Chapter Two : Beacon on the Hilltop
The sun rose while Jesus talked in the dining room. Kelly put on actual clothes and passed Judith off to Beth and she walked to the church. She walked over to the familiar plot of land and sat crossed-legged in her usual spot and pulled at the minor debris that found its way into the site sometimes. Leaves and dirt that blew on the wind that Kelly brushed away. "Good morning baby girl. Just cleaning up a few things, this is what happens when I come in the morning instead of the evenings. Daddy will be by later he's taking care of a few things with that very odd man that he and Uncle Rick stumbled upon yesterday." Kelly always felt guilt twisting in her belly that she talked with Shayla easier now than she did when her daughter had been alive. "I'll keep working on it baby, I promise" she says as she feels a familiar stinging at her eyes that she quickly wipes away. "You keeping everyone in line up there? Aunt Lori and grandma and grandpa? Dale? He was a sweet man, he's who you got your middle name from. He helped mommy through a lot." Kelly soon stopped talking and just stared at the bear that said "SHAYLA DALE DIXON" and gently ran her fingertips along the tops of the windflowers that had definitely seen better days. Kelly turned when she heard footsteps and gave Daryl a small smile when he came and sat down beside her, twinging their hands together.
"I think next year we should plant something different. Maybe a softer color."
"I don't know flowers Kelly. Plant what you want."
"Just wish there was a flower that lasted year around."
"I know." He says as he pulls their joined hands to his lips and kisses the back of her hand.
He has something to tell her, but they have a rule, they do not talk about anything work related here. This is where they remember their daughter, ones they lost and nothing else.
"Told her about Dale again this morning. He would have loved her, spoiled her rotten."
"He would have liked knowing we named her after him."
They sit in silence a little bit longer; the sun climbs a little higher in the sky as the community comes to life around them. Kelly sighs and kisses her fingers before she presses them to the face of the bear. "See you later baby." She stands up and steps away from the plot. Daryl stands as well, but waits a bit longer, just staring at the flower covered circle they made before he turns, takes her hands and they walk away from the church.
"So, what's up with poofing ninja?" Kelly asks as they walk away from the church, Kelly notices they don't seem to be walking in any particular direction.
"Poofing ninja?"
"I get why you were so annoyed with him last night. I ducked under the cabinet for like half a second and he just poofed out of nowhere. Then when I told him to sit at the table so I could get Rick he didn't make a sound when he moved across the floor or when he sat on those stupid chairs. So yeah, poofing ninja."
"Well, poofing ninja wants to take us on a road trip, Rick wants to get the RV going."
"Last time we all went on a road trip in an RV pretty sure it all ended with the place blowing up."
"We took the RV to get here. It's still standing."
"True, what does Rick think?"
"Thinks it's worth taking a look at least. Says we'll be there and back in a day if we head out in an hour or so."
"Want me to come?"
"Won't say no to the company. Merle said he doesn't wanna go. Something about Lulu and showing her how to shoot. He's gonna get the clap again."
"Thanks for that." Kelly says scrunching her nose in disgust.
"Just telling you like it is since you are taking him into the woods all the time and he's seen you topless." Daryl says with a huge grin. Kelly smacks his arm as they walk over to the gazebo.
"Next time he has a bullet in his chest I'll just let him bleed to death instead of ruining a perfectly good shirt." She says crossing her arms over her chest with a huff.
"No you won't." Daryl says wrapping his arms around Kelly and pulling her into a hug with a laugh at the disgruntled look on her face and giving her a kiss. "Rick said you saw him and Michonne last night."
"Everyone saw him and Michonne last night."
"Does it bug you?"
"Its his life, he can do what he wants."
"It mattered to you that he was okay with us, it matters to him that you're okay with him and Michonne. Especially since she's your friend."
"He needs to be more concerned about his son. Carl isn't stupid and he knows what it means when two adults come out of the same room frantically pulling on clothes."
"You're avoiding the question."
"I'm being honest. Rick needs to make sure Carl is on board with him knocking boots with someone who isn't his mother before he concerns himself with what I think. Especially considering all that crap that just went down with Jesse and everything with Judith and all that nonsense."
"Does Carl even know about Shane and Lori?"
"I don't think so, I'm sure I would have heard about it if he did. But he was so messed up back then I guess anything is possible. He's just been though so much. He's just getting back to normal after his eye. Rick needs to think about Carl's feelings. I just wish I would have knocked louder. It's not the first time I've seen Rick naked but its still not something I enjoy seeing. Bluck."
Daryl laughs and shakes his head. Kelly still isn't answering his question, but he knows Kelly won't give him and answer, meaning she doesn't exactly know how she is feeling at the moment about Rick and Michonne. "I've seen Merle naked more times than I wish. He gets hot when he's trashed."
"Well, I've never seen him naked and I never plan to."
"And I've never seen Rick naked."
"Maybe next time Jesus ninjas himself into the house I'll let you go wake Rick up. Then you can see Rick in all his glory."
"I wont bother Rick, I'll just knock the prick out again and wait until morning when everyone is awake and dressed" Daryl grumbles obviously still annoyed at Jesus and the whole being bested by the man thing. Daryl had his pride and he didn't appreciate it being bested by the random stranger that kept popping up at random moments in his life the last few hours. "Come on, we need to go get everything ready."
*/*/*/*/*/*
Kelly stands beside Daryl handing him various tools and holding his rag as he messes under the hood of the RV while the others load things into the RV. "Everything going to hold?"
"Yeah, everything looks okay, better than that hunk of junk Dale drove around that's for sure. Here, go put all this up, I'll finish up here." He says handing me all the tools. I go over to the toolbox that rests by where Carl is screwing the lids on the gas tanks.
"Hey, how you feeling? Any pain?"
"Nah, I think that parts done."
"Good, your color is back too, you got all your stuff?" I ask, Carl stands up and is about to say something when Rick comes over, Carl smiles at him. I quickly close the toolbox as Carl talks to his dad, asking if he was sure about what they were doing.
"No," Rick says, "but if he's telling the truth, this could be the start of everything." I stand up and give Rick a smile and quickly walk away at the awkward tension that settles over them when Michonne and Jesus walk out of the house. I was not having this conversation with my brother and I was not going to be a part of the conversation when my brother had it with his son. It was not my business. I go back to the front of the RV coming face to face with Daryl and Denise having another awkward conversation about an oat cake and Daryl shoving something into his pocket and something about rabies and shit.
"She gave you one of her odd-looking oatcakes, didn't she?" I ask as Denise walks out of ear shot.
"Yea, looks gross."
"It tastes pretty good though, promise. Save it for breakfast though, goes great with coffee." I press a kiss to the side of this face and help him close the hood of the RV as Abraham yells from the door
"Let's chew up some asphalt."
There aren't as many of us going as I was expecting and I was surprised that Carl wasn't there. Rick is driving with Michonne in the passenger seat, Maggie and Glenn are on the couch behind Michonne and I can't help but smile as Glenn's hand stays on her middle as the RV goes down the road. They had been the cutest couple I have ever seen before or after the world ended and while comparing relationships was always bad, I had always wanted mine and Daryl's to be more like theirs. Calmer and more understanding.
Glenn and Maggie had their arguments and there had been a few nights where Glenn had been a resident on the couch at our house, but they always made up and seemed stronger for it the next day. Daryl and I were at the table, loosely holding hands and Abraham was sitting on the couch behind Rick just staring at Glenn with an odd look and I kept glancing between him and Glenn trying to see what exactly his brain was trying to figure out.
Abraham and I had hit it off fairly well from the start and once the hot and heavy, more lust than actual love feels had faded we developed a fairly tight friendship. Reminded me of the relationship I had with Tyresse at the prison. He always was good for a laugh if nothing else and, unlike Daryl, he hadn't given up in trying to get me to be a decent shot. Sometimes the stuff that came out of his mouth was just odd though and even today he wasn't going to let me down.
"Can I ask you a question?" he says looking at Glenn with a very serious face.
"Sure."
Then he leans forward, getting closer to Glenn, lowering his voice a bit, Glenn looks around a little in obvious confusion, even looking at me for some clarification but all I can do is shrug my shoulders, but I also lean in a bit to hear better.
"When you were, uh, pouring the Bisqucik, were you trying to make pancakes?"
I snort and immediately cover my mouth with both my hands, trying not to outright laugh both at what was sad and at poor Glenn's confused look. It was both hilarious and utterly horrifying at the same time.
"Uh…yes?" Glenn says back still looking for all the world utterly confused. I quickly turn back to look at Daryl who also looks confused because he missed the whole thing and I'm still trying not to laugh at what just happened. Then Abraham makes it even worse by talking about wearing galoshes and doubling up. I hope he knew that wearing two condoms at once was a terrible idea. He apparently didn't know that Daryl and I were actively trying to start our family again as well. And if this was how he was going to act I didn't want him to know.
Any road trip that Rick is a part of can never go smoothly no matter what. When we were kids, mom and dad loaded us all up and we were going to Roswell, New Mexico and the camper got a flat tire on day one, then day two the truck got a flat tire and then when we actually got there nothing went right. On his honeymoon Rick fell and broke his ankle, any vacation he and Lori went on something went wrong, things never went right when we traveled long distances after the walkers came. So, when Rick hit the brakes and Daryl asked his what was up and started looking out the window I just put my head on the table and shook my head.
Turns out this time it wasn't nearly the disaster I was expecting it to be. A bit more tense than I liked since no one liked walking around cramped hallways with knives drawn waiting for an ambush by either possibly armed humans or rotting walkers. But we saved Jesus' people, and it looked like Maggie and Glenn found themselves a possible doctor for their baby. I hoped so, I didn't want their story to end like ours had. Soon the RV stopped moving again, this time Rick said we were stuck, but Jesus said that we were where we were headed anyways. I followed Daryl out of the RV, avoiding the huge mud puddle since I didn't want to be walking around with wet pants all day. Jesus motioned at the walls and said "That's us. That's the Hilltop."
I followed at the back of the group as we approached the high gate. The walls looked pretty sturdy, but not quite as sturdy as ours, but not something that would be easy to knock down by walkers or the living. We approach the gate a voice calls out "Stop right there." And every member of our group except me raises their guns towards the gate. I roll my eyes at them a bit. What exactly were they expecting? The guards at the gate at Alexandria do the same thing to anyone that walks up to the gate too.
Jesus quickly puts his arms out in a placating manner, signaling for everyone to calm down, Daryl asks if anyone is going to make us. We get close enough to see two men on the gate, I squint a little to see that they are not even holding guns, but two spears. "Jesus, what the hell is this?"
"Open the gates, Cal. Freddie's hurt." Jesus looks back at Rick and speaks to him in a manner that is obviously trying to get him to simmer down. "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing."
"They give up the weapons. Then we'll open the gates." One of the men says.
"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" Daryl antagonizes. I rub at the bridge of my nose and step off to the side of the road to let them do their thing. The doctor steps up soon after, saying his peace, obviously knowing that if things get ugly, he's going to be in for a busy day. I swear Rick is the most contradictory man ever. I understand wanting to be safe and not taking a chance but wanting to establish a trade can't happen if you shoot the people guarding the front door.
And who the hell guards the front gates of a community with spears?
At the doctor's words at least our side, kinda, lowers their guns obviously knowing that worst came to worst we could take them out fairly quickly, especially since Jesus kept saying over and over that his people we not fighters. Rick walks over to Jesus, aggravation and annoyance clear on his face. "Look, I'm not taking any chances. Tell you guy Gregory to come out here."
"No." Jesus says in a very firm voice that I wished he would use more often. "Don't you see what just happened? I'm letting you keep your guns. Look, we ran out of ammo months ago. I like you people. I trust you. Trust us." After a few shot moments Rick motions to us all and everyone lowers them fully. I didn't bother taking mine out all since I didn't exactly blame the men on the gates for doing what they did anyway. If anyone guarding the walls at Alexandria didn't yell at anyone getting to close and Rick found he would have been pissed.
"Open the gates, Cal."
Hilltop was smaller than it looked walking up to it. I smiled when I saw the cows and chickens and what looked like an actual metal shop with spears lined up along the brick oven. Jesus talks about where they got the supplies the set up the walls and most of the people and trailers came from a FEMA camp. Then be pointed to the beautiful house that stood in the middle of it all. "That's called Barrington House." He gave us a run down of the history and then said he would show us the inside.
Inside the house was like stepping backwards in time. Old wood floors that were still polished to a shine, rugs, beautiful furniture, books piled up that were just for show when it was a museum that Kelly wondered if they were ever read, knock knacks on shelves, pictures that would have been worth a fortune in the old world. Kelly walked over to a picture of George Washington and ran her finger over the wood frame and smiled at it, Abraham's voice is at her side as he gives voice to what they are all thinking. "Good gracious, Ignatius." When I was a teacher my 5th graders went on a field trip to the state capital every year so there was a lot of focus on history every year. I had all this pointless historical knowledge in my head. The whole group looked around the house and they all looked so out of place, dirty, sweaty and carrying large guns with knives strapped to their sides.
"Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces. Even the ones that weren't bedrooms."
"People live here and the trailers?"
"We plan to build. There's babies being born."
A door opens behind Daryl, which is the worst place for someone to come out of really, but Daryl at least doesn't point his gun at the man that comes out of the room, just moves so that there is enough space between them that if he needs to point his gun at him he needs to.
"Jesus, you're back. With guests." The man said who came out of the room. Honesty, Kelly thought, his nickname was so odd and it seemed more like an exclamation than a name and it was very startling sometimes.
"Everyone, this is Gregory." Jesus said, "He keeps the trains running on time around here."
"I'm the boss." He says holding out his hands. Kelly raises an eyebrow both at his words and the tone of his voice. Was that necessary? Obviously he was boss, that was what Jesus literally just said.
"Well, I'm Rick. We have a community—"
"Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?" Gregory says indicating to the stairs, cutting Rick off. Both my eyebrows go up and I cross my arms.
"We're fine." Rick says, his voice a bit strained, biting back his obvious annoyance.
"Jesus will show you where you can get washed up. Then you can back down here when you're ready." Gregory walks over to Rick and gets a bit in his bubble. "It's hard to keep this place clean."
"Yeah. Sure." Rick says with a forced smile and a nod. My face must have been giving my inner thoughts away because Abraham leaned over and wrapped a hand around my elbow and whispered into my ear.
"Down kitty. Rick's got this. Relax." Jesus tells us to follow him as Gregory goes back into what I guess is his office. We go up the steps and Abraham gives Daryl a little smirk as he comes over to where we were waiting for him. "She's a bit fired up now Daryl." He says before he walks up the steps after the rest of our group.
"There are two washrooms up here and one outside I can show you too."
"Daryl and I will take the one outside." Kelly says wanting out of the house.
"Okay, wait here a moment." Jesus leads Rick, Michonne, Glenn and Maggie up the rest of the steps. Abraham saying he'll wash outside as well. Soon Jesus comes back and they go back outside and he leads them to a wooden structure that rests outside the house down the slope in a corner. Abraham goes in first, setting his gun by the door. "When you are done come back to the house. Maybe some progress can be made."
"Gregory is an ass by the way." Kelly says as Jesus turns to leave, his steps falter a bit and he turns with a smile. Daryl is leaning against a tree watching, he had seen Kelly slowly get more annoyed with Gregy-boy during his interaction with Rick and he was grateful for Abraham being by her side since he was on the other side of the room.
"He does what he thinks is right."
"Do you think what he does is right?"
"Do you think what Rick does is right?" Jesus stands fully facing her now. "I did notice you outside the gate. While all of your people had guns pointed at Cal and James you just stepped to the side of the road. You clearly disagreed with Rick's actions yet you did not try to talk Rick down."
"You think right then was the best time to challenge Rick?"
"My point exactly. Gregory is not the leader I would have chosen but he is the leader. And in a room where he was outnumbered by outsiders is not when one opposes their leader."
"Fair enough Poofing Ninja. Fair enough." Kelly says giving him a small smile that Jesus returns before he heads back towards the house.
"You know he already has a nickname right?" Daryl grunts from under his tree.
"And every time someone starts a sentence with Jesus I think its an exclamation like, 'Jesus! Look a bear!' but its just 'Jesus is home' and it's weird."
"So, you think Poofing Ninja is better?"
"Shut up." Kelly says kicking dirt at him
"Better stop that, we'll track dirt into the house and we'll never be allowed back."
"I'm gonna tuck some books into your pockets on our way out the door."
"Gonna steal from the guy?"
"They are just being used as decoration when they could be used for much better things." Kelly says as she sits down beside Daryl on the ground. "Besides, your brother loves books and he'll need to read something while he's recovering from whatever he'll pick up from his shooting lessons with Lulu."
"I really hope he wraps it up. I'm all for people sleeping with whoever but damn be smart about it."
"How many free clinics did you take him too in your past life?"
"There was only one where we lived but he was on a first named basis with the nurses there."
"Yuck. See that's why I didn't teach middle or high school. I didn't want to deal with the whole sex thing with immature teenagers."
"Immature teenagers and sex sound like a nightmare." Abraham says as he walks out of the wooden door, his hair is still damp from the scrub down he gave himself and all the dirt is off his visible skin.
"Go on." Kelly says giving Daryl a nudge. He stands, propping his gun in the same spot Abraham had his before he goes inside. "So what do you think?"
"That Greg needs to pull the stick out."
"Yeah, I heard Rick tell Maggie to do that talking."
"Surprised?"
"Rick looked like he was going to punch him. If nothing else Maggie will keep her hands to herself."
"I don't know, I've seen her take a swing or two at bigger men than him."
"Me too." Kelly says as she stands from the ground and walks beside Abraham. "This place sure is something. But Jesus was right. They don't look like fighters. This place just feels like we just stepped into Gone with the Wind or something. Big house over-looking the hard-working masses that toil below. Rick runs a bigger community than this and he doesn't have a damn office or walk around in a stupid suit coat telling random ass people he's the boss. Who hell does that?"
"Maybe we should have made you shower first if you are still this fired up about it."
"Something about this is bugging me, this just feels like a huge waste of time or like a bad idea. I don't know which. This place doesn't look like they need anything from us. We need the food they are growing. Yeah, Jesus said they were out of bullets but unless in a desperate situation we don't even use our bullets. What do they need from us? Bullets doesn't make a lot of sense."
"Back home he said he looked at our arsenal, maybe trade food for guns and ammo?"
"Still doesn't make a lot of sense to me."
"Diplomacy never made much sense to me either, that's why we're down here and we left them up there. Let's just wait and see how this all shakes out. So relax." He says pressing between Kelly's eyes. "You're getting wrinkles."
"Wow. Thanks a lot. You already have them." I say as I poke at his crowsfeet.
"Never said I didn't."
"Alright, your turn." Daryl says as he grabs his gun from the wall. He'd scrubbed his skin clean but that was it. Kelly smiles at him and presses a kiss to his cheek as she walks by him.
It's hot inside the building and the water is warm but it still feels nice on her skin. They don't have running water, just barrels with taps drilled in. She's not as dirty as Abraham and Daryl were since they went deeper into the building chasing Jesus' missing friends than Kelly had but she washed her face and decided to fix her bun. The boys must have moved closer to the building since their words were clear in her ears and she was pretty annoyed at Abraham's words but at the same time it did not surprise her that the topic was coming up since Rick and Michonne were out of earshot.
"How long do you think Rick and Michonne have been ugging bumplies?"
"I don't know. And watch what you say about that around Kelly."
"Why? She not happy about it?"
"More like she's avoiding it."
"You live in that house, and you never saw her sneaking out of Rick's in the morning?"
"There is also a teenager and a baby in that house. Rick is always up with one of them before anyone else."
Kelly rolls her eyes and just rubs at her skin with the rag that was draped over the side of the barrel. She did not want to think about her brother and her friend getting together and the sooner she cleaned up the sooner they would stop having that stupid conversation right outside where she could hear them.
*/*/*/*/*/*
Apparently, the thought Kelly was feeling of this whole thing being a waste of time was slowly turning into a reality as the whole conversation between Maggie and Gregory had apparently been a big fat bust since Gregory had apparently not only been as rude to Maggie as he had been to Rick, but had been a sexist asshole on top of it. We were all gathered in one of the sitting rooms and I couldn't help my very sarcastic, out-of-character and unhelpful comment of 'if we wanted to take baths we could have stayed home where there was hot, running water.' Rick fixed me with a glare and Daryl of all people gestured to a chair that I now sat in with a huff.
"We want to generate trade." Jesus says to us, looking rather handsome in his crisp whiter than it had any business being in an apocalypse shirt. "Gregory does. But ammo isn't something we urgently need."
Well, how's that?" Rick asks sitting down.
"The walls hold. We just brought in more medicine. Gregory wants the best deal possible."
"Yeah, well, we want things, too." Daryl says as he paces behind the chair he told me to sit in."
"We need food." Rick says honestly. "Like Kelly said, we didn't come all this way just to take baths in cold rainwater. So we're gonna get it."
"I will talk to him and we will work this out." Jesus says looking at Rick and I think back to our conversation from before. Jesus obviously did not think much of Gregory as a leader if he was willing not to stand by his decision, willing to speak to him again. "Circumstances change. We're doing well now, and you will next. I will make him understand that. Can you give me a few days?"
Its not Rick that speaks up, but Michonne that says we can. I glance over at her, trying to decide if I want to be annoyed by it or not. Rick was our leader, but he wasn't the final say in all matters with us. He was over-ruled sometimes even if he didn't always like, I just typically didn't like it when someone spoke against him or for him in something like this. Rick didn't either, but this time he just looked at her and agreed. I just rolled my eyes a little and sat back in the chair and picked at my nails. Then I was trying to figure out if I was annoyed that Michonne had spoke for Rick or if I was annoyed because I thought they were acting this way because they were…ugging bumplies as Abraham had put it. But I didn't have long to sort through my thoughts as some random dude burst through the front door, and less than a second later Gregory came out of his office.
"What's wrong?"
"They're back."
Between the vide of the guy that came in the door, the ominous words between him and Gregory and even the look on Jesus' face, this obviously wasn't something good that was going down. We all exchanged looks at each other and followed the three Hilltop members out of the house.
Three people walked up the path from the gate, none looking very happy, but they did look a bit scrappier than some of the others that I had seen around the place. "Nathan, what happened to everybody else? Where's Tim and Marsha?"
"They're dead."
"Negan?" Gregory asked, this caused me to look over to where Abraham and Daryl were standing, remembering that motorcycle group they had blown sky high months ago.
"Yeah."
"We had a deal."
"He said it wasn't enough." The man in the back said, he didn't look as upset as the man who was toe-to-toe with Gregory, more run-down. "Was the drop light?"
"No." Gregory said.
"They still have Craig." The woman says this time.
"They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you." The man in the jacket steps closer to Gregory as he speaks.
"So tell me." Gregory says, looking up a bit at the taller man, I glance at Daryl and shake my head, something doesn't feel right as the man puts his hand on Gregory's shoulder.
"I'm sorry" he says, a short pause, then he stabs Gregory in his stomach.
The whole atmosphere changes in an instant. Glenn, Maggie and Jesus grab Gregory and gently lower him to the ground as Michonne and Rick grab the taller man in the Jacket and drag him screaming away from Gregory. Then everything is in chaos. Michonne gets shoved away, Ricks punching jacket man over and over, Daryl is dislocating arms, Abraham was getting choked, Maggie and Jesus are working to get Gregory's bleeding stopped and since it was literally a 2-on-4 fight that had Rick once again literally bathing in the blood of his enemies it wasn't long before jacket man was dead and we had once again walked into a peaceful settlement and ruined their day. Mine too since I was the one who did laundry in our house and I would have to get Rick's damn jacket clean.
Rick stands up and looks at all the people who had witnessed the whole fight, the people that Jesus had said several times were not fighters, that Jesus said several times were not good at going outside the walls, and he looks at them like they are the odd ones when he is covered in the blood of one of their own. "What?" he says in his annoyed voice. Sure, we didn't start this one, but did we have to finish it? This wasn't our fight. We didn't owe these people. Hell, maybe Gregory dying would be for the better. Let Jesus be in charge and then maybe some real trade could get going right away. At least Jesus didn't go around in a stupid sport coat being all rude and crap.
But at the same time I couldn't exactly blame Rick, the guy did hit him first, Rick wasn't just going to roll over and let himself get killed, and Daryl hadn't killed the guy that was choking out Abraham, but twisted the ever-living crap out of his arm. I walk over to Rick and pull his hand up to make sure nothing was broken.
"Nathan!" the man in the red shirt that Daryl had twisted his arm out of place yelled. "You killed him!"
"Well, he tried to kill Gregory, then me." Rick said in his annoyed voice making his duh gestures. The girl ran and took a swing at Rick who managed to land a lucky shot but I popped my elbow out and busted her nose open and she dropped to the ground with a cry.
"Back off."
"Drop it now!" some dude with a spear comes out of nowhere, a few other dudes behind him.
"I don't think I will." Rick says, his gun in his hand, aimed at the guy's head. I quick glance and Daryl has his out too from where he is still standing by Abraham's form who is still laying on the ground.
"Everyone!" And like the little ninja that he is Jesus silently runs out of nowhere yelling at everyone. Taking control of the situation. A much better leader than Gregory. "This is over! It's over! Nathan was our friend." His hands are spread wide between Rick and the man with a spear, letting both sides know he understands the frustrations, but using reason to calm the situation down. "But let's not pretend he was anything but a coward who attacked us. He did this. And these people stopped him."
"What can I do? Rick asks, offering an olive branch of a kind.
"Put the gun away. You've done enough." And Rick does as asked, Jesus turning and looking at him. "You need to know that things aren't as simple as they might seem. Just give me some time.
"Come on." Kelly says grabbing Rick's hand. "You look awful." She tugs him over to where her, Daryl and Abraham had cleaned up earlier, propping the door open she gently pushes him inside and has him sit on the stool that is inside. "Take off the coat or you'll melt in here." She opens the tap and wets the still damp rag and hands it to Rick who wipes his face and neck clean. Kelly hangs the jacket up after rubbing at the sleeves and collar trying to work as much of it clean as she can now.
"That was a good jab you got in."
"Thanks, Merle is a better teacher than you'd think. But he really needs to give up on the whole gun thing. I'll never be good at that."
"Keep throwing elbows like that and you don't have to be."
"It'll save my knuckles too. Let me see yours." Kelly motions for his and he holds his hands up and Kelly takes the rag and opens the taps again. "We'll have to send these people some water no matter how this whole thing shakes out." Kelly says as she starts cleaning Rick's hands. There are a few open cuts but not too many. Rick's hands are pretty resilient to creaking from throwing punches now. "This one looks okay, let me see the other one."
"If I try to talk to you, will you run off again?"
"Can't really go anywhere since you got the ride back home stuck."
"You know what I want to talk about."
"I think you should talk to Carl before you talk to me."
"I talked to him, he said it was okay."
"Then why does what I think matter?"
"Kelly." Rick says, spinning his hand around and gripping my hand in his. "It matters, she's your friend. After everything with Lori and Shane and I just…everything with us just happened. Last night.
"Um. Okay. I need a timeline because?"
"What I mean is, there's been something there for a while, but we just never—"
"Rick, you're my brother. I love you. And as long as Carl is on board with it all I do not care. Do what you want." I say as I stand from where I was crouching. I turn and almost walk into Michonne who was standing outside the door. Kelly just gives her a tight smile and side-steps her and walks towards the house where Daryl is standing.
"Everything okay?"
"Just ready to go the hell home." I say as I walk past him into the house.
Kelly scans the books that rest on the shelves, most of them are old mechanical books, cookbooks and etiquette books, but I finally find a copy of The Grapes of Wrath that was written in 2001 but was bound in an older looking cover to look like it was made in the 30s for the museum. Either way I grabbed it, found a couch and buried my nose in it. This had been one of the more stressful days I had had in a long time and now I remember why I hardly leave Alexandria except to go short runs. Even if Merle caught the clap he was probably having a better time than I was.
Slowly everyone makes their way back inside the house and they all sit around the place and wait. The sun was setting a little lower in the sky and Kelly knew Rick would be wanting to get home before it was dark. Daryl sat in the chair closer to me and at the first chance I had I was going to shove this book into his pocket. A random guy showed up with some food, just bread and a jar of peanut butter, and he left soon after trying not to stare at Rick with a look of fear. It was hard not to stare at a guy who could stand covered in a man's blood and be totally unphased by it.
Jesus came back in a little bit later and said that Gregory would be fine.
"So what happens now?" Michonne asks.
"Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled."
"We heard the name Negan." Rick says standing from the desk he was leaning against. While I had been reading they had said they were going to bring this up, and I was very interested to know about it as well. Daryl and Abraham had brushed the whole incident under the rug with a joke and downplayed the whole thing. Sasha actually said how serious the whole thing actually had been. "Who is he?"
"Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the Saviors. As soon as the walls were built the Saviors showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands, even more threats. And he killed one of us—Rory. He was sixteen years old. They beat him to death right in front of us. Said we needed to understand right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation. He's not the leader I would've chosen, but he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him."
"He made the deal." Maggie said
"Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors."
"And what do you get in return?" Glenn
"They don't attack this place. They don't kill us."
"Why not just kill them?" Daryl
"Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo."
"Well, how many people does Negan have?"
"We don't know. We've seen groups as big as twenty."
"Now, hold up. So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything? These dicks just got a good story. The bogeyman, he ain't shit."
"Well, how do you know?"
"A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ. Left them in pieces and puddles." Abraham
"You know, we'll do it. If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one of them cows." Daryl
"Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with." Rick
"I'll take it to Gregory." Jesus says as he turns and leaves the room.
I sigh and close the book, shoving it in Daryl's back pocket before walking out of the room and out of the house.
*/*/*/*/*/*
Stepping onto the front porch I cross my arms and lean against the side of the house, thinking about what everyone upstairs just suggested we do. The last zillion times we showed up guns blazing it always ended up with us in serious trouble. Everything with Brian Blake springing immediately to mind. We all just loved how that whole fiasco turned out. Not to mention Terminus and even Alexandria when we first got there. It all ended badly.
Now they wanted to take on a random group that they and we knew nothing about for some carrots?
The door opened and Daryl walked out and leaned against the side of the house, pulling a cigarette from his pocket. I wrinkled my nose at him and slid a bit to the right. I hated when he smoked.
"Talk to me." He says blowing the air from his lungs in a giant puff.
"This is stupid. This isn't our fight, we don't know anything about this Negan guy or his group."
"He's a punk. Showin' up when he knows this place is weak, kills a kid to scare them, he aint all that."
"Just like the group of them that cornered you on like ten bikes weren't all that?" I ask glaring at him, "Yeah, I know all about it. You downplayed how serious the whole situation was, thank God Sasha can be honest with me."
"There wasn't a point behind telling you all the details. I blew them the hell up, they're dead. Shit that was probably half of that guy's force. Made our jobs a lot easier."
"There has to be a better way, Daryl. We can't keep showing up to places and inserting ourselves into their drama. Look at our wonderful track record these last few years. Hershel's farm, Terminus, the prison? Don't you think we have given up enough? I think we need to forget this whole mess and go home. We can survive on our own. We've done it this far."
"There is no food, Kelly. None. We have nothing to spare. What are we going to do when winter comes and all the animals and plants are gone for months? Eat dirt?"
"We have time to gather supplies, I'd rather use our people and ammo for us, not helping this beacon on a damn hill that can't defend themselves. If a group of people showed up at Alexandria and tried to kill one of our kids they wouldn't leave the street alive."
"You're right, we wouldn't let someone hurt the kids. And what do you think a winter without food is going to do to the kids? Hunger pains hurt a lot longer than a bullet to the head."
"I hate when you smoke." I say pushing away from the building walking away from Daryl and going over the large tree that was by the washhouse. I see Rick, Michonne, Maggie and Glenn on the upper balcony and Abraham joined Daryl outside for a smoke. I wonder how much of the argument between Daryl and I he heard since he was probably standing in the doorway while we talked at each other.
I rubbed my face and took a breath through my nose, telling myself to relax. Even if Rick or Maggie made a deal here, they would still have to take it back home and get Alexandria on board with the plan since it would be our people and out guns that would be going into battle. Morgan was a voice of reason and he had some influence over Rick, maybe I could talk to him first and see what he thought. Poor Morgan had been through it since we saw him last. He was the last person I was expecting to see this far north since he had made King County impossible to wade through.
Just as the sun was setting a bit lower than I'd like there was some commotion by the gate and the RV that Rick got stuck in the mud was driving through the gates and sacks and baskets of food were being gathered and set on a table. Closing my eyes and breathing through my nose I stood up and walked over to where everyone was at. Abraham is poking in a basket that looked like it was full of vegetables and his face lit up when he pulled out a potato, taking a bit out it like an apple.
"That's you ration for today." I say walking over and pulling the basket from his hands.
"Worth it. Besides, there is more where that came from. Maggie cut the deal. We get food and they get a baby picture."
"They're getting an ultra-sound?"
"Yep, just went that way."
"Good for them. They need some good news." I say as I walk to the RV and hand the basket to Michonne who is accepting the supplies from the other people. I avoid lingering around her as well, I just want to get home and find my bed.
Daryl drags one of the men from the fight up to Rick and apparently, he was tagging along with us back home since he got in the RV not long after, soon followed by Poofing Ninja. Maggie and Glen came out of the trailer with a huge smile on their faces, wrapped up against each other as they walk to the RV. I smile at Maggie and give her a hug when Glenn pulls away to help load the last few things then we all pile into the RV.
Maggie passes around the baby's picture and I wrap myself around Daryl's arm as he holds the small photo in his hand. There is a very noticeable baby shape and I felt my eyes water at the sight and I gave Daryl's arm a tight squeeze as he passed it on. Daryl kisses the top of my head before he rests his head on top of mine, his voice is gruff from trying to keep his volume down as he says, "I love you Kelly."
"I love you too."
*/*/*/*/*/*
Hello, chapter two is here. I had enough readers that I'm gonna keep this going.
I apologize for the chapter posting confusion. I somehow clicked the wrong upload and I did not notice. Thank you to everyone who told me I screwed that up.
I always enjoy comments, helpful criticism, and tolerance for all the typos in this.
Thank you all for reading!
Maxy