A/N: Sorry for the delay but RL does get in the way sometimes. In this chapter, we have a little family bonding time and also some vague answers as to why Michonne is hesitant on Carl meeting his father.
Updated:04/22/2017 Punctuation and grammar fixed
Michonne and Ila arrived at the house they sometimes used when they were in the area scavenging. It was about 5 miles from the main street location they just left. It was a little teal blue Victorian style 2 story home with a style gable roof. The house was surrounded by an 8-foot brick and iron wrought fence that was secured by thick 3/16 stainless steel chains and padlocks.
The home was also secured by walking dead security. The front of the house had about 3 to 4 walkers randomly milling about. The hope was the walkers would deter anyone from trying to get into the house. All of the windows on the lower level were covered with burglar bars and plywood to offer added protection.
Michonne and Ila entered the home from the backyard that was littered with random garbage to give the home more of a ransacked look.
They entered the house to find Luna and Carl in mid conversation and from the sounds of it the conversation about Carl's hygiene.
Ila leaning against the kitchen counter facing Carl with her nose crinkled up "Ok when are you going to go take a bath?"
"I don't see the point. I don't stink" Carl bends his head to take a sniff at his armpit. He crinkled up his nose as he realizes that he reeked.
"You are a walking pig pen. If you ever got lost all, we would have to do is follow your dirt cloud."
"Not funny."
Michonne and Ila fully entered the room. Ila hopped up and took a seat on the counter top while Michonne leaned against the far wall.
Luna glanced at both of her sisters "That was a quick run" she questioned. Ila shrugged her shoulders "Eh it is what it is."
"Pigpen while your washing up finally how about you cut that mop on your head that you call hair" Ila stated
"Uhmm no. Leave my hair alone. I like it long."
"Any longer and you will look like Cousin It from the Addams Family."
"Who is cousin It? Is that a long lost relative of yours from the looking like you have a midget in a headlock family" He snickered. "No, but I am a distant relative of the knock your teeth out, crew. I see you not laughing now chuckles."
Luna tried to stifle her laugh while trying to remain serious "You won't meet a cute girl smellin and looking like this."
"It really won't matter if I cut my hair and bathed regularly with the 3 of you around. I will never meet someone because y'all would scare all of the girls off."
"We have never done that" Luna feigned shock by placing her hand over her chest. "Yeah right… Remember the cute brunette with the doe eyes" Ila pretended not to know who he was referring to as she started to examine her nails "Who?"
"Ugh. See." Rolling his eyes at Ila fake ignorance "You know who I'm talking about. You cornered her in a hallway Ila and threatened her" Ila rolled her eyes "She wasn't right for you anyway. Who at your age is walking around giggling that damn much? Like a fucking hyena. I did you a favor with that one."
"God she was so annoying ... sickly annoying" Luna stated while placing her finger in her mouth and making a gagging sound. "Definitely walker food."
"My point has been proven. Y'all will always stick your noses into my relationships."
Ila took this opportunity to side eye Carl "Relationships… as in plural more than one. Who was the other person?"
"None of your business with your nosey self. Mind your business Ila" Carl tried to stare down Ila to show he meant it but began to cave when he saw Ila start to raise from the counter she was sitting on. "Just so you know it is my business. So fix your face before I fix it for ya."
"Ohhhh get em Ila. Get em" Luna chuckled hoping to see a long overdue takedown between Carl and Ila. But Ila wasn't in the mood to wrestle or even play fight after the day she has had. She waved off Carls statement. "Fine. You wanna have a girl who giggles like a hyena walking with you. Go right ahead."
"She didn't giggle that much" Carl mumbled trying not to seem embarrassed
"The hell she did. Oh my god if something were hilarious she would even snort" Ila started imitating the girl now called giggles laugh. Luna started laughing so hard she fell off the counter she was sitting on. "It is not that funny. Dang Luna" Carl was not amused at the teasing, but he couldn't help but chuckle also. Truth be told he also thought the girl was way too childish for him. Being around Michonne, Ila and Luna has set a bar extremely high for the type of girl he would like to get to know. She would have to be strong, fearless, loving and have thick skin when it comes to the constant teasing that goes on between each of them. Over the years each one of them has taken on a special role in his life, and he loved them for that. Luna and Ila have become his annoying overprotective sisters who look for every opportunity to tease him about something. Michonne his surrogate mother figure and protector. He was fiercely protective over them even though he knew they could take down anybody living or dead. All four of them together they were a family, each other's rocks and God help anyone who tried to mess with them.
Michonne moved from the wall to sit on the kitchen counter also as the verbal teasing continued. "Hey dirty one go and clean yourself up." Carl sighed but stood up and headed off to go wash up "Yeah.. yeah." Michonne knew this would be the best time to her sisters but before Michonne could say anything, Luna spoke up first.
"Ok, so what actually happened on your run?" Michonne forehead creased at the statement "What do you mean? Nothing happened."
"Bullshit. Ila didn't even look my way when I asked her about it. So I know something happened."
"Yeah, something did happen," Ila said as she glanced toward Michonne. "What happened?" Luna looked at Michonne and Ila waiting for someone to drop the bomb.
Michonne sighed with her eyes downcast "We found Carl's father." Luna scoffed "Yeah, right." She turned and looked at Ila who began to nod her head confirming that what Michonne was say was true.
"What?! Our Carl?
"Yeah" Michonne raised her head and looked Luna in the eyes so she could see that she was serious.
"Is he alive?"
"Yeah."
"Well, that's good news right. At least for Carl's sake."
"I don't know if I should tell him."
Ila jumped off the counter "Got damn it Chonne we have to tell him." Luna looked at Michonne slightly shocked at her statement.
"Wait. Why would we not tell Carl? Is there something wrong with his dad?"
Ila spoke up "Not as far as we can see. She is just worried that Carl will want to run off with his dad or something."
"Carl would never leave us. We are family." Luna hopped off the counter where she was sitting and walked toward Michonne to stand in front of her. She grabbed Michonne hand and squeezed "I mean it's great that his dad is still alive but you know we have to tell him."
"I know we do, but I can't help feeling like this. We don't know what type of man his father is now. He could be some kind of psycho running around ripping folks throats out or some other kind of mess. I don't want to run the risk of being caught in another situation like before. We trusted and almost lost him" Michonne forehead creased as she began to get angry recalling the night that they had to fight and kill to save Carl's life. Even though they didn't speak about it, each understood and accepted the role they played on that night.
"True but that doesn't change the fact that he has to know. Plus we will never be fooled like that again" Luna narrowed her eyes as her mind tried to not think about that night 2 years ago. "We can keep him safe when we speak to his dad, but we have to let Carl make the decision on what he wants to do." Ila came to stand beside Michonne and place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "If things don't look right we will just leave. All of us." Michonne nodded her head in agreement with her sisters. "Fine. Well, let's go tell him now while he is distracted and can't run anywhere."
"Oh he is still going to try and run once he sees all us standing there," said Ila
"Do you want to get some rope to tie him down?" Luna slightly grinned at the idea of having to really tie him down just to keep him from running away.
Carl was still in the bathroom. He was finished with his so-called bath. Now he was standing in front of the mirror attempting to trim his hair himself. Even though he didn't like the current setup of sitting on a stool with a bucket of water in front of him, he did feel a lot better now that he was all clean.
Knock knock
"I'm almost done just give me a minute."
The bathroom door opened "OMG Luna I said.." Carl didn't finish his sentence because once he looked towards the door and saw Michonne, Ila, and Luna all standing there staring at him, he knew something was up. Carl never liked it whenever they would corner him because it usually meant they were going to try to tackle or sucker punch him somewhere. "If y'all try and gang up on me. I swear someone is going to get their feelings hurt and it won't be me" Ila smirked at Carl challenging him. "I would like to see you try it."
"I can still go get some rope" chimed in Luna also smirking.
"Look I'm cutting my hair. What else do you want?" Luna scoffed "It looks like you are about to butcher your hair" Luna slid between her sisters. "Boy if you don't sit down on this stool before you ruin your hair. Give me the scissors" Carl sat down reluctantly and gave the scissors to Luna, so she could try and fix the mess he had started with his hair. Attempting to turn his head to the side as Luna continued to trim his hair. "Ok, this doesn't require an audience. What's up?"
Ila and Michonne walked into the spacious bathroom that they all could easily use at the same time if need be "Well we have something to tell you" Michonne leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. Carl tried to raise his head, but much to his annoyance it was quickly pushed back down as Luna continued to cut. "Like what?"
"On our run today we came across some people" Carl stiffened at Michonne words. Quickly sensing his tension rising she attempted to quell his worry "No they didn't attack us or anything. It's just one of the people we saw we think we know them". Carl began to relax a bit especially once Luna started to run her finger through his hair and scratch his scalp a bit as she tried to even out his hair.
"So what is the problem?" he was slightly confused at what she was trying to tell him.
Michonne sighed deeply and placed her hand on her forehead. "What Chonne wants to say baby boy is that we saw your father today" Carl quickly turned around and glared at Ila. "Jokes like that aren't funny" Ila raised her hands in surrender "its no joke. We saw your dad in the flesh."
"What… what did he say.."
"Not much after Ila kicked him" Michonne glanced at Ila
"You kicked my dad!"
Ila shrugged her shoulders "It was before we knew it was him. He was just another scavenger like us for all I knew."
"So what happened? How did you know it was him? "
"He heard me say your name and he lost his shit. He also said he was from Kings County."
"Before Ila knocked him out" Ila gave Michonne a hateful glance as Carl glared at her again.
His head began to swim at what was just revealed to him. His dad was alive. He always held on to the slim hope that one day he would find his father, but now that it seems to be coming true his mind was having a hard time grasping at this new reality. "I need to see him. How far is it to the town" he quickly blurted out. He tried to stand up in his excited state, but Luna pushed him back down. "I'm not finished, and there's more that they want to talk to you about," Luna said. "What else is there to talk about? I want to go see my dad."
Michonne closed her eyes and let out a deep breath as she tried to calm her breathing. She knew what his reaction was going to be even before they returned from the run. He was going to want to see his father. She didn't blame him for wanting to see him. After all this time thinking that his father was dead, and she was not going to deny him this one piece of happiness, but she couldn't help the feeling down in her gut that told her that once again they will soon have to fight for Carl for her boy.
"That's what we need to talk to you about," she said. With Carls hair now finished, he was able to stand to his full 5'6 lean, well-defined height and face the 3 woman who was his family. "We know that this is something you have wanted for a long time, but we are worried about a few things."
"No Chonne is worried shitless about a few things" Ila cut in.
Confused again Carl looked at Michonne. The woman who has taken on the role of his mother more and more as the years have passed. "What's there to worry about? If it's really my dad. It's my dad. He won't hurt me."
"Baby boy, believe me, I am not trying to keep you from your father, but it has been 3 years since you have seen him. We don't know what has happened to your father during that time. How you dad may have possibly changed. We have seen how this world can turn good people into cold, heartless shells. I….we just want to keep you safe..."
"By not letting me see my dad. You can't do that to me. That is my dad" Carl was becoming frustrated with the whole situation.
"No, we just want to do it the right way to keep you safe. We don't want any surprises."
"I am not a kid. I can hold my own, and you know this." He said
"Yeah, we know you can hold your own. We made sure of that, but we don't want anything to happen to you ...again" Carl eyes roamed all over the bathroom as he listened to what she was telling him. He fully understood her hesitation, but he was willing to take that chance if it meant seeing his dad again. "You know we would take down anyone who tries to hurt you, even your father."
"Got damn right," Ila stated. "Look we left a note saying that we would be back in 2 days to talk to him. In that time we need to come up with a plan in regards to this meet-up. Just, and I do mean just in case things go to shit while we are talking to your dad."
"It's the smart thing to do," said Luna. He knew they were right. Things may have changed with his father. They've experienced that before with someone who they trusted only to have that person betray them and forcing them to fight for their lives especially his. But it didn't matter he still wanted to see him.
"Chonne... What about Zeke? They are expecting us back by tomorrow" said Luna
"Zeke won't come looking for us for about another 2 days. So we have time to take care of this and make it back."
Ila spoke as she walked out of the bathroom "Ok let's start planning then. We have to keep pigpen safe," She jested.
A/N: Next Chapter will be the meeting, and I will post in the next few days. Thank you for reading and reviews are welcome.