RULE THE WORLD | D.DIXON

101

Violet handed the little girl a basket full of medic supplies as Cassie looked up at her with a pleading face.

"A treat?"

"Fine. Here, don't tell the others." The woman gave Cassidy a fruit bar. "And it doesn't have strawberries in it. We learn that the hard way, do you have you epiPen?"

When Cassidy was three, she had an allergic reaction to the strawberries Michonne had given her for lunch. It was very severe and luckily they had the medicine to treat it. Max almost had a heart attack at fifteen.

"Yeah, right here." Cassie said, patting her holster with her epiPen in it.

"Good, off you go." Violet shooed the little girl out of the pantry, chuckling as she watched Cassie skip away.

Cassidy walked down the street of home, her eyes locked on her brother talking with Michonne. "Maxie! Mich!"

The little girl ran towards the two adults, placing down the basket and jumping into her brother's arm. Max's and Michonne's faces immediately lit up with grins. Cassie's eyes darted between the two horses and the adults.

"Where are you going?" She asked, looking up at her brother.

Max looked down at his baby sister. "I'm gonna go and help Mich with the people who arrived yesterday. Then I'm gonna talk to dad, okay? I'll be back soon. If you need anything, ask aunt Kelly, Vi, or Rose, okay?"

"Okay. Are you gonna convince daddy to come and visit?" Cassie questioned, desperately.

"I'll try." Max said, leaning down and planted a kiss on her head. "I love you."

"I love you too." She smiled, letting go of him and hugging Michonne around the legs. "I love you too, Mich."

Michonne smiled, smoothing hair out of the little girl's face. "I love you."

Cassie pulled back, picking up the basket and watched as her brother and second mom rode towards the group of new people. She made her way towards the infirmary, opening the door and saw aunt Kelly cleaning her daughter's knees.

"What happened, Gracie?" She asked, setting down the basket and made her way over to her friend.

Gracie sniffled. "I tripped and scraped my knees. But mommy made them better."

"Aunt Kelly, can I give her a sticker?" Cassie looked at her aunt.

"Sure. There're in the top drawer in the desk." Aunt Kelly said, pointing towards the desk.

She skipped over to the desk, pulling open the drawer and grabbed the packet of butterfly stickers Kelly had found on a run. Cassie peeled a sticker off and crouched down in front of Gracie's knees.

Cassidy placed the stickers on her friend's bandaids with smile. "There. Now you're happy. Happiness is a butterfly."

Gracie giggled, hopping off the medical bed. "Thanks, Cassie. I do feel happy. Do you want to play with me and Edie?"

"Sure!" Cassidy grabbed her friend's hand before looking at her aunt. "There's a basket full of medical supplies aunt Vi gave me."

Kelly chuckled as she watched her daughter and niece ran out of the infirmary.

***
Later that night, Cassie and Judith was sitting on her bed in their pajamas. The ten year old was helping her niece read a book before reading the rest when Cassidy got tired. The little girl snugged against her aunt, her eyes blinked away the sleep that crept up on her.

"—on Thursday he ate through four strawberries, but he was still hungry." Judith read The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar. "On Friday, he ate through five oranges, but he was still hungry."

"On Saturday, he ate—what's that word?" Cassie asked, pointing towards the word she didn't know.

"Though." Judy said.

"—though one piece of chocolate cake, one ice cream cone, one—p-ick—el." She sounded out the word pickle. "Pickle!"

Judith smiled down at her neice. "Good job, Cas."

"—one slice of sw-iss cheese. I'm tired, Judy. Could you read it?" Cassie said, rubbing her eyes.

"Sure." The ten year old said before she continued to read the story until aunt Kelly peeked into the room.

"It's time for bed, girls." Kelly said, making Judith put the book on end table. "Night, Cas."

"Night, aunt Kelly. Night, Judy." Cassie said, covering herself with her blanket.

Judith slipped out of the bed, planted a kiss on her niece before heading to her own room. "Night, Cassie."

Instead of sleeping, the little girl waited until Judy and Kelly went to bed before slipping out of bed. She grabbed her book, tip toeing out of her room and down the stairs before sneaking out of the house.

Cassidy made her way towards the jail cells and stood under the window of Negan's cell. "Mr. Negan? Are you awake?"

She waited for moment before the creaking of the bed indicated that Negan was indeed awake.

"What are you doing out here at this time of night, Sid?" Negan asked, standing by the window.

Cassie reached up her hand and pushed her book through the bars. "Could you read this to me? Max isn't here, so I can't sleep."

It was silent for a moment before Negan spoke. "Sure, kid."

Negan had read the book a couple of times before the pair had fallen alseep leaning against the wall. The book was spread open across his chest, light snoring escaped his mouth as Cassie's head fell sideways, resting against her shoulder.