Sweet and Salty ~ Carl Grimes

The Third Midnight - 098

Hey! Sorry for no-showing on the updates, but for some reason you can't rush grief?? Super annoying, wanted it to be over and done with, however for some godforsaken reason that's not how that works. So, regretfully I'm here to inform y'all that I have to abandon my Tuesday/Thursday schedule, and replace it with no schedule. Don't worry, I'll never abandon 'Sweet and Salty' however I do need to prioritise my mental health, and so updates will come when I feel I can do so with as much attention as this story deserves. Thank you all so much for all of your kind messages during this hard time, I really appreciate them all, and you all xxxx

Maggie was dead.

Brooks had overheard two of the Saviours talking about 'the sick girl' who had been at the line up, and how she'd perished not long after. Brooks managed to keep a straight face, but when she got back to her room that night her pillow was burdened with the weight of her tears. Maggie and Brooks hadn't been close in a long time, but Brooks grieved the girl that shared her blanket with her on the farm when nobody else could even look her in the eyes. 

Brooks' mind also wandered to Beth, and all the people she'd lost. Her boyfriend Jimmy, Patricia, her boyfriend from the prison (who's name Brooks admittedly forgot), her father, her brother-in-law, and then her own big sister Maggie. In a way, Beth lost Sophia too, because the young Peletier girl was still in the wind with her mother - nowhere to be seen. Morgan hadn't come back, so he was either dead, or still looking for them... If he was a man of his word, that is. 

Brooks hadn't gotten the chance to speak to Beth, or many other people on their visit back to Alexandria. After her little show with Abraham, and when she was done grabbing her stuff, she stuck to Negan's side. She'd seen Michonne, but her aunt couldn't even look her in the eyes. Michonne was a survivor, she got it, but there was something in her eyes when she looked at Brooks... Something Brooks had never seen before from that woman, but she had every other person she'd ever met. Hatred. So that made it official, every person Brooks had ever met (who was still alive) had hated her at some point while knowing her. Apart from Negan.

The thought of running away with Carl had crossed Brooks' mind more than once, but as she lay there in her bed on the third midnight, watching the clock tick over into the next day she knew she'd made the right choice. Brooks and Carl couldn't run away together, not now, not after everything. He'd never be able to look at her the same anyways, not after she allowed Abraham to get on his knees and beg for his life.

Young Brooks Dixon just lay in her bed, staring at the clock, cuddling the stuffed dog close to her heart. A part of her missed fat, old Buckster in that moment. The way his thousands of rolls could engulf her whole body and warm her heart was a feeling that was impossible to replicate. Although going with the saviours and Negan was for the better, the fact Carl wasn't just upstairs to come and rock her into a peaceful sleep meant she stayed awake the whole night, just watching the hours tick away.

/----------\

The next morning, the sun was shining high in the sky, and light was pouring in through every window of the sanctuary. The sanctuary was very different from Alexandria, it was just an old factory that everyone took refuge in. It was cold, and damp, but it was home. The way it made Brooks feel was anything other than cold, and damp, because people there were nice to her in a way Brooks had never experienced before in her lifetime.

While walking down a corridor, Brooks bumped into Charlie who offered her a bright smile. Since their unfortunate re-meeting at the line up, the two had talked, and they understood each other's point of view from the situation that left them both children alone in a terrifying world. "Morning, Bea, what's up?" Charlie smiled, going in for a fist bump. He was a very different kid from the one Brooks first met four years ago.

Knocking her own fist against his, she shrugged. "I was just gonna head down to the infirmary, I wanna see how stocked we are on medical supplies. Make a list for the essentials that we need to get from the Kingdom, Hilltop and Alexandria on our next grab-and-go." Brooks had heard about a forth community, The Kingdom, and their leader King Ezekiel in several supply meetings she'd attended. They just seemed to be another small community giving up supplies in return for peace.

"Damn, Brooks, taking medical supplies from your own people. That's cold, girl." Charlie grinned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"They're not my people." Brooks reminded him. "Hey, we still on to watch Dodgeball tonight?"

He nodded, brushing some of his long hair out of his face. "Definitely." 

Before Brooks could say another word though, they heard gun shots from outside. They both exchanged looks, before they grabbed the guns that were tucked away in their belts. Running side by side, they burst outside to see a sight that neither of them expected to see. Two Saviours were dead on the ground, one was dead in the back of the truck... And, none other than Carl motherfucking Grimes was lying on his back, Dwight on top of him and pointing a machine gun at the fifteen year old's head.

Her breath caught in her throat, her gun lowered slightly in shock but she quickly aimed it again, luckily before she could say anything - Negan did. "Dwight, back off." Negan demanded, and so, Brooks did lower her gun, only once Dwight was off of Carl and the gun was out of the young man's face.

Through the fence, Brooks could see Daryl, in his beige tracksuit with an orange A spray painted on the front. He was still a little bruised, and was very dirty... But, he was staring at her. Staring at her with a pained look, in his own way, saying 'it's okay, Brookie', but both of them knew that it wasn't okay, and that he couldn't call her Brookie anymore... Because, despite the fact he was her uncle and he loved her like his own child, they were on opposite sides of the fight now.

By the time Brooks tore her attention back to Carl and Negan, Carl was accepting Negan's hand up off the ground. She pocketed her gun in her belt, before heading over to the pair. "Carl, what the hell are you doin' 'ere?" She asked, anger in her tone.

"I'm here to get you." Carl stated. "There's no way you just- you just joined them? Not after what he did to Cam and Glenn."

Brooks' eyes wandered quickly over all of the saviours around who were listening intensely, before she sighed and looked back to her boyfriend... Ex-boyfriend? She didn't really know anymore. "You wouldn't get it. For the first time ever, I'm choosing myself. You just need to let me go, alrigh'? I ain't goin' back to Alexandria."

"The Brooks I know wouldn't betray her family like this."

"The Brooks you knew died the second I realised there are people in this world who wouldn't treat me like the scum they found on the bottom of their shoe."

Negan chuckled, and wrapped his arm around Brooks' shoulders, smiling down at her proudly as he spoke. "That's my girl." And Brooks' heart genuienly warmed, and a genuine smile pulled at her lips. Negan cared about her. Somebody in this world cared about her before she had to fight for it. He looked back to Carl, but he was speaking to Brooks. "Kid, why don't you go get yourself some lunch? Treat yourself to something nice. I'm gonna give Cotton eyed Joe here a little tour, we'll meet up with you in just a little while, okay?"

Brooks fought the way her jaw wanted to clench at the way Negan called Carl Cotton eyed Joe. She hated it. She wanted to tell him not to call him that, and if she asked, he probably wouldn't have called Carl that again, but she was still settling in. She didn't want to push her boundaries. Instead, she smiled up at Negan and nodded, before silently heading back into the sanctuary. Her sanctuary. 

Carl watched from Negan's side as Brooks headed into the sanctuary with Charlie by her side, following closely. Carl's one eye narrowed in anger... Or, jealousy? Maybe both. He was just hurt that Brooks was walking away from him with such ease. He was still hurt she didn't show up when he begged her too, he'd waited there for seven hours before deciding to take matters into his own hands and show up at the Sanctuary himself.