We walk back to the others in silence and when we get there the atmosphere isn't any better. Rick is telling Andrea that he won't allow her into the cell block.
"I'm not an enemy, Rick." Andrea tells him as we slip into the room. Aelia leaves my side to join Andrea's, that odd feeling returns and so I look at her but she looks away. I feel a pang in my chest, I'm confused.
Instead I join Glenn's side, he grabs my hand comfortingly and I send him a thankful nod as Rick explains to Andrea what her boyfriend had done to us.
"He said you fired first." She answers confused, I notice now why my sister had left my side, she was standing behind Andrea like she were afraid, like she didn't believe she was safe around my group. She wanted Andrea to protect her.
"Well, he's lying." Andrea doesn't know what to believe. "He killed an inmate who survived in here." Hershel adds. "We liked him. He was one of us." Daryl tells her as she lifts her hand to her mouth in shock. "I didn't know anything about that. As soon as I found out, I came. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out."
"That was days ago." Glenn speaks up, I felt a bit bad for Andrea. I told you, I came as soon as I could." No one looks like they're warming up to her at all, everyone's acting like she's an outsider, not someone who'd been with us at one point.
"What have you told them?" She accuses Michonne. "Nothing." She answers her tone cool. "I don't get it.
I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?" I avoid her eye as she looks around the room.
"He almost killed Michonne and he would have killed us." Glenn explains but she turns and points to Merle. "With his finger on the trigger. Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?" I focus on my sister, she was looking at everyone in the room in a calculating manor. She thought they were crazy bad people, it was all there to read on her face, she believed in whatever lies the governor had sold.
"Look, I cannot excuse or explain what Philip has done. But I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."
"There's nothing to work out. We're gonna kill him." Aelia shoots me a look at Ricks words, "I don't know how or when, but we will."
"We can settle this." Andrea persists. "There is room at Woodbury for all of you." Merle chuckles, "You know better than that."
"What makes you think this man wants to negotiate? Did he say that?" Hershel asks her. "No." I sigh at her answer. "Then why did you come here?" Rick asks in his cold tone. "Because he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack."
"I'll tell you what. Next time you see Philip, you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye." Daryl says from his spot on a table. "We've taken too much shit for too long. He wants a war? He's got one." Glenn adds, I'm behind my friends decision all the way and I'd fight with them no matter what.
"Rick. If you don't sit down and try to work this out, I don't know what's gonna happen. He has a whole town. Look at you. You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore." Andrea is still pleading hoping that someone will listen to her, no one will though. "You want to make this right, get us inside." She shakes her head at ricks request and tells him no, he walks away from her and towards the cell block.
"Then we got nothing to talk about." He simply says not even glancing back as he leaves.
My sister then walks over to me once Rick is gone, "you're coming back with me right?" She asks desperately making me blink. "You can't stay here, with these people." She tries to lower her voice towards the end of her sentence but I'm sure everyone hears her.
"I- I... I don't know." I mumble not sure, "you don't know? You haven't seen us in over a decade and you're not sure you want to come home to me and mom?" I feel everyone's eyes on us and I feel trapped. "Moms alive?" Her face softens at my question and she nods and grabs both of my hands."She misses you more than anything, you have to come home with me."
I don't want to go and live under the governor, not after what he'd done. I couldn't go live in Woodbury whilst he planned to attack my friends, whilst he trained people to attack them. Would I be expected to join this army and fight against my loved ones here at the prison? I couldn't do that. But I feel guilty, everyday I thought of my mom and my sister and now I had the opportunity to go and live with them again, that was my dream and it was within my reach.
I also do not want to have this conversation around everyone. I hated everyone's eyes on us. "You'll be safe with us at Woodbury." She adds after my silence, Merle scoffs making her glare over at him. "Come on princess we both know you're smarter than that."
"No one was speaking to you Merle, you're lucky I don't put a bullet between your eyes right now, I told the governor he never should've trusted you." I glance over at Daryl as we watch our siblings squabble. "Oh yeah? You're just mad he switched you out for Andrea, not his little princess anymore are you?" My eyes widen when she lunges for him and I quickly grab her round the waist as he smirks. "Don't worry baby you know I'm always here for you." She growls in annoyance as she fights my grip and he winks at her.
"Shut up man." Daryl says as I pull my sister towards the exit. "I already told you to get it through your thick skull that I would never ever touch you, not with a ten foot pole." Merle continues laughing as Aelia just grows angrier. "Come on baby don't hurt me like that you know that night we-"
My arms slack in shock and she takes the opportunity to run over and punch him in the face. He laughs as he rubs his hand over his jaw. "Don't call me baby." She hisses making him raise his hands at her as he smirks, clearly finding it amusing.
"Aelia come on, let's go talk outside." I say putting a hand on her arm. "Yeah princess go outside, if you don't want me anymore I'm sure your big sister will-"
My skin crawls with the way he looks me over and I don't like the way he was talking about me or my sister, there was also the fact that he beat Glenn up and so I turn and punch him in the face. I don't say anything to him instead I grab my sister by the hand and lead her back outside.
"You slept with him?" I ask her incredulously, why on earth would she sleep with such a disgusting man? "Don't judge me, I see how you look at his brother." She scoffs making me shake my head, "they're not comparable."
"It was once, I got shit faced and it was a very very stupid mistake." She answers making me sigh. "Okay, it's doesn't matter, we have to talk about Woodbury." She nods looking at me expectantly, I take another breath in as I get ready to tell her I wasn't going with her.
"I can't go to Woodbury, I can't live peacefully with the governor, I can't leave everyone here and join his community. If I go with you, I'm telling you honestly Lia, I will kill him, first opportunity that I get." Her mouth drops slightly agape as her hold on my hands falters. "You... you would kill him?" I nod, "I don't know your relationship with the man but he's not a good person, he hurt my friends, he tried to kill us all."
"You're the one with crazy friends, that man you all follow, he's sick in the head." I shake my head at her, "you don't know what you're talking about, Rick is a good man, he has done what he's had to for us."
"You don't owe these people anything." She says firmly to me, "I owe these people everything, they saved me." They saved me so many different times I couldn't just abandon them to run off to our enemy. "You belong with me and mom, we're your family!"
"They're my family too! I hate to say this Aelia, I really do but I know them better than I know you." She shakes her head in disbelief, "how can you say that?"
"Last I saw you, you were a kid. I don't know you anymore, you're my sister and I love you. I would die for you. I would kill for you but I was away from you longer than I was with you."
"You're really picking them over us?" I shake my head, "you and mom can join us, you can live here with us I know they'll let you." She shakes her head.
"Woodbury is home."
"Not for me, this is my home."
