sluttylyingliar | Jess Givens - dated to April 20th

It's really, really not supposed to happen this way. Rachel has tried (sort of) to cut down the whining about this Wild Westcrap because it's about the happiest she's seen Raylan in pretty much ever but still. Birth? Without electricity? In the DESERT or whatever this is supposed to be? There are like, rattlesnakes around. And ghosts...maybe. And that clniic is not sterile and there aren't any modern drugs and these dresses are ridiculous and heavy and she can't breathe she's so pregnant.

Honestly, she should have known this would happen in the four seconds a day Raylan and Danny leave her by herself. Her back had been hurting all night but she had written it off to the lumpy mattress and somehow also forgot to mention the shooting pains that in restrospect were coming every ten minutes or so. She'd sent Raylan on with an assurance she was fine and all she needed was a soak in the bath (iron tub thing) and that she didn't need Danny to supervise. It's clear to her, now, that she should never be allowed to make the decisions every again because the second she stepped out of that tub, her water broke and it was very clear what was happening. And that is what happening very quickly.

She'd managed to scramble into one of those weird underdresses, not giving two shits how much the world was seeing and carefully made her way outside, her guts writhing and back not too painful to straigten. She squints against the bright, hot sun and pads barefoot out into the path.

"Help," she croaks out, arm firm around her belly like maybe she can catch the kid if he falls out right here in the dirt. "Shit, someone help!"

Another wave of pain sends her stumbling down to her knees, cursing loudly and creatively as she tries and fails not to panic. Two seconds in and she's already screwed this up.

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Rachel head finally snaps up at that, peering up at a face she thinks she's seen around but who the fuck knows when her baby is trying to claw it's way out. "You know Raylan?" she gasps as she slowly and carefully stands up. "Shit, am I supposed to know you?" She's pretty sure she wouldn't forget any of Raylan's hands since they're pretty much Rachel's friends, first.

"No, we've never actually met," she says. "I'm Andrea. I met Raylan my first day here, I've been meaning to introduce myself and this is all not at all important right now." In fact, she's pretty sure Raylan will be furious with her if she doesn't get Rachel up to what passes for the Compound these days.

"Do you think you can walk?" she asks. "I could probably find some kind of carriage or something if you can't."

"The only thing worse than giving birth in the dirt," she groans, slowly levering herself up, "is being pushed in a wheelbarrow like a beached whale."

Later on, there'll be a part of her that's proud Raylan made a friend all by himself, even if she looks just like girl Danny with a massive scar. "Christ, some first impression, huh?"

"Then we'll walk," Andrea says, hoping they can make it all the way there without Rachel actually giving birth. Helping a little with Lori's baby was something else entirely, not only because they had an actual hospital, but because there had been a mostly qualified nurse there, too.

"Well, it's interesting," she says, then laughs, though it isn't really funny at all. She's just worried about getting Rachel to a doctor. "We'll always remember the story of how we met."

"No shit," Rachel laughs breathlessly. "I'm not ready to do this. I'm really not ready to so this. Fuck, okay, distract me. Who are you? How do you know Raylan?"

"Andrea," she says again, trying to remember exactly how she and Raylan met. There are many things she doesn't remember about her first day, bits and pieces that all sort of blend together. "It was my first day, actually. He found me wandering around with my gun and asked me if I was hunting."

Carefully, while she talks, she's trying to guide Rachel carefully up toward the Compound. "We talked a bit about where we came from. He told me about you and the baby not long after that. At Danny's wedding, I think."

"Okay," she breathes, pausing for a long moment, eyes squeezes shut as another contraction hits. "I think I remember that. You at the wedding. Yeah, Raylan and his guns. He's enjoying this cowboy thing. I keep trying not to ruin it for him."

Andrea's enjoying it far less, if only because of the clothes the box keeps trying to give her. But because of Raylan taking pity on her and her own talent with a needle and thread, she has at least one pair of pants she's not about to give up and she's grateful for that.

"I'm sure you're not," she says. "It has to be a pain in the ass being pregnant when the island is like this, though." Keep her talking. She hopes that's the right thing to do.

"Pregnancy isn't ever going to rank high on my list of things to do again," she says with a pained grunt. "So why the gun? Did it come with you?

"Yeah, it came with me," Andrea says. "You want me to tell you the story of how shitty my world was before I came here? It's not exactly cheerful, but it might be a good distraction." She's pretty sure that zombies would distract almost anyone, although maybe not from having a baby.

"Yes," she says a little desperately, latching on to anything to distract her from the need to vomit on a cactus and just lie down and die. "Tell me about your shitty world. You already know all about my boyfriend and about how we're too fucking stupid to use birth control. Your turn."

Andrea laughs at that, unable to help herself, even in a situation like this. She knows, though, sometimes you need to laugh at things when they're at their worst. "Well, dead people were walking back where I came from," she tells Rachel as they walk. "And they really did eat people, like you see in horror movies. Actually, it was pretty much exactly like a horror movie."

"No fucking way," she huffs, raising an eyebrow as she gives this girl a better look. "Zombies? Seriously? Well shit. You win. That's worse than giving birth in the desert. I feel a little better."

"And that's not even taking into consideration all the things people started to do when all the rules went away," Andrea continues. She isn't about to tell the worst of her stories, but she knows Rachel's seen the scar on her face. It's sort of impossible to miss. "Society crumbles and people go crazy. Some guy tried to cut my head off with a knife."

"Jesus Christ," he swears, hissing softly as another contraction hits. She's silent for a few moments before letting out a long breath.

"So, what's this like then? With no one trying to eat your brains?"

"It's..." For a moment, Andrea doesn't know what to say. Without the roamers, no one needs her to protect them and without having to protect people, she feels like she's at a bit of a loss. But then she thinks of Sam. Of Danny. Raylan and his soon to be baby.

It's possible she'll still be needed, even here.

"It's nice," she says. "How're you doing there? We're getting pretty close to the clinic."

"I'm okay," she says honestly, like ninety percent certain the baby's not going to fall out into the dirt. "Thank you, seriously, thank you. I'd have been so fucked. So utterly fucked."

Jess Givens - dated to April 20th

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