Chapter 6:

Rick's eyes travelled all over the empty cell as he tried to catch up with what had happened earlier. He could hear his confidants trying to piece it together themselves behind him, but he was hardly paying attention to their discussion. Needless to say, he was very annoyed with Michonne's early departure.

"Sorry to interrupt…"

The hushed tones silenced as they all looked towards the door, Rick included. Jessie stepped into view looking sheepish as her eyes darted from person to person.

"I think I know who could have let her out…", She suggested, and quickly continued when they all stared her down, "I tried to stop her in the street, but Carl came over and-"

"Carl?", Rick repeated, stalking over to her.

She nodded hurriedly, "He stopped me, told me to let her go… I think he's the one that let her out in the first place"

Sasha sighed, rubbing her forehead with three of her fingers, "I caught him in here yesterday when Eugene came and got me to take her to the bathroom. I sent him on his way"

Rick's looked between the two women for a moment, before stomping past them. He didn't think it was possible for him to be any angrier, but he was. He knew his son didn't agree with his decisions but to make such a move behind his back was the breaking point for Rick. He marched his way back to his home and shoved the front door open.

"Carl?!", He called, slamming the front door closed as he looked around the open plan home.

"What?", Carl answered from the living room, in an uninterested tone.

"Get out here now", Rick ordered, pacing the foyer.

Carl exhaled as he stood and slumped over to his father.

"Did you let her out Carl?", Rick cocked his head at him.

Carl shrugged, "Yeah?"

"Why? Who told you to do that?"

"No one told me to do it, I did it because I wasn't going to sit back and watch another person get killed", Carl bit out, raising his eyebrows at his father.

"Is that what you think would have happened?"

"Of course it would have! Did you forget about Aaron? Spencer? How many people does he have to kill before you actually do something-"

"What the hell do you think I'm doing here? Running around making it look like I'm busy?", Rick squinted at his son.

"You know said yourself she didn't know what Negan was doing so you should have let her go so she could stop him-"

"What makes you think she's gonna help us? Who said she was going to stop this?", He stepped closer to Carl, waiting for his answer.

Carl glared at him from beneath his hair.

"You don't have to like my decisions, and I'll be the first person to put my hands up and say I've made some bad ones", Rick pointed at his son, "But you don't get to make calls like that. That woman's loyalties are with Negan, and she made that very clear, and you would have known that if you stuck around for a little longer when you were eavesdropping"

Carl's gaze dropped to the floor.

"I was planning on talking to her. Telling her about what Negan did to the Hilltop, hoping to get her to see what kind of man he is but now? What happens now Carl? Since you think you're smarter than everyone else and you can make the call for sixty other people, tell me, what do we do now Carl?"

His son didn't answer, he just continued glowering at the floor.

"If you want your opinion to be taken seriously then you approach me like an adult and we discuss things like adults, and that's how we decide what happens here! That's how we lead! When you sneak around behind everyone's back and you come over to me like a stroppy teenager then I'm going to treat you like a stroppy teenager. You got it?"

Carl inhaled, "Yeah"

Rick exhaled, straightening up, "Think about everyone else next time before you act to spite me. Now get upstairs"

Carl stepped past him and headed toward the staircase. Rick rolled his eyes shut as he pinched his nose bridge with his thumb and index finger, trying to calm himself. He hoped his son would heed his word, but he knew chances were slim, as Carl could be just as bullish as he could.

He wished he could go and hide in his own room but he had to check that the gate could be fixed after the Savior's tore it down, and he also wanted to prepare the people on watch, just in case Negan made a return.

He wondered if Michonne told the man everything that had happened, and a small part of him didn't think she would, as she obviously hadn't told him about their discussion at the Hilltop. Though, she left with Negan quite quickly, and she was clearly still angry with him about the new information she had learnt while in the safe zone, Rick couldn't help but notice something changed about her when she saw his enemy. It was as if someone breathed life into her, and he was even more sure that he saw Negan's posture straighten when she approached him. Their body language confused Rick, and the fact that she said that he wasn't her leader didn't help clarify their relationship any further. Rick didn't know why it all bothered him but he didn't have time to consider the reasons.

He focused purely on securing Alexandria further over the next few days. The Hilltop residents were trying to salvage their home, though it would take much more work than anyone would have liked. Rick refused to have the same thing happen to his community.

"We're gonna go speak to Ezekiel tomorrow, tell him everythan' and hopefully get him to join us", Rick explained to Maggie as they walked down the street towards his home.

"Daryl told me about him", Maggie winced, "You think you can get him to?"

Rick rolled his shoulders back, rubbing his neck, "It's worth a try"

"Hey! The gate!"

He turned to see Glenn waving for them both to come. Rick sprinted back down the pavement towards him, while Maggie jogged behind him. He hoped it wasn't another visit from Negan as he was in no mood for such a thing.

When all three arrived at the gates, Rick was surprised to see Morgan, Carol and Ezekiel, as well as a few Kingdom residents on horseback.

Jesus, Daryl and Abraham gave him identical looks that seemed to convey that it wasn't a pleasant visit.

"What's going on?", Rick asked as he approached them all.

Morgan jumped down from his horse with a huff, "They found us"

Rick squinted at him.

Ezekiel climbed down from his horse also, looking incredibly annoyed, "They turned up at our doors yesterday, heavily armed and looking for blood"

Rick groaned as he ran his hand over his face.

"They took half of everything. Threatened to level the place", Morgan informed in a more calm tone.

"Yeah, he does that", Glenn sighed.

"From what I understand, you've already had a run in with these people?", Ezekiel stepped closer to them.

"Yeah, we have. We was gonna come and talk to you about him", Rick shifted his stance as he noticed the man's pointed expression.

"Isn't that convenient? A week after you are invited to our home, this group of killers that we've managed to avoid turn up on our doorstep?"

Rick's brow furrowed at the man's accusation, "What is it your trying to say exactly?"

Ezekiel gave him a stern look, "I think it's all a little too coincidental-"

Rick's colt python was in his hand as he took a step closer to the heavily bearded man.

"Hey!", Morgan called stepping between the two.

"Wait! Now hold on- just hold on a minute!", Maggie insisted as she also put herself between them, Glenn joined her while Jesus stood behind Ezekiel.

Rick still glared at him, his finger finding its rightful place on the trigger.

"Look, we don't know how the Savior's found you because we've been too busy dealing with our own mess, alright?", Maggie tilted her head at Ezekiel, "I think now's a good time for all of us to sit down and figure out a way to deal with them, don't you agree?"

Ezekiel looked over his shoulder at one of the other men that was still on a horse, before looking back at Maggie, "Fine"

Maggie turned to Rick, who gave her a single nod in agreement. She then looked behind Ezekiel at Jesus who also nodded to her.

"Alright then, come on"

Once the men calmed, they all headed to the church to discuss the issue at hand. Rick was beginning to feel some sort of relief, knowing Ezekiel would be on board with taking on the Savior's. He knew they had strength in numbers and finally, their numbers were growing.

"How many men do they have?", Ezekiel asked as he looked to Rick and Jesus.

"I've seen groups as big as twenty", Jesus answered.

"There were at least thirty that night in the woods", Daryl rasped from his place against the woods.

"He came with no less than fifty when he came to get his woman", Abraham quipped from the bench.

"His woman?", Ezekiel quirked his eyebrow at the large man, "The one with the sword?"

"That's the one"

Rick pursed his lips as Abraham's description of Michonne.

"She was there yesterday. He took a young boy by the throat when he was making his threats and she stopped him", Morgan explained, "Don't think she agrees with his take on things"

"She doesn't", Rick spoke before he could consider it, "She didn't know what he was doing until the other day"

"So we could possibly have someone working on the inside?", Ezekiel urged.

Sasha gave Rick a knowing look, "Not exactly"

"Sasha's right, we can't bet on it, but If we all get our people ready, this is something we can handle", Rick insisted, "We need to find their camp, scope it out, see what we're really dealing with here, and then we go in. We play along with his little collections until every single one of us is ready to take him down"

"I agree", Maggie nodded.

"Me too", Jesus added, looking to Ezekiel.

The other leader looked sceptical, but still slowly nodded, "Fine. We'll do it"

Rick could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The other leaders kept to their word and residents were informed of the pending battle. They were also trained on a daily basis, as Rick wanted everyone who was able to be capable of protecting themselves and each other.

By the time Negan was due his next visit, Rick was ready. He had everything boxed to go by the gates so the Savior's didn't need to go any further into the safe zone, and he stayed close to the gates so he would be the first to greet him.

When he saw the array of black cars approaching that early afternoon, he made his way back down the watch tower, leaving Sasha to keep a watchful eye on the exchange.

"The pricks are here", Abraham mumbled as he pulled back the gate, which was still a little stiff after their last visit, but still in working order.

Rick placed both hands at his sides as he watched the cars grind to a stop in front of him. Savior's began to pour out of the vehicle, and he took a deep breath as he prepared to face his nemesis.

None of the Savior's moved from their spots, they all just stood by their vehicles and waited, as a car door slammed from one of the cars at the end. Rick glanced at Abraham, who wore the same confused expression.

Michonne appeared, walking past her people as she made her way to the gates. Rick was even more confused, as she appeared to be without having Negan. She eyed them both, her sword glimmering in hand as she stopped in front of Rick.

"Where is he?", Rick questioned, wincing at her.

"Not here", She answered flatly, "I don't think he'd appreciate such a meeting anyway"

Rick stared at her, "Meeting?"

"Yes. You want to stop him, don't you?"

His eyes sailed past her to all the people that stood silently behind her.

"They want to stop him too", She explained, as if she had read his mind.

Rick was more than surprised. He looked to Abraham again, who still looked just as confused as he raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just in case you're wondering if this is genuine", She peaked behind her, and someone in the first vehicle opened the car door, reaching inside and pulling out a severed head, "That belonged to a man named-"

"Wade", Rick squinted as he recognised the head of the man in question.

"Yes. He found out… nearly blew our cover so we had to… keep him quiet", She looked back at him.

Rick took a step back as he tried to wrap his head around the situation in front of him.

"We'll still some of those", She tipped her head in the direction of the boxes, "We can't exactly go back empty handed"

Rick slowly nodded, "Yeah, alright, well… let's go have that little talk then?"

Rick led her, and another man that he knew to be Dwight to the Monroe's home, as he preferred that to be the place where meetings took place. He sent for Jesus and Maggie to join them while he sat across from the two Savior's in the living room.

"So what brought this on?", He asked as his eyes darted back and forth between them both.

Michonne made no attempt to answer, so Dwight spoke instead, "We're all just tired of him. He's gonna get us all killed and we don't want to be a target. We want to work with other communities and all that, but his way of doing it… it's causing more problems"

Rick ran his tooth around his tongue as he accepted his reply, "And how do you suppose we stop him?"

Dwight answered again, "There's more of us back at the Sanctuary that don't want him as our leader, but everyone's scared. We've all seen how he kills people… no one wants to get there skull beaten in so-"

"If at least half of your people want him gone then that's more than enough"

"We need more. More people to take on the others. The ones that are fine with Negan are mostly the fighters, the ones that go out a lot... we might be outnumbered"

Rick sighed as he looked at Michonne, "And what do you propose?"

Her eyes rolled over to him from the window, "No one touches him"

Rick raised his eyebrows at her.

"I'll deal with him. You just prepare your people for the others"

Rick's eyes trailed up and down her as he tried to understand what she meant, "You realise the only way to stop him is to kill him"

"No. The only way to stop him is to take away his ability to do what he does. He doesn't need to be dead for that to happen"

"You think he can change?", Rick squinted at her, feeling himself get annoyed.

She stared him down.

"You know what he's like so why are you protecting him?"

Her eyes narrowed at him, "As I said, no one touches him"

"So then why should we help each other?", Rick cocked his head at her, "I want him dead for what he's done and I'm not gonna let anybody stand in the way of that"

"I'm not standing in your way, I'm sitting", She glared back.

"Alright guys, let's just all calm down", Dwight insisted, raising his hands at the two of them.

Rick's eyes didn't leave Michonne's, and she wasn't backing down either.

"We need to remember what we're trying to do here"

Michonne uncrossed her legs and stood, "I've said all I've needed to say"

Rick watched her strut out the room, and listened as the door slammed shut. He looked to Dwight with a questioning expression.

"Look, you can't expect her to kill him-"

Rick snorted, "I wasn't. I'm gonna kill him"

Dwight shook his head, "She won't allow it either. They… god, I'll probably lose a hand if it gets out that I told you this… I'm the only person that knows… and even then I don't even know that much-"

"What are you talking about?", Rick frowned at him.

"He found her… I think she had a kid and… I don't know how it all happened but he saved her or something… and they've been together ever since. I think it was just the two of them for a while before they got up here and started the Savior's… either way, they have each other's back", Dwight shrugged, "Could you imagine planning to kill someone you've been with since the beginning? You wouldn't want to right? You'd just try to find a way to stop them, and that's what she wants. To stop him"

Rick's tongue rolled around his teeth as he thought about it, sighing in annoyance.

"She will stop him. I know she will, but she won't let anyone hurt him"

He sat forward in the couch as he considered what the other man was telling him. He was glad that she was willing to help them stop him, but the thought of going up against her to get to Negan wasn't something that he wanted to do, and with all things considered she had been the rather helpful. He found himself facing a whole new challenge, as he wanted Negan dead regardless, but he wasn't sure how that would work with Michonne in the way, as he'd lost all interest in taking her down to.