everyone here has loved and lost, so level up and love again

[confidenceman]

On the way over to Andrea's apartment, Cleo can't seem to stop kicking her legs in delight. Although there's no way for Sawyer to interpret the occasional babbling that she manages to squeeze around the fingers stuffed in her mouth, he likes to think that it's because she's getting to venture outside when the sun is high, that she's with Sawyer for a rare day off as they venture through town. There are times when he lets himself worry about the fact that Cleo spends more waking hours with her babysitters than directly with her father — but he's doing the best that he can, and she doesn't seem to have any trouble handling the hand-off.

So he'll forgive himself for the time being, for his inexperience and his lack of availability. And work until he can say that he's no longer behind in either.

"You ain't got the slightest clue what we're up to, do ya?" he asks the baby quietly, reaching for her washcloth to wipe away the drool on her fingers, trying to encourage her to take her pacifier instead. When she does so only after a sigh, he chuckles. "Yeah, I know. Papa's no fun."

Tugging her knit cap further down on her head, he presses a kiss on top of her forehead before taking Cleo up the elevator. She wiggles as the elevator picks up speed, wide blue eyes staring both up and down, towards the edges of the cart, one of her hands finding its way to Sawyer's collar and holding tight.

"It's okay," Sawyer says, hushing as he bounces her lightly, patting her back. "I'd take you up the stairs, but six floors makes for a bumpy ride. C'mon, let's go meet the other Clementine."

Once in front of Andrea's apartment, Sawyer makes sure to keep his shoulders back, trying his best to look presentable in spite of his windswept appearance, reaching out to knock sharply on the door.

Comments

[uncannyaim]

Andrea has done a lot of things in her life, a lot of strange things and a lot of terribly normal things, too, but she can't say she's ever done this. She's never had a friend over with his child to meet the child she's looking after and although the Clementines are clearly very far apart in age, she still can't help but feel like this is almost something that normal people do when they haven't been chased by zombies for several years and when they haven't spent a lot of their time shooting at zombies or sometimes even other people.

She's put on coffee, but she has tea as well, if he's more interested in that. She's also put out some snacks, cookies and other pastries, crackers and cheese, and when the knock comes, she looks over at Clementine and gives her a smile. "You ready?"