"Sissy?" Lily calls out, when on one responds the toddler slides off the king sized bed and flings open the door. "Sissy?" she calls again, the only sound is the light pitter patter of tiny running feet down the wood floor hallway. "Sissy?" this time louder, more frantic. She finally reaches the couch with her sleeping sister on it; she shakes her softly, then harder trying to wake her up, "Sissy!"
Emma's eyes flutter open, "You okay Lil?"
Lily hugs her sister tightly, "Ya didn't answa me."
"Oh," Emma says hugging her back, "I'm sorry babygirl. Are you hungry?"
Lily's eyes light up and she nods her head enthusiastically, Emma gets up and Lily practically pulls her into the kitchen and Emma chuckles slightly as her little sisters bright pink dress flows behind her and her curls bounce with every step she takes. Emma opens the closest cabinet and starts reading the labels on the two dozen cans of foods. "Do you want some Spaghetti-Os..?" she trailed off and opened another cabinet filled with bags of an assortment of food, "and graham crackers..?" she asks and turns to her sister, that only came up to just above her knee.
"Is it the gwood gwaham quackers?"
Emma chuckles, "Yes, it's the frosted kind."
"Okay, I want dat den," Lily smiled up at her older sister, "Afer dat can ya do ma hair?"
"Of course Lil, go wash your hands in the bucket then sit down at the table," Emma says getting out a bowl, napkin, and spoon for her sisters Spaghetti-Os and graham crackers and a bowl and fork for her canned peaches. As she opens the can and poured it into a bowl she hears the faint splashing of water in the bathroom then footsteps down the hall back towards the kitchen, Emma places the bowl on the table then pours a few graham crackers on a napkin and places it next to the cold Spaghetti-Os then a spoon next to that.
"Emma! Catch me!" Lily cries, Emma catches her and throws her in the air, catching her a second later and placing her in the chair in front of her food.
"Eat up," Emma says pouring her own food then sitting down next to her little sister. "When's the last time I gave you a bath?" she asks noticing a few dirt smudges on Lily's face and her greasy hair.
"A few days ago, do I tink or somefin?" Lily asks finishing her Spaghetti-Os.
"No, just wondering. I think we're out of shampoo and stuff though. Wanna go on a run?" Emma asks placing her and Lily's bowl in the sink.
Lily nods her head happily, "Can we see if dere's a toy store or somefin?"
"Sure hon, let me start the car and you finishing eating, I'll be back in a second," Emma grabs the keys from the hook and makes her way outside then down the long driveway and to the car. She starts the car and drives to the front porch, she grabs a container full of gasoline and fills the tank then puts that empty container and a few others in the truck, she hopes they'll find a gas station soon; she opens the front door, "Come on!"
Her sister comes stumbling onto the porch and into Emma's arms. She buckles Lily into her boaster seat and starts down the driveway stopping only to open and close the gate that surrounds their property, keeping them safe. The drive to the nearest town was quiet; there wasn't really anything to talk about. In the town there were only a few stores, a clothing store, a hair care shop, a toy store, and a super market.
"Where to first?" Emma asks.
"The toy store!" Lily says happily.
"Okay," Emma says getting out of the car, she grabs her and Lily's knife and unbuckles Lily from her boaster seat, she hands her her knife, "remember, emergencies only." Lily nods happily and Emma picks her up and places her on her hip, they walk towards the store and peer in, Emma only saw three walks so she slowly opens the door, she checks for biters behind the counter, when it's clear she places Lily on the counter. "You're my eyes and ears."
Emma sets off down one of the aisles and comes face-to-face to one, she quickly stabs it in the eye and moves on, the next aisle is clear, but the one after that has two more biters, Emma takes them down no problem and continues her search, her found five more in the back room, but after that its clear. She walks to the front and grabs her sister placing her down in one of the aisles. "Pick however many you want, babygirl," Emma says watching Lily struggle to decide. Lily points to a princess doll and stuffed animal like looks a lot like their old dog; "Anything else?" the little girl shakes her head and skips out the door. Emma shakes her head chuckling before following her, putting the toys in the truck.
"Now let's go ta the hair place," Lily says sitting up front instead of in her boaster seat.
They drive next door and look out for biters, they didn't see any inside so they went in, they repeat the process again, but there weren't any biters, dead ones littered the floor but Emma didn't think anything of it. Emma and Lily walk down the aisle picking things; they got the expensive stuff, the ones they could never afford before, Lily stops in front of some hair dye. "Can we dye your hair?" she asks staring up at Emma with puppy dog eyes.
"Sure," Emma says bending down, "pick out what colors." Lily smiling and runs down the aisle pick out many colors. When she walks back to Emma she has a box full of at least 20 things of hair dye. "Oh boy..." Emma mutters but takes the box and puts in the car.
"Now the clothes store," Lily says climbing into the car. Emma gets in the drives side and drives to the clothing store, they go inside and again it's clear with biters all around. Emma walks over to the toddler section and starts bagging clothing for Lily, Lily follows and points to the shoes, Emma finds the right sizes and puts them in the bag, then Emma goes over to the teens and finds clothes for herself and shoes too, putting them in separate bag.
"Sissy," Lily says quietly pointing to a tiny office room, "someone's in there."
Emma nods quickly silently making her way to the door, she pushes it open and is automatically pushed against a wall, she looks up at the man holding her against the walk, he looks about forty with long, dark brown hair and blue eyes. When he realizes how young Emma is he lets her go, she looks behind him and notices a few more people. Lily comes stumbling in, "Sissy, are you okay?" Everyone looks down at Lily in shock.
"How old is she?" a pregnant lady asks.
"I'm four," Lily answers putting her hands on her hips.
"And how old are you?" a lady with short grey hair asks looking at Emma.
"Thirteen," she says walking towards Lily and picking her up.
"Where's your group?" the young girl holding onto an Asian asks.
"Don't have one."
"How long have you been alone," the man who pushed her against the wall asks.
"A little over a year."
"But the apocalypse has only been going on for nine and a half months," a boy Emma's age speaks up.
"I know."
"Do you want to come with us?" a man with brown hair and blue eyes asks. "By the way I'm Rick."
"Emma and this is, and we're fine, we have shelter. What about y'all?"
"Yeah, y'all tink," Lily says holding her nose.
"Yeah," Rick says chuckling, "we haven't bathed in a month."
Emma looks down at her sister and whispers, "Should we take them back with us?" Lily nods her head excited they and Emma turns to the group, "Come on."
"Really?" the boy asks.
"Yeah," Emma says grabbing the bags of clothes, "now come on before we change our minds." They load up their cars and motorcycle and follow Emma and Lily back to their house. Emma gets out and opens the gates then continues driving; she looks out the mirror and sees Carl shut it. They all drive down the long driveway and park then follow the sisters inside.
"Home sweet home," Emma calls out when everyone's inside. "There is four rooms and the couch, make yourself out home. Oh, and there's a pond outback and food in the kitchen." Their eyes light up and the men go outside, taking clothes to bath. "Oh, you sheriff boy," Emma says walking up to Carl and handing him soap, shampoo, conditioner, and towels, "take those to the guys outside."
He nods and starts towards the door, "I have a name. It's Carl."
"Okay, I didn't know this," Emma says laughing.
"Well, now you do," he says and walks outside.
Emma smiles and turns to the women, "Do any of you know how to dye hair?"
The blonde and the Asian's girlfriend step forward, "Yeah, why?"
"Lily wants me too dye my hair but I don't know how," Emma explains holding up the box of dye.
Emma walks down the hall and into the master bathroom, "Which color Lily?"
"Blue!" Lily says excitedly.
"Okay," Emma says grabbing the blue hair dye, "Why don't you show the ladies where the food is."
Lily nods and runs out the door, closing it behind her. As Emma prepares the dye the blonde says, "I'm Beth and this is Maggie. The pregnant ladies name is Lori, that's Carl's mom and Rick's wife. The other woman is Carol, the old man is our dad Hershel, Glenn, the Asian, is Maggie's boyfriend, and the scaring looking guy is Daryl but don't let him fool you he's a sweetie pie."
Maggie rolls her eyes and starts putting the dye in Emma's hair, "Can I ask you something?"
Emma nods and Maggie continues, "You've been letting Lily decide on a lot of things, whether or not we got to come here, if you should dye your hair, what color…"
"Oh, that," Emma says smiling, "a couple of months back Lily told me she wanted a job, since my job was protecting her I told her she could start making the decisions."
"Really?" Beth asked surprised.
"Yeah, she likes doing it and it makes her feel like she has a purpose plus it teaches her how much a decision can impact her future."
"Wow," Maggie says, "well, we're done. Just wait a few minutes then wash it out and shampoo it with this."
Emma nods and walks out into the living room to see Lily spread all of her dresses on the couch and was showing each and everyone to Lori and Carol. "What are you doing?" Emma asks pulling out show food for the men.
"Showing Lori and Carol my pretty dresses," Lily answers holding one up and spinning around.
Emma chuckles and pulls out bowls, she notices two new bowls in the sink, mostly likely Lori and Carol's. "Lil, you hungry?" Emma asks getting out the stuff to make Lily's favorite, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
"Whatcha making?" Lily asks heading to the kitchen.
"Your favorite."
"Peanut butter and jelly?" Lily asks excited.
"Yep."
"YES!" Lily screams and climbs on the table, dancing.
"You're making it seem like I never feed you," Emma says chuckling. "Now get down from there."
"Never!" Lily cries.
"Oh really?" Emma starts slowing walking towards Lily, Lily giggles and tries to run away but Emma catches her and turns her upside, tickling her. They're having so much they don't even realize the guys have walked in.
"Stop!" Lily cries in between laughter, trying to get away. Emma turns her right side up and throws her in the air and places in her seat in front of her food. She turns to see the woman giggling and the man chuckling and smiling.
"What?" she asks laughing herself. They shake their heads and she hands out the food and says, "Eat up. I'm going to go bath someone keep an eye on her." She heads outside and strips down, scars from her dad all over her body. She jumps into the water the dye causing the water around her to blue, she shampoos and washes her body then dries off putting on a pair of high waisted shorts that had splatters off old blood on it, a lose fitting tank top, and black combat boots. She sprays some leave-in conditioner in her damp blue hair, and walks inside. Everyone's sitting at the table eating except Lily and Carl.
"Where's Lily?" Emma asks playing with her hair, trying to get it to dry. They point to Lily's room smirking, she gives them a suspicious look then walked to Lily's room and opens the door. Carl sits on the floor in one of Emma's dresses and Lily was putting makeup on him, she burst out laughing and Carl opens his eyes and sees Emma in the doorway he starts stuttering, trying to explain and Emma laughs harder. Carl's cheeks were bright pink, not just because of the makeup. "Come one, Carl," Emma says grabbing his arm and dragging him to her room, "let me get that off you." She finds makeup remover wipes and cleans his face. "Now explained how you haven't even been here for an hour and Lily got to you."
"She said she needed help with something and next thing I know I'm in a dress and getting makeup put on me, and I couldn't tell her to stop cause she looked so happy," he explains covering his face in embarrassment.
"Aww," she says smiling, "that's adorable."
"Really?" he asks uncovering his face slightly.
"Yeah, and if it makes you feel better you're a very pretty girl," he frowns slightly and hits her with the pillow, she gasps and grabs the pillow from behind her and hits him back, he hits her again and a full fledged pillow fight breaks out, Emma runs to the living room, "Girls help." All the girls, including the pregnant Lori and baby Lily, grabs a pillow and starts hitting Carl. The rest of the guys go to help Carl, so it was Emma VS Carl, Rick VS Lori, Daryl VS Carol, Glenn VS Maggie, Hershel VS Beth, and Lily running around helping all the girls she could. Eventually everyone gave up except Carl and Emma, so everyone placed bets on who they think would win, Pretty much all the girls bet on Emma and all the boys bet on Carl, except Daryl, Daryl betted on Emma, this shocked everyone but they went along with it. Both Emma and Carl were growing tired and you could see it, Carl yawned and Emma does a leg sweep, makes Carl fall, and she straddles him, "Give up?"
"Yes, yes, I give up," Carl says practically begging. Emma chuckles and gets up then helps Carl up. "God I'm tired," Carl says slowly.
"What are the sleeping plans?" Rick says Emma.
"I don't know. Lily where's everybody gonna sleep?" Emma asks.
"Me, you, and Carl in your room, Rick and Lori in my room, Glenn and Maggie in one of the spare bedrooms, Carol and Beth in the other, and Daryl and Hershel out here," Lily says as Emma pick her up. Everyone nods and goes to where they're supposed to go; Emma carries Lily to her room, Carl following. Emma tucks Lily in, and then her and Carl climb into bed. Lily is half asleep when she asks, "Sissy? Will you sing me that song?"
Emma chuckles, "Not tonight baby, I don't think Carl wants to hear it."
"Actually I would love to," Carl says turning towards Emma.
"Now that she's back in the atmosphere
With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey, hey
She acts like summer and walks like rain
Reminds me that there's a time to change, hey, hey, hey
Since the return from her stay on the moon
She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey," she starts off shaky but begins to relax.
"But tell me, did you sail across the sun?
Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded?
And that heaven is overrated?
Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star–
One without a permanent scar?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?" She sings staring into Carl's eyes the whole time.
"Now that she's back from that soul vacation
Tracing her way through the constellation, hey, hey, hey
She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo
Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey, hey, hey," Carl sings some part with her but other parts just listens to her beautiful voice.
"Now that she's back in the atmosphere
I'm afraid that she might think of me as plain ol' Jane
Told a story about a man who was too afraid to fly so he never did land," Lily fell asleep but Emma keeps singing.
"But tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet?
Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day
And head back to the Milky Way?
And tell me, did Venus blow your mind?
Was it everything you wanted to find?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?
Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken?
Your best friend always sticking up for you even when I know you're wrong
Can you imagine no first dance, freeze dried romance, five-hour phone conversation?
The best soy latte that you ever had and me," she sings the 'and me' part softly, almost shyly.
"But tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet?
Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day
And head back toward the Milky Way?
And tell me, did you sail across the sun?
Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated?
And tell me, did you fall for a shooting star,
One without a permanent scar?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself?
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
And did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day?
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
And did you fall for a shooting star, fall for a shooting star?
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
And now you're lonely looking for yourself out there," she finished singing and Carl just stares at her for a moment.
"You're really good," he said finally.
"Thanks," she says blushing ever so slightly.
"No problem," he says smiling.
"We should go to sleep now," Emma changes the subject.
"Yeah," he replies smiling.