It turns out that Rick Grimes wasn't just going back to Atlanta for the man he left for dead but a bag of guns he dropped. It didn't matter to him that they had a mobile armory in the humvee, the former sheriff was adamant that they go back to the city. It was a much harder sell when there wasn't a man dying due to their mistakes. T-Dog easily volunteered, not wanting to be in camp when Merle finally woke up. Glenn and Daryl had to be bribed with first picks out of the gun bag.
Shane stalked around camp, looking for confrontation until he found Carl. It was actually a pretty sweet sight, them just playing in the water. The other women were splashing around with the kids while Carol pedaled the homemade washing machine. The only one not enjoying the weather was Ed who watched his wife with sharp eyes, like he was her supervisor. Amy and Michonne were a little further away with the kids, letting them swim and bathe so they didn't realize what happened until Shane was beating the absolute shit out of Ed.
"That is a whole lot of misdirected anger." Michonne commented, watching Carol cry over her husband apathetically.
"Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." Amy shrugged, shocking her sister who came over to them after confronting Ed.
"Shane went too far."
"Who cares?" Her little sister snorted, wrapping a towel around a very naked, giggly baby.
"Everyone knew what was happening in their tent but you can only stomach it for so long. I know Lori and Jaqui talked to her about moving away from him." Michonne nodded sagely, tossing the diaper bag to Amy. "They promised that Shane wouldn't let Ed touch her or her daughter, or they could even kick him out of camp but Carol begged them to leave him alone."
"I've never been in an abusive relationship before so I can't say what I would do but.."Amy sighed, finished dressing Braden before handing clothes to Emma and Billy. Jamie wanted to wait until she was in the RV to change. "I just think that if any man in camp laid a hand on any of these kids..."
"Well, he wasn't hitting Sofia, was he?" Andrea asked, a little horrified at the thought.
"I've seen the bruises." Michonne disagreed, her mouth pursed in anger at the thought of Ed. "Not to mention her development is behind, look at Jamie. They are the same age."
"You don't think?" Amy asked, never really thinking too heavily on Sofia and her abuse. Her stomach curdled at the idea of Ed abusing his daughter.
"Sofia's weird." Jamie nodded her head, wrapping her hair up in one of the towels. "She acts like a baby and still plays with dolls."
"Some kids develop faster than others." Amy protested, pulling Billy into her lap so she could rub his hair with a dry towel.
"At least she isn't like Eliza." Billy's face soured and he ducked down to try and avoid Amy's hands. "She wanted to play house and with Carl, Louis, and Emma being the babies. Then she got all mad when we left to climb trees!"
"Well, you gave them a chance, that's more than can be said for Amy." Andrea huffed at her sister's offended face. Once the kids were dressed and dried, they made their way back to the RV.
"What do you say about using Merle for some first aid practice?" Michonne asked them with an impish smile. All the kids found this to be the best idea because they rushed back to the buses leaving the small children in the dust.
"Hey, Dale said I could use his boat." Andrea proposed, glancing at Michonne before turning back to her sister. "What do you think about spending the afternoon fishing?"
"I don't want to leave all the kids with Michonne, that seems unfair." Amy hedged, looking at her friend with a frown.
"It's fine." Michonne waved her away with a grin. "It's almost time for someone's N-A-P. Have fun with your sister."
Merle was much more patient than anyone could have guessed. He was still pissed that his brother went to the city with the man who handcuffed him to the roof but he was long gone by the time he woke up to children clumsily wrapping his arms in strips of ripped towel. Michonne stood directly behind them giving him a stern look so he made a very put upon sigh while he bore the indignity.
"Careful of his wrist, it's still raw." The woman said absently, soothing a cranky Braden. Andre and Emma were out for the count in another bed so everyone was very quiet.
"How did you get out of the handcuffs?" Billy asked eagerly, looking up at Merle with adoration. His sister rolled her eyes, looking back and forth between her wrapping and the open first aid book to see where she went wrong.
"'Cause your Momma." Merle grunted, squinting his eyes at the harsh sunlight. They gave him something for the pain and nausea hours ago but it did little for his problem of sobering up. "She put a tool in those handy lil' bags. Plumb forgot I even had it before I almost sawed off ma own hand."
"She's not our Mom." Jamie told him sternly, feeling her throat tighten at the thought of their own mother.
"Woman feeds ya, clothes ya, loves ya." The old man disagreed with a fierce scowl.
"Mom died." Billy whispered sadly, bandages forgotten.
"You don't have to call Amy anything but her name." Michonne said softly, glaring at Merle reproachfully.
"A name don't stop her from being their Momma." He disagreed before laying back with his eyes closed. "Let me alone for a bit. Ol' Merle needs some shut eye."
It didn't help that Braden's first word was Mama and his favorite. Repeating it over and over again when he spotted Amy. Emma never spoke of her parents beyond what she first told Amy and Andrea. When she cried at night it wasn't for her mother it was for Amy. The older children still missed their parents fiercely and wished they could be there with them but didn't know how they would have survived without Amy and Michonne.
When the sisters came back there was only an hour or two of sunlight left but Daryl and the other guys had not come back. Most were getting very nervous, it should not have taken more than two hours to pick up the bag and come back. Even with Shane assuring them they were just scavenging for more supplies, it did nothing to lessen their concerns. Jim losing his mind to heat stroke probably didn't help much.
"Come have a fish fry with us!" Dale begged after the sisters finished cleaning the fish with Miranda and Carol. "The kids will love it!"
"Sorry, Dale." Amy disagreed immediately, not feeling bad at all. She set up a perimeter months ago and there were plenty of guns in the camp to defend themselves. Those kids only had an illusion of safety but she would do everything in her power to keep it up.
"C'mon, Amy!" Andrea joined in with a bright smile. They spent all afternoon just the two of them, the older blonde wanted to be selfish for just a little longer.
"Sorry, guys. Kids come first and it's too dangerous out here at night." Amy explained gently, taking her own cleaned fish with her. "We will be with you in spirit. Just you know, probably watching Megamind again."
"Well, I'm staying out here." Andrea crossed her arms over her chest and literally pouted at her sister.
"Don't you want to see how Merle is doing, sister?"
"You brat!"
Merle was passed out when Michonne brought the children out to meet Amy. They were all very proud of their first aid skills, especially Emma who didn't even wake Merle when she wrapped his head. It was quite crowded in her bus with all the kids at the table watching Amy and Michonne cook dinner on the small stove. Max was laying in the shower, watching them through the open door, waiting for any morsels to fall on the floor. Andre and Braden played with his activity center, squealing in broken baby language.
Although Andre could talk, since the fall he had become mostly nonverbal, worrying his mother deeply. He had not really been outside much and never really in any danger from the dead but on the second day in the refugee center he stopped speaking. Michonne worried something happened with his father while she was out of their tent or maybe seeing some of the dead deeply traumatized him.
"Mr. Merle called you our Mom." Billy announced while Amy was placing paper plates on the table, shocking the young blonde.
"We told him our Mom died." Jamie sent a dark glare at her brother but he was undeterred.
"He said the name didn't matter." Billy continued on, ignoring the panicked look on Amy's face. "He said that you loved us like a Momma so how does that work?"
"You can be my Momma!" Emma declared excitedly, wasting no time on conversation and stuffing the greasy fish into her mouth with a happy little wiggle.
"You don't have to call me Mom." Amy patted Jamie's head awkwardly. Turning quickly, she pulled out the top of Braden's activity center changing it into a high chair. Leaving him tiny chunks of fish and mushy vegetables out for him to grab at. "I know you had a Mom and she was wonderful...I'll still take care of you."
"We had a stepmom but we called her Judy." Billy nodded over his food sagely. "Mom didn't like her and told us we could never call her Mom."
"That's cause Mom still loved Dad!"
"Nu-huh!" Billy turned to his sister with a glare. "It was cause Mom said Judy was a homewrecking whore. Whores aren't allowed to be Moms!"
"Billy!" Amy and Michonne yelled out in shock. "You can't call people whores, it's not right!"
"But Daddy paid for Judy!" Billy exclaimed, very put out at getting yelled out. "Mom checked the credit cards, you pay for whores but sluts give it up for free!"
"Oh my God." Amy put her head in her hands while Michonne turned to grab Andre with an incredulous smile. "I can't even!"
"What do sluts do for free?" Emma asked curiously.
"Okay. New rule!" Amy threw her hands up to stop them from explaining anything to the five year old. However, screams outside shut down any conversation. Michonne was quick to shut off all the lights and rushed to the dishwasher. The top rack was dominated by twelve handguns and ammo was stacked high on the bottom. Ammy pulled the spice rack from the wall, taking out three M4's, accepting full clips from her friend without even looking. The children rushed to the bed, helping a grumpy and terrified Andre to sit with them.
"Take this." Michonne pushed a .22 pistol into Jamie's hands, they planned to teach her but there never seemed to be any time. The eleven year old and her brother only sat through a single gun safety lesson with Shane. "Only take the safety off if you plan to shoot. We will stay close to the bus but you protect the younger ones, okay?"
Jamie nodded with tears in her eyes before Amy was there, her hands holding her face tenderly. The blonde just kissed her forehead before moving on to the other children. The whole thing only took minutes but it felt like the screams had been going on for hours. Braden started to wail, realizing something was very wrong.
"Amy!" Andrea's voice was the loudest.
The camp was a complete disarray, Shane leading Carol and Lori with their children to Dale's RV. An RV that the dead were stumbling around. Jim was rushing through the tents trying to help other campers with a baseball bat. Hector had his family backed up against his own RV with only a tire iron. Amy was quick to throw the door open to another RV, tossing the rifle at Merle's stupefied face.
"Time to earn your keep, old man!" And Amy was gone, firing on any dead in her path. Michonne was right beside her using her katana until Amy had to reload. There were so many dead and so little light that they couldn't even see them until they were close to the fire.
"Amy!"
Dale finally turned on the lights to RV, blinding everyone a moment but Amy and Michonne pushed on to humvee. Shane had the fucking keys but he just kept backing further away. They needed more weapons but the former officer only seemed concerned about the woman and child behind him. Carol had to grab onto Lori not to be left behind. Merle was having the time of his life, laughing hysterically while he used all of his ammo before switching to his pistol.
"I'm out!" Amy cried, using a hand hatchet with her back to Michonne.
"I'm a shit shot!" The older woman yelled back in panic, back to using her katana. She was deadly and graceful but she had to stay away from Dale and Shane. They were just spraying anything directly in front of them.
"To the RV!"
"Amy!"
"Guns are in the humvee!"
"The humvee is locked!"
RATATATATATATATATATATA
Amy dragged Michonne to the ground when she saw Merle climbing on top of the humvee with a manic smile. Tents and everything in his path were shredded as the crazy old redneck swung the gun around over their heads. It didn't last long, just like his rifle and pistol, Merle didn't aim, just ran himself out of ammo. The blonde yelled out in fear when her hatchet got stuck in the skull of a walker in her face with another corpse grabbing at her boots. Michonne was on her back beside her, severely handicapped due to the angle. Amy thought that it was all over until a bolt hit the dead that was clawing at her. Daryl was in the lead of the group shooting stragglers. The hunter immediately came to their side, helping them up and shoving her hatchet back into her hand.
"Why aint anyone shooting them?" Daryl demanded, switching to his shotgun to lead the two women towards the group.
"Shane has the keys!"
"Amy!"
It was over fairly quickly after that. Andrea was sobbing for her younger sister but she was ignored while Amy and Michonne rushed back to the RV to check on the hysterical children. Emma lept directly off the bed into the blonde's arms, they all rushed down to the women immediately after. That was how Andrea found them, sitting on the floor, arms full of sobbing children.
"Where were you?" The older blonde practically ripped her sister away from all of the children. If Jamie had not been quick enough, Braden would have fallen to the floor.
"Andrea!" Amy hugged her sister hard but immediately turned back to the children on the floor. She would have to change the sheets and clean the mattress, someone had had an accident while the camp was being attacked.
"Why would you do that?" Andrea demanded, not at all deterred by her sister and Michonne working on getting the children out of their soiled clothes. Jamie helped with her brother who was still sobbing.
"Mommy don't leave!" Emma screamed when Amy placed her on the counter naked beside her brother. She was only turning to grab towels but the blonde whipped back around wide eyed.
"I'm not going anywhere." Amy breathed out weakly while the little girl clenched her fists in her shirt. Michonne handed Amy a small pile of clothes with a small sad smile. "We just need to get you and your brothers cleaned up, okay baby? Then we can all lay down together?"
"Amy!" Andrea screamed, jerking on her arm. "Don't ignore me! Why did you go out there? Why did you ignore me!?"
"Andrea!" Amy hissed, Michonne moved quickly after getting Andre changed, doing the same for Braden. "I didn't ignore you. I saw you on top of the RV, safe. Now, help me strip the bed."
"That's it?" Her older sister seemed incensed that she did not have Amy's full attention.
"Yeah, we have five hysterical children who will cry themselves to sleep tonight. Michonne and Andre are staying with us for a while and the bed needs to be cleaned. So, can you do that for me, please?"
The door slamming harshly was Andrea's answer. Amy and Michonne shared a look before going back to helping the children. Even Max was whining in the shower, cowering from all the gunshots and screams. It took thirty minutes to pull down the dining table arranging the second king size bed and to get the kids relaxed enough to lay down so that they could strip the bed and clean the mattress.
"Damn, girl wish I had one of those." Michonne whispered while they watched the soiled bedding spin in the washer. They sat beside each other on the kitchen floor, utterly exhausted with Max claiming their laps.
"It's great but filling the water tank is a bitch." Amy nodded, her eyes focused on the children who cried themselves to sleep. Jamie was still awake, clutching her knife in a white knuckle grip.
"So, Emma called you Mommy."