Reviews:

SlumberingVoid — Carol's 'let's just set them on fire' approach to life is without doubt the best running theme of the show.

Bucket Hat — Carol can't help but collect children, it's her post-apocalyptic hobby. And yeah, her being protective over Henry is the best... and then there's just Rhys in the corner getting all upset when people threaten the cat he pretends not to like.

Rhys got back to Hilltop, and by the time morning came around, life went on as it tends to do. He helped Enid speak to Tammy Rose about getting more space in the garden for her medicinal herbs, and then listened to Tammy complain about Jesus not giving the okay on expanding the crop fields yet. He talked to Alden about who would go out on the next run to scrounge scrap metal for the forge, confiscated a kazoo from a punk ten-year-old after a second noise complaint from trailer seven, and explained to Dianne why Jenny wasn't coming to visit after she explained to him about the new recruits for Hilltop's militia.

Jesus gave Rhys a letter from Maggie that had arrived in the day he'd been gone. He sat on his bed with Pumpkin on his lap, reading through it for the sixth time today. It said that she was happy and building a new community with Georgie. Rhys tried to be happy for her but ended up just feeling bitter about the fact she left Hilltop. Over four years, and he still hated it. Maggie would always leave a location at the end of her letters. Sometimes Rhys would pack a bag in the middle of the night and ride all the way out to the western border, twelve miles away, only to be back before the night watch swapped off with the morning crew. He hated that she still put those locations — that after all these years, she was still asking him to come out and join her.

Rhys got bored of feeling frustrated, so he left Pumpkin to settle in his room and went to Jesus' office — only Jesus refused to take Maggie's office no matter how many times Tara and Rhys told him to, so Jesus' office was just the sofa and coffee table in the hallway on the upstairs landing. A milk crate to put his feet up and a mess of documents scattered around in an order they hoped made sense to him.

Tara was sitting with a notepad and pen. Rhys tried walking past, but she threw a scrunched-up piece of paper at his head.

"What?" Rhys groaned.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Enid's going over amputations with me today... I asked her to teach me."

"I thought you were helping Oscar with the ag output today..."

"Oh, right, yeah..."

"Also, Tammy Rose has asked for you to go up from two days a week to three working on the crop fields."

"I get it, Tara."

"No-no-no, I've actually got a list!" She held up her hand, flipping to find a page on her clipboard with the other and running her finger down a painfully long way. "Dianne wants you to help out with training again. Sasha's pissed that you didn't tell her you were going to Kingdom and wants to chat when she gets back from the run. Oh, and Ms Maitlin wants the recipe for your red pepper lasagna."

Rhys covered his face with both hands and groaned. "You said you wouldn't tell Sasha."

"I didn't," Tara said, smiling unsympathetically. "And I'm being serious with this list. You can be a farmer, or a cook, or you can train the new recruits, or even be one of Enid's med-students. But you have to actually be it, Rhys. I can't keep telling people that you'll fit them in. Pick a job, dude."

"I like my job."

"Jobs," she corrected him. "You can't do everything."

"Oh, but I am," he hummed harmoniously.

"Come on, man," she hissed. "I can't deal with you and Jesus being like this. Fuck, I would love nothing more than to do any of those jobs, but I have to do this because Jesus won't."

"We just had election day," Rhys told her. "Why didn't you run if it bothers you so much?"

Tara huffed at him, rolling her eyes. "Alright, wise guy, Why didn't you run?"

Rhys laughed at her. "I'm still a kid."

"Right," Tara said, rolling her eyes in the other direction and sinking back into her notes.

There was shouting then. They both heard the squeak of the gates opening outside and the faint murmur of a crowd gathering. They both ran to the window, looking down and seeing a mass form by the gates. They were outside in a flash. Rhys saw Aaron and Jesus carry a bloody and bruised body towards the infirmary.

Rhys paused.

Rosita.

He hadn't seen her in years.

He chased after them. Tara told Kal and Marco to keep the following crowd outside. Rhys barged past and into the trailer. Enid had already set up an IV, and Aaron was laying Rosita in the bed by the window.

Rhys stood there horrified, staring at Rosita. She was covered in crusted mud, a deep gash on her forehead oozed red down the side of her sweaty face. She was barely conscious, muttering to Aaron.

"He can't— Eugene can't be out there. They were— they were whispering."

"Where?" Jesus asked her. "Who was?"

"Barn— the barn—"

Her eyes flickered shut, but her breathing kept steady.

"She's dehydrated, exhausted," Enid told them all. "She needs rest, and I need my trailer."

They took that as their cue to leave. Everyone but Rhys, who just stood there staring at a face familiar and comforting, one that had been kept locked away for so long that it looked different, but not to the point that it made him sad. Rhys didn't react when Aaron squeezed his shoulder on the way out.

When Enid asked, Rhys went to fetch water from the well down by the gate, and when he got back, he helped her change Rosita into clothes unstained by blood, and the two of them cleaned the mud and gore from her face and arms. Enid went to sew up the gash on her head, but Rhys said he had it. He sat by Rosita's bedside for hours, the whole day passing by. Enid came and went for most of it, seeing to other patients and at one point going to the garden for herbs. At a time lost to Rhys, she returned with two bowls of venison stew and told Rhys to eat. He did. Enid waited for him to speak. He did not.

Tara walked in after they'd finished their silent meal.

"How is she?"

"Rhys has been with her," Enid told Tara with a voice soft and clear. "She's still dehydrated. I'll keep her on IV 'till morning and she should be fine."

"She mentioned Eugene was hiding in a barn to Aaron and Jesus," Tara said. "I'm going out first thing to look for them."

Rhys glanced up at her, almost saying something only to look away.

Tara left to find Jesus, and Rhys took a deep breath.

"Enid, I knew that Jesus was out there with Aaron. I knew because I go out there with him sometimes, too, and most of the times I do, I see Mikey, too."

Enid's eyes were emeralds in a harsh rockface, gleaming in the candlelight while she waited to see if any more secrets would spill. None did.

"How is he?"

"He's the same him, I guess."

"Sounds about right."

"You're not mad?"

"You thought I would be?"

Rhys shrugged. "No."

Mikey might be the same Mikey, but Enid was far from the same girl that trained under Siddiq all those years ago. She was confident and knew what she was here at Hilltop. Rhys envied her for it sometimes. Six years later and people still called him Rhys Rhee — told him he should be doing more, or less, or something different while doing more of the same. Rhys didn't know what he wanted anymore. Enid was the doctor. People went to her for advice and took their kids to her when they got sick. She didn't want to run anymore — settled in Hilltop for the rest of her life. She had even started dating Alden a few months ago. Not to mention Rhys would bet she was probably the only person that could run against Jesus and have a chance at winning besides Tara.

"Have you told him that six years on Marco still talks about him?"

Rhys laughed. "I have, yeah."

Enid was grinning, the sort of grin that you don't realise you're doing. "What did he say?"

Rhys leaned back in his chair, the clouds over his head filled with thoughts of Rosita clearing just enough to let a little sunshine through. He smiled. "Well, he was telling me for the millionth time about the—" he held out his hand for Enid to finish.

"Sunset bridge kiss— Yes, Rhys Washburne, we've both heard about the sunset bridge kiss enough times to write a book on it."

"Funny you should mention books," Rhys grinned goofily at her. "So on this particular occasion of telling me about the 'sunset bridge kiss,' he and Marco shared, Mikey said that he started getting curious about what that made him."

"Uh-huh," Enid mumbled, an eyebrow cocked. "I fail to see how that makes me mentioning books funny..."

"Well, Mikey being Mikey, he decided to look for answers in a..."

Rhys was holding out his hand expectantly again.

"Book?"

"Correct!" Rhys clapped. "Turns out he thinks he's demi."

"Why do you always make easy information painful?"

Rhys snorted. "I make it fun."

Enid shook her head at him, and Rhys smiled.

"I think he'd like to talk to Marco," he said.

"Well," Enid sighed, "we know why that will probably never happen."

Even after all these years, Rhys still had a small amount of hope in him that Michonne and Alexandria would change their minds.

But he hated that part of himself.

"You should talk to someone," Enid told him.

"I'm talking to you right now."

"I mean someone," Enid said. "It's been years. You're my best friend. And as your best friend, I'm telling you that you need to get over Carl."

"I am over Carl."

"Right... that's why you run away from everyone you have the smallest spark with."

"Do not."

"Stop lying," Enid said. "You're bad at it. Always have been."

"Am not!"

"What about Peter from the stables?"

Rhys grimaced at her. "We didn't have a spark..."

She snorted.

"What?!"

"How about Teo, then? Jenny said he's still into you."

"Enid, just stop."

She watched his shoulders slump after his eyes drifted back to Rosita, those rain clouds settling over his head again. Enid touched Rhys' elbow gently. "Go get some sleep."

Rhys walked back to Barrington house — past the chicken coop where all the ginger hens were settling into their hutch for the evening.

"Night girls," he whispered when they glanced up at him with croaky clucks.

He saw people taking evening strolls around the herb gardens and guards checking out weapons from the armoury trailer for their night shifts. When Rhys entered the big house he didn't go to his room.

Sasha was the one to find him curled up in an armchair in Maggie's old office beside a fire he had lit. The room was dark except for the low flames from the grand fireplace that illuminated both of their tired faces as Sasha sat on the dusty sofa opposite his chair. Rhys watched the flickering shadows cast by the fire as they danced across the worn bookshelves and faded wallpaper around them. He was the only person that still came in this dusty room. Some people assumed only he was allowed in Maggie's absence. But Rhys didn't see it that way. He had told Jesus to take it so many times, just like Tara, but ruling from a throne like the strong oak chair behind Maggie's desk didn't appeal to Jesus.

"Strange seeing her after all this time, huh?" Sasha said with a quiet smirk on her lips as she nodded towards the window.

Sasha had let her hair grow out a little over the years but still kept it in a tight bun at the back. She had turned out like Enid with time. Maggie had made her head of security years ago, and after she left, Rhys was sure Sasha would step down — that she had only taken the job on to help Maggie out — but she didn't and still hasn't.

"Does it make you sad that we're the only ones here?" Rhys asked her softly, still watching shadows locked in their dances.

"I chose to be here."

Rhys nodded but frowned. "I almost went back, you know..."

"Alexandria?"

Rhys nodded, his eyes distant.

"Alexandria's on lockdown," Sasha said, shaking her head at the idea.

"Mikey sent a letter before Michonne stopped outgoing communication. Said he and Aaron could have swayed the council to let me go back to Alexandria again."

Sasha watched him silently.

"It makes me sad," Rhys told her. "It's just us now. Me, you, Tara. Everyone else is everywhere else. Carl, Michonne, Rosita, Gabriel, Eugene, Daryl, Maggie."

"What about Jesus and Enid? Everyone here?"

"You know what I mean."

Sasha nodded. "We were definitely something else back then. Eating dogs and hijacking fire trucks."

"I don't miss it," Rhys admitted. "I just miss them."

"I'll be going with Tara tomorrow," Sasha said then. "To help find Eugene."

"What are you saying?" Rhys asked.

"You're staying."

"Sash, I'm good."

"I know you're good..." Sasha nodded. "But I've been out hunting with you enough to see that you avoid killing walkers more than you used to. Not sayin' that's bad. I just don't think you should come with us. Not until you're more confident out there."

Rhys balled up his fists, sitting forward in the armchair. "I made it to Kingdom on my own. That's one of our most dangerous routes without Rick's bridge."

"And I'm pissed at you for doing that without telling me, Rhys," Sasha hissed. "I would have gone with you."

"I don't need you to protect me all the time."

"I know that. Doesn't mean you gotta be stupid and try to prove some kind of point."

Rhys slumped back in his chair when Sasha got up.

"You need to be here anyway. I'm sending Roy with an envoy to Alexandria to tell them we have Rosita. If we're not back in time, you should be here with Jesus to meet whoever Michonne sends to get her."

"You mean their council, right?"

Sasha smirked at him. "They can call themselves whatever they like. We both know Michonne rules that place with her iron fist bullshit."

"I'll stay."

"Go get some sleep, Rhys."

In the morning, Rhys spoke with Aaron more about how there was no point in keeping their meetings a secret anymore. Jesus agreed. Rhys knew he was hoping to convince Aaron to sway Alexandria into coming to the fair, but that seemed less likely now, especially now, after forcing Alexandrians to come all the way here to get Rosita because Sasha was too stubborn to send a convoy to take her home in a few days.

Rhys helped saddle up three horses come late morning. Dusty was old now, but Sasha loved her far too much to change her for one of the younger ones. Tara's rose grey horse was a kind and enthusiastic creature, which is why Tara named her Mel, apparently. Carol and Henry rode through the gates as they were leading the horses from the stables. The friendly roar of a familiar engine was with them, and everyone smiled at the sight of Daryl, and his dog named Dog, racing in alongside his bike.

Rhys hadn't been entirely truthful with Carol the night before. He had seen Daryl recently, maybe a month ago. He would swing by to check on things, or Hilltop would send supplies, but unlike the rest of them, Daryl hadn't become a face in the back of Rhys' mind.

Pumpkin, who had been sunbathing in the courtyard, shot up a tree as Dog bounded between everyone's legs and jumped up to lick Rhys' face a few times.

"Yeah, missed you too, buddy," Rhys laughed, scratching behind his ears.

Daryl climbed off his bike, taking off a face bandana and accepting a crisp fist bump from Tara. He hugged Rhys tightly and did the same for Aaron when he walked down from the stables with his horse. Aaron explained what had happened and why he was there, and Daryl agreed to go with them to look for Eugene.

After hugging all the new-old faces, Jesus got Dianne to help him put on his armour before sheathing his sword.

Tara gave him a very Tara look.

"I know the terrain," Jesus told her. "I know where we should start looking. I should go out with you guys."

"Well, somebody's gotta make this place run, so I'll stay," Tara sighed, pushing Mel's reins into Jesus' hands. "But the next time I hear a complaint about a kazoo—"

"I'll deal with it," Jesus said. "I promise."

Before saddling up, Jesus gripped Rhys' shoulder. "Sure you don't want to join us?"

Sasha was glaring at him over Jesus' shoulder from Dusty's back.

"I'm good," Rhys told him. "Henry will need someone to help him get settled in."

"Okay," Jesus said, nodding.

Then they were all gone. Dog, bounding out after them before the gates closed.

And it's hard for me to say,

And it's hard for me to stay,

I'm going down to be by myself,

I'm going back for the good of my health,

And there's one thing I couldn't do,

Sacrifice myself to you,

Sacrifice.

A/N

End song and chapter title are from the song that played this episode, April Skies, by The Jesus and Mary Chain. I thought it was a pretty good anthem for the community honestly. I know we haven't had a song in a chapter for a little while, but, I absolutely had to include this one because the lyrics of the whole song perfectly fit Rhys at the moment, his relationship with Maggie, others, and his reasons for choosing to be at Hilltop at the end of the day, despite what other people may want. So if you want a little deeper look into Rhys' head, go listen to that dope song, because it comes pretty close.

Next Time Alexandria comes a knockin', and strange ghosts from Rhys' past are stirred by someone new.