Chapter 181-Getting homes
Rosita's P.O.V
Rosita woke up with a groggy moan when she heard someone knocking on the door, looking at Morgan who was already getting up. "The sun is barley in the air, who the hell is waking us?"
"My guess? Alicia for something important." Morgan answered with a rub of his eyes as he walks over to the door and pulls it open, revealing a wide awake Alicia to his mild annoyance. "Why are you waking us up?"
"We all need to talk." Alicia says apologetically but with some urgency. "Get up and come in the apartment I'm staying in." Morgan nods as he shuts the door and walks over to the bed.
"I think Daryl's sleeping schedule has rubbed off on her." Rosita says as she sits up.
"She's leading, you don't sleep very much at first. I know I didn't and neither did Daryl." Morgan sighed as he puts his pants on and grabs his boots. "I'll grab Coco." He then told his wife says who nodded as Morgan walks over to Coco's room to wake her up and expecting a wide array of grumbling..
Rick's P.O.V
The gates to Alexandria opened as the sun finished rising in the air, having gone all day and night to make sure they had made back by morning. Rick stops the car in front of his house and sighs in relief as Michonne lays her hand on his. "You, okay?"
"Sure am, now that I'm home. That we both are." Rick says as he gives her a reassuring smile. "I'm just tired, it's been a stressful few days."
"I know, believe me I do. But we're home, and right now, nobody is trying to kill us." Michonne and Rick chuckled, Rick kissing her cheek in thanks.
"'I'm glad that nobody is trying to kill us' is a sentence we are using when reassuring each other." Rick says and Michonne smirks. "Once Lance is gone, I'm going to step down and let Carl take over."
"Good." Michonne said in firm strict agreement, touching his greying beard. "It's time for you to step back, you've done enough, Alicia has already taken over for Daryl, it's time for Carl to take over for you." Michonne says softly. Rick nods as he looks at her.
"Let's get inside."
"Fine by me, it'll be nice to sleep in our beds for once."
Alicia's P.O.V
Everybody stood around in the apartment as Alicia stood in front of them. "Thank you all for being here. Yes it's early but we need to get started right away. The others are gone and we need to start making this place our home. I know some of you have been offered jobs."
"Right." Morgan nodded at that. "What are we going to do about this place? We all can't live here."
"Pamela has gotten us apartments to be set up, Lance was supposed to show you them but he left with Rick. So Max is going to show you where they are, after you are moved again, anybody offered a job by Mercer needs to go and talk to him. The rest of you need to start looking for jobs. Whether we like it or not, this place is our home and we have to make the best of it."
Shane looked incredulously at her "Wait that's true? They use like...Money here?"
"Yes. Dollars, coins, the works." Alicia nodded at her stepfather, who rolled his eyes and sat down grumbling.
"What about the children, if we're working, who is going to watch them?" John asked concernedly.
Kate raised a hand shrugging "I can do it. I mean I have a newborn already so I can't work so I'll have to stay."
"No offense Aunt Kate, but Uncle Negan can't work right now. One of you needs too." Arya stated.
Negan looked annoyed "I'd be pissed if that wasn't true."
"I'll help her." Madison volunteered. "I'm sure Alicia could talk with Pamela about their situation, maybe she can help them find Kate something part time." Madison offers and Alicia nods.
"I'll stay behind as well." Daniel stated as many looked at him. He looked at all of them and pointed at himself. "I'm old, I can help with them." Daniel tells them and Alicia nods.
"Alright, everybody knows what they are doing, so get to it," Alicia says. "Daniel can I talk to you in a little bit?" Alicia asks Daniel who looked at her puzzled, but nodded as everybody leaves besides Alicia and Daryl. "How'd I do?"
Daryl smirks. "Good. You're doing fine," He says as he stands. "Could…Could you ask Pamela something for me?"
At this, she looked at her husband, brow furrowed but shrugged "Course, what is it?"
Carl's P.O.V
Carl set his bag down in his house and looked at Enid as she walked in with Robert in her arms, looking down and outside the windows immediately. "What are you thinking about?" Carl asks his wife.
"Arya." Enid answers, looking at her husband worriedly. "I know she'll be fine, I just don't like being so far from her."
"I know, I don't either." Carl says as there was a knock, causing him to walk over to the door and looks surprised at who was there. "Kenneth? Hey Uh is something up?"
"Can I talk to you for a second?" Kenneth asks Carl sadly who nods as he follows him outside and shuts the door.
Wordlessly sitting on the front bench on the porch, he waited for Kenneth to start...the man's eyes red and his fists tight.
"I don't know what to do anymore, Carl. My parents are dead, my family is gone and I don't know what to do next." Kenneth says as he sits down next to him on the bench.
"You're family isn't gone, Kenneth, you still have me. Earl was like a father to me and that makes us brothers," Carl says as he sits down and lays his hand on Kenneth's shoulder. "You don't have to go back to Hilltop when it is rebuild, you can stay in Alexandria, I got a forge here you can work in, hell you can stay here, in Arya's old room. You're not alone, man. We're going to take care of each other. Dad said once that 'family means more then blood' and that alone means we're family."
Kenneth nods as he smiles as he put an arm around him, not better yet, but getting there. "Thanks, Carl."
Clementine's P.O.V
Clementine walked in Daryl's room as he made arrows. "Clem, I thought you went with Alicia and the kids to see the house?" Daryl says as he looks at her.
Seeing his scowl, she winced knowing she kept far away from him since the end of the Whisperer War. She knew he was hurting but she just panicked and didn't know what to do as she started to pace.
"I ditched them, Daryl I...I fucked up."
"What's wrong?" Daryl asks her, anger fading to concern.
"Um." Clementine says as she continues to pace.
"Clementine, take a deep breath and tell me what the hell is wrong." Daryl says and Clementine nods as she stops, takes a deep breath and looks at his eyes saying quickly.
"I'm pregnant."
Daryl freezes as he looks at her in shock "Wha...wha...your...start talking."
"Before the Skins came to Hilltop, I was with Henry and we both thought we were going to die. So we sneaked off to this cabin that Gage used to take Henry too and well, you can guess the rest." Clementine grimaced, crossing her arms.
"Does Henry, know?" Daryl asks after a moment.
"No. Daryl I...I'm sorry I know I kept my distance, I'm just freaking out right now, I don't know what to do."
"Okay." Daryl assuredly said as he hugs the girl who had tears in her eyes. "You're going to be okay, we're going to figure this out."
John's P.O.V
John walked through the Commonwealth until he reached the warehouse the guards were at. He walked inside and looked around as he saw many armored soldiers lazing about, a few catching sight of him. "Can we help you cowboy?" One of the guards asks, clearly seeing the hat he had on.
"He can help you." Mercer says as he walks out of his office, all of the soldiers immediately standing up at once at the sight of the General. "Gentlemen and ladies, this is John Dorie, the best shot I have ever seen.
"Really?" A guard asks after he takes a drink of his coffee. John looks at Mercer who nods, John immediately withdraws his revolver and shoots the mug out of the man's hand. The man looked at the metal mug and back at John, eyes wide.
"Really." John says as he holsters his guns.
"John here will begin teaching you guys how to shoot, so maybe you won't die out there." Mercer says. "We'll start, tomorrow, John a minute."
John nodded as the soldiers began to murmur among themselves at this new instructor as he went into the office.
"Training these guys isn't going to be easy, half of these guards are more for show, but I don't need anymore of my guys dying because Pamela needs people to make us look strong."
"I'll be fine, Mercer." John waved this off. "They won't be perfect, but they will be better than they are now."
"Good, now I do have a question. Who would you say is your best hand to hand fighter?" Mercer says.
"We have a few. Daryl or Rosita. There's also Morgan or Negan, Morgan for skill and Negan for pure strength." John says. "But Daryl has a job and I know you offered one to Rosita, but she would help if you make it worth it for her and her husband." John tells Mercer who nods.
John then had an idea "What about Negan? He's healing, but he could use a job too."
Mercer scowled "I'm aware of his reputation, he's also loud, crude, and has a smart mouth. We work as a team and I don't have time to baby sit a manchild."
"Yes he can be...immature, but he's one of the best fighters and he's damned smart. Just give him an offer."
Gazing for a long moment, Mercer grunted "I'll think about it. But thanks, see you tomorrow."
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl walked onto the roof and looked at Ezekiel who sat on the edge gazing out into the vast array of the Commonwealth. "You aren't about to jump are you?" Daryl asks the former king who chuckles and shakes his head.
"Just enjoying the view my friend, have no fear." Ezekiel says as Daryl walks up beside him, already trying to figure what to tell him, but as he sits down, Ezekiel gave him a wary look. "I saw Henry walk into a room with Clementine, what was that about? Anything untoward?"
Sighing, Daryl answered with a wry tone "They snuck off before the battle of Hilltop and well, you're going to be a grandfather."
A minute passed as Ezekiel looks at him in shock, before he closed his eyes and rubbed them.
"Carol would give that boy an earful." Ezekiel says and Daryl nods. "She loved that boy more than anything, maybe besides you."
Daryl looked at him sternly "And You."
"Well that goes without saying I was her husband." Ezekiel gave a sad smile before looking down again.
"Then we gotta protect him and that kid for her." Daryl says as he looks at him, then at his hand "I'm still struggling with how to do all of this without her. She was always the one I thought for sure would outlive us all."
"That makes two of us." Ezekiel assured, his hand on his arm in a moment of reflection over their still raw loss.
Alicia's P.O.V
Alicia walks outside the house and looked at Daniel as he walked up to the house. "Strand asked me to meet you here." Daniel says and Alicia nods.
"That's right. I want to offer you a place here, a home." Alicia started as Daniel blinked, startled then scowled.
"You already have enough people Alicia, especially with a baby coming. And I'm old but I'm not invalid, I can take care of myself."
"I know that but, Daniel, I've known you since the start, I love you like a father and the kids love you to, if you want to go into retirement, please do it here with people who love you. Also if you say no, Ofelia will rise from the grave and kick your ass and then mine for giving you a choice," Alicia says and Daniel chuckles, a mix of amusement and bittersweetness. "You belong here with us."
"You are not going to give this up are you?" Daniel asks Alicia who shakes her head with a smirk. "Fine, but if it gets to crowed, I'm leaving."
Alicia nods. "Alright, I gotta go talk with Pamela, settle in."
Maggie's P.O.V
Maggie sets her bag down in her former home and looks around. "Who lived here?" Al asks as she sets her bag down next to her, curious.
"Clementine and AJ lived her with...Lily." Maggie says as she looks at her wife, who looked down at that then back up. "Have you seen, Hershel?"
"By the pond." Al tells Maggie, who scowled "Maggie, it's just outside. Not like he's going out of the walls."
At that, Maggie sighed "Sorry, but he is supposed to be grounded after his stunt at Hilltop. But alright, unpack and I'll get him."
Althea nodded in assurance as Maggie leaves the house. She walks through the streets until she reaches the pond where her son sat staring at the water, her first instinct to scold him for not unpacking fading to worry at his frown and face looked to be in thought "What are you thinking about?"
"Everything." Hershel mumbled as his mother knelt next to him. "Mom, you said that Grandpa got hurt when you tried to kill Negan. His leg being hurt, that was when it happened isn't it?" Hershel asks Maggie who stared at him, then nodded.
"I was so consumed with anger, Daryl had already accepted Negan and so had your Uncle Paul, but I just couldn't. I gave myself a reason that was so far from the truth and I tried to justify, but there wasn't anything. I put your Uncle Carl and people I love in danger trying to kill a man that wasn't the same man who killed your father and your Grandpa Rick almost died because of it. If I had succeeded in killing him, you would have died in Hilltop, I might have died in Richmond. Like I said, sweetie, you don't have to like him, but killing him won't change anything. It won't bring anyone back...and he's a father now himself.
For a long moment, her son looked at the water, face lost in thought then quietly asked "Can we get something to eat?" He asks after a moment and Maggie nods gently as she leads her son away.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl looked at the door as it opened and Alicia walked in. "There is someone. Max is outside and she'll take you to him," Alicia tells her husband who slowly nods as he leaves. He walks outside and looks at Max. They walk in silence until they reach a small building. Daryl nods to Max as he walks inside of the building and knocks on the door to a office. Staring at it, Daryl began to think this was a stupid idea but then...
"Come in!" He hears a man say, causing him to sigh and walk in. He walks inside and looks at the man who sat on the couch and stood. "Hi, Daryl. I'm Teddy Maddox."
Thanks for reading, next chapter Daryl talks with Teddy and we will go into the next day and what Daryl's idea is. If none of you know who Teddy is, he's a villain from Fear whose amazing and I am very excited to write him. As always suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.