Jess’ greatest fear would be the improbable loss of her brother —- - the only family she had left except for Carl and Lori. It would’ve been… excruciatingly painful to know whether the both of them had survived the outbreak or not —- - Jess flinches, shivering as the thought seemed to penetrate the walls of the woman’s safe haven inside her mind. Paranoia takes over like the plague —- - she remembers being the kid everyone in class had tormented day-by-day just because of a goddamned limp. Out of the Grimes duo, Jess was more of the refined and gentle, open, and caring part of the siblings; but growing up, the little girl who was once such a ray of sunshine was overcame by the darkness, surrounding herself with nothing but isolation.
“ I’m always right —- - just like how I promised you tha’ I’d take care o’ you when both of us grow up when the world’s gone to shit, Rick. “ Sisterly love blossomed from the woman’s chest, despite how much cynicism reigned ever since the Walkers had invaded —- - well, everywhere. The whole wide world was fucking gone. Jess’ boyfriend died along with the rest of them because he told her to r u n and she did —- - leaving him behind. And Jess’d be lying if she said that she didn’t shed a tear. Oh. God, Jessica, get your shit together.
Undivided attention focuses back on Rick, and how he slightly gives off a hint about their so-called camp. " —- - You gotta be jokin’ if you have an entire military force o’ officers. Never really knew what happened to you after you an’ Shane got ol’ buddy-buddy —- - ugh, you exchanged my presence for him, didn’t you? Gross. " It was a harmless joke —- - and the thing is, Jess didn’t know about Rick being in a coma. Jess didn’t know that Shane and Lori hooked up and now, both of them are in deep shit. Jess didn’t know that Rick was going to have a baby that may or may not even be his. Basically, Jessica Grimes had missed a lot of details, and as soon as her feet carried her next to her brother, only the present mattered the most.
Lori crossed his mind; how was he going to tell her that her best friend was dead? That she had given birth to Judith and bled out in the process? That there was no grave, no body for her to mourn over - she was nothing but a memory now. Jess was the main reason he’d met Lori, had fallen in love with her and had gone back for her - if it weren’t for his sister, he would never have met the woman he loved. He wouldn’t tell her, not until they were safe behind the prison walls - it wouldn’t be right to tell her in the middle of a constant war. It takes a while for him to adjust to the fact that his sister is alive and standing directly next to him, that he’d found her after everything. For the first time in a while, he truly believes f a t e is real.
Jess had kept to her promise. She’d discovered him again and kept to her word. Hearing that she remembered that promise, he smiled. Protecting her had been his life mission when he had been young, when she’d been picked on by the other kids in her class. Time passed and he forgot about that promise, he’d been too busy focusing on keeping his family safe. It was mainly because his sister had never been around when they’d grown up, he’d forgotten because she had forgotten about him. ❝ Well, you kept your word. I’ll give you that. ❞
The mild joke about Shane crushed him, turned his stomach. He killed that man, he drove a knife into his best friend’s chest and killed him. He lowered his head, hoping, praying that she wouldn’t mention him again - the subject was still so fragile and he couldn’t even laugh about the good moments because they always made him feel so Goddamn guilty - his best friend had been under the facade he’d worn when he’d died. ❝ For a while, yeah, ❞ he didn’t drop the details, he didn’t let her know that he was the reason Shane was dead, he just allowed her to know that he was no longer. His feet carried him away from the spot they had reunited and towards the place they were able to call home.
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