Here it is! Final Chapter! I may return to this story from time to time. I think would be fun to continue with them all fighting the wolves, the herd, Negan, Jadis, the whisperers, etc.… I could get at least get a full 10 chapters out of most of those events. We will see. I have some funnies surrounding Carl losing an eye in my head already. Carl would definitely not die though. I hope you enjoyed this story. Please review and let me know how you felt about it. Good, Bad, or Ugly.
Also, I have another story that I wrote a little before I started this one and have been tinkering with it. I am not sure I will publish it because it is different than these previous ones and honestly, I don't think it is really that good. It is an attempt at a more serious piece. I am used to writing funny and this new one is not. It was much MUCH harder for me to write. My default is humor. So this new story I do not think will be all that good. I am still thinking about it posting it. I would hate to purposely put out a sucky story.
Thank you to everyone who rode this ride with me! I enjoyed reading your reviews and am humbled that you found this story interesting enough to read along!
Enjoy!
Chapter 10—What happened was...
It has been two months since Richonne became leaders and there has been a ton of progress and advancements in Alexandria. Reginald was right in that Rick, along with Michonne, would both grow and keep the community safe. Richonne had become true leaders to almost all of the community members. Their decisions were rarely ever contested. The majority of the citizens had now fully accepted and welcomed Richonne as their leaders and the rest of his crew as true Alexandrians. The crew really did not know how to feel about that. Not the welcome part but being called an Alexandrian was still an insult at that time. They cringed when they were called that name every single time they heard it. But the way things were moving, they were sure it would eventually be replaced with pride.
Not everybody was happy with Richonne. There were a couple of dissenters, but they were too scared to do anything about the shift in leadership out right. They were mostly just a couple of blowhards with nothing substantial like either courage or balls to back them up. The biggest protester being Tobin who hated Rick and was salty over Carol, he wanted to date her before Rick intervened. That made Tobin hate Rick even more. Tobin's wanted to taste Carol's crunchy casserole (his words) every day. No one knew exactly if Tobin literally meant food, or if crunchy casserole was a euphemism for her lady parts because the way he said it was very suggestive. He even moved his hip in an off-putting and rhythmless manner and would emphasize crunchy. Everyone shuddered at the thought of why he would describe said parts as crunchy if, in fact, that is what he meant. Good God, what type of women did he fool around with in his past. Gross. Tobin also did not like the new combat rules and exercises that he was forced to participate in. He was in construction, why did he need to learn to fight? Although as time passed, Tobin quieted down significantly once Richonne took him off construction and assigned him to keep an eye on the quarry where there were currently over a thousand walkers that needed to be dealt with. 'That was where all those walkers they had been killing here and there were escaping from,' thought Rick. Tobin complained about his new duty so much that Rick told him that if he did not shut his mouth, he would move Tobin's watchtower right in the middle of the hoard. Tobin took Rick seriously. So damn dumb. How in the hell could they build a watchtower in the middle a shitload of walkers? These people had no common sense.
Tobin was horrified every time he had to climb into the watchtower near the quarry to sit and survey all those walkers so up close and personal, day in and day out. Tobin trembled so much walking up the ladder that the whole watchtower shook. He feared for his safety and sanity so much that he requested a partner to sit with him to help calm his nerves. The request was denied. Rick even put the request on paper himself just so he could write DENIED on it in bold red ink. Rick made Tobin tack the letter inside his watchtower. Rick was not right for that. He had that man sobbing every time he had duty and had to look at that letter with those harsh words written across it. Other than that, everything was running without a hitch inside the gates. Richonne balanced each other out and the transition of power went smoothly. Now outside the gates was a different story.
Against all odds, Spencer and Jessie did make it out alive, but not mentally well. To be honest, they were not quite right in the head in the first place. Nonetheless, they both lost a small piece of their already simple minds, even though they were inside of a safe home, with plenty food and water available at all times and in absolutely no immediate danger. It was baffling that they thought they were roughing it and surviving in the wild. They even had books and playing cards and a fully charged portable DVD player with movies for their entertainment. They were checked on at least twice that first week so they had some company, they were not completely isolated. But despite all the security and luxuries that were afforded to the two temporary prisoners, they still acted like two extremely frightened idiots. Jessie screamed so much that it took an extra-long time get the food to her because her house was surrounded by walkers. Rick had to get a bullhorn to tell her to stop yelling, which in turn brought more walkers, which in another turn pissed Rick the fuck off. He was riding on the back of a truck to lure walkers away using the alarm on the horn to try and bait the majority of them from the house. It was an unnecessary waste of time and energy.
Once most were clear of the house, a group, including some terrified Alexandrians, put the two dozen or so walkers down. They were so proud of themselves for defending their community and actually killing walkers on their own, that they immediately agreed to take defense training more seriously. Up until that point, most were half-assing the training and complaining that their wrists hurt from holding the guns, or legs were sore from standing so long, or their arms hurt from making stabbing motions. The crew were getting really tired of them and Rick was on the verge of kicking them outside the gates to fend for themselves if they did not step up. Michonne suggested that Rick stop calling them useless motherfuckers to their faces, it might help give them some confidence. Michonne was always there to calm him down and give him sane advice, but she too was getting really annoyed with their behavior. Rick warned Jessie that if she kept screaming and attracting walkers, they would not dig her out again. She nodded in what was assumed understanding, but as soon as they walked away from the house, she started screaming again. Dumbass.
Spencer was calmer and they were able to get in and get out quickly when dropping off his food and supplies. His insanity came from Michonne, more specifically, talking to Rick about Michonne.
"Did Michonne come too?" asked a hopeful Spencer looking over Rick's head.
"ROSITA!" Rick called and Spencer quickly closed the door and locked every single lock. Rosita was not even there.
Since they really did not commit any major crime, Rick was going to let them out with time served, maybe give Spencer an extra week of house arrest inside the gates under the custody of his father for his unfortunate mishap of the accidental, but excessively brutal assault of Jessie. But both her stupidity and his audacity made Rick mad, so he decided to keep them there another week. Michonne was not there to veto his decision, so he was good. Two months later and they are still in those houses. Michonne's patience left when Jessie tried to persuade Rick to come inside for a dinner date. The level of stupid in those two is just plain off the charts.
Back in Alexandria, Maggie announced her pregnancy and everybody was excited that another baby would soon join the community. Glen walked around like a proud papa. He told Darryl that he wanted to go on a run and find some cigars to pass out to the community. Darryl patted the new soon-to-be father on the back and told him they would go soon. Eric was ecstatic, he had become great friends with the green-eyed beauty in particular. Aaron finally had a group of survivors that they he could connect with. He was just so happy that they joined the Alexandria Safe Zone that Richonne and the crew made him and his husband and official part of their crew.
Maggie also became the towns defense lawyer and a newcomer to the community, or at least they thought he was new, they never really noticed him before, Heath, was the new District Attorney. I bet Jessie wishes she had retained his services instead of Spencer! When Heath disappeared again, or maybe the first time? Again, no one really knew if he just showed up one day, or if he was already part of Alexandria. Even the Alexandrians were confused. But, when Heath disappeared for the first or possibly second time, Paul Rovia, AKA Jesus, would take over the prosecution duties when needed. He would travel from his community of hilltop. Aaron caught Jesus's eye, and Aaron gave Jesus a quick up and down and Paul ate it up by shaking his glorious and luxurious hair and giving him a sly smile. Eric was not amused and did not talk to Aaron for a week.
Noah was moving again. His roommates almost killed him, on several occasions. He lasted three days and nights in that house. The first night, they all surrounded his bed and stared at him ready to stop that snoring by any means necessary. They pulled a Michonne. The second night, they were all so exhausted that they discussed taking his adenoids out right then and there, to hell that none of them were doctors and did not even know where the adenoids were located. One even had a scalpel in his hand, or a butter knife, it was dark, and no one could really tell for sure. The third night, they carried him outside to the backyard and left him there to sleep and Noah never stirred during the trek. They figured that deep and maddening snore must work to keep noise out for Noah. Guess it worked both ways. When he woke up, in the middle of the yard, he thought he started sleepwalking from stress, and was about to make an appointment with Denise, the new town psychiatrist. It did not get that far as all the roommates informed him it was their doing and after a roommate meeting, they all unanimously voted to kick him out of the house effective immediately. They tossed him and all of his property in the front yard. His now old roommates wanted to throw his shit far and wide, but their bodies were too exhausted from lack of sleep to do any more than just drop his things where they stood. Noah picked up his belongings and walked back to his old home and knocked, still not understanding how a bit of snoring was causing such a ruckus.
"Morning Noah," said a curious Rick wondering why the young man was at his door so early in the morning carrying everything he owned.
"Morning Rick," replied Noah who was trying to step around Rick to get inside the house but was being blocked.
"What are you doing?" Asked Rick.
"Moving back in," answered Noah.
"Noah, it's time for you to be a man and make it on your own," Rick advised closing the door.
Noah put his foot in the threshold of the door to stop it from closing, "But where will I go?" Noah asked with the same anxiety ridden face that Carl had when Rick tried to put his own son out the house just so he could try and get a little booty from Michonne. And surprisingly, Rick's answer went along similar lines until, like last time, Michonne intervened.
"I gives zero fucks where you go Noah, as long as it is not here. But stop by for dinner anytime. We miss you!" Rick smiled and slammed the door in his face. Michonne was listening and just laughed and walked out to help Noah find a place to live. It was difficult. By then, the whole town was aware of Noah's infamous snoring.
Luckily, by this time, Abraham had finished enough of one of the suites and Noah was able to move in immediately. Abraham said since it was an emergency, he could work around Noah to complete the finishing touches that were necessary. Morgan let Noah take the available suite first and gave him some sage advice on his exit.
"Boy, you need to run fast to Dr. Pete and check your shit out, cuz something ain't right," exclaimed Morgan as he patted the young man on the back. Noah narrowed his eyes, for the life of him he did not understand why everybody was hating on him.
To Noah's annoyance and in an ironic twist of fate, he was constantly bothered by noise from the construction of the rest of the suites. Sometimes, the construction crew worked well into the night interrupting his sleep. When he complained to Richonne, they just laughed in his face and ushered Noah on away and told him to deal with it. It would be over soon. Rick eventually asked Noah to look over the completion of the suites and he did so willingly so he could stop all the noise at night. Noah made sure the construction crew worked more efficiently during the day so that they would not get behind schedule and have to work through the night. The plan was working great, a suite opened right next door, but no one took it. It was too close to Noah. Morgan said he would wait for one further down and away from NoseSaw Noah. Noah was hurt by his new nickname, told Morgan just that. Although Morgan was a pacifist, he knew funny and told Rick that Noah was whining about his new nickname. Rick of course ran up to Noah used it consistently. Rick was such a bully. Michonne made Rick go to therapy for it. He was not happy. Rick's first task was to apologize to NoseSaw Noah, which he did but he didn't mean it. Rick and Morgan still called him that behind his back. Michonne thought Rick was just a terrible person. I mean just the damn worst. But he is funny as hell and that is her man and although she was often embarrassed and frustrated by him, she was proud to Rick's woman.
Michonne fully and wholeheartedly took on the responsibility as the Judge of Alexandria but left her post as Constable. She could not be a co-leader, a judge, and a constable. She should have never been a constable and a judge together in the first place. Rick also stepped down from his officer position and hired Rosita and Tara to be lead constables and also to be the heads of security and left them both to interview and hire more if they needed. Tara started heading the interviews when Rosita terrified all the applicants. She would have a series of "What You Gonna Do Huh" scenarios such as, pulling her loaded gun and holding it to the applicant's temples as she screamed WHAT YOU GONNA DO HUH PUTA? Or she would ambush them and take them to the ground and beat them while yelling WHAT YOU GONNA DO HUH PENDEJOE? It was traumatic for all involved except for Rosita and Rick. When Rick saw Rosita in action the first time, he was so excited that he participated and started screaming right along with her. Denise's psychiatric appointment book was filled during the time of "The Vicious Rosita Rituals" as they whispered it behind her back. Denise was thrilled, but her patients were fearful balls of anxiety. It took several sessions to get them back to halfway right.
The jail was coming along nicely and should be finished in a few weeks' time. Morgan led that project. Morgan had become a pacifist and did not believe in killing, so he thought the jail would be perfect to punish criminals without the threat of death. Morgan could not foresee the mass killing that he inadvertently caused with is new lifestyle decision. They just recently had over ten Saviors in that one small jail cell and they all fought to the death just to have a little wiggle room. The scene was brutal, and every last Savior in that cell was now a walker. Morgan looked around with an "oops" facial expression and made sure no one saw him and just eased on out of the jail and pretended he did not see what he just saw. The Saviors were a new group that got on Rick's last nerve. The leader, Negan, was some nutjob bat wielding weirdo that Richonne had to keep chasing off, usually followed by Negan getting a swift kick in the ass by either Rick or Michonne, sometimes both because they needed a good laugh. Sometimes Richonne would take his leather jacket and play keep-away with it, but they had the most fun when they would put lipstick on his bat, whom he called Lucille, then make pretend girl voices implying the bat was not interested in being his woman. Negan cried the first time they did it. Big mistake. Now Rick carries lipstick in his pocket just in case he runs across him and that bat. But that is a whole nother story (wink wink) for a later time.
With Morgan and Noah each handling a construction project, this new division of the construction workload was a huge relief to Abraham. As Head of Construction, he now able focus solely on the wall. They were expanding further back and westward to make room for a large farm to grow food and house livestock. The fencing for the wall was now coming along at a faster pace. Maggie and Rick took a small group to go buy seeds and soil to ready the fields for planting. They both had experience farming and already chose several Alexandrians to help out with the duties. When Abraham was out one day, he discovered an orchard behind the fields and was enthused that the trees still grew healthy delicious apples. Reginald and Noah immediately redrew the boundary lines for the fence to include the orchard inside the gates and Abraham and Glen quickly completed a run for more building supplies. Glen also started tinkering with formulas for hard apple cider. He was well on his way to becoming a brew master in the community.
These new plans offered the opportunity to make even more room for the increasing number of healthy animals they were now housing. Reginald was in the process of building stables, pens, and coops that he designed for the livestock. When any group went on runs, they were on the lookout for more horses, cows, pigs, and chickens. If they ran across any, they had a temporary shelter just outside the gates that could hold them until the pens and stables were complete, which would be any day. They already had a few pigs, one pregnant, a shitload of chickens, two cows and a few horses. Rick told Reginald to hurry with the stables and pens as the animal shelter was getting overloaded.
Richonne were unsure of where to put Spencer and Jessie once they came out of exile. Their ornery behavior kept earning them extra time. No one really cared to have either of them back anyway, so no one protested each time their sentence was lengthened. Well no one except Spencer and Jessie. They were isolated for two straight months, but Jessie would not stop screaming and Spencer would not stop asking for Michonne. They were just clueless. Reginald asked if he could downsize his house, since it was just him and his wife now. He had no intention of letting his son move back in the house and live with him and Deanna. So they switched. Rick, Michonne and the kids moved into the big house and Reginald and Deanna moved into Rick's old house. It made sense. They needed the space for the kids and any community dinners, or BBQ's, or parties would most likely be hosted by the leaders, so they would need the extra space for entertaining, and at the rate Richonne was having unprotected sex, more kids. With the downsize, and Carol and Pete now living together, that left Jessie and Spencer on the outs. Richonne figured that once they got back, they could each take a room in someone's home or they could both move in the suite next to Noah. It would serve them both right to have to listen to that noise for the rest of their lives. NoseSaw Noah strikes again! Many community members however thought that would be cruel and unusual punishment, even for Jessie and Spencer, so they decided to make that suite into some type of new pantry to store items. Rick did not really think too much about where Jessie and Spencer would live and how they would contribute to the community if they ever made it back because he really did not care about the welfare of either of those two. They could stay where they were forever leave it up to him.
Carol finally stopped planning to take over the community after multiple attempts to convince her that it was not necessary. Rick tried to explain that he was already in charge. She offered him a smile and cookie and stared at him cluelessly. Michonne spoke to her and Carol offered to find her a cute sweater set. Maggie and Glen stopped by, but again, they could not get through to her. She gave them instead a casserole, which was basically just a bowl of rocks. Darryl and Sasha were sitting in her home and Darryl was desperately straining himself to get her to understand, but Carol kept interrupting and trying to share her plan. Sasha could not take anymore; she stood and slapped the shit out of her and told her to snap the fuck out of whatever crazy she was stuck in and walked out of the house. No one really knows if Carol finally comprehended what was going on, but she did not make any more fuss. Michonne thought it was like Pavlov's Dog. She associated the plan with that savage ass slap and quickly put the thought out of her head. Pete was clueless as to what they were all talking about, but as long as he had a good wife and some of them tasty twig casseroles, he could not give a single fuck.
The rest of the community was preparing for the wedding of their two leaders. Michonne wanted something small, but again, this was a big deal in the community and so it became a major event. The people needed their entertainment fix and since the crew came to town, there was plenty of it! Pastor Gabriel would officiate, even though Rick hated his guts and made sure Gabriel knew it every chance he got. Michonne told Rick it was not Godly to flip the finger at a pastor, of all people, every time he saw him, and so he stopped for Michonne. But Rick still cut his eyes at him. Darryl and Sasha, who now had their own home ever since that idiot walked straight into the three walkers, went on a run to find wedding attire and rings for Richonne, and to do other naughty things. Dasha would probably be next couple to wed, so they made sure to find themselves some appropriate attire and rings also. Since there were so many other couples, they decided to get the whole lot of attire and rings for other couples to choose from if they so desired. Alexandria now had a little wedding boutique right next to Noah. Glen and Rosita went on a run for alcohol. Glen was on the constant lookout for ingredients for his new line of home brews. Carol offered to make the food, and everyone yelled NO! They assigned Carol and Pete to head the decorations, music, and flowers, along with a small group of helpers. Charlotte and Linda were in charge of the food, turns out they owned a restaurant in the old world, Charlotte was the chef and Linda was a baker. Tara decided to take charge of the music when she saw Carols choices, which were worse than her cooking. Glen and Tara went on runs to find decorations, better music and especially food for the festivities. No one wanted to deplete the pantry. They brought back so much food that they would have plenty for several more weddings if need be. Maggie was the grandmaster of it all. Not only was she a great lawyer, but she was also an excellent wedding planner and coordinated it all to perfection.
Carl became a big man in the community, especially with the teens. The adults, after they got over their embarrassment of being taught survival skills by a child, looked up to Carl with immense respect. They could not deny that boy was a beast with a knife and a savage with a gun. There was a wait list for his training sessions, with many taking his course two or three times. Carl was so good at teaching, that he eventually had to make a beginner, intermediate and advanced class because the community was doing so well. Aaron was his second in command and was mostly in charge of the beginners when he was not out recruiting with Darryl. Carl also kept up his shenanigans with his father. He, and his partner in crime Michonne, loved torturing Rick. Rick tolerated it because he knew they loved him and it was all in good fun, even though he wanted to pistol whip the both of them a few times. Sometimes he thought they could get out of hand. Even Judith was getting in on the fun with her father, unintentionally of course. It was funny how she would only throw-up on or shit on her father. Never Carl or Michonne. It was like she knew what she was doing, and the glimmer in her eye after she did made Rick believe exactly that.
Everything was going according to plan, and by the afternoon of the following day, Rick and Michonne would officially be Mr. and Mrs. Grimes, although Rick argued they had been for at least two months now. Carl was on tap to be the best man and Darryl, Glen, Abraham, and Aaron were groomsman. Maggie was Matron of honor and Sasha was maid of honor, and Rosita and Tara rounded out the wedding party. Carol would watch Judith. Rick at first had Carol's seat outside, behind the church, but since she would have Judith, he acquiesced, and gave her a seat in the front row. Michonne was going to bring her inside anyway. Again, Silly Rick had to always be supervised by Rational Michonne.
Michonne and Glen swapped houses the night before the wedding. Maggie insisted on the tradition of not seeing the bride before the wedding. Rick was not happy. He kept trying to sneak over there and see Michonne. Rick kept knocking on the window to her room trying to get inside after they refused to answer the front and back doors. Maggie had to keep shooing him away several times. Maggie eventually switched rooms with Michonne, and when Rick came a peeping and saw Maggie staring at back at him through the window, he ran off and gave up for the rest of the night. It was comical, but mostly it was sad. Rick was so needy. Maggie laughed and shook her head and felt a little sorry that Michonne had to deal with that needy ass mess for the rest of her life. Rick required a lot of attention, affection, and patience from Michonne that was for sure. Sasha, Tara, and Rosita also joined the two ladies for the night of fun. They pestered Rosita about when her and Abraham was going to tie the knot. Abraham had been down to the wedding boutique several times, Rosita stayed far away from it. She liked how things were with Abraham, but he was starting to get more insistent, so their wedding was just a matter of time. Darryl and Abraham joined Glen and Rick. This was the equivalent to bachelor and bachelorette party. The guys were all just as tickled as much as the women watching Rick's antics. They discreetly followed behind Rick when he would make up a lame excuse to leave the house and were cracking up watching him at Maggie's window trying to get to his future wife. The guys loved Funny Rick.
The wedding was beautiful and went off without a hitch. Everyone celebrated and had a joyful time. Michonne could barely enjoy the reception, Rick was trying to drag her off every ten minutes. After about a couple of hours of it, she just gave up and went home with her husband. Sometimes Rick was just the worst. He would not stop until he wore you the fuck down. But deep down, she was ready and excited for her official wedding night with her "new" husband.
Richonne' s wedding night was, of course, interrupted. Rick could never catch break. It sounded like all hell was breaking loose outside. Rick grumbled and got redressed and they went out to see what the commotion was about. Rick swore up and down that if it were something stupid, there would be hell to pay for making him leave his wedding bed.
"RICK! RICK," he heard Glen's voice through the walkie talkie, "We are being invaded!"
Some idiots who were stupid enough to carve letters into their foreheads were trying to break through the gates. Carol was already out there looking like Rambo in her green army fatigue pants and wife beater with a gun in each hand wreaking havoc. Carol was killing all the intruders singlehandedly left and right. But Carol was always good with killing, so none of crew were surprised. They just all joined her in dispatching the intruders. Rick grabbed his colt and Michonne grabbed her Katana, both angry their night was disturbed once again, so, already furious that they will not get their nighttime goodies, they both ran outside of their home ready to Fuck. Some. Shit. Up.
The End, or is it?