Chapter Twenty-Three: Transition
The unfamiliar voices seemed to have further roused Lilac as she peeked to look around, Esme expertly balanced Lilac on her hip as she helped Andre hop out of the truck. A quick peek at the back seats let her know that her youngest three were still sleeping off their excitement from moving, and they would hopefully continue to do so for another hour or so as they settled in. Esme turned to look at her fellow survivors to see that she was being observed curiously by the members she hadn't met before.
A willowy blonde teenager had joined them from inside of the prison and was holding a small bundle in her arms next to the older man with the crutches (she only allowed surprise to blossom for a moment when she noticed that he was an amputee). The male preteen wearing a sheriff's hat was staring at her warily as he moved closer to the blonde, and the two former prisoners in the jumpsuits just stared at her kids incredulously.
A small nervous smile tugged onto the corners of Esme's lips, "Hello." she greeted. Maggie smiled at them welcomingly before pressing a kiss to the cheek of the man Esme assumed was her father before following Glenn to the truck to start unloading supplies.
"That's a baby!" Lilac gasped, her eyes were wide as she pointed at the bundle in the blonde's arms, before her daughter gasped once more and covered her mouth and whispered, "Oh no! Shhh! Has ta be quiet."
Andre looked up at her with wide eyes before wildly looking around and pressing himself against Esme's legs, "Rotters gonna git us?" he asked fearfully.
Esme kneeled down and let Lilac onto the ground beside Andre, ignoring the piercing looks she was getting, "No. We'll be okay, let's go say 'hi' to our new friends, okay?"
Lilac smiled widely as she turned to look at the adults, while Andre smiled nervously as she stood up. Lilac waved her hand enthusiastically, "Hola! I'm Lilac! I is two!"
Small smiles seemed to break out on the faces of the survivors. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad. "I'm Esme, and this is Andre." she introduced, "Thank you, thank you for letting us stay here. I-I will definitely pull my weight around here and the kids won't get in your way."
Maggie's father smiled gently at her, "My name's Hershal, Maggie's father, it's a pleasure to meet you all. Especially you Miss Lilac." he greeted her toddler, making Lilac giggle cutely, before turning his kind blue eyes to her once more, "I haven't seen this many smiling faces in so long, don't you worry too much about the children."
"Yeah, don' worry 'bout it too much Miss." the white man in the prisoner uniform jumped in, "I'm Axel, my sister had four lil' ones of her own, I'd be happy ta help!"
Daryl snorted as he pushed by them, he was carrying two of the pack n' plays towards the cell blocks, "Ya can start helpin' by unloading the truck."
Axel grumbled as his fellow ex-prisoner clapped him on the back and began leading them to the trucks, "Oscar." he offered amiably, though his smile was tinged with sadness when he glanced at her curious children. (Esme silently came to the conclusion that he had children of his own and had lost them, maybe to the outbreak or by his actions leading to his incarceration).
Lilac was feeling brave and she had approached the blonde teen with the baby and was asking her questions while babbling about her own brother and sisters. Her daughter was clutching Andre's hand, giving the toddler the courage he needed to let go of Esme's pants and greet the strangers.
"This is my youngest daughter Beth." Hershal gestured to the pretty teenager, "And this is Carl, the son of our leader Rick, and this baby is his younger sister."
She cautiously approached them and peered at the beautiful little girl being cradled in Beth's arms, "She's gorgeous." Esme praised before looking at Carl, the boy had tensed when she walked over but his face was a mixture of pride and grief, "She's very lucky to have a big brother like you."
The preteen blushed, shuffling on his feet, "Hmm."
"Mama up!" Lilac demanded, "Wanna see!"
Andre tugged on her pants as well, "Baby like Prim?"
Esme picked both of the children up, one on each side of her hip to see the newborn infant, "Yeah, but this baby is even more little than Primrose. Do you remember when Primrose was really tiny like that Lilac?"
"Yeah." Lilac mumbled, "Sleep lots."
Andre's eyes were comically wide as he peered at the baby before flinching when the infant started fussing and let out a cry. Beth immediately started to rock the infant in her arms while Carl hovered even closer to his baby sister. "Oh no!" Andre gasped, "Shh baby, shh."
"Mama, bebe tiene hambre." Lilac spoke 'wisely' before nodding decisively, "Needs to give her leche."
A small smile bloomed on Esme's face, "Yeah maybe the baby's hungry." she agreed before crouching down and setting the toddlers on the ground once more, Lilac whined in displeasure, "Uh-uh, Lilac. Eres muy pesada. You gotta stand like a big girl okay."
The little blonde only pouted for a moment, "Otay."
"They are very well behaved," Hershall commented. Beth was still rocking the infant in her arms as the small cries lessened.
Esme nodded, "Have to be. This world isn't safe for spoiled brats." She turned to look back at the two trucks full of supplies, "I-I should probably start helping unload. Lilac and Andre, vamos, you're gonna wait in the car until it's time to go inside."
"Okay." Andre chirruped, "Play?"
"Yeah, I got some toys in the car for you to play with while you wait, but you gotta be quiet, you don't want to wake up the babies."
"Mama y Bailey?" Lilac inquired for the orange cat.
Bailey... her cat was not very happy when she was manhandled into the cat carrier and then deposited into the other truck. "I'll bring Bailey if you promise to be good."
"P'omise!" the toddlers swore in unison.
"You don't need to keep the little ones locked in the truck while you work. We can watch them here in the courtyard." Hershal spoke softly as they made their way to the truck. It seemed like Beth had decided to go inside with the fussy infant, but Carl was still loitering outside watching her and the others.
A nervous smile pulled on the corners of her lips, "Thank you for offering, but I-I would like to scope the area first before I let my babies roam free."
Hershal's blue eyes crinkled as an understanding smile graced his face. "Your fears aren't odd, I'll be happy to keep an eye on them in the truck so they aren't alone."
"Thank you." Esme beamed at him, gratitude palpable on her form. She helped get her munchkins settled in the car with Hershal before going to the other truck and plucking Bailey's carrier from the back seat. Her cat was currently giving her the stink eyes but seemed to be extremely relieved when she deposited her inside of the truck with the children and let her out. Hershal seemed particularly interested in her cat and Bailey warmed up to him almost immediately as she kneed on his legs before laying down.
Esme grabbed the plastic container with the cleaning supplies before following a thoughtful Oscar inside of the prison. He led her through the spacious cafeteria, Esme smiled at Beth who was feeding the baby, and into the Cellblock C. There were definitely some questionable stains on the walls that Esme wanted to get rid of...
"The cells in the corner are free." Glenn piped up from behind her, making Esme flinch in surprise, "Sorry about that." he apologized sheepishly.
"It's alright." she smiled before pointing at the last two cells on the ground floor and asking inquiringly, "Those ones are free?"
"Yup!" Glenn responded as he walked back out.
Esme quickly began to inspect the two cells. The one in the corner didn't have any bloodstains on the inside, though there was a suspicious-looking stain right outside of it. Her nose wrinkled somewhat in disgust before she pulled her brown hair into a low ponytail to keep it out of her face and began working. There was no way in hell that she and the kids were going to sleep in there unless it was clean.
No way in hell.
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(Hey guys! Sorry for the delay! I had a really shitty week. I got laid off from work (not because of anything that I did or didn't do, but because she promised a full-time job, she told her to quit her other job and come to work for her even though she already had a team, to the daughter of my deceased co-worker and she no longer had hours for me), via a text message because my boss is just classy like that, and my mom's been really sick. She had to take the day off yesterday and today, which is unheard of for my mother.)
(Creative Heart 1997: Aww! Thank you! I've read other fics, even actual books, where young children are characters and I thought that they weren't very accurate. It's the reason why I make sure that the kids all have their own unique personalities and that they stay true to their age... it's kind of a pet-peeve of mine! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Oh and by the way, I love your name! Does it mean you were born in 1997? That's my birth year too!)
(Guest 1: Thank you!)
(LittleFlower2012: Thank you very much for your kind words! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!)
(Guest 2/Sarah: Thank you sooo much for reviewing! I hope that you continue to enjoy my fic!)
(Guest 3: I don't really have a set day for updating, that's why there can be multiple updates in one day. Basically I update the minute I finish writing a chapter, and I start writing a chapter when I'm feeling inspired. Reviews do help with that because you guys give me a lot of good ideas and I want to respond to your questions. I think I' ll try to update every Sunday or Monday weekly and everything else will just be a present to my wonderful viewers! Thank you so much for reviewing and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!)
(Larie03:LOL. Here you go!)
(Guest 4/Apple Bloom: I looove your name, it's so cute! We will see what happens. Andre is Michone's son but I can see Andre being hesitant with his mom when she first appears in the story, after all, it's been a long time since he'd last seen her and his guardian has changed twice already. Either way, Esme will still look out for him and care for Andre like he is her own. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!)
(Zerdas999: OMG. You are making me blush! Thank you so much! My writing has improved a lot over the years, you may enjoy my Harry Potter fic (which I think you did but I'm not sure, did you like it? It's a bit dark because of her mental issues) and Hunger Games fic since they are the most recent ones but I would stay clear of the OHSHC and Naruto one. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!)
(watkinap252: LOL! Your review made me get my ass into gear! I do the same thing sometimes with fanfics that I adore. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! BTW, your profile pic is gorgeous, kudos to you!)
(I hope everyone is having a better week than me! I'll be posting chapter 24 in about ten minutes as an 'I'm sorry' for ignoring you all for a week!)