AN: I was relived to hear that people are interested in this story.

Graeshires: I guess we'll have to find out! :)

FoxfaceFan1: I love your name and profile picture! Nothing more terrifying than Eva surrounded by flames! I'm curious where this is headed too.

Here is the next chapter! Sorry if I get any of the cell blocks wrong, I wasn't really sure where everyone was.

"I am not staying under the same roof as that. . . monster!"

Rick pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep, calming breath and then looked at Maggie. "I know, Maggie, I know-"

"Do you know what he did to me?" Maggie demanded. "What he did to Glenn? And let's not forget he tried to make Daryl fight to the death with his brother."

The council (or just Rick, Herhshel, and Maggie) was in their usual meeting room while the Governor- or Brian- was outside with his group, unarmed with guns in their faces, courtesy of everyone else. This was just until everyone could get a chance to allow what just happened to sink in and allow the three to discuss a new game plan."

That wasn't working out very well for some.

"I know what he's done!" Rick exclaimed in a harsh whisper. "I know what kind of a man he is-"

"Was," Hershel interrupted. "What kind of a man he was."

"People don't change that easily," Maggie protested venomously. "How the hell are we supposed to trust him?"

"We ain't gonna' stay under the same roof," Rick reminded her. "We'll stay in different cell blocks. This sickness is almost done and over with; Brian and his group can stay there once everyone is cleared out."

"And until then?" Maggie demanded.

"They can stay in cell block B," Rick decided.

"I thought you said you were done making decisions for this group," Maggie pointed out, with a touch of bitterness in her tone.

"I didn't have a choice!" he spat back. "I don't love this idea either but it was either welcome Brian and his people or get blown to bits, you know that!"

"He spared my life," Hershel reminded his daughter. "And I am thankful for that."

"I know, Daddy-"

"You saw him with that little girl," Hershel said. "I once asked him how he could kill my two girls after being a father himself once and he replied saying, 'they aren't mine'. He just proved himself wrong when he couldn't pull the trigger on that girl. I don't know how much the man has truly changed or who he really is- heck I don't even think he knows. But we had to give him a chance, Maggie, you know that just as well as everyone."

"What about Michonne and Daryl?" Maggie asked Rick and Hershel.

"I think they know we did what we had to," Rick answered. "They won't love the idea, but I don't think anyone does."

"All right," Maggie said, taking in a breath. "I need to talk to my husband, he's still in the cell block with the rest of the sick people." With that, she walked out of the room, leaving Hershel and Rick to watch her exit.

"I think she will get used to this eventually," Hershel said. "It will take some time but she can do it. Same with everyone else from Woodbury."

Rick nodded. "I don't doubt it."

"Come on, we need to go talk to Brian and his group."

Brian and the rest of his men stood tall while the prison group held assorted weapons in their faces. Many of them he recognized from Woodbury or people he tried to kill in the past. Daryl Dixon stood beside a young kid-probably about thirteen, and the two looked fierce and ready to attack when necessary.

Brian refused to give them a reason to.

"Carl!" Brian saw Rick approaching the rest of his prison group.

The kid looked turned around and looked at Rick but kept his gun held up to Brian. Ah. . . this is probably Rick's son that he told me about.

"You've changed. So has Rick." Hershel's speech echoed through his mind and Brian couldn't help but wonder who Rick was now. He wasn't entirely sure who he was before.

"Yeah?" Carl asked his father.

"We're leading Brain's group to cell block B," Rick informed his son. He looked at Daryl. "Can you, Carl, and a few others make sure Brian and his people get escorted there?"

Brian knew by "escorted" he meant led into the block with guns in their faces.

Daryl nodded and Rick looked over at his son. "Be careful," he warned him and received a nod. Rick seemed satisfied by his son's response and looked up at Brian. "Cell block B isn't that large," Rick told him but didn't have a trace of sympathy in his voice which pleased Brian. "The block with all the sick ones is much larger and this whole thing is almost over-and-done-with. Once it's safe and cleared out, your group can stay there."

"How long will that take?" Mitch Dolgen- Brian's most loyal follower demanded.

"Give us about a week," Rick answered, looking into Mitch's eyes dangerously, as if daring him to challenge. Thankfully, Mitch didn't.

"All right then," Rick nodded to everyone. "Let's get going then." He began to walk off but soon stopped and turned around. He looked at Lilly who was at Brian's side clinging onto him, her eyes still red and streaked with tears. "I'm sorry for your loss," he said softly, and Brian was sure he was thinking of his own child and newborn. The man drew in a sharp breath and looked quickly at Brian. "Both of you," he whispered._

"All right," this is the block," Daryl mumbled to the Governor's group as they entered Cell Block B. "This is where ya'll be staying 'til the other one gets cleared out."

Carl stood beside him with a gun along with Tyresse and another person from Woodbury who he couldn't- or didn't bother to- remember the name of.

The Governor didn't say anything but his little bitch from the tank spoke up. "What now, asshole? Are you just going to leave us here defenseless when there could be Biters around?"

"There ain't no Walkers around," Daryl told him, glaring at him. "We cleared it out." He took out a knife from his belt and Carl did the same. "But Rick says to give you guys some knives just to be on the safe side. You ain't gettin' no guns or enough weapons to over power us, but we'll give you what you need to survive." He handed the knives to various people from the Governor's group, purposely avoiding giving them to him directly or his bitch, despite knowing the Governor would eventually get one from someone anyway.

"Thank you," a girl in two pony-tails said, taking one of the knives. "For everything."

Daryl didn't accept her gratitude vocally, but nodded at her knowing that this wasn't anyone's fault but the Governor's.

"What about my little girl?" a woman who was standing next to Brian asked. "My Meghan."

"What 'bout her?" Daryl asked.

"We need to bury her," the Governor spoke up for the woman for the first time since they arrived at the cell block. "Her body is still out there, isn't it?"

With everything going on, Daryl seriously doubted Rick grabbed the body of a dead little girl. He shrugged. "Probably."

"I need to-" the woman broke off. "Please. And I want Brian there with me. If you have to have ten people stand around us with guns then so be it."

"Can you at least talk to Rick?" the Governor asked him, his one eye was impossible to read and Daryl found himself wondering what that meant.

"Rick ain't the one in charge no more," Daryl reminded him bitterly. "Why can't you get that through your head and leave him alone 'bout it?"

"Fair enough," the Governor said simply.

"Stay here until we discuss it," Daryl ordered the older man. The Governor nodded and Daryl turned to the other two. "Keep an eye on them." He then looked at Carl. "Let's go talk to your dad." With that, the two of them left, Daryl making sure Carl was in front of him.

Once the two of them were outside and headed for the block Rick, Maggie, and Hershel was in, Carl stopped suddenly in front of him, causing Daryl to almost bump right into him. "The hell, kid?"

"Do you think my dad made the right choice?" Carl asked suddenly.

Daryl didn't have to ask him what he was talking about, he knew. "I don't think he really had much of a choice," he pointed out. "It sucks that the Governor made him be the one to say it, but let's face it if it was anyone else, they woulda' done the same."

"I was the one who asked him to step down," Carl told him.

"The hell ya' talkin' 'bout?" Daryl asked, this time actually confused.

"My dad," Carl explained. "I asked him to stop being the leader so he could rest. I know Hershel did too, but I feel as though my dad just wanted to make me happy."

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Daryl asked him.

"I just-" Carl stopped. "Never mind, it's nothing." He continued to walk, leaving Daryl no time to ask any more questions.

The two approached the cell block and found Rick with Hershel and Michonne, the two seemed to be trying to calm the woman down.

"He's the reason why Andrea is dead!" Michonne reminded the two of them. Her hand was gripped onto the sword at her side tightly as if she were trying her best to control her temper.

"I know, I know," Rick said. "He's the reason why a lota' people are dead, but-" Rick broke off after he saw Daryl and Carl approach them.

"Didn't I tell you take take at least two others with you?" Rick asked Daryl.

"They're still in the block," Daryl told him. "Look there's somethin' we need to discuss."

"What is it?" Rick asked.

"The little girl that the Governor couldn't shoot-"

"She's still out there," Rick finished. "Yeah, I know. I was thinking about that a little while ago."

"They wanna' bury her."

That caught everyone's attention. "Of course they do!" Hershel answered.

"Should we let 'em?" Daryl asked.

Rick opened his mouth but it was Hershel who answered. "We can't say no to a woman who wants to bury her daughter."

"She wants the Governor with her. I guess the three of them were kinda' like a family or somethin'."

Rick sighed. "That changes things." Hershel opened his mouth but this time Rick stopped him. "It does, Hershel and you know it."

"They don't care if we watch." Daryl explained. "She said we can stand out there with guns to their heads."

"Well good, 'cause we just might," Rick said.

"No, we aren't," Hershel protested.

"Do you forget who we're talking 'bout?" Rick asked the older man. "This is the same man who just had a sword up to your throat a few hours ago."

"And the same man who dropped it because he realized he needed to change," Hershel said. "Look, Rick, if it was Maggie or Beth I wouldn't want a bunch of people out there with guns to my head as I tried to give them a proper burial. Would you? What if it were Carl or Judith? How would you feel then?"

"But it's not them," Rick pointed out.

Hershel looked at him in surprise, a look Daryl couldn't understand. Michonne, who had managed to stay quiet through all of this, finally spoke up. "You sounded just like him for a second."

"What are you-" Rick began, but was cut off as Michonne began to walk away from him.

"We can get Maggie to watch from the towers," Daryl suggested. "She seems to have gotten pretty good at that."

"And we can have others on guard, just not in their way," Hershel finished. "If it makes you feel better, you can be one of them. I'm not asking for Brian, I'm asking for the poor mother who just lost a child."

Rick hesitated and then nodded. "All right," he agreed. He looked at his son. "Can you go back with Daryl and let Brian and the mother know? And tell them only those who were close to the little girl can go outside for the burial."

Carl nodded and Daryl took him towards the block with the Governor, this time making sure Carl was behind him.

"We'll be watching from the towers," Daryl informed the Governor as he once again was next to the ex-Woodbury resident and Tyresse. "So don't try anythin' stupid, got it?" It was the mother who nodded, but Daryl wasn't satisfyed with that, as it was not her he was worried about. He looked at the Governor and the older man nodded. "We just want to bury Meghan."

Daryl nodded and whispered to Tyresse and the other man from Woodbury. "Go to Rick and Hershel-they're by the fences. We need people on guard just in case." The two nodded and left the room. Daryl then once again nodded at the Governor. "All right, follow us."
_

"Brian," Lilly's voice came from behind him. He had been out digging for almost an hour, doing his best to ignore the fact that he knew several guns were aimed at him, and had just finished, thankful Meghan was so small and didn't need that large of a hole. He looked up at Lilly who had Meghan's wrapped body in he arms.

"Do you want to-" Brian began, and Lilly nodded. She bent down over the small hole and dropped her daughter in with a sob.

"Lilly-" her sister Tara spoke up, trying to comfort her. It was just the three of them outside.

"Just cover her!" Lilly screamed. "Please, just do it. I-I can't-"

Brian did as Lilly said as her sister wrapped her arms around her sobbing body. "It's all right," Tara whispered, and Brian could tell she was doing her best not to cry. "It's all right."

Brian finished covering the little girl and bent down next to Lilly and wrapped his arms around her. "It's over now," Brian told her gently. "It's over."

Although he knew that the pain had just begun.

"Should we tell them to get back in their block?" Carl asked Rick, the two of them holding their guns up. Rick's arm was definitely tired after holding it up for so long and he was sure everyone else was feeling the same way. Rick took a deep breath.

"It would feel right," he said. "Hershel was right, we need to allow people to grieve." He lowered his gun. "We checked them and made sure they weren't armed, I think we're safe." He looked over at Brian holding the sobbing mother. "Besides, I honestly don't think Brian's gonna' try anything."

Even from the distance, Rick could see the look of grief on Brian's face. It was a look that everyone could recognize it by now. Rick never thought it would actually be possible, but maybe the man had changed.

And he knew that the little girl the three of them had just buried, probably had a lot to do with it.

Thanks for reading! :) I know these past couple of chapters have been really boring, but I do have some excitement planned ahead.