Rick tightened his hands around the steering wheel and drew a deep breath to steady his racing heart. They were minutes from Alexandria, and the closer he got, the more nervous he became. Soon, he would be seeing his children. A daughter he hadn't seen in years, and his son.
RJ. Rick Grimes, Jr.
Rick felt like an expectant father from a 1950's movie, waiting for news on the birth. He knew his child had come into the world, he had another son, his namesake, but he wasn't meeting a newborn, but a seven-year-old boy. Someone well aware of himself and of the fact that his father was not around for the first years of his life. It didn't matter the reason, or that Rick desperately wanted to take part in every aspect of RJ's upbringing. He wasn't there. That's all Rick knew.
Michonne leaned her head on his shoulder. "You don't need to be uneasy," she said. "He's going to be thrilled. They both are."
"I didn't say anything."
"You didn't have to." She tapped a hand clutching the wheel. "I know you like I know myself."
Rick's hands loosened and moved to Michonne's thigh. Her touch always relaxed him. "I remember what you said, Michonne, but…" He sighed.
"Uh-uh, no buts. I wish we could've reached someone on the radio at Alexandria to let them know we're on our way, but, Rick, our children are going to wake up to us being home. The Brave Man is going to be there. This is going to be the reunion of my dreams. Even more than I could've dreamed, because Andre is with us, too." She glanced over her shoulder at her son who appeared to be asleep in the rear cab. "Well, at least he's present in body. His mind will probably be anywhere but with us." She grunted. "With me. He hasn't said a word since we left Pride's office."
"That's not about you, but about what he's feeling. He can't deny the truth of what Pride was. The man used him, and that's got his head all messed up. We'll give him our love and a lot of patience, and in time he'll be okay. You know, there's one good thing about Andre's quiet."
"Really?"
"Yeah. He's not hurting your feelings with harsh words and your ears with sailor-blushing swears." Rick chuckled. "That's me finding the humor where I can."
Laughing, Michonne kissed his cheek. "Touché." She snuggled his arm, signing with a giddy anticipation. "I can't wait to hug my babies. I have missed them so much."
"I am nervous and excited. When I get them in my arms, I don't know how I will be able to let them go." Rick's thoughts went to all he and Michonne had talked about on the drive. Her leadership being questioned a few years after Jocelyn, Tara running off with the charter and food on her way to lead Hilltop after Maggie disappeared, and Carol being gone for years before finally returning and also going to Hilltop had all stuck with him. Michonne had strong support in Aaron, Rosita, and Scott, and Gabriel and a few others to slightly lesser degree, but things had been hard for her. Rick was disappointed in that, and also in so many people he lost eight years of his life to keep safe. He couldn't believe Michonne didn't even sign the charter she had worked so hard on. If Tara had listened to Michonne, she and others might still be alive. So many ingrates. "Maybe we should get away together. Spend some time being a family."
"Sounds like a great idea."
"Yeah," he said. "We'll talk about it more when we get inside with them." Rick slowed the truck and looked around as he got to the top of the lane that led to the gates of Alexandria. It had been years, but he knew this road like he did the curves of Michonne's body, and something wasn't right. "I know it's the middle of the night, but why is it so dark? We should see lanterns from here."
Michonne leaned against the dashboard, looking left to right as Rick drew closer to the entrance. "The front guard perch should be lit and with at least two men on patrol. That might explain the radio. It was unusual, but I wasn't alarmed." She pulled out the radio and tried once again to reach someone, but like before when they were further out, she got nothing but static. "Something's wrong."
Rick pushed the truck into park and they raced to the gate, telling the awakening Andre to stay put. The headlights beamed on the sign on the gate. "Outpost 22-Commonwealth. What the hell is that?"
"I don't know. Virginia is a commonwealth, but this sounds like a specific place or community." Michonne pushed on the gate. "It's padlocked from the outside. How can that be?"
Different scenarios swirled in Rick's mind. Karma for the things he'd done pricked at his heart, attempting to invade his spirit with the guilt Michonne's love and understanding had washed away. But in his soul, he had a feeling that things here weren't exactly as bad as they seemed. At least not from the outside looking in.
"What's going on?" Andre asked from the lowered back window.
"I'm trying to find out," Rick said, racing to the truck bed. He rummaged inside the large toolbox Hatton included as part of the "severance" compensation, grabbed some bolt cutters, an extra flashlight, and then retrieved the thermal night vision binoculars and Michonne's sword from the truck. "Andre, get behind the wheel. When I raise my hand, I want you to lay on the horn."
Andre nodded and moved to the driver's side.
Rick shoved a flashlight in his back pocket and handed Michonne the other and her sword.
After banging the cutters against the gate, hearing nothing, Rick cut away the locks, and they walked inside. He scanned the area, finding houses damaged or completely destroyed by fire, desolate crops, and lots of silence. No signs of heat or movement anywhere. The place was abandoned.
Michonne gasped with the light of the truck illuminating the area. "Oh, my God! Rick, what happened here?"
"Shh, shh, it's okay," he said, putting an arm around her, believing his words with all he had. This didn't look good, but... Rick raised his hand, and Andre blew the horn, using a mix of intermittent beeps and extended blares. Millie whinnied and neighed, but that was the only response to the noise. After about a minute of blowing and another minute of waiting, there was still no noise or signs of movement.
"It's quiet. Too quiet!" Michonne shot off in the direction of their house.
"Michonne!" Rick called out, dropping the binoculars and racing after her with Andre following in the truck. He caught up with her when she reached the front door of their townhouse. The building appeared untouched structurally. Stopping at the step behind her, Rick clasped her shoulders as she stared at the wooden barrier. Standing outside his house after so long was momentous, but there was so much more going on than just that reality. He had to reach Michonne. He was concerned, but not afraid. His children were alive and safe, he had no doubt about that, and Michonne had to know that, too. "Listen to me, the only thing we're going to find in there is something from our daughter telling us where the hell she and her brother are. That's it."
She turned to him. "What if…"
He held her face. "Don't. This day has been a rollercoaster of emotions; we're running on fumes, and right now you're scared. I understand that, something happened here, but feel what's in your heart, beyond the fear. If our children were gone, our Judith and little RJ, the son our love created, wouldn't we know? I don't feel that. Just like you knew that I wasn't gone, know they aren't."
"How?" She pressed her hand to her chest. A tear rolled down her cheek. "How can I know? I didn't know that Andre wasn't gone."
Sighing, Rick brushed away the tear. "Michonne."
"I lost twelve years with him, and he's barely tolerating me now. If RJ and Judith aren't in there, after whatever this was, it means either I will never see them again, like Carl, or I will see them with the look in their eyes that I get from Andre. Resentment." Her broken sob and streaming tears shattered Rick's heart. "I can't go through any more of that pain again, Rick. I can't." She buried her face in his chest, surrendering to her anguish.
Rick closed his arms around her, soothingly stroking her back. Before he could offer words to refute her fears, the truck door shut and Andre said, "You won't."
Sniffling, Michonne pulled out of Rick's arms and moved to his step. Her hand twined with his, their eyes on Andre.
With slow strides, Andre came to a stop at the first step, looking up at them. "It's not the same." He glanced at his feet before ascending another step and focused on Michonne. "I'm feeling a lot of things right now, things I'm trying to understand, but I – I don't blame you, and Judith and RJ won't."
Rick brought her hand to his lips and held it to his chest. Andre was saying everything Michonne needed to hear, everything he would've said, but that Andre needed to say not only for himself, but for Michonne, too.
"They know you love them and you were only gone to find their father, and you did that. We don't know where they are, but I think they're okay because they're together. RJ is a special kid, he's you and Rick, maybe immortal, and he's going to take care of his sister." Andre looked around. "A handful of houses are destroyed or damaged, but if some crazies came here to hurt the people and pillage the place, they wouldn't have stuck around to clear walkers from the street and lock up when they left. I don't believe that."
Rick nodded. Andre still hadn't addressed Michonne by name in any way, but he was speaking with reassurance and no animosity, and that was huge. He was saying everything that Rick had already concluded: that even with the destruction, things were too organized for this to have been an ambush. "He has a point," Rick said.
"Yeah," Michonne remarked. "He does."
"I think whatever happened after these fires, the community tried to regroup but couldn't, and had to go somewhere else to live," Andre continued. "That's a possibility, right?"
"A very likely possibility, yeah," Rick said. "Let's go in and see what we can see." He kissed Michonne's hand. "I promise, it's gonna be okay."
Drawing a breath, Rick walked into the house and instinctively pointed the flashlight at the stairwell. His eyes immediately went to the wall where they had placed Carl and Judith's handprints from the porch boards.
"Oh," Michonne whimpered, coming in behind him.
Rick didn't know if he should feel disappointment or relief that they weren't there. The boards weren't broken in pieces on the floor, so maybe wherever RJ and Judith were, those prints were with them.
Michonne turned on her flashlight. "I'm going to check Judith's room," she said, moving to the stairs.
"I'll come with you," Rick replied.
Andre walked toward the living area with his flashlight. "I'll check around here."
Rick's hand touched the spot where the handprints had hung as he followed Michonne up. It felt surreal being back. He had always hoped to, but the return wasn't happening as he had expected. Yet, he was here. The place he and Michonne had made a new life after losing Carl. Where they had played with Judith and conceived their little RJ. The place they called home.
"Are there pictures?" he asked, as they approached the landing at the top of the stairs. He hated taking pictures, insisting, to Michonne's opposition, that he didn't need his ugly mug frozen in time. But there were a few group photos Aaron had taken and one snap of him and Michonne with Judith and Carl when she turned two. Hopefully, RJ hadn't inherited that aversion from him. Judith had loved taking pictures.
"Yeah, there are pictures." Michonne nodded. "Videos, too," she answered, turning to him. "I kept them in our room. Along with the one of you from Deanna when we first got here."
Rick winced. He looked like a caveman in that video. "You kept that?"
"It was you in motion. Heavily bearded, very intense, but real. It was a contrast to the group pictures Aaron took the next day of you with shorter hair and a clean-shaven face and how you looked with a slight beard and longer hair on Judith's second birthday. I didn't play the video often, but they saw it. I wanted them to see you as more than a face in a photo."
"I wasn't really me. I was lost, and not just under a lot of hair."
"You weren't alone in that. We were all teetering after the prison, Terminus, and all that time on the road, but we made it through."
"Because you were my light." He pecked her lips.
"And you mine." Michonne stroked his cheek and continued down the hall. "I kept the photos and videos in my chest in the closet. Hopefully they're still there, or if not, that they're with our children," she said, entering the first room on the right.
Rick looked around, gone was the little child's room he remembered, this was a bedroom for a little lady. The relocation made sense, RJ would have needed to be closer to Michonne, but Rick had somehow expected the room to look the same, as if eight years hadn't passed. Gone was the twin bed with the wooden spindle headboard, replaced with a full-size brass bed. The pictures she had drawn gone, in their place paintings of flowers, ocean waves, and sunny skies. He noticed there was nothing personal on display. No photographs. There were some books, but nothing else. He walked to the dresser and pulled open drawers. They were all empty.
Michonne closed the closet door. "The only things in there are a few clothes Judith was outgrowing when I left," she shared. "Her duffel bag is gone and the box where she kept your gun and her other special items is empty."
"We know she packed, otherwise all the clothes would've been gone. The handprints are gone, her personal items gone. This is hopeful, Michonne."
"Yes, but we still have no clue where they are. Let's check RJ's room."
A fluttery sensation flickered in Rick's heart. RJ's room. They walked next door. Inside, Rick found the spindle bed that Judith had slept in. He moved to it and brought the pillow to his cheek. The pillow where his son had laid his head. Soon, he would hold RJ this close. He brought the pillow to his face, soaking in the reality of the moment, and then returned it to the bed.
Rick scanned the room with his light. It was a little boy's space. No books, but animal figurines and paintings of sports balls and children playing. No drawings or personal items, just boy-inspired decor and walls of blue.
"Hey, you okay?" Michonne asked, rubbing his back.
"Yeah, just uh, takin' it all in."
"RJ loved it in here, but everything that mattered to him is gone, too, and there's nothing in here to tell us where they went."
"We'll check our room and see if the pictures and videos are there and if they left a clue. We will find something, Michonne." Rick took her hand. "I know it."
They walked into the bedroom and Rick discovered the freeze in time he had been expecting. The only discernible change in the room was the replacement of a framed picture with the watercolor painting Judith had done of her and Carl. Everything else was exactly as he remembered.
"You brought the picture in here."
"It made me feel happy. Brought memories of the day Judith painted it."
Rick smiled. "I have replayed that day and so many others in my mind. I relived them every day. I relived the last time we were in this room together. This bed together." He dragged his hand against the cover. His body trembled with the recollection of that passionate time and all the new ones they made in the last hours. "Those memories kept me going."
"Me, too." She kissed his hand. "So many memories. Memories." Michonne turned her flashlight to the dresser. "The pictures, the one from Judith's second birthday and RJ's first as a newborn, They're gone." She sighed. "I kept them there. I wanted your face and our children's to be the first things I saw when I woke up." She scurried over to the closet and pulled out her small chest, unlatching and opening the lid. "It's empty."
"Did Judith and RJ know they were in there?"
"Yeah. I would show them the other pictures I had of you and Carl and talk about Andre. So, yeah, they knew." She smiled. "They loved looking at the pictures of their younger selves and the videos of when RJ was a baby and his firsts. Especially on their birthdays."
"You recorded all those things?"
"As much of them as I could. I was that mother."
"The best mother." Rick smiled. "I think our children have all the things that matter to them, to us, with them."
"Not everything." Michonne motioned to Judith's painting on the wall. "That matters, and it's still here."
"Yeah, it is." Rick rushed to the picture and removed it from the wall, shining the flashlight on the back. "There's something here," he said, returning to Michonne.
"That's Judith's handwriting. 'Mom, we have to leave home. Uncle Daryl said it's best.'" Rick harrumphed. Michonne tapped his chest with understanding and kept reading. "'We're going to a place called Commonwealth somewhere in Ohio. RJ heard a man say Youngstown. We have all our special family things, but we're leaving this message with a special picture, hoping you find it and that you've found Dad. We love you and we're okay. Judith and RJ.'" Michonne smiled, crying happy tears. "You were right. They left a clue. I pray they're still okay."
"They are." Rick kissed her hand. "Is there anything you wanna grab from here?"
"No." She shook her head. "I have you and Andre is with us. When we get Judith and RJ, I will have everything I need."
"Me, too." He kissed her softly and then took one more look around. "Let's go get our children."
Andre met them when they rushed down the stairs. "I didn't find any direct clues, but I noticed there's no food in the house," he said. "I mean nothing. Did you find anything?"
Rick held up the picture. "We did. We're on our way to Ohio."
"Do you have a road map? It's dark, and I think we could use one."
"I don't," Rick said, "but I think I know where to find one."
The sun erased the darkness of the night sky just as Rick crossed the border from Pennsylvania into Ohio. Youngstown was only a few short miles away. Michonne had been awake nearly twenty-four hours now, but she was too wired to feel tired. This time yesterday, her hope was to be in the same vicinity as Rick, but now they were together in every way. After years of missing his touch, his counsel, his eyes, smile, and that walk, she had it all back. She covered the hand that squeezed her knee. She had her husband, and in the most stunning twist, his absence gave her back the son she thought she'd lost.
In some ways, Andre was still lost to her. He still wasn't calling her "Mom" or anything by name, but things had changed a bit for the better since Alexandria. Michonne gazed over at her sleeping firstborn who was now beside her on the split bench front seat, his head against the passenger side window. Perhaps hearing him call her "Mommy" in that first moment he saw her would be the last time she would hear that acknowledgment from him again. She didn't want to live with that, but she could. He didn't blame her for their lost years, and that was hopeful. Finding him with Rick after all this time was a miracle and a blessing. Andre knew real love from someone. Someone she loved and who loved her completely.
Now, she and Rick needed another miracle. Just like she had been reunited with Andre, she needed the same with RJ and Judith. They had to find them.
"I wish you had gotten some sleep." Rick rubbed the length of her thigh, glancing at her for a fleeting moment before returning his attention to the road. "You're beautiful, but you look exhausted. We've been talking all this time."
"You've been awake for as long as I have, and we have a lot of catching up to do." She managed a smile, stroking the curls at the nape of his neck. "Catching up that can be done in the presence of a teenager. Conversation, you know?"
"Oh, I know." Rick chuckled. "I can appreciate this kind of catching up, too. I missed talking to you. I missed everything about you, my beautiful wife."
"Same."
"I know how much you can take, Michonne, how strong you are, but this last day has been a whirlwind of emotions. It's okay to close your eyes for a while. Your protective empress warrior outfit is in the back. You don't have to be on guard now. Take a rest. I'm good."
"I can't sleep, Rick. I haven't stopped talking about our children because I can't stop thinking about them. I carry Carl in my heart, Andre is here, and now I need RJ and Judith. Aaron's license plates being gone was more reassurance for me, and the fact he left the Ohio roadmap with Youngstown circled was the ultimate clue. They all left together. Rosita will keep a watchful eye on them, and I know Aaron would do anything for Judith and RJ. They are very close to Gracie. And Daryl would…"
Rick winced and gripped the steering wheel.
Michonne released his hand, brought it to her lips, and returned it to her thigh with a loving caress. "I know you're right about him. That guilt was the primary reason he had been around, but I don't give a damn. Why? Because we're not with our children. After that explosion, he took off for a long time. He said it was to look for you, and I know he tried, but I think looking at me, especially as my pregnancy developed and knowing what he had taken away, was a catalyst for his departure."
"Damn straight. And the reason he came back towards the end of your pregnancy and left soon after was the same: guilt. He had to make himself be there because I wasn't, and it was his fault. He gets in his feelings, runs off to deal with them, and comes back until he has to run again. It's a cycle. I don't know how he was able to be alone when he would take his leave from Alexandria."
"Well, he had a dog. His name is Dog, so…"
"Dog? He named it Dog?" Rick rolled his eyes. "He would do that."
"Emotionally, Daryl is weak, and that truth has caused a lot of harm for him and others. But what he lacks in emotional strength he makes up for in survival instinct. If there is some danger, Daryl won't leave our children. If it's guilt that's the motivator, so be it. He deserves the guilt. Both he and Maggie, wherever the hell she is." Michonne grunted. "I'm so angry with them, but I only care that Daryl protects RJ and Judith, and he's gonna do that. When we're back with our children, I don't care what Daryl does. I don't ever have to see him again."
Rick glanced away from the road. "You mean that?"
"Yes." She nodded. "I mean it."
"Wanna move?"
"Move?" She repeated.
"Yeah." His attention turned from the road to her and back. "Alexandria is lost right now. I believe it can be salvaged, but it will take a long time. Hilltop has to be gone, otherwise they wouldn't have gone to Ohio. Let's have a fresh start. You and me, Andre, Judith, and our little RJ, just us. I want us to be us for a while. Not leading or fighting, just living. Is that something you would want?"
"Yes, Rick." She kissed his cheek. "Yes!"
Andre groaned. "That's an interesting choice of words," he said. "Can I open my eyes?"
"Oh my goodness," Michonne muttered, rolling her eyes. She had walked into that one.
"You're a comedian," Rick cracked. "Yes, you can open your eyes."
"I was just kidding," Andre said with a giggle.
His laughter made Michonne smile. Sadness, heartbreak, and grief hadn't completed consumed his heart. Light was still there, and she was grateful for that.
"I heard some of the conversation," admitted Andre. "You two might want to find your children before you talk about what comes after." He yawned. "This happily ever after might take a while."
"I'll drive every inch of Ohio if I have to," Rick declared. "We have solar power and gallons of gas in the back. Wherever they went is where they still are. I know it, and I know we're going to find them. Aaron circled Youngstown on the map. That's where they are."
"Okay. Uhm…" Andre cleared his throat. "Rick, I hate to slow down your progress, but could we pull over a for a few minutes? It's been a lot of hours since New Jersey, and I really can't ignore nature's call much longer."
"Of course we can pull ov –" Rick scoffed. "Why didn't say something sooner?"
"I know you two are desperate to get to your children, and I didn't want to hold that up."
"You're our child, too, and you're not a machine. In fact, stopping might be necessary for all of us. Stretch our legs, eat a little something."
"Get Millie some water," Michonne added.
"Yeah." Rick nodded. "That, too."
"You sure it's okay?" Andre said.
Michonne reached out to touch his face, but froze her hand midway and returned it to her lap. She couldn't push things too far too soon. He had laughed, but he was still struggling with her. "Yes, Andre, it's okay. Whatever you need is okay. We absolutely want to get to RJ and Judith, but you need to understand that you are just as important to us as they are. You are older, but you're ours, too. We love you, and we need you to have everything you need. Space, time, or a bathroom break."
"More like a woods break." Andre chuckled nervously and tapped her hand. He had broken her heart so many times in so little time, but that gesture was like a seal for those many cracks. "Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me, but thank you for saying it. For…" Her hand eased over to his, returning the gentle tap and adding a little caress. Happy tears rolled down her cheeks when he didn't pull away or stiffen at her touch, but placed his other hand on hers. She sniffled. "Thank you." Drawing a breath, Michonne removed the Ohio road map from the dashboard. "I think I remember seeing a little lake not far from Youngstown and the Pennsylvania border." She wiped her eyes and focused on the map. "Right there." She pointed at the spot on the map. "Rick, pull off to the right. If we head into the woods and go a bit northwestwardly, we should run into the lake. Andre can lose his water and Millie can get some."
After Rick pulled over, Andre quickly jumped out and raced into the woods.
"Think he's coming back?" Michonne quipped, curling her arms around his.
"The fact you can joke about that tells me you know he is," Rick answered with a laugh. "It's gettin' better."
She nodded. "Yeah."
"Tell you what, I'll take Millie to the water, we should bond, and you can relax a bit. Get a nap."
"I'm fine, Rick."
A seductive gaze swept over her. "Mmm, you are that." Rick twined his fingers in her locs. "Humor me, huh?"
"How about this. You get Millie the water, and I'll gather some wood and throw together something resembling breakfast. Hatton supplied us with tons of whatever we could need, and I can heat up a can or two of whatever. Then, we can go on with our search refueled and refreshed." She brought his hand to her lips, exhaling deeply. "I don't know why, Rick, I can't explain it, maybe it's Andre's change, but suddenly I'm feeling so hopeful about everything. Our babies are okay. I'm secure in that. Wherever they are, we are close." She sighed, feeling this overwhelming confidence envelop her. "I know it."
"Amazing." Rick leaned over, kissing her deeply, yet so softly. "Me, too." He pulled back and stroked her cheek. "I love you."
"I love you." She pecked his lips. "Be careful out there."
"You, too." He kissed her forehead and reached for the door handle. "I won't be long."
Taking Millie by the reins, Rick led her into the woods, bypassing Andre who said he would hang out at the truck with "her" until Rick got back or take Millie for the water if Rick wanted to frolic in the woods with "the wife." Rick couldn't help chuckling as he refused the latter offer and continued with Millie. Andre was willing to be alone with Michonne, and with the teen still battling owning the nature of the relationship, Rick couldn't interfere with that opportunity.
Hopefully, this time would help. Michonne was Andre's mother, and Rick knew she ached to hear him refer to her as such. "Mommy" was the first thing he had said when he saw her, to have him call her that or any other term for mother would mean the world to her. It would mean the world to Rick, too.
Like Michonne, Rick was feeling hopeful. Also like her, he couldn't explain why. Finding Alexandria abandoned and their children gone was unexpected and worrisome, but for whatever reason, he wasn't worried. Like he knew he loved Michonne, he knew his children were okay and close. It was an all-consuming feeling that couldn't be denied. He was certain of their safety back at Alexandria, but the feeling was more intense now. Maybe it was being so close to Youngstown, but whatever it was, Rick knew he would be with them soon.
Millie snorted and turned in the opposite direction of the lake that Rick could see just ahead. He looked around, but didn't see or hear any walkers. "What are you doing, girl? The water is over here."
Whinnying, the horse struggled against the reins when Rick tried to lead her. A hoof dug into the ground. She didn't want to move.
Rick came in closer, stroking the bridge of her nose. "Millie, I know you could use a drink. Don't be stubborn. The sooner you get your water, the sooner we can get back to Michonne. Come on."
Minnie whinnied again and jerked her head to the right, several times.
"What are you…" Rick turned in the direction of the horse's movements and froze. Not believing what he was seeing, but knowing, even with his lack of sleep, that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. His heart pumped widely in his chest and tears burned his eyes. He blinked and blinked and wiped his eyes, not wanting any obstructions from this incredible view. Everything Michonne had said was true. Every detail perfectly stated, yet not as perfect as the perfection standing a few feet away. Nothing was better than this. The years-beaten, weather-worn hat was merely an exclamation point of the truth. An emotional whisper carried the name from his lips. "RJ."
~Thanks for reading!~
~More to come.~
Author's Note: I enjoyed writing this chapter for so many reasons, and I truly hope you enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sticking with me. It is well appreciated.