Come What May

Ch.1: Catalyst

The decision was perhaps harder than it should have been. It was clear who was in the right and who was in the wrong in this particular situation, but knowing that her decision could potentially start a war which could end them all put a lot of pressure on Andrea's choice. At the same time, knowing what the right choice was, who the right choice was, put her between a rock and a hardplace.

In the end, there were no words spoken.

She simply got into Ricks car, instead of Philips.

She couldn't look as the car drove away, as Philip climbed into his own and drove in the opposite direction. She sat in the passenger seat of their car. Beside her, Rick drove in silence. Hershel put a hand on her shoulder through the gap between hers and Ricks chairs. She didn't acknowledge the hand, just stared ahead, wondering what her choice could do to them alll, wondering if she would live to be thankful for her decision.

Her welcome back to the prison was warm. Carol hugged her, Carl tilted the hat he wore in her direction and smiled at her, an action she would have expected from a man twice his years, Glenn embraced her with a joyous laugh and even Maggie looked happy to see her. Beth handed her Judith and Andrea rejoiced at the feeling of the small, warm body in her hands. It was amazing, to her, that something so innocent and perfect could still exist in this damaged and desolage world. Even Carl had been corrupted by the horrifc things he'd seen, the things he'd done. If she looked closely, she could see that the little bundle in her arms had her mothers eyes. Big, brown, lashes as long as Andereas own. She glanced at Rick, unable to comtemplate how hard it must be for him to see Judith every day and see her not only as his daughter, a baby, but also as a constant reminder not only of his dead wife, but of her infidelity to him. Of course, there was always the chance that Judith was his child and Andrea knew that Rick wouldn't treat the child any differently to how he'd treat Carl, but the doubt would always be there. She couldn't imagine that kind of emotional torture.

Andrea could see Rick, Hershel, Glenn and Daryl in the corner discussing something and handed the gurgling baby to Beth, who was wielding a freshly made bottle. She walked over to where the men stood in council and situated herself between Rick and Daryl. For a moment, their speech halted and they looked at her. Daryl shrugged.

"Seems about right. Ladies always been 'one of the guys'." He smirked at Andrea, who rolled her eyes. Rick cleared his throat before continuing, his speech directed at Andrea.

"We need a battle plan." Rick stated, "My guess is your Governor isn't-"

"He is not my Governor." It was a small point, a passing comment but Andrea couldn't let it hang in the air, she had to cut it down almost as quickly as it was put there. She felt the need to defend herself and her actions. Ever since their final night together, the night she had gone willingly to his bed, even after knowing all of the awful things he'd done, the things he was capable of, she'd felt tainted. Whether she'd gone with the intention of killing him was irrelevant; she'd not been able to do it, so it had become a moot point almost as soon as the thought crossed her mind. She couldn't kill a human being, not in their sleep, no matter how sadistic they may be. Self-defence was hard enough for her. Killing Walkers was almost easy, had become almost second nature now: it was what they had to do to survive. But humans? Taking a human life felt like taking away her own humanity.

"OK." Rick acknowledged her comment with a slight nod before continuing. "My guess is he's not likely to let this lie, especially now that you're back here."

"He's going to see this as me turning my back on him, on Woodbury." She said, "Only half of which is true. He might be evil, and he might plant rotten seeds in their minds but the people of Woodbury are good people. They're innocent people and self-defence I understand, but unless it's unavoidable, we can't kill them."

"We might not have a choice." Daryl pointed out and Andrea nodded.

"I get that, really I do, but I know these people and they're just as scared as we were, as we are. We might have learned to push down how scared we are and hide it, but you all know as well as I do that, in the end, there's no way out of this and that scares me. If it doesn't scare you, I don't think any of you are the people I thought you were." She turned to look at Rick, her speech having become a little more agressive than she had intended, "What happened to 'we don't kill the living', Rick?"

"That was before the living started trying to kill us." Rick stated, not looking at her, but down at the floor.

"I agree with Andrea," Hershel said, gruffly, "It seems more than plausable that the citizens of Woodbury are being hoodwinked by this Governor into thinking that we are the dangerous ones in this equation. They're going to defend themselves, as are we, but it would be desirable to get through this with as few casualties as possible. On both sides."

"Hear, hear." Glenn agreed.

"The governor needs to die." Andrea stated. She couldn't look at them, but she knew they were all looking at her. "He's sadistic and cruel. And he needs to die."

"But, I thought-" Rick stated. Andrea cut him off.

"I know what you thought." She looked him straight in the eyes, seeing only him. "But I'm not the romantic heart you clearly have me pinned as. Not anymore...Sex. It was just sex."

She could see in her peripheral vision that her comment made Glenn blush. Hershel gruffly cleared his throat and Daryl glanced away. Rick held her eyes. She watched the muscle in his jaw jump once before he looked away and drew the back of his hand across his lips.

"Still don't settle the matter of a plan." Daryl stated, slicing through the tension of the moment.

"We don't know when they're coming." Rick said, "So we need a plan that can go ahead at a moments notice."

"I can go back. Figure out when they're coming here." Andrea volunteered. "Say I came here to try and figure out your plan. Feed him some crap?"

"No, I don't like the sound of that. He 'aint gonna be too happy about you coming here, working against us or not. You'd be putting yourself in a danger."

"Do we have another choice?"

"I don't see one." Daryl said.

Glenn, who had remained silent for a while, chose this moment to perk up. "Maybe they're right, Rick. Maybe he'll buy it. Either way, I don't see us having another option right now."

"You wanna be responsible for whatever happens to her?" Ricks voice came out louder this time, he advanced on Glenn. "Want her blood on your hands if he lays his on her?"

"She's still here and she has ears." Andrea interrupted, stepping forwards, between Glenn and Rick. "And she also as a brain. I can make my own choices."

"When are you gonna come back?" He asked, not stepping back from her. His voice had returned to its softness, but there was a rumbling anger beneath the surface. "What if you can't?"

"If I'm not back tomorrow..." She left the statement hanging and inhaled deeply. "I will be back. I chose him over you all once. Thats not a mistake I'm willing to make again."

She turned on her heel and, passng the others, strolled out of the room, heading for the exit.

Outside, Rick found her opening the doors to one of their vehicles.

"Andrea." He called out her name and she halted in her actions, turning to face him. "Take this."

He held out his gun to her. She looked from the gun to Rick and then, sighing, took it. There was a moment of silence before either of them spoke.

"I wouldn't be going back if it wasn't a necessity. I hope you know that, Rick."

"I do." He replied, softly. "Just...be careful. I...We can't lose anyone else."

He seemed to be finding it hard to meet her eyes, his own were on the floor but she nodded anyway. She hessitated before stepping forward and kissing his cheek, smiling as she stepped back.

"Thank you. For everything. I'll be back as soon as I can." She climbed into the car and drove away, not daring to look in the mirror, scared she wouldn't be able to keep driving.

So...after the season finale I figured Rickrea is gonna have to be kept alive on here. Most of the fics I've found have been One-shots so I thought, why not go for a lengthier fic? My first one, as you can see.

Hope you guys enjoy it.