Chapter Text
*Departure*
Abbie woke up on the second day of their stay in Alexandria before the sun. Michonne had offered to go for a run with her, to show her around a bit. Everyone else was asleep in the town house. Abbie and Jenny were staying in one apartment while the guys were staying in the other on the first floor, at Crane's insistence. Abbie had offered the run to Jenny who simply laughed at her and told her she'd 'rather lick Icky's yeti sized feet' before she ran without being chased. Michonne had provided a change of clothes and Abbie was surprised to find that they fit rather well. The lycra shorts and tank top sticking to her body in a familiar way. It'd been awhile since she was to exercise for pleasure, without the threat of survival.
Stepping out the front door, Abbie stretched her arms across her chest before doing a couple quick jumps and heading down the street to Michonne's house. Standing on the front steps, stretching her legs, Michonne waited in similar lycra shorts and a purple tank top, the straps of a sports bra showing under the material. Jumping off the porch and heading down the street, the two women started on a slog jog as Michonne showed Abbie the neighborhood.
Forty minutes and a few laps around Alexandria, Michonne and Abbie returned to Michonne's home to get some water and breakfast. The two were stretching on the porch when a grumbling voice caught Abbie out of her stretch.
"Who's this?" a gruff Southern twang said, pointing with his thumb at the new woman. "Real nice Dixon." Michonne said, giving him an unimpressed look.
"Thought I was the recruiter 'Chonne." he said, as Abbie gave him a slow once over. The tall man, was covered in a golden tan, with bare arms and cut off button up black shirt over a leather vest and some rough looking cargo pants that might have been olive green at one point.
"Daryl Dixon, meet my best friend from college Abbie Mills." Michonne said after pursing her lips at his comment.
"Rick tell you about her people?" Michonne asked knowingly. She wasn't surprised that Daryl already knew about Mills and her people, since Rick was a busy body and a gossip.
" 'snice to meet ya." Daryl said, to which Abbie replied affirmatively. After a few moments of quiet where Daryl sat on the steps cleaning his crossbow and Michonne and Abbie did some cool down routines, the two headed into the house.
"Where'd you find all these rude ass white boys Michonne?" Abbie asked as they grabbed water and sat in the dining room.
"Georgia. We met at a prison." Michonne offered.
"Figures. If they weren't fine as hell, I'd take offense to their bad attitudes." Abbie offered causing Michonne to laugh. "Don't act like you didn't notice. I mean, Rick's got that last man on earth vibe, but he's fine. Got a nice face. And Dixon's tall, I'd climb that tree." Abbie said with a smirk.
"Whatever Abbie." Michonne said. "What about your group?"
"What about my group?" Abbie asked, taking a sip of her water. "Crane is nice to look at, and his beard makes him look distinguished. Andy is also fine as hell. You always described him as awkward and goofy in college; looked like he filled out nice." Michonne offered.
Abbie said "Andy is just a friend. He was my awkward Andy for so long, it'd be like making out with my brother." Abbie added.
"What about Crane? I mean Ichabod?" Michonne said quirking her eyebrows and using a faux British accent.
"He's still strung up on his sorta dead wife." Abbie said with a shrug.
"What do you mean 'sort of dead' wife?" Michonne asked, watching Abbie tense. "What aren't you telling me Abbie?" Michonne watched Abbie bite at her bottom lip in contemplation, wrestling with a decision. Hell, they were living in a world where dead people came back to life, but demons and the horseman of the apocalypse, that was some next level crazy that Abbie wasn't sure Michonne would believe.
"You promise you won't think I'm crazy?" Abbie asked. Michonne knew about Jenny's issues growing up and also knew that Abbie's mother had been institutionalized because she saw things that weren't there. Michonne was always partial to the supernatural, with her mother who'd grown up in Ghana, West Africa. Her mother would always tell her that there were things in this world that were far more complicated than they seemed. She'd done all the little superstitious things, like throwing salt over her shoulder when it spilled, or not walking under ladders, and all that, but her mother would have dreams that were strange and even would comment on people in her homeland that were prophets or witches. Michonne always approached it with a healthy dose of skepticism, but there was still an underlying belief in the other world, so she nodded at her best friend.
"Abbie, there are dead things coming back to life. At this point, I'd believe anything." Michonne said with conviction and honestly.
"Crane's wife was stuck in between life and death for a couple centuries. She just moved on last year after we came to the conclusion that we couldn't stop the Apocalypse." Abbie said.
"How could you stop the apocalypse Abbie? This was viral warfare." Michonne asked.
Abbie sighed as she decided to lay all her cards on the table with Michonne. She didn't really know if they'd make it back from DC and at this point, so much of her life was uncertain.
"Crane and I are… special. These some ordained from God thing that basically tied us together as Witnesses. We were destined to fight against the forces of darkness to prevent the end times, like book of Revelations type shit." Abbie said, watching Michonne take a swallow of her water. "Anyway, Crane was killed by the horseman of Death over 200 years ago and woke up only three years ago to the end of the world, but not by the hands of demons, it was fucking people. All we know, after fighting against actual demons and other evil creatures, that according to Benjamin Franklin's notes and Washington's Bible, that there's a way to maybe stop this." Abbie said, looking down at her hands as she waited for the laugh or scoff to escape her friend, and when none came, she glanced up and was met with watery brown eyes.
"Oh my god Abbie, you're like a real life Buffy the Vampire Slayer!" Michonne said causing her friend to chuckle a bit. After the laughter died down a bit, Michonne looked at Abbie with concern written all over her face "You've been dealing with all of this alone, for years?"
"Yeah, it's why I left college. I had to take care of Jenny after…" she signed at the memory of Corbin's death. She couldn't say his name, not right now. Michonne nodded in understanding, she'd learned all about August Corbin and had even met the man couple times before he died when he'd brought Abbie back to school her first and second year of college. He'd raised Abbie and Jenny, and he was trying to protect them from Abbie's destiny to basically save the world. Without thinking, Michonne moved over to her friend and enveloped her in a tight hug as she shed silent tears. Abbie wasn't a crier, so to see her through any form of grief was a distinct honor and Michonne whispered comforting words into her friends hair. After a few minutes of just holding each other the two stepped away, as the sound of a baby's cried broke them out of their internal musings.
"It's my day to get her." Michonne said, "You wanna help me?" she asked Abbie, who had wiped her eyes and seemed calmer. "Sure. I always imagined you'd be someone's hot mom." Abbie said, as she watched Michonne's face contort in sadness. "You wanna talk about it?" she asked, seeing her friend shake her head 'no' before whispering "Another time."
Abbie had enjoyed getting Judith ready for the day and had even held the baby for a while as Michonne made breakfast. Carl came down moments later, getting the oatmeal and sharing in some small talk with Abbie and Michonne. The front door opens and Carol walks in wearing a cardigan and a smile. Michonne didn't know why Carol was acting so strange in this place, and after finding out about their plans to take over she felt a little put off by her, but she knew Carol just wanted to protect everyone. Sometime though, the lines were hard to see and she felt like Carol was living in this grey zone that she'd never been in before, it scared Michonne to wonder if Carol was taking all the loss so hard. She understood some of what Carol lost, it just wasn't the same, but Carol seemed on the edge of some darkness that was trying to swallow her whole.
"Carol, meet Abbie." Michonne said introducing the two women who ended up having a conversation. Abbie excused herself after finishing her oatmeal, deciding to head back to the house to check on everyone and prepare for their plans to depart in two days.
A map of the DMV was laid out on the kitchen table as Ichabod drew his long fingers along the quickest route. They'd have to pack for at least a week, assuming that everything went according to plan. After discussing their provisions and necessities, they decided to leave a day early. They wanted this to be done, if there ever was a done to whatever this shit was.
"So we get the scrolls and then what? Right the world?" Andy asked, wondering if this was in fact the right play. "Where do we go after?" he followed, obviously thinking about if they'd have to make the trip back to New York and if they'd make it back alive.
"We come back here." Abbie said. "Deanna said they'd take us in if we came back. Plus we don't know if we have to return to Sleepy Hollow or go somewhere else right away. It'll give us time to regroup."
"The Lieutenant makes another astute observation. It would be wise to return to this hamlet upon the retrieval of the scrolls." Ichabod said.
"Ok, so we go to DC, come back and save the world." Jenny said "Piece of cake."
Abbie watched her companions as they looked through all of the books and notes they'd managed to save from the Archives that might explain the current state of the world. Maybe, just maybe, this thing would have been accounted for since it was human made.
That night, Abbie said on the front steps of the townhouse enjoying the relative quiet of the evening. The faint sounds of biters could be heard followed by a soft whoosh of air, which Abbie assumed was someone taking the threat out. She was busy in her thoughts and didn't notice the person sitting beside her.
"Jesus Jenny! You scared me!" Abbie said as Jenny sat flush against her. It had been a long road but they'd gotten to this point in their relationship. Jenny knew Abbie was scared, but they'd faced much worse before the waking diapers came into the picture.
"You sure about this Abbie? I trust you, but you gotta be sure." Jenny said. They'd done the research, found out everything they could, and all roads led to Washington. It just so happened that they'd found someone important to Abbie, someone that reminded her that she wasn't just some chosen one sacrificing her life for the world.
"It's gotta be done Jenny. So we do it." Abbie said, "Ok, bossy." Jenny replied giving her sister a little nudge. A few beats of silence passed between the two women as Abbie placed her arm around her baby sister. They'd made it through so much, and continued to stand together. It took a lot of trust building, but three years into this bullshit, they'd gotten there, to when they were kids, sisters, best friends again.
"I know I only met Michonne once, but she seems like a real person." Jenny said to which Abbie smiled. "Yeah, she's a real one."
"You really want to come back here after?" Jenny asked, thinking that maybe once all this was over they could go back home, whatever was left of it. "Can't go back Jenny and if we can't fix this, we're gonna have to figure out how to live through this. Alexandria seems like a good enough place to do that, one way or another."
"Let's get some sleep. It's gonna be a long week." Jenny said, taking her hand and walking into the house.
*Return*
Michonne had taken watch for the evening. It had been three weeks since Abbie and her group had left. The morning of their departure the two friends had shared a tearful goodbye. Maggie and Sasha watched as Michonne wiped her eyes, giving each other a look of surprise. Michonne wasn't a crier, a stoic killer, a kind mother figure for the Grimes kids, but not a vulnerable weeping mess. They offered condolences as the car holding her best friend drove off to an uncertain end. After the first week, Michonne had gone on a couple runs to distract herself, in the hopes of bumping into Abbie again. Things at the house had been alright. Rick seemed to be getting out of his fog and was actually spending time with his kids. He'd also admitted that he was spending time with Jessie Anderson, after she'd caught him coming from her house one evening a few days after Abbie had left. He'd missed dinner and she was patrolling while Carol watched the kids. He almost looked guilty, but Michonne wasn't there to judge him for whatever the hell he was thinking. He'd let that woman cut his hair when they first got here and he seemed comfortable with her. She was his friend and partner, there wasn't anything to be jealous of. She knew Carl and Judith were hers and Jessie had her own kids to worry about. She hadn't contemplated anything romantic in a long time, with Mike gone and the Governor being a creep before she killed him at the end, attention from any romantic prospects were few and far between. Rolling her eyes at herself, she checked the road and noticed a mini-van rolling up closer to the gates. The car came to a stop and the driver got out to Michonne's relief. They'd made it, later than they'd said but they'd made it.
Opening the gates the mini-van entered the Safe Zone and Abbie got out of the driver side throwing herself in Michonne's arms. This was good, the best news she'd gotten since they'd left. The other three got out of the car followed by a fourth person who Michonne never imagined she'd see again.
Michonne cocked her head at the stoic umber toned man with a staff. The last time she'd seen him, he was trying to kill Rick and had turned their home town into a walker trap. He looked much more lucid than the last time, and had a peaceful aura to him.
"Morgan?" Michonne asked to which he nodded. "You're the one who came to my house a wile ago." he said in his gravely southern twang, so different from Rick's, but having a similar simple familiarity.
"Rick?" he asked, "They're here." Michonne said, knowing he'd ask about Carl next,who he'd be surprised to see so grown.
"I'll take you to our house." she said, "You live together?" Morgan asked, surprised. "Yeah, well, things change." she remarked.
After getting Morgan situated in the guest bedroom, while they decided where he would stay in the long term, Michonne went back to her watch to relieve Spencer who had spotted her leaving her station. She thanked him, and continued her evening duty. She was humming a bit off key when the sound of the door took her out of her musings. The steps were unfamiliar but by the sound, the person was small and scrappy.
"Hey!" Michonne said, as Abbie walked up to the viewing ledge looking accomplished. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again." Michonne said with an air of seriousness.
"We got caught up in some trouble scavenging for some food on our way back. Morgan got us out of there, looked like someone had been there a few days prior but had managed to escape alright." Michonne nodded at the information.
"People are more dangerous than the monsters sometimes. We'll tell the others first thing." Michonne said.
"Yeah. Well, Morgan came through and we found what we were looking for, just not the answers we wanted." Abbie added. "You wanna talk about it?" Michonne asked.
"Not tonight. I'm tired, and I've almost died too many times over the last month for me to even think about how many more years of this shit's to come." Abbie said, giving Michonne a little bit of the story. Michonne nodded her head, and watched her friend smile a little.
"Any good gossip?" she asked, wanting a distraction from all the blood, guts, and gore of the last few weeks.
"Well Abe, giant redhead with the mustache who you met, moved out of his house with Rosita. Gotta say, I didn't see that coming so soon." Michonne said. She knew Abbie didn't really know anyone that well, but gossip was something to take a moment from the mess that was life filled with walkers, and hunger, and scary people trying to kill you.
"Oh snap! What else, please indulge me."
"Deanna is contemplating expanding the place, getting us to farm and work on sustaining ourselves. And she's basically given over governance of this place over to Maggie, Rick, and me, even though I'm not a politician."
"Michie, you've gotten me to do things I've hated, so you'll be great." Abbie interjected.
"Beyond that, I'm probably going to move out soon as Rick and Jessie get married." she said, somewhat sarcastically.
"Wait, what? What the fuck is a Jessie?" Abbie asked as Michonne giggled at her friend.
"You remember the white girl, owl tattoo, blonde with the two kids you met the first day you were here? She gave you the welcome basket?" Abbie's mind was drawing a blank.
"Oh my god Abbie, she literally talked to you for 10 minutes telling you about the pantry!"
"I swear I'm not being petty on your behalf. I don't remember her. She's like Anne in Arrested Development." Abbie said, "Anne?" Michonne said knowingly "You know Dad, my girlfriend Anne." to which the two friends burst out laughing. "Anyway, Anne and Rick are seeing each other according to Johnny Castle himself." Abbie shook her head.
"You knew you can always stay with me and Jenny." Abbie offered. "It'll be like a post-apocalypse Living Single." to which Michonne cackled, loudly "Sush! I'll think about it. Sasha and Maggie already offered, so we will see."
"It's like that tho? You're really gonna leave those kids?" Abbie asked.
"You just got back. It's been a long and weird few weeks. Rick's acting like he's Deputy Grimes again, and I'm not the one to burst his bubble about the life that he lost. After his wife died, he was pretty broken according to Maggie. I got there a day or days after it happened. He's my friend, my partner, but we've never done the song and dance, not for lack of interest on my part. I think he just sees me as like this stoic killing machine with a great ass." to which Abbie nodded.
"Ain't it like that! These hot old ass white guys and chasing the ghosts of their dead white wives." Michonne felt a little bad for sniggering at the joke, but Rick had literally been chasing after his dead white wife at the Prison.
"What?" Abbie asked "Rick actually did that, literally." to which Abbie laughed. "Damn, it's rough out here."
"I mean we could just say screw it and like date each other." Abbie suggested "Abbie, remember that time sophomore year when you were convinced that you wanted to be a lesbian… How did that end up?"
"Whatever, it was a good effort." Abbie replied. "We tried to kiss each other and you accidently spit in my face from laughing so hard. Fucking spit Grace Abigail Mills!"
"Michonne Agusta Jarba, give me a break! You wouldn't try again after that." Abbie said. Michonne replied "Serves you right! Whatever, it's the apocalypse, dick is plentiful and highly overvalued."
"Damn right. Nobody puts Baby in the corner." Abbie said, giving her friend a side hug. "I got you a couple things. Come by tomorrow when you get some sleep."
"I will. I'm glad your back Gabby Abbie."
"I missed you too Michie-poo."