Chapter Thirty-Four: Loquillos


Allen and Ben left the prison in the morning. Sasha and Tyreese had tried to stop them, but after a whispered argument between the once group, the two siblings let them go with a disgusted glare. Rick seemed happy to see them leave, well to have two less strangers in his midst, but the rest of the group didn't seem to be concerned so she wasn't either.

If anything, she was relieved and so was Beth.

The Williams siblings, as she learned they were, were more than thankful for Rick's decision to let them stay. They had spent the morning with Glenn and the others that knew the bowels of the prison really well trying to figure out where exactly Tyreese and Sasha had managed to get in and how to block off the area. Glenn had drawn a crude map of the area on the floor with chalk while she and Beth fed the babies a late breakfast of scrambled eggs and cheerios.

Esme had a wide-awake and content Judith strapped to her chest in the baby sling once more while she spoon-fed Bora and Primrose. Rick seemed to be more accepting of Esme's presence now that her information on her old town had come through to provide the whole group a plethora of supplies. The man had even smiled at her that morning when he brought his daughter over for breakfast and thanked her for taking care of Judith the day before and for having Carl's back when the preteen had made it back to the cafeteria with a group of strangers at his heels.

Hell, Rick hadn't even given her suspicious looks when he saw her strap Judith to her chest half an hour ago so that she'd have her hands free to care for her other children. He only grunted that he was going to go take watch outside to her and Beth before turning his back to them and leaving.

His change in behavior was a bit disconcerting, especially after last night's hostility against the four people Carl had saved. It didn't really help that Esme had accidentally overheard a concerning conversation between Rick and Hershal about the hallucinations he'd had when he lost his wife. Grief is a powerful emotion and motivator to back someone's actions, it made her want to question why exactly he'd agreed to let Maggie and Daryl bring her and her children here if he was so wary of strangers. Was it because she was a woman? One that was relatively alone and had young children depending on her. Was it because she'd been kind enough to give the scavengers diapers and her own breast milk and baby formula for a baby she didn't even know? Was it really because she was harmless and didn't pose a threat to him alone?

She had no real intention of actually asking Rick. Esme was half afraid of the truth, but even more afraid of receiving the man's ire and being expelled from the group as a consequence of not knowing when to keep her mouth shut. Especially since now she really wouldn't be able to protect her children.

"Ah!" Primrose babbled as she slapped her hand down on the plastic tray of her high chair, "Ah-AH!"

Esme snorted as her youngest slapped her hands down again before grunting in a similar manner once more as she turned to face Bora and shrieked, "What happened?" Esme asked, "You want to talk to your sister?"

Bora seemed thrilled to have the younger baby's attention, "Ama! Pim!" she pointed at Primrose with a chubby finger before shoving a handful of cheerios into her mouth.

Esme giggled softly as she spooned some soft eggs into Primrose's expectant mouth, "Yeah, Bora: Prim. Good job!" she praised making the little Korean giggle and clap her hands happily.

"PIM!" Bora shouted again joyfully, drawing the attention of Thomas who eyed his happy sisters suspiciously and somewhat jealously.

"Bo'a!" Thomas grunted around a mouthful of eggs, "Bo'a iie?"

"Mhmm," Esme hummed in agreement as her son seemed to settle down at her confirmation, "Bora's eating."

Beth giggled at her side making Esme look at her questioningly, "Sorry, it's jus' kinda amazin' that you can understand 'em."

She shot a small smile at the blonde, "After a while, I got use to the baby talk."

"Mami quiero ver Pio y Peep. Dey is hung'y, an' needs to eat comida." Lilac chirruped as she hopped down from her seat at the table and made her way to Esme's side.

"Espera." Esme chided, "You need to wait for everyone to be finished eating mi amor, Andre is going to want to help feed the chickens too, so you has to wait."

"Esme?" Andre whispered as he too made his way to her side, "I is finished. Can I go see the chickens too?"

"P'ease?" Lilac chimed in.

Esme sighed, "Okay, pero, you can only look okay. Don' touch."

"Yay!" the toddlers cheered as they practically ran to the chicken coupe and began babbling to either the somewhat cautious chickens or to each other.

"What are we gonna do after this?" Beth asked curiously. Esme forced herself not to look outwardly surprised by the question. Beth had been extremely helpful with the children, but the teenager didn't have to stick around with Esme and mind the babies with her. Esme knew that it could get tedious after a while and sometimes even boring or frustrating to be surrounded by babies all the time.

"I has to wash the clothe diapers for the babies. I'm gonna take out the blocks for the babies to play with while I work."

Beth's nose scrunched up a little before another smile worked it's way across her face, "I can help!"

"Are you sure?" Esme asked softly, "No tienes- I mean, you don't has to help me with the children all the time. I understand if you want to do somethin' else."

Beth's expressive blue-green eyes locked onto Esme's own hazel ones, "I know. I like to help with the babies, I always wanted to have a child. And now, with everythang tha's happened. I feel like this'll be closest I'll ever get."

Esme nodded, a small understanding smile tugging on the corner of her lips, "I- Things happen to me when I was young. Younger than you even, it made me want to never get married or even has relations with a man. I'm an immigrant who was here on a work visa... adoption was not a option for me. I too wanted to has a baby, I thought it would not happen for me in this country. But when everything to -mierda- bad... these children became my own."

"God works in mysterious ways, doesn't he?"

"Si. He really does."

Was this how Daisy felt when she took her under her wing?

Either way, she had a friend in young Beth. It felt nice to have a friend again.

"Alright, Daryl and I are gonna scope out the area you guys got in. I need to figure out where the breach is." Glenn stated seriously, making Ese and Beth turn back to the majority of the group gathered behind them.

Oscar was out on watch at the guard tower closest to the entrance of the prison and Maggie would be going out to cover him soon. She wasn't really sure where Rick was positioned for his own watch but for the man's children she hoped that he'd come back inside soon.

"I'd like to help." Tyreese piped up, "I think I can show you how we got to where Carl found us."

Daryl grunted as he bent down to grab his quiver with spare arrows, "Fine. Don' slow us down."

Sasha shifted on her feet nervously, "I'd like to come as well."

"Sasha-" Tyreese started only to get interrupted by an impatient looking Glenn.

"Look, we need to do this now. If you guys got in, anyone else could have too and, well, we just can't have that."

Daryl snorted as he turned to the gate leading to the tombs, "Come if ya want, we movin' now."

The group of four where hot on his heels.

"I'll stay here, and wait for them to come back." Carol spoke up softly.

"Me too." Carl piped up, "I got the keys anyways."

Esme turned to look at Beth somewhat nervously, "Let's get the lil' ones out of here now. No quiero- I don' want to have them in here if somethin' goes wrong."

Beth smiled back at her in a reassuring manner, "Don' worry. With Daryl and Glenn, I can' imagine anythin' bad happenin.' I do think Thomas here is ready to go play now."

"Ehhy!" Thomas screeched, "Bo'a ehhy!"

Her son agreed completely, "Oh, yeah. I think everyone is done." Esme smiled. Bora and Primrose had eaten all of their eggs and the cheerios she'd given them, a small glance at the plates of her two oldest charges revealed that while Andre had eaten all of his cheerios he'd left a small portion of his eggs left. That was fine since the leftovers could be given to the chickens that the toddlers were still gawking at. Esme expertly unfastened Bora from her chair before setting her down on her shaky feet, "Lilac, Andre, ven, come help Bora walk back to our room.

"Otay mama!" Lilac shouted gleefully as she raced Andre back to them.

"Cuidado! You has to be careful." Esme chided as she unfastened Primrose and carefully sat her on her hip, mindful of Judith wiggling happily against her chest, "No corres, no running please, you can trip and fall. Do you remember what happens when you fall down?"

"You gets a boo-boo." Andre answered wisely, "Has ta be careful."

"Good job Andre!" Beth cheered as she set an impatient Thomas onto the ground as well. Andre preened under the praise.

"That's right." Esme agreed.

"Sorry mama." Lilac whispered before grabbing Bora's tiny hand into her own, "I be careful! C'mon Bora! Let's go!"

Bora let out a tiny exhilarated squeak as she began to toddle in the direction of the Cell Blocks. Andre was quick to follow Lilac's example and grab Thomas' hand as well, "C'mon Tommy, we's gonna play!"

"Ehhy!" Thomas repeated.

Beth giggled before reaching out towards her, "I can help with Primrose."

Esme shot her a grateful look as she handed Primrose over, "Thanks. Let's catch up to those loqillos."

"What does tha' mean?" Beth asked with a wide curious grin on her face.

She pondered for a moment as they crossed the threshold of the Cell Blocks, "Es como, is like loco but many, um, plural. Loco is a word for crazy. Is like a-a nickname."

Beth burst out into laughter, "How'd you say it? Lo- Low-key-os?"

"Close." Esme smiled, "Loquillos."

"Lo-keyos." she repeated happily as they began to take out the blocks for the kids to play with.

"Loquillos."

"Loquillos." Beth parroted correctly.

"Yup!" Esme praised.

Yes. It was nice to have a friend again.


Words 1910


Translations:

Mami quiero ver Pio y Peep = I want to see Pio and Peep

Comida = Food

Espera = Wait

Mi amor = My love (term of endearment)

Pero = but

No tienes = You don't have to

Mierda = Shit

Si = Yes

No quiero = I don't want

Ven = Come

Cuidado = Be careful

No corres = Don't run

Es como = It's like

Loquillos = diminutive of the word loco, aka crazy, basically means crazy or silly little ones (term of endearment)


(I hope the Spanish I sprinkled in isn't too jarring or confusing for anyone. Let me know if you think I should cut it down or if you guys just plain don't like it. I can go back to simply italicizing English words or phrases to signify that she's speaking Spanish if it's easier like I did in the first few chapters.)

(The animals in my town have gone crazy. On Friday there were four grown-ass deer in my back yard, they even came back five minutes after I scared them away before languidly walking up my driveway and crossing the street to the house in front of mine before deciding to cross the street again and walk through my front lawn, hover around for a while before walking up my street in the broad daylight. The day before that two foxes did the same thing... honestly, I live in Westchester. A heavily suburban area. Not the country or even upstate where there are preserves. I should not be seeing this much wildlife. Especially since three days before the fox incident a friend of the family almost went to go pet a fucking coyote in my yard because he mistook it for my dog in the dark.)

(My weird rant is now done.)


(Guest1/30yrsoldgirlie: So yup... Ben and Allen are gone. Esme wasn't really too involved in the whole thing so she doesn't actually know too much about what happened. Only that she and Beth are both relieved that Allen is gone. Keep safe!)

(animemangaobsessed: LOL. I weirdly loved it. I loved your review, it made me laugh. I'm definitely loving your mouth, so feel no shame. We'll see how that all goes down, because I'm really not sure just yet on how I want to write that.)

(DarkFireNyx: Thanks! Be safe as well!)

(DarylDixon'sLover: He's pretty annoying in this season period. LOL)

(Guest2/MYSTC4TH: LOL. No problem, reviewing isn't mandatory, just makes me happy to see what everyone thinks. I'll be updating again soon. Be safe!)

(loveorpain: Aww thanks! LOL, I thought your penname said loverofpain and I was like, "Wow, this is one hardass person...")

(alexceasar: Thank you!)

(time-twilight: I'm well, thank you. Just bored and a bit worried since I've been out of work for a while and boss isn't sure we'll be able to reopen the school in April. I hope you're doing better than me! Stay healthy!)

(Guest3: Thanks! You as well!)

(Beachgirl25: Yup! Esme's presence means that Daryl is also there when Rick originally boarded the train to Crazyville, so yeah the ripple effect is really coming into play now... LOL. So Ben didn't end up getting adopted by Esme or the others, his dad's stormed out of the prison with his son into a different direction... a woodsy direction if I may... I think that seeing all of the kids has brought definitely brought up some unresolved emotions concerning the death of Carol's daughter. And I think I'll definitely be exploring that in the coming chapters. I kinda liked the way Axel was showering Carol with attention in canon before his death... so I think she may find a confidant in him, especially when Daryl starts to focus a bit more on my Spanish Princessa. LOL. I agree with you on the Merle thing, but I can sort of see him softening up to the kids and becoming some redneck puddle of goo after hearing them call him "Unca Mer'e"... I think Esme's honestly going to start adopting the most troubled/lonely members -in her eyes- of the group and that will probably include the oldest Dixon. I did really like the last female suggestion you gave as a [ossible pairing for him though... that would be interesting to write.)

(Guest4/Seris: LOL. I was cracking up with your review. I hope you liked this chapter too! ~Mara-Chan (ollo)~ I gift you dango emoji (anime, Clannad, reference) for all the cute faces you made!)