𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍, rick grimes (ON HOLD)

EIGHTY-TWO

IT WAS THE NEXT MORNING, RICK AND A FEW OTHERS HAD GONE OUT to storm one of Negan's compounds. Josie had decided to stay home with her kids.

Last night, the brunette spent some time with Rosita after Abraham had broken up with her for no reason. The two had gotten closer than they were before, drinking wine and talking about random things.

Josie woke up that morning, her kids shaking her awake. The brunette groaned and swatted them away, slowly opening her eyes. She was immediately hit with a headache and she groaned once again, covering her eyes with her blanket.

"Mom, come on!" Parker smiled. "Get up!"

"Why?" Josie asked.

"We're hungry," Carl replied.

Josie sighed and uncovered her face. "Then go make your own food."

Parker and Carl shared a look and smiled, both knowing that she was hungover. The two grabbed her hands, pulling her up into a sitting position.

"I'll make you some coffee so you can wake up," Parker told her.

"Thanks, sweetie," Josie replied as she got out of bed. "When did Rick leave?"

"Early this morning," Parker replied. "So how do you feel about all of this?"

"About what?" Josie raised a brow, braiding her hair.

"About storming all these compounds?" Parker asked. "What if it comes back to bite us in the ass?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Josie replied. "But if it does come back to bite us in the ass, we'll get through it."

"Really?" Parker asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Josie nodded. "We'll be fine."

Parker sighed and nodded, leaving the room with her mom. As the day went on, Parker had invited Molly over. The two girls were upstairs with Carl and Enid as Josie made lunch for everyone.

Josie finished making mashed strawberries and sat down in front of Judith, taking a spoon and holding it out in front of her lips. Judith pushed the spoon away, shaking her head as she began to babble.

"Oh, but you love these," Josie groaned. "Why are you like this?"

Josie tried to offer the food to her again, but Judith pushed the spoon away once more. The brunette sighed and got to her feet, placing the bowl on the counter.

Judith continued to babble as Josie began to mash up some bananas, hoping she would eat those. As she listened to Judith babble, there was a word that left her mouth.

"Mama."

Josie froze and slowly turned around, facing Judith. The brunette stared at her for a moment, wanting to be happy that Judith called her mom, but for some reason she felt guilty.

Tears filled her eyes as Josie's thoughts went straight to Lori, who deserved to be called mom by her daughter. Although Rick told her Lori's death wasn't her fault, she still felt like it did and she had to carry that with her. She was the one who took a mother from her daughter.

Josie took a deep breath, wiping the tears from her cheeks as she approached Judith. The brunette picked her up, holding her in her arms as she kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly.

Rick and the others didn't return to Alexandria until the next morning, explaining that Maggie and Carol had gotten kidnapped by some of the Saviors. Josie spent a couple of hours with the both of them, making sure they were okay.

After about a week, Heath and Tara had gone out on a run. Everything felt normal for once, too normal to say the least, which made Josie develop a bad feeling.

The brunette had spent most of the day inside, so she decided to get some fresh air. Josie left her house, stepping out on the porch and seeing Glenn up on the lookout post.

She walked down the steps of her porch, heading over to the lookout post to join her best friend. The brunette climbed up the ladder and Glenn heard her, turning and grabbing her hand to help her up.

"What're you doing up here?" Josie asked as she leaned against the railing, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Just needed some fresh air," Glenn replied.

"Hm," Josie hummed. "Two great minds think alike."

Glenn chuckled quietly and Josie noticed something was off with him. She sighed, crossing her arms as she turned to look at him.

"What's going on?" Josie asked.

Glenn sighed. "You know, I killed my first ever person."

"At Negan's compound?" Josie asked.

Glenn nodded. "Yeah."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Josie said, placing her hand on his back. "You want to talk about it?"

"No," Glenn shook his head.

"Okay," Josie said slowly as she tried to change the subject. "Well, you excited to be a dad?"

"Yeah," Glenn nodded with a smile. "Maggie's been talking about baby names."

Josie smiled. "Well, you only have seven months left."

"Yeah, that's gonna feel like a lifetime," Glenn replied before he glanced at her. "Be honest, how're you actually feeling about the Saviors?"

"I don't know, just..." Josie trailed off, trying to shake her bad feeling.

"What?" Glenn asked, placing his hand in top of hers.

"A few days ago, I told Parker that everything was gonna be fine," Josie replied. "But now, I just... I have this weird feeling that it won't work out for us this time."

Glenn nodded. "Yeah, but if anything does happen, we'll get through it."

Josie nodded and sighed, but she couldn't shake her bad feeling. The brunette laid her head on Glenn's shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her, rubbing his hand up and down her back.

As they continued talking, Daryl and Rosita returned from their run with Denise. Josie instantly knew something wasn't right because of the expression on Daryl's face, so both Glenn and Josie climbed down the lookout post as Maggie joined them.

The three saw Denise's body being lifted out of a van and Maggie gasped, covering her mouth. "Oh, my God."

Josie's eyes widened as she approached Daryl. "What happened?"

"The Saviors," Daryl grumbled, walking past her.

"Holy shit," Glenn muttered as they all watched Denise's body being pushed toward the graveyard.

eden speaks!

um so... what if i were to tell you that josie and glenn basically had their last conversation in this chapter? 😔😔