⌜ chapter fifteen ⌟

"We couldn't just leave him behind." Rick's telling the group. "He would've bled out."

"If he lived that long." MJ adds.

"It's gotten bad in town." Glenn says.

"What do we do with him?" Andrea asks.

Hershel and Matt walk into the dining room then. "We repaired his calf muscle as best we can, but he'll probably have nerve damage. Won't be on his feet for at least a week."

"When he is, we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road, send him on his way." Rick tells them.

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" Andrea asks as Daryl walks into the house with Jack and Jessica.

"He'll have a fighting chance." MJ says.

"Just gonna let him go?" Shane asks, and she clenches her teeth. "He knows where we are."

"He was blindfolded the whole way here. He's not a threat." Rick tells him.

"Not a threat. How many of them were there?" He questions. "You killed three of their men, took one of them hostage, but they just ain't gonna come looking?"

"Shut the hell up, Shane." MJ says.

"Or what?" He looks at her. "You gonna pull your machete on me again? Give me another black eye?"

"Sounds good to me."

Rick places his hand on her shoulder, and her jaw tightens. "They left him for dead. No one is looking." He tells Shane.

"We should still post a guard." T-Dog says.

"He's out cold right now." Hershel tells them. "Will be for hours."

"You know what? I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy." Shane scoffs and starts out of the room. "Look at this, folks — we back in Fantasyland."

"You know, we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet." Hershel says as he walks a few steps after him. "Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all — this is my farm. Now, I wanted you gone. Rick and MJ talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor — keep your mouth shut."

"I want some popcorn." MJ says with a smile, and Rick wraps his arm around the back of her head and puts his hand over her mouth, causing her to start laughing.

Dean looks over at his sister, glancing between her and Rick. She's got a light in her eyes that he hasn't seen in years.

Rick lets go of MJ after Shane leaves and then he walks over to Hershel. "We're not gonna do anything about it today. Let's just cool off." He says and the group starts to disperse.

MJ looks over at Matt. "How's Beth doing?"

"She's not eating or talking. She's just laying there. I gave her a sedative to keep her body from working too hard, but I don't know..." He sighs.

"Listen, about before... I shouldn't have hit you." She says. "I'm so sorry."

He shakes his head. "We were both in the wrong." He brushes her hair back and rests his hands on either side of her face. "I know you. I know your heart, and I know that if there were any part of you that believed what I did, you wouldn't​ have done it. And now that I know I was wrong anyway... I'm sorry. I know how much you love them, it's just... It hurts."

"I know." She nods and then hugs him. He wraps his arms around her shoulders. "Hey, how's your jaw feeling?" She asks, and he chuckles.

"You've got one hell of a right hook." He tells her, and Dean starts laughing.

"I taught her that. That's my girl." The oldest of the siblings says, and Jess laughs from where she's standing between Daryl and Jack. "So proud."

MJ and Matt pull apart, and she shakes her head as she looks at her brother. "You are still such a child." She says, and he smiles at her.

Dean then stands up and looks over at Jack. "My sister tells me that you saved her life." He says, and Jack looks at MJ. She just smiles at him. "She told me how she was after Jr., said that she didn't care if she lived or died, but you pulled her back from that edge."

"I..." Jack just looks up at him.

"Any man who can save her...is a good man in my book." He holds his hand out to Jack, who hesitantly takes it, and he shakes it.

"Dad?" MJ looks at him. "Anything you want to add to that?" John stands up and walks out of the house. "'Course not."

"Give him time." Mary tells her, and she shakes her head.

"Oh, I've given him plenty of time." She says and then walks over to Jack. "Let's go back to our tent, yeah?" She suggests, and he nods.

—

"Hey, Daryl?" MJ walks over to his tent, and he looks up at her when she makes it to the opening.

"Aren't you lucky?" He says, and her eyebrows furrow as he stands up and walks over to stand just outside his tent with her. "Just showered. I'd kill for the hot water." He reaches up without thinking, taking a lock of her wet hair between two fingers.

"Oh. Yeah." She nods, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Hershel took pity on me because my shirt was stained in Randal's blood. I hate trying to get it off my hands."

He nods as he looks down at her, his hand falling back to his side. "Did you need something?" He asks, and she nods, remembering why she came over.

"Do you still have my journal?" MJ asks, and he ducks back into his tent, reaching for the small leather-bound book by his cot.

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine that you do." She shakes her head. "I was thinking that I'd write an entry on walkers."

"You ain't get enough of them out there in the real world?" He asks as she steps into the tent with him and takes the journal. "You wanna write about 'em too?"

"At some point, I'm gonna use this stupid thing to teach Ellie about everything. So, the walkers should be in it too."

"You know, I think it's funny that you call them walkers." Dean says as he walks over to them, and MJ and Daryl both step out of the tent as they look at him.

"Yeah, uh... A man I met awhile back called them that. I thought it was funny 'cause it reminded me of Gordon." She tells her brother, and he nods, laughing.

"Gordon?" Daryl asks.

"Gordon Walker. He was a hunter who found out some stuff about Sam — decided to make it his life's mission to kill our younger brother. Tried to blow him up — twice." She tells him, and he nods as he looks between the siblings. "I seriously hated that jackass."

"What happened to him?"

"We got him arrested, thrown in prison, and then he wanted revenge." She says. "Got himself turned into a vampire, and then Sam killed him."

"So now you're telling people about our family and our lives?" John questions as he and Mary walk over to​ them.

"Well, after Gabriel showed up unannounced, a wendigo tried to kill him, Crowley came demanding answers, and then Meg tried to kill us..." MJ nods. "Yeah, I thought Daryl should know what's going on."

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"I ain't gonna do anything." Daryl says, and the oldest Winchester looks at him.

"I trust Daryl and Rick a hell of a lot more than I trust you these days." MJ says and then starts to walk away from them.

"Get back here." John demands, and she scoffs as she looks at him.

"Or what?" She questions. "Are you gonna leave again? Go ahead. It's what you do best anyway. It's what you've always done."

"I admit, I made my fair share of mistakes while you were kids."

"While we were kids?" She questions. "Try every Goddamn day of the last twenty-seven years. You left, time and time again. I hated the way that we grew up. And every time you went on a hunt... Watch out for Sammy. Look after your brothers, girl." She scoffs. "I am done falling in line and being a good little soldier. So, if that's what you thought you'd find when you saw me out there... You can feel free to leave, Corporal."

"Marie—"

"We gave up everything for you. Normal lives, our families, then just our lives." She shakes her head. "I went to hell for you."

"I never asked you to do that." He says. "I never wanted you to do that."

"I was supposed to look out for Sam. He hated himself because the last time he saw you, he started a fight. I knew that he had things he wanted to say to you, and I knew that Dean would die, and Sam would be left with things that he wanted to say to him too. Sam and I — we never had a hard time talking, we told each other everything. I knew that I could die, and he and I would have nothing left unsaid. I thought that if you two had a second chance, you would do better." She laughs humorlessly. "Now there's a pipe dream. You let him go off on his own and get manipulated by Ruby."

"I didn't let him do anything. He did that all on his own." John argues. "That's what he always did, he left us when we needed him."

"I wonder where he learned it." She says, and he just looks at her. "And after that fight before he went off to college... I honestly don't blame him. He got a full ride scholarship to Stanford University. You should've been proud. But instead you told him that if he left, to never come back." Her eyes flicker to Mary. "Yeah, I bet that's the life that Mom wanted for us. Monsters and death. Chaos."

MJ turns around to walk away, but the next thing her father says sends an angry chill down her spine. "And what about the Jack problem?" He asks, and she turns back to face him again.

"There is no Jack problem. He's not his father, and if you touch him, so help me God—"

"What?" He questions.

She takes a deep breath, not wanting her anger to take over. "After Dean sold his soul, there was something that Bobby said — it always stuck with me. He told us that family don't end with blood." She looks at Dean and then back at John. "You know what? It doesn't start there either. Jack's family is me, Kelly, and Cas. His family is Jess and everyone else in this camp. We look out for each other and we care about each other. Glenn saved me, Jack, and Rick before he even knew our names. We were just three dumbasses who got themselves stuck in a tank surrounded by walkers. You don't have to like Jack, you don't even have to trust him, but you do have to respect my decisions. After everything that I've been through because of you, you owe me that much. So stay the hell away from him."

She then takes the dog tags from around her neck and tosses them at him. They hit his chest and then fall to the ground at his feet. He bends down to pick them up, pausing as he looks at them.

Later that night, Dean walks over to where his younger sister's sitting by the fire pit. There's a low flame, barely giving off any heat.

"There's our little night owl." He says as he sits down next to her. "That was quite the confrontation earlier."

"Coming to tell me to apologize?" She asks, and he chuckles.

"I've known you long enough to know that's never gonna happen." He says, and she looks at him. "He wasn't perfect, but he does love us. You know that, right?"

She nods. "I just could've done with a little less tough love growing up." She shakes her head. "A little less pressure on both of us."

"I know. But you're one tough kid now." He says, and she lets out a chuckle.

"You and Rick with that kid crap." She takes a deep breath. "When was I ever a kid?"

"For about a day." He smiles. "I remember you being a pain in my ass before the fire. I always had you right behind me, for as long as I can remember. Every time I turned around, there you were. And bossy as all hell too. All attitude and sass."

"I always wanted to be just like you. You had this strength about you, even when we were just kids." She says. "I had actually forgotten how far back that went until we saw..." She doesn't have to finish for him to know she's talking about his memory in heaven. When their parents got into a fight, and he had to be the one to comfort Mary. "I looked up to you. And that never faltered once... Not until Jack."

"Yeah, I screwed up there." He nods. "I may have been the strongest, but you were always the smartest."

"No, that was Sam."

"With books, maybe. But with life... Your instincts — the way you can look at a situation from every angle, find the right path." He smirks. "Made me proud, even when I didn't agree... No, especially then."

"I made you proud?" She scoffs. "I always felt like the screw up."

"Sure, you made mistakes, but that's how we learn." He says. "You should be damn proud of yourself, M. You're a hell of a leader now."

"I am proud of myself, or I'm getting there at least." She tells him. "For the first time in a long time. Feels pretty damn good too." She smiles.

MJ sighs as she leans against her brother, she really did miss him. It's been a long time since they've been able to talk like this, even before the walkers came along.

"Dad will come around." Dean says, his voice low. "You just gotta give him some time." He tells her, and she nods.

"So, what's it been like for you out there?"

"Hell." He says, and she looks up at him. "I mean, not in the literal sense, but you know what I mean."

She nods. "Yeah."

"Been trying to keep a low profile, hide from the angels." He tells her. "They're looking for me. I have something that they want."

"And what's that?"

Dean reaches into his pocket — one on the inside of his utility jacket — and pulls out four rings, three connected to one in the center.

"The horsemen rings." MJ mutters as she looks at them. "Why do you have those?"

"They were left there on the ground, I found them after Sam grabbed Adam and jumped into the pit." He tells her.

"The key to Lucifer's cage."