the great war (r.g)

twelve

"mom, it wasn't your fault," izzy said. cora was taken aback by her comment. the mother-daughter duo were taking a walk down the backside of alexandria.

ever since they joined the community, cora felt as if they weren't as close as they were on the outside. now they went on at least four walks a week together, per izzy's request. "what?"

"i can tell you're thinking about aiden and noah. it's not your fault they died. aiden was a narcissitic douchebag-"

"hey," cora cut her off, warning her she crossed a line.

"it's true," izzy insisted. "he thought he was cool and that got him killed. and noah..." izzy trailed off and looked to the ground. cora knew what she was implying. there was no way that cora could have saved noah. all she did was tell them to go another way, away from the swarm of walkers she was surrounded by. if not by the turn-style door, then it would've happened by cora.

"well. how's enid doing? i haven't seen her in a while," cora changed the subject.

"uhm, shes good. we have been..." izzy trailed off again.

"taking 'secret' trips out into the woods," cora finished for her. izzy's eyes got as wide as saucers. "don't act surprised. i'm your mom, i'm supposed to keep tabs on you." cora and izzy both quickly turned around when they heard some twigs snapping behind them.

"carl, you're a creep," izzy said once they saw him and judith.

"i'm just walking. you're the one keeping secrets from your mom," carl countered.

"you keep secrets from rick all the time. don't act cool," izzy told him. cora smiled at the two bickering like they were siblings.

"why don't you join us instead of creepily walking back there," cora told him. carl sped up with the stroller and walked next to cora.

"mom. this is our walk," izzy whined.

"stop it," cora laughed. "so, what have you been up to carl."

"just walking. judith wouldn't stop-" carl got cut off by judith whining. "crying. i should speed up."

"i can help," cora offered.

"please do." cora unbuckled judith from the stroller and picked her up.

"izzy!" enid joined their walk and her, izzy and carl started their own conversation.

"you three go have fun." cora told them. she took the stroller from carl and started walking until judith stopped fussing.

a few minutes later, cora saw deanna storming out of the graveyard. "deanna? what's wrong?" deanna gave her nothing more than glance and continued on past her. cora took judith out of the stroller to see what was going on. she saw rick with his head in his hand, rubbing his forehead. "rick?"

rick whipped his head up, surprised to see her standing there. "cora? what are you doing with judith? where's carl?"

"oh, i don't know. i found her on the side of the road," cora joked. obviously it wasn't the time and tick wasn't in the mood. "sorry, judith was fussing so i took her off his hands. what's going on? why did deanna storm out of here?"

"pete is abusing jessie and the kids," rick told her.

"oh. cora was not expecting that. "is that what deanna was upset about?"

"no. she's upset that i want to kill him." that did not surprise cora. "she thinks we should just kick him out."

"don't you think thats the more...civil answer?" cora offered. obviously, that didn't make rick happy either. "what should we do? i'm helping you so dont protest." cora knew rick well enough to know he would want to fix everything himself.

***

"it's sweet that you care, but i can take care of myself," jessie insisted when rick brought up his concerns. she turned around and shut the garage door before he could protest.

"now what?" cora asked. rick looked around then made his way to the front door. he tried opening it and to his delight, it was unlocked.

"jessie, if you don't fight you will die. he will kill you," rick told her. cora stayed by the door while rick ventured closer to jessie. "i don't want you to die. i can help." cora felt awkward just standing there.

"rick, thank you," jessie said tearily. she wrapped rick into a tight hug. "would you do this for anyone?"

"no," rick admitted. that made cora feel a way she didn't want to feel. quietly, she slipped out the front door and sat on the steps. the last thing she wanted was for her to feel the way she was feeling right now. didn't want what tick said to jessie, the way he acted, the way he hugged her to affect her like this. there was no reason for that.

out of no where, cora heard a crash. she stood and turned around just in time to see rick and pete crashing onto the sidewalk. pete had rick pinned to the ground, landing a punch onto his cheek. "pete!" jessie yelled from behind cora. the two gurls rushed down to the street where rick was now on top of pete landing two punches.

"rick come on," cora yelled. she tried to grt close enough to pull the two men apart but jessie put a hand on her shoulder. when cora looked at her, jessie just shook her head and cora knew there was no way she could pry them apart.

quickly many members of the community crowded around the brawling men. jessie seemed to have enough, ignoring her warnings to cora, and approached pete. "jessie no-" cora tried to protest but jessie got punched by pete.

cora rushed to her, checking her out. "hey, look at me." jessie looked at cora, tears forming in her eyes. a bruise was already forming. pete hit her so hard cora thought she might have a slight concussion. cora looked back over at the fight where rick had pete in a chokehold with a deathly look in his eyes.

"quit it! both of you!" deanna approached.

"or what? you want to kick me out of your precious community?" rick yelled back. he pulled his gun out just as glenn, tobin, and nicholas started to intervene. "you are all so ignorant thinking that this community is safe, no one is. people are going to get killed. it's the world now."

"yeah, thats very clear to me right now," deanna said, lowly. rick rubbed his forehead with his gun. cora inched closer, wanting to take the gun so he doesn't hurt anyone, or himself.

"you're referring to me, aren't you," rick asked. he manically laughed at deanna's stone cold face. "if anyone is going to get people killed, it's you."

"rick," cora spoke up, interrupting whatever he was about to say next. "you need to calm down. hand over the gun." cora stuck her hand out, waiting for him to put the gun in her hands. she felt silly, like she was arguing with a little kid. "you're being manic and need to chill the fuck out." something flashed across his face, something calmer than what he was previously showing. he started giving the gun over but michonne took matters into her own hands, knocking him out. "come on. what was that."

"i fixed the situation," michonne told her.

"he was giving in. there wasn't really a need to knock him out." michonne didnt say anything, just walked away. cora grabbed rick's gun off the ground, looking down at him.