AN: Here we go, a little piece more here.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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"You wanted to go outside, so now you're going outside," Michonne said. "Everything is working out just like you want it to."
"I can walk on my own, Mich," Andrea said. "I'm not—completely reliant upon you."
Michonne bit the inside of her mouth. What Andrea was really saying was that she didn't want to be completely reliant upon her. And it was a message that Michonne was getting loud and clear. It was a message that she'd been getting from her since she'd met her.
"Andrea—you almost died. You almost bled out. You're building back up your strength from that and you're getting over an infection that could've killed you too," Michonne said. "I don't think that anyone—and I'm including myself in that in case you're not clear—is going to hold it against you if you need to lean on someone while you go for a walk."
She wasn't going to point out that Andrea was looking at her like a petulant child at the moment.
"I walked fine on my own yesterday," Andrea responded.
"The distance of a cell and a half," Michonne said. "It's going to be farther than that to get you outside. And you did that by holding onto the bars at intervals. I know. I saw you."
A momentary standoff between them and Michonne sighed.
"Would you—can I ask you to tell me what's really wrong? So we can—maybe skip all of this and go straight to that?" Michonne asked.
It was going to take a minute—a pair of evasive eyes told her that—but that was the beauty of the moment. Michonne had all the time that she needed to wait out Andrea. It wasn't like Andrea was going anywhere, or at least she wasn't going anywhere fast.
"I—don't want to go out there looking like…like I can't even walk on my own, Michonne," Andrea said. "I don't want them looking at me like I'm going to be a burden on everyone. Like I'm not going to contribute anything…I'm just a drain. I'm already a drain on resources here."
Michonne frowned and leaned back against the concrete wall. Andrea had been awake probably forty eight hours—or at least somewhere in the vicinity of it—and Michonne felt like she'd heard at least twice that many variations on this same theme.
And, maybe, she was partially to blame for that. Maybe, in her own way, she'd done a fair amount of dragging Andrea down—even before Woodbury.
"If someone has something to say about what you use around here, then I can go on runs and get whatever they need," Michonne said. "But nobody is going to say anything."
"Then I'm just—owing it to you," Andrea said.
Michonne raised her eyebrows at Andrea.
"You don't owe me anything. And nobody is going to say anything at any rate," Michonne said. "You're going to go out there, see the sun and get a little—Vitamin D—and then you're going to talk to some of these people…your friends, your family…and you're going to see that they don't think the way that you think they do."
"I don't have any family left, Michonne," Andrea said.
Well—at least she didn't say friends.
Michonne sighed. She had already decided that she was going to give Andrea this. If she wanted or needed, or whatever it was, to slip into some kind of depression over what had happened—or over what she thought was going to happen—then she'd let her have it, but only for a little while.
After all, Hershel had warned that simply the medication he'd given her might affect her mood, and it wasn't like the past few days, or even the past few months, had been the greatest time of the woman's life.
"Get up," Michonne said. "Get up and let's go. Walk on your own or lean on me. I'm going to be right here, either way."
Andrea sighed, but she did get up. She didn't refuse Michonne's help in standing and Michonne stood with a hand hovering near her elbow while Andrea stretched to relieve some of the tightness that residing mostly in the cot had caused.
Slowly they made their way outside, just as Michonne had promised, and Andrea did exactly what she said she'd do—she walked out on her own, even though Michonne stayed close by her side in case she might find that her body wasn't quite ready for the exertion that she was going to demand of it.
Both of them shaded their eyes as they stepped into the courtyard area. Coming from that much darkness into the bright sunlight was an adjustment for everyone and most of them walked around squinting now that sunglasses weren't the common thing that they used to be.
"He did all this?" Andrea asked, looking around.
Michonne scanned the prison yard from where they stood. The guard tower was the most obvious sign of his visit to the prison and of his attempt to destroy it and destroy everyone there. Most everything else had been repaired by the hustling actions of everyone that could lend a hand in any area. There was much to be done, and they desperately needed to reinforce things and prepare themselves for some kind of possible future attack, but they'd taken care of most of the absolutely immediate concerns.
Still, Michonne didn't feel that this was the time to point out that things had actually been much worse than they seemed to Andrea at the moment.
"Yeah," she said. "He did."
"Did he kill anyone?" Andrea asked.
She looked like she feared the answer. Michonne shook her head gently.
"No one here," Michonne said. "Merle…but that was before. He didn't even hurt anyone but you."
Andrea swallowed and nodded her head slightly. Michonne tried not to think too much about what might be going on inside of the woman's head.
Before they could continue speaking, and before Michonne could suggest that they consider going to sit somewhere so that Andrea didn't tire herself out too quickly, Carol came walking up to them. Luckily, too, she seemed to know that a smile was the best expression she could probably wear for the moment.
"Look at you!" She called as she approached. "It's so good to see you up!"
She stepped around Michonne and hugged Andrea. Andrea returned the action.
"You look good," Carol said when she pulled away. "Your color is coming back. You look good."
It was true. She was still pale, but she wasn't as pale as she had been. It was still written all over her that she was in pain, and that she was refusing further pain medication, but she was looking a little less frightening and a little more like herself.
"I should've listened to you," Andrea said.
Carol shook her head and Michonne assumed that the two of them knew what they were talking about, even if she didn't have a clue what was going on.
"Don't worry about that now," Carol said. "The important thing? You're looking better. And you're home. Michonne—she's been really worried about you. It's going to be good to have her back to her old self."
Michonne caught a quick smile and wink from Carol herself that let her know that she was supposed to be in on something, even though she wasn't. Maybe Carol was just trying to play her up? Maybe she was trying to be kind to both of them? After all, Andrea might feel that she was on the outside of the proverbial social circle, but Michonne didn't imagine that she was too far in at this point either.
Andrea just offered Carol the best smile she could, though it didn't look too sincere at the moment.
"Everyone's mad at me," Andrea said to Carol.
Carol shook her head.
"No," she drew out. "No—we're not. I'm not. I don't know anyone who is. In fact…"
Carol turned, without explanation, and walked off in the direction from which she'd come, over near the guard tower where, in the bottom storage space of the tower, they had something of a tool room they were working from in their construction efforts, and when she came back, she was practically dragging Glenn by the arm.
"Now you don't have to go look for her," Carol was saying as she walked up again. "Look who I found."
Even Michonne could see that Glenn looked a little uncomfortable—but she was going to be the practical one and say that it, more than likely, came from a place of not quite knowing what to say to Andrea after they all knew what she'd been through. People had been, from what Michonne observed, equally awkward with Glenn and Maggie after their run ins with the Governor.
Glenn smiled, even if it was a slightly awkward smile.
"How—uh—how are you feeling?" He asked.
Andrea nodded at him.
"It's—good to have you back," Glenn said.
He looked it Carol in the same way that a child might look to their mother in a social situation to see if they were saying the right thing in the right way. She looked pleased with him.
"I was—we were discussing going on a run," Glenn said. "Somewhere close by for some things that we need for—you know—the projects we're doing."
"But as long as they're going out," Carol said, "and as long as they're going to be looking for a truck to bring things back, it makes sense to get as much as they can in any run."
"So—did you want anything?" Glenn asked. "Or—need anything in particular? Michonne…you too."
With the last few words he directed his attention toward Michonne and she had to admit that she almost felt a little surprised being addressed in regard to something that didn't have to do with the Governor or something about Woodbury. She was taken aback so much, in fact, that she couldn't even think of anything that she might want or need.
Of course, she'd had an odd feeling of contentment all morning. It was the strange sort of feeling that she got, from time to time, in her life where she simply felt like, for at least a moment, she couldn't think of much that she could even want or need to make her life any better than it was.
Andrea looked caught off guard as well. She stammered out some sounds, but then she shook her head.
"I don't need anything," she said. "I'm—I've got everything that I need."
Carol interjected then.
"They're not leaving until tomorrow," she said. "If you think of anything—there's plenty of time to put in an order if you think of something. I already said some clothes? Maybe—a few other odds and ends?"
Andrea nodded and Carol looked to Michonne.
"If you think of anything, you'll let us know?" Carol asked.
Michonne nodded and thanked Carol, the only thing that she could do at the moment.
And then Carol and Glenn both took their leave of Michonne and Andrea both with Glenn reiterating that he was glad that Andrea was back and Carol wishing them a nice walk—after all, it was a beautiful day.
After they walked off, back in the direction from which they'd come, Andrea watched them go.
"See?" Michonne offered. "They're still here."
Andrea looked at her, smiled softly, and nodded her head gently.
"It's not the same," she said. "I'm not the same. They're not the same."
Michonne hummed.
"No," she said. "It's not the same. But—that's not always a bad thing, is it? It's a new start. For you, for them. For all of us."
Andrea looked at her and held her eyes for a moment. Though she didn't look like she'd entirely abandoned the mood that she'd been holding onto inside, she did look at least a little bit lighter—though Michonne wouldn't know if it was any one thing that had brought about the change or a combination of all of them.
It really didn't matter.
"Come on," Michonne said, reaching out and putting a hand on Andrea's back. When Andrea didn't protest, she pushed her luck a little and slipped the arm the rest of the way around, catching her so that she could walk side by side with her while still offering something of a "support" should she need it. Andrea didn't protest.
It was a start.
"Let's go for that walk?" Michonne asked. "I want to see what they've done down near the gates."
