AN: Based off of Season 6 Episode 10 and Episode 11. Thanks to everyone for following, favouring, and reviewing this story. Here's the next chapter, enjoy! Reviews are welcomed. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead, It solely belongs to AMC and Robert Kirkman. I only own my own Character Timi.

Jesus in our Midst

Another week or so has gone by since we started rebuilding Alexandria. Daryl and Rick are supposed to be going out today to see if they could find some supplies. We were really running low on food and our small garden was still not budding yet. I was hoping we'd get lucky today and find at least enough food to last us another month or two. I knew I was probably asking for a lot, but hell, we could sure use a miracle in this place.

I was walking down stairs, getting ready to start my day and I ran into Daryl at the bottom step.

"Hey," I said, smiling at him.

"Hey, I was just comin' to find ya," he said.

"Came to say goodbye."

"More like see ya later. But I was wonderin' if ya needed anythin'."

"Nope, I don't think so."

"Ya sure. I'm gonna try to get a few things for Denise if I can find 'em. I'm sure I could find somethin' for ya."

"I don't need anything. As long as you come back safe, that's all I need."

He smirked and said, "All right. We ain't leavin' right away, so if ya think of somethin', just come find me."

"Okay."

Daryl kissed me and said, "I'll see ya later. Be safe."

"You too."

He gave me another quick kiss on the cheek and walked out of the house. I smiled to myself. Sometimes Daryl could be the sweetest guy in the world. Especially since he's willing to find something for Denise. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a granola bar from our cabinet, eating it slowly. During these times in the apocalypse, I've learned to savor my food pretty well. Once I was finished, I headed outside and Michonne was coming up the stairs.

"What's up Michonne?" I asked.

"I was wondering if you had any leftover toothpaste. We ran out over there and who knows if Daryl and Rick will find any," she said.

"I think I still have about a half a tube left. I usually have to force Daryl to brush his teeth, so we don't go down very quickly."

"That's fine. You're a life saver."

"If toothpaste was all I needed to save lives, I would have brought a whole bunch of tubes with me."

Michonne chuckled slightly and said, "Yeah… That would have been interesting. Who would have thought toothpaste would be a luxury?"

"I don't think we would have thought a lot of things would be a luxury now a days."

"Yeah, we all took too much for granted."

"We definitely did."

I led Michonne into the house and I went upstairs to grab the toothpaste. I brought the toothpaste down to her in the living room and she said, "Thanks, I'll bring it back when I'm done."

"Okay, no problem. Take your time with it. I know Daryl won't be missing it."

"I'm sure he'll be thankful."

We chuckled on our way out and she went to the other house, probably to brush her teeth. I saw Rick walking and I decided to talk to him before he left with Daryl.

"Hi Rick," I said.

He smiled slightly and said, "Hi Timi. Nice to see you this morning."

"You too."

"What's up? Are you going to ask me to keep an eye on your man?"

I chuckled and said, "You know me to well."

"We've all been through a lot together, so we've all learned how each other thinks."

"That's very true."

"But I'll make sure to keep an eye on Daryl. He can usually hold his own though."

"Yeah, but I know you'll have his back."

"Of course, he's like a brother to me."

"I know. Thanks Rick, I appreciate it."

"Anything for you guys. And I know Daryl will have my back, so I gotta return the favor."

"Yeah, he's good like that."

"He sure is. We'll see you when we get back."

"Okay, stay safe."

"Thanks, you too."

He walked off and I turned around to come face to face with the blue eyed hunter.

"What was that all about?" Daryl asked.

"Oh you know… Just flirting with Rick," I said with a smirk.

"Don't even joke. Ya only belong to me and me only."

I kissed him and said, "I know. I was just asking Rick to take care of you."

"I don't need anybody lookin' after me."

"I know that Mr. Stubborn, but it's still nice to have someone that has your back."

"Yeah I guess so."

"We're you eavesdropping?"

"No, I was just headin' to the car. Was askin' around town to see if anyone needed anythin' specific."

"Aren't you sweet?"

He rolled his eyes and gave me a quick kiss.

"See ya, sweetheart."

"See you later."

I walked to my place and Carl stopped me. He was holding baby Judith and said, "Can you watch her. I was thinking about going in the woods and hanging with Enid."

"Sure, I can watch her. I love hanging out with Judith," I said.

"Thanks, I'll be back later."

Carl handed over Judith and I said, "Okay, have fun and be safe."

"Always am," is all he said before he walked off.

I smiled down at the baby in my arms and said, "Come on Judith, let's go do stuff and things."

She babbled happily at me and I went into my house.

I spent most of my day taking care of Judith. It was fun watching her and it made me want to have my own little one. Losing my baby was still rough on me, but at least he or she didn't have to go through the whole ordeal with the wolves and walker horde. Maybe once everything is back to what it once was and things settle down, Daryl and I could have our little Dixon. And it would be great to see Maggie and Glenn have their little bundle of joy because if they can do it, maybe we can too.

Once Carl picked up Judith, I pretty much hung out around the house. I ate a small portion of food for a light dinner and went to bed. While I was resting in bed, I was wondering if Daryl and Rick were okay. I also hoped they were able to find some stuff because we surely needed it. The door opened and I looked over to see Daryl coming in. He peeled off his clothes and got in bed next to me. He looked over at me and said, "Why ya still awake?"

"It's hard sleeping when you're not here," I said.

"I know… It's hard for me too."

"How did the run go?"

Daryl laid on his back and let out an irritated groan.

"That bad, huh?" I said.

"Yeah, we actually found a whole truck filled with stuff. Thought we hit the jackpot. Then we got pickpocketed by this douchebag who calls himself Jesus," Daryl said.

"Bet you two didn't go down without a fight."

"Hell nah. We went after that prick and took the truck back. Almost had it to until the guy climbed up on the roof. Chased the asshole down, wanted to beat the crap outta him. He saved me from a walker though, but still…"

"Well that's a good thing."

"Yeah, I guess, but we lost the damn truck. Rolled right into the damn lake. Knocked that douchebag unconscious too. Should have just left him there in a damn tree."

"Daryl, that's horrible."

"Come on, the fucker deserved it."

"You didn't do that, did you?"

"No, Rick thought we should bring him back here and have Denise take a look at him."

"At least you all made it okay."

"Mmm-hmm… Guess that's good. Would have been nice to have that truck though."

"It would have been. Going back out tomorrow?"

"Yep."

Daryl perked up and I said, "What?"

He got out of bed, looked out the window, and said, "Think that asshole is in Rick's place."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, come on."

We threw on our clothes and went next door. We ran into Abraham, Glenn, and Maggie on our way over to the other house. We all had our weapons drawn as we went upstairs and found Carl holding Jesus at gun point. Rick and Michonne were by each other and it seems to me that they were interrupted in some romantic time. I always thought they would make a cute couple, and I'm glad they're together, but we'll have to wait to celebrate until we deal with this dude named Jesus.

The next morning we were all gathered in the dining room, getting ready to talk with Jesus. We were all weary of him, but he is the first person we've come in contact with for months. Maybe he could be something good for this community. I was leaning against the wall near Jesus, waiting for the conversation to start.

"So how'd you get out?" Rick asked him.

Daryl walked over to where I was and leaned against the wall.

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

"Right," Daryl said and leaned against the shelf by his side.

"I checked out your arsenal. 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. 54?" Jesus questioned.

"More than that," Maggie said.

"Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef."

"Yeah, she ain't here," Daryl said.

"Look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side, the living side. You and Rick 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 both of you looked 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.

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

"Tell us why we should believe you," Rick said.

"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."

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

"Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger," Jesus said with a smile.

We decided to give Jesus a chance and check out his community. Hopefully, we aren't walking into a trap, but if they are willing to work together, this could be an amazing thing. We started loading up the RV and Daryl was fixing up the engine, making sure it was able to run for our journey. I was actually going to tag along to the other community and I had to practically beg Daryl to let me go. He wasn't too happy about it, but he knew he couldn't keep me in Alexandria, sheltered from the outside world, forever. The last time he tried to do that, all hell broke loose, both inside and outside Alexandria. I was happy that I was actually going to get out, it's been so long since I've been out there. I just hope I'm still able to fight.

"Let's chew up some asphalt," Abraham said by the RV.

We all piled into the RV and got ready for our little adventure. I was sitting between Daryl and Abraham on one side of the RV and Maggie, Glenn and Jesus, sat across from us. Rick was driving while Michonne was in the passenger seat and we started driving to our destination. Abraham and Glenn started talking in a hushed whisper, so I did my best not to eaves drop, but I couldn't help overhear what Abraham said to Glenn. Abraham was asking Glenn if he was trying to make a baby with Maggie, but the analogy he used was very… interesting. Let's just say I'm not going to be thinking of sex, Bisquick, or pancakes in the same way ever again.

The RV started to slow down to a halt and I was wondering why we were stopping. Daryl looked out the window and asked, "Yo, Rick. What's going on?

"We got a crash ahead. Looks like it just happened," Rick said

"It's one of ours," Jesus said and headed towards the door.

We all hopped out of the vehicle and went over to the overturned car. Walkers were snarling at us from the car, one was pinned under the side of the car and the other was hanging from the window. It was a horrible sight, and I wondered what could have made them overturn.

"If this is a trick, it won't end well for you," Rick said while holding Jesus at gun point.

"My people are in trouble. They don't… We don't have a lot of fighters. I know how it looks, but I'll play it out. Can I borrow a gun?" Jesus asked.

"Nah. We got tracks right here," Daryl said as he looked at the roadway.

We followed the tracks, which led to a small office building. Rick banged his fist on the door and held his gun steady, prepared to fire at any given moment.

"They gotta be in there," Jesus said.

"We moving in or what?" Abraham asked.

"How do we know this ain't firecrackers in a trash can?" Daryl asked as he walked up to Rick

"You don't," Jesus said.

"We'll get your people. You're staying here with one of us," Rick said.

"That's the deal," Michonne said.

"Will you stay?" Glenn asked Maggie.

"Yeah. Y'all go. Just be careful," Maggie said.

"Yeah. We're gonna be careful," Rick said.

"Just hurry," Jesus said.

"You hear me whistle, shoot him," Rick said.

"I will," Maggie said as she held Jesus at gun point.

We all went into the building, Daryl holding the door. We walked through the dimly lit halls, from the sunshine, with caution and split up into groups of two. Rick went with Michonne, Daryl went with Glenn, and I went with Abraham. I had my knife at the ready, just in case something decided to attack us at any given second. I walked behind Abraham, keeping an eye out for any walkers or dangerous people. I followed his lead down the hallway and Abraham grabbed the presumed walker by the throat. It turned out it was only one of Jesus's people and I heard someone coming down the hall. It was only Daryl and Glenn and Daryl said, "Come on, man, let's go."

They ran down the hall and I followed behind them. We all filed out of the building quickly with the new people in toe. We made it back to the RV and all piled in. It was a little crowded now, but I felt good that we were able to save some people, even though we still don't know much about them.

We were back on the road in no time and heading towards our destination once again. While we were driving, we got stuck in some mud. The RV wasn't budging an inch, but thankfully we were actually at our destination.

We all stepped out of the vehicle and looked at the other community. They had large wooden walls and it surrounded the entire place.

"That's us. That's the Hilltop," Jesus said.

We walked up to the front gates of the community and a man standing guard with a spear said, "Stop right there."

We all aimed our guns at the man on top of the watch post.

"Whoa!" Jesus said looking at us.

"Ya gonna make us?" Daryl said.

"Jesus, what the hell is this?" the man said.

"Open the gates, Cal. Freddie's hurt," Jesus said addressing his group members, he then turned to Rick and said "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing."

Jesus turned back to the men on watch and the one guy said, "They give up the weapons. Then we'll open the gates."

"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" Daryl insisted.

"Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right? They saved us out there," one of the group members we found said.

"Lower the spears," Jesus said.

"Look, I'm not taking any chances. Tell your guy Gregory to come out here," Rick said.

"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. Open the gates, Cal," Jesus said.

The rusted gates opened with a loud squeaking noise and we all made our way inside. The community wasn't large, but it wasn't small either. It reminded me of the old colonial times, with the blacksmith area, the crops, and livestock. There were trailer homes lined up next to each other and people were doing there laundry. There was a large old-timey building in the center of the community and it was really beautiful.

"There was a materials yard for a power company nearby. That's how we put up the walls. A lot of people came from a FEMA camp. Trailers came with them," Jesus said.

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

"That's called the 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 50 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'd keep running after the modern world broke down. Those windows up there let us see for miles in every direction. It's perfect for security. Come on. I'll show you inside."

We were led into the Barrington House and it was just as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside. You could tell this place was a piece of history and all the antiques in the place were wonderful.

"Good gracious, Ignatius," Abraham said as he looked inside.

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

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

"We plan to build. There's babies being born."

A door opened and an older man came out. He said, "Jesus. You're back. With guests."

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

"I'm the boss," Gregory said.

"Well, I'm Rick. We have a community…" Rick was cut off by Gregory and Gregory said, "Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?"

"We're fine."

"Jesus will show you where you can get washed up. Then come back down here when you're ready. It's hard to keep this place clean."

"Yeah, Sure," Rick said with irritation clear on his face.

"Follow me," Jesus said.

We followed Jesus up the stairs and Daryl was walking up beside me. We all got cleaned up and Maggie went to talk to Gregory. I was looking at some of the old antique paintings while waiting and Daryl came over to me.

"Watcha doin'?" he asked.

"Just looking at these paintings. They're pretty good," I said.

Daryl raised a brow and said, "Ya into fine paintings now?"

I chuckled at him and said, "I liked to paint before the world went to hell. I wasn't great at it, but it was fun. But I did like to go to museums from time to time and look at the details in the paintings and other artwork. It's like they're telling a story and I like stories, just not ones with words."

"Ya, a strange kid."

"We already established that a long time ago."

"Can I ask ya somethin'?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Abraham was askin' if I'd ever settle down."

"And…"

"I wasn't quite sure to be honest. I mean I love ya and all, and it be nice to have a kid someday. But should we really be settlin'. Things have been hell for all of us lately, should we really start settlin' down."

"I agree with what you're saying, but things are never going to fully settle. If we don't try eventually, might as well never. This new world is always going to be throwing shit our way, but we can't let it stop us from trying to rebuild. We'll just be letting the world win."

Daryl nodded and licked his lips, "Yeah, I see where ya comin' from. Still though, I don't think settilin' is a good thing right now."

"I guess so… At least until we can get back on our feet."

"Mmm-hhm…"

He kissed my forehead and we went into the front room where the others were. Maggie came back in and relayed the message she got from Gregory. He didn't want to work with us and trade between our two communities.

"We want to generate trade, Gregory does. But ammo isn't something we urgently need," Jesus said.

"Well, how's that?" Rick asked.

"The walls hold. We just brought in more medicine. Gregory wants the best deal possible."

"Yeah, well, we want things, too," Daryl said.

"We need food. We came all this way, we're gonna get it," Rick said.

"I will talk to him and we will work this out. Circumstances change. We're doing well now, and you will next. I will make him understand that. Can you give me a few days?" Jesus asked.

"We can," Michonne said.

"Yeah," Rick said.

A guy came into the building and Gregory came out of his room asking, "What's wrong?"

"They're back," the guy said.

We went outside and two men and a woman were walking up the dirt path.

"Nathan, what happened to everybody else? Where's Tim and Marsha?" Gregory asked as he made his way up to one of the men.

"They're dead," the man named Nathan said.

"Negan?"

"Yeah."

"We had a deal."

"He said it wasn't enough. Was the drop light?" the other guy asked.

"No," Gregory said.

"They still have Craig. They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you," Nathan said.

"So, tell me."

Nathan put a hand on Gregory's shoulder and said, "I'm sorry."

He stabbed Gregory right in the abdomen and Rick grabbed Nathan quickly.

"Get off of me! I had to!" Nathan yelled.

Rick pushed him to the ground and started beating the crap out of him. The other man tried to throw Rick off of Nathan, but Abraham tackled him to the ground. The man got on top of Abraham and started choking him. Daryl went over and snapped the man's arm, breaking it effortlessly. Nathan got on top of Rick, holding a knife under his throat, and Glenn said, "Hey!"

"Stay back! Anybody who tries to stop me is killing my brother!" Nathan yelled.

"Drop it," Michonne said with a hand on her katana.

Rick took the opportunity of Nathan's head being turned, to jab his knife into the carotid artery of his neck. The man gurgled and spilled his blood all over Rick. Rick pushed Nathan off of him and stood up.

"What?" Rick asked.

"Nathan! You killed him," the man with a broken arm said.

"He tried to kill Gregory, then me."

The lady with the men screamed and punched Rick in the face, knocking him down to the ground. Michonne quickly took her down and said, "Don't."

"Drop it now!" a guy said as he came over, wielding his spear.

Rick kept his gun on the man and said, "I don't think I will."

Jesus jumped in the middle of the two men to intervene and said, "Everyone, this is over! It's over. Ethan was our friend, but let's not pretend he was anything more than a coward who attacked us. He did this. And these people stopped him."

"What can I do?" Rick asked.

"Put the gun away. You've done enough. You need to know that things aren't as simple as they might seem. Just give me some time."

Everyone put their weapons down, knowing that this was over. Daryl went over to Abraham and said, "Hey, man."

"Huh?" Abraham asked in a daze.

"You good?"

"Yeah. I'm better than all right."

Daryl helped him up and Abraham dusted himself off. The doctor and Jesus took Gregory, so the doctor could patch him up. Even though Gregory seemed like a jerk, he still didn't deserve to die.

We all went into a room and waited for news on Gregory. Eventually Jesus came in and said, "Dr. Carson was able to patch Gregory up. He's in pain, but he'll live."

"So, what happens now?" Michonne asked.

"Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled."

"We heard the name Negan. A while back, Daryl and Abraham had a run-in with his men. Who is he?" Rick asked.

"Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the Saviors. As soon as the walls were built, the Saviors showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands, even more threats. And he killed one of us… Rory. He was 16 years old. They beat him to death right in front of us. Said we needed to understand, right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation. He's not the leader I would've chosen, but he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him."

"He made the deal," Maggie said.

"Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors."

"And what do you get in return?" Glenn asked.

"They don't attack this place. They don't kill us," Jesus said.

"Why not just kill 'em?" Daryl asked.

"Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo."

"Well, how many people does Negan have?" Rick asked.

"We don't know. We've seen groups as big as 20."

"Now, hold up. So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything? These dicks just got a good story. The bogeyman, he ain't shit," Daryl said.

"Well, how do you know?" Jesus asked.

"A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ. Left them in pieces and puddles," Abraham said.

"You know what, we'll do it. If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one of them cows," Daryl said.

"Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with," Rick said.

"I'll take it to Gregory," Jesus said.

Some of us stood out on the balcony, watching the small town bustle about.

"They have food, we don't. We don't have enough of anything. Except us. What we can do. This is the trade," Rick said.

"It's gonna cost us something," Maggie said.

The door opened and Jesus came out and said, "Gregory's up. He wants to talk."

Rick started walking but Jesus said, "To Maggie. He wants to talk to Maggie."

"You got this. Deanna was right about you," Rick said to her.

Maggie and Jesus left and we stood on the balcony for a little while longer. I couldn't get what Maggie said out of my head: It's gonna cost us something. She had a huge point, everything we've tried to do always cost us something. Whether it was a place to stay, someone's life, or both. It always costs us and I don't want something bad to happen again. It's like we keep going through these trials and they suck, but we have to overcome them, so we can finally settle down. Daryl's already losing hope on settling, I don't want him to be right.

Eventually we were able to negotiate and we were able to take some food back with us. We were loading baskets upon baskets into the RV and it was awesome. I honestly haven't seen this much food in months. We got all the baskets and bins piled into the RV and started making our way back to Alexandria. Jesus and the guy that got his arm broken by Daryl, were tagging along back to our community. I was sitting between Daryl and Abraham again and everything seemed like it was all right. Glenn and Maggie were looking at her sonogram and smiling happily. They handed it to Michonne and she smiled sweetly at the picture. She gave it to Daryl and we looked at the black and white image together.

It gave us a little glimmer of hope, but I couldn't stop the pang in my heart that ached for the baby I lost. I masked my emotions though and we passed the image over to Abraham. Hopefully we're able to beat this guy named Negan and the Saviors, so we can finally rest easy. But if I knew any better, once we get over this hurdle, another one's going to be right around the corner.