While Isaac met with Gregory inside the colonial house, Daryl waited on the porch with Sasha and Maggie. He told them about Negan dragging him to Green Acres to collect and the snipers taking out the entire collection party.

"I wish Rick had been willing to do something like that," Sasha said.

Daryl felt that defensive instinct that often clawed up inside him whenever anyone questioned Rick's leadership. He'd only truly resented the man's choices once, when Rick had banished Carol, and even then, as angry as he was, Daryl could at least see Rick's point of view. Maybe it was because he'd spent so many years following Merle that he was grateful to be following a man like Rick. Even when he was wrong, Rick was at least wrong for good reasons. "We was outnumberd. He's got a baby girl. We don't have that many expert marksmen. Cain't blame 'em, really, for tryin' to find a way to live. Reckon he thought if we tried that, rest of 'em Saviors would come down on Alexandria, kill every one of 'em, burn it to the ground. And he's probably right, too."

"But Green Acres wasn't afraid of that?" Maggie asked.

"They didn't know how many of 'em there was. When I told 'em, they's a little taken aback. But they got ready for a defensive battle anyhow. Never came." He told them about their scouting trip to the Sanctuary.

"So they poisoned the pigs?" Sasha asked.

"Seems like," Daryl said.

"Genius." Sasha shook her head. "I'm starting to feel like we don't do a lot of planning."

"Yeah, well, that's gonna change," Daryl said.

Maggie crossed her arms over her chest. "Why? You taking control from Rick?"

"Hell no! But we's all gonna work with Green Acres and the Kingdom now. We's gonna end this thing."

Maggie gritted her teeth. "I wanted to be the one to kill Negan."

"You and about a dozen other people," Sasha said.

Daryl leaned back against the porch rail. "Man who did kill him? Negan beat his only son to death. Tex shot that bastard right 'tween the eyes, in the middle of one of his fuckin' speeches, too. Then Tex's wife Tammy took Negan's own bat and beat his brains out with it."

"I already like these people," Sasha said.

"Did it make her feel better?" Maggie asked.

"For a little while," Daryl said. "Ain't nothin' gonna make any of us feel better 'cept time."

"And we can't have time without peace," Sasha reasoned. "And we can't have peace without war."

Jesus climbed up the porch steps and extended his hand to Daryl. "Good to see you alive. Did you escape?" Daryl looked cautiously at his outstretched hand but shook.

Maggie filled Jesus in on everything.

"Well, Gregory's not going to agree to fight against the Kingdom," Jesus said. "But I'll join you. And I think I know two or three other Hilltop men who will, too, if Green Acres can arm us."

"We can." Isaac closed the door of the colonial house behind himself and took three steps across the porch toward the small group. His rifle was on one shoulder and a bag of medical supplies was slung over the other. "I'm Isaac." He held out his hand to Jesus, who shook it. Isaac turned to Maggie. "And you're Maggie, right?"

She nodded and shook his hand.

Isaac smiled at Sasha. "I don't think we were formally introduced earlier."

Sasha held out her hand and said her name. Isaac bent his head, raised her hand to his lips, and kissed the back of it.

Sasha rolled her eyes and pulled her hand away. "No time for that suave shit. And I recently buried my boyfriend. So mostly what I'm interested in right now is how good a shot you are."

"Better than you."

"I don't know about that," she said.

"He is," Daryl told her. Sasha turned her eyes languidly on him. "Marine sniper," Daryl explained.

Sasha looked back at Isaac. "My dad was a Marine."

Isaac waved his hand back and forth between them and grinned. "So we already have a connection then."

"I hated my dad. He was a stern asshole."

"I'm friendly."

"So I can see. Now are we going to cut the bullshit and talk shop?"

"After you," Isaac said, and extended a hand in the direction of the stairs.

"Where are we going?" Sasha asked.

"To my van. So I can give you a sleek dark, rifle to match those beautiful eyes."

Sasha chuckled as she made her way down the stairs.

Once they were back at the van, Isaac armed Sasha and Jesus each with a rifle. He was extending one to Maggie when Daryl grabbed it. "She ain't fightin'. Got a bun in the oven."

Maggie jerked the rifle out of Daryl's hand. "I have to kill some of these assholes."

"No," Sasha insisted. "You don't. You need to stay here where you and the baby are safe. You wouldn't forgive yourself if anything happened to it."

Maggie got that determined look in her eyes, like a fierce teddy bear. It always made Daryl want to laugh, but he was never laughing once the bullets started flying. "But I want to help," Maggie insisted. "I want to do something other than just sitting around the Hilltop."

"Then why don't you come with me to Green Acres," Isaac suggested. "I have to bring back this antibiotic right away." He glanced at Sasha. "Both of you should come. You can meet our leader Tex and bring him back with you to Alexandria to meet your leader and discuss an alliance."

"I can do that," Maggie said.

"But then ya stay in Alexandria," Daryl insisted. "Or the Hilltop. Anywheres but the Kingdom." After Maggie nodded, Daryl continued, "I'll meet y'all back in Alexandria, soon as I warn them Kingdom, so's we can gather an army. A unit anyhow."

Isaac rummaged in the van and handed Jesus another two rifles and a handgun. He set a cardboard box full of 9 mm, .22, and .45 on the ground at his feet. "For whoever else you can recruit."

"And you'll still have guns to give the Alexandrians?" Sasha asked.

"Sure."

Jesus leaned the rifles against the back of the van and wedged the handgun in his waistband. "How many guns do you people have?"

"Three for every man, woman, and child on our ranch."

Jesus shook his head. "Well, thank you. This is worth a lot more than whatever Gregory gave you."

Isaac patted the medical bag. "This could be worth a special woman's life."

"Yours?" Jesus asked.

Isaac laughed. "No, not mine." He looked at Sasha. "I'm entirely available."

Sasha rolled her eyes and began inspecting her rifle.

"I promised your leader a twenty-year-old bottle of 100-point wine, too," Isaac told Jesus.

"Gregory loves his fine alcohol."

Isaac glanced back toward the colonial house. "You're willing to fight. Why aren't you in charge here instead of him?"

Jesus shrugged. "I don't want that responsibility."

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, you've got it, because from here on out, I'm going to be communicating through you, not through him. He's a useless piece of shit."

"Got that right," muttered Sasha, slinging the rifle over her shoulder.

While Jesus drew Isaac a map to the Kingdom, Maggie nodded to Daryl's motorcycle in the van. "You got all your babies back. The jacket and the crossbow, too."

"Yeah." All his babies. Everything he'd lost. Well, not everything. "Where's Carol anyhow? She here, too? She weren't in Alexandria when Negan took me to collect."

"Rick said she left," Sasha told him.

"What do ya mean – left?"

"She left Tobin a Dear John note and just took off," Sasha explained. "Said she didn't want to keep killing people, and she knew she'd always kill for those she loved, so she needed to be alone."

"Alone? She's out there alone!"

"Rick sent Morgan after her," Maggie said.

"Morgan! That dumb ass peacenick who roughed her up to keep her from doin' what had to be done? Why the hell not me?"

"You were out gunning for Dwight," Sasha reminded him.

Daryl pounded the back of the van with his fist, once, hard.

"I'm sure she'll be all right, Daryl," Maggie assured him. "She's been on her own before." When Rick had banished her. "This is Carol we're talking about."

"Who's Carol?" Isaac asked.

"Biggest bad ass you'll ever meet," Sasha told him. "Though you wouldn't know it to look at her."

"Why would she just leave like that?" Daryl asked. "Without sayin' nothin'? To no one!" Except to that sniveling pansy Tobin.

"I don't know." Maggie shook her head. "We've all been through a lot. She's got to deal with it the way she's got to deal with it."

Daryl paced away from the van and then paced back when he had more control of himself. "Got to get goin'."

He started to pull his motorcycle out of the van, but Jesus put a hand on his wrist to stop him. "Might be easier if we take a car and I go with you to the Kingdom, seeing as I know King Ezekiel."

Daryl rolled his bike back in the van. "King Ezekiel?"

Jesus nodded.

"Their leader some kind of fruit cake? Thinks he's a king?"

"He puts on a show for his people," Jesus told him. "They like the show. It makes them feel safe."

Daryl shook his head but he agreed to let Jesus come with him. "Watch my bike," he commanded Isaac.

"We'll store it at the ranch," Isaac assured him.

"Don't ride it. Don't even touch it."

"I've got to touch it to take it out." Isaac chuckled, shook his head, and shut the doors to the van.