The tension in the room was so thick one would need a knife to cut through it. Everybody was quietly watching the couple, and although this should be a happy moment the general mood in the room was anything but happy. Glenn and T-Dog have been exchanging nervous glances since the moment the three men came into the room, not sure if they should leave the negotiation to Rick or if they should interfere.

Rick was painfully aware of the fact that his group was outnumbered. Not really by numbers but by strength. He didn't get a good look at how many people actually were in the cafeteria, but he heard the voices. There were most likely at least five of them, maybe more. And these people were convicts, they couldn't have been trusted prior the apocalypse, even less now. He didn't feel this angry and helpless since the farm, since Shane.

He knew he fucked up. Deep down he felt it from the moment he met Merle and Lumen, he knew something was off, alarm bells at the back of his mind rang like crazy, but he buried that feeling because he was actually glad they've met someone with medical training and someone who looked like he could help protect the group. Then when they managed to make it inside of the prison he let that feeling go completely, let his guard down and offered them place among them. Which they threw right back in his face and now he knew why. They weren't looking for a group, they were on a rescue mission for their own family.

At this moment he didn't feel in control at all, but he had to do his best to not let it show. He didn't know what to do though. He didn't know what to say, he didn't even know where to start with some kind of negotiation. He and his group needed this place. Hershel was hurt, Lori was due to deliver any day now and all of them were exhausted. He looked at Lumen clinging to the guy, Daryl, who apparently was Merle's brother. His face seemed familiar but he couldn't place him. It's unlikely he'd remember him from giving him a speeding ticket. He would be lucky to have that good of a memory.

Suddenly as if he felt the attention Daryl's eyes opened and he turned his head in his direction. Gone was the warm, welcoming expression he had worn when addressing Lumen. His eyes were cold as ice, emotionless. Rick broke the eye contact and looked behind him to Merle and was startled when he was met with yet another hard stare directed right at him. For some reason he didn't expect it but it seemed like Merle was watching Rick, Glenn and T-Dog while his brother had his moment with Lumen. The black guy seemed to come out of his grieving bubble when she showed up. He watched them for few moments and then with a sad small smile he said.

"Hey girl, you have one of those hugs for me?" Her head shot up at hearing his voice.

"Oscar!" She untangled herself from Daryl and while quickly wiping happy tears off her face she went to hug him too. Daryl and Merle could hear her talk to him, but her voice was too low for the others to hear. "We went for Marley and the kids, but it was too late, it was a mess. I'm so sorry!"

He nodded jerkily. "Merle told me. Thank you for trying though."

She squeezed him one more time before she let go of him and moved back to Daryl whose arm circled around her waist instantly and pinned her body to his.

Daryl didn't know these people and he didn't know what was really waiting for them out there so he left the talking to his brother. It came naturally, Merle was always the one doing the talking.

"Since this seems to be going fucking nowhere, how about we," Merle motioned to him and Lumen, "will take our stuff. Then we all go to talk to the nice gentlemen waiting in the cafeteria. You," he made an imaginary line between Rick, Glenn and T-Dog with his finger, "will go with us and you will help us clear the other cellblock so you wouldn't be so worried about sleeping next to us. And then we'll stay out of each other's way. Just like we agreed on. I make a deal I keep a deal. How about you, Rick?"

Rick gritted his teeth. He didn't feel like there was a right answer to this. He didn't feel like he really had a say in all this either. The pressure was starting to get to the point where it was too much to handle.

Glenn shot another unsure glance T-Dog's way. The situation didn't look good and honestly, Glenn didn't find what Merle was offering that bad. Despite his weird remarks Merle worked good with them, maybe they could make it work with the rest of the men too. But before he came to a decision if to interfere or not Maggie spoke up from the direction of the barred door through which Lumen came from earlier.

"Guys, my dad isn't doing so good, Lumen," she turned to Lumen as she addressed her, "we need you here, please," she said a little shakily, motioning behind her, where Hershel was lying.

Lumen looked at her bloody hands as if she forgotten for a moment where the blood came from. "Yeah, yes of course." She made a move to go to Maggie but the arm around her kept her in place. She looked up to see Daryl's frowning face and felt torn.

When they first brought Hershel in she didn't pay much attention to what's going around her, she focused on stopping the bleeding. She heard the shouting later but it wasn't until she heard Daryl's voice that it registered fully that they found him. She couldn't do much more at the moment without the bandages and other stuff so she quickly instructed Lori to what needed to be done for the time being and went to him. She needed to see him with her own eyes. Now she didn't want to leave him again, but at the same time she was the only one who had any real chance to help Hershel, and when you are the only one who can you just have to.

"Daryl let go, it's okay, I-"

"No," he grunted cutting her off before she managed to really say anything.

"Just take him with you." Maggie tried to offer, making Rick turn to her.

He pointed his forefinger at her. "Maggie, let me handle this, we can't-"

"-Are you serious?" She didn't let him finish, "my dad is bleeding out and you just stand here nursing your hurt ego. So what if he's a convict, for all we know he can be here for stealing cars or something." Her eyes began to water while seeking some backup. "Glenn."

"I agree with Maggie Rick, this is not the time for this." Glenn tried, his eyes jumping nervously between all the people in the room.

"Alright everybody," Merle's voice rang out through the tension of the room, "Rick, calm your shit, nobody is going to hurt anybody so calm the fuck down and let Lumen work. Sweetheart, you go on to help the old man, take Daryl with you so he can watch what a great nurse you became."

She didn't wait for Rick's approval, she just grabbed Daryl's hand and this time he let her lead him to the bars where Maggie was waiting, relieved expression on her face.

Daryl smirked at Rick when they passed him, it was too brief for anyone to notice really. Anyone but Rick who watched them go, and although he looked like he was about to have a stroke he didn't try to stop them.

Lumen went directly to the cell, while Daryl stayed close to the bars so he could see what's happening on both sides. He looked around to see a kid with a big ass hat and in the cell two girls and one pregnant woman fussing around the old man. No wonder the guy was having a little meltdown over having convicts for a neighbor. This group wouldn't have stood a chance against them.

"Now, try to think and think hard," Merle continued, pulling Rick's attention back to him, "what I'm giving you is one hell of a deal. Nobody needs to get hurt. It doesn't need to get ugly. I know you want our help so man the fuck up and stick to the damn deal!"

Rick was silent for a moment. He thought about Lori, their relationship was edgy, to say the least, but he'd still do anything to help her deliver the baby as safely as possible. And in this moment Lumen was the best shot they've got.

He looked around at Glenn, T-Dog, Daryl leaning against the frame of the bars, Oscar, before he refocused his troubled eyes on Merle, "Okay then, let's say we do this. What about the others at the cafeteria, can they be trusted? Do you know them?"

"No," Merle answered a little confused, "what's your point? I don't know you either. Ain't that why we are making some sort of a deal in the first place?"

Oscar's big frame shifted further in the room, "we know them, I mean we did spend more time with them in that cafeteria than I'm comfortable with. I'm not saying they're saints but we were under an agreement and it worked. We all stuck to it," he looked at Daryl for confirmation of his statement. When he got an affirmative grumble and an almost not noticeable nod he continued, "I think we can make some sort of deal just fine."

Daryl nodded and turned his attention back to the cellblock where Lumen was working on the old man's leg. He was a lost case in Daryl's opinion and she looked accordingly frustrated. Without thinking he moved closer to the cell and at his approach he was met with three pairs of scared eyes. He stopped outside of the cell disregarding the other women and focused on Lumen.

"I could help." He offered. She looked up with a small smile.

"No, I'm okay for now. The bleeding has slowed down quite a bit, but it didn't stop yet. There is not much I can do without antibiotics and painkillers, some sterile gauze would be nice too." She obviously didn't catch the meaning of what he said. He meant a different kind of help entirely but he wasn't about to elaborate with the others listening.

"There is an infirmary..." He stated instead, trailing off at the feeling of other eyes on him. He turned to find the kid staring at him. He didn't look away when Daryl met his gaze, the kid narrowed his eyes but didn't budge. They stared at each other for a moment, he doesn't look scared at all, interesting. Looks like the only one here with some balls is this little fella. The thought brought a smirk on Daryl's face.

"Nice hat," Daryl grumbled eventually.

"It was my dad's, he gave it to me," the kid said.

"You don't say. Is that your dad?" Daryl asked, pointing at Rick who was now hovering in the entrance, the boy was about to say something, but the conversation was interrupted by Merle's laugh. It looked like the men in the other room all came closer to the bars while he was chatting with Lumen. Merle slapped his hand on Rick's shoulder, still chuckling.

"Is that why are you so nervous, officer? You worry you'll meet some old friends here?" Rick gave him the evil eye, making Merle laugh some more. "I'm just fucking with you, it doesn't matter none what you were before, ain't that right, officer," Merle emphasized the last part and with a final harsh slap he let go of his shoulder, sure he made his point.

Rick didn't comment, instead informed his group, "Okay, listen up, we are going to talk to the rest of the survivors, see if we can agree on some kind of arrangement. Maggie," he pointed to the girl, "I want you to stay here this time."

She nodded in agreement immediately. It was clear he gave the instruction mostly for her protection and she preferred to stay with her father anyway. When she moved back to the cell Rick motioned for Glenn to go to him.

"Do not leave his side. If he dies, you need to be there for that," Rick told him quietly, "You think you can do this? Maggie will be there," he asked when he didn't get more than a nod from him.

"I got it," Glenn voiced his confirmation.

"I can ask T," Rick offered

"I got it," Glenn said again with more resolution.

"Good."

"Okay then," Merle clapped his hands together, after watching the exchange, "Let's get going."

Just then they all heard some noise coming from the room. Merle turned around to see the rest of the prisoners emerging from the hall and reached for his gun immediately and charged with Daryl hot on his heels while Rick motioned for the girls to stay hidden before he T-Dog and Oscar joined them.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot!" The man with a mustache shouted out. "Please, don't shoot! We don't mean any harm, we just wanna know what the hell is going on!


It took some arguing, a little bit of threatening, but in the end, they all agreed to be civil for the time being. Tomas tried again to gain some control but he soon realized only Andrew was ready to back him up. Daryl, his brother, and Oscar seemed to be siding with the new group, and that meant that Axel along with Big Tiny were going to side with them too. So he decided to go with the flow for now.

"Why don't you take him to the hospital?" Tomas asked, his hand still clutching the pistol although he kept it pointed to the ground.

"How long have you been locked in here? Do you know anything at all about what's happening?" Rick answered with a question, his eyes shifting from one man to another.

"Going on like 10 months," Tomas said, his eyes shifting around the room.

"A riot broke out. Never seen anything like it," Big Tiny added.

"Attica on speed, man," Axel said quietly.

"Ever heard about dudes going cannibal, dying, coming back to life? Crazy." Andrew joined.

"One guard looked out for us, locked us up in the cafeteria. Told us sit tight, threw me this piece," Tomas waived with the gun, "said he'd be right back."

"Yeah, and that was 292 days ago," Oscar said, frowning.

"94 according to my calcula-"

"-Shut up!" Tomas cut off Axle who attempted to correct Oscar's number.

Oscar then continued "We were thinking that the army or the national guard should be showing up any day now."

"There is no army," Rick said.

"What do you mean?" Andrew asked, looking as confused as the rest of the prisoners.

"There's no government, no hospitals, no police. It's all gone." Rick elaborated a bit.

All of them went quiet, mulling all the information over in their heads.

"For real?" Axel asked in disbelief after few minutes.

Rick looked him straight in the eyes. "I'm serious. As far as we can see at least half the population has been wiped out. Probably more."

Tomas shook his head, "Ain't no way"

"See for yourself," Rick motioned for all of them to follow him outside.

"Wait!" Lumen called from the cellblock, "wait a minute," she said as she hurried to Daryl's side carrying a crossbow. She handed it to him when she was close enough. "Here, thought you should have it before you all go out there." Daryl took it from her, examining the bow and when he saw it was in a really good condition he cracked a smile.

"Thanks, darling." He reached for her and pulled her to him for a quick peck on her lips. He didn't want to leave her side but knew it was for the best and ushered her back.

"Hey, how many people do you have there? Any pretty blondes for me?" Tomas asked eyeing Lumen's ass as she walked back to the cellblock where Glenn shut and locked the door behind her.

Rick stepped into his line of vision. "none of your business! Now move."

And he did. Merle started to follow but Daryl caught his arm to stop him, beckoning him to come closer.

"I want that fucker dead." He said quietly only for Merle to hear.

Merle eyed him for a moment to see just how serious he was. "Daryl, Lumen is a beautiful woman, even with all the blood and mud covering her. You can't kill people just for noticing that. Hell, if I was to be shot for every time I voice my appreciation of a beautiful girl I'd look like strainer by now."

Daryl's only reply was a hard stare. When Merle saw that it was as serious as it gets he sighed. "Alright, I won't miss that asshole none, just wait for the right time."

"Don't I always?" Daryl drawled, "I waited 10 fucking months, I didn't want to risk them others ganging up on me but now, I want him dead. I can wait few more days but it will happen."

Merle didn't say anything right away, but he held Daryl back from the others when they got out to the yard. He watched him take in the scene. In that moment, for the first time in his life, he allowed himself to admit that there is something very wrong with his brother and that Lumen's fears for the group maybe weren't much off the mark. Because whilst all the other prisoners looked around with stunned expressions, trying to take it all in, Daryl was looking around with the calmest expression he ever saw on him. He looked content.

"Hey, Daryl," he waited until he got his brother's full attention, "you know I always looked the other way, but things are different now. This group is not half bad and with them, creepers walking around it sure comes handy to have some manpower. What I'm saying is... Hell, you know exactly what I'm saying... just don't."

Daryl narrowed his eyes at him, the content look vanishing from his face. He eyed Merle for a moment and then with a grunt he walked off.

Well, at least I tried. Merle thought and followed after Daryl to join the group in the middle of the yard. They were talking and as he came closer he realized they are talking about the crimes the prisoners were convicted of. He came just as Andrew started to list his crimes, it was all about drugs, possession, selling, stealing, damn! The guy looked like a fucking amateur but at this moment Merle would give his left ball for some crystal.

"Tax fraud," Tomas stated after Andrew was done with his never ending list, making the group go silent.

"No way you are here for that." T-Dog was first to talk with the look of disbelief.

Rick searched all the faces, the convicts probably knew between them what every one of them did. But nobody said a word or indicated in any way if what Tomas said was true, so he dropped it.

"How about you, Daryl?" He turned to the only person who hasn't yet said his crime.

"Me? Storage and disposing of hazardous waste." He deadpanned. Merle turned to him, fighting off the laugh that crept to get out.

"You got a prison sentence for that? Jesus, how much waste was it." Rick looked around confused as if he was checking what type of prison this was.

"Fucking plenty," Daryl growled.

"Okay then," Rick backpedaled. He checked all the faces but yet again, none of them made a comment. Only Axel looked edgy but then again, he looked like he was on edge all the time. Not a hero type for sure. He realized this conversation won't put much of a light on what kind of people these guys were. He knew they were most likely lying but there wasn't much he could do to make them tell the truth.

"Let's talk about how we do this. Merle here and I made a deal before we got here and now we want to extend the offer to you." Rick said, briefly checking Merle's face to see if he's still with him. When he received a nod he continued. "We could all work together to make this place safe. What we are proposing is that we help you to clear another cellblock. We split whatever is left in that cafeteria and anything else we'll find here and then we all stay out of each other way. That sound good to you?"

They all exchanged long looks before Tomas spat out, "Fucking peachy!" And with that, they all turned to go back to the prison and to work.


Couple hours later Lumen was checking Hershel's pulse, it didn't look so good, and the men had yet returned. She looked behind her to find Beth's big eyes on her, so much hope in them it made her look away, back to her patient. She wasn't very optimistic. She hadn't much to work with in the first place, even if she managed to stop the bleeding completely, the infection will surely take over and finish him, it will be painful and he will be suffering needlessly. Her dark line of thoughts was interrupted with a loud thud next to her.

"What is this?" She asked looking at the bag on the ground

"Check it out," Carl said from above her, looking very proud of himself. Lumen opened the bag only to find it full of medical supplies. She looked back at Carl with a smile as a relief washed over her. She hasn't won the fight yet, but now at least she's got something to work with. She took the bag and went to work. She heard them arguing behind her, but she didn't waste her time on arguing. It was risky what he did, but if the old man will actually survive this, it will be because of what Carl did just now. It wasn't her place to jump in and comment, so she focused on Hershel's leg. She was so focused on her task she didn't even notice when he stopped breathing. She was almost done with the bandages when the force of habit made her check his face where she saw he lost more color. Her eyes slid down to his non-moving chest. Just then Beth cried out.

"He's not breathing!"

"Shit," Lumen muttered. She looked around her quickly to find Lori's face the least panicked. "Lori are you familiar with the CPR?" Lori nodded quickly and moved closer to the bunk. "Alright then, I'll count the compression, I'll make three you'll breathe in on my signal breathe, got it? Okay." She put her hands on Hershel's chest. "Ready? One, two, three, breathe! One, two, three, breathe! One, two, three..."

They continued like that for two minutes or so, those two minutes felt like a century for all of them. Maggie was buried in Glenn's arms sobbing, his eyes were trained on what's going on in the cell, ready to keep his promise. Amy grabbed Beth's hand, trying to reassure her, not having very much faith herself. Carl was clutching to the bars his huge eyes not leaving his mother. But finally, Hershel took a breath on his own, making all of them jump in fright before they realized the resuscitation was successful.

"Oh God." Lori breathed out, locking eyes with Lumen. They shared a relieved smile and Lumen went quickly to check the bleeding after the CPR. Once she saw that all looked good enough she turned back to Lori.

"Let's not do that again," she said with a little laugh, watching Beth crawl around her to sit next to her dad before focusing back on Lori. "How are you feeling? Any changes?" She asked pointing to Lori's belly.

"No, still nothing." She shook her head.

"It will be alright, it's all the stress. You know what? Try to get some sleep tonight and tomorrow after you rest a bit I could give you a relaxing massage. It could help."

"You know how? I thought you were a nurse."

"I took a course and did it as a side job before all this happened. I don't want to brag, but I think I'm actually really good at it."

"She sure is, that woman has golden hands. Be grateful she offered her services." Merle's voice echoed through the cellblock. "But not now, come on, sweetheart, we are leaving."

"What do you mean leaving? Leaving where?" Lumen asked as she stood up.

"We cleared the other cellblock. Rick and his people are staying here, we are taking the other one. I'll grab our things and we are going."

"Oh, okay. Hey wait, what about Hershel?" She called after him, making him walk several steps back.

"What about him? Is there anything you need to do now?"

"Well no but-"

"But nothing, you helped them enough, leave them with some instructions if you must but we are leaving now. That's the deal. Daryl and Oscar are waiting outside and I'm not gonna be explaining to Rick why we are breaking our agreement right from the start. Because, sweetheart, Daryl won't budge until he gets you."

Lumen sighed, there wasn't anything she could do for Hershel at the moment, he was right. They had to leave. It wasn't that she wanted to spend the night at Hershel's side so badly. He seemed to have plenty of people ready to help. It was that she really wasn't looking forward to living with the bunch in the other cellblock. She saw some of them when she brought Daryl his crossbow and they didn't look very friendly, or to be more accurate, the two watching her looked like they wanted to get too much friendly.

At the same time, she trusted Merle's judgment and if he thought it was okay, then it was. So she grabbed the pills and crouched down to where Beth was sitting, now with Amy next to her. Lumen briefly thought that she never actually heard the girl talk, but she quickly refocused on what needed to be done. She handed Beth the two bottles.

"Take this, if he doesn't wake up on his own till the nightfall do your best to wake him up to take these. This one is for pain, the other is antibiotics to prevent an infection, okay?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"You give him more in the morning, then during the day. We'll try to keep it in eight-ish hours intervals. If the blood leaks through the bandages don't panic right away, it doesn't nece-."

"I know," Beth gave her small smile. "I've been helping my dad with the animals for some time before... this before all this happened."

"Alright then." Lumen was relieved she seems to know at least something. She looked at Amy who's eyes were glued to Hershel. "I'll be going then. If anything changes just come get me, I don't care what the big boys say, if I will be able to help, I will."

"Thank you," Beth said before nestling herself next to her dad.

Lumen stood up again and exited the cell where Lori was waiting for her. "Hey, what's up with Amy?" Lumen whispered, "Is she alright?"

"Is any of us?" Lori laughed without humor in it.

"No, I mean she's always so quiet."

"Not always, she talks to Beth. She talks to the rest of us if necessary, but since we lost her sister before the winter she's pretty closed off."

"I see..." Not knowing what else to say to that, she just waited for Merle who was on his way to them.

"All ready?" He asked when he reached her.

"Yes."

"Good, let's go." He nodded his goodbye to Lori and to the men carrying food inside, and with that, they left the cellblock.


Hello everyone, I'm sorry for the wait but this chapter was major pain in the ass, and I just couldn't get it right, but now it's finally done.

Big fat thank you, my most enthusiastic fan, Lee's Legacy. While writing this chapter I struggled a lot, twice I was close to giving up and just leave it at 3 parts epilogue, but then I thought about you and how happy you are about every update, and since I have plenty of ideas for later on I just couldn't do that to you. So this chapter and probably this whole sequel is dedicated to you!

Merry Christmas and in case I won't manage to post next week Happy New Year :-)

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Leave a comment if you want :-)