The Rocking Dead III

Chapter 16: Oops

*I hate to post this little A/N, but this book is coming to an end soon. There hasn't been much happening on TWD to add into here, and I have an ending prepared for this and wanna get to it soon. So prepare yourselves. ~Jess*

Tom's POV: Three weeks later and we're finally getting used to having a baby around. Eric and I take turns when he wakes up crying during the night. Still no sign of the Whisperers whatsoever, so I'm starting to believe this wasn't a trap. Probably shouldn't let my guard down quite yet, but I'm remaining hopeful.

Crying came from the crib and woke me up. My turn. I got up and walked over to soothe Jonathon. Diaper's not dirty, he's not taking the bottle, guess he's just being fussy. Only thing that came to my mind was to sing him a lullaby. I started singing whatever nursery rhymes came into my head. Seemed to work pretty quickly because he smiled and fell back asleep. I laid him back down and crawled back into bed with Eric.

"Your voice is still beautiful even in these times." He groggily said.

"Just go back to sleep before he wakes up again. You're next, remember." I said, wrapping my arms around him. We quickly fell back asleep and weren't woken up again by his crying.

When the sun shone in my eyes, I figured it's a good time to get up. Eric was still out like a light. I fed Jonathon a bottle before making some coffee and heading outside.

"How's the new dad doing?" Blackie asked as he walked up, "I see the bags under your eyes and the coffee cup. Tired?"

"Shut up I'm finally getting used to it." I said, taking a sip of my coffee. Blackie held back his laughter. "How are you and Lita?" He told me what's going on between them. Never saw Blackie as the loving kind, even now that we've pretty much become best friends. But hey, whatever makes him happy. I took another sip of coffee while he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, that's the thing." He replied, seeming hesitant, "I may or may not have gotten her pregnant." I spit out the coffee I had in my mouth, just barely missing Blackie.

"You what?!" I asked, in shock.

"Hey I didn't fucking expect for it to happen!" He replied.

"Well did you wear a condom?! Siddiq has a shit ton!" I said, wiping my mouth off.

"Of course I did I'm not that irresponsible!" He said, "Can we please not tell anyone else yet? I don't need them saying shit about me and her."

"You're gonna have to tell them eventually." I said, "Why is everyone around here having babies all of a sudden? Don't worry, I'll keep your secret for now."

"Speaking of secrets." Blackie said, "I think Axl knows about you and Eric and possibly told the others." My heart skipped a beat. Motherfucker.

"I told you not to tell anyone!" I sharply said.

"I didn't! I had nothing to do with it! In fact I tried to stop him from thinking too deep into why you two are always together!" Blackie quickly replied.

"Well if you didn't tell them who did?" I asked, placing a hand on my hip.

"I don't fucking know why don't you go ask him?" He said.

"Ok look, we'll talk about this later." I said, rubbing my temples. "Any news on who killed Justin?"

"Unfortunately, yes. But this absolutely has to stay between you and us." He said.

"Why? Who did it?" I asked, growing concerned. "Please tell me it wasn't one of ours."

"Maggie and I went out the other night looking for Arat after she disappeared." Blackie explained. "Tom, it was Cindy and some others from Oceanside." My heart skipped a beat once again. Shit, it is one of ours. "She planned to kill all the Saviors who killed the men in her community. Arat was the last one. She-" Blackie trailed off.

"She what?" I asked. Blackie sighed.

"Arat was the one who killed Cindy's brother. Her 11 year old brother." The thought of someone coldly killing a child because of Negan's orders disgusts me. "She told Cindy 'No exceptions'." I shook my head in disbelief.

"Blame it all on the Whisperers." I finally said, "Hopefully that'll get the Saviors and Oceanside back on the same page." I walked back to my house, still horrified by what Blackie told me. At first I was pissed at Cindy, but with Blackie's explanation, the murders were justified. When I got back to the house, Eric, still in his pajamas and his hair tied up, was in the living room playing with Jonathon.

"Look he's crawling!" Eric excitedly said as Jonathon crawled to him. I smiled at both of them, walking over to sit next to Eric. We quick kissed each other before going back to watching the baby.

"Eric, I need to ask you something." I said.

"What's wrong?" He asked, waving a toy at Jonathon.

"Did you by any chance let the truth about our relationship slip to Axl?" I asked. Eric froze, refusing to look at me. "Eric." My voice became slightly stern. He let out a sigh.

"Yes. But he forced me to! He wouldn't leave me alone I didn't know what to do and I panicked!" He quickly answered. I just sighed.

"It's ok. It's fine." I pulled him in close to me, rubbing his arm. He cuddled into my chest, clearly feeling guilty...