Author's Note: After too long a wait, and I do apologize, here is the update. There was no writer's block, the words came, it was just the words coming that gave me some pause. You will see when you read it.

As always, thanks for reading and reviewing. It is truly appreciated. I am behind in responding, but to all who are not guests, I will reply.

Michonne's shock at Hatton's revelation barely had a chance to sink in when Rick grabbed the large man and pinned him against the wall like a stuffed carnival prize. "You have to be lying," he thundered, his eyes blazing with fury.

Hatton grunted and winced, obviously still not capable of sudden movements. "Grimes, please, I'm not lying, and I have suffered enough today."

Andre's sobbing ceased at Hatton's words. He stared angrily at the man, but he didn't move away from Pride's body.

"You okay?" Michonne asked, gently stroking Andre's back. When he didn't respond or look her way, she returned her attention to her demonstratively perturbed husband.

Rick released Hatton with a shove. "You had a way out of this soul-killing hellscape, knew how many times I tried to run, and never said a word!"

"It wasn't from lack of trying," said Hatton, limping over to the couch and slowly lowering himself with a whimper, his hand lightly covering his crotch.

Pangs of guilt stabbed Michonne's conscience. She wasn't sorry she did what she did, it had to be done, but she wished it wasn't done to the person who was getting her and Rick back home to their children. Hatton shouldn't have been so effective at being a complete ass.

"I tried talking to you, but you shut me down every time," Hatton continued. "I was here for years, heard all the stories about you, and when you came back a few months ago, I tried to gauge where you stood, but you weren't interested in talking to me, and because you were so high in leadership, I couldn't push too much for fear you would get me demoted. Who would I be able to help then?"

Rick glanced over at Andre. "I can count on one finger who I trusted here," he remarked.

"You see my point." Hatton shifted on the chair. "Riley gave me a description of the missus and your name, the person she was looking for. That's why I asked you to come on the pickup. I had to see how you responded to her. Determine if you were surviving like us or had really drank Pride's Kool-Aid all those years you were away."

"I never got close to his damn Kool-Aid. Everything I did was to keep Michonne and our daughter safe. I detested the things I had to do, but I hated the idea of my family being hurt even more. I had to survive and ensure they would keep surviving."

"At the clearing, I kinda got a good impression on where things stood, but it was when I left you two here earlier that I was certain. You didn't take her for any of the standard testing and was in too great a rush to get rid of me. That told me you were on our side, and I knew it was time to put our plan into motion."

"Our?" Michonne asked, dividing her attention between Andre and this riveting conversation.

"The others. Those who have been quietly working behind the scenes, waiting for the moment that happened today."

"The moment!" Andre erupted, his voice raspy from Pride's assault. "You mean killing my father. You had the nerve to say you've suffered today and my dad is gone. A kick to the balls isn't suffering compared to what you did to him!"

"Andre," Michonne said with a sigh, reaching out to him.

"Stop calling me that!" He jerked away before she could touch him. "My name is Danny. Danny Pride. Why won't you get that? Stop trying to make me someone I'm not!"

"I'm - I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" The tears slipped before Michonne could think to stop them.

Hurriedly, Rick darted to Michonne's side and brought her into his arms, soothing her with comforting words. Michonne buried her face in his chest and drew steadying breaths to collect herself. She was never a weepy, emotional woman, but she cried. She was human, and she'd had so many losses and pains in her life. But Andre... She had been reunited with the son she thought had died a dozen years ago, yet he was still lost to her. His stinging response shouldn't have come as a surprise. Andre was struggling with her before Pride arrived at the apartment, but now that he was dead, she was the easiest target for his vitriol.

"Shh-shh, Michonne. It's okay. It's okay." Rick stroked her back. His heart pounded against her chest and his breaths came in quick, deep pants. She didn't have to see his face to know he was

fuming. "Andre, I get you're feeling something right now, but you won't take this out on your mother or ever raise your voice to her again. I won't repeat this. Do you hear me!"

"There's that name again, and of course you'd take her side," Andre grumbled, returning his attention to Pride's body.

"Yes, because you don't have one. Damn it, look at me!"

Andre's gaze whipped back to Rick.

"Like it or not, your name is Andre, not some congestion-induced alter created from your love and need for your biological father. You are Michonne's son. She can't turn off her love for you, and you shouldn't punish her for that."

Andre sucked his teeth and grumbled inaudibly under his breath.

"Rick, it's okay," Michonne said, sniffing softly.

"No, it is not okay." Rick brushed the remnants of her tears away. "It's not." He kissed her forehead and turned his attention to the brooding, grieving young man, but kept an arm around her. "You're lashing out at the wrong person. The bastard at your feet, that's where the anger should be."

"You're blaming my father, Rick. The victim?"

"Your fa–" Rick scoffed. "Jacob Pride was no victim, he was a damn monster! Forget his torture and threats to me, that's secondary, but he threatened to rape and kill your mother, and he was about to kill you. He had you locked in a chokehold, your feet dangling off the ground, and you're defending that son of a bitch to us!"

"He wouldn't have killed me. He was – he was afraid."

"Is that what he said to you? The Japanese?" Michonne asked.

"More or less. You two threatened to kill him."

"And he did the same to us, or did you forget that!" Rick blasted. "We saw the fear on your face when he was choking you. He scared you. That was real. So whatever he said in Japanese didn't assure you."

A pained expression further sank Andre's already crestfallen face.

"An…" Michonne caught herself. "Son, I get that you loved him, and you're hurting and I'm sorry for that, but he wasn't capable of love. If there was even a possibility, he wouldn't have done to you what he did. His love was manipulation."

Tears filled Andre's eyes. "He took care of me." His gaze settled on Pride. "He raised me."

"He kidnapped and imprisoned you like he did me," Rick said. "You had different privileges, but he still called the shots. It's why I tried to reason with him when Hatton had that gun on Michonne, because no matter how it looked, Pride's finger was on that trigger, and he wouldn't bend. He wanted me to kill her or he'd have Hatton do it because he didn't want me gone. When I was sent away, I encountered my own set of others. His cruelty was never-ending, Andre. People all over the world knew it and wanted him gone." Rick shook his head, sighing. "There was something broken in him, but if he could have loved anyone, it would've been you. You were the only person he showed anything resembling kindness, but it was for a reason." Rick grunted. "I only wish I knew what."

Hatton cleared his throat. "I might be able to explain that," he said.

"Why would I believe a word you say?" Andre snapped. "You killed my father."

"I did what needed to be done and saved your life in the process," Hatton corrected. "I'm sorry you're angry and hurting, but like your folks have been telling you, General Pride only gave a damn about himself. You're aware he drew blood from everybody that was brought here."

"Of course. He wanted to make sure we were all safe. He didn't know what new people could've been exposed to. He made sure we got annual checkups, vaccinations, and stayed healthy. Our safety was his priority. Yeah, he had to do some things I wouldn't have considered, but he was in charge, and he did what he thought was right."

The more Michonne listened to Andre defend Pride, even in his death, the more concerned she became that the man's influence was too ingrained. "Do you really believe what you're saying?" she asked, needing to hear his reply, to see if the truth in his words were truly in his heart and reflected in his eyes. "After everything?"

Tears slid down Andre's cheeks. "After everything, I have to believe it," he said through broken sobs. "Or what was the point? What was this for? I can't have these questions forever." He sniffled. "I had them with you, but I had options to find my answers. My struggle was with wanting to find them. How can I find them when my father is gone?" He dropped to his knees, stroking Pride's hair. "We had breakfast together this morning. We were laughing. He made me laugh." Andre slowly shook his head, wiping his tears. "I need – I have to have peace of mind. He was all I had for years. All I had. I was more than a prisoner. I had to have been more than that."

"What happens when you find out you weren't?"

"When?" Andre said incredulously, standing.

"I could lie to you, but unlike the man you called 'Dad,' I love you too much to do that."

Michonne took a tentative step toward Andre and stopped. She so wanted to hold him in her arms and comfort him, but he wouldn't receive it. He was angry, hurt, disappointed, and lost in a plethora other emotions.

The hate she felt for Pride permeated every part of her being. That man had kept Rick from her for almost nine years. She didn't think she could hate him more, but then she learned he had robbed her of twelve years of her son's life. How she had grieved and missed her Andre. Hate was too kind for what she felt for that monster, but she would breathe life into that block of coal he called a heart if it would help ease Andre's pain. She couldn't bring Pride back, but she could be honest with Andre. Getting him to see the truth couldn't hurt him any more than he already was.

"You need to believe Jacob Pride was a misunderstood man with the best of intentions for the world, but he wasn't," Michonne said, choosing not to sugarcoat the truth. "He was a selfish, soulless demon that was willing to kill you."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Listen to your mother," Rick directed. "You want and need to think the best of him, but after today, you know what he was. He put a tracker in my neck. He needed to know every step I made. Why? He would always find me because of that damn tracker, but still he threatened my wife and daughter to keep me here. He threatened to kill you and placed you in a chokehold. There's nothing you can do to rationalize that. Good parents, good people, don't do the things he did."

"You're wrong." Andre wiped away his tears. "No matter how bad he was, he was good to me, but he got scared." He kneeled at Pride's body, shaking his head. "He was good to me."

"You were one of his prized guinea pigs," Hatton announced, slowly standing.

"What?" Andre's angry, disbelieving eyes fixed on Hatton. "You're a liar!"

"I'm speaking truth. When he found you, he ran his standard blood tests and found abnormal cells. Nothing he'd ever seen before, and it made him curious."

Andre blinked. "Abnormal cells?" he murmured.

Michonne's heart dropped to her stomach. She clutched Rick's hand as he leaned into her, offering quiet support. "Are you - - are you saying he's sick?"

"No, no, far from it. He's extremely healthy. That's why he's special. The one child the General kept close. He has antibodies in his blood not generated from any vaccines he has been given. General Pride was convinced the cellular differences and these antibodies would provide an answer to the outbreak. He suspected it even more when after years of testing thousands of people in the United States, Europe, and Africa, he only found one other person with those same cells and antibodies: your husband."

To contest Hatton's words occurred to Rick, but it answered so many questions he knew it was true. Michonne's stroking hand on his forearm offered comfort and support and eased the anger he felt at being one of Pride's special lab rats. Rick thought of the others he had brought the man's way. Those who hadn't been so lucky to be shocked at how they'd been used.

Rick's gaze met Michonne's. He understood the worry he saw in her eyes. He wasn't sick, but what the hell did all of this mean? How did Hatton know?

"When did you find out about this?" Rick asked.

"C'mon, Rick." Andre groaned. "You can't possibly believe this!"

"Nothing else makes sense. Pride called you his son, so you weren't going anywhere, but he put a damn tracker in me. Couldn't lose me, wouldn't let me go, and this is why. He kept us near him always."

Michonne nodded. "Rick is right." She turned to Hatton. "Answer his question. Where did you get this and what does it mean?"

The door to the apartment opened to Logan Lowe, Pride's prim and proper English valet, a pair of female and male soldiers wheeling a stretcher, and behind the four soldiers was Morgan Jones. "He got it from the go-between for him and the scientists overseeing that special project," Morgan answered.

"Morgan!" Michonne exclaimed, wide-eyed.

"It's been a long time, Michonne, but it's good to see you again." They shared a quick hug. "It's even better seeing you and Rick together."

"Morgan, what – what are you doing here?" Rick asked.

"Helping my friends," he said with a smile, patting Rick on the shoulder.

The soldiers, in the customary black but without helmets and guns, moved to Pride's body, but Andre quickly blocked them. "What are you doing?"

"Danny, they need to take the body away," said Logan. "It cannot continue to lie there on the floor."

"He's not going to turn. Hatton stabbed him in the head, and… Wait a minute." Andre flicked the body bag on the stretcher. "How did you even know he was dead?"

Surprise registered on Logan's face. "What?"

"Do not play me for a fool, Mr. Lowe! This day has been crazy. I meet my mother who happens to be Rick's wife and learn my actual name is Andre, still getting used to that."

Morgan's wide-eyed gaze turn to Michonne. "That's - - that's your boy?" he stammered.

"Long story," Michonne replied.

"Very, very long," Rick added.

"On top of that, my father starts…" Andre's voice faltered. "He made threats and tried to…And now he's gone." Tears streamed down his cheeks. "I don't understand this," he said, burying his face in his hands. "I don't understand."

Rick caught Michonne's hand as she started toward Andre. "Don't," he whispered, unwilling to watch Andre lash at her again. "He's still too raw. I know it's hard and you're struggling with your need to help him, but just give him time. He needs to feel everything he feelings, and when he's ready for you, for us, we'll take care of him."

"I know, and you're right. It's – it's hard." She settled into his arms with a sigh. "It's so hard."

"Yeah, I know." Rick kissed her forehead. "It's gonna be okay."

"Take the body," Logan said to the soldiers.

Andre dropped his hands. "I said no!"

The soldiers worked as if they didn't hear him. After zipping Pride in the body bag, they wheeled the remains out.

"I can make things clearer for you, Dan – Andre," said Logan.

Andre tore his attention from the bloody spot on the floor, frowning. "It's Danny, Mr. Lowe," he barked.

"Fine. What your father was doing couldn't continue."

"He was keeping us safe."

"No," Logan said, shaking his head. "He was obsessed with life. Living. Not the living, people and the good of society, but his living. Immortality. Taking what the walkers have and somehow reversing it to keep humans alive. To keep himself alive…forever."

"You're talking crazy."

"Tell me about that. It was the General. For a while, he did use his outrageous means to find an answer for the roamers while searching for his serum of life, but only succeeded in making things worse in developing faster, stronger, and bigger reanimated dead. Danny, he was mad, but seemed sane, and that's what made him more dangerous. Like Commander Grimes, you were a means to an end for him. Unexpected and unknown, but no less true."

"The cells?" Michonne said. "The ones that he and Rick have?"

"Yes, he thought that was the answer," Logan replied. "He had scientists working around the clock, but they weren't working on the experiment he thought. The call about the helicopters was to make him think the answer had been found. That we were on our way to New York to test the effectiveness. But it was actually to let Hatton know that all of the General's true followers were sent away, we were in control, and the execution could commence."

"The murder of my father," Andre angrily retorted.

"The end to a reign of terror."

"So, that's it?" Michonne said. "This is over? We can go home?"

Logan nodded. "Yes, ma'am, it's over. Everyone is free to leave or stay. There is a lot to make up for."

"Nah." Rick shook his head. "That's not all. What else? What were the scientists doing? What did they find? Hatton said we were Pride's guinea pigs. That means experimentation." Rick looked from one man to the next, waiting for someone to answer. "What?"

Morgan dragged his hand over his head. "Rick, I only have some second-hand information from Grace," he replied, "but one of the scientists, Iris Bennett, came down from New York. She's at the lab checking some things, but we can get her here to answer your questions."

"I don't know her. I want to hear this from you. You love Grace, so I trust her. Tell me what she said."

"All right. Uh, the thing is, you and Andre weren't just getting vaccinations. You two received the experimental doses Pride used to test eradicating the outbreak."

Rick's blood ran cold. "No." He shook his head. "I found people for that testing, they…" He looked at Michonne, seeing her worry and uncertainty. "Uh, no, no. It was brutal, Morgan. What happened to them… What they became after. We couldn't have…"

"But you did, and you're here, healthy, and that's the point. That's what the scientists were researching. The why of it. Not how it could benefit Pride, but why and how it happened to you and Michonne's son. The shots started when Pride got the results of your blood test and discovered you and Andre have the same cell structure. You were given the shot while you were recovering, because Pride didn't know if you would live. When you survived, the next variation of the shot, developed some three years later, was given to you and Andre."

"Stop it!" Andre erupted. "This isn't…"

"Let him finish!" Rick broke in. Andre rolled his eyes. "Go on, Morgan."

"When you both survived that, Pride was even more convinced that you two were the answer, and he focused his attention on getting what you had. If it answered the walker problem, even better. After years, Pride was getting tired of waiting, and wanted more scientists involved. Specifically a radiation expert. Weeks after I saw you in Nebraska, Grace was called up to New York to help with the research. A couple of months ago, after years of trial and error, scientists were finally able to isolate all the cells."

"Years?" Michonne said.

"Separating the cells was a very complex task."

"And?" Rick pressed. "Morgan, what!"

"There is something. The best doctors and scientists available were a part of this. They don't know what to call it or how to explain it, but the antibodies in these cells have regenerative and transformative abilities. That was noted with each blood sample received. Not only did they alter the genetic makeup of you and Andre, they fight foreign bodies and stimulate endorphins and the production of dopamine. That's why the experimental drug didn't kill either of you. With time, the cells attach, attack, and renew."

"They sound like cancer cells," Rick said. "When I was a kid, I had a friend who…"

"They mimic cancer cells in that these cells laid dormant for who knows how long, but something in how the world changed is likely what stimulated them. Grace said they're not dangerous. Neither you nor Andre have cancer or any other illnesses, but what you do have is an amazing ability to fight any harm that comes to your bodies. Instead of making you sick, these cells fight sickness. The pathogen that causes the outbreak has not been found in either of you."

He turned to Michonne. "What is he saying?"

Michonne shrugged, looking as perplexed as he felt. "I'm not really sure," she answered.

"Morgan?" Rick prompted somewhat tentatively.

"Rick, you and Andre, and perhaps even Michonne seeing as she's Andre's mother, may be, and it's hard to fathom these words, but you three really seem to be the answer Pride was looking for. You just might be immortal."

A/N: I know right! More to come.

~Thanks for reading!~