So after two months of waiting, this chapter comes to you live from my laptop! This is excellent news for all of us because so far I've only been able to write at work, now I'll be able to do it at home and hopefully get ahead of these chapters.

I appreciate everyone who's favorited and followed this story, it means a lot. I wish I could send cookies to everyone who's taken the time to review. Speaking of, I didn't get the 150 I was hoping for but I won't dwell on it, thanks anyway!

Disclaimer: I do not now, nor will I ever, own The Walking Dead comic or TV show and do not make any profit from this story. This is purely for entertainment purposes, no copy-right infringement intended.

Chapter 26

Molly was sitting in a little circle with Louis and Miranda playing Go Fish with a deck of cards they'd found while Amy and Carol kept watch for them. Dale had laid down a while ago to get some of the sleep he'd missed the night before on duty, but he'd only gone when Molly and Amy had insisted that they could take care of things.

"Do you have any queens?" Louis asked Molly slyly.

Molly narrowed her eyes playfully at the boy and handed over the queen of spades she'd been coveting. As Louis turned to his mother to try and commandeer some of her cards as well, Molly set her cards face down so she could shift Keegan in her lap. She was sitting cross legged with Keegan in the little hole her legs created, but he'd managed to get himself scrunched down into an uncomfortable looking ball and she took this chance to gently pull him back into a sitting/laying position against her. He was crossways in her lap so that his head was on her right thigh and his feet were on her left thigh. Every time she wasn't in play she would look down at him, smile, and talk about random nonsense so he felt like he was interacting.

She'd read that babies loved to hear you talk, especially in these early months, and that it actually helped their brains develop and give them a higher IQ if they're talked to and played with. She had done this exact thing with Finn when he'd been little like this. They would sit on the floor in her tiny apartment and she would talk to him in her lap while folding laundry or going through school papers and bills. By the time the walkers began rising, she had noticed a marked difference between her son and the other children his age at the daycare. Of course, there was no sure way to know if it was because she talked to him all the time or if it was because she and Aaron had been above averagely intelligent and had passed it down.

As Miranda and Louis descended into a wrestling match over a five of diamonds that Miranda didn't want to give up, Molly's thoughts turned to Aaron and for the first time she wondered if he was still alive. She didn't love him, or even like him anymore, not after the way he had spoken to her whenever he saw her after she got pregnant, but she thought it was probably a normal train of thought to wonder if the father of her now dead child was still alive. And these thoughts led to thoughts of what he would do or say if he was alive and learned that she had let their son die. She pondered if his feelings about her and their son had changed after the world ended, if he'd tried to find and protect them.

"Hey, you okay?" Amy asked, walking over and crouching beside her holding Dale's rifle.

Molly jerked with surprise; she'd been so completely immersed in her thoughts that she didn't hear Amy walking toward her. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I just…I was thinking and got distracted. Any sign of trouble?" she asked. Go Fish was clearly over, as Miranda and Louis were now having a thumb war, so Molly shifted Keegan into her arms and took Amy's hand so she could get to her feet.

"No sign of walkers or other people, if that's what you're asking. Although, if there was a whole parade of walkers below us it wouldn't matter because we're so high off the ground. This really is a great place to lay low and not worry too much about danger. There's no sign of Daryl and the others either, if that's what you were really asking," Amy replied with a wink and a smile.

Molly couldn't stop the blush that colored her cheeks, but she did roll her eyes at her blond friend. "Must you continuously tease me about Daryl?" she asked.

Amy cocked her head a little like a bird in consideration. "Well, no, I don't have to tease you; it's just fun to do. Really I'm just hoping that my teasing will get you two to pull yourselves together and do something already. Now isn't the time to be lolly-gagging around Molly. There isn't time for playing games."

It was a hot day but being on the cold shaded concrete brace made it all bearable and Molly had let her hair down for the day. This was only the second time she'd left it down since the world went to hell and she hated the greasy feel of the hair as she pushed some away from her face. They hadn't had a chance to stop and wash up since the CDC so they were all feeling a bit grimy at this point. If she left her hair up too long her scalp started to ache, so now it was splayed all over her shoulders and back and she contemplated what to tell Amy as Keegan grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked on it hard. She hissed a little at the pain but welcomed it too, because Finn used to do the exact same thing and it took her back to simpler times. Once she'd extracted the baby's hand from her hair, she looked up at Amy's expectant face.

"Well you know we're kissing now, we've kissed a couple times, and we sleep next to each other, but nothing else has happened. I told him that once we find the girls and get semi-settled somewhere we need to talk about what's happening between us and what we want to happen. So it's not like we've oblivious to each other Amy, it's that this isn't the right time to explore it."

"I didn't know you guys were even aware of the chemistry between you. I was sure I'd have to step in soon and throw you together," Amy teased. "So how is this talk going to go?"

Molly shrugged, running her finger down Keegan's cheek but pulling it back before the boy could stick it in his mouth. It wasn't dirty really, but it wasn't clean enough for a baby to be sucking on. "I don't know. Somehow we're going to get around to talking about if whatever is between us can be more than it is. I kind of just fell into the last relationship I was in and it didn't turn out very well. And Daryl is so different from other men I've known that I feel we need to talk about it and set boundaries for what we're expecting."

"Molly, Miranda, their coming!" Carol called from her station on the other side of the brace.

Molly and Miranda immediately went to Carol's side to see for themselves while Amy went to wake Dale from his nap. They could see the little line of cars and the RV coming toward them but a car at the back brought a frown to her face. She didn't recognize it and she couldn't imagine where it would have come from, but she had to trust Daryl and the others and their judgment in these matters.

Miranda was now waiting above the climbing van as Morales made his way up to her. The three men hadn't been gone very long and it made Molly wonder why they had come back so soon when they were meant to be looking for the girls. After Morales came Glenn and then Rick and a woman that was unfamiliar to them, and last but not least Daryl hopped up onto the brace and came to stand beside her. She wrapped her fingers around his hand in a gesture of greeting and happiness that he was okay but her focus at the moment was on Rick and Amy.

Molly could almost see the energy Amy was emitting as she tried to keep herself from running at the former policeman. She was a little ashamed to admit that she hadn't noticed the attraction her friend held for their leader, especially when Amy had noticed what was going on between her and Daryl. She also noticed that Rick's eyes were almost exclusively locked on Amy, seemingly assessing her to make sure she was unharmed. His eyes would stray for a couple seconds, probably to appear as though he wasn't staring at her, but Molly was watching and she saw his eyes keep coming back. A tiny flare of indignation went through her when she thought about the conversation she and Amy had just had. If she had to go forward with Daryl why was it alright for Amy not to do anything about Rick?

And then she felt ashamed all over again. The situation between her and Daryl was vastly different from that between Rick and Amy. She and Daryl were completely single, completely available to each other. Amy was just as free to see someone as they were, but Rick was a whole other story. He and Lori were still married, if the horrid witch was still alive, and therefore he should not even be looking at Amy the way he was now. How could they go forward with each other when he was a married man with a son who was smart enough to know what his father was doing to his mother if he got involved with Amy? She resolved to talk to Amy about it in private, to try to help her friend find a solution.

She came back to the present to hear Morales telling them all that Rick had found Eliza and she was just fine. A small cheer went through the group and Miranda was holding her son and husband with tears of happiness trailing down her check, but a small voice broke through their cheer.

"What about Sophia?" Carol asked. She was sitting with her legs dangling over the edge of the brace, still on watch.

Molly bit her lip when Rick and the unknown woman shared a look. It was not something that inspired her to believe there was hope. They all watched as Rick walked over and knelt down on one knee beside the worried mother. His hands fidgeting before coming to rest, crossed over each other on top of his bent knee.

"Carol," he said softly, though he words carried through the silence as if he were shouting. "Eliza, she told us that Sophia was bitten trying to protect her. We didn't go find her; we thought you should be there with us when we do. It's your right as her mother."

Molly felt tears prick her eyes as Carol broke down in sobs. Rick didn't try to touch her or comfort her, what could he say that would bring her daughter back? Amy walked over to Carol's other side, gave Rick a small nod and wrapped her arms around the grieving woman. Rick watched the two for a moment before getting back to his feet and joining the ragged circle they were still standing in.

Molly turned her attention to Rick, pulling her eyes from Amy and Carol. She couldn't help but notice that the woman that Rick had brought back with him was staring at her, or maybe she was staring at Keegan in her arms, it was hard to tell but no less uncomfortable. Even as she watched the woman, the short haired brunette seemed to come to a decision and walked toward her.

"Hi, I'm Maggie Greene. Sorry if I was freaking you out, I was looking at the baby. He's so small," the girl said with a friendly smile.

"It was a bit uncomfortable, but I had to hope you were focused on him and not me, because as flattering as that is, I don't really swing that way," Molly replied, trying to convey that she wasn't offended by the woman's staring.

Maggie laughed, "that's alright, neither do I. Oh, he is just the cutest thing ever," she praised.

Rick cleared his throat and pulled the women's attention to him again. "Sorry to break up the pow wow but we should be getting back to the farm. Carl, Eliza, and T-Dog are waiting for us, and we'll want to set up the tents before it gets dark. Maggie you know how to get there from here right?"

Maggie rolled her eyes and nodded, "of course I know how to get to my own house! I'm country, not stupid."

A few chuckles went around the survivors before they broke up to gather the supplies that had somehow accumulated on the brace. With all the blankets, pillows, lamps, and cans of food they hadn't gotten around to eating it seemed like their temporary home had been lived in for at least a week, not a couple days.

Molly handed Keegan off to Daryl before heading over to help Louis fold up a blanket and then hand him down onto the roof of the van so Morales could help him the rest of the way down. Rick and Glenn were already on the road, keeping watch so they weren't surprised and attacked while making such an unsteady shift from van roof to road to the waiting vehicles. She waited long enough to help Amy help Carol down onto the van before scooping Bear into her arms, sitting down on the edge of the brace and then slipping off to land loudly on her feet, denting the white metal encasing the van's interior. Once her feet her steady, she set the puppy down and turned back so that she could reach up and take Keegan carefully from Daryl so he could jump down himself. Dale was the last one down and he went straight to the RV to make sure it was okay.

Okay that's all for now. I wanted to say that Molly's thoughts about Aaron were a coincidence with the question I asked a few chapters ago. When I was writing it just seemed like something she would think about. I know some people were betting on Carol flipping when she heard about Sophia, but that's not how I saw her character, she's pretty weak and 'scared' in my mind. I also know that there hasn't been a lot going on the last couple chapters, it's really just filler stuff until we get to the fun stuff.

Let's try for that 150 again guys. If I get them or more (I'd like 155) I might make the next chapter about Rick and Amy, I haven't written anything specific about them yet but your reviews might motivate me to do it. It would probably be kind of a flashback of when they started to notice each other. As of now the next chapter is just following through with what goes on with the story.