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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"What? A pretty name like that needs a pretty nickname too. 'Lena' or somethin' like that." Coach smirk, and looked back down at Selena with a joking wink. You know, like she would catch that. She was looking back up at Nick, seeing as he was talking to her and rocking her and all. Okay, that was a little nicer.

As for his second question, Coach nodded. He didn't mind Ellis in on the conversation. He figured he might know. Nick and Rochelle had made it clear day one that they didn't want this kid. But Coach was glad they changed their minds.

"Good."

"Hope so." He hoped it was the best idea. Nick wasn't all that confident in his parenting skills, but Rochelle seemed to have a handle and well... he kind of didn't want to let her go now that he had her.

"Aw, c'mon, Nick. Y'all got this." Nick looked surprisingly at ease holding the kid after all and the baby seemed really at ease in his arms despite a little bit of fussing being surrounded by so much stuff.

"Yeah. You got this." Coach clapped a hand on Nick's shoulder--gently. More for Selena's sake than Nick's. "You look like you're doing the Dad thing pretty good already. Most babies fuss and cry at the tiniest thing."

"Maybe we just lucked out and got a quiet one?" Nick sure as hell didn't want to take that bet though. God, they were in for a lot of sleepless nights, if the stories everyone always told were anything to go by.

"Maybe. But with you being her Dad, I doubt it."

"Very funny, big guy." He glimpsed back down to the kid in his arms and let out a sigh, well...

"Wonder if I should head back in now... They were gonna finish up, so I thought I'd show her off a little. Show she came out alright, even with all the crap." That was a miracle by itself really.

Coach smirked.

"Let them do their thing. Show her off as much as you wanna. It's like you said, for all the shit we've been through--that kid's a miracle."

"She is." He shakes his head and lets out a sigh, looking down at her again. She's alive and healthy. It's a freaking miracle really and Nick's never believed in those before.

"Considering we weren't even sure the kid was gonna make it when we got here, it's kinda unreal to think she's healthy and normal. Immune too."

"Oh shit, yeah. She would be immune, wouldn't she?"

"I think so... hope so anyway." He was, Rochelle was... that had to be a good chance for her, right?

[ooc: ... quick blood test.]

"I dunno how immunity to zombies works by a genetic standpoint, but I'd say your chances are pretty good," Coach says with a smile, looking back down at Selena. He holds a finger out at wiggles it in front of her.

She doesn't seem impressed.

The first night with the baby had been exhausting. Everyone had wanted to see her and he hadn't been given the okay to go back in with Rochelle for awhile. The next day was strange, trying to get used to being parents, but all things considered... he thought they did alright.

They checked on her off and on during the day, both her and Selena, but it wasn't until the next night when they were both settling in to get some sleep, baby in a bed close by just in case she needed something during the night, that Travis had decided he wanted to give her a blood test. He said it was routine, especially now and all things considered.

"How long will it take?"

And goddammit, he was gonna make her wail again, most likely...

How hard could taking care of a tiny human being be? Rochelle regretted she ever asked herself that. She had experience changing diapers, and a grandmother helped show her how to breastfeed when Selena wouldn't eat. But after Travis let her out of the med room, Rochelle had gotten all of three hours sleep in almost two days.

Still, looking at her daughter she knew it was worth it.

And she was more than happy to be in her own bed. Rochelle doubted she was going to sleep any better--they still had a day old baby who was going to need something every few hours--but she could at least try.

She lifted her head groggily from her pillow and looked up at Nick and Travis, who was standing outside her door.

"What'ssee need...?"

"I just gotta run a test on the baby, Rochelle. And it won't take more than an hour."

"And... you couldn't do this during the day because..."

He sighed. "Sorry. I spent nearly all day with the scavenge crew."

That's right. They had anyone able and willing to go back up to the surface make scavenge trips in shifts. Today's crew had a pretty bad run-in with more Tanks then there should have been. They were just lucky that they all made it out alive. In bad condition, but alive.

Rochelle sat up and rubbed her face as she looked at the baby's bed. Mattress. They needed a real crib.

"What kind of test...?"

"I was just telling Nick--it's a routine. We do it for all our newcomers." He smiled to Selena, who was half-asleep in a swaddle.

He didn't exactly like the idea of Travis snatching their kid away for a blood test in the middle of the goddamn night either, but... things had been rough lately on supply runs and everyone had been busy. He couldn't blame them and he couldn't bitch when they were out grabbing baby shit along with everything else.

He sighed a little bit. "So, it's just a blood test, right?"

Simple and safe, he'd been reassured. He wasn't too thrilled with someone poking and prodding at his kid in general, let alone if it could hurt her.

With those worries eased though, he nodded. "Alright... Ro, go ahead and grab some sleep. I'll go with them."

He didn't mind and considering she was the one who had to wake up and feed the kid when she was hungry? He figured she was hurting for sleep more than she was.

"You sure?" Like Rochelle was going to argue. If somebody was going to poke their daughter with needles, she wanted to be there. But it was getting harder and harder to keep up with her exhaustion -- and she wasn't putting up much of a fight in the first place.

Travis nodded in the second mattress' direction.

"Just a blood test. The worst of it will only take a couple of seconds."

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll be back, alright?" She needed rest and Nick could handle taking care of Selena. Going to the little bed they had her own, he lifted her up carefully.

Man, after they had just gotten her to sleep...

"We'll be back soon, alright?" He promised as he went to follow Travis.

A few seconds. Alright. Hopefully she wouldn't wail too much over a little prick from a needle.

Rochelle nodded blearily. She watches Nick pick up their daughter. She holds her breath... until Selena starts to wake up with little whimpers and quiet cries -- promising to get louder. God dammit, she had just fallen asleep...

She watches them until they leave. Most of her wants to go, especially when her daughter is crying and off to get her first shots. Injection. Blood drawn. Whatever. But exhaustion was calling and her eyes were closing before the door even closed.

Selena fussed more. Tiny whisps of black hair on the top of her head were poking out as she wriggled as much as she could.

Travis gave a lopsided smile as he leads Nick down the hall.

"Whoops. Think I pissed her off." He glances up at Nick, "So how's being a Dad so far?"

"She likes her sleep." When she slept, that was. He cradled her close and tried to soothe her as much as he could, calm that fussing down. Yeesh... she had a set of lungs on her and he wanted to make sure the wailing didn't start soon.

"Not something I expected I'd be," he admitted. "But it's... good. Different."

"I noticed. Most babies do, if it helps" Travis said. "But I haven't met anyone younger than fifteen in more than a year. Don't think any of us had. But a lot of people here've had experience with them."

He opens the door into the med and ushers Nick inside.

"I know they're all more than willing to help out. None of us have seen a baby in a long damn time."

"Yeah, I know..." Nick had a problem with relying on people for help though, especially anyone outside of the group he came here with. Good thing Coach actually seemed to know a thing or two though.

"You ever think about leaving this bunker? Finding more people?" It was an unrelated question sort of, but he couldn't help but be curious. There had to be other, safer areas. Maybe more chances to start families or whatever the hell these people wanted.

Travis pulling up a rolling stool for Nick and sat down in another one nearby. On a tray next to them was a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a needle, which he started to prep.

At Nick's response, however, he looked up with a questioning expression,

"Why? This is the safest place I ever found, and we've made a community out of this place. Out of rescuing people."

With a damp, alcohol-soaked cotton swab in one hand, he held out for Selena.

"Then again, the last group of people we found was you. And that's only because one of us shot one of you."

Nick held Selena as carefully as he could while she was prepped for the needle, trying to be ready to soothe whaever crying would come after this. "I guess you're right. It's been a long time since anyone's even come close..."

Which either meant they were dead or they had found some other place to g. Hopefully? It was the latter, but Nick wasn't going to hold his breath.

"Just thought there might be other people out there... other families, maybe."

Travis carefully lifted the blankets up until he could untuck Selena's small arm. She was already quietly crying over being woken up, and he expected it was going to get a lot worse after he took her blood. He rubbed the alcohol-soaked cotton ball on her mocha skin and, with his free hand, took the needle.

"I don't doubt it. There's always somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Communities, gangs and bandits, barely held together military holdouts. I was out there for a long time before Marshall and I found this place. We had some hell of a luck."

Carefully, Travis leaned over and pricked into her arm with the needle. Selena was immediately wailing as red filled the tube.

"Aww, shhh, poor little thing. I know, it's not fun..."

"Yeah, same for us, I guess... ran into a lot of shit out there." Trusting the military hadn't been their smartest damn idea, obviously. He winced a little bit when Selena started wailing in earnest, shushing her softly.

Like he knew how to comfort the kid yet. He was trying though. "Hey, c'mon, it's okay... It'll be over before you know it."

When Travis had enough, he pulled the needle out and set it in its proper place. With that, he dabbed at her arm with a some cloth and started unwrapping a band-aid.

"I know, I know--you probably don't like me very much right now, huh? Good thing you got your Daddy here." He cooed. The small band-aid goes on her arm. It's pink, with tiny flowers dotting across it.

"There we go. See? Look at that."

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wanna skip to another part soon? maybe him finding out she's a carrier

Sure! I can skip ahead unless you'd rather, but how long should it be?

EHHH maybe to the next night or something. Maybe they're going to bed and Travis wants to run a ...

Hope this is okay!

It's a-ok!

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