Just Keep Walking

Ninety

"Mary? Mary, baby, come on. It's time to wake up." Rick whispered, his sad eyes on his broken child, a hand on her shoulder.
"Daddy?" Mary mumbled, looking up from underneath Maggie and Glenn's duvet.
"Hey, princess. Come on. Let's get up." Rick soothed.
"He didn't make the bed. That's Glenn's job. He never made the bed. He didn't put away his washing," Mary cried softly, sitting up, "and he didn't wash his coffee mug, and he didn't put his dirty socks in the wash, and he didn't drink his drink, and he didn't finish reading his book. He didn't finish everything."
"Okay," Rick said gently, sitting next to Mary, "shall we do it? Shall we finish his jobs for him?"
"Yeah." Mary nodded, tears rolling freely down her cheeks.
"Okay. Okay, let's do it." Rick smiled sadly, getting up, Mary following him. He picked up Glenn's pyjamas, and folded them up, placing them under his pillow, then him and Mary made the bed. Mary picked up Glenn's socks, and held them to her chest for a few seconds, then walked to the bathroom and placed them in the laundry basket. She went back into Glenn's room, and took his toiletries into the bathroom, putting them in the correct place, as Rick slowly put away Glenn's clean clothes.
Mary walked downstairs and put the two dirty mugs into the empty dishwasher, then swept Maggie's hair into the bin, sliding the chair under the table.
One she'd done those two tasks, she walked back upstairs, and smiled softly at the clean bedroom.
"What about your hair bands and clips? Shall we take them home?" Rick asked gently.
"No," Mary answered, "he keeps some here, for my bad hair days. He looks after me."
"Yeah. Yeah, we can keep them here." Rick nodded with a gentle smile. "I think we're done."
"No. His bottle of coke. And you need to pick some new flowers for Maggie's vase."
"Let's go do that now." Rick smiled gently, holding back his emotions, and grabbing the vase full of dead flowers. They walked downstairs, hand in hand, and tipped the dead flowers into the compost bin in the garden.
"Which ones?" Rick asked softly, looking at the flower bed.
"Those. The daisies." Mary ordered quietly, and Rick nodded, walking over to the tall, wild daisies. He pulled a knife out of his belt, and cut them, then put them in Maggie's vase, putting some water inside from the outdoor hose.
"They're pretty." Mary whispered, and Rick nodded, walking up the stairs. They looked at the immaculately clean room, and it made the both of them feel better.
"There. Perfect."
"No," Mary corrected, "not yet." She sat on Glenn's side of the bed, then drank the bottle of flat, sweet coke, and gave the empty bottle to Rick. Then she picked up Glenn's book, and gently blew the dust off the cover. It was an unusual choice for Glenn - Great Expectations - but he'd told Mary that he wanted to try something different. He didn't like it.
"We can go now," Mary whispered, pulling on Glenn's jacket that she'd claimed all those days ago, "but we'll come back to change the flowers in a few days."
"Okay, baby. Okay. You ready to leave?" He asked gently, holding out his hand.
"No. But we can." Mary breathed, looking at the room as if she'd never see it again. Then her and Rick left, hand in hand. As they got to the living room, Mary finally switched off the light, and let Rick lock the door. She took it off him afterward, and pocketed the key.
"I know you miss Glenn," Rick breathed shakily, "but you can't sneak out. Okay?"
"Okay. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I... I miss him too, Mary. So so much. And I wish more than anything that I could take away all of your hurt and pain, but I can't. I wish I could. More than anything."
"I wish I could make you never sad again too." Mary nodded back.
"I can cope with my sad," Rick soothed, picking Mary up, "I just wish you didn't have to deal with yours."
"At least... At least Judith doesn't remember the sad things. Because she's only a baby."
"Yeah." Rick whispered in agreement, kissing the side of her head.
"Can I go see Aaron? He was sick."
"Yeah, he was pretty beat up. We gotta see if they're awake first." Rick nodded. They walked to Aaron and Eric's house, and Mary knocked in the door with a sigh. Less than a minute later, Eric opened the door and smiled at the pair.
"Hi. You both okay?" Eric asked, and Mary smiled softly, nuzzling into Rick's shirt; she didn't know Eric that well, and she was still shy around him.
"Yeah, she just wanted to see Aaron. Is he up?"
"Yeah, yeah. Come on in. Do you want to leave her here and we'll drop her off in ten minutes or so? Get on with breakfast and stuff?" Eric offered.
"You wanna stay with Aaron and Eric?"
"Aaron. Just to say hi." Mary breathed, and Rick nodded.
"Okay, see you in a minute." Rick smiled softly, putting Mary down. She went inside, walking past Eric, and slumped next to a bruised Aaron.
"Hey, kiddo." Aaron smiled gently.
"Hey."
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Are you? You've got a lot of poorlies." Mary asked in panic.
"Poorlies?" Aaron chuckled, holding his ribs as he did so.
"Yeah. Bruises, cuts." The child explained, pulling Aaron's hair softly.
"Ah." Aaron laughed, and Mary let out a tiny smile.
"I think you and Eric should have a baby." Mary announced suddenly, and Aaron laughed again.
"Really? Maybe one day."
"Why don't you just make one?" Mary asked with a sigh.
"Well, it's different if it's two boys who love each other," Aaron explained slowly, "because to make a baby, it has to be a boy and a girl. So if me and Eric had a baby, it would be because we'd adopted one. That's where if the baby's mommy and daddy both died."
"That's cool. It means you're like a superhero, looking after all the kids." Mary explained with a smile, and Aaron chuckled. "If my daddy and Mishy both died then I guess you could have me and Carl and Judy. Because it should be Glenny and Maggie, but they can't now." Mary whispered, her voice trailing away at the end, her eyes becoming tearful.
"Oh Mary." Aaron sighed, hugging her softly, careful to not hurt any of his injuries even more.
"Aaron. Daddy's not the bad guy?" Mary whispered shakily.
"Not the bad guy." Aaron nodded, and Mary nodded back. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
"I'm glad to see you home. I missed you. Didn't have any little kid running around and being funny like you do." Aaron smiled gently and Mary hugged him tighter, making him wince.
"I miss Glenny."
"Me too."
"You're definitely okay?"
"I'm okay." Aaron smiled softly.
"Okay. I'm gonna go now. See you later." Mary declared suddenly, making Aaron chuckle.
"Okay. Eric'll walk you home, yeah? See you soon."
"See you soon." Mary nodded, kissing Aaron's cheek, then leaving.
"Hey, Mary, wait up, I gotta walk you home." Eric called, but she'd already gone.
"I can go alone," Mary called with a smile, "it's okay here. Bye!"
Eric chuckled, shaking his head as he watched her as she walk across her porch, and run inside.
"Moo? That you?" Rick asked when he heard the door swing shut.
"Yeah." She whispered, stroking Bertie as he ran up to her.
"Come over here, gotta talk to ya." Rick called, and Mary wandered over, looking up at her father.
"What?" She asked, noticing Michonne. She walked up to her, and held up her arms. Michonne picked her up, holding her to her chest, kissing the top of her head.
"Were going to go to The Hilltop. We're going to go see Maggie. We're going to beat Negan, Mary."
"He's not all bad." Mary whispered.
"No. No one's all bad," Michonne agreed, "but we have to stop him. He's killed too many people, and he'll kill more."
Mary couldn't deny that.
"Do you want to come?" Rick asked, knowing the answer.
"I wanna stay with you two." Mary said simply, and Rick nodded.
"Okay. Well, your dungarees are in the wash, so what d'ya wanna wear?"
"My dress. The dungaree dress." Mary mumbled, and Rick nodded.
"Okay. Go up and wake up Carl, and get dressed, yeah? He'll help you if you need it, and I'm gonna get Judy while Mishy makes some breakfast. Yeah?"
"Yeah." Mary nodded, wriggling down from Michonne's arms and running up the stairs.
Michonne sighed, then smiled at Rick. "Okay. Go get Jude. I'll make food."
"Yeah. Hey. Thanks." The man whispered, kissing his partner's cheek.
"What for?" She smiled gently, putting a hand on each side of his waist.
"For holding all this shit together." Rick smiled softly, and Michonne returned his smile.
"Thank you for letting me." She laughed. "Now go. Judith will be waiting."
Rick chuckled, and got Judith, carrying on with their old morning routine. It helped. It helped Rick more than Mary, but it still helped.

When they drove to Hilltop, Mary sat nestled on Carl's chest , the boy reading to her. She clung to him, breathing in his familiar smell, and she never wanted to leave. He was her brother. He was her Carl.
Once they got out of the RV, Mary clung to Rosita's hand, then into Rick's arms, slightly apprehensive of the man, but still comforted.
"Maggie's there." Mary smiled softly, as the gates opened, and there she was. Maggie.
"She's there. Look. She's there." Rick whispered, walking to Maggie. "You're okay?" He asked the woman, hugging her.
"I'm okay. The baby's okay. All of us. Mary? Mary, are you okay?" Maggie asked shakily, looking at the pale, skinny, bruised, cut, child.
Mary didn't speak, but swung into Maggie's arm. Rick shook his head, and Maggie's heart broke again.
"You were right, right from the start. You told us to get ready to fight. I didn't listen and I couldn't. I can now." Rick said softly. He would have said more, but then he saw Daryl walking over, and Rick sped to him, hugging him tightly.
"Angel? You okay?" Maggie asked gently, and Mary nuzzled into her shoulder. They stood there for a few minutes, Mary breathing in shakily, inhaling Maggie.
Finally, they went inside, and as all of the people swarmed the inside of the building.
"Hey kid." Jesus smiled, patting Mary's shoulder, and Mary grabbed his wrist.
"I wanna see Glenn." She whispered, and both Maggie and Jesus' faces fell.
"Yeah. Okay. Come on." Jesus nodded. Mary got down, and clung onto Jesus' hand. "Hey, Rick. Just goin' in a walk. She's fine." Jesus announced, and they walked outside.
The pair walked in silence to Glenn's grave, and Mary sat down next to it, crying softly, clinging to her bunny. Jesus sat down next to her, his legs crossed, and Mary let him put an arm around her.
"He's really gone. He's really gone, isn't he?" Mary whimpered.
"Yeah. I'm sorry, kid. I'm so sorry." Jesus whispered
"Part of me thought he wasn't really gone. But he is. They were mean. At Negan's house."
"I know. I'm sorry. You know I came to get you and Daryl out, right?"
"No. But thanks." Mary smiled softly.
"And I would have to." Maggie said suddenly, coming over and sitting next to them. "I got somethin' for ya."
"What?" Mary whispered, and Maggie passed her the object.
"This was Glenn's gun. He'd want you to have it. Here." Maggie said softly, passing Mary a gun.
"You don't want it?"
"No. No. Mary, he loved you so much. So so much. He does still. You get that, right? He loved you as much as our own baby."
"Yeah. I know. I love him millions." Mary whispered, holding the gun to her chest. "Look. I'm wearing his jacket."
"Yeah, I know. It suits you." Maggie whispered shakily.
"Here. These were in the pocket." Mary remembered suddenly, passing Maggie her two Polaroid's (she'd put the one of her and Glenn beside her bed).
Maggie looked at them shakily, and let a few years fall down her cheeks, holding the photos to her chest. "Thank you. Thank you. It's going to be okay, you know? It'll be okay. Okay?" Maggie whispered, and Mary looked up at her uncertainly.
"Promise?"
"Promise." Maggie whispered, a hand on Mary's shoulder, a hand on her own stomach. "I promise."