A/N: This is an AU story so the events of last nights episode or the future episodes will have no effect on this story whatsoever. Spitfire47

The Governor washed his hands blood was still crusted until his fingernails and around the cuticle he scrubbed feverishly to get rid of it. Last nights was quite eventful, he had taken his full revenge on Michonne for taking his eye as well as his only child. He successfully eliminated that nonsense leader Rick as well as a good majority of his group. The only ones that remained were the Dixon brothers Merle and Daryl, Carol, Andrea and Carl plus anyone else that may be hiding in the prison. Rick had armed his group for the poorly executed ambush on Woodbury and the Governor had no doubt that it was all the members but then the chatter in the warehouse slowly presented itself. The baby.

The Governor straightened, if there was a baby then there was a caregiver. Immediately he slammed the facet off making it vibrate in its stand, his eye furrowed making the muscles around his damaged eye cringe making pain. It wasn't over. He grunted gingerly touching his patch feeling his fingers tremble. There was a knock at the door and the Governor straightened, his face relaxed and his whole demeanour changed in less than a second. He walked over to the door giving a side glance to his personal room where Carl was being held so far the boy hadn't made a sound but the Governor didn't count on the boy's silence. He opened the door and before him was his scientist: Milton.

"Come in," the Governor said motioning to the inside.

Milton nodded mumbling 'thanks' and closed the door behind him. A strange yet disturbing tension immediately filled the air, Milton being a shy man to begin with felt himself grow increasingly nervous of what he was about to say. He took in a breath and asked: "What are we going to do about the woman?"

The Governor took his time walking to the table and sat down in the chair, he invited Milton to sit across from him and Milton knew that he wasn't going to get out of this unscathed. Cautiously he walked over and sat down, the Governor poured him a glass of whisky despite knowing that Milton disliked alcohol.

"The woman," Milton exhaled, "what are we going to do about her?"

The Governor leaned back. "What do you think about her?"

Milton pushed his glasses up his nose before beginning: "Giving the erm…past events she is traumatized as well shows signs of violent tendencies. I did as I had planned and made myself away when she woke so that she would be able to absorb where she was. However uh Governor I suggest that it be…I who care for her to avoid any future problems."

"You had to sedate her," the Governor said plainly.

Milton flinched as if the leader had struck him.

"Well…some um extend of force had to be uh…used b-but-."

The Governor's dark eyes flicked up to his scientist. "You sedated her."

Milton swallowed – he didn't even have to tell him. At first he had declined the offer of the sedative until the Governor literally shoved it into his pocket. He took in a shaky breath: "Y-yes."

The Governor nodded leaning back again when his prediction was confirmed.

"But with time she can be integrated into society," Milton immediately argued, "I think that it's possible."

"On what percentage?"

Milton straightened, "perhaps…a sixty percent chance?"

The Governor raised an eyebrow.

"Okay currently thirty-five give or take, but it will grow more depending on how she copes and her psychological and sociological behaviour after recovery."

The Governor nodded yet Milton had a feeling that he wasn't even listening or caring. Perhaps he didn't even want to hear how woman was doing, instead on how the scientist delivered his findings. This thought made Milton give a small shudder. This was a test.

Milton ran his hands through his hair feeling his mind reel with words however none of them made any sense. The Governor watched as Milton slowly began to unravel in front of him, he waited until the scientist gained the remaining ground and possibly the only ground he had left before asking the real questions.

"What do you think about last night?"

Milton's heart pounded heavily in his chest, the beats were so loud that Milton wouldn't doubt it if the Governor could hear as well. He inhaled a shaky breath before speaking.

"You killed five people Governor, tortured on to the point of death, shot their leader in the face in front of his own son and killed the other mercilessly."

The Governor nodded to show Milton that he was listening and to continue.

"How do I even start to think about that…?"

The Governor nodded again. "Very good."

Milton did a double take and blinked thrice.

"What do you think of me?"

Milton straightened in his seat, he didn't know what to say. The Governor had completely changed overnight, he was still cool and conceit on the outside but his whole personality had become darker, something that had possibly waiting to come out; came out. Milton didn't know what to think of the Governor any more.

"You're wrong," the Governor said as if reading his advisor's mind.

Milton looked up still baffled.

"I'm completely the same," the Governor continued giving him a smile, "I'll still lead this great town, I'll still be a great leader but - just a few tweaks."

Milton leaned in. "There's no need to keep the members armed anymore."

The Governor narrowed his eyes. "That's where you are wrong Milton, there are more groups out there - more terrorists."

"They're not all like Rick's group, what about Tyreese's group?"

The Governor grinned. "If they're willing to surrender like Tyreese did then I will possibly accept their allegiance to Woodbury, but if not-."

"Then you're going to kill them."

The Governor looked at Milton, studying him before finally saying, "I know that you don't agree with a lot of my…methods but some of them are quite necessary."

"I have a couple questions though," Milton said.

The Governor sighed. "Of course you do."

Milton cleared his throat. "What are you going to do about Andrea?"

"Her time has come up," the Governor said simply.

Milton felt a lump grow in his throat, he took in another shaky breath and asked, "What about the boy?"

"You don't need to worry about him."

Milton worried, not just for the remaining survivors but also for the people of Woodbury as well, will they see the change that their leader had undergone or will they remain oblivious? He took his leave but not before giving a small side glance to the extra room.

XXXXXX

The heat rose as the day continued, Judith cried once in a while begging for attention but she ended up being ignored a majority of the time as Daryl was putting Beth through the steps of hand to hand combat. It took her a little while to get the hang of it her balance was not bad nor was her stamina no doubt helping out on the farm but her strength was her greatest weakness. According to Merle, her punch couldn't even bruise a piece of fruit. Ignoring his brother Daryl continued to teach her, he taught her how to properly use the two most important kicks in fighting, front and round, then taught her how to punch properly without breaking any fingers. After an exhausting two hours they eventually stopped to take a break.

As soon as Beth and Daryl stepped into the prison a heat wave blasted both making the sweat fall faster down their backs. Beth sat down looking at her hands that were still shaking with both adrenaline and fear. She looked over to see Daryl coming over with a bottle of water, Merle watched from the shaded corner.

"So, how am I doing?" asked Beth, she was nervous about Daryl would say.

"Um…," Daryl said rubbing the back of his neck he wanted to put it lightly to Beth especially since this was her first time but in his opinion there was no way to put it lightly.

"We're screwed aren't we?" Merle asked before Daryl could say anything he hated seeing how his brother was faltering and trying to sugar-coat to a girl who couldn't save her life.

Daryl gave in with a sigh, "we'll see how you are with a firearm."

Beth's heart sank, she thought that she was doing alright but she knew that she couldn't be good at everything. She looked over at Judith who started to cry again and she walked over, immediately Merle got up from his comfortable position and headed over to his brother.

"We gotta do somethin' about Girly," Merle said sitting where Beth had been.

"She has to defend herself somehow," Daryl protested, "we can't just get up an' go, plus we got Judith."

"They ain't our problem."

Daryl scowled. "Is that why you left? I wasn't your problem?"

Merle did a double take, his eyes widened for a few moments but then he grew serious, "You blood brother, but I had to go for reasons of my own. They," – he nodded his head in Beth's direction - , "they ain't."

"So just leave them to the Governor to come and kill off."

Merle straightened. "We leave a couple firearms of course."

"She don't know how to use 'em!"

"Girly got trained she'll be fine."

Daryl scowled. "It was only once and it was by Shane."

"The guy had a mean shot…"

Daryl pinched the bridge of his nose, something that Merle never seen him do.

Beth side glanced where the brothers were, she knew that they were talking about her but tried not to think about it. Instead her concentration was on Judith who was starting to calm down, ever since Daryl and Merle came back with the devastating news, Judith had been affected as well – crying more, begging for more and more attention however not eating the amount she should. To Beth it seemed that Judith was able to sense that her family was dead, able to know that something terrible had happened like the baby animals back on the farm when their own mothers passed. She tried again to feed Judith but the baby would just push the bottle away and start waving her arms around again. Beth was starting to become a little agitated with her. She carefully placed Judith in her crib before taking a sip of her water.

She looked up in time to see Daryl coming over, Merle in the background shaking his head and no doubt muttering on about his brother's stupidity.

"I'm not going to leave you like this," Daryl said.

Beth straightened.

"I'm going to teach you how to use a gun."

The youngest sibling shifted her weight from one foot to another. "Are you the leader now?"

Daryl stiffened at the title, he never thought about being leader but he knew that it was necessary especially at a time like this. From his very first encounter of the Governor during the discussion of peace, Daryl was very suspicious he didn't like him immediately. The poor ambush and the senseless killing turned his suspicion into pure hatred and he even hated how he used Glenn's attempt at escape as a distraction for his own. He looked at Beth who was waiting for an answer. Daryl could feel his brother's eyes on his back having intensed when he heard the question. Daryl shrugged.

"Suppose I am."