Alternate title: Three Men and a Baby

[axemeaquestion]

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."

Comments

Really? I didn't know it had been that long!

[candyass]

He snorted and slowly stepped in behind her, a smirk tugging at his lips. "Hey, she's just like her mom apparently. Likes to scare the shit out of people."

Daughter. Couldn't believe he was going to have a daughter. This was somewhere he never saw his life ending up. To be fair though, he didn't exactly expect the apocalypse though. Life liked to kick him in the ass with surprises.

"Yeah... thought I'd come give you a hand. How are you feeling?"

YEAH I was looking at the comment dates! **Also, just wanted to clean up my tag.

[axemeaquestion]

Rochelle had enough suprises today, but this time Nick coming in didn't scare her. She turned around. A big smile had spread already, with obvious relief on her face.

She hugged him, tight. She didn't think she needed to say anything. This morning was rough. It was a hell of a relief to see people she cared about and knew that everything was okay.

"I don't need a hand in a shower, but I'd love the company."

[candyass]

"I can do company," he answered, lips quirking up despite himself when her arms came around him. Normally, he didn't do the hugging stuff, but slowly, his arms settled around her and pulled her in tighter against him.

"Feeling better?"

[axemeaquestion]

They can do the hugging stuff as much as she wanted to after the shit that happened this morning. Rochelle sighed through her nose. Content, for once. She'd got the story from the other group. If the boys had been talking about staying here, Rochelle was all for it.

"Yeah," She nodded as she let go, "Weak, but better."

The water was hitting both of them now. Rochelle's smile went lopsided.

"You smell a lot better than I do now."

[candyass]

Yeah, yeah, he's not stopping the hugging or whatever else she wants right now. He kept his arms tight around her, rubbing her back lightly. He loosened up when she started to let go and let out a snort at the comment.

"Hey, we'll get you cleaned up. You'll be as good as new in no time, sweetheart." He laughed a little under his breath.

He reached for the soap to start washing her up -- knew she said she didn't need a hand, but he could get her back at least, right?

"So, talkin' to the baby, huh?" Damn, a daughter. "Guess names should be easier to decide on now."

[axemeaquestion]

Hey, if Nick was offering to clean her up, Rochelle wasn't going to protest. She stepped closer to the shower nozzle and took a deep, relaxing breath.

"Yeah... little girl," She murmured. It was still crazy to think about. "I figured she needs a little reassurance. None of this is her fault. We'll have to think of something."

Pause.

"So you guys were talking about staying here? Because I say 'yes' to all accounts."

[candyass]

"I don't think she can really understand in there, Ro." He shook his head, lips quirking up as he worked on washing her up.

At the question, he was quiet a moment or so. "Yeah, we were. Guess we'll be staying. Not like you need to be traveling like you are anyway."

And hopefully, this place would hold out. Nick wasn't going to hold his breath for it though. Did that last time and look where it got them.

[axemeaquestion]

"Who said she couldn't?" Actually, Rochelle didn't know either. But it was worth trying. She propped her arm up against the wall that the shower head was on and leaned forward, relaxing while Nick was getting the dirt, sweat, blood, and zombie off her. There were deep bruises and scratches scattered through her body, but at this point they all did.

"That Travis guy said ideally, I ought to be on strict bedrest. You know, without zombies." She sighed. "But this is more of a home than anything we've ever found before. And we still aren't even 100% about what's going to be out west."

[candyass]

"Yeah, guess you're right." He worked over her slowly and carefully. "I guess it's the best bet we got. They have a secure place here, from what I can see. Plenty of room too."

He didn't know how long it could really hold up, but he hoped it did for awhile. "Anyway, I guess we're staying for awhile. It'll give you and the kid a chance to recover too."

When he finished washing her, he gave her a nudge forward, gently. "Go ahead, you're done."

[axemeaquestion]

"And they're offering. Knowing the people you can run into nowadays? It's good to see people can still trust other people."

After Nick nudged her nodded and rinsed the soap off of her back. Though she wasn't all the way clean yet, she turned around and leaned her back against the wall. She sighed and closed her eyes. Relaxed. She'd clean herself up but for a minute she just wanted to enjoy the warm water hitting her.

"Mmhm."

[candyass]

"Yeah, I guess." Nick didn't trust people easily, but he supposed these guys had kind of proven themselves so far.

He watched her lean back on the wall and his lips quirked up a little. Good to see her own her feet again, looking a little bit better. "Feels good to get a hot shower again, huh?"

[axemeaquestion]

Rochelle nodded.

"Yeah."

She was on her feet, but damn. She shouldn't get worn out from walking so much. With one more sigh she opens her eyes, grabs the soap again, and starts rubbing it down her arms, careful of her cuts and scrapes.

[candyass]

He let her handle her front, but he did stay close, letting his hands rest at her hips to just touch. He tilted his head in a little bit, watching as she carefully cleaned herself back up.

"Should probably get back to bed soon, you know?"

[axemeaquestion]

As she washed the rest of the dirt and grime and blood and guts off of the rest of her body she looked up at Nick with a small smile.

"I thought I was gonna have this shit on my permanently."

A couple minutes later and she was done and rinsed the soap suds off of herself. It was really hard to get out of a warm shower, though, as evident by the fact that she hadn't left it yet.

"Yeah, yeah... and for once I can." Rochelle had no problems with getting into a nice warm bed. She would probably start getting restless in about a week once she felt better, but that's another story. She leaned on Nick a little.

"Hey... any ideas for a name? For the baby."

[candyass]

"Looking forward to sleeping on an actual bed tonight too. Been too goddamn long," he murmured, arms settling around her when she leaned on him. He paused at the name question.

Right.

Names. They'd need them.

"Between all the crap going on, I haven't thought about it much. You got any ideas?"

[axemeaquestion]

"Ughh, yeah."

She paused.

"Me neither. I had enough BOY'S names in mind, but..."

[candyass]

"Yeah?" He gave her a look, curious. He did too, actually. Boys were a hell of a lot easier to raise than girls... or he'd assume anyway. Not that he had any damn clue what they were going to do with the kid when it was born, if they were going to have to keep it or what.

Rather than drive himself crazy thinking about that... "What, you wanted a boy?"

[axemeaquestion]

Rochelle shrugged.

"t's our kid, boy OR girl, but I'm used to boys. Not that I'm dissapointed that it's a girl, I mean."

[candyass]

"I know what you mean." He could handle a kid, he figured... raising a girl? That was going to be one damn adventure.

"We'll have to think about it. Think Ellis got you one of those baby name books or something, if you want to look over it later."

[axemeaquestion]

"Yeahhh, that's right." Rochelle chuckled. Okay, she let go of Nick and finally turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She grabbed the towel that she hung off a chair and started drying herself off.

"I kinda like the name... Selena. That's the only one I had so far. I thought about it before I was sure it was gonna be a boy."

[candyass]

He grabbed the other towel and started to work on himself, watching her as she moved. Wanted to make sure she was steady after all... falling right now wouldn't be good for her or the kid.

"Selena... I like the name." He actually really did.

[axemeaquestion]

"It was the only girl's name I could think of at the time that I liked," She said with a shrug. "It's an idea."

As she was rubbing her towel on her arm, she noticed him watching.

"What?"

[candyass]

"What?" He mustered up a teasing smirk. No reason to coddle her... at least coddle her and act like it. Nick had his pride after all. "I ain't allowed to look at you anymore or something? Don't be cold, sweetheart."

[axemeaquestion]

Rochelle raised an eyebrow in his direction. She threw him a smirk. She tossed the towel on the floor and grabbed her new clean clothes. All it was was underwear and a gown that looked like it was a hospital gown attempted (unsuccessfully) to look something fashionable. But it was still pretty much a hospital gown. They probably picked it out for Rochelle so she would be comfortable.

And hey, she wasn't complaining.

"I didn't think I'd be all that appealing to look at right now."

She's joking, of course, but there's a hint of genuine appreciation in her teasing smirk back to it. It disssapears as she pulls the gown over her head.

[candyass]

He rolled his eyes at that. "Well, can't say much for the gown..."

That thing was pretty hideous, but hey, at least it was something clean for her to put on for once. Once he was dressed in some of his own clothes, he went to slide an arm around her shoulders.

"Come on, let's get you to bed."