I don't own The Walking Dead and I don't own its characters. As a matter of fact… I don't own anything, except this little fantasy. Truth is, I've been wanting to write a different ending to the season 3 finale concerning Milton and Andrea for a very long time. So here it is! Or at least a part of it for the time being.

At first I meant for this story to be only one chapter, but while writing it I got the feeling that it would be too long, so I'm going to cut it up a bit. No idea how many chapters I'll eventually write.

Please note that English isn't my mother tongue and that I make mistakes. Hopefully it won't take away from the overall experience, but I'm always open to constructive criticism.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

She had been slipping in and out of consciousness, though for how long already, she didn't know. He had been particularly brutal with her, knocking her out first so he could tie her up and put her in the back of his truck without too much trouble. Her body was aching from how she had been forced to stay still with no room to stretch her limbs. It was downright frustrating how he had managed to get her back into Woodbury without anyone noticing or even being suspicious. He had looked horrible, she knew that much, and still nobody was asking any questions on what he might have been doing outside? Or were they all just too scared to question him? Scared that he might doubt their loyalty to him and make them pay for it…

Right now she couldn't believe how she had ever fallen for a man like Philip. She should have realized what he was way earlier, Michonne had seen it, so why hadn't she? Looking back at it now, the signs had been there from the start. But he was charming, smart, strong and had managed to build what seemed like the only safe place on earth. He had seemed like such a capable leader and in a way, he was, but life had taken its toll on him. The (second) death of his daughter had been the last straw and seeing him in so much pain, being unable to help, was what had made her forgive his more than questionable decisions and deeds. She had been through it herself and she knew what it could do to a person. Losing the people you love can destroy you from the inside out and everyone deals with it in different ways. Her way had been to want to end her own life, Philip's was to end other lifes.

But she had healed from that, or at least partially and deep down she had hoped that she could be the person to help Philip heal. So that he could be the warm, caring man again he once had been. Such a naïve thought, looking back at it now. She was so angry at herself right now for letting everything slip out of control, refusing to admit that Philip wasn't to be saved anymore. Yet, on the other side, she knew she couldn't blame herself for wanting to help a man who wasn't inherently bad. He hadn't been like this before the apocalypse… All she had ever wanted was to save everyone, including Philip, but she was too late to realize that Philip was long dead. He died along with his daughter and what remained of him was a corpse, not looking to eat, but to kill, destroy and inflict pain on others. That was the Governor. Not Philip.

It was the sound of footsteps coming closer to the room where she was being held captive that made her snap out of her musings. Heart beating faster and breathing accelerating just from the mere thought it was the Governor having come back to do whatever he pleased to her. Was he going to kill her? Hurt her first and then kill her? Or was there a spark of Philip left inside the corpse and would he decide to let her live? Keys making contact with the door made her sit perfectly upright in the dentist chair as if she would be able to jump out of it if needed, which unfortunately was impossible. She had tried to free herself on a constant basis, but all she had managed to do was make her wrists bleed from the hand cuffs.

When the door opened and she saw the man stepping inside, her heart skipped a beat, for it wasn't the Governor but Milton. And for a brief moment in which they watched each other, she didn't know whether to be relieved or not. Had he come to release her, or had he been on the Governor's side all along? She didn't make a noise and waited while he took a step back to check if no one had followed him. He then rushed inside the room, muttering something that sounded like "shit" and knelt down in front of her. Noticing the tape covering her mouth, he hesitated for a moment before deciding to just get it over with and removed it from her mouth with one swift pull. Immediately, Andrea started coughing from the sudden pain and the need for air that she had lacked for quite a few hours now.

"Shh…!", Milton urged her to try and keep it quiet, while she gasped for air and allowed herself to believe that Milton had indeed come to release her.

"Milton… how did you…? How did you…?", Andrea questioned while Milton revealed a pair of pliers and set work on trying to free her.

"I suspected that the Governor had either killed you or taken you back here when I saw his appearance. He's always thought I was incapable of detecting lies just because I can't lie myself.", Milton explained, keeping his voice low. Andrea watched him attentively while he worked on freeing her and fortunately, it didn't take him too long to do so. Right when she saw the second chain succumbing to the pressure of the pliers she stood up from the chair and wrapped her arms around Milton's waist in an intense hug. "Thank you, thank you…" She knew what he was risking for her.

Milton, unsure of what was happening to him and how he should respond to this act of gratefulness, didn't dare to return the hug and just stood there with his own arms slightly raised. "We… we need to get you out of here.", he spoke up after a few seconds and Andrea let go of him, looking ready for action.

"Alright, you have a plan?", she asked, sounding as if she could take on anything. What needed to be done, needed to be done. There was no time for hesitating about anything now.

"We sneak into my apartment and from there, we can easily make a bridge between one of the windows and the town's wall. I hid a car in the woods that I'll explain how to find later and from there you can escape quickly to the prison and warn your friends.", Milton explained while the two of them made their way out of the torture chamber, through a few corridors and finally into Milton's now familiar lab.

It was then that it hit Andrea. "What do you mean 'you can escape quickly'? You're coming with me Milton Mamet, I'm not taking a 'no' as an answer this time."

"I can't leave…", Milton responded sounding troubled, but he hadn't changed his mind since their last conversation. He simply couldn't leave Woodbury, he couldn't… Andrea couldn't understand how difficult it was for him to leave a place that he knew behind for an uncertain future. No one understood, but this was the way he was. She would have to accept it.

"Of course you can leave!", Andrea responded, getting impatient now. Why couldn't Milton see that there was no future in Woodbury, not for him, not for anyone? "Don't you realize what he might do to you if he finds out that you helped me escape? And I won't live with the guilt if you-"

At that moment, they heard the Governor's voice outside the lab talking to one of the soldiers and giving orders concerning the town's safety for the night and the preparations for the war the next day. They heard his hand starting to turn the door knot.

"Quick, hide!"