Due to massive amounts of reviews, I'm going to cut back on the reply space by addressing the ones that need addressing. Just know I still love the other reviewers, but my goodness there must be a line drawn on reply space.
Emerald Kitten - I kind of enjoy the idea that both men have seen My Fair Lady and get the references. Also it's a fine musical.
HGRHfan35 - I love Daryl, don't get me wrong, but honestly it's the same thing that peeves me as Rick's beard. Like my God, the world ended, but razors and scissors still exist guys. So damned scruffy...
skittletitz - I've been meaning to get around to Daryl asking about cabri, I'm just glad he didn't ask what couyon meant, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't appreciate it half as much as cabri.
Lilone1776 - Oh, I know...the show is hell on a fan's heart. I hope I don't kill half as callously or often as they do...but still, it is a dog eat dog world they live in.
GG - Oh, the Marine base is going to be loads of fun! I swear!
Brazen Hussy - I did sort of get a wicked thrill at the idea that both men have knowledge of My Fair Lady...I could imagine Daryl saw it on late night TV at some point in his youth and the Lt. is just weird enough to enjoy musicals. (I also like to think deep down they both secretly love it...but that's just me...)
MollyMayhem84 - I'm so glad they nixed that pairing idea...honestly, it was just weird. And not the age thing, because I enjoy a good age space between characters in a pairing. But because Beth seems adorable and Carl is still a little shit in my mind (sorry Season 3 cannot atone for Season 1 & 2 Carl).
Surplus Imagination - Well, Carol never nagged Daryl about his choices in the past on the show, why should she start nagging him about his choices now that they're together? I think she'd quietly suffer with being uncomfortable about him going out, but she knows it's for the best.
AFishNamedSushi - It's really hard writing awkward intimacy!Daryl with so many reviewers screaming for me to just write a sex scene in the story...I'm glad you appreciate my efforts to make him a little more believable in his awkwardness.
To the other reviewers I had nothing really to reply to, you know I love ya! And, hey, shout to to those who read but don't review, because dammit reviews are hard! I should know, I never know what to say in a review either.
Ugh, OC heavy chapter...my apologies all around...but hey, at least I update so often this will all seem like a bad nightmare in a day or two...
Chapter Forty-Seven: Raison
**The Lieutenant**
She was in her study later that night, scratching out calculations of supplies in her little notebook, when he stepped in with his .22.
The Lieutenant set it on her desk, over the work.
"Whatever are you doing?" She demanded.
"You wanted a rifle," he said.
"This is yours."
He shrugged. "Rick found some .308 rounds for me, Marie is back in commission, so…I kept her in good condition, so you shouldn't have any problems with her."
Running a finger down the length of the scope, Grace made a small sound of discontent.
"Do you want me to remove the scope for you?" She said.
He shook his head. "Naw, consider it an added bonus."
"And what do you plan on sniping with, Lafayette? If I have your scope?"
He beamed. "Well, we'll probably find one at the base tomorrow."
"If you get near enough to claim one," she replied.
Resting his hip against her desk, he leaned over it to chat with her. "You sound a little upset. Are you mad I'm going?"
"Why would I be mad?" She asked. "I have no control over your actions. You're a free man."
"Now I know you're mad," he said. "I have lived with women long enough to know that."
"I'm mad at the world, not you." She said picking up the rifle.
"Of course."
She tried to slide the bolt back with little difficulty, offering him a sheepish smile. "It's been a while."
"Sure enough. Oh!" He fumbled in his many pockets for the box of .22 ammo he had brought for her. "I have, uh, some ammo for you."
She took the box quietly, setting it on an empty corner of her desk. "Thank you for the weapon, Lafayette."
"Are you are sure you're alright?" He asked softly.
"I keep thinking about Annie, the poor girl needs more than we're giving her."
"What more is there?" He demanded. "She gets discipline from you and cuddles from me. Isn't that what parents do?"
"She needs stability."
Hopping up to sit on her desktop, the Cajun grinned. "We all need stability these days."
"I mean familial stability."
"Well, I'd make an honest woman out of you, only last I checked God kind of frowns upon nuns marrying."
"You know full well what I mean."
"No, I don't. We give Annie what we can, short of going out and slaying every last uggie in the country."
"She needs more. She deserves more."
Suddenly it all clicked for him and the Lieutenant bit the inside of his cheek. "I get it," he said after a moment. "You don't want more for her in the way of what we can give, you want a quick fix for her."
"She shouldn't have to wake in the night screaming," Grace said.
"But she does and we can't turn back time to prevent her terrors from creeping in," he argued hopping off the desk. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a camping date with a wee boo. I have to build a blanket fort and find something to keep her entertained with. You're welcome to join us if you want, we have the shed to ourselves tonight."
Grace smiled sadly. "You go ahead, I have to do a few more calculations to see how much food we'll need to preserve for the winter."
"Well, the invitation is hanging in the air for you if you get bored."
..-~-..
..-~-..
They had constructed a blanket fort out of his scratchy, thin blanket and were holing up under it later that night.
Watching Annie play with Boo the dog and a rag doll she had brought with her, the Lieutenant huddled his lanky form under the low ceiling of the fort.
"That's a cute little doll," he remarked. "Where did you get her?"
"Carol made her for me. See? She's made out of an old nun's dress," the girl said holding up the white cloth doll with the black dress and the scraggly black hair. For eyes it had black stitching and a little red mouth.
"She's real cute, did you thank Carol?"
"Um-hm."
"What's her name?"
"Carol Beth Mena."
The Lieutenant beamed. "That's a fancy name for a fancy little lady."
"Yeah, you wanna hold her?"
"Me? Alright, sure."
Annie handed the doll over to him. "You have to cradle her neck, that's what Beth says to do with Judith."
"I see, because she's just a baby, right?"
"Yeah."
Holding the doll with her neck delicately cradled, the Lieutenant chuckled.
"Hey, boo?" He asked. "Can I ask you about earlier? What happened with Carl?"
Annie shrugged, avoiding his eyes by petting Boo the dog.
"Are you scared of guns?"
Again she shrugged. "Think you'll catch a turkey soon?" She changed the subject.
"Soon, I hope," he replied. "Did someone hurt you with a gun or tried to?"
"Uh-uh."
"Come here," he said, pulling her towards him into a hug. Holding the girl in his arms, he tucked the doll back against her and settled them against the pillow behind him. "Do you remember why you got so scared of the gun, honeychild?"
"I didn't want to get hurt," she whispered.
"But you're around my rifle all the time, doesn't that scare you?"
"It's not the same."
"What do you mean?"
"Mama hurt herself with Carl's gun."
The Lieutenant furrowed his brow, before he realized what she meant. "A handgun?"
Annie shrugged.
"Your mama hurt herself with a handgun?"
"She was hurt, one of those ugly looking men hurt her and she told me to go and hide in a cupboard until daddy got back. She said 'cover your ears and be real quiet until daddy comes home'."
"Then what happened?"
Annie shrugged, turning around to snuggle in against his chest, her arms winding around his neck. "You're not going anywhere, right?"
"Well, we're going out tomorrow," he said, content to let the matter drop. Even if she gave up a bit of what happened, it was more than he was ever able to get out of her, more than he ever dared to get out of her. "But I'll be back in a couple of days."
Annie scrambled across the interior of their fort for the deck of cards he had found. "Can we play something?"
"What do you want to play?"
They both looked up a gentle knocking at the door, before it opened a crack and Grace poked her head in tentatively, peering about.
"I was extended an invitation for a camp out," she greeted cautiously.
Lafayette beamed at her and motioned her inside the shed.
She entered, standing at the door looking around, her hands clasped around a small brown paper bag.
"Hi!" Annie chirped. "You can come inside the fort!"
Carefully, almost nervously, Grace stooped and entered the blanket fort, crawling on her hands to the foot of the cot, where she scrunched her small frame up tightly.
Annie scurried over to cuddle against her side, as the Lieutenant shuffled the cards.
"This is a very impressive blanket fort," Grace said.
"What's in the bag?" Annie asked.
The former nun smiled. "Something I bartered off of Glenn for."
"What?"
"Close your eyes."
Annie made a huge production out of clamping her hands over her eyes, beaming.
Pulling a chocolate bar from the bag, Grace dangled it in front of the girl's face. "Open them."
Annie gasped in joy and took the candy. "Thank you!"
Knowing her habit of sharing whatever she ate with the dog, the Lieutenant cautioned her about sharing the chocolate treat with it as Annie tore into the candy bar delightfully.
"Sugar before bedtime, this must be a special occasion," the Cajun teased.
"Well, s'mores were out of the question, so I had to make due."
Finding a bar tossed into his lap, the Cajun smiled and moved around a sleeping dog and a snacking kid to ease his long form into the space beside Grace.
Noticing she didn't have a chocolate bar of her own, he split his and gave her the biggest half with a small grin.
"Can we do this again?" Annie asked, her mouth full of half masticated chocolate and nuts.
"Swallow before you speak," the Lieutenant said. "Or you'll choke."
"Nuh-uh! That's not true!" The girl protested.
"Sure it is, I once knew a man who choked on a whole fried chicken leg, they had to bury him with the shape of it lodged in his throat. Everyone laughed at him in his coffin because he looked silly."
Annie swallowed. "Really?"
"Sure. Everyone laughs at the fool who chokes because they were talking with a mouthful of food." He went on smoothly.
Beside him Grace laughed, touching her mouth in an effort to swallow before she actually did choke.
"You probably shouldn't make jokes while someone's eating either," the Lieutenant amended, lightly rubbing Grace's back to help her get through her bite.
"Would you laugh if Mother Mena choked?" Annie demanded.
"Of course not, I like her."
The little girl beamed slyly. "Then you should kiss her!"
"So we can make babies, yeah?" He returned.
Annie giggled. "Yes!"
"Annie Louise!" Grace gasped. "Where did you learn such things?"
"Places," the little girl replied.
The Lieutenant beamed, his smile quickly dying when he saw the grave nature of Grace's features. He shook his finger at Annie quietly.
The little girl giggled wildly and crawled over the narrow cot to nestle between them, dragging Boo the dog with her.
Grace set her hand on Annie's head, playing with her soft black hair idly.
"Can we play a game?" She asked, looking up at the Lieutenant first, then Grace.
"Sure, honey."
"Have you ever played Plastic?" The girl asked.
Both adults shook their heads.
"Well, it's like…um…okay, you have to stand up and I get to position you and you have to guess what I'm trying to position you into."
"Like Pictionary with people?" The Lieutenant clarified, confused by the concept.
Annie nodded. "Sort of."
"Alright, we can try it."
The little girl's face split into a wide grin. "Okay!"
..-~-..
..-~-..
Later, after the sugar rush wore off, the Lieutenant found himself squashed between the wall and three warm bodies and a doll.
It really wasn't what he signed on for when he began the campout for the wee boo, but he wasn't about to complain.
He wondered if that's what fathers and husbands the world over had to suffer through, arms tingling because they were jammed under their own bodies and little legs kicking in their sleep far too close to his family jewels to make him feel safe and comfortable.
Honestly, he had no clue, he was never a father and only came close to being a husband once. Close only counted in horseshoes though.
Trying to slowly adjust his position to free his arm, he wedged himself deeper against the wall. It was bad enough his legs stuck out over the edge of the small cot, never mind the chill that now cooled his poor Cajun backside from the wall.
Finally freeing his arm, he was faced with the dilemma of what to do with it now that he had it back.
Suddenly he was very aware of just why it was jammed under him.
He couldn't just throw it across the entire group of cot invaders like he did with his right arm, finally he settled on worming it up over the heads of Boo, Annie, the doll with the long assed name that he couldn't really recall at the moment and Grace.
The woman opened her eyes as his hand brushed her hair and he smiled nervously. "Sorry, trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle around comfortably."
"Do you want me to leave? Give you some space?"
He hooked his right hand around her waist before she could even move. "No, you're fine where you are. Just needed to rearrange myself."
Grace shifted back on the cot, moving closer to the edge.
"Well, don't back up too far, it's not a far fall, but the floor is harder than it looks," he teased.
"Does that give you more space?" She asked.
He wriggled a little, trying to squirm under Annie so that the girl was sleeping on his chest instead of sprawled out between them. "I think I can manage a bit more if I get creative."
Grace smiled warmly. "Maybe I should go. You need your sleep."
He reached over Annie's little form and pulled the nun in close, leaving his hand draped around her waist. "Naw, it's alright, you're keeping the bed warmer this way."
They fell silent, blinking quietly at each other in the dark.
"I think…I think something happened with Annie's mother," he said softly, keeping from waking Annie. "I think she was bit and bowed out." He hoped by wording it that way even if Annie was awake, she wouldn't fully comprehend the awful truth. "I think the wee boo saw it or at least heard it."
Grace was quiet for a moment, before she moved in closer to Annie and him, wrapping her arms around both of them and laying her head down on his chest beside Annie's.
"Are you sure?" She whispered.
"I'm ninety-five percent on this one."
"What do we do?"
"Nothing," he replied. "There's nothing you can do."
Running her hand over Annie's hair, Grace propped her chin on his chest and eyed him. "I've been so hard on her, this whole time she's been living with this inside her and I've been scolding her."
"Nothing wrong with that," he argued. "You were being a mother to her, that's what they do."
"Yes, while you were giving her hugs and cuddles and everything a poor girl in her situation needs, I've been playing the Wicked Witch." She stated.
"Well, at least you get a really interesting mode of transportation," he teased.
"I'm being serious," she snapped.
"I'm not, that's the beauty of me." He chuckled at her frown and ran his hand up her back. "Don't worry about giving the girl hell once in a while, she needs it."
"You both need it."
He nodded. "And we both love you for it."
"I'm going to remember that the next time you're being a devil and I have to check you back into line." She said with a tiny grin.
He beamed at her.
"I don't know what I'd do without you around here," she whispered, laying her head on his chest once more.
He wasn't sure if it was just the warm feeling of having everyone he loved within reach of him should anything ever happen or maybe it was the sincerity in Grace's tone, but he had the very real urge to lock his arms around the girls and never let them go.
Maybe he was just coming around to the idea that people actually wanted him around, that he was really needed.
That incentive to come back to them that Grace was talking about earlier was suddenly there, offered up to him on a silver platter and she wasn't even aware she had offered it to him.
He had a better reason to come back from Woodbury other than mere survival and they were curled up in his cot, draped over his body.
The Cajun Dialect
Raison – Reason, correct thinking.