Shambles- The Walking Dead [Alden x Maggie] [1/2]

43- To the surface

Hershel trailed behind Alden closely. He wanted to be near him, especially with everything that was going on now. Walkers broke into his home. The only place that had always been promised to him as safe.

It wasn't safe now until the tree was gone and the wall was back up; Alden had told him so. That night he had called him dad in the moment because he had feared that he would die. Alden hadn't brought it up since so maybe he hadn't heard it. And Hershel himself wasn't even completely sure why he said it. He never had before because he knew that Alden wasn't his actual father. Glenn was, but he was dead. Alden was the person that raised him; his father figure.

"What are we going to do with that tree?" Hershel asked to distract himself. "It's big."

"That's what Eugene's going to help us with," Alden replied. "He'll have a plan. He already mentioned something about using everything; zero waste."

Whilst Alden and Hershel began to move some of the smaller branches away Maggie was inside in her office.

"Why'd you call me in?" Yumiko asked, annoyed. There was blood splattered all over her because she'd been pushing back the walkers from the temporarily mended to make sure the builders could do their work safely all morning. "People need me out there."

"It happened again," Maggie sighed. "Magna was on guard duty at night and something went missing. Now, you told me you'd deal with it last time. I get she's doing it because she's scared, or just a way of acting out. But people are starting to notice and if people figure out it's her, I can't let it slide anymore."

"I understand," she nodded. "I'll talk to her."

"Thank you. I've got enough to deal with at the moment."

Maggie stood up after Yumiko had left and headed outside to find Alden. She found him chopping up some of the larger branches from the trees into chunks they could carry and Hershel watching his every move from the sideline. She rubbed Hershel's shoulder.

"Why don't you go and find Earl? Alden and I have to talk," she told him. He nodded and ran off to find him immediately. Alden set the axe aside and looked up at her.

"Something wrong?" He could read it off her face. The question wasn't necessary, but it was polite. "Is this about the whisperers? They're really back aren't they?"

"No, this isn't about them." She shook her head. "We should get back to my office first.

He nodded and swallowed thickly. Whenever she wanted to speak in private something was really wrong. He followed her back inside to her office silently, almost afraid to ask for more information.

"I'm going to need you to sit down for this," she said, leaning back against her desk. He swallowed thickly again and sat down on the chair opposite of her.

"Before you say anything, can I go first?" he interjected. Whatever Maggie was about to say, he wanted to get this off his chest first. When Maggie remained quiet he knew he could speak, "that night I heard Hershel call out for me. He called me dad. I've been thinking about it for a couple days. I wanted to tell you before, but..."

"But what?" she asked when he trailed off.

"I don't know," he sighed, tiredly wiping his hand down his face. "I thought maybe you'd be mad at me."

"Why would I be mad at you? He's as much your son as he's mine. You've been in his life since the day he was born. And you were the one that didn't want him calling you dad. That was never my decision."

"That's because Glenn is his father. I'm only the one raising Hershel because I got his father killed. What does that make me?"

"His dad," she replied with a sigh. She knew that a part of Alden would always carry guilt for Glenn's death. Some days it crept more up on him than the next. But Hershel had innocently managed to bring it all back up to surface. "Alden, you don't have to feel guilty about this. It makes me happy, actually. Try to look at it differently; he chose you."