Rick watched his helicopter land from the lone window in his cell. His jaw tightened as he watched Eugene get out alone, then go running over to Negan and Darryl. His view of the interaction was suddenly blocked by Judith herself. She peered down at him from the steps outside, wearing a hat that was once his own. He remembered he had given it to Carl to wear at one time.
"Hi." Rick said, a fog catching in his throat.
"Hello." Judith replied, her eyes sweeping over him. For some reason she could not help but think that they didn't look too much alike.
"What's going on out there?" Rick asked.
"Something's wrong with Momma. But Uncle Negan will help her out. And when they both return, you need to think about thanking your brother for taking care of us."
Rick blinked.
"My brother? Honey, who are you talking about?"
'Uncle Negan! How many other brothers do you have?"
Rick refrained from gasping! That bastard had told his children that they were brothers? That they were actually related?
"Judith, he is not my brother. And he is not your uncle and I can't believe Michonne let you think that!"
Judith dragged her eyes off of him, when Maggie approached the stoop.
"Judith, you need to get home now. I need to talk to your daddy."
"Why? Where's Momma? Why didn't she return? Something happened with Dexter, didn't it?"
Maggie wasn't going to lie to her. She nodded.
"Yes. The prisoner exchange did not go well. Carol is dead."
Rick's eyes widened and Judith jumped up and ran towards home! Maggie hurried down the steps, opened the door to the basement prison and slammed it behind her. There was no guard on duty.
"Maggie, what the hell?! Carol is dead?"
"And my husband is not here. Neither is Michonne. Rick, you know we love you and if you want back in here, I'm all for it! Anything to throw Negan out of here! But you are going to have to start telling the truth here! Eugene said that Morgan is the one that shot Carol and took Michonne. Darryl said that Morgan was wherever the hell you've been, all of these years, so don't tell me you don't know anything about this!"
Rick slowly sat down on a cot and ran a hand over his face, before standing up again and walking over to the bars.
"When I woke up in that town, I knew something wasn't right. You want to know how I knew that? Because the first person I saw was Shane."
Maggie eyed him.
"Shane? Shane who's dead?"
"Yes." Rick said in a tight sounding voice. "And he was the Sheriff. Michonne was his wife."
"Michonne and Shane were married? You saw Michonne there?"
"Not right away. She was here." Rick said. Maggie shook her head slightly.
"Rick, I'm not following any of this! What are you talking about?"
"What I'm talking about, Maggie, is that there is a damned portal to another world, where life if like it used to be. Meaning the dead stay dead! There had been a version of me that was killed, apparently. So when Jadis found me and brought me to Waldorf Spruce, she did it to get of trouble. She shouldn't have been here herself. Everytime anyone from that reality crosses into ours, it lets Walkers into their world."
Maggie digested what Rick was saying, still feeling a bit skeptical about what she was hearing.
"Okay, let's say I believe what you're saying: what did you mean about Michonne?"
"Michonne…Shane's Michonne, was here already. I saw her come back through the portal one time wearing a wig. One time she was wearing glasses. Finally, I saw her return drenched in blood."
Maggie stared at Rick for a while. Rick clung to the bars.
"What, Maggie? You know something."
"It's just that…well…I met Dexter in another community. We lived there with our kids along with a friend of Dexter's. He was married to a woman that was killed. Or so we thought."
"Killed?"
"There was a serial killer in the compound. That's why Dexter and I came here. For safety. But once we arrived…Dexter said something to me once about how Michonne looked like the woman that was killed. Her name was Amanda. I never thought that because they didn't really look like…Amanda had glasses and a different hairstyle…but…" she trailed off, now turning away from Rick.
"If she was who you all were living with, then she was the serial killer. She's dangerous, Maggie."
Maggie turned back to him.
"Rick, Carol's husband and Dexter's friend were killed! Dexter's friend who was married to Amanda! And Carol was blamed! Was your Michonne here then?"
"She returned to Waldorf Spruce before I showed up here. That's when I took the helicopter and flew out of there."
"So you were taught how to fly one?"
Rick shook his head.
"Somehow I could do whatever my other version could do. Maggie…Dexter is married to someone else in Waldorf Spruce. And he is a very sinister, violent man. So is Morgan. Hell, so is Shane, though he didn't seem much different there than he was here." Rick mused.
"I believe you." Maggie told him. "Now what do we do about it? How do we close this portal?"
Rick clamped his lips closed for a moment, before answering.
"I don't know. But I need for you to close it after I take my daughter and son back to Waldorf Spruce. I need for you to help me do that, Maggie. Say that you will?" Rick asked in a pleading tone.
"You fucking left?!" Negan snapped at Eugene. "And who the hell is Morgan? I've met him?"
Darryl said nothing but stood there with his arms folded. Carol was dead. Carol was dead. Carol was dead. And he could not get it out of his head that Rick would not be surprised by any of this. Rick had said Morgan wasn't the same.
Rick knew what the hell this was about.
"Everyone at the prison was dead!" Eugene yelled. "Michonne didn't want me to land there in case the people that killed everyone, were still there! She wanted the helicopter protected! Her and Carol headed there on foot but got ambushed by Morgan! He's the only one I saw!"
"And you couldn't have shot the fucker from the air?!" Negan asked in a surly tone. "Never mind, Eugene. Just fly us to the prison so we can get Michonne and Dexter."
"We don't know what we'll be walking in to." Darryl said slowly. "We'll need Rick."
"Rick?! What the fuck for?!" Negan yelled.
"Because he knows what this is. He knows why Morgan killed Carol." was all Darryl said before walking towards Rick's prison. Eugene and Negan gave one another a WTF look, before Negan hurried after Darryl and grabbed his arm! Darryl swung around and punched Negan! Negan staggered back a bit.
"Don't put your hands on me ever again," Darryl said in a low, growly tone, "get to the helicopter with Eugene."
"You tell me what you know about all of this, Dixon! You knew Rick was lying in church, didn't you? What's he told you?" Negan asked, not backing down.
"Just go to the helicopter…"
"The fuck I will!" Negan snapped. "You tell me what's going on here—NOW! Otherwise, Eugene and I leave alone!"
"And who is that going to help, Negan? Huh? Michonne and Dexter will be more fucked than they are now!"
"Like you really want to see Dexter come back here!" Negan grinned. "I'm coming with you to get whatever it is you need to get out of Rick. And if he doesn't talk just from our asking, we're going into the cell to beat the shit out of him."
Maggie suddenly hurried towards them! She grabbed Darryl's hand and pulled him away from Negan and he realized that whatever she learned from Rick, she wasn't going to share. Negan decided to go down there himself. Darryl noticed this but didn't have time to act on it, as Maggie began to tell him what Rick told her.
Meanwhile, Negan slammed the basement prison door and walked up to Rick's cell.
"No more bullshit, Grimes. I know you know what's happening around here. What do you know? Did you send this Morgan guy after Michonne and Carol?"
"Ask Maggie." was all Rick said. Negan pulled out a set of keys.
"I'm going to come into your cell and ask that question again. And I'd better get a more detailed answer than that." Negan warned him.
"Or what?" Rick asked, eyeing him. "None of that is going to help Michonne."
"So you do know this Morgan? How many men does he have? And why was only Carol killed? Why would he keep Dexter and Michonne?"
"I want my children, Negan. You want Michonne…"
"Michonne and the kids are MY family now. There isn't one without the other."
"Of course there is!" Rick snapped. "You can have more children with Michonne. I can take Judith and RJ to a safe world…"
"Where they kill people here?" Negan countered. "No. But now I know that you don't want Michonne rescued, do you?"
"I think that if Morgan is here, then it's too late." was all Rick would say to him. Negan put the keys back in his pocket. He didn't have time to beat the shit out Grimes. There was another danger here that he had never anticipated. If he left to get Michonne, someone here could let Rick out of that cage and help him take Judith and RJ. He couldn't allow that to happen. And he also didn't quite understand where the hell Rick thought he could take Judith and RJ, that would be any safer than Alexandria?
Deb suddenly entered the prison basement.
"What's going on down here now?" she asked. "What are we going to do about getting Dexter and Michonne back? The kids are scared shitless!"
Negan turned from Rick to look at her.
"You're going to go with Eugene and Darryl and get them back."
Rick raised a brow.
"That could be dangerous." he noted.
"Well, Rick, if you don't want your new girlfriend to possibly get killed, you'll cut the bullshit and say what needs saying." Negan said in a hard tone. Deb walked over to the bars.
"Rick? Do you know what's going on?"
Rick rubbed his throat before speaking.
"There are no undead in Waldorf Spruce. And there are a lot of people alive there, that aren't here." he said. Negan squinted at him!
"What the fuck are you talking about, Grimes? People think I'm bad, but you're standing there spewing bullshit while people's lives hang in the balance!"
Deb rolled her eyes at Negan before addressing Rick.
"What are you trying to say, Rick? Just say it." she said.
"Okay. I woke up in another world, Deb. You're there but you're different. Dexter and his wife Rita run the town along with Morgan, my dead, ex partner at the Sheriff's department and Michonne, who's a murderous bitch. My being here has allowed walkers to breach their world, that is why Morgan is here. They want me back there. I want to take the kids…"
"Okay," Negan coughed, "look, mutherfucker, clearly you're on something or was on something or I don't know what. But this is what's going to happen: Darryl and whoever he wants to take with him, is going to rescue Dexter and Michonne. I'm going to stay here and make sure you don't pull anything on the kids. And then you're getting the fuck out of here."
And with those harsh words, Negan turned and left the basement jail, leaving Deb and Rick alone.
"There is no way," Deb said, "you could know that Dexter's wife's name was Rita, unless something of what you're saying is true. Tell me the part about Michonne?"
"It's just what I told Maggie. Maggie seemed to think that the Michonne I knew, was here pretending to be someone named Amanda in disguise…"
Deb gasped and backed back!
"Are you fucking kidding me?! You're shitting me, right?!"
"I'm not." Rick said calmly. "And it was the other Michonne that probably killed Carol's husband and your friend."
RED RIVER CREEK PRISON-
Michonne and Dexter took apart a cot and used some of the pieces to slam against the prison glass. But nothing seemed to work. Michonne shook her head as she realized that they were running out of time. Morgan could come back at any minute or someone from Alexandria could, and be taken by surprise.
"Tell me what this Morgan guy was like when you knew him?" Dexter asked Michonne.
"What does that matter? That's not him!"
"In some ways it is. Or it could be."
Michonne lifted a brow.
"You think that because of what you saw in yourself? And your late wife?"
"What I think is that we're going to have to talk our way out of here if we want to live, and save whoever it is, that Eugene sends back here." Dexter answered, by not answering her question directly.
Michonne folded her arms.
"Okay. Morgan…the one I knew, was crazy. Actually, maybe that's not fair to say. This whole thing…the collapse of our world…he didn't adapt as well as others. He lost his wife and son."
"Together?"
"No. Separately. At least that's what Rick told me. Rick could've ended up like him if he hadn't had something else to hold on to." Michonne said in a hollow voice.
"Meaning Judith and yourself?" Dexter correctly surmised. Michonne nodded.
"Yes. Morgan had no one. Though when he did form relationships, it was usually with younger people that reminded him of his son. Then they would die and he just couldn't come back, you know?"
Dexter shook his head.
"No, Michonne. I don't know. I can't imagine losing a child. If anything happened to Harrison, it would've been like losing Rita all over again."
Michonne stared at him and then realized she was staring. Dexter noted this as well.
"You're staring." Dexter said wryly.
"I'm sorry. I guess I know what it's like to be in love with someone who's dead. Or who you thought was dead, in Rick's case."
Dexter wagged a finger at her!
"Don't let Negan hear you say that."
Michonne shrugged.
"With Negan, what you see is what you get."
"Yet somehow you don't strike me as the type of woman that would be drawn to a sadistic asshole. All I've ever heard about Rick Grimes is how wonderful he was."
"He was." Michonne said shortly.
"And yet Negan is his polar opposite."
"Negan has…Negan is just trying to survive, like we all are."
"So…there is actually more to Negan than what we see?" Dexter asked, smiling. Michonne rolled her eyes!
"Yes. But his 'beginning' is a little hard to overcome in Alexandria. Especially with Maggie."
"Can you blame her?" Dexter countered.
Michonne decided to get the topic off of her and on to him specifically. She realized there would probably never be another chance to find out if her suspicions about Dexter's dark side, were true or not.
"No. Though Maggie was never one to be drawn to men that were shrouded in darkness."
Dexter grinned!
"Shrouded in darkness? What is that? What does that mean?"
"It means, Dexter," Michonne said, "that Maggie is one of the best judges of character I have ever known. I'm supposed to believe that she couldn't sense something was off about you from the moment the two of you met?"
"I'm not following you." Dexter lied, actually enjoying the conversation.
"You came up with that plan for Carol like it was second nature."
"And Negan and you agreed to it." Dexter replied.
"Along with Deb." Michonne countered. "Which means that she knows about you."
"Knows what about me, Michonne?"
"Honestly, I don't know. Except this feeling I have that killing isn't something new to you."
"Is it new to anyone these days?"
Michonne smiled.
"Alright. I'm through prying. For now."
"Yes," Dexter said drolly, "since Carol is actually dead now, isn't she? And I wasn't the one that killed her."
Before Michonne could think of a come back to that, the sound of a helicopter outside, distracted them both. Michonne eyed Dexter.
"Did they come in a helicopter before?" she asked him.
"All I remember hearing were machine guns. But they could have." Dexter answered tensely. He didn't like no-win situations and if that was Morgan, then Michonne needed to cough up Rick's whereabouts or he would!
After a long, few moments, the doors opened and Negan, along with Judith, RJ and Harrison, came running in! Dexter looked surprised.
Michonne was livid! There were dead bodies everywhere and Negan had brought the kids to see this? They were in danger still! He had brought the kids into…
But the kids didn't actually look that upset. They ran to the glass cage Michonne and Dexter were in and RJ grinned!
"Uncle Negan and Eugene brought us here in a helicopter! It was so cool!"
"Dad!" Harrison said. "What the hell? How did you end up locked in there?"
Negan walked in, swinging his bat behind his shoulder. He could see Michonne was pissed off, but he was hoping to use that energy and anger for angry sex later on. He looked around, pressed a button and the door opened to Michonne and Dexter's cage. Judith looked impressed!
"Uncle Negan, how did you know which button to push?"
Probably because Uncle Negan has seen the inside of a prison at least once in his life, Dexter thought.
"Oh it was just a lucky guess, honey." Negan said, walking up to Dexter and Harrison.
"I need for the two of you to head back with Eugene." he told them. He had managed to corral the kids into the helicopter before Darryl and Maggie grew wise to what he was planning. Probably because they were off screwing someplace…
Dexter glanced down at Harrison before addressing Negan.
"What? You're going to stay here with the kids and Michonne? Those dead bodies out there will be walkers any minute."
"The dead bodies are dust out there. So something has happened or the attackers burned the bodies or something."
"When?" Dexter asked suspiciously. "Michonne saw them when Morgan brought her here."
"Then 'Morgan' did something to them. Probably so he wouldn't have to face off with walkers when he came back."
"Yeah, Negan, that's a problem as well. Morgan will be coming back to find out where Rick is."
"Harrison." Negan said coolly, "could you give your Dad and me a minute?"
Harrison nodded. He kind of wanted to explore more of the prison anyway. Him and RJ walked off. Michonne and Judith joined the men.
"What's going on?" Michonne asked. "We have to get going. Judith, find your brother and Harrison."
"Uh no need, Judith." Negan said. "Because only Dexter and Harrison are leaving."
"Why?" Judith said, staring up at Negan in confusion. Michonne clenched her jaw before speaking.
"Judith, go find your brother and Harrison." she repeated. Judith hurried off, eager to explore the prison and eager to be away from whatever argument was about to take place! Michonne folded her arms.
"How could you bring the kids here? How did you get through the walkers? RJ has no experience fighting…"
"Those bodies look like they've been through a crematorium. That Morgan guy must have done something to them when he left you here."
Michonne looked at Dexter, who shrugged.
"Okay, well, Morgan is going to come back so we need to be out of here…" Michonne began.
"Nope." Negan said, setting his bat on a table. "What's going to happen is that Dex is going to get back to Alexandria and get Rick ready to turn over."
Dexter glanced at Michonne. That would not go over well…
"We're not turning Rick over! Dexter said that Morgan, a version of himself and his late wife came out of a portal…"
Negan frowned and looked at Dexter.
"Yeah, Rick told Deb and me some gibberish shit like that too. So I guess there's some truth to it. Not that I give a fuck. It sounds like they want him back and we're going to give him over. Dex, I need for you to get back there and make sure it happens."
"No!" Michonne argued. "We need to find out what this place is and help Rick regain his memories."
"Chonnie," Negan said patiently, "the reason I brought the kids here is because Rick is bound and determined to take them back wherever the hell he has been. I couldn't come here and leave them, because I didn't know what Darryl and Maggie were up to."
And with those words, Negan focused on Dexter again.
"Get back to Alexandria, see to your wife and Dixon, then watch Rick. And FYI, I caught Deb and Chonnie's precious Rick, engaged in raw fucking in his jail cell! Eugene has landed the helicopter outside. Go find Harrison, send Judith and RJ back here and let's finish this thing." Negan said in a hard tone.
Dexter decided that it would probably be best if he and Harrison were anywhere but here! Especially after that remark about Deb and Rick. He eased out of the room, his mind on finding Harrison and just how he was going to deal with Maggie and Darryl when he returned.
That left Negan and Michonne alone.
"Did you think that was amusing? You know, to tell me in front of Dexter about Rick and Deb?"
"I didn't think it was 'amusing' when I saw it!" Negan said and he started to put his hands on her shoulders, but she shied away from him and turned away.
"Chonnie, I have had two discussions with that man. He doesn't remember shit about loving you and he only wants the kids. I came here with them because I thought they were safer here, in this situation, than back at Alexandria. He has plans to take off with them and the longer he stays, the bigger chance that someone in Alexandria will help him do that. We need to stay here."
Michonne turned back around.
"You really think that he would do that?"
"He's not your Rick anymore. He doesn't see you as their mother, for whatever fucking reason. Probably because he's with someone else in this 'world' he comes from."
"He told you about it?"
"Yes," Negan sighed and sat down at a table, "at first I thought he was on something. But then Dexter and you said something about a portal and…well.. he seems to think that wherever this place is, is safer than Alexandria. Maybe there is something to what he's saying. But the people there don't sound much better than the people here, Chonnie. I know you realize that."
Michonne said nothing to that.
"What do you need to hear to convince you that I'm right?" Negan asked.
"I need to hear the whole story from Rick. I need for him to tell me everything."
"Meaning that you need to see that he doesn't love you, right? So you can finally be happy with me?"
"Don't say that, Negan. Don't. The Rick I knew would never have went near Deb. I get that he doesn't love me. I just need to deal with it in my own way. I also get that that portal has some dangerous people in it. More than we realized."
"What does that mean?" Negan asked.
"It means that it is very possible that a version of me came through that portal and killed Ezekiel and Angel. And that version of me is why Rick can't stand the sight of me. I understand things better than you'd think, Negan. I don't like it but I have to move on."
"There's another you here?" Negan asked. "And she's a murderer?"
"That's the theory."
"And you want to ask Rick about her?"
"I need to know at this point, if we were wrong about Carol."
"Carol killed Zeke and Angel and no one else. Hell, Chonnie, Rick could've done it and is just making all of this shit up. Now, I saw a couple of nice houses on the property. Let's get the kids settled in and wait for your Morgan to show up. We tell him where to find Rick, make sure it's taken care of and then we'll take it from there, okay?" Negan suggested. Michonne nodded and floated into his arms. He wrapped his arms tightly around her. This was their new home now and he planned on making sure that Chonnie and the kids, understood that.