What's Next

Chapter Thirty Two 🦋

Daryl's POV:

Here I was, stuck in a damn car with Aaron surrounded by a herd. If Val found out she would be pissed but worried all at the same time. I guess the pregnancy makes her feel a hundred different emotions. All extreme. God I wish I could have her back in my arms right now. But at least I managed to find at least a few things for her to wear that I hoped she would be happy with. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. My thoughts started to feel so stupid right about now. "What?" Aaron questioned, obviously hearing me laugh at myself. I thought for a moment working out a way to explain my thoughts. "I came out here to... not feel all closed up back there."

"Even now, this still feels more like me... than back in them houses."

"That's pretty messed up huh?"

"You were trying."

"I had to with Val pregnant and all." I huffed

"No you didn't. You chose not to give up on her and the baby."

"Listen, I saw you and you group out there on the road. Then you went off on your own by the barn. Then seeing you and Val, seeing how easy it was for her to comfort you. Then the storm hit, you still led everyone including her to safety."

"That was it. I knew I had to bring you people back."

"You were right. We should have kept looking for that guy in the poncho. I shouldn't have given up."

"You didn't."

**

Val's POV:

It was now nightfall. Time for the big, bullshit, pathetic meeting. It was ridiculous. All of it. If we did this every time we had a gun waved in our faces, I don't think we would be the kind of people we are now. It's just part of our survival. I made a promise to Maggie that I would share my piece, we had hoped that maybe with me being his sister, knowing him for the longest that it would maybe help. I guess we would soon find out.

"We're going to start." Deanna stated, even though not everyone was even here yet. "Can we wait?" Maggie questioned.

"There's still people coming. Glenn, Rick."

"We're going to start." Deanna repeated, ignoring Maggie's wishes. 'Here we fucking go' I thought to myself, shaking my head in displeasure. "It's already dark."

"We're going to talk about what happened. Not the fight. Not what precipitated it. We're dealing with that."

"We're going to talk about one of our constables, Rick Grimes. We're going to talk about how he had a pistol that he stole from the armory, about how he pointed it at people. And we're going to talk about what he said. I was actually hoping he'd be here." I just shook my head in disbelief, the fact that this was actually happening, I scoffed at Deanna's words. At how pathetic this all was. "Do you have something to say Val?" Deanna questioned, in a condescending voice. "I do actually." I stated, it was already clear that I was pissed off, it could be heard in my voice. I began to stand up, "Val, don't. not yet." Maggie whispered to me, pleadingly. I kept my mouth shut and stayed sitting, until it was actually my turn to speak. "She said he was coming." Michonne stated, in regard to Deanna's earlier comment.

"I'm sure he'll be here. And I'm sure we can work this all out." Carol added in a soft tone.

**

"And after being out there and then not being who you were out there... it can drive you crazy. Rick just wants his family to live. He wants all of you to live. Who he is, is who you're gonna be... if you're lucky." Michonne stated.

I soon stood, wanting to finally speak my mind before anyone else did. "This is my brother we're talking about here. The moment I was born I was already his whole world. Always protected me way before all of this. I know the man my brother truly is. You just haven't got the chance to see it. So you caught him on a bad day, that's just bad luck. But that doesn't mean he's psychotic, like you are all trying to make it seem. You spend as long as what he has, I have, our entire group has and come back and tell me you are still who you always have been."

"This whole meeting is bullshit. What is the point of banishing someone, let alone the wrong person. I don't give a shit about what is said about me, but hell, get your facts checked, and your head out of your asses. This is our reality, you've just been coped up behind these walls for too damn long. If it wasn't for Rick, I wouldn't be who I am, where I got to before all of this started. He's my big brother, my only brother. If I thought he was truly, completely in the wrong, you would hear about it, cause I'd be letting it rip. He already got an earful from me, but it would have been a lot worse if I didn't believe his heart had been in the right place."

"He's not out to get anyone or kill nobody. He just wants us all to survive. Every single one of us. It's the ones that become a threat to us all that die. Believe me we've trusted too many, too soon, but we still learnt when to trust, who to trust, who to believe. He was good at his job in the old world, and he'll be good at it now, but you have to give him that chance that you haven't even began to give." I finally sat back down, finished with what I had to say. It was all true. Every bit. They all wanted to find something about one of us to pick at and take to Deanna. I wasn't stupid. I just sat back and watched. Just how Daryl knew I would.

**

It was Carol's turn now, 'Oh god here we go' I only wondered what she was going to say now that she was putting this whole 'poor me' act. "Rick Grimes saved my life over and over. There's terrifying people out there. And he rescued me from them."

'yep there it is' I mumbled to myself, as carol's act continued on. "people like me, people like us need people like him."

"I know what happened last night was scary. And I'm sure he's sorry for that. But maybe we should listen to what he's saying."

**

"Simply put, there is a vast ocean of shit you people don't know shit about." Abraham began, 'Well that's one way to put' I thought to myself, as I listened to the words that spilled from Abraham's mouth. "Rick knows every fine grain of said shit..."

"And then some."

**

"My father respected Rick Grimes." Maggie began.

"Rick is a father, too. He's a man with a good heart who feel the things he does, the things he has to do. And all of us who were together before this place, no matter when we found each other, we're family now."

"Rick started that. And you won't stop it. You can't."

"And you don't want to."

"This community, you people... that family... you want to be a part of it too."

"Before we hear from anyone else, I – I would like to share something in the spirit of transparency." Deanna began.

"Father Gabriel came to see me the day before yesterday and he said our new arrivals can't be trusted, that they were dangerous, that they would put themselves before the community." 'Of course he fucking did' I muttered to myself angrily. Ever since we met him, he's been completely against but yet he wouldn't even be alive if wasn't for any of us. "And not one day later, Rick seemed to demonstrate all the things Father Gabriel said. I had hoped Gabriel would be here tonight."

"I don't see him here Deanna. So you're just saying what someone said. Did you tape him?" Jessie expressed.

"He's not here." Maggie stated.

"Neither is Rick." Deanna added, bluntly. She clearly wanted it to end in her favour. Kick out the 'problem'. Out of sight, out of mind is how she saw things, that there was clear to us all.

**