*Time skip. I am not exactly sure how long its been since they didn't give any indication on the show, but I am gonna say that maybe it has been four or five days possibly.*
Rick, Daryl and Hershel had left the prison about an hour ago to meet with the Governor and see if stuff could be worked out but I honestly wasn't holding my breath on that. In the mean time, the rest of us have been going through the guns and ammo taking inventory of everything that Rick, Michonne and Carl got on their run the other day. Thankfully both girls were taking a nap so we could get stuff done. Rick had asked Glenn to start working on the prison today and left him in charge.
"Carl, come here." He says to the boy. "Stash these at these at the loading dock. Beth, can you put more up on the catwalk? If anyone gets pinned down, we need to make sure they have ammo. I am gonna start working on the cage." Glenn grabs the torch and starts to head out but stops when Merle stops him.
"What we should be doing is loading some of this firepower into the truck and paying us a visit to the Governor. We know where he is." I cant help but roll my eyes.
"You suggesting we go in and kill him?" Glenn asks looking at him as if were the dumbest idea. Which it was.
"Yeah I am."
"We told Rick and Daryl we would stay put. Besides that a million things could go wrong. If we were to roll up on them guns a blazin', not only do we blow this plan out the window, but Rick or Hershel or hell your brother could be killed or worse." I look him straight in the eye.
"I changed my mind sweetheart. My brother being out there, near him, aint sittin right with me." Did he not just hear anything I said.
"Like she said, a thousand things could go wrong." Glenn said backing me up.
"And they will."
"My dad can take care of himself." Carl yells glaring at the one armed pain in the ass.
"Sorry son, but your dads head could be on a pike real soon." I watch as Carl turns and walks out as if he hadn't heard what was said. As soon as he is out the door, I slam the clip I had in my hand down, making the noise echo off the walls loudly. I look at him with pure rage running through my veins, felling everyone's eyes on me.
"Don't you ever say anything like that to him again you fuckin brain dead redneck. As a matter a fact, I don't want to hear you say one word to him ever again. If ya do, I will take your other damn hand, see how you defend yourself with no hands." I growl glaring at him.
"That a threat princess?" I can tell he is baiting me, but I'm not biting.
"It's a damn promise." I was beyond furious at this point.
Straightening up I turned to Maggie, handing her the bullets. "I am gonna go check on him." She nods her head taking them from me and I turn to quickly follow after Carl to make sure he was alright. Stepping outside, I look around for the familiar hat and find him sitting on the bleachers looking down. Slowly making my way over, I come to a stop and knock on the metal bench he was sitting on making him jump. He turns his head and wipes his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt quickly so I don't notice.
"Stop that." I gently grab his wrist as I climb up to sit on the bench in front of him facing him. He sniffles and keeps his head down, trying to hide his tears. "Carl, I want you to look at me." I quietly whisper as I place my other hand on his arm as well. He slowly looks at me and I can see the tear tracks that have managed to make a wet trail down his cheeks through the dirt that was gathered there. "I don't want you to hide your tears from me. I get it. You're worried about your dad and that's ok. There is no shame in crying." He finally lifts his head to look me in the eyes and nods. "Now, tell me what's going on in that head of yours."
"Its not just being worried about him. I know that he can take care of himself if it came down to it, I just had a moment of, 'what if he doesn't come back?' Judy and I will be orphans. It will just be the two of us and that's not fair." He whispers as his voice cracks a bit at the end. Moving closer, I grip his hand reassuringly and peak under his hat to look at him.
"I want you to listen to what I am about to say, ok? If something were to ever happen to your dad, I want you to know that you both will not be alone. You will not be orphans because you still have family here. Ok? Yes, we aren't exactly blood but that doesn't defy who your family is. You will always have someone here to look after you. I know you know about your dad and I so I wont try to deny it, but if anything ever happened to him, I want you to know that I would take care of you and your sister like you both were my own. Hell I somewhat am with Judith already…kinda. Even though I have only known your dad for about a month, I know that he will fight tooth and nail to make it back to you both. He would kill anyone who stood in his way." I pause to reach up and wipe his face with the sleeve of my shirt. "I don't want you to ever feel like you are alone. If you ever feel like that or if you just need to cry or rant or whatever then you come find me. Ok? Ill be the best friend you ever had if that was what you needed. I know there might be some things that you wont feel comfortable talking to your dad about and if you don't want to talk to anyone else…then come find me and I will listen. If you don't want peoples opinions then let me know and ill just lend my ear till you get it off your chest." He nods his head as he sits up and cleans his face off. "Feeling better?" I ask smirking up at him. He nods and I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god! I didn't know if I was gonna upset you more or make myself cry." I tease making him chuckle. "Come on, wanna go check on the girls with me?"
"Sure." We stand up and jump down from the bleachers. As we start to make our way toward the cell block Carl says my name, making me stop to look at him. He steps closer to me and wraps his arms around my waist as he hugs me tightly. I lift my hands and place them around his shoulders. "Thank you. I am glad that my dad decided to keep you." He says against my stomach.
Shocked beyond belief, I stand there speechless as he lets me go and takes off toward in the direction we were headed. I watch him go and see Glenn standing in the cage, watching us with a smile on his face.
Guess that was Carl's stamp of approval.
*A while later*
"The hell is going on?" I mutter rushing out of my cell with Lily in my arms to the common area. Upon coming into the room, I stop in my tracks just in time to see Maggie put Merle in a choke hold as he pins Glenn to one of the tables. Quickly handing Lily to Beth, I make my way over just as Merle pushes Maggie off of his pack making her stumble into the table behind them. I grab one of the rifles of the table and cock it, putting a bullet in the chamber before holding it up and aiming it at his head. "Back off Merle. Now or I wont hesitate to put a bullet in your head." I threaten the man. He stands up slowly and turns to look at me.
"Quit making empty threats. If your gonn do it, then do it. None of you pussies have the balls to do what needs to be done. Makin empty threats wont get you very far sugar tits." As he finishes his sentence, I swing the gun around and smack the handle of it across his face. It collides with his nose and he falls backwards onto his ass and he's out.
"How's that for an empty threat ya dick head." I growl dropping my arms to my side staring down at the unconscious man.
"Remind me to never make you angry." Glenn mutters looking at me with a smirk. I cant help but laugh and place the rifle back onto the table before turning to Tyreese.
"Hey Ty, would you mind helping get him into a cell until Rick and Daryl get back?" I ask.
"I'm afraid to say no, so lets get him moved." He smirks making everyone laugh. Tyreese, Glenn, Sasha and I manage to get Merle into one of the cells and onto the bed. Shutting the door, Glenn locks the door and we head back to the rest of the group.
"He is gonna wake up pissed beyond belief." Maggie laughs shaking her head.
"He is always pissed. At everything, nothing new. Ill just knock his ass out again." I laugh walking to Beth to take Lily back but see that she is asleep in her arms.
"I got her." She smiles.
"Ok, well I am going to go watch for the others. Send one of the others if you need me." She nods her head and I grab the rifle I just had and head out to the courtyard to keep watch with Carol and Michonne.
After a while , Michonne and Carol head in for some food leaving me alone. Its not too long after they head in, the relatively quiet afternoon is broken by the rumbling of a familiar motorcycle. Quickly taking the keys that Rick gave me before he left off my belt loop I run over to the gate and quickly unlock it before pulling it open wide enough for both of them to enter. Quickly closing it, I lock it back and head over to Rick as he gets out. I can instantly tell that he is tense as he looks around, examining the surround area. A few others have joined us and he looks at everyone before looking at me.
"Lets head inside." He says taking my hand and leading everyone inside. Everyone gathers in the cell block, nervously waiting for what Rick has to say. Judith remains asleep in her cot in Beth and Hershel's room while Lily is laying in my arms, awake and looking around. "So I met this Governor. Sat with him for quite a while." Rick finally says.
"Just the two of you?" Merle asks. I look over at the man and see that someone let him out. Probably Daryl.
"Yeah." Rick nods looking down.
"Should have gone when we had the chance." He mumbles looking at Glenn and I.
"He wants the prison. He wants us gone, dead. He wants us dead, for what we did you Woodbury." He explains. When nobody says anything he continues. "We're going to war." He says looking around. He sighs and turns to leave. I quickly hand Lily off to Maggie and follow after Rick as he heads up to the catwalk. As I walk out the door, I see him standing at the fence, holding on to it as if were keeping him in place.
"Hey." I come to a stop next to him and cross my arms as my anxiety takes a hold of me. "What's going to happen Rick?" I ask. He remains silent for a minute, as if he was trying to decide if he should say what he was holding in.
"He gave me a choice. A way out." I barely heard him when he finally spoke.
"What does he want?" I can see the hesitation on his face as he looks at me and I instantly know its bad.
"Michonne." Yep, its bad. Didn't know it was that bad though.
"Absolutely not! He'll kill her without hesitating Rick."
"And then he'll kill us anyways." I watch as he looks out over the field and can tell he has more to say. "And what if he doesn't? What if this is the answer?"
"Well its not. It cant be the only way out of it Rick. I wont let anything happen to her if I can help it. Why didn't you let the rest of the group know about this?" I ask.
"They need to be scared."
"Well they are. We all are. Nobody wants to be dealing with this. If you take her to him, you will be sending her to the butcher."
"What other choice do I have Lacey? I am trying my hardest here. To keep everyone alive. To keep up from going to war and the only way to do that is to give him what he wants."
"No Rick. If you do that, you know what will happen. He will kill her, you and anyone else with you. Then he will come kill the guys, even Carl. Then do who knows what to us girls before killing us too. I don't even want to think about what would happen to Lily and Judith." He looks at me as I finish and I can see his strong façade start to crack as his eyes start to tear up.
"Then what should I do Lacey? Tell me, because I don't know what the hell to do." I quickly wrap my arms around him and pull him to me. Two crying Grimes men in just a few hours.
"We will think of something. We have to think of another solution."
There has to be another way.