Mistelsgirl23: I guarantee you Chrystal will be dealt with...^_^ And yeah, I have very set definitions and characteristics of Tea's family. Believe it or not, Chrystal's actually the mild one...

FanFicReader47: I imagine it more like, only two guys could get a hold of her at once, maybe a third that she could kick off before using muay thai and judo techniques to get out of their hold. The way I see it taking six guys to hold her down and tie her up would be one keeping her hands together, one working the ties, and then four keeping her in place as she struggled against them. Remember, she can't control her strength, and even the strongest man is inhibited by that mental barrier that doesn't let us use our full strength (yes, this is actually a thing). So, in my mind, it's like Iron Man trying to stop the Hulk and using multiple suits to do it...XP

Azuraskye21: Well, I'm not a genie, but...

Hope y'all enjoy this snippet. Not overly off canon, but still, lines things up for moments to come...^_^ Enjoy!

Axel was making food in the commons as Hershel was tending to a few injuries on the visitors. Beth was in the cell block with Judith and Sophia and Carol were on watch outside. Carl left Beth and unlocked the cell block, leaving it unlocked for when Beth came out to get Judith's bottle.

"You can take those stitches out yourself in a week or so," Hershel told Allen, the man who's wife had passed.

"Thank you," was his reply.

"Pretty nice having medical training," Tyreese said.

"It only gets you so far."

"You were bit?"

The reply was cut short when Beth came in with Judith, startling the group that came in. "How old is the baby?" Sasha asked.

"Barely a week," Hershel replied.

"To be honest, we never thought we'd see another baby," Sasha said, walking up to Beth. "How are you feeling?"

Beth looked from the woman to her father and back before realization hit, "She's not mine!"

"Where's her mother?" Sasha asked Hershel. When no one answered and the survivors just looked away, she looked down and quietly said, "I'm sorry."

"Man, you people have been through the mill," Tyreese said.

"Haven't we all?" Hershel asked as Beth and Carl went back into the cell blocks.

"It's only getting worse out there," Tyreese said. "The dead are everywhere. And it's only making the livin' less like the livin'."

"You're the only decent folks we've come across," Sasha told him.

"You've been out there all this time?" Hershel asked.

"Our neighbor Jerry, he was one of those survivalist nuts," Tyreese explained. "Everybody on the block thought he was crazy. Always preparing for the end of the world."

"Who knew?" Hershel quipped with a smile.

"Jerry knew," Tyreese shot back. "He had a bunker under his shed in the back yard. Sasha and I stayed there until we ran out of supplies. Allen and Ben were the first two people we ran into when we finally crawled up out of that hole around Jacksonville. Used to be a bunch of us. Twenty five at one point."

"Our camp was over run," Sasha took over. "Six or seven weeks ago."

"And Donna," Tyreese said remorsefully. "She, uh..."

When he couldn't complete his sentence, Hershel told him, "We'll see that she has a proper burial."

"I appreciate you taking care of us," Tyreese replied. "For a while, we didn't know who we were dealing with."

"Neither did we," Hershel told him seriously. "We've had our problems with people."

"I must be the first brother in history to break into prison," Tyreese joked with a chuckle.

"Makes me the first white boy that didn't want to break out," Axel said, coming up to them with bowls of food.

Hershel considered Tyreese for a moment, looking back to Carl who nodded his head in agreement. "Tyreese," he called the man. "Like I said, we have a much larger group. A close-knit group. Now, I wouldn't get too comfortable here, but one of our leaders, Tea, she's a good judge of character. I think she would be willing to offer you a place. Our other leader, Rick, he, he might not be so willing. If both come back, we'll make a case. If only one does, it depends on who it is."

"Really? You'd let us join you?" Sasha said.

"I think our leaders might be willing to," Hershel replied before walking away.

A couple hours later, Allen and Tyreese were carrying Donna's body out to the field. They'd been given permission to bury her, as well as a sheet to wrap her in. Carl let them out of the commons, but no one noticed Sophia quietly exiting the guard tower above. She stuck to the shadows and by the wall, keeping an eye on the newcomers like she assumed Tea would do.

"Where'd they say we could bury her?" she heard Tyreese ask.

"Back of the field, near the other graves," Sasha responded dejectedly.

Sophia watched as the men laid the body on the ground and took a rest. Allen walked a little ways away from the others as she sat down, minimizing her risk at being caught watching and listening to their conversation. It was obvious that the man didn't realize she was there as he didn't even attempt to keep his voice down. Why would he when the only other people outside were her mom and Carl, who'd gone down to help her?

"Golden opportunity," he said.

"For what?" Sasha asked as Ben walked over to his dad.

"Little kid and a woman," Allen said.

"Ask them for a hand, get a hold of those weapons," Ben suggested.

"What?" Tyreese said.

"We do it quick, they'll never know what hit them," Allen told him.

"No, whoa. Whoa!" Tyreese replied.

"We're out here to bury Donna," Sasha told him.

"And we will, after," Allen told him, Sophia sliding to her stomach to get a better view of what was happening.

"Look at this place," Ben told them. "It's secure."

"These are good people!" Tyreese argued.

"This will be easy," Allen countered. "A couple little kids, a woman, a girl, and a one-legged old man. Don't forget about the convict," he sneered in disgust.

"You gonna smash the baby's head in with a rock?" Tyreese shot at him.

"What is your problem?"

"How about a little common decency?" Tyreese argued. "This isn't what we do."

Sophia watched the siblings share a look as Allen continued, "You're living in the past, Ty. So are you. This is survival of the fittest, plain and simple. In here we live, out there we die. And I am not waiting around for the rest of their group to return and throw us out on our asses."

"How do you know that's gonna happen?" Tyreese asked him.

"He's right," Sophia said, finally standing from her spot and revealing herself. "Miss Tea's more likely to take people in than kick them out. There's safety in numbers. But after everything you just said, she might not be as willing."

"You heard everything?" Tyreese asked, shocked and worried.

"Yup," Sophia said, bobbing her head as Axel and Beth came out of cell block. "But I'll make sure Tea knows the two of you stood up for us. She'll really like you two."

"Got some tools for you," Axel said, not entirely sure what the two were talking about.

Sophia's hand went to her gun as she watched Allen and Ben go to grab them, but Tyreese and Sasha stepped in front of them quickly and grabbed the tools up. "Much appreciated," Tyreese told Axel.

"Yeah, we'll take it from here," Sasha said awkwardly; Sophia just smiled. Tea was definitely going to like those two.

"You don't need any help with the body?" Axel asked.

"No, we'll manage," Tyreese told him.

"Well, if you need anything else, just let us know," Beth said to him.

"Thank you," he said before turning around and looking at Allen, Sasha glaring at Ben before the two walked back to the body.

~x~

Andrea walked out of the medical building to find a glum looking Milton waiting for her. "How many injured?"

"Nine," she sighed, "Steven's has it covered. So where is he?"

"In his apartment," Milton answered as they began walking.

"And?" Andrea asked him.

"He wouldn't open the door. Said he was in the middle of something," Milton told her in a hurry. "It's all going to hell."

Andrea looked at the scene in front of her. Many citizens of Woodbury were in their cars, packed up and lined up at the gates, honking their horns and yelling at the guards at the gate. The scavengers were armed and standing yelling right back at the every day citizens. She and Milton made their way over to the commotion as the scavengers raised their weapons to the crowd.

People were shouting up at Martinez who was shouting right back because all the noise had drawn the attention of walkers. Andrea quickened her pace when one of the citizens tried to climb the ladder up onto the wall only to be kicked off it by Martinez. This action caused even more of a ruckus before Shumpert called out about biters. As gun fire sounded, many citizens wanted to leave, one even grabbing hold of Andrea and pleading with her that they wanted to leave.

"Karen, you don't want to go out there," Andrea told her seriously. "It's too dangerous."

"Yeah, well, we'll take our chances," another man said as Andrea walked up to Martinez amidst more pleas from the crowd.

A blaring horn caused almost all the scavengers to bring their guns to aim at the offending vehicle, to which Andrea stepped into the line of fire and tried to take control of the situation. As Martinez marched over to the car, she tried to fling herself between the two as the man grabbed the driver and literally pulled him out of the car.

"Don't hurt him," Andrea said before she repeated it louder.

"Hey, I don't take orders from you," Martinez told her.

"These people are scared," she insisted. "Shoving a gun in their face won't help."

"Where's the Governor?" he asked Milton, who couldn't answer. "Come on! There's a riot out here!"

"You're making things worse," Andrea said calmly.

"I am?" Martinez asked, sounding disbelieving.

Andrea didn't get a chance to answer as screams sounded from further in town. Together with Martinez they ran with guns at the ready. Only a few blocks down, a man was being attacked by walkers, a woman running for her life. Five walkers had breached the wall and managed to kill one citizen and fatally wound another. Even with a jammed gun, she and Martinez took out the walkers with relative ease. All that remained was the injured man, laying on the ground in agony as the citizens watched on. Karen called for the two to help the man, do something, but it was Philip who stormed out and shot him before storming right back into his apartment building without saying a word.

Andrea followed after him and barged into his apartment, "What the hell was that? You put a round in a man's head in front of all those people and just take off? You have to talk to them!"

"Why?"

"They're panicking! They're ready to charge through those gates!"

"So let 'em!"

"Those people won't last a day!"

"Those people have had it easy!" Philip countered. "Barbecues and picnics. That ends now."

"Don't blame them for the mess that you created," Andrea told him. "They're scared!"

"Well, I'm through holding their hands," he stated plainly as he got a bag ready. "We're at war. I should've seen that."

"So why was Daryl here? And Tea?" Andrea asked, folding her arms over her chest. "Was he part of the assault? Why? Why would he do that?"

"They came for their friends. The other people you know. Glenn and Maggie. Merle scooped them up on the run. Was holding them to find out where his brother was."

"My—my friends are still alive an we're shooting at each other? You're trying to execute them?!"

"Your friends killed eight good people," Philip tried to reason. "That man out there, he makes nine. So that, that's what your friends did."

"Why didn't you tell me they were here? I could have talked to them. You kept that from me while I was trying to help make this place more secure. All those deaths could have been prevented."

"You're just a visitor here. Just passin' through. So why should I tell you?" he asked her venomously.

"Don't do that. Don't drive me out. Not now. Not when you truly need my help."

A knock on the door interrupted them as Milton entered the office and told them, "The whole town is out on the street. It could get ugly again."

Philip simply ignored her, causing her to scoff and leave with Milton. The crowd outside the building was literally all the citizens and scavengers available aside from those manning the wall. Everyone was clamoring for what the next step was. Everyone was wanting to know what to do. It was almost deafening.

"Everyone," Milton called out. "If I could have your attention! Everyone!"

When no one paid any attention to him, Martinez cried out, "Alright, everybody shut up!"

"Thank you," Milton said quietly. "The biters on the perimeter have been dispatched. The fences have been repaired."

"For now," Karen said.

"Where's the Governor?" another citizen piped up, ensuing another round of murmuring.

"His, uh, his condition is, uh," Milton faltered. "Unsteady. The injury he suffered-"

"Our friends were killed, man."

"He shot Richard," Karen insisted. "I mean, we've all suffered. We want answers!"

A round of agreement brought Andrea to the front. "You're right, Karen," she said. "You're right. Every one of us has suffered. We don't even have funerals anymore because the death never stops. We're never gonna be the same. Ever. So what do we do? We dig deep and we find the strength to carry on. We work together and we rebuild. Not just the fences, the gates or the community. But ourselves, our hearts, our minds. And years from now, when they write about this place in the history books, they will write about Woodbury. We persevered."

Even Martinez had to give her props as the citizens of Woodbury murmured their agreement and began to hug each other and settle down. Many came up to Andrea to give her a hug or a handshake, including the scavengers. Apparently, a few decent words were all it needed to assuage the fear and shock these people were feeling.

~x~

"It's quiet," Carl told Carol as they waited in the dog run.

"It's easy to forget how loud the world used to be," she responded with a giggle. "I used to complain about it all the time. Traffic, construction, car alarms. Noise pollution, oh. What I wouldn't give for the sweet sound of a jumbo jet," she reminisced.

"It'd be even sweeter if we were all on it," Carl said.

"Your mom was proud of you," Carol told him, hoping that would help a bit.

"For what? Being mean to her?"

"You can't think about that," Carol told him quietly, wishing Tea were here to help better.

"It's all I think about," he replied with a snide chuckle. If Carol was going to respond, the sound of a car approaching stopped it on her tongue. "Please be them," Carl mused aloud.

The approaching car was theirs and the pair rushed to get to the gates. Working together, they unlocked the outer gate, Carl leaving Carol to open it while he went and got the second gate. By the time he got that one open, the first gate was closed and Carol had it locked back up. Rick got out of the car and told Maggie to drive the rest of the way before giving Carl a hug. Looking at Carol, he wasn't sure what he should tell the older woman about the younger hunters. The woman was looking through the windows of the car, trying to see them. Instead, she was met with the face of an unknown woman who was smiling widely.

"Where's Tea and Daryl?" she asked.

"They'll be back," he told her.

"They'll be back?"

"We had a little hiccup in Woodbury, found Merle," Rick said.

"Merle?" Carol gasped, hoping the worst hadn't happened.

"Yeah, he apparently knows Tea's secret past. You know she's been killing a lot longer than the turn?" Both Carol and Carl gasped. "Yeah, that's how I felt too. Her sister's with us right now and told us a lot. We've got a lot of questions to ask her when she gets back."

"Rick," Carol asked, "is it really a good idea to take the words of someone we don't know as truth over someone who's been protecting us from the start? I mean, we've known Tea nearly a year! What if this girl's lying?"

"I agree, dad. Tea's not the kind of person who would just kill. I mean, she fought for Oscar and Axel, went back for Merle. I don't think we should trust whatever whoever said about her without asking Tea about it first," Carl said.

"I'll talk to the others," Rick said in resignation.

Things seemed to dramatically shift now that he was back at the prison. It seemed as if the woman who left them had more influence than him as those left refused to accept his choices when she wasn't there. No one trusted him, and no matter how much he tried to explain the reasons, no one would listen to him about Chrystal. No one trusted her or wanted her around and no one else believed her heartbreaking story. Hershel was the least happy and most honest about the newcomer.

"You came through, like always," Hershel said. "Sounds like we have a new problem on our hands. You get a good look at him?"

Rick shook his head, "He had Daryl and Merle pitted against each other with Tea as some sort of prize. A crowd cheering for them to fight for the death. What kind of a sick mind does that?"

"The kind this world creates," Hershel said sadly.

"What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

"No, the baby, she's healthy. Eats like a horse, sleeps like a rock."

"So, what is it?"

"There's a group of survivors. They seem like good people."

"They can't stay."

"And this new girl?"

"Tea's sister, Chrystal."

"I don't think it's a good idea having her here. Tea once told me her blood wasn't all that nice, that she was happy for her new family. I doubt she wants much to do with her old."

"I think it'd be good for the two of them to at least talk," Rick said somewhat snidely.

"Are you sure what happened with Lori isn't blinding your judgment? If Tea ran off because she didn't want to hear it, how bad did it have to be? Are you sure Tea will want to see that woman, or are you hoping for a happy reunion you never got?"

Rick adamantly denied his accusation and instead went over to Chrystal and led her inside the prison to the commons. Chrystal was so ecstatic to see everything and tried to grab the baby almost immediately. Carol had picked the child up and decided to hold onto her the entire time, only relinquishing her hold to Beth or Hershel, who silently kept the babe between the three of them at all times. Maggie and Carl refused to let her enter the cell block, though Rick eventually let her in anyway. Glenn had told the rest that Merle knew both Chrystal and Tea, and that Tea hadn't been able to handle the fact that he knew and ran off into the woods so that he could tell Daryl. Or, at least, according to Merle he knew about the Parker family. According to Chrystal, Tea was more disturbed than she let on and a lot more sinister too, which no one aside from seemingly Rick believed.

Rick went inside the cell block to check on the baby, but all he could hear was the baby crying after a while. It echoed in his head as Hershel took to tending to Glenn's wounds. There was a tension between the two that Hershel couldn't quite put his finger on. He thanked Glenn for looking after Maggie before telling him he was like his own son. The man left after that to check on his daughter, who talked just about as much as Glenn did about what happened. Maggie allowed him to console her, but that was the most he could do. He went to the cell Michonne was in next, the woman sleeping soundly.

Walking up to the cell, Rick peered inside as Hershel checked her vitals, "She's out like a light. Must have been days since she slept."

"How long until she can travel?"

"Have to keep an eye on her. Pretty sure she has a concussion. Couple of days if she's up. Are you sure Tea will allow for that when she gets back?"

"Allow for?" Rick laughed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Since when was it her say over mine?"

"The same could be said of your say over hers," Hershel said calmly while watching the man. "You want to kick a valuable warrior out while accepting someone who may or may not be what she seems. Tea always said her chosen family was more important than the one she was born into. Rick, I can't help but think she has her reasons."

They walked over to where Axel and Carol were, Axel telling Carol about how Oscar would look out for him. How he was a good friend and a good man. Rick simply consoled him by telling him the man had gone out fighting. Beth walked up frightened, wondering what was going to happen and whether or not there would be retaliation. While Maggie simply said yes, Glenn was all fired up and ready to go.

"Sounds like he's got a whole town," Carol said. "Sounds like we're outnumbered and outgunned."

"We could use some reinforcements," Hershel said, thinking about the visitors and Michonne.

Rick simply looked at him before going out into the commons with everyone else. Walking up to the group, the big man introduced himself as Tyreese before Hershel pointed out Sasha, Allen, and Ben.

"How'd you get in?" he asked them.

"Fire damage to the administrative part of the prison," Tyreese answered honestly. "Wall's down."

"That side's completely overrun with walkers. How'd you get this far?"

"We didn't. We lost our friend Donna."

"They were lost in the gyms," Carl said behind him, earning a glare from his father that he simply returned with a steely look of his own.

"You brought them here?"

"We had no choice," Sophia popped up.

Shaking his head he said, "I'm sorry about your friend. We know what it's like."

"Hershel said you could use some extra hands," Tyreese suggested. "We're no stranger to hard work. We'll go out, get our own food. Stay out of your hair."

"Tea would like them," Sophia popped up. "They're already ready to defend this place."

"You got a problem with another group, we'll help with that too," Tyreese agreed. "Anything to contribute."

"No."

"Please. It's like '10 Little Indians' out there. It's just us now."

"Rick, Tea won't like you kicking them out but letting someone we highly doubt she trusts stay," Glenn tried to reason.

"Let's talk about this," Hershel added. "We can't just keep-"

"We've been through this. With Tomas and Andrew. Look what happened."

"And Oscar gave his life for us and Axel's been helping here!" Maggie argued.

"I can't be responsible," Rick told them.

"You turn us out, you are responsible," Tyreese countered.

"Rick," Hershel called him over. "You've done so much for us. I appreciate that. We all do. We owe you our lives. We've done everything you asked us to, you and Tea, without question. And I'm telling you, you're wrong on this. Tea would never agree to this. You know she wouldn't. You said she's coming back. What do you think she'll do when she finds out you are risking the prison because you kicked people out? You've got to start giving people a chance."

The more pressured the group put on Rick, the more his mind cracked. Chrystal could see the pressure the man was under and smiled darkly from her corner. He looked at all the faces around him and saw that they agreed with Hershel. His mind broke, however, when he looked above the group of survivors and saw a ghost. He started mumbling incoherently and waving his gun around, screaming for the group of people to get out. Glenn and Hershel stood between him and the group as Sophia helped them get out of the prison.

"I'm sorry," she told them. "If Tea were here, this wouldn't have happened."

"Not your fault, hun," Sasha said. "You think we could swing back in a few days and see if she's here?"

"Yes!" Sophia said enthusiastically.

"You do what you want," Allen said, pulling Ben with him. "We're not coming back."

"Suit yourself," Tyreese said, nodding at Sophia. "See you in a few days."

~x~

"She can't be here," Sophia whispered as Chrystal tried to talk to Hershel about the babe in his arms. "Miss Tea told me about her. She was really mean to her when they were growing up."

"Are you sure?" Beth asked. "I mean, I can think of times I thought Maggie was being mean."

"Remember what she said about life, Beth? How she was too strong or too weak?" Maggie asked.

"She said that?" Glenn chimed in.

"Yeah, back at the farm," Maggie told him. "Never knew what she meant, but what...what if Chrystal's..."

"She's lying," Michonne's voice rang out softly from behind them.

"What?" Carol said.

"Chrystal. She's lying. Has been since she walked out of the woods. I knew Parker from the dojo. The incident Chrystal said with the three instructors? The dojo itself filed and dropped the charges after finding out the instructor was attempting to sexually assault her, and it was only that one instructor who was hospitalized. The other two were only superficial bruises and scrapes. I wouldn't trust a single word that comes out of that woman's mouth," she said, still lying on the bed inside the cell she was locked in.

"Did you see the way she looked at Rick when he was having that breakdown?" Axel asked. "I've seen that look before on Tomas. She's the one that's not right in the head, not Miss Tea. I don't see that girl having a single ounce of mean in her body unless she's threatened."

"She doesn't," Sophia and Carl said at the same time.

"That settles it," Glenn said with a sense of finality. "We stand by Tea, period."

Updated 9/9/21