sweet emotion --- aerosmith
♮♮♮
[JJ]
It was nearly 4 in the morning before Daryl was able to sneak in. I had been in a light sleep, trying to stay awake until he back.
"Someone finally take over?" I asked as he quietly laid beside me.
"What're you still doin' up? Figured you'd be snorin' by the time I got here."
I groggily rolled my eyes, turning on my side to face him as he put his arm under my neck.
"I'm gonna tell Rick. About us."
"You gon' tell him about Spencer first?"
I scoffed, "I'm going to sleep." I turned back to face the wall.
Daryl lightly snickered, getting closer and wrapping his other arm around me. "You know I'm kiddin'."
"I guess." I jokingly sighed, quickly falling asleep.
I hadn't been asleep for more than a couple of hours at most before Daryl and I were both startled awake by a thud from down the hall.
We didn't think twice about it before pulling our guns and going out into the hall half dressed.
It was Jesus in front of Rick and Michonne...who weren't dressed. At all.
"Whoa!" I couldn't close my eyes or look away fast enough. "Can't unsee that. Nope. That is..." I huffed, "engraved in my mind. No getting rid of that image."
"The hell you doin' in here?" Daryl hadn't dropped his gun, despite everything.
"I needed to talk to Rick."
I commented, "oh, so this couldn't wait until, you know, everyone had their pants on?"
"Yeah, can we all just get dressed and then talk?" Michonne huffed.
Still refusing to turn my head, I sarcastically agreed, "Wow, that seems logical."
"I'll wait right here." Jesus sat at the top of the stairs.
"Yeah, you do that." Daryl snappily dropped his gun to his side.
As I closed the door behind me, I began to process everything. My jaw dropped.
"What?"
"My brother and Michonne." I spoke quietly, not risking them hearing it through the walls.
"What about 'em?"
"What about...since when?"
"Why's it matter?"
"Wh-Why's it matter? My brother...and Michonne."
Daryl shrugged. "You're thinkin' too much into it. Figured you'd be more freaked out that he saw us."
My eyes widened. "Do you think he noticed?"
"Nah." Daryl sarcastically told me.
"He probably didn't though, right?"
"Come on. We have bigger things to worry about."
♮♮♮
[POV]
On the other side of the wall, as Rick and Michonne were quickly putting their clothes on, Rick also realized what he'd seen.
"JJ and....not Spencer. Daryl." Rick looked across to Michonne. "When did that happen?"
Michonne's face deadpanned, "oh, come on. You're not serious right now." She noticed Rick's confusion. "You are?"
"JJ and Daryl?" Rick clarified. "Since when?"
"Since...however long I've been with the group."
"The prison? JJ and Daryl...the prison?"
"They weren't together. But it was clear there was something. Or at least it was clear to everybody else."
"Who else knows?"
Michonne shrugged, "Maggie, Glenn, Carl..."
"Carl? Carl knows." Rick huffed, rubbing his face.
"Rick, now is not the time to be stressing about who your sister is sleeping with." Michonne bluntly told him, causing him to stress even more. "We have more to worry about than that."
Carl, who had missed the excitement was late to the party. He snuck up behind Jesus, holding his gun. "What are you doing in our house?"
"I'm, uh, sitting on the steps, looking at this painting, waiting for your mom, dad, aunt and uncle to get dressed. Hi, I'm Jesus."
The two doors opened, and Rick and JJ refused to make eye contact with each other.
"Carl," Rick noticed, still not wearing a shirt. Carl shared passing looks with the four. "hey, um..."
Then, Glenn and Abraham hustled up the steps with their guns.
"It's okay." Michonne calmed.
"You said we should talk. So let's talk." Rick decided.
♮♮♮
The group met downstairs, some sitting at the kitchen table, others standing.
"So, how'd you get out?" Rick inquired.
"One guard can't cover two exits or third floor windows. Knots unite, locks get picked, entropy comes from order, right?"
Daryl answered quickly, pacing behind the escapee. "Right."
"I checked out your arsenal. I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped, but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have. 54?"
Maggie, who'd been given the all clear by Glenn to enter, spoke up, "More than that."
"Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef."
Daryl took a step forward, "Yeah, she ain't here."
Jesus turned towards Daryl, "look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side- the living side. You, Rick and JJ had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things, and the three of you looked like trouble."
JJ sat back in her chair and crossed her arms.
"I was wrong." He emphasized to her. "You're good people. And this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other."
"Do you have food?" Rick asked.
"We've started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to Sorghum."
Rick threw his hand up, "tell us why we should believe you."
"I'll show you. If we take a car, I can take you back home in a day, and you can all see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer."
"Wait, you're looking for more settlements?" Maggie went back. "You mean you're already trading with other groups?"
Jesus grinned, "your world's about to get a whole lot bigger."
♮♮♮
[JJ]
So, we'd decided that we'd go check out Jesus' community. If everything he'd said was true, then this could be insanely good for Alexandria.
Daryl was working on the RV's engine before we left to make sure it was strong enough to make the trip there and back. And I, well, I was supervising. Which is my way of saying I was doing absolutely nothing, but still wanted to be a part of things.
I looked up to Denise, who was walking over to the two of us, carrying a small stack of something wrapped tightly in saran wrap.
"Here." She put the offering out next to Daryl. "Homemade oatcake. Complex carbohydrates, omega-3s."
He barely acknowledged it, "nah, I'm good. We're gonna make a pit stop. I'll pick up something then."
Denise sassily leaned back, "Like rabies?"
I looked down, holding in a laugh.
Daryl looked to me, then back to the engine, "Is this cause we tried to get you that stuff?"
"Yeah...and you remind me of someone I used to know." She held out the packaged oatcakes again.
This time, Daryl took it. "Well, hope it tastes better than it looks. Cause it looks like shit."
"Shit's still better than roadkill." Denise realized what she'd said, and immediately tried to change it, "Okay, maybe...-just eat it."
Daryl scoffed and backed away from the RV, shutting the hood.
"This thing ready to roll?" Abraham questioned. After Daryl gave a single nod, he walked past and swung the door open, "Let's chew up some asphalt then."
We loaded into the RV like the Griswold family going on a vacation cross country. Rick drove, Michonne co-piloted and the rest of us sat in the back, making small talk, playing games and taking naps.
"Hey." Abraham looked over to Glenn, who had a protective hand on Maggie, who'd fallen asleep early on into the ride. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
Abraham leaned forward, signaling Glenn to do the same. Everyone could still hear the clear as day, so not really sure what the point of that was. "When you were, uh, pouring the Bisquick, were you trying to make pancakes?"
Glenn looked confused, seeming to somewhat understand what Abraham was getting at, "Uh...yes?" He lightly laughed, looking back to Maggie. "Oh, okay, um...yeah, it's something that we talked about, yeah." Abraham nodded. "Why?"
"No, I just...well, given the precarious state of affairs on any given Sunday, I am damn near floored that you anyone else would have the cojones to make a call like that."
"I mean, well..." Glenn glanced over to Maggie again, "we're trying to build something, me and her. All of us."
"For the record, I see rain coming, I wear galoshes. I double up."
I made eye contact with Glenn and could tell he was trying to keep a straight face with Abraham. I, on the other hand, was not doing as well as Glenn was with not laughing.
"What's so funny?" Abraham asked with a blank expression.
"Yeah, JJ," Glenn looked up to me, smirking, "what is so funny?"
Their eyes shift to me. Abraham and Glenn were waiting for an answer. I could tell that even Daryl was somewhat listening in to the conversation.
"Just wondering what provoked Abraham to start asking about Bisquick and pancakes." I shrugged.
"You tellin' me you never thought about pancakes before the world went to shit?"
"Before all this, my biggest concern was if I could afford rent that month, and... what top made my boobs look the best so that guys would buy me drinks at the bar." I told him. "So, no, pancakes were not on my mind whatsoever."
"What about you?" Abraham gestured to Daryl, who had been quiet for most of the ride. "You ever think about pancakes?"
"Me? Nah." Daryl shook his head, going back to dazing out of the slats of blinds. He lifted one of the slats up and looked intently, "Yo, Rick. What's going on?"
"We got a crash ahead." Rick informed. The brakes squealing as we came to a stop. "Looks like it just happened."
"It's one of ours." Jesus quickly stood up and was the first off the RV.
Rick held a gun to his head as he looked around the crash, "if this is a trick, it won't end well for you."
"My people are in trouble. They don't- we don't have a lot of fighters. I know how it looks, but I'll play it out. Can I borrow a gun?"
"No." Daryl immediately answered. "We got tracks right here."
Rick walked up the few steps, banging on the door of the house with his fist.
"They gotta be in there." Jesus insisted.
"We movin' in or what?" Abraham suspiciously questioned.
Daryl walked over to Rick, "how do we know this ain't firecrackers in a trash can?"
"You don't."
"We'll get your people." Rick assured, "You're staying here with Maggie and JJ."
"That's the deal." Michonne backed him.
"Y'all go but be careful." Maggie told my brother.
Rick tied Jesus' hands behind his back, "we're gonna be careful."
"Just hurry."
My brother met my eyes, "you hear me whistle, shoot him."
I nodded, "will do." I didn't raise my gun, but I kept my hand on it.
We heard some clattering, but not enough to be worried. No less than fifteen minutes later, our people came out with Jesus' people too.
Then, we all crammed back into the RV and continued on our way.
♮♮♮
After another hour or so of driving, the RV came to a stop, not by choice though.
"Damn it." Rick mumbled. "A storm must've passed through." He pressed the gas, but the tires spun in place. "We're stuck."
"Way to go, Rick." I sarcastically commented.
Jesus stood up and looked out the windshield, "no worries. We're here."
The door opened to a disgusting, muddy mess. I was apprehensive to step out. I'm just saying- heeled boots and mud do not go together. Sure, there'd been muddier situations like back at Terminus, but after being in Alexandria, I'd finally gotten them looking almost as new as when I had bought them.
So, needless to say, I was apprehensive about stepping out.
I could almost feel the judgement from Daryl as I planted myself in the doorway of the RV. "Move." He groaned, pushing past me and stepping out into the mud before me. I figured it was just because he was impatient, but instead, he held his hand out to help me to a dry patch of grass that was past the mud.
I didn't even get a spot on my red boots.
When I looked up, I noticed that Rick had watched the whole situation. But, when I caught him, he quickly acted like he didn't notice a thing.
"That's us." Jesus stepped out and went before everyone. "That's the Hilltop."
It was a giant lumber-made wall that looked like it could withstand the worst of the worst.
We walked the short ways up the hill and were met with a command from the guard on duty, "stop right there."
We all pulled our weapons on him as Jesus tried to keep the peace.
"You gonna make us?" Daryl called back.
"Jesus, what the hell is this?" The guard questioned.
"Open the gates, Cal. Freddie's hurt." Jesus turned back to our group, "sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing."
"They give up their weapons. Then we'll open the gates."
"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" Daryl argued.
Dr. Carson pushed through to the front, "Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right? They saved us out there. Lower the spears."
"Look, I'm not taking any chances. Tell your guy Gregory to come out here." Rick decided.
"No. Don't you see what just happened? I'm letting you keep your guns." Jesus spoke with a quiet voice, "Look, we ran out of ammo months ago. I like you people. I trust you. Trust us." Rick motioned, letting him know it was all right. "Open the gates, Cal."
Cal opened the gates to an old, giant mansion of a house with different shelters and trailers throughout the yard. There was livestock, a blacksmith and a flourishing garden.
"There was a materials yard for a power company nearby. That's how we put up the walls. A lot of people came from the FEMA camp, trailers came with 'em."
Jesus walked backwards, showing us around like we were on some college campus tour. Maggie would know. She was a tour guide.
"How did people find out about this place?" Michonne questioned as we neared the main attraction- the giant house.
"That's called Barrington House. The family that owned it, gave it to the state in the 30s. The state turned it into a living history museum. Every elementary school for 50 miles used to come here for field trips. This place was running a long time before the modern world built up around it. I think people came here because they figured it'd keep running after the modern world broke down."
Made sense.
He motioned to the house, "Those windows up there let us see for miles in every direction. It's perfect for security." He began walking towards the house, "Come on. I'll show you inside."
The inside of the house was what you'd expect. It was decorated like someone's rich grandma had started a sorority house.
"Good gracious Ignatius." Abraham admired.
I agreed, "Took the words right out of my mouth."
"Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces. Even the ones that weren't bedrooms."
"People live here and the trailers?" Rick questioned.
"We plan to build. There's babies being born."
The double doors to the left of the entrance opened and stood an older gentleman in the frame. He wore a suit, which was clearly out of the ordinary for our group...even before the end of the world.
"Jesus. You're back." He greeted, looking to us next. "With guests."
"Everyone, this is Gregory." Jesus introduced. "He keeps the trains running on time around here."
Gregory put his hands on his hips, "I'm the boss."
Rick acknowledged him, introducing himself, "Well, I'm Rick. We have a community-"
"Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hm?" Gregory interrupted.
My brother hated being interrupted.
"We're fine."
"Jesus will show you where you can get washed up. Then come back down here when you're ready." Gregory moved close to my brother's face. "Hard to keep this place clean."
"Yeah, sure." My brother angrily agreed.
"Follow me."
♮♮♮
[POV]
Abraham, Daryl and JJ were waiting on the rest of the group in the foyer. Daryl paced by a window, Abraham made himself comfortable and JJ counted the minutes until they could be on their way out of there.
"How long do you think Rick and Michonne been ugging bumplies?" Abraham broke the silence.
It caught JJ off guard, to say the least.
Daryl answered before she could, "I don't know."
Abraham nodded, accepting his answer, "Okay, well, how long have the two of you been ugging bumplies?"
If Abraham's first question hadn't caught her off guard enough, this one sure did. Caught Daryl off guard too. Abraham sensed the hesitation to answer. "Ah, I see. You're keepin' it on the down low. Understood."
There was another moment of quiet, which Abraham broke once again.
"You ever think about it?" He walked over near Daryl, "Settling down?"
JJ was pulled out of her mind for a second. She wanted to know how Daryl would answer. Of course, she'd never admit that she cared, but she did.
"You think shit's settled?" Daryl responded, pacing off to the other side of the room.
JJ wasn't not happy by his answer. She couldn't decide how she felt. And she noticed Abraham was feeling a similar way. He stared at his necklace in the mirror, lost in thought.
"Not satisfied with his answer?" She joked.
"As satisfied as you, I imagine."
JJ shrugged, "touché," pushing aside the curtains and sitting on the windowsill. "You've been asking a lot of questions today."
"That a bad thing?"
"No." She told him. "Let me guess, you're having second thoughts about Rosita?"
Abraham looked impressed, "How'd you know?"
"Well, that necklace you're wearing, she made it for you. I know because I gave her the chain for it. You just tucked it into your shirt, so you don't wanna look at it, which means you don't wanna think about her." JJ explained to Abraham, confusing him with her knowledge.
"You're good."
JJ grinned, "Nah, I just watched a lot of reality tv in undergrad."
"I'm realizing there's other fish in the sea."
She nodded. "Sasha?"
Abraham's silence told her all she needed to know. "So, you're realizing you love Rosita, but you're not in love with Rosita."
"Damn, you're good."
"Reality TV. I'm tellin' ya." JJ told him jokingly.
"And you?" She scrunched her face in confusion. "Is it something or is it just ugging bumplies?"
JJ nodded, seeming to understand this time. She looked over to Daryl, who was distracted by the window on the other side of the room. "Well, it's not just that." She sighed.
Abraham moved closer to her, lowering his voice, "So, you've thought about it? Settlin' down?"
"Uh, he- he has a point." JJ became flustered. "I mean, isn't it stupid to get serious with someone in this?"
"You think Glenn and Maggie are stupid?"
JJ huffed, "That's different."
"I think you're scared." Abraham smirked.
"Of- of a relationship?"
"Uh-huh." Abraham nodded. "Let me guess, you've never had a serious relationship. All college flings. You get into this shit excuse of a world and boom. You've found something more than just ugging bumplies."
Her eyes narrowed, "okay, wise ass. You're in the same situation."
"Not exactly. I had a wife before this, if you recall." Abraham sat on the sill beside her.
"Oh, yeah. Well, all I had was a bunch of ugging bumplies trauma. But... since" she motioned to Daryl with a tilt of her head, "I don't know. I haven't thought about it once."
"Hm," Abraham snickered, "Maybe after all this we've found our people. How bout that."
JJ scoffed, "Yeah, how bout that," shaking her head in disbelief.
"Abraham, why is that you and I are always having weirdly deep conversations about our feelings?" JJ thought back to the time when they found out that Eugene had been lying about having the cure. It felt like ages ago.
"I do not have an answer for you on that one. But... I do appreciate it."
"Same here."
♮♮♮
Eventually, Maggie emerged from her meeting with Gregory, telling the group everything that went down.
"We want to generate trade. Gregory does." Jesus reassured after all of it. "But ammo isn't something urgent we need."
"Well, how's that?" Rick asked.
"The walls hold. We just brought in more medicine. Gregory wants the best deal possible."
"Yeah, well, we want things too." Daryl argued.
JJ nodded, joking, "you should've been the negotiator, Daryl. That was really moving."
"We need food. We came all this way, we're gonna get it." Rick told Jesus.
"I will talk to him and we will work this out. Circumstances change. We're doing well now, and you will next. I will make him understand that. Can you give me a few days?"
The group thought collectively before Michonne answered. "We can."
A man barged in the front door, bringing Gregory out of his office in a panic. "What's wrong?"
"They're back."
The group followed them outside, watching as three of the community members neared Gregory. "Nathan, what happened to everybody else? Where's Tim and Marsha?"
"They're dead." The man responded.
"Negan?" Gregory placed his hands on his hips, "We had a deal."
"He said it wasn't enough. Was the drop light?" The man behind him spoke up.
"They still have Craig." The woman informed.
"They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you."
"So, tell me."
Nathan placed a hand on Gregory's shoulder, "I'm sorry," and drove a knife into his side.
Rick and Michonne dragged Nathan off of Gregory, initiating a fight. "Get off of me! I have to!"
Rick took him to the ground, throwing punch after punch.
Then, the other man who was with Nathan ambushed Abraham, beginning to choke him against the ground. JJ, who was the closest and acted the fastest, grabbed the man by the back of the neck, pulling him off Abraham with force.
When he stood up, grabbing her arm, Daryl grabbed his, bending it in such a way that broke the bone in multiple places.
"Hey, stay back!" Nathan got the upper hand over Rick. "Anyone who stands in my way is killing my brother."
"Drop it." Michonne warned, distracting him. Rick took his opportunity and drove his knife into Natha's neck, pushing him to the ground.
The people of Hilltop looked in terror as Rick stood up, soaked in blood.
"What?" He looked at the staring eyes.
"Nathan!" The man whose arm was broken shouted, "You killed him."
"He tried to kill Gregory, then me." Rick justified. Then, the woman charged him, swiftly being taken to the ground by Michonne.
"Drop it now!" Cal demanded Rick.
"I don't think I will." He raised his gun.
"Everyone!" Jesus stood in between the two, "this is over! It's over. Nathan was our friend, but let's not pretend he was anything more than a coward who attacked us. He did this. And these people stopped him."
"What can I do?" Rick asked.
"Put the gun away. You've done enough. You need to know; things aren't as simple as they might seem. Just give me some time."
"Hey, you good?" Daryl turned to JJ, lightly touching the back of her arm.
In response, JJ hugged him tightly. "Thanks."
"Hey, Abraham, you good?" JJ extended a hand.
"Yeah." He smiled up at her. "I'm better than all right."
♮♮♮
[JJ]
"Dr. Carson was able to patch Gregory up." Jesus informed. "He's in pain, but he'll live."
"So, what happens now?" I asked.
"Things like that don't usually happen here but uh, it's settled."
"We heard the name Negan." Rick stood up off of Gregory's desk where he'd been leaning. "A while back, Daryl and Abraham had a run-in with his men. Who is he?"
"Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the saviors. As soon as the walls were built, the saviors showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands, even more threats. And he killed one of us- Rory. He was 16 years old. They beat him to death right in front of us." Jesus took a deep breath in. "Said we needed to understand, right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good with confrontation. He's not the leader I would've chose, but he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him."
Maggie realized, "he made the deal."
"Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the saviors?"
"And what do you get in return?" Glenn quizzed.
"They don't attack this place. They don't kill us."
"Why not just kill them?" Daryl posed.
"Most of the people here don't even know how to fight. Even if we had ammo."
Rick got to thinking, "well, how many people does Negan have?"
"We don't know. We've seen groups as big as 20."
"Now, hold up. So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give 'em half of everything. These dicks just got a good story." Daryl scoffed, "The bogeyman, he ain't shit."
"Well, how do you know?"
"A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ. Left 'em in pieces and puddles." Abraham informed.
Daryl told me about that. It was when Alexandria got attacked. That was how he was stabbed.
"You know, we'll do it. If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one of them cows." Daryl pointed. I couldn't help but grin.
Rick shrugged, "confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with."
"I'll take it to Gregory."
♮♮♮
Gregory agreed to talk to Maggie, and Maggie only. And by the end of the negotiation, Maggie had struck a deal. A good deal. I helped Michonne load up the RV while Rick talked to one whose arm was broken.
I placed a box down in the RV and stared at it, lost in thought. Something felt off. I wasn't sure what it was, though.
"You up for this?" Daryl calmly asked.
I shrugged, "It's gonna be a fight."
"We'll win."
"Yeah, we will." I agreed, assuring him by squeezing his hand. "We're gonna win."
Jesus had decided that he would accompany us back to Alexandria, along with the other Hilltopper to devise a plan against Negan.
Maggie passed Michonne a photo. Not just any photo, an ultrasound picture. Michonne widely smiled at it, passing it over to Daryl next. He held back a smile as he handed to me. It wasn't bigger than a bean. I glanced at it, and then handed it over to Abraham.
I was happy for Glenn and Maggie. Seeing them gave me hope. I think they gave everyone hope.
a/n: sunday update! woo!