Captive | The Walking Dead |

44

The group had managed to find two bottles of wine and let themselves divulge in an attempt to break the tension from the turn of events that day.

They sat on the floor in the living room in a circle shape and Isabella sat in between Rick and Daryl.

"So let me get this straight," Abraham asked, his voice ever so slightly slurred. "This group kidnapped and held you hostage not once but twice and you still stayed with them? You didn't want to kill them in their sleep?"

"What can I say, they charmed me," Isabella shrugged and the others laughed.

"Isabella loves us too much, she'd never hurt us," Carl smiled.

"On purpose," Isabella whispered, her mind flashing to an hour ago when she nearly killed them all.

The group fell silent as once more the situation turned awkward.

"Hey, it's okay," Rick comforted her and she didn't say anything. "Isabella you didn't know, it's okay." He rested his hand atop hers which caught her attention and she looked down at it, before looking in his eyes and nodding.

"Water under the bridge," she whispered and he nodded.

She looked out to the group who simply stared at the two and Maggie's face was a mixture of shock and excitement.

Isabella blushed, not wanting to meet any of their eyes.

"Anyways..." Glenn said. "If you don't mind, what happened out there?"

Rick sent a glare at him, not wanting the group to bombard her with questions but she quickly reassured them it was okay.

She was honest with the group, telling them every detail from meeting John to even the event from yesterday.

"Shit you've been through hell," Abraham said.

"Who hasn't? Look, I completely understand if none of you feel safe being under the same roof as a murderer, no hard feelings okay?" Isabella murmured.

"That's not gonna happen," Daryl shook his head.

"You're one of us Isabella, no matter what," Rick agreed.

"You're stuck with us whether you like it or not," Maggie chimed and Glenn nodded in agreement.

"Thanks guys," Isabella replied, unable to believe how the group was so quick in welcoming back.

The group fell in silence once more and Isabella knew the way to break the tension.

"With all those shitty events, I only had one thing that kept me going," she reached for her bag, digging through it for the photos. She smiled in triumph as she found it. "Anytime I'd feel lost and sad, I'd think what Glenn would say and seeing this photo would always bring me a smile."

She turned the photo where she had beaten Glenn in their game of poker and she burst into laughter with the others soon joining in. She tossed it around and Glenn shook his head in laughter.

"I told you to throw that away!"

"Please, why would I do that?"

"Well, if my suffering makes you laugh, then I'll gladly take one for the team."

That night the group continued laughing, sharing their treasured memories of one another while occasionally bringing up some serious topics about the hardships they went through.

Soon Carl and Judith had drifted off to sleep in a kids room upstairs and Bear cuddled against them on their makeshift bed.

"I really missed you boy," she smiled as she left him and headed downstairs where only Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Maggie remained awake.