"You need some help?" Rick called, walking up to Tyreese.
"Rick, I need all the help I can get," He said, slapping a hand on Rick's shoulder.
"I have to warn you, I'm not a master at construction," Rick said, "but I'll give it what I got."
"I'm an equal opportunity employer," Tyreese said, "all levels get positions."
Rick snickered at him.
Tyreese showed Rick the rough sketches he'd drawn up the night before.
"This is what I've got in mind," Tyreese said. He frowned a little at the drawings. "Well, at least this is roughly what I have in mind."
Rick looked at it.
"I started framing all three of them up," Tyreese said, pointing down the side of the street where he had framed what would be their future smokehouses. "I don't know much about this other than what one of these books I had told me, but I thought three was a good number. Daryl can do all the hunting and fishing that his heart desires and we'll be able to put it up. Apparently it should last almost indefinitely, so we'll have a meat source when the game isn't plentiful."
"OK," Rick said, "so where should I start?" He looked at Glenn who already seemed hard at work on one of the structures.
"Pick one for yourself, man," Tyreese said. "I'm going to tell the demolition crew to try to get us as much undamaged wood as they can from another house. I think I might send Glenn and Maggie on a run to see if they can get any wood from that hardware store. I know Carol wants them to go out looking for some seeds and other things that she needs."
"That sounds like a good idea. I'll get going with what we've got here," Rick said. Tyreese walked off to the other side of the community to give out some orders.
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"I don't know, Tyreese, that hardware store was pretty picked over," Maggie said, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand.
"What about the stuff for Carol? He asked. "Do you think that you could get that in town?"
"I mean we can look," Maggie offered.
Daryl and Michonne, who had both been taking a "water" break, had joined Maggie and Tyreese in their discussion about a possible run.
"There's a feed and seed store in the next town," Michonne offered. "There's another hardware store there, too."
"We could do that," Maggie offered. "We were wanting to start runs over there anyway. We could take two vehicles and make a day of it, getting as much as we can. We could leave first thing tomorrow morning, after breakfast, and we'd have plenty of time."
"Sounds like a plan," Daryl said. "You and Glenn can take the delivery truck, and two others could take a car. You might even be able to steal another truck somewhere in town."
"I want to go," Michonne quickly said.
"Well if you're going, then I'll go too," Daryl said. "I ain't been on a run in a while and I'd like to go on one."
"Fine," Tyreese said, "I can hold down the fort while you're gone. I think everyone around here has plenty to do. Carol's got some work for everyone finishing with setting up that second storage house, and between that, demo work here, and construction with me, there shouldn't be anyone needing you to direct them."
"It's settled then," Maggie said, "early breakfast and we'll go out for as much as we can get."
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"So you just gettin' cabin fever or somethin'?" Daryl asked Michonne the next morning as they were driving down the road. Maggie and Glenn were behind them in the truck and Michonne was telling Daryl how to get to the town.
"What do you mean?" Michonne asked.
"I mean you wantin' to come on this run," Daryl said. "You just seemed like you really wanted to come. You gettin' tired of bein' holed up in the community?"
"Not really," Michonne said. "There's enough room there to keep you from getting too suffocated by it."
"Well, that's good then, 'cause this may be your last run for a while. You know you ain't goin' nowhere outside them gates when you get pregnant," Daryl said.
"Yeah, I know that, Daryl," Michonne said.
Carol had made Daryl agree to maximum lockdown for Michonne as soon as there was any indication that she was pregnant, to which he'd more than readily agreed. She'd also demanded that Michonne hand over all her free will, essentially, to her. She was to do no activity without first having Carol's permission to proceed. Michonne really didn't care much, she certainly intended to be as careful as she could, so she didn't mind the extra help in making sure that she accomplished that goal.
"So why was you itchin' to go on the run? Feelin' rusty?" He asked. Daryl knew that sometimes Michonne would go on water runs, or even stand guard for people hauling things in and out the gates, just so that she could kill Walkers. She seemed to feel that if she went too long without doing it she wouldn't be as good at doing it as she had been before.
"I have a stop I want to make while we're here," Michonne said. "I wanted to come myself so that I can be sure that I get what I want."
Michonne had fed Hope before she left, and had pumped as much milk as she could for Carol in case Hope got too fidgety before they got back. She ate some solids, but usually she demanded at least a little milk before considering trying anything else. They had yet to find a bottle that she actually liked, but Michonne was sure that Carol could convince her to eat enough to hold her off until they got back.
"What do you want to get?" Daryl asked.
"Just some personal things, Daryl," Michonne said. Daryl didn't say anything.
Daryl remembered that Michonne had lived here. She probably wanted things from her old life. Not many of them had anything left from their old lives. He knew that a few people still had pictures tucked away, and some carried around a souvenir or two of who they had been, so he wasn't surprised, now that he thought about it, that Michonne might leap at the chance to retrieve one or two items that held special meaning for her. When everything had happened, when it had all gone to hell, very few of them had thought to bring things with them that held sentimental value. Daryl hadn't ever had anything with any sentimental value, so he could say that he was perfectly fine with having left behind everything he left in that nasty ass tin can he'd called home.
When they got to the town, Michonne led them right to the center, but told Daryl to just keep the engine running. She got out the car and he watched as she cleared out the eight or so Walkers in the area that bothered to pay their vehicles any attention. Eight Walkers didn't mean much to his woman, she didn't bat an eye at them before she killed them nonchalantly and walked over to Glenn's window of the truck.
"I've got some business to take care of," Michonne said, "so we're going to do that and we'll be right back. You two can get to work. The Feed and Seed is just over there, she pointed, and the hardware store is down that street." She pointed in the other direction.
"Fine, we'll get started," Glenn said.
Michonne got back in the car with Daryl and gave him instructions on how to get to her house, purposefully avoiding any street that would take her anywhere near her ex-husband's prior home.
Daryl stopped the car in front of the house that Michonne directed him to. They both got out and together took out the five Walkers ambling around in the street. Michonne mounted the familiar steps from the sidewalk and walked up the walkway toward the porch. She went up the steps, her heart pounding just a little from remember the last time that she had come up these steps, wearing a suit and high heels.
Michonne opened the door and stepped inside, her katana still grasped in her hand. The house looked like it might have been looted. A lot of things were overturned, though much of that could have happened in the scuffle that had taken place there and she might not have noticed then. She'd had other things on her mind. As she made her way through the house with Daryl close behind her, she was surprised when a figure appeared in front of her.
It wasn't a Walker that surprised Michonne, rather it was a woman, holding a gun. Behind her stood a child, whether it was hers or not, Michonne had no idea, but the woman was at least responsible for guarding the girl, who looked to be about six or seven.
"Easy," Michonne said. The woman looked terrified, but Michonne knew full well that a terrified mother was also a mother that would kill without thinking about it. "We don't mean any harm," she said softly. "I used to live here, and I wanted to get a few things, but they'd be of no value to you, if they're still here."
The woman looked a little panicked, like she was unsure of what she should do. She made no move to lower her weapon. Michonne made a conscious effort to soften her face.
"We'll put away our weapons, if you'll put away yours. I promise that we mean you no harm. I just want a few things and you can have the house. I'd give you the title if I had it," she said, concentrating on keeping her voice as soft and soothing as she could.
The woman just stood there, still making no move to lower her weapon.
"Daryl, lower your crossbow," Michonne said. She slowly made a move to sheathe her katana. As soon as she did so, the woman lowered the gun, but didn't put it in the holster she wore around her waist.
"What do you want?" The woman asked, finally.
"Nothing of value, really," Michonne said. "I want a photo album that was upstairs, and a few things out of one of the rooms upstairs that belonged to my daughters."
"Fine," the woman said, "but I'm watching you."
"Fair enough," Michonne said. Daryl was silent behind her.
Daryl didn't know what to do. The woman seemed like she didn't really want to hurt them, and she was trying to negotiate with Michonne, but he didn't like that she still had the gun in her hands. He had lowered his own weapon, but he held it in his hand as well. He didn't want to shoot this woman, and wouldn't shoot her if he didn't have to, but if she made a move to shoot Michonne he wouldn't have any other choice.
Michonne slowly made her way toward the stairs, aware that she was being flanked by Daryl, the frightened woman, and the silent girl. At the top of the stairs she moved toward what had been her bedroom at one time.
They'd obviously been sleeping in the bed there, but otherwise the room seemed fairly untouched. The woman stepped in behind Michonne, as did Daryl.
Michonne walked to the bookshelf. She was relieved to see that it was just as she had left it. Immediately she located the photo album and plucked it from the shelf.
"This is it," she said. The woman eyed her, suspiciously still.
Michonne thought about it a moment. She didn't blame the woman at all. If she had claimed this house, then it was all that she had as a home. Michonne couldn't imagine how she'd react if she and Daryl were suddenly face to face with the former tenants of their house, though she knew that wouldn't happen since she'd put down those tenants herself. She also couldn't imagine what it would be like to come face to face with both herself and Daryl, armed because they suspected the possibility of Walkers. They knew that they were harmless unless threatened, but perhaps they wouldn't appear that way to someone who didn't know them, and who knew nothing about them. She wasn't sure how she'd respond if she were the woman.
As Michonne slowly knelt to put the album in the bag that she carried slung over her shoulder, the woman looked a little more relieved. It was becoming obvious to her that Michonne and Daryl truly meant no harm and that Michonne really only wanted the worthless items that she had declared she wanted.
"Just one more thing," Michonne said, slowly standing up. She started back out the room, gently brushing past the little girl that was silently standing in the doorway. She started toward her daughter's room, taking a deep breath. The girl rushed ahead to the door she was walking toward.
"That's my room!" The little girl yelped, running in front of Michonne.
Michonne kneeled down in front of the girl.
"Anna!" The woman cried.
Michonne held her hand up.
"It's fine," Michonne said. Kneeling she was eyelevel with the little girl. "I'm not going to take anything you want," Michonne said softly. "I promise. That used to be my daughter's room, and if anything that was hers makes you happy, then I want you to have it. I promise that what I want is in a box in the closet, and you probably never even knew it was there, and when I get it, you probably won't want it, but if you really do want it, I'll let you have it. Deal?"
The little girl nodded, and Michonne got back up. She walked into the room and burrowed through a box she found in the closet. Keeping her promise she showed the girl the three baby bottles that she'd produced from the box.
"See? I don't think you really want these, do you?" Michonne asked.
The girl looked at them for a minute, and then shook her head.
Michonne smiled and put them in her bag. She put the bag back on her shoulder and turned around.
"Thank you," she said to the woman, who still held her gun in her hands.
"You're welcome," the woman said finally.
"We'll be going now," Michonne said. "Good luck to you, and good luck to Anna."
The woman thanked her quietly, and then followed Michonne and Daryl back to the door. They exited the house and went back to the car, ridding the world of three more Walkers in the process.
"That was weird," Daryl said, when they were in the car.
"I guess they're squatting there," Michonne said. "Let's go find Glenn and Maggie, and get the trucks loaded, OK?"
Daryl realized she didn't want to talk about anything right now, but he hoped she'd talk to him later. Maybe she'd let him see that photo album that she'd put in her bag. He wanted to see her life before, he wanted to see what Michonne had been like before she'd become the Michonne that he knew.
Michonne and Daryl found Maggie and Glenn fairly quickly. Glenn had found another truck, and had siphoned enough gas to get it back to the community with ease. They were loading the trucks and had gotten a good start. Michonne and Daryl quickly fell into place. By the time they decided it was time to head back, Daryl taking the second truck, they'd put more than a dent in raiding most of the stores that would be of interest to them, and they'd gotten even more than they expected of the items that they'd come after.
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Michonne sat on the bed and pulled the photo album out of her bag, putting it on the bed. Daryl would be up shortly. He was bringing bath water, having agreed to wait for theirs while she put Hope down, since the baby was exhausted. She'd eaten and gone down quickly and Michonne wanted to look at the album a moment alone. She wanted to get the sting over with before Daryl got there, knowing full well that he would want to see it.
She opened the pages, rubbing her fingertips over them gently. She felt her chest close up a little, and she felt hot tears on her cheeks, though she'd declared to herself that she wasn't going to cry.
When Daryl came in the room carrying the bucket of almost boiling hot water, he hadn't expected to find Michonne silently crying and slumped over the open book on her lap. He quickly sat the bucket down and rushed over to her, sitting next to her and pulling her against him.
On the open pages in front of him he could see a younger Michonne, dressed in a soft yellow dress, her dreadlocks pulled up and pinned with a yellow flower of a similar color, smiling back at him. Hugged against her were two pretty little girls, one slightly smaller than the other, smiling back. One was dressed in a light pink dress, her hair in braids, and the other in a light purple dress, her hair in pigtails.
"It's OK, 'Chonne," Daryl said, "you can cry if you need to."
Michonne hugged him and he carefully moved the book off her lap and held her.
"They was pretty, 'Chonne," he said. "They was real pretty."
Michonne calmed after a minute, wiping her face on Daryl's shirt. He didn't mind. She pulled away from him slightly and reached for the book. He returned it to her.
"That was Angelica, and that was Celine," Michonne said, starting to tear up again.
Daryl saw a slight resemblance between the two girls and Hope.
"I think this picture was taken about two months before…" Michonne stopped, "before everything happened," she finished.
Daryl carefully rubbed her back. When she was calm again, she started flipping through the pages. Daryl watched them all, listening to her narrate the photos, and comforting her when she needed it. She had apparently removed all the photos of her ex-husband, as there were quite a few with ripped edges. There were the births of both the girls, a sweaty, but excited Michonne holding both of them. There were candid pictures and professional ones from all stages of their lives. Daryl drank them in. The Michonne in the pictures was different, but only in that she wore a lighter expression all the time, and her clothes were different. She wore lipstick on many of them, and dresses, and she was younger, but Daryl couldn't really tell if that had so much to do with time or if it had to with experience. He hadn't looked at himself lately in the mirror, except when he was shaving, but he was sure that he'd aged a lot since all this had happened.
"These were my parents," Michonne said, showing him a photo of an older woman sitting in a chair while an older gentleman stood behind her, his hands folded on her shoulder.
"Didja have good parents, 'Chonne?" Daryl asked. Both the faces looking back at him looked like kind faces. He didn't know if anyone had ever taken a picture of his parents. If they had, he'd never seen it.
"I did, Daryl, I had wonderful parents," Michonne said. "I'm glad that they went before all of this happened."
"What were their names, 'Chonne?" Daryl asked, trying to get to know the two faces looking back at him.
"My mother was Esther, and my father was Zebulon, but everyone called him Zeb. My father called my mother Essie," Michonne said.
"I thought you said your little girl was named after your mother?" Daryl asked.
"Angelica was named after my grandmother," Michonne corrected. "My mother never liked her name, so she didn't want me naming one of the girls after her."
"Zebulon, huh?" Daryl said. "Do you think your daddy woulda liked me?"
Michonne's parents had been a little snobbish about education, wanting the best for their children, but she could remember that her father had always told her that the most important thing for him was that she found a man that loved her and took care of her. It was important that he treat her like she deserved to be treated. She thought about it a moment, and smiled at Daryl, pulling him to her and kissing him gently.
"I think he would have thought you were perfect, just like me," she said.
Daryl grinned.
"I like that name, 'Chonne. I like Zeb. Do you think we could name our little boy that?" Daryl said.
"I thought maybe you'd want to name him Daryl," Michonne said, indulging Daryl's daydream a little.
"Nah, we don't need that many Daryl's runnin' 'round here, one's plenty," Daryl said. "But Zeb Dixon, that's a nice name, ain't it?"
"It is, Daryl," Michonne said, smiling. "It is a good name."
Daryl thought for a minute. Michonne could tell that he was pretty deep in thought, and she knew that he would eventually tell her what he was thinking, so she left him alone.
"'Chonne," Daryl said after a minute, "I know things ain't like I thought they'd be, but maybe that's 'cause I was thinkin' 'bout 'em wrong. I know they wasn't mine then, 'Chonne, but do you reckon' I could think of your little girls as my little girls? I mean maybe my kids didn't come out even, maybe I had three little girls…"
Michonne smiled at him. "Daryl, I think that would be just fine," she said softly.
She thought about it. Her husband had been a father, in that he'd gotten her pregnant twice, but he had never been much of a daddy to the girls. He'd treated the girls like a chore or an obligation, but not at all like something he wanted. When she was pregnant the first time, with Celine, he'd seemed a little interested, but not when he realized that that baby was going to keep them up at night, and when she'd gotten pregnant again, only three months after Celine was born, he hadn't been pleased at all. He'd gone in search of something different, something better.
Daryl was a daddy to Hope. He doted on the little girl, kept her with him whenever he could, and loved her as deeply as he could. Michonne had often been uncomfortable knowing her husband was alone for even a few hours with the girls, but Daryl could disappear with Hope for most of the day and she never worried. If Daryl had been the father to her girls, she may not have found them like she had.
"I wish you had met them," Michonne said. "They would have loved you."
Daryl wiped a tear off Michonne's cheek with the back of his hand.
"I would love them too," he said.
"As long as we're admitting that your family might not be exactly how you pictured it," Michonne ventured, "do you think you might have had four little girls?"
Daryl smiled. "Nah, I got me a boy in there, 'Chonne, I'm sure of that."
Michonne smiled again, and faked a sigh. She knew that Daryl would be perfectly happy if they had another girl, but he wasn't giving up on the idea of a son until Carol presented him with a screeching baby that sealed the deal.
"Let's get washed, 'Chonne, and then how about we get us some sleep. You look tired," Daryl said.
"I am tired," Michonne admitted.
When they got in bed, having both bathed quickly with the slightly chilled bath water, Michonne snuggled up against Daryl. In the lamplight she could see that he was gazing off into space, a slight smile on his face.
"What are you thinking about, Daryl?" She asked.
"Just thinkin' 'bout my family, 'Chonne." Daryl said. "It's one beautiful family I got me."
Michonne smiled and kissed his chest, snuggling into him.
"Did you want to make love?" She asked.
Daryl thought about it. There was never a time that he didn't want to make love to Michonne, but he thought that tonight would be one of those nights that she wouldn't want him to worry about her. He decided he wouldn't push it tonight, he'd just be happy with his thoughts.
"Nah, 'Chonne, you go on to sleep," he said, squeezing her slightly.
Michonne looked struck, and Daryl didn't understand it.
"What's wrong, 'Chonne?" He asked.
"Nothing, Daryl," Michonne said.
"You don't make that face for nothin' 'Chonne," Daryl responded.
"I don't know, I guess I was just hoping that you wanted to make love," Michonne said. "It doesn't matter, though."
Daryl pulled her face toward him and moved out from under her enough to reach her. He kissed her.
"Hey, I didn't mean I didn't want to if you wanted to, I just didn't think you'd want to. I do want to, 'Chonne, if you want to," Daryl said.
"I want to, Daryl," Michonne said, "please."
Daryl smiled and kissed her again. His hands snaked across her body, enjoying the feel of her velvety skin on his palms. Michonne rarely really asked him to make love to her, since he was normally the first to voice his interest, and he was more than delighted to indulge her if that was what she wanted.