the great war (r.g)

twenty-two

dan decided to go back to alexandria with cora. once there, rick had everyone gather in the church. dan wasn't happy that he was sat in the back while cora stood at rick's side. "maggie has made a deal with hilltop. they will give us food and water. in exchange, we have to fight. there's a group called the saviors. they have taken some of hilltop's resources and people," rick informed the people of alexandria.

"we have the element of surprise against them. if we attack the saviors now, we can prevent them from finding alexandria, our home," cora said next. she caught eyes with dan. he still didn't seem happy but a slight smile crossed his face. one that scared cora. one that did not seem like the dan she knew. something has changed.

"this will do us no good," morgan declared, coming to the front of the crowd. "this will only start a new war. we need to talk to the saviors."

"they've already killed many of the hilltop's people. do you really think they would listen?" cora questioned. morgan stayed silent, looking from her to rick.

"we can vote on it," rick offered. "anyone who thinks talking to the saviors would be more beneficial than fighting, raise your hand." morgan looked around the room in dismay when no one raised their hand.

"it's settled then," rick said. "we will leave in the morning." everyone turned and left the church, rick and cora leaving last.

"let's go," dan said to cora outside the church.

he turned off, expecting cora to follow but she didn't. "i'm going with rick to prepare for tomorrow. i'll be back later," cora told him. she gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before catching up with rick.

"what's the plan?" cora asked rick.

"i'm going to the armory and doing inventory on all our guns," he told her. rick didn't even look over to cora. she thought coming with rick and helping him would fix whatever was wrong but the air still felt awkward.

as much as cora didn't want to admit it, there was something between her and rick before yesterday. once dan was in the equation, something shifted between them and he definitely had something to do with it.

the rest of the walk was silent with cora walking a few paces behind rick. when they got to the armory, taking inventory was just as silent. the tension was so thick you could cut it with scissors. cora couldn't take it anymore. "what's wrong," she finally asked.

"nothings wrong," rick answered. "we just need to get through this inventory."

"no, rick, something is wrong. things are different between us since we went to the hilltop," cora snapped. something about this caught rick's attention. he stepped out from behind the rack of guns he was standing behind.

"you should know why things are different," rick started. "sitting in your house, right down that street, is your fiancé."

"yes, he is," cora agreed. "but what does he have to do with our relationship?" cora knew the answer to that question but she did not want to admit it.

"come on, cora," rick groaned. "are you seriously denying everything between us?" he took a few steps toward cora.

"no, i'm not," cora admitted, shortening the gap between them, only leaving a foot or two. "but things dont need to be weird. we are adults. we can figure this out."

"you might be able to, but i need time," rick said to her.

"please, rick," cora muttered. "besides izzy, you are the one person here that i care about. i don't know what i would do if you weren't in my life. i can't let one person come between us." something flashed across rick's face. a look of realization. rick closed the gap between them, pulling cora into a hug. after a split second of shock, cora wrapped her arms around rick, returning the hug. the two sat there like that in a silence that was no longer awkward.

***

after taking inventory and a meeting about tactics, cora returned to her quiet house. maggie and glenn must've been asleep as their side of the house was dark. "dan?" cora quietly called throughout the house. there was no response.

upstairs, there was a light coming from under the door to cora's room. she pushed the door open, expecting to see dan, but instead she saw izzy sitting on her bed. there were a few candles lit on the bedside table to make the room bright enough for izzy to see the comic she was reading. "oh, hey mom," izzy acknowledged, setting the book down.

"what are you doing in here?" cora asked, sitting on the bed next to izzy.

"i was just waiting for you to get back," izzy told her. "where's dan?"

cora was confused. dan was supposed to be here, at the house. "he's not here?" izzy shook her head. "when was the last time you saw him?"

"at the meeting earlier today i think." that was hours ago. dan didn't know anyone here yet so he couldn't have been at anyone's house so, where was he?

***

a/n
any guesses as to where dan is?????