This Night

Chapter 216

Author's Note: Season 6 is going to be awesome. I'm not going to say anything, no spoilers. But my people (including my Alexandrians) are already putting themselves in place. But so much more to do in the story before then! But you all aren't complaining are you? The scene between Rick and Gabriel was originally going to be Jewel and Gabriel, but I have no confidence that Jewel wouldn't just kill him for judging her, so I played it safe.

So I got rearended last night and my back is killing me. I had planned to have this out last night but yet. Please review, it does motivate me.

Rick's group POV:

Michonne and Jes walked in the back of the group and kept an eye on the surroundings. Michonne looked over at the other woman. "You mean what you said to Gabriel?"

Jes arched an eyebrow and looked over at her. "I said a lot of things to him, got to be more specific," she told the other woman.

"About not trusting anyone but yourself," Michonne stated.

Jes gave a small smirk. "I said usually. Of course, when I first met you, you weren't much of a person to trust people either. I don't know what you were alike before, but I was pretty much the same person I was when you met me."

"Didn't the Army teach you to work with others?" Michonne asked.

"It did, but I never really got the whole trust thing. I knew I could trust myself to get my people out, but I really didn't do good at the whole trusting them thing," Jes said as she shrugged. "I guess I hadn't met the right people," she mentioned casually.

Michonne hid a laugh. "Yeah they tend to grow on you, don't they?"

Rick glanced back at them. "Hope can charm anyone, just like Judith. Both of you are just hang around for some baby loving," he teased.

Jes and Michonne looked at each other then at him. "You figured us out, Rick. I saw that baby food and knew there was just a cute little baby for me to get my hands on," Michonne answered.

Jes gave a rare smile. "I saw Jewel and I knew that if I got her back to you, you two would make this cute little creature with deep blue eyes that Jewel would plop in my arms and make it impossible for me to leave. I thought we could keep it hidden from you better. Guess that's what makes you a good leader," she teased.

Bob looked at her. "Jes, was that a smile?"

Jes got straight faced. "No," she told him seriously.

Bob grinned at her. "No, that was a full fledged smile," he told her. "There's hope for us all if Jes can even break a smile," he teased. "Hey Rick," he said as he got the leaders attention. "When you said they don't get to live, you weren't wrong," he told him as Rick looked at him. "We push ourselves and let things go. Then we let some more go, and some more. Pretty soon there's things we can't get back. Things that we couldn't hold on to even if we tried," Bob told the other man. "Washington's gonna happen Rick," he said confidently.

"I haven't decided if we're going," Rick told him.

Bob nodded. "Yeah, I know and that's cool. But you've seen Abraham in action. He's gonna get there and Eugene's gonna cure all this and you're gonna find yourself in a place where it's like it used to be. And, if you've let to much to go along the way, that's not gonna work, cause you gonna be back in the real world," he told him.

"This is the real world Bob," Rick told him.

Bob laughed. "Naw, this is a nightmare and nightmare's end. I'm sorry, I'm calling it. Washington's gonna happen. You're gonna say yes. Already to much momentum. You can't fight City Hall," Bob told him as he looked at him. "Maybe that's just one of those parts of not letting go."

Jes shook her head. "Bob, you and Mika need to be our cheerleaders. Happy and positive no matter what," she said as she shook her head.

Bob grinned. "I'll be sure to tell Mika you said that."

Rick glanced at him then sped up his speed as the Father was getting to far ahead for his liking. "Hold up," he told the other man. "You in a hurry to get there? Or in a hurry to get away from us?"

"I just don't like being out in the open for this long," Gabriel told him.

"Well you aren't alone. Don't get to far ahead, or I may think you got people helping you and I have a very impatient trigger finger when I think my family is in danger," Rick warned him.

Gabriel nodded. "Back at the church….when you and your wife thought I was staring, I wasn't, not really. I wanted to compliment the two of you."

Rick glanced at him. "Compliment us? On what?"

"All this death and mayhem, you and your wife were able to maintain a loving relationship. You must have had a strong marriage before this. To be a parent of three children in this world…and two small ones at that. It's admirable," Gabriel told him.

Rick tilted his head and looked at him. "Admirable? That I love my wife?"

"Things like this tear a relationship apart, or brings it together," Gabriel told him.

Rick stopped and looked at him. "First of all we have four children. Summer, Carl, Judith and Hope. Second of all, we didn't meet until after all this started. Summer was her daughter, Carl was my son. I was married when this all happened, to Carl's mother. I don't feel that I OWE you an explanation, or that you even deserve one. Judith, her father was my best friend and her mother was Carl's mother. Shane died and Lori died giving birth. I didn't even have to ask Jewel, there was no doubts that we'd raise her as our own. And, Hope, yes she's ours. You are not to mention this conversation to Jewel, actually you will not mention this conversation to her. She's had enough judgment in her life about Summer, and you are not going to add to it. All you need to know is that what you see in front of you is me loving my wife, my children. And, yes, she's MY wife. I really don't need to explain anything to you, but if you say one thing to Jewel about this, I will cut your tongue out and feed it the walkers. Then you really can't answer our questions," he told him. "Now let's get to where we are going."

Ronnie and Abe's POV:

Ronnie stood in the graveyard and closed her eyes and took a breath. She opened them quickly as she felt someone watching her. She turned and looked at Abraham. "Is there something I can help you with?" she challenged.

"You shouldn't be out here alone," Abraham informed her.

"Obviously I'm not alone am I?" Ronnie questioned him. "I just needed a minute," she informed him. Her dark eyes closing for a minute. "You know what, never mind, you wouldn't understand."

Abe nodded as he blocked her from leaving. "Maybe you're right, maybe I have absolutely no idea what personal hell you're living with right now. But, we need to focus on the big picture," he told her.

Ronnie looked at him. "Get out of my way, Abraham," she told him.

"We can end this, get Eugene to Washington. As a doctor, you should be the first one on that bus. You should want to end this," Abraham informed her.

Ronnie pushed him back. "Will it bring the people we lost back? Will it bring my daughter back? Will it bring my husband back? Have you ever been in love? Have you ever lost someone who was part of your life for over half of it?" she yelled at him. "You can't even imagine the guilt that I feel about being alive and him not being here. It's been a week and half, a week and half of not being able to grieve. Now that there's a minute to stop, I'm letting myself self pity. I'm letting myself grieve for a man that I have loved since I was nineteen. I certainly don't need you to interrupt the one minute that I took to stop and grieve for you to tell me what YOU think I should want to do. You don't know me well enough to know what I want. You know what I want? I want to go back to the prison where my husband is buried, I want to stand by his grave and I want to let the walkers' come and get me. If we're totally being honest, that's what I want," she told him as she pushed him back again. "You don't get to tell me WHAT I should want to do because you don't know me," she told him as she pushed him again. By this time she had drawn the attention of the others in the group.

Jewel came out on the steps of the church and walked down. "Back off Abraham, just go back to working on the bus," she said as she went to Ronnie. "Hey, let's go inside. We'll use Gabriel's office, and if you need someone to beat up on, I volunteer Merle. He takes hits from hysterical females pretty good."

"Hey," Merle said as he acted offended.

Jewel glared at Abraham as she passed him still holding on to Ronnie's shoulders. "Mika can you watch Hope for me?" she asked as they went inside.

"No problem," Mika answered. She went over and hugged Ronnie. "You looked like you needed it," she explained as she looked up at the woman.

Ronnie smiled as she kissed the top of her head. "I did Mika. Thank you," she said as she followed Jewel in to the room.

Jewel closed the door behind her. "Sit down," she told the other woman.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made a scene. It was stupid," Ronnie told her as she wiped her eyes.

Jewel sat down beside her. "Ronnie, you have nothing to be sorry for. I think you earned an emotional breakdown. It let's you know that you are still alive," she told her. "You've been through a lot."

"We've all been through a lot," Ronnie countered. "You just had a baby, I'm supposed to be watching out for your mental being, not the other way around."

Jewel shook her head. "Maybe that's how it would have been before all this. But you are more then just a doctor, you are family. With everything else that's happened, you lost someone that you spent half of your life with. I can't even fathom what you are going through, and I'm not even going to try. You have the right to be sad, to mourn. Nobody has the right to tell you any different. I heard what you said to Abraham, about wanting to go back to the prison. Did you mean it?" she asked quietly.

Ronnie lowered her head on her hands. "I don't know. I really don't know….." she answered honestly.

Jewel hugged her. "Hey it's alright, you don't have to know. I'd actually be worried if you did know. God, I wish Hershel was here, he'd have something profound to say," she said as she gave a small smile. "Or Dale. You didn't get a chance to meet him, but said words could be meager things," she told her as she remembered. "Taking your own life, ending this hell, that's not something I can tell you not to do. I've seen what it does to a person who was forced to make the decision to live when they really didn't want too. But, what I can tell you is that there's a whole lot of people that love you, including me. And those same people would be sad that you weren't with us anymore, just like we are sad that Ridge isn't here. Or anyone of the other people that we've lost aren't here."

"I always had a purpose, and now, I'm not sure," Ronnie told her.

"You still have a purpose, Ronnie. You are making me drink that awful tasting tea, and wrote down the medicine that was needed. You took care of the people back at the prison and kept a lot of people alive. More importantly, you are part of this family," Jewel told her as she hugged her.

Ronnie nodded as she hugged her back. "Speaking of tea, we should make some more up. Carol's gathering more water," she said with a smile.

Jewel laughed. "I shouldn't have mentioned the tea."

"While you drink it, I'm going to steal some Hope love and then Judith loving," Ronnie said with a grin.

TBC