Those Who Can

Michonne had spent the morning cleaning house and taking care of children. She was smiling at her domesticity. It was nice once in a while to not to be constantly battling to live another day. The trip back to the mountains had been harrowing enough. The trip had been fairly calm until they made their first stop. They had stopped to refuel and go the bathroom. The three women had opted to go behind some bushes while Carl put gasoline in the suv. There wasn't a walker in sight. Two watched for danger while one squatted and not for the first time they complained about the basic unfairness of their plumbing. Arya was the last and she had just finished zipping up her pants when they heard the first groan. Everyone grabbed their weapons and assessed the situation.

It was a walker swarm and Michonne had seen that they were cut off from getting back to the vehicle. She motioned for the others to follow her and they slipped back into the bushes to try to go around the walkers. Carl must have seen them because she could hear the engine of the suv and Michonne knew he would try to draw them off. Unfortunately, about half the swarm was just mindlessly stumbling around close to them and at any moment the buffet would be open if they didn't move. Michonne led the women in a looping curve hoping to get around the swarm and back to the road. She needed to have some space to swing or she couldn't be as effective with the katana.

The three women pushed through the last bushes and found that the walkers were scattered in a long line along the road moving toward the now stopped vehicle. Michonne motioned her fighters apart and they all took out their weapons and began marching down the line. Michonne would take one, then Beth, and they Arya. They were able to make some progress and they moved as quickly as they could. Carl was slowly making his way back toward them. He carried a short sword well suited for stabbing through the eye socket.

There was a cluster of walkers about half way to Carl and Michonne didn't see any way around them. She cut a swath through the middle with her katana and Beth and Arya grouped themselves behind her. Beth on the left using her sword to protect herself and Michonne's back while Arya took the right. They cleared out that obstacle and the rest of the way seemed almost easy by comparison.

Carl ran back to the suv and put the vehicle in reverse. They were close enough to make a run for it and Michonne remembered Daryl saying, "Sooner or later we have to run". They had jumped in and Carl hit the gas and sped away.

Beth said solemnly, "I am glad that I had already peed before this started." The others howled with laughter and she began to giggle too.

Michonne gave them time to calm down and little before she spoke, "I am so damn proud of you all. You kept your heads and you used your weapons correctly. That could have gone another way. Good on you, mates". Michonne had worked with Beth and Arya since she got to the mountains. Arya was a natural with long arms and legs with surprising strength in them. She had been doing hard physical work around the farm her whole life and she had taken that and all the training that she could get to transform herself into the warrior that used her sword like steel lightning. Every walker that she struck stayed down.

Beth had had to play catch up. She had been babied by Hershel and protected by everybody, but she was a different person now. She and Elijah practiced daily with their long bows and swords and today had been her first big test. Having the strength and the knowledge didn't mean that you would use it when the time came. Beth had fought like a tiger today.

Arya pulled one of Michonne's dreadlocks and gave her a cheeky grin, "We had a good teacher." She leaned over the front seat, "Thank you, Aunt Michonne". Arya gave her a quick hug and Michonne had patted her arm.

The rest of the trip had been filled with terror and peril, which is to say it was a normal day in their lives. They had dropped Arya off at her house and picked up Alia and Matthias. The rest of the evening Michonne had rested between tending to the children and answering Alia's worried queries about the whereabouts of her parents.

The children had slept with her last night. They had snuggled on either side of her and even Alia had gone to sleep. Michonne had been sandwiches between the two and lying on her back when the two other occupants of her body decided it was time for aqua aerobics and began to move around. It wasn't the first time that she had felt the movements but this wasn't a flutter or a kick. They almost seemed to be playing with one another and she put both hands on her stomach and smiled.

After lunch she had taken the children on a walk mostly to occupy them and her from worrying about the others. It was warm here today and it seemed like everyone was outside working but Michonne would bet that they were mostly listening for the sound of vehicles pulling up the hill. There had been a truck load of mountain men arrive last evening with the news that they had successfully ambushed the supply convoy and had struck a blow at the enemy with a truck bomb. No one seemed to know anything about Carol, Daryl, Morgan, and Elijah and Michonne was getting worried.

Michonne had brought the children back and they were playing on the front deck when Michonne heard the vehicles. She stood up so that she could see the mountain road. Some of the trucks veered toward Emily and Brian's farm and the others continued up the mountain. Michonne was determined to control her emotions. She and the children moved closer to the end of the deck.

Eugene got out of a truck and walked toward them. He kissed Michonne's cheek and picked up Alia and Mathias. They all watched the last vehicle come up the hill and park. Morgan got out and came up the walkway and bounded up on the deck. He hugged Michonne who hugged back. Beth had been whirled around in a hug by Elijah. Carol and Daryl were last and Alia demanded to be down and she ran down the steps toward them. Matthias had taken one look at them and had grabbed Eugene and screamed. Carol had heard that cry and bypassed Alia to get to Matthias. He went to her and clung tightly. He seemed terrified and she began to soothe him while she looked at Michonne and Eugene. They both looked mystified by the little boy's actions.

Daryl had picked up Alia and hugged her. He carried her up on the deck concerned that Matthias was still crying. Carol shook her head at Daryl and took Matthias inside. She carried him into the children's room and sat down on the rocker with him. He began to calm down and she tried to think of a reason why he would react that way. He had come to her readily enough and didn't want to let her go. It was Daryl who had frightened him enough to send him into hysterics.

Carol tried to think of a reason why Matthias would cry when he saw Daryl. Matthias loved him and Daryl was a good father. Something clicked in Carol's mind and when Daryl opened the door she told him to go into their room and change his clothes. Daryl looked different; he was clean shaven and still wearing the army fatigues that he had taken off of a soldier in Allanvale. Matthias had seen the uniform and that had frightened him.

Matthias went to sleep and she put him in his bed for a nap. She went back to the living room and Alia ran to her. Carol picked her up and hugged her close, "I love you, my Alia. Have you been taking care of Matthias and Aunt Michonne for me?"

Alia was not going to be put off so easily, "Is Mattie sick? Why was he crying?"

Carol looked over her head at Michonne, Morgan, and Eugene. "Matthias isn't sick. He's taking a nap. Where is Daryl".

Morgan said, "He changed clothes and then went out. I'll go look for him if you need him."

Carol shook her head, "He probably just needs some hunting time. I would appreciate if you could go ask Jesse to come over and talk to me after a while?" She hated to bother Jesse so soon after he got home. He had Temperance and the twins that needed his attention, but Jesse might have some answers to the way Matthias had reacted.

Daryl would be upset and he needed some alone time. Carol knew that Daryl had grown up with an abusive father who had terrorized him all through his childhood. Daryl had never wanted a wife and children before because he was afraid that he would be abusive like his father. Daryl loved her and trusted himself enough now to know that he wouldn't hurt her. Alia and Matthias had become their children and Daryl was a loving and probably too lenient father to them. This thing with Matthias had nothing to do with Daryl but something had happened in her boy's past. Someone wearing a uniform had terrorized Matthias.

Morgan and Michonne walked over to see Jesse and Carol spent some time with Alia who had tiptoed in to check on her brother. Once Alia saw that Mattie was fine then she was back to being her sweet and curious self. Alia and Eugene went to check on the plants in the greenhouse and Carol sat by herself on the deck and waited for Daryl. It wasn't long before she saw him coming across the meadow with a couple of rabbits in hand. He looked sad but he was coming back to face whatever it was that was going on with Matthias.

Daryl dropped into a deck chair beside her, "What made Matt act that way?" His eyes met hers and she knew that he had beaten back some demons out there.

"It wasn't you. It was the uniform and you had shaved your beard off. Alia didn't think anything about it. She just ran to her daddy, but Matthias saw the uniform and that triggered something in his. I need to talk to Jesse and see if he remembers anything from when he found Matthias. Maybe we need to go to that place and see if there is anything there that would have answers.

"I am sorry that ran off like a scared pup. Matt acting that way made me remember how frightened I was for such a long time. You think his dad wore a uniform, don't you?"

Carol nodded and she got up and leaned on the deck railing staring out into the mountains that were showing a hint of the colors of spring, "Matthias loves you and you are a good father to both our children. It isn't you, but I think we should look for some answers." Carol was afraid that she might find some confirmation that she what she suspected was true but they would deal with the truth no matter how frightening it was.

Daryl said, "I want to see Matt."

"Just stay out here and talk to Alia and Eugene. When he wakes up I will bring him out and I think he'll be fine." Carol was going to be there when he woke up and make sure that he was calm.

Daryl got up and stood beside her, "Hell of a homecoming".

"It is good to be home, Daryl. If you'll clean the rabbits up I'll cook dinner in a little while." She gave him a warm wet kiss and he pulled her closer, "No, don't get your hopes or anything else up. That is just to let you know that I love you." She pulled away from him and went back into the house to Matthias.

Daryl laughed, "You are a tease, Carol McAllister-Dixon". He admired her ass and sass.

She turned and grinned at him, "No, I am not a tease. I deliver on all my advances on you, Daryl Dixon but on my schedule not yours".

She went back in and sat in the rocker beside the sleeping boy and she waited a long while before he began to stir. He woke up enough to crawl on her lap and she talked to him awhile about how Daryl had shaved his beard off and how much she liked the way her looked now. Matthias seemed to freeze up a little but by and by he was ready to get up. He did keep his hand in Carol's as they walked toward the deck. Everyone was out there including Jesse and Emily.

Daryl sat in the chair while Matt came closer to him. He smiled at his son but made no attempt to touch him. Matt kept staring at him but inched closer, "You look funny with no hair on your face".

Daryl blinked at him, "You don't have any hair on your face. So you must look funny too."

Matt laughed and came closer to his daddy. He tentatively put his hand on Daryl's face and felt the stubble, "You look funnier than me". The boy grinned then and came even closer and Daryl put him on his lap gently.

"You've been taking care of Alia while I am gone?" Daryl asked.

Matt nodded solemnly, "She talks all the damn time."

Carol gave Daryl a look and he said, "Your mama doesn't like for you to say "damn" so you better watch it or I'm going to get in trouble."

Matt looked at Carol. "I am sorry. That is a daddy word and not a little boy word".

Daryl looked at the children, "How about us taking a ride over to see the horses?" He knew that Carol wanted to talk to Jesse and Emily alone without them around.

Carol waited until they were in the truck and headed down the hill to explain the situation. She wanted to know as much as she could about Matthias. Eugene and Morgan went off to check on something but Michonne stayed.

"I found him last. We had stopped in the mountains because we were low on fuel and the kids needed a rest. I was hunting and saw the woman tied up outside. I put her down and I heard the little boy inside crying. I picked him up and saw that he was dehydrated. I just took him as fast as I could back to our cabin and started getting fluids in him. I didn't go back." Jesse felt a little guilty but he had been busy tending the boy. "He said his name was Matthias and he was almost four years old."

Carol stood up and walked around the deck trying to find the words to say, "Did you look closely at the mother?"

Jesse shook his head, "She was tied up and turned away from me. I just stuck the knife in her brain stem and she fell forward. I didn't look at her. I never look at them."

They all nodded. You didn't look at them because it was easier to see them as murderous beings than deal with them as humans.

Michonne and Emily moved on either side of Carol and put their arms around her, "What is all this about?" Emily asked.

Carol looked at all of them. "I think his mother is some kin of ours. Daryl has always said that he looks like me. We have the same color eyes and Daryl thinks that he smiles like me." She looked closely at Emily and saw the resemblance.

It had always been there and she had chosen to ignore it. She loved Matthias and she would love it if he were kin to her. It was the other part that was going to cause sleepless nights.

Emily said, "No, I thought I was the only girl cousin and then we found you. Grandma Nancy had a sister. One of her daughters lived here and had a little girl. They lived over on Coulter Gap. She was younger than me but I remember her. Her name was Melinda Campbell. She went to college at Georgia Tech and married down there. I saw her at a Coulter family reunion one time. She had just found out she was pregnant." She was quiet for a bit. "It was before Grandma died, so almost five years ago."

It was quiet on the deck as they thought about the timeline. Melinda Campbell could be his mother. "Did she bring her husband to the reunion?" Carol asked.

Emily shook her head, "She said that he had to work. I didn't talk to her very long but I got the impression that she was pretty much under his thumb. He called her on her cell while we were talking and I could tell that she was way too apologetic. She promised him that she would leave early the next morning."

Carol felt the old fear, the one that she thought had been banished forever by a happy marriage to Daryl. Ed had controlled her with mental and physical abuse. Somehow her life had spiraled down to a constant fear that he would punish her if she did anything that displeased him. He had been worse after she got pregnant and he continued to get worse after that. Now he had Sophia to torture her with and he threatened to use his family connections to take the child from her. He had two brothers that were local law enforcement officers and their wives were equally afraid of their husbands. Carol reminded herself that Ed was gone and his power to hurt her ended when he had been killed at the quarry.

"Do you think you can find that cabin again?" Carol asked Jesse.

"Yeah, I wasn't all that far from where we were living. When do you want to go?" Jesse knew that there was more that Carol wasn't saying but he was going to let her tell him when she was ready.

He got up and hugged her and Emily was still holding her hand. They connected in that way only they could and they both saw the vision that Carol had feared. Matthias was hiding as a woman was being slapped by a man. He struck her several times and then he looked at Matthias cowering under a table. They could see his face but it was the face of a stranger to Jesse and Emily. Carol staggered back into Michonne who put her arms around her. Carol's face was pale but she said nothing to the others. She needed some time to think about this. She needed to share this with Daryl before anyone else.

AN There is an old adage that isn't true. "Those who can do and those who can't teach". Michonne is teaching the group how to defend themselves.

I guess you have figured out who is the father.

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