Chapter Thirty-five: New Comers

Come morning, the storm had passed and the barn was still quiet. Everyone had finally fallen asleep. Sleep that was well earned after the night's events. Having fallen asleep pressed against Rick's back, Carl was against mine, and Judith was safely nestled in her father's arms. Wrapping my arm around him, I felt a little hand take mine, and I couldn't help by smile, pressing a kiss between Rick's shoulder blades. Needing to move, I slowly and carefully removed myself from the Grimes sandwich I had been in.

Seeing Daryl sitting against the back wall, I slowly made my way over, sitting next to him. Taking his hand, I held it as I rested my head against his shoulder, letting out a heavy sigh. He made a soft noise before resting his head against mine. Shutting my eyes, I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Hearing steps, I opened my eyes to see Maggie, smiling as she sat on his other side.

"You should get some sleep." She told him.

"Yeah."

"It's okay to rest now."

I couldn't help but feel emotion start to fill me, all of us looking to where Sasha was sleeping against the wall.

"He was tough." Daryl stated.

"He was." Maggie stated.

"So was she. She didn't know it, but she was."

Maggie smiled and nodded as I kept my head against his shoulder. He shifted and picked up the music box, handing it over to her. Carl had given it to her. I didn't know why but it was a nice gesture. Especially given the recent events.

"The gearbox had some grit in it." He told her.

Maggie smiled up at him, "Thank you."

She got up and went to Sasha, waking her up. We watched them slip from the barn, the door being shut behind them. Sighing, I hugged Daryl's arm tighter, leaning into him. He pressed a kiss against my forehead, resting his head against mine.

"We're gonna be okay, right?" I asked him.

"We are, Linny." He replied. "We are."

Looking at Rick, I suddenly felt the need to be near him. Smiling at Daryl, I leaned up and pressed a kiss against his cheek. He nodded, pressing one more kiss against my forehead. Putting my hand against his face, I just smiled at him before I stood and moved back to where I had been; once again putting myself between the most important people in my life. Propping myself up, I wrapped my arm around Rick. Leaning down, I pressed my face into his hair, then his neck before I pressed my lips against his cheek.

"I love you." I whispered to him, running my hand down his arm. I felt him smile as his cheek moved against my lips. Grinning, I hugged him tighter, "It's true, you know. I love everything about you. Even your beard that is trying to take over your face." I said and laughed, hearing him laugh as well.

He took my hand and kissed my palm, "I love you."

"And your hair that it threatening to be longer than mine." I added.

He laughed harder, rolling so he could look at me, "That's not dramatic at all."

"I'm never dramatic." I said and laughed.

Laughing, his lips met mine and all words left my mouth, wanting to never part from him. If we moved right now then the reality of our world would sink in and we'd have to deal with the fact that we had nothing and were going somewhere that might not make a damn bit of difference.

"Caroline." Michonne said from behind me.

Groaning, I kissed him once more before looking up at my friend. "Yeah?" She just looked at me. Sighing, I looked back at Rick, telling him softly, "Sleep a little longer, baby."

"We should get ready to move." He replied.

Kissing him slowly, I smiled down at him, "All we have is time. Sleep, baby. You need it."

"So do you."

"And I slept great." I said and rubbed his beard, putting my lips next to his ear. "Just being near you makes everything better."

"Where did you come from?" He asked me.

Laughing, I stared down at him, "I don't know. Space, probably."

He laughed and put his hand against my face, "Probably."

"I should probably go. I can feel Michonne's eyes burrowing into the back of my head." I told him.

"Go, baby." He smiled. Leaning down, I kissed him once more. "Be safe."

Pushing myself up, I turned to Michonne, swiftly leaving the barn. As soon as we were out, the shock of what had happened last night set in. The trees were uprooted and thrown around. Walkers stuck in the wreckage.

"Holy shit." I said as I took it all in.

"This should have killed us." Michonne stated as she did the same.

"But we're alive." I smiled at her. "And we're together."

She smiled, "Always."

"If I was gay I'd totally be in love with you." I told her, laughing as I nudged her.

"Same." She laughed before wrapping her arm around me.

Following her, I didn't know what we were doing, but I followed her. I would always follow her. "What are we doing?"

"We haven't been alone together for quite a while." She told me. "We haven't talked in a while."

I nodded, "Things have definitely been more exciting as of late."

"Can I ask you what you're hiding?" She asked.

"You can but I'm not going to tell you." I smiled at her.

"Linny." She said softly.

"No, Michonne. I love you and respect you and think of you as my sister but I've divulged all the information I'm willing to give. You know me better than anyone, better than Rick, better than Maggie, better than anyone. Can't that be enough?" I asked her.

"It is enough." She replied. "It just seemed like maybe you did want to talk about it."

Laughing, I shook my head, "No."

"Okay." She smiled.

"How are you?" I asked her. "I know it's kind of a given but…"

"I've been good." She smiled. "Despite where we are and what's going on. I've been good."

"You look amazing." I smiled at her. "You must be working out a lot."

"Once or twice a week." She smiled.

"It's really paying off."

She laughed and nudged me, "And how are you?"

"I…" I started but paused. "I am amazing." I finally told her. "I might fall down from time to time but I am happy. I have an amazing guy, amazing pseudo kids, and an amazing family that I cannot live without. So, I am a happy person right now."

"You seem happy." She replied.

"I am. Rick…he's kind of everything."

"I'm happy for you."

Smiling, I wrapped my arm around her again, "I am, too. Are you happy?"

"I am." She smiled. "Everyone I love is alive and safe."

I nodded, "Almost everyone."

She sighed, resting her head against mine, "Yeah. Almost."

Hearing a sound, I stopped, making her stop with me. Putting my finger to my lips, I moved forward, seeing a rabbit eating not far away. Pulling out my knife, I crouched, crab-walking till I had a clear shot. Looking at Michonne, I nodded and she made a soft noise, making the animal turn toward her. It was distracted so it didn't notice me pulling my arm back, letting the knife fly, hitting the animal in its head.

"You're good at that." She told me as I started to clean it.

"I've had a lot of practice."

"Daryl teach you?"

I looked at her and smiled, "No. I learned it at the beginning."

"From who?" She asked.

She was fishing. Sighing, I smiled, "From practicing."

She smiled, "You're good at teaching yourself things."

"I have to be. We have to be. It's the same for you and the sword." I replied. "Practice makes perfect. Not to mention that eating is still a necessity."

She grinned and nodded, "Sadly."

Going back to the barn, I started a small fire, cooking the rabbit before walking it around the group, letting everybody take a piece of it.

"Here." I told Rick, who was the last.

"Have you had any?" He asked as he took a piece, eating it happily.

"Of course." I smirked at him.

He smiled and stepped closer to me, "You're lying."

I shrugged a shoulder at him, smiling, "Maybe."

He sighed and rubbed my arms, "Eat, baby."

"Yes, baby." I replied and took a piece of it.

Turning back to the others, I called to all of them, telling them to come pick off of it. Everyone crowded and I found myself in a tight circle of family, everyone eating and laughing and talking as we enjoyed a meal. Who knew when we'd have another one? Thank God rabbits reproduced at such a rapid pace. All the animals would thrive in this new world. At least I hoped they would. If we wanted to survive they had to.

"Nice job." Daryl told me.

"I'm not half bad with a blade." I smirked at him, licking the grease from my fingers. Something that I would normally never do. I had a horrible dislike for animal fat. It was something that I had to get over if I wanted to survive. "Gotta keep up my skills."

"You never lost them."

"There was a stint there where I wasn't hunting as much." I replied.

"You've always been amazing." He stated.

I smiled at him, "You're a little biased."

"Also a little jealous." He replied. "Michonne said it was a head shot."

"You did just call me amazing." I smiled and laughed at him.

He just looked at me for a long moment. "You always have a smile on your face." I shrugged at him. "You have your moments but…"

"I can't help it." I told him. "Despite everything I can't find a reason not to smile. I like to smile. I like to make people smile. Life's too short, Daryl." He pulled me against his chest, hugging me tightly. "I love you, brother."

"Love you, Linny." He said and briefly buried his face in my neck, my hand moving to the back of his head before he leaned away from him. "Don't ever change."

"Never." I smirked at him, furrowing my brows. "I've tried."

Putting my hand against his face, I leaned up and pressed a kiss against his cheek. Going to Rick, I wrapped my arms around him from behind, pressing myself against his back, taking a deep breath of him. He put his hand against mine, turning his head to look over his shoulder. Pressing a kiss against his cheek, I started to help him gather everything. We basically had nothing. A few weapons but no real belongings. Not anymore. Maybe we'd find a home in Washington. Maybe we'd find more people. Maybe we could live a semi-normal life like we had at the prison. Maybe we could find walls and safety. Maybe…

Those damn maybes were back.

I was sick of maybes.

I didn't want to live off of maybes anymore.

Maybe I'd live.

Maybe I'd die.

"What is it?" Rick asked me.

I looked at him, "What?"

"Something is bothering you."

Smiling, I shook my head, "Just a bunch of maybes going through my head."

He nodded, "And?"

"And I don't want to live off of maybes. I want to be sure of things. I want to know things. I just…don't want maybe to become my life." I told him honestly. "Maybes aren't actions. We need action, not maybes."

He stopped and looked at me, "Something that you've thought a lot about?"

Smiling, I crossed my arms and faced him, "It wasn't long after the beginning that I spent every day going over all the maybes of my world. I hated it but that was life. Maybe I lived. Maybe I died. Maybe I found people. Maybe I learned to trust again. Maybe I would feel safe someday." Sighing, I shook my head. "Maybe one day the maybes would stop, and they did."

"When you met Ben?"

Smiling wider, I nodded, "Yeah. Ben made the maybes stop because I had answered my maybes. I was content with my world." My smile faltered. "Then my world was shattered but I didn't return to maybes. I simply prayed for death but couldn't bring myself to actually die."

"Linny." He said softly.

"Then I met Michonne. I met Daryl. I met you." I grinned. "God, I met you, Rick, and I felt connected to you. I mean, I hated you for a good long while, but you were still the one who helped me put the pieces back together. Everyone did but you broke through and hating you and then not hating you was…amazing." Pausing, I looked at him, seeing his expression. Grinning, I laughed lightly. "And I'm rambling."

"I like when you ramble." He smiled and kissed me. "I always learn something."

Grinning, I kissed him again, "Good. Because I'll never stop rambling."

"I don't want you to."

Gearing up, we were ready to move and yet okay with just taking our time. Sitting with Rick, Judith sitting in front of him, we talked and laughed, engaging with her as the rest of us did the same. Only our happy moment was interrupted as the barn door opened and Maggie came in looking uneasy.

"Maggie?" I said as I got to my feet, Sasha coming in behind her looking the same way. Then a man came in behind her. "What the hell?"

"Hey." Maggie said softly. "Everyone…this is Aaron."

Everyone was on their feet now, looking at him as if he were the plague. Daryl rushed out of the barn, making sure the coast was clear. You couldn't trust anyone these days and there was no telling what or who he had with him. Guns were cocked and everyone was instantly on edge.

"We met him outside. He's by himself." Maggie told us. "We took his weapons and we took his gear."

Daryl forcefully patted him down, as Tara closed the door, a concerned look on her face. Everyone was staring at Aaron, guns being aimed at him. We couldn't take any chances so no matter what move he made me would be ready for it.

"Hi." Aaron said nervously.

Judith started to cry and Rick looked at Carl who quickly took his sister from him. Putting my hand on Carl's shoulder, I took a step forward, making sure I was in front of them. Rick was right next to me, looking at Aaron like he was the enemy. But I didn't see an enemy. He looked kind. His voice was kind. He was dressed casually, not like someone who was on their own. He was clean and kempt. He didn't looked like the enemy. My instant reaction was almost to trust him. But I knew better.

"It's nice to meet you." He went on, taking a step forward as if to reach out his hand. Even more guns were cocked and they took a step toward him, making him stop.

"You said he had a weapon?" Rick said to Maggie. She handed him Aaron's gun. He checked it before putting it in the back of his pants. "There something you need?"

"He has a camp nearby." Sasha told him. "He wants us to audition for membership."

"Audition?" I frowned, now feeling a little uneasy.

"I wish there was another word." Aaron smirked. "Audition makes it sound like we're some kind of a dance troupe. That's only on Friday nights."

I frowned up at Rick before looking at him again. Whether it was meant to be funny or was the truth, everyone just looked at him. None of us were amused. Aaron looked more and more nervous and I could only imagine what he was thinking about all of us.

"Um, and it's not a camp. It's a community. I think you all would make valuable additions." He started to explain. "But it's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home." All of us shifted. "I know. If I were you, I wouldn't go either. Not until I knew exactly what I was getting into. Sasha, can you hand Rick my pack?" He asked and she obliged, handing it to him. "Front pocket, there's an envelope. There's no way I could convince you to come with my by just talking about our community. That's why I brought those. I apologize in advance for the picture quality. We just found an old camera store last –"

"Nobody gives a shit." Daryl shot at him.

"You're absolutely 100% right." Aaron told him.

He was being very accommodating. It was either true fear or excellent manipulation. Pulling out the pictures, I showed them to Rick. Taking in the wall, I looked up at him, my stomach fluttering with the possibilities. Then Aaron started to talk again.

"That's the first picture I wanted to show you because nothing I say about our community will matter unless you know you'll be safe. If you join us, you will be. Each panel in that wall is a 15-foot-high, 12-foot-wide slab of solid steel framed by cold-rolled steel beams and square tubing. Nothing alive or dead gets through that without our say-so. Like I said, security is obviously important. In fact, there's only one resource more critical to our community's survival – the people."

Looking at him, I couldn't disagree with him. Everything he was saying was almost a dream come true. All my maybes would be blown out of the water. All of it could disappear even if he was half right about all this. I felt Rick's eyes on me and I looked up at him, giving him a small nod. He looked at Michonne as well, gaging what the rest were thinking.

"Together we're strong. You can make us even stronger. The next picture you'll see inside the gates." He went on as Rick swiftly approached him. "Our community was first construc –"

"Rick!" I called as I watched him punch Aaron in the face, knocking him out flat.

Rushing forward, I swiftly checked him, Daryl on his other side as Maggie knelt down, shocked about what just happened. Michonne looked at Rick with annoyance. I did the same, finding Aaron okay but out cold.

"So we're clear, that look wasn't a "let's attack that man" look. It was a "he seems like an okay guy to me" look." Michonne told him.

"What the hell, Rick?" I said moving toward him. "Mine wasn't either. I believe him."

"We got to secure him." He replied.

"Rick." I frowned.

He looked at Carl, "Dump his pack. Let's see what this guy really is."

It was Michonne's turn, "Rick."

"Everybody else, we need eyes in every direction. They're coming for us. We might not know how or when, but they are."

"You don't know that." I shot at him. "Daryl. Carol." I said as I watched them tie Aaron's hands behind his back. "Rick, we don't know that anyone is coming. He seems like a decent human being."

"So did the people at Terminus." He stated.

That was hard to argue with but at the same time this wasn't the same. "Terminus felt off. He doesn't."

"Me and Sasha, we didn't see him." Maggie told him. "If he had wanted to hurt us, he could've."

"Anybody see anything?" Rick asked the barn.

"Just a lot of places to hide." Glenn replied.

"All right, keep looking."

Rick just looked at me before going to where Carl was, seeing what he found in his pack. "What did you find?"

"Rick, we need to talk about this." I told him as I followed.

Looking at the table, I picked up an empty flare gun. There was toilet paper. A bottle of water. A jar of honey and another of applesauce. The music box and a rat type thing. Nothing in there was remotely dangerous. None of it was used for defense. There was no reason to believe that he was a threat with a pack full of this kind of shit.

"Never seen a gun like that before." Carl stated.

"It's a flare gun." I told him. "It's used to let people know where you are when you're in trouble."

"Oh." He nodded as he looked at it.

Looking back at Aaron, Maggie was dabbing his face with a damp cloth, watching as he slowly came to.

"That's a hell of a right cross there, Rick." He stated.

"Sit him up." Rick commanded.

Maggie spoke softly, "I think it's better if –"

Aaron interrupted her, "It's okay."

"He's fine. Sit him up." Rick said motioning for them to do it.

I frowned at him, "He might not be, Rick." I moved forward, kneeling behind him, helping Maggie sit him up. "Dizzy?" I asked him.

"Not bad." He smiled. "Thank you." Then his focus was on Rick again. "You're being cautious. I completely understand."

"How many of your people are out there?" He asked him. Aaron didn't reply. "You have a flare gun. You have it to signal your people. How many of them are there?"

Aaron sighed, "Does it matter?"

"Yes. Yes, it does."

"I mean, of course, it matters how many people are actually out there, but does it matter how many people I tell you are out there? Because I'm pretty sure no matter what number I say – eight, 32, 444, zero – no matter what I say you're not going to trust me." He went on.

Sighing, I looked at Rick, knowing that he was completely right. Normally we wouldn't believe a word out of his mouth. But there was something about him that I trusted and I wanted Rick to trust that, too. More than that we needed to trust it. Michonne was right. We'd been out here too long and we needed this. If what he was saying was true then we needed it. We needed to believe him. We needed to trust him and to have him show us his home. His community. If there was even a fraction of a possibility that it could become ours as well, we – we had to try. We had to trust. Just once. We had to put trust into a stranger.

"Well, it's hard to trust anyone who smiles after getting punched in the face."

"How about a guy who leaves bottle of water for you in the road?"

"That was you?" I frowned over his shoulder. He nodded.

"How long you people been following us?" Daryl asked him.

"Long enough to see that you practically ignore a pack of roamers on your trail. Long enough to see that despite a lack of food and water, you never turned on each other. You're survivors and you're people. Like I said, and I hope you won't punch me for saying it again, that is the most important resource in the world." Aaron went on.

Smiling, I nodded, meeting Rick's eyes. Him and Daryl still looked unconvinced but the rest of us seemed to be warming up to him. Why wouldn't we? I couldn't remember the last time someone talked as sincerely as he did. I wanted to know more.

Rick stepped forward, looking a little dangerous, "How many others are out there?"

"One." Aaron replied and Rick was clearly not convinced. "I knew you wouldn't believe me. If it's not words, if it's not pictures, what would it take to convince you that this is for real?" He asked, pausing. "What if I drove you to the community? All of you? We leave now; we'll get there by lunch."

"I'm not sure how the 15 of us are gonna fit in the car you and your one friend drove down here in."

"We drove separately. If we found a group, we wanted to be able to bring them all home. There's enough room for all of us."

"And you're parked just a couple miles away, right?" Carol asked him.

"East on Ridge Road, just after you hit Route 16." He replied. "We wanted to get them closer, but then the storm came, blocked the road. We couldn't clear it."

Rick nodded, "Yeah, you've really thought this through."

"Rick." I said shortly. He didn't even look at me.

"Rick, if I wanted to ambush you, I'd do it here." Aaron went on. "You know, light the barn on fire while you slept, pick you off as you ran out the only exit. You can trust me."

Rick just looked at him. He was thinking but I didn't think he was going to make the right decision without a little help.

"I'll check out the cars." Michonne told him.

"I will, too." I added right after her.

Rick looked annoyed, "There aren't any cars."

"You don't know that." I told him.

"And there's only one way to find out." Michonne added.

"We don't need to find out." Rick stated.

"We do." Michonne told him. "You know what you know and you're sure of it, but I'm not."

"Me neither." Maggie stated.

"I'm sure as hell not." I told him. He shot me a look. "We need to know, Rick. We can't just let this one go."

"Your way is dangerous, mine isn't." He said looking between the three of us.

"Passing up someplace where we can live? Where Judith can live? That's pretty dangerous. We need to find out what this is. We can handle ourselves. So that's what we're gonna do." Michonne told him.

Stepping next to her, I met my boyfriend's eyes, "This is happening whether you agree with it or not. We need to know."

"Then I will, too. I'll go." Glenn told him.

Rick was clearly unsure about it all. He needed someone to agree with him or make the vote unanimous that we needed to know.

He looked at the ginger, "Abraham."

"Yeah." He replied. "I'll walk with them."

"Rosita?"

"Okay."

"If there's trouble, you got enough firepower?" Rick asked Glenn.

"We got what we got." He replied.

He handed him Aaron's gun. "The walkies are out of juice. If you're not back in 60 minutes, we'll come. Which might be just what they want. If we're not in here, we're a target.

"I've got the area covered." Daryl told him.

"All right, groups of two, find somewhere safe within eyeshot." Rick told the ones that remained.

Moving toward the door, Rick gripped my arm, making me turn to him. "Don't fight me on this." I told him dangerously.

"Be safe." He told me, letting me go.

"I will." I told him. "Be nice to him. I believe him and if this all pans out then we might have a home again."

"Or we might be dead." He stated.

"Baby, you need to learn to trust. Just a little bit. Not a lot. Just enough to make the right decision." I told him, kissing him before going out the door.

Walking down the road, my mind was moving a mile a minute on what this could mean for us. I knew Michonne was with me. And Maggie. But I wasn't sure about Glenn, Rosita, and Abraham. Glenn would more than likely take Maggie's side. But the other power couple was here for security. I didn't know how they felt about it all. I for one trusted Aaron. If we didn't take a chance then we'd never find what we were looking for. It took me a long time to think that way and I didn't want to regress.

"Eyes open, everybody." Glenn told us. "Weapons up. You see someone coming at us, you fire."

"Copy that." Abraham stated.

"You're kidding right?" I frowned at Glenn.

Michonne frowned at him, "So if we see someone, we just shoot them?"

"It's a good question." Maggie added.

"What if they're someone like us?" Michonne asked. "What if Aaron is telling the truth? What if they're someone who had nothing to do with this?"

"We're five people walking with guns. No one's coming up to say hello." Glenn replied.

"But that's exactly what happened." Michonne stated.

"If it's someone like us, we should be afraid of them." He stated.

"Glenn." I frowned.

"He said he was watching us, right? It means he saw us yesterday. And after everything we've done, why would he want us to join his group?"

"People like us saved a priest. Saved a girl who rolled up to the prison with the Governor. Saved a crazy lady with a sword."

"And a murderer who'd crossed over to the dark side." I smiled at her.

"He saw that." Michonne nodded.

Glenn shook his head, "I don't know what he saw."

"This could be our chance, Glenn." I told him. "If he's right, then we have the opportunity to stop looking over our shoulders. We could have safety and security back. Can you really risk losing that?" I asked.

He sighed, "I don't know, Linny."

"I think you're too quick to trust." Abraham told me.

"I think you're too quick to not trust." I frowned up at him.

"I didn't take you for the reckless type." He shot at me. "Trusting too easily will get you killed."

"And not trusting at all will kill us in the end." I shot at him. "We trusted you."

"Yeah, and the jury is still out on whether you should."

"Bullshit." I shot at him. "It was easy to trust you because you're a good person. There are other good people out there. Like Aaron. We don't know his story. We're being smart and checking it out. But we'd be stupid to not think about this. We can't be so dismissive all the damn time."

"And if we all get killed because a bunch of women decide to give him a chance?" He retorted angrily.

"Those are fightin' words." I glared at him.

He stopped, "Think you can take me on?"

I turned to him, looking a long moment before handing my gun to Michonne as I marched up to him, punching him as hard as I could. There was a sense of pride as he went down on one knee. Then I was leaping backward as he moved to hit me.

"You come down on me when you nearly killed Eugene because he lied to you. You trusted him and he was the worst of us all." I told him as I dodged two more hits.

"And I'm paying for it!" He yelled before he finally made contact.

His fist was in my stomach, lifting me off the ground and then I was on my stomach, throbbing moving through my cheek. Rolling as his foot came slamming down, the others were yelling at us but I was already rolling, getting to my feet.

"You can't belittle us for wanting something better because you're officially jaded and too damn scared to trust again." I told him, kicking his stomach before punching him again. "Take it out on Eugene, not us."

Bending over, I swung under his arm, swiveling as he tried again. He had a lot of muscle and one of these hits was going to put me out. Leaping backward again, I was feeling winded and he looked like a fucking bull. He charged toward me but before he reached me, he was punched from in front of me.

"Thanks." I nodded at Michonne.

"Enough!" Glenn yelled. "We can't start fighting each other."

Both Abraham and I were glaring at each other, breathing hard. He moved toward me and I held myself high, keeping his eyes. He closed the distance, pulling me into a hug. Sighing, I shut my eyes, burying my face in his shoulder as I hugged him back. Taking a deep breath, I let him go, smiling up at him.

"I'm sorry." I told him.

"You fight like a fucking monkey on steroids." He replied.

Laughing, I nodded, "That really the best you could come up with?"

"Yeah." He smirked.

"I'm a fucking Ninja." I said and shoved him, laughing again.

He grabbed me around my neck, yanking me into his chest. Laughing again, I shoved him, feeling Maggie's arm as she moved it around me. Looking at her, she turned me toward her, gently probing my cheek.

"It's gonna bruise pretty damn good." She told me. "Some capillaries are broken." She added, frowning as she touched the corner of my eye.

"I'm good." I told her.

She frowned, "I've seen what he can do."

"He's a fucking beast." I smiled, looking at Abraham. "No hard feelings, Abe." He nodded but didn't look convinced. Sighing, I stepped up to him. "I started it and I shouldn't have. I apologize. We're family. We shouldn't be fighting each other."

He nodded. "I'm sorry for continuing it."

"Just tell me that I'm not completely wrong."

He sighed and nodded, "You're not completely wrong."

"Thank you." I smiled.

"We just need to be careful, Linny." He told me with seriousness. "Don't jump on the trust train so quickly."

I nodded, "I know. I just liked what he had to say." He nodded back, smiling at me.

"Alright, let's keep moving." Glenn told us, leading the way.

Reaching the trees that Aaron had talked about, we found the cars. They were here just like he said they'd be. Glenn was on edge, ready to fire on whoever or whatever might appear. My gun was in my hand but I was holding it at my side. Maggie had hers out but she too wasn't taking aim on anything.

"He was telling the truth." Michonne stated.

"Yes he was." I smiled.

There was a car as well as an RV. He was right. We all would fit and there was nothing ominous about them. He was simply looking for people to help protect his community. Smiling at Michonne, my head jerked as I heard cracking and rustling in the trees. Now our guns were up and ready.

"Not one step closer, asshole!" Glenn yelled into the trees.

Michonne gripped my arm as we moved to take cover, waiting for whoever it was to show themselves. The rustling got louder and two walkers appeared. There was a sense of relief. It was just walkers. It was kind of scary to think that they were becoming something that weren't as scary as they used to be. As they should be. Abe and Rosita moved forward and took care of them. Staying outside, the RV was cleared, and there was a happy sound coming from inside. Looking, Abe was holding a can of spaghetti rings.

Moving around the RV, Abraham was in the driver's seat, taking us back to the barn. Looking through the cupboards, I practically burst into tears as I gripped a can of pears. Holding it as if it were the most important thing in the world, I smiled down at the can.

"Are you gonna eat them or just stare at them?" Michonne grinned as she stepped up to me.

"Think we can spare it?" I asked her. Her brows were furrowed but she was smiling, nodding at me. "You don't think we should wait and share?"

"You can share it with me right now." She grinned at me.

Laughing, I opened it, both of us pulling out pieces and moaning as we devoured them. "So good."

She laughed and nudged me, "Should I leave you two alone?"

Laughing harder, I nudged her back, "I can't help it. I love pears."

"I know." She smiled. Grinning, I just looked at her. "What?" She asked.

"Nothing." I told her. "I'm just…happy."

"Things are looking up." She nodded.