Before

The near-invisible benefactor of Grady Memorial Hospital visited every few months to drop supplies in exchange for captive patients. The hospital got medical supplies, ammunition, food and gasoline; the CRM got new consignees. It worked for everyone that actually had a choice in the matter.

Beth made sure that she was going to have a choice.

The man who stepped off the chopper carried himself with a cautious confidence she'd recognized before in a certain former sheriff's deputy. Hesitance to be in his position but accepting it nonetheless. His face showed no real emotion as he surveyed the small crowd of Grady residents who met them outside. That is, until his eyes landed on her.

Understandable, with the number of scars lining her face. It wasn't something you saw everyday.

He studied her for a moment before turning away, gesturing at the soldiers in camouflage behind him to start unloading the supplies. Officer Shepherd stepped forward to greet him. "Major Okafor–"

His voice was deep and rigid as he interrupted her. "Where's Dawn Lerner?"

Now

The room remained quiet as the young woman finished her speech. The members of the CRM were reluctant to speak in case she wasn't quite done, and their prisoner found herself unab;e to form words to match the thoughts running through her head. She had so many possibilities, so many answers she needed but she doubted she'd get them all. So she stuck with the one most prevalent in the moment and tried to keep her voice even. "Why are we here?"

From across the table, Councilor Greene straightened and met eyes with her ally seated next to her enemy, nodding at him to take the lead as she repositioned herself back to her original spot in the room. "Your husband is a great asset to the CRM," Major General Beale started. "Or was, until you arrived. We've invested a lot into Sergeant Grimes' career with the CRM. A lot of people stuck their necks out for him when he made mistakes. People and this room, and one in particular who's no longer with us." He paused briefly before finishing. "We're here to decide if you deserve those chances as well."

Surprise and confusion briefly crossed across Michonne's face. "What about Rick?"

"Grimes will get his own review," Murray interjected before anyone else could. It was probably killing him that he wasn't the main man in charge of this investigation. "Now Michonne, can I call you Michonne?" He didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "I can tell that you're an intelligent, capable woman. I'm sure that you've realized you only have a few options here–"

"I have no intention of working for people that throw nerve gas at innocent people."

This caught the blonde's interest and not in a good way. "Nerve gas?" she questioned.

Michonne's eyes glimmered with anger as her voice shook. "The caravan I traveled here with. You flew by in your helicopter and dropped gas. Killed everyone except two of us. It took a year to recover enough to start moving again. A year," she punctuated, "away from children and our family."

The Councilor squinted and glanced at the one person in the room she didn't trust. He had started fidgeting his hand against his leg. Interesting. "I did wonder why it took you so long to get here. But I don't know anything about nerve gas." She paused. "Murray?"

The man cleared his throat as his hands continued to play piano on the tops of his legs under the table. "You're aware that we use a number of different tactics to dissuade delts and other entities from getting too close to the city, Elizabeth. You were the one who placed the borders on the perimeter, remember?" he said cheekily.

She fixed him with a glare. "You know I would never suggest using something so volatile on living people, Roger. They can run from walkers, they can't fight the air," she said with venom in her words. They would have to talk about this later. "You are dismissed."

At this the balding man whipped around in his chair to gape at her. "I–you–There is to be two Council members at each interview, Lizzie, you know th–"

"OUT!" she roared. She hated it when he called her Elizabeth or Lizzie, and she was sure she'd receive censure from the full Council once he complained, but that was a problem for later. "Beale is here, that's good enough. Leave."

He blinked a few times looking struck before loudly standing from his chair and exiting the room with a slam. She'd definitely hear about this later. She exhaled loudly before turning to one of the women still standing. "Stokes, follow him."

There was a quiet "Yes ma'am," before she too, left leaving just four of them in the room. She glanced at the open chair before making her decision. Normally she never sat during an interview to keep height at whoever was in the chair. But this was no normal interview and it had already been a long day, and the headache she'd felt coming on earlier was now a full migraine. She had about another hour of it increasing before she'd need to retreat to a dark room and try to sleep it off.

The blonde walked to the empty seat and plopped down to cross her arms in front of her. The other two CRM operatives kept quiet knowing that they were not going to be a part of the remaining conversation. "You have more questions, I have a migraine. Ask before I decide we're done here."

The other woman pulled her eyes from the blue ones staring at her to view the puckering wound near her hairline. It was as healed as it would ever be, still slightly pink and very obvious as to the type of wound it was caused by. Michonne let her eyes roam over the rest of the blonde's face, seeing the other scars on her forehead and cheek, and another near the base of her throat that disappeared into the collar of her coat. Finally she met her gaze again, so different from the teen she used to know. "You woke up in the trunk?"

Beth blinked, not expecting her to ask about her past but about their situation. She replied with a simple, "Yes."

"We thought you were dead. There was a herd coming and–"

She did not want to hear the excuses. "You weren't even there," not even attempting to hide the bitterness she felt.

Michonne tilted her head. "No, I was with Judith and Carl, keeping them safe. But I was there when Daryl carried you out. We all were." She'd heard this part from those at Grady who watched her family leave with her body from the windows, stories high. A fire truck pulled up and people poured out. A woman they thought to be Maggie screamed and sobbed even as the sounds drew in the dead. She had to be torn away from the redneck by another large man, and their ringleader opened the trunk of a nearby car. Her coffin. "They saved you? At Grady?"

The young woman rolled her eyes. "They felt guilty. I got out of there as soon as I could. The CRM took me in as one of their own, one of the founders. A man I'm guessing you had to do with the death of." Across from her the older woman's brows furrowed in confusion. "Major Okafor was on the helicopter that crashed the day Rick bought you in. He was a friend and a mentor to all of us," using a hand to motion to the other two in the room. Michonne frowned further, not sorry for what she had to do.

The Councilor noticed the movement but decided to move on. "Ask me something else."

She didn't hesitate. "How do you know about my kids? You said they were alright?" The Councilor wanted to roll her eyes but held off. If she was so concerned about her children then why did she leave them? Then again, that's what these people are good at. "How do you know about Alexandria?"

The left side of her mouth turned up before she spoke. "The Civic Republic had an agreement with a man who lived there, even before you arrived. Eric, I think his name was? I never met him, but he was a scout with his husband. When I heard the report he gave of a cowboy cop, a samurai, and an archer arriving with a baby I knew exactly who it was."

Said samurai was in disbelief. "Eric would have never–"

"Tsk," the blonde cut her off. "He would if it meant that the CRM would do their best to keep hordes away from their walls. Weren't you surprised at how they all managed to survive with their white fences and picnics for so long?" Michonne was taken aback but the other woman wasn't finished yet. "And then when he died during that skirmish you had with the asshole with the baseball bat–wasn't it so nice of you to take Stokes in? Or Jadis, Anne, whatever you want to call her. She'd been working with the CRM for just as long as Eric had. Did you know she still meets up with your preacher out in the woods just to catch up? She's been instrumental in gathering intel." The blonde gave a smirk as she dropped the real bomb. "Besides, they're not at Alexandria now."

Michonne's face fell and panic filled her eyes. "Wh–where–"

The younger woman leaned back in her chair and fixed her eyes on the mother. "Alexandria is as good as gone. The war that you were in the middle of took down the walls. Then they were so desperate to rebuild that they aligned themselves with another group who tried to wipe them out." She let the words sink in, as the older woman's eyes fell.. "But don't worry, the children you abandoned are safe."

On the other side of the table Michonne was near shaking as she listened. She looked up from the surface of the table to the people across from her. "Where are they?"

"Safe." The Councilor considered not telling her yet. It could be a useful tool to hold over her and Rick's heads to get them to comply but that contradicted her overall goal. They had to want to submit. "It's a large community called the Commonwealth. We had an understanding with them at one point, but your group ruined that too."

Michonne's chest was pounding and her ears were near ringing at all this new information. "H–How?"

"Mhm," her head was starting to worsen. She had about 10 more minutes before she needed to be back in her apartment to relax. Or try to anyway. "The king, what was his name?" she turned to ask Beale.

"Ezekiel."

Right. "Ezekiel and another man took over after exposing the family that was running the place. We had an arrangement with them to repair the country's rail system in exchange for supplies, but, like I said. Your people ruined that." She sneered. "Your children are with Carol, there."

Michonne's eyes widened and her head jerked back without her permission. "I left them with Daryl." She scanned the blonde's face for any of the cracks she'd seen the last time she said his name. "Where's Daryl?"

Beth froze and stopped breathing altogether to avoid exhaling loudly, swallowing it down. She took only a second to reset herself before answering. Michonne still saw it all. "He's gone."