Just Keep Walking

Ninety six

Mary barely spoke for the rest of the day, clinging to Carl, every time he left whimpering and holding onto Judith protectively. That night she slept in Carl's bed, and the night after, and the night after that, slowly getting back to her normal self, but not fully; she missed Rick and Michonne to much.
"When is daddy and mom getting back?" Mary whined as she sat opposite  Aaron at a late breakfast that day, Carl busy giving Judith a bath.
"Soon, sweetie. On the walkie last night he said they think they've found somewhere to get all the guns. Shall we call him now?"
"Yeah." Mary grinned. Aaron got up, and pulled out the walkie talkie.
"Rick? You there?" Aaron called, and Mary began to gnaw at her lip. The walkie buzzed with static for several seconds, and Aaron eventually spoke up again. "Rick? It's Aaron. You here?"
It was silent for a minute longer, and Aaron walked over to a whimpering Mary, ruffling her hair softly.
"I'm sorry, kiddo. I bet he's just busy."
Mary kicked the table leg harshly, bruising her toes, making herself cry quietly. "Mary?" Aaron whispered, putting a hand on her head.
"I want my daddy." She mumbled, and poked around at her oatmeal. Suddenly, a voice crackled through the walkie.
"Aaron? 'S Mary okay?" Rick asked in panic.
"Yeah," Aaron grinned, holding the walkie to his mouth, "she's fine. Just wants to say hi. You good?"
"Yeah. I'm good. I'm good. We've got the guns, and loads of food. Can I talk to her? I'm missing her little voice."
"Yeah. Yeah." Aaron nodded, passing the walkie to Mary.
"Hi daddy." Mary whispered with a shy smile.
"Hey, beautiful." Rick grinned down the walkie, his voice instantly more relaxed.
"I miss you."
"I miss you too, baby girl. But I'm coming home. Now. Me and Mishy... Me and mom are on our way, right now, I promise."
"How long? Because I really miss you." Mary whined.
"Hey, I'm just going to the other room." Aaron said softly, leaving to give Mary some privacy.
"Only, what... 'Chonne, how long you thinkin'?" Rick mumbled, giving Mary some static, then he came back. "Just half an hour, okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, that's okay." She nodded slowly.
"I miss you so much." Rick croaked down the walkie, his voice breaking slightly. 
"I miss you too, daddy."
"Did you sleep okay last night?"
"I wet the bed. Carl was annoyed, I think, because I slept next to him, so Eric has to wake him up when he changed the sheets."
"Don't worry, he'll get over it." Rick said softly.
"I really miss you." Mary repeated.
"Me too. I miss you and Carl as Judith so much. But I found you some really cool toys, and lots of food."
"Thank you."
"Have you brushed your teeth," Rick asked suddenly, "and done your hair?"
"Yeah. And I'm dressed in my dungarees."
"Good. Do you want to talk to mom?"
"Yeah." Mary smiled.
"Okay. I'll see you super soon. I love you millions."
"Love you millions too." Mary replied sadly, then Rick was gone.
"Hey, my little sweetheart. How are you?" Michonne smiled down the walkie talkie, her voice thick with love.
"I'm okay. Are you okay?"
"I'm great. Are you excited to see us?"
"Yeah. I miss you."
"I miss you too, but we'll be home super soon. How Carl and Judith?"
"They're okay. Judith loves Eric, but I like Aaron more." Mary explained slowly.
"Okay," Michonne laughed softly, "okay, I'll let you go, so you can finish getting ready, ready to come home."
"Yeah. Bye bye. Love you."
"Love you too." Michonne smiled, before Mary put the walkie talkie back. She went straight upstairs, and packed away her few things, then played with Bertie in the front garden, until she saw Rick and Michonne's van pull up to the curb.
"Daddy!" Mary screamed, running up to the van, as Rick got out, swinging the door shut, and picking her up quickly.
"Hey, baby. Hi, baby girl." Rick laughed, stroking the back of her head.
"Dad." Carl grinned, walking over from the half open door. Rick slid Mary over to his hip, and hugged Carl tightly.
"Missed you." Rick whispered fiercely into Carl's hair, kissing it firmly. As Rick and Carl talked, Mary wriggled down from his arms, and sprang into Michonne's arms.
"Hey." Michonne laughed softly, kissing Mary's cheek.
"I missed you!"
"I missed you too."
"Did you bring back toys?" Mary whispered with a grin into Michonne's ear.
"Yep. Let's go see Judith, go home, and have a look, yeah?" Michonne suggested, and Mary nodded, jumping down and pulling Michonne into Aaron and Eric's house, but Mary didn't care anymore; she was simply glad to be back with Rick and Michonne.
An hour later, they were sat in the car, Mary sat on Rick's lap, tugging at his hair, twisting it tightly between her fingers. "Is Jadis nice?" Mary asked Rick softly, when the car pulled up.
"A bit. Not really. She's not mean. Just don't talk. I want you to stay with Tara, okay?"
"Okay." Mary sighed.
"C'mon, kiddo." Tara smiled, opening the back car door. Mary got out of the car, and let Tara pick her up.
"I want Rosita." Mary whined, and Tara laughed softly.
"Mary, don't be rude." Rick said softly.
"It's fine, I'll take her. No whining, okay?" Rosita said firmly.
"I know. No whining, no crying, no complaining." Mary recited with a smile, swinging onto Rosita's back.
"You're such a weirdo." Rosita teased, as Mary tugged at her ear.
"I know. You're a weirdo." Mary replied. Rick walked up to a large door, and banged on it.
"Hey, Jadis," he shouted, "we got yer guns!"
Rick's eyes slid over to Michonne, as they waited half a minute, then he banged on the metal door again. Slowly, it opened, and Mary stared at the piles of garbage, her breath tickling Rosita's jaw.
"Guns?" A woman - Jadis - asked nonchalantly.
"Oh yeah," Rick nodded with a smile, "we got lots of guns. Shall we drive 'em in?"
"Yes." Jadis nodded, and Rick nodded to Tara, who got into the van and drove it in.
Rosita, Gabriel, Rick, and Michonne followed the van, and Rick squeezed Mary's shoulder gently. Tara jumped out of the van, and opened the back doors, showing everyone the dozens of guns.
"Operational? All?" Jadis asked with raised eyebrows.
"To the best of my knowlage, Yeah. May need some cleaning. We found supplies."
"Expect us!" A woman exclaimed, and Rosita scoffed.
lWe cleaned some. We oiled some. You can do the rest. We do this together." Rick pointed out.
"Yes, yes, but operational?" Jadis insisted.
"Well, you can test a few. Try them out if you like." Rick suggested.
"How many?" A man questioned.
"Sixty three." Michonne answered.
"We made an inventory." Tara added.
"No." Jadis snapped.
"You mean the inventory?" Tara asked in confusion.
"Not enough."
"What, wha-what are you talking about?" Rosita scoffed again.
"You asked for a lot of guns. That's what this is." Rick pointed out.
"Brought to fight, your fight. Us? Nearly twice. Need nearly twice."
"Stop talkin' like a twat." Mary scoffed, as Rosita strode over to Jadis.
"We've wasted enough time. Let's go. Take our guns with us." Rosita snapped.
"No. Our guns to take. Our deal still on."
"Stop talkin' stupid!" Mary hissed.
"Mary." Rick hissed, and Rosita walked over to him, giving Mary back. Mary whined, and Rosita raised a warningful finger, silencing the girl, who just stood by Rick's side, her arms wrapped around his leg.
"Not all of them. We're keeping ten for ourselves. To find more." Rick argues.
"Five."
"Ten."
"Six."
"Ten." Rick scoffed.
"Nine. And the cat back." Jadis hissed, and Mary looked up at Michonne, smiling at her, understanding what Jadis was talking about.
"Twenty," Rick argued firmly, "I keep the cat. We get you the guns, we fight together. Say yes."
"Yes. More soon, we'll fight." Jadis nodded, walking away. Rick sighed, and looked at Michonne in pure annoyance for Jadis. Jadis' people began to unload the van, taking every last gun, apart from the twenty for the Alexandrians.
"You get a few more days before "what happens next"." Michonne commented.
"Few more days?" Rick sighed, looking down at the floor.
"That's right. We'll find more figure it out. Soon. In a few more days."
"We can do it, daddy." Mary nodded softly, and Rick nodded, holding her hand and squeezing it.
"We'll be back in a few days!" Rick shouted to the other group, and Jadis nodded sharply.
"Are we goin' home?" Mary asked quietly, and Rick nodded, getting into the van.
"Moo, sit on your own seat, or on my lap, not on daddy's." Michonne said softly, and Mary slid onto Michonne's lap.
"I'm tired." Mary stated.
"I know. It's getting late. We've got loads of food though. What shall we have for dinner? Tell you what, shall we just have dessert for dinner?" Michonne suggested with a smile.
"Yeah." Mary smiled.
"Why did you and daddy take so long to find the guns?"  Mary asked with a sigh.
"Because it's hard to find them."
"There's nothing left in this world that isn't hidden." Mary commented, and Tara froze in the back seat.
"What?" Rosita whispered.
"That was Glenn's line." Tara breathed, and Mary's head span to Tara.
"I know." She mumbled. And then she cried into Michonne's chest the whole way home.

"I wanna story." Mary whispered to Rick, nestled into his chest.
"What story?"
"Glenn's story."
"What's that?" Rick asked with a tiny smile.
"Great Expectations. From his room. I want you to read it to me."
Rick nodded, and got up, going into Mary and Carl's room, then picked up the book. He opened up a page that contained a bookmark, and looked at the piece of paper. It was Mary's handwriting, simply saying Glenn Rhee.
"Okay," Rick smiled softly, sitting down on his bed that Mary was curled up in, "here we go. My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip."