Don't Get Dead

by Bobbie15Jo

Ace had been alone for almost a week before she is found. After the dead have risen, she gets offered a place in a camp overlooking Atlanta. If only the group would listen to her, she may be more skilled than they believe. TWD Fanfiction - I only own the OC and a few characters down the line.

53. Baby Talk

Just so you all know, I got fanart. If you want to see it it will be on Chapter 52 of Wattpad because idk how to or if you can put pictures here :)

---

Rick left with Michonne and Carl before I could get myself out of bed, unable to pull myself into a sitting position with the pain and aching in my chest. Part of me wondered whether I should wear the gear over the top, maybe compressing the area to stop it from moving. Getting the gear over my head would hurt just as much, though.

Everyone had got together to make a plan for the day, Hershel and Carol wanted to work on a way out of the prison in case the Governor pushed in, and they stayed in the common room to work on looking through the map. Daryl and Glenn thought that maybe we should try pushing into the prison again, but Rick wanted Daryl watching out for Merle.

"There were just waves of them," Glenn said. "I think with all the shooting they're just finding their ways inside."

"Yeah, gonna have to keep it quiet in here," Daryl agreed.

"Doesn't matter if we get into another gunfight," I reminded them. "The Governor could come in at any time, and when he does it isn't going to be quiet. We need to find secure places to hide so we don't get snuck up on by the walkers."

"We don't want to be cornered either," Beth argued.

"Maybe we don't have to be inside?" I suggested. "We could try scaring them away with firecrackers and shit."

"All things we should think about after," Hershel said from his table. "Andrea thinks she can get a meeting with this man, and if that goes well then we won't need to plan for a fight."

"I'd rather be prepared than not," I said.

A cry came from the cell block, and I glanced back.

"I got her for now," Beth said.

I leaned back against the metal table as she left, before turning back to Daryl, Glenn and Maggie. Nothing had really been decided apart from having to wait for Rick to get back before we could try and clear the tombs.

After a moment of thought, I decided what my plan for the day was. "I think I'm going to make sure the guns all work, I don't want a weapon jamming up in someone's hand," I said. "Then come up with some traps if they push inside. They're not taking this place without a fight."

"That's what you think," Merle called from across the room.

I felt my jaw tighten, and I looked at Daryl as a way of saying 'shut your brother up'. He seemed to understand the look, but didn't say anything to Merle, just sending a glare across the room, and his brother just laughed at him.

When he looked back at me I was chewing the inside of my cheek, but Daryl gave a nod. "It's a good idea," he confirmed after a moment. "He's not taking this place without a fight."

"I'll head out and take the first watch," Glenn said.

"I can come out after?" I suggested.

"No," Hershel stopped me from across the room. "You can't use a gun that's going to press against your shoulder. We don't know whether the shot cracked a rib, but if it did, the knock back of a rifle may be enough to push the bone out of place. It could hit back and puncture a lung."

I blinked, staring at him as I thought about it. "That's a no for rifles. I guess I'm sticking to the handgun. But I could still keep an eye out with binoculars, call someone outside if I see anything."

"That would be for the best," Hershel agreed.

"Okay," I nodded, and glanced around at everyone else. "Are we all good?"

There was just a nod from everyone as they all split off to get their jobs done.

I walked back to the cell block to grab some of the guns and pull them out to the common room. They would be more useful there, for now. We had been keeping our things in the caged storage area in the common room, but that was taken over by Merle because nobody wanted him in the cell block. While I hated the idea of keeping guns around him in the common room, I doubted he would take any.

In the cell, I took what would fit in my arms causing the least amount of pain to my chest, and walked them out, taking a few trips. There was no way I'd be able to check all the guns that day, because I wasn't sure how a lot of them worked anyway, so someone else could take a look when I was done.

As I had left it, there were other people in the cafeteria. Carol and Hershel sat over a drawn out map of the prison on one of the tables, but they were actually doing something. They were actually being helpful right now, strategising an escape to the breach in the back wall of the Governor pushed us too far back into the prison.

Not Merle.

He was just sitting there, messing with a bunch of tools I could only now assume he'd taken from my box. We dragged it inside to take things apart around the prison, and work on the generator whenever I got the time to go down there and look.

I assumed he was looking for a better way to attach a blade to his prosthetic, because he had switched between picking up a screwdriver and different options for a blade. I only now noticed that he had taped a box cutter to the metal shell, which he'd probably also taken from the tool box. Now that I think about it, that could have been there yesterday.

Just watching him made me mad. He'd done nothing since being here, and now while everyone was working, he was sitting there messing with a bunch of tools. It was unfair, seeing as he was the one that started this, and everyone was paying for his mistakes.

I dropped the guns down on the same table as the others and marched over to Merle, planting my hand down on the table next to him to get his attention. "Get up."

Merle glanced at me out the side of his eye, barely even looking at me for a second, before his eyes landed on the table in front of him. He continued messing with the prosthetic, maybe finding a better way to attach a blade as he inspected it. Whatever, I didn't care.

"Get up," I repeated. "You don't get a free pass. If you're staying here, you're working, just like everyone else."

"Leave me be, girly," was his only response.

I just got angrier, my teeth clenched together as I stared at him. "I said, get up."

Nothing.

Just another glance out the corner of his eye, one that probably said that he wanted to kill me. So scary, I thought sarcastically.Part of me wondered where Daryl was, seeing as watching his brother was supposed to be down to him. No Daryl meant this was down to me.

As he reached for the screwdriver again, I grabbed it from the table and threw it across the room, receiving a very pissed off stare from Merle. The clattering had also gotten the attention of the others in the room.

"Everyone here hates you," I started, "more people than you can handle want you dead. The only reason you're still here right now is because of me," this didn't pull out a reaction, but I could tell by his face that he knew I was right. "The funny thing is I don't want you here either, so you shouldn't give me any reasons to stop following orders."

Merle stood now, stood up slowly and stared at me like he was going to start yelling. I had seen the look before so I was more than ready. I didn't move though, despite him towering over me, his head craned down to even look me in my eyes.

"So do something," I continued, my voice low. "Clear out the prison, make defences, go for a walk, I don't care. But you do not sit there while my people are working their asses off to keep this place running."

I expected the worst from him, I had seen the look before, day he came to yell at me about his bike. Though he wasn't high now, he was completely aware of just how mad I was making him. Not that it mattered to me. I just stood there, waiting for the backlash.

But he didn't yell.

His eyes trailed off for a second, before meeting mine again. He let out one breathy chuckle, almost a scoff. Then he turned away, started walking away into the cell block. I glanced over my shoulder, when I saw Glenn in the room, his hand over his gun, staring at me. I realised that Merle had probably backed off for that reason, not wanting to do anything to get shot.

Good, I thought. Still not being taken seriously.

Rick couldn't have come back soon enough.

Across the room, Hershel and Carol were also looking at me. I couldn't decipher their expressions, maybe it was the same as Glenn's, the look that wondered why I was trying to get myself killed. When I met their eyes, they just turned back to their map.

Rolling my eyes, I turned into the cell block. I had things to work on, traps, bombs. I didn't need this shit. Watching Merle, keeping him in line was supposed to be Daryl's job, and I didn't know where the fuck he was. I turned and walked into the cell block, partly trying to ignore Glenn, but he didn't say anything.

There was shit I needed to do, get the guns ready. I sat down at one of the tables and began checking the handguns first.

---

On my next trip to get more guns, I walked up the stairs in the common room and through the inside control room to get onto the balcony. I couldn't remember if we'd stored anything in the cells upstairs, but decided I'd better check anyway.

"Ace?" I heard Maggie call from the cell. "Can you help me for a second?"

I couldn't really see her in the darkened room, but I nodded anyway and stepped inside. Maggie was sitting on her bed, and that's when I heard the baby making fussy baby noises, just before she started crying,

I nodded, and followed her back to the cell. On the bed she had the box where I heard the baby crying from, and immediately cringed. Why did I agree? Maggie sat down on the bed and pulled the baby out of the box as it screamed, waving its arms.

Maggie shifted her grip as the baby rocked. "I just need someone to hold her while I get a bottle ready."

"I can get Beth," I suggested.

Maggie shook her head. "She's taking a break, she's been with the baby non stop, so I'm giving her some time to herself."

"I saw Hershel," I pointed back over my shoulder, now quickly remembering that he had been in the common room when I yelled at Merle.

Maggie glanced at me for just a second, "Ace."

"Can I make the bottle?" I asked.

"Do you know how?"

I pursed my lips, reluctantly shaking my head at the question. Of course I didn't know how to make a bottle. I knew everything about anything mechanical and now had more than enough knowledge in weaponry, but Judith's food was the one thing that stumped me.

Just perfect.

"It'll just be for a minute, and I really need the help," as she said that, Maggie stood up, holding the baby my way. I immediately stepped back, holding my hands behind my back, looking down at the tiny crying human. When I looked back at Maggie, she was staring at me with a confused yet concerned expression. "Is something wrong?"

My chin dipped down as I rubbed the back of my neck. "I've never held a baby before?"

Why was this the most embarrassing thing I've ever said? It shouldn't be, but I knew exactly how everyone's reaction would be when I came out with the fact that I was scared to take care of a baby. Even for a few minutes.

"Never?" Maggie asked, and I shook my head. "Not even just one in the family?"

"The last baby in my family was me," I reminded her.

Maggie was quiet for a moment, but nodded, seemingly understanding.

"Okay, come sit down," she said, and stepped backwards into the cell. Unwillingly I entered the cell and sat down on the bed. Maggie knelt down in front of me, still holding the baby and nodded to me, "Hold out your arms."

I tried to copy the way she was holding the baby, my elbows bent and arms out ready to hold Judith. Maggie reached forward, shifting her grip so her hand was under the baby's head, and lowered her body into my arms. I adjusted when I realised the gap I left was too big.

"Watch her head," Maggie said. "Keep it supported."

I nodded, tightening my arm under the baby so her head was resting in the crook of my elbow, not once taking my eyes off the small human.

"Careful," Maggie instructed as the baby cried, and jerked awkwardly, making me cringe. When Maggie—and only Maggie—was confident that I could hold the baby, she stood up. "I'll only be a few minutes, just wait there."

My head shot up to look at her. "You're leaving me?!"

"She needs a bottle," Maggie reminded me, smiling at my reaction.

"What if I drop her?!"

"You won't drop her," was the last thing she said, turning out of the door and leaving me alone with the baby.

Judith.

I glanced down, gently moving my arms as the baby cried. As I moved my arms a little more, almost rocking her, the crying stopped. She kept making little fussy noises, maybe telling me that she was hungry as Maggie told me, but the crying had now stopped.

This was the first time I'd ever seen her this close, even touched her. I felt a small smile work its way onto my face as she just stared up at me, before wiggling around and making small baby noises. I moved my bottom hand to hers, and the baby locked her hand around my finger.

"Hi," I whispered, tugging my hand lightly but the baby hung on. "Hey."

Everything felt warm and fuzzy as I smiled at the baby. I couldn't stop if I wanted to. Every little sound or movement made me happy, and knew at that moment that I would do anything for this baby. I would do anything for anyone in the group, but no one was ever going to hurt Judith as long as I was here.

I loved her so much.

"Doin' okay?" I heard Maggie from the door.

I nodded, not glancing up. At least I didn't drop her, I thought back to how badly I wanted Maggie to stay with me. You know, just in case I'd done something wrong by sitting here doing nothing.

"Do you want to feed her?"

"I don't know how."

"It's not hard," Maggie sat down on the bed. "Lift her up a little, then give her this."

I lifted Judith up, using my bottom hand to partially sit her in an upright position, holding the crook of my elbow higher as she rested in my arms. Maggie handed me the bottle when I was sure she would not fall, and I put the bottle near her mouth. She almost immediately took the whole teet in her mouth and I could hear small gulping noises as a drop of milk spilt down her cheek.

"I'll teach you how to make a bottle next," Maggie said.

When I glanced up at her, she only smiled and nodded back to Judith, adjusting my grip with the bottle, making me lift it up a little while she was drinking. She sat there in silence, watching me for a few minutes, before shifting in the seat next to me.

It was nice for a little while, finally being able to sit down, even if it was doing something, this was probably one of the easier tasks I could have been called in to do, and it was so much less intensive than any other job I could have been doing right now.

After a few minutes, Maggie spoke up. "How are you feeling?"

I tilted my head, a way of saying that I was okay without shrugging or moving the bones around my gunshot. "I hurt a lot."

"I bet."

More silence followed, only the sounds of slurps and gulping from the baby filling the room. I kept my eyes on Judith, watching the white liquid in the bottle go down as slow as possible. The room was silent for a little while, just on the edge of a nice silence.

I could tell it was a little more uncomfortable now, though. There was more Maggie wanted to say from her tone and I had to wait for her to come out with it. It's not like there was anywhere I could go so I had to just wait it out.

"How's Glenn been?" Maggie asked after a second and I glanced her way.

Didn't she know?

The only person that saw Glenn more than me was her, and with everything going on, I thought that was a question I'd have to ask her. I guessed with the way he's been acting, or his blowup after Woodbury, she might've been avoiding him, or he was avoiding her.

All that thought did was remind me of what happened to her in Woodbury, and I hated the idea of intruding on the time she'd want to spend alone. I didn't really know how to ask if she wanted to be alone though.

"I don't think we're speaking." It wasn't a complete lie. Every time me and Glenn had spoken to each other over the last two days it ended in a fight, and it's gotten to the point where neither of us have said anything to the other. I didn't think I'd been avoiding him until I realised that we hadn't been talking. "He might hate me."

Maggie shook her head. "He doesn't hate you. He's just angry. After what happened, he . . ." she trailed off, unsure of where she was going with her explanation. After a moment, she just said, "He hates the Governor."

"Me too," I mumbled, looking back down. "Should've just killed him."

"What do you mean?"

I swallowed hard, shaking my head as I contemplated keeping my mouth closed. "In Woodbury, I had a chance but . . . he had all these people running around him, if I missed I would have hit someone else."

I glanced back at Maggie, wondering what her silence meant. But she just looked ahead, eyes planted on the wall in front of her. Maybe she hated me. I had a chance to kill the person who assaulted her, and I backed out. I knew that was definitely a reason that Glenn hated me.

My nose twitched and I had to blink back tears of guilt. "I'm sorry. I should've just done it."

Maggie looked back at me so fast, her lips parted as she stared at me. "What? No—" she shook her head. "You don't have anything to be sorry about."

I should have just killed him, I repeated in my head. I guess part of me thought that Maggie would feel better knowing he's not around anymore, and maybe that would be true, but there was no way I could bring up something like that.

"Did . . ." She took a breath. "You killed others, didn't you?"

A lump caught in my throat, and I avoided her gaze, looking back down at the baby, but I couldn't bring myself to look at the baby now either. I guess seeing as I spoke about my opportunity to kill the Governor, my willingness, it was not hard to work out I'd managed to take out others before him. Either that or she guessed when we came back with Daryl and Merle alive.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," Maggie repeated in a firm, yet soft tone. "I wanted to talk to you about this sooner, but after Daryl I didn't know if you . . ." She went quiet again. "If you want to talk about it, I can."

I shook my head so fast.

Maggie needed the support more than me, and there was no way I could talk about what I was going through when she had so much more she needed to talk about, needed to recover from. I could get over what happened, but I was not going to cry to Maggie about it when she was going through far worse than me.

"Ace—"

"—I'm fine," I cut her off, probably indicating how not fine I was. "I don't want to talk about it."

The baby was just over half done with the bottle, and I prayed she would hurry up so I could get out of here. Maggie wasn't quiet for long, though, because the next thing she did was lean forward and said, "I get that you probably want to avoid this topic too, but have you spoken to Daryl?"

"No," I mumbled.

"I know how much it hurt you, him just leaving after . . . well, everything. But try not to hold it against him for too long," she said. "He just wanted to be with his family. You know what he's like."

I shook my head, indicating that I didn't want to talk about it. Either that or it was saying that I didn't want to talk to Daryl. Despite her words, I was just still so angry with him. I couldn't really think about anything like that with Woodbury in the back of my mind, remembering the people I killed instead.

I just shrugged, wincing at how it hurt my chest.

We sat in silence until Judith finished her food, which didn't take too long, and I could tell that after a while she was starting to get full because she kept spitting up out the side of her mouth, refusing to take any more formula.

"I think she's done," Maggie leaned across, taking her from me. "I've gotta burp her, then she'll probably sleep."

I nodded and stood up. "Glenn's been out on watch for a little while," I stated. "I'm gonna go give him a break."

---

I had taken a watch for the next few hours, watching as it started to turn orange around me, the first sign that it would be dark soon. Glenn had given me the keys for the gate, so I took my place outside, sitting behind one of the bleachers for a little cover while I waited for the others to get back from their run.

Eventually I did hear the rumble of a car, and saw glint as the Hyundai came out from behind the trees at the bottom of the field. They drove in through the broken gates and passed the new walkers that had wandered in, as I ran across the courtyard to let them inside.

I unlocked the key, pulled the gate open and slammed it closed as quickly as possible, ensuring no walkers got inside. Rick stopped the car closer to the building, with the back facing the door so we could easier carry everything inside.

I joined them at the car, "Find anything good?"

Rick only nodded to the boot, and lifted the door for me to look inside. There were piles of weapons, guns, another crossbow and random handheld things to use in close combat. On top of that there was an orange camping rucksack with a few metal pots.

"Fair enough," I said after a whistle. "Didn't realise Kings County was stacked."

"The store owners liked their guns," Rick agreed.

He instructed Carl and Michonne to carry some of the things inside, and they grabbed a handful and headed in, leaving the rest for me and Rick. He stacked some of the guns in my arms until I shook my head that I couldn't carry anymore, and then started grabbing the rest of the weapons.

"Anything happen out there?" I questioned.

Rick nodded. "You remember when I joined the group, that man that helped me?"

"Morgan?" I only really remembered the name because he was the person Rick left a note for him the same time he left one for my dad in Atlanta.

"Yeah," Rick said. "He was there."

"In Kings County?" I questioned. "Still?"

"Not in the same town, further inwards. He'd cleared out a few of the streets, had taken most of the guns, I told him which stores had a licence to carry. He'd taken them all."

"Did he let you have them?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I offered him a place here but he didn't . . . He didn't want to come here just to be in a fight. And he lost his son, he was lost."

"I'm sorry."

I knew Rick had gotten to know Morgan's son as well, so only now finding out he'd died must've been hard on him, especially after everything else.

"It's fine," Rick nodded.

"Maybe if everything works out after this, we can go back for him?"

"He doesn't wanna be around people," Rick said. "I tried."

We followed Michonne and Carl as they entered the prison. When we got inside, I watched as Carl walked off into the cell block without a word to anyone as he passed. I stopped at the table where I had been checking all the guns, putting down some of the weapons I was helping Rick carry inside.

Rick did the same, saying a quick 'hello' to the others before he asked, "Anything happen around here?"

I shook my head, but just as I was about to open my mouth and tell him that there was nothing interesting and maybe go into some of our plans for clearing the prison, there was a screech of static from one of the tables with all the electronics on.

"Rick? You there?"

The voice was unmistakably Andrea, and Rick walked across the room to grab the radio that had been turned on for her to contact us. He made that plan before she left, in case she ever wanted out. Maybe this was that time.

"I read you," Rick answered.

"I spoke with Philip," my eyes rolled so loud I'm surprised Andrea couldn't hear me from Woodbury. "He wants to talk with you, work something out."

Rick glanced back at us, before holding the radio to his mouth. "Is he there?"

"No," she said. "I thought it'd be best if I told you myself. There's some buildings between us, silos, might've been storage for a farm. I can give better directions, but that's the best place for us all to get together."

Rick didn't press the button of the radio, not answering. "I don't know."

"He's not gonna talk," Michonne scoffed.

"It's worth a try," Hershel said, and cut me off before I could even open my mouth. "I'm not saying we live there, but maybe we can make borders, no one crosses over."

"Cuts the state in half and limits where we can get supplies from," I said.

"Better than getting shot at every time we need to loot," Glenn shrugged. "I don't want to make a deal either, but we can't make it on the road right now. Maybe if we play nice until things get better for us and we find somewhere else to go."

"There is nowhere else to go," I said. "Remember? We looked all Winter and all we found was an overrun gated town, and a shit storage unit."

"You still there?" Andrea's voice came again.

"Here," Rick answered her.

"I know it's a lot to think about, but they're preparing for war over here. Anyone who is capable enough to fight is going to fight, and you don't have the numbers that they're pulling out," she said. "Take some time, talk it over, and get back to me. I'm here all night."

"Thanks, Andrea," Rick said, and put the radio down behind him.

"So, what's it gonna be, Officer Friendly?" Merle chuckled.

"We could fight them there," Glenn said.

"Y'all don't know how many people he's takin'," Merle said. "Could be a few guys, could be an army."

"He's willing to talk," Hershel said. "We can talk. Make some kind of deal so we stop trying to kill each other. This isn't going to end good for anyone, least of all us. We can at least hear him out, if he has some kind of plan."

Rick turned to look at Daryl. "You comin'?"

Daryl nodded.

Then Rick's eyes came to meet my own. "Do you think you can handle this? With your injury?"

"Shouldn't get worse with a handgun, right?" I glanced at Hershel for confirmation.

"No, but if you get into a fight it might get bad," Hershel suggested wearily.

"I'm in," I said, turning to Rick.

Rick turned to Glenn. "Can you take care of things here?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Rick," Hershel called, and he nodded. "I know I won't be the best in a fight with my leg and all, but I want to be there. There's no guarantee that things are goin' to go bad, and I think I can help work something out. And if anyone gets hurt I can help."

Rick was quiet.

I hated the idea, but Hershel had always been good at persuading people to do the right thing. Part of me doubted something like that would work on the Governor, but it wasn't my call to make, and if Hershel believed there was something he could do then I wanted to believe it as well.

Rick nodded. "Okay."

"I'm comin' too," Merle said after standing up.

"No," Rick denied immediately.

"If my brother's goin' out there I ain't gonna sit 'round here," Merle argued.

I scoffed. "Didn't have that issue today."

His eyes landed on mine, and he took a step my way, "Listen here—"

"—Enough!" Rick stopped him, standing directly in front of him and distracting him from my comment. "You're not coming. If he really does want to talk then you blowing up down there is gonna get us all killed."

Merle scoffed, shaking his head.

Rick took his place back at the table, grabbing the radio and holding it up again. He pressed the button, and asked, "Andrea?"

"Yeah?"

There was a pause as he thought about everything we'd already discussed, maybe second guessing the idea. I hated it too, so I understood the hesitation. Who knows? Maybe this would work out for us. Maybe.

"We'll do it."