Chapter 102-Forgiveness

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl walks into the radio room as everybody is eating and sits down. "This is Daryl. Anybody copy?"

"What's up, Daryl?" Carl answered, on radio duty most likely.

"I need you to come to the Campgrounds, Alden's back, and he came with a pretty big group, and we need to find out what community they are going to," Daryl tells Carl.

"Alden's back? Ok right, I'll radio Javi and Ezekiel. You radio Beth and Tara,." Carl tells Daryl, who nods as the radio goes silent.

"This is The Campgrounds. Hilltop, do you copy?" Daryl asks.

"I'm here, Daryl," Tara says.

"Come to the Campgrounds. Alden's back with a group, yes you heard me, and we need to get them homes. Carl is radioing Javi and Ezekiel," Daryl tells him. "I'll radio Reilly after."

"We'll be there soon," Tara tells him as Daryl radios, Reiley.

Alden's P.O.V

Alden was sitting against a cabin when the gates to the campgrounds opened, and the MRAP came in. Maggie, Tara, Al, Beth, and Hershel get out of the MRAP. Hershel runs away from his mother and runs up to Merle and Ofelia as Alden stands up. Maggie runs up to Alden and hugs him. Alden smiles as he wraps his arms around her. "It's so good to see you," Maggie says softly as she lets him go. She then punches him in the shoulder, causing him to yelp in surprise. "That's for being gone for three months. That was too long."

Alden smiles and nods. "Don't worry, I'm not leaving again, I promise," Alden says as Al walks up to him and hugs him as well.

"How many people did you bring back?" Al asks him, feeling like history was repeating itself.

"Twenty-four," Alden answers as he points at Deacon. "You should interview him, sounds like he has a pretty good story."

"I'll do that," Al grinned at that notion as Daryl walks up to him.

"So you have a plan for these people?" Beth asks as she walks up to them with Tara.

Nodding, Daryl stated. "There are twenty-four of them. We'll send four to each community and divide them up. Give everybody some more manpower. That girl." Daryl says as he points at Addy. "She's a doctor. The Kingdom could use one. I'll talk with Ezekiel and Addy about that when Ezekiel gets here."

"We're still expanding Hilltop. We don't have a ton of room. Have more of them go to the Kingdom. They need them more than we do. We didn't lose a ton of people against Richmond. Alexandria and Kingdom had the worse losses, and Richmond and the Sanctuary could always use more people."

"We're still staying to help, though. Hershel needs to let out some energy." Maggie says with a smile as she watches her son play with Ofelia, Merle's dog, and Boozer's dog Jack. Daryl stares at this for a moment with a smile, and nods as he walks to get Merle as well.

Carl's P.O.V

Carl drives the car into the campgrounds with Enid, Arya, Jesus, and Aaron. Rick and Michonne had stayed at Alexandria, to hold the place down and stay with Judith and Andrea. Carl climbs out of the car and looks around "There are way too many people in this camp." Carl says as he grabs his hat. But then he felt his shoulder brushed, as he looks at Arya running away from them, to go 'exploring' as she called it. "Arya-"

"Don't. You're wasting your breath." Enid says with a smirk as they walk up to Daryl and John, who were talking with Deacon and Boozer.

"This is Carl and Enid. Carl's the leader of Alexandria."

"A little young, isn't he?" Boozer asks bluntly, causing Deacon to punch his shoulder.

"Ow! What?!"

"Why does everybody say that?" Carl mumbles.

"Hey he's probably tougher then all of us, back off." Daryl growls at Boozer, who raised his hands in apology. "So we're going to send eight of them to the Kingdom, Four to Alexandria, Richmond, and The Sanctuary, and four of them are going to stay here."

"I think I know who you should send to the Kingdom. If Addy goes there to be their doctor, Rikki will as well. You said they need fighters, right?" Deacon asks Daryl, who nods. "Okay, I'll get our best fighters together. They can go there."

Daryl nods as Deacon and Boozer walk away. Daryl looks at Carl. "You Dad didn't come?"

"No, he stayed in Alexandria with Judith and Andrea. Says he trusts you enough to handle things."

Can't helping but smile at Rick's level of trust in him, Daryl gestured to his cabin. "Well, come on, we can talk inside."

Negan's P.O.V

Laying back in his bed, he stared at the ceiling lost in thought...especially once more seeing the little Korean boy outside playing with Ofelia and Merle.

"Damn it." He mumbled, his mind wracked with emotions...remembering...

*"I will shut that shit down. NO exceptions."

*"He took a hell of a hit."*

*"BACK TO IT!"*

But then he heard the door fly open and completely off guard he sat up, bewildered...Arya came running inside without a knock.

"Hi Uncle Negan!" Arya said happily, sitting down on the bed without waiting for an answer.

"You're supposed to knock, Little Cub." Negan deadpanned with a smirk as he stands up.

"Lock your door if you want people to knock," She rolled her eyes.

"Atta girl," Negan chuckles as she sits down. "So, what do you want?" Negan asks with a smile.

"I was going to see Rosita, but she was feeding Coco, so I figured you would be fun to talk to."

"Of course I am! I'm damned fun to talk to." He then paused "Wait I'm the Second option!?"

"Fuck, that's not what I meant." Arya scoffed as she stood with him.

Gasping, Negan put a hand over his heart "Such language Miss Grimes, what would your Mom say?"

"I'll just tell her you taught me," Causing Negan's face to fall, Arya then grinned "Kidding kidding."

"Well, come on, I have patrol. You wanna join me?" Negan asks as he stands up. Arya shrugs her shoulders as she follows the man out of the cabin. They walk through the Campgrounds.

"Wait where are you two going?!"

Arya paled and turned. "oh shit."

Enid was coming up to them, stern and strict "Arya-"

"Mom Uncle Negan's just going on a patrol around here, we'll be back in five minutes! I've been on the road with Jocelyn most of my life I can handle myself!" Arya stubbornly insisted, stomping her foot.

Staring at her...Enid closed her eyes tiredly "Fine." She looked at Negan sternly "If anything happens to her-"

"It'd have to happen to me first." Negan crossed his heart.

After a moment, Enid reluctantly nodded as Arya gave her a hug for thanks, turning to follow Negan as they left through the gate.

They start to walk through the woods, looking for walkers, Arya looking at Negan as he pulls his Mace off his back. As they see two walkers, Negan raises his Mace and slams it down on the top of the first walker's head before he pulls it back and hits it across the side of its head, caving in. Negan puts his Mace back on his back and continues to walk with Arya following him.

"I should ask Earl to make me one of those," Arya says with a smile as she looks at the Mace.

"I think you should enjoy being a kid for a little bit, and this is too heavy for you anyways. Stick to the knife. Good for someone your size." Negan says with a grin.

"Oh come ON! I'm not that short!"

"Your a damn midget kid."

With that they walked as they kept arguing and snarking at each other.

Ezekiel's P.O.V

Ezekiel, Carol, Daryl, John, Shane, Morgan, Beth, Tara, Maggie, Reilly, Javi, Gabe, Arat, Carl, Enid, Jesus, Aaron, Deacon, Rikki, Addy, Sarah, and Boozer stood inside the big cabin. Daryl had just told them what the plan was. "So, you want me to join the Kingdom?" Addy asks Daryl, who nods.

"Every community has a doctor. Campgrounds have June, Alexandria has Lily, The Sanctuary has Edwards, Hilltop has Siddiq, and Richmond has Paul. The Kingdom needs one."

"You would be doing my people a great service if you join us," Ezekiel says.

Boozer whispered to Daryl "He always talks like that?"

Daryl just elbowed him to be quiet.

Addy looks at Rikki, who nods.

"Okay, I'm in," Addy says, making Ezekiel and Carol sigh in relief.

"Thank you," Ezekiel says with a smile.

"I rounded up our best fighters to go with you guys. Rikki can get them for you." Deacon tells Ezekiel, who nods in thanks

"What about you? Where are you and your wife staying?" Javi asks Deacon.

"I think we'll stay here. I like it out here, good for hunting and not a ton of people, small place." Deacon says as he looks at Sarah, who nods with a smile.

"I imagine that means you are staying?" Daryl asks Boozer, who nods.

"Everybody else is being split up outside. When you're ready, take 'em back to your communities and get them settled in," Daryl tells them. Everybody nods as they slowly leave the cabin.

Alicia's P.O.V

Alicia sat on the porch, cleaning her guns and keeping an eye on the kids, who were running around playing with the dogs. She looked at Maggie as she walked up to her and sat down with a smile. "You guys getting ready to leave?" Alicia asks Maggie, who nods, smiling softly as Hershel was licked by one of the dogs with a happy laugh.

"Beth and Tara are helping Deacon's people get their stuff loaded in the cars, and then we'll be leaving," Maggie tells her as she kept looking at her son. "It's nice to see him having fun."

Alicia nods as she looks at them as well. Then she got an idea and slowly turned asking. "Maggie...why don't you let him stay here for a few days? I bet you and Al could use some alone time."

Maggie looks at her for a long steady minute and sighs. "Negan's here."

"Maggie-"

"I know he won't do anything to hurt Hershel," Maggie cut off Alicia softly, looking back at the children. "That's not what I'm worried about. He doesn't know who killed Glenn, he's asked what happened to him, and I told him a bad man killed him."

Alicia's eyes widened "Wait he's asking about Glenn?"

Nodding, Maggie turned back "He asked about a week ago. I don't want him to figure out it was Negan. He's young, but he is smart. He gets that from his father."

"He won't go anywhere near, Negan. He doesn't talk about what he did, and he can barely look at Hershel. I'll keep an eye on him, I promise."

Maggie looks at Hershel, still unsure, and then she looks at Alicia and sighs but nods. "Okay, he can stay," Maggie agrees. Alicia nods as Maggie goes to talk with Hershel.

Negan's P.O.V

Negan stood by the big cabin, having just returned with Arya, watching Hershel from a fair distance with a frown on his face, after everybody had left the Camp. Negan looked at Daryl as he walked out of the Big Cabin and called the kids to come eat. The three kids ran inside, and Daryl looked at Negan. He walked down the steps and looked at him. "You coming?" He asks Negan.

"Not hungry." Negan answers flatly as he turns to walk towards his cabin.

"You gotta let it go, man." Daryl says, making Negan stop in place, his back to him. "That guilt, it's just going to eat you up inside."

"Is that what you did? Let it go?" Negan asks almost mockingly, turning back, spitting at Daryl, who stared back steadily. "Didn't seem like that went you went to Texas or couldn't look at the boy when he was born."

"No, I didn't then, I honored Glenn, and I'm still doing that to this day. Helping people, building that world that he would have wanted for Maggie and Hershel. But I still feel that guilt every time I look at that kid, knowing I'm the reason Glenn's dead."

"I swung the bat."

"Yeah, you wouldn't have if I didn't punch you. You're not that person anymore, Negan. You haven't been for a long time. That man died at the end of the war. No point and clinging to the past."

Both men stay silent for a few minutes before Negan asks a question. "Have you forgiven me for what I did to them?"

Daryl stares at him, not expecting the question, but he answers after a moment. "Yeah, I forgive you." Daryl answers. "This place, these people, a lot of them are alive because of you because of what you did at Richmond. I forgave myself for it a long time ago, and along the way, I forgave you. Hell, even came to care about your stupid ass, even if your still annoying as hell" Negan chuckles. "You're one of us, a part of this family. Don't forget that. It's time for you to forgive yourself, Negan. Start living," Daryl tells him before he turns around and walks inside of the big cabin, leaving Negan outside.

Thanks for reading. The next chapter will start with another chapter, probably a year later, maybe more. I had a lot of fun with the Daryl and Negan scene, and I feel like it was a scene that needed to happen. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time