Tomorrow Will Come

Five

When Mary got back to Alexandria, she sat in on her very first council meeting with pride. She voted on things, and gave her opinion, and Michonne had never been prouder seeing her daughter making decisions for their community, for their family. After the meeting, Mary excused herself from the weekly family dinner with Michonne, Judith, RJ, Aaron, and Gracie, and went to Daisy's house, hugging Jack tightly as soon as she came through the door.
"Hey, Mary," Cameron laughed, seeing Jack hanging off the teenager, "you need something or just wanna hang out with Dais'?"
"Could I please borrow the computer?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course. You updating the database again?" Cameron asked, and Mary nodded with a smile. She went to the office, where Cameron's family had one of the only computers in Alexandria, and Mary logged onto her account, and went onto her database. Firstly she made a family tree for the Jackson family, sighing shakily when she wrote the names Sophie and Samuel Jackson, deceased, aged ten and seven, the approximate years of death beside them. Then she went to the main database, and put in the names of the new group, of Jennie and Toby's old neighbours, old group members, old school friends. Just names, over a hundred of them. Only sixty had been confirmed dead, the rest unknown, and Mary grinned when she saw five correlations.

Scott Cameron, a resident of Alexandria, was a member of Toby's group's cousin. He could now be confirmed alive, and a relative of the new group member.

Samantha Wheeler. An old friend of Jennifer. Confirmed dead, according to the data base. She was an old member of a group that joined Hilltop. Jennie could get some closure on her old best friend.

Chloe James. An old member of Toby's group, and also the aunt to a child in RJ's class. The family could have closure knowing she was now officially dead.

Richard Walker was the old neighbour of someone at Oceanside. They'd now know that he died a month into the apocalypse, getting insulin for little Samuel Jackson.

And then the last one was truly the best. Little Holly Price, the orphan whom Toby's group had protected, had a second cousin at The Kingdom. She had a surviving family member. She wasn't another alone little girl.

When Mary woke up the next morning, she was still covered in the grime from her weekend in the woods, and RJ was clinging to her; he'd crawled into her bed in the middle of the night.
"Hey, buddy." Mary said softly, kissing the top of his head, and the boys eyes fluttered open.
"Is it up time?" He asked groggily, and Mary nodded.
"Yeah. Shall we go make some breakfast?"
"Yeah." RJ mumbled, clinging to Mary as she got out of bed. Mary carried him downstairs, holding the young boy to her chest, and sat him on the kitchen counter as she made breakfast.
"Alright, I'm gonna fry them up now. Wanna go wake Judith and mommy?" Mary asked, and RJ nodded with a sweet smile, jumping off the counter and running upstairs, waking his sister and mother. Mary ate quickly and in silence, then put some pancakes onto a plate.
"Gonna take these to Negan." Mary said quietly, putting foil over them. She ran upstairs and dressed quickly, brushed her hair and teeth, and pulled on her boots and hat, then went back downstairs, got the food at cutlery, and went down to Negan's cell below the house.
"Breakfast." Mary said simply, barging in and pushing the food under the cell.
"Don't normally see you here." Negan commented, an eyebrow raised, and Mary shrugged.
"No reason to. I don't like you."
"But you have a reason now. Why? What do you want, Miss Mary Grimes?"
Mary breathed in slowly, and then sighed. "When you held me, all those years ago, when I was at the Sanctuary, there was a man. He claimed to be my brother..."
"John. John Carter," Negan interrupted, "yeah, I remember. He was a good worker."
"What else do you know about him? What do you remember?"
"He was from South Carolina. When he was talkin' to you he said his father was abusive. Had another brother. Adam. I don't know much else. But you know, he had a cousin, Mary. She lives here. You know Saffy Carter?"
"Yeah," Mary whispered, "she's from the Sanctuary. She runs the daycare."
"If he was your brother, she'll be able to confirm it. Talk to her. She'll know. She'll remember, she was the same age as John."
"Thank you."
"Mary... If your dad kept this from you, even if it is true, which it probably isn't, he'd have had a reason. A good reason."
"Shut the hell up," Mary snapped, leaving, "you don't get to say what he'd do. And you don't get to give me advice. Not after you killed my best friend."

"Hey," Mary asked quietly, even though she knew the answer, walking into daycare after her afternoon shift at the infirmary, with the objective of picking up Jack for Daisy, "are you Saffy? Saffy Carter? You came from the Sanctuary?"
"Yeah. You're Mary, Michonne's daughter, right? You picking up Jack for Cameron?"
"Yeah. I just... I need to talk to you real quick, about something."
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Sit." Saffy said gently, concern in her eyes, sitting down on a sofa. Mary sat beside her, and took her hand softly.
"Someone told me that... That your cousin was killed by Negan in the Sanctuary. John. John Carter."
"Yeah," Saffy whispered, thinking of her last living relative, as far as she knew of, "he was. Did you know him?"
"I... I don't know. Maybe. John met me once, when I was five. He was so sure I was his little sister. We had the same name, same age, and he was sure we looked really similar. He was sure of it. He died because of it, that was how sure he was. I never thought anything much of it, but I found out that the woman I thought was my mother, she wasn't. And the only person who knows who my biological mother was is my dad, and he's gone. I'm asking you, asking if... If I could have been his half sister."
Saffy took a deep, shaking breath in, processing the information. "John's father was evil. He was my dad's brother, and we had almost nothing to do with him. He was abusive and a drunk, and a horrible, horrible man. His mother... Lisa. She was scared. She didn't strike me to be the type of person to have an affair. Maybe she did. I couldn't say. But... I don't know. I barely knew Mary and Adam. I met them both maybe twice. Adam... He died a month before the Turn. An "accident". The inquest never happened because of the Turn, but I... Me and my parents always thought it wasn't an accident. He was hitting them all. I think Adam got in the crossfire. You've gotta understand, we had nothing to do with them. It was chance I found John later on. What do... Do you remember from before the turn?"
"I don't remember anything. I remember I had swimming lessons. That's it. That's my only clear memory. I remember being loved by a brother. By Carl. But maybe by John too."
"I think... It's a real good coincidence. I don't know, honey. I feel... Like your dad would have said something. If it was true, though, it could make sense. Your daddy got you safe, maybe when he was seeing you. You said he was a sheriff. Maybe he knew about you, and got you out safe. He didn't know you wasn't safe. It's a lot of maybes. I couldn't say anything for sure. At all, because it's so incredibly far fetched."
"Just... Do you recognise this kid?" Mary asked quietly, reaching into the pocket of Glenn's jacket, and pulling out the Polaroid of her and Glenn, back at the prison. Saffy looked at it, and a tear trailed down her cheek, then she excused herself, going into the back of the daycare, and she came back a moment later.
"You tell me. This the same kid?" Saffy breathed, passing Mary a faded photo, the edges frayed and curling. It was a little girl, about two, sat beside a girl who had to be Saffy, a younger boy, and teenaged boy. Mary knew it was her immediately; that toddler was almost identical to the girl in the Polaroid on Glenn's lap.
"That's me. John was my half brother," Mary nodded, holding tears back, "it has to be. Because that's me. I'm the girl on both those photos."

Mary had so many theories in her head that night, but her mind fell on the two most reasonable. The first was that her biological mother and Rick had an affair, and had Mary, and when the Turn happened, Rick got Mary to safety. The second was a little harder to think, but more reasonable. More realistic. Rick wasn't her father. He was her dad, but he wasn't her biological father; he'd saved and adopted her when the rest of her family died at the beginning of the turn. She found a book that Carol had given her years ago- a book on how to deal with childhood trauma, and read a passage that told her that children with PTSD often don't remember the traumatic events. She didn't remember John's father abusing them, and it was either because it didn't happen, or because she'd blocked it out. The more and more Mary thought about the second option, the more it made sense.
But she wasn't upset.
Judith wasn't Rick's biological daughter either; she was the result of Lori and Shane's affair. And Rick adored the girl. And Mary knew that Rick loved her just as much as Carl and Judith. She knew that even though, biologically, Carl, herself, and Judith weren't Michonne's children, Michonne loved them just as much as she loved RJ.
And from that night on, Mary figured out that there was a good chance Rick wasn't her biological father. And even if he wasn't, she didn't care, and nothing changed, because neither was Judith. Because no matter what, Mary knew Rick adored her. Loved her so deeply and fiercely that he had killed for her, and died making sure her home was safe. She knew biology didn't matter, she knew that the second she decided Michonne was her mother. Mary didn't care if Rick was her biological or adoptive father, because she knew that no matter what, he was her dad, and always would be. If anything, it made her admire the man even more.