AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

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RJ was at the age where he accepted any and every piece of information that didn't really concern him without a problem. His interests only really lie in getting Daryl to play with him. If that meant he needed to spend a few seconds acknowledging the presence of a baby he couldn't fully understand in the belly of a woman that he didn't know that well, he could pat her belly and offer hugs all around before running off for the toys that Daryl told him to collect for a play date that would occur at an unspecified "later time."

Judith had a few more questions about the whole thing. Michonne had tried to be as delicate as she could, but she fully believed in answering Judith's questions. She didn't believe in sheltering her daughter, and she knew that Carol agreed. Sheltering children, in this world, was dangerous.

Still, despite her curiosity, Judith wasn't a judgmental girl and she wasn't slow to understand anything. She accepted, quickly and without much struggle, Michonne's explanation that Carol and the King had loved one another—but not in the way that Mommies and Daddies usually loved one another. They had loved each other as very good friends. The different love—a special love—which Michonne tried to explain delicately to Judith, had existed between Daryl and Carol alone. And now, it seemed, the two of them had chosen to live together and to become parents to a baby girl that Carol was growing to welcome into the world.

Judith had required the normal reassurance that the King was well—and maybe would even visit Alexandria one day, but they'd surely see him when they went to visit the Kingdom soon—and that Henry was pleased to have an ever-growing family.

More family, Judith understood, was a wonderful thing.

And the few babies born into Alexandria already served to give her some understanding of where babies came from and, since Michonne believed in softening the world a little for her daughter, but not in hiding any truth from her, how they came to be.

"I don't feel anything," Judith declared, searching Carol's belly with her fingers.

Carol was a good sport about the children's responses. She'd accepted RJ's hug, his hard series of pats on her belly, and the fact that he had little else to say in regard to a baby that he could neither see nor play with. She was accepting, now, Judith's desire to explore every inch of her belly and to satisfy herself that she knew all she wished to know.

"Judith," Michonne said softly, "do you want to ask…" she hesitated a moment, hoping she chose correctly how to promote this relationship, "your aunt Carol…" Carol smiled at Michonne's choice of words. She didn't protest. "Do you want to ask her…if you're being a little too rough or…demanding?"

Carol smiled and shook her head at Michonne.

"She's fine," Carol assured her. She smiled at Judith and patted the little girl's back where she sat beside her on the couch. "You're fine."

Michonne let her eyes drift to Daryl.

The three of them had a great deal of history. They had more history than Michonne would ever care to recount to any of the people that she still considered, by comparison, veritable strangers in her life. Daryl and Carol both knew who she was back before she'd fully come back into herself. They knew who she had been when Andrea had only started to bring her back to life—at least that was how it felt to have the woman breathing something like new life into her. Andrea had taught her how to care about people again.

Daryl and Carol knew, too, what it had been like for Michonne to lose Andrea. Michonne still thanked them both for their participation in Andrea's burial when they'd brought her back, wrapped in a tarp, from Woodbury. Carol had understood Michonne's need to clean her—despite the horror of seeing her as she was—and to care for her. She had helped without question and without judgment. Daryl had understood Michonne's aching need to see her respected, and he had carried her as gently as if she were alive to lower her into the grave that he'd dug.

They had seen her through the mourning, as family, and they had been happy for her when she'd found love with Rick. They had been there for her since Rick's passing, but in very different ways and only in pockets of time here and there. Life had been difficult and overwhelming and all-consuming for all three of them.

But Michonne still felt that they would always be there for her—they would be her family—if and when she needed them. It was her job, she realized, to seek them as much as it was theirs to seek her.

Michonne knew the pasts of both of them, too. She knew, at least, what they chose to share with her. She knew some of what they'd both suffered, and she knew of Carol's heartbreaking losses. Every child that had come into her life had been removed, in some way, except for Henry. Even Michonne had taken over affection from Judith that might have once been owed to Carol for the care she gave the girl before Judith could fully understand everything.

Michonne was thankful to both of these people—her family members—for everything, and she was happy for them for what they seemed to have found. She was happy for them for the future that she hoped they had coming to them both.

She'd always seen something between them. Everyone had. Even Rick had mentioned it more than once, but nobody had ever known what to do to give them a nudge that might help them close the gap that had seemed to remain between them. Now, it seemed that they'd found a way to close their own gap.

Michonne had told them at least a half a dozen times that she was happy for them—in every sense of the word—since she'd greeted them at the gates, but she still didn't feel like the words expressed all that she felt.

Carol looked exhausted—barely able to stay awake—but she looked happier than she had since she'd arrived. Michonne suspected the baby growing in her body was stealing some of her energy, but most of her exhaustion was probably owing to worry that was now dissipating a bit. Daryl, for his part, had barely been able to take his eyes off Carol. Even while the children had greeted him and crawled over him—having seen him more often in his trips to Alexandria and the surrounding areas than they had seen Carol once she'd moved to the Kingdom and, therefore, being slightly more excited to see him—he'd still kept his eyes on Carol. He'd still clearly been worried about her every move and, perhaps, her every emotion.

Michonne decided that she would entertain them both a while longer. She would allow Judith to enjoy her aunt a bit more—and to dig for information about the baby, because Judith loved babies—and then she would recommend a nap that she was almost certain that Carol would take. The woman looked barely able to refuse such a thing. Then, when things were quiet and she'd sent Judith to entertain her brother, Michonne would have the chance to talk to Daryl alone.

She'd have the chance to help him with the concern he was hardly able to hide.

And, later, she would have her opportunity to speak with Carol—which, she was sure, would go a long way in comforting Daryl, as well.

"Don't let her hurt you," Michonne offered in Carol's direction. "Judith—the baby is very small. You're not going to feel anything."

"Not yet," Carol said.

"But soon?" Judith asked, still searching in vain for some evidence of the baby. Her favorite thing about the pregnant women she'd been around was when they were able to let her feel evidence of the baby moving. Carol had none of that to offer the child, no matter how desperately she searched for it.

"Maybe," Carol said.

"Before you leave?" Judith asked.

Carol laughed to herself.

"I don't know," Carol admitted. "Maybe—by the time you come and visit me and Daryl and Henry at the Kingdom."

"And the King," Judith offered.

Carol smiled and nodded.

"And the King," she promised Judith. "He'll be happy to have you stay with him."

"How long will you stay with us in Alexandria?" Judith asked. She shifted around to give Carol her full attention, but her hand still didn't leave Carol's belly. Michonne hated to have to inform Carol that she might not have a moment's peace in Judith's presence. She was very likely to spend most of her time with Carol with her hand firmly pressed to what evidence she bore of the Dixon baby she carried.

Carol glanced at Daryl for an answer to Judith's question. He didn't miss the look because he was watching Carol's every move. He would have noticed, Michonne was sure, if the woman even had so much as an eyelash out of place. He couldn't have studied her any more carefully. It wasn't possible.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders at Carol's silent inquiry.

"We'll stay however long you want," he said. "You want—we'll send a message to Henry. Tell 'em to come see us here. We can stay—'til she's big enough to travel. If that's what you want." He looked at Michonne. "I mean—we wouldn't wanna impose…"

Michonne smiled to herself.

"I would be—thrilled," Michonne said, "if you wanted to stay until she's here and big enough to travel."

The warm feeling that rushed through her chest, suddenly, made her very aware that she'd spoken the truth even without fully considering it before she'd said the words.

Carol smiled to herself and her cheeks ran a little pink.

"I don't know…" she started.

"You could stay until she's born!" Judith declared. "The King could stay, too. And Henry. We have plenty of room in Alexandria and it's very safe here. Mom and I patrol the perimeters several times a day and there's always a guard."

"Judith—maybe we'll let them make their decisions," Michonne offered softly. "And you don't have to decide everything right away. Stay as long as you want."

Carol looked more thankful for permission to take her time deciding anything than she had for anything else in the past few moments. She offered Michonne a smile of sincere thanks and her eyelids sagged a little and hesitated slightly to come open again when she blinked.

"I'm not sure how long we'll stay…" She said, breathing out the words and failing to even try to finish the statement.

Michonne nodded at her.

"Judith—why don't you show Carol to her room? And then go and play with RJ for a bit outside? She might want a nap."

"I'm fine," Carol said. "I should…help out or…"

"There's nothing I need your help with right now," Michonne said. "All is quiet. You're responsible for a little one now, and I know they need naps."

Carol opened her mouth to protest, but it was clear that she lacked the energy even for that. She sighed and nodded her head before she got up from her spot. Judith grabbed her by the hand and tugged at her.

"If you're sure…" Carol offered toward Michonne and cast a glance in Daryl's direction as well.

"Get some rest," Daryl said.

"I don't want to be up all night," Carol said.

"Well wake you up soon," Michonne promised. Daryl nodded his agreement and gruffed a "Yeah" that seemed to be sufficient to convince Carol to go and take a nap. She allowed Judith to tug her toward the staircase and Michonne listened as her daughter eagerly told Carol about the room she'd share with Daryl and everything they'd do while Carol and Daryl stayed with them.

Daryl watched them both go until they'd left the room and then he stared at Michonne. She could tell that he was tired, too, but she'd rather talk to him than send him off for a nap. She knew that he wasn't even seeing her as he stared. It wasn't until she spoke that he even came into himself and realized he was staring.

"Let's go for a walk," Michonne said. "I want to show you some of the changes we've made since you were here. Just—show you a few things."

"Carol…" Daryl said.

Michonne smiled to herself.

"Will be fine while we're gone," Michonne said. "For as long as I've known her, she's always been capable of handling herself—especially if it's only to get through an hour or so of sleep."

"I told RJ I'd play with him," Daryl said. His heart clearly wasn't in playing with the boy. Michonne was sure that once she got him walking, he'd practically drag his feet. The exhaustion that came with the lifting of some worry was evident on his face.

"That's the great thing about little ones," Michonne said. "You'll learn soon. Their memories are short and they're easily distracted. As soon as you sent him to get toys, he forgot what the toys were for. Judith will entertain him for a bit. Come on—walk with me. For old times."

Daryl sat a moment longer like he was carefully considering what she said, and then he nodded. Michonne smiled at him as he stood up.

"You need to tell 'em we're goin'?" Daryl asked.

"Judith is used to the way things work around here," Michonne said. "She'll find us if she needs anything. But she's pretty independent, and there are eyes everywhere in Alexandria. Come on—let's walk."