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Days had passed after Isabella telling Daryl that she and her daughter would go with him when the time was ready. Things were calm at the farm, mornings were reserved for drinking coffee on the front porch with Daryl - and nights were for sitting by the fire with Rick's group. Being surrounded by the group made Isabella feel accepted, like she finally had a place where people cared. When she talked the group would listen, and when Ginger would so much as yawn everyone would swoon over the young girl. But the calm didn't last, and Isabella should have known that. The last time things felt this calm at the farm was the morning that Rick showed up with Carl in his arms. Since then, nothing was normal here in the vast fields of the Greene farm.
The morning started like no other, Daryl was waiting on the porch when Isabella came out with a cup of coffee for him. The man took it from her hands, thanking her quietly before taking a sip of the dark liquid. Slowly, the farm came to life as the sun rose over the horizon. The morning dew on the grass slowly dried with the warm sun. Fall was rolling in, and soon the grass would stay cold and wet during the short sunny days, and the sun would set earlier. Tents slowly started to open, people waking up and stepping out into the warm rays, as footsteps could be heard from in the farm house as family members woke up in search of something to eat.
It wasn't long after that Daryl stood up, leaving his empty mug on the small table like every other day. Isabella herself stood up, grabbed both the empty cups and made her way back inside to the kitchen. She cleaned the cups, putting them on the drying wrack and smiled when she heard the small unsure footsteps of her half awake daughter. "Look who decided to join the living," Isabella said with a laugh watching her daughter round the corner and into the kitchen rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The small girl climbed her way up onto the kitchen chair and held her head in her hands, letting her eyes fall closed once again.
"Hey, looks like someone should have gone to bed when she was told last night huh?" Isabella said with a smile. Ginger opened her eyes and looked up to her mom, a tiny smile shadowing her tired eyes. "You know sweetie, you can go back to bed, it's okay." Isabella said softly, rubbing her hand on her daughter's back. The young girl shook her head rubbing her eyes once more and let out a yawn. "You said that Carl is getting better mommy," Ginger said softly as Isabella placed a cup of orange juice infront of her daughter. "He said he feels like he can walk again, I was going to help!" The little girl exclaimed. This made Isabella chuckle before grabbing a pan and turning to the stove to make her daughter scrambled eggs for breakfast. The woman worked quickly, cooking the eggs and putting them on a small plate, before grabbing some fresh fruit that Maggie had found and placing them on the plate as well. Isabella placed the food in front of her daughter before sitting at the table herself.
"So you want to help Carl out today?" Isabella asked, watching as Ginger nodded her head fiercely. "Okay, but you have to remember just because he's up and walking doesn't mean he's all better. He will get tired quickly, it will take a little while longer before he can run around and play games with you, okay?" Ginger sighed and looked down to her half eaten plate. "Okay mommy." The young girl finally agreed, making Isabella nod her head in approval. "You finish up here and go get dressed, I will go get Carl ready and you can come outside with us." The mother told her daughter before standing up from the table and pushing her chair back under the table. Ginger quickly finished her meal before running up the stairs, Isabella chuckled before heading to the room where Carl was laying in bed. "Morning kiddo!" Isabella greeted with a smile, Carl smiled back in greeting before slowly sitting himself up and resting against the headboard of the bed. "Morning Isabella." Carl replied softly.
"Are you ready for today? It's a big step for you." Isabella asked as Rick and Lori both filed into the room. Carl nodded eagerly, making Isabella smile. "Good. Now we're going to take things slow today. This will take a lot of energy and I don't want you to push yourself." She said sternly, making the boy nod his head. "Your father and I will assist you over the next couple of days, and Lori you can stand behind him just in case he starts to lose balance." Which made the mother of the boy nod her head in agreement. Before the woman could say anything else, footsteps could be heard sprinting down the stairs and sliding into the bedroom where the three adults were standing. "Then you'll have Ginger here for support." Isabella added in making the group laugh as Ginger walked towards the bed Carl was sitting on. The young boy helped the girl climb up onto the bed to sit with him as she beamed up at him. "Are you ready?" The little girl asked excitedly, making Carl laugh and nod his head. "Then let's go!"
Isabella and Rick walked up to Carl, allowing the boy to push himself off the bed and stand on his own two feet for the first time in a while. His legs wobbled a bit as Rick and Isabella both grabbed one of his arms for support. "Feel free to lean on us if you need to, this will be a bit tricky for you right now." Isabella told the boy making him nod his head. The group slowly made their way to the front door, Ginger pushing open the screen door for everyone to walk out of. For the first time in a long time, Carl got to feel the sun on his skin making the boy smile wide.
"Come on, let's get you over to the firepit to sit with everyone." Isabella encouraged making Carl nod his head. Everyone outside stopped the work and chorus that they were doing to cheer Carl on, even the people from the Green family were speaking words of encouragement towards the young Grimes boy.
Finally making it to the firepit, Carl eased himself into a camping chair and instantly was thrown into conversation with the people from his group. Isabella smiled at the scene in front of her, before asking Glenn to keep an eye on Ginger as she went to go take care of something. The man quickly agreed, scoping the young girl into his arms and tickling her sides making the girl laugh loudly.
Isabella smiled once more before walking away from the large group and towards a small tent away from everyone else. Peeking her head in, the woman noticed it was empty. Stepping back she looked around before her eyes landed on a man sitting under a large tree in an empty field. Sighing to herself, Isabella made her way through the field, Daryl only noticing her when the woman stepped on a dried out leaf that had fallen from the long tree he was sitting under. "It's not exactly safe out here alone is it?" Isabella asked, the question making Daryl chuckle and shake his head. "Do you understand that I've lived this life before it even started?" He shot back, making Isabella roll her eyes and sit down beside the man, her back resting against the tree.
"See the kids outside now." Daryl stated, pointing the arrow he was carving towards the group sitting around the unlit fireplace. "You could always say hi if you weren't so far away from the group." Isabella teased, leaning over and bumping their shoulders together. Daryl shook his head before looking down to his half carved arrow.
"Promised I'd protect you and your little girl Bella, never said nothin' about the others."
