Rufus' need for a morning potty trip was their familiar wakeup — a far deal more pleasant than the abrupt pre-dawn alarm the day before. Without the energy to stage a breakfast for easy preparation in the morning, they allowed themselves a dip into their moderate back stock of freeze-dried camping / survivalist food, rehydrating it with the water heated by the morning fire revival. Rebecca used the rest to wash their dishes and the pot from the night before while Sam collected Allison's bottles and stowed them in the crates again.

After bundling themselves up again, they returned the gifted containers to the Youngs' doorstep, not wanting to risk waking Allison if she was still sleeping. Rebecca hated returning the pot empty, picturing her mother shaking her head disapprovingly at her over the poor manners, but swore to find a way to repair their thoughtfulness down the road. (She'd heard from friends in the past that bringing food over to a newborn's parents was a big help, so she underlined a previous mental note about doing so.) It looked like a similar care package had been dropped off for Patrick and Christine, as they spotted familiar handwriting on a thank-you note on a similar small stack of crates at the door.

Downstairs, they set their guns down on a workbench in the morning sun and Rebecca helped Sam offload the solar panel still in the Humvee to the same table. She gave the unfired Vector a quick once-over to make sure it hadn't been affected by the scuffle, then set into field-stripping Felicia and cleaning the barrel and other internals. Meanwhile, Sam laid out the wiring harness for the solar panel and studied it them both, occasionally lobbing a tennis ball for Rufus to chase and jotting cryptic numbers and symbols down in her notebook.

Patrick returned Rebecca's partially spent magazine, reloaded with what had been left of her matching ammunition. With the time saved by Allie's surprises, he'd apparently transferred it all back over one round at a time last night while Christine bathed. He joined Rebecca and quickly serviced his M4, under her watchful eye as she paused to supervise. Some of the familiar scuff marks on it reminded her of old adventures with Ronnie in an oddly nostalgic way.

She sent him on his way a short while later, and while Sam was starting to connect instruments to the solar panel's outputs, Rebecca saw Epstein walk by with a pair of Cat's people. She overheard him emphasize that they should find a transmission cooler for their "hillbilly armored" gun truck before the weather got warmer, assuring them that he could help install it once they had the right parts. He nodded at the two women as he passed, and Rebecca couldn't help picturing him tipping a hat in some fancy gentleman's outfit — or cowboy attire... and asked him to stop by later when he had a minute. Hopefully he could look at her car while he was there, like Ronnie suggested.

Rhonda eventually came by too — Rebecca had spotted her in the distance a few times, but she seemed pretty busy circulating amongst the crews that were offloading the large cargo truck and trailers attached to two of the Humvees. Since the day before, she'd traded her combat gear for an earth-toned beanie and a woodland camouflage field jacket with a thick liner.

"Hey girls. Sleep well?"

Rebecca nodded. "Like logs. Good morning, mama bear." It was nice to drop some of the formality she'd been maintaining with the troops around. "What about you?"

"Eventually. Lots to oversee getting stuff squared away for the night, and keeping an ear on the team at the armory. Fairbanks and Tierman are thinking about making it a permanent outpost, expanding our area of influence."

Sam tossed Rufus' ball intentionally towards Ronnie's feet so he'd trot over and beg for a throw. "Sounds like they might need to find more competent sergeants to get everything done."

Rhonda gave Rufus a couple of thumps on his side and then sent his ball flying with the same throwing arm Rebecca had seen her lob grenades with. "Or ambitious civilians. We may have to get used to the idea of squads indirectly reporting to local officials as we rebuild."

Rebecca shook her head and leaned back, oily gloved hands up in front of her defensively. "Oh, leave me out of that for now."

Ronnie grinned, expecting something along those lines. "Amira can probably fill those boots for now."

"Thank god. How're things after yesterday, everybody okay?" Rebecca could tell Ronnie was looking over the components she'd broken Felicia down to, habitually inspecting her work.

"Yeah, no casualties. One tire, a few windshields, nothing Epstein can't oversee the repairs of."

"What about ammo? That was a lot of shooting in the morning, I used about 30 rounds and this..." (she gestured towards the parts in front of her on the table) "...isn't a machine gun."

Ronnie leaned on the edge of the workbench. "Well, the 40 mil grenades are scarce, but I'm not about to fuck around when someone's throwing Molotovs. We have a little under a hundred, they've got a little more than that at the airport. For the other mounted guns, they brought a bunch of fifty and 7.62 up from the training facilities they got the Amtracs at, and there's still the stock left over we pillaged from Black Tusk. You know that big asshole we took down in the tunnel? He still had a good four hundred-plus rounds all by himself even after all the noise he made. For small arms, most of the dismounts didn't fire much more than you did, actually."

Rebecca paused her work. "Really? It sounded like there was so much more going on."

Ronnie nodded, her arms casually folded across her chest. "It gets amplified in an urban street like that. Would you believe that was all over in less than three minutes?"

"Intellectually, yeah. Adrenaline and weird perception of time under stress, blah blah blah. But my lizard brain is skeptical."

"Now that I think about it, there's probably enough 7.62 for you to start practicing with that bigger rifle. I know you adore this one, but it doesn't pack as much of a wallop." Ronnie chuckled at Rebecca's skeptical face, then shifted her focus to Sam. "So Red, how's it look? Worth the effort?"

Sam braced her hands on her hips and arched her back in a stretch, which got a couple of good pops that Rebecca could hear from across the tables. "Yeah. If we could find a licensed electrician, that would be awesome... but..."

Rebecca smiled as Sam proceeded to rattle off many of the ideas from the night before, much to Rhonda's amusement as well. She could tell which ones Ronnie was particularly interested in by the occasional, familiar, quiet grunt that wasn't quite a "Huh" or "Hmm". It was very much like how Ronnie responded when Rebecca noticed something in the distance first, back when they were camped out in sniper nests around Broadway the year before, and tickled a nostalgia Rebecca wasn't really aware of until just then. Maybe they could spend some time on a watch shift while Sam was busy with the solar panels in a few days? That'd be nice.

Her thoughts, and attention to Sam's conversation with Rhonda, were interrupted by Allison exiting one of the building's exterior doors with a mesh laundry bag slung over one shoulder. Rebecca quickly snapped the last few pieces into place to reassemble Felicia and function tested everything twice, then plucked and tugged the reusable gloves off. Before scampering off to intercept Allison, she paused to rest her hands on Sam's shoulders and kiss the back of her head and smile at Ronnie, then quickly caught up to Allie.

"Hey, good morning. Where's Leonard, why isn't he doing that?"

Allison smiled warmly at her, like always. "Rebecca, dear. I'm pregnant, not invalid. It's still good for me to move around on the better days. Plus, it keeps be from going stir crazy."

Rebecca pressed her lips together thinly and tried to repress her urge to fret as they walked towards the clotheslines strung between the greenhouses, all positioned for optimal sun exposure. "Well... okay. But at least let me help you? It's the least I can do after your surprise last night — and thank you very much for that. It was lovely to just be able to relax."

"If it will assuage your guilty conscience, very well." Allie slid the laundry bag from her shoulder and passed it to Rebecca — who was dismayed at how heavy it was with the clothes inside still damp. "And you're welcome, you were all out there working to improve life here, for us and for our child, so that's how we wanted to do our part." She paused when they reached the clotheslines and looked at Rebecca intently. "We were listening to the radio, it sounded rough out there in the morning. Are you okay?"

Rebecca opened the laundry sack and held it up for Allie to withdraw the garments and towels one at a time. "Yeah. Things were a bit scary, but once we reached the armory, it was pretty quiet and productive."

Allie tilted her head and looked back at her from hanging a shirt. "Once you reached the armory... after you were going to be at your apartment. Were things unpleasant there?"

All these observant people Rebecca had apparently managed to surround herself with... "There was a couple living there, and they seemed okay at first, but for whatever reason the guy tried to take Sam's gun. She trounced him thoroughly, but I was really on edge afterwards."

"Hmm." Allison arched one eyebrow slightly. "It's interesting, the way people's character comes out when they're scared. What a dumbass. But I'm glad you're alright. Even if he'd briefly gotten the upper hand, I'm sure you would have all taken good care of each other. That doesn't stop me from worrying of course." She reached for the next item from the laundry.

"Me neither. But you knew that already." Rebecca was a little surprised to hear the mild profanity from Allie, but not entirely shocked. She could toss some good bombs out when it was appropriate... which Rebecca supposed was fairly frequent the way life was those days.

Allison glanced back towards Sam and Ronnie. "Yes, dear. I do. Did you get anything worthwhile for your trouble?"

"Books and photos, my old favorite sweater, my laptop and Playstation... Sam thinks we're gonna have a surprising amount of power during the day once all the panels are up, so maybe those'll be usable again. I thought being able to play a few games would make Nate happy."

Allison tossed a pillowcase over the line and looked back at Rebecca. "There you go again. You're always thinking of others."

Rebecca shrugged. "I guess I don't really know how else to go about things. Everything I want these days involves Sam, Rufus, Ronnie, you and Leonard, a community. Beyond food and basic safety, I mean."

"I know what you mean, dear. You said want, that means fulfillment, stuff at the top of the pyramid of needs. I'm just glad you're surrounded by people who care for you too."

"Hm," Rebecca half-chuckled. "Yeah." Her eyes went a little distant. "Thank you for everything over the last year, Allie. Everything you've done to take care of me."

Allison knew she was mostly talking about helping her survive the first few months of losing Jaime, and welcoming her return with the new friends she'd brought back with her. "You don't need to keep thanking me, Rebecca. It was the right thing to do, I would for anyone. But, it makes me happy to do it for you. Listen, like you sort of said, I know we're coming up on a year. Assuming I'm keeping track of dates properly, I think it's less than a week away, right? Are you okay?"

Rebecca half-smiled. "I mean, no, but yes. For certain values of okay. It hurts to think about, but like you said, I have lots of good people around me. It just rewinds the slowly fading ache, you know?"

Allison patted her hands. "I do. Here, help me with this sheet. Do you have any plans?"

Rebecca took the far corners of the bedsheet and helped Allison hang it. "Not really... I just... didn't want to be here, initially. Maybe off looking for our families, but now... with all the panels to hook up, Sam will probably be busy here for a long time."

Allison was silent for several seconds, a contemplative expression on her face. "Well... I have two thoughts about that. On one hand... remember that Leonard's no idiot with a screwdriver. We all put our heads together to build our early charging setup before you brought that little genius of yours home, and he can certainly repeat steps she shows him. Plus, keep in mind there's plenty of other work to be done that isn't wiring — we'll need to build frames or something to put them on, right? But that's not the second thing. My other thought is that... going off to find your family, that could end really well. But it could also be setting yourself up for another heartbreak while you're already on tricky ground."

Rebecca nodded. "I admit it feels a little like running away."

"Who says there's anything wrong with an instinct to run away from pain? It's natural. But, there might be something to be said for working through the hurt. I don't mean therapy and introspection and what have you, though those are all important. But like people who exercise when they're unhappy, throwing yourself into something worthwhile, time consuming, that demands your involvement and focus. You end up with something to look back at despite it, something positive to stand on when you face it, to be proud of, maybe even that he'd be proud of."

Rebecca turned that idea over in her head a few times, studying it, contemplating Allie's points. "There might be something to that. Dedicating something to him..."

"Sure. I don't want to tell you what's right for you. Just some ideas to consider."

By this point, they'd finished hanging the laundry. Rebecca turned the bag inside out and clipped it to the clothesline. "Allie, if you want me to stop thanking you for things, you really should stop doing stuff like that!"

Allison laughed, and they made their way back to the door small-talking about the changes to the compound around them. When Allison looked back at Rebecca as she started to follow her from the door, Rebecca shook her head. "You don't think I'm going to leave you to walk up four and a half flights of stairs on your own do you?"

Allie smirked at her. "You don't think Leonard would let me walk down them alone, do you? He's just been in the cold storage pantry while I hung the laundry, probably counting on some silly person to rush over and help me just because of my visible baby bump."

Rebecca laughed, and shook her head, hanging it in mock dismay. "Okay. Well let me at least keep you company as far as the storerooms."

"Fine, but if you do anything further to imply I'm just a poor helpless pregnant woman, I'll give you what for, young lady."

"OKAY, mom."

Allison rested her hand on Rebecca's forearm, and spoke after a moment. "I hope you find her, Rebecca."

Rebecca let out a long breath and folded her arm such that Allie's hand lay in the crook of her elbow, placing her other hand over it as they walked. "Thanks, Allie."