The final chapter is finally here. Once again, I'd like to apologize for making you wait so long between chapters on several different occasions. With my life becoming hectic and my disappointment in season 6 of The Walking Dead, it became very difficult for me to keep this story updated in a timely fashion. Hopefully giving you the final five chapters all at once makes up for that a little. (If you've noticed this story has been updated and you've gone straight to the last chapter, note that I just uploaded five all at once. Chapter 9 is the first new one I uploaded today.)

Once again, so sorry for all the waiting. Here's the conclusion. I hope you like it:

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Chapter 13

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"I'm driving," Daryl demanded as soon as they reached the car. "And we're not playing any music. At all."

Rick looked in the other man's direction and smiled. "Fine by me," He tossed Daryl the keys and looked toward Jesus. "I'll ride in back with you," he offered before the younger man could request otherwise. By now, it seemed Jesus wasn't going to try anything more. He seemed to be going along with them willingly at this point and no longer seemed to be concealing any ulterior agenda. Even so, Rick knew better than to trust anyone he'd known for less than a day. He also wanted to keep an eye on the younger man's physical condition, as Paul seemed exhausted and didn't look like he felt well at all.

He'd been keeping an eye on their new acquaintance ever since they left the house. The young man had seemed a bit out of it through the entire trek, and had only seemed to get worse the longer they walked. Of course, that was to be expected after what he'd been through, but Rick still wanted to be aware of any change in the man's condition, if for no other reason than to inform Denise once they got back to Alexandria. The doctor would need to know as much as possible in order to properly treat Jesus's injuries.

Paul did not argue with Rick's suggestion. He carefully climbed into the back of the car and leaned back against the seat as though it was the first time in days that he'd felt even a hint of relaxation.

Rick took his place in the back next to him as Daryl seated himself up front and started the car.

Daryl breathed out a sigh as soon as the car started, "I half-expected the damn thing not to start. After the fuckin' day we've had, it wouldn't of surprised me."

Rick offered a tired chuckle, "Me either."

"It's a long ride back," Daryl spoke. "Let's hope it won't be eventful."

Rick nodded and looked over toward Jesus, whose eyes were closed as he leaned back against the seat's head rest. "You doin' okay, Paul?" he asked.

The younger man nodded slightly, but didn't speak. He likely felt awful.

Rick scooted over toward Paul. "I'm gonna have a look at your shoulder," he said. Paul didn't protest or even make any indication that he'd heard the other man. "Is that okay?" Rick asked, not wanting to start pulling at the other man's clothes and potentially upsetting the injury without Paul being made aware first.

"Mm hm," Jesus answered with a nearly silent mumble.

Rick frowned and pulled back the younger man's jacket and vest, moving the towel away a bit so he could see the injury. "Bleeding's slowed down," he noted, though the towel was pretty much soaked with blood. He replaced the towel and adjusted the gauze so that it was still firmly held in place. "Could you lean forward a bit?" He requested.

Jesus complied, leaning forward slightly. Rick put his hand carefully on Jesus's chest and noted that the other man was leaning against it pretty heavily. He was clearly exhausted and ready to get some much-needed rest. It seemed like he was half asleep already.

Rick pulled the towel away from Paul's skin and examined the exit wound. The blood was no longer gushing from that wound either, fortunately. He replaced the towel and pushed Jesus gently back against the seat again.

"We still gotta go look for supplies later this week," Daryl noted from up front. "To make up for this mess. We'll drive in the other direction next time."

"Yeah," Rick agreed. Their run had been pretty unsuccessful this time, so they'd certainly need to go again to make up for it.

"Not before I sleep for sixteen hours straight once we get back though," Daryl grumbled.

"If you get tired up there, let me know and I'll take over," Rick offered. The drive back to Alexandria would take several hours, and naturally everyone in the car was exhausted by this point. It was nearing sunrise and none of them had slept, aside for Jesus, who only managed to get any rest due to being knocked unconscious. Rick wasn't sure if that could really count as sleep, and he was fairly sure a lot of Jesus's lying around as though passed out had been an act anyway. The fact that the younger man had lost so much blood and had been beaten quite harshly kind of canceled out the fact that he may have gotten a few hours of blissful unconsciousness too.

"Denise is gonna be annoyed with me," Daryl guessed. "Bringin' her back this guy instead of any of the supplies she asked for."

"She likes helping people," Rick disagreed. "She won't mind. And she'll understand about the supplies. We can always go out again. Some days are lucky; some aren't. She understands that."

"She told me to look for soda," Daryl remembered. "She called it 'pop.' Some Ohio slang, I guess. Said Tara liked it and wanted it to be surprise for her."

"Well, soda's not exactly uncommon," Rick shrugged. "We'll find more." He looked over toward Paul who was slumped over in the seat across from him. The younger man wasn't contributing to the conversation and seemed to have perhaps fallen asleep.

"Yeah," Daryl sighed and drove onward.

Rick frowned as he observed Jesus. He was very still and wore a subtle frown on his face. "You awake," Rick spoke in a low voice, touching the man's chest lightly.

When Jesus didn't respond, Rick reached up carefully toward the man's throat, to check his pulse. He was no medical professional, of course, but was relieved to find that the younger man's pulse seemed strong enough.

"He doin' okay?" Daryl wondered.

Rick looked up in time to see Daryl glancing at him through the rear-view mirror. "I think he's fine," Rick assured the other man. "Just exhausted. Nothing Dr. Cloyd can't handle."

"I really meant it when I said he wasn't our problem," Daryl noted, likely sensing that he was beginning to appear as though he cared about this man's well-being. "Whether he deserved what those guys were dishing out or not, we risked our lives for him. There's no doubt about that. We could have both died, trying to save a stranger who stole from us."

"It was the right thing to do, Daryl," Rick reminded him. "And I know you feel that way too. Everybody deserves a chance."

"You didn't always think like that," Daryl glanced at the mirror again. "And it kept our group safe."

"Yeah," Rick hesitated. "And it got other people killed. The world's gonna be a pretty dark place if no one will risk helping anyone else. Back when all this started, when I was on my own, backed into a corner, Glenn took a chance on me. He risked his life to save mine. Hershel let us into his home, let us stay even when he wanted us out. The people of Alexandria welcomed us all in, and I'll be honest," Rick offered a slight laugh. "We did not look great. I'm not sure if I would have been as trusting as they were considering how we all were back then. I owe it to world to pay that same respect to others, and to give people a chance."

"We gave Terminus a chance," Daryl recalled.

"I'm starting to feel like it might just be worth the risk to help who we can," Rick continued. "Not everyone is like they were. We trusted Michonne, Tyreese, Sasha... Abraham, Rosita and Eugene... Gabriel... Noah... Those were all a risk too, but we took a chance. We risked it, gave them a chance, even a second chance, and I'm glad we did. It's easy to turn people away, to play it safe and only watch out for yourself. It even sometimes feels like it comes natural, but I don't want to be that person, and I don't want you to be that person. We're both better than that."

"I ain't," Daryl scoffed.

"Yes you are," Rick disagreed. "You wouldn't have left him back there. Not when you saw those guys hurting him."

Daryl shrugged but didn't deny Rick's words.

"There's more to his story than the first impression he showed us," Rick reasoned. "He comes from a larger group, and he seems harmless enough. If we can work something out between our two groups, we'll be twice as strong."

"Or twice as screwed," Daryl countered. "We don't know him, and we sure as hell don't know his group."

"He had more than a few chances to kill us," Rick spoke in Jesus's defense. "He stole your gun without you even noticing, and he stole the truck's keys from me without me noticing," Rick reached over and felt the pocket's on Jesus's vest, pulling the truck's key out and tossing it on the front passenger seat. "Twice," he added. "He could have disarmed us and shot us before either of us ever knew what was happening."

Daryl shrugged again. "Guess we're stuck with him now."

Rick smiled and glanced over toward Jesus again. He was eager to get the man back to Alexandria and to have Denise patch him up. Once he was feeling well, they could talk to him, learn more about his community, and potentially expand the ever-growing new world. The small, bleak world they knew was becoming larger and more promising every day. For the first time in a while, Rick actually felt hopeful.

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THE END

Of course, you know what happens next - or at least, you will if you've kept up with watching the show. I've sort of purposefully led this story so that it kind of ends in the same place episode 6x10 ends. So this story pretty much fits in continuity-wise with the rest of the show if you just replace half of episode 6x10 with it. The only big change is that Rick and Daryl aren't as skeptical of Jesus by the end of my version.

I just loved the scenes with Rick, Daryl, and Jesus so much in Jesus's first episode, so I couldn't resist writing a whole story just full of them, only with a bit more drama, of course. Once again, I wrote this whole story after watching episode 6x10. I proof-read, edit, and post my chapters a lot slower than I write, so I'm sure the whole season will be over and horrible, heartbreaking things will have happened on the show already by the time I publish this final chapter. Just for reference, I'm finishing up writing this on February 27th, 2016. So if anything too terribly contradictory to this story happens on the show after 6x10, it's not my obligation to have referenced it in this story.

Thanks for reading. :)