In honor of Mother's Day (Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there, including Michonne): How/when/where/why Carl makes the decision to call Michonne Mom.

WHAT'S IN A NAME

Rated T

Carl sat on his bed, his back against the headboard, and flipped through his comics. Enid sat next to him, munching on some walnuts. The two of them sat in silence, Carl in his own world, Enid in her own.

"Do you ever miss her?" asked Enid, seemingly out of the blue.

"Who?" Carl asked absentmindedly, flipping to the next page.

"Your mom."

Carl froze and then stared at Enid with his good eye. "What?"

Enid shrugged and sighed. "I don't know. I'm just thinking about my own mother, I guess."

"Why?" The question was out of his mouth before he could think better of it, and he cringed inside the minute he asked it.

"Why?" repeated Enid incredulously.

"I didn't mean like that," Carl stated quickly.

Enid glared at him and then shook her head. "It doesn't matter. You don't get it. You have someone in place of your mother."

Carl blinked slowly at Enid, staying silent. It wasn't that he didn't agree. It was just that he hadn't really thought about it. Michonne was family. He wasn't sure when it happened – maybe during one of those days when they were at the prison, when she let him learn how to use her sword – or maybe it was when she found them, after the prison fell.

He didn't have an exact date on when Michonne became a mother to him, but Enid was right.

"Well so do you," said Carl. Enid stared at him. "Maggie cares about you. A lot."

"Maggie has Hershel."

"What is your deal? You don't think she can love you and her son?"

"Like I said, you just don't get it." Enid started to get up, gathering her things. "It worked out for you."

"Hey, I killed my mother—"

"So that she wouldn't Turn," snapped out Enid.

"You think that made it easier?"

"No. I think you've forgotten what it's like to miss her because your dad's in love with Michonne and she's tucking you in every night."

Carl stood up and glared at Enid. "I think about my mother every single time I see my sister. You're jealous of me and you don't even have to be. You've got someone trying to be a mother figure. If you stop playing the victim and let somebody in for once, you could see how much Maggie cares about you."

Enid looked like she was going to explode, and then, she sat back down on the bed, her back to Carl.

"How did you let Michonne in?" Her voice was soft, and filled with silent tears.

Carl sighed and walked around to Enid. "I don't know. She… cared when I felt no one else did. My dad… my dad was grieving the loss of my mom and he kind of neglected me for a minute. He didn't mean to, it just happened. And then he was caught up in being a leader that he kind of forgot how to be a dad. I didn't make it easy. I was cold and cruel and pushed him away. I tried to do the same to Michonne, but she pushed back."

"Kind of like Maggie does."

"Exactly like Maggie does."

Enid remained quiet for a while. "Do you think you'll ever call her Mom?"

"Yah, I do," Carl said without hesitation. He thought of the way he'd told her that he'd put her down if he needed to, that he'd kill her before she Turned. He'd meant that, and it was something he'd done for his own mother, so he thought that spoke for itself. "I'm not sure when, but some day."

"I don't know if I can call Maggie that."

"You don't have to. That's your decision to make. But letting someone else in… I mean… don't you think that's what your mother would have wanted?"

"I don't know; I can't actually answer that. She's dead." Her voice had taken on an edge that had Carl barely refraining from rolling his eyes.

"Look, at the end of the day, I love Michonne like my mother. In essence she is my mother. So yah, I'll call her Mom one day, because she deserves that title. That's my choice. It doesn't have to be yours. But the route you're going… you're setting up to be lonely, and for a long time. I know someone who claimed to be gone for a long time. It took a lot for her to come back. I don't want that to be you. I bet if you tried, it wouldn't even be that hard to let Maggie in."

Enid looked at him for several minutes and finally stood up again. "I'll think about it. What's in a name? It's stupid anyway." With those words she grabbed her backpack and left.

Carl let her go, frowning.

Mom was an important name for a woman, and Michonne had earned that title. It wasn't stupid. So what was in a name?

When it came to Mom, everything.


A/N: That "it worked out for you" line Enid says to Carl is a Sasha line that she states to Michonne. I thought it fit here. It was a nice little call back if I do say so myself LOL.

SPOILER NOTE DOWN BELOW. STOP READING HERE.

Also, I'm under the assumption that Enid is taking Comic Sophia's role and will be a daughter figure to Maggie and move to Hilltop with her, so for the sake of that storyline, let's say this takes place before Lucille happens.