Christie stared at Reichert in disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me." she said as Reichert moved his oatmeal around the bow.
"No." he shook his head, pushing the breakfast away. "I'm sick of oatmeal."
"So you say every morning." she nodded. "But about her being pregnant..."
"There's nothing we can do about it." he pushed his chair back and got to his feet.
"But they could have told us about it." she pointed out.
"Do you want me to toss them out?" he asked as he pulled a comb through his thinning hair. "I thought you brought them in to help them."
"I did." she admitted. "I just didn't think you'd be so laid back about finding out that they omitted a big detail."
"While I must admit it was stupid and irresponsible for them to add to their little family right now, there is, as I said, nothing we can do about it." he checked himself out in the mirror that hung over a sideboard in the dining room of the small house he'd taken up residence in. "Do you want me to go yell at them?"
"I already did that." She had assumed he'd have more of a reaction to her news. It had some pretty big implications, and yet he was treating it as though it were nothing.
"We haven't had many women give birth while we've been here." he grabbed his coat and motioned for her to follow him, laughing to himself at the pouting, petulant look on her face. "Mixed results to say the least."
"I remember when Clark's wife went into labor.." she nodded, thinking back to the day that Kathy had died, along with the newborn baby.
"And before you showed up, we had quite a little flurry of labors." he opened his front door and waited for the young woman to pass in front of him, admiring the view a bit as she went by. He might be old enough to be her father, but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate an attractive younger woman. Look but don't touch. That was his philosophy. "One where the mother and child came through just fine, one where the mother lived, but the baby didn't and the last where the baby survived.."
"And the mother died." Christie figured out for herself. "Is anyone here trained for childbirth?"
"No." he shook his head, waving to some people as he walked along. "Shouldn't you be getting them to work?" he asked. "Your foundlings." he clarified.
"Mitchell is getting them started." she replied. "I wanted to talk to you about what I'd found out. Try to convince you not to throw them out."
"And I disappointed you." he laughed. "Now, now, don't give me that look." he said as she glared at him. She felt that she had overreacted, and he knew that. Over the last few months he came to understand that if she felt embarrassed by something she'd said or done, she got cranky. Not an attractive quality, but a person couldn't pick those kinds of things.
"Not disappointed, necessarily." she crossed her arms over her chest as they headed to Whittaker, staring at the ground as she moved. "Well, maybe that's what it is. I didn't want you to throw them out, I figured you wouldn't throw a helpless baby out like that."
"Thank you for acknowledging that." he nodded.
"I just thought you'd give them hell, make them feel bad for being so stupid."
"You're still upset about everything, aren't you?" he asked as he regarded her.
"You're not?" she asked, feeling uncomfortable at that moment. She would have preferred him looking at her ass instead of reading her mood.
"I didn't lose much." he shrugged. "A law practice, some friends..." he looked away from her. "I know how much you..."
"Look, Mitchell has them all out!" she pointed to the group standing in the middle of Whittaker.
"You don't wanna talk about it, that's fine." he knew exactly what she was doing, and decided to let her, for now at least. She was holding onto some painful memories, and he worried she could cause trouble for the others, for himself, and bring down all that they had built.
"Hey, just getting them ready to work." Mitchell nodded to Reichert and smiled to Christie.
"Thanks." Christie said as she came to stand next to him, trying to shake the discomfort.
"Are you throwin' us out?" Carl asked as he watched the fat little man waddle up to them.
"No." Reichert laughed. "I think you're numbskulls for your timing, but I won't throw an unborn baby out like that."
"So, we're gonna be able to go the week?" Daryl eyed the rotund man. What was it about him? There was something and Daryl promised himself to keep a very close eye on him.
"If you want." Reichert smiled. "Obviously, you know your chances when the time comes for that baby to be born."
"I do." Lori nodded, annoyed that she had to even have this conversation with anyone but Rick. "I don't see why you had to be brought into this." her gaze shifted to Christie.
"Because unlike some people, I was thinking..." Mitchell's hand suddenly clamped over Christie's mouth.
"Deep breaths." he whispered to her. "Be nice now."
Christie stared at him for a minute and then did as he suggested and took a few deep breaths. She had to let go of her anger over the group hiding something big. It would do no good to dwell.
"So, Mitchell explained everything?" she asked, trying to change the topic.
"Why do we have to clean the yards of houses where we don't live?" Carl asked.
"Because some of these houses have no one living in them, and therefor have no one to take care of them." Christie replied.
"So?" Carl shrugged. "If no one lives there, why do they need the yard to be clean?"
"Deep breaths." Mitchell repeated.
"So that everything is neat." Christie's mood was not improving. "We work together to keep things as nice as possible, as home-like as possible."
"I never had to do yard work for my neighbors before." Carl leaned against Lori's hip.
"Well now you do." Rick interjected. "Watch the attitude, Carl." he squeezed his son's shoulder.
"Okay, Carl, be a good, helpful kid and go start mowing the yard at number 48, okay?" Mitchell stepped in. He knew Christie well enough to know when she was about to lose it. He didn't know why she was in such a mood, but he thought it best to step in for her.
"Won't mowers attract walkers?" Maggie asked, feeling a bit embarrassed by the boy's behavior.
"We don't use gas mowers." Reichert suddenly chimed in. "Old fashioned push mowers."
"Saves the gas for the cars, and no noise." Mitchell smiled.
"Can we get started?" Christie asked, feeling the need to do something, anything that might improve her mood. Even she wasn't totally sure why she was feeling so crabby.
"Yeah, let's do that." Mitchell assigned jobs to everyone and then took his leave reluctantly to see to his own street. He didn't like the idea of leaving her when she was in one of her moods, he knew very well some of the things she might say, but Reichert motioned to him that it was time to go.
"This place sucks." Carl grumbled as he headed off to mow.
"Carl, watch it!" Rick called after him. "We've gotta keep an eye on him." he turned to Lori as he handed her a rake.
"Of course we do." she nodded. "Especially with her around." she nodded towards Christie who headed off to her own house, rake and head clippers in tow.
Rick sighed as he watched the two women walk off. If Carl kept up with his attitude and Lori took a dislike to Christie, they may very well have to head out on their own again and soon.