AN: Here we are, another chapter here. It's pretty long, but there was a lot to tell and I didn't want to split it. There's going to be a few chapters in this "episode" (for lack of better words) to cover everything I want to cover about the next few "days" in the story. So, hopefully, you'll be patient with me! I'll try to show you everything you want to see, but it's going to take a few chapters!
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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"With this much chrome in town and more on the way," Daryl mused, "town's gonna start gettin' nervous again."
They had just dropped Sophia off at school. One of the Judges and a Savior that he'd made friends with each other kept watch across the street—both sitting in the shade of a clump of small trees like they had nothing at all to do on a weekday except admire the foliage and shoot the shit. Sophia had begged to stay home and start her promised "special" day early, but neither Daryl nor Carol would hear about it. Her "special" day wasn't ready yet, and it couldn't start until it was ready. She'd be better off at school, working on her fun assignments about the upcoming celebration of Halloween, while Daryl and Carol ran the numerous errands that they needed to run for themselves and the club.
The chrome that Daryl referred to was the influx of bikers that were riding on the little streets of Liberty, patronizing the businesses, and smoking cigarettes on the sidewalks.
There were Saviors and Judges from numerous chapters. There were Nomads and Independents. All of them were, in some way, friends of the two MCs that were putting the motel together on the side of the highway as you rolled into Liberty.
And all of them were going to be filling the rooms of the motel, free of charge, for a couple of nights as they brought news of the surrounding areas and discussed what might be stirring in other neighboring clubs. The decision had been made. Merle and Negan were going to invite presidents from some neighboring MCs to check on politics and relations, but they didn't want to do that uninformed. In addition to the bikers that had come for the meetings—and who would be rolling out of town within a couple of days—there were a few that would be hanging around for a while to bulk up the numbers of the local chapters as a show of strength against anyone who might mean them, or their families, any harm.
Carol understood what Daryl was saying. Before she'd set foot in Liberty—drenched to the bone and practically swimming—on a night that felt like it had occurred in another lifetime entirely, she'd have been very concerned to see so many bikers in such a small area.
"You mean there have been this many before?" Carol asked.
Daryl rolled down his window. He threw a hand up at some bikers that clearly recognized him because they waved back. He lit a cigarette and let the truck creep along at a speed that indicated he was—like everyone else—not in any hurry at all.
"Couple times," Daryl said. "Last time was around the split."
"The split?" Carol asked.
Daryl hummed.
"When the Union chapter of the Saviors was formed," Daryl said. "Most the Saviors at that time had been Judges. Shit went down. Some people started lookin' sideways at each other. When the brothers—and sisters, in some cases—in an MC can't look at each other with trust, the thing starts to crumble a little. When it starts to crumble, sometimes part of it just breaks the fuck off. Them that don't see eye to eye's gotta go start somethin' else—somethin' they can be a part of."
"Was Negan part of that?" Carol asked.
Daryl hummed in the affirmative and steered the truck very slowly into the driveway of the biggest and most frequented store in Liberty. In a town too small to have a Wal Mart or other big box store, four store owners had gone in to create their own version of the big box franchise in a small strip mall. Now that the town had grown large enough to probably qualify for some big box store to move in, they didn't need it. Inside the strip mall, the four owners had torn down the barriers that separated their stores. You could buy clothes and other assorted items in a dollar general sort of mom-and-pop variety store, or you could buy from a selection of groceries that were not as numerous as the ones available at the full-sized grocery store, but which covered all the basics with better hours. The local pharmacy was tucked into one corner of the Frankenstein store, and the local bakery and deli brought up the other side.
It was an example of small-town innovation, and the most amusing thing about the place was that the floor—when the walls had been taken out and the stores had been fully fused together—had never been changed to be uniform throughout. Carol had taken Sophia there a few times, and the girl really enjoyed stepping around the changes in the flooring.
Each section of the store had a different name, given that they were separate businesses who shared a space, but the sign outside simply advertised the venue as "The Mall on Magnolia." It was busy today.
"Daryl—what happened to Negan's old lady?" Carol asked. "Can I ask that?"
Daryl parked the truck some small distance from the store. He lit himself another cigarette, killed the engine, and took off his seatbelt. The fact that he didn't reach for the door handle, though, told Carol that they weren't moving for a few minutes. She took off her own seatbelt and got comfortable.
"You can ask whatever you want," Daryl said. "But I don't know if what I can tell you is gonna satisfy you in any way."
"Tell me what you can," Carol said.
Daryl considered it a moment like he wasn't really sure where the story should start.
"Reynold Mabry was one of the early Judges," Daryl said. "What Hershel calls the originals. There was some Independents and Nomads an' shit around Liberty before them, but they was the ones that started the official Judges. Liberty's the mother chapter of the Judges. That means…"
"It's the first one?" Carol asked quickly.
"You got it," Daryl said. "Original chapter. Now there's Judges all over. Chapters all over Georgia and the surrounding states. Both the Carolinas. Alabama. Even a chapter in Mississippi and one in Florida. But the first chapter was started here in Liberty with a bunch of bike enthusiasts and social fuckin' outcasts."
"Why were they outcasts?" Carol asked.
"Same damn reason anyone is, I guess," Daryl said. "Small town politics. You in or you out. Who you are, who you come from, where you live…that shit's just as important as what you ever do for yourself. Maybe even more so. In places like Liberty? They've judged you 'fore you're born."
"And so the Judges decided to judge them back?" Carol asked.
Daryl laughed to himself.
"Maybe," Daryl said. "Really the Judges weren't about that. They were about—everybody belongs here, you know? Anybody that don't belong? Well, they belong with the Judges. Still, its like everything else. To belong, you gotta follow the rules. The big difference is, if you can't belong here because you can't follow the rules, that's concrete, ya know? It's somethin' you can help. It's a decision your ass makes. It ain't got shit to do with the names on your birth certificate or where the hell you put your head at night. It's more a judgment on character than circumstance."
"It's kind of nice," Carol mused.
"Not everybody thinks so," Daryl said with a laugh. "You've seen the assholes around here that don't like to see cuts on the streets of their fine little town."
"And I've seen how little the Judges give a shit," Carol offered. Daryl laughed.
"There's that, too," he said.
"But you still haven't told me what happened to Negan's old lady," Carol pressed.
"Oh yeah—forgot that's where this was goin'," Daryl said. "Reynold Mabry was one of the originals. Early Judge. Friends with all of 'em. I knowed him my whole life. Asshole, but one of the best kinds of assholes you was ever gonna know. Died of a heart attack. Sudden as shit, too. Was just—fuckin' around at the Chambers. Regular night. Drinkin' beer an' bullshittin'. You'da never guessed nothin' was wrong with him. I was a teenager, then. Prob'ly not even fully haired over. It was 'round about the time that Andrea was just settlin' in good as Merle's woman—so that means we were both about sixteen or seventeen. Anyway—they found Reynold dead the next day in his bed. Coroner said a massive heart attack just killed him in his sleep."
"And killing Negan's old woman happened in response to that or…?" Carol asked.
Daryl laughed to himself.
"Jesus," he said, pressing his fingers hard into his eyes. "I'm tired as shit. Didn't sleep worth a damn. I can't get no damned where. It's like I'm thinkin' of everything at the same time. Like—I start thinkin' of one thing and then it just leads somewhere, but it ain't where I was goin', you know?"
Carol knew that, sometimes, Daryl was quick to drift off. Sometimes it resulted in him changing topics a few times in the same conversation. Those times, he was feeling talkative. Other times, his energy came out in physical bursts where he seemed anxious to do things with his hands, but he didn't really want to talk. None of it bothered her.
"Does Reynold Mabry have anything to do with Negan's old lady?" Carol asked.
Daryl laughed to himself. The way that he looked at her made her heart pick up a few beats. Sometimes, when Daryl looked at her, she could feel the love and appreciation practically beaming out of him. He was happy that she didn't hold anything against him. And she was completely unaccustomed to being love so much for something so simple.
"He was Negan's old man," Daryl said. "Negan was a young Judge at the time. He's older than me an' Andrea by a couple years. The whole damn reason I was gonna tell you all that was to tell you that Negan used to be a Judge. And he weren't just any Judge. He was the kid of one of the originals. His brother woulda been, too, but he died early. Both him an' Negan's ma was killed in a wreck when Negan weren't but like ten."
"And then his old lady was killed in a wreck?" Carol asked.
Daryl hummed.
"Not related at all. Just a streak of bad fuckin' luck. Negan started datin' Lucy around about the time that Merle started datin' Andrea," Daryl said. "She was just about his age, though. They knew each other from school. Negan was an asshole, though. Run around on Lucy a lot. Always doin' somethin' he shouldn't do an' rubbin' her nose in the bitches he'd pick up just to fuck. Negan always loved a tart. Loved the attention that bein' a badass could get him. If he went to a rally, he was gonna fuck another woman." He laughed to himself. "When I draw up a picture of Lucy in my head? It's always a picture of her with Andrea's arm around her neck. Andrea was always tryin' to make her feel better. Back then, the both of 'em was shovelin' a lot of shit. Andrea was tryin' to domesticate Merle's sorry ass, an' I guess Lucy was doin' the same."
"Did the Judges kill Lucy?" Carol asked.
"Hell no," Daryl said. "The Judges ain't touched Lucy. Negan got a couple warnings from the club about some of his behavior. He popped Lucy a couple times an' we don't tolerate that shit. It happens once, on accident, we might let it slide if she begs for his forgiveness, you might say. Happens again? The club takes it personal. That's why the hell Merle's been up for discussion so many times before he an' Andrea give some kinda formal declaration to the club that, sometimes, she asks Merle to—do certain shit to her. An' if he complies, he ought not to be punished for it unless she tells another brother that it weren't requested, so to speak. So, Negan was warned about that. He also started runnin' a lil' side business all his own with the tarts that he was done with an' discarding. If they weren't old lady quality, then didn't no brother want 'em long term. So, he was sorta startin' up this little thing where they could make a couple bucks an' them that wanted a piece could have it without the worry of the tart hangin' around too much. The club didn't wanna be involved in runnin' pussy, and since Negan was a representative of the club, he was gettin' warnings about that shit."
Carol smirked at him, and Daryl stopped talking. His face flushed a little pink.
"What?" He asked.
"What exactly is old lady quality?" Carol asked.
Daryl laughed to himself.
"You tell me," Daryl said. "You an' old lady. Damn good one."
"You say it a lot," Carol said. "Old lady quality. Is there—some kind of checklist?"
"No," he said. "You just—you're old lady quality or you ain't."
"So, what happened to Lucy?" Carol asked.
"Really, I don't fuckin' know," Daryl said. "There's clubs all around that we got relationships with. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad—and sometimes it's all over the place. At that time, there weren't nothin' goin' on that nobody knew anything about. Just—regular shit. Everybody pretty much mindin' their own business. Negan had some warnings, but it weren't nothin' serious. He laid off hittin' Lucy, and the runnin' pussy pissed people off, but that ain't no capital offense. It woulda cost him his cut, eventually, if he didn't lay off…"
"But it wouldn't cost him his old lady?" Carol asked.
"We ain't never gonna hit an old lady," Daryl said. "That ain't how the hell we operate."
Carol's stomach knotted.
"But—you would hit someone," Carol offered. "That is how the Judges operate."
Daryl raised his eyebrows at her.
"You realize you gettin' in deep," Daryl said. It wasn't a threat. Carol could feel that it wasn't a threat at all. If anything, it was just information to let her make a decision. She nodded her head.
"I'm an old lady," she said. "We're—getting married next weekend. You're adopting Sophia. At least for now? I'm carrying your baby. I think I'm about as deep as I can get, Daryl."
Daryl laughed to himself.
"A club's a little like the ocean. No matter how fuckin' deep you think you are? There's always another thousand miles deeper to go 'til you get to the bottom. With what you know right now? They can't put you in prison."
Carol's stomach tightened. Without saying it, he'd said everything he'd ever hesitated to say before. Carol nodded her head.
"I know how to keep my mouth shut," Carol said. "I've had a lot of practice keeping secrets about my life."
"I don't never want nothin' about me to be like nothin' about him," Daryl said.
"Just the secret part," Carol said. "That's all. And it's—still nothing like him."
"I'ma just say we wouldn't hit no old lady. And we didn't hit Lucy. That's all the hell there is to that. We were all at the trailer when Merle got the call from Negan demandin' some kinda fuckin' explanation. Hysterical. Didn't know what was goin' on and he weren't makin' no sense. Rode out together as far as they'd let us come toward the scene—weren't like it was hard to find. Walked the rest of the way where they couldn't see us an' when they weren't payin' attention. Lotta people was tryin' to find out what was goin' on. Someone had run her ass off the road. But good. Guess she was tryin' to outrun 'em. Goin' fast. Car rolled until they was parts of it slung for almost a mile. Hit trees in the median an' burst into flames. Don't know if they shot at her—hell, maybe they hit her. Maybe that's what happened an' she jammed her foot on the gas when she died. Maybe she never even knowed she went off the road. Didn't matter. She was burnt up when they got there. Hardly even enough was left to identify. They identified her from the teeth they found and, from what I fuckin' overheard? They were scattered around the scene and what was left of the car."
"Jesus," Carol said, a wave of nausea rising up. She swallowed against it. "Negan thought you did it."
"We got ways to avoid evidence," Daryl said. "Looked like a hit we mighta done. Negan was so fuckin' upset he ain't wanted to hear nothin' different. Packed his shit that night. Moved to Union literally the next damn day. Sold his daddy's place. Had Lucy buried out in the cemetery at the edge of town. Turned in his cut an' started the Union chapter of the Saviors. There were some others that thought that, just maybe, Negan weren't wrong. Maybe we did hit Lucy. They got scared that they might fuck up an' their old ladies might get it, especially if it could happen to someone so damn rooted in the MC. They went with him to start the Saviors. There was a period of pure shit with all the neighboring clubs. Some hits on all sides. People went crazy—not knowin' what to do or what to believe. We tried to find who hit Lucy, but we never did. Eventually shit died down. Things became civil again when there weren't the occasional shitshow that was gonna bubble up here or there. Regular shit. Things have been pretty damn calm. Until, of course, someone decided to scald the fuck outta Andrea."
"Do you think—it's the same person?" Carol asked.
"Lotta years between them hits, and the style is different," Daryl said. "Still—anyone who'd hit an innocent is a sonofabitch of a whole different kind. I won't try to figure out what the hell they're thinking. I'd love if we could get some kinda closure, though. For everyone who's been hit."
"And for Negan?" Carol asked.
Daryl hummed.
"Asshole or not, he was my brother once," Daryl said. "When Lucy was gone, Negan didn't have nobody but Negan. Felt like the club was turned against him. I'd like to see some peace for his ass. Wouldn't mind seein' some justice for Lucy, though. Really—she was a sweet girl."
Carol smiled to herself.
"I'm sure she was," she offered.
"You scared enough, yet?" Daryl asked with a laugh.
"I think I'll pull through," Carol said.
"Good," Daryl said. "Because—if you left my ass…" He suddenly looked even sadder than he'd looked remembering the tragedy that had befallen the club.
Carol quickly reached across the truck and caught his hand. He squeezed hers.
"I'm not going anywhere except inside the mall to get a cake, right? For Sophia's special day, right?" Carol pressed.
Daryl smiled to himself.
"You ain't too depressed now for all that?" Daryl asked.
"My baby's expecting a special day from her daddy," Carol said. "And that's what she's going to get. Everything else is—well, it's just background noise, right?"
Daryl smiled to himself.
"I love you, woman," he offered quietly.
"I know you do," Carol confirmed. "And—I love you. More than I ever thought possible."
Daryl's smile only widened.
"Come on," he said. "Wanna get the cake ordered 'fore we gotta go meet up with the Independent that's gonna be tailin' you for a while."
