Arriving to the gates of Alexandria they had a bag over the girl's head, she still hadn't even said her name and Ren honestly didn't know how many tears her eyes could produce with how constantly she'd been crying. Her persistence that they were the bad guys was beginning to really annoy her. Carol and Jerry had come with them for the meeting, Ezekiel staying back to be with the community and his son, stating he trusted the other twos judgement on the case. Sera had said that the man was to kind to hear about what had been done to other human beings and Ren couldn't help but agree with her, but now felt bad for Jerry who would have to deal with it.
Rick came up to them as they walked with the woman, her hands tied behind her back, "Who's this?"
"Don't know." Ren answered, pulling the bag off her head, "You want to rehabilitate someone, why don't you find out who she is, what they did to her, where they're at, and how we can help her."
"You don't want to help!" The woman barked at her, then more tears formed in her eyes, "You cut him open."
"Yeah." Ren looked at her, "Yeah I cut Kevin open, because he was holding my head under water while squeezing his hands around my throat. I couldn't breathe, and even if I could have taken in a breath, I still couldn't have breathed. I killed him because he was going to kill me. Just like Brad wants to do. Just like Michael wants to do."
"Because you killed the others. You killed his brother!" The woman cried out as Charlotte, April, Negan, and Michonne all came over.
"Nah, I killed his brother." Daryl told her, "Because his brother was going to hurt and kill her."
"So what? That's how the world works? Judge, jury and executioner all at once in a single moment?" She stammered through tears, "Kevin didn't even get a chance to defend himself."
"Then why don't you defend him?" Negan said, "Tell us. You clear his name and maybe we'll spare the other two, you like them as much as Kevin, don't you?"
Ren shot her Uncle a look and he gave her a look she knew well, one he used to give her when he heard people being rude to their waitresses, or someone making a big fuss about their customer service, a look that said, 'I got this.' Her jaw set tight, but she gave him a small nod.
"It wasn't the same with them as it was with him, but yeah, I like them." The girl answered. Sera's eyeroll was so loud they could almost hear it.
Negan knelt down to be about the same height as her, giving her a warm smile, pointing to Rick, "This here is my good friend Rick, he used to be a police officer. I used to be a teacher. Why don't you come with us and tell us everything about these boys and what it is that this lady did that was so bad to them. Alright?"
The girl nodded her head and Negan and Rick started leading her away. Ren watched them leave, "Jackass."
"He's not serious, is he?" Charlotte asked.
"No, he's not." Ren sighed, "Well he is about the teacher thing. He was really good at it. Good at getting kids to talk about their problems and helping them out."
"Really?" Jerry looked down at her and she nodded
"Then how the hell did he end up how he was when we ran into him." Michonne couldn't help but wonder.
"Never said he didn't have an ego." Ren looked at her, "And then also losing your entire family in pretty much a month probably didn't help."
"No…" Sera said, "I can agree that something like that happening can change a person."
"All we're waiting on is people from Hilltop to arrive, then we can hear everyone out on what they think about what you guys want to do." Michonne told them, then looked after the direction Negan and Rick had gone, "And hopefully, we'll be able to hear everyone. We sent a message to them when we saw you guys coming, so it might not be until tomorrow."
"Good, that'll give them plenty of time to talk to her." Sera looked at her, "Plenty of time to hear her truth."
"She can't be serious." April said, "I don't care how new she is, there's no way that she likes them."
"We think it might be…" Sera looked at Ren, "What was it you called it?"
"Stockholm syndrome." Ren helped her out.
"Right, that. That maybe she convinced herself if she liked them and did everything, they told her to that they would be good to her too?" Sera wasn't sure how that could even be possible.
"Well I mean they did have her out and not tied up." Ren ran her hand over her face, "They've been feeding her well it seems, or she was taken very recently, and she was helping them set a trap for another girl to be taken."
"How do you know that's what it was?" Charlotte asked.
"Well I mean I don't, it's just a hypothesis, but she had no clue who I was until I asked her if the person who had taken her was Michael, so I'm just inferring that it was some type of trap to catch a new girl." Ren told them.
"Wow." Sera looked at her, "Those degrees really came in handy for that inference didn't it?"
"Shut up." Ren laughed shoving her.
"If she really is under their spell then how the hell are we going to fair in this trial thing?" April asked them.
"It doesn't matter, they're dead anyways." Sera told her.
"But I mean, wouldn't it be better if we stayed on these people's good side? Even if we kill Michael and Brad, and go to the dorm and live perfectly safe…what's to stop another group from coming in? A bigger group that we can handle?" She asked. "Who do we ask for help then?"
"Hilltop." Ren answered, "They're with us one hundred percent after what all happened."
"That's good, but wouldn't more friends be better?" Charlotte added, "I'm not saying I don't think we could make it on our own, but the three of us, and the others that we get out, we haven't lived in this world that long. Not like these people have, not like you have Ren. And those girls will need the medicine and treatment that we've gotten. Hilltop doesn't have as good of a doctor as Alexandria, Enid is still learning…and how many of them might be like me?"
"I hate it when you're right, mi hermosa." Sera groaned.
"Well we kind have been here just the two of us to talk about it." Charlotte smiled at her with a chuckle.
"Ladies." Negan came into the kitchen, "Having a little pow wow, plan of action, call to arms situation?"
"How's it going?" Ren ignored his obnoxiousness.
"Good. We're really starting to bond." He smiled at her, opening the fridge, "We're taking a break and I thought that when we went back, she might like some food and fresh clothes."
"Kay." She squinted her eyes at him.
"Guys don't worry. I'm still on your side." He told them, "I want those fucking dick bag assholes dead just as much as you do. And I think Rick might be realizing it too."
"Really?" April perked up.
"You think he might not kick us out." Charlotte said with a smile.
"Well he'd have to go that over my, and I'm sure Daryls dead body, but yeah, I think he might just be thinking of hunting them down himself before his daughter grows up." Negan looked at them and gave them a smile, "It'll be alright. And Charlotte stop stressing out so much, it's not good for the baby."
"Nothing I do but sit around, relax, and eat your cooking is good for the baby." She smiled at him.
"I know. So just be happy and do that." He headed up the stairs.
They all just looked at each other and when he came back down the stairs and headed for the front door Ren followed him out, "Uncle Negan. What's her name?"
"Victoria." He turned around and told her, "She's nineteen years old and was in a group with her mom when they took the both of them. She says they went out too far looking for food and that's how they got them. Said that if she did what they told her to do, they'd let her mom go and they did."
"How…how do we help someone like her?" Ren asked, not wanting to point out something obviously wrong with what she'd told him, "Someone who thinks that what happened to them was okay…that they deserved it, I guess?"
His smile fell as he looked at her, "I…I don't know. But we'll all figure it out."
"Okay." She nodded, knowing he wasn't lying, but not feeling that much more confident about it.
She was sitting on the front steps of the porch when Daryl came out. He went down behind her, and sat on the step above her, his legs on either side of her as he put his arms around her, pulling her back to lean on him, "You okay?"
"Uncle Negan brought me her ped pan." Ren sighed and then held up a pregnancy test, "It's positive."
"Shit." Daryl closed his eyes.
"She's a kid." She deflated into him, "A goddamn kid and now she's got so many hard choices up ahead and she probably doesn't even see them as that, because she thinks she likes what they've done to her."
"I'm sorry." He held her close. He knew how much she wanted to help the girl, but it made her angry the way she defended the men. It was tearing her apart how she felt about the situation. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a cigarette and lit it in his mouth before holding it in front of hers. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged, "Heard pretty girls shouldn't light their own."
She let out a small laugh and took a hit of the cigarette. Leaning her head on him they sat in silence sharing the stick and let the night grow later. "Daryl?"
"Hmm?" he responded, mid hit.
"What are they going to ask us tomorrow?" She asked him.
"Don really know…" He hated that he knew this much, "Probably about what they did…"
"Do…do you really want to be in there for that?" She looked up at him, "We haven't ever really talked about it. I mean…I know you know what happened, but you don't really know."
He swallowed hard thinking about it, he knew more than he'd ever wanted to already, but the way she was talking, the way her voice sounded confused and conflicted, made him want to whisk her away so she didn't have to talk about it at all. He could tell she wanted him there, for support, for comfort, but she didn't want him to hear anything, she was afraid it would hurt him too much. He tossed the butt of the cigarette away, "You want me there?"
"I don't want you to think of me different." She looked away from him, her hands picking at each other, "I don't want you to think I'm fragile or…or dirty."
"Look at me." He told her and after a second, she did. He put his finger on her chin to keep her there and he said, "Nothin, nothin will make me see you as anything but what you are. Strong. Smart. Brave. Resourceful. It don matter what she says. It don matter what gets said tomorrow. Cause it's done. And when it ain't, when it comes back, I'll be right here."
Placing his lips on hers he held her close, then moved them to the top of her head as she nuzzled into his shoulder. They stayed there, her breathing getting slower as she relaxed into him more and more, taking in his scent, one of the only things that could make her feel completely at ease.
"You should go to bed." He whispered against her hair.
"I want to stay like this." She muttered.
"I know," He told her, "and we will. But inside."
Putting his arm under her legs he scooped her up, carrying her into the house and then into their room. Maneuvering the sheets, he laid her down and then climbed in on the other side. Within moments of him being on his side she was already curled into him, her head against his chest and arm nestled against his stomach. This wasn't the position he'd planned on going with, but he didn't care as he put his arm around her, feeling her falling asleep.
A/N: Just some set up for the next chapter...it's gunna be a rough one. Let me know what you guys think of this one though!