The sound of the baby's distant wailing roused Michonne from her sleep almost immediately and she slid out of bed with a quickness reserved for emergencies. She was surprised that as she made her way out of her room and down the hall to Judy's room no one else had woken up. Normally Rick was all over situations like these, ready to comfort his daughter at a moments notice. And Carl was never far behind. She only knew because she wasn't either.
More often than not Judith slept the whole night through but the memories of the few nights she had awoke screaming brought an amused smile to Michonne's lips. She could still recall how frantically she, Carl, and Rick had moved to get to the room. It took them a moment to realize that it was okay for her to cry here, that the noise wouldn't attract any walkers. It had been another one of those apprehensive moments. Two weeks into their stay at the safe zone and they still found that they were having moments like that.
Michonne nudged those thoughts to the back of her mind as she approached Judith's crib. The poor thing was still crying and shrieking at the top of her lungs but when she saw Michonne looming over her she reached up for her. However, that proved to be a mistake because the minute she let go of the cribs railing she fell back down on her bottom with a soft plop. Judith had only just learned how to pull herself up and she took advantage of her newfound skill as much as humanly possible which Michonne found endless amusement in.
The baby seemed to realize instantly that she'd made a mistake and Michonne didn't think it was possible for her to cry any louder but she was willing to swear on a stack of bibles Judith had managed to. She reached up again and this time Michonne didn't miss a beat bending over and scooping the agitated infant up hastily.
As she lifted the teary eyed little girl she brought her up so that they were face to face and placed a series of kisses on her wet cheek making sure to make dramatic kissy noises against her skin to distract from her distress. Judith went from sniffling her tiny body still shaking faintly with the dying whimpers to giggling at the onslaught of affection. Her small hands came up to grab at the sides of Michonne's face as she leaned into the kisses willing her to continue.
After a prolonged moment of intense kiss action Michonne lowered the baby and wrapped an arm around her legs pressing her other hand to her back and rubbing it gently. The laughter that had filled the room died down slowly and was replaced with the sound of jumbled and measured babbling. The passionate string of sounds that were being hurdled at her pulled a quiet wave of laughter out of her. If she didn't know any better she'd believe she was being chastised for ducking out on playtime.
"I know, I know but we can't have you laughing like that while your Daddy and Carl are sleeping. You'll wake the whole house, Judebug."
Judith looked up, her blue eyes wide and expressive even in the darkened room, and her eyes moved down to Michonne's lips watching her speak. Her fingers came up to grasp at them and she opened her mouth before she could get a hold. Michonne closed her mouth around the baby's fingers and she could feel Judith wiggling her teeny digits in her mouth before releasing an excited squeal. She let go of her fingers at the excitable response and smiled fondly at the girl in her arms before pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"So that's it is it? You just wanted a little company?" Michonne swayed the sweet girl in her arms and watched as she came to rest her head on her chest gradually. She felt Judith grasp at the material of her shirt lightly, bunching the fabric between her fingers as she held on.
"Tell you what, Judebug, I'll let you stay with me for the night. How does that sound?" She took the silence that followed her rhetorical question as approval enough knowing full well that if she attempted to set Judith back down in her crib the waterworks would start up again.
She continued to sway Judith slowly, her hand working tirelessly to rub comforting circles on her back. And her sways turned to light bounces as she made her way out of Judith's room and back down the hall to her own. Before she got her door good and closed she felt the hand that had been slowly loosening its grip let go and fall limp signaling she was down for the count.
"I see why Rick and Carl never complain about checking up on you when you do cry. You have to be the easiest baby in the world to put down. Now Andre? He was a handful."
One memory in particular of staying up one night with her son when he'd been around Judith's age inundated her mind. He'd been as wide-awake as the little girl in her arms had just been but he hadn't wanted to cut playtime short. And she'd stayed up the entire night filling her home with the sound of his angelic laughter.
The memory was a fond one to look back on. Before it might've made her feel guilty for recalling something so sweet so freely. She hadn't thought it would ever be possible for her to look back on the memories she had of her son and be able to smile because of them. They no longer left a sore taste in her mouth and though her heart still ached for all that she'd lost it no longer felt wrong.
She could hold Judith now. She could hold her and her mind could drift to Andre and there were no tears that followed or inner turmoil. She was truly coming to grips with it and Judith helped, Carl helped, Rick helped. They served as her constant reminder that it was okay to be happy, that moving on didn't mean forgetting –– it meant growing.
Michonne shook herself from her encompassing thoughts and bent down to lie a now slumbering Judith down on her bed. She climbed in after laying her down and lifted her cautiously once more to lay her in the crook of her arm. To her surprise Judith didn't stir at all with the movements and Michonne smiled down at the beautiful little girl sleeping tranquilly and securely beside her. She felt nothing apart from unadulterated love and adoration for child by her side and she raised a tentative hand to brush her fine strands of blonde hair to the side.
"Sweet dreams, Judebug." The goodnight was topped off with one last sound kiss to her forehead before Michonne laid her head back against the pillow. As soon as her head hit the cushion her eyes drifted shut and she succumbed to the lull of sleep as easily as the baby had.
Routine and force of habit stirred him from his sleep but one cursory glance out the window told him he definitely still should've been sleeping. That was such an odd thing to admit even to himself. He wasn't used to any of it anymore. Sleeping the entire night through without having to fear for his life and the lives of everyone he knew and cared about was going to take some getting used to.
In fact he hadn't gone one night in the safe zone without uninterrupted rest. If it wasn't his body forcing him into a state of awareness it was Judith crying. Though the latter didn't happen often. She'd probably only woken the house crying a grand total of three times and that was miraculous considering. She could've been as fussy as Carl had been when he was baby. A wistful smile spread across Rick's face as he thought about the countless nights Carl had demanded his and Lori's attention at Judith's age.
He'd practically slept in the bed with him and Lori because he'd absolutely refused to be in his crib. It didn't matter that they'd moved the damned thing to their room he just didn't like it.
Now Judith was different. Maybe it was just that she was perceptive and maybe deep down she understood that she was growing up in a different time, a time where it was no longer safe for children to be children, but his daughter was a damn near immaculate kid. Even before when they'd been beyond the walls of the safe zone she hadn't cried much and at the time Rick had thanked his lucky stars for that.
They probably all had.
Although she didn't cry often Rick still found himself getting up every night when he was disturbed from his sleep to go check on her. It was second nature. And he knew that even if the members of his group didn't necessarily need him any longer, hell even Carl had a blooming and blossoming life of his own, there was one person that depended on him for everything.
And she was sleeping serenely two rooms down from his.
Rick scuttled out of bed and pawed at his tired eyes as he left his bedroom. The house was so eerily quiet he could hear his faint footfalls on the hardwood of the floor as he padded his way down the hall to his daughter's room. As he sidled up to the crib he found it empty and a fresh upsurge of fear shot up his spine and pricked at his skin. He could feel his heart thundering angrily in his chest and his hands gripped the side of her crib until his knuckles turned an ashen white.
Where is she? Is she okay? She has to be okay. But where could she be? I don't even know where she is so how can I say she's okay?
His mind worked a mile a minute combing through various scenarios and hurdling unanswerable questions until he dropped all of it. He needed to let Michonne know and then they'd get Carl together. Maybe she could help assuage the deafening panic he felt. And even if she couldn't he didn't doubt that she'd be able to handle the situation a lot better than he would.
Rick all but sprinted to Michonne's room and forewent alerting her of his presence he didn't have time lose and that's what knocking would be –– time lost. The moment he opened her door his heart seemed to stop at the sight he was greeted with. It stopped and started again at a hazardous pace. There Judith was curled up in the crook of Michonne's arm sleeping as calmly as ever. And a slow smile crept onto his face at the sight of Michonne's chin resting above Judith's head.
He'd wanted her to alleviate his fears and without even trying she had. His heart seemed to leap in his chest when the thought that these were his girls popped into his mind. The thought warmed him to his very core. And it occurred to him in the moment that watching the both of them sleep together with such comfort and such ease was the first time he'd felt like this place was their home. It wasn't just a place to be, it was a place to live –– a place to start anew. This wasn't just four walls and a roof it was their home.
The smile never left him as he shut the door softly behind him and crossed the room to join them on the bed. Rick inched up behind Michonne and leaned over her body to plant a sweet kiss on the top of Judy's head before turning to place a similar gentle kiss to Michonne's temple. She didn't shift or show any physical signs of alarm but a quiet sound arose in her throat.
Rick settled back behind her nuzzling his nose into her hair and wrapping his strong arm around both of them securely. His hand found Judy's tiny fisted fingers and he played with them faintly as he let his eyes fall shut. He couldn't put into words how utterly at ease he felt with Judith and Michonne slumbering away in his arms but the warmth that had burrowed in his chest at the sight alone was magnified tenfold now.
He understood the feeling he felt to be belonging as sleep threatened to overtake his mind's coherency. Right here with them he felt like he truly belonged. That was a something he hadn't felt in well over a year's time. And that was the last thought that flitted through his mind before he finally gave in to the pull of sleep.