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A BLANK SPACE LIES WHERE HER HEART SHOULD SIT, but having found Rick, Josephine feels a small ray of light pass through her. A glimmer of hope stands with her in the abandoned two-story house.
"You look terrible," Josephine raises an eyebrow at him after she returns from rinsing the dried blood from her hair.
Rick stops shuffling through the cabinets to turn to her, his eyes immediately darting to the stained bandage around her thigh and trailing up to the bruises on her face. "You don't look any better."
Jo scoffs with a tired smile, unable to come up with a better response. She crosses her arms over her chest and leans on the counter behind her; Rick continues mindlessly looking through the drawers, scared to see her reaction to his following words.
"I thought I lost you," Rick whispers so Michonne and Carl can't hear from the other room.
Jo uncrosses her arms and tilts her head up to focus on him. He freezes to allow his words to hang in the air.
Slowly, he turns to face her, and as he speaks she steps closer to him. "After, I didn't know what to think. If he had killed you, or walkers, or something else."
"I'm right here." She says it like the most simplistic of answers. She is the answer, she has always been.
Without ever breaking their gaze from one another, Josephine gently lays her hand on his and he unclenches the wood beneath his palm to grasp her rough hand into his rough hand. Rick leans forward, desperate to finally close the gap and open a new path in their lives.
Hearing the soft steps of Michonne approaching, Josephine is the first to pull away.
"So. . ." Michonne trails off and glances between the two lovers; one scratching the back of her elbow and standing further away with guilt, and the other looking at her with mild disappointment. "What's the plan? This place, is it home or just a stop along the way?"
Jo knows her answer, but she continues to look at Rick for his direction.
"Well let's just stay here while we figure it out." He turns to Jo for her input.
Before she can, Michonne adds, "We'll need more supplies. I'll go with Carl and get some."
"I'll come, too."
Michonne immediately objects. "You were unconscious yesterday."
"I'm awake today."
"So, you're okay if I do this?" Josephine steps forward and presses her three middle fingers into his rib cage. Rick catches her wrist but not before swallowing a groan of hurt. "That's what I thought."
