Future Ghosts • TWD

76. Understand.

Rosie hated being out of the loop. All she knew was that Michonne was keeping Rick in some house, and she wasn't allowed to go in there and see him. She wanted to know whether or not he was going to be kicked out, but apparently she wasn't allowed to know. That was another stupid thing about this place. They didn't let the kids know anything or do anything, even if they were very much capable of it. Rosie wished Daryl was there, because he'd probably tell her what was going on.

Her second best chance of figuring out what was happening relied on Maggie. The problem was, Rosie didn't have any idea where Maggie was. Everyone seemed to be all over the place, with all of the chaos. So, Rosie decided she'd just go back to the house and wait for someone to show up there. Much to her luck, Glenn, Carol, and Abraham were there- although, it looked like they were about to leave.

"Glenn!" Rosie said, getting his attention.

"Hey, you ok?" Glenn asked, slowing down into a stop. Rosie was right, the three of them were heading out the door.

"Where's Maggie?" Rosie asked him, bouncing on her toes impatiently. Not knowing everything that was going on made her feel anxious. What if they had to leave and Daryl didn't know? Would he be able to find them after?

"She's talking to Deanna. Why?" Glenn replied.

"I wanna know what's goin' on!" Rosie complained.

"We're going to see Rick right now. I'll let you know what's going on when we get back. For now just," he paused and looked back at the house for a moment before turning back to Rosie. "Just stay here with Carl, Ian, and Judith. We'll figure it out." With that, Glenn, Carol, and Abraham were on their way to wherever they were keeping Rick. Rosie groaned and tossed her head back in complaint, but did as she was told, anyway.

When she stepped inside the house, she could see Carl sitting on the couch next to Ian, with Judith in his arms. Judith was crying, crying, crying, and Carl looked exhausted. Rosie walked over to the couch and plopped down on the other side of Carl. "Are you ok?" she asked, her eyebrows raised. Carl was probably stressed out, considering it was his dad who was holding the gun. Carl only shrugged. "Want me to... help with Judith?" Rosie tried.

"Yeah. Thanks," Carl said, letting Judith crawl onto Rosie's lap.

Once Judith was on Rosie's lap, Carl got up and went into the kitchen. Judith kept on crying, and Rosie didn't know how to make her stop. "It's ok, Judith. Rick'll be back soon," Rosie decided on saying. She wasn't sure if Judith understood her or not, and she didn't know if her statement was true, but it was worth a shot. Unfortunately, Judith just kept on crying. Rosie continued on trying to say things that would make her calm down, but it wasn't working. "Come on, Judith," she said, trying to keep herself calm. Then, an idea popped into her head. She adjusted Judith on her lap, so that she could reach into her pocket. She pulled out her velociraptor toy and put it in Judith's hands. After a moment of holding the velociraptor, Judith's crying started to slow to a stop.

"I think it worked," Ian said, smiling a little.

"Yeah," Rosie agreed, smiling a little, too. Maybe everything was chaotic, but at least she could calm down a baby. At least that was something she was somewhat good at inside of these walls.

•

"Is that Rick?" Ian suddenly asked, taking both Rosie's and Carl's attention away from their game of Go Fish and to the front door immediately. Sure enough, Rick was coming up the front steps. His face was covered in bruises and band-aids, and his right hand was wrapped up in a bandage. Carl immediately got up to greet him the second he got through the door.

"You ok?" Carl asked, pulling away from his father's tight embrace.

"Yeah," Rick replied. Rosie wasn't sure if he was really telling the truth, because he looked like he was in a lot of pain. Along with all of the bruises and bandages, he also had a hardened expression on his face. That couldn't be good. "Look, I'm sorry," Rick sighed out, coming further into the house. He ruffled both Rosie's and Ian's hair as he passed them, as if this was just a normal day and he wasn't about to be kicked out of this place.