Chapter 2 - Shady Grove

When Kate couldn't sleep, (as opposed to the countless times that she awoke screaming,) she would walk up to the cupola of the house at Mount Vernon, and stare out over the Potmac River at night. There was nothing but darkness now, total and utter darkness. Sometimes she was sure that she saw lights in the distance, and wondered who they belonged to. Tonight, however, she found that she wasn't alone in her solitude. When she gently climbed the creaky stairs, she found Hank leaning against the ancient pane of glass.

"You're secret's out. Sorry." Hank smiled, and stepped to the side. Kate stood next to him, their arms almost touching in the small space.

"I can't help but think that this was your hiding place before I stole it." Kate confessed

" Guilty as charged. When I worked here, before the walkers, I used to come up here from time to time, after the visitors went home. And at Christmas, when the house was still and everyone was gone, the lights looked amazing over the river. Just beautiful." Hank let his words drift off with his memory in a soft sadness.

"I bet that was something." Kate agreed, and could almost see the candles lit in the windows and along the paths of the estate. She moved to sit down on the step, pulling her knees to her chest.

"Do you trust me, Kate?" Hank asked, turning to her. She was caught off guard by his question, and wasn't sure where this conversation was going.

"I barely know you, but you're a very trusting person. You're smart, you're strong. You mean what you say, and you seem to always keep your word. I think that pretty much completes a resume these days."

"Where did you come from, Kate?" Hank asked.

"You don't want to hear my sob story. It's the same as everyone else's. I lived, I lost, I survived." Kate had discussed her life before the 'end' with Hank, but she never told him about Simon. She never told him what she was forced to do to save the life of the man she loved. Or how Negan seemed to have some strange power over her, an obsession like she had never encountered before.

Hank pulled two bottles of beer from a basket that was hidden behind his feet. He popped the caps of on the edge of the window sill, and handed one to Kate. She took a long drink; it was dark and smooth, the most delicious thing she had drank in months. This was Hank's way of asking something that she didn't want to tell, the way he helped everyone confront their problems and their demons. He opened a beer for himself, took a seat, and listened.

Kate started at the beginning. She told Hank about how Simon had found her a top a shed, ready to take a flying leap into a herd of walkers. How over a few weeks, they had come to know each other, and fall in love. How she was forced to give into Negan's desires to save Simon's life, and how she had unintentionally enjoyed the sex with Negan. And finally, how she had the idea and courage to escape to Mount Vernon. Hank sat and listened, never taking his eyes off her, never interrupting Kate's story.

When finally Kate was finished, she sat her empty bottle down on the window ledge and rubbed her eyes. Hank had the whole truth now, and she wanted to know what he was going to do with it. It was her turn now to wait. Hank pulled another beer from the basket, opened it, and passed it to Kate.

"Well, there is only one thing I can think of to do." Hank finally answered, finishing his own beer.

"What's that?" Kate asked.

"Pack. You and I are going to the Sanctuary."

Kate stood quickly, her empty beer bottle shattering on the floor. The shock pulsed through her, almost like she had been struck by lightening.

"No. Absolutely not. No." Kate looked Hank straight in the eyes and wouldn't back down on this issue. All she could imagine was Negan getting a hold of her new friend, and she wasn't going to put Hank in that position. Hank was a really good person, one of the few that were left in the world.

"I'm not going to argue with you, Kate. But you can't go on your own. I don't know how you survived the trip here in the first place. Maybe it was luck, or adrenaline, or just a dire need to find safety. But you're not going back there alone."

"This isn't up for debate." Kate pushed passed Hank but he blocked her path. He had at least a foot on her height wise, and his was a lot stronger than she was. He simply stood, unmoving, so that she couldn't get back down the stairs.

"Move. Please." Kate demanded, still trying to push her smaller frame against his.

"You know that if you try to leave without me, I'll just follow you anyway, right? Kate, there is no way I can live with myself if you leave and I didn't help you. If you go out there by yourself, not knowing who or what will cross your path, I need to know you'll be okay."

And there is no way that I'll be able to live with myself when Negan kills you, Kate told herself.