Present Day
Formula was no longer a concern, but they still needed some other things for the babies. Cloth diapers and clothes, plus RickyJo wanted a carrier that she should could put at least one of them in when she was carrying them too keep her hands free. She said she just wanted it to make things easier for her, but really she wanted it just in case something happened and they had to leave the prison. Glen had looked through the phone book and found one of those fancy baby boutique shops. Since the place was smaller and didn't sell food, it was more likely that no one had bothered to break in and sack the place. Maggie had voluteered to go with him on the run. RickyJo had a feeling they were hoping for some alone time to suck a little face with each other.
The weather was beautiful and most people were outside. Some were filling buckets with dirt and carrying them over to the area near the fenced walkway where they would get plenty of sun. RickyJo and Sammie were planting seeds in them, different kinds depending on the size of the bucket. Shane and Daryl were breaking apart wooden pallets to build some shallow planting boxes for the greens and salad lettuce. Back at her granmother's farm, RickyJo and her cousin had ran a small online seed business. When the outbreak came, RickJo had half a trunk full of orders that she had been planning on shipping out to customers when she came back from her camping trip. This meant they had seeds for days and weeks, almost any kind of vegetable seed you want and even some hybrids that RickyJo had cross bred in the lab at the university and won awards for. The girls were chatting away, excited that they would soon have some food that wasn't out of a can.
Beth and Rick were helping Hershel build a keyhole garden. This was a raised circular garden with a round wire cage in the middle. Any garbage that wasn't metal or plastic could be thrown into the middle cage as a compost pile which served to get rif of their garbage and fertilize the dirt surrounding it. They would be able to grow more food in the rich soil of this garden, and they would have a place to get rid of their trash. Beth was smiling over at Rick as she held the wire in place while he tied it together. She was happy that her dad knew about them now and they no longer had to sneak around and hide their relationship. RickyJo came over, she had baby Judith in her arms, feeding her.
"What were you thinking you wanted to put in this one?," she asked Hershel about the garden.
"Not sure yet," he said. He had a feeling the question was just a formality. RickyJo already knew what she wanted to put in all the gardens.
"I was thinking the medicinal herbs could go in this one, and the basil and stuff in the other one," she said. Hershel nodded. It was a good idea. He got up and came over to get a look at the baby. She was feeding but her eyes were open and alert. Hershel had been checking in on the little ones regularly and he was happy to see that both babies were gaining weight. RickyJo tipped up her water bottle, drinking the last of it. She had never felt as thirsty or hungry in her whole life as she felt every single day now. It was like no matter how much she ate or drank it was never enough. Hershel had noticed that while her breasts were looking much bigger, since they were full of milk, the rest of her was looking skinnier by the day. She had lost the baby weight too fast. He had done the math a few times and she should be eating about double the amount of food that she was eating now. Sadly, they just didn't have enough. Most of the local stores they had tried were cleared out, but Hershel thought maybe he would suggest to Daryl that he needed to go hunting again soon. Other than that, all they could do was plant the gardens and wait.
Carol came out holding MJ, with Axel close on her heels. As soon as he had figured out that Carol was single and straight, he had done nothing but follow her around like white on rice. RickyJo couldn't decide if it was really cute or really creepy. Either way it was funny to watch.
"Once Judy Moody is done I will swap you," RickyJo told Carol. Axel came over, trying not to stare at RickyJo's exposed breast and then looking at it anyway and then looking down at his feet. The small baby in Carol's arm heard his mother's voice and began squawking for her immediately. "Or I could take him now," RickyJo said with a sigh. She loved the babies, but sometimes she felt like she was being suffocated. At least Judith would sleep by herself. Anytime she put him down, MJ screamed like he was being violently murdered. And god forbid Daryl should try to pick him up, or he would really go crazy. Thankfully, Judith looked like she was about done anyway, so RickyJo handed her to Axel to hold while she took her baby from Carol. Now he was happy, smiling his gummy little smile up at the object of his every affection. RickyJo couldn't help but smile back at him, holding onto his little hand before he could grab at her nipple with it. Once he started eating, she let his hand go.
Carl was dumping a load of dirt into the garden they had built when he saw something strange down by the fence. A black woman with crazy hair was standing in the middle of a group of walkers, holding a shopping basket. Carl took off down to the guard tower at a run, yelling for Tiny who was on guard duty. By the time he got there, the woman was walking towards the gate. Then she fainted. The walkers had noticed her now, and they were closing in, ready to rip her to pieces. Tiny had the gate open and he ran out and picked her up. Carl grabbed the basket and they both bolted back inside, locking the gate behind them. Tiny took the woman inside to the area which served as the infirmary. Hershel was close behind him.
At first everyone assumed that the woman had been hurt and had just happened upon the prison, looking for shelter. But then Carl showed his dad and Shane what was in the basket. RickyJo came over too, lifting up the exact baby carrier that she had asked Glen for, along with diapers, clothes and a toy duck. They all stood staring at each other a minute, trying to make sense of what was going on. Then Rick rushed inside. The woman was still passed out, but he threw a little water in her face, making her wake up. Hershel stood back. He had been ready to check her injuries, but he could tell now something else was going on.
The woman stood up, backing away from Rick. She was disoriented and lots of people she didn't know were standing around staring at her. At least she could tell she wasn't back in Woodbury.
"How did you know to bring that baby stuff here," Rick asked her. She tried to clear her head.
"The supplies were dropped by a pretty girl and a young asian guy," she said. The man questioning her got closer. He was too close and she didn't like it.
"Where are they?," he demanded.
"They were taken," she said.
"Where," he said. When she didn't answer fast enough he moved in and hit her on her injured leg. That was when RickyJo had enough. She moved in and shoved Rick back hard, almost making him fall. He was lucky she was still holding her baby in one hand or she might have sent him flying. This poor woman had come here for help, and she obviously had information about Glen and Maggie. And Rick was going to slap at her like that. That was totally unacceptable as far as RickyJo was concerned. She stood there in front of the woman, giving Rick a look that he knew meant business. Shane also wanted to get the information of the woman as fast as possible but he did not like the threatening way Rick was looking at the woman who kept his baby alive. He grabbed Rick and pulled him away.
"Go take a fucking walk," he said, shoving at him. Rick thought about shoving him back but he could see Daryl was behind the man, ready to back him up. He turned on his heels and headed outside. Now that he was gone, RickyJo gestured for the woman to sit back down and sent Sammie to get her some water. She motioned Hershel in so he could check her injuries and she explained to the woman that he was a doctor. While Hershel worked, RickyJo introduced herself to the woman. Michonne looked the girl over. She was tall and covered in tattoos, and had a baby attached to one of her breasts. Michonne had seen a lot of shit in her day but she had never seem a woman suckle a baby and start a fight with a grown man at the same time. The girl was pretty, with long blonde hair that was up on top of her head in a sloppy bun.
"Two members of our group went out earlier for baby supplies," RickyJo explained. "One of them was Hershel's daughter Maggie," she said, gesturing to the man that was cleaning Michonne's wounds. "The Asian guy was her boyfriend Glen. Can you tell us what happened to them." Michonne took another drink of the water the girl had brought her. Then she explained to them what she had seen. Shane looked on with approval. It had taken longer than he would have liked, but RickyJo had gotten a lot of information out of the woman. Much more than Rick would have gotten by intimidating her. He stepped in a kneeled down by the woman, noticing that RickyJo moved back to let him get in closer.
"Do you know where they were taken?," he asked. Michonne nodded.
"Can you walk?," he asked. She nodded again. "Good," he said, "because you are taking us there."
The group had geared up and left quickly. They had taken the new woman, Michonnne, with them, and Shane, Daryl, Rick, Oscar and Sammie had gone. Shane had not wanted to take the young woman with them at first but besides Daryl, she was the best shot with a bow. She could take out any walkers on the way without making noise or wasting ammunition. While it was scary for the group making the rescue attempt, it was worse for everyone that had stayed behind at the prison with nothing to do but wait and worry. RickyJo had watched until Daryl was out of sight and then taken the babies into her cell and shut the curtain. Beth had walked by to check on her and heard her muffled crying. She understood how the woman felt, she was worried about Rick too. Carol walked over.
"Let her be," Carol told Beth, "if she wanted company she would be out here." Beth nodded and they went to try and find something to make for dinner.
It was a long night and into the next day before anyone came back. The girls had been getting more and more anxious. RickyJo had kept everyone inside with the cell block locked in case they were caught and people from the other group came looking. Now people were pacing back and forth, going out to look out the outside door and see if they could see anything. Finally Beth started yelling. There was a car at the gate.
"Its them!," she yelled. She had seen Rick get out to unlock the gate. RickyJo came flying out with the keys and unlocked the door. Everyone rushed out and down the steps. The car seemed to take forever coming up the drive and RickyJo leaned this way and that, trying to look for Daryl. When they pulled up it became clear that he wasn't there. Sammie came towards her. She could see the shocked look on RickyJo's face.
"He's not dead," Sammie said.
"Then where is he?," she asked. Maybe he was behind them in another car. Shane stepped forward and put his hand on her shoulder.
"He said to tell you he was sorry," he said, "he left with his brother."