Broken Road »» Rick Grimes (TWD)

Chapter 141

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"Hey, are you okay?" Baker asked as he opened his front door.

"Hi. I don't know." I answered while he stepped away to let me inside.

"How's Rick?" He inquired.

"He's gonna be okay." I replied while sighing.

"You've been crying. What happened?" He questioned while placing his hands on my arms.

"I need to tell you the truth." I muttered while bringing my eyes to look at him.

"Okay." He replied while nodding his head.

"I still love him," I confessed while watching his eyes scan mine. "And I can't be with you when I still feel the way I feel about him. It's not fair to you. So until I'm over him, I can't be with you." I explained while watching him process.

"I know you do, and I understand. It's okay, Jessica. I'm happy to wait for you, if that's what you're asking." He replied while placing a hand on my cheek.

"Don't. Don't wait." I ordered while shaking my head.

"Don't wait?" He questioned.

"I'm never going to stop loving him." I admitted while a tear fell from my eye.

"And that's okay, too." He replied while wiping away my tear.

"Thank you for everything. Thank you for being sweet and caring and understanding. You shouldn't have trouble finding the right person." I told him while backing away from him.

"If one day you do move on... care to let a guy know?" He asked as I opened his door.

"You'll be the first to know." I joked while wiping another tear from my cheek.

I smiled as he laughed while I left his home, feeling appreciative that he was so understanding and sweet about my uncertainties.

"Jess!" Glenn yelled while running down the street.

"What?" I asked, feeling my heart drop once again from his urgency.

"Rick needs you. Nothing is calming him down and his blood pressure is through the roof. He woke up and started panicking and—"

I ran by him, feeling thankful that I came to talk to Baker being that he was only one block from the hospital.

"Dr. Caxton told me to find you. I've been everywhere!" Glenn told me from behind me.

I raced into the hospital, nearly running into an elderly woman as I ran down the hall to the ICU department. I quickly entered Rick's room, feeling nothing but tension, anxiousness, and heaviness in the room.

"There you are." Dr. Caxton sighed as his eyes found me.

I looked to Mariah who was struggling to calm Rick, Maggie in the corner, two nurses on one side of his bed, and Daryl by the other wall.

"Everyone out." I ordered while stepping further into the room while catching my breath.

"I'm not leaving him." Mariah scoffed.

"Everyone out." Dr. Caxton defended me by pointing to the door.

Maggie, Daryl, Glenn, and the nurses all scrambled out leaving me, Mariah, and Dr. Caxton. I looked to Rick, finding his anxious eyes on me.

"Out." Dr. Caxton ordered Mariah.

"What's she going to do?" Mariah scoffed.

"I won't know if you don't get out of this room." Dr. Caxton snapped while pointing to the door.