Shambles- The Walking Dead [Alden x Maggie] [1/2]

69- Agreed

She shook her head. "That doesn't make me any less nervous. I'm going to find them and bring them back here."

"I'll stick with my little buddy then." He sat down on the blanket.

Maggie left immediately and Alden leaned back against the front of the couch. With everything that had been going on Adam hadn't been getting enough attention. The same went for Hershel and Hope, but they understood what was going on. At least partly. Adam couldn't. Yet he was still the sweetest baby one could ask for.

That exact fact had gotten worrisome for the parents, Alden especially. He was reaching his milestones a lot slower than his siblings. They knew Adam was too young for them to truly worry about it, some children were just a little slower. Yet it still made Alden believe that he'd failed him.

Alden looked at his youngest with a soft smile. Adam held one of his wooden blocks out to him. He made a whiney noise when Alden didn't take it right away.

"Oh, do you want me to take it?" Alden asked. "Thank you so much." He added as he took the block from him. "Yeah, let's build a tower."

Before Alden could even start to build a tower they were interrupted by a loud commotion outside. Alden bit his lips. He couldn't leave Adam here on his own, but taking him with him could prove to be even more dangerous. He decided to leave him. He chose the lesser evil. As soon as Alden stood up Adam looked up at him pleadingly and stretched his arms out. Alden sighed, Adam had made his own choice.

"Okay, buddy, I won't leave you." He promised as he lifted him up. "I'm going to regret this." He added in a barely audible whisper. He hurried out of the trailer with the baby in his arms. Almost immediately he clocked where the commotion came from.

Elijah pinned Hornsby against the manor's wall by the collar of his shirt. He did so silently and stoically. A trooper already had his rifle trained on the back of his head. Elijah wasn't even bothered.

"Release him, or we'll shoot." The trooper commanded.

Hershel was standing right there with his old baseball cap on his head. Alden cursed silently, he hadn't seen it since yesterday in the compound. Hershel must've lost it there. The regret of taking Adam out here already hit Alden.

"Hershel, come here." He flagged him over straight away. The boy ran to him and hid himself behind him. Alden turned to the trooper next. "Lower that rifle, there's no need for violence. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding."

Instead of listening to Alden the trooper whipped around and aimed the rifle at his chest. He didn't even turn away or apologize when he noticed the baby on his arm.

"What the hell!" He yelled back to him. He turned to the side and covered Adam as best as he could with his body.

Maggie showed up with an upset Hope in tow, Daryl trailing closely behind them. The second he saw the scene he aimed his rifle at the trooper.

"That's a baby!" He growled, aggressively. "You turn that gun away, right now!"

Maggie freed her handgun and pushed Hope behind her. She aimed it at Hornsby's head just as the other troopers showed up. Things were officially going wrong.

"This man put his hands on Hershel." Elijah explained, still without moving.

Alden and Hershel moved closer to Maggie for safety. If her looks could kill, Alden was a dead man. She was mad that he'd been stupid enough to take Adam out here with him.

"He said something bad was gonna happen." Hershel told his mom as he hugged her side.

Those words angered Elijah more and his grip on Hornsby tightent. Hershel was like a little brother to him.

"Whoa! I can explain!" Hornsby pleaded, frantically.

"Back off! Now!" Daryl yelled at the other troopers.

"You know, I'm a nice guy, Maggie." He began a lot calmer. "I'll even let you back down. So no one gets hurt."

"One of your men just aimed his rifle at a baby. I'm inclined to call bullshit." Alden spat back. Maggie clicked the safety of her gun.

"I'll deal with him appropriately, I promise." Hornsby insisted.

"Plenty of others have made the mistake of threatening my family, most of them are dead now." Maggie said angrily, but composed.

"You turned this place upside down and you've found nothing. So, unless you want to die for nothing, tell them to drop the guns before something really bad happens." Daryl added with a low growl.

Hornsby was quiet for a couple of seconds. In the silence the tension grew, it was close to boiling over now. Bullets would fly once it did. Alden pulled Hope behind him and pulled Hershel towards him. He needed his kids out of here and fast.

"Hershel, I need you to take Adam." He said and handed the baby to him gently, only letting go once he was sure Hershel had him. "Take him and your sister back to the trailer. Lock the door and only open it for family."

Hershel nodded. He was the oldest now that Rose was dead. She was no longer there to protect them, that was his job now.

Alden turned to Hope next and crouched down. "Stay with your brother." He hugged her. "Listen to him. He's in charge."

"I will." She promised. He watched them go before he grabbed his own gun and aimed it at the trooper that had aimed at Adam earlier.

"Everyone lower your weapons." Hornsby commanded after another tense silence. "That's an order." He added and all the troopers lowered their rifles in unison.

Maggie was slower to lower her gun and Alden followed her example. Daryl's rifle lingered on Hornsby, even after Elijah let go of him. He waited another second before he lowered his rifle. Hornsby straightened his shirt and turned to his men.

"Pack up. We're leaving." He walked forward, towards Maggie. Three sets of eyes stayed trained on his every move, ready to attack at any given moment. "I'm sorry if there was any miscommunication." He said almost jovially. "Shame we couldn't be friends."

With everything said and done the Commonwealth finally retreated, taking Daryl, Aaron and Gabriel with them again.

"Okay, first off, why did you think it was a smart idea to take Adam out into this?" Maggie dragged her hand down her face tiredly.

"He made grabby hands." He replied, honestly.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, "that's not a reason to take your kid out into possible danger."

"I know, but everything was going better than I had expected, so when I heard something I thought it was nothing. Won't make that mistake again." He shifted his weight. "Poor kid had barely been getting any attention. I'm starting to worry about him, you know. He's lacking behind."

"He had a rough start, he'll catch up." She insisted. It was the same thing she said every time he brought it up.

"Yeah, must be it." He bit his lip and looked away.

"And you don't agree with me."

"I want to take him to a doctor, to get answers. I would take him to Alex, but I can't because he's dead."

"He had a check up with Siddiq at Alexandria. He said there was nothing to worry about." She reminded him.

"That was over six months ago." He reminded her on his turn.

"As long as Hornsby is out to kill us, I can't worry about it. He's alive, he's healthy." She rubbed her temple. "My first priority is keeping him alive."

"Mine too, Maggie. He's our son." He grumbled.

"Hornsby is going to come back and try to kill us all. Let's not do this now." She tried again. She worried about Adam as much as Alden, but she didn't have time or space to worry about it now. He was healthy, he only lagged behind siblings a bit.

"When then?" He threw his hands up in frustration. "There is always something."

"When we're safe." She replied promptly without any hesitation. "I need you with me on this one. I swear once this fight is over I'll move heaven and earth for him."

Alden nodded. "I'm with you." They needed to stick together if they wanted to win this.