I found the rest of my "The Walking Dead" graphic novels, so I am trying to stick to that storyline, although it's often hard to figure out what exactly is going on or what will get picked up by the TV show. So, I will do my best to keep to the general direction.

Onwards and upwards!

"Oh shit," Star muttered again.

"M…Morgan?" Rick stuttered in disbelief. "How…?"

"He saved us from a trap," Aaron volunteered. "Showed us a map with your name on it, so we brought him here."

Morgan was still staring at the lifeless corpse of Ron. "Why, Rick?" he finally asked. "All life is precious."

"Morgan, I…he was a threat to the peace," Rick tried to explain. "We've all had to kill to stay alive."

"Peace is not staying alive," Morgan pointed out.

"He killed my husband," Deanna hissed at the stranger.

"But it could have been one life lost tonight, instead of two!" Morgan insisted.

"Rick, who is this man?" Deanna demanded.

Daryl was watching Star instead of the social chaos in front of him. She was watching the interactions with interest and wariness, her golden eyes flitting back and forth between the players. He could almost hear her mind analyzing and processing each word, tone and flashing facial expression.

"Stop," she finally called out, her voice steady but echoing across the courtyard. "That's quite enough for one night. We will deal with all of this in the morning."

"There is nothing to deal with," Morgan responded to her. "A life is a life. You can't just leave murder until the morning."

Star turned a steely gaze onto Morgan, and the man shrank back slightly. Daryl almost smiled; he knew what was coming, as he had been on the receiving side not two weeks prior.

"I am not leaving murder until morning, Morgan. As far as I can see, the appointed law officer executed the order of the popularly –appointed governor. You do not recognize their legitimacy, but we have not yet recognized your citizenship. I see no peaceful solution that can be found tonight, especially in the midst of all of this loss. Wouldn't you agree?"

Daryl was seriously impressed at her ability to bring logic and authority to a moment teeming with raw emotion. Her shoulder was resting just slightly against his chest, and he could feel her shaking. With the entire community's eyes on her, he felt awkward exposing their recently-developed relationship in an outward show of support for her.

Morgan returned her stare and finally relented. "I don't see a better solution at the moment, no."

She nodded in appreciation of his graciousness, and then turned to the rest of the community. "Jessie, please take your family and go home. Carol will go with you for the night." She made eye contact with each person as she named them, looking for a nod in confirmation. "Rick, take Carl home and wash up, get some sleep. Michonne, Abraham, and Glen, please place Ron and Reg in the canvas you'll find in the storage house and bring them out to the edge of the north wall. Daryl and I will assist you. Aaron, I need you to go around to the homes of the people who aren't present and inform them of the events. Ask them to remain inside until daylight." As she delegated tasks, the named individuals filtered out to fulfill their tasks. "Maggie, please help Deanna inside and stay with her tonight. Morgan, you are welcome to reside for the night in any vacant home. Please go with Aaron and he will show you to one. Nicholas, Marie," she directed to the Alexandria members, "please clean up the courtyard to the best of your ability. The storage house and the cleaning supplies there are yours to use."

The audience slowly dispersed, each heading to their tasks for the night. Finally the courtyard was vacant, except for Star and Daryl. Daryl saw that she was still shaking, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into him.

"Ya ok?" he asked, searching her face. She looked over at him, fear and anger and uncertainty radiating from her eyes.

"Deanna won't be in any shape to make unbiased decisions for a while. And I'm not sure how stable Rick is, or how much people outside your family can trust him now. Morgan adds another unstable element," she shared.

"So what do we do?" she asked, some of her fear echoing in him.

She bit back on her lips. "I don't know." She looked up at him, her eyes looking for reassurance or guidance. All he could think about was how young and lost she suddenly looked to him.

"How old are ya?" he asked, realizing he had never thought about her age.

She gave him a dubious look. "Seriously? You're asking me that now?"

"I just…" he mumbled. "Ya always seem so capable and on top of it…"

Star smiled at his misguided compliment. "I'm twenty-six, Daryl. Just in case that ever matters again."

"Prob'ly won't," he responded. "I guess we jus'…do what we said we would. Leave the rest for tomorrow."

She nodded, and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Good plan."

Michonne, Abraham and Glenn returned with the canvas bags, and together the group got both corpses into the bags. Once his face was covered, Star shot Reg in the head to ensure he didn't return as a walker. They carried the two bags to the north wall and carefully set them directly below the frame, where they would stay hidden in the shadows for the longest amount of time.

"I'm going to go back to Deanna's house, see if she or Maggie needs anything," Glenn told them after their task had been completed. Star nodded in agreement.

"Go be with your wife," she gave him a small smile. He clasper her on the shoulder, nodded goodnight to the rest, and walked off.

"We're going to return to the house," Michonne informed Star. "I want to make sure Rick remains there."

"That's a good idea, Michonne," Star acknowledged. "We really appreciate your mediating."

"And we appreciate your intervening back there," Michonne returned. "We may need it even more tomorrow."

"I will do my best," Star promised.

Michonne smiled at the woman and turned to Daryl. "You coming home? We missed you last night."

Daryl blushed, thankful for the cover of night. Star also cast her eyes down, not wanting to make Daryl feel awkward and also not wanting to be disappointed when he chose to return to the family home.

"I'll see you all tomorrow," she answered for him, turning to go back to her home. She unsheathed the spear on her back as she walked away, swinging it between her arms for practice.

Michone watched Daryl watch Star go, and shook her head at him knowingly. "You know," Michonne said sarcastically as she, Abraham and Daryl started in the opposite direction, "we didn't miss you that much."

Abraham scoffed. Daryl glared at his friends.

"What?" he asked, annoyed.

"She's sayin' to go get your woman, dumb ass," Abraham clarified gruffly. "If you want to stay at the family home, then bring her to us. But ain't no reason for a man to sleep alone if he has the chance not to."

Michonne steered Daryl by his shoulders until he was facing the direction that Star had been walking. "Go get her," she commanded fondly. "And bring her back to the house tomorrow morning. Lord knows we are gonna need all the family we can get."

Thanks for any feedback you can offer! I live for it!