Jessica and Morgan
Rick leaned down over the body of the man that Carl had shot. There wasn't any blood so he knew the man must be wearing some kind of body armor. Rick pulled off the mask that the man was wearing and almost fell back from shock. This was Morgan. The man that saved his life. Beth nudged him and Rick looked up to see he was being held at gunpoint by two women. They had different coloring, but it was obvious they were related somehow. Maybe sisters or mother and daughter, though they looked too close in age.
"Get the fuck away from him right fucking now," Jessica screamed at the people. The kid in the hat and the blonde girl were holding their guns up, but the man on the ground put his away and held his hands up.
"Hey," he said, "its okay. Look I know him." He gestured towards Morgan.
"Then what the fuck did you shoot him for?," the younger girl yelled.
"He was wearing a mask and shooting at us," Carl told the girl. Cassie thought about that. It did seem like a good reason to shoot someone.
"Back away from him right now," Jessica told them again. Rick stood up slowly and backed up. Carl, Beth and Michonne did the same. Cassie held her gun on them while Jessica rushed over to make sure Morgan was going to be okay. His pulse was strong and he was breathing. The bullet had not gone through the vest, so it must have just knocked the wind out of him. She looked up, throwing a hateful glance towards the group of newcomers.
"If you know him," she said to Rick, "what's your name."
"Rick Grimes," he told the woman.
"Never fucking heard of you," she informed him.
"I know his name is Morgan," Rick said gently, "and he has a son named Duane."
"Its true," Duane called from where he and Desiree were peeking around the corner.
"I told you to stay upstairs," Jessica yelled at them. Those goddamn kids listened about as good as a couple of deaf goats.
"Is my dad okay," Duane asked. Jessica nodded. Then she looked over the group of people. They didn't seem overly threatening. And there was only one man with them. She and the kids could take them if it came down to a fight. She motioned for Cassie to lower her handgun. She saw that the kid and the blonde girl also lowered theirs.
"Since you shot him," Jessica said to Rick, "Least y'all could do is help me carry him upstairs."
Rick watched the woman with Morgan. Once they had him upstairs on a bed, she had carefully removed his vest and now she was perched on the side of the bed, checking him over for injuries. Rick was sure he did not know this woman, but there was something strangely familiar about her. He just couldn't put his finger on what it was. The most striking thing about her was her hair, which was such a vibrant shade of coppery red that when it caught the sun it looked like it was glowing. RickyJo's baby had hair that color, maybe thats what was making the woman seem like he might know her.
Michonne looked around the large room they were in. These people had clearly been living here for quite some time. Probably all winter. And now she guessed she knew where the guns they were looking for had gone. Against the far wall was a complete arsenal. Any kind of weapon you would ever need, plus loads of ammunition. There was a lot of food piled up too, canned stuff along with boxes of crackers and cereal. Big crates of bottled water were stacked up to support a large peice of wood that served as a table. Board games and decks of playing cards were piled on the floor next to it. The kids were huddling near the bed, looking down at the injured man. The oldest girl still had hold of her gun and was glancing at them from time to time with looks of distrust. When the man on the bed started to make some soft moaing noises, she ran to fetch him a bottle of water.
Jessica had one of Morgan's hands in hers, touching his face softly with the other and talking to him quietly, telling him everything was going to be alright. Rick had to admit, Morgan had done pretty well for himself since he had seen the man last. Not only was this woman pretty, she also seemed to care for him a great deal. And Rick had seen outside that she had actually known how to use the weapons she had been holding, unlike many of the people running around with guns these days. Michonne gave him a look and nodded her head at all the weapons.
"Let me talk to him first," Rick said to her quietly. She shrugged. Rick could tell these people clearly had more guns than they needed. He was hoping they would be willing to part with some of them. Or maybe he could convince them to come back to the prison with him and then they could take all the guns, and gain a few more people to help them fight. Beth watched the way Michonne was looking at the guns and supplies these people had. She didn't know the woman well enough to know what she might be willing to do to get them. And she didn't think she wanted to find out.
"While you are waiting for him to wake up," Beth suggested to Rick, "Maybe we should go try and find the baby stuff we need."
"You need baby stuff?," Cassie asked them. Beth nodded. Cassie felt bad for any baby that had the misfortune of being born during all the terrible things that were happening now. "There's a house not too far away that had a daycare in the basement," she said, "I can show you." The last part had sounded tentative. She looked at her mother to make sure it would be alright with her if she went with these people.
"You can go with them," Jessica said, gesturing to the two women, "Take Duane with you and take your bow and a bat in case you see any boogies."
"Boogies?," Beth asked. She had heard a lot of different names for the walkers but that was a weird one. The younger of the two girls pulled her thumb out of her mouth.
"Boogey Men," Desiree said quietly. Then she popped her thumb back in, reaching for the large knife on her hip and feeling to make sure it was still there. Beth nodded her understanding. This must be how the adults here had explained the walkers to the kids. And maybe Boogey Men wasn't such a bad name for them. They were the stuff nightmares were made of. She watched as the boy they were calling Duane strapped on a holster and picked up a long aluminum bat. The girl tucked her gun away in the back of her pants and picked up a bow with small wheels on the top and bottom. Beth knew from watching RickyJo teach Sammie that this was called a compound bow.
Michonne and Beth followed the kids down the stairs and back out the side door. Beth noticed they all stayed close to the buildings and tried to do the same. The girl with the bow had an arrow notched, at the ready, but didn't pull the string back until she saw something she wanted to shoot. It reminded her of the way RickyJo looked when she could still hunt, back before she got so big and pregnant that she couldn't move fast anymore.
A walker saw them and headed down the small alley between the buildings towards the group. Cassie lifted her bow and fired, hitting it in the eye and dropping it. She braced her foot against it's head and pulled her arrow back out. Then Duane gave it another hard bash in the head with his bat. Michonne watched the kids. Now she understood how such a small group had made it this long. The girl was obviously an accomplished hunter, and her training had probably started long before the end of the world.
They walked out of the downtown shopping area and onto a more residential street. About two blocks down, Cassie spotted the house she was looking for. Michonne saw that a lot of the houses had markings on the doors painted in spray paint. She couldn't tell what they meant, but she guessed the kids knew. They walked over the overgrown lawn and around the back of the house, which had a walk out basement.
"All the kiddie stuff is in there," Cassie told them, pointing to the sliding glass door, "we will keep watch out here while you get what you need." Michonne gave the glass door a few taps with her sword. If there was anything inside, the noise should bring it towards the door. When nothing came, she slid the door open and gestured for Beth to follow her. The smell hit Beth when she stepped inside, almost choking her. Once she saw where it was coming from she knew why the other girl had not wanted to come inside. There were four small cots in a row. The children in them had been put to bed and then shot in the head. A woman hung from a noose in the middle of the room, her reanimated body growling and reaching for them. Michonne stuck her through the head with her sword, then shook the blood off onto the floor.
"Check over there," she told Beth, pointing to the other side of the room. Beth swallowed down the bile that was rising up in her throat and went the way Michonne had told her. She found a portable playpen, the kind with wheels under it. She pulled it into the middle of the room and started throwing things inside.
Morgan was finally waking up. He saw Jessica and then looked behind her where a man was standing against the wall. It startled him at first. Then he remembered he had seen the man before.
"Rick?," he asked. Jessica was holding his hand. He moved to sit up and she let go of his hand to help him, pushing a pillow behind his back to prop him up. How scared she was for him showed plainly on her face. "I'm alright," he assured her. She sat back down on the bed and leaned forward to press her lips gently to his. When she sat back, Morgan rubbbed her arm, moving up to cup her face in his hand. He was looking at her with so much love and caring in his eyes, she had to look away. She got up and made an awkward excuse about making lunch and getting him an asprin. Rick saw that Morgan followed the woman with his eyes, smiling at her. Then he turned his attention to Rick.
"Did you find your family?," he asked. Rick took this as an invitation to sit and chat. The younger girl that had not gone on the run dragged a chair over and set it next to the bed for him. Then she came back with a water and asprin for Morgan. She handed it to him and then leaned down and hugged him, a small sob escaping from her. Morgan rubbed her back, hugging her to his chest. He was the closest thing to a father she had ever had and she had been very frightened when she thought he might not wake up.
"Get off him before you hurt his ribs more," the girl's mother called. The girl hopped up and scampered over to help her mother make lunch. Jessica sent her up to the roof to get the little fire pit going. Then she started picking out a few cans of vegetable soup. They could throw some of the dried venison they had in with it and she could make some biscuits. The black woman had been staring at their food, so she guessed these people were hungry. She decided to make enough food for everyone.
"I did find them," Rick told Morgan. Then he gestured to the boy in the hat. "This is my son Carl. I found my wife but she died." Morgan nodded, smiling at Carl. He was glad Rick still had his son.
"Why are you here?," Jessica asked bluntly from where she was mixing a bowl full of biscuit mix and water. The blunt way she talked to him reminded him for a moment of RickyJo. Like when he delt with her, Rick figured there was no point to beating around the bush.
"I came looking for the guns I knew were in the police lockup," he said, pointing to the guns stacked and piled against the walls. "We found a safe place to live. We cleared the state prison," he added, "you could come back with us if you want."
"If its so safe, why do you need guns?," Morgan asked. Jessica was eyeballing the man. She was fine with feeding them a meal, but this asshole was not going to be walking off with all their weapons. She didn't care if they were from the police lockup and he was a cop. Finders keepers jerkoff. Rick could see the woman was not impressed with what he had said. This was going to take some explaining.
"We are having problems with another group," Rick admitted. Morgan guessed the rest.
"You showed me where to find these guns," Morgan said, "So I will give you half of them."
"Like hell," Jessica interjected. Rick watched as the couple locked eyes. Nothing was said but a few seconds later the woman muttered a few foul words under her breath and went back to the biscuit dough, turning her back to them.
"I will give you half these guns," Morgan said, waiting to see if Jessica was going to object again. When she didn't, he continued. "But I can't put my family at risk fighting a battle that isn't mine to fight." Rick sat back. He felt Morgan's decision was fair. He even thought for a moment about leaving Carl here until the battle with the governor was over. But he knew the boy would not be happy with that and might take off on his own, trying to come back. And that was a lot to ask of these people, half of which he didn't know and the other half he had only really met once.
"Thank you," Rick told him, bringing on a few more swear words from the red haired woman. Then she stomped off out onto the balconey and up the stairs to the roof. "Friend of yours?," Rick asked. Despite her angry stomping, Morgan smiled.
"If I had it my way," he said, "she would be my wife."
Duane came back with the girls, and Carl was happy to see they had two whole playpens full of stuff for his little sister and MJ. He knew RickyJo would be especially happy about all the diapers. Rick and Michonne loaded up half the weapons and the baby supplies into the car. Then they sat down for a very delicious and slightly awkward meal. The kids made it go smoother. Duane and Carl wolfed their food down like two blood hounds and took off to go look at the comics Duane had. It made Rick sad that Carl didn't have any friends his own age back at the prison. Maybe after the problems with the governor were over, Morgan might be willing to reconsider coming back to the prison with them.
Morgan noticed the young blonde girl was sitting close to Rick, and they occasionally touched under the table. From where he was sitting, Rick didn't seem to be too broken up over his wife. Not that Morgan had a lot of room to talk, being with Jessica so soon after Jenny died. But at least Jessica was a grown woman, this girl only looked a few years older than Cassie. She was pretty though, and seemed very sweet and polite. Those were rare qualities these days, and if the two of them were happy, then Morgan decided he was happy for them.
After watching the small group climb into their cramped car and drive away, Morgan, Jessica and the kids headed back up to clean up the dishes and go back to whatever activities they had been doing before the unexpected visitors had arrived. Jessica took the dishes up to the roof to wash them and did not come back down so Morgan went up to look for her. She was sitting in one of the camp chairs with her feet up, looking out over the small town she now considered home. Morgan took the seat next to her, minding his sore ribs as he tried to get comfortable. He had something he wanted to ask her.
"You have been wanting to find a larger group to join," he reminded her. Jessica gave a little shrug and crossed her arms. She was still having a pout over the guns. Morgan at least could have made those people give something in trade for that much fire power. Morgan sighed. "I'm sorry about the guns," he said. Then he took her hand, bringing it up to his lips and kissing the back of it. Jessica wanted to stay mad at him, but she was having a hard time. Finally she cracked a smile and leaned over to kiss him.
"You have been talking about finding a larger group," he started again. Jessica nodded this time.
"There's safety in numbers," she said. "And the kids need to be around other people."
"Why didn't you go with them then?," Morgan asked her. She looked shocked at his question. There was no way in this life or any other that she was going anywhere without Morgan, She thought he knew that.
"You said you didn't want to go," she said. That should be enough of an explanation, she thought.
"What does that have to do with you?," he asked. He had been serious about his questions at first, but now he had a small smile playing at the corner of his lips. Morgan knew that even when he tried to talk to her about his fellings, it made her uncomfortable. But he told her just the same. Jessica pulled her hand back and crossed her arms, looking at him indignantly. If he wanted her to talk about her feelings, she might have to throw up in her mouth a little bit. It was on the tip of her tounge to tell him that, but then she saw what happened earlier again in her mind. The gun firing and Morgan falling to the ground, possibly dead or dying. She felt her bottom lip start to tremble. Then she finally spit out what she had been holding in for all those long winter months.
"I want to be wherever you are," she told him. Morgan took her hand back, holding it between his two larger ones, feeling all the little calluses he already knew were there. This was the closest she had ever come to saying anything close to how she felt about him, so he thought he would push his luck a little further.
"Why?," he asked her softly. She looked down at her lap, thinking his question over. As a young woman, she had always loved too hard, cared too much. She kept people too close, held on too tight. Only her cousin was able to bear the weight of her love without breaking. The strength of her feelings had made boys and men recoil from her. And so she had learned to bottle up her feelings inside. Not to get attached to the men she slept with. Because she knew if she started caring for them, they would leave. Men only liked the chase. Once they thought you were theirs, they got bored. But maybe Morgan wasn't like that. Maybe when he said he loved her, he really meant it. He was good to her. Plus he was patient and kind to her daughters. Jessica took a deep breath. She looked up, her eyes misty with emotion.
"Because I love you," she said.