What's Next

Chapter Thirty 🦋

Val's POV:

I decided to stop by Jessie's, I knew what it felt like. It wasn't okay. Not one little bit. I walked around seeing her sitting in her garage, smoking a cigarette, the second she noticed me she put it out. "I don't want Ron and Sam to know about those,"

"Don't worry your secret's safe with me. Believe me I could kill for one right now if it wasn't for this little one." I laughed, pointing at my bump. Jessie smiled, laughing a little at my comment. "Noah was a sweet kid. Bit Tara she's- she's in good hands with Pete." Jessie stated, trying to change the subject, only it brought me to one I knew she wouldn't want to talk about, but it was needed. "Jessie, I know he hits you. Hurts you. It needs to stop. Rick's worried. I'm worried."

"It has to stop."

"It will."

"Oh yeah how? When?"

"There are things in his life that happened."

"I don't care. There is no excuse for it. For a man to lay his hands on a woman like that."

"Look, it was like this before, and he got help. I helped him and things were good."

"That was then, and this is now. Jessie I've been there. Just the same. I believed I could help him again too, but I couldn't. I broke it off and I ended up getting raped because he couldn't handle me being with other people. But I was lucky enough to have people around me who cared and protected me."

"I can fix it."

"No you can't."

"But I can."

"No you can't, believe me. The cycle will just repeat itself. Over and over and over again until you can't get up again. It will get so bad that you'll get yourself killed. That's what happened to me. I know now that if hadn't been for Daryl, my ex would have killed me that night."

"I'm not gonna let that happened to you. Neither will Rick."

"And what is he going to do, put him in jail? That will only make things worse."

"It's only worse when he kills you, and no one is going to let that happen. I mean that."

"Why do you care? Why is this so important to you?"

"Because I refuse to let it happen to someone else, otherwise something bad will happen and who is going to be there when shit hits the fan once again and your sons see their mother lying dead on the floor, while their father get to carry on like he's done nothing wrong."

"No, that's not going to happen on my watch. Not as long as I'm alive." Was the last thing I said to her, before I walked away leaving Jessie to contemplate this conversation.

**

I could hear screaming coming from Jessie's house, and for the first time in some time, I got up as fast as I could, sprinting over where came from. By the time I got there, I saw Rick and Pete fighting. Tacking each other on the ground. Each throwing punches around. "RICK!" I screamed. I knew I couldn't try and break it up. It was too risky, being pregnant. I could handle Rick, Pete not so much. Pete was too unpredictable. I went by Jessie's side instantly, slightly worried something had happened to her. "Are you okay?" I whispered, so that only she could hear me. Amongst the whimpers, she nodded her head in response, as we continued to watch the catastrophe happening in front of everybody.

Pete got on top of Rick, choking him. Jessie sprinted to pull Pete off, only getting whacked in the face throughout the process, flinging her onto the ground. I went to her side once again to help her up. Checking over her face. I noticed Carl try to get Rick off of Pete, now that was on top. Bringing them both on their sides, as Rick kept Pete in a chokehold. "Rick! Stop it!" I yelled.

"Stop it! Stop it right now." Deanna demanded, snapping Rick out of it instantly. "You touch them again and I'll kill you." I hear Rick threaten.

"Damn it, Rick! I said stop."

"Or what? You gonna kick me out?" Rick questioned, pulling a gun out. "Rick, stop it. Put the gun down please." I pleaded, frustrated with Rick's erratic behaviour. "You still don't get it." Rick carried on, ignoring me. "None of you do!"

"We know what needs to be done and we do it."

"we're the ones that live."

"You, you just sit and plan and hesitate. You pretend like you know, but you don't." Rick rambled, waving the gun around. "You wish things weren't what they are."

"Well, you want to live? You want this place to stay standing? Your way of doing things is done."

"Things don't get better because you – you want them to."

"Starting right now, we have to live in the real world."

"We have to control who lives here."

"That's never been more clear to me than it is right now." Deanna stated. I knew she was meaning Rick. It was clear just by her tone and the way she was looking at him. At the situation before us all. "Me? Me? You- you mean- you mean me?"

"Your way is going to destroy this place. Its gonna get people killed."

"It's already got people killed."

"And I'm not going to just stand by and just let it happen."

"If you don't fight, you die."

"I'm not just gonna stand by and-" Rick only stopped, thanks to Michonne knocking him out. Finally.

**