The dried leaves crunched under their feet as they walked hand in hand. Ever so often, she caught him staring at her and when she did, she'd grip his hand just that bit tighter. He smiled more with her, something she was happy about. His smile had taken a backseat to all that had happened to get them here, she never asked him about it but truthfully she didn't care. She was happy Maggie never pressed the issue that she looked like the old her, she honestly didn't want to hit a pregnant woman. Shaking her head, she let out a sound between disgust and chippy anger.
"What was that for?"
"Thinking about Maggie and Glenn, about the fact I am going to be an aunt."
"Does that bother you?"
"Nope, not one bit."
"What sort of experiments did they do on you?"
"Repairing my brain, bringing me back to life, that sort of stuff."
"And before?"
"Complete hysterectomy because I almost died."
"Why?"
"I was hemorrhaging on the inside and didn't know it. My appendix was ruptured, my uterus was leaking like a sieve, my spleen was cut … it wasn't looking pretty."
"Are you okay now though?"
"I am, everything was taken care of."
They kept walking in silence for several more minutes. "You're a great mom."
"You're a great dad."
"I just wish I had …"
"Don't go there, you didn't lose me Daryl did. Maggie didn't care enough till the end, so I put most of the blame on them."
"Interesting way of looking at things."
"I had to control myself when I first saw you all come in Alexandria. I wanted to run up and throw my arms around you, to kiss you and never let you go. I stopped myself so many times I lost count, then when you shot Pete I almost told you then. You didn't know this, but he was one of them."
"One of who?"
"The Saviors … he made the mistake of chatting me up when he was drunk one night then I knocked his ass out and threatened to kill him if he came near me again. You did Alexandria a favor in killing him, but the Saviors will still come."
"Yea I know, Jesus explained that to us."
"I've seen what the Saviors can do and I didn't want to go through that. If I would've thought, we should've brought Judith with us." He gripped her hand but said nothing. "What is it? Is there some-thing wrong with her?"
"Sort of, have you noticed anything about her?"
"Oh."
"Yea."
"That doesn't matter, you're the only father she's ever known."
"And you're the only mother she's known." They kept walking till she stopped still, he felt the tug of her hand and turned back to her. "What is it?"
"This is the store I remember."
He turned and looked at the boarded store then to her. "Are you sure?"
"I remember the sign on the window like it was yesterday."
Pulling his gun, he let go of her hand. "Let's do this smart."
"Deal."
She pulled her gun and followed him to the door. Reaching out, he knocked on the window and waited. Placing his ear to the door, he tried to hear if anything was inside then slowly holstered his gun. Pulling his knife, he stuck it in the lock and popped it. Pulling the door open, he looked up and down at the security door then knelt. Running his knife under the lip, he found the lock and worked it loose. Sheathing the knife, he gripped the door and pushed it up. She headed in ahead of him as she pulled a flashlight out. Stepping under, he shut the main door then the security door. Looking around, he noticed A LOT OF EMPTY shelves and placed his hands on his hips. "Now what."
"Come over here." He followed her voice to another group of shelves further back. Stepping around the corner, he noticed her light shining off a container. "Food."
He stepped beside her and read the contents. "Dehydrated food, not a lot but enough."
"Look down the alley on both sides."
Looking at her, he stepped back out and looked down the rows. The rest of the shelves contained container after container of dehydrated food. Stepping down further, he found cases of MREs and other food. He turned back to her. "What made you want to come in here?"
"That sign out front said 'food storage inside' which meant it was either a place to get food storage OR to come get food for storage." She poked her head around to look at him. "We could eat for months on all this …"
"Or."
"Or we could take it back to Alexandria."
"Do you want to go back?"
"Not particularly, if we did no one but you would know I'm me that I'm Beth Greene. You can still call me Beth, my new middle name is Elizabeth. It'll cover any slip you might have."
"Good idea." He looked up and down the aisles. "How do we get it back to Alexandria?"
"There's a truck on the back side."
"Really."
Walking to the side door, he worked to get it open then stepped outside. He looked at the truck and broke into a grin. Walking over, he opened the door and found the keys in the visor. Sliding the key in, he cranked the engine and let it idle. Climbing out, he walked around and opened the back … finding it empty, he left the gate up and walked back around. Sliding it into drive, he pulled up to where the door was at the back of the truck. Putting it in park, he walked back inside and winked at her. "Let's start loading up." He looked around for a few long minutes. "Find stuff you like and I'll do the same; we'll fill your pack and take it to your place."
"Can't, no water remember."
"Fine, we'll take it to MY house and I'll start kicking people out of it."
"I want to see that."
"You will, don't worry."
