Didn't See That Coming | The Walking Dead(1)

Part 70 (Rick Grimes)

"I saw the grenade... tried to stop him," CJ began. Her voice quiet and slightly broken. "There was no way of getting Aiden out of there. He was gonna run... Then when we got to the lobby... All he had to do was hold the door and wait," she whispered, trying to fight back her tears. "Noah... I had a hold of him. Then Glenn and me, we had his hands... And we tried, we really did. We watched him die."

Rick sat across from her on the porch, listening carefully as she went over every detail. He'd already spoken to Glenn whilst Deanna questioned Nicholas. Glenn and CJ's answers were, of course, the same. Rick didn't even want to hear Nicholas' version of events; he already knew who to believe.

"I had the gun pointed at him," CJ continued. "Glenn knocked him out and he was there on the ground... I coulda' done it, made up a story." She glanced up at Rick, who was just looking at her blankly. "What, you think I should've?"

"They don't know what they're doing," he replied quietly. "Any of them. Yesterday, with Carol and Daryl in the woods, you said they weren't really dangerous. But they are. They have no clue."

"And what do I do with that, Rick?" she asked. "We have to make it work. To make being here work."

"We do. And I did listen to what you said about these people," Rick nodded. "But their rules? We don't answer to them."

"As long as we are here, we are them," CJ said. "Doesn't matter what I think. Noah... he believed in this place. We have to make this work..." she repeated. "Any way we can."

Later that night, CJ was still up. She tried to sleep. God knows, she was exhausted after the events of the day. But sleep alluded her this night. Having spent the last two nights sleeping beside Daryl, she found it impossible to drift off without him being there. She was lonely. It may have seemed clingy given their time being together had only been short, but she missed him. When they were driving back from the warehouse, all she wanted was to get back to him. She had to keep reminding herself that he was away, and that she would have to get through the next couple of days without him.

It was gone midnight when she left her bedroom and went to sit out on the porch. There was a chill in the air, but she wore an oversized jumper and brought a blanket out with her to drape over her lap. She just sat there, staring off into the darkness when she heard the door open, and Carol came to sit beside her.

"Can't sleep?" Carol asked.

"Nope," CJ replied.

"I'm sorry," Carol spoke softly. "About what happened on the run. About Noah."

"Hmm," CJ nodded slowly. "This where you tell me I was wrong about this place? Because I already heard that from Rick."

"No," Carol shook her head. "I get why you wanna try. But this place, these people..." Her voice trailed off with a sigh, as if she were holding back from continuing.

"Carol, what is it?" CJ asked. She could tell that it was serious when Carol didn't answer right away. "Carol..."

"Pete is hitting Jessie," Carol finally told her.

"What?"

"Sam. He asked me for a gun because he wanted to protect his mom," Carol explained. "Then I went to talk to Pete, and he practically admitted it."

"Oh my God..." CJ whispered, realisation dawning on her face. "I knew."

"What do you mean you knew?" Carol asked.

"The first day here, when I spent most of the day with Jessie. I met Pete. As soon as I saw him, I... I recognised it," CJ said, her voice shaking. "I doubted myself, I thought I was being paranoid."