rackofbadcds | Alternate title: Three Men and a Baby

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rochelle

Alternate title: Three Men and a Baby

Holy hell of a morning.

After Coach had gotten shot, the motherfucking mountain man, the one the other called Marshall, didn't waste time. The other woman quickly introduced herself as Jean, a nurse and Marshall's wife, and had barely started trying to stop Coach's bleeding when Marshall brought up the bunker. It was less of a reccomendation and more like a demand. With Coach bleeding as bad as he was coupled with Rochelle's condition, which he would bring up later, the faster they got out the better.

And it was just in time, because as soon as the four of them got out of the hospital and made their quick introductions. Well, introductions coupled with arguing, especially when it was brought up who had shot Coach. Jean was about to shut them up with the roar of a horde did it for her. It didn't take more than a second for them to decide what to do. They abandoned the van (temporarily, they hoped), carried Coach and Rochelle into Marshall and Jean's pickup truck, piled in, and drove the fuck out.

Coach managed to stay conscious, even with all the blood he was losing. Rochelle, though, was out hot (pun intended) in her feverish condition. Jean did her best with the both of them. She said there was a doctor at the bunker, a co-worker she escaped with before she found Marshall again, who could give them a lot better help. Otherwise, between driving and trying to stablize the others, Jean and Marshall didn't have much focus to explain themselves and the bunker. As soon as they were out of the woods, that story was being saved.

The horde finally caught up when they got to the bunker. The slow opening door didn't help. But ~~a crescendo later and~~ the door opened enough for them to crawl under, and all that's left was to shoot the zombies trying to do the same until the door slid closed, just as slowly.

It finally did, and Coach leaned against the wall. He panted, hard.

"God DAMN..."

Jean moved over to him and offered an arm. Marshall was already carrying the unconscious Rochelle in both arms of his own arms, seeing as he wasn't sure how good of an idea it was to haul a pregnant woman over his shoulders.

"Gotta agree with that shit." He grunted. "Doc better still be here."

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"You cause plenty of trouble," Said affectionately with no heat behind her own words, either. Eyes still locked on their daughter, Rochelle leans on Nick's shoulder. If Ro could make a list of things Nick did, the baby would be right on top. Like it mattered, though. As far as she was concerned, she didn't mind this kind of trouble at all.

Not anymore, anyway.

"How about that, huh?" Rochelle brushed at their baby's temple affectionately with her index finger and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "Selena? It's got a good ring to it. What do you think?"

Travis grinned and Jean laughed. The doctor patted her shoulder, and motioned for the door.

"We'll leave you two alone. Everyone outside's going to want to know what happened. Especially your friends."

Rochelle looked up. Then she looked at Nick. With a tired grin, she shook her head.

"Jesus, we got an audience already."

Nick eased an arm around her carefully when she leaned in and reached out to touch the baby-- Selena again, fingers brushing lightly down the side of her face. He smiled despite himself.

Whatever worries he had were kind of forgotten now, brushed aside.

He let out a laugh of his own and nodded. "Just wait, sweetheart... Once Overalls is up? We're not gonna get a break."

Oh, goddammit... Ellis would be in here soon, getting redneck germs all over his baby.

"How do you know he's not already up?"

... Because they would have heard him on the other side of the wall by now. Nevermind, Rochelle knows he may have slept through this.

"... Actually, I think I just answered my own question."

Travis chuckled and shook his head. He ushered Jean and himself outside, and the door closed behind them. For a second, Ro caught a peak of the others outside. A group of their fellow bunker-mates were clustered on a bench together, looking eager. And when the door was closed behind him, she could barely hear Travis' muffled voice likely announcing that they had a happy, healthy baby girl in their group now.

Much less muffled were the cheers that follow. Rochelle could distinctly make out a whoop from Coach, and she started laughing. With that, she looked back to Nick.

"So. Baby."

When they were finally alone, Nick let out a snort of his own. Big guy out there sounded excited about it... hell, a lot of them did. Nick couldn't lie and say he wasn't thrilled with it either, all things considered. They'd busted their ass trying to keep the kid safe during the goddamn apocalypse. It was nice that it actually paid off.

"Baby," he repeated, smiling a little at the kid Rochelle was still holding. "She's healthy... can't believe it. Healthy and normal."

And hopefully immune.

Selena still cried and whimpered faintly in her mother's arms. Rochelle hushed her softly and cradled her closer. She didn't realize it, but she was better at this mom thing that she knew. It was a second nature she didn't know she had.

"Me neither," She said, shaking her head. Normal and hopefully immune. Ro was crossing her fingers too.

"Damn. She looks so much like you."

"You're good at calming her down, y'know." She looked comfortable too, like it was second nature or something.

"Yeah..." She really did. It was kinda weird seeing actually. "What do you think we do now?"

"You're not bad either," Rochelle chuckles. She looks back down at Selena, who was slowly calming down. "But even if we weren't, I wouldn't blame her. Being born's pretty jarring, huh?"

Almost as if on cue, Selena opened her mouth and gave a tiny little yawn. Rochelle blinked, then a laugh burst out of her.

"You're tired!"

Rochelle giggled and shook her head. But then, Nick's question made her pause. She stared down at Selena. Her perfect little girl. Their perfect little girl. For a moment, Rochelle doesn't answer. She finds herself watching her child. Every little movement she made, every little feature...

Why did she want to give this up, again?

"I... I know there's somebody who can do better than us. But I don't care anymore. It's probably selfish, but she's my baby. She's our baby."

"Can't be a pleasant experience.... sure as hell wasn't for us, huh?" Especially Rochelle. At least he didn't have anything coming out of him.

But the yawn gets a chuckle out of him. Kid was worn out and it was... cute. Nick was pretty damn sure he'd never thought 'cute' so many times in his life.

But she was. Cute, gorgeous, perfect.

She was gonna be a pain in their ass, he was sure of it. The crying they were in for, the fussing, the figuring shit out in the middle of a goddamn apocalypse.

But suddenly, it seemed kinda worth it.

When Rochelle spoke up Nick leaned in and idly pressed a kiss to her temple before he gave a nod. "I know what you mean, sweetheart."

"She's gonna be in a pain in the ass since she's, you know, us. But she's gonna be OUR pain in the the ass." Rochelle laughed and shook her head.

And for a moment, she paused.

"So... you want to give it a try?"

"Figure she will be. Hell, she's been enough of a one since this whole thing started." But somehow, it didn't seem to matter at all, not with this kid.

He nodded at the question. "Yeah... I think so. I don't think I could leave the kid behind now."

"That's because she gets that from us."

A wide smile spread on Rochelle's face.

"Good."

So they were doing this, for real.

They were really going to raise a kid.

He leaned in a little closer and let out a short sigh. "So, how are you feeling anyway?"

Yep.

Rochelle was thinking the exact same thing as she looked back down at Selena, who had finally stopped crying. She grinned again and bounced her gently in her hands, then lightly tapped her tiny little nose with a finger.

She laughed at the question. "Like I pushed a baby out of my pelvis."

Then there was a pause. She glanced to Nick.

"She's gonna be used to this, you know. If things don't get any better this might be normal for her. Zombies, hiding in bunkers..."

"Yeah..." He frowned a little at the comment, looking down at the kid. Selena seemed to have calmed down for now.

"I know." And he really wasn't thrilled with the idea of that kind of life for her. They'd known what it was like to not have to watch your damn back in case there was a smoker or a witch nearby, or a goddamn tank.

"We can't do anything about that one though."

She sighed.

"I know. She's just... gonna see a lot of blood and death. We're gonna have to teach her to take care of herself."

Hopefully not THEIR deaths. Rochelle planned on sticking around. Besides, they'd made it this far.

"But hey, we got a nice little place here," he starts, even if he knows it won't last forever. It can't and Nick's not getting his hopes up that it will.

But it's here now and not going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

"We'll make sure she gets to see plenty of good too." Nick wasn't exactly an optimistic guy, but he didn't want his kid to have a crap life either... not now that the reality had really sunk in.

"And she's got plenty of people to teach her to take care of herself."

Rochelle huffed out a tired laugh.

"Like 'Uncle' Ellis."

"Are you insane? Overalls isn't teaching her any damn thing." He made a face. "He's going to get his hillbilly germs all over the poor kid soon."

"You know, whether you like it or not Ellis is family."

Dammit, Rochelle.

Let him keep being annoyed by the kid and his hillbilly germs. "Yeah, well, if he gets her a trucker hat, all bets are off, you know."

"I dunno. I think she'd look cute in a trucker hat," Yeah, so at this point Rochelle is just teasing Nick and yanking his chain. She's supposed to be his ball-and-chain at this point anyway now that they have a kid, right? "Selena, what do you think?"

Selena had no opinion. But her eyes were open now, a pretty brown like Mommy's.

"She's got eyes like mine and my mom's..." Ro smiled, but now it seemed a little sad. "I wish my family could see her."

Her biological family, obviously. Other family. Nick, Ellis, and Coach were her family too, but Nick could figure out what she meant.

A few seconds later, the door opens again. It's Travis and Jean. The good doctor grins.

"How're you three doing?"

Rochelle looked up and tried to wipe the bittersweet off of her expression. Not that she wasn't happy. She was. It was just... hard, remembering that her own mother wasn't anymore. She forces an easier smile.

"We're good, we're good."

"Better than good, then." Travis stepped to the other side of the bed. "Let's get the afterbirth out and check up on you, and we won't bug you anymore."

"What--oh." Rochelle blinked. Right. With Selena in her arms, it was easy to forget that she wasn't done. "... Is this gonna hurt too?"

"Not really," Jean winked at Rochelle. "You already did the hardest part."

There's a pause, then Rochelle nods. She turns to Nick, and holds Selena out. She offers him a tired, lopsided smile and nods towards the door. "Wanna go show her off?"

He glared at the trucker hat comment because seriously, there was no way that Nick was letting any kid of his dress like Howdy out there, "uncle" or not.

But Rochelle's other comment got him to soften a little bit. "I know," he murmured and leaned down to kiss the top of her head. Not that Nick had much of a family to speak of, not before meeting these guys anyway.

He wished Rochelle hadn't lost hers though, for what it was worth.

Man, he was suddenly exhausted. Tonight hadn't been an easy one like he thought, but on the plus side... they did know they had a healthy, normal baby. That was worth a sleepless night, for sure. He took her when Rochelle held her out and smiled a little bit. "Yeah, alright. I'll let her go see the other guys out there."

He looked back towards Jean and flashed a short smile. "Take care of her, alright?"

Not that he was worried. He knew Rochelle was in good hands now as he stepped towards the door and out into the other area where he figured there had to be plenty of people waiting after all the commotion.

"Don't worry," Jean nodded with the same wide smile she had before. "Now go show her off."

You never know, Nick. Coach might be waking up up Ellis so your kid can meet the rest of the family.

(SPOILERS: HE IS.
RIGHT NOW.)

Nick headed outside and grinned a little bit at the random faces waiting outside...

And then Overalls had to come rushing in, looking like he really did just get out of bed. Goddammit, Coach, why...

"Jesus, Nick, that really her?" Ellis was wearing this stupid, big grin on his face to top it all off.

"Yeah. Healthy as can be too."

HEY MAN WHO DOESN'T WANNA SEE A BABY

Coach was trailing behind Ellis with the biggest grin on this face.

"Shit, lemme see her!" He catches up and peers down at the little face swaddled tight in those blankets. Selena squirms as much as she can and whimpers at the new attention. She was just getting comfortable in her mama's arms before this happened "I'll be damned. Look at that face. She's got her daddy's looks and her mama's eyes."

He couldn't help a laugh that was half amazed, half bewildered. Because man, when all this shit started he didn't think he'd ever see another child again, much less a newborn baby.

"What's her name?"

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