"Leah," I was sleeping beside RJ when I heard a banging on the bedroom door. I opened it seeing Daryl standing there, "someone let Negan out." My eyes widened, "what?" He nodded, "Lydia said it was her and tried to put herself in a cell, but it wasn't her." I bit my lip, "do you know who it was?" He shook his head, "we're going out searching." I sighed, "give me a few minutes." Daryl shook his head, "I was hoping you could stay here. With Carol, Lydia, RJ." I shrugged, "sure."
We had new arrangements Daryl was staying in our basement, Carol was in a bedroom upstairs, and Lydia also had her own. Judith and I shared Carl and I's old room, and RJ slept with me, or Michonne depending on the day.
I heard footsteps coming down the hall, "Lydia," I whispered grabbing her attention. "You hungry?" I asked. She followed me down to the kitchen as I let RJ sleep. "Thanks for last night." I nodded, "they were assholes." I made some eggs handing her a plate. "Can I ask what happened to your parents?" I looked up at her, "why?" She shrugged, "I'm just wondering. I miss my dad a lot." I nodded, "me too, and my mom, my brother. There's a lot of people I miss." She sighed, "they're all gone?" I put my fork down, "yep." The rest of the afternoon I spent with Lydia, we talked about everything she wanted to, and I decided I didn't mind her company.
The next day Daryl returned, and he had a whisperer with him. "What are you thinking?" I asked, as Carol followed him down to the cells. "We can use him, she's not gonna notice one missing." I scoffed, "this is too dangerous." Carol sighed, "we can't take him back now." I watched as Siddiq came down the stairs, "no, Siddiq let the other doctor handle this." He shook his head, "I'm fine." Dante, the doctor put his hand on Siddiq's back, "I've got this. Go outside, now."
The whisperer smiled at me, "now you aren't leaving too are you beautiful." I glared at him, "you've got quite a game, talking like that behind bars." I pulled my knife out stepped forward and pressing it against his neck. "Anything else you want to add?" When the man didn't answer I outside and saw Siddiq on the steps. "You alright?" I asked. He shook his head, "he was there that night." I watched as he wiped off a few stray tears. "I'm sorry." He met my eyes, "instead of talking, let's just sit here this time. Please." I nodded, "yes of course."
After an hour he stood up, going back to the infirmary, and I relocated to my house bringing RJ to sit outside in the steps with me. Lydia came and joined me with RJ and the three of us read books until we saw Carol coming towards us. "Lydia, you said you want to help? I need you." Lydia stood up looking down at me. "I'll see you later."
After they left, we made dinner at home, and hours later RJ looked up at me, "I'm tired." It was getting late, "let's go get ready for bed."
I woke up to another knock on my door, "I have to tell you something." Daryl stood in front of me. "I have two things actually." I wiped my eyes, closing the door behind me to let RJ sleep in. "What's up?" He sighed, "Dante. He's a whisperer. He killed Siddiq." My mouth fell open. "I'm sorry Leah." I took a deep breath, "what's the second thing?" He nodded, "Lydia took off last night from Carol." I shook my head, "this is all a joke." He put his hand on my shoulder, "Aaron and Michonne were talking they were hoping you could say something at Siddiqs funeral. After we're heading out." I closed my eyes, "say what? Where are you going?" He took a deep breath, "you and him talked before, Carl brought him here just say something. And Aaron was talking to a whisperer, she told him where the herd was." I slowly nodded, "I'm coming, and then we're finding Lydia." Daryl stepped forward and I let him hold me close to him. "I'm sorry." I shook my head, "he's dead. Just like that."
I put on a pair of black jeans, and a black tank top making my way to the funeral. Rosita called me over to her and I gave her a quick hug. "I'm sorry about Siddiq," I whispered. She gave me a small smile, "I'm sure he'd appreciate you saying something."
As most of the crowed gathered around I listened to Rosita speak before I said anything. She nodded at me and I stepped forward. "Siddiq and I had an agreement like thing. It only started recently but it was meaningful. It was like therapy almost. He was one of the first people to help me when I went though something really really terrible. My brother Carl died to bring Siddiq back our community. That meant something to me. Siddiq meant something to everyone. He did his best to be there for everyone, even after the barn and that's when our agreement started, we had one thing in common pretending to be alright. I talked, he listened. He talked and I listened. It was a good agreement and I'm going to miss him as I'm sure everyone else here will. Goodbye Siddiq and thank you."