It was a sunny Monday morning when he strolled up to the wrought iron gates with raised hands, looking like he'd stepped straight out of an REI catalog. Brandishing poorly taken photos of another place and getting a full line up of slayers to block the entrance for his efforts.

It was rare for anyone to approach the farm out of the blue. Set back far off the road and with a driveway you'd have to squint to see, it wasn't exactly screaming for attention from passers by.

Which was why walk-ins were met with immediate distrust. You had to know it was there to find it at all and this man certainly knew it was there.

Buffy approached the gates warily, Faith and Dawn hot on her heels as the red sea of over ten slayers parted. He was far too clean for her liking. Far too put together and well dressed. People didn't wander the world like that anymore, even here on the farm with running water and food and enough deodorant to last them years they weren't exactly strutting around like they'd just gotten a spread in Southern Charm magazine.

This guy though, this guy was clearly from somewhere and she had every intention of finding out not only where, but how and why he'd tracked them down. Her patience and tolerance for newcomers had grown since the latest additions but she was far from ready to make their home open to the public.

She paused at the gate before pushing it open with both hands and walking forward to meet him. He looked innocent enough, but looks could be deceiving. She knew that all too well.

"Who are you and why are you here?"

"My name is Aaron, I've been following you." He stopped a moment and shook his head. "No, that sounds wrong, I have been following you, but only because I think we can help each other."

She was perplexed. There was no chance that he'd have followed her or one of the girls and not been spotted. Regardless of his stealth level they would have seen him a mile away. She made a mental note to press him about this further later.

"How?"

He held out the photos to her and she reluctantly took them. Fingered through the grainy black and whites with rapt interest. "This is where you live?"

He nodded. "Alexandria. It's safe there, we have walls, food, a community."

Buffy handed the photos back to him and crossed her arms over her chest. "And you're telling me this why?"

"Because like I said, I've been following you. Well, not you per say but people from this farm. I'm a sort of recruiter for Alexandria. I look for people that could…fit…could be a part of what we're building there."

"And you think that's us."

He nodded again and she sighed. Could feel the eyes on the back of her head from the girls and everyone else who had gathered on the other side of the gates. She couldn't very well just turn him away now. Real or not, this community he was raving about was information they needed to verify and he was someone who needed to be vetted since he'd so easily stumbled his way into their very discreet path.

"We have a lot to talk about then."

She didn't feel comfortable letting him into the main house. Rational or not, having a stranger see the inside of their home, what they had or didn't have, allowing him to judge accordingly or catalog what was worth trying to steal wasn't on Buffy's agenda.

So five minutes later they were gathered around the front of the property in a large circle with the newcomer in the middle. If he was nervous about all the sudden attention or the amount of people that lived there he didn't show it. She noted his brief surprise when just under two dozen women showed up, then Daryl, Rick and everyone else they'd brought with them as well.

He recovered quickly though and gave his spiel, touted the benefits of his community and was waiting with bated breath for her response to the offer.

Come see for yourself, he'd said. Come see and then decide.

She had to curb the instinct to huff out a sarcastic laugh at the idea of her and all her girls packing up and moving to this new place. The odds were higher of the powers themselves floating down to earth and reversing the virus on everyone bitten.

They had already built something here. Already put blood, sweat and tears into what the farm was becoming and that wasn't even taking into account the biggest reason of all. The one she could never tell him.

No, she would not be moving house to Alexandria, but she sure did feel like finding out everything she could about this new place that held all these new people. And most importantly, how he'd found them.

"You say you've been following us. Who? Specifically."

Aaron looked around the large group for a moment, eyes roaming over each of the girls. Over Carol, Daryl and Maggie, and finally resting on Rick and Abe. "Mostly them."

He gestured to Michonne, Rosita and Tara as well. "And sometimes them."

Well that made sense, she thought. No one was a prisoner here. They could come and go as they pleased and some of them had done just that. A faint relief washed over her at not having to stomach the thought of a slayer being followed for days or weeks on end without their knowledge. That would have required some serious retraining on stealth management and perhaps even a solid scolding.

Rick had the decency to look surprised. "We didn't see him. I would have said something."

Buffy believed him. They may not always agree but he wasn't actively trying to sabotage them. "I know. It's ok."

She turned her attention back to Aaron. "We'll come with you. Just to see for ourselves."

He looked relieved and somewhat excited at her response. This one, obviously, was harmless. She only hoped the others were too. They could do with forming outside alliances. There could be benefits there and she wasn't short sighted enough to discount it outright. They would go and get a feel for the place and it's people and then form a plan on how to move forward.

Twenty four hours later Carol was sitting in the larger guest house with everyone from her core group. They had just gotten back from Alexandria and her mind was spinning.

Aaron hadn't been lying when he said they had all the modern amenities you could ask for as well as an actual community that seemed to be thriving thus far.

It was beautiful.

It was also cold and sterile and unfamiliar. Everything the farm wasn't.

Rick had spent the last few minutes discussing the benefits of leaving for this other place permanently. It was presented as a choice, an open invitation from the people of Alexandria to everyone here.

Join us. Become one of us. Help us flourish and we'll help you in return.

Buffy was adamant about not going once they'd returned earlier that day, saying that there was potential for trading amongst the groups but anything beyond that was more than she was comfortable with.

Carol had never really expected that she would accept the offer. If there was one thing she knew, it was that Buffy was a leader and her plans didn't revolve around supporting another person's dreams of a better life. She had her own goals and also her own secrets to keep. Things that didn't mesh with this new option.

"I think this could be a chance for us to be a part of something bigger. Something safer, more stable."

Rick's voice wafted over to her and she saw the others pondering his words. Saw them slowly start to come around to his way of thinking and she couldn't stop herself from speaking up.

"What about what have now? Here. I know it hasn't been that long but…it feels right here. I can't be the only one who thinks so."

A few of the others were nodding in agreement.

"What Buffy's given us is something we can't ever repay, but there's more out there. We know that now. If we're gonna build a life, we need to focus our efforts where there's the greatest potential. They have resources that we don't now. A doctor, higher walls, watchtowers, enough ammo and artillery to last us a long time. We'd fair better there on the off chance of an attack."

"Maybe we don't have to decide right now. He said it was an open invitation."

Maggie's voice raised above the others and Rick shook his head. "We can't simmer on this. They could change their minds. Decide it's not worth the risk, decide we don't want it enough. I think we need to go and we need to do it soon. This is how we grow. This is how we stop reacting and start living."

And just like that it seemed it was decided. He had a way of making anything sound like it was the best idea in the world regardless of how many holes were in the plan and everyone bought it hook line and sinker. Heads were nodding, expressions were resolute but saddened, and while she could tell more than a few didn't want to go, they weren't about to voluntarily vote against Rick.

Buffy may have become their primary decision maker, but Rick had never lost the status of leader in their eyes and loyalties ran deep.

Carol sighed. That much she could understand. It was hard not to value a bond forged in blood, in the span of years, over one only newly minted.

The group dispersed then, making plans to leave for Alexandria in the next few days and to inform Buffy of their decision in the morning.

Daryl's eye caught hers as she followed him back to the shed. "You ok with this?"

She shrugged. "Don't know. Have to be, I guess."

He chewed his lip absently mindedly and she raised a brow at him. "You?"

"Can't let Rick go there alone. We don't know them yet."

She pressed harder. "That's not what I asked. Are you ok with this?"

He deflated then, returning her earlier shrug with one of his own. "Gotta be."

She woke with a start. This nightmare had been the most chilling she'd had in a long while. The pieces were fuzzy, images slowly loosing their resolution as the fog of sleep lifted, but the feelings remained. Sadness, loneliness. She'd lost something important and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get it back. That much she remembered clear as day.

The tears were still hot on her cheeks as she rubbed away the last stray and rolled off the bed. It felt like she was mourning something, and while her dream hadn't been clear as to what, her reality was.

Today was the day they'd be telling Buffy that they'd chosen to leave.

The sun was barely rising as she puttered into the kitchen to fix a cup of tea. Daryl was still stretched out on the sofa and she paused a moment to stare greedily at him while he was totally unaware.

His hair was more mussed than usual, which was a feat in itself. One leg thrown off the side and an arm over the back of the sofa. The position looked just about as uncomfortable as it could possibly be and she wished he'd taken her up on her offer to share the bed back when they first moved in. And every time since then.

They were adults and they'd certainly spent more nights than she could count sleeping in close quarters already, but he refused every time. Saying he was a terrible sleeper and would only keep her awake with his tossing and turning.

If she had known then what she knew now, she'd have insisted anyway. Forced him into her bed and gotten at least one full night of sleeping close enough to him to let his presence soothe her. She'd have been even more greedy than she was right now as her eyes raked over his face, committing it to memory.

Her dream hadn't been wrong. She would be mourning something soon but it would be of her own doing.

Alexandria wasn't more than an hour's ride away but it may as well have been a life time's worth of distance because he would be there and she wouldn't.

She hadn't told him yet. Only made the decision herself a few short hours ago. The overwhelming urge to beg him to stay with her paled in comparison to his responsibilities to their group as a whole.

They needed him more than she did. She would be ok. She would survive here, thrive even.

For the first time in a long while, Carol felt like she had a purpose. Felt like she belonged and it was all wrapped up in this place. She couldn't leave it now. Hadn't felt like that with the people she'd come here with, except for him, since the prison. Doubted she ever would again if she went with them to Alexandria.

Daryl might try to convince her to change her mind, but in the end he would accept her choice and they would go their separate ways.

He would be fine.

She would be fine.

The clenching in her chest that wrapped around her heart like a vice told her otherwise, but she ignored it with practiced ease. The hardest choices were sometimes the best ones. She just had to get through today, had to get through actually watching him leave and then it would be ok.

He mumbled something in his sleep and her face crumbled as she turned away. She was being ridiculous, she thought as she dunked a tea bag into the cup of hot water. It was barely an hour away. She would see him again.

Why then did it feel like she was about to break up with someone she wasn't even in a relationship with in the first place.