I liked the Deanna character actually. This is how I think she would have reacted, in general, if someone had given her a swift kick in the ****. Of course it's over the top. It's probably the only thing, aside from aliens, that would have moved her
Glenn heard the sound of a safety being snicked off and he stopped punching Nicholas. Nicholas punched him in the face before the gun was rammed into his stomach. Glenn saw a person, he couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, jerk the gun toward the wall. Nicholas heaved into the ground until the gun lifted his head up.
"Get the fuck up," the figure growled. Nicholas got to his feet and stumbled, Glenn a little behind him. He was looking around trying to figure a way out.
"Don't," the figure said again. "We're not here to hurt you."
Glenn continued walking. They got to the gate and it was open. The figure pushed the two of them inside and locked it. Another figure came out of the darkness and padlocked it shut. They were directed to where the meeting was supposed to take place but Glenn didn't hear anything. When they were pushed to the others Glenn saw why. Everyone was on their faces surrounded by three people, dressed in black with masks, holding automatic weapons. He heard some of the women of Alexandria crying. Deana looked frightened and mad. Glenn was motioned over to a chair and Nicholas was pushed on the ground. The figure took its mask off and he saw it was a man.
All of the others took their masks off and he saw two women and two men. "We want to help you, so can our doctor check you over?" the man said in a British accent.
Glenn looked at Rick and he looked pissed. One of the women walked and stood over him. "Fuck face," she said to him. "We're not going to hurt him. Get the fuck over yourself and go back to thinking about the fat blonde." The rest of the group laughed.
"Knock it off, Cia," the British guy choked out. He turned back to Glenn. "We're not going to hurt you. We wanted to recruit you, but this clusterfuck needs all the help it can get. We watched you on that run today. We're sorry about the other guy and the dark haired girl. Cia thinks you have grit, whatever that is, she likes you. She wouldn't let anyone hurt you."
Cia was standing over Rick, gun pointed at the back of his head. She shrugged her shoulders. "I always wanted a little brother," she said sheepishly. She was a white woman with dark brown hair to her shoulders and looked slim. The light wasn't the best so he couldn't tell.
"I apologize that I couldn't get a clear shot to shoot that guy in the head," Cia pointed to Nicholas, "so you and the other guy could get out. The fat fuck kept moving," she sneered in Nicholas' direction.
Before anyone could say anything else, Eric was being carried in by a man and a woman. They put him on the ground and took up positions between the others.
"Who runs this place?" Another man asked. He was tan, spoke with an accent, had brown hair and looked comfortable with this weapon.
"I do," Deanna said from the ground. "I do. I demand that you let all of us go."
Eric gasped fairly loudly drawing everyone's attention. The guy standing next to the British guy looked at him. He started speaking in another language then all eyes swiveled between him and Eric.
"This is Seal," the British guy pointed to the Native. The Native was tall, short black hair and tan skin.
"Eric. Good to see that you made it," Seal nodded his head.
"Seal?" Eric let out a surprised laugh. "Uh, you, too." Eric looked around and saw Daryl and Aaron on the ground with another man. He pointed to Aaron. "That's my partner, Aaron."
Aaron shot him a look. The group talked for a few minutes in another language then the British guy said he could get up. Aaron was up like a shot and over at Eric's side. The two men hugged and kissed.
The British guy turned back to Glenn. "So, our doctor can take a look at you. As I said, Cia likes you, so nothing would happen. And Eric knows Seal, a little."
"You can trust him, Glenn," Eric pointed to Seal.
"Nah, I'll be okay," he said.
"If you're sure," Cia looked at him.
"I'll be fine."
She stepped back from Rick.
The British guy held out a phone that looked weird. "This is a satphone. Satellite phone. If you change your mind just press 1. It's the only one on that frequency. We give that out to potential recruits, if they want to join our community. Normally we don't poach. We were going to see if your community would be interested in a trade deal."
"When we saw the van leave today with the music blasting that put the kibosh on that, because what dumb motherfucker blasts music?" Cia scoffed. "We wanted to see what kind of dumbasses we would have been dealing with. We saw some of what happened. The end when fat fuck over there," she pointed to Nicholas, "ran out the front of that store. To a parking lot filled with zombies then tried to get back in, dropped his gun. Asshole. Didn't phase his dumb ass that you and that other guy were stuck in the other side. Nope, just kept right on going. Didn't give two shits about you. We just decided to see it play out. If the fat fuck had made the bad haircut guy leave, with the injured dark haired girl, I would have gutted him, but you showed up."
"Since it looked like the management of your group wouldn't take care of the people we decided to recruit you. When we realized you were coming back to this place, well, we just watched. Made sure you were alright," Seal continued.
"This guy," another woman with blond hair strolled over, pointing her gun in Rick's direction, "I'm Zi," she introduced herself. She had an accent that Glenn didn't recognize.
"He did make us laugh," she trilled. "Fighting over the fat blonde."
Another man with brown hair stood beside the blond. "We try not to interfere in the running of communities," he relayed to Glenn with no accent. "But when we saw those two," he pointed at Rick and Pete, "we almost took them down. We have enough problems. Don't need to be hitting your wife and kids. I'm SS 1, by the way."
"Drop them," the British guy said into a radio. "The rest of you can get up. We don't care. Please, we don't want to hurt you, so just go on about your business. Once we explain ourselves to this man," he pointed at Glenn, "we'll leave."
"Yeah, nothing here. But," Cia paused. "Maybe we could work out a deal? Person in charge?" she asked Deanna.
Deanna stood up. "I'm not interested in any deals," she declared.
Cia shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we'd like to wire this place with cameras. Best fucking reality TV we've seen." She pointed at Rick, who stood with his gun out and pointed at them. "Especially this guy. Man, he looks like he can fight."
The other tan guy laughed. "Yes, probably not against one of us, but fighting for fat blondes? Yes, he can do that." He turned to Glenn. "I'm Sad."
Another woman with red hair walked over. "I'm SS 2."
Eric limped over holding onto Aaron. "You know who we are. This is Glenn. The guy that fights for fat blondes is Rick. The 'management' is Deanna Monroe. Thought I'd give you the rundown," he blurted out. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"
Maggie burst back through the gate, followed by Carol and Sasha, holding weapons. "Get out of here. Now," Maggie yelled.
Cia pointed up. Lights went on. "Drones, dumbass, outfitted with bombs. Put those fucking guns on the ground, ladies, or we'll drop them."
When they didn't do it fast enough, Cia ordered one to drop a bomb over the wall. When everyone picked themselves back up the guns stayed on the ground.
"See, we're not here to hurt you. Just make sure that this guy made it back," the British guy said. "I'm Mi, Glenn."
"How did you get a drone?" Deanna ran over to them. "That's government property," she spit out.
"Is it? What the fuck? We did not know that. Oh fuck. We are in trouble now," she sing songed in a sarcastic voice. "Run along, little girl. We don't have time for your bullshit."
An older man with glasses stepped over and grabbed Deanna by the shoulders. "There's no call for that," he protested. "She used to be a congresswoman."
Seal groaned. "Fuck, we were hoping all you leeches died."
Cia snorted. "Yeah, first time we've run across one of you," she derided.
"I understand now," the woman with the accent said, "why Glenn was almost killed."
Eric looked at the assembled people, the Alexandrians and Seal's group. "Dinner?" he squeaked.
"Eric," Aaron groaned out.
"I haven't seen Seal since my first time to Sierra Leone," Eric stared at Aaron. Aaron stood up straight.
"Really? This is one of the…"
Eric cut him off. "Yes," he said in a hard voice.
Aaron seconded the invitation. "We don't have much. Please. Stay. Eat with us."
The group talked amongst themselves the Alexandrians going to their houses except for the prison group, Deanna and Reg. They stood around and watched.
"What the hell is this?" Daryl asked Rick. "And you're fightin' for a fat blonde?"
"I'm not fightin' for her. Pete's been abusing her," Rick retorted.
"And Michonne couldn't have helped you? You're fightin' in the street and Michonne has to knock you out?" Maggie hissed. "It looked like you were fightin' for her. To take her away from Pete."
Glenn slowly walked over to the group. "What Cia said?" He made sure to include Deanna, "was true. I know you interviewed Nicholas, you would trust his word over mine. He was friends with Aiden. He's been here longer. In spite of Rick fighting to take Jessie away from Pete, we're a good group. And you need us."
"We'll get Pete to move out permanently, away from Jessie. She can move in with Rick," Michonne offered. "I'll move out."
"That's a good plan, Deanna. Now that Rick's emotionally invested in one of the first residents here, you'll be able to trust him," Carol nodded her head in Rick's direction.
"Now that the cards are on the table," Sasha interrupted. "You need to get out of your bubble. This is the first group that we've run across with this kind of technology. Who else has it? Not just this, but sheer numbers, more weapons? That's not including the Walkers."
"I wasn't fightin'," Rick tried to interrupt before Carol spoke over him.
"Yes, he was. The kiss on the cheek at the party, going over to her house. It was all platonic. When he found out that Pete was hitting Jessie he came to you. He took your indecision to do anything about the situation and yes, he made a mess of it, but he wanted to do what was right. That's all he's ever wanted to do. Protect those he cares about."
"And he does care," Michonne added. "Rick would never let someone he didn't feel comfortable with behind him with a potential weapon."
"What?" Rick yelled in shock.
"She cut your hair, Rick. You remember? The first day we were here. I thought was weird that you'd let someone you don't know behind you with scissors, but there must have been something there," Glenn pointed out.
"Congresswoman Deanna," Cia called out. "We're staying for dinner. With our weapons. We couldn't give two rat fucks about a trade deal or anything else you think you have. We have more and better," she pointed to the drones.
"We'll leave in a few hours. We're pulling our vehicle inside. No one is to go near it. We've booby-trapped it," Seal waved his hand as the group, along with Aaron, holding a limping Eric, left.
"They have no respect for us," Deanna hissed out.
"No, they don't," Sasha agreed, glaring at Deanna. "Why should they? They were able to get in here, hold us hostage. They could have dropped that bomb inside. They didn't." Sasha turned to Glenn. "You should go with them. Find out what kind of community they have."
"Go, Glenn," Maggie encouraged him. "I'll come with you. We need information about other groups or communities that are out there."
"Daryl and I will watch Pete in the house we put him in. We can get Jessie and her kids moved into Rick's tomorrow," Michonne told Deana then turned to Rick. "Daryl and I will move into another house that's close. It'll be a tight fit, Judith will have to stay in your and Jessie's room."
"I…stop," he yelled. Carol talked over him again.
"We'll get him home, Deanna. You should talk to the community tomorrow. Explain what happened. It won't happen again. We'll have to watch Pete, make sure he doesn't start any trouble. Like he did tonight," she reminded her of Pete holding Michonne's katana. If those people hadn't burst in the door like they had Reg would have been dead.
Carol dragged Rick out of the meeting area and down toward his house. "Not exactly what we planned, but we can make this work. Good thing those people showed up tonight, Rick. They've bolstered our case. And Jessie moving in with you makes it stronger. We can get them to listen to us. It's too bad about Michonne, but she'll find someone else."
Rick stopped in the street. "What do you mean it's too bad about Michonne?"
"She was starting to have feelings for you, Rick. You were too damn blind to see it. And everyone knows that you love her. This bullshit with Jessie, I don't get, but whatever works for you."
"She what?"
Carol looked at him like he was a moron. "She was starting to have feelings for you, Rick. The hair cutting thing gave her pause, the cheek kiss really dampened them down, but you going over to Jessie's house finally killed them. She'll follow your lead because she respects you as a leader. But romantically? Forget it. Jessie's who you really want. I'm not sure why you think Michonne would be better for you. She can protect herself. You need someone that depends on you. That hero complex you have." Carol started dragging him back to his house. They walked in and saw Carl sitting on the sofa with Judith.
"How was the meeting?" Carl asked quietly.
"Different. Good news, though. I think we'll be staying. More good news, Jessie and her kids will be moving in. I know it's a little fast, but your dad knows that tomorrow may never come. Michonne's moving in with Daryl."
"What?" Carl jumped up, startling Judith, who promptly started crying. Carol walked over and took her.
"You and your dad should talk, Carl. I know this is sudden but the community gossip wasn't wrong about your dad and Jessie." Carol held up her hand when Carl was going to say something. "I know Michonne told you to never listen to gossip. She's right, usually, but in this case she was wrong. Even she didn't know how far your dad and Jessie were involved." Carol crooned to Judith as she went up the stairs, throwing a look at Rick before she disappeared from view.
"Michonne's moving out? Dad, what the hell?" Carl yelled at him.
"Carl," Rick warned.
"What, Dad? Are you going to ground me? Ron's going to be my stepbrother? He hates me. He thinks you broke up his parent's marriage. You going around there all the time. Kissing her on the cheek at the party." his voice got louder. "You didn't even know her and you let her give you a haircut?"
Rick flopped on the sofa wondering how he fucked up his life so bad. Carol was right. He didn't see that Michonne had feelings for him. He loved her.
"Carl, things got a little out of hand the past few days," Rick started to explain.
"Really, Dad? Like fighting for Jessie in the middle of the street?"
"I wasn't fighting for her," Rick yelled at his son.
"You pushed me away when I tried to stop you from beating Pete up. Looked like it to me," Carl snarled. "And to everyone else that saw it."
Rick dropped his head in his hands. They wouldn't have to worry about taking over Alexandria. Those people helped with that and they didn't even know it. He looked up at his son, who was glaring at him.
"I'm staying with Michonne," he told Rick. "At least she can protect people. What can Jessie do? Besides get my dad in bed with her."
"Carl, that's enough," Rick yelled.
"Shane did this same thing to you and you killed him for it. What makes you any better?" Carl yelled back then stomped up the stairs.
Rick groaned.
Maggie and Glenn showed up at Deanna's house early the next morning. Reg let them in and offered coffee. "So, how was the dinner?" he asked as Deanna came into the room with her own cup.
"It was fine. Those people are actually nice when you get to know them," Maggie replied. "And I think we should try and get some sort of trade deal with them if not move there ourselves."
"What?" Deanna asked angrily. "We brought you in here, are giving you a chance, and in spite of Rick pulling his white knight act in front of the entire community."
Glenn sat forward. "Those people? Cia, Seal, Mi, Zi, SS1, SS2 and Sad?" Reg and Deanna nodded their heads. "They're all some sort of former agent or special forces. Cia used to be a field agent for the CIA. Seal was a Navy Seal, Mi from MI-5, SS1 and SS2, secret service. Sad used to be in the Mossad. Which I had no clue who they were until they told me."
"Zi used to be an agent for the Stazi. Do you know who they are?" Maggie looked at Reg and Deanna.
"Russian, right?" Reg answered.
"Yes, Russian Intelligence."
Reg and Deanna sat back in their chairs. Maggie continued. "They have 2 more Secret Service agents, three FBI agents, two Delta Force and four Force Recon soldiers or whatever they're called. Cia, real name is Angel," Glenn cut Maggie off.
"It's not her real name. It's her file name from the CIA."
Maggie waved that away. "Angel and her partner started their community. They have tenured professors from Yale and Harvard. Electrical, chemical and mechanical engineers. Doctors, nurses."
"They have former fast food workers, welders, software engineers and programmers, construction people, teachers, garbage men. Angel and her partner, Reaper, who's in charge of defense of the community, made a concerted effort to look for people in specialized professions," Glenn continued, "but even if they weren't others were accepted."
"They have around four hundred residents. They have cellphones. Electric, solar and hydro powered, waste and water treatment," Maggie concluded.
Deanna choked out a small laugh. "No wonder they said they weren't interested in anything we have."
"Why did they want a trade deal? Doesn't sound like they need us." Reg asked Glenn and Maggie.
"They don't. Angel and Reaper knew this was going to be bad. After they set up the community they started looking for trading partners. For the partners. Not for the community," Glenn stated.
"What?" Deanna leaned forward.
"They're trying to restart civilization, Deanna," Maggie pointed her finger at her. "Like you, but on a bigger scale. If they can trade for something they don't have they'll do the trade, but mostly it's for the trading partners."
Glenn took a sip of coffee. "We know it's true because they had a laptop and we talked with the person in charge of the committee that runs the community. Former head of Yale. And we were able to look him up. On the internet."
"Angel's still trying to recruit Glenn," Maggie said, "not hard, she feels bad for him, but more as a 'if you change your mind' type thing. That's what she told him. In front of Eric, Aaron and myself. Eric talked them into staying the night. They're still here. We walked by their RV. If you want to try and talk to them you should do it now," Maggie advised.
"That woman, those people, they said horrible things about Aiden. Threatening to kill Nicholas, blowing us up? Why should I?" Deanna ground out.
"Because what Aiden did was wrong. You don't go on a run blasting music," Glenn retorted. "You might as well ring the dinner bell for the Walkers. And, well," Glenn sunk a little in his seat, "Maggie, Carol and Sasha did point guns at them."
Maggie took a deep breath. "Deanna, Angel is crude, she admits it. She doesn't deal with stupidity very well. None of them do. What Nicholas did at the store, he shouldn't have tried to save his own ass. She's right about that, too. When you go on a run it's a team. Yes, some members may die, but you try and make sure that everyone comes back alive."
Glenn sat up. "We came to you, Deanna, and told you all of this. We could have just told our group and left. We didn't."
Reg put his hand over Deanna's. "Maybe we should talk to them."
"Reg?" Deanna looked at her husband in shock.
"Yes, they said horrible things about Aiden. And Nicholas. And yes, they had bombs, but Glenn, Maggie, Sasha, Rick, Michonne, they've been out here. We've been in here." Reg sighed. "Last night, watching those people come over the walls that I'd built, that I thought were solid, showed me that we really don't know what's going on outside. It's why we wanted Rick and his group to stay. Help us."
"Sasha's right," Maggie interrupted. "How many more people are like them out there? Will they be as nice?"
"Before we got here," Glenn met Deanna's eyes, "we stopped at Noah's. We found burned houses, Walker bodies cut in half and 'W's carved in the bodies and on the outside of his community gates. That wasn't Walkers. Humans that did that."
Deanna deflated. She had tears in her eyes. "You're right. I know this," she whispered. "This is what I wanted to do."
Reg patted her hand. "I know, honey."