Dusting The Memories

After a year things had managed to drastically fall around everyone. Benjamin himself had been watching cautiously but while everyone lost their heads he had managed to build a fortress out of his home. His roof was where he was the eye in the sky, his home, well the one he and Ashlee's shared was now the only sanctuary. Of course he wasn't the only one with the idea of a homey fortress, Jay had mimicked his actions as did a few others but some of their plans had not gone all well. A good example was Alex. The tough guy couldn't even manage to keep his girl and daughters safe. He had to save their asses, something he almost regretted doing, then offer them sanctuary in his own home. He didn't mind him around for bait though.
Others like James who just stuck around was fine with him. He was his best friend anyway.
For a murderer, the walkers were a joke. Those who had once never drove a knife through a body were now doing it daily simply for survival. Despite it being overrated he still enjoyed his time out. He walked down stairs and into his room to glance over at the crib where his one week old son rested. Things were getting tough with the supplies running low nearby. He needed a scavenger hunt for more supplies and soon.

Ashley lay in the bed, sleeping soundly in her bed. With all that was going on she needed as much rest as she could.

Deciding against informing her of where he would be going he slowly leaned over and kissed her cheek then grabbed his backpack. They were in critical condition for supplies. He walked downstairs and glanced over at Alex who was resting with Jacki after taking the night shift. "Get up." He called to Alex.

Alex tiredly looked up then back down at Jacki who had both Jordan and Nirvana bundled up beside her. He really didn't want to leave in fear he won't return back to them. He stayed put.

Jacki shook her head at Ben. "Nope, he's mine now." She said and curled close to Alex.

"I need a break." Alex said glancing over at Ben tired. "I need time with my family, and so do you. I bet you haven't even looked at your son since he was born." He told him sternly.

Benjamin scowled a bit. Despite the harshness of it, it was somewhat true. He had been overwhelmed by all the work needed to be done and hadn't glanced at Ashlee while she was up. Dropping it, he had slowly gone upstairs and gently scooped up Mason who immediately began to wail.

Jacki took Alex's hand gently and sighed tiredly.

Ashlee groaned and sat up as she looked at the two boys. "Looks like you finally decided to be a dad." She murmured and crossed her arms.

Alex squeezed her hand tight and looked down at his daughters. "One of them are gonna hate me." He said matter of factly. "Probably Jordan."

"Alex." Ben said then lifted his son up and extended his arms out eyeing from a distance before glaring at him. Why wouldn't he stop crying? He grit his teeth and began to fight back every urge to lash out at him.

James let himself in and set two backpacks down on the counter. "Ben! Alex!" he shouted, unpacking the the items he had brought. This included cans of food, baby formula, diapers, water bottles, and toilet paper. However, he hadn't gotten these things easily. His clothes were torn from other survivors struggling to steal from him and there were a few blood stains on his hands from stabbing the walkers.

Nirvana awoke as James shouted and instantly began to squirm, wanting to see.

"How do you figure?"" Jacki asked with a frown.

Ashlee saw the look on his face and shook her head. "Don't even think about it." She snapped angrily.

"Just a wild guess." Alex said and got to his feet after being called and made his way over to James and looked down at the supplies. "Thanks James this means a lot." He grinned and pat his back. "You just saved us a trip. Oh Ben is finally communicating with the infant so he might not come down at once."

Benjamin blinked and tossed his attention over to her a bit clueless. "What?" He asked curiously as to if he had held him wrong. He slowly pulled Miles back to his chest and cradled him glancing back over at Ashlee for approval.

"Finally." James grunted, also pulling out a box of condoms and handing them to Alex. "I encourage you and Ben to use these when not planning for a child. No more surprises."

Ashlee shook her head. "If you ever look at him like that again, I'll cut your balls off." She threatened.

Jacki grunted and kissed her daughter's heads.

Alex raised the condoms and smirked. "I think you just improved my chances of getting laid. I might just keep these to myself. Have you seen Jay by the way? Is he doing fine?"

Ben blinked. "You never care when I give that look." He responded.

James shook his head. "Haven't seen him, but you know there'd be an uproar if anything went wrong over there so I'm sure they're fine." he said, reassuring him with a grin.

"Well now you're giving it to our son." Ashlee pointed out quickly.

"I think I might go check on him just in case." Alex said a bit worried for his nieces and nephew. If anything happened he didn't want them starving and alone.

Ben slowly passed Mason back over into her arms were he settled down nuzzling into his mother.

Ashlee hugged Mason close and shivered a bit, nuzzling against him affectionately.

"Want company?" James offered, desperate to leave before one of the babies began to scream.

"Let's go." Alex gestured for him to follow then walked over to Jacki and kissed her affectionately. "I'll be back soon." He promised before walking out there after grabbing a bat on his way out.

Ben rubbed the back of his neck. "Are all babies like that with their mothers?" He asked. From what he could tell all they really did was cuddle up to their mother.

James grabbed his now empty backpack and followed him outside.

Alex drove the bat into a few skulls as he walked two houses over to Jay's and knocked. "It's Alex."

Nathan ran over and opened the door. "Uncle Alex!" He said excitedly and hugged him then James.

"Hey kid." James greeted, grinning down at him. "Where's your family at?"

"They're upstairs sleeping, daddy was tired so he put me in charge." Nathan nodded proudly. "Oh Genie too."

Genie walked over and hugged her uncle then waved shyly to James.

"Good good. Want us to stick around?" Alex offered.

James nodded at Genie before leaning back against the wall.

Jay walked downstairs a bit tired and looked over at James and Alex. "Hey you two okay?"

"Yeah we were wondering if you were." Alex responded.