Michonne and I rode into the Hilltop, talking lowly about what we learned. The Sanctuary is good for trading in one thing: Ethanol, and we have yet to receive anything. While Rick took people from the four communities to work on the bridge, Michonne and I set out to find out about what happened to the Ethanol. Laura reassured us that they had sent it out last week as promised, so the question is: Where is it?
"Do you think someone's hijacking the carts?" Michonne asked lowly as we dismounted our horses, "Some of them still side with Negan and have that mentality," I pursed my lips and nodded.
"That's a very real possibility," I answered, "We'll get to the bottom of it," Jesus ran up to us and greeted us with a broad smile, embracing us before leading us to where Maggie was breaking in a new horse.
"How's Kurt and Thad?" Jesus asked us.
"Kurt's good," Michonne answered proudly, "He's working on making the irrigation system more effective with Siddiq,"
"Thad's driving us crazy," I chuckled, "He's been trying to crawl recently. He gets on his stomach and tries until his face turns red," Jesus chuckled and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"I wish I could see that," He murmured. I patted him on the shoulder and squinted.
"You should go to Alexandria one of these days," I smiled, "I know Kurt is dying to see you, and Judith will be so happy to see her uncle, Jesus,"
"I'll take you up on that," He nodded. We stopped right outside of their makeshift corral where Maggie was standing.
"Did you find out what happened?" Maggie probed.
"They sent out the ethanol like promised," Michonne answered.
"Well, it's still not here," Maggie sighed, "They could be lying,"
"I don't think they are," I shook my head. There's a possibility that they are, but I don't believe they would jeopardize themselves like this.
"Maybe the guys who made the delivery were taken down by walkers, or they went AWOL, but we need the food," Michonne said, her voice light and slightly sympathetic. Maggie is against helping the Saviors out if they don't contribute, and while I understand it, they're also struggling. Their crops are dying; they don't have an adequate water source.
"We were hoping that you might send enough to tide them over while we figure this out," I leaned up against the corral, bracing myself for Maggie's answer.
"We can do it," Jesus said, "We have the surpluses," Maggie gave him a pointed look and clenched her jaw.
"Yeah, but for how long?" Maggie asked before turning her attention back to Michonne and me, "Till we get that fuel," She looked back towards a red tractor, "That tractor's not moving, which means the big fields don't get plowed, and the yield comes in short." But wait, didn't we get a plow from the museum? Why does she depend on something that depends on fuel?
"What about the plow we got from the museum?" Michonne asked, reading my mind. Maggie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
"I need a blacksmith to fix it, and I don't have one right now," Ah, yes, now I remember. After Gregory manipulated Earl into trying to assassinate Maggie, he's been locked up ever since. That was what? Almost two weeks ago? Two weeks since she put Gregory to death and locked Earl up.
"And how long is Earl going to be locked up for?" I asked, my eyebrow raising.
"I don't know," Maggie answered truthfully, "I haven't decided. This is the first time we've had to deal with something like this." This allowed me to start discussing the constitution I planned to write up.
"It might be time to start talking about making some rules, then," I suggested, "Do you think he'd ever do something like this again?"
"I didn't think he'd do it the first time," Maggie answered.
"Well, you didn't hang him like you did Gregory," Michonne pointed out, "There must be a reason for that."
"What are you suggesting?" Maggie snapped, "That I just let him walk like nothing happened?" I shook my head and sighed.
"No," Michonne and I said together.
"Do you think that we approve of what he did to you and Enid?" I rhetorically asked, "I hate it and trust me, I get why you locked him up, but if keeping him locked up means that the crops don't get planted, then it's not just him that gets punished,"
"The Hilltop will be fine!" Maggie raised her voice and glared at me, "Until that ethanol shows up, we're holding on to our surpluses because we're going to need 'em." I shared a look with Michonne and sighed, "It's a long ride back to Alexandria. You two are welcome to stay the night here if you'd like."
"Thanks," Michonne and I called after her as she turned to start working on the horse again.
"Come on," Jesus muttered, "I'll show you where you two can stay,"
~*~
"She's being unreasonable," Michonne muttered after we settled into our room. I sighed and sat on the bed, intertwining my hands and hanging my head.
"You and I both know why she's been—" I shook my head and looked up at her, "She's just trying to protect Hilltop,"
"She's making enemies when we should be making friends," Michonne stressed, "She refuses to even step foot in Alexandria, and when we do mention helping the Sanctuary, she makes this face." I mindlessly played with the ring band on my left third finger. I understand Michonne's frustration, but we can't force Maggie to play nice if she doesn't want to.
"Negan killed Glenn," I whispered, reminding her of that night a year and a half ago, "Hershel will never know his daddy because of that man, and we kept him alive." Michonne circled towards me and lowered herself onto the bed, "If the roles were reversed and he had killed Rick instead—" I sucked in a deep breath, hurt by the mere thought of losing Rick, "I would act the same way. Wouldn't you?"
Michonne pursed her lips and sighed heavily, leaning her head on my shoulder.
"Yeah," She grumbled, "I guess." Outside of our window, we can hear a woman yelling. Being the nosy women we are, we crept up to the window and watched Jesus try to talk to Tammy, Earl's wife. All this must be hard on her—first, she loses her son, and now, her husband is locked up, and she can't see him.
"She should at least let Tammy see her husband," Michonne grumbled from beside me, "She has no one else," I nodded and grabbed Michonne's hand, leading her down the stairs and around the building where Jesus and Tammy argued. Jesus turned on his heel and faced us, his tired eyes on us, before he walked ahead.
"Are you going to talk to her?" Michonne probed.
"Maggie?" Jesus asked and led us away. I held my hands behind my back, playing with the ring while we walked, "She'll do what she wants to do,"
"But what do you think?" I asked the man. He's always had a strong moral compass and'll make one hell of a leader if he wants.
"I think it's not my call," Jesus shrugged and turned to us again, sensing that there was more. How right he is.
"But do you agree with it?" Michonne asked him, taking a step closer to him. Jesus sighed and rubbed his face, the stress of everything obviously getting to him.
"I don't know if she hanged Gregory for everyone or herself or for both," Jesus started, "But I'm not against a grieving mother seeing her husband."
"Then you should talk to her," I nodded.
"She trusts you. She listens to you," Michonne finished.
"And I trust her," Jesus stressed, "Her instincts, if not her every decision." He shook his head and sighed again, "No one's right all the time, not her, not me, and not you two." He just gave me the perfect segue.
"That's why we need to build something bigger than any of us," I felt giddy just saying it, but I kept my face stoic and walked away. Michonne came with me with a big smile, knowing what I was trying to do. I told her about the constitution I wanted to compose and convinced her to help me write it. This woman next to me will help me work towards a new future for us all, and I couldn't be more grateful.
~*~
Michonne and I walked around Hilltop, coming up with bylaws we should add to the constitution and whether or not we should base it on the United States of America Constitution or study several different constitutions and work from there. I think we'll lean more towards the latter, but we still need to discuss it with the Kingdom, the Sanctuary, and Oceanside before coming up with anything solid. We approached the mansion and paused, our eyes on Maggie. She was leaning against the porch railing with her eyes firmly on us. Michonne cleared her throat and nodded, the two of us working our way up the steps and pausing a few feet away from Maggie. I approached the railing and leaned against it, taking in Hilltop in its entirety. She's really done some fantastic work here.
"You've done something amazing with this place," Michonne spoke first. I need to find some books on telepathy or mindreading or something! This can't be a coincidence.
"We didn't come to bash your leadership style or the way you run things around here," I turned towards Maggie and squinted up at her with a smile, "Gregory couldn't do half of what you're doing. I'm really proud of you," Maggie smiled at the two of us and looked ahead, her eyes twinkling.
"Thanks," She smiled, "I've thought about it, and we can talk about common laws," I was celebrating internally, but externally, all I let slip through was a wide smile. "But I'm not giving up the right to do what I think's best for my people,"
"And neither will we," I answered quickly, "But I think what is best for everyone will wind up being what's best for Hilltop, too,"
"Maybe," Maggie nodded, "I hope so,"
"Plus," Michonne started, "If anyone can do this—make up a set of common laws for all the communities, it's June. She knows more about this kind of stuff than any one of us,"
"That's right," Maggie gasped, "You studied history before," I nodded and felt incredibly proud at the mention of my previous accomplishments, "So, I asked Jesus to load up the food as we promised. All of it," Michonne and I both turned to Maggie silently, our eyes wide, "Earl still owes us a debt, but he'll pay it," She nodded off towards the distance by the front gate. An armed guard stood a few feet away from Earl as he worked on the plow.
"He'll work under supervision, and a council will help me decide when it's time for that to change," The three of us stared at one another with smiles on our faces, "The plow will be fixed, and the fields will get planted." We stayed quiet for a few moments, enjoying the serenity behind these strong walls.
"I-if you don't mind me asking," Michonne started, "What changed?" Yeah, what did change? When we spoke to her earlier, she seemed grounded in her decisions.
"You know, my daddy drank," Maggie smiled, her eyes on me, "Well, you should know, June, seeing how you and he got drunk together that one time," I laughed at the memory, "He was a good man," I nodded alongside Maggie. Michonne met Hershel at the prison, she wasn't there for all the drama that unfolded while at the farm, but she knew Hershel well enough to know that he was a good man.
"And if he hadn't been given a second chance, a lot of people would have been worse off for it," Maggie pursed her lips and looked towards Earl again.
"We count ourselves as one of them," Michonne whispered.
"But Gregory—" Maggie flinched slightly at the name, "He had chance after chance and wasted them all." I'm not arguing with her there. He had countless chances, and he never took advantage of them. He remained to be a constant thorn in Maggie's ass.
"Maggie..." Michonne trailed. She has an issue with how the Gregory situation was handled between the two of us, and that's fine. It wasn't our decision to make.
"I don't regret what I did, Michonne," Maggie turned towards my beautiful best friend, "Some people can be redeemed, but others can't," She turned to walk away from us. I know she's referring to Negan, even if she didn't say his name outright. But she has to understand where Rick and I are coming from, too. She lost her husband, the father of her baby, and Rick and I lost Carl. Both weigh heavily, and both will change us forever.
"Who makes that decision?" Michonne asked, not bothering to turn around to look at Maggie.
"I-I guess that's one of the things we'll have to figure out," Maggie answered solemnly. She's not wrong, but it's something we'll figure out together.
----*----
A female-centric chapter! I thought it'd be pretty badass to make a chapter dedicated to the three badass women who run the communities. I know Carol technically runs the Kingdom with Ezekiel, but she's going to be working on the bridge with Rick, hence her absence from this chapter. Don't worry; I'll have a chapter where the four badass women come together in the future.