I do not own any of the TWD characters.
And the Winner Is
Glen, Maggie, Rick, Michonne, and the kids came dragging in while Negan's band of misfits were still standing in the foyer of the apartment. Glen pushing a stroller full of packages, Michonne with Baby Lila strapped to her chest, Rick hauling a passed out Dre, and Maggie bringing up the rear with still more packages.
"Good Gravy" Beth exclaimed at the sight of all of them. They all looked exhausted but happy. "Ya'll have fun?" she asked Rick.
"Oh, we had a big time" Rick answered "we been to two museums, a couple of parks, and several shops."
"Sounds like a good time" Beth told him.
"My back is killin me though – I've packed this shithead for the past four blocks" Rick laughed.
"Well, go put the kids down to finish out their nap" Beth instructed. She then looked at the trio of assistants that had been sent to render their services for the evening. "We've got a big night ahead of us."
Rick stumbled into the guest room. Beth pulled back the cover on the bed back. Rick plopped the boy onto the mattress and then pulled the cover up over his stepson. Michonne was a little more delicate in the placing of Lila into the Pac n Play. Beth asked Glen to go ahead and order the pizza.
"Hey Glen" As an afterthought, "Do you know of a Chinese place that delivers?"
"Oh God yes, Chinese" Kelly agreed all the while Ginger sent him a nasty look. "What?" he asked. "I had pizza for lunch."
"Yeh, Big Bowl – it's really good" Glen told Beth. "Want me to order up a bunch of stuff?"
"Yes, please" Beth handed Glen her card before going back into the dining room where she and Annette had been setting the table for the Thanksgiving meal the next day.
That's where Beth found her Momma making sure all the silverware was arranged to her liking. Beth smiled at Annette thinking how at peace she looked right now. Her Momma loved to entertain and to make sure everyone was well fed and happy. But it had been a long, long time since Annette Greene had done anything for herself or didn't have anyone insisting for her help or attention. Annette looked relaxed.
Annette looked up to see her daughter staring at her. "What?" Annette asked in a whisper.
"Nothin" Beth answered with a soft drawl. "You look happy."
"I am happy" Annette agreed. There were a few moments of silence. "Don't get me wrong. I miss your Daddy – terribly – every day. But, Beth, let's face it. You and I both know he was not an easy man to get along with – even on his best days."
"I know" Beth told her mother.
"I just didn't realize how stressed I was until - I wasn't" Annette said quietly and a bit sadly. "Even before he got sick" she added.
Beth walked her to her mother and pulled her into a hug. "I know Momma, I know."
Negan had managed to make a quiet entry – something that only occurred if he wanted to be silent for some unknown reason. Ginger had told Negan that Beth and her Momma were setting the dining room table because she knew right away who he was looking for when he arrived at the apartment. That's how Negan had walked into the mother daughter moment.
Annette opened her eyes to see Negan standing in the doorway of the dining room. She pulled away from Beth slightly and wiped the moisture from her eyes. Negan didn't feel uncomfortable, but he did hate that he'd disturbed their time together.
"Sorry" he said. "I didn't mean to interrupt."
Beth turned to see that it was Negan and although she would normally smile at him, because she really had come to love the dumbass, she didn't because Beth was pissed at all the extra work he'd put on her that afternoon.
"Well, lookey here" Beth said teasingly. "You here to give me some more chores?"
"Beth Anne" Annette scolded. Annette patted Negan on the arm as she walked passed him to go back into the kitchen.
"Now is that anyway to talk to your favorite father in-law?" Negan teased.
"You're my only father in-law" Beth reminded him.
"I know!" Negan barked out and slapped his leg in laughter. "Hey" Negan walked over to where Beth stood so that he could speak more quietly. "Your Mom okay?" he asked.
Beth nodded. "She's doing well." Beth answered. "Surprisingly well – is that odd?" she wondered.
Negan shrugged. "Who knows?" he finally answered. "I think something like that is different for different people. She looks amazing."
"Yeh, she does, doesn't she?" Beth grinned.
"Where's the kid?" Negan asked. "We got some shit to build!"
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The kids woke from their very late nap in the middle of supper being eaten. While Maggie gave Lila a bottle so that Michonne could actually eat a meal in peace, Rick took Dre to the kitchen to help him with his plate. Dre was lured into the kitchen easily by the smell of pizza – he loved cheese pizza to a fault. However, Dre had to admit that he was intrigued by the dumplings.
"What's that Daddy?" Dre asked Rick. Rick had been in Dre's life for over three years now and the boy had quit calling him Rick several years ago.
"That is a chicken dumplin" Rick told Dre. "Would ya like to try one?"
"Yeh" the little boy said. "Looks good."
"It is good" Rick agreed and then scooped some of the rice onto the plate as well.
Rick, carrying Dre's plate, and Dre with his lid covered soft drink found a spot in the living room at the coffee table to sit. Rick placed the food on the table and Dre sat on the floor not hesitating to dig in. He'd devoured the dumpling in two bites.
"Ya like it?" Rick asked him. All Dre could do was nod because he was busy shoveling rice into his mouth. Rick laughed. "Slow down Dre. You're gonna choke" Rick told him. "I'll go get ya some more dumplins."
Negan took the opportunity since Dre was finally up to go over the rules for that evening's competition. Rule number one was that anyone could build, and he didn't care how many people teamed up together or how they decided it. The only stipulation was that Dre was his only building partner tonight. This announcement caused Dre to smile all over himself, even with rice stuck to his forehead and face.
"Will you be my building partner?" Beth asked Daryl and smiled up at him with a big ole smile.
"Well, how the hell could I turn a face like that down?" Daryl replied and kissed her lips.
"Stop that shit for five minutes" Negan teased. "We got more rules to go over."
Everyone laughed at Negan's playfulness with Daryl and Beth.
"Rule number two" Negan started again.
"God, just the rules are going to take all night" Kelly whispered to Ginger. She elbowed him trying to shut him up.
"The youngest person on the team will draw a building project from this bowl my lovely daughter in-law prepared" Negan winked at a blushing Beth.
"Rule number three" Negan held up three fingers. "Each team has ten minutes to get your shit together before official time begins. Building time is thirty minutes. So, if you're especially organized, like me for example, you could have up to forty minutes to complete your project."
There were some moans and groans from around the room at Negan's obvious cockiness. "On the other hand" Negan continued "if you're a bit of a slow starter and pussy foot around too much – well, you're probably gonna be screwed on time."
"Rule number four" Negan got louder which generated more groans from everyone scattered around the living room. "All decisions of the judging panel are final, and anyone who tries to protest or argue will be dealt with accordingly."
"Well, damn" Maggie snorted.
"Indeed Margaret" Negan agreed. Everyone laughed.
"Well, what are the criteria that the judges will be using?" Beth asked timidly. Beth was always that student who hounded the professor for the syllabus a month before the semester started. Negan walked over to her and tweaked her nose.
"Glad you asked Princess" Negan answered. Beth smiled at everyone around the room as if she'd just gotten a gold star from the teacher.
Negan held out his hand and Ginger handed him a clipboard. Negan read down the judging points that included completed building within time allotted, followed plan specifications to a tee, structurally sound, aesthetically pleasing.
Negan and Andre named themselves "Team Awesome".
Daryl and Beth were a team and no one dared to even approach them to join forces – the inability to tolerate the amount of PDA that was sure to occur at that table was probably the deciding factor. Their team name was "The Love Bugs" – uggh.
That left Annette, Glen, Maggie, Michonne, and Rick. They all agreed to put Glen in charge, but Rick would be his right hand man. The ladies would be support staff so to speak. Annette suggested the name "The Superstars" for their team and so that's what they went with.
Annette was instructed to get the bowl with the project plans inside. Beth drew for her and Daryl and pulled out the "Green Valley Lookout". They both laughed and said this competition was already theirs because even the name of their structure was perfect – Green. Andre pulled for Team Awesome and drew out "Double T Ranch".
"Hell yeh" Negan cheered. "A most impressive set of plans my dear boy." Dre laughed at Negan's goofiness.
Maggie drew for the Superstars and she came out with Redwood Junction – a train depot of sorts. "Cool" Glen shouted out with the genuine excitement of a child on Christmas day.
Kelly, serving as official timekeeper, told them that they could get started. And, as Uncle Si would say, it was on like Donkey Kong. Michael took out his phone to capture the event on video – he could already tell that this was going to be black mail worthy.
Glen's team got a really good start. Annette sorted through all the log pieces and began creating piles of like building supplies. She was sorting them so that when Glen or Rick asked for a certain piece they wouldn't waste time searching for it. Now that's smart Negan thought to himself when he noticed what they were doing. That Annette's a thinker for sure. Michonne offered encouragement every now and then, but mostly she spent her time gazing at that beautiful baby girl of hers. Maggie spent her time building her own little cabin underneath the table – actually she said it was a brothel to service the railroad workers on their down time. Negan snorted at that thinking that it was funny as hell. Annette had said something to the effect of Oh Margaret that's in such poor taste.
Now, Daryl and Beth – they got off to a good start too. Beth saw her mom's strategy of sorting the logs and she agreed that it was probably a very good idea, so she quickly got to sorting while Daryl studied the plans. And studied some more. See, Daryl didn't rush into things – well, work related things anyway. That's why Negan always knew that a Daryl Dixon project would be a flawless project. But they only had thirty- five minutes and time was ticking.
Eventually, Daryl got to building and Beth got to assisting and before you knew it, the Green Valley Lookout structure was nearing completion. Beth was getting more excited by the minute.
"Oh, Daryl" she'd say. "It's just perfect." Daryl would smile and then they'd kiss. Rick pelted them with the littlest log pieces. Daryl would zing them back over at Rick. At one point Daryl caught the corner of Rick's right eye eliciting a string of expletives from Rick.
"Boys" Annette warned. "Stop throwing toys – you're not settin a very good example."
With that small amount of chastising, Daryl decided to focus back on his work and Daryl, being one that always went the extra mile decided that the lookout needed a little something else. Quickly, with a pencil he scratched out something on the back of the plans.
"Beth, I need ya to go get me some stuff" Daryl whispered. "Gonna have to amp this project up if we're wanta win." Beth loved how competitive Daryl was. He'd been glancing over at Negan and Dre's project – it was damn impressive. He wasn't worried about Glen because he'd heard him cussing when Maggie accidently knocked their structure over moving around under the table. They'd already had to start over twice – Rick had even started threatening Maggie if she did it again.
"What'cha want me to get?" Beth asked.
Daryl chewed on his lip and looked back at his hastily scratched out plans. "I need rubber bands, scotch tape, and some bottle lids" Daryl told her.
Beth scrunched her eyebrows up. "What kind of bottle lids"
"Uh, like off a 2 liter or something" he declared. "We got anything like that?"
Beth answered him by taking off for the kitchen.
In the meantime, the massive ranch Dre and Negan had been charged with building was slowly progressing. Negan was taking his time and allowing Dre to do most of the work. It was a slow go because Negan would point out things that needed to be corrected and he'd take the time to demonstrate to Dre what he was talking about and explaining the reasoning behind it. Dre was having the time of his life and so were the adults.
Kelly finally called time and ordered everyone to step away from their table – no more building could take place. Maggie hopped up from the floor, proud as a peacock of her whorehouse. Glen was very concerned about the roof on their train depot – it was a bit lopsided to say the very least. He was pretty sure that there was a log not completely in place somewhere causing the ever so slight kilter to his roofline.
Beth and Daryl had goofy smiles on their faces. Daryl had whispered to Beth that "Glen's roof is fucked up – one of Maggie's whores probably caused the whole foundation to slip". Beth giggled at that comment and that caused Daryl to want to nibble on her, or touch her, or something. Their lookout was perfect according to the plans, it looked great, AND Daryl had fashioned some catapults for fightin off Injuns he said. Beth told him it was the best lookout she'd ever seen.
Dre and Negan's ranch was completed and perfect. The panel of judges had their work cut out for them.
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Annette had long since excused herself from the building competition and tidied up the kitchen for her daughter. She knew that Beth would have a lot to do tomorrow and she sure enough wouldn't want to begin the day by having to clean up empty pizza boxes and sticky take out cartons. While Annette was in there, she whipped up a little surprise for everyone.
"Hey ya'll" Annette called to them from the kitchen. "When the building party is over, I've got homemade brownies for dessert - ice cream and hot fudge sauce to go over the top."
Negan acted as if he'd been poked with a cattle prod. "You heard the lady" he barked at Ginger. "Get on with announcing the winners."
While Michael was charged with snapping pictures of everyone's completed structures, Ginger and Kelly went to the front of the living room where everyone had gathered. Kelly had three envelopes in his hand. Beth assumed that they were prizes and she became even more excited – she and Daryl knew that the catapults were going to put them over the top - literally.
"Coming in third place with a completely historically accurate train depot" Ginger began "is the Superstar Team." Everyone clapped and cheered. "Honorable mention given to Maggie for the log cabin whore house."
"Daddy" Dre asked "What's a whore house?"
Well, that just about put Negan under for the night. Negan slapped Rick on the back and said yeh, Rick. Tell us what a whore house is. Rick tried to fight the smile but couldn't do it. We'll talk later son – much later Rick had told Andre.
Kelly handed Glen the 3rd place envelope.
"Now, we really had a hard time deciding between the other two projects – both were very impressive" Ginger began. "However, one of the stipulations was that the plans had to be followed precisely" Ginger looked nervous.
Daryl already knew where this was going, but Beth hadn't figured it out yet.
Ginger started again. "With that being said and even though we really thought the addition of the catapults was a very wise addition, the judging committee had to deduct points for straying from the given plans."
"What?" Beth spouted. "Negan!"
"Ahhhh, ahhh, ahhh" Negan wagged his finger at Beth. "No arguing allowed."
"Second place goes to the Love Bugs" Ginger announced. Kelly tried to hand the envelope to Beth but she refused to take it. Daryl finally took the envelope.
"Guess that means first place goes to Team Awesome" Ginger stated. Kelly handed the first place prize envelope to Andre who couldn't stop jumping up and down.