Ace was up and out early, meeting with Rick and the others to retrieve the stolen guns. The plan worked, but still, nobody pulled out a weapon until they made it further into the woods. Ace wasn't sure how far the Alexandrians ventured past the walls and wasn't willing to risk bringing to light the fact that they had stolen from them.

The small dilapidated shed was isolated today, with no signs of any more walkers like there were the day before. Good, she decided. However, she wondered why the only group of walkers they had seen was the one on Route 23. Had this area been evacuated so thoroughly that there were no walkers?

Carol pulled out a bag when they stopped, opening it to show them the guns. "Take your pick."

Ace reached for one, taking a random gun. None of the ones picked out were her Beretta, which didn't surprise her—she'd made such a fuss in front of Aiden that her gun disappearing could have been obvious to the people who regularly used the guns.

She made a mental note that she'd have to practise at some point, but for now . . . the gun was just for emergencies—taking Alexandria.

"Look, I've been thinking," Daryl began. Ace who was turning over the gun in her hands glanced up, now suddenly questioning the decision. "Do we really need these? I mean, things go bad, yeah, sure. We do what we gotta do, but it's like you said. We don't need these for that."

"Right now we don't," Carol corrected him, raising a brow at his behaviour.

Daryl instead turned to Rick. "You wanted me to try, right? I'm good."

Ace wasn't.

Even now with the gun in her hands, she felt safer, more sane and calmer than she had felt since arriving at Alexandria. She assumed it had something to do with what Abraham was saying, how he talked about the Alexandrians never leaving the beginning of the end.

Rick and Carol also took a gun, despite his attempt to mend the rift between the two groups, and Ace felt better about her choice.

On the way back to the community, Ace walked alongside Rick. She was contemplating how she wanted to spend her time because she was restless. Doing nothing was her worst nightmare, especially now, after her attack, she had to try to keep her mind focused on doing something.

She thought back to her ideas, things she wanted to try at the Prison when the meaning of her existence didn't revolve around making it to the next day. She was limited on the road, but she felt more capable now, better. Physically, at least.

"I was thinking about asking Martinez if he can drive me out, give me a chance to learn how to use my axe properly," she said out of nowhere, catching Rick's attention. "They don't have many car parts, and the construction workers aren't heading out today, so I have some time to kill."

Climbing was something she wanted to try since she found her weapon of choice, and many of the people in Alexandria assumed she already knew how. If they were keeping up appearances, climbing was probably the best cover-up she had for having the axe.

Rick pondered the idea and gave a nod. "Alright."

"You just wanted me to tell you if I was going to leave," she reminded him of his request.

"Pretty sure I told you to let me know where you were going back on the farm."

Ace raised a brow. "Has anything changed since then?"

Rick said, "Well, you're older now. And I know you can handle yourself." Then he decided, "But I'd feel better knowing where you are."

"I'll keep doing it then."

She wondered if he knew that she left the party the night before because Rick himself had been acting strangely, during the event and afterwards. The thought of telling him that she left—how that conversation might go—made her want to cry there and then.

The alternative would be telling him she left the party with Isaac, which could bring about a completely different talk.

Ace decided that as long as she was within the walls, that was enough information for Rick.

Back at the community, she dipped towards their house to search for Martinez. After checking every room inside his house next door, she went through the back door to find him lying in the sun on a bench located on the rear porch. His arm was draped over his eyes and his leg was propped up on the armrest. Ace studied him for a second, wondering if she should even ask him to drive her.

His arm moved as he felt the cool air in her shadow, and a single eye opened to look at her. "What?"

"Are you hungover?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Too hungover to drive?"

"Yes," his arm came back over his eyes.

She nodded, not that he could see. Instead of pushing him, she turned around and began walking back to her own house.

Martinez opened his eyes again, sighed and heaved his body up into a sitting position with a laboured grunt. After taking a few deep breaths through his nose, his fingers digging into his temples, his eyes drifted to follow her.

"Where do you want to go?" He called after her, and Ace stopped.

"I wanted to find a rock face, learn how to use my axe for climbing," she said. "I just wanted someone to drive down there and keep an eye out."

"You can drive."

That was his way of telling her anyone else could watch out for walkers, or she could even just drive herself out. She was able enough to look after herself for a few hours outside the walls, and his head was pounding.

Ace, however, took it literally. "I don't like driving." When she picked up on his meaning, her chest tightened in regret, and she added, "But, it's okay. You don't have to take me if you're feeling bard."

There was something wrong, he noticed. He'd intended for his statement to be met with more humour, but Ace had turned blunt and completely oblivious to his setups. She had been this way since Aaron had found them at the barn, and he was seeing no break in this meekness that she carried around.

Abraham mentioned something about Ace when they returned to the house the night before, both of them had been drinking until the early hours of the morning. Martinez said how she was acting off when he spoke to her, and Abraham confided his conversation with Ace to him.

It looked like she needed a break.

"Nah, I can do it," he decided. "It'll give me a chance to sit in the car where it's quiet."

Taking a few deep breaths, he groaned, pushing downward on the bench to stand, a hand gripping her shoulder to balance himself. She merely stood there, waiting for him to either ready himself or change his mind in this new position.

But Martinez rolled his shoulders back and said, "You ask Deanna already?"

Ace froze.

She panicked over nothing at the party, and before Isaac inserted himself to save her, someone had asked how she was doing. Any one of them could have relayed that information to Deanna—a woman who believed there was nothing to be feared inside the walls, because there wasn't, and Ace realised how ridiculous it would seem to them.

She shook her head. "Never mind, it's fine. I don't want to go, and you should probably stay here anyway."

The frown he gave made her regret her quick change of mind—even asking him. But this seemed easier than the conversation that could have cropped up with Deanna if she had to talk to the woman just to borrow a car to take outside the walls.

"You sure?" Martinez's brow cocked suspiciously.

"Yeah, it was silly," she wearily waved him off, falling a step backwards. "Just going to, um, just take some time and relax. See you."

He would have let her go if he thought Ace knew how to relax, and he questioned her one more time before she was able to slip through the rear entrance of her own house and escape one of the possible embarrassing conversations she had to face that day.

Everything was awkward now. Ace had never felt so watched, like she was under a magnifying glass, scrutinized by the Alexandrians and her people. Any conversation could open up an interrogation about her recent attitudes.

She made her way into the living room.

20 minutes later, the front door opened and Ace sat up from her lounging position to see Martinez making his way inside. He glanced around before eventually spotting her on the sofa, and he waved a hand for her to follow him.

"Come on, grab your stuff."

His head jutted to the side as she clambered off the sofa, and followed in step behind him to the outside. Leaning down, he grabbed her axe that had been resting against the side panelling and held it back for her to take.

Ace expected him to explain, but he didn't. "What?"

Martinez continued in the direction of the armoury, and she chased after him. "Got the okay from Deanna. She said the cars were basically yours unless they're being used for runs or work, so just make sure you bring 'em back," he said. "Though, any reason a car doesn't make it back she can't fault you for, so I'd say just make sure there's still enough cars for the others to use."

"You didn't have to ask for me," she said, her cheeks holding a pink tinge.

He gave her a look that asked would you have done it yourself? But he decided that the question would only open up a can of worms and get Ace to change her mind again, so instead he said, "Yeah well. It gives me a chance to get away. The house is loud with everyone around, not good with a hangover."

"You don't have to drive if you're hungover," she tried again, already aware of her annoying the incessant mind-changing was becoming. She hated herself for it, but she didn't miss how Martinez wasn't reprimanding her for the behaviour, and he was hungover—whatever that meant.

He gave her one final chance to decide. "You want to go or not?"

Ace nodded immediately, grateful that he'd asked, not that her face was able to show it. "Thanks."

Martinez waved her off, gesturing that she follow him, and they walked to the armoury in a nice silence. She already had her knife and her axe, all she needed now was a gun, which she would have only used if things turned truly terrible.

"Alright," he said as they reached the building. "Let's get your stuff and go."

"Go?" Ace turned her head to see Glenn approaching them with raised brows. "Where are you going?"

He followed them into the armoury, expecting an answer. Ace thought nothing of it, just that Glenn—like Rick—may have wanted to know if she were leaving the community.

Martinez, however, didn't miss the stern tone of his voice. "Ace wants to practise climbing, I want to see if she falls," he shrugged Glenn off with a joke that only seemed to anger her brother. "Gonna find a rock face and let her at it."

Glenn was silent for a moment, glancing between the two of them while Ace dug around in the wheelie tub for her gun. Martinez saw the apprehension, the way his eyebrows drew together as he asked, "Just the two of you?"

"Like the good old days," Martinez confirmed, silently demanding that he drop the subject.

Glenn noticed the look, but ignored him as he said, "I'll come with you guys."

Martinez's jaw set.

Ace straightened up, holstering her gun, seemingly happy with the idea. "You sure?"

"Someone needs to watch your back," Glenn insisted, eyes locking with Martinez.

"What? That can't be me?" Martinez's mouth was in a crooked half-smile, trying to joke and lighten the obvious tension in the air.

Glenn didn't back down, only silently glaring back.

Ace became increasingly nervous, not wanting to cause any drama over the request. "Look, if this is going to be a problem I don't want to go all that bad—"

"No problem," Martinez easily cut her off. He wondered how she could have been excited about Glenn joining them with the conversation he witnessed them having at the party the night before, but he wasn't going to be the one to disappoint her now. "The more the merrier, right? Come on, let's go."

He slung his rifle over his shoulder, heading toward the gate. Ace eyed Glenn for a moment, but he just followed Martinez when he had the weapons he wanted. She thought about telling him off, she couldn't deal with the argument that day, but Glenn was gone before she had the chance.

It was probably for the best, talking to him might just bring up their fight from the night before, something else she repressed.

Isaac had his bag ready as he left his room, coming into the kitchen to grab a snack before he left. He dropped his bag on the counter and began searching the cupboards for things some of the others had grabbed from the pantry to eat. He grabbed a breakfast bar and walked around the counter to sit down.

He looked up as Maggie entered the kitchen, also dressed and ready. "Morning."

"Yeah, morning," he nodded, unwrapping the bar and taking a bite.

"Got anything going on?" She asked as she went to make breakfast.

"I'm going to start my lessons with Reg today, about to head over in a couple of minutes."

Maggie nodded and went to make herself breakfast. Isaac realised he'd probably see her throughout the rest of the day because she worked with Deanna who he also commonly saw when he was with Reg. Maggie helped Deanna with planning for the future, and it reminded him of the meetings Ace used to have when she was on the council at the prison.

For a second he wondered if Ace was offered a position like that again, but it was overshadowed by remembering how worn out she looked back at the prison. Maybe it was for the better that she didn't have that responsibility.

He threw away the wrapper when he was done, and checked his bag again to make sure he had everything on him. That was probably the sixth time since he packed it ten minutes before, something that was beginning to annoy him because, yes, he had everything he needed.

"Did you enjoy yourself last night?" Maggie asked.

Isaac shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, guess so. I met a bunch of people, avoided getting a stamp on my hand," he nodded to Maggie who still had the red ink from the night before.

"You got back late," Maggie commented. "Where were you?"

Isaac knew he was back much later than the rest of the people at the party, but even when he returned to his room, Noah was still awake. They shared the room that was still just plywood and baseboards, not finished, but it meant they could both get a mattress.

Noah told him how Sasha had snapped at someone which everyone heard and it ended not long after that. Part of him was glad he got Ace out because she could have been that person embarrassed and snapping at the people around her. Drawing attention to herself could be embarrassing and she didn't seem to be in the state for that.

Maybe Sasha was going through the same thing.

He shrugged it off and took a moment to think of an answer to keep Ace's privacy. "Taking a walk, not many people my age at the party, got boring after a while."

"Alone?" She raised a brow.

"I like being alone."

She knew, there was no way she didn't, but he tried to keep his cool as he lied. Still, it was keeping Ace's attack under wraps, though he did realise that Glenn and Maggie already knew something about her behaviour. For some reason, Abraham was the one to help out the most and that, he didn't understand.

He appreciated the help either way.

"Yeah," she agreed with a nod. Then she smiled and rolled her eyes, before shaking her head and leaning forward. "You know I heard you getting back, right?"

"I was starting to pick it up," he said.

Maggie nodded and gave a small smile. "Wanna talk about it?"

"I'm good," Isaac stood up and grabbed his bag. "Gonna head over to Deanna's."

He left before Maggie could continue her string of questions, and made his way down the street to the Monroe's house. Reg wanted to start actual work now, rather than getting to know each other. The last time they spoke was about the prison, what they did for that community, and eventually how Ace had built it up.

Isaac knocked on the door, standing to attention outside their house. He had never been so excited to start learning anything, but he felt completely different about working with Reg. This could mean that his art had meaning and he wouldn't be stuck doing jobs he hates for Alexandria.

Being there had already done so much for him, he was able to keep working out now he had his own private space, and thanks to Michonne, he was feeling much stronger than when he started. It was becoming another coping mechanism for him, that made him excited when he realised he was making progress. Architecture, or the mere act of learning it, could do the same for him.

The door opened, to Reg, who immediately waved him inside. "Isaac, come in, come in. Would you like something to drink?"

"Oh, no thanks," he shook his head. "I'm just really excited to start."

"Then, let's not wait any longer," he smiled and held up a hand for Isaac to follow him. They walked through the house into the dining room as Reg began to ask, "If you don't mind, I'd like to take a look at your drawings close up. I watched all of the videos and I was very intrigued, but I would like to inspect them up close and see what your skill level is. I could get some post-its so you could mark off any pages that you don't want me to see if you'd like."

Isaac shook his head. "Oh, no. It's completely fine, look at whatever. It would actually be cool to have a professional tell me what I could do to make them better."

"That is what I like to hear," he said. "It's always important to be open to constructive criticism."

In the dining room, Isaac could see the streaks along the table as the light shone on the surface, as though it had been cleaned recently. He appreciated it, that they were considering him, especially when Reg didn't need to be teaching him any of this.

He nodded for him to take a seat at the table, and Isaac did just that, hanging his messenger bag over the back of the chair and digging for his sketchbook. He took out the leather-bound book and handed it to him, nervousness settling under his skin.

Reg flicked through the pages, nodding as he looked through each of the drawings. "You have incredible talent, young man. These are very impressive," he complimented. "I thought as much when I saw them in the video, and Deanna was right to recommend that you come to work with me," he glanced up, his eyes peering over his glasses. "Don't tell her I said that, she already believes that she's always right.

Isaac laughed. "I won't."

"There is some work we need to put in, but that is to be expected. However, these are far better than I expected from someone of your age," Reg took off his glasses as he looked up to Isaac and lowered the book to the table. "I'm sorry, that sounded far worse than I meant. I taught and worked with people that barely had a fraction of the skill that you're presenting here."

Isaac was beaming, unable to stop the excitement building up in his chest. "Thank you so much. I mean, I'm much better at drawing people so I think I just put more work into that over landscapes."

"Still, there are some good landscapes in here, but I see what you mean," Reg flicked through the pages, inspecting the drawings. "If you preferred drawing people, why did you switch halfway through?"

"Oh, I started those when . . . everything happened, you know?" Isaac said. "There were no people around to draw, and it seemed like the perfect time to practise, I guess. There was always something new to look at, is what I mean to say. I spent a lot of time just staring at buildings that looked cool."

"Well, I can see what you mean about being better at portraits," Reg said. "Your perspectives for people are very good, but we need to go back to the basics to learn how to draw realistic structures and environments." He paused, further inspecting some of the pages before placing the book down on the table and tapping at one of the images with his finger. "Who is this person, they keep cropping up every so often. Is it character design?"

Isaac bit his tongue; maybe there were some drawings he wanted to keep to himself. "That's my mom . . . she's gone now. We were alone for a long time"

"I'm sorry, I truly am sorry to hear about that," he placed his hand over the book and looked up sincerely. "That must've been incredibly difficult, being on the road for so long and losing her."

"It's okay," Isaac shook his head.

"What I was trying to do was to gauge what your creativity was like. There is a certain level this job requires, though I have seen people skate by on derivative designs."

"There are some characters in there," Isaac pulled the book across the table and went back to the beginning. "Just some stuff I used to do while I was hanging out with my friends. They'd be playing basketball and there was only so many times I could draw someone jumping for a ball."

"It helped with adding dynamics in your art, though," he commented. "As I said, impressive skill."

Reg closed Isaac's book and gave it back to him as he stood up. "We'll start with the basics of perspectives today, to start you off on basic structures and I'll dig around for some of the textbooks I've found and start creating lectures," he explained his plan, moving into the other room to rifle through a draw. "I believe I have a spare notebook around which you can use for our lessons."

He squeezed his hands together between his knees and waited patiently, bouncing his feet gently up and down. Reg pulled out a black sketchbook where the covers looked to be made of thick cars, with rings as the spine. He also grabbed a few pieces of paper and a pencil as he walked back over to where Isaac was, and sat beside him.

"This'll be yours to take notes and practise," he explained. "Do you need a pencil?"

"I have one," Isaac said and looked through his bag again. He pulled out the pencils and eraser Ace had found him on a trip to a garage, and dragged the new sketchbook in front of him, pushing the other aside to make room.

"Are you ready to begin?" Reg asked.

"Yeah, of course," he smiled.

Reg pulled his chair forward and began drawing on a piece of paper he grabbed for himself. "Okay, so we have three axis, X, Y and Z, which are all different dimensions." He began drawing a horizontal line with an X shape drawn through the centre at the bottom to display what he was talking about. "So, if we start by drawing a cube, then you can see we use all of these axis. Axis can be used to show position or how things are moving."

Isaac nodded along as he copied the images being drawn in front of him, and labelled the lines before copying the cube. He again labelled each line so he could remember what Reg was showing him, and Reg patiently waited for him to finish.

"Next we discuss the horizon line, which is where the sky meets the ground. We'll draw this in here. For now, this will relate to the canopy point, which . . ." he trailed off as he drew dotted lines from the top corners of the cube to the point on the horizon line, "is where the points would converge if they were to continue. This can also be called a vanishing point."

"It's always on the horizon?" Isaac asked, trying to keep up with his sketch and notes.

Reg laughed just a little and shook his head. "No, um . . . this is a little difficult to show on paper. I used to have animations in my lectures, I spent ages on them. If we rotate this cube up or down, the vanishing point will move."

Nodding along, Isaac glanced between his sketchbook and the paper that Reg was demonstrating on, trying to make adequate notes at the same time as sketching. It was like being at school again, not something he ever thought he'd have to worry about, but he slipped so easily into wanting his notes to be perfect again.

"Okay, this is a lot," he chuckled nervously. "But it seems so . . ."

"These lectures are very boring, I am aware," Reg laughed. "I went through all this myself. But they're necessary. Don't worry, it becomes more interesting after a while. And one day you'll see your designs will be turned into a reality to help this community grow."

Isaac smiled and nodded—suddenly, that was all he wanted.

The car stopped as Martinez pulled onto the side of the road, and past a train track, Ace could see a rock face. It was small, not a cliff or anything, just something that had been carved out a long time before when trains were first brought through.

Still, she worried about Glenn and Martinez being together on this trip. It wasn't exactly like they had many ways to distract them, nowhere to loot or anything. Glenn took the back seat, probably not even wanting to sit by him.

Ace remembered back to when she had warned him in the train car that she was travelling with Martinez—that he saved her life. She didn't expect that he would be back until she saw him after they escaped Terminus, and by that time, everyone thought it best that he hung around in case they were attacked again.

Ace got out of the car and hopped over the metal railing beside Martinez, and they approached the rock face in silence. Eventually, as they stood at the bottom, she tried to find the best way to get up, looking down at the axe on her belt.

"Got any idea how to do this?" Martinez asked.

She shrugged. "Not really."

"You don't have a book on this?"

Ace's eyes lit up, and she dropped her bag from her shoulder. "You know what, actually, I do! Let me just pull it up real quick," she pretended to rifle around in her backpack before pulling out her hand and giving Martinez the middle finger.

Martinez rolled his eyes. "Great. Let me see the axe?"

She unclasped it from her holster and handed it to him. He turned it over in his hands, before looking at the hook. Then he tried placing it between a crack that was too low and wide to provide any kind of stability. When he realised that wasn't going to work, he pulled it back.

"They're made for ice," Ace said after a while. "I don't think I can use that to pierce the rock or anything."

"Probably could, just don't know how well it'd hold up if you kept doing it," Martinez ran his thumb along the edges. "Could need sharpening afterwards, might break altogether."

"Doesn't sound very sustainable," she crossed her arms.

"Maybe we could cast it, make more," he said but shrugged. "But until you find a book on it I'd keep piercing non-ice materials to a minimum."

"Great," she mumbled.

"That's not to say that you can't still practice climbing without it," he told her. "It's probably for the best actually, built up strength in your arms so that when you use the axe, you can hold up your weight and use enough strength to pierce stone."

Ace contemplated his words for a second, before nodding in agreement. There would be more to her training than just using the pick, she realised. Even with what Martinez said, she saw a way to incorporate it into her strength-building.

She jumped and hooked the axe on a ledge above her.

"Is that stable?" He asked.

"Not really, but normally I wouldn't be able to get up here."

"Okay, let's see you pull yourself up."

Ace stabled herself with her feet against the wall before pulling upwards, hoisting her body into the air. As she reached up to grab the ledge, her feet slipped back down the wall, so she pulled the axe down with her.

"Want us to leave you to it?" He asked with a grin.

Ace only nodded in response, looking down at the axe as she turned it over in her hands.

Martinez turned away.

He could hear the steps of Glenn behind him, following him back down to where they parked. He opened the door and sat down in the car, facing outwards. Closing his eyes, he tried to ease some of the sickness that had been plaguing his throat since he woke up. Though, he knew it couldn't have been that easy.

"What are you doing bringing her out here?" Glenn asked after a moment of silence—ruined silence.

"Ace asked me today, saw her last night and it looked like she was a little down," Martinez shrugged. "Kid told Rick she'd ask me, and I got nothing going on so if trying to climb a rock face is gonna give her the chance to blow off some steam then I'll sit here and keep watch."

There was no response as Glenn kept his eyes forward and his teeth clenched. Martinez tilted his head to look at him. He knew Glenn most likely hated him—Maggie did too—but Martinez had been helping Ace get away and do what she wanted. That didn't seem wrong in his eyes.

"You seem pissed at that," Martinez said

Glenn was quiet for a long pause, one that Martinez thought he wasn't going to put an end to. But eventually, he sat up and turned to face him, his face stoic. "I don't know that I trust her going anywhere with you."

"Then bring her yourself next time—oh wait. She didn't ask you, she asked me." He rolled his eyes. Had he not done enough for that girl to prove himself already? "What? You think I'm going to kill her or something?"

"You've done worse."

"The kid wanted to get away, Abraham said something about her not doing so great last night, so when she asked me, I brought her out."

"Why didn't I hear anything about this?" Glenn asked, his voice accusing.

"From what I was told she tried telling you herself." That wasn't supposed to have the bite it came out with, he knew why Maggie and Glenn hated him and he didn't deserve to be sharp with them.

Glenn's jaw set. "We found something good, she needs to try, we were almost out there too long."

"She was out there too long," Martinez said. She had been willing to kill one of their own, and as deserved as he thought it was, she shouldn't have found it so easy to try. "It's been hard on her, I can't imagine everyone acting like everything is fine is what she needs right now. She needed to get away for a couple of hours."

"What do you know about what she needs right now?" Glenn snapped.

"I know that right now she needs support from someone who claims to be her brother." Again, more of a harsh tone than he wanted—Glenn was beginning to annoy him more than he knew.

He cocked a brow. "Did she tell you?"

"Abraham was being vague about what's wrong with her, said to just give her some space," Martinez said. "I think he has his theories, maybe stuff he's not willing to talk about after everything."

Martinez guessed as to his theories, something he assumed Abraham suffered with himself. But he was the one who knew the most about it—if Abraham was playing the pronoun game, dancing around the obvious, then Martinez didn't want to get involved and make everything worse.

"Honestly, I'm surprised she's as well off as she is after the bus," Martinez shrugged. "Pissed me off when no one wanted her help once she gave up."

"You don't get the right to be pissed after what you did."

Martinez hadn't done anything to Ace, but he understood the meaning behind what Glenn said. He didn't have the right to an opinion about the way they did things. He knew that everyone left Ace alone after the bus, but showing her that she wasn't completely redundant would have been his first step.

Still, it wound him up. "I have given you and Maggie several opportunities to tell me to go. I know what I did and I apologise for it, but it isn't going to change the past. I was a shit person in a shit group, and everything I did was to stay alive."

"And that just magically makes it better? Everything we lost just because you couldn't say no to your boss?" Glenn frowned. "How can we trust you? What's to say as soon as something better comes along, you're gone? That you won't just switch sides?"

"Better?" Martinez scoffed, shaking his head. "There is nothing better than this." Still, Glenn was unconvinced, so he continued. "When I was on the road with Ace, we fought a lot. Isaac didn't know a thing about it, but it was hard. Someone heard us and offered me a place with them. Sick bastards, but they were stronger, better. According to you, I'm so evil. It would have been easy to go with them."

And it would have, trying to survive among the Claimers would have been easy if he'd just come out of working for the Governor. But instead, the person he met first was Ace and he couldn't join the Claimers knowing what they'd do to her if given the chance.

"I chose Ace and Isaac," he concluded. "I stayed with them, even when I knew I was supposed to be on my own as soon as she was able to survive on her own—that was the deal, and I stayed with them anyway."

Glenn shook his head. "You saved Ace that night in Woodbury, but she doesn't know what you did that night, not really."

"I didn't ask for your forgiveness," Martinez told him. "I don't ask for things I'm never going to get."

"Did you know what he was going to do to Maggie? That he was going to—" Glenn looked up as he trailed off, this being the only thing he said without any harshness, because he did just want the truth.

Martinez shook his head. "Never. Not until after."

That was the truth. It was also one of the only reasons he let Ace go that night because once he found out what the Governor was willing to do, he couldn't be the one responsible for a kid getting hurt in that way.

"Look, all I can do is apologise, but the reason I let Ace go was because of what he did that day," Martinez explained. "But if you want me gone, just tell me, and I'll pack up my shit and go. But I'm not fucking around anymore. Decide what you want. Hell, tell me and I'll go now, before Ace gets back."

Glenn thought silently for a while before the demolition expert came into view through the bushes.

Ace clambered over the fence differently—more tired than when she just hopped over when they arrived there. Martinez could see the exhaustion as she sauntered over to them, but his eyes returned to Glenn, silently asking, What's it gonna be?

"My arms hurt," Ace said.

He finally turned away from Glenn. "Yeah, well you can't be a savant at everything. Sit in the car a sec, we're just working something out."

"No, we aren't," Glenn denied. "Let's go."

That surprised him, and he continued staring at him until Glenn turned to the back seat of the car. Martinez tilted his head, shocked, and moved to sit back down behind the wheel as Ace dropped into her seat, leaning back against the headrest.

"How high did you get up?" Martinez asked as he clipped himself in.

Ace opened the window and pointed to one of the ledges about halfway up, not that he really saw where she meant. His eyes returned to Glenn in the rearview mirror who was seemingly still considering his offer even while Ace was there.

"That's good," he said. "If you want we can come out here more often."

"I'd probably be fine myself," Ace replied, a hint of annoyance in her tone.

Martinez looked at her. "How come?"

"Walker passed right under me and no one saw it," she shrugged.

Sorry it's been a little while, I've been catching up on the chapters that I caught up to over the exams. Though, there's a first for everything because I actually tried to edit this one. Just a little treat.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and let me know what you think :)