Just Keep Walking

Ninety one

Later that day, after eating a small lunch of raw carrots, the whole group went to speak to Gregory about fighting
the Saviours, Mary leaning against Rosita's chest as Rick and Gregory spoke. Rick and Michonne were going most of the talking, and even though Mary wanted to be solely with them, she was happy to spend a little time with Rosita - she was beginning to love the woman. She loved how, like Daryl, Rosita was harsh and cold with everyone, and sometimes even pretended that she didn't care about Mary, but Mary knew; Mary knew that Rosita secretly loved her.
"No!" Gregory shouted suddenly, "No way in hell! That was not the deal. You people swore you could take the Saviours out, and you failed, so any arrangement we had is now done, null and void, alright? We aren't trade partners, we aren't friends, and we never met. We don't know each other."
"Lair. He does know us." Mary mumbled.
"Shush," Rosita snapped softly, making Mary roll her eyes, "or you can stand outside."
Mary sighed, and watched as Gregory sat down, and looked into Rick's eyes. "I owe you nothing. In fact, you owe me for taking in the refugees at great personal risk!" Gregory argued, making Maggie scoff.
"Oh, you were very brave staying in here while Maggie and Sasha saved this place. Your courage was inspiring." Jesus smiled sarcastically.
"Hey," Gregory snapped to Jesus, "don't you work for me? Aren't we friends?"
"Gregory, we already started this." Rick sighed, walking up to Gregory.
"You started it!"
"We did! Are we're gonna win!"
"These are killers!"
"Is that how you want to live? Under their thumb, killing your people?"
"Sometimes we don't get to choose what our life looks like, sometimes, Ricky, you have to count the blessings you have."
"He's called Rick, not Ricky, you twat!" Mary spat.
"Shut your kid up, girl." Gregory sighed to Rosita.
"She's not mine. And you don't get to talk to her like that." Rosita hissed.
"She's mine. Don't ever tell her to shut up again." Rick growled, almost simultaneously to Rosita. Gregory sighed, and Mary slowed raised her middle finger at him, poking her tongue out. Sasha and Daryl began to laugh, as did Carl and Jesus when they saw; even Rick smirked.
"Mary." Michonne whispered with a raised eyebrow, and Mary giggled, and lowered her middle finger.
"How many people can we spare? How many people here can fight?" Maggie asked, changing the subject away from Mary.
"We?" Gregory scoffed, "I don't even know how many people we have, Margaret, and does it even matter? I mean w-w-what are you gonna do? Start a platoon of sorghum farmers? 'Cause that's what we got. They grow things. They're not gonna want to fight."
"It's Maggie." Mary mumbled, but went quiet when she saw one of Rosita's eyebrows perfectly arched.
"You're wrong," Tara argued, "when people have the chance to do the right thing, they usually step up. I mean people just..."
"L-let me stop you before you break into song, okay? And by the way who would train all this cannon fodder?"
"I will." Sasha pointed out.
"Give me a week." Rosita ordered, at the same time.
"Rhetorical!" Gregory sang, making Mary roll her eyes, "Okay!? I don't want to know! I never want to hear another word about any of it, ever!"
"Would we be better off without the Saviours, yes or no!?" Rick shouted in annoyance.
"Yeah. Sure. Okay." Gregory mumbled reluctantly.
"So what will you do to fix the problem?" Michonne challenged, walking forwards.
"I didn't say we had a problem. You did. And what happens outside my purview, is outside of my purview."
"You're a selfish bastard!" Mary snapped passionately, and Gregory went red.
"Mary Grimes! One more swear word out of that mouth..." Rick warned in a whisper, and Mary immediately went quiet, knowing not to push her luck.
"What the hell, man," Daryl sighed, breaking the silence, "you're either with us or you ain't. You're sitting over there talking out of both sides of your mouth."
"Well, I-I think I've made my position very clear. And I want to thank all of you for not being here today, and not having this meeting with me, or, or being seen on your way out. In other words, go out the back. And Ricky? Thought I'd give this to Margaret, a little housewarming gift. I think you need it a little more." Gregory snapped, tossing Rick a book.
Rick looked at the cover, Michonne reading the cover. Parenting difficult children for dummies, from birth to eleven. Michonne saw the anger in Rick's eyes as he read the title, and she put a hand on his forearm as she sensed that he was about to throw the book at Gregory's head.
"What is it?" Carl asked, stepping forwards, then he read the title. "You fucking bastard!" He growled, launching himself at Gregory, but Daryl grabbed the back of his shirt.
"Not worth it. He's not worth it, kid. Don't prove him right." Daryl whispered into the teen's ear, his grip tight on the boy.
Carl sighed, then shook him off, and walked out, everyone else following. Michonne took the book from Rick's hands, and placed it onto Gregory's desk.
"Thank you for the gift, but we don't need it. He is doing an excellent job raising his children, and not only are they alive, but they're thriving and good kids. We don't need you opinion. We don't need your approval. His kids are twice the person you are, and they're kids."
With that, Michonne and Rick left, and once they were out of the room, Rick turned to his partner.
"Our." He said simply.
"What?"
"Our children." Rick said simply, kissing her cheek, then he turned to Mary, who was stood by Rosita, holding her hand.
"Walking ballsack." Rosita mumbled to Gregory.
"Wanna knock that idiot's teeth out." Sasha added.
"Yeah, well, we don't need him anyway." Daryl shrugged.
"Yeah, that's right, 'cause we have Maggie and Sasha and Jesus here." Rick nodded, interrupted by Enid walking inside. Mary gave her a tiny smile and wave, and the girl returned it.
"And Enid." Maggie added softly.
"Hey um..." Enid began slowly.
"What's wrong?" Sasha asked, and Enid gave her a small smile.
"Nothing. Just, erm, come outside." Enid smiled, and Maggie stride out of the doors, everyone following. Mary went to Michonne's side, and cling to her hand.
"You okay?" Michonne asked softly.
"Yeah. Why did daddy get mad at the present?"
"It was a nasty present." Michonne explained, stepping outside to see people stood waiting for them.
"What's going on?" Maggie asked everyone, and a woman stepped forwards.
"Hey. So, if you don't remember, I'm Bertie. And I owe my life to you all, twice over. A bunch of us do. Enid says that you want Gregory to get us to fight the Saviours with you. Is that true?"
"Yes." Maggie nodded.
"Bertie, daddy." Mary grinned, and Rick smiled back at her, overjoyed to her her full, massive, cheesy, five year old smile.
"Do you think we can win? That we could really beat them? Us?" Bertie asked nervously.
"I do." Maggie nodded firmly.
"Well, Enid says you could show us the way. I'm ready." Bertie smiled softly, followed by a series of agreements form the group. Michonne and Rick looked over at each other with a smile, their hands intertwining, Mary clinging to Michonne's other hand.
"Okay. Well start soon." Maggie nodded.
"We, erm, we should probably get going." Tara pointed out to Rick, and he nodded.
"Yeah. Yeah, let's get goin'." He nodded again.
"Home?" Mary asked quietly, and Michonne nodded, squeezing her hand.
"Let's move out!" Rick called, and everyone began to say their goodbyes to Maggie and Enid.
"Bye bye." Mary whispered to Maggie, kissing her cheek.
"Bye bye, my angel. You got... Got Glenny's gun?" Maggie asked through a few tears.
"Yeah. I'll keep it safe. That and his jacket. Don't worry." Mary nodded.
"Good. I'll see you soon," Maggie smiled gently, kissing Mary's forehead, "now off you go."
"Bye bye." Mary repeated, pulling herself away from Maggie, and going to Enid.
"Hey, kid." Enid smiled softly, kneeling down to Mary's eye level.
"Hi." Mary whispered.
"You okay? You're gonna be good for Carl?"
"Yeah. Carl loves you. Almost as much as me. He misses you." Mary explained quietly.
Enid laughed awkwardly, and made eye contact with Carl, who smiled shyly at her. She smiled back, then began to laugh again. "Okay. Well, when you get home, tell Carl I miss him too. And tell him I... I like him a lot too. But not until you're home, okay?"
"Okay." Mary giggled, then she let out a massive grin, Rick looking at her with so much love in his eyes, and whispered into Enid's ear, "Are you and Carl in love like daddy and Mishy? Do you kiss? And super in love?" She laughed childishly.
Enid laughed, going red. "Maybe one day we will be in love that much." She answered.
"Do you kiss though? 'Cos that's gross!" Mary giggled again.
"Mary." Enid laughed with rolled eyes.
"What's she asking?" Rick chuckled, coming over and ruffling Mary's hair.
"Nothing." Enid shrugged off.
"Tell me! I need to know, because I'm his sister!" Mary whined.
"Know what?" Michonne asked, wondering to her side.
"Enid! Please, or I'll not like you. And then you and Carl can't ever be in love because I'm the boss." Mary begged, and they all laughed.
"Fine. Yes. Now quiet. I'll see you later." Enid sighed with a laugh, and Mary giggled, hugging Enid, then leaving.
"Weird child. Okay, see you soon." Rick smiled to Enid, squeezing her shoulder and leaving.
They walked to the gate, Mary holding Jesus' hand in silence.
"It's a start." Michonne commented. "We'll get more." Sasha nodded.
"It still won't be enough."
"No, it won't." Rosita admitted.
"Well, we find the right stuff, then maybe we don't need the numbers. Blow 'em up, burn 'em to the ground." Daryl suggested.
"You said there weren't just soldiers with the Saviours, that there were workers there. People didn't have a choice."
"We gotta win." Daryl shrugged.
"We're not blowing them up," Mary argued suddenly, "because there's nice people. There's a man who looked after me called Al. I love him. He looked after me really well, and Negan told me I couldn't see him anymore because I loved him so much. And there's a nice cook called Esther. She name me cookies. So we're not killing them all."
"No," Michonne nodded, "we're not. Don't worry."
Rick nodded in agreement. "No, we're not. We need more hands, another group. Negan has outposts. The geography, the distance, works against us. We gotta get back. If they come looking for Daryl, we need to be there."
"You don't have to get back. Not yet," Jesus explained, holding up a walkie talkie, "it's one of theirs. Long range. We can listen in, keep track of them."
"So if we're not going back, what are we doing then?" Michonne questioned, picking Mary up as she held up her arms, pouting. Mary nestled into her chest, winding a dreadlock around her fist, and clung into her bunny with one hand.
"I think it's time we introduced you to Ezekiel. King Ezekiel." Jesus nodded slowly, and Mary sat bolt-upright in Michonne's arms, her eyes wide with excitement.
"King?" Rick scoffed.
"King!" Mary exclaimed in excitement, and Carl sighed. Jesus had started something that Mary would be obsessed with, her again. Then he smiled. Mary's eyes finally looked alive again.