Just Keep Walking

Sixty three

"I know you want daddy, but you have to go to sleep." Michonne repeated for what seemed like the millionth time as she attempted to get Mary into bed.
"No! Not 'till he gets home."
"Mary." Michonne warned sternly.
"No!"
"Oi! Smelly! Bed, now." Carl ordered, walking into their bedroom.
"Don't be mean!"
"Mary, get in bed. Now." Carl snapped.
"Why are you being mean?" Mary whined.
"I'm not, I'm trying to get you to go to sleep."
"You're making me sad." Mary almost cried.
"Both of you! Stop." Michonne ordered, and Mary began to cry softly, but stopped when she heard the door open.
"Daddy?!" Mary shouted happily, running down the stairs.
"Hey, monkey! What are you going up? It's eleven o'clock, that's way past your bedtime." Rick teased, not actually annoyed at her, hugging her tightly.
"I wanted to wait for you." Mary smiled proudly.
"I hope you've been good for Mishy." Rick said softly, and Mary nodded, Michonne letting out a laugh.
"She's been naughty?" Rick asked Michonne with a slight smile.
"Wouldn't sleep." Michonne answered, and Rick laughed.
"Okay, Carl, you go get ready for bed and get in bed, because you should've been asleep an hour ago. Mary'll be up in a minute."
"Dad." Carl whined.
"No, bed, now. I'm too tied to argue, go go get in bed, now. I've had a long, busy day. Bed. I can't do this now." Rick ordered firmly, and Carl nodded. Rick beckoned him over, and threw an arm over his son's shoulders, pressing a firm kiss on the top of his head.
"You had a bad day?" Carl asked softly, and Rick nodded slowly.
"Somethin' like that," he nodded, taking a shaky breath in, "now get into bed. This one's coming in a second."
"Yeah. Night." Carl nodded, jogging up the stairs.
"Okay, you're in pyjamas, have you had your book?"
"Yeah. Mishy read it to me. She even did all the voices." Mary smiled, and Rick smiled back, kissing the top of her head.
"Good. You can have some juice, then bed, okay?"
"Okay." Mary nodded. Rick went into the kitchen and grabbed Mary some juice, then sat her on his lap, as she nuzzled into his chest, drinking slowly.
"Okay," Rick soothed to the sleepy girl once she had finished, "bed time." He walked her up to the room, and laid her into Carl's bed, knowing she'd just crawl in there anyway, and passed her her bunny.
"Night night." He whispered, kissing the top of her head.
"Is the camera on? So you can wake me up when I have a bad dream?" Mary questioned, referring to the baby monitor on the shelf.
"Yes. Go to sleep." Rick soothed, and he left, the two children already asleep. Then he went downstairs to Michonne.

The next morning Mary and Carl woke up to noise; Bertie barking, talking, arguing, then nothing. "Hey. Stay here." Carl hissed to Mary, grabbing his gun, and he walked outside, Mary ignoring him and following her big brother's lead, to find a man sat on their top step, looking at a painting.
"What the hell are you doing in our house?" Carl asked fiercely, pushing Mary behind him even further, and holding the gun right up to the man's head.
"I'm, uh, sitting on the steps, looking at the painting, waiting for your mom and dad to get dressed. Hi. I'm Jesus." The man introduced.
"My mommy is dead." Mary mumbled, looking at him in confusion, then she looked over and saw Michonne and Rick run out of her father's room, Rick shirtless, buttoning up his jeans.
"Carl, Mary, hey um..." Rick stuttered awkwardly, going red.
"Why was Mishy in your room?" Mary asked innocently, her forehead creased in confusion, and the two adults looked at each other shakily, then were saved by the door opening, and Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, and Abraham running up the stairs.
"It's, it's okay." Michonne assured, as Mary attempted to assess the situation, incredibly confused.
"You said we should talk. So let's talk." Rick hissed, pulling in his shirt. "Let's go downstairs."
"Daddy? Mishy?" Mary questioned, but Carl just scooped her up.
"No questions right now. Just... Just... Let's just be quiet." Carl mumbled in shock.
"Hey, your sister dropped this." Jesus pointed out, passing Carl Mary's bunny. Carl snatched it, and gave it to Mary, then walked down the stairs.
They got to the dining room table, Rick, Michonne, Carl, Maggie, and Glenn sat down, all staring at Jesus sat opposite them, Abraham and Daryl walking around them like vultures. Bertie began to jump around everyone's feet, but when he reached Rick, the man gave him a glare, and raised a warningful finger in the dogs direction. Naturally, the dog went and laid in its bed silently.
"Can I have a cuddle?" Mary whispered, trying to crawl into Rick's lap, but Rick didn't want her that close to the unknown man.
"No, I want you sat over there, baby. And I need to talk to this man, I don't want you in the middle of it. Okay?"
"Come on, come here, Moo." Glenn smiled welcomingly, and Rick gave her a tight, reassuring squeeze, then let her go into Glenn's arm.
"Is Grape okay, or is Maggie grumpy?" Mary whispered into his ear, everyone hearing the comment, and Glenn, Maggie, Carl, and Michonne laughing.
"She's okay. Come on, why don't you give me a snuggle and go back to sleep, okay?"
"No. I'm awake. I want cuddles though."
"Okay." Glenn laughed softly. Carl went into the kitchen and passed Mary a cookie that Carol had made earlier, then heard Jesus' stomach growl, and tossed him one too.
"Daddy, why was Mishy sleeping in your bed?" Mary asked suddenly, and Maggie spluttered over her glass of water, all the heads in the room turning to Rick and Michonne.
"Let's get started." Michonne said suddenly, blushing slightly.
"So, how'd you get out?" Rick asked quickly, brushing away Mary's question.
"One guard can't cover two exits. Or third floor windows. Knots untie, and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order right?" Jesus explained almost cockily.
"Right." Daryl spat.
"I checked out your arsenal. I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well equipped, but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have. Fifty four?"
"More than that." Maggie answered quickly.
"Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef."
"Yeah, she ain't here." Daryl spat.
Jesus turned to him, almost insulted. "Look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side, the living side. You and Rick had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things, and both of you looked like trouble. I was wrong. You're good people. And this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other."
"They are good. This one here, the nicest and badass dumbass one is my daddy and he's the bestest person ever. This is my Uncle Daryl, and he's good but he's sometimes grumpy, but not to me because he loves me more than he loves anyone else. And this is my Mishy, she's like my mommy but she's not, and this is my big brother Carl. He's..."
"Okay, Mary." Rick said firmly, cutting her off.
"Do you have food?" Glenn asked firmly, holding Mary closer to his chest as she buried her head into his chest.
"We've started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum."
"Tell us why we should believe you." Rick spat.
"He's called Jesus. Gabriel said Jesus saves people." Mary pointed out, as Glenn shushed her soothingly.
"Mary. Quiet or bed. Come on, it's a grown up talk. And we once met a very nasty woman called Mary, remember? So we don't trust people off names." Rick said firmly, and Mary nodded with a slight pout, tears welling up in her eyes.
"She's right. I am a nice man who just might save you. And I'll show you. If we take a car, I can take you back home in a day and you can all see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer.
"Wait, you're looking for more settlements. You mean you're already trading with other groups?" Maggie asked suddenly.
Jesus looked at the woman and grinned, Mary's chest thumping in excitement. "Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger."