One Shot #3:
It was the first big snow of the season for Altura. It was the nice light fluffy stuff, but there was just so much of it. 10K had gone to volunteer to help shovel and he'd taken TJ with him wanting their son to start doing his share in the community and to give back so their home could keep running. It didn't bother their four year old, he loved being around people and his youthful energy put smiles on the faces of the people he'd talk to.
10K had been tasked to do the cemented part around the Memorial Wall and TJ was helping him. Tommy would shovel a square a few feet wide and a few feet long for TJ to shovel and TJ liked shoveling smilie faces and other patterns into the squares before he'd finish and Tommy would outline another section for him to do. He couldn't help but laugh at his little boy when he noticed he had started shoveling the grass along the cement pavement and Tommy stuck his shovel in the snow, taking his antler from the handle and rested his elbow on it.
"Not there Bud." He called with a chuckle as TJ stopped and turned to him with his little shovel in his hands, "You don't have to shovel the grass."
"Oh." TJ replied dumping the snow from his shovel and walking back over to his Papa before 10K patted his head and outlined another square for him on the concrete.
When they had finished they walked back home making deep footprints in the snow. It was a little hard for TJ to walk so he'd hop from one of 10K's footprints to another as he followed his Papa. When they got to their apartment building 10K wrapped his arms around TJ's middle and scooped him up so he could bang his shoes together to get the snow off them so he wouldn't track any inside. Their own apartment smelt like chocolate when they walked in and he could see Bailey at the stove making hot cocoa while Charlie was in a play pen by the couch. He got TJ out of his puffy coat and hung it by the door as he ran and hugged his mother who picked him up and offered him a sugar cookie from the plate on the island.
"How was shoveling?" she asked and TJ beat him to the answer.
"Cold." He replied, his voice cheerful as he took another bite of the cookie. Bailey laughed and when Tommy reached her she tapped his cheek which was probably still red from the chill.
"I could tell." She replied putting TJ down, "How does soup sound for lunch?"
"Perfect." Tommy said as he leaned in and kissed her then she offered him a cookie too and he made his way over to the couch and watched Charlie as she laid on her tummy and tried to push herself up and lift her head. She'd grown a fair amount of black hair but not enough that Bailey could do much with it and her eyes hadn't changed from matching her mothers.
"Hey Peanut." He said smiling at her through the mesh wall of the playpen as she looked up at him.
"You know, I was thinking after lunch, maybe we could take the kids out to play in the snow." Bailey suggested as she warmed up some soup in a pot and got out some crackers. It was the same soup Red had made for Tommy back when they lived in that tree tent together. It was his favorite so Red had given Bailey the recipe.
"Isn't she too little?" he asked worried. He was extra protective of his little peanut since she'd had such a rough start at life. He didn't want to risk her getting sick.
"No. Annie at the supply building dug out a little baby snowsuit and I tried it on her this morning to make sure it fit."
"Did it?"
"She looked like a little mint green marshmallow." Bailey said turning to him with a look one might give a puppy. Then she looked at TJ who had busied himself with his own toys on the floor, "And. . . Julie's mom said she got a tube sled for her birthday last week."
That got TJ's attention as his head snapped up to his mother then he looked to his Papa, "Can we go sledding! Papa please! Please! Pretty please!"
They both laughed at their son's reaction as he pleaded with his father before Tommy replied, "Only if you eat all your lunch TJ. Don't fill up on cookies."
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After they'd bundled up the kids and themselves they headed out to the one small hill within the walls of Altura where a half dozen other kids were already playing. Some were sledding, some were making a snowman and a few others were having a snowball fight. TJ immediately found Julie and the two laughed as they went up the hill together to share her blow up sled. Meanwhile, Tommy and Bailey joined Ted and Laura who had cleared off a bench and laid a blanket over it while they watched their daughter. Tommy left the remaining space to Bailey as she sat down with their daughter in her lap letting her sit up against her torso as he leaned on the back of the bench watching TJ run up the snowy hill.
"So Bailey when are you going back to work?" Laura asked as the two started up a conversation. Bailey had another couple weeks of maternity leave before she was due back to work, then Tommy was going to take some time off for a paternity leave to stay home with Charlie and pick up TJ from school after Bailey dropped him off in the morning on her way to work. They weren't sold on the idea of Charlotte going to the day care that had been established, mainly because winter meant kids with colds and they didn't want to test her little immune system too much too soon.
Bailey explained all this to Laura while he and Ted started their own conversation. "Thanks again Ted, for what you did. I owe you one."
"I've told you 10K don't mention it." Ted replied, they of course were talking about Ted coming to the rescue and getting Bailey to the infirmary when Charlie had made her early appearance. Tommy had no idea how he could ever make it up to the guy for saving his wife and their baby. Luckily, Ted wasn't the kind of person to hold something over your head until he needed a favor done, he was happy just helping people. "I'm just happy to hear she's been doing so well."
Tommy smiled and followed Ted's gaze down at Charlotte. While she was in her mother's arms she was looking up at the lightly falling snow. Her eyes were wide as she focused on one flake as it blew past, then another, then another.
"Babe, she's loving this stuff." He said softly getting Bailey's attention as the four of them looked at Charlie as she cooed and looked at the falling white puffs in awe. Bailey smiled and kissed her baby on her hat covered head as Tommy rested on the back of the bench. They heard high pitched screaming but looked up to see it was only TJ and Julie as they slid happily down the hill. They had to veer off the tube before it could hit a snowman one of the other kids was making and they started laughing as they rolled out of the snow trying to get their balance as they made it back on their feet again.
One shot #4
"Warren." 10K greeted her as he walked into her office in the community building that day. Bailey had left for work about an hour ago and had dropped TJ off at school leaving him to take care of Charlie. He'd fed her and gotten her dressed before bundling her up and putting her in her baby carrier, which was hanging from his hand, and headed to see Warren. He was hoping she might have some news on Murphy and why he'd needed to steal his blood. Given that it was winter there weren't many transport vehicles moving from one outpost to another so travel was limited. But Warren had gotten to go on a supply run earlier that week and 10K was certain she would have made the time to interrogate Murphy. "You find anything in Limbo?"
She shook her head as he put Charlie's carrier down by his feet and leaned forward on her desk, "He wasn't there when I showed up."
He looked at her curiously, that feeling that Murphy was hiding something only getting stronger. Judging by the look on her face she was thinking the same thing.
They pulled the truck into the loading bay on the side of the building of Limbo and Warren and the team from Altura all got out. The back garage door opened and Ma's son's started bringing out boxes of bizkits as the Altura team brought in other supplies that had been ordered through Citizen Z and Kaya. Warren went straight in and entered through the garage which took her to the basement bar, the less decked out, normally lit one that Murphy had once hid the Talkers in when Estes had been hunting them. It had been converted into a bakery where Ma was humming away to herself as she prepared another batch of batter by one of the large ovens. She gave Warren a kind smile when she saw her and Warren returned it along with a wave at the sweet older woman.
She made her way through the halls and up the steps into the red lit portion of Limbo and looked around for Murphy. In the red tinted lights it would be hard to see him but she was able to easily spot Wesson, his right hand blend, at the bar serving drinks. When she approached him he smiled at her.
"Good to see you Miss Warren. What can I get for you today?" he asked cheerfully.
"You can get me your boss. I need to talk to Murphy." She said sitting down at a stool. Wesson's smile dropped and his gaze fell to the counter. He hesitated a minute before looking back up at her.
"Mr. Murphy is a very busy man. I'm sure whatever you need his help with he'd be more then happy to give you, when it fits into his schedule." Wesson told her politely and Warren almost scoffed at the idea of making an appointment to see Murphy, but instead it came out as a small chuckle. She got off the stool and headed to the room she knew Murphy's office was in. Wesson followed trying to stop her but she just barged in anyway. The room was painted red but the lighting was at least normal and she saw several tables lined up with various equipment he'd probably gotten from Sun Mei's lab. So that's where it all went, she thought and this time she did scoff, classic Murphy. She should have known, she should have dug a little deeper, kept a closer eye on him. Then maybe he wouldn't have had the guts to jump 10K in the infirmary. Wesson stood by the door watching her as she walked around the room, every now and then opening another cabinet but she didn't find much.
"Roberta." A new voice called and she turned to see Murphy standing in the doorway next to Wesson with a smile on his face and his arms out like he was expecting a hug. She stood up straight as she closed the cabinet she'd been peeking in. "Long time no see!"
She crossed her arms as Murphy strutted into the room and Wesson left. "Wesson told me you were busy."
He shrugged, "I just got back. You know how it is, things are never quiet in the apocalypse."
"Mmmm hmmm." She hummed suspicious, "Got back from where?"
"Oh here and there." He said casually leaning on one of the tables. "Got snowed in at one place, delayed my time table a bit."
"Cut the crap Murphy you know why I'm here." She said getting tired of beating around the bush.
He sighed and tilted his head back before he looked at her again, "The Kid whining about me again?"
"You blood-jacked him." She accused sharply, "I want to know why. Now."
"Relax." He replied holding his hands in the air in front of him, palms facing her. "I thought you wanted me to find a cure. For three years it was, Murphy you eat Sun Mei's brain yet? Murphy you found the cure yet? Murphy what's taking so long? Murphy? Murphy? Murphy? Then those AWOL's showed up and I finally got some peace and quiet to work and now you're here again to ask the same questions."
She gave him a glare and stepped closer to him before dropping her voice into a low almost deadly tone, "Why did you need 10K's blood?"
He stared back at her for a long moment before his gaze fell to the floor and he pushed himself off the table. He walked across the room and pulled out the cooler Red had given him years ago. He unzipped the lid and pulled out the glistening brain inside. It only had a few small pieces pulled from it and Warren looked at it in shock.
"It's been four years and you haven't eaten it yet?" she asked, "No wonder you don't have a cure yet." She snapped at him.
"Oh like I wouldn't love to have cracked this code by now?" he replied just as pissed now, "But your friend Dr. Sun didn't do things easily. Nearly all her notes are coded and even when I was able to read through them I discovered that the gene she used only shows up in my blood once every billion years –"
"Murphy." She reprimanded him for his exaggeration.
"Fine. But it's a hell of a long time and you know we can't wait that long!"
She stepped closer to him again. "You know 10K's blood can't substitute for your own." She told him knowing he'd been against being treated like an experimental rat from day one. And she didn't want him to start thinking that he could push that onto 10K. He had a family he had to take care of, a new baby who needed more care than most. He didn't have time to put up with Murphy's crazy schemes.
He scoffed like she'd insulted his intelligence, "Of course not, I'm not that lucky. But 10K was a blend which gave him immunity –"
"Was." She pointed out, "He's not immune anymore. In case it escaped your notice, he is missing a hand because of a zombie attack. Sun Mei took away his immunity when we saved his life at Mt. Casey."
Now Murphy smiled and it wasn't reassuring, "She didn't take away the immunity, she made it dormant. One of the tasty tid-bits I found in the mere few munches on her brain. And you can tell the kid not to worry. I'm only using his blood to cross reference the genes in mine to see what matches from his blend days. Hopefully that will shorten an already lengthy process."
She quirked an eyebrow, "You swear that's all you needed his blood for?"
He crossed his heart with his finger, "I promise, on Lucy's memory, that's all."
"I don't believe that for a second." 10K said when she'd finished filling him in.
"Me either." she agreed, "He's hiding something. And I bet it's stashed wherever he was when I first got there."
10K mulled that over for a minute as he subconsciously rubbed his elbow, the bruise had long healed but he still didn't like that Murphy had taken what he wanted and could do literally anything with it.
"Baby boy, I'm going to make sure he doesn't touch you or your kids." Warren told him and he knew she knew his fear about becoming a blend again. Now the risk would be so much higher. What if Murphy made him hurt his own kids? He'd never be able to live with that pain, that guilt.
"When he took my blood. . .when I woke up on the floor, the first thing I did was check on Charlie. I was terrified that he'd taken her, or hurt her. When I saw she was okay, that she was still hooked up to that breathing machine and was alright. . . I can't describe that kind of relief. I never want to feel that again." He stopped rubbing his arm and looked at her, "I'm not letting Murphy near my family again as long as I live."
One shot #5
Spring was just starting to bloom in Altura and on the first day off from work Bailey had she wanted to take the kids to the park. The grass was green, all the trees had little buds on them and for once they didn't have to bundle the kids in those poofy coats. She still made TJ wear a light jacket and she wrapped Charlie up in a soft sheep wool coat that was a light tan color and she put a lavender stretchy cotton head band on her that had a crocheted flower on it and stuck out brightly against her thicker dark hair. She was seven months old now – four if she'd been born on time – and was due for her shots later that day with Red. Thanks to Dr. Hastings tutoring, the medicinal field all across Newmerica was improving. New people were being trained as doctors and with the equipment that Hastings had brought from West Park they were even able to perform minor surgeries and with the heavy manufacturing equipment in the Rangers Outpost they even had started making their own anesthesia for when procedures needed it.
Tommy figured it'd be good to tire Charlie out at the park before her check up, so she'd be too tired to squirm when Red took her. TJ of course went running for the jungle gym with the four different slides where he saw Julie and some of the other kids already playing. Bailey laughed as they watched their son from afar and she put Charlotte into one of the bucket swings designed for babies. She didn't push her much, not wanting to jostle her too strongly, but slowly rocked her. She'd been holding her head up and she'd gotten sturdier which was reassuring to them given how fragile she'd once been. Bailey bent over resting her hands on her knees between tiny shoves as she smiled at her daughter. Charlie smiled back, when she didn't have her hand in her mouth, as Tommy rested against one of the poles holding up the swing set with a smile on his face.
"She's such a strong little peanut." He said and Bailey turned her smile to him as their daughter rocked in the swing.
"Yeah, she's been through a lot. Glad to know she's a little cockroach like her Papa."
"Yeah, after the feeding tubes, the breathing tubes, keeping track of her core temperature, trying not to expose her to anything because her immune system was so weak. And. . . " he snapped his fingers as he thought, "What was that other thing? The one that turned her yellow?"
"Jaundice." Bailey reminded him and he cringed.
"I hated that." It had been a good thing that Red and Hastings had kept Bailey and Charlie in the infirmary for observation for a month after the birth. They'd caught the first signs of it the day after they'd had Warren and Doc in to tell them the baby's name. Red had been doing her check up and had noticed her skin was looking a little yellow. They couldn't check her eyes yet so she got Dr. Hastings for a second opinion and they began treating Charlotte immediately. They put her under light therapy and gave her an IV Hastings had transferred from Sheridan just for good measure given she was still so small and underdeveloped. It took two and a half weeks before it started to go away and her color returned to normal again but out of everything she'd been through he really hated that the most, tied with how pale she'd looked at birth.
He tried to forget about that and focus on his daughter's little laughs and smiles as she enjoyed the swing. It got warmer as the day turned into early afternoon and the sun grew stronger. Some of the other kids were called by their parents that it was time to go home for lunch and that's when they noticed they couldn't find TJ. Bailey went to look for him after taking Charlie out of the swing and passing her to Tommy and he checked the other half of the small park. When he'd circled it and found Bailey again she was near the tube slide with her arms crossed looking at him.
"I can't find TJ anywhere." She said but she didn't sound concerned as she nodded her head toward the tube slide and if he listened carefully he could hear little chuckles coming from it. He smiled before he joined in playing along.
"Oh, no." he said in the same not too worried tone, "You know what that means?"
Bailey shook her head trying to fight off her own smirk at his act.
"When we get home we're going to have to give all his toys to Charlie and the other kids."
"No!" they heard a tiny cry as TJ crawled out of the bottom of the tube slide, "Don't give away all my toys!"
They shared a look as TJ latched onto his father's leg before Bailey took his hand and he let go.
"No more hiding young man." She scolded lightly as they left the park and headed to the community building for Charlie's check up.
In the past several months Red had taken some advice from Dr. Hastings and had looked into making the infirmary more child friendly. She'd taken one old conference room and remodeled it with some smaller chairs for kids, a bucket of old crayons next to stacks of old paper to draw on and lined the walls with toy kitchen sets, trucks and other toys for the kids to play with as a little waiting room type area more appropriate for families unlike the waiting room she already had. That's where they left TJ to go to the room next door where Red would be waiting for them. They walked in with Charlie and Tommy carried her over to the little countertop where Red had set up.
"Alright, let's get a look at this little one." She said taking Charlotte as she started running the usual tests, temperature, weight, she checked her joints and looked in her ears. She'd tickle her a little when she got fussy and when she was done she passed her back to Bailey who rocked her as she asked more questions.
"Has she been feeding well?" Red asked looking down at her clipboard and marking the form with their responses.
"Yes."
"Any periods of long crying, anything more than an hour – consecutively?"
"Not really." Tommy answered knowing when Charlie did cry it was for the normal reasons, a new diaper, hungry or tired. Once they'd taken care of her she'd settle down and be fine again. It wasn't like when she had jaundice and wailed endlessly because she couldn't get comfortable.
"What about when you change her diaper? How many times a day, roughly?" Red asked taking a small toy and holding it in front of Charlie checking if her eyes followed it in sync.
"The usual? I think?" Bailey answered, "Nothing drastically different from when we had TJ."
"Good." Red said putting the toy away and finishing writing on the clipboard. "Now the hard part."
Bailey passed the baby to Tommy before she covered her ears and turned to the corner of the room. 10K knew she hated this part as much as Charlie was about to, at least TJ had been older when he'd gotten his vaccinations, mainly because Altura didn't have any when he was born, but it had helped that they could talk to him, that he understood it was okay. He'd held his father's hand and Bailey had given him a cookie she'd brought in her bag for being a good boy when he was finished, but a baby you couldn't really do any of that with. Red started getting the needles ready and Tommy moved Charlie so her belly was supported by his right arm as her legs straddled his stump and her head was cradled in his elbow. He used his hand to rub her back, knowing what was coming. When Red pulled the diaper to the side and injected her she let out a sharp loud wail that broke his heart. He kept rubbing her back, knowing there was no other way to tell her it was okay, though that didn't stop him from trying to talk her down.
"Shhhh, shhhh. It's okay peanut. I know it hurts." He patted her back as Red got the second needle, "I got a shot back there once, it wasn't fun."
Red quickly finished the second shot and wiggled the diaper back into place when she was done. Charlotte kept crying even when he lifted her so she was resting against his shoulder and Bailey turned around again. She rubbed the side of Charlie's face and spoke softly to her, and the calm in her voice seemed to relax her as a few final tears fell from her eyes and down her chubby cheeks. Red gave them a sheet of things to look out for between now and Charlie's next check up. She and Bailey talked a bit more as she planned when TJ would need to come for his next exam as 10K went to get him from the waiting room. He was at one of the tables doing a puzzle and Tommy sat with him and helped him put a few pieces together while they waited for Bailey. When she came back they decided to get a late lunch down at the Tavern and ate outside on one of the decks of the upper floors.
The clouds had cleared and the sun was shining brightly across the buildings as they put down a blanket for TJ on the concrete floor of the balcony and passed him his food, a grilled cheese and some French fries the cook had made. They'd also gotten a pizza to split between them, the cook made them fresh to order when they'd gotten shipments from High Plains and Old Frontera with fresh cheese and homemade marinara sauce, along with the wheat they got from Heartland to make dough. Bailey had never imagined that some of the things they had now were possible. But with George's leadership and vision slowly the old world was starting to make its comeback.
When they'd finished eating Bailey dug through her backpack for a hat for Charlie. She didn't want her getting too much sun and pulled out a little bonnet hat that would tie under her chin and keep the sun off her face. She smiled, the hat had been a gift from Addy on her last visit, something she'd found in one of the Heartland farmhouses. TJ was coloring with one hand and eating his sandwich with his other and Bailey patted his head and quickly ran her fingers through his sandy colored hair as she walked by and crouched by Tommy who was holding Charlie in the chair across from where she'd been sitting. She put the little white hat on her head and started tying the ribbon while Tommy kept her occupied with her baby food. She also put a light little baby blanket over her for good measure which made Charlotte wriggle deeper into Tommy's arm nuzzling against his chest before she opened her mouth for more food.
Bailey chuckled, "She's already Daddy's little girl."
He hummed in agreement bringing another spoonful of applesauce to her mouth, "Papa's little peanut." He corrected her smiling.