The day had slipped into night and from the cool surface of the leather seats inside of the bus, Maggie's arms tightened around her sleeping girlfriend's torso as she pulled her closer. The pale white moonlight was shining through the dust-covered glass panes and illuminating Tara's face slightly, as her temple was pressed against the window, one arm wrapped around Maggie's waist. There were still wet streaks of tears trailing down her cheeks that had not dried within the past hour since she had fallen asleep.
"Baby…?" Maggie whispered softly as one hand gripped onto the worn fabric of a blanket that had been draped over the couple's legs; pulling it around her own shoulders and allowing the rest of the thin fabric to fall over Tara's chest. She carefully lifted herself onto Tara's lap, being gentle enough so that it wouldn't wake her. One thumb began to gently graze across the soft surface of Tara's cheeks, brushing aside the tears that still remained.
The soft and subtle contact was enough to wake Tara, though, which caused a light sigh of regret to slip through Maggie's lips. "M'sorry…" she whispered softly, tucking a loose strand of her girlfriend's hair behind her ear before she allowed her head to fall against Tara's shoulder, her face nuzzling into her neck, which caused her voice to become muffled, "I didn't mean t'wake you up."
Tara sniffled softly, lifting one hand to her face to wipe at her eyes before she pressed her lips against Maggie's temple, mumbling softly under her breath, which Maggie took as an acceptance of her apology.
"What're we gonna do now?" Maggie questioned softly, her face lifting from Tara's neck only long enough to lock eyes with her girlfriend for a brief moment. Maggie knew this was a heavy question. Earlier on in the day, after Rick had executed Martin, a fight had broken out between the group regarding what their next move was. Naturally, Abraham was insistent on continuing towards Washington D.C., but Rick was arguing that it wasn't their best shot any longer. After a screaming fest between the two men, Eugene had revealed his secret to the group; causing the entire day to be deemed as a disaster. The group now had no idea where to turn, as Washington was now not worth the trip. Not to mention the fact that they were dangerously low on supplies and there were no buildings within their sight.
Tara remained silent, turning her head to the side to stare out at the slowly moving scenery they were passing by, not offering Maggie an answer because she had none.
"M'sorry…" Maggie apologized again, "I didn't really think you'd know, either." She slowly cuddled closer to her girlfriend, suddenly feeling distant from Tara; a feeling she really didn't like.
Tara merely shrugged her shoulders with nonchalance, still remaining silent.
"Are you mad at me?" Maggie questioned, knowing that the answer was no, but she had hoped that the false confusion would at least get Tara to say something to her, even if it was just one word.
"I'm not mad at you," Tara whispered with assurance, but her voice was rough and unconvincing. "I'm just mad… about Martin… about Eugene. It just all sucks. Ya know, that was the only thing keeping us going and now it's just…" Tara's voice trailed off as her head shook back and forth weakly.
"I know… I know," Maggie whispered softly, her fingers lacing through Tara's before she lifted her girlfriend's hand to her mouth, pressing her lips against the surface of it. "It'll still be okay, though… right? I mean, it has t'be."
Tara's head immediately shook back and forth with vigor. "No. I was counting on the world getting saved, ya know?" she asked, chuckling in spite of herself as if it were the dumbest thing she had ever hoped for. "I was counting on you being able to have the baby safely…"
Maggie remained silent, her gaze faltering from Tara's. She had been counting on the same things, but there was nothing they could do about it now.
Maggie's eyes opened to the blinding light of the sun shining through the dusty glass panes, her hands immediately tossing the blanket off of her body as her shirt was now sticking to her skin with sweat in the nearly 100 degree weather. The bus was stopped, and Tara was no longer beside her. In fact, it appeared that everyone who was awake were no longer on the bus.
Stifling a small yawn, Maggie rubbed at her eyes with the backs of her hands before she got to her feet, shuffling towards the door of the bus. As she passed by the other seats, she noticed that Noah, Eugene, Carl, and Judith were the only ones still sleeping.
Maggie's face twisted with confusion as she descended down the metal steps; the group gathered around a man who was sitting on the pavement with his hands tied behind his back.
"What's goin' on?" she questioned, her eyebrows raising as she stepped to Tara's side. "Who's this?"
The man looked up towards Maggie, a grin sneaking onto his lips as he introduced himself. "I'm Aaron," he replied softly, "and I'm here to bring you and your people to my community… to Alexandria."
|| A/N: I'm sorry about the long wait for a new chapter and also about the shortness of this one. I'll try to get the next one up much quicker this time. :)
