Who: Rick Grimes and Beth Greene When: Pre-Thanksgiving Where: The Cellar (where she works) What: Rick needs a last minute babysitter and goes looking for Daryl and meets Beth instead Rating/Warnings: Low Status: Complete when posted
Rick hated himself for doing this but he didn’t see where he had a choice. He needed somebody to watch the kids for a little while since he had a job interview. Well Carl could watch Judith but Rick would feel better if there was an adult somewhere nearby. Which was why he was going to talk to his brother in law and see if maybe Carl could just sit at one of the tables with Judith for a bit, order something to eat and Rick would be back as soon as he could.
He shifted Judith from one arm to the other as he opened the door and stepped inside, holding it open and sighing before calling for Carl to hurry up. He was trying to be patient with his son. Trying to be understanding about the fact that Carl missed her too but sometimes it was difficult. Like now.
When he was finally able to close the door behind them there was a young blonde woman standing in front of him. “Hello there ma’am. I was hoping to be able to talk to Daryl a minute. I’m his brother in law - Rick,” he said, bouncing Judith gently as she started crying. Trying to soothe her and calm her down.
***
It was a rather slow day at the Cellar. A few customers were lingering around the bar, and a touristy looking couple had taken the back table, but most everyone waited until later to come in. She'd been to check on the few patrons present and was doing her best to clean-up the other tables for the dinner crowd when she heard the door open and shut.
"Hello…" she said, looking at the taller man and his two kids. She felt like she was having one of those weird deja vu moments that seemed to be a new constant in her life. Like, she had seen them before, and not at the same time. And like all the other ones, that thought just didn't make sense. She vaguely remembered Daryl discussing his brother-in-law, but that conversation wasn't any reason for her to think she suddenly knew them.
"Daryl's in the back." She smiled, looking at the baby and then over at Carl. "It's just right through the doors… Do you want me to take her while you go talk to him?" She indicated the crying baby in Rick's arms. She thought the man seemed a little frazzled, but she wasn't about to say that.
***
Rick felt a tickling sensation in the back of his mind as he looked at the young woman, she seemed somehow familiar to him but he didn’t know from where. Or even how that could be possible. He hadn’t met that many people since moving here. But as much as that feeling bugged him he didn’t have time to try and figure it out right now.
He didn’t normally trust people with Judith but there was something about this young woman that made him feel safe leaving the baby with her. “That’d be great thank you,” he kissed Judith on the cheek before handing her over. “Her name’s Judith,” he said, giving a quick smile. He looked at his son carefully. “This is Carl. He’s going to behave and I’ll be back in just a few minutes,” he told her slipping through the doors she’d indicated.
It only took a few minutes for Rick to find his brother in law and explain the situation to him, asking for permission to leave the kids there. Daryl couldn’t promise that the staff out front would watch the kids and help keep them out of trouble but Rick still felt better knowing that their uncle would be in the same building. He came back out to the front, smiling when he saw how calm Judith was with the young woman holding her.
“Ma’am could I ask you a favor?” he asked as he walked over to her. Even Carl was behaving himself which made him think that his impulse decision to ask her to try and keep an eye on them while she was working was a good one.
***
Judith and Carl. The names were common enough, she thought. That must be the reason for the semblance of deja vu that seemed to be at the back of her mind. She took the baby from Rick, not really sure why that -- in particular -- felt familiar. Maybe it was that she had had plenty of experiencing babysitting back home, and really, all babies were pretty much the same at this age.
As Rick went back to talk to Daryl, Beth sat Carl down at one of the nearby tables and set him up with some crayons. "Here, maybe we can color your sister something nice," she said, aware that crayons weren't exactly age-appropriate for Carl. It was one of those things where she didn't have a whole lot of options at her disposal, and it was better for kids to be occupied than not.
She was holding Judith and humming along to one of those radio songs that she liked to keep the baby calm when Rick reappeared. "Sure," she said. Even though she'd never met this man before, she was pretty sure that whatever he asked she'd do. "What do you need?"
***
“I came by to talk to Daryl about leaving the kids here while I went to a job interview. Carl is great with Judith but I’d feel better with someone else around to help just in case he needs it. Would you mind? Daryl’s fine with them being here and I’ll pay for whatever Carl orders when I get back but I don’t have a lot of choices out here right now when it comes to help looking after them.” Rick was hoping she’d say yes. He knew it was a lot to ask of someone he’d just met, and not in her job description but he didn’t have a choice.
*** Beth understood. She'd never really been in a similar situation, but she got that this was sort of an emergency. It wasn't as though the kids would do any harm to the place while Rick was gone, not with her and Daryl and the others around to keep them out of it. "Oh, I don't mind at all," she said, smiling. "I'm sure they'll brighten everyone's day -- and really, it's no trouble. They seem like good kids." She looked over at Carl, who was still sitting at the table where she'd left him. She really didn't mind helping Daryl's brother-in-law, and maybe that really said something about how close she'd got to this place since starting there.
She looked at back at Rick. "Just focus on the interview, and we'll take care of everything here. Okay?"
***
Rick smiled and reached out with one hand to rub his daughters cheek before leaning down to kiss Carl on top of his head. “Thank you,” he said looking back up at her. He turned his attention back to Carl. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised his son.
He opened his mouth to say something else to her and then caught a glimpse of the time on his watch. He had to get a move on if he was going to make it to his interview on time. “Thank you again. She should be okay. I fed and changed her not that long ago but if she needs anything Carl’s got the bag. I hate to drop them off and run but I’m cutting it close,” he said. Judith was reaching out with one hand for him and he took it and brought it to his mouth to give it a quick kiss.
He ruffled Carl’s hair quickly before heading to the door, turning around to look at his children once more before slipping out the door and back to his car. He had to trust that the kids would be okay. He needed to get this job so he needed to be focused on this interview like the young woman had said.