Just Keep Walking

One hundred and twenty four

"Hey. You okay?" Alden asked Mary softly, walking into the room she was hidden in, Gracie in his arms.
"Yeah." Mary muttered, her head to her knees.
"You worried about your daddy?"
"Yeah. And Aaron. I'm pretty sure he's dead. He's the one that's gonna be her daddy." Mary whispered, clutching the baby's hand as Alden sat next to her.
"I'm sure he'll be okay. I don't know him, but I know he must be fighting real hard to get back to his little girl. And to you."
"I'm so scared my daddy's gonna die," Mary admitted suddenly, her voice breaking, "and then I'll be left all alone. I'll have mommy, but... If daddy dies... He can't die."
Alden looked at her sadly, unsure of what to say, of how to help, and instead put an arm around her. Mary fell into his side, and let him hold her, Gracie in between them, the trio silent and anxious of what that night would hold for their future.

"Hey," Tara shouted up the stairs not long later, "gotta go! Saviours! Gotta get out, NOW!"
Alden was stood up before Tara even finished speaking, Gracie tightly in his arms.
"Mary." He urged, but she'd already pulled her boots on, Carl's hat firmly on her head. A knife was tucked into her belt, and she was clinging to her gun tighter than ever before. She pulled her backpack she'd packed earlier onto her back; it held Carl Bunny, two spare shirts; one for her and one for Judith, a few cans of fruit, the sherbet lemons, and a bottle of water. Just incase. Incase they couldn't come back. Incase they were out there for a day or two, waiting for someone to get them from the forest, for it to be safe again.
"Mary? Where are you? Mary!" Enid yelled, running upstairs and then into the room, and grabbing the girls arm. "Gotta go. Now."
"I know! I'm going!" Mary hissed back angrily, "Where's Judith?!"
"She's downstairs. Yvonne has her. It's okay, she's safe, but we've gotta leave." Enid explained, taking Gracie off Alden and holding her tightly, as they ran down the stairs, Mary stumbling, her limp ever present.
Once they got out of the gates, she was still stumbling and the gunfire from the Saviours getting louder and closer, and Alden lost his patience, panic growing inside his body, and he scooped the girl up, carrying her to they could run quicker.
"Gracie needs to stop crying. They'll find us straight away. She needs to stop." Mary whined into Alden's ear, and Alden nodded shakily, but Gracie continued to wail.
"Hop down. Hop down, go with Enid, I'm gonna hep Tara. Help fight the Saviours off. Someone's gotta make sure they don't follow us into the forest." Alden said suddenly, loosening his grip on Mary.
"I wanna help." Mary snapped in annoyance, but Enid was already grabbing her hand.
"Come on. I promised your dad I'd keep you and Judith safe. Come on. Let's go deeper into the woods. Let Tara stay here, and fight. My jobs to look after you. Don't make me carry you away too, because then we'll just be even slower and in more danger. Okay?" Enid begged, and Mary nodded, squeezing Enid's hand, then running alongside her, away from the gunfire and explosions, and into the darkness of the forest, Gracie's wails as long as the battle behind them.
"Judith?" Mary panted after they'd been running for a few minutes, and Enid nodded.
"She's safe. They've got her. I promise." The girl assured, picking up her pace. They all finally stopped running when they got to a clearing, and Mary saw Judith sat with an older woman, Yvonne, and pulled her to her chest. They were safe; a dozen adults were stood at the edges of the clearing, guns ready and loaded to kill any Saviours who approached, protecting the children and weaker adults on the inside of the clearing.
"Moo. Moo." Judith whispered, tears in her eyes, and Mary kissed her forehead, then her nose, making her giggle.
"It's okay. I've got you safe. Uncle Al and Tara are fighting off the bad guys." Mary explained softly, hiding her fear and whispering in the toddlers ear.
"Was scary." Judith mumbled, and Mary nodded.
"I know. But it's okay now." Mary assured her sister, then she went into her backpack. "Look. You can cuddle my bunny. Look. Carl Bunny." Mary soothed, letting Judith nuzzle her face into the matted fur of her old teddy.
"Thanks." Judith almost smiled, and Mary stroked the top of her head.
"Look what else daddy hid for us. Sweeties. Here. Will that make you not scared?" Mary offered, giving Judith one of the small boiled sweets, and keeping two others in her own hand. Judith beamed, her fear gone; she was happy enough to sit in the torch light, holding her sisters teddy and some sweets, with half a dozen doting adults with her.
"Do you want a sweet? Daddy saved them. It'll cheer you up." Mary offered to Enid, walking over to her. Enid smiled, and nodded, but didn't take it; she was focused on stopping Gracie's crying.
"Hold her closer," Mary suggested, "and stroke her arm. That'll calm her down."
"Yeah. Thanks kid." Enid nodded, doing as she said, and Gracie immediately stopped crying, instantly calmer. Enid sank to the floor, keeping Gracie in the position Mary suggested, and sat beside Mary, the pair silent at wary of what the darkness surrounding them held, Enid holding Gracie with one arm, a gun in the other hand. Mary's gun was loaded, the safety off, ready to shoot anyone who came near. Ready to kill anyone who threatened the safety of her family.
"Suits you," Enid whispered after a while, "the hat."
"Yeah." Mary breathed, biting her lip, her whole body shaking with anxiety. They sat like that for hours, until the sun finally rose. When the sun did come, the light pained Mary's sleepy eyes, and she squinted heavily.
"Take a nap. It's over. It's been quiet for a while now," Enid assured her, "just waiting for Tara to come get us to be sure."
"I'm good." Mary argued, but that was the last thing she remembered before waking up a few hours later in Claire's arms, as they were walking through the gates to Hilltop.
"Hey." Claire said softly, smiling to the girl in her arms, and panic flashed through Mary's eyes.
"Judy? My bag? Is everything okay?" Mary asked quickly, worry covering her face, but she calmed down slightly when she saw the look on Claire's face.
"Judith's just behind us, and your bags on my back. We're safe, Mary. It's over. Tara got us, and said we can come back to Hilltop. Didn't want to wake you, because you'd only just walked asleep." Claire explained slowly, and Mary nodded, getting down from Claire's arms, taking her hand instead.
"It's safe?"
"It's safe. Tara said that everyone - that your mom's -  back already. It's over." Claire assured, but the fear returned to Mary's face. Her mom was back. But she didn't say her dad.
Mary ran through Hilltop as fast as her legs would carry her, searching for Michonne, and when she saw her, she screamed her name, and flew into her arms.
"Mommy." Mary sobbed, clinging to her tightly, and Michonne fell to the floor with Mary in her arms.
"Baby. It's okay. It's okay. It's over, Mary. We won." Michonne half laughed, joy covering her face.
"But where's daddy?" Mary cried, "I told him I hated him last night, and now he's not here. Where is he?"
"No! No, Mary, no, calm down. Daddy's fine. He's fine," Michonne smiled, realising the issue and almost laughing at the mistake, "Mary, your daddy's fine. He had to go straight back home. To Alexandria, with a few others. There's probably still a few Walkers there, so they've gone first to make it safe. We're gonna follow him once we've got our stuff together. He wanted to come back, to get you, but one of us needed to go there first, with the others, and it had to be him."
"He's okay?" Mary asked shakily, and Michonne nodded with a grin.
"Yeah. Yeah, he's fine. Where's Judith?"
"She's fine. With Enid. She kept us safe. Is... Is Negan dead?"
"That's the thing," Michonne explained slowly, her eyes falling on a furious Maggie in the background, "he isn't. Mary, it's hard to understand, but we can't kill him. Then we're just as bad as him. At Alexandria, and at Hilltop, and the Kingdom, and at Oceanside, we're building something. Communities. If we kill Negan, it sets a bad example, Moo. We need to start as we mean to carry on. And if we kill Negan to get our new start, our futures come from killing someone."
"So what are you gonna do with him?" Mary snapped, yet Michonne stayed calm.
"He'll stay in a cell. He won't ever hurt anyone again. We'll feed him, and look after him, and when we can trust him, he can help earn his keep. We can't build our future off of someone else's blood, Mary."
Mary nodded slowly, digesting the information, then sighed. "Okay. Okay, I think I understand. I think I can live with that."
"I'm glad." Michonne said gently, hugging Mary yet again. "Okay. Shall we get all of our stuff together? Shall we go home?"
"That sounds like the best thing ever."

A few hours later, all of the Alexandrians were ready to leave. Ready to finally go home.
"Are you not coming?" Mary asked Rosita, her voice full of concern when she didn't see her getting in the cars.
"No, Chiquita. No, me and Tara and some others are gonna go to the Sanctuary. Go and help them get back on their feet. We'll come home soon enough. But for now, we're gonna help them." Rosita explained softly, and Mary nodded, her eyes sad, and suddenly, Rosita realised just how much she meant to that little girl. "Mary. I'm not leaving you. I promise. I need to help them, just for now, but then I'm coming back. You're my home."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah! You're my family, Mary. My niece." Rosita smiled, a teasing tinge to her voice as she winked in the last sentence.
"What's a niece?" Mary asked innocently, and Rosita laughed softly.
"It's you. Oh Mary. You call everyone you love your auntie and uncle. That makes you their niece. Like Rick's your dad, so that makes you his daughter. If I'm your auntie, that means you're my niece. You're a lot of people's niece."
Mary smiled, and looked at Rosita with sparkling eyes. "What does it mean?"
"It means I love you as much as your mom and dad do. And it also means that I'm more fun," Rosita explained, throwing in another loving wink at the last line, "so that means that when you're thirteen, and want your ears pierced, and daddy won't let you, that means I will. It's like a parent, but more fun, with a lot less responsibility. Means I get the fun part, and less of the serious part."
"I think you got lucky then." Mary laughed softly, and Rosita nodded, hugging Mary again.
"Mi amor, it was the luckiest day of my life, meeting all of you." The woman whispered into Mary's hair, kissing the top of her head.
"Moo? Gotta get going." Michonne called, and Rosita nodded to her.
"Gotta go see your daddy. He's waiting for you."
"Bye. I love you." Mary said gently, and Rosita smiled back to her.
"I love you more. I'll see you soon, okay? And since you're my niece now, it means I'll get to spoil you, so I'll bring you some presents when I come back, yeah?"
"Yeah. And I'll draw you pictures to go on the fridge. Auntie Rosa." Mary grinned, and Rosita laughed once more, then kissed her cheek, stood up, and left so Mary couldn't see her teary eyes.
"Hey, Al! You comin'?" Mary shouted, before getting into the car beside Michonne, and the man shook his head, and went over to her.
"I'm gonna stick here. Help Maggie for a while." Alden explained softly.
"But we need you," Mary whined, "Gracie needs you."
"Gracie's got her daddy back now. And I'll visit you. Okay?"
"Okay." Mary whispered, her heart sinking. Things were different.
"Okay. Here. Give you a boost." Alden smiled, lifting her up and putting her into the front of the truck with Michonne. Things were different. Mary began to cry as she waved to Alden and the truck drove out of Hilltop, but the man beside her put an arm around her, and Mary nuzzled into his side, grinning up at him. Aaron. Aaron was back and safe. Skinny and cut and bruised, but back and safe.
He'd changed too. But he was back.
"I'm happy you're here." Mary whispered to him, and he smiled back at her.
"Me too, kiddo."
"And so is Gracie. Are you really her daddy now?"
"I'm gonna try really hard to be, yeah." Aaron nodded, looking down at the baby in a carrier beside him.
"You'll do a good job. And if you don't, I'm sure my daddy can teach you." Mary offered, making him and Michonne laugh.
"Thanks, kiddo." Aaron chuckled, ruffling her hair.
"Hey, Moo," Michonne said softly, looking over at her while she drove, "what you looking forwards to most when we get back home?"
"Seeing daddy. And then getting to wear my princess dress again."
"That's a good plan." Michonne chuckled, her eyes back on the road.
"Mom?"
"Yeah, hun?"
"Is it really over? Are we really safe from the Saviours?"
"Yeah," Michonne nodded firmly, the smile still on her face, "we are safe. It's over. It's all over."