Magic was real. It took Carl surprisingly little time to wrap his mind around that fact. Dead people had been getting up and walking around, that helped with the whole believing thing. Magic being real was something Carl could easily believe. This hospital on the other hand…this was new.

He was in a place called Royal Hospital number four. He was sitting in an impossibly white bed in an impossibly white room. There were no windows, just moving landscape paintings. His arms had an IV in it, though they called it something different, and his side was heavily bandaged. Music played from what the wizards had called a 'wireless'. It was something with a lot flutes. Very soothing.

Judith agreed. She was in a little crib next to him. The name on the crib said Judith Lorraine Grimes. The name on his bed said Carl Richard Grimes. There were symbols on the sides of their names that the nurse…no healer. That was the new word, healer. Yes the healer said that those symbols meant parent and child. Carl didn't bother correcting them. His father was dead.

He also didn't reiterate that he was only fourteen and much too young to have a baby. They said that was the age of majority now. They said the queen said. There was a queen now. There was a queen. Magic was real. His father was dead. The prison had fallen. He had been bit. He had been found. He had been found by a witch. Magic was real. Hospitals were real.

For the past week Carl and Judith's world consisted of four white walls, two gas lamps, one bed, one crib, one wireless, and a stack of books. Everything but the books were provided by the hospital. The books were provided by the nurse…no healer's apprentice, Toffee.

There was a knock at the door. Judith stirred but continued to sleep. Carl put his book down, face down, so he didn't lose his place. This wasn't his book. He didn't want to dog ear the pages. It was about medicine, no, potions. They were potions now. He felt his hand got o where his knife would normally be. The wizards took it away when he entered the hospital. Most survivors were mad, they said. Mad meant crazy now.

"Wotchuh?" said a female voice as the door opened. Carl relaxed. It was just his new friend, Toffee. Toffee Crème Pettigrew. She introduced herself, days ago, with her full name. Full names were important now.

"Watcher." Said Carl. She giggled with her hand over her mouth. It was cute.

"I've got some moments before my tea's over, thought I'd come 'round and see how you and your daughter were doing." Said Toffee playing with clasp of her over cloak. Yes, that's what that was called. It was the symbol for healers.

"It's good to see you again." Said Carl. It genuinely was. He felt a sort of warmth around her, like a tingly warmth. She had called it spiritual resonance and said he had an affinity for her kind. He didn't know about all that but he did like being around her.

"May I enter?" asked Toffee

"Sure." Said Carl. Toffe walked over to the bed, her dress rustling as she walked. It was blue, like her healer's cloak, and looked like something out of those PBS shows his mom used to watch.

"How's the bite?" said Toffee standing at the foot of his bed. Carl sat up straighter, the blankets pooling around his waist. All he had on was what the wizards called combinations, a sort of undershirt and underwear cross. He felt very covered but she averter her eyes.

"I can't even feel it." Said Carl feeling somewhat self-conscious of his less than dressed state. They had given him clothes but they said that he didn't have to get up to descent, their phrase, until the bite closed all the way or the crown found him a placement, whichever came first.

"So no pain?" said Toffee as she pulled a vial from within her cloak. Bigger on the inside, she said.

"None. None at all." Said Carl. It hurt when he was bit. He had been scavenging food for Judith. She cried. Three came out from a pile of junk, of rubbish, and he was out of bullets. He got bit. It hurt. The fever came. It hurt worse. It had hurt so bad he wanted the bullets back so he could put one in himself. That was not his finest hour.

"You alright? You look kind of peaky." Said Toffee as she handed him an unmarked vial. He reached over and took it from her, his hand brushing hers. He felt a spark, kind of like the static electricity experiment he did back in school. Less shocking though, more warm.

"Just….I'm fine." Said Carl

"Well take that anyway, it's a calming potion I made for you." Said Toffee her eyes now on the sleeping baby. The poor thing had almost died. She wondered if baby Judy missed her mum. Toffee didn't really miss hers but her mum was still alive. That was selfish, wasn't it?

"Healer Breedlove didn't say I was getting new medicine, I mean potions." Said Carl

"Well he doesn't know I'm giving you this. I mean he won't be cross, I think he won't be cross anyway, and I figured you'd need it. Most survivors have trouble keeping cool heads, I've noticed. It's a long brew too so it should last a while." said Toffee her eyes flitting between him, the baby, and the floor.

"Thank you. For everything I mean." Said Carl before taking a long swig of the vial. It tasted like mud almost. He gagged.

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't have much time to do something about the taste of it, altering potions like that isn't easy work. This was just a set it brewing sort of thing. I also got you some clothes." Said Toffee pulling from under her cloak what looked like a miniature trunk like the ones his parents kept their wedding stuff in. Toffee put it on the floor and flicked her wand. It grew to a normal size and swung open. Carl stared.

"Sorry…I forgot you weren't a-"

"I've read about that. You fold the space around it to make it seem smaller but the rest of it is on another plane of existence. Or is it the place between planes?" said Carl rapidly. He had never been the best student, he even had to go to special math after school, but he found these magic books fascinating. Mainly because it seemed like something out of fiction.

"Wow. Most survivors just think it's some kind of religion thing." Said Toffee. Most of them would either be silent like mannequins or rant and rave. Usually about God. Sometimes the devil. It was odd though, obviously the staff wasn't demon touched. They looked normal and ate cooked food for goodness' sake.

"You're a survivor too." Said Carl. Toffee shrugged.

"Not really. I had already left our home in India when I was eleven to go to the healer's school and I was posted to the new colony pretty much right after Galatea made herself queen. I didn't even see the fall of London. My older brother, Beadle, says it was awful though." Said Toffee

"You don't look Indian." Said Carl before he could catch himself. Was that racist? He knew a white kid from South Africa when he went to camp back when he was a kid. White people could be from India, right?

"Well I'm not a native, obviously. My family moved there after the First World War when our country splintered off from the old crown. What about you? When did you come to the America colony?" said Toffee. She was looking at him and then the bed, in that order.

"My mom's….my mom's family came to America from I think Germany and my…dad's is….was…from England I think. Like you." Toffee shook her head.

"Oi, if you want to be a full citizen you can't call us English. We left them ages ago and took India with us. We're, and that means you mister, are Remordierians. This is Remordiere." Said Toffee. Carl nodded. He was American, he knew that, but was there even America anymore? The government was gone now. Her eyes were still shifting.

"Do you want to sit on the bed?" asked Carl. Toffee covered her mouth. She did. She wanted to sit next to him and hold him close until he got better. He needed her. He needed her to take care of him. He was handsome too.

"Or not." Said Carl quickly. He didn't want to offend what was now his only friend and his guide to this new country.

"I…I want to." Said Toffee. She slid her hands against the back of her thighs, her dress rusting as she smoothed it down, and sat on the foot of his bed.

"There's clothes for you. In the trunk I mean. Good ones. My older brother, Beadle, says Victory clothes, the ones they give you, are boring and useless. He made these." Said Toffee. She gave her wand another flick, this one more forceful, and a parade of folded clothes placed themselves on Carl's lap.

"Wow. You didn't have to ask your brother to make these for me. Thank you." Said Carl. He felt the fabric of a colorful shirt, a sort of red and blue woven together. Soft but tough. The buttons were shiny and cool in his hand. There was what felt like an internal pocket. Carl slipped his hand in up to the wrist before he pulled it out. Deep. Much deeper than space should have allowed.

"Oh no, he didn't make these for you. They're my nephew's. He's just out grown them." Said Toffee

"Really? Wow, big kid." Said Carl. He looked over to Judith. She was getting bigger. They gave her clothes and showed him how to dress and change her their way. She would grow up. She would outgrow those clothes.

"Pie? No, Pietro's like twenty one or twenty too now. He's got his own kids actually." Said Toffee playing with the slightly scratchy hospital blanket.

"How old are you?" asked Carl

"Fourteen. Fifteen in March. You?" asked Toffee. He looked like he was her age and it was certainly in his file. Not that she wanted to go digging though survivor files. Too depressing.

"Fourteen too." Said Carl. Wow. So she was his age. She was his age and already working in a hospital and helping people. She was making the world a better place. He wished he could. He wished he could heal people and help make the world better. He wasn't going to sit around playing farmer all day. He wasn't going to pretend to lead but hide behind walls while the people who wanted to hurt him roamed free.

"Have I got something on my face?" asked Toffee. Carl was looking at her, really looking, like she was a microbe under a microscope.

"No, I was just thinking." Said Carl

"Bad thoughts? I could get you another calming potion, I've got a cauldron at home full of it." Said Toffee

"No, about you." Said Carl. Toffee smiled.

"What about me." Said Toffee

"You help people. You're my age and you're out here helping people. I was just thinking that if I could do the stuff you do, not just the magic, I could be something. I could be something and help people. I could have….where I was people were getting sick….if I could have helped them….if I could have helped them we could have had more fighters. If we had more fighters we could have….we could have won." Said Carl, his voice softening to a whisper at the end. Toffee impulsively took his hand.

"I could teach you." She said

"I read the books, I can't do magic. You're either born with it or not." Said Carl

"No, but you can make potions. We need more potioners about. I'm bronze stirrer certified, I could probably…no it's mad." Said Toffee

"What's crazy?" asked Carl

"Well if you don't have a posting yet I could probably just tell them….I mean if you wanted to….I could be your posting." Said Toffee

"You'd teach me to make potions?" asked Carl

"Yeah, if you'd like." Said Toffee. Carl looked at her, and then her their hands. He was alive. He was alive and he could do something with his life. He couldn't save the people at the prison. He couldn't save his father. He couldn't save his mother. He could save others though.

"Thank you, Toffee, thank you for everything." Said Carl. Toffee laced her fingers with his and made a sort of humming noise. Carl didn't know why but he hummed back. Soon they were humming together, but not just humming. The warmth was back, and it was getting warmer. Her held eye contact with her. He felt…not just warm but…strong? He felt something entirely new. He moved his other hand and the blankets jumped towards him.

"Oh! Oh…oh I am so sorry." Said Toffee jumping to her feet and jostling the crib which held Judith. She began to fuss.

"For what?" said Carl. That was…good. Indescribably good.

"I resonated with you. I shouldn't have done that. That was wrong. I shouldn't have touched your soul like that." Said Toffee turning on her heel to leave

"Toffee…it was nice." Said Carl

"It was intimate. I barely know you. Now it's like I know all of you." Said Toffee. She felt his fear, his pain, his hope, his melancholy, all of it. She had taken him in and he had taken her. That was just for covens.

"I liked it." Said Carl softly. Judith was really fussing now. He wanted to get up but needed a moment to collect himself. That was….well it made him feel a lot of things and one of those things was very apparent.

"I liked it too." Said Toffee softly. This was a patient. She was his healer's apprentice. Well now he was her potions apprentice. What was the matter with her? She was still deep in thought when she picked up Judith and rocked her.

"Thanks." Said Carl. He felt a momentary stab of fear when Toffee picked Judith up. He shouldn't have. He knew that Toffee was there to help.

"She wants her father." Said Toffee. Carl didn't correct her. Toffee handed Carl Judith just as the wireless announced the changing of the hour.

"I'll…I'll ask about the…apprentice, thing. I'll ask. I've got to go now. My tea's been over for ages." Said Toffee as she quickly exited the room. Carl held Judith and watched the door long after she left.