{note from the author: I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update this. I lost my way a bit, but I hope I've found it again. I want to finish this story for me as it has lived inside my mind for so long, and for those of you who have been so kind to read it. I appreciate you so much. I hope I make you proud. xo-m}

"You don't have to stay with me, Daryl. " Maggie said to him as she waited for Siddiq, the resident Hilltop doctor to perform an ultrasound on her. "I'll be ok."

"I know you will be," Daryl said, standing beside her, taking her hand in his. "But I want to be here."

"You need to get back to Alexandria," she retorted. "We have to get ready to fight."

"Maggie, I want to end that Negan bastard as much as much as you do. But we have to be smart about this." Daryl gave her a sympathetic look. "I want him dead, too. I want to get Belle back. But if we go in there now all half cocked, we won't stand a chance. He has numbers which is something we don't have."

"Jesus told me the Hilltop will stand with us," she insisted. "He said-"

"Yeah, Jesus also said that outpost we took out was all of the Saviors," Daryl cut her off. "But clearly it ain't. I ain't saying he put us in harm's way, but he didn't help us neither."

"I'm sure he didn't know." Maggie said of their Hilltop ally, resting her hands atop her stomach

"I'm sure he didn't neither. But there may be a lot of things he don't know. That's why we gotta be smart about this."

Maggie's eyes filled with despair. "I want him to pay for what he did to Glenn and to Abraham."

Daryl squeezed her hand with one hand and placed the other on her shoulder. "I know." Daryl looked down, unable to meet her eyes. He recalled how it was because he had lashed out that Glenn was dead. Then the realization that Belle was gone hit him like an avalanche and silent tears ran down his face.

"We're going to get her back, Daryl." Maggie promised him. "You have to know that."

Unable to speak for fear of completely breaking down, Daryl nodded as Siddiq entered the small room.

"Hi, Maggie," he greeted her solemnly. "I am so sorry for your loss." He looked from Maggie to Daryl. "For all of your losses. I just want you to know that we at the Hilltop want to be here to provide any support you may need."

Maggie and Daryl nodded in unison.

"Now, let's have a look and see how the baby is doing." Maggie held her breath as she pulled her shirt up for the doctor to perform the ultrasound. "I'm just going to apply some gel first and then you will feel a little bit of pressure, okay?"

Maggie nodded as Siddiq squirted some cool, clear gel across her stomach. He then moved the wand of the ultrasound device across her stomach. His face was deep in concentration as he searched the screen. Finally, a small smile settled on his face as a rhythmic sound filled the room.

"Heartbeat is strong." The doctor said softly. "This baby is a fighter."

"Like its mama." Daryl whispered loud enough for only Maggie to hear.

Relief flooded Maggie's face as Daryl reached down to hug her. "Thank you," Maggie said into his ear. "For being here." He nodded solemnly in response.

"I'm afraid it's a bit too early to tell the gender, but what I can see is that you have a healthy baby." Siddiq removed the wand from her stomach and wiped away the remaining gel.

"Am I okay to make the trip back home to Alexandria now?" Maggie questioned, sitting upright.

"Well, that really depends." Siddiq crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall to face her. "Do you have a doctor there? Do you have a stockpile of medicine?"

"No," Maggie answered flatly. "Our doctor is dead and we have no medicine left. That's why we were coming here to begin with."

Maggie and Daryl noticed the concerned look that came across the doctor's face. "I'm not going to mince words here, Maggie. Considering the state of the world, any pregnancy now would be considered high risk. We don't have much medication either- we never have. We've been blessed to have plenty of food and and some medical equipment, but medicine and weapons are things we have just never had. It is vital that we keep you well so that you have a healthy pregnancy and delivery. You need to stay here at the Hilltop. From the looks of you both, your food supply is low. We need to make sure you're getting the nutrition you require and we need to keep you away from a lot of people. I won't completely quarantine you, but I don't want you milling about with everyone. I want to keep you from being exposed to any potentially harmful germs. In the meantime, I will make sure our scavenging groups are out there looking for more medicine. We have a group heading out in a couple of days to an old veterans hospital a few hours away where I did my residency. It's my hope that in a few days we'll finally have some medicine. I want you to stay here where I can monitor you."

"No- I have to get back!" Maggie protested, clenching her fists. "We have to fight Negan!"

"If I may," Siddiq interjected. "You have no business fighting anyone or leaving the Hilltop. To be honest, your friend here doesn't look like he has much business fighting anyone either. Why don't you let me take a look at that wound?"

Daryl nodded. "I'm going to let the doc fix me up and I will leave for Alexandria as soon as he gives me the go ahead. I'll ask Sasha to stay with you." He looked at Maggie earnestly. "The Saviors have numbers and fire power. Every second we wait is another second without Belle. I hate it, but I know if we go in there now, we will all die. We have to be ready. And this time we will be."

It was quiet in the church except for the sounds of muffled sobs and sniffles. Rick had just broken the news to the people of Alexandria about their encounter with Negan. He recounted the way the Saviors had surrounded them as they tried to get Maggie to the Hilltop. He told them how Negan had savagely taken the lives of Abraham and Glenn right before their eyes. Then, he had to inform them that Belle had sacrificed herself to take Daryl's place as a prisoner.

Rick steeled himself against the pulpit, and squeezed his eyes shut so tight he could feel the tears burning behind them. He had always been the one to bare the burdens of the group. He took every loss, every tear, and every ounce of rage upon his shoulders. He saw problems and he fixed them. But this time was different. They had bitten off more than they could chew and he knew it.

When they followed Jesus to the Hilltop, he told them of Negan and the Saviors. However, the group had already made their acquaintance. Just days before, Abraham, Sasha, and Daryl had encountered a small group of them on the road. They tried to steal their supplies and threatened to kill one of them, but Daryl blew them into the next world with an RPG he had scavenged before they got the chance. Jesus told the group of the Hilltop's arrangement made between the Saviors and the Hilltop's smarmy leader Gregory. The Hilltop was to give the Saviors half of their resources or face extreme punishment. Negan and the Saviors had already taken a few members of the Hilltop including their former physician Dr. Carson and his daughter Emilia who had been very ill at the time. Because the Hilltop did not have much in the way of weapons or medicine, they had not even attempted to put up a fight. Instead, truck loads of Saviors came every week to pick up half of their supplies. To this day, they didn't even know if Dr. Carson and Emilia were alive.

When Rick and the Alexandrians heard this, they all agreed Negan needed to be eliminated. They came to an agreement that if Rick and the group could end Negan's reign, the Hilltop would give them the resources they desperately needed and form a trade agreement with Alexandria. One night, a group from Alexandria went into what they thought was the Saviors only compound and killed every person there while they slept. They had no way of knowing at the time that it was merely an outpost and the Saviors' numbers far exceeded what had been there. The group struggled deeply with the decision to take all of those lives, but they felt it was their only means of survival.

"We can't just sit here with out thumbs up our asses!" Spencer's voice pierced through Rick's thoughts as he appeared in front of him. "What are we waiting for? We need to fight this bastard now!

"What do you suggest we do? There's dozens of these Saviors if not hundreds!" Rick's voice was hoarse from exhaustion. "We have hardly any ammunition. Hell, we don't even have enough food to sustain us. We just lost Glenn and Abraham. Belle is gone. Daryl, Maggie and Sasha are at Hilltop. We are weak right now."

"And whose fault is that?" Spencer spat.

Rick's jaw clenched and suddenly Michonne was standing between the two men with her hand up as if to physically stop Spencer from speaking. "Enough! You don't know what you're talking about, Spencer. We had no way of knowing that outpost we took out wasn't all of the Saviors."

"We can't just do nothing!" Spencer exclaimed, wild eyed.

"And we wont." Michonne said evenly. "But we have to think this through. We already have the Saviors coming in a few days for half of our stuff."

"We don't have shit! How can they take half of nothing?" Spencer cried, frustration pouring out of him.

"I don't know!" Rick growled. "But I guess we will find out. We need to find a way to hide some of what we do have. And we need to scavenge and find some weapons. It may take a little time, but we can do it. We have to."

"And we will." Michonne agreed. "We will save Belle and and take care of Negan. But we have to be ready for them this time. We weren't prepared before and we went off information from someone who didn't have the entire story. We won't make that mistake twice."

"Can you believe this, Eugene? Can you believe they're just doing nothing?" Spencer bellowed as he paced around the living room of his home. Eugene looked up at him with tear stained cheeks. Though there had been a rift in his friendship with Abraham over his own cowardice, he still cared deeply for his friend and couldn't believe he was gone. He had always thought a lot of Belle, too. She was one of the first of the original group to truly make him and Abraham feel welcome.

"Though at first glance it would seem they are doing nothing, I am of the opinion that-" Eugene began to speak but was quickly interrupted.

"I can't just stand by while Belle is being held captive by that monster!" Spencer was pacing faster, throwing his hands around wildly. "We have to take the initiative, Eugene!"

"What course of action are you suggesting?" Eugene wiped the dampness from his face.

"If I rescue Belle from Negan she will have no choice but to be with me." Spencer exclaimed, puffing his chest out. "If I kill Negan she will see that I am the only man worthy of her affections. She will have to be with me!"

"But…"

"You're a smart guy, Eugene." Spencer stopped in his tracks, turning to look at Eugene. "You're resourceful."

"I believe so, yes."

Spencer's face hardened as he squared his jaw. "Make me a bullet."

I laid on the bed in my room, staring up at the ceiling. After my last exchange with Negan, I was feeling unnerved and unsettled. Though I was exhausted, I couldn't sleep. My mind was waging war on my heart. Or maybe it was the other way around.

I replayed the events of the night before in my head over and over again. I had too many questions and not enough answers. Why did he let me leave? Why did he come after me? Was he coming to kill me? Why didn't he kill me or let the Wolves do it? Why did he put himself in harm's way to save me? Did he follow after me because he was actually concerned for me?

And then there was something about how he acted when I went to see him. There was a vulnerableness in how he spoke to me; a tenderness even. What was I thinking? This man was a beast! I rubbed my eyes hard as if I could wipe away these thoughts. I was clearly going crazy. Had sleep deprivation and stress driven me mad? I sighed loudly and squeezed my eyes shut, begging for sleep to overtake me. But even as it finally did, Negan's face still reverberated through my mind.