Unexpected - FutagoNoAkumaShimai - The Walking Dead (TV) [Archive of Our Own] (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

When askedwhy Esme had decided to move across the Atlantic only to settle in the sleepy town of LaGrange, Georgia in the United States... she would simply answer that she had needed a change of scenery.

After the two of them had crashed from a sugar high one Christmas, her boss -turned friend, turned more than friend, turned family- had once asked why Esme hadn't simply moved somewhere else in Europe--or at least to another Spanish-speaking nation like in South America or one of the islands (the woman was obsessed with visiting the Caribbean one day and had half-heartedly lamented at Esme's missed chance more than once over the years). Esme had been quiet at first before responding to the hippie-children-loving woman, that she was running away from anything that vaguely resembled her childhood. Her boss and friend, Daisy Hearth, never brought it up again.

Esmerelda Cavallero had arrived to the United States with one piece of luggage carrying all of her worldly possessions and $700 in cash that she'd fought for viciously in her wallet. She had lucked out when she'd been seated next to Daisy and her equally hippie-husband Mitch on her flight from Barcelona, Spain to Atlanta, Georgia.

Despite Esme's initial struggle in translating Daisy's accented English -that she later learned from exposure was a soft country drawl- into her own native language and then responding back to Daisy's inane babbling... they had quickly bonded over the flight. Esme had been nineteen then and her unintentional glassy doe eyes and childish face had apparently awoken Daisy's maternal instincts, which were only further fueled by Esme's badly concealed bruises and severe dislike for body contact. Daisy had promptly 'adopted' her, much to Esme's bafflement and Mitch's amusem*nt, halfway through the flight. By the time that they had arrived in Atlanta, the woman had convinced Esme to follow her and Mitch back to their hometown in LaGrange and work at the woman's daycare.

It was only after a year or so had passed that Mitch had confided in her on that lazy Christmas morning that Esme looked eerily like Daisy's deceased little sister. Violet had been killed by her abusive boyfriend two years before she had met the hippie couple, and Daisy had never forgiven herself for not saving her baby sister. It was needless to say that Esme had finally understood why Daisy was extremely nosy and clingy with her even when they'd first met.

-The fact that Esme had finally let go of the last barriers between her and Daisy, accepting the redhead and her husband completely into her life, was completely unrelated Mitch! Shut Up!-

She lived happily for probably the first time in her life in the small sound-proofed studio apartment above the hippie-esque daycare for five years.

Her days were spent working in the infant room, where she would care for and practically raise tiny pink and wrinkly babies into toddlerhood, tending to the various gardens that the daycare had in their fenced backyard -again Daisy and Mitch were hippies, and noshe wasn't converting no matter how many interventions the couple threw her, and practically all of the parents that dropped their kids off were hippies to an extent as well and expected for their little bundles to eat fresh veggies and fruits daily- and canning the excess fruits and veggies for the winter, cleaning up after the kids and using her free days to laze around with her two-year-old orange tabby-cat Bailey.

She had become a certified and vetted wetnurse two years into working at the daycare after one of her baby's -because in the end, the kids she cared for wereher babies in a way- mama's died in a car accident when the little thing was only a month old. Donny had been devastated by the death of his wife and had wanted tiny little Oliver to continue to be breastfed as his wife had wanted... so Esme had volunteered when it looked like no other breastfeeding mama would step up. It hadn't been too difficult to induce lactation despite never having been pregnant, it had only taken two weeks in order for her milk to come in and since then it was an added service she could provide for the babies under her care if the parents wanted it. Needless to say, Esme became almost famous in their small town for her service and was well-known to families with young children.

She hadn't always been very comfortable with breastfeeding or even having it offered as a part of her normal services in the daycare, but Esme grew to enjoy the closeness that came with the act. It became a way that she bonded with the babies in her unit, even after they left her room or even 'graduated' from the daycare.

Esme was still invited to Oliver's birthday every year, and the little boy -now in kindergarten- would visit her often with his dad when the man wasn't too busy. Donny also tended to send her funny or sweet videos of Oliver every other night and even invited her over for family barbeques.

In a strange way, it had helped Esme heal. She had never felt comfortable in her own skin. Childhood traumas and the heavy hand of her father saw to that. But the ability to feed a tiny little person, who would stare up at her with complete trust and love in their big mesmerizing eyes... It was magical and probably the most beautiful thing she had the ability to do.

Besides, it was like the children in the daycarewere her babies. She'd never had a stable family life and didn't think that she would ever be able to trust a man in order to have a family of her own -like she not-so-secretly craved-so that void in her life was fulfilled by working at the daycare. Esme had become thewetnurse, a caregiver, a friend, someone to be completely trusted with children.Someone that belonged.She had grown to love her simple life in LaGrange Georgia.

Naturally, everything fell apart.

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

Esme didn't have time to watch television, she got her news from her coworkers and from Daisy--who would admonish her lack of know-how with pointed looks, teasing comments and exasperation. Even then, Esme wasaware of the weird virus that was on the news now more often than not.

However, it didn't stop the world from turning or prevent people from going about their daily business like going to work. This week Esme was in charge of opening up the daycare since Daisy and Mitch were finally off on their babymoon in Hawaii. Esme stretched languidly in her bed before settling into her familiar morning routine--she showered and dressed quickly in five minutes, downed a mango-flavored yogurt, and fed Bailey in the same breath before going downstairs to open up the daycare.

By the time it was 6:45 she had all the lights turned on and was ready to receive the early arrivals of the day. Not three minutes went by before the doorbell rang. Esme checked the camera before buzzing in Heather and making her way into the cubby/waiting room to greet the frazzled-looking nurse.

"Hey, good mornin' Esme." the woman greeted tiredly as she started to unhook Thomas from the car seat. The three-month-old baby was already whining in displeasure as he blinked slowly and kicked his tiny legs. Esme smiled softly at the babe.

"Morning." she greeted in return before asking curiously, "You have an early shift today?"

Heather sighed as she handed the frazzled baby over, "Yeah, they call'd me unexpectedly. Somthin' about bein' short-staffed. Them pricks jus' don't want ta give me my day off."

She winced in sympathy as she began rocking Thomas, "Sorry, that's unfortunate. Did Tommy eat yet?"

"Lil' booger woke up at four this mornin,' he'll probably be hungry 'gain soon." Heather responded without looking at her as she put Thomas' things away in his assigned cubby. The door rang again and Esme cradled Thomas with one arm before opening the door with the other.

Grace was the other nurse mom from her unit and a single parent, her baby girl Bora was a month younger than Thomas. The Korean woman shot her an exhausted smile and greeted her as she walked in. Esme smiled at the woman before going to the back where the infant room was to put Thomas in a bouncer chair and free up her hands. She could hear Grace and Heather bitching about the hospital being short-staffed, something about a conspiracy and lazy doctors who didn't want to deal with panicking patients claiming to be coming down with the new virus. Thomas smiled up cutely at her from the bouncer as Esme turned around to get the now crying Bora from her panicking mom.

"Bye!" Heather called over her shoulder as she walked out.

The minute Bora was in Esme's arms the cries stopped, making Grace smile at her awkwardly, "If I wasn't a hundred percent positive that I gave birth to Bora, I'd swear that you were her mama!"

Esme snorted, "Well that and she's Asian."

Grace burst out into amused giggles as she put Bora's baby bag in the cubby.

The rest of the morning followed in the same chaotically-peaceful manner. Jenny and Carla, two of her coworkers that worked in the two and three-year-old classrooms, arrived half an hour after Thomas and Bora were dropped off. But less than half of their regular kids were dropped off, making Jenny laugh and proclaim that the more overprotective parents probably didn't want their little ones to get sick. The only other infant that was dropped off was eight-day-old Primrose and her proud big sister Lilac, since their mama had to go back to pulling shifts at the diner. -The poor woman had to pay hospital bills and her boyfriend was off on another bender and was being his regular useless self.-

It was midday when things really started to get weird.

Suddenly parents came flooding in to pick up their kids early. Something that really never happened, even when the world was storming outside. That was when they were informed of the events happening outside. Apparently, in the wee hours of the morning, the virus that had been going around on the West Coast was now in Georgia and the local news stations were now officially calling it an epidemic.

Families were being advised to avoid the infected by staying inside or if they could to make their way to newly designated safe zones. The virus was being described as an advanced form of some sort of incurable rabies- making a bite or scratch fatal. Infected family members were to be restrained and left behind. One parent had come in sobbing, blood splattered on their face and clothes mumbling that they 'had to do it' and that they had 'no other choice' before imparting a small bit of wisdom onto their now panicking asses. The infected were cannibalistic and could only be put down with a well-aimed blow to the head.

"What are we gonna do?" Carla asked panicked, twisting her fingers nervously.

Jenny had left with her frantic boyfriend over ten minutes ago and they still had seven kids left in their care. Esme bit her lip nervously as she bounced Thomas in her arms. Carla had two kids of her own, one of whom was a teenager and had already called the woman from their home saying that she had her brother and that they were scared.

"Go home Carla." Esme ordered, "I'll wait for the last of the kids to be picked up. Your kids need you."

The woman smiled at her gratefully before running out of the building. Within the next fifteen minutes, three more of the toddlers were picked up leaving Esme with her three infant charges and Lilac.

Esme had grown up in an abusive environment, during that time she'd honed her instincts and learned to follow her gut. She wouldn't have made it to adulthood if she hadn't.

She turned on an episode of Baby Einstein on the TV and made sure the babies were all secure before running to the basem*nt to gather the boards they used to cover the windows when there was a storm and brought them up. Esme quickly began to board up the windows that were the closest to the ground. She would leave the ones higher up alone for now.

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

Banging on the front door followed by frantic rings of the doorbell nearly made her jump out of her skin as she dropped the hammer and nails on top of the cubby. Esme ran to the door and looked out of the peephole. It was Heather.

Thank god.

She quickly unlatched all of the locks on the door before letting the nurse in. Heather was sobbing quietly as Esme dragged her inside before locking the door once more. The blonde nurse had blood on her scrubs and was kneeling down on the floor in despair as she applied pressure to her swollen ankle.

"Heather,dios, what happened?" Esme whispered in horror as she kneeled down beside her, "Are you hurt?"

Heather rubbed tears from her eyes, "No." she moaned before whimpering, "sh*t, I'm dead, sholdn' even have come. Got bit."

Horror bloomed in the pit of her stomach.

"Damn things ate Grace righ' in fron' of me. I couldn' do nothin' about it." she sobbed, "She- She... they ate her alive!"

Bora was an orphan. She had no one else. No one in this state. No one that Esme knew how to reach out to. Grace had Bora on her own.

Esme's eyes burned, her throat on fire, "Dios.Wha-What about, you said you got bit?"

Another sob escaped from the woman's throat. "Can' do nothin' about it. I'm dead. I jus'... Thomas. I need ta see my baby."

She nodded numbly, "I'll get him... What about Jeremy, is he coming here?"

Heather shook her head in despair, "First responders fell firs'. My husband's gone."

Thomas was mesmerized by the colors on the screen, tears fell down her cheeks as she scrubbed the little bit of blood that had gotten on her hands and arms off before plucking up the babe from the bouncer and bringing the child to his mother. Heather was in the same position she'd left her, though she rubbed the remaining tears away from her face before letting a small awed smile grace her features as she took in her son.

"Hey baby boy!" she whispered lovingly as Thomas cooed back in response, raising her hands to grab him before putting her arms down when she noted the drying blood on her skin, "How's mama's lil' an-angel." The babe wiggled his legs joyfully, drool streaming from lips as he cooed. "Lord, mommy loves ya so much, so-so much." Thomas squealed, "Yeah. Mama l-loves you. G-God." the woman cried.

She swallowed her own sob, "Heather, what do we do?"

The older woman swallowed as she rubbed the mess collecting on her face, "Esme," Heather breathed out shakily as she locked onto her form, "I need ya ta kill me."

"What?" she choked out horrified.

"I don' wanna be one of thosethings." she spat the word out with fear and hatred, "You listen ta me carefully Esme. It's gotta be the head."

"Heather-"

"Hear me!" Heather sounded hysterical as she slammed her hands onto the floor, "The only way ya can put me out of my misery is if you kill the brain."

"I-I,no puedo, I can't." Esme stammered, Thomas started to cry.

"Yes you can!" Heather hissed before softening as Esme desperately started to bounce the baby, "Yesyoucan. Esme please, I need you to take care of Thomas for me. I can't so I need you to. Please. Please." she begged her voice become hoarser as another sob was ripped out of her chest.

Esme was a caregiver. She could take care of Thomas.

She shut her eyes in disbelief not wanting to look at the desperate woman- mother pleading for Esme to do the impossible, "Alright."

Heather sighed, sagging against the floor in her relief, "Listen to me Esme, we found out too late... it don' gotta be a bite. One of the police got trigger happy an' shot someone that wasn' bitten an-and they-it jus' got right back up again." the nurse whispered in horror, seeing things that weren't there as she murmured with chilling finality, "You don' gotta get bit ta turn, ya die ya turn."

This was a goddamn nightmare.

Considering... everything going on outside, and with Heather's approval, Esme decided to bring all the babies upstairs into her apartment for extra protection before putting another episode on to entertain them for another hour and locking the door behind her. She returned to the cubby room with dread. Heather had stopped crying and was now just staring at a photograph of Thomas that was up on the bulletin board.

"I thought I'd have more time, ya know. To be a mama." Heather sounded breathless. Defeated. Broken. It was like looking into a twisted mirror.

The woman had been too afraid to touch her baby. To pepper his face in kisses and breathe him in. Afraid of contaminating him. She'd blown him kisses before removing her necklace, wedding rings, pulling out her wallet and her house keys from her pocket before unclipping her hospital ID card and plopping them on top of his cubby. For later. So that he'd have something of hers.

-Esme, after donning rubber gloves, would scrub the items clean using every product in her closet and even soak them in alcohol until they were blood-free... even then Esme would clean them again and again and again in penance for months.-

"I'm so sorry." she whispered again. Swallowing around the growing pit in her throat as her eyes stung once more.

"Don' be..." Heather mumbled, her lower lip trembling, "Jus' tell him about me. Tell Thomas about me one day. Don' let him forget me."

"He won't forget you." she promised firmly. Esme wouldn't let him forget her. Just like she wouldn't let Bora forget Grace either.

They were outside now. They had walked the five minutes up to the entrance of the road, passing by Heather's bloodied truck without a sideways glance, away from the daycare. She didn't have a gun, only the hammer that she'd been using to board up the windows.

"Here." Heather mumbled before plopping down on the dirt road and laying down and shutting her eyes. The woman choked out a tearful, "Thank you, Esme." that almost had Esme turning tail and running. Running far, far away from what Heather had asked her to do.

Her hands trembled but she brought up the nail and positioned it over the blonde's eye. Heather had told her -fervently, manically- that it would be the only way to ensure that Esme got to the brain.

She couldn't stall.

She couldn't scream or cry. She couldn't vomit, or demand that Heather find another way. Find someone else to murder her. Find someone that wasn't Esme.

Esme couldn't wait around for another solution.

Esme hadto go back to the daycare.

She had babies to take care of.

They were depending on her, because Esme was all they had.

She brought the hammer up before letting it come down hard onto the nail, piercing through Heather's eyelid and sinking all the way down into her head with a sickening schnoop as hot blood squirted everywhere. Soaking into the dirt and painting Esme'shands red. She was dead. Heather was dead because her chest was no longer rising and her cries had stopped. It was silent.

Esme held back a shudder, gripping tightly onto the hammer before running as fast as she could back to the daycare. She locked the door behind her and let the hammer drop onto the floor. Sobs bubbled up from her throat and tears streamed freely down her face. Esme lunged for the small trashcan by the door and retched. Stomach churning hatefully and throat burning as she expelled everything.

She had just killed someone.

Someone that she'd considered a friend.

The mother of one of her charges.

Esme only allowed herself to break down for three more minutes, frantically washing her hands in the daycare bathroom and rinsing her mouth before going back up to her apartment to check on the babies.

They hadn't even realized she'd been gone.

Good.

Bailey had come out of hiding and was laying down by a fascinated Lilac who was running her chubby little fingers through the tabby's short fur. It wasn't the first time Esme's cat had been around babies, she was a sweet little thing when it came to vulnerable tiny humans. She smiled wetly at them, making sure that her baby monitor was on, before going back down. Esme had more work to be done. After all, there were more windows that she needed to board up in the front.

After that, she needed to give Lilac a small snack and the babies would need to get fed. Esme didn't want to use the baby formula until things got desperate. She needed to start pumping breast milk more in order to start producing even more. Then she needed to make herself and Lilac something small for dinner and give Bailey a treat.

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

Lilac's and Primrose's mama never showed up.

A week had passed by since everything fell apart. Four days since the cell towers had stopped working. Four days since the television stopped broadcasting the news and any other channels, now the only thing it was good for was playing DVDs and the occasional CD.

The radio only broadcasted the same message over and over again. -"Refuge can be found in Atlanta. Make your way to Atlanta for safety. The military has been stationed for your protection. Avoid the infected at all costs. Please remain calm. Anyone infected is not welcome. God bless. Refuge can be found in Atlanta..."- Today it had stopped broadcasting altogether.

It had left a sinking feeling in the pit of Esme's stomach that felt too much like despair and hopelessness for her to contemplate for too long... so she simply didn't think of it.

-Not that she had been planning on braving the roads with three infants and a toddler to get to Atlanta. That wasn't even an option in her mind when it came to safe places to live, after all, it was one of the biggest and most heavily populated cities in the states.

"First responders went down first."

The haunting words from Heather still reverberated through her head, in the grand scheme of things the military were the new first responders. She didn't have much faith that the military would be able to hold out in the long run. Not with all of the people that already lived in Atlanta and those seeking asylum in the city.-

She put it all out of mind.

After putting the kids down for their morning nap, Esme would go out into the back where their school garden was and collect any ripe veggies or fruit before going down to the basem*nt where the canning supplies were and begin preparing for the future.

Winter was going to be difficult but she was determined.

Lilac was a little over a year and a half old, she didn't need to drink formula -though Esme knew that her mama had still been giving the babe milk in the evening to sleep- so she was eating the same food that Esme made for her meals.

She was carefully rationing their food to make sure that the preserves she was making now would only be used during the winter. Esme needed to be careful that she wasn't starving herself either, otherwise, her milk production would slow down and cease if she started missing meals and starving herself, which would result in three starving infants. That was not an option.

It was a happy accident that Daisy and Mitch had organized the quarterly food donation two weeks before the outbreak. The food cellar in the basem*nt was full to the brim with donated canned food, pasta, and jars of baby food. The week before that had been the semi-annual diaper run, so she wouldn't worry about that for a long while. Even then, Esme was rather good at making cloth diapers and she was already starting the long journey of potty-training Lilac.

The basem*nt also had a couple of bins with donated clothes that she would use to clothe the babes as they grew. But for now, she took any of the articles of clothing, blankies, pacifiers, powder, diapers and more that had been in the cubby room and infant room before transferring them into her apartment for convenience.

It had taken Esme two backbreaking afternoons to bring up one wooden crib, three bassinets, two portable Graco pack-n'-plays, three bouncers, a baby swing, various soft toys, four bobby pillows, bottles and a couple of unopened bags of diapers, emergency food, the batteries out of all the electronic toys in the playrooms and a couple of baby gates. She had rearranged her whole apartment to make space for her new charges. She'd dismantled the coffee table in her living room and pushed the couch closer to the TV so that she could place one of the portable cribs against its back.

Esme had grabbed a couple of the foam letters to make a cushioned area for the babies to play on and the small plastic playpen fence to make sure that when she set down the babies they wouldn't be able to roam. The small circular dining table in the kitchen was turned into a changing station and Esme started eating on the bar or on the floor so that the babies wouldn't feel left out.

She had to drag out the dresser, now filled to the brim with baby clothes, from her bedroom into the hallway to make room for the wooden crib she assembled. Primrose's bassinet was placed next to the crib so that Lilac could peer at her newborn sister, while the other two bassinets were placed on the side of the room underneath the covered windows. Esme had to push her rocking chair into her small walking closet, but she wasn't even considering getting rid of it since it was perfect for nursing her infant charges. Her one bathroom now had tiny towels and a green plastic bathtub for her to bathe her three youngest babies.

Her study became a glorified storage room. The bookshelf no longer held a small goldmine of Esme's favorite novels, but emergency cans, preserves and all of the batteries she could find on the top shelves and a plethora of baby supplies (bottles, diapers, blankets/swaddles, winter clothes/baby shoes, all of the baby medicine they had in the cabinets including the EpiPens and five first aid kits, cans of formula).

She moved her acoustic guitar -it'd been a gift from Mitch- from its display and put it in its case before shoving it under her bed, the other three guitars had been stored away in the basem*nt for safekeeping along with the majority of her books. The only exceptions were her ASL textbooks, Harry Potter collection, Narnia, the Spanish bible that had traveled with her across the ocean, and her singular photo album that now resided under the bed with her acoustic.

Esme stored the other portable crib and the spare crib mattress she'd hauled up (after all it wouldn't be long until Bora and Thomas wouldn't be able to sleep in the bassinets anymore and Lilac would need a new place to sleep), bouncers and the swing in her former study when they weren't in use, along with the four portable heaters that would be a godsend during the winter months...

Bailey was rather happy with their new roommates, following Lilac wherever she toddled and guarding the wiggly three when they napped... At least one transition had been easy in her new life.

Chapter 5

Chapter Text

If the daycare was ever breeched by the dead, she needed to be sure that they had supplies in her apartment to last them a couple of days. Which was the whole reason behind her frantic packing and her new storage room. That and she needed an escape plan, which ended up prompting Esme to create 'to go' bags for each of them.

Esme even moved Heather's truck so it was positioned directly in the front entrance of the daycare, it had taken her a nerve-racking fifteen minutes to install two more infant car seats in the back seats and one toddler-sized one in the front. Over the course of two days she packed their go-bags under the seats, diapers, clean bottles, three baby slings, four toddler nest beds, an inflatable mattress that she could blow up on the bed of the trunk if she was ever desperate, four tins of cat food and Bailey's old bed, some dry foods in ziplock baggies and enough preserved fruits and veggies to last her a week in an emergency situation.

For now though, her apartment was the safest place to keep the babies in during the day. There were two doors that one had to go through to get in and the most important aspect was that thewholeplace was soundproof.

One of the only other radio stations that had been airing anything other than static had been sharing information they'd gathered on the infected, rotters was what they had called them, before that too stopped broadcasting.

-The silence was deafening and Esme had cried into her palms two days after their final broadcast when it dawned on her that there would never be another one.-

Apparently, rotters were attracted to not only sound but even smell. A friend of the broadcaster had been able tocamouflage himself with the blood and guts of a rotter and walk through a whole crowd of them in disguise. They would wander around aimlessly unless they encountered anything living which would result in a feeding frenzy. Even then they tended to group together and even form massiveherdsof dead bastards.No one was immune. When someone was bitten or scratched and managed to not die from blood loss, they would die from high fevers and eventually turn sometime after. The broadcaster had observed that the turning time was different for all the infected and couldn't be accurately determined. Family members who tried to save their infected loved ones would be eaten alive after the fever killed them. The rotters' sense of sight while impaired was attracted to light and anything that moved, so Esme had put up some heavy curtains on the windows in her apartment and rarely turned on the lights at night.

That was another thing.

She'd never been more grateful that Daisy was a bonafide hippie and invested on going green. Her boss had installed solar panels on the roof the moment the technology had become available so they had electricity... Esme was even more grateful that she had an electric stove and not a gas one. The daycare had a functioning well on the property as well as a rainwater collection system in place so she wasn't worried about finding freshwater, though Esme had started to boil the water beforehand as an extra precaution because she had little ones to worry about now and babies got sick easily. Hell, they even had an irrigation system in place that would recycle wastewater from the sinks, the two washing machines, her dishwasher... even the greywater from the toilets were filtered and treated to get rid of solidsandimpuritiesbefore it was used to water the garden.

In other words, the daycare was a self-sustaining safe haven.

And Esme had absolutely no intention to leave it any time soon, all she could do now was continue to fortify it. They already had two fences surrounding the back of the property, a chainlink fence that had a black colored heavy-duty windscreen on the outside and a colorful wooden one that faced the inside that ensured total privacy for the residents of the daycare. She had continued to board up all the windows that faced the front and sides of the building, only leaving the two windows that faced the fenced backyard of the school to remain relatively board-free.

It was around five in the evening now. Esme rocked gently in her chair as Primrose suckled on her right breast. The now two-week-old babe was hazily looking up at her as she snuffled, her right hand furling and unfurling against Esme's chest as the babe drank her fill. She gently rubbed the soft blonde baby hair with her left hand before looking through her open bedroom door to watch Lilac.

The one-year-old was giggling happily as she played with some of the foam blocks Esme had brought up last night in the pen. She had brought two of the bouncers into her room earlier and strapped Bora and Thomas in before rigging two bottles with breast milk she'd pumped earlier so that the babes could feed at the same time. Hopefully, the three of them would fall asleep after eating and Esme would be able to take a quick nap herself.

She was running on fumes as it was, waking up four to six times during the night for feedings and diaper changes. Esme needed to get sleep whenever she could. The babies would probably sleep for an hour or two and by then it would be time for dinner some playtime and sleep once more...

Esme woke up to Lilac patting her face. "Ama wake!" she babbled, the one-year-old was leaning over the top of the couch to look down at her. An open-mouthed dimpled smile stretched across the little girl's face showcasing her small pearly white teeth. Esme smiled up sleepily at her, there weren't any cries coming from her bedroom so the terrible three were still thankfully napping.

"Hey baby girl." she greeted sitting up, dislocating Bailey from where the tabby had been napping on her tummy, the clock informed Esme that she'd only slept for about an hour. Internally crying from the lack of sleep, she smiled at Lilac once more as the babe continued to babble incoherently. "Aha, and what happened then? I see. You've been a good girl."

Lilac patted her face even harder before she began trying to haul herself over the couch to get closer to where Esme was. Laughing softly she pulled Lilac up by her armpits and onto her lap before peppering chubby baby cheeks with kisses, making sweet giggles burst out of plump lips. "Num, num, num! So yummy!" she teased making Lilac squeal in delight as she proclaimed, "I think I'm going to have Lilac for my dinner tonight!"

Chapter 6

Chapter Text

Two whole months had passed since the fall of humanity.

Since then, Esme had created and immersed herself into a new routine. Her day would start at six in the morning when the babies woke up, diapers would be changed and she would warm up two bottles while one lucky infant -that was usually Primrose since she was the youngest and really did notlike the bottle- got to drink directly from the source. She would then burb the babies before laying them underneath a colorful play-gym in the playpen for tummy time, while she let Lilac roam around the apartment to release some of her pent-up energy.

Lilac had taken to pushing around her fisher-price corn popper all over the apartment or simply wiggling her butt in joy to the music that Esme would play at a low volume. During this time Esme would clean and tidy up around the apartment, feed Bailey and clean her litter box, take stock of their supplies, flip the babies from lying on their backs to their tummies, and then sit on the couch to pump breast milk while talking softly with Lilac in Spanish and English.

Bilingual children were better at executive-function skills like focusing, multitasking, and weeding out unnecessary information. At least that was what it said in one of the baby books in Daisy's office. Imparting Spanish and English would help them develop faster and learn concepts more easily in the future... Considering the fact that Esme herself had been taking classes on ASL for the last year and a half, she was also planning on teaching her kids the silent language as well. It would help Esme practice, keep her brain busy, and it could come in handy in the future if she ever had to bring them outside and needed to tell them something. On that thought, she had to teach Lilac first that it was important to be quiet out of the apartment.

Esme would then serve Lilac and herself a small breakfast, usually something simple like applesauce -or peachsauce, since she had an apple and a peach tree in the backyard- and a small zucchini pancake since they had an abundance of that fruit, before feeding the babies once more and putting them and Lilac down for a nap. Esme would leave a baby bottle filled with water as well as a snack catcher filled with cheerios and Lilac's favorite rabbit plushie in a corner of the crib in case her oldest charge woke up while she was gone. Esme would then put on some comfortable clothes she didn't mind getting dirty and setting up the baby monitor, before quietly going downstairs.

She would check the security feeds from the cameras surrounding the daycare to make sure that there weren't any damn rotters around, and arm herself with a hatchet she'd found in the basem*nt before going out to the garden. Esme would then walk around the small perimeter of the fence to make sure that there weren't any gaps, before pumping water from the well three times before leaving them in front of her door to bring up later, and go back out to harvest any veggies or fruits that were ripe. Esme would rinse them with water from the well before bringing them up to the apartment on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. On the other days of the week she would bring them down to the cellar and can them for the future.

By that point, it'd be around one in the afternoon and the kids were usually up so Esme would leave her new finds on the kitchen counter before attending her cranky babies. Changing diapers, letting Lilac out to roam the apartment and play, strap Primrose in the baby swing for a while, set five-month-old Thomas in the portable crib who could now sit up by himself for a couple of minutes and prop him up with a boppy and let loose a few soft blocks and interactive plushies, and set Bora down in the playpen for another round of tummy time (the four-month-old baby had gleefully mastered rolling over just last week).

She would warm up whatever soup she made for dinner the night before for lunch and serve herself and Lilac a bowl while pumping breast milk once more. Esme was producing an insane amount of breast milk these days after her body realized that she had more babies depending on her milk, she'd even had to break out a larger-sized bra to accommodate the 'girls.'

By that point, Primrose would be hungry once more, so she would put the baby in a sling against her chest and feed her at the same time while she cleaned up lunch and began preparing the fruits/veggies she'd collected. Primrose was a rather fast eater and was usually done suckling after ten-fifteen minutes, at that point she would burp her before laying her down in the swing once more because the babe absolutely loved laying in the swing... and it made things a bit easier for Esme so she wasn't complaining. Bora would then be placed in the baby sling and offered Esme's other breast and suckle for about twenty minutes while Esme sat Thomas down in the high chair to try and feed the baby a small amount of soup (she'd be starting Bora on solids to supplement the breastmilk next month as well).

As soon as all of the babies were fed and burped, Esme would set a blanket down on the floor in front of the TV and place two bobbies on the ground and play an episode of any baby show in Spanish. Lilac would plop herself down excitedly on the couch to watch while Esme did some baby exercises with Thomas first for fifteen minutes and then placing him on the bobby and switching with Bora.

Once the episode was finished she would place Thomas and Bora back into the portable crib with some toys and do some simple exercises with Primrose, and occasionally feed her again if she was fussy before putting the baby down for a nap. Parenting books indicated that babies should be bathed three times a week so on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays she would take turns bathing whichever rugrat crossed her path first, though she usually finished the evening by bathing Lilac since she hopped into the tub with one-year-old to conserve water.

Esme would then prepare the veggies she'd harvested for dinner, usually in the form of a soup or fried/sauteed veggies and put the fruit away for snacking later on. Their dinner ritual was similar to that of their lunchtime ritual, and then Esme would get everyone ready for bed.

Thomas and Bora were thankfully only waking up once or twice during the night now for a bottle and diaper change, while Primrose woke about three sometimes four times for the same thing. Esme had taken to pumping breast milk for about an hour after the kids all fell asleep -bedtime was firmly set at eight- so that all she had to do was warm-up bottles for Bora and Thomas, while Primrose was the only one that breastfed from her directly at night now.

And then the day would repeat.

Chapter 7

Chapter Text

October brought cooler breezes and sporadic showers. While it was a welcomed relief from the suffocating heat from the summer, it only made the fact that winter was just around the corner even more real.

During the day the change of temperature wasn't too bad, agreeable even--since it usually ranged in the seventies, during the evenings the furthest it had dropped to so far was fifty-six. Still, one of the portable heaters had made its way into her bedroom permanently. Her routine hadn't changed much, though now she found herself canning the majority of the remaining veggies.

The tomato vines had stopped producing juicy red tomatoes about a week ago and it was a good thing that she had been completely preserving the tomatoes for the last month so that they could enjoy them during the winter. The zucchini and cucumber were also thinning out as were the carrots... the babies were going to end up sick of carrot puree by the end of winter, she just knew it!

Esme had replanted a branch of celery as well as romaine lettuce and cabbage -sue her, cabbage soup was filling- into three pots under some led lights in the basem*nt so that they could hopefully continue enjoying some fresh greens during the colder months. The small pumpkin and squash patch was flourishing with the cooling weather, as was the apple tree now that she thought about it, and she started to harvest those as well.

Back during late September, Esme was lucky enough to find two loose chickens outside of the daycare. Of course, there was a third one being eaten by a rotter nearby that Esme put down with her hatchet... she left the corpse leaning against the side of the house, hopeful the smell would help deter some more rotters in the future. She'd caught the other two hens and brought them down to the basem*nt where she converted a rabbit hutch that'd once belonged to Daisy into a chicken coup.

Now they had fresh eggs. At first, she'd been concerned about what to feed the chickens in the first place, thankfully since Esme lived in a rural town some the children's books were about farm animals so quickly discovered that chickens were omnivores. One egg was reserved for the chickens to eat scrambled in the morning, since it was a good source of protein, and not just for the humans, and they ate any greens she had leftover or deemed no good for herself and the kids.

Esme had started collecting the pumpkin seeds and putting them to the side to give the chickens every once in a while since she read that they were a natural dewormer. If push came to shove she could share some oats with the feathered little beasties as well. She eventually hooked up one of the portable heaters in the basem*nt to keep the chickens warm as well.

Yesterday was Lilac's second birthday (making today the 21st). She made the official toddler a tiny cupcake drizzled with honey in her honor and sang her happy birthday twice, once in Spanish and in English.

Lilac was picking up on the language fantastically, her sentences coming out in an amusing mix of Spanglish. Esme had even started nonchalantly dropping in ASL during the day and the toddler was slowly starting to pick that up as well.

Thomas was now eight months old and his top central incisors had come in and his lateral incisors, as well as his bottom two, were starting to poke through his gums. Bora's central incisors were almost done coming in too... and thank the lord for that since having to deal with two cranky teething babies had been driving Esme up the wall. She had taken to freezing their pacifiers and giving them frozen apple/peach slices to help alleviate the pain from their inflating gums.

However, that wasn't what had stopped Esme in her tracks and had her sitting there contemplatively as she breastfed a drowsy Bora.

Lilac had called hermamiyesterday.

("Goo' night mami").

Mom.

As in she Esmeralda Cavallero, a mother.

Cherry was young when she had Lilac, nineteen if she was remembering correctly, but despite her age, she had fiercely loved her two little girls.

It felt... wrong to take the place of that woman in the lives of her children... but it wasn't like Esme really had another choice.

Cherry was gone.

Grace was gone.

Heather was gone.

Their mothers all gonein the space of one day.

All four of her charges orphaned in the wake of the apocalypse.

But Esmewasn'tgone.

She'd been putting these children first in her life for the last four months... heck, even longer if you counted the time she took care of them before the world ended, despite it being a part of her job.

She'd been feeding them.

Bathing them.

Teaching them.

Caring for them.

Loving them... all this time.

Would it be tarnishing the memories of their biological mothers if she stepped up to the plate?

If she allowed them to call her mami?

Bora had stopped suckling so Esme pulled her tank top up and brought the baby up to the burp cloth over her shoulder and began rubbing her back until she heard a burp. As soon as she did, Esme rocked Bora for a little while longer in her arms before going over to the crib and laying her down beside a snoring Thomas who was clutching onto his empty bottle.

She had moved the bassinets -Thomas and Bora's that is since Primrose still fit comfortably in her's and would for the next three months or so- back down into the daycare and had set up the other portable crib for Lilac to sleep in where the bassinets had once been.

Lilac and Primrose were also both conked out for the evening so Esme quietly curled up onto her queen-sized bed, ignoring Bailey's disgruntled meow before she settled down once more beside her.

That night she dreamed.

She dreamed of Heather, of the woman's pain-filled despair and hope.

("Esme please, I need you to take care of Thomas for me. I can't so I need you to. Please. Please... Tell Thomas about me one day... Thank you, Esme.")

Hadn't the older woman given Esme her child right then and there?

Given Thomas to her, to love and care for in her place?

Grace and Cherry had both loved their daughters like Heather had adored her son... wouldn't they want the same thing?

Esme felt it in her heart that they would. So later in that evening when Primrose woke up...

"Hey there baby... Shhh, shhh... It's okay, mama's here."

Chapter 8

Chapter Text

The start of December was only emphasized by the white flurries streaming from the skies that silently started sticking to the ground. Winter was truly here. Esme was only thankful that she'd had the forethought to charge as many rechargeable batteries the day before when she first spotted clouds on the horizon.

The solar panels on the roof still worked even with clouds in the sky but they weren't as efficient or strong and since Esme didn't want to turn on the generator -and she wouldn't unless it was an absolute emergency- she needed to conserve as much energy as possible. It was for that reason that the only things that the panels were powering were the portable heaters, the stove for when she needed it, the refrigerator, the freezer in the basem*nt, and the led lights for her tiny indoor garden while everything else was left unplugged.

-Esme decided that in the future she would only turn on the light in her living room once natural lighting started failing her... and considering it was winter, the sun would start setting rather early. Even then, that would be the only light she allowed herself to turn on to conserve power, and since it was the only fixture that could bathe at least three other rooms with light... it felt like the right choice.-

Esme had brought together all of the battery-powered flashlights/lanterns to the apartment and placed them in strategic places around the room so that they could see. She told the little ones that they were having an all-day slumber party -not that Bora, Thomas, and Primrose had questioned the lack of light like Lilac had- and had left them all dressed in their jammies and proceeded to entrain them by bringing the child-size tent and fake campfire toys from the 'summer-fun' center in the three-year-old classroom up to her living room.

Lilac, who was now almost completely potty-trained -thankgod- and only wore pullups at night in case she had an accident, had been completely enthralled with the new toys and thankfully didn't put up a fuss at the change of routine. Thomas and Bora had turned into crawling fiends -to Esme's internal horror as she struggled to baby-proof their environment even more- and were starting to interact with each other and even more with Lilac, to the toddler's delight. Bora had said her first coherent word before Thomas, who shouted the same word five seconds later in order to not be left behind and get some praise as well, last week.

Now, Esme had three children calling her 'mama' and trailing after her.

-No, she was not crying.-

With the colder weather, Esme didn't have much of a reason to go to the garden anymore until the ground unthawed again, but she still checked the perimeter and the fence every other day. After all, it was one of their main lines of defense against the dead.

During mid-November, Esme had to deal with the largest amount of rotters that had ever wandered across her property. Sure, there had only been ten of them pushing against the fence of the garden -nothing like the giant herds made up of hundreds of rotters she had heard about over the radio before the dead air- but it had been an ordeal for Esme who had only ever dealt with three of the walking dead before.

The rotters had been attracted to the sound of the creaky swingset being rocked by the wind, and hadn't lost interest despite not being able to actually peer through the fence... The ten of them definitely had the means to actually break down the fence if they weren't taken care of, so... Esme had locked down the house before stealing herself and climbing on top of a crate to peer over the fence and pierce the skulls of the rotters from the top. Once they were all permanently dead, she promptly lost all of her meager lunch on the browning grass.

Why?

Because Esme had recognized one of the rotters. Despite half of their lower jaw missing, they were still wearing the same outfit she'd seen them in last... had Carla ever even made it home? Had she been torn apart by rotters on the steps of her home? What about her children? Ohgodhadtheyallbeeneatenalive.

Esme would never know. And it quietly tormented her.

The corpses still laid there motionlessly on the other side of the fence, hopefully, they would continue to act like a rotter deterrent over time... especially after considering that she really hadn't seen any more of them since then. Sometimes she'd spy a rotter walking around the perimeter through the window, before quickly losing interest and returning to the forest. The radio hadn't lied about the smell.

-She left Carla there. Esme just left Carla's putrefying corpse slumped along the fence among the bodies of other soulless husks as if she were trash. As if the woman hadn't been her friend. The not knowing what happened to Carla tormented Esme... but it was nowhere near as much as knowing that the woman didn't have a final resting place because Esme couldn't bring herself to dig one up for Carla herself.-

The day after the snowstorm Esme decided that it was time to sit Lilac down and explain to the curious little girl, who wanted to go outside to touch the snow,whygoing outside was dangerous. It was after Lilac had woken up from her afternoon nap that Esme curled up with her oldest daughter on the couch and began to teach her about the world they were living in.

"Lilac, mama needs to talk to you about somethingveryimportant, okay?" Esme emphasized seriously as she stared down into Lilac's beautiful big brown eyes, "Do you remember why mama said that Lilac and the babies can't go outside?"

Little dirty blonde curls bounced up and down, "Mama sayes peligroso."

"That's right." she confirmed, "Going outside is very dangerous, super peligroso."

"Butwhy?" Lilac whined, 'why' was the toddler's new favorite word.

Esme chewed on her bottom lip as she gently pet her daughter's hair before stating factually, "Because of the rotters."

"Wha's dat?" Lilac struggled to make the 'th' sound. It was adorable.

"Rotters are monsters." she stated seriously, "They growl like doggies and smell really bad, you can't let them hear you or they'll catch you and then you'll never see mama again."

Her little cherubic face crumbled with fear, an emotion that Esme had never wanted to the reason behind that expression, and tears shined behind her eyes, "Why?" Lilac sniffled as she shuffled closer.

She pulled the little girl into her arms, "Monsters are bad, they hurt you.But that's why mama makes you guys stay inside because outside there are rotters hiding everywhere. When you are inside mama can protect you."

"Mama I don' wanna go outside."Lilac whimpered, "I don' wanna r'tter to take me away!"

Esme pressed a kiss on the little girl's head before making Lilac look up at her face, "Lilac you can only go outside with mama, because mama can make the rotters go away. But loud noises, like when Tommy and Bora cry, make rotters come out of hiding. That's why we have to be quiet." The little girl was shaking her head babbling about not wanting to go outside even with Esme attached to her side, "Don't you want to see the snow?" she asked.

Conflict immediately formed on her face, "Nieve?"she parroted, "But ta snow's outside? R'tters are outside!"

"Mhmm," Esme agreed, "But if you promise not to talk with your mouth, and only with your hands, mama will take you outside for five minutes before nap time is over and your brother and sisters wake up to go see the snow."

Lilac threw her little arms around Esme's neck, "An' ta r'tters won't come out?"

"They won't. But only if you are a good girl and listen to mama. No talking outside, no running in the garden, no screaming, nonoise. Okay?"

Lilac beamed up at her before clumsily signing, "I go see snow!"

Esme smiled down at her proudly, "My good, smart girl"

Lilac's first venture into the outside world went wonderfully, even if the toddler waddled around awkwardly instead of walking because of all the layers of clothes and the second-hand snowsuit -that was admittedly too big for her- Esme had bundled her up in. Lilac was a small and helpless child in a very dangerous world, and Esme would fight to protect all of her children with all of her might... Even if that meant both tarnishing her innocence by introducing her to the rotters and then enabling her curiosity and enthusiasm with the snow.

Chapter 9

Chapter Text

Christmas had been an interesting affair.

She had hauled up the artificial tree from the basem*nt and set it up in the living room during the babies' nap time. Maybe it was stupid of her to set up the tree and put out some decorations before gathering her awe-filled brood to sit them down and regale them tales of Santa Claus, but she had already stolen some of Lilac's innocence when she explained rotters to the toddler and spent a few sleepless nights comforting her fears and whispering sweet nothings to ward off nightmares... But that didn't mean that herchildren couldn't bechildren.

Esme would fight to preserve what little bit of wonder and magic she could. She pulled out all of the Christmas-related storybooks and spent an afternoon telling her kids all about Christmas, the baby Jesus, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph, Santa and his elves, before putting on some Christmas movies to bring the stories she read to life.

The day before Christmas was her birthday, her twenty-fourth birthday was spent surrounded by her children as she prepared for the 25th. She wrapped up some newer toys that her kids had never seen before and laid them under the tree as if she were Santa, made them an extravagant -by their new standards- meal and made them all a cupcake with honey for dessert.

The desert had been a big hit, especially since Thomas and Bora had been eating solids for a while now and she had started Primrose on solids the week before... though she had mashed the cupcake-honey mixture for the six-month-old to eat easier.

Esme had played some classic Christmas carols in both English and in Spanish, enjoying the light-hearted atmosphere she'd created that evening and the amazing giggles the following morning. Even Bailey enjoyed Christmas morning -the cat was given an entire can of tuna fish for dinner that evening- as she played with loose tinsel and the wrapping paper from the opened gifts. She'd take photographs with her polaroid of the whole event, wanting to immortalize their first Christmas.

Today was January 15th. The date had completely snuck up on Esme, leaving her feeling completely breathless in its wake. Six years ago today she had boarded a plane leaving Spain and was sat next to one Daisy Hearth. Six years ago today she had made the best decision in her life to follow the Hearth couple to their hometown. Six years ago Esme finally started to heal from the wounds of her childhood. Six years ago she had opened up to a sweet and caring couple and began the journey of discovering and becoming a part of a true family.

Now they were gone.

Before the phone lines had been cut, Esme had fortunately been able to get in contact with the couple from where they were staying in their hotel. As far as Mitch knew, there had only been one case of an infected individual so far and the local authorities were already taking care of it.

Daisy had spent hours trying to book a flight back home before being informed that all flights would be grounded for the foreseeable future since the locals didn't want any chance for an infected to board the flights.

They were stuck there.

Esme had spent two heartbreaking phone calls trying to talk down her pregnant friend from the edge of a panic attack as Mitch helped the hotel staff and other able-bodied guests begin fortifying the hotel. All of the stress wasn't good for the baby, and it had been making not only Esme antsy but Mitch as well.

The last conversation she had with Daisy and Mitch was a heartbreaking one. The three of them had to confront the reality that they probably wouldn't see each other again.. or at the very least for a very, very long time. Daisy had been letting out body-shaking sobs that would overpower her husband's own soft cries while Esme herself let out soft but equally devastated sobs before the call had been cut off.

The anniversary of their meeting on that fateful flight used to be like a second Christmas or birthday party. The three of them would spend the entire day together doing anything they wanted, they'd eat an enormous dinner with all of their favorite food before splitting a two-decker buttercream cake, and watch all of their favorite movies curled up against one another on the Hearth's couch... Esme felt her heart break all over again.

She had spent all her time, all of her efforts into putting those thoughts out of her mind. To swallowing down that pain and helplessness from engulfing her and instead directing all of her love and attention to her children. But it was the 15th. Esme spent the rest of the day swallowing her sobs and hiding her tears and general morose emotions from her kids.

Two months hadn't been enough for the weather to become more agreeable and it probably wouldn't start to be until April finally rolled around the corner. Although February had brought something exciting to the table. Thomas, who was born on Valentine's Day, simultaneously turned one year old and took his first unassisted steps. No more butt-scooching for him!

Esme spent the rest of the day spoiling her little man and peppering him with kisses... that is before having a small panic attack about all the mischief he could get into and how Bora wasn't very far behind him from becoming totally mobile. She started to put out some more baby gates as a precaution.

About two and a half weeks after Thomas turned one, the worst thing she had faced in months occurred.

Lilac got sick.

From the inflammation in the toddler's throat, her fever, body aches, and congested nose Esme could only assume that her baby girl had the flu.

The problem was that she ran out of baby fever reducer the month before when Bora had gotten the chills.

That meant that Esme would have to leave the daycare to get her daughter the medicine she needed. There was a small pharmacy a mile away from the daycare that would hopefully have the medicine she needed.

Chapter 10

Chapter Text

Esme swallowed the panic threatening to envelop her.

She'd never had to go so far or leave the daycare for so long. Because it would take her a good ten minutes to get there by car with the snow and ice still covering the ground. She also wasn't comfortable with the idea of taking her kids with her, Thomas and Bora were only beginning to understand how important it was to be quiet and Primrose didn't have any of the necessary self-control to not cry whenever she wanted something. In all honesty, neither did Thomas and Bora.

No, she would have to leave all of them in the apartment by themselves. Just the thought of it was enough to fill her with anxiety, but she couldn't waste any more time. Lilac's fever couldn't be allowed to rise any higher.

She started to get everything in order, she put down her youngest three for a nap in the playpen and closed the gate so that they wouldn't be able to get out when they woke. Esme even left the TV on -playing one of the baby-friendly tv series she had on cd- on a low volume so that they would have something to entertain them.

Esme had brought up one of the lightweight cots from downstairs and brought it into her storage room when Lilac had first gotten sick and had set it up for the toddler to sleep in there so she wouldn't get the others sick. She left the door of the storage room open but placed a baby gate in the doorway so that Lilac couldn't get out in case she woke up before Esme got back (she even left the Fisher Price portable potty that Esme had used to potty train her in the room).

Before she had put them all down for a nap she had explained that mama was going to go out to get medicine for Lilac and that all four of them had to be quiet. Esme even left the two-way baby monitor -the other was hooked up to her waist and set at a low volume- by Lilac's head so that she could hear the toddler and even talk back to her if she woke up scared.

Honestly, this whole situation was nerve-wracking.

She pulled on two of her most thermal leggings, laced up her snow boots, made sure that her long brown hair wouldn't get in the way by pulling it into a tight french braid, before pulling on a long-sleeved shirt and her thickest sweater and her vest. Esme would bring her winter jacket with her to the car but she wouldn't wear it while she was inside of the pharmacy so that her moveability wouldn't be impaired before she headed for the door with the truck keys clutched inside her fist. She grabbed her weapons at the bottom of the stairs and locked the door to the stairway. The cameras surrounding the property let Esme know that there weren't any rotters around so she was in the clear to go outside. Taking a deep breath in she opened the front door and locked it behind her before going around to the driver's seat and turning on the truck. It took only three minutes for the engine to warm up and then she was off.

The roads were slick with ice and snow, making the drive a slow one. Thankfully the town seemed rather empty (a true ghost town) and free from rotters. She came across three crashed vehicles close to the parking lot of the pharmacy. There was a burned corpse inside one and a rotter that was weakly moving it's arms up in the other, she stopped the car for a moment and got out to put the corpse out of its misery (besides it would do no good to her if the thing got out and then came up to her from behind while she was distracted) before getting back in and parking the car right in front of the pharmacy's front door. The pharmacy looked abandoned and sad if she was being honest with herself.

The building was owned and run by Ms. Aggie, an older woman around seventy years old, and unless you were familiar with their small town, one wouldn't even guess that this was the pharmacy. After internally debating for a moment she decided to turn the car off but left the keys in the ignition. Esme peered through the dirty window but she couldn't see anything. That didn't mean that the pharmacy was empty, she jiggled the doorknob and discovered that the store was open. Sighing, she knocked loudly on the door to see if anything would move, peering through the window once more revealed nothing. The wind howled, chilling Esme to the bone, she couldn't stall any longer. Esme opened the door softly only to immediately struggle to close it once more as two f*cking rotters slammed their bodies against the wood in an attempt to get closer to her.

"sh*t." she grunted in anger and fear as she managed to get it closed, "Cabrones, you couldn't show yourselves earlier?"

Her hand shook wearily as she leaned against the door and surveyed the area to make sure that any roaming rotters hadn't heard the commotion. The street and parking lot was as desolate and empty as it was before. At least she had one thing going for her, she unclipped her machete from her waist and gripped tightly in her right hand. Esme would open the door again by a crack and plunge the long knife into on the heads and close it again before disposing of the other one. Biting her lower lip roughly she did exactly what she planned, killing the first two with ease. She could hear maybe three more inside shuffling and groaning obnoxiously. f*ckers. She cracked the door open once more an arm immediately thrust itself out and rotting teeth snapped at her before the body went limp with the machete thrust in between the things eyes. Five or so nerve-wracking minutes later, leaving four more rotters dead, and she couldn't hear any more from inside.

Esme carefully opened the door the rest of the way, ignoring the bodies toppling on the ground. Not willing to get surprised once more she let out a low whistle to see if she could tempt out any more rotters that may have been hiding. This time there was really nothing.

Chapter 11

Chapter Text

Esme dragged the now still corpses out of the doorway so that she wouldn't trip over the bodies in case she needed to make a quick escape. She steadily kept her gaze from looking too closely at exactlywhothe rotters used to be, especially the oldest female rotter wearing a bloodied floral dress that Ms. Aggie used to favor. The pharmacy was a goldmine of supplies. It looked like it had been occupied by the rotters, andonlyrotters, since the beginning of the outbreak. Esme could only guess that when the panic first started Ms. Aggie had let inside anyone that was running around on the street, one of them must've been bitten and later turned since the others must not have known that a bite was fatal and then attacked the others.

Their misfortune would save her and her children.

And for that she wasgrateful, Esme grabbed the duffel bag from the car before going inside of the pharmacy and closing the door behind her. She practically began dumpingeverythingthat was on the shelves in the back room into the bag. Allergy medications, asthma pumps, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, Xanax, oxycodone, Pepto-Bismol, Tylenol, Motrin (for adults and children), Benedryl, Allegra, ear drops, nasal spray, vapor rub, eye drops, naproxen, and much much more. She blindly tossed any bottles with complicated names into the bag, she'd sort everything out when she got home, before grabbing all of the feminine hygiene products in the aisle (even the birth control and condoms that she obviously didn't need, maybe she could repurpose the condoms to hold something else, maybe make water balloons for the kids to play with during the summer) that were available in the front of the store. She even grabbed the few bottles of baby-safe shampoo, baby oil, baby powder, and even the candy at the register before deciding it was time to go when she heard Lilac whining on the baby monitor. Esme picked it up before using it as a walkie-talkie, and no she'd never done that with Daisy before because they were adults (thank you very much), to remind the distraught toddler that mama had gone to get her some medicine and that she would be home very soon. While she was behind the registrar, Esme pinched the keys for the shop.

She peeked through the window to make sure that the coast was still clear before throwing the strap of the bag over her shoulder and gripping her machete before quietly opening the door. Flurries had started to fall from the sky while she'd been in the building, Esme ignored the weather as she threw the duffel bag into the backseat of the car. The streets were thankfully still clear of rotters. Esme turned back to the pharmacy and locked down the building, before moving two of the corpses she'd killed earlier in front of the door. It would hopefully deter anyone (that was still living) passing through the town from going inside. When the weather got warmer she would come back and loot the rest of the stuff that was valuable.

Fifteen minutes later she was finally back home. She had stopped seven minutes away from the daycare for a couple of minutes to put down three rotters that had trudged out from behind one of the houses. They must have heard the car and come to investigate and she really didn't want to lead them to her home. They had been surprisingly easy to get rid of. (Did that mean that she was becoming numb? That she was unfeeling and uncaring for what the rotters once were. She didn't even feel like crying over the corpse Ms. Aggie, someone that'd been kind to Esme when she first settled in the town, just curious about what went down in the pharmacy.Esme really didn't want to further think about the implications behind that; Lilac, Thomas, Bora, and Primrose were the only ones she needed to think about). They moved so much slower because of the cold, their summer counterparts two-times faster and more agile. She'd kicked the first one onto the ground, impaling it with her machete, and disposing of the second one with her hatchet when it got closer, the third one was slowly ambling towards her giving Esme enough time to dislodge her machete from the first rotters head and stab the last one. She'd collected her bloodied weapons, she would need to clean them when she got home, and drove in the direction of the daycare quickly. It barely took her three minutes to park, lock the car and the daycare before she was running up the stairs into her apartment.

Of course, she had arrived to complete chaos.

It seemed that Primrose had woken up and noticing Esme's absence decided to cry until she got back, waking up her disgruntled brother and sister in the process that lead to a symphony of cries. The joys of motherhood knew no bounds, especially as she soothed her younger children as she rifled through the bag and pulled out the baby Motrin. Lilac had stood up to stare at her morosely from the other side of the baby gate when she heard Esme shut the door, Bailey was peering up at her curiously by the toddler's side looking equally disgruntled at the noise her younger charges were making.

"Mama donde fuiste?" she cried softly, "I miss you!"

Esme smiled lovingly as she rubbed Lilac's hair, "I'm here. I told you mama went to get you something to make you feel better." kissing her forehead before carefully pouring the right amount of medicine into the measuring cup and telling Lilac to drink it, the toddler protested at the taste but it only took a stern look for Lilac to stop and down the rest of it. "I missed you too." An unhappy cry from behind her made Esme turn back, now it was time to handle the rest of her rugrats. Primrose glared at her with woeful eyes. It was time for her to feed. Thomas and Bora's whining let her know that they were hungry too.

Chapter 12

Chapter Text

The end of February had already arrived and there was still snow coating the ground. It had snowed again the previous night and Esme was starting to worry that she would have to get onto the roof to clear off any snow that hadn't slid off the solar panels. She would have to check it out later when she went to inspect the backyard for breeches. Lilac had thankfully fully recovered from her cold, and thanks to Esme's manic cleaning and quick thinking when she separated her oldest daughter from the younger children, none of the others had gotten ill.

She couldn't wait for spring to arrive, Esme had been steadily digging into their reserves in order to feed everyone and it was starting to make her anxious when she went down to the basem*nt and saw some of the empty shelves. The chickens, now named Peep and Pio by Lilac (the toddler had been fascinated during Esme's 'where eggs come from' lesson), were healthy and thriving.

Since her trip to the pharmacy, Esme began contemplating another trip into the outside world. Her children were too young to accompany her, but if she timed it right, Esme would be able to make it to Daisy and Mitch's house and back before they woke up. Daisy and Mitch had owned a plethora of books on how to live off the grid. She knew for a fact that Mitch had bought the land for sale in Troup County, it was a little island in the West Point Lake a couple of miles away from the Yellowjacket Creek Recreation Center, as a surprise present for Daisy after their baby would have been born.

Mitch's family came from old money. Old, old,oldmoney. So much so that when Esme found out exactlyhowmuch money they had, her eyes felt as if they were popping out of her skull. Of course, it didn't help that Mitch was the most laid back man she had ever met. Most of his clothes were made of cheap material, anything that Daisy hadn't made for him was from Walmart... His hippie-loving ways didn't make sense to her when she thought about the wealth he had grown up in. Not that there was anything wrong with being a hippie, but all of the wealthy people she had encountered were self-absorbed and only cared for acquiring or maintaining their wealth... and Mitch, well he was the exact opposite.

When Mitch had refused to become a lawyer, his dad had promptly kicked him out... that didn't stop the man from being his mother's favorite son. The woman had continued to put money in Mitch's bank account behind the rest of the family's back and probably would have continued to do so if the world hadn't ended. She hadn't even stopped when Mitch became a hippie after falling in love with Daisy, in fact, the woman had odored Daisy when she finally met the woman her son had fallen for. With that money he'd been saving, Mitch bought the island to fulfill Daisy's dream of living on a self-sustaining homestead by the water (he'd spent a ridiculous amount of money, nothing Mitch said to her would change her mind on that, because honestly who bought an island? Mitch that's who, crazy bastard). Mitch had been more than halfway done with the construction of the house and had even started building a barn. (He had become a rather successful architect after graduating from college, it had been a big 'f*ck you' to his dad who'd said he'd never amount to anything without his family's wealth).

("Don' you worry Esme, I'll build you a house on it too! I'd never hear the end of it from Daisy if I didn'! Oh! Ouch! Don't hit me lil' sis! Ouch! I said stop! Daisy, Daisy! Come help me! I'm bein' abused!" and the responding "Ya pr'bably deserve it! Hit 'im harder Esme!")

The only reason she hadn't made an attempt to go to that island was because Esme didn't have a way to feasibly get there (she didn't own a boat and Mitch had lent his speeder to a friend before they left on vacation) and she wouldn't even know how to navigate a water-based-vehicle to get there in the first place. The house that the Hearth's had been calling home since she'd known them, was only five minutes away by car and it had hopefully been untouched by the outbreak.

Not only did Daisy and Mitch own a bunch of helpful books, but they also had a bunch of preserves in the basem*nt from their own garden and hopefully more canned or dry foods in the cupboards. While she was there Esme would grab anything else that'd be helpful in the long run as well (like clothes, medicine, spare toiletries, toilet paper, cleaning products, blankets and any baby products that were in the nursery room for...it hurt to acknowledge that she would never get to hold her godson in that nursery). The snow and the cold seemed to have a slowing effect on the dead and she wanted to take advantage of it while she still had the chance.

Esme also planned on making another future run back to the town. There was an antique and a thrift store across the street from the pharmacy that may have useful supplies. Like some clothing for older children, more jackets would nice, lye so that she could make some more soap, etc. Maybe even a long-ranged weapon that she could use to take out rotters... Either way, she was tired of being afraid and she wasn't going to let it get in her way anymore.

The world was never going to go back to what it once was.

This was her life now.

Her children were never going to experience the luxury of the old world for themselves.

Nothing would ever be easy or completely safe for them.

(Esme hadn't seen another living human being since she put Heather out of her misery. Maybe there weren't any left? Maybe she was the last adult left in Georgia? Either way Esme would not get the mental and emotional support that only an adult could provide her. No one would help her lighten the load, of survival... of parenthood and the endless responsibilities that came with it. In a way, she wassovery alone).

They lived in a world that favored the dead, there was nothing Esme could do change that... But she would need to build them a new world that they could live in. She would teach them everything they needed to know in order to survive and not lose themselves in the process. To do that she needed to successfully raise them into adulthood.

But first... she would change Thomas' filthy diaper.

Esme couldn't wait until Thomas and Bora were potty-trained.

Chapter 13

Chapter Text

"Cumpleanos feliz!Yay! Blow the candles, Bora!" Esme encouraged the new one-year-old as her other kids bounced around in excitement. Bora shot her a cute smile as she giggled before she blew out a raspberry extinguishing the flame of the singular candle. "Yay!" Esme cheered again as she clapped, Thomas banged his hands on the floor as he squealed his enthusiasm.

Three days before, Esme had been successful in making a run to the Hearth's household. And just like she had thought, the house had been untouched since the outbreak started. The night before she went out, Esme kept the kids up after their bedtime and didn't put them down for a nap until later in the afternoon, making her cranky and sleep-deprived babies conk out for three hours. She had come across five rotters in the Hearth's neighborhood, that Esme decided to put down before opening the garage and parking the truck inside. She spent the next hour moving all of the preservatives and chicken feed that was in the basem*nt into the bad of her truck, even opening some of the storage bins that she knew held Daisy's winter clothes before grabbing one of her heavier coats as well as the lined raincoat and some new snow boots since hers were starting to wear from use. Esme was even lucky to find the two portable heaters that Daisy liked to put in her room during the colder months and even snatch some of the gallons of propane from the Hearth's generator to bring home (she would have to drive extremely carefully on the way back).

The cabinets in the kitchen were like a treasure chest filled to the brim with canned goods, crackers and different kinds of pasta (even some of the Kirkland instant mac n' cheese). Esme started tearing up when she found an unopened bag of rice, it'd just beensolong. The cans of tuna, spam and chicken had made her want to dance, and the jarred peaches and jams made her mouth water. She even found some cans of cat food that Mitch used to keep around in case Esme ever brought Bailey with her for their sleepovers. Esme was probably even more excited to snatch all of the spices and salt from the spice rack (she was more than tired of eating bland food) and premade soups, and the flour and baking powder since she wanted to bake some bread after being without it for so long. Esme even found a container of powdered milk, Daisy had become obsessed with the flavor of it as her pregnancy commenced. She grabbed all the rolls of paper toilet and bounty from the household, as well as an unfinished box of sanitary pads that probably hadn't seen the light of day for over a year. Toothpaste, Listerine, toothbrushes, cue-tips, some new towels, soap, laundry detergent, shampoo and conditioner also made their way into the bed of the truck.

Mitch's study was the next place she pilfered through. She grabbed the map and blueprints of the island he'd bought in case she was ever desperate enough and needed a Plan B. She even grabbed the keys to the RV that Mitch owned for camping and traveling, the RV was currently on the island and since it was also solar powered it could be their new home if they ever made it onto the island. Before going into their small library and grabbing all of the agriculture books from the shelves, a maintenance book for solar panels, some veterinary texts on chickens, a 'how-to' book on turning raw cotton into clothes, a couple of pattern books for knitting and crocheting (she pilfered all of Daisy's yarn and even the woman's sewing machine), Daisy's personal herbal remedy book as well some other one's that'd been published by professionals, a book on how to identify plants and animal tracks in the wild. A photo album also somehow,magically, ended up in the truck as well.

She grabbed some of Daisy's child-rearing books before going into the nursery. She tried not to look too closely at the unfinished room, before deciding to grab some of the bibs and soft toys (they would serve as good presents for her brood) and the doona car seat stroller combo that had been a present from Mitch's mom. It would come in handy if she ever had to go on foot with one of the babies since the car seat could turn into a stroller with the push of a button. The last thing she grabbed from the nursery was the brand new and unopened breast pump for, well, obvious reasons. (She couldn't wait to trash the one she already owned).

Daisy and Mitch's bedroom was the last place she raided. Esme grabbed linens from the closet as well as the thickest comforter that they owned. It felt more than weird to rifle through her best friend's underwear drawer, but Esme was in desperate need of some new undergarments so she put her discomfort aside and grabbed whatever she could (she had never been so thankful that Daisy had a larger bust, her friend's bras were a godsend). She chose a couple of Daisy's jeans and shirts, Esme even grabbed three of Mitch's oversized sweatshirts and one of his joggers (she missed her family something fierce). Esme also grabbed Daisy's two pairs of hiking boots and her camping gear in case it ever came in handy.

It had taken Esme another good two hours to bring everything from the truck and into the daycare. Though a nice-sized portion of the supplies was hidden under the seats in case of an emergency. In that time she had unfortunately drawn the attention of three slowly bumbling rotters because of the noise. She'd simply rolled her eyes in annoyance at the extra work before stabbing the rotters in the head and leaning the now truly dead bodies against the walls of the daycare. That night she served Vienna sausages and mac n' cheese to her wide-eyed children. It had been a good evening.

For Bora's birthday, she made three mini cupcakes for the rest of her children drizzled with the caramel she found in the Hearth's cupboard, while her little Korean princess got a normal-sized cupcake all for herself. She even mixed her breast milk with some of the powdered milk so there was enough for all of them to drink comfortably with the birthday treat. Her babies were growing up so fast...

Chapter 14

Chapter Text

A week after celebrating Bora's birthday, the snow began to melt at an astonishing rate. Esme decided to take advantage of the last cold weather to make her run to the town. The antique and thrift store had been owned by a pair of sisters that had grown up in the small town and never left. This was her destination. Margaret, the older sister that had actually owned the store and lived above it, had been a big fan of archery (even the woman's five-year-old had a beginner's archery set, little Johnny had shown it off proudly the day he'd been dropped off at the daycare before Carla had made him put in his cubby) so at the veryleast, Esme may be able to find some long-ranged weapons in the woman's apartment upstairs.

Esme pulled the same stunt she'd done last time, even if that meant it would take her two days to stabilize her kids' sleep time once more, and kept them up past their bedtime before putting them down for a late nap so that she would have enough time to scavenge for supplies without worrying about the kids waking up while she was gone. Although, she had warned Lilac that mama was going to go out to get supplies during nap time in case her eldest woke up before she got back, and instructed her two-year-old that she could have the cheerios she'd left out for snack and play quietly until Esme returned. Funnily enough, Bailey gave her the most trouble that morning. The orange tabby had wound herself in between Esme's legs and practically barred the door so that she couldn't leave. It reminded Esme of when Bailey was a needy kitten and had liked to follow her wherever she went, Baily had suffered from separation anxiety whenever Esme had to go out and couldn't bring her furry companion with her... Esme internally promised to lavish her loyal cat with love and attention when she got back from her run.

The drive into the town was surprisingly fast, the square looked empty from rotters but Esme had learned from her last experience and knew instinctively that looks were often deceiving. Either way, she parked the truck right in front of the doors to the antique store before stepping out with her trusty machete already in hand. The wood door of the store was slightly open already making tension seep into Esme's shoulders, she peered through the crack and didn't spy any rotters. She grabbed the knob and closed the gap a little more before knocking on the wood. Two rotters appeared slowly, tempted by the sound, before Esme quickly dispatched them through the crack. Only one more crawled out from underneath a table at the sound of all the commotion. The female rotter's legs had been eaten, leaving the thing to crawl slowly. Esme stabbed the rotter (if Margaret died during the first few days, did that mean that Esme was going to find Johnny's body upstairs?) before walking over it and shutting the door. She carefully checked the area, looking under tables and behind corners to make sure that there weren't any surprises before making sure that the emergency exit door on the back of the shop was closed.

Sighing with relief, Esme began to loot for items that would be useful. She would thank and continue to thank every deity in existence that had put the idea of scavaging from the thrift shop. It was a literal goldmine of supplies. By the end of it, Esme wished that she could bring the entire store with her... For starters, Esme found the area with the hiking and camelback packs before inspecting each one and putting them to the side, five of the new bags would be added to the supplies in the car as new bug out bags in case of an emergency. In hers, she added a set of dry clothes (underwear, two pairs of socks, tank top, longsleeved plaid shirt, jeans, and raincoat) in a ziplock bag, a first aid kit that she had stuffed to the brim with items that weren't expired, the two hand-cranked flashlights she'd found, a can-opener and peeler, a hand-cranked vacuum sealer to preserve food an on the go, a small guide book on edible plants and herbs, a couple of candles, a roll of tin foil, a fire blanket to smother flames, a Myler blanket, and a dust mask, before tying a green ribbon to the top of the bag so she would know what was inside.

In another bag, she stuffed three whole outfits for each of her kids that were all a size or three too big so that they could grow into them (including some of the nicer second-hand shoes and a plethora of socks), cloth diapers, an on-the-go sewing kit with extra string, buttons, safety pins, and yarn, spare crochet hooks, five bottles, a gallon water bottle that she would fill up with water once she got home (she'd seal some baby formula, and even place it inside of a ziplock bag for extra protection when she got home and add it to the pack), she added eight child-sized dust masks before realizing that nothing else fit inside. This time Esme tied a pink ribbon to the bag before placing it next to her green one by the door. She made another identical bag filled with more baby supplies, in case the first one was ever lost and tied another pink ribbon to the strap.

The next bag was filled with more camping gear. Esme had found a fully functioning tent with spare parts before stuffing it in, three tightly folded tarps, two Myler blankets, two heavy-duty sleeping bags, an old-fashioned vacuum thermos, multi-function tool, a cast-iron frying pan, sterling silverware (eight spoons, two forks, and one knife) because silver was a natural antibiotic and would be useful during moments when she couldn't be too picky about sanitation, more candles, four lighters, empty ziplock bags for future use, five plastic plates, and seven cups made of hard plastic so that they last longer. The last bag had a bunch of maps of the local areas, a roll of aluminum foil, sharpening stone, a nice set of knives, another old-fashioned vacuum thermos, another first aid kit, pencils, and an empty notebook, and a bunch of loose/spare shoe and boot laces, a spare tent and sleeping bag...

Of course, that was only the supplies that Esme had put together for their bug out bags... It had taken her an hour to put the bags together and then throw them in the back seats of the car. From then on she used the crates inside the store to bring supplies to the bed of the truck that would actually go inside of the daycare. She grabbed two crates full of new and empty jars for preserving food, two boxes full of yarn and another full of spare fabric with a sewing kit inside, a full set of sterling silverware for them to use in the house, three oil lamps, a bigger vacuum sealer that would need to be plugged in to use, a dehydrator (that she couldn't wait to use! She would finally be able to start drying out fruit to place in their 'go-bags'), two new books about preserving food, a pressure cooker, two cots... and then the best part of her find...

Archery equipment and hunting knives!

Chapter 15

Chapter Text

Margaret had an insane amount of equipment for archery. From a past conversation with the woman, she knew that the size of the bow you use depends on the size of the person on how long their arms are... But that was all she knew, so Esme decided not to skimp out on this matter and grabbed everything. Yes, everything.Allof the bows, targets, and arrows were transferred to the bed of her truck, she even took the crossbow that had been in the glass case. She had just been settling the last of the items onto the bed of the truck when Esme heard the scream.

"Help!" a baby was crying, and the groans of the dead following after them.

Adrenaline began to course through Esme's body. She had a choice right now. Esme had her own babies to go home to, babies that would probably start waking up in the next twenty minutes.

"Gahhh! Please!"

"Waaah!" the shriek of a terrified baby made her heart lurch and her stomach roll.

She couldn't just ignore a child. She couldn't. Esme jumped into her truck, turning it on and driving towards the screams around the corner. There was a thin-malnourished woman on top of a car surrounded by five rotters with a crying toddler attached to her hip. The arrival of her truck caused two of the rotters to turn in her direction and shuffle towards her, Esme ran them over viciously. A male rotter approached her window, she lowered the window by a crack before stabbing the damn thing in the head with her machete. The woman had stopped screaming, though the toddler was still crying as Esme opened her door and kicked the closest rotter to her onto the floor, stabbing the other approaching dead bastard with her machete and unhooking her hatchet with her other hand and flinging it into the cranium of the downed rotter.

Esme panted harshly at the workout before locking eyes with the stunned woman. Tears were streaming freely from the woman's face, blood dripping down from a vicious bite mark on her right arm, while a sobbing toddler was clutched in the other. That woman was a goner. She'd been too late to save her, but the boy, an adorable albeit dirty African-American toddler, didn't seem to have any injuries. Moans made Esme turn to look at a decrepit building at the end of the street that once been their local farmers market. About ten rotters were now slowly ambling in their direction.

Her eyes shot back to the stunned woman, "Move! Get in the truck!"

Esme ran back inside the truck, slamming the door closed and turning on the ignition, barely giving the terrified woman and child sliding into the passengers seat a glance before peeling out of the town square. Three minutes of tensed silence, rotters now long gone in her rearview mirror, Esme pulled over to the side of the road and turned the engine off to stare at the first adult she'd seen in months. The woman stared back at her with knowing and grief-filled eyes. The toddler had stopped his shrill cries and was now sniffling into the woman's dirty shirt. The boy wasn't as malnourished as the woman was, giving Esme the impression that the woman had been giving all of her food to her young charge.

"I've been bit." the woman murmured. It almost startled Esme when the woman croaked out into the silence first, she simply nodded in response. "I'm dead." the woman continued, "My name's Cindy, this is Andre. His momma was in ma ol' group, we got overrun.. don' think she made it out."

"I'm sorry." Esme whispered.

Cindy's eyes filled with tears. "Me too."

This felt like Heather all over again. She squared her shoulders before looking at Cindy with determination. "What do you want to do?"

"I-I..." Cindy stammered for a moment before looking down lovingly at the toddler in her arms and then back up at Esme, "C-Can you take 'im? I'm gonna turn an' I-I, Andre, he don' deserve that."

Esme looked at the toddler's beautiful brown eyes before sharing, "I have a toddler at home, Lilac. She's two. Do you know how old he is?"

Cindy blinked rapidly, relief seeming to drain into her body, "I think he turned three a little while ago... I don't remember what day his momma say hi birthday was, but he's been with me for a little over seven months."

"I scared." Andre's soft voice mumbled.

Cindy tightened her hold over the toddler, "I know Drey, but you have to be a big boy. I got bit, so- so this nice lady..."

"Esme." she offered.

"Esme, she gonna take real good care of you." Cindy continued, tears had started to stream down her face.

"No." Andre whined, "I don' wanna."

Cindy looked close to full-on sobbing now. Esme breathed in deeply before smiling softly at the scared toddler, "Hey Andre, or is it Drey, I'm Esme."

"Hi." the toddler grumbled.

"I know it's a little bit scary, right?" Esme asked him, speaking in the same soft and soothing manner she always did when Lilac woke up from a nightmare, "But I have some new friends that would just love to play with you."

Andre's brow wrinkled in confusion, "Friend?"

Esme let her smile widen in enthusiasm, "Oh, yes. I have a daughter named Lilac, she would love to play with you. And Lilac has three younger siblings too," Esme ignored Cindy's gasp at that revelation, "Thomas is only one year old but he would be happy to have another boy in the house. Even our cat Baily is a girl."

"A cat?" Andre smiled, showing off his cute dimples.

"Oh yes," Esme whispered in a 'secret' manner, "An orange cat. She loves to play, would you like to come play with her?"

"Okay!" The toddler giggled, before frowning and looking up at Cindy, "Can Cindy come?"

Cindy smiled sadly, "I'm sorry Drey, I can' come."

"But why!" Andre whined.

The woman pet his hair gently, "Baby, I got bit. Remember what I tol' you? If you get bit by one of the monsters ya turn into one. I'm gonna turn inta one of the monsters an' I don' want ta hurt you. Tha's why Esme's gonna take real good care fo you now until your momma comes." The toddler sniffled, tears once more brimming in his eyes, "Don' cry, you gotta be big boy. Drey you listen to Esme, okay?" she demanded before pressing kisses onto the toddlers forehead with fervor, "I love you Drey."

Cindy disentangled herself from the sobbing toddler, "I only got one more shot left in my revolver, is you hadn' come I would've put him out of his misery before throwing myself to the deadies. I-I'll put ma-self down. Don' wanna be one of those things."

Esme nodded, she gently pulled Andre onto her lap and rocked the toddler softly, "I'll take care of him for you."

The woman opened the door, and smiled at her in gratitude, "Gonna walk back ta the square, don' wanna draw the deadies close to ya."

"You did a good job." Esme blurted out before Cindy shut the door, the woman turned to look at her with wide startled eyes, "You did a good job taking care of Andre. He's alive because of you. Thank you. I think his mother would be grateful, thank you for taking care of him, I'll take it from here. We won't forget you, Cindy."

Cindy let out a sob before a shaky smile pulled on the corners of her lips, "Thank you." the woman whispered before shutting the doors. Andre let out a cry that Esme smothered by pressing his face into her shoulder.

"Shhh, shhh. It's okay. I got you. It's okay."

Esme started to drive again when she heard the gunshot.

She needed to get home.

Now.

Chapter 16

Chapter Text

It took Esme a week to get Andre to stop screaming at night for Cindy to come back. Her heart broke for the toddler, whose life had been flipped upside downagainin less than a year. Lilac had taken one wide-eyed look at the new addition to their makeshift family and had taken to following Andre around wherever he went, not that Andre complained since he was equally fascinated with his new playmate. Bailey had also welcomed the new toddler into the fold with the same easy-going manner she had with Esme's other four children, it was her younger three children that were taking some time to get used to the new addition. Esme suspected that although they were used to sharing with her time with each other, it had taken them by surprise how much time she had to invest in the new toddler. It was probably just jealousy and they'd grow out of it soon.

Primrose whined whenever Andre got near Esme before demanding to be picked up and Thomas had taken to snatching anything that he declared 'his' out of Andre's hands. She had to create a time out corner to sit her son in, thankfully Bora hadn't picked up on this habit. Instead, Bora simply squealed and ran away whenever Andre got too close, her sweet baby wasshyand it was so freaking cute, although when Boraapproachedthe oldest toddler she would simply give him cute gummy smiles. Thankfully, Andre didn't seem to mind the babies. He was rather fascinated with them on the other hand... the toddler had probably never seen babies that young before, or at least didn't remember meeting younger children.

The snow had all melted from the earth over the last few days, to her eternal gratitude since she'd had to spend a couple of days moving supplies out of the truck and into the daycare on top of taking care of her brood (not to mention, that now Esme didn't need to climb onto the roof and sweep off any snow that had refused to budge off the solar panels because just the thought of it was an accident waiting to happen). One of the heaters she'd kept in the basem*nt for the chickens broke yesterday, much to her displeasure, and Esme hadn't a clue on how to fix the damn thing. She simply decided to replace it with the heaters she'd taken from the Hearth's household. She had originally planned on starting to tend to the garden today, but that had been derailed by the storm now completely raging outside.

The wind was howling furiously as it raged against the windows and through the trees in the surrounding forest. Esme was once more prioritizing the use of the electricity in the apartment, she unplugged all of the unnecessary appliances, even the stove and microwave only plugging one of them in when she needed it, and only kept the five heaters plugged in to keep the living room and her bedroom warm. Oil and battery-powered lanterns lit up the room as Andre and Lilac were enjoying the three tents she'd set up for their 'camp-out' while her three babies played with soft toys in the playpen. Esme simply smiled softly at her children while she laid on the couch, a heating pad pressed on the small lump on the underside of her left breast, Bailey was taking advantage of the warmth and pressed herself against the pad and purred languidly. How Esme got a clogged milk duct whilst she breastfed the most children she ever had under her care was a freaking mystery and it would hopefully resolve itself within the next day or so. Up until now the only problem she had come across was one of the babies latching too hard and accidentally biting her nipples with their tiny but sharp teeth(thatwasnotfun).

"Y-y el oso haceroar!" Lilac growled as she brought her brown bear up to Andre's face. The little boy screamed in mock-fear before bursting out into giggles and running away from Lilac who was now chasing after him. Andre didn't understand a lick of Spanish, not that Lilac seemed to have noticed, but the toddler had already picked up on some of the more common words used in the house by her children(no, si, leche, mio, oso/osito, gato, tele, comida).

"Oh no! Theosogonna git me!" Andre exclaimed as he ran around the couch and jumped up on the cushion across from Esme. "AH! Help! Esme!"

Esme smiled, "Oh no!" she exclaimed in false fear as she pulled Andre onto her lap, ignoring a squinting Bailey who was refusing to move from her warm perch and instead snuggled even further, "Who's gonna save us?"

Lilac paused in front of them, her brown eyes wide, "Yo!Me!" she proclaimed before throwing the bear onto the floor and blowing it a raspberry, "Badoso!Go 'way!"

"Yay!" Andre cheered as he hopped down and wrapped Lilac in an enthusiastic hug.

"Aaah!" Thomas grunted angrily, his little hands were fisted as he grabbed on the back of the couch and glared, "Ah no!Mio!"

Esme gently bopped Thomas' nose, Lilac and Andre were already running off to the tent without care, "No. Not yours. We have to share."

Bora had pulled herself up to peer at them as well, she babbled happily before giving Esme grabby hands, "Mamamama!"

BOOM

RUMBLE

CRACK

The shrieks of her kids filled the air, mixing with Bailey's yowl as the cat ran into Esme's room and under the bed. Even over the noise, as she gathered the kids into her arms and began to soothe them ("Shhh, shhh... It's only lightning, we're okay... It's okay, mama's here... Shh, shhh...") Esme could still hear the sound of wood cracking, splintering and crashing into something over the rain. An ominous feeling bloomed into the pit of her stomach. Something was not right. The moment that her children calmed down, Esme sprinted into her bedroom and peaked out of the blinds.

Crap!

The branch of an oak tree that had hung over into the back yard (Daisy had told Mitchlastyear that he should have cut down that damn branch, but noooo) had been struck by the lightning and had fallen, crashing into the wooden/chainlink fence surrounding the property. She could see some stubborn flames still clinging onto the tree and even the branch but the rain was quickly putting it out. The problem was that now, for the first time since the start of the apocalypse there was a breach in her fence. A breach, big enough that it could be used by rotters to get inside. The window facing the garden wasn't covered!

f*ck!

She still had some plywood in the basem*nt that she could use to cover the windows... but she needed to move now! Who knew if any rotters in the area had heard the clap of the lightning and were now heading in their direction because of the sound. Damn it. Damn it. Esme couldn't have one goddamn day without something happening.

"Mama has to go to the basem*nt for a little bit." she stated once she walked back into the living room, "I need you guys to be quiet. Remember the rule's when mama's not here?" she asked before reciting the limerick with Lilac and Andre (it was practically the first thing that she had taught the male toddler when he arrived), "Inside voice, quiet. Inside voice, shhh. Inside voice, quiet. Mama's coming soon."

Chapter 17

Chapter Text

It's been five days since the storm.

The breach in the fence is big, and there really wasn't anything that Esme could do about it. She didn't have enough plywood to begin patching up the wooden fence, and even if she did Esme wasn't comfortable with the idea of banging nails into the wood without having someone watching her back as she worked. Sometimes rotters were quiet, unable to moan because their throats have been ripped out, and she didn't want to be caught unawares... especially because there had been more movement in the area for the first time in months. Two small herds (both around ten rotters in number) had passed by, two of them had gotten stuck inside the garden. Every once in a while one of the garden rotters would bump into the fence and 'bounce' off and walk in the other direction but they couldn't seem to figure out just how to get out again. Just that morning Esme spied five rotters roaming around the backwoods, take one glance in the direction of the trapped rotters and just amble away when they didn't see or probably smell anything living.

For that reason, Esme elected to leave the rotters be for now. Even if it made the hair on the back of her neck rise at having such a threat so close to her babies. Unsurprisingly, it did make going downstairs an uncomfortable affair. She wasn't used to having sneak around in her own home. The world was a dangerous place but the daycare had been their sanctuary, a small slice from their old world and life that had been left virtually untouched by the apocalypse. Now it was tarnished and Esme no longer felt nearly as safe and prepared as she had before the storm. Now going down to the basem*nt during the kids' nap time was the most dangerous part of her day, Lilac and Andre were sad that they could no longer come down with her to feed Peep and Pio or collect their eggs but Esme would not budge on that decision no matter how much the toddlers whined.

Esme had lost an astonishing amount of weight recently. She mostly chalked it up to the amount of stress she was under and her mounting anxiety over the breach, but she was starting to worry that it would affect her milk production. That was when Esme realized that she hadn't been eating enough, mostly because she was seemingly never hungry anymore. Outside of her daily routine, which consisted of taking care of her children, Esme hadstopped. She stopped caring about herself outside of the children. She no longer read any of her favorite novels, she hadn't touched her guitar in over a month (not even during music time), she didn't write in her journal anymore unless it was to take inventory, she couldn't look at the pictures hanging in her living room without cringing, she was lethargic and it was hard for her to get up in the morning, she'd just been so exhausted recently... Esme wasn't a fool. She recognized her own symptoms.

Depression.

The ugly word reared its head at her. Daisy had convinced her to see a therapist a year after they'd met, to help Esme confront her issues and the depression that had engulfed her after escaping Spain. Talking to a stranger about her less than perfect childhood hadn't been easy, taking meds to balance out her hormones or whatever it was (she just used to scathingly call them herhappypills). Over the year she'd been in therapy she had warmed up to the woman, no longer afraid of being judged for innermost thoughts or feelings, even then Esme was happy when she no longer had to go see her. She'd continued to take the meds for another year or so before she stopped altogether.

Among the medication, she'd taken from the pharmacy Esme had found Prozac, the exact prescription she once used to take. But Esme wasn't going to take it. One of the main reasons she decided to stop taking her antidepressants was to become a wetnurse. Nursing and drugs, no matter how helpful they were to her mental health, did not go hand in hand. She wasn't going to compromise the health of her children because Esme was losing it. So Esme did the only thing she could do in a situation like this, she locked herself in the bathroom one evening after everyone was asleep and allowed herself to feel. To feel all of the loss that'd been clinging onto her frame since all this sh*t started. To mourn for all of the deaths... To mourn for herself, and the days she would never get back. For her children. For her loneliness... The morning after her break down, Esme felt lighter. She served a hearty breakfast, cleaned, and played with her children.

Another week passed before Esme remembered Lincoln, he was once known as the town hoarder, had a pile of plywood for sale during the last garage sale he'd had that hadn't sold. With luck, they would still be there. Lincoln's place wasn't far, three-minute walk through the woods. It'd be a simple walk, she'd taken the path to go visit that old coot about a million times before. But that was exactly it,before.Esme figured it was worth the risk if that she could fix the damn fence, not that she'd rush it. If anything she would just scout the area quickly on foot before running back. She wasn't going to use the truck unless she needed to, Esme really needed to preserve gas. During the kids' nap time, she locked the doors before quietly moving a changing table in front of the bottom door and quietly slipping out of the front. Esme moved quietly through the underbrush, her machete in hand.

Voices.

Esme's eyes widened, she hid behind the foliage as she spied at the men looting through Lincoln's junk. One of them laughed raucously as they kicked a crawling rotter on the ground.

"No survivors?" another asked.

"Nah," an African American man grunted as he walked out of Lincoln's home, "Besides, ya know the Govner don' wanna take in strays taday. Purgin' day."

Laughter filled the air.

Esme swallowed down her fear before she carefully began retreating, as soon as she was out of earshot she ran and ran until she was back in the safety of the daycare. No more trips outside.

Chapter 18

Chapter Text

It was April now. The weather had done a complete one-eighty compared to the temperatures during March and early February. There were still three rotters trapped in the garden, though they were useful in keeping larger herds away... as proved by a herd made up of twenty rotters disinterest in the daycare three days ago. Esme and her brood had gone through about eighty-five percent of their remaining preserves, and considering the fact that Esme can't fix the fence any time soon (she had no intention of finding out who this 'Governor' asshole is, seriously, the world f*cking ends andmenare still the biggest threat to her livelihood) they wouldn't be able to get fresh fruit and veggies like they did during the warmer months.

In other words, Esme was f*cked.

She wasn't blind or stupid enough to pretend that she wasn't terrified of going out on another run now that sheknewfor a fact that there were other, volatile, survivors scoping the area. Esme was realistic enough to know that any confrontation between herself and a group of men wouldnotgo in her favor. She was too short and too skinny to do any real damage. She'd only just started training with a bow and could only hit the bullseye two out of ten times, sure Esme had gotten rather good at throwing her hatchet but that still required for her not to be too far from her target. The reality was that Esme wasafraid.

For the first time in years, she was afraid of what these men could do to her.

What they might do to her children.

(She wasn't stupid, blind nor deaf, her babies were a blessing but they could also ring the metaphorical, hell literal, dinner bell for rotters).

Esme had always been careful about rationing their food, now she was even more fanatic about it. Not a single morsel went to waste, they couldn't afford it. If push really came to shove, she would have to go through the emergency supplies inside of the car, but Esme did not want it to go that far. Thankfully Peep and Pio were still producing enough eggs to feed them all, but once their feed was finished and she couldn't feed them anymore... well, she had learned how to pluck and prepare a chicken.

"Mami why Drey went peepee on the bed?" Lilac asked curiously, her head tilted to the side as she watched Esme strip the mattress.

Even before Andre had been welcomed into her fold, Lilac had been sleeping with Esme in the bed for a couple of months now. After all, Esme couldn't fit another crib into her room and it made Lilac happy to be close to her at night. It had only made sense that Andre would sleep with them on the comfy Queen as well. Unfortunately, any night that Andre had a nightmare, like last night, the toddler would wet the bed in his sleep. This only meant that Esme would have to wash the sheets and their clothes before the three of them take a quick bath to get the urine off their skin.

Andre sniffled, "I didn' mean to."

Esme smiled at the three-year-old gently, "I know baby, it's okay. Lilac, it was just an accident, but mama's making it all better now."

"Okay...mama quiero ver tele." Lilac requested hopefully.

She swallowed an amused chortle, the babies were still thankfully asleep. "Alright, after our bath, I'll put on Tarzan."

Andre and Lilac exchanged excited looks before running to the bathroom. Tarzan was their new favorite movie.

The morning continued on in the same peaceful manner. Lilac and Andre were playing with the blocks she'd brought up, while her youngest three were in the playpen with their own soft toys. Bailey was winding her thin body between Esme's legs as she prepared lunch. Of course, that was when Esme heard the sound of a motorcycle approaching the daycare and parking around the back of the building. Esme turned the stove off before running to her bedroom and peeked through the blinds. Two figures, a man and a woman, quickly took care of the rotters in the garden before they approached the back door.

"sh*t." Esme hissed before running into the living room, "Lilac and Andre go inside the bedroom." she demanded before grabbing Primrose and Bora, "We have to hide from the monsters okay."

Lilac whimpered as she followed Esme into the bedroom, "The monsters here?"

"Yes," Esme responded calmly before going back to grab Thomas and plop him down beside his younger sisters, "Remember what mama said, we have to be quiet."

"They gonna come eat us!" Andre whined in fear as he rubbed his eyes. Lilac gasped clutching her nighttime plushie to her small frame.

Esme pulled the scared toddlers into a hug, "Shhh, it's okay mama's going to make it all better."

The back door downstairs splintered open. Esme went into the kitchen and brought the kids their snacks before depositing a disgruntled Bailey, her cat had been angling for a treat for the last hour with her 'cute' antics, in her room and shutting the door. She only hesitated for a moment before slipping her boots on grabbing her weapons, Esme crept down the stairs avoiding all of the squeaky steps and pressed her ear against the door. She could hear footsteps and quiet whispers on the other side... they were looking for something.

"Clear." a deep male voice murmurs, "You find anything?"

"Not yet. Check the cupboards. There has to be formula in there." the female responded.

Formula.

You didn't go searching for formula unless there was a baby they needed to feed.

"Someone's been living here." the man stated factually.

f*ck.

The doorknob jingled as one of the intruders tried to open the door. Esme's hands trembled. What was she supposed to do? Were these intruders with the Governor asshole? But, they couldn't be that bad if they were scavenging for formula right? Was she willing to risk the lives of her children if they decided barging into her apartment was the right way to go about it?

That one was easy, hell no.

Esme steeled herself over before unlocking the door and opening it a crack, the chain wouldn't allow the door to open any further unless she unhooked it, she could hear another set of footsteps approaching.

"Who the hell are you?" the male voice growled.

She gripped her machete tightly, "I could say the same thing, asshole." Esme snapped, "What do you want?"

"We don't want any trouble." the woman responded, "We, we just need some baby formula. Please, do you know where they had it?"

Esme peered through the gap to look at the intruders. The man was tall and imposing, he had his crossbow aimed at her in a warning manner. The woman looked unkept and stressed, dried blood was on her arms but the look on her face was genuine and filled with grief.

"There isn't any formula left on this floor." she stated bluntly, "Why do you need it?"

The man scoffed, "Why do ya think?"

Esme ignored him, locking eyes with the woman, "How old is the baby?"

The woman hesitated unshed tears brimming in her eyes, "I-I today..."

The mother must have died during the birth, it was the only reason Esme could think of for them knocking down her door for formula. Her stupid bleeding heart broke for the faceless infant.

"f*ck." Esme whispered, not really caring if they heard her from the other side of the door, "Wait here."

She ran up the stairs and into her storage room before snatching an unopened can of formula. Esme was about to go back down before she decided to open the fridge and grab three bottles that she had pumped earlier in the morning before putting them into a tiny portable cooler and going back down. The intruders had been heatedly arguing about something before she had approached, she swallowed down her nerves before trying to thrust the can through the crack in the door only to sigh in frustration when she realized that it was too big to pass through.

"I-I am going to unlock the door. If you two try to hurt me or get passed me I won't hesitate to kill you." Esme promised before struggling to unlatch the chain with her hands full and nudged the door open a little more with her foot. "Here." she whispered, dumping the can in the woman's arms.

"Thank you." the brunette murmured. Esme chewed on her bottom lip, her right hand clutched the machete while her left hand still held the cooler.

"Do you have a way to heat milk?" she asked.

The man's eyes had never left her form though he had lowered the crossbow slightly, "Yeah."

Esme nodded before instructing, "Than take this. I pumped it this morning, you'll need to boil it for three minutes. Newborns need to eat once about every hour for the first few days."

"Pumped?" the man asked while the woman grabbed the cooler.

A cry, Primrose's from the sound of it, coming from upstairs made Esme's blood run cold, she'd forgotten to shut her apartment door like an idiot, while the two intruders gaze turned to her apartment. "Pumped." Esme repeated bluntly, masking her fear, "It's breast milk. Now get out of my home."

Another cry, Bora's this time, joined in.

These people need to leave.Now.

"Ya got kids?" the man asked, almost incredulously as if he couldn't believe that someone was stupid enough to have young children during the apocalypse.

Esme narrowed her eyes, "You've put us in enough danger as it is. The noise you've made will have attracted rotters."

The woman approached her tentatively but stopped when Esme flinched back, "We don't mean any harm..." she said soothingly, "I-My name's Maggie. This is Daryl." she gestured over her shoulder at the man.

"Esme." she returned after a moment.

"How many kids ya got up there?" the man, Daryl asked again.

"Does it matter?" she snapped in annoyance. All Esme wanted was to go back upstairs and calm down her distressed babies, "You need to go and I need to get back upstairs. Close the back door on your way out."

Maggie moved closer once more, "Is there anyone else here? To help you?" Something on her face must have given her away since the brunette's features softened, "We have a safe place. You can come with us. We can help you."

Daryl's incredulous eyes snapped towards his companion before they moved to observe her once more.

"No, you don't." Esme whispered, "Now leave, I got five babies that need me and you two need to get back to that newborn."

"Five!" the archer exclaimed, "How the hell- You know what, she's got a point the baby's not gonna last much longer."

The brunette looked conflicted, and if Esme was being honest so did Daryl, "We'll come back."

It sounded like a promise. One that Esme wasn't sure that they would follow through with or that Esme would even want to leave with them. She didn't know them, they might be with that Governor asshole even if they did have a baby, and she didn't want to be involved with that bullsh*t. The intruders, Maggie and Daryl peeled off on the man's motorcycle towards their group, while Esme just battered down the hatches and prepared to spend the rest of the day in knots as her anxiety continued to ride out at the 'friendly' encounter she had with the survivors.

It appeared that Esme may not be the only decent adult left alive.

Was it weird that she didn't know how she felt about that?

Chapter 19

Chapter Text

Esme was right. All the commotion the intruders had made, attracted the unwanted attention of rotters. There were ten walking corpses idling around the vicinity of the daycare, so far the rotters hadn't seemed too interested in gettingintothe building but they weren't leaving either... It only served to add an extra amount of stress to the whole situation.

Either way, Esme spent the rest of the day calming her scared children and trying to ignore her own rising panic. Had she'd been a fool for helping Daryl and Maggie? Giving them a precious can of baby formula, and then letting them go? They knew where she was now. They knew about herchildren. What if they came back? What if they wanted to hurt her? What if they stole all of her hard-earned supplies? What if they were a part of the Governor's group? What if? In the end, Esme convinced all of the kids to take an extra-long afternoon nap, mostly because she needed one too.

The next day, Esme decided to be prepared for anything. Even if the intruders from yesterday decided to adhere to their promise and come back... She was starting to think that it would be better if they weren't there or at the very least ready for them. She started to pack the necessities and pile them up by the door. An entire suitcase was filled up with the clothes she had gathered for the kids (winter wardrobe and cloth diapers included, as well as their blankies) and their favorite plushies. She started gathering all of their dry food in a pile on the counters, before serving everyone a hearty breakfast.

Her kids seemed to know that something was different or maybe they were still feeling the effects from Esme's fear-induced scramble from yesterday since they were all rather subdued today. Bailey was curled around Lilac and Andre as she enjoyed the rough pets from Esme's toddlers. Bora was chewing on a frozen teething ring while she ignored a semi-hyper Thomas as he builds towers up with only to have them knocked down by a mischevious Primrose.

Esme smiled before going back to work. She filled her backpack full of hygiene supplies and left her breast pump on top of the bag for easier access. Esme rummaged through her closet as she chose out the most useful articles of clothing (three longsleeved shirts, two newer tanktops, five bras because one can never take a good clean bra for granted, a dozen underwear, thermal longjohns, one jeans, two sweat pants, and as many socks as she could fit) before carefully folding them into one of her heavy-duty bags, she only hesitated for a moment before adding her photo album and Spanish bible.

There were still rotters loitering her property so she wasn't too keen on loading things onto her truck just yet but Esme did start bringing stuff down into the cubby room as quietly as she could. She even grabbed one of the newer bassinets from the newborn classroom in case the intruders came back (their newborn was going to need it).

It was lunchtime, a chaotic event as usual, when Esme heard the tale-tell signs ofcompanypulling up to the daycare. Anxiety thrummed through her body as she peered through the blinds in the living room to see who was parking in front of her home, some of that panic lessened when she saw the woman and man from yesterday exit from one of the trucks. An Asian man in dirtied clothes accompanied them this time and the noisy motorcycle from yesterday was thankfully absent. The three survivors quickly dispatched of the rotters that had been hovering before they began to go around the school to enter once more through the backdoor.

Esme moved away from the window before deciding to go downstairs to meet them, she didnotforget to close the door behind her this time. The trio had entered the garden when she opened the backdoor. She threw her hatchet expertly at a crawling rotter that'd been about to take a bite out the Asian man's leg, before watching as the three survivors took care of the last four rotters.

The Asian man was observing her quietly before he grabbed her hatchet from the skull of the dead rotter and offering it to her with a small grateful smile. She returned the smile uneasily, before letting them pass inside and closing the door again.

They were all quiet for a moment, simply observing each other. Maggie and the Asian looked to be around her age in their early to mid-twenties, while Daryl was probably already in his early thirties. The apocalypse hadn't been good to the intruders. Their eyes were hallowed with grief but there was a certain strength hidden in their eyes.

"You came back." Esme murmured in slight disbelief, breaking the silence.

Maggie smiled, "Yeah, we did."

An awkward silence fell upon them once more before it was interrupted by the new man she didn't know, "I-I'm Glenn." he introduced himself.

A small smile pulled on Esme's lips, "Esme." she offered before turning back to the brunette, "Yesterday you said that ya'll have a safe place?"

"It's a work in progress." the archer answered gruffly, "Used ta be a prison, but it's got fences and walls. Keeps walkers out."

"It's lunchtime," Esme informed them bluntly in a manner that must have startled them since they were giving her strange looks, "I left the kids upstairs. We should finish talking about this up there."

The weird looks seemed to vanish before Maggie nodded encouragingly.

Esme led them to the stairs before stopping them as she hung up her hatchet next to her machete, "Leave your weapons here, I don't bring them up where the kids can touch them."

Daryl grumbled for a moment before dropping his crossbow while Glenn and Maggie complied without hesitation after her explanation. When Esme unlocked her apartment door and walked in with three strangers behind her, all of her children got quiet and stared.

Chapter 20

Chapter Text

Primrose's distressed cry broke the awkward silence. Lilac and Andre ran into the kitchen and hid behind the bar before peaking out to stare at the newcomers.

Esme smiled in a reassuring manner as she picked up her youngest, rocking in her in the same soothing manner she always did, "Lilac, Andre these are mama's friends. You don't need to hide. They are gonna sit on the couch and talk with mama for a little bit."

"Play?" Lilac asked hesitatingly as she started to come out.

"You can still play with Andre, but finish lunch first." Esme replied before pointing to the abandoned plates on the floor. Andre was the first to sit back down, Lilac stared at the strangers with wide eyes for a few more moments before following the other toddler to her own bowl of mac n' cheese.

Primrose had stopped crying as Esme invited the other three survivors to sit on the couch and sitting down with them as well when Daryl elected to stand awkwardly in the corner. Her guests had been surveying her apartment with wide eyes.

"You really have five kids." Glenn broke the silence.

She snorted as Bailey jumped onto the back of the couch, startling Glenn, before walking delicately towards Esme's shoulder of the couch and laying down, "Who would lie about that?"

Maggie smiled somewhat awkwardly, "It's just a bit... unbelievable. You were able to keepfivebabies alive all year..."

Esme nodded in understanding. It did sound a bit ridiculous, but that was her reality, and God she was happy that she'd been succeeding. "I've been lucky." she offered, "When the outbreak hit, I was already here."

"You worked here?" Glenn asked.

"Yup, I've been living in this apartment for six years now."

"These kids ain't yours, are they?" Daryl asked bluntly as he stared at her with his piercing blue eyes, as if he could read the answer from her face alone.

"Not biologically." Esme admitted, "I've only had Andre for over a month now. But the others, their parents died early on so I've been caring for them since then."

Maggie's face slackened in disbelief, "I-Wow."

She shrugged her shoulders, "What were you saying about the safe place? Prison? Your group is willing to let us in? All seven of us?"

"Seven?" the archer asked.

"Well, I'm not leaving my cat behind," Esme stated bluntly, Daryl had an incredulous look on his face that she ignored expertly, Primrose was giggling cutely as she ran her chubby fingers over the tabby's orange fur. Bora had stood up now and was peering over the brim of the couch to stare curiously as she shoveled celery into her mouth. Esme shot her daughter a small smile, making Bora smile clumsily in return as her chubby cheeks stretched.

"Wait a minute." Glenn interrupted before gesturing to the gaggle of babies behind them, "If you didn't give birth to them, how can you- how can you- you know..." he motioned to her chest awkwardly.

"Breastfeed?" she finished bluntly while raising her eyebrow in an unimpressed manner. Glenn blushed, hell even the archer's cheeks reddened before looking away when Esme looked at him.

"Yeah, that..." Glenn mumbled. Maggie leaned in curiously to hear her answer as well.

Esme shrugged nonchalantly, "I was a certified wetnurse."

"Wetnurse?" Maggie asked, "I didn't know people still did that?"

"It's not too common," Esme admitted, "I started doing it when the mama of one of my charges died unexpectedly. Owen's daddy didn't want to start him on formula so I offered to go to my doctor and have them kickstart my lactation so that I could help them."

"That was kind of you." Maggie whispered making Esme blush and look away. Daisy had said the same thing, after of course looking at her like she was insane for even contemplating becoming a human cow (Mitch's words not Daisy's... that man had been equally weirded out about breastfeeding at first, much like these two new men were).

"It was the right thing to do. Besides, I don't think we would have survived this long if I hadn't become a wetnurse. Primrose here, was only eight days old when everything started." Esme pressed a small kiss on her youngest's dirty blonde hair. "Thomas and Bora were also under six months old and dependent on formula and breast milk... I definitely would have run out of formula cans by now..." she mumbled to herself as she looked at her curious little ones from where they were eating in the playpen. Bora had sat down and was stuffing somewhat stale cheerios into her mouth while Thomas offered her a goldfish cracker sweetly.

She was a million times grateful for her decision to become a wetnurse. It had saved the lives of her children.

"How is the baby?" Esme asked as she turned to look at them.

"She's fine." Daryl grunted, "Lil' Ass Kicker guzzled down that milk you gave us when got back."

"That's good!" Esme smiled widely at the man, ignoring the man's strange reaction (honestly it wasn't like she had said something odd), she allowed relief to blossom in her chest. She'd been worried for the faceless babe. The poor little one must have been starving for hours before they got back. After all the nearest prison was a county or two away.

"We want you to come with us." Maggie stated confidently grabbing Esme's attention immediately, "Our leader's w-wife is the one who passed away during childbirth. There had been a breach in the prison at that time and we got separated. I had to perform an emergency c-section to save the baby."

"A breach?" Esme questioned immediately.

"A former prisoner led a group of walkers into an area we'd already cleared." Glenn explained, "We lost some people."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Esme said in a soft voice. The grief in the strangers' eyes and body language was palpable.

"We took care of it." Daryl whispered.

Maggie nodded, "We told Rick, that's our leader, that we found you this morning. He's not handling the death of his wife too well but he didn't object bringing you all back with us. My daddy practically demanded that we bring you."

Esme nodded before biting harshly on her lower lip, "I-Is your leader, Rick, the Governor?"

"Governor?" Glenn asked. "Who's that?"

Gracias a Dios.

"A week or so ago, I was going on a supply run to a house close by to here for some plywood. I spotted some men in the house I was going to." Esme divulged, "They weren't good men. Talking about a Governor not wanting to 'take in any survivors today' and that it was 'purging day.' I ran home as soon as I was out of earshot and haven't gone on a run again."

Worried looks immediately bloomed on their faces. "That doesn't sound good." Glenn mumbled.

"No. It doesn'. We gotta tell Rick 'bout this." Daryl grumbled before he began to chew on the fingernail of his thumb nervously.

"Mama I finish." Lilac proclaimed as she ran to Esme's side and showed her the clean bowl, "Puedo jugar?"

"Yeah, baby." Esme smiled, "You can go play now."

"Finished too!" Andre mumbled as he approached the couch cautiously.

"You can play too." she stated. The two toddlers smiled before running into the bedroom and coming back out with the tub of plastic dinosaurs.

"Play!" Thomas squealed as he pulled himself up and grabbed the back of the couch to look at Esme pleadingly. Esme got up, Primrose on her hip since she had started to doze off, and grabbed a couple of dinosaurs with her free hand before dumping them in the playpen for Thomas and Bora to share. The two one-year-old's squealed as a symphony of roars broke out in the room.

"W-We will come." Esme murmured when she saw the soft smiles being given to her happy children. "If you'll take us. I-I don't want to be alone anymore." she admitted in a whisper.

Chapter 21

Chapter Text

Things started moving rather fast after that. Daryl and Glenn helped load the stuff she'd left in the cubby room onto the bed of her tuck as Esme and Maggie grabbed all of the foam tiles from the daycare and stuffing them in a plastic bag. The prison floor was all made of concrete and it would make a good safe rug for the kids' room. Esme packed all of the medicine she had collected over time into a crate and brought it down, while Maggie started to bring down the food she'd been collecting.

Daryl and Glenn had given her incredulous looks when she led them down into the basem*nt and introduced the men to Peep and Pio. They were definitely taking the chicken coup with them and the two men loaded it onto the bed of the truck they had brought. The three potted plants (cabbage, lettuce, and celery) were also brought up since they were planning on making a crop field in the fenced prison yard as well as her unopened packets of seeds. Daryl, in particular, was thrilled when she showed him all of the archery equipment she had pilfered at the thrift shop.

They grabbed five pack n' plays and loaded it as well as crib mattresses to fill the bottoms and make them more comfortable. Maggie had expressed her relief at the sight of the bassinet for Lil' Ass Kicker, apparently, the newborn hadn't been named just yet and they'd had to place the infant in a padded box to sleep in last night.

(Esme instructed Lilac and Andre to choose their two favorite toys to bring with them to their new home. The toddlers predictably chose their dinosaurs, blocks, cars, and barbies so Esme put them away into a bin and brought them down. Daryl had looked at her oddly when she asked him to load it on the truck, but he had thankfully not refused her.)

She gathered linens and blankets for everyone in the prison group and dumped them into a plastic container that had once held Halloween decorations. Maggie and Glenn were impressed with her collection of food processors/canning supplies and convinced Darly to help them load it in their truck (not that the man needed much convincing when he learned that she could make jerky with the dehydrator). Esme prepared a bag filled with smaller baby clothes, most of which had once belonged to Primrose, for the new infant before taking a small break to pump breast milk.

Daryl and Glenn had gotten red so fast, tripping and pushing each other out of the way like children, when they'd walked in on her pumping one breast and feeding a cranky Bora on the other (the babies would take their afternoon nap in the car ride to the prison, so they were all a bit groggy and cranky now). Maggie had burst out into laughter at Esme's unimpressed look before going back to preparing some snacks for the kids.

(Esme wasn't really body shy anymore, Mitch had walked in on her pumping milk or breastfeeding too many times for her to feel shy about it... besides, it was like Daisy had said: it was a natural thing and nothing to be embarrassed about... Men were just weird.)

"This is a rather impressive place," Maggie commented. "We haven't had electricity since... well the beginning."

Esme nodded, "This was a hippie community. My boss, D-Daisy, was no exception. She had solar panels and a water system installed the moment she could. I-I'm gonna miss this place."

Maggie looked at her curiously, "Why did you decide to come with us? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you decided to come with us, but when we offered we didn't realize all the advantages this place has."

"I said it before," Esme shrugged trying not to let the crippling loneliness appear on her face, "I'm tired of being alone. It's been reallyhard... on my own. I love my kids, but I can't really talk with them you know. Our supplies have been dwindling. And now, with this Governor character scoping the area, I just don't feel safe anymore."

"I understand." Maggie murmured, "You won't be alone anymore."

It took another hour for the group to get everything they wanted to bring with them packed and loaded onto the bed of the truck. Bailey was already in her cat carrier and in the back seat of Glenn's truck, now it was only time to strap the kids into the car seats and leave.

"Lilac. Do you remember what mama said about going outside?" Esme asked seriously. The two-year-old bobbed her head.

"Es peligroso.Have to be quiet and talk with hands." Lilac nodded once more as she responded in the same serious tone.

"That's right." Esme praised before turning to Andre, "We have to be very quiet alright? So that the rotters can't hear us."

The little boy nodded, his eyes wide with fear, "Promise. Cindy say we has to be quiet, shhh."

Esme nodded sadly, "That's right."

Her fellow adults looked at her questioningly, but Esme ignored that in favor of depositing a wide-eyed Bora into the arms of Maggie before doing the same to Thomas and Glenn (Thomas was handling itmuchbetter than Glenn, who was eyeing her son like he was a bomb waiting to go off any moment, men). She picked up Lilac and held Andre's hand as she led them downstairs, they quickly strapped the kids into the truck (well they strapped in Bora and Thomas into two of the car seats while Andre and Lilac were sat in the front, they would sit on her lap for the ride since they didn't have any more seats in her truck and Esme didn't want to be separated from her kids during the ride) while Daryl watched their backs. Three rotters had appeared earlier when they'd been loading supplies so now they were all on edge now. Esme ran back upstairs to pluck a dozing Primrose from her stripped mattress.

This was it. They were really leaving. As she turned from her bed her foot caught onto an object underneath the wooden frame. Esme's heart leaped in her throat as she crouched on the ground, carefully maneuvering Primrose so she wouldn't wake, to see what she almost tripped over. Her guitar.

Mitch's teasing expression and Daisy's smiling face popped into her mind. Unbidden tears sprung to her eyes as she pulled the black case out. She had packed the Harry Potter and Narnia books in the glove box of the car already, but she'd left her acoustic behind. It was an instrument, loud and not becoming for survival situations where silence and only necessities were needed. It hurt.

"You wanna take it with us?"

Esme whipped her head around to look at Daryl from where he was hovering in the doorway. "Please." she whispered.

The man gruffly bent over and grabbed the handle of the case before motioning her out the door, "Let's go, 's getting late."

She nodded, giving the man a gentle smile as she got up and stood by his side, "Thank you, Daryl."

Esme gave her barren looking apartment one more once-over before locking the door behind her and going downstairs. She locked every single door, ignoring the amused look she got from Glenn, before strapping Primrose into the last car seat and getting into the passenger's side of her truck as Daryl got into the driver's. Esme sat Lilac onto her lap and snuggled Andre into her side, Daryl started up the truck and began following Glenn and Maggie.

Chapter 22

Chapter Text

Daryl had been kind, or awkward, enough to ignore the silent tears that had streamed down Esme's face during the first ten minutes of the drive. Like she'd predicted, the kids had all conked out during the first few minutes of the trip so it was peacefully quiet. Esme turned her head to quietly observe the man driving her vehicle. The older man wasn't what one would call stereotypically handsome, but Esme found herself internally admiring his features anyway.

He was buff,especiallyhis arms, probably from all the exercise he was getting from hauling around his crossbow and running for his life in-between shooting down rotters. He was tall, much taller than she was, but it wasn't as intimidating as it had been when she'd first laid eyes on him. His shoulders hunched somewhat as if the weight of the world was being carried upon his shoulders. His lips were thin, framed by a disheveled looking goatee, and despite the perpetual frown that seemed to rest on Daryl's face, his eyes were kind and somehowsoftwhen they stumbled over her children. His hair was a dirty brown color and was starting to lengthen in some areas since he'd probably hadn't had a haircut in a long time. His voice was soothing to listen to when he did speak, a true Georgian accent that would've made Daisy mockingly swoon before asking where he was from.

There was something about the way that Daryl carried himself that called to Esme. Something familiar. Something that made her pay attention to the way he reacted when she thanked him. Something that made kindness seem like a foreign language to the archer She would hold her suspicions in her heart and not mention them to the kind man. It was only fair. He'd been kind enough not make fun of her for the emotional tears or the guitar. She would keep her mouth shut.

"Is there somethin' on ma face or somthin'?" Daryl asked, blurted really as his cheeks colored somewhat in embarrassment. His eyes were a beautiful blue color that had specs of piercing green clouding them in some areas. They werebeautiful. Esme decided that she liked them best.

"No." Esme murmured, "I'm sorry if I'm staring... Everything is a bit strange, it feels like a dream."

"What does that mean?"

Esme gently ran her fingers through Lilac's blonde strands, before pulling Andre even closer to her as he dozed. "I don't know- It's just like I've been in limbo for so long... time has passed, but at the same time not. Sorry that's just weird, right? I haven't talked to another adult in so long... I-I'll shut up now." she finished embarrassed.

"It's not weird. You've been alone a long time, 'sides babies don' make good conversation." he spoke in a soft voice, "I'd of gone insane bein' alone with babies fer months."

A small snort escaped from her throat, "No me digas.After the first month with little to no sleep, I started talking to my cat like acrazy. When I realized... I,dios,I was so happy that Daisy did not see me or else she would have told Mitch andhewould definetly never let me forget." she smiled softly, sadness barely coloring her voice or features as she thought of the reactions her family would have had.

"Ya speak Spanish? Who's Mitch an' Daisy?"

"Mitch and Daisy owned the daycare." she expained, "They were my first friends here became my family even, when I moved here from Spain."

Daryl actually looked away from the road for a moment to look at her this time, "Spain?"

"Mhmm, Spain."

"So..." Daryl trailed off, "You're not American?"

Soft giggles erupted from her before she stated in a mock-offended tone, "No. Do I have to be?"

"Stop." the archer pleaded softly as his ears reddened, it seemed like the older man didn't handle teasing very well... it was kind of cute, "Didn' mean it like that, 's just why would someone like you wanna come ta Georgia?"

Esme's brow rose questioningly, she wasn't sure whether or not she should feel amused or actually offended this time... but she really only felt amusem*nt. "Someone like me?"

Red started to bloom on Daryl's cheeks now, "I-I mean Spain's in Europe right? Why would ya move Georgia of all places?"

Humming under her breath Esme decided to answer somewhat honestly, "It was the farthest place away from Spain I could get to with the money I had."

There was an...understanding/comfortable silence for a brief moment before the archer broke it once more, "Running away from your demons?"

"More like my father," Esme admitted unashamed (therapy had helped her come to terms with that), "He was not a good man."

"I hear ya." Daryl grunted after a moment, "Man I've never even been outta Georgia, what's Spain like?"

"Spain... Iguessit is beautiful."

"Youguess?" he snorted.

Esme smiled, "Yeah Iguess. I love Georgia more. I saw more happiness and beautiful scenes here than Ieverdid in Spain."

"That's ironic." Daryl laughed softly, it was a nice sound, "Dead people are walking everywhere."

Esme's laughter joined his, "Yeah, that's true."

The last five-ten minutes of the ride was filled with a companionable silence, Esme only started feeling the stirrings of anxiety again when the prison actually came into view. A preteen and dark-skinned man in a blue jumpsuit lured five rotters away from the gate as another man in the same prison-jumpsuit opened the gate before Daryl drove confidently through the two gates.

"Home sweet home." the archer murmured as he maneuvered her truck up the green pasture that had once been the recreational yard for the prisoners and into the last fenced gate that was opened by a stumbling older man leaning on crutches before he parked in the courtyard.

"This is it." Esme whispered nervously under her breath as she saw Glenn and Maggie disembark from their truck and greet the strangers running up to meet them.

Daryl grunted as he took in her nervous expression, "They don' bite."

She smiled shakily at him, "Hope not. There's enough of that going on outside the fence."

The man snorted in amusem*nt, before opening the driver's door and shutting it behind him as he moved towards the others. The sound of the slamming door and jarring of the truck stirred the two toddlers that'd been dozing on her. Lilac, in her very stereotypical manner, whined at the interruption of her sleep while Andre's eyes snapped open as his whole tiny body tensed with fear.

"Esme.." Andre whined as he gripped onto her stomach.

Esme rubbed his hair softly as she pulled him even closer to her, "Shhhh, it's okay I'm here. Everything's alright. We're in our new home."

"New home?" Andre asked, his tiny hands unclenching from the fabric of Esme's tanktop as he shuffled up to peer out of the window to see for himself, his chocolate brown eyes widened as he took in all the new faces waiting for them outside, "Wow!" he gasped making Lilac open her eyes and groggily glare at him, "Look at all the peoples!"

A small giggle escaped from her lips,diosshe loved children, "Yeah, we gotta go say 'hello' now. Come on Lilac, we have to get up now." Esme murmured as she pressed a kiss to the crown of her daughter's head, before stealing herself over and opening her door. Time to pull on her big girl panties and socialize like a normal adult.

Chapter 23

Chapter Text

The unfamiliar voices seemed to have further roused Lilac as she peeked to look around, Esme expertly balanced Lilac on her hip as she helped Andre hop out of the truck. A quick peek at the back seats let her know that her youngest three were still sleeping off their excitement from moving, and they would hopefully continue to do so for another hour or so as they settled in. Esme turned to look at her fellow survivors to see that she was being observed curiously by the members she hadn't met before.

A willowy blonde teenager had joined them from inside of the prison and was holding a small bundle in her arms next to the older man with the crutches (she only allowed surprise to blossom for a moment when she noticed that he was an amputee). The male preteen wearing a sheriff's hat was staring at her warily as he moved closer to the blonde, and the two former prisoners in the jumpsuits just stared at her kids incredulously.

A small nervous smile tugged onto the corners of Esme's lips, "Hello." she greeted. Maggie smiled at them welcomingly before pressing a kiss to the cheek of the man Esme assumed was her father before following Glenn to the truck to start unloading supplies.

"That's a baby!" Lilac gasped, her eyes were wide as she pointed at the bundle in the blonde's arms, before her daughter gasped once more and covered her mouth and whispered, "Oh no! Shhh! Has ta be quiet."

Andre looked up at her with wide eyes before wildly looking around and pressing himself against Esme's legs, "Rotters gonna git us?" he asked fearfully.

Esme kneeled down and let Lilac onto the ground beside Andre, ignoring the piercing looks she was getting, "No. We'll be okay, let's go say 'hi' to our new friends, okay?"

Lilac smiled widely as she turned to look at the adults, while Andre smiled nervously as she stood up. Lilac waved her hand enthusiastically, "Hola!I'm Lilac! I is two!"

Small smiles seemed to break out on the faces of the survivors. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad. "I'm Esme, and this is Andre." she introduced, "Thank you, thank you for letting us stay here. I-I will definitely pull my weight around here and the kids won't get in your way."

Maggie's father smiled gently at her, "My name's Hershal, Maggie's father, it's a pleasure to meet you all. Especially you Miss Lilac." he greeted her toddler, making Lilac giggle cutely, before turning his kind blue eyes to her once more, "I haven't seen this many smiling faces in so long, don't you worry too much about the children."

"Yeah, don' worry 'bout it too much Miss." the white man in the prisoner uniform jumped in, "I'm Axel, my sister had four lil' ones of her own, I'd be happy ta help!"

Daryl snorted as he pushed by them, he was carrying two of the pack n' plays towards the cell blocks, "Ya can start helpin' by unloading the truck."

Axel grumbled as his fellow ex-prisoner clapped him on the back and began leading them to the trucks, "Oscar." he offered amiably, though his smile was tinged with sadness when he glanced at her curious children. (Esme silently came to the conclusion that he had children of his own and had lost them, maybe to the outbreak or by his actions leading to his incarceration).

Lilac was feeling brave and she had approached the blonde teen with the baby and was asking her questions while babbling about her own brother and sisters. Her daughter was clutching Andre's hand, giving the toddler the courage he needed to let go of Esme's pants and greet the strangers.

"This is my youngest daughter Beth." Hershal gestured to the pretty teenager, "And this is Carl, the son of our leader Rick, and this baby is his younger sister."

She cautiously approached them and peered at the beautiful little girl being cradled in Beth's arms, "She's gorgeous." Esme praised before looking at Carl, the boy had tensed when she walked over but his face was a mixture of pride and grief, "She's very lucky to have a big brother like you."

The preteen blushed, shuffling on his feet, "Hmm."

"Mama up!" Lilac demanded, "Wanna see!"

Andre tugged on her pants as well, "Baby like Prim?"

Esme picked both of the children up, one on each side of her hip to see the newborn infant, "Yeah, but this baby is even more little than Primrose. Do you remember when Primrose was really tiny like that Lilac?"

"Yeah." Lilac mumbled, "Sleep lots."

Andre's eyes were comically wide as he peered at the baby before flinching when the infant started fussing and let out a cry. Beth immediately started to rock the infant in her arms while Carl hovered even closer to his baby sister. "Oh no!" Andre gasped, "Shh baby, shh."

"Mama,bebe tiene hambre."Lilac spoke 'wisely' before nodding decisively, "Needs to give herleche."

A small smile bloomed on Esme's face, "Yeah maybe the baby's hungry." she agreed before crouching down and setting the toddlers on the ground once more, Lilac whined in displeasure, "Uh-uh, Lilac.Eres muy pesada.You gotta stand like a big girl okay."

The little blonde only pouted for a moment, "Otay."

"They are very well behaved," Hershall commented. Beth was still rocking the infant in her arms as the small cries lessened.

Esme nodded, "Have to be. This world isn't safe for spoiled brats." She turned to look back at the two trucks full of supplies, "I-I should probably start helping unload. Lilac and Andre,vamos,you're gonna wait in the car until it's time to go inside."

"Okay." Andre chirruped, "Play?"

"Yeah, I got some toys in the car for you to play with while you wait, but you gotta be quiet, you don't want to wake up the babies."

"Mama y Bailey?"Lilac inquired for the orange cat.

Bailey... her cat wasnotvery happy when she was manhandled into the cat carrier and then deposited into the other truck. "I'll bring Bailey if you promise to be good."

"P'omise!" the toddlers swore in unison.

"You don't need to keep the little ones locked in the truck while you work. We can watch them here in the courtyard." Hershal spoke softly as they made their way to the truck. It seemed like Beth had decided to go inside with the fussy infant, but Carl was still loitering outside watching her and the others.

A nervous smile pulled on the corners of her lips, "Thank you for offering, but I-I would like to scope the area first before I let my babies roam free."

Hershal's blue eyes crinkled as an understanding smile graced his face. "Your fears aren't odd, I'll be happy to keep an eye on them in the truck so they aren't alone."

"Thank you." Esme beamed at him, gratitude palpable on her form. She helped get her munchkins settled in the car with Hershal before going to the other truck and plucking Bailey's carrier from the back seat. Her cat was currently giving her the stink eyes but seemed to be extremely relieved when she deposited her inside of the truck with the children and let her out. Hershal seemed particularly interested in her cat and Bailey warmed up to him almost immediately as she kneed on his legs before laying down.

Esme grabbed the plastic container with the cleaning supplies before following a thoughtful Oscar inside of the prison. He led her through the spacious cafeteria, Esme smiled at Beth who was feeding the baby, and into the Cellblock C. There were definitely some questionable stains on the walls that Esme wanted to get rid of...

"The cells in the corner are free." Glenn piped up from behind her, making Esme flinch in surprise, "Sorry about that." he apologized sheepishly.

"It's alright." she smiled before pointing at the last two cells on the ground floor and asking inquiringly, "Those ones are free?"

"Yup!" Glenn responded as he walked back out.

Esme quickly began to inspect the two cells. The one in the corner didn't have any bloodstains on the inside, though there was a suspicious-looking stain right outside of it. Her nose wrinkled somewhat in disgust before she pulled her brown hair into a low ponytail to keep it out of her face and began working. There was no way in hell that she and the kids were going to sleep in there unless it was clean.

No way in hell.

Chapter 24

Chapter Text

Esme was a fanatic when it came to cleanliness. She had to be, after all, small children were susceptible to all kinds of germs and illnesses. In the span of ten minutes, she had cleaned the cell that the kids were going to be sleeping in (even wiping down the bars of the cells with Clorox wipes because she justknewthat one of her babies were going to eventually decide to knaw on the bars) and had started working on the dried brown stain on the concrete floor in front of the cell. She sighed and stretched out her shoulders for a moment before deciding to go check on the kids and grab the foam rug to place on the floor.

She jogged out, waved at a smiling Beth, and didn't stop until she was at her truck once more.

"Mama!" Lilac cheered, the top half of her body hung out of the open window as she waved.

"Hey baby." Esme greeted kissing her head, "Are you being good for Mister Hershal?"

"Si!We has ta be quiet! 'Shal say babies sleepin,' shhh"

Hershal bend over to peer at her from the driver's side, Andre was on his lap clutching onto his Simba plushie, "Don't worry none, they are behaving."

"Thank you." Esme smiled, it seemed like the toddlers had warmed up to the grandfatherly man, it was cute, "I'm cleaning out one of the cells, I'm going to grab some things and bring them inside."

"Hey!" Daryl grunted as he unloaded one of the pack n' plays off the bed of the truck, "Where you want these?"

"I'm taking the last two cells on the bottom floor near the back, you can just bring them inside, I'll set them up once I'm disinfecting the area..." Esme replied, Daryl simply nodded as kept unloading the other pack n' plays, "Daryl do you think that it's possible to remove the toilets in the cells?" she asked cautiously as she began to rifle through the containers that'd been placed on the ground for the rug.

"Why you wanna get rid of 'em?" the archer asked curiously as he jumped down and continued to haul some boxes onto the concrete.

"Sanitary issues. Don't want the babies touching that and getting sick." a triumphant smile bloomed on her face when she finally found the rug.

"I'll see what I can do." Daryl grunted after a moment and grabbed Mitch's toolset from the truck. A small smile bloomed across her face at the man's gruff attitude. It was cute. The man was like a prickly hedgehog.

It took about two hours for her to get everything settled down, the two cells had been scrubbed to Esme's satisfaction. Daryl had been successful in removing the two toilets from the cells and had apparently started a movement when everyone else decided to get rid of them from their own quarters. The babies had woken up somewhere between Daryl dumping toilet number one out while Esme disinfected the other cell. She'd take a twenty-minute break to comfort her youngest children, change nappies, give them a snack and hand over their favorite toys to play in the car with before heading back in the prison to finish up.

In the cell the babies would be sleeping in, she had unscrewed the bunkbeds before dragging it out of the way (Oscar and Axel had been kind enough to get rid of it for her so that it wasn't blocking the hall). She covered all of the concrete floor in the cell with the rubber alphabet rug and even arranged it so that it covered the first three feet of the wall so that the babies wouldn't scratch themselves with the concrete if they tripped, before opening up the portable cribs and arranging them against the walls (she placed the mattress inside for extra padding and dressed the mattress with the linens she'd brought from home). Esme made them a play corner where she stacked all of the toys they'd brought with them.

In the cell that would turn into her bedroom, she unrolled the mattress topper on the bed that would become hers before arranging the linens and the pillow she brought from home. Bailey's cat bed and litter box were both placed inside of her new 'room,' she arranged the containers of their personal effects that couldn't be placed anywhere else in the left corner of the cell before placing one of the lanterns on top. On the top bunk, she shoved the suitcases with their clothes before declaring that she was finished for the day.

Honestly, Esme was so relieved that she was finished and that she could bring her kids inside where she could see them at all times. She was turning into one of those helicopter parents... then again they were in a new environment and Esme wasn't used to relying on others to take care of her kids... Yes, that was probably it.

The kids were all relieved when they saw her opening the truck doors, even Hershal seemed relieved after an afternoon of babysitting when she told him to go inside before them (after all, it wasn't like the man could help her carry the children up the stairs and inside the prison when he need to use crutches to get around). The courtyard was clear of any other adults now that they had finished unloading the trucks. She smiled and waved back when Glenn and Maggie waved at her from their position in the closest guard tower. It seemed like the couple was on a guard shift, or had been looking to spend somealonetime... Esme would stick to the guard shift theory, otherwise, she wouldn't be able to look at Maggie's face without blushing.

She threw the baby bag over her shoulder before unbuckling Primrose's car seat from the car and placing it on the ground, it only took three quick steps to turn the car seat into a stroller. Primrose was looking at the open sky in wonder. It made Esme smile at the baby's wonder and mourn for the dangers in the world that was preventing her innocent kids from being able to enjoy the freedom of going outside.

She placed Bora in the baby carrier on her chest and was thankful when Maggie approached her and offered to carry Thomas for her. Esme placed the leash on Bailey and tied it to the handles of the stroller so that the tabby wouldn't wander off before letting Lilac and Andre out of the truck.

"Alright, guys. We're going inside now, holding hands okay?" Esme instructed as she herded her brood toward the prison. Andre was visibly nervous and he kept tugging Lilac closer to the stroller as he gripped his lion plushie tightly with his other hand. Lilac, who was growing up to be his braver counterpart, was taking in their surroundings with wide curious eyes. Even Bailey, who hadn't been let out of the apartment for the last year was taking in the prison with wide eyes as her nose twitched uncontrollably with all of the new smells.

"Your very good with them." Maggie commented softly as she bounced Thomas in her arms.

A nervous chuckle escaped out of her lips, "I wasn't always. Before I moved here, I'd never hold a baby before... it was scary the first time Daisy plopped one in my arms, thought I was going to drop her."

"Really?" Maggie asked incredulously. Esme was cooing at a yawning Bora and tickling Primrose's toes as she pushed the stroller to their first obstacle, the stairs. Lilac was cutely babbling about all thenewpeople she had met today with a nervous Andre.

"Well I'm not afraid of dropping them now." Esme smiled, "I don't have, what's the word,extendedfamily so before I started working at the daycare I had never hold a baby before."

"I kinda wish I could have seen that. Your face when you firsthelda baby." Maggie teased as they came to a stop in front of the stairs, "How do you want to do this?"

Esme pondered for a moment before responding, "Let's get Lilac and Andre inside first, they just need some help going up the stairs. You wait here, while I get them inside... Lilac, Andre we're going inside now, okay?"

"Otay mama!" Lilac chirruped as she let go of Andre's hand to grab onto Esme's, she helped both of the toddlers up the stairs and into the cafeteria. "Mama look!" Lilac pointed at Beth and Carl.

"Yeah, it's Beth and Carl." Esme agreed. Her daughter looked even more excited now, even Andre was losing some of his nervousness now that they were inside of the building. "Would you two mind watching them for a moment while I get the others in?"

"It's no problem!" Beth chirruped as she beckoned the toddlers to her side.

Esme smiled in gratitude before going back outside to Maggie. She was pleasantly surprised to see the ex-prisoner Oscar waiting with Maggie, especially after he offered to help them bring Primrose up in the stroller. She grabbed Bailey's leash and encouraged the tabby to follow her up the stairs and to their new home. Of course her 'mama's girl' protested by starting to cry at the presence of the unknown male until she could see Esme once more inside of the building. Esme hushed her as she rocked the stroller for a few moments until the crocodile tears stopped.

"Andre, Lilac! Come on, let's go to our new room." Esme called, the toddlers quickly ran to her side in excitement as she began to lead them into the cell block.

Chapter 25

Chapter Text

The kids seemed fascinated by the cells in the block. Lilac and Andre immediately began to explore their new room with gusto, oohing and ahhing at the familiar colorful rug covering the room. Esme was just thankful to unhook Bora from the carrier, her little Korean princess was already thirteen-months-old and was starting to get a little too heavy to carry nonstop (it was either that or Esme was wildly out of shape... for now she chose to believe that it was the later). She placed the little ones in their own pack n' plays and began shedding off the layers she'd dressed them in.

Thomas, in particular, seemed thrilled when she took his jacket off and immediately began begging to be let out to play with the toddlers. Primrose, on the other hand, was crabby and burrowed herself into her blankets. All in all, the kids seemed to be settling in well. Bora was already giggling adorably to herself as she rubbed her face with her panda stuffy.

Just like home.

Well almost... she decided not to release Bailey out of her harness until she could trust the tabby not to leave the cell blocks and go exploring the rest of the prison, she didn't want to take any chances and lose her furry companion to a rotter. Instead, she tied the leash to the bars of the baby's cell and loosened it so that she could explore the entire cell and possibly Esme's new cell as well.

Esme's watch let her know that it was already five in the evening and her little ones would soon start to whine for food. However, that meant that she would need to go interact with the others... Daryl had gone into the bowels of the prison with Oscar and Axel to start dragging bodies out to cremate them, and Maggie had returned to the guard tower. Hershal was resting his leg in the cafeteria with his youngest daughter Beth, and if she wasn't mistaken Carl was there with his infant sister as well.

Now that she thought about it... that wasn't too bad. An old man and two teenagers weren'tthatintimidating.

"Alright, mama's going to go make dinner. Lilac and Andre you are going to stay right here, okay? If you need me just shout, alright?" Esme instructed seriously.

"Otay mama." Lilac chirruped. Andre had dumped the bin of dinosaurs onto the floor and was now gleefully handing them out to his younger counterparts. With her children blissfully entertained, Esme hesitatingly left the block and entered the cafeteria.

The infant in Beth's arms was fussing once more as Esme approached the trio. Hershal and Beth smiled at her welcomingly while Carl simply ignored her and stared down at his little sister. She smiled at them uneasily in return, every fiber of her being wanted to run back into the cellblock and hide with her children. It was weird. She craved companionship for so long, and now that there were people around that she could actually talk to, Esme found herself wishing for the solitude of her flat.

"How are the lil' ones settling in?" Hershal asked kindly.

"Good." Esme offered, "They are already playing with toys."

Hershal chuckled, "Children are so resilient."

The pink-faced infant in Beth's arms let out a distressed wail. It sounded very similar to Primrose's 'I'm hungry' cry. Beth began bouncing the little one in her arms in an attempt to stop her cries once more.

"I-I think she might be hungry," Beth mumbled apologetically, "I fed her an hour ago an' she refused to finish the bottle."

(Privately, Esme couldn't help but worry about the little baby girl and the teenager who seemed to be her caretaker, Beth was too young to be taking care of an infant by herself for hours nonstop... it eerily reminded Esme of herself all those months ago when the apocalypse had first broken out. Wholly unprepared.)

Esme smiled at the blonde teen in reassurance, "Some babies don't like the taste of formula. That reminds me, as you may know, I'm breastfeeding my little ones and I'd be willing to do the same for this little angel. That is if it's okay with her daddy."

"I think that's a swell idea." Hershal agreed.

"What's the difference between breastmilk and formula?" Carl asked suddenly, surprising Esme since he didn't really seem too thrilled with her presence nor seemed to have any real intention to interact with the new stranger in their midst. Not that she blamed the boy, he'djustlost his mother.

The small preteen was observing her curiously as he brought the can of formula to Beth and began carefully measuring the amount of powder to dump in a new bottle. "Well," Esme began after receiving an encouraging look from Hershal, "it's healthier for the baby to drink breastmilk, it's more nutritious and it helps build up their immune systems. Makes for much less smelly diaper changes too." she teased lightly with a smile, "There's many more reasons for it too, I guess the biggest one right now is that, eventually formula is going to runoutand well my breastmilkwon't."

Carl nodded confidently as he mulled over the information she'd provided before stating decisively, "Than I want the baby to drink breastmilk. Not formula."

Esme shot a concerned look at Hershal, "I'd be happy to do that Carl, I just want to make sure that your daddy is okay with it first-"

"There's no need." Carl repeated, as his brown eyes narrowed, "She'smybaby sister. And if breastmilk is better for her than that's what she's going to have."

Carl was a good big brother. She hadn't encountered any teens before the turn that werethatinvolved with their baby siblings, or weren't embarrassed of just the word 'breastmilk.' The little baby snuffling in Beth's arms was very lucky to have a doting brother like Carl. She nodded in cautious agreement, before murmuring, "Alright. If that's what you want."

"Good." Carl grunted in a manner that was similar to that of Daryl's. Maybe being an adorable prickly hedgehog was a contagious characteristic with this group?

Esme turned back to look at Hershal, "Listen, one of the reasons I came out here was to ask about the food situation. How do you guys go about making dinner andrepartiendo, um- distributing the food? I usually start making dinner around this time for the little ones."

Carl was kind enough, after Hershal gave him the 'okay,' to lead her back into the cellblocks on the second floor where they were currently stashing all of the food they'd scavenged. After the preteen unlocked the cell with his set of keys, Esme quickly went through one of the bins that she'd contributed for the battery-operated burner that they had packed in the morning. As soon as she found it she handed it off to Carl before grabbing one of the deeper pots and a pan before she began rummaging through the cans of food. The colorful container of couscous was placed in one of the pots as well as five cans of tuna and the small container she had left of vegetable oil and the half-empty container of bread crumbs.

A quick peek of their new cell let her know that her babies and Bailey were as content as they could be before Esme walked back into the cafeteria and began to set up a cooking station.

"What are you making?" Carl asked curiously by her side as Esme began to open the cans of tuna with a can opener.

Esme smiled at him softly, "Have you ever had tuna balls? They are like meatballs, but with tuna."

The preteen's stomach rumbled, "Sounds good."

"It is." she promised before looking at the chicken coup that had been dragged against the corner of the room, "Do you think you can go see if Peep or Pio laid another egg since this morning?"

A small smirk pulled on the corners of the boy's mouth, "Peep? And Pio?"

"I wish I could take credit for their wonderful names, but Lilac is very proud of her choices." Esme smiled, amusem*nt clouding her features.

Hershal chortled softly, "It reminds me of the first chicken that Beth here named. Do you remember?" the man asked his now pink-faced daughter.

"I-I don' think we need to bring it up now daddy." Beth mumbled demurely.

"Chickie!" Hershal teased making his teenage daughter moan in displeasure as Carl burst out into delighted giggles. He looked more like the child he was supposed to be when he laughed. Esme would work hard to make him do it again and more frequently.

In the five minutes it took for her to finish getting all the ingredients for dinner ready the mysterious leader of her new group had appeared. Rick had sweat coating his forehead and the front of his shirt but looked to be otherwise clean. He had a beard and light brown hair with piercing blue eyes that locked onto her own hazel ones. Thankfully his gaze wasn't on her form for long as he took a couple of conservative steps to where Beth was sitting with his fussy daughter.

The teenager smiled up at the man before offering the baby into his cautious arms. The man rocked the infant in his arms softly, whispering platitudes at the infant as a small awed smile bloomed on his face before he tucked her under his chin and pressed a soft kiss onto the brown fuzz of his daughter's hair. It was evident to Esme that this man was rather broken by the events surrounding his daughter's birth, but it didn't seem like he was resenting the infant either.

It made hope bloom in Esme's chest. She'd been worried when they had told her that their leader- Rick wasn't handling the death of his wife well. Perhaps, it wouldn't be so bad after all.

Rick sat down at the table, cradling his daughter to his chest lovingly before turning to assess her once more. Of course, at that moment Andre ran into the cafeteria and into her legs making all of them turn to look at the toddler instead of Esme, to her eternal relief.

"Hey, buddy, what's wrong? You're supposed to wait inside and call for me if you need help, remember?" Esme asked soothingly as she kneeled down to look at him face to face in concern.

"Sorry, I's forgot." Andre admitted before pointing to the cell blocks, "Prim needs ta be changed." he informed her.

Esme smiled and pressed a quick kiss to his forehead, "Thank you for telling me, Andre." she looked back up to look at the other adults in the cafeteria, "I-I'll be right back."

She offered her hand to Andre as she led him back to the cell blocks to change her youngest's diaper. Esme had never felt so grateful for a dirty diaper in her life. It only took her five minutes to change Primrose's diaper, but it was enough time for Esme to recollect herself and mentally prepare for the conversation that was about to occur. She cautiously reentered the cafeteria and met Rick's eyes evenly. She was afraid of many things, but she was a mother first and foremost, and for her children, there was nothing that Esme was afraid to do for them.

"I'm Esme." she introduced herself, "Thank you for letting us come here. I-I know that it couldn't have been an easy decision for you to make."

The man inclined his head briefly before introducing himself in a blunt manner, "Rick. Hershal here told me that you have five kids."

"I do."

"I don't like being around strangers anymore, much less have my kids around them either." he stated in a semi-harsh manner, it only emphasized to her that this was simply a fact of life for the man. Esme stood her ground and stared at him straight on.

"Neither do I." she rebutted.

"You were alone this entire time?" he questioned sharply as if he couldn't believe that Esme had survived on her own with five little ones all this time. She didn't allow herself to feel offended.

"Yes. I was lucky."

"How many walkers have you killed?"

Walkers. That was what the others had used to describe rotters. "I don't know, over a dozen now." she admitted factually.

"How many people have you killed?" he asked just as bluntly as he had before.

Esme felt her spine straightened and her heart rate increase, "One..." she answered honestly.

His blue eyes were glaring into her soul, "Why?"

A shaky sigh escaped from her lips, "Because she asked me to. Because she was bit."

The man nodded in acceptance. "You knew her." he stated in a 'matter of fact' manner.

Tears pricked behind Esme's eyes as her mind wandered onto Heather's tear-stained face, "I knew her."

The room fell into silence for a brief moment before it was interrupted by the infant loudly fussing once more as she smacked her lips together and rubbed a tiny fist across her face. Rick started rocking his daughter once more.

"Y-You worked in a daycare?" he questioned as he stared down at the little bundle in his arms lovingly.

"Ye-"

"Yeah!" Carl interrupted as he sat down by his father, the preteen had his father's icy blue eyes, "She said that she breastfeeds her babies, I told her that she should help feed the baby too. Since it's supposed to be healthier." he finished strongly when his father locked eyes with his.

"Did you now?" Rick's eyebrow rose.

Esme smiled sheepishly, "It's up to you. I was a certified wetnurse. My babies wouldn't have lasted this long if I wasn't. I'd be happy to help with your little one."

Piercing blue eyes locked onto her once more searchingly before the man nodded, "I'd... like that."

She smiled hesitatingly at him.

See, not so bad after all.

Chapter 26

Chapter Text

After her stressful conversation with the prison group's leader- hernewleader, Esme threw herself into prepping dinner under the man's cautious gaze. She'd fried the tuna balls in the oil first before boiling the couscous since the grain only took about five minutes to finish before Esme told Carl to inform everyone that dinner was ready.

Esme simply gathered her little ones and sat them at one of the tables in the cafeteria before she served them their normal small portions (they each had half of a tuna ball) since they would all have a bottle in an hour or so to sleep. Her own portion of the meal was on the smaller side as well, the stress of moving and being around so many new faces had made Esme's appetite wane. Primrose was too little to sit at the table on her own so she was perched on Esme's lap as she helped her youngest baby eat. The rest of her brood was happily munching on their dinner and babbling to one another as they stared at Carl in amazement when he plopped down next to Andre.

Their small hero-worship of the preteen was an adorable, albeit, unexpected surprise.

Hershal and Beth were grateful for the meal and had thanked her profusely as they sat down and began to eat. The infant was lying in the bassinet that they'd brought with them from the daycare at Rick's side as the man picked at his food before scooping some into his mouth. Rick simply nodded at her in gratitude as he observed the way she interacted with her children. Esme forced herself to ignore his inquisitive gaze and focus on her little ones. Glenn and Maggie were the first of the others to make it to the cafeteria. The duo had wide appreciative grins on their faces that were only echoed by the small cheers from the two ex-cons coming in at their heels.

"Look at this spread!" Axel cheered as he sat down with his own plate. "Damn this if goo' too!" he praised with a mouthful of food in his mouth.

"Language." Hershal chided, "There are lil' ones present."

The former prisoner's cheeks colored somewhat, "Sorry 'bout that ma'am. Not used to havin' tiny ones 'round no more."

Esme nodded back at him shyly. It looked like almost everyone was here now except for Daryl. Small conversations broke out in the cafeteria as the group seemed to update one another on what they had done throughout the day. It was how she learned that Daryl was still roaming the catacombs of the prison. Apparently they'd already cleared the area of 'living' rotters earlier, but the archer was still looking for the missing body of one their fellow survivors. The woman had apparently gone missing during the breach and while they had buried the bodies of their other two fallen comrades, the woman's was the only one still missing.

She felt for the group. Their grief was still fresh and pungent, but instead of seemingly wallowing in this despair they pushed through the day and instead came together. She felt warmth behind her chest. These people were broken, but they were still good people.

"Mama quiero mas!" Lilac chirruped as she stuffed the rest of her tuna ball into her mouth. Esme snorted in amusem*nt.

"Finish what you have on your plate first." she chided softly as she leaned over the table and broke Bora's tuna ball into smaller pieces, the one-year-old shot her a happy smile before grabbing a piece and biting into it. Thomas was happily spooning the last of his couscous into his mouth, her baby boy had finished the tuna ball without assistance.

"Otay!" Lilac wiggled in her seat before turning to her sister and making funny faces, Primrose let out delighted giggles around the spoonful of couscous in her mouth.

"Do you want more Andre" Esme asked the male toddler softly after she spotted his empty plate.

The boy's wide brown eyes stared up at her, "No t'ank you. Can I's go play?"

Lilac's head snapped to the side to stare at her playmate before looking back at Esme, "Mama, I play too!"

Her eldest daughter's loud proclamation made the infant in the bassinet whine slightly, "Shh, Lilac.Vas asustar la bebe. You can both play after Lilac finished eating okay."

"Talk hands?" Lilac signed clumsily with her greasy fingers. Esme smiled proudly at the toddler.

"No. You don't need to talk with your hands right now baby, just need to use your quiet voice."

Her little blonde curls bounced up and down in agreement, "Otay mama." before she quickly began scooping the rest of her food into her mouth. Andre wiggled in his seat restlessly, obviously wanting to run off into their room and play with the toys.

"Was that sign language?" Hershal asked curiously. Esme looked up from her children to see that the majority of the occupants at the table were staring at them curiously. Red immediately began coating Esme's cheeks.

"Yes." she squeaked before clearing her voice, "I was learning ASL before... wellbefore.I thought it would be a good idea to teach my children in case we needed to talk in silence."

"That's impressive." Hershal praised, "Lilac was speaking in Spanish as well."

Esme shrugged her shoulders awkwardly, "Spanish is my first language." she offered as an explanation.

"Mama, tete!" Thomas whined, quickly gaining her attention once more, with grabby hands.

"In a little bit baby." Esme soothed as she brushed the top of Thomas' hair. A quick glance at the rest of her children let her know that it wasn't just Thomas that was grumpy and tired. Bora and Primrose were blinking heavily as well from where they were sitting. "Lilac, Andre you can go play now. No running. I'll be there in a second."

"I'll watch them." Carl volunteered, much to the surprise of his father since the man's eyes widened in disbelief as Carl shoveled the last of his dinner into his mouth and stood up.

The two toddlers broke out into excited grins as they hopped off their chairs and followed Carl back to the cell blocks. It was a good thing that she was a fast eater and had already finished herself.

"I'm going to get the little ones settled in now." she informed Hershal, who was the adult sitting the closest to her though she was sure that everyone was paying attention to her based off the general silence at the table, "And pump, the babies usually get a bottle to sleep. I can come help with the clean up in here when I'm done."

Hershal smiled gently at her and patted her hand, "There's no need for that. Just get yourself settled in."

Esme nodded before looking at Rick hesitatingly, "My offer to help with your baby still stands.Dios,it's embarrassing to admit... but I produce a lot of milk because for a long time my body thought that it was providing for triplets... so I can start feeding her whenever you feel comfortable."

Rick stared at her for a moment before looking down at his napping daughter, "I'll come find you when she's fussy."

Esme shot him a shy smile as she perched Primrose onto her hip before helping Bora and Thomas down and offering her hand. She was somewhat of an expert at holding two little hands with her one free hand now, and slowly guided them inside. She plopped Primrose inside of the pack n' play but let Thomas and Bora join the older toddlers on the floor to play. She didnotwant them falling asleep too early, otherwise, they would wake up extra early waking up everyone else in the cell block and their sleeping schedules would be off. Andre had come out of his shell a bit now that they weren't in a room full of strange adults and was gleefully showing off his t-rex to an indulgent Carl as Lilac made exaggerated roaring noises. Too cute.

She offered Primrose an interactive Barney plushie, ignored Bailey's stink eyes and swipe at her feet (her cat did not appreciate being left behind), before going into her cell to grab the pump and the empty bottles. She could hear raised voices coming from the cafeteria but it didn't sound like anything bad was happening so Esme ignored it and went back to the colorful cell holding her children. She plopped down on the floor and leaned against the bars of the cell, ensuring that her curious tots wouldn't be able to get by her and leave the safety of their new room while she pumped. Esme threw a baby blanket over her shoulder and chest to cover up her modesty before she shrugged off the strap of her tee and brought the nuzzle of the pump to her breast and turned it on. The familiar suctioning sound of the pump joined the air as the toddlers continued to squeal happily. She caught Carl giving her shy and curious looks before the preteen turned back to the enthusiastic children.

Bailey gave the stink eye one more time before prowling over and making herself comfortable on Esme's lap. Esme smiled indulgently at the orange tabby as she began stroking the short fur lovingly while making funny faces at Primrose, making her youngest giggle and rub her face against the Barney plushie. Carl hung around for a few more minutes before heading back to the cafeteria when he heard his father calling his name. Lilac and Andre were disappointed to see him go but quickly bounced back to their childish enthusiasm as their dinosaurs started battling one another. Bora was cheering enthusiastically as she helped Thomas build up the blocks on the other side of the cell and occasionally breaking out into giggles when Thomas clumsily bumped into their tower and made them fall. Her baby boy kept glaring at the blocks petulantly before huffing and rebuilding it once more.

On the other hand, Esme felt like a cow. It only took ten minutes to fill up one whole bottle before she was sealing it and storing it in the tiny cooler she'd brought with her and replacing it with another empty bottle to pump from the same breast. She was a cow. A human cow. But a cow nonetheless. Honestly, the amount of milk she was producing was freaking insane... At least she wasn't worried about adding another baby into the feeding rotation.

"Mama! Roar!" Lilac squealed as she shoved a green plastic herbivorous dinosaur in her face as Andre broke out into delighted laughter.

An amused smile quickly pulled on the corners of her lips, "Roar!" she growled teasingly as the two toddlers squealed.

God.

It was worth it.

Chapter 27

Chapter Text

The members of the prison group were celebrating. Apparently Daryl had found their missing member alive in the bowels of the prison. The woman, Carol, was extremely dehydrated and weak from the ordeal but was otherwise fine. Esme smiled softly at the uplifting environment that was washing over the group, she would keep her little ones away from the commotion for now and introduce herself to the woman when Carol was feeling better. The evening was falling upon them now and Esme was busy getting her babies ready for bed. Lilac and Andre had already been changed into their pajamas and were relaxing in their new beds while Esme changed a grumpy Thomas.

"Tete!" Thomas whined as Esme pulled the shirt over his head.

Esme smiled tiredly at the one-year-old, "Thomas, relax baby.I'm going to give you your tete in a minute."

She only sighed when he harumphed once more and grouchily turned his face away from her. Bora wasmucheasier to change in comparison, the babe gifted Esme with tiny dopey grins that were interrupted by sporadic yawns. She was an angel. Once both one-year-olds were in their respective pens, Esme quickly changed Primrose and laid her down with her bottle before quickly distributing the other bottles she'd prepared to her children. The moment that she heard all five of them begin suckling contently Esme let out a relieved sigh as she picked Bailey up from where she'd been curled on the rug, untied the leash from the bars and brought the tabby into what would become Esme's new room. The tabby rubbed her head against Esme's chin and purred softly. It had been alongday. She plopped the cat onto her new bed before searching for the dried cat food and pouring half a cup into Bailey's bowl. The tabby let out a curious 'mer~o~w' before jumping off the bed onto the cool concrete and munching on her dinner contently. Esme smiled at her furry companion and poured some water into the blue dish next to the food bowl. Esme Stretched her tired and sore limbs before searching her suitcase for her own pajamas and shedding the clothes she was wearing now.

Bailey jumped back up onto the bed when she was finished eating and began kneading the cushion under her paws. Esme rolled her eyes as the feline laid on her side before rolling over onto her back and before wiggling around the mattress languidly. Her cat was really weird sometimes. She tied the leash to her bedframe after all Esme did not want her cat to go exploring when she fell asleep and plopped down on the mattress beside her. She'd had long days before, but this one felt particularly long with all of the human interaction and general amount ofchangeshe was experiencing today. Soft footsteps and the sounds of a fussing infant heading in her direction only informed Esme that her long-ass day was not over just yet. Esme almost regretted offering her services (more like her breasts, in this case,heyyo- No, that was gross... no matter how sleep-deprived Esme was, she was never going to make another weird pubescent joke about her boobs like that again, even in the recesses of her own mind).

Hopefully, Esme's facial expression had smoothed out after thatstrangethought, and Rick hadn't caught it when he popped his face into her cell. She shot the older man a weary smile when he cleared his throat.

"Are you still willing to help out with her? She's been fussy, think she's hungry." Rick spoke in a soft but stern manner as his eyes bounced from the wigging baby in his arms to Esme's stiff form. Esme's hazel eyes locked onto the baby in the crook of the man's arms and she melted.

"Yeah," she smiled gently, the man still looked tense and unwilling to even let her hold the infant, "You can stay, you know- while I feed her. I'm not really shy about this and I want you to feel comfortable about handing her over to a stranger."

The man still looked hesitant to hand the babe over to her but Rick's accusing stare disappeared as he gently transferred the hungry infant into Esme's arms. The baby fussed for a moment at the exchange but Esme didn't let the familiar whines intimidate her as she gently rocked the infant in her arms, "Shh, shh, shh..." she hushed gently under her breath as she got pulled the strap of her clean tank top down to expose her breast. The infant snuffled into Esme's chest as she directed her nipple into the baby's mouth, it only took the infant a couple of seconds to realize that suckling filled her tummy with milk before she began nursing with gusto. Esme smiled gently at the sweet baby girl as her tiny fist opened and curled repeatedly against her chest and sleepy baby blue eyes blinked drowsily up at her. It was strange how much Esme had missed holding a tiny baby in her arms, it only made her realize once more howbigher own little ones had gotten.

"You're good with her." Rick murmured. Esme had almost forgotten that the man was there, she looked up to see him leaning against the bars of the cell as he watched the both of them, Bailey had jumped down from the bed when he walked in and was curiously sniffing his pantlegs.

A small smile bloomed on Esme's face as she looked back down at the infant, "She's beautiful. Does she have a name yet?"

The man was quiet for a moment, "Judith." he shared, "Carl came up with her name about an hour ago."

"Judith," Esme whispered under her breath as she gently rubbed her thumb across the baby's cheek. "That's a beautiful name for a lovely little girl."

"Yeah, it is." Rick grunted as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Listen, the others were telling me that you came across other survivors recently."

"Yes," Esme's eyes shot up to look at him seriously, "It's one of the main reasons I decided to come with your group. These other...survivorswere bad news."

"I see..." he drawled, "Said that theleaderof this group was called the Governor?"

Esme nodded before deciding to clarify, "I came across three men scavaging a house that was close by to the daycare, I hid in the forest when I saw them... I overheard the men talking about a Governor. They didn't reallysaythat the Governor was their leader, but they were -what's the word- deferring to his orders like he was... soI'mguessing that he is."

Rick nodded, "They told me what you said but I want to hear it from your mouth, why were they bad news?"

She shut her eyes for a moment as she tried to visualize that afternoon in her mind once more, she gnawed on her bottom lip nervously for a moment before looking into Rick's piercing blue eyes once more, "Mira,I did not have a good childhood, so I'm a bit cautious when it comes to strangers. I'm pretty good at telling when peoplearegood or not. The three men I saw that day made my hair stand on its end. They were too -como se dice-callous about other survivors.Uno-sorry, one of them, called survivorsstrays. The man said very casually, like it was normal, that this Governortipodidn't want to take in anyonethatday, before describing it as a 'purging day.' Purging is a violent word to describe getting rid of someone or something." she let go of a panicked breath that was building up in her chest, "And then they alllaughed. Because is normal to laugh about killing human being's right?" she asked rhetorically, "Naturalmente,I ran back home and decided that it's too dangerous to leave my kids unattended with those Governor people scoping the area."

The cell was silent for a moment, the only sounds coming from little Judith nursing against her chest and their breaths. Rick sighed wearily, "You did good running from them. Thank you for telling me."

Esme shot him a tired smile, "Thankyoufor letting us stay here."

Chapter 28

Chapter Text

Their first night in the prison went rather well. Primrose only woke up once during the night for a diaper change and she went back down in under five minutes after Esme let her suckle on her chest. Rick brought Judith over three times during the night for a feeding, the baby was sweet and really no problem since she would immediately fall asleep in her arms after eating. Esme lamented the lack of consistent sleep for only a moment, but it wasn't like the cries of an infant hadn't immediately aroused her anyway. Besides, she was genuinely happy to fill Judith's tiny belly with milk and gently rock her to sleep. Rick, on the other hand, was definitely rocking new baby eyebags this morning. In fact, most of the group was.

Esme hid an amused smile into Primrose's darkening baby hair as her youngest drank her fill. Her little ones were chirpily eating the cheerios she'd handed out for breakfast as they babbled loudly to one another. She was only happy that she didn't need to worry about Bora and Thomas accidentally falling off the table now that Daryl had kindly helped her set up three high chairs. Carl had his face planted on the crook of his folded arms, not even looking at the small bowl of oatmeal that had been placed in front of him by Beth.

Oscar and Axel were also looking worse-for-well as they sluggishly ate their portions of breakfast, she tried not to feel too uncomfortable about Axel's occasional stares at her semi-exposed breast. She gave the ex-convict a hard look, making the man pink and look away sheepishly, before scooping some of the oatmeal Beth had served her into her mouth. Rick had already finished eating his plate and was rocking his wide-awake daughter in his arms, she'd fed Judith about half-an-hour ago now and the baby was now temporarily energetic.

She looked up curiously as Daryl and the woman, Carol, walked into the cafeteria. Carol was an older woman, probably in later thirties with greying cropped hair and inquisitive blue eyes. Esme shot the woman a shy smile but it died off when she realized that Carol was staring incredulously at the gaggle of toddlers having breakfast. Lilac was the first of her children to notice the new face, her oldest daughter smiled cutely at the strange woman and chirruped, "Hi!"

Carol's face went through a gaggle of emotions, from surprise to grief and then to a carefully placed blank expression to mask the rest of her thoughts. "Hello." the woman croaked out as she sat down as far away as she could. Esme felt a bad feeling sinking forming into the pit of her stomach, this woman had lost a child. She recognized that expression that flitted across Carol's face. She'd seen it before on the face of a former parent that had entrusted their child to the daycare (Mrs. Morrell had never recovered from losing her oldest daughter to cancer, and in the end, made her husband a widow and her toddler son a motherless child). She would keep her children away from the woman as well, at least until the grief that clouded over Carol's eyes stopped appearing just from looking at her babies. Esme pulled the strap of her shirt back up when Primrose finished and instead maneuvered her to sit up on her lap so that she could peer at the other adults at the table.

The small amount of conversation at the table waned when Rick cleared his throat and placed Judith down in the bassinet near the table.

(Well, almostallof the conversation, since it didn't look like Lilac and Andre were going to stop talking to one another about the adventures of Tarzan and... yup, Mogli from the Jungle Book. Thomas and Bora also didn't look willing to stop babbling to one another either just because the adults at the table wanted to have a serious conversation).

"Esme here informed us of a very concerning threat in our area." he started, Carl looked up for the first time that morning to observe his father from under the brim of his sheriff's hat, "From now on, no one goes out without a partner."

Daryl looked up at that, "Wha' about huntin'?"

"No." Rick shook his head, "You wanna go out huntin' you gotta take someone with you. We need to work on fortifyin' this place in case this other group finds us."

"We'll schedule a watch shift from the guard tower, keep an eye on the roads." Glenn spoke up, agreeing murmurs broke out.

Esme bit her bottom lip roughly, "What about scavaging supplies?" she asked making all the eyes in the room turn to look at her. "Iknowit's a bit far, but the daycare has a lot of supplies I gathered over the year. Some things that we didn' bring with us because of the time an' lack of space in the trucks."

Rick rubbed the bridge of his nose, "What kind of supplies?"

"The solar panels on the roof, I have the guide for installing and taking them apart. We can bring them here for electricity. The space heaters, petroleum for generators, gardening supplies, my canning tools to preserve food, more clothing for the children... more of the foam rugs I lined my kid's room so that we can make the other cells more comfortable..." Esme sighed softly, she ignored the considering looks that the others were throwing each other.

"I'm pretty good with machinery," Axel piped up, "I put one of them solar panels up once on a job, I could dismantle 'em and set 'em up here."

"There's more things there that can be useful..." Esme divulged hesitatingly, "But if you want to fortify this place, I think we need to make it more unattractive to the rotters we need to cover the fence. They rely on sight as much as sound, I think if they cannot see into the prison they are less likely to be interested."

"Cover it with what?" Hershal asked.

"In the town, there is this thrift store, there's a bunch of useful things there. It's where I got all of the archery equipment," she added with a pointed look at Daryl before she continued, "Near the back, they have a section for yard things, and the last time I was there, I found a lot of rolls of-dios, como se dice-privacy netting for fences. We can use them to cover the fences surrounding the prison, so at least the rotters and maybe even people cannot see the inside."

"That's not a bad idea..." Glenn trailed off, "When we were in the area last time, the place was practically a ghost town. The only walkers we encountered were the ones that'd been attracted by the noise to the daycare over the last two days."

Rick turned to observe her carefully, "Are you sure it's worth it? The Governor's people, hell someone else could have raided the shop already."

Esme nodded understandingly, "Yes, but it would be hard to get through that door. It's a very heavy one, and there are no windows so it's not like an outsider even knows what kind of store it is unless they know beforehand... And I have the keys. I got them off- well I have them an' I locked the door the last time I was there."

Maggie let out a tinkling laugh, "Well, you certainly never do things by halves. Any other stores worth looking into while we're there?"

A small smile bloomed onto her cheeks, it looked like the group wasn't planning on outright disregarding her suggestion. Even Rick was leaning forward in interest after she mentioned the privacy netting. "I also have the keys for the pharmacy. It doesn't look like a pharmacy, it used to be a house until the owner changed the bottom floor into the store. It's across the street from the thrift store."

"How did it look like when you were last there?" Hershal asked, "Were there a lot of medications still on the shelves?"

She nodded as she gave her little ones more cheerios after being prompted by pleading whines, "It was untouched... I found Ms. Aggie- uh, the previous owner and a couple of other starving rotters inside. They has been there since the beginning of the outbreak. At the time I was in a hurry to get back home, Lilac was sick and I ran out of baby fever reducer. I left a lot of things untouched, the upstairs will probably have cans or dry food."

"This sounds worth the trip." Rick piped up, "I want a group to make the trip out there today. Might as well grab everythin' we can before we batten down the hatches."

"We can take Esme's truck. 'S got a lotta bed space, we put down the seats in the back, we'll have even more room." Daryl grunted.

"I'll take out the emergency supplies and the car seats I got in there." Esme promised. The archer nodded in her direction.

"Do you have a map of the area?" Rick asked her, "First things first, I need you to mark down the shops we need to hit."

Chapter 29

Chapter Text

The majority of the group was now on the supply run to her old town. She'd highlighted their route carefully and the areas that worth looking through. Axel and Oscar were in charge of stripping the daycare that'd been her sanctuary for the last year, starting of course with the solar panels on the roof. Daryl, Glenn, Maggie and Rick were going to strip the two stores in the town clean before scoping the other buildings for more supplies. Esme had highlighted a small second-hand clothes shop called ThreadUp in the square, the local craft store, a small veterinary clinic as well as the local hardware shop.

For now, Esme and the other able-bodied adults left in the prison were making their cell block more habitable with the items they already had. Her little ones were entertained in their cell by the toys she'd left out, and as an extra security measure to make sure that they wouldn't roam around without supervision she closed the cell behind her. Her tabby had been annoyed earlier in the morning when Esme didn't allow her to join them in the cafeteria for breakfast but after a few gentle pets and pouring her breakfast, the orange cat finally let go of her tiny grudge. Bailey seemed content to nap in Lilac's pack n' play, so she wasn't too worried about her furry baby too. Tiny Judith was sleeping inside of the bassinet in Rick's cell, while her usual caretakers helped Esme clean.

Hershal was taking stock of the new supplies in the cells on the second floor. Esme was viciously scrubbing the bloodstains in the surrounding cells, while Beth removed the stained linens that were on the beds and dropped them into a basin to be cleaned at a later moment. Carol was bustling in and out of the cells with the new sheets they'd brought over from Esme's apartment and laying them out over the mattresses.

Carl was helpfully doing everything they asked of him. He'd flit around from watching the babies to handing over rags or disinfectant. The preteen's icy blue eyes were watchful and alert even within the safety the walls of the prison provided them. A small part of Esme mourned for Carl's loss of innocence, for his hardened soul, but the boy had more chances to survive now that he would have had before. Esme wanted her own children to eventually be as capable as the preteen, even if a part of her would forever mourn the lack of childhood Carl had and her own children would one day experience for themselves.

"So," Carl drawled, "the town, your town, didn' have too many walkers?"

Esme blew a piece of hair that'd fallen into her eyes, "Not really. I only went a few times into the square,pero-but there was never any herds." she stopped scrubbing a particularly stubborn brown stain in Beth's cell to look at the curious preteen, "The square was really only businesses. Some had apartments above their stores, but there was only really four-five houses."

Carl nodded. "Still, wasn' it weird that you never saw any walkers there? I mean, those things are everywhere and always on the move."

"Do you remember when everything first started?" she asked somewhat rhetorically, "The radio was telling everyone to get to a safe zone. All the parents that make it to the daycare for their kids was saying that they was heading to Atlanta, some even to military bases."

"I remember that." Carl piped up. "Shane, he- ah, he was one of my dad's deputies. He brought my mom and me to Atlanta like the broadcasts said to."

She didn't comment on the lack of Rick in the story, the boy could divulge it to her if he wanted to later on, "In all of these months the first time I saw actual survivors, they weren't from my town. Any of the rotters I saw were people I once knew. Some of them was strangers but- I recognized most of them. I think a lotta people just left, and those that didn't was infected."

The teen nodded, "I guess that makes sense. Dad said that they might stay the night in your old apartment if gets too late. The others were excited about looting the town, said that there'll be lots of places to get supplies from." Carl sounded a little grumpy at the end of that statement. He looked more than a little peeved that he wasn't on that supply run with them.

She'd overheard the hushed conversation between the father-son duo a couple of minutes before the supply group left. Carl was convinced that he should have gone with them on the run since he was a good shot and was good at clearing geeks from the area. Rick just wanted to have both of his kids behind the protective walls of the prison, Esme certainly sympathized with him. In the end, Rick used the angle of Carl staying behind to protect Judith and Esme's little ones, as well as being warden of the keys to keep Carl behind. Still, Carl seemed to be annoyed at his lack of active -important-help.

It only reaffirmed Esme's own private dread at the very thought of being the parent of teenagers. She'd rather her babies stay as small and dependent on her rather than deal with all the hormones and mood swings that came with preteens and adolescents.

"That's true." Esme hummed, "They took all of the cars with them so that they couldreallypack in everything they find. It's probably better that they don't drive at night if it gets too late."

"I guess." Carl huffed as he walked away. An amused snort escaped from her lips, Esme put the conversation out of mind as she continued her cleaning frenzy.

It was late afternoon now, and there was still no sign of the supply group's return. They were all feeling rather antsy by this point and Carol had elected to spend the night in the guard tower in case their wayward members decided to show up. Beth was graciously helping her feed all of her kids while she breastfed Judith in the cafeteria. Carl seemed rather thrilled to be eating a plate of gooey mac n' cheese, and the grin that was gracing his face was full of child-like nostalgia... even if he thought eating mac n' cheese with a side of eggs was weird.

Peep and Pio had thankfully not been too freaked out by the move and were still laying eggs like the dutiful hens that they were. Lilac and Andre were thrilled that they could now visit the chickens whenever they wanted, granted as long as they were in the company of an adult or Carl. Thomas seemed a bit put off that Beth was the one helping him scoop up eggs and pasta into his mouth, but he thankfully didn't put up much of a fuss since Esme was still in his line of sight. Of course, Bora was as delightfully easy as she always was and granted everyone that caught her eyes cute smiles.

Esme made some small talk with Hershal about his future plans of cultivating a garden in the fenced yard in the front of the prison while she spoon-fed Primrose with her free hand. Primrose seemed to be equal parts jealous and curious of Judith's new presence in their life, but she thankfully hadn't thrown any tantrums as of yet. It was only after everyone had finished eating, even Carol had stopped by for five minutes to grab a plate and say 'thank you' before going back out to take watch, and started to settle down in the cell blocks when a scream faintly echoed throughout the prison.

Esme ignored the sound, explaining it away as the sound of the wind or a particularly squeaky cell door since Carl and Beth were messing around in their cells before they both passed her to go sit on the stairs. Her babies were all laying down in their pack n' plays as they nursed on their night-time bottles, while Esme rocked a fussy Judith in her arms as she paced the hallway. The last wisps of sunlight bathed the interior of the cell block, making the need for artificial light currently obsolete. Hershal had hobbled over to the pair on the stairs as another faint scream filled the air.

"What was that?" Beth asked as her head snapped up. Esme stopped pacing and moved closer to the other three.

"That was from inside." Hershal murmured in concern. A sinking feeling that she identified as dread bloomed in the pit of her stomach.

Carl looked tense as he stared at the cell doors leading to the cafeteria, "Was that Carol?"

Hershal shook his head, "She's out keeping watch in the guard tower."

"What if they came back in for something?" Beth questioned, "What if she's in trouble?"

"I doubt that," Esme added in a calm tone that didn't betray her real emotions, "When she came in for dinner she said that she wouldn't have to come back in until the morning."

Beth shot her a tired and worried smile. "Let's check the tower, see if she's still there." Another scream echoed to their ears, "How could anyone else get in?" Beth asked.

Esme's eyes snapped to look at Hershal as adrenaline coursed through her veins, which could spell as arealproblem for them later on if they didn't know where the breach in their defenses was. "The tombs are filled with walkers that wandered in from outside. Someone else could've done the same thing."

Carl turned around to grab his gun from where it had been resting on the step behind him, "I'm going." the preteen stated with determination as he got up and started walking down.

"I can't let you go down there." Hershal stated in a serious voice as he raised one of his crutches to block the boy's path.

"My father would go." Carl reiterated in an equally calm tone as he co*cked his gun decisively.

Hershal looked resigned as he nodded his head. Esme had to restrain herself from pulling the preteen into her arms and refusing to let him go into the bowels of the prison to search for the person behind the screams. She blinked watery eyes and looked away from the group and down to the infant in her arms. Judith was finally blinking her eyes drowsily, the little girl grounding her. The swinging sound of the cell block's door and the subsequent clang as it closed rang throughout the room.

Chapter 30

Chapter Text

Beth helped her move Judith's bassinet into her cell after Esme stated that she wanted all of the babies to be in the same area. Judith was thankfully now deeply asleep when she transferred the babe into the bassinet and closed the cell door for extra protection. The only being awake in the other cell was a tense Bailey, whose luminescent eyes blinked up at her warily from where she was curled around Lilac. Thank god for small miracles, since she really didn't think that having screaming or crying children would really help the situation they currently in.

All of the prison's heavy fighters were out on that supply run.

A twelve -or was it thirteen- year old child was their first line of defense.

A small ugly feeling of inadequacy and self-hatred bloomed behind her chest, how dare she allow herself to be complacent and let a child run into danger on his own without back up. It took all of her self-restraint not to run after Carl into the bowls of the prison. That would truly help no one. She didn't know the layout of her new home, and Esme wouldn't help anyone out by getting lost in the tombs and then killed (leaving her babies motherless once more and dooming them). Hell, maybe if she even caught up to Carl she'd startle him so badly that he'd mistake her for a rotter and he'd shoot her.

No.

As much as she absolutely hated it, Esme's best chance of being useful was staying right where she was. That didn't mean that she was going to allow herself to be unarmed in a hostile situation. She quickly retrieved her machete and stood stoically in the cafeteria as she waited for Carl's return. She could hear distinct voices now in the shouts that were echoing out of the tombs. Beth and Hershal were hovering at the entrance of their Cell Block cautiously, concern painted across both of their features.

She tensed as the voices and running got closer. When Carl burst through with a gaggle of strangers in his heals she didn't flinch, nor did she relax her grip on her machete as she took in the new strangers. A pale-skinned man with sweat-drenched brown hair moaned behind the muscled black man carrying a woman over his shoulder fireman style.

"Oh god! Donna?" he shouted as the other man laid her gently on the ground, "Is she dead?"

Esme ignored the drama unfolding in front of her as she approached Carl's side and inspected him for injures while he locked the gate they'd just run through. "You okay?" she asked him softly. The preteen nodded as they both approached the kneeling strangers on the ground.

"Baby?" the same man questioned before breaking out into sobs as they all took in the woman's blank sightless brown eyes.

"I'll take care of it." Carl whispers softly as he co*cks his gun and points it at the stranger's head. The preteen isn't wrong in wanting to get rid of a possible threat, but it broke her heart, all the same, to hear hownormalthe phrase slipped out of his mouth.

"Whoa!" The black man protested as he raised his hand up towards Carl, Esme stepped up behind the preteen protectively as she raised her own weapon of choice threateningly. The man lowered his hand, "Whoa, kid. Wait a minute."

"She doesn't have that long." Carl shrugged apathetically, not moving from his position.

Esme warily watched as the other two members of the group approached, "Who the hell are you?" the black woman holding a shovel questioned exasperatedly. "How did you get in here? Whoelseare you with?" she questioned as she eyed Esme suspiciously.

"Look, we can help you." Carl acknowledged the stranger before looking back down at the ticking time bomb of a corpse at their feet. The inflamed bite mark on the dead woman made Esme's hair stand on end. She wanted the potential rottergone.Now. Before it reanimated. "First things first." Carl continued as he gestured to the cooling body.

The African-American still kneeling on the ground shook his head and in a gentle voice refused, "No, we take care of our own." as he turned around to grab a hammer from the crying teen behind them.

"No, Tyreese!" The sobbing man protested as he clutched onto the corpse's hand futilely. At least Esme now had a name for the muscular man.

"I gotta do it. Look, just take Ben and lean against the wall. It'll be quick."

Carl gently grabbed Esme's arm and motioned to the gates of their Cell Block, she nodded in understanding as they both quietly moved away from the situation unfolding in their cafeteria.

"It's okay. It's okay." was whispered mixed with heavy breathing and sobs.

Esme ignored it all as they were finally inside of the Cell Block,awayfrom the danger the new strangers could pose to them, with Beth and Hershal. Where her babies were sleeping. The sound of the swinging gates and the jangling of Carl's keys as he locked up their block from the cafeteria quickly got the attention of the strangers back to them.

(Esme felt like a hypocrite. She was a mere stranger to these people not even two days ago. But she had children to care and protect. Her babies, Judith and Carl... even Beth to an extent were children. She would not hesitate to kill for them or turn others away if it meant keeping them safe. It didn't matter if that made her a hypocrite or an awful excuse of a human being as long as her babies and the rest of the children were safe.).

"Hey, what are you doing?" the black woman questioned as she stared almost unbelievingly at the now locked gates.

"Kid, did you just lock us in here?" Tyreese questioned as he stood up from where he'd been crouched on the ground. Esme watched them in trepidation, he hadn't disposed of the threat laying on the ground yet.

"Open the door." the woman demanded as she gestured to them with her shovel.

Carl shook his head confidently, "This room is secure. You'll be safe." Beth came to Esme's side and grabbed the back of her tanktop not unlike a small child would for comfort as the woman marched towards them angrily, "You have food and water."

The woman grabbed one of the bars and stated firmly once more. "Open this door."

Carl met her gaze without hesitation. "I can't."

"Come on, man. We're not animals... Don't do this." she pleaded. When she realized that they hadn't been moved her anger consumed her face once more as she banged on the bars with the shovel, "Hey! You can't just leave usinhere! Open this door! Open it now! Don't just stand there!" she accused Esme as she banged against the bars once more, "You're an adult. Open this door! Now!"

Esme glared at the woman angrily, at this rate they were definitely going to wake up one of the little ones.

"Sasha!" Tyreese scolded her, "Back away from their door and let the man go. Look around you." he stated in almost wonder as he basked in the safety of the cafeteria, "This is the best we've had it in weeks.Hishouse." he referred to the stoic little preteen with the keys as he turned to look at the corpse still cooling on the floor of the cafeteria. "We got other things to do." Tyreese turned back to look at them, "We don't want any trouble." he stated genuinely as he led the woman away.

Esme patted Carl's shoulder proudly, "Good job." she praised.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Beth asked cautiously.

"I did." Carl replied.

Esme nodded in agreement. "They'd be dead if Carl didn't save them. Thereiswater and some snacks in there. They'll be fine Beth." she reassured the blonde teenager. The girl nodded.

"Let's get some sleep." Esme suggested as she led the two tense adolescents away from the gate, "I moved Judith to my cell earlier Carl, want to bunk with me for the night?"

The preteen looked up to peer at her from underneath the brim of his sheriff's hat, "Alright."

Hershal smiled at Esme gratefully from where he was heavily leaning against his crutches in the doorway of his cell. She shot the man a small tired smile back as Beth made her way back to her father and she led Carl to her cell. She'd let the boy have her bed for the night. She really wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight after all of the adrenaline-inducing commotion going on in the cafeteria.

Chapter 31

Chapter Text

Dawn came surprisingly quickly. Like they'd suspected before in the early evening, the supply group had probably decided to spend the night at the daycare and travel in the morning since their wayward members had yet to return. Surprisingly the children slept rather soundly throughout the night. Primrose hadn't woken even once, and Andre had only stirred for a few brief moments because he had to use the bathroom but he immediately went to bed right after doing his business.

Since Esme hadn't fallen asleep at all last night she was able to attend to Judith the moment she showed any discomfort. In other words, no one woke up during the night because of the cries of a wailing infant. Esme didn't feel as fatigued as she expected she would be, much to her relief since her children were all now awake and energetic. Judith was napping in the sling against her chest as she helped Bora and Thomas change out of their warm pajamas and into some day clothes. Lilac and Andre were both taking turns petting a content Baliey while they waited for her to be finished dressing their younger siblings. Primrose had hauled herself up on shaky legs inside of her pack n' play to stare at them better.

Esme smiled gently at her youngest daughters babbling before turning back to Thomas and fastening his sneaker. Bora was already standing somewhat shakily by the entrance of the cell block as she peered her head out curiously. Thomas soon joined the Korean toddler at the doorway as Esme grabbed Primrose and began changing her for the day as well. She placed the soiled cloth diaper into the changing bucket before fastening a new one onto Primrose and quickly pulling a clean onesie over her head. She would need to wash the older cloth diapers today when she got a chance. Primrose was easy to manhandle in the morning so it only took her three minutes to get her completely dressed before she propped her onto her hip and began leading the children out of their Cell Block.

(She had surveyed the cafeteria before getting her kids ready for the day, mostly because she did not want to bring her kids in there if they had left the body of the deceased woman in the middle of the room. Thankfully one of them had wrapped up the body with an old sheet and dragged it to an unlit corner of the room closest to the exit).

Lilac and Andre were dutifully helping Thomas and Bora walk like she'd been teaching them as they slowly made their way into the cafeteria. Hershal was tending the white man that had been bawling over the dead woman the night before, it looked like he'd needed stitches in his leg. She carefully led her children away from them towards where Beth was beginning to serve oatmeal into tiny bowls.

The blonde teen shot her a small smile, "Good morning!" before she bent down to grab Bora and place her in her high chair and then do the same with Thomas.

"Good morning." she greeted back. Lilac and Andre chirruped their own adorable greetings as they climbed over to their seats at the table. Carl hovered by them protectively as he stared at the strangers he'd saved suspiciously. It was then that Esme realized that the others were staring at her gaggle of children incredulously. Beth was kind enough to grab Primrose and sit her on her lap as she began to spoon-feed Esme's youngest while Esme herself helped Thomas and Bora with their own oatmeal.

The woman, Sasha, approached her with wonder in her eyes. "I-Wow. How old is the baby?" she asked referring to Judith snoozing against Esme's chest.

"Barely a week." Hershal responded.

"I haven't seen this many kids... in areallylong time," Tyreese added as he stared at the toddlers now tucking-in to their meal.

"To be honest, we never thought we'd see another baby." Sasha's voice was wistful, "Not to mention so many."

Esme eyed the woman before admitting, "Yes, I guess it can be surprising."

"Beautiful." Sasha complimented, "They are just beautiful."

"Thanks," Esme replied honestly as she scooped up the side of Thomas' mouth where some oatmeal had escaped.

"Mama!" Lilac piped up. "Quiero jugar!"

Esme turned around to look at her oldest daughter, "You can play when you finish eating."

"Me too!" Andre requested cutely as he hastily stuffed another spoonful of the oatmeal in his mouth.

"You have to finish eating first too, Andre." she instructed before turning back to Bora who was hungrily trying to get her attention. "You two don't want to feed the chickens first?"

"Si!" Lilac bounced, "I has to gib Peepcomida!"

"An-And I help too!" Andre added excitedly.

Hershal laughed softly, "After you two finish eating and your mama says it's okay I'll help you."

"T'ank you!" the two oldest toddlers chorused.

Sasha had now completely sidled up to stare softly at Judith, "How are you feeling? I can't imagine the labor was easy even with Hershal's help."

Startled, she turned to look at the dark-skinned woman, "Oh! This little one is not mine."

"Where's the mother?" Sasha asked curiously. At their quiet grief-filled looks and the hitch in Carl's breathing, Sasha turned away apologetically, "I'm sorry."

"What about the other babies?" the white man, she'd heard be referred to by Allen earlier, asked. There was something about the man's intense gaze that made Esme uncomfortable, the man may have just lost his wife, but there was just something about him that set her off. Esme had long learned to trust her instincts. Her instincts were telling her to wrap up this conversation and get her kids away from him.

"Thosearemine," Esme admitted after noting the curiosity on the other strangers' faces.

That immediately earned her some incredulously looks.

"A-All of them?" Tyreese asked.

Esme sighed before explaining, "I worked in a daycare before everything, some parents never came to pick up their kids. I've been caring for them as myownfor the last year."

"Man, you people have been through the mill." Tyreese murmured.

Hershal grabbed his crutches and stood up, "Haven't we all?"

"It's only getting worse out there. Dead are everywhere. And it's only making the living," Tyreese sighed tiredly, "less like the living."

Esme wiped Thomas and Bora's faces from any sticky oatmeal that may have stuck to their chubby cheeks, "Carl can you help me get these two inside the Cell Block?"

The preteen nodded before lifting Bora out of the high chair and setting her on the ground and doing the same with Thomas. He grabbed the one-year-olds hands and began leading them to their cells dutifully. Esme checked to make sure that Andre and Lilac's bowls were empty before telling them to follow the older boy as well.

"You're the only decent folk we've come across," Sasha added.

Esme ignored the conversation happening between the strangers and Hershal, "We can feed Peep and Pio a little later." she promised them before turning to Beth, "Let's get them all inside for now."

The blonde teen nodded as she perched Primrose on her hip and began to follow the Spaniard out of the cafeteria.

"You've been out there all this time?" Hershal asked behind them.

"Our neighbor Jerry, he was one of those survivalist nuts..." Tyreese began explaining.

Esme didn't really care to hear the rest of their story, despite her lingering curiosity over how they survived out in the open for so long (Esme wasn't a fool, she knew that she had gotten lucky to be living in the apartment above the daycare, she'd been spoiled with the indoor plumbing and electricity). It was a shame too. Tyreese and Sasha seemed like good people. Tyreese, despite his bulk and intimidating muscles and height, practically screamed that he was a gentle soul. And Sasha, despite her anger from the day before, demeanor revealed that she was a just woman with a kind side especially around young children.

It was too bad really.

They seemed like good people.

Honestly, she couldn't wait until the others got back. She would feel safer with having these new strangers around when they did. For now, though, she would concentrate on caring for the little ones. Judith, in particular, was starting to stir and smack her lips in a hungry fashion, nothing a little one-on-one time wouldn't fix.

"I'm gonna go outside to Carol." Carl informed them as soon as they reached him, "She hasn't had breakfast yet, and my dad and the others will be here soon. They'll need help."

"Are you taking the keys with you?" Beth asked.

The preteen knawed on his bottom lip for a minute in contemplation, "You guys stayin' inside?"

"I definitely am." Esme murmured as she began to rock her body to stall Judith from having a crying fit, "I don't want the children outside until the others get back. Safer here."

Beth nodded, "Daddy said that they could bury the woman in the fields where the other graves are. I'll probably go out to help them or keep watch. I think daddy wants some fresh air too."

Carl turned his piercing blue eyes towards Esme, "When we leave I'll lock the gate so they can't get in the Cell Block."

She shot the preteen a small smile, "Good. Let me know when you guys are heading out, I'm goin' to feed Judith."

Chapter 32

Chapter Text

"They were actin' weird outside." Beth murmured to her from the other side of the bars. Hershal looked up at them from where he was sitting in concern, the only reason why he was on the other side of the bars was to give his daughter company as she started on making a large lunch in preparation for the arrival of the rest of their group.

"What do you mean?" Esme asked, concern was practically vibrating out of her skin. The older children were playing happily while Judith and Primrose had a nap.

The blonde teenager sighed as she leaned from one leg to the other, "It's just tha' when I went to give 'em the shovels Allen and Ben, that's the teen boy, Sasha and Tyreese pushed 'em outta the way an' took 'em. I don't know, was just weird the way they dismissed me. Like they didn' want me there at all."

"They did just lose someone Beth." Hershal spoke up, "Perhaps they are grieving and wanted to do it in privacy."

The blonde teenager did not look convinced. "I don' know Daddy..."

"Beth," Esme called softly, "It'll be okay. The others will be here soon. You have your gun right?"

"Yeah." the girl nodded, her green eyes shining under the sunshine bathing the room from high windows.

"Keep it on you. If they try anything funny... We'll be ready."

Her words seemed to bolster Beth and give her back her confidence. She shot the teen another smile as the blonde went back to the pots of boiling pasta and tomato sauce. A disgruntled cry that she recognized as Bora's drew Esme back to the cell at the end. It looked like it was time to put Thomas and Bora down for a nap as well.

It had taken Esme fifteen minutes to put down her two one-year-olds for a nap. She ended up instructing Lilac and Andre to clean up their mess on the floor before showering her toddlers with some extra love and attention in the form of cuddles and softly reading them a story. Bailey was curled up into a ball by their side as Esme read the colorful tale of the 'Hungry Caterpillar.' It was nice to simply bask in the unconditional love of her children for a while. Especially with her oldest two, she was afraid that with all the attention the younger babies needed she wasn't being as attentive with her more independent children. Neglect or lack of affection in any form wasn't something she ever wanted them to feel. Her calm tone while reading and the quiet atmosphere seemed to soothe the toddlers as they slowly began heavily blinking and their breathing evened out as they fell asleep.

Esme pressed soft kisses on the crowns of their heads before carefully maneuvering herself out from underneath them. She decided that it would be less likely to wake them up if she just let them take their nap on the rug, so Esme simply shifted their forms into a more comfortable position before gently placing a blanket over them. Bailey mewed lazily at her as she got up and then curled herself even closer to Andre's head. Esme lightly rubbed the top of Bailey's head, checked on her dozing one-year-olds before stretching and going over to her own cell to see if Primrose or Judith were awake.

Thankfully, both babies were still happily snoozing. Since everything seemed to be peaceful at the moment it would be a perfect time to take her own nap. The lack of sleep from the night before was starting to hit her now as the day progressed. Esme carefully laid down on her bed, careful not to jostle Primrose, and curled up against her baby before closing her eyes and letting herself relax.

It didn't feel very long before a whimper from the bassinet in her room woke Esme up. She carefully got up, Primrose was still napping contently as she sucked on her teal pacifier every few seconds. Judith's face was all scrunched up as she flailed her limbs unhappily, before the whimper could turn into a real cry Esme quickly lifted the infant up and began shushing her softly.

"Que pasa, mi amor?" she whispered lovingly, "Is that diaper stinky? We can't have that.No, no, no. We're gonna change that diaper and then we're gonna have someleche. Si, you is probably very hungry now, rightprincessa?"

Esme walked over to Rick's cell to grab the baby bag with newborn sized diapers before deciding to simply change Judith in there before heading back to her cell. Judith was in a clean nappy when she heard the outer doors open and familiar voices cascade down to her. They were back! Mindful of the infant fussing in the crook of her arm, she approached the gate out of the Cell Blocks to inspect their wayward members.

Glenn and Maggie were the first two she spotted, some dried rotter blood was on their clothes but they looked healthy overall as they hauled bins with canned goods into the cafeteria. Hershal and Beth wrapped Maggie into a relieved hug as soon as she put down her load, before wrapping Glenn into a hug as well. The scene made the corners of Esme's lips pull up with joy at the family reunion. Oscar and Axel were already letting down their own boxes with dried food down at the free table while they inspected the nervous-looking strangers in their midst.

The small group of survivors that Carl had saved were watching the trickling members of their group come in with trepidation and thinly veiled hope on the part of Sasha and Tyreese. Hershal must have told them that their stay in prison would be determined by Rick and not himself... and considering how wary the man had been with Esme's own arrival, she wasn't too sure that their leader would be too accommodating. No matter how much it inwardly chaffed her, Esme was positive the main reason Rick hadn't turned her away was because of the young children under her charge and the fact that she was a relatively defenselesswoman.

Something that these four individuals, despite Sasha's status as a woman, definitely were not. Defenseless that is.

The minute Daryl walked in, with a couple of black garbage bags thrown over his shoulder, he spotted their new additions and eyed them warily and with barely concealed caution. It was probably a good thing that Rick hadn't walked in yet to see the four new faces inside their home. Hershal had crutched away outside, probably to give their leader a little heads up on their new guests. Some previously unnoticed tension in her shoulders unwound at the sight of her new group's heavy hitters.

Everything would be alright now that they were back.

They were safe.

Her children were safe.

Judith fussed frustratedly as she started smacking her lips harder and her little eyebrows furrowed. She rocked her body in a soothing manner, "Alright, alright. I know what you want." she murmured softly as she threw a small receiving blanket over her shoulder and the baby's head before pulling down the straps of her tank top and bra. Judith quickly latched on to her nipple and began to greedily drink milk to her content. Esme snorted in amusem*nt as the baby stopped wiggling around in her arms and instead relaxed completely against her, a small peak underneath the blanket let Esme know that the infant was now happily blinking her eyes as her tiny hands clenched repeatedly against the bare skin of Esme's breast.

The loud clanging of the outer door opening and shutting brought her attention back to the other room. Rick was strutting down the stairs in a purposeful manner as he spared the small group of strangers inside a look of contempt before he headed towards her. Carl quickly ran ahead of his father and opened the gate to let him in, Esme moved to the side as she shot the man a tired smile when his piercing blue eyes fell on her and then his daughter.

A small smile tugged onto the corners of the man's lips as Esme moved the blanket out of the way so that he could see Judith.

"She's been good. No trouble at all." Esme reported, "She should be finish in five minutes and then I'll give her to you."

Rick nodded as he placed a gentle hand on the baby's head, "Thank you." The man covered up Esme's modesty once more before he turned to the others and ordered them "Let's unload the rest of the stuff, I want everything inside before it gets dark."

"I made lunch." Beth piped up, "Some pasta with sauce, I can warm it up when we're done."

Rick nodded, "Let's wrap this up so we eat."

All of the commotion now occurring in the prison seemed to have woken up Esme's own children as she started to hear cries coming from the end of the cells. Beth shot her an eager smile, "I'll help!"

"Thanks." Esme retorted as the two them went to tend to the cranky toddlers. It was nice, having someone there to help her take care of the kids. Hell, it was nice to be able to depend onanyonefor anything. She was depending on Beth for help with child-rearing, Rick to give them direction, Hershal for advice and medical attention, Daryl for protection, Glenn and Maggie for their quick thinking and even quicker response time, Axel and Oscar's brawn to help carry things, and Carol's quiet but reassuring gaze as she kept lookout during the night.

Just three days ago, she was a single mother to five beautiful children all under the age of five with no one to back her up if something went wrong. Now, Esme was flourishing, despite her reservations about new people. Her children were safer than ever and had the option to interact with other people. She thanked God for leading Daryl and Maggie toherdaycare, for coming back and actually bringing them to their new home.

Esme wasn'taloneanymore.

The very thought had a wide grin stretching across her face.

Chapter 33

Chapter Text

"You don' recognize any of 'em?" Daryl asked her seriously. "They wasn' a part a the group you spotted near yer ol' home?"

"No." Esme promised as she looked up into his intense blue eyes, "They aren't with the Governor, at least as far as I know."

"I don't think that they have encountered this other group." Hershal added, bringing everyone's attention off of her and onto him, "Tyreese said that we were the first good people they'd come across in a long time. Didn't mention coming across any of the Governor's people, they just want a safe place to live jus' like any of us."

Rick rubbed his beard, "But you're not sure?"

"No." Hershal responded, "I figured it be better not to mention this other group by name until you all got back. Just in case. I did tell 'em that there is a more volatile group in the area."

"And they didn't know about it?" Glenn asked, "How long have they been in the area?"

Daryl stopped chewing on his thumbnail as he headed for the cafeteria, "Well there ain't no time like the present ta find out."

Carl opened up the gate purposefully as the group streamed into the cafeteria. Rick and Daryl making up the front as Esme trailed at the back with Bora on her hip. The other babies, barring Judith who was taking another nap, were in their cell playing happily with the plastic farm animals Daryl had been kind enough to present to them. Bora had been feeling clingy since she woke up, and Esme didn't see the harm in spoiling her little Korean princess by holding her for a while. Especially since all of the others were happily entertained, even Primrose was cheerfully smacking on the colorful baby einstein music toy that had been brought from the daycare.

"I'm Tyreese." the man introduced himself as he extended his hand towards Rick cordially. Rick ignored the raised hand as Hershal introduced the other members of the small group.

"Sasha, Allen, Ben." he gestured to each one with one of his crutches as Rick inspected them carefully.

"How'd you get in?" Rick asked non-pulsed.

"Fire damage to the administrative part of the prison. Wall's down." Tyreese explained calmly, it looked like the man would be the spokesperson for their little group during this altercation.

A wall being down in the back of the prison did not sound good. Depending on how big the breach was they might be able to set up some spike traps out of wood to prevent rotters from getting in. Someone would have to go down there every once in a while to dispose of the impaled rotters and make sure that nothing has gotten passed the spikes, but it could prove as a simple solution to prevent rotters from getting in. Heck, it would make it difficult for apersonto get passed it as well. She'd bring it up to the rest of the group later, probably the hunter since he might have an idea on how to start building the spike trap she had in mind.

"That side's completely overrun with walkers. So, how'd you get this far?" Rick questioned.

She quickly shared a look with Carl, it looked like the preteen hadn't told his father about his part in bringing the lost strangers to safety. Bora lightly tugged on Esme's brown locks before snuggling her face into the crook of Esme's neck. Esme gently rubbed the back of her daughter's back in response nervously as she eyed Tyreese.

"We didn't." Tyreese retorted, "We lost our friend Donna."

"They were lost in the gyms." Carl piped up bravely.

"You brought them here?" Rick asked incredulously, a tinge of anger creeping up his voice as he turned to stare accusingly at his son.

"He had no choice." Hershel defended, making Rick nod contemplatively as he turned to look back at the strangers seeking asylum.

"I'm sorry about your friend." Rick offered the group, "We know what that's like."

"Hershal said you could use some extra hands. We're no stranger to hard work. We'll go out and get out own food, stay out of your hair. You got any problems with other groups, we'll help with that too. Anything to contribute." Tyreese finished genuinely.

It was quiet for a moment.

"You ever hear abou' some guy called the Govn'r?" Daryl asked boldly.

Sasha and Tyreese exchanged confused looks while Ben looked at his father questioningly in the background.

"No." Tyreese responded, "Is this about the volatile group Hershal mentioned being in this area?"

"Hmm, Esme encountered a few of their men a while ago." Rick gestured over his shoulder in her direction, "They would have killed her if they spotted her."

"We haven't seen or heard of anyone like that." Sasha spoke up for the first time, "We haven't really been here that long, our old group was overrun a few weeks ago. We ended up in this area after being split up and chased by walkers."

"We'll be more than willing to help defend this place from the other group if you let us stay." Tyreese reiterated.

"No." Rick sounded almost apologetic as he looked away. The strangers' faces crumbled as their hope was dashed away.

"Please." Sasha begged. "It's like '10 little Indians' out there. It's just us now."

She ignored the strange phrase that she didn't recognize and instead focused on the back of their leader's head. Esme couldn't see Rick's face from where she was standing in the back but she could see how he shook his head at Sasha's plead, "No." he repeated.

"Let's talk about this." Hershal spoke up. Darl walked off to one of the pillars in the room and leaned against it as he began to nervously chew on his thumbnail once more.

Sasha and Tyreese looked desperate and genuinely willing to do whatever it took to get in Rick's good graces to make it work in the prison. Allen, however, glared at their leader with angry dark eyes as his muscles tensed warningly as if he was doing everything he could not to launch himself over to Rick and start pounding away at his face. Esme did not like that man. She didn't care if the man had just lost his wife, or that his teenaged son was by his side shooting fearful looks at the heavy hitters of the prison group. There was just something aboutthisman that set her on edge.

Beth had moved closer to her during the interaction and whispered in her ear, "Do you see tha'?" she asked, referring to Allen's badly concealed rage.

Esme nodded, "I don't like it."

"We can't just keep-" Hershal started in defense of Tyreese and his group.

"We've been through this." Rick interrupted him, "With Tomas an' Andrew. Look what happened."

She had heard the general gist from Beth of the tale leading to the death of Rick's wife, Lori, and the traumatic birth of their motherless daughter. Two of the ex-cons the group had found trapped in the kitchens of the prison had beenrealbad people. Not locked up because of petty or minor crimes like Axel and Oscar were. No Tomas and Andrew were locked up for serious sh*t, like murder and assault. Andrew had somehow escaped the prison and led a group of rotters into the once cleared areas of the prison separating the group from one another during a critical moment. Lori had unfortunately gone into labor and would have not only lost her own life but Judith's as well if Maggie hadn't performed an emergency C-section to deliver to the beautiful little girl. The C-section had killed Rick's wife and eventually led Daryl and Maggie in search of baby formula to feed the newborn. It's what led them to her.

"Axel and Oscar weren't like them." Carol defended the ex-cons hovering awkwardly by the woman's side.

"Yeah," Daryl agreed, "Esme an' her lil' ones ain't like tha' either."

"Yeah, but they aren't a threat, now are they?" Rick snapped, making Esme flinch and Bora's eyes widen at the raised voices, she started to bounce her body to not only calm down Bora but give herself something to concentrate on as well. "I can't be responsible." Rick continued.

In a roundabout manner, she understood what Rick meant, the man didn't want to be responsible for any more lives and eventually possible deaths. As stoic as he'd been presenting himself he seemed like the kind of man that held failure very close to his chest and held himself accountable for everyone under his charge. In a way, Esme felt the same way about her adopted children. They were hers to protect and care for. Esme didn't think that she would be able to handle losinganyof her children.

"You turn us out, youareresponsible." Tyreese countered gently, "We don't mean any harm to you or your people. We're willing to do whatever it takes to makethiswork."

"Rick." Hershal called over making their tense leader walk over to the crippled man, "You've done so much for us. I appreciate that. We all do. We owe you our lives. We've done everthin' you asked without question. An' I'm tellin' you, you're wrong on this." he said in a gentle manner, "You've gotta start giving people a chance. Like you did to Esme and Oscar and Axel."

Rick looked over at the tense figures of Sasha and Tyreese giving him pleading looks, back to Hershal and then even to scan her and the uncomfortable looking ex-cons. Rick let out a labored sigh as he rubbed his temples gingerly, probably trying to stave off a headache. "Yeah." he agreed, "Fine."

Esme let go of the breath she'd been holding as she exchanged relieved smiles with Beth, "Don't worry," she whispered to the green-eyed teen, "We'll tell your sister about our concerns later." earning herself a determined nod from the youngest Green, as she learned was the family name of the sisters and veterinarian.

"You can stay." Rick turned to face their new members seriously, "But if you do, my word islaw. You don' like the way I run things 'round here, feel free toleave."

Chapter 34

Chapter Text

Allen and Ben left the prison in the morning. Sasha and Tyreese had tried to stop them, but after a whispered argument between the once group, the two siblings let them go with a disgusted glare. Rick seemed happy to see them leave, well to have two less strangers in his midst, but the rest of the group didn't seem to be concerned so she wasn't either.

If anything, she was relieved and so was Beth.

The Williams siblings, as she learned they were, were more than thankful for Rick's decision to let them stay. They had spent the morning with Glenn and the others that knew the bowels of the prison really well trying to figure out where exactly Tyreese and Sasha had managed to get in and how to block off the area. Glenn had drawn a crude map of the area on the floor with chalk while she and Beth fed the babies a late breakfast of scrambled eggs and cheerios.

Esme had a wide-awake and content Judith strapped to her chest in the baby sling once more while she spoon-fed Bora and Primrose. Rick seemed to be more accepting of Esme's presence now that her information on her old town had come through to provide the whole group a plethora of supplies. The man had even smiled at her that morning when he brought his daughter over for breakfast and thanked her for taking care of Judith the day before and for having Carl's back when the preteen had made it back to the cafeteria with a group of strangers at his heels.

Hell, Rick hadn't even given her suspicious looks when he saw her strap Judith to her chest half an hour ago so that she'd have her hands free to care for her other children. He only grunted that he was going to go take watch outside to her and Beth before turning his back to them and leaving.

His change in behavior was a bit disconcerting, especially after last night's hostility against the four people Carl had saved. It didn't really help that Esme had accidentally overheard a concerning conversation between Rick and Hershal about the hallucinations he'd had when he lost his wife. Grief is a powerful emotion and motivator to back someone's actions, it made her want to questionwhyexactly he'd agreed to let Maggie and Daryl bring her and her children here if he was so wary of strangers. Was it because she was a woman? One that was relatively alone and had young children depending on her. Was it because she'd been kind enough to give the scavengers diapers and herownbreast milk and baby formula for a baby she didn't even know? Was it really because she washarmlessand didn't pose a threat to him alone?

She had no real intention of actually asking Rick. Esme was half afraid of the truth, but even more afraid of receiving the man's ire and being expelled from the group as a consequence of not knowing when to keep her mouth shut. Especially since now shereallywouldn't be able to protect her children.

"Ah!" Primrose babbled as she slapped her hand down on the plastic tray of her high chair, "Ah-AH!"

Esme snorted as her youngest slapped her hands down again before grunting in a similar manner once more as she turned to face Bora and shrieked, "What happened?" Esme asked, "You want to talk to your sister?"

Bora seemed thrilled to have the younger baby's attention, "Ama! Pim!" she pointed at Primrose with a chubby finger before shoving a handful of cheerios into her mouth.

Esme giggled softly as she spooned some soft eggs into Primrose's expectant mouth, "Yeah, Bora: Prim. Good job!" she praised making the little Korean giggle and clap her hands happily.

"PIM!" Bora shouted again joyfully, drawing the attention of Thomas who eyed his happy sisters suspiciously and somewhat jealously.

"Bo'a!" Thomas grunted around a mouthful of eggs, "Bo'a iie?"

"Mhmm," Esme hummed in agreement as her son seemed to settle down at her confirmation, "Bora's eating."

Beth giggled at her side making Esme look at her questioningly, "Sorry, it's jus' kinda amazin' that you can understand 'em."

She shot a small smile at the blonde, "After a while, I got use to the baby talk."

"Mami quiero ver Pio y Peep.Dey is hung'y, an' needs to eatcomida." Lilac chirruped as she hopped down from her seat at the table and made her way to Esme's side.

"Espera." Esme chided, "You need to wait for everyone to be finished eatingmi amor,Andre is going to want to help feed the chickens too, so you has to wait."

"Esme?" Andre whispered as he too made his way to her side, "I is finished. Can I go see the chickens too?"

"P'ease?" Lilac chimed in.

Esme sighed, "Okay,pero,you can only look okay. Don' touch."

"Yay!" the toddlers cheered as they practically ran to the chicken coupe and began babbling to either the somewhat cautious chickens or to each other.

"What are we gonna do after this?" Beth asked curiously. Esme forced herself not to look outwardly surprised by the question. Beth had been extremely helpful with the children, but the teenager didn't have to stick around with Esme and mind the babies with her. Esme knew that it could get tedious after a while and sometimes even boring or frustrating to be surrounded by babies all the time.

"I has to wash the clothe diapers for the babies. I'm gonna take out the blocks for the babies to play with while I work."

Beth's nose scrunched up a little before another smile worked it's way across her face, "I can help!"

"Are you sure?" Esme asked softly, "No tienes-I mean, you don't has to help me with the childrenallthe time. I understand if you want to do somethin' else."

Beth's expressive blue-green eyes locked onto Esme's own hazel ones, "I know. I like to help with the babies, I always wanted to have a child. And now, with everythang tha's happened. I feel like this'll be closest I'll ever get."

Esme nodded, a small understanding smile tugging on the corner of her lips, "I- Things happen to me when I was young. Younger than you even, it made me want to never get married or even has relations with a man. I'm an immigrant who was here on a work visa... adoption was not a option for me. I too wanted to has a baby, I thought it would not happen for me in this country. But when everything to -mierda-bad... these children became my own."

"God works in mysterious ways, doesn't he?"

"Si.He really does."

Was this how Daisy felt when she took her under her wing?

Either way, she had a friend in young Beth. It felt nice to have a friend again.

"Alright, Daryl and I are gonna scope out the area you guys got in. I need to figure out where the breach is." Glenn stated seriously, making Ese and Beth turn back to the majority of the group gathered behind them.

Oscar was out on watch at the guard tower closest to the entrance of the prison and Maggie would be going out to cover him soon. She wasn't really sure where Rick was positioned for his own watch but for the man's children she hoped that he'd come back inside soon.

"I'd like to help." Tyreese piped up, "I think I can show you how we got to where Carl found us."

Daryl grunted as he bent down to grab his quiver with spare arrows, "Fine. Don' slow us down."

Sasha shifted on her feet nervously, "I'd like to come as well."

"Sasha-" Tyreese started only to get interrupted by an impatient looking Glenn.

"Look, we need to do this now. If you guys got in, anyone else could have too and, well, we just can't have that."

Daryl snorted as he turned to the gate leading to the tombs, "Come if ya want, we movin' now."

The group of four where hot on his heels.

"I'll stay here, and wait for them to come back." Carol spoke up softly.

"Me too." Carl piped up, "I got the keys anyways."

Esme turned to look at Beth somewhat nervously, "Let's get the lil' ones out of here now.No quiero-I don' want to have them in here if somethin' goes wrong."

Beth smiled back at her in a reassuring manner, "Don' worry. With Daryl and Glenn, I can' imagine anythin' bad happenin.' Idothink Thomas here is ready to go play now."

"Ehhy!" Thomas screeched, "Bo'a ehhy!"

Her son agreed completely, "Oh, yeah. I think everyone is done." Esme smiled. Bora and Primrose had eaten all of their eggs and the cheerios she'd given them, a small glance at the plates of her two oldest charges revealed that while Andre had eaten all of his cheerios he'd left a small portion of his eggs left. That was fine since the leftovers could be given to the chickens that the toddlers were still gawking at. Esme expertly unfastened Bora from her chair before setting her down on her shaky feet, "Lilac, Andre,ven, come help Bora walk back to our room.

"Otay mama!" Lilac shouted gleefully as she raced Andre back to them.

"Cuidado!You has to be careful." Esme chided as she unfastened Primrose and carefully sat her on her hip, mindful of Judith wiggling happily against her chest, "No corres,no running please, you can trip and fall. Do you remember what happens when you fall down?"

"You gets a boo-boo." Andre answered wisely, "Has ta be careful."

"Good job Andre!" Beth cheered as she set an impatient Thomas onto the ground as well. Andre preened under the praise.

"That's right." Esme agreed.

"Sorry mama." Lilac whispered before grabbing Bora's tiny hand into her own, "I be careful! C'mon Bora! Let's go!"

Bora let out a tiny exhilarated squeak as she began to toddle in the direction of the Cell Blocks. Andre was quick to follow Lilac's example and grab Thomas' hand as well, "C'mon Tommy, we's gonna play!"

"Ehhy!" Thomas repeated.

Beth giggled before reaching out towards her, "I can help with Primrose."

Esme shot her a grateful look as she handed Primrose over, "Thanks. Let's catch up to thoseloqillos."

"What does tha' mean?" Beth asked with a wide curious grin on her face.

She pondered for a moment as they crossed the threshold of the Cell Blocks, "Es como,is likelocobut many, um, plural.Locois a word for crazy. Is like a-a nickname."

Beth burst out into laughter, "How'd you say it? Lo- Low-key-os?"

"Close." Esme smiled, "Loquillos."

"Lo-keyos." she repeated happily as they began to take out the blocks for the kids to play with.

"Loquillos."

"Loquillos."Beth parroted correctly.

"Yup!" Esme praised.

Yes. It was nice to have a friend again.

Chapter 35

Chapter Text

Carol came and told them the bad news while Esme and Beth were finishing up with washing the clothe diapers. The tombs outside of the boiler room were overrun by the dead a section that'd been previously cleared during the early days of the groups' stay at the prison. The biggest fear the group had was that with a steady stream of rotters getting in through the fallen wall the Williams siblings had described, it may only be a matter of time before the geeks could push into their living areas.

Hell if a herd passed through, they were screwed.

Daryl and Glenn were trying to figure out a way to prevent the rotters from pushing through even more and are planning to drive around the far side of the prison to scout it out for themselves.

Tyreese and Sasha had described the fire damage to the area rather well. Apparently Sasha was an ex-firefighter and she'd seen similar damage before. The area wasn't in danger of collapsing,butthey didn't have a feasible way to seal off the back wall that had crumbled. When the fire original took out that wall it had destroyed four feet of thick concrete creating the breech. At some point, rotters must have been attracted to the smell of rotten meat or the scent of a poor unfortunatelivingbastard and fell the small section of the chain-link fence in the back.

Apparently, the damage to the fence wasn't actually too extensive and it only opened up the grounds to a small area that wasn't connected to any of the others, but the group also didn't currently have a way to patch that up or at the very least prevent any more rotters from wandering into the bowels of the prison.

"I may have an idea." Esme told the older woman cautiously, "It would be a lil' difficult an' take some time,pero,if we build spike traps from the trees and place them at-un angulo-um, angle it can prevent the rotters from entering for now."

Carol eyed her contemplatively, "How would they work?"

"If we dig them into the ground hard enough, they can't be moved. The pointed tops of the spike will,empalar,um, impale the geeks." Esme explained somewhat awkwardly as her cheeks colored, "We'd need to go check the traps once a while to dispose of the bodies but it should eh-stop more from goin' in. Maybe even make a second set of traps right at the beginning- the entrance of the breach."

"That could work. It would depend on how big the breach is, but it sounds doable." Carol mumbled, "I'll go tell the guys your idea, so's they can see if it has any merit when they go an' check it out for themselves."

Esme watched the short-haired woman walk away with relief. She found the other woman intimidating for some reason, and to have her idea acknowledged by the other made her feel validated and relieved. Beth bumped her shoulder against her's, "Tha' was a good idea."

"Gracias."Esme smiled back as she turned back to the diaper she was scrubbing.

"We'll still need to clear section again but it'll be a relief ta know tha' walkers can't get in again." Beth murmured thoughtfully.

"Mhmm." Esme agreed before adding softly in a more serious tone, "I don' like to hear that the rotters might push into here.Mis bebes,I cannot go very far with all my babies. They can' run, and I will never leave them. I-Is there a backup plan if the worse happens."

"What do you mean?" Beth asked.

"Like someplace to run to if you all get separated.Si eso pasa,if tha' happens everyone needs to have access to supplies an' know how to get to the rean-rendezvous point."

"When we first met Rick an' the others," Beth started, " they'd come across our farm 'cause of a huntin' accident. My Uncle Otis accidentally shot Carl through a buck he was trackin'... we thought the walkers were sick then. Daddy and Uncle Otis gathered all the ones we'd come across an' barricade 'em inside the barn."

Beth's eyes were glassy with unshed tears that refused to fall, "There was this other officer with their group then, Rick's deputy, Shane. Daddy says tha' the fall of civilization drove him mad. He didn' take too well to havin' walkers so close to their camp and he gunned 'em down. Killed what was left of my momma and my brother jus' like that."

"I'm sorry." Esme whispered.

"I'm not. Momma and Shawn had been dead for a while, we jus' hadn't believed it then. Not long after a herd came across the farm and took it over. Daddy didn' wanna leave and Maggie was with Glenn in one of the cars tryin' to divert the walkers away from our home. A fire'd broken out in the barn, Rick and Carl were trapped inside. My boyfriend Ji-Jimmy, he'd driven over with the RV to help them out. He didn' make it. The only reason I made it out was 'cause Lori grabbed my hand and started to pull me and my Auntie Patricia to the truck. Walkers pulled my Auntie right outta my arms..."

The picture Beth was painting in Esme's mind was a gruesome one. "Everyone jus' scattered, we didn' know where anyone was, or who even made it off the farm. Only reason we found each other again was 'cause Lori forced T-Dog to go back to the highway where'd they lost Carol's daughter at. We got lucky that everyone else made their way there as well."

"That sounds terrifying." Esme whispered, "I'm so happy that you found your family again."

"Me too." Beth sniffled, "But I think if we'd had a backup plan, somewhere we'd all go to if somethang happened, it wouldn' of been so scary. So I think, tha's somethin' that we should plan for as well, 'cause I never wanna go through tha' fear of not knowing where to go or if I'd ever see my sister and Daddy again if we get separated."

"We can do that." Esme promised, "Make a plan, and then we can show the others too. My friend, Mitch, he always use to say that it never hurt no one to be prepared, so let's do that."

A small cry escaped from where Esme had placed Judith down to have some tummy-time, "It looks like Judith is hungry again." Beth giggled, "You go get her, I can finish this up!"

"Okay," Esme sighed as she stood up and stretched before going into the kids room where she'd laid Judith down in Andre's pack n' play since the oldest toddler was playing on the rubber rug. "Ya, ya Judith ya estoy aqui. Hmm, tienes hambre, si?"

The infant's big fat tears had stopped rolling down her chubby cheeks but Judith still let out disgruntled whimpers, "Ya mi amor,I know you're hungry.Vamos,no more tears. I'm here." Esme whispered in soft kind tones as she stepped over Thomas and Bora before going into her own cell to sit on her bed and nurse. Bailey mewled at her curiously as she peaked her head into the cell. The tabby had been spending most of her time leashed inside of the children's cell, her cat liked to watch over the children almost like she was guarding them, but she still liked to poke her head in to see what Esme was doing if she actually sat or laid down on her bed.

Esme made little kissy faces at the tabby (which only earned her the cat version of an eye roll before Bailey slinked back into the other cell) before grabbing the boppy pillow with one hand and positioning it under the fussy baby. She quickly pulled the strap of her tank down before letting Judith latch on to her nipple and start sucking. Esme sighed as she rolled her head, neck cracking in a delightful manner, her hair tickling her shoulder and some strands even falling to land on Judith's cheek. The infant pulled on the brown locks contently as she continued to suckle happily.

The heavy thumps of running footsteps made her look up curiously as even Beth stood up to greet the newcomer. Carl screeched to halt in front of Beth, his breath coming out in short pants from his excursion.

"Wha-What happen'?" Beth questioned worriedly.

"People- hah- two of 'em at the fences." Carl panted as he rubbed sweat off his brow, "One of 'em... we know one of them, i-it's Merle!"

"Quien?Who's Merle?" Esme asked curiously as adrenaline started to pump through her veins.

Beth gasped, "Daryl's brother!? The one who got separated from the group in Atlanta?"

"Same one!" Carl rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Cut his hand off ta get off the roof he'd been cuffed to. He's with some black lady with a sword. My dad's lettin' them in. He wanted me to lock the Cell Block so they can't get in if they ain't friendly."

Hershal crutched up behind them, "Any of them hurt?"

"I-I think the lady was hurt, there was a-a bandage on her leg." Carl murmured.

"Alright, Beth, get my med bag and bring it to the cafeteria, then get back inside. I don't want you to be out there if things get ugly." Hershal commanded as he turned back around and began making his way back to the cafeteria. Beth ran from Esme's view with Carl hot on her tail.

Her shifting dislodged her nipple out of Judith's mouth, earning her a disgruntled coo before Esme remedied her blunder and Judith went back to nursing. It chafed her that she wasn't able to check out the situation for herself. It made her feel helpless. A whole new level of helplessness that she hadn't experienced yet in this new world. Before Daryl and Maggie had found her, she was in charge of her own life. If there was anything out of the ordinary happening she would jump to her feet and assess the situation for herself. A part of it was freeing that she didn't have all the responsibility resting on her shoulders anymore, but she felt like a burden and like her only purpose for existing anymore was to be a bystander in the grand scheme of someone else's story. The only impact she was making here was keeping Judith alive by feeding her, and caring for her own children.

Useless.

That was the real emotion plaguing her now.

She was purposeless.

Before, she had a routine. A sense of herself, of who she was. She was a mother and caretaker, yes. But she wasn't- she wasn't someone- someone who was just simply there. Yes, Beth enjoyed her company and in return, she enjoyed being in the presence of the teenager... but she just felt souseless.This group of people would be fine without her. Yes, they would need to constantly go out to scavenge for baby formula, but they also wouldn't have the added burden of Esme and her children.

Traitorous tears burned behind her eyes before one sneakily started to fall down her cheek. What was wrong with her? Complaining, even in the recesses of her mind. She was safe. Her babies were safe. There werepeoplehere. Good people. People that she could depend on. She wasn'taloneanymore.Why did it feel like everything was slowly starting to fall apart around her? Like she was still on herown.

"Mama?" Lilac chirruped as she popped into the cell.

Esme quickly whipped her face and turned to look at her daughter with a smile, "Que pasa amor?"

The toddler smiled at her cutely, "Has to go potty."

Children, they were a blessing in disguise. A blessed distraction from her dark thoughts vanquished her worries and plights from her mind, at least for now.

"Okay,amor, dame un segundo.I just have to put the baby in the sling and we can go," she explained calmly.

"I has to do pee-pee too!" Andre declared as she carefully got up.

"Claro."she sighed softly before shooting the oldest toddler a small grin.

Of course, he did.

Chapter 36

Chapter Text

Esme had to slip Judith into the baby sling so the infant could keep eating while she helped Andre and Lilac use the toilet. She'd closed the cell door of the baby room so that her three youngest ones couldn't get out and roam while she brought the toddlers up the stairs to the designated bathroom. The bathroom was the cell in the center on the second floor, it had a heavy carpet covering the front of it for some privacy. Whenever someone used it they had to fill the small tank with water before flushing, but it otherwise served it's purpose well.

After bringing the toddlers back downstairs and letting them back in the room to play with their younger siblings, Esme began to hear the unfamiliar voices of the two new individuals in the prison.

"Oh, there you are." Beth murmured as she came up from behind Esme.

Esme shot the teen a small smile, "Lilac and Andre had to use the toilet."

The blonde nodded, "Judith is still eating?"

She simply nodded as she peered under the light baby blanket, she'd thrown it over her shoulder to preserve some of her modesty in case someone came across her nursing the youngest Grimes. Judith had her eyes shut contently now as she rested one of her hands against Esme's chest while she nursed slowly, "Yeah, but she's falling asleep now. Won't be long before she starts napping."

"We'll have to give the others a snack then too... you like to put 'em down for a nap around this time, right?" Beth asked softly.

Esme nodded, "Si,I need to start pumping milk for later. Bora, Thomas and Primrose still nurse from me and Andre and Lilac get a bottle at night."

Beth nodded, "I finished with these diapers, I'm going to hang them upstairs on the perch since there's still a lotta sunlight streamin' there."

Raised voices carried down to their ears making Esme eye the locked entrance of the Cell Block curiously where Carl was standing guard at the door with a mutinous expression on his face, Rick had probably made him enter the Cell Block before locking the door in an attempt to keep his son safe, "They are here now. Was it really Daryl's brother?"

"Yeah. I'd never met Merle before, but Rick confirmed it." Beth murmured, "Carl's not too happy with his Daddy for makin' him come inside, but he didn' put too much of fuss in front of the others."

Yeah, the hard expression on Carl's face justscreameddiscontent. The boy was probably going to get into a row with Rick when the situation stopped being so tense. Adolescents... Shereallywasn't looking forward to being the single mother offiveteenagers.Five.Just the thought of it threatened to give her a headache.

Was it wrong of her towantto at least view the proceedings over the integration or expulsion of the new people? It didn't look like Daryl, Glenn and Tyreese were back from checking out the breech on the far side of the prison. The archer would be thrilled to be reunited with his brother. Curiosity was burning behind her chest as the volume of voices increased from the cafeteria once more. A red flush colored her cheeks as she turned to look at Beth inquiringly.

"Do you min' if I take a peek of the other room?"

Beth smiled in an understanding manner, "Not at all. I'd be curious too. Merle doesn' really look much like Daryl... I'll keep an eye on the lil' ones."

A small, almost breathless sounding giggle escaped from her lips, "Gracias."as she cautiously started walking in the direction of the locked gate where Carl was petulantly glaring into the other room.

Sasha sent her a strained smile from where she was leaning against the concrete wall closest to the gate. The younger Williams sibling was hovering in the outskirts of the group, much like Esme herself felt most of the time, as she watched the others begin to interrogate the new duo in their midsts. Esme shot the other woman a soft understanding smile before leaning against the bars to get a look at Merle and the woman.

She could understand why Beth didn't think Daryl and Merle looked much alike at first glance. Merle was a little shorter than his brother but just as built as Daryl was, the sides of his dirty blonde hair were even shorter than the small wavy curls on the top of his head. His forehead had evident stress lines that wrinkled with the man's different facial expressions, the man was probably a few years older than Daryl was and had visible crows feet at the corners of his piercing blue eyes (they were a shade paler than Daryl's but just as intense). Both brothers had similar jawlines and thin pale lips, they both seemed to carry the same burden on their shoulders even if Merle was currently slouched in a 'devil-may-care' manner as grinned in a sardonically at Rick. Merle gestured in a carefully lazy way with the makeshift blade prosthetic strapped where his right hand should be.

"-ight Officer Frien'ly? Like starin' atta a ghost." Merle taunted in a thick Georgian accent that Esme had grown to find pleasant over the years. "Nevah 'spected ta see ole' Merle 'gain, did ya? Where's ma brotha?"

"Daryl's around. Perimeter check, I believe..." Rick responded dryly, "How'd you fin' this place?"

Merle ignored the ex-sheriffs question as he turned to stare at his female companion when she hissed in pain. Hershal seemed to be stitching a gash in the woman's leg. The dark-skinned woman gave him a pointed look that earned her rolled eyes before Merle turned back to their agitated leader.

"Saw ya, was it yesterday, stopped in tha road ta move a truck. Was too far 'way, but I saw ma brotha an' the Chinese kid. 'Chonne here say she heard ya mention a prison, 'is closest one in the area." the man gestured around the room, "Don' wan' no trouble. Been lookin' fer Daryl a long time now. Jus' wan' ma brotha."

Esme rocked her body gently, Judith had stopped really sucking now and would hopefully fall asleep against her chest if she kept up with the gentle ministrations. Merle's body language wasn't screaming deception to her, it didn't look like the man wanted trouble with the group, but healsowasn't divulging the whole truth which Rick seemed to have picked up on as he threw the other survivor suspicious glares.

"See, I'm not sure I can fully believe that." Rick drawled, "Your companion's name is 'Chonne?"

Merle let out a bitter chuckle, "Why's tha' Hoss? Is 'cause tha last time ya saw me, ya'd cuffed me ta a pole an' then abandoned me on a roof surrounded by damn biters?" the man shook his head, "Seems like I'm tha one tha' should be cautious 'ere, don' it?"

"Michonne." the woman piped up, not looking away from Hershal's steady hands as the gash in her leg slowly closed with each tug of the needle and thread piercing her skin, "Not 'Chonne."

"Right." Rick grunted before looking back at Daryl's older brother, "We went back for you, in Atlanta. Daryl was pretty devastated when we only found your hand on the roof... Didn' say much, but he really thought that you'd head back ta the quarry. 'Course you didn't. After that, we didn't hang around much, walkers got into camp and we had to move on."

"Ain't tha' nice. Pig came back ta clean up 'is mess." Merle spat, ignoring the other man's comment concerning his heartbroken brother. Esme could see the grief briefly cloud his eyes before anger and contempt overpowered the emotion, "Makes it'all better tha' ya'll showed up after I had ta saw my own damn hand off." Merle breathed in deeply as he tried to control his anger before releasing the air harshly, "Tha' don' matter much no more, 'specially sinceT-Dog's," he spat the name out like a curse, "dead now. I only wants ma brotha, an' then'll be outta yer hair."

Rick's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean? You want to take Daryl, an' what? Split?"

Merle stood up abruptly, ignoring Rick as the man gripped the gun in his holster threateningly and the others in the room tensed up as well, "Yup! 'Xactly tha,' we leavin' this area.'

Even Michonne looked somewhat surprised by that declaration, "Why?" Rick grounded out.

Merle seemed to actually survey the other people in the room, his blue eyes roving over every individual before locking onto her own for a brief moment. The archer's brother eyed the now sleeping bundle against her chest curiously and then with some barely concealed pity (Esme tensed up, every muscle in her body screaming at her to movemovemove, to attack, to run from the danger that seemed to be enveloped around Merle, even if she didn't exactly knowwhatit was) before moving on to look at Rick once more.

"There's a bigger fish in tha area tha's not gonna be too happy wit' me. I'd move along if I was you too. Govn'ahs not goin' ta be too happy when realizes ya'll have moved in so close ta Woodberry."

Esme's breath caught in her chest before she blurted out, "The Governor? You know him?"

Everyone's eyes jumped onto her form, "I do lil' lady. I'd run if I was you. He ain't goin' ta be any more merciful ta ya jus' 'cause ya gotta baby." Merle warned.

Bile threatened to escape from her lips. It seemed like the leader of the men she'd run from was an even bigger threat than she'd anticipated. Rick seemed to find the new information that'd been divulged even more infuriating as he agitatedly ran his fingers through his hair before glaring at the older Dixon and barking, "Start talkin.' Who is he? What'd you do to piss him off? You mentioned: Woodberry, is that his base? Where's that? How far is it? How many men he's got? Weapons?"

Merle smirked at their leader with contempt, "Well, now. Wouldn't chu like ta know-"

The door leading to the outside clanged open as Glenn burst into the room without care, "The breach in the outer wall is pretty substantial, but Esme's spike trap idea showed a lotta merit. Daryl says we can start collecting some strong trunk or branches to start carving out the spikes-"

The Korean practically squeaked as he realized the tense atmosphere and the presence of the older, and presumed dead, Dixon in the room, "Merle?" he whispered incredulously.

"Wha's tha hold up?" Daryl grouched as he pushed past an awkward Tyreese and frozen Glenn on the steps, "Ya can' just stop walkin' on the steps when there's people behind ya Glenn-"

"Lil' brotha!" Merle crowed. The older Dixon's pale blue eyes were suspiciously shiny as he took in the form of his stunned younger brother, a large smile had formed onto the man's lips.

"Merle?" Daryl murmured with disbelief as if the presence of the older Dixon was simply a hallucination there to taunt him and then disappear when he got too close.

"Took ya long 'nough, lil' brotha! Locals 'ere were gettin' antsy!" when Daryl stayed in the same surprised position on the stairs Merle rolled his eyes, "Wha'? No hug fer yer estranged brotha, tha's cold baby brotha."

"Merle!" Daryl shouted this time as he lunged himself across the room and into the arms of the other man.

Chapter 37

Chapter Text

Judith was sleepily snuffling against the skin of her still bare chest under the small blanket brought Esme out of the revere she'd been in. The two brothers reuniting in front of her were no longer any of her business, the information Merle had on the Governor would be important to discover for all of their safety, but the interrogation had been paused for the moment... Besides, she'd left Beth alone with her children long enough. She shot Carl a small tired smile as she patted the preteen's shoulder before heading back to the cell with the rest of her children.

She needed to start pumping milk now so that there'd be enough for all of the little ones to drink in the early evening, besides they were all due to have a little snack now anyway. Esme needed to set up a new routine for the little ones now that they were all relatively settled down... something that would be concrete and not fail to entertain the children and hopefully even tire them out. For now, though, she and Beth had a 'Back-up Plan' to figure out and then present to the group. Especially since this Governor was enough to send a stubborn and tough-looking man like Merle running for the hills.

"What happened?" Beth asked, concern painted on her face, "You're lookin' a lil' pale."

Esme sent the blonde a strained grin, "After we give the babies a snack, let's start to make that emergency plan,si?Merle mentioned the man, an' it looks like we might need one."

The blonde's face hardens with determination. "Alrigh,' let's do this."

Esme carefully placed Judith down in her bassinet, it was back in her cell again so that she could easily access the infant while taking care of her own brood, before dropping the sling carelessly on her bed and grabbing clean bottles the breast pump. She gave her left breast a break as she attached it to her right nipple and turned it on before covering herself up with the baby blanket again. Esme placed the other bottles she'd fill up in the little cooler and threw it over her shoulder before grabbing her notebook and pencil on her way out of the cell and sitting on the floor in front of the kids' cell where Beth was waiting for her.

The blonde Green had handed out goldfish for the kids to munch on while they sat down and began to plan. She shot the teen a smile as she plopped down beside her on the floor and opened up the notebook to a clean page.

"So what we do first?" Beth asked, "I mean- what do we start planin'... I don' even know where to start." she added sheepishly.

Esme snorted, "Nowhere, we just go on from here... I guess we can figure out the best place for everyone to come together if we is separated."

Beth nodded, "Alrigh'... I guess the big thang would be tha' it cannot be too close to the prison, 'specially since if we're runnin' from it, it means tha' its compromised so it wouldn' be safe to be close by."

"This is going to sound a bit stupid..." Esme admitted, "But the daycare where I use to live might be a good place. It wasn' safe anymore for me to be there alone with the kids, but it's in a pretty empty area and it does have strong doors to barricade ourselves inside."

Beth hummed, "True... there's also this motel we stayed at durin' the winter tha' might work. We only left 'cause the area'd been pillaged already an' there wasn't any supplies left. Tha' an' a herd was gonna move inta the town... but the herd shoulda moved on by now."

"Alright." Esme murmured as she jotted it down ('Potential Readevous; Daycare or Motel (check to see if Viable)'), "Where's the motel? So I can write down the addresses."

"It was on... Holbrook road in Woodsmoke county!" Beth chirruped. "There was even a separate bed an' breakfast house in the back yard where there was a small lake an' a pier. Daryl said it was too bad tha' it'd frozen over since we coulda gone fishing."

('Lake= fishing, boil water')were added underneath ('Motel')and the address.

"La isla..."Esme gasped under her breath.

"The what?" Beth questioned as her brows furrowed over the foreign phrase.

"The island." Esme reiterated in English, "Mitch, he has- well had,pues,ugh, I mean Pakenappeh!"

"An island?"

"Yes!" Esme grinned widely, "Mitch was building the new house there! Was a surprise present for Daisy! I wanted to make my way there originally but I couldn' do it by myself. I don' know how to use, um,un transbordador,is ferry!"

"House, present, wait a ferry? Esme, I think you need to start from the beginning."

Esme's smile was undeterred, "My friend Mitch comes from a very wealthy family. Daisy's dream was to one day live completely self-sufficient by a place close to the water. So of course, Mitch does a very Mitch thing and buys the island Pakenappeh in the Westpoint lake in LaGrange."

"He bought an island?" Beth gasped.

"I know! He's crazy! But he was building the new house there before they left for vacation! Pakenappeh is not very big, but it's big enough to have two large farms on it. He left a lotta of the equipment there and I don't think anyone other than him and some of the people he was working with even know it's there." Esme gushed, "If we can get onto Pakenappeh, we jus' has to finish construction and then we have a safe place from rottersandpeople."

Beth now had an equally wide smile on her face, "I mean, it probably won't be very easy to get there the first time, but Pakenappeh could be a true safe haven!"

('Pakenappeh')was underlined three times in the notebook.

"Righ' now, Pakenappeh is, what do you say, a pipe dream, but maybe if everyone works together it can become a real home." Esme whispers, "This prison has walls an' fences to keep the bad out, but imagine having water on all sides... the bad won' even know there's something to find!"

"An' ya know how to get there right!?" Beth asked as she vibrated in place.

"Si!I have the map in my truck."

"We'll bring it up to the group later!" Beth's tone was decisive and excited as she eyed the visible black hiking bags bursting with carefully packed supplies Esme had to take out of her truck the previous day for the supply run, "Let's plan the emergency bags for now."

Esme nodded, "Every bag needs to have the minimal supplies someone needs to survive in the wild for a few days. Daryl an' the others brought a couple more hiking bags from the thrift store that we can pack with emergency supplies before storing them under the seats of the cars." She shifted uncomfortably on her spot before peaking under the blanket, "I gotta change the bottle now."

"Here I can jot thangs down now." Beth offered as she grabbed the notebook, "What kinda things need ta be in each bag?"

Esme hummed thoughtfully as she turned the pump off and carefully unscrewed the full bottle from the device, "A change of clothes, male and female since we don't know who'll get the pack."

"So like, clean jeans and a t-shirt." Beth chewed on her bottom lip as she started the list, "Underwear too, boxer and panties... and a bra, maybe some feminine hygiene products."

"Exactly." Esme smiled, she had already stored the milk-filled bottle into the cooler and had attached a new one to the pump before bringing it to her other breast and turning the machine on, "Socks too, very important for any bag. I'd say we put four pairs of socks in the bags."

"Four? Isn't tha' a lot?" Beth questioned.

"It might sound a bitloco," Esme agreed, "But what's the first thing you need to do if you shoes get soaked through with water?"

Beth nodded, "Tha's true... winter was horrible when we were out on the road. I think I wore double socks throughout most of it an' I still woulda needed to change my socks when they got too wet."

"Some dried food would be the next thing every bag needs, and some flint to start fires." Esme instructed as the blonde quickly wrote down her words, "A reusable water bottle, a poncho to cover yourself in case of rain, um, extra shoelaces, a small knife, hmm maybe a map?"

"We could mark the maps with the rendezvous points!" Beth gasped happily as her pencil raced across the page.

"Yes." Esme smiled.

The next hour or so was spent in that same easy comradeship the Esme had developed with Beth as they wrapped up making their Emergency Plans for the day and took care of the children, who were all down for their afternoon naps. Esme had thankfully already finished pumping for the evening and had placed the bottles securely in the cooler before placing it on her bed for safekeeping. The others were still in deep conversation inside of the cafeteria, Carl had updated them when he saw that they'd finished putting down Esme's children for a nap. Merle was currently giving the group all of the information he'd gathered on the Governor while he'd lived with them in the town they'd fortified. Woodberry was about forty to fifty minutes away from the prison and the Governor's men were mostly all ex-military or 'hunter-wannabees' that were stationed at the walls.

Merle was pretty vocal over his hatred of the man behind the Governor's title. Philip Blake. He was the man that'd found Merle when he was vulnerable after the loss of his hand, he'd made Merle his righthand man and promised to help Merle find Daryl and give them both shelter. Merle had been pretty high in command when he overheard the Governor telling some of the other men to kill anyone they might suspect the younger Dixon to be so that Merle's loyalties wouldn't be split. That was after Michonne and some woman named Andrea, a survivor that had once been apart of Esme's new group before she'd been separated when they lost the Green Farm, came into the picture.

Andrea had re-sparked the hope in the older Dixon that his baby brother was alive out there. Michonne hadnotfallen the pretty boy act the Governor put on for his people and hightailed it out of there as fast as she could. Merle and a small group of guys had been charged with the black woman's execution. Michonne had been in one hell of a surprise when instead of killing her when the men had her cornered, Merle instead turned his gun to the others and took them out before letting her know that he'd be joining her.

Carl had let out a small chuckle then and whispered that Michonne had recounted that exchange with a bewildered expression on her face as if shestill couldn't believe that's what had gone down. Apparently, he'd found the whole surreal experience shared by what he called a racist redneck and the black confrontational samurai to be pretty hilarious. Especially, after Merle called the woman his 'Nubian Queen' to her face. Even Esme cracked a small smile at Carl's glee as he imitated the samurai's contorted facial expression while Beth burst out into amused giggles. For now, it seemed like Rick had ordered everyone to finish fortifying the prison asap in case the Governor and his men came across their prison now geek free and occupied.

Chapter 38

Chapter Text

Lilac's face was red, her lips sticking out into a pout while her blonde eyebrows scrunched together as angry tears pooled in her eyes. Yup, her oldest daughter was getting ready to throw a fit. Esme wasnothaving it.

"Mama! Quiero Tarzan!"Lilac whined as she huffed. Andre shuffled on feet nervously by his blonde counterpart, but even he was shooting her pleading looks as he tugged on shirt nervously.

Esme breathed in calmly through her nose before exhaling, "No."

"Why!" Lilac's lower lip trembled, "Wanna Tarzan!"

"But I said no." Esme repeated sternly, "Mami,can't put on Tarzan untilSenorAxel fixes the electricity. The movie won'tworkuntil he fixes it."

"He can fix it now." Andre added as his wide dark brown eyes bore into her in a 'convincing' manner.

Esme sighed, "SenorAxel is very busy. I'll tell you when it's ready. But wecan'tsee Tarzan right now."

Lilac whimpered as she wiped frustrated tears out of her eyes, "Mamireally wan' Tarzan."

"I knowmi amor.After we has dinner, mama is going to read you the Tarzan story before you go to sleep. Okay?No llores mas, vas hacer llorar tus hermanitos."Esme spoke in a comforting manner as she kneeled down and pressed a kiss on the crown of Lilac's blonde hair before tickling Andre and pressing a messy kiss onto his cheek. It earned her two beautiful giggles.

"Otay mama!" Lilac chirruped as she turned to look at Andre, "Mama's gonna we-we-read Tarzan laters!"

"Yeah!" Andre exclaimed before he grasped her hand an began tugging her towards their abandoned toys, "Play?"

The two toddlers erupted into cheerful squeals as they returned once more to their game. Esme sighed tiredly before turning to look back at the two curious one-year-olds staring at her from their pens. Bora shot her a cute gummy smile before giving her grabby hands. Esme smiled as she plopped the dark-haired baby on her hip before pressing smiles onto her soft chubby cheeks.

"Ama!" Bora giggled cutely.

"Yeah baby?" Esme whispered lovingly.

Bora simply smiled and cheered "Ama!" again.

"Ami! Bo'a up!" Thomas asked as he gnawed on his teething ring.

"Yeah, Bora's up. Tommy's going to go up too.Mami tiene que cambiar este pañal susio primero."she whispered in a mischievous tone making Bora giggle in delight.

"Yer goo' at that." a gruff voice pipped up behind her.

Esme flinched before relaxing as she turned to glare at the sheepish archer standing at the entrance of the cell, "You scare me! How do you move so quietly?" she asked incredulously as she propped Bora down on the changing mat on the floor.

"S'rry." The man grumbled under his breath, "Beth tol' me ta come n' get ya'll, they finish makin' dinner for the lil' ones."

"Is it safe?" Esme asked softly as she finished fastening the fresh clothe diaper on Bora. She pressed butterfly kisses over the giggly babe's cheeks as Esme stood her up and pointed her in the direction of the older children. Bora didn't need to be prompted any further to go play with her siblings as she toddled over to the toys.

"Wha' chu mean?" Daryl questioned somewhat hurt and defensive, "My brotha's fine ta be 'round yer kids."

Esme turned to give him a wry look as she stood up to grab Thomas, "That's good. And the woman? Mi-Michonne, I think... is she a threat?"

"Oh, ah, well Merle seems ta think she's al'ight." Daryl's tone relaxed as he shuffled almostnervouslywhile Esme changed her son, "She's bit quiet an' seems ta be wary of us, but I don' think she means any harm. 'Sides I'll be there. Ain't nothin' gonna happen wit' me there."

Thomas's tummy gurgled with hunger, but the dark-haired baby didn't seem to give it any thought as he hurriedly crawled away from her when Esme finished pulling up his sweats over the clean diaper. "Bo'a!" he chirruped after his Korean sister. Esme snorted softly at his enthusiasm before turning back to look at Daryl. The archer's eyes were locked with Primrose as the little girl held onto the bars of her pen and bounced lightly and huffed at the faces the man was making at her. A small smile tugged onto the corners of Esme's lips.Cute.

"Could you pass her to me?" Esme asked from where she was kneeling on the rug, "Prim is the last one that needs to be changed."

That seemed to startle the man out of the game he'd been playing with Esme's youngest. His ears turned red as he grunted before gently lifting Primrose out of the pen and passing her to Esme. She shot the man a grateful smile that only served to make the other more nervous as he began to gnaw on his thumb. Esme stifled a giggle under her breath as she quickly started to change Primrose. The man was surprisingly adorable and awkward around her and the kids... he kind of reminded her of herself when Daisy first took Esme under her wing.

"Tuname is Da'yl." Lilac stated as she looked up at him.

"Yeah."

Lilac smiled, "My is Lilac."

"An' names Andre." the male toddler pipped up gleefully before shyly adding, "Play?"

Daryl shuffled on his feet much like an awkward teenager would, "Maybe later, ain't ya'll hungry? Times ta eat."

"Eat?" Andre parroted.

"Comida!"Lilac cheered, "I's hung'y!Mami comida!"

"Uh-huh," Esme agreed as she snapped close Primrose's sleeper and stood up, placing her youngest on her hip. "We're gonna go eat dinner inside. Daryl can yous please grab Tommy and Bora for me?Mi espalda,sorry, my back is hurtin' a bit more than is normal."

The archer shot her concerned look before grunting and carefully, very carefully as if her children were made of precious glass, lifting the two babies in his arms as if they weighed nothing. He wasn't even leaning towards one side to balance their weights! Esme was not at all jealous. All right, maybe only a little bit. She was definitely going to start exercising her arms more from now on, after all as a mother of toddlers and below she needed to have the proper arm strength to carry at least two of her kids and running around without being winded.

"Thank you Daryl.Vamos niños,let's go eat." Esme instructed as she offered Andre her free hand. "Lilac leave Bailey alone,mamiwill bring her dinner later, okay."

Lilac pet the tabby once more before grabbing Andre's other hand as she led them into the cafeteria. Daryl was walking behind her so she couldn't see his expression when Thomas grabbed his lips and pulled but she did hear his amused reaction ("Boy tha's ma lip, yah don' pull.") and Bora's mischievous giggle which only prompted her son to do so again. Esme was only relieved that Judith was sleeping once more so the infant wouldn't be adding to the general chaos that was the evening meal... although, it did mean that Rick would be bringing Judith over to her cell in about an hour or two. Oh well, at least Esme could concentrate on quickly feeding her youngest three so that she could get all of them back inside the safety of their Cell Block faster.

Later on, Esme would credit her tired sleep-deprived thoughts as the reasonwhyshe hadn't immediately noticed the way Michonne wasstaringin their direction. She, obliviously, settled Primrose in her highchair before helping Lilac and Andre sit up on the plastic cafeteria chairs in front of their plates of tuna and crackers while Daryl gave one of the charges in his arms to Beth so that they could strap the two them into their own chairs. Esme sent the man another grateful smile, which only made the man duck his head in what she would call a shy manner as he grunted in acknowledgment before plopping down to sit by his loud brother. Merle was gleefully teasing the younger Dixon about "goin' full native" on him and turning into a child care provider before making a funny comment on the number of children Esme had brought into the cafeteria. Esme only snorted in amusem*nt before shooting the blonde Greene that had come to join her a smile as the two of them began to tend to the children in the same easy camaraderie they'd been building since Esme and her brood had joined the group.

It was only after Lilac had said Andre's name as they babbled excitedly about Tarzan that the unknown woman gasped loud enough to grab all of their attention as she harshly stood up and quickly hobbled to where the toddlers were eating. Esme tensed as she placed Primrose's spoon down and turned to fully face the threatglaringatherchildren. The female samurai's dark eyes were locked upon Andre's form and the two toddlers now seemed to have noticed that they'd gained the attention of the entire room as well as the strange grubby woman in front of them. Andre, predictably, shuffled in his seat and tugged on Esme's shirt nervously while Lilac quieted down and her blue eyes widened in curiosity.

"Wha's a matter 'Chonne? Ain't yah see lil' ones a 'fore? Mean, I guess ah understand, 'cause damn gurl tha's a lotta babies, an' I ain't seen so many of 'em since a 'fore all this sh*t- stuff." Merle piped up as he stood up almost placatingly, "Even Woodbury didn' have this many tiny ones runnin' 'round. Hey Chinaman is tha' one yours? Guess she's purtty cute fer a Chinadoll."

"No..." Glenn murmured nervously before adding in a more exasperated tone as Maggie placed a comforting hand on the man's shoulder, "And I'm Korean. I've told you this like a million times already."

"Whatevah." Merle responded disinterestedly as he waved his hand in Glenn's direction, he looked ready to speak even more before Esme interrupted him.

"Is there a problem," Esme asked as she stared at the stranger pointedly.

The woman licked her chapped lips before her glaring gaze locked onto her own, "What's hisname?"

Esme's eyes narrowed as the atmosphere in the cafeteria plummeted even more. It was probably more than a good thing that Rick was on watch duty outside right now in one of the lookout towers or this situation would have probably already escalated like it had when Tyrese and Sasha were found.

"Why do you care?" she shot back.

Michonne seemed to reach for the handle of her katana instinctively at Esme's tone, which made not only Esme tense and prepare herself to defend her children but prompted everyone else in the group stand up warningly as well, "Where did yougethim?" she whispered before loudly asking once more, "What is his name?"

"Andre." Lilac surprisingly offered. Her blonde daughter was tense now as she held her fellow toddler's hand while the other gripped onto Esme. The occupants of the cafeteria were completely transfixed as they watched the spectacle unfolding before them.

Michonne seemed to shudder at the sound of the name before she desperately turned to look at Esme once more, her dark eyes held a suspicious shine as she croaked out, "Wh-Where did youfindhim?"

Oh.

Esme knew that look.

That was the face Thomas' mother held when she saw her baby for the last time. That was the face of a grievingmotherwho would be or in this case,hadbeen separated from her baby for so long. Andre had the same dark eyes that this woman had. The same nose and lip shape. And while Andre's skin was a lighter shade than the samurai's, the toddler's face shape was even similar to the woman's.

This was Andre'smother.

The woman that Cindy hadn't known if she'dsurvivedafter their camp was overrun. Andre's mother hadlived. Andre's mother hadgrievedfor the death and disappearance of herson. Andre's mother was staring at Esme with wide disbelieving eyes full ofhopethat this washermissingbaby.

"Cindy." Michonne seemed to shake once more at the familiar name, "Andre was with a woman named Cindy. I found them surrounded by rotters and saved them. Cindy's group had been overrun, she took Andre from that hell-hole and ran. She was already bit when I found them, but I promised to take care of him. Cindy called him Drey and said he was with her about seven months when I found them."

"Merde."the woman mumbled under her breath as an incredulous tear started making it's way down her face as she turned to look at the dark-caramel skinned toddler with adoring eyes. "Andre?Le petit de maman? Maman tu m'as manqué chérie..." she whispered softly as she kneeled down in front of the toddler. "Je t'aime tellement, Andre..."

Andre's head tilted to the side in confusion as he stared perplexed at the woman even as he gasped out a small "Maman?" though his grip on Esme never changed as he stared at the once stern dreadlocked woman. The room was silent for a moment, only the sounds of their breaths breaking the air. Well besides the small "Holy sh*t." that Merle hadn't been able to contain.

A beautiful and familiar smile (one that she'd seen grace Andre's face many times before) bloomed on Michonne's face, completely transforming the woman from the one Esme had seen being stitched up this afternoon. "Mon bébé."

Chapter 39

Chapter Text

"Ah didnae see tha' comin'." Merle stated bluntly as all of the tension that was once in the room dissipated and the others awkwardly began looking away... though smiles were painted across everyone's faces.

Neither had Esme, in all honesty.

Michonne was still staring at the curious toddler with soft loving eyes as gingerly raised her right hand and softly caressed Andre's cheek. Andre hadn't let go of Esme or Lilac yet, though he seemed more than a little interested in his mother. The mother-son duo's separation had been long enough that Andre hadn't recognized his mother until she spoke to him softly in French.

"Maman peut-elle avoir un câlin, Andre?" Michonne requested as she opened her arms invitingly.

The last time Esme had heard French or even spoke it herself, was back when she was still living in Spain. It had been the language she'd learned while in high school since it's Latin roots had made the language one of the easier ones to learn and pass for the students. Despite theyearsthat'd past since she'd last spoken the language, she still easily understood the woman's request for a hug.

Andre looked up at Esme for reassurance before smiling shyly at his mother and nodding as he let go of her and Lilac. He reached out tentatively to his mother who eagerly pulled the toddler into a hug. Michonne buried her face into the crook of Andre's delicate collarbone and neck while the toddler seemingly did the same.

"Mama came back. Cindy say you would." Andre stated happily into the woman's skin. Michonne shudders as she begins pressing kisses everywhere she could reach on the joyful toddler's skin.

Lilac giggles at that before turning to Esme excitedly and tugging on her arm, "Mami! Tha's Drey's mama!"

Esme nodded, "Yes, that's Andre's mama."

The blonde toddler wiggled in her chair with excitement, "Mami,Andre and 'is mama gonna read Tarzan toge'er too!"

A small snort escaped from Esme's throat. Her daughter really had a one-track mind when it came to things she liked or wanted, "Yes, butlater. Right now you have to eat all of the yummy food Beth made for dinner." Lilac nodded as she turned to her bowl of tuna and began eating with gusto as she eyed Andre and female samurai curiously.

Primrose squealed behind her as she smashed a cracker into her mouth. Esme only looked at her youngest daughter with amusem*nt. Conversation had slowly started back up again around the cafeteria as everyone dug into their meals as the drama dissipated. Beth was giggling softly at Thomas' antics, her little boy would stare at Bora and copy her every move, while she alternated in feeding them. Esme only shook her head in amusem*nt as she continued to feed her youngest while keeping an eye on Lilac, mostly to make sure that the antsy toddler wasn't chocking from the fast pace she was shoveling food into her mouth. Michonne hadn't exactly let go of her son just yet, instead, she spoon-fed a docile Andre from her lap as she heard the little boy babble with Esme's daughter... every other word out of Lilac's mouth was Tarzan... One-track mind indeed.

As soon as she finished scooping all of Primrose's food into the little one's mouth, Esme quickly ate her own portion before motioning to Beth -who had also finished feeding Thomas and Bora- towards the cellblock's door. Beth nodded before pressing a kiss to Hershal's cheek and whispering that she would help Esme get all the kids ready for bed. Esme expertly scooped Primrose out of the highchair and onto her hip before unbuckling Thomas and letting him down onto his shaky legs. Lilac cheers when Esme tells her that it was time for bed and jumps off her chair. An action that is quickly followed by Andre as the two toddlers hold onto Thomas's hand to help the one-year-old walk inside. Beth is already leading the way inside with Bora on her hip.

Esme turns to Michonne and offers the woman a smile, "Come. Lilac and Andre are excited for storytime tonight."

Michonne gives Esme the first smile not graced at her son as she follows behind her. It was nice having an extra hand helping Esme and Beth with the nighttime routine. Especially since it was 'bath-day,' which meant that all of the kids got wiped down with a warm towel from a small basin with water before being changed into their jammies. The new woman had seemed surprised by Esme and Beth's efficiency as they got all the children ready with little to no complaints while tidying up the cell. Bailey winding around Michonne's legs curiously had also seemed to startle the samurai before Andre and Lilac called the tabby over happily. Michonne, overall, looked utterly besotted with her son as Andre helped Bora put on socks, because "Bora's abébé maman, needs help."

"He's grown so much." Michonne had whispered in awe with a hint of sadness. The woman hadn't been there to see it, but on the other hand, her son wasalive.

Esme sent the older woman a shy smile, "He's a good boy."

The youngest Greene giggles softly, "Remember how shy he was when you firs' got 'ere? It was so cute, especially since Lilac was, well,not."That drew a similar giggle from Esme as Primrose tugged on her loose curls happily, before grabbing the bottle of breast milk Esme offered her when contently sucking on the content.

"I can't believe he'sreallyhere..." Michonne murmured as the oldest toddlers rummaged through the small book collection in search of the Tarzan story book.

"I am jus' grateful that I was there that day." Esme mumbled back, "That I was able to save him.Mi hija- my daughter, Lilac adores him, so do I."

"It was a miracle, especially now that ya'll foun' each other." Beth added with a sweet smile.

"Mami,we foun' it!" Lilac chirruped as she shoved the book in her face.

Esme carefully nudged the book out of her face, "Gentlemi amor.You have to begentleremember." the toddler sent her a smile and careless nod, "Okay come sit,vamos no se empujen,"she chastised when Lilac, in her enthusiasm, accidentally shoved Thomas who whined loudly in protest, "Ready?"

Andre and Lilac bobbed their heads while Bora and Thomas looked up at her curiously from where they fidgeted with soft toys in their hands. Beth smiled, placed a hand on Esme's shoulder as she stood up, "I'm gonna help with the cleanup, I'll come by later if you need help." Esme nodded as she smiled at the teen before turning back to the children. Michonne had pulled Andre onto her lap and was watching the excited toddler with fond eyes.

"Waaah!' A baby's cry drew Kala away from her ape family. The cry was comin' from a strange house,highup in a tree's branches." Esme narrated as she showed the picture of the brown gorilla crossing the bridge. "Insi'e the house, Kala found the baby! When she ho-held him, he stopped crying an' began to laugh with her..."

By the end of the story, Thomas, Bora and Primrose had begun to nod off at Esme's steady voice while the older toddlers looked content, "...They were welcomed into their new home byallthe apes...andby Tarzan, who knew atlastwhere he belonged. The end." Esme finished. Lilac and Andre cheered happily, which startled Bora awake and made Thomas eye them crabbily. Primrose had fallen asleep on Esme's lap halfway through the book and wasn't bothered by the noise her siblings had made at all, "Ok, shhh. It's time to go to sleep now. Uh-uh, no whining Lilac.A dormir.If you are a good girlmamiwill read Mowglimañana,tomorrow."

Lilac pouted, though the whines were put to an end as Esme placed the book down on the rug and carefully stood up with Primrose in her arms. She quickly settled the youngest baby inside of her pen, swapping the empty bottle with a pacifier, before getting Bora and Thomas tucked into their beds as well. Michone had thankfully helped Andre and Lilac into their beds before pressing a kiss onto the crown of her son's head. Esme made sure everyone was tucked in before grabbing her special cooler and handing out everyone's night-time bottles. Soon the cell was filled the content sounds of the children drinking from their bottles as Esme led Bailey out of the cell and into Esme's own for her supper. Michonne watched the children with soft eyes from the entrance of their cell in wonder.

Bailey was happily scarfing down her can of cat food, as Esme rinsed Primrose's bottle with the spare water from the washing basin, when Michonne pulled away from the other cell and joined Esme's. "Thank you."

Esme's eyebrows furrowed before relaxing as she shot the woman a shy grin, "You're welcome. Um, I think the cell next to me is empty. Too close to all the chaos the babies make at night. You should talk to Rick an' the others so you can take it."

Michonne nodded, "I will."

Judith's cries interrupted Esme's sleep an hour later. Just like she predicted. Rick was quick to bring his unhappy daughter to Esme's cell for the infant's dinner. Esme gently rocked the hungry little girl in her arms as she tugged down the strap of her shirt and guided her nipple into the infant's mouth. Immediately the whines stopped. Rick shuffled on his feet tiredly as he ran his hands through his brown hair before leaning against the wall of Esme's cell and sitting down. Esme eyed her exhausted leader for a moment as she gently rubbed Judith's soft baby hair, Rick wasn't looking too good. The stress of welcoming the Williams siblings, and now the oldest Dixon along with Michonne seemed to be catching up to him. Esme's arrival with all of the kids couldn't have been an easy decision for him either... though Esme was happy that he was at least starting to trust her now.

"It looks like you were right 'bout the Governor," Rick whispered softly.

Esme let out a deep sigh from her chest, "I wish I wasn't."

Rick hummed as he rubbed Bailey's ears when the tabby rubbed against his side, "Me too."

She nibbled on her bottom lip nervously before deciding to just go for it, "Rick?"

"Yeah?"

"Beth and I, we started to make a back-up plan..." she started, "It's somethin' I did when I was alone with all my babies, and I think It can be helpful in the future."

Rick's eyes were trained on her figure now, though his right hand was still gently rubbing the tabby's fur, "What kind of back-up plan?"

"Just in case something happens to the prison, we all know where to go." Esme explained, "Beth tol' me what happened to her farm. It's somethin' she's still afraid of happening again, a plan ensu- makes it so it isn't as scary if we all get separated."

The man was quiet for a moment before letting out a considering hum, "I can see the merit of that."

A relieved smile tugged onto the corners of her lips, "We thought that we could have designated places to meet up, but we'd need to check them first, make sure they are safe."

"I'm guessing ya'll already have a few places in mind."

"Yes." Esme nodded, "Beth was telling me about some of the places you camped at during the winter that could work as safe house if people are in trouble." she explained before adding a bit more hesitantly, "I also tol' Beth about this place we can go to, if we decide the prison is no good anymore."

She could practicallyfeelRick's disbelief, after all the group had spent all of winter without a permanent shelter until coming across the prison, "Where's that?"

"Pakenappeh." she blurted out, "It's an island in the Westpoint lake. My friend was building a house an' farm there before everything happen. I wanted to go there... but I couldn't do it by myself with all of my kids. But now, withallof us. We can make it secure."

Rick had leaned in curiously now, "How can you get there?"

"Through a ferry. Very little people know about it. I think if we can make a fence around the perimeter of the island, rotters won't be able to wash up on the shore and we can build a farm. We could have boats to go on supply runs for other things, but... there shouldn't be any competition on Pakenappeh. The sister island, Pogonip, is a little bigger and was a protected reserve so there should be animals there to hunt..." Esme trailed off as she moved Judith away from her breast and began to burb her. "A lot of the construction equipment should still be there... we can finish makin' the house. The barn was already finish the last time I went down there...

"Tomorrow." Rick stated decisively, "Tomorrow I want you to show us where Pakenappeh is on the map. If wehaveto leave the prison... this place may be our best shot."

Chapter 40

Chapter Text

Her morning routine hadn't changed too much now with Michonne in the mix. If anything the woman helped make it run smoother since she was determined to spend as much time with her son as possible. True to her word, the minute Esme had gotten the children settled down after breakfast she'd followed Rick into the cafeteria where the maps had been laid out. Beth had promised to stay back from the meeting to watch over her brood while keeping an eye on Michonne at the same time.

The teenager had seemed thrilled when Esme told her that their leader was interested in hearing more about the Plan B they'd come up with the day before. Esme had been a bit worried that the blonde would be disappointed that she wasn't being included in the initial planning and introducing their ideas with the group, but the blonde had waved it off with an excited smile after Esme agreed to tell her everything that goes down.

Most of the group, even some of the newer members, were waiting for them as they approached the maps. Rick had announced at the beginning of breakfast that there would be a group meeting concerning some new information that'd cropped up. The majority of them looked more nervous and anxious than not since Rick's announcement had been pretty ambiguous.

"Last night Esme pointed out some things to me that I thought should be addressed." Rick started, "First things first, she and Beth started coming up with an emergency plan in case something goes wrong with the prison and we all get split up."

"That makes sense. We wouldn't want history to repeat itself after what happened at my farm." Hershal agreed as Maggie nodded in consideration, "It was a miracle that we all banded together at the highway."

Rick nodded, "If anyone has any suggestions for safe houses that can be used as meet-up destinations feel free to make them. However, there is somethingelsethat Esme would like to share with the group."

Her cheeks pinked as all the eyes in the room locked onto her form, "I know a place we can go to where it is very difficult for rotters and people to reach." at Rick's encouraging nod Esme continued, "Before everything that happened, my friend, Mitch was constructing an off-grid farmstead on the islan' Pakenappeh. It is a small islan' in the West Point Lake not too far from Troop County."

"Why didn't you mention this place before?" Glenn asked curiously, his head co*cked somewhat to the side.

Daryl grunted, "If this place is so safe, why weren' you there in the firs' place?"

"It would have been not possible for me to make the journey with all of the children." Esme explained, "Also, I cannot oper-operate a ferry o' boat." At the understanding nods from a few of the members, Esme leaned over the table and pointed out the tiny speck of an island on the map, "This is Pakenappeh, and this is her sister islan' Pogonip. It was a nature reserve. Both of the islan's are not well known by most people... I think that it is a good option if we decide it's too dangerous to stay here."

"Water on all sides isn't a bad idea." Glenn piped up, "It's a pretty solid natural barrier."

Daryl grunted in agreement, "Walkers can still wash up on th' shore even if they can' swim... we'd need ta build up a fence 'round th' perimeter."

"Gov'na definitely don' know 'bout it." Merle added after a moment as he scratched at his facial scruff, "Yellow Jacket's naw too far fr'm there, we probably can fin' boats 'round the rec'eation center there."

Hershal hummed softly in consideration, "Esme, you said that your friend was constructing a farmstead on the island, correct?"

"Yes."

"How many people were helping him on the site? And how likely do you believe someone else will already be there?" the oldest member of the group asked making some of the others shuffle on their feet in anticipation.

Esme rubbed the bridge of her nose in consideration, "I thin' the only people who knew about it was Jorge, his second in command in the firm and Mitch's mother. Mitch was very determined to build it by himself. I only knew because he consider me to be a younger sister an' he was very excited about the project... Jorge was in vacation in California with his family when this all started."

Maggie shot Esme an excited smile, now that the possibility of others claiming the island was less possible, "How far had Mitch gone with the build?"

"The barn was done the las' time I was there... Um, the main house already had the- skeleton in place and the roof was completed, most of the outside was done but the inside needs a lot of work." Esme admitted, "Mitch was building a guest house not too far from the main one as well, that one needs even more work than the main one. He'd already made a clearing for crops... an' I helped him plant a few things there."

"I know construction and architecture," Tyrese piped up, "It was my job before all this. I could definitely finish up the houses with help. What we'd need are the supplies to finish up what her friend started."

Nods were exchanged around the room.

"Would it be difficult to repurpose wood or other supplies from homes in Troop County?" Hershal asked curiously.

Tyrese hummed softly before rubbing the bridge of his nose, "No. It should be possible. I guess it depends on how populated Troop County was, and how likely we'll get surrounded by biters if we make noise."

Merle snorted, "Ain't nah need ta worry 'bout tha'. Troop County's asmalltown. Only reason anybody recognize th' name 's 'cause of Yellow Jacket. Ain't too many homes there. Most a it is a preserve."

"Mitch has a warehouse there." Esme spoke up, "A couple actually, that has a lot of lumber, tile and other things to build. I was thinking, that maybe we could use the containers in the shipping yard to make more homes. There is a yard in LaGrange."

"True." Tyrese agreed, "We could bring them over to the island, after insulating them, they could work as bedrooms. Do you know if Mitch had a water system already in place."

Esme nodded, "It's like the one in the daycare, um, it was one of the first things he set up. There's a small windmill and solar panels on the roof for electricity."

The African American's eyebrow rose appreciatively, "Your friend must have been really eco-friendly." Esme smiled at the man awkwardly. Speaking about Mitch, in the prolonged manner that they were now was making her heart twinge in her chest sadly. She missed her friends fiercely.

"I mean this all sounds promising, there's no doubt about that," Carol starts, bringing everyone's attention away from Tyrese, "but, is it something that can be done right now? We've got the Governor and his men to worry 'bout, and the prison isn't as secured as it could be."

Rick nodded, "The island is a good fallback option for now... but fortifying the prison needs to be our main concern right now." he turned to look at Esme seriously, "I want you and Beth to start making up those emergency bags you told me 'bout yesterday and put them in the cars."

She nodded in agreement. It made sense, after all, if an altercation happened with the Governor and they all needed to leave fast... well the cars would need to be stocked up with the things they need to survive until they could gather more supplies.

"If anyone here has an idea for a rendezvous point, find Esme or Beth and let them know later." Rick stated seriously, "For now, I want Maggie and Carol getting rid of the build-up of walkers along the fence. Daryl I want you to choose a group of three or four to collect wood to make pikes for the breach in the back. We need the problem solved sooner rather than later. The rest of you are going to fortify the chainlink fences here in the upper levels so that we have cover in case of a shootout."

Nods were exchanged around the room as people dispersed. Esme walked back to the cellblock with a kick in her step. Being involved with the problem-solving and strategizing helped to somewhat settle the part of her that had been used to making all the decisions on her own. Beth's lips bloomed into a large excited grin as she approached.

"So? What did they say?" the blonde teen blurted out the second Esme reached her side.

Esme smiled coyly, "Well they liked the idea of the islan'...butfor now the prison is our home. Rick wants to make this place safer. I thin' that after things are more calm, we'll be able to start planning the move to Pakenappeh more seriously."

Beth looked a bit excited by the news, "Tha's fantastic! Although, I wish we'd just move now... It'd be easier ta leave if we don' get too attached to this place first."

She nodded, "That is true, but they are just being cautious right now. Rick does want us to start prepping the bug-out bags though."

"Really!" Beth squeaked, "Yes! I'm glad tha' we can at least start putting some of our plans into action."

"What plans?" Michonne questioned as she got up from her crouched position by Andre and walked over to them cautiously. The children didn't really notice the woman's departure as they continued playing with the dinosaurs on the carpeted floor of their cell.

Esme didn't hesitate before explaining, after all, the woman had been chased by the Governor's men the second she wanted out of Woodberry, she deserved to know this too, "Beth an' I started to make some plans yesterday in case something happens to the prison. We would need somewhere to meet up if we get split apart. Everyone would need access to some supplies too."

The youngest Greene nodded, "Esme here also knows about this place that might be even safer than here. But we won' be able to start planning the move there until things with the Governor settle down."

"Where is this place?"

"It's an island in the West Point Lake." Beth responded after a second of deliberation.

Esme hummed, "I wanted to got there when things firs' start, but I couldn't do it by myself. With the group, it won't be difficult to fortify. But for now, Rick ask me an' Beth to start putting together emergency supplies for the cars... in case we have to escape from the prison an' don't have time to pack our bags."

Michonne nodded her head in understanding before locking gazes with Esme seriously, "I want to help."

A small smile bloomed on Esme's face, "Great."

Chapter 41

Chapter Text

It was strange how relaxing it was for her to work side by side with Michonne and Beth. Taking care of the children's needs was like second nature for them, and so much faster. Even prepping the emergency supply bags was a cinch. Michonne had volunteered to help Beth bring out the bags they'd prepared to the cars while Esme attended to Judith. The sweet infant was more than ready for her lunch. The youngest of her children were put down for a nap, while Esme brought Andre and Lilac into the cafeteria to color on construction paper for a little while.

Carl had kept them company for a little while before declaring that he was going to go help exterminate therottersbuilding up on the perimeter. The preteen explained that after Daryl, his brother, and the Williams siblings started chopping up wood in the surrounding forest, they'd attracted all the rotters in the area and the outer chainlink fence was crawling with the animated dead once more. Esme felt a small wave of temptation to assess the situation for herself thrum through her, but she held back. If the number of rotters at the fence became an actual problem... well she was sure that at least Michonne and Beth would be the first to come running to her to defend the children. Not to mention Rick, Esme was caring for the man's daughter.

For now, Esme needed to put it out of mind, focus her energy and attention on something that she can do. If she was being completely honest with herself, it was easier said than done. With Andre and Lilac entertained, and Judith happily dozing against her chest, Esme started doing chores around the cell block. The breakfast dishes had been left piled up by the large washbasin, the chickens needed to be fed and their coup cleaned, the potted plants needed to be watered, and Esme knew for certain that there was a pile of dirty laundry accumulating in everyone's cells.

She was more than halfway done with the dishes when Beth and Michonne finished storing all of the bug-out bags. Andre practically bounced over to his mother, said woman practically melted as the little boy threw his arms around her legs, and showed off his art. Lilac, never one to be outdone, was eager to shove her picture into Beth's hands. The blonde teen showered the toddler with sweet praise before coming over to where Esme was cleaning the pots.

"The lil' ones still sleeping?"

Esme hummed, "Yes. They shouldn't wake for an hour now... I'm going to put Andre and Lilac down for a nap too after we feed the chickens."

A small giggle escaped from the teen, "They'll like tha'... do you wan' me to stay and help? Glenn and the others are askin' for help in adjusting the barriers on the bridges."

"Go." Esme smiled before teasing her gently, "I can hol' down the fort here, I've been doing this for months."

"Alright!" she chirped, "I'll be at the second landing where watchtower C's at, in case you need to send for me."

The teen ruffled Lilac's hair before disappearing from the cafeteria once more. It was just Esme with the kids now, well and Michonne. Esme tried to keep her eyes on task, instead of wandering over to where the woman was whispering encouraging phrases in French to her son. Andre had a wide smile on creamy skin, showcasing adorable dimples in his cheeks. Lilac was quick to offer the dreadlocked woman a smile before offering her a crayon. At least they were all getting along.

Esme worked quickly, drying the last pot with a clean cloth before grabbing the small plate with scrambled eggs that had been left over for the chickens to eat. Lilac was the first to pick up on the fact that it was time to feed the chickens.

"Mami! I help!" the toddler squealed as she ran at her heels, "P'ease!"

Andre wasn't far behind as he dragged his mother behind him, "Me too!"

Judith snuffled contently in sleep as Esme crouched down in front of the coup, "Today we're giving the chickens scrambled eggs. What color is the eggs?"

"Yellow!" Andre bounced in spot, Lilac nodded in agreement as she repeated the color.

"Good job Andre!" Esme praised as she scooped a little bit of the eggs onto a spoon and motioned for the toddler to come closer. "Here you go, remember we has to be careful."

The little boy nodded seriously as they pushed the spoon with cool eggs through the metal cage together, Peep immediately began pecking at the contents of the spoon until they were gone. The darker hen, Pio, squawked almost angrily that it hadn't had any. Andre giggles at their antics, "Gone."

"My turn!" Lilac demanded with excitement as Esme reclaimed the spoon and filled it up with more eggs. Esme helped her daughter feed Pio before instructing the toddlers to move back a smidge so that she could finish giving the hens their meal. Esme opened the gate of the coup and poured the rest of it onto the little feed trough. The second she shut it, both toddlers moved closer to watch the hens eat with gusto. A small snort escaped from Esme's throat as the toddlers began mimicking the clucking sounds of the birds. They were too cute.

"Alright, they is all finish eating now." Esme declared as she extended her hands towards them, "Vamos, time for a nap."

Her daughter only scrunched her nose for a moment before grabbing the offered hand, Andre didn't put up a fuss as she led them back into the Cell Block. Michonne quietly helped Esme get them to use the bathroom, before taking their shoes off and lifting them into their playpens, since neither of them wanted Judith to accidentally wake up. It was only after the both of them reemerged into the cafeteria without the toddlers that Michonne spoke to her.

"You're good with them."

Esme played with a loose strand of hair, "It was my job, before everything."

The woman hummed softly, as she eyes the sleeping infant strapped to her chest, "And now?"

"Is more than a job." Esme whispers, "They is my life."

Michonne nodded, her eyes soft and understanding, "I understand."

For some reason her chest tightened, a small flush darkening her cheeks as she looked away, "I, uh, has some laundry to do."

"I'll help." Michonned stated without hesitation as Esme started collecting laundry, "You're from Spain, right?" at Esme's nod the woman continued, "Your accent gives you away. I know some Spanish."

A small smile tugs onto the corner of Esme's lips, "I know a little French. But it needs some practice."

"There's no time like the present."

It was freeing, slipping between languages. Each one flowing off her tongue like a dance that she'd forgotten knowing the steps to. Despite the frosty exterior the Michonne had been projecting when she'd arrived, the samurai was a gentle person. At least with the children and those she believed deserved it. Of the adults, Esme was probably the only one who had received a kind smile or words from her. Well, besides Beth, who Esme was sure had the uncanny ability to wiggle her way into the coldest of hearts and melt them from within.

The last three days had flown by. Everyone at the prison immersed in their newly assigned roles. The pike crew had finished sharpening the last of the wood late this afternoon and were already planning on tomorrow's expedition to where the walls had fallen on the far side of the prison. Michonne had introduced them to the ingenious idea of using rotters as camouflage. Apparently, the woman had chained to rotters without their arms and jaws to keep other rotters away. With the two rotters, Michonne had been able to walk through large herds of the dead without being suspected. It was a gruesome task, ridding the rotters of their arms and lower jaws... but ingenious.

It also made had the side-effect of making ideas swirl throughout Esme's mind. If Michonne had been able to use the rotters to mask her presence with their smell, couldn't they recreate it on a larger scale for the prison?