Author's Note: Just a heads up, there is no Jessie, Pete or their kids in Alexandria. That plot has been changed to suit my storytelling needs. *evil grin* Enjoy!

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." ― Walt Disney

The gate to Alexandria squealed slightly as it was pulled open from the inside. The group moved forward with Aaron holding Eric up as they led the others. As soon as Eric had disappeared around the gate, hobbling as he went, an animal shriek and the rustling pop of a garbage can at the group's left made them jumpy as they aimed their weapons. Without hesitation Daryl shot an arrow into what turned out to be an opossum. Beside Aaron at the entrance stood another man, staring at Daryl who bent down and lifted the now dead opossum up by its tail.

"I brought dinner," he quipped.

Georgie shot him a smirk before looking forward at her first glimpse into the community like a child about to discover Disney World for the first time.

"It's okay," Aaron assured the other man. 'C'mon in, guys."

Leaving behind their vehicles and the charred shells of the homes outside the gate, the group slowly entered inside, making sure to keep their wits about them. As the gate rolled closed, they all turned to look at it and it felt like it was there to keep them in rather than keep anyone out.

"Before we take this any further, I need you all to turn over your weapons," the other man informed. "Stay, you hand them over."

"We don't know if we want to stay," Rick replied, one arm down at his side with his Colt out, and the other wrapped around Judith.

"It's fine, Nicholas," Aaron spoke.

"If we were gonna use them, we would have started already."

"Let them talk to Deanna first."

"Who's Deanna?" Abraham demanded.

"She knows everything you'd want to know about this place." Aaron focused back on Rick. "Rick, why don't you start?"

A walker snarling nearby caused Rick to turn around and crane his head to peer through the slates in the gate. "Sasha," he gestured.

Turning around and aiming her rifle, Sasha pulled the trigger and blew through the walker's skull with one shot. As she tuned back around the secondary gate was rolled closed.

"It's a good thing we're here," Rick remarked with a tinge of sarcasm.

The group followed behind Aaron, Eric and Nicholas, walking up the road directly in front of them. There were several houses all around; the exact number they couldn't pinpoint at the moment. There was one white house facing the main gate, at their right, when they first entered, and a grouping of solar panels beyond that. There was even a pond with a red brick walking path around it.

It seemed so peaceful, as if they'd stepped into the past, before the outbreak.

The streets were clean; there was no debris or dead bodies. The homes were in mint condition and looked as if they must've been built not long before the world went to hell. These weren't the houses they were used to seeing; houses that had been looted or burned, more like those just outside the gate.

These were nice homes. They were picturesque. It was almost too good to be true and they just hoped that wasn't the case.

When they reached an intersection, they turned right. Aaron pointed out the white house, third from the corner, as his and Eric's and that everyone was welcome to come on buy and visit whenever they wanted; their door was always open.

Walking around what looked to be a grouping of row houses, the group was led to the first one and were greeted at the front door by a woman was in her late fifties or early sixties. She looked like a politician running for office, in Georgie's opinion. Or a high school principal.

"Hello, everyone. Welcome to Alexandria," she greeted. No one responded, so she zeroed in on Rick. "I would like to talk to each member of your group first if you are all right with that. It will be in a safe and comfortable place; my living room. I need to get a feel for everyone. You understand that safety of the people you look after is of great importance."

Rick nodded. He held his gaze with her a while, both trying to size the other up. When he looked away from her, he then turned to Georgie and handed Judith over.

"Play nice," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around Judith. "Holster your gun."

Looking her in the eye, he nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll try."

Giving him a withering look, she shook his head. He could be so petulant sometimes and still it made her smile. Rick cast his eyes upon the rest of the group, asking for them to stay put, that he'd be right back. Giving Carl a side hug, he then stepped away and up the stairs to the front door where Deanna offered her hand and then led him inside. Before he disappeared into the house, Rick gave one look around at his people and their surroundings.

The group remained standing together, just waiting and not saying much. Nicholas kept eyeing Georgie as she bobbed Judith up and down on her hip and she wasn't sure she liked the look of him. She knew the people in her group, her family, but she didn't know him and she wasn't sure she wanted to know him.

"Your daughter's cute," he complimented her.

"Thanks," she replied, not feeling the need to correct him and explain Judith wasn't really hers.

Carl had heard the exchange and glanced over at her with a smile, and Georgie smiled back.

A short time later, Rick stepped back outside with the woman, Deanna, and it was decided the group would indeed be staying, but that they would have to turn over their weapons.

Georgie didn't mind turning over her gun. There was no ammo in it anymore anyway, but her hunting knife. That had been her father's, the one item aside from her children's pictures and her son's drawings that she had of any material importance. She hesitated in having to relinquish it.

"They're still your guns," Deanna was saying as everyone began placing their guns on a wheeled cart.
You can check them out whenever you go beyond the wall. But inside here, we store them for safety."

Georgie laid her gun down on the cart and unsheathed her knife, but made no further move. Rick walked up and placed a hand on her arm.

"You can keep it," he assured. "They only want our guns."

She looked at him and sighed with relief, placing her knife back at her side. Not having it there would've felt like losing a limb.

"Should have brought another bin," a plump brunette jested as she wheeled the cart away from the group when all the guns were handed over.

While the group took turns then, talking with Deanna inside her home, Rick and Carl had walked off with Aaron to inspect where the group was going to live. When it was Georgie's turn, she handed Judith to Michonne and followed Deanna inside where she was brought into a living room that looked warm and inviting. There were books everywhere, and all of them looked like they had been read more than once; whether Deanna was the one who had read the books or not was neither here nor there.

"Please, have a seat," Deanna spoke, gesturing to the chair across from the couch after she allowed Georgie to taken in the interior of the room for a moment. "Is it alright if I film this?"

Georgie glanced at the camera perched behind the couch where Deanna was sitting down. She shrugged. "Sure, I guess." Sitting down as well, she locked her knees together and leaned forward slightly as she picked at her dirty fingernails.

"I'm Deanna Monroe," Deanna officially introduced herself.

"Georgie Brant."

"Did you say Brant?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

Georgie narrowed her gaze. "Why 'oh'?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Deanna smirked as if she was privy to some great secret. "Sorry, I just assumed it was Grimes."

"You thought I was Rick's wife," Georgie deduced. Off Deanna's nod, she added, "Yeah, Aaron and Eric thought so, too."

"Must be the rings and how close you two seem."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to get rid of mine."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not actually married anymore," she replied. "I haven't been married since this world went to hell in a handbasket."

"How did you lose your husband?"

"He walked out. He wasn't man enough to stay with his family when the going got beyond tough. He took off for Atlanta after we had a fight and that was the last I've seen of him. I assume he's dead. I found his truck about two weeks later, just outside our hometown with the keys still in the ignition and blood everywhere."

"Rick is not your husband, but you two are obviously close. Is Judith your daughter?"

"I consider her my child now, but no; Judith isn't my biological daughter. Her mother died giving birth to her from what I've been told."

"Is Carl your son?"

"No, he and Judith had the same mother, but I also consider him my child now."

"Have you ever had children of your own?"

"Yes and they're both dead. Next question," Georgie snipped.

Deanna paused, trying to read the ginger haired woman across from her. "How long were you out there?"

"Too long."

"How long have you been with your family?" Deanna questioned, referring to the group outside.

"A little over a month. Maybe a month and a half."

"Were you alone before that?"

"No, there were two other groups. Both were killed by walkers, but I managed to survive," Georgie looked down sadly, remembering her friend Dana's face when she shot her in the head so she would suffer being torn into by the walkers that were attacking her. "I was found on the road by Carol and she led me to the rest of the group soon after. We've been together since. We've lost a few along the way, but we've held together. It's all we can do anymore."

"Who were you before the world changed? What did you for a living?"

"Why does it matter anymore?" Georgie leaned back and gripped her armrests as she held onto Deanna's gaze.

"Because it does," the older woman insisted with a smirk. She found something about Georgie answering a question with a question to be amusing. "Maybe I tell you about who I was first. Does that sound fair?"

"It's your house."

"I was a congressperson from Ohio, 15th district. My husband, my sons and I…we tried making it home when everything fell apart so I could help my district manage the crisis. However, the army stopped us on a back road and directed us here. They were supposed to come later, but hey didn't. However, there were supplies here and we made the best of it."

"I figured you were either a politician. Or a high school principal."

"Oh, you did? Are you good at reading people, too?"

Georgie shrugged. "You just look like and talk like one." She looked around the room for a moment, taking the details a little more. "You have everything a person could ask for in your home, but I don't see any photographs of your family. Why's that?"

"We didn't have time to grab them when we tried leaving Virginia," Deanna replied. "If you're wondering what my family looks like, you'll meet them soon enough. They're around." Smiling, she added, "My husband Reg was a professor of architecture. He helped build our walls from parts he found at a shopping mall nearby that was being built, but whose construction had stopped for obvious reasons. You see, who he was mattered quite a bit. He got the first plates up with our sons. And, after a few weeks, more people arrived and we had help. We had a community. But what we need now is people who have lived out there in the world and I told as much to Rick. Your group is the first we've considered bringing in for a long time."

"Not that I blame you, but what happened that's made you wary of outsiders for so long?"

"What happened is that in a group of four men we brought in, I allowed only one to remain," Deanna answered. "I exiled the other three who didn't work out. And we both know that's as good as killing them."

"No, that doesn't kill them. It just forces them to fight harder to live, to survive. I have seen the worst of mankind beyond these walls and what human beings, not walkers, will do to other people when they think they are out of options. The walkers aren't the ones you necessarily have to be afraid of. They're dead; they don't know what they're doing. They have absolutely no control over it. It's not life, it's not death; it's purgatory. But the other human beings, most that I've seen or met...they're the real monsters; stuff nightmares are made of and you'd do well to be very careful of you let inside this place or even near its walls."

"Are you saying you believe people aren't to be trusted?"

"I'm saying most people shouldn't be."

"Do you believe anyone in your group is someone who shouldn't be trusted? I would like to know."

"I trust my people with my life," Georgie replied, standing up. "All of them." She walked over to the windows and could see Rick and Carl in the distance, up the road, approaching a house at the very end as Aaron walked back in the direction of his own home. "I was a mother and a wife, I worked part-time answering phones and taking care of paperwork at my dad's auto body shop a few days a week, but in my spare time, what I loved to do, what I was, was a metal sculpture artist." Georgie turned around and looked back at Deanna, who seemed intrigued. "I would find pieces of scrap metal or old furniture, and I would repurpose it. I would take something someone was throwing away in the trash and turn it into something beautiful. My husband used to call me 'Martha Stewart with a soldering iron'." Georgie scoffed at the memory. "He said I was the jack of all trades. I managed our family and my father's business and somehow had time to build the things I built. It was all in a week's work. But now that feels like something that happened to someone else a million years ago."

"You sound as if you would like more of a purpose in life. I could offer you a position at the pantry to start; bringing supplies to all the families here. And since you have experience with welding and metalwork, I suppose my husband would love to meet you very soon. He could always use the help. He has ideas of expanding these walls at some point." Deanna walked Georgie looking away from her and back to the window. "Do those sound like things that would interest you?"

Slowly, Georgie nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, they do." She brought her gaze back to Deanna and nodded again. "But first I would like to see where I'm gonna be living."

Deanna grinned. "Of course." The older woman stood up and turned around to turn off the camera. Then, stepping forward, she offered Georgie her hand. "I hope you come to enjoy being here."

"So do I," Georgie replied, shaking Deanna's hand.

After leaving Deanna's home, she asked Aaron to show her to the pantry. Deanna had said someone could stop by with the supplies the group would need in the two houses they were being given, but Georgie insisted an easier transition would be to let them get their own things for themselves, to which Deanna agreed. Plus, it was good for Georgie to see where she might be helping out at and get a feel for who she might be working alongside.

In the pantry was Olivia, the same plump woman that had carted all the guns away. She was taking stock of each weapon and cataloging who they belonged to when Georgie arrived with Aaron. After formal introductions were made, Aaron mentioned that Georgie was to be given a basket of supplies to take with her back to her new home. Olivia began to protest at first, saying another pantry worker could do that in a little while, but Georgie shot her down, insisting on the task herself.

"After all, this might be my job here," Georgie had remarked. "I might as well get my feet wet."

With a laundry basket full of all sorts of things, like paper towels, a cheese grater, and tea bags, Georgie walked past several of her people, looking at her with smirks.

"Look at you, fitting right in," Glenn teased.

"Gotta hit the ground running."

"You look like you hit the ground running," he retorted, gesturing to his face, but referring to hers.

Smiling and narrowing her eyes, she glared playfully back at Glenn before glancing at Eugene. "Eugene, you're off the hook. Glenn's gonna receive the kick to his teeth instead."

Eugene nodded. "Much obliged."

With a chuckle, Aaron pointed at the last two houses down the road on their right. "Those two belong to your group now. Rick and Carl went inside the last one to look around first and clean up."

"Alright, thank you."

"You're welcome."

"No, seriously, Aaron." She held his gaze. "Thank you for this. You have no idea how long—"

Aaron held up a hand. "It's okay. Just…start living again."

"I will," she smiled, nodding.

"Oh, and I'll mention to our good doctor that you need to see him about, you know," Aaron commented, looking sheepish as he gestured toward her stomach.

"Yeah, okay. Maybe I'll go see him later."

Turning away from Aaron, Georgie continued up the road, feeling the sun on her face and enjoying its warmth because she knew she now had a place to escape to when it became too much.

Approaching the last house, she stopped and looked up at it. It was grey, just like the one next to it, but this one had bright yellow doors. Smiling to herself, she knew she could just walk right in, since this was her home now, too, but instead she found amusement in knocking on the door like a regular person again, for shits and giggles. While she waited, she looked down into the basket, inspecting further upon the items she'd been given. However, when she looked back up, her jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

Georgie was staring through the glass window of the door, looking right at a very clean shaven Rick Grimes who was poking his head out, carefully, to see who was there. She couldn't believe her eyes. He almost looked like a different person and, with the beard and mustache gone, he even looked younger.

It wasn't just his newly shaven face or the fact that his freshly washed hair was still wet and clinging around his face. It was that he was shirtless.

The first and last time she had seen him shirtless was back at Gabriel's church when she had attempted to wash his soiled shirt in the bathroom sink.

That seemed like forever ago.

Without further hesitation, Rick stepped forward and pulled the door open for her.

"Hey," she greeted with a smile.

"Hey," he greeted back.

Pressing her lips together to keep from smiling like a loon, Georgie inhaled and then finally spoke again. "Hello, my name is Georgie Brant, and I'm new in town and wanted to come by and introduce myself. And I've brought goodies from the pantry."

Rick smirked. "I'm Rick Grimes," he replied. "I just moved to town, too."

They just stared at each other for a moment as Rick took the basket from her.

"So…"

"So."

"So, that's what you look like under all that beard."

"Yeah, I was just cleaning up."

"I can see that." Georgie smirked and she gestured to her own chin. "You still have some shaving cream on your chin." After he wiped it off by rubbing his chin against his shoulder, Rick looked back up at her as she pointed at him. "I could give you a cut if you want. It's been a while, but I used to cut my kids' hair all the time," she offered.

"You don't have to do that."

"No, I don't have to," Georgie agreed, stepping inside and shutting the door behind them. "But I want to."

Rick shrugged. "Alright. Suit yourself."

Stepping further into the house with him, she finally got her first glimpse at it, and it was so clean and nice. "Is there hot water, too?" she asked.

"Hot water, electricity," he replied, setting the basket down on the kitchen counter. "It's—it's pretty nice." He gestured, pointing up at the ceiling. "There's, like, four bedrooms upstairs, one down here. There's three bathrooms. And that's just this house. Carl's using one of the bathrooms upstairs right now. I haven't even looked next door yet." Turning to look back at her instead of everyone around them, Rick added. "Did you want the full tour?"

"That's okay. I'll see plenty of it soon enough. How about I cut that hair while it's still wet?"

"Yeah…okay." He nodded. "Let me go get my shirt and find some scissors."

As she watched him walking away, up the stairs, she realized something felt different. She realized they were no longer just survivors wandering the world, thrown together. Now they were people again, living in a community and it felt like they were going to have to get used to each other again in this new light. It was a little awkward, and a little exciting.

Rick returned a few moments later with a towel and wearing that same old, greyish shirt he claimed had once been white that she had tried cleaning for him.

"I didn't realize you kept that shirt. I thought you tossed it when we got to Greensboro and found those new clothes to wear."

"Nah," he shrugged.

"Well, hopefully they can provide us with some clean clothes here and not just cheese graters and paper towels," she quipped. "You got the scissors?"

He removed them from his back pocket and handed them over to her. Grabbing a chair from the dining table, he pulled it into the kitchen and sat down as she took the towel from him as well and draped it over his shoulders.

"So what do you think of this place so far?" he asked as she began to trim off the ends of his hair.

"I think I really like it, what little I've seen." She brushed some of the hair off the towel and onto the floor to clean up later. She assumed these homes were equipped with brooms and dust pans. "Maybe you and I can go for a walk later, after you give me the grand tour of this house. We can see what this place has with our own eyes. Of course, that will have to wait until I can grab me one of those hot showers, too."

Rick's shoulders sagged slightly as she cut a little more off here and there. "It's just so…I don't know how to take this all in. Electricity, showers, haircuts—I never thought I'd see those again."

"Come on. Haircuts were never going away," Georgie jested. Hearing him sigh and watching how he hunched forward a bit, she frowned and placed her hands on his shoulders. "It's okay if you're not okay with this yet. It's gonna take all of us time to get used to it again." Resting a hand on the back of his head, she just held it there for a moment, before brushing any excess bits of hair away. "That's better."

Reaching into the basket, she pulled out a handheld mirror and gave it to Rick. As she removed the towel from his shoulders, she watched as he stared as his reflection. Georgie smiled at how dumbfounded he seemed by his appearance. Crouching down with the towel she scooped up the hair on the floor and found a waste bin under the sink to dump it all into. Turning back toward Rick, she found him with the mirror still in his hand but it was resting in his lap as he just stared at the floor before him.

Walking back up to him, Georgie knelt down and brought her hands to the sides of his face and smiled at how smooth it was. She was able to get him to look her in the eye and smile back at her.

"You are truly handsome no matter what you look like," she admired, rubbing her thumbs along his chin. "If there's a God, then he broke the mold with you, Rick."

Rick rolled his eyes but only ended up settling upon her face once more. Standing up, he set the mirror down on the chair and watched as she stood up with him. "I want this to work out. All of it," he said.

"It will." Then, she added, "I hope it will."

Whether they were talking about Alexandria or each other was anyone's guess. Maybe both.

Reaching an arm around her waist, he pulled her up against his chest and then brought his opposite hand up to the side of her face so he could kiss her.

"Mmm," she sighed. "I cannot believe how amazing you smell right now."

Rick grinned against her lips. "I wish I could say the same about you," he teased.

Pulling her face back from his in mock offense, Georgie gently slapped his face. He winced, even though it didn't hurt in the slightest. He simply grinned some more.

"Ooh, do that again."

Laughing, Georgie gave him a shove and he retaliated by coming back at her to tickle her sides. As soon as he got her cackling and her legs buckled, he swooped her up; holding her like a groom about to carry his bride over the threshold. Letting out another laugh, they smiled at each other and she slapped his chest playfully as he carried her up the stairs.

"Where are you taking me? Put me down."

"You need to shower. You smell like shit."

"Asshole," she cackled some more.

"Pigpen."

Instead of coming back at him with another retort, she just stared at him as he continued to carry her up the stairs. There was a faint smile on his lips when she leaned her face in to kiss him once more.

"I love you," she freely uttered.

Rick stopped when they reached the top step, and set her back down on her feet. He looked back at her, right in the eye and his smile brightened. "I love you, too."

After Georgie had gone into the same bathroom Rick had used, and gotten her hot shower, she truly felt like a human being again. She stood at the sink with a towel wrapped around her body and she wiped the steam from the mirror. She stared at her reflection and smiled, shifting her weight from one leg to the other and thinking about how good it felt to have been able to shave her legs and under her arms again for the first time in what seemed like forever.

Not only did she feel like a human being again, she felt like a woman again.

A knock at the door grabbed her attention.

"Yeah?"

"It's Carol. I was given some cleans clothes to bring back here after my talk with Deanna."

Walking up to the door, Georgie opened it a crack and Carol stuck her hand in, holding out a green shirt, underwear and what looked like black yoga pants.

"Thank you," Georgie said, taking the clothes. "Do you need to get in here and shower?"

"No, that's okay. I just changed my shirt. I'll shower later. Take your time."

After she was dressed in those clean clothes, which fit well enough, Georgie put her boots back on, which didn't really go well with the rest of her outfit. She was grateful for what she was given, but she wished she could choose next time. She preferred something sturdier, like jeans, rather than yoga pants. And if she was gonna be in pajama-esque clothes like this, sneakers might work better than her boots. Plus, they'd be more comfortable.

While her hair was still damp, she pulled it back into a ponytail with the hope of finding a brush later to get through the snarls; a task she knew would be painful. Then, picking up her dirty clothes, she exited the bathroom and went downstairs to toss them into the garbage when she stopped and realized she didn't have to do that. They had washers and dryers and laundry detergent here. She could salvage these clothes and wear them again. So, she wandered off toward the back of the house and found the laundry room and set them down on top of the washer for now.

Wandering back through to the front of the house, she found the doors were all open; the front and the double ones off the kitchen. Most of the group was sitting around the living room or at the dining table. Tara seemed excited about something above the front door; maybe the crown molding? Stepping out through the kitchen doors, Georgie walked up behind Carol and found Rick there, holding Judith. Carl was there as well, and Daryl was sitting on the porch by the stairs, gutting the opossum he'd killed earlier, pulling its intestines out and slapping them down on the floor.

"You can look," Rick said to Carl, who seemed very curious about the house next door. "Just be quick."

"Okay." Carl nodded obediently and then skipped down the stairs to head next door.

Rick then gave Carol a look which was a nonverbal request for her to go with his son, just in case. Carol obliged and followed after the boy. Georgie drew nearer to Rick and poked Judith playfully in the tummy, making the girl gurgle and smile. Shortly after, Rick handed Judith off to Georgie while he and Daryl walked both properties to get a better feel of them.

Georgie was standing by the railing closest to the other house when Rick and Daryl came walking up between both, and Carol came out of the other house to join them.

"They're right next to each other, but—" Carol began, without having to actually finish.

Rick agreed to her train of thought, nodding. "They took our weapons and now they're splitting us up."

"Yup," Daryl spoke.

"Yeah. We'll all be staying in the same house tonight," Rick informed as Carol just smiled at him.

"Well, there's definitely plenty of pillows and blankets," Georgie remarked.

Rick turned and looked up at her and nodded. "Yeah, there is."

A few hours after night had fallen, everyone was gathered inside the house; sitting around, getting comfortable with their makeshift beds on the floor. There was a pack-n-play crib they had to use for Judith, which Rick was placing her into while Daryl watched. Carl was reading a comic book, Noah was trying to figure out what one of the decorations beside the dining table was supposed to be and Georgie was sitting atop the table, watching as Sasha and Abraham stared out the windows at the quiet street.

Michonne sighed as she appeared, looking relaxed as she held a toothbrush in her hands "How long was I in there for?"

"Twenty minutes," Rick replied.

"God, I could not stop brushing," Michonne smiled, rubbing her nose. When she finally took in the sight of him, she smiled even more. "Huh. I've never—I've never seen your face like that."

"I said the same thing," Georgie chuckled, swinging her legs gently back and forth.

"That's what I felt before and after," he remarked, rubbing his face.

Just as he began to walk over toward Georgie, he turned when Michonne leaned into speak quietly to him about something no one else was privy to. After whatever words were exchanged, Rick turned back to look at Georgie with a smile just as there was a light knocking on the glass of the front door.

Everyone sat or stood up, alert. Rick walked over to the door and opened it up.

"Rick, I—" It was Deanna, and she was just as stunned by Rick's new look as many of the others had been. "Wow."

Rick sighed, clearly no longer amused by all the similar reactions he was receiving.

"I didn't know what was under there," Deanna smiled as Rick nodded. "Listen, I don't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were all settling." Looking around at the living room, at everyone gathered, she seemed either surprised or impressed. "Oh my. Staying together," she commented, looking back up at Rick. "Smart."

"No one said we couldn't."

Deanna kept smiling up at him. "You said you're a family. That's what you said. Absolutely amazing to me how people with completely different backgrounds and nothing in common can become that. Don't you think?"

"Everybody said you gave them jobs."

"Mmhmm. Yeah." She nodded and looked at everyone again. "Part of this place." Letting out a laugh and looking at Rick once more, she muttered, "Looks like the Communists won after all."

"Well, you didn't give me one," Rick said, leaning on the door.

"I have. I just haven't told you yet," she answered. "Same with Michonne. I'm closing in on something for Sasha. And I'm just trying to figure Mr. Dixon out, but I will." With one more approving look at him, Deanna said, "You look good," and then headed out.

Rick closed the door behind her and turned to the others before finally walking over to Georgie and standing beside her where she was sat on the table.

"Deanna's right," Georgie insisted.

"'Bout what?"

She looked around Rick to Michonne. "He looks good, right? Like, we could sign him up for a beauty pageant."

Michonne grinned and nodded in agreement, pulling at the shoulder of Rick's shirt. "Oh, definitely." Then, joke-singing, "Here he comes, Mr. Alexandria."

"Alright, both of ya'll shut up."

The next morning, everyone was up and heading out to get to look around the community. A stroller had even been dropped off earlier for them to take Judith around in so that they didn't have to constantly carry her everywhere.

Georgie was finishing brushing through the last bit of her hair inside the kitchen while she glimpsed Rick standing in the doorway of the front entrance watching as everyone walked away. Pulling her hair back into a ponytail again, she sidled up beside him as he looked down at Daryl who was sitting on the porch with his back against the railing.

"They said explore. Let's explore," Rick said.

"Nah," Daryl shrugged. "I'll stay."

"Alright." Rick stepped out onto the porch and looked out at the street, at a woman walking a dog. "Lori and me, we used to drive through neighborhoods like this, thinking, 'one day.'"

"Well, here we are."

Rick looked over his shoulder at Georgie and took her hand. "We'll be back."

As they walked together up the road, Rick started whipping his head from side to side in a panic.

"Whoa, hey, what's wrong?"

"I didn't see which way Carl and Judith went, did you?"

"Hey," Georgie placed her free hand upon his chest. "It's alright. They couldn't have gotten far."

Rick practically dragged her as he sprinted toward the intersection and then she pulled him to a stop and he looked near wild-eyed at her. "What?"

She pointed at the first house they had seen on their left when they arrived the day before. There on the porch was an elderly couple, happily talking to Carl who was holding Judith while the couple fawned over her.

"There," Georgie said. "I think it's probably just been a very long time since anyone around here has seen a baby. She's gonna have to put up with some pinched cheeks."

As she smiled up at Rick, she could see he was calming down. He nodded at her, and smiled back. But just as he was about to lean in and kiss her, they heard the clatter of a bike hitting pavement and a child's footsteps running toward them.

"Mommy!"

Rick and Georgie whipped their heads in the direction of that first house on the corner of their side of the street to find a blonde boy of about nine years running toward them with his arms held out before him. Rick seemed very confused when the child threw himself at Georgie and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and wouldn't let go.

Georgie immediately let out a gasp and dropped to her knees so she was eye level with the boy and cold hold his face in her hands.

Rick watched as tears burst from her eyes and a sob unexpectedly escaped her lips when he began to comprehend what was happening.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," she kept repeating.

"Mommy," the boy cried. "I thought the monsters killed you."

Pulling the boy into her arms, as he seemed to wrap his entire being around her, Georgie rocked him back and forth as her whole body shook with sobs. "My boy—oh god, you're alive."

Rick dropped down to his knees as well, and placed one hand on her shoulder and the other on the back of the boy's head to try and get a better glimpse at him.

And, sure as shit, it was the same boy from Georgie's photograph, only about two years older.

"Tristan," Georgie cooed. "Oh thank god."

"Did you miss me, mommy?"

"Every day, with every breath in my body," she replied. Georgie looked like she had seen the face of God himself and been baptized with holy fire. "I was so scared. I didn't know what happened to you, but I never stopped looking." Looking at Rick she found him smiling back at her, beyond happy for her.

"He's been here," he said. "He wasn't one of those boys in Greensboro."

"No, he had to have been there. His drawing." Pulling Tristan back, she pulled the drawing out of her pocket and opened it up. "Did you draw this, honey?"

Tristan nodded. "Yeah, at the big house with the pool. But I left it."

"Why did you leave that house?" she asked, curiously. "Did something bad happen?"

Tristan nodded again. "Bad men came at night while we were sleeping and started shooting their guns. Melissa and me ran away without them seeing us?"

"Who's Melissa? Is she here?"

"No," Tristan frowned, shaking his head. "We were walking a real long time before she found us a car to drive in, but then we ran out of gas and had to walk again. Then one of the monsters attacked her and she told me to run away as fast as I could and not look back. And I did, I ran the fastest I ever ran. Then I hid in the forest under a bunch of leaves."

"How long were you by yourself, buddy?" Rick wondered.

Tristan looked warily at him before responding. He shrugged. "I dunno. A bunch of days. I had to eat worms 'cause I got so hungry, but then Aaron found me on the road and brought me back here in his big RV."

Georgie looked exasperatedly at Rick and hugged her son back to her again. "Tristan, this is Rick," she said. "Rick, this is my son, Tristan."

Rick smiled and held his hand out. "Hello, Tristan. Your mommy has told me so much about you. How you were a Cub Scout and everything."

Tristan smiled right back and shook Rick's hand. "Hiya."

Georgie looked over her son's head and noticed many of their group and other Alexandrians had gathered, having heard the commotion and seemed overcome with their own emotion over the reunion between mother and son.

As she stood up with Tristan, Georgie smiled, almost embarrassedly, at everyone, and was about to grab for Rick's hand when a familiar figure of a man approached, walking down the front steps from the corner house Tristan had come from.

"Georgie? Is that you?"

Her face fell and the color seemed to drain from her face.

"My god, it is you. Holy shit."

The man was tall, blonde and blue eyed, with a charming smile as he came nearer.

Rick looked at Georgie. "You know him?" he asked, getting defensive on her behalf; to protect her if need be.

"Yeah," she nodded slowly, looking both stunned and despondent. She gestured between both men. "Jake, this is Rick. Rick, this is Jake," she introduced. "My husband."

With those two words, Rick's face fell as well.