Chapter Three: What Lies Ahead (pt3)
Marie was more than halfway done suturing T-Dog's wound when she heard a young girl's cry for "Mama!" and Carol's answering shout, "Sophia!"
A relieved sigh and wet giggle escaped from her lips as she heard the Peletier women reunite in the background. She could hear Merle crowing in the distance, something about how Rick had led off two more walkers that'd been attracted by the sound while Merle brought the preteen back to the highway. She rolled her shoulders and her neck, trying to relieve some of the tension that had built up before going back to suturing the wound. Poor T-Dog had pressed his uninjured hand over his mouth as if to remind himself that he could not scream or complain too loudly with every press of the needle into his flesh.
Her knees had long started to ache as she kneeled down on the pavement in front of him. But Marie ignored the prickling feeling as she finally tied off the last stitch. "That was the last one." she shot him a wide relieved grin, "Now I'm just going to wrap it up."
"Thank god..." T-Dog groaned lowly, "Don' know how much more of this I could take."
She shot him a sheepish smile as she put the tools down and grabbed the biggest gauze pad in the pack and carefully applied it over the newly closed skin. The older man groaned when Marie started tightly wrapping the roll of gauze around the wound. As soon as the entire thing was covered, Marie made sure that the wrapping wouldn't come undone before slowly loosening the tourniquet until it was completely undone. T-Dog shuddered. The skin around the wound had felt a bit heated to the touch right before Marie had wrapped it, which meant that despite her best efforts T-Dog's wound was probably infected. She needed to get him some antibiotics before a fever set in.
"Almos' done, Chinadoll?" Daryl asked curiously. Marie looked up to see the older man looking down at her intensely as he eyed her work appreciatively. She shot him a slight smile.
"I just need to get him some antibiotics. I think we have a bunch of amoxicillin from the CDC."
Daryl grunted, "Hey, Merle!" he called over his brother, "Git us some Amoxil fr'm inside."
"Boy can' never git thangs done wit'out me!" she heard Merle tease grumpily- though the man headed for the Sprinter without any real complaint. Marie only shook her head in amusement -Daryl was calling his brother foul words under his breath- as she pulled the bloody gloves off and started to clean up her equipment and put it away. "Catch boy!"
The younger Dixon caught the bottle of pills with one hand before gently passing it to her, "Thanks, Daryl."
"Ain't nothing." he grunted as he turned his face away. The tips of his ears were red.
That was kinda... cute.
She uncapped the bottle and pressed two pills into T-Dog's uninjured hand and told him to swallow. The man blinked blearily at her but did as she said. Marie sighed, T-Dog had lost a considerable amount of blood. He was going to have to take it easy for the next few days. After she finished packing up all of her supplies she got up on shaky legs and stretched out her back before offering T-Dog a hand. With Daryl's help they got the injured man on his feet.
"A got 'im." Daryl grunted as threw T-Dog's uninjured arm over his shoulder. "I'll bring 'im inside Dale's RV."
Marie nodded, "Thanks. I'm gonna go check on the kids."
"Thank god you're here!" Glenn gasped out as she climbed inside the van, "How do you do this? Is there some secret power women get when they become parents?" Her brother was juggling a feeding Iolani in one arm while trying to soothe a grumpy and crying Ailani. The eldest Māhoe child also seemed to be less than pleased with the current situation, her face was flushed with frustration and her eyes were glassy as tears threatened to fall.
"Marie/Ma'ee!" twin chorus' of her name fell from plump lips as the Māhoe girls barreled into her legs. Marie smiled at the girls and crouched down to give them a brief hug, giving her brother an exasperated and pointed look over their heads.
"How're my girls doing?"
Leilani rubbed her eyes before glaring at Glenn accusingly, "Glenn wouldn't tell us where you went! He wouldn't let us look for you neither! Even though Merle gotta go outside!"
She hummed, "I see. But your Uncle Merle is a big strong person, right?" Marie asked, after both of the girls nodded -though Ailani was mostly just copying her sister- she continued, "That means he can go outside whenever he wants because he can protect himself from the monsters right?" this time when Leilani nodded it was more sheepish, "But Lilo you and Nani are just little girls, right? That means if a monster came could you protect yourself Lilo? Could you protect Nani from the monsters?"
A small sniffle escaped from the six-year-old, "No."
Marie nodded, "See, that's why Glenn said you couldn't come out. He's just trying to keep you safe."
"But-" Leilani protested, her watery brown eyes locking onto Marie's, "You weren't there when we woke up! An-And Glenn said we has to be quiet because lots of monsters were outside when we was sleeping! An-And you weren't here!"
Oh.
"Daddy never came back! He made the monsters follow him and he never came back! Mamma too!" Leilani was crying now, which kickstarted Ailani's tears, "You can't go Marie! I need you!"
Oh.
She pulled the sobbing girl into a hug, ignored the panicked look on her brother's face as he backed away from the cryfest and sat down on their shared bed before wiping away her tears, "Shh, Lilo, I'm right here. See? I'm here with you, I haven't gone anywhere."
Leilani sniffled wetly, "Why w-weren't you here?"
"Oh Lilo, I was just helping T-Dog... he got a really bad boo-boo when he was hiding from the monsters and he needed me to help him."
"Did he get bit?" the child asked as she stiffened in her grasp and pulled away to eye Marie contemplative, "Nana was bit... Mamma got bit too, and they turned into monsters."
"No." Marie said strongly, "He just cut his arm on some glass. T-Dog's not turning into any monsters."
"Okay." Leilani rubbed the errant tears on her face. Marie gave her a weak smile before pulling Ailani into a hug and tickling the two-year-olds ribs.
"And you Miss Nani? Why are you crying?" she asked the toddler as the little one let out a squeal, "Huh, no more crying! Or else you'll make Glenn wanna a cry too! Do you want to see Glenn cry?"
Both Leilani and Ailani gasped.
"No!" the oldest Māhoe girl exclaimed.
Marie nodded in a mock wise manner, "That's why we can't cry and scare Glenn like that. I think we need to go say sorry to Glenn for scaring him. Whenever Glenn tells you guys you can't go out, even if you want to come look for me, you have to listen to him alright? He just wants to keep you two safe."
Leilani nodded before grabbing her little sister's hand and leading her to where the oldest Rhee sibling had been watching the scene with wide eyes. "Sorry Glenn. We won't do it again, right Nani?"
The toddler nodded seriously, one fist clenched around the lamb plushie she carried around with her everywhere, "Sowwy."
At Marie's pointed look Glenn stammered out, "O-Oh, um, that's alright? I forgive you... Just remember when I say 'no' next time you can't throw a tantrum, alright? You gotta listen."
The oldest Māhoe nodded demurely, "Okay."
Well with that situation over and done with, Marie stood up from her crouch and placed the first aid kit on the counter, "T-Dog's going to be okay." she informed her brother, "Merle brought Sophia back too, I think they're still waiting for Rick to get back. He was leading some walkers away from Sophia in the woods and is probably doubling back as we speak."
Glenn nodded, "Do they have any clue when we're getting back on the road?"
"No idea." she admitted, "I was more concentrated on stitching T-Dog up and then coming to check up on you and the kids."
A sheepish grin pulled onto the corners of his lips, "And thank you for that."
Marie rolled her eyes, "Oppa, dangsin-eun jeo eobs-ineun sseulmoga eobs-seubnida."
He nodded, "I know."
Leilani was staring up at them curiously, "Are you talking in Ko-Korean again, Marie?"
"Yup." she confirmed, "Why don't I put on a movie for you guys to watch so that I can go back outside and help the others for a little while? Can I trust you to watch over your sister and brother, Lilo?"
The little girl nodded seriously, "Yes."
"Good girl." Marie smiled before pressing a kiss on her forehead. Ailani gave her the toddler version of the stink-eye until Marie kissed her forehead as well. She quickly set up the projector and started playing the movie Ponyo for the girls before looking at her brother. Iolani was still lazily sucking the contents of his bottle. "You know how to burp him right?"
Glenn rolled his eyes, "Yes. I've done it before."
"Right." Marie nodded, "Well, I'm going back out there, see what the plan is. After you burp Ion you should wait for a while before putting him down, he usually needs a diaper change soon after drinking his afternoon bottle."
Her brother's nose crinkled, "Alright. Keep me posted."
"I will." she promised as she opened the door of the van and hopped out before closing it behind her.
Words 1720
( (What's this?
A wild Futago come back to update a grievously attend to a lonely abandoned fic?
Yes, 'tis I.
I live.
Sorry guys, I'm in a weird mood. I've been listening to 'Jolene' on loop for like two hours now, so I'm blaming it on the song. It's definitely *not* because I drank hot chocolate.
Anyway, I know it's been a while... but I haven't been in the right headspace to write in a while. My mental health has been suffering for a while and I'm only just getting my ass into gear. Usually, when I start feeling the creepings of depression again my writing is the first thing to suffer, which is why I haven't been motivated much to jump back into my fics. But, I've been doing therapy and I'm back on medication, so hopefully, I'll be back on track soon!
Back to the story... who else is thrilled about Sophia? *waggles eyebrows* I know a lot of you have been waiting for this moment... so, yeah. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the much-awaited update! Thank you all for your wonderful comments and all the KUDOS~ they happily feed the instant-gratification monkey that lives inside my brain. LOL. I'm seriously in the weirdest mood ever. Happy Reading!
PS I promise I'll edit this chapter later with my responses to all your reviews. I just knew that if I started doing that tonight... well, I wouldn't be able to update tonight and still go to bed early so that I could get up for work tomorrow)
(As a treat -because I've been AWOL for forever- I left the little 'extra' I do for AO3 down below. Have wonderful evening!)
...
Merle: *high off the success of finding the little mouse [Sophia]*
Merle: *see's Daryl making eyes at Marie*
Merle: *how precious*
*Daryl asks for help so he doesn't have to leave her side*
Merle: *melting on the inside*
Merle: Boy can' never git thangs done wit'out me!
Merle: *waggles his eyebrows suggestively*
Merle: Catch boy!
...
Daryl: *gives Marie the medicine*
Marie: Thanks, Daryl!
Daryl: *emulates a ripe strawberry*
Daryl: Ain't nothing.
Merle: *makes kissy faces*
T-Dog: *see's the whole thing but really wants to live*
Daryl: *wants the ground to swallow him whole*
Marie: *oblivious smol bean*
Marie: *Daryl's being kinda cute today*
...
Glenn: *super stressed inside the sprinter*
Glenn: *ohgodheneedsmorehands*
Marie: My baby senses are tingling.
Daryl: ?
Daryl: You need to check on the kids?
Marie: No.
Marie: *sighs*
Daryl/T-Dog: ?
Marie: Somewhere-out there-Glenn needs help.
