Author's Notes: Hello people! Nice to see you again!

Here's a little something I've been working on. I am kinda hesitant to post it for a number of reasons, but I figured I might as well just do it. Writing a sequel to "The Good Fight" was never really on my radar until pretty recently. I thought I was done with these characters. But they're still living in my head, and I guess I'm not quite ready for them to move out just yet.

Please be advised that this is a DIRECT sequel to my other fic in this fandom. If you haven't read that, you definitely need to in order to understand what the fuck is going on in this one. 3

Chapter One: Wyoming

Morning sunlight was of a superior quality in the mountains of Wyoming. The crisp, high-altitude springtime air made it almost iridescent in its clarity. It made the shadows of the trees sharper and more defined as they draped themselves over green grass dancing in the breeze. Birds sang happily as they went about their lives, echoing in the quiet forest and joining the constant sound of a nearby babbling stream.

When the sun rose high enough in the cloudless sky it crested the windowsill and cast a bright beam that landed directly on the still-sleeping Abby's closed eyes. Her brow furrowed with annoyance as she grudgingly awoke. In the past she might have simply turned over and slept on, but this was no longer an option now that she shared her bed with Ellie, who was in the habit of using her shoulder as a pillow and trapping her against the mattress with an arm, a leg, or both. A worthy trade-off, to be sure, but it didn't detract from the fact that the sunlight shining directly into her eyes was pretty fucking annoying.

That's the last time I let her park the RV, Abby thought. I told her we were too far from the trees.

It had been past midnight when they'd decided to stop for the night just ten miles outside of Jackson. They were both exhausted after running into trouble with some bandits on their way here. Luckily it was a small group and they'd managed not to kill anyone in the scuffle, but it had left them both sore and spent. As a result they hadn't been able to push themselves to navigate the rest of the way into town in the dark. Though they were physically close, the remaining distance would involve navigating their bulky RV over broken roadways and through thick forests. Ellie had been nearly falling asleep at the wheel when they decided to find a place to stop, and though Abby had tried to get her to park closer to the trees so that they would block the rising sun, Ellie had insisted they were close enough.

Abby had been too tired to fight about it then, and it was too late to be angry about it now, so she let it go. Instead she turned her attention to her bed-mate, who was still dead to the world. Not for the first time, she couldn't help but admire how pretty Ellie was. She was only two years younger than Abby herself, but she looked a lot younger in her sleep. None of the trauma she'd suffered or bad memories she endured were weighing her down while she slept.

Not that those things were a huge issue for her while she was awake, either. They weren't, and they hadn't been for some time. For the most part Ellie was a happy person now, and that made Abby feel indescribably wonderful. But every once in a while there were bad days. It was to be expected after all she'd been through. Abby had learned to give Ellie her space on those days, to let her sit and brood in silence for as long as she needed. And, inevitably, at the end of a day of temporarily shutting Abby out, Ellie always crawled into bed beside her and let her back in. It was a system that worked for both of them.

Abby turned her head to plant a kiss directly on that sexy little scar on Ellie's eyebrow, causing her to stir and wake. "Too early," she whined. "Go back to sleep, you freak."

"I can't," Abby replied.

"You can do anything you set your mind to, Abs. I have faith in you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Pulling away slowly, Abby scooted her torso a little so that Ellie's head slid onto the pillow. She strategically repositioned herself so that when Ellie predictably cuddled back up to her and laid her head back in place on her shoulder, the beam of light was directly over her eyelids instead. "That's better," said Abby with a smirk. "You're right. I'll go back to sleep."

Scrunching up her nose, Ellie cracked an eye open ever-so-slightly, blinking rapidly against the bright sunlight. "I parked too far from the trees," she said.

"Oh, you noticed that too, huh?"

"I catch all the little details. I'm observant that way." At this point Ellie had to accept the fact that they were both awake and it was going to stay that way. She gave up on the idea of sleeping and moved on to her next one instead. Raising herself up on one elbow, she gave Abby a soft kiss. "Good morning," she said with a lazy smile.

"I don't know about the 'good' part, but it's definitely morning," Abby replied.

"Are you getting nervous?"

"Do I lose butch points if I say yes?"

"You do, so that puts your current total at about negative sixty-four billion butch points."

Abby laughed. "Ouch. I don't know why I put up with you being so mean to me."

"I'm not being mean. I'm saying you're a big softy. Soft is good, right?" She ducked down for another kiss, this one longer and filled with intent. "Some of my favorite things are soft," she whispered, letting her hands begin to wander across Abby's body. "For example…" She could tell by Abby's sharp gasp that she had successfully made her forget all about being nervous, and she devoted herself to extending that reprieve for as long as possible.

It lasted so long that they were late to get out of bed and begin their morning routine, but neither one of them minded one bit. Time well spent, as far as they were concerned. Plus they both knew they didn't have far to go. The remaining distance to Jackson could likely be covered in less than three hours.

They took their breakfast outside to sit in a couple of lawn chairs under a pull-out awning on the side of the camper. This was something they did almost every single morning. Although the camper did contain a bed, that was pretty much the only open space available in the living area of the vehicle. The rest of the RV was packed with supplies - both travel-related and vaccine-related. Their route here had included a number of pit stops to search for various supplies needed for the creation and distribution of the vaccine.

They had been on the road for over two months now, their first long mission after spending a full year on base in Avalon. It had been their longest stretch of time spent on the island since the month they'd spent training for their mission to South America nearly seven years before. Generally they preferred the freedom of the road, so they hardly ever spent time planted in one place. But they had decided to take a much-needed break and cool their heels on base until enough vaccines had been made to vaccinate the entire city of Jackson in one big swoop. Those vaccines were now tucked away in a safe under the bed at the rear of the RV, and both Ellie and Abby would protect it with their lives if they had to.

People all across the country had caught on that something big was happening with the Fireflies. Their secret was out. As such, it had become quite dangerous for Fireflies to travel. There were reports of soldiers being killed and their vaccine doses being stolen, a fact which disgusted Abby to her core. She couldn't understand that mentality. The goal of the Fireflies was to vaccinate everyone , bandits included. It was only a matter of time before they would get it via legitimate means. But some people were so selfish that they couldn't wait their turn. She knew it was because they were scared, and she understood that fear, but it still made her stomach churn with fury.

To accommodate their need for safety, the Fireflies had taken to traveling incognito, using civilian vehicles like the RV that Ellie and Abby were occupying. The Fireflies also now traveled in smaller groups to avoid drawing attention to themselves - no more than four per squad. For this mission, Abby and Ellie had made the difficult decision to split up with Lev and Brandy. Personnel was a constant issue for the Fireflies; there simply weren't enough hands to do all the work that needed to be done. By splitting up their squad, they could accomplish twice as much for the Fireflies in the same amount of time. So they'd said their goodbyes to each other in Avalon, and then Lev and Brandy had gone north while Abby and Ellie had gone east. Both groups were hoping to be back in Avalon by early summer.

After breakfast, Abby climbed up to the top of the RV to get some gasoline from the tank they had rigged up there. With a tank this large they could collect any gas they came across. It was a lot more plentiful here in the United States than it had been in South America, and they had never even come close to running out, regardless of the RV's terrible gas mileage. She finished filling her container, screwed the cap on, and handed it down to Ellie. When she straightened up, she saw that there were buildings not far away that she hadn't noticed last night. "There's a bookstore over there," she said.

"I know," said Ellie. She'd patrolled this area several times back when she'd lived in Jackson. "There's a grocery store, too."

"Is there anything left in them or are they pretty picked over?"

"Honestly I'm not sure. There was a lot of shit the last time I was there, but that was years ago. We have time to check it out if you want to go."

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all," Ellie assured her. "Let's go."

Abby hopped off the roof of the RV and went inside to prepare. She took a bunch of non-essential stuff out of her backpack so she would have enough room for any books she found. The nicest thing about traveling in this vehicle was how many books she could bring with her since she didn't have to worry about carrying them around. She shouldered her pack and her rifle and went back outside to find Ellie ready to go and waiting patiently for her as she locked the door behind her. "Shall we?" she said, and they set off through the woods.

As they walked, Abby felt the nervousness she'd been feeling when she first woke up creeping back in, sending butterflies through her chest. Choosing to come here had not been easy. Jackson represented a very dark period of her life, and she didn't particularly want to revisit that. And the people here would have no reason to trust her. These were people who had known and loved Joel Miller, and they would surely know that Abby had been his murderer. Every day since setting off from Avalon, Abby had wondered if she was insane to come back here. But Ellie had really wanted to go, and Abby wasn't in the habit of denying her anything she wanted. Separating was completely out of the question, so Abby had to go along with her.

Plus, there was a part of her that needed closure for this place. She hated that she'd hurt people here, and she wanted to do whatever she could to make amends. Sometimes her guilt was suffocating, and this seemed like the type of opportunity it would have been immoral of her to turn down simply because she was too scared to take it. She wasn't looking forward to it, but she knew it was for the best.

The buildings were a bit further than they had looked from the top of the RV, but it still took less than half an hour to get there. They emerged from the treeline onto a time-ravaged street with several rusty cars parked along it. In addition to the book and grocery stores there was an antiques shop and a small bar, neither of which interested the two women who were strolling casually down the street. Ellie poked her head into the grocery store and listened for anything inside, but it seemed to be abandoned. "I'm gonna have a quick look around," she told Abby. "Meet you there in a few?"

"Be careful," Abby said, reaching out to squeeze her hand.

"You too."

There were spores inside the bookstore, and even though it wasn't necessary for her since she was vaccinated, she put on her gas mask before entering. If they'd been farther away from the city she'd have gone in without it, but they always took precautions any time there was a chance they might run into anyone else. Immediately she could see that there were still plenty of books on the shelves, and she grinned inside her mask and headed to the nearest installation and started to browse. In general she preferred to read fiction - especially historical fiction - but she'd read anything, really. After only ten minutes she'd already placed five books in her backpack.

A metal escalator was positioned in the middle of the store which led up to a second floor. After determining that none of the books on the bottom floor were fiction, she climbed the steps and found herself standing right in front of the children's section, its once-brightly colored walls now yellowing with age and overgrowing with spores in some places. She had been about to ignore that section and instead head towards a hanging sign that read "FICTION" in big, bold type, but a noise nearby made her stop short. Quickly dropping into a crouch, she waited to see if the noise would come again. It had sounded like a floor creaking, as though someone - or something - else was nearby.

Moving slowly, she crept forward into the kids section. There was a broken window that was letting in plenty of light, and she saw movement in the corner of her eye - a shadow. She was definitely not alone. Carefully, as quietly as possible, she made her way towards where she'd seen the movement, soundlessly drawing her handgun from its holster on her hip. The shadow had darted behind a bookshelf, and she held her gun out in front of her as she took a deep breath, then whipped quickly around the bookshelf to confront whoever was hiding there.

It was a woman with dark hair pulled up in a messy bun. She was wearing a gas mask and a tan jacket, and she also had her gun pointed at Abby. Recognition went through Abby like lightning, sending a shiver of shock all through her body. She instantly took a step back and held her hands up, taking her finger off the trigger. "Don't shoot," she said quickly.

"You!" snarled Dina. "Oh, I'm definitely going to shoot you."

"Please, I promise I won't hurt you. Look, I'm putting my gun down," Abby said in a placating tone, carefully bending down and placing her gun on the ground, her heart pounding in her ears. "Please just let me explain."

"Explain what? Why you're a fucked up piece of shit human being? Not interested. What, are you here to murder more of the people I love?" She drew back the hammer on her revolver, chambering a round. Then she paused for a moment, squinting at Abby's chest. Abby realized she was looking at the chain around her neck, where two tags were hanging - one with her name on it, and one with Ellie's. "Are you… Are you wearing a dog tag with Ellie's name on it?" Dina asked in a low, dangerous voice.

"Yes," said Abby shakily.

"Did you fucking kill her, too? DID YOU?" shouted Dina. "And now you're carrying a fucking TROPHY?"

"I didn't kill her!" Abby insisted. "She's right-"

"Shut the FUCK up!" Dina had heard enough. She was just about to squeeze the trigger when a familiar three-fingered hand closed over the barrel of her gun, and Ellie put herself between Abby and Dina.

"Dina, stop! I'm alive," Ellie said. She knew she needed to say something to quickly pull Dina's attention away from Abby, or else this might not end well. So she went with the first thing that popped into her head. "I'm wearing her tag, too. A lot of married Firefly couples swap tags. It's sort of like exchanging rings."

The visible parts of Dina's face went pale. "Wh… What?"

Ellie took a deep breath, then said: "I know you two have already met, but Dina, I'd like to re-introduce you to my wife, Abby Anderson."

A long, tense silence followed. Then Dina said, "This is not funny, Ellie. That is not fucking funny."

"It's not a joke, Dina. I'm with Abby now. Have been for almost seven years. I was already with her the last time I saw you in Jackson."

"I'll fucking shoot you, too," breathed Dina with cold fury. "Don't think I won't." Shaking with emotion, she took a step away from Ellie and lost her balance, her shoulder hitting against a nearby bookshelf and knocking several books onto the floor. When Ellie reached out to help stabilize her, she snapped, "Don't you fucking touch me!"

"Okay," said Ellie quickly, backing up to give her space. She glanced at Abby behind her - she was standing still and tense, as though she was expecting to be shot at any moment. On further consideration, Ellie decided that it did seem like a wise idea to get that revolver out of Dina's hands. "Listen, why don't you put your gun away and we can all get out of these spores and go somewhere and talk."

"Oh no," laughed Dina incredulously. "I'm not going anywhere with her."

"I can stay here," Abby said at once. "Take as long as you need. I'll wait here."

"Okay?" Ellie asked Dina. "Does that work for you?"

Fury was still dancing behind Dina's dark eyes beneath her gas mask. "And if I decide I want to shoot her?"

"Abby would never fight you or hurt you again, no matter what you do to her," Ellie said. Then she looked Dina directly in the eye and continued: "But I, on the other hand, wouldn't hesitate to stop you."

Stunned, Dina stared at her. "Jesus, Ellie. Who are you? Is this even you anymore?"

"Same Ellie, I promise. But a lot's happened, and I want to tell you all about it. In order to do that, I need you to put that gun away and come talk to me, okay?"

Dina looked back and forth between Ellie and Abby, her fingers twitching where she had them wrapped around her gun. Finally, she hesitantly re-holstered her weapon, staring daggers at Abby the entire time. Then she straightened up and said, "Let's go before I change my mind."

Aware that any show of affection might set Dina off again, Ellie looked to Abby and said only: "One hour."

"Okay," said Abby.

They nodded at each other, and Ellie gestured for Dina to lead the way back down the metal steps.

Abby listened to them go, shaking from head to toe. That had been one of the most stressful and terrifying moments of her entire life. Needing some air, she whipped off her gas mask, stumbled over to the broken window and collapsed on the ground just beneath it, letting her head fall back onto the wall. Her heart was racing and she was panting as though she'd just run thirty miles. She could taste the spores that floated all around her as she focused on her breathing and attempted to calm herself down.

If Ellie hadn't shown up when she had, Abby was certain that Dina would have shot her, and would have shot to kill. For all the time she spent in danger, Abby had only actually felt that she was in mortal peril two other times in her life - the first, a rainy night in Seattle when she'd been surrounded by enemies and hanging by the neck, and the second, on a beach in Santa Barbara where she was slowly suffocating to death on a pole, and being forced to watch Lev go through the same. It was only by the grace of Yara and Lev that she'd been saved the first time. And the second, it was Ellie. Now Ellie had done it again. For that, Ellie was getting a big reward tonight.

But the near-death experience was the least of her worries in that encounter. Seeing Dina again had ripped her apart emotionally. Nearly a decade had passed since she'd almost killed Dina in that theater in Seattle, but being in her presence again brought the memories back in force. She felt herself returned to the state she'd been in that night - freshly hurting from the losses of Owen, Manny and Mel, and filled with a thirst for vengeance that was every bit as intense as it had been for Joel Miller. But then those feelings were quickly washed out by the rush of shame that came after. That had been a low point for her, to be sure. She would never be able to think of that night and not hate herself for what she'd let herself become.

It had been a phenomenally stupid idea for her to come here. She knew that now. She thought that Dina must think it was an insult to the memory of the friends that she'd killed, like she was trying to gloat over the murders as if she were some kind of sociopathic narcissist. Dina must think she was here to rub it in. Or maybe, even if she did believe that Abby had changed, she would think it was selfish to seek redemption for her sins when nobody in Jackson was willing to forgive.

At that moment, Abby realized that forgiveness wasn't her goal here. All she was here to do was apologize, and the people of Jackson could take that or leave it. If she were being honest with herself, Abby knew she didn't deserve their forgiveness. That wasn't the point. She was simply here to distribute the vaccine, because the people here were good and they needed it and they deserved it.

The thought calmed her, and she found she was able to get to her feet and walk over to the fiction section, where she attempted to distract herself with books to pass the hour that Ellie had told her to wait.