Gareth's POV

"Yeah? You see him? You see the doggy?" I pointed out to Alex, as one of the neighbor kids seemed to be tossing a ball across his lawn while an equally enthusiastic Labrador chased after it, just across the street.

"PRESLEY!" He declared excitedly, pointing his little finger in the same direction.

Apparently, among brief encounters with Sadie and Jessie, he'd also managed to pick up on the sporadic mentions of Sadie's own dog from…..well, before everything...of the same name, and how the little plush dog that he had grown attached to resembled the old wolfhound.

"Alex…" I chuckled at the thought. "...bud, not every doggy is called Presley."

I leaned down briefly, scooping said plushie up with my free hand to hold up to him.

"This is a Presley."

"PRESLEY!" He insisted again, this time taking the plush dog from me as he pointed out the window, as if he were showing it to the small toy.

I shook my head as I chuckled again to myself. "If you say so, kiddo."

He just giggled at that, considerably amused by his little victory

Shortly after, I turned my attention to the front door at the sound of Sadie's keys on the other side of the door.

"Ah! Mommy's home." I cooed to Alex, whose face immediately lit up.

My own face, however, must've turned to confusion as I watched her walk in through the door, wielding a….new toy of her own.

"Hey, Honey!" She greeted…..a little too giddily, considering. "Hi Alex!"

"Hi…" I chuckled as I watched her go about setting the rest of her stuff down, as if there was nothing unusual about this. "...Have a nice walk?"

"Ooohh, boy, did I!" She boasted, coming back over to kiss me.

"I see….and one that involved a bloodied up, wire wrapped bat…..which I should prrrrobably be just a little more concerned by."

"Dried blood." She corrected, as if it made a difference.

"...Nevertheless.." I chuckled.

"...How'd I end up with her?" She finished for me.

"...that'd be a nice start." I chuckled again.

"Wouldn't it!" She boasted. "Gar, when I tell you you would not believe this guy…"

And there it was….

"This guy wouldn't happen to be Negan, would he?"

She looked up from some supplies she seemed to be packing in the kitchen.

"How'd you know?" Her tone, increasingly suspicious, as if I'd just implied that Satan himself might have been here, as she glanced around the room. "None of his little goons showed up here, did they?"

"No….." I chuckled. "...should they have?"

"Fuck no." She scoffed, mid search for something in the fridge. "...that's why I asked."

"I see."

"Anyway….." She continued. "...you gonna answer my other question?"

"Right...uhh, Deanna came by here a little while ago, said she wanted to talk to you."

"...aboooout?" She urged.

"Something about you taking….well, that…" I chuckled, gesturing to the bat that was now laying on the dining room table. "...aaand parading him around the neighborhood."

"As funny and as much fun as that sounds, Gar…" She laughed at the idea. "...that is entiiiirely an exaggeration. I was just keeping him in line."

"Whatever you wanna call it…" I chuckled. "...apparently they had some kind of deal with him- "

"...and I was keeping him in line with that deal." She interjected. "...they agreed, hell of a lot more generously than he deserved if you ask me, to give him and his little goon brigade half their shit, and I just made a point to remind him what that meant." She rolled her eyes. "...and she's welcome, by the way."

"She just said she wanted to talk, Sadie. Sounded harmless enough."

"Well, whatever you wanna call it…." She snickered, mocking my earlier remark. "...she say when she needed me?"

"I just told her you were still out, it was only like a half an hour ago, and that I'd pass the message along when you got back."

She seemed satisfied enough with that.

"Good…." She nodded, taking her search to our pantry. "...we have any pickles, by the way?"

"You hate pickles…" I laughed, much to her apparent amusement.

"Correct…" She chuckled. "...that's why they're not for me."

"I'll bite then…" I snickered. "...who are they for?"

"Little errand of mine…."

"A little errand…." I repeated back to her. "...thaaaat requires pickles?"

"Possibly…..some may call it bribery, but I digress." She shrugged.

"...and who might this so called bribery be for?" I asked.

"Old friend…." She answered just as vaguely. "...to use the term loosely, anyway."

"I see…" I chuckled.

"Anyway, it doesn't look like we do." She shrugged again. "I'll just make a stop by Jessie's place on my way there. She mentioned she was about a few houses down, right?"

"...Yeah, down that way." I recalled, gesturing toward the direction she'd walked off to after her last visit.

She nodded, slinging her crossbow back over her shoulder. "Alright, I know I just got back, buuut I shouldn't be too long...about half a day or so, max, I'd say."

"Noted…." I chuckled. "You spending the night with this new friend of yours?"

"Very funny, Gar." She teased, playfully shoving at me. "...it's just a guesstimate. Apparently she's staying at some other fancy shmancy community called The Hilltop, not too far from here."

"I see." There are others?

She smirked, placing her hands up over my shoulders as she kissed me. "I promise I will make it up to you as soon as I'm back."

"I meeeean, if you reeeaally want to….." I smirked, kissing her again. "...suppose I won't say no to that."

"Atta boy." She praised with a smirk, giving Alex a little kiss on the forehead before grabbing the rest of her stuff and heading for the door. "Be a good boy for daddy and Auntie T, yeah?"

He giggled at that, waving at her once she'd reached the door.

"Bye bye." She cooed, waving back to him. "Love you."

"You too."