Chapter Twenty-Six: Transition (pt 4)
After her stressful conversation with the prison group's leader- her new leader, Esme threw herself into prepping dinner under the man's cautious gaze. She'd fried the tuna balls in the oil first before boiling the couscous since the grain only took about five minutes to finish before Esme told Carl to inform everyone that dinner was ready.
Esme simply gathered her little ones and sat them at one of the tables in the cafeteria before she served them their normal small portions (they each had half of a tuna ball) since they would all have a bottle in an hour or so to sleep. Her own portion of the meal was on the smaller side as well, the stress of moving and being around so many new faces had made Esme's appetite wane. Primrose was too little to sit at the table on her own so she was perched on Esme's lap as she helped her youngest baby eat. The rest of her brood was happily munching on their dinner and babbling to one another as they stared at Carl in amazement when he plopped down next to Andre.
Their small hero-worship of the preteen was an adorable, albeit, unexpected surprise.
Hershal and Beth were grateful for the meal and had thanked her profusely as they sat down and began to eat. The infant was lying in the bassinet that they'd brought with them from the daycare at Rick's side as the man picked at his food before scooping some into his mouth. Rick simply nodded at her in gratitude as he observed the way she interacted with her children. Esme forced herself to ignore his inquisitive gaze and focus on her little ones. Glenn and Maggie were the first of the others to make it to the cafeteria. The duo had wide appreciative grins on their faces that were only echoed by the small cheers from the two ex-cons coming in at their heels.
"Look at this spread!" Axel cheered as he sat down with his own plate. "Damn this if goo' too!" he praised with a mouthful of food in his mouth.
"Language." Hershal chided, "There are lil' ones present."
The former prisoner's cheeks colored somewhat, "Sorry 'bout that ma'am. Not used to havin' tiny ones 'round no more."
Esme nodded back at him shyly. It looked like almost everyone was here now except for Daryl. Small conversations broke out in the cafeteria as the group seemed to update one another on what they had done throughout the day. It was how she learned that Daryl was still roaming the catacombs of the prison. Apparently they'd already cleared the area of 'living' rotters earlier, but the archer was still looking for the missing body of one their fellow survivors. The woman had apparently gone missing during the breach and while they had buried the bodies of their other two fallen comrades, the woman's was the only one still missing.
She felt for the group. Their grief was still fresh and pungent, but instead of seemingly wallowing in this despair they pushed through the day and instead came together. She felt warmth behind her chest. These people were broken, but they were still good people.
"Mama quiero mas!" Lilac chirruped as she stuffed the rest of her tuna ball into her mouth. Esme snorted in amusement.
"Finish what you have on your plate first." she chided softly as she leaned over the table and broke Bora's tuna ball into smaller pieces, the one-year-old shot her a happy smile before grabbing a piece and biting into it. Thomas was happily spooning the last of his couscous into his mouth, her baby boy had finished the tuna ball without assistance.
"Otay!" Lilac wiggled in her seat before turning to her sister and making funny faces, Primrose let out delighted giggles around the spoonful of couscous in her mouth.
"Do you want more Andre" Esme asked the male toddler softly after she spotted his empty plate.
The boy's wide brown eyes stared up at her, "No t'ank you. Can I's go play?"
Lilac's head snapped to the side to stare at her playmate before looking back at Esme, "Mama, I play too!"
Her eldest daughter's loud proclamation made the infant in the bassinet whine slightly, "Shh, Lilac. Vas asustar la bebe. You can both play after Lilac finished eating okay."
"Talk hands?" Lilac signed clumsily with her greasy fingers. Esme smiled proudly at the toddler.
"No. You don't need to talk with your hands right now baby, just need to use your quiet voice."
Her little blonde curls bounced up and down in agreement, "Otay mama." before she quickly began scooping the rest of her food into her mouth. Andre wiggled in his seat restlessly, obviously wanting to run off into their room and play with the toys.
"Was that sign language?" Hershal asked curiously. Esme looked up from her children to see that the majority of the occupants at the table were staring at them curiously. Red immediately began coating Esme's cheeks.
"Yes." she squeaked before clearing her voice, "I was learning ASL before... well before. I thought it would be a good idea to teach my children in case we needed to talk in silence."
"That's impressive." Hershal praised, "Lilac was speaking in Spanish as well."
Esme shrugged her shoulders awkwardly, "Spanish is my first language." she offered as an explanation.
"Mama, tete!" Thomas whined, quickly gaining her attention once more, with grabby hands.
"In a little bit baby." Esme soothed as she brushed the top of Thomas' hair. A quick glance at the rest of her children let her know that it wasn't just Thomas that was grumpy and tired. Bora and Primrose were blinking heavily as well from where they were sitting. "Lilac, Andre you can go play now. No running. I'll be there in a second."
"I'll watch them." Carl volunteered, much to the surprise of his father since the man's eyes widened in disbelief as Carl shoveled the last of his dinner into his mouth and stood up.
The two toddlers broke out into excited grins as they hopped off their chairs and followed Carl back to the cell blocks. It was a good thing that she was a fast eater and had already finished herself.
"I'm going to get the little ones settled in now." she informed Hershal, who was the adult sitting the closest to her though she was sure that everyone was paying attention to her based off the general silence at the table, "And pump, the babies usually get a bottle to sleep. I can come help with the clean up in here when I'm done."
Hershal smiled gently at her and patted her hand, "There's no need for that. Just get yourself settled in."
Esme nodded before looking at Rick hesitatingly, "My offer to help with your baby still stands. Dios, it's embarrassing to admit... but I produce a lot of milk because for a long time my body thought that it was providing for triplets... so I can start feeding her whenever you feel comfortable."
Rick stared at her for a moment before looking down at his napping daughter, "I'll come find you when she's fussy."
Esme shot him a shy smile as she perched Primrose onto her hip before helping Bora and Thomas down and offering her hand. She was somewhat of an expert at holding two little hands with her one free hand now, and slowly guided them inside. She plopped Primrose inside of the pack n' play but let Thomas and Bora join the older toddlers on the floor to play. She did not want them falling asleep too early, otherwise, they would wake up extra early waking up everyone else in the cell block and their sleeping schedules would be off. Andre had come out of his shell a bit now that they weren't in a room full of strange adults and was gleefully showing off his t-rex to an indulgent Carl as Lilac made exaggerated roaring noises. Too cute.
She offered Primrose an interactive Barney plushie, ignored Bailey's stink eyes and swipe at her feet (her cat did not appreciate being left behind), before going into her cell to grab the pump and the empty bottles. She could hear raised voices coming from the cafeteria but it didn't sound like anything bad was happening so Esme ignored it and went back to the colorful cell holding her children. She plopped down on the floor and leaned against the bars of the cell, ensuring that her curious tots wouldn't be able to get by her and leave the safety of their new room while she pumped. Esme threw a baby blanket over her shoulder and chest to cover up her modesty before she shrugged off the strap of her tee and brought the nuzzle of the pump to her breast and turned it on. The familiar suctioning sound of the pump joined the air as the toddlers continued to squeal happily. She caught Carl giving her shy and curious looks before the preteen turned back to the enthusiastic children.
Bailey gave the stink eye one more time before prowling over and making herself comfortable on Esme's lap. Esme smiled indulgently at the orange tabby as she began stroking the short fur lovingly while making funny faces at Primrose, making her youngest giggle and rub her face against the Barney plushie. Carl hung around for a few more minutes before heading back to the cafeteria when he heard his father calling his name. Lilac and Andre were disappointed to see him go but quickly bounced back to their childish enthusiasm as their dinosaurs started battling one another. Bora was cheering enthusiastically as she helped Thomas build up the blocks on the other side of the cell and occasionally breaking out into giggles when Thomas clumsily bumped into their tower and made them fall. Her baby boy kept glaring at the blocks petulantly before huffing and rebuilding it once more.
On the other hand, Esme felt like a cow. It only took ten minutes to fill up one whole bottle before she was sealing it and storing it in the tiny cooler she'd brought with her and replacing it with another empty bottle to pump from the same breast. She was a cow. A human cow. But a cow nonetheless. Honestly, the amount of milk she was producing was freaking insane... At least she wasn't worried about adding another baby into the feeding rotation.
"Mama! Roar!" Lilac squealed as she shoved a green plastic herbivorous dinosaur in her face as Andre broke out into delighted laughter.
An amused smile quickly pulled on the corners of her lips, "Roar!" she growled teasingly as the two toddlers squealed.
God.
It was worth it.
Words 1845
(Hello! This was kind of longer than I expected but it feels right!)
(Hope you are all enjoying the weekend! I'm just going to warn you all that I probably won't be able to update again this weekend or on Monday because I'm really busy this weekend and I have some plans that are time-consuming coming up on Monday and Tuesday... but I will definitely update next weekend!)
(I wanted to say a quick thank you to the two people who have added my fic to their communities, it was a nice surprise!)
(apegasaurus: Haha! Thanks! Sorry for worrying you!)
(Beachgirl25: LOL. Happy to be back! Tuna balls are awesome... Thanks! I'm still worried about doing justice to TWD cast, but I'm just going to take it a little at a time and see how it goes. Crazy Rick is going to have nothing on Mama Bear Esme, the others are going to have to worry about Rick is Esme has her way. Wink. JK.)
(Guest1/MYSTC4TH: Thanks! I just started reading Survivor's Journal, it's pretty good so far especially since it's not my normal style. Since I don't really tend to write journal entries. So it's an interesting experience for me. Glad you're like this story!)
(DarkFireNyx: Thanks! I re-read your fic! And I left a review! It's always exciting to realize that someone who's story your reading is also reading yours!)
(hossfan: I think so too... I've been putting some serious thought into how I'm going to incorporate Michone's character into this story with Esme... Two Mama Bears are always better that one... Thank you for worrying about me! I feel a bit embarrassed and flattered that my absence was felt.)
(Guest2: Awww! Thank you! You're making me blush!)
(itsprettyboy: Haha, your welcome! I hope you enjoyed this one as well!)
(chibi-no-baka: Thank you! Fluffy moments are definitely going to continue to occur... I am loving the idea of doting big brother Carl. We will see how the Prison Arc continues to divulge! BTW, your name is so familiar! Have you written any fics?)
(MerryLimp: Thank you so much. This comment really made my day. I'm always a bit self-conscious about writing and it makes me happy to hear that you like it and that I'm not messing it up. I hope that I continue to di this story and cannon justice!)
(iamemma1: Thanks!)