We Can Change

by eventualprocrastination

AU where Sophia was never bit and turned into a walker and, as a result, it set into effect a series of changes for the group. Not everything happens the same way anymore. Not everyone who originally died, does. Not everyone who lived, does either. New paths are forged, and a new face emerges and takes up residence in the lives of the survivors. [Rick/OC]

14. Blood

"It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood." — William Shakespeare, Macbeth

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The grey clouds had given way to considerable sunshine the following morning. At dawn, Rick was up and outside placing wooden pallets upright against the chain-link fencing of the bridge. Aside from the shuffling of his own footsteps and the clattering of wood against metal, the only sound Rick could hear were birds chirping. He couldn't even hear the groans of walkers outside the fences. If he closed his eyes, he could easily pretend it was the world before.

On the subject of before, Rick hadn't spoken one on one to Jo since the day before when he'd briefly kissed her cheek. A centimeter closer and it would've been her lips but he hadn't been that daring just yet. It wasn't that he really avoided her at all or vice versa, they were just pulled in different directions by the others. Hope needed her mother and Sophia had found the last Harry Potter book to read because apparently she had never read the books and only saw the movies, but the last two movies based on the last book were never released because the world ended. Jo had asked Sophia to read the book aloud to her, so they would both have some entertainment. Rick, on the other hand, had cleaned his Colt Python, grabbed some food and eventually relieved Andrea and Merle of watch tower duty; taking over with Carol, who wanted to contribute more than just cleaning and cooking.

But now it was a new day and Rick went about finding more things to use to help fortify the prison or items that could be used to possibly turn into makeshift weapons in case their bullets ran out or they lost their blades.

Glenn and Maggie were up in the main tower. They'd relieved Rick and Carol in the middle of the night and were still up there. However, they were unseen at the moment and Rick easily assumed they were doing something other than keeping guard, but Rick was fine with it. There were no immediate threats in the area and he was outside in case he noticed anything and could call out to the couple or the others inside the prison, if they weren't still asleep. The young couple deserved some alone time, away from the others in their cells, once in a while, to do what young couples did best.

Standing straight, he hooked his fingers into the chain-link fencing of the bridge and looked down at the courtyard as a whole, just admiring this home he and the others had created for themselves and how he felt it could last for them for a long time. The sun was warm on the back of his neck and not shining directly in his eyes so he didn't have to squint to look ahead of him. The gentle breeze navigated through the buildings, flicking at a few of his errant brown curls; one or two tickling at his temples.

Rick smiled.

There was no way this wouldn't be a good day.

The familiar creaking of a door brought his eyes to the right, where he saw Hershel step out of the caged entrance from C Block. His heartbeat quickened and his smile became brighter at the sight of Jo following behind the old man, with Carol and Axel in tow as well. Sophia joined, also, closing the cage door behind the others, and then took her copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows over to one of the bleachers; clearly wanting to enjoy her book in the warm sunlight.

Rick's gaze was biased, however; focusing primarily on Jo.

She had her back to Rick and was talking to Hershel about something, pointing to the area just in front of them and then over to the right, past the bleachers where they had several of their vehicles parked. Rick was curious about what they were discussing. He was happy to see them going about their lives as usual, but grew concerned when he didn't immediately see any weapons upon them when they knew full well the rules they had agreed upon about when being outside the cell block.

Always carry a gun and a blade of some sort. You never know.

Walking off the bridge at his left, he descended a set of stairs and then out a door that led directly into the courtyard. Wiping his hands on the sides of his black jeans, Rick approached Carol and Axel first, since they were closer.

"You two got your weapons on you?"

Carol looked down at her side and it was obvious she was mentally chastising herself. "Shit, sorry, Rick. I forgot. I was distracted with cleaning up some breakfast dishes and Sophia wanted to come outside to read."

Rick nodded. "Well, you don't have to go get it right now, but just try not to forget again. I know it's a nice day and that, in itself is distracting, but you never know when something might happen." He placed a hand on the woman's shoulder and then cast a glance at Axel. "What about you?"

"I've got a knife," the blonde former inmate remarked, patting his front pocket. "I've never actually fired a gun before, which is ironic."

"Why's that?" Carol wondered.

"I was arrested for robbing a store with a water pistol; a kid's toy." Rick narrowed his eyes and Axel elaborated. "The police didn't believe that anyone could be that stupid and get away with it, so they searched my brother's house and found my brother's .38, which 'matched the description'." He shrugged with a laugh. "Life's a bitch and then you die, right?"

Rick smirked and moved over toward Sophia, placing a hand on her back. "Sweetheart, why don't you move to that set of bleachers over there so you're not directly in the open?"

Sophia looked up at him and nodded obediently, getting up and walking to the other bleachers with her book.

Last, was Hershel and Jo; the former was standing at such a way that he could see Rick approaching while Jo couldn't. "Morning, Rick."

"Morning, Hershel. You got your weapons on you, right?"

Hershel nodded and pulled a small handgun out of his pocket. "I don't much like having to carry it on me at all times, though. It makes me feel a little uneasy," the older man admitted.

"Well, you only need it on you outside. You know it's a necessity right now."

"Unfortunately, I do."

Rick looked next to Jo, who was looking back at him already with a slightly guilty smile. "I have my pocket knife," she offered before he could ask what she had on her. "I left my gun in my cell. Hope needed to be fed and afterward Lori offered to look after her for a while and I completely walked right by my cell and started to talk to Hershel and then the others were coming outside…"

"I take responsibility for distracting her," Hershel remarked with a smile and a wink at the blonde.

Jo smiled back at him and then returned her gaze to Rick who was trying his best to look serious, but failing at it. With his hands on his narrow hips, he shrugged and looked between the pair on either side of him.

"I suppose just this once I can let it slide," Rick said with a hint of a smile creeping onto his lips, and focusing on her. "When you go inside next, can you grab your gun, though?"

She nodded. "Aye, aye, captain." Bringing a hand to her head, she mock saluted him.

Placing his own hand on Rick's arm, Hershel took his leave from the younger pair and walked over to talk to Carol and Axel about something. Rick then took that moment to finally breach the subject of the day before with Jo, despite how anxious it made him.

"Listen, I need to talk to you about, uh, yesterday; about what happened, about what I did."

Jo held in a chuckle and briefly pressed a hand to the same spot on his arm that Hershel had. "You make it sound like you hit me or something."

"N-no, I just," Rick looked down at his feet. "I feel like I owe you an apology. I didn't mean to catch you off guard or create any awkwardness between us."

With a lighthearted roll of the eyes and her smile, which didn't seem to be fading away anytime soon, Jo shook her head. "It was just a kiss, Rick, and on the cheek to boot. I said yesterday it was okay, and today I am reaffirming it was okay," she insisted. "Yes, you did catch me off guard, but no, there is no awkwardness, at least not on my part."

Rick released a noticeable sigh of relief and allowed a less anxious smile to take up residence on his lips. "That's good to know."

Jo sucked her bottom lip inward and chewed on it for a moment. Upon leaning forward, she didn't look directly at him as she uttered, "For what it's worth, it was a very nice kiss on the cheek and, for future reference, if you're worried about asking my permission to do it again, and not on the cheek, I would not be adverse to it." When she finally did meet his eye, that familiar change in the air from two nights prior seemed to return; like a match that was quickly dragged across its striker and coming alight with a flame.

Rick had to take a second to realize what she'd said, and even Jo had to come to terms with what she had admitted without wavering. She had more or less just admitted to him that she liked him, and it was obvious now to her that he felt something for her, and that he knew she knew. And now he knew she was open to a future kiss, which meant he knew she liked him, too. And, for the love of God, this was all very junior high.

Rick couldn't even seem to form words right away. He looked quietly down at the ground and nodded his initial response. "Um…also, uh, good to know," he remarked. He was positive he was blushing like a teenage girl, so he chose to look away from her and distract himself by looking toward the sky and focusing on the warmth of the morning sun beating down on their heads. "I should, uh…I should…"

For the love of Christ, Grimes, get your shit together, he chastised himself.

"I'm gonna check and see how Sophia's doing with her book," Jo spoke, saving him from trying to think up and excuse to step away from her to avoid further embarrassing himself.

"Yeah." Rick lowered his gaze and locked eyes with Jo long enough for him to catch the impish smile on her lips before she turned and walked over to the thirteen year old girl on the bleachers. He continued to stand there for a few more moments when he heard Glenn calling for him up in the guard tower.

"Rick! The fence!"

Immediately, his senses were alerted and Rick ran to the gate and peered in the direction Glenn was pointing in. Maggie was sidling up beside him, struggling to adjust her shirt with just one hand, which Rick had no time to find amusing; not the one-handed part, but the disheveled clothing part.

Thinking the worst, Rick was relieved to see it wasn't as bad as it could be.

The main, outer fence closer to footbridge that led to the woods was amassing quite a herd of walkers and it looked as if the fence was weakening under the weight of them all pressing upon it.

"Take out as many as you can from there!" Rick called up to Glenn and Maggie. Turning to Sophia and Jo, gestured at them. "Sophia, go inside the cell block and get the others. We need all hands on deck to take care of the fence issue, but then I want you stay inside with Lori and Hope, alright?"

"You want me to help with the fence, too?" Jo asked, impressed.

"Uh," he was momentarily distracted. "I'd rather you stay here in the courtyard or inside the cell block with Lori in the kids. If something happens, you should be close to your daughter, anyway."

Jo nodded compliantly. She couldn't deny the logic in his words. "Sophia, ask Andrea to bring out my gun, will ya?" she said to the girl before she disappeared into the building. "Tell her it should be on the top bunk in my cell."

"Okay," Sophia said, and off she ran into C Block.

Jo glanced over at Rick, but he was already over at the gate and opening it up. Carol was running up beside him and when he sensed her presence, he turned around and held his hand up.

"No, you don't have your gun on you. Just stay up here with Axel and Hershel."

"She can use my gun," Hershel offered.

"No," Rick insisted. "I had Sophia go get the others and she's going to stay inside, so Carol," he looked at her, "like, I told Jo, you should stay here or go inside, too. Be close to your daughter in case things go south."

"If you insist."

Rick nodded. "I do."

Closing the gate behind him, but not locking it, he unsheathed his machete and began to run over to the main fence. Several gunshots from the tower Glenn and Maggie were in rang out, followed by a few walkers at the outer fence dropping like flies. Jo ran over to the gate with Carol, making sure it stayed closed until the others came out and, when they did, there was a flurry of questions about what exactly happened.

"Too many walkers on the outer fence," Carol informed. "Looks like they could pull it down and get into the yard. Rick went ahead."

Shane cursed under his breath, and yanked the gate open, causing Carol and Jo to both back away rather abruptly as if they'd get whiplash otherwise. Daryl came up behind Carol, placing gentle hand briefly on her shoulder before tearing out into the yard with his crossbow strung up on his back. Merle, Oscar, T-Dog and Andrea followed suit; each brandishing blades, crowbars or poles sharpened explicitly for occasions such as this.

Jo stepped forward and closed the gate after them, but just stood there watching with her fingers curled around the chain-link. Carol stepped back and hesitated on what to do next before making a beeline for their cell block to check on Lori and the kids. Hershel and Axel came up behind Jo and just watched with her.

"There are enough of them to take care of that herd size and keep the fence from caving in," Hershel assured. "This will be just hiccup, but it will be an incentive to continue keeping our fortifications up to par. We should probably cut down some smaller tree trunks and use them as posts to maintain the fences."

Jo was listening, but her visual focus was on the group, popping walkers in the heads through the fence and watching them drop one and two at a time.

There were a few shouts among those at the outer fence, asking for assistance in certain spots, but everyone was incredibly quick and precise with their kills; wasting no time, because they really couldn't afford to go slow. The fence began to bow in an area where the most walkers were condensing, which brought the majority of the others to that same area.

"We gotta draw some of them away. They're sandwiching on top of each other because they see us in the same spot. Spread out and make them follow you along the fence!" Rick called out. He tapped Oscar on the shoulder, as the large man was closest to him at the moment. "I need you to come outside the fence and help me draw some away. We can pull the downed ones away from the fence afterward."

Oscar nodded, although he seemed a bit apprehensive. "I wish I'd grabbed some of that riot gear, or that it fit me."

Rick smirked despite the situation. He patted Oscar's gut briefly and then gestured for Oscar to follow. They ran across the grassy yard, with Andrea following to open and close the gates for them. Once the duo were outside the fences and free of the prison ground's security, they began to call out to the walkers and head toward the footbridge. If they could get the walkers to slip into the small waterway and lose their footing, it would make things a lot easier to get the upper hand.

It took about another five or ten minutes after that, but the group eventually dispatched with the last walker. The buildup outside the outer fence was somewhat tiresome to even think about moving. They would need to bring the truck down and load up the bed, so there'd be fewer trips removing the bodies to be burned.

Rick looked at Oscar and placed a hand on his shoulder in thanks for the help as he watched the others head back up toward the courtyard after he'd mentioned getting the truck, and bringing it outside the fence, to them.

Everything seemed calm and quiet at this point and they had just successfully maneuvered over a slightly difficult situation. But they proved they were more than capable of doing what had to be done in to ensure their primary defenses against walkers.

However, the calm didn't last.

It was merely the calm before the storm.

A solitary gunshot rang out and, for a moment, Rick thought maybe another walker was approaching and one of his people took it out.

But then he heard the scream.

The bullet had whizzed by Jo, barely missing her from where she remained at the gate to the courtyard. Blood splatter sprayed onto her neck and face and into her hair and, for a half a second, she wondered if it was her own blood. The sound of someone falling behind her made her turn around and look down at the ground to find Hershel bleeding out from a gunshot wound to the left of his neck.

"Oh my god!" she screamed.

Before she or anyone else could properly react, a barrage of gunfire was opened upon the prison.

Those in the courtyard scattered in a frantic attempt to find cover. Jo had dropped to her hands and knees beside Hershel, holding her hand to his neck, desperate to keep him from bleeding out too much. She winced as more bullets flew by her. One nicked her arm and she yelped. She needed to get to safety, too, but she couldn't leave Hershel. She looked up slightly and saw Axel was dead from multiple gunshots to the head and chest and Carol, who had returned from inside the cell block, was now taking cover behind his body. The others were shooting through the fences at whoever was shooting at them.

From what Jo could figure out, it was all coming from within the woods and seemingly from all directions.

"My…gun…" Hershel managed to say in between the gurgling of blood in his throat that was still seeping out his wound and now coming up out of his mouth. With one hand, Jo watched the old man withdraw his gun and push it over to her on the ground. "Take…"

Jo looked down at the gun and picked it up, nodding at him and then lifting his hand up and forcing him to hold it against his wound. "Don't die, please."

He risked a smile. "Go."

Jo hesitated but then jumped up to her feet, dodging a few bullets as she was called over by Shane to take cover with him and T-Dog behind one of the bleachers that had been tipped upright as a barricade of sorts.

"You hit?" Shane questioned, noticing blood running down her left arm.

"Just a graze, I think."

Content with her answer, Shane returned all his attention to aiming between the bleacher seating and firing and the figures that had stepped slightly out of the woods. "Motherfuckers," he growled under his breath as he began to angrily rattle off his vendetta against their assailants. "You come to my home and you fire upon my people. I swear on fuckin' baby Jesus I will fuckin' end you sons of bitches."

"Ditto," T-Dog remarked in agreement, firing off a few shots of his own.

Jo removed the safety from Hershel's gun and focused on where she was going to shoot. She just hoped she didn't hit one of their own, like Rick and Oscar who were still outside the outer fence or Andrea who was caught behind the overturned, grey prison bus.

"Rick," she muttered.

"D'you see him?" Shane asked.

"I don't see him at all." Fear began to wash over her as she thought the worst; that Rick had taken a fatal bullet to the head or chest and was lying dead in the grass. When she saw Shane catch her eye, she knew the same thought had entered his mind and it made them both equally scared and angry. "Sons of bitches," Jo repeated, as she continued to fire the remaining rounds left in Hershel's gun.

But then, the firing stopped and the prison group stopped when they realized they were no longer being shot at.

Taking a chance, several of them stepped out from behind whatever had been protecting them and were able to get a good look at the outskirts of the woods and take notice of the white truck with flood lights parked beside the road that lead into the prison which seemed to have been purposely hidden by some overgrowth.

One large black man and one tall white man with an eyepatch stood on either side with automatic rifles in their hands.

A man with an eyepatch?

Jo's heart leapt into her throat and her stomach somersaulted with fear.

"The Governor."

Shane and T-Dog glanced at her as the sound of a vehicle approaching at breakneck speed wafted through the air.

Moments later, what appeared to be a white and orange bread truck rammed right into both gates at the entrance to the yard. Andrea barely had enough time to get out of the way so that she wasn't run down. The bread truck drove halfway up the roadway in the yard and turned around slightly and then came to a stop. Everyone was so confused and curious about what was going on that they just stopped and stared.

Then, the back door lowered down abruptly, looking like a ramp, as walkers streamed out of the bread truck, with the fully-armored driver fleeing the prison's yard, and firing off a few shots with their own gun at whoever began firing back at him or her.

As gunshots began to ring out again, everyone took cover once more.

"Andrea! Get the hell out of there!" a voice screamed.

It was Rick, taking cover in the tall grass with his own gun which was out of bullets.

The Governor and his fellow assailants returned to their truck and pulled away as the prison group was left to deal with the new onslaught of walkers; those delivered to them in the yard and those outside the fences that were drawn out of the woods from the gunfire and shouting.

When Jo was certain they were safe from being shot, she dropped Hershel's gun. There were no bullets left in it anyway. Her first instinct was to run inside to check on Hope, but she knew her daughter was safe with Lori and Sophia inside the prison. Hershel, on the other hand…

Running over to him and dropping down beside him, she scanned her eyes over his face and tears stung her eyes when she saw how lifeless his own eyes were, staring blankly up at the sky; the last thing he would've seen. He was still bleeding out from his neck, though at a considerably slower pace. From all the blood loss, his body had grown too weak for him to keep the hand Jo had placed upon his neck stationary. Both his hands were resting flat on the ground, pooling in his blood. But the neck wound wasn't the only wound anymore. A few ricocheted bullets had struck him at random places on his body, which probably expedited his death. There were no shots to his head though, which meant it was only a matter of time before he reanimated.

"Maggie!" Jo cried out, knowing the brunette was nearby in the main tower.

Upon hearing her name called, the younger woman looked in the direction it came from and immediately screamed in grief when she saw her father lying on the ground in his own blood. "No! Daddy!"

Tearing out from the observance deck and down the tower's stairwell, Maggie quick busted through the door and pulled open the inner gate with her only hand. Running up to her father's body, she dropped to her knees as tears flooded her face.

Jo did all she could think to do and place a comforting hand on the small of her fellow female's back.

"He's gonna come back soon," Merle remarked, sauntering up with Daryl at his side, and sweating like a sinner in church. He wiped his brow with the back of his left hand and then gestured down at Hershel. "We're gonna have to take care of him."

"Don't you touch him!" Maggie barked. Then, after a sobering moment, she added, "I'll do it myself."

"Maggie, you don't have to do that," Shane insisted.

"Yes, I do. He's my father. He's my responsibility."

Pulling her pocket knife out, Jo flicked it open and handed it over to Maggie. With a grateful nod, Maggie accepted the small blade and gripped it tightly in her right hand and held it over her father's forehead for a moment, shaking slightly. She had such a determined look on her face but her resolve was crumbling. Without warning, Maggie sank back onto the heels of her feet and her shoulders slouched in defeat.

"I can't," she admitted. With an overwhelmed look of sadness, Maggie caught Jo's eye and handed the pocket knife back. "I can't do it."

"It's okay," Jo assured. She suddenly sensed all eyes were on her and it was like everyone was holding their breaths. Holding tight to the knife with her right hand, she used her left to smooth back Hershel's hair at the top of his head and then hold his head still. She could see Maggie staring at her father's face out the corner of her eye. "Maggie, look away," she said adamantly.

As Maggie slowly relented and turned her face, Jo released a breath and sank the blade of her pocket knife directly into Hershel's forehead. The moment she pulled the blade back out, the inner gate creaked and rolled open as Glenn sauntered into the courtyard and dropped down beside Maggie, taking her in his arms as her sobs began to rack her body. Moments later, Andrea and Rick followed, quickly locking the gate behind them.

"Where's Oscar?" Jo heard Carol ask.

There was no verbal response from Rick, but Jo could hear him shaking his head, signifying that Oscar, too, had died this day.

"Aw, no…Hershel," Rick groaned, realizing who everyone was huddled around.

He stepped forward and crouched down on the other side of the older man's corpse, across from Jo, Maggie and Glenn. His eyes focused briefly on Hershel's face, the gunshot wound to his neck and then over at Jo's hand, holding her pocket knife. Lifting his own sad gaze upon her face, he could see she was considerably unnerved by everything, the same as the others. But, now she also had the weight of having been the one to put Hershel down before he reanimated on her shoulders. Reaching a hand up to Hershel's face, Rick closed the dead man's unseeing eyes and then, with the same hand, he reached across to Jo and took her pocket knife from her. She didn't seem to mind the gesture. It was almost as if she was thankful to be free of it.

"Is everyone else accounted for? Anyone hurt?" he wondered.

"Axel's dead," Carol offered up.

Rick nodded and scanned the group. In minutes, their numbers had dropped from sixteen to thirteen. Losing the former inmates wasn't hard to accept, but Hershel had been like father to everyone, not just literally to Maggie. He had been their father, or grandfather in Sophia's case, their brother, their friend, their doctor and the moral center of their group.

"One of the bullets that struck Axel as I used him for cover went through and got my thigh," Carol continued. The others looked up and noticed she was holding her leg.

Daryl was at her side in a heartbeat, throwing an arm around her back. "C'mon, let's get you inside and that bullet taken out."

Carol nodded and allowed him to cart her off.

"What just happened here?" Andrea demanded, completely flustered; her nerves shot.

"The Governor," Jo and Merle said at the same time. They even looked at each other afterward, too.

"I recognized that truck the moment I saw it. That was The Governor and one of his other goons, Shumpert," the older Dixon added. "No doubt Martinez was nearby; probably hiding in the woods like a little bitch. I don't know who was driving the bread truck, though. They looked small; possibly a female. Could be Haley. She always seemed eager to prove her worth."

"So, The Governor's found us and he just decided to attack us without warning?" T-Dog questioned rhetorically. "What a great guy," he added with a pound of sarcasm mixed with indignation. "Remind me to send him a thank you card."

Glenn had pulled Maggie up to her feet, continuing to embrace her as she cried. Andrea offered a hand, giving the younger woman the same kind of comforting rub to her back that Jo had.

"What do we do next?" Shane asked, looking down at Rick. "What's our next move now?"

"This was strategic," Rick stated, still crouched, with his arms draped over his legs. His eyes were looking down at Hershel's torso, but he wasn't necessarily focused on the torso. He was dazed off in thought. "This was planned. He had to have been watching us, waiting for us. For all we know that herd of walkers on the fence was brought here by him before the sun rose."

Glenn mentally kicked himself. "We should've kept better watch," he said, referring to him and Maggie.

"No, don't blame this on yourselves," Rick insisted. "This is on that bastard. He did this."

"He's sending a message," Jo finally spoke up. "He knows we're here. He's probably seen Merle and me." She began to clam up at her own words. Her brow knitted together and her hands began to shake.

Noticing as much, Rick stood up and walked around Hershel's body to grab her up to her feet as well. He noticed the blood on her arm and the slight gash across her skin. He hadn't realized she'd been shot; even it was just a graze that she had received. There was a lot of blood on her arms, hands and clothes and some splatter on her face, neck and in her hair, but he knew it was all primarily from Hershel. She must've been standing right next to the older man when he'd been shot.

"Hey, I made you a promise," Rick spoke, staring into her eyes which were cast down and away from his face as he gripped her shoulders. "I won't let him get to you or Hope. I won't let him get that far."

Jo lifted her eyes and looked back at him, making a face. "He found us all. Oscar, Axel and Hershel are dead because he got that far," she reminded. "Merle said it himself that The Governor's become unhinged. He's out for blood. He wants mine, and probably Merle's, too, for proving to be a turncoat, and he'll take down whoever gets in his way." Jo pulled herself out of Rick's grasp and shook her head. "This is far from over. He's not finished yet."

Rick stared back at her and pursed his lips, scowling, but not at her — at the situation. Glancing upon the other faces of his people, he gave a slight nod of his head. "Then we'll finish it."

Shane scoffed. "How exactly?

"We'll bring the fight to his door and see how he likes it."

"We should just leave here, find someplace new and far away where he can't find us," T-Dog commented.

Rick tilted his head and narrowed his gaze at the man. "Where do you recommend?" he asked but didn't actually expect or need an answer of any kind. "We've put too much of our blood, sweat and tears into making this place safe to just walk away from it."

"Well, it ain't exactly as safe as it was, now is it?" Merle quipped. "That asshole took down those gates like a warm knife cutting into butter."

"Gates can be fixed," Glenn stated, still holding onto Maggie.

"That's right," Rick agreed. He nodded again and looked around at everyone present. "This is our home. We will fight to keep it safe and protect our loved ones and, if that means we go to war with that sonofabitch, then that's exactly what's gonna happen." He pointed his finger around, to accentuate the point he was making. "If we don't fight, we die; and I'll be damned if I let any more of us die because of that man."

"If we're taking the fight to Woodbury, I'm going with you," Jo announced.

Rick turned to face her and shook his head. "No, you need to stay here with Hope, and you said yourself you couldn't go back there, and you shouldn't; not after everything he did to you."

Jo shrugged. "That was before he killed Hershel, and Axel and Oscar. That was before he attacked us without warning. Because of everything he did to me is why I need to go back. I can't live in fear of him anymore. I need to face him once and for all so I can kill him."

"That doesn't need to be on your hands," Andrea assured, placing a hand on her fellow blonde's arm.

"Yes, it does." She practically glared at Andrea and jerked away. "Whether it's my fault in the grander scheme of things or not, he came here because of me and what I took from him — his eye, his dead daughter and his unborn daughter, who he may or may not know has been born by now." She turned her eyes upon Rick and, with a steely gaze, added, "I'm not asking for permission to go; I'm telling you that I'm going."

"Can we discuss all of this later?" Maggie asked. "My father's dead and we need to bury him."

"We can't do any of that until we clear out the yard of those walkers and do something about blocking those broken gates," Shane said, gesturing to the walkers that had ambled over to the courtyard's inner gate and were snarling at them from the other side.

"We put down these ones right here and then we can drive the RV down and park it along the opening like we did at that storage facility over the winter," T-Dog spoke, pointing at the walkers along the inner gate with his empty gun. "Then we get to burying. It's still early enough; not even noon, I bet. We got all day to get this shit taken care of, and then we can sit down and talk about our next move now that our hand's been forced."

Rick nodded. "Alright. Let's get some shovels and some sheets to cover our people with."

"I'll get the sheets," Maggie offered, storming off away from the others to head into C Block.

Glenn looked back at them, and chose to follow his girlfriend, leaving the task of taking out walkers and blocking the yard off on Rick, Shane, T-Dog, Merle and Jo.

"Oscar's outside the outer fence," Rick mentioned, lifting his machete and walking up to the inner gate.

"I'll go out there with you to get him," Shane offered, joining his longtime friend at the gate, pulling out his own knife.

As the pair began to pop a few of the walkers in the head through the chain-link, Merle and T-Dog seemed to put aside their own differences at the moment and lift Hershel up and moved him closer to the side of the other cell block, and then do the same with Axel's body so they all had room later to get the RV through the gate.

Daryl came back out shortly after to assist with taking care of the walkers in the yard once T-Dog had gotten behind the wheel of the RV. They opened up the inner gate and down the dirt road he drove, with the others hurrying out after him. Andrea stayed behind in the courtyard, maintaining the inner gate, needing a break from the excitement after having been stuck in the yard when the bread truck barreled in and all those walkers were released. Jo had swapped knives with Andrea, though; handing over her little pocket knife in exchange for Andrea's larger, hunting knife which would do more damage in the yard full of walkers.

Blades sliced through skulls and, even though it wasn't her short sword, which she had only had for a short time but had gotten so keen on using, Jo almost felt as if she was in her element. She was finally contributing the way she felt she should be. It was also therapeutic, and not just for her. Everyone was able to get a lot of their aggression out the walkers; pretending it was The Governor they were killing instead.

At least, that's who Jo envisioned with each stab and slice.

While T-Dog drove the RV outside of the fence, he remained seated, blocking the outer gate while he waited for Rick and Shane to find Oscar's body, which was being gnawed on by other walkers. Luckily, Oscar had been shot at least once in the head so there was no worry of him reanimating. When they began to carry his large body, which was now much heavier from dead weight, T-Dog reversed the RV to give them enough room to get back inside the fences and then he parked it again, completely blocking the entrance.

Merle and Daryl brought the shovels, and Maggie and Glenn had the sheets, having taken the ones from the beds the deceased had been sleeping in. It just seemed like the fitting place to retrieve them from. Maggie took it upon herself to wrap her father's body while Daryl took care of Axel. Hershel and Axel's bodies were loaded up into the bed of the truck they had used earlier in the morning for the walkers that had been gathering on the outer fence and had yet to burn.

Three new graves commenced being dug beside Dale's and when it was time for burial, Lori and Carol came outside with the children, though Jo asked if Lori would hold Hope for her until she cleaned up from all the dirt, sweat and blood that was covering her.

Hershel had been the religious one among them all, despite everything that had happened up to that point. The world had tried and tried, but it hadn't been able to break his faith. But now, with him gone, there wasn't really anyone left knowing what to say over the graves.

So, Glenn did.

The words he spoke were short, but sweet, and they summed up Hershel to a T. A few words were said about Oscar and Axel, too, as not to leave them out, but the focus really was on the retired veterinarian. Maggie, broken from her loss, along with her own faith, had placed her father's bible in his grave with him. When Glenn tried to convince her otherwise, that it was something of her father's that she should keep, she shrugged him off.

"It's just a book," she muttered, and walked away back toward the prison.

One by one, everyone returned to the courtyard, saddened and weary-eyed. They tried to ignore the coagulated blood stains on the concrete left behind by Hershel and Oscar as they reentered C Block and more or less all went their separate ways. Most went to their cells to try and clean up.

Jo, on the other hand, asked Andrea if it was okay if she kept the hunting life a little longer. When Andrea said it was more than alright, Jo exited C Block with an armful of clean clothes and headed to D Block; cutting through to the shower room they had rigged up just before Hope was born.

Carol had actually been responsible for that. She was just crafty in that way.

Thinking she was alone when she slipped behind the opaque curtain, Jo set down Andrea's hunting knife and began to peel off her shirt. She dropped it unceremoniously to the floor and then slowly stepped out of her jeans and boots, kicking them off in the same pile her clothes were in. Standing there in no more than her bra and underwear, she was about to reach for the lever to get the water pouring out when someone cleared their throat.

Turning around, Jo stuck her head out from behind the curtain and saw Rick standing there in the doorway, looking a little sheepish.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to interrupt you. I thought I'd catch you in time."

Jo shrugged and stepped out, folding her arms under her chest. "It's okay. What did you need?"

Without missing a beat, Rick looked away and stared off at the wall as if it were really interesting. "I just thought maybe you needed some help cleaning up that wound on your arm."

Narrowing her eyes, Jo shifted her weight from one leg to the other. "Are you mad at me because I said I'm going to Woodbury?"

"What? No, I'm not…well, I'm not happy about it, but no. Why?"

"Because you're avoiding eye contact with me like the plague."

Rick lifted a hand and gestured at her. "I'm trying to be a gentleman," he answered. "You're standing there in your underwear."

Jo raised an eyebrow. "You've seen me naked from the waist down," she said, deadpan. "I own husband didn't get to see that much of me until we'd been together almost two years."

"Two years? He held out that long?"

"We were juniors in high school. I wasn't ready till we got to college."

"Oh," Rick nodded, but still couldn't bring himself to give in and look right at her just yet.

"If your delicate sensibilities are still all ruffled, just pretend I'm wearing a bikini. That's less taboo, right?"

Rick finally dragged his eyes over at her, giving her a look that was withering mixed with amusement. "Funny."

Despite everything, Jo smirked back at him. She didn't care that she was standing there in her underwear. She was covered where it counted. She also didn't care that her stomach was still swollen from giving birth a week and a half before. Jo was slowly working on getting that down, but it wasn't a priority and it wasn't something that bothered her much, like it might have in the world before. There were just too many other important things that mattered more.

"I don't need my wound taken care of right now, but thank you," she finally commented. "It'll get cleaned up once I'm showered, but afterward I think I might needs a couple of stitches or, at the very least, a bandage. So, if your offer still stands on helping to take care of it still stands…"

"It does," he replied a little too quickly. He was looking directly at her now; there was no shying away like before. "Wound aside — are you doing okay?"

He took a step forward, his hands on his hips.

Jo nodded. "As good as I can be. I mean, we just lost three people today and one of them was Hershel. I felt like he was gonna be the one to outlive all of us in some sort of ironic twist of fate, you know? It doesn't seem right that he's gone."

"Yeah, I know," Rick agreed, glumly.

He took another step forward. Whether it was a subconscious move or not was unknown.

"I'm sorry you got hurt today," he continued, pointing at her arm. "But thank you for helping as much as you did."

"I had to."

"You could've made a run for it back inside here and hid with your daughter."

"I knew she was safe with Lori," Jo said. "And, if I had tried running away, out from behind that bleacher that was keeping me protected, I probably would've been shot and killed, either by a direct bullet or one that ricocheted."

"In that case, I'm glad you didn't run."

Jo smiled. "I'm glad you weren't shot or killed either."

Rick looked down guiltily at the floor. "I kinda was shot."

"What?" Jo's eyes went wide and alert as she closed the gap between them and placed her hands on his arms and tried giving him a once over. "Where? Are you okay?"

Chuckling a little, Rick nodded. "My right leg, but it was just a graze like yours."

Scowling, Jo slapped him hard enough on the chest, causing him to stumble back an inch or two. "You dick," she remarked. "Don't scare me like that." She was looking seriously at him. There was no amusement in her eyes, only concern. "If you'd been killed, too…"

Rick watched as she pursed her lips together and she got that sad, puppy dog look about her. The general concern she had for his well-being made his heart flutter, but he felt bad that he had momentarily given her worry. So, in response, Rick reached his arms out and pulled her into a hug; letting his considerable stubble brush against the smoothness of her cheek.

"I'm sorry. I didn't intend to give you a scare."

Jo returned the embrace, leaning easily into it, and it felt so nice. It was like she was made for his arms. Letting out a sigh, she dug her fingers gently into his upper back. "Don't do it again."

"I'll try my best."

When she lifted her head, they both pulled back slightly at the same time and looked each other in the eye. Rick was smirking somewhat as her own gaze wandered to his lips, and how his bottom lip was fuller that the upper lip, and how soft it looked. Since his eyes had been on hers, he had taken note of the dip her gaze took and knew where she was looked, even if only briefly.

"For what it's worth, it was a very nice kiss on the cheek and, for future reference, if you're worried about asking my permission to do it again, and not on the cheek, I would not be adverse to it."

Those had been the exact words she'd spoken to him just that morning.

Lifting his hands to either side of her face, Rick watched as her eyes immediately returned to his. After a moment, he leaned in and kissed her lips, and let it linger as she quickly reciprocated the gesture. Jo leaned her body in a bit more so she could wrap her arms a back again, so that the kiss was pretty much an all or nothing move. Their tongues began seeking access to the other's mouth and their teeth soon clanked against each other the more heated the kiss became.

But that's as far as it went.

After what felt like an eternity, and the need for air became prominent, Rick pulled away first and couldn't help but admire the way Jo's eyes were closed and how her lips were so full and flush from dueling with his own. But he had to stop. If he didn't then, he didn't think he'd be able to at all and he knew she wasn't in that place just yet, even if her kiss said otherwise. Whether she said it or not, Rick knew she was still mentally hung up on what was done to her by The Governor and it hadn't even been two weeks since giving birth. Her mind and her body weren't ready for anything more, and a small fraction of Rick wasn't either.

"That was no cheek kiss," Jo muttered with a lazy smile.

Dropping his hands, he let them linger down to her hips, gripping them slightly as he nodded. "Nope," he agreed. "I'll, uh, leave you alone to freshen up." He began to turn around to leave, running a hand through his hair at how flustered he was feeling in the wake of that kiss.

Jo nodded. "I'll come find you afterward."

Rick stopped and threw her a look over his shoulder. "Oh?"

"My arm's gonna need some attention," she replied. "And with Hershel gone, I'd rather it was you who took care of it. Plus, you're gentle."

He smirked. "Alright," he nodded. "I'll either be in the Common Room or my cell. I won't be far."

"I know."

Jo watched as Rick slipped out of the shower room with what looked to be more of a skip in his usual swagger, and it turned her smirk into more of a smile. After everything they had just been put through that morning, and all the anger, rage and grief they were feeling from their mutual loss, it was always a welcome change of pace to feel something happy. She loved each member of the prison group in different ways, as family or, at the very least, as a friend. However, she was beginning to realize, more and more, that as long as she had her daughter and as long as Rick was around, she could always find happiness. She could always find a light in the darkness.

The red she saw didn't always have to be that of rage or danger. It could be that of love and joy and, maybe, at some point in the future, that of passion.

As Jo stepped once more behind the shower curtain, she slipped out of her bra and her underwear and set them aside with the rest of her stained clothes and boots were. Reaching a hand up, she pulled the lever to the make-shift shower and cold water began to spray down over her head. It gave her a bit of a chill initially, but she did her best to ignore it and, eventually, her body temperature acclimated to the water's temperature to a certain extent.

Watching the water run down her body, Jo rinsing her clean. As she stared down at her feet, she took note of a different kind of red that swirled clockwise down the drain.

Blood.

And it only a tiny fraction of it belonged to her.

And that made her see the angry side of red again.