Between the Thorns
Chapter 47
Maggie snapped her mouth shut when she realized it was hanging open as she stared at Daryl and the woman he was suddenly referring to as his wife. Not girlfriend or friend or someone he trusted, but wife. Maggie didn't even know Daryl was straight. To be honest, with the way he acted around women, she always suspected he was either gay or dealing with some sort of weird sexual problem he didn't want anyone to know about. She'd never even seen a woman in his personal space before. Except Carol. And their relationship was platonic. Or was. Maggie didn't want to think about the fact that she was never going to see Carol again. She refocused on Daryl. And the way his arms were wrapped around the slim brunette he'd apparently married since Maggie saw him last.
The woman was slightly shorter than Maggie and pretty, with long dark hair and big brown eyes. And regardless of the motivation behind her initial attachment to Daryl, from the way the woman was looking at him she seemed sincere in her feelings towards him now. She was clinging to him like a life raft at sea as the younger of her two daughters crowded in on her side, wanting Daryl to wrap his arm around her as well. The older one remained more stoic, Watching the strangers around her with her narrow icy blue eyes as she balanced a baby on her slim hip. Something about the look on the girl's face gave Maggie a weird feeling in her stomach. Like she'd seen the girl somewhere before, though she was sure she hadn't.
"I wanna go with you," the older girl argued, adjusting the grip on the baby in her arms. "I can fight." Daryl released the girl's mother and she took the baby back into her arms, leaving Daryl room to pull Rose in. He leaned down to rest his forehead against hers.
"I need you ta stay with yer ma and Lily," Daryl told her. "...its yer job to make sure they're safe."
Maggie could tell the girl wasn't happy about being made to stay behind. But she didn't argue with Daryl. She simply nodded her head and returned to scowling at everyone around her.
"Yer sure they'll be safe at Hilltop?," Daryl asked, directing his question to Maggie, though it was clear he wanted an answer from Jesus as well.
"I've got them," Maggie promised.
Jean watched as Daryl swung his leg over his bike and fired it up. She swallowed hard as he pulled away. Turning back towards the woman he told her she would be safe with, Jean waited to see if the woman was going to keep the promise she made to Daryl or line her and her daughters up with the rest of the savior prisoners they took from the outpost. Maggie offered her a warm smile. And Jean smiled back, hiking Gracie up a little higher onto her hip. Jean packed up what she could from the girl's nursery. But the supplies weren't unlimited. And she was worried about how she was going to feed and care for the girl in the middle of a war.
"There's a storage room inside," Jean said. "Is it okay if I pack up the food and bring it with us?"
Jesus looked at Maggie, not moving until she nodded her approval. Then he let Jean lead him back into the outpost. With some help from Hilltop's soldiers, they filled the backs of two trucks. And Jean was relieved that she was able to ride to Maggie's community in one of them instead of marching along with the prisoners, most of whom she knew and was friendly with.
"They have all our people tied up," Rose whispered, ticking her chin towards the base of the tall wooden walls as Jesus pulled the truck in through the gates.
"They're not our people anymore," Jean whispered back. She really wasn't any more comfortable with the situation than Rose was. Negan was a monster. But most of his soldiers were people just trying to get by or protect their families. And half the prisoners these people took weren't even soldiers at all. They were just points workers that were sent to the outpost to reinforce the fence. People that probably had no idea why there was a war going on in the first place. Some of them were barely old enough to shave, let alone be held responsible for this mess.
Jean was given a room inside the large historic home to stay in. Maggie called it the Barrington House. Whether she was being afforded a comfortable place due to her affiliation with Daryl or just because Maggie wanted to keep an eye on her, she wasn't sure. Jean guessed it was probably some combination of the two.
Despite the comfortable accommodations she'd been given, Jean was unable to sleep. She tucked her daughters into bed together and leaned back on the small sofa in the room, letting Gracie snuggle against her chest instead of putting her in the playpen that Maggie had someone bring up to the room for her. She knew the little girl was too young to understand what was happening. But she still had to be missing the comfort and familiarity of her parents and her home. Sometime near dawn, Jean finally slipped the girl gently into the playpen. She couldn't release the prisoners. Not without making a lot of trouble for herself and her daughters. But she could make sure they were being taken care of.
About an hour later, Jean was outside the gates dishing up bowls of the venison stew she made into bowls and handing them out to the captured saviors. Rose was following behind her with a jug of fresh water, making sure their former companions got something to drink. Jean expected some objection from these people to what she was doing. But Jesus only stepped in to offer her help with carrying the large pot of hot soup. It wasn't until Maggie came out with a sleazy looking old man trailing behind her that the tension increased.
"What are you doing?," she asked. Jean looked down at the pot of soup and back at Maggie. She felt what she was doing was pretty self explanatory.
"I'm not gonna let these people starve," Jean said. Not even Negan did that. "...And this is from the food that we brought in."
"Food that's not really yours. Negan just took it from someone else," Maggie argued. Jean rolled her eyes. That might be true. But Negan didn't take this food from Hilltop. So it wasn't Maggie's any more than it was hers.
"I shot this deer," Rose hollered, pointing at the soup pot. "Negan didn't take it from anyone. It's mine!" Rose handed the water jog off to the closest captive before she moved forward, dishing out another bowl of soup and handing it to one of the young soldiers she was friends with. She stared at Maggie as she continued, practically daring the woman to say something else.
"Thanks Rose," the young man whispered.
Jean paused a moment before she moved on, making sure Maggie wasn't going to make another objection. Thankfully, her attention was pulled away by the man that walked out through the gates with her. He started making rather loud objections of his own, offering up his opinion that all the prisoners should be killed. And not just killed but hung. Because he didn't want to waste the bullets. As Rose handed the water to the boy she'd dished the soup up for, he tugged on her pant leg and gestured for her to lean down closer to him.
"They're gonna hang us. You gotta help us get outta here," he whispered. Rose gave him a small nod before she stood up and moved a few steps down, handing the water off to the next man in line. But the young man noticed that she positioned her body awkwardly as she moved, stepping almost onto him with her right foot. When he still didn't get the hint, she kicked the side of her foot into him slightly, keeping a shrewd eye on her mother to make sure the woman didn't catch onto what she was doing. The young man reached forward, grasping Rose's ankle. His eyes lit up when he felt the small throwing knife she had hidden under her pant leg. He reached under her pants, quickly palming the small weapon. As she moved further down the line with her water, Rose glanced back once more, mouthing the words be careful before she turned her back and pressed on.
