⌜ chapter seventeen ⌟

Dean helps MJ into the cellblock, and they're immediately greeted by Ellie and Jack. They both hug her, and then MJ looks over their shoulder at Matt. "We need to talk." She says, and he gives her a puzzled expression.

"Whatever it is, it can wait. You need stitches and to clean all the blood off. Your lip is—"

"It's Jr." She cuts him off, and he moves closer to her. "He's alive. He's outside with Ash and my dad, but... But there's something that I need to tell you two first." MJ looks at the two kids.

"What is it?" Jack asks, tears in his eyes.

"Daryl left. We found his brother and...and he went with him." She tells them.

"He's gone?" Ellie asks, a sad look in her eyes.

"Yeah, baby." She nods. "I'm sorry."

"But how could he leave? Especially when you're so hurt?" Jack questions. "It— It doesn't make any sense."

"Why don't you two go and see Matty." MJ says. "He's really missed you both."

Ellie grabs Jack's arm, and they run out to see their brother. Matt walks over to MJ, and she takes a deep breath. "Who did this to you?" He questions, and she shakes her head.

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does. It does matter." He argues.

She sees movement out of the corner of her eye and turns to see four strangers sitting in the common area. "Who the hell are they?"

"We have a wall down, they came in that way." He says. "Tell me who did this to you."

"Go see our son, Matt. I need to get cleaned up." She tells him. "Go."

"We're talking about this when I get back." He says before walking past her, going outside. Jess walks over to MJ, and they start toward the cellblock. The brunette reaches out toward Carl as they pass him.

"Keep up the good work, little man." She says, and he smiles at her briefly. He's keeping an eye on the strangers.

Jess carefully cleans the blood off of MJ's face and helps her change into a clean spaghetti strap shirt. She waits for Matt to stitch her leg before changing into a loose fitting pair of pants. He stitches her shoulder too, with no complaints from her. She couldn't possibly care any less that it all hurts.

Beth walks into her cell with the baby and looks down at her. "Carl named her." The blonde says as MJ looks up at her. "Judith."

She smiles. "That's pretty." She says, and then straightens out the thin blanket she has on her bed. "You can leave her with me."

"Are you sure?" Beth asks, and MJ nods.

"Yeah. I kinda want her company for awhile."

Beth leaves Judith with her, and she lays the baby on the white blanket. MJ smiles as she looks at the pink onesie that Judith's wearing. It's one that she found for her on that first trip that she went on with Daryl.

Judith starts fussing, so MJ picks her up and holds her against her body. She lays back on her bed as the baby starts to calm down. Bela walks in then and sees the baby's head on MJ's chest as she sleeps peacefully. She's curled up on her stomach, in a frog-like position.

"You're good with kids." Bela says, her voice low.

"I should hope so. I have three." MJ whispers, looking up at the top bunk.

"Can I ask... What happened to you and my sister?" She asks. "I want to help, but I..."

"I can't speak for Maggie, and it's not my place to tell anyone what happened to her." She looks over at Bela. "But she is gonna need you."

"Are you okay?"

"If I say yes, will you go away?" She asks. "I want to be alone."

"I'll go if you tell me the truth." Bela says, and she takes a deep breath.

"No." MJ answers honestly, and she nods.

"I know you don't like me, but I'm not a total bitch. So, if you ever need to talk..."

"I appreciate that. Truly."

"Okay." Bela nods and then walks away from her cell.

MJ lays there until Judith wakes up crying, she's hungry. Beth comes up with a bottle and she takes the baby. MJ's shoulder is too hurt to support Judith and feed her at the same time. The two are sitting next to each other, and Beth watches as MJ grabs her backpack and pulls it closer to her. She rifles through it until she finds what she's looking for and then she quickly leaves the cell.

—

"Have you seen my sister?" Dean asks as he walks over to Beth. He thought that MJ had the baby, but now he sees that Beth does.

"She grabbed something from her backpack and then disappeared. I don't know where she went." The blonde tells him.

"What was it?"

"Um... It looked like rings, but they were all connected." The blonde says, and his eyes widen.

"Four rings? Three held together by one in the center?" He asks, and she nods.

"Marie has the horsemen rings?" John asks as he looks over at his son. "I thought you had them."

"I did." Dean glances in his direction. "I gave them to her before the fire at the farm."

"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 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."

"Yeah." He sighs. "I hate having these damn things on me, but I can't think of anywhere safer for them to be. Can't exactly let them end up with the angels or the demons."

"I can take them if you want." She tells him.

"What?"

She shrugs. "I'm already protecting one key to opening the cage. Why not two?" The blonde holds her hand out to him. "The angels don't scare me, and neither do the demons."

"Are you sure about this?" Dean asks, and she nods. He takes a deep breath. "Alright." He places them on the palm of her hand.

Dean, John, and Beth hear Rick yelling, and the three of them immediately run to the common area. He's yelling to get out and he's freaking everyone out. Nobody knows what's wrong with him. He had been calm, then he just snapped seemingly out of nowhere.

MJ walks in from outside and she limps down the few steps. She sees that Rick has his gun out and she immediately walks over to him. She rests her hand on his arm, and he jumps as he looks down at her.

"Hey. Look at me, look at me." She carefully pulls the gun from his grip and puts it in the back of her waistband. "Hey, you're alright."

"Please—"

"Quiet." MJ glances at the strangers to her left as she places her hands on either side of Rick's face. "It's just you and me. We're okay, it's okay. Breathe. Okay? Deep breaths."

The others thought that he was just angry, but she could see that there was something more to it than that. He was starting to panic. And Jack can see that now too. This is how MJ was after Matty died, and this is how he got her to calm back down. Rick's mimicking her breathing, and she nods as he visibly calms.

"What's going on?" MJ asks as she looks over at Hershel. Her hands drop from Rick's face and she takes one of his hands in hers.

"They want to stay." The older man motions to the four strangers.

She sighs as she turns to them. "I'm sorry, but we can't take in any people." She tells them. "We don't have the space, and we can't risk more of our own getting hurt. But, uh... Glenn, Bela, can you two get them some supplies please? Food, water. And give them one of the machetes."

All of what MJ just said is true, but it's more complicated for her than that. Letting these people stay just doesn't feel right to her, not after Daryl leaving because they wouldn't let Merle join them.

Glenn and Bela give the other group what MJ told them to and they turn to her. "We appreciate this." The black guy says as he holds up the supplies, though it's obvious that he doesn't want to leave.

"I'm sorry that we can't do more." She tells them, and they leave the cellblock. The brunette takes a deep breath as she looks back up at Rick. "Are you okay?" She whispers, and he nods as his gaze turns to her. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." He squeezes his eyes shut as he lets his head hang.

"We're alright." The brunette takes a deep breath as she rests her free hand on the side of his face again. He gently presses his forehead to hers as he steadies his breathing, and the group glances around at each other before returning their gazes to the leaders.