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Mary woke up to soft cries coming from the crib. She sat up and rushed to the crib. She mumbled her youngest son's name under her breath but stops when she saw the baby that was not her son.

She sighs and hides her disappointment.

"Morning Gracie." She forced a smile.

When she scoops up the child she let out a laugh and shakes her head. How could it be Sam he is a man.

But part of Mary was still struggling to accept that.

Gracie slowed down and she relaxed in Mary's arms. Mary held her close and walks to the window to look outside.

Daryl notices her and waves. Mary couldn't wave back. The guilt from the recent events was eating her up on the inside. The familiar haunt returns to Daryl's eyes. Mary knew that look too well. They are both thinking the same thing.

Daryl lowers his head and continues what he was doing. Mary goes to step back but stops when she sees Aaron going through the crowd. He blanked every person he went past. Mary couldn't blame him. It would be an awkward conversation.

Mary wanted to follow Aaron. She wanted to speak to him, try to connect with him. She knew how it felt to lose a loved one. She lost John. The love of her life. John lost her for all those years as well. When she saw Negan she felt the familiar grief, loss, excitement, desire...

No! Mary scolded to herself. Negan is not John.

Negan is dead Mary should forget about him.

She forced herself to focus on the baby. Maybe talking to Aaron would be a bad idea. Her mind would go to Negan no John no Negan.

"Uh." Mary groaned. "John."

She clenched her teeth and put Gracie back in the crib when she realized the baby was getting uncomfortable in her arms.

I hate Negan. She told herself.

She quickly went to the door. The huntress informed one of the Alexandrians to watch the baby until she gets back.

"Hey." Michonne approached Mary with a smile. "You sleep well?"

Mary nods.

"Yeah."

"Baby didn't bother you?"

"No. I guess I'm used to it."

"I guess you would be." Michonne answered as she thought of the discussion the two of them had regarding Mary's past.

"You seen Jack?" Mary asks wanting to change the subject.

"No. Maybe he's busy preparing another attack. That would annoy me because that mean he didn't include me."

Mary heard the teasing in the other woman's voice.

"If Jack was preparing for an attack I don't think he would do it behind my back." Mary smiled.

"Maybe he didn't want to disturb you."

"Knowing him." Mary laughed a little. "Very likely."

"I'm sure he's fine." Michonne assured her.

Mary nods. Michonne nods back and walks off when she hears her name being called.

Mary felt her hand on her shoulder.

"Hey."

Mary turns round and frowns.

"Have you been listening in on our conversation?" She asks .

Daryl shrugs.

"Maybe." He leans on the wall and pops a cigarette in his mouth. "Want one?"

"I don't smoke." She replied.

He grunts and blows out smoke that causes Mary to cough.

"I'm going out. I need to stretch my legs." He says.

Daryl didn't always like being stuck indoors. He is a type of person who can't stay in the same place for too long. He needed to go out into the outside world and explore his surroundings. He always liked the outside.

Mary frowns.

"I thought you were..."

"Done it." He replied referring to the work she saw him do earlier.

"Hmm."

"What?"

"You're a fast worker." He snorted and blows out another puff of smoke. "Wait." Mary's frown deepens. "Why you telling me you're going out?"

"You are the co captain right?" He leans forward and whispers in her ear. "You're coming with me."

"I'm what?"

"We gotta talk. Alone."

"No. We got nothing to talk about."

Daryl wasn't in the mood to argue. Mary knew it was wise to not argue with him. So she grabs a bag from inside and stores a knife and a gun in it. She swallowed and clung to her bag. She knew what they are going to talk about. She saw the look in his eyes earlier. It's about Gracie's father. Mary did not talk about it but her and Daryl needed to clear the air.

She meets Daryl at the gate.

The gates open and they both go through. To Mary's surprise Daryl didn't take his bike. He instead went into the woods with his crossbow out and ready to shoot anything that gets in his way.

Odd place for a talk but Mary knew this is where Daryl feels comfortable. He likes the quiet but he also likes to hunt. Although Mary has known Daryl for a short time she feels she already has a character profile produced in her mind.

However she knew she hasn't learnt everything about him. He is man with a past which he would rather forget. He has secrets. She felt she can relate to him on that level. Her past is full of regrets and mistakes. Even now she can't get things right.

Daryl raises his finger ordering her to stop. He looks round and relaxes when he is met with silence.

He sits down on a log and gets out an apple. He looks up at the huntress and frowns.

"You sitting down or you gonna stand there all day?"

Mary sits down and places her hands on her lap. Daryl offers her half an apple.

"Eat." He insisted.

"I'm not hungry."

"You haven't eaten much. You gotta eat something."

"Every time its supper you always say I haven't eaten much."

"Its true. I don't need you fainting on me. I don't wanna carry you back."

Mary laughs.

She leans forward to take her half. She paused when her hand goes over his. They both looked at each other for a few moments. Mary quickly breaks away and pretends to not notice how uncomfortable he looked.

She bites into the apple and gazes at the sky. Daryl watched her. He watched her blonde hair blow in the wind, her eyes narrowed and focused and her tongue licking around her mouth.

"Wanna get straight to the point." She suddenly spoke.

He turns away and clears his throat.

"Uh yeah." He twirls the knife in his hand. "The baby, she's gotta go."

Mary looks at him eye wide.

"What?"

"I mean..." He sighs. "You gotta give her to someone else."

"Why?"

"She's a reminder. About what we did."

"What you did you mean."

"I ain't taking back what I said. The Saviors are monsters."

"He was gonna let me go! Don't say no I know he was gonna let me go. He meant it."

"Lets say he did. Then what? He would have killed another one of our people. He was gonna kill me."

"He felt threatened and..." Her voice trails off when she takes in his appearance. If Mary didn't know Daryl she would have felt threatened or wary. Daryl looked like a bad guy. It's when Mary got to know him she realized he is not as bad as she thought he was.

"No need to say it out loud." He scoffed. "I'm not a catch." He teased. Mary rolls her eyes and takes another bite of her apple. Daryl's serious expression returned. "I do feel bad for taking that kid's old man away but at least she's in a better place now."

"Being raised by the people who killed her old man."

"This is why I am suggesting to hand the kid to someone else."

"She will still be in the community. We will still be seeing her every day."

"You will be alright you will be heading off back to your world. Won't be seeing her face ever again." He huffed a laugh "You will forget us."

She shakes her head.

"I will never forget you guys." She puts her hand on his shoulder. "I ain't leaving until this war is over. You're stuck with me."

He turns and looks at her. A smile forms on his face. Although Daryl did want to admit it out loud. He cared about Jack. Trusting Jack was something Daryl thought was never going to happen. He also grew fond of the huntress. She is tough, fierce but also there is a concerning side about her. He should find it annoying but he couldn't. The way she cared about Jack, her sons, a community she hardly knew, Gracie. She reminded him of Carol. A warrior, a skilled fighter but soft when it comes to her family and her people. If Carol was there instead of Mary that day she probably would have thought the same. Despite her hatred towards the Saviors Carol wouldn't want the baby to be an orphan.

Whoever was there that day Mary or Carol Daryl would have still made the same move. One because the man was a Savior and two he had to protect his people. Mary was in danger. How was he suppose to know the Savior was going to let her go. If Mary died that day, the guilt would be much worse than Daryl is already feeling.

Obviously he is not going to admit that out loud.

"The day with my sons." Mary spoke with an uneasy expression. "The day Negan...the day..."

"Yeah I know what day you're talking about." He frowned baffled by why she decided to bring this up.

"Negan wanted you. He said you were his." Daryl became tense. "Dean mentioned torture." She continued. "Did Negan...did he hurt you? That's why you see them as monsters?"

"That's all in the past." He quickly dismissed.

"He offered you a spot in his group. You refused?"

"Damm right I did."

"You suffered because of it?"

His eyes narrow and he looks at her with suspicion.

"Why are we talking about this? Its nothing to do with you."

"I..." Mary bit her lip and looks down. "Sorry."

"We don't look back." He says. "Past is the past. We can't change it. We move on."

Mary got that right about him wanting to forget his past. If what happened with Negan was that bad she couldn't blame him for not wanting to talk about it. Mentioning the deal to Michonne was hard for her.

Daryl blew out a sigh and feels her eyes on him. He couldn't avoid the subject with those curious eye wide eyes on him.

"Negan was a fucking asshole." He says not looking in her direction. "More than that he was the fucking Devil. Pure evil. He lured people in, tempted them with food, water, protection, a home. Once you set foot into his place, you're in Hell."

He gets out a cigarette and lights it. He quickly sucks it in and blows out the smoke. Mary can see talking about it was putting him on edge.

"I and Rick took out one of his posts to save Hilltop, we thought that was the only post...but we were wrong. That night when we first met him..."

She saw the cigarette tremble in his hand.

"We don't need to talk about this." She says.

"He killed two of our people. Right in front of our eyes. All I gotta say is his bat."

Mary held in a gasp realizing what he meant. She can almost picture it in her head. The thought of being brutally beaten to death by the barbed wire bat made her feel sick.

"I'm so sorry." She says.

"He took great interest in me." He continued. "I wish he didn't. I wish I died that night. If I can take Glenn's place I would. Maggie needed her husband. I'm not needed. I wouldn't be missed."

"Don't say that. Of course you would be missed. Their your people back there. Losing one of their own would devastate them."

He takes a deep breath.

"Long story short Negan drove me crazy and did everything he can to break me. Despite the shit he did to me I never joined him. I chose Rick and Alexandria every time. I don't regret it not one bit."

He flinched when her hand goes on his neck. She rubs with her thumb and strangely it calmed him. It was soothing. Which was weird because he rarely let people touch him...apart from Carol she is an exception.

"You're strong and loyal." Mary smiled sadly. "Both things I failed to be."

He frowns.

"What do you mean?"

"I joined an organization called The British Men of Letters. I did it behind my sons back."

"Behind your sons back?"

"They kidnapped my youngest and tortured him. Me and Dean saved him. My boys Dean especially hated them. I should as well because they hurt my family. Then I realized we both shared the same goal. Make the world supernatural free. I joined them because I wanted my sons out of the hunting life. With a monster free world my sons can live a normal life."

"You didn't tell your sons?"

"No. Eventually they did find out. We fell out. Dean didn't trust me. I don't blame him. The boys wanted a mom and I failed to do that. Although they found out I continued working with the Brits. I wanted Sam and Dean to see I was doing this for them. One of the members Arthur Ketch, my former working partner we worked together on killing the monsters and we became...close." The huntress quickly moved on not wanting to go into that part. "I found out that Ketch and his boss were planning on killing every hunter in America including my boys. That's when I realized we may share the same goal but our beliefs were different we were never meant to work together. Before I could tell my boys I was taken and the Brits brainwashed me."

Mary saw a look of horror on Daryl's face.

"I'm not what everyone thinks I am." She admits. "I'm not a fighter I'm not strong. I couldn't fight back. The torture, the brainwashing...it got me. I was gonna kill myself." She grimaced at the memory. "I even begged Ketch to kill me but he wouldn't. Then the programming was complete and I ended up as one of them. They took control of me. I hurt people, killed my own, I even hurt my sons." Daryl's expression turns wary. "Its ok." She assured him. "Dean helped me snap out of it." She rubs her arm and sighs. "You didn't break Daryl. No matter what you went through you did not let Negan get to you. I however let Ketch and his people get to me I was weak. I turned on own family."

"Hey hey." He places his hand on her shoulder. "You were gonna leave them when you found out the truth?"

"Yes."

"They forced you to join them. Yes we both been tortured but I never went through brainwashing. I was still me. You became someone else. This Ketch turned you into a weapon."

"I killed him." Mary sighed at the memory. "Ketch was gonna kill Dean I stopped him and killed him."

"He's gone?"

"Yes."

Daryl nods.

"Good. He got what he deserved. Sounded like a right asshole."

"He had his moments." Mary smiled.

Daryl chuckles a little.

"I only planned on talking about the baby not turning this into chic flick moment."

"We got something off our chests." Mary teased.

Daryl was surprised with himself. He rarely spoke about his past. Especially to people who he hasn't known very long. Yet here he was telling Mary about his time with Negan. Talking about it wasn't as bad as Daryl thought it would be. She didn't judge him and in a way he felt proud of himself that he didn't bow down to the Savior leader. Despite what Mary said he still saw her as a strong person . He even saw her as a survivor. Mary went through a traumatic event and she came back from it. Here she is with the nephillim helping Alexandrina take down the bad guys. Daryl didn't see bad in her at all.

Then there is a bang.

Mary and Daryl stand up and whip round. They see a blast of gold light.

"What was that?" Daryl asks.

Mary's eyes widen.

"Jack!"

She runs as fast as she can calling out the nephilim's name. She heard Daryl cursing behind her.

"What the fuck did that kid do?" He growled.

"Hopefully its a walker problem." She prayed.

They both stopped at a pile of ash. Mary swallows and begins to follow. Daryl had his crossbow out and started to slow down in pace.

Mary spots Jack on the ground with...was that Carl?

"Jack."

She runs down and kneels next to him. Jack wasn't paying attention to her. He was looking somewhere else. It was only when Mary heard the voice that she realized she wasn't alone.

"Mom!"

Mary paused. She turns her head. Her eyes widen.

"Dean." She gasped.

Dean throws her arms around her and hugs her. Mary held on to him tight. She couldn't believe it. Dean, he is here, he managed to get back.

"You're ok." He sighed with relief.

Mary looks over his shoulder and sees another man standing there. Her face paled when she saw his face.

No.

She quickly pulls away and stands up.

Can't be.

Her son stands up with his arms raised.

"Mom, I know it's a lot to take in but...don't freak out."

She continued staring at the man with disbelief.

The man raises his hand.

"Hello Mary." He smiled. "I'm so glad you are ok."

It brought Mary back to that exact moment when her and Jack first met Negan. Seeing the man wearing her husband's face. Now here she is seeing a man wearing the face of another who she grew quite close too.

"Dean." She turns to her oldest and forces a smile. "Who is this? You bumped into lookalike?"

Dean shakes his head.

"No mom, its Ketch. Our Ketch. He came back to life."

Mary faces the man again. Her eyes are wide as saucers.

"Arthur?"

Ketch nods.

"That's right. Its me Mary."

Mary is stunned, speechless. How the Hell was Arthur Ketch back?

Before Ketch could make amends, Mary quickly gets her gun out and aims at him.

"Mom!"

"Stay away from him Dean." She yelled.

She moves her aim to Ketch's head.

"Mary." Ketch raises his hands. "I have changed." She scolded with disbelief. Mary wasn't going to listen this bullshit. "Mary."

"Shut up!" She snapped. "I don't how you're back and you know what I don't care but you're gonna regret it."

Negan has only just gone out of the picture and now this son of a bitch is back.

Can't Mary catch a break?

She places her hand on the trigger.

"I am gonna kill you and this time you are gonna stay dead."

Her face darkens.

"I will make sure of it."