Sadie's POV

"Come in." Deanna's voice welcomed, warmly, from the other side of the door.

Alright, so she doesn't sound too mad...yet anyway. I guess that's a good sign.

I just shrugged, trying to shake it off, as I opened the door.

She looked up from some papers she appeared to have been going over prior to my arrival. Her smile, growing slightly more so when she saw that I had Alex with me.

"Hi." She gave a little wave to Alex, as he waved at her. "It's good to see you both again. Please, have a seat."

I nodded, trying to shake off the feeling of Deja Vu that her gesturing towards the same couch she'd interviewed us in not long before gave me, as I made my way over to sit.

"It's been a little while since we last spoke. How have you guys been? Settling in okay?" She asked.

I couldn't help but glance around the room….hopefully not too obviously, nervously, as I tried to collect my thoughts.

…..It's also worth noting that Alex's sudden restlessness at being confined to my lap wasn't helping matters any.

I sighed, shifting him gently from my lap onto the spot on the couch next to me, chuckling somewhat nervously.

"We're doing alright, I guess…." I answered, fairly honestly. "It's still a lot to take in, you know?"

"I'm sure." She replied, smiling more sympathetically now. "...and how are you liking things here?" Aimed toward Alex now, who seemed to be settling back down in his spot now that he had a little more freedom. "Hmm? You like your new house?"

"Bad man there." His small, somewhat quieter than usual voice replied.

I chuckled softly, somewhat nervously, as I lovingly stroked my hand through the mess of brown hair on his little head, earning just a little bit of a giggle for the gesture.

'Yeah, Negan, I guess came by just before I got back." I explained.

"Bad Negan." He reiterated.

"Very bad Negan." I chuckled softly at him. "Yeah, but Mommy took care of him. Right?"

His little face lit up considerably more at the thought.

"Mommy got mad." He giggled, somewhat deviously.

"That's right, Mommy got mad." I reaffirmed.

Deanna, surprisingly amused now, chuckled.

"Right, well that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about."

Aaaand there it is. "This should be good."

"Sadie, you're not in any kind of trouble." She tried to reassure. "I asked Aaron to make that clear with you all, when I had him pass the message along to you."

I nodded. "..Yeah Gareth mentioned he said something like that. I guess I just brushed it off as him trying not to worry me."

She nodded. "...as a matter of fact, I owe you an apology, even."

"...I'm listening."

"Regarding the Saviors….." She sighed.

I scoffed at the name again as she continued.

"...I was planning to send Aaron over to your place, once you'd been settled in for a while, explain the deal we have with them." She sighed.

"...and that deal is….?"

She sighed again. "...I know it doesn't look like we've lost much here, after being out there for as long as you were, Sadie, and I don't blame you for that….."

I nodded, waiting for her to go on as she trailed off briefly.

"...just before you and your family came here, another group of ours ran into some trouble with Negan and some of theirs out on the road…"

I couldn't help but scoff again at that. "I think the death of two of those people counts for just a little more than some trouble out there."

"...so, you know then…"

"...well, I know….Maggie's husband." For the life of me, I could not remember the guy's name.

"...Glenn." She finally offered.

"Glenn…..anyway, I know he was one of them…...I knew them both a little before we came here."

She nodded. "...I'm sorry you had to find out that way."

I shrugged. '...it is what it is."

"...the deal was that we couldn't take anymore chances with them." She went on to elaborate. "So we came to a compromise with them. Half of our resources, as long as.."

"...as long as what?" I scoffed. "...as long as they cross their hearts and pinky swear that they won't do that again?"

"Sadie.."

"...and just how long do you think THAT'S gonna last?!" I raised my voice just a little more than I'd intended.

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about." She explained, surprisingly calmly.

"...I'm listening."

"...in addition to giving you guys a heads up…" She continued. "...Aaron was also supposed to go over how to deal with them, what we'd expect from you….but after they left, I got to talking with some of the people who were there. People who saw how you actually dealt with them. Truthfully, I'm very glad that I did."

"..and how's that?"

"...that I know now, that if Aaron had reached you about it in time…" She continued. "...and if you'd have gone along with our way of doing things, we'd be a lot worse off…..food-wise, medical-wise….." She shook her head. "...last time they showed up for a pick up, they wiped us of nearly all of that."

As much as I wanted to scoff even harder than that and make a very well earned well, what did you expect? type of remark about it, I opted to just let her get on with whatever she was really getting at.

"...but then you show up." She smiled, somewhat suspiciously at that. "...and they saw what's been obvious to myself and I'm sure anyone else you've met since you got here."

"What, that Sadie don't fuck around?" I joked.

"...Well, I can't say I was going to put it quite like that…." She chuckled.

"...well, you'd be the first one then." I chuckled back.

"Yes, well, that being said…..showing them….well, that…is what's showing me who probably ought to be the one watching out for this place, over these people."

"...Me?" I scoffed.

"Well, I'd have to talk it over with everyone, hold a meeting before we'd make it official….that is, if you'd accept, of course. What do you say?"

"I ssaaaay...that I don't know about myself, but that maybe you do need someone else in charge, if you're the kind of leader to hand over that power so easily." I scoffed. "You don't even know me. Hell, we haven't even been here a week."

"I know enough about you, Sadie." She insisted. "So did Aaron, when he made that call to give you guys the chance he did out there. You wouldn't be sitting here with me, if we didn't."

"...But here we are."

"...here we are." She echoed back to me, with that same warm smile from before. "Won't you at least consider it?"

"Thoroughly." I agreed, returning the smile.

"Good." She replied.

I nodded, lifting Alex down onto the floor as I stood.

"Well, we should probably get going now, unless there was anything else…."

She smiled back at us. "Just that."

I nodded again, reaching out for Alex's little hand. "You ready to go, bud?"

Before he could answer, however, the clear sound of a gunshot could be heard in the near distance.

Deanna and I exchanged looks with each other…..hers', considerably more concerned, as I scooped Alex up into my arms and rushed out just ahead of her.