The first indication that something's about to go very, very differently than expected is Beth being summoned from the Tranquility. She'd stayed behind with one other person to man the boat, while Shane, Luuk, and two others ventured forward. They still have six Marines in hiding, but no one wants to leave the Tranquility unguarded. Even though she'd insisted on coming along, Beth hadn't expected to meet any of these strangers right away.
Motoring the huge catamaran back to the dock takes a lot more finesse than the Iris, but as Beth steps off and Muffin follows her, one of the sailors jumps on. Whatever's happening, Luuk isn't shaking his orders to keep two on board at all times.
Shane meets her before she's in full view of the new people, and he's as pale as someone of his complexion can manage as he takes her hands. Biscuit is right at his heels, whining in that crooning way that he uses when either of them are teetering on darkness. "Beth? Baby? We were lied to at Terminus."
Terminus? The only thing that monster told them was… Beth's mind fuzzes into something akin to whitenoise as it becomes hard to believe. If Mary lied, that means Judith is alive.
She blinks, still barely able to comprehend it, and lets Shane lead her forward as if she were a tiny child. The steadily dawning truth is reinforced by faces she thought she would never, ever see again. It's not Judith, not her baby, but if these people are safe, then her daughter is, too.
Being crushed between hugs and tears has never felt so completely perfect in her life. Daryl is incoherent, making this odd, choking sound as he clings to her and she to him. Behind her, Carol is openly weeping, but she's got her thin arms around them both somehow, sandwiching Beth between her and Daryl.
"We thought you were dead."
Those are the first coherent words any of them manage, and of course, it's Carol who says them. Beth blinks away tears, smiling.
"So did we."
Both Carol and Daryl look past Beth to Shane when he speaks. He's standing with his hands in his pockets, not far from Luuk, allowing her the reunion. It makes her heart ache that there's none for him yet and perhaps there might not be. Then again, she can't imagine Carl not being happy to see Shane again, even if Rick isn't.
The explanations are halting and scattered, but once the general idea of things has been brought across on both sides, Beth isn't surprised that Carol lets her go long enough to hug Shane so hard he grunts from the effort. Shane returning the hug, well, Daryl can just get over that, and Beth keeps him confined to her side. Now that she's got an arm free, she gets a delicately gentle hug from Tyreese and a firm, no-nonsense one from Sasha before the siblings step back to the two men Beth doesn't know.
It's Sasha that spots Beth's ring first. Beth and Shane had put the bands back on when they reached the dock, not wanting any accusations from this unknown group that she and Shane are playacting as a couple to build trust. In the storytelling, Beth hadn't mentioned the wedding, deciding to wait until later to tell it to the entire group. The baby is something else entirely. Luuk and Dr. Rolle are the only two living souls who know aside from her and Shane.
"You got married, Beth?" Sasha asks.
It draws Daryl's attention to her left hand, and he tugs it up to look at the ruby-infused silicone ring she's wearing today. With how fast his gaze goes to Shane's left hand, she realizes he's noticed that ring already and now he sees that they match. It's hard to miss when very few people are bold enough to wear a red wedding band. When Daryl drops his arm from Beth's shoulders to step toward Shane, she snags his wrist before he can get past her and frogs his shoulder as hard as she can.
"What the fuck, Beth?" he yowls, but she's interrupted his movement as she intended.
"I don't know whatever stupid as shit idea you just got in your head, Daryl Dixon, but if you make some sort of disparaging asshole move toward my husband, it won't be him that lays you on your ass."
Whether it's the wealth of profanity or the punch, Daryl's just gaping at her like a fish. Carol, bless her, starts laughing, and it bleeds the remaining tension out of Daryl's frame.
"She's not a teenager, Daryl, and long past the age where she needed anyone's permission on how to live her life."
Daryl frowns, and Beth figures they'll discuss it again later, but for now, at least, she's not going to have to kick one of her favorite people in the world stark in the nuts.
"Judith's at Alexandria. We need to get you there." Carol's drying her face with her shirt tail as she comes back to lay her hands on Beth's shoulders. "She and the other kids have missed you so very much, Beth, just like Daryl and I did."
Beth is glad that Carol doesn't make any such claim to Maggie, or even Glenn, because on her bad days, she remembers those signs along that railroad track, and she doesn't want that chaotic mixed feeling of sorrow and anger cluttering her mood today. Maggie is irrelevant other than being alive.
She hates that Shane's significance to Judith is ignored, but since she's not going anywhere Shane isn't, reuniting with Judy will fix that issue.
"Ma'am? Both your radioman and the story you just told mentioned predators in the area." Trust Luuk to not miss the risk in any trip. "How secure is your community?"
"As far as I know, the ones who attacked us inside our walls are all dead. We're still not sure about the ones that the outpost was part of. It was supposed to be their sole settlement, but there's at least one more somewhere out there. No one's shown up in the week since, though, and our scouts have found no signs of the others that the outpost survivors tried to summon. We're starting to think maybe their reinforcements cut and ran."
Luuk levels a look toward Shane that Beth can't quite interpret, but she suspects it's whether or not the leadership back home will accept a preemptive attack on others as justified. Alexandria killing the Wolves when they breached the walls was self defense. Going on the offensive toward a group that didn't even know Alexandria existed is going to be less clean cut.
"It doesn't matter, Luuk, not for me. If we can't take my people back with us, I'm staying where my daughter is."
It's unlikely the children would be refused, but taking them from adults who might be rejected is a different story. Judith is hers, but she's also Carl's, and Carl is his father's son. She hadn't missed that Rick ignored Carol's objections with that outpost. Soldiers might be forgiven for following orders, but the leader would never get such leeway.
Unsurprisingly, the Dutch sailor nods. Luuk has children of his own, back on Montserrat, after marrying a widow with two kids. "I understand. I would feel the same."
"They're serious about taking us?" Carol asks, looking hopeful. "You described it briefly, but it's still surreal that there's really a colony in the islands."
"Almost a thousand people there, Carol. I've seen it; lived among them and worked in the local hospital as an apprentice." Beth is proud of her accomplishment. Dr. Rolle says she'll fully qualify as a nurse before the baby comes, and he wants her to train beyond that. The line between nurse and doctor is going to be a blurry one in the future.
"There are other survivors back in Georgia. Them, too?" Carol's obviously focused on Luuk as being the authority, because she's studying him closely.
"It will take a bit more preparation than we expected, but yes. Other than criminals, our mission is to gather all the survivors we can. Small communities cannot hope to last in the long run. It loses too many valuable skills and genetics, too. You mentioned a doctor there, too, and even though we have three back on the island, they are still compiling skill areas they are lacking in."
The genetics bit is sort of a point Beth doesn't like to think about. In the fairly insular population of the prison, even after Woodbury, how long would it have been before inbreeding was an issue? Granted, it's not as awful as all the cousin marriage jokes make it out to be, not according to Dr. Rolle, but there is a finite point a community needs to surpass in order to stay healthy that the prison had never approached, especially with having multiple related groups.
In the end, they decide that Luuk will accompany Beth and Shane with Carol's people. She introduces the radioman, an awkward Texan named Eugene, and the last man is apparently a long-time Alexandrian, Aaron. The Marines will be given a quiet order via Luuk's second-in-command to return to the Tranquility, which the three sailors will take out into the Bay to wait. As much as Beth hates the secrecy, especially keeping it from Daryl and Carol, she understands the strategy behind it.
Carol and Daryl she trusts, but it isn't just their people involved in this anymore.
It turns out that the community may be called Alexandria, but that was a developer's choice. It's actually closer to Woodbridge, Virginia, which probably helps them stay hidden by being further out from DC than the actual city of Alexandria is. Beth and Carol are filling in even more blanks for each other while Daryl, Shane, and Luuk listen, and Biscuit and Muffin are content to lounge in the cargo area of the Suburban along with Beth's bow and quiver. They're only half a mile from the meeting point when frantic runners leave the protection of the woods along the road, flagging the SUVs down.
Beth isn't sure if she's terrified or overjoyed, because one of the two teenage girls is Sophia, and there's no reason for these girls to be running like they are if something hasn't gone wrong.
Carol's out of the backseat of the car almost before Daryl gets it stopped, snatching her daughter close even as she questions her in a rapidfire manner. Sophia is wheezing hard, and Beth recognizes the signs of someone whose done a hardcore cross country run.
"There's a group of men at the gate, Mama. Blocking our way out, laughing and saying they're all Negan. Saying how much we're going to regret crossing Negan. They showed up after Rick and Denise took Maggie to Hilltop to see Dr. Carson because Denise thinks something's wrong with the baby. Enid and I went over the back wall where the creeper grows so thick that you've been meaning to cut and came running."
"Jesus Christ. Does anyone know where you are?" Carol demands.
"Ron does. He was gonna tell Michonne as soon as we were out of sight. She's at the gate with Gabriel and Spencer, keeping them distracted because she figured you'd be back soon."
Luuk opens the front passenger door and steps out. "If there are men threatening the safety of civilians, we can bring more of our people along. I have six Marines I can summon."
Carol doesn't even think twice before agreeing, and while Luuk is on the radio summoning his men, she turns back to Sophia. Beth can tell the moment that Carol decides the 'punishment' her wayward daughter is getting is a surprise of Beth's existence, because she cuts her eyes toward the backseat and Beth scoots over against Shane as far as she can go. Enid is ordered to slide into the front seat, while Sophia is shoved into the back with little ceremony as Carol deposits herself back in.
The second Sophia registers why the backseat is so crowded is almost as good as learning their family survived. She cries a lot longer than the adults had, too.
As soon as Luuk's Marines arrive at a dead run, they're shuffled into the SUVs as best they can be with the other passengers.
"Get us to that backroad that parallels the back wall, Daryl. We'll circle the walls and make our unwelcome visitors regret their existence."
Oh, that's a promise Beth's very interested in helping Carol keep.
Shane does his best to relax, even as Daryl and the driver following put the two SUVs through a pace designed to get them to Alexandria fast. Carol skillfully questions both girls for what information they can contribute. There are five men of this Savior group, lightly armed, who seem completely unphased by Alexandria's armed guard in the watchtower at the gate.
Rick had left in an RV with Maggie, Glenn, Carl, and a handful of people who even Beth doesn't seem to recognize, so they've come along since she was separated from the group. They'd exited fifteen minutes before the Saviors showed up at the gate, and Carol frowns at the timing.
"There's one main route into Alexandria to the gate. It's possible Rick made the turnoff to go to Hilltop before they reached it from another direction at the nearest intersection, but something just has my hackles up."
It is convenient, Shane thinks. Anyone watching might or might not have seen Carol's group leave since they'd left right at dawn. But such a small group that's more amused than violent? That's the sort of confidence that comes from being part of a larger group - and a larger plan. He says as much.
Carol sighs, running her hand across her still short hair, making it stand up wildly. "I knew it was wishful thinking that the others turned tail and ran."
"Ain't like we didn't prepare for the idea that they might not run, Carol," Daryl mutters. "Alexandria's as safe as we can make it."
"With half our skilled fighters outside the walls?"
Daryl has no reply for that, but the Suburban speeds up just a bit more.
"What is wrong with Maggie? How far along is she?" Beth asks, and Shane's impressed that she waited this long to inquire.
Enid squirms in the front seat, turning to face the back. "I was cutting her hair, and then she started having these awful stomach pains. She was hunched over and couldn't stand up, so they carried her out to the bed in the RV. Denise thought it might be the baby, and she says she can barely remember her OB rotation now. They didn't want to take any chances, so Rick gathered a group to take them to see Dr. Carson."
Shane can feel the tension in every line of Beth's body, so he links his fingers into hers. To find out her sister is alive, pregnant, and now the baby's in danger, all on the same day has got to be overwhelming. It overshadows that happy thrum of 'Judith's alive, Carl's alive' that has been beating in the back of his mind since the second he recognized Carol and Daryl in the group waiting for them.
"Denise is a doctor, but she was a psychiatrist before and she's still refreshing her surgery skills," Carol explains. "But Dr. Carson at Hilltop was an honest-to-God obstetrician before. He's seen Maggie before to do an ultrasound last week. Said she was six weeks along at his estimate, but he'd verify again near twelve weeks. He'll take care of everything."
It doesn't reassure Beth, although she nods at Carol's statement, and Shane's first thought is their own baby only nine weeks along, but Beth dissipates that quickly when she turns and too low for anyone else to hear, tells him, "If it's the baby, and she's in that much pain, there's nothing he can do. Ectopic or miscarriage."
He's glad she didn't say that in front of the two girls, but they aren't the innocent kids they would have been in the old world. Although he can't see Sophia from this angle, Enid looks haunted, and damn, he feels bad for the kid. There's no time for anyone to address it, because they've reached the stopping point.
It's hard to see in the distance, but he thinks he can make out walls made of massive sheets of metal about a half-mile distant. Once the SUVs are hidden in overgrown shrubbery, they advance on foot, girls kept to the rear of Carol's group. Luuk leads one group around the north side of the wall, while Carol leads hers south.
Meeting in the middle doesn't end well for the idiots at the gate. Two of the five die in the confrontation, but the three captured scare the hell out of everyone. One of them seems awfully proud to brag about the plan to trap Rick. The Saviors have been lurking and spying for days for him to leave the protection of the walls of Alexandria.
Now he's out there with a sick woman being drawn like a fly into a spider's web.
Carol has to turn down the number of volunteers she's given, reminding them that they cannot leave Alexandria unprotected. While she sorts that out, Shane and Beth are led by Sophia to a quaint little house where a pretty blonde is watching the chaos sort itself out. On her hip…
She's much older than the Polaroids Beth gifted him, but there's absolutely no mistaking Judith.
Even better than the sight of the healthy, living toddler is the way Judith's eyes light up when she sees them. She screeches, "Bet!" and starts beating against the woman holding her. Sophia snags the baby before her caretaker can figure out what's going on, thrusting her right into Beth's arms.
The last time Shane heard Beth cry this hard was after Terminus. Now as then, he steps forward, wrapping his arms around her. This time they aren't grieving a lost baby, a lost family, but greeting one who remembers her adoptive mother even after all this time.
It's fitting that his first time holding his daughter is like this, arms wrapped around Beth and Judith both. He can't imagine anything better in the world, and he sure as hell isn't afraid to cry right along with his girls.
Just when Glenn thinks Negan's made his choice, the bastard swings the bat back to his shoulder, laughing like the lunatic he is.
"Where the hell is Simon?" Negan growls out to the woman who'd confronted them when they arrived. She's standing near a truck with the door open, monitoring a radio. In the passenger seat, Glenn can barely glimpse Denise, her glasses missing and her hair loose. It's the first time he's seen what happened to her since they were forced to kneel and the doctor had been dragged away from them all. She's bound as well, he thinks, but they must know who she is to take her prisoner.
The woman shrugs. "Ain't heard shit from Simon since it started getting dark."
"Asshole better not have gotten himself and two dozen of my men eaten. Keep trying him, Regina." Negan spins and points his bat at Glenn and starts that fucking nursery rhyme again.
This time it isn't Glenn.
This time the bag swings.
Abraham still gets back to his knees, bleeding profusely from the head wound.
"Oh, look at that! Takin' it like a champ!"
"Suck… my… nuts!"
Negan draws the bat back again, but there's an odd, growling noise in the darkness outside the clearing. It reminds Glenn of those scenes in old westerns where wolves would circle the camp of unsuspecting people. But it's wishful thinking, as he doesn't think there are wolves in Virginia. Feral dogs?
Whatever is growling is moving and moving fast. It brings Negan's ranting to a halt, at least towards his captives.
"What in the actual fuck is out there? Some damned mutts actually survived the ravenous dead? Simon, that better not be your sorry ass' idea of a joke for showing up late to my fucking party!"
Glenn can't see what happens next, not from his position because he loses his balance and falls flat on his face with a pained grunt, but he sees the after effects. Negan hits the ground, a bright feathered arrow protruding from his skull through his right eye. The bat rolls so close to Glenn he flinches as the barbs contact his skin again.
A series of pops, like muffled gunfire, erupts, as well as screaming. Glenn isn't the only one struggling to see, and he solves it by rolling to his back, even though it takes Maggie from his view. All of his people are flat on the ground, and he prays it was in self-defense and not that they've been shot.
The Saviors are mostly down, being systematically killed by at least a dozen people. Glenn recognizes Daryl, because no one has hair like that, but he isn't using his crossbow. Where the arrow came from, Glenn doesn't know. The size of another means that Tyreese is here, so the smaller form near him has got to be Sasha. The growling persists, too, and Glenn isn't sure if he's hallucinating a massive dog tearing out a Savior's throat. He hopes not.
Glenn tries to move, to get to Abraham, but he's useless, so he lays on his back and cries tears of relief as he hears the voice shouting orders he didn't expect to hear tonight. He was wrong.
Carol is saving them again.
A/N: Canon as a grab bag folks... muahaha! This one's a bit longer than I intended, as I was going to do Shane/Beth & Judith as a separate chapter, but nah... Judy got her Bet back.