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It was funny that Carl was the one everyone was worried about because Carl was not the teenager in trouble. No, Negan hadn't made Rick cut off his arm. His intention was only to scare Rick. So Carl wasn't in trouble. But Elle should've known she was as soon as she laid eyes on her mother.
Negan was on the verge of leaving with his men and Daryl as a prisoner when Elle's mother approached the man in charge. Fear flooded through Elle's entire body. She was no longer holding the bat but she did still have Carl's flannel and was clutching it as close to her chest as possible.
Carl picked up on what was happening as well, trying to get Elle's attention. He could tell she was on the verge of a panic attack, but it had always been either Abraham or Glenn who had helped her get over them, so he didn't know what to do. He was going to stand up and move to be by her side, but Negan's voice was faster than he was.
"Carrot Top's your kid?! Holy fuck! What a fucking coincidence!" he said, absolutely delighted by the news. "Of course, she can come along. Fellas, loud her up."
Elle was screaming before any of the Saviors even touched her. She couldn't go with them. She couldn't be with her mother. She was terrified of what the woman would do to her. She cried out for Carl to help her, but he was being held back by his dad. Tommy jumped up to try and help her but he was grabbed by Michonne. They all wanted to help Elle, to save her from her mother and the Saviors, but they couldn't. The adults knew that if they tried to help Elle they would all end up dead. They couldn't save her if they were dead.
"Let go of me! I need to help her! She can't go with them! Let me go!" Carl continued to cry after Elle was loaded into a truck. He yelled long after the Saviors drove away and were out of sight. He didn't stop until his voice gave out and he resorted to throwing punches and kicks at the ground. The group let him be as they loaded Glenn and Abraham's bodies into the back of a truck the Saviors left for them. Tommy was the only other one who didn't help. His tears had only increased since Elle was taken.
Carl's hands were bloody by the time he calmed down. He felt like Elle. That was her thing, punching things to release her anger. But she wasn't angry when she was taken, no, she was completely terrified. She was rarely ever that scared. It caused Carl physical pain to see her like that.
"Carl..."
The boy looked up to see Tommy standing next to him, his face more puffy and red than anyone else's. His bottom lip was jutted out, trembling after all the events that had taken place.
"Are they going to kill Elle too?"
The only response Carl had was wrapping the small boy in his arms, the two of them crying into each other's shoulders. They might not have had to load Elle's body into the back of a truck, but it felt like they had lost her. They didn't know where she was going. They didn't know what was going to happen to her. The only thing they knew for certain was that she was in danger.
❖
"I want to see Daryl."
The older Coleman rolled her eyes. She'd been trying to get Elle to talk to her for hours but the only two things she would say were "When can I go home?" and "I want to see Daryl."
"As I told you the first ten times you asked, you can't see Daryl. Negan has plans for him and they have nothing to do with you or me." Jennifer told her daughter. "How about you take a shower. It'll make you feel better."
"I want to go home."
"This is your home now."
"No, it's not."
There was no passion behind Elle's words. No fiery temper. She was speaking in a sad drawl, the expected anger nowhere to be seen. She sat in silence with her mother for another hour before anything happened. Jennifer tried numerous times to spark a discussion, but nothing worked. It took Elle running to the toilet and throwing up to initiate a conversation.
"He took a bat to their heads. Over. And over. And over and over and over," Elle said, barely loud enough for her mother to hear. She was still leaning over the toilet as if she was going to empty her stomach everywhere once more. "They were basically decapitated by the time he was done with them. Glenn was going to be a father. Abraham wanted to start a life with Sasha. My family was murdered in front of me and you just watched. How could you?" Her voice broke as her glistening eyes met her mother's.
"I'm sorry."
"Oh, you're sorry, Jennifer?" Elle spit out the name like it was bile.
"I am your mother. You cannot call me that."
"Some mother you are," Elle scoffed, standing up. "I'm gonna take that shower now."
"If you try to leave-"
"I won't," Elle cut her off. "I'm not risking Daryl's life by doing something stupid. He's the only parent I have in this building."
This time it was Jennifer who scoffed, "You have grown into a beautiful woman Elle Rose, but you never outgrew that spiteful attitude, did you?"
Elle shook her head, defeated, "Can you let me shower in peace? I think I deserve that, at least." It seemed Jennifer was as done with the conversation as Elle was as she listened to her daughter's request and left the bathroom.
Peeling off Carl's flannel that she had wrapped herself in at some point, Elle stared at herself in the cracked mirror the bathroom offered. Her eyes were still undoubtedly puffy after however many hours it had been. A blood splatter still covered her face and she made it her mission
to scrub it off even before she entered the shower. She couldn't think about where the blood had come from, the thought alone would likely make her throw up yet again.
At the same time Jennifer heard the shower water start running in the bathroom, she also heard a knock on her door. She was quick to open it, surprised to see that Negan was waiting for her on the other side.
"Hey, Jenny. Mind if I come in? Make myself at home?" Negan asked, although he had already walked in and found himself a seat on the couch. Before Jennifer even had a chance to respond to him, he was asking another question, "Where's that little one of yours?"
"She's in the shower," Jennifer responded. "It might be best if she doesn't know you're here. She's a little... upset."
"Upset? Now why would she be upset?" Negan said, laughing as if he had said the most comical thing in the world. "Of course, she's fucking upset, I just killed her friends! Don't worry, I'm sure I'll grow on her eventually. Tell me, how's Carrot Top liking living with her Mommy again?"
Now Jennifer was a lot of things, but she wasn't stupid. "Cut the bullshit, Negan," she said, crossing her arms across her chest. "You don't make house calls for fun. What's this really about?"
"You caught me," Negan chuckled, holding up his hands in mock surrender. "It's about your kid."
"What about her?"
"She's a threat," Negan said bluntly. "Flight risk. She could break my new pal Daryl out, she could raid our armory, she could run on back to her friends and tell them where we are and all our weak points."
Jennifer sat down in the chair across from Negan and told him, "She's my kid, I'll keep her in check."
"Right, right," Negan nodded like he wasn't totally convinced. "Tell me, Jenny, how'd you two get separated in the first place?"
The hesitation from Jennifer did not go unnoticed by Negan. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, waiting for her to answer his fairly simple question.
"I wasn't with her when the whole thing went down," Jennifer started off with. At least that wasn't a lie. But there was no way she was going to spill the rest of the truth out for Negan to see. "She was with her dad. We were divorced. By the time I went to his house to find her, they were both gone. I tried to find them for the first few months but eventually, I gave up hope and assumed they were dead. Then I found you."
Jennifer could tell she hadn't completely convinced Negan, but she had at least satisfied his needs for now as he stood up and headed for the door.
"Just keep your kid on a leash," he warned. "I don't want to have to throw her in a cell."
"Understood."
And then he was gone. It was perfect timing as the shower turned off moments after he left. It was a quick shower, but that was normal for the Sanctuary. The hot water only lasted a few minutes. Jennifer's inference was confirmed when Elle came out with her towel wrapped around her, shivering.
Once her mother directed her to the spare bedroom where she had clean clothes laid out, Elle couldn't take it anymore. The tears rolled down her face, uncontrollable sobs taking over her body. Abraham was dead. Glenn was dead. Daryl was in a cell probably being tortured. Maggie was enduring life-threatening issues with her pregnancy. Tommy had just witnessed the most traumatic thing in his life. Honestly, so had all of them. But they weren't eight, he was.
A mother's comforting hand on one's shoulder usually calmed a child down, but not Elle. She felt the hand and flinched away, her sobs growing heavier. Where was the comfort when her father had died? Where was the comfort all those years when Jennifer had chosen to use her motherly hands to hurt her child?
"Please leave me alone," Elle managed to get out, sniffling to try and pull herself together. "Please go away. You're making it worse."
"Elle-"
"My head hurts and my stomach hurts and I really miss my family. Please," Elle continued to beg. "I can't fight with you right now. It's too much. I can't."
"You're overwhelmed, I understand," Jennifer persisted.
"You... you understand?" Elle started choking on her sobs. "How could you possibly... how could you understand? I... I can't-"
And then it hit her. The pent up anger, sadness, confusion, torment, and fear. It exploded in her chest, taking away her breath and her brave face. She was gasping, trying to find oxygen to fill her lungs. Her mind was empty, she couldn't see what was in front of her. All she knew was that she couldn't breathe. She couldn't-
A stinging feeling engulfed her face. As her pain switched from her chest to her cheek, air filled her lungs once more. It didn't matter. Her fear wasn't gone, it was only heightened. Elle's eyes were glued to her mother's hand that had just collided with her face.
"I had to do that," Jennifer tried to defend herself. "You weren't breathing."
"I spent so long being unable to hate you," Elle said as she continued to avoid eye contact. "Now I know it's cause I'm still terrified of you. I'll always be that kid and you'll always be the monster who pretended to be my mom."
"You weren't breathing! What was I supposed to do?!"
"Comfort me."
Elle finally looked up to meet her mother's eyes. The words were so simple, but Jennifer caught the passive aggressiveness Elle was sending her.
Annoyed with her daughter's attitude, Jennifer calmly said, "I can tell you're very emotional right now, so we can talk tomorrow."
Oh, she was lucky Elle was too tired to fight back. She was lucky she had caught Elle at her lowest. She would've been begging for forgiveness if she'd reunited with her daughter under different circumstances.
But Elle was mourning and reeling and losing her damn mind all at once. So, yeah, arguing with her mother would have to wait until tomorrow.
❖
It was agreed amongst many that Ollie Reyes was the goofball of Alexandria. He brought smiles to so many faces just for being him and he could brighten the room with one of his funny comments. No one in Alexandria had ever truly seen him mad. They'd seen him upset, but never to the full extent. Not like when he had first found out what his mother did to Elle or when his father died. That wasn't who he was now. He was the optimist.
Well, at least until Aaron told him Elle had been taken by their mother.
Ollie didn't even wait until he was in the privacy of his own home to blow up. In the middle of the street with the group watching him, Ollie started screaming. Loud enough to attract walkers for miles. At first, it was only a yell, like he was directing his anger at the sky, but then he made eye contact with Rick and it was over.
"You knew! You knew what she did to her!" he said as he marched over, his finger aggressively pointing in Rick's face. "How could you let them take her when you knew?!"
"It's a lot more complicated-"
"No, it's not, Rick!" Ollie continued, not getting any quieter. "Have you seen the scars on Elle's body?! It's pretty clear what happened!" There was a pause as Ollie looked around. "Where the hell is Daryl? If you couldn't protect her I know he could. Or Maggie. She'd die before letting them take Elle, even in her condition."
When Ollie was informed where Daryl and Maggie were, he continued looking around. His next target was Carl.
"Carl!"
"Leave him out of this," Michonne was quick to rescue Carl. "He tried to stop them from taking her. We held him back. Tommy too. You can be angry at me and Rick, but leave the kids out of it."
"That true?" Ollie directed his question at Carl.
"Of course it's true," Carl snapped, offended that Ollie even had to ask. "You think I didn't want to kill your abusive ass mom the second I knew who she was? I've seen all the scars. I know what she did."
A tug on Ollie's sleeve saved Carl from a nasty comment from the angry brother. Ollie looked down to see who had ahold of his shirt. It was Tommy, his eyes bloodshot.
"Don't be mad at Carl," he said in almost a whisper. "Those guys were really scary. They hurt Abraham and Glenn. Really bad."
Ollie stopped yelling when Michonne explained to him what Tommy meant. He understood now. He understood why they couldn't protect Elle. But that didn't mean he wouldn't do everything in his power to get her away from their mother.
It was the roof of the gazebo where Carl found Ollie contemplating how he was going to rescue Elle. Conveniently, Carl was already heading there himself. It was Elle's favorite spot in Alexandria and he missed her like crazy, even if it really hadn't been that long.
No words were spoken for a long time. It was clear that both of their minds were on Elle, but it was also clear that neither of them could put into words how scared and worried they were for her. Carl was twisting his bracelet over and over again, so much so that it caught Ollie's attention.
"What's with the bracelet?" Ollie asked, voice raspy from being silent for so long.
"It's a friendship bracelet," Carl explained, eyes not leaving the neon green rope and infinity sign. "Elle's got the other one. It's cheesy, I know. You don't have to say it."
Ollie shook his head, "I wasn't going to say that. I think it's nice. Did you make them?"
Carl made a half attempt to laugh, "No. I don't think either of us are skilled enough to do that. Elle found it when she was on a run a while back. She was with Maggie and, uh, and Glenn. She told me the whole story when she came back. She had grabbed it and then dropped it so she had to go back. But while she was going back Maggie and Glenn were getting captured by Daryl's brother. Long story. Anyway, her going back for the bracelets saved her from also getting captured. We decided that I'd get the bright green one because it reminded me of her and she'd get the dark green one cause it reminded her of me. Then we could think of each other if we were apart."
The silence after was loud.
"I'm glad she has you," Ollie said after the silence had lasted for an uncomfortable amount of time. "You make her happy."
"I'm gonna marry her when we turn eighteen," Carl smiled down at his bracelets. His eyes suddenly shot up to look at Ollie. "Shit, I should probably make sure that's okay with you. Daryl said it's okay, but you're-"
"Of course you can marry her dude," Ollie laughed. "I think it's great. Let me tell you, when I was fifteen I was not thinking about marriage. I mean, I get it. It's the apocalypse now and it wasn't when I was your age. Things are a lot different. A lot less certain. But all I could think about when I was fifteen was video games and sex. The average teenage boy in the twenty-first century. I- wait." His eyes suspiciously narrowed at Carl. "You haven't..."
With a blush covering his cheeks, Carl scratched the back of his neck and forced out a laugh, turning his head away from Ollie.
"Oh, that's so gross," Ollie said, cringing at what Carl was implying. "Why did I ask? At least tell me you used protection."
The confused look on Carl's face spoke for itself.
"Absolutely not. I am not talking about this with you," Ollie said, making his way down the gazebo. "Ask your dad. Oh, god, I'm never going to be able to look at you and Elle the same ever again. I can't believe I even asked. This is terrible."
Ollie's grumbling continued for as long as Carl could hear him, the teenager both confused and amused.
He couldn't worry about any of what Ollie was talking about anyway. He had to figure out how he was going to get Elle back. Abraham and Glenn had been killed, Daryl and Elle had been taken. Carl wouldn't back down. He was going to get her back. Even if it meant working with Ollie and listening to him complain about how gross he and Elle were the whole time. Elle was worth it. She was worth it all. He was going to bring her home.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: yay og plot line!!! i'm so excited to dive into the relationship between elle and her mom. expect lots and lots of angst