Author's Note: Got my Walker head fish tank blu rays! Yayy! As always, thanks for the reviews, faves and alerts! I love you all and I hope you enjoy!
A crying baby was a blessing and a curse in this world and Judith certainly knew how to vocalize her needs. Had they still been on the road, they would be in constant fear of drawing walkers, but the relative safety of the prison was just what they needed while baby asskicker was at this young and innocent age.
Carol always woke first when Judith began to whimper and made her way to comfort the cries that would quickly follow. As strong as Carl had become, it was still very easy to Carol to enter his cell and quietly get Judith without waking him up. No one had been woken up by Jude's cries since her birth because Carol was always there to calm her down. For the past week Carol had been finding it especially difficult to get out of bed.
Since Daryl had moved into her cell, she found herself wrapped in strong, protective arms every morning and that was very hard to leave. No matter how they fell asleep together, she would wake with Daryl pressed against her back and his arms engulfing her.
As Judith's cries slowly became louder, Carol knew that she had to get up or everyone would be abruptly roused from sleep. She gently wiggled her way out of the cocoon and watched as Daryl rolled over with a grunt, but didn't wake up.
"Hey baby girl," Carol gently took Judith from her bed and after a slow walk through the hallways she returned to her shared cell.
As she looked at the still sleeping Daryl she couldn't imagine a better moment. Even after everything that she has been trough, she would not trade this moment for the world. He looked so calm and peaceful when he slept and she wished he could look this way more often, but the stress of everyday made everyone constantly worry.
Baby Judith's attention turned to her Uncle Daryl and the little girl began to squeal with delight.
"The fuck?" Daryl rolled over at the sound of baby Judith and was instantly awake and sitting up in bed.
"Watch your language around little ears!" Carol scolded, but she was laughing as she spoke. It was maternal instinct to want your child to grow up with good influences, but in this world, Judith would be hearing lots of swearing and there wasn't any way around it.
She internally apologized to Lori, because at this rate, Judith's first word would be 'fuck' or 'walkers' instead of Mom or Dad. They still had a long time before the little girl would start to talk, but Carol knew that she was absorbing everything around her. Carol hoped that Rick would get to hear his little girl call him Dad, but you just never knew in this world. One thing was certain and that was that Carol would do anything to ensure that Judith grew up with her Dad and brother. She made a promise and she intended to keep it.
This is why they couldn't allow the prison to fall so easily. A large space that could be fortified and become a home and a safe haven for Judith to grow up is not something that can easily be given up.
"Someone wanted to say good morning to her Uncle Daryl," Carol walked over and sat on the cot. As soon as Daryl was in reach, Judith began to reach for him and Daryl grabbed the little girl and held her close.
"Hey, Asskicker. You sure got a set of lungs on ya, huh?" The little girl was completely entranced by Daryl's voice and fell silent as he spoke.
Her little hands kept going for his hair and trying to chew on it, which Carol was quickly trying to put an end to, "No, no, Judith. Uncle Daryl's hair is icky, you don't want to put that in your mouth."
Daryl loved the sound of Carol's voice when she talked to Judith because it was the one time when she sounded truly happy, "My hair ain't icky!"
Daryl laughed as Carol ran her hands through his hair, "Well I beg to differ. I think someone needs to spend more time in the shower and less in the woods, right Asskicker?"
Judith's merely giggled in response, "Lil' Asskicker here wouldn't recognize us if we weren't constantly covered in dirt. I'm doin' it for her. Don't wanna confuse the poor thing."
"I don't think she'd even come near us if we were all clean-cut," Rick's voice came from outside the cell and the man appeared with his arms outstretched and ready to see his daughter.
"Good-morning," Rick's voice morphed completely when he spoke to Judith. He talked to her as if she was the most precious thing in the world and raising his voice could cause her to break. To Rick, Judith and Carl were the most precious things in the world and they were his chance for normalcy in this insane version of the world.
Judith was hope for everyone and you could see the effect that the little girl had on everyone whenever they were near her. It was as if everyone reverted to their pre-apocalypse selves when they were near Judith and the baby-talk and funny faces always helped to lighten the mood.
"We're going to start the courtyard today. Only a few more spots to reinforce and we should be ready for almost anything," the combination of war talk and slowly bouncing a giggly baby girl was a strange one, but had become commonplace since Judith had been born.
"I'm heading up on watch and I'm going to take Jude up with me. Glenn and Maggie are working on the front gate and could use your help, Daryl," Rick grabbed his keys and handed them to Carol, "Carol, you're one of the few people Merle seems to not fight with, would ya mind helpin' him out today?"
"I can go with Merle," Daryl tried to interject, but Carol shushed him quickly.
"Merle needs to know that we trust him and if he is constantly being supervised by you then he isn't going to feel remotely welcomed," Rick and Daryl couldn't argue with her logic, "Plus, there's something I need to ask him."
Rick left to start his watch, babbling to Judith as he went down the hall while Carol began loading her gun. Daryl went to grab his crossbow and turned to leave as well, but hesitated at the door. He quickly turned around, walked up to Carol and pulled her in for a long kiss.
Carol Peletier had never liked surprises very much. Most of the surprises that Carol had gone through were not pleasant ones and often left her on the ground nursing a wound, but this one left her weak-kneed and a little light headed in a very good way. Daryl stepped away, winked at the still stunned woman and simply walked out the door to begin his work on the prison gates.
Carol stood in the cell in silence for a few moments with a goofy grin on her face before finally snapping out of it and heading outside to begin her work.
"Merle, can you hand me that table?" Carol and Merle were working on making a safe area to withstand a shoot out, but Merle seemed distracted.
"This area looks pretty good, darlin'. Think you can finish by yourself while I head back inside?" It was very clear that Merle had something else on his mind and Carol wasn't going to let him go off on his own and potentially do something to mess up his place in the prison.
She trailed him deep into the prison where he seemed to have stockpiled some odd items, which made Carol glad that she had chosen to follow him.
"Merle, don't do something stupid. We need you in this fight and it's coming soon," Merle stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the little woman whom he was growing to like.
"You may have my brother pussy whipped, but don't think you can boss me around, missy," Carol ignored his temper and moved so that she was standing toe to toe with Merle.
"I'm not trying to boss you around, Merle, but I know when you're hiding something and you're about to do something dangerous," at Merle's look of doubt, Carol continued, "Don't deny it. You've got a nice bunch of wires here and I know they're not for anything good since you've hidden them."
"Damnit, woman. You couldn't just leave me alone could ya?" Merle wanted nothing more than to scare Carol away so that he could get on with his plan. He knew that the Governor may be placated if he could get revenge on Michonne, so Merle planned to deliver the woman and have a nice chat with his old friend. Merle wasn't dumb though and he was going to be armed and ready to take out as many of the Woodbury crew as he could.
"You remember what I told you Merle?" Carol was not backing down even as Merle flashed his bladed stump, "If you mess this up and hurt Daryl, I will slit your throat before you get the chance to do something stupid."
Merle just stood there with his cocky little grin and chuckled at her, "I told ya, darlin'. I'm not gonna do nothin' to hurt my brother and since you're shackin' up with him now, that makes ya family."
"I'm not fucking around, Merle" Carol raised her hand and grabbed the knife extension on his arm to pull him face to face, "I'm not just shackin' up with your brother, I love him and even though I can't stand you most of the time, I love you too and I don't think you realize what will happen to us if something happens to you."
Merle's face registered pure shock. His baby brother had a good woman that loved him and the little spitfire seemed to love ole' Merle too. No one had ever told Merle that he was loved and he found himself struck silent at the declaration.
"Are you listening to me?" Carol shook the stump and her angry face shifted to one of compassion, "I'd rather kill you myself and explain that to Daryl than have you going off to do something stupid or heroic. We really do need you, Merle. Daryl needs you and I need you. You know what's coming, you're a helluva shot, and I know you might not think it, but you're a good, brave man and we need you here."
"Aww shit, little sis," Merle was just trying to keep them safe, but perhaps the way that he was going about it was all wrong, "I'm sorry, alright? I ain't gonna do nothin', so lets go finish the damn front gate, ok?"
Carol knew that Merle was alright for now, but she was going to be keeping a close eye on him from now on. The Governor was heavily armed and out for revenge and though the prison would be able to withstand quite a beating, they needed every able body for this fight. Merle knew how the Governor thought and Merle was a damn good shot, probably one of the best that they had.
Carol grabbed the bag of old telephone parts and wires, "I'm just going to get rid of this first," Merle rolled his eyes, "then I'll meet you out by the gate so we can finish."
"Alright, missy," Merle smirked as Carol walked out ahead of him and he playfully slapped her on the ass, "but if my baby brother is up in that cell don't you go starting any funny business cause we got work to do."
He simply winked and sauntered away chuckling as Carol made her way back to the cell.
Damn Dixon men sure knew how to leave a room.