MissTeller-Ortiz-Dixon: Wow, what a long review! I won't cover it all here, it'll be in a message, but thank you! You have so any questions and theories I can't exactly give anything away :P but I will say, you're pretty close when it comes to Negan ;) oh, and I agree, Vickie can be quite the badass :):)

If you want me to update more, reviews are a good insentive... just sayin'...

Bamby

VPOV

Walking down the hall, dressed in nothing but some underwear and one of Daryl's shirts that fell mid-thigh on me, with my hair pulled up into a messy bun, I headed towards the stairs. I'd grabbed an apple and knife before and was now going back to the kitchen to return the knife.

I came to a stop, changing the grip on my knife so I could use it as a weapon as Carl stepped out of his room to join me behind Jesus, who had made himself comfortable, sitting on the top of our stairs, looking at a painting.

"What the hell are you doing in our house?" Carl warned, gun aimed at Jesus' head.

"I'm, uh, sitting on the steps looking at this painting, waiting for your mum and dad to get dressed." Jesus shrugged, shifting the painting in his hands before looking over his shoulder to Carl. "Hi, I'm Jesus."

I didn't get a chance to ask what he meant by mum and dad before a door opened behind us, Michonne and dad stepping out, fixing their clothes up.

"Carl, Vickie, hey, um..."

Mentally, my jaw dropped as I took in the sight before me. I mean, it was obvious they'd slept together. But, I kept myself together, watching Jesus carefully.

A door downstairs closed and before long, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie and Abraham appeared, guns also raised at Jesus.

Michonne stepped forward. "It's okay."

Dad looked to Jesus. "You said we should talk. So let's talk."

Seeing that everything was fine, I spoke up. "Before we do that, could I get some proper clothes on?" I asked, lowering my knife. "I think we'd all feel a little better..."

RPOV

We sat at the dining room table, Jesus at the end while Michonne, Carl, Vickie and I sat facing him. Maggie, Glenn and Abraham stood at the other end, while Daryl paced behind Jesus.

"So, how'd you get out?" I asked.

"One guard can't cover two exits or third-floor windows." Jesus noted. "Knots untie and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order, right?"

"Right." Daryl answered. He clearly didn't like this guy.

"I checked out your arsenal." Jesus started. "I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped, but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have. Fifty-four?"

"More." Vickie said dryly. She was on the defensive, ready for action if need be.

Jesus' eyes landed on her before going on. "Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef."

"Yeah, she ain't here." Daryl told him.

Jesus sighed, turning to him. "Look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side, the living side. You, Rick and Vickie-"

Vickie cut him off. "It's Victoria."

"Sorry." Jesus went on. "You, Rick and Victoria had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things and the three of you look like trouble. I was wrong. You're good people. And this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other."

"Do you have food?" Glenn asked, getting to business.

"We've started to raise livestock." Jesus answered. "We scavenge, we grow. Everything form tomatoes to sorghum."

I shrugged. "Tell us why we should believe you."

"I'll show you. If we take a car, I can take you back home in a day and you can all see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer." Jesus offered.

"Wait, you're looking for more settlements." Maggie started. "You mean you're already trading with other groups?"

Jesus grinned, leaning back in his chair. "Your world is about to get a whole lot bigger."

DPOV

Vic stood next to me, Aly on her hip as I reached into the RV motor, fiddling around with parts to make sure everything worked right. We hadn't really used the vehicle since we brought it back where Rick had left it to get away from the walker herd. He'd told us about the 'W' people that shot at the engine and messed it up. It was fixed, but I was just making sure it still worked.

"Here, homemade oat cake." Denise walked up to us, offering Vic and myself some food wrapped in plastic. "Complex carbohydrates, omega-3s."

"Nah, I'm good." I told her, turning back to the engine. "We're gonna make a pit stop. I'll pick us up somethin' then."

"Like rabies?"

Vic laughed. "Here." reaching forward she grabbed one of the cakes. "Thank you."

Looking from Vic to Denise, I sighed. "This 'cause we tried to get you that stuff?"

"Yeah." Denise nodded, looking at me. "And you remind me of someone I used to know."

Wiping my hands on a rug, I gave in, taking the food. "Well... I hope it tastes better than it looks." I put it in my pocket. "'Cause it looks like shit."

Denise shrugged. "Shit's still better than road kill."

Vic laughed again, shaking her head, putting Aly on the ground. "Thanks Denise. For the food and for taking care of Aly." she looked down at the little girl, crouching so she was at her level, petting the dogs head as she spoke. "We'll be back tomorrow. You're staying with Denise and Tara again. Okay?"

She didn't say anything at first. I knew she was worried. She was always worried.

You'd think we'd be used to that by now, but we weren't. It broke Vic's heart knowing that every time we left her here, it hurt the little girl. When she'd seen Vic this morning, with the cut on her face I could tell she'd been worried, and that had upset Vic.

"Don't worry, Squirt." Abraham had been putting stuff in the vehicle, getting ready for all of us to go before he must have over heard us. He knelt in front of her. "I'll keep an eye on your mum. Won't let a thing touch her."

Aly's face lit up a little as she looked at the grown man before she gave a short nod. "Okay."

"All right." Abraham nodded, standing back up and walking off.

Vic watched the man go with a grateful smile on her face before she turned to Aly. "Now give me a hug." she opened her arms.

Aly stepped into Vic's arms, the two hugging for a moment as Vic held her tight, close to her chest. When she didn't let go right away, she was having a tough time knowing we were going out again. We both missed the kid.

"You can let go now, mum." Aly laughed. Once Vic stepped back, the little girl threw her arms around my legs. "Bye Daryl."

Smiling down at her lightly, I ruffled her hair a little. "We'll be back."

"Okay, let's go." Denise smiled, offering her hand.

Aly took it and gave Vic and I a little wave before she followed the doctor, walking away with the dog right behind them.

Vic stood again, turning to me. "You think we should tell someone we're trying to have a baby?" she spoke quietly so no one heard. "I just..." she sighed. "I know it's only been a couple of months, but I'd really hoped we'd be seeing some signs by now."

"Hey." I shook my head, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer. "We're fine. Either way, we're fine."

Slowly a smile crept on to her lips. "I know." she agreed as she stepped forward, pressing her lips to mine.

CPOV

Dad walked up to me as I finished putting gas in the RV. Judith was in his arms, waving at me as they got closer.

"You sure?" I asked him, knowing he understood what I meant. I didn't really like the idea of him going to go check out this community.

"No." he answered honestly. "But if he's telling the truth, this could be the start of everything." the sound of voices had us look over, seeing Michonne and Jesus walking down the porch stairs. Dad sighed. "Look, I was gonna tell you about me and Michonne, but it just happened. It just happened. Last night."

I watched him, not saying a word, seeing him squirm thinking I wasn't happy.

"This is different." he tried to explain.

Unable to help it, I let myself grin. "It's cool."

Relaxing, he smiled, nodding. "All right. Get your stuff. Gabriel can take care of Judith while we're gone."

I shook my head. "No, I'm not coming." when he looked at me confused, I went on. "Someone's got to stay back, keep this place safe. A kid with a messed-up face probably wouldn't make the best first impression anyway."

Not saying anything else, seeming to understand, he handed Judith over, grabbed a jerry can and headed off, moving to the RV door.

VPOV

I leaned against Daryl, my head on his shoulder, his arm around me. Abraham was on my other side. Glenn, Maggie and Jesus across from us. Dad drove and Michonne sat in the passenger seat. We were all silent, just sitting and enjoying the ride- as much as we could.

I felt guilt bubble inside me as I thought about Aly at home. Leaving to go scavenging was different than what we were doing here. We were headed into unknown territory with a complete stranger I still wasn't sure I could trust or not.

Out of nowhere, Abraham leaned forward. "Hey." he nodded to Glenn.

Glenn sat next to a sleeping Maggie, his hand on her stomach, looking out the window. The two looked perfect and peaceful. My two best friends. I was so proud of them for what they were doing.

Abraham went on once he had Glenn's attention. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." Glenn nodded.

"When you were, uh, pouring the Bisquick, were you tryna make pancakes?" Abraham asked.

It took me a moment, but I figured out what he was trying to say. A little laugh escaped my lips, causing Glenn to look to me, confused, and then turn back to Abraham.

"Uh... Yes?" it took him a few more seconds, but then Glenn got it. "Oh, okay." he laughed lightly. "Um... Yeah, it's something that we talked about, yeah. Why?"

"No, I just..." Abraham tried to get the right words. "Well, given the precarious state of affairs on any given Sunday, I am damn near floored that you or anyone else would have the cojones to make a call like that."

"I mean, well..." Glenn started, looking at Maggie for a moment before turning back. "We're trying to build something, me and her. All of us."

Hearing those words, knowing Glenn was right, I leaned against Daryl more just as his arm tugged me closer, moving to rest on the side of my stomach, rubbing that area gently. We didn't move fast, or do anything big, so when no one seemed to notice, I found myself both relieved and disappointed.

Abraham didn't say anything at first, but after a moment, he responded. "For the record, I see rain coming, I'm wearing galoshes. I double up." he said matter-of-factly.

Smiling, letting a little laugh escape my lips again, I turned away from the two men, finding my eyes land on Jesus, who was looking right at me.

Actually, he was looking at Daryl's hand. I guess someone did notice...

His eyes moved up and landed on mine as a small smirked played on his lips. It wasn't mischievous or evil. No, I could see he meant no malice. In fact, I couldn't help but feel like he was silently congratulating us, and maybe a little happy.

When the RV slowed and turned, Daryl reached for the blinds of the window behind us, looking out. "Yo, Rick, what's goin' on?"

"We got a crash ahead." dad answered. "Looks like it just happened."

Jesus tore his eyes away from mine, standing up and moving so he could look out the window. "It's one of ours." he said before rushing for the RV door.

We all followed him, stepping out once the RV was stopped, moving to go check out the crash site. I was worried about there being any people in the crash, so I stepped up to check. I didn't realize dad was worried about something else.

He raised his gun at Jesus. "If this is a trick, it won't end well for you."

"My people are in trouble. They don't..." Jesus stopped himself before going on, clearly worried. "We don't have a lot of fighters. I know how it looks, but I'll play it out. Can I borrow a gun?"

"No." Daryl shook his head, gesturing to the ground. "We got tracks right here."

Daryl and I took the lead, the only two people in our group that could follow tracks. As we moved along the path, the others following, we eventually got to a building where the tracks stopped.

Dad stepped forward, gun still raised, banging his fist against the glass door.

"They got to be in there." Jesus told us.

"We moving in or what?" Abraham asked.

Daryl shook his head. "How do we know this ain't firecrackers in a trash can?" he had a good point.

Jesus sighed. "You don't."

Dad gave a short nod. "We'll get your people. You're staying here with one of us."

When Jesus turned to the rest of us, looking for back up, he found none.

Michonne shrugged. "That's the deal."

Glenn walked up to Maggie. "Will you stay?"

"Yeah." she nodded.

I moved from where I stood with Daryl, to join Maggie. "I'll stay, too. One watches him, the other watches everything else. It'll be safer."

Maggie seemed to agree with me. "Y'all go. Just be careful."

"Yeah." dad stepped up to Jesus, handcuffing him. "We're gonna be careful."

"Just hurry." Jesus told him.

Dad turned to look at me once Jesus was cuffed. "You hear me whistle, shoot him."

"We will." I reassured him, raising my gun to aim it at Jesus.

Daryl gave me a quick look as the others moved to the door of the building. Silently telling me to be careful and don't be a hero, he hesitated a moment longer before turning and joining the others.

DPOV

We'd split up. Rick went with Michonne, Abraham was on his own, while I stuck with Glenn. We could hear walkers somewhere in the building as we walked through, in the dark, trying to find any sign of life.

The moment a walker moved around a corner, I stepped forward, grabbing it and pushing my knife through its skull, killing it. Another moved around the corner, Glenn reacting just as quickly.

Stepping up to a window looking into an office, I looked in, seeing nothing. But the sound of something in there had both Glenn and me moving into the room.

A guy was hiding in the corner, blocked by a filing cabinet and chair. I reached forward, helping him out.

"Come on. We're with Jesus, let's go." Glenn told him, gun raised at the guy just in case.

He shook his head. "I can't go with you. I'm looking for my friend. He's close and he's hurt from the crash.

Leaving the room, Glenn stayed behind, watching the guy, as I took the front, moving through the building, trying to find the guy's friend or anyone else.

Sure enough, as we turned a corner we found Abraham holding a guy against a wall, hand around the stranger's throat. He must have thought it was a walker. But he'd realized it wasn't before he'd killed the guy.

"Come on, man, let's go." I called. "Come on."

The others appeared, all of us moving to the exit, wanting to get ut of here.

VPOV

Maggie and I sat in the back room of the RV watching one of the guys as he went through his bag, checking all the medicines they'd found.

As he started to pack them away he looked up at us. "Name's Harlan, by the way."

"Maggie. This is my friend, Vickie. That's my husband, Glenn." she gestured to where Glenn stood in the short hall of the RV.

"We're bringing back medication, so, you may have saved more people than just us back there, Glenn." Harlan smiled politely.

Glenn shifted on his feet. "You're a doctor?"

Harlan gave a short nod. "Yeah, that's right."

"You have any prenatal vitamins in there?" Glenn pointed to the bag.

Harlan grinned, turning to Maggie. "For you?" when she nodded he went on. "Well, I was an obstetrician before and I most definitely owe you. So, I'd say you two just hit the jackpot."

Shifting on the spot, wanting to ask if he had anything for me, I thought twice about it before getting up and moving to leave. As much as I wanted to say something, Daryl and I hadn't really agreed to let people know we were trying for a baby, so for now, I'd keep quiet.

"Excuse me." I muttered to Glenn, who moved out of the way and let me through.

As I made my way toward Daryl- who was sitting in the same spot as before, I overheard Jesus talking to the guy he was next to. The guy had been hurt from the car accident.

"You okay, Freddie?" Jesus asked.

Freddie- the injured guy- turned to him. "For a second back there, just when I thought he was gonna..." he looked to Abraham. I wasn't sure what had happened, but it looked like it shook Freddie up. "I saw my wife. She died before all this. Just when I thought it was over, there she was." he started crying, but he wasn't sad. In fact, he laughed. "Clear as day."

I moved to sit next to Daryl, as close as possible so Jesus' other friends still had space to sit. His arm wrapped around me, pulling me close. I guess it was a reflex. We were always drawn to each other, like magnets.

Suddenly the car came to a stop. Dad tried to move us forward, but by the feel of things, we were stuck. Yet he kept trying, revving the motor, spinning the wheels.

"Damn it." dad sighed. "A storm must've passed through. We're stuck."

Jesus stood and looked out the window. "No worries. We're here."

One by one we stepped out of the RV, following Jesus as he came to stand in front of the vehicle, looking straight ahead at the tall wooden walls not too far from where we stood.

"That's us." he nodded. "That's the Hilltop."

DPOV

Moving towards the gates, I slipped my hand into Vic's. Most of the time, when we were outside the gates of our community, we tried not to get too close. We'd learnt that people used weakness to hurt you. Vic was my weakness. I was hers.

"Stop right there." someone called out.

In an instant, all our people had their guns ready and aimed at the two men standing guard at the top of the wall by the gate, spears in their hands.

Jesus spun around, raising his hands to stop us from shooting. "Whoa."

I ignored him, looking up at the guys. "You gonna make us?"

"Jesus, what the hell is this?" one asked.

"Open the gates, Kal. Freddie's hurt." Jesus told him and then turned back to the rest of us. "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing."

"They give up the weapons, then we'll open the gates." the one named Kal wasn't giving in.

"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" I warned.

The doctor we'd found stepped forward. "Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right? They saved us out there. Lower the spears."

When no one moved, Rick stepped closer to Jesus. "Look, I'm not taking any chances. Tell your guy Gregory to come out here."

Jesus shook his head. "No. Don't you see what just happened. I'm letting you keep your guns. Look, we ran out of ammo months ago. I like you people. I trust you. Trust us."

We were all waiting for Rick to give as a signal. But what we were expecting was for Vic to respond first.

"Okay." she nodded her head before signalling for us to lower our weapons.

I looked to Rick, who looked from his daughter, to me, and then back. Just like that, he lowered his gun, and one by one we followed.

With that, Jesus turned back to the guards. "Open the gates, Kal."

The large gates opened, all of us moving forward. I stayed back for a moment, watching Vic as she started forward first, right behind Jesus. I'm not entirely sure what just happened, but it felt like Vic had just given an order.

That wasn't odd. She done it a few times before, we all did. But not in a situation like this. Rick always lead us...

Looking around the place I felt like we'd gone back in time. Right before electricity was even invented. There were farms, and stalls and what looked like a blacksmith. Most things were made with logs and wood. It felt... old.

"There was a materials yard for a power company nearby." Jesus explained. "That's how we put up the walls. A lot of people came from a FEMA camp. Trailers came with them." he gestured to the row of trailers at the back of community.

"How did people find out about this place?" Michonne asked.

Jesus gestured to the large building in the middle of the whole place. "That's called Barrington House. The family that owned it gave it to the state in the '30s. The state turned it into a living history museum. Every elementary school for fifty miles used to come here for field trips.

"The place was running a long time before the modern world built up around it. I think people came here because they figured it's keep running after the modern world broke down." he shrugged before pointing up at the roof. "Those windows up there let us see for miles in every direction. It's perfect for security." he turned back to us then. "Come on. I'll show you inside."

Once again, I watched as Vic stepped forward first, following Jesus. It was odd, but I could see she was still prepared for anything. That helped ease my tension.

Following the others, we walked behind Jesus as he led us towards the huge house.

RPOV

We walked into the main foyer of the Barrington House. Jesus held the door as we filed in. Vickie was first, closely followed by myself and then the others.

Taking in the place I felt like I was in an eighteenth-century mansion. This place looked like it hadn't aged a day since the moment it was built. It was refreshing considering we still lived in a modern community.

"Good gracious Ignatius." Abraham said, taking in the place.

I wasn't sure what it meant but I could see everyone else was feeling just as surprised and awed as I was.

"Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces." Jesus started. "Even the ones that weren't bedrooms."

"People live here and the trailers?" I asked.

He nodded. "We plan to build. There's babies being born." I wasn't entirely sure, but when he said that last part, I swear I saw him look over at Vickie, he wasn't too far from me...

Before I could say anything, two doors behind Daryl opened.

An older man stepped out. "Jesus. You're back." he noted before looking at the rest of us. "With guests."

"Everyone, this is Gregory." Jesus introduced. "He keeps the trains running on time around here."

"I'm the boss." Gregory exclaimed with a slight grin.

Nodding, I stepped forward. "Well, I'm Rick, we have a community-"

Gregory cut me off before I could finish. "Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?"

"We're fine." I told him, trying to keep my cool. The last thing we needed was for me to start something with this community's leader.

But Gregory didn't care. Stepping closer to me, he spoke. "Jesus will show you where you can get washed up, then come ack down here where you're ready. It's hard to keep this place clean." he said, right in my face.

I was just about to snap. To say something I would probably regret later.

That's when I felt a hand rest on my arm. "He's right." I looked over, seeing Vickie smiling at Gregory sweetly- and falsely. "I know I'd love to get cleaned up, at least."

Sighing, seeing my daughter being the bigger person, I took her lead. "Yeah, sure." I agreed, turning to look at Jesus.

Jesus gave a short nod. "Follow me."

As we followed him up the stairs, I looked over my shoulder at Vickie and Maggie who were right behind me. "You two clean up first, then go talk to him."

"Why?" Maggie asked.

"I shouldn't." I shook my head. "And you got to start doing these things." I noted.

Bamby