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"ron!"
"carl!"
rick and jessie both met at the garage door near the stairs to get to the teenage boys, whom apparently sounded like they were fighting. i stopped in the middle of the stairs unexpectedly because someone grabbed my arm, i look to my side to see its lola.
down at the bottom i heard rick trying to bust down the door, but my gaze was stuck on lola. "are you really pregnant?" she asks, her eyes glimmered with shock and curiosity. i mean of course i was, but this is not how i expected her to find out, nor rick.
"yeah." i reply lowly. i was unsure by her facial expression on how she felt about this, until her lips tugged upwards into an excited smile, she grabbed my hands and gave them a squeeze, "okay."
our heartfelt conversation was abruptly interrupted by the sound of rick shouting, when we drew our attention towards the scene i saw rick and michonne bringing a stood up couch over to jessie, carl, kenzie, and ron, who struggled to keep the door closed with the undead snarling right behind.
"lola!" i shout, grabbing her attention instantly, "go and check the windows—see if more are coming okay?" without another word, lola goes down the stairs to check the windows, kenzie was right behind her.
i rush down the stairs and join rick and jessie keeping the couch against the unhinged door, carl and ron were right behind us. "it sounded like you guys were fighting." jessie persisted, giving ron a look of uncertainty. "yeah but we were fighting them!" ron snapped back, following carl down the hall.
"i'm gonna go look for michonne—i'll be right back!" jessie says, rushing up the stairs, leaving me and rick holding the couch against the door.
the walkers jerked us back a little as we struggled to hold the door, but we pulled our weight. "—remind you of that one night at the barn?" i ask rick with a smirk, he didn't answer me, only chuckled at my sudden humor in this time.
"so uh—when did ya' find out?" rick questions, our eyes meeting unexpectedly. i sighed, "just a couple minutes before you arrived at the gate." i groan in distress from my muscles hurting on holding the couch back, "i—i wanted to tell you sooner, i just didn't know how to!"
"you didn't have to hide it from me!" rick replies, quicker than i expected, it was easy to tell that even in worry about carl and ron in the garage, he was still thinking about what i told him.
"i know i know i just—it's like i said i didn't know how to tell you." i answer rick, our voices were raised a bit higher to hear each other over the moans and growls of the walkers that we were trying to keep behind the door.
"i wouldn't have been mad nik—i could tell you were acting strange when i got back too—but i didn't know what it was." he wipes the sweat off his face with his palm, his lips turned upwards into a small smile when he looked to me, "how far along are you?"
"eight weeks, two months." i reply to him, a lip sealed smile growing on my face. rick was excited, he was happy, and i'm glad i could talk to him about it, just wish it wasn't like this, that we weren't holding back a bunch of walkers with a couch. but there's a first time for everything..
•
"we're gonna gut these things—cover ourselves with the insides, make 'em think we're like them." rick replies to jessie, crouching beside a dead walker. walkers got in the house just a couple minutes ago, but luckily we blocked the stairs with the couch, now it's all about getting out of here.
jessie and ron looked at rick as if he were crazy, and honestly, it made me wanna laugh. when you've been surviving for so long you just get used to the fact that you're gonna have to do whatever to survive.
"he's done it before." i reassure jessie and ron as i was behind rick, i look down at him, "atlanta remember? that's where i saw you for the first time after the outbreak."
me and rick shared a quick smile to each other, thinking about it was odd. going back in time and remembering when i saw rick again after the infestation, a year ago he was just a friend, but now he's my husband and the father of my children, as well as an unborn one.
"we just stay calm, we don't draw attention—we can move right through them." rick further explains as lola and kenzie come into the room with more bedsheets for all of us. "they're in the house—they're making noise, more are coming." michonne says persistently as she and rick begin to cut through both the walkers' torso. the smell was already hard to deal with, now it's gonna be even worse..
•
all of us stood quietly in a line near the stairs, waiting for michonne's signal for when we had to move. walker bloodied bed sheets covered our bodies all the way down to our knees with a hole for our heads to fit through. the stench was horrific, and being pregnant made it much worse for me.
sadly we had to leave deanna behind, she was too weak, and she wasn't gonna make it anyways. "we have to go." michonne whispers to rick, and he nods in understanding, joining her at the railing to look over at the hungry walkers.
"we're ready." jessie states in a low voice, coming out the bedroom with sam. the kid looked scared out of his mind, and from my understanding him and lola are the same age. when i look at lola i see her face oddly calm, her eyes were a little freaked out but nothing compared to how sam was acting.
as we all stood in a group with each other, rick heads down the hallway to get judith. "oh hey carl—did i tell you mom is pregnant?" lola suddenly blurts out to carl who was next to her, his eyes widen in shock. he whips his head towards her, "what?!" then to me, with a questioning look. i crunch my eyebrows in confusion towards lola, whose lips tugged into a mischievous smirk. "lola!" i scold in a low tone, great, now everyone here knows i'm pregnant now.
rick comes out from the hallway holding judith, and from our quick formulated plan, carl raises his bedsheet for judith to go under. rick helps carl pull the sheet securely over judith as carl held her, not gonna lie this whole thing was started to scare me now, all of it. i have my whole family here, what if we all go down and there's just one of us left?
rick comes up to me and caresses my cheek, "you ready?"
i sigh with a shrug, "gotta be, right?"
he nods, "it'll be okay, alright? you, lola, and carl are up front with me." together, we all moved down the stairs slowly and quietly. i was behind rick, lola was behind me, carl was behind her with judith, kenzie was behind him, and so on with our remaining others.
rick carefully moved the couch to the side, where we entered the living room. walkers were packed in roaming around, i felt like throwing up from nervousness—or this baby, i couldn't tell. rick grabbed my hand securely as we continued to move to the outside, the sun was starting to go down over the horizon, night was coming. here we go, just have to survive.
