AN: Here you go, another chapter with a small time jump.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think.
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Spring had sprung on the community and it brought with it a hum of activity. Michonne was almost certain that she'd never seen the whole group as busy as it was right now. She'd always heard told, as the tired cliché went, that spring brought with it new life…not only for plants and animals, but also, in a sense, in the form of renewal of people. This spring the cliché seemed very much to fit.
Jeremiah and Jackson's groups were humming with the anticipation of their planned departure to new and, hopefully for them, better things. They planned to leave in two weeks' time, or fourteen days since it had been some time since they truly stuck to any grand marking of the passing of time, and they were in the final stages of preparation.
Members of all three groups went, almost like ants, back and forth across the short distances. They carried things that the departing groups would need to them, and they brought back things that they'd bartered for.
All the food of the community had been meticulously organized by Carol. She had carefully considered, now that they were in the process of preparing to grow another round of crops to carry them through the upcoming year, exactly how much they would need with their current population. The rest of the food, along with a good number of hides, blankets, clothes, and anything else the moving groups might need for warmth, had been traded off.
In exchange, their community had gained some livestock that was to be abandoned, three horses that had been found, in desperate need of care and being broken, one decent Jenny that had hopefully been covered to the point of taking, and a stumbling, brand new baby mule and its mother, a somewhat disagreeable Chestnut mare.
Michonne couldn't help but chuckle every time she saw the bartering taking place. It seemed, at times, that she expected to walk right out of her house and step into the middle of some kind of old Western. Still, the system, however old fashioned, worked well and everyone involved benefitted in some way.
It would be sad, too, to see the other groups leave. Over the time that they'd worked together to prepare for their departure, friendships had been formed, no matter how accidental…and it had never been easy to let a friend go when you weren't sure that they'd ever cross your threshold again.
But the enthusiasm of everyone drowned out the sadness for the most part and made it a little easier to stomach the fact that the people they'd become accustomed to seeing, at the very least, every few days, would soon be leaving and would likely never be seen by any of them again.
"Da..da…da…da…DA…DA…" Zeb babbled at Michonne while she changed his diaper and all of his clothes, thanks to the fact that sometimes the cloth diapers they were used to holding reached their limit without much warning, and Zeb wasn't too concerned with letting you know that he needed to be changed if you were too slow to notice it yourself.
"Yeah…you think that's funny," Michonne said to the baby. He scrunched his nose at her, the closest he'd really come to smiling when he wasn't laughing at something as well. It was evidence, in her opinion, that a devilish grin would be about all she could expect from her son in the future.
Zeb was loud…much louder than Hope. He wanted to be seen and he wanted to be heard…and he was both. He wasn't at all shy about going to each and every person who crossed his path, and Michonne wouldn't have been surprised if, given the chance, he'd have tried to befriend a Walker.
Daryl was particularly proud, and never missed an opportunity to crow about it, that Zeb's baby babble almost always sounded like he was trying to say some variation of "Dada"…whether that was the boy's intention or not. He had mastered the one sound, and for the time being he didn't seem to feel that he needed to branch out any farther.
Michonne was sure that he could produce any number of sounds if he wanted to, but he simply didn't want to. He had no need for it…his needs were met before he even anticipated that he had them, so language wasn't really important to him.
Zeb cleaned and dressed, Michonne scooped him up, taking the opportunity to gobble at his neck, making him squeal. She smiled at him, kissed his fat little cheeks, and hugged him against her, starting out the door to locate her oldest child who was most likely with Daryl if she was anywhere.
As Michonne came down the porch steps, bounding off the last one with the same energy that seemed infectious all around the community, she smiled at Daryl coming toward her, Hope riding on his hip even though she had no real trouble keeping pace with him on the ground.
"Hi Mama!" Hope called, waving at Michonne as she approached. Michonne chuckled to herself and waved at the little girl. Sadie always used waving as a gesture of hello and goodbye to everyone. As a result, especially with the recent activity and hustle and bustle around them, the woman spent most of her free time waving at one person or another. Hope thought that waving was the greatest thing ever, and now she never missed an opportunity to enthusiastically wave at any and everyone who might respond back.
"Somethin' wrong with Zeb?" Daryl asked, reaching Michonne.
Michonne leaned and kissed the side of Hope's face and Hope reached out her hand, rubbing Michonne's face in return.
"No…just needed to be changed," Michonne responded. "He forgot to tell Emma that he had used his diaper more than the limit again."
Daryl chuckled and reached his hand out, pinching the rolls of skin at his sons neck gently. It incited a gasping laugh from the baby and a repetition of the chorus of da…da…das that he'd enjoyed earlier.
"What'cha got planned?" Daryl asked.
"I could ask you the same thing," Michonne said, shifting her weight. She tipped her head to the side and smiled at Daryl, arching a brow.
He chuckled in response and shook his head. They saw each other, but most of their time, as was customary when things were in high gear, felt stolen and secretive, always after the sun went down.
"Mmmm…" Daryl hummed. "'Bout ta go down there an' see how they fairin' with them glue bags," Daryl said.
Michonne nodded her head. The horses they'd acquired, at least the ones that had been found and still lacked breaking, were an almost shameful sight from their attempts to survive in the wild. They'd managed, with a lot of effort, to care for their feet a little, and they were feeding them up to being stronger and more robust animals, but they had a long way to go if the three animals were to survive and be of any real use to them in the future.
In addition to everything else, Glenn had decided that he could break horses. Where or when he'd acquired this knowledge was unknown to everyone. Beau, at least, had offered to help him, and Beau did actually have some practical knowledge of what to do.
Michonne sighed and looked around.
"It's laundry day," she said. "I might do some of that…maybe help with the food if anyone needs me…stop by the fields and put in a bit of time there if someone's up to taking Zeb."
Michonne hopped around. It was what she did best. If she was needed somewhere, that's where she went. Otherwise she did whatever she felt like doing for a little while, and then she moved to something else. She especially liked, when she could catch someone heading out to visit the other groups, tagging along to guard against Walkers along the way. But so far, she'd seen no evidence today that anyone from their community was heading in that direction.
"Maybe later…ya get some time…we could sneak off? Wanna go down and check some a' the traps we set…" Daryl said.
Michonne smiled.
"I could check traps," she said. She nodded her head. "I think I'd be the right man for the job."
Daryl chuckled and raised his eyebrows at her.
"Reckon ya the only damn person I'm askin'…these is sorta…special traps," he said.
Michonne smiled, forcing herself to furrow her brows as though she were at least moderately serious at the moment.
"Oh…yeah…the special traps…" she teased. "I don't want you going to check those with anyone else…"
Daryl winked at her, quick enough that she might have missed if it she weren't looking for it.
"Are you coming with me, Hope?" Michonne asked the little girl.
"No…mmm, mmm, no…" Hope said, emphatically shaking her head.
Michonne held back a chuckle at her dramatics. Judith was, perhaps, more dramatic than Hope, but it wasn't by much.
"Face it, 'Chonne…" Daryl teased. "Ya come in last…ever' damn time."
Michonne growled in fake annoyance at him.
"It's only because she probably heard you say h-o-r-s-e or B-e-a-u at some point," Michonne said.
Hope was in love with anything that she could ride…and she tried to ride most everything. She was also, it seemed, madly in love with Beau, and the boy did nothing to deter her affections for him. In fact, he encouraged them by always making sure to find her something to ride, thus combining most of her greatest desires in one satisfying encounter.
"See ya later…come get me if I don't find ya," Daryl said.
"I will," Michonne said, watching him as he turned to head down to where they were working with the horses. Michonne waved at Hope who waved at her over Daryl's shoulder and blew her a kiss. Michonne quickly blew the kiss back and then called out to Daryl. "Daryl…don't let her get near those wild ones…it looks like they have mange…" Michonne called out.
Daryl waved his hand in the air at her.
"Did you hear me?" She asked, walking toward him a bit. He stopped and turned back.
"Got it 'Chonne…no mange…go wash some panties…" Daryl called, giving her the same devilish grin that she was certain her son was going to grow into.
She rolled her eyes, laughing to herself, and shifted Zeb up a little, prying her hair out of his hands, and started toward the headquarters where she could already see the smoke billowing up from the wash water fires.
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"Sadie told me you got food poisoning again," Michonne said, finding Carol right where Sadie said she'd be, sitting on the back porch step of Rick's house, not too far from the area designated for their bathrooms. The area, the whole of it, was overgrown…but they decided it was even better that way since it afforded anyone relatively more privacy than they ever would have had before. The only real problem, in fact, was that they had found more than one snake back there…and it was a problem that some found more troublesome than others, and one that Daryl always laughed off by saying at least they were in the right place to shit themselves.
Carol turned to look at Michonne a moment and then went back to contemplating the overgrown weeds and grass of the back area of the community.
Michonne sat down beside her and offered her the bottle of water that she'd carried over from headquarters.
"Just wash your mouth out…don't try to drink it," Michonne said, remembering Carol's own words to her when she'd found her, on her hands and knees outside a building.
"Thanks," Carol mumbled, taking the bottle from Michonne and rinsing her mouth, spitting off the side of the step.
"Oatmeal?" Michonne asked.
Carol shook her head.
"Cured meat…smoked meat…ugh…meat," Carol said with a sigh.
Michonne bit her lip before speaking again.
"Which kind?" She asked.
"Didn't get that far," Carol said.
"You know," Michonne said, changing her tone of voice to allow her amusement to filter in finally. "It's a shame that it keeps getting you…and none of us…why do you think that is, exactly?"
Carol rolled her eyes toward Michonne, looking none too amused, and Michonne fought her amusement over thinking that she'd made the very same face at Carol once or twice when her tone indicated she was enjoying herself more than Michonne thought was really necessary.
"Lucky, I guess," Carol said.
Michonne nodded her head, holding back the smile that was trying to break loose.
"You told Ty yet?" Michonne asked.
Carol looked at her blankly and tipped up the water bottle with the obvious intention of drinking it. Michonne reached, pushing down the bottom of the bottle and stopping it before it happened…just as she'd been taught.
"This isn't a good thing," Carol said. "It's not funny, and it's not a good thing…and that old woman cursed me."
Michonne chuckled.
"Oooh…the bitterness is strong in this one…" she teased. "Muh didn't curse you. We do share a house you know…I guess it can be hard to stay warm with the chill at night."
Carol rolled her eyes in Michonne's direction again and Michonne sighed slightly and got to her feet.
"You done here, or you going another round?" She asked.
Carol sighed and examined the grass for a moment longer.
"I'm done," she said, almost remorsefully.
Michonne stretched her hand out and wiggled her fingers at Carol.
"Come on then, let's go see Muh," she said.
Carol made a face, but stretched her hand out and took Michonne's and Michonne tugged her up to her feet. As they started back across the community, toward the animal pens where the old woman was last seen playing with the kids, Michonne laughed quietly to herself and reached out, wrapping her arm around Carol's shoulders and pulling her to her in a half hug.
"You're enjoying this…" Carol said.
"I told you I would," Michonne responded. She paused a moment as they walked along, slowly. "I always keep a promise to a friend," she added, playfully tightening her grip on Carol's shoulders for a moment.