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LVIII

~ Six Months Later ~

"How's he doing?" I asked Hershel, looking into the room where we were holding Rick. He had lost it, two months ago now and almost killed Elizabeth because he had a nightmare that she was a walker. Hershel, Denise and a psychologist that we had picked up in D.C., Dr. Henry Berkeley had been working with him to try to calm him down. But Henry thought he was showing signs of schizophrenia and there wasn't much we could use to treat him with. So, as long as he was a danger to others he had to remain in solitary confinement with supervised visits.

"He's doing better today. Carl came and saw him before he went to go work on the crops this morning. And Lori said she would be by with Elizabeth later." Hershel said, looking through the one-way glass with me, a look of utter despair on his face. 

"Daryl is going out with Henry to the pharmacy to look for some medications that the good Dr. said could help, get him back out into society again." I mentioned, moving away from the window, and Hershel followed me down the long corridor of the hospital towards our offices. 

"That's good, maybe he'll get better." Hershel said, and I noticed that his grip on his bible tightened significantly when he said that. He had been going in to read scripture to Rick for the past two weeks, hoping to calm him, but it hadn't seemed to help much so far and I could tell Hershel was losing hope. 

"My brother is strong. This disease... Henry said it will never go away. But... hopefully he will still be able to spend time with his kids. Longer than he is allowed to now anyway." I said softly as we reached the door to my office. I opened it, and gestured for Hershel to enter first. He did, taking a seat across from my desk as I moved to the window, to look out across what we had already been able to build in the four short months we had been here. 

"You've done well." Hershel said proudly, and I let a small smile fall onto my face. It was hectic outside, our people were bustling around, trying to get the seeds planted before it was too late, while Maggie, Eugene, and Abraham along with several of the larger men that had worked with them on the building of the walker trail in Alexandria, worked to put a wall like what surrounded Alexandria.

They were building it differently this time, with the supports on the inside so that no one could climb in from the outside, and they were using chainsaws to remove any trees from the area. Last month that had found a large stock of sheet metal at a nearby construction site, and had been working non-stop ever since. 

Carl was leading the farming, using skills that he had apparently learned from Hershel and Rick in Georgia after I had left, and we had almost three acres planted with all kinds of seeds that had somehow managed to survive in a barn several miles away. 

"It's not just me. It's all of us. We've built this together." I said, turning away from the window to sit at the desk. It was a supervisor's office from before, and it had managed to stay impeccably clean, so when we arrived it was given to Rick and I to share. Unfortunately of course, when he became sick, the burden of leading fell on my shoulders. 

"Yes... well... you've had to deal with a lot these past few months, and you've handled yourself extremely well dear." I smiled across at him, and turned my glance to the clock that was hanging on the wall behind his head. 

"Well, we better get going, don't want them to start without us." I said, standing up and leading the way out with Hershel close behind me. We didn't have to go far, just to the conference room on the floor below us. 

When we got there, pretty much everyone was already seated at the U-shaped table, waiting for us to arrive. I took my place, in the center, with Hershel to my right, and I looked around. 

My family was all here, Merle to my left, with one seat between us, meant for Daryl who wouldn't be here because of the run he was on with Henry. Abraham was beside Merle, with Tara, Denise, Rosita, and Eugene following and continuing up the side of the U. Maggie was sitting next to Hershel, with Glenn beside her, then Lori, Carl, Michonne, and the empty seat sitting at the end for Rick if he ever came back. 

"Hello guys. So everyone is here that will be here today, Daryl is on a run with Dr. Berkeley, looking for medications to help Rick, who of course won't be here today. Who wants to start?" I asked, looking around, and Eugene was the first to stand and move to the top of the U, where he could present whatever he wanted with our full attention. 

"I was looking around, and I found some old solar panels on the roof with a converter. I looked at them, and I think that we could get them to work enough to have electricity for abut six hours a day, enough to make meals using the ovens in the kitchens, do the laundry, things like that. I just saw some problems with the wires..." I tuned out his droning voice, knowing that Hershel was taking notes as always, as I looked around at my family. 

We had endured so much, fought so hard to get here. And it wasn't perfect. But it was enough. And maybe... maybe one day it could be almost perfect.