Chapter Thirty-Nine: Maman Inattendue (pt2)

"Ah didnae see tha' comin'." Merle stated bluntly as all of the tension that was once in the room dissipated and the others awkwardly began looking away... though smiles were painted across everyone's faces.

Neither had Esme, in all honesty.

Michonne was still staring at the curious toddler with soft loving eyes as gingerly raised her right hand and softly caressed Andre's cheek. Andre hadn't let go of Esme or Lilac yet, though he seemed more than a little interested in his mother. The mother-son duo's separation had been long enough that Andre hadn't recognized his mother until she spoke to him softly in French.

"Maman peut-elle avoir un câlin, Andre?" Michonne requested as she opened her arms invitingly.

The last time Esme had heard French or even spoke it herself, was back when she was still living in Spain. It had been the language she'd learned while in high school since it's Latin roots had made the language one of the easier ones to learn and pass for the students. Despite the years that'd past since she'd last spoken the language, she still easily understood the woman's request for a hug.

Andre looked up at Esme for reassurance before smiling shyly at his mother and nodding as he let go of her and Lilac. He reached out tentatively to his mother who eagerly pulled the toddler into a hug. Michonne buried her face into the crook of Andre's delicate collarbone and neck while the toddler seemingly did the same.

"Mama came back. Cindy say you would." Andre stated happily into the woman's skin. Michonne shudders as she begins pressing kisses everywhere she could reach on the joyful toddler's skin.

Lilac giggles at that before turning to Esme excitedly and tugging on her arm, "Mami! Tha's Drey's mama!"

Esme nodded, "Yes, that's Andre's mama."

The blonde toddler wiggled in her chair with excitement, "Mami, Andre and 'is mama gonna read Tarzan toge'er too!"

A small snort escaped from Esme's throat. Her daughter really had a one-track mind when it came to things she liked or wanted, "Yes, but later. Right now you have to eat all of the yummy food Beth made for dinner." Lilac nodded as she turned to her bowl of tuna and began eating with gusto as she eyed Andre and female samurai curiously.

Primrose squealed behind her as she smashed a cracker into her mouth. Esme only looked at her youngest daughter with amusement. Conversation had slowly started back up again around the cafeteria as everyone dug into their meals as the drama dissipated. Beth was giggling softly at Thomas' antics, her little boy would stare at Bora and copy her every move, while she alternated in feeding them. Esme only shook her head in amusement as she continued to feed her youngest while keeping an eye on Lilac, mostly to make sure that the antsy toddler wasn't chocking from the fast pace she was shoveling food into her mouth. Michonne hadn't exactly let go of her son just yet, instead, she spoon-fed a docile Andre from her lap as she heard the little boy babble with Esme's daughter... every other word out of Lilac's mouth was Tarzan... One-track mind indeed.

As soon as she finished scooping all of Primrose's food into the little one's mouth, Esme quickly ate her own portion before motioning to Beth -who had also finished feeding Thomas and Bora- towards the cellblock's door. Beth nodded before pressing a kiss to Hershal's cheek and whispering that she would help Esme get all the kids ready for bed. Esme expertly scooped Primrose out of the highchair and onto her hip before unbuckling Thomas and letting him down onto his shaky legs. Lilac cheers when Esme tells her that it was time for bed and jumps off her chair. An action that is quickly followed by Andre as the two toddlers hold onto Thomas's hand to help the one-year-old walk inside. Beth is already leading the way inside with Bora on her hip.

Esme turns to Michonne and offers the woman a smile, "Come. Lilac and Andre are excited for storytime tonight."

Michonne gives Esme the first smile not graced at her son as she follows behind her. It was nice having an extra hand helping Esme and Beth with the nighttime routine. Especially since it was 'bath-day,' which meant that all of the kids got wiped down with a warm towel from a small basin with water before being changed into their jammies. The new woman had seemed surprised by Esme and Beth's efficiency as they got all the children ready with little to no complaints while tidying up the cell. Bailey winding around Michonne's legs curiously had also seemed to startle the samurai before Andre and Lilac called the tabby over happily. Michonne, overall, looked utterly besotted with her son as Andre helped Bora put on socks, because "Bora's a bébé maman, needs help."

"He's grown so much." Michonne had whispered in awe with a hint of sadness. The woman hadn't been there to see it, but on the other hand, her son was alive.

Esme sent the older woman a shy smile, "He's a good boy."

The youngest Greene giggles softly, "Remember how shy he was when you firs' got 'ere? It was so cute, especially since Lilac was, well, not." That drew a similar giggle from Esme as Primrose tugged on her loose curls happily, before grabbing the bottle of breast milk Esme offered her when contently sucking on the content.

"I can't believe he's really here..." Michonne murmured as the oldest toddlers rummaged through the small book collection in search of the Tarzan story book.

"I am jus' grateful that I was there that day." Esme mumbled back, "That I was able to save him. Mi hija- my daughter, Lilac adores him, so do I."

"It was a miracle, especially now that ya'll foun' each other." Beth added with a sweet smile.

"Mami, we foun' it!" Lilac chirruped as she shoved the book in her face.

Esme carefully nudged the book out of her face, "Gentle mi amor. You have to be gentle remember." the toddler sent her a smile and careless nod, "Okay come sit, vamos no se empujen," she chastised when Lilac, in her enthusiasm, accidentally shoved Thomas who whined loudly in protest, "Ready?"

Andre and Lilac bobbed their heads while Bora and Thomas looked up at her curiously from where they fidgeted with soft toys in their hands. Beth smiled, placed a hand on Esme's shoulder as she stood up, "I'm gonna help with the cleanup, I'll come by later if you need help." Esme nodded as she smiled at the teen before turning back to the children. Michonne had pulled Andre onto her lap and was watching the excited toddler with fond eyes.

"Waaah!' A baby's cry drew Kala away from her ape family. The cry was comin' from a strange house, high up in a tree's branches." Esme narrated as she showed the picture of the brown gorilla crossing the bridge. "Insi'e the house, Kala found the baby! When she ho-held him, he stopped crying an' began to laugh with her..."

By the end of the story, Thomas, Bora and Primrose had begun to nod off at Esme's steady voice while the older toddlers looked content, "...They were welcomed into their new home by all the apes... and by Tarzan, who knew at last where he belonged. The end." Esme finished. Lilac and Andre cheered happily, which startled Bora awake and made Thomas eye them crabbily. Primrose had fallen asleep on Esme's lap halfway through the book and wasn't bothered by the noise her siblings had made at all, "Ok, shhh. It's time to go to sleep now. Uh-uh, no whining Lilac. A dormir. If you are a good girl mami will read Mowgli mañana, tomorrow."

Lilac pouted, though the whines were put to an end as Esme placed the book down on the rug and carefully stood up with Primrose in her arms. She quickly settled the youngest baby inside of her pen, swapping the empty bottle with a pacifier, before getting Bora and Thomas tucked into their beds as well. Michone had thankfully helped Andre and Lilac into their beds before pressing a kiss onto the crown of her son's head. Esme made sure everyone was tucked in before grabbing her special cooler and handing out everyone's night-time bottles. Soon the cell was filled the content sounds of the children drinking from their bottles as Esme led Bailey out of the cell and into Esme's own for her supper. Michonne watched the children with soft eyes from the entrance of their cell in wonder.

Bailey was happily scarfing down her can of cat food, as Esme rinsed Primrose's bottle with the spare water from the washing basin, when Michonne pulled away from the other cell and joined Esme's. "Thank you."

Esme's eyebrows furrowed before relaxing as she shot the woman a shy grin, "You're welcome. Um, I think the cell next to me is empty. Too close to all the chaos the babies make at night. You should talk to Rick an' the others so you can take it."

Michonne nodded, "I will."

Judith's cries interrupted Esme's sleep an hour later. Just like she predicted. Rick was quick to bring his unhappy daughter to Esme's cell for the infant's dinner. Esme gently rocked the hungry little girl in her arms as she tugged down the strap of her shirt and guided her nipple into the infant's mouth. Immediately the whines stopped. Rick shuffled on his feet tiredly as he ran his hands through his brown hair before leaning against the wall of Esme's cell and sitting down. Esme eyed her exhausted leader for a moment as she gently rubbed Judith's soft baby hair, Rick wasn't looking too good. The stress of welcoming the Williams siblings, and now the oldest Dixon along with Michonne seemed to be catching up to him. Esme's arrival with all of the kids couldn't have been an easy decision for him either... though Esme was happy that he was at least starting to trust her now.

"It looks like you were right 'bout the Governor," Rick whispered softly.

Esme let out a deep sigh from her chest, "I wish I wasn't."

Rick hummed as he rubbed Bailey's ears when the tabby rubbed against his side, "Me too."

She nibbled on her bottom lip nervously before deciding to just go for it, "Rick?"

"Yeah?"

"Beth and I, we started to make a back-up plan..." she started, "It's somethin' I did when I was alone with all my babies, and I think It can be helpful in the future."

Rick's eyes were trained on her figure now, though his right hand was still gently rubbing the tabby's fur, "What kind of back-up plan?"

"Just in case something happens to the prison, we all know where to go." Esme explained, "Beth tol' me what happened to her farm. It's somethin' she's still afraid of happening again, a plan ensu- makes it so it isn't as scary if we all get separated."

The man was quiet for a moment before letting out a considering hum, "I can see the merit of that."

A relieved smile tugged onto the corners of her lips, "We thought that we could have designated places to meet up, but we'd need to check them first, make sure they are safe."

"I'm guessing ya'll already have a few places in mind."

"Yes." Esme nodded, "Beth was telling me about some of the places you camped at during the winter that could work as safe house if people are in trouble." she explained before adding a bit more hesitantly, "I also tol' Beth about this place we can go to, if we decide the prison is no good anymore."

She could practically feel Rick's disbelief, after all the group had spent all of winter without a permanent shelter until coming across the prison, "Where's that?"

"Pakenappeh." she blurted out, "It's an island in the Westpoint lake. My friend was building a house an' farm there before everything happen. I wanted to go there... but I couldn't do it by myself with all of my kids. But now, with all of us. We can make it secure."

Rick had leaned in curiously now, "How can you get there?"

"Through a ferry. Very little people know about it. I think if we can make a fence around the perimeter of the island, rotters won't be able to wash up on the shore and we can build a farm. We could have boats to go on supply runs for other things, but... there shouldn't be any competition on Pakenappeh. The sister island, Pogonip, is a little bigger and was a protected reserve so there should be animals there to hunt..." Esme trailed off as she moved Judith away from her breast and began to burb her. "A lot of the construction equipment should still be there... we can finish makin' the house. The barn was already finish the last time I went down there...

"Tomorrow." Rick stated decisively, "Tomorrow I want you to show us where Pakenappeh is on the map. If we have to leave the prison... this place may be our best shot."

Words 2317

Translations:

Maman peut-elle avoir un câlin, Andre? = Can mama have a hug, Andre?

Bébé maman = baby mama

Mi hija = my daughter

Mi amor = my love

Vamos no se empujen = come on no pushing/don't push each other

A dormir = to sleep or go to sleep

(Hello everyone!)

(LOL, I had the first 400 words of this chapter written for like two months... finally got this scene written like I wanted. Sorry for the long wait! I'm going to be, hopefully, updating this fic either weekly or every two weeks... unless I get hit with inspiration and I unload a bunch of chapters at once. LOL. I hope everyone is well and healthy!)

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