A brown Jeep Wrangler was speeding down the drive towards Alexandria. Abraham recognized the car as belonging to Jesus from Hilltop so he hurried down to open the gate , waving the car through. A bloody and frantic Jesus stepped out, and Abraham was afraid
to ask what had happened. So instead he said, "What do you need?"

"Rick, Daryl and anyone else who calls the shots around here."

"Rick's actually in his house right now. Head on down there, number 24 on the left, and I'll send word to Daryl to meet you guys."

"Thanks." Jesus hurried off and Abraham walkie-talkied Sasha to grab Daryl on her way over for her shift.

When Jesus got to Rick's house, Daryl was already hot on his heels. "What's going on?" he asked worriedly, joining him on the porch.

"Fucking Negan, that's what." Jesus rang the bell and Michonne answered. She saw the sorry state Jesus was in and the worried look on Daryl's face and let them right in, no questions asked. Rick was in the kitchen feeding Judith. He looked up and frowned.
"What now?"

"Can we talk? The four of us? And anyone else whose counsel you value."

"These two here are my right hand men," Rick said motioning to Daryl and Michonne. "Have a seat. We can talk freely because Carl is out with Maggie helping her in the fields with some heavy lifting."

Only Michonne sat down across from Rick. Jesus continued to pace the kitchen like a caged animal and Daryl perched against the counter nervously. He had no idea what Jesus was up in arms about but if it came out that Fiona wasn't at Hilltop last night,
he was screwed.

"Gregory is dead."

All three sets of eyes shot up to him in surprise.

"Oh my god," Rick said quietly. "I'm so sorry to hear that... Is that who Fiona was helping out with?"

Jesus looked at him blankly. "What?"

"Fiona spent the night at Hilltop helping your doctor."

"No she didn't. Nobody was injured until Gregory today."

Rick shot a glare across the room at Daryl. "Then where the hell was she?"

Daryl grappled desperately for any quick excuse he could come up with but Jesus saved him the burden of answering by directing them back to the subject at hand. "Negan shot him. In cold blood. There was an altercation over one of our pigs. He was there
with a few of his goons and things turned ugly. We need to take him down and you have to help us. He's a loose cannon and has no sense of morality. We can't keep living this way. He needs to die."

Daryl was so shocked by the news he forgot for the moment he was in deep trouble with Rick.

Negan killed Gregory? In cold blood?

A part of him was skeptical Jesus was telling the truth. Or had twisted the truth around somehow to better serve his cause. And how could Negan be at Hilltop this morning if Fiona had been with him overnight?

"So he killed Gregory over a pig?" Daryl asked, in an attempt at clarification.

Jesus rolled his eyes impatiently. "Are you even half-listening to what I'm saying? It was more than that. No point going into the details. Bottom line is we are going to run out of supplies for the winter if we don't take action soon. You know it and
I know it. We have a lot of mouths to feed between our two communities."

Rick had been sitting quietly, trying to process everything. When he finally spoke, he asked a very logical question. "We alreadytried to kill him for youand couldn't get close to him. How the hell do you propose we do it this time around?"

"He has to have a weakness. And I'm gonna find out what it is."

Daryl weighed his options. He had a feeling this moment would come. When he would be forced to choose between the good of not only his community but his family, and Fiona. He kept trying to tell himself she had no future with Negan. They could never live
happily ever after because nobody approved of their relationship. So she was fighting a losing battle. One that would be futile even trying to help her fight.

Jesus was right, he realized glumly. They needed to remove the threat of Negan if they ever wanted to live in peace. And supplies were definitely going to run out if they kept giving him half. They had a pregnant woman on top of everything else to think
of and to feed.

Fiona was being the selfish one, he rationalized. She was a traitor and lying to the people who loved her. He couldn't and wouldn't be her accomplice anymore. Losing Negan would be hard but she would get over it eventually. And hopefully still be
welcome in Alexandria after everything was said and done.

Rick, Michonne and Jesus were brainstorming ideas and plans, but Daryl was only half-listening to them.

When he finally found the courage to speak up, he barely recognized his own voice.

"I know his weakness...And I know exactly when and where to take him down."

Rick desperately needed to break something.

He grabbed Michonne's sword from where she left it in the front hallway and stormed off to the far end of the housing complex which had never been developed. He began slashing angrily, wildly, at bushes, tree branches, anything in his way that he could
hit and destroy. The rage he was feeling was indescribable, and he needed to deflect most of it before he ran into Fiona and lost his cool.

Because he could not, under any circumstances, let her know that he now knew her dirty little secret. For their plan to work, she had to carry on, business as usual. As much as it hurt him to do so, because all he wanted was to give her a big fucking
piece of his mind, he had to hold his tongue. Which was why he was hoping this physical venting session would help.

He kept replaying Daryl's words over and over in his head.

Fiona and Negan.

Fucking.

That night he stayed here at Alexandria.

Her meeting him multiple times after that and lying to the group about her whereabouts.

Getting Daryl involved and having him lie for her, too.

It was almost too much to believe.

But when he took into consideration her distance towards him, her lack of emotion and affection, and the chemistry she seemed to have with Negan, it all made perfect sense.

Rick wanted to be mad at Daryl but he redeemed himself and gave them the perfect gift, basically handing Negan over on a silver platter. And the whole 'don't shoot the messenger' thing applied even if Daryl had been a willing accomplice for a time. He
knew very well how persuasive Fiona could be, especially when she smiled with those big blue eyes.

But she played them all for fools, especially himself. Each time he groveled and begged for her back... She wanted nothing to do with him because she was being satisfied by that prick.

His face flamed at the thought.

Then images of the two of them naked and entwined bombarded his brain, making him even angrier. Him bringing her to climax over and over making her scream his name, her sucking his dick and riding him passionately...

He let out a painful yell as he slashed another bush. He was crying now. He could feel the hot tears streaming down his sweat-slicked face.

How could she stomach being with a cold-blooded killer like that?

Was it just sex or was it more?

Daryl seemed to believe it was a lot more, but Rick found that a possible emotional connection between them was even harder to swallow than just a purely physical one.

What had he done wrong? Why had she run to Negan's arms when she had a good man in himself who loved her and would do anything for her right here at home? Especially after everything they had been through together?

He didn't have any answers.

Just an unending stream of questions, many of which he would probably never get answers to.

He did know one thing for sure, though.

He was going to kill the bastard.

He knew how badly Jesus wanted to be the one to do it to avenge Gregory's death. But he needed his own revenge- even if it was just for his bruised ego and broken heart.

He wished he could do it with his bare hands.

He wanted to see the life go out of Negan's eyes... slowly and torturously.

Lifting the sword, he was about to bring it down again when someone spoke his name.

"Rick."

Michonne's velvety voice made him pause midair. He turned to look at her and when she saw the wild look in his eyes she stepped up to him and placed her hands over his on the sword. "Give her the benefit of the doubt until you at least hear her side of
the story."

"Her side!? HER SIDE!? This is black and white! There's no shades of gray in between! She's sleeping with the enemy! And lying to everyone about it!"

"Maybe she's doing it for a reason-to infiltrate his camp, gain Intel, earn his trust... It can be anything, Rick. Fiona's a smart woman."

Rick shook his head, stubbornly refusing to believe it. "I saw the way they interacted when he brought that sick boy here! I saw the way she looked at him! How she responded to him! So did numerous other people!"

Michonne gently brought her hand to his stubbled cheek, wiping away the sweat and tears. "I'm sorry she broke your heart," she said softly. "But make sure whatever you decide to do with Jesus, you're doing it for the right reasons, like the future of
our community and not because of a jealous ego."

He shoved her hand away angrily. "This community is always my number one priority. Don't ever question that. He's the enemy. That's what this is about. We tried to kill him once and didn't succeed. This time we will."

"And Fiona? What happens to her after it's all said and done? Are you going to exile her like you did to Carol? Do you think she's even going to want to stay here knowing how you and Daryl betrayed her?"

"No, I won't exile her. And she won't up and leave because she's got nowhere else to go. She'll get over it in time."

He handed her back her sword, wiped his face and started to walk away.

"Rick?"

He stopped and looked back at her wearily.

"I'mbehind you, Daryl and Jesus 100%. He needs to die for us to live. But I'mjust playing devils advocate here-Making sure you explore every side of this before you take action. Just in case you decide you wanted her back someday. Because
if you go through with it and if she truly loves him, then you don't stand a chance in hell."

Rick's eyes darkened and his expression hardened into something frightening. "I don't ever want her back. Not after a betrayal like this." He got closer to Michonne, his face up in hers. "You think I'd be able to touch her again, knowing that HE touched
her? " He shook his head in disgust. "We're finished. For good."

With that, he stormed off and Michonne watched him go.

He was a wreck.

But this was something he needed to come to terms with on his own, she realized sadly. No amount of love on her part or anyone else's for that matter would be able to help him through it.

All she could do was be there for him if and when he was ready to move on.