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

Fifty-Eight

Shaking my head in disbelief I knelt down to fix up the bandanna around Spirit's neck. Someone, I'm assuming either Jade, Lizzie or Myka had pulled the fabric over his eyes. It obviously meant that they were up to something. That was another thing that I had to look forward to about impending motherhood.

"What about that one?" I heard Lizzie question. "I think I'm gonna call him Nick. What about you, Jade? What will you call him?"

"Adam," Jade laughed. "I want to call him Adam. My dad's name was Adam…I heard mum say so." She poked the hand the fence and jumped away with a squeal and a laugh when the walker tried to grab her. I could hardly believe what I was seeing, Jade was smarter than that. "What about you Myka?"

"This isn't a good idea guys," Myka whispered. "If anyone catches us we're in so much trouble."

"Damn straight you are!" I snapped, making them all jump in terror. "Jade Elizabeth Hewitt what the hell do you think you're doing?" I grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the fence. "Those are walkers! You don't name them, you kill them! Spirit, stay with them!" I slung my bow over my shoulder and dragged Jade back up to the cell block whilst she kicked and yelled at me. "You're almost seven years old, Jade, you know better. I hope to god you weren't the ring leader in this!"

"You can't tell me what to do!" Jade yelled when I dragged her into the time out room. "You're not my mother!"

"Well apparently you hate your mother!" I snapped. I forced her down on the chair and knelt in front of her. "Mum told me you said you hated her. She's very upset Jade."

"Don't care!" Jade scoffed.

"You do," I corrected. "You do care. She's you're mother and god knows mother is god in the eyes of a child. Are you worried about the baby?" I asked.

Jade looked away from me.

"Ah." I shifted my knees underneath me and sat down in front of her. "You can still talk to me," I assured her. "You can till tell me what you're afraid of rabbit. I'll listen."

Jade stared at the wall.

"Let me guess," I sighed. "You're afraid that this new baby that your mum and Daryl are going to have will replace you?" Jade's bottom lip trembled. I pulled her down off the chair and ran my hand through her messy hair. "Rabbit, you will always be your mother's star. The only reason why she is spending so much time away from you is because the baby is making her very tired."

"But what about you, Aunty Jay?" Jade whispered. "You have a baby in your belly as well…will you forget about me? You'll forget about Judy and Carl…when I was in school one of my friends mummy had a baby and they forgot her."

"Your mother and I will never forget you," I told her. "When you were a baby, your mum spent a very long time looking after you because you were small and couldn't look after yourself. So mum had to spend a lot of time looking after you. But I can tell you know that mum will need your help in looking after her baby."

Jade cuddled into me. "I'm sorry Aunty Jay," she whispered. "I'm sorry I kicked dad in the legs and I'm sorry I said I hated mum."

"You have to tell her that your sorry, not me," I pointed out. "We'll always love you and even though you're acting like a brat, we still care. Now, no more playing with the walkers. You know better than that."

"But Myka and Lizzie do it!" Jade objected.

I raised an eyebrow. "Baby girl, if I jump off a bridge would you do it because I do it?"

Jade shook her head. "No, Aunty Jay."

"You're a good girl," I smiled. "Why were you naming the walkers?"

"Because Lizzie said we should," Jade answered. "There was one on the fence-he had a name tag that said Nick so Lizzie said we should name them."

"You know that's wrong, don't you?" I reminded her. "Walkers aren't people anymore. They don't talk, they don't think, they just want to eat people. You stay away from Lizzie, I'll talk to Alice tomorrow. Go back to playing with Sophia and Carl."

"Sophia doesn't wanna play anymore," she pouted. "Aunty Jay…can I go talk to mum?"

I nodded and let her go. Man being a mother is gonna be hard. First it's gonna be getting into everything than it will be the twenty questions followed by the naming the undead phase.

"You're totally gonna be an awesome mum," Lucas laughed as Jade ran out of the cell. "You geared up to go somewhere?"

I sighed and got up. "Well I was planning on going with Daryl and Bob on the run but I think I missed that. Jade's been acting up a little bit and she needed to be talked to. Listen, can you get Alice to come and see me? I need to talk to her about Lizzie. The girl's naming walkers for fucks sake."

"That's fucked up," he groaned. "Well, if you're upset about missing out on the run with Dixon than maybe you should head out with Rick, he was just thinking about going out to check the snares. He could use a sharp eye."

"Family road trip," I laughed. "Sure, hold the fort whilst I'm gone and don't be fishing for a kiss from Beth." The sight of Beth and Lucas in teenage love was enough to make the rest of us sick.

"Who me?" Lucas laughed. "Have fun boss."

I headed down to the fences just as Jason and Carol were working on opening the gates for Rick. "Come down to lend a hand," I told Rick with a smile when he saw me.

"You should stay," he suggested. "I know you're capable but the baby-"

"Me, Daryl and Michael are the best hunters you got," I reminded him. "Also the sharpest eyes. Daryl's gone, Michael's busted his foot so I'm all you got Officer Grimes."

Rick sighed. "I'd feel better if you would stay."

"And I'd feel better if I came with you," I argued. I stared at him and winked. "Of course being back here without you would just make me worry and all I'd be able to is think about you being all alone out there and nothing else."

Rick sighed. "Ok. Fine. Just be careful."

"I love you Officer Grimes," I grinned, following him out, bow in hand. Who says emotional blackmail doesn't work?