Future Ghosts • TWD

138. Still Figuring Things Out.

"Cut's too long to heal on its own," Daryl told her. 

"Shut up. No, it ain't," Rosie muttered, crossing her arms. Lydia helped Henry walk into the infirmary so the doctor could to his stitches while Rosie, Ian, Connie, and Daryl waited outside. Daryl began to wash his bloody hands off in a bucket. 

"Judith will be excited to see you, once you get your hand fixed up," Michonne said, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

"My hand a'ready is fixed," Rosie said, holding her hand up to show that it was neatly bandaged. Unfortunately for her, she was already bleeding through the bandages, so she shoved it back into her pocket, pretending that it was just fine. 

"Right," Michonne said sarcastically, letting herself chuckle a little. She stepped away from the wall, closer to Daryl. "So, where to now?" she asked, watching Daryl clean the blood from his hands. "Straight to the Kingdom?" Michonne guessed.

"Well, probably not straight, but, yeah... Carol should know," Daryl said with a nod. 

Connie stepped closer to Michonne and held her notepad out in front of her. Rosie looked over Michonne's shoulder to see what it said. This wasn't the plan, but I'd do it all again, the notebook said. Then, Connie flipped to the next page. With different shoes, Connie had written. She raised her eyebrows and tilted her head to the side, and even Michonne smiled a little. 

"You're up next," the doctor said to Rosie, wiping his hands clean as he walked out of the infirmary. Rosie huffed out a sigh and begrudgingly stepped inside the infirmary. She hated getting stitches, but she figured she was too old to pitch a fit about it. "I hear you're not the biggest fan of doctors," the man said.

"Who said that? Siddiq?" Rosie guessed. The doctor chuckled and nodded as he began to unwind the bandage. "Well, last time he gave me stitches was when I was eleven and I got shot. That ain't a very fond memory a' mine," Rosie said.

"Yeah. I can imagine," the doctor said. He got out a small, wet cloth and began to wipe the blood away from the cut on Rosie's hand. "I'm Luther. And you're Rosie, correct?"

"Yep. Rosie," Rosie said, nodding her head. She tensed up when she Luther get out the needle and thread. 

As he started disinfecting them, Rosie turned around to look out the door. Lydia was standing out there with Henry and Ian. Daryl was still cleaning his hands. Connie was with Michonne. And Rosie was inside, about to get a needle pushed and pulled through her skin. She let out a shaky breath, and just as she did, Lydia suddenly glanced back and made eye contact with her. Rosie quickly turned around, facing the doctor once again.

"Alright. Ready?" Luther asked. And even though she didn't want to, Rosie nodded. As soon as the needle pushed through her skin, she bit down hard on her lip and closed her eyes. Looking at it was even worse than just feeling it. 

After the second stitch, Rosie felt the cushion on the medical table beside her sink a bit. She opened her eyes and looked to her left. Sitting right there next to her was Lydia. Lydia gave a comforting smile. 

"Hi," Rosie said, her eyebrows raised with surprise. She hadn't expected Lydia to go in there for her. 

"Hey," Lydia said, tucking her hair behind her ear. She looked down at the wound on Rosie's palm. "I'm sorry about... that," she gestured to Rosie's hand, "and everything else."

"It's nothin'," Rosie said, shrugging. It really was something, though. She just wanted to seem humble or cool or something. God, she needed to get over this. She pressed her lips together for a moment, thinking of something to say. "So... you..." she trailed off awkwardly. "Never mind. I don't even know what I was gonna say."