I sincerely hope you kids aren't getting sick of all these updates.
Chapter Forty-One: Bade & Sogbo II
**The Lieutenant**
He stood helplessly by as the women of Delgado's group tried to get the wife of the dead doctor to unlock the door and emerge from the bathroom where she had locked herself in her grief, holding a mug of steaming hot coffee and trying to find an excuse to linger longer when the others were already digging the graves.
But it was the sight of the young girl, forgotten in the excitement, sitting at the bottom of the attic stairs, peering down the hall at the action that froze him.
She watched the whole scene as one who had seen it all before, not surprised, not grief stricken by her father's death, nothing.
Palming the hot mug, feeling the burn, he carefully wove around the women, heading for the young girl with the dark brown bob cut.
She watched him now as he approached her with solemn brown eyes, shifting over for him to sit at her side, quietly inviting him down.
Higher up on the stairs her brother sat, face grim and dark. Lafayette didn't even have to be an observant man to know that was revenge blazing in the boy's eyes.
Earlier he had spied in Mae's mother's eyes the same thing he remembered from long ago, the same earthly tired look, the weariness of having to go through another day and it sparked something eerily familiar in him.
"She does this all the time," Mae admitted as he settled on the step at her side, eyes on the door of the bathroom. "Only dad was around to stop her then."
She didn't need to elaborate, the Lieutenant knew.
"Maybe this time she'll finally do it," Mae went on quietly.
Silently sticking his long legs out to make himself more comfortable on the steps, the Lieutenant sighed. It took his mother thirty some years in an institution to finally succeed and by then it was almost welcome.
Inhaling deeply, he set down his coffee and pushed to his feet, recalling the relief he felt, but also the deep rooted, blackest feeling of loss and moving towards the commotion down the hall decided to try and stop the little girl from feeling that loss.
Carefully moving the women aside, he eyed the door for a quiet moment, before holding his broken rib tightly with his arm and raising his booted foot to kick the door wide open.
The women swarmed inside a scene of absolute wretched desperation and blood, as Mae's mother huddled in the tub over a knife and her bloody arm.
Fate headed back for the little girl and picked up his mug, standing there quietly as she watched with calm eyes as her mess of a mother was hauled out of the bathroom by the women.
"She'll only try again," Mae said softly. "She always tries."
"Yeah," he whispered, his voice roughened by too many bad memories and regrets, "but today isn't the day for her to succeed. She's gotta be here for you and your brother, can't be that selfish."
As the young girl's eyes connected with his, Fate realized he was getting too close to it all again. That blackness he felt, the hatred and regret of what he was and sighed heavily.
..-~-..
..-~-..
Outside, with his undrunk coffee steaming it's last warmth away in the cool Georgian morning, he sat looking out over the devastation, over the dead from Delgado's group being buried and thought of his mama.
She was so delicate looking, so pretty but broken and when she died they said she was like a dog that had dragged it ass under the front porch to die, her fingernails were long and yellowed, her hair unkempt and unwashed, teeth rotting in her skull.
He was only a baby when she stopped living, the thing his Mamere used to take him to see in the institution was only a shell, a hollow form of what resembled life. A poor mockery of a human being.
They said the depression she had was born into her from her daddy's side, but he often wondered if it was because of him. Because of what became of her that she birthed such a thing from her loins as the bastard of a rapist.
"Fay?" Daryl called over, moving to stand at his side, crossbow in hand.
"Yeah?"
"The others want to know who should head home, if we should stay here or what the hell is going on now," Daryl said, eyes narrowing studiously at the man sitting on the hood of the Humvee. "That woman will need stitching, no one left who knows how, thought we could take her to the convent to get fixed up. Eve's trying to get Kowalski out of his tree to get some help for those burns of his as well."
Slipping down, Fate studied the last of the funeral rites, hands on his hips. "I'll take her and the Marine with the Humvee, get there, get back up while I'm there and head back before nightfall."
"I'll ride shotgun," Daryl said.
"Naw, they need the guns here," Fate argued.
"They'll be fine, you need the back up too, don't like you on that road alone," Daryl stated, hopping up the steps of the house to get Delgado's people to move their injured woman into the big, flashy white vehicle.
The Lieutenant made off for Delgado who was watching his dead being buried from beneath a nearby tree.
"I'm not much of a leader, huh, Sarge?" Delgado asked softly. "Sure as hell let these people down. Didn't think those assholes would be so pigheaded to attack us outright."
"Naw, I don't believe for one second that you're a bad leader," Fate said. "Them pipe bombs were a good idea. Greased their asses for them, got them scared and running."
"They were Bloom's," Delgado said, nodding to one of the mounds of dirt. "He was kind of funny in the head, but he was good man. And Burke, he was our best cowpuncher, knew everything there was about animals. And the Doc," Delgado trailed off. "We were like family, you know?"
Despite knowing exactly what he was saying, Fate inhaled deeply, saying only, "ain't no family in the corps, son, no matter what those pencil pushing, feel gooders at HQ say," the Lieutenant mocked a voice he heard long ago. "Drop yer purse and dust off yer gear."
Delgado laughed despite himself. "I remember Blakely, hell of a Marine."
"He was a sour old lizard from Arizona, but goddamn he made good coffee," Fate agreed. Settling his hand on Delgado's shoulder, the Lieutenant gave it a kind squeeze. "You did good, Corporal. Take a rest, my man and I will be back with more hands and guns. We'll clean up the rats nest tonight, under cover of darkness."
"I'm tired, Sarge," Delgado confessed suddenly. "And I'm beginning to think the only rest I'll get is when I'm dead."
Fate scoffed. "Didn't you know the dead walk around now, Corporal? You won't even rest then."
Delgado gave him a look and it silenced the Cajun quickly.
He nodded. "I know, Delgado. There's no sweet retirement package waiting for us anymore, we just seem to keep on fighting and struggling. But," he added sternly, using his best 'Marine' tone, "now isn't the time for licking our wounds. Keep your gun up, your boots on and for Godsake, Corporal, start wearing your vest," reaching over he smacked the man on the stomach playfully, "it'll save your life."
"Sir, yes, sir," Delgado returned simply.
..-~-..
..-~-..
"Hey, Gambit!"
They were helping the women load Kate Brooks into the Humvee, when Mae approached, a school backpack slung over her shoulder, her violin case in hand.
Fate paused what he was doing and eyed her quietly.
"I'm coming with you when you take my mom," she stated firmly.
"Like hell," Daryl muttered.
"Someone has to watch out for my mom now," she said, brown eyes shining up at the Lieutenant. "She's all we have left."
"You talk this over with your bossman?" Lafayette asked.
"He's not the boss of me," the young girl insisted. "And besides, she's my mom and I'll go with her if I want. You'd let me go, right, Gambit?"
"I wouldn't want to break any rules," he purred with a small grin.
Mae beamed a little sadly. "Sure you don't." Still she looked over nervously at Vivian and Dolly who had just finished tucking a blanket in around Kate's still body and securing her arm high above her heart by a holy hell bar. "Is it okay, Dolly?"
The woman beamed. "You go ahead, Mae. Your mother needs you."
"It'll be okay, Dolly. I'll come back when she's feeling better."
Exchanging a look with Daryl as the kid hopped into the Humvee, sitting beside her pale, clammy looking mother and eyeing her quietly.
Closing the door, Fate quirked a brow at a nearby Merle.
"What?"
"I kind of like that you're branching out into babysitting services, coonass," Merle said.
"Merle, I'm sick of warning you about that word," the Lieutenant snapped.
"I'm sorry, Fairy Fay, guess you do deserve something a little more personal than that from me, huh?" Merle inquired, walking away with a swagger in his step.
"Come on," Daryl said to Fate. "That's just Merle's way of showing you affection."
"Yeah, well, my affection in return is going to be a punch to the dick if he doesn't knock it off with the 'coonass' shit," Fate snarled. Today of all days wasn't the right day to screw with him.
"Hold up, Sarge!" Delgado called out, keeping the rear and practically frog marching a sullen looking young Marine, Eve at his side, holding the young man's upper arm with a gentle, motherly touch. "Think you can do us one more favour and get your people to look over Kowalski?"
"Sure he's a willing prisoner?" Daryl demanded looking the sullen young Marine over.
"He'll go," Delgado said. "Those burns look nasty. I'll fetch some of our medical supplies, you can take them as payment for taking on these two."
Shifting, Fate touched his hips, before shaking his head. "Tell you what, Corporal, we all get out of this, you give us a few of those chickens you have brewing up and some feed."
Delgado blinked, before sighing. "You're a shrewd wheeler dealer, sir."
"I know."
"We have forty-eight brewing up now," Delgado said. "I'll give you an even dozen and one rooster, deal?"
"I would have done it for the two hens and rooster in that cage, Corporal, but thanks for a fresh batch."
Delgado shook his head. "With all due respect, sir, you're a crafty Cajun son of a bitch."
As Delgado stormed off, leaving Eve to 'help' Kowalski into the back of the Humvee with Kate and Mae, Daryl scowled hard at the Cajun.
"Chickens over meds?"
"They can't spare the meds like we can, cabri. Fresh eggs aren't nothing to spit at."
..-~-..
..-~-..
In the backseat the young girl was quiet, eyeing the passing scenery, her hand wrapped around her mother's good one on the seat between them.
Keeping an eye on her in the rearview mirror, the Lieutenant worried the inside of his cheek. Beside him Daryl was silent, frowning at the world as it passed.
Realizing that he had a duty to take the girl's mind off the events of the past twenty-four hours, Fate cleared his throat softly.
"So this Gambit, he's Cajun, huh?"
"Yeah, he was born in New Orleans and kidnapped from the hospital by the LeBeau clan, trained as a thief," she said. "Gambit's powers are that he can charge common objects with powerful kinetic energy."
"Sound useful," Fate stated. "For opening things and such, right?"
"More for exploding things, the objects often blew up on contact when he threw them."
"Explosives, huh? Sounds like a good super power, I suppose. So this Cajun boy, he have a girl?"
"Sure, he was mostly involved with Rogue, she was born in Mississippi, they had one of the deepest, longest on-going relationships of the whole comic series. But she couldn't ever touch him flesh to flesh, because she absorbed other mutants abilities and could easily kill them."
"Sounds like a real peach," Daryl muttered.
"Sounds like my girl," Fate added softly.
Both men snorted with light laughter.
As they approached an area of highway with a steep ditch on either side of it, Fate slowed the vehicle. "Daryl, get ready," he warned, just in case they were ambushed again. He had taken the secondary road as a precautionary, but they eventually had to turn onto the main highway to get home and he didn't want to risk being snagged again.
In the rearview Mae checked her mother's pulse point at her throat nervously.
"She'll be fine, honeychild," the Lieutenant assured her. "They bound her up pretty tight and we're making good time."
Mae was quiet again, sitting in the back.
Worried for her state of mind, Fate said, "when we get things settled, you gonna play that little Cajun tune for me again, girl?"
She nodded. "Sure, I liked playing it. Dad," she swallowed thickly, "he said folk tunes like that weren't worth a penny when it came to making it into a world class orchestra."
"Is that what you were gunning to do with that thing?" He went on questioning her.
She shrugged. "Not really. Mom wanted me to be a dancer, but I can't."
"Two left feet?"
"No coordination, at least that's what Miss Miriam said, she was my dancing instructor."
"What kind of dancing, honeychild?" Maybe, he realized, he was trying to distract himself more than her as they drove down the highway.
"Ballet."
"And your daddy wanted you to scratch out a living scratching out tunes for fancy folks in opera houses?" He asked.
"No," she replied, "he wanted me to be a physicist, but I'm not very good at math."
"What kind of good math do for you these days?" Daryl asked softly.
Mae smiled sadly. "Not much."
They all fell silent, as Fate made the turn down their cattle trail, taking them home, to safety and comfort.
"You know," she said after they got halfway down the trail, "you're kind of gruff like Wolverine, Mr. Dixon. He was one of Gambit's best friends."
"And what'd he do?" Daryl demanded.
"He regenerated, plus his skeleton was made of adamantium, the strongest metal known to man, plus he had these cool claws that came out of the back of his hands."
"I take it by your excitement Wolverine is your favourite?" Fate asked.
"Wolverine is everyone's favourite, but a lot of girls like Gambit because he's tall, charming and Cajun."
Beaming smugly in Daryl's direction, Fate said, "that a fact?"
..-~-..
..-~-..
Getting out of the Humvee as they pulled into the convent grounds, he helped Kate out of the back with Daryl and Kowalski's help, offering her up to Tyreese and Father O'Rourke who had hurried over to help.
Finding Grace hurrying over as well, he swept her up and into a large hug, ignoring the pain in his ribs in favour of just holding her. He had been itching to do it since the morning, since memories of his mother came back and all he wanted to do was hold her, the tiny woman offered up so much comfort with just her very essence.
As it was, for his benefit, she seemed to sense he just needed to hold her and allowed him to maul her, that mildly irritated look that had been clouding her features as she approached melting and by the time he released her, she was looking at him with a worried, soft gaze.
"Carol still at the prison?" Daryl asked.
"Must be, haven't seen hide nor hair of anyone lately," Grace said archly, hand still resting against Fate's chest. The Cajun hoped she didn't notice the wheeze his breathing had to it since his fall from the barn at Delgado's, the pain had subsided in the adrenaline rush of the day, but every now and then when he moved wrong he felt it. Something wasn't right inside with his ribs.
"How many head's can we spare?" The Lieutenant asked her calmly.
"Why? What happened?" Grace asked.
"Long story, cher, short of it is we got attacked by the Arkansas group over at Delgado's, need the hands to go hunting."
"Fate," she said.
"How many can we spare while still keeping our wall secure?" He insisted. She wanted to be more involved in the decision making and he was letting her.
"If we bare bones it—"
"No, don't skimp on our safety, God knows we need to protect our home first, how many to spare?"
"One at the gate, three on the wall, one in the tower, we'll leave those five behind to keep the invalid, the children and the elderly safe. Herschel and Mrs. Douglas can still handle rifles if need be, Milton, Carl and Noah if we really need the coverage."
Settling his hands on his hips, he looked at Grace, then to Daryl who stood nearby quietly.
"No," he said finally. "No, we need everyone here. If those men wreck the place like they did at Delgado's farm…Daryl, you with me?"
"I got your back."
"Lafayette," Grace said, "I'm going with you." She followed him as he made off across the lawns with Daryl at his side and Kowalski bringing up the rear with Kate and Mae.
"No, I need you here, someone needs to be in charge," he said.
"Fate," she stated firmly.
He turned. "I need you here, beb, you're a good leader if push comes to shove and not a bad shot to boot."
She sighed, but nodded. "Alright."
"That's my girl."
"Where are you going?" She asked as he headed for the infirmary.
"That couyon Cash is going to come with us, if we need a human shield or something," he remarked. "Asshole's been eating our food and pissing off people long enough, he's about to make himself useful."
"Lieutenant, your language," she warned.
He paused midstep and turned to face her, a sparkle in his eye. They were at war and she was worried about his language? It was enough to remind him that he couldn't love her more. "My God, you're the prettiest little thing," he purred and swept her into his arms quickly and kissed her.
As he pulled away, he motioned to Kowalski. "Get your burns looked at, then you can mount up and come back with us, understand?"
The soldier, who was squinting studiously at his mouth, shifted on his feet.
The Lieutenant repeated himself with more gestures before the Marine understood completely.
"Doesn't give a lot of support to Delgado," Daryl said as they stepped into the infirmary.
"He'll understand. We have to protect ours, besides our best guns are already there."
"What about Rick?"
Stopping in the doorway, Fate eyed the youngest Dixon. "We'll stop by on our way, see how things are going. He may want to join us."
"And Carol?" Daryl asked. "With those pricks running around, I don't want to leave her alone there."
"We'll give her support, I wouldn't leave her hanging in the wind, cabri. You know that."
Stopping the Lieutenant again, Daryl shifted on his feet. "She told me about what you did for her. About the knife."
Sensing Daryl's point and in a hurry, Fate clapped him on the upper arm companionably and grinned. "Return the favour someday, yeah?" Walking away towards Cash, he muttered under his breath, "I'm just glad she didn't tell you about the other thing."
"What other thing?"
Tilting his head, the Cajun sucked air in through his teeth and touched Daryl's shoulder. "Best to leave bygones, yeah?"
DarylDixon'sLover - Thank you xx
HaloHunter89 - Well, thank you, I honestly think action is my weakest point, but I appreciate your kind review. ^_^
Brazen Hussy - Yes, yes they are.
Yazzy x - I'm glad you're enjoying Kowalski. ^_^
Girl in a White Dress - You basically summed it up.
Merle's Right Hand - Fretting or perhaps ass kicking when he fully recovers.
itsi3 - I'm glad it got across then.