Epilogue

Expiration Dates

Churchill stomped his hoof crossly as she deposited the wildflowers she'd picked over Jean's grave. He'd been buried when she was off chasing after Daryl. Now that Daryl was on the mend and the people that had killed Jean were dead, it seemed the right time to say goodbye.

She held Churchill's reins a little tighter as the gelding tossed his head. Straightening up she trained her eyes on the wooden cross that marked his tomb. It had been made out of an old hockey stick. It seemed a fitting marker for a man so passionate about the sport.

Jean would have approved.

Fort Henry's cemetery was on the edge of the plains surrounding the fortress. When she'd told Daryl of her plans to visit it he hadn't been overly happy to hear she intended to go alone.

"I'm not alone. I've got Churchill." She'd told him as she swung up into the saddle. She'd heard Daryl cuss as she trotted off through the gates.

Churchill started pawing at the ground. There were walkers nearby for sure. She climbed back onto the big gelding. Daryl wasn't well enough to venture beyond the fortress. He was doubtlessly watching from the wall and she didn't want him having a heart attack.

The gelding snorted, his eyes trained on something she couldn't yet see. Emma readied the staff she carried with her and scanned the tree line. Sure enough, movement caught her eye. A walker emerged.

Churchill pulled at the bit, anxious to get at the walker, but she made him stand. Another emerged from the tree line behind the first.

Eager to unleash his own brand of violence, the gelding bounced underneath her. There was a pike line between her and the walkers. She waited to see if they'd get hung up.

The first did, but not the second.

When it was close enough, she knocked its head off with the staff. Churchill tried to pull after the other one, but it was caught fast by its ribcage on a pike.

She turned the big gelding back towards the fortress, casting one last look over her shoulder at the cemetery. It had been very small when she first arrived, but had grown steadily over the years. There were too many people in the ground there that she had called friend.

Emma was grateful that Daryl hadn't been added to the list. As Churchill wandered up towards the hill her thoughts trained to the other matter nibbling at the edges of her mind.

Daryl had fallen asleep after they made love that morning, and she'd been the one to clean up the condom. There was a definite split in it, not big but…

Well, that was the risk of using expired condoms.

She'd broached the subject once with Joel, months ago. Emma knew there was no pill that she could take to abort a pregnancy, not safely anyway.

So she'd wait and see.

-:{O}:-

-Author's note - This story has a sequel: Dixon's Dilemma