Chapter 41

"Lydia? Poppet, are you alright?" Harry's soft voice startled both, Daryl and the small girl in his arms.

"Ye… yes." She stuttered out.

Daryl could feel her still trembling under his hands. The hunter was so glad to be able to hold her like this.

Letting Lydia go with Rick… back to that sorry excuse of a mother had been one of the hardest things Daryl had done in his life. All he had wanted to do, was bundle her up and hide away with her.

But he had known that Paul was right. They couldn't just force the girl to stay with them. They might love her like a daughter, but just choosing her as their own didn't cut it, not if she didn't choose them as well.

And she hadn't.

Lydia had chosen to return to Alpha and the Whisperers.

To the woman who had given birth to her and who had kept her alive this far… in her own deeply screwed up way.

Daryl could still remember how he used to hide away from his drunken daddy, growling and barking insults at him, the phantom pain of belt lashes burning on his back… He had hated his father.

Hell, he had been scared shitless of the big rough man…

And yet, there had been rare moments when Will Dixon had been nice to his youngest son. When he was in a good mood, then there had been tiny seconds where he had looked at Daryl in a way that had made the young boy hope that his father might even love him.

Hope that the only parent he had left, might at least give a tiny shit about him…

He had seen that hope in Lydia's eyes as well, when she had realized that her mother had come to get her back. Daryl's belly had ached in sympathy and worry for his little girl. Letting her go back to someone who wouldn't look after her right, who didn't treat her right… like letting a lamb choose to go back to the wolves.

And yet, he knew for himself how absolutely irresistible that pull of hope was… Like a drug it pulled you in. Full of promises and just as destructive.

Nothing had ever changed. And even worse. No matter how much Daryl had grown, in situations like this he had always managed to fall back to that terrified, lonely child he had been after his ma had died. That helpless boy, who Daryl somehow couldn't grow out off even after decades… the terrified and abandoned child had lingered under the surface, always ready to rear his head when he had thought there was a chance of getting accepted, loved, cherished by his father.

Or later Merle… Fuck, it had taken the end of the world, the death of his pa, the completely up-turn of Daryl's known world to even start growing out of that boy. It certainly had taken Rick, Carol, Hershel, Glen,…

It had taken Harry… and Paul… to sooth that bone deep aching to belong, to quieten that soul deep scream for love.

Yeah, that kind of hope to be seen by your parents ignited the brightest of lights. And like the dumbest moth, it caused you to fly into the flames. Again and again. No matter how often you crashed and burned for it.

Daryl knew.

And he had seen the tiny spark that hope had lit in Lydia's eyes.

One, Daryl hadn't had the heart to take away from her. And so, they had let her go.

Back to an abusive mother, a group full of creeps, in a life full of danger and pain.

It had broken his heart.

As well as Paul's and Harry's.

The harsh sound of Alpha's hand connecting with Lydia's cheek had rattled all three of them. Before he or Paul had even been able to blink, Harry had been gone. Their little wizard, whose resolve to let Lydia go, had been hanging on a very, very thin thread already…

"Who are you?" Alpha hissed lowly at Harry, with narrowed eyes. "I saw you. On the gate. Touching my daughter, speaking to her."

"I'm Harry." The green eyed wizard introduced himself in a very curtly manner. "Someone, who cares for Lydia and someone, you'll have to answer to if you continue to hurt her."

"I see." Alpha cocked her head to the side, whipping the blood of her face.

The bald woman paced slowly in front of them. There was something deeply animalistic in the way she moved.

Smooth but tense.

Her eyes, though… those were giving Daryl creeps.

Sharp and analysing.

Alpha finally stopped pacing.

"Tell me, Rick Grimes, speaking on the behalf of the girl with the blue jacket. Is my daughter worth the other girl's life?"

She was angry no doubt about that in Daryl, but her voice didn't convey much of it. Alpha talked about killing Enid in an easy, conversational tone.

"Is she worth getting your land overrun by my horde?"

Lydia's mother sounded detached. Her head curiously tilted to the side.

Daryl felt Lydia freeze in his arms at the undisguised threat and a deep unease settled in the hunter's stomach.

"Hush, little chipmunk. Hush." Paul soothed, as his hands caressed the girl's head.

"Harry…" Rick started, sounding wary.

"Let her be my bloody guest!" The British wizard hissed over his shoulder towards his foster father and Alexandria's leader.

Exhaling heavily Daryl watched as Harry turned his green eyes to glare at Alpha, his chin defiantly raised.

"I dare you! Bring it on, bitch! If you're looking for a fight, you can have one. Attack our communities, our families and I swear to everything I love that I am going to fucking light you up!"

Harry's voice had a forceful but icy calm quality to it, that send shivers of dread run down Daryl's spine.

And if Rick's wide blue eyes and Lydia's open mouth were an indication, he wasn't the only one…

The archer hadn't seen his youngest lover this angry since Negan had brought Dolohov to their doorstep. It was so easy to forget that Harry could be a terrifying opponent if he wanted to… and right now it seemed like Alpha had tickled the sleeping lion.

Not that Alpha appeared to be concerned…

No, with an impassive face and cold eyes, she held Harry's burning gaze. Apparently unbothered in the face of the wizard's fury.

"What did you say? You want you light us all up?" There was a softly mocking quality to her strangely whispered words.

"You seem to want conflict. I don't. So, I am offering you a trade. A good one. The brunette girl with the blue jacket for my daughter. My daughter for the safety of your communities. One for many."

Fucking hell, that woman had to have balls made of steel. Her Whisperers had started to fidget and had started to look very nervous.

The pressure of Harry's upset magic could be felt by all of them, but Alpha was the only one, who seemed to be completely unfazed by it.

Not batting an eyelash. Not a hint of weakness.

Paul couldn't begin to understand why Alpha was so sure of herself. She must have lost quite a few of her people to the protection of the blessing, until she had managed to figure out that her intentions were the key. Something that still boggled Paul's mind.

To think how long she must have experimented with her people and the border…

Cold, clinical… patient…

That woman was clearly a lunatic… but a fucking dangerous one…

One with an enormous herd at her beck and call…

What Paul couldn't understand though, was how Alpha had dared to come here like this. Brazenly demanding Lydia back, threatening them. And apparently so damn sure of herself…

Why? How?

Was it just Enid?

Daryl and Rick seemed to agree with him. Both of them tense and angry but neither looked all that worried right now.

"What would keep us from finishing you all off, right here and now?" Alexandria's blue eyed leader asked her harshly.

"Oh, you could do that…" Alpha cooed in a soft whisper. "Kill me. Right here in front of my daughter." There was something delicate in the way she closed her eyes, an almost unnoticeable smile tugging at her lips.

Lydia flinched at that, causing Rick and Daryl to scowl darkly at the woman.

Alpha was laughing at them, Paul realized. She was mocking them.

Their morals. She was judging their reactions, finding them weak and lacking…

Fuck that bitch!

"If I am not back soon, my Beta will act for me. Be sure of that. But the other girl will pay the price first." Lydia's mother informed… no, promised them.

Paul could hear Rick's teeth grinding, with how forceful the former Sheriff was clenching his jaws. Suddenly a whimpering sound broke the tense silence, steadily gaining in volume.

Harry and Lydia had immediately gone deathly pale.

What the hell?!

A baby…?!

Paul wanted to scream in frustration.

The Whisperers had brought a baby with them.

A baby! Again?!

God damn it!

"You brought a fucking baby with you out here?" Abraham asked from behind them, his big red moustache quivering in anger.

Paul didn't need to have Abe's military experience to recognize, that this had been another tactical move… Alpha had come well prepared and just all to ready to play dirty and exploit every notion of human decency they would show.

"We're animals out here. Animals have babies… sooo, we have babies out here." Her face was a mask of innocent calm, but her eyes and voice betrayed her glee at their shock.

And more importantly at their pretty obvious hesitation….

This child was her insurance… she was using it as a shield.

And as a lesson for them. Proof how far she was ready to go to see her goals through.

All the while the poor thing was wailing louder and louder now. The Whisperer woman, who was holding the squirming little bundle was getting more and more agitated in her attempts to sooth the noisy child.

Seeing, how the mother got more and more nervous by the second, had Paul's stomach cramp in sickening foreboding… The memory how they had found Lydia was still fresh in his mind.

That poor little boy… Joshua

The Whisperer woman was now shooting Alpha frightened and hectic glances when she couldn't get the child to stop crying.

Her fear for the child was so obvious and stood in such a stark contrast to Alpha's nonchalance…

Walkers were starting to creep out of the surrounding woods, lured in by the loud sounds. The sight was causing Lydia to shriek in alarm.

"No, no, no, no…" The little girl moaned horrified.

But it was too late Alpha was staring coldly at the child's mother and like a Roman emperor she decided the infant's fate with a simple hand gesture.

Thumbs down.

"Mama, no… Alpha! I beg you! No!" Paul's heart was breaking with Lydia's desperate cry… as they watched how the masked mother laid her screaming child down before the approaching Walkers. Her silently shaking shoulder the only sign of distraught as she stumbled away from her child.

"The baby!" Carl hissed appalled, looking pale. His fists clenched so tightly that the knuckles that turned with.

Uninterested Alpha shrugged at them. "We live with the dead. Means we live in silence. If the mother can't quiet the child… The dead will."

For a mother, who had tried to get her daughter back for months, who had readily sacrificed her own people to do so… who was threatening to destroy communities to get her child back…

Alpha certainly held no compassion or sympathy for another mother.

Coldly forcing her to leave her baby to the dead!

It made no sense! None!

Paul's head was reeling. How could her people not see that?!

How could they sacrifice their children just because Alpha had raised her eyebrow in displeasure? How could they live with a woman, who had so obviously abused her own daughter… who didn't protect the more vulnerable of them from violence and assault?

How could anyone live like that?

"Poppet… I need to know, if you're still sure... Have you changed your mind?" Harry's voice was incredibly tense with barely contained emotions, that Paul couldn't even begin to discern.

Lydia took a shuddering breath. Her big brown eyes peered pleadingly at Daryl and him.

"Like we said before, little monkey. Whenever you're ready…" Paul mumbled encouragingly at her.

The naked despair in her face had long-haired man choking up. Very slowly he dared to hope, that he wouldn't have to let go of her again.

"I don't wanna go." Her answer was barely more than a soft whisper but Daryl and Paul had heard her nonetheless.

Both of them were sagging in relief.

It felt like the elephant that had been sitting on their chests had finally stood up.

"Thank fuck!" Daryl breathed into her hair, while Paul let out a little sob.

The hippie ninja had tried so hard the whole time to keep his composure, as he had forced himself to hold it together for Lydia's sake. And in the process forcing all three of the lovers to put their own sensitivities in the background to provide their little girl the room to make up her own mind.

"Lydia?"

Harry hadn't heard her.

And this time she was braver, spurred on by Paul's and Daryl encouragement.

With tears streaming down her face, Lydia took a deep breath before she shouted out:

"I wanna go home with you, Harry! I want to be your daughter!"

Loud and clear!

The answering smile Harry was giving them over his shoulder was nearly blinding.

"Alright."

What happened then, happened fast.

Alpha had gone deathly pale at Lydia's exclamation and for the first time she looked rattled. For the first time something had managed to break to her cool and collected façade.

Paul understood then that she hadn't expected her daughter to reject her… In all of this she had thought that her daughter would choose someone else over her mother. This hadn't been a scenario Alpha had thought possible.

The bald woman sneered and launched herself at the slender young Brit.

But their wizard was prepared. Harry moved his wand in a fluid motion, muttering "Perfeticus totalus." and "Confringo" in quick succession.

Paul blinked in astonishment when Alpha froze up. Legs logging together and arms glued to her sides, she was suddenly stiff as aboard and hit the ground with a heavy thud, as ropes wound themselves tightly around her body.

Before anyone else could react, Harry moved on to the other Whisperers. One after another the Whisperers were suddenly falling, tightly bound in thick rope.

Simultaneously the three Walkers closest to the baby dropped down lifelessly.

Paul had a feeling that this hadn't been the wizards doing. And the way his lover stopped shortly to look around, confirmed it.

There were still at least 20 of the undead left.

A round of small missiles flew over the open space before the gate, taking down another bout of Roamers. As the herd was thinned out enough to allow a clear passage, someone very familiar jumped out of the cornfield before Hilltop's gates.

Sasha.

Paul felt a bit of his tension drain away when he saw his dark skinned friend. The young woman dashed towards the still crying baby, scooping the infant up, while Connie moved out of the woods, providing cover with her sling shot.

And there.

Sprinting out of the woods was… Negan?!

Carrying a limp body with long brown hair over his shoulder.

What the hell?!

Abe was already moving to intercept his woman. There was a one-tracked-mindness about the man, Paul could understand just all too well, as he moved through the oncoming dead bodies like an axe.

Together Harry, Abe, Daryl and Rick took care of the remaining Walkers with practiced ease.

One tight knot of anxiety loosened in Paul's chest when he saw how Abraham hugged Sasha close. But then there was the familiar body hanging motionless on Negan's shoulder…

Rick and Harry were moving in a straight line for the former leader of the Saviours when Carl and Maggie both recognized the person the scout was holding.

"ENID!?"

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He felt dizzy.

His magic still drummed violently through his veins, along with the blood he could hear rushing in his ears.

Lydia wanted to stay with them. She had chosen them over her mother!

Connie and Sasha were safe!

"Sasha! Negan! Connie!" The young wizard called out to them.

Sasha looked at him with a small smile, as she swatted Abraham away, who was currently trying to fuss over her. She and Connie seemed to be alright as far as the wizard could tell.

Very dirty and tried, but apparently not hurt.

And Negan had come back… stumbling, breathing heavily and just as dirty as Connie and Sasha… with Enid slung over his shoulder…

Thank Merlin, for small mercies!

Connie was already moving in Negan's direction with an expression as if she was about to be sick. The look on her face had Harry's belly rolling with unease.

He knew the kind of suffocating nausea that came with the guilt of having endangered someone else with your own recklessness… The weight of the knowledge that someone was gotten hurt because of a decision you made.

Even if it had been done with best of intentions.

As fast as possible Harry ran up to a grim looking Negan.

"Is she alive? What happened? Have you found her? How did you get here?" Harry fired question after question at the mute scout, who struggled to sign with barely one hand free.

Instead Sasha moved forward, while Rick took Enid from Negan.

"She's alive. But I think she took a nasty hit to the head. Carson really needs to check her over, I think."

Harry tensely watched as Rick felt for a pulse on Enid's wrist before sagging a bit when he exhaled in pure relief. As gently as possible the green-eyed Brit looked at the girl's head, wincing when he spotted the huge bruise forming on her forehead.

In a gesture like a soft caress Harry allowed his magic to travel over the injury, hoping it would heal some of the worst damage, like it had once done for Abraham.

A soft fluttering and a pained groan were his prompt answer, which he decided to count as a good thing for now.

Satisfied for now, he nodded at Rick, who just quirked a thankful smile at him.

"What happened?" Harry directed his question at Sasha, while making sure to sign the words for Connie as well.

The deaf woman sighed inaudibly.

~It was my fault. I was worried and wanted to help Negan… Sasha and Enid just followed me because they saw me sneaking out and got worried about me.~ She looked distraught over the chaos that had been caused by her impulsive decision.

"When we found her… we had some communication issues." Sasha admitted with a light cringe. "And before we knew it, the skin freaks had already been on us…" The woman shuddered.

"Connie and I managed to get away and to hide but they got Enid. There was no way we could just leave her with them…"

"So, you just went after them?! In the middle of the night?" Abraham asked sounding equally impressed and terrified about the very idea.

Negan then waved and grinned at them.

~ Naah, this badass with the impressive lady balls called for backup. Me.~

"Really? Him?" Abraham whined in dismay. "I love you, Sash! But why?!"

"We saw that they were taking Enid north. In the direction of the border. We already knew from Negan's last update that they might have a camp there. And Negan was still there…" Sasha shrugged unapologetically.

~ Getting Negan involved was the fastest way to get help where we needed it. ~ Connie added, after having caught on what they were talking about.

Negan shrugged with a roughish grin.

~ I intercepted the group with girl before they reached the camp. She was already unconscious then. There were only three of them. I surprised them. I managed to grab the girl and make a run for it. Sasha and Connie found me then.~

Harry was shaking his head in wonder and dismay.

Merlin, what a night?!

"And none of you thought to call through to us? To let us know that you were alright?!" Rick groaned at them in his best dad voice.

While Harry translated for Connie, who looked somewhat embarrassed, Sasha and Negan both seemed to shake the reprimand off with a raised eyebrow each.

~ Stealing an unconscious girl from some skin freaks and then running and hiding in the woods from said skin freaks, doesn't exactly leave you with much time or opportunity for chitchatting, Sheriff. ~

Harry tried to imitate Negan's usual salty attitude when he translated the man's signing.

It earned him a silent laughter from the mute scout and a disapproving scowl from his foster father.

Sasha just buried her face in Abe's shoulder but the slender wizard was pretty sure that she, too, was just hiding a smile.

And despite all the trouble the last couple of hours had brought them, Harry couldn't help but to feel glad that Negan had come back to the communities.

As green eyes came to rest on the bound form of Alpha, an all too familiar chilling feeling of foreboding settled in his bones like an icy winter wind.

"If I am not back soon, my Beta will act for me. Be sure of that…"

Yeah. Shit was far from over.

And the clock was already ticking against them.

Taking a deep breath, Harry forced himself to look at his lovers and Lydia, to look at the people he loved so dearly. Glancing at Negan he knew he needed to do something and this time he needed to do it right.

Exhaling softly Harry peered at Rick.

"Rick, I'll need to get something from Alexandria. It won't take long but hold off on the interrogations until I am back… Ok?"

Startled all eyes turned to him.

"Uhm… sure?!" Alexandria's leader was blinking in surprise.

"Good! We need answers. Answers I trust only Alpha to give us." Harry replied grimly, before turning on his heel, vanishing with a loud popping sound.

Alpha was fascinating.

Negan decided as he watched her and the bound skin freaks. Observing them revealed a lot.

Negan had led and ruled his fair share of people in the past… he liked to think that he knew a thing or two about followers. There were always those hanger-ons that went just with your shit for their own gain… or those too gutless and scared of you to rebel… but then there the true believers.

Negan had had a couple of those last ones, too, but if he was being honest, he had mostly ruled by fear and opportunity than real conviction.

But Alpha… man!

That woman had rallied quite a few freaks around herself. The people Harry had bound were no hanger-ons nor were they with the Whisperers for comfort. Sure as hell, not that.

Well, they were fucking scared for sure.

But that wasn't all.

Naahh… those fuckers believed!

Negan could practically smell it.

The stench of their fanatic belief.

What a shit show!

He had still to tell Rick and the others about his latest findings. There had been no time yet to inform them that he had completed the mission just before Sasha had called for backup.

Carson had just come by and told them that the girl, Enid, would probably have a terrible headache in the morning but that she would be alright after a few days' rest.

With an inaudible sigh Negan let his eyes wander, stopping for a second where Connie's slender form was tackled by her hysterically crying sister. The sight caused his belly to twist in discomfort.

Why the hell had the damn woman thought it would be necessary to help him… putting herself in danger like that for Negan's old hide had been beyond stupid…

Reckless… and quite out of all reasons… and maybe just a tiny bit sweet…

*Popp*

The sudden loud sound behind his left shoulder caused him to whirl around with a wild beating heart and wide eyes…

Only to be met with amused green eyes and mockingly raised eye brows.

Fuck! Negan exhaled forcefully, while Harry chuckled.

British dick!

The mute scout made sure to convey his thoughts in no uncertain ways with a single gesture.

"I love you, too." Harry grinned back at him, before peering over Negan's shoulder at Connie and her little group.

"Ah, I can just imagine the kind of lecture they're giving her right now. She frightened quite a few people when she left."

~ Ya know why she did it? ~ Negan couldn't help but ask.

"I can't be sure but I think she might have learned about your mission. I can only imagine that it must have seemed horrible that we've let you do something so dangerous by yourself. She thought you needed help." The young wizard offered with a pensive look on his face.

There was it again. This fucking churning feeling in his belly. Negan was balling his fists, jaws stubbornly clenched, trying to fight these unnamed emotions down.

Attentive green eyes were watching him carefully, looking for something.

Negan shivered.

Harry had always the ability to make him feel exposed. The wizard was good at looking beyond his bullshit. Which was exactly the reason they stood here right now.

So, Negan forced his hands to formulate the question he hadn't dared to ask until now and to which he didn't know if he wanted even answer to…

~ Does she know…?~

Harry cocked his head to the side.

"Does she know you used to be a feudal lord who strove to rule and terrorise the whole east coast to the point of destroying everyone in you path, declaring outright war on us and pledging a deal with a maniac paedophilic wizard?"

Negan winced but nodded after a short moment.

"No. I don't think anyone has told her that story, yet. I explained that you did your scouting job as a part of your communal service, though."

The mute scout huffed a sigh of relief not entirely sure why it would matter if Connie knew. Sure, the picture Rick or anyone else from Alexandria might paint of him wouldn't be pretty, but that wasn't important.

Not really.

Right?

Harry was regarding him again, an unfathomable expression on his face… something between knowing, pity and exasperation, but not unkind.

"But maybe you should tell her."

~What?~ Negan chocked. ~And what I am supposed to tell her?~

"The truth, of course. But maybe you should seize the opportunity to tell her your story yourself. On your own terms, you know? Before someone else will undoubtedly do it… Probably sooner than later." Harry suggested softly, a wry small wry smile playing on his lips.

Scoffing silently, Negan turned his face away from the Brit's piercing gaze, that definitely saw too much, to scowl at the ground. He felt a bit like a petulant teenager.

Great!

~What did you get from Alexandria?~ The scout asked, hoping to change the topic.

His answer came in form of a small, slightly bitter laugh, before a glass vial and a bit of parchment were held out to him.

The vial was filled with a clear liquid that looked like simple water. Nothing special there. Carefully Negan unfolded the parchment, which held a note written in an elegant scrawl.

'If you ever need to extract information again, use this, you dunderhead! Before your appalling ineptitude in the mindarts causes destruction to another brain!'

There was no signature but Negan was pretty sure that he knew who had written this heart-warming piece of advice. The sour note just reeked of disapproval and snarkyness.

~The sun is really shining out of that fucker's ass, huh?~ Negan smirked, causing Harry to sigh in exasperation.

~But that means, with this you don't need to fry that bitch's brain like you did with mine?!~

That earned him a guilty and wary look, before the young man nodded.

"Yeah. It's probably a good thing. I really don't want to experience the workings of a person's brain who lives in walker skin… and both, Mione and Snape, have been very, very verbal how risky and stupid it was to break into your mind. I could have crippled both of us irreparably."

Holding the glass vial up against the sun, Harry frowned softly.

"This is a truth serum. Difficult to brew, but Snape isn't a Potions master without a reason. Only a few drops of this will force Alpha to tell us everything she knows."

Holy shit!?

Magic was really freaking crazy, wasn't it?!