"finally, you're awake," cora said as she entered rick's room. deanna put him in a secluded room to calm him down before he did anything else he would regret.

"what are you..." rick trailed, noticing the medical supplies in cora's hand.

"well, seen as you and the doctor beat each other half to death, deanna figured i'm the only other one qualified to give medical help," cora explained. she sat herself on the edge of the bed as rick sat up. she pulled out small alcohol pads that the kit had and a few pieces of gauze.

"i'm glad that my manic episode, as you called it, made deanna come to her senses about your skills," rick told her.

"wow thanks. you're just my number one supporter aren't you?" cora said sarcastically. "now sit still." cora carried on fixing his wounds in silence. "okay. good as new."

"i wasn't the one who started the fight, just so you know," rick told her.

"alright," cora said, putting her supplies back into their case. "just so you know, i dont think it was a bad idea to get into the fight. i'm not as close to jessie as you are and even i could see how awful pete treated her. i just didnt want you to get yourself killed. or kicked out of here." rick just looked at her. not how he did earlier when he thought her joke wasn't funny. it was fonder. cora's heart jumped two beats. "get some rest, okay?" cora needed to leave before her heart skipped again. before she started to feel....

***

she reentered ricks room later, after he had woken up, with glenn. her and her friends were having some sort of 'team meeting' about what to do about the safety of the community. carol told everyone about a meeting deanna was holding to figure out what to do with rick. as if he was some sort if disease. "that's bullshit," cora commented under her breath.

"they're guarding the armory," glenn told them. "all we have now are our knives." rick came up with a plan to take deanna, spencer, and reg hostage, threatening them until they unguard the armory. "are you sure?" glenn asked.

"i've reached my linit with what i'm willing to do. i'll do anything," rick told them.

"it may not be the most civil plan, but it's a good plan. it could work," cora said, backing rick up. he looked to her, silently thanking her before making everyone leave so he could get more rest.

***

"mom, hurry up," izzy called up the stairs to cora, who was in one of the bedrooms. when she walked down the stairs, izzy was impatiently waiting at the door.

"you do realize kids aren't allowed at the meeting, right?" cora told izzy.

"are you sure? carl said he's going," izzy protested. thats when carl walked into the room, informing izzy that rick told him to stay here, safe in the house.

"i'll be back later," cora told the two. "please dont venture into the woods tonight." when she walked out the door, maggie was on the sidewalk waiting for cora. "i thought you were with glenn."

"i told him i'd see him at the meeting. come on." maggie and cora started walking and talking about everything that has happened and what was about to happen. everything was so easy with maggie. they didn't have to try with their friendship like cora had to do with so many others. she was truly grateful for her.

when they arrived, cora and maggie went to stand with michonne and carol. from and outside point of view, the three if them probably looked like a wall. a wall protecting their family from anything deanna was ready to throw at them. "where's rick?" cora asked michonne.

"he ran out of the house right before i left," michonne told her.

"do you think he's in trouble? i don't think he'd miss this," cora said. she prayed to the gods he wasn't getting himself into more trouble than he was already in.

"let's fet this started, shall we?" deanna announced from the center of the circle they had formed themselves into.

"shouldn't we wait for glenn and rick?" maggie asked.

"we will start without them," deanna told her.

"we can work this out, everything will be fine," carol told maggie and michonne. then, she turned to cora and said, "im sure rick is fine, he's not stupid." coming from anyone else, that would mean nothing to cora. for some reason, carol saying that made her feel a lot better.

michonne had the first word of the meeting. she explained to the alexandria residents what it was like to live on the outside. how they all had to fight for their lives everyday. about being in fear for you life everyday. she told everyone that rick just wants to keep his family safe.

deanna nodded, but didn't say a word. she looked at everyone else who didn't give much different of a reaction. cora never knew how heartless these people could be. now it was carol's turn. she gave a speech about how rick has saved her life multiple times.

deanna had a little better of a reaction to carol's speech, giving her a smile instead of a nod. abraham tells the committee that the outside world is full of shit and how rick powered through it all. maggie says how her father respected rick as a leader, how rick is a devoted father and they are all family to each other. after their speeches, deanna finally had something to say. "gabriel came to me the other day. he told me how hostile your group can be and rick proved just that. what do you have to say about that." the four of them were silent. beside her, maggie made a noise and stormed out of the meeting.

"i actually have something to say," cora spoke up. she didn't plan on saying things but with how this meeting was going, rick was going to be banished. "i met rick after my daughter- actually that's irrelevant. i met rick shortly after i lost all the people i loved, my fiancé being one of them. at first he was not welcoming, at all." michonne nudged her with her elbow and carol gave her a worrying glance. "at first he was cold and i thought he hated me. the longer i stayed with these people i now consider my family, the more i realized rick was cold just to keep his family safe. all of this hostility he has shown is only to keep the people he cares most about safe. the outside world has made him weary of things he doesn't know about, makes him feel the need to keep us safe. if you look at him from this point of view, you will see that he isn't much different from you guys. deanna, you built this community to keep your loved ones safe from the outside world, just like rick. he just wasn't lucky enough to have the same resources as you guys."

cora could tell deanna was thinking. she opened her mouth to speak but tobin beat her to it. "all i want is my family to be safe." cora was about to say that's all rick wants but she was also interrupted. this time by a walker. a dead one. thrown in the middle of the meeting by a bloodied rick.

"rick," cora said at the sight of blood before she realized it was walker blood. "where were you?"

"i was inside the walls. there were no guards. the walkers just walked right in. we will all survive. it's just the matter of how many of you i have to kill before i can save your lives," rick said. cora now knew her whole speech was for nothing if rick was going to threaten their lives. "i won't kill you though." maybe cora was wrong. "you all will have to do it yourself and i'm sorry i didn't tell you this sooner."

"you aren't one of us!" a drunk pete yelled, appearing suddenly. in his hand was michonne's sword. he was swinging it around like it was a toy, lunging at rick. screams erupted from the crowd. it took a few moments for cora to realize pete slit reg's throat. she looked down at the man in horror then looked up to rick, hoping he had a plan. the look in his eyes told cora he did ince they made eye contact. cora nodded at him supporting him in whatever he was about to do.

apparently, so was deanna as she called out. "do it! rick, do it!" rick quickly brandished his gun, killing pete in one shot.

***
a/n
uhm this chapter was long asf im sorry