AN: OK, for those of you who are still reading, we have another chapter.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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The next morning, bright and early and pushing everything out of their minds for the moment, came the news from Beau that they had six piglets. They weren't expecting them, and they weren't aware they were coming, but there they were…six wiggly little piglets and Michonne could have sworn that the mother of them was damn near wearing a smirk on her face at her pride over her pretty pink babies.
But they weren't going to turn their nose up at six piglets either, because six piglets would turn into six pigs…and that was a lot of meat and it was potential for more meat to come.
Michonne was watching the girls, though, as they played in the barn area and she was helping much out the space with Daryl when Carl came trotting down there and leaned into the doorframe.
"You better come," he said, his voice cracking a little with hormones that hadn't entirely worked themselves out.
"What's goin' on?" Daryl asked.
"It's Jeremiah and Jackson…they're out near the gates. The whole groups here…they're moving on," Carl said.
Before they could have even though of asking for clarification, Carl trotted off as quickly as he'd come.
Michonne rested the pitchfork she was holding against the barn wall and turned to Daryl who was standing there, chewing his lip, both hands wrapped around the handle of his rake.
"Is it time for them to leave?" Michonne asked, furrowing her brows. "It's not time for them to leave…"
She shook her head. She couldn't remember exactly the days that had passed since they'd last spoken to Jeremiah about the group's progress to move on, but she was pretty sure that it hadn't been the amount of time they had discussed.
Daryl shrugged, though, and got rid of his own tool for the moment.
"Hell…reckon they ready to leave, they ready to leave…we best get on up there an' see 'em off," Daryl said.
Michonne nodded her head, her heart already growing heavy at the prospect of seeing the others off…watching them go and not knowing really what they'd be facing. She wondered, too, how much of her feelings on the whole thing had to with their uncertainties about what it would be like when they were the ones getting ready to move forward.
Daryl was out of the barn before she could say anything though, and Hope was following behind him, having noticed immediately his departure.
"Jude…let's go," Michonne said, wiggling her fingers in the direction of the girl who was crooning to the large old pig that was probably the proud papa of the piglets…though Michonne was almost certain he was the proud papa of the mother too…but who was she to judge the animal kingdom.
Judith looked like she might protest, but she didn't say anything. She stood up, glancing mournfully at her pig and Michonne chuckled.
"Jude…Big Piggy will be here when you get back…we have to go say bye bye to Jeremiah and Leland," Michonne said.
The mention of Leland was thrown in to get the girl's attention. He was a handsome young man, no doubt about it, and he was apparently something of an Adonis in the small mind of Judith because she flirted with him tirelessly.
And the mention of him worked, though Michonne was sure that Judith had missed entirely the fact that they were going to say goodbye to him…or at least that this goodbye would likely be the last they'd ever say to the young man.
Judith sprinted, not waiting for Michonne this time, out of the barn and in the direction which Daryl and Hope were already headed and Michonne followed after them at a slower pace.
When they neared the gates, it was clear to see that everyone was gathered there. News travelled fast in the community, but it appeared to travel especially fast when it was about the departure of their friends. The gates were open, and outside the gates were the wagons that the others would be travelling in, loaded already, and everyone was more or less milling about, caught up in their final chats and killing whatever Walkers would come to bid them farewell.
Carol was standing just inside the fence, the contents of what might as well have been a daycare hovering around her, and Michonne walked over, taking Zeb out of her arms without saying anything before she walked over to where Daryl was standing and talking to Jeremiah.
"We didn't expect you to be leaving so soon," Michonne said.
Jeremiah shrugged slightly.
"Honestly? We weren't expecting things to come together so well. But they did, and supplies spent on the road is wiser at this point than supplies spent waiting to start. We'll get a good start before nightfall if we leave soon," Jeremiah said.
Michonne glanced at Daryl, but she could tell she'd interrupted something of a conversation between the men, so she hugged Jeremiah quickly, let him take a moment to pinch at the cheeks of Zeb…whose cheeks were, in Michonne's opinion, impossible to resist…and then she passed on to talk to to Anissa who was standing nearby and talking to Stella and Brenda.
"Michonne…" Anissa said warmly as she approached, reaching to hug her before Michonne had even had a chance to offer her affections to the woman. "You take care of yourself?"
Michonne smiled.
"I've got it covered," she teased. "You better take care of yourself…and don't let Leland get into too much trouble."
Anissa smiled and shook her head.
"That boy might run us ragged, but he's a good boy…" Anissa responded.
Michonne glanced in the direction of where Anissa was looking. Leland was standing beside Beau, speaking quietly to Muh who kept reaching up and rubbing at his face. He looked like he might very well break down and cry, and Michonne knew that he was particularly close to Muh, and leaving her would be difficult for him.
"I guess now's as good a time as any," Brenda said suddenly, she glanced at Stella and then back at Michonne. "Stella and I…well…we're moving with them."
Michonne felt for a moment like the wind had been knocked out of her. They had expected to lose the other groups. That had been the plan from the beginning, actually…they would move on, but losing two of their own? With no warning?
Michonne's face must have given her away because Stella reached and warmly squeezed her arm.
"Me and Leland…" Stella said. "Well…I don't know if there's anything there, but I'd like there to be…and there won't be if I stay here and he moves on. I talked to Jimmy and Junior…we've been together so long now…but they understand."
Michonne nodded her head. She understood if they wanted to go on with the other group. Honestly they had no commitment to stay with them, it was simply a shock.
"With Josh gone," Brenda said, "I just…feel like I need a change. And Stella and I have gotten pretty close…if she's moving on, I think I'd like to go too."
Michonne nodded at the women…women she still thought of as girls though they were hardly girls any longer. She forced herself to smile. They might be going on to something great. They might be going on to an even better existence than her group might find.
"Is anyone else leaving?" She asked, hoping she wasn't about to be blindsided with some fact that everyone was packing up except for her and Daryl.
Brenda chuckled quietly and shook her head.
"No…we only just decided a few days ago," she explained. "But…it's going to be good."
"And we'll see you…if you know…we're ever in the same place again," Stella offered. She smiled brightly and Michonne couldn't help but smile in response. That was one thing about Stella…when she smiled, she lit up a room.
"Hey…" Michonne said. "Good luck with Leland, OK?" She offered. "You take control of him, though…those men…you have to show them who's boss."
Michonne winked at Stella and Stella renewed her smile, nodding her head.
"I think I've got that under control," she declared. She raised her eyebrows. "I've been watching you with Daryl…learned from the best."
Michonne chuckled and hugged both the women and turned her attention back to Anissa for a moment before moving on.
And before the group was ready to leave, Michonne said goodbye to Leland, who, despite his efforts to be the strong and powerful young man that his exterior said he was, had a tear streaked face. And she promised him that she would look out for Muh.
And she passed around saying goodbye to the others too, and listened as Muh cheerfully told Tala, another old woman that had to be nearing a century in age, that she would celebrate, from a distance, her death day with her. And Tala declared to Michonne that she was very happy that they were leaving, because she hoped to see many things before she reached her death day…she hoped to have many more experiences to celebrate.
And finally, idle conversations done and some tears shed, the two smaller groups merged into one were ready to leave. They loaded their wagons with those that would ride and those that would walk took their places.
Michonne found her way to Daryl and passed him Zeb before she slipped her arm through his, pulling her hand into his.
And like any proper send off, they all lingered a little longer than they had to…waving goodbye and watching as the wagons, looking as out of place as was humanly possible on the streets that served as the leftover proof that there had once been a different kind of civilization around, rolled out of their line of vision.
With a different kind of mood, then, the gates were closed and everyone quietly went back to what they were doing. It was almost as if none of them had anything left to say, not to each other, at least.
And Michonne knew that the heaviness in the air would last for at least the rest of the day. It wasn't the same as the feelings that accompanied some tragedy, but it was still a feeling of loss, especially since apparently only a few of them had been made aware, beforehand, of the imminent departure of the two women who left with them.
Some time later, down at the barn again, Michonne could tell that the departure was weighing particularly heavy on Daryl. She didn't know what it was, exactly, that had gotten to him, but he was quiet and broody…and she suspected that part of it could be the loss of friends, but most of it was probably that the departure of the others reminded him of their own trip that was to come, even if they had some time still, and probably renewed some concerns that he had about moving on…concerns that were always bound to be there.
"'Bout time ta butcher that damn hog," Daryl muttered as he was raking the barn floor.
Michonne stopped what she was doing, going through the chicken coops and twisting some of the wire that was coming loose back down into place.
"What? What hog?" She asked.
"Damn nasty hog…he's old…time ta butcher him…" Daryl said.
Michonne glanced in the direction of where Daryl gestured his head and her eyes fell on Big Piggy, rolling so proud of himself in his pen, waiting, no doubt, for Beau to come down with the kids and walk him around the yard outside for a little exercise…something that someone did nearly every day. Michonne wasn't sure that the pig even knew he was a pig and wasn't some kind of prized dog.
"Big Piggy?" Michonne asked. She shook her head. "Daryl you can't butcher Big Piggy…"
Daryl looked at her like she'd just said the most ridiculous words that anyone could ever say. She didn't know if she could remember him ever having looked at her like that before.
"That was the whole damn idea, 'Chonne," Daryl said, his voice holding a hint of hostility that he rarely used with her. "We was gonna keep him and he was gonna make more pigs, and we was gonna butcher him…"
Michonne shook her head, abandoning her work entirely now and walking toward him.
"You cannot butcher Big Piggy," Michonne said.
"We need meat," Daryl said.
That wasn't true. They didn't need meat. At least, they weren't at some kind of shortage of meat.
"Then you go hunt," Michonne said. "Or you butcher pig number one or pig number two…or forty five of the six thousand rabbits that grow in number every day, but you're not butchering that hog, Daryl."
Michonne tried to keep her voice in check, but it was rising just as his was. If he was going through something about them moving on…that was fine…but she wasn't backing down, no matter how small it might seem to anyone else.
"That pig is like…a dog…Daryl," Michonne said. "Every day Hope and Judith…Sam, Jacob, Paul…even Zeb likes that stupid pig. You're not butchering the damn pig!"
Daryl glared at her and she set her face to glare back at him. For a moment, the thought flitted through her brain at what anyone might think if they walked in at the moment, but she didn't care.
"That's the damn problem, 'Chonne," Daryl growled. "We movin' on in a damn year…we gone soft! We got a damn old ass pig…prob'ly gonna die soon anyway…we ain't gonna wanna eat the meat when he dies on his own…"
"Then we don't eat him!" Michonne responded.
Daryl changed his stance a little, almost going into an attack position, and Michonne matched him. For however hard he glared at her, she glared at him right back. They held the position for a moment, and then finally Daryl relaxed his stance a little and slightly ironic chuckle rolled out of his throat.
"Ya gonna fight my ass over a pig?" Daryl asked.
Michonne relaxed her own stance just enough.
"Over that pig, yes," she said, nodding her head definitively. "You and me…man to man…but you're not butchering that pig…"
And then Daryl broke into a chuckle and Michonne held out for a moment, but finally gave herself over to the humor of imagining the two of them, fighting in hand to hand combat, over a dirty old pig that looked too satisfied with himself at the moment.
"What is this really about, Daryl?" Michonne asked after a moment.
Daryl bit his lip and shrugged.
"We gone soft…'Chonne…that ain't no way ta be when we goin' on the road again…" Daryl said. "We can't even kill a damn pig no more…"
Michonne understood his feelings. She'd sorted through some of her own that were similar. She shook her head, stepping closer to him now and gently putting her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, the anger gone from moments before on his face and replaced with concern…the real emotion that he was feeling.
"Daryl…Big Piggy is going to die of old age…and we're going to explain to the kids what that means," Michonne said. "But…I don't want to explain to them that you killed him. They know that you butcher the other animals. They understand it…I know the girls have watched you kill rabbits and they've watched Carol ring chickens' necks…but Big Piggy is a pet for them, and he might be the only one they ever get."
Daryl frowned at her. He was still worried, and that worry would never go away completely. It was something that was both terrible and necessary.
"We haven't gone soft," Michonne said. She shook her head. "Not at all. We've changed…we've adapted…and we'll keep on changing and we'll keep on adapting no matter where we go or what we do. That's what we do and that's what got us here. But we're not soft. And you…and me…and everyone else? We're never going to be soft…"
Michonne could see that Daryl was letting go of the tension now, and he reached, pulling her to him. He rested his forehead against hers for a moment, and then she moved enough to bring her lips to his, letting the kiss play out slow and lazily.
She smirked when she pulled away.
"Besides…I was outside the fence this morning clearing Walkers before your pansy ass was even awake," Michonne said.
Daryl smirked and shook his head at her. She smiled in response.
"Leave the pig alone, Daryl…I'm going to check on the kids…and I mean it…don't you harm one hair on his chinny chin chin," Michonne said.
Daryl chuckled.
"Fine…I'll leave the damn pig alone," he called after her as she started out of the barn. "But I just want'cha to write it down or whatever that it weren't my idea not to eat his sorry ass…"
Michonne chuckled and waved her hand up in the air to let him know that she'd heard him.
"I got it, not your idea…Big Piggy lives…" Michonne called. She chuckled to herself and shook her head as she made her way toward headquarters to make sure that all the little ones were happy and taken care of…and maybe to bring them on a field trip to pay a visit to their friend whose life would be saved because she was willing to square off with Daryl Dixon in a homemade barn with a floor covered in chicken shit over the life of a too smug hog who had never feared for his life from the moment he'd first made friends with Judith.