She remembered the first time he said it to her.

Not 'I love you'- that was her idea. He'd been terrified to say it, and it took some time for him to say that he also loved her...but she had never doubted that he meant every word, every single time he said it. More often than not, he became the one to initiate the sentiment.

Maggie was at the farm, just laying around under the tree she'd planted when she was five years old with her daddy...closing her eyes there on the porch of her new home at Alexandria, it didn't take Maggie much to be transported to a very different time in her life.

Maggie had been thinking, just taking everything that had been going on around her in. She had known her daddy didn't really like Rick, or Glenn for that matter...none of the new people living with them for the moment.

She didn't understand it...true, she'd been really sheltered from the outside world, but something about Rick and his friends just resonated with her...they stood for something, for survival...and that made sense to her in a way that even none of her daddy's Bible Studies ever had.

Closing her eyes, and nearly drifting asleep, Maggie was startled by the feel of skin on the top of her head...Glenn had approached her from behind and kissed her forehead, and then he presented her with a handful of dandelions.

"Glenn! You scared me," she laughed as she gladly accepted his gesture of affection.

"Happy Birthday."

A bemused Maggie turned to him, still smiling. "What are you talking about? It's not my birthday, silly," she laughed, her eyes lit up at the joy that new young brings to a girl.

"Yes it is. Again, Happy birthday, Maggie," Glenn returned the smile, kissing her affectionately on the cheek before turning around, clearly worrying about Hershel walking in on this moment.

"How do you know it's my birthday," she responded in her drawn out Georgia accent.

Glenn didn't even hesitate. "How do you know it isn't?"

Maggie shook her head, amazed at how sweet this boy could be. "You're crazy, you know that, don't you?"

"So I've been told."

Then Glenn walked over and sat beside his girlfriend, wrapped his arm around her and held hands. "I love you, you know that, right?"

"I'm beginning to see that," she settled in contently next to the warmth of his body. "But happy birthday, really?"

"Really. Today is your birthday. And so is tomorrow. And so is every day after that."

She looked at him. He knew she was confused, so he went on to explain. "Think about it. There are no guarantees about tomorrow. I'm here today but..."

Maggie put her finger over his lips. "Don't talk like that."

"All I'm saying, is up until we found this farm, until I found you...to tell you the truth there's not much even now to celebrate. Your father is gracious enough to let us stay here..."

Maggie shook her head. "You don't know my daddy. He's not as nice as you think. I don't think he wants you all here."

Glenn lifted her chin. "Your daddy is an amazing man. If I were half the man he was...I don't know that I'd have the courage to open up my childhood home to a group of strangers. He's a better man than I, than all of us, really. You really ought to respect your father, Maggie."

"But Glenn...he refers to you...never mind."

"Ssh. Don't disrespect your father, not when I'm around, and not even when I'm not around. Promise me that?"

She nodded, a bit confused.

He relaxed. "So anyways...with Sophia still missing and Carl being hurt and all that...they are children. They are innocent. It's just got me thinking...life is short. There are no guarantees. I can't promise you that I'll be around forever to protect you..."

Hurt, she turned away from him. "Don't talk like that. Nothing is going to happen to you."

"You don't..." but then wisdom prevailed, and Glenn, despite his inexperience with the opposite sex, knew enough to know that right now she needed comforting as opposed to a dose of reality. "You're right, Maggie. Every day I have with you is a wonderful day, a day worth celebrating. It sounds strange, but to me, if we have one thing, just one thing, to keep us going...even if it is something as cheesy as my telling you happy birthday every evening...then you know what, we can go to bed, knowing it's been a good day. Because we have each other. Because we found something here in this...this world...there's so much hatred. Let's not let the walkers kill the idea of love."

Maggie faced him, tears filling her eyes.. "I love you, Glenn. I don't want to ever lose you..."

"Don't.."

"Okay, you're right. I'm sorry." She smiled, wiping her eyes first. "Glenn?"

"Yes?"

"Happy Birthday."

He held her tight, and from that night onward, every single night, before they went to bed, they told each other they loved each other, and Happy Birthday.

They found that no matter what had happened that they, they were reminded that as long as they had each other, then they could get through any day.

And so, Maggie, after seeing Michonne and the crew come back from their mission, held on to hope. Glenn would come home, she knew it. He had to- he hadn't told her happy birthday yet.

He wouldn't...he couldn't...

Glenn was coming back to her.

He just had to.

Her daddy, Beth...

No, Glenn would never leave her.

He promised her.

And as the hours passed by, and various shades of color turned above her, then finally the brightness of the morning sun made one thing perfectly clear-

Glenn hadn't come back.

And he was not coming back.

And for the first time in a long, long, long time...she cried. Not just a few tears. She cried at the idea of God that her father had often preached, cried over her dad, Beth, her friends...

And now the day she was so terrified of coming was here.

That early morning, and for the rest of life, Maggie shed many, many tears for Glenn.

She had never known a world with someone like Glenn in it before they came to their farm. And now...never again could she face a world without him in it.

That was her world, and he left her.

There would be no happy birthdays that night, the next day...or, worst of all, ever, ever again.

The end