Spider Monkey

Chapter Thirty - Three - Recovering

( Notes: Thank you all for all the love and support and comments! It truly makes my day reading them! :3 )

Hedley woke up in pain.

Carl was the first to spot his alertness and called for Rick and Daryl. The group surrounded the boy as he cried out.

Daryl stroked his hair soothingly, "Hey, Spider Monkey. You're okay. You're okay."

Hedley whimpered, reaching out to touch Daryl's cheek, fingers trailing as if he couldn't believe he was in front of him.

"We're here, Hedley."

Carl came into view, a big tearful smile, "Hey! We've got you now, Hedley."

Hedley opened his mouth as if he desired to speak for the first time but was interrupted by the pain of the pull of his wounds.

"Easy there, lil' Dixon." Merle said, "Don't wanna pull ya stitches."

It was then when Judith made a noise and Hedley turned his head towards the sound, sobbing in relief when he saw the baby in Rick's arms. Hedley reached for her, letting her hold onto his finger.

Rick bent down to Hedley's eye level and sniffled, "Thank you so much, Hedley. You saved my little girl."

The boy whined, looking back over to Daryl, waving his hand for something.

Daryl handed over his flipbook and Hedley slowly flicked through it until he found the right one. He showed it to Rick. 'Family'.

Rick huffed a small chuckle, "That's right. Family."

"I am so proud of you, Spider Monkey." Daryl said, kissing the back of Hedley's hand he was holding.

"I keep remindin' ya that the kid's tough as nails." Merle joked, making the others laugh. "It's like none of ya believe me."

Abraham went forward, offering Hedley a fist bump, "I only just met you, kid, but I can see that you've got the heart of a lion. So, respect."

Hedley smiled as best he could, giving Abraham the fist bump.

After a few more hours resting, Daryl and Merle managed to sit Hedley up enough to take a few gulps of water and Carl held his friend's hand as he whined in pain with each swallow.

"Should we get him to eat something?" Carol asked.

"To heal, you need more calories and more nutrients like protein, fluids, vitamin A, vitamin C, and zinc. Eating more can help your body heal faster and fight infection. It also-" Eugene spoke but was interrupted by Merle.

"Okay, Mr Know-It-All. Calm down. This ain't school, no need to be a kiss-ass."

Carol rolled her eyes, elbowing Merle to be quiet.

Michonne took out a can of already opened fruit and frowned, "These seem too tough for him at this stage."

"Try squishing them. Like baby food." Carol suggested.

Maggie collected a small bowl from her bag and offered it to Michonne. She took it and started to mush the fruit before going over to Hedley and offering small bites.

Hedley could hardly open his mouth without pain happening so Michonne had to balance the squashed fruit on a single finger before putting it into his mouth, using his teeth to scrape the food off of her fingertip. It took a while, but Hedley managed to eat a few selections of fruit.

Carl took a cloth, dampened it with water and began to dab the fruit juices from Hedley's mouth, being extra careful of the stitches in the corners of his mouth.