Alone || Bed-Time Tales
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"How are my poorly babies doing?" Natalia asked, carrying soup into the twins room, Archie was tucked up with Bambi, in her bed, Daryl was sat beside them, making sure they were all cosy, whilst Evie was laying cold flannels on their foreheads, Dog layed his head on the end of the girls bed.
"They're fighting it." Daryl told her. "Kids are Dixons."
“They’re also Moores, thats what scares me.” She muttered, chewing her nail.
"It seems pretty easy to pass through." Evie explained. "The main concerns are their fevers and considering they've never even had a cold before, their immune systems are gonna be pretty weak, they need to gain their strength and stay hydrated."
"That's okay, you can both eat your veggies, and Mommy's gonna find out what special remedy's are gonna make my angels feel better." Natalia shoved Daryl off the bed, taking his spot, giving her kids kisses on their cheeks.
Evie grimaced at her father, who just rolled his eyes with a shake of his head.
"I've been gone for days, they get a lil sniffle, and all this?" She grumbled.
"Mommy, I don't like green food, it's yucky." Bambi pouted, holding tight to her bunny.
"Yuck." Archie stuck his tongue out.
"Yeah, they might be, but they're gonna make you big an strong, an' Daddy'll make them taste so good you can't even notice that they're veg." Daryl bypassed Evie's comment.
"That's okay, Daddy, you're not the best at cooking, but Mommy is." Bambi patted his hand, letting him down gently.
"Yeah, you weren't around when she wasn't." Evie grimaced.
"Alright, I want you two to get some rest, and stay in bed, Mommy is gonna take some soup to Auntie Ro's and make sure she's okay, and Daddy is gonna stay here and make sure my sick babies are taken care of when I'm away." She then turned to Daryl, her smile dropping and her brows narrowing. "Aren't you."
"Y-yeah, yes." He cleared his throat. "I got it, alright, ain't nothin' gon' happen to 'em."
"Bye-bye." She kissed their heads, again. "Mommy loves you, I'm gonna be right back, okay? I love you."
"Love you, Mommy."
"Bye-bye Momma." Archie waved his little hand, twirling his hair in the other.
"Aunt Nat, Daisy's trying to use the stove, again!" RJ called from the kitchen.
"Daisy Caroline, get your ass out of that kitchen!" She shouted down, pointing at her husband before talking to him. "Daryl, don't let him do that, it'll tangle into a huge knot, and he's not gonna like it when I have to brush it out. I'm gonna swing by the cell, too, make sure they're actually feeding Lydia, hopefully convince her to leave, too." Natalia told him, as she got up from the bed, and heading out of the room, ignorant to the huff and puff her husband let out as he resumed his seat, gently pulling his son's hand out of his hair.
"Wait, why's Lydia in the cells?" Evie asked Daryl.
"Your boyfriend attacked her, that woman yer mom kept arguing with, she was killed by Negan when he was helping her, an' she's beating herself up about it." He explained, in a low voice, trying not to raise suspicion from the six year old.
"Who, Gage?" She gasped.
"Yeah, that prick." He scowled, leaning his chin on his fist, as he ran his thumb along his youngest kids cheeks, as they fell back asleep.
"Daddy, Mommy told us to come up here so you could watch us, but she said we're not allowed in the room." Daisy stood at her doorway, staying beyond the door, RJ was stood beside her.
"Yeah, stay away from yer brother an' sister, you don' wanna come in here and catch this nasty bug." He nodded. "Yer Mom leave yet?"
"Yeah, said not to follow her." She rolled her eyes.
"Alright, Eve, why don' you-"
"Can't, gotta go handle something." Evie stood up from the chair in the corner of the twins room, rushing out to leave.
"Eve?" He hissed after her, but she was already out of ear shot.
"She's a wild one." Daisy shook her head, folding her arms.
"Says you." RJ looked at her.
"Daisy, shush or I'll puke on you." Bambi fluttered her lashes as she failed to sleep, with all the noise. "Daddy, can you tell us a story, please?"
"Don' you wanna go sleep?" He asked, picking at his nails.
"No she doesn't, Daddy I want a story too, remember me, your other kid."
"My Mommy tells me stories about the brave man."
"Yeah, and our Mommy never tells us stories about her, I want to hear about Mommy." Daisy pitched in, again.
"Alright, alright, how 'bout I tell you a story about both of yer Moms."
"Okay." The three cheered, though, Bambi's was a lot weaker.
"Back at the prison."
"The one in Georgia." Daisy added.
"Shush." She was hushed by not only her twin sister, but also the boy sat beside her.
"Dadda." Archie outstretched his arms, per usual, wanting a cuddle, cause he didn't know what else was going on, but his father obliged, picking the boy up and resting him on his lap.
"Alright, so, it started out with this one kid, Patrick, me an' yer Mom, we spoke to him, only that morning, he thanked us both for this huge feast we brought back, that we kept palming the thanks off to each other, this was before yer Mom took a liking to me."
"Did you have a crush on Mommy?" Bambi asked.
"Yeah." He chuckled, untangling Archie's hair with his fingers. "I hadda big crush on Mommy, the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen on the planet, an' for a while now. Anyway, so whilst we were all asleep, Patrick, the illness had started, and he died in his sleep, an' you know what happens when you die, right?"
"Yeah! You become a walker." Daisy answered.
"Right, an' the bad news was that, cause it was at night, and everyone was asleep, no one knew, so he just went about feasting on the people around 'im, and no one knew to stop him, until the next morning, when the other people woke up to the walkers coming at 'em. So they started screaming, me, Momma/ Aunt Nat, Uncle Rick, Uncle Glenn, an' Aunt Sasha, we raced over to check what was going on, the whole area was under attack, but it was all people who didn't have a clue what ta do, an' It was yer Momma that was saving all the kids, she was, she's incredible, faster than me and Rick, she had it, we were just back up. Anyway, we eventually found out what had happened, that an illness was breaking out around the prison. We had nothing to help these people, and they were thinning out, we had a murder case on our hands, our fences were falling down, people were dropping like flies, it was a mess."
"What happened with the fences?" RJ asked.
"'Cause of the gunshots, attracted a whole buncha walkers, they were clinging onto the fences, tryna tear them down, an' it was already bad before that, we were struggling to keep 'em up, when Nat, she had the idea of using the sick piggies, luring them out, letting the walkers go after them, whilst they fixed the fences, so me an' Uncle Rick, we rode out and did that, see, she don' think Rick gave her any credit for that, but he did, he told me, he always gave yer Aunt credit." He spoke to RJ. "They loved each other a lot, respected each other, but Jesus did they argue, like a pair of siblings, just as bad as these two." He nodded to the twins. "Well, anyway, Uncle Glenn and Aunt Sasha got sick, an' they were in quarantine."
"What's Quaran tin?" Daisy asked.
"Its uh, it's a place that very sick people go, so that they don't get other people sick." He told her, slightly loosing attention when something out of the twin's bedroom window caught his eye.
"Then what happened?" Bambi asked, when he got up from the bed, staring out the glass now, his brows furrowed.
"Uh, how 'bout I finish this story later." He said, putting Archie back down on the bed. "Think Aunt Carol's up to somethin' stupid, again."
"But, Daddy, you haven't finished the story" Daisy complained.
"I know, sweetheart, I will later, need ya to all wait here for yer Momma or sister, 'kay, tell her Daddy had to take care of something important."
"Mommy says to not leave us unattended, we're only little." Bambi told him.
"When I was yer age, my old man left me at home for weeks on end, ma mom was always at work or asleep, you'll be fine, just sit still an'... talk about Math, or something. Dog, come on, boy." He told them, stepping over the kids at the door, and jogging down the stairs, only thinking about what the hell Carol could be doing, wanting to leave Alexandria, Dog excitedly followed behind him.
"We're six, what the hell do we know about Math?" Daisy asked the other two kids.
"I don't think Daddy knows what we do in School." Bambi shrugged, shaking her head as she gently led Archie to lay back down with her.
"Your Dad's not very responsible." RJ told them.
"At least we have a dad, RJ." Daisy snapped back at the poor boy.
"Daisy, I'm gonna throw up again." Bambi warned her.
"Okay?"
"So pass me the bin!"
"Okay!" She rolled her eyes, covering her mouth whilst she entered her own bedroom, reaching for the bin.
"I feel like utter shit." Rosita groaned, sitting up, after barfing into her own bin for the past five minutes straight. "it's making me feel worse knowing the kids are going through it, too."
"We all get a stomach bug, they'll live." Natalia told her, letting go off the ponytail of hair she had been holding, for her friend.
"Thanks, by the way, Nat." Rosita told her, giving her a weak smile.
"Hey, its fine, I got you, always, remember how you helped me when I was pregnant with the twins?"
"You were awful." She laughed.
"Yeah, I was." Natalia agreed. "But hey, at least you don't scream and shout at me, like I did to you."
"You were so mean, kinda glad you were in the woods when you had Archie."
"Oh, I think I was much better when I was Pregnant with him, I only had one baby, and I had the kids constantly around me, couldn't do much to lash out on anyone."
"I missed you, when you were gone, so bad."
"I missed you, too."
"You never came to visit." She leaned against her headboard, Natalia climbed in beside her. "I thought that you might, y'know, to see Maggie, to see me and Tara, but you never did, I really wished you would."
"I know, I'm sorry." Natalia brushed through a strand of Rosita's hair, beginning to braid it.
"I never came to see you, because I thought you wanted to just be left alone, Tara said that if you wanted to be around people, you would be around people, that the both of you just needed space, time to mourn, not just Rick, but everyone and everything, take off all the weight you both been carrying this whole thing."
"I wanted to see you, I did..."
"But you never came."
"I know." She sighed, "I was just so fucking busy, and with Daryl, I just... I couldn't leave, not at that point, he needed that break, I needed to be around just my kids, it was selfish, but I just... I didn't know how much more I had left in me."
"Yeah, I get that." Rosita Whispered.
"Eat your soup, before it gets cold." Natalia told her.
"Yes, Mom." She teased, dipping her spoon into the soup Natalia and Daisy made together, but when she brought it to her lips, sipping the liquid, she pulled a sour face, desperately trying to neutralise it though. "Oh, wow, oh wow, can I guess who added the salt?" She wheezed, accepting the glass of water Natalia passed her.
"Daisy insisted Auntie Ro loves her salt, and Daisy knows Auntie Ro so much more than Mommy." Natalia recounted, in air quotes. "Let's just say Bam and Arch will be having something else for dinner, to make them feel better."
"Oh, yeah, but I can have this." Rosita scowled.
"Hey, I couldn't get away with leaving it, and you need at least something. Daisy'll be asking you how much you liked her soup, when you're better."
"And I'll be telling her it's the best damned thing I've ever eaten, in my life."
"Good girl." Natalia nodded approvingly.
"Y'know, I always wanted a little girl, a daughter, since I was little." Rosita told her. "Obviously that was before I realised I was in love with a woman, Tara and me, we were talking about it, only a few weeks before..." She started to choke up. "Said we'd have dibs on the next orphan, I don't think she really wanted a kid, guess she only agreed with it because that's what I wanted. I miss her, so much."
"I know." Natalia rested her head on her friends, holding her comfortingly. "We all miss her, she was amazing, she was... she was Tara."
Natalia eventually went home, letting Rosita sleep, but made sure to let the woman know that she'd return every few hours to make sure she was okay and on the mend.
"Kids? Daryl? I'm home!"
"Mommy, we're up here, still." Daisy called down to her.
"Where's your father?" She called up, heading up the stairs, spotting Daisy and RJ looking rather bored as they sat in front of the Twins bedroom.
"Daddy said he had to go stop Aunt Carol from doing something stupid." She answered.
"So he left the four of you unattended to go do something stupid?" She clarified.
"He told us to sit and think about math." RJ added.
"You're babies, what the hell do you know about math?" Natalia furrowed her brows, stepping over the two kids to check in with the other pair, who were sound asleep.
"That's what we said!" Daisy threw her hands up in the air, frustrated.
Natalia swept back Archies curls, feeling his forehead, that still felt rather hot, Bambi's was the same.
"Where's Evie?" She asked, stepping over the two once more, heading towards the bathroom to fetch two freshly cold flannels.
"Said she had to go deal with something."
"Wait, wait, hang on, let me get this straight." Natalia paused.
"Not only did Daddy, who said he would watch you, kids, his kids, his sick and young kids, decide to leave, but your sister did, as well?"
"No, Mommy, Evie left first." Daisy answered.
"Ho!” Natalia scoffed loudly, heading back towards the bedroom. "So he purposefully left you guys alone?"
"Is Daddy in trouble, is he gonna be grounded?"
"Yes, your father is in deep, deep trouble, do you know where he went, when he'll be back."
Daisy shook her head.
"Uncle Daryl said he would finish his story later." RJ let her know.
"Uncle Daryl might not be alive to do that, honey."
"Why isn't Daddy gonna be alive, Is Aunt Carol going to kill him?" Bambi, who had stirred awake, only moments ago, asked.
"No, baby, I'm going to kill him, go back to sleep."
"My mommy's actually killed people, she's so gonna kill my dad." Daisy whispered rather loudly to RJ.
"I wouldn't wanna be Uncle Daryl when he gets back."
"Daisy Caroline, you and Richard are going to be sleeping in your sister's room, tonight." Natalia turned on them.
"But, Mommy-"
"Go make yourselves comfortable, I'll be starting dinner in an hour, oh, and I'll be bringing your bedtime things down in a bit, I don't want to catch you going through their things, Daisy."
"I wasn't gonna." The girl rolled her eyes, folding her arms as the two young children stomped down the stairs.
Natalia was chopping vegetables when the front door sounded, the tapping of paws against the floor told her who it was.
Dog greeted her excitedly, jumping at the counter to see what she was doing, whilst Daryl strolled in.
"How's Rosita?" He asked.
Natalia ignored him, but her knifework got more aggressive, the carrot she was chopping was getting tinier and tinier.
"She okay?" He pushed, approaching her side.
She slammed the knife down, the hilt of it stabbing into the chopping board, staying upright on it's own, she then moved away, tossing a bowl of pasta into a pan of boiling water.
"You ain't talking to me?"
The next job was squeezing up tomato's blending them up for the sauce.
"Nat."
"Daryl, you fucking- don't, just piss off, okay, go." She turned to him, glaring daggers, pouring her anger into her sauce.
"What's yer problem?"
"I can't believe you." She shook her head.
"Hey, talk to me." He took the tomato's away from her.
"Our children are up there, sick. Ill, very, very ill. I asked if you could do one thing, just one thing! Be with our kids, stay with them, so I could help our friend." She pointed between the both of them. "And you couldn't do that! I have to come home to all four of them, alone, by themselves, because you wandered off! What the hell is wrong with you, Daisy and Bambi are six years old! They are babies, Archie is a literal baby, you left a one year old alone with his sisters, that can't even tell their lefts from their rights, and RJ, he's not our kid, Daryl! Which means, we can't make decisions, like leaving him unintended, if something were to happen, that is our responsibility and we, who we have to explain to Michonne if anything happens to him, do you not understand any of this? You are a father? It is your job to protect those kids, and as my husband, it's your job to do as I say! Not go gallivanting with your best friend whenever you feel like it! What if something were to happen, what if- what if our sick children, what if one of them were to have dropped dead-"
"Natalia!" He warned.
"No, Daryl! I am still talking. Our child drops dead, then they come back, they start on the other one, heading for the next, do you think Daisy could kill her own siblings, that a six year old can do that? Do you, cause I don't think she can, and I definitely know for a fact that RJ couldn't. Here's another scenario, the man, that had it out for us, kept me and you as prisoners, treated as dirt, because he wanted us as his "pets." he's just escaped, no one can find him, what would happen if I came home, and he was stood over our children with a knife, with a gun, with a pole. Or, his bat? Because, y'know, we are the ones who helped defeat him and his people, and had him locked up in a cage! Oh, yeah, we're at war, right now, with a crazy person and her clan of crazy people, who have been witnessed to do crazy shit, she knows us, she knows our faces, she knows we have kids, you especially know she's not above killing kids-"
"We took one of her people." He interrupted her.
She blinked, then again, then her face morphed into confusion.
"What?"
"Carol was sneaking off to go look for her horde, couldn't let her go by herself, stuff went down, now we got one of her people in the cell, Nat, I'm sorry, I had ta go."
"Oh, I'm aware of how high you have Carol on your list of importance, I just didn't realise where your kids were, till now."
"She lost her kid, Nat! You have no idea what she's going through, she's unstab-"
"There is no fucking way you just said that to me, right now." She cut him off. "I can fully understand and sympathise with her pain and her loss, and I get why she is so hellbent on this, but it's not your job or your place to act like her damn babysitter, dropping everything to run to her side, you have your own children you should be babysitting. If Carol's so determined on killing Alpha and finding this horde, that is her decision and her mission, not yours! So leave the damn woman alone and let her grieve."
"Is Aunt Carol in trouble?" A small croaky voice came from the hallway.
"Bammy, what are you doing out of bed?" Natalia asked the little girl, her bunny was in her lazy grip, a sad expression on her small face.
"Daddy said he would finish his story when he got back." She stated.
"What story, lovey?" Natalia asked her.
"About the sickness at the prison, and how you saved everyone's lives, and the piggies, and that Daddy had a huge crush on you, too."
"Bam-" He tried to cut her off.
"We got to the part about Uncle Glenn and Aunt Sasha getting sick, but then you left, what happened?" She then started having a coughing fit.
"Honey, honey just let it out, alright, don' force it." Natalia told her, rubbing the girls back, as she fell to her knee's.
Daryl was moving to get her a glass of water, but Natalia stopped him.
"No, Daryl, I boiled some, up there, get her that." She told him.
"On it." He said.
Bambi was still coughing when he also dropped to his knee's beside her, helping her slowly drink out of the glass.
"Hold on, baby, don' breathe and drink at the same time." Daryl told her, waiting for Bambi to stop catching her breath.
"Did anyone ever mention to you the special remedy Hershel used whilst we were at the vets?" Natalia asked Daryl.
"Nope, we were too busy being under attack."
"And everyone who was around are either dead or gone." She grumbled. "Carol would probably know, right? She knows shit like that."
"Mhmm." He nodded.
"Mommy... you said "shit" was a bad word..." Bambi whispered in an hoarse voice.
"I did, didn't I? Well, Mommy's a hypocrite."
"Does that mean we can swear?" Another voice asked.
"No." Daryl and Natalia both told Daisy.
"Bebe, are you okay?" She asked, half hiding behind the wall. "Mommy?"
"Yeah, baby, she and your brother are gonna be okay, speaking of which, I'm just gonna go find Aunt Carol, which also means that Daddy is definitely going to stay here and finish his story, aren't you."
"Yes, I will." He pressed.
"You should know, I do love you, but the love I have for my kids is more stronger than the self restraint I have from killing you If you put them in danger, again." She told him in a low voice.
"Ain't nothing gonna happen to them." He replied, in the same serious tone.
"Good." She nodded, getting up from the floor.
"Bee, get back into bed, your fathers gonna finish the story, Dase, you and RJ can go listen, as long as there's a window open and you stay away."
"Okay, Mommy." They both answered.
She went to walk towards the front door, but it had already opened, Carol coming through it, bits of food was stuck in her hair, also on her face, and neck, and clothes.
"The hell happened to you?" Daryl asked.
"Kids, go upstairs, I think this might have something to do with what Daddy and Aunt Carol snuck off for." She told the twins, still staring at Carol.
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