January 28, 2011
~*~ Jesus ~*~
The snow is melted just enough to risk the supply run with Ezekiel's people to fetch more radio supplies. Honey's group did have extras, in case theirs failed or they needed additional vehicles, but they didn't expect to need actual base stations. Even the one set up at Hilltop is meant as a mobile unit. Since the base stations are better, their people back in Georgia located a ham radio supply place in Woodbridge by virtue of it being listed in a catalog for the place they cleared out back in Atlanta. Luckily, it's an area the Kingdommers have been working through for supplies.
The trip is easy enough, with the Georgians demonstrating the real ammo saving techniques of those crazy air rifles of theirs. Casting ammo for the air rifles is easier than making ammo for the firearms, plus air tanks can be refilled. He can practically see the wheels turning for Jerry as the big man plans his report to Ezekiel, especially as the surplus drivers for the Georgians help themselves to abandoned semi-trucks and show how the techniques they used to clear out the radio supply place and its neighbors work equally well to a grocery store the Kingdommers haven't been able to clear yet.
The DC suburbs are a wealth of food and supplies, now that they have a less limited method of removing the walkers.
They're headed back to the Kingdom with their haul so the radios can be installed and Honey looks pensive. "Do you think Ezekiel will be offended if I ask why they haven't blocked off the bridges?"
He startles enough that he puts his feet down off the dash. "What do you mean?"
"There's a river right there, a natural barrier. If you block the bridges, it keeps at least some of the population on the DC metro side." She glances at him, obviously puzzled. "Not that it's my idea, originally. When Tim's group came down through Chattanooga, they blocked the last two remaining bridges with vehicles. Our teams have made a run up there and checked and there's a hellacious amount of walkers on the Tennessee side, but they can't swim. It cuts off one of the major population centers from coming down into our territories."
"Huh. No, I don't think he'll be offended. I'm guessing his people are just far enough away from it that no one's thought about a blockade. Other groups might move them, though."
"Yeah, but they might not, and it wouldn't be that hard to check periodically. It's not like the communities here really need the DC side for supplies, not yet. And when you do, you can always just sit behind the barriers and splat away from safety. We had a herd of about four hundred come at our walls back at Thanksgiving. It was like shooting fish in a barrel."
"I'll bring it up, if you want, but honestly, he likes you enough you'll always have a place at the Kingdom if you get bored in Georgia."
She smiles at him a little sadly. "Do you really think I'd pick the Kingdom over Hilltop if I left Georgia?"
Oh. He knows she considers them friends, and he's had enough of conversations with Tim and Christopher at different times to know that Honey's pretty fierce about her friends, but there it is, right out in the open. He's not sure how to respond, so he smiles until hers brightens and she returns most of her attention to the road again.
~*~ RG ~*~
Rick watches Carl slip through the supper line and glance toward the table where many of the teenagers congregate. He's surprised, just a little, when his son angles for his table instead. He figured a day mostly apart from his little girlfriend would have his son heading that way at least for the meal time. Rosita's not here yet, caught up in some engine modification project they have going down at the garage, and with Shane away and his team with their families, he figured on a semi-solitary meal.
Carl slides his tray down opposite and smiles. He thinks the boy looks a little shellshocked too. He can understand the feeling. With all the complicated mess of what led to Judith's very existence, he didn't expect to feel so attached to the girl. He's glad, because his honest fear was resentment, and what kind of grown man feels that way towards a child? Instead, all he can see in her is Carl's sister, who bears miniature features of two of his lifelong friends.
"Not back at the infirmary yet?" he asks. He knows Merle led the boys away just in case things got emotional, but it's been a couple of hours and he really figured Carl would camp out with the others once he was allowed back in. With the late lunch they were all eating, he doesn't expect anyone else to come to supper. Carl eating again is just typically teenage behavior. Rick is sometimes glad there's not a grocery bill involved in feeding the growing boy anymore, although he can be amused at himself since his son is guaranteed enough to eat here.
"Figured Mom's going to talk them into letting her go home soon enough, and I'll be there all night." He smiles down at his chowder and bread and pushes the food around a little with his spoon instead of eating. "You're okay with her, aren't you, Dad?"
He reaches across the table to tap Carl's hand so he looks up. "Son, I always promised your Uncle Shane that one day, I'd be the fun uncle who spoiled his kid rotten. It's just unique that she's also your sister."
His son laughs. "Does that mean we get to team up in spoiling her?"
"We certainly can, and we will. We just might have to be more creative than sending her home with half her weight in gummy bears."
"Right now, that's not a lot of bears. Was I that tiny?"
Rick shakes his head. "Not really. But you took a little longer to be born, so you had a few extra pounds. When babies are that little, even a pound seems like a lot. She'll grow fast, too. I'm pretty sure that Matthew wasn't much heavier when he was born and look at how big he is already."
Carl turns to look for Patricia, who has the baby in a carrier against her chest. All that can be really seen of the sleeping baby is a wild tuft of blond hair, but Rick thinks Carl's around him enough up close to understand the comparison. The boy nods and actually eats a couple bites of his chowder before looking back at Rick.
"You gonna have more kids with Rosita one day?"
He wonders how long Carl's been curious about that, and he honestly isn't sure how much to say. In the end, he decides on honesty. "Rosita and I aren't yet to the point to talk about any children, but even when we do, there's the possibility it might not happen."
"Why's that?"
"Your mom's wanted another baby since you were barely out of diapers yourself, Carl. Even wanted us to go see a specialist in Atlanta about it when things were still good between us. But I didn't want to go, since the tests aren't exactly the sort of thing you want a doctor poking around it. I was too prideful for it, when I should have at least helped your mom find some answers. And now that your mom's got Judith, well, it kinda tells me maybe I shoulda seen that specialist."
"Like with Bobby's mom? He told me one time about how his mom and dad spent a whole lot of money for him to end up with his little brothers."
Rick remembers his son's friend and Lori's gossip through the grapevine. The couple ended up with a second mortgage on their house to finance the multiple rounds of IVF before they finally got the twins. But it makes it easier in explaining to Carl, since he's got the general understanding. "Yeah, about like that."
"Can't they still do whatever now? At least check?"
His son's still just young enough to not quite grasp the embarrassment factor involved. "Maybe. I'd have to ask. I'm honestly not sure how complicated it might be." Well, he's got a little bit of an idea, but that creepy but interesting biology lab in college where they had the bull semen samples was a lot of years ago. He can't quite picture asking one of the doctors here, people he shares meals and chores with, for that particular assistance.
"Well, you should think about it. Because Rosita's real young. I'm betting she's gonna want a baby one day too." Carl's expression is a little more knowledgeable about adult interactions that Rick really likes, but he thinks his son's got the right idea there. Rosita is young, and if what they have now is going to be long term, they need to know where they both stand on the idea of kids aside from the fact she's assured him she's got an IUD that's good for at least another year.
"How did you get old enough to be handing out advice to your own father?" Rick teases, hoping to deflect the serious nature of the discussion.
Carl just laughs.
~*~ Jesus ~*~
Even Jesus, with his general fearlessness about heights, isn't entirely comfortable watching Honey scale the Kingdom's water tower with Danny. The younger man's admitted to a youth spent freeclimbing, but Honey keeps up with him as if she's long done the same. They're over a hundred feet in the air to reach the platform around the tank itself, and that's with carrying equipment the repeater needs. In the end, they decided the antenna would go on top of the building that will house the main radio, with the repeater for a boost on the tower, rather than running cable down the tower. One of Ezekiel's more electronically inclined people is up there with them, watching as Honey does the welding required to permanently attach the equipment. The main reason she's up there is that Danny's not as good with the portable welder.
With just the repeater up there, if the tower ever does fall, they don't lose their antenna too and should still be able to contact the Virginia communities at least. Honey's pretty certain she'll have them talking to Georgia within the hour.
He turns away from the sight to step into the small office Ezekiel's designated for the main radio station. Although Danny's their acknowledged tech expert, he doesn't think that Tim and Christopher are that far behind him. They've got most of the setup done, with redundant radios and equipment. It's more deluxe that what Hilltop has, but he can't fuss since he knows his home will get the upgrade on their return now that they have the surplus of equipment. The antenna's already in place atop the building, so they're mainly waiting now for the tower crew to finish and Danny to return to finalize the setup.
"My people will be absorbed in the radio books you brought back for weeks, if not months," Ezekiel says behind him.
Jesus turns and smiles. "Jerry tell you about the air rifles, too?"
The king nods, absently watching the two Georgian men set up the workspace. "It is an elegant solution, even more so than bow and arrow."
"Honey thinks you should block off the DC bridges," he says, remembering their earlier conversation. "To keep the area with the larger dead population from drifting over to Virginia. Apparently, they've done similar at Chattanooga."
"That would not be a difficult task to undertake, and it does make a lot of sense."
Approaching footsteps signal that Honey and Danny are back. He slips past to recheck the setup on the desk, while she snags Jesus to use as a personal warmer. Ezekiel seems to find it amusing, so he goes along with it.
"Alright, we want to test Hilltop or Georgia?" Danny asks.
Honey scoffs at him as if it's a question. It's right at time she normally checks in with her home. She gives Jesus a squeeze and goes to take over the radio.
When she rolls out the greeting in Chamorro, he explains to Ezekiel about the language used as a code unto itself. He doubts Ezekiel has enough people fluent is less populous dialects to imitate it though.
The answering voice isn't the man he's heard before, and it startles Honey into English. "Daddy? Is everything okay with the baby?"
There's a rich chuckle over the airwaves and Jesus realizes they're about to speak with one of the primary leaders of Homestead, as does Ezekiel. "Everything is fine," her father replies in English. "The baby came this morning. Healthy girl, six pounds, two ounces. They're calling her Judith."
Honey's on her feet, dragging Logan into a hug and twirling him. She's got a silly grin on her face, which he knows is partly from how worried she's been.
"Hannah Catherine?" comes from the radio, then a bit of laugher. "She's celebratin', isn't she?"
Jesus picks up the mic and replies, "Yes, sir. She's whirling Logan around in a happy dance."
"New voice there. You the young man who's been playing tour guide to Virginia for my girl and her friends? And you can drop the sir. Just makes me feel old."
"Yes. My name's Paul Rovia." The Jesus nickname just doesn't seem to fit the occasion, introducing himself to someone who runs a survivor colony.
"Merle Dixon, as you probably know. Thank you for providing her a little more backup. There's a lot of folks back here that wouldn't know what to do without her."
He looks to where Christopher, Tim, and Danny are getting excited hugs and smiles. He can understand the sentiment. "I have Ezekiel, ruler of the Kingdom, here with me."
"Good to hear there are more survivors still out there," Merle says
Ezekiel is a little clumsy, but manages the reply. "It is unfortunate so much geography separates our communities. Your daughter has been giving us a lot of good information and training."
"Good to hear. There will come a day when knowledge will be more important than ammunition."
Honey returns to the station as the two men exchange pleasantries, and Jesus gets a happy hug as well.
He wishes finally speaking to Honey's remote family didn't remind him she'll be returning to them far too soon.
~*~ LG ~*~
In the end, Lori wins the argument to go to her own home when Cricket offers to bunk down there. She feels guilty keeping her from her family for the night, but Cricket just grins and says helping spoil a new baby is no hardship. Because Judith's very healthy, but having the expected temperature regulation issue from her early birth, she finds herself with additional overnight helpers. She would have invited Shane and Scout to stay in any case.
The emotions from the birth are settled more. Judith's here, safely, with no surgery involved. It opens up so much more of a future for her as a mother, to know that she can give birth without extreme medical intervention. It was both better and worse than expected. With the c-section, she remembers not seeing Carl for almost two hours, which devastated her because not seeing him made it hard for her to believe he arrived.
This time, everything was so completely different, and that's ignoring the fact that there's an extra set of parents involved for the birth. Holding Judith for the first hour of her life... nothing can replace that.
"You okay?" Daryl's voice is pitched soft, since not everyone napped like she and the girls did.
She shifts a little, uncomfortable in entirely different ways post-birth this time, but smiles as he lies down on the bed to slide his arms around her. She's supposed be sleeping, since the baby just nursed and is currently using Shane as her personal warming system. All the kids are in bed, with Anaya and Abby actually sharing a bed, and Cricket borrowing the top bunk. Carl's reluctance to leave the room once they got home nearly had him sleeping on the couch once he realized Shane and Scout had an air mattress.
"Yeah, just can't quite drift off. I don't remember getting to rest this much the first time."
Daryl laughs quietly. "It is the benefit of having an extra set of parents. We can take it in cycles, other than you being the only one who can feed her."
He's smiling and she realizes that for the first time in their relationship, there's no baby bump in between them. It's a novel feeling, to feel his hand on her hip and realize he still has the habit of stroking her belly with his thumb. "That's gonna be her normal, isn't it? Knowing she's got easily a dozen people at hand for anything she needs."
"Yeah. And her mama best realize that applies to her too." He leans in and kisses her, sweet and lingering without any heat, just that general need to be close she's often gotten from him.
"You've got to be exhausted," she says. She's slept after each round of nursing, and Cricket's been encouraging her to nurse every two hours, but stretching to no more than three for the night cycle if the baby will tolerate it. It takes about twenty minutes for each feed, and she enjoys lying with the baby another half an hour or so before letting someone else take over the kangaroo care while she naps. It feels odd, leaving the baby in nothing but her diaper, little cap, and socks when she's having problems staying warm, but she doesn't think Judith's had much chance to shiver with being tucked against everyone's bare chests with a warm blanket folded over her tiny form.
"Little bit. But I'll get in a good stretch of sleep. Shane says he'll bring her to you when she needs to nurse again, and Scout will take her next. That'll give me four hours or more. Then we'll rotate again. Carol's got all of us off duty for a week, Carl included."
Since she's probably the only one of the three who can't seem to fall asleep on command, she supposes it won't be too hard on them. She wasn't able to nurse Carl, so she's trusting in Cricket's knowledge on the subject. From Patricia's prolific ability to nurse following the same beginning steps, she knows it's the right track. She feels damn near pampered and thinks that the other women are at a disadvantage of not having the second set of parents.
She yawns and instead of moving to her other side like they usually spoon together, she moves as close as she can to tuck against his chest facing him. She likes the novelty of the position and drifts off to sleep.
If she dreams of a future with even more children, these with blonde locks and vivid blue eyes, it's because it's the first time she's believed she'll be able to have a child with Daryl. It's truly possible now.
~*~ SW ~*~
Shane's sprawled on the air mattress, not yet asleep when Scout makes her way back into the living room with the baby tucked to her bare chest. She's appropriated one of Daryl's flannel winter shirts instead of a blanket, wearing it buttoned over Judith. He's glad that she thought of the shirt, because she gets cold easily herself due to the burn scars. They keep their cabin warmer than most at night just for that reason, so she doesn't have to layer to sleep.
She sits on the couch, hands still cupped around the baby on her chest. She's talking softly, words almost indistinct. He's fluent enough now to recognize she's telling Judith a story about young women catching a monster fish with nets of their hair after the hunters failed. He remembers the tale from one of the books and smiles to himself. Trust Scout to start her out on tales of women getting things sorted.
He drifts off to sleep listening to his wife's storytelling to their daughter, feeling the most content he ever has in his life. Anaya's making progress and Judith's safe, so all's right with his world.
~*~ CP ~*~
Carol is overjoyed that the baby is safe and healthy and Lori managed the birth she wanted. It's overshadowed just a little by the proof today that there's not yet a future baby in her life.
Maybe it's for the best to wait a little bit, to let the baby boom pass. She thinks there might be such a thing as too many babies at once. With giving both parents time off, it's going to drop a lot of folks off work rosters come September. But this is a new world. She'll give parental leave if she damn well wants to, not that the council will complain.
Merle slides into bed, warm and a little damp from his shower. "I'm starting to think Honey's got the team lingering up there to convince this young man to come home with them."
"You might be right. Christopher says they're rather close." Carol made a point to be present during a morning report just the other day when the nurse was most likely to be the one reporting in.
"I'm kinda split on the idea. Our latest child we haven't met yet is awfully attached to the man by Honey's own admission to Eugene. And he's smart enough to be polite when I spoke to him earlier for a minute. But it also sounds like someone capable is needed at that home base of his."
"I foresee trips north in our future." It might be exciting to travel that far. She's never been outside of Georgia.
"If they do get that biofuel rig going again after moving it here, I'll feel better about that, knowing we can replace what we use."
"With all our resident geniuses working on it, I'm sure they will." She leans in to kiss him tenderly.
"Eugene mentioned something about considering the railroads too, for future travel or trade."
"Man's a treasure trove of ideas." He truly is, but unsurprising, considering how well read he is. Honey asked her to make sure he's not isolated while she's gone. Carol just wishes she knew for sure if she's caretaking her daughter's boyfriend or her buddy. Eugene's miserable without Honey either way.
"How close are they on the insulin idea? He got the lab set up, right?"
Considering Merle broke off other projects to construct the lab building, she understands his curiosity. "Yeah. He called it a scientist's wet dream, then spent ten minutes apologizing for his vulgarity."
Merle laughs. "Man's too smart to risk your bad side. Gotta give him credit."
"They'll start the first trial when Jazz puts his next round of lambs to the freezers. Hershel's already got a team to harvest the pancreas."
"How long do we have on the insulin supply?"
"Thanks to two hospitals with lingering electricity, we have another year's worth, but eventually it'll expire, refrigerated or not."
"Should be plenty of time to recreate something a 1920's doctor could do."
He's right on that. She cuddles into him, tired by her early start to an exciting day. He rubs her back and she luxuriates in the feel of how his big hands make her feel delicate.
'Love you, Uncle Grandpa." She grins against his chest.
"Hey, now, none of that. We're rednecks, not hillbillies." He kisses the top of her head. "She's an amazing little scrap of new person, ain't she?"
Carol loves the depth of pride in his voice. No one hearing him would know that baby isn't Dixon by blood.
"She really is. It's going to be different, grandparenting from the very beginning." Not to mention that the parents are so close to Carol in age.
"Just means more time to spoil her," Merle muses. "And I love you, too, darlin'. Get some sleep."
He's dozing off within minutes of that, and she just enjoys his warmth for a while. Maybe this month wasn't their month for a baby, but it will be someday soon.
