Kaleb and Double A stood together by a fence, surveying the tomato plants before them, while residents of WC worked around them.
"The vertical sticks will double the yield of tomatoes per square foot. It will increase how much you can grow in the same amount of space" Kaleb said, gesturing towards the trio of sticks he'd tied together as a demonstration. "Also, you see that branch right there? The one in the shade? If you pinch it off and replant it, it'll grow into a whole new plant."
Double A listened to Kaleb intensely, nodding as the boy spoke. "And your Aunt Maggie taught you all of that?" he asked.
"Yea, most of it. I mean, I was really fascinated with growing stuff when I was little, but as I got older it was just a part of life. Like chores. But I'd rather do garden work than like, be on watch, or clean up after the animals."
"And your dad is okay with you being over here? I've never seen him come over to the fields."
Kaleb looked away guiltily. "Well, I kinda didn't ask him, but I'm pretty sure my mom knows I'm here. She always notices stuff like that. She said she wanted me to get to know some new people here, so I'm doing that."
"Little man, I've gotta say I'm impressed. And, a little embarrassed. You know way more about farming than I do. In the three days y'all have been here you've increased our productivity by half. How old are you anyway?"
"Sixteen" Kaleb said with a proud smirk.
"Well Kaleb, if you stayed here I would definitely make you a manager."
"A manager?"
"Yea, there are managers in charge of all of the vital operations we have here. Security, food distribution, waste management, health, education, law and order, agriculture..."
"So you would make me a manager, just like that?"
"Well not just like that. I mean, there'd be an interview, and a trial period, and a vote, but... I think others would be just as impressed with you as I am."
"Really?" Kaleb asked. "Are you offering me a job?"
"Maybe. If your parents agreed."
"Cool" Kaleb said, nodding.
"I can see you having a great future here. If that's what you want. I know it's only been three days but, you see what it's like here. You see what kind of people we are. We'd be happy to have you, and whoever else from your group would want to stay. The more people we have, the stronger we are. And even if you don't stay, having allies always pays off in the end."
"I'll think about it" Kaleb said.
"Okay. Well, see you later Kaleb" Double A said, and the two of them shook hands. Kaleb turned and headed down the path leading from the fields, while Double A continued to study the plant support that Kaleb had made. Neither of them spotted Carl who had been standing on the other side of the fence, eyebrows furrowed, listening to their conversation intently.
XXXXXXXXX
"Hey honey, how are you feeling?" Michonne asked Judith after entering her tent. Judith was laying on her sleeping bag, which Michonne noticed was positioned directly next to Tony's as if he might come in at any moment and claim it.
Judith didn't answer, but she turned her head slightly towards Michonne's voice. Michonne stood there for a few moments, waiting to see if Judith would answer. When she got no response she asked, "do you want me to leave?"
Judith shook her head and finally turned to face her mother. Her eyes and nose were red and blotchy from crying previously, and tears stained her cheeks. She paused for a moment and took a few fast breaths, her lip trembling.
"I have to pee all the time and I can't poop" Judith blurted out before bursting into tears.
Michonne was taken aback for a few seconds before she exploded in a fit of laughter, barely able to keep her eyes on her indignant daughter.
"It's not funny!" Judith declared, wiping at her eyes.
"I... I know... I just..." Michonne said, trying unsuccessfully to prevent herself from laughing.
"Mom!" Judith said, unable to prevent the sides of her mouth from turning up slightly.
"Oh gosh" Michonne laughed, trying to control herself. "Did you um... did you try to... drink... more water?" She got out before succumbing to another round of giggles.
Judith tilted her head to the right and stared at her mother for a few seconds before bursting into laughter herself. "Thanks a lot Mom" she said sarcastically, pushing herself upwards into a sitting position.
"Sorry, Sorry" Michonne said, wiping her eyes. "Okay time to be serious. You need to drink more water, you're still dehydrated from before. I'll go get some more for you and I'll send Tabby in here to keep you company until I come back."
Judith tilted her head again and gave her mother a knowing look. "I know what you're doing Mom. I know you've been keeping an eye on me, and now you're sending Tabitha to do the same. You're scared to leave me in here by myself. I'm not suicidal. I'm not gonna kill myself."
Judith sighed and scratched the side of her face. "Look, I know what I said. And, I know how I felt when there was no water in the lake. I was ready to do it then. I meant it. But only because I didn't think there was any hope for us. Not because I really wanted to. Now that there's hope of... something more, I'm okay. I'm good. I didn't mean to scare or worry you and dad. I know Tony would be so disappointed if I did that. If I ended everything he worked so hard for. My girls and this baby deserve better than that."
Michonne smiled and placed her hand on her daughter's cheek. "I know you're good, because you're tougher than that. You're braver than that. You're my kid after all" Michonne said proudly. Judith smiled briefly.
"But you need to drink more water. That'll help with your... difficulties. Believe me, I know. Gosh, when I was pregnant..." Michonne began.
"Mom, please. I really don't need to know..." Judith interrupted.
"I remember this one time, I got so blocked up your father had to..."
"Mom!" Judith yelled.
"Okay, okay!" Michonne laughed, "but come take a walk with me and the girls to pick up some more water. It's nice outside, walking will help you get your food moving. Plus, we need to learn more about this place."
Judith reluctantly got to her feet, and Michonne planted a kiss on her daughter's cheek, combing back her hair.
"It'll be okay. The pain won't go away, but you'll learn to make room for it."
Judith nodded briefly and followed Michonne out of the tent, stepping into the sunshine.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Hey, you're Double A right?" Carl asked, approaching the man who had just finished a conversation with two other men from WC. Double A turned around, surprised to see the man who he knew was Kaleb's brother.
"Yea I am" he replied, "and you're Carl, right?"
"Yea. My brother talks about you a lot" Carl said, looking Double A up and down with his one eye. He took in Double A's dirt stained boots, his black jeans that had dirt coating the knees, and his tight t-shirt that concealed considerable muscles underneath. The man was fit, and obviously spent much of his time farming in the fields or doing manual labor. His hands that he placed on his hips were covered in deep callouses.
"Your brother, He's a great kid. Smart too. I think we can learn a lot from him."
"What else are you trying to learn from him?" Carl asked, tilting his head to the right.
"What? What are you talking about?" Double A asked, his brows furrowing in confusion.
"Why are you so interested in him?"
"I just told you" Double A responded, getting frustrated at Carl's accusatory tone.
"Look, you don't know me, so I just want to let you know that as soon as it rains we're going back to our home. He's not staying here, so we don't need you telling him that we are. Or, talking about his future here."
"Hey man, chill out. I'm not trying to do anything, I'm just appreciating the kid."
"Yea, that's fine, just don't get too attached" Carl said.
Double A rolled his eyes and sighed. "Look, I don't mean any harm. I can see your family are good people. I'm good at reading people, that's how I can tell. I'm not trying to overstep any boundaries, he just reminds me of me when I was younger. It's not often that we have new people here, especially people with a story like yours, and you did give us that cow that fed everyone here, so least we can do is share it. I want to invite your family over to dinner tonight at my place."
Carl squinted at Double A and could tell he was being genuine. "Look, I… If you don't have any ill intentions I didn't mean anything, I'm just looking out for my brother."
"I understand. I would've done the same for my sister, I respect that. But anyway, tell Rick and the rest of your family they're invited to come over tonight. I'd love to meet them all."
XXXXXXXXXX
The Grimes family made their way up the steps to Double A's home. Kaleb knocked twice, and they waited nervously. After a few seconds, Double A opened the door with a smile on his face. "Welcome, come in, but please remove your shoes before you do."
The family froze and looked at each other in surprise. "It… was my mom's tradition. She was Japanese. She didn't like us bringing dirt from outside into our home if we could help it."
Akisho smiled. "Sounds like my mom" she said, before kicking her shoes off. The rest of the family followed her, removing their shoes and lining them up neatly in front of the door before making their way past Double A and into the home. As Michonne passed their guest she did a double take, pausing for a second to stare at him. Collin, who was walking behind her, bumped into her, breaking her concentration.
"You okay grandma?" he asked.
"Y-yea" Michonne said, glancing back at Double A again before continuing into the room. After the last person came through the door, Double A shut it and continued into the next room, the family following behind him. They walked into a dining room that was bare except for a large cabinet with fine china, and a magnificently crafted, traditional Japanese dining table, surrounded by cushions with wooden backs on them that rested on the floor.
"Welcome to my home" Double A said, gesturing with his hand. "It's not much, but I'm proud of it."
"It's nice" Rick said, "that table, it's beautiful"
"Thanks, I made it for my mom's birthday two years ago. It took me three months to carve and put together, but she just about had an aneurism when she saw it."
"You made that?" Kaleb asked, his eyes wide.
"Yea, that and the chairs. My dad taught me how to carve."
Judith reached down and ran her fingers over the table's smooth surface. "That's impressive" she said softly.
"Thank you. Well um, have a seat, dinner is almost ready, let me go help Gabrielle before I never hear the end of it."
"Who's Gabrielle?" Rick asked.
Just then, a petite brown skinned woman with an afro rivalling Double A's made her way from the kitchen, with a small infant tied to her back with a strip of fabric. "Hi everybody, I'm Gabrielle" she said pleasantly, "dinner will be served in a minute, but I need my husband's help. He'll be back soon" she said sweetly but clearly not leaving anything up for discussion.
"Grimes family, this is my wife Gabrielle, and my daughter Monique" Double A said, grinning at his wife.
XXXXXXXXXX
Michonne couldn't stop staring at Double A. From the moment she saw him, there was something she couldn't put her finger on. Something was pulling at her heart. She felt like she knew him, her heart knew him, but her brain couldn't figure out how, or where, or when. And she couldn't stop staring at his eyes, so much so that he caught her staring a few times. Rick noticed as well.
"Are you alright?" Rick asked her, placing his hand on her knee as they sat on the cushions that were placed on the floor next to the low table.
Michonne could only nod, but she'd barely touched her food. Who did this man remind her of? Why was she so uncomfortable? It was like the answer was balancing on the tip of her memory, but she couldn't knock it free.
"So, tell me about your town" Double A said to everyone before biting into his food. "What happened to it? We haven't met anyone from any large communities before. We usually just get wanderers and nomads who stumble upon us by accident."
"Our community had a few dozen homes. It was a great place to live, we just… we just ran out of water. We couldn't stay. We tried to convince others to leave with us, but they wouldn't, so we just left" Rick explained.
"Do you think your people are still there?" Gabrielle asked.
"Hope not" Carl said. "If they are, they're dying…" he suddenly remembered Akisho's father was still in Alexandria and quickly stopped talking. Akisho looked up at Carl briefly before pushing her food around her plate. Kaleb discreetly reached over and rubbed his thumb against Akisho's hand.
"I hope that's not true" Double A said. "If you survived, maybe others did too."
"Yea" Kaleb agreed, glancing at Akisho.
Michonne, finally able to find her voice after being silent for the majority of the dinner stuttered out "Wh- where are you from?"
"My parents, my sister, and I started this community. We've lived here for years, a little over a decade I think. So, I'd say I'm from here. But, originally, we came here from Georgia, when I was a kid."
"Georgia?" Michonne asked.
"Yea. At least that's what my parents said. I don't really remember…"
"What part?" Michonne asked, cutting Double A off. She felt uncomfortable but she still couldn't understand why. There was something about this man that was pulling her to him.
"What part?" Michonne asked again, staring at Double A.
"Atlanta" Double A said, "or just outside of it. Why?"
Michonne didn't answer, she just stared at Double A in silence, her eyes flicking right to left as she gazed into his eyes. Everyone at the table noticed Michonne's strange behavior.
"We're originally from Atlanta too" Rick volunteered.
"No offense, but you seem really young to be running a town" Carl said in an attempt to draw attention away from his mother, "how did that happen?"
Double A pulled his eyes away from the woman staring at him and back to Carl. "Actually, I'll take that as a compliment, but I've been running WC for a year now, since…" Double A cleared his throat. "I've been in charge for a year, and it's difficult but, we're doing just fine."
"We're doing more than fine" Gabrielle chimed in, rocking a sleeping Monique on her lap as she ate. "He's doing great leading this town, and as you can see, our population is growing."
"How old is the baby?" Judith asked, smiling as she watched the chubby cheeked infant who was sleeping with her thumb in her mouth.
"6 months now" Gabrielle said, looking down at her daughter.
"She's beautiful" Judith complimented.
Michonne pulled her eyes away from Double A long enough to look at the baby. "She is" she confirmed with a smile.
"Thank you. It was a tough delivery, 24 hours, but we made it. She was looking upwards when she was born, so her head got stuck" Gabrielle said, patting the baby's bottom. "Nosy little thing…"
Michonne paled slightly and glanced from the baby to Double A. He looked back at her, confused as to why she was staring at him again. Carl and Rick glanced back and forth between Michonne and Double A. There was an awkward silence before Michonne snapped out of it and cleared her throat. "Do you have a doctor here?" she asked Gabrielle.
"Well yes, she's self-taught, but she's the best we've got. She's delivered five babies so far, and two of her own so, I'd say she's a doctor" Gabrielle responded.
Judith perked up and glanced at Rick and Michonne before turning back to Double A and Gabrielle. "Do you think she could look at me? And my girls?" Judith asked. "I um... I'm four months and... I haven't been checked out yet."
"You're having a baby?" Tabitha asked. She, Selena, and Collin had been quiet throughout the entire dinner as the adults spoke. They were just grateful for a full plate of food, and they happily ate, but Judith's words grabbed her attention.
"Uh... yea Tabby. You and Selena are going to be big sisters" Judith said.
"Really? Congratulations!" Gabrielle said jovially. "Sure, she'd look at you and the kids. Have you and um... I mean... have you picked out names?" she asked, catching herself when she realized that Judith didn't have a partner.
"Um, no. Not yet. I don't know what I'm having. My husband, he thought it was a boy, but we don't know for sure"
"Oh" Gabrielle said, nodding. She understood that Judith's husband was no longer alive. "I'm sorry" she added.
"Yea" Judith said, avoiding her eyes. She glanced over at Tabitha who had stopped eating. Judith reached out and rubbed Tabitha's back.
"I'd like to bring my son to the doctor too. If that's okay" Carl shyly asked Double A. He felt badly about the way he had spoken to him earlier. The man had given them water, food, shelter, and now health care.
"Yes, sure. It's my pleasure. As I partly told Kaleb earlier, we treat people fairly unless they give us a reason not to. We try to make allies here, not enemies. It's worked for us so far."
"Well we appreciate all of it" Rick said. "Thank you for welcoming us into your home."
"Our pleasure" Double A said. "Kaleb has helped our community out already in the few days you've been here. It's the least I could do."
Rick's head snapped to Kaleb. "Has he now?" Rick asked.
Kaleb's eyes got big and he glanced at Rick and then Double A as if he'd been outed. "Your son is a gifted gardener. He's been helping in the fields" Double A said. "He's taught me a thing or two about tomatoes".
Akisho smirked proudly at Kaleb and kicked him under the table. "Yes, he sure is" Rick agreed.
XXXXXXXXXX
Michonne excused herself from the table to use the bathroom that Gabrielle instructed was around a corner and down a hallway. In reality, she just had to get up from the table to gather her thoughts.
Why do I feel like I know this man? Why do I feel so drawn to him? He said he was from Atlanta, maybe I knew one of his parents? His eyes, they remind me of… no. It can't be. There's no way. But his daughter, she was born face up, just like him. Just like…
Michonne didn't even want to say it. She couldn't. Andre was dead. Andre was gone. She couldn't go back to worrying about what ifs, it had almost destroyed her before. She had spent days wandering around the destroyed camp and surrounding area looking for him, looking for his walker body after she'd found his shoes and his jacket, and his blood. She didn't want to believe he was dead at first, but she had to accept it after she hadn't eaten, or drank, or slept for 3 days straight. She'd had to bury him in her heart, even if she couldn't bury him in real life. She'd had to put him away in order for her to function on a day by day basis, but of course doing that had changed her. It had affected her ability to connect with other people, her ability to empathize, and her ability to communicate. She had shut down. After he'd died, the only person she'd spoken to for weeks were her walker pets. Her dead boyfriend and friend were her only counselors and companions as she'd grieved for her son, and the damage done by that had affected her years afterwards. It had traumatized her until Carl had helped her to heal, and then Rick. She didn't know why this man made her think of Andre so much, but she had to stop before she began to backslide.
Michonne closed her eyes in the hallway where she was standing and took a deep breath. She then opened her eyes, preparing herself to turn and go back into the dining room when she spotted a small table a little further down the hallway, with polaroid pictures that were framed. Curious, she made her way to the table, and lifted up one of the frames. There was a picture of a black man and a Japanese woman with their arms around each other, smiling into the camera. The man's face looked soft and full of joy as he held the woman who was leaning back against him, their fingers entwined. This had to be Double A's parents. They seemed happy and in love in the picture.
Michonne put the first picture down and picked up a second. She recognized the same man and woman standing in front of the gift shop that they were eating dinner in now, but there were two children with them. One was a small Hispanic girl around 5 years old, who the woman was carrying in her arms, and the other was an older boy around 12 years old who Michonne knew instantly was Double A. But once again, her blood ran cold, because she was staring at Andre. He was older, he was taller, he was a pre-teen, but it was him. She knew it. She felt it.
Michonne gasped as she gripped the picture, her hands trembling. Within seconds tears poured from her eyes, and she placed both hands on the table for support as the shock of what she saw nearly knocked her over.
Andre is Double A. Double A is Andre. My son isn't dead.
Before she could have a second to even process that thought, footsteps at the end of the hallway startled her. She quickly swiped the back of her hand across her eyes to wipe away the tears. Double A was carrying a few dishes towards the kitchen, and her presence in the hallway startled him as well.
"You okay?" he asked, noticing how she was just standing there.
Michonne looked up and met his eyes, and a warmth flowed through her, starting from her chest, and radiating to her head and arms and toes. She wanted to wrap her arms around him. She wanted to hug him, and kiss him, and hold him to her like she used to do every night before he went to bed. She wanted to tell him how much she had dreamed of this moment, how much she had missed him, and how much she loved him. She wanted to…
"Do you have a problem with me?" Double A asked, squinting his eyes slightly. She was staring again.
"What?" Michonne asked, completely taken off guard.
"You've been staring at me since you got here. I was wondering if you had a problem with me?" he asked again.
"I… uh… n-no" Michonne said, her brain was having trouble processing thoughts at that moment. "I'm sorry. You um… you remind me of someone." Double A looked down and saw her clutching one of his family pictures. He looked at her questioningly.
"Y-you have a beautiful family" Michonne stuttered, holding up the picture a little.
"Thank you. So do you" Double A responded. "My dad died when I was 14, and my mother died a year ago. My dad found me when I was very young, and then a few years later, they found my sister, Carmen. We were both orphaned by the outbreak, and my parents never had kids of their own, so we were just a happy hodgepodge of humanity. But uh… my sister died when I was 17."
"I'm sorry" Michonne said, her heart breaking for him.
"It happens. That's how things go, y'know. You lose people you love, but you gain people you love too. Gabrielle and Monique, they're my world. I wouldn't have made it through my mom's death without them."
Michonne nodded and placed the picture back on the table.
"I don't know if this is out of line, but you seem to know a few things about blended families. Your older son and daughter don't look like they're… y'know… yours."
Michonne chuckled slightly. "Yea. Carl and Judith are Rick's children. Kaleb is Rick and mine. But they're all mine, you know?"
"I just want to tell you how amazing Kaleb is. I really admire him. I can tell he must've had a great mom for him to turn out as smart as he is."
Michonne nodded. "Thank you" she said, "and I'm sorry I've been staring at you. It's just… you really look familiar."
"No problem, um, Mrs. Grimes?" Double A asked, not knowing what to call her. He realized he didn't know her name.
"M-Michonne" Michonne stuttered again. "You can call me Michonne."