AN: Here's a short chapter. It's a planning/bridge/etc. chapter.
It's also something to get me moving again on this story. There's more on that at the end of the chapter.
I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think!
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Michonne knew that all women thought their children were perfect. She laughed to herself a little as she dressed Zeb, thinking that most women were just delusional, whereas she was certain that her children were indeed perfect. Hope sat on the bed beside her brother reciting over and over his body parts while Michonne got him ready.
"Bebe eye…bebe nose…bebe mouf…bebe eye…" Hope said.
Michonne kept an eye on her daughter's fingers, making sure that in her enthusiasm for having mastered basic anatomy she didn't accidentally hurt the baby who mostly regarded her like she was some sort of alien life form.
Michonne couldn't believe that Zeb was almost two weeks old. He was here and he was perfect in nearly every way from what she could tell.
Zeb had fallen pretty easily into a typical routine for a baby and Michonne couldn't complain too much about him. She was up all hours of the night feeding him, but that was more than expected. Like Hope, he was very food driven and she joked that they'd gotten that from Daryl who was easily content as long as his basic needs were met. She felt like she was, at times, the fussiest member of her little family.
Michonne felt wonderful. Having her body back was a bigger relief this time than it had been when any of her other children had been born. She'd wondered, at first, if she would feel sad knowing that she intended to do everything in her power to avoid any more births, but she wasn't feeling sad about it at all. She'd talked about it with Sadie a little, when Sadie was talking about having her tubes tied, and she agreed with what Sadie had said. There was a moment, with one child, where you just know that you're done and that you want to be done. Michonne was done and she felt good about it. Now her only real interest was in watching the two little ones she had grow up.
Physically she felt like she was doing better than she had with Hope. She hadn't let herself go with Zeb quite like she had with Hope and as a result she felt like she was returning to her old self quicker. She also suspected that the tending provided by Muh was helping.
If she hadn't believed in healers before, she believed in Muh. The little old woman just seemed to have some way about her. Whether or not she legitimately healed anything any quicker than it would have healed on its own really remained unknown, but it felt like she helped with nearly any situation she got involved in. She'd "checked in" on Michonne nearly every day and offered her one thing or another to help her get back up to speed, and Michonne felt like it was working wonders.
Michonne eased Zeb up and kissed his cheeks, rubbing her nose close to his mouth. She was satisfied, when he didn't try to turn his head toward her nose at all, that her little bottomless pit was finally full for the moment. She threw his wrap over her shoulder and snuggled him into the crook of her arm.
"Come on, Hope," she said, offering her hand to Hope to help her slide off the bed. "Let's go find Carol."
Hope slid down off the bed and Michonne led her downstairs, stopping near the door long enough to get them both bundled into their coats. She would hopefully not be needing hers for long, but she didn't know what was planned for Hope for the day, and she certainly didn't want her freezing.
Michonne made her way toward headquarters with Hope setting the pace beside her. She was apparently attempting to tell her some story, but Hope's vocabulary was limited enough that Michonne knew it involved Beau and a variety of animals. She kept repeating things like "Really?" and "Wow!" in the most excited voice she could muster and Hope was almost giddy from the interaction so she assumed that's really all that was necessary.
When Michonne stepped inside her teeth were chattering a little and she could feel Hope shivering a bit. She almost felt like she should be shaking off the snow or something of the effect to show how cold it was. Headquarters was warm, though, and Carol and Muh were both inside.
"Jude?" Michonne asked, letting go of Hope's hand as Hope ran toward Carol, excited to have found her.
"With Ty," Carol said. "I don't know what they're doing but she insisted on going with him.
Michonne nodded her head a little. Judith adored Tyreese. Even though he wasn't her birth father, she was almost as big of a Daddy's girl as Hope could be. Both Tyreese and Daryl, at least, seemed to take their parenting very seriously, though, and never minded the girls insisting on tagging along with them to do whatever project came up.
"Is it still OK if I leave Hope with you?" Michonne asked. "I didn't see Daryl anywhere."
"That's because he's helping Ty," Carol said. She was going through a box of stuff and Michonne didn't question what she was doing. Carol ran the show as far as she was considered when it came to handling anything with supplies. "You can leave her. Mark's coming to get them in a bit and he's got some kind of baby gym or playground or something he's setting up in their living room. Should be fun for them."
"Let me see that baby," Muh said from the couch where she was seated. Michonne glanced around the room quickly and didn't see Haralee. She didn't know where the girl was. The thing with Haralee was that she was so quiet it was pretty easy to lose her. She just sort of blended in with her surroundings and you didn't know if she honestly wasn't around or if you were just overlooking her.
Michonne walked over and eased Zeb down into Muh's arms. The baby was awake and looked at Muh with the same face of concern that he got whenever he switched arms. He would settle down quickly, though, Michonne knew that. For as impressive as the healing that Muh seemed to be able to do, it was even more impressive how quickly and easily she could soothe any child.
"Come and let your Muh nuss you little one," Muh said, smiling at the baby. She glanced up at Michonne who was waiting to see if there was going to be anything else the old woman needed before she left for a bit. "Zeb will be fine with me," Muh said. "Babies and old women, they understand each other."
Michonne smiled at Muh and let her glance drift over Carol who was employing Hope's help in whatever she was doing. She didn't say anything so as to not stir up her daughter, and she slipped out of headquarters, stretching her arms and back as she went.
Muh had given her the OK to start practicing with Sadie today. They weren't going to enter into anything really challenging…they only intended to work a bit on their reflexes…but Michonne was excited about getting to do any of it.
Sadie was literally whipping some of the others into shape. Her training methods bordered on flat out brawling if you bothered to watch her for long, but one thing was certain, you stayed alert when she was fighting with you and you actually did start to get quicker simply from trying not to get thrown down.
Michonne finished stretching as she spotted Sadie, near where she typically did training, reclining on a porch step and drinking out of a jar of water that she had. Michonne approached her, lining up her field of vision with the woman.
"Ready to get started again?" Michonne asked.
Sadie made a face and then shrugged.
"Libby came out this morning," Sadie said.
Michonne raised an eyebrow. Libby was a force to be reckoned with when she wanted to be…there was no doubt about that. Beau, perhaps, was the only one who had any real control over the girl and most of the time Michonne suspected it was because they'd found in each other some sort of kindred spirit…so Libby stomached doing Beau's bidding far easier than she did others.
"How was that?" Michonne asked, peeling down to a lesser level of clothes as Sadie got to her feet. It was cold, but it was also evident that practicing with Sadie would more than warm you up to withstand the temperatures.
Sadie waved her hand and stuck her tongue out before she laughed.
"She's good…" Sadie said. She raised an eyebrow at Michonne. "I'm not sure I want to fight with you…after I just fought with her."
Michonne chuckled.
"I'll go easy on you," she declared.
Sadie smiled and nodded at her, putting down the jar of water.
"We're just starting," Sadie said. "So we'll go easy…try to take me off my feet."
Michonne eyed Sadie. She had a good deal of respect for the woman's physical ability. Sadie's somewhat smaller stature, though, made it easy to believe at first glance that the woman would go down quick and she'd go down easily. Michonne was taller than she was, and by merit of that she was naturally built with a larger structure. Still, she knew better than to underestimate her, especially when she was still out of shape a little and Sadie was focused on not letting her get the upper hand.
They did lock up, though, and the fight waged on for longer than Michonne would have thought it was. Hand to hand…no weapons…she was surprised at how well Sadie matched her. As the twisted and turned, though, each trying to better the other…each trying to get a feel for their opponent…Michonne knew the exact moment when Sadie's muscles were finally simply reaching their maximum capacity. The woman was beginning to come at her with less force…and not long after that, Michonne stood triumphant over her, having gained her feet before Sadie could.
Michonne reached a hand out to the woman panting on the ground and Sadie took it with a smile, allowing Michonne to help heave her to her feet.
"Again?" Michonne teased.
Sadie chuckled and shook her head.
"Too old…" Sadie said. "You kicked my ass."
Michonne chuckled.
"Don't think I haven't forgot you already put Libby down before me…" Michonne said. She joined Sadie at the step and they shared the last of the water before Sadie excused herself, insisting that she was going to wash off some of the smell.
Michonne watched her go and then stretched her muscles carefully. It felt good…it felt really good…and she was confident now that she was on her way back.
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Judith rode calmly along on Tyreese's shoulders, holding to his head with the semi death grip she employed. Daryl knew it well because both she and Hope used it when he put them on his shoulders. He supposed, though, that the shoulders of a grown man were pretty high up for someone of their statures, and therefore they'd be likely to hang on for dear life, even if they didn't really believe that their beloved "Dadas" would ever let them fall.
Jackson and Jeremiah had shown up, Leland in tow, unexpectedly at the gates. Their visit, though, wasn't unwelcomed. Leland had immediately excused himself upon the invitation to go and have something to eat and maybe join Beau for some activity and Jackson and Jeremiah were walking the perimeter of the community with Daryl and Tyreese discussing their future plans.
In the spring, they had both decided, their groups would move. Originally they had discussed going in almost opposite directions, but it seemed now that they were both deciding that going west might be their best option…and that they might like to join forces to make a larger pack to travel in.
It struck Daryl, as he walked along, listening to the men's plans, that in the short time he'd come to know them…and to know a little about their groups…he'd grown attached enough of them that he would miss them when they moved on.
But his group wasn't ready to move on. According to Muh…for whatever it was worth and depending on how much merit each person put into what the tiny woman said…they wouldn't move on for another year. And even though Daryl wasn't entirely sure how much stock he put into the words of Muh, he felt like she was right on this one. They weren't ready to move on…but in a year they might be.
"You need help? Gettin' trucks and stuff ready ta move?" Daryl asked as they talked about the migration.
"We're not taking trucks," Jackson said definitively.
"What the hell you gonna do? Walk all the damn way cross the United States?" Daryl asked. He glanced at Tyreese and Tyreese offered him nothing more than a semi-shrug at the glance.
"Wagons," Jeremiah responded. "We've talked about it…it's the best way to go."
Daryl chuckled.
"You pioneers now? Settin' out on the Oregon Trail?" Daryl asked.
Both men echoed his chuckle, but they both shook their heads too.
"If they're built right," Jackson said, "then they don't limit us to the highways…we don't have to clear pile ups…and we've seen a lot of that in our travels. Something breaks…we know how it's built and we know how to fix it."
"The days of being tied to cars are over," Jeremiah said. "There's only so much fuel…and searching for that can take a day out of covering ground. A day can mean a lot when the winter's on its way."
Daryl nodded his head knowingly. The men were right about that. At this point his group had stockpiled some fuel, but they'd lost a good deal of what they had the night that the attack had taken place and blew up most of what they had. Rebuilding that supply might be possible in a year's time…but it was going to mean a lot of hands would be put to doing just that instead of preparing everything else it might take to move a group this size safely and, at least somewhat, comfortably.
"We came to ask you about your boy, actually," Jackson said. "He could help…he's got a good eye for that sort of thing and with his help we'd have the wagons ready long before we're aiming to head out."
Daryl raised an eyebrow at the man but didn't break his stride as they wandered slowly around the community.
"My boy? Zeb? He ain't but a baby…" Daryl said.
"Beau…" Jeremiah said.
Daryl chuckled.
"Beau ain't my boy…and all in all he makes his own damn decisions, but I imagine he'd have a mind ta help…maybe Jimmy and Junior too. If they wanna help…reckon we can spare 'em some," Daryl responded.
Jackson nodded his head in thanks.
"We're going to be searching out trail animals too…" he said. "Looking out for horses, mules, donkeys…anything we can use. The mare we got is going to foal…we'd be happy to leave her with you…the foal too…any extra stock we get for the use of hands to get us going."
Daryl considered the offer. He didn't have any problem with letting them use the extra hands they needed to get going. Getting things ready to move would be a big job and they weren't blessed with quite the size group that Daryl had built up over time. They could probably use the assistance.
As for the livestock, Daryl hadn't really considered, until this moment, the idea of travelling forward in a more rustic manner. He'd always assumed that somehow they'd work on getting vehicles ready to go and they'd stockpile fuel. Still, with the arguments set in front of him…and a little consideration of his own…he didn't know that it would be a bad idea to at least talk it over with the group. He was curious, now, to hear what Michonne might say on the matter…though she was a little reluctant at times, as were many members of the group, to really discuss uprooting themselves once more.
"We'll take what won't put ya out," Daryl said. "And you can count on whatever help we can give ta get'cha movin'. We'll have time ta get our own shit together before we leave."
"Much obliged," Jeremiah returned. "We'll be happy, too, to give you whatever we don't take with us…something to help tide you over until you decide to go on."
Daryl nodded his head in agreement and understanding and continued along with the other men, discussing one thing and then another of the preparations they were already beginning to make for the move…all the while considering the distant future when it would be he and Tyreese…and maybe Rick...that would be bringing up the same issues that needed to be covered with the rest of the community.
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