Just Keep Walking

One hundred and one

Mary was laid on Rick's back as everyone carried the guns out of Oceanside in wicker baskets, Rick and Gabriel overseeing that none of the women or children fought them.
Slowly, Gabriel walked over to Rick and sighed. "We don't need all this, do we?"
"Yeah. Yeah, we do." Rick nodded.
"It was unkind," Mary commented, "we had them with guns pointed at them. It's what Negan did to us. We're like Negan."
"No. No, because we'd have never hurt them." Rick explained calmly.
"They didn't know that. They were scared." Mary argued.
"I know. But we need it. We need the guns for Negan. To get rid of Negan." Ruck said calmly, and Mary nodded slowly.
"We're gonna bring them back when it's all over." Tara announced, walking in front of all the people from Oceanside. Cyndie got up and began to talk to Tara, but Mary was distracted by Michonne coming over, and Gabriel leaving.
"You okay?" Rick asked his partner softly, and she nodded.
"Mary kicked ass today." Michonne nodded, ruffling the child's hair.
"Yeah?" Rick smiled, turning his head to Mary.
"Yeah," Mary grinned, "I killed, like, five Walkers."
"Wow. You're just so super cool and grown up." Rick nodded proudly, and Mary's smile grew.
"Okay, that's all of the guns." Michonne told Rick, and he nodded.
"Okay. Okay, let's go then." Rick said with a slight smile, and he began to walk away, Tara following them.
"You're not leaving us any?" A girl a few years older than Mary snapped at Tara as they began to leave.
"Nope. See ya later, Rachel." Tara said nonchalantly, lifting her middle finger the child, making Mary giggle.
"You okay?" Rick asked softly, surprised that she'd swear at a child.
"Yeah. You're right," Tara nodded, "I don't have to feel bad."
Rick nodded, not making a sound, and they walked to the RV in silence. "You gonna sit up front with me and Mishy?" Rick asked Mary, and she nodded, crawling onto Michonne's lap.
"We'll drop Enid and Jesus and the others off at Hilltop tomorrow." Rick decided out loud. "Do you wanna come? And see Maggie?" Rick asked Mary softly.
"No." Mary answered quickly, and Rick's heart sank.
"Mary, I know Maggie upset you," Michonne said softly, "but I'm sure she's sorry. And I'm sure she misses you, and wants to see you. If I was her, I'd want to see you and give you a cuddle and say sorry."
"I don't love her." Mary mumbled.
"You do love her, I know you do. But you don't like her very much at the moment, and that's okay, because I don't either. But we still love her, and she's still our family." Rick said gently.
"No."
"You know what I would do? And what I hope you and Carl and Judith will learn to do? You have to be the bigger person. You should say sorry first, even if you don't fully mean it. And then maybe that will give the other person enough courage to say sorry back. And then it'll be two happy friends instead of two sad, lonely people." Rick explained softly.
"She's the grown up!"
"I know. But think about what type of person you want to be," Rick nodded, "do you want to be the type of kind girl who puts others before herself, and can admit that even if she wasn't the most wrong person in the argument, she still wasn't perfect? Or do you want to let the other person be a coward, and never say sorry first because they're ashamed? And then you'll both be unhappy, and you'll feel bad about yourself."
"I want to be a kind person." Mary nodded slowly.
"Then maybe reconsider about coming to Hilltop. Even if you only say a few words, or if you don't say anything, I'll be proud of you either way."
Mary looked over at Rick, and smiled, as Rick reached over and tucked a strand of Mary's hair behind her ear. "Love you." Rick smiled softly, his thumb stroking her cheek.
"Love you too." Mary whispered, pursing her lips and making a kissing motion. Rick chuckled, and pursed his lips back at her, making the kissing motion back at her.
Mary nodded at Rick in approval, and she turned to look out of the window. Rick laughed again, then put his hand on Michonne's knee, and squeezed it gently. Michonne's hand went over Rick's, holding it in place, and they carried on driving in peace.

"I've ran out of paper." Mary sighed, a wrinkled frown line on her bored face.
"Look, you can do this." Rick explained, him and Michonne having swapped places. He breathed onto the glass, his breath turning into a foggy condensation against the window, and then wrote Mary onto it. "And the best thing is, if you don't like it, you can just breathe over it, and start again."
Mary looked at Rick and grinned in delight. "That's great!" She laughed.
"It is pretty cool." Rick chuckled, kissing the top of her head. Mary smiled at Rick, then drew a love heart, writing "Mary and dady" inside.
"That's very sweet. Thank you." Rick smiled softly, squeezing Mary a little tighter.
"Daddy, promise you'll never die?" Mary whispered suddenly, and Rick sighed. He hated it when she asked him questions like that, and he knew he could never give her the answer she wanted.
"I'll die one day, Moo. So will everyone. Me, mom, Carl, Judith, Maggie, Uncle Daryl, Tara, Rosita... You. Everyone dies, okay? One day, everyone does. And it's horrible, but that's life. So we just have to enjoy the years we do have."
"But you'll not die soon?"
"I can't promise that. I wish I could, but I can't, because I don't know what's going to happen. I could die tomorrow, okay? I'll never stop fighting, but I could. You could, mom could, Carl could. But I don't plan on it, okay? And I'll try my very hardest to live for as long as possible. Yeah?"
"Yeah." Mary sighed in disappointment, and Rick kissed the side of her head.
"I love you so much. So so much. And I'm sorry this is your life," Rick whispered to his daughter, "because this isn't what I want for you. I want you and Carl and Judith to live in a big house with a garden with a treehouse and a tyre swing, and I want you be able to run down the street to your friend's house, and go to school, and have a normal life. I want to take you to a water park, and the zoo, and the mall, and the park."
"I just want to be with you, daddy." Mary insisted with wide, innocent eyes.
"I know. I want more for you though," Rick sighed, "I want to give you the world."
"I don't need the world, silly!" Mary giggled, "I just need you and mom and Carl and Judy and lots of food!"
"Yeah." Rick smiled softly, kissing the top of her head. But he couldn't get rid of the pang in his chest. Mary needed more. He wanted more for her.

"Hey, can you, can you get my door?" Rick whispered to Michonne, holding a sleeping, floppy, warm Mary in his arms, as they reached Alexandria.
"Yeah." She nodded, getting out of the RV. She opened Rick's door, and he walked out, holding her as if she was a baby.
"Why's she so cute and tiny?" Michonne sighed lovingly, stroking Mary's forehead, then kissing her temple. She was almost six, but only looked a little over three, so tiny and young.
"Because she's genetically inclined to be adorable. Because she's fifty percent me." Rick teased, and Michonne laughed. "When Carl was this age, he was so cute. So cuddly too. Just so cute, like her. Makes me want another one." He said absentmindedly, then he froze, as did Michonne.
"Rick..."
"I didn't mean to say that." Rick corrected quickly, holding Mary closer. He walked to the gate, as he saw Enid rushing over.
"Hey, are you okay?" Enid asked someone. Rick stepped forwards, to see Rosita, and he breathed a sigh of relief, realising she was okay.
"Where's Sasha?" Jesus asked, and the woman sighed.
"There's someone here. Follow me." Rosita said quickly, and Rick nodded, on Rosita's heels.
"Give her here. You'll want to." Rosita warned Rick, as they reached the cells, a few Alexandrians following too. Rick nodded, and passed Mary over. She mumbled lightly in her sleep, then her eyelids fluttered.
"Daddy?" She murmured, her voice groggy and small.
"It's okay, go back to sleep." Rosita whispered, and Mary coughed, then nestled into Rosita's chest and fell back asleep.
Rick opened the door, and walked towards the cell, Rosita, Michonne, and Daryl all beside him. As soon as he did so, and they saw Dwight, Daryl lunges at him, going crazy.
"Woah! Woah!" Rick warned, as he held Daryl back, the man struggling and growling. Michonne helped, and Mary's eyes opened.
"Woah, woah, woah. Slow down! Come on. Woah!" Rick insisted, finally pushing Daryl back.
"Daddy?" Mary whined, awake.
"It's fine, princess. Go back to sleep." Rick sighed.
"He says he wants to help us." Rosita explained, shifting Mary onto her hip, as the girl began to cry softly.
Rick walked towards Dwight, a hand against Daryl's chest, holding him back. "That true? You want to help?"
"I do." Dwight nodded, and the voice sent shivers down Mary's spine, and she her breaths began to get shorter. Michonne took her, and Mary calmed down almost instantly.
"He's a bad man." Mary breathed, and Michonne held her even tighter.
"Okay," Rick said firmly, cocking his gun, a steely glare on his face, "get on your knees."

Hi! So sorry my updates aren't as regular as normal at the moment... I'm having a really hard time right now, but hopefully it'll be back to normal soon!
Emmy xx