inxthexshadows:
Green eyes shifted as she swallowed back a lump in her throat as it burned. The tip of her nose turned red as she fought back her tears. Rick was right, she knew he was- and that fact pounded through her skull. She didn’t want to die, certainly not at the hands of her own husband- and she didn’t want her children to die, or to be hurt in any capacity.
But, this was hard– and she hated that she felt so cowardly, but those were the facts; Jessie knew there was no easy way out of this.
She turned to look at the stairway- she knew Sam liked to lurk there sometimes, the boy didn’t need to be hearing this- he was already such a nervous child.
“What do I do Rick? I can’t kill him- I–” She had never thought about harming anyone before. Not even in this new world.
A memory of a certain time flashes through his mind. The Greene farm. The way Shane had gone savage crazy and wanted to kill him, take over and have his family for himself. Rick couldn’t just stand by and let that happen. He remembers what it was like to kill Shane, having to do it for the safety of his family and for the simple act of self-defense.
What do I do?
He doesn’t want to answer that. He can feel his heart race with adrenaline just from the thought of wanting Pete dead...just from the vision of killing the man himself.
The truth was, he didn’t have a reasonable answer for her. Hell, his answer would’ve been to let him do it -- because that’s all he had wanted to do since he’d found out about the abuse.
At this point, he feels defeated, how can he outright blatantly tell her that he will kill him, that was making him no better than Shane. He reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose, his eyes closing as he tries to think of a reasonable answer. It’s not like they could get a divorce or some kind of separation here in the community...
And then, he realizes what the humane thing would be to do. Dropping his hand, he reaches for her shoulder.
“I can have him moved,” he looks into her green eyes. “We can set him up in one of those empty houses for now until Deanna gives some kind of structure.” His hand slips away from her shoulder, but even so, he keeps his voice low. “Jessie, this will work. He’s a danger to you and your boys. You have to see that.“

















