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chapter ten.

CHAPTER TENEVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW
( domestic violence mentions )
















"I think you're supposed to come back with us," Rick began, peering out the window momentarily, as if checking to see if Carl and Michonne returned yet. So far, no dice, but they probably faired better than he and Kate did right now, after their fight with Morgan.

"After all that?" The other man scoffed. "After me trying to blow your head in, stab your heart out, happily ever after together? I already did a number on her."

Kate subconsciously raised her hand, the throbbing in your side probably worse than she'd thought. She'd need to check it and have Hershel disinfect when they got back, but that route was just a road to another long conversation about how they want to bring home another person who'd shot at them, and she knew better than to open that can of worms at the prison right now.

"You couldn't kill me, I couldn't kill you." Rick explained. "You didn't kill Kate either. And she didn't kill you. I'll take that as a sign. Look, we found a prison. The fences can keep 'em out."

Morgan slowly tilted his head up at Rick. "Is that where your wife died?"

Flabbergasted, Rick looked away, almost in the sake manner he did during his slip up, like she was there, but wasn't. Except, this time it wasn't physically. Lori was there, just in his mind.

"Just go," Morgan insisted calmly. "Don't go back, don't stop. Just get yourself some more time."

"I can help you. You can come back with us. You can heal-"

"You're taking a lot of my guns, Rick. I'm just saying, that all is a lot of guns. Why do you need the guns, Rick? Cause if you got something good, that just means there's someone who wants to take it, and that is what's happening, right?"

"We're gonna win." He said firmly, as though he had the confidence of an ignorant man, and Rick was not stupid by any means. "You can be there. You can help."

"You will be torn apart by teeth or bullets. You and your boy. Your people, but not me. Because I am not gonna watch that happen again." Morgan paused, dropping him arm limply. "Man...you take the guns."

He stood up to end the conversation, beginning to stalk back to his cot, and in turn Kate stood up as well, watching him. "You know there's a chance. That we could win, I mean. You just don't want to come with because you believe you deserve the pain. You're lashing out because you think its your fault that your son-"

"I don't think you heard a damn word I said!" He snapped at her.

"We both started out at the same place. Things went bad for you, things went bad for me. But you're not seeing things right. I don't blame you-" Rick stepped forth, "-what youve lost, what youve been through. You're not seeing things right, but you can come back from this. I know you can. You have to. This can't be it. It can't be. You've got to be able to come back from this."

Morgan turned away from the window, staring back to the two people before him. "No."

"Morgan, please-"

"No! I have to clear. That's why I didn't die today. That's the sign. I have to, man. I have to. I have to clear."

Kate looked at the broken man silently, and all she saw was someone who they couldn't fix. Rick and her, they'd offered him an out, pleaded with him, consoled him. It didn't matter how much they could push, if Morgan didn't want to hear it, they couldn't force him to. He'd have to figure it out on his own, for himself.

She placed a gentle hand on Rick's shoulder, making him glance back at her long enough to see her silently shake her head. Enough was enough, and with slight hesitancy, he nodded back at her, picking up the bag of supplies Michonne previously out together before she'd left.

Morgan still stared out he window as they left the room.

The pair met up with Michonne and Carl just outside, who were both carrying the box for the crib, just as they'd claimed. Morgan slowly crept outside after, tending to some of his booby traps while lretending the group mostly didn't exist anymore. Though, he did nod at Carl, telling him not to ever apologise for shooting someone if he thought his life was in danger.

The trunk of the car was now packed tight, a crib and several pillowcases of weapons and supplies signaling that it'd been a good day. But it hadn't, not really. This time, Michonne drove, and Kate sat in the front passenger seat. Rick sat in the back with his son, an arm resting lazily on his shoulder.

They only spoke once the drive home, when Kate asked Michonne to slow down; a familiar orange backpack, abandoned on the road. The second she grabbed it, they were off again.


























A meeting had been set up, likely coordinated by Andrea back at Woodbury. Rick was to go meet with the Governor personally, face to face about halfway in-between their communities. Alone, as requested, but neither of them would actually arrive or negotiate in private. Kate, Daryl, and Hershel came with Rick, two them inside the car while one waited just outside, listening in with a gun at the ready.

Initially, he'd been a bit hesitant to bring Kate along, claiming she wasn't in the proper shape to fight if it came down to it, but he went quiet as she gestured to his still healing shoulder. She needed to be there, no ifs, ands, or buts; she knew Woodbury better than everyone else at the prison, she for Merle, but it's not like they trusted him enough to go on a mission with him.

Hershel had driven them, hiding his missing leg by rolling down the fabric, and just using his left foot to drive. Kate hadn't ever seen the man weild a weapon before then, let alone a gun. Kate was in the passengers seat, quietly looking out at the grey skies, listening, waiting for someone o appear.

Daryl wasn't who she expected, the man slowly coming out from between the old warehouse setup. "He's already in there sat down with Rick."

"We haven't seen any cars," Hershel stated.

"It don't feel right."

Kate nodded. "They might've parked farther away and walked up here. Did that so we wouldn't know where they were."

Daryl nodded. "Keep the car running."

It seemed like as soon as she suggested that, another car appeared, just itching to prove her wrong now that she'd called them out so bluntly. It was bigger, a tan SUV, able to fit more people and weapons in the back; and out popped Martinez, Milton, Andrea, and Jared. Kate felt her heart stop as she saw him on the far end of the car, and not in a good way. There were no butterflies, or excitement. Just pure anxiety, making any hair on her arms and neck stick straight up.

"What the hell? Why's your man already inside?" Daryl snapped,pointing his crossbow towards Andrea.

"What? He's here?" She asked, eyebrows furrowed. "It was supposed to be me and Rick talking."

"Yup, already inside." As Kate said this, Andrea glanced towards her, only to see utter fire burning in her eyes at the fact that she'd brought Jared with her, despite the fact that she'd known the most general explanation of what he'd done. So far, the likelihood of reaching a fair treaty was massively low, just by the man's presence.

Andrea looked away, making her way inside and leaving Kate alone with three guys already on the verge of shooting each other, a mad scientist, and an elderly gentleman on crutches. Not exactly a prime lineup. Daryl, much to her luck, stood closer to Jared than her, even if that left Kate closer to Martinez and Milton on other end of the car.

Hershel turned to her, gesturing towards the warehouse with a nudge of him head. Rick was alone in there with a psychopath, and a woman that foolishly believed she could change him. "Maybe I should go inside."

"The Governor though it best if he and Rick spoke privately." Milton stated, a notebook against the front of the car like he was taking notes on them.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl asked.

"Milton Mamet."

"Great," He huffed. "He brought his butler."

Martinez snorted, turning and looking at Jared, who nodded in agreement. Every time Kate looked him way, her ex was grinning, looking at her like he still believed he could salvage their relationship, as if they weren't on opposite ends of a war. The only reason he hadn't said anything directly to her yet was because they weren't alone. If she so much as left to go pee in a bush, surely he'd find a way to sneak off after her and confront her.

"I'm his advisor," Milton corrected.

"What kind of advice?"

"Planning, biters. Uh, you know, I'm sorry. I don't feel like I need to explain myself to the henchmen."

"Says the Governor's bitch." Kate hummed, leaning back against her car. "We all know the reason you hang around him is because he keeps you alive. That, or you want him to bang you as much as Andrea."

"Okay, woah." Martinez raised his hands. "As funny as that was, if we're gonna be out here pointing guns at each other all day, then do me a favor, princess. Shut your mouth."

Daryl squinted at him, grunting as he stepped forwards, toe to toe with Martinez.

"Look, we don't need this." Hershel intervened. "If it all goes south in there, we'll be at each other's throats soon enough."

Jared glanced over at Kate. "Or, if all goes well, we'll be in one community eventually."

"Not all of us," She replied, staring back at him in the eyes.

Andrea reappeared as quickly as she left, sliding the door shut behind her and catapulting both the Governor and Rick into real privacy. Soon enough, the group of seven found themselves standing outside long enough to start slowly wandering around, all within eyesight of each other. They were quiet, with only the crunching of their footsteps and screeching of bugs adding to the atmosphere.

Milton slowly made his way back over after about a half hour of this. "Theres no reason not to use this time we have together to explore the issues we have ourselves."

"Boss said to sit tight and shut up," Martinez reminded him.

"Oh, you mean the Governor." Daryl taunted.

"It's a good thing they're sitting down, especially after what happened." Milton said. "They're gonna work it out. Nobody wants another battle."

"Wouldn't exactly call that a battle."

"I would call it a battle, and I did." He held up a piece of paper. "I recorded it."

"For what?"

"Somebody's got to keep a record of what we've gone through. It'll be a part of our history."

"Makes sense," Hershel hummed.

"Not when the story's being told through an unreliable narrator." Kate retorted, crossing her arms. "And, no offense, Milton, but you're not exactly reliable."

"I've got dozens of interviews-"

"Yeah, all from people who don't know what the hell they're talking about."

All heads turned at a sudden few snarls, and in an instant, almost everybody rushed off towards the sound, but not all. Hershel, Kate, Jared, and Milton were alone, still waiting by the cars.

Jared chuckled slightly, mimicking the same movement as his ex-fiancée. "I see some things never change. Still picking fights with guys, aren't you, Kat?"

"It's Kate." She snapped. "You- You don't get to call me that."

Milton suddenly cleared his throat, turning to Hershel. "Perhaps we should sit down. Must be hard for you, having to stand for long periods of time. The chronic pain."

The older man glanced at Kate, then back to Milton, nodding silently before following him a short bit away. Close enough to be seen by their friends, but far enough to have a pirate conversation. She wondered what the play was, silently begging for him not to go away. Was it to get more information? Was it to seperate their enemies to make it easier for them to take them on?

"You know you don't have to do this." Jared told her. "You don't have to be here. I know this sort of thing isn't your scene."

"It's not, but you forced my hand." She replied sternly. "Kidnapping my brother, seriously?"

"Merle was the one who kidnapped him."

"You still knew. You still let him get beat up for information."

"I didn't let him do anything. I told him that I could get him out if he told me there they were staying. He just had to say two words, and it would've stopped. I only got physical because he's too much like you sometimes."

She squinted at him. "So you did hit him then. You gave him that black eye."

"I did."

"Why'd you let him believe I was dead then? You were beating the information out of him anyways."

"Because that's what happens to people who don't listen. They don't get rewarded with good news." He said slowly, staring right back at her. "Like you, Kat. I didn't tell you he was there because you kept freaking out on me about him the night before, saying things you didn't mean."

Kate shifted her weight onto her other foot, bending her left knee. "You talk me like I'm your pet, you know that?"

"I do that because I love you, honey. You know how hard this has been for me? For me to have to explain that you knocked me out all because some strangers told you to?" He said gently, extending an arm to her.

An arm she did not take. "No one told me to do anything."

"Well, the Katerina I know would never have pulled a stunt like that on the people she loved." Jared insisted. "Why don't you just come back to Woodbury with us? We can work this out. The Gov will let you back in if you can provide him with some inside information on the prison. Things can go back to the way they were, the way its supposed to be."

She paused for a moment. The way things you to be. The same thing every day, where she woke up, went to work in the garden during the morning, and then the infirmary in the afternoon. Where she woke up, face to face with someone who didn't cared. Went to bed with a man she let have his way with her, all because Jared claimed she was stingy and punishing him if they went one night without.

Night after night, day after day, the same routine, faking a life that didn't feel like her own, living in the body she didn't recognize as her own.

"What about me leaving do you not understand?" She inquired. "I don't want to go back to the way things were. I don't like the way I felt around you, the person I was."

"The person you-" He scoffed his way through a chuckle, gesturing to himself. "The person you were? Everything I became, it was for you. Everything I am, it was for you."

"No," She shook her head earnestly, eyes shaking in emotion. "No, you're not. You cannot hold me responsible for the shitty things you've done. Leaving my dog, leaving my brother- that was on you, and you know it. Hitting me, you know that was wrong. All this blaming and begging, it's pathetic. Its so pathetic, it's sad, and I'm not going to hear it anymore. I'm not coming back. I'm done."

"You're just leaving me? Abandoning me, after everything we've been through?" Jared yelled. "You're going to abandon six years of our life together over one fucking argument?"

"Would you have killed me?" She asks softly, the pain and weakness choking out of her throat, her facade fading. "That day, in the bed, when you hit me. Would you have killed me, that day, had Merle not showed up?"

Jared didn't respond, shocked into silence.

Kate, using her free hand not holding onto the pistol, plucked something out of her back pocket, dropping it into his pocket. A small, oval shaped diamond ring stared back at him, its glow long gone.

"That says everything I need to know."

The Governor walked out first, not saying a word as be stalked back into the driver's seat of the SUV, his henchmen and butler following. Jared was included in that, pocketing the ring and walking away, but not without one last glance at Kate.

Rick came out moments after, gesturing for the others to pile back into their own car and start heading home. Kate wasn't ignorant, she knew that whatever the men discussed in that room weighed heavily over Rick's mind. Whatever they'd discussed, wasn't good by any means.

He'd ushered them back inside quickly, hand against everyone's backs until he shut the cell blocks fire exit shut behind him, last inside. A pin could drop, every pair of eyes on him, even from those who'd gone to the meeting themselves. "So, I met this Governor. Sat with him for quite a while."

"Just the two of you?" Merle inquired from the back.

"The rest of us were right outside," Kate explained, leaning ger back against the wall. "We just spent the whole time sizing each other up."

He sighed, shaking his head. "Should've gone while we had the chance, bro."

"He wants the prison." Rick further stated. "He wants us gone- dead. He wants us dead for what we did to Woodbury."

Kate knew it as soon as the Governor silently left earlier; that man was one thing, but he didn't wear his emotions at all. His real thoughts, his real opinions? They were worn in a locket around his neck. She hadn't expected the man to come out with open arms and a big smile, but by the dead stare he gave them the entire time, she knew it wasn't going to be good before a word was spoken.

"We're going to war."

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