One of the residents, that are no longer with us, had a hot tub in their backyard. So I got the idea for Daryl and I to have a little date night. It took some convincing, but he finally agreed. We waited until it got dark before we went over there. I didn't have a swimsuit so I was just going to go in with my bra and underwear. I'm sure Daryl will do the same.

I came over earlier and turned the hot tub on so it would be ready for when we went later. So now all I had to do was lift the lid. Steam came out from under the lid. I turned to Daryl and gave him a smile.

I also brought us a bottle of wine and poured each of us a glass before getting in. I took everything off except for my bra and underwear, Daryl watched me which I liked. Then, I got in. Daryl quickly took everything off except for his boxers, then got in really fast. I don't know what he's being so shy for but it made me smile.

Cranking up the bubbles, I smiled at him and leaned back enjoying the hot tub. There were also these cool color changing lights all around the edge. "Feels good, right?" I asked him.

"Yeah." Was all he said. He grabbed his wine and gulped it. "This is pretty good." He said. "I ain't much of a wine guy, but I like this."

I let out a laugh. "Yeah, it's pretty good." I said. "I found it a while back and really liked it so I had to get it again. It's called Elmo's."

Daryl just gave me a nod and drank more.

I realized that I left my wine on the grill. "Oh." I said and leaned up trying to reach it. "I don't think I can get it." I switched my position a little and stretched farther. "Aw, man." I complained.

Just then, I felt my underwear being pulled up into my butt crack and gasped. "Just wanted to get a good look at that tattoo." He said. "Nice." He gave my ass a slap.

I giggled and quickly sat back down, pulling my wedgie out that Daryl gave me. "Like you haven't seen it enough already?" I smiled. I inched my way over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. We started kissing, it was really hot.

We pulled apart and stared at each other. I giggled. Daryl smirked. "Alright, get outta here." He teased me. "It's hot enough in here."

I laughed again. "Can you get my wine?" I asked him sweetly. "I can't reach it."

Daryl snorted at me. "Man." He teased me some. I just laughed. He got my wine for me.

"Thank you." I grinned.

We continued drinking and fooling around. It was one of the best nights I've had in a long time. Until the accident happened…

Narrator's POV

"Mommy?" Judith Grimes said to her mom, Michonne. "Where's Abby and Daryl?"

"I told you, honey." Michonne answered the young girl. "They're having a date night tonight."

"Why couldn't they have a date night here?"

"Because they wanted some privacy, I guess." The woman shrugged and dropped more dough into the hot grease. She was making dough balls. Baby RJ cooed in the woman's arms. "It's okay, baby." She moved the baby to her other side.

"Are the doughnut balls done yet?" Judith asked.

"Almost." Said Michonne. The woman scooped out the remaining dough balls and set them on a separate plate to cool down. After that, she wanted to dump the hot grease into the sink. However, she was still holding RJ and grabbed the handle with one hand. It was a little heavier than she anticipated, plus her hand was a little greasy from touching the dough. So, Michonne immediately put the pan back down, but some of the grease jumped out and landed on her hand and some on the floor as well. The woman screamed out in pain as it burned her. Judith looked up and gasped. Then, Michonne slipped in the grease on the floor and burned her leg too screaming out in pain.

"Mommy!" Judith yelled out in fear. Baby RJ began to cry loudly.

"Take him! Take RJ!" Michonne handed her baby to her daughter. The young girl took her baby brother and put him in the crib, then stood there not knowing what to do. "Judith, go get Siddiq!" Michonne yelled. The young girl jumped up and immediately ran out the door for the doctor.

Abby's POV

"Okay, I'm about to pass out." I said as I got off Daryl. "It's really hot in here."

"Yeah, we should probably get out soon."

"I'm getting out now." I hopped out of the hot tub and dried myself off a little with the towel that I brought, then started putting my clothes on.

"Can I use 'at?" Daryl asked me. "I didn't brang a towel."

I let out a laugh. "I knew you wouldn't." I threw it at him. He dried himself off and began getting dressed too. Grabbing the bottle, I tipped it over and not even a drop fell out. "Damn, we drank the whole thing." I laughed.

"Abby! Daryl!" I heard and looked up in concern. "Abby!"

"Judith?" I said. My little sister emerged from around the corner. "Help! Help!" She yelled. "Mommy got hurt!"

"What?" I looked at her wide-eyed. "What happened? Where is she?"

"At the doctor's!" She jumped up and down.

I looked back at Daryl, we shared a look, then the three of us ran to Siddiq's house.

"Michonne?" I said as soon as I went in.

"In here." Siddiq called from another room.

I ran in there. Michonne was laying on the bed. Siddiq was wrapping her up. "What happened?"

"It's okay. I'm fine now." She said. "I just got burned." She showed me her hand and leg.

My eyes widened. "Oh my God. What happened?"

"I was cooking with hot grease and I slipped." She said. "It was just a stupid accident."

I gave her a sympathetic look. Then, I had another thought because I didn't see RJ. "Where's RJ?" I asked frantically. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine." She smiled. "Siddiq put him in another room. He's asleep."

I sighed in relief and closed my eyes. "I'm sorry I wasn't there." I shook my head. "If I was there to help, this wouldn't've happened."

"No." Michonne said. "This wasn't your fault. I should've put the baby down. It was an accident. Just a stupid accident." She looked kind of annoyed now.

"It could've happened to anyone." I said to make her feel better.

"Well, I took care of the burns." Siddiq said coming back into the room. "But I'd like you to stay overnight. We don't want those to get infected."

I nodded. "I'll take Judith and RJ home." I told her. "It'll be fine."

"Thank you, Abby." Michonne said. I leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Get some rest. You deserve it."

I just put the kids to bed and was downstairs getting ready for bed myself. Daryl was eating something, then came into the room and joined me. "Hey, you okay?" He asked me. He must've been able to tell that I was upset. "Michonne's gonna be fine."

"It's not…that." I stopped him and looked down.

"Then, what is it?" He moved my hair behind my shoulders.

"…I should've been here."

"We both should've been here." He corrected me.

"Yeah, but…it's more my fault than anybody's." I stated. "That's my little brother and sister. It could've been so much worse. RJ could've been seriously hurt." I swallowed. "I should've been here and not fooling around…in a hot tub."

Daryl was a quiet for a minute. "Well…luckily, it weren't that bad. Michonne's fine. Everythang's fine."

"It's not fine." I snapped. "That was irresponsible of me." I looked up at him. "That can't happen again." I shook my head. "From now on, my little brother and sister are my main priority. And Michonne until she's done recovering."

Daryl stared at me and tilted his head. "What about me?"

I looked up at him and gave him a stupid look. "What about you? You can take care of yourself."

"Yeah, but…I don't like the way ya said that." He said roughly. "It was like…you was accusin' me. Like what happened was my fault."

I shook my head. "It wasn't your fault, it was my fault. I already said that." I gave him a look. "But…no more distractions."

He nodded angrily. "So that's what I am? A distraction?"

"You're not but…I am too wrapped up in you sometimes." I said then immediately regretted it. He stared at me. I shook my head. "That came out wrong." Daryl snorted. "I didn't mean it like that." I stood up.

"No, I thank that's exactly what ya meant." He said. We stared at each other. "I'll sleep on the couch tonight so I don't distract ya." He walked out of the room.

I sighed heavily, then sat down on the bed with my head in my hands.

I went to see how Michonne was doing the next day. "Hey." I said. "How're the burns?"

"They hurt like a bitch." She said and let out a laugh.

"Well, the good news is, they're not infected." Said Siddiq. "They're healing pretty good but we'll have to keep an eye on them." I gave him a nod. "I'll give you two some privacy." He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed before he left. I thought that was kind of weird but just shrugged it off.

I turned back to my step mom. "So how come you sent Judith home?"

"I wanted to talk to you." She said seriously. "Alone."

I closed my eyes tightly for a moment. "I know. I'm sorry. It'll never happen again."

"Abby, I'm not mad about the accident." She said. "This isn't about that."

"Oh." I blinked in confusion. "So," I sat down on the edge of the bed, "what is it?"

Michonne seemed to hesitate. I could tell that whatever it was that she had to tell me, wasn't good. "While Siddiq was checking my burns this morning, he found something." She stated. "A lump."

I raised my eyebrows. "A lump?"

"Cancer." She said. My eyes widened. "I always kinda knew…it's genetic so…" She sighed.

"Wait." I stopped. "Siddiq can take care of it…right?"

She gave me a sad smile. "No."

My eyes widened. "What?" It felt like someone punched me in the stomach. "But I mean…can't he just like," I was trying to think of the right words, "cut it off?"

Michonne grabbed my hand. "It's more complicated than that." She got teary eyed. "I'm not ready to tell Judith yet."

I looked down for a moment, then back up. "Wait, Michonne…are you saying that…you're gonna…die?" I stared at her. Tears streamed down her face and she nodded. "No." I said. "No." I began to cry. "Nooo." I got in the bed with her and laid with her.

Michonne held me while I cried. "Shh, it's gonna be okay, honey." I hated myself in that moment. I should be comforting her, not the other way around. I'm weak and a coward.

I gulped the bottle of vodka in my hand, then wiped my mouth. I was pretty wasted. Michonne's gonna die. She doesn't get to see Judith and RJ grow up. I lost my dad, now I'm gonna lose her too. I'm losing my whole family. On top of all that, how the hell am I supposed to tell my six year old sister that her mom is dying? I gulped the alcohol again.

"Abby?" Daryl said. "What the hell are ya doin'? Come home." He called me. I ignored him. "Abby, c'mon. Yer drunk. Let's go home."

"No." I said and walked passed him.

"Abby." I guess he was done messing around and lifted me, throwing me over his shoulder.

I squealed. "Daryl, put me down!" I yelled at him.

"No, yer drunk." He started carrying me towards our house.

"Put me down right now!" I yelled at him. "I'll walk, okay? I'll walk!"

Daryl roughly put me down, I felt my feet touch the ground and immediately turned away. "What the hell are ya doin' gettin' drunk like that alone?" He scolded me. "I'm sorry about our argument but—

"It's not that." I cut him off. "It's not you." I cried.

"Abby…what the hell?" Daryl asked more calm. "What's goin' on?"

"Michonne's sick." I cried and took a gulp from the bottle.

"What do ya mean she's sick?"

"She has cancer." I looked at him. "And she's gonna die." I cried. "She told me." I stood there in the street crying for a minute.

"Hey, hey." Daryl said softly and pulled me to him. He just held me while I cried.

Michonne was allowed to come home the next day. I made her bed and set everything up for her so it would be nice for her when she got home. She was laying in bed, I brought her a tray with some food on it.

"Thank you, honey." She said.

I nodded and sat down on the bed with her. "So…when do you plan on telling Judith?"

Michonne stopped eating and put her spoon down. "I…" She started to say but trailed off.

I could've kicked myself. "Sorry. We don't have to talk about it now." I rapidly shook my head. "Just eat."

After a moment, she started eating again. "I should probably tell her before it gets really bad."

I looked down and thought for a minute, then looked back up. "I hate to ask this but…do you—" I stopped myself because that would've sounded bad. "Did Siddiq tell you anything? Like what to expect?"

"I know what to expect." She said. "I lost my mom this way."

"…I'm sorry." I looked away. "How did she…" I trailed off. "Never mind." I shook my head.

"She lasted only a few months." Michonne answered my unasked question. I looked at her with wide-eyes. "The doctor said she had about a year but it was only a month before she got bad. One damn month."

My eyes casted down. This must be really hard for her. I couldn't imagine. "Michonne, I'm really sorry." I said seriously. "Are you…scared?"

She looked like she was thinking. She swallowed before speaking. "Yeah." She nodded. I gave her a sad look, then sat next to her and hugged her.

Siddiq had treatments that he offered to Michonne. It wasn't a cure but it could help to slow down the disease. If it worked that is. If it didn't work, then the opposite would happen. Her health would rapidly decline.

Michonne thinking she had nothing to lose, decided to do the treatments. It wasn't long before we knew which way it went. The bad way. And it had only been a few weeks too.

We decided that it was time to tell Judith.

I stood in the doorway of Michonne's room, Judith sat on the bed with her mom. I listened as Michonne told my baby sister the worst news possible. It almost felt unreal. Judith got tears in her eyes, then started crying pretty hard not long after. I just stood there with my head down.

As the weeks went on, I took care of Michonne. Daryl helped me with her too. Judith seemed to pull away these last few weeks as Michonne got worse. She opted to help out with RJ instead.

Then Michonne got really bad…

She sent me to go get Judith. "Jude." I called her. She was in her room reading. "Come on. It's time."

Her eyes went back to her book. "I don't want to."

"Judith." I tilted my head sideways and looked at her. "You have to."

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "I'm…scared."

I gave her a sad look, then walked over to her and crouched down. "I know, baby." I touched her arm. "I know it's sad and I know it can be scary…but…if you don't come see your mom now…you're gonna regret it." I gave her a serious look, then put out my hand for her to take. She gave me a scared look, but took my hand.

We went in together. Judith hung back a little. "There's my sweet girl." Michonne smiled at her. Judith just stayed back. It was obvious why she was acting this way. Michonne had gotten really thin and looked older and she had oxygen in her nose. My little sister was scared of her mom.

"Come on, Jude." I took her hand and led her over to the bed. She came but stayed close by me.

"I know I'm scary, baby." Michonne said weakly. "But it's okay. I'm still me." She smiled weakly at her.

I looked at my sister and smiled and nodded. Judith moved a bit closer to Michonne. She talked to her and they had their moment. Michonne ended up falling asleep afterwards. I could tell that Judith was uncomfortable so I let her go back to her room. I stayed with my step mom though.

As I sat there, I randomly started singing this song that my mom used to sing to us when we were little. I didn't really like being sung to but my brother did. It was called You Are My Sunshine.

"Mm." Michonne stirred in her sleep. "That's nice." She smiled.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"I'm glad you did." She said. "I don't have much longer so…" She coughed. "I don't want to spend it sleeping."

I didn't have anything to say to that. What could I say?

"Abby." She said to me. I looked back up immediately. "Promise you'll take care of my babies." She said weakly. "Like they're your own."

"I promise." I got tears in my eyes right then. "You know I will."

She nodded. "And once it's over, you're gonna have to…put me down."

"Shh." I said. "Don't." I shook my head.

She let out a long breath. "Soon I'll be with your dad again." She smiled and laid her head back. I took her hand. Her talking turned into light breathing so she must have fallen asleep again.

Just then, she inhaled but never exhaled. I looked over at her. "Michonne?" She didn't move or respond in anyway. "Michonne?" I tried one more time. A single tear slid down my cheek. "Oh." I started crying harder and pulled out my knife. I gently stabbed her in the head, then put the knife on the nightstand. I stared at my step mom for a moment and wiped my tears.

"Daryl." I called him quietly.

Daryl and I buried Michonne that evening. Judith didn't come to the cemetery and instead stayed home with RJ. Afterwards, we stood back and looked at her grave. I looked down and began to cry.

"Hey." Daryl said and hugged me.

"Everyone keeps disappearing." I cried.

"I know." He said. "But ya still got me, Judith and RJ."

"I'm worried about Judith." I told him. "She's really pulled away ever since Michonne got really sick."

"She'll come around." He tried to reassure me.

"I don't know." I looked down. "They're my responsibility now."

"Hey." He said making me look at him. "Our responsibility." He corrected me. I stared at him, he nodded. I finally nodded back and we hugged again.

"Daryl?" I said softly. "Promise you'll never leave me."

"We already had this conversation."

"I know but please."

"I promise." Daryl said. "I ain't goin' nowhere."

I closed my eyes and felt comforted by him. I lost my mom, my brother, my fiancé, my dad, my unborn child and now my step mom. If I lost Daryl…I might as well just die too.

Only three chapters left! :O