bit. I need to talk to Morgan. Why don't you go wake Carl up? He should be up by now. It's ten. Go on, go wake him up."
"Okay." Mary nodded, rubbing her bandage on her burnt hand, in pain. She left Judith, sitting her on the floor, then went upstairs to the bedroom she shared with Carl.
"Carl! Time to get up." Mary sang, sitting on his bed and poking his cheek, tugging his ear, pulling at his hair.
Carl groaned, and batted Mary's hand away. She pulled at his ear again, and he rolled over, onto his back.
"What's wrong?" He asked groggily, one eye open.
"Daddy says wake up, the clock's on ten."
Carl groaned again, then sat up, pushing his hair away from his face, and slid out of bed. He still hadn't gotten out of the habit of wearing pyjamas - every night he went to sleep in his clothes he wore that day, just in case. Mary wore pyjamas, and Rick wore loose sports shorts, but sometimes Carl even kept his boots and holster on.
"Breakfast is downstairs."
"Who made it? Dad or Mishy?"
"Daddy."
"Ugh," Carl fake gagged, "it'll either be poptarts or gross, so no thanks. I'll make my own."
"Don't be mean! And daddy is a good cooker."
"At dinner food, yeah. At breakfast? He's terrible. You know, before all this, mom used to make us all these pancakes, remember?" Carl asked absentmindedly, forgetting that Mary wasn't there for this, "And they were always horrible. Dad's good at breakfast food like... Cereal. And fruit. Sometimes toast, but he usually burns that too."
Mary giggled, and Carl stood up beginning to go downstairs, holding Mary's hand. "He's good at... Doughnuts for breakfast. He used to get them me in my first day of school every year. Mom would get so mad. But he'd do it again."
"It sounds funner. Being a kid before, not after. I wish I was."
"Oh," Carl laughed joking, lying completely, "no, it's funner now. No rules!"
"Like no school all day?"
"Exactly." Carl smiled, wondering into the kitchen.
"Eat the pancakes," Michonne whispered into Carl's ear, "so he doesn't feel bad. Then I'll make some good food when he goes."
Carl gave Michonne a thumbs up, and ate the slightly cold pancakes Rick gave him, smiling and pretending they were nice. As soon as Rick left to go and see Morgan, Michonne made them all powdered scrambled eggs, which Mary ate even though she had eaten plenty of pancakes (which she didn't think tasted that bad).
While Carl had a long, hot shower in peace and quiet, Michonne gave Judith a cold, wet cloth that she chewed at (which was apparently a tip for teething babies), and she French plaited Mary's hair. She may not be their biological mother, but she could multitask at keep them all happy just as easily.
When Judith got restless again, Michonne made her a bottle, and fed her while Mary read her picture book aloud, practicing her reading, sat on Michonne's lap, as Judith laid on the other side.
"She likes it if you talk to her about princesses." Mary pointed out as Judith batted away the bottle. "Real ones. She doesn't like pretend ones as much. The real ones are the bestest. Once upon a time, there was a princess with brown hair and brown eyes and a beautiful smile that showed her teeth. And she was kind and funny."
"Okay." Michonne laughed softly, but Mary went quiet, deciding to not go on with the conversation. "Do you want to watch a film? Can I see which ones?"
"Okay." Mary nodded, jumping up and grabbing a handful of DVDs, only using her unburnt hand.
"Alright. Cinderella. Snow White. Peter Pan. Cars. Toy Story. Oh, not that. That's a daddy film."
"Why?"
"It's too scary." Michonne answered, putting away the R rated zombie film in Mary's hand. It probably wasn't any scarier than Mary's life, in fact, it probably wouldn't have even made Judith cry. "Let's watch Peter Pan. You've got your Tinkerbel dress. Why don't you put it on and we'll watch it, yeah?"
"Yeah!" Mary grinned. She got up and came back down five minutes later, dressed as Tinkerbel.
"Okay. Let's watch the film." Michonne smiled, playing it with both the girls on her lap. Carl came down ten minutes later, and wordlessly sat on the sofa, his legs curled up beside himself, and watched the film with them, Mary sliding over onto his lap.
"Hey, I've gotta go out," Ruck announced as he came in, "I've gotta... Gotta burry Pete. Outside the walls. Are you okay with these three?"
"Yeah, that's okay." Michonne nodded softly.
"Peter Pan?" Rick asked with a smile? and Carl nodded up at him. "You used to love this."
"Is Neverland a real place?" Mary whispered quietly, as Wendy met the Lost Boys.
"Yeah. Of course it is." Rick answered with a chuckle.
"I wanna go one day."
"Yeah, you can."
"Good. Why do you have to go burry Pete?"
"Because someone has to. Because I'm sheriff." Rick sighed, sitting beside Mary and Carl. "I'll see you soon. I'll not be too long."
"Okay." Mary sighed shakily.
"Be careful." Michonne said firmly, and Rick nodded.
"Bye." Carl smiled softly.
"Yeah. See you soon." Rick replied, kissing the top of Carl's head, then Mary's, then Judith's, then he left, leaving the four of them happily watching Peter Pan, Mary engrossed in the magic of Neverland, of Peter Pan, of flying, of never growing up.

"When do we get to see daddy?" Mary sighed, scuffing her shoe against the wall repeatedly.
"Soon. Come on, let's go see the Millers."
"I don't get it. What's wrong?" Mary asked grumpily.
"There's a herd of Walkers, trapped. Dad wants to get them away so they can't come here and hurt us." Carl explained, simplifying what Rick had told him earlier. "Come on. Look, ride on the pushchair."
Mary stepped on the back of Judith's pushchair, holding onto the handles, and Carl walked behind her, pushing them both along.
"Can we see Jessie? Or Ron?"
"No. Jessie's at the meeting, and Ron is really sad. Because of his dad."
"His dad is a bad man." Mary argued.
"I know," Carl nodded, "but he probably thinks our dad is the bad man. We know he isn't, but Ron doesn't know that. Okay?"
"Okay." Mary sighed.
"Hi!" Carl called, seeing Bob and Natalie on their porch.
"Oh, hello my dears," Natalie smiled, "come on. Come on in."
"I missed you." Mary smiled softly, walking up the steps to the porch. Carl got Judith out of her pushchair, and went up the stairs behind Mary.
"Oh, we missed you too." Natalie laughed softly. "We're just finishing our lunch. Here, help yourself."
Mary looked at the plate of cookies, then tentatively took one, nibbling the edges.
"Mary, what happened to your hand?" Bob asked in shock.
"She burnt it," Carl answered, "while playing with a lighter."
"Oh Mary." Natalie sighed, and Mary looked at the floor, eating the cookie.
"Son, do you want a drink?" Bob asked, "We have juice, water, coke, coffee..."
"A coke would be great, thanks." Carl smiled, and Bob nodded.
"What do you want, Mary?"
"She'll just have water," Carl answered quickly, "before she drinks anything sugary and gets too hyper."
"Meanie." Mary mumbled, and everyone chuckled. Natalie took Judith, and held her on her lap, feeding the baby little bits of cookie.
"How is everything? At home." Natalie asked Carl softly.
"Fine." Carl nodded quickly, a small, reassuring smile on his lips.
"You... You're sure?"
"Of course."
"Why wouldn't it?" Mary asked curiously.
"Just because your daddy was a little upset." Bob reassured.
"Daddy wasn't upset! He fought with Pete 'cos Pete is a bad man. And then he killed Pete 'cos Pete killed Reg and Reg was nice. So daddy wasn't upset, he was doing the right thing."
"Okay. Okay, it's okay. It doesn't matter. I just want to make sure you're okay, no matter what your daddy does. That does effect you, okay? We're friends anyway." Natalie promised the little girl, and Mary nodded slowly, while Carl smiled at the woman gratefully.
"Alright, Carl, I want you to tell me all about these comic books you like," Bob smiled, breaking the awkward silence, "because they sound real good. Now, start from the beginning. How do they become these heroes?"
"They're a product of their environment, Mr Miller." Carl explained knowingly, looking at his little sister, a product of her own harsh environment.

When Carl walked back home, Mary was half asleep, only just managing to keep her skinny arms looped around Carl's neck as he carried her on his back.
"Yer dad know yer all out?" Daryl asked, suddenly beside them.
"Yeah. Is the meetin' over?"
"Yeah. Got a plan together. Ready to start plannin' it out. Gonna lead 'em out, far away from here."
"Sounds like a good plan." Carl nodded, almost sharply.
"Yer alright?"
"Yes," Carl sighed firmly, "but you need to stop smoking around Mary. I'm serious. See her hand? She's got a second degree burn across her knuckles and thumb from trying to light a cigarette. "Because it makes Uncle Daryl happy". So you need to stop. At least near her."
"Shit. Sorry."
"And swearing. She's learning new words every day, and half of them are swear words."
Daryl chuckled and nodded. "Alright. Okay."
"I'm fucking serious! She's fucked up enough, you don't need to make it worse." Carl hissed suddenly.
"Hey. Watch yer language."
"Bastard. Don't be mean to my brother." Mary mumbled sleepily.
"Mary Grimes! Cut it out!" Daryl warned, and Mary rolled her eyes, then shut them.
"Exactly my point." Carl pouted out.
"Alright. Go on," Daryl ordered, as they were outside the Grimes' house, "go get her in bed."
"See you tomorrow." Carl nodded.
"Yeah. Go on, get her inside so I can have a smoke." Daryl sighed. Carl nodded again, and walked inside. Daryl waited until the door shut before he light his cigarette.