Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead. Any similarities in storyline or dialogue originated with the show.
Summary: Deanna and Reg's daughter, Mia, was hundreds of miles away from home when the apocalypse began. When she reaches the safe zone she learns that her parents and brothers have no idea what it's like on the outside. Will they be able to accept her as the person she's had to become in order to survive? And after spending every day since the outbreak fighting for her life, will she ever truly feel safe again? Lastly, what will she think about the group of survivors that arrived days before her? Or, better yet, what will they think of her? Rick/OC. Possible future Daryl/OC.
A/N: My OC's face-claim is Nina Dobrev.
Set during 5x12 "Remember"
I woke up, I was stuck in a dream
You were there, you were tearing up everything
And we all know how to fake it baby
And we all know what we've done
We must be killers
Children of the wild ones
Killers
Where we got left to run?
Killer
"We Must Be Killers" – Mikky Ekko
PROLOGUE
"Her name is Amelia."
Rick turned to face Deanna when he heard her speak from behind him. He raised an eyebrow impassively. "What?"
The older woman pursed her pink lips into a thin line as she lifted a hand to point at the picture Rick had been looking at. It was a family portrait she had gotten done just a year before the world ended and it turned out to be the last picture they took that included her entire family. "The girl you don't recognize; the one standing between Aiden and Spencer. Her name is Amelia."
Rick turned his gaze to the photo again, his attention honing in on the shortest of the group. From what Rick could see, there was nothing special about her. She had long hair that matched that of Deanna's sons and a pretty smile. Her slim physique told him that she probably wouldn't fare too well going up against more than one walker at a time. He glanced over his shoulder at Deanna, but she was still staring at the picture. "Who is she?"
"She's my daughter," she responded without paying Rick any attention. "She was only 19 years old there."
Rick felt an immediate pang of sympathy for Deanna. He had been told several times that the inhabitants of Alexandria had all lost something, but he didn't hold to much value to that statement. He thought their loss could never amount to his. Losing a child, though—Rick couldn't truly know what that felt like. He had felt the pain and grief when he thought Judith died, but he got her back in the end. He didn't know what it would have been like to lose his daughter for years and possibly forever.
"I'm sorry," he murmured as Deanna stepped up beside him. She took the framed photograph in her hands and lowered it from the bookshelf slowly, her gaze never parting from it.
"She was away at school—Harvard, actually—when the apocalypse hit," she explained quietly. "We managed to call her right before the power grid went dark, but she dropped the phone a few minutes in." Deanna traced her daughter's face lightly with her fingers. "We heard a few screams and then the line went dead. My husband and sons believe she's dead, but I think a part of me will always hope that she somehow finds her way back to us." She finally looked up at Rick, her expression serious and unmoving. "I wasn't lying when I said we've all lost something."
"You told her where you were—that you were here?" Rick questioned as he ran a hand over his beard before hooking his thumbs through his belt. He knew that Deanna must think there was a chance her daughter could have survived this long—and she could have, but being able to get from Massachusetts to Virginia on her own was highly unlikely. And if she told anyone else about Alexandria, they might have more to deal with than just a 20-something year old girl arriving at their gates.
"She knows we're in Alexandria," Deanna nodded.
"If she did come back, would you put her through this auditioning process? Or would you just let her, and whoever she might bring with her, inside without screening them first?"
He half-expected her to show some type of emotion—anger, sadness, grief—but instead she held her ground, holding her head high. "We interview everybody who wants to live here because that's the rules. I don't bend them for anyone, not even my family."
"And what if she's not the daughter you remember?" Rick probed as he held her gaze. "What if she's like us?"
"Then I hope she can bring the same knowledge and skills to the table that you and your people can," Deanna told him, lifting her chin confidently. "But I know my daughter. If she's still alive, I know she's only done what she's had to do to survive, nothing more."
"You'd be surprised to hear some of the things that people have to do in order to survive out there," Rick said as he gestured towards the walls outside the window.
"I'm sure that's true," Deanna nodded.
Rick took a deep breath and let it out slowly, keeping his blue eyes locked on the wall that separated them from the world of death on the outside. "What do want from us?"
"These families," Deanna started to say as she placed the photo back on the bookshelf, her gaze lingering on it for a few seconds before turning it on Rick. "These families should be able to raise their children in a safe environment. Your son, your daughter—they should have a place to grow up. What do I want?" She repeated his question as she stepped towards him. "I want you to help us survive. I know you can help us do that."
"How?" Rick asked, his voice hoarse and quiet.
"I am exceptionally good at reading people," she responded. "If I didn't win re-election, I was going to be a professional poker player." When Rick turned his face away, letting out a short sigh, Deanna narrowed her eyes daringly and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I'm not kidding."
Rick looked down at her as the next few seconds ticked by in silence. Deanna lifted her arm slightly and glanced down at her wristwatch. "Rick, it is 3:37 P.M. You're skeptical," she stated as fact as she shrugged her shoulders weakly. "You have a right to be. But it's time to decide—if you're the one doing the deciding."
Deanna gathered her hands behind her back as she waited for his response. But instead, he lifted his arm and pinched the turner on the side of his wristwatch, rolling it between his fingers until the time was set correctly. Rick pressed his lips together as he stared at the arms of his watch. He wanted, more than anything, to give his family a home and he was willing to do whatever it took to provide that; even if it meant pretending to embrace the safe-zone lifestyle.
"I was a sheriff," he told her.
"Yeah," Deanna whispered and Rick looked up at her. "I knew it was something like that."
Two Days Later...
"You three need new gigs," Aiden called out after Glenn, Noah, and Tara. "You're not ready for runs yet."
"Yeah," Glenn said without looking over his shoulder. "I'm pretty sure you got that backwards."
"Hey. Hey," Aiden warned as he caught up to Glenn, tapping him firmly on the back to get him to stop. "Look, we got a way of doing things around here."
"You tied up walkers," Glenn pointed out.
"He killed our friend!" Aiden exclaimed. He sighed as he stepped away from Glenn. "Look, I'm not having this conversation. You obey my orders out there."
"Well, then we're just as screwed as your last run crew," Glenn quipped.
"Say that again," Aiden dared as he stepped up to Glenn again, trying to look as intimidating as he could.
"Back off, Aiden," Tara warned right before he shoved Glenn lightly on the chest.
"Come on, man. Just take a step back," Noah said in an attempt to finish the argument before it really started.
"Come on, tough guy," Aiden jested as he shoved Glenn again.
Glenn stood his ground. "No one's impressed, man. Walk away."
"Aiden!" Deanna called out as she joined the group forming by the gate. "What is going on?"
"This guy has a problem with the way we do things," Aiden told his mother. He angled his shoulders so he could look back at her. "Why'd you let these people in?"
"Because we actually know what we're doing out there," Glenn responded for Deanna.
Aiden pursed his lips into a taught line before cocking his arm and swinging a tightened fist at Glenn. But Glenn was fast to react, ducking just low enough to avoid being hit. He straightened up a second later and landed a punch straight in the middle of Aiden's face, causing him to fall to the floor. Aiden's friend, Nicholas, reacted too. He jumped forward to take on Glenn, but Daryl rugby-tackled him to the ground before he could and pressed his hands around Nicholas' throat, choking him lightly.
Rick came running from outside the gate suddenly and went straight to Daryl, grabbing him around the shoulders. He didn't need to know why his friend had attacked the man that was now being choked because he trusted Daryl's instincts. But this was not the time to show their strength. They had to be patient for now.
"Let's not do this now," Rick whispered in Daryl's ear as he tried to lift him off Nicholas.
At the same time Aiden rose from the ground and began to walk towards Glenn. Michonne stepped in this time, sizing him up. "You want to end up on your ass again?"
Rick eventually managed to pry Daryl off Nicholas and push him back a few feet to let him try to calm down.
"I want everyone to hear me, okay?" Deanna shouted just loud enough so everyone who had gathered around the spectacle could hear. "Rick and his people are part of this community now—in all ways, as equals. Understood?!" She looked over at her son and raised an eyebrow.
"Understood," Aiden shrugged and smiled smugly.
"Deanna!" A man standing by the wall called out suddenly. "There's someone at the gate."
Everybody turned towards the safe-zone entrance, and the few that had weapons reached for them subconsciously. Deanna hurried over to the closed gate with Rick and a few others right behind her. The man who had been on guarding duty had his hand on the covered iron fence, waiting for instructions to open it.
"Did they say anything?" Rick asked as he reached the gate.
"Yeah," the man replied and his gaze fell on Deanna. "She said her name is Mia and that she's your daughter"
Rick's eyes widened slightly as he looked down at Deanna. She looked just as surprised as he did, but she gestured to the fence. "Open it."
Rick turned to the older woman, grabbing her arm lightly. "They could be lying. If your daughter told anyone about this place they could just be trying to get in and take it from—"
"I know it's her," Deana returned with more certainty than she felt and turned back to the man. She nodded once and he returned it, sliding the gate open.
Rick heard Deana let out a dry sob from beside him as he laid eyes on the same girl from the photograph in her living room. Except this was not the same girl he saw in that picture.
The girl he had seen in the picture was smiling, with her hair and make-up perfectly done, hugging her brothers—seemingly happy. She was young and unscathed there.
The young woman standing a few feet away from him was covered almost head-to-toe in a mixture of dirt and dried blood. Her hair was unkempt and tousled from the weather while the rest of her body was decorated with some noticeable scars, old and new. And instead of running to her mother or brother, who she hadn't seen in years, she stayed cemented in her spot outside the gate, holding a knife in one hand and a pistol in the other with a deadpan look in her eyes. It was at that moment Rick knew he had been right. This was not the same girl that Deanna and her husband had raised her to be. This was the survivor the apocalypse had turned her into.
The only question on Rick's mind was what had she done in order to survive this long?
*Welcome to my first Walking Dead fanfiction. I hope I did well enough with the canon characters and introducing my OC. I'm afraid that this chapter wasn't too eventful, but feel free to disagree or agree (if it's constructive) and I promise that the next chapter will be better. I've wanted to make a TWD fanfic for a while and I thought when's a better day to publish a new story than on my birthday?! So, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and please let me know what you thought!
**The title of this story and lyrics at the beginning of the chapter come from the song "We Must Be Killers" by Mikky Ekko. I think it describes the way that the survivors (and Amelia) feels coming into the safe-zone after everything they've been through. Give it a listen if you want!
***Please favorite, follow, or review if you feel inclined to do so. It might give me inspiration to update quicker. Thank you for reading!
