Rick sat in his truck at the brow of the hill, his expression stony and impassive as he awaited Judith's return. He was confident that she could handle herself – after all, it was he who had taught her to fight and negotiate in equal measure.

'You ok, Rick?' Abraham asked from the passenger seat, his favourite rifle resting in his lap.

'Course,' he replied tersely. If there was even a hint of worry in his mind, he wouldn't allow his lieutenant to see it. He was banking on the knowledge that Daryl would never allow Judith to be harmed. No matter how much time had passed, no matter how bitter the rivalry between the two of them, Rick knew that Daryl had a soft spot for his daughter.

Everything depended on that fact.

He needed her to be the one who suggested a truce between the two communities. He knew Daryl – even after all those years he would still be suspicious of Rick and his allies. He couldn't have built up a thriving township like Fort Sophia without developing a measure of cunning. Still, Rick was sure that Judith would be his Achilles heel.

Rick couldn't help but feel impressed – even proud – when he heard stories wafting over the plains of this new town sprung from nothing but dreams and sheer determination. He knew that Daryl was not the mastermind of Fort Sophia. Though never dumb, he was blunt, headstrong and foolish at times but loyal to a fault – the perfect lieutenant. As the name suggested, it was clear that Carol was the brains behind the operation.

It was Carol who had turned Daryl against him – whispering treason all the while his back was turned. While he was on the cusp on domination – ready to seize power from the gangs – Carol was plotting to stab him in the back.

Together, they tried to convince him that it was his doing, that he had lost his ability to reason after Glenn's death at the hands of Negan. They were all wrong of course – he had never seen clearer than he did on that day. Negan was just another obstacle, just like the Walkers, just like the Governor and the Wolves. He was something that needed to be overcome using the only authority the world now knew.

Negan had taken something from them. What they needed to do to make sure that nobody was in the position to take what was theirs again. And if violence was necessary – then they would use violence. It was a means to an end.

There were enough people out there who hated the Saviours and their leader to hatch a plan to take Negan down. They did it swiftly and mercilessly, slaughtering the remains of the Saviours without mercy. In doing so Rick managed to make crucial alliances.

Rick knew that the people he was joining with were vicious murderers who would just as soon kill him as join him. However, he bided his time, using them to gain the resources he needed to make Alexandria the leading settlement in the southern states. They would be respected, and more importantly they would be feared. They would have the numbers to be able to control the Walkers that herded at the gates, and they would have the food and the fuel they needed to survive. What did it matter if they had to make a few Devil's bargains in the process?

He explained it to the group and the other citizens of Alexandria, and most were still afraid enough to follow him in everything. Not Daryl though. His moral compass would not allow him to band with thieves and killers, even if it benefitted them in the long term. He still chafed from Glenn's death. It seemed that when he died, so did the last link with what the group had once been and stood for.

The turning point came with Maggie's decision to remain at the Hilltop community to have her baby. Seeing the rest of them only brought back painful memories of everything she had lost. All she wanted was to make a new beginning.

Then, one day at a town meeting came the proposition. It seemed so pie-in-the-sky – the kind of illogical thinking that people were prone to back at the beginning of the outbreak. The kind that got them killed.

They had it all planned out too – their hundred mile voyage to find a prime piece of farmland that they had located on a map somewhere. It was sheltered, close to water, and reputedly had some of the most fertile soil in the country. They would take a bus and only enough fuel as could be spared, taking whoever wished to go and create a life on the new frontier.

What was even more incredible was the number of Alexandrians who were eager to follow – tired of their sheltered existence and leery of Rick's shady alliances. He hated each and every one of them for their betrayal.

What made it infinitely worse was that they managed to turn his own son against him. Carol had somehow managed to win him over by twisting and poisoning his mind until he no longer knew himself. That Carl was willing to leave behind Judith was proof of how much he had been hypnotised by their crazy scheme.

He knew the truth despite everything they protested, despite Carl's words that seemed so out of character.

'I can't live here anymore – I can't live with you!'

'You can't go,' Rick had shouted. 'I'm your father!'

'You're not my father anymore! My father would never do this.'

He recalled the gaping silence as those terrible words penetrated his brain. 'Do what, Carl? Protect my family – our home? What I've been doing since this thing started?'

'Not like this.'

Those words returned to him like an old song, worn with time but still catching his heart. He refused to believe it. After everything he had done for his son – for his family – trailing through the wilderness, killing, losing every trace of himself in the process, for it to come to this was unbearable.

Something broke inside him that day. He felt the last connection with his old self cut loose and wither away. He vowed to protect his people against all enemies – even if they included his own son.

Michonne was utterly heartbroken when Carl and the others left, and Rick was certain that she would have gone after them had it not been for one factor. She was pregnant.

Suddenly, all the fear and sadness she felt for the loss of her adopted family took a backseat to her flesh and blood child. The loss of her first baby made this pregnancy all-important to her. Now Jacob was fourteen and almost as tall as Rick, but he was still very much his mother's son. When Lucille came along a couple of years after her brother, Michonne managed to loosen up on her affections and allow Rick to play a larger part in their children's lives. Together with Judith and his new family, he was almost able to forget Carl's absence. Almost but not quite.

Years went by, and he succeeded in his plans to make Alexandria strong, but dealing with gangsters and robbers turned out not to be as profitable as he had hoped. He had failed to take into account that various cartels would take over oil wells, power stations, water and sewage facilities, rationing and distributing as they saw fit – creating their own bandit economy. They protected their turf with brutality and dealt in food, protection and often human lives.

Rick could not enter into their world without sullying himself. He had to square his conscience with giving the gangs what they wanted in return for what Alexandria needed. It was all done discreetly of course. If a kingpin wanted a rival removed in return for guns or manpower, then it would be taken care of. If a certain group required a certain number of women in return for a steady supply of pesticide, then Abraham would see it done. Every ugly necessity was factored into Rick's master plan of domination.

He neglected to consider that nature might not look favourably on their ventures. The last few summers had seen a drought that turned much of the surrounding land into an arid dust bowl. Desperation made people even meaner than before, so that any surpluses of food or supplies were hoarded with an even greater determination.

By tightening their belts and putting their heads down, the Alexandrians had managed to survive – but only just. Rick would never admit that they were just managing to keep their heads above water – it didn't quite fit with the mythology that he had created. People kept relentlessly moving toward Fort Sophia – even a few from Alexandria managed to break out under cover of dark. It meant that somehow the new community had managed to withstand the general deprivation, and he needed to know how.

He would approach them as a friend, gaining their trust and finding the intelligence he needed to gain the upper hand. Alexandria needed grain, batteries and fuel – if Fort Sophia had it, they wold find a way to take it by fair means or foul.

'Heads up, boss.' Abraham alerted him to the sound of an approaching engine, quickly followed by Judith's truck cresting the hill.

Rick let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. The truck drew alongside his.

'You alright?'

She nodded. He climbed out and joined her, knowing that this wasn't a conversation he wanted to have in front of Abraham.

'What was it like?' he asked, his voice gentler than he usually permitted.

'Big. Secure. Watchmen all over.'

Rick smiled to himself. She was never much for small talk – his daughter. Always so serious, so intent on giving him what she thought he wanted – needing his approval even though she would never admit it.

'You saw Daryl and Carol? How did they seem?' He was shocked to find that his breath hitched when he mentioned their names.

Judith looked at him quizzically, perturbed by his reaction. 'I saw Daryl. He seemed strong – cautious. Didn't give away much. Then I saw… him.'

Rick swallowed. 'You saw Carl?'

'From a distance.' Judith nodded. 'He was on horseback. Pity they took my weapons – I wanted to shook out his other eye.'

'Don't say that – ever!' Rick snapped. 'He's still your brother.'

Judith shrank a little in her seat, looking for a moment like the child she still was. Rick's expression softened a touch, suddenly realising the enormous responsibility he had placed on her young shoulders.

'Did they agree to talk?'

'They've invited you to dinner tonight. I can come, as well as an invited guest or bodyguard. No weapons will be allowed, and if they smell an ambush no quarter will be given.'

'No quarter?' Rick mused. 'They actually used those words?'

It wasn't like the taciturn Daryl to use such flowery language – more like Carol who seemed to have taken on the mantle of new-age warlord with a vengeance.

Judith was watching him closely, her dark eyes so reminiscent of her mother. 'What are we going to do, Dad?'

Rick felt his heart hammering in his chest as he drove down the road towards the entrance of the township. He climbed out of the truck and took in the towering fortress above him for the first time. He had seen it from the distance and heard about its imposing exterior from Judith. Nothing prepared him for the first sight of the high, barricaded walls and watch towers overlooking the surrounding land like an ancient siege castle. Tears stung his eyes as he stared up its heights. Never before had he seen something so magnificent.

He dismissed his fearful plans of a truce with Daryl and Carol – gone too were the distant schemes of revenge. Forget all dreams of peace and cooperation. Forget Alexandria.

It was clear to him now – he would take Fort Sophia.