ALEXANDRIA-
Rick, Darryl, Maggie, Carol and Aaron were waiting in the Grimes living room, when Michonne returned from her 'visit' with Negan.
Michonne stared at the five of them. Or at least she looked like she was staring at them all. But in reality, Michonne was only seeing Aaron and thinking about what she would have to tell him.
Rick couldn't gauge Michonne's mood, which bothered him. She had left this house sad, but determined to get to the truth. Now, if Rick had to put his finger on it, he would've guessed that his wife had heard more than she had expected to hear and didn't know how to process it.
"Michonne?" Rick asked gently. Michonne came out of her daze and began to say what needed saying.
"I'm fine. Negan is claiming that Pamela Milton has been a match for Joshua this whole time. I don't know when she got tested, but chances are, she sat back in her cell and let Annie and Ezekiel worry when there was no need to." Michonne said.
Carol just shook her head in disgust! Maggie rubbed her face in frustration, Aaron clenched his jaw and Darryl took a deep breath.
"Go on. There's more. There always is with Negan." Rick said in an urging tone.
"There is." Michonne said and she sat down in a chair. "He said there is footage of my killing Andre's father, Mike, and his friend Terry. He said that the baby I saw… eaten…was some other woman's."
"You saw your own child get killed, and Negan is claiming that you didn't know what you saw?" Maggie asked in a disgusted, skeptical tone.
Michonne did not answer but was slowly twirling her katana, deep in thought. Rick gently moved towards her and took the sword out of her hand. He handed it off to Aaron, who put it back in a holder above the fireplace.
"So," Carol asked, "then we don't need to take Negan to the Commonwealth?"
"Pamela could have betrayed him," Aaron said, "we don't know that she's helped Joshua yet.
Michonne found her voice again.
"I'll go to the Commonwealth and see if Negan was telling the truth. I will also see if Andre is there or not." she said quietly.
"No." Rick said just as quietly. He looked at Darryl, Aaron and Carol.
"I want you to take that piece of shit that's sitting in our jails, to the Commonwealth. If Negan's lying, he can stay there. If he's telling the truth, he can still stay the hell there. Maggie and I are going to go to New Babylon. We're going to tell the marshals where to find Negan. They can go and get him from there."
Michonne stood up.
"I'll come with you." she told him. But Rick walked over to her and held her face within his hands.
"You stay here and rest. Negan is lying. And whatever he's up to, isn't going to happen. The New Babylon people will deal with him. Negan will be gone, Joshua will be fine and…"
"And Pamela Milton will be free, Rick." Michonne said tiredly. "This isn't over. And I have to find out for myself if Andre is really alive. I need to see him."
Maggie spoke up.
"And what, Michonne? And tell him why you did what you did? Don't you see that Negan has probably poisoned Andre against you?" Maggie asked, feeling thoroughly chilled. She could not get past how similar Michonne's situation was, to what she herself was going through with Hershel. Because in the end, despite what Hershel knew about what Negan did to Glenn, Hershel didn't truly see him as he should.
And Maggie was willing to bet the farm, that Andre had no problems with Negan, either.
Rick rested his hands on Michonne's shoulders.
"Stay here. Let Darryl, Carol and Aaron find out about whether Andre being alive is a reality, okay?" Rick suggested firmly. He was not about to let Michonne leave Alexandria after what Negan had pulled here today. Did he believe Negan and Pamela were conspiring against them? Yes. And telling Michonne that Andre was alive was part of all of this. God knows what Pamela really had in store for him, considering that he was the one that actually killed her husband.
And worse yet, Andre now knew that Michonne had killed his father. Michonne killed Mike and Rick killed Johnathan Beale—the only father Michonne's supposedly alive son had ever known.
Carol moved to Rick's side.
"Rick's right. Milton is trying to lure Rick and you to the Commonwealth. If you both go, there is no telling what trap she has set up there. Ezekiel and Annie have been so busy with Joshua, that they would know nothing of what was coming." Carol said.
Michonne nodded.
"Fine. I'll stay." she said quietly and Rick turned to the others.
"Let's get going. Maggie, I'll be with you in a moment." he said to her and Maggie, Darryl, Aaron and Carol, left the house. Once they were gone, Rick sighed and brought up another quasi related topic.
"Annie told me that Darryl and you got tested." Rick said.
Michonne sat down again.
"Yes. We did."
"Why, Michonne? I asked you not to…"
"Rick, looking at Joshua is like seeing RJ at that age. Only Joshua has Negan for a father and not you. I couldn't not do anything to help him." Michonne said. She stood up and moved so that she was now within the cocoon of Rick's arms. "Tell me you understand that?"
Rick's answer was to kiss her with barely restrained desire. When their lips parted, Michonne moved to turn away and leave him, but he caught her and pulled her back to him!
"I understand that." Rick half moaned against her mouth. He found himself forcing Michonne's lips apart and plunging his tongue between hers. Her tongue was enslaved within his and Michonne's head swam, as passion pulsed throughout her body. She almost felt like fainting. That was what loving Rick Grimes was like.
"Michonne," Rick murmured, releasing her lips, "we're going to get through this. Just stay here."
Michonne nodded against him, then watched as he reluctantly left her and walked to the front door. With one last encouraging glance back towards her, Rick opened the door and left the house. Michonne stood in place, feeling as if she had made a mistake in not insisting on going to the Commonwealth with them.
Rick believed that Negan was lying. Everyone did except for Maggie. Maggie was the one that voiced out loud, her fears about how Andre could possibly feel about her now, with Negan in his life.
Michonne walked over to the window and peered out. Darryl and Aaron shoved a gagged Negan into the back of an SUV! Carol was sitting in the driver's seat. Michonne thought about that gag and Aaron. She sincerely hoped Negan stayed quiet on their little road trip. Aaron didn't need to hear Negan's crap story about Gracie. And yet, Michonne was reluctantly forced to admit that it was possible, with all that had happened at the Santuary, that Gracie was Negan's child. God…
Michonne then looked over at a truck and saw Rick and Maggie, talking to Judith, Hershel, RJ and Gracie. Michonne watched carefully as the SUV started up and drove towards the gate. She knew the reason she was keeping an eye out, was in case Negan managed to escape that vehicle and try and talk to Gracie or something. But that did not happen. The gate opened and the SUV left Alexandria. Michonne turned away and wandered towards the kitchen. She would fix the kids something to eat and…
Michonne suddenly stopped in place and looked over at the staircase! Maybe there was some clue about all of this amongst Negan's things in the attic? She slowly walked towards the stairs and then made her way to the second floor hallway. Before she knew it, Michonne found herself in front of the attic door. She reached out to turn the knob and open it. Michonne then proceeded to make her way up to Negan's hiding place for the past day.
She found his sleeping bag, dirty magazine and…
Michonne saw a small book underneath the sleeping bag. As if in a trance, she bent down to pick it up.
The book had the words 'Olivia's Diary', etched on the front. But the name 'Olivia' was crossed off and the name 'Negan' was above it. Michonne shook her head with disgust, and sat down on top of a box that had seemingly never been unpacked. She opened the book and found that many pages had been ripped out. Michonne quickly realized that whatever Olivia had written about had been torn out and discarded. The first page and the rest of them, definitely belonged to Negan.
Michonne began paging through the diary quickly, looking for any reference to Andre. She spotted her name and stopped, but after a few seconds, she realized Negan was referring to some conversation they supposedly had, when Michonne had had to give him his lunch one day…
DAY 'I DON'T KNOW WHAT' OF MY IMPRISONMENT-
Michonne arrived to bring me lunch. That's rare, since she never comes here except when she wants to know something. I think the last time she was here, Judith had run away and I could tell that she was shocked shitless that I knew more about her daughter than she did.
Michonne felt her body stiffen up at his observation, but oddly, she kept reading.
The goddamned bread had mold on it! I'm not some animal that she can just feed anything! Well I fucking asked her if RICK would like eating a sandwich with green on the edges and shit! I then asked her if this is what she fed her kids?
Well, now to be honest, I was lying. There was no mold on the bread. I was hoping to get Michonne to come over to the bars so I could, maybe, touch one of her tits. She was wearing one of those tank tops that I'd seen her wear before, but this one had shrunk. I don't know if she even realized how much smaller it looked on her, but it was now my favorite.
Anyway, it didn't work. Michonne didn't come over to the bars but gave me a look. It was the kind of look that said either she didn't believe the sandwich bread was moldy, or she didn't care if I ate it. I think it was that she didn't believe me. I don't think a woman like Michonne, would want me to eat moldy bread.
"What. The. Hell. Did. I. Just. Read?" Michonne muttered to herself. She didn't even remember what Negan had been talking about and decided he had just made the whole thing up for some reason. Michonne went back to paging quickly through the diary. There had to be something about Andre in it.
COMMONWEALTH HOSPITAL-
Ezekiel entered the surgical ward and found Annie sitting in a waiting room chair next to a teenaged boy. The boy was wearing a black beret, that bore an emblem on it consisting of three, interlocked, white circles. The jacket he wore had the same design on it as well.
Immediately, Ezekiel felt a sense of unease. He had never seen this boy here in the Commonwealth, ever! And that in itself gave him a bad feeling. But the clothing he wore made Ezekiel feel even more uneasy. The boy looked distinctly military like. Ezekiel guessed in that instant, that the young man that Annie was sitting with and talking to, was none other than Michonne's lost son—Andre.
That meant Negan had been telling the truth. For once in his damned life! Maybe.
Ezekiel slowed his approach and Andre saw him before Annie did. Andre nodded to her and she looked Ezekiel's way. Her smile was full of happiness and relief!
"Ezekiel!" Annie jumped up. "The transplant operation has just begun, and Pamela's son came from Nebraska to be with her."
Ezekiel nodded slightly to Annie, while taking in 'Andre'. For all any of them knew, the man that kept Rick for years, and Milton, had just found some boy to be Andre. They had made him up, like they made up this story.
And Negan was an accomplice in this cruelty towards Michonne.
Andre stood up, his manner and stance, formal.
"Ezekiel," Andre said, "Annie has told me how much you supported her during this hard time."
"Yes," Annie said, as she began to sense Ezekiel's hostility, "and we were talking about the other time we met."
Ezekiel looked from Andre to Annie!
"The 'other time' you met? What are you talking about?" Ezekiel asked, feeling as if somehow, Annie was in on this duplicity as well! And he did not want to feel that way!
But Ezekiel kept his cool. He waited for Annie's answer but instead, got one from Andre.
"I apologize, Ezekiel, for not formally introducing myself to you. My name is Andre Beale. Pamela Milton is my mother. She is donating a kidney to Mrs. Smith's son, Joshua. I came here to be with her. I made Mr. and Mrs. Smith's acquaintance, years ago, when I was under the weather." Andre said politely.
What Andre had just said made little sense to Ezekiel. He decided he would ask Annie about it later when they were alone.
"It's good to meet you, Andre. Your biological mother and myself are close friends." Ezekiel informed him.
Andre nodded slightly.
"Yes. I see you are aware of my origins. Mrs. Smith here told me that you knew of my birth mother." Andre said cordially.
"Yes I do know her. Michonne and I have been through a lot together. She's a wonderful woman." Ezekiel told him.
"Well, that's not my understanding of her. But I will take your word for it." Andre said in an almost dismissive manner. Annie grabbed Ezekiel's arm and moved him away from the waiting room area! Andre sat back down in one of the waiting room chairs, but his eyes were on the two of them.
Ezekiel pulled his arm out of Annie's hold!
"What did you mean by what you said about knowing him from before, Annie? You've met Andre before?" Ezekiel asked.
"I don't 'know him', Ezekiel. But Negan and I found him suffering from the chicken pox, back when he was maybe ten, in an old auto store."
Ezekiel raised a brow!
"I thought the story was that Milton and this General Beale, had raised Andre since he was a toddler? What the hell was he doing alone in an auto store at ten?" Ezekiel asked her.
"I didn't know this at the time, but Andre had run away. Apparently, he was shown a video of Michonne killing his father and he just ran away." Annie said quietly.
"What video? And 'Andre' told you all of this just now?" Ezekiel asked skeptically. They had no way of knowing who this boy was really! Ezekiel didn't think he looked all that much like Michonne, truth be told. He supposed he could look like his birth father.
"Yes, Ezekiel! Apparently, he has also been helping keep Negan safe from the New Babylon Marshals and…and…well…Negan told me that Andre helped kill some of the men that hurt me. Now I can see that you're suspicious of him…"
"Annie, I am suspicious of him, Negan and Pamela Milton! Our friends went out of their way to get tested for Joshua and Milton was a known match this whole time! That means this operation could've taken place long before now! Joshua is being used here and so are you!" Ezekiel huffed.
Annie took a deep breath before saying what she was going to say.
"I can't worry about that. Joshua's life is all that matters. After, when I can walk out of here with my son, then I will worry about it. And I know Negan is up to something, but if he hadn't arranged all of this, we'd still be here waiting for someone to be a match." Annie told him.
"Negan was a match, Annie! And if he had just come forward like a decent father would have, we would not have still been 'waiting' for someone to match! And we're supposed to just ignore the fact that Negan, Milton and probably Andre over there, are planning on hurting our friends?" Ezekiel asked her.
"Rick and Michonne and not my friends. They're yours." Annie said bluntly and turned to walk away from him. Ezekiel watched as Annie returned to her seat next to Andre. Ezekiel then turned and moved towards the elevator. Joshua Smith would be fine. But the rest of them would not. And Ezekiel planned to have a meeting with Eugene, Stephanie, Gabriel and the others, to discuss these new developments, along with Negan's return and what all of this could mean to the new Commonwealth they had tried to build here.
Darryl, against his better judgement, took Negan's gag out of his mouth. But his hands were still tied behind his back.
Negan didn't hesitate to begin going off on everyone in the vehicle…
"You bastard fucks! I could've suffocated on that rag! I could have choked before seeing my son!" Negan snapped.
"Awww!" Darryl cooed with exaggerated and fake sounding sympathy, "I would've thought you would've been alright with having something of Michonne's stuffed in your mouth."
Aaron, who was in the front passenger seat, turned around to look at Darryl questioningly! But Carol knew where this was going…
"Alright, Darryl! Knock it off! I don't want to hear about that damned diary while I'm driving!" Carol chastised.
Aaron then looked from Darryl to Carol.
"That diary is real? I thought it was just the equivalent of an urban legend?" Aaron asked.
Negan grinned!
"Yeah, I know Rosita read it and probably countless of you other nosy asses did as well! I left it behind in the attic with my other things in Alexandria. I hope to fuck Rick doesn't accidentally read it. He will lose his shit if he does." Negan told them.
Darryl pulled out a knife and put it to Negan's throat!
"Now why would Rick lose his shit? Huh? What's in it?" Darryl asked.
"Darryl, we don't have much further to go. Ignore him." Aaron said and turned around to face the front.
But Darryl didn't remove the knife from Negan's throat. Negan's eyes moved from Darryl's hostile ones, to the rag that had been used to gag him. It was on the backseat floor. He wondered if it did indeed belong to Michonne?
Negan surreptitiously began trying to get it with his foot…
"You know, Darryl, again, I want to thank you for trying to help Joshua. You and Michonne." Negan said cordially.
"You can stop with that." Carol said calmly. "You knew when they got tested, that Pamela Milton was a match. You knew when poor Ezekiel sat there, night and day, worrying about Joshua, that there was a donor already. I don't get why Pamela couldn't have had the operation yesterday? Or the day before that?"
"'Poor Ezekiel' sat there, night and day so he could get with my wife! He doesn't give a damn about my son!" Negan snapped.
"Neither do you." Darryl replied, tightening the knife against Negan's throat. "Otherwise, you would have just dropped Hershel off at Alexandria and gotten your ass to the Commonwealth to help your son."
Aaron turned around again to get in on this conversation.
"Negan, you've been caught here. Rick and Maggie are going to tell the New Babylon people where you are. So you might as well tell us what the point of all of this was? What were Pamela and you up to? And what was the point of lying about Michonne's son?" Aaron asked him.
"I returned to Alexandria because I have family there, Aaron. Rick looks a little…fragile, wouldn't you say?" Negan asked no one in particular. "I mean not being with your family for six years can change a man."
"What are you talking about? What family? And why would you care how Rick is?" Aaron asked. He didn't even turn around.
"I never said I cared. I was just wondering. I mean I care that Judith and RJ are being treated right. I care that all the kids there are." Negan said.
"Why would you think they weren't being treated right?" Darryl asked. He couldn't follow what shit Negan was trying to start now! He was tempted to just 'scratch' Negan's throat a bit with the knife.
Negan's response was halted by a loud noise. One that they all heard. It was coming from outside of the SUV.
From the sky.
Carol and Aaron looked up through their respective windows to see a helicopter, whirring overhead! Darryl and Negan had looked up at it from their back passenger windows. Neither Carol, Aaron or Darryl, had seen a helicopter in what seemed like forever.
"Rick and Michonne returned on a helicopter. It was from the CRM." Aaron said.
No one said anything. Except for Negan.
"Well, my ride is here. It was nice catching up with all of you. Carol, a pleasure as always. Aaron, you can fuck off and Darryl…"
Darryl grabbed Negan by the throat!
"What? I can what?" Darryl asked in a whispering hiss. Even though Negan had come through for their group with the Whisperers and the Commonwealth, Darryl would never forget what he had done to their people. People that were not with them today because of Negan.
The noise of the helicopter grew louder and it soon became clear that it planned to land—in the road right in front of them, essentially blocking their way! The helicopter itself had three, white, interlocking circles on it.
Carol stared as two men got out of it, with rifles drawn and carefully made their way to the SUV! Aaron turned from them and saw that ANOTHER helicopter had landed a ways away behind them!
"You can fuck off too!" was Negan's answer to Darryl, as one of the men from the first helicopter, opened Negan's passenger side door and pulled him out! They did not close the door behind them, as the man and Negan, ran to the first helicopter and climbed in, while the remaining guy backed away from the SUV, rifle still pointed at them, before turning and running to get on the helicopter as well. It soon lifted into the air and flew off.
Darryl looked out of the back window and watched the helicopter that was behind them, lift into the air and fly off in another direction. Carol looked at Aaron and Darryl.
"What's our next move here? Negan's in with these Civic Republic people now! We could be the ones put behind bars if we show up at the Commonwealth!" Carol exclaimed.
"We need to find out if Michonne's son is alive and if Pamela Milton donated that kidney. Because if both are true, we will know why Negan was rescued just now." Aaron said.
Darryl picked up a walkie-talkie and began the process of getting in touch with Rick and Maggie.
Rick and Maggie were driving in a Dodge pickup truck on another road. Maggie, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was looking at a map.
"I've never been to this New Babylon," Maggie admitted, "but the motel where I found Negan, was not far from it."
"So Negan didn't run far after killing those men? He stayed in the area?" Rick asked. That just seemed stupid to him.
"No. He was not all that hard to find." Maggie said and rolled up the map. Rick glanced over at her.
"We'll get rid of Negan. We'll tell the marshals where he is and what he is doing. They'll go to the Commonwealth to pick him up." he assured her. But either Maggie was now unsure of their plan, or something else was bothering her.
"What is it?" Rick asked her.
"What if Perlie, the marshal I told you about, isn't dead? If we come in claiming that Negan is alive, Perlie could die." Maggie said.
"We don't know that Perlie isn't dead, Maggie. We don't know what part of this story Negan has told is bullshit. We don't know anything, that's the problem! First, Negan tells Michonne that Pamela Milton is going to grease the wheels for him with New Babylon, so that they will leave him and Annie alone. Then we find out that Milton is really part of the Civic Republic Military, and that New Babylon has nothing to do with any of this!"
Maggie said nothing and Rick could see she was not pacified.
"We will think of something to keep Perlie from getting in trouble, if he's still alive, I promise." Rick told her.
Maggie nodded before she began coughing…and coughing…
Both of their passenger side windows were open, and as they approached New Babylon they saw nothing but smoke…and charred bodies, along with an entrance gate that had been shot up by machine gun fire! Rick slowed down and Maggie gaped at the sight! Dead, burned bodies. And some of them were beginning to rise…
Neither said a word, as Rick quickly turned the truck around and headed in the opposite direction!
"We're going to the Commonwealth?" Maggie asked. But she knew the answer.
"I don't think it's a coincidence that the people that are after Negan, are suddenly dead! There had to be over a hundred bodies lying around there! And their deaths only benefit Negan." Rick said in a tight voice, as he stepped on the accelerator and Maggie told him where to turn to get on the road to the Commonwealth!
But then suddenly, Rick stomped on the brakes hard! A man was in the middle of the road, weakly waving them down! He collapsed as soon as Rick and Maggie stopped the truck, and Maggie jumped out first and hurried to him, while Rick yelled at her to be careful! But Maggie ignored Rick's warning. She knew who this was. She had recognized New Babylon Marshal, Perlie Armstrong, the moment he appeared in the road.
