The Wolf You Feed

Chapter 28

They had been living in Alexandria for over over a year now. Actually living instead of just trying their best not to die. The dead were always a constant threat. But the last serious fight with another group had been with the wolves. Which meant it had been almost over a year of peace without any serious threats. But Rick still patrolled the walls, checking for weak spots and signs that other people might be hanging around outside. He wasn't doing it every single day anymore. But he still came out a few times a week. Walking the walls was boring, but boring in a good way. Boring meant no one was trying to kill them. The only thing that was different about this particular boring day was that Carl was walking with him.

After Carl's fight with Ron, Rick had been keeping his son close. Rick knew the boy saw it as a punishment, but he had not brought the boy out with him as some intended form of torture. Rather he meant to have a serious talk with his son. In the old world, Carl would have been entering his second year of high school. The biggest concern the boy might have had was getting his driver's permit. But the end of the world had changed things.

Carl was becoming a man. And he was doing it without much guidance from his own father. Rick knew he had become preoccupied with Michonne and their new baby, as newlyweds and parents of a newborn were apt to do. The rest of the free time Rick had was often spent either with Judith or on his duties to Alexandria. Rick knew Carl was capable of taking care of himself. He had been for years now. But Rick still felt a little guilty for not devoting enough of his time to parenting his oldest son.

The two men walked without talking for most of the route that led around the outer wall of their town. The day was warm, but not oppressively hot. The sun was shining down through the trees above and there was just enough of a breeze to keep them from getting too sweaty as they walked around the outside of the second expansion that had been built to house the new greenhouse, another half acre of gardens, and a second pasture for Alexandria's ever expanding herd of goats and horses. From inside the walls, Rick could hear Abraham's loud guffaw over the pounding of nails. Closer to the edge there were more voices, these being higher pitched and more feminine sounding. Carl was walking ahead of Rick, keeping Michonne's big dog next to him with a small length of rope tied to the dog's collar. From the way both boy and beast stared longingly at the large metal wall as they walked, Rick guessed two of the voices on the other side must belong to Michonne and Enid.

The metal was hot against his hand, but Rick climbed up the support beams until he got high enough that he could peek over the top of the wall. Sure enough he saw the small group of women he expected to see. Michonne, Enid, Rowan and Olivia were picking beans and weeding together. The group often included other women from the town, but he had noticed that those four tended to band close together. It still felt strange to see Michonne picking beans instead of patrolling with him, but he was getting more and more used to it. There was no doubt in his mind that she could still fight if she needed to, but he was glad she didn't have to.

From his high vantage point, the floppy hat Michonne had on was blocking Rick's view of his son. He could only see the boy's chubby caramel colored legs dangling down from the scarf Michonne used to strap him to her back. While the view of his son was blocked, the view down Michonne's loose fitting shirt was not. She had been a rather comical looking pregnant woman, but motherhood flattered her. Her breasts were fuller and she had taken to going without a bra for simple convience since she was nursing so often. Rick put his fingers to his lips and whistled down a catcall at her. The sudden noise startled one of Rowan's dogs and the giant white beast let out a fearsome howl of shock, making everyone around the animal jump just about out of their skin.

Seeing that there was no threat and the dog had only been barking at Rick, those that had been startled by the sudden racket took their hands back off their weapons and returned to whatever tasks they had been working on before the sudden interuption. It did not escape Rick's attention that Rowan had gone for her slingshot instead of taking off running like a bat out of hell as the woman was prone to do anytime she got startled. He smiled, thinking maybe some of Michonne's fighting lessons had finally rubbed off on the strange and gentle woman.

"You know better than to be whistling at me," Michonne hollered up at him, a teasing smile on her face. She wiped her dirty hands off on the towel that was hanging from her belt for that purpose and walked closer to the wall. Tipping her hat back, she shaded her eyes with her hands and looked up.

"And what if I was?," Rick teased back.

"Gonna have to rough you up later then I 'spose," Michonne informed him, much to the amusement of the women around her. She giggled along with her friends for a moment before her face turned serious. "Got to talk to you about something," she added. Rick nodded, no longer interested in playing games. When Michonne said she needed to talk to him it wasn't like when Lori used to tell him the same thing and then lecture him about how he loaded the dishwasher. Michonne didn't waste words. If she said she needed to talk it always meant she had something important to say. Rick thought about hiking a leg over the wall and coming down to speak to her immediately, but then he remembered that would leave Carl and Moose alone outside the walls. And Rick hadn't even gotten around to having a talk with his son yet. Just another reason to feel like a crap father to the boy.

"If you want to come over and talk to Michonne, I can climb over and walk back with Carl," Enid offered. She was hovering behind the older woman, looking so hopeful that Rick knew he wasn't going to be able to tell her no. Enid must have sensed that he was about to give in to her suggestion because she was halfway up the wall before Rick even answered her back. She was a fast climber too. By the time he had both his legs over, feet resting on the support beam on the opposite side, Carl and Enid were already disappearing into the woods together.

TWD

The dinner at Deanna's house was a far different experience from the party she had for Rick's group back when they first arrived at Alexandria. The tension in the air was gone. Large dogs weaved in and out of the small groups of people, trying to steal choice tidbits of food until they were chased back outside to lie down on the front porch. Instead of acting as the hostess, Deanna sat on the floor and played with the babies. People tromped in and out of the house, heading to the firepit in the backyard where Rowan's father was grilling up chunks of venison on long wooden skewers.

"We've been invited out to the bonfire after dinner," Reg announced. He sat down and handed Deanna a glass of wine and a plate of food he had picked out for her. Deanna smiled at him and took a grateful sip from the cold glass. Olivia and Eugene had started making homemade apple wine and hard cider some time last fall and while Deanna didn't like to admit it, she had developed quite a taste for the stuff. It wasn't the high brow dry chardonnay she used to prefer, but any wine was better than no wine.

"I'm already tired," Deanna said. She wasn't sure what sort of antics went on out near Rowan's trailer and she honestly wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"There's going to be a play," Reg added, sensing his wife's reluctance. Deanna had always enjoyed going to the theatre and as he knew she would, she immediately looked ten times more interested once he mentioned a play. "Aaron said they're doing some version of the Odyssey." Deanna took another sip of her wine and adjusted her plate so Judith could climb up into her lap. "I'll bring our camping chairs," Reg added, trying his best not to oversell. He knew Deanna wouldn't mind if he went without her, but he would have more fun if she came along.

"Alright," Deanna agreed with a laugh, "I'll go." Her husband was at his most adorable When he got really exctied about something he reminded her so much of the spectacled nerdy architecture student that she had fallen in love with all those years ago. She thought the idea of going to a play sounded fun, but even if it sounded horrible she knew there was no way she was going to be able to tell him no when he was looking at her like that.

Deanna leaned back, letting Michonne lift Judith from her lap. The woman already had her son on her hip and she sat down on the couch with both children, nursing her son as she rubbed Judith's back. Within minutes both children were fast asleep.

"You going to be able to go?," Deanna asked the woman, nodding to the two sleeping children in her lap. Michonne nodded. Rowan had already told Michonne that she had her father drag several playpens out and set them up inside her teepee. Carl was playing a part in the play Aaron was putting on and Rowan knew Michonne would be sad if she had to miss it to stay home with her baby. After the play Michonne and Rick were planning to bank a little fire and sleep over in the teepee themselves. After so many long months cooped up inside Alexandria, a night away from their home sounded like a full on adventure even if they weren't actually leaving the walls. Michonne was looking forward to it so much that she actually felt like the lamest person alive. Not that being lame and having a boring life was a bad thing. Both Michonne and Rick agreed that they had enough adventure and excitement to last them both about a thousand lifetimes before they settled down in Alexandria. Boring was good because boring meant safe.

Daryl came in with two plates of food in his hands, wiggling down into the sofa. He traded Michonne, handing her one plate and taking one of the sleeping children from her lap. He made sure to grab Judith since the other baby was attached to Michonne's breast, still suckling even in his sleep.

"You going to be in the play?," Michonne teased. Daryl grinned through the mouthful of food he had shoveled into his mouth, little crumbs falling from his lips and landing the the nest of Judith's windblown curls. That fact that Rowan was always trying to get him involved in her theatrics wasn't exactly the best kept secret in town. If they were reading aloud around the fireplace Daryl didn't mind taking a turn, but even that pushed him out of his comfort zone.

"Already seen most'a it," Daryl told her. He had heard Rowan practicing her lines when she was up to her chin in a steamy bubble bath, her hips nestled between his thighs and her head leaning back to rest on his chest. Her voice was low and musical, the poems she was trying to remember broken up by the soft moans of pleasure she made as he kneaded his fingers into the soft skin of her neck and shoulders. Over at Aaron's house Daryl had seen Eric trying to teach Enid and Aaron a dance he had made up the steps to. Daryl knew it would look better when they performed it during the play later but when he had seen them they had still been tripping over each other's feet.

"You know it's not too late," Rowan reminded him as she reached down to snag a tiny cube of venison from Daryl's plate, having overheard Michonne's playful teasing. Rowan licked at the tips of her fingers before she leaned down to rub at Daryl's shoulders. "We could add the part about the cyclops back in," Rowan suggested, her voice flirty as she started pressing her thumbs in gently on a part of Daryl's back that felt like it had a small knot in it, "Cyclops doesn't even have any lines." Daryl just smiled and leaned back into her hands, holding up a skewer with another chunk of meat on it so Rowan could have another bite to eat without taking her hands off his shoulders.

Rowan swallowed her food and leaned down to kiss him, her long hair acting as a curtain to shield them from the eyes of everyone around them. Daryl held her in place for a moment with his hand resting gently on the back of her neck as he whispered that he would pretend to be anyone she liked. Later. When they were alone in their room together. He must have whispered a little louder than he thought since immediately after he spoke Daryl heard Michonne and Deanna start laughing. Rowan ignored them and kissed him again, letting the tip of her tounge slid briefly between his parted lips. This was her way of letting him know that not only was she more than happy with his suggestion for later, but that she had hopefully gotten over her fear and worry about the tarot card that had fallen from her dresser earlier. It wasn't that Daryl didn't believe in fortune telling. He had seen enough crazy things by now that he was willing to openly admit he believed. But he also held the opinion that bad things were going to happen sometimes that couldn't be prevented. Time was precious and he didn't want to waste what little he and Rowan were gifted stressing about terrible things that might never even happen.

After their kiss Rowan perched on the back of the couch and resumed massaging his shoulders. Rick gave Rowan a squeeze as he walked by her. He settled down on the floor near Michonne's feet with a plate of food and a giant plastic travel mug of iced tea for Michonne. Between slurps she and Rowan started up a quiet discusion about making more mother's tea and finding time to pickle some of the vegetables to preserve them for winter. Rick struck up a separate conversation with Daryl about a run he was planning for the next day.

Deanna listened in on both conversations, noting the conspiratorial glances that passed between the two women more than once. The girls may have been talking about the ingredients for tea but Deanna could tell there was something more on their minds. Whatever the two women were planning, Deanna guessed she wouldn't be informed about it until after it happened. Rowan was always of a mind that it was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission and her unruly attitude had rubbed off on most of the members of her close knit group of friends and family. Deanna wasn't overly concerned. She trusted Rowan and knew that while the woman had tendency to do odd things like let all her goats loose in town to eat the grass instead of mowing it, she would never do anything that would get anyone hurt. Deanna's interest had only been peaked since whatever the women were planning was clearly being kept a secret from their significant others, something that was unusual for both couples.