thanks guys. I am so happy you like it. I hope you don't get mad over this chapter. Sanda I promise next chapter will have lots of good stuff for you and Reid.
ch 16
Jessie went first to Sanda's room. She didn't even think before tapping on the bars.
“i'm so sorry...” she stuttered. “I didn't know..”
Reid was laying beside Sanda, just holding her. Sanda smiled. “No, it's not what you think. I'll let you in.”
Jessie was still mad. “Sanda you need to come with me. I want to talk with you and Melinda.”
“What's wrong? You seem angry, sweetie. Has something happened?”
“Just come with me.”
Sanda looked back at Reid then followed Jessie to Melinda's cell.
“Is Craig here?” Jessie demanded.
“No. they're having a council meeting. What's wrong?” Melinda asked, surprised by the tone in Jessie's voice.
“Good. I need to have a little council meeting myself. Right here, just the three of us.”
Sanda and Melinda looked at each other. “Jessie,” Sanda spoke up. “I've never seen you this angry. What in the world is the matter? It's not the baby, is it?”
“You both know why I'm here. Don't play like I'm stupid. Did you really think I wouldn't find out?” jessie responded angrily.
“Jessie,” Melinda sighed. “You need to calm down. It's not good for the baby for you to...”
“Don't talk to me about what's good for my baby! I suppose you think its best that Michonne kills the father of my baby?”
Sanda tried to touch Jessie's hand, but she was shaking too bad. “I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to know...”
“Why? I trusted you two. I thought we agreed- no secrets. How could you two of all people keep something like this from me?” Jessie asked, trying hard not to cry.
“Listen. We didn't want to upset you. And also- Sanda and I didn't know what to do. It's so confusing. I mean, we don't want to kill anyone. But the governor- he's not what you think he is...”Melinda said.
“Will you stop calling him that? His name is...Philip. It's Philip. I would appreciate if you called him by his proper name.”
Sanda looked at Melinda, then at Jessie. “Are you in love with him still?”
“No! Of course not!”
“It sounds to me like you are. You're working yourself up over an evil person.”
“Sanda, you don't know him. When he was with me, he wasn't evil. He was kind, he took care of me...he didn't say it but there were times I felt like he might actually love me.”
Melinda spoke up. “If he loved you, why didn't he tell you that?”
“I don't know. I don't know. Maybe it was because he had a wife who he loved and she died in a car accident. Maybe it's because his own daughter died and there wasn't anything he could do about it. Maybe he just didn't want to love me because he was afraid of losing me,” Jessie replied, still obviously upset.
“Sanda,” Melinda looked at her. “Talk some sense into her!”
To everyone's surprise, Sanda didn't get mad. She lowered her voice. “Reid- he didn't want to tell me he loved me for a long, long time.”
“What?” Melinda was surprised. “Everyone knew he loved you. It was obvious. He wouldn't leave your side for anything. He was always trying to look out for you, make sure you had enough to eat. There were times where he turned down food just so you could have something that night.”
Sanda smiled. “I know. I know that now, anyways. I didn't understand it until he opened up to me a few weeks ago- it was the night we brought you in, Jessie. Anyways he came to me and told me he loved me, but he just was so scared of losing me he was afraid to say it. I know he loves me by the way he treats me.”
Melinda was getting mad. “Are you seriously comparing Reid to the governor? Reid is a doctor, he helps people, he saved the kids' lives. He gets food for everyone. He carries his weight around here. Meanwhile, Jessie's so called people killed his friends, he killed Daryl's brother and left him to turn to a zombie! He hurt everyone who even got close to him. You expect me to tell Jessie that it's all right, just because a man sweet talks you at first then it's okay to forgive every bad thing he's ever done? I'm sorry, Sanda. I can't be that way. I just can't.”
“I'm not making excuses. I just know that sometimes no matter what you can't help who you love.”
“Stop!” Jessie raised her voice. “I can't take this fighting! I can't help it. Melinda, I know you're right. I know he's the devil but I can't help it. I still love him. God help me, but I do. There, does that make me a terrible person too?”
Melinda felt bad. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. It's just that I care about you so much that the thought of losing you again just about kills me. Ask Craig. He knows I couldn't stop thinking about you. Sometimes I would go off by myself and he couldnt' find me and he'd get mad. But I just wondered where you were, if you were okay, if you knew....” now she was crying. “If you knew how much Sanda and I love you.”
Sanda and Jessie both reached over to hug her. “I didn't think...I'm not trying to cause trouble,” Jessie sighed. “It's just that I'm about to bring a baby into this zombie-filled world, I don't know if I will be able to provide everything it needs. I worry about what he or she will grow up to be like. I don't know how I'm going to be able to answer when my child asks me where his father is, what he was like. I just don't know what to do...”
The three girls in tears, no one spoke for a minute. “It will be okay, I promise.” Sanda said.
“Yeah, you have me and Sanda and Carol and Reid and Hershel and everyone else. We all will do everything to protect you and your family.”
“Yeah, but you all have men who love you and will always be around. At night when it's just the baby, you can't tell me you'd leave your men to stay with me just because I feel a little lonely. You won't always be around to help me try to figure out how in the world to stop a baby from crying so them zombies won't hurt anyone else. And I don't think you guys could stop Michonne from doing what she says she's going to, even if you wanted to.”
Craig walked in. “We'll go to council.”
Melinda looked up. “What?”
“We'll take this to council. I can't promise anything. But I can talk to Rick and Daryl and everyone. If- and it's a big if- they all agree not to let anything bad happen, then we as a group can stop Michonne.”
Melinda smiled. “See, sweetie? It's going to be okay. They'll hold a meeting.”
Jessie nodded. “But what if it's not enough? Or worse yet, what if it's too late?”
They all looked at each other. This time no one had a word to say.
TBC