Part Two

Alexandria

RickyJo took Jessica's hand and led her into her bedroom. The two teenagers that had been having what looked like a pretty heavy makeout session on the bed had already been kicked out. Then RickyJo let go of her hand and picked up a sleeping baby from inside the playpen that was against the wall.

"I have someone I would like you to meet," she told her cousin. Then she gently handed the baby over into her cousin's waiting arms. Jessica started to cry. This baby might actually be the most adorable thing she had ever seen. She leaned down and kissed the baby on his forehead and cheeks, her tears falling down onto his face. The dampness woke him up and he started to fuss, not happy to find he was being held not only by someone other than his mother, but a stranger. RickyJo took him back and pulled her shirt down to nurse him.

"He has my hair," Jessica said quietly. Other than that he looked just like Daryl, who Jessica naturally assumed was the father. She stepped over to where he was standing in the doorway and hugged him. "I am so happy for you two," she said, hugging him tightly, "why didn't you tell me you and RickyJo had a baby?" Jessica could feel his body tighten up. She stepped back and looked at him. The feeling in the air was suddenly very awkward. Had she said something wrong? RickyJo cleared her throat.

"It's not his baby," RickyJo told her. Now Jessica was really confused.

"What the hell you mean its not his baby?," she asked, "Looks exactly like him." If Daryl had knocked up her cousin and then tried the old its not my baby trick, Jessica was going to kick his ass. RickyJo took a deep breath. She had a feeling this was not going to go over well. Of course Merle was standing in the doorway, not saying a fucking word like a damn coward.

"Thats because this is his nephew," RickyJo said. She watched the wheels in Jessica head start to turn. Nephew, what did she mean nephew. Then she noticed Merle standing in the hall, being uncharacteristically silent.

"Oh hell no," she said, turning to Merle, who was seriously considering making a run for it. "You fucked my cousin?" It was really more of a accusation than a question. She turned back to the baby, guessing his age and trying to do the math in her head. Now she was heading out into the hall, pointing her finger at him. "I left you there at the campsite to keep an eye on her because she was upset and you fucked her. You fucking pig. Or was it before that?"

"Thats not what happened," RickyJo was saying, trying to get ahold of Jessica's arm so she could pull her back into the room. "He is big for his age, this happened after the outbreak." Jessica was still upset, but that made her feel a little better.

"Thats not all," Daryl informed Jessica. He was enjoying this and hoping Jessica might take a few swings at his brother. "They got married." RickyJo threw him a dirty look. She was planning to break that to Jessica a little more gently. She knew Daryl was mad at her, but that was no excuse for being an asshole. She kept ahold of Jessica's arm.

"Don't look at them," RickyJo told her, "Look at me." Jessica did as she asked and turned away from the boys. "I am happy so please just be happy for me, okay?" Daryl snorted. RickyJo ignored him. "Look at the beautiful baby I have," she told her, "be happy for me." Jessica did have to admit, motherhood looked good on her cousin. And she knew that ever since she had her girls, all RickyJo had ever wanted was a family of her own. Jessica's face lit up and she hugged her cousin as tightly as she could without smashing the baby between them. When she let go, she turned and looked at Merle.

"I still think you're a dick," she informed him. He threw his head back and started laughing like crazy, catching Jessica by the wrist and pulling her out into the hall where he could hug her against her will.

"You know I missed you too," he told her. Even Daryl had a little smile now. It was good to have Jessica back to call Merle on all his shit. And he doubted it, but maybe Merle would want to get back together with her.

"Lets take Emmie down and show him to the girls," Merle said. RickyJo smiled and nodded. She linked hands with Jessica and headed down the hall towards the stairs. Merle let them get a few steps ahead before he grabbed him brother hard by the shirt and hissed into his ear.

"I know," Merle told him. Daryl shook him off and threw and elbow at him, which his brother easily dodged. Fuck Merle and whatever he thought he knew. Know I am going to be getting my woman back, you prick. Daryl didn't say anything to him, just stormed down the hall after the girls.

Morgan was sitting at the table with Duane and the girls. They were all devouring sandwiches that someone had been nice enough to make them. He saw Jessica and pointed towards the empty seat with the full plate in front of it. She sat down and stated digging in. RickyJo poked into the kitchen, Eugene and Tara were in there, she she thanked them for making the food. She really should have thought to do that, but she was a little thrown off with all her family members suddenly back from the dead. She heard a light knock on the door. When she opened it, Deanna and Spencer were standing there, holding two bottles of champagne. She also noticed Spencer was wearing a gun on a holster on his hip. RickyJo looked at it and then questioningly at Deanna.

"I heard there might be some loose walkers around," Deanna said. Then she held up the bottle. "We thought you might want to celebrate." RickyJo laughed and motioned them inside. She hugged Deanna.

"Are you okay after what you did," she asked. Deanna nodded. She had a feeling she might have some nightmares for a while, but she did not regret killing Pete.

"Rosita got the bleeding to stop," Spencer told RickyJo. She knew he was talking about his dad. "But she and Aiden are staying with him just to be safe." RickyJo threw the arm she wasn't using to hold her baby around Spencer.

"I am glad," she told him. And she was. She liked Reg and thought he was a kind and gentle man. It would have been horrible if something happened to him.

"Since these are family members of yours," Deanna said, pointing into the dining room, "I think I can forgo the formal interviews. But if you don't mind I would like to sit and listen a while you catch up so I can learn a little bit about them." Deanna had thought about it and decided she would learn much more about these people listening to them talk than she would ever learn in a five minute interview.

"Of course," RickyJo told her, "you know you are welcome here anytime. Especially when you are bringing the booze."

Everyone finished eating and took up a spot in the living room. RickyJo let the girls have a look at her baby, and each of them got a short turn holding him. Then, to Jessica's complete amazement, she handed the baby off to Merle, who held him confidently without waking him. RickyJo came out with plastic cups, which she filled with the sparkling wine and handed out to everyone, even the kids got a glass each.

"Sip that slowly," Morgan warned them. RickyJo kicked at Daryl a little to make him move his legs and she settled down on the floor between his and Merle's legs where they were sitting on the couch. They were in the middle with Cassie and Desiree leaning in on either side like bookends. Cassie had wanted to sit next to Daryl, but now thought she had the better end of the deal, since she was close to the baby, and Merle was lettting her touch him gently. Morgan and Jessica were sitting on the love seat, with Duane on the floor near their feet. Deanna and Spencer had dragged chairs in from the dining room. RickyJo had something she had meant to ask Morgan earlier that she was confused about.

"You already knew Rick?," she asked the man. Morgan nodded.

"Actually I met him already too," Jessica said, "and his girlfriend, plus the kid and Michonne. We gave them some weapons a long time ago." Now RickyJo's mind was blown. The time at the prison when Rick had come back with all those weapons. He had gotten them from Jessica. "He invited us back to his camp but we didn't go," Jessica added.

"The prison?,"RickyJo asked. Jessica nodded.

"Wait," Jess asked, "were you there?" RickyJo nodded. Now Jessica's face was starting to collapse. She turned and buried her face into Morgan's shoulder. He was rubbing her back.

"Its alright," he told her, "we are all here together now. There's no way you could have known." RickyJo watched her cousin with Morgan. It looked like Jessica had finally found herself a keeper. And he had a son about the same age as her girls, which made things nice for them.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Spencer said to Jessica now that she was mopping up her face, "but of you wouldn't mind, I would love to hear your story from the beginning." Daryl and RickyJo were nodding. Maybe it would be best to listen to everything first instead of asking a ton of questions all out of order. Jessica took and deep breath and started at the beginning.

When she got done, RickyJo started with what had happened to her, with Daryl adding in parts of the story that he felt she was leaving out. He had put his hand on her shoulder while she was talking, and when she got to the bad parts, she squeezed it for comfort. Merle started chiming in once she got to the part where they left and ended up alone at terminus. Then Jessica wanted to know what had happened to Merle while he was separated from the group and RickyJo felt bad, since she had never even asked him about it. Daryl filled in the part about the governor coming back and destroying the prison. When they got done, Deanna could not believe what she had heard. These people were sitting around telling some of the most horrifying things she had ever heard like it was just another day at the office. She was especially worried about the group that attacked Noah's home, since it was closer to them and no one knew who did it. No wonder RickyJo thought everyone here should be armed with guns.

"Did you all meet right after the outbreak?," Deanna asked them.

"No we have all know each other for years," RickyJo explained.

"Since Cassie here was maybe two?," Daryl added, gesturing to the teenage girl next to Merle. Well there went the end of my woman latching onto a strong man theory, Deanna thought. She had been wrong before, but she usually wasn't that far off when it came to sizing people up.

"How did you all meet?," Morgan asked. There were a few chuckles from the brothers and giggles from the girls.

"Merle used to sell us pot," Jessica admitted. Desiree had fallen asleep in Daryl's lap, but Cassie laughed. She had not known that. "Then we started dating," Jessica said. Merle coughed into his hand. Fucking. Fucking. Daryl and RickyJo were laughing. Jessica threw her cousin a dirty look, she ought to know by now not to encourage him. And he was embarrassing her in front of Morgan. RickyJo jumped in to save her.

"Then he set me and Daryl up," she said, "and the rest is history." She smiled up at Daryl, remembering how much fun they used to have together. He knocked at her shoulder a little with his knuckles.

"You 'member that time we took your Poppa's bike out to the coast and went skinny dipping in the ocean?," he asked her. RickyJo's face turned red and Merle scowled at him. That was the closest they had ever come to having sex until years later when they went to Mexico together.

"I remember," she admitted. A hot blush was rising up into her cheeks, giving them a lovely flush. Jessica watched the interaction between the three of them. Now she knew what was going on. The guys were into having some kind of pissing contest over her cousin. And RickyJo had two men and likely had no idea what to do with either one of them. She was obviously having sex with Merle, since he was holding the baby to prove it. But Jessica wondered if she was doing the dirty with Daryl as well. They were acting funny with each other, but that didn't really mean anything, they had been acting like that for years. Tomorow she was going to have to get her cousin alone and get all the dirty details from her.

Deanna could see the tension between the two men was getting a little awkward. "Its getting very late," she said, "and I think it might be time for us to go." Then she stood up and straighten out her shirt. Spencer followed her lead.

"Its so dark, are you sure you don't want to stay?," RickyJo asked them. She knew Spencer had a gun, but she wasn't sure how good he was at using it. And there might still be a few biters hanging around. Morgan got to his feet, grabbing the long stick he laid on the floor near his chair.

"I can walk you," he offered, earning him a big smile from Jessica. She was looking up at him with such a sweet expression, so proud and grateful that she had such a wonderful man that loved her and treated everyone so well. It was such a polite offer that Deanna felt she couldn't refuse, and he brought his son along with him. The boy was picked up an aluminum bat that he had left by the door. It was hard for her to believe that these people had made it years out these with no walls and only sticks and bats to defend themselves. She wondered how long she would make it, and it was a very unsettling thought. What would happen to her people if the people that attacked Noah's community came here and knocked her walls down? She hoped she would never have to find out. But she knew one thing. Rick and RickyJo had been right all along. Eventually they were going to have to fight for what was theirs and they might as well start preparing now.