A/N: We are now caught up with Ao3, so chapter posting will be every few days instead of daily.

April 16, 2011

~*~ Olivia ~*~

Olivia hadn't woken up next to a man in a while even before the apocalypse. Her last relationship ended nearly a year before the sickness started, and the few forays into dating didn't extend to overnight stays.

She certainly didn't set out for it last night. Homestead's Friday night tradition of music and dance turned the community center first into something out of a teen romcom, with the teenagers enjoying themselves far more than those movie teens ever did. But at nine, the under sixteens went home and the vibe shifted toward the adults' enjoyment.

Enid left among a group of younger teens and seemed in good hands, so Olivia accepted the drink offered and expected an evening as a wallflower.

It didn't turn out quite like that. Once Christopher asked her to dance and established that she was a good dancer and enjoyed it, she didn't lack for partners. Most of them were taken, but she didn't mind.

After the third time one of the unavailable men passed her to dance with Christopher's brother Bryce, they both understood the matchmaking scheme. He sweetly offered to walk her home. She boldly offered an alternative.

She's still not sure where that side of her came from.

He's still asleep, spooned against her side with his left arm around her. It puts the wedding ring he still wears on display, but she disregards the widower's habit to gently activate the glow function on his watch.

"What time is it?" he mumbles.

Not still asleep then, or she woke him.

"About six. I should get back."

He slides his arm away, releasing her, but his hand stops on her hip. "You don't have to rush off."

She turns her head to get a good look at him. He's a handsome man, but he doesn't look much like his brother. He has darker skin and hair, with his eyes a wealth of color that makes it hard to settle on calling them green.

"Enid may wonder where I am."

"The kids were planning a big sleepover since y'all are leaving soon. Most of them will sleep past breakfast."

It reminds her he's responsible for a teenager of his own. It was hard to miss last night when he led her back to a family apartment where the children's bunk area is unmistakably decorated for a teen girl. "Is that where Audrey is?"

He nod, as his thumb strokes absently along the soft flesh of her hip. "Pisses Alaina off that I allow it, since there are boys there."

"Why do you call her Alaina?" Olivia met the woman and realized she wasn't the nicest of ladies, but her fondness for Christopher is sweet enough. He certainly seems to care for his mother.

"She's Christopher's mother, not mine."

Oh. That could explain a lot. "Is that why Audrey stays with you?"

"Mostly. She started out staying with Alaina, when housing was more overcrowded, but that wasn't a good long-term solution. Carol put me in the queue for when this opened up.

"My older sister didn't get along well with Alaina." He chuckles a little, a wry smile crossing his bearded features. "That's an understatement. Amber never forgave her for being the other woman who stole our daddy away."

"I could see where that could cause problems."

"It didn't help that my mama didn't have much of an idea on being a single mother to a boy and let Dad take custody of me when they divorced after Alaina got pregnant."

Damn. Poor Amber. She had her family split right down the middle. "How old were you?"

"Six. Amber was ten. Was the scandal of the town back then. Dad was the police chief. Knocking up the college girl babysitting his kids didn't go over well."

"Did he stay police chief?" In a small Southern town, a scandal like that could go either way.

"All the way til he died of a heart attack when I was sixteen. Amber offered for me to come live with her then, but most days Alaina and I are generally fond of each other. She's a decent woman, just with a prickly personality."

Olivia hasn't really met the woman, so she'll take his word for it. "Everyone always has more complicated family dynamics than I do. I was a late life baby to college professors."

"Only child then?"

"Yes. My parents passed within months of each other when I was almost thirty." They've reversed the dating process it seems, having all the usual first date conversation naked in bed the morning after.

His hand still on her hip doesn't indicate he's in any hurry for her to go. To test the theory, she rolls from her back to face him where he's laying on his right side. It gets her a better look at his pretty eyes too.

He resettles his hand on the other hip now, gaze flickering briefly down to exposed skin. She reaches out and traces the lines of the USMC-themed tattoo on his left pectoral, smiling as he shivers ever so slightly under her touch. She's always had a thing for good ink.

"You don't have to be so careful to avoid the other side," he says huskily.

It seemed like she should avoid touching the memorial tattoo he has on the right side of his chest. All of his other ink is stereotypically masculine, bold colors and mostly Marine themed.

But the tattoo she's now exploring is mostly pastels, with pink and purple musical notes dancing around the graceful teal ribbon intertwined with a treble clef. A date woven into the ribbon shows November, more than a year before.

"How?"

She doesn't need to expand on the question.

"Ovarian cancer. Was stage three already when they caught it, about a year after we got married. She fought it for two years."

No wonder he's still mourning. So little healthy time together. There's nothing to be said that's fitting. She traces the ribbon for a moment before looking back up at him.

He's actually smiling, just a little, and she wonders if she's passed a test of some sort by being willing to acknowledge his late wife's continued importance to him.

"Can make breakfast for us later, if you want."

It takes her a minute to realize why it would be later and she smiles. "Sure."

Then he nudges a knee to part hers and all thoughts of breakfast are gone.

~*~ MD ~*~

Merle's overseen the loading of the supplies they decided were easier to just transport to Hilltop. It's going to take a big enough group that Scout considered suspending the search. In the end, the council voted to sustain the search and cut back on supply runs until the travelers return.

The biggest debate he's had is whether or not to take a tractor or risk finding one. It's a heavy haul that will tank fuel mileage. Jesus knows where similar equipment can be found, but he can't guarantee it's in working order after nearly a year idle.

In the end, only the attachments are going, like the posthole digger and fence stretcher. Between himself and Honey, they should be able to get anything diesel up and running.

"Stop looking so anxious," Carol says, wrapping her arms around his waist. "They'll be fine here while we're gone."

"I'm having uncomfortable flashbacks of the last time I was separated from a large portion of my family."

"This time you'll be able to stay in communication. It's a completely different scenario."

He sighs, knowing she's right. The 'children' staying behind are all adults, too, and more than qualified to keep themselves and others safe. With Hershel going along to do a bit of veterinary assessment for their northern neighbors, they're going to be down to two council members at Homestead most of each week. Lenore's finally given in and taken a seat, although she swears it's a temporary position.

"Gonna do my best to keep it to two weeks."

"I know you will. We just need to be safe and don't rush it."

"You still okay with the kids going? I haven't told them yet." Still time for her to change her mind, after all. Cricket's more than able to keep an eye on the three youngest.

"It'll be good for them. Sophia's determined to follow in her sisters' footsteps, and I don't want her sheltered. Jazz could use a reminder he's competent outside the walls."

And it goes unsaid that Logan's going to want the extra time with Jesus.

He tosses the covered clipboard into the driver's seat of the truck he's taking and tugs her into a lingering kiss.

"It'll be good to have you up there if they make contact with Alexandria again. More authority, less mayhem," she muses, staying cuddled against him.

He laughs. "You think there would've been less mayhem with me present to them harboring an abuser?"

"Then? No. But with him more or less neutered? It'll be interesting to see how it plays out."

"That sort of creative twist is why I'm glad you're going along. I suspect they'll end up thinking whatever fix you came up with is all their own idea by the time you get done."

"Are you saying I'm manipulative?"

"When you think it's in someone's best interests, yes. It's a compliment, darlin', promise."

It's one of the things he admires about her, taking the skills learned managing an abuser and turning them to bettering their family and community.

"I'm just glad to go scope out things for myself. Got a feeling our ties to Hilltop aren't going to get any looser in coming years."

She doesn't elaborate, just smiles that knowing smile, and he decides he'll leave it be... for now.

~*~ Jesus ~*~

Jesus smiles in welcome as Carol sits next to him at the picnic table. He's been idly watching the warm-ups on the field, since even Honey's out there helping.

"Everything all loaded up?" he asks. They came for insulin. They're leaving with expansion capability for Hilltop.

"All but the livestock. We'll load them in the morning."

"The generosity you're displaying is going to mean a lot to Hilltop."

He and Olivia used the radio to bring the rest of their council into the loop. Michael Fisher is unsurprised, but these are the people who saved his life. The others agreed, but he doesn't think Gregory will believe until trucks pull into Hilltop.

"Just continue to grow a good community. There aren't enough of us left to be selfish anymore."

She studies him for a long moment, to the point he feels like squirming despite the fact that her expression is kind, almost motherly.

"People I love may live there one day. There's some selfish interest, if I'm honest."

He frowns, not sure what she means. "Logan?"

"That one's almost a given. We love him, but as soon as he's allowed to decide more of his future, he's going to spend at least part of it with you."

"I wanted him to have a better life, a family life, here." Even as an apprentice, it distresses him that Logan might separate from the care he gets as a Dixon.

"He'll have that. But that's also why he'll be pulling his own strings eventually, and probably sooner than the old world would allow. But he isn't the only one I want Hilltop safe for."

"Surely Honey's just teasing about moving to Virginia."

"I think that she's going to come to a point where she needs to be out of the nest to finish growing into the woman she wants to be. In the old life, she wouldn't still be living a stone's throw from her parents."

"You sound resigned to it."

"Perhaps I am. But having a stable community to be part of, that's what she'll need. And I would prefer her to be somewhere that I know there's at least one other person devoted to her."

"She would have Eugene if she immigrated."

"And as much as I admire the man's mind, he's never going to have the scope of the world that you do. More importantly, he lacks the charisma to shape reality where it needs to be."

He's not sure how to respond, so he watches the teens training with the children and tries to absorb it. He isn't really thinking of where his gaze goes the most until he feels a soft hand slide over his.

He startles, looking over at her.

"How old are you, exactly?" she asks.

That causes him to flush, because his carefully hidden intrigue didn't get past Carol. "I'll be twenty-two next month."

When people assumed he was older, because of the beard and the self-assurance he projected after arriving at Hilltop, he just let it ride. Carol's the first person to actually ask his age.

"That explains your willingness to accept Honey as competent, I suppose," she says. She gives his hand a little squeeze, her own gaze going across the field. "What were you doing, before?"

"Junior year of college. I got a scholarship and figured I'd better make the best of it." Not a lot of foster kids got a full ride to a place like George Washington, after all.

"What did you study?"

"Sociology."

From her smile, he thinks she figured on something similar. He hadn't decided on post-college, other than he was going to do something with kids like himself. Not every kid got the opportunities that he did.

"Carol?"

"Yes?"

"Why were you asking my age?" He's about ninety percent certain, but he also needs to know he hasn't done anything to offend Honey's mother.

"He likes you, and that's an unusual state for him." She still has his hand, but the contact seems to be intended to reassure, much like Honey's.

"He's always friendly to everyone." The statement is a little confusing.

"Friendly, yes. Being polite is as much a part of Jasper's nature as being outgoing is part of Honey's or pragmatic is part of Scout's. But the number of people he goes out of his way to spend time with is limited."

Jesus thinks it over, realizing that even with the non-related children that flock around Jazz, it's the kids who seek him out, not the other way around. But the teenager actually has actually sought out his company a few times.

"Is this about last night?"

He did stay at the community center past the younger ones leaving, but a half hour in, he was reminded that he's never really cared for that sort of socialization. He suspects there may have been an opportunity to not spend the night alone, but it simply didn't appeal.

He ended up leaving and heading back for the basement room, only to find it rather packed with youngsters watching a movie. Jazz vacated the couch to offer him the spot, but he didn't move far. As soon as Jesus sat and Logan squirmed into the space left between Jesus and Sophia, Jazz actually spent the rest of the movie leaned jointly against his legs and Sophia's.

"He fell asleep using you as a prop," Carol says softly. "And you looked pretty content with that."

"Carol, I wouldn't…" It's not even a sentence to complete. While he did notice Jazz's looks early in his visit, he likes to think it was no further than he did with noting Danny's looks back when Honey played gypsy or any other male in passing.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm not implying anything like that."

He meets her gaze and realizes she really isn't.

"All I'm pointing out is that you're one of his people now, and not in the same way as Shane or Eugene. Just take care with that, no matter what the future brings for it."

He frowns as she leaves him with a pat on his knee, and he's still frowning just a little when Honey and Eugene join him. She's sweaty from helping the kids warm up, grinning at first until she sees his expression.

"What's got you thinking so hard?"

"I think Carol just implied your brother has a crush on me?"

"Well, I thought he was only interested in girls, but maybe she knows something I don't."

Eugene clears his throat, drawing both their attention. "While you were traveling the Commonwealth of Virginia, Jasper sought my advice on a romantic matter. I suggested he might not be interested in girls, based on the evidence he presented to me at the time."

The idea that Eugene would be a source of advice for a romantic matter is a little odd to Jesus, but he supposes some questions are easier to ask to adjacent family than siblings sometimes.

Honey nudges Eugene with her elbow. "And what did he answer?"

The older man blushes a little at the reminder of the incomplete answer. "He indicated that gender was not a concern in such matters for him. He did not ask me to keep the conversation private, so I referred the issue to your sister as best to have further conversations with him."

"And Cricket would have told our parents. Huh."

Jesus supposes he's a safe enough crush for the teenager to have, especially with several states and the buffer of enough years between them that nothing will come of it.

He's not entirely sure he likes the analytical look Honey turns his way. It's not the normal soft affectionate expression she tends to wear when he's involved. "I already told Carol it's a non-issue."

That fades the shrewd look completely from her face. Unlike Carol, who turned comforting at this point in the conversation, Honey looks worried and hugs him close. "I would never think that of you, Paul," she says softly.

It's the reversion to his given name that really settles it for him that she didn't intend any harm. He thinks she's only used it twice before, once during a late night where he told her of his past history in group homes and another the day they left him behind him Virginia.

"What were you thinking then?" He leans into the hug, glancing briefly to see that Eugene seems unbothered by the fact that she's practically squeezing him in half.

"Mainly that I hate to wish you alone for another two or three years."

Oh. That particular math seems to imply that she likes the idea of her brother's crush. He decides to let the subject die though, because it's already weird enough. He doesn't want it to color his friendship with Jazz.

Instead, he just presses a kiss to her temple and then turns his attention back to the pre-game practices.

He's content as he is.

~*~ CP ~*~

Carol rechecks her duffel, feeling both a little thrill and a little apprehension about the upcoming trip. The overly cautious part of her nature is trying to figure out why she's traveling as a pregnant woman with the world as it is. The part of her that decided to take charge of her life and contribute rather than be a burden reminds her that Michonne was doing supply runs until this week.

She's healthy and progressing well with the pregnancy, except for the need for afternoon naps. Those are easy enough to plan for, even on the road.

Besides, if she doesn't go, it means pulling Christopher off the search teams, as well as being separated from Merle and the younger half of their brood for weeks.

"You realize that we can probably scrounge up almost anything you don't remember to take along?"

Merle sounds amused, but she knows he worries too. She didn't miss that he's checked his own duffel and overseen the kids' packing too. Only Honey escaped oversight, due to her prior experience.

"I know, but I hate to be unprepared."

He slips his arms around her waist and kisses her shoulder, left bare by the thin straps of her nightgown. "Darlin', your worst unprepared day will still outdo just about anyone here. Relax. Get some rest. I know you're probably not driving and can nap on the way, but we've got variables."

She knows that. While Jesus brought his people down in an RV in three days, they're traveling north with live animals. Everyone wants to try to move even faster. Even with the soundproofing they've done, nothing's perfect and the animals need air flow.

"You really think we can do it in two days?"

"Based on Abraham and Jesus's assessment of the roads, yeah. A herd could throw a wrench in the works, but we've got the worst-case scenario plan there."

She hates that that plan is to abandon the animals, but depending on the size of the herd, they might still be able to save them. Their supply teams have taken down groups of fifty or sixty regularly enough without any special preparation.

They're taking far more than the initial half dozen or so that Jazz suggested when the idea began. Debate with the Hilltop council and their own reveal that with help to expand the secure area, they can take on the entire extra flock Jazz is willing to give.

They're going to be a bit of a Noah's arc on the other animals. Hilltop has chickens, but no other poultry, and only two goats plus their milk cow and heifer.

They can't do all that much about the cows already there, and no one's wanting to put less experienced farmers in charge of a bull, but they're sending a grown billy goat and the ram lamb. Combined with a pregnant cow, two pregnant goats, and a pair of the female Anatolian pups that are half-grown and mostly trained for sheep, they'll have a good start on their own herd and its guardians.

"I'm definitely not sad to see half of the geese go," she mutters. A total of two dozen poultry are leaving between the geese, ducks, and turkeys.

"You're just glad to see that one pest of a gander be ornery somewhere else." His habit of smacking the hell out of any intruders in the pasture has gotten him on everyone's list. They're recommending Hilltop keep him long enough to expand the flock of geese a few months and then make him a holiday dinner.

She lets him lure her toward bed. Everyone will be up early, because the animals need to be loaded before they can get on the road. As much as they hope it'll go smoothly, those used to how livestock balks at being put on trailers warn her it may end up a comedy of errors for a little while.

Merle lets her get settled before he laughs softly.

"What's so funny?"

"Just remembered Honey telling me about that damned tiger they have up at the Kingdom."

"No. I don't care if I have to duct tape him into a closet in one of the RVs, but Jasper Benjamin is inot/i petting a tiger."

Merle just laughs even more.

~*~ SW ~*~

"Gonna feel weird, sitting around home for a week," Shane remarks. He's glad of Scout's years of military service meaning that her packing for her time on search takes up very little of the hours left together.

She smiles at him from where she's tucking an updated Polaroid of the girls in her kit. "Like your team will sit still."

She's right, because he's already assigned work to all eleven of his people, team leaders included. Might be a little selfish that he's working a breakfast shift, giving him more of his day free to spend with the girls than he would normally get. The ladies shifting down to help on the farm don't seem to mind.

"A week of cooking, even for this many people, seems more vacation than not."

Being on the road, on constant alert for anything out of place, wears on the nerves. He's almost wishing they suspended the search entirely for a few weeks, to let folks recuperate more.

At the same time, he understands that crawling unknown in the back of her mind. It's how the deputies felt on one of the rare occasions King County had a murder or rape they didn't have a suspect for. Until you have the answers, the bad things are what you think of first.

She crawls onto the bed, but motions for him to roll over. It's become a bit of a tradition, the long sessions of massage before one of them leaves on the road. Sometimes it ends in sex, but more often, it's just a need to soak up all the contact they can.

Stretched out on his stomach, it lets his mind roam.

"Anaya seem more settled to you the last few days?"

"Yeah. Kind of like she purged what was lingering in her mind."

The test will be if she can manage to stay in her own bed this week, without any nightmares. Nightmares are rare when both parents are home, and she actually managed all the nights he's been home in her own bed so far.

"I'm going to try to take her, Abby, and Carl fishing this week." They actually have a pretty good place for it now, with the horse farm across the river putting fencing on both sides. The bridge they use for the farm trucks makes for a good fishing platform.

"Do a family fish fry, maybe?"

"Could. Start teaching her early enough, maybe Anaya won't set the kitchen on fire."

That earns him a slap on the ass cheek, but he just raises to his elbows to grin at her. There's a shift in her body language that tells him he's probably at the end of the massage he's enjoying, but he doesn't mind when he's rolled over for a kiss instead.

Loving his wife is one of his all-time favorite ways to relax for sleep.