"Here?" she asks, indicating the spot in the grass with her boot. Lifting her hand to shield her eyes from the sun, she looks across the short distance to where he husband is standing with four wooden stakes in his hands.
His blue eyes sweep the stretch of land between them and he indicates his chin for her to take a step back. She takes one, and then another, opening the space between them, her eyes locked on his waiting for him to tell her to stop. His hand lifts at his side and she plants her feet in place and raises her eye brows, waiting for his nod.
At his indication she bends over to drive the remaining stake in her own hand into the soft earth. Straightening up again, she looks to the four corners that they have marked and makes her way over to him, pushing her hair back off her forehead. When she stops at his side, she settles on hand on her hip and peers at him through her bangs. "Think we'll have it done soon? The kids are having too much fun with that sow – poor thing looks like she could go any day."
He considers her words, his eyes squinting against the sun. "Yeah, we'll get it done before those piglets come," he meets her eyes for a moment before something catches his attention over his shoulder. "Speaking of piglets…"
Half turning she finds her son approaching, his three-month old sister secured over his arms. "I'm bored," he huffs, stopping just short of them. "And Beth says she can't take her…"
"When your Mom asks you to watch Judith it isn't a negotiation," Rick says firmly though trails off when she rests her hand against his chest.
"It's alright," she assures him, unwilling to upset the precarious peace that had settled over their small family over the previous few weeks. "He's had her most of the morning," reaching out, she takes the baby from her son. "Thank you for being so good about taking her."
He glances up at his father first, a smug challenge in his eyes that she reluctantly forgives because she was his age once too, but she isn't going to let him get off completely scot-free. "Put your laundry into the hamper in my room first."
He huffs, his brows pulling into a scowl.
"Hm?" Lori asks, resettling the baby from her forearm onto her shoulder.
He rolls his eyes as he turns away but mutters a barely audible, "Yes, mom."
Lori watches him for a moment before turning back to her husband, an apology already falling from her lips, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to undermine you there." Though things are a lot better, they are still tense, as though they don't exactly know each other anymore.
He nods in acceptance, lifting his hand to cup the downy smooth curve of Judith's head with his palm. "Why don't you take her inside? It's been a long day for you."
Smiling softly, she agrees with a light hum. Still healing from her emergency c-section, it didn't take much to completely deplete her energy. "I have some things to do inside anyway," she presses a kiss to his cheek and then the corner of her mouth as she steps away. "See you in a bit."
Inside the common area of the cell block is alive with people bustling around each other. All of the tables are occupied so she passes through to go back to the room she shares with Judith and Rick. The baby is asleep by the time she gets there, her cheek resting against Lori's throat where she has slid sideways. Lori puts her down and positions her on her side, a rolled blanket propping her up.
"I love you, sweet girl," she smoothes her fingers over Judith's cheek before straightening up and going over to collect the laundry basket that she keeps between the wall and the head of the narrow bed she shares with her husband. Using one hand to lift it out and the other to collect the rubber bag of cloth diapers on the top bunk she tosses them in along with the shirt Rick had left draped over the sink. She frowns, finding the basket mostly empty and completely void of Carl's clothes.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, she checks on Judith again before stepping out of the cell, making sure to pull the curtain closed behind her. "Baby sleeping," she calls as a reminder to the others that they need to keep the volume down.
"You got it," Sasha throws her a toothy grin as she hits the bottom of the stairs, a stack of blankets in her hands.
"Laundry?" Lori asks, eyeing the heaps of fabric. "I haven't been able to get in there all week…" she starts to assert but stops short when Sasha shakes her head.
"You're good, girl," the other woman passes her. "Mika…" she lowers her voice, "…had another accident last night. I told Ryan she could borrow these until her bedding dries."
"Poor thing," Lori nods, frowning, before ascending the stairs to the next level. She passed each cell before reaching Carl's. She made quick work of collecting the clothes that he'd left scattered on the floor and top bunk, her nose scrunched at the smell of something rancid. "Carl Richard Grimes, what have you got…" she mutters under her breath, her nose wrinkling. Eventually she discovers the source of the smell, a plate of rotting something that had been there long enough that it had become unrecognizable. "On, that is it-," she growls, collecting the plate in one hand and the laundry basket in the other. Stepping back out onto the catwalk she heads towards the stairs but stops short at the sound of sweet, light humming drifting from the next cell over. Smiling, she stops at the edge of the doorway and listens, craning her neck to peer at the teenager who is sprawled out on the bed, pen in hand, her diary opened in front of her.
"That's a nice song," Lori compliments softly so she wouldn't startle the girl. "Does it have a name?"
Beth's cheeks flush just a little as she raised her eyes, her head shaking lightly. "No, I just made it up." Slowly, she slides her diary closed but not before Lori catches sight of a bubbly heart surrounded by smaller ones. The girl's cheeks tinge a darker red and Lori suppresses her urge to smile at how adorable her embarrassed expression is.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to look," Lori tells her.
Smiling sweetly, Beth shakes her head again and sits up, pulling the bound book to her chest as she settles with her legs crossed, making room for Lori on the bed beside her. "That's okay, it's just dumb anyway…"
Deciding she has some time to spare before Judith wakes up, Lori places the basket and plate down. "Is it?" she asks, stepping inside the tidy room, her eyes sweeping over the artwork on the walls.
Beth shrugs, her fingers fiddling with the pages of her book. "Yeah, well," she raises her eyes to the top of the bunk. "Just… I think I might like someone. Or maybe someone else…" she fumbles over the explanation. "I don't know," she finishes in a rush, dropping her eyes to the floor in front of her for a moment before sliding them in Lori's direction shyly.
"That doesn't sound dumb to me," Lori tells her, reaching out to gather the girl's hand in her own. "Sometimes it's hard to figure out what you want."
"Yeah," Beth agrees. "It just looks so easy for everyone else, y'know?" She quirks her mouth. "Maggie has Glenn," she adds, "and you have Rick. I want a boy to look at me the way Rick looks at you."
Lori chuckles and nods, tamping down an unexpected cynical thought and assigning it to some unresolved issues from the winter between losing the farm and eventually settling into the prison. Love wasn't so easy, at least not for her and Rick, but she wouldn't allow her own thoughts to poison the innocent and hopeful ones that belong to her conversation partner. "It will," she promises instead, squeezing Beth's hand. They sit in silence for a moment before Lori tiltsher head teasingly, "So? Who are your prospects?"
Beth giggles shyly and shakes her head coyly.
Amused, Lori nods. "Okay… want to do me a favour and give me a hand with the laundry?"
Ever eager to please, Beth nods. "Okay," she untwines her legs and gets to her feet. "I'll take the basket," she offers, tossing her diary onto her bed as she makes her way out of the cell.
Lori heard Beth make a comment about the gross plate but she didn't look over as her eyes fixed themselves on the diary that had fallen and opened up, exposing two pages of doodles and heart with a name printed neatly inside them. Clearing her throat, she quickly flips the book closed and follows the teen out.
XXXX
"Move over, baby." The voice is rough and his beard prickles the sensitive skin on her neck as he presses a kiss to the spot behind her ear.
Humming, Lori slides forward to give him more room to slip into the bed behind her, still barely awake. "Shift was okay?" she asks, yawning as she settles against his chest and lifts her arms to allow for him to slip his arms around his waist. "What time is it?"
"Late," he whispers, kissing her shoulder. "Go back to sleep."
Nodding, she buries her nose into the covers and closes her eyes before a thought occurs to her, drawing a smile to her face. "You won't believe what I found out today." She knows the statement made her sound like a gossiping teenager but she continues anyway. "Beth has a crush."
"She's a teenage girl," Rick shifts, drawing her closer, his voice already thick with sleep. "She'd be in love with a doorknob if she thought it would be romantic."
Lori huffs and jabs him. "On behalf of my gender, shush," she teases. "Daryl. It's Daryl."
As though deciding it would be quicker to give her a reaction he lifts his head. "Dixon?"
"Baby, there are maybe fifty people left in the world, how many Daryls could there be," she sighs, exasperated. "Of course Dixon… do you think we should be worried?"
Shaking his head he lays it back down. "Not at two in the morning, no. Besides, it's a school girl crush," he stretches out and curled up, nudging the back of her knees until she does the same and they mould together.
Yawning, Lori eases her hair over her shoulder. "How's the pen coming along?"
When Rick doesn't she lays in silence, listening to the sound of his deep even breaths. His chest rises and falls against her back and he mumbles in his sleep, a soft I love you that is a whisper of air across her ear. She smiles as the prison slumbers around her thinking of the excitement of young love, new beginnings, and that maybe seasoned love isn't so bad after-all.
