Creeping through the barn doors, Nye swallowed and slowly approached their leader, now awake along with everyone else.

Glenn spotted her, and stood quickly. "Nye, where's Maggie?"

Nye's lips pinched together in some weird cross between a smile and a grimace. "She's fine, but, um... I need you guys to all listen."

That caught their attention, and the barn fell quiet as everyone looked to Nye expectantly. Rick, holding Judith, stepped in front of her, face drawn quizzically.

Nye swallowed again, a stubborn lump sitting there and refusing to leave.

"Mom? Are you okay?" Toby carefully asked.

Nye took a deep breath, stiffly holding out her hand. "Gimme your gun."

Rick raised a simi-surprised brow, but with his free hand did as she asked, trusting the girl enough to follow her orders for once.

Nye hastily tucked the heavy colt python in the back of her belt, far enough away from his reach. "Okay, I just need everyone to stay cool, alright? We're not stupid, so just... hear him out."

No one could get a word in, before Maggie was peaking her head through the door.

"Hey. Everyone..." She called, easing herself into the barn with Aaron behind her. "This is Aaron. We met him outside."

Everyone but the two brunettes, Rick, Eugene, Gabriel, Lydia, and Tyreese armed their weapons, staring at the man in shock. Daryl acted fast, breezing past them to look around outside the door, checking for more unwanted strangers.

Nye couldn't help but give him an unimpressed look, annoyed in his lack of faith in the women's abilities.

"He's by himself. We took his weapons and we took his gear." Maggie explained calmly, while Aaron obediently stood still with his hands raised.

After he was satisfied with his search, Daryl came up behind Aaron and roughly patted him down, making sure the women hadn't missed anything.

Aaron gave a faint and uncomfortable grin as he shifted his weight around. "Hi."

No one recuperated his greeting, and almost as if to drive the point home for how on guard they were, Judith started crying. Rick, face set in a heavy scowl, passed her off to Carl, never taking his eyes off the man.

"It's nice to meet you." Aaron said as he motioned to shake Rick's hand, voice stilted from the weight of so many guns aimed right at him. He knew to step back when several guns were cocked with no hesitation.

Samson growled in warning, but for some reason, didn't move from his relaxed position laying in a pile of hay.

Blinking in a stupefied manner, Mason looked to Nye incredulously. His expressing screaming "where the fuck did you find this guy?".

Nye shrugged limply, having nothing to offer other than her own exasperated look.

"You said he had a weapon?" Rick finally spoke, words aimed at Maggie, but eyes always sticking to Aaron.

Maggie passed the small handgun they took from him over to Rick. The former sheriff glanced down at it, counting the bullet before taking them out. Putting them in his pocket, he then tucked the gun itself in the back of his belt.

"There's something you need?"

"He said has a camp. A close one. He wants us to, like, try out for membership." Nye said as she fiddled with her crossbow hanging at her hip.

Aaron chuckled sheepishly. "I wish there was another phrase. 'Try out' makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights." He joked.

Nye's eyebrows shot up, and she had to genuinely fight a smile. Trick or not, this guy had an amusing sense of humor.

When no one else showed signs of a positive reaction, he became serious again. "Um, and it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions. But it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home."

She wasn't sure what is was, but something about the way he called it "home" was reassuring to Nye.

"I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either." Aaron amended, not oblivious to the glares he was receiving. "Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into."

Turning to the only person who hadn't been giving him silent glares and scowls, Aaron looked to Nye.

"Nye, can you hand Rick my pack?"

Jumping at the unexpected use of her name, Nye nodded carefully, and held out the brown backpack for Rick to take. She was really curious on how the hell he knew their names. Kneeling down, Rick skeptically looked at the bag as if it was hiding a bomb or something.

"Front pocket, there's an envelope."

Reaching into it, Rick pulled an old envelope from the bag, taking out a stack of sheets from it. From her angle Nye couldn't tell what they were, but as Michonne who stood behind him and had a clear view, saw them, she silently gaped.

"There's no way I could convince you to come with me just by talking about our community. That's why I brought those. I apologize in advance for the picture quality." Aaron laughed awkwardly. "We just found an old camera store last-"

"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl growled, cutting him off.

Aaron shut his mouth, then gave a rocky nod. "You're absolutely 100% right."

Nye gave Daryl a warning look over Aaron's shoulder, lips pursed and brows low. But he ignored it, choosing to continue scowling at Aaron.

As Rick stared at the first picture of the stack, Aaron rushed to go on with his speech. "That's the first picture I wanted to show you because nothing I say about our community will matter unless you know you'll be safe."

Nye finally let her curiosity win out, and she moved to stand behind their leader, next to Michonne. And while the photo was indeed blown out with a white and grey blur over the image, you could still easily make out what it was.

Holy shit.

"...If you join us, you will be."

A towering wall, looking to be made out of metal, stood imposingly as it was held stronger by dozens of poles leaned up against it, supporting the heavy barricade.

"Each panel in that wall is a 15-foot-high, 12-foot-wide slab of solid steel. Framed by cold-rolled steel beams and square tubing." Aaron told them, nothing in his tone giving away that this was a trick. "Nothing alive or dead gets through that without our say-so."

Rick started to stand, cold gaze locked on Aaron while he palmed the photos.

"Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact, there's only one resource more critical to our community's survival. The people." He said vehemently. "Together we're strong. You can make us even stronger."

Rick took measured steps forward, approaching Aaron, who was unaware of Rick's intensions.

"The next picture, you'll see inside the gates. Our community was first construc-"

Snapping his fist out in a flash, Rick sucker-punched Aaron in the jaw, knocking the man to the ground, unconscious.

"Rick!" Nye reprimanded, moving to check that the man was okay.

"So we're clear, that look wasn't a "let's attack that man" look. It was a "he seems like an okay guy to me" look." Michonne snapped quietly, just as upset as Nye.

"We got to secure him. Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is." Rick addressed the group, ignoring Michonne.

"Rick."

"Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us. We might not know how or when, but they are."

"Me and Nye, we didn't see him. If he had wanted to hurt us, he could've." Maggie argued, crouched by Nye as she gently turned Aaron over onto his back.

"Rick, this can't be another Tyreese and Sasha situation." Nye said lowly, glaring up at their leader. "You're not the only one with our best interest in mind."

Rick kept on as if he hadn't heard her. "Anybody see anything?"

"Just a lot of places to hide." Glenn sighed, peaking out of the thin gaps between wood panels.

"All right, keep looking."

Carl had emptied Aaron's bag, laying out everything across a work bench over by the stables. Rick walked over, taking a glance at the supplies the man brought. The item that got his attention, was a small orange gun.

"Never seen a gun like that before." Carl said, giving it a curious look as Rick confirmed that it was still loaded.

Rick turned around, silently holding it up at Michonne and Nye, giving them a look of vindication.

Nye frowned, pressing a damp cloth to the edge of Aaron's mouth, where Rick had split his lip.

With a groan, he shifted and came too, blinking owlishly for a second, before smiling in amusement. "That's a hell of a right cross there, Rick." He huffed.

"Sit him up." Rick ordered lowly.

Maggie shook her head. "I think it's better if-"

"It's okay." Aaron assured her, moving to sit upright himself, but unable to with his hands tied behind his back.

"He's fine. Sit him up."

When they finally did, Aaron nodded to himself. "You're being cautious. I completely understand."

"How many of your people are out there?" Rick snarled, marching closer. "You have a flare gun. You have it to signal your people. How many of them are there?"

Aaron looked at the orange gun, and sighed. "Does it matter?"

"Yes. Yes, it does."

Aaron nodded again. "I mean, of course, it matters how many people are actually out there, but does it matter how many people I tell you are out there? Because I'm pretty sure no matter what number I say... eight, thirty-two, four-hundred and forty-four, zero... No matter what I say, you're not going to trust me." His voice lowered into a whisper, with a barely there tremble.

"Well, it's hard to trust anyone who smiles after getting punched in the face."

"How about a guy who leaves bottles of water for you in the road?" Aaron remarked sternly.

Nye jumped, head turning to look over by their small amount of supplies, where two of those mystery bottles sat.

Rick didn't say anything to that, he just silently studied Aaron with an ever present scowl.

"How long you people been followin' us?" Daryl barked, hands firmly on his crossbow.

"Long enough to see that you practically ignore a pack of Roamers on your trail." Aaron chuckled stiffly. "Long enough to see that despite a lack of food and water, you never turned on each other. You're survivors and you're people."

Nye's lips parted with a breath, as she stood and made her way over to her kids. All three were just as tense as Rick was, not ready to believe something good had come their way. But Lydia did wonder why Samson wasn't reacting badly towards Aaron's presence, as the dog had proved to be a good judge of character in the past.

"Like I said, and I hope you won't punch me for saying it again, that is the most important resource in the world."

"How many others are out there?" Rick asked again, unmoved by what Aaron had to say.

"One."

Rick stared at him hard, cracking a bitter and disbelieving smile with a shake of his head.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me. If it's not words, if it's not pictures, what would it take to convince you that this is for real?" Aaron asked, looking around at everyone. Sitting up straighter, he got an idea. "What if I drove you to the community? All of you? We leave now, we'll get there by lunch."

"I'm not sure how the twenty-five of us are going to fit in the car you and your one friend drove down here in." Rick said snidely, like he had caught Aaron in a lie.

But Aaron didn't miss a beat. "We drove separately. If we found a group, we wanted to be able to bring them all home. There's enough room for all of us."

"And you're parked just a couple miles away, right?" Rick asked sarcastically.

"East on Ridge Road, just after you hit Route sixteen." Aaron nodded. "We wanted to get them closer, but then the storm came, blocked the road. We couldn't clear it."

"Yeah, you've really thought this through."

"Rick, if I wanted to ambush you, I'd do it here." Aaron said tiredly. "You know, light the barn on fire while you slept, pick you off as you ran out the only exit. You can trust me."

When he didn't reply, Michonne leaned in to talk with Rick low enough no one else could hear. "I'll check out the cars."

"There aren't any cars.' Rick argued, done putting up with some fantasy he was sure didn't exist.

"There's only one way to find out." She countered.

"We don't need to find out."

"We do." Michonne implored. "You know what you know and you're sure of it, but I'm not."

"Your way is dangerous, mine isn't."

"Passing up someplace where we can live? Where Judith can live?" She whispered sharply. "That's pretty dangerous. We need to find out what this is. We can handle ourselves. So that's what we're gonna do." Her tone left no room for discussion.

"Then I will, too." Glenn sighed, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. "I'll go."

It was quickly decided that the group would split up, all searching but Rick, Judith, Lydia, Samson, and of course Aaron. Sasha tried getting Tyreese to stay put, but he felt like he needed to actually do something that wasn't resting or redoing his bandages.

"The walkies are out of juice. If you're not back in sixty minutes, we'll come. Which might be just what they want. If we're all in here, we're a target." Rick's voice carried as everyone got their gear and marched out the door.

"I've got the area covered." Daryl nodded to him as he passed, clearly as suspicious of all this as he was.

"All right, groups of two, find somewhere safe within eyeshot." Rick ordered, patting Carl on the back when the boy breezed by.

Mason and Toby walked together, but stopped when they noticed someone missing. They, along with Rick, turned around to look back into the barn.

Nye stood, arms crossed and crossbow hanging limply at her hip. "I'm not going anywhere."

Mason tipped his head in annoyance. "Mom-"

"I'm not leaving Rick alone with him." She barked defiantly. "Besides, I need to keep an eye on Lydia."

Mason raised his hands in defeat, walking away while Toby gave her one last skeptical look.

Rick stood by the doors, leaning by them and watching his family split off into what could very well be a trap.

"When the world was still the world, I worked for an NGO." Aaron broke the hush that had fallen over them once the barn was marginally less full. "Our mission was to deliver medicine and food to the Niger River Delta. Bad people pointed guns in my face every other week. You're not bad people." He shook his head surely. "You're not going to kill us. And we are definitely not going to kill you."

"Just because we're good people doesn't mean we won't kill you." Rick rasped, unable to see them anymore. "If my people aren't back in an hour... I'll put a knife in the base of your skull."

While Aaron swallowed, Nye put a careful hand on his shoulder.

"It's a good thing they'll be right back then, huh?"

She and Rick stared back at one another, neither giving any sign that they felt like they were the wrong one.

"Yeah," Rick sighed hoarsely, honestly hoping she was right, if only for them all to come back safe. "we'll see."

...

Nye sat with her ankles crossed, as she focused her attention on braiding together Lydia's matted locks, hoping to keep the stray strands out of the poor girl's face. As her nimble fingers worked, she dutifully ignored Judith's crying, after Rick had stubbornly refused assistance. So struggling with a crying baby in one arm, Rick attempted to grind up a handful of nuts finely enough for Judith to eat.

Bouncing her was doing nothing, as the baby was too hungry to be sedated by anything but food. Rick tried shushing her gently, but her little face went red as she cried louder.

Nye dropped the finished braid, grimacing faintly, feeling awful for the youngest Grimes. But all they could do was wait and hope Aaron was telling the truth.

"You did see the jar of apple sauce in my bag, right?" Aaron spoke up over the cries, his posture tense and uneasy.

All Rick did was glare at the other man, still managing to look terrifying while holding his baby daughter.

"This isn't a trick. This isn't about trying to make you like me. It's self-preservation." Aaron leaned forward, voice the firmest it had yet to be. "Because if the Roamers hear her and come this way, I know I'll be the first to go."

Nye heaved herself up, slinging the strap of her crossbow back over her shoulder. With a pat on the shoulder and a nod over to where Samson laid in the back, she motioned for Lydia to remove herself from the commotion, knowing loud things made the girl anxious. Crossing her arms, she walked over to the men, chewing on her bottom lip as Rick opened the aforementioned jar of apple sauce, taking a spoonful of it, and carrying it over to Aaron.

For the first time, Aaron looked genuinely offended. "You think I'm trying to poison your baby daughter?" He asked incredulously, getting nothing back but Rick's ever present glare. "I'm tied up and you've already expressed a willingness to stab me in the head. How would cruelly killing your daughter in front of you in any way help the situation?" Aaron ranted, nearly reaching a volume loud enough to be considered shouting.

"Maybe she doesn't die. Maybe she gets sick. Maybe you're the only one that can help her and I just lose."

"I am the only one who can help her because I have apple sauce and we all win." Aaron said, his words all running together.

Rick held the spoon to his mouth again, and Aaron immediately shied away from it.

"I hate apple sauce. My mom used to make me eat foods I didn't like to make me more manly. Salmon patties, apple sauce, and onions. She was a very confused woman who tried her damnedest. I just bring the jar to show that we have apple trees nearby."

"Like you said, you'll be the first to go." Rick deadpanned unsympathetically.

Aaron frowned, quickly eating what was on the spoon as fast as he could to get it down.

Rick, satisfied with this, didn't waste anymore time, and started slowly feeding Judith small spoonfuls.

"The community is big enough. We can find a place for you to live where even when she cries, no one, nothing can hear it outside the walls."

"Are there kids?" Nye asked lowly, taking a step closer to the bound man.

Aaron nodded slowly, taking a mental list. "Uh, yeah. There's a few, actually. Ron, Sam, Enid," He tipped his head to the side with a smile, clearly having some familiarity with the girl. "she's new. The Parkers just had a baby a few months ago. Then there's-"

"Is there a school?" Nye eagerly questioned, eyes alight with hope.

"Yeah," Aaron chuckled and nodded his head. "There is, sorta. I mean, it's in a garage, but..."

Nye started to beam, but it froze on her face when she was struck with a thought. The chances weren't even slim to none, but she had to ask.

"Aaron, is there anyone there named Paul, brown hair, blue eyes?"

The hesitantly hopeful tone of her voice gave Aaron pause, as he scanned his memory for anyone by that name. "We have a Paul Chaplin. But he's an almost eighty year old black man."

Nye sagged, nodding in acceptance.

"I'm sorry."

She waved him off, giving a half smile and a tired shrug. "I didn't really expect a better answer." She bit her lip while gazing down at the hay strewn floor. "I haven't seen him since the phone lines went dead."

When they hit the twenty minute mark, Aaron was starting to be visibly put on edge, while Rick began pacing through the barn like a caged animal. But before the leader could start making any more unnecessary death threats towards Aaron, the barn doors rattled and swung open.

When they turned around, they were met with the group, having met back up together on their way back to the barn. Half of them had arm loads of non-perishables, and all of them looked unharmed, or rather, they looked no worse than before they left.

Michonne stood in front of Rick, handing him a can of mashed peas with a triumphant look. "He was telling the truth."

Rick stared back at her, taking the can and weighing it in his hands. Pursing his lips behind his beard, he turned and set the can down with the rest, where they had been piled on the same table holding Aaron's things.

Nye couldn't hold back a smile as she watched Lydia's eyes bug out at all the food. Cans of vegetables, s'ghetti rings, bottles of soda (surely flat by now, but that was the least of their worries), and even a couple bags of dried pasta. The sight of which made Nye's mouth water at the faded memory of fettuccine alfredo, with spinach and grilled chicken-

Her stomach growled at her, silencing the train of thought.

"This, this is ours now." Rick turned to Aaron, picking up and holding another can of mashed vegetables, perfect for Judith.

"There's more than enough." Aaron breathed tiredly, clearly exhausted by Rick's nonstop mistrust.

Then their leader said something that shouldn't have been so surprising. "It's ours whether or not we go to your camp."

Before Michonne, Maggie, Tyreese, or Nye could defend the man and his camp, Carl swooped in.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't we go?" Carl's voice snapped like a whip, laced with confusion and irritation.

Rick opened his mouth to explain his case, but Michonne was backing Carl up before he could.

"If he were lying, or if he wanted to hurt us... but he isn't, and he doesn't. We need this." She shouted softly, eyes wide and mouth drawn in a stern line. "So we're going, all of us. Somebody say something if they feel differently."

Nye shuffled by the rest, coming to a stop and clasping her left hand in Michonne's right. Beside them stood Maggie, Sasha, Tyreese, Carl, and once they saw their mother join, Mason, Toby, and Lydia. Everyone else was glancing between them and Rick, not on board enough to stand with them, but not entirely agreeing with Rick either.

"I don't know, man." Daryl spoke roughly from where he stood off to the corner. Right after the words left his mouth, Nye swelled in indignation, not understanding how he could want to pass up an opportunity for the kids to have a secure future. But thankfully, before she said anything and made a fool out of herself, he kept talking. "...This barn smells like horse shit."

The goggle wearing brunette watched in awe, as the most minute, nearly invisible smile graced the hunter's face. It was so small it probably couldn't even be classified as one, but it was the best she had gotten in over three weeks. The sight of it felt like an energy boost shooting up through her veins, and she savored the feeling.

Rick stared at his right hand man, then nodded once. "Yeah. We're going."

Michonne blinked at him in surprise, and heaved a breath of relief.

Turning on his heel, Rick looked down at Aaron. "So where are we going? Where's your camp?"

Aaron hesitated, Adams-apple bobbing as he swallowed. "Well, every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving recruits back. I believe you're good people." He assured. "I've bet my life on it. I'm just not ready to bet my friends' lives just yet."

"You're not driving. So if you want to get home, you'll have to tell us how." Michonne explained calmly, her voice soft but holding an underline warning.

Aaron sighed through his nose, watching Rick lay out a road map on the ground in front of him. He glanced at it, and caved. "Go north on Route 16."

"And then?"

"I'll tell you when we get there." Aaron answered back firmly, not budging on this.

Looking over the map, Rick nodded to himself. "We'll take 23 north. You'll give us directions from there."

Aaron's eyes widened. "That's... I don't know how else to say it... That's a bad idea. We've cleared 16. It'll be faster."

"We'll take 23. We leave at sundown."

"We're doing this at night?" Sasha said, not wholly trusting of the safety in the plan.

"Wouldn't it just be safer to go now?" Tyreese asked. "I was once this guy, remember? Can't we just give him the benefit of the doubt?"

Rick sighed, standing with the map in hand. "Look, I know it's dangerous. But it's better than riding up to the gates during the day. If it isn't safe, we need to get gone before they know we're there."

"No one is going to hurt you. You're trying to protect your group, but you're putting them in danger!"

Rick leaned against one of the wooden beams, shrugging. "Tell me where the camp is, we'll leave right now." He bargained.

Aaron shut his mouth tight, turning his head away and downward when he couldn't bring himself to agree.

Rick nodded, having expected that type of response. "It's going to be a long night. Eat. Get some rest if you can." He ordered, and walked over to a certain brunette.

Nye blinked owlishly at him as he came to a stop right in front of her. Raising her hands, she chuckled awkwardly and inched back. "Uh, Rick?"

Silently, he held out his hand, giving her an unimpressed look.

It took a few seconds to figure it out, but when she did she flushed and fumbled with the back of her belt. "O-oh, yeah, I forgot-" She dropped his colt back into his waiting hand. "Here."

For the first time that day, Rick cracked a smile, unashamedly amused by her embarrassed response to forgetting the huge ass gun tucked behind her waist. Returning it to its rightful place, Rick headed for the doors, going to check the cars.

Once he was gone, and the rest had started to fill up on canned goods, Nye took a seat next to Aaron, s'ghetti rings in hand. With an apologetic frown she nodded at the restraints. "Sorry, I'd untie you if I could."

Aaron gave her a placating smile. "Don't worry about it."

Shoveling some rings into her mouth, she snorted to herself after swallowing. "I'd also offer to feed you, but I only do that after the third date."

Aaron's shoulders jumped with a snort of his own. "Sorry Nye, I'm taken."

"Oh, what's the lucky duck's name?" She teased back, absently scraping the side of the can for the tomato sauce caught in the ridges.

"Eric."

Nye paused, turning her head to the left and raising her brows at him. "No kidding?"

He shook his head, a dopey grin splitting across his face at the thought of his partner. "Nope."

Wiping her mouth clean, she smiled widely behind her sleeve. "Damn, now I really wanna untie you."

Aaron's breathy laugh only made it spread wider.

So, for being such good sports about the painstakingly slow progression of Daryl/Nye, I have decided to reward you guys with next chapter being literally all about those two. It is just a whole ass chapter of development for them. Will it be angst? Fluff? Sexual tension?

What if I told you it's all three :3