Rick woke up on the couch the next morning wondering how he was going to fix his fucked up life. He needed to talk to Deanna. Then Michonne. First, he was going to have words with Carol. He looked at the clock and saw it was almost eight in the morning. He had morning rounds and he should have been out there already. Rick trudged up the stairs and found the place empty. After showering and he got dressed in his constable uniform and was almost out the door when Jessie appeared. She smiled at him.

"Thanks, Rick, for doing this. It means a lot." She leaned closer. "No one's ever done anything like this for me before. Do you mean it?"

Before he could answer Michonne walked up the porch stairs. "Hey, Jessie. I'll be out of my room by tonight. One of the boys can have it. Rick, I asked Spencer to start your rounds, you weren't there. He came by."

"Michonne," Rick stopped her. She turned from the door.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked.

"Not right now, Rick. I'm tired. Daryl and I switched off watching Pete. I'm getting some of my stuff. We'll be two houses down. Then I'm napping. I have afternoon." She strode into the house, unaware that plans would be changing. He couldn't say that in front of Jessie. He looked at her.

"Hold off on that. We'll see if we can't keep you in your house," at her crestfallen look he continued. "The boys' father is being forced to move out, Jessie. Let's at least try and keep some sort of normal for them right now."

Jessie deflated. "You're right. I know you're right. Ron, he won't talk to me. Said that you broke up our marriage. How do you tell your son that his father is a bastard?"

Rick reached out to pat her shoulder then thought better of it and put some space between them. "Just go to the pantry, work your shift. I'm talkin' to Deanna about Pete."

Jessie scoffed. "He's the only doctor. She won't do anything."

"I'll make sure she does. I'm late. I need to find Spencer." Rick walked down the porch stairs, Jessie still on the porch. "And Jessie? I'd do this for anyone in your situation."

"Really?" she sounded sad.

"Well, I could've handled it better, I admit. I'll try and get someone over to fix the window." Rick practically ran down the sidewalk.

Jessie walked dejectedly back to her house, sat on the porch and lit a cigarette. She saw Michonne walking by with a bag over her shoulder. "Michonne," she called out.

Michonne stopped and walked over. "You doing okay, Jessie?"

She huffed out a laugh. "No," she took a drag from her cigarette. "My husband almost killed Reg last night. And those people made fun of me and Rick."

Michonne shifted on her feet. "They won't be here for much longer, I'm sure. They don't seem to like anyone but Glenn. And we're going to take care of the Pete situation."

Jessie scathingly laughed. "My husband is a situation?"

"Look, Jessie, don't worry about those people. We'll take care of Pete. I have to go," she turned and walked away. Rick better clean up this mess, sooner rather than later.

Rick relieved Spencer. As he was walking toward the gate he saw Deanna, Reg, Glenn and Maggie talking to Cia and Mi. The others were spread around them listening. He strode over. He didn't know what he was going to say, but this was their fault. Making fun of him fighting over Jessie. He wasn't fighting Pete for Jessie.

"…see anything you could offer us, Congresswoman Monroe," Cia stated. "Your defenses are pathetic. Your run team dangerous and stupid, aside from Glenn. I don't see any crops growing or industry. Again, what could you offer us?"

"You're not on our level," Mi told her, "not that any community is on our level. That we've found. We did find a few that might be a better fit for you. Once you decide to do something. Grow food, at the very least."

"We are not being elitist," Zi said, "but we don't see any evidence of self-sustainability. That is one of our criteria for trading partners."

"Is that what you Russians would do?" Deanna spat.

"Da. Peter found the suggestion to be very helpful. I believe that would have been one of his criteria, even if I hadn't offered it."

"It would have," Sad broke in. "We're not America. We don't support those that won't support themselves. You former Americans, always doing that. Not smart."

"America was your friend," Deanna cried out. "We supported Israel."

"And the Israeli government, if there were such a thing now, would thank you. But there isn't, Congresswoman Monroe. There is no government. Anywhere in the world."

"Congresswoman Monroe," Seal stepped into the conversation. "Your naiveté about this situation is incredible. Did you even try and find out anything that was going on?"

SS 2 added her two cents. "We were with the POTUS when this happened. We couldn't save him, but we can save parts of what he thought were good from the former America. Self-sustainability was high on his agenda. You're not doing that."

"You were supposed to protect him," Deanna reminded her.

"We did. The best that we could. When he was bitten he told us to leave. So you're condemnation, Congresswoman, means nothing. We have to live with our failure," SS 1 said.

"I don't consider it a failure at all," Cia yelled at them. "There was fucking nothing you could have done. If the dumbass had stayed where you told him to stay he'd still be here."

Mi held up his hands. "This isn't getting us anywhere. We've had this argument before." He turned to Deanna. "Congresswoman Monroe, we'll give you a starting point to finding the other communities that we mentioned. We won't tell you where they are, that's not our right. We haven't contacted them ourselves."

"Can we go with you? All of the Alexandrians?" Maggie asked.

The group looked at each other. "We'd have to run it by Peter. Glenn, no question, because Angel likes him," Seal reminded her. "Likes his grit anyway," he laughed.

"Who are you to sit in judgement of us?" Deanna yelled.

"We're the ones with the planes, drones, aircraft carrier, tanks. We grow our own food, make our own gunpowder, work on improving the weapons we do have. We've lost countless lives trying to get our community to where it is today. You basically want us to support you and you're not even supporting yourselves," Cia yelled back. "Why the fuck should we do that?" She looked around. "It doesn't look like you've even thought about doing it. How many lives have you lost, Congresswoman Monroe?"

"And Congresswoman Monroe?" Mi got her attention. "There is no America, Israel, Russia, England or any other fucking country that was around before. It's just land masses."

"History is written by the winners," Reg commented.

"Yes, it is. My people could attest to that," Seal nodded his head in agreement. "My former people. Now we're just Islanders."

"We're just Islanders," the rest of the group echoed.

"Before this gets any more heated," Reg held up his hands, "perhaps we could speak with Peter. Get his take on this."

Cia snorted. "Sure. Why the fuck not?"

"What would we have to do? To go with you?" Glenn asked again.

"Glenn," Rick yelled. "We're not leavin'." He turned to Deanna. "We need to talk about Jessie, her kids and Pete."

"Not now, Rick," Maggie hissed at him. "Go," she waved her hands, "check on him or somethin'."

"Fine. Reg, if you could handle this?" Deanna looked at her husband. "I'm…, I need…, I'll be speaking with the constable about Pete."

They walked away. Rick could tell that Deanna was upset. "What was that about?" he asked her.

"Trying to become trading partners or leave and go with them."

"You wanna leave?"

"Yes and no, Rick. It's complicated." She huffed out a laugh. "I told you that I wanted to restart civilization?" She continued on, not waiting for an answer. "Those people are already doing it." She breathed out. "Now," she turned to face him. "I thought the matter was settled. Jessie and her kids were going to move in with you and your kids. Michonne and Daryl would find their own place."

"That's not acceptable. Jessie and her kids should stay at their house. Pete should stay where he is. Have someone else move in with him or move him in with someone else. He can't be alone."

Deanna stared. "What changed from last night?"

"I'm not in a relationship with Jessie," he admitted. "I…I…got confused. Handled things badly. I should have made you do somethin' before I got in a fight with Pete."

"I agree with that. If those people hadn't shown up last night, Reg would be dead. I should have taken some action instead of shying away because he's our only doctor." Deanna tilted her head back. "Maybe we should go with them. I can't imagine that this happens in their community."

"People are still people, Deanna. This happens," Rick assured her.

She laughed. "No, I'm sure it doesn't. The head of their community was the former president of Yale. He has an advanced degree in psychology. And that type of behavior wouldn't be accepted."

"How do you know?"

"I looked him up on the internet when I still held an office. I was on a committee of Ohio representatives that wanted to see about a partnership between Yale and Case Western Reserve University. A prestigious and unknown university in the former Cleveland, Ohio. Now, I agree Pete can't be around Jessie and the kids. Who would we move him in with?"

"I don't know."

"Well? Who should move in with him? Babysit him?"

"I don't know," Rick repeated.

"You should have some idea, Rick, before you present me with this. What about you?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You can watch him. Jessie will stay away. Sounds perfect to me."

"I don't want him near my kids, Deanna."

"We can't just kill him, Rick, or banish him. We need a doctor."

Rick fumed. "I'll think of somethin'."

"You do that. Find me when you have a solution." Deanna walked back toward the group around the RV.

Rick grumbled as he continued his rounds of the community. He stayed away from Jessie's house, nodding at her when he passed. He headed toward Aaron and Eric's. He knocked on the door and Aaron answered.

"Rick," he opened the door. Rick stepped in.

"I was wonderin' if Pete could move in here. With you and Eric."

Aaron sat in a chair in the living room, Rick took the other one and Eric was on the sofa, leg elevated.

"Eric. How's your leg?" Rick was trying to be polite.

"Good. Another five weeks to go. What was this about Pete moving in? I thought Jessie and her kids were moving in with you?"

"That's not gonna work. The kids shouldn't have so much disruption at one time."

Rick watched Aaron and Eric communicate silently.

"I can't see that happening, Rick," Aaron answered. "We're happy with just the two of us."

"What he means, Rick, is that drama, not gonna happen in this house," Eric corrected his partner.

"There won't be any drama," Rick insisted.

Eric snorted. "Yes there will. Pete's been getting away with his behavior for a while. I can't see that changing."

"He's right, Rick. Deanna has never once tried to stop it. She buried her head in the sand and didn't take action. If she'd done something when it first started happening, maybe, I could see a different outcome. Now? No. And he holds all the cards. He's the only doctor we have."

"Can't you recruit another one?" Rick raised his voice.

"It's hard. Most people have settled down. Or tried to. You and your people were the first recruits we've had in about six months."

"I think you'll be great additions to the community," Eric smiled at Rick.

"I do, too, Rick, which is why I asked you to come stay with us. Granted, it didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped."

"Jessie and I aren't in a relationship," Rick said out of nowhere. Aaron and Eric shared another look.

"That's not really any of our business, Rick," Eric stated firmly.

"We've been the subject of gossip in this community, Rick, still are, I'm sure to an extent. We don't participate," Aaron closed the subject.

After Rick left their house Morgan caught up with him.

"Rick," he turned and saw Morgan approaching.

"Morgan. I'm sorry. About everythin'. I should have talked to you sooner."

"That's fine, Rick. Certainly a lot going on around here." Morgan looked at the houses. "This is a nice place. Aside from the commandoes," he grinned.

Rick huffed out a laugh. "These people had no idea what was goin' on until last night."

Morgan looked at the ground. "Fighting to take another man's wife, Rick?"

"No," he shouted then took a deep breath. "I…tried to stop a man from abusing his wife. Pete's the only doctor."

Morgan looked confused. "I'm sorry. It's just that everyone that saw you fight with Pete, is it?"

Rick nodded his head.

"They think that you were trying to take Jessie away from him."

Rick started walking. Morgan fell into step with him. "I'm sure that's what it looks like. I was confused. And frustrated. I didn't handle the situation right. Deanna and I are working on it."

Morgan didn't look convinced. "I see."

"Really, Congresswoman Monroe, I don't see how your skillset would fit in with our community," Peter told her. "We have plenty of administrative staff that can, have and do, runs for us, work on the farms or in the stores. And do protection duty. It doesn't sound like you've done any of that. I've participated in my required time on runs."

"You have requirement time for runs?" Reg raised his voice slightly.

"Yes, Mr. Monroe, we do. We feel that all of our residents need to be kept in the loop as to the situation."

Cia shook her head. "You'd need to complete at least six full months of run duty. Main or supplemental doesn't matter, but you would have to do it."

"What's protection duty?" Maggie put her face close to the laptop. Mi moved her back. She smiled at it sheepishly.

"Who are you?" Peter asked.

"I work with the Congresswoman at Alexandria. I'm Maggie Greene."

"Well, Ms. Greene, each resident must do two days of protection duty. That's outside the walls. Again, to remind the residents why there are walls and what we're striving to protect." Peter paused. "Have any of you actually killed a zombie?"

"We have," Glenn spoke up. "I'm Glenn Rhee. I'm Maggie's husband."

Peter raised his eyebrows. "I noticed that the congresswoman and her husband didn't answer. Well, you'd both have to take a child zombie killing class. That would not be negotiable. Tell me, Congresswoman Monroe, wouldn't a trading partner be a much better fit?"

"No, Peter," Seal broke in. "They don't have anything. They don't grow food or make anything."

"I see. I apologize, Congresswoman Monroe, there doesn't seem to be anything we can do to help you. We'll, of course, keep our eye on you. If you decide to be trading partners in the future, should you have something to trade, perhaps we could speak again. If this conversation hurts your feelings, you politicians are short sighted and your feelings are easily hurt, that will be a lost opportunity for us."

"We have, Peter," Deanna replied calmly. "When we were first putting up the walls we had to kill the zombies."

"Then the training class would be waved for anyone that's done so. If not, they'd have to take the class."

"We have several older people. That might not work out."

"Do they know how to shoot a gun?"

"I don't know," Reg answered this time.

"They would have to learn. They would have to do something for the community. We don't let people just laze away in the sun, no matter what their age." He sighed deeply. "Because of your position, and former position, Congresswoman Monroe, I'm not inclined to allow you access to our community. That's my personal bias that I'm discarding right now. Let's do this as a compromise; Mi and Seal can have all the residents that are interested fill out our form. We'll peruse the applications. If it doesn't work out, we have another community, not as nicely set up, that those residents of yours could stay. We protect the place. It has electricity, hot and cold water, residents must grow their own food. It would be a communal kitchen. Each room has its own bathroom. If that's not acceptable, and your residents choose to stay where they are, then no hard feelings on our part."

"That's acceptable," Reg put his hand on his wife's shoulder.

"Good. Now, Cia, I've read the reports from the team. Please do more recon on community A. Community B doesn't sound beneficial, at this time."

"Sure thing, Peter."

The laptop screen went black.

Zi looked at the congresswoman and her husband. "Any questions?"

Pete showed up and the infirmary to check on one of Rick's group. He stood over her, watching.

"You should have died, bitch. This is all his fault," he hissed at the comatose girl. He looked around and stared at a bottle. Heading toward it he picked it up, staring. Maybe if he threatened to kill the little bitch, Rick and his group would leave. He'd get his wife back. She was in trouble. He filled a syringe when he heard the sound of a gun being cocked.

"I think you should put that down, Pete," Carol's voice was behind him. "In fact, step away from her. Right now."

Pete whirled around. "You can't tell me what to do, you bitch. You and Rick. You started this," he yelled at her.

"What's going on in here?" Reg came in.

"I don't know, but Pete can't be trusted," Carol turned to Reg with a stern look on her face. The gun was put at the small of her back. "He's filled a syringe. I'm not sure with what, but he resents Rick and the rest of our group."

"Pete? Is this true?" Reg asked him.

"No, she's lying. They all are. This is all their fault," he shouted.

"Hitting your wife is their fault?"

"Rick was screwing around with Jessie," Pete retorted. "She's my wife. What we do in our own home is our business."

Deanna stepped in with SS 1. She looked at everyone. Yes, Pete needed to go or they did. "We're having a meeting. SS 1 will stay with Tara. It's mandatory, Pete."

"Give me the syringe, Pete," Reg held out his hand. When Pete baulked SS 1 held up his gun.

"Do it or I shoot you. I don't like wife beaters," he growled. "We have enough problems with the zombies, asswipe."

"You don't run this community. I don't have to listen to you," Pete scowled.

"Cia, SS 1. The wife beater's being a problem. Thought you might want to deal with it," he said into his radio. Then he stood aside and smirked. "You're right. I don't run this community or else I would have put a bullet in your head already. As it is, I'm nicer than Cia. Good luck, asshole."

"Deanna, you better tell them to stop doing this. I'm the only doctor here," Pete reminded her.

Deanna turned to SS 1. "How many doctors do you have?"

"Five. Three interns."

Cia walked in the door with a smile and SS 1 just grinned. "So, wife beater, SS 1 tells me you're being a dick. Well, wife beater, let's see how you can handle me. Oops. I'm not your wife," she sneered. "But I'm still a woman and I bet you think your dick is bigger than mine," she walked toward him and Pete moved until Tara was between him and the woman approaching. He put the syringe in Tara's IV bag.

"One step closer and I'll kill this bitch," he hissed out. Cia smiled and Pete dropped the syringe, looking at his arm. "You shot me," he said in a surprised voice. The woman was on him before he finished.

Cia grabbed him by his hair and marched him out of the clinic. SS 1 looked at the Congresswoman and her husband, both standing there shocked. "Better get out there and get this meeting started." He paused. "If you still want to come, that is." He looked at Carol. "Give me your weapon, lady, or I'll shoot you."

Carol froze like a dear in the headlights. SS 1 put his weapon up again. "Put it on the girl's bed."

Sad came up behind her and took it himself. "Thank you. It's much better if I do it. SS 1, he's a good guy. I'm not so nice."

"This is the real world now, Congresswoman. You need to think about joining us," SS 1 said as he watched them all leave. "Assholes."

Rick was sitting, waiting for Deanna, when Cia marched out with Pete, her hand in his hair. She knocked him on his ass. "Fucking stay there, wife beater, or those little love taps from your rival, the child abuser, will seem like tickling feathers," she yelled.

Rick was in shock. Everyone in the community was looking at him, Jessie and Pete. He was pissed. He would never hurt his children.

Deanna stood in front of everyone. She cleared her throat. "We have an opportunity to relocate to another area. Mi," she pointed to him, "and Seal," she pointed to him, "are willing to interview you for this other community. Participation is voluntary. Cia will tell you about the it. If you would, please?" she looked at Cia.

Cia stood in front of the group. "We're the Islanders. We have a community of four hundred plus people. We have electricity, solar and hydro powered, several gardens and greenhouses where we grow our own food. Three large farms with livestock. Horses, sheep, cows, goats, chickens, ducks. The community is situated on an island, so fresh fish, is available. Salt water. We're not far from fresh water, so that's available as well. For protection we have drones, like you saw last night, an aircraft carrier, five tanks, three helicopters in various sizes, numerous Humvees, and we're working on a squadron, right now we only have eleven pilots, with several more finishing school, ready to get wings in six months. We are also working on a regiment of ground troops. We planned for peace but prepare for war."

She paused to let that sink in. Mi and Seal rolled their eyes. As soon as the whispers died out she continued. "That's the easy stuff. The hard stuff is belonging to our community. We have certain conditions that must be met if you'd like to join. A physical and psych profile for each resident and ballistics on all weapons. We have a six month run requirement. I'm not sure how many of you have done those before or even know what they are. We have two full time run teams and three supplemental teams. Our main run teams are on the road anywhere from two weeks to a two months. They are given a list of items to find. In addition to those items the run team must find a way to get the items back, weapons, food, emergency planning. They'll get the list from the engineers we have for our projects. Engineers are big picture. The run teams must also find anything else that would be needed for those items. Any questions?"

Sasha raised her hand. "Okay. Here's an example. When we put in our solar power grid, the run team had to find the panels, figure out how to get them back and all the necessary accoutrements, such as replacement panels, wiring, hardware, etc. In addition, any other items the community may deem useful are to be marked on maps. The supplemental teams will collect those items. And that includes any other accessories. On our solar power panel run we found a greenhouse. The supplemental team had to figure out how to get it, what else would be needed, extra glass, hardware, etc. All of that is on the run team's shoulders, so lots of studying."

Sasha gasped. "Yeah," Cia told them. "We don't fuck around. We don't do food runs. That's just to get on the island. After you've been accepted, if you choose to come, each resident has two days of protection duty outside the walls. Certain exceptions apply. No children under seventeen, or who haven't finished high school. After that requirement is met, run team and protection duty starts. Men and women that are expecting a child until the child is at least a year old. After the child reaches that age, protection duty starts again. Run teams must do two days in between runs. How it's scheduled is up to each individual. Anyone suffering from an injury is excluded until such time the injury has healed. Anyone over sixty is excluded, however, if you haven't been with us from the beginning, you must pick up extra duties in our stores, or farms. For those of you who have never killed a zombie a child zombie killing class is required."

"Stores?"

"We have several warehouses full of goods that are used in various projects, be they school, community related or personal. The grocery store carries most of the food we grow, and it's about the size of the house behind me. When we get something from a run, rare these days, that's food related it goes in the grocery store."

Cia looked at the members of this community and hoped no one wanted to come. "Children under seventeen or young adults who haven't received a high school diploma, this is for you. Our school days are not like what you're used to. Days are eight and a half hours long, broken down into hour and a half classes, fifteen minutes between classes and half hour lunch. Any child that attends school from outside will be tested and given personalized attention until they reach our standards. Parental involvement is demanded, not requested, so for any parents, or parental figures, just signing off on a school plan is not an option. Still with me?"

After head nods she continued. "After run team, we have a large variety of professions on the island. A list will be made available before run team so an individual could use the time away to choose a profession. Farms, community hall or stores is always needed. Any job having to do with the aircraft carrier, pilots, ground trooper, drone operator, additional schooling is needed. That's just the short version. Any questions?"

"Community hall?"

"Community hall is just that. You can eat there, we have a grill, cold cases, etc."

"Housing?"

"We have a plethora of housing."

"Is this mandatory?"

"Fuck no," she retorted. "This is voluntary. And if you don't like it you can fucking leave. We'll even take you where you want to go, give you food, water and ammunition, if needed." Cia sighed. "Look, all of you know why we're here. We were just trying to make sure Glenn made it back after we scratched this place off our potential trading partner list. You don't do anything here, why the hell would we want you? That fucking moron on your run team? Don't even bother. We'd never take you. Wife beater, fuck no. We have doctors, thank you. Fat, blonde doormat with two men chomping at the bit? We don't do that shit at all, so you," she pointed to Rick, "fuck off. We're a little more adult about those situations. Fucking beating some guy up because you want to fuck or are fucking his wife? Sorry, not a good fit. We don't have anything bad to say about triad relationships, gay, straight, whatever. Well, we do draw the line at bestiality, but there's no reason to get all bent out of shape. Work out a schedule or something or fucking pick one. The one that loses, get a fucking life. Why would you want to be with someone that doesn't want you? Don't you have any fucking pride?"

"Thank you, Cia," Deanna walked up to her quickly. "We'll discuss it from here."