Michonne stood, too, and motioned with her head to Daryl. He stood up, grabbed his glass and the bottle, before he followed her.
"This is the solar?" Daryl asked as he sat down on one of sofas.
Michonne took a chair near him. "It's what Rand called it. The queen or lady of the manor's sitting room."
Daryl poured more scotch. "Damn dumb name."
Michonne shrugged. Rand knocked, came in, put down two cups and the pot, along with creamer, sugar and spoons before leaving.
"What happened?" She saw Daryl twitch.
"Don't wanna be called 'sir' or 'lieutenant', Michonne."
"Okay, Daryl. They won't call you those names."
"Don't wanna be in charge."
"That one you'll have to work out with Rand. She's serious. We made it here first. We run the place." She fixed her coffee and sat back. "You want to tell me what happened?"
Daryl drank. "Get there and Sasha shot at me."
"What?" she leaned forward.
"Sasha shot at me. My feet. Rick came out. Yelled some about you havin' a fit and goin' off. I followed ya. We weren't there doin' the hard things to make Alexandria safer, like killin' Pete Anderson. I yelled back said you were one of us. He said we weren't. Sasha shot at me again. I told 'em to fuck off, got on my bike and left. Went back to that house, stayed, got up and came here. Didn't have nowhere else to go. Get here and Rand's callin' me 'lieutenant'."
She tried not to laugh at his pouty voice. "Did you want me to go back and talk to Rick?"
"Fuck them."
"You're welcome here. No secrets, Daryl."
"They wanted the rest of ya to try. Carol asked me to try. I was tryin'. Didn't take none of the guns she stole from the armory." He looked into his glass. "Don't wanna be like the Governor."
"You're not. For what it's worth, I'm glad you're here. With me. If you want to go back we can have Rand talk to Rick."
That almost made him smile. "She'd kick his ass. You see her today?"
Michonne sat back again. "Yes. She would kick his ass. He'd be crying like a baby."
Daryl gave her an unimpressed look. "Don't know 'bout that, Michonne."
"I do. She would. She threatened to kill a Green Beret for holding a gun on you. Something tells me she wouldn't do it for just anyone."
"Huh." He shrugged. "What else she tell you about this place?"
Michonne spent the next hour or so telling Daryl everything they'd done last night and today before he showed up.
"Battlements? That's why they had them little windows? Good idea. Put some sharp shooters up there. Near the front. Need to check out the back of this place."
"What I was thinking. Have a watch on the brick overpass."
"Yeah. Should get rid of the drawbridge and get a metal ramp."
"Then we'll do it."
"What's the Sargent do?"
"The Sargent of Arms protects the castle and takes orders from the General and the lieutenant."
"She really wants turkeys?"
"Crazy. Right now I'd settle for chickens."
"Yeah. Like some steak and eggs."
"Pigs?"
"Don't know, after the prison. I do like bacon."
Daryl groaned and rolled over. He sat up fast then remembered he'd taken the room by Michonne. He got up and took a piss, surprised to see towels, soap and shampoo in the bathroom. He took off his clothes and got in the shower. After he dried off he put his dirty clothes back on and headed for the dining room. He could hear them already.
"Sir, we have extra clothes," Seth offered as he sat down. Rand put coffee and a bowl of oatmeal in front of him.
Daryl narrowed his eyes. "Alright. Could use some clean clothes." He sipped coffee and almost groaned out loud. "Don't call me 'sir'."
"Sorry, sir," Adrian sat down next to Seth. "We won't call you 'lieutenant' but we may call you 'sir'. You and Michonne were here first. We need to set the lines down now for any new people we take in. Sir."
"Got that shit right. You and Michonne run this castle," Rand muttered as she sat next to Adrian.
Waya and Tsula came in with their own bowls. Waya poured water out of the pitcher on the table for her and coffee for himself. "Coffee?"
"This was a hotel. It's not fresh, but I think they grew it here or were going to grow it here."
"Wanna check out the back of this place. Outside," Daryl told them.
"I'll go with you," Adrian volunteered.
"Can go by myself. I don't need help."
"I can't do much. You really bruised my ribs," Adrian shot a look at Rand.
"Don't fight me next time," Rand retorted.
"They gotta clinic here," Daryl offered.
"I'll wrap you, Adrian," Seth volunteered.
"I'll take Tsula and find some string. Find out how deep the moat is," Waya reminded them.
"One of the buildings has maintenance supplies. I don't know if they have any string," Rand looked at him.
"They…we grow food here. There's string or something he can use," Seth countered.
"We'll figure it out."
"What are you doing, Sargent?" Seth grinned.
"Sitting with the general and looking at the flash drive. Her and Daryl have to approve the KP schedule. I'll post it on the office door. It would be helpful if we started cleaning out the apothecary and get those beds out of the ice house. We'll need to put those guns in the guardroom. Daryl and Michonne, I'm sure, have already discussed some sort of watch. We'll need to start it."
"Can you shoot with bruised ribs?" Daryl looked at Adrian.
"Yes."
"You have day watch until you can do somethin' else. Michonne said somethin' about the farm?"
"Yeah. We need to clean up what we can and turn the soil. Some of those books in the library will be useful. We need to hit a home improvement store for something on the solar panels. I don't know shit about those."
"Alright. Tsula can help move the food from the apothecary to the ice house," Michonne announced as she sat down. "The clothing. She can take as many of the animals as she wants. Did you want a smaller bed for her?"
"That would be nice," Waya accepted.
"Rand can move one of the rollaway beds upstairs for you. Waya, you and Tsula check out the moat then start moving what you can from the apothecary. Rand? Take a rollaway to his room then we'll look at the flash drive. Daryl wants to look outside."
"I'll go with him," Adrian told her.
"Seth? Can you start moving those guns to the guardroom? After you've gotten a tour."
She fixed coffee and sat back. "Daryl and I run this place. Obviously you three have more experience than we do," she pointed to Seth, Adrian and Rand. "We'll take any suggestions but we get the final say. I'm not the general and Daryl's not the lieutenant. He doesn't want to be called 'lieutenant' or 'sir'."
Rand raised her hand. "We won't not call either of you 'sir'. All the time? Probably not. If you and Daryl run this place, which you do, you need to act like it. Not like a dick or something. You know what I mean. When, or if, we bring in new people, they need to know who's in charge. Sometimes all it takes is a 'sir' instead of a gun to the head."
"Succinctly put, Rand," Adrian sounded impressed.
"I have my moments," she responded before she turned back. "Look, Michonne, people, for the most part, follow strong leaders. Some? They're just dicks and the only thing you can do is shoot them in the head. Being in charge? Sucks. You and Daryl will have a lot to do. I realize it's petty, we're grown ass adults that can figure out a KP schedule, but you and Daryl need to learn to oversee those petty details. Some people need to have their hands held. Your last group may not have been that way, but new people may be that way. If we want to make it? We need to draw a fucking map. You and Daryl make the decisions. Will we offer input? Bet your ass because we do have more experience than you. What you and Daryl have over us? Not our experience. You're more…relatable. If we were in some suburban hell? KP schedules not needed. We're living communally. We need a damn schedule. You and Daryl talk it over. If you don't want to run this place? You want to be the Sargent at Arms? Or just a regular person? Then you need to tell us so we can figure something out." Rand sipped her coffee. "Or you can just tell me I don't know what the hell I'm talking about."
Michonne sat back and drank her coffee while everyone ate in silence. When she'd left Alexandria she knew she'd need people. She assumed they'd be like Rick and the others. Dangerous assumption as Alexandria proved that wasn't always the case. At the prison they'd lived communally, but they'd already designated their jobs by the time she'd decided to stay. She'd been outside looking for the Governor or doing runs. When the Governor showed up and they lost the prison she'd almost decided not to find anyone.
Maybe she shouldn't have. She did. She didn't want to hold anyone's damn hand, but Rand was right. People followed the strongest leaders. She wasn't the strongest here. It would be Rand, but Rand would back her. She'd be the strongest leader by default. Her and Daryl. They could accept their limitations. She let out a breath. "I…don't want to run this place."
Daryl seemed to like what she said and they all turned to him next. "Nah. Don't either. Be just a regular person."
Rand stared at him for a while. "You're not a regular person. You'll be one of the advisors."
"What do we do, Rand?" Waya asked.
Rand glared at Michonne. The woman looked relieved. She looked at the others and they seemed to be looking at her, too. Son of a bitch. "Michonne, my other advisor, had some good ideas. Tour first. Then Waya and Tsula can check the moats depth. Daryl and Adrian can walk outside the castle, checking it out. I did a little, but the perspective will be different after having been inside. Seth can move all of those guns to the guardroom. Waya and Tsula can start moving the apothecary food to the ice box. Leave everything else until Michonne, Daryl and I talk about the other buildings. We might use one of those for storage."
Waya stood up. "I haven't seen the KP schedule, but Tsula and I will do dishes this morning." Tsula took her bowl and cup and followed Waya to the kitchen.
"We'll just take these," Adrian drawled as he and Seth collected their dishes and left.
When the room was clear Rand looked at Michonne and Daryl. "Are you sure? We'll follow your lead."
Daryl finished his coffee. "Don't wanna lead. I'll do the advisor shit. Done it before."
"I'm sure. I've done the advisor shit, too."
She sighed. "I'm so sorry I was using military terms. You do realize I was trying to lighten the mood, right?"
"Are you saying you don't want to?" Michonne asked.
"Not really. I'm not a good hand holder."
The woman smiled a little. "I think you are."
"Fine. Let's do the tour, you and I," she pointed to Michonne, "will check out the flash drive. Daryl? Take Adrian with you. If he was SAS he could be useful. If you think he's full of shit, tell him he's full of shit. He'd have combat experience, but if he and Seth were on their base? I believe they were, you're more experienced right now."
"What's SAS?"
"British Special Forces. He was probably over here for joint training exercises."
"How you know all this shit?" Daryl asked.
"Experience."
After the tour, Michonne and Rand set up the laptops in the office. Rand copied the files to her laptop and Michonne worked off the flash drive. It felt…odd to be on a computer again. She'd been on the reservation system and felt funny then, too. If she'd stuck around longer in Alexandria she could have used one. Carl said Ron Anderson had a gaming system. She'd had no need to use a computer so she didn't.
"Found the vendor files," she told Rand.
"Cool. No prints yet. I hope this Mike guy didn't have them on his computer. Then we'll be screwed."
"Do we need them?"
Rand shrugged. "Not really. I'd like them. I'm OCD."
Michonne looked through the vendor files. She found all of the food vendors and checked them against the map.
"No prints," Rand slammed the laptop lid down. "You found something. Can you go with it while I take a rollaway to Waya's room?"
"I'm done. The animals were purchased a few towns over. Delivery was scheduled but canceled by the vendor. The wheat should be here. It was delivered."
"I wonder where it is?"
"We didn't do an in depth tour of all the buildings, Rand. We looked in."
"Yeah, we're going to have to go through all of them with a fine tooth. You, Daryl and I. If we find it we don't even know if it will grow."
They left the office and headed for the ice box. She and Rand managed to get the bed upstairs and into the room Waya and Tsula were using.
Daryl and Adrian, both with guns, walked around the entire outside. Daryl was impressed with this place. Yeah, a tank could take it out, but he didn't figure much else could. Adrian didn't say a damn word. He did kill a few walkers with the pipe he'd taken from the hardware store. Daryl let him do it. He needed the experience.
When they made it back inside they saw Seth and Waya moving the guns from the crates to the guardroom. Daryl let Adrian help and went to find Rand. He snorted. Shit. An advisor. Rick had asked his opinions. He could do it for Rand. Didn't wanna lead no one.
Daryl thought 'Chonne was right. She'd make Rick cry like a little baby. Pete could fight. Rick could fight, from what he'd seen, when him and Aaron came back with Morgan. Rand could really fight. She'da knocked both of them assholes out. Same with Adrian. Deanna'd have a heart attack if he came back with them. Maybe he should. He looked around the castle. Nah. Better here. Already had thick stone walls and a moat. He passed Tsula in the dining room.
"You seen Rand?"
"I think her and General are in the office," she whispered before she ran away.
He rolled his eyes and went in that direction. He found both of 'em lookin' at a map.
"Done. All over. Think we should take down some of the trees in the front. Better to see the road."
Rand looked up. "Good idea. Can you figure out how to do it and get it done?"
"I ain't no lumberjack, Rand."
"Okay. Michonne and I were looking at the vendors where Mike bought the livestock. It was never delivered. The animals may be dead. I'd like to check it out. Do you want to do it?"
"Yeah. Can do that."
"Okay. I didn't put you or Michonne on the KP schedule. And both of you don't have to work the farm, if you don't want."
"No, we'll do both," Michonne stared at him.
"Yeah. Can wash some damn dishes. Won't pull weeds. We get animals I'll work with 'em."
"No, we'll do both," Michonne contradicted. "We're here. We can help. Everyone else will."
Rand moved away from the desk, looked at him then Michonne. "Alright. I'll just…go find someplace to help."
Daryl almost laughed as she skittered by him out the door. The woman could kick his ass. She's walkin' around him like she was scared of him.
"What Rick did to you was shitty, Daryl. Really shitty. We can't be prima donnas here."
"Didn't do it."
"You didn't do it at the prison. Rick and Carl did. I understand. What did you do at the prison?" Michonne asked.
"Watch. Runs. Hunted."
"You'll still do it here. There are only six of us that can do watch, Daryl. There are only six of us that can do runs. There are only seven of us for the farm. Not like the little garden Rick had, but a farm. You've seen it. The food's going to run out and we'll need more of it. Pulling weeds? Makes sure you eat. It makes sure we all eat. Tsula? She'll probably doing most of it. She's what? Six or seven? If it had been just me and you, you would be doing it. If you don't want to help us survive, why are you here?"
Daryl took a step back. Maggie'd asked Glenn the same thing.
"Don't gotta be here, Michonne," he raised his voice.
"No you don't. If you want to leave, you can leave. I can have Rand go talk to Rick. You can go back to Alexandria and recruit with Aaron. You can go off on your own. You might run into another Joe and his asshole buddies. Or another Terminus. Or another Governor. Or someone worse. Until we get more people, Daryl, we have to help everywhere." She sat in the chair behind the desk. "I want you to stay. Rand wants you to stay. It's why she didn't put you on KP or the farm. She knows you don't like it."
"How's she know?" he frowned.
"She's very intuitive. Much more than Deanna is. I like her."
Daryl knew 'Chonne was right. He was still pissed at Rick. "Fine. I'll pull damn weeds. Wash fuckin' dishes."
"Thank you. We'll all be doing it. Even Rand."
"I'll take down the damn trees."
Michonne gave him a little smile. "Anything to get out of pulling weeds, huh?"
Daryl huffed out a laugh. "Yeah."
"Come on," she got out of the chair and headed for the door. "I'm hungry. Let's eat."
"Okay, here's what we know. The wheat was delivered. We need to find it. It's not in the keep. Michonne, Daryl and I will go through the outbuildings. Waya and Tsula found out the moat is six feet deep and he thinks it's concrete at the bottom, which would work to our advantage," Rand told the table as they sat down for lunch.
"Why?" Seth asked before he bit into his sandwich.
"If it is concrete at the bottom we can put walkers in there," she grinned.
Michonne thought it was a good idea.
"How do you know?" Daryl looked at Waya.
"No weeds on the line," he said as ate. "Not even a tiny one."
"Check it out in different spots," Daryl recommended.
"Okay. I'll go out tomorrow."
"Go with ya. Need to take down some trees in the front. Can see the road better from the battlements."
Waya nodded in acceptance. "I saw some hand and chain saws in the maintenance shed."
"Need gas and oil," Daryl looked at him.
"Another trip to town, then. We should make a list. Gas, oil, a metal bridge."
"How we gonna get it all back?"
"The truck. We should all go," Seth advised.
"I'll stay. With Tsula," Rand volunteered. Tsula looked at Waya and he said something to her in a different language. Michonne saw Rand, Seth and Adrian stare at the pair of them.
"What?" Adrian gestured with is fork.
"We're Cherokee."
"Fluent?"
"Yes."
"We'll need to learn," Rand decided.
"How many do you know?" Seth asked.
"French and Russian. Fluent. I can understand enough Japanese to get by."
"German," Adrian raised his hand. "Fluent. I can understand enough Swedish to get by."
"Spanish. Fluent. I can understand enough Farsi to get by," Seth repeated Rand and Adrian.
"A little French. From high school," Michonne offered.
"English. Ain't learnin' no other damn language," Daryl scoffed.
"Okay," Rand shrugged. "You'll probably pick it up, anyway, Daryl. You're smart."
Michonne looked at Rand again. Did she like Daryl? She almost wanted to laugh. From what she'd observed of Daryl, the man was unaware. She thought Carol had feelings for Daryl. Daryl cared for her, but not like a lover. Hell, Rand would chew him up and spit him out.