Newly Revised
"How you wanna play it?" Rick asked as they watched their people leaving the tunnels.
"Find where she's been by lookin' where we knew she was," Merle told him plainly. "We start at the gate and work our way out."
"Alright. Lead the way."
Climbing out of the manhole right in the middle of Alexandria, Merle lead Rick straight to the gate and started looking around the guard post. He managed to pick up both hers and Carl's trails at various points before losing Carl's at the same manhole they'd use to climb out. Sophia's tracks didn't lead anywhere near any of the manholes or sewer entrances. Instead, they lead out of Alexandria and into the woods, where it became even more difficult to follow the trail because there were a lot of footprints scattered on the ground and it was getting more and more difficult to tell the trails apart. Merle began acting frantic as Rick watched him try to find the trail after they'd been at it all morning until he finally just started yelling curses, slurs, and destroying anything within his reach, which was mostly just the underbrush until a group of unlucky Saviors happened to come across their path. Merle wasted no time taking out the opposition with Rick, though both had to dodge behind trees to miss getting hit by the first round of fire the Saviors opened with. Merle was thankful the damn cat Ani had sent with them had enough common sense to hide itself when the bullets flew, only coming out when the men made their move, going for the throat of one of the Saviors.
"Come on," Rick said, putting a hand on Merle's shoulder and flinching back when the man rounded on him after the fight ended. "Trail's gone. But we're close to Jadis and her people. We need their numbers if we're gonna win this fight. Maybe they have Sophia, maybe they don't. Maybe they know what happened to her. Least we can do is go and find out."
"They have her, Friendly, and I'm takin' their heads!"
"If they have her, we can get her back," Rick told him. "We shouldn't do anything we don't know will risk Sophia or the Hilltop. It's our last standing colony right now."
"I can't go back 'til I get her back, Rick," Merle told him before looking around. "I-I just can't! She's my damn kid, man! Only one I'm ever gonna get to claim as mine!"
"I understand," Rick assured. "When I thought...When I thought Judith was gone, I was ready to make the world burn. If I hadn't of been so beat up, if Michonne hadn't have already killed the Governor, I was ready to go through hell to make him pay."
"No, you don't get it, Rick!" Merle shouted, pushing the man back a bit. "I told Ani I'd bring her back! Told Daryl! First time I'm actually bein' looked up to for somethin' and I'm fuckin' it up! If that little girl is gone, how the fuck do I go back and tell them?! Especially with Ani havin' her weird ass issues! I can't! Not like that, man! I...I just can't!"
"We don't know anything right now. For all we know, she could be with the others right now. She could be at the Hilltop. We don't know. Best we can do is go talk to Jadis and her people and try to get them to fight with us again."
"You go! I ain't goin' anywhere 'til I find my girl!"
"Jadis might know where she is," Rick tried to reason. "She might even have her. But they've got weapons, people. With or without Sophia, we can't give up that chance right now. If the Saviors have her, we need Jadis and her people to help us fight to get her back."
"I won't be held accountable for the actions I take to get 'er back if that bitch does have her!"
"I understand, brother. But, Merle," Rick said, putting a hand on the man's shoulders as he started to calm down, "no matter what, we get back to our people. They need us. Daryl and Ani need us, need you. You hear me?"
"Yeah, I fuckin' hear ya, Friendly," Merle said, even though he was clearly still fuming. "Lead the damn way, then."
Rick walked past Merle and headed towards the landfill, Bobby running ahead before stopping and waiting for the men to catch up. They had made it halfway to the Hilltop themselves, though they had hidden from a couple patrols closer to the roads and taken down another small group of Saviors as they'd moved. Rick was leading them back to the road, hoping to find one of the Saviors' vehicles so that they could make it to the landfill quicker than they'd managed to get as far as they had following the trail. Merle was silently stewing the entire time they walked, even as Rick explained that the Scavengers had been seen with him when he'd gone to confront the Sanctuary. He reasoned that they were theirs to use, not the Saviors, and that the Saviors would be targeting them for their involvement as well. Merle let everything the old cop said flow in one ear and right out the other as he came up with all the ways he was going to make Negan pay for whatever happened to Sophia. But even worse, he knew it was his fault; he'd let Michonne make the call and put the two barely teenage children in control of the entire operation, and while Merle had been impressed with the plan, in retrospect they'd all been stupid as hell.
The kids should have been in those tunnels with their heads in their hands rather than up above playing hero. Sophia would've been able to do more for Ani than anyone else in the entire damn village aside from Daryl. The little girl knew just how to handle him when he was worked up, she could certainly handle Ani when she was melting down! Carl wouldn't have been able to help any more than he had been, but at least they would have known where he was at and his leg wouldn't have gotten injured. Merle was angry at himself for letting the kids deal with the evacuation instead of doing it himself so that he was the one who had been hurt or was missing. As it was, he was bound and determined not to head to the Hilltop until he either knew for certain that the little girl was gone or he had her back in his sights and leading her to the damn place himself.
Rick stopped the van they'd taken from the Saviors just out of sight of the landfill, the two men exiting and readying their weapons. Merle had rigged up another crude prosthetic while in Alexandria with another blade attachment, a much more refined blade after the Hilltop blacksmith and he had gotten along so well and he'd offered to make one. The curved blade was twice as thick as his last straight blade and nearly twice as long and had two different length replacements if the long blade wouldn't work. He'd actually been practicing with Michonne, even though his right hand had never been much to begin with. Right now, though, he was happy the ebony warrior hadn't laughed him off or told him to go screw himself over a thousand times when he'd asked her to show him some moves. After what he'd put the woman through because of the Governor and Andrea, hell, he was lucky she hadn't skewered him herself.
Walking through the cargo container that lead to the interior of the landfill, they realized it was quiet, quieter than Merle or Rick liked with how many people were supposed to be living here. Standing side by side in the entryway, Merle nodded at Rick before using his blade to swing the door open, both men holding their guns up and storming inside. The only problem was that as soon as they'd opened the door and took a step in, they had to dodge the onslaught of rubble and garbage that fell from the trap that had been set. It was obvious to Merle that the trap was intended to keep people in as the sound of walkers approaching reached their ears, drowning out the muffled yowls of the damn kitten Ani had left him with. She had gotten stuck on the other side
"Fuck!" Merle shouted as he holstered his gun and started pulling junk off the pile in front of their escape.
The walkers of the Scavengers began to close in on them, forcing Merle to practically shove Rick up onto the rubble before he scrambled up it himself. The walkers didn't have the dexterity to be able to climb up the mess of various crap behind them which allowed them to make it to relative safety. Merle had to stab his blade into the trash piles in order to climb up himself, catching Rick's offered hand as he struggled to climb up the hill himself. Once at the top and looking down, the two men couldn't help but start cussing up a storm at the mess they found themselves in. The mass of walker Scavengers below them was a blow they didn't need to take after the disappearance of Sophia. They had needed the numbers the Scavengers had and now the damn trash people had been taken out of play completely. Merle wasn't even sure how the hell they were going to get out let alone what the hell he was going to do about Bobby being on the other side. He damn well couldn't go back to Hilltop without either the cat or their little girl. Rick and him shared a look with each other before looking back down at the mass below them and both tried to figure out a way out when a voice from behind called out.
"Rick," Jadis said, making the men turn towards her.
"What happened?" Rick asked, walking towards the strange lady in barely more than a nightdress.
"The Saviors," she replied dejectedly.
"Well, how the fuck we supposed to get out, huh?" Merle asked angrily.
"You get out," she told him, "how you got in." Merle and Rick shared a look before turning their backs on Jadis and back to the mess below. "These weren't heaps before," Jadis informed them. "It was just trash laid out, as far as the eye could see. I used to come here to find things to paint on. Metal sheets. Fabrics. And then after...everything changed...I realized this whole p-place was a canvas," she told them as the men put away their guns, both realizing they would have to fight their way through if they wanted to get out. "That we were the paint. We could create something new. We could become something new. We did," she cried. "This was our world. Apart from everyone else. In every way."
"You did this," Rick told her, grabbing a car door and a piece of fabric. "This was because of you."
"You take the front, I take the back?" Merle surmised.
"That's the plan," Rick told him. "We make a run for it."
"Let me come with you," Jadis begged. "Just until they're gone."
"You seen a little girl come from our place?" Merle asked, the answer she gave determining whether or not he would even attempt to help her.
"She was taken," was his answer as Jadis nodded her head. "By them. The Saviors. She was surrounded by walkers. Looked injured. We were going to intervene, bring her here in case you came back like you said you would. They killed the walkers and took her."
"You know where he went?"
"No, but I know that they went. Northeast. A black pick-up truck with one man inside. Past the water tower. Please, take me with you and I can help you find her."
"Rick?"
"Nah, I'm done with her games," Rick said, shaking his head.
"She knows where Phia is, man! I can't risk loosin' that! You don't want 'er to come, fine, ain't on you. But if she can help me find my kid, she's comin'," Merle clapped back. "But you fall behind, I ain't riskin' my ass savin' you," he shot at the woman harshly. "And I find out you lied just to get outta here, I'll throw your ass right back in!"
"I'm not. I swear it," Jadis said as she stood and grabbed a stool.
Rick lead the way using the door as a shield, Jadis sandwiching Merle between them as he cut down as many walkers as he could. He could see it in the woman's eyes as silent tears ran down her face; she meant every word of what she'd said about how these were her people and hers alone. The life they had built was over, the world she'd built all ruthlessly destroyed by the Saviors. Even as they reached the pile of trash that covered the entryway, she kept the walkers back as he and Rick cleared the way out. As soon as there was an opening, Bobby came bounding towards them for a second before noticing they were heading her way themselves. Rick went through first with the intention of pulling Merle in and then closing the way behind them, but Merle wasn't having it. As Jadis stalled at seeing her second and third in commands walking her way, he wasted no time grabbing her arm and pushing her through the opening before cutting down the two walkers, blocking their path away. Even though he received a dirty look from Rick, Merle just pushed Jadis onward with a dirty look of his own.
"If you were lyin' 'bout knowin' where my girl is, I'm gonna bring you right back here to feed to your people, you got it?"
"I understand," Jadis told him.
"You shouldn't've brought her," Rick said as they climbed into the van, Jadis entering through the back as Bobby purred away on Merle's lap even as the man scowled.
"I ain't riskin' it. She knows which way they headed. I can't...I can't go back. Not until I know that little girl is safe," Merle told him. "Stop off at Alexandria. I'm gonna grab Ani's four wheeler. See if I can't find that water tower. You know the name of the town on it, Twiggy, or am I takin' you, too?"
"Twi—My name is Jadis," the woman behind him said in an offended manner. "It's the only water tower on Braymont Road. If you pass the fire station, you've gone too far."
"Braymont Road," Merle repeated before smacking Rick's arm. "That's the road Abe and Sasha waited for Daryl by. The one Abe found that RPG at! That ain't too far from here!"
"Want to go take a look now?" Rick asked.
"No, you get back to the Hilltop. Tell Ani and Daryl I'm on the trail. By the day's end, I'll find her."
"Alright. You aren't at the Hilltop by sundown, I'm sending a search party."
"Gotchya, Friendly. Take care of my baby siblings for me."
~x~
"I'm disappointed, Eugene," Negan told the man as he stood behind him in the room. "Two flushes and out the pipe. Top it all off, we've still got the little problem of who our rat is and how he's getting information out. My first thought was Carson. He was never one of us. He's a weasel just like his weasel father. That was my best stab at it."
Eugene wasn't entirely sure what the purpose of being called to the meeting room alone was, and yet here stood, in front of the man himself. Negan looked all kinds of irritable over everything that had transgressed over such a short amount of time. He knew that there had been a bit of a hiccup when it came to the standard smash and grab the Saviors tended to use when it came to territories that rebelled against the state. He knew that there had been several problems and rising tensions between the workers and the soldiers due to the soldiers' reaction when Negan had gone missing for those few short hours. Supplies were still quite limited and everyone was waiting on pins and needles for Gavin and his crew to come back from the Kingdom with food. As of yet, though, only Simon and Negan himself had returned, and Simon had come back empty handed. It was well after the time frame for news to have reached them but so far there had been radio silence; well, silence except for when Carl himself had apparently demanded to talk to Negan. No one knew the nature of that conversation, though, and Eugene was thoroughly worried that he had potentially made him for his consistent doubts of the situation he had put himself in. After drinking himself into oblivion, Eugene was certain of one thing and one thing only—he was tired of the bloodshed and was bound and determined to end this war between his friends and the place he had come to call home.
"Drawing together the associated behaviors, that's a solid stab," Eugene agreed. "However, the problems we were having persisted before his arrival and can be said to have started with the escape of Daryl, Ani, and their ward from these very premises. If it were Carson, he'd have needed to be here before that to help facilitate their escape. The more likely truth is that someone within either the top brass or the middle tier are to blame for the deception and liability."
"Well, once their asses are caught, and they will be—we will find out if they're the only fox in my hen house," Negan said with a smile. "I'm gonna get the story out of them. Yes, I will."
"And the operation in Alexandria?" Eugene asked, trying to seem indifferent about the entire situation. "What went down there?"
"Do you care?" Negan asked after Eugene remained quiet, leaning forward and entwining his fingers as he repeated himself. "Do you care, Eugene, after they tried to blow you off the face of this Earth?"
"Your message is stamped 'received' and very much appreciated," Eugene countered quickly. "To clarify, how did the procurement of Ania Dixon go? With the fear of war on the rise among the commonwealth, having her on hand could come in handy."
"We're still workin' on that, don't you worry," Negan told him with a dismissive smile before acting all excited. "On the other hand, I got some news for you, Eugene! You are gonna be in charge of your very own outpost. You see, I need my bullet maker making bullets. Cuttin' a path through the dead took a toll on our reserves. So now you get the honor of providin' me with the necessary bang-bang I need to settle this whole situation with Rick for good."
"And all that about people bein' resources and whatnot?" Eugene asked, getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Negan chuckled before nodding and informing Eugene, "Bullets are a last resort. I mean, hell, Lucille here—she gets first dibs. But if Rick and his merry band of pricks decide to pull some shit, then we're gonna have to pull some right back that we'd rather not. That'll be on them. Not you. Not me. I'm gonna set you up at that machine shop that you told me about. You're gonna have a full security detail at your disposal, everything you need to keep your head in the game. Got Frankie there givin' you massages, Tanya there cookin'. You know that girl was a chef?"
"I pictured her in social sciences," Eugene admitted quietly as Negan looked on amused. "Management. Maybe runnin' a drapes factory. Will there be wine?"
"There will indeed," Negan assured him. "Now, the sooner you get me those bullets made, the sooner we can end this whole debacle and you get to reap the rewards. Eugene," Negan said as he stood up to go outside, "don't disappoint me."
"I shall do my utmost not to, Negan, sir," Eugene said with a bob of his head before leaving the room and making his way through the Sanctuary, Eugene entered the infirmary and watched Dr. Carson as he pushed a needle into the IV he had set up for Gabriel. "How is he, doc?"
"He's fighting a serious infection," Carson informed him. "The medicine the Saviors brought back earlier are a godsend. He's half delirious. If you would have helped him escape, there's a good chance he would be dead right now."
"Despite the fact that he has sided with Rick in his tomfoolery, Gabriel is an honest man who never did me wrong."
"Well, his fever's broken for the time being. The damage to his retinal nerve was too severe; he most likely will have permanent damage to his sight in one eye. He's lucky, though. If that medicine had gotten here any later, he could be looking at systemic organ failure right now. You're choice saved his life, but without his vision...I couldn't imagine living like that in this world."
"No doubt he would give credit to God or otherwise associate the entirety of the situation with his faith," Eugene sighed. "That is his nature, as clouded as it seems to me. How soon will he be in full recovery mode?"
"I couldn't tell you that."
"Well, I'm bein' transferred to a new location and I don't know if or when I shall see either of you again. As such, I wanted to inform you that should the desire arise to skedaddle out of the predicament you have found yourself in, I shall not be here to assist," Eugene informed him. "Should you need assistance, I suggest that you keep it on the DL as much as possible. Don't make such a dramatic show of it as Father Gabriel did. If I had helped in the facilitation of your escape, the first person to be at the wrong end of the pointing finger of blame would have been me. Keepin' you here, that's just a bonus."
"Well, I can't say that there's much point in trying to escape," Carson admitted. "From the sounds of things, Rick and Maggie will have things taken care of sooner rather than later."
"That depends."
"On what?"
"How fast I can get the necessary ammunition to fix the problem indefinitely made up," Eugene told him before leaving to go to his room.
Eugene wasn't sure how much time he had, let alone if he would be able to hatch any kind of scheme to liberate the others from their predicament. There were several factors that he was as-of-yet unaware of and with Dwight being MIA, Eugene was at a loss on what was needed now and what was needed to be done. He'd denied his help to Gabriel, and that had managed to save the man's life, but denying the people who'd helped him stay alive thus far was surely the decision that would lead to his demise. As he packed up the few belongings, he worked through in his head a few various ways he could help. Somehow, once Gabriel was awake and hopefully on the mend well enough to travel, that way Eugene could acquiesce to his request and give him a way to escape. Somehow, if Dwight made it back, he could propose an alliance of some sort to help Rick and the others stay a step ahead. He could potentially, and to various degrees of disastrous outcome, sabotage the task he was given; too much of one component or another, a tiny deviation in the shell, a hiccup with different parts of the guns, though that one would be much more complicated to achieve. He could easily rig up some kind of laxative to give to the Saviors that would render the militia harmless for an indeterminate amount of time, buying Rick and company an opportunity to either attack or run, both of which were viable options considering. He could also do nothing and let everything play out, but if he did that, the likelihood of risking losing his friends or losing what had fast become his home rose abundantly. He kept going back and forth in his mind thinking about the various ways he could help until a knock on his door brought him back to the present. On the other side of the door, leaning heavily on the frame with one arm above his head and a hand on his hip, Simon looked up from whatever he had been staring at on the ground and gave Eugene a shit-eating grin before moving to shove the man out of the way and enter his room.
"Genie-boy! Movin' up in the world, I hear. Good for you. Good. For. You," he told him.
"Simon, hello," Eugene said, closing the door behind the man as he looked around the room.
"I like what you did with the place. It's got a decent je ne sais quoi about it," Simon told him with a flourish of his hands. "Definitely more lived in than the one Ani was in."
"As far as I heard, she wasn't given as much freedom to make things as comfy-cozy for her as I've made this here room for me," Eugene offered before going back to packing.
"She had a certain way of letting her heart leak out of her mouth," Simon said with gusto. "Never shies away from sharin' just what she thinks of a place. What it is. How the people are dealing. What should be changed, what can be. The place she wanted this place to become," Simon said with a sigh before looking up at Eugene. "You're smart as hell, Eugene. Smart enough to put two and two together and know what I know about a pretty specific individual. You know what I'm sayin'?" he asked, holding his hips in his hands and gawking at Eugene with his eyebrows raised.
"If you have indeed sussed out who the proverbial fox in our hen house is, I'm sure Negan would rather hear that information as it is pertinent to the continued survival of our humble abode," Eugene stated plainly, though he swallowed thickly and tried to maintain his focus on the wall behind Simon in order to hopefully not give anything away. "The fifth columner should surely take precedence over whatever malarkey Rick and the others are concocting as we speak. I mean, if you were to enlighten the big boss man of the knowledge you have gained, what he can do with it is far more-"
"Cut the bull," Simon said, dropping his friendly facade. "You know it's Dwight,I know it's Dwight. You haven't said anything. I haven't said anything," he told Eugene, moving his hands to point between them. "See where I'm goin' with this?"
"I can't say I do, no," Eugene admitted as sweat began to form on his brow.
"You didn't say anything to Negan about Dwight, and neither have I. In fact, if a certain individual were to know that a certain little girl had been in the care of a certain somebody," Simon said quietly, giving Eugene pointed looks the entire time while pointing his fingers back at himself. "That certain somebody would either catch the iron, or be met with the wrong side of Lucille. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't want that bat to be the last thing I see."
"I'm not sure what you're gettin' at."
"I'm saying," he said slowly while taking two steps towards Eugene, getting right in front of his face and cracking a smile, "that we're in this together. You. Me. Dwight. We're all on the same side. I know you can make bullets. I know the Sanctuary needs them. But you find a way, you figure it out, you ensure the outcome we want happens, or Negan will be the least of your concerns."
"Who's the girl?" Eugene asked quietly, his voice quivering and on the verge of breaking.
"The little Dixon," Simon informed him with a smile.
"Wh-where is she?"
"She's safe. Already back on her way to the Hilltop as we speak. Probably gonna run into a few unfriendly types, but she's strong. She can manage."
"She's thirteen," Eugene stated as a matter of fact.
"Only thirteen? Damn, I would've guessed older with how she acts. Hell, half-conked out she still managed to land a few good blows. I got a fist shaped bruise the size of a child's hand on my ribs from her and another in the shape of a boot on my shin," Simon told him, looking down in a state of bewilderment. "Any who, she's home. She's safe. And now we make sure Rick and Ani win so that it stays that way. Any ideas on how to do that?"
Eugene looked at the man with a critical gaze, waiting for a few minutes as Simon looked on, unapologetically waiting for the man to speak. He understood what Simon was trying to convey as much as he understood that the man was talking about Sophia and had somehow managed to ferry the little girl to safety. He was quite grateful for that and knew Simon was ready to turn rogue on Negan much in the same sense that he was ready for the fighting to be over. It wasn't the people within the Sanctuary that were bad or even had a say in anything that happened anymore than the Saviors themselves being inherently bad. It was Negan's way of doing things that was the driving force for the issues that had created the current war between AHK and the Sanctuary. Even Rick had said he was only after Negan, the rest were safe if they simply walked away or did nothing to stop them. It had been a good deal that they should have all taken right then and there before the horde had come in and the killing sprees had started. If Simon was really set on moving on from Negan and helping AHK win, there had to be something else that he could do. Eugene began thinking of several ways he could assist the man in achieving his goals while saving his friends at the same time.
"I have a fair few. Will I have your assistance should I need it?" he finally asked, his eyes still critically watching Simon as the man's face was split with a happy grin.
"Well now, I think that can be arranged."
~x~
"Good news is the fetus is healthy. His heartbeat is strong and stable, which shows he's not in any distress. You said you're about eighteen weeks along, but he's actually measuring closer to twenty one. Everything else seems normal. There's no vaginal bleeding or excessive discharge, which also a good thing. The contractions have stopped completely and you did not dilate or efface. The bad news, though," the doctor stated as she put the wand back on the ultrasound machine, wanting to make sure the child was fine after performing a physical evaluation, "is that your blood-pressure is still a bit high."
"What're you sayin', doc?" Daryl asked while still looking at the picture on the screen.
"Nothing bad," the doctor assured him, "yet. Again, your son is growing on track if not ahead and has no signs of distress. I believe this could be a singular event, but I also strongly suggest that you take it easy for the rest of the pregnancy. Nothing too stressful or I'm afraid it may develop into worse. Hypertension during pregnancy can lead to several complications, including lack of blood flow and nutrients to the fetus, if left untreated. I wouldn't say that you are necessarily experiencing hypertension, but you definitely had a prolonged spike overnight. I won't say this won't happen again, and you should do your best to take it easy until the baby is due. There are ways to keep your stress to a minimal," she explained as Sophia, Sasha, and Abraham walked in, Siddiq trailing behind.
"How?" Daryl growled out. "She never knows when she's doin' too much. I can't even get her to sit still right now!"
"Well, the medicine you used last night is alright in smaller doses, though I highly recommend that you maintain its use as a last ditch effort to relax and calm down," the doctor told them gently. "Herbal teas made from lavender-"
"I'm allergic ta lavenda," Ani told her. "I can handle it in small amounts with my hands and as far as the smell goes, but ingestin' upsets my tummy and gives me a bad headache. Chamomile and lemon balm work betta anyway."
"You know your herbs."
"I helped set up the medicinal herb garden 'ere and make some a the medicine ya already usin'," Ani laughed. "Yeah, I know my herbs."
"Alright, well, herbal teas, yoga, meditation, deep breathing exercises," the doctor listed off before looking back and forth between the two. "Intercourse."
Ani busted out laughing as Sophia said, "Gross!"
"Ya jus' got ya first kiss, hun! Innacourse is jus' a few steps away!" Ani laughed before looking at the doctor and saying, "I think that's the first time I've eva been told ta have sex by a doctor!"
"You're jokin', right?" Daryl asked the doctor, Ani being kind and covering the back of his neck with her hand as it turned a lovely shade of red from embarrassment.
"Sh-she's not," Siddiq stated uncomfortably. "It releases dopamine and oxytocin which are the main chemicals needed to feel relaxed and happy, or at peace."
"Hey, look at the bright side," Abraham told him, a shit eating grin plastered to his goateed face. "Could be tellin' ya your balls are gonna be blue for the next four months!"
Both Daryl and Ani gave him separate looks, Daryl's clearly asking if the man was insane while Ani looked horrified and turned to the doctor and asked, "That ain' goin' ta happen, right, Doc? I mean, not the blue-ball thing; they don' actually turn blue, more like purple, but that's beside the point. The nah sex thing? That ain' goin' ta happen is it?"
"Not until after the baby gets here," she informed the woman who visibly sighed in relief. "But you will have to refrain from any bedroom activities for the first six weeks after the baby is born. Risk of infection, of your bladder falling out, problems that could occur from the delivery itself. Sex before the six weeks can cause a number of complications that could potentially complicate the chances for future pregnancies, let alone your life in these times. Honestly, until I saw you at the Kingdom and then Maggie here, I didn't think anyone was going to be having babies again!" the doctor told them in delight. "So let's make sure your little ones get here safe and sound, yeah?"
"You got it, Doc," Ani said with a smile. "Does this mean I can walk by myself? Nah needin' ta be carried around?"
"It's fine if you walk, just try not to be on your feet for more than an hour at a time for the time being. Take it easy."
"She don't know how," Daryl quipped.
"Then someone should stay with her to make sure she does," the doctor shot back to Daryl with a pointed look. "I understand that we're in a trying time, but you should focus on your wife, and you
should focus on your baby."
"Maggie's fightin'," Ani defended.
"Maggie isn't as far along and isn't prone to panic attacks," the doctor deadpanned.
"She's got that right," Daryl mumbled, earning him a glare from Ani.
"You're not free of blame, either," the doctor chastised. "If she doesn't know her limits, it's your job as both husband and father of the child to keep her from over-doing it. Both of you should be focusing on that child more than this war."
She walked away after that, leaving Ani and Daryl alone to check on her other patients while Ani pulled Sophia over to her and sat her down on the cot beside her, undressing her head to look at the wound. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, but the large gash high on her forehead was bound to leave another scar on Sophia that she had hoped would never happen. She couldn't help the tears that started to fall, even though she felt like an idiot for crying, at the fact that she had been unable to protect the girl once again. Even though she knew she would have been as useless above ground as she'd been below because of her panic attack, she hated the fact that she had reacted like that. She had been so stupid to let her fear overwhelm her like that and she still didn't quite understand how things had gotten so bad so fast. And in her panic, Sophia had willingly gone into the fray for them and come out injured with yet another battle scar. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Ani got up and grabbed the necessary medicines to treat the wound and began the process anew. She was so upset with herself that she had let her phobia of being trapped take over her like she had and now her girl had another scar.
"You know the doctor already did all this, right?" Sophia asked with a bit of humor in her tone.
"Don' care. Not good 'nough. Jus'...jus' let me, okay?" Ani said, trying and failing to bite back the tears. "How'd ya get out?"
"Simon," Sophia told her.
"What'd 'e do ta ya?!"
"Nothin'. Well, nothin' bad. Well...He was helpful," Sophia told her after considering what Simon had done and said.
"How?" Daryl asked, looking at the young girl to see if anything else was wrong with her or if she was afraid of talking about Simon like she always had been of Ed.
"He said Ani reminds him of his niece and Maggie reminds him of his sister," she admitted. "I saw a picture of them. I can take you to his apartment."
"You trust him?" Daryl asked.
"I don't know," Sophia said with a shrug of her shoulders. "But he could've taken me to the Sanctuary and handed me over. Negan thinks if he has me, he'll be able to have the two of you, too. He didn't. He told me what Negan wanted to do with me and made sure I could get back here to let you know. Although, he did say that the way would be pretty clear but I had to kill two Saviors out in the woods to get back here, so I don't know how much I really trust him."
"Ta be fair, that could a jus' been a fluke," Ani said, giving Simon the benefit of the doubt. "He didn' seem ta have a problem when I was there, but 'e also was one a the ones who was genuinely concerned 'bout me. I'd say, out a the people I met there, I'd only trust Simon and Laura-"
"You actually trust them bastards?" Daryl asked her, standing and turning on her in anger.
"I don' trust 'em, if ya'd a let me finish, I would a told ya that I'd only trust Simon and Laura at arms length. I doubt they wouldn' go runnin' back ta the Saviors with their tails 'tween their legs claimin' they had nothin' ta do with nothin', same as Dwight. But...they neva hurt one a us."
"Simon killed one of the people here," Sasha informed her. "Wade. He was older, but he was a good man. Ready to fight for the Hilltop, even die, and Simon killed him."
"That's what he said broke his resolve," Sophia told them. "The look on Maggie's face when he killed the guy. I...I think he's bein' honest. He didn't have to help me."
"Eitha way, ya know I trust ya, Phia, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Then trust me when I tell ya, ya done with this," Ani said firmly, cutting Sophia off with a shake of her head and a motion her hand. "I can'...I can' go through that shite again. When I didn' know where ya were, when I couldn' look for ya, I couldn'...Ya thirteen. Ya amazin' and strong and a damn fighta for bein' thirteen. But! I need ya ta safe for the rest a this. Ya and Carl. Ya ain' goin' back out, not if ya don' have ta. Ya goin' ta stay with the kids and the eldaly and protect 'em. Please? I know I'm askin' a lot a ya," she told her, putting her hand on the girl's shoulder, "but I can' take losin' ya. So ya stay with those who need ya protectin' 'em the most 'til this is done. Then we can go back ta our regularly scheduled program a ya kickin' ass and takin' names all on ya own again. Okay?"
"It's not just me?"
"Not jus' ya," Ani promised. "Carl, too. Goin' ta need ya here. Protectin' those who can' protect 'emselves. Protectin' Maggie...protectin' me. I need ya ta stay safe so me, Daryl and ya pops can focus on endin' this thing."
"You're stayin', too," Daryl told her.
"If it gets too hairy or if I start gettin' worked up, I promise I'll go ta the othas in the house. But I ain' goin' ta be leavin' ya side if I don' got ta with what jus' happened."
"Naw, you're stayin' put."
"I'm fightin' as much as Maggie is, and that's my final say on the matta. I'll let ya tell me when I'm doin' too much. I'll let ya cart me off for the rest a my pregnancy when ya think I need ta. But I ain'...I ain' doin' that again. I ain' goin' ta freak out 'cause I get locked in my head. If I got ta stay calm, I'll be calma out there, with ya. And I'll be calma with ya in the house with the othas and Carl," she told them both.
Daryl scowled at her, but also had to consider what she was saying; she needed the distraction the fight would give her so that she didn't get so worked up. He absolutely hated it since it meant that she would be right out there with him in the middle of the fight, but she needed to be able to focus on something other than what was happening. But, she was willing to give more than she was asking for by saying he could take over after the fight and let him do as the doctor told him. She was giving him the go ahead to take care of her the way he'd wanted to from the beginning, even though it had started a fight the last time he had. Ani was honestly willing to let him do what he wanted for the rest of the pregnancy if she could finish the fight out with him and Maggie, and weighing it all out, she was giving the most. Daryl hated it as much as the little girl in front of them hated the idea of being asked to stay in the house. He sighed, though, even as Sophia hung her head in defeat, watching Ani's face turn hopeful as she looked at them.
"Fine. But you stay by my side and you listen to what I say. And after, you don't sit there and tell me off when I tell you to stop," he told her sternly.
"I love ya, D. Thank ya," Ani responded, leaning over and giving him a kiss on his shoulder.
"Carl's stayin', too?" Sophia asked.
"Carl's stayin', too."
"Fine. But only 'cause he's stayin', too," Sophia pouted as they got up to leave. "But I won't forgive you if you get hurt. I still need you."
"And I need ya ta be safe. I'm goin' ta come back for ya, ya know that, right? I ain' leavin' ya high and dry," Ani promised her, placing a hand on her should when they got outside. "Ya trust me, right?"
"Yeah," Sophia said, looking down. "Promise you won't leave me?"
"I promise. I'll always be 'ere for ya, Phia. And Daryl'll keep me safe. Ya know 'e will."
"Damn straight. You ain't leavin' my side," Daryl told her.
"I promise ya that one, too."
"Okay," the girl finally conceded.
"Thank ya, love," Ani told her while giving her a hug.
"Don't get hurt. Please don't get hurt," she cried, making Ani look at Daryl with tears in her own eyes.
"I'll do my best," she promised, holding the girl tighter. "I'll do my damnedest. I ain' leavin' ya behind. Ya ain' loosin' anotha motha."