⌜ chapter eleven ⌟

"Everybody okay?" Rick's voice catches their attention, and everyone turns from their places in the common area outside the cellblock.

"Yeah, we are." Maggie says as MJ looks up at him. He pushes the gate open and walks into the common area.

"What about you?" MJ asks.

"I cleared out the boiler block." He says.

"How many were there?" Daryl asks.

"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen." Rick tells them. "I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl." He pats his son's back.

Glenn stands up. "Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies. You don't have to."

"No, I do." He says and then walks over to where Daryl's sitting. "Everyone have a gun and a knife?"

"Yeah." He nods. "We're running low on ammo though."

"I'm taking Maggie and Glenn on a run in a bit." MJ says as she stands up, cradling the baby in her arms. "Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula."

"We cleared out the generator room." Daryl tells him. "Axel's there trying to fix it in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well."

"Good. Good." Rick nods and then starts for the door.

"Hey!" MJ calls, but he keeps going. She sighs as she looks down at the baby.

"M?" Jack walks over, and she looks at him.

"Paranoia doesn't suit that handsome face of yours." She smiles. "We're gonna be alright, it's just gonna take some time."

"I can take her." Beth says as she walks over to MJ. The brunette carefully hands the baby to her.

"Why do you have to go on this run?" John asks as he looks at his daughter.

"Because going out there is dangerous, and I can't send our people out alone. Not after what just happened." MJ tells him.

"What just happened is exactly why you should stay here with your family." He says, and she looks over at him.

"Maggie and Glenn are my family too." She says. "I've been with them for almost a year, we've fought together — survived together."

"They aren't your family the way we are." He says, and she scoffs.

"Just when I think you're starting to change." She shakes her head as she turns away from him.

"You're not leaving."

"That's not your call." She says as she starts getting her gear together.

"I'm your father." He argues.

"You're my drill sergeant." She looks over at him as Maggie and Glenn sling their bags over their shoulders. "You know what, you get the answer to this question right, and I'll stay here while they go. They can take Ponch with them instead. Simple question."

"Okay."

"What's my favorite color?" She asks, and his eyebrows pull together in confusion.

"What?"

"You don't like that one? How's this — what's the first monster that I ever killed?"

He clears his throat as he looks at the floor.

"How old was I the first time I worked a job by myself?"

"Twenty-one." He looks at her.

"Mags?" MJ looks at her friend.

"Purple. Ghoul. Nineteen." Maggie says, and she nods.

"Three for three." She looks back over at her dad. "You want to learn anything else about me, ask Dean or Ellen — the two people I'd go to if I ever wanted parental advice."

"Marie—"

"You have two options, Corporal. Stay and be a part of the group that Rick and I lead, don't challenge authority. Or pack your stuff and get back in the Impala." She cuts him off. "Ponch is in charge until I get back. Don't be a pain in his ass." She tells him.

"Who?" John questions, but she just keeps walking toward the exit.

Glenn clears his throat awkwardly. "Uh, that's what she calls Daryl. He's in charge whenever Rick and MJ are both out." He tells him and then follows after his girlfriend, who already left the common room with MJ.

Glenn, Maggie, MJ head out of C block and go out into the courtyard. The three of them then make their way over to one of the cars, and Glenn checks to make sure that they have everything that they need before they leave. MJ takes a deep breath as she tosses her bag into the car that they're gonna use. The brunette then places her hands on her back as she leans her shoulders backward and stretches.

"You alright?" Maggie asks, and she nods.

"Yeah, I must've just slept funny last night or something." She says. "You'd think that I wouldn't be sore anymore after Gabriel healed me, but..." She shrugs. "Whatever."

"Looks like someone's checking you out."

"What?"

Maggie chuckles as she motions back toward the entrance to C block. MJ follows her gaze and sees Daryl standing there. Her hair falls in front of her face as she looks at him and a small smile plays at her lips.

"I'll be right back." MJ says before turning and walking back over to Daryl. "If my dad gives you any trouble, you have my permission to shoot him — with the crossbow, of course. It's not worth the waste of ammo just to shut him up."

"I don't think I'll have a problem." He says, and she smirks.

"You don't know my dad." She muses, but then her expression turns serious. "Look, uh... I was talking to Glenn when you guys got back this morning — he told me something that happened with Rick while you and I were out yesterday. He said he went to find him, and he wasn't... Rick kinda went at him. He grabbed him, pinned him to the wall. Glenn said the look in his eye scared him a little; it was like Rick didn't see him — not entirely, like he didn't recognize him. I don't think he's actually dangerous to anyone, but I don't want anyone going to try and find him until I get back. We don't need to risk more of our people in those halls."

"You and I can see if we can find him when you get back." He tells her, and she nods. "I'll hold the fort down until then."

"Thank you." She offers him a small smile. She wants to talk to him about yesterday, but she knows that they don't have the time for that right now. "If you, uh— If you go farther in again, take my dad with you. He's an ass, but he's one of the best hunters I've ever known. And if he'll let you, leave Dean with the others. He really should stay with Addy. Don't take any of the kids with you. They've seen enough for a few—"

"I got it handled." He cuts her off. "We'll survive without for a few hours." He says, and she lets out a deep exhale as she looks down.

"Believe me, there's no one I trust more with the group's safety than you." She picks her head up and looks at him. "My mind is just running a mile a minute, and it won't turn off worst case scenarios."

"We're not losing anyone else." He promises. "And that means you coming back too." Daryl says, and she smiles up at him.

"Don't I always?"

"Yeah." He nods.

MJ's not the only one who wants to talk about yesterday. There's this huge part of Daryl that wonders why she kissed him. Was it just something she did in the moment — her emotions running high because of the day they'd had? Or had she been wanting to do it for a long time like he had been?

"You coming or what?!" Maggie calls from the car, and they both look over at her and Glenn.

"Yeah!" MJ nods. "Hey, Ponch, do me a favor — don't get killed while I'm gone. I need you." And with that, she walks over to the car and climbs into the backseat.

—

MJ, Maggie, and Glenn pull up outside a store, and he parks the car. They get out and take a look around. "Clear outside." Maggie tells them.

"Alright, let's take a look." He says as MJ pulls her bag from the car.

When she turns around, she sees the couple kiss. "Oh, how absolutely beautiful." She mumbles as she walks past them.

"Not one for PDA, I'll take it." Maggie says as she looks at them.

"You two can do whatever you want. Just don't let me get killed." MJ looks at her, and she chuckles as Glenn uses cutters to get through a chain that's keeping the door shut. He opens the door, and they all jump when birds fly out at them. "Chickens." She says jokingly, and Maggie lightly pushes her.

Glenn goes inside and Maggie shines the flashlight in there. "Glenn, get that duck."

"What?"

"Get that duck." She repeats, and he laughs.

"Are you serious?" Glenn asks his girlfriend.

"Yeah. A kid growing up in a prison could use some toys."

"Oh, agreed." MJ nods. "Ponch found her a doll. And I grabbed some coloring books and crayons while we were out."

"Speaking of Daryl—"

"Shut up." She starts for the store, and they both laugh. "Maggie, you keep watch. We'll look for supplies inside."

"You got it, boss." Maggie mock salutes, and she narrows her eyes at her.

The three of them are completely oblivious to the three people hiding behind a nearby car. Both men know that they know MJ, but they don't immediately recognize her. The last time they saw her, she had long blonde hair and she rarely had a smile or joke for anyone. Even her voice is different now — lighter.

"We just hit the powdered formula jackpot." Glenn tells his girlfriend as he and MJ walk out of the store a few minutes later.

"Oh, thank God." Maggie says as he sets the basket in his hand on the ground.

"We also got beans, batteries, cocktail wieners, many mustards." MJ says with a smile as she pushes her hair back.

"That's my sister." One of the men behind the car says, but his friend grabs him before he can step out.

"Look." She whispers, pointing past the three with the groceries. Someone's walking up on them, and they have no idea.

"We have to—"

"No, Sam." His brother keeps him back. "We can't help them like this."

"It's a straight shot back to the prison from here." Glenn says. "Probably make it in time for dinner."

"I like the quiet." Maggie says as they start loading the car. "Back there, back home, you can always hear them outside the fence no matter where you are."

"And where is it y'all good people are calling home?" A man asks from behind them, and they all spin around, pulling out their guns.

"Merle?" Glenn asks, and Maggie looks at him as MJ curses under her breath.

Merle, whose face is all bloody, laughs as he lowers his gun and sets it on the ground. His other arm is raised and he has something sharp where his hand used to be. "Wow!" He takes a step forward.

"Hey, back the hell up!" MJ orders.

"Look at you, Officer Friendly's girl. I almost didn't​ recognize you." He says, looking at MJ. "Can you tell me, is my brother alive?"

Glenn and Maggie look at MJ, neither of them saying anything.

"Huh?"

"Yeah." Is all she says.

He smiles at her. "Hey, you take me to him, and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings. Huh?" He glances over at Glenn, who's looking at the blade on his arm. "Oh, you like that?" He chuckles. "Yeah. Well, uh, I found myself a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Pretty cool, huh?"

"You're not coming back with us." MJ tells him. "We'll tell Daryl that you're here, and he'll come out to meet you."

"Ho— Hold on. Just hold up." Merle says, taking a step forward.

"Stay back!"

"Hold up here. Hold up." He stops. "The fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on, now. You can trust me."

"No." She shakes her head. "You trust us. I'll go get him, you stay here."

He glances between the three of them, chuckles, and then pulls out a gun. Maggie and Glenn both duck and his bullet goes through their back windshield. He moves forward fast and swings his bladed arm at MJ, causing her to lose her gun.

She pulls out her angel blade and runs at him, he fires off another shot, but he misses her. MJ gets the gun out of his hand, and he moves before she can cut him with the angel blade. Merle lunges forward and his knife goes past her head, but cuts into the top of her shoulder. She screams out in pain, and he grabs her, forcing her to spin.

She loses the angel blade as well, and he holds her with her back against his chest. They face the other two, and he has his hand around her throat. Her breathing's labored, and his knife is digging into her side.

"Let go of her!" Glenn yells, both of their eyes darting between their leader and Merle.

"Put your guns in the car right now." Merle says, motioning to the car behind them. "Put 'em in the car."

"Don't—" MJ starts, but he tightens his hold on her throat. They drop their guns into the back of their car.

"There we go. Now we're gonna go for a little drive."

"We're not going back to our camp." Glenn shakes his head.

"No, we're going somewhere else." Merle tells them. "Get in the car, Glenn! You're driving! Move!"

"Don't." He says when Merle starts to push harder on MJ's side with the knife.

The others watch them leave, and Sam looks at his brother. "We should've helped her!"

"How?" Adam questions. "Michonne can barely walk. And you—" He reaches forward and lifts his brother's shirt. There's a large cut running along his torso.

"I'm fine!" Sam snaps as he pushes him back.

"We would've gotten ourselves killed. Her too." He tells him. "We're gonna get her."

"How?" Michonne asks, looking between the brothers.

"Straight shot to that prison." Adam walks over and picks up the basket of baby formula and the angel blade that MJ dropped. "I bet their group wants them back just as much Sam wants to save our sister."

—

Addy's fidgeting with the silver initial around her neck, it's the letter D. Dean gave it to her when they were dating as teenagers. It's the first nice gift that he ever saved up to buy for her.

"Hey." The blonde walks over to Jo and Matt who are talking quietly to each other. "Have you guys seen Dean?"

"No." Jo looks up at her sister. "Not since he got into that fight with John after MJ left."

She sighs and then goes looking for her husband. Addy finds him outside by the cars, and he's got something drawn on the ground in front of him.

"What the hell are you doing?" She questions when she realizes what all he's got there with him.

Dean sighs as he lets his head hang. "I think you already know the answer to that one."

"You stupid, selfish son of a bitch." She scoffs as she turns around so that her back is to him.

"What am I supposed to do?" He questions as he stands up and turns to face her. "We don't even have a body to bury, Addy. I can't do it. I just can't!"

"Do what?" She doesn't look at him. "Live without her? Just like you couldn't live without Sam?"

"She's my daughter."

"She's mine too!" She whirls around to face him, her anger taking over. "We all lost her and we all miss her! But this? This isn't what she'd want, and you know it. You can't do this to her. It's not fair to Dana!"

He has tears in his eyes as he looks down at his wife. "He's not coming anyway."

"I can't believe you." She shakes her head as she turns to walk away. "Do you have any idea what this would've done to your sister? To all of us, but especially to MJ?"

"She's the toughest person that I know. She'd have been alright." He says, and she shakes her head.

"You really don't see it, do you?" She scoffs.

"See what?"

"The way she idolizes you, the way that she always has." She looks at him. "She's looked to you for everything her whole life. How to be a hunter, a sibling, a parent. She looks up to you, Dean. This would've crushed her. This would've killed her."

"I—"

"Don't." She shakes her head. "Just don't."

"Addy!" He calls after her, but she just goes back inside. She passes Hershel, Beth, Carl, and Rick, who's holding the baby. They're all standing outside in the courtyard.

"She looks like you." Rick tells his son, who smiles.

Dean sees Ellie standing a few feet away from them, so he walks over to his niece. He kneels down beside her. "What were you doing out here all by yourself, sweetheart?"

Instead of answering, she points out toward the walkers. "Is that Uncle Sam?"

"What?" He stands up straight as he looks in the direction that she pointed. He sees Sam, Adam, and Michonne. "Rick! I need the keys to the gates!" He calls behind him as he starts running for the main entrance.