Chapter 18: The Baby Factor Part 1

Jane regains her composure after having a violent episode of vomiting in Abe's bathroom. As she walks out of the bathroom she spots Jimmy standing in the doorway of his bedroom as if he was listening to her in bathroom.

"What's wrong Jimmy? I'm alright." she claims. Jimmy finds it hard to hide the contempt he feels toward his sister so he walks down stairs and out the front door.

Abe comes out of his bedroom putting on his fatigue jacket, "Hey Sunshine, you feeling alright" he asks.

"Yea, it was probably something I eat last night." She answers.

"Oh, well I am off to work," Abe walks over to Jane and grabs her behind and squeezes it tightly causing her to become nauseous all over again from his lack of decorum, "I will see you later." He tells her.

As Abraham walks down the stairs, she remembers that Rosita usually stays in Abe's bedroom, "What about Rosita?"

"What about her? She's only there to…keep me…preoccupied until you come around", he replies as he's walking down the step and out the front door.

Jane starts walking down the steps when she observes James leaning on the wall in the foyer. "Jane…" he steps over to the bottom of the stairs, "…I said that we will help you with this. This can get done without us destroying everyone in the group, these people took us in; they will get over losing Michonne as long as there's no drama going on within the rest of the group."

Jane gracefully glides down the rest of the stairs with an icy rage in her eyes and her teeth clenched together, "I know that you are my brother but, if you don't fix this problem soon I will find a way to make you and Jimmy wish you had died in that hell hole with the rest of those baby eating cannibals."

In a matter of seconds all the rage and tension leaves Jane's face as she walks past him and in to the kitchen.

Jane always knew how to hurt brothers, even when they were kids she never really had any real sentiment for them. Her brothers have been holding on their entire lives for the day when she would finally show some adoration toward them as they always did for her.

Meanwhile next door…

Carl sits in the tiny living room of Glenn's house and watches as the young newlyweds play with Judith. He notices how lighthearted they are around his sister, but he already knew his sister had the power to cheer up anybody in any room. Glenn and Maggie hadn't seen very much of Judith since arriving at the survivor cul de sac. On the other hand, they also hadn't noticed how long it's been since being around her either because every day they were working. They were either, gardening, patrolling or fortifying the neighborhood. As Carl watches the young adults he reminisces about his mother and when she was alive…long before the turn.

For Carl, life in the old world felt like fading daydream rather than a past as recent as 2 or 3 years ago. On the day his father was shot all he could recall was the huge argument that his parents had that morning. He remembered that miserable empty feeling he had when his mother dropped him off at school that morning, wandering if his parents would get a divorce. Later that same afternoon, when he got out of school, his mother told him about his father being shot in the line duty.

Ever since that day, Carl's entire life (as well as the entire world) had become one chaotic disastrous event after another. But for now, he decided to imagine he was watching old home movies of himself as a toddler playing with both his parents…a time before the world became walking dead.

"When are the two of you gonna have baby?" Carl asked.

Glenn and Maggie glance at each other startled by his question. "Where is that coming from Carl?" Glenn answers back a little confused as to where this conversation is coming from or where it's going.

"I mean you guys are married now right? Isn't that what people do once they get married", Carl asks. Maggie looks over at Glenn with one brow raised and a smirk on her face anxiously awaiting Glenn's response to the question.

Maggie has been ready to have a baby since they were at the prison. But Glenn was very apprehensive about bring a life in to this world. He feared the responsibility involved with taking care of a family. He knew all too well how hard it was to travel on the road with a baby but more importantly he remembered what happened to Lori while giving birth to Judith and wasn't willing to take that same chance with Maggie no matter how much she wanted a child of her own.

"When things settle down in the world we will." Glenn tells him.

Maggie looks over at Glenn and gives him a sort of melancholy smile; "I am going to go put Judith down for a nap." And she walks upstairs.

Glenn watches Maggie as she takes Judith upstairs then turns around to Carl, "Come on Carl let's see what's going on with the fortifications for the day."

Later that morning Glenn and Carl come back to the house and find Jane and Maggie sitting in the living room talking and playing with Judith, "Oh, hey Jane." Glenn says.

Carl walks in behind him and sees Jane in the living playing with his sister.

"Hi guys." Jane says in a cheerful tone.

"Maggie a couple us are gonna go on a run over to True Value to see if there's any sediment or concrete for that gap that keeps sinking those booby traps every time it starts to rain. It's only a mile maybe two. It shouldn't be too much trouble." Glenn tells her.

Jane recalls a rundown drug store across the street from the hardware store. "Oh, I'll go with you guys, I haven't left this block in I don't know how long. Let me get my bag from next door." She tells Glenn.

"Alright, Carl you stay here with Maggie and your sister until I get back." Glenn tells him while holding the door open for Jane.

Maggie walks over to the door with Judith in her arms and gives Glenn a kiss, "Be careful out there."

Abe, Glenn, James, Jimmy and Jane pile in to one of the last vehicles left and head over to the True Value. Once they get there, Abe does a circle around the store to see if there are any herds hanging around. Beyond the parking lot of the hardware store there was nothing but over grown grass and huge trees that seem to be thriving now that there are less human being around.

He parks in front of one of the loading docks in the back of the store; everyone gets out and the four men head toward the ramp of the loading dock.

Jane grabs Jimmy's arm, "Hey would you guys be alright if I stole Jimmy away to help me scout out the drug store across the street?" she asks.

For some reason right away James tells her, "No. Just wait for us to finish up here and we can all go together."

Jimmy looks over at James offended, "She'll be alright if I'm there", he tells his brother.

"Then I will go with you guys", and James starts to walk toward them.

"No James you stay with them they will probably need your help getting all that concrete" Jane says with a smile.

James turns to look over at Jimmy and breathes a heavy worrisome sigh then places his hand firmly on his brother's shoulder, "Jimmy…" he pauses for a second then with great reluctance says, "…watch your back little brother…for anything." Jimmy shakes his head with a confused look on his face.

"Don't worry James; I'll take care of my little brother." Jane says grinning and tilting Jimmy's head in order to kiss his forehead then they head across the parking lot to the drug store.

Abe and Glenn walk inside the rundown hardware store as James watches his youngest brother and his older sister walk further away from him toward the drug store. He was never one to be spooked by anything or anyone with the exception of his sister.

James looks up and watches the menacing storm clouds move across the sky, he has this increasing feeling of dread that this would be the last time he would see his siblings together again. He quickly comes to terms with this horrid outlook, turns around and grabs a small store flatbed and rolls it in to the store.

As Jane and her younger brother walk toward the drug store Jimmy turns to her and says, "You have your mini machete right?"

Jane holds it up, "Yep its right here." The two continue on in silence through the drug store parking lot. Jimmy crouches down a bit to see if there are any walkers hidden in between or in back of the abandon cars. Jane checks the cars on the other side.

"Jimmy, do you remember when Mommy didn't pay the electric bill that time right around Christmas when you were little?" she asks.

"Which Christmas", he chuckled.

Jane laughs, "The one when Father Lucas came to the house and told us that Mommy was locked up for stabbing your Dad in the chest."

Jimmy stops and looked at her momentarily, "No. I thought she was locked up for stabbing that guy she was dating."

She tilts her head pitifully and smiles looking as though she was about to explode with laughter, "No silly, she was locked up for killing yours and James's father. He said that he was filing for custody for the both of you. So I told her that I she shouldn't let him come in and break up her family. I told her she should do whatever she had to in order to stop him." Jane says.

With little to no regret she goes on to laugh and say, "I mean, I had no idea that she would kill him, she may have taken what I said too far", she snickers and shakes her head, "Crazy Mommy."

Jimmy quickly absorbs what she has just told him and continues to walking, it was at that point he says sadly, "Well, I suppose it doesn't even matter now, he's probably dead anyway."

"Oh know he's been dead. He died from the stab wound. She stabbed him straight through the heart with an ice pick. That's how she ended up in the asylum and we ended up living with Father Lucas, that disgusting pedophile." She tells him in that same a casual tone.

Jane keeps walking at the same pace but Jimmy stops again to watches her walk toward the drug store door.

He can't believe what she has just told him and how she told him. It was as though she was gossiping about someone else's life and family, someone she had absolutely no feeling for or a connection with. She fails to even notice that he has stopped walking with her.

James and Jimmy adored their father when they were little. Their father had promised to one day to have them stay with him permanently as soon as he found nice home with good schools in the area. By the time Jimmy was in the 3rd grade his father was coming around to pick the brothers up every weekend. Then one day he stopped coming. Jimmy and James were devastated and no one ever told them why their father stopped coming around until today. It was at this point that Jimmy finally realized that Jane was a loathsome heartless human being and completely unconscious to the hurt that she caused to the people around her. He understood that she had no love or compassion for him, his brother James…anybody.

Jimmy begins to walk again when he sees three walkers coming from around the back of the drug store but the walkers haven't seen them yet. He runs toward Jane and pushes her against the opposite side of the wall from the emerging walkers and covers her mouth with his hand. They watch in silence as the few walkers veer off down the main road.

Jane removes his hand from her mouth, "Come on let's get in and out of here."

The automatic door glass, (along with door), is broken so they proceed to walk in the store. The overcast daylight from the sky provides enough light for them to enter but the further they go in the darker it becomes.

Jimmy pulls out two flashlights and hands one to his sister. He raises his hand to stop her from moving forward so he can see if there are any walkers stirring in the store. Every place he shines his flashlight he can see store shelves and displays sprawled out across the floor but no sign of walkers just yet. He motions for Jane to stay put while he walks around to look behind the check-out counter.

While standing in place Jane does her own survey of the area with the flashlight when she stops at one of the aisle signs on the floor that says "Baby and Mom". She quietly walks over toward the aisle sign on the floor and starts looking around for a pregnancy test kit.

Jimmy walks over to where she is and picks up some A&D ointment he looks over at her crouching down sifting through debris on the floor, "Here's some A &D ointment Judith can use this right?" he asks.

She keeps kneeling but turns around to shine the light on what he's holding, "Yea, get as much of that type of stuff as you can." She tells him.

Jimmy looks all over the floor for baby ointment, while he is looking he starts to wonder why Jane can't feel any emotions for her own brothers and yet she is obsessing over Michonne.

"Ha, I found one!" She says with a quiet delight.

"Found what?" He asks.

She stands up victory sprawled across her face, "A pregnancy test."

Jimmy looks at her and says, "Jane why are so obsessed over getting rid of Michonne?"

She slowly drops her hand with the pregnancy test to her side and with a venomous look on her face she responds, "Because I want Rick to look at me the same way he looks at her…" she lingers momentarily, "…if she's missing he won't stop until he finds her. So the only way he will forget about her is to get rid of her for good." Jane leaves a pause so that her plan can sink in to Jimmy's head. Seconds later she anxiously says, "Now wait here while I go pee."

Jimmy sits on top of one of the shelves on the floor and waits for her. He places his head in his hands wearily because he doesn't want to hurt Rick and his people anymore. He's tired of lying and scheming for her. He doesn't want to hurt these people that helped them escape from Terminus and allowed them in to their survival group. Jimmy is suddenly overcome with feelings of regret and remorse for the things that has he has done since the turn. Especially, what he has done for love of his sister.

A few minutes later, Jane emerges from the corner with a large smile on her face. She starts to walks over toward Jimmy's back while trying to avoid stepping on broken glass. "Jimmy, I'm pregnant again." She tells him with restrained joy in her voice.

He doesn't turn around but says in a low voice shaking his head, "Jane…" he pauses, "…you know that isn't Rick's baby that Abe's baby. Don't do this. I don't want to want to play these people anymore."

The look of joy leaves her face as she realizes what Jimmy has said out loud. She places the test stick in her bag then grabs one of the large pieces of glass on the floor. There's a heavier darkness that enters the small town drug store. When she grabs the glass from off the floor she grips it so hard blood begins to ooze from cut it have her hand.

Jane, little by little walks up behind him, "Ever since we were little you were always the gentle one out of the three of us. When mommy was locked away you cried and cried for weeks. I knew then that you would never make it that world without me, and you would've never made it this far now…without me."

She finally reaches his back and wraps her arms around his shoulders and arms and hugs him tightly. She places her nose in his hair and takes a large whiff then, kisses the top of his head. Jimmy begins to cry silently as he touches her arm, hoping that the love he always wanted from his older sister would suddenly seep through her skin.

"You don't have to lie for me anymore." She kisses his head again then with pity in her voice she goes on to say, "Remember when I told you that I would forgive some day for what you did…"

Jimmy begins to feel something liquid dripping on his arm right where her hand was wrapped. As he opens his eyes he can't see exactly what is dripping because the daylight coming in isn't enough to cast out the shadows.

Just when Jimmy is about to lift up her hand, "…someday I will, but not today" She takes the broken piece of glass in her hand drags it across her little brother throat.

Jimmy falls to the floor amongst the scattered drug store items. Jane watches her little brother as he desperately gasps for air repeatedly grabbing at his throat with his hands. The blood pouring from his throat begins to spill down around the sides of his neck and on to the floor. As Jane watches the life leave Jimmy's body she sees his bag, flashlight and weapon on the floor and immediately grabs it before the pool of blood reaches it.

She starts walking toward the drug store entrance then turns back to look at Jimmy one last time and shakes her head in complete contempt while saying, "Crazy Mommy", and leaves the drug store with what she came for.

As the three men quietly walk through the store Abe asks Glenn, "How are you and Maggie enjoying the company of that little lady so far?"

"Oh Judith is great, we almost forgot how nice it is to see baby in this hell on earth." Glenn answers.

"Yep, children bring a sort of joy that can't be explained. I miss mine every day", Abe says.

"You had kids?" Glenn asks with shock.

"Oh hell yea, a boy and a girl", Abe says with pride in his voice.

"Yea, Maggie wants to start a family, I'm like right now?" Abe stops and looks over at Glenn.

"Believe me even before this shit storm started people were always using that excuse…" Abe looks around the abandon hardware store but continues, "… even though it seems more relevant now than it did back then. But nonetheless there nothing like have a little person around."

Abe starts looking down the aisles, "My wife and I kept having trouble conceiving, she had about 3 miscarriages. One doctor said it was her, another one said it was me, so I decided fuck it, will adopt some kids. There are plenty of children in the world that need a loving family."

"I hope you don't mind me asking but, what happened?" Glenn gently asks.

"Well one day I got a little crazy after I kept seeing a couple of assholes eyeing my wife and daughter after the outbreak. The next morning when I woke up they were gone." Abe points down one of aisles, "Oh there we go."

They walk down the aisle and see a bags of concrete, "I guess you're supposed to stop using concrete when it's the end of the world," Abe laughs. They start loading up the flatbed, by the time they're finish they have five 10 pound bags of concrete and 8 buckets on concrete solution mix. They begin to walk down the main aisle passing by lot of stuff that they could easily put to use.

"I wonder why there's so much stuff still here", Glenn says, "With the exception of some stuff on the floor this place is damn near fully stocked.

Suddenly James's barbed wire lead-pipe rolls off the flatbed by accident make a loud clanging noise that echo's throughout the store. In the silence of the store Glenn starts to here movement coming from front. All three turn around and they sees herd of about 20 walkers starting to walk in their direction down the main aisle. More start to emerge from the side aisles.

"Come on we gotta move." Abe says.

James pushes the flatbed as fast as he can while still maintaining control. Abe and Glen start killing one or two stragglers that coming from the aisle a head of them. Unfortunately, as James gets closer to the loading dock opening he sees Jane crying hysterically…and without his brother.

Everything around James suddenly starts to move in slow motion and with no sound as it hits him that his little brother is dead. That miserable feeling that hung over his head earlier, has now engulfed every living cell in his body to the point where he couldn't even feel the flatbed cart in the grips of his hands.

"James they got Jimmy! Jimmy!" Jane wailed. James looks at his sister in shock and she continues crying and yelling. Abe and Glenn get to the loading dock and see Jane crying uncontrollably. They stand in shock for a brief second understanding instantly that the group has lost a member.

Glenn looks over at James feeling sorry for him but yells anyway, "James I sorry man but we got to get the hell out of here!"

Abe grabs the flatbed cart from Jimmy and rolls it down the ramp to the trunk of the vehicle and they begins to quickly load up concrete.

Just as Abe is about to closes the trunk; walkers start to approach the loading dock entrance. "Get in the car let's go!" Abe yells.

Everyone gets in the car and as they back away from the loading dock walkers start to walk and fall off the platform and down the loading dock ramp. He shifts the car back in drive and speeds through the parking lot then down the main road back to the cul de sac.