RICK, HERSHEL AND Daryl were on their way to endure negotiations with the Governor, thanks to Andrea's courtesies, and try to end this war between the two factions who didn't share any of the same views with another. The only thing similar between them was that they'd been surviving for a year now, trying to scrape up what little loot they could from the nearby buildings.
Before that, Rick took Carl and Michonne to King's County where they all spent their childhood's there. They found the man that saved Rick all that time ago, but not without repercussions. His son was killed by a walker when they went to find Rick, or somewhere safer. When they got back, Carl ventured up to her cell and handed her a portrait. A portrait of her family before the apocalypse, before they were killed by walkers then humans they loved when they came back.
But now, Ella was stationed in the lunch room with everyone else where they were loading up guns just in case the negotiations went terribly wrong and the Governor made his way over to the prison. Ella watched them with bated breathes next to Merle. She knew she would die if the Governor came. She wasn't in any position to be fighting.
"Carl, come here," Glenn called out. Carl walked over. "Stash these in the loading dock," he turned to Beth. "Beth, stash more on the catwalk. If anyone gets pinned down, we need to make sure that they have plenty of ammo. I'll go work on the cage outside."
Ella's eyes lit up. She didn't want to be cooped in here anymore. "I'll come with you. Let me get Judith." she smiled. He returned the smile. He went to go push her, but Merle finally spoke up after watching them get ready for the war.
"What we should be doing is loading some of this firepower in a truck and paying the Governor a visit. We know where he is right now." Merle pointed out.
Glenn gripped his hands on the wheelchair arms. "Are you suggesting we go in and kill him?"
"Yeah, I am."
Michonne scoffed. "We told Rick and Daryl we'd stay put."
Merle cracked a smile. "Nah I didn't promise anything. . . I've changed my mind. Being on the sideline with my brother out there," he shook his head. "Ain't sitting right with me."
"At least let the negotiations go alright." Ella begged.
He shook his head.
"The three of them are right in the middle of it. No idea we're coming. They could get taken hostage or killed. A thousand things could go wrong." he started to push Ella into the cellblock to grab Judith.
"And they will!" Merle agreed.
Carl whipped his body around to glare at Merle. "My dad can take care of himself." he walked away.
"Sorry, son, but your dad's head could be on a pike real soon." he tried telling the boy. It was probably to get him on his side since nobody was taking him up on the suggestion. He didn't want to do this alone, but he would have to if no one was going to agree to what he had to say.
Maggie yelled at Merle. "Don't tell him that."
Merle glanced at Ella. He knew exactly how to turn her side. "What would your papí do, young miss?"
That hit Ella in the heart. She grabbed his necklace that was pinned around her neck. But she didn't answer Merle Dixon. He was a waste of her time, he only wanted to hurt her feelings to get her to be angry enough to want to kill the Governor, or to kill Merle himself.
He continued. "You think he would sit around and wait for an attack? No, no, no. He would bring the fight to the Governor. If your mama wasn't ate alive and she was taken hostage or if he were here to see you taken hostage and beat like you were-"
Ella cut him off. "He would kill you," she snapped. "He wouldn't take kindly to you talking about my mom like that."
"You sure about that, sweetheart? Didn't he cheat on your mom with Lori?"
Glenn swung his arm back and socked Merle right in the middle of his face. Merle staggered back, surprised that Glenn had that much strength. Glenn pushed Merle against the wall. "Say that again!" he yelled. Merle didn't move. "Say it!" still nothing. "If you say anything like that ever again to Ella, to Carl, to anyone, I will fucking come for you!" he turned around, pushing his hair out of his face.
"Merle, it wouldn't be smart. We'd be putting them at risk in the crossfire. That's all of our decision and it's final." Maggie firmly stated, settling the argument and the bad blood between Merle and the group for just a little while.
With that, Glenn pushed Ella into the cellblock.
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OUTSIDE, WHERE THEY heard multiple walkers snarling and Judith making her baby noises by cooing, Glenn was melting the cage to their cellblock so they could point their gun out and aim at people easier. Glenn pointed his gun out the hole he made to make sure it was big enough. He nodded his head once, before he picked up the torch.
Ella wrapped a blanket loosely around Judith. "I don't think I thanked you for Merle, so thank you." she whispered to Glenn.
Glenn grunted. "Don't mention it. He shouldn't have said all he did. He's just an asshole." he sighed.
"Still, Glenn. Thank you. I wouldn't have been able to tell him what you did without crying," she shrugged. "And you don't think I know that he's an a-hole? I knew him as you did back in Atlanta. He was a much bigger one than he is now." she smiled.
Glenn laughed. "Definitely."
Judith suddenly started to cry, her fists balled up. Ella gasped and looked to Glenn who had widened eyes as well. Neither of them knew what to do. They weren't taught how to do much by Hershel when they were on the road and there hasn't been much time here in the prison with the Governor.
Her sister, Judith, was an enigma to Ella Walsh. She didn't know how to soothe her, how to comfort her, she didn't know much. She hoped that when this was all over she'd know twice as much as Hershel did just so she could care for the little baby girl better than anyone ever has.
If only her parents were here.
So Ella did what she thought would work. "You don't like Merle either, do you? He made you cry, huh." she laughed with sincerity.
"If she liked Merle, we have to isolate her more than what she is." Glenn joked.
"Hm, we would."
Ella held Judith in her arms, smiling at her as she slowly closed her eyes to fall back asleep. She was so beautiful, nothing like Ella had ever seen. Or maybe it was just the fact that Judith was her sister, so she thought 'hey, you're cute' or that she looked a lot like two people who were long dead.
Glenn stared at Ella, realizing he soon he wanted to do the things with Ella that she promised they'd do once this was over. He just didn't know how, and he knew she would wait until he said something for she didn't like to be the one to bring up things like that.
Ella glanced at him. She didn't notice he'd been staring. "Do you think we should take her inside to rest?" she asked.
"Yeah."
Glenn grabbed the back of the wheelchair and rolled them inside to stay warm. He thought about running in so fast so that they rolled into the lunchroom so fast they'd crash, but they had the baby with them and Ella was injured. He shut the door behind them quietly before they entered the lunchroom.
Ella narrowed her gaze on Merle. He had a bag thrown on the table, where he was stuffing ammo and guns into it to have himself prepared for the action he'd be taking against the Governor. He is so dumb, Ella thought.
"Hey!" Glenn raised his voice to make their presence known to Merle. "You're not going anywhere."
Merle placed a rifle in the bag. "I don't need permission."
"I can't let you."
"You can't stop me."
Maggie crossed her arms over her chest from Merle's lack of care. "If you're gonna live here with us, it's gonna be on our terms," Merle ignored her. "If Michonne can do it, why can't you?!"
From the outburst, Judith started to cry. Ella tried to shush her by whispering things to calm her down. It didn't exactly work. She just continued to cry her guts out.
Merle matched Maggie's energy by raising his voice. "'Cause it's my brother out there, that's why! What's the matter with y'all!" he marched up the stairs.
Glenn blocked his path. "I'm not gonna let you put them in danger."
"Nut up already, boy!" Merle hissed. "This guy would love to tear his teeth through this young ladies clothes, and by the way you love her, it's so obvious it hurts, and he would be more than glad to fuck her sideways, but you pussy out like this?"
"No." Glenn stood his ground.
Merle pushed Glenn. Ella gasped. "Get out of my way!" Merle screamed.
They tackled each other and fell down the stairs. Ella covered her mouth. Merle pointed his attached knife at Glenn's jugular. She looked at Maggie who jumped on Merle and wrapped her arms around his neck. He pushed her off. Michonne grabbed his arm as Maggie jumped back on him.
Then there was a gunshot.
It came from Beth. Glenn managed to get Merle off. He saw Ella staring him down, her lips parted.
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ELLA WANTED TIME with Glenn by herself so she figured out how to roll herself outside just so she could see him. She thought he might need space after what happened, but soon, they may not have time for little things like this. So, even if he was irritated, she would stay with him and talk about all the things they could talk about.
She opened the metallic sheet door and saw him standing watch to lookout for the Governor in case he came knocking on their doorstep once again like last time though this time it'd be ten times worse. She rolled her wheels toward him. "Bored, yet?" she smiled.
"Oh, never. I love watching walkers drone about." he sarcastically spoke to her.
"May I keep you company?" she asked. "Bet I'm better to keep than the dead." Glenn nodded. Ella rolled into the fence to look out of it. "You know, Maggie's chokehold was one hell of a chokehold. Better than what Rick and my dad had on Daryl."
He laughed. His voice coming out as sweet as chocolate. His laugh made Ella grin from ear to ear. "She should've put him to sleep." he joked, though it might as well have been a statement. He dropped his head to the ground again. "When we got back from Woodbury, did I make everything about me?"
Ella's face softened. "No, no, you didn't. Whenever we talked, you made sure I was comfortable. I wanted time with you and you gave me that for the most part," she chuckled. "Even now, I want time with you."
"Well, you're here with me. We're spending time together," he smiled. "I wanted, I want time with you, too. . . time I feel like we don't have much of." he crouched down to her level. "I feel like I've been harsh on you."
"You haven't."
"I'm sorry." he wrapped his arms around her carefully.
She closed her eyes and hugged him tightly. "It's okay," she grabbed his shoulder. "I love you, you know."
He tensed up. Everything inside of him exploded into happiness. But he didn't say anything back.
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AFTER EVERYONE RETURNED to the cellblock. Rick picked up his rifle leaning against a wall. He looked at his family standing in front of him. Ella watched him as she folded her hands over her lap neatly, waiting for him to say the negotiations went wrong or they went well. She wasn't sure if she was ready for either.
Rick shifted from one foot to another. "So, I met this Governor," he started with a nod. "Sat with him for quite a while."
Merle perked up. "Just the two of ya?" he asked, curious.
"Yeah."
Merle turned to Glenn, their eyes locking from across the room. "Should have gone when we had the chance, bro." he walked past Glenn and leaned against the wall.
Bro, Ella thought. She rolled her eyes. Glenn and Merle were anything but bro's. They were far from it.
Rick lowered his head to the ground. "He wants the prison," Rick looked at everyone's faces. "He wants us gone. Dead. He wants us dead for what we did to Woodbury." he looked at the faces of everyone. Ella blinked once, she felt uneasy in her stomach. "We're going to war."