As it turned out, expecting while being expected to be one of the leaders in a bunker ended up being the easiest part of a seven year long stay underground.

They had heard from other survivors in the days following. By some miracle, all of the remaining Whitetails had made it. Addie and Hurk Jr were settling with the Hurk's Gate survivors, much to the former's feigned annoyance. Hurk Sr. had elected to stay, having launched into an argument with Addie about being stuck with all the "young liberal rats" and most likely had changed his mind at the last minute and failed to make it to the bunker. The last survivor they had heard from was Robert, confirming he and his family were safe as well.

Thirty residents had ended up inside, and by some luck, three of them had been doctors, so health had been taken care of, and Nic, Kim and the other pregnant woman, Jill, had help along the way, and what the doctors didn't know, other mothers in the bunker would help out with, and Allan, who made contact from another bunker a couple of days after things had settled, talked them through checkups and the like.

Tensions of the first year had been nightmarish. Of course, no one had expected to be stuck in a bunker when the Collapse actually came, but everyone had thought about it- but they hadn't really thought about how stir crazy they'd end up being.

There had been about twenty fights that nearly came to blows the first few weeks. John had naturally been on one side of about eight of them and had been the one to step in to break two of them up- which ended up causing about five more.

John himself had been a wreck the first few months. After the dust cleared, the fact that he had literally lost one of the last things he had in life, given their inconsistent last few minutes together set in for the man, and he had withdrawn from everyone but Nicolette accordingly. It had been strange for everyone to see the most arrogant charismatic enemy the valley ever had reduced to a quiet depressed shell for a while.

To his own surprise, Earl had been the one to drag him out of it. He had cornered John between shifts at the radio and insisted that he understood his loss, but he thought he had made himself clear weeks before when he had demanded he get his shit together and make up for his past with them, get up, you've got the girl who might as well be my daughter and a kid on the way to look out for, just fucking try ."

The odd mix of underlying unsaid threat and fatherly concern was jarring, but not unwelcome. Most importantly it did the trick and got him further out of the hole he and the universe had shoved him into. After that, John had actively sought out the Sheriff's company most of the time, albeit for daily tasks or just conversation. When he wasn't around, Jerome had been the one to act the part of confidant, much to everyone's surprise, though everyone seemed to understand his logic more. It was strange for the others to see, but it settled their own nerves about the whole thing a bit, and that had been enough.

The months that followed went mostly the same with people trusting John more bit by tiny bit.

There had been another shift when the "Apocalypse Baby" had decided it was time to be born.

As much as she hated to so much as consider the word, the fact that the kid had made it that far considering all it had been through, Nicolette had considered it a miracle- for both of their sakes. After the first clean bill of health pre-birth, Sharky had heard everything was sound and had made the joke that the whole situation was "like some Lost shit, the county itself is protecting the kid with some supernatural mumbo jumbo.' She wasn't sure what to think when she realized he might have been right at that rate.

Of course, a perfectly safe and potentially other-worldly protected baby made for a rough time. Given the limited resources, she knew she was in for a world of hurt. But twelve hours of it had been overkill.

After the birth, the doctor and his helpers had cleared out, and she had her son in her arms, she had glanced at John, huddled in the furthest corner, staring at the pair of them, face a mix of too many emotions. "After witnessing what I just went through you're not allowed to use the 'ocean of pain' metaphor ever, ever again..." she said quietly.

John let out a weak laugh. "Only ever used it once, didn't plan on using it again."

She smiled, then motioned at her. "Get over here and meet your son."

John scooted closer slowly, equal parts admiring, on the verge of tears and afraid to come near it.

"You're not gonna taint him just by looking at him," she pointed out.

"We don't know that," John answered quietly.

" I do. Come on."

John caved after that, knees touching the bed, still visibly on the edge of about twenty emotions.

"We actually have to name him now," she pointed out.

John glanced from the baby to her. "You know... ' Cal' was starting to grow on me."

She sighed. "Yeah. Me too. But we gotta come up with something better than 'Apocalypse' as the full name. Talk about that on a playground, nuh-uh."

"Callan?" John supplied after a moment.

"Callan. I like it," she answered. "Callan Charlemagne," she quipped after a moment.

"Not on your life ."

"Aww, come on, the Ryes are the godparents, it would make Sharky's life. It's not like his middle name is gonna be Sharky."

"Callan Nicolas then, we'll make Sharky godfa- no, that's worse ."

"Told you. And I don't wanna pull a Nick and have my name in the kid's in any capacity, so no."

Cal cooed between them and reached up, accidentally poking John in the chest, and Nicolette watched his chest tighten at the touch and then his eyes did the same range of emotions they had mere seconds before. "Hey, you're gonna be fine. We're gonna be fine," then, for good measure: "I love you."

It hadn't been the first time she had said it. That had been a few months ago after she woke up from him waking up from a nightmare that was apparently equal parts about his childhood and his later years with Joseph. He had settled back into bed with her and held her with such determination to force the dream out of his head that she felt like she was obligated to say so, but by then, he had come too far for her not to say it and mean it. He had been a right mess after that, but a happy mess, and he didn't look haunted anymore.

That moment wasn't much different. He kissed her, and much to their amusement, Cal immediately started crying.

Nicolette pulled away and looked down at him. "You jealous, little guy?" she cradled him more, offered her finger and he and took it and nearly immediately stopped, and her answering grin could've lit up a town. "See? We love you, too." She looked at John again. "You okay to hold him?"

John choked on his tongue for a moment, then clenched his jaw. He inhaled sharply, scooted impossibly closer and started to take Cal from her, slow as could be.

Nicolette watched him carefully, ready to step back in if he couldn't manage. She was beside herself when a moment later, all it took was Cal to look John in the eye before John crumpled with another weak laugh, eyes shining with happy tears.

John touched his forehead to the boy's. "Hi, little guy…" he sighed. "You're going to want for nothing, I promise. Your mom's right. We're gonna love you forever. I'm not gonna make your grandparents' mistakes with you. I'm gonna make a lot, but not theirs . You're gonna have to bear with me."

"The only grandparent you've got is Grandpa Earl, and he's gonna love you, too," Nicolette pointed out.

" And kill your mother for not giving him 'Uncle' status," John added.

"He'll do nothing of the sort," Nicolette replied, and grinned again when Cal smiled up at them again.

John sighed. "Our son…" he said quietly. He let out a nearly giddy laugh. "I'm a father…" he went on. Something crossed his features and he handed Cal back carefully.

"Hey. You're not them," Nicolette told them.

John was silent for a while, then smiled weakly again. "Thank you."

She knew that he was thanking her for a lot more than the sentiment or the kid and the opportunity to not be his parents. "You too."

John merely hummed, but it didn't sound like a confirmation or denial.

"Hey, we've got this. You know that, right?" when he merely sighed and couldn't meet her eyes again, she leaned over. "You know what simple answer I'm looking to hear, right?"

That derailed whatever train of thought had been going through his head. He looked back at her, then Cal, and the posItives that had been going through his mind seconds ago apparently won out, because the weak smile was back, but far more genuine- far more at ease. And then, "Yes. "

"And there it is."

Raising a child in the bunker had been surprisingly easy. "It takes a village to raise a child" proved to be absolutely true.

John had taken a while to let the determination that he wasn't going to be his parents win out. Cal's first year of life had been a roller coaster for the man. Even after his confirmation that they'd be okay, he kept as much of a distance as his self-doubt would allow on occasion. Any time the boy needed any sort of discipline he had been happy to hand him over to Nicolette, and have her take over for a while.

To Nicolette's secret relief, there was no question that John loved their son. He had made it a habit every single day to tell Cal he loved him daily, forehead touch and all. That had been enough to settle her nerves. It had been better when Joseph came up in conversation for the second time since they had been in the bunker and once asked, John had admitted he 'wouldn't know what to do if Joseph had survived- but one thing was certain- "he's not getting anywhere near our son."

Still, they had a rumor to uphold, so while John was the decent father he wanted to be behind closed doors, Sharky took up the mantle in public where John just looked like a friendly bystander, shocking everyone with being kind to the child. Though Sharky had ended up sharing a name with the boy, he acted just as much a godfather to Cal as Nick had. Callan Charlemagne with Nick as a godfather had ended up being the 'lesser of two evils.' Sharky had hardly ever been seen during his free time without Cal in his arms. After a while, even John had come to not mind the man's presence in their lives. The two of them had even become friendly after a while.

It had changed their dynamic with each other and Nicolette immensely, and it had hardly come as a surprise to them when the three of them had ended up falling into bed with each other, and then on occasion after that.

Not long after Cal had learned to walk, he had gained his parents' reputation for finding trouble. In one case, Earl had come into the Rye-Seed-Boshaw-Stone room to find Cal attempting to scale a tall dresser when Nicolette and Kim had been distracted with Nikki trying to do the same in the dresser across the room. The older man had scooped him off the dresser and gone to John later that day, commenting in good humor about the fact that he and his siblings had accounted for babies in the bunkers but not babyproofing . He had tried not to look too impressed with the man when John had traded a radio shift with Nick in order to say and start making plans to remedy that.

Of course, from then on, Nikki, Cal, and the other bunker-born child, Tommy, had become a force to be reckoned with when they were all together. Once they were three and gained the ability to run without stumbling and the knowledge that they could scream "No" and run away from adults telling them what to do (Sharky had found the first time Cal did it to John hilarious , considering the man's former obsession with the opposite word. The kids' discovery of occasionally interrupted free reign added an entirely new level of stress to the bunker.

Cal had started to look like a spitting image of John in all but the eyes not long after- another thing Joseph was right about, they thought, but didn't dare say. so The rumor that Sharky was the father had slowly come to an end because of the change. There was the crowd that has always known but kept it quiet whose suspicions were confirmed, and then those who had believed it were surprised and hurt for Sharky's benefit until the man explained it was his idea in the first place. The fact that John was practically a new person, significantly more sane and on their side who treated the boy with nothing but love did wonders to ease what would've been monumental concerns pre-Bunker.

John had overheard one resident say as much, and came up with a drastic but not unwelcome solution.

He decided to officially close the book on 'his old life.' On a particularly quiet night when the Ryes were taking care of the kids, he and Nicolette had spoken about him taking her last name in the bunker's 'first and most likely only very loosely-defined, hardly binding' common law marriage' so Joseph's claim about John Seed dying could officially be true; and the others would possibly feel a little more at ease. It also provided an opportunity to leave the last name that carried so much weight behind once it came time to leave the bunker. Nicolette had accepted, surprised at just how happy it had made her, and commented about it being 'a good thing that Hurk Senior wasn't around to go on about 'the man of the County's big power couple emasculating himself by taking the woman's name', decent reasoning or not.

John had called it a blessing and pulled her back to bed to celebrate the milestone- and to stop her from making any other equally horrible jokes.

Things evened out after that. They might have even passed for being called normal, despite the situation being anything but.

Before long, they had reached the seven year mark, and everyone was over-eager to get out and see what remained of Hope County. There had been days of discussion between the bunkers about just when to leave. John had been the reluctant main speaker, insisting that all the claims he had heard and all that Joseph preached was that it was just "safe" to leave at that point- he had no idea what would meet them outside, just that the world could be 'made anew' and innocent and the like.

Nicolette had figured keeping quiet about her own scattered dreams about it was the best approach. She didn't need her friends being paranoid about her sanity after all of it. She was already paranoid enough, but she was happy that she wasn't hearing any sort of Voice yet. She realized that was probably looking a gift horse in the mouth and daring something to happen. Then again, Joseph had never been stable. Maybe he had just gotten the crook end of too many deals. All that her subconscious gave her was grey skies that cleared, layers of ash on fields being dug away and and replaced with dirt- the world recovering . And she was supposed to be front and center in making sure it went well in Hope County. She still couldn't believe it.

As a county they decided to wait a couple of months, as much as it pained them to wait.

By the time "Leaving Day" was around the corner, everyone tried to coordinate plans: sate certain curiosities, go to their old homes, regroup the first night, work out what each individual wanted from there.

There was the fear that leftover Peggies were around- if not out there already, and were still loyal to Joseph, whether the man was still alive or not. It had been enough that most of them checked weapon caches.

Nicolette found it borderline insulting that Joseph had gained the visions that gave him all the answers and told him about potential enemies when she just got glimpses of eminent destruction pre-Collapse and just landscapes after.

It was just her luck, really.

It didn't help that she was worried about Cal and Nikki and Tommy. It was supposedly going to be safe and liveable if they could trust Joseph's word after all, but adults and teenagers had experienced life and conditions outside before bunker life. It was going to be a potentially dangerous situation for them, but for kids whose bodies didn't have the experience in open air, it was probably going to be a bigger nightmare.

Of course, that didn't stop the five and six year olds from being ecstatic about it, even with their minimal understanding of all the facts.

On Leaving Day, Cal had taken a flying leap onto John and Nicolette's bed, sprawling on top of his parents who had naturally just managed to get to sleep after losing sleep over the fact that their time in the bunker might be over in less than twenty four hours or so.

It had woken up the Ryes from an equally restless sleep, and then Nikki had copied her friend and also pounced on them, encouraging them to get going for the day because they 'wanted to see where their parents lived.'

Nick had looked to John and Nicolette for support for that one, and they had come up with the staple of 'we'll see.'

By the time the afternoon rolled around, every single person in the bunker was loitering in the man landing, just waiting. It took Nicolette a while to realize they were most likely waiting on her, considering she had been coined the defacto leader of the group. 'We'll… leave in an hour. Stick with the plan. It's scouting for now- getting closure, if you need to. If you're going out in a group, keep close, one person gets a radio, regroup with the one with the radio first. Be careful, be ready for anything..." she sighed. "And if it all works out, if everything's safe… enjoy life, I guess?"

There was a mixture of applause and nervous energy merely manifesting after that. She shrugged. "Now go get whatever you and let's get ready."

The others cleared out after that to do just that.

Earl drifted over to her from the back of the crowd. "Definitely have to stop calling you Rook now. You're the boss, I'm just an old man now."

"Don't you dare," she countered. "And no, you're not. Where are you going after this?"

"You tell me, Kid. Me dragging you here started this mess. It's only fair that you call the shots here."

"John and I talked about checking out the Ranch. It's probably one of the only places left remotely standing around here. Come with us."

"You got it," Earl agreed. He pulled her into a hug. "You did it. You got us here."

"Gotta get us out, too," she pointed out.

"If it's anyone who can do it, you can," Earl replied. "You've made that clear enough already."

She leaned into his shoulder briefly, then pushed off to go get whatever she could shove into a bag for later.

By the time the hour was up and everyone was hovering, waiting all over again, Nicolette led the way to the door and gave one final glance around. Another chapter of her life over and done, just like that, and a brand new one was about to swing open- literally. And it was probably going to be the most intense one yet. John was up front with her, shoulder to shoulder with Earl, who was giving Cal and Nikki beside him The Look. They had talked about that particular detail, too. They were worried for the kids but they knew there was no sense in being in denial they wouldn't bolt for the door, so they had settled for keeping them corralled in one spot, and Earl had volunteered to be the extra voice of reason since both kids had picked up on the fact that even their parents did everything Earl said immediately, and they best do the same thing.

Nicolette made it the rest of the way up the stairs and the other residents followed. She opened the door with quite a bit of difficulty and swung it open.

Light blinded her, much like it had the first time she had opened Dutch's bunker and arrived onto the same soil she was going to step into a few seconds later. Her vision cleared, thing evened out and she took in the sight to behold.

It was… far less horrible than expected. Most of Falls End was flattened or in ruins that she could see from there. It wasn't lost on her that the Church seemed to be the building in the best shape of the bunch. More importantly, the fields looked mostly intact- trees were another story. But it was nothing like the greyed out visions of hers- the sky was blue, sun was still shining- it was an odd disconnect.

There were stunned murmurs from behind her, and then, more importantly, Cal declare "Cool!" before the sound of him running became a glaring priority. She stepped back, caught him around the middle and pulled him up. "Don't even think about it," she scolded. A moment later, something in the distance caught her eye, and she wasn't sure whether to laugh or groan. "John…"

The Yes sign was still standing, though it was frayed and discolored.

John looked where she had and huffed put a laugh. "Well…"

"There's a you-shaped metaphor in there, somewhere," Earl murmured to John.

John shot him an unreadable look.

Earl smiled reassuringly and clapped him on the back, and that had been that.

Cal looked between them, then at the sign. "Mommy, why did someone write 'Yes' on the hill?"

"Because they were very, very confused, Bud," John cut in.

"Why were they confused?"

John laughed weakly. "Should've seen that coming. Maybe I'll tell you when you're older."

Nicolette shot him a puzzled look, and he shrugged. He looked up when Sharky stopped gawking in order to join them. "Where are you headed, Sharky?"

Sharky coughed and rubbed his neck. "Well, I figure there's no chance in Hell that any of my shit or my house made it, so… was hopin' I could come with y'all for company's sake. And safety, in case uh… there are… mutated wild things around, or Capital P Problems, if you catch my drift."

"We catch it," Earl agreed.

Nicolette looped her free arm around Sharky's neck. "Come on. Let's go. Bigger group means less to organize later."

Sharky absolutely beamed at the invite.

With a quick goodbye to the Ryes with a promise to regroup later that day, they headed towards the Ranch.

To their surprise and relief, they were the only living things around, so the walk was calm but hauntingly quiet aside from Cal's occasional question and asking if every single remaining building they passed was where they lived.

The Ranch itself was weathered and crumpling in spots and the roof had caved in in the hangar and part of the house, the windows were blown out and there was varying rubble everywhere, but

Once they had made it onto the Ranch grounds and to the place, Cal was nearly beside himself when John had confirmed that yes, the giant house was where he used to live, no, he couldn't go into it yet, because they said so .

John and Nicolette had gone inside to do a sweep for danger just in case, and Sharky and Earl had stayed outside with Cal to do a walk around the grounds, muttering an excuse that it was to show Cal around when it was just doing a sweep of their own.

The Great Room was all but obliterated, but they walked deeper into the main house that had significantly less damage. The structure was cracked in a few places but still intact- just required a few repairs and scrubbing every single inch of the place.

Nicolette glanced John's way after a while. "Weird to be back?" she asked. "I expected this place to be worse off."

"Had it built with the Collapse in mind. Had the most resilient materials put into it," he looked around. "Only the best for my home."

"You mean mine," she countered.

"You stole it," he replied. "Besides, it ended up ours in the end considering what we got up to the last time we were here, didn't it? Ours now, too, provided the rest of it is in this shape."

"More like the Survivors' if it's in the best shape of anything in the county."

"I'm not getting kicked out of my own place again. We can split it at best," John pointed out. He drifted over to the staircase, put his foot up on the second step and lifted his other leg, testing it. It creaked, but didn't give. He tested the next step, then the next- which gave out under him. "SHIT!" he landed hard, nearly slamming his chin onto the upper step.

Nicolette scrambled to help him, then dusted him off when he righted himself. "Right, so… climbing gear next time, just in case."

"Guess the stairs weren't reliable. I'd be angry if I didn't know that the men who built them are most likely dead," John huffed.

"John…" she scolded.

He pulled her against him. "You're stuck with me now," he pointed out. He leaned down in order to kiss her.

"Ewww!"

"Kid's right, that don't look like patrollin', Mom and Dad!"

The other two turned to see Cal and Sharky in the doorway, the former latched onto the latter's back. Earl was directly behind them, looking exhausted but amused at the others' input.

John motioned at Cal to get down and come over, and Cal practically jumped off of Sharky to join them.

John pulled him against his chest. "You have fun looking around?" he asked. "See anything?" the extra glance Sharky and Earl's way made the other two realize it was directed at them rather than his son.

"All clear. It's a ghost town," Earl replied.

"Ghosts?!" Cal turned back towards him.

John chuckled. "We'll protect you, Sport."

Cal scrunched up his face. "But I wanna see ghosts!" He noticed the broken steps and went to go investigate, but John pulled him back.

"Ah-ah, don't touch anything. Just look."

Cal sighed overdramatically before walking past them to look around. When he reached to fiddle with a nearby cabinet, John went over and scooped him up. "You're as stubborn as your mother, you know that?"

"His mother?" Nicolette asked. "Dramatic, bit whiny, doesn't take 'no' for an answer well. Sounds like his father to me."

John shot her a look, then looked at Earl and Sharky.

"Get a room," Sharky supplied, just as Earl had merely shrugged at Nicolette's point.

Cal tried twisting out of John's grip to no avail. "Are we gonna live here now? I like it here. I can play outside!"

"Maybe, if some strange little boy stops touching everything," Nicolette pointed out. She ruffled his hair.

Earl stepped in. "Come on, Kid. If the house is broken, it ain't a good place to be for now."

"But Mom and Dad and Uncle Sharky-"

"Are grown-ups. You're a little one. And little ones…" he looked at the boy expectantly.

" 'Don't make the rules'," Cal recited with a sigh.

Earl nodded. "There we go. Let's leave the grown-ups to make sure you can't get into any more trouble." He took the boy's hand, and with a nod from John, led him outside.

The other three did a further run down of the house, and still only found minor structural damage. They didn't dare try the upper floors just yet without the right equipment.

They went outside to regroup, only to see a group coming up the landing strip.

John reached for the gun he had hidden at his back on instinct.

Nicolette immediately smacked his hand down upon further inspection. "ADDIE?!"

Her hair was greying, but it was definitely her. The leader of the group looked up and beamed, opening her arms. "Nikki! I was countin' on John being arrogant enough to come here first!"

Nicolette ran at her and threw her arms around her, and the older woman returned the hug just as adamantly. This was it. This was all that mattered. She had her entire found family back in person. That was all that mattered. Whatever challenges lay ahead, she had them.

She scanned the people behind her, and sure enough she recognized Hurk Jr among them, just with a great deal more hair.

Sharky finally joined the group and upon seeing his family immediately launched himself into the hug that Hurk joined right after he did.

Nicolette pulled back, only to pull Addie right back into her. "God, it's good to see you. Are you okay? How'd you make it out here?" then, far more worriedly: " Is that all your bunker has left?"

"Better to see you, Nikki. And Hurk's Gate found itself a truck and got a gas reserve and brought it down into our bunker before the world went to shit," Addie explained. "The place was rigged for military vehicles- had a whole bunch, extra gas and all. Jacob's paws were allllllll over that. And no. Turns out Hurk's Gate was a very happenin' place towards the end there. And some of them got a head start on repopulation."

She looked back at Hurk and the others. "Please stop there."

"Hypocrite," Addie teased and smacked her on the cheek playfully. "Now, speaking of, where's my favorite little radio buddy?" she asked, trying to be heard over Sharky and Hurk launching themselves at each other and talking excitedly.

Nicolette stepped back and motioned at Earl and Cal. "Cal, Hon, come here. This is your Aunt Addie, remember she's been talking to you on the radio?"

Cal's look of confusion dropped and he looked stunned, then grinned from ear to ear. "Aunt Addie?!"

Addie waved. "Hi, Honey!"

Cal hurried over to her and immediately wrapped himself around her legs. "Hi!"

Addie beamed again and rubbed his back. "Come here, let me get a good look at you," she bent down. "Oh, those eyes are your momma's but you are allllll your daddy, Honey. You're gonna be a heartbreaker someday."

"Conversation over," John chimed in. He practically pried Cal off of her.

Addie's smile turned devious. "Hi to you too, John."

"Hi, Adelaide. Good to see you," John deadpanned.

Addie looked at Nicolette. "You trained him well."

John scoffed.

Addie motioned at the house. "Anything salvageable? We have a base for the New World or whatever? I ain't callin' it Eden, even if that batshit brother of yours did end up being right."

John bristled at the last part, so Nicolette stepped between them. "From what we saw, it could use some work, but it's standing. It's a start, we just need to get supplies together. Anything by you in good shape?"

"The Marina's barely standing, but it the stuff underground is okay. Prison didn't look half bad either, but that might just have a stigma against it, now. You two lovebirds'll be happy to know that Landsdowne looks like it survived."

Earl squinted. "What's so special about Lands-"

"Nothing, " John and Nicolette said together. They shot Addie a look.

Addie shrugged, then something darker crossed her features. "Wheaty mentioned taking the Whitetails up to the Veteran Center- same stigma, but they're more 'take it back for Good' people."

Nicolette shuddered. "I hope it's the first thing that got destroyed."

"Same here with the prison," Earl added.

There were a few scattered murmurs of agreement.

After a while, Addie looked around. "Well, ain't no point in us just hangin' around. Let the Raylans start gettin' their house in order if this is gonna be home base. Earl, Honey, why don't you, me and the boys go see what else is out there?" she walked over to the man and by the way he suddenly jerked, the others figured she had swatted his ass.

"You haven't changed," Earl deadpanned, but let him lead her away all the same. Cal hurried after them, immediately launching into questions about their own experiences 'outside.'

Figuring Sharky, Hurk and the other Hurk's Gate survivors were too busy wrapped up in their own conversation, Nicolette drifted over to John when he had turned back to the house. "Must be a lot to take in."

"The last eight years have been a lot to take in. This… my brothers and I prepared for this. Well, mentally anyway, until some annoying Deputy decided to ruin everything."

"Yeah, well, some cultist asshole got stabbed in the back, came to me for help and then I found out he was human after all and feelings got in the way, complicated history between us and all."

"Fucking feelings," John agreed. He pulled her against him, looking at her intently. After a beat, he dropped his forehead to hers. "I don't regret a thing."

"Not even the drowning, the attempted torture?"

"You were a strong swimmer, and you and I both know that was all talk."

"... How fucked up are we that we're joking about this?"

"Oh, extremely," John replied. "But considering we do talk about it…" he trailed off.

She grunted in agreement and shrugged. A moment later, she shrieked when he picked her up. "What're you doing?!"

"Starting on Addie's plan and carrying my wife across the closest thing to a threshold we've got. And then she had a point about repopulation. If Joseph was right about everything, I've still got the option of dying old . And I'm damn well gonna make sure you're gonna be here the whole time."

She huddled closer to him at that, then grinned. "We already went inside. Kind of defeats the purpose."

"It's the thought that counts."

"And as far as repopulation goes everyone is right there -"

"We can send Cal back Earl's way and have them go help scout with the Ryes, and well, we both know Sharky would hardly complain-"

"Please stop talking, pick a door and try not to fall through anything this time. We'll handle that to-do list one step at a time."

"Fine. As you wish."

"Well you're laying it on thick."

"Probably the excess oxygen in the air than what we've been used to."

"Oh my God," she supplied, then shrieked again when he turned on his heel sharply and headed for the house again.

Yeah. They'd be okay. Eden was going to be a bitch to manage, but they were all made of stronger stuff. Still, whether or not it was her divine duty or not, she was responsible for the entire crew. She'd be damned before she failed them- in the religious sense or otherwise.

Meanwhile, miles away, a man sat in the charred, broken remains of a church, waited for a sign and prayed for the chance of a brother's forgiveness that might never come.