++++++ I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Kirkman and AMC ++++++

Fifty-Three

I would have spent the entire day in bed with Rick but when you're trying to rebuild a society from scratch, that isn't a luxury any of us could afford. It was around lunch time when both Rick and I emerged from our two man celebration. Every inch of my body tingled from the morning's activities giving me a permanent grin as I made my way to the courtyard for lunch.

"Morning you," Ebony grinned.

"Aunty Jay!" Jade pouted. "Mum's making me do numbers again. I hate numbers!"

"What's three hundred and seven plus two hundred and nine?" I asked her.

Jade cocked her head to the side and shrugged. "I don't know."

"Then do your numbers, rabbit," I ordered. I sat down across from her and tapped the page. "When you can tell me what three hundred and seven plus two hundred and nine are then you can stop doing your numbers."

"You play dirty," my niece frowned before sticking her head in her books.

I shrugged. "I try, baby girl."

"You're happy," Ebony smirked. "What's going on in your head, gorgeous girl?" She pulled back her hair out of her face and tied it up in a loose bun as she worked on pealing vegetables.

"Don't act as if you don't know," I replied, throwing a pencil at her. I held up my hand and showed her the ring. "You have it to Rick. Verum apud te. Be true to yourself."

Ebony squealed and practically launched herself across the table at me. "You're getting married!" she screamed. "Captain grumpy pants is getting married!"

"What in the name of sanity you yelling at?" Daryl grumbled from where he was skinning rabbits to cook. "Racket like that and you'll attract the dead."

"I got news for you sweetie," Ebony spoke bluntly when she pointed to the fence. "The dead is swarming like middle class white women swarm all over Oprah." She wrinkled up her nose. "Can you do that somewhere else…it stinks so bad."

"Like where?" Daryl argued.

"China?" she suggested.

"Love you," Daryl replied. He looked over at me lying on the table and chuckled. "We should go out hunting again, running out of food again."

"We should do a run," I suggested. "Go for some more food that will keep. This going out and hunting every couple days is what will get us killed."

"You should be thinking about getting married and not going out to play hunter gatherer," Ebony cut in. "That's the problem with everything these days, it's all about the survival-can't you just enjoy the moment? This whole time, no one has ever said a single good thing about keeping this baby," she continued, pointing at her stomach. "I keep getting told that it's a mistake and that I'm stupid to keep it but hey-I'm bringing life into a world full of dead people! Can't we just celebrate for a moment? We can't afford to forget about the old things in life."

"You're getting married?" Daryl asked. He held a bloodied hand over his eyes to block the son. "Congrats man-never knew Lucas had the balls," he smirked.

"It's Rick, you gigantic ass," Ebony laughed, throwing a carrot at him.

"Yeah I know," he smirked.

"In the spirit of keeping everything as normal as possible," I replied back, "when are you gonna ask Ebony to marry you? I mean you guys have been together since the farm-"

I was simultaneously shut up by both a carrot and some entrails being thrown at me. The carrot I managed to duck but the entrails landed in my hair. "Really?" I growled. "I really need to start rethinking the company that I'm keeping. I mean seriously, you two are children."

"Speak for yourself," Daryl laughed.

I threw the bloodied entrails out of my hair and leant back. "So-what happened for Rick to take in the Woodbury survivors? I've been meaning to ask but I never got around to it."

"John and the Governor killed the force that attacked us," Ebony frowned, going back to pealing the veggies. "Karen-Tyrese's girlfriend was the only one that survived. She said that John and the Governor shot them all before leaving. We went to Woodbury to take the rest of the fight to him but he didn't come back…did they tell you Andrea's dead?"

I shook my head. "No."

"That nerdy guy, Milton, the Governor shot him and he turned into a walker than he bit Andrea," Ebony explained. "She killed herself rather than turn. I suppose it's karmic retribution for what she did. She should have killed him when she had the chance."

"What if they come back?" I inquired.

"We've thought about it," Daryl answered. "You and Matthew are probably the best at organising a defence, that Andrew guy as well." He put the skinned rabbits in a clean bucket of water than started washing them.

"That Andrew guy is a decorated soldier," I corrected him. "A bloody good soldier if you ask me. My grandfather hated him, cut him off and everything just because he's gay." I shrugged. "Suppose you can't pick your family. So, you guys picked a name yet?" I inquired, pointing at Ebony's slight bump.

Ebony shrugged. "We had a few-Merle…Jim…Dale…Theodore…Michael…if it's a girl is either gonna be either Nina or Felicity, Charlie…Claudia…Esther after your mum-she was always so nice to me and Jade," Ebony added when she saw my face. "Anyway-what about you?"

"Me?" I questioned. "Oh no, no, no, no. I'm too selfish to have kids-and before you say that I'm good with them think about it for a second. I'm not gonna bring a kid into this world when I'm out there every single day killing walkers, hunting for food, anything could kill me and I'd be leaving that kid alone. It's different for you because you're not like me."

Ebony paused. I could see on her face that she knew I was right. We may have been best friends who were alike in most aspects, practically sisters even, but we were so different as well. "I just want you to be happy."

"I am happy," I smiled. "For the first time in a long time, actually. I'm content with my life as it is. I've got Rick, the kids, you guys…what more could I need? I don't need a child because I've got so many kids around me as it is." I rubbed my rabbit's hair just as Sophia and Carol came bouncing over. Sophia was growing into a gorgeous young woman. "Look what the cat dragged in," I smirked. "Carol, Sophia."

"Hello PJ," Sophia smiled. She sat down beside me and looked back at Carol like she was asking for permission. Carol nodded and then she turned back to me. "I ran into a girl in the cell block who said you were teaching her and her friends about knives and self-defence and I was wondering if I could come to?"

"You should start a class," Ebony joked. "Teach them the dirt and the grim in the morning and in the afternoon we teach the numbers."

"You're talking about a school," I laughed. "School is boring."

"The older one's thinks it's cool you're teaching them," Carol pointed out. "You've got Lucas following you, Molly, Liam and Ben keep telling us about the classes you're running. The children need to learn how to defend themselves, I'd rather my daughter know how to use a gun than not."

"I'd have to run this by Rick," I suggested, not entirely comfortable about the whole idea.

"It was Rick who suggested it," Carol told me. "In council yesterday.

I sighed. "Fine. I'll take fourteen and over-that's in. We'll work on knives and defensive techniques only until I deem them fit enough to start on guns."

Ebony clapped in excitement.

I snorted. "Let's see how excited you are when I go all drill sergeant on their asses. Classes are in the morning, crack of dawn they'll report to me. If you see any kids who are interested tell them it's the crack of dawn or they get turned away. I don't run a day care." I stood up and grabbed some of the peas that were in front of Carol.

"Congratulations by the way," Carol added, giving me a hug, "on the engagement. It's nice to see something normal these days."

"Thanks Carol," I smiled, hugging her back.

Too much was happening in one day. First the engagement and now teaching a class of snot-nosed teenagers…oh well, I thought, can't bake a cake without breaking a few eggs.