The sound of a pencil scratching and scraping across paper filled the otherwise silent bedroom. Mollie was sitting at her desk, her hand moving deftly across the page. She'd been sitting there writing for hours, copying most of the same few recipes down over and over again. The Kingdom and the Sanctuary were both having problems with their crops at the moment. Since she couldn't in two places at once, and was set to start her two month-long break in only a day, there wasn't much she could do besides copy down easy to replicate mixtures that she could only guess might help.
She had filled the page, now sitting back to massage her aching hand and check over what she'd written-not hearing Maggie's knock on the door. She heard the door squeak open though, and turned to see Maggie stepping inside.
"Hey Mags." Mollie smiled, leaning back in her chair a little. "What's up?"
"Just came to check in." Maggie breathed out, sitting down on the end of Mollie's bed. "I know this isn't how you wanted to spend your last day here."
"It's not, but it's just what I gotta do." Mollie shrugged. "If I didn't fuck this one up then I just wrote my last page, anyway. Only took a few hours." They both let out small laughs. "Where's Hershel?"
"Sleeping." Maggie had a small smile on her face as she sat back for a second. "C'mere." She patted the bed next to her. Mollie set down her paper and stood up, the bed creaking loudly as she sat down next to Maggie. "I know you ain't gonna be gone forever, but not seeing for two months is gonna be hard."
"I can still come back and visit." Mollie said quickly. "As long as you promise not to put me to work when I get here." Maggie laughed.
"That's an easy promise to make." Maggie nodded. "I just wanted to thank you, really. Everything you've done here...everything you've done for me. I couldn't have asked to have anyone better here with me, Mollie. I know I can never thank you enough, but I found something in my things that I...I think you should have." Maggie reached into her back pocket, pulling something out but keeping it closed in her hand. "This was my sister Beth's necklace. Our brother Shawn bought it for her for her tenth birthday, and she wore it till the day she died."
Maggie then opened her hand, revealing a simple but pretty silver necklace. Two silver hearts, one smaller and inside the larger one, hanging from a simple silver chain. It had obviously recently been cleaned, the gems in the smaller heart sparkling in the sunlight coming through the windows.
"I know you and Bethy would've been the best of friends. I know she'd be mad at me for keepin' this thing shut inside bags and drawers for years. And I know that she'd want you to have it." Maggie held out her hand.
"Maggie, I...are you sure?" Mollie gingerly took the necklace from Maggie's hand, letting the cool metal rest in her own.
"Of course." Maggie nodded. "No one else alive who'd I rather give it to." Mollie could feel tears welling in her eyes as she looked down at it. "Here, let me." Maggie took the necklace back, unclasping it before gently hanging it around Mollie's neck. As soon as it was clasped Maggie dropped it, the hearts falling into place on Mollie's skin. She looked down at it for another second before back up at Maggie, wrapping her in a tight hug. Maggie was quick to reciprocate, pressing a kiss to the side of Mollie's head.
"Thanks Maggie." Mollie said as they pulled away. "Really I...it means a lot."
"I know it does." Maggie smiled, her hand coming to rest on the side of Mollie's face. Her thumb moved lightly against Mollie's cheek. "I know." With that Maggie stood up, walking over to the balcony doors and pulling them open. "You need to get some fresh air." She turned back towards Mollie. "C'mon. Let's take a walk before dinner."
———
Mollie hadn't been in truly alone in who knows how long, so the few hours she had in the car on the drive from Hilltop to Alexandria was welcome. Having recently come into a new collection of cassette tapes-courtesy of Jesus-she'd cycled through a few random ones until she'd discovered David Bowie's Hunky Dory. The 1971 album was one of her favorites, and she knew the track list by heart-allowing her to skip straight to her favorite song. So, as her car rolled to a stop in front of the new, smaller Alexandria front gate, the sounds of Life On Mars flowed through the open windows.
She hummed along, driving the car into Alexandria, and along to her apartment. She left her car idling in the alleyway as she climbed out, quickly pulling open her garage door before jumping back in the car and pulling in. After getting out, she began to pull her bags from the backseat, knowing she'd probably have to take a few trips. It'd been nearly seven months since she'd actually been to Alexandria-as Rick and Michonne seemed to be running things just fine themselves. In fact, Alexandria rarely asked for outside help anymore. Enough houses were spared for everyone to still have places to live, meaning there was minimal construction done after the war.
The most reconstruction needed was at the Kingdom, but even that only took a few months. Of course, the Sanctuary had remained pretty much untouched, and Mollie had only been called there once. She'd spent the majority of her time at the Hilltop, mostly just hanging out with Maggie as she neared the end of her pregnancy, and then recovered after Hershel was born. Of course, she was also helping improve the gardens, build some new houses on the outside of Hilltop's walls, and doing whatever else Maggie needed her to do.
"Mollie!" Mollie pulled herself out of her car, seeing Michonne standing in the alley with Judith in her arms. Mollie couldn't believe how big Judith had gotten. "Welcome back."
"Glad to be back." Mollie smiled, dropping two bags on the ground before ducking back into her car and grabbing the third. "Hey Judy." Judith waved shyly before ducking her head into Michonne's shoulder.
"Rick's meeting with Daryl right now up at the house, otherwise he would've come too." Michonne said, stepping into the garage and out of the hot sun.
"Daryl's here?" Mollie asked, managing to pick up all three of her bags. Michonne sighed, holding her empty arm out. Mollie raised an eyebrow and Michonne shook her arm lightly, so Mollie unloaded the lightest bag onto Michonne. "Thanks."
"Yeah, no problem." Michonne nodded. "He got here a few hours ago, it was a surprise to us both."
"Yeah, I haven't seen him around in a while." Mollie nodded, beginning to lead the way into her place. "Maggie said he stopped by a few weeks ago but I was at the Kingdom at the time. How've things been going around here?"
"Good as they can be, you know?" Michonne said. "Everyone's just been hard at work. Whatever you did to that soil has really done some wonders, our latest harvest was the biggest yet."
"I told you, plants are my specialty." Mollie shot a smile back as they reached her front door. She pushed it open, dropping her bags next to the counter island and moving so Michonne could do the same.
"Now, as much as I would love to stay and chat, you have somewhere to be." Michonne said as Mollie leaned against the island.
"I do?"
"You do." Michonne reached into her back pocket, pulling out a piece of paper and setting it down in front of her. "You should come over for dinner tonight. I'm making chili."
"Ooh, count me in." Mollie nodded, sliding the paper closer to her. "I'll be there for sure."
"Good." Michonne nodded. "Alright, you have fun." After shooting her a knowing smile, Michonne left, shutting the door softly behind her. Mollie sighed, picking up the paper. Written in black ink, in a handwriting she was all to familiar with now, was her name. She flipped the paper open, met with more scrawling black ink.
meet me at the gazebo - C
YOU ARE READING
THE ROMANTICIST | C. GRIMES
Fanfictionmollie mccloud had only ever seen the human world through a tv, until said world crumbled and she set out into it. after finding and joining a human settlement called the kingdom, mollie has plenty of learning to do. along the way she makes friends...
