King ☞ r. grimes

46

"Isn't that right, sweetheart?" Rick asked the baby.

"Mama. Mama," Judith cooed, reaching towards Katie.

"Come on, sheriff, be jealous. Get a little angry. It's technically my job to break up any fight we have in the street," Katie teased.

"Yeah yeah." Rick said, handing the baby to Katie.

Katie loaded her back into the stroller.

"I have to go to work," Katie sighed.

"Let me at least kiss you goodbye," Rick said, stepping forward.

He pecked her quickly on the lips and let her go back down the alley.

"I'll see you later, baby," Rick called after her.

Katie smiled back at him.

"Didn't I say no beard, no baby?" Katie teased.

"We'll see how that goes," Rick said, a smirk growing on his face.

Katie had to go drop Judith off with Carol. She was going to watch her for the day.

She walked up to Carol's house and knocked on the door.

"Did you seriously just knock?" Carol asked as she opened the door.

"I may have lost my mind a little, but I certainly didn't lose my manners," Katie laughed.

Katie handed Carol Judith's diaper bag and pulled her out of her stroller.

"Thank you so much for watching her today, Car. I really appreciate it," Katie said.

"It's really no problem. She can keep me company while I cook," Carol said.

"Bye, sweetheart. I'll pick you up soon," Katie said to Judith.

"Mama. Mama," Judith said to Katie, reaching out her arms.

"Yeah, sweetie. That's me. You're gonna have fun with aunt Carol today, okay?" Katie said softly.

"She's talking now?" Carol asked.

"Said her first word this morning," Katie replied. 

Carol smiled.

Katie placed the baby in Carol's arms.

"Good luck today, Katie," Carol said.

"Thank you!" Katie said.

She was nervous for her first day of work.

She was going to meet with Deanna and Maggie to talk about the community.

She made her way back towards Deanna's house.

She knocked on the door and was instantly met by Deanna.

"Come in. Come in," Deanna said, shuffling her inside.

She led Katie into the main room.

Katie sat down on the couch in front of the coffee table.

There was a map of the community on it.

"These are your plans?" Katie asked.

"I'll tell you all about it when Maggie gets here," Deanna smiled.

A few minutes later, Maggie came to the door.

She took a seat beside Katie.

"This is our future," Deanna said, motioning to the map.

"This could work," Maggie said.

"Do we even have the supplies to do this?" Katie asked, being realistic.

"No, but we bring things back with us whenever we go on a run," Deanna said.

Katie nodded.

"Who's going to do all of this?" Katie asked.

"Reg will," Deanna said.

"All by himself?" Katie asked.

"If he has to," Deanna answered.

"He needs a construction team and an engineering strategy team. Our man, Eugene, can help with the engineering strategy. He's a genius. Our man, Abraham, he's handy and has leadership experience. He can help with the construction. Any one of our people would be willing to help you, but you also need your own people to help. If they see my people doing all the hard work, yours will slack off. We can't let that happen. If they don't volunteer, assign them to it," Katie said.

"Are you sure you don't have any experience?" Deanna said with a chuckle.

Katie laughed.

"You're a natural at this," Deanna said.

Katie smiled.

After a couple of hours, Deanna released Maggie and Katie.

They had helped her plan the future of the community and how they were going to get there.

Katie made her way back to Carol's house to pick up Judith.

Carol was sitting on the front porch, feeding Judith.

The baby was almost asleep.

Katie didn't want to wake her.

"Thank you," Katie whispered.

"She was good. How did it go?" Carol asked quietly.

"Really well actually," Katie whispered.

She gently took the baby out of Carol's arms and made her way back towards their home.

When she got there, she laid Judith down in her crib and brought the baby monitor downstairs so that she could keep an eye on her.

Carl was still with the other teenagers in the neighborhood.

Katie thought that he definitely had a crush on the girl, Enid, but she was waiting for the right time to bring it up to him.

A few minutes later, she saw Rick walking up to the door through the window.

She quickly ran to quietly open the door.

"She's finally asleep. I don't want to wake her up," Katie whispered.

Rick nodded.

He took off the jacket and hung it on the hook by the door.

"Are Glenn and the rest of them back yet?" Katie asked.

"No. Not yet," Rick shook his head.

"I'm sure everything's fine," Katie said, more or less trying to convince herself.

She and Rick both sat down on the couch, exhausted.

"I can't remember if this is how I felt at the end of every work day before the world ended," Katie laughed.

Rick pulled her closer to him.

She laid her head on his chest and slowly fell asleep.

She didn't mean to fall asleep, but exhaustion took over her body and she was too tired to fight it.

• • •