[Finished] Living Among the Dead

57. Stradivarius

"Is daddy dead?" I hear Hope ask as I tuck Gracie into bed. I glance at Jesus, he nods, and goes over to sit on Paul's bed. Paul's 6 years old now, and the girls are now 7.
I wasn't even sure if they remembered Daryl anymore.
"No, sweetheart, Daddy's not dead."
"Then where's is he?" Hope asks.
I take a deep breath, "He's gone. He left us..."
"Is it cause I'm 'dopted?" Gracie asks, softly.
"Oh no, Hunny. No, of course not." I hesitate before continuing. "Daddy lost a big part of who he was when he lost his best friend. When your Uncle Rick died, he blamed himself, and a part of him died, too. Ba So he left..."
"Paul's tired," Hope says, yawning. I force a smile, ruffling Gracie's hair and kissing the top of her head, then walk over to kiss the top of Hope's head. I then kiss Paul's head. "Goodnight my angels." I say.
Jesus follows me outside and I lean against the trailer door, sighing.
"You okay?" He asks, gently.
"I thought they'd forgot about him. I'd hoped they had. Although, I'd also hoped Paul would have spoken by now."
"He will, when he's ready."
"I hate when your right," I tease, shooting him a fake glare.
"I'm always right."
"Oh, shut up."

"Is daddy ever coming home?" Gracie asks, casually.
We're brushing down some horses, and Gracie; well she has a knack with them.
"I don't know, Hunny. But probably not."
"You wears a ring on your finger, Enid says married grownups do that when they in love."
I nod slowly, "Yeah... And there's a part of me that still loves your daddy... but there doesn't seem to be a part of him that still loves me... so he probably won't be coming back."
"Does he still wears his ring?"
I swallow, the conversation causing an ache in my heart I try most days to forget is even there. "I don't think so, Hunny."
"But you don't know?"
I shake my head, "No, I don't know for sure."
"Maybe he'll come back and we can be a family."
"We are a family, Lovie."
"Kids are s'posed to have Daddies who tuck us in, not Uncles with long hairs."
"You don't like Uncle Jesus tucking you in?"
"I love Uncle Jesus, but he ain't our daddy. That's a daddy's job."
I sigh, "Aren't you going to be late for class?"
Gracie giggles, "Yeah, but I'm almost done."
"Hurry up, you've been late everyday this week, asking me all sorts of questions this early in the morning."
She grins, a dimple showing in her cheek, "You usually like my mornin' questionings."
"Get your butt to class," I say, teasingly.

I sit listening to music with Jesus while the kids are in school, "So how's it feel to be the big shot?" He asks, teasingly.
I roll my eyes, "You're the one in charge, Jesus, not me."
"I'm not in charge," he responds, a little snippity.
"Well, then, if neither of us are in charge why is Tara coming our way to debrief us?" I ask, waving at Tara.
"Hey," she greets, "You two are spending a lot of time with Georgie's records."
"It's a nice collection," I say.
"And we appreciate the gift," Jesus adds.
"Maggie send another letter?"
"Yeah, the twins dropped it off this morning. She's good. Happy."
"Get to the point Tara, what do you need?" I say, noticing her stiff stance.
"Got a list of people that want to talk to you," she says, addressing me.
"Great, let's hear it."
"I have 20 minutes before I have to be back to the infirmary."
"Okay," I say again, listening.
"Mm. Okay, Tammy Rose wants to expand the crop fields, but she needs to see how far she can cultivate."
"Then let her," I respond, unsure why on earth that needs approval.
"Um, Enid still needs more room in the garden for medicinal herbs."
"Ask Tammy Rose to try to find enough room while cultivating for the medical herbs," again, why does this need my approval.
"Um, Alden also needs your okay to send another team out for scrap metal."
"Ask him to have Dianne lead it, and tell him to pick only one other person to go along with them."
"Okay... There's a noise complaint from trailer 7. And-"
"Why did you give that kid a kazoo?" Jesus asks, sounding amused.
"You- You find a kazoo, you give it to a kid. I'll deal with it. And there's this." She pulls out a piece of paper, handing it to me, "Congrats on being re-elected leader of Hilltop."
"Fuck," I mutter, and Jesus grins.
"Yeah, well, a win is a given when no one runs against you."
"You could at least pretend to be happy," Tara chastizes me.
I roll my eyes, "Why can't they vote for Jesus?" I ask.
"Because I don't want it," Jesus says, still grinning.
"Neither do I, and you've been here longer."
"This place is a mess," Tara interrupts us, gesturing to the papers strewn all around the landing. "Just take Maggie's office. She'd want you to have it."
"I don't want Maggie's office."
"'Cause you still think this is temporary?"
Jesus gets up, "I'm gonna go check on those crop fields for Tammy. Wanna come, Anne?"
"Hell yeah I do," I respond, gratefully.
"What? Now? I-I have a list of things that I have to go over."
"Cool, we'll go over them when I get back."

I go with Jesus to the stables, but we split there. He goes to meet with Aaron, and I sit with the horses.

"How is she?" I ask after Jesus came and woke me up, telling me that he and Aaron found Rosita in the woods. That by the time they'd got her back to Hilltop she'd passed out.
I followed him to the red house to speak to Tara, the kids sleepily following us as well; Jesus carrying Paul in his arms.
"Any change?" Jesus adds.
"No, she's still out. But she's gonna be okay. She's just dehydrated. Enid has her on an IV." She sighs, "It was weird seeing her after all this time. Aaron, too. What were you guys doing out there?"
"I've been training him. Talking to him. Keeping the lines of communication open," Jesus explains. "Making sure they're still alive. To try and get Alexandria on board with the fair. They won't. I can't accept that. You shouldn't, either. It's important."
"Listen, everybody here is starting to notice how much you're gone. The fair is important to all of us, but we need you here."
"Why?"
"Because your our leader's adviser!"
"Well, maybe I shouldn't be."
"Jesus," I respond, taken aback.
"Well, look, the both of you. I know you both think you're just keeping a promise to Maggie, but you two took these jobs. So stop pretending it's just for now. She's not here. You two are. Your people are counting on you. Maggie is counting on you. I'm counting on you. I came- I came to tell you that I'm going out in the morning to look for Eugene. You two need to stay here, keep this place together." She storms out after that, and Jesus looks at me exasperatedly.
"Eh, I say go anyway. According to her, I'm in charge of you, not her."
He lets out a small chuckle, "She's not wrong, you did take this job."
"We, we took this job. You said you'd help. Now, go tell Tara to send word to Alexandria of Rosita's wherabouts and her condition. I'm going to get these kids back to bed."
He nods, passing Paul to me.

"Daryl's here."
I turn around from where I'm brushing my favorite horse. "What? What did you just say, Jesus. Because if you're fucking with me, I might have you kicked out."
"He's here."
I rush out of the barn and see Daryl getting on his bike, "Hold it," I yell, and he turns to see me, I watch as he visibly takes a deep breath.
"I want to talk to you," I say, staring him down.
"Mommy, what's wrong?" I hear Gracie ask, and a part of me damns her curiosity. Hope and Paul are right behind her, and I look from them to Daryl.
"Uncle Aaron!" Hope yells happily and runs into Aaron's arm, giggling, Gracie follows immediately.
Paul is standing by my side now, staring at Daryl. It shocks me how much the two resemble one another.
"We'll talk, I promise. But I'm going to help find Eugene first."
Carol approaches me, and Paul grins up at her, she almost places a palm on my shoulder but thankfully let's her hand drop just before contact is made. "He'll talk with you, even if it means I have to kick his ass to get him to do so."
I nod once, and he drives off behind the rest of Eugene's search party.
I look back to Carol, "Why are you here?"
"Henry wants to learn about blacksmithing. I brought Daryl as a persuasion tactic." I can see in her eyes that she's mostly joking.
"Well Henry," I say turning to the blonde boy who's grown so much since I saw him a year or so ago. "Let's go introduce you to Earl and Alden, I'm sure Earl would love to Mentor you."

[A.N.] I enjoyed writing this chapter, guys! I know Jesus is the leader, but I kind of liked he idea of Anne being the leader and it's my story so ... if you're mad about it, I'm sorry.