I usually reply to questions in reviews directly to the person who wrote them, but since I can't do that with guest reviews…
A kind and concerned guest reader left this for me: "I hope Rick and the others will choose not to go to war and make peace. It's what best for everyone. And Jesus/Hilltop better not do something to antagonize anybody to fight Negan. Could a war even happen with Eugene and Maggie out of commission? I just want a happy ending for my fav characters without bloodshed, is that too much to ask for?"
And while I would never spoil my own story, I wanted to address the question. Of course, there can still be a war! But if it comes to that, our friends at Alexandria and Hilltop won't have the benefit of Maggie leading the charge or Eugene saving the day with magic bullets. But they do have Abraham, Glenn, and Tyrese, and Negan's got Beth who, as much as she loves her family is feeling a tad bit resentful for being abandoned so easily… All these changes and more that haven't yet been revealed (including a couple of crucial ones in the chapter you're about to read) would certainly make things interesting if it came down to a fight. Just a little food for thought :)
Chapter 11: The Art of the Deal, Part II
Everyone else headed inside the Grimes house to get out of the rain, but Rick put his hand on Carl's shoulder to indicate they should hang back on the porch.
"I want to tell you how proud I am of what you did today," he began, looking at the young man his son was all-too-quickly becoming. "He was deliberately goading you, and you held back when holding back is the hardest thing to do. I know it isn't what you want. It's not what any of us want, but it is the way it has to be. So thank you, for being the bigger man today, for not stooping to Negan's level."
Carl nodded, and Rick could see the teen was doing his best to accept not just the praise, but the full message Rick was trying to convey. "How long, Dad? I know you said we have to accept this and I'm trying, but how long are we just going to sit back and watch him take our stuff, watch him treat Daryl and Glenn and everyone else like dirt? And Judy – how are we supposed to just let her act like he's part of the family after what he's done?"
Not as long as I need you to believe, Rick wanted to say but knew he couldn't. Carl might have shown some decent self-restraint this morning, but Rick knew how impulsive his son could be. Still, he could afford to give him a little hope, right? "Negan said some things, while you were still upstairs, things that make me think that maybe this doesn't have to be forever. And I want to tell you, want us to talk it out with Michonne as a family. But right now, I need you to stay with your sister while I talk with Jesus."
"Dad – " Rick cut off the protest.
"I know, you feel you ought to hear whatever he has to say, but right now, there are things going on with Hilltop that I haven't filled you in on, and it would take too long to get you caught up. I don't know how long Jesus can stay, so I need to hear him out now. Tonight, I promise, after we get Judy to bed, you and me and Michonne will sit down together and I'll tell you what happened at Hilltop last week, what Jesus says today, what we learned from Negan this morning. I'll answer your questions and I'll hear you out on your ideas, too. But right now, I need you and Enid to keep Judy and Luke and maybe a couple of the other kids occupied so that Jesus can share what he knows and get back to Hilltop safely."
Carl sighed and leveled a stare at his father, "You promise? Tonight, you'll tell me everything?"
The fleeting image of crossing his fingers behind his back in a childish gesture of promise-breaking flashed in Rick's mind. "I promise, tonight, we'll talk as a family and tell you what we know," or at least what we think you can handle and what won't likely get people killed if you blow it the next time Negan comes around,he silently amended. "But first I need you to mind your sister while I talk with Jesus and deal with Abraham. You understand that what he did today was wrong, don't you? Just because it might have helped us, and I know that's what he wanted to do, doesn't mean it was what needed doing. It was reckless and could've gotten a lot of people hurt or worse."
"Not if Daryl hadn't told on him. Why would he do that, Dad? Why would he help them?"
"Maybe Daryl knew he was being watched," Rick posited, "Maybe he knew that Abraham had already been found out and, by playing along with what Negan wanted, he could buy a little good will. Maybe it's part of whatever deal he made to keep Maggie safe and looked after. Maybe he knows there's something else at play that we can't see." Rick put both hands on Carl's shoulders and squeezed reassuringly, "Of everyone else here, you and I have known Daryl the longest. You think back on all the things we've been through together, of all the things he's done and given up to protect our family. No matter what we're seeing or what we might see in the future, we know Daryl. We know how strong he is and we know how much he'd do to keep the people he cares about safe."
Carl nodded as he took in Rick's words, but then looked at his father with worry, "But that also means he's getting hurt the most. Daryl's looking after us, but who's looking out for him? Negan's gonna keep trying to break him down no matter what it takes."
"That's why we have to do everything we can on our end to get him back. Even if it means doing things we'd rather not, things we never thought we'd do."
"Be the bigger man," Carl concluded with a grimace.
Rick matched his son's expression, "Exactly."
"Okay. For Daryl. I'll keep trying."
Rick pulled his son in for a quick hug, "Me, too."
Aaron pulled the last stretcher through the muddy slop that the Sanctuary's main courtyard had become with a satisfied smile. Finally, after more than a week of nothing but bleak skies and unending downpours, there was a small break in the clouds and warm afternoon sunshine glowed on everyone's faces. Jeffery and Aaron had quickly agreed that the respite from the dismal weather was too good an opportunity to pass up and had set about arranging their eight patients in the collection of wheelchairs and rolling beds so that everyone could enjoy a bit of blue sky in between the storm clouds.
Everyone else seemed to have similar notions – an impromptu security team had been pulled together to keep watch as the entire school headed out to play in the muddy fields outside the Sanctuary fencing.
"I feel sorry for whoever has laundry duty tomorrow," Sherry approached the group of elderly from the factory's main entrance. "Over a hundred sets of kids' clothes caked with mud, count me out."
Aaron smiled at the approaching group of Negan's wives. With no regular work detail, the women had more free time to roam about the Sanctuary and, with Aaron being the newest and most interesting topic of local gossip, he found himself frequently engaging with one or more of them as they made excuses to visit the infirmary's assisted living room.
Of Negan's several wives, Aaron had gotten to know some better than others. Savannah, who had been a nurse in the old days and spent more afternoons than not in the hospital wing, was the one Aaron knew best. While other wives had come and gone, she, along with Claire, were the ones who had stayed married to Negan the longest. Tall, brown-skinned, and boasting a well-toned while still curvy figure, she kept her hair cropped close to her scalp, but, rather than keeping it a uniform length, she'd found a friend who was skilled at shaving different designs and patterns every time she had it re-done. And while she was always pleasant, both her appearance and her no-nonsense attitude made for a formidable presence that was often helpful when some of their feistier patients tried to slip down the hall or didn't want to give up their independence even when it was in their best interests.
"Forget the clothes," Savannah said as she set down a chair for Trish to use as she nursed her infant, "I'm already imagining how much 'fun' it's going to be wrestling my boys into a bath after they've chased each other around in that muck."
"Just try to think of whatever Carter and Mason splash on you as a mud facial," Trish suggested as she shifted her shirt aside for her daughter. It had taken Aaron a few days to adjust to the fact that Trish was perfectly comfortable with breastfeeding without any kind of blanket or other modest covering ('What, haven't you ever seen a baby sucking on a tit before?'). She'd run a daycare and had spent most of her adult life being surrounded by children, but the baby in her arms was her first and, given her age, probably only child, and she made no apologies about her pride at finally getting to be a mother.
"Oh, remember spa days," Claire happily reminisced. Most of the women in the loosely-clustered circle made murmurs of agreement, with only Janet (a shy and socially awkward brunette that Aaron had only met once before) quietly noting, "I never did go to one."
"Me, either," he replied, hoping to build some kind of connection. Not only did befriending the women who were closest to Negan seem like a good way to both prove to the Saviors' leader that he was complying with his wishes for Aaron's role as some kind of good-will ambassador between their communities, but it also provided Aaron with unique insights into the Saviors' way of life and, perhaps, their true intentions for Alexandria and any other communities they might have taken over.
But his efforts so far had mixed results. The women easiest to get to know were the most out-going of the bunch. But Aaron was far more interested in the ones who seemed meek and hesitant. It still freaked him out, the idea that these women might have been forced into some kind of old-world harem, that anyone here was being coerced, manipulated, or blackmailed into relationships and bearing children against their will. And while the stronger personalities among Negan's wives seemed capable of holding their own, Aaron still couldn't be entirely sure that they had even footing, much less the upper hand, when it came to Negan himself. And the quieter women? The woman with long blonde hair, Amber, who Aaron had seen sitting so forlorn at lunch on the day he'd learned about the community's unspoken expectation of contributing to the future – Aaron had yet to speak to her at all, but he frequently saw her taking aimless walks by herself around the courtyard. And Janet almost seemed to curl in on herself if she noticed too many people even looking in her direction, never raised her voice above a quiet hum and frequently stuttered. These were the ones Aaron wanted to hear from the most. Because if Negan's rules were his way of disguising the worst kind of… Aaron couldn't even put a word to it. But it was something he could never forgive himself for being part of, even passively. And what's more, if things here were as bad has he'd originally imagined, there was nothing to stop Negan from doing the same at Alexandria. He'd dropped one hint in his first letter home, but before saying anything more, he wanted to know exactly what they were all up against. How could he look Eric or Luke in the eyes again if he gained his freedom by turning his back on people in a far worse situation than his own or bringing the same home with him?
"What? I thought all gay men loved to look good," Savannah teased with a grin.
Aaron laughed along with the others, knowing she didn't mean anything by the stereotype, "Sorry to disappoint. Now Eric, he does miss adding to his shoe collection." By now, she and several others were well-acquainted with descriptions of Aaron's boyfriend and son.
"Lord, honey, yes! I cannot wait until my ankles go back to their regular size so I can wear my cute shoes again!" Trish declared as she shifted the baby to her shoulder to burp.
"Y'all are ridiculous, wobbling around on those horrible stiletto heels. Give me a good pair of boots any day," Claire declared confidently.
"You can't show off cute toes with boots on," Trish argued.
"If I worry about showing off my pedicure, I'll end up breaking both my ankles and y'all will be the ones chasing after Joe Jr., Jenna, and Emma for me."
"Wear the boots." The other three women chorused nearly simultaneously.
"They can't be that bad," Aaron tried to defend, but even Claire waived him off.
"Yes, they can. You don't know, you've only got one. Something gets spilled or broken, you know who's done it. And no one's picking on him or taking his favorite toy that he wasn't even playing with. Two are trouble enough, but three? Don't know what the hell I was thinking. If they're not teamed up against me, they're all pitted against each other. 'He touched me!', 'she crossed her eyes at me!', 'I wanted to sit there!'… Look, you see how all the other kids are stepping carefully through the mud or gently splashing in the puddles, and then there's those two literally rolling in the mud and the third one tossing mud balls at them? I don't even have to get up close to check, I know they're mine." She shook her head before resting her chin in the palm of one hand propped at the elbow on the edge of Trish's chair.
"Well, I'm sure Negan will help get them cleaned up whenever the convoy gets back from Alexandria," Aaron hoped the comment would steer conversation back to the man he wanted to know more about.
"Are they still not back?" Molly, who was by far the most eccentric of Negan's wives, at least in Aaron's mind, walked up to the group. Today, her black hair was in pigtails and, despite the chilly dampness in the air, was sporting a matching white halter-top and mini skirt with black ballet shoes whose red ribbons were laced intricately up her pale calves. "They need to hurry up, I'm horny as fuck."
"And thank you so much for sharing, Jesus!" Savannah rolled her eyes.
Molly's marriage proposal to Negan was the stuff of legend in the Sanctuary. It was one of the first pieces of gossip that Aaron had heard once people had gotten comfortable enough to talk to him. Less than two weeks after her group had been found and brought in by the Saviors, she had marched right up to Negan in the middle of the factory floor and, in front of everyone, declared, "I love sex and I hear you do, too. I like it fun and a little dangerous, and if you're down for that, we should hook up."
Negan, not missing a beat, had given her his trademark grin as he explained, "I don't cheat on my wives."
"So, if we're going to fuck, I have to marry you?"
"Yep."
"Do we have to have a ceremony or some cutesy shit?"
"Nope."
"I think falling in love is stupid. I'm not going to fall in love with you."
"I'm not going to fall in love with you, either. But if you marry me, I will happily fuck you anytime you want."
Molly had smirked and stuck her hand out for a firm handshake, "Deal." And the rest was history.
"What, like you can talk, you stole him this morning."
"I don't know what kind of time you think you're going to get with him. You know he always has dinner with Janet before town hall. And I didn't steal anything. If anything, he got stolen from me. We were making out in the greenhouse this morning when Dwight had to go interrupting with some stupid problem with Daryl Dixon."
The sound of trucks coming up the gravel road to the Sanctuary briefly stopped their conversation, but Aaron very much hoped they'd get back to it as soon as the excitement settled down. As much as he wanted to learn more about Negan, if something had happened to Daryl, that took priority.
"I d-don't mind," Janet quietly murmured to Molly, barely able to make eye contact as she blushed fiercely, "if, if you want some time with N-Negan, I mean."
"Bless you," she gushed in return, "And don't worry, he'll still make it to your weekly dinner date. The way I'm feeling, this will not take long!" And she practically skipped over to the garage.
"Would it kill her to have just a tiny shred of modesty," Trish grumbled as she gently patted her baby's back.
"I doubt she's ever heard of the concept," was Sherry's dry response. "What happened this morning with Daryl?"
Yes, thank you Sherry, Aaron tried to blend into the background in case his being an outsider, both to their group and to the Sanctuary, made Savannah uneasy about sharing. He needn't have worried, though, as the women seemed to accept his as one of their own and Savannah quickly relayed what she'd seen earlier that morning when Dwight caught Daryl and Tim talking outside the fence.
"Wait, first we're letting him out of his cell every day and now he's not even going to be guarded?" Trish pulled her daughter closer, "What's to stop him from attacking us right here in our own home?"
"Well, it's not like he's armed," Sherry countered. "And Negan must think its safe enough. Besides, isn't he married to Doc? He can't be all bad, no way Beth would be with him for all those years."
"I don't care what he thinks, look at him," Savannah gestured to where Daryl was hauling furniture from the garage to the main factory. "If he's strong enough to carry a full-sized table by himself, there's no telling what kind of damage he could do before someone gunned him down. And at least two years apart is plenty long enough for a person to change. Doc's husband or not, he's from Alexandria. We all know what they did."
"So am I," Aaron risked intruding on their conversation. As one, they all turned to stare at him. "I'm from Alexandria, too, remember? I've never even been locked up once since I came here, and none of you seem worried about me."
"Well, you're different," Claire dismissed. "I mean, you're…" she gestured helplessly up and down his frame, "and he's…" she made a disgusted face as she spied Daryl.
"So, if we switched outfits, I'd be the one you were afraid of? Is this a 'clothes make the man' kind of thing?" Aaron tried to keep things light, very well aware that his next few minutes could be a make-or-break moment for not just Daryl but the rest of their friends back home.
"It's more than that," Trish argued. "He… well, you can just tell some people are dangerous."
Aaron nodded, "Daryl's not going to win Mr. Congeniality, I'll give you that. But he's…" Aaron sighed, trying to think of how he could phrase this without betraying Daryl's confidence and without fully knowing the situation between him and Beth, especially since Daryl had never mentioned children before, "I didn't meet Daryl until after he'd lost Beth and thought he'd never find her again. But everyone who did know him well before that has said that losing her changed him and he's never been the same since. Yeah, he's a bit rough around the edges, but I wish you could see him with my son, or with his niece, or any of the kids, really." Aaron chuckled softly, "He'd probably never forgive me if he heard me say this, but, whenever the kids see him, it's kinda like a mama duck, you know, with all the little ducklings trailing after…" Aaron smiled as a couple of the women giggled at the unlikely image. "They all just love him, and he's amazing with them. You know, I wouldn't have my son if it weren't for Daryl Dixon."
At the couple of skeptical looks, he continued, "It's true. Luke lost his birth parents when another group attacked Daryl and Beth's community in Georgia. Their whole group lost everything, it's what made them come this way. When they got to Alexandria, Luke was pretty traumatized, but he'd at least go through the motions, eat, play a little, if Daryl was with him. Everyone was trying to decide who would be the best people to take him in, Daryl was the one who suggested Eric and I be the ones to adopt him. Hadn't even crossed our minds, having kids, especially with things the way they are. But Daryl fought for it, kept pushing until everyone else in Alexandria finally gave in. I know to everyone here he seems scary and dangerous, but Daryl's a good man and my friend. Until we came here, his bedroom was across the hall from my child's and I never doubted that my boy was the safest kid in all Alexandria because of it. I just… I hope he gets the chance to prove himself the way I have."
Rick noted Abraham's absence from their usual circle but couldn't be bothered to deal with it at the moment. The brief let-up in the rain had been the perfect excuse to get the kids outside and out of the way so Jesus could meet with them in relative peace.
In deference to Eric's neat-freak personality, they were crowded around the Raleigh's small kitchen table to avoid tracking water and mud on the living room carpet.
"I think I owe you guys an apology," Jesus began. "I just don't know how big that apology ought to be yet." He turned directly to Rick, "When we met, and I said that our communities should come together, that we could help each other, I was sincere. I believed everything that I told you and that Gregory later on told you was true."
"What are you saying? Was it all lies, then? Negan taking over, killing someone for show, the weekly runs taking half your food? Did we attack the Saviors for no reason?" Sasha asked in disbelief.
"No, that's not what I'm saying exactly," Jesus put up his hands in an unconscious gesture of both surrender and defense, "All those things are real. I didn't lie, I just didn't think to…" Rick could see his visible frustration as he searched for the right words, "It never occurred to me to question, to ask how or why. I just assumed that it, that Negan and the Saviors came out of nowhere, that it was completely unexpected. Look, everything I said is still true. It just isn't… everything."
"Maybe if you start at the beginning," Tyrese suggested, "We can try and make a little more sense of what you're trying to tell us."
Jesus nodded and settled back in his seat while everyone else listened attentively. "It's been not quite two years since I first found Hilltop. And when I got there, Negan had already been in control for well over a year. When I first came in the gates, Gregory invited me into his office, welcomed me in, said he hoped I would stay, that they could really use someone like me, someone who knew their way around in the world, knew how to survive. And then he warned me, said he wouldn't feel right encouraging me to make Hilltop my home without me knowing what all I would be facing. Gregory told me about Negan and the Saviors, how they had come one night and surrounded their whole community, forced everyone on their knees. How he had bargained with Negan for a private audience, came up with a diplomatic solution. How, when they were done and Gregory thought he'd succeeded in protecting everyone, Negan had pulled a man at random and beaten him to death in front of them all to show what would happen if they didn't hold up their end of the bargain. And that was the last that anyone at Hilltop actually saw of Negan, but Simon and his crew came every week like clockwork for Hilltop's contribution. That's why I couldn't give you more than a general description of the man, white guy, black hair, average height, leather jacket and a red scarf."
"Right, that's why we thought we'd got him at the satellite station. White guy, black hair, had that red bandana over his face from the smoke. No leather jacket but he had just been forced out of bed by our firebombs," Sasha reasoned.
"Didn't hurt that he stepped right up to us and called himself Negan, either," Rosita quipped.
"We should have realized it was too easy," Rick mused regretfully, "They were surrounded, nowhere to go, and there we were telling them what we wanted and basically announcing that we didn't really know who we were looking for. Turned around, any of us would have tried to do the same, protect the others, give them a chance to get out alive and warn folks back home. It worked."
"Because you were working from a basic description of a man seen one time, at night, with everyone's fear and adrenaline racing through them," Jesus said. "Except, that's the part that's not exactly the whole story. Turns out, that was Negan's last visit to Hilltop, but it wasn't his first."
Jesus took a deep breath before he continued, "After you left last week, I started digging around, making casual conversation with as many different people as I could. From what I can tell, what Gregory described to me my first day at Hilltop is what everyone else who was there remembers happening, too. And anyone who came to the community after that night believes the same thing I did, that the Saviors just showed up and took over. And when you see Simon and his crew armed to the teeth and taking the best part of our crops every week… Like I said, it never occurred to me to ask what Hilltop might have done to provoke it. And I still don't know what exactly happened, but I do know this: before that night, the Saviors and Hilltop were partners, almost from the start. The Saviors helped reinforce the walls around the whole community; they helped build the watchtower. And the original deal between them was that, as long as the Saviors kept the dead away from Hilltop, they were entitled to a quarter of whatever Hilltop grew. And for more than two years, both communities got along peacefully. Most of the original founders of Hilltop have never even killed a walker, the Saviors took care of all that. And once a month, they'd send in a small group with a single truck to collect their share of the crops."
"That's… actually fair," Olivia concluded. "And pretty reasonable. What went wrong?"
Jesus shook his head, "It gets a bit fuzzy from there. Best I can piece together from different accounts, there was some kind of massive fever or flu, almost everyone got sick. And while they had a lot of medicine stored up, the Carson brothers hadn't come to Hilltop yet. Several people died from whatever it was, no one was healthy enough to tend the gardens. Some people said they remembered the Saviors coming in at one point to help, others said that the Saviors came asking for help with some kind of problem of their own… I couldn't get a solid answer one way or the other. But most agreed that, about the time that the worst was past and people were starting to recover is when the Saviors attacked. And nobody knows exactly what happened when Negan and Gregory were alone in that office, but when they came out, Negan killed the one man and told Gregory in front of the whole community that, if he ever changed his mind, he knew what to do. Which fits with what I overheard when Negan had his conversation with Gregory over the radio."
Rick's mind was racing as Jesus relayed a summary of what Negan had said to Hilltop's leader, but Michonne jumped in before he could voice his own conclusions, "Let me make sure I'm hearing this right. Gregory deliberately deceived us about the size of Negan's forces, the nature of their prior relationship, and, after he got caught, by Negan, for setting us up to fail, he's still trying to weasel his way out by not supplying us with the food that Negan himself flat-out told him to give."
"I'd say that about sums it up, yes," Jesus confirmed.
"Are we fighting the wrong enemy here?" Sasha questioned.
Rosita shook her head, "No, hold up, now, wait a goddamned minute. Just because Gregory's a lying sack of shit doesn't mean Negan's suddenly a candidate for sainthood. I mean, you're talking about people getting sick, so sick that some of them are literally dying and, what, the gardens didn't get watered for a few weeks? Got a few too many weeds? Some vegetables rotted on the vine and Negan's response is to bash a man's brains out and double Hilltop's quota. He's not off the hook, not by a long-shot."
"And don't forget Aaron's warning," Eric added. For Jesus' benefit he explained, "Aaron's able to write weekly letters to Luke and I, and, in the very first one, he slipped in a coded message about Negan being more dangerous than we already knew. He couldn't spell it out, but something is going on in that compound that is seriously wrong, we don't know quite what, but Negan's doing something to his own people that is very much not okay."
Rick stepped in, "I think we can all agree that things are a lot more complicated than we realized. And until we know more, I don't think we should be rushing into anything. Let's not make the same mistakes again. Negan gave us a more detailed update on Maggie and, more importantly, a definitive timeline for getting her and the baby back here. Daryl's worked out some kind of deal that guarantees her safety while we prove ourselves trustworthy. And until we have a more concrete picture of what's really going on, we shouldn't jeopardize whatever deal he's made for taking care of her."
"What's it costing Daryl?" Jesus asked, clearly concerned.
"I don't know," Rick admitted. "From what I saw between last week and today, more than any one person ought to bear. Which is why I want us to have options. And to do that, we need to find a couple of places. Specifically, Negan's main compound and where they're keeping Maggie."
"I may be able to help you with Maggie," Jesus revealed. "It's just a chance, mind you. A lot of time has passed and I'm not even sure I'm on the right track here. But last week, you said something about Towers."
Glenn nodded, "When they took Maggie, Negan ordered his men to 'take her to Towers'. That's it, that's exactly what he said."
Jesus nodded, "You know I like to wander, not much for staying in one place for too long. This was back in the first year of the dead rising, I found this group. Actually, they found me, would be more accurate. I'd injured my leg and these people helped me, brought me to their community, where they had a doctor. Middle-aged woman, late fifties, early sixties at the most. Multiracial, European but also some Asian heritage, Japanese, maybe? Anyway, her name was Constance Towers. Given Maggie's condition…"
Sasha shook her head, "All this time, we've been thinking of places. 'Take her to Towers' – take her to the doctor."
Tyrese gave a brief, breath-filled chuckle before observing, "Tells us something about the man." Faced with multiple quizzical expressions, he elaborated, "He could have killed Maggie for what Daryl did, throwing that punch. He didn't. He could have just let her die. He didn't. He got her the medical care she needed and still got his revenge, stringing us along with all this worry. Psychological torture, not physical, that's his game."
"Oh, he does love the mind-games," Rick agreed. "But you didn't see Daryl up close today. There's nothing psychological about what's being done to him, or at least not only that. Jesus, do you think you could find this place again?"
"Finding it isn't the problem, I've been there several times. The problem is that, the last time I was there was after I'd come across Hilltop and, when I mentioned them to the people at this place, I was very quickly shown to the gates and told that neither I nor any of 'my kind' were welcome there ever again."
"So, either this place with its Dr. Towers is actually a Savior outpost of some kind, or Gregory's pissed off more communities than just us and Negan's people," Rosita surmised.
"I never heard any mention of Negan or Saviors on any of my visits there," Jesus said, "But, if this is where he sent Maggie, then there's obviously some kind of prior agreement in place."
"But that doesn't mean that Gregory hasn't also done something to piss them off. The two ideas aren't mutually exclusive," Michonne added. "What are we going to do about him?"
Rick replied, "I don't know that there's much we can do at the moment. We still don't have all the facts and, even if we did, I doubt strong-arming Gregory out of his position at Hilltop will score any brownie points with Negan, not when we're supposed to be proving how non-violent and submissive we can be."
"Gregory's duplicity might actually be my ticket back inside the Kingdom," Jesus mused aloud.
"The Kingdom?" Rosita sneered. "The hell's with these people?"
Jesus smiled, "They are a bit eccentric, but basically peaceful. Sometimes we all need something bigger than ourselves to hold onto as a way of coping with the world around us. The point is, I could go to them and say I've had my eyes opened, seen the truth about Hilltop. If I can get in, I can look for Maggie. And maybe they know something about Hilltop and the Saviors' mutual past, might give us a little more insight."
"Downside, they might not let you out again. Or worse, turn you over to Negan," Sasha warned.
"I don't think they'd go so far as to deliver me to him. I'm not breaking any rules that I'm aware of, except for Gregory's claim that I need to report all my travels to him, but we already know that's not coming from Negan. But, hey, if they do… you did say you wanted to find the Sanctuary."
"About that, if the people who started Hilltop used to be friends with Negan's people, wouldn't some of them know where it is already?" Olivia posited.
"If they do, they've clearly decided not to say," Michonne pointed out, "Or we'd have gone there instead of the satellite station. Or at least considered the possibility. But I'm betting no one there actually does know where this Sanctuary is. Jesus said it, Hilltop stayed behind its walls and did the farming. The Saviors were the only ones out on the roads; they came to Hilltop, not the other way around. But there may be something we can work with. Negan made himself at home in our living room today and dropped a clue about the Sanctuary that may narrow down some possibilities."
Rick took over, "We're not sure if it just slipped out accidentally or if he is deliberately baiting us, but does anyone here know much about geothermal power?"
Eric raised his hand and waved it a bit, "Hello? Former environmental lobbyist on Capitol Hill, remember? Anything to make the earth a little greener, we were all about it. Did Negan actually say that his compound runs on it, or just mention it as some kind of casual reference to sustainable energy?"
Michonne confirmed, "He specifically said his place runs on geothermal, even has a team of engineers and builders who know how to maintain it. He was poking fun at our solar panels, given that the battery cells have all drained out with this shit weather we've been having."
Eric smiled, "Then that might be the best news I've heard in a long time. Geothermal is what it sounds like, you're tapping into heat from deep in the earth's surface as your power source, which makes it pretty much guaranteed to never go out. As long as they've got the tools and know-how to maintain the pipelines, it's a safe bet that this Sanctuary of theirs will still have power after our great-grandchildren are gone from old age."
"And how, exactly, is that a good thing for us?" Tyrese asked with noted skepticism.
If anything, Eric's grin grew, "As a sustainable energy source, geothermal's amazing. But as the old saying goes, 'if it were easy, everyone would do it'. You can't just pick any old spot, drill into the ground, and magically have the earth's core power your A/C unit. The best places to drill for this kind of power set-up were far away from major water sources, and since most cities were historically settled near rivers and lakes, geothermal just wasn't practical for existing towns, or pretty much anywhere on the eastern seaboard. West of the Mississippi had more promising sites, but you'd still pretty much have to start in a place that hadn't yet been settled and build the community around the geothermal plant. In Virginia and Maryland, there were, off the top of my head, an absolute maximum of 20 sites that had even gotten some part of it started. Actually running, you're probably looking at more like 10 or 12. Each one took years of planning and multiple geological surveys. All of which were public record. All of which my firm had copies of and mapped out the locations for research purposes. And all those records and maps are in boxes neatly labeled and stored in the attic."
"Are you saying that a map to Negan's compound is in this house right now?" Glenn was near hyperventilating with excited energy.
Eric nodded, "If Negan's community is truly running on geothermal power, then it's marked on a map that is literally right over our heads."
It couldn't last, of course. The clouds had already concealed the sun's warm rays and the teachers and security team were ushering the children towards the greenhouses so they could hose off the worst of the mud on their clothes and shoes before taking them back indoors. Given the sheer number of kids, Aaron could see this was going to take a while, and several of Negan's wives used the opportunity to excuse themselves to go help, at least with their own children. Claire was the only one who stayed behind, lounging in the chair recently vacated by Trish and her infant.
"You want help getting your crew back inside the hospital wing?" she offered, glancing over to the group who were mostly napping several feet away.
"I think we can safely enjoy the fresh air for a few more minutes. It's a lot easier to wheel them in than it is to get all those kids cleaned off."
Claire laughed, "I know, look at them - it's like herding cats!"
Aaron bit his lower lip before deciding to risk it, "Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"
"Nah, shoot. What do you want to know?"
"Your son's name, Joe Jr. Does that mean Negan's real name is…"
Claire's laugh came from deep in her gut, "Oh, that would just be awful for him, wouldn't it? I mean, 'Negan' – it's got a real something to it, right? A little flair, panache. And then to have his first name be so… pedestrian. But no, Joe Jr. is named after his biological father, my first husband." On mentioning him, her smile faded and she twisted a strand of her waist-long hair around her fingers wistfully.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry into something painful," Aaron genuinely apologized, even though he was secretly hoping she'd share a bit more.
"It's fine, don't worry about it. Joey, my husband, we always knew deep down we wouldn't grow old together. He'd had cancer, Hodgkins Lymphoma, as a teenager. Beat it, but it came back when we were dating. Beat it again. But it took its toll. He was always struggling with the after-effects of the illness and the crap he had to go through to get rid of it. And then, the Christmas before everything," she waved her free hand around, "he started having trouble breathing, chest pains. It came back, but different this time. One tumor, just the one, but it was massive, growing between his heart and lungs. Not just between them, but actually growing into them. The surgeon took what he could, but if he'd cut out everything, it would have killed Joey right there on the operating table – too much of it had worked its way into both lungs and two chambers of his heart. No one with his medical record was going to get on any kind of transplant list. Chemo and radiation at the same time, daily rounds for more than a month, hoping to shrink the rest down so his body could replace the tumor with good heart and lung tissue again. That was also about the time we found out we were pregnant. And it was also how I first met Negan."
Aaron looked at Claire with obvious surprise, which got her chuckling again, "I know right, small world. We didn't actually meet, per se, just saw each other in passing. I was there with my husband, he was there with his wife. Lucille. The real Lucille. Shit, I think I'm the only one here who actually knew any of that, and now I've gone… look, don't go sharing this with anyone, alright? Please?"
Aaron shook his head, "Of course not. It's not my place and even if it were, gossip's not my thing."
"I've noticed that about you. You listen, but you never really comment. Except that bit about Daryl Dixon earlier. Anyway," she shifted in her seat, and back into her memory, "months passed, so did my Joey. Everything went crazy, everyone ran wherever they thought would be safest. If you found people who weren't sick, you made a group. This one day, sun's going down, and the little group of strangers I was in came across this weird semi-circle of vehicles all bunched up bumper-to-bumper. Couple of school buses, mini-vans, a tow truck, crazy-looking mix. And on the other side of that wall was a bigger group, sixty, maybe seventy people. And Negan at the center of it. He looked just as surprised to see a familiar face as I was. Over the next few days, we get to talking, actually introducing ourselves after weeks of seeing each other from across the chemo clinic. I had a pretty decent baby bump going on by this point. And I was a mess, emotionally. Just lost my husband, alone in the world and the world couldn't even give me the goddamned courtesy of staying normal while I was losing my mind. Then one night, we're sharing an open sleeping bag a little ways away from the campfire. He points to the rest of the group and says that the people who keep expecting things to go back to the way it was, they weren't going to make it. The ones who understood that the old world was done and those of us who weren't dead were going to have to build the new one from scratch, those were the people we could save. And then he tells me that he and Lucille had always wanted kids but it had never worked out. And, if I wanted, he'd help me raise my baby. No expectations of some great romance. Said he figured we'd both already had the loves of our lives and that wasn't something we'd ever likely have again. But that didn't mean we had to go through the rest of whatever this was alone. And I had been, Aaron. So very alone for so long. At that point, I honestly figured I wouldn't survive giving birth and told Negan as much. He scoffed, waved it off, 'of course you will, we'll figure it out'. We. 'We' felt really good. 'We' felt like coming up for air after being held underwater by one too many waves crashing over you. I said yes. One condition, boy or girl, I wanted to name the baby after Joey. He put his hand on my belly and smiled, 'of course we will'. We've been 'we' ever since."
"You ever regret it?" Aaron asked softly.
"Nope. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would still say yes. He's a great dad to all three of my little demon children," she grinned, "And I've had romance. And it was amazing and wonderful and I wouldn't change any of that, either. But what I want now is… stable. Comfortable."
"And the, ah, the others? That doesn't bother you at all?"
"What, like, do I get jealous? Why would I? They're a bonus as far as I'm concerned. Look, I'm not in love with the guy and I never will be. All I want is someone I can laugh with, who loves my children as much as I do and who makes sure we all have enough to eat and a safe place to sleep. Negan gives me all that. Negan loves sex. I enjoy it as much as the next healthy person but I'm not Molly the Nymphomaniac. So when he's getting on my nerves begging for something I don't feel like putting out, I have the perfect excuse. All I have to do is say, 'honey, I'm not sure you've been spending enough time with – fill in the blank with whichever name I want – don't you think you ought to do something special for her?' He gets to scratch an itch, I get my peace and quiet and a good father for my little ones. Everybody wins."
"Alright, so tell me this, then. Because I look around and I don't see anyone else with a marriage quite like yours. If a woman wanted to, could she have multiple husbands?"
Claire grinned, "I get what you're asking, and, technically, the answer is yes. But what you're describing will never happen. Not because it's against the rules. But because after half a century and an apocalypse, that old 'Mary Poppins' song is still true. Individually, you boys can be pretty freakin' adorable. You more than most – when you talk to me, you look at my eyes instead of my chest. But collectively, honey, men are stupid. And no sane woman is going to put up with a house full of them by choice. Hell, most of us can't stand just the one unless it's in small doses and after we've trained him up a bit."
Aaron figured he'd pushed the limits of this conversation about as far as it would go, so he nodded and stood up, preparing to get back to work as he added his two cents, "Speaking as one who has dated a fair number of men and both had to train and be trained by my boyfriend… you're not wrong, there."
Beth and Daryl are next – they deserve to be the stars of the chapter after being kept apart for so long. I love hearing from all of you – please review!