Just Keep Walking

Sixty

Once two weeks had passed, Mary was back home and although she'd had an amazing time at Maggie and Glenn's house, she was more clingy with Rick than ever before. A month after that, life was almost back to how it was before the accident. It took a long time, but finally Carl was almost happy again, almost comfortable in himself.
"Mary! Stay still! You're as bad as Judith." Rick laughed as he attempted to braid Mary's hair. She hadn't had it cut since the first day at Alexandria, and it was getting even longer.
"Are you done?" Mary whined, wiggling around in her seat.
"Done." The man chuckled, accepting a hair tie from Michonne and securing it around one of Mary's two Dutch plaits.
"Okay, we won't be long." Michonne assured Rick, taking Mary's hand.
"Bye!" Mary sang, dropping Michonne's hand and skipping to the door, her tutu (which she insisted on wearing over her dungarees and shirt) flouncing up with each step.
"Bye." Rick laughed.
"Hey, you gotta hold my hand on the road." Michonne reminded as she took Bertie's lead in one hand, and Mary's tiny hand in the other.
"I wanna hold Bertie." Mary whined as Michonne shut the door, and the woman chuckled.
"No. He's too strong."
"I'm too strong." Mary laughed, and Michonne laughed back.
"You're a weirdo. Come on, we've gotta stop off at Izzy's house and at Denise's."
"Why Izzy?"
"Because you're swapping reading books with her. She's finished hers, and Carl's read all of yours to you as well."
"Which one does she have?" Mary quizzed, considering if she wanted to swap books or not.
"Her mommy said it's the one about horses."
"I want the dog one."
"There isn't a dog one." Michonne chuckled, rolling her eyes.
"There is! In mine and Carl's room! Then he took it when we hang out with Enid. But he sometimes goes and doesn't let me come. And he took it then and never brought it back."
"I have no idea what you're on about." Michonne laughed.
"The dog one!" Mary insisted, a smile on her face. "The dog called Verine!"
"Verine? Are you on about Wolverine?"
"Yeah!" Mary smiled proudly.
"That's a wolf, not a dog, and it's a big kid book. You can have the little kid horse book."
"I wanna keep the pirate one. I like pirates!"
"You can have the horse book." Michonne repeated with a chuckle, reaching Izzy's doorway.
"I wanna swap with Teddy! He has a batman book."
"He's not done." Michonne explained, still laughing.
"He smells."
"Logical."
"Yep! Can I do the door knock?" Mary asked, and Michonne laughed yet again.
"Yeah, do it." Michonne nodded, and Mary's tiny fist rapped on the door. They waited a second, then Izzy's mother, Jo, came to the door.
"Hi, my darling. Hi Michonne. Mary, do you want to go up to Izzy's room? She has your book to swap but she's also got some toys she doesn't play with anymore for you." Jo smiled, and Mary nodded, skipping up the stairs, her limp slightly noticeable. "Come in, come in." Jo welcomed to Michonne, and they walked into the living room, Bertie laying silently by the door.
"Do you want a drink?"
"No, no, sorry, we can't stay for long. We need to go pick some stuff up from Denise, and Rick's going on a run after lunch, so she can't not wave him off, you know what she's like."
"Yeah, of course. How is Carl? Still doing okay?"
"He's better every day." Michonne nodded, looking around at the living room. There was no pictures, apart from one of Izzy's christening, one of her first day at kindergarten, and one from not long before everything happened, based off how old she looked on the picture. Jo was in one, and a man in another.
"He died," Jo said suddenly, "the first day. Her father. My husband. Tobin, he found us and brought us here. The first day. We didn't even know what was happening. He just knew there was a safe place, and took us there."
"I'm sorry." Michonne said softly.
"It could be worse. It could always be worse." Jo replied softly, and Michonne nodded. "Who'd you lose?"
"People." Michonne shrugged, not wanting to discuss her dead son and boyfriend.
"Ah." Jo nodded, realising instantly.
"Yeah."
"Look What Izzy gave me!" Mary grinned, stumbling down the stairs, making Bertie leap around her feet.
"Wow, that's cool." Michonne smiled, looking at the plastic doll Izzy had given Mary.
"Daddy gave that to me when I was six. When are you six?" Izzy asked Mary, and Mary turned to Michonne expectantly.
"I don't even know what month it is, just that it's summer." The woman shrugged.
"Oh God, really?" Jo asked in shock, and Michonne shrugged. "I've had calendars, kept track since the start. It's the twentieth of July today. When's her birthday?"
"The first of September." Michonne recited, and Jo nodded.
"I take it you don't know about Judith either?"
"No. She's about... Well, Mary was four and a half, it was around the end of winter, so I guess she's about one and five months? I think she was born in February." Michonne guessed.
"Sounds about right," Jo nodded in agreement, "did you... Her mother, their mom, when did she pass away?"
"When she had Judith," Michonne answered, and she saw the pain in Mary's eyes, "but we don't need to talk about that."
"Yeah. No, we don't."
"Okay, I had probably better get off to Denise's, then she needs some lunch, so we'll see you later?"
"Yeah, Yeah, see you tomorrow." Jo smiled, getting up to show them out.
"Bye!" Mary grinned, skipping out of the door, grabbing Bertie's lead.
"No. Give it here." Michonne sighed, rolling her eyes. Mary crawled up onto Michonne's hip, and they said goodbye, then walked to Denise's house, where they picked up some more bandages for Carl.
Once they were home, they ate lunch, then Rick left to go on a run, making Mary get emotional- she seemed to be more attached than ever to him.
"Okay, it's my turn on watch, so are you going to stay with Carl, or are you going to Carol's house with Judith?" Michonne asked Mary while she ate candy and did handstands.
"I'm playing with Carl!"
"I'm not stayin' here," Carl commented nonchalantly, "I'm goin' to meet Enid."
"No!" Mary declared.
"What do you mean, no?" Carl laughed.
"I don't want to see Enid."
"Why? Enid is nice. She likes you."
"You like her more than me." Nary mumbled.
Carl laughed suddenly. "Oh Mary. You're jealous of Enid?"
"No. You just like her more than me, and I don't like that."
"I don't like anyone more than you. You and Judith. Okay? No one."
"But you always want to be with Enid."
"Nah, I wanna spend time with you more. But Enid likes you."
"No, she smells and you love her most. I'm going to go play with Uncle Daryl."
"Uncle Daryl is on the run with your daddy." Michonne pointed out, and Mary pouted. "I can drop you off at Maggie's if you want, if you're gonna help her plant the tomatoes."
"Okay." Mary nodded. She ran to the door and pulled on a pair of wellies, ready to go already.
"Okay, come on then, we're going. Mary, say bye to Carl!" Michonne ordered, balancing Judith on one hip, Judith's bag on the other shoulder, plus her katana.
"Bye!" Mary screamed from the door, jumping up to open it. "Mishy! Come on, I wanna play with Maggie!"
"Alright." Michonne laughed. She somehow managed to balance the two girls, both of them overly energetic for some reason, and deposited them both off with the other people, where Mary planted tomatoes with Maggie until Rick picked her up hours later. Until she went back to her home. Her home forever.