A year and a half has passed since that day. Things, for the most part, have changed for the better, the communities have started to get along, we work on clearing routes to each of them and they all contribute as much as they can. Each community has its perils right now, Hilltop though still, the best at farming needs new equipment, Alexandria still needs supplies to rebuild, Oceanside still is trying to bring in new things and the Kingdom is still living in medieval times. Siddiq and I have taught many including Enid how to heal and perform major surgeries in case something happens and we are not there. I mostly stay at the Hilltop with Maggie and Daryl sadly runs the Sanctuary, but I couldn't be around them. We are still together and our bond is still there but I think in some ways I have grown quieter and he has started to speak out more. I miss him and on the days that we are together, we are hardly alone to even talk. Though tension between Rick and I is still there we still love each other and I will always be there for him. I visit a lot for Judith, and at the Hilltop I always visit Hershel. Maggie, Daryl, and I still are going to go through with our plan, we are still just waiting for the best moment. I never go into the Alexandria prison where he is and I barely ever go to the Saviors place aka the Sanctuary even with Daryl there. In the past year and a half, I have only been there 5 times because of major events and wounds. The Sanctuary's peril was the fact that the crops they tried to grow there did not ever last and that made it hard to make the fuel.
I smile as I lean my head on Dary's back, I hadn't seen him in two weeks, he puts his arm down and curls his fingers with mine, silently letting me know he's feeling what I am, he missed me too. We are riding to clear Route B for our big run to the Smithsonian Museum where there would be some significant equipment to scavenge for, people from all the communities would be going on this run. Jadis told us that it would have a lot of seeds and plows to get a hold of. We meet up with the group and I wave to Jerry as we all make our way to the museum. We get to the front and I smile at everyone as we get off the bike. I give everyone a hug as we move towards the doors. We all grab our weapons as Rick opens the door and whistles after a sec a walker sticks his head out and Michonne takes it out.
"We're good for now." She tells us after checking for others. "Sweep protocol when we get in." We nod and follow her in as Rick opens the door fully. The Museum is a mess with dust everywhere just like most buildings we scavenge nowadays. Rick kills a walker that seems to not be able to stand fully and get to him and grabs a map of the museum layout.
"You all got your lists," Rick turns to all of us as we make our way into the middle wing of the building. "Circle back here when you're done. Be safe!" I follow Rick and Daryl into the Natural History wing of the museum as I was to help find these seeds Jadis talked about. Part of the group goes upstairs for things and I follow Rick and Jadis downstairs for the stuff on our list. Grabbing my flashlight as we reach darkness, I try to keep calm as I feel the spiderwebs cling to me as we go further into the basement. I turn suddenly when I hear a thud and Siddiq's cries, I run following the sounds to make sure he is ok. Rick and Enid are there first, I shudder when I shine my light on a swarm of spiders, I start to stomp on them.
"You okay?" Rick asks as Siddiq brushes off spiders from himself.
"Yeah, Yeah." He answers, still swiping at himself. "Yeah, thanks, there were spiders. I don't like spiders."
We make our way into another wing, Gabriel kills the only walker in the hall, Jadis and I pause and stare at the human evolution of man and the walker at the end hanging by skulls.
"Intelligent design." Gabriel smiles at it.
"Very poetic," I smirk at it and walk away as I hear Jadis speak.
"The de-evolution of man. I like it."
We finally make our way into the historical management wing and break the rusted chains on the door to find an old filing room. We check for walkers and I kill the only one in here and turn when I hear the drawers rattle open. Rick finds some seeds and hands them to me, Rattlesnake snap beans. I smile at him as I pull out more seeds.
"You were right, Anne." He smiles at her.
"How'd you know to find seeds here?" Gabriel asks her.
"Brought my class back when I was teaching." She answers. "Found out that they cultivated heirloom lines for the gardens, and they kept seeds on hand so they could rotate the crops."
"They made a doomsday vault without knowing it." Gabriel jokes.
"Lucky for us," I say smiling at them as I stuff my backpack with all the seeds I can fit.
"We're grateful," Rick says. "The Sanctuary will be too." I roll my eyes. "Let's take the lot, get back, see if the others need help."
I grunt holding on as tightly as I can to the rope as we all try to slowly ease the wagon down the stairs.
"The last step," Rick tells us. "Easy. Alright, hold, hold!" He orders as we feel the front of the wagon jostle down the last step and metal creaks. We wait to see if the glass will break. "So far so good." He tells us and I sigh a bit. I watch anxiously as my brother steps onto the glass and slowly walks to get into a position to guide the wagon more. "Let's go." He tells us and I follow Daryl's lead as we slowly lead the wagon with the ropes.
"Slow, Slow." I hear Carol and Michonne say.
"Whoa, Whoa," Rick calls out to us some more.
"The last step," Carol tells us and I hear it crunch onto the glass. We wait a minute to make sure all is fine as the glass holds the weight. "Ok." Rick nods to us letting us know it's ok. Daryl takes the rope from me and I make my way over the glass using the metal rails as my guide, the others doing the same, once across I help Enid and Siddiq with the pulley ropes. Maggie and Cyndie bring the canoe over, followed by Daryl and Rick bringing another tool I don't recognize. Lastly, Ezekiel and Carol bring the plow at this point the glass starts to crack even more.
"You got to go!" Rick yells.
"Carol! Zeke! Run!" I yell at them.
"Save the plow!" Ezekiel yells, throwing it to Carol. The glass shatters and he falls hanging from the rope around his waist as the Walkers below reach for him.
"ZEKE!" I yell in worry pulling on the rope I had attached to him. Carol lays a sleeping bag over the glass as Daryl shoots any walkers getting too close to him and we all pull on the rope as he climbs out. I sigh in relief for my friend and smile as he kisses Carol.
We pack up the equipment into the wagon and make our way back down route B. Daryl and I rode further ahead checking for any roamers or baddies on the route. We pass a loan roamer and Daryl kills it with his pick. He turns the bike around and I pull the pick out and place it back into the slot on the bike made for it. Rosita meets us on the route and tells us she needs to talk to my brother. We turn around and meet back up with everyone else where Rosita then leads us back to the bridge which is now broken, two large herds merged and took it out.
"Took the walkie repeater with it." She explains.
"What about Route A?" Daryl asks. "That clear yet?"
"It's still too close to the herd." She shakes her head.
"So what now?" I ask, staring at the damage.
"We can get to Alexandria from this side," Michonne speaks up. "Stay there till it passes."
"No." Maggie protests, she still would not go anywhere near there. "Route A has taken days to clear before. I need to get home to Hershel."
"We can take Route D. It's early enough in the day," Carol suggests.
"It's our best shot." I shrug looking at everyone else.
"Keep an eye on the trade route in case anyone else tries to move through," Rick tells Rosita. "Gabriel you all can head back to Alexandria from here. The rest of us, we can go to the Sanctuary or Hilltop, stay the night and head off from there. Take care and stay safe!"
We take Route D where the mud is too much for the horses to pull the wagon so untie them and let them rest as we try to pull the wagon out of the mud.
"One, two, three!" Rick guides as we pull on the wagon trying to get it unstuck. I pull as hard as I can to barely have any success.
"Rick." I hear Michonne say in warning, we all look up to see walkers coming toward us.
"Shit," I grumble.
"Were almost there." Ezekiel nods to us all.
"One more time," Rick says encouraging us. "One, two, three."
"Come on!" I growl pulling with all my might as the wagon is finally free.
"Good, let's get out of here," Rick says. "Daryl, Esme, Michonne." Rick indicates to the walkers and I throw my rope in the wagon and grab a throwing knife. I throw my knives till all 10 are out then grab my hunting knife and close into other walkers grabbing my throwing knives as I kill. Soon I realize there are too many of them, we were close to being overrun.
"We need to get out of here," I say backing up to the wagon.
"Leave the wagon!" Rick tells us as we run, but Ken doesn't want to leave the horse.
"I gotta free her!" Ken says running back, I understood the sadness but there was nothing we could do now.
"Ken wait!" Rick yells, Ken cuts the lead on the horse but gets bit on the arm, he yells and spooks the horse which kicks him in the chest. We try to help and keep him alive but sadly he passes before we can really help with the chest wound. Maggie makes sure he doesn't turn and I help her stand as she cries into my shoulder.
"Shh… shh… I now." I hold her as the others load up the wagon and Ken.
I stay with Maggie at the Hilltop standing on the balcony watching Ken's funeral. His parents blamed Maggie for his death and didn't want either of us there as I supported her.
"They are right you know," Maggie sighs.
"It wasn't your fault, Maggie," I turn glaring at her.
"No, but I don't put Hilltop first anymore." She says confusing me.
"What are you talking about?" I ask tilting my head.
"Tammy and Earl, when I talked to them about what happened," she starts to explain. "Tammy told me that Gregory may be an idiot but at least he always put Hilltop first, I, on the other hand, give what Hilltop bleeds for, to the Sanctuary."
I turn back to watching the funeral and ponder what she said for a bit.
"So maybe we just don't give as much as we have been?" I offer thinking that for the most part, Tammy wasn't wrong. "We still help but not as much as we were. We need to keep our people happy and safe."
"I agree."
I toss and turn in my bed not able to sleep, I pull the pillow next to me sideways and try to cuddle it for warmth and comfort. I close my eyes and pretend it's Daryl. This was my routine every night for the past few months that Daryl has been at the Sanctuary. I missed him and I hated not having him here. I sit up hearing a baby wailing, I sit there for a second hoping Maggie would handle him but when the wailing continues I jump out of bed grabbing my hunting knife.
"Maggie?!" I call following the noises. Alen and few others follow me. I find Enid on the gound, Hershel wailing on the ground his stroller tipped over and Maggie fighting with someone. Alden and the others grab the man and reveal him to be Earl. I drop to the ground picking up Hershel and checking him when I know he's fine I place him on my lap and check on Enid.
"Take him to the infirmary with Enid," Maggie tells me and storms off.
Enid and Hershel were thankfully fine. Enid woke up and had a mild concussion. I wait ten more minutes before Maggie comes barrelling angrily into the infirmary.
"Oh, I'm done with this shit!" She says taking Hershal from my arms.
"What happened, I mean obviously Earl attacked but I'm sensing there was more to it." I stand up waiting for her to talk as she paces bouncing the baby with each step.
"It was Gregory! He convinced Earl to attack me." Maggie explains. "He can't even murder me himself."
"Because he's a coward…" I state the obvious. "So what are you going to do about it?"
"I don't know yet…" She sighs and walks out.
The next day Rick, Michonne, and Daryl come by. I smile as Daryl rides straight up to me.
"Hello stranger," I grin putting my hands on the bars from the front of the bike.
"Hey, I've got some news." He says as he kicks down the kickstand.
"Everything okay?" I ask my smile fading a bit.
"Perfect." He says walking up to me and pulling down the bandana he now seems to always wear. He was smiling and it took my breath away. "I'm coming back, I'm no longer in charge of the Sanctuary."
"What?" I blink processing his words and then smile more. "Who's watching them then?"
"Carol, she wanted to help," Daryl answers. I nod grinning more and note to send a care package her way.
"I love that woman!" I laugh and hug him.
"I see how it is…" He laughs and fakes pulling away from me.
"Aww, is Pookie jealous?" I pick on him and he shakes his head at me.
I spend the rest of the day with Daryl cuddled up on the balcony just talking like we used to or just savoring each other's company.
Night came and Maggie called for us to all meet in the front.
"I don't want to do this," She says as everyone finally gathered. "But people need to understand that at Hilltop the punishment fits the crime." She turns to Gregory who was fit to hang. "Do you have any final words?"
"What your doing isn't right." He cries. "Somebody stop this. Please." He begs. "Killing me in the dead of night because you're ashamed."
"Your wrong." Maggie scoffs. "I'm not ashamed." She nods to Daryl who walks to the horse Gregory was sitting on.
"No! Stop this please." Gregory begs and pleads. "Now, for the love of God stop it!"
"Maggie stop!" Michonne cries from her spot and I turn to look. Rick had her in his arms but behind her were two kids off in the distance.
"Ha!" Daryl whistles and smacks the horse on the rear.
"Get the children back in bed," I tell their parents and turn to Maggie as I try to ignore the choking sounds from Gregory hanging to death.
"I made this decision," Maggie speaks to everyone. "But this is not the beginning of something, I don't want to go through it again." She tells us as we stair at Gregory finally dead. "Cut him down."
I sigh and stretch as I feel Daryl move in our tent we had set up while we help work on the bridge. It started to take shape now that we worked on it for a little over a month. I really didn't help much with the building it but I helped to keep people fed and healthy, and patching up blisters and other wounds that occur at sites like this. I turn from staring at the tent wall to Daryl's vest. You could barely see the angel wings now as they almost blended into the black leather. I sit up and trace the outline of them as Daryl leans into my hand I run my arms around his body and pull him into me.
"Morning," I smile I kiss his neck.
"Mornin'," I hear him sigh as he gets comfortable leaning against me. He turns his head to me. "Same plan as always?" He asks me. I nod.
"Unless he gives other plans." I smile and wave to my brother as he does his normal walk around the camp. He walks to our tent and smiles at us.
"Hey, Sis, there is a bug going around Alexandria, I was going to send Siddiq there and have you and Enid handle things here. That ok?" He asks.
"Fine by me," I answer. "Enid has come a long way in her training, she could honestly do this on her own." I smile.
"Alright, I'll go let them know."
I put on my boots and grab my knives, I kiss Daryl on the cheek and make my way to the breakfast line up, grab some food for Siddiq, Enid and I and make my way to the medical tent.
"Okay, I'll head out with the next escort." I hear Siddiq telling Rick. I smile and pass him his breakfast and watch as Enid finishes stitching up Cyndie's wound.
"Wait, he's leaving?" Enid looks up from her work causing her to pull on the stitching.
"Ow!" Cyndie cries at the tug.
"Sorry."
"Enid, you'll be fine and I'll still be here if you need me." I smile at her.
"Right, uh, It's fine." She looks down embarrassed.
"Yeah, I know." Rick nods.
I put her food down on another table and checked my blood sugar, 130 my blood sugar on a normal was usually on the higher ends of numbers we were starting to run low on insulin. It was one of the main reasons I wasn't put on the stressful jobs much anymore. With that, I eat my breakfast of no sugar oatmeal.
I'm helping Siddiq pack for his trip back to Alexandria when I hear stomping and cussing move past our medic tent.
"Daryl!" I hear an exasperated Rick yell. I look out the tent see Carol and Rick running after Daryl to the main tent. I blink in confusion to see Eugene walk to me.
"Daryl stuck up for Henry and got in a fight with one of the Saviors." He tells me. I sigh and nod grabbing my first aid kit and waking to Rick's main tent. As I get closer I hear them yelling, soon Daryl pushes the tent flap open and almost runs me over to getaway. He stops looks at me with my med kit and walks to our tent. I clean his busted lip and sigh as he doesn't talk to me. I look him in the eye.
"Hey, maybe go help with the lumber crew instead of the bridge?" I ask he nods, kisses my forehead, and walks out of the tent. I follow him out and watch as he makes his way over.
"Our Pookie okay?" I smile at Carol as she uses his nickname.
"He will be," I sigh. "But not a lot of people are ready for… all of this…" I say gesturing in general to the whole campsite. As much as we were getting along a lot of the Saviors were walking away from the building, Hilltop wasn't giving over food until the Saviors gave fuel which went missing and tensions were still high. "It's like we're living in an unsettled peace."
"Couldn't have explained it better myself," Carol agrees watching the camp as people went on with their day to day chores. At first glance, it looked like everyone got along but if you paid attention long enough you would see the angry glances sent to the Saviors by the people of the communities or the whispers that would start from the Saviors who were angry at having to do most of the work and then, of course, you had the obvious shit that happened like just now with Daryl.
"ESME, CAROL!" Rick yells for me running through the camp I glance up and grab my gun on instinct at the tone in his voice. "We need to get to the lumber sight, a herd is making its way there, siren 2 never went off to distract Horatio."
"Fuck!" I growl my mind worrying for Daryl and the others. Rick, Carol, me, and some others run like mad to make it in time to help. We didn't quite make it in time and I see Daryl carrying a hurt Aaron, he was about to get grabbed by a walker. "Daryl!" I call in a warning. I throw one of my knives just in time to kill the walker about to bite his arm.
"Get him back to camp," Rick tells Daryl as I run to them pulling at my belt to use it as a tourniquet for Aaron's arm. "Was he bitten?" I ask stopping them a bit away from the walkers to wrap my belt around the top of his arm.
"No. Crushed by a log," Daryl answers me as I pull it as tight as I can causing Aaron to scream.
"I know, I'm sorry," I frown as I look at the damage to his arm. "Daryl is going to get you up again and to the camp, okay!" I nod to Daryl as he picks him up again.
"Where are you going?" He asks not happy about me leaving.
"To find if anyone else is wounded. Enid is there she can do it." I answer. "Now go!" I say killing a waker as it got close. I run back up and kill some walkers when I see Rick shoot the logs loose and kill most of the walkers. We kill the stragglers and I sigh gratefully that others weren't
hurt as bad as Aaron.
I'm walking back to camp with Rick when Justin bumps into me as he angrily walks past us.
"What the fuck?" I push him.
"You need to keep your dog on his leash," He growls at me.
"Excuse me?" Rick pulls me behind him in protection as I glare at him.
"You heard me." He turns around. "That bitch of yours damn near killed me over nothing." I scoff.
"Nothing?" I growl moving out from behind Rick. "You almost got people killed, someone lost an arm because of your dumb ass!" I could feel people staring and out of the corner of my eye, I see Daryl making his way over to us.
"That wasn't my fault. The…" He gets in my face.
"Bullshit." I push him away from me. "If you followed protocol and checked the walkie talkie you could have fixed it in time."
"The…"
"I don't want to hear it," I turn to Rick. "He's yours to deal with," I walk away pulling Daryl with me to leave my brother to deal with him. We head back to the medical tent where Daryl sits with Aaron and I help Enid with medical supplies. I look up when the tent opens. Rick comes in and stares at Aaron's missing arm.
"She did great," I tell him and he looks to Enid.
"He's going to be alright.?" Rick asks her.
"Yeah." She answers. "If we can keep the wound from getting infected, he's still in a lot of pain."
"He's holding on though." Daryl pipes up.
"Damn, right I am." We hear a weak Aaron say. I smile at him and the others. Daryl moves from his spot and lets Rick take his seat.
"I'm so sorry this happened to you." He tells Aaron. "We were all supposed to be working together. I thought we were."
"You couldn't have known," Aaron tells him, he was such an understanding person. Rick shakes his head.
"I've been pushing everyone hard. I know I have. I put this project fist and you paid the price."
"Brother…" I sigh but Rick still shakes his head.
"It was worth it," Aaron says. "When the dead started to rise, I thought I was seeing the end of everything, but you changed all that, Rick. It's not the end of the world anymore. It's the start of a whole new one. I'll always be glad I was here to be a part of that." I blink taking his words in.
I sigh and step outside to see Rick standing by a tree watching everyone. I walk up to him and watch with him, he puts his arm around my shoulders and I wrap my arm around his waist my head leaning on his shoulder. I giggle a bit as I watch King Ezekiel and Carol have a banter as he tries to put a ring on her finger. I can hear and feel my brother chuckle at the site as he finally succeeds and she smiles down at the ring. My right-hand moves to my left and I fumble with my own ring, remembering the day Daryl proposed to me.
"It's peaceful," I whisper not wanting to break the peace but also feeling a slight pain in my heart.
"It is," Rick whispers as well and I look up, passed the trees to the stars, the more I watched them twinkle. Memories run through my head as I remember a time where I felt at peace. I jump a bit when I feel a hand on my cheek I look down at Rick and feel him wipe a tear away, I give him a small smile and look back up.
"He would have loved right now, how peaceful it is." I didn't realize I said the words out loud till Rick responds to me.
"He would." I look at Rick again and smile a sad but grateful smile.
"You know, it may not seem like it, but we're almost there." Rick looks at me confused. "The way Carl wanted it. Schools, jobs, birthdays, walks with fathers, and late-night stargazing with Aunts." I smile as I remember his letters. Rick and Michonne had let me read theirs and I let them read mine. "You know I think I want to go on a mission to make Friday night pizza and get that much closer to what he… what we… want." Rick laughs and shakes his head. "Yup, I think that's what I'm going to do next."
"Have fun with that," Rick says patting my head and grabbing his bag. He kisses my forehead and leaves for his tent.
I stand on watch waiting for Maggie and her shipment of food. I smile when I see them heading this way. I waive and run over to her excited.
"Hey, please tell me that we had a surplus of tomatoes this harvest," I question and look up confused when she doesn't answer me. "What's wrong?" I ask as I see the look on her face.
"We found one of the Saviors dead,"
"What? Who?" I ask.
"Justin," She answers, I tilt my head in confusion as I remember him leaving last night. This causes the Saviors to go crazy on us as they gather around yelling and trying to blame either Daryl and I or Anne for his death. They wanted guns and other weapons I didn't know what to do as the crowds started to argue even more and some started to throw punches. Carol, Alten, and some of the other Saviors try to settle it. Rick finally gets here and breaks the crowed up by running his horse through it causing everyone to break apart. I sigh in relief as everyone goes back to what they are supposed to be doing but I could feel the tension in the air causing the unsettled peace to thrive again. I suddenly didn't care to make everyone pizza...