[Rough Draft] Keres : The Walking Dead

Baby

"Morning sleepy head." I say and she lifts her head up off my chest.

"I'm still sleepy." She mumbles and I chuckle.

"I know pumpkin." I say and kiss her forehead.

"But I gotta go to my meeting." I say.

I stopped taking her to my meetings when the guys couldn't keep their eyes off her. I can't completely blame them, but still, you need to know when something isn't yours to look at.

She didn't go back to her usual tough self after her meltdown in the shower a few days ago. She clung to me, followed me around like a lost kitten, hanging onto my arm, scared of everything and everyone. Random noises would make her freeze in her tracks and she would get a terrified look in her eyes.

She doesn't talk much anymore, especially when there's other people around. She's become extremely shy as well. She's become polar opposite of who she was. I talked to the shrink about it and he said it could be a coping mechanism of the trauma she endured. That her brain is finally processing all the trauma and reacting as if she's still going through it.

"But I don't want you to leave." She pouts as she sits on the bed on her knees and she knows what that does to me.

"You know I have my job I have to do, I'll be back soon." I promise her and pry her hands off of my body and walk out the door.

I start heading towards my meeting room but stop when I hear gunfire go off from outside. I look and see one of my guys who was unloading a truck is dead. I get outside and see Carl there with a large gun, pointing it at my men.

————

I bring Carl into my room and Keres eyes immediately go wide when she sees him. She looks like she's about to try and run but I go over to her and calm her down.

"Easy, this is Carl. You remember Carl, right?" I ask and she looks from me over to Carl and shakes her head.

"What did you do to her?" Carl growls as he starts to storm over but I point my bat at him in warning to stay back.

"Nothing. She's struggling with some memory loss at the moment." I say deadpan.

"You're safe, alright? You know I wouldn't let anyone hurt you, right?" I ask Keres who's frantically glancing between Carl and I.

"Hey, have I ever let anyone hurt you?" I ask, knowing she only remembers the past few days.

She shakes her head and I give her a small smile. I hold her hands in my face as her eyes look into mine, pleading with me.

"I just need to talk with the young kid for a bit, how about you go take a nice long shower and start the day off right?" I offer and she glances over at Carl again.

"He's not gonna do anything, and if he tries, our girl Lucille will take care of him." I assure her and she hops off the bed with my help and scurries to the bathroom and shuts the door in a flash.

I hear the shower turn on as I sit down on my leather couch. I lean Lucille up next to me and I can see Carl's mind spinning, trying to come up with some plan.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I warn in a low voice and his eye darts up to mine.

"Now, Keres suffered from some kind of mental breakdown, at least that's what my shrink says. Something about not processing past trauma or whatnot. It came as a shock to me too, but she's in a fragile state right now and the last thing she needs is for you to start confusing her." I start explaining.