July 1, 2017

- Daryl -

There's a part of Daryl that isn't surprised by the announcement that Alexandria has new leadership. Although his decision to move away when they were young means he isn't as close to Honey and Jazz as he is Scout and Cricket, there's still a sense of disappointment that they will continue to live in Virginia instead of coming back to Georgia. It also means that the Dixons who aren't leadership can start making plans to go home.

He's never been away from Lori and the kids for this long, and he's honestly not sure how Carol and Merle aren't climbing right out of their skins being so far from their smallest offspring. Granted, out of his own, Carl and Abby are here, and it was one hell of a whammy for Abby to tell him she's got a baby due around Christmas. She's fifteen weeks along now, and when he's talked to Lori since radio silence became less risky, all they can both think about is bringing her home.

Since Shane's already approached to tell Daryl that he and Scout are leaving in the next few days, Daryl figures he might as well broach the subject to Abby. Finding her is easy enough since she's never far from Logan these days, much like when they were young. The shared grief both have over Danny's death just adds another layer to their closeness.

Abby is reading aloud from a veterinary textbook, obviously easing Logan's issues with the written word at the moment. Stella, Logan's ever-faithful little husky/aussie mix, wags her tail when she sees Daryl approach, but stays curled against her boy's feet.

"Hey, sunshine."

Both of them look up and smile. Logan's is still far weaker than his old confident grin, but he's doing so much better than anyone expected. Daryl just hopes Logan doesn't lose out on finishing his training, because the kid's been animal-obsessed since before Honey ever found him and brought him home. Although at least Logan is older and better able to understand his recovery than Daryl had been for his head injury.

"Hi, Daddy. They get the meeting finished finally?"

Daryl nods and sighs. "Looks like Honey is staying to take over Alexandria with Spencer."

Logan and Abby exchange a knowing glance.

"Logan thought so. Spencer wasn't as subtle as he wanted to be at breakfast."

"With those decisions made, it's time for some of us to head home. I figure we can travel with Gareth's people back." Even as safe as things seemed before the Saviors came on the scene, no one traveled in a group smaller than six. "Sophia stays much longer, and she'll be staying for the rest of her pregnancy."

There's another glance between the teenagers, and Daryl is starting to think he's missing something here.

"Logan and me, we're going to stay in Alexandria. We have apprenticeships to finish."

Worry, anger, and a dose of outright fear shoot through Daryl. He can't imagine that Carol will be any happier leaving Logan here than he would be about leaving Abby. His gut churns uneasily at the thought of Abby being so far away. What if something goes wrong with the baby? Voicing that doesn't make Abby happy.

Sighing, she shakes her head. "Dad? If something goes wrong, there are doctors here. There's family here, and I can live with Jazz. Maybe he's not done all the midwifery that Cricket has, but he has delivered a few human babies, too. And everything bad that did happen proved that people can get here in a hurry if need be. Besides, you can come up for Christmas, right? If things are still safe."

The timing sucks pretty damn badly, because Lori probably won't be able to travel to come to Virginia when the baby is about due. Then again, who says they can't come to stay awhile up north themselves? Neither of them is so entrenched and necessary to Homestead that they couldn't come north in early December and spend the entire winter. He doesn't want to offer that, not without asking Lori first, but the mental plan settles his upset to the point he can at least offer Abby a weak smile.

"Have you talked this over with Jazz yet? Or Eugene?"

"Eugene told me weeks ago that I could finish the apprenticeship regardless of when the baby arrived. I haven't talked to Jazz yet, but you know he'll be okay with that. Logan's his apprentice, so there will just be two of us."

Arguing with Abby isn't going to work, he knows. The old adult threshold of eighteen has been blurred out of existence with the apprenticeship program, to the point that by their current rules, technically, Eugene has the final say. The fact that he's family means of course Eugene wouldn't be unkind if Abby wanted to go back to Homestead, but opposing Abby's choice is simply a tantrum at this point. He can't even say that Virginia is more dangerous than Georgia, because it could have just as easily been a group coming from the west or northwest toward Homestead instead of invading Virginia.

Hugging her close, he promises to meet her and Logan for dinner before going off to find Merle and Carol to bitch to his heart's content where it won't disappoint his oldest daughter. Then maybe he can tackle getting on the radio to tell Lori that Abby isn't coming home after all.

- Shane -

Somehow, Shane really isn't surprised by the twist ending Alexandria threw into today's meeting, but he is worried about how Scout will take it. Since she requested they return home, he organized for them to leave first thing tomorrow with Gareth's people and any of the others wanting to return south by vehicle. Once she told him what she needed, her emotions settled and he wasn't surprised that she spent her morning with Dianne's people doing military drills.

But she isn't with them now, and he finds himself directed to the playground. The world may have changed drastically outside the walls, but one thing every single community has taken advantage of cost not being an object is building a complex and entertaining children's playground. The Kingdom is no exception.

There are easily a dozen kids on the playground, but Shane doesn't recognize any of them but MJ; Ezekiel's two youngest, Gideon and Luna; and Olivia's son and daughter, Mason and Amelia. These five are playing with Scout, who is boosting the two toddlers past the stairs to slide giggling and shouting down the winding covered slide. MJ and Amelia run back to her each time, cackling wildly as only very small children can, even as the three older children join in.

The best part? Scout is not just smiling, but laughing along with the kids, and it makes Shane feel reassured that her request to get home to their own children is exactly what she needs to recover from the jagged tear in her emotional state. It makes him hang back and just watch for a few minutes, at least until MJ's eagle eyes land on him.

"Uncle Shane!"

MJ abandons the game to dash over, and Shane doesn't need the upraised arms to know he wants to be scooped up. Flipping MJ over his shoulder, he tickles the back of MJ's knees to make him giggle uncontrollably.

Scout's smile fades a bit, and she pauses in lifting Amelia to cuddle her instead, but Amelia isn't Olivia's child for nothing. Even at only two, she senses the mood shift and gives Scout a big messy kiss on the cheek. After pressing a kiss of her own to Amelia's forehead, Scout sets her on the slide platform before turning to Shane, who steps forward to let MJ slide again before answering her questioning look.

"Deanna has stepped down as Alexandria's leader."

That draws a sigh from Scout. "And Honey agreed to stay there. Deanna has been laying the groundwork for years."

Maybe Scout wanted no part of leadership beyond her militia once she solved the problem of the Governor, but it's never been a lack of ability or observation that led to that. He nods.

"We're still leaving tomorrow as scheduled unless you want to stay a bit longer." While he doesn't think she would delay departure just because Honey and Jazz will be staying in Virginia, it's not outside the realm of possibility.

Scout shakes her head, pausing to boost the toddlers up again before stepping close and wrapping her arms around his waist. "I still need to go home, and if Honey is staying, Dianne doesn't need my help with her militia."

Gideon leads the kids off to play another game, but instead of leaving the playground, Scout leads Shane over to a couple of unoccupied swings. He laughs when she motions for him to take a seat, but it's not the first time they've hung out on the swings while watching kids play, although usually, it's Judy and their nieces. It's enough to make Shane's homesickness flare up.

They've been away from Homestead for a month before, training or working with allied communities. Some of those trips were good to take Anaya and Judy along, and on others, the girls stayed with Lori and Daryl. He knows the twins are well cared for and loved, staying with Lori and other family, but they left newborns behind and a month is a huge difference.

"I checked in with Anaya over the radio. She's leaving for Homestead in the morning. Gonna stay a month or so before she goes back to her apprenticeship."

That makes Scout smile. "She'll be home before we are, then."

"Yep. But by nightfall tomorrow, we'll be home, too."

When Scout reaches across and takes his hand, still swaying slowly on the swing. It's such a basic gesture of affection that it settles even more of his unease about how far this latest plunge into her military self widened the cracks in Scout's psyche. She'll be okay, and if the world has any crumbs of fairness left, it'll let Scout stay retired this time.

- Paul -

Paul isn't entirely sure why he feels the need to go by the infirmary at the Kingdom. When Jazz is on duty, it makes sense, but his husband is overseeing a foal's birth. With MJ at the playground, Paul is at loose ends, which isn't a frequent state for him. Somehow, taking a walk brought him to this door, and he squares his shoulders before heading inside.

There is only one patient now, since the rest have been released to a secure building nearby so that the Kingdom has their medical access back without a roomful of resentful prisoners looking on. The only sound in the room is the quiet mechanical sounds of the ventilator, and Paul almost misses that Negan isn't alone in the room.

Laura is curled up so small in the visitor's chair that she looks more like a child than a grown woman. With her arms wrapped around her knees, she is just watching Negan sleep as if she is mesmerized. Considering her willingness to at least look away when she clued in to Honey's plan for a coup, the absolute sorrow on her face is surprising, and he's pretty sure she's been crying.

"Laura? Are you okay?"

She startles at his voice, hand going for a weapon not on her belt, before recognizing him and relaxing. "He's sedated because his breathing took a bad turn, and Jazz had to do the tracheostomy because he said intubating him repeatedly was too dangerous. Jazz said it was okay for me to stay when he got called away."

After the attempt to tamper with Negan's medications, Paul is a little surprised there's no one monitoring the man, although there's a light on in the staff office. Either the Kingdom's secondary doctor, Dana, is on duty, or perhaps one of the nurses is. Moving closer to Negan than he wants to do, Paul spots a book in her lap he's seen before at Homestead in the hands of another caregiver for a paralyzed person.

"Are you considering looking after him?"

The selfish part of Paul hopes it is true, although he can't begin to grasp why Laura would volunteer. Honey didn't seem sure why Laura was so high in the ranks with Negan, since she lacked even Honey's level of knowing when harsh methods were necessary. Not a single one of Laura's soldiers had been arrested.

"Jazz told me he would support a petition for me to do so, but that I should educate myself about what it entails." She fiddles restlessly with the book and tears up again.

"You aren't required to look after him," Paul reassures her. It's something he and Jazz have already discussed since they did make the decision to not let Negan continue to bleed out. They both feel like it's their responsibility in many ways. "We'll rotate carers."

"I owe it to him." Laura puts the book down and gets to her feet, closing the gap to the bed and hesitating before taking Negan's hand. "He wasn't always bad, you know. I was only fifteen when he saved me from some really bad men who'd tortured him to get information on where we kept our medical supplies. He looked after me after my dad died the first winter after the virus even though it would have been easier to just walk away."

That explains both the odd loyalty and the genuine grief Laura is experiencing. He knew she was young, but he hadn't guessed that she was closer to Jazz's age than Honey's. The older they get, the less difference two or three years makes, but to a teenager? It's a wealth of experience and maturity, especially in the world Laura came to adulthood in.

"He never should have been a leader, and I honestly don't think he would have stayed with the group that became the Saviors if he'd been on his own," she continues, tucking Negan's hand gently under the sheet.

"That doesn't make you responsible for what he did as leader, Laura."

The very idea horrifies him. While Laura was one of Negan's lieutenants, he can't imagine she had the level of influence needed to convince a grown man of Negan's strong personality to take his community in a different direction, especially as young as she was to begin with.

"I know. And I did try at first, even though Negan was the least of all evils for us. But time went by, and I could feel myself getting just as jaded as the others. When Honey showed up, it seemed like a miracle that she had a plan not just to oust Negan, but to save everyone. I knew it would probably mean his death, but I kind of hoped he'd just…"

"Just what?" Paul asks softly.

"Run away." Laura turns to face him, smiling sadly. "He wasn't enough of a coward for that."

Paul might argue what makes a man a coward, but right now, it seems like kicking Laura at a time she doesn't need it. Whether or not Negan was even a passably decent man before the turn, they'll never really know, but at least knowing he once stood by a scared orphan is another of those things Jazz wants to know for Honey's child's sake.

"We'll be moving to Alexandria," Paul tells her, realizing no one would have told the Saviors at all yet. "Probably not my family and Negan just yet, since he can't exactly live in temporary housing or even anything not specially modified, but that's the endgame now."

"Not Georgia? I thought none of the communities here was large enough to take the rest of us. I pretty much figured none of them wanted us, either, except for Honey because she feels responsible for us."

"Alexandria is willing to expand, and there's been a change of leadership there."

"Honey?"

The sheer hope in Laura's voice is almost painful to hear. As much as Paul disliked Gregory's leadership, the man had been inept and self-serving, not violent and dangerous. He'd also had no personal care toward Gregory, either, and his death ended merely as a sad footnote on Hilltop history. Andrea's bloodless coup that added a council alongside Gregory had been a relief. Laura watched someone she cared for corrupt completely under the auspices of unlimited power, to the point she was willing to look aside as an assassin plotted on his life.

At least Honey is unlikely to ever lose sight of the goal of caring for her people, and if she tries, she's got plenty of people to help her find her way again.

"Yeah. She assumed co-leadership of Alexandria with the former leader's son, and Spencer sees the value in tripling his population, so long as everyone's willing to work hard."

"We already were working hard before those bastards destroyed all our work. For a real home, for safety? We'll work even harder." A blip from one of the machines makes Laura turn for a moment to reassure herself nothing's wrong. When she turns back to Paul, she tilts her chin up as her face sets along determined lines.

"He's my responsibility. If Alexandria will let me, I'll make sure they don't have to worry about Negan at all, for as long as he lives."

With the added complication of the trach-based ventilator, Paul isn't optimistic about Negan's lifespan in a world without the sort of specialists injuries like his require. Homestead has kept Ana's husband alive for years longer than they expected, but his paralysis never kept him from breathing on his own. But if Laura has some scrap of familial loyalty that means she needs to look after Negan, he'll help her advocate, and he tells her that and waves off her gratitude.

When he leaves her, she's back to sitting next to the bed, but instead of despair, she's opened that book with all the familiar fierce intensity that he knows probably won't stop at just one book.